any of his By his own example and Command he hath directed us to seek the things that make for Peace wherein we may edifie one another Convulsions in his Members are most direful and dangerous Symptoms proceeding from ill humors vapors and Spirits Whilst the Limbs fall a jarring the body must needs decay That Wisdom from beneath which cherishes contentions and envy is sensual and devilsh The Devil hath no better sport then in such troubled waters These Confusions of Tongue become Babylon better then Zion Must not the stones of Gods Temple be proportionably squared and fitted to each other that his Sanctuary may be erected Should not they that believe in one God are saved by one Christ justified by one faith acted by one Spirit sealed by one baptism supported by one hope and ruled by one Lord walk in one Love also and be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace There is too much of hell fire in unchristian Combustions Such ignes fatui and cheating Meteors lead many to destruction Do not such wandring stars and blazing Comets manifest divine wrath and portend woful Judgements If our Light and fire burn better then anothers have we not cause to be more thankful and communicative What have we that we have not received to impart to others Are not the strong bid to bear with the weak and not please themselves Our Neighbours good is co-ordinate still with our own Interest for we should love our Neighbour as our selves Is not this Jewel a very precious one which is of such Import to the benefit of all Reason 4. The Nature of this gracious Knowledge doth further demonstrate its Excellency There are three special parts that do make it up being the choice Ingredients thereof Apprehension Assent and Application 1. APprehension of the matter understood is found in every kind of knowledge specially in this A view of Christs Beauty and Excellency is taken by the mind thus spiritualized The lively picture of Christs al-sufficiency is drawn in his Gospel by the pencil of his own Spirit The Lord himself opens his very Bowels to the Prospect of his peoples eyes therein Is not this a precious sight indeed to behold such a Saviour in all his proportions Doth not the sensible sight of our vileness and sinfulness recommend such a merciful Redeemer to our apprehension Can we behold our own wretchedness Insufficiency and unworthiness and thence cast a glance on his sutable and sure Redemption without admiration Doth not the survey of divine fulness thus exposed to view exalt the Lord Christ above all other Lovers Are not all his royal perfections a magnificent sight to a gracious Soul Can there be any thing more swett and stately 2. Assent and Credit to the Truth apprehended attends this knowledge in a singular way The God of Truth bespeaks this Assent by the word of Truth Salvation by Christ alone for true Believers upon conjugal terms is the sum thereof He that believes his Testimony hath set to his seal that God is true divine Authority gaining thus credit to his Assertion sways the Judgement to reason the case and cast its resolve upon Christs side Divine reason then perswades mans Reason that such a Christ is worth the accepting upon his own Terms The soul thereby judges all capitulations and Reservations to be sinfull dreadfull irrational Mans reason is then brought over to such a subjection as Christs reason demands without delaies or exceptions It sees that in Christ which is better then All and suits its wants in every part thereof It sees no help from any creature to be looked for and judges all to be but vanity and Lyes that hinders from Christ The soul then learns feelingly to cry None but Christ none but Christ as the Martyr did with due conviction of sin and righteousness in order to Judgement through the Spirits help The soul thus weary both of self and sin readily assents to that truth of God which presents Christ for a faithful and loving Husband for Saviour and Lord And is not this of singular worth Thirdly Application and hearty consent is the main ingredient of all conjugal Knowledge especially of this The soul is hereby effectually yielded into Christs own hand upon his own terms The Will in this Act accepts of Christ and renders up it self to his disposal Conjugal Acception is thus reciprocated that the whole man may yield unto him all loyal obedience of Faith and Love This great wheel thus moved all the Affections turn accordingly Christ ward heaven-ward that before still moved self-ward and earth-ward The soul being thus surrendred to Christ depends on him and derives from him still Grace for Grace All other things then become serviceable to the honor and service of Christ This Marriage-union brings with it a free and full a singular and sure Communion Then saith the soul My Beloved is mine and I am his I have all from him and all for him all in him and all through him And is not this a very rare Jewel that makes a match between Heaven and Earth Is not this Knowledge of singular worth that marries sinfull man to God Almighty Is not this thing of a rare value whose nature appears so supereminent Reason 5. The Properties of this Knowledge do much commend its excellency also They are expressed by a pregnant word full of sense and vertue being called a gracious knowledge 1. IN regard of Gods favouring Grace whence it flows which it manifests and whither it leads The glory of divine Grace doth so admirably and so wonderfully shine forth therein that its preciousness is as remarkable