himself This is his original Right whereby he was not only morally righteous but had a legal right over the Creatures Ergo much more over himself All other rights whereby he enjoys Houses Lands or Goods are improper to Man alien and forreign not natural but positive grounded upon humane Contracts Now for a man to be restrained from his proper Right that he cannot or may not have propriety possession or usufruct of himself but is forced to become the propriety possession and usufruct of another by selling or letting or losing the free-hold of himself this is true slavery Hence the Civil Law describes slavery to be subjection Contra naturam dominio alterius and Servus dicitur nullius Juris Against Nature for a man not to be his own but another's man and to have right to nothing not so much as to himself When Subjects have not the property of their Goods they count themselves slaves If he be rightly stiled a slave that hath not property in any goods much more is he a slave that hath no property of himself Constraint â—o base Actions VII Constraint of a man to vile and base Actions is true slavery For as Restraint from good makes slavery so Constraint to evil makes slavery out of measure slavish Hence the Israelites were slaves in Egypt constrained to make Bricks and Pots of Clay The Prodigal was a slave to the Citizen to feed his Swine and yet not to be sed with them The Possessed in the Gospel were slaves to Satan and forced often by him into the fire and water Put all these three together and they shew the full Nature of slavery that is bondage of Spirit restraining Man from his several properties and constraining him to their several contraries The use of all is to shew thee thy Error Thou complainest of Temporal slavery it is a false and counterfeit slavery the Spiritual slavery is the true slavery To feel the burthen of that and complain of the misery would argue a good increase of God's grace in thee and if God's grace free thee from that slavery then art thou free from all the World which God grant The CONTENTS The Sinner habitual TITLE XI Of the subject of Slavery THE subject of Slavery Who is a true slave the Sinner The Sinner habitual He that committeth sin is the servant of sin To commit sin is not to commit one single act of sin for the godly have their falls and surprizes of sin But habitually the course and practice of sin such an one is termed a sinner The extent of the Sinner is universal whosoever he be though otherwise never so free by Birth State or Tenure yet if he be an habitual sinner he is the servant of Sin The Jews alledged their freedom by Birth as they were the Children of Abraham and never in bondage to any man yet for their sins they were in spiritual bondage saith Christ David hinted this saying Bring my Soul out of Prison that I may praise thy Name Psal 142.7 What Prison could this be but the spiritual prison of Sin Christ hinted this saying The Spirit of the Lord hath sent me to preach deliverance to the poor c. Luc. 4.18 What poor how bound in what Fetters c. even the Sinner fast bound in spiritual bonds St. Paul tells the Romans that they had formerly been slaves voluntary slaves by yielding their Members as instruments of Unrighteousness from sin to sin Ro. 6.20 and were very free from Righteousness that is slaves to sin for freedom from Righteousness is the true slavery Sin is a Captive to Satan who is a Warrener and layes snares for Vermin What snares are Riches but such whereby men fall into divers foolish lusts and drowned in perdition and led captive by the Devil according to his will The CONTENTS Restraint from proper End Restraint from proper Guide Restraint from proper Act. Restraint from proper Rule Restraint from proper State Restraint from proper Right Captivity Constraint to base Actions TITLE XII Of the Reasons of Slavery THE Reasons why the Sinner is a Slave are according to the seven Cases of Slavery Restraint from proper End I. Because the Sinner is restrained from his proper end which is True Happiness For by the Law of God the sinner is deprived and disabled from all those priviledges of Eternal Joy and Glory whereof the Saints are capable For as it is the Glory of the Saints to enjoy the presence of God to see his face and know him as he is So the Misery of a Sinner is to be an Exile or out-cast from God never to see his face nor know him as he is Gal. 5.21 As by Man's Law a Bastard hath no Inheritance in Earthly Kingdoms so the Sinner hath no inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven For they that do such things shall not inherit c. But the end of the sinner is Torment his Wages Everlasting Death and Pain Go ye Cursed c. Restraint from proper Guide II. Because restrained from his proper Guide which is a Right Spirit The guide of the sinner is the Flesh he is led by it and a debtor to it he is put on by it upon every beastly service The Pride of the flesh to dishonour Parents Wrath to murther Lust to commit Adultery c. So silly Men and Women are laden with sins and led away with divers lusts The guide to the sinner is Satan he leads his lust as when he possesseth the Body he carries it and moves it so when he Masters the Soul he leadeth it captive as he pleaseth For the great and famous Master-pieces of Villany are acted by men led on by the instigation of the Devil Judas was the guide to them that Crucified Christ but Satan was his guide for he entred into him twice first for his resolution when he bargained and sold his Master secondly the execution of the Treason after the delivery of the sop Ananias sells his estate and keeps back part thereof when Satan had first filled his heart Acts 5.3 The sinner is made blind by Satan that he might go for his God and be his guide 2 Cor. 4.4 The God of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not III. Because restrained from his proper Act i. e. his Will Restraint from proper Act. The sinner hath a Will yet not a free Will but a Captive Will He hath the faculties of a Natural Will but cannot actuate that faculty to perform the proper acts thereof by choosing the good and refusing the evil But rather he acts quite contrary by choosing the evil and refusing the good which is not Liberty and Will but restraint and want of Will As to take Error for Truth is not Understanding but want of Understanding so to choose evil for good is not will but want of will For because God is the proper object of the Will that heart that cannot choose the
