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A86946 Christ and his Church: or, Christianity explained, under seven evangelical and ecclesiastical heads; viz. Christ I. Welcomed in his nativity. II. Admired in his Passion. III. Adored in his Resurrection. IV. Glorified in his Ascension. V. Communicated in the coming of the Holy Ghost. VI. Received in the state of true Christianity. VII. Reteined in the true Christian communion. With a justification of the Church of England according to the true principles of Christian religion, and of Christian communion. By Ed. Hyde, Dr. of Divinity, sometimes fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge, and late rector resident at Brightwell in Berks. Hyde, Edward, 1607-1659. 1658 (1658) Wing H3862; Thomason E933_1; ESTC R202501 607,353 766

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in us ariseth only the necessity or want of adoption for there is only so much of it left as to shew how great need we have to be made his children that we may be made more like him then we are by nature But the adoption it self is founded in our new begotten Image or likeness with our heavenly Father which is after the similitude of his only Son by Grace in this world and by glory in the world to come and may accordingly be called either incompleat or compleat adoption Concerning the first Saint John saith that we are made the Sons of God as being already partakers of the Divine nature in the likeness of grace concerning the second he saith It doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him that is we shall hereafter be made the Sons of God after a more perfect manner by being made partakers of the divine nature in the likeness of glory Blessed be that eternal Son in whom we are made Sons and blessed be that day wherein he took on him our nature that he might give us his SECT VI. Christians are more eminently the Children of God in Christ then were the Jews The difference betwixt the Adoption and all other Spiritual blessings of the Jews and of the Christians That though they were adopted to be heirs as we are yet were they tutored as infants till the coming of Christ by whom was wrought a true Reformation THE Spirit of adoption though it were given under the Law yet was it not so fully given as it is now under the Gospel For though it were the same Covenant of Grace to the Jew and to the Christian to be saved by Christ yet was this Covenant much different in the manner of its administration And therefore we must consider the Church before Christ came in the flesh though as an heir that had a right from Gods fidelity though not from his strict Justice to all Spiritual Gifts and Graces whatsoever yet withal as an infant that had not the full possession of that right And this distinction Saint Paul himself teacheth us Gal. 4. 1. Now I say that the heir as long as he is a child or rather an infant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such an one as cannot speak differeth nothing from a servant though he be Lord of all but is under Tutors and Governors until the time appointed of the Father And himself plainly applies this distinction to the Church before Christs time verse 3. saying even so we when we were children or infants were in bondage under the elements of the world that is as long as we continued in the Jewish Religion For the Church before the coming of the Son of God was so an heir as that she was also an infant As she was an heir so she was free but as she was an infant so she was a servant under Tutors and Governors As she was an heir she had spiritual hopes but as she was an infant she had carnal Ordinances Heb. 9. 10. As she was an heir she had the Spirit of adoption but as she was an infant she had the Spirit of fear and bondage which makes the Apostle say Rom. 8. 15. For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again ye had it once sc whiles ye were under the Law but ye have it not again sc now ye are under the Gospel to fear but ye have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Hence it is that the Jews had then the same spiritual blessings in dark representations and figures which we Christians now have in full revelations and substance I will set down some few examples concerning the chiefest spiritual blessings by which we may easily be able to judge of all the rest and not be mistaken in our judgements 1. What a vast difference is there betwixt those words of Moses The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. and those words of Saint Paul the God of peace meaning our Saviour Christ who was our peace-maker and gave himself to make it shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly Rom. 16. 20. or those words of Saint John For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 J●●n 3. 8. And yet both alike speak of the same redemption 2. What a vast difference is there betwixt that of Gen. 25. 23. the elder shall serve the younger and that of Rom. 9 16. Not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy yet both alike concern the same Doctrine of Election 3. What a vast difference is there betwixt Abrahams being called to go out of his Countrey and from his Fathers house Gen. 12. 1. and our being called out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. and yet both alike confess the same Vocation 4. What a vast difference betwixt the sacrifices of the Jews and the sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross and yet both alike assure us of the same Justification in so much that Saint Paul explaineth the one by the other Eph. 5. 2. as Christ hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling Savour 5. What a vast difference is there betwixt the Sons of Abraham according to the promise under the Law and under the Gospel for as Isaac was so also we are the children of the Promise Gal. 4. 28. The one having the promise of an earthly the other of an heavenly inheritance and yet both promises alike belong to the same Adoption 6. What a vast difference betwixt the Cirumcision of the flesh and of the heart betwixt the outward purifications of the Jews and the inward purgings of Christians for the blood of Christ purgeth our consciences from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. and yet both of them do set forth the same Sanctification 7. Seventhly and lastly what a vast difference betwixt their entring into Canaan and our entering into the heavenly Jerusalem and yet both of them declare one and the same Glorification They were all partakers of the same spiritual blessings that we are they had the same Redemption Election Vocation Justification Adoption Sanctification and Glorification that we have but they had them in a dark representation not in an open revelation so that they could not so fully know them and they had them in types and figures not in reality and substance so that they did not so fully enjoy them For they all had carnal Ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation Heb. 9. 10. that is till the time of Christs coming to plant the Christian Religion which was a true reformation indeed because it proceeded from a true cause and to a true end from a true cause a more perfect knowledge of Christ who before had not been fully discovered and to a true
