mercy in God doth spring out of his free love towards us Why doe you say out of the free love of God are there more loves in God then one There are two kinds of love in God one is wherewith the Father loveth the Son and the Son the Father and which the holy Ghost beareth towards both the Father and the Son and this love I call the naturall love of God so that the one cannot but love the other but the love wherewith he loveth us is voluntary not being constrained thereunto and therefore is called the free love of God and thereof it commeth to passe that mercy is also wholly free that is without reward or hope of recompence and excludeth all merit How prove you that the mercy of God ariseth out of his love That the love of God is the cause of his mercy it is manifest in the Scriptures 1 Tim. 1. 2. Paul saluteth Timothy in this order Grace mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ to shew that that peace which the world cannot give the mercy of God is the cause of it and the cause of his mercy is his grace and his grace is nothing else but his free favour and love towards us The same order doth Paul observe in Titus 3. 4 5. where he saith when the goodnesse and love of God our Saviour appeareth not by the works of righteousnesse which we had done but according to his mercy he saved us First he sets down the goodnesse of God as the cause of his love Secondly his love as the cause of his mercy And thirdly his mercy as the cause of our salvation and our salvation as the effect of all and therefore there is nothing in us which may move the Lord to shew mercy upon us but only because he is goodnesse it self by nature and to this doth the Psalmist bear witnesse Psal. 100. 5. saying that the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth is from generation to generation Towards whom is the mercy of God extended or shewed For the opening of this point we are to consider that the mercy of God is twofold First generall Secondly speciall God as a God doth shew mercy generally upon all his creatures being in misery and chiefly to men whether they be just or unjust Psal. 140. 147. and so doth succour them either immediately by himself or else mediately by creatures as by Angels or Men by the Heavens by the Elements and by other living creatures and this generall mercy of God is not extended to the eternall salvation of all but is only temporary and for a while Of this read Luk. 6. 36. What say you to the speciall mercy of God That I call the speciall mercy of God which God as a most free God hath shewed to whom he would and denyed to whom he would and this pertaineth only to the elect and those which fear him Psal. 103. 11. for he sheweth mercy upon them to their eternall salvation and that most constantly while he doth effectually call them unto himself while he doth freely and truly pardon their sins and justifie them in the bloud of the Lamb Jesus Christ while he doth sanctifie them with his grace and doth glorifie them in eternall life and of this speciall mercy we may read in Eph. 2. 4 5 6. How great is the mercy of God It is so great that it cannot be expressed nor conceived of us and that is proved by these Scriptures following Ps. 145. 9. James 2. 13. 1 Cor. 11. 32. Psal. 57 10. How long doth the mercy of God continue towards us Although the mercy of God be great and infinite in Christ yet for that mercy which pardoneth our sins and calleth us to faith and repentance by the Gospel there is no place after death but onely while we live in this world which is warranted by these places ensuing Gal. 6. 10. Let us doe good whilest we have time to shew that a time will come when we shall not be able to doe good Apoc. 7. 17. Be faithfull unto the death and I will give thee a Crown of life to shew that the time which is given unto death is a time of repentance and of exercising of faith and of works but after death there is no time but to receive either an immortall Crown if we have been faithfull or everlasting shame if we have been unfaithfull Besides these see Apoc. 14. 13. Mark 9. 45. Esa. ult 24. Luk. 16. 24 25 26. Mat. 15. 11 12. John 9. 4. What uses may we make of Gods mercies First it serveth to humble us for the greater mercy is in God the greater misery is in us Secondly we must attribute our whole salvation unto his mercy Thirdly we must flee to God in all our troubles with most sure confidence Fourthly we must not abuse it to the liberty of the flesh to sin although we might find mercy with God after death for the mercy of God specially appertains to those that fear him Psal. 103. 11. Fiftly the meditation of Gods mercies towards us should make us to love God Psa. 116. 1. Luk. 7. 47. fear God Psa. 130. 4. praise God Ps. 86. 12 13. 103. 2 3 4. Sixtly it must make us mercifull one to another Luk. 6. 36. Matth. 18. 32 33. What is the justice of God It is an essentiall property in God whereby he is infinitely just in himself of himself for from by himself alone and none other Psalm 11. 7. What is the rule of this justice His own free will and nothing else for whatsoever he willeth is just and because he willeth it therefore it is just not because it is just therefore he willeth it Eph. 1. 11. Psal. 115. 3. Mat. 20. 15. which also may be applied to the other properties of God Explain this more particularly I say that God doth not always a thing because it is just but therefore any thing is just that is just because God will have it so and yet his will is joyned with his wisdome as for example Abraham did judge it a most just and righteous thing to kill his innocent son not by the law for that did forbid him but only because he did understand it was the speciall will of God and he knew that the will of God was not only just but also the rule of all righteousnesse That wee may the better understand this attribute declare unto mee how many manner of wayes one may be just or righteous Three manner of ways either by nature or by grace or by perfect obedience How many ways may one be just by nature Two ways First by himself and of himself in his own essence and beeing thus we say that in respect of this essentiall righteousnesse there is none just but God onely as Christ saith none is good but God only Secondly derivatively by the benefit of another to be either made righteous or born just and in
the unity of the Godhead But doe you not beleeve the Godhead is to be divided whilst you beleeve that in one God are three persons No not divided into divers essences but distinguished unto divers persons for God cannot be divided into severall natures nor into severall parts and therefore must the persons which subsist in that one essence be onely distinct and not separate one from another as in the example of the Sun the beames and the heat What be those resemblances that are commonly brought to shadow out unto us the mystery of the Trinity First the Sun begetteth his own beams and from thence proceeds light and heat and yet is none of them before another otherwise then in consideration of order and relation that is to say that the beams are begotten of the body of the Sun and the light and heat proceed from both Secondly from one flame of fire proceed both light and heat and yet but one fire Thirdly in waters there is the well-head and the spring boyling out of it and the stream flowing from them both and all these are but one water and so there are there persons in one Godhead yet but one God Fourthly in man the understanding cometh from the soul and the will from both May it be collected by naturall reason that there is a Trinity of Persons in the Vnity of the God-head No for it is the highest mystery of Divinity and the knowledge thereof is most proper to Christians for the Turkes and Jewes doe confesse one God-head but no distinction of persons in the same How come we then by the knowledge of this mystery God hath revealed it in the holy Scriptures unto the faithfull What have we to learn of this That those are deceived who think this mystery is not sufficiently delivered in the Scripture but dependeth upon the tradition of the Church That sith this is a wonderfull mystery which the Angels doe adore we should not dare to speak any thing in it farther then we have warrant out of the word of God yea we must tye our selves almost to the very words of the Scripture lest in searching we exceed and goe too farre and so be overwhelmed with the glory How doth it appear in the holy Scripture that the three Persons are of that divine nature By the divine names that it giveth to them as Jehovah c. By ascribing divine attributes unto them as Eternity Almightinesse c. By attributing divine works unto them as creation sustentation and governing of all things By appointing divine worship to be given unto them What speciall proofes of the Trinity have you out of the old Testament First the Father is said by his word to have made the world the Holy Ghost working and maintaining them as it were sitting upon them as the hen doth on the egges she hatcheth Gen. 1. 2 3. Gen. 1. 26. The Trinity speaketh in the plurall number Let us make man in our Image after our likenesse Gen. 19. 24. Jehovah is said to rain upon Sodom from Jehovah out of heaven that is the Sonne from the Father or the Holy Ghost from both 2 Sam. 23. 2. The Spirit of Jehovah or the Lord spake by me and his Word by my tongue there is Jehovah the Father with his Word or Sonne and Spirit Prov. 30. 4. What is his name and what is his Sonnes name if thou canst tell Isa. 6. 3. The Angels in respect of the three Persons doe cry three times Holy Holy Holy Isa. 42. 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soule delighteth I have put my Spirit up on him Hag. 2. 5. The Father with the Word and his Spirit make a Covenant What are the proofes out of the new Testament As all other doctrines so this is there more cleare as Matth. 3. 16. 17. at the Baptisme of Christ the Father from heaven witnesseth of the Sonne the Holy Ghost appearing in the likenesse of a Dove John Baptist saw the Sonne in his assumed nature going out of the water there is one Person he saw the Holy Ghost descending like a Dove upon him there is another Person and he heard a voyce from heaven saying This is my beloved Son there is a third Person Matth. 17. 5. At the transfiguration the Father in like manner speaketh of his Son Matth. 28. 19. We are baptized into the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost John 14. 16. 26. 15. 26. 16. 13 14 15. The Father and Son promise to send the Holy Ghost Luke 1. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Acts 2. 33. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which you now see and heare 2 Cor. 13 14. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Gal. 4. 6. God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts Tit. 3. 4 5 6. God saved us by the washing of the new birth and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour What clear proof have you that these three are but one God and so that there is a Trinity in Vnity 1 Joh. 5. 7. It is expresly said there are three that bear Record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one What learn you of that the Apostle saith they are three Wee learne that the word Trinity although it bee not expresly set down in the word yet it hath certaine ground from thence What learn you of that that they are said to be three witnesses The singular fruit that is in the Trinity of persons in one unity of the Godhead whereby great assurance is brought unto us of all things that God speaketh in promise or threat seeing it is all confirmed by three witnesses against whom no exception lyeth What are they said here to witnesse That God hath given eternall life unto us and that this life is in that his Sonne 1 John 5. 11. How are these being three said to be but one They are one in substance beeing or essence but three persons distinct in subsistence Acts 20. 28. 1 Cor. 12. 4 5. Deut. 6. 4. Mark 12. 32. 1 Cor. 8. 4 5 6. Joh. 14. 16. 15. 26. 17. 1. If three persons among men be propounded whereof every one is a man can it be said that these three are but one man No but we must not measure Gods matters by the measure of reason much lesse this which of all others is a mystery of mysteries For the better understanding of this mystery declare unto me what a person is in generall and then what a person in the Trinity is
