Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	day_n	earth_n	father_n	6,059	5	4.4985	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45496	Archaioskopia, or, A view of antiquity presented in a short but sufficient account of some of the fathers, men famous in their generations who lived within, or near the first three hundred years after Christ : serving as a light to the studious, that they may peruse with better judgment and improve to greater advantage the venerable monuments of those eminent worthies / by J.H.	Hanmer, Jonathan, 1606-1687.; Howe, John, 1630-1705.; Howell, James, 1594?-1666.	1677 (1677)	Wing H652; ESTC R25408	262,013	452

appears but rather a wonder he is no more so which proceeded not so much from want of skill in himself as from the incapacity of the Subject whereof he treateth A most difficult thing it is saith the same Author for him that discusseth things of a subtile Nature to joyn with perspicuity the care of polishing his Language § 5. Among many wherewith this Learned Piece is righly fraught and stored I shall cull out and present you with a few memorable passages 1. His Symbol or Creed containing a brief sum and confession of the Faith of the Churches of Christ at least in the West at that day his words are these The Church although dispersed through the whole World even unto the ends of the Earth received the Faith from the Apostles and their Disciples which is to believe In one omnipotent God which made Heaven and earth and the Seas and all things that are in them and in one Jesus Christ the Son of God incarnate for our Salvation and in the Holy Ghost who by the Prophets preached the mysteries of the dispensation and coming of Christ and his Birth of a Virgin and his Passion and Resurrection from the dead and the Assumption of the Beloved Christ Jesus our Lord in his flesh into Heaven and his coming from Heaven in the Glory of the Father to restore or recapitulate and gather into one all things and to raise the flesh or bodies of all mankind that unto Jesus our Lord and God and Saviour and King according to the good pleasure of the Father invisible every knee should bow both of things in Heaven and in the earth and under the earth and that every tongue should confess to him and that he should pass a righteous sentence or judgment upon all and send the spiritual wickednesses and the Angels that fell and became apostate and also ungodly unrighteous lawless and blasphemous men into eternal fire but for the righteous and holy and such as did keep his commandments and abide in his love some from the beginning and some by repentance gratifying them with life might bestow on them incorruptibility and give unto them eternal Glory Where observe by the way that though it may be wondered at that Irenaeus should no where expresly call the Holy Ghost God yet that he held him to be God equal with the Father and the Son is manifest in that he makes in his Creed the object of faith to be all the three persons of the Trinity alike As also from hence that elsewhere he ascribes the creation of man unto the Holy Ghost as well as to the Father and the Son 2. He gives the reason why the Mediatour between God and man ought to be both God and man For saith he if man had not overcome the enemy of man he had not been justly overcome again unless God had given salvation we should not have had it firmly and unless man had been joyned unto our God he viz. Man could not have been made partaker of incorruptibility For it became the Mediator of God and Men by his nearness unto both to reduce both into friendship and concord and to procure that God should assume Man or take him into communion and that man should give up himself unto God 3. The whole Scriptures both Prophetical and Evangelical are open or manifest and without ambiguity and may likewise be heard of all Again we ought to believe God who also hath made us most assuredly knowing that the Scriptures are indeed perfect as being spoken or dictated by the word of God and his Spirit 4. Fides quae est ad deum justificat hominem Faith towards God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6. 2. justifieth a man 5. Concerning the marks of the true Church and that it is not tied to one place or succession he thus speaks When once the Gospel was spread throughout the world and the Church gathered out of all Nations then was the Church no where tied to one place or to any certain and ordinary succession but there was the true Church wheresoever the uncorrupted voice of the Gospel did sound and the Sacraments were rightly administred according to the Institution of Christ. Also that the pillar and ground of the Church is the Gospel and Spirit of Life 5. Of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost continuing unto his time thus Some saith he cast out Devils soundly and truly so that oftentimes even they who were cleansed from wicked Spirits do believe and are in the Church others have the foreknowledge of things to come and also prophetical Visions and Sayings others do cure and restore to health such as labour of some infirmity by the laying on of their hands Moreover as we have said the dead also have been raised and continued with us many years And what shall I say the Graces are not to be numbred which throughout the whole world the Church receiving from God doth dispose in the name of Christ Jesus crucified under Pontius Pilate every day for the help of the Nations neither seducing any one nor taking money from him For as it hath freely received from God so also doth it freely administer nor doth it accomplish any thing by Angelical Invocations nor incantations nor any wicked curiosity but purely and manifestly directing their prayers unto the Lord who hath made all things 6. He plainly asserts that the world shall continue but six thousand years For saith he look in how many days this world was made in so many thousand years it shall be consummate Therefore 't is said in Gen. 2. 