godliness Rom. vi Col. iii. which they supposed all Christians had already felt these men fansied there was no other affirming the resurrection was past and none to come If they had onely doubted of it the Apostle it is like would not have so sharply punished them no more then he did the Corinthians But they blasphemed as he expresly tells us of Hymeneus 1 Tim. i. 20. that is reproached this Doctrine as a foolish opinion and reviled it is like the Apostles who were the preachers of it And therefore he inflicted on them the most grievous punishment by delivering them up to Satan which was not so little as merely banishing them the Christian Society but turning them over to the power of the Devill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as unto a publick Executioner to torture and scourge them They are the words of St. Basil * Homil. in princip Proverb p. 439. with whom agree divers others of the ancient Doctours who think the Apostle speaks of surrendring such persons into his hands that he might inflict bodily diseases or pains upon them to humble and bring them down to submit to the Apostolicall doctrine when they felt the miraculous effects of their Authority For that 's the reason this punishment is called delivering up to Satan because it visibly appeared by some plagues on the body that they were faln under his power by being thrown out of the Church He was as a common Galoer and Executioner in a City or Kingdome the Apostles as the Magistrates and Governours as was said before sitting upon thrones to judge and pass sentence on men either by giving the Holy Ghost to those who sincerely believed or by delivering those to be tormented and set on the rack by this Evill spirit who blasphemed the Christian Religion There was then no other power in the Church to correct and punish them for so high a crime and this being done by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ as you reade 1 Cor. v. 4. was a notable testimony of the SPIRIT to the truth of Christianity and bad all men beware how they spake evill of this holy Doctrine especially of this fundamentall part of it that the Lord Jesus will give us everlasting life and raise us up at the last day The terrible execution which they saw done upon those who subverted this foundation of all piety was a great means to confirm all Christian people in the faith and to make them reverence those who had this mighty power either to give men ease or to torment them to restore men to life or to strike them dead to give them as was said before the gifts of the Holy Ghost or to put them into the possession of the Devill There is a great deal of difference it is observed by Tertullian * L. de Pudicitia c. xiii between an Angel of Satan sent to buffet a man and being delivered up or put into the possession of Satan himself To the former St. Paul himself was by the Divine permission obnoxious for his exercise 2 Cor. xii 7. The latter was the punishment of blasphemers and other horrid offenders for their cure But both served to give a testimony to our Saviour and to settle the hope of immortall Life For by the Angel of Satan which buffeted that is disgraced and vexed St. Paul a great many ancient Writers * S. Chrysostom Theodorer Photius apud Oecumen Ambros Theophylact understand those troubles and sore afflictions all sorts of injuries and reproaches which infidels and wicked men by the instinct of some of the Devil's agents tormented the Apostle withall Alexander the Coppersmith saith St. Chrysostom who did St. Paul so much mischief Hymeneus and Philetus all those that set themselves against the Gospell cast him into prison beat him drove him out of their cities were Ministers of Satan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they did Satan's business who by such instruments laboured all he could to dishearten the Apostles and hinder the free course of the Gospell Here now appeared the mighty power of Christ which rested as the Apostle speaks or took up its dwelling in them 2 Cor. xii 9. They were never so strong as when they were thus afflicted Then they mightily prevailed and advanced the Kingdom of Christ by whose powerfull grace they endured all hardships and distresses courageously and demonstrated they had a strong and immovable hope of being with him in that blessed place unto which St. Paul was rapt just before this Messenger of Satan as we render it raised such a terrible storm of persecution against him By that glorious sight he was fortified against it and standing as firm as a rock himself confirmed others in that faith which made him so invincible that he gloried and took pleasure in all those infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses which that Angel of Satan stirred up against him ver 9 10. That was all the Devill got by his ill usage of him which onely gave the Apostle matter of glory For when our Saviour pleased not to grant his desire of having this Angel removed but onely told him his grace should be sufficient for him immediately he adds that he would gladly glory more then ever in his afflictions Which plainly shews both what he meant by that Angel of Satan and how much hereby the Christian Religion was promoted and the Souls of believers strengthened in the faith They might easily believe he had been in the third heavens when they saw him so much superiour to all the power on earth and the powers of the air too who conspired to beat him down and oppress him All the art in the world could not