9. Whether is grace properly attributed to God in the second sense or no Yea most properly for God doth justifie us that is he doth account us for just through his Sonne Jesus Christ and that of his free grace and favour without any desert of our parts or any thing in us Rom. 3. 20. 24. 4. 16. What be the causes of this grace or favour of God The efficient cause is his goodnesse and free will the finall cause cause thereof is the salvation of his chosen children and the glory of himselfe and of his Son Christ Jesus What be the effects of Gods grace to us wards In generall the grace of God whereof there is no cause in us but onely his own goodnesse and will is the first cause the middle cause and the the last cause and the onely cause of all that belongs to our salvation Rom. 9. 11. And particularly it is the cause of our Election of our Redemption of the sending of Christ into the world of our Calling of the preaching of the Gospell Eph. 1. 4. John 3. 11. 34. Rom. 5. 8. It was the cause why the Apostles were called to the preaching of the Gospell Gal. 1. 15 16. Eph. 3. 8. 9. It is the cause of our Faith of the forgivenesse of our sinnes of our whole justification of our regeneration of our renovation of our love to God and our neighbour of the Holy Ghost in us of our good works of our obedience of our perseverance of the feare of God of eternall life and of life it selfe 2 Tim. 1. 9. Phil. 2. 13. Rom. 12. 6. 1 Cor. 12. 9. Rom. 3. 24. Tit. 3. 5. 1 John 4. 9. Ezek. 36. 27. Jerem. 32. 40. and in a word the begining the continuance and the accomplishment of our whole salvation doth depend wholly upon the grace and favour of God and what good thing soever we have or have had or may have belonging either to this life or to the life to come is to be attributed wholly to the grace and favour of God What is the love of God It is an essentiall property in God whereby he loves himselfe above all and others for himselfe 1 John 4. 16. Rom. 5. 8. John 3. 16. Tit. 3. 4. Mal. 1. 2 3. What learn you from hence That wee should love him dearely and other things for him That we may the better know what the love of God is declare first what love is in our selves It is a passion of the mind whereby we are so affected towards the party whom we love that we are rather his then our own forgetting our selves to doe him good whom we so love And is love such a thing in God No the true love of God is not such as our love is What difference is there There is great difference two wayes First in time for love was in God before it was in us or in any thing created for he loved himselfe and us also before the world was John 17. 23. Secondly they differ in nature and quality for that love which is in God is most perfect and pure Rom. 9. 13. without passion but in us it is imperfect and matched with passions with impure affections and grief of the mind After what manner doth the Scripture expresse the love of God In the Scriptures God doth compare himselfe to a father and to a mother loving their children to a hen gathering her chickens together under her wings to a good shepherd seeking up his sheep and to divers other things And wherefore serve these comparisons They are for our profit two wayes First to shew us that Gods love towards us is most vehement and sincere Secondly to make us bold in coming to him and calling upon him so for this love Christ Jesus calleth us by all the names of love as his servants his kinsmen his friends his spouse his brethren and by many names moe to shew that he loveth us with all loves the fathers love the mothers love the masters love the husbands love the brothers love c. and if all loves were put together yet his love exceedeth them all for all could not doe so much for us as he alone hath done If love doth not signifie any affection or passion in God as it doth in us what then doth it signifie In God it signifieth three things most perfect first the eternall good will of God towards some body for the love of God supposed towards the Elect is his everlasting good will or his purpose and determination to shew them mercy to doe them good and to save them as in Rom. 9. 11. 13. Secondly the effects themselves of his love or good will whether they be temporall concerning this life or eternall concerning the life to come as in the 1 John 3. 1. Thirdly the pleasure and delight which he taketh in that which he loveth and so it is taken in Psal. 45. 7. 23. What things doth God love besides himselfe Besides himselfe God loveth all things else whatsoever he made but he loveth not sinne and iniquity for he never made it as Saint John saith 1 John 2. 16. Again he loveth his Son being manifested in the flesh and he loveth his chosen children for his Sons sake with whom he is well pleased Mat. 3. last verse Obj. 1. The Scripture saith that God doth hate all that work iniquity how then can God both hate and love one and the same man In every wicked man we must consider two things First His nature Secondly his sinne His nature is the work of God and that he loveth but his iniquity is not of God and that he hateth Obj. 2. God doth afflict his children therefore he doth not love them Whom he loveth he correcteth and therefore he correcteth them because he loveth them even as a gold-smith tryeth his gold in the fire because he loveth it Whether doth God love all alike or no No he preferreth mankind before all his other creatures for which cause God is called Philanthropos that is a lover of men and this appeareth by three effects of his love First he made him according to his own Image that is in righteousnesse and true holinesse Gen. 1. 26. Eph. 4. 24. Secondly he made him Lord over all his creatures Psal. 8. 5 6. Thirdly he gave his own Son to death for his ransom Doth God love all men alike No for he loveth his Elect better then the Reprobate for the Elect he calleth effectually by his Spirit in their hearts when he calleth others but by the outward voyce of the Gospell c. Again amongst the Elect themselves some are actually wicked and not yet reconciled nor called as was Paul before his conversion but the rest are called and already made holy by Faith in Christ as Paul was after his conversion and of these he loveth the latter sort with a greater measure of love then the former as the Scripture testifieth in Prov. 8. 17. What manner of love doth God beare
comming of his Son to judgement for the elects sake who with singular love and affection long for it saying Come Lord Jesus come quickly Rev. 22. 20. 2 Tim. 4. 8. that we and all his chosen may obtaine full salvation and enjoy the fruition of that glory prepared for us before the beginning of the world 3. That God would get himselfe glory by the finall confusion of his enemies What are the words of the third Petition Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heauen Mat. 6. 10. Luke 11. 2. What is the summe of this Petition That God would grant us that we may voluntarily and willingly subject our selves unto him and his providence That renouncing the will of Satan and our owne corrupt inclination 2 Tim. 2. 26. 1 Peter 4. 2. and rejecting all things that are contrary to the will of God we may doe his will not as we will nor grudgingly but readily Psalme 119. 60. and heartily Col. 3. 23. following in our measure the example of the Angels and Saints that are in heaven Psalme 103. 20. Finally that obedience may be given to Christ in ruling us untill we be as the holy Angels What is meant by this word Thy. Hereby we exclude all wils opposed to or diverse from the will of God whether the will of Satan 2 Tim. 2. 26. or our owne 1 Peter 4. 2. naturally corrupt and enthralled to Satan yea whatsoever unlawfull intentions or desires repugnant to the will of God 2 Sam. 2. 7. James 4. 15. For when we pray for obedience to Gods will we pray that all wils of wicked Angels Zach. 3. 2. and men Psal. 140. 8. as contrary to the will of God may be disappointed We desire also the suppression of our owne will as that which being prone to all sin as a match to take fire is naught and repugnant to the will of God so far are we from having any free-will naturally to doe that which is good Psalm 86. 11. 119. 37 Gen. 6. 5. 8. 21. Rom. 8. 6. 7. 24. which we must bewaile both in our selves and others 2 Pet. 2. 7. Ezek. 9. 4. freely acknowledging that we cannot of our selves doe the will of God but by his assistance and desiring grace that we may obey his will and not the lusts of our flesh How manifold is the will of God Twofold Deut. 29. 29. 1. His secret and hidden will whereof the Scripture speaketh thus If so be the will of God 1 Pet. 3. 17. whereunto are to be referred his eternall counsell the events of outward things Pro. 27. 1. times and seasons c. Acts 17. 1. 2. His manifest will which is revealed and made knowne unto us in the Word both in his promises which we are to beleeve and in his precepts and commandements which as conditions of obedience in way of thanksgiving annexed unto the promises we are to performe What will are we to understand in this petition Not so much that part which God keepeth secret from us as that part thereof which he hath revealed in his Word wherein is set downe what we ought to doe or leave undone How doth that appeare 1. Because it is unlawfull to search or enquire into the secret will of God and impossible for man to know it untill it come to passe whereas to the doing of this will knowledge is requisite 2. No man can resist or withstand Gods secret will neither is it any thank for us to accomplish it Acts 4. 28. 3. There are no promises for performing the secret will of God seeing a man may doe it and perish as Pilate c. 4. God proposeth many things in his secret will for which it is not lawfull for us to pray What then must we especially pray for in the secret will of God That when God bringeth any thing to passe by his secret will which is grievous to our natures we may with patience and contentment submit our wils to his will Acts 21. 14. What doe we aske of God in this petition concerning his revealed will 1. That we may know his will without the which we cannot doe it 2. That we may doe all his will being knowne and shew our selves obedient to our heavenly Father and Lord. 3. That he would bestow upon us the gifts and graces of his Spirit that so our hearts being by grace set at large strengthened and directed Psal. 119. 32 36. we may be enabled to doe his will 4. That he would remove from us all things that shall hinder us from knowing his will and putting it in execution as ignorance of the revealed will of God Psal. 119. 18. rebellion disâ—bedience murmuring c. 1 Sam. 15. 22 23. all pretences and dispensations or powers presuming to dispence with the will of God In a word that so many as are subjects in the kingdome of Christ may doe the duty of good subjects and be obedient to the revealed will of God seeking his kingdome and his righteousnesse Matth. 6. 33. so that there is a mutuall relation of this petition to the former where we pray that God may rule as here that his rule may be obeyed What understand you in this petition by Doing Not a good intent onely in the heart or profession of obedience in word and pretence Matth. 21. 30. but an actuall and thorough performance of what is required of us Iames 1. 25. And therefore wee pray here that the will of God may not onely be intended and endevoured but also accomplished although it be with griefe and smart Phil. 2. 13. Acts 20. 24. What is here meant by earth and heaven By earth those that are in earth and by heaven those that are in heaven For here we propound to our selves the patterns of the Angels and blessed soules who being freed from all mixture of corruption doe in their kind perfectly obey God Psal. 103. 20 22. whereby we learne that our obedience should be done most humbly willingly readily cheerfully and wholly not doing one and leaving another undone even as the will of God is done by the Angels Matth. 18. 10. who therefore are set forth winged to shew their speedinesse Esa 6. 2. and round footed to expresse their readinesse to all and every commandement of God Ezek. 1. 7. But seeing we are sinfull and the Angels holy how can wee imitate them We desire to imitate them in the manner though we know we cannot equall them in measure and degree of obedience and hereby we are taught that we should endevour to the like holinesse and so grow therein daily more and more till we be like unto them not that we can performe it to the full as they doe As also in this regard God himselfe saith Be ye holy as I am holy Lev. 11. 44. 1 Pet. 1. 16. and yet it were absurd to say or think that any man could come to the holinesse of God whose holinesse he is commanded to follow And this answereth to our desire