2. On the sixth day God finished all his works and rested the seventh day Now this is both a narration of what was done before and also a prophecy of things to come for one day with the Lord is as a thousand years in six days the things were finished that were made and it is manifest that the six thousandth year is the consumma●ion of them 7. He finds the number of the Beasts name viz. 666. i● the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence he concludes it as very probable that the seat of that beast is the Latin or Roman Kingdom Take his own words Sed Lateinos nomen habet sexcentorum sexaginta sex numerum valdè verisimile est quoniam novissimum verissimum Erasm. edit Regnum hoc habet vo●abulum Latini enim sunt qui nunc regnant Sed non in hoc nos gloriabimur 8. Of the four Evangelists he thus writeth Mathew saith he delivered unto the Hebrews the History of the Gospel in their own Tongue When Peter and Paul preached at Rome and planted that Church after their departure Mark the Disciple and also Interpreter of Peter delivered unto us in writing such things as he had heard Peter preach And Luke the companion of Paul comprised in one Volume the Gospel preached of him

it is that most Mens stiles do differ as well as their faces suus cuique stilus est inquit Erasmus quisque suum quendam habet gustum peculiarem every one hath somewhat peculiar to him in this partic●lar Accordingly our Author being a Man ●cris vehementis Ingenii of a rough sharp and vehement spirit makes use of a stile answerable viz. quick and crabbed and consequently harsh and obscure which he did of purpose affecting it as most agreeable to his Genius so that his expressions are such even in things that are plain and easie This Rhenanus renders as the reason why his writings had so many faults or Errataes in them viz. ●eglectus aut●ris quo multis annis non est lectotum manibus tritus ips●m dicendi g●nus affectatum Africanum affectati stili durities molestiam addit quod etiam magis effecit ut minùs leg●retur quàm quidvis aliud Which betided the Poet Persius qui consul●ò est obscurus suisque scriptis caliginem tenebras exindustriâ objecit for being by one taken in hand and perceived to be so dark and cloudy he was fairly laid aside with such like words as these Si nol●t intelligi non legetur 4. His converse in the Greek Authors whom he diligently read being very skilful in that Tongue idenim temporis nihil extaba● inquit Rhenanus apud Latinos in sacris praeter testamentum utrumque tantum Victor Apollonius scripserant opuscula hence it is that transcribing much from them he retains their phrases though he quote not his Authors which was the manner of the first ages viz. to cite none by name but the sacred Scriptures only especially if they had drawn the Water out of the Wells of the Greeks and imitates their manner of speaking By his assiduous perusal of their Books saith Pamelius adeò Graecas loquendi formulas imbiberit ut etiam Latinè seribens illarum oblivisci nequiret he so drank in their forms of speech that when he comes to write in Latin he cannot forget them and both himself and Rhenanus have taken notice of many phrases in him which he borrows from the Greeks and wherein he conforms unto them Most of these I find observed by that Learned French-man Mr. Iohn Daille in his choice Treatise concerning the right use of the Fathers What shall I say saith he of Tertullian who besides his natural harshness and roughness which you meet with in him throughout and that Carthagmian spirit and genius which is common to him with the rest of the African writers hath yet shadowed and over-cast his conceptions with so much learning and with so many new terms and passages out of the Law and with such variety of all visions subtilties and nice points as that the greatest stock both of learning and attention that you can bring with you will be all little enough to fit you for a perfect understanding of him § 5. This father is full fraught with and abounds in grave and excellent sentences some few whereof I shall here insert which may serve a little to acquaint us with the state of those times in reference unto both the Doctrine and Discipline then professed and practised in the Chuches of Christ. 1. Take a view of his Symbol or Creed containing a summary of the faith which was generally received and maintained in his time Altogether one the only immoveable and irreformable rule as he stiles it which is this To believe that there is but one God nor he any other beside the Creator of the world who made all things of nought by his word first of all sent forth Colos. 1. 