entertained with battel invade the borders of any Nation In such a Case t is held a point of politick husbandry to waste the Country round about them least it might maintain their Armies But heretofore I have had and elsewhere shall have occasion to decypher all the symptoms of a dying State either set down by the Word of God or observed by the expert Anatomists of former dead bodies politick 14. My message unto you my Brethren the Sons of Levi is briefly this Add not Gods anger to our Countries Curse which at this day whether just or no is bitter and rife against us as if we were all or most of us like the companions of Jesus the son of Josedech persons Prodigious but in a worse sense then they were Persons that had procured her much and did yet portend her greater sorrow partly by our Dastardly silence in good causes but especially by our prophesying for Rewards and humoring the great Dispensers of those dignities on which our unsatiable desires are now unseasonably set It was a saying amongst the Ancient Romans Qui Beneficium accipit libertatem vendit It is thus far improved in true modern English He that will purchase preferments Ecclesiastick especially must adventure to lay his soul to pawn What remedie Only this to make a virtue of necessitie For so must every one do that means to live as a Christian ought Let us not look so much upon the sinister intentions of corrupt minds as upon the purpose of our God even in mens most wicked projects And who knowes whether The Lord by acquainting us with mens bad dealings in dispensing Ecclesiastical honour do not lay the same restraint upon us his children which he did upon Baruch Without all question he absolutely forbids us to seek afer great matters in this age in that he hath cut off all hopes of attaining them by means lawfull and honest And all this he doth for our good that using Baruchs freedom or Jeremies Resolution in our ambassage we may be partakers of their Priviledge in the Great day of visitation wherein such as in the mean time crush and keep us under by their greatness will be ready to give their wealth for our poverty and change their honor for our disgrace upon condition they might but enjoy life with such libertie and contentments as we do Or in Case they shorten our dayes by vexation or oppression yet faithfully discharging our duties whether we live or die we are the Lords And though they out live us an hundred years yet shall they be willing to give a thousand yea ten thousand lives if so many they had so they might be but like us for one hour in the day of death We need not search forain Chronicles nor look far back into ancient Annales The registers of our own memories and our fathers relations may afford examples of some sons of Levi men if we rightly value their admirable worth of place and fortunes mean in respect of our selves which after their death hastned perhaps by hard usage have fild both this and forrain Lands with their good name as with a perfume sweet and precious in the nostrils of God and man whilst those great lights of state so they seemed whilst parasitical breath did blaze their fame which had condemned them to privacie and obscuritie were suddenly put out but with an everlasting Stinch God grant their successors better successe that a precious well deserved fame may long survive them For our selves Beloved as we all consort in earnest desires and hearty prayers that the Lord would renew his Covenant made with Levi his Covenant of life and peace so let us joyn hearts in this meditation The only way to derive this blessing from this our father unto us his sons must be by arraying our selves with Phineas our eldest brothers integritie by putting on his zeal and courage to walk with the Lord our God in peace and equitie and to turn many away from iniquitie And now remember them O my God that defile their Priesthood and break the Covenant of the Priesthood and of Levi Smite them through their loyns that make a prey of his possessions and grinde their heads as thou didst Abimelechs with broken milstones from the wals or with the reliques from the ruinated houses yea grinde all their heads O Lord to powder that grinde the faces of his poor and needy children But peace be upon all such as walk according to this Rule here set to Baruch and upon all those that Love God To this God The Father The Son and the holy Ghost be ascribed all honour and glory now and ever Amen Imprimatur Ric. Baylie Vicecan Oxon. The Publisher To the Readers of these two last Sermons WHo may see That this great Author was not affraid Most aculâ—atly to reprove the sins of his own Time nor is The Advertiser ashamed to set his seal to the justnesse of them by a full and true Publishing his Reproofes Let the Lord be glorified though with our shame and justified when he speaketh Judgement And to Gods glory be it spoken This word hath prospered in the thing where unto God sent it in some of the Gentrie and Clergie Yet can it not be denied but there is still too great store of matter of Reproof in the same kinde Many whose estates are sore diminished have minds still set upon Great Things what ever they have lost they find pleasure Had The Author lived to this day I am perswaded he would have gone on with The Holy Bishops complaints Perdidere tot calamitatum utilitates Pacem et divitias priorum Temporum non habent Omnia aut ablata aut imminuta sunt sola tantum vitia creverunt nihil de Prosperitate pristina reliquum nisi peccata quae prosperitatem non esse fecerunt c. These are wracks indeed To Misse the Good which may be got by suffering evil is the worst of evils To lose that gain which should be gotten by losses is of losses the greatest But to grow worse with suffering evil is perdition it self Now if any one of Prosperous condition when he reads this shall triumph and bless himself in his heart saying We have not sinned in devouring these men I beg his Pardon and beseech him to read on if he saw our faults in the last he may perhaps see his own in the next And humbly desire leave to say 1. A man may punish sin and yet inter puniendum Commit a sin greater then that be punisheth 2. In these times and among the persons promising Reformation there hath been Greater seeking after great things and that with greater Inordination too then was in former Times Our Author complained that the Baruchs of his Time sought great things by the Art of Philip of Macedon Would God my Clergy Brethren so I do esteem such and none but such as were begotten to our mother by the R. R. Fathers of the Church had not used
he hath a more peculiar right of Dominion over us over all that pertain unto his Church then by right of Creation he hath as God then by right of Redemption or Attonement he hath as God and Man For That part of our nature that flesh and blood which he took of his Mother was his by a more peculiar Title and real property then it was God the Fathers or the Holie Ghosts and we by mystical and spiritual union with that part of the humane nature which he assum'd into the Unitie of his Divine Person are His at least He by this union is our Head and Lord by a more strict and proper Title then God the Father or God the Holie Ghost is By the former Title of Redemption or satisfaction made for us he is our Lord and we his servants By this Title of mystical Union with him he is the Bridegroom or Head the Church is his Spouse and being Head of the Church every member of it is bound as God by the Psalmist exhorts the Spouse Psal 45. to worship him as our Lord and God for the husband is Lord of the wife He bought all our souls being in the state of Aliens or bond-servants and after cleansed and purified them that they might be espoused to him and finally presented to his Father He hath purchased the Church of God saith St. Paul with his own blood Acts 20. 28. And again Eph. 5. Christ gave himself for the Church that he might Sanctifie it and cleanse it by the washing of water through the word That he might make it unto himself a glorious Church c. ver 25 26 27. CHAP. VIII What our Confession of Christ to be The Lord importeth and how it redounds to the Glory of God the Father 1. EVery tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord Our Lord by a peculiar real Title To this Confession every Son of Adam to whom God hath given the use of the tongue is bound de Iure but many sons of Adam to whom God hath given the use of the tongue do not confess so much de Facto The Jews with their tongues flatly deny him to be the Lord or their promised Messias The Turks and Mahumetans confess him to be a Lord of Christians but deny him to be The Lord The chief Lord under God the Father This title of Chief Lord they ascribe to Mahomet and under his right they pretend a title of dominion over Christendom The Heathens which know not God do not so much as question whether he be a Lord or whether He or Mahomet be under God the chief Lord. But as for us Christians we all to whom God hath given the use of the tongue do confess him to be The Lord As for those to whom the use of the tongue is by the course of nature and Gods ordinarie providence denyed others for them do ingage themselves at Sacred Baptisme that they when God shall grant them a heart to understand and a tongue to speak shall confess him to be the Lord and to be unto them their Lord. And in case they dye before they come to possesse the use of their hearts or of their tongues the Church or parish wherein this profession of faith was made on their behalfs are bound to profess thus much for them And as God no doubt accepts the prayers of the Church wherein they are baptized for them which cannot so much as speak to men much less pray to God or to Christ That they may be admitted into his visible Church and be reputed as members of his mystical bodie so doubtless he will accept the prayers of the Church and of every faithfull member of the Church wherein they live and dye that they may be accepted into the Church Triumphant and to us invisible albeit they never attained unto the use of the tongue or when as the Lord which gave others this blessing hath taken it from them For even of the tongue or of the use of the tongue that of Iob is most true and to be resumed by all as well by the dying as by the living by him for his owne part and by the living on his behalfe the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1. 21. 2. Thus every tongue is bound de Jure to confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord that Lord whom Job so long before did confess But though every tongue of men throughout the world every tongue of Christians of Jewes of Mahumetans or Infidels should from their birth confess thus much would this be enough for that acknowledment which here is required that Jesus Christ is the Lord or would such acknowledgement of every tongue be sufficient to pay that tribute which is due unto the Glorie of God the Father from this Confession which is here required that Jesus Christ is the Lord No it is not the Confession of every tongue that will suffice albeit the acknowledgment or Confession of every tongue be de jure required In this speech Every tongue must confess c. there is a Twofold Universalitie included The One of the Parties thus confessing or aknowledging The Other of the Duties or services to be performed by everie party thus acknowledging Christ to be the Lord. To begin with the Former when the Apostle saith That every tongue must Confesse that Jesus Christ is THE LORD You must take this Universal note to be equivalent to that phrase so often used in the Book of the Revelation by the Evangelist and Apostle all nations and Kindreds all people and Tongues every one of all Sorts of the Sons of Adam are bound de Jure to confesse That Jesus Christ the son of God and the son of man conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the virgin Marie is THE LORD of the Dying and of the Living of the Quick and of the Dead As for all such as do not either in heart or tongue or in both either by themselves or by others for them truly acknowledge Him in this life to be such a Lord they shall acknowledge Him to be such A Lord after their Resurrection from death of which likewise He is Lord. 3. But the acknowledgment of Every Tongue or of every one to whom God hath vouchsafed either a tongue or the use of the tongue will not suffice to find him a Gracious Lord at the resurrection from the dead and at the day of finall Judgment There must be as is said an Universalitie as well of duties and services to be performed by every particular person to whom God hath given an heart to understand as an universalitie of tongues or lips which are to make this confession The real language of every heart will be sufficient for every one in particular whom God hath deprived or denied the use of the tongue But unto him to whom God hath given an understanding heart and the use of the tongue also the hearty prayers and
