up to believe those lies deceiving and being deceived The Scripture indeed sometimes Allegorizes and teaches the use of Tropes and figures by the best Rhetorick We must therefore be sure to keep close to it least we turn substantial Truth by Chymical Evaporations into Notional smoak Too many of late have followed those woful courses of enervating Scripture by Allegorical strains till they had lost Reason and Religion at once Such Paracelsian Fumes quickly Intoxicate mens Brains breeding the Giddiness and then Convulsions to extremity 13. Christs Ordinances by his Word appointed are not spared but are opposed too First By the forenamed deceits Secondly By our modern Seekers and Familists as by the old Gnosticks accounting them but childish weak things fit only for inferior Christians in their lower form Thirdly By many Luke-warm Laodiceans of this Age of a neutral indifferent spirit towards Christs Instituted Worship Fourthly By all Papists and Traditionists who set up wayes and parts of Worship of mans devising as religious use of Images prayer for the dead Invocation of Saints and Angels Veneration of Reliques sale of pardons and Indulgences Fictions of Purgatory and Limbus patrum infantium Prayer in an unknown Tongue by roat upon Beads vain Babling and Tautologies repeated over and over superstitious uses of Crosses and Crossings Altars and Tapers Vestments and Dressings Mimical Gestures and ridiculous Stage-playes in Worship corrupting of every Ordinance by many foppish additions and tricks Fifthly By Ranters and Quakers who jeer and blaspheme Christs Institutions as our sad experience testifies in all places AGainst such gross Evils the right Knowledge of Christ will arm us and prove that they are but fools who think themselves too wise for Christs School That the highest Christians have alwaies used them and pressed all others thereto with all diligence That they are the Charets and Conduits of communication between the Lord and us That they are all suited to the case of all Gods people on earth That we should live above them in the use not in the neglect of them That our bodies shal cease from needing food when our souls shall cease to need Ordinances That Christ promises his presence therewith to the worlds end That he meets his people with a choice Blessing where ever he records his name and therefore bids them seek his face evermore That therein our Homage is paid unto him in a special manner That the Lord will be sought and found in all his ways That his familiarity is to teach us manners not sauciness That to be neutral and meteor-like in the Lords worship is sad and sinfull in a high degree That Prayer and Singing are jointly prescribed and directed to for spiritual use That the abuse thereof by any should not cannot excuse us from our duty All are bound and bidden to use them yet none can use them spiritually but by a special Grace That a moral performance of Duty is better far then non-performance That men are to serve God as well as they can still learning of him how to serve him better That God is ready to give more still to such as improve what they have received That its better to serve Christ outwardly then to serve sin and Satan by omitting good or committing evil That the preaching and hearing Gods Word requires of necessity meditation and repetition reading and studying thereof That Christ will be honoured in every Relation by every one without exception as in publique and secret so likewise in our several Families That he threatens a curse to such Nations and such Families as know not and call not on his name That his morning and evening Mercies challenge good manners in duty from us That Christ himself taught how to pray and praise on the solemn use of the Lords creatures That to rest on Duties is Idolatry and to neglect the same is Rebellion That all mixtures of humane Inventions do but soil and deface the Lords pure worship that therefore all Romish Innovations are sufficiently confuted by the bare rehersal That Will-worship can never please him who will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth That the Heathens pleaded the like excuses for their superstition and Idolatry as the Papists do for theirs That a great part of the Popâ—sh trash is but borrowed from Pagans with disguises That in many things they renew those Rites which by Christs coming were to have an end that vows contrary to Scripture-Duty can shew little savour of Scripture-Verity that the ready way to obscure our Light is to besmear and and paint our Windows That Scripture-simplicity loves not the dressing of a pompous whore That a fair Complexion needs no painting and truth hath most power when most purity That Antiquity pleads not at all for their grossest Tricks That in the things wherein some of the Fathers seem to plead for them there is much mistake and much forgery That however Truth is the eldest and he wants no Antiquity that wants not Scripture-Truth Many words were innocently used by the Fathers as Merit Altar c. which are turned quite into another sense among Papists now 14. Christs holy-Day his Sabbath of rest suffers peculiarly as 1. From the foresaid Enemies of Truth So secondly From too many seeming friends some wholly rejecting some mangling of it and some indifferent to this or to that Thirdly By Quakers and all Enthusiasts who slight all or most of Christs Ordinances and this especially Against such mistakes and abuses the knowledge of Christ will teach and enable us to observe his day as becomes a Sabbath It s called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords Day to express his special property therein and sanction thereof as the Eucharist is called the Lords Table and the Lords Supper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Command enjoining it is placed in the heart and Center of the Decalogue with a signal Memento prefixed It s largely expressed both positively and prohibitively In the precept and close he names the Sabbath though in the amplification he mentions the seventh day or a seventh day He adds strong Reasons to enforce it from his Propriety Example and Blessing as also from the Equity thereof By this one Command he often expresses his whole Worship He couples it sometimes with one Precept of the first Table and after with one of the second Table to signifie the great Influence it hath into the observance of both It s abundantly confirmed enforced and renew'd in every part of Scripture old and new The reason that enforced the use of the seventh day Sabbath extends as fully to the first day Sabbath That was the Lords rest day from his Creation-work This is his rest day from his Redemption-work The change of the day in its quando made by God himself alters not the
Latitude according to the variation of its aggravations As diseases do vary in their gradual recess from health being either simple or compound either more or less malignant hurtfull Thus Errors admit of many adjuncts which render them more or less sinful and injurious In every Error there is a sinfulness an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a defect of Truth privative a disposition to falshood positive As in every disease there is an evil deflection from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or sound disposition of the body so in Error from that of the mind But this deflection is not alike in all but is cloathed with numerical differences and personal aggravations Some Errors are more and others less rooted Some are more single and others complicate Some are more submissively held and others more pertinaciously some are kept close others published some have more of the Will and Affections attending them others less some are more and others less pernicious some are more quiet others more turbulent As the malignity of infectious diseases admits of a great Latitude as the variety of venomous Creatures whether Plants Minerals or Sensitives is multipliciously diversified by the variations of their clime intentions of degrees c. some being cold as Hemlock others hot as Euphorbium some in the first or second others in the third or fourth degree some working more slowly others more quickly some by their Tail as the Scorpion some by their Teeth as the Viper and Rattle-snake some by their Tongue others by their Excrements some more sensibly as a mad Dog some more insensibly as the Asp So do Errors appear under variety of offensive qualities and adjuncts 5. The Cause of Error also as of every disease is multipliciously observable especially in a three-fold Division of Evident Antecedent and Continent 1. An Evident Cause among Physicians is much from Externals if not altogether whereby a Distemper is occasioned in the body So in mans soul this sickness of Error may be occasioned by external Causes as by infection ill company bad books various Temptations c. 2. An Antecedent Cause of sickness bodily is from some thing within whether vapor humor or Spirit distempering any part disabling it from its proper Action Thus the foregoing Cause of this spiritual disease lies in some flatuous humorous or spiritual evil that disorders the mind