16 17. That word to be call'd his Son in the name of God variously seen by the Patriarchs always heard by the Prophets last of all brought down by the Spirit of God the Father and Power into the Virgin Mary made flesh in her womb and of her born a man and that he is Jesus Christ moreover that he preached a new law and a new promise of the Kingdom of Heaven that he wrought or did wonders was fastned to the Cross arose the third day that being taken up into heaven he sate down on the right of the Father sent the power of the Ghost in his stead that he might guide or act believers that he shall come in glory to take the Saints into the fruition of eternal life and heavenly promises and to adjudge the wicked unto perpetual fire a resurrection of each part being made with the restitution of the flesh This rule instituted by Christ as shall be proved hath no question made of it among us but which Heresies bring in and which makes Hereticks A compend or brief hereof is to be seen in the beginning of his book of the veiling of Virgins as also in that against Praxeas the Heretick unto which he subjoyns these words This Law of Faith remaining other things that concern discipline and conversation do admit of a newness of Correction the grace of God working and making a proficiency unto the end So that where there is a consent in the fundamental and substantial truths of the Gospel differences in things of less moment may be born with nor should they cause divisions among Christians That rule holding here that Opinionum varietas opinantium unitas non sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He adds that this rule hath ran down from the beginning of the Gospel even before any heresie sprung up insomuch as from hence this appears to be a firm Truth id esse verum quodcunque primum id esse adulterum quodcunque posterius Again The Church acknowledgeth one God Creatour of the universe and Jesus Christ of the Virgine Mary the Son of God the Creator and the resurrection of the flesh it mingleth the Law and the Prophets with the Evangelical and Apostolical writings and from thence drinks in that faith It signs with water clotheth with the holy Ghost which Pamelius understands of confirmation feeds with the Eucharist exhorteth with Martyrdom and so receives none against this institution 2. He prescribes and lays down this for a sure rule by which the truth may be known viz. If the Lord Jesus Christ did send out the Apostles to Preach other Preachers are not to be received then those whom Christ did institute because neither doth any other know the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son hath revealed him neither doth the Son seem to have revealed him unto any others save to the Apostles whom he sent to Preach Now what they have preached i.e. what Christ revealed to them ought no other way to be proved then by the same Churches which the Apostles themselves founded preaching unto them as well by a lively voice as they say as afterward by Epistles If these things be so it is then evident that

yet is he not two but one Christ. One not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking the manhood into God One altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one Man so God and Man is one Christ. Who suffered for our salvation descended into hell rose again the third day from the dead He ascended into heaven he fifteth on the right hand of the Father God Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire This is the Catholick Faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved As for the censures annexed hereunto viz. 1. In the beginning except a man keep the Catholick faith 2. In the middle he that will be saved must thus think and 3. In the end this is the Catholick faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved I thought good to give you Dr. Hammond's apprehensions of them how they ought to be understood His words are these I suppose saith he they must be interpreted by their opposition to those heresies that had invaded the Church and which were acts of carnality in them that broach'd and maintain'd them against the apostolick doctrine and contradictory to that foundation which had been resolved on as necessary to bring the world to the obedience of Christ and were therefore to be anathematiz'd after this manner and with detestation branded and banished out of the Church Not that it was hereby defined to be a damnable sin to fail in the understanding or believing the full matter of any of those explications before they were propounded and when it might more reasonably be deemed not to be any fault of the will to which this were imputable Thus he 2. The canonical books of the old and new Testament owned by him are the same with those which the reformed Churches acknowledge for such of which he thus speaks All scripture of us who are Christians was divinely inspired The books thereof are not infinite but finite and comprehended in a certain Canon which having set down of the Old Testament as they are now with us he adds the Canonical books therefore of the Old Testament are twenty and two equal for number unto the Hebrew Letters or alphabet for so many elements of Letters there are among the Hebrews But saith he besides these there are other books of the Old Testament not Canonical which are read only unto the Catechumens and of these he names the Wisdom of Solomon the Wisdom of Iesus the Son of Syrach the fragment of Esther Iudith and Tobith for the books of the Maccabees he made no account of them yet he afterward mentions four books of the Maccabees with some others He also reckons the Canonical Books of the New Testament which saith he are as it were certain sure anchors and supporters or pillars of our Faith as having been written by the Apostles of Christ themselves who both conversed with him and were instructed by him 3. The sacred and divinely inspired Scriptures saith he are of themselves sufficient