as the Noon-Sun in a Summer-day 2. In respect to his renewing Grace this knowledge is truly and incomparably gracious being attended with all the gracious Train and fruits of Christs Spirit So far as the Lord is duly known by his people so far is this knowledge attended with a proportionable measure of saving Grace 1. It s a fiducial knowledge that knows Christ with conjugal faith discerning of him looking up to him closing with him following after him trusting in him feeding upon him drawing all from him and returning all to him 2. It s a loving knowledge that embraces Christs love and retaliats Love for Love loving his person first and then his goodness That soul that knows Christ loves him sincerely and self-denyingly fervently and constantly That soul hears and speaks prays and acts in love to him loving his Word and ways his name and honor his service and servants out of Love to him That soul for his sake loves his Saints with a Love of delight and sinners with a Love of pitty The more she knows of him the more is her heart melted into his heart to be cast into the mold of his Love What 's recorded of famous Ignatius
be a common Road for every Notion pretending to new Light Observe well the great gate of your understanding that no disguised enemy may slip in unaware Sift and search every thing by Scripture-Light that ye may know the Truth Watch narrowly the Fort of Judgement and Conscience that carnal Reasonings may not get in and thrust out spiritual Reason Let divine Reason by the Scripture of Truth fortifie the same against all surprises of the enemy Yield up your selves therefore to the Spirit of Truth for effectual renewing that through the Blood of Christ you may have it purified and pacified If Error get once into your conscience he will make sad work there Exercise your self therefore to have it alwaies void of offence towards God and man The Cittadel of your Will requires a special watch Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life Have a singular eie to the Ammunition of your Affections if wild-fire get thither it will make work indeed See them all well ordered and well guarded least any be mounted for Error against Truth and for Revolt against perseverance Your Love and hatred your desire and fear your joy and grief your anger and distaste your hope and despair are Guns of great use if well managed but if error get once the mastery they will tear you and others to pieces Stand on your watch then as Christ commands all in these sleepy daies Watch and pray watch and Believe watch and Labour against such an enemy The Baits are specious that will entice you but dreadful hooks lie close under them Deadly poisons desperate Diseases will tempt you round under fair disguises Satans Powder-plots are most desperate in these later daies His venom is refined and sublimed to its height His old stratagems are revived afresh with more plausibleness Unclean spirits struggle and rage most stil when near ejection The Lord will keep you whilst you keep close to him in his Word and Waies He is with you whilst you keep with him if you forsake him he will forsake you 2. Relatively Keep close to your work in looking to others All Superiours have a special charge to keep their Inferiours from these dreadful Evils Study and improve your Relations well to this very end whether Political or Ecclesiastical Magistratical or Ministerial whether Parental or Magisterial Take heed to your selves and to the whole flock committed to your charge Act Gods part towards them and act like God whom you Represent Use all such means in Church or state as Christ himself would use were he in your place If fair Means will do good so much the better but rather then fail use sharper Tools If Lenatives will not avail Corrosives must be used When a Limb is gangreend and mortified it cals for Iron and fire If the Patient grow phrentick he must be bound and kept very close and solitary If the disease be contagious company must be kept off If the sore will not fairly resolve by proper discussives it must be ripened lanced cleansed with stronger medicines If a member be broken disjointed or wrenced you can hardly cure it without pain and trouble Superiors are Physitians in their kind if your Patients be froward you need the more wisdom care diligence You are Shepheards and Rulers of men all your Titles of Honor will still mind you of your Duty and Burthen Dignity and Duty are still inseparable You are set over others for their good Keep off therefore these great evils from them and keep them from these evils of revolting Errors The external man is within your reach The internal man accounts to God alone They that so honour God he will surely honor but they that dispise him in slighting his work shall become vile and base Whilst you act like God in acting for God the Glory will be his and the comfort yours in the furtherance of the publique good God looks now for such to stand in the Gap and make up the breach to prevent a fatal ruin One man of note may do a world of good one Moses one Phineas one Joshua one Nehemiah may be an eminent Saviour under Christ in this Israel Who is on Gods side now against Blasphemy and damnable Heresie against divisions and strong delusions Act Gods part now in your relations with zeal and courage with prudence and care Its Gods own work you may well trust him for Council and strength support and blessing The Lord never yet failed faithfull Reformers who denied themselves for the publique