sinnes and increase of faith Zach. 12. 10. Mark 9. 24. 5. An assurance of the forgivenesse of our sins by the testimony of the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8. 15 16. and exemplifying and applying the generall pardon of sins once for all granted unto us at our conversion unto the severall sins and debts of every day and moment of our life 6. We pray for remission of sin not as intending our selves to undergoe the punishment or any part thereof Jer. 14. 7. But contrariwise that the whole debt which is properly the punishment as hath been shewed may be accepted at the hands of Christ our Surety and we fully discharged and acquitted so that nothing may remaine on our account but the righteousnesse of Christ Psal. 3. 8 9. whereby the favour and kingdome of God is purchased for us So much of Petition What is set downe in the reason A true note to certifie us whether our sinnes are forgiven us or not by that we forgive or not forgive others that have offended us Doth this reason binde God to forgive us No otherwise then by his gracious and true promises this being a necessary consequent and fruit of the other and not a cause For when we say As we or for we also forgive c. we argue with the Lord not for merit but from the modell of Gods grace in us Matth. 6. 14 15. which being incomparably inferiour to the mercy and love of God and yet disposing us to forgive and let fall in regard of hatred or private revenge Rom. 12. 19. any wrongs and injuries of our brethren against us may both stirre up the compassion of the Lord towards us his children Neh. 5. 19. and assure us of the attaining of this our request Iames 2. 13. And therefore that we may not be destitute of so important an argument Marke 11. 25. 1 Iohn 3. 14. both to plead for mercy with God and to assure our selves of successe we desire of God a portion of that mercy which is so abundant in him that we may be tenderly affected one towards another forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake forgiveth us Eph. 4. 32. Col. 3. 13. But seeing God alone forgiveth sinnes Matth. 9. 2. Mar. 2. 7. Iob 14. 4. Esa. 43. 25. here understood by the word Debt How is it said that we forgive sinnes We forgive not the sinne so far as it is sinne against God but so far as it bringeth griefe and hinderance unto us we may forgive it Are we hereby bound to forgive all our Debts No verily we may both crave our debts of our debtors and if there be no other remedie goe to Law in a simple desire of Iustice yea in lawfull warre we may kill our enemies and yet forgive them being free from anger and revenge yet so that if our Debtors be not able to pay we are bound in a duty to forgive them or at least to have a conscionable regard of their inability How is this reason drawne From the lesse to the greater thus if we wretched sinners upon earth can forgive others how much more will the gracious God of heaven forgive us Matth. 5. 7. 6. 14 15. if we having but a drop of mercy can forgive others how much more will God who is a sea full of grace 1 Iohn 2. 10. 3. 14. especially when we by forgiving sometimes suffer losse whereas from God by forgiving us nothing falleth away Wherein appeareth the inequality between our debt unto God and mans debts unto us First in the number our debts to God being compared to ten thousand mens debts to us to one hundred Secondly in the weight our debts to God being compared to ten thousand Talents mens debts to us to an hundred pence How riseth this great inequality in the weight From the great inequality between God and man for if to strike a King be much more hainous then to strike a poore boy what is it then to strike God who is infinitely greater then all the Kings of the earth What is to be gathered out of this reason That we should daily pray unto God that he would mercifully worke in us a mercifull affection and give us loving and charitable hearts towards all men free from malice and revenge and desirous of their salvation And that as this is a testimony to our hearts that God will forgive us if we for his sake can heartily forgive such as have offended us so on the other side if we can shew no favour unto others we can look for none at the hands of God And therefore to pray without forgiving such as have offended us were not onely a meere babling but also a procuring of Gods wrath more heavily against us which condemneth the hypocrisie of many which assuring themselves in great confidence of the forgivenesse of their sinnes yet cannot finde in their hearts to forgive others end so by mocking the Lord bring a curse upon themselves in stead of a blessing seeing heart and hand and mouth should goe together What further learne we by this reason That as our forgivenesse is nothing unlesse the danger of imprisonment be taken away which inability of paying the debt doth draw with it so it availeth us nothing to have our sinnes forgiven us of God unlesse the punishment also bee forgiven Contrary to the Papists who teach that sinne and the guilt thereof is taken away by Christ but that we must satisfie for the punishment of it wherein they make God like unto those hypocrites here also condemned who will seem to forgive and yet keepe a prick and quarrell in their hands watching all occasions of advantage which say they will forgive but not forget So much of the former Petition belonging to the life to come What are the words of the latter which is the sixt and last Petition of the Lords Prayer And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evill Matth. 6. 13. Luke 11. 4. What is the summe of it In it we pray for sanctification and strength against our sinnes that sinne may not onely be pardoned unto us but daily mortified in us Rom. 6. 1 2. and we either kept by the providence of God from temptations Prov. 30. 8. 2 Cor. 12. 8. are preserved by his grace from being hurt thereby 1 Cor. 10. 13. 2 Cor. 12. 9. and as we pray that by the power of God we may be strengthened against all tentations so do we also pray that by the same power we may be raised up to new obedience For under one part of sanctification that is the avoyding and mortifying of sinne is implyed the other part also which is ability unto new obedience 2 Cor. 7. 1. Rom. 6. 11. What is here to be observed in regard of the order that this Petition consequently followeth upon the former That therefore to strengthen our faith for the obtaining of this Petition we must be assured of the former that seeing God hath
A BODY OF DIVINITIE OR THE SVMME AND SVBSTANCE OF Christian Religion Catechistically propounded and explained by way of Question and Answer Methodically and familiarly handled Composed long since by JAMES VSHER B. of ARMAGH And at the earnest desires of divers godly Christians now Printed and Published VVhereunto is adjoyned a Tract intituled IMMANVEL OR THE MYSTERY OF THE Incarnation of the SON OF GOD Heretofore writen and published by the same Author JOHN 17. 3. This is life eternall that they might know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent LONDON Printed by M. F. for THO DOVVNES and GEO BADGER and are to be sold in S. Dunstans Church-yard in Fleetstreet MDCXLV To the Christian Reader CHristian Reader I doe here present and commend unto thee a booke of great worth and singular use which was written and finished about twenty years since the Author whereof is well knowne to bee so universally eminent in all Learning and of that deepe knowledge and judgement in sacred Divinity that he transcendeth all elogies and praises which I can give him I commend it unto the Christian Reader under a two-fold notion the first respecteth the subject matter of this whole Work which is of greatest excellency ad being The summe and substance of Christian Religion upon which as a most sure foundation we build our faith ground all our hopes and from which we reap and retain all our joy and comfort in the assurance of our salvation which as at all times it is most profitable to be read studied and known so now if ever most necessary in these our days wherein men never more neglected these fundamentall principles as being but common and ordinary truths and spend their whole time study and discourse about Discipline Ceremonies and circumstantiall points and herein also not contenting themselves with those common rules and that clear light which shineth in the Word they are onely led by their own phantasies daily creating unto themselves diversity of new opinions and so falling into sects and schismes they break the bond of love and fall off from the communion of Saints as though it were no Article of their Creed and being in love with their own new Tenets as being the conception and birth of their own brains they contend for them more then for any fundamentall truths and not onely so but also hate maligne and most bitterly and uncharitably censure all those that differ from them in their opinions though never so conscientious and religious as though they professed not the same faith yea served not the same God nor beleeved in the same Christ but remain still Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and in comparison of themselves no better then Papists or at the best but carnall Gospellers The second notion under which I commend it respecteth the Work it self or the manner of the Authors handling it which is done so soundly and solidly so judiciously and exactly so methodically and orderly and with that familiar plainnesse perspicuity and clearnesse that it giveth place to no other in this kind either ancient or modern either in our own or any other Language which ever yet came to my view in which regard I may say of it as it is said of the vertuous woman Many have done excellently but this our Author exceedeth them all I will adde no more in the deserved praises of this Worke but leave it Christian Reader to thy self to peruse and judge of it commending thee to the Word of Gods grace and the good guidance of his holy Spirit who is able to build thee up in fruitfull knowledge to lead thee into all truth to direct and support thee in the wayes of godliness and to give thee an everlasting inheritance amongst the blessed Thine in the Lord Jesus Christ JOHN DOWNAME The Connexion of these Points together and Dependence of them one upon another IN Christian Religion wee are to consider the Ground thereof contained in the Scripture Parts which treat of Gods Nature in his Essence considered absolutely in it selfe where the doctrine of divine Attributes which respect either His perfection in his Simplenesse whereby he is exempted from Composition and division Infinitenesse wherby he is exempted from all measure of Time by his eternity Place by his immensity Life whence he is called The living God Considered in his All-sufficiency Al-seeing wisdom Foreknowledge Counsell Almighty power Holy will wherein is seen his Goodnesse and therein his love unto his creatures mercy or grace shewed them in their misery Iustice in his word called his Truth deeds disposing of all things rightly rendring to the creatures according to their works Persons subsisting in one and the same undivided Essence Kingdome in his Eternall decree which men must not curiously prie into but content themselves with what is made manifest Execution thereof in the workes of Creation of things Invisible The highest Heavens Angels Visible Unreasonable Reasonable man consisting of Body Soule Providence Common unto all creatures Proper respecting the everlasting condition of principall Creatures Angels Good Bad. Men who are ordered in This life by the tenor of a two-fold Covenant Nature or Workes where we are to consider the Conditions and Events Shame Primary the fall of our first parents Secondary the corruption of Nature originall Actions actual of omission commission Death comprehending all the curses of the Law whereunto the nature of man standeth subject Grace wherein we are to consider the state of Christ the Mediator in his Person and there in his Natures and their Union where of his Conception Nativity Distinction Two fold state of Humiliation Exaltation Office with his Calling thereunto Execution thereof concerning God the party offended wherein his priestly office is exercised the parts whereof are Satisfaction giving contentment to Gods Iustice by his Obedience to the Law Suffering for our sinne Intercession soliciting Gods mercy for those he hath redeemed Man the party offending to whom he communicates the grace by him purchased by his Propheticall office Kingly office The rest of mankind who are called by participation of his grace where we are to consider 1. The company thus called out of the world The Catholike Church of Christ where such as obey this calling in Outward profession alone hold onely externall communion with it Inward affection also internall with the Head Christ Iesus there being a Mutuall donation whereby the Father gives Christ to them them to Christ. Mysticall union whereby they are knit together by Gods quickning Spirit The rest of mankind whence ariseth the Communion of Saints 2. Grace whereunto they are called Reconciliation Iustification where of Iustifying Faith Adoption and therein of Hope Sanctification and therein of Love here consider the Rule of Holines the morall law contained in the ten Commandements wherein are to be considered Generall rules to be observed in the exposition of them Distinction of them into two tables containing the duties we owe unto God namely Having the