from its right discerning of the Truth causing it to deviate into the way of falshood Habitual Corruption within flowing from Adams first sin which is ours by Imputation attended with the want of original Righteousness and often called original sin because the womb of all sin in us is the chief cause from which all other evils flow that breed and increase these sad distempers This Corruption acts variously in the way of Pride and Self-seeking Security and Worldliness c. 3. The Continent Cause of a corporal distemper is that immediate thing which cherishes it being cherished from the remote cause whether corrupt blood wind water gravel c. So the continent Cause of Error is that peculiar Corruption whether Ignorance or Pride self-conceitedness or worldliness c. which sticks close to the mind to breed and cherish its several dyscrasies and distempers Thence such clouding of mens Iudgements and disorders in their Reasonings hence perverse Disputings of men that are reprobate concerning the Faith as Ambition and Pride carried Simon and Menander Nestorius and Macedonius away Discontent and Envy prevailed with Arrius Covetousness carried on Demetrius and his Comrads There is a Complication of such causes in most 6. The Effects of Error as of every corporal disease are likewise variously numerous according to the variations of its numerical Idea of its specifical nature of its descent gradations causes This spiritual sickness is a Tendency to further sin eternal Death as every bodily sickness is the beginning of corporal death The wages of sin is death sin deserves it it binds ever it leads to it it fits for it it begins it As much as there is of sinfulness so much is there of death attending it Corporal civil spiritual and Eternal Grace indeed doth restrain and limit it pardons and subdues it purges out gradually and at last exterminates all sin in Gods Elect yet it changes not the Nature or desert of sin though it chances the sinners nature and relation Providence limits and over-rules this sinfulness also in the Reprobate As the wise Physitian corrects his Opium in a Confection so doth God correct sin remaining in his Children As the same Physitian appoints fit means against infection to all indefinitely so doth our Soveraign Physician by shewing the dangerous effects of Error As the effects of Poisons are very various yet always sad so are sin and sorrrw inseparable Twins Error was set forth to the Life by that Leprosiy of the head which had a peculiar mark of Ignominy Infection and danger It s like to those poisonous Minerals and Vegetables which strike first ai the head and thence at all other parts It s a spiritual Plague which cannot but be mischievous still though not in all alike All sorts of men in all relations are made to feel the sad Consequents thereof It s a fruitfull womb a breeding dung hill a poisoned spring Lerna malorum It engages and leads insensibly to more evil notional and practical It disgraces God opposes his Truth distempers mens souls endangers their families blasts their Profession stains their Repute scandalizes many ensnares divers troubles Church and State and complies with Satan in his various designes by nursing of his brood This Age gives sad demonstations thereof As Cephalical diseases are on many accounts the most dangerous of all in the Body so are these heady distempers in the soul which are easily communicated to all the vital inferior parts The poison of some works in a stupifying way as Opium Henbane Hemlock c. others venom acts by an enraging quality as Elaterium Euphorbium Scammony The effect of some is more speedily mortal as in the Touches of a Basilisk and Asp of the Viper and rattle Snake if not very timely look'd to others are more slow and less dangerous as in the operations of various simples appears The Parallel of spiritual Poisons therewith is easily drawn by an observing Christian 7. The Symptoms or Signs of Error as of Corporal deseases are of divers sorts some more Common others more Proper 1. The common signs are such as attend divers distempers in a general way as enfeebling of the parts change of complexion Indiposition to action c. Thus Errors have their Common signs wherein many of them agree appearing much in their sad effects against Gods Honor and mans good though often under far Colors like that Indian Apple in the Western Islands which seems beautifull and yet is rank poison 2. There are proper Tokens and characteristical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and notes of each
the more unsteady according to the Nature and degree of Error so is the soul more or less loosened from Christ that Divine Anchor The looser any member is in the Body from the Head the less steady stil Error is that malignant humour that dislocates and benums Christs Members breeding sinful palsies and Relaxations It works as poison in the Body as the fumes of Mercury and Orpiment that loosen the joynts and breed tremblings and distortions It brings the soul into quick-sands by loosening it from the Rock it stood on It ruines the cement of the soul and so loosens it from its Foundation 2. It impairs the Christians strength and thence his stedfastness A Limb weakened cannot be firm and steady Error infeebles and enervates the soul devouring its vigour and Liveliness proportionably to its Degree There is a secret malignity therein which strikes at the Vitals Faith and Repentance are that radical moisture and native heat which preserve the soul in life and strength Error preys upon them a main breeding varieties of Feavers and Rickets wastings and languishings of every part As in the Building stones decaying endanger themselves and the whole so doth Error by wasting all the faculties and parts Thence such grow unstable and unsteady ready to be turned by every wind of novel doctrine and sinful temptation Rea. 3. Error snatches him away with fraud and force from his proper standing Things disordered are much endangered The Father of lies comes with skill and strength along with his brood to deceive poor souls Strong insinuations and subtile perswasions come along still They are Principalities and Powers spiritual wickednesses in high places that we wrastle with notable methods and Arts polices and powers do stir therein Vse 1. See the source of our frequent Apostacies It s a revolting age the back-slidings of Professors are so many so notorious a great cause thereof is from errors prevalency Satan gets in by degrees into men as he did with our first Parents His insinuations are carried on by plausable Queries He breeds doubtings and scruples which soon grow up into pertinacious Errors His spawn is dubious and inconsiderable at first but it thrives apace like the weeds of the dung-hill strength being gotten it preys for it self being humorous and ambitious it makes brawls and contentions then divisions and separations Thence such lamentable departings from Gods goodness and good men Hence such impostumes and inflamations such Tympanies and Ruptures in the souls and societies of men When the Serpents head gets into the hole the body will easily follow Thence such weakness in mens Judgements Affections and Practice Good men are not free from those many snares What lamentations might we take up over such Our hearts cannot but bleed in the thoughts thereof Oh! The sad Revolts of this Age. Few keep their Reason sound their heart warm their conversation clear Because Iniquity abounds the love of man waxes cold 2. Admonition to erroneous persons Your case is pittifull indeed so much the worse still by how much the less sensible you are thereof Sleepy feavours are the most dangerous because the less felt Lethargick and Comatick bodies are for the most incurable The Lord awaken you that you may be dressed Error is your seeming freind your real enemy It s a Bosom Traitor that corresponds with Satan still to betray and ruin you The poison is subtile but desperate though of various degrees There is a latitude in such distempers but the least is bad enough The giddiness inclines to phrensie and faling sickness diseases and errors admit of gradations Nemo de repentè pessimus A Bodkin may wound to the very heart so will an error with little shew and sence The more erroneous the more subject still to apostatize Spirits of error will tear and range Fractions and Factions are their proper effects What a sad Spectacle doth a Hell set loose afford Yet how many will plead for such Mountebanks and cheats who carry the poison sugar'd and gilded over into all parts Will you still slight and abuse your Physitian Will you still run into plaguy Company Will you still scorn and reject the Sovereign Physick that would sute your case Christ himself the grand Physitian of Heaven came on this errand to physick his own but they received him not Such is the Lot of his Messengers his under Physitians both in Church and State That disease is sad and desperate that makes the Patient thus to rage and range But it may be you pretend Conscience so doth the Devil often in his worse Instruments But shall sin be covered under Christs royal Robe or possess his Throne without