the strength of my heart and my portion for ever these two conclusions may be raised 1. There is no person or thing in heaven or earth short of God in Christ to be looked upon and desired as our utmost good 2. The fruition of God in Christ is able to make and to continue a man happy even in the midst of utmost extremity The former I have treated of in the foregoing exercitations intending to handle the latter in this That I account an utmost extremity as to kinde though as to degrees it may be either more intense or more remiss when there is a complication of sufferings both in body and minde at once Such was the Psalmists case here It is not flesh alone or heart alone but my flesh and my heart in conjunction both failed him at one and the same time Such is the sympathy of soul and body that when it fares ill with one the other commonly is disturbed If the soul be in an agony the body languisheth Satans buffeting Paul with blasphemous thoughts as some conceive proved a thorn to his flesh On the other 2 Cor. 12. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 side if the outward man be tormented the inward is wont to be dismaied even to failing of heart The Stoicks indeed those magnificent boasters talk of an Apathie and Plutarch tells us that Agesilaus when he lay sick of the gout and Carneades who came to visit him observing what pains he conflicted with was about to leave him as one not in case to be spoken to bad him stay and pointing at once to his own feet and to his heart said Nothing Mane Carneades Nihil enim illine huc pervenit comes from thence hither as if his minde were no whit disquieted for all the sufferings of his flesh But far better men then any of them have born witness to the contrary Our flesh had no 2 Cor. 7. 5. rest but we were troubled on every side without were fightings within were fears So Paul David in one of his Psalms thus O Lord heal me for my bones are Psal 6. 2 3. vexed my soul also is sore vexed In another thus There is no soundness in my Psal 38. 7 8. flesh I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart § 2. But as when Peter walking upon the waves and perceiving how boisterous the winds were began to sink Jesus immediately stretched forth his hand and caught him So when the Psalmists flesh and heart failed God even then was the strength of his heart according to the Original The rock of it Rocks are not more fortifying to Cities and Castles built upon them then God is to his peoples hearts A sincere beleevers soul is therefore assimilated by our Saviour to an House Matth. 7. 25. founded upon a rock which was every way assaulted in the roof by rain descending upon that in the foundation by flouds washing upon it in the walls by winds blustering against them and yet stood because it was strong was strong because founded on a rock Such a rock is our God and that even in such a case as hath been described § 3. Hezechiah whom God had Isa 38. 1. chosen to life was sick unto death Lazarus whom Jesus loved sickned John 11. 3. and died Timothy had his often infirmities 1 Tim. 5. 23. The Psalmists flesh failed him or to speak in Pauls phrase his outward man perished yet God mean-while 2 Cor. 4. 16. was the rock and strength of his sick servants heart First by preserving therein an expectation of such fruit as saints use to reap from such tryals Fruit which relates partly to sin and partly to grace To sin by way of cure Diseases when sanctified drain the inward as well as the outward man and help to spend out the bad humours of both Sickness saith Isidore woundeth the flesh but healeth Adversa corporis remedia sunt animae Aegritudo carnem vulnerat mertun curat Isidor l b 3. de Summ. bono the minde is the bodies malady but the souls medicine For instance weakness kills the itch of worldliness Let pleasure open all her shops and present a sick man with her choicest rarities Let Mammon bring forth all his bags and gingle them in his ears produce all his Crowns Sceptres Mitres and lay them at his feet how ready will he be to cry out Away with them Behold I am at the point to die as Esau once reasoned and what Gen. 25. 32. can these vanities profit me The like may be said of self-confidence and pride which are also frequently antidoted by diseases A speciall end as Elihu tells Job which God aims at in his chastening with pain is to hide Job 33 17. pride from man that is to remove it as what we hide is removed out of sight A Christian Emperour one of the Ferdinands Ab. Scultetus Idea Concion in Isaiae cap. 9. pag. 1. 7 In agone Invistissimi titulum agnosâ—eâ—e noâ—bat c. when his Chaplain Matthias Cittardus came to visit him as he lay upon his death-bed and according to the mode of the Court styled him most Invincible Emperour finding himself overcome with sickness would not admit of that compellation but charged him not to use it more whereupon the Chaplain made his next address on this wise Go to dear brother Ferdinand endure hardship as a good souldier of Jesus Christ § 4. Next to Grace in point of growth The rise of grace is sometimes occasioned by a sore disease Beza tells Morbus isle verae sanitatis principium c. Epist praefix Confessioni us of himself that God was pleased to lay the foundation of his spiritual health in a violent sickness which befell him at Paris The growth of grace is always promoted when God makes use of this means It is not more usual with children to shoot up in length then with Christians to wax taller in grace in or after a sickness See it exemplified in the famous Protestant Divines Olevian said upon his death-bed In this disease I have learned to know Mel. Adam in vitis Germ. Theol. p 601. aright what sin and what the majesty of God is Rollock upon his I am not ashamed Idem in vitis Exterorum pag. 189. to profess that I never reached to so high a pitch in the knowledge of God as I have attained in this sickness Rivet upon his Danberi Orat. funeb in excessum Andreae Riveti pag. 90. In the space of ten days since I kept my bed I have learned more and made greater progress in Divinity then in the whole course of my life before § 5. Secondly by infusing and exciting a principle of Christian patience which is therefore able to support and strengthen the heart when Philosophical Stoical patience cannot do it because it self is strengthened from such divine Topicks as Philosophy knows but little if any thing