so declare the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the unutterable words St. Paul heard which the impious Cainites and Gnosticks * Epiphan Haeres xxxviii in a Book of theirs called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning St. Paul's ascent pretended to relate as this inexpressible power of Christ residing in him and supporting him under the greatest miseries which declared those words remained still imprinted in his Mind And that other power of Christ whereby the Apostle delivered up high offenders to Satan that he might inflict plagues and diseases or aches and pains on their bodies as evidently shewed what a great Minister he was in Christ's Kingdom and how credible the Doctrine was which he preached to them For he was ready to revenge all disobedience with remarkable punishments and alledges this power as a proof of his authority in the next Chapter 2 Cor. xiii 2 3 4. If I come again I will not spare since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me He is not weak indeed towards you but is mighty in you having given by me exceeding great demonstrations of his power and my Apostleship xii 12. Yet since you are not convinced it seems by what you have seen already and desire a farther proof that Christ speaks in me you shall
till he went to hear what the Lord would command concerning the persons who were in doubt ix Numb 8. Our Lord had no need at all to go any whither to make such enquiries but in every place even in Samaria knew the greatest secrets iv Joh. 18 19. For he himself was the Tabernacle of God He was the Tent which God had pitched among Men separated unto him as the Tabernacle and Temple were by the visible descent of the Divine Glory upon him and by its residing in him So that wheresoever he was he had an Oracle continually within himself and without any addresses to the most Holy place or any other knew all things and revealed the mind of God to Men. And all this was so conspicuous that it was far better known than the presence of the Lord upon the Ark. For that was confined to one place whereas Jesus went about doing good Which may be the meaning of that famous Prophecy iii. Jer. 16 17. Where he says they should not make mention of the Ark any more that is worship God before that as the only place But Jerusalem should be the THRONE OF THE LORD to which all Nations should be gathered that is in every part of the City and Country too he would appear as gloriously as he had done formerly in the most holy place of the Temple which could be at no other time but when Jesus appeared among them and sent by his Apostles the Law out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem to all Nations ii Isa 3 4. The THRONE OF THE LORD I have told you already is in their Language as Maimonides teaches us Every place which God separates for the manifestation of his Divine glory So the Heaven is called his Throne lxvi Isa 1. And by that name Jeremiah calls their Sanctuary xvii Jer. 12. A glorious high Throne from the beginning is the place of our Sanctuary And so I told you the Ark is called because that was the peculiar place in the Sanctuary where he resided But at last you see all Jerusalem by which we may understand the whole Nation was to become the THRONE of the LORD As it did when Jesus appeared who in person was sent to that Nation alone in whom the Divine glory shone illustriously in all places wheresoever he came They beheld the Wisdome the Power the Love of God in him not only in the Temple where he oft appeared but in every part of the holy City In the streets nay in the high wayes in the fields in the wilderness upon the sea there was a most glorious appearance of God such as never was when the Ark alone was the THRONE of the LORD VI. Which puts me in mind and then I shall end this that the Unity of God is as much nay more discovered in our blessed Saviour as it was at the Tabernacle or Temple in former times As there was but one place where God put his Name among the Children of Israel and they were all to go to the very same Oracle whereby they were preserved in the belief and worship of one God So now God hath manifested that this is his ONLY begotten Son and that there is no name given under Heaven whereby we can be saved but only His and that we must seek to no other Mediator but this One in whom now God appears in such a glory as he never did any where else And this is also to keep us in the belief that God is one which may hence also appear by this manifestation of God in the flesh For whereas we call God by several attributes the most holy the most wise the most powerful and the like yet we see all these were in one person Christ Jesus Which may well instruct us that they all together are but One God and that it is one eternal Majesty who is so holy wise powerful and good But as I said this was better made known by our Saviour than by the Divine Majesty residing at the Temple For during all the time that the Holy Oracle of God stood at Jerusalem there were also Oracles which pretended gods maintained among the Gentiles This upheld the Opinion concerning a multitude of gods And all that Moses or the Prophets could do did not destroy this belief in the World no not root it out of Israel till God appeared in our Lord and Saviour Then these other Oracles grew mute and it was held ridiculous to believe any more Gods than One. The Devils lost all their power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the coming of our Saviour among Men. They are the words of Eusebius who produces a sworn enemy of Christianity to avouch what he delivers Porphyry by name who makes this ingenuous confession * Lib. V. Praepar Cap. 1. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. ever since JESUS was honoured none ever perceived any publick help and succour from the Gods Aesculapius and the rest of the Gods have withdrawn themselves from men and do not converse with them From whence Eusebius argues very rationally on this manner How come you to know those whom you worship to be gods Why did not Aesculapius and the rest of his Companions overthrow the power of Jesus and make it of none effect If he be a mortal Man as you say nay perhaps you call him a jugler and a deceiver and they indeed be Saviours and gods What is the matter that they flee before him and turn their backs of one that is so inconsiderable Why do they yield up all the World to his power and abandon all their subjects in this shameful manner If you have any sence you must conclude that he is stronger than they and that what he speaks is true For though he be but one and as one would suppose alone yet He hath driven away a vast number of gods and made them leave the World He hath abolished their worship and service and exposed them to such contempt that as they appear no longer gods so they can do just nothing They are not able so much as to show themselves as they were wont to their followers But plainly discover that they were Daemons not Gods But on the contrary the worship of this JESUS and that ONE GOD who he saith sent him into the World is every day more and more propagated and takes deeper root in the minds of all People One would have thought that these gods should have bestirred themselves at his coming more than ever They should have made combinations and joyned all their forces against him Their Oracles which were so famous should now above all other times have been frequented and spoken most loudly so that all the World might hear them against this person who came to destroy that Religion and take away all that reverence which was paid them Or if one Oracle had been dumb upon any particular cause yet all of them together one would think should not have lost their voice
Pharisees that he hath sometimes suffered himself to be commanded by his Copartners it hath ever been with the same design that cunning Gamesters have who permit a meer bungler to beat them a set or two only to draw them in to play for a greater stake He never gives way to any of his Friends or seems to be afraid of their authority over him but it is to bring Men to an acknowledgment of his power or to seduce them to the performance of some magical services to him Whereas our Saviour demanded no other reward for all his charitable Cures but this alone that they whom he had thus obliged should thank GOD and give him glory and sin no more To this purpose Origen admirably discourses in the latter end of his first Book against Celsus It is senceless to think that any of his Miracles were done by Magick for there never was any Magician that called Men to the forsaking of the Devil and all Idolatry and perswaded them to amend their lives in good earnest They never instructed them in the fear of God by all their wonderful tricks nor taught those that saw them so to live as those that are to be tryed and judged by God This is none of their business They neither can nor will carry on such a design nor have any thing to do with the amendment of Mankind being themselves full of all filthiness and swarming with the most abominable Vices But he who by all the wonderful things he did called the spectators to the correction of their manners and the amendment of their lives propounded himself also not only to his familiar disciples but to all others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pattern and example of the best and most excellent life That so both his Disciples might be instructed to teach Men the will of God and others being taught by his Word and manners more than by his Miracles how to live might have respect to nothing else in all they did but how to please God Now if the life of Jesus was such as this what Man of sence is there that can compare him with Magicians and not rather believe him to be God appearing in an humane body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be a benefactor to Mankind and bestow the greatest blessings on us But because this Argument is very large let us draw it into a narrower compass and take particular notice onely of these two sorts of miraculous works casting out of Devils and raising the dead I. As for the former the casting of Devils out of a number of distracted and mad or melancholy People whose depraved imaginations were oft-times furiously moved by the power of evil spirits it is the more remarkable because it declares he had as great a power over the invisible World as they saw him have over the bodies of Men and over the water the winds and things growing upon the Earth all which yield some examples of his Miraculous works Who could this be but the Lord of Angels and Men and all other things who commanded the Prince of the power of the Air and all his Legions and they could not resist him Was it not an Argument that God was with him as S. Peter speaks when no created power whatsoever could withstand him For you may observe further 2. That there were no kind of Devils which did not presently give place when he required them to come out