and anon and trouble their Writings Ib. p. 34. Did God generally under the weak and worldly state of the Jewish Church send forth those Prophets whose learning education holy lives great works admirable gifts commanded even prophane men to a reverence of their Persons and Message And doth he now make use of Monsters Comets Meteors or the Apparitions of unclean Spirits as his Praecones Publici Id. ib. p 47. Signa Moralia signs of a Moral nature such as were the gradual lessening of the lustre and glory of the Jewish Polity and Pedagogy Oeconomy of Moses decaying by the ceasing of Prophecy the absence of Heavenly fire the Ark of the Covenant the Schechinah the Oracles by Urim and Thummim From the Second Temple the lapsing of the government from Kings to Dukes from Dukes to the Sanhedrim from them to the Romans there having been no Kings types of Christ after David and Solomon except Hezekiah be admitted a Candidate for that hand this vanishing splendour of the face of Moses that Oeconomy whereof he was the Minister was a sign that the Sun of Righteousness was now arising under whom a state of more Spiritual and Inward glory was shortly to obtain Ib. p. 48. All the Shadows and Rites of the Law were to expire and conclude like the Phoenix in a Nest of Spices in the Graces and Truths and Glories of the Gospel state that the wall of Partition was now to be taken away and all Nations to own themselves Brethren under one Common-Father The Times there intended were times rather present than future Times wherein the Mosaical Oeconomy brought on with mighty Signs and Wonders was to determine Times wherein the Church was to be put under an immutable and excellent form of Administration and therefore the last time in Scripture Signs The Jews were a people so used to Signs that the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 1.22 The Jews require a Sign And it was the vulgar opinion amongst them That as all extraordinary Prophets were to seal their Commission with a Miracle so all events extraordinary were to be foreshewn by a Sign Hence the Jews came to our Saviour with that bold demand What Sign shewest thou unto us Mar. 8.11 seeing thou dost all these things Jo. 2.18 God perhaps gave them Signs to assure them that the evils which befell them arose not out of the dust but came upon them from the fore-appointing Counsels of heaven and to awaken their dull and worldly minds into a lively sense of his Justice and Providence But now in the broad day light of the Gospel 't is expected that we should not need awakening by any such Monitors into a sense and awe of the Divine Majesty We must now believe without a Sign and derive our Repentance not from mighty Earthquakes and Prodigies but an ingenious and understanding sense of sin Id. ib. p. 74. We are to discard all sowr Jealousies concerning God Sowr jealous conceits of God Synesius hath observed that however the Nations were distanced from each other like the lines in the Circumference 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by very different opinions and sentiments in reference to God and Religion in other matters yet still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all center'd and met in this great Doctrine both wise and unwise That God was a good bountiful and benign Being The greater wonder to me it is that so many Doctrines among the Heathens and Christians too which I am not here to take notice of should be received with a Non obstante to this native and easie sense of the Divine goodness and Philanthropy lodged in their minds the Leaven of a Sowr conceit which cannot dwell with a belief of Gods goodness Plutarch justly challengeth in Herodotus That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Deity is of an envious and troublesom disposition That God is only ingeniosus in malis that his Counsels are especially taken up with the contrivances of new plagues and miseries for the hated World than which did never a more pestilential Air breath from the bottomless pit crazing the very vitals of Religion and corrupting the first and earliest notions rising up in the Soul when conceiving of a God Whereas if men did not measure the Nature of God by that froward and envious Spirit which commands themselves they might easily understand all the Evils sometimes sent down upon the World to be in the language of the Moralist only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Divine Testimony given in against sin and intended but to discipline the mad World into some sober and wise thoughts and they would believe the fairer reports which Scripture makes of God which tells us He doth not willingly grieve the Children of men that fury dwells not with him that Judgment is his strange work Ib. p. 77. A generous indifferency as to the good and evil things of this world Indifferency to the world The more the heart of a man outgrows the joys and fears of this world the more will all things therein appear to him much too little for the solemnity of a Prodigy The more will he think nothing here of value enough to have its fall come with pomp and observation and the less will he concern himself to know the future condition of such a vanity as this world is 'T is only when mens hopes and fortunes are much embarked in this world that they are impressive to any great fears in reference to its future state The Gentiles of old that could never lift up their heavy and drossie minds above the dull flats of things sensible and worldly were the greatest Professors of all the Arts of Divination by all manner of strange and unusual Accidents And the Jews to whom God had promised a heaven on this side thereof in the literal enjoyment of this Worlds blessings were very solicitous about the meaning of strange Prophecies the signs of the times the issue of things And God was pleased by many Oracles Signs and Prophecies to accommodate himself to this low and worldly temper of theirs But since the introduction of a Better hope the Tenders of such Spiritual promises we have scarce any intimations and notices given us of things future unless some very dark Prophecies in the Revelation which some Learned men conceive already accomplish't God hereby supposing our eyes now to be fixt so upon the more clearly revealed felicities of another world as not much to look down to the futurities of this P. 80. Shall we value our Faith at so cheap a rate as to trust it with the oracles of the Father of lies Can the Devil be presumed able to give us true Resolutions to any Questions de Futuro Did God ever make him of his Counsel or deliver times and seasons into his power or willing if able to do it with any fair and single purposes and intentions Have the beams of the Sun of Righteousness put out all the fires on his Altars the glory and power of the Divine Oracles and Miracles
