And in one and the same Year both Father and Son dye Divers such Passages as these you will find in this Story of the Kings if you will but cast it into Annals after this manner as be these Ahaziah Two Years older than his Father 2 Chron. xxii 2 Baasha fighting Nineteen Years after he is dead 2 Chron. xvi 1 Jotham reigning Four Years after he is buried 2 King xv 30 Joram crowned King in the Seventeenth Year of Jehoshaphat 2 King i. 17 compared with 1 King xxii 51 And in the Two and Twentieth Year of Jehoshaphat 2 King viii 16 And after Jehoshaphat's Death 2 Chron. xxi 1 Variety of such strange things are to be found by taking this course which otherwise you can never see nor doubt of For Resolution of such Ambiguities when you have found them the Text will do it if it be well searched Conference with some Man or other learned and practiced in this way will soon resolve and remove all Scruples One Month or two spent thus with a living Guide will profit more than Seven Years Study spent according to the common way of reading the Bible This way attained to will guide you it self in what else is agreeable to profitable reading As in marking those things that seem to be Contradictions in the Text or Slips of the Holy Ghost in which always is admirable Wisdom Parallels of Times Places and Persons c. Which if you once fix sadly to make a Scripture-Chronicle you cannot slip unmarked and it will be enough to me to see you Doubt I know your Doubting will not rest till resolved I have here briefly run before you the Order of Scripture as I conceive the Continuance of the History requires it to lye If you will but settle to make a Scripture Chronicle this is needless for that will search out the Order for you So that you may spare your Labour of reading this that I have written and then I need not to excuse my Confusedness in it for haste Yet if you do read it it may shew you the Necessity of that that I so instantly urge viz. Skill in the Chronicle For if there be whole Chapters and Books laid out of their Places and the reason thereof commonly most sweet what may we expect in smaller Bulk of things as Genealogies Names Speeches Years Quotations c. but strange Variations yet always Divine Admirable it is to see how the Holy Spirit of God in Discords hath shewed the sweetest Music. But few Men mark this because few â—ake a right course in reading of Scripture Hence when Men are brought to see flat Contradictions as unreconciled there be many in it they are at amaze and ready to deny their Bible A little Pains right spent will soon amend this wavering and settle Men upon the Rock whereon to be built is to be sure SECT II. THE Canonical Books of the Bible are Seventy if the Psalms be parted into Five like the Seventy Souls that built up the House of Israel The Apocrypha speaks for it self that it is not the Finger of God but the Work of some Jews Which got it so much Authority among Christians because it came from them from whom the lively Oracles of God indeed came also But the Talmud may be read to as good Advantage and as much Profit and far more Leviathan reserved to be eaten 2 Esdra vi 52 is Judaism in Targ. Jonath in Gen. R. Sol. Elias 〈…〉 of all tastes in Wisd. xvi 20 21. is Jewish R. Sol. in Num. xi Paradise created before the World is Judaism in Targ. Jonath in Gen. ii Pirke R. Eliezer R. Nephtali Bel and the Dragon is a Jewish Parable from Jer. li. 44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon and I will bring forth out of his Mouth that which he hath swallowed up c. 〈◊〉 blessing Simeon for the Slaughter of 〈◊〉 is worse than Jewish Jud. ix 2 c. flat against Jacob who curseth the Fact and against Moses who for it leaves him out of his Blessings Deut. xxxiii Tobit's Chronology is worse than Heathenish Tob. xiv 4 and 15. making the Ruin of Nineveh by Nebuchadnezzar to depend upon Jonah's Prophecy Whereas since Jonah's Prophesie that City had been deâ—â—royed by Arbaces and Belosus and built again and stood the Succession of Seven or Eight Kings and near about Two Hundred Years before it was taken by Nebuchadnezzar So might one censure the rest but Verbum Sapienti Believe not every Spirit SECT III. GENESIS CHAP. I. THE Law begins with the Creation because by the Creature is our first Step to the Knowledge of God Rom. i. 20 Ps. xix It teacheth the end from the beginning the Resurrection from the Creation For if God made Man of Dâ—st he can raise him our Spiritual Union with God in Glory even in our Body by the Union of our Spirit and Body in Creation God not named Jehovah till the Creation be perfect for special Reason The second Days Work not approved but the third twice Heaven and Earth created in one and the same instant as Center and Circumference The First Day The Heavens are made perfect and move as soon as ever they are made and with them are created the Angels But the Earth is unformed and vast all covered over with Water And the Spirit of God by the Motion of the Heavens cherisheth the inferior Creature of Earth and Waters Twelve Hours did the Heavens move in Darkness and then by God's Appointment Light appeared in that Hemisphere in which God had decreed that the Light of Religion should first shine And there it gave Lustre for Twelve Hours more declining by degrees with the Motion of the Heavens to the other Hemisphere where it also shone Twelve Hours So that the first Day to that part of the World was †So long was Joshuah's Day when the Sun stood still and so long was Christ under Death Six and Thirty Hours long The Second Day As soon as ever the Light was gone off from this upper Horizon God commanded that instead of that Vacuity which was between the Waters that covered the Earth and the Clouds which were created full of Water in the same instant with the Heavens the Air should be spread abroad throughout the Universe And in Four and Twenty Hours the Command is accomplished The Third Day The Waters that cover the Earth at God's Command recoil Westward into those Channels which God had appointed them And still as they go away and dry Land appears Herbs Plants and Trees with their ripe Seed and Fruit upon them grow instantly out of the Earth This Day God plants the pleasant Garden of †The Story of Eden Gen. 11. ver 9 10 11 12 13 14. in proper Order should lye between ver 12 and 13. of this Chapter But Moses hath reserved the History of that to be handled at Adam's being placed in it Because he would dispatch his Treatise of Generals before he come