to his elect It hath three adjuncts or properties First it is free without desert Secondly it is great without comparison Thirdly it is constant without any end How is the love of God said to be free It is free two wayes first because nothing caused God to love us but his own goodnesse and grace and therefore Saint John saith that his love was before ours 1 John 4. 7. Secondly it is free because God in loving us did not regard any thing that belonged to his own commodity for as David saith he hath no need of our goods but onely to our owne salvation he loved us Psal. 162. Wherein doth the greatnesse of Gods love appear to his Elect It appeareth two wayes First by the meanes which God useth to save us by that is the death of his Son and so John setteth forth his love 1 John 3. 16. when he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as if he should say so vehemently so ardently so earnestly so wonderfully did he love us that for our salvation he spared not his own only begotten Son but gave him to the death of the Crosse for our salvation What else doth set forth the greatnesse of Gods love towards us The consideration of our own selves for he did not only give his only Son to death for us but it was for us being his enemies and this circumstance is used by the Apostle to expresse the same Rom. 5. 7 8. Where find you it written that Gods love is constant and perpetuall That is manifestly shewed in these Scriptures following Hos. 11. 9. John 13. 1. Rom. 11. 29. for God is unchangeable in his love which is his essence and nature and therefore is God called love in the Scriptures 1 John 4. 8. What use must we make of Gods love First it filleth our hearts with gladness when we understand that our God is so loving and love it self and what is this but the beginning of eternall life if eternall life consist in the true knowledge of God as our Saviour Christ saith John 17. 3 Secondly out of the knowledge of this love as out of a fountain springeth the love of God and our neighbour for S. John saith he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love 1 Joh. 4. 8. Thirdly when we consider that God loveth all his creatures which he made it should teach us not to abuse any of the creatures to serve our lusts and beastly affections for God will punish them which abuse his beloved as he punished the rich glutton which abused the creatures of God Luk. 16. Fourthly we are taught to love all the creatures even the basest of all seeing that God loveth them and for the love he beareth to us he made them and we must if we love them for Gods sake use them sparingly moderately and equally or justly to this end we are commanded to let our cattell rest upon the Sabbath day as well as our selves to this end we are forbidden to kill the damme upon her nest and to this end we are forbidden to musle the mouth of the Oxe which treadeth out the Corn Deut. 25. 4. 1 Cor. 9. 9. Fiftly we are taught from hence to love mankind better then all other creatures because God doth so and therefore we must not spare any thing that we have that may make for the safety of his body and the salvation of his soul. And for this cause we are commanded to love our enemies and to do them good because our good God doth so Sixtly from Gods love we learn to preferre the godly brethren and those that professe sincerely the same religion that we professe before other men because Gods love is greater to his elect then to the reprobate and this doth the Apostle teach us Gal. 6. 10. Seventhly whereas Gods love is freely bestowed upon us this teacheth us to be humble and to attribute no part of our salvation to our selves but only to the free love of God Eightly from hence ariseth the certainty of our salvation for if Gods love was so free great when we were his enemies much more will it be so and constant also to us being reconciled to God by Jesus Christ Rom. 5. 10. What is the mercy of God It is his mind and will always most ready to succour him that is in misery or an essentiall property in God whereby he is meerly ready of himself to help his creatures in their miseries Esa. 30. 18. Lam. 3. 22. Exod. 33. 19. Why adde you this word meerly To put a difference between the mercy of God and the mercy that is in men for their mercy is not without some passion compassion or fellow-feeling of the miseries of others but the mercy of God is most perfect and effectuall ready to help at all needs of himself But seeing mercy is grief and sorrow of mind conceived at anothers miseries how can it be properly attributed to God in whom are no passions nor griefs Indeed in us mercy may be such a thing but not in God mercy was first in God and from him was derived to us and so he is called the Father of mercies 2 Cor. 1. 3. and when it came to us it was matched with many infirmities and passions but it is improperly attributed to God from our selves as though it were first in us Declare then briefly what things of perfection are signified by this word mercy in God By the name of mercy two things are signified in God properly First the mind and will ready to help and succour Secondly the help it self and succour or pity that is then shewed Where in the Scripture is mercy taken the first way Those places of Scripture are so to be understood wherein God doth call himself mercifull and saith that he is of much mercy that is he is of such a nature as is most ready to free us from our evils Where is it taken in the other sense for the effects of mercy In Rom. 9. 15. where it is said God will have mercy on whom hee will have mercy that is he will call whom he will call hee will justifie whom hee will hee will pardon whom he will and will deliver and save from all their miseries and evils whom he will and these be the effects of Gods mercies Again in Exod. 20. 6. it is so taken From whence springeth this mercy of God The essence and beeing of God is most simple without any mixture or composition and therefore in him there are not divers qualities and vertues as there be in us whereof one dependeth upon another or one differs from another but for our capacity and understanding the Scripture speaketh of God as though it were so that so we may the better perceive what manner of God and how good our God is Well then seeing the Scriptures doe speak so for our understanding let us hear whereof this mercy commeth The cause is not in us but only in God himself and
calling of God thereunto 1. Because he is too subtile for us we being simple in regard of him 2. Because he is so desperately malicious that he will give place to no good thing we can alledge to make him leave off his malicious purpose What shall we then doe We must turn our selves unto God and desire him to command him away at whose only Commandment he must depart Is there any thing blame-worthy in Eves answer to the question of the Serpent Notwithstanding that so far she answered truly that God had forbidden them to eat of the fruit of that tree and telleth also the punishment truly that would follow thereof yet began she to slip in the delivery both of the charge and of the punishment for where she saith they were forbidden to touch it it is more then the Lord made mention of and she thereby seemeth to insinuate some rigour of the Lord forbidding even the touch of the fruit and where the Lord had most certainly pronounced that they should die if they eat of the forbidden fruit she speaketh doubtfully of it as if they should not certainly die What learn you from this latter Observation That albeit men are oft perswaded they sin yet that they are not perswaded of the Justice of God against it whereby the door is opened to sin which is to make God an Idoll in spoiling him of his Justice as if he were so all mercy as he had forgotten to be just when as he is as well justice as mercy as infinite in the one as in the other which correcteth sharply the sins of such as he will save What learn you of the abuse of the tongue in this conference That as the tongue is a singular blessing of God whereby man excelleth all the creatures upon the earth so the abuse of it is most dangerous because it setteth on fire the whole course of nature and it is set on fire of hell Jam. 3. 6. What observe you of that it is said that Eve saw the fruit was delectable to look on Her lustfull and wicked eye in suffering her mind to be allured to look on the beauty of the fruit with a purpose to affect the eating of it How is it said that she saw it was good to eat when shee had never tasted of it Shee knew by the beautifull colour it was so for if we are able in this darknesse we are fallen into to discerne commonly by the sight of the fruit whether it be good and the skilfull in Physick by the colour onely of the hearb to tell whether it be hot or cold sweet or sowre how much more were Adam and Eve who had the perfection of the knowledge of those things more then ever Solomon himselfe What learn you by the abuse of these outward senses That they are as it were windowes whereby sin entred into the heart when there was no sin and therefore will much more now the heart being corrupted What instructions gather you from thence First that we must shut them against all evill and unlawfull use of their objects and open them to the use of good things make a Covenant with them as Job did with his eyes Job 31. 1. by a strong and painfull resistance of the evill that commeth by the abuse of them as it were and cut them off and throw them away as our Saviour giveth counsell Mat. 5. 29 30. Secondly that as the senses are more noble as the hearing and sight called the senses of learning so there should be a stronger watch set upon them those being the senses that Adam and Eve were especially so deceived by What observe you of that it is said shee saw that it was desirable for knowledge That was only her errour which shee having begun to sip of by communication with the Devill did after drink a full draught of by beholding the beauty of the fruit and receiving the delicate tast thereof and withall observe how we can heap reasons true and false to move us to follow our pleasures What learn you from thence That the heart inclining to errour doth draw the senses to an unlawfull use of them and that the abuse of the senses doth strengthen the heart in errour What gather you hereof That before the heart was corrupted there was no abuse of these outward senses But that being corrupt the abuse thereof doth settle the heart deeper in errour What was the effect of all these outward and inward meanes First Eve yeelded to Satan and put his will in execution in eating of the fruit that was forbidden Secondly shee gave it also to Adam to eat What force hath the word also here used by the holy Ghost Thereby as by a speciall word of amplification the sin is aggravated against her to shew her naughtines not only in committing the sin her selfe but also in alluring the husband to doe as she had done What learn you from thence 1. The nature of sinners to draw others to the condemnation they are in as Satan Eve and Eve her Husband even those that are nearest them whose good they should procure 2. That we should take heed of that the Apostle warneth us not to be partakers of other mens sins as if we had not enough of our own to answer for which especially belongeth unto those in charge 1 Tim. 5. 22. 3. How dangerous an instrument is an evill and deceived wife which the Lord commandeth men should beware to make choice of and if the man which is strong much more the woman What learn you of that Adam eat forthwith First that which hath been before noted that the Devill by one of us tempteth more dangerously then in his own person so that Satan knew he could not so easily have deceived Adam by himself as by Eve Secondly for that in excesse of love he yeelded it teacheth husbands to love their wives but it must be in the Lord as the wives must doe their husbands How doth it agree with the goodnes or with the very justice of God to punish mankind so fearfully for eating of a little fruit Very well for first the heynousnesse of an offence is not to be measured by the thing that is done but by the worthinesse of the person against whom it is committed And how much more the Commandement our first parents brake was easie to be kept as to abstain from one onely fruit in so great variety and plenty so much more grievous was their sin by breaking it Secondly though God tryed their obedience in that fruit especially yet were there many other most grievous sinnes which in desiring and doing of this they did commit Insomuch that we may observe therein the grounds of the breach in a manner of every one of the ten Commandements For the transgression was horrible and the breach of the whole Law of God yea an Apostasie whereby they withdrew themselves from under the power of God nay rejected and denied him and not so little an offence