all these So the Church hath her Pupillage and Tutorage and also her Majority and full Age. However God revealed himself at sundry times and after divers manners by his Servants to the infant Church in former Ages Heb. 1.2 yet in these last and riper daies he hath more fully revealed himself by his Son Who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 10 11 12. ready to be revealed in the last time of which Salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the Grace that should come unto you searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified before-hand the Sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven which things the Angels desire to look into And these all having obtained a good report through Faith received not the Promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect SECTION II. Jews a childish People The Jews are reckoned a childish People who though they had perpetual Oracles Miracles and Prophets among them as evidences of God's Presence and Protection yet they fell of shamefully to Idolatry A Prodigy GOD being daily in their eye and as it were handled by them in Egypt at the Red-Sea by a Pillar of Fire by night and of Cloud by day in the Wilderness giving them the Law and Manna from heaven c. in the Tabernacle and in the Temple when they came into the Land of Canaan That all along they should distrust his Goodness and Rebel against him But after seventy years Captivity that sore and lasting Calamity for all their Idolatries they began to come to their Wits arriving at some degree of maturity and growth The Temple so destroyed and now so proudly re-edified and their Enemies still increasing upon them and God withdrawing his visible presence from them by little and little and no Angel nor Prophet appearing to comfort them they were taught that there was some higher Worship and more Spiritual happiness intended for them than the Law did promse And they began by degrees to elevate their minds to seek him in his proper dwelling place of Heaven and to rely upon Coelestial and Eternal Promises as appeared by the constancy of their Sufferings under Antiochus even to Martyrdom in the Hope that their Fathers the best of them had That they might obtain a better Resurrection Heb. 11.35 Thus their Affections were weaned by degrees towards the dawning of the Gospel and the Day-spring from on high which was shortly to visit them All hopes of Temporal happiness failing them being put under the Roman-yoke also which they so much abhorred the Wisest among them did look up higher than this World and waited for the greater Consolation of Israel who was to be the Hopes of all the ends of the Earth The Glory of the Scepter being at last departed from Judah first ravished from them by one of the Limbs of the Macedonian Lion and afterwards grasped by the Talons of the Roman Eagle after this deadly gripe the Royal Stock was quite extinct and the Office of Aaron perplexed and all things in Church and State so blended contrary to their Original Institution that they were at their wits end as to any Temporal recovery which made the Understanding Party look up higher but the Generality were sorely abused by their Leaders and Teachers Then came John the Baptist the Preacher of Repentance to the Poor people and to the Scribes and Pharisees that generation of Vipers warning them to flee from the Wrath and to embrace the Mercy that was to come and to bring forth fruits worthy of Repentance and not to say any more in their hearts That they had Abraham to their Father for God was able out of the Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham not to trust in the Temple for not a stone shall be left upon a stone and the Axe was laid to the Root of the Tree and every Tree that brought not forth good fruit was to be hewn down and cast into the fire Also Christ was to come with his Fann in his hand who would throughly purge his floor and gather his Wheat into his Garner and burn up the Chaff with unquenchable fire And except men were born again and except their Righteousness did exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees they should never enter into the Kingdom of heaven but must be baptized not with VVater but with the Holy Ghost and with Fire Many mighty Miracles were done by Jesus Christ and his Disciples in all the Regions round about so as it was never heard of or seen before since the VVorld stood At this hearing and seeing of these VVonders the People were amazed and all sorts began to enquire saying What shall we do The Law and the Prophets were until John Luk. 10.16 since that time the Kingdom of heaven is taken by violence and every man presseth into it Thus was the way of the Lord prepared and his paths made streight Every Valley was exalted and every Mountain and Hill brought low Luk. 3.5 c. and the crooked paths made streight and the rough waies made smooth and all flesh was to see the Salvation of God And the Axe laid to the Root of the Tree and every Tree that brought not forth good fruit was to be hewn down and cast into the fire So the Jewish Church was in its Minority under the Law as under a School master which taught them Elements and gave them Corrections i. e. Elements of civil Conversation with others and sobriety in their own persons Principles of Morality as forbidding of Murther Adultery Theft c. sitting them thereby for the prohibition of Anger Malice Lust c. in the New Law of Christ who saith Math. 5.28 Whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already with her in his heart And he that hateth his Brother is a Murtherer And from Usury he teacheth to lend freely looking for nothing again and from Oaths not to swear at all but let their Yea be Yea and their Nay Nay and from Shadows and Ceremonies to bring them to Substantial and Spiritual worship and from Circumcision with hands in the Flesh to Circumcision without hands in the Spirit Coll 2.11 in putting off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh by the Circumcision of Christ All this Service was Servile as 1. To be subject to positive Laws against the Laws of Nature and forced to Punishments for breaking of them An ignorance or neglect of a Statute was expiated by a Sacrifice or Sin offering but a wilful breach by Presumption was
