of honour set him above Angels principalities and powers and hath committed to his trust the Government of the world FROM THENCE To wit out of Heaven whither he ascended and where he now is Christ God Man at the last day in the end of the world riding upon the clouds shall shew himself and HE SHALL COME Attended with innumerable Angels and Saints with the voice of a Trumpet in a glorious manner to the joy of his servants and the terrour of his enemies TO JUDGE For all mankind shall be gathered together from the four quarters of the earth and we must all appear before the Iudgment-seat of Christ to give an account of our works Then shall the books be open'd and every man's conscience shall witness against him and that which hath bin done in secret shall be made known and the thoughts of the heart shall be discovered Then righteous sentence shall proceed from the Iudges mouth according to the Law and the Gospell Then shall be put a difference betwixt the good and bad the righteous and the wicked when God shall reward his servants with a Crown of Glory and destroy his enemies with an everlasting destruction endless torments There is a twofold coming of Christ Christ came first to be judged the second time he will come to judge THE QUICK Those who shall then be found alive who shall be suddenly changed in the twinckling of an eye and without death shall pass from death to life AND THE DEAD For the dead shall rise again as many as from the beginning of the world throughout all ages have lived upon the face of the earth and though they have been mouldered into dust or torn by wild beasts or buried in the waves of the Sea yet they shall take up the very same bodies again to which the soul may again be united God's power bringing this about and his justice so requiring it that every man may in his body reap the fruit of those things which he hath done in the body I BELIEV With the same Faith by which I believ the Father and the Son I believ also in the third Person of the holy and blessed Trinity Being verily perswaded that he is true God and the power of the most High depending upon his assistance and finding by experience that whatsoever good I either doe or have comes all from him IN THE SPIRIT He is therefore called Ghost or Spirit because he partly proceeds from the Father and the Son by way of breathing partly because he breaths into us good thoughts and holy desires wherefore it is added HOLY Seeing that he is not only Holy in himself with such holiness as far exceeds all other blessed Spirits both Angels Saints but also makes us holy by an effectual working of grace in our hearts He it is that applyes the benefits of Christ's death unto us and makes us partakers of the salvation which he hath purchased for us by his blood The holy Prophets and Apostles were the penmen of the Holy Ghost who wrote as they were inspired by him He gathers the Church by the Preaching of the word having furnisht the Apostles with the gifts of tongues provided a ministry and other holy ordinances for the propagation of the Gospell filling up the number of the elect and bringing souls to life THE CHURCH The company of believers whom God hath ordained to life before the foundation of the world was laid whom he hath called out of a state of sin to the profession of Faith in Christ and a holy conversation whom he also doth rule by his Word and Spirit HOLY Gathered and guided by the Holy Ghost distinguished from the rest of the world by holy appointments adorning their profession with holy works CATHOLICK or Vniversal in respect of time place and persons being to last through all ages of the world spread abroad over all quarters of the earth consisting of men of all ranks and conditions God having shut the gate of his Kingdom to none but such as wilfully refuse to enter Now the Holy Ghost bestows upon the Church which he gathers by the word and sanctifies by grace these Blessings which follow THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS Whereby the Saints who are the faithfull ones the chosen and the children of light are united to Christ as their head and amongst themselves as members of the same body the Church drawing virtue life and efficacy from Christ and performing to one another all offices of Charity as being knit together with a spirit of love and bond of peace THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS Which the spirit on our unfeined repentance assures us of by applying the merit of Christ and sprinkling our consciences from dead works with his blood which he powred forth to be a price of souls neither doth he onely seal to our hearts a pardon of former offences shewing us the favour of God reconciled in his Son but doth withall give us power to resist sin for the time to come cleansing us from every defilement of the flesh and spirit subduing our lusts changing our wils and renewing our natures according to righteousness THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY For in the last day when Christ shall come to judgement the trump shall sound and the dead shall arise with the very same bodyes that they had before and every one shall receive according to his works For as much as the wicked shall be thrown into Hell there to be tormented with the Divel with the worm which never dyes and the fire which is never quenched But the good shall enter into LIFE EVERLASTING Where they shall rest from their labours and enjoy God for ever living in abundance of joys and pleasures which neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor can the heart of man conceiv And all these things I believ not onely with an Historical Faith but appropriate unto my self being fully perswaded that God made me by his power preserves me by his goodness and provides for me both in soul and body by his infinite wisdome And that the Son of God whatsoever he hath done or suffered he performed and underwent for my sake that I through him might live And that the Spirit of God dwelleth in me working in me Faith Repentance that I am a true member of the Church that my sins are forgiven me that I shall rise again and see my Redeemer with these eyes who shall out of his free bounty reward me his unworthiest servant with the Glory which shall have no end FINIS THE EXPLANATION OF THE TEN COMMANDEMENTS The Ten Commandements Exodus xx GOD spake all these words saying I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth
mischievous wherein Christian moderation and patience hath not place By doing nothing to serve our own passion or interest but all for God's glory onely and publick benefit And to let our hearts even bleed in pitty over those wicked wretches who dye by the hand of Iustice and abate rather then improve the rigour of the law any farther then is necessary for the terror of evil works Such was Ioshuah's carriage to Achan My son saith he give glory to God who nevertheless was ston'd to death We desire then in this petition that God would blot out all our iniquities and remember our sins no more that he would not impute our sins to us but cover our iniquities that he would pardon all that we have done amiss that he would not deal with us according to our iniquities nor reward us according to our sins But that he would deal bountifully with our souls and of his free grace pardon us that he would accept of what Christ his Son our surety hath done and suffer'd for us to take away the sins of the world that he would look upon his death as a sufficient ransome and a perfect atonement for sin that he would sprinkle us with his blood for justification and cloath us with the robes of his righteousness that as our sins were imputed to him for a shameful and cursed death so his righteousness may be reckon'd to us for glory and immortality That he would nail the hand-writing of the law against us to the Cross and bury our sins in his grave that they may never rise up against us neither to shame us in this world nor to condemn us in the next That he would break the rule and dominion of sin as well as free us from the guilt and punishment of it That he would create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us That he would loose us from the bands of death and quicken us to newness of life killing sin in us by the virtue of his death and raising us by the power of his resurrection who dyed for our sins and rose again for our justification That he would sprinkle our consciences from dead works wash away the stains of our natures of our lives though our sins be as red as crimson make them as white as wool That he would keep us from presumptuous sins cleanse us from our secret sins That he would lay the restraints of his grace upon us that we may not break out into foul enormities That he would mortify our lusts and subdue our corruptions and earthly affections That the pollution of our nature and original uncleanness may be done away by the water of Baptism in the layer of regeneration That he would forgive us all the evil of our doing our neglects in duty the sins of our youth and the sins of our riper age the vain imaginations and the evil concupiscence of our hearts every idle and unsavoury word all our wicked and ungodly deeds whereby we have dishonour'd him injur'd our neighbour or abus'd our selves our own sins and our other folks sins our national and our personal sins our civil our religious sins our rebellions apostasyes and our hypocrisy our righteousness our prayers our charity and our very forgiveness it self all the transgressions and violations of his law and the breaches of his holy commandments sins we have committed knowingly or ignorantly wilfully or weakly deliberately or upon surprise with temptation or without all that we know by our selves and that he knows by us who knows our folly and our frailty and how brutish we are that as his mercy is over all his own works so he would stretch it over all our works That he would be graciously pleased to doe what he requires us to doe to love his enemies and bless his persecutors That he would magnify his mercy in pardoning great sins and not let the mercy of man exceed it that he who is abundant in loving kindness and full of compassion would not come short of his creatures that since he has commanded us if our brother offend seventy seven times we should forgive him he would take pattern from his own command and pardon us our repeated abominations wherewith we provoke him every day that he would work in us the grace of repentance and charity and assure us of the forgiveness of our sins by our readiness to forgive others AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION As it was not enough that God should give unless