WERE and cannot Now we are So in this Case God be thanked that ye were the Servants of Sin that it may be said Ye were but that now ye are not But II. Since there is mention of Servants take a Parallel viz. an Israelite saying thus God be thanked that ye were Bondmen in Egypt His meaning is especially to thank God for their Delivery out of Egypt and what accrued to them upon their being Bondmen there They had never seen so great Wonders never seen so great Deliverance had they not been Bondmen And he thanks not God barely for their Bondage but for the Good and Mercy that followed it So God be thanked that ye were the Servants of Sin Else ye had never known the Riches of the Grace of God else ye had never come to prize the Infiniteness of his Mercy in your Deliverance Ye had never been so careful to be Servants of Righteousness but that ye have known what Slavery it is to be Servants of Sin So that he gives not God Thanks barely for their Slavery to Sin but especially for what was come to pass with them upon their Sinfulness He would not say to any upon Earth God be thanked that ye ARE so sinful but he says God be thanked that ye VVERE and are not That God made your great Sinfulness his Opportunity to shew you Mercy X. The Papists the Millenaries and the Traditionary Jews confuted from that Place Whom the Heavens must contain until the Times of Restitution of all things c. Act. iii. 21 HE shall send Jesus Christ to you Act. iii. 20 And yet the Heavens must contain him A Paradox unless Christ could be in many Places at once VVhich the Papists would fain justifie that they may have his Body in every Sacrament And yet there is a great Truth in this Paradox if we distinguish 'twixt the very Person of Christ and the Influence that proceeds from him As God dwelleth in the highest Heaven and yet dwelleth in an humble Heart As the Sun is in the Firmament and yet the Sun in his Influence is on the Earth also So Christ in his Body and Person is in Heaven and the Heaven must contain him till the Restitution of all things and yet Christ is among Men in the Vertue of his VVord and Influence of his Spirit As the Prince is on his Throne and yet the Diffusion of his Power Justice Clemency is thro' his whole Kingdom The Presence of Christ is everywhere as he is God and his VVord and Spirit everywhere where he pleaseth to send them But that the BODY of Christ should be everywhere is utterly against all Philosophy Divinity Scripture and the Nature of a Body And the Doctrine that Christ's very Body is received by every one that receiveth the Sacrament is clean against all these and against the very Nature of a Sacrament But the thing is not worth insisting on tho' an Argument is commonly taken hence to confute that Doctrine Restitution This is a VVord of Difficulty and requires some Resolution and which being resolved will help the better to understand the rest of the Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Restitution or Restoring of all things Times of Restoring of all things Restitution To what To their old Estate Or to a new and a better Estate This Expression breeds the main Difficulty in this Place And this encourages the Millenary to dream of Christ's reigning here on Earth a Thousand Years before the final End of the VVorld For then they conceive the Jews shall be restored to be a People again universal Peace to be restored to all the VVorld and Swords beaten into Plow-shares and Spears into Pruning hooks Then an universal Peace Concord and Tranquility to be restored to the Church and all the Glorious Things the Prophets have spoken of to come to pass and be settled I. The VVord indeed in Greek Authors commonly signifies Restoration to a former Estate Hence Circuitus Solis the Course of the Sun from the Vernal Equinox to that Point again is called the Restoration of the Year And so is that to be understood Acts i. 6 Lord wilt thou at this Time restore the Kingdom to Israel That is that Israel shall have a Kingdom as heretofore But how does this Sense agree here The restoring of all things in the Prophets to their former Estate What former Estate can here be meant to be the Pattern of another to come And the Millenary will not agree to this Interpretation who dreams not of restoring to any former Estate but to such an one as never was before II. Therefore there may be Restoration or Restitution to a better Estate As Mat. xvii 11 Elias truly shall first come and restore all things Now Elias in the Baptist restored not all things to the former Estate but to a new and better And it is said He restored all things Yet here all things are to be restored still and the Restoration not yet effected Therefore that Restoration cannot be the Restoration here meant neither Therefore III. The meaning is Making good Accomplishing all things So