Christ the Mediator of the second Testament For finding fault with them he saith Behold the daies come saith the Lord Heb. 8.8 when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah In that he saith a New Covenant he hath made the first Old Heb. 13.7 now that which decayeth and waxeth Old is ready to vanish away for if the first Covenant had been faultless there should have been no place sought for the second The first Testament therefore being made void by the death of Christ Moses is no longer a Mediator of that which is not but the New and and last Testament succeeding in the room of the first Christ is become the Mediator thereof And this is the True Testament and this is the True Mediator whereof the Law and Moses were but the Figures and Types Moses but a Man though a Man of God and Christ both God and Man The CONTENTS Two Natures Vnion Incarnation TITLE II. Of the Person of Christ IN the first place therefore being come to so great a Mediator of so great a Covenant let us describe with all reverence who this Mediator is by whom all these great and everlasting Blessings are dispensed Two Natures There are in Christ Two Natures 1. A Divine Nature Quis ille qui venit quis novus Hercules A strange Person Who can declare his Generation whose goings forth were before all Eternity The Son of God God of God Light of Light very God of very God being of the substance of the Father by whom all things were made Joh. 1. 2. A Humane Nature The Son of Man The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homo de Matre. We have seen him with our eyes 1 Joh. 1.1 we have heard him and our hands have handled of the Word of Life Thus we may safely speak what the Scriptures speak De Deo vel seriò loqui piriculosum nè fortè Deo indigna loquamur It is dangerous to speak of God though we endeavour to speak as seriously as we can lest peradventure we should speak unworthily of him Christians I fear have been too bold to speak so much more and so far different from what is written He was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs and a Worm and no Man rejected of men and they hid as it were their faces from him because there was no beauty in him for which they should desire him Heb. 4.15 In the form of a Servant Like unto us in all things Sin only excepted Never yet any Heretick blasted him with Sin Union 3. A Union of two Natures Nestorius denying communication of Idioms divided Christ Homo Christus nascitur Deus Christ is born God and Man Mary was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Psal 40.16 Corpus aptasti mihi A Body hast thou prepared me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Like unto Man in all things Flesh of our Flesh and Bone of our Bone Perfect God and Perfect Man of a reasonable Soul and human Flesh subsisting no Confusion of Substance but Unity of Person As the Sun and Light are one as the Graff and the Plant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil A fiery Sword two Natures fire and steel two Acts cut and burn to cut burning and burn cutting Sic liceat magnis componere parva Alas we do but stammer In all our expressions there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some likeness and some disproportion The whole Mystery is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above our understanding above our expression above the apprehension of a Created Nature A dark glimmering we have of it a spark 1 Pet. 1.12 The Angels stoop down to look into this Abyss but cannot fathom it Great Wits have been too bold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrius was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too subtil a Disputant Naz. Nestorius had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Tongue too well hung The manner of these things is unconceiveable Tu disputa ego credam Let whoso will dispute it is safest to believe Just 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is the best Foundation It is to be believed that God and Man are mutually each others Sons and of this great Subject with reverence I thus as a weak man declare my sentiments without School-Terms begging pardon for all failings When our Work is wrought out of us in nature it is our own Incarnation because it is our nature and like our selves as a Son is wrought out of his Father in nature he is his Fathers because he is his Nature and like his Father When our Work is wrought out of us in our Fancy or Judgment it is our own because it is our fancy and like our minds as a volume or structure is the Idaea of our Imagination and is our Imagination and the Child of our Imagination because it is like its Father Now as it is with Man so after the model of our apprehension it is with God When God's Actions are like himself then the genuine Effects are his Sons As Adam God's Creature was the Son of God and Christ the Emanation of himself the Brightness of his Glory and the Express Image of his Person is the Son of God There are but four Relations I humbly conceive of Sonship between God and Man As thus 1. Either God is the Son of God 2. Or Man is the Son of God 3. Or Man is the Son of Man 4. Or God is the Son of Man 1. Because when God bringeth forth a Son Reason that Son is either God or Man And when Man bringeth forth a Son that Son is either Man or God For besides God or Man no other Thing can have Sons Angels and Beasts have none The Reason is To produce a Son these two Properties are required 1. In the Parent a faculty of Reason 2. A power to Generate Now none but God and Man can have these two Properties concurring Angels and Beasts have but each of them one and want the other Angels have Reason but not Generation and Beasts have Generation but not Reason Therefore 1. When God bringeth forth God according to God's Image then God is the Son of God 2. When God bringeth forth Man according to God's Image then Man is the Son of God 3. When Man bringeth forth Man according to Man's Image then Man is the Son of Man 4. When Man bringeth forth God according to Man's Image then God is the Son of Man Though in all these Relations Man as Man is not the Son of God nor God as God is the Son of Man Pardon O thou Great GOD the faint conceptions and expressions of a Worm and help the understanding and utterance of thy poor Creature and teach me to believe what I am not able to express All these four Generations of Fathers and subordinate Productions of Sons