disturbance What rule God gives against any error his servants are duly to prosecute you oppose Christ in opposing them 3. Trie therefore thy soundness in the Truth of Christ how far art thou from Apostacy How stands thy heart towards Divine Truth Dost thou receive it in love Is it mingled with faith Dost thou long for it and delight in it Dost thou feel the want and bewail the absence thereof Art thou zealous for it in thy place and sphere Art thou troubled at the troublers thereof Art thou a studious scholar under Christ Dost thou observe the Teachings of his Spirit internal and external Dost thou learn for practice and practise in learning Are thy Speculations brought into Realities Do thy heart and hands thrive as well as thy brains Art thou fixed in Christs ways and settled in his Word Hast thou ceased to be a wandring Planet and a floating Meteor in Religion Dost thou close with Christ and keep close to him in every Ordinance Doth thy spiritual health and integrity appear by thy vigor and activeness for him thy hungrings after him thy fervent and constant following of him Dost thou desire and digest the food of divine Truth so as to thrive effecutally thereby Is thy Judgement well informed and fixed Is thy heart cemented to Christ and rooted in him Dost thou observe him in all his Prescripts to give thee seasonable preservatives and help Is Christ thy strength thy hold and support Doth thou cleave to him and rest still on him Art not thou moved from thy place and station by tempting notions whether in a Superior or inferior charge Dost thou stand firm against all assaults Dost thou manifest both in Church and State that thou holdest Christ for thy head in all things Art thou strong in his strength and power of his might against all spiritual enemies 4. Christians be well advised beware of Errors slide not on that Ice if you would shun a fall Avoid every kind and appearance of intellectual evils Tamper not with poison if you love your health One scabbed sheep may soon infect many Trie all things by Gods touch-stone Receive nothing without trial If you suspect poison be the more carefull If you deal with known cheats beware of trusting If
us and we have seen his Glory So the beloved Apostle witnesses of him He took on him not the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham Thus the Son of God became the son of man being miraculously conceived of the Holy Ghost in the womb of Mary the Virgin over-shadowed by Gods Spirit and born of her in the humane nature like to us in all things except sin Thus was God the Son made manifest in the flesh by assuming the Nature not the person for then had he been two sons and two persons of man to himself This Man Christ Jesus hath body and soul the two substantial parts of Man even as we have as appear'd in his whole progress both which he hath Glorified not nullified This Fatherless man is as Wonderful as the same motherless God for who can declare his Generation as to the manner of it Thus Infiniteness confined himself God eternal was born of a finite poor Virgin Here is an Object indeed for the best knowledge of the best man God become man 3. Christ is God-man Emmanuel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God with us The true Ithiel God with me the very Vcal who is All. In him by hypostatical Union the humane nature with the Divine do both subsist in God the Son the second person of the divine Trinity Here is indeed a complication of ineffable wonders As there one Divine Nature subsists distinctly in three divine Persons So here two Natures the divine and humane subsist both in one person each of them acting and remaining distinctly conjunctly and inseparably incommutably and unconfusedly as the Fathers expressed it to avoid Errors on both hands Here is no mixtion nor composition no confusion nor conversion but a mysterious and transcendant Union from whence flow the various expressions of Scripture 1. When that is attributed to each Nature which properly belongs thereto as suffering to humane Nature and also when that is attributed to the person which therein belongs to both natures as to be Mediatour this is most proper Secondly When that which is common to the whole Person as to be Mediator is attributed only to one of the Natures suppose to the humane this is more improper Thirdly When that which is proper to one Nature is attributed to the other Nature in concreto by a name denoting the whole Person In that sense its true that God purchased his Church by his Blood and that the King of Glory was crucified by communication of Properties Yet this acception is the most improper of the three being Metonymical as the second is Synecdochical In man two imperfect Natures Soul and Body are coadunated with reservation of Proprieties to the constituting of one Suppositum and Person by the vertue of God Christs Person in the divine Nature being most perfect took the humane nature into the unity of one person by his own Vertue So that its one and the same Christ visible according to the humane invisible according to the divine Nature This hypostatical Union was the work of the Trinity mediately of the Holy Ghost immediately and of the Son terminatively The Fathers compare this Mysterie to the joint work of three Sisters making up one vesture and putting it all conjunctly upon the second of them It was necessary that Christ should be God 1. To impart an infinite value and vertue to his compleat Obedience 2. To overcome all sufferings and enemies 3. To communicate all effectually by his Spirit to his people It was as needful that he should be man 1. Because the Godhead could not suffer Secondly because the same Nature that had offended was to satisfie 3. That our Nature corrupted by the first Adam might be restored by the second Christ Jesus our Lord. Thus is Christs Person the Amiable Object of our Knowledge Secondly CHrist considered in his Office is a precious Object his chief business as Mediator being to procure effectual Reconciliation to the saving of his people by his perfect Oblation presented to God for them and applied to them by Gods Spirit He assumed the Name and function of Jesus the Saviour He was anointed as the Christ of God with all suitable qualifications and made Lord of all but especially made our Lord and Saviour by personal appropriation and effectual application Thus was Christ voluntarily made of a woman under the Law subjecting himself in that wonderful dispensation of his Mediation to receive from the Father his Call to that redeeming Function There was no defect in God but in us only who wanted skil power and will utterly to the curing and saving of our selves Christ therefore was divinely anointed to be our Soveraign Prophet Priest and Prince to effect all for us and in us needful to salvation As a Prophet he Reveals the whole Council of God As a Priest he makes full expiation to God and Intercession for us As a Kingly Prince he subdues all spiritual Enemies and makes all things serviceable to the guidance and protection of his people under his Soveraign Rule and Government All this he did and doth by his Eternal Spirit as the Scripture Records freely fully surely and singularly being therein a glorious Object of Christian knowledge Thirdly Christ in his Progress is considerable under a double state of Humiliation and Exaltation 1. HIs Humiliation appeared in all the steps of his Conception and Birth of his Life and Passion of his death and Burial most wonderfully This God head was then covered with the dark vail of his humane Nature mourning as it were in the sad habit of his infirmities for his peoples Enormities He willingly then eclipsed his divine light within the dark Lanthorn of this submissive state he humbled himselfe to exalt us he emptied himself that he might fill us He parted with all that he might give us all He shewed himself to be the Son of man to the lowest degree that he might bring all his into the state of Children Had there not been an absolute necessity thereof he had never done it Had not our case been so desperate could any other way have expiated and destroyed his peoples sins Christ had not come down from the height of Glory to the bottom of ignominy Here is an object of admiration indeed God humbled to a childs state growing up by degrees in Stature and Grace doing and suffering every moment for his enemies in rebellious arms Behold the Son of man wrastling with earth and hell yea with heaven it self conflicting with mans rage the devils fury and the wrath of God! What think you of sin the murtherer of this Christ and of that Love which gave him to the death Thus made he his soul a sacrifice for sin that he might see his seed and the good will of the Lord prospering in his hands He laid in the grave to confirm his
