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
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
death and to air that Bed for our Repose His God head held his soul and body asunder from each other yet still inseparably united to himself Thus may you see a man drawing out his sword holding in his hands still both sword and scabret till it be put up again Thus it was needfull that Christ should suffer and so make entrance into his Kingdom Secondly Christs Exaltation is further worthy the best observation Therein his glorious person unvailed himself of all humane weakness though he still retained the nature of man and its properties He laid down his sable weeds to put on the roabes of Immortality His God-head did then raise up his Man-hood in his Resurrection and the Son of man declared himself by his divine Power to be the Son of God The Price paid for his people in his humiliation he applies by power through his exaltation to them orderly and effectually He is God-Man still and therefore tearmed the Man Christ Jesus Thus his office was to be compleated by the compleating of his saving Progress He conversed then among his Disciples the space of forty days to confirm their faith and to instruct them in the affairs of his Kingdom Thence his Ascention was solemnly performed followed with his Session at the Fathers right hand and Intercession for his people These are the four main steps of his exaltation to be singularly improved He rose that we might rise from death to Life he ascended that we might ascend he sits at Gods right hand that we may sit with him on his Throne and he still intercedes to make all our Intercessions effectual Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It s Christ that died yea rather that rose and ascended siting now at the right hand of the Majesty on high and ever lives to make Intercession Thus is Christs progress of chief worth and consideration 4. Christ is most considerable in his purchase also made for all his People which hath both value and vertue in it 1. THE value of his whole Obedience was of infinite worth being the merits of God-man giving full satisfaction to Gods Justice for all the sins of all his elect and making a full acquisition of all the good they were should be capable of This price of Christs perfect Righteousness active and passive was put into Gods Coffers to be seasonably and effectually applied to all his people orderly and actually from their conversion to their utmost salvation by his Spirit according to his eternal Purpose By the same value were all Gods elect from Adam to Christs death delivered from the guilt wages of sin upon Christs engagement of seasonable performance For he is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world intentionally in the divine purpose and promise 2. The Vertue of Christs perfect Obedience extends to the effectual application thereof to all Gods people So the Fathers purpose in electing and the Sons Intention in redeeming do run parallel That value which Christs merits presented to God cannot but be attended with answerable vertue for the making good thereof to the utmost The Son of man came to seek save that which was lost and that to the utmost seeing he ever lives to perform all Whilst therefore he was gone into Heaven to act his part there he was carefull to send his Proxie even his own Spirit that should make a through application of all his Purchase by the conveyance of his saving Grace to all his Chosen His Oblation is living and lively still even as Christ himself who abides for ever The ceremonial Oblations had him shadow'd out to represent the efficaciousness of Christs Oblation A wise man paying a Ransom or Debt as surety for another will be sure to know for whom and to see his purpose fulfilled to his power The agreement or Covenant made between God and Christ distinct from the gracious Covenant made conditionally with the visible Church in Christ imports as much As the Father required that he should offer his soul a Sacrifice for sin which the Son willingly undertook so was it engaged to him that he should see of his seed and the good pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand So that the vertue of his blood is still included in the value of it both being directed by divine intention which terminates in the proper subjects thereof Therein concurs his threefold office he being still a Prophet and prince as far as he is a Priest unto any The vertue of Christs Merits is indeed intrinsecally infinite like himself and only limited with the value thereof by the divine pleasure This purchase of his may be said occasionally and secundarily to comprehend the whole Creation in subserviency to divine Intentions but directly and primarily the Scripture limits it to Gods Elect for whom he came and lived prayed and died rose and intercedes still It extends to the removal of all evil both of sin and sorrow inchoatively progressively and consummatively It reaches also the Import of all