There might have been some colour as Athanasius well observes * Di incarn verbi p. 103. to say he cast out Devils by Beelzebub if he had not expelled all though never so numerous and never so outragious The Prince of Devils might have been supposed to have had power over the lesser fry But since it was apparent that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the fury and madness of Daemons fled before him at the very mention of his Name we must confess that our Lord and Saviour was no Daemonaical power but the very Son of God the Word as he speaks the Wisdome and the Power of the Father Nay 3. he not only expelled them himself but gave his Twelve Apostles authority to cast them out Thereby showing he came to deliver Men from the dominion of the Devil in that he gave the meanest Men such power over him Go ye says he x. Matth. 7.8 and preach saying The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead cast out Devils freely ye have received freely give This was long before they received the HOLY GHOST presently after they were called into his attendance and therefore was a portion of the SPIRIT which testified their CHRIST or KING was not far off but would shortly visit them For they were sent to prepare the people for him as seventy two Disciples more were afterward though with a less portion of the SPIRIT than the twelve Apostles had For when he sent them with the same commission to preach that the other had we read of no other power given them but to heal the sick in every City whereinto they came x. Luke 9. But they were possessed with such an high opinion of the power of their Master who sent them that they adventured further and in his name cast out Devils as well as healed sick people For when they returned back to give him an account they tell him with no small joy Lord even the Devils are subject unto us through thy name ver 17. Which might well have such power though they had no particular authority given them to cast out Devils by it since it was very terrible to them you may observe further 4. when pronounced by those who were not of our Saviours company So S. Mark relates ix 38. that S. John brought a report to him of a man whom they had seen casting out Devils in his name and yet was none of his followers for we forbad him says he because he followeth not us To which Jesus replies that there was no cause to prohibite him for this must needs prove a convincing argument to the man himself if not to others that he was the Christ ver 39. There is no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me Of this sort they seem to have been to whom our Saviour appeals when the Pharisees accused him of confederacy with Beelzebub That 's strange saith He did you ever hear of a Devil cast out in the name of any Magician In my name there is even by those who are more related to you than they are to me Let them therefore determine this matter That seems to be the sence of those words xii Matth. 27. By whom then do your children cast them out therefore they shall be your Judges There are those who are none of my Disciples but yours that use my name for the casting out of Devils who immediately fly before them What do you think of them do they deal with Beelzebub I
but continued blinder than the Egyptian Magicians when it did so many wonders would shut their eyes against any other means of conviction which could not be expected it must also be remembred because God himself had no higher evidence to give them than this of his SPIRIT But then you must not understand this speech of our Saviour as if he meant that those persons to whom he spake these words had run themselves at that instant into this unpardonable sin but that if they still proceeded to blaspheme it when the SPIRIT had finished its testimony that is done all those things which still were behind for their conviction then they would fall into it and remain in it irrecoverably For you must remember that under the word SPIRIT is comprehended the power that raised Christ from the dead and presented him to God in the Heavens that he might receive of him the promise of the Holy Ghost which he shed upon the Apostles abundantly as a witness of his Resurrection and glorious Exaltation If after this that Jesus was risen again from the dead ascended into Heaven and showed himself to be there by sending the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles they did not believe but still blasphemed the holy name of Jesus and the SPIRIT of God saying That they were drunk who were filled with the Holy Ghost as here they said Jesus had a Devil then they were uncapable of obtaining remission of sin because there was nothing more to be done for their conversion but they must be abandoned to the hardness and impenitence of their hearts This I am sure must be the meaning because our Lord himself after he had pronounced the Pharisees unpardonable who spake against the SPIRIT whereby he cast out Devils tells them expresly that there was one sign more remaining to convince them which is a demonstration they had not yet sinned incurably nor could not till that sign was past and that was the sign as you heard of the Prophet Jonas ver 39 40. which he grants them again xvi 4. should not be denied them Now every body understands by this His Death and Resurrection with those things that followed upon it the sending of the Holy Ghost to enable his Apostle to go and teach all Nations as Jonas went after he came as we may say out of his grave and preached