must in this Case exceed little children must be out of the consciousness of this our Impotencie or infirmitie to frame our Petitions unto God with the Prophet Psal 51. 2. Wash me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin And again ver 10. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me Again Little Children though they be set upon their feet after their Fall they are not able to stand upright although they adventure not to go unless they be supported by their nurses or other helper and it is our Apostles advice unto such as stand to take heedlest they fall But is this circumspection in their power after Grace received No no more then it is in the power of Little Children to keep themselves from falling To what end then doth this Admonition serve To make us more careful by the knowledge of this our infirmitie continually to use that or the like prayer Prevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy gracious favour and further us with thy continual help If we truly acknowledge our selves to be but Little Children we cannot but know that without his preventing Grace we must still wallow in our natural filthiness and uncleanness that without his Concomitant Grace we cannot stand and that without his Subsequent Grace we can make no progress towards eternal Life All our doings must be begun must be continued and ended in him by his Grace otherwise we shall fail of the end here proposed unto us by our Apostle Again Little Children are sensible of hunger or want of Food yet cannot provide it cannot be their own carvers of it cannot take it unless it be reached unto them We then become in some degree the children of God when we feel a want of spiritual Food or when we hunger and thirst after righteousness But power we have none after Grace received to give satisfaction to this hunger and thirst after good things The best knowledge that in this Case we have is To Beg Food Convenient at our heavenly Fathers hands in that or the like Form of Prayer Give us this day our daily bread And thus to beg it out of full assurance that he is more ready to hear our requests then any earthly Father is to give his children bread or any earthly Mother to give her sucking Infants milk when they cry for it For some Mothers are unnatural others may forget their children but so will not God forget his so they be children in malice not in the Knowledge of his Goodness Little Children again if they be exposed to cold or heat or any other danger that may accrew from hostile or ravenous creatures have no power or strength to defend themselves all that they can do is but to cry for help from others Now the spiritual and Ghostly enemies of every Child of God and the dangers whereto they daily expose themselves are more in number then the bodily dangers whereof little Children are capable Lesse able we are though endowed with some measure of Grace to resist the Devil who goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour then a sucking child to withstand a Bear or Wolf that should come upon him To what end then doth God bestow his Grace upon us if with this we cannot defend our selves as with a weapon Only to this end that we should daily pray for his special protection as his Son hath taught us Lord lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil specially from the Author of evil for thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory Thou only art able to subdue and conquer the Prince of this world and to destroy him who hath the power of death Lastly albeit we must exceed Little Children in the acknowledgment of our infirmities and though our capacities to conceive these and the like forms of prayer be greater then theirs yet in respect of most particulars we are in this too like Little Children that we know not how to pray or ask those things which for the present we stand most in need of And in this point our Knowledge must exceed theirs that we must have a knowledge of this infirmity and out of the consciousness of it pray more fervently unto our heavenly Father that he would teach us how to pray or hear the supplications of his Spirit for us whose language we perfectly understand not and not to indent with him for other particulars but only to grant us what he knows to be best for us and most available though not for our present occasions yet for the attainment of Everlasting life Until we learn this lesson of Humility and meekness which The Son of God himself so often commends unto us by his own example by Precept and Instances we shall find no true Rest unto our souls we shall not have that Full Assurance of hope unto the end whereof our Apostle speaks Heb. 6. 9. But is this Qualification of becoming like Little Children alone sufficient No he that saith Whosoever receiveth not the Kingdom of heaven as a little child shall not enter therein hath also said Matth. 5. 20. Except your righteousnesse shall exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Doth he Instance in them as in the most wicked men that were So his Instance should not have been so pertinent at least his Admonition not so peremptory The Scribes and Pharisees if they had not thought so of themselves were the most righteous men then living they were the only Precisians of those times and observed many Rules of righteousness more exactly then most men now living do any Wherein then did they come short of the promise By making Extraordinary Conscience of some necessary duties and little or none at all of others The old Serpent deceived them as he doth many Christians to this day by that Fallacie or Sophism which we call A Dicto secundum quid ad simpliciter that is in using their known zealous observance of some good duties as an Argument that they were simply and absolutely more righteous then other men specially then those whom they saw gross transgressors of some Commandements which they made conscience of They did acknowledge that they had received many Graces from God for which they thanked him but yet they gloried as if they had not received them and this polluted all their works A good man saith Solomon is merciful unto his beast This property of Good men is in the Turks for they are more compassionate towards their dogs more careful for begging them benevolence of strangers and passengers for feeding them in the open streets then most Christians are for the relief of their poor brethren yet is that property of wicked men which Salomon in the same place describes more remarkable in them Their mercies are
lives or consecrate our selves to his honor and service to offer our selves in sacrifice to him when he requires not only in remembrance of what he hath done for us which we would not for ten thousand lives but he had done but in respect of Future Hopes which it were better we had never been then they should not be accomplished We look he should in the last day acquit us from the accusations of Satan the great Accuser and in the mean time give Testimonie of us as his faithful servants to his Father The dutie which we owe to Him is in this life to be witnesses of the truth he taught to testifie unto the world that he hath appeared by our lives and conversations answerable to His by our readiness to suffer povertie exile disagrace or ignominious death for defence of His Lawes to fear him whether in life or death 12. To every thing we can desire of God there is A semblable Dutie to be performed by us without whose performance we cannot pray to Him in Faith To pray in Faith is to be so surely perswaded of Gods Benignitie as to be ready to render up all that he requires of us to abstain from those things which we know to be offensive to him especially from such as have any particular repugnance to that we seek If we expect God should provide for us as for his children we must honor and reverence Him as an Almighty and everlasting Father If we desire he should protect us we must fear him as our Greatest Lord. A son honoureth his Father and a servant his master If I then be a Father where is my Honor and if I be a master where is my fear saith the Lord of Hosts unto you Mal. 1. 6. If ye offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evil and if ye offer the lame and sick is it not evil offer it now unto thy Prince will he be content with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of Hostes and now I pray you pray before God that he may have mercy upon us This hath been by your means will he regard your persons saith the Lord of Hosts No! they did not pray in Faith For so to pray presupposeth a fidelitie in the discharge of duties appointed for their calling God for his part never changeth I am the Lord I change not Mal. 3. 6. As if he had said This is my nature and essence to be immutable And therefore Ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed For so they had been unless his mercies had continued the same But to do them that good they desired or to deal as graciously with them as he had done with their fathers he could not if with Reverence I may so speak because of their infidelitie or unbelief for which cause the Evangelist saith Christ could not work many miracles amongst His Countrymen Matth. 13. 58. From the dayes of your Fathers you are gone away from mine Ordinances and have not kept them Now there must needs have been a Change in God if he had dealt as bountifully with this back-sliding Generation as with their Godly Predecessors that had been sted fast in his Covenant But let them be as their fathers were and He will be to them as he was to their Fathers For he is no accepter of persons but rewardeth every one according to his works Wherefore he saith Return unto me and I will return unto you ver 7. But they were so far from returning that they would scarce acknowledge their sin For they said wherein shall we return They should have done unto their God accordingly as they desired he should do to them They desired the Lord should blesse them as Moses had spoken In the City and in the field in the fruit of their bodies and in the fruit of their grounds in the fruit of their cattel and in the increase of their kine and in the flocks of their sheep Deut. 28. 4. But God at this time had done to them in some fort as they had done to him They had robbed him in tithes and offrings ver 8. Therefore were they oursed with a curse ver 9. Notwithstanding if they would deal better with him he assures them he will deal better with them Bring ye all the Tithes into the Storehouse that there may be meat in mine house and prove me herewith saith the Lord of Hostes if I will not open the windows of Heaven unto you and pour you out a Blessing without measure And I will rebuke the Devourer for your sakes and he shall not devour the fruit of your ground neither shall the Vine be barren in the field saith the Lord of Hosts And all Nations shall call you blessed saith the Lord of Hosts As he that had wrong'd his brother was the forwarder to repine against Moses so the words of such in this people as had most robbed and spoiled God were most stout against him They said It was in vain to serve God And what profit is it that we have kept his Commandments And that we have walked humbly before the Lord of Hosts Therefore they accounted the proud blessed even they that work wickednesse are set up and they that tempt God yea they are delivered It is not likely that they would thus speak with their mouthes for so they should have had no occasion to demand as they did V. 13. What have we spoken against thee But that they thought in their hearts That God did not respect them according to their deserts or that his Bounty had not been so great to them as to their Fathers If they said not they thought with Gideon Ah my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this come upon us and where be his miracles which our Fathers have told us and said did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt But now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of the Medianites He thought this Change was in God not in himself or in his Countrymen As most men at this day think that God is not as ready to hear our prayers as he was to hear the Israelites or the Fathers in the primitive Church When as the reason why he hears them not is because we are not so ready to do His will If we perform any obedience to his Laws it is for the most part such as those murmurers did we offer unto him either the vile or the lame or else but half that which is due and yet perswade our selves we deal bountifully with him too In Fine we do so much as serves to ground a Pharisaical conceit of our selves not so much or not so sincerely as may induce Our God who knows our hearts to think well of us We do not so to him as we desire he should do to us for we desire that he should bless us above the ordinary means of humane forecast or procurement but we adventure not any practice injoyned by him