Reconciliation For he is our peace Eph. 2.14 who hath made both one and hath broken down the Middle Wall of Partition between us to reconcile both unto God c. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus SECTION VI. II. On God the Father's Part. VVe see in all Arts and Crafts that by what Art and Cunning a thing is made at first by the same it is repaired when fallen to decay As a Ruinous house is repaired best by the Carpenter that built it At the first Creation God was the Carpenter of the World the Workman that wrought Man out of the Earth as the Potter worketh his Clay God the Son was the Wisdom of his Father the Art whereby the World was made All things were made by him Joh. 1.3 10. and without him was not any thing made that was made For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible Whether they be Thrones or Dominions Col. 1.16 c. or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him And he is before all things and by him all things consist And he is the head of the Body the Church who is the Beginning the First-born from the dead that in all things he might have the Preheminence for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell And having made peace through the blood of his Cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven SECTION VII III. On the Son's Part. When we repair a thing we do but reduce it to the form which it had at first As when our Plate is battered or broken we re-fashion it according to the first Mold Man was first made according to the Image of God by Sin that Image was decayed God repaired by his Son who was his Image So being made conformable to the Image of the Son we are thereby made conformable to the Image of the Father So that as Creation came when Man was fashioned after the Image of God so Re-creation and Redemption came when the Image of God was fashioned into Man to fashion Man again after the Image of God SECTION VIII IV. On Man's Part 1. In respect of his First Transgression 2. In respect of his Redemption 1. In respect of his First Transgression If ye will eat of the Tree of Knowledge saith Satan ye shall be as Gods he meant not in Nature but in Wisdom Gen. 3.6 for the Tree was to be desired to make one wise Now see the Wit of Man he reacheth at this Wisdom eats of the Fruit and thereupon is sick to death Now the Rule in Physick is to cure by Contraries So then as Death came when the Folly of Man exalted himself to the likeness of God so to bring Life the Wisdom of God humbled himself to the Likeness of Man 2. In respect of Man's Redemption The End of Man's Redemption was that Man should be made the Son of God When we would alter any thing from some Quality that it hath already to a more noble nature we apply it to an Agent which actually enjoyeth that noble form which we desire should be transferred to our matter As when one would induce the quality of heat into Water we oppose it to the Fire which hath that innate quality more noble than any other thing so Man being to be made the Son of God it was fittest that the Son of God should qualifie him for that dignity because the Son of God hath that Prerogative already and on whomsoever he works he must needs transform them to the Sons of God As the Fire turns all things to its self God being best pleased with his own Son might best by him become pleased with Man for who could better convey God's Love than the Son who was God's best beloved Now the Woman hath her longing and so hath the Man It was their Ambition to be like God Gen. 3.21 The Man is become like one of us These words in story then spoken become a Truth now Man is become as God as one of the Trinity because one of the Trinity is become as Man If God becomes like Man then Man becomes like God even as every true Copy is like the Original If the Saints be like the Angels then the Angels are like them If my Picture be like me then am I like my Picture and it is more than like it is the very same Man is as verily the Son of God as the Son of God is very Man The change on God's side makes the like on Man's Joh. 1.12 The Son of God being made Man makes Man the Son of God God gave his Son to be Man's Son and took Man's Son to be his Son This St. Paul calls our Adoption whereby we are translated from the Family and Power of Satan into the Liberty of the Children of God As the Adopted Son changeth his Family being exempted from the Power of his Natural Father and made Son to him that adopted him And hereby our Right and Estate in Heaven is equal with our Saviour's who is the Natural Son of God as the Adopted Son hath the same Title to his Father's Inheritance with the Natural Son And if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and Joynt-heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him Ro. 8.17 that we may be also glorified together And here I will stop and take breath being tired with speculation of such Wonderful Dispensations not as though I had already attained unto the depth of these Mysteries or could attain unto it but I admire and aspire to comprehend with all Saints what is the height and depth and length and breadth of this Love of God which passeth all knowledge The CONTENTS Christ sole Mediator God is one All Nations Sinners Jews and Gentiles made one Christ a Soveraign Mediator Testament includes a Covenant Wherein Christ's Mediatorship consists Mediator and Testator how concurring TITLE III. Of the Mediatorship of Christ THIS is that most Excellent Divine and Humane Person Transition Christ sole Mediator that was only worthy and willing and accordingly did take upon him that transcendent Office and Dignity to be more than any Men or Angels could be even the sole and soveraign Mediator between God and Man 1. Because God is one Gal. 3.20 Reasons of it God is one God is said to be one for his Nature and Subsistence for his Duration or Eternity for his Fidelity of Promise and Performance But in this sense He is one in the New Testament because he is one and the same God to the Jews and to the Gentiles with whom he hath made this one Everlasting Testament He is to them a Father who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ he is a Justifier of them by one Faith Is God the God of