Elias Baptist made good all things written of him and that concerned his Office And the Times are coming when there shall be an accomplishing and making good all Things in the Prophets And so the Arabic reads Until the Times which shall confirm the fulfilling of all those things God hath spoken by the Prophets And the Syriac not much unlike But it will be demanded then When are those Times when all things spoken by the Prophets shall be fulfilled Truly Reason it self may answer At the end of the World For have not the Prophets spoke of the end of all things and of the Resurrection both of the Just and Unjust and of the Eternal Reward of both Till that time then the Heavens must contain Christ. And where should we look for Christ at any time in any Generation but in Heaven All things that God hath spoken by the Mouth of his Holy Prophets The Apostle in so saying seems to face the saying of the Jews Traditions in this Case To give you a brief Story of their Traditions 1. Before the Captivity they had Prophets Urim Visions of God Apparitions of Angels So that in Matters of Doubt they resorted to a Prophet as Saul and his Servant to Samuel In Matters of State to Urim as David did 2. After the Captivity these ceased viz. After the first Generation No Vision no Prophet more So that in how changed a Condition were they now How destitute of their great Priviledge 3. Then the Devil saw his Opportunity and stirred up some Instruments to foist Traditions upon them instead of Oracles And they taught that God gave a written Law but an unwritten Exposition of it And some Glosses that they had invented themselves they imposed as the very Words of God to Moses at Sinai So that every fond Invention of Men now went current as the Oracles of God And this is
And so they maintain it is lawful to Excommunicate Depose Murder Princes out of Zeal to Religion And so they made it lawful nay laudable to murder so many innocent Souls in that Massacre in France Against Transubstantiation I hope every one laughs at the Doctrine of Transubstantion that will fetch Christ from Heaven at every Sacrament The Master-piece of Delusion Satan shews here how much Delusion he can practice in the greatest Ignorance For a Man against Sense and Reason Philosophy and Divinity to believe a Priest can calâ— Christ out of Heaven and turn a piece of Bread into his very Body The strangest Madness in the World I see it feel it Bread and yet must believe it Flesh. I know it was made yesterday by the Baker yet now I must believe it turned into my Creator I know Christ is in Heaven and yet must believe that he is here on Earth The Heathen were never more blind And against the immoral Doctrine of Equivocation Whereof he thus vehemently express'd himself I cannot but admire the Impudency as well as abhor the Wickedness of the Jesuits Doctrine of Equivocation A Doctrine that hath put on a Whore's Forehead a brazen Face and the Devil's Impudency it self before Men as well as it hath clothed it self with horrid Abominableness before God It is a Doctrine that teacheth Men to Lye and yet will maintain they Lye not And by their Doctrine there can be no Lying Forswearing or Deceiving in the World though they Lye Forswear and Deceive never so deeply A Trick beyond the Devils He turns Truth into a Lye These can turn a Lye into Truth A Popish Priest or Jesuite is brought before a Protestant Magistrate He puts him to his Oath Are you a Popish Priest or a Jesuite They will Swear NO roundly and make no Bones of it having this Reserve in their Mind I am not a Priest to you or I am not a Priest of the English Church or I am not a Jesuite to tell you or be your Confessor or some such lurking reserved Thought in his Mind This Man hath not told a Lye tho' he speaks not a Word true He hath not taken a False Oath though he hath Sworn Falsly As the Devil changeth himself into an Angel of Light so these a Lye into a Truth But as he is a Lyar still and is most dangerous when he seems a good Angel so is their Lye when they thus Cloath it with the pretence of Truth Into their secret let not my Soul come and with their Counsil my Glory be not thou united Finally He shewed them the Preference of the Protestant Religion before that of the Papists This is the Reason saith he that so many Protestants turn Papists This he spake in the Year 1674. Because Popery opens an easier way to Heaven a Thousand fold than the Protestant doth Add to this the Viciousness of the Times And the more Viciousness abounds the more will such Apostacy abound according to the intimation of our Saviour Matth. xxiv Because Iniquity shall abound the Love of many to God and his Truth shall wax cold Men would fain enjoy their Pleasures here and yet go to Heaven too They would fain have their Paradise here and have Paradise hereafter This Popery helps them too almost with a wet Finger Hath a Man committed Whoredom Adultery been Guilty of Deceit Luxury Uncharitableness let him go and Confess himself to a Priest and the Priest absolves him and those Sins are gone and there is no more danger of them Or Oh! For how many Thousand Sins for how many Thousand Years can the Pope Pardon him How may Pilgrimage to such a Saint fetch him off How may so many Fastings so many Ave Maries so often lying in Hair-cloth so many Masses make all well and out of Danger That it is as easie almost with them to get to Heaven as for a Man to do his ordinary Days Work But the Protestant Doctrine makes obtaining Salvation a harder Task according to the Truth of the Scripture John vi you read of divers that went away from Christ because they thought his Doctrine a Hard Saying So doth the