expressions setting out the pardon thereof Gods goodness therein Faith and repentance the way to it Pardon in the Court of Heaven and of Conscience The equity and necessity of forgiving one another We are to forgive as God for Christs sake forgiveth us viz. heartily speedily frequently throughly A twofold remembrance of injuries in cautelam in vindictam EXERCITATION 5. Pag. 223. The latter clauses of Exod. 34. 7. so translated and expounded as to contain an eight branch of divine goodness viz. Clemency in correcting Equity in visiting iniquities of the fathers upon the children Clemency in stopping at the third and fourth generation A lesson for magistrates A speech of our Queen Elizabeth Gods proclamation in Exodus 34. Improved by Moses in Numbers 14. EXERCITATION 6. Pag. 234. Job 11. 7 8 9. expounded of divine Greatness Three reasons of that Exposition with the resolution of a question about it The height of Gods universal unaccountable omnipotent Sovereignty proved and improved EXERCITATION 7. Pag. 253. The depth of Divine Omniscience seen in discerning the deep things of man yea of Satan yea of God Our Nescience discovered and acknowledged The longitude of Gods perfection stated Eternity proper to him Not assumed by or ascribed to men without blasphemy EXERCITATION 8. Pag. 263. Divine Immensity shadowed out by the breadth of the Sea Divine Omnipresence cleared and vindicated The proposal hereof as an antidote against sinning in secret Five practical Corollaries from the greatness of God in general APHORISME V. Pag. 277. The Goodness and Greatness of God are both abundantly manifested by his decrees of Election and Preterition together with his works of Creation and Providence EXERCITATION 1. Pag. 277. How predestination cometh to be treated of here Election described from the Nature Antiquity Objects Products and Cause of it Rom. 11. 33. 2 Tim. 1. 9. with Tit. 1. 2. Ephes 1. 4. with Matth. 25. 34. opened Of Acts supposing their objects Of acception of persons what it is and that Predestination doth not import it Acts 13. 48. Expounded and vindicated Whether one Elect may become a reprobate The negative maintained and 1 Cor 9. 24 25 26. cleared Ephes 5. and 11. enlightned Concerning the good pleasure of Gods will and the counsel thereof EXERCITATION 2. Pag. 310. Preterition described The term defended Ephes 1. 4. compared with Revel 17. 8. Ephes 1. 9. and Rom. 9. 13. expounded God not bound to any creature except by promise The parable in Matth. 20. urged The three consequents of negative reprobation Dr Davenants Animadversions against Mr Hoards book recommended The goodness of God manifested in Election as in a most free peculiar ancient leading and standing favour EXERCITATION 3. Pag. 327. An Introduction to Romans 9. Most part of that chapter expounded together with sundry passages in chapter 10 and 11. for proof of these two conclusions 1. That Paul in Rom. 9. doth upon occasion propound and prosecute the doctrine of Predestination 2. That he derives the Decree of preterition from the Sovereign greatness of God A Consectary shewing how usefull the said doctrine is to sober mindes EXERCITATION 4. Pag. 359. Creation what Pythagoras and Trismegist Hebr. 6. 3. opened Scripture-Philosophy Ex nihilo nihil fit how true Creature what Gods goodness in works of creation particularly in the framing of Adam The consultation upon which pattern after which parts of which he framed Two histories one of a Priest the other of a Monk The original of body and soul improved EXERCITATION 5. Pag. 381. The same and other attributes of God declared from his providential dispensations the interchangeableness whereof largely discoursed of and applied from Ecclesiastes 7. 14. A gloss upon Isaiah chap. 10. 11. Chearfulness a duty in six respects Crosses how to be considered APHORISME VI. Pag. 400. Providence extends it self not onely to all created beings and to all humane affairs especially those that concern the Church but even to the sins of Angels and men EXERCITATION 1. Pag. 400. Introduction concerning the contents of this Aphorisme Providence over all created beings Preservation of men to be ascribed to God himself not to good men yea not to good Angels in whom heart-searching and patience wanting Providence reaching to humane affairs Oeconomical Civil Military Moral and Ecclesiastical Anastasius his design frustrate Rome and our nation instanced in J. G. castigated EXERCITATION 2. Pag. 415. Deuteron 11. 12. opened Gods care over the Church proved from the provision he makes for inferiour creatures From Israels conduct From the experiments and acknowledgements of Saints in all ages Experiments of the virgin Mary Rochellers Musculus acknowledgements of Jacob David Psalmist Austin and Ursin From Gods causing things and acts of all sorts to cooperate unto the good of the Saints Isaiah 27. 2 3. explained The Church preserved from in and by dangers EXERCITATION 3. Pag. 438. Hard-heartedness made up of unteachableness in the understanding untractableness in the will unfaithfulness in the memory unsensibleness in the conscience and unmoveableness in the affections Metaphors to express it from the parts of mans body stones and mettals A soft heart Mischief searedness and virulency attendants of hardness Gods concurring thereunto by way of privation negation permission presentation Tradition to Satan Delivering up to lusts and infliction EXERCITATION 4. Pag. 463. Objections against and Corollaries from the foregoing propositions The least things provided for Luthers admonition to Melancthon Maximilians address Plinies unbelief The Psalmists stumble at the prosperity of the wicked His recovery by considering it was not full was not to be final The superintendency of Providence over military and civil affairs in particular The Churches afflictions Promises cautioned Duty of casting care upon God He no authour of sin The attestation of this State and of this writer A CHAIN OF THEOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES Or An orderly concatenation of Aphorismes and Exercitations Wherein The chief heads of Christian Religion are asserted and improved APHORISME I. Mans blessedness consisteth not in a confluence of wordly accommodations which are all vanity of vanities but in the fruition of God in Christ who onely is the strength of our hearts our portion for ever EXERCITATION 1. Aph 1. Psal 144. end opened Blessedness what Solomons scope in Ecclesiastes Why he stiles himself Coheleth His testimony concerning the creatures Their threefold transcendent vanity Intellectual accomplishments brought under the same censure by reason of the folly enmity anxiety and insufficiency that attend them An apostrophe to the world § 1. THis is a case which hath long since been determined by the Prophet David who in Psalm the hundred fourty fourth after he had twice charged those whom he calls strange children with a mouth speaking vanity once in the eighth and again in the eleventh verse goeth on to record as good Interpreters ancient and modern do conceive Augustin Genebrard Ainsworth Jo. Baptist Folengius in Psal 144. the substance of their vain talk in a way of boasting about