Godly men respects their former good works p. 3568. 29. Three points 1. Eternal Life the most free gift of God both in respect of the Donor and of the Donee 2. Yet doth not the sovereign Freenesse of the Gift exclude all Qualifications in the Donees rather requires better in them then in others which exclude it or themselves from it Whether the Kingdom of Heaven was prepared for All or for a certain number 3. The first Qualification for grace is to become as little children A parallel of the conditions of Infants and of Christians truly humble and meek p. 3578 30. Matth. 25. 34. Then shall the King say to them on his Right hand c. Two General Heads of the Discourse 1 A Sentence 2. The execution thereof Controversies about the sentence Three conclusions in order to the decisions of those Controversies 1. The Sentence of life is awarded Secundum Opera not excluding faith 2. Good Works are necessary to salvation Necessitate Praecepti Medii And to Justification too as some say Quoad praesentiam non quoad Efficientiam The third handled in the next Chapter Good Works though necessary are not Causes of but the Way to the Kingdom Damnation awarded for Omissions Saint Augustines saying Bona Opera sequuntur Justificatum c. expounded Saint James 2. 10. He that keeps the whole Law and yet offends in one point c. expounded Why Christ in the final Doome instances only in Works of Charity not of Piety and Sanctity An Exhortation to do good to the poor and miserable and the rather because some of those duties may be done by the meanest of men p. 3587 31. Jansenius his Observation and Disputation about Merit examined and convinced of Contradiction to it self and to the truth The Definition of Merit The state of the Question concerning Merit Increase of Grace no more meritable then the first Grace A Promise made Ex Mero Motu sine Ratione dati accepti cannot found a Title to Merits Such are all Gods Promises Issues of meer Grace Mercie and Bountie The Romanists of Kin to the Pharisee yet indeed more to be blamed then He. The Objection from the Causal Particle FOR made and answered SECT VI. CHAP. 32. Matth. 7. 12. Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you c. The misery of man of the wisest of men in their pilprimage to be Wanderers too The short way to Happiness The Pearl of the Ocean The Epitome Essence spirits of the Law and the Prophets Do as you would be done unto The Coherence the Method Christ advanceth This Dictate of Nature into an Evangelical Law Fortifies it and gives us proper Motives to practise it Two grounds of Equity in this Law 1. Actual Equality of all men by Nature 2. Possible Equality of all men in condition Exceptions against the Rule Answers to those Exceptions This Rule forbids not to invoke or wage Law so it be done with charity Whether Nature alone bind us to do good to our enemies God has right to command us to love them Plato's good communion The Compendious way to do our selves most good is to do as much good as we can to others The Application 33. Matth. 7. 12. The second General according to the Method proposed Chap. 32. Sect. 5. handled This Precept Do as ye would be done to more then equivalent to that Love thy neighbour as thy self for by good Analogy it is applicable to all the Duties of the first Table which we owe to God for our very being and all his other Blessings in all kinds bestowed on us Our desires to receive good things from God ought to be the measure of our Readiness to return obedience to his will and all other duties of dependance upon his Grace and Goodness God in giving Isaac did what Abraham desired and Abraham in offering Isaac did what God desired Two Objections made and answered 1. That this Rule may seem to establish the old Pythagorean Error of Retaliation and the new one of Parity in Estates 2. That the Magistrate in punishing offendors it seems in some Cases must of necessity either violate this Rule or some other p. 3628 34. The Impediments that obstruct the Practice of this Duty of Doing to others as we would have done to our selves are chiefly two 1 Hopes and Desires of attaining better estates then we at present have 2. Fears of falling into Worse Two readie wayes to the Dutie 1. To wean our souls into an indifferencie or vindicate them into a libertie in respect of all Objects 2 To keep in mind alwayes a perfect character of our owne afflictions and releases or comforts Two Inconveniencies arising from accersite greatness or prosperity 1. It makes men defective in performing the Affirmative part of this Duty 2. It makes them perform some part of the Affirmative with the violation of the Negative part thereof A Fallacy discovered An useful general Rule 3640 35. Jer. 45. 2 3 4 5. Thus saith the Lord unto thee O Baruch c. Little and Great termes of Relation Two Doctrines One Corollary Times and Occasions after the nature of things otherwise lawful Good men should take the help of the Anti-peristasis of bad times to make themselves better Sympathie with others in misery enjoyned in Scripture practised by Heathens Argia and Portia The Corollary proved by Instance and that made the Application of the former Doctrin 3648 36. On Jer. 45. latter part of ver 5. Thy life will I give thee for a prey The second Doctrin handled first in Thesi touching the Natural essence of Life in general 2. In Hypothesi Of the Donative of Life to Baruch as the case then stood That men be not of the same opinion about the Price of life when they be in Heat Action and Prosperity which they be of in dejection of Spirit and Adversity proved by Instances Petrus Strozius Alvares de Sande Gods wrath sharpens the Instruments and increases the terror of death Life was a Blessing to Baruch though it be shewed him all those evils from sight of which God took away good King Josiah in favour to him Baruch as a man did sympathize with the miseries of his people As a Faithful man and a Prophet of the Lord he conformed to the just will of God The Application 3663 37. On Rom. 2. 1. Therefore thou art inexcusable O man c. From what Premises the Apostles Conclusion is inferred The limitation of the Conclusion to the securing the Lawful Magistrate exercising Judicature according to his Commission and in matters belonging to his cognizance David and Abab judging persons by the Prophets Art feigned did really condemn themselves The sense of the Major Proposition improved by vertue of the Grammar Rule concerning Hebrew Participles and by Exposition of the phrase How the later Jewes judging the deeds of their forefathers did condemne themselves 3678 38. Second Sermon on Rom. 2. 1. 3690 39. Third Sermon on Rom. 2. 1. A Romish
gracious words of others in his behalfe will not suffice unless God by their praiers do frame his heart to beleive and move his tongue if God have given him the use of the tongue to Confess that Iesus Christ is the Lord. Corde creditur ad justitiam ore fit confessio ad salutem If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt beleive in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man beleiveth unto righteousnes and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10. 9 10. The Universalitie or extent of this Belief or Confession in respect of the parties whom it concernes is most fully exprest in the verse following For the Scripture saith Esa 28. 16. Whosoever believeth on him shall not make haste or not be ashamed And again Joel 2. 32. Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord whether he be Jew or Gentile shall be saved Thus you see that there is an universalitie of the parties or persons which are bound de Jure to make this Confession and an Universalitie of comfortable promises unto all such as make it as they ought that is not in tongue only but with the Heart not in heart only if God have given them the use of the heart and of the tongue or his blessings of memory and understanding 4. That besides this universality of persons confessing Christ with their tongues to be the Lord there is an Universalitie or Totality of duties to be performed by every one that confesseth Christ to be the Lord is evident from Iesus Christ our Lords own mouth Luke 6. 46. Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say This speech infers thus much at least That though all other both Jews Gentiles even every tongue throughout the world had confessed as much as these his present Disciples of which some were temporary some perpetual Professors did yet this would not suffice to make them capable of the reward universally promised to his true Disciples and servants That this confession though made by every tongue besides was not sufficient to make any particular man capable of the reward promised to all his true servants that are capable of his words and sayings which was not ready and willing to do them That every one which heard his sayings and was willing to do them was truly capable of all the blessings which he promised is clear from his words following ver 47 48 49. Who so cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doth them I will shew you to whom he is like He is like a man which built an house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a Rock And when the flood arose the stream brake violently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon a Rock But he that heareth and doth not is like unto a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruine of that house was great But our Lord and Saviours mind is by himself more fully exprest to this purpose Math. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven The limitation of these words as well for their negative as affirmative extent is this That neither every one nor any one of them which shall confess onely with their tongues that he is the Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven This limitation of the Negative or rather our Assurance of Faith that this negative is thus far to be extended is manifest from the verse following For to prophesie in the Name of Christ is more than to confesse with the tongue only that Christ is Lord. To cast out Divels in the Name of Christ is more then to prophecie in his Name To do many works of wonder in Christs Name is more than to cast out Devils in his Name For to cast out Divels indeed is a wonderful work and yet but One of those wonderful works which then and for many years after were done in Christs Name by such as although they did call Christ Lord Lord as he truly is the Lord of all were not Christs true servants not such as Christ will take notice of or approve as better but rather reject as worse then Infidels in that last and dreadful day when he shall call his servants whether de jure or de facto to a final account For so it is expressed in the words following ver 23 23. Many will say unto me in that day and the more the better so their plea were good Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works And then will I professe unto them I never knew you that is I never approved of you but rather disapproved you and your works as worse then the works of heathens or heathenish workers For unto the Heathens as Heathens he hath not said that he will say in the last day Depart from me Ye Workers of iniquity That the Affirmative extent of his words to such as shall not only with their tongues confess but in heart and practice acknowledge him to be the Lord is as large and ample as his former threatnings to such as either indeed and facts deny him or with their tongues and lips do not confess him to be the Lord his promise in the next words ver 24. will give us full assurance Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock And thus you see The words of our Lord and Savior confirmed by the mouthes of two Authentick witnesses St. Matthew and St. Luke do warrant the truth of these two Universals That never a one of such as onely with the tongue confess him to be the Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That every one which in heart confesseth him though with tongue he cannot confess him to be the Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven For every one which doth the will of his Father which is in heaven and the doing of this his heavenly Fathers will here is not an act of the Tongue but of the heart and of the affections shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven which is the place and seat appointed for all Christs true Servants and onely for them The onely question then remaining is What this Will of his heavenly Father is what it is to do it 5. This will of His heavenly Father is either General whatsoever is expressed in the Ten Commandements in the moral Law or in the Prophets or more Special as it is revealed in Christ or by Christ Did Christ then give us a New Law or other precepts then God by Moses had done
Or did he give us as the Church of Rome saith Evangelical Counsels as Additionals unto the Law In no wise Christ taught no other things then his Apostles after his resurrection did preach and his Apostles taught no other things then Moses and the Prophets had taught Acts 26. 22. But these they taught after another maner then the Scribes and Pharisees did then the ordinary Expositors of the Law and the Prophesies had done So that Gods will concerning man was more fully declared by Christ then it was by Moses or by the Prophets the very true meaning of Moses himself and of the Prophets was more fully revealed and clearly manifested unto mankinde in Christ then it was to Moses himself or to the Prophets Unto me saith our Apostle Ephes 3. 8 9 10. who am less then the least of all Saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mysterie which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ To the intent that now unto the Principalities and Powers in Heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God And by this more full declaration of Gods Will in Christ we Christians are tyed unto more strict observance of His Will known then men were tyed unto before Christ was declared to be the Lord Admitting the Services to be the very same yet the same services are now due under a double Title They are due to God the Father by right of Creation and due to Christ as he is Lord For God the Father is to be honored not onely in himself but in Christ 6. God when he gave the moral Law to Israel useth this Preface I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt This was his peculiar right or Title unto Israel and the Precept grounded upon this Title follows Thou shalt have no other Gods but me But you may remember how it was foretold by the Prophet Jeremie Jer. 23. 7 8. That it should no more be said the Lord liveth which brought the children of Israel out of Egypt But the Lord liveth which brought up the seed of the house of Israel out of the North Land Or according to the prime Grammatical sense of the word principally intended by the Holie Ghost out of the Land of darkness and This was fulfilled onely in Christ So that He who was the Lord of Israel by right of redemption from Egyptian bondage is now become the Lord of every Language of every Nation and Kindred by a more peculiar Title by right of redemption from the Powers of darkness and from Hell it self Hence saith our Apostle 1. Cor. 8. 5 6. Though there be that are called Gods whether in heaven or in earth as there are Gods many and Lords many But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him As the Israelites are forbid to have any other God besides the Lord which brought them out of the Land of Egypt so are we Christians forbid to have any Lords or Masters besides Christ So saith our Saviour Matth. 23. 8 9 10. Be not ye called Rabbi for one is your Master even Christ call no man your father upon the Earth for one is your Father which is in heaven And he repeats the former Caveat Neither be ye called Masters for one is your Master even Christ He that forbids them to be called Masters over others doth likewise forbid them to be servants to other Masters besides himself And this Duty is more fully exprest by our Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 23. Ye are bought with a price be not ye the servants of men He no way forbids bodily service but rather injoyns such as were servants properly so called that is slaves or bond-men to continue in their calling ver 20 21. as knowing bodily servitude not to be incompatible with Christian liberty no not with the Liberty of the Sons of God He that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lords free-man likewise he that is called being a Free-man is Christs servant What service of men then doth Christ or his Apostles forbid The vassalage of our reason or understanding or the submission of our consciences to the pleasures or services of men or of the corrupt times wherein we live Thus to alienate our service from Christ to any mortal men is whether you list to call it a branch of Sacriledge or Idolatry if not more gross yet certainly more deadly in all such as confess Christ to be their Lord then the worshipping of stocks and stones was either in the Heathen or in the Israelites themselves before Christ was declared to be the Son of God and solemnly proclaimed to be the Lord. To give you another Instance how Gods Will is more exactly done by Real Confession of Christ to be THE LORD 7. This is the will of God saith the Apostle 1 Thess 4. 3. Even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God To this duty the Israelites were as truly tyed as we Christians are It was as the Apostle intimates a necessary branch or fruit of the true knowledge of God a service due unto him as he was the Creator But unto this same duty the Israelites were not bound by so many ties as we Christians are It is required of us by a strict peculiar Title not onely by our knowledge of God as our Creator nor by our acknowledgement of Christ to be the Lord as this Title of Lord hath relation onely unto servants he may and doth exact this duty at our hands not onely by right of Redemption or by paying the ransom for our sins upon the Cross but by right of Espousals or by Title of Lord as he is the Head and Husband of his Spouse the Church No motive can be so forcible to deter men from transgressing this negative Commandment or for incouraging them to do Gods Will in the affirmative part of the former Commandment as that of our Apostle 1 Cor. 6. 13. 14 15. Now the body is not for fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the body And God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid And again ver 20. Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods 8. It was well observed long ago by Occolampadius that
children were taught amiss to know the nature of God or of his Enemy by vulgar Pictures or Representations For so the fashion was long before and continued till his time to picture God or the blessed Trinity in some fair and beautiful form and to paint the divel in some foul loathsom or ugly shape And this good Writer to correct their error well admonished as well the parents as their children That if they would learn to know what God was they must first be taught to know what Goodness is what Justice is what Mercy is what Bounty or loving kindness is And if they desire to know what maner of creature the divel is who is the chief enemy of God they should first be taught to know what malice is what filthiness is what loathsomness is what villany or treachery is For Satan is but a Compost of these or an extract of all that children or their parents acknowledge for evil Howbeit if either children or parents could be taught to know what Iustice is what Mercy is what loving kindness is or if they could be taught to know that God is what all these are even Iustice it self even mercy it self loving kindness it self wisdom it self or Wisdom Justice Mercy and loving kindness it self truly infinite yet his wisdom his mercy and loving kindness would be to us incomprehensible unapprehensible even in that these Attributes in him are infinite We could have no true or lively apprehension either speculative to inform our understandings what were good and ought to be followed or moral to enable and qualifie our hearts and affections to imitate or express that patern of goodness or so much of it as we apprehend in God if we should look upon these Attributes as they are in God the Father only or in the Divine nature But as he that cannot look upon the Sun in its strength or brightness or at the noon day may take the model of it in the water or in the Moon at full So we that cannot behold the glory of Divine Majesty in the Godhead may safely behold the Map or Model of his incomprehensible Goodness in the Man Christ Iesus All His actions and endeavors were with such wisdom set and bent upon mercy on goodness on loving kindness that every one which saw and duly considered his maner and course of life here on Earth might collect that he truly was as himself avouched more then the Son of man the very Son of God himself who is good and gracious to all For Christ as Man went about doing good to all doing hurt to none Now as the Son of Syrach saith Ecclus. 22. 3. That an evil son is the dishonor of his father So it will follow by the Rule of Contraries That a wise or good son is the honor of his father So Solomon hath said in express terms Prov. 10. 1. A wise son maketh a glad father but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother Now Christ as we know is called The Wisdom of the onely wise immortal God his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased And well pleased with him he is for that he is the honor of his Father And as Christ by confessing God and by real expression of his Goodness in his life and actions did truly glorifie his Father as he himself expresly avoucheth John 17. So all that really confess Christ to be the Lord that is all which throughly express the Map or Model of his Goodness in their lives and conversations do truly glorifie God the Father 9. Briefly then Every tongue truly and rightly confesseth Christ to be the Lord that observes his Commandments or that observes the Commandments of God more strictly and more religiously then others do who although they profess they honor God yet do not honor him as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ or do not honor Jesus Christ as his only Son This is that special Will of the Father which is in heaven and that which must be done by all which mean to enter into Heaven that every one which honoreth the Father should also honor the Son Joh. 5. 