poor Protestant Religion lose Followers upon the same account None is of poor Michaiah's side because he speaks Truth and Home But let Ahab have the Four Hundred false Prophets for they will be sure to make all well for him let him do what he will There are Four Hundred and Four Hundred false Prophets in the Popish Cause that will warrant the veriest Ahab that ever was Heaven If he have but Money to fee them well will Pray him to Heaven Sing him to Heaven Pardon him to Heaven and he shall never see Hell and it may be not Purgatory It is easie to see by this Comparison which is the truer and better Religion of the Two By these and such like sound and sober Discourses he built up his People committed to his Charge in Truth and Godliness So that it is reported he had not a Dissenter in his Parish The People of his Flock Honest Quiet and Industrious his Church constantly and conscientiously repaired to every Lord's Day with due Devotion And thus I have at length dispatched what I had to say both of our Author and these Remains of his which are now made Publick And I who have once more revived the Memory of this great Ornament of Literature and of our Church of England shall I hope not only be Pardoned but merit some Thanks from the Piously Learned and Sober-Minded Rank of Men. I had some inclination to have added a Fourth Tract of this Author's Namely A Chronicle of Events and Occurrences in the World under the Kings of France and the Ottoman Emperour made by one Joseph a Priest who lived about the Times of Henry VIII Being a Fair Translation out of Hebrew into English done by the Doctor 's own Hand Which he seemed to have taken all this pains about because the History is interspersed with what befel Jerusalem after the Destruction of it by Titus the Emperor and with the Wars waged by divers Kings and Princes for the Gaining and Possession of that Place once so famous for being the Spot of all the Earth appointed for God's Holy Temple to be built on and for the Son of God to Converse and Die and Redeem the World in And also because here is set forth by the Pen of a Jew himself the State and Condition of the Jews in the latter Times and particularly the sad Persecutions and Calamities that befel them by the just Judgment of God in these Western Parts of the World as well as in other Parts by the German and French Nations Whereby might be seen some History of that Desolate Forsaken People and of the Scourge of God upon them in successive Generations ever since they Rejected and Crucified their Messiah and took the Guilt of his Blood upon themselves and their Children The State of which People from Age to Age
spared not the Angels that sinned Upon their Sin and Fall and Punishment how many useful Thoughts and Meditations may be taken up partly of Speculation partly for Practice Let us but take a Taste of two or three I. When you read of Michael or Christ and his Angels and the Devil and his Angels Revel xii and to the like Tenor tho' not in the same Terms otherwhere you cannot but fairly conjecture these two things 1. That there was an Head of those that fell as Christ was the Head of those that stood 2. That doubtless the Head of those that fell was created a most noble Creature indeed that was set parallel to Christ in this respect that he was the Head of the one Company as Christ was of the other And I see neither Absurdity nor Danger if we should conceive that he was created the noblest of all Creatures and only Christ who was no Creature was above him And I see no reason why not to conceive that the Angels that fell with him were of as noble a Frame and Perfection by Creation as they that stood This then may raise this Question and Meditation what might make the Difference that some of the Angels fell while the other stood and some stood while the other fell The Resolution of which I know not where to lodge so properly as in this viz. That they that stood were under Christ's Headship and they that fell only left to their created Perfection Which like a Glass was shining and resplendent but brittle and soon broken But II. It is very considerable that these Spirits that were in Heaven could not keep there and yet the Spirits of just Men made perfect being once gotten thither cannot fall thence That Angels in Heaven should not stand and that Saints got to Heaven cannot fall Nay further that Angels that were in Heaven could not keep there and that a poor sinful Creature should get from hence thither and to keep there for ever There was a vast Difference between the Case and Condition of Adam and these Angels and both their Falls They in Heaven already he but just setting out for it They tempted themselves or they had no Tempter He tempted by them or he had not fallen They upon their Fall are cast from Heaven and must never more come there again He upon his Fall recovered for Heaven and in Despight of all their Power and Malice geteth thither Such is the blessed Privilege of being in the State of Grace and having â—â—terest in Christ. Both which these wâ—nted being bottomed only upon the Perfection of their own Nature in which they were created It might seem strange that Adam in the State of Innocency when he had Power of perfect Obedience and of standing in his Innocency in his own Hand should be shaken with the very first Temptation and lose all And yet when he was fallen and became sinful he should break through a Thousand Temptations and recover Heaven which he had lost when Innocent But Grace and Interest in Christ made the Difference For where before he had no Support but barely himself and the Perfection of his created Nature now he is supported