in the mines of learning Sharp wits like sharp knives do often cut their owners fingers The deep reach of a prudent man makes him aggravate such evils as are already come upon him by considering every circumstance so as to accent every sad consideration and anticipate such as are yet to come by galloping in his thoughts to meet them Had not Achitophel been so wise as to foresee his inevitable ruine in the remote causes of it when Hushai's counsel was embraced he would never have made so much hast as he did to hang himself § 11. Lastly Insufficiency to render men either holy or happy For when the worldly-wise have dived into the bottome of Natures sea they are able to bring up from thence in stead of these pearls of price nothing but hands full of shels and gravell Knowledge indeed and good parts managed by grace are like the rod in Moses his hand wonder-workers but turn to serpents when they are cast upon the ground and employed in promoting earthly designes Learning in religious hearts like that gold in the Israelites ear-rings is a most pretious ornament But if men pervert it to base wicked ends or begin to make an idol of it as they did a golden calf of their ear-rings it then becomes an abomination Doubtles these later times wherein so many knowing men are of a filthy conversation and have joyned feet of clay to their heads of gold would have afforded good store of additional observations to him that wrote the famous book concerning the vanity of Sciences which appeareth Corn. Agrippa in nothing more then their inability to produce sutable deportment in such as enjoy them without which there can be no solid foundation laid for true happiness § 12. Wherefore bething thy self at length O deluded world and write over all thy school-doors Let not the Jerem. 9. 23. wise man glory in his wisdome Over all thy court-gates Let not the mighty man glory in his might Over all thy Exchanges and Banks Let not the rich man glory in his riches Write upon thy looking-glasses that of Bathsheba Favour is Prov. 30. 31. deceitfull and beauty is vain Upon thy Mewes and Artillery-yards that of the Psalmist God delighteth not in the strength Psal 147. 10. of an horse he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man Upon thy Taverns Innes and Alehouses that of Solomon Wine is a mocker strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise Upon Prov. 20. 1. thy Magazines and Wardrobes that of our Saviour Lay not up for your selves Matth. 6. 19. treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt where theeves break through and steal Write upon thy Counting-houses that of Habakkuk Wo to him Habak 2. 6. that increaseth that which is not his how long and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay Thy Play-houses that of Paul Lovers of pleasure more then lovers 2 Tim. 3 4. of God Thy banquetting houses that of the same holy Apostle Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall 1 Cor. 6. 13. destroy both them and it Yea upon all thine Accommodations that of the Preacher All is vanity and vexation of Eccles. 1. 14. spirit EXERCITATION 2. A gloss upon Psalme 36. 8. God in Christ a soul-satisfying object The circular motion of humane souls and their onely rest A threefold fulness of God and Christ opposite to the threefold vanity of the creatures § 1. VVHat shall we then say Are the sons of men in whom such strong desires and longings after blessedness are implanted left without all possible means of attaining that in which rationall appetites may acquiesce God forbid They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness Psal 36. 7 8. of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures so David to God concerning such as put their trust under the shadow of his wings Creature-comforts are but lean blessings in comparison there is a fatness in Gods house such as satisfies and that abundantly They afford but drops Christ a river of pleasures Look as when an Army of men comes to drink at a mighty river a Jordan a Thames Exerc. 2. they all go satisfied away none complaining of want none envying another because there was water enough for them all whereas had they come to a little brook there would not have been found enough to quench the thirst of every one So here The creatures are small brooks that have but a little water in them yea broken cisterns that hold Jerem. 2. 13. no water No wonder if souls return empty from them But Christ hath a river for his followers able to give them all satisfaction We must not expect more from a thing then the Creatour hath put into it He never intended to put the virtue of soul-satisfying into any mear creature but hath reserved to himself Son and Spirit the contenting of spirits as a principall part of divine prerogative To such as expect it elsewhere that person or thing they rely upon may say as Jacob did to Rachel Am I in Gods stead Gen. 30 2. § 2. Certain it is that none can make our souls happy but God who made them nor any give satisfaction Neque enim facit beatum hominem nisi qui sent hominem Deus Aug. epist 52. to them but Christ who gave satisfaction for them They were fashioned at first according to the image of God and nothing short of him who is stiled the brightness of his Fathers glory and Heb. 1. 3. the express image of his person can replenish Ad imaginem Dei facta anima rationalis caeteris omnibus occupari potest repleri non potest Bernard Serm. de bonis deserend them As when there is a curious impression left upon wax nothing can adequately fill the dimensions and lineaments of it but the seal that stamped it Other things may cumber the minde but not content it As soon may a trunck be filled with wisdome as a soul with wealth and bodily substances nourished with shadows as rationall spirits fed with bodies Whatsoever goodness creatures have is derivative whatsoever happiness they enjoy stands in reduction to the Originall of their being The motion of immortall souls is like that of celestiall bodies purely circular They rest not without returning back to the same point from whence they issued which is the bosome of God himself Fishes are said to visit the place of their spawning yearly as finding it most commodious for them and sick patients are usually sent by physicians to their native soil for the sucking in of that air from which their first breath was received Heaven is the place where souls were produced the spirit of man was at first breathed in by the Father of spirits and cannot acquiesce till he be enjoyed and heaven in him § 3. Witness was born to this truth by the Amen the