he would also forgive us so neither will a bare forgiveness serve our turn to quit all that 's past unless we may have his assistance to prevent faults to come so that in the preceeding petition we desire to have our former debts struck of the score in this we beg a stock of grace and the supplyes of the spirit that we may run in debt no more nor fall into any more sin So that we intreat God to deal with us as a tender mother with her little one that 's yet unable to goe alone who takes it up when it catches a fall and holds it when 't is up that it may not fall again There we call'd for pardon here we ask for strength having been often foil'd by the tempter we implore spiritual aid that God would enable us to resist Satan that he may fly from us to withstand evil so that having done all we may stand That belong'd to justification whereby we are reconciled to God this pertains to sanctification whereby we are made like unto God who is both all good and is not tempted of evil AND. The Petitions which concern us have mutual connexion with and dependence upon one another Give us and forgive us and Lead us not but deliver us whereas the others which concern God stand apart and are not so coupled and joyn'd together because they are of themselves intire and compleat and one granted naturally infers the rest every thing that belongs to God being like himself infinite His Name his Kingdom and his Will each in a manner severally including the other two so that his glory is sufficiently provided for if any of them hold good For his name cannot be hallowed unless his Kingdom come and his will be done too And if his Kingdom come his will must needs be done and his name will be hallowed Or if his will be done t is a certain sign his Kingdom is come and his name as sure will again be hallowed But the benefits we crave for our selves are partial and such as God often disjoins gives apart as 't were by piece-meals For many times he bestows bread and an outward estate where he doth not vouchsafe pardon and peace of conscience nor gives grace alway to prevent the commission of future sins where he forgives sins past Some men are rich to their hurt and their fulness of bread is a curse whilest their abundance doth but
the same nature and essence with the Father begotten of his substance before all time God of God Light of Light very God of very God equal to him in all things as to the God-head Christ as the Son of God had no Mother as the Son of the Virgin no Father who became Man that he might in the flesh satisfy for the sins of the flesh yet continued God that he might appeas the anger of an offended God Man that he might suffer death God that he might overcome it God and Man that he might be a perfect Mediator and might reconcile God to Man by atoning wrath and man to God by destroying sin wherefore he took up humane nature put not of the divine But these two natures were united and as it were married in the one Person of Christ. OUR LORD In respect of God Christ is called the Son which shews his essence in respect of us a Lord which shews his dignitie Now he is our Lord both by right of creation because he made us and by right of redemption because he hath bought us with a price and purchased us with his blood to be a peculiar people We are no longer then our own that we should fulfill the lusts of the flesh But we are Christ's the Lord's to doe his Will and keep his Commands The several Steps by which Christ humbled himself and Divine Love moved towards us are his Conception Birth Passion Crucifixion Death Burial and Descent to Hell The infinite is conceiv'd the everlasting is born the Blessed suffers the King of Heaven is nailed to a Cross the immortal dyes the Immense is buried and the King of Glory goes down to Hell What strange contradictions have our sins put the Son of God upon who to procure our Salvation denyed himself and put on the form of a servant Which was conceived of the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary CONCEIVED That is cloathed with flesh formed and fashioned into bodily parts indued with sense motion and a reasonable soul inlivened cherished produced preserved increased and in one word made man Humane nature being taken up and joyn'd to the Divine OF THE HOLY GHOST Not begotten of his substance for then the third Person should be Father too which is contrary to Faith but by the operation of the holy Spirit the power of the Highest overshadowing her the Virgin without the help of man conceived which is a miracle foretold by the Prophets and fulfill'd in our Messias Behold a Virgin shall conceiv and bring forth a Son now the holy Ghost did separate that most pure mass of flesh blood of which the Body of Christ was to be formed from all corruption of our nature and the stain of sin to which all other the Virgin her self not excepted are lyable who are born after the ordinary way of generation Behold saith David a man after God's own heart I was conceived in sin and in iniquity hath my mother brought me forth Moreover 't was necessary that he should be born without sin who came to die for other's sins and the Lamb of God which was to take away the sins of the world should himself be spotless He could not have been our surety had he been himself a debtour nor satisfied justice for us could the law have charged him with any guilt of his own BORN Having taken upon him a true body being in all things made like unto us sin only excepted flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone that he might truely become the Son of Man he observed the lawes and customs of humane nature and after he had continued in the womb the usual time he was at length brought forth into light laid in a manger wrap't in swadling cloaths and attended by the Virgin and bred up passed his child hood in performing obedience to his parents and grew in stature and wisdome OF THE VIRGIN It became God thus to be born not without a miracle Our Faith is full of miracles a Three-One God a God-Man Christ a Virgin-Mother Mary A Virgin she was before her delivery in her delivery and after her delivery for they who are called the brethren of the Lord are after the manner of the Hebrew speech to be understood as Kinsmen She was indeed espoused to Ioseph but she knew no man Her Virginitie dignifies a single life her betrothing justifies the married state It pleased God to choose a woman without the help of man in the business of our salvation for the honour and comfort of that sex that as by the disobedience of the first woman mankind fell so it might be recovered by the birth of the Virgin and Mary might make amends for the miscarriage of Eve MARY For the greater certainty the name of the Royal Maid is expressed she being of the tribe of Iudah of the linage of David the King according to the Prophecies concerning the Messias Yet the Mother of the Lord this Blessed Virgin was very poor to shew that Christ's Kingdom was not of this world and in this were the blind Jewes offended that they looked for outward pomp the glory of an earthly crown little heeding the foretellings of the Prophets wherein Christ is described a man of sorrows to suffer all the punishment due to our sins to wit death and all the miseries of an afflicted life Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried We pass immediately from his birth to his Passion for indeed his whole life from his cradle to the Cross was nothing else but a continual passion being spent in hunger thirst fasting watching and travelling grief reproach and shame and he was therefore sent into the world that he might die and to this end God prepared him a body that he might lay down his life for His. SUFFERED Having undertook our cause he satisfied divine Iustice by undergoing those penalties which God in his word hath threatned to the transgressors of the law He was by the sentence of an earthly Iudge condemned to death that we might be acquitted before the heavenly Father UNDER PONTIUS PILATE In that time wherein Pontius Pilate was Governour of Iudea being set over that Nation by the Roman Emperour when was fulfilled that Prophecie which foretold the coming of the Messias should be when the Scepter was departed from Iudah that is when the Iews should be subject to a forreign power having lost their own government CRUCIFIED Christ being betraid by Iudas forsaken of his disciples apprehended as a malefactor is brought to the judgement hall and having been spit upon and mocked by the souldiers accused by the Priests with the charge of blasphemy persecuted with the hatred of the people crying Crucifie him Crucifie him scourged with whips crowned with thorns and besprinkled with large showers of his innocent blood is at last by Pilate delivered up to the will malice of his enemies who nailing his blessed hands stretched wide open to the Cross
beam and his holy feet closed together to the upright beam of the Cross exposed him naked to publick shame being hung betwixt two theevs in a place without the city at the Feast of Passeover and when he had given up the ghost with many pains and groans a souldier pierced his side with a launce that that saying might have place they shall look on him whom they have pierced DEAD By the separation of soul and body for his body remain'd upon the Cross and his soul return'd immediately to God as himself told the penitent theef This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He was not born after an ordinary manner neither dyed he a common death for as much as beside the extream pain he suffered whilest he hung with the weight of his body upon the Cross and the great shame to which he lay open he lay under a curse the Law pronouncing him cursed that hangs upon the tree AND BURIED Taken down from the Cross embalm'd with spices wrapped up in fine linnen and laid in a tomb where none had lay'n before by the care and cost of Ioseph of Arimathea And the malice of his enemies persued him beyond death and attended him to his very grave who that he might not rise again as himself had promised rolled a great stone to the mouth of the tomb and clapping on their own seals set a guard to watch him HE DESCENDED INTO HELL That is he went down into the lower-most parts of the earth and for the space of three dayes remain'd in the grave amongst the dead Or as some expound it he suffered the pains of Hell and the wrath of God due to our sins and underwent the curse of the law and terrours of conscience to which we were lyable Others take the words as they sound of the place that he did coveigh himself into the regions of darkness and discovered to the divels and to the wicked spirits the glory of his presence and