sutable good spiritual temporal and eternal All things are ours and for our sake that are truly his and so far as we are his Is not this a choice Jewel to be duly viewed Doth not such a purchase challenge our best knowledge The possessive Our gives rellish to all It doth us little good to hear of Indian Treasures that are not our own Fifthly Christ is most precious in his Relation multipliciously expressed to his people by Allusion to all choice relations in things natural civil and artificial The perfection of all creatures is radically in him originally from him and reductively leads to him again None of them can sufficiently set out his wonderfull Relation wherein he stands towards his chosen Ones he therefore borrows the cream and quintessence of them all to shadow out to our shallow capacity the marvels of his glorious Grace Thus he speaks to his Babes in their known Dialect that he may gradually and familiarly be understood of them He calls himself their root giving sap and life to every branch of his He is the Head that conveyes all motion and sense to all his members He is the Fountain-Spring from whom all living waters flow into the streams by his proper conduits He is that Sun who carries Light and Life by his access unto all Creatures He is the Father that tenders his Children He is the husband that cherishes his Spouse the elder brother that looks to his adopted Brethren the Master that hath the best care of Servants That Foundation is he on whom the Fabrick stands that garment that must cover us that food that must sustain us that Portion that must maintain us to saving purpose Look into the whole compass of creatures what ever good you can find therein is
retain some ill humors that will augment too much Putrefaction if not timely removed Thence the cause of so many Diseases that hinder the growth of the inward and outward man But how dreadful is their condition that stil feed their disease and love nothing but what increases distempers Corrupt nature stil will bring like to like and undo it self by pampering self God provides us very wholsom food in his Ordinances but like foolish children we frowardly dislike it and prefer any trash rather We feed on crude and corrupt matter which breeds choler phlegm and worms a pace Thence an increase of putrefaction which spoils our appetite and taints our palate Want of exercise and orderly care in the wayes of Christ makes us such weaklings and such punies in his Grace and Knowledge How doth it trouble us to see our children wasting with Rickets worms and Feavers through their own folly Is not our case much worse under our many spiritual consumptions stil contracted by our negligence Let is humble us and make us ashamed that we grow so little in that which is good and so fast in that which is evil is it not our folly and our misery Should not it be our shame and sorrow Vse 3. Examination Doth your spiritual Life appear to your self and others by your growth Is it universal proportional and continual Living things do grow in every part stil with proportion and continuance Do you thus spiritually grow in the gracious Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Observe it in the particulars 1. Is it an universal growth both internally and externally 1. Internally do you grow in every faculty and power of the inward man Doth your mind and Judgement your reason and conscience your will and Affections your memory and Sense grow more spiritual solid and substantial Are you better acquainted with his Person and Office Progress and Purchase Relation and Influence Do you feel thereby more vigor and strength flowing into your soul out of his fulness Do you find his Spirit quickning your spirit by every Ordinance and Providence of his to an higher Degree of Grace and Knowledge Are you more sensible of your need thereof as of your own insufficiency to support and supply you in every Relation Do you long for it and delight in it grieving for the want striving after it restless without it refreshed with it Is Christ sweeter and sin bitterer to your soul more and more 2. Externally do your leaves buds and fruit encrease in Loveliness towards God and man Do you grow as Christ did in Grace and Favour Is it your study design and labour to perfect holiness in the fear of God by putting away every filthiness of flesh and spirit through the improvement of his precious Promises Is your growth uniform in its universal augment Do you abhor sins of Omission as much as you do sins of Commission Have you an eye still to the second Table in minding the first and to the first in minding the second Do you make conscience of the least Precept in improving every Promise Doth not your Interest encroach upon Christ or your Neighbours various concernments Are you more sincere and self-denying more couragious and zealous for Truth and for Peace Do you grow in Patience and Prudence also as in diligence and Dependency Are formality and hypocrifie more loathsome stil to you as to God Doth