Weal Carnal policy will discourage you Divine Policy will quicken you still Christ himself met with strong Contradictions from all evil men and evil Spirits Your worst enemies are conquered ones both in Spirituals and in Temporals remember and improve all your experiences renewed so often for these many years Error discountenanced will soon wear away whereas Truth opposed will gather more strength Sinfull tolerations are the devils Nurses in all relations publique private Be zealous for God mind his Interest then shall your interest besurely settled Doctrine 4. The Grace and Knowledge of Christ is a singular Jewel THE word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace in Scripture-sense hath divers acceptions improperly and properly Improperly it signifies in a larger sense Thanks Joy Liberality Gift Office c. Properly and strictly it denotes two things 1 Gods special favour towards his Elect. 2. His sanctifying work in the Elect the former is favouring Grace this later is renewing Grace 1. It signifies Gods peculiar favour towards his Elect and that considered in the fountain and streams 1. Grace in the spring is called his pleasure purpose councill of his Will Amor Benevolentiae his love of benevolence 2. Favouring Grace in the stream signifies the various emanations of that eternal Love in all the expressions thereof towards them sutably to all their necessities thence the denominations of his predestinating and redeeming Grace his adopting and pardoning Grace his supplying and supporting Grace c. Which are in God one single intire Act that is variously denominated from its object This is Amor beneficientiae his love of beneficence whence flows his Amor Complacentiae his love of delight embracing of them Secondly Grace signifies also properly Gods sanctifying work of his Spirit in his Elect called the fruits of his Spirit the work of his Grace the gift from above 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often the peculiar saving operations of his gracious Spirit in them and by them this Grace is considerable in the Root and Branches in the habit and acts in the principle and effects in the seed and fruits in the source and streams in the beginning and progress thereof being often called metonymically the Spirit for the gifts thereof 1. Renewing Grace in the Root and
us and we have seen his Glory So the beloved Apostle witnesses of him He took on him not the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham Thus the Son of God became the son of man being miraculously conceived of the Holy Ghost in the womb of Mary the Virgin over-shadowed by Gods Spirit and born of her in the humane nature like to us in all things except sin Thus was God the Son made manifest in the flesh by assuming the Nature not the person for then had he been two sons and two persons of man to himself This Man Christ Jesus hath body and soul the two substantial parts of Man even as we have as appear'd in his whole progress both which he hath Glorified not nullified This Fatherless man is as Wonderful as the same motherless God for who can declare his Generation as to the manner of it Thus Infiniteness confined himself God eternal was born of a finite poor Virgin Here is an Object indeed for the best knowledge of the best man God become man 3. Christ is God-man Emmanuel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God with us The true Ithiel God with me the very Vcal who is All. In him by hypostatical Union the humane nature with the Divine do both subsist in God the Son the second person of the divine Trinity Here is indeed a complication of ineffable wonders As there one Divine Nature subsists distinctly in three divine Persons So here two Natures the divine and humane subsist both in one person each of them acting and remaining distinctly conjunctly and inseparably incommutably and unconfusedly as the Fathers expressed it to avoid Errors on both hands Here is no mixtion nor composition no confusion nor conversion but a mysterious and transcendant Union from whence flow the various expressions of Scripture 1. When that is attributed to each Nature which properly belongs thereto as suffering to humane Nature and also when that is attributed to the person which therein belongs to both natures as to be Mediatour this is most proper Secondly When that which is common to the whole Person as to be Mediator is attributed only to one of the Natures suppose to the humane this is more improper Thirdly When that which is proper to one Nature is attributed to the other Nature in concreto by a name denoting the whole Person In that sense its true that God purchased his Church by his Blood and that the King of Glory was crucified by communication of Properties Yet this acception is the most improper of the three being Metonymical as the second is Synecdochical In man two imperfect Natures Soul and Body are coadunated with reservation of Proprieties to the constituting of one Suppositum and Person by the vertue of God Christs Person in the divine Nature being most perfect took the humane nature into the unity of one person by his own Vertue So that its one and the same Christ visible according to the humane invisible according to the divine Nature This hypostatical Union was the work of the Trinity mediately of the Holy Ghost immediately and of the Son terminatively The Fathers compare this Mysterie to the joint work of three Sisters making up one vesture and putting it all conjunctly upon the