it is a judiciall sentence opposed to condemnation Rom. 8. 34 35. Who shall lay any thing saith Paul to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth who shall condemn Now as to condemn is not the putting any evill into the nature of the party condemned but the pronouncing of his person guilty and the binding him over unto punishment so justifying is the Judges pronouncing the Law to be satisfied and the man discharged and quitted from guilt and judgement Thus God imputing the righteousnesse of Christ to a sinner doth not account his sins unto him but interests him in a state of as full and perfect freedom and acceptance as if he had never sinned or had himselfe fully satisfied For though there is a power purging the corruption of sin which followeth upon justification yet it is carefully to be distinguished from it as we shall further shew hereafter This for the name of Justification but now for the thing it selfe what is the matter first of our justification The matter of justification or that righteousnesse whereby a sinner stands justified in Gods sight is not any righteousnesse inherent in his own person and performed by him but a perfect righteousnesse inherent in Christ and performed for him What righteousnesse of Christ is it whereby a sinner is justified Not the essentiall righteousnesse of his divine nature but First the absolute integrity of our humane nature which in him our head was without guile Heb. 7. 6. Secondly the perfect obedience which in that humane nature of ours he performed unto the whole law of God both by doing whatsoever was required of us Mat. 3. 15. and by suffering whatsoever was deserved by our sins 1 Pet. 2. 24. for he was made sin and a curse for us that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him What is the forme or being cause of our justification and that which makes this righteousnesse so really ours that it doth justifie us The gracious imputation of God the Father accounting his Sons righteousnesse unto the sinner and by that accounting making it his to all effects as if he himselfe had performed it But how can Christs righteousnesse be accompted ours is it not as absurd to say that we are justified by Christs righteousnesse as that a man should be wise with the wisdom of another or live and be in health by the life and health of another No doubtlesse because this righteousnesse is in Christ not as in a person severed from us but as in the head of the Church the second Adam from whom therefore it is communicated unto all who being united as members unto him doe lay claim thereunto and apply it unto themselves Rom. 5. 19. Rom. 10. 4. For if the sin of Adam were of force to condemn us all because we were in his loynes he being the head of our common nature why then should it seem strange that the righteousnesse of our Saviour Christ both God and man should be availeable to justifie those that are interessed in him especially considering that we have a more strict conjunction in the Spirit with him then ever we had in nature with Adam And though it be not fit to measure heavenly things by the yard of reason yet it is not unreasonable that a man owing a thousand pound and not being able to pay it his creditor may be satisfied by one of his friends If Christ have paid our debt how are we then freely justified by grace It is of grace that Christ is given unto us and also that his righteousnesse apprehended by faith is accounted ours It is true that the justification of a sinner considering the case as it is between the Father and Christ no man dare call it free no the price of our Redemption was the deepest purchase that the world ever heard of but what ever it cost Christ it cost us nothing and so to us it is freely of grace from Christ yea and to us it is freely grace from God the Father too not because he acquits us without a full satisfaction to his Justice or accepts that for perfect righteousnesse which is not perfect righteousnes but because he receives full satisfaction from the hands of a surety and that surety being his own Son when as he might have challenged the uttermost farthing at our hands which were the principals and then there had been no possibility for us to have been delivered What gather you from this doctrine of Justification by Christs righteousnesse 1. To condemn the proud opinion of Papists who seek Justification by their owne workes and righteousnesse inherent in themselves whereas though being accepted we must in thankfulnesse doe all we can for God yet when all is done we must acknowledge our selves unprofitable servants the onely matter of our joy and triumph both in life and death must be the imputation of Christs righteousnes not our persons nor the best actions of the holiest men dare appeare in Gods presence but in his name and merit who consecrates all the Lords Jesus 2. We may here take notice that there is no comfort to a Christian soule like that which floweth from this Well of salvation this sweet doctrine of Justification 1. Here we have assurance of the sufficiencie of our Redemption that soule must be throughly acquited that is stated in such a righteousnesse that debt must be fully discharged that hath such a price laid down for it our sinnes though never so great cannot weigh down his righteousnesse and merit Rom. 8. 33. and God having accepted his Sons righteousnes for us will not hold us any longer trespassers but he disables his own Justice from making any further demand 2. Hence there is nothing comes upon the Saints from Gods revenging Justice but all our corrections are medicinall from Gods Fatherly love to purge out that sin out of our nature which he hath already pardoned to our persons 3. Lastly this doctrine may be great comfort to weak Christians in the midst of their troublesome imperfections and sense of their weak measures of Sanctification To consider that the righteousnesse that is inherent in themselves is not the matter of their Justification or that which must appear before Gods presence to be pleaded the righteousnesse of Christ is compleat and perfect that is our main joy and crown of rejoycing to be found in Christ not having our own righteousnesse but that which is in him and made ours by Gods gracious account But how is this great benefit of Justification applyed unto us and apprehended by us This is done on our part by faith alone and that not considered as a vertue inherent in us working by love but only as an instrument or hand of the soule stretched forth to lay hold on the Lord our righteousnesse Rom. 5. 1. 10 10. Jer. 23. 6. So that faith justifieth onely Relatively in respect of the object which it fasteneth on to wit the righteousnesse of Christ by which
far off and aliens from God are now brought neer through Christ Eph. 2. 12 13. 18. 19. 1 Joh. 1. 3. Heb. 12. 22 23. What is Adoption Adoption is the power and priviledge to be the sons of God Joh. 1. 12. Eph. 1. 5. derived unto us from Christ who being the eternal Son of God became by Incarnation our brother that by him God might bring many sons and daughters unto glory Heb. 2. 10. What are the benefits that flow to us from our Adoption 1. Some are privative immunities and freedome from many grievances as 1. We are freed from the slavery of sin Rom. 6. 14. 2 From condemnation Rom. 8. 1. 3 From all slavish fears and terrors Rom. 8. 15. We have not received the spirit of bondage to fear again but the spirit of adoption 4 From the law not Ceremoniall only Gal. 5. 1. but Moral freed I mean from the curse of it freed from the condemning power of it freed from the coaction and compulsion of it freed from the rigorous exaction inexorable demands of it as it is a Covenant of works But not freed from the doctrine of holinesse contained in it the justified and adopted are every way freed from the Law as it was an enemy and against us Luc. 1. but not freed as it is our guide and director containing the rule of Gods holy will Our Sonship doth not free us from service but from slavery not from holinesse but to holinesse There is a free service which benefits the condition of a son Gods service is perfect freedome 2. Some are positive dignities as 1. Free accesse to the throne of Grace that we may come to God in prayer as to a Father Gal. 4. 6. Rom. 8. 15. 2 We have an Interest in Gods particular and speciall Providence 2 Cor. 6. ult Rom. 8. 28. 3 We by our adoption have a free and sanctified use of all Godâ— creatures restored the right unto which we forfeited in Adam for no man hath any true right to any thing now by nature he may have the use of Gods creatures by Gods patience forbearance but not by Gods licence and allowance untill he be in Covenant with God in Christ and made a son and heir with him and then all things are restored 1 Cor. 3. 21. Rom. 8. 32. 4 From Adoption flows all Christians joy which is called the joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. unspeakable and glorious 1 Pet. 1. 8 9. Rom. 5. 2. For the spirit of Adoption is first a witnesse Rom. 8. 16. 2ly A seale Eph. 4. 30. 3ly The pledge and earnest of our Inheritance Eph. 1. 14. setling a holy security in the soul whereby it rejoyceth even in affliction in hope of glory Doe the Justified children of God always then rejoyce Joy considered as a delightfull apprehension of the favour of God gladding the heart though it ought continually to be laboured for Phil. 4. 4. and preserved yet it may be at times not only darkned and daunted but for a time even lost and to be restored Psal. 51. 12. yet it is as all spirituall gifts of God perpetuall and without repentance if we regard 1. The matter of rejoycing which is Gods unchangeable love and grace Mal. 3. 6. 2. The causes and fountains of joy in the regenerate which are the never failing graces of Faith Luk. 22. 32. Hope Rom. 5. 5. and Love towards God in Christ 1 Câ—â— 8. 3. The valuation even in the deepest dismay of our part and hope in Christ above the pleasures of ten thousand worlds 4. The pretence and claim of a faithfull heart promising and challenging unto it self a comfortable harvest of joy for the present seed-time of sorrow Psal. 42. 5. Psal. 126. 5. 57. 11. So much of the first main benefit which Christians receive by their communion with Christ viz. Justification Now what is the second benefit which is called Glorification and Sanctification It is the renewing of our nature according to the Image of God in righteousnesse and true holinesse which is but begun in this life and is called Sanctification and perfected in the life to come which therefore is most strictly called Glory How far forth is our nature renewed in this life by Sanctification This renewing is of our whole nature 1 Thess. 5. 23. Rom. 12. 2. the understanding being enlightned the will rectified the affections regulated the outward man reformed But not wholly in this life and this is done by the powerfull operation of the Spirit of God who having begun a good work in us will perfect it unto the day of the Lord Joh. 13. 6. Psal. 51. 10. Ezek. 36. 26. What be the parts of our Sanctification Two answerable to the two powerfull meanes whereby they are wrought First Mortification or dying unto sin and thereby freedome from the dominion thereof by the death of Christ Rom. 6. 6 7. Secondly Vivification or quickning unto newnesse of life by the power of the resurrection of Christ In regard whereof it is also called our first resurrection Rev. 20. 6. How doth Sanctification differ from the former grace of Justification In many main and materiall differences as 1. In the order not of time wherein they goe together Rom. 8. 30. nor of knowledge and apprehension wherein this latter hath precedency 1 Cor. 6. 11. but of nature wherein the former is the ground of this latter 2 Cor. 7. 1. Secondly in the Subject the righteousnesse whereby we are justified being inherent in Christ for us but this of Sanctification in our selves from him Rom. 8. 10. Thirdly in the cause our Justification following from the merit our Sanctification from the efficacy of the death and life of Christ. Fourthly in the Instrument Faith which in Justification is only as an hand receiving in Sanctification is a co-working vertue Acts 15. 19. Gal. 5. 6. Fiftly in the measure Justification being in all Beleevers and at all times alike but Sanctification wrought differently and by degrees Sixtly in the end which being in both eternall life Rom. 6. 23 24. yet the one is among the causes of reigning the other onely as the high-way unto the kingdome What is the rule and square of our Sanctification The whole word of God Joh. 17. 17. Ps. 119. 9. as containing that will of his Rom. 12. 2. which is even our Sanctification 1 Thess. 4. 3 c. How doe you prove that Gods word is such a rule 1. By expresse warrant of Scripture 2 Tim. 3. 14. 17. 2. By the resemblances and things whereunto it is compared as to the way we walk in Jer 6. 16. Mark 12. 14. Act. 18. 24 25. to a Light and a Lanthorn in a dark place to guide our feet into the way of peace Psa. 119. 105. Prov. 6. 23. 2 Pet. 19. 20. Luc. 1. 77. 79. to a Glasse Jam. 1. 25. to a Rule Line Square Measure and Ballance whereby must be framed ordered measured and