your hand grow stronger and steadier in all offices of Justice and Charity as of Piety and true Devotion Is your speech active and lively is your life speaking 2. Is your growth proportional Doth it answer the measure of every part It s a Monster that grows not aright in Nature and Grace for quantity order and quality Observe how Plants spread with fit proportions and sensitives in every member mind the very growth of your own others Bodies to compare your spiritual case therewith Do you grow downward in self-denial and humility as well as upward in knowledge and comfort Is there no disproportion between your profession and Conversation your parts and practice Are not you sick of spiritual Rickets that puff up the head and waste other limbs Do your sence and motion grow spiritually orderly and fitly Are you not like Mushroms of a sudden monstrous disproportionable growth Hath every faculty its proper increase for the service of all other parts Do you digest well spiritual Nourishment which every part must assimilate into its proper substance and use Doth your increase of Gifts and Knowledge make you to grow in all Judgement of Christian helpfulness towards every Relation above you about you under you Do all the parts of the New creature keep an harmonious symmetry and orderly motion within you Is there no excrescence or exuberance no dislocation or disruption there willingly suffered Are not you like Hydropical Bodies puffed up with wind water and humours Is your Judgement sound and affections warm your will supple and conscience tender your tongue seasoned and your whole man strengthened daily by this gracious Knowledge Doth your Growth answer Christ provisions 3. Is it continual Is it stil your desire and delight design and labour to be found ripening towards Gods Harvest Is your way stil as the morning Light which shines more and more to the perfect day Do you hold on in that gracious course waxing stronger and stronger as he that hath pure hands Do you abhor sinful Remissions and intermissions in your self and others Observe the growth of all living things how they hasten stil after their proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and perfection Is it so with you on a spiritual score Have you learned with Paul to forget things behind and stil press forward Do you therefore labour to cast off every weight that doth hinder you and the sin that so easily besets you The Lord is continually dropping down fatness from Heaven upon you Do you Return thither answer your Receipts thence Are you like a Plant in the Lords Garden spiritual and civil in Church and State ripening still towards a better state Do you mark and bewail your failings neglects Do your fals and slips quicken your pace and your watchfulness Doth others folly teach you more wisdom to walk more steadily in this slippery age whilst the Seducers do wax worse and worse both in deceiving and being deceived Are you stil striving to grow better and better Are you not like the high way stony or thorny ground which are but for a time but like the good ground fruitful to perfection Do you Resemble those true Believers who through faith patience inherited the Promises rather then Judas and Alexander Anannias and Saphira with thousands more that failed half-way Do Hymeneus Philetas and Demas awaken your care and quicken your diligence that you may not prove like to them in forsaking Christ Do you give your Lusts neither Peace nor Truce in your
Garland and that signal work 24. Christ is opposed likewise in his Servants of the Ministry as First By the former Errors So secondly By the Socinians Seekers Behmenists Revelationists Quakers and Libertines who deny corrupt and oppose it Thirdly by the Papists who set up an Antichristian Head and Hierarchy mangling and perverting it wofully Fourthly By Innovators who exalt a Power therein above others unknown to Christ and others slighting what Christ hath set up AGainst these various Evils the Knowledge of Christ improved graciously will fence our Judgements and make us to see the excellency and perpetuity the necessity and utility of his Gospel-ministry It was his care of old to set it up in his Church for their common good that the Priests lips might preserve knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth because he is the Messenger of the Lord. The first Insurrections against it which assaulted also the Magistracy by a strong levelling party under holy pretences were dreadfully rebuked and plagued by an extraordinary hand from Heaven The Lord made also Aarons Rod to blossom and fructifie miraculously that he might ratifie this great Ordinance of his to all Ages He appointed the Levites to be therefore settled in all the parts of Israel that every one might be provided with ministerial Help Himself promised in a peculiar way to be their best Portion and took a special care that among their Brethren they might never want a plentifull portion From time to time did he renew that charge and sharply