he do but thirst he shall be welcome how unworthy soever he may be in other respects Dabit desideranti gratiam qui dat gratiam desiderii He will give grace to the thirsty who enables them to thirst after grace Christ is far from turning such persons away yea but for such he would have no customers in the world his commodities must lie by him dead for want of vent seeing others will not take them off but leave them still upon his hand as things in which they see no need have no esteem of This let all men know for certain that such as thirst so as to come come so as to buy buy so as to eat will never have cause to repent of their bargain I have somewhere read of a great Commander who being extremely tormented with thirst sold himself and his Army into enemies hands for a draught of cold water which when he had drunk he repented and said Oh quantum ob quantillum How very little is that for which I have parted with so very much Beleevers may take up the like words but in a far different sense O how much grace how much happiness have I got for a little thirsting a little trusting in Jesus Christ § 5. A third from the freeness of communication amply declared in this clause Come buy wine and milk without money and without price In the place hitherto insisted upon the word money occurs thrice twice in the first verse and once in the second but not in the same signification In the first it is clearly interpreted by price and signifies merit They are said to have no money who being conscious to themselves of their having nothing of their own to answer divine justice with to fetch them in pardon peace and righteousness wholly disclaim all self-sufficiency and come unto Christ as to one that expects not to receive but to be received looks for little or nothing from us but that we be nothing in our selves desirous to have all from him and to partake of his fulness grace for grace In the second it is expounded by labour and denotes industry Men are said to spend money for that which they lay out their pains about Money answers all saith the Preacher The Heathens have a proverb Eccles 10. 19. Dâ—i laboribus omâ—ia vendunt which ascribes as much to labour We say not with them that God sells his benefits to us for our pains but this we acknowledge he giveth them so as to require our industry about them Yet is not this any prejudice to the freeness of his grace or any contradiction to that clause Buy without money and without price because our labour can no way merit his blessings As when a Schoolmaster teacheth a boy gratis the youth cannot possibly attain to learning unless he be industrious and take pains at his book but it doth not therefore cease to be free on the teachers part because the learners pains are required So it is here Yet some in all ages have been so vain as to dream of bringing their money with them whenever they come I mean that which if not in it self yet in their opinion seems to deserve what they come for So the Pharisees of old and the Papists of late Insomuch as Cornelius à lapide in his comment Emptio est dispositio liberi arbitrii upon this very place which maketh altogether for the contrary doctrine countenanceth the popish tenents of free-will and merit of congruity Emitur pretio non condigno sed congruo So Elephants they say are wont before they drink to bemud the water which if it were suffered to remain clear would discover their deformity to them § 6. I proceed to the Expostulation contained in the next words Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Words applicable both to worldlings and to such beleevers as have not yet got clear of the world First to worldlings who manifestly spend not their money onely but their souls for that which is not bread In the Lords prayer Bread is put for all necessaries and used in the Lords supper to signifie the absolute necessity of receiving Christ by whom spiritual life is supported as the natural life is by bread Now the accommodations doted upon by men of the world and often purchased with the loss of salvation are justly said not to be bread because they are neither absolutely necessary to be had nor able to support such as enjoy them A mans life saith our Saviour consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Luke 12. 15. Wealth indeed is an accessory good but no necessary blessing None are made really happy by it though Latinists use the same word Beatus to signifie both rich and blessed A Christian may be happy without it really happy yea and really wealthy too for he is abundantly rich that possesseth Assatim dives est qui cum Christo pauper Christ in the midst of poverty and doth not make treasure his God as the servants of Mammon do but God his treasure § 7. Furthermore as the expression there is They spend their labour for that which satisfieth not A late Jesuite Cornel. à lapide Comment in Isa 55. 2. tells us a story of a feast made in Germany by a certain Magician for Noble men who whilest they sate at table with him received good content and fared to their thinking very deliciously but when they departed found themselves hungry as if they had eaten nothing at all which indeed was their case if the Jesuites relation of the magicians art and fact may be credited Such entertainment doth this present world afford its principal guests They are not fed with satisfying substances but with deluding shadows rather Surely every man walketh in Psal 39. 6. a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain David speaks it of such as heap up riches of whom also Solomon saith The rich mans wealth is his strong city and Prov. 18. 11. as an high wall in his own conceit A strong city in his conceit but indeed a castle in the air One that applies the scaling ladders of Scripture and reason to such walls may easily climb so high as to reach and pull down those ensignes of vanity which makes such a flourish on the battlements thereof Sooner shall men gather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles then finde that a fountain of all good to any soul the love whereof Paul hath branded for the root of all 1 Tim. 6. 9. 10. evil It drowns in perdition how can it then crown with happiness Oh that ever so rich an heir as the soul of man should run away with so servile a thing as money is or give the least consent to a match so far below her birth and breeding § 8. Let authority be added to wealth and great honours to great revenues yet will