by Christ and the Spirit and Grace of God But III. We may see by this Dealing of God with the very Angels his own Courtiers of Heaven how dreadful and terrible God is in his Severity against Sin and Ungodliness The dreadful Severity of God towards these Rebels you may observe in these three Things Of which the Words of S. Peter give some Intimation I. That he not only cast them into Hell and damned them but that he dealt thus with them for one Disobedience and Violation of his one Command The Angels that SINNED he cast into Hell That is for the very first Sin and suffered them not to strike a second Stroke on this side Hell II. That which follows necessarily to be observed upon this viz. That he gave them not a Minutes Space of Repentance but he takes them at the very Rebound and as soon as ever they have sinned they are damned III. That he did not only give them no Time and Space of Repentance but that he excluded them from all Possibility of Benefit by Repentance and Hopes of Recovery For he not only cast them into Hell but he reserves them in Chains for further Judgment No Reprieve no Hope no Pardon ever waiting for the Day of Execution Now look upon them and let us reflect upon our selves And first consider seriously why it should be so exceeding severe with Angels and not with Men. That they should be past all Pardon all Recovery and it should not be so with sinning Man Where can we lodge the proper Reason of this Difference And what can we say to the Cause of it I. We might observe that the Angelical Nature is uncurable if it be diseased and no Way but Death with it And that old Saying Corruptio optimi pessima to take Place deeply here and their Nature the more deeply corrupted when it became corrupted by how much it had been the more pure before II. We might observe that whereas they being in Heaven despised Heaven and vilified the Delights there it cannot be imaginable how ever they should recover Heaven again Poor Man was making for Heaven and stumbled and fell at his first setting out And it is a great deal more likely that he might get up and get onward his Journey again than they that had wilfully cast themselves from Heaven whither he was making III. We might observe their Sin to have been aggravated with whatsoever might make Sin unpardonable They sinned in Heaven they sinned without a Tempter they sinned as wilfully proudly maliciously as it was possible to sin And therefore the less Wonder if it were impossible they should ever repent and be pardoned The Sin of Man was not of so very deadly Aggravation and yet we must not lay the Reason of his being pardoned there but in the infinite Mercy of a Gracious God It was not so much for that Man was less sinful than these Angels were that he was therefore pardoned and they not but because God was the more merciful And whereas to them that so sinned he shewed Severity to thee he sheweth Goodness if thou continue in his Goodness as the Apostle speaks in another Case Lastly Let us more nearly yet reflect upon our selves Let your Thoughts at once look up towards Heaven and down towards Hell and see the Angels sinning in Heaven and instantly cast into Hell for it upon their first sinning and upon the very instant of their sinning Now who can give a Reason why we Sinners are not thrown after them Who among us all but hath deserved Hell as well as they if God should take Vengeance on us according to our Deservings as he did on them What have we then to say of the Patience and Mercy that hath so forborn us DECAD III. I. An Inquiry which is most
Heart and trembleth at my Word I will look to such have a friendly Regard and Respect to him Nay I will come and converse and sup and dwell with him This was David's Desire Psal. ci 2 Oh when wilt thou come unto me I will walk in my House with a perfect Heart I will walk in my House when wilt thou come and walk and dwell with me Now this Communion 'twixt God and Saints we may consider in the Rise of it the Nature of it and the Means and Manner of it I. The Rise of it It ariseth from the Union that is 'twixt God and the Saint We can never have Fellowship with God unless we be at one with God Abraham was the Friend of God and so he and God conversed There is no Communion 'twixt Enemies Es. lix 1 2. Behold the Lord's Hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his Ear heavy that it cannot hear But your Iniquities have separated between you and your God and your Sins have hid his Face from you that he will not hear Why is God such a Stranger to you You are his Enemies But turn to me saith the Lord and I will turn unto you Es. i. 16 17 18. Wash ye make you clean put away the Evil of your Doings from before mine Eyes cease to do Evil learn to do well seek Judgment relieve the oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widow Come now and let us reason together II. The Nature of this Communion is that God imparts himself to the Saint and the Saint to God I your God you my People There is no Strangeness 'twixt them They do freely give up Hearts one to another as they that are in Friendship and tell their Minds one to another III. The Means of this Communion is by God's Ordinances and by his Spirit 1. It is impossible to have Communion with God but by way of his Ordinances the Word Prayer Sacraments and Meditation upon all Communion is more than Union A Man in walking holily walks in Union with God but to come in Communion or converse with God is something more Two Friends apart are at one but their Converse together is by Letter or Conference 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Set-Festivals signifie Meetings also People