will be a notable meanes to keep us from sinne How is the reason drawne from Gods Titles laid downe In these words For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God Which is the first Title that is mentioned here Iehovah which noteth the Essence of God and the perfection thereof What have we to learne from thence That Idolaters are so farre from worshipping the true God that they deny his Being and Perfection What is the second Title Thy God whereby the Covenant of grace is signified which on our part is by no sinne so directly violated as by Idolatry called therefore in Scripture Spirituall Adultery Ier. 3. 8. What doth this teach us That Idolaters are most miserable in forsaking the true God who is all happinesse to his people What is the third Title El That is a mighty and strong God and therefore perfectly able to save and destroy VVhat doth this teach us That there is no power so great which can deliver Idolaters or any sinners from the wrath of God VVhat is the fourth Title Iealous whereby the nature of God is signified loving chastity in his Spouse with a most fervent love and abhorring spirituall whoredome with most extreame hatred What are we to learne from hence That the Lord can no more abide Idolatry then a married man can brooke it that his Wife should commit adultery For his wrath is compared to the rage of a jealous Husband upon unchaste behaviour of his Wife Prov. 6. 34 35. Declare this Comparison more at large The jealous man finding the Adulterer with his Wife spareth neither the one nor the other So if any that by profession hath been espoused to Christ and joyned unto God in him and hath promised in Baptisme to serve him alone yet notwithstanding shall forsake him and worship others How good soever they be whether Saints or Angels they shall not escape Gods wrath For if corporall Adultery be so severely punished much more shall spirituall What doe the reasons drawne from the Works of God containe A just recompence to the breakers of this Law and a gracious reward to them that keep it God shewing himselfe in this case to be jealous 1. By punishing sin in many generations 2. By extending his mercy in a far more abundant manner to them that keep his Law So the former reason containeth a threatening to restraine from disobedience the latter a promise to allure to obedience How is the former of these reasons laid downe In these words Visiting the iniquities of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me What is the summe of this reason That he will visit such as howsoever pretending love doe thus declare their hatred of him and punish them both in themselves and their Children to many generations What doth God meane when he saith That he will visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children Two things 1. That he will enquire and search whether he can find any of the Parents sins and especially their Idolatry in their Children continuing in their Fathers sins and that if he doe he will remember the same in the punishment of them What are we to learne from hence 1. That howsoever God for a time doth seeme not to regard our sins yet he doth both see them and in his due time will punish them if we doe not repent 2. That neither the example of our Parents nor any other that doe amisse can be sufficient warrant to us to commit any sin 3. That all Parents are carefull to take heed how they commit any sin because in so doing they bring Gods Iudgements not only upon themselves but also upon their Children 4. That Children are to sorrow for being borne of Idolatrous Forefathers But how doth that agree with the Righteousnesse of God to punish the Children for the sins of their Fathers Very well for if Princes whose judgements are shallow in comparison of Gods the depths whereof are past finding out doe with equity dis-inherit and put to shame the posterity of Traytors the Lord may much more justly doe the like with the wicked childe which followeth his Fathers steps and is a Traytor himselfe having both his Fathers sinne and his owne upon his head for God here onely threatneth to punish those children which continue in their Fathers sinnes and therefore as they have part in their fathers sinnes so it is reason they should have part in their Parents punishments What doth God meane by the third and fourth generation He meaneth that not onely the next children but the children of divers and many generations shall smart for their fathers sinnes As in Amos for three transgressions and for foure that is for many Why then doth he specially name three or foure Generations Because Parents live so long oft-times that they see their Posterity for foure Generations following punished for their sinnes Why doth God say Of them that hate me To shew that not all the sonnes of the wicked but onely such as continue in their Fathers wickednesse shall be punished for their sinnes Ezek. 18. 4. 10. 13 14. 17. But is there any that hate God Yes verily so many as worship him otherwise then himselfe hath commanded doe hate him for although every Idolater will say that he loveth God yet here God witnesseth of him that he is a lyer and that he hateth God in that he hateth the worship that he commandeth in the love whereof God will have the experience of his love 2 Chron. 19. 2. Mic. 2. 8. John 15. 18. Rom. 1. 29 30. 5. 10. 8. 7. Col. 1. 21. In what words is the second reason laid downe which is drawn from the clemency of God Wherere it is said that he sheweth mercy unto thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandements What is the summe of this reason That God will blesse the obedient unto many generations both in themselves their children and posterity and in whatsoever belongeth unto them thus extending his mercy unto thousands of such as shew their love of him by obedience to this his Law Why doth the Lord say that he will shew mercy to them that love him and keep his Commandements To teach us that the best deeds of the best men cannot merit or deserve any thing at Gods hands but had need to bee received of him in mercy Wherefore doth hee say that he will have mercy to thousands seeing he said that he would visit onely the third and fourth Generation of them that hate him Because he is more willing and ready to exercise his mercy then his anger But what will God be mercifull to all the Children of the godly No But onely such as love him and keep his Commandements Is this Blessing proper to the Godly Not altogether neither For God rewardeth the posterity of the wicked with outward benefits oftentimes according to their outward service as appeareth by the succession of Iehu So much
means 1 Tim. 6. 9. 3. Too much haste in gathering riches joyned with impatience of any delay Prov. 28. 20. 22. 20. 21. 4. An unsatiable appetite which can never bee satisfied but when they have too much they still desire more and have never enough Eccles. 4. 8. like the Horse-leech Prov. 30. 15. the Dropsie and Hell it selfe Prov. 27. 20. 5. Miser-like tenacity whereby they refuse to communicate their goods either for the use of others or themselves 6. Cruelty Prov. 1. 18 19. exercised both in their unmercifulnesse and oppression of the poore VVhat doe you think of this vice That it is a most hainous sinne for it is Idolatry and the root of all evill Col. 3. 5. 1 Tim. 6. 10. A pernicious Thorne that stifleth all grace and choaketh the seed of the Word Mat. 13. 22. and pierceth men through with many sorrowes 1 Tim. 6. 10. and drowneth them in destruction and perdition verse 9. What is Ambition An immoderate love and desire of honours which is a vice compounded of Covetousnesse and Pride in which concurre all those vices in Covetousnesse before spoken of as an immoderate love of honours a resolution to aspire unto honours either by lawfull or unlawfull meanes too much haste in aspiring unto honours not waiting upon God for preferment in the use of lawfull meanes unsatiablenes in aspiring higher and higher and enlarging of the ambitious mans desire like unto hell Hab. 2. 5. Vnto which may be added Arrogancy whereby hee coveteth to be preferred before all others and Envy whereby he disdaineth that any should he preferred before him What is the fourth and last vice here forbidden Immoderate and carking care in the pursuing of these earthly things riches and honours and contrariwise moderate appetite and desires of having and moderate care of procuring them is approved and required that we may not be burthensome but rather helpfull unto others 2 Cor. 12. 13. Eph. 4. 28. What are the extreames opposed to the former vertue They are two the first is carelesnesse and neglect of our goods and state For as he is commended who gathereth in seasonable times so he is condemned who neglecteth those opportunities Prov. 10. 5. 6. 6. and is censured by the Apostle to be worse then an Infidell 1 Tim. 5. 8. What is the other extreame Anxious and solicitous care which distracteth the minde that it cannot be wholly intent to Gods service And this doth partly arise from Covetousnesse and partly from diffidence in Gods Promises and Providence What are the reasons that may disswade from this vice They are chiefely two First because it is Impious Secondly because it is Foolish Why is it impious Because it chargeth God either with ignorance that he knoweth not our wants contrary to that Matth. 6. 32. or of carelesnesse that hee neglecteth us or of impotency that he is notable to supply our wants whereas he is omniscient and knoweth our necessities omnipotent and able to relieve us Eph. 3. 20. and our most gracious Father and therefore willing and ready to helpe us in time of need Secondly because it divideth the heart between God and Mammon and we cannot at once serve these Masters Matth. 6. 24. 1 John 2. 15. Iames 4. 4. Thirdly because it is heathenish Mat. 6. 32. Why is it foolish Because it is both superfluous and vaine superfluous because God hath undertaken to provide for us and therefore in the use of lawfull meanes wee must cast all our care upon him 1 Peter 3. 7. Psalme 55. 22. How is it vaine Because it is Gods blessing onely that maketh rich Prov. 10. 22. Deut. 8. 18. and by our owne care wee can no more adde to that stint of state which he hath allotted unto us then we can thereby adde one Cubit to our stature Matth. 6. 27. You have spoken generally of the internall duties what duties are externally and more specially required They respect either the just acquisition and getting of our goods or the just retention and possessing of them unto which is opposed the unjust getting and keeping of them which are here forbidden under the name of Theft What is required to just getting That we get them by just and lawfull meanes For riches are Thorns which are not to be hastily catched but to be handled warily and with much caution that they doe not pierce the soule and wound the conscience What may move us hereunto First by considering that a little justly gotten is better then abundance gotten unjustly Prov. 16. 8. Psal. 37. 16. Secondly that what is justly gotten is the gift of God and a pledge of his love but that which is gotten unjustly is given in his wrath and is a snare of the devil to our destruction Thirdly that as goods justly gotten are Gods gifts which he blesseth unto us Prov. 10. 22. so that which is ill gotten is lyable to his curse Prov. 13. 11. Hab. 2. 9. Jer. 27. 11. How many wayes are goods lawfully gotten Two wayes First without Contract Secondly by Contract Out of Contract either such as are gotten by our selves or received from others How gotten by our selves Either ordinarily or extraordinarily Ordinary getting is by the sweat of our browes in our lawfull Callings So that here two things are required First a lawfull Calling and secondly that we labour in it Eph. 4. 28. What is a lawfull Calling It is the setting apart of singular men unto some lawfull labour and imployment according to the variety of their gifts and inclinations whether they be publick or private What is in the second place required of every man That they diligently labour in their lawfull calling 1 Thes. 3. 10. and that variously according to every mans condition and the variety of their severall callings For if Adam was not to be idle in the state of Innocency Gen. 2. 15. much lesse we after the fall Gen 3. 19. What doe you call extraordinary getting That which is acquired by the law of nature or the law of Nations as that which is gotten by the law of Armes or that which is casually found being lost of another unto which men have right when as by diligent enquiry the owner cannot be knowne How are goods justly gotten as they are retained from others When as by a civill right we retaine them from others who are the true and lawfull owners and that either by free gift or by succession and inheritance whether it be given unto us by the Testators will or by Law and right doe fall unto us What are the vices opposite to the former vertues All means and kinds of unjust getting opposite to just acquisition whether ordinary or extraordinary VVhat is opposite to ordinary just getting Inordinate walking 2 Thes. 3. 6. 7. 11. which is opposed either to a lawfull calling or to labour required in it What is opposed to a lawfull Calling Either no Calling at all or such a Calling as is