far greater the holy Angels those favourites in the Court of heaven are all ministring spirits Hebr. 1. 14. sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation A task which they perform without grudging although in themselves more noble creatures then we are both out of love to their younger brethren of whom they have a most tender care and out of obedience to God their Father and ours Psal 91. 11. Mittis Unigenitum immittis Spiritum nè quid vacet in coelestibus ab opere solicituelinis Angelos mittis in ministerium who hath given them charge so to do as it is in the Psalm He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways Lay this to the former as Bernard did and we shall see the whole heaven at work for our preservation God the Father sending his Son to redeem us the Fathet and Son sending their Spirit to guide us the Father Son and Spirit sending their Angels to minister for us O taste and see that the Lord is good bountifully good § 3. Fourthly Large provisions in the way We consist of body and soul he provideth plentifully for both giving 1. Tim. 6. 17. us richly all things to enjoy as one Apostle phraseth it yea as another giving unto Jam. 1. 5. all men liberally and not upbraiding Whereas ordinary benefactours by reason of their stinted abilities give either but a few things or to a few persons onely or if to many but sparingly and are besides apt to corrupt and blemish their good turns by casting them in the Authores pereunt garrulitate sui Martial receivers teeth and making their boast continually of them all these are here removed from God whilest he is said to give unto all men and that liberally yea and so as not to upbraid although whatever men receive yea whatever they are sin excepted be wholly his That of the Psalmist is very emphatical and well deserveth our consideration The earth is the Lords Psal 24. 1. and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein The house wherein a man dwelleth may be his landlords but the furniture his own Here we are told that not the earth onely but the fulness of it is the Lords Both house and furniture may be anothers but he that inhabiteth it his own man Here they that dwell therein are the Lords the inhabitants themselves as the room and the stuff To which agreeth that of St Paul ye are not your own 1 Cor. 6. 19. and that of an ancient writer cited by Heinsius Our very being is none of Nostrum non est quod sumus multò minùs quod habemus ours much less the things we have in possession As for spiritual provisions his people use not to be scanted in them Another particular reckoned up by Nehemiah when he set himself to celebrate the acts of divine bounty towards Israel◠was the institution of Ordinances Thou camest down also saith Nehem. 9. 13. 14. he speaking to God upon mount Sinai and spakest with them from heaven and gavest them right judgements and true laws good statutes and commandements and madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath One way whereby great Princes are wont to manifest their royal bounty is the making of great feasts as Ahasuerus and Solomon did we may safely allude to the Prophets expression though the place have another meaning and say of the Church in that respect In this mountain doth the Lord of hosts make Isai 25. 6. unto all people a feast of fat things of wine on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wine on the lees well refined Good Sermons and Prayers are like well refined wines and as Christ himself is a Saviour full of merits so is his Gospel a doctrine full of promises his Supper a Sacrament full of mysteries his Sabbath a day full of opportunities all his Ordinances fat things full of marrow § 4. Fifthly Full satisfaction at our journeys end Now indeed as the natural so the spiritual eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the spiritual ear with hearing because we see but as through a 1 Cor. 13. 12. glass darkly not face to face and know but in part that of which we hear Then shall eye and ear have enough when we shall see God as he is and hear Christ 1 Joh. 3. 2. saying Come ye blessed of my Father inherit Matth. 25. 34. the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world Here although beleeving souls have fellowship with Sistitur appetitus in via satiatur in patria God in Christ sufficient to stay their stomachs as at a breakfast yet that degree of fruition is wanting which should satiate them fully as at a feast beyond that of Ordinances What shall there be enjoyed will replenish every chink of rational appetites the first Truth filling up our understandings and the chief Good our wills to the very brim Then shall that be to the utmost verified which David once said of regenerate persons They shall be abundantly Psal 36. 8. 9. satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures for with thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light § 5. For improvement hereof As our Saviour once said Be ye mercifull so Be ye bountifull let me say as your father is bountifull St Paul having praised the Macedonians for their deep poverty abounding unto the riches of their liberality urgeth the grace and benignity of Christ as a principal motive to excite his Corinthians to a like exercise of bounty towards the poor Saints at Jerusalem For ye know saith 2 Cor. 8. 2 9. he the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be-rich More especially let us all learn from hence not to deal niggardly with God himself but to think no pains too great no expence too much no time too long that is spent in his service Not as the manner of some is who so manage the profession of religion as if their main care and study were how to serve him with most ease and to come off with the cheapest performances David Paul and Luther were men of another spirit The first as he delighted in the commemoration of divine bounty to him saying I will Psal 13. 6. sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me And again Return Psal 116. 7. unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee so he was no niggard in his returns but ever and anon enquiring what he should do to testifie his thankfulness What shall I Psal 116. 12. render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me And as providence offered occasion laying himself out for God witness that his resolution testified to