is verified of such the name of Christ is engraven on their heart by the finger of his own Spirit 3. It s a penitential knowledge that melts the soul with godly sorrow as looking on Christ pierced by him and for him The sight of such a Saviour so unkindly requited cannot but make sin out of measure sinfull to such a tender heart The sweetness of Christ must needs embitter every sin to such who have tasted how good the Lord is Such do hate sin with perfect hatred knowing the baseness and unreasonableness thereof Christ clears their eyes to descry and detest the least appearance of evil The more beauty is discovered in him the more ugliness do such observe in sin his grand Opposite They take most pains to mortifie those Lusts which are most opposite to Christ 4. It s an obediential knowledge carefull to observe the Lords Will made known If any say that he knows him and keeps not his Commands he is a liar and the truth is not in him If we know that he is righteous we know that he that doth righteousness is born of him This knowledge is not notional but practical It rests not in the brain but conveys Influence into the whole Life It s not idle but very active It studies his Will to fulfill it and fulfills it in studying thereof It s obedience is neither blind nor lame but a spiritual Sacrifice a rational Service The whole man in heart and life compleats this oblation of loyal observance It minds the precepts as much as the Promises and desires holiness as much as happiness It would act like Christ in acting for him 5. It s an humbling knowledge that puffs not up but laies the soul low The more any know of Christ aright the more still do they know of their sins The best of Christ being duly known makes them to know the worst of themselves Christs eye-salve doth so clear their eyes that they see easily those sinfull motes of lesser faults which by their moon-light of notional knowledge they could not discern Their beholding of Christ in their Gospel-glass with open face thus shews more of this shame and of his Glory Thus Job was more humbled by seeing of God in a clearer light Abraham acknowledges himself dust and ashes upon familiar Conference with Christ Their Affronts put on him in their time of darkness humble them soundly in this season of Light They learn daily as Socrates said to know their ignorance As Simonides the more they study the knowledge of God the more amazed are they with his glorious unsearchableness 6. It s a grateful knowledge that cannot endure sinful ingratitude They know thereby the worth of Mercy and the high price paid by Christs blood for every favour afforded to his The bounty of Christ so magnificently multiplied on them still renders them thankful Debtors mindful of their Bonds Their Insolvency they more throughly know which makes them the more beholding to him What others enjoy by common Providence they receive still by a Gracious Promise Ingratitude the sum of all evil they abominate as the Devil himself Their homage and rent do they bring to him whom they well know to be their chief Lord. Returns of Duty they labour to make in some proportion to their Receipts of Mercy 7. All other Graces do beautifie this attending on Christ in following his Train Patience and Prudence are found in their Rank Zeal and diligence will not be backward Meekness and sweetness will not be strangers Courage and Fortitude are ready at hand Sincerity and self-denial are inseparable companions thereof The Knowledge of Christ then is a choyce Jewel that is so well set and accompanied Nothing is wanting for knowledge or comfort so far as Christ is known or enjoyed Reason 6. The Effects of this gracious Knowledge do add very much to the price thereof It works effectually upon the whole man in every Relation towards God and man There is no condition nor occasion here wherein its Influence is not manifested It s a precious Root that bears much fruit solid substantial and still seasonable It renders a man fit for every good and is a Preserver from all kind of evil It makes a man still to look to Christ and to seek for him in every Ordinance The matter and means of Divine worship with the manner and solemn time thereof it spiritually minds In every Providence Christ is also acknowledged by such in every Duty towards their Neighbor As the first Table of Christs Divine Law is unto them the Standard of Worship so is the second Table of his Decalogue their constant Rule of officious Duty towards every man That order and safety setled by Gods Word for Beauty strength and use in this worldly Fabrick the knowledge of Christ teaches how to preserve with all possible care The chastity and propriety of body and goods as well as of souls it looks after The credit and content that concerns all men in their respective places is much furthered and duly preserved by this gracious Knowledge It s good physick to purge out ill humours for the curing of all distempers It affords choice food for old and for young for strong and for weak in all necessities What the Rabbies soy of the material manna is truly verified of this spiritual Meat that its relish suits every Palat and may satisfie every desire It s a Cordial against all faintings to revive the feeble in their Agonies Armour of Proof it furbishes for war against all enemies inward and outward It is the Key of Christs Magazin and of all his stores opening the Treasures of our All sufficient God our El Shaddai If you can conceive any thing of worth either in Heaven or earth This Knowledge of Christ will both match it and get it for you so far as may tend to your real good It s in a word the true Elixar and Philosophers Stone that turns all to Gold and puts a choice vertue into every thing towards felicity Vse This knowledge appears a singular Jewel upon good Reason good use thereof should be made also The best things are made for the best use and appear best therein As Christ himself is of infinite usefulness every kind of way so is his Grace participatively and communicatively This may be improved then 1. In a word of Information 1. See hence by way of Corollary the singular Method that should regulate every mans study Men are naturally desirous of Knowledge by an Instinct suited to their rational Being Mans soul was at first made after Gods Image in perfect Knowledge What sin lost and defaced in Adams Treason Grace only Restores The Knowledge of Christ affords a Tree of Life but most follow the Serpents advice stil in longing after another knowledge both of good and evil The sinful Issue of sinful Adam do stil love to
tread in his steps hearkening to Satan rather then to God They are still Learning to know good and evil by sad experience This Tree of Life is little observed and less improved mens palats are so far degenerated Most are still scrambling about that Tree for fruit which can yield nothing but sin and sorrow The best of its fruit like to Sodoms Apples look very fair but by the least touch turned into Ashes Most men break their necks in clammering about and climing of that Tree whose fruit brings death If that fruit seem hard it s but a shell if it appear soft it s through rottenness In every condition men study something but most mind least this choice Tree of Life Christ is Divine Wisdom Essentially and Personally In him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge He keeps open school and sends his Spirit to be his Usher He teaches within by motions of Conscience and without us in his Word and Providence The Volumes of his Truth and of all his works he gives us to read that the former may explain the latter He is the best Master for skil and sweetness Yet few do learn to any purpose because they slight the knowledge of him Men study pleasures profit honor in the world below which are to be had only from him Arts and Sciences others would attain but they miss their aim imâ—missing of him Some gaze at the stars and stumble in the dark like the blind Philosopher for want of Christs Light Many study words to tickle mens ears neglecting Christs Word that would teach the heart Some mind the Law of men so disorderly that they attend not to the Law of Christ The bodies of men are studied by many whilst their own poor souls are wholly neglected The care of souls is professed by some who yet little mind this saving knowledge Divers Parrot-like do speak of Christs knowledge not by experience but only by Roat Too many are found studying how to sin without trouble and sence without stop and Remorse Not a few tempt Satan to tempt them and study how to act a Satanical part of tempting of others Til Christ be the Rule of all our studies they will be fruitless being without Rule Till he be our End they will be sure still to prove endless Til he be the ground and the strength thereof they will prove groundless and supportless still If we learn him well he will teach us all that we need to know If we know him not we shall learn nothing that 's worth the knowing Knowledge is excellent when it s orderly learned and improved but it proves mischievous when it s once corrupted and abused Such men like Toads carry a stone of worth in their heads being full of poyson in their heart and Life Like monstrous Syrens they have a fair face but a shameful Tail The tinkling Cymbal and the sounding Brass is the fit Emblem of too many now The Lord teach us to study Christ stil in all above all that we may know all in him and for him Second Vse is for reprehension both to the Graceless and to