of God have been thoughts of love and kindness in him all along from the beginning of the world but especially in the days of the Gospel And that God's love was always to mankind though not so clearly demonstrated as it is now by Christ How therefore this frowning face of terrors and amazements in his dealings here giving mortals no rest for the little space he hath afforded them to stay in this world and plunging them into eternal torments in the world to come can consist with the gentleness and justice of his nature I can in no wise be satisfied I am not able to conceive of a good Prince but that he will be always careful to preserve the lives and fortunes of his good Subjects and use all possible means to reduce the rebellions and still to be sparing of the blood of his People even where his Justice calls for it Nay every petty King of a Town or Family will do the same within the circuit of his power How much more then shall the Great and Gracious not only Potentate but Creator and Redeemer of the World hover over his poor creatures and servants for good and be infinitely and therefore inexpressibly tender of their Temporal and Eternal Wellfare But I am told that God reprobates the far greatest part of the world to shew the Glory of his Justice and absolute Soveraignty over his creatures And here I must cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the Depth and if I be one of these Cast-aways must be as the rest contented and for ever silent 'T is true I must if so and there can be no help for it nor must Mortals complain for who art thou O Man that thou shouldest dispute against God But how these men more than others of equal judgments should come to this pitch of Knowledg to determine this thing thus I cannot imagine nor whence they had this revelation And how this agrees with God's declaration of himself to be willing that all men should be saved and come to the knowledg of the Truth and not to delight in the death of any Sinner will put them to a stand Well however it is I am sure that God is good and if God hath given men reason to understand what is Justice and Mercy how the wisdom of God though infinitely above should be as infinitely contrary to this our humane understanding will be very hard to conceive Still Justice is Justice and Mercy is Mercy in God or Man though in vast differences of degrees We shall never know how but we may always know that God is Just and can and will do us no wrong I take the safest side therefore I hope if I interpret humbly all his dispensations though seemingly never so harsh to be cum favore that if he do as certainly he does severely punish yet he will as graciously reward those that fear him for all their miseries in this life And if God inflicts as he doth the same Calamnities now under the Gospel as he did before under the Law yet it is in a different manner in the Church's Majority from what it was in her Minority And that though the former Dispensation was in wrath yet now it is in Grace and was always just Well let the Inhabitants of the earth work righteousness as well as they can and trust God for his Mercies and through the tender mercies of God they shall be sure never to miscarry I am certain Grace is Grace and above Wrath though I suffer never so much And that God does not dodgenor lie upon the catch with mankind to destroy them but rather waits for their conversion to save them I will trust in God therefore though I am never able to understand the reasons of his workings From henceforth I will never go about to measure the depths of God's Providences by the shallowness of my comprehensions I will be meditating and doing good and leave all to God But it is high time to leave this dreadful Subject of mis-representing God in his Counsels so fatal to mankind Gospel-Dispensations Let us see what other mis-understandings there are of God's Dispensations God was pleased suitably to the non-age of the Church to address himself very much to the lower faculties of the Soul and the outward senses that were nearest to them and did most affect them Therefore he ordained splendid Types solemn services and many miracles as the pillar of a Cloud and of Fire the walls of water in the Red Sea the burning Mount Sinai the tabernacle and rays of Glory visible therein the Temple c. But they which look for any such apparent Expressions of Divinity now mistake the Genius of a Gospel-Dispensation to a Church Adult and capable of higher Administrations All things since Christ's coming are managed in a sedate smooth and serene temper The mysteries of the Gospel came forth in plain and intelligible forms of Speech from Mount Sion without drawing the Soul into Raptures and Extasies of amazements God doth not fright men into heaven by visible Terrours God expects now a reasonable Service a Judicious Religion acted by the Spirit of Love and of a sound mind under the Graces Truths and Glories of a Gospel-state for ever to endure This Spirit of the Gospel arriving to our Spirits in this aimable and winning manner creates a generous Spirit above the Evils or Goods in this world resolved to go through them and overcome them and settle upon absolute Eternal Goodness When men's hopes and fortunes are most embarqued in the Ship of this World without Faith They are in continual fears of Shipwrack because then all is lost that is before their sense But when men's hopes and fortunes are all embarqued in one bottom of Divine Faith they are in continual Hopes and Assurances of arrival in the Haven of Glory because then all is found that was before their Spirit in the Eye of Faith This Hope so full of glorious and blessed Immortality hath supported the spirits of such as live by their Faith better than all the Fatality of the Stoicks or the Jollity of the Epicureans These can look Sin and Death in the face by the Spirit and not be daunted by the Flesh The high Religion of the Gospel teacheth higher things than ever that of Moses or the Law of Nature or Nations or Philosophy could do Reformation This great Reformation of Religion in the World Christ declared plainly to the woman of Samaria requiring of him as a Prophet to tell her the place of worship whether it was not to be upon Mount Gerizim in Samaria where the Fathers had worshiped and not in Jerusalem as the Jews believed Upon this occasion he told her that neither she nor the Samaritans her Country-men nor the Jews nor yet the Gentiles of the World should from that time ever trouble themselves about the place or manner of Divine worship For it should be neither confined to Samaria nor Judea but should