23. Honor the Son they must not in words or title only but by performance of real Service Every one that thus honoreth the Son doth hereby glorifie God the Father Hence saith our Savior Matth. 5. 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven And again Ioh. 15. 1. Our Savior compares himself to the Vine and his Father unto a Husbandman which expects the fruit of his vineyard So that the end why the Son of God did descend from heaven why he was planted and took root here on earth was that the sons of Adam or Abraham might be ingrafted in him and the End of our ingrafting in him was that we might bring forth fruit unto his Father But What comfort is it to have Christ Our Lord if by Allegeance to him we be more strictly bound to do the will of God then those which do not acknowledge Him their Lord I Answer 1. It is a credit by consent of Nations and repute of men naturally wise if not A Real Comfort to have him Our Lord who governs his people by the most excellent and equitable Laws Such were those which the Son of God gave the Jews What are these now refined in the Gospel All men naturally desire happiness As by those Laws God directed the Jews so by these he disciplines Us for our Good seeking occasion or Title in our obedience to exercise his bounty by rewarding us for doing good to our selves and others at his command He that sins against the laws of Christ doth it in Sui damnum sins against his own soul and by straying from them goes out of that way which only can lead him to the happiness he desireth 2. It is comfort that our Lord rules not with rigor but masters his Dominion with Equity Novit figmentum nostrum having Himself been compassed with the infirmities of mans nature all but such as did proceed from sin or lead unto sin he can by acquaintance and experience of them tell both how willing the spirit and how weak the flesh of miserable Mortals be and ready is he to give allowance accordingly But Thirdly Here is comfort indeed That as JESUS CHRIST the Righteous is our Lord so He is The Lord our Righteousness so is He our Sollicitor our Advocate our most compassionate High-Priest who ex officio negotiates on our behalf by mediation and intercession with the Father for pardon of all our transgressions negligences ignorances both of all sins committed and duties omitted or performed untowardly and amiss He made One Propitiation by his death and he lives for ever to make intercession for us Yea so gracious is This our Lord that he seems in a manner during this Acceptable Day or time of Grace to lay aside The Title
wrath malice blasphemie silthy communication out of your mouth Lie not one to another seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds All of us have put off the old man by profession and Solemn Vow at our Baptism and a double Wo or Curse shall befal us unless we put him off in practise and resolution and labour to put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him The particular Limbs of this New man are set forth unto us by our Apostle verse 13 14. Forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye And above all these things put on Charity which is the bond of perfectnesse The particular Duties required of men and women according to their several conditions or states of life as of Wives to Husbands and of Husbands to Wives as of Children to Parents and of Parents to Children of Servants to Masters and of Masters to Servants are set down by the same Apostle in the verses following unto the end of the Chapter Now we must be altogether as certain that we do truely sincerely and constantly perform these duties which are by our Apostle in this place required whether as General to all Christians or such as concern particular estates of life as we are of This general That whosoever doth truly mortifie the deeds of the body and perform the other duties here required shall be undoubted partaker of the Resurrection unto Glory before we can be certain certitudine fidei by certaintie of faith of our salvation or Resurrection unto glory in particular 12. Doth any amongst us upon the examination required before the receiving of the Sacrament find himself extreamly negligent or generally defective in performance of these duties Let not such a one take his negligence past as any sign or undoubted mark of reprobation yet would I withall advise him not to approach the Lords Table without a wedding garment without a sincere and hearty sorrow for his negligences past without a sincere hearty desire of doing better hereafter If consciousness of former negligence in these duties or of practises contrary unto them be seasoned with sorrow and hearty desire of amendment the point whereon I would advise such a man for the present to pitch his faith shall not be his own Election nor the Certaintie of his present and future estate in Grace or Real and infallible Interest in Christ his Resurrection But upon that Character or description of our Saviour given by the Evangelical Prophet Esay 42. 3. and experienced upon Record by the Evangelist St. Matthew Matth. 12. 20. That he quencheth not smoaking flax that he will not shake the bruised Reed Remember that as the Second Resurrection unto glorie must be wrought by vertue of Christs Resurrection from the dead so the first Resurrection from the dead works of sin unto newness of life must be wrought by the participation of his Body which was given and of his Blood which was shed for us Remember that by his death and passion he became not only the Ransom but the Soveraign Medicine for all our sins A Medicine for our sins of wilfulness and commission to make us more wary not to offend A Medicine for our sins of negligence and omission to make us more diligent in the works of pietie And the time and place appointed for the receiving of the body and blood of Christ is the time and place appointed by Him for our cure Heal us then O Lord and we shall be healed Thou O Lord who hast abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel Enliven and enlighten our hearts by thy Spirit and in them thus enlightned kindle a love of doing thy Will bring good intentions to good desires and good desires to firm resolutions and confirm our Resolutions with constancie and perseverance in thy service Amen ALmighty God which hast given thine only Son to die for our Sins and to rise again for our Justification mercifully grant that we both follow the example of his patience and be made partakers of his Resurrection through the same Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Almighty God give us Grace so to cast away the works of Darknesse and put on the Armour of light now in the Time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humilitie that at the last day when he shall come again in his Glorious Majestie to judge both the Quick and the Dead we may rise to the life immortal through him who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holie Ghost now and ever Amen The End of the fourth Section SECTION V. Of the Article of Everlasting life A Transition of the Publishers VVE are now by the Good hand of God upon the Work arrived at The fifth Section A very Considerable Part of this Eleventh Book The Subject matter of this Section according to what was cut out by the Method proposed in the oft mentioned Ninth Chapter is The Final Doom Award or Sentence of Life and Death which The King of Glorie our most worthy Judge Eternal shall respectively pronounce and pass upon all at that Dreadful and yet Ioyful Day of Iudgment when he shall deal and distribute Palms and Prizes Crowns and a Kingdom to the little or in Comparison the less Flock or Sheep set at his Right hand for whom such good things were prepared from the Foundation of the world But utter Extermination to the goats on the Left hand whom he will send accursed into Everlasting Prisons there to be tormented in that fire which was first prepared not for them but for their Tempter and tormentors the Divel and his Angels I confess our Great Author closes not with the Point of Everlasting life till he come to the Twentieth Chapter But I thought my self bound here to insert the Three next Chapters viz. the 17 18 and 19 for these reasons following 1. Because they be Three and the First Three of Thirteen Excellent and most Elaborate Tracts all in order composed upon The sixth Chapter to the Romans and pity it was to sever them from the Other with which they so well consort and sure 2. If I had left out These Three I should not onely have done prejudice to the Author and his work but to the Reader and his Content or benefit who will find that these Three Chapters are as comely and as useful Introductions to his Rich Discourses about the Domus Aeternitatis the two several long Homes of all mankind as any Propylaea or Areae can possibly be to any two Houses of this Worlds Building 3. The Doctrine delivered in these Three Next Chapters is so promotive and incentive of Christian Pietie and some of it so Homogeneal to the ensuing Tracts that they could not be more fitly placed then before the Discourses about the Final Award or Sentence 4.
you see how the terrour of the last day or fear of everlasting death must work in us an Abstinence from evil or repentance for evil past as the Hope of Everlasting Life doth work patience and constancie in persecution Yet both parts of that brief Receipt Sustine et Abstine may be effected by our serious meditation upon either branch of our belief concerning life and death everlasting For if all the sufferings of this life be not worthy of or equivalent unto the glory which shall be revealed in us we must needs be worthy of and obnoxious to everlasting death if we do not with patience suffer persecution in this life rather then hazard our hopes of Life Eternal Again if the sufferance of everlasting death be much worse then the suffering of all persecutions possible in this life our not repentance at the Terrour of it doth make us uncapable of everlasting life Our hopes of avoiding it by repentance if they be sound and firm will animate and in a manner impell us to follow the wayes of life to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance 4. Seeing then we are thus invironed on the right hand and on the left having the hopes of Eternal Life set before us to encourage us to constancy and resolution and are so strongly beset with inevitable fear of everlasting death if like faint hearted souldiers we should retreat or revoke our vow in Baptisme may not the Lord in Justice take up that complaint against us which sometimes he did against Jerusalem and Judah What could I have done more for my vineyard that I have not done unto it Other means to make men either good men or good Citizens the old world knew none nor could the wit of the wisest Law-givers devise any besides poena et praemium Reward and punishment Now what Kingdom or Common-wealth had either so bountiful Rewards or so dreadful punishments proposed unto them as we Christians have What then is the reason why we of all others are more defective in good duties most fruitful in evil lesse observant or more desperate transgressors of our Princes Lawes then the subjects or Citizens of any other well governed Kingdoms ever were how often do we pawn our hopes of everlasting life upon less occasions then Esau did his birth-right and set Christ our acknowledged Lord and Redeemer to sale at a lower price then Judas did The original of this our desperate neglect or contempt must either be misbelief or unbelief of the Reward promised to well doing or of the Punishment threatned to evil doers And it would be a point very hard to determine Whether of such as make any conscience of their wayes especially since the reformation of Religion more have miscarried through misbelief or through unbelief of this Great Article of our Creed Everlasting life and everlasting death Our Misbelief for the most part concerns the Article of everlasting