Gracious souls 1. IT justly reproves the Graceless and unregenerate that still many wayes stand against this Truth as 1. All ignorant ones that do not know and will not learn Christ Such live in the dark as Moles under ground and Owls or Bats in the open ayr They are born blind and will continue so not looking for cure It was so of old and it s so stil my people parish for lack of knowledge was the Lords complaint A people of no understanding shall find no mercy from him that made them Consider it well Gross wilful ignorance will aggravate not lessen your sins Under Gospel-Light such Ignorance is very dreadful This is a sad condemnation indeed that seals up the full measure of all other sins Men think they see and therefore remain blind None are such fools as the conceited wise My people is foolish saith the Lord again they have not known me They are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge Men pretend business they have not leisure like the Duke of Alva who had so much to look after on earth that he had no time to look after Heaven But is not this egregious folly to slight the Jewel and mind only the cask If you have not so much time as others why do not you Redeem what you have should not you rather spare it from your sleep work or Recreation then from this Jewel so much concerning both Gods honour and mans good Is Christ so little worth knowing and owning Will not you rue it to eternity Is not sinful darkness the beginning of Hell and utter darkness Is it not the womb and Nurse of all sin If Papists be content with picture-Teachers and blind obedience slighting and slandering the Word of God should their folly be followed among us Is the Light of Christ so to be disowned If the servant that knows not his Masters will shall be beaten though with fewer stripes what will become of him that would not learn to understand his will 2. All negligent ones that will not take pains to attain unto this gracious knowledge Such may possibly enjoy special helps they may have pregnant parts profess fair and seem to desire good but they are sluggish they improve not all means and prove lazy in their enquiries after Christs wisdom This is a sad and common evil Many such shall seek to enter in and shall not be able He that asks lazily teaches denyal The lazy servant that hoarded up his Talent smarted sore for it None can be excused for such a neglect Is not Christ well worth the taking pains for Who looks for a conquest without trouble Who expects a crop without care cost Who can drive a Trade without pain and venture Is not this the best Trade and Husbandry the best warfare and surest Venture Who gets acquaintance with the Lords wisdom without crying waiting and searching Why art thou content with a Velleity and a woulding will without endeavour like the sluggards wish Why art thou pleased with barren desires and fruitless Resolves If thy seeming longing make thee not active and inquisitive impatient of delay and unsatisfied it s a false longing If thou be not better then the stony ground lasting but a while and soon blasted what will thy end be Dost thou not hereby reproach Christ sadly by preferring creatures before him Thou wilt Repent when it s too late if Ephesus warning do not rouz thee up Be convinced then of thy laziness be ashamed and weary of it It concerns thee to see thy folly and thy misery 3. This Truth looks wishly upon Formalists that have indeed a form of Godliness but deny the Power thereof
aright thou wouldst know thy self better and wouldst see thy new pretended Light to be but old darkness Thy pretence of Christs name will do thee little good whilst thou slightest his Word and Ways his Sabbath and Worship his Service and Saints Satan may cease troubling of thee and fill thee with false joyes but thy carnal Raptures will soon end in wo like the crackling of Thorns 2. The most gracious may find just cause from this very point to humble and judge themselves for the remaining of so much sin in them The most are totally guilty and the best in part of too much darkness and dulness selfishness and sinfulness against this precious Jewel That Christ is no better known unto thee after so much of his glorious discoveries what a shame is it that there is yet so little of Grace and so much of corruption in us should it not deeply humble us that we savour so much of self and so little of Christ Is it not matter of sad lamentation that Christ should be slighted and abused forgotten and forsaken in such a manner by his very Friends Is it not wofull The more precious Christ is unto us the more vile shall we be to our selves Saith not Christ to us as David his Type to his bosom friend that wretched Anitophel Is it not dreadfull to be abused by our nearest and dearest relations Hadst thou struck thy best friend in the dark on mistake how would it break thy heart 3. This Truth will afford a needfull Test for a due examination Hence may we trie our state personal and publique to frame a Prognostick of our hopes and fears In this ballance of the Sanctuary our case should be weighed Deceit is common and very dreadfull False Christs and false Prophets variously delude themselves and others too Bring then all to Gods Touch. 1. By the due review and application of all the former particulars do we know Christ thus in his person and office in his Progress and Purchase in his Relation and Influence Are we the subjects so wrought upon by him Are we thus acquainted with the cause and nature with the properties and effects of this gracious knowledge Are we not still in that unregenerate state of reigning Ignorance and neglect of formality and self justifying of profaness or notional delusions Is the spiritual Change yet wrought within us by the special hand of Christs renewing Spirit Our nature of it self is as bad as the worst Is it now savingly transformed in the Spirit of our mind How far is this change wrought in our selves and others mind it exactly by the standard of Truth 2. How this Change was wrought is as considerable What Method and Means did Gods Spirit use and in what manner did he prevail with us Were we effectually convinced by him of sin and Righteousness Were we made to see the worst of our selves that we might embrace the best of Christ Have we felt at the heart such a clear discovery of our emptiness and sinfulness of our Wretchedness and Unworthiness of our Insufficiency and nothingness as to be wholly weaned from self and carried out to him Have we duly observed the unability of all Creatures to afford us help Hath the sight and sense of our wofull state so opposite to God made Christ truly precious to our souls Are we more troubled at the pollution then at the punishment of sin Doth it grieve us to the very soul that we have grieved such a dear Saviour Have we beheld our state in the Glass of his Law and of his Gospel to make us sensible efficaciously both of our Malady and of his Remedy Hath he made his Word so to work on us as to break our hearts and melt them kindly Have we found that hammer and fire of his killing our sins and quickning our souls Hath he made us thereby cheerfully willing to give up all to him and prefer him above all Hath he blessed the means so effectually as to make us feel him in and through them all Hath he made every sin more bitter to our Taste then ever we found any sweetness therein Hath he knockâ—d us off from all other props that we might rest upon him alone 3. Consider also how this Change works now to clear this Inquiry with impartiality Doth his holy Spirit operate on us by this gracious knowledge as the Soul doth upon the Body through its variety of intermediate Spirits Observe it we may in the resemblance of that three-fold Life which mans soule doth communicate to its proper subject A vegetative a sensitive a rational Life is afforded thereby Doth Christ do so to us spiritually 1. A Vegetative Life is for Nutrition Augmentation and Propagation 1. FOR Nutrition whereto serve the several faculties attractive and retentive concoctive and expulsive Doth this knowledge of Christ act thus within us 1. Do we draw and attract spiritual nourishment to the supply of our renewed wants Do we suck his breasts as new born babs and desire that food that may sustain us to eternal Life Is it done in season and order in quantity and quality meet 2. Do we retain and keep the same with all diligence lest at any time we should let it slip Is it laid up in our hearts and industriously kept that it may keep us 3. Do we concoct and digest it well by spiritual fervour to be distributed unto every part Do we shun and abhor Crudities Cloyings and Oppressions that might hinder it 4. Do we expel all sinfull Excrements that continually do breed within us Do we loath detest and cast out duly all filthiness of flesh and Spirit and all superfluity of naughtiness from every part of us 2. For Augmentation Is our spiritual Life like the natural still upon increase spreading it self into every part that our growth may be proportional universal and perpetual Doth this knowledge dilate all faculties in Mind and Judgement Reason and Conscience Will and Affections 3. For Propagation Doth our spiritual Life as the natural labor still to beget in us and produce in others more fruits of the Spirit more issues of Grace to perpetuate this divine off-spring Is nothing more active and communicative Doth it diffuse its species round about as being the Issue and Image of him who is the chief and most communicative good 2. A sensitive Life is for Sense Motion and Appetite so it our spiritual Life Doth Christ do so to us spiritually 1. Doth he give us Sense external and internal as in Nature so in Grace 1. External Sense is five-fold by Sight and Hearing Smelling Taste and Touch. 1. DO we spiritually discern and delight in the Beauty of Christs divine holiness in all his perfections in all his Ordinances and in every Providence Do we thereby see all other things and reflect on