for the discovery of the truth In the reading whereof this is faithfully to be observed viz. unto what times they are directed to what person and for what cause they are written lest things be severed from their reasons and so the unskilful reading any thing different from them should deviate from the right understanding of them 4. As touching the way whereby the knowledge of the Scriptures may be attained he thus speaks To the searching and true understanding of the Scriptures there is need of a holy life a pure mind and virtue which is according to Christ that the mind running thorow that path may attain unto those things which it doth desire as far as humane nature may understand things divine 5. The holy Scripture saith he doth not contradict it self for unto a hearer desirous of truth it doth interpret it self 6. Concerning the worshipping of Christ we adore saith he not the Creature God forbid Such madness belongs unto Ethuicks and Arians but we adore the Lord of things created the incarnate Word of God for although the Flesh be in it self a part of things created yet is it made the Body of God Neither yet do we give adoration unto such a body by it self severed from the word neither adoring the Word do we put the Word far from the Flesh but knowing that it is said the Word was made Flesh we acknowledge it even now in the Flesh to be God 7. He gives this interpretation of those words of Christ Mark 13. 32. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man no not the Angels which are in heaven neither the Son but the Father The Son saith he knew it as God but not as man wherefore he said not neither the Son of God lest the divinity should seem to be ignorant but simply neither the Son that this might be the ignorance of the Son as man And for this cause when he speaks of the Angels he added not a higher degree saying neither the Holy Spirit but was silent here by a double reason affirming the truth of the thing for admit that the Spirit knows then much more the Word as the Word from whom even the Spirit receives was not ignorant of it 8. Speaking of the mystery of the two natures in Christ What need is there saith he of dispute and strife about words it's more profitable to believe and reverence and silently to adore I acknowledge him to be true God from heaven imp●ssible I acknowledge the same of the seed of David as touching the Flesh a man of the earth passible I do not curiousty inquire why the same is passible and impassible or why God and man lest being curiously inquisitive why and how I should miss of the good propounded unto us For we ought first to believe and adore and in the second place to seek from above a reason of these things not from beneath to inquire of Flesh and Blood but from divine and heavenly revelation 9. What the faith of the Church was concerning the Trinity he thus delivers Let us see that very tradition from the beginning and that Doctrine and Faith of the Catholick Church which Christ indeed gave but the Apostles preached and kept For in this Church are we founded and whoso falls from thence cannot be said to be a Christian. The holy and perfect Trinity therefore in the Father Son and Holy Ghost receives the reason of the Deity possesseth nothing forraign or superinduced from without nor consisteth of the Creator and Creature but the whole is of the Creator and Maker of all things like it self and

given to the Bishops of Rome of the real presence of collegiate and cloystered Virgins of the vertue of the Sign of the Cross to terrifie the Devil of their Feasts and lenten Fast of the authority of Traditions and of the Church of Rome And well may they be driven to such shifts who shun the Scripture● as insufficient yea justly are they given up to these delusions who not contenting themselves with the Sacred Oracles alone and the Doctrines contained in them which are able to make perfect and wise unto salvation do fansie and devise new ones in their own brains and then Coyn and impose authorities pretendedly Ancient for the maintaining of them Frivolous therefore and vain is the flourish of Baronius that it came to pass by the admirable Counsel and providence of God that these Epistles should all of them be written by Ignatius and notwithstanding the shipwrack which so many writings have suffer'd yet that these should be preserved intire and uncorrupt whereas 't is very evident that the greater part of them now extant are counterfeit and not his and the genuine miserably corrupted and alter'd So that it may upon better ground be said that herein the good providence of God hath been eminently seen that he hath been pleased to stir up and assist some of his servants in vindicating the writings of this and other of the Ancients from the injury that hath been offered them by base and disingenuous spirits who have preferr'd their own interest before the honour and truth of God and in plucking off the vizar and discovering the fraud and Leger-demain of those that would abuse and cheat the world by the obtrusion of Novelty instead of Antiquity thereupon § 4. His stile savours of a certain holy simplicity as did the State of the Church at that time full of gravity suitable unto a primitive Bishop lively fiery and solid becoming so glorious a Martyr § 5. That which is chiefly remarkable in these Epistles are those passages which are mentiond by Eusebius and Ierom as being most unquestionably such as fell from the penof this blessed Martyr wherein are in a lively manner drawn and deciphered