perspicere possint Cor Sapientiae Plaut Vitam ut vixissent olim in Adolescentia This is the reflex Act of the Understanding to think over again our old thoughts words and actions and bring them to the test saying What have I done then shall we see that Colloquintida that Mors in olla the death that is in the Pot the plague of our own hearts the secret Idol of abomination which we set up in our own Spirits and the sin that sticks so close unto us Then shall we be able to say Ro. 6.21 What fruit have we in those things whereof one day we shall be ashamed the end of those things is death What shall we do in the end thereof It will be bitterness in the later end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epich 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Wisdom 17. 11. Wickedness condemned by her own witness is very timorous and being pressed with conscience alwaies forecasteth grievous things for fear is nothing else but the betraying of the succour which Reason offereth And though a Man be otherwise never so undaunted as to look Death in the face having the heart of a Lion yet his own guilt shall tame his courage and make him a meer coward Lev. 26.36 I will send a faintness into their hearts and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them and they shall flee as fleeing from a Sword and they shall fall when none pursueth Occulto quatiente animo tortore flagellum The Lord shall give thee a trembling heart and failing of eyes Deut. 28.65 and sorrow of mind and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee and thou shall fear day and night and shalt have no assurance of thy life This is the Poet's Vultur Immortale jecur tendens foecundaque poenis Viscera nec fibris requies datur ulla renatis This is the fire of Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A drop of water to cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame Plaut Urit animum meum Poena autem vehemens multò saevior ullis Juv. Quos Caeditius gravis invenit Rhadamanthus Nocte diéque suum gestare in pectore Testem And as this Torment is great so Comfort is as rare as can be imagined Even the Peace of God which passeth all understanding This will satisfie a Man against all the World Senti de Augustino quid vis sola mea ne Conscientia non accuset Think then of me what you will so long as my own conscience doth not accuse me My witness is in Heaven and in my own breast I have comfort enough Cic. Nullâ re tà m laetari soleo quà m officiorum meorum conscientiâ The remembrance of a life well lead will bring a Man Peace to the end in the end and unto all eternity this goes along with him when all worldly comforts take unto themselves wings flie away from us and forsake us Lectulus respersus floribus est bona Conscientia A good Conscience is a Bed of Roses And upon this Bed this Pillow will I rest my head wearied with cares and griefs and there will I sleep secure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the reward of all my labours in the way of Holiness that I have peace within Heaven and Hell are seated in the Heart of a Man saith the Levantine Proverb Conscientia ante peccatum fraenum post flagrum Conscientia ante bonum calcar post consolatio Conscience before sin is a bridle afterward a whip Conscience before Good is a spur afterward is a comfort SECT VI. These Offices of Conscience are performed Before the Action 1. Before the Action The Conscience represents what will follow if such or such things be done And t is happy when we shall take such deliberation to prevent many sins and judgments that may follow SECT VII Instances As Peter Though all Men forsake thee yet will not I and yet he broke his word As Hazael when the Prophet wept and told him what horrid things he should do in ripping up women with child and burning Cities c. he abominated the thoughts of doing such cruel acts 2 Kings 8.13 saying Is thy Servant a dead dog that I should do such things Yet for want of solid perseverance he did those things indeed As Joseph who when tempted more than ordinarily by his Mistress kept his resolution bravely Gen. 39.9 saying How shall I do this great wickedness and so sin against God The Conscience fore-sees and fore-tells the sad consequences What will ye do in the end thereof it will be bitterness in the later end These things are sweet in the Mouth but bitter in the Belly There is Death in the Pot. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Bitter-sweet A pleasant bait with a deadly hook Extrema gaudii luctus occupat Nocet empta dolore voluptas You will rue for all this if you take not heed Young Man take thy full swing let loose the reins to a full carier but remember that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment a day of reckoning will come Do not put the day of death far from the do not make a League with Hell nor a Covenant with destruction saying The bitterness of death is past and the over-flowing scourge shall pass over me for it will come it will not tarry Thus there is a voice behind you yea within you saying This is the way walk in it Turn from the waies of wickedness pass by them and come not near unto them for fear iniquity procure your ruine A Harlot's mouth is sweet as the hony and drops as the hony-comb but her waies go down unto Hell and her paths take hold of destruction she is a deep pit and he that feareth not the Lord shall fall into it As a bird hastens to the snare and a fool to the correction of the stocks and an Ox to the slaughter not remembring that it is for his Life so shall it be with thee These and the like warnings of the Conscience are rare preventions of sins if hearkned unto or else they procure greater torments afterwards As Peter said to Ananias and Sapphira Why have ye lyed to the Holy Ghost As Abraham unto Dives Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and contrarily Lazarus evil things but now thou art tormented and he is comforted We fools counted his life madness but now is he numbred among the Righteous They shall look on him whom they have pierced and be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his first born They shall call to the Mountains to fall upon them and to the Hills to cover them from the wrath of him that sitteth upon the Throne This is the regret that shall be that weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth that worm of conscience that never dieth O! that Men were wise therefore that they would consider these