By his Spirit he draws home his Elect from among the rest to a conjugal acquaintance with himself This gracious knowledge is to be improved for a singular Antidote against sinfull Errors It hath appeared to be so in all ages and will still be so upon solid grounds which divine Reason suggests to us Reason 1. Because it removes and prevents the causes thereof External and Internal The cause removed the Effect will cease 1. THE External Causes called evident among Physicians are all such as from without endanger men as ill Company Disorders Infection Wounds c. from Sin and Satan thus spiritually many external causes do still assault us which the knowledge of Christ prevents and removes A well grown Christian hath his senses exercised to discern aright between good and evil The spiritual man judges of all things comparing of them spiritually He is not easily caught into the snare but wisely foresees it and escapes He believes not every Spirit but tries them all by the Lords Touch-stone He is forewarned and forearmed still against Infectious Temptations of all sorts 2. Internal Causes are either Antecedent and remote or continent and proxime which are bred within by congestion and defluxion of several ill humors putrifying gradually and variously to the distempering of the several parts and of the whole also Thus sinfull Corruption doth spiritually disorder mens souls Spiritual Growth affords Christs own help to the purging out of such ill Humors Vapors and Spirits It kils the worms takes away stoppages cleanses the parts by all convenient helps internal and external It purges the whole and then the parts in a due Method using revulsions and derivations with all sort of evacuations So far as Grace is grown up within by the knowledge of Christ so far is corruption purged out gradually He that knows him purifies himself even as he is pure Christs own Physick dispenced daily in his Word and Providence is through his Spirit improved that way He that is born of God doth not so sin as he did before neither can he so sin either totally or finally because the seed of God abides in him As he finds corruption breeding afresh within it s his desire and design his delight and labor to crush the Cockatrice in the shell and suppress the first beginnings He hath a tender heart sensible of the first stirs of the least vain thoughts and keeps himself that the evâ—l one touch him not as before Reason 2. Because it corroborates and fortifies the noble parts and thereby all the rest against all internal Corruptions and outward Temptations Thus health and strength are procured and improved against the malignity of all spiritual distempers Corroboration is a singular help as in the bodies so in the Souls of men against all diseases Ill Humors do leave in the parts affected an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Discomposure which enfeebles it and by a ferment and a sickly Spawn makes it prone to new disorders Error and Sin work in the like manner upon mens souls striking chiefly at the Vitals and Chief The knowledge of Christ duly improved doth orderly eradicate and extirpate it by Communication of his divine strength to vivification of every Grace and Mortification of the old man in all its Members The more a soul lives in him and by him the more of his renewed Supports and supplies come in which compose the Christian into spiritual health rectifying every part All the faculties are secured and fortified thereby against Relapses and struglings of sin Such can do all things through Christ strengthning them The sense of their own insufficiency drives them still to his Al-sufficiency that his Grace may be sufficient for them and his Vertue perfected in weakness Reason 3. Because it derives still a specifick Vertue out of Christ himself whose Soveraign Property mingled with all due means of his appointing affords still a sure Preservative Physicians observe the specifick Vertue of natural Medicines simple and compound which renders the whole effectual towards bodily cures Such a signally peculiar force is found in the Lords choice Antidote dispensed to his Patients The knowledge of Christ duly improved fetches out of him that wonderfull Grace which he mingles with all the Medicines appointed for their good His Blood is that Aurum potabile and Panpharmacum that Catholicon and Elixer of Life which sanctifies all things effectually to his Peoples good The more any soul grows up into acquaintance with him the more use is made of that Soveraign Balm of Gilead flowing from the Physicians very heart The Pelican is said to cure his little ones with his own blood Christ to be sure makes this good to his His Grace is the Basis of every Dose of every Topick of every means appointed by him The strongest poison is quelled thereby the stoutest humors are subdued the sorest obstructions are removed and the worst Maladies cured by the same He healed all manner of diseases and sicknesses among the people in their bodies and souls in his progress on earth and he doth so still by his Spirit from heaven His Word and Ordinances are the proper means used by him for application thereof He employes his servants of the Magistracy and Ministry to observe his will in the right use thereof by all fit helps Spiritual and Civil His Providence points out the case to be dealt with all spiritual skil Our Antidote improved affords every Christian to manage all aright His special Blessing he affords in all according to Promise The Reason is good make good use of it Vse 1. Corollar 1. Hence may we view the Ground and Cure of our spiritual Distempers in all Relations 1. THE Ground is much from want of spiritual Growth in the best as from want of Life in most Were Christ known to better purpose both Church and State would not be so sickly But the most are ignorant of him and the best much too blame Thence so many diseases and sores in all Relations and Societies Every Person every Family finds cause to complain because the Lord Christ is so much slighted No wonder if the sickness increase and the venom spreads when such a Physician with his Antidote are so basely used Wise men easily see whence this evil comes and is aggravated Gross wilfull unbelief is the forest disease that aggravates the case making it desperate This was the case of Gods people of old in the wilderness and Canaan again and again They slighted Christ and his Messengers till they were grown beyond all Remedy It may give us warning 2. The Cure and Method of Relief is hence observable the Lord hath not left us yet remediless There is Balm in Gilead and a Physician there with Soveraign Vertue to cure
cruel and painful torment They might as well deny the Sun-light at noon-day who deny this Truth To turn plain Scripture into Allegories is to turn substance into a shadow It cost Origen a self-mutilation for mutilating divine writings thus He was called Centaur for monstrous Opinions flowing from Allegorical strainings of Scripture Christs Manhood should be so precious to us as not to endure affronts put on it Therein God and man do most sweetly meet which will help weak faith in every time of need 3 Against both the parts of his humane nature his soul and Body many also fight Apollinarius denying him a human soul as if the Godhead had supplied the want thereof Eutyches destroyed both by his pretended swallowing of them up into the Divine Nature The Manichees and Valentinians allowed him but an aery phantastical Body running through the womb of Mary as through a Pipe Mahometans fain it to have passed through Maries Paps and by the smell of a Rose Divers Novelists are daily broaching strange conceits about it The Vbiquitarians give him a monstrous Body immense and filling all places the Papists as monstrously would have his Body to be distinctly in many places at once to be without quantity without extension without sensible accidents to be made a new daily at the Priests will to be broken and not broken by himself and by all their Priests c. Many such contradictions against Scripture and sence Reason and all Sciences they are forced to for their fictitious Transubstantiation sake All such Malignant vapours which infest many will be effectually dispelled by the right use of your spiritual confection Christ was and abides ever a perfect man consisting of Soul