second of them It was necessary that Christ should be God 1. To impart an infinite value and vertue to his compleat Obedience 2. To overcome all sufferings and enemies 3. To communicate all effectually by his Spirit to his people It was as needful that he should be man 1. Because the Godhead could not suffer Secondly because the same Nature that had offended was to satisfie 3. That our Nature corrupted by the first Adam might be restored by the second Christ Jesus our Lord. Thus is Christs Person the Amiable Object of our Knowledge Secondly CHrist considered in his Office is a precious Object his chief business as Mediator being to procure effectual Reconciliation to the saving of his people by his perfect Oblation presented to God for them and applied to them by Gods Spirit He assumed the Name and function of Jesus the Saviour He was anointed as the Christ of God with all suitable qualifications and made Lord of all but especially made our Lord and Saviour by personal appropriation and effectual application Thus was Christ voluntarily made of a woman under the Law subjecting himself in that wonderful dispensation of his Mediation to receive from the Father his Call to that redeeming Function There was no defect in God but in us only who wanted skil power and will utterly to the curing and saving of our selves Christ therefore was divinely anointed to be our Soveraign Prophet Priest and Prince to effect all for us and in us needful to salvation As a Prophet he Reveals the whole Council of God As a Priest he makes full expiation to God and Intercession for us As a Kingly Prince he subdues all spiritual Enemies and makes all things serviceable to the guidance and protection of his people under his Soveraign Rule and Government All this he did and doth by his Eternal Spirit as the Scripture Records freely fully surely and singularly being therein a glorious Object of Christian knowledge Thirdly Christ in his Progress is considerable under a double state of Humiliation and Exaltation 1. HIs Humiliation appeared in all the steps of his Conception and Birth of his Life and Passion of his death and Burial most wonderfully This God head was then covered with the dark vail of his humane Nature mourning as it were in the sad habit of his infirmities for his peoples Enormities He willingly then eclipsed his divine light within the dark Lanthorn of this submissive state he humbled himselfe to exalt us he emptied himself that he might fill us He parted with all that he might give us all He shewed himself to be the Son of man to the lowest degree that he might bring all his into the state of Children Had there not been an absolute necessity thereof he had never done it Had not our case been so desperate could any other way have expiated and destroyed his peoples sins Christ had not come down from the height of Glory to the bottom of ignominy Here is an object of admiration indeed God humbled to a childs state growing up by degrees in Stature and Grace doing and suffering every moment for his enemies in rebellious arms Behold the Son of man wrastling with earth and hell yea with heaven it self conflicting with mans rage the devils fury and the wrath of God! What think you of sin the murtherer of this Christ and of that Love which gave him to the death Thus made he his soul a sacrifice for sin that he might see his seed and the good will of the Lord prospering in his hands He laid in the grave to confirm his
our selves as becomes us that we may not behold vanity 2. Is our Hearing spiritually employed in listning after the Fathers Commands Christs invitations the Spirits motions in his Word and Rod within and without us Is our ear opened to our Beloved and boared to the posts of his house that we may not hearken after any Tempter 3. Have we a spiritual Smell after the perfumes of Christs precious Garments the droppings of his Graces and Benefits and the fragrancy of his divine Spices Do we odorare the sweetness of his Garden and prefer it before all the rankness of sin self of the World and Satan 4. Is our Taste spiritually active to relish the dainties of Christ the pleasures of his Table the choiceness of his feast Do we prefer his flaggons and apples Do we relish him in his sweetness and comfort before all the worlds chear all and all in him Do we therefore abhor the bitterness attending every sin though sugard with Pleasure Profit or Honor Do we taste and know how good the Lord is 5. Is our Touch also spiritually employed to feel the difference between heat and cold between good and evil in the things of Christ Is this sense as others so well exercised to avoid all evil and embrace the good 2. The Internal sense receives from those Cinque Ports and Gates all sorts of Objects to be orderly view'd and compar'd laid up and improved by the faculties called Common sense Phantasie and Memory Are we thus spiritually sensible through this gracions Knowledge 1. BY common sense and general Perception of the species of things with their circumstantiated differences of Motion Rest Magnitude Number c. to give thereof a definitive intimation unto the Phantasie Doth Christs Spirit thus help us to discern of all things presented for a spiritual use to be faithfully reviewed and transmitted for orderly Improvement Do we keep watch and take due account of all sorts of Passengers and Guests coming to visit our internal man that they may be punctually discerned and orderly dealt with 2. Phantasie or Imagination entertaining