routing the powers of Hell leading captivity captive and trampling Satan that old serpent the enemy of mankind under his victorious feet according to the first Prophesie of Christ The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head And in this sense this article is the beginning of Christ's exaltation The other degrees are his Resurrection his Ascension his Sitting at the right hand of God the Father and his Coming to judgement THE THIRD DAY After that he had lain three dayes in the grave as Ionas who ws the type of the Son of Man continued three days in the whale's belly It being observ'd that on the fourth day the body begins to corrupt which was not to happen to Christ David thus speaking concerning him My flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption Wherefore early in the morning on the third day which was for that reason appointed the Christian Sabbath HE ROSE AGAIN Partly raising himself by his own virtue and divine power as himself saith I lay down my life that I may take it up again I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Partly being raised by God the Father who when his Iustice was fully satisfied released Christ out of the prison of the grave and to that purpose sent his Angels to roll away the stone death having now no more dominion over him who having finisht the work of our redemption rose again for our justification FROM THE DEAD He return'd to life appeared to his Disciples and others several times shewed the wounds which he had received on the Cross and made Thomas who was hard of belief to feel his side that he might know it was a true body And having for fourty dayes together conversed upon earth and given orders to the Apostles how they should goe into all the world and preach the Gospell and plant churches promising them the assistance of the spirit he took his leave of them in this manner as followeth HE ASCENDED In the sight of his Apostles from the top of mount Olivet where he had bin formerly used to spend much of his time in holy retirements and spiritual exercises he lifted up himself from the ground and so mounting upward through the aire was received by a cloud and to the wonder of them all carried aloft out of sight two Angels telling them as they stood gazing that as they had seen him goe away so he should come again INTO HEAVEN The seat of the blessed where God sits on his Throne attended by millions of Angels far above the sphear of the stars the sky to wit the highest heaven For having dispatched the business for which he came down on earth he return'd to the Father by whom he had bin sent to intercede with him in our behalf and make out to us thence the benefit of all those things which he had done and suffer'd for us here And having conquer'd sin and death and broken the power of Hell what remains but that he should as in triumph ride upon the wings of the wind ascend to Heaven as the prize of his glorious conquest AND SITTETH To note that he hath fully accomplished the work of our Salvation he is said at last to sit down that he may as it were rest from his labours For the servant stands or goes whilest he is employ'd and sits not down till his work be done Now Christ put on the form of a servant and came as he saith of himself to wait not to be waited on That he sits also is a token of that authority which the Father hath given him having delivered unto him all power both in heaven and in earth and put all things under his feet So God sits in Heaven to order all things at his pleasure Again to sit sometimes signifies stay he sits there not to return before the end of the world Lastly by this word is expressed the blessed and glorious condition of the Saints in the life to come who shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore to shew the greatness of the dignitie to which Christ according to his humane nature is advanced is added At the right hand of God the Father Almighty The right hand usually expresseth strength and honour power and glory besides to give the right hand is a sign of fellowship and friendship wherefore God calls him the man my fellow Now to speak properly God hath no right hand or left nor any bodily parts but that he may apply himself to our capacities he doth use to speak of himself after the manner of men Becuse earthly Princes are wont to place those at their right hand whom they favour and would shew a particular honour as Solomon entertained his mother The meaning is that God hath raised him to the highest pitch
to run his course as a Giant refresh'd with wine and lastly to wash the defiled conscience and cleans the foul running sores of the soul that it may be fitted for the oyl of the spirit the comforter Besides Christ himself is often compared to a Vine whereof all the faithfull are branches I am the Vine sayes he i and my Father the Husbandman and he is said to have trod the winepress of God's wrath alone for us Yet in case of necessity where wine cannot be had other drinks either natural or made according to the custom of the country may be us'd as water beer c. Now as that bread which came down from heaven was the type of his body so was the water which came out of the rock and follow'd the Israelites through the wilderness an emblem of his Blood for that rock was Christ. He took it He lifted it from the table and held it in his hand either having first powred wine into it out of some bigger vessell or flagon or else with an intent to power wine into it as the word shed forth or powred out doth intimate for the sign was to represent the thing signified AFTER SUPPER At the end of Supper when they had done eating whereas the other part of this Sacrament was appointed in Supper time as they were eating Or else 't is not unlikely that this particle of time may belong as well to the bread as to the cup that the celebration of the whole mystery was not performed till they had made an end of the Paschal Supper into the room and place whereof this was from thence forward to succeed and be of perpetual use in the Church AND WHEN HE HAD GIVEN THANKS or blessed it For the Apostle calls it The Cup of blessing which we bless i.e. before he appointed it to be a sign of his Blood he sanctified it by the word and prayer and begging a blessing upon it separated it from common use using perhaps the ordinary grace which amongst the Iews the Master of the house did at meals make use of for no question but our Saviour here alludes to their custom who at the end of dinner or supper after thanks was given drank round the whole company that was at table of the grace-cup the Master of the house beginning to the rest HE GAVE IT He set it down amongst them that they might one after another take the cup and drink or perhaps put it into the hand of some one that he might give it about to his fellows TO THEM The Apostles to wit or disciples who at that time stood for the whole Church and consequently to all believers whomsoever that make profession of the Christian Faith SAYING Speaking almost the same words as he used before concerning the bread that he might declare his own purpose in the institution of this mystery and their benefit who should partake of it DRINK YE With Faith receive this Sacrament of my Blood that like your natural drink it being taken into your souls may refresh your souls quicken your graces and keep you to life everlasting ALL OF IT Every one some for the bread was indeed broken into severall portions but the cup could not be so divided wherefore they were to part it among them every one drinking so that there might be left for the rest of the company FOR. That which before was delivered in a declarative way as a bare narration eat this is my Body is here brought in as a reason Drink for this is my Blood Which shews to what end and purpose the cup was appointed and how much it concerns believers to drink of it since by it is conveyed the forgiveness of sins the main virtue and effect of Christ's Blood being spilt THIS To wit this cup which I doe now deliver to you this wine which you are now about to drink or this action of my giving and your drinking the holy Cup. IS MY BLOOD That is doth signifie and represent my Blood and not only so but gives out also and conveyes my Blood and the benefits thereof so that it being receiv'd with Faith shall prove as much to your advantage and doe your souls as much good as if you did really drink my very Blood even as one finds himself refresh'd with wine which he drinks OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Upon Gospel terms and the account of grace whereas formerly in the time of the Old Testament under the Law they were us'd to make atonement for their sins with the blood of bulls and goats now Christ the Son of God was come in the flesh who was the substance that all those shadows belonged to and the truth prefigur'd by those Levitical types all those rites of sacrificing were to have an end when once he had offer'd up a perfect sacrifice blotting out the hand-writing of the Law and sealing a New Covenant of grace in his Blood for the word will bear that sense too and we know 't was the usual custom of making and ratifying Covenants by sacrifice as betwixt God and Abraham Abraham and the King of the Philistins when they strook a league of friendship and possibly that heap of stones which was raised by Iacob and his Father in law Laban and was afterward called Gilead might serve also for that purpose Nay Homer takes notice of it as practis'd amongst the Heathen But the Greek does more properly denote the Testament or last will by which a man doth before his death dispose of his estate bequeath legacies which being ambulatory and uncertain as long as one lives is never valid or of force till the Testator be dead nor could we have bin the better for Christ or have had an effectual enjoyment of his benefits had he not dyed and by his death sealed as well as made the purchase By the New Testament here then is meant the will of God the Father concerning the Salvation of mankind which in former time he had made his people acquainted with by visions and Prophesies and other dark representations but in the fulness of time by sending his own Son made man after our own likeness when the wisdome of the Father dwelt amongst the children of men and the word became flesh gave out a full discovery thereof in the light of the Gospel and the clear manifestations of his grace And that Covenant of grace which by the death of his Son our Mediator who reconcil'd us with the Father he entred into with men being made upon other terms then the Law required which sayes Doe this and live and calls for an exact obedience which therefore it was impossible for men to keep whereas the conditions we are tyed to under the Covenant of grace are repentance only and Faith by which denying our own righteousness we depend upon the merits of a crucified Saviour according as they are propos'd both in the Old Testament the Iust shall live by Faith And