life Of everlasting death we are rather unbelievers then misbelievers Misbelief alwayes includes a strong belief but the stronger our belief the more dangerous it is if it be wrested or misplaced and the worst way we can misplace our belief of heavenly joyes is when we make our selves certain of our salvation before our time or ranke our selves amongst the elect or heirs not disinheritable of the heavenly kingdom before we have made our Election sure 5. As the absolute infallibilitie of the present Romish Church doth make up the measure of heathenish Idolatry or iniquity So the immature belief of our own salvation or Election doth make up the measure of Jewish or Pharisaical Hypocrisie The manner how it doth so is this If no covetous if no sacrilegious person if no slanderer of his brethren or reviler of his betters can enter into the Kingdom of heaven as it is certain they cannot untill they repent then no man which is certain of his salvation can perswade himself or be perswaded that he is a covetous or sacrilegious person that he is a slanderer of his brethren or a reviler of his betters and hence the Conclusion arising from the Premisses is inevitable that albeit such men as presume of their Election or salvation before their time before they be throughly sanctified do all that covetous or sacrilegious men do be continual slanderers or malicious revilers of their brethren yet it is impossible that they should suspect much less condemn themselves of these crimes until they correct their former errours and rectifie their misbelief or presumption of their immutable estate in grace Yea their errour not being corrected makes them confident in these wicked practises and causes them to mistake hatred to mens persons or envy to others good parts for zeal to Religion and stubbornness in Schisme and faction for Christian charitie or good affection unto truth And if any man of better insight in the Stratagems of Satan shall go about to detect their error or convince them by strength of Reason grounded upon Scripture that their mis-perswasions do branch into Blasphemie and can bring forth no better fruit then Pharisaical hypocrisie yet they usually requite his pains as that young Spanish spark did the Physician which had well nigh cured him of a desperate Phrensie no sooner had he brought him to know what he was indeed no more then a Page though to a great Duke or Grandee of Spain but the Youth instead of a Fee or thankful acknowledgement began to revile and curse the Physician for bringing him out of a pleasant dream of golden mountains much richer then the King of Spain had any it seemed as a kind of hell unto him to see himself to be but a Page who in his raving fits had taken upon him to create Dukes and Earls and to exercise the Acts of Royal Authoritie Very much like him in Horace Epistol Libr. 2. Ep. 2. Fuit haud ignobilis Argis Qui se credebat miros audire Tragoedos In vacuo laetus sessor plausorque Theatro Hic ubi cognatorum opibus curisque refectus Expulit helleboro morbum bilemque meraco Et redit ad sese pol me occidistis amici Non servastis ait cui sic extorta voluptas Et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus Error But with the Originals of Mis-belief besides what is said in our Fifth Book of Comments upon the Creed in this particular we shall have fitter occasion to meet hereafter And the greater part of men amongst us I am perswaded offend more in Unbelief then in Mis-belief 6. And by Unbelief lest we should be mistaken we understand somewhat less then the lowest degree of Infidelity Now of Infidels there be two degrees or ranks Infideles Contradictionis and Infideles purae Negationis He is an Infidel in the former sense that contradicts or opposeth the truth of Scriptures especially concerning Everlasting Life and Everlasting Death and such Infidels I presume there are none amongst us He is an Infidel in the Later Sense that doth not believe the
Will as his love and zealous Observance of those commandments in whose practise he finds less difficultie increaseth his proneness to transgress the other from whose observance he is by nature or custom more averse will still decrease his Positive diligence or care to practise those duties which are not so contrary to his natural inclinations will alwayes in some proportion or other raise or quicken his weak desires or inclinations to observe those duties which he hath formerly more often and more grievously neglected or opposed 9. But some happily will here demand why our Saviour in this place of St. Matth. 25. 34. c. seeing all Good works are necessarie unto Salvation should instance only in works of one kind that is in works of Charitie towards others and not in works of Pietie and sanctitie as in fasting and praying It is an Excellent observation and so much the more to be esteemed by us in that it was made by Jansenius a learned Bishop not of Reformed but of the Romish Church that However fasting and other exercises of mortification be duties necessary in their time and place yet God is better pleased with us for relieving and comforting others in their affliction be it affliction of body or of soul then for afflicting our own souls and bodies And as for fasting One good Use of it is To learn by our voluntarie want of food truly to pitie and comfort others which want it against their wills we then truly fast or our fast is then truly religious when we fast not for thrift or sparing or for the health of body but that what we spare from our selves we may bestow not sparingly but cheerfully upon our needy brethren So the Prophet instructs us Esai 58. 5 6 7. Is it such a fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul is it to bow down his head as a bul-rush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him wilt thou call this a fast an acceptable day to the Lord Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoke Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Again Fasting is useful or expedient only at some certain times and seasons These duties here mentioned Mat. 25. 34. c. are at all times necessarie they are never out of season they are upon the respects last mentioned most seasonable when we Fast and yet in some sort more seasonable when we Feast For feasting of our selves or of the Rich being unmindful of the poor and needy is to bring a curse upon our selves and upon our plentie As we see it set forth in the parable of Lazarus and Dives See Pro. 22. 16. Luke 14. 13. St. Austine observes that the duty of praying continually is not literally meant of praying alwayes with our lips nor of multiplying set hours of Devotion but Omne opus bonum Every good work is a Real Prayer specially if we consecrate our selves to it by prayer The continuance of Good works begun and undertaken by prayer is a continuation of our prayers So that by Praying often and doing Good to others continually we may be said to observe or fulfill that precept Pray continually 10. As we cannot more truly imitate or express our Savior's disposition in more solid Characters then by the practise of these duties for he went about doing good healing all that were oppressed so are there no Duties which are so easie for all to imitate him in as these are None can plead exemption for want of means or opportunity to practise them For though some be so needy themselves that they cannot clothe the naked or feed the hungry yet may they visit the sick or resort to such as are in Prison As every one in some kinde or other may be the object of his neighbors charity so may every one be either Instrument or Agent in the doing thereof The rich may stand in need of visitation or of their Neighbors Prayers either for continuance or restauration of health and they cannot want other on whom to exercise their charity For as our Saviour saith Pauperes semper habebitis vobiscum You shall always have the poor amongst you And who knows whether the Lord in mercy hath not suffered the poor in these places to abound that the rich or men of competent means might have continual and daily occasion to practise these Duties here continually injoyned We of this place cannot want soil to sow unto the Lord For as the former Parable imports we shall not want occasion to put out the Talent wherewith God hath blest us to advantage So Solomon saith He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord and look what he layeth out it shall be payed him again Pro. 19. 17. What greater Incouragement can any man either give or require to the performance of this service then that which Our Lord and Master hath given to all which either truly love him or esteem of his love What can the Eloquence of man adde to this Invitation in this place What better Assurance could any man require then the solemn promise of so powerful and gracious a Lord Or what greater Reward or Blessing could any man expect to have assured unto him then that which our Savior here assures us Whatsoever we do to the poor and distressed he will interpret it as done to himself and really so reward it And with Reference to this Last Day of Final Retribution did the Psalmist say Psal 41. Blessed is the man that provideth for the sick and needy the Lord shall deliver him in time of trouble Sickness Death and Judgement are Critical days of Trouble But I know it will be Objected that The greatest part of the poor which dwell and sojourn amongst us are not such Little Ones as our Savior here speaks of that is not his Brethren Men or Children they be which for the most part draw near unto him with their lips when they hope to receive an Alms through his Name but are far from him in their hearts more ready at most times and upon no occasion to abuse his Name with fearful Oathes then to call upon it in Prayer in Reverence and Humility Would God the matter Objected were not too true However The truth of it doth not so much excuse the Contraction as it doth exact the Extension of your bowels of compassion towards them 11. Seeing for them also Christ shed his blood their ignorance of Christ and his goodness should move us all to a deeper touch of Pity and Compassion towards them then sight of their bodily distress of their want or calamity can affect us with And this
died for All albeit the Pardon General be proclaimed to all The best Cause or Reason I could render would be This Because All that profess they believe in Christ do not truly believe in Him For if they did They would be careful to maintain Good Works and glorifie God by being Fruitful in them The End of the Fifth Section The sixth SECTION A Transition of the Publishers WE have by Gods Good Blessing dispatched The main of this Book the Five first Sections so many Commentaries or Expositions of such Points or Articles of Christian Faith as are most proper by way of Dread and Terror to awake the Conscience and stirre the Affections To perswade men to reflect seriously upon all their Actions or Omissions Failings or Atchievements and to prepare themselves for that Account which must shortly be Rendred To God the Judge of All who will respect no Persons nor endure Pretences If these have their kindly perfect work They will Produce Judging our selves to prevent the Judgement of the Lord Repentance and Restitution of all things Circumspect walking for the Future and passing the Remnant of our Pilgrimage here in Fear To inrich the volume and to benefit the Reader I have thought good to annex this sixth Section which is A Collection of such Sermons of this Authors as I conceive likely to prove most effectual to the ends above mentioned and be most proper not only for this Place in the Body of His works but for these Times also which may perhaps be startled to see their present sins so flagrantly reproved many years ago by one who knew not any of their persons that commit them Our great Author had in his Eighth Book and third Chapter sadly complained of some that made this Great Rule of Charitie Equitie and Justice Do as you would be done unto This Law of nature and Precept of our Law-giver A nose of wax A verie Lesbian Leaden Rule He had more sadly complained in his Tenth Book Chapter 23. That not only the Practise of this Transcendent Rule was extinct amongst men But that the very Sense of it was if not utterly lost among the Learned Casuists or Expositors yet most shamefully decocted and Piteously shrunk up for want of improving and deducing it into several pipes and Branches of Good Life Lastly in the 29 Chapter of this Book amongst other useful things concerning this Rule He told us That God would Judge the world by it So then This next Discourse I mean the three Sermons upon this Text Comes not in unseasonably And I hope the next but One will follow this as sutably as a silver Thred can follow a needle of Gold And I shall endeavour to pick chuse and so place the rest that the Reader shall not deny their Consequencie to the five precedent Sections treating Of Christs Power to raise the Dead to judge the quick and dead and finally to sentence Both according to the things done in the Body be they Good or Bad. At which day God send this present sinful Generation and amongst them my Soul A Good deliverance and in order thereto a Timely unfeigned Repentance especially of their applauded and avowed transgressions This for Jesus sake who is our Ransom would be our Peace and shall be our Judge Amen The First Sermon upon this Text. CHAP. XXXII MATTH 7. 