the abundance of light and grace which it affordeth Do we not count the last Adam stronger than the first Is not he able to cast down all the strong holds all the towring imaginations which flesh and blood though tainted in the womb can set up against him And therefore if we be truly what we profess our selves Christians this weakness cannot hurt us and if it hurt us it is because we are not Christians To conclude If in Adam we were all lost in Christ we are come home and brought nearer to heaven Et post Jesum Christum when we have given up our names unto Christ and profest our selves Members of that mystical Body whereof he is the Head all our complaints of weakness and disability to move in our several places are vain and unprofitable and injurious to the Gospel of Christ which is the power of God unto salvation Ro. 1 16. And a gross and dangerous errour it is when we run on and please our selves in our evil ways to complain of our hereditary infirmities and the weakness and imperfection of Nature for God may yet breath his Complaints and Expostulations against every Son of Adam that will not turn Though you are weak though you have received a bruise by the Fall of your first Parents yet in me is your strength and then Why will ye die O house of Israel Hos 13.5 Dr. Spencer of Prodigies Praef. Religion is easily concluded a great adversary to a true generousness and universal freedom of spirit and that its whole business is to subdue the Spirits of men to some cold and little observances Generousness pale and feminine fears Hence men quickly grow weary of it as of a yoak that continually galls them and conclude themselves gainers if they may but purchase manhood with Atheism Id. ib. Religion is not to be dallied with non patitur ludum fides Pious frauds as Strong-waters do the body may perhaps help religion in a fit but if used familiarly disable the native heat and strength thereof Hay and stubble laid upon a good foundation such I count well-meant forgeries in Religion will catch fire and consume at last and leave a great stain and soil upon the foundation As it reports Religion a system of some pitiful rites sneaking and beggarly Elements Elements there is nothing more effectually inclines subtil minds to Atheism as the evaporating religion into a multitude of touchy and critical modes and observations which cannot command reverence to themselves before discerning minds which soon see through them they are so thin and aery Id. ib. No two things do so usurp and waste the faculty of Reason as Enthusiasm and Superstition the one binding a faith the other a fear upon the Soul Pessimum est plane pestis tabes Intellectûs si vanis accedat veneratio Id. ib. p. 10. When our Saviour came into the world the Religion of the greatest part of it through the agency of the Devil ran out into a multitude of little rites weak observations bodily postures And he appoints a Religion directly opposite plain simple rational life and spirit whose main design was to employ and perfect the mind and spirit of a man And can it be thought that heaven and hell now touch each other so far that we must borrow the measures of our biggest fears and hopes and motives to Repentance from the Ethnick Divinity or from the Jewish Rites in which if there had been aliquid sani to be sure the Devil would have hindred its gaining so great a regard as it did among his Votaries must we look for such a Jewel as the intimations of the Counsels of Wisdom are in the dunghil of obscene and monstrous Births c. Id. ib. p. 11. God was pleased heretofore suitable to the Nonage of the Church to address himself very much to the lower faculties of the Soul Phancy and Imagination accordingly we find Prophesies delivered Nonage of the Church in vehement and unusual schemes of speech such as are greatly adapted to strike and affect imagination Christ was pro-raised as one speaks sub magnificis admirationem facientibus ideis the mysteries of the Gospel were held forth in most splendid types and symbols and the Law of God forc't upon the spirits of men heretofore by the terrours of a thundering heaven and a burning Mountain and speedy vengeance upon the despisers thereof The spirits of good men carried out to actions and tempers beyond their natural capacities by the pregnant and vigorous Impresses of the divine Spirit and the fears of the Church excited and her faith assisted by many signs and wonders the withdrawing whereof the Church bewails they all vanishing at the light of Divine Revelation prevailed as Stars do upon the approach of the day-light But they which talk of and look for any such vehement expressions of Divinity now mistake the temper and condition of that Oeconomy which the appearance of our Saviour hath now put us under Wherein all things are to be managed in a more sedate cool and silent manner in a way suited to and expressive of the temper our Saviour discovered in the World Who caused not his voice to be heard in the streets Is 42.2 and to the condition of a reasonable Being made to be managed by steady and calm Arguments and the words of Wisdom heard in quiet in a smooth and serene temper the mysteries of the Gospel come forth cloathed in sedate and intelligible forms of speech The minds of men are not now drawn into extasie Eccles 9.17 by any such vehement and great examples of Divine power as attended the lower and more servile state of the World The Miracles our Saviour wrought were of a calm and gentle nature curing the blind restoring the sick and lame not causing of thunder and storms as Samuel but appeasing them Matth. 16.1 None of them such as the Jews called for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signs from heaven such prodigious and affrighting thunders and fires which attended the delivery of the Law and the Spirit of Elijah Indeed the Veil of the Temple was rent the Sun dreadfully eclips't the Earth terribly shaken at his death but these astonishing wonders were made use of as his last reserve to conquer the prejudices of an obdurate people upon whom his more gentle and obliging instances of divine Majesty made no impression and perhaps these prodigious changes in Nature were intended as Prophetick Emblems of the great change shortly to ensue in heaven the way and worship of Religion and earth the powers and kingdoms of the World by the power and doctrine of the Person Heb. 12.26 27 who then died upon the Cross The mighty rushing wind at Pentecost which was issued in a soft and lambent fire upon the heads of the first preachers of the Gospel was possibly a figure of that more vehement and terrible state of the Law which usher'd the way for and was determined in the more sedate and gentle