Scripture The one was when he came in the flesh in the form of a servant to die for us that he might reign upon the tree as some readings have it in the Psalms The other will be when he shall come in the clouds with power and glory attended with Angels to judge the world at that great and dreadful day when the trumpet shall summon all to appear before the tribunal And when that 's done he shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father and the time of this his coming and the end of the world he hath left here to be the subject of our prayers and not of our inquiries to exercise devotion not curiosity the uncertainty of the time being an argument to quicken our diligence in preparing for it that we may watch and pray he having told us afore-hand that he will steal upon us as a thief in the night But what need we trouble our selves about the age of the world when our own time is so uncertain that we cannot call the next hour our own and know not how soon the arrest of death may hurry us away to judgement He that dies now in the Lord rests from his labour his good works follow him and if we cannot properly say that the Kingdom of God is come to him we may safely say he is gone to it At the end of the world then is Christ's great coming and the general judgement but at every single death there is a particular doom past when the soul immediately after it's delivery out of the body is dispatched either into the regions of life or lodged in the chambers of death so that in this sense Christ may be said to come too And there is a gracious visit when he comes and knocks at the heart and calls to his beloved by his word When he comes into us to a feast and banquet of love furnished with the consolations of the spirit The sum of this request is that God would declare his power even to the heathen that know not his name and make discoveries of his Majesty by his outward administrations not leaving himself without witness but convince profane spirits that there is a God that rules in the world that he would manage the affairs of the world for his peoples good and for the advancement of the Kingdom of his Son that he would bless the civill societies of men that he would fill Soveraigns with wisdom to go in and out before the people and people with loyalty to their rulers and with love to one another That he would establish the state wherein we live in peace and order preserving us on one hand from the tyranny and oppression of superiours and on the other hand from rebellion and conspiracy of inferiors That he would save the King whom he hath set under himself our supream Head and Governor from all treasons and treacherous designs that he would subdue the people under him cloath his enemies with shame and upon himself let his crown flourish that he would give the King his judgements and make our Magistrates men of courage fearing God and hating covetousness That he would preserve us from all dreadfull calamities the plague pestilence and famine from wars fires inundations from murder and sudden death That he would take a special care of his Church and his chosen ones that he would send labourers into his vineyard that he would endue his Ministers with righteousness that he would illuminate all Bishops and Pastours with true knowledge and understanding of his word that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly That he would inlarge the tents of Japhet remember his ancient people the Iewes gather in the remnant of the gentiles send forth his Gospell into the dark corners of the earth and publish the glad tidings of salvation unto all mankind that he would fill up the number of his elect and hasten the glorious appearance of Christ That he would confound the devices of all that have evill will to Zion and turn the hearts of hereticks schismaticks and bloody tyrants That he would assist those that suffer for the testimony of a good conscience with strength from above and send them the comforter That he would destroy the man of sin with the breath of his mouth That he would garrison our hearts with his grace that he would teach us his laws that we may walk in his statutes and keep his commands That he would mortify the desires and lusts of the flesh subdue us to himself and make us a willing people in the day of his power That he would open our hearts for the receiving of his word and rule in them by his spirit That his Kingdom may first enter into us that we may enter into it Lastly that we may have our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospell live in a constant exspectation of our great change that when our Lord comes he may find us doing his will on earth as it is in Heaven And blessed is he whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing THY WILL BE DONE The nature of God is not made up of a body and soul nor hath he bodily parts as eyes hands feet c. or faculties of mind as understanding memory affections and 't is no less improper to say of God that he knows or wills any thing as that he walks sees c. which are metaphorical expressions taken from men God being pleased in holy writ to condescend to our capacity and speak of himself after the manner of men God is all understanding all will nor is there any thing in God which is not infinite i.e. himself His will then is not a thing really distinct from his understanding or indeed from his essence neither is it a blind power as it is in us that needs the guidance of reason and the light of another faculty to be convey'd into it to represent the object and advise it to choose the good and eschew the evil but is of it self most free most wise most good It self is a law and rule to it self determins it self and is the measure and standard of all goodness righteousness and holiness The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works And his pracepts are more to be desired then gold yea then fine gold sweeter then hony the hony-comb Now there is a twofold will of God that of his decrees and that of his commands Nor do these two cross and oppose the one the other as if God decreed one thing should be and commanded the contrary but they keep a sweet harmony and mutuall correspondence God's word and his providence may seem sometimes to clash and justle one another yet they do keep the same road of righteousness nor does God ever contradict himself or speak one thing and mean another Let God be true and every man a lyar '
that makes such interpretations of the will of God as that his good pleasure or everlasting purposes should thwart the manifestations of his will which he hath made in his word For instance God saith that he would not the death of a sinner but rather that he should repent and live And his Apostle saith that he would have all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth He then that shall teach that God hath absolutely predestin'd any sinner to damnation and by irreversible decrees concluded him under an impossibility of repentance layes an imputation upon God's veracity and makes him if not a lyar yet which is the worse of the two a dissembler to say he desires their life when he hath by an irrevocable decree prejudg'd them to unavoidable death and with all arguments of love to invite them to come to heaven when he hath long before they were born shut the gates against them By his decrees he hath from the beginning set down with himself what shall be in time foresees and orders all events to his own end insomuch that one tittle of his word shall not pass away till he have accomplish'd his full will and brought about his own purposes Poor weak men want strength and policy to perfect designs and many times we are cut of in the mid-way by an untimely death But God's counsels are laid deep and he is of an infinite power and lives to do what he doth to the uttermost Nor yet does he act so absolutely as to take from second causes their freedom of acting or impose a necessity upon man's will to force it this way or that Far be it from any sober heart to think that God can in any sense be the authour of sin Should this doctrine obtein in any man's mind that all his actions are from all eternity predetermin'd by God so that he must needs do what he doth and cannot possibly do otherwise I should desire that it may onely be consider'd what direfull consequences will naturally insue from such a persuasion when 't is in good earnest own'd and liv'd after and whether all the villany and mischief in the world will not find hence a ready justification Not to say how vain and useless all reason counsels debates exhortations and reproofs all that by which we are men or Christians the use of ministry and ordinances and all the arguments for a virtuous and a godly life would prove with one that were obstinately possest with this opinion and were resolv'd to live according to it But 't is safer for us to consult God's precepts then tamper overboldly with his decrees and to study his will in his commands with humility adoring the wisedom and righteousness of his unsearchable counsels These he hath reserv'd to himself and locked up from us as the Arcana imperii The other he hath plainly made known unto us and proclaim'd them in his word and we hear the sound of them in our eares O that they might also sink into our hearts to doe them By these we shall at last be tryed when every one shall receive according to his works nor will the decrees of God prejudice that soul which hath duly observ'd his commands or secure those who wilfully break them Scripture is the plain rule which we are to walk by the book of decrees is that sealed book which none but the Lamb is worthy to open We ought to study our duty more then destiny Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart and thy neighbour as thy self are flat commands that require absolute obedience But the promises and threatnings of God are under condition and God will make righteous judgement and be found no respecter of persons when Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of our Father which is in Heaven BE DONE God's decrees are done upon us his commands are to be done by us those require our submission these our performance And indeed our whole duty is made up of a passive and active obedience whereby we willingly bear what evils God is pleased to send and as readily doe what good he bids us But why doe we pray that