meeting in Communion with themselves and with God in these Appointments Thou meetest him c. Es. lxiv. 5 As it is impossible to have Union with God but in virtue of his Covenant so to have Communion but in the Administrations of the Covenant Exod. xxiv 11 And upon the Nobles of the Children of Israel he laid not his Hand Also they saw God and did eat and drink By virtue of the Covenant spoken of just before they were at Peace with God so that he laid not his Hand on them and by the Administration of the Covenant they were in Communion They eat and drank with him There is a further striving in Attendance upon Ordinances than meerly to do Work to hear to patter out some Prayers and the like but to taste and feel God in his Word to send up the Heart to God and to lay hold on him Do you not do it here and in your Closet in Prayer and in Reading This is not to draw near to God and hold Communion with him How heartily doth a true Saint pour out his Heart tell his Mind to God his Failings his Wants as one Friend to another This is the reason why we should pray tho' God knows our Wants Your Heavenly Father knows that ye have need of these things Why then have we need to tell him That we may shew our Communion with God and that we trust him with our Hearts and Estates How doth a true Saint lay hold on every Word of God as Benhadad's Servants by Ahab's Oh! this Instruction this Reproof this Exhortation is God's Mind to me This is as a Letter or Message sent to me for my Good He owns God as in Love and Friendship imputing his Mind to him This is Communion with God in Ordinances to tell God all our Soul in Prayer to taste the Mind of God to us-ward in hearing and Attendance upon Sermons But 2. Communion with God is by his Spirit 2 Cor. xiii 14 The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all What does the Apostle wish for in these Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Communion of the Spirit That they always may have the Fellowship of the Spirit and also by Communion of the Spirit Fellowship with God Take one Example Rom. viii 26 The Spirit it self maketh Intercession Where is this Spirit In Heaven No the Spirit of God in the Soul stirring up and enlarging the Heart The Spirit of Grace and Supplication Zach. xii 10 Here is the double Communion of the Spirit spoken of the Spirit always with the Saint and the Spirit helping him to converse with God in Prayer bringing the Heart and God together The Spirit maketh Intercession Oh! how comfortable are the Prayers of a Saint He hath a twofold Intercessor Viz. The Spirit in his Heart enabling him to pray and Christ in Heaven praying or interceding for him So for Communion in other Ordinances The Eucharist is called the Communion not only of Receivers among themselves but of the true Receiver with God and Christ. God in it holds out the Benefits of Christ. The Holy Receiver by the Spirit and Grace of God thanks him for those Befits takes hold of them and receives them at the Hand of God and tastes the Sweetness of God's Gifts in them So in Hearing the Heart owns God speaking counselling comforting Oh! this is the Voice of my Beloved And the Heart all along gives up it self to God's Counsel Correction and Administration This is Spiritual Communion with God in his Ordinances Besides what I have already said upon this Argument consider but two Expressions whereby Scripture sets forth the Union of a Saint with God and then judge of the Communion I. Under the Notion of Marriage 'twixt the Soul and God Es. liv 5 For thy Maker is thy Husband the Lord of Hosts is his Name Hos. ii 19 I will betroth thee to my self for ever Oh! what Tydings are these to a poor Soul The Lord espouse it be an Husband to it Awake up put on thine Ornaments O my Soul Behold thy Bridegroom coming go forth to meet him Ah! dull dirty Souls of ours why do we sit among the Pots and marry our selves to Earth and Dunghills when a Soul may have the Lord for an Husband and be espoused to him for ever Now Experience tells what Communion there is 'twixt Wife and Husband as well as Scripture tells us what Union Communion of Heart of Estates of Affections neither is their own but one another's Such is the Communion 'twixt a Holy Soul and God They are married together their Hearts as I may say are interchanged and intirely each others Hos.
Holy Men that truly fear God Sursum corda then lift up your Hearts First To be affected with the Goodness and good Providence of God that picketh out and preserveth such a Company to himself Not to think of the Church on Earth but to have such a thought also towards Heaven hereat to observe admire and be affected with God's wonderful Goodness in that regard Such are the Apostle's Thoughts upon the Thoughts of the Church He looks on the Church of Corinth once such a People as he describes 1 Cor. vi 9 10. Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate Abusers of themselves with Mankind Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners But now Washed Sanctified Justified And where are his Thoughts Up toward God 1 Cor. i. 4 I thank God always on your Behalf for the Grace of God which is given you So he looks on the Church of the Ephesians Chap. i. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings c. So on that of the Philippians Ch. i. 3 I thank my God upon every Remembrance of you And so to the Thessalonians 2 Thess. i. 2 We give Thanks to God always for you all And so should a Christian presly thinking of the Church of God have his Heart in Heaven blessing the infinite Goodness for chusing and preserving such a People to himself In the Inundation of Sin and Damnation to pick out a Number for himself to escape Sin and Damnation and in all the Tumblings and Storms of the World to keep a Church undrowned and unoverwhelmed an Handful in Noah's Ark in the midst of the Deluge of Sin and Troubles Secondly To be affected with the Condition and Estate of the Members of the Church He that truly knows that and them cannot but take up that of the Psalmist Psal. cxliv. 