those various Objects compares divides and composes them much like a Printer doth order his work with multitudes of variations and flowrishes Have we a like spiritual skill faithfully to compare the things that differ to separate the good from the evil to compose all things to spiritual advantage 3. Memory laies up what is thus ordered and laieth it out again as there is occasion in the naâ—ural man Is it so with us in the spiritual man Do we remember well the things of Christs Glory and of our own Peace Do we so record what he teaches us as to improve it in season and order Do we so lay up as to lay out in the best manner Are we carefull not to forget him or any thing of his Do we therefore beware of oblivion-water that we become not like wretched Israel 2. Sensitive Life acts by way of motion upward and downward to the right and left forward and backward in Pulsation and Respiration Do we move thus spiritually 1. DO we move upward towards Christ and Heaven aspiring still after Eternity Is our Center above and our Load-stone there where Christ sits at the right hand of God Is there a divine fire within us bending still heaven-ward to its first original 2. Do we move downward against every sin Do we labor still to tread self and Satan under foot with all sublunaries as Christ and his spouse eminently do 3. Do we move to the right in compassion and brotherly Love friendly assistance and Christian forbearance as Christ and his Apostles teach us practically 4. Do we move to the left by pittying and bemoaning sinners praying for them reproving of them and directing and exhorting them that yet remain in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity plucking some as brands out of the fire Christ himself did so in the days of his flesh 5. Do we move forward still toward the price of the heavenly calling looking at Jesus c Do we so press forward towards the Mark forgetting the things behind that we may lose no time in this race of ours 6. Do we move back sometime to hasten our pace that we may leap better in considering our ways with remorse of sin and strong resolves to be more diligent in learning Wisdom from former follies 7. Doth our Pulse beat spiritually with freeness strength and orderliness to signifie the due Composure and harmonious Accord of all our Vitals in the ways of Christ Doth our heart keep a right Circulation of spiritual blood from the Center to the Circumference with renewed Reciprocations Do the various Communications of his Spirit set out by the Title of seven Spirits to denote Perfection Variety and Sufficiency manifest themselves in the constant Tenor of of our spiritual Pulse by returning still to Christ what we are still receiving from him Are we sensible of any change there in weakness inaequality and disorderliness for speedy remove of all obstructions disturbing the same 8. Do we move also in Spiritual Respirations 1. Inspiring the fresh gales of his reviving Spirit who blows where he lists and breaths into us by internal and external motions to temper our Spirits and to revive them Do we therein imitate David and all the friends of Christ in their spiritual Pantings and longings 2. Expiring the fuliginous vapors of our sinfull hearts and breathing forth the desires of our souls to be rid of those fumes that are so noisom to all our vitals and still breeding feavourish heats in our internal man Do we long to eject these unwelcome Guests who still like that serpent in Aesop will be sure to sting and poison their host when they recover heat 3. Sensitive Life acts by Appetite Doth spiritual Life act so within us both Concupiscibly and Irascibly 1. The concupiscible Appetite acts the Affections of Love and Hatred Joy and Sorrow Desire and Disdain Is the like felt in us spiritually 1. DO we love Christ as the best Object for sweetness and beauty excellency and sutableness the incomparable Paragon of all Have we none in Heaven but him and none upon earth in comparison of him Do we love all his for his sake in subordination to himself Do we therefore love all the ways and means wherein his Love is shewed towards us that our Love may reciprocate towards him again 2. Do we hate sin and all Christs enemies as he hates them upon his account Do we abhor and detest whatsoever is contrary to that lovely Object as contrary to our very being also Hatred extends unto all the kinds Doth our Spirit thus abominate all sinful
is verified of such the name of Christ is engraven on their heart by the finger of his own Spirit 3. It s a penitential knowledge that melts the soul with godly sorrow as looking on Christ pierced by him and for him The sight of such a Saviour so unkindly requited cannot but make sin out of measure sinfull to such a tender heart The sweetness of Christ must needs embitter every sin to such who have tasted how good the Lord is Such do hate sin with perfect hatred knowing the baseness and unreasonableness thereof Christ clears their eyes to descry and detest the least appearance of evil The more beauty is discovered in him the more ugliness do such observe in sin his grand Opposite They take most pains to mortifie those Lusts which are most opposite to Christ 4. It s an obediential knowledge carefull to observe the Lords Will made known If any say that he knows him and keeps not his Commands he is a liar and the truth is not in him If we know that he is righteous we know that he that doth righteousness is born of him This knowledge is not notional but practical It