God's will may be done since his decrees will come to pass though we pray not and his commands 't is our part to perform The reason is for the first to shew our compliance with God's will for the second to desire God's assistance since without the aids of his grace we are not able to doe any thing as we ought ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN That men here below may as willingly submit to his good pleasure and pay as chearfull and constant obedience to his commands as the Saints and Angels above doe who alwayes stand in his presence in a readiness to serve him who never quarrel at any of his appointments or grudge at any pains they put themselves to praising him continually falling down before him and ascribing power and dominion and glory to him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb All the business they have to doe there and to spend their time at is the singing of Hallelujahs and delighting themselves in seeing the face of God and meditating on his goodness They have no other imployment but the contemplation and enjoyment of the chiefest good and count it their happion to be taken up alwayes with these thoughts oh what a heavenly life should we lead here on earth if we could but thus throw all our desires at God's feet contenting our selves with his disposals not trouble our selves with the cares of this life but count it our meat and drink to do his will to obey him and trust in him though he should kill us to doe and suffer any thing for his sake and think it our honour that we are thought worthy to breath after heaven mind heavenly things and whilst we are in this valley of the shadow of death prepare our selves for eternity by doing that here in this life which will be the whole imployment of the next To gather up the sum of the whole petition 't is this That God would give us patient and chearful spirits so far that we may resign up our selves and our interests wholly into his hand and submit to his good pleasure possess our souls with patience and count that condition best which God out of his infinite wisdom and tender care thinks fittest for us as being well assured that he doth all for the best that he loves us better then we our selves do That we should thankfull acknowledge his goodness in his preservations of us and provisions for us And if at any time he chastise us with wants and distresses and exercise us with afflictions to entertain them as messages of his love and tokens of his kindness not to murmur or repine under the cross think we are hardly dealt with but to account it great joy and
to our condition and to that station of life whereunto his good providence hath design'd us That he would give us strength of body and vigour of mind perfect health and all natural and moral abilities that may fit us for the discharge of our duties and above all a contented spirit that we may eat our bread with chearfulness and be satisfied with his gracious disposals of us and any condition that he shall in his wisdom cast us into either riches or poverty That he would neither send us so much of the world 's good as to tempt us to wantonness and riot nor so little as to make us repine but assign us such a competent portion that we may find a comfortable subsistence and have where with to doe good to others That we may be enabled to provide things honest and fashionable before all men yet not make provision for the flesh to satisfy the lusts thereof That our food may be wholsome rather then delicious so that in the strength thereof we may do him service That our attire may be decent and comely to cover shame not to show pride and vanity that we may not turn his gifts into wantonness or â—mbezill his talents but imploy them to his glory and others good â— and make us friends of the unrighteous mammon That he would bless our labours and give success to our honest undertakings that we may eat the labour of our hands and it may be well with us That he would procure us faithfull friends diligent servants dutifull children fruitfull seasons and furnish us with all other perquisites that may make our condition comfortable That he would bless the nation with righteous government and honest magistrates indue the nobles with courage the commons with loyalty bless all orders and conditions of persons from the highest to the lowest from him that sitteth on the throne to him that is behind the mill enlarge all that are in distress send us plenty and peace in our dayes crown the year with his goodness and make all his steps toward us drop fatness that we may thankfully acknowledge his benefits and be charitably disposed to those that are in want that we may be tender-hearted compassionate not forget to communicate and distribute and show gratitude to all those whom he has made instruments of good to us who have obliged us by any kindness and pray for them that God would restore seaven-fold into their bosome That he would keep us in an humble constant dependance on him and provide honest courses for us that we may not eat the bread of idleness or tempt his providence with the use of unlawfull means That he would deliver us from dangers and distresses preserve us from rapine and spoil and keep us from distrusts and anxietyes about the things of this life but that we may seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof assuring our selves that then all things else shall be added to us and whatsoever our share be of outward things take the Lord for our portion and our inheritance That he would to this end give us Christ the bread of life and with him all things and that he would with that bread which came down from heaven feed our souls to life everlasting strengthning our graces pardoning our sins and subduing our lusts AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THEM THAT TRESPASS AGAINST US Pardon is as necessary for our spiritual life as bread for our natural For the soul that sins shall dy In many things we offend all even the righteous falls seven times a day For death came into the world by sin over all mankind but righteousness and life came by Iesus Christ And we have dayly need on 't too for we provoke God every day So then we are to hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ that our souls may live And as Christ's flesh is bread indeed so is his blood which he shed for the atonement of wrath and forgiveness of sins drink indeed the water out of that spiritual rock which is Christ. Oh that our souls might thirst for the living God as the wounded hart panteth after the water-brooks OUR TRESPASSES The other Evangelist useth another word debts which comes all to one both signifying sins by a translated sense borrowed from dealings amongst men betwixt creditor and debtor the person suffering the injury and the person doing it For a debtor or trespasser that is not solvent or hath not wherewith to make satisfaction agrees with his adversary puts it to reference comes to composition and by mediation of friends takes up the business that there may be no arrest or inditement or other procedeur in law against him as knowing that he should come by the worst be cast in his fuit and be sent to prison where he must ly by it till he have paid the uttermost farthing which being utterly unable to doe he must never hope to come out but rot in prison The same is the case betwixt God and us we are bound to him by our creation to an observance of his laws or to undergoe the penalty of the breach which is everlasting death But we are fallen short and are unable to discharge that debt nor are we able to answer him one word of a thousand so that there are due to us all the plagues written in his book We have gone astray and done abominably we have broken all his laws and commandments we have been rebellious children from our youth up and the imaginations of our hearts have been evill continually we have neglected our duty in every thing and have not harkned to him to obey his voice so that to us belongs shame and confusion of face for ever Now Christ became our surety took up the business undertook our reconciliation and hath answer'd the law satisfied justice discharg'd our debts cancell'd the obligation and nail'd the hand writing of the law unto his cross making a new covenant of life betwixt God and us upon Gospell-terms of grace and new obedience yet still we are wanting on our part and deal treacherously in our covenant trampling upon his blood and despising so great salvation Nay even the best of Saints have their dayly slips and failings Who is he that can justify himself and if any perfectist say he has no sin he deceives himself and the truth is not in him Our sins All Adam's off-spring the whole race of mankind is tainted Behold saith the holy Prophet a man after God's own heart I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin hath my mother conceiv'd me And the Apostle has concluded all under sin so that we are all guilty of original corruption whereby all the faculties of our soul and members of our body are over-spread as with a leprosie from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot beyond the cure of all humane arts and helps Philosophy education