12. All things Therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you even so do ye unto them For this is the Law and the Prophets Prov. xx 22. Say not thou I will recompence Evil Wait on the Lord and He shall save thee Prov. 24. 29. Say not I will do to him as he hath done to me I will render to the man according to his work The miserie of man of the wisest of men in their Pilgrimage to be wanderers too The short way to Happiness The pearl of the Ocean The Epitome Essence Spirits of the Law and Prophets Do as you would be done unto The Cohaerence The Method Christ advanceth This dictate of nature into an Evangelical Law Fortifies it and gives us proper motives to practise it Two grounds of Equitie in this Law 1. Actual equalitie of all men by nature 2. Possible equalitie of all men in Condition Exceptions against the Rule Answers to those Exceptions This Rule forbids not to wage or invoke Law so it be done with Charitie Whether nature alone bind us to do good to our enemies God has right to command us to love them Plato 's Good Communion The compendious way to do our selves most Good is to do as much good as we can to others The Application IT is whether you list to term it A follie or A Calamitie incident to all sorts of men that when they take a perfect Survey of all their former courses they find their wandrings and digressions far larger then their direct proceedings The more excellent the End is whereat we aim the greater commonly is our Error the more our By-paths from the right way that leads unto it Because The greatest Good is alwayes hardest to come by Thus such as hunt most eagerly after the knowledge of Best matters seeing the Best are worst to find after natures Glass is almost run out and most of their spirits spent whilst they look back upon their former labors like weary Passingers that have wandred up and down in unknown coasts without a Guide desirous to see the way they missed in a Map when they come to their Journeys end begin to discern what Toyl and pains they might have saved had they been acquainted with such good Rules directions at the first as now they know Nor have we so great cause to be ashamed of our folly as to bewail The common miserie of our nature seeing the wisest among the sons of men either for Civil knowledge or speculative learning Solomon himself had almost lost himself in this Maze never finding any other issue of his Tedious course but only this All is vanitie and vexition of Spirit Untill he had almost come to the End of his dayes Then he found out That short compendious way of godly Life Eccles 12. 13. Let us hear the End of all Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole dutie of man In this is contained all we seek 2. Had Solomon in his yonger dayes fixed his eyes upon this Rule which he hath left us as the Mariner doth his upon the Pole or other Celestial sign he might have arrived in half that Time at that Haven which He hardly reached in his old Age after continual danger of Shipwrack by his wandring to and Fro. But how-so-ever This fear of God and our observation of his Commandments be the Readiest the safest and the shortest Cut that Solomon knew unto that True Happiness which all men seek but most seek amiss yet these Commandments cannot be kept unless they be known And known they cannot be without good studie and industrie either in reading or
no dependence of man upon the Divine Power did often shew commendable effects of this Law written in their hearts in sundry duties of Good neighborhood as we speak and civil kindnesses As for any Affinity or Bonds of society between man and man at least between men of divers Countries more then is between beasts of the same kind most of them acknowledged none nor did they acknowledge as much affinity betwixt Creatures of any kind as we do that acknowledge all things to have one Creator Herein then is Our Equalitie and Affinity greater that we all acknowledge one God for our Father who is in a more peculiar sort the Creator of every man then of any other corruptible Creature Again All we Christians acknowledge One Christ for our Head of whose Body we are Members hence ariseth another Peculiar Equalitie from the equal price of our Redemption which was all one for the Rich and Poor for the Little and Mighty Ones of the Earth This God pre-figured in the Law Exod. 30. verse 11 12 15. Afterwards the Lord spake unto Moses When thou takest the sum of the Children of Israel after their number then they shall give every man a Redemption of his life unto the Lord when thou tellest them that there be no plague among them when thou countest them The Rich shall not passe and the poor shall not diminish from half a shekel when ye shall give an Offering unto the Lord for the Redemption of your Lives From this strict Dependencie of all men upon one and the same Creator and this Equality and Brother-hood which we have in one Father doth our Saviour Christ Luke 6 v. 36. draw that precept Of loving our Enemies which he makes as it were an Essential property of all such as truly acknowledge One God Not that all men were not bound thereto and might have known so much by nature but that it was a greater shame and more praeposterous sin in such as did acknowledge One God not to perform that Duty The Consciences of the Gentiles as St. Paul saith might secretly accuse them But the Others words and speeches did bear open Testimony against them if they neglected so to do so saith our Saviour Christ immediately upon the words of the Text For if you love them which love you what thank shall you have for even the sinners love those that love them And if you do good for them which do good for you what thank shall ye have for even the sinners do the same And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive what thank shall ye have for even the sinners lend to sinners to receive the like Wherefore love ye your enemies and do good and lend looking for nothing again and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the most High for he is kind to the unkind and to the evil 15. This further confirms what out of the principles of Nature was formerly gathered to wit that where it is said Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you do ye so unto them The meaning is not What ye would have this or that man do unto you do ye so unto the same man but rather thus Whatsoever ye would that any man should do unto you do ye the like in like case to every man in that he is man in that he is your fellow Creature in that he is the Son of your heavenly Father be he otherwise friend or foe Yet further we may nay we must inlarge this Precept if we will have the full meaning of it Thus. Whatsoever ye would should be done unto you whether by Man by Angel or any other of Gods ministring Spirits or procurer of mankinds good or by God himself That do to every man because every man that God to his Father who as He hath a care and providence over all so is it his will that every Creature under him all men especially that call him Father should be his Ministers in procuring and furthering any others good of whom this our heavenly Father vouchsafes to take care and charge A lively Emblem of this Duty we have in the Ravens feeding of Eliah being destitute of all ordinary means of Food If we consider the nature of this Bird none more Ravenous none more Greedy of the Prey then it yet because the Lord feeds the young Ravens when they call upon him being otherwise destitute of ordinary relief from their Dams or old Ones as both Aristotle and Plinie observe and the Psalmist alludes to it in that speech Therefore the Lord commanded them to afford the like help to Elias being forsaken or rather persecuted by the King and his Officers who should have yielded him house and harbour and from their example we should learn the practise to do for others as either the Lord hath done or we expect he should do for us Thus much I say is fully and directly included in our Saviours Deductions and Conclusions drawn from this Principal Rule albeit so much be not fully exprest in his words especially if we observe the Greek phrase only But the language whose manner of Dialect the Evangelists retain though writing in the Greek Tongue will very well bear and our Saviours words Luke 6. 36. verse enforce as much Be ye therefore merciful as your H. Father is merciful and in the 6. of Matth. v. 14. He tels us that if we look for mercie at Gods hand we must shew mercie unto men not to our friends or brethren by kindred or Nation but unto men The place is so much the more worth our observation because he adds no Exposition or Comment to any one Petition in all the Lords Prayer save only that He gives this Note upon that And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us his Note is this If ye forgive men their Trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if you do not forgive men their Trespasses no more will your Heavenly Father forgive you your Trespasses Wherefore as we desire God to forgive us our Trespasses though we have been his Enemies so must we be ready to forgive our Enemies and as we desire all good of him so must we be ready not only to forgive but even to do any good to our enemies If he be our enemie deservedly we should therefore do him good that we might make amends for the occasion offered if our Enemy he be without any just occasion given by us we should consider that this voluntary Enmity in him is the work of Satan but he Himself as man is our fellow Creature the workmanship of Gods own hand God made him man but the Divel made him an Enemy And we should seek by all meanes possible to dissolve the works of Satan and to repair the handy work of God that is we should love his person and seek to reform his vice we should overcome his evil with our good-will to him if