visited for the neglect thereof He honor'd and prosper'd those Princes and people that did carefully observe his Will therein His Magistracy and his Ministry went still hand in hand both in doing good and suffering evil Moses and Aaron in all their Successors were still duly observed by God and good men The Jewish Church and State declined together by their sinfull neglects of Christs Institutions Christ therefore came at last himself personally that he might repair those wofull Ruins The vile abusing of his Ministry brought on them first a Babylonian yoak and afterwards a Roman slavery after many Persian and Grecian Oppressions The Revolts of Jason and of Onias with their Anti-temples in Aegypt and Samaria brought in many more confusions then both on Church and State Their corrupt opposings of Christs Ministry cost them very dear When Christ came in the flesh the many disorders of the ministerial Office and persons had disordered all His great care was then to rectifie things in the best method An end of all shadows he made in himself by his own Ministry and settled himself a substantial Ministry that should continue unto the worlds end His great business still was to purge his Temple and to commission his ministerial Servants for the successive building of his house His twelve Apostles and seventy Disciples were to that end succesfully employed by him When he ascended and triumph'd over all he bestowed then Coronation Gifts of a choice Nature Then gave he Apostles Prophets and Evangelists in extraordinary Pastors and Teachers in ordinary for Ambassados for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the building up of his body untill we all come to the full stature of the Son of God Thus Christ settled this ministerial function with spiritual Authority by setting apart in a regular Call persons by him duly qualified to the full employment of the Ministry The Circumstantials of the ceremonial Law he pared off thereby and settled the substance of his will therein in this solemn office for his special honor and his peoples good The Father and Spirit joined with God the Son in the Commission given from above to settle this Office and assure thereon a signal Blessing till the end of all As the Son gave these Residents of his to his Church below so did the Father set them in the Church and the holy Ghost still makes them overseers thereof In the renewing of their Commission he enlarged it unto all Nations gave them the keys of his Kingdom to act under him as Deputy-stewards Titles of Honor he gives them many fit Emblems also of their weighty work They are his Agents and the peoples Guides Shepherds and Rulers Angels and Leaders Elders they are and Overseers as Ambassadors acting in his name As he taught his Apostles the things of his Kingdom so were they carefull to instruct the rest Pauls Epistles to Timothy and Titus are a directory for all Church Affairs The Apostles needed extraordinary Gifts as did the Prophets and Evangelists in the first planting of Churches everywhere That work being done then ended with them their immediate infallible Call Extraordinaries are but for a time to make sure way to Ordinaries Snccessors they had in the substantials of the Ministry though not in all their Circumstantials Paul in his progress having shew'd the way of ordaining such gave Timothy and others further Rules still to prosecute that work Pastors and Teachers must abide in charge whilst there is one soul to be brought to Christ and built up in Christ These stars are kept in the Lords own hand being the Lights of his own setting up Many Ministers and Churches may perish for their Apostacy as they of Asia but the Ministry in the Church of Christ shall be sure to stand These witnesses of his may be much abused to the very Death but they shall rise again very speedily to the confusion of all enemies Lest they should grow proud and usurp Lorship Christ charged them timely to act as Servants in his name and work His word holds forth all Elders equal in ordinary since extraordinaries removed from men Some priority of order and age the Primitive Churches thought fit to admit Pride and Ambition corrupted the same adding Jurisdiction and Power thereto At first they did chuse a Moderator who might be Speaker in their regular meetings That was first elective and then became fixed and gradually did degenerate Under fair colors many did encroach and subjected Elders to Bishops Power Thence did Arch-Bishops and Patriarchs rise with other Limbs of that Hierarchy By Princes bounty too sadly abused this evil did rise and brought forth a Pope That Antichristian Beast with his double horn speaking like the Lamb acted Dragon-like He gradually subdued Christs Magistracy and Ministry by usurpations of the double sword That Pestilential Wen grew so fast on the Church that it did over-spread and consume it in its noblest parts Many Excrescences did rise under it as their Cardinals Archdeacons Chancellors Thence a further Rabble of Commissaries Porters Acolyths Subdeacons Exorcists Thence also their Monks Friers Eremits Nuns and Jesuits swarming everywhere Thus gradually did Abaddon prevail to waste Christs portion for a thousand two hundred sixty years The witnesses whilst