our hearts far from him Isa. 29. 13. 2. Shamelesse impiety when turning our eares from his precepts he turneth away his from our prayers Prov. 28. 9. 3. Senselesse impenitency when the cry of our sins unrepented of drownes the voice of our prayers that are offered Zach. 7. 13. 4. Mercilesse cruelty when we either cause or suffer the afflicted to cry without hearing the Lord hearing us cry in our affliction without helping Gen. 42. 22. What is the generall subiect of our requests Good or evill Good to obtaine it and evill to remove or prevent it Col. 1. 9. 2 Thes. 3. 1 2. That wherein we pray for good things is called supplication 1 Tim. 2. 1. That wherein we pray against evill is called Deprecation What doe you meane by Good or Evill Whatsoever is helpfull or hurtfull either for soule or body goods and graces sins and sorrowes mercies and judgements in spirituall or in carnall things Phil. 1. 9. Luke 18. 13. Dan. 9. What gather you hence 1. That as Prayer is the key of the heart to open all our necessities unto God Iames 2. 9. so it is also the key of his treasury to obtaine his mercies from him Mat. 7. 7. 2. That the gift of Prayer is a pledge and earnest penny of all other good gifts and graces whatsoever Rom. 8. 26 27 32. and that so long as we can pray the greatest evill cannot hurt us Ionah 2. 1. 2 Cor. 12. 7 8. nor the greatest good without Prayer can ever bee profitable unto us 1 Tim. 4. 5. Are we only bound to pray for our selves by request for good and against evill things No we are also bound to pray likewise for others which kinde of prayer is called Intercession 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. What is Intercession It is the sute of the heart unto God for the good of others As Abraham prayed for Abimelech Gen. 20. 17. Jacob for his sonnes Gen. 49. Paul for the people 1 Thes. 1. 2. and they for him Why doth the Lord require this duty of us 1. For communicating our gifts and his graces James 5 5. 14 15. 2. For nourishing our love 3. For increase of our comforts 4. For mutuall support and reliefe in all crosses What gather you hence That all such persons as are linked together in neerest bonds of societie are also mutually bound to discharge this duty 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. James 5. 10. As first in the houshold of Faith the stronger is to pray for the weaker that he faile not Phil. 1. 9. and the weaker for the stronger that hee fall not 2 Thes. 3. 1 2. Secondly the Soveraigne for the Subject that he may obey in piety and loyalty 2 Cor. 6. 13 14. The Subject for the Soveraigne that he may rule in righteousnesse and religious policy 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. and so in all societies whether of publick assemblies or private families Job 1. 5. Deut. 33. 6. 1 Chron. 29. 19. What followeth of all this Strong consolation that when we finde small power or comfort in our prayers the Lord hath ordained that we may seeke and finde both in the prayers of his Church and children James 5. 14 15. Acts 12. 5. 7. You have now spoken of the first part of Invocation namely Petition what followeth The second which is Praise and Thanksgiving 1 Thes. 5. 18. What is this Praise and Thanksgiving It is a reverent calling upon the name of God wherein the heart being cheared with some taste of his goodnesse acknowledgeth all from his mercy and purposeth all for his glory Luke 10. 21. 1 Chron. 29. 10 11 12 13. And it is either in praising all his goodnesse wisedome power and mercy and generally for the government of his Church or for those particular favours that by Petition wee have received from his mercifull hand Whence doth this duty of praise arise As Petition ariseth from the feeling of our miserie so praise from the feeling of Gods mercy Petition beggeth what we want and praise acknowledgeth what and whence we have it Rev. 15. 3. 1 Chron. 29. 12. What gather you hence That when the Lord hath granted unto us our Petitions we are forthwith bound to render unto him his due praises Exodus 15. 1 Psalme 66. 19 20. Wherein doth this duty of praise specially consist 1. In emptying our selves of all worthinesse Gen. 32. 10. 2. In acknowledging him the author of every good gift and fountaine of living waters James 1. 17. Jer. 2. 13. 3. In speaking good of his name unto others Psalme 40. 9 10. 4. In rejoycing before him in all his mercies Deut. 26. 11. 5. In resolving to bestow all for his honour and service 1 Chro. 29. 2 3. Wherefore doth the Lord require praise and thanksgiving at our hands First because it is the fairest and sweetest fruit of true Piety Psal. 92. 1. Secondly it entirely preserveth Gods glory Thirdly it boweth the heart to true humility Fourthly it is the condition of the Covenant when he gives and wee receive any mercy Psalme 50. 15. Fiftly it provoketh others to faithfulnesse and cheerefulnesse in Gods service Psalme 95. 1. Sixtly it maintaineth the intercourse of mercies and duties betwixt God and man What be the properties of true praise 1. It must be faithfull without glossing with a simple not with a double heart Psalme 145. 18. 2. It must be plentifull Psalme 18. 1 2. If God give his mercies by showers we may not yeeld our praises by drops 3. It must be cheerfull 1 Chron. 29. 14. hee gives freely and wee must offer willingly for he loves a cheerefull giver 2 Cor. 9. 7. 4. It must be powerfull with the best measure with the best member Psalme 81. 1 2. 5. It must be skilfull in the best manner suting his severall properties with their due praises according to the nature of the present blessings Ex. â—5 2. 3. Psal. 144. 1 2. 6. It must be continuall as long as his mercy endureth and life lasteth Psal. 146. 1 Thes. 5. 18. What meanes may we use to attaine unto this duty 1. Serious consideration of the great things hee hath done for us so vile creatures 1 Sam. 12. 24. 2. To desire to taste Gods love in the least of his mercies Genesis 28. 20 21. 3. To give him a taste of our love in the best of our services Psalme 116. 12. 4. To rest content with our allowance and estate wherein he hath set us Phil. 4. 11. 5. To compare our estates with many of Gods Saints who want many comforts which we enjoy and feele many sorrowes which wee feele not Psalme 147. 20. 6. To be faithfull in all Talents and fruitfull in all graces will be great meanes to make us praise God in all his mercies Matth. 25. 23. Phil. 1. 11. What motives have we to provoke us to this praise 1. It is a good comely and pleasant thing to praise God Psal. 147. 1. 2. It is his will thus
fervently and importunately to knock at the gate of his mercy for the pardon of our sins removall of judgements and grant of the graces and blessings we need Psal. 51. 1 2 c. vers 14. 112. 4. but also to make a sure Covenant with his Majesty Nehem. 9. 38. of renewing and bettering our repentance thence forward in a more earnest and effectuall hatred of sinne and love of righteousnesse Esa. 55. 7. Jonah 3. 8. What fruit or successe may we look for having thus sought the Lord Who knoweth whether by this meanes we may stand in the gap and cause the Lord to repent of the evill intended and to spare his people Joel 2. 14 18 c. Ionah 3. 9 10. At the least for our particular we shall receive the mark and mercy promised to such as mourne for the abominations generally committed Ezek. 9. 4 6. together with plentifull evidence of our salvation and assurance of the love of God towards us Matth. 6. 18. Pro. 28. 13. 1 Iohn 1. 9. strength against temptations patience and comfort in afflictions with all other graces plentifully vouchsafed especially upon such renewing of acquaintance by him who is the rewarder of all that come unto him Heb. 11. 6. so that we need not doubt but that as we have sowne in teares so we shall reap in joy Psal. 126. 5. and as we have sought the Lord with fasting and mourning so he yet againe will be sought Ezek. 36. 37. and found of us with holy feasting and spirituall rejoicing What is an holy feasting A comfortable enjoying of Gods blessings to stirre us up to thankfulnesse and spirituall rejoicing Or to describe it more largely It is a solemne Thankes-giving unto God for some singular benefit or deliverance from some notable evill either upon us or hanging over us which hee hath bestowed upon us especially after that in fasting we have begged the same at his hand Zach. 8. 19. Ezek. 9. ad 32. for this is a duty especially required for the acknowledgment of such mercies as we have by the former course obtained Psal 30. 11 12. 50. 15. Esther 9. 22. and so answering thereto that from the one the other with due reverence may be conceived What ought especially to be the time of this duty The time that is nearest unto the mercy and benefit which we have received as we see in the story Esther 9. where the Iewes that were in the countrey and in the provinces did celebrate their feast on the 14. day of the moneth Adar because they had overthrowne their enemies the 13. day before and the Iewes in Sushan because they made not an end of the slaughter of their enemies before the 14. day was past they celebrated it the 15. day Look 2 Chro. 20. 26. and that example of Jacob checked for deferring the paiment of his vow at Bethel Wherefore ought we to take the time that is next the deliverance Because we being most strongly and thoroughly affected with the benefit we receive the first time it is bestowed upon us especially where there is not onely a notable benefit befallen unto us but thereby also we are freed from some notable evill that was upon us or near unto us we are then most fit to hold a feast unto the Lord. Why is the ordinance of a yearely Feast by Mordocheus rather commanded upon the day after the slaughter of their enemies then the day of the slaughter To set forth that rejoicing ought not to be so much for the destruction of our enemies as that thereby we obtaine peace to serve God in Wherein doth this feast consist The scope and drift of it is to rejoice before the Lord and to shew our selves thankfull for the benefit received not onely in that we are delivered but that we are delivered by prayer that we have made unto God whereby our joy encreaseth and whereby it differeth from the joy of the wicked which rejoice that they are delivered as well as we How may that be best performed Partly by outward and bodily exercises and partly by spirituall exercises of godlinesse What are the outward exercises A more liberall use of the creatures both in meat and apparell then is ordinary May we eat and drink on that day more then on others No the exceeding is not in the quantity of meat and drink but in a more dainty and bountifull diet then ordinary Neh. 8. 10. which yet is to be referred to the exercise of godlinesse and therefore ought to be used in that moderation and sobriety as men may be made more able thereunto even as the abstinence in fasting is used to further humiliation of the mind and affecting of the soule What is the exercise of godlinesse It is either in piety and duty unto God or in kindnesse unto men What is the duty unto God To lift up our voice in thanksgiving unto him as for all other his mercies whereof this benefit should cause the remembrance as one sinne causeth the remembrance of others Psalme 51. so for that present benefit and for that purpose to call to remembrance and to compare the former evills which either we were in or were neere unto with the present mercy and every part of the one with the members of the other What other duty of Piety is to be performed unto God By a diligent meditation of the present benefit to confirme our faith and confidence in God that he that hath so mightily and graciously delivered us at this time will also in the same or the like dangers deliver us hereafter so farre as the same shall be good for us What is the kindnesse we should shew towards men An exercise of liberality according to our power out of the feeling of the bountifull hand of God towards us To whom must that be shewed To our friends in presents and as it were in New-years gifts Rev. 11. 10. and portions to be sent to the poore and needy Neh. 8. 10. What remaineth further of these holy Feasts The sorts and kindes of them which are as before we have heard of Fasts to which I refer the Reader Hitherto of Prayer and the extraordinarie circumstances thereof Fasting and Feasting what is a Vow A solemne promise made unto God by fit persons of some lawfull thing that is in their choise and power to performe it It is thought that Vowes are Ceremoniall and not to pertaine to the times the Gospell There are indeed good yea excellent persons that think so which carry so much the more a dislike of Vowes because they have beene abused in Popery Howbeit it appeareth by the fifty Psalme verse 14 15. that it is a constant and perpetuall service of God as shall appeare What is the proper end and use of a Vow It is twofold First to strengthen and confirme our faith Secondly to testifie our thankfulnesse unto God but no way to merit any thing at Gods hand So that whereas the