increase their debt and their table proves their snare Others are in God's favour though the world frown on them and with Lazarus are put to shift for crumbs that fall from the rich glutton's table whose outward man is ready to perish for want while the inward man lives by faith Others may have their sins forgiven them yet be put upon worse conflict then bodily want and the necessities of a short life being buffetted with Satan and winnowed and exercis'd with strong temptations And there may be those who though preserved from falling into temptation and kept from great sins by the restraints of a gracious providence yet may not be secure as to their forgiveness who may be damn'd for their little sins every sin being in it's nature high treason against an infinite Majesty For they are all three well link'd together with a copulation seeing that any one would not doe us much good without the other two nor make sufficient provision for our necessity Bread is for the maintenance of our natural life Iustification freeing us from the guilt of sin puts us in a spiritual life by taking out the sting of death and sanctification by which we are enabled to work out our salvation instates us to the life eternal Bread keeps us while we are on earth Pardon rescues us from hell and Grace conveys us to heaven which is here meant as that with which we are to encounter temptation and give it the foyl LEAD US NOT. Man's life is often compar'd to a walk and a pilgrimage There are many wayes and many leaders we are often at a stand and through ignorance know not well which way to take and therefore have need of being led Moses led the children of Israel through the wilderness Ioshua led them into Canaan we seek a land of promise and have a wilderness of temptations to pass thorough and as we want eyes to see our way so we want feet to walk it being naturally as weak as we are ignorant our understanding dark and our will lame and crooked Nay and when we are acquainted with the wayes of truth and holiness we are apt to be misled to goe back or start aside and turn to the right hand or the left We are beset round with temptations every step we tread is snare and unless God order our goings and direct us in his way and bear us up with his grace we should every moment fall into sin and run into errour The world the flesh and the Divel lay baits and traps for us The instigations of Satan the vanities of the world the counsel and example of wicked men and the corrupt desires of our own flesh misguid us and put us upon dangerous occasions of ill rocks of offence and pits of destruction Wherefore seeing that sin doth so easily beset us we pray that God would not lead us into it that he who is the Saviour of men and the lover of souls would not take up the enemies trade who is a tempter first and then the accuser That since we are ready to goe astray our selves he would not put stumbling blocks in our way nor countenance those evil guides and ringleaders of mischief which seek our soul to destroy it by leading us himself into temptation But do not we lay an imputation upon God's goodness in praying that he would not lead us into evil and sin God tempts no man but gives way to temptation sometimes in mercy for the tryall of his servants and to refine their graces whence himself is pleas'd to make manifestations of his presence in the fiery tryall in the furnace of affliction as he did with the three children though it be heated seven times over that their faith may be as silver seven times purified in the fire Otherwhile in judgement he gives up a harden'd sinner to the counsel of his own will and delivers him over to Satan as his officer to be tempted Thus put a lying spirit at one time into the mouth of the Prophets thus our Saviour bid Iudas after the Divel had entred into his heart doe what he meant to doe quickly God leads us then when he lets us alone and leaves us to our selves when he doth not deliver or keep us from temptation for so the opposition stands Lead us not but Deliver us And sure our state must be very sad when God withdraws when we have nothing left about us but cunning and powerful enemies and a false heart within that will sooner surrender then temptation can summon If God goe aside we need none to lead us into temptation wee 'll be our own tempters the Divel may trust us with our selvs and not spend his artillery We often tempt the tempter and as if we were afraid to be led into temptation we goe of our selves seek it loving the wayes of destruction and courting our ruin thinking we cannot be too sure of damnation we make our lusts Proctors for Hell and as 't were out of kindness to Satan take his drudgery out of his hand lead our selves into temptation and run head long into the pit INTO TEMPTATION All temptation is a tryal and every thing in the world will afford materials to make temptations of The world is Satan's forge in which he hammers his fiery darts and flings about his sparkles and his firebrands Honour riches pleasure are the great temptations of mankind Prosperity an inticement to ill Adversity a discouragement from good He knows the severall genius and inclinations of men studies their temper learns their humour and interests and knows how to give them content and gratify their corruptions He catches at opportunities and nicks the temptation and shoots his darts betwixt the joints of the hâ—rness He represents the objects at the best advantage and fits his design to every circumstance The forbidden fruit to tempt the woman the woman to tempt the man He surprises her when she is alone that the female appetite might not have a masculine reason to rule it The fruit was fair to look on and sure pleasant to tast and curiosity inhances the desire knowledge though it be of evil being very pleasant Noah's vineyard tempts him to drink Lot's daughters set upon their aged father In short ther 's nothing which the Divel cannot make use of to his purpose and if need be he will head his arrows with Scripture as he did to our Saviour And as every thing is thus fit for the Divel's use to be made an instrument of evil to us so neither is he wanting in skill for he has methods and depths nor in his industry for he goes about seeking whom he may devour to shape and apply them dextrously upon all occasions No business no condition no place no season no person secure against him or temptation proof His hook is alwayes hanging he 's alwayes at our elbowes egging us to mischief He has no other business no
bringing a mortality upon himself and his posterity so that he not Cain was the first murderer then was lost even that awe authority which he had over the other creatures who after man turn'd rebell withdrew their allegiance too And 't is not unlikely that by the sin of man the affections of the very brutes have been debauch'd from their natural temper Hence possibly those enmityes and antipathies which some kinds of creatures have to others that before in the golden age of innocence liv'd at peace hence those quarrels animosityes which those of the same kind exercise hence perhaps those I may say vitious miscarriages and enormous misdemeanours of several indiviudal creatures those especially which are man's domesticks have a more familiar acquaintance with his manners as dogs swine c. which sure had man continued innocent would have kept to rules of meekness modesty and such other virtues as was fit for the goodness of the supream Law-giver to prescribe for the preservation of peace and good order amongst his creatures Thus hath the Fall of Man put whole nature into disorder spoil'd the natural principles of honesty and justice and by abusing the Liberty of doing good or evill brought us all into a sad necessity of doing nothing else but evill that whereas he had only a possibility of sinning 't is impossible for us not to sin Wherefore when God saw that those notions and inclinations which he had implanted were by the fall so batter'd and marr'd that they could be no longer usefull for those great purposes of his own service man's felicity that man had now darkned his understanding deprav'd his will and corrupted his affections made himself in all his faculties and members a vassal of sin he was graciously pleas'd out of the rubbish of those endowments that law which he had written in man's heart to collect and set down in writing a Law by which man might be instructed to his duty that humanity might not wholly degenerate into beast and withall to show that God hath not lost his right to command though man have lost his ability to obey 'T is true that all the time before the flood and some good while after man-kind was govern'd by an unwritten Law by inbred notions of right and wrong and traditions handed to them by the Patriarks from the fathers to the children such as was the worship of God by offering sacrifice and first fruits by calling upon his name and keeping the Sabbath those precepts which were given to Noah and his three sons and thus some remnants of the primitive integrity were alwayes visible in the customes and usages of the most savage people that had no positive law to walk by whence arose that which we call the Law of Nations all nations agreeing in some common principles at least of publick justice and God instructing them by his Sun and his rain though he did not teach them by his word and messengers Yet when the number of men was multiplyed into so many nations which began to difference themselv's by manners religions as much as by languages and countries and their lives shortened so that tradition could not be conveyed so purely to posterity as formerly it pleased God to choose to himself a peculiar people among all the nations of the Earth even the family of his friend Abraham to whom he might make more particular discoveries of his will and having four hundred years affliction in Egypt and a miraculous delivery thence prepar'd the children of Israel for the receiving of his Law he did in open audience from the top of mount Sinai with his own Mouth pronounce aloud and afterwards with his own Hand fairly ingrave on two Tables of stone the Ten Commandements which though they be in a special sense termed the Law of God yet the whole Scripture may be and is so stiled often in as much as the History of the Bible doth but serve to represent examples of obedience or disobedience to this Law and the Prophetical writings are but explications and comments upon it and the Psalms and other sacred pieces are but Meditations and pious descants This is that we call the Moral Law the rule of manners and the guid of life which teaches every man how he is to behave himself both towards God and towards man whether as he is considered barely in his person or in his relation There is mention made also of other Laws of Gods making which were peculiar only to the Iews the Ceremonial Law which sets down rules for sacred persons places times assemblyes vests utensils sacrifices and other rites and for the ordering of all Ecclesiastical affairs and the Iudicial Law which provides for the securing of propriety and peace for the creation of Magistrates and administration of Iustice and all politick concerns Now though these were indeed so proper to the lewish State and Church that no other Nation is strictly obliged to their observance although the Levitical Priesthood is ceast and the Ceremonies being but types and shadows of Christ which was to come were at the rising of that Sun of righteousnesse made void and useless to the Iewes dangerous to Christians since the use of them would tacitely imply a denial of our Lord 's coming in the flesh and so indeed prove down right Antichristian he being the Antichrist which denies that yet I know not why Statesmen should not think themselves obliged to respect the lawgiver's wisdome and the equity of the thing though the law it self doth not oblige as in the case of thieves a fourfold restitution would look like a more proportionable punishment then present death no goods amounting to the value of life and a Bridewell or Plantation be a sorer course to chastise the malefactor for his mischievous actions surer to recover him from his wicked habits then the goal and gallows Again God's Law hath given adultery it's due punishing it with death the honour of the sufferer being irreparable whereas man's law commonly is so remisly either made or executed that all the satisfaction the injured person must expect is from his own patience fearing least by a challenge of justice he make himself but the object of a publick reproach Nor do I see why the use of any innocent Ceremony in gesture or vesture c. should now be deemed unlawful upon this ground because the Levites perhaps used one not much unlike or why the Governours of the Christian Church may not in things indifferent order the same observances as were used in the Iewish and yet not lye under the scandal of Iudaisme as to instance shall a white vest now be less becoming because the Levites wore linnen surely if this argument hold blacks will be much more mis becoming the holy order as being the colour by which the Idolatrous Priests were distinguisht But 't is not perhaps the thing so much discontents as the imposition They