Coloss 1. 21. tels the Colossians yea the carnal minde or the wisdome of the flesh as he speaks to the Romans is enmity against Roman 8. 7. God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be whence it is that one or other of the great Masters of Reason as they would be accounted although they be not unwilling to yield an independant Sovereignty and Arbitrary working to some men as in the Eastern parts of the world most do to their absolute Monarchs as at this day and the Romane Senate did of old to Augustus Cesar witness Dion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dion Cass Roman hist lib. 53. p. 516. in ant edit Graec. Lat. Cassius in his history The Senate saith he freed him from all the necessity of law so as he might do or not do what he list as having both himself and the law at his disposal yet out of their deep enmity and malignity against God deny him the like prerogative and will therefore be always found opposing his Decrees and those most that are most Arbitrary This hath been the root of that notorious piece of opposition in labouring that the decrees of God should be wholly silenced and either not studied or if studied not disputed or if disputed not preached of Some such there were in Austins time against whom he bends his discourse in the 14 15 and 16. Chapters of his book De Bono Perseverantiae And some there are at this day that ranck the points of Predestination among Fruitless and Sapless Speculations Holy Bucer was of a far different judgement He in one of his first Lectures Sâ—â—hâ—â—jus Electionis memoria meditatio nobis auferretur Bone Deus quomode resisteremus Diabole Quoties enim Diabolus tentat fidem nostram nunquam autem non tentat tunc sempeâ— ad Electionem est nobis recurreadum at Cambridge upon the epistle to the Ephesians after published by Tremellius Si hujus electionis c. If the memory and meditation of Gods election were taken from us good Lord how should we resist the Devil For so often as Satan tempts my faith which he is ever tempting of then do I always betake my self to free election c. A little after he asserts the doctrine of election as a principle ground not of solid comfort onely but of solid piety and of true love to God in which regards he would byâ— all means have it preached in coetu fidelium in the open congregation Verily this famous University is likely to continue famous so long as it continueth orthodox We may expect to share in the Apostles benediction and hope that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the fellowship of the Spirit will be with us so long as we teach to the praise of the glory of free grace the love of God in electing freely what persons he will the grace of Christ in dying freely and with a special intention for those whom the Father had elected and the communication of the Spirit in freely converting and finally preserving those whom the father had so chosen and the Son so died for Sure I am our blessed Saviour once said to his Disciples In this Luke 10. 20. rejoyce that your names are written in heaven and that nothing doth more inflame a Christians love then a firm belief of his personal election from eternity after he hath been able to evidence the writing of his name in heaven by the experience he hath had of an heavenly calling and an heavenly conversation When the Spirit of God whose proper work it is to assure as it was the Fathers to elect and the Sons to redeem hath written the law of life in a Christians heart and therewith enabled him to know assuredly that his name is written in the book of life he cannot then but melt with flames of holy affection according to that most emphatical speech of Bernard Amat ille non immeritò qui amatâ—â— est sine merito Amat sine â—ine qui sine principio se cognoscit amatum Bern. epist 107. God deserveth love from such as he hath loved long before they could deserve it And his love to God will be without end who knoweth that Gods love to him was without any beginning I confess indeed that the book of life like the tree of life in paradise hath a tree of knowledge growing hard by which cannot with safety be tasted of There are some nice and needless questions started about it that might be spared and should be forborn But these high walls and sons of Anak should by no means prevail with us to play the unworthy spies and bring up a bad report or give way to any brought up by others upon a land that floweth with so much milk and honey as the doctrine of predestination doth Surely for men to silence it were to stop up those wels which the Prophets and Apostles especially Paul Exerc. 4. have digged in their writings for the refreshing of thirsty souls yea to endeavour the cancelling of that first and great charter of our salvation EXERCITATION 4. Creation what Pythagoras and Trismegist Hebr. 6. 3. opened Scripture-Philosophy Ex nihilo nihil fit how true Creature what Gods goodness in works of creation particularly in the framing of Adam The consultation upon which pattern after which parts of which he framed Two histories one of a Priest the other of a Monk The original of body and soul improved § 1. THe word Creation hath divers acceptions It is taken either largely for the production of any thing remarkably good or evil so magistrates in a Common-wealth and Graduates in an Universitie are said to be created God is said to create a clean Psal 51. 52. Ephâ—â— 2. 20. heart and we are called his workmanship oreated in Christ unto good works and for evil Moses in Numbers speaking of the remarkable judgement inflicted on Koraâ— and his complices useth this expression Si creationem creaverit Deus if God created a creature the radix is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or limitedly with some restraint and that either strictly for the generation of living creatures in a natural way so in Horace Fortes creantur â—ortibus bonis and in Virgil Sulmone creatos quatuor hâ—c juvenes Whence also procreare or more strictly for the making of a thing out of some praeexistent matter but such as is naturally indisposed and unapt for that production whereas in generation there is always materia habilis disposita as when God created man of the dust of the earth and woman of mans rib or most strictly for the production of a thing without any praeexistent matter at all out of mere nothing we are to speak of it in the two latter senses for so it belongeth to God alone Thus Isâ— 44. 24. saith the Lord thy Redeemer and he that formed thee from the womb I am the Lord that maketh