vilifie but to confute their preaching immediatly shew how Christ is more peculiarly communicated by the Spirit of adoption and the rather because his being communicated in Word and Sacraments would not be available to salvation unless he were also communicated to us by the coming of the Holy Ghost Concerning which Alensis hath befriended us with a most comfortable and a most Christian-like position in these words L●quendo proprie de missione non dicitur mitti Filius vel Spiritus Sanctus nisi ratione alicujus effectus pertinentis ad gratiam gratum facientem Nam in missione illorum non solum dona ipsorum sunt nostra sed ipsi quia Inhabitant animum sunt ibi modo specialiori quàm prius Alen. par 1. qu. 73. m. 4. art 2. To speak properly concerning the mission or communication of the Son and Spirit of God neither of them is communicated but only in some effect of saving grace though in general terms either may be said to be communicated in the gift of any grace For when they are communicated unto us not only their gifts are ours but also themselves to inhabit and to dwell in us and to be in us more specially or peculiarly then they were before And why then should not every Christian take up Holy Davids most holy Resolution and say I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep nor mine eye-lids to slumber untill I find out a place even mine own soul for the Temple of the Lord and an Habitation for the mighty God of Jacob Psal 132. 4 5. For indeed the Lord and the mighty God Christ and his Spirit are communicated both together according to that of John 6. 53. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you As there is a communication and distribution of the nourishment to the body that it may live so is there of Christ to the soul or it cannot live And he is communicated by the Spirit For no man can eat his flesh nor drink his blood who is at the right hand of God by corporal but only by spiritual manducation and there can be no spiritual eating of Christ but by the assistance of his Spirit So that Christ and the Spirit of Christ are communicated to us both together and we have alike need of both For as Christ is our Advocate to bring us to the Father so is the Holy Ghost our Advocate to bring us unto Christ And as Christ revealed to us the will of his Father so doth the holy Spirit reveal to us the will of Christ making us in the right use of his Word and Sacraments to receive instruction from him to enjoy communion with him and to find immortal joy and comfort in him This is that Spirit the Apostle speaketh of when he saith For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. The Apostle would have us Christians see the happiness of our own condition above the Jews that we might accordingly shew our thankfulness above them For they being under the terrours of the Law could not but have the Spirit of bondage because they saw nothing in the Law but what was exceeding formidable the flames of Mount Sinai before it and the flames of Hell fire after it But we Christians being under the promises of the Gospel which discharge all that truly repent and unfeignedly believe from the curse of the Law and from the guilt of their sins have the spirit of liberty whereby we can with great confidence and with greater comfort draw near to the throne of grace The Jews had the Spirit of Adoption as well as Christians though not in the same degree but not from the Law but from so much of the Gospel as was revealed to them And the Christians have also the spirit of bondage as well as the Jews though not in the same degree but not from the Gospel but from so much of the Law as is still in force to scourge them unto Christ The same spirit of Adoption was to them a spirit of bondage yet with some hopes and shew of liberty To us it is a spirit of liberty and yet with some fear and shew of bondage They could say unto God Doubtless thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not Isa 63. 16. but we can say moreover Abba Father that is we can call upon God as our Father with greater fervency and earnestness with greater assurance and confidence and with greater joy and comfort then they could For this Abba Father is vox clamantis vox exclamantis vox acclamantis The voice of one crying out the voice of one crying out for help the voice of one crying out for joy First The voice of one crying out there 's the greater earnestness they did say to God our Father but we do cry it not coldly and remissely least our prayers should be congealed in the middle Region of the air before they get up to heaven but zealously and earnestly They said it with zeal but we say it with greater zeal Secondly The voice of one crying out for help there 's the greater confidence The Jew could say Father but the Christian saith Abba Father that is Father Father with greater confidence and assurance of Gods paternal affection Lastly The voice of one crying out for joy there 's the greater comfort The Jew could rejoyce in God as his Father by Creation but the Christian rejoyceth in God as his Father by Redemption The joy of the creation had an allay because of the sin and sorrow which we had brought upon our selves but the joy of our Redemption hath no allay because our blessed Saviour hath taken away our sins and with our sins our sorrows CAP. II. Of the coming of the Holy Ghost where Christ is communicated SECT I. That the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Christ that is the Spirit of the Son as well as of the Father And that the Greeks were unjustly and uncharitably rejected by some of the Latines as Hereticks concerning the Procession of the Holy Ghost Of the Addition of Filioque to the Constantinopolitan Creed and that the Pope hath no Authority to change any article of faith The Greek Church agreed with the Latine about this controversie in sense though not in words therefore not anathematized by the Western Churches which use the Athanasian Creed Bellarmines heavy doom concerning the Greek Church fitter for a Souldier then a Divine IT is not the part of any Christian to deny the Holy Ghost to be the Spirit of Christ since that were not only to deny the Word of Christ but also to deny the greatest and chiefest comfort of Christianity It were to deny the Word of Christ for Saint Paul taketh the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ for one and the same saying If so