3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and partial acceptation of persons forbidden of God is to be found only in debitis and matters of Duty not in Gratulties and things of free Gift About this Truth besides the Fathers Greek and Latin and our former Reformed Divines you may consult with late Writers as Dr. Preston Dr. Ames Dr. Sibs Mr. Bolton Dr. Thom. Goodwin Dr. Ward Dr. Twiss Bishop Davenant Bl. Morton Mr. Hooker Mr. Shepherd Dr. Owen Mr. Rutherford Mr. Cotton Mr. Burges Lectures Mr. Baxter Mr. Gataker Mr. Lyford c. Sleidan Cloppenburg Becman Hornebeck Altingius Bulinger c. Eph. 1. 3 4 5. Tit. 3. 4 5. 2 Thes 2. 13. Rom. 8. 28 29 30. Iohn 6. 37 39 44 45. Iohn 10. 27 28 29. Iohn 17. 2. 1 Pet. 1. 25. 2 Thes 2. 13. 1 Pet. 1. 2 3 4. Phil. 1. 19. Phil. 4. 19. Iohn 1. 12. Act. 13 48. Iohn 10. 3 14 15. Tit. 2 11 12. 1 Iohn throughout Iohn 6. 37 38 39. Iohn 10. 27 28 29. Heb. 8. 2 Sam. 23. 5. Ierem. 31. 33. Ezek. 36. 26 27. Psalm 73. 23. 2 Cor. 12. 9. 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 c. Tit. 2. 10 11 12. Mirae Gradationes in divina Catena inseparabiles 1 a. decretorum Rom. 8. 28 29 30. 2 a. Virtutum 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7 8 9 10. 3a Officiorum 1 Thes 5. 17 18. 19 c. 4 a. Privilegior 1 Cor. 1. 30. 1 Cor. 3. 21 22. 5 a. Beatitudinum Matth. 5. 3 4 5. c. Omnes isti Coelestes nexus sunt firmiter contexti nulla vi aut fraude dissolvendi Pendent enim omnes ab Optimi Maximi Throne ipsius Omnipotenti manu connectuntur conservantur 2 Tim. 2. 13. Rom. 8. 32. Ephes 1. 13. 2 Cor. 1. 22. About this Subject you may read much in all Antiquity and among Divines and Civilians of late especially in English you 'l find it handled exactly by Mr. Cobbet of New England in 1653. and much in scattered places among Mr. Baxters and others Works and in the Volumes of Sermons preached before the Parliaments since 1640. to this day You may see about it our Libertine School'd lately published Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6. 1 Sam. 2. 30. Rom. 13. 2 Sam. 23. 2 3. Exod 18. 21. Nehem. 3. 5. 2 Chron. 19. 5 6 7. Esay 49. 23. Ierem 30. 21. Their Queries and Objections you find answered in our Libertin School'd briefly more largely in other Authors Rom. 13. 2 3 4 5. Prov. 8. 15 16. Esay 8. 20. 2 Pet. 1. 19 20 21. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. 1 Tim. 1. 13 14. Tit. 3. 3. Act. 26. 9. 1 Pet. 2. 20. 2 Kiâ—g 17. compared with 2 King 19. Esay 49. 23. Revel 13. Revel 17. This Theme hath been frequently and fully handled in all Ages and in ours by the Assembly of Divines the Ministers of London by Mr. Shepheard Mr. Hooker Mr. Rutherford Mr. Gilespy Mr. Norton Mr. Cotton c. who harmoniously agree in the substantials though they sometimes vary in Circumstantials of Order Ecclesiastical Mal. 2. 7. Num. 16. Num. 17. Num. 31. 30 47. Num. 35. 2 8. Gen. 49 7. Deut. 33. 9 10. their scattering was for the publike good Deut 12. 19. Ezek. 44. 28 29 30. 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. 2 Chro. 30. 22. Ezek. 48. 10 11 12 13. This Prophesie from the 40 th Chapter of Ezek. is Evangelical though set out by Mosaical Expressions as the whole scope demonstrates Expositors harmoniously agree 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. See Josephus his Antiquity and of the Iewish wars Iohn 2. 14 15 16. Matth. 21. 12. Luk. 19. 45 46. Luke 9. 1 2 c. Luke 10. 1 2 c. Eph. 4. 10 11. Eph. 4. 11 12. 1 Cor. 12. 28 29. Act. 20. 28. Matth. 28. 18 19 20. Ioh 20. 22 23. Heb. 13. 7 17 24. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Revel 2. and Chap. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 19. 1 Cor. 4. 1. 1 Thes 5 12. Act 14. 22. 1 Tim. 5. 17 22. 2 Tim. 2. 2. Tit. 1. Eph. 4. 13 14. Revel 1. 20. Revel 11. About this you may see much in Smectymnuus in Waâ—o Messalinus in Salma sii libro de primatu Papae In the London Ministers Jus Minist Presbyt in Gilespie A-Aarons Rod Blossoming where the Fathers as Iren. Iustin Tertul. Austin Ierom c. are quoted to your hand See also Centur. Magdeb. Calvins Institut All our Divines about Church-Order Myster Inquit Morn c. Revel 13. Revel 17. 2 Thes 2. 4 5 6 7. 1 Tim. 4. 1 2 3 c. Revel 11. Revel 12. Revel 13. Revel 17. BishopVsher de Antiq success Ecclesiar Centur Magdeburg Catalog Test veritat Myster Inquit Morn Histor of the Church Chemnit Exam Field of the Church Iewels Apolog Whitaker Rainold Ius divinuÌ„ Minist Evangel Fox Monuments Spelman de Christ Relig. in Britan. Isaak's Chronology Speed c. Voet. Desperata causa papat pag. 405. The Romish usurpations were vigorously opposed in England from time to time witness Eademer Hist Nov. Selden Speed c. 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. 1 Thes 2. 7 8. Heb. 5. 4. Rom. 10. 13 14 17. Ierem. 