and Body both subsisting in his divine Person being united to the divine Nature therein It will shew you that his soul was sorrowful to death and was made sensible of all humane affections though without sin as clear Chrystal water moved without any mud It will teach you that his Body had flesh and bones after his Resurrection as before which a spirit hath not That the same Body did visibly ascend into Heaven before the Disciples eyes and shal return thence in the same manner That the Heavens must hold him till the Restauration of all things That the glorifying of his Body hath not could not have annihilated it or changed the substance though it hath bettered the qualities thereof It will help you to know the flesh of Christ spiritually though you learn to know him no more after the slesh carnally It will teach you that his bare flesh and the fleshly sence thereof profits nothing a Capernaitish soul being destitute of his Spirit but that it s his Spirit that quickens us giving Life to his flesh and to his Word that both may be Spirit and Life to us in a spiritual and lively improvement Christs manhood is that precious Golden Ring that sets forth the Jewel of his Godhead to us It s a curious Vail of his contriving that his glorious face may through it be beheld It s a Chrystal Glass of the Lords framing to reflect thereby his Image upon us Out of Christ God is a consuming fire but thereby he becomes a Reconciled Father If Christ were not man still there were no hopes for man if we know him not thus we know him not at all It s not a figment of our own divising but the man Christ Jesus that must be our Saviour He cannot be ours unless wholly ours 4. Against his Person appear Nestorius dividing it into two Persons Sabellius Arius all Antitrinarians denying his distinctly eternal Personality from the Father The Socinians and Notionists that fancy the distiction of persons in God to be but nominal according to various dispensations witness Hob's Leviathan among many other poisonous books so commonly scattered abroad TO queneh the force of these pernicious Errors your Counter poison will season your soul with the scriptural description of Emmanuel our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God with us It will prove him to be God-man having both Natures divine and humane subsisting in his person the Son of God the second Person of the divine Trinity by Hypostatical Union it will clear him to be the Brightness of his glorious Father and the express Image of his Person being that one Mediator between God and Man and therefore God-man that he might conquer by suffering and make his suffering infinite for vertue and value for satisfaction and acquisition It will shew you that there are three in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and that those three are one That this Mystery is not against Reason though above it in its common shallow apprehension that the Son sends the Spirit Comforter from the Father and is therefore distinct from them both yet that he and the Father are one in Essence though distinct in person That Gods Reason is the Rule of ours being revealed to us in his divine monuments that we may assent to his Assertion though we cannot fathom the Explicitness thereof no more then Bruits can fathom our rational expressions That the Person of Christ coming out of the water must needs be distinct from that Person of the Spirit who came in the likeness of a Dove lighting on him at his Baptism and from the person of the Father whose voice from Heaven said This is my Beloved Son hear him Thus the Grace and Knowledge of Christ will teach you that he who thought it no Robbery to be equal wtth God being in the form of God substantially made himself of no Reputation that as God-man he might restore man to God in the gloryfiing of all divine Attributes Our Faith is not true if we do not own the true God truly as he holds forth himself in three distinct persons Those divine persons are not meer modes or manners of Attribution or Manifestation but real subsistences The Father is not the Son the Son is not the Spirit personally though they be one God essentially The person of the Son alone was incarnate not that of the Father he could not be Son not that of the Spirit there had been two Sons then The Word became flesh not the Father nor Spirit Divers Emblems are used to set forth this glorious Mysterie but Scripture-Language describes it best to a sober faith The Word Person is a Scripture Word very proper and significant They that deny this right use thereof make way for further denyal of Truth The Person of Christ is then to be owned by all that intend to be owned of him 5. Against Christs Spirit stirs first Macedonius denying him to be a divine Person distinct from the Father and Son Secondly All Antitrinitarians who oppose the distinction of divine Persons Thirdly The Greeke who deny the Procession of the Spirit from the Father through the Son Fourthly The several Blasphemers that vaunted
force of the Comand but ratifies it He only could do it that is the Lord thereof There is no change made in the quamdiu and continuance nor in the quoties and frequency of the same The whole Precept being moral in part naturally in part positively is perpetual therefore and not to be altered by any Creature That some special time should be observed for Gods solemn worship is moral natural That it should be such a proportion in such a Revolution is moral positive That the duty should be moved from the seventh to the first day of the week makes no substantial change therein but only directs to the season thereof upon pregnant ground Paul clears this by a large demonstration The first day Sabbath was eminently typified in the most notable Providences of the old Testament On the first day Light was created Noahs Ark rested Circumcision was first ordained Israel was redeemed from Aegyptian Bondage on the same day Christs Law was first given by himself to Israel on mount Sinai the cloud of his special presence first rested on them the Tabernacle with his pertinances was rear'd Aaron and his Children first executed their Priesthood On that day his fire from Heaven first came down to consume the Sacrifices to make them acceptable in Christ by his Spirit The Israelites were first solemly by the Lord himself blessed their Princes first publiquely offered to the Lord. So for the new Testament Christ thereon first shewed his Miracles in Cana he first rose and appeared to his Disciples the Saints that slept then rose out of their Graves the holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles solemnly met and thereon still they met for divine worship When the Jewish Sabbath ended by reason of its Typicalness expiring with Christs death then began the first day to be the Christian Sabbath Christ sanctifying it to that end by his resurrection honouring it in a special manner which is the ground given by God himself for the keeping of a Sabbath So carefull were Christ and Christians of it that he bids them pray that their flight be not in the winter nor on the Sabbath lest it should distract their bodies and souls Prophaning of the Sabbath hath ever been threatned and punished signally as the due observance of it hath been choicely encouraged and rewarded in all Superiors and Inferiors It s the Lords court-day wherein he expects due Homage and Rents from all his Tenants It s his Muster-day for all his Christian Souldiers It s his solemn Feast-day to welcome all his friends It s his weekly Market for the getting in of all heavenly provisions It s his Chancery-day for the sealing and grant of his deeds of Favour What enemies are they to his honor and mans good who slight and abuse that Heaven upon earth It s the beginning of an eternal Sabbath All Cavils against it have been fully dispelled by many choice pieces When Paul condemns the distinction of days his meaning is cleared by the Context to speak of Jewish Ceremonials not of Christian Morals The neglect and abuse of the Christian Sabbath hath been observed formerly and lately to be still the Inlet to all other errors Englands prosperity began in Queen Elizabeths time when the Sabbath began to be duly maintained by Authority The troubles of England began afterwards when the Sabbath was publiquely by Authority profaned and by the same party * The famous Kings and Witagen Mots among the Saxons still renew'd strict Laws for due observance of the Christian Sabbath 15. The Law of Christ is variously abused 1. By the the foresaid Errors 2. By Antinomians denying the Obligation of a Christian to the moral Law 3. By Papists in mangling of it and dispencing therewith at pleasure many ways 4. By Quakers and other Innovators joining too much with Papists 5. By Socinians that rest thereon teaching people the like and so making it their satisfaction to justice and their Salvation AGainst such evils Scripture-knowledge of Christ will help us to see the need and use of that Law of Christ As he printed it on mans heart at first so doth he by his Grace renew it there gradually He published it himself from Mount Sina to his people adding the