unto all men in regard of the substance of their souls which are invisible incorporeal and intelligent as God is Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man And Gen. 9. 6. again in James Therewith curse we men James 3 9. which are made after the similitude of God We read of the Emperour Theodosius that having exacted a new tribute from the people of Antioch there arose See Theodor. hist lib. 5. c. 21. a commotion in which the people broke down the Statue of the Empress Placilla his late wife He in a rage sent his Forces against the city to sack it One Macedonius a Monk interceded thus If the Emperour be so much and so justly offended that the image of his wife was so defaced shall not the king of heaven said the Monk be angry at him if he shall deliberately deface and break the image of God in so many men as are like to perish in this Massacre What a vast difference is there betwixt reasonable creatures and that brazen image we for that image are easily able to set up one hundred but the Emperour with all his power is not able to restore so much as an hair of these men if once he kill them upon which admonition Theodosius it is said forbore his design Secondly in a strict sense So 't is appliable onely to Christ who is the image of the invisible God the brightness Colos 1. 15. of his glory and express image of his Heb. 1. 3. person For all the three things that go to make a perfect image viz. Likeness Derivation and Agreement in nature are concurrent here The kings image is in his coin and in his son but after a different manner In his coin there may be likeness and derivation but not identity of Nature which is also added in his son In Saints there are the former they are like to God in their qualities derived from him but in Christ all three Thirdly in a middle sense neither so largely as to extend to all men nor so strictly as to be restrained unto Christ alone but between both So taken it is nothing else but that conformity to God from which all men fell in the first Adam and unto which none but Saints are restored by the second § 6. For the third The parts of which man consisteth are body and soul Moses at first speaks to both The Gen. 〈◊〉 7. Lord God saith he formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul God had before made Spirits by themselves and bodies by themselves some celestial others terrestrial now on the sixth day for a conclusion of his works he frames a creature consisting of a spirit and a body joyned together in whom he includes the choice perfections of all the former One observes that God Weemse Portracture p. 41. hath joyned all things in the world by certain Media The earth and water are coupled by slime the air and water by vapours Exhalations are a middle between air and fire Quick silver a middle between water and mettals coral between roots and stones so man between beasts and Angels Manilius hath comprehended much in Manil. lib. 4. apud Lip◠Physiolog l. 3. dissert 2. few verses Quid mirum noscere mundum Si possint homines quibus est mundus in ipsis Exemplúmque Dei quisque est in imagine parva In English thus What wonder if men know the world Since they themselves the world epitomize Yea every one a medal of God is Where he doth in effect call his body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little world and his soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little God In the pursuance Charron of wisdome pag. 16. of the former the Stoicks were wont to say That it was better being a fool in an humane shape then being wise in the form of a beast Yea Solomon himself in the twelfth of Ecclesiastes findeth in his head both Sun Moon and Stars Well therefore may his head resemble the heavens where these lights are as our eyes also are in our upper parts without which the world would be a dungeon his heart the fire it being kept hot by continual motion and conveying natural heat to the whole body his bloud and other humours the water his spirits the air and his flesh and bones the earth In prosecution of the latter Tully a Platonist Scito te Deum esse c. Lib. de somn Scip. goeth so far as to bid a man take notice that he is a God and some Divines Bonaventurae Amatorium pag. 601. col 2. finde a resemblance of the Trinity in mans soul The understanding will and conscience three faculties but one soul as Father Son and holy Ghost three persons but one God Let us all mean while taste and see how good the Lord is in preparing us such bodies and infusing such souls into us but withall so as to consider and improve the Original of both § 7. Seeing Adams body had its original from the dust of the earth the consideration hereof should be an antidote against pride in all his posterity Art not thou the son of Adam was not he the son of dust was not that the son of nothing when the Lord would humble Adam after the fall he put him in minde of his being dust In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat Gen. 3 19. Gen. 18. 27. thy bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return And when Abraham would be low before God he styleth himself dust and ashes Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord who am but dust and ashes Ecclus 10. 9. Why art thou proud O dust and ashes saith Siracides and Bernard Cùm sis humi limus cur non es humilimus Why art not thou most humble O man seeing thou art but the dust of the earth As for the soul that was purely from God Divinae particula aurae as an ancient Poet calleth it for God saith Moses breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul This should render us restless till that Image after which Adam was made be renewed in us by regeneration The relicks of it found in men unconverted what are they but magni nominis umbra the mere shadow of a great and glorious name How unlike are natural men to God for all them Our Queen Elizabeth once in her progress observing some pictures of hers hung up for signs to be very unlike her caused them to be taken down and burnt Burning must be the end of those that continue unlike to God whereas such as are by converting grace changed into the same 2 Cor. 3. 18. image as Paul speaketh from glory to glory shall at length arrive