23. 21 22 32 38. Ierem. 29. 31. Numb 16. 1 King 12. 30 31. 1 King 13. 34. 1 Tim. 3. Act. 14. 22. 1 Tim. 5. 22. Matth. 10. 40. Luke 10. 16. Matth. 24. 2 Tim. 4. 3 4. Ierem. 23. 32. 1 King 17. 18 1 Cor. 9. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 c Many choice Pleces are extant of this Subject by the Ancient and Modern in all Nations About these see Picus Mirandula Perkins Mr. Gauls Magastromanier Spanhemius c. Cornelius Agrippa himself once a great friend hereto saw at last the great danger thereof and discovered it to others Heb. 1. 2 3. Amos 3. 6. Godâ— not the Author of sin though active about sin in his decree and execution Therein he acts 1. as the supreme Mover man as the proper subject 2. God as the Author of Nature man as a moral Agent 3. God by a pure Rule man against Rule Gen. 50. 20. Act. 4. 20. Matth 10. 21. Esay 47. 12 13. Deut. 18. 9 10 11 12. 2 King 17. 17. Ierem. 14. 14. Ezek. 12. 24. Ezek. 13. 6 7 22. Act. 16. 16. The chief Hereticks who troubled the Church most in all Ages have been great promoters of this black Art as Manes the Priscillianist the Simonians Menandrians Marcionists Mark confuted by Irenaeus c. The Laws Imperial Ecclesiastick and Municipal have been zealous in all Ages against it both among the sober Pagans and all Christians The notorious Lyes and Impostures of the prime Astrologers stand on Record in History Tully shews how horribly they cheated Pompey Crassus and Caesar Alapide upon Act. 19. declares their horrid deceits in Rome See their lives in print by several Authors and many Histories to that purpose in the Records of all Nations and Ages Iob 9. 9. Iob. 38. 31. Amos 5. 8. If the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coeli may have a little Influence upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corporis it hath less upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenij if any least of all upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rationis in such a multiplicious variety of millions of men in all places and ages How great then must needs the uncertainty be and how fallacious the Conjectures that poor sinful worms below are put upon by judicial Prognosticks from thence Woful was the Catastrophe of Ahab and Iezabel Balak and Ahaziah Haman and Belshazzar harkning thereto In Malach. 4. 2. Christ is elegantly compared to the Sun to set forth his Divine Perfections represented to the Life by that abstract of Natures Wonder in its Essence and Attributes Properties and Effects Accidents and Adjuncts Thus a spiritual use may be made of the Caelestial Bodies besides the natural and moral But that horrid abuse of their lying Vanities and jugling Impieties who pretend to divine future events of Contingent affairs and humane transactions hath been still branded as the servant of Satan The commendation given to the ancient Magi or Wise men by Caelius Albertus and other learned men hath no colour of plea for our divining Astrologers what was commendable in the Chaldaean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the Grecian and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for natural and moral Philosophy should not patronize any Juglers Tricks or Satanical Divinations The Chaldaeans and Phenicians had opportunity to learn much from Ioseph Moses Daniel David Solomon and the other wise men of Judea which the most of them corrupted and so transmitted to the Greeks and Romans Rom. 13. 3 4 5 6. Esay 8. 19 20. What is objected by some from the Star observed by the Wise men Matth. 2. is impertinent to this purpose That case was transcendently extraordinary and miraculous in every part thereof as all learned Commentators observe The Star it self was of a nature motion appearance seat and rest quite different from all the Caelestial Stars The Persons being wise Chaldaeans surnamed Magi in those Eastern Countries had been instructed by many Prophesies of the Messias coming at that season and of his Star Besides Balaams Prophesie Numb 24. 17. of Great repute with them they had the Sybils Oracles particularly that of Sybilla Erythraea which writ very plainly of Christs Birth and Life They had especially the Iewish Instructions received from Daniel and others successively and most especially the Greek Translations of Scripture very frequent In all those parts which foretold plainly the time place and all Circumstances of his coming which was then generally expected not by the Jewes only but by all Nations also who minded Oracles and Prophesies Cicer. 2. lib. de divinatione Calcidius Platonicus in Timaeum Platon and divers others both of the Gentiles and Iews give pregnant testimony thereof Hence the inquisitive Greeks had received so much of Scripture-truth which they disguised under multiplicious fables 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was Apollos Oracle 1 Cor. 10. 12. Phil 3. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 c Heb. 3. 12. Heb. 12. 15. Heb. 3. 13. Heb. 12. 14. Matth. 5. 9. Rom. 16. 27.