Ceremonials and Judicials afterwards as fit accommodations of that moral Law suited to the Jewish Church and State The Decalogue then is the sum of that Law which obliges all men without exception The sevetal Explications and Applications thereof we find through the Old and New Testament Christ ratified the same from Mount Zion also in taking away the Pharisaical Rubbish which their false Glosses had cast about it The Apostles further clear and confirm it in their several Epistles and Writings Where the Scripture seems to speak against the Law the sense is cleared by viewing the Context 1. They speak against the justifying Power of the Law through mans weakness since the fall none being able to keep it without fault or to make amends for his breach thereof Thus by the Law can none be justified and the regenerate are not under it to get pardon and salvation by a Law of works The Pharisees thus pressed and owned it and were confuted by Christ and his Apostles Thus also do they sin that do rest upon any Gospel-duty making it to themselves thereby a Law of Works Secondly They speak against the condemning effect of the Law which the regenerate are freed from by Christs Righteousness imputed to them They are not under the curse of it having their sins pardoned by Christs satisfaction made theirs actually through faith in his blood though their sin deserves the Curse yet that reatus and guilt doth not redound upon their persons being taken off by Christ Thirdly They speak often of the ceremonial Law as not obliging any Christian since Christ though it was used indifferently for a while to bear with tender Converts then unsatisfied about the abrogation thereof Fourthly They still own the royal Law of Liberty that moral Law which is the Transcript of Gods holy Will for the Rule of mans Duty in conformity to Gods Image It s called therefore the Law of Christ the perfect Law and the Law of Truth which men do well when they observe and ill so far as they neglect it God indeed writes his Law on his peoples heart but gradually and variously that is to them an internal Principle of Obedience which is still attended by the Law of their Members in opposition thereto This Principle moves them still to observe that Law which God hath given to be their standing Rule perfect and unchangeable Men are as far from his Grace as they are from observing his Law God never leaves his Children without Rule He
prophecy in Sackcloth the woman is fed in the wilderness Yet did not Christ forget his Interest but in the worst time maintained his Ministry Brittain Ireland Germany and France shew large Catalogues of undoubted Truth to verifie it Waldus and Wicklef John Hus and Jerom with many thousands testified the same The Reformation by Luther and Calvin was but a more solemn carrying on of the Work We have antiquities of approved credit shewing Successions of faithful Ministers from the Apostles time all along to this day as in other parts so in these Nations The Scriptures are not the worse nor the Ministry for passing through the hand of Romish Antichrist Gold loses not its worth for touching a leprous hand nor Gods Temple by the sitting of the man of sin when their pollutions are but once removed If any defilment be proved to attend our Ministry we are ready to yield and remove the same When the Wen is cut off and the body cured health being restored is to be improved If any will stil lord it over Brethren we shall disclame such usurpations Christs Ministry is to feed and teach to rule and to cure Ministerially Our weapons and work are spiritual not Political nor Monarchical As Nurses appointed for the Childrens good it s our desire to attend Christs house An orderly Call unto this office as he doth appoint so will he still bless How shall men believe if not preached to How shall men preach right if they be not sent Internal gifts are very needfull yet not sufficient to make out this Call No man self-called is owned by God no more then Corah and Jeroboams Priests A Souldier though able without Commission shall never be owned for an Officer A person of Parts without Authority cannot act the part of Justice or Judge Every Christian is to improve Gifts but within his place and fit relation Gods word doth appoint an orderly way of Calling persons into the Ministry They must be well proved and approved of then chosen and ordained to a proper charge He that hears and receives persons so called in the name of Christ hears and receives Jesus Christ himself by his own witness He that abuses and rejects such abuses and rejects the Lord Christ thereby If any be bad let them be questioned and reap their deserts We pretend to no Infallibility but would be tried still in Doctrine and Life by the word of Truth Christs work its we are sent about the devil would marr it by slandering tongues False Christs false Prophets are now very rife Sick brains are heaping Teachers to themselves to please itching ears They that thus run before they are sent shall not profit but deceive the people The chief rage of Foxes and Wolves disguised will stil be bent against the Shepherds Jeroboams Priests with his Golden Calves brought in division deceit and ruin If the Lords Mercy do not prevent it our sin and sorrow will be too like theirs The Cavils pleaded against this clear Truth have been fully dissolved again and again It was Julians attempt to starve the Ministry and Schools as the sure way to ruin Christianity The like design is revived of late to the same end The Laws of Nature and of Nations as well as Gods positive Laws are brought in by Paul to prove the just Rights of Ministers maintenance The Corinthiane are blamed for putting him to shift and work with his hands He commends them highly that had been free towards his relief 25. Christ suffers also in his Providence as by the former Errors So first By Atheists Stoicks Epicures that ascribe events to fortune fate or chance Secondly By Divers Jesuits and Arminians charging his purpose and execution with Contingency and Dependency Thirdly By Star-gazers and Astrologers who pretend to divine of humane Events by their judicial Prognostications AGainst this Malady the gracious Knowledge of Christ improved will give us still a Soveraing Remedy It shews by Scripture Light that the hand of Christ who first made the world doth uphold it still with Rule and Order by the word of his power His eternal purpose he still executes in doing of good and over-ruling evil What evil of sorrow that the Lord sends not What evil of sin that he limits not What good temporal or spiritual that comes not still from his Providence His Rule is so sweet and so soveraign that all fulfill his Will in fulfilling theirs what ever opposes his revealed Will is still over-ruled by his secret Will The Will of his purpose men do then fulfill when they disobey the Will of his precept The Instance of Joseph and Jesus suffice to demonstrate Christs Soveraign Rule Things most contingent as to men and means do yet come to pass by a necessary and sure providence The very Sparrows fall not to the earth nor the hairs of man without Gods special hand Astrologers sin is so much condemned by Scripture Reason and Experience that they should not proceed any further seeing their folly is made so manifest Some use we grant of Astronomy if modestly handled natural Astrology may hint at some things though very uncertainly But that judicial Astrology which pretends to foretel the success of affairs acted among men is an Errand cheat and dreadfull Imposture such an Art descends from old Magicians that learned of Satan among the Nations Caldeans and Diviners with all South-sayers are noted in Scripture with Aegypts Magicians Indian Gymnosophists Brachmans and Pawawes the Druids of Gaul the Bards of Brittain the Dervis's of Turkie are of the like school The rules of this Art are certainly known to be most absurd vain and uncertain Mirandula and Perkins who searched into their depths discovered fully their juggling Impostures as their Writings testifie Some profound Scholars who had curiously pryed into their secrets came off with remorse and abhorrings thereof This Profession hath been in all ages justly detested by the wise and good Such Affinity it hath had still with Satanical Oracles that its unsufferable in a Christian State There is vertue indeed in heavenly bodies But who can find out the same distinctly An Apollonius Faustus or Hildebrand may pretend somewhat from Satans teaching in this black study But shall Christians go to the devils school to learn Christs mind Starry Constellations have their Influence on sublunary bodies but they cannot reach the souls and Acts of men How far they may affect this earth none can know but that our Reason and humane Events are beyond their reach is easily known The Constellations of Christs Providence compared with his word are the proper Rules of our Prognosticks personal and publique Thence should Christians cast a divine figure to find out a true scheme of their State and Acts. Learn we to calculate our spiritual birth and observe the positure of souls under Chris thence all conjunctions and