Plinies unbelief The Psalmists stumble at the prosperity of the wicked His recovery by considering it was not full was not to be final The superintendency of Providence over military and civil affairs in particular The Churches afflictions Promises cautioned Duty of casting care upon God He no authour of sin The attestation of this State and of this writer § 1. TWo things are still remaining viz. Objections against and Corollaries from the formentioned propositions to which in their order Objection against the first Some think Ex hoc Deus beatus est quia nihil curat neque habet ipse negotium neque alteri exhibel Lactant. de ira Dei cap. 4. Credat Judaeus Apello Non ego namque Deos didici securum agere aevum Hor. the extending of divine Providence to all created beings how mean soever unsutable to the perfection of God whom they say it doth not become to stoop so low Epicurus is cited by Lactantius as speaking to this purpose and after him Horace Answ They speak like heathens not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God The Psalmist otherwise Who is like unto the Lord our God Psal 113. v. 5 6 7 8. who dwelleth on high Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in earth He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghil He maketh the barren woman to keep house to be a joyfull mother of children Of his care and providence it is beleeved Providentia Dei nec fallitar nec fatigatur Eam nec magna onerant nec parva effugiunt Molin Enod quaest p. 23. and asserted by divines that it is neither deceived nor tired that as the greatest things do not overburden it so least things do not escape it That of our Saviour to his Disciples is a most express assertion Are not five Luke 12. 6 7. sparrows sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten before God But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered Wherefore by way of Corollary from hence let God himself alone be acknowledged the Preserver and Governour of all things Let no man think by his strength of parts or extremity of pains to take the work out of his hands Melancthon was beyond Monendus est per vos Philippus ut desinat esse Rector mundi Wolf memorabil measure solicitous about Church-affairs in that age wherein he lived insomuch as Luther once wrote to his neighbour-ministers that they should do well to give him a serious admonition not to attempt the government of this world any longer That of Maximilian the Emperour in the time of Pope Julius the second was an honest acknowledgement Deus aeterne nisi vigilares Historia Pontificum Romanorum contract per Jacobum Revium pag. 259. quà m male esset mundo quem regimus nos Ego miser venator ebriosus ille acâ—sceleratus Julius O eternal Lord God if thou thy self shouldst not be watchfull how ill it would be with this world which is now governed by me a miserable hunter and by this drunken and wicked Pope Julius § 2. Against the second proposition it hath been objected that there is no such thing as the providence of God superintending humane affairs especially considering the great prosperity which is enjoyed by wicked men Pliny the great Naturalist speaketh of Irridendum est si quis putet illud quicquid est summum agere curam rerum humanâ—rum Natur. hist l. 6. c. 7. Psalm 73. v. 2 3. it as a thing to be entertained with laughter rather then belief And the Psalmists words are these As for me my feet were almost gone my steps had well nigh slipt For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked Behold V. 12 13. these are the ungodly who prosper in the world they increase in riches Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency Answ That which then satisfied him should now suffice to answer us He went into the sanctuary of God then understood V. 17 18. he their end Surely thou didst set them in slippery places thou castedst them down into destruction Their prosperity was not full was not to be final I. Was not full The places wherein they stood were slippery their felicity varnished over but rotten within That in S. John and onely that is perfect prosperity when the inward and outward man thrive together I wish 3 John 2. above all things saith he to Gaius that thou maist prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth With them it is quite otherwise They have it may be fat bodies but lean souls full purses but empty heads and hearts blest in their estates but cursed in their spirits Have Lament 3. 65. houses and lands worth many thousands but hearts little worth according to that The tongue of the just is as Prov. 10. 20. Nulla verior miseria quam falsa laetitia Nihil infelicius felicitate peccantium choice silver the heart of the wicked is little worth Call you this prosperity It is in truth nothing less It is unhappiness rather and there are those who have not stuck to name it so II. Was not to be final Thou castedst them down into destruction The world came in fast upon them one way and the wrath of God came as fast another This fair day of theirs is but a weather-breeder as a calm before an earth-quake To Deut. 32. 35. me belongeth vengeance and recompence saith the Lord their foot shall slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make haste David expresseth it most emphatically I have seen the wicked in great Psalm 37. 35 36. power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree A tree that retaineth its viridity and freshness even in winter when fruit-bearing trees have cast their leaves yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found Let such an one be sought in his counting-house which was wont to be the temple wherein he worshipped his God Mammon he is not there At Court where he was so magnified and almost adored he is not to be found in the lodgings there He that would finde him must seek him in hell For there he is This is the end of such worldly prosperity as cometh from God and yet defieth him § 3. The Corollary from hence is let the superintendency of divine providence over all humane affairs in particular over Military and Civil be humbly acknowledged I. Over military Those French-men were undoubtedly to blame who in their flattering applauses of Richelieu did ascribe Howels lustra Ludov. p. 166. the reduction of Rochel solely to him insomuch as one of their Chroniclers writeth That in the taking of that town neither the king nor God Almighty had a share in