to the great City Nineveh But then this was still the SPIRIT that was thus continued to them by that our Lord being raised and it working wonders also at his Death which if they continued to resist when it had fully done the whole office of a witness and was all poured forth then they were under the absolute sentence of condemnation In brief To blaspheme the SPIRIT in this comprehensive sence of the Word including the Resurrection and that which followed to prove it was the unpardonable sin and none else And thus our Saviour's meaning is to be expounded if one should speak a word against the Son of man that is Him despising him because of his poor Parentage and calling him the Son of a Carpenter or some such name this though blameable might be pardoned propter corporis vilitatem as S. Hierom speaks because of the meanness of his outward appearance Nay if a man proceeded so far as to call him a glutton a Wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners this also might find pardon because he did not hitherto speak evil of the works proper to a God but only of those belonging to a man And more than this should he call him deceiver or seducer when he heard him teach the people it would not be unpardonable because no man is to be believed merely upon his own word But if when these men saw the mighty works of the SPIRIT justifying his preaching to be Divine they still continued to speak evil of him this was a very dangerous blasphemy because they could not after this call him a seducer or false Teacher but they must reproach the holy SPIRIT as well as him and call that the work of the Devil which was performed by the power of the Spirit of God And if when the HOLY GHOST was come from Heaven upon the Apostles witnessing that he was quickned by the SPIRIT and by the same SPIRIT presented to God in the Heavens they still went on to speak evil of him then there was no hope of remission because they blasphemed the last remedy for their recovery which was the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven to perswade them to repent and believe on his name And that we must take our Saviour in this sence is further apparent from the name of the HOLY GHOST which he uses when he speaks of this unpardonable sin never calling it the blasphemy against the SPIRIT but always the blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST which you know was not as yet given when our Saviour spake these words In the beginning of this discourse xii Matth. 28. he mentions only the SPIRIT But then coming to describe the danger of blaspheming it he doth not say that the blasphemy of the SPIRIT simply that is of those present works of his was unpardonable but that the blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST when it was come should never be forgiven Which must needs be understood as I have already argued concerning the contempt and reproachful usage of those following witnesses the Resurrection Ascension and the preaching of the Apostles endowed with power from on high because though the SPIRIT now wrought among them yet the HOLY GHOST was not come to be his ADVOCATE and plead his cause and therefore could not as yet be blasphemed by them By HOLY GHOST then in our Saviour's language here I suppose is meant all that was left still to be done for his Justification and that it is so wide a word in this place as to include in it the SPIRIT also For he was speaking before of the SPIRIT and therefore when he alters the phrase he doth not leave out the testimony of that but imbraces it within the compass of a larger word which it was necessary to use that he might show when that sin which they had begun in a desperate manner would be so complete that it could never be undone And that was when the HOLY GHOST had consecrated the Apostles to their great office which supposes his Resurrection and filled them with all Divine gifts among which you know was a power xiv John 12. to do greater works than these which our Saviour is here speaking of called the SPIRIT Then if they did not believe there was no remedy but they must perish in their infidelity But till then they to whom our Saviour speaks were not arrived at this hopeless condition because they had hitherto only blasphemed the SPIRIT not the HOLY GHOST which was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified But when it was given and they reproached that as they had done the SPIRIT then they were under irrecoverable condemnation
in the city and Gabriel to Mary and Elizabeth and Anna and Symeon to those in the Temple Nor were men and women onely transported with the pleasure but an infant that had not seen the light leapt in its mother's womb and all were strangely lifted up in hopes of what was a-coming These things all fell out straightway after his birth But when he appeared in the World there were more Miracles and greater then the former appeared again For not so little as a Star and the Heavens not Angels or Archangels not Gabriel or Michael but the Father himself proclaimed him from heaven and with the Father the Comforter came down with a voice and remained on him And therefore well might the Apostle say We have seen his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father And not by these things alone but by those which followed after For now not merely Shepherds and an aged Prophetess and reverend men published the glad tidings of the Gospell but the voice it self of the things he did louder then the sound of any trumpet