ignorant of his Call that had often redeemed them from their enemies How often would I have gathered you and you would not Here were large matter for Rhetorical Digressions or mellifluous Encomions of Divine Love Points wherein many Learned Divines have in later times been very copious yet still leaving the truth of that Love which they so magnifie very questionable It shall suffice me at this time First To prove the undoubted truth and unfeignednesse of Gods tender Love even towards such Cast-awayes as these proved to whom he made this protestation Secondly To unfold as far as is fitting for us to inquire how it is possible that they should not be gathered unto God nor saved by Christ whose gathering and whose safety he to whom nothing can be impossible had so earnestly so tenderly and constantly longed after These are Points of such Use and Consequence that if God shall enable me soundly though plainly to unfold their truth you will I hope dispense with me for want of artificial Exornations or words more choice then such as naturally spring out of the matters handled as willingly as the poor amongst you pardon good house-keepers for wearing nothing but home-spun cloth For as it is hard for a man of ordinary means to bestow much on his own back and feed many bellies so neither is it easie for me and my present opportunities both to feed your souls with the Truth and to cloath my Discourse with choice words and flourishing phrases And I am perswaded many Preachers might in this Argument often prove more Theological so they could be content to be lesse Rhetorical My purpose is not to dissent from any of the Reformed Churches but only in those particulars wherein they evidently dissent from themselves and from General Principles of Truth acknowledged by all that believe God or his Word 3. Were I to speak in some Audience of this Point it would be needful to dip my pen in Nectar or sweeten my voice with Ambrosia to allay the harshnesse of this Position That God should so earnestly desire the conversion of such as perish Howbeit the surest Grounds of that Charitie which God requires should be in every one of us towards all our greatest enemies not excepted is Firm Belief of this his unspeakable Love towards all even towards such as kill his Prophets and stone the Messengers of their peace I exhort saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 2. 1. that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in authoritie Yet did most such in those dayes oppress Christians and draw them before Judgement Seats James 2. 6. even because they did pray unto the true God for them who did blaspheme that worthy Name c. This Dutie notwithstanding which was so odious unto those great and rich men for whose good it was performed S. Paul tells us was good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour 1 Tim. 2. 3. Why acceptable in his sight Because v. 4. he would have all men and therefore the sworn enemies of the Gospel to be saved and to come to the knowledg of the truth which they now oppugned Or if the expresse Authoritie of the Apostle suffice not his Reasons drawn from the Principles of Nature will perswade such as have not quenched the Light of Nature by setting not the corruptions only but the very Essence of Nature at odds with Grace For v. 5. there is one God had there beene moe every one might have been conceived as partial for his own Creatures But in as much as all of us have but one Father his love to every one must needs be greater then any earthly Parents love unto their children in as much as we are more truly His then Children are their Parents But here as the Apostle foreseeth might be Replyed That albeit God be One and the onely Creator of all yet in as much as all of us are the Seed of Rebels with whom he is displeased our Mediator might be more partial and commend some to Gods love neglecting others To prevent this Scruple the Apostle adds ver 5. that as there is but One God so there is but One Mediator between God and Man and he of the same Nature with us A Man But men are partial yet so is not the Man Christ Jesus that is The Man annointed by the Holy Ghost to be the Saviour of the world As he truly took our flesh upon him that he might be a faithful and affectionate High Priest so that we might conceive of him as of an unpartial Solicitor or Mediator betwixt God and us he took not our Nature enstampt with any Individual Properties Characters or References to any one Tribe or Kindred Father according to the flesh he had none but was framed by the sole immediate hand of God to the end that as the eye because it hath no set colour is apt to receive the impression of every colour So Christ because he had not those carnal References which others have but was without father without brother without sister on earth might be unpartial towards all and account every one that doth the will of his Father which is in heaven as sister mother and brother Thus saith the Lord unto the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths and chuse the things that please me and take hold of my Covenant Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a Name better then of sons and of daughters I will give them an everlasting Name that shall not be cut off Briefly he is A Brother to all mankind more loving and more affectionate then brothers of intire blood are one towards another 4. The very Ground of the Apostles Reason thus barred will of its owne accord reverberate that distinction which hath been laid against his meaning by some otherwise most worthy defendants of the truth The Distinction is that when the Apostle saith God will have all men to be saved he means Genera singulorum not singula generum Some few of all sorts not all of every sort Some rich some poor some learned some unlearned some Jewes some Gentiles some Italians some English c. The Illustrations which they bring to justifie this manner of speech did the time permit I could retort upon themselves and make them speak more plainly for my Opinion then for theirs It shall be sufficient by the way to note the Impertinencie of the Application supposing the Instances brought by them were justifiable by the Illustrations which they bring Or to shew how little it could weaken Our Assertion although it might intercept all the strength or aid this Place affords for the Fortification of it For what can it help them to turn these words because they make towards us from their ordinary and usual meaning or to restrain Gods Love only unto such as are saved when as the Current of it in
put the two first words and the four last together And so the Expression will appear to be not only more full but a great deal more elegant in the Original then it is in the ordinary Latin or then I know how to make it in our English As thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. About translating the Original in the last words of my Text there is some diversitie amongst Interpreters The Vulgar Latin which the Romish Writers are bound to follow translate the last words thus Ad quem nobis est Sermo that is as they would express the Hebraism De quo Loquimur of whom we speak but much amiss and far from the meaning of the Original Beza much better Cui nobiscum est negotium To the same effect our English doth With whom we have to do But the Antient Gloss much better then both Cui nobis redenda est Ratio to whom we are to render an Account This indeed is the main business which we have to do with the Son of God or he with us And so the Syriack renders it save only that He puts it in the third Person plural To whom men must give an account which words according to the proprietie of that Tongue and of the Hebrew may be taken impersonally to whom account must be given And this Interpretation I find warranted by the Authoritie of S. Chrysostom and Theophylact two of the best Expressors of the Original or Greek Dialect And thus the Original will run clear without any Hiatus or interruption either in the Subject or Foundation or in the structure of the Attributes or several Propositions 9. According to this Importance of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Brest-plate the first of Aarons holy Garments made for Glory and for Beauty wherein the High-Priest did bear the names and the judgment of the Sons of Israel and wherein the Urim and Thummim were set was called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The meaning of which is better exprest by the Latine Rationale then I know how to render either of them in English but so called it was with reference to the Son of God as he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Abstract as he is Life it self and Light it self not carrying Spectacles on his Brest as the High-Priest did All the knowledg or Light of discovering Secrets which came by the Brest-plate or Rationale or by Urim or Thummim when it was in its prime use was but a glimmering Type or Shadow of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ratio or Verbum Dei The Word of God to whose sight and inspection the most secret thoughts which lurk in the Centre of mans heart the very temper and constitution of our souls are more perspicuous and clear then the inward parts of the Sacrifices were to Legal Priests after they had divided them joint from joint and broken them up For unto this Dissection or Anatomy of Legal Sacrifices our Apostle alludes in this description of the Son of God specially in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things are open and naked unto his Eyes Soli Deo Gloria Dr. Iackson Dr. Iackson made Dr. Sheldon and Dr. Newlin Supervisors of his Will and entrusted his Papers with them Dr. Lany See the Preface to the First Book See his Sermons upon Jer. 26. p. 32. See this Book fol. 3716. See fol. 3373 Of the Author of the Work Of the Order of this and other his Works Of the Figuring the Folio Volumes Of the Matter of this Eleventh Book The whole Book consists of Six Sections The Use of the last Section Psa 58. 1 See Stows Annal. fol. 3043. Idem fol. 3044. See Gen. 48. 13 14 17. It is probable that there are distinct Thrones in Heaven Heb. 8. 1 2. See Mr. Mede Places appropriate Job 1. 6. See Mr. Mede upon 1 Cor. 4. 1 Christ was exalted according to both Natures See 8. Book Chap. 15. See 8. Book Chap. 11. See 8. Book Chap. 14. See Book 8. Chap. 1. The difference about the Ubiquitie of Christs Bodie rather Verbal then Real Christs Bodie is not every where A Lutheran Syllogism A Lutheran Objection that proves aut nihil aut nimium See Chap. 11. §. 11. See Book 10. Chap. 55. 56. Besides what may be found in Cyrill of Alex See Cyrill Hierosol in Cateches Mystag 1 3 4. * Hist lib. 5. So. Suetonius in Vespas Viz. At his Resurrection and Ascension See Book 9. Chap. 39. See St. Cyrill Alex. in his Gâ—aphyr on Exodus Of the inconstancie of Vulgar affections See Book 10. Ch 23. f. 3073 John 6. 32 33 41 48 50. c. 1. Cor. 15. 45. So the Church Leiturgie in the words of ministration Three Questions See Book 10. f. 3298 3304. Eating and Drinking meerly Sacramental not meant in St. John 6. 56. The 3d. or main Question Beza's Observation Jansenius and Dr. Hessells his opinion Vid. Tollet in 6. Johan Annot 26. By this Exposition one might as well Communicate by Receiving only the Cup as the Bread only A Rule to know when And may may be changed into Or. A Second Rule when And must be turned into Or. A difficultie arising from the words if literally meant of Sacramental eating The Application relating to the 1 st General Two Duties 1 To examine our selves 2. To Discern The Lords Bodie Of the first part of mans Redemption or the Ransom paid for all See Book 9. Chap. 5. Three Uses of the Doctrine that Christ paid the Ransom for all Joh. 1. 29 2 Cor. 5. 14 15 Heb. 2. 9 2 Pet. 2. 1 See Book 8. pag. 142. Dangerous to Dallie with Gods mercies See Book 10. Chap. 31. Book 10. Ch. 50 A Second Duty to Examine our selves The Second General Though a man be in the house as the Dweller The house may be in the Man as the right owner possessor hous-holder Two Difficulties Joh. 17. 11 21 22 23 26. The former difficulty explained Esai 8. 14. Rom. 9 33. 1 Pet. 2. 6. Anton. Fernandius Cited in the next Chapter The Second Difficultie explained See Joh. 15. 2 3 4 5 6 7. where the abode is mutuall Joh. 14. 27 Joh. 16. 33 Three Points to be Discussed * Anton. Fernand. Conimb visiones vet Test vis 2. Cap. 28. Gen. fol. 83. Sect. 6. num 9. And Benedictus Ferdinandius Borb Lusit in his 2 d Tom. of Comments upon Gen. Cap. 28. Sect. 2. Num. 8. Fol. 568. saith Rom. Ecclesia est Turris fundatur in Petri confessione at que in Domini promissiore And a little after he cites S. Athanasius Lib. 2. De Trin. Optimè S. Athanasius Unum hoc est immobile fundamentum una haec est felix fidei petra Petriore Confessae Tues Filius Dei vivi c. The 2 d Point Beza's Observation Pineda on Ch. 38. Job vers 6. The 3. Point propounded Paragr 2. See Book 3. Chap. 7. 8.