rests not in the brain but conveys Influence into the whole Life It s not idle but very active It studies his Will to fulfill it and fulfills it in studying thereof It s obedience is neither blind nor lame but a spiritual Sacrifice a rational Service The whole man in heart and life compleats this oblation of loyal observance It minds the precepts as much as the Promises and desires holiness as much as happiness It would act like Christ in acting for him 5. It s an humbling knowledge that puffs not up but laies the soul low The more any know of Christ aright the more still do they know of their sins The best of Christ being duly known makes them to know the worst of themselves Christs eye-salve doth so clear their eyes that they see easily those sinfull motes of lesser faults which by their moon-light of notional knowledge they could not discern Their beholding of Christ in their Gospel-glass with open face thus shews more of this shame and of his Glory Thus Job was more humbled by seeing of God in a clearer light Abraham acknowledges himself dust and ashes upon familiar Conference with Christ Their Affronts put on him in their time of darkness humble them soundly in this season of Light They learn daily as Socrates said to know their ignorance As Simonides the more they study the knowledge of God the more amazed are they with his glorious unsearchableness 6. It s a grateful knowledge that cannot endure sinful ingratitude They know thereby the worth of Mercy and the high price paid by Christs blood for every favour afforded to his The bounty of Christ so magnificently multiplied on them still renders them thankful Debtors mindful of their Bonds Their Insolvency they more throughly know which makes them the more beholding to him What others enjoy by common Providence they receive still by a Gracious Promise Ingratitude the sum of all evil they abominate as the Devil himself Their homage and rent do they bring to him whom they well know to be their chief Lord. Returns of Duty they labour to make in some proportion to their Receipts of Mercy 7. All other Graces do beautifie this attending on Christ in following his Train Patience and Prudence are found in their Rank Zeal and diligence will not be backward Meekness and sweetness will not be strangers Courage and Fortitude are ready at hand Sincerity and self-denial are inseparable companions thereof The Knowledge of Christ then is a choyce Jewel that is so well set and accompanied Nothing is wanting for knowledge or comfort so far as Christ is known or enjoyed Reason 6. The Effects of this gracious Knowledge do add very much to the price thereof It works effectually upon the whole man in every Relation towards God and man There is no condition nor occasion here wherein its Influence is not manifested It s a precious Root that bears much fruit solid substantial and still seasonable It renders a man fit for every good and is a Preserver from all kind of evil It makes a man still to look to Christ and to seek for him in every Ordinance The matter and means of Divine worship with the manner and solemn time thereof it spiritually minds In every Providence Christ is also acknowledged by such in every Duty towards their Neighbor As the first Table of Christs Divine Law is unto them the Standard of Worship so is the second Table of his Decalogue their constant Rule of officious Duty towards every man That order and safety setled by Gods Word for Beauty strength and use in this worldly Fabrick the knowledge of Christ teaches how to preserve with all possible care The chastity and propriety of body and goods as well as of souls it looks after The credit and content that concerns all men in their respective places is much furthered and duly preserved by this gracious Knowledge It s good physick to purge out ill humours for the curing of all distempers It affords choice food for old and for young for strong and for weak in all necessities What the Rabbies soy of the material manna is truly verified of this spiritual Meat that its relish suits every Palat and may satisfie every desire It s a Cordial against all faintings to revive the feeble in their Agonies Armour of Proof it furbishes for war against all enemies inward and outward It is the Key of Christs Magazin and of all his stores opening the Treasures of our All sufficient God our El Shaddai If you can conceive any thing of worth either in Heaven or earth This Knowledge of Christ will both match it and get it for you so far as may tend to your real good It s in a word the true Elixar and Philosophers Stone that turns all to Gold and puts a choice vertue into every thing towards felicity Vse This knowledge appears a singular Jewel upon good Reason good use thereof should be made also The best things are made for the best use and appear best therein As Christ himself is of infinite usefulness every kind of way so is his Grace participatively and communicatively This may be improved then 1. In a word of Information 1. See hence by way of Corollary the singular Method that should regulate every mans study Men are naturally desirous of Knowledge by an Instinct suited to their rational Being Mans soul was at first made after Gods Image in perfect Knowledge What sin lost and defaced in Adams Treason Grace only Restores The Knowledge of Christ affords a Tree of Life but most follow the Serpents advice stil in longing after another knowledge both of good and evil The sinful Issue of sinful Adam do stil love to