which was heard presently every-where For the fame of him saith the Evangelist went into all Syria and revealed him to all and cried every-where that the King of heaven was come to men For Daemons every-where fled and got away and the Devill departed and Death began to give place and not long after quite vanished and all manner of infirmities were loosed and the tombs dismissed the dead the Daemons left those that were mad and Diseases those that were sick Wonderfull and strange things were to be seen which the Prophets desired to see and did not For one might have seen eyes new made paralytick lims strengthened motion given to withered hands and lame feet ears that were stopt up opened and the tongues of the dumb loosed In one word like an excellent workman that comes into an house which is decayed and rotten by time he repaired or re-built rather humane Nature For who can tell how he made the Souls of men new which is a greater wonder then all the rest For the wills of men oppose their cure which the body doth not They will not yield we see no not to God himself And yet these were reformed by him and all kind of wickedness expelled Nor were they onely freed from Sin but like the bodies to which he gave the best habit after he had cured their diseases they were advanced to the highest degree of vertue A Publican became an Apostle A persecutour a blasphemer a reproacher of Christianity turned the Preacher of the Word A thief was made a Citizen of Paradise and a strumpet became illustrious by a great faith And abundance of others worse then these were listed in the number of the Disciples till whole cities and countries were strangely reformed by the Gospell Who is able to declare the wisedom of his Precepts the vertue of his heavenly Laws the excellent order of his Angelicall Conversation For he hath taught us such a life he hath given us such laws and instituted such a polity that they who use them though before the worst of men straightway become Angels and like to God according to our power The Evangelist therefore recollecting all these things the Miracles he wrought upon mens bodies upon their Souls and upon the elements the Precepts the secret Gifts the Laws the Polity the power of perswasion the future Promises his Sufferings he pronounced this wonderfull lofty voice We beheld his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth For they did not admire him onely for his Miracles but for his Sufferings As for example because he was nailed to a Cross and scourged because he was beaten because he was spit upon because those buffeted him to whom he had been a benefactour upon the account even of these which seem most shamefull that voice is worthy to be repeated again because he himself hath called this a Glory For then Death was destroyed the Curse was dissolved Daemons were put to shame and he triumphed over them openly and the hand-writing of sins or obligation to punishment was nailed to the Cross and cancelled And besides these wonders which were invisible there were others apparent unto all which shewed he was the onely-begotten Son of God and the Lord of all the Creation For while his blessed body yet hung upon the Cross the Sun withdrew its beams the earth was astonished and wrapt in darkness the ground shook the tombs were broke open a great many dead people walkt out of their graves and went into the City the stone upon his grave was rolled away and he arose He that was crucified he that was fastned with nails to the cross he that was dead arose and filling his Apostles with great power sent them to all the World as the common physicians of humane Nature the rectifiers of mens lives the sowers of the knowledge of heavenly Doctrine the loosers of the Devill 's tyranny the teachers of the great and hidden Goods the preachers of the glad tidings of the immortality of the Soul the Eternall life of the body and the rewards which as they pass all understanding so never have any end These and many more such like this blessed man beholding which he knew but was not able to write because the world could not have contained the Books he cried out We beheld his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Who is now as able I may adde to give us new bodies and inconceivably-improved Souls and then to perpetuate the happiness of both in heaven as he was to cure diseases and raise dead bodies and purify mens minds when he was here on earth Let our conclusion therefore as he says elsewhere be sutable to our discourse Hom. xiii p. 607. 5. And what 's so sutable as Doxologies and giving glory to God in such manner as is worthy of him Not by our words onely that is but much more by our deeds So our Saviour himself exhorts us saying Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven For there is nothing more bright and shining then an excellent conversation as one of the wise men hath said The ways of the just shine like the light And they shine not onely to those that light their lamps by their works but to all that are near unto them Therefore let us pour oyl continually into these lamps that the flame may rise higher and the light shine more abundantly Having received such grace and truth by Jesus Christ Id. p. 611. let us not grow the lazier by the greatness of the gift For the greater honour hath been done us the more we are bound to excell in vertue Let that therefore be our business to purify our selves so throughly that being thought worthy to see Christ we may not at that Day