rise up against him by the evidence and verdict of their own conscience This Law being so perfect so pure and so holy 't is impossible for us who are altogether evill by our own natural strength to accomplish for we are not able of our selves so much as to think a good thought so that if we stand to the tenour of the Covenant of works whereby we are obliged to a punctual and exact obedience to the Law in all its parts in all our thoughts words and deeds and God should bâ— stricâ— to obsâ—â—ve what is done amiss and should in judgement proceed against us accordingly no flesh would be justified in his â—ight for we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God short of it both as the end and as the reward of our actions we have neither lived up to it nor can we upon our own account be made partakers of it Wherefore that all mankind might not faint under this intolerable yoak and sink under the unsupportable burden of this Law God was pleas'd out of his love to mankind to strike a New Covenant with us in the Blood of his Son who has made the yoak easy and the burthen light by bearing it for us The terms of the first Covenant are Dâ— this and live of the second Believe and thou shalt be saved The Covenant of Works requires an exactness the Covenant of Grace looks for the sincerity of obedience Nor doth this Law of Faith void and null the Moral Law but the terrours of the Law drive us to imbrace Gospel-terms for which reason the Law is called the Scholemaster to Christ. For when a sinner is convinced how unable he is of himself to fulfill the demands of the Law and how his multiplyed transgressions render him lyable to the curse of the Law and the fierce wrath of God he in the apprehension of his own guilt and insufficience flies to the Mediatour as to a city of refuge who hath fulfill'd the Law for us and hath undergon the wrath of an offended God and the curse of a righteous Law that he might be able to save those to the uttermost that should put their trust in him Neither doth the Law of works cease to be of use to those that are in Christ and are now under the Covenant of Grace for Obedience as well as Faith is required as a condition of the new Covenant for it must be a Faith acted or acting by love and though the person is justified by faith yet that faith must be evidenced by good works Shew me saith the Apostle thy faith by thy works The Moral Law then remains still in force as a rule of this obedience as it shews our misery and drives us to Christ so it regulates our gratitude when we are in Christ. The Law is a glass to present us with a sight of our sin by comparing our past actions with the rule and a lanthorn too to direct us in the path of our duty by comparing our future actions with the same rule In the one respect we see at what distance we have lived from the rule and repent in the other respect we see how to keep close to it and amend our lives The Law indeed has lost it's damning power as to the righteous but 't is still in force to direct though they are acquitted from the curse by the merit of our Saviours death they are not discharged from the duty as being risen again with him to a newness of life and created in him to good works Nay their obligations are heightned and they are to have greater respect to the Law that they may proportion the measures of their gratitude to the merits of their Redeemer for they who have had much forgiven must love much and love is the fulfilling of the Law Christ having bought us with a price we are no longer our own to fulfill the lusts of the flesh but we are his and we shall be known to be his by loving one another and keeping his commands And 't is plain that he meant not to release us from the Law but rather to improve and inhance the observation of it and in those things wherein the ties of the Law were slacken'd either by God's indulgence or false glosses and corrupt customes of men to fill it up and clear it from mistakes and lay greater weight on it's precepts as appears by his Sermon on the mount wherein he goes over most of the particulars And what the Apostle sayes before conversion If it had not biâ— for the Law I had not known sin so we may say after conversion Were it not for the Law we should not know our duty The Law is divided into ten Commandements whence 't is called the Decalogue or ten Words which were written upon two Tables four on one Table and six on the other 'T is not amiss to take notice of the division the Law is a rule of practice and the hand the great instrument of action a Table for each hand and for every finger a Commandement A brief survey of the method scheme by which the commands are distinguished we may take thus The first Table sets down the duties we ow to God the second Table contains our duties to Man our neighbours and our selves All is but Love but with difference of degrees for our love to our neighbour must be subordinate and inferiour to our love to God so our Saviour hath resolved the summ of all Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy mind with all thy soul and with all thy strength to as high a degree as possibly we can for it may be supposed that these several words signify but the same thing that is the highest intension of love It would be too Critical perhaps to make a different sense of each word that the heart should signify the will the mind note the understanding the soul stand for the affections and strength imply our bodily service It means sure the whole man And thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self And that one would think should be very well but this Law teacheth us how to love our selves too There 's scarce any one doth that so well as he should doe Our neighbour cannot quarrel us if we love him as our selves but God will not be content with that he will be loved above every thing above self it self We must love every thing else for God's sake and God for his own The duties to God take up the first place and those being discharged will à priori effect the second table duties He that go's thorough the first table will never boggle at the second Religion and Knavery are inconsistent Can he be holy that 's unjust fear God that honours not his King doth he conscientiously fear an Oath who makes no conscience of a Lye a zealous professor and a cheat a strict Sabbath keeper and an Usurper a
civil use i.e. for ornament for memorial or some historical representation but the religious use of them is forbidden so as to set them up to worship as Nebuchadnezar gave order for his Image and as the Israelites caus'd Aaron to make them a calf which whether they had from the Egyptians practice or transcrib'd from the copy of the Tabernacle where the Cherubs were in the same shape it was so provoking a sin that Moses in zeal broke all the Commandements in pieces to see them break this one yet these Cherubs and other pictures in all manner of curious work were in the Tabernacle and afterwards in the Temple without scandal for 't is not the Image but the Image-worship that God is offended at ANY GRAVEN IMAGE OR ANY LIKENESS The former word is of a limited sense but this latter is so general as to denote all pictures or resemblances whatsoever whither carv'd and cut out in wood or stone or cast in brass or other mettle or limn'd and drawn in colours or interwoven and embroider'd in cloth or whatever other way art and fancy can find out OF ANY THING THAT IS IN HEAVEN ABOVE The Sun Moon and Stars such as the horses of the Sun we read of and the star of Remphan and Diana of the Ephesians or in the highest heavens Saints and Angels blessed spirits OR THAT IS IN THE EARTH BENEATH As trees groves and high places herbs as those of Egypt worshipped their leeks and onions birds and beasts it being the heathen fashion as the Apostle too observes it to change the glory of the incorruptible God into such unworthy similitudes Or men themselves though a diviner creature whether living as Herod was ador'd or dead it being a common use to canonize those after death who deserved well in their life nay even the worst of Tyrants that have liv'd the prodigies of mankind have had a fear and reverence survive them so far as to have their names consecrated and get the opinion of divinity after their deaths OR THAT IS IN THE WATERS UNDER THE EARTH as fishes Sea-monsters such as Dagon for the mistaken devotion of the poor Heathens fill'd all the Elements with imaginary Deities Nor did Heaven Earth and Sea afford room enough to their busy fancy but they have searched Hell too for some what to worship and the Divel himself has not escaped the base flatteries of men The Indians to this very day worshipping him and perswaded by those frightful apparitions he makes to think that their devotion is not misplaced nor is it much wonder when his instruments grand Usurpers and Impostors of the world have been own'd by abused people into a divine esteem and honoured with blasphemous Idolatry THOU SHALT NOT BOW DOWN TO THEM by prostration of thy body falling flat on thy face or bending thy knee shew them any respect as the manner was to worship Baal i.e. the image of Baal for so the Apostle renders it Baal or Belus himself having been a great Prince and for his magnificence and great atchievements consecrated by his country-men to divine worship NOR WORSHIP THEM or NOR SERVE THEM for the other word is more frequently us'd for worship thou shalt not give them any honour nor wait upon them with any attendance but look upon them as they are in themselves as dead liveless things that cannot help themselves that have