another 10. To preserve the publike Ministery of the Word and Prayer in Christian assemblies Who are to be partakers in this Sacrament All baptized who are of yeeres and sound judgement to discerne the Lords body ought to repaire to this Sacrament But those onely come worthily who professing the true faith have duely examined and prepared themselves Esa. 66. 23. 1 Cor. 11. 27 28. whereby all not of age and sound judgement are shut from his Sacrament which are not alwayes from the other of Baptisme May none be admitted by the Church to the Supper of the Lord but such as have these things in them which God requireth at their hands Yes those who having knowledge doe make profession of Religion and are found guilty of no great error or crime unrepented of What if any thrust themselves to the Lords Table who are ignorant or guilty of such crimes They are to be kept back by the discipline of the Church What is to be performed by every Christian that he may worthily partake of the Lords Supper There must be a carefull preparation before the action great heed in the whole action and a joyfull and thankfull cloze and shutting of it All which must be performed as well by the Minister as the people For there is great difference betwixt our Saviour Christ the first deliverer of this Sacrament and all other Ministers he having no battel of the Spirit and flesh in him but being always prepared unto every good worke had no need of these things but other Ministers have as much need thereof as the people How are we to prepare our selves to this Sacrament By due search and triall of our own soules whether we can finde in our selves the things which God doth require in worthy Communicants How may we performe that By fitting our mindes framing our hearts thereunto 1 Cor. 10. 15 16 11. 28 How may we sit our mindes By examining our wisdome and knowledge both of Gods will in generall and of the nature and use of this holy Sacrament in particular whether we can give a reason of the representation of Christ in bread and wine and bring the resemblance and difference of the proportion of the bread and wine with the body and bloud of Christ and of the eating and drinking of the elements with the partaking of the spirituall things Rom. 4. 11. 1 Cor. 10. 3. and 4. 16 17. How may our hearts be framed for the feeling of the vertue and power of this Sacrament 1. By weighing with our selves what need we have of it and what benefit we may reape by it 2. By examining of our faith 2 Cor. 13. 5. 1 Tim. 1. 15. and repentance Heb. 10. 22. Iames 4. 8. attended with true love of God Zach. 12. 10. and of our brethren 1 Cor. 16. 14. 3. By servent invocation praying for a blessing upon this Ordinance of God Matth. 26 26. How may we finde what need we have of this Sacrament Partly by our wretched estate by nature and partly by our weak estate by grace What may we finde by our estate by nature That being prone to all evill we had need of this Sacrament to nourish and preserve the life of grace new begun which otherwise by our own corruption might dye or decay in us 1 Cor. 10. 16. What need have we of this Sacrament for reliefe of our weak estate by grace That being weak in understanding and feeble in memory we may by the signes of Bread and Wine have our understanding bettered and memory confirmed in the death of Christ 1 Cor. 11. 24 26. What further need may we finde of it That being fraile in faith and cold in love we may by the same creatures as by seales and pledges have our faith further strengthned and our love more enflamed to God and Gods children What benefit then may we reape by the Lords Supper We see already that the benefit is great this Sacrament being as a glasse for the mind a monument for the memory a support of faith a provocation to love a quickning to obedience and a signe and seal of all the mercies of God in Christ Iesus How must the heart be prepared to finde the power of this Sacrament for supply of these wants and obteining of these benefits The heart must be purged by repentance and purified by faith 1 Cor. 10. 14 16. 21. Acts 15. 9. How may the heart be purified by faith If I have not only knowledge what Christ hath done for his chosen but a full assurance that whatsoever he hath done he hath done it for me as well as for any other 1 Cor. 2. 2. Iohn 17. 3. Gal. 2. 20. What gather you hence That they onely are to present themselves at the Lords Table who after their baptisme are able to make a profession of the true faith and can finde that they truly believe in Christ seeing ignorant and unbelieving persons do rather eat and drink their own judgement than reap any benefit by this Sacrament 1 Cor. 11. 29 30 31. How may thy heart be purged by repentance If from my heart I do repent of my particular sins past and judge my selfe for them bewailing and forsaking them and frame the rest of my life according to Gods will 1 Cor. 11. 30 31. Gal. 6. 16. What learne you hence That it is dangerous for such as remaine in their old sins or after the Sacrament return unto them once to offer themselves to the Lords Table forasmuch as by this means they procure the wrath of God against them and those that belong unto them although not in condemnation in the world to come which the faithfull notwithstanding their unworthy receiving cannot come unto yet to fearefull plagues and judgements in this world It is not meet that we be free from all malice in our hearts when we come to the Lords Supper Yes it is for this Sacrament is a seal both of our conjunction with Christ and of our society one with another 1 Cor. 10. 17. and we must know that true repentance purgeth out malice amongst other sins and a sound faith worketh by love towards God and out Brethren Mat. 5. 22 23. Iames 1. 19 20 21. 1 Pet. 2. 1. Gal. 5. 6. So much for examination and preparation required before the action What is to be done by the communicant in the present action 1. They are to use reverent attention the better to apply the whole action harkning to the doctrine of the Sacrament delivered by the Minister joyning with him in his prayers making use of all the sacramentall actions and so commemorating the Lords death for the comfort and refreshing of their own souls 1 Cor. 11. 17. 26. 2. According as it is commanded all must take the Bread and Wine into their hands contrary to the superstition of divers which will have it thrust either into their mouthes or else take it with their gloves as if the hand of a Christian which God
an occasion as is mentioned in the last chapter of the book of Judges of the children of Benjamin catching every man a wife of the daughters of Shiloh the women being daughters to the one side and wives to the other interposed themselves and took up the quarrell so that by the mediation of these who had a peculiar interest in either side and by whose means this new alliance was contracted betwixt the two adverse parties they who before stood upon highest tearms of hostility did not onely entertain peace but also joyned themselves together into one body and one state God and we were enemies before wee were reconciled to him by his Son Hee that is to be our peace and to reconcile us unto God and to slay this enmity must have an interest in both the parties that are at variance and have such a reference unto either of them that he may bee able to send this comfortable message unto the sons of men Goe to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God For as long as hee is not ashamed to call us brethren God is not ashamed to bee called our God And his entring of our apparance in his own name and ours after this manner Behold I and the children which God hath given mee is a motive strong enough to appease his Father and to turn his favourable countenance toward us as on the other side when wee become unruly and prove rebellious children no reproofe can bee more forcible nor inducement so prevalent if there remaine any sparke of grace in us to make us cast downe our weapons and yeeld then this Doe ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not hee thy Father that hath bought thee and bought thee not with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious bloud of his own Son How dangerous a matter it is to be at ods with God old Eli sheweth by this main argument If one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sinne against the Lord who shall plead or intreat for him and Job before him He is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in judgment neither is there any Days-man or Vmpire betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both If this generall should admit no manner of exception then were we in a wofull case and had cause to weep much more then S. John did in the Revelation when none was found in heaven nor in earth nor under the earth that was able to open the book which he saw in the right hand of him that sate upon the Throne neither to looke thereon But as S. John was wished there to refrain his weeping because the Lyon of the tribe of Juda the root of David had prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof so he himself elsewhere giveth the like comfort unto all of us in this particular If any sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole world For as there is one God so is there one Mediatour betweene God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransome for all and in discharge of this his office of mediation as the onely fit umpire to take up this controversie was to lay his hand aswell upon God the party so highly offended as upon Man the party so basely offending In things concerning God the Priesthood of our Mediatour is exercised For every high Priest is taken from among men and ordained for men in things pertaining to God The parts of his Priestly function are two Satisfaction and Intercession the former wherof giveth contentment to Gods justice the latter soliciteth his mercy for the application of this benefit to the children of God in particular Whereby it commeth to passe that God in shewing mercy upon whom he will shew mercy is yet for his justice no loser being both just and the justifier of him which beleeveth in Jesus By vertue of his Intercession our Mediatour appeareth in the presence of God for us and maketh request for us To this purpose the Apostle noteth in the IIIIth to the Hebrewes I. That we have a great high Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God vers 14. II. That we have not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all things tempted as we are yet without sin vers 15. Betwixt the having of such and the not having of such an Intercessor betwixt the heighth of him in regard of the one and the lowlinesse in regard of his other nature standeth the comfort of the poor sinner He must be such a sutor as taketh our case to heart and therefore in all things it behoved him to be made likeunto his brethren that he might be a mercifull and faithfull high Priest In which respect as it was needfull he should partake with our flesh and bloud that he might be tenderly affected unto his brethren so likewise for the obtaining of so great a sute it behoved he should bee most dear to God the Father and have so great an interest in him as he might always be sure to be heard in his requests who therefore could be no other but he of whom the Father testified from heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased It was fit our Intercessor should be Man like unto our selves that we might boldly come to him and find grace to help in time of need It was fit he should be God that he might boldly goe to the Father without any way disparaging him as being his fellow and equall But such was Gods love to justice and hatred to sinne that he would not have his justice swallowed up with mercie nor sinne pardoned without the making of fit reparation And therefore our Mediatour must not look to procure for us a simple pardon without more adoe but must be a propitiation for our sinnes and redeem us by fine and ransome and so not onely be the master of our requests to intreat the Lord for us but also take upon him the part of an Advocate to plead full satisfaction made by himself as our surety unto all the debt wherewith we any way stood chargeable Now the satisfaction which our surety bound himself to perform in our behalfe was of a double debt the principall and the accessorie The principall debt is obedience to Gods most holy Law which man was bound to pay as a perpetuall tribute to his Creator although he had never sinned but being now by his own default become bankrupt is not able to