15 Happy are the People that are in such a case yea happy is that People who have the Lord for their God When you rehearse this The Holy Catholick Church in the Creed let your Thoughts first recoyl to your Bibles and see how the Holy Ghost pictures them there Lam. iv 2 The precious Sons of Zion comparable to fine Gold Mal. iii. 17 And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in the Day when I make up my Jewels Then that Psal. lxxxiii 3 They have consulted against thy hidden ones They are the Treasure of the Lord's Cabinet laid up with him tho' not minded of Men. Nay yet the Divine Limner lays on more precious Colours Joh. xv 15 I have called you Friends Nay 2 Pet. i. 4 Partakers of the Divine Nature Nay further 1 John iii. 4 We are the Sons of God And that is not all but more if more may be We shall be like to himself Now Christian when thou repeatest this Article write this Exposition of the Word Church in the Margin These are the Lord 's precious Ones His Jewels His Friends His Sons His own Similitude These are His Delight His Portion His Chosen and the very Apple of his own Eye Deut. xxxii 10 And art thou not affected with their happy Condition And affected for thine own Soul's Interest I believe the Holy Catholick Church that is such a Happy Blessed Glorious Company and dost thou not stir O my Soul No Life no Holy Emulation no striving to be like to these A poor miserable Beggar sees the Wealth and Bravery of the great Ones and he may haply envy it but he cannot emulate or hope to equal it But God hath shewn thee a Way that thou mayest be like to these and Partaker of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light and art thou not moved Alexander weeps because He was not so famous as Achilles Julius Caesar because not so famous as Alexander And hast thou not a holy Emulation in thee O Christian Such and such Holy Blessed Dear to God and hast thou no Emulation to be so too Ponder but that Title Friend of Christ and that Title Child of God and do we profess Christ and God And are we not moved at it To be a Child of God carried in the Bosom of his dearest Affections To be a Friend of Christ always in his tender Affections and Remembrances and smiled on by him at the great Day and Heart art thou so lumpish as not to be warmed with such Thoughts This very Hint may answer the Question before us viz. Is every one to believe that he is of the true Church Answer Every Heart here is he not to believe that he should be of this Church that it is not well if he be not so Nay further that he is to strive with all his Endeavour to be of it or else he is not what he should be Set this Church before you in the Picture of it Mat. xxv 33 standing on the Right Hand and Christ smiling upon it Do you not believe you should be of that number Do you not believe you ought to give all Diligence to be of it This it the thing the Article calls to you for when you repeat it And let me be a little further its Interpreter to shew you yet this Church its Meaning I. It would mind you that that is the Church that is a Church for ever The Church of God is that that shall be the Church of God when the World shall be no more I may compare the Church visible and invisible to the Body and the Soul The Body is visible and at last shall come to Dust. But the Soul is invisible and is immortal Visible Churches have died Generation after Generation Where are the visible Churches of Asia Judea c. and time will come when all the visible Churches of Europe must come to nothing But still there was an immortal Soul in those Churches a Company of Holy Ones that go to be a Church of God in another World to praise glorifie and have Communion with God for ever This Church in the World is like the Heart in the Body of Man Primum vivens ultimum moriens The first that lives and the last that dies It began to live in Adam and Eve when they embraced Christ and when it dies the World must die with it When the last Saint is gathered then even the Soul of the World and of the visible Church is gone and they die too The Life of the visible Church is the Word and Sacraments and Ordinances Wheresoever these are there the Church is alive But if these are not rightly administred the Candlestick is removed it hath but a Name that it liveth but is dead And how hath God or may God remove these But the Life of the invisible Church is the Word and Spirit and neither of these are ever to be removed For both are settled in Heaven Observable is that Phrase Jam. i. 21 The ingrafted Word It is fast joyned and growing in the Heart In the visible Church it is in the Hands but to the true Flock of