the purtraiture of his most excellent spirit his singular and vigorous love to the Lord Jesus whose name is said to have been ingraven upon his heart in letters of gold as also his undaunted courage and Magnanimity in his cause accompanied with unconquerable constancy and sweet humility 1. His earnest desire of Martyrdom he thus expresseth From Syria even unto Rome I fight with beasts by land and sea night and day bound with ten Leopards i.e. with a guard of Souldiers who are the worse for favors But I am the more instructed by their injustice yet neither hereby am I justified Would to God I might injoy the beasts which are prepared for me who I wish may make quick dispatch with me and whom I will allure to devour me speedily lest as they have been terrified at others and did not touch them so they would not dare to touch my body and if they will not I will even force them thereunto Pardon me I know what is best for me Now I begin to be a Disciple of Christ desiring nothing of these things which are seen so I may win Jesus Christ. Let fire cross and troops of violent beasts breaking of bones dissipation of members contrition of the whole body and all the torments of the Divel let them all come upon me that I may injoy Jesus Christ. 2. When he was now condemned to the wild beasts and with an ardent desire of suffering heard the Lions roaring saith he I am the wheat of God whom the teeth of wild beasts shall grind that I may be found the pure or fine bread of God Immediately before which go these words I write to all the Churches and injoyn them all because I willingly die for God if ye hinder not I beseech you therefore that your love toward me be not unseasonable Suffer me to become the meat of wild beasts by whom I may obtain God 3. His care of the Churches was very great whom he earnestly presseth to holiness and a conversation becoming the Gospel And commendeth unto Polycarp whom he well knew to be an Apostolical Man the Flock or Congregation of Antioch praying him to be careful of the business there about the election of a Bishop or Pastor in his room manifesting herein his zeal for God and his glory as also his cordial affection and fidelity to the brethren Besides these there are in the Epistles other things worthy of notice though not so undoubtedly his as the above-mention'd They are such as these 4. His Creed or brief sum of Christian Doctrine wherein he accords with the Apostles Creed His words are Beloved I would have you to be fully instructed in the Doctrine of Christ who before all ages was begotten of the Father afterward made of the Virgin Mary without the company of man and conversing holily and without blame he healed all manner of infirmities and sicknesses among the people and did signs and wonders for the benefit of men and revealed his Father one and the only true God and did undergo his passion and by his murtherers the Jews suffered on the Cross under Pontius Pilate President and Herod the King and was dead and rose again and ascended into heaven unto him that sent him and fitteth at his right hand and shall come in the end of the world in his Fathers Glory to judge the quick and the dead and to render unto every one according to his works He that shall fully know and believe these things is blessed 5. Though he were one of the most eminent men of his time both for Piety and Learning yet out of the depth of his humility he thus speaks of himself when bound for Christ and his truth and lead toward his Martyrdom stiling his chains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritual pearls although I be bound saith he yet am I not to be compared unto any one of you that be at liberty Again speaking of the Pastours of the Church saith he I blush to be named and accounted in the number of them for I am not worthy being the last lowest or meanest of them and an abortive thing he also divers times stiles himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the least 6. Speaking of the Lords day let every Christian saith he Celebrate as a Festival the day of the Lords resurrection which is the most eminent of all days 7. A Pious and Religious Man is money Coyned and stamped of God but a wicked and irreligious Man is false and counterfeit Coyn of the Devils making Matth. 22. 20. 8. As touching Antiquity thus I have heard saith he some to say I will not believe if I find not the Gospel among the Ancient Records But to such I say that JESUS CHRIST is to me

himself gives of his end in compiling these Books his words are as rendred in the Parisian Edition Non est hoc opus Scriptura artificiosè comparata ad ostentationem sed mihi ad senectutem reconduntur monimenta oblivionis medicamentum verè image adumbratio evidentium anim●tarum illarum orationum quas dignus hahitus sum qui audirem virorum beatorum quique reverà erant maximi precii aestimationis 2. The eighth Book of Stromes is different from the rest 1. In the bulk of it being shorter then the fore-going whence it appears not to be an entire book 2. In the Inscription thereof fo● in some copies it hath this Title saith Photius Quis dives salveter of which before and begins with these words Qui laudatorias or ationes in other Copies it is thus inscribed Stromat●n Octavus as the other seven and begins with the same words which the now extant eighth book doth Sed neque antiquissimi Philosophi 3. In the subject thereof or matter contained and handled in it for the seven preceding books are altogether Theological but this wholly Logical nihil