Halleluiah doth not close a part of a Hymn but breaks off a doctrinal exhortation surely not to distract our attentions but to enflame our affections and to possess our souls wholly with the joy and love of Christ without which neither our praying nor our preaching is acceptable unto God or available unto us And the Church seemeth to have borrowed this practice from the Apostles for it is much to be observed that Saint Paul delivers not any one Doctrine of the Christian verity without his Halleluiah that is without a peculiar doxology to God in Christ So in his Epistle to the Romans 1. 8. First I thank my God through Jesus Christ So to the Corinthians 1. 1. 4. I thank my God alwayes on your behalf So to the Galatians 1. 5. To God and our Father be glory for ever and ever Amen So to the Ephesians 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ And so in the rest of his Epistles Nay he doth not only prefix his Halleluiah and lay it as the foundation and bottom of his work but he doth also familiarly interweave it whilst he is working as it were some choice and eminent thred to checquer and adorn the whole piece Thus in the Doctrine of Christian regeneration Rom. 7. 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord speaks little or nothing to the argument but more to the soul of him that earnestly desires truly to understand it then the tongue of men and Angels is able to express Thus also in the Doctrine of the resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 57. Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ are such words as do more then perswade the belief they do also enforce the love of that Christian truth which of it self is able to make not only one Foelix but also all mankinde to quake and tremble For Christ raising us from the death by vertue of his resurrection will also uphold us in the judgement by vertue of his satisfaction Lastly thus also in the Doctrine of Christian patience and preseverance concerning our being strengthned with might by the Spirit of God in the inward man and Christs dwelling in our hearts by faith and our own being rooted and grounded in love Ephes 3. He begins with prayer to God before it ver 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and he ends with praises after it ver 21. Vnto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Which manner of teaching by prayer and praise must needs make a deeper impression upon the soul then all the arguments of Logick or perswasions of Rhetorick that have been or can be invented by the art of man And indeed the same is also the Method of Saint Peter and of the rest of the Apostles to intermingle prayers and praises to God in all their writings and may not unfitly be called the Method of grace And Alensis gives this reason for it Alius est modus scientiae ad informationem affectus secundum pietatem Alius ad informationem intellectus secundum veritatem Alex. Ale qu. 1. mem 4. There is one method of teaching the will how to embrace piety another method of teaching the understanding how to embrace truth For the understanding is best informed by the evidence of demonstration but the will is best enflamed by the power of devotion And again sunt principia veritatis ut veritatis sunt principia veritatis ut bonitatis There are principles of truth which are to be learned as they are true and there are principles of truth which are to be learned as they are good other sciences proceed from principles of truth which are to be learned as they are true because their truth is most notoriously evident But Divinity proceeds from principles of truth which are to be learned as they are good because their goodness is more notoriously evident then their truth Vnde hec scientia magis est virtutis quam Artis sapientia magis quam scientia magis enim consistit virtute efficacia quam in contemplatione notitia Alen. ibid. in respon 2. Therefore is Divinity rather a science of power then of Art and consequently rather a Sapience then a Science for both in its being and in its knowing it consists more of virtue and power then of contemplation or knowledge Accordingly the Apostle himself saith Alensis professeth that his preaching was not with enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power 1 Cor. 2. 4. which is such a demonstration as is more fitted to the will then to the understanding because it hath more of piety then of evidence mans wisdom teaching the understanding but Gods wisdom rather teaching the will and affections The one working more upon the head but the other working more upon the heart And therefore the Method which Gods wisdom useth in teaching man is not unfitly called the Method of grace For it is a Method that neither nature nor Art can teach us but only the Spirit of Grace and is accordingly used in no other science but only in Divinity In teaching other sciences he that should break out into a prayer or ejulation would either forget his principle or mistake his conclusion But in teaching Divinity this is the only way to strengthen both our memories against forgetfulness and our judgements against mistakes Here it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod demonstrandum erat nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod faciendum erat but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod orandum erat Not what we can shew nor what we can do but what we can pray makes us the best proficients in the School of Christ For doubtless we may best learn soul-saving Divinity in the way the Apostles taught it that is by intermingling prayers and praises with our endeavours since this is the only way to learn Christ for Christ cannot be learned till he be received and cannot be received in a soul not prepared by piety and devotion to entertain him This occasioned that expression of Saint Paul As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him Col. 2. 6. In other sciences we need learn but the Doctrine that is taught no matter for the author that teacheth it But in Christian Divinity we must learn and receive Christ the author or we cannot rightly learn and receive the Doctrine Haec cloquentia quaedam est Doctrinae salutaris movendo affectus discentium accommodata saith Saint Augustine Epist 119. ad Januarium Whence we may gather the true definition of Christian eloquence It is that which most moveth our affections and raiseth them up to Christ this is the reason why the Apostles used this new kind of method in their writings not for the want of knowledge but for the abundance of love and charity which was wholly enamored on Christ