Christ it is in the Heart and Spirit and there for ever II. This is the Church Militant here Much is spoken of the Church Militant And Scripture Warrants such a Title Ye sight against Principalities and Powers And As a good Soldier of Jesus Christ. Now how many Thousands are there in the visible Church that never strike Stroke that are Lookers on nay scarce so much that mind not the Christian Warfare at all and that never resist the Flesh the World or the Devil II. I come now to the second Question How far to believe the Church As the Church is sometimes taken for Councils Synods or Convocations or Primitive Fathers I mean not barely the Colliar's Faith to believe as the Church believes tho' he knew not what it was but knowing throughly the Determinations of these whether it be absolutely necessary for us to believe them because they are the Determinations of the Church The Romanist saith Yes And he that believes not what Holy Mother Church determines is a Heretick He that believes not according to what the Council of Trent hath determined let him be Anathema 〈◊〉 answer We first begin here That the Scriptureâ— coâ—ntain all things needful for Faith and Life 〈◊〉 in Es. viii 19 20. And when they shall say unto you seek unto them that have familiar Spirits and unto Wizzards that peep and that Mutter Should not a People seek unto their God To the Law and to the Testimony If they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no Light in them So may I say also in this case if they say to you Seek to Councils Fathers Canons Determinations of the Church To the Law and to the Testimony to Scripture and Holy Writ that contains every thing you need to enquire after for Salvation What to be believed and what to be done Psal. cxix 105 Thy Word is a Lamp unto my Feet and a Light unto my Path. VVhithersoever you need to walk for the pleasing of God doing your duty to Men or to your own Souls the VVord of God is a Light sufficient In the Place before-mentioned Es. viii 19 20. Should not a People seek unto their God For the living to the dead To the Law and to the Testimony It is curiosity to enquire after Necromancy But if we desire to know what is fit and needful To the Law and to the Testimony Mal. iv 4 Remember ye the Law of Moses my Servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the Statutes and Judgments Prophecy was then ceasing People might complain what shall we do for Instruction VVhy go to the VVord of God which you have in your Hands to the Law of Moses that will teach you Luke xvi ult Dives desires Abraham to send one from the Dead to teach his Brethren that they might escape that Place of Torment No that needs not Moses and the Prophets will teach all things needful They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them The Apostle speaks this fully 2 Tim. iii. 16 17. All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness That the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works The Papist saith it is not sufficient to instruct in all things of Religion True not of the Romish Religion For the Rags that patch that you must go to some Broker For the Divine VVardrobe of Scripture hath none such viz. the Orders of Monks and Friars Pilgrimages single Life of the Clergy Salt Oil Spittle in Baptism Tapers at the Communion Processions Praying to and for the Dead and a Thousand other Trinklements and Trumperies Scripture never knew such base VVare we must go to some other kind of Shop for it And that Pedlar with them is Tradition VVhen they cannot find Authority to warrant them by Scripture then they have Recourse to some Tradition VVhen they have some Bastard-Doctrine or Practice and want Scripture to father it then they go to some old rotten Tradition Just so did the Jews and these are so like them that Egg to Egg is not more You know Christ's Accusation of those Mat. xv 8 9. This People draweth nigh unto me with their Mouth and honoureth me with their Lips but their Heart is far from me But in vain they do worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men. And the very same Quarrel hath he against these The Jews pretended a Thousand Traditions of the Fathers so do these they equalled them with Scripture so do these they spoiled all Religion and made the VVord of God of none Effect and so do these As if God were a Niggard in his VVord and did not afford Food for Salvation but we must seek it in Dunghills The Scriptures are called the Scriptures of Truth the Word of Grace of Salvation able to make Man perfect throughly furnished to every good Work and yet these forsooth must be patch'd out with Traditions or they avail nothing As Argo was patch'd till there was nothing of the old Ship left So these Men have patch'd up a VVord of God till there is nothing of the VVord of God left in it Secondly The Scriptures are to be believed for themselves and they need not fetch their Credit from any thing else Dan. x. 21 I will shew thee that which is noted in the Scripture of Truth They are the TRUTH See John v. 39 Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they that testifie of me Observe the Bent of Christ's Discourse To clear that he was the Messias he produceth the VVitness of John ver 33. Ye sent unto John and he bare Witness unto the Truth His own VVorks v. 36. But I have a greater Witness than that of John for the Works which the Father hath given me to finish the same Works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me A Voice from Heaven ver 37. And the Father himself which hath sent me hath born witness of me But he concludes in Scripture as the most undeniable Testimony Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they that testifie of me See also 2 Pet. i. 17 18 19. For he received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a Voice to him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son c. And this Voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount We have also a more sure Word of Prophecy A Voice from Heaven might possibly deceive the Jews feigned such but the Word of prophecy is sure that is a more sure Word The Reason of the Scriptures Credibility is because they are the Word of God 1 Thess. ii 13 When ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the Word of Men but as it