continet inquit Scultetus Theologicum sed de syllogismis argumentisque logicis quasdam praeceptiunculas wherein there are some things unsound though not so many as in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or institutions so far Photius Heinsius supposeth that this may be a fragment taken out of his Institutions to which some things contained in them that were not sound did stick so that he conceives this book was long lost and that now a part of the institutions hath invaded the place thereof Which haply may be the reason wherefore Freculphus reckons the books of Stromes to be but seven This I thought good to intimate and so to leave it unto the discreet Reader to judge and make what use of it he can That small Commentary set forth by Bigne which he calls adumbrationes or shadowings Baronius gives them the name of breves notae short notes upon some of the Catholical Epistles viz. The Epistle of Peter the Epistle of Iude and the first and second of Iohn and the truth is they give but little light into those Scriptures though they bear the Title of this ancient Father yet in all likelyhood are they none of his for neither Eusebius nor Ierom make any mention of them only Cassiodorus affirms it and that it is done in an Attick or Elegant stile wherein many things are spoken subtily indeed but not so warily as they should have been Probable it is that these notes also were by some one taken out of his Institutions For these are said to contain in them an explanation of a great part of the sacred Scriptures and particularly of the Catholical Epistles § 4. For the stile that he useth 't is elegant and full of gravity both Ierom and Cyril commend in him his eloquence and Trithemius stiles him Eloquentissimus a most eloquent Man It 's conceived that he was born in Athens and consequently it is likely that there also he had his first Education and the Language of the place which was of all other the best and finest Athenis inquit Tertullianus sapiendi dicendique acutissimos nasci relatum est In Athens are born the most acute men for Wisdom and Speech Athens being famous for Eloquence as was Sparta for Arms. His Books of the School-master saith Photius are nothing like unto his Institutions or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for besides that they have not in them any of those sottish and blasphemous opinions which were to be found in the other the very phrase is more florid and rhetorical rising to a certain well temper'd gravity mixed with sweetness Such was the Attick Dialect Atticorum aures teretes ad quas qui se accommodat is existimandus est Atticè dicere inquit Rhodiginus ut nil sentiatur insolens nil ineptum omnia ornata gravia copiosa Whence grew that adage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pr●venustâ lepidâque oratione § 5. Those excellent Monuments of his own extant may not unfitly be compared unto a pleasant Garden richly furnished with great variety of the choicest herbs and flowers wherein the judicious Reader may with much contentment recreate himself and be thence abundantly stored both for his profit and delight I shall gather and present you with a view for an invitation 1. Concerning the Holy Scriptures he speaks very venerably plainly asserting the Divine authority perspicuity and perfection of them thus We make use saith he of the Scriptures for the finding out and judging of the truth of things Now whatsoever is judged is not believed before it be judged wherefore neither is that a principle that needs to be judged If it be not enough to affirm what seems to be a truth but that a proof of what is spoken be requisite we expect not the Testimony of men but we prove what is inquired after by the Voice of the Lord which is more worthy to be believed than any demonstration or rather is the only demonstration Again as in war that order is not to be foresaken which the Commander hath given to the Soldier So neither is that order to be forsaken that the word hath prescribed to us which we have received as the Prince or Moderator both of knowledge and practice 2. To believe in Christ is to be made one with him and inseparably united to him Not to believe is to doubt and to be divided and at distance from him Faith is a voluntary anticipation or aforehand taking hold of what is promised a pious assent the substance of things hoped for and argument of things not seen Others an uniting assent unto things not apparent a demonstration or manifest assent unto a thing not known 3. The whole life of a godly man is as it were a certain holy and solemn festival day his Sacrifices are Prayers and Praises and the reading of the Scriptures before his repast as also Psalms and Hymns while he is at meat likewise before he goeth to rest yea and in the night to Prayers again By these he unites and joyns himself unto the Quire of Heaven But doth he know no other Sacrifices Yes namely the largess of instruction and relief of the poor 4. The Sacred Scriptures are they which make men holy like unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. This is to drink the Blood of Jesus viz. to be made partaker of the incorruption of the Lord. 6. It 's the greatest argument of Divine Providence that the Lord permits not sin and vice which had its rise from mans voluntary defection to remain unprofitable nor yet altogether hurtful for it is the office of the divine wisdom vertue and power not only to do good for this is to say it once for all the nature of God as it is of fire to burn