eyes and see not c. Thou shalt not offer to them sacrifice nor do any other act of service as belongs to God's worship And 't is strange to consider how furious even the Israelites were grown in their Idolatrous practises when they caus'd their own children to pass through the fire to Moloch performing that to the Divel which Abraham was not permitted to doe to the true God Where we see the difference betwixt true Religion and Idolatry that God restrains his servants from those austerities which he might require but the Divel puts on his worshippers upon the most bloody and unnatural cruelties Thus Baal's priests and some others were instructed to cut and slash themselves and as it were offer up themselves an unreasonable service Thus far the precept now follows the reason of the precept FOR I THE LORD THY GOD AM A STRONG GOD or as the Septuagint and Vulgar read it I am the Lord thy God repeating that double obligation which was used in the Preface taken from the power of God and his goodness That he is a strong God implyes how much he differs from any Idol for an Idol is nothing in the world God is El but these Idols are Elilim Gods of no force and of no worth and Gelilim dunghil gods The Divel at best which is one of his dreadfullest titles is but Beelzebub a god of flyes but God is the Lord of Housts 'T is God's usual challenge to these Idols that rob him of his worship when he tells them that he made Heaven and Earth and they sorry things were themselves made by the hands of men The Prophet Isaiah has in a hansom Irony put Idols themselves out of countenance chap. 44. a place worth the turning to for any one that is in danger of being tempted to sottish Idolatry IEALOUS Who will not part with his honour to another that will be loved without a rival and though he despise not a broken heart yet will not accept a divided one but will have all or none and which is the effect of jealousie when he finds the affections goe astray from him and wander after other loves he turns his extreme love into extreme hatred those flames burn into rage 'T is an Allegorie God often delights to use comparing his Church his beloved ones to a spouse or betrothed wife himself to a kind but jealous husband Idolatry he accounts disloyalty to his bed and frequently expostulates with his people for their going a whoring after their own inventions and their spiritual fornications and threatens a Bill of divorce yet so that upon the Harlot's return and amendment he will receive her again into the embraces of his love There are two qualityes in jealousy which render it terrible that 't is very watchfull to find the offence and as revengeful to punish it And these the more dreadfull in God in that his knowledge is infallible his power irresistible and his vengeance unsufferable And if God allow'd such cruel tryals to the bare surmises of men to prove the fidelity of their wives how will the cup of his wrath rot the thighs and the wombs the posterity I mean of Idolatrous worshippers that provoke him to jealousy with their abominations VISITING A word taken from the manner of Magistrates dealing with offenders who first goe with a commission to examine and enquire into the fact to show God's leisurely proceeding to sentence as in the case of Sodom he went down to see whether the sin was according to the cry and so before came down to view
administer and receive the blessed Sacraments who have had no regard to the Feasts and Fasts other ancient usages of the Church but have set aside dayes of our own and have fasted for strife and given thanks for blood who doe not take care that we and our houses may serve the Lord nor make any account of this sacred time who spend the day in sloth and riot and vain sports and do not sanctifie it and keep it holy to the Lord who doe not improve the blessing of the Sabbath to the advantages of a holy life but continue still in gross ignorance and profaneness so that we may very well use the Churches Prayer Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law The fifth Commandement This is the hinge of the two Tables the main joynt of the whole Law concerns the Magistrate who is God's Vicegerent ou earth and the keeper of both the Tables wherefore some assign it a place in the first Table God having a special care of civil order and peace in the societyes of men has therefore set this Commandement concerning the obedience to superiours by which peace and good order are preserv'd immediately after those of his own worship and in like manner back'd it with a reason whereas all the rest which follow are set down barely in way of Commands without the addition of any promise or threat So then this Command is made up of two parts the Precept it self and the Reason of the Precept the Precept shews the duty Honour and its object thy Father and Mother The Reason is a promise of long life and therefore the Apostle hath call'd it The first Commandement with a promise for the Third contains a threat and that of the Second is more threat then promise That thy dayes may be long on the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee HONOUR This shews a different degree and condition amongst men and God's Law maintains the distinction In all societyes there are some superiours some inferiours The Law is not for levelling Honour would not be a duty if all were equal Now Honour implyes respect and obedience subjection and service THY FATHER AND MOTHER whether thy natural parents or civil Magistrate or spiritual governour or whatsoever superiour which are all by a usual propriety of the Hebrew language styled Fathers Father having been the first dignity of the world and all rule and government whatsoever founded on the right of paternal Authority which aggravates an offence done to a superiour makes the offender as ungracious as one that dishonours his father Here are meant then all manner of persons in relation Parents and Children Magistrates and Subjects Ministers People Master Scholar Husband wife Master and Servants old young noble and base rich and poor c. Nor so onely but here is included also by the rule of contraryes the duty of superiours to their inferiours that they be kindly affected to them rule them in God's fear according to righteousness and faithfully mind the dutyes of their place Now the duty of Inferiors is only mention'd because they are the more likely to fail in their duty their neglect is of worse consequence Disobedience dissolving unloosening order and peace which are the bands of society whereas oppression does but strain and gird the tyes of government too close No Tyranny of the most wicked Prince can be so mischievous and destructive to the publick as the Rebellion of Subjects let them pretend never so much religion for it The great Interest of society is to obey since the resisting of a lawfull governour will in the end destroy government it self and bring all things into confusion THAT THY DAYES MAY BE LONG Long life is the promised reward of obedience but the disobedient shall not live out half their time but shall be cut off by some untimely death and by their seditious actings and wilfull oppositions forfeit their lives to the Law The Hebrew word may be rendred that they i.e. thy Father and Mother may prolong or lengthen thy dayes as if the parent's blessing could instate a dutyfull child into a long life This is sure that parents at first and afterwards civil Magistrates had power of life and death in their familyes and within their own territories and so might justly by Capital punishment shorten the lives of the disobedient UPON THE LAND WHICH THE LORD THY GOD GIVETH THEE Here is meant the Land of promise which the Israelites were now going to possess wherefore the Septuagint call it the good Land Which word is now wanting in the Hebrew copy though possibly express'd at first for taking that word in there are all the Letters of the Alphabet to be found in the Decalogue without it there will be one wanting And if Moses was the first Inventor of the Hebrew Letters as some think and it is probable he being the most ancient writer 't is as probable that there was a Specimen essay of them given in the Commandements the only speech which God hath by his own mouth utter'd This part belongs most properly to the Israelites wherefore 't is added that the Lord thy God gives thee but may be extended to us all And here are two or three notes in 't upon the Land that notes that the loyal and faithful shall not be turn'd out of his possessions live an exil'd life in forreign countryes but prolong his dayes and live in peace at home whereas rebels and traytors forfeit their estates and loose their fortunes by seeking unjustly to greaten them The Land or the good Land the Land of Canaan notes the Land of thy forefathers of ancient inheritance and a Land abounding with all conveniences of life to shew that obedience shall possess the ancient demeans of the family live in plenty when the rebellious shall seek their bread in a strange Land Which the Lord thy God giveth thee notes God's particular bounty to the obedient and that what they injoy comes with a blessing and is the fruit of a promise 't is as if he should have said obey thy Father and Mother and they shall give thee life and I will give thee Land In Deuteronomie are inserted these words That it may be well with thee and that thy dayes may be long for otherwise a long life spent in toil and hardship exercis'd with want and misery is a Curse rather then a Blessing and indeed the word which here signifyes the lengthning of dayes has also a signification of health for life of it self is not pleasant but a burden rather unless it be attended with those enjoyments blessings which make it comfortable as Health Peace Plenty Prosperity c. And such a life it is that is here promis'd as the reward of obedience But it seems in the ordinary oeconomy of Providence to fall out otherwise many times when the dutyfull child is caught away
with a hasty death and a Loyall Subject looseth both Life and Lands for his fidelity to his Prince c. To this I answer That this promise is conditional as God sees fit who whatsoever he does does it alwayes for the best and then if he doe not perform his word as to the Letter at present he will be better then his word hereafter Those whom the arrest of death disseizes of an earthly possession he instates into a heavenly inheritance which is indeed the Land of the living and the Land of promise of which Canaan was but a type The young Innocent is snatch'd out of the mother's lap to be lodg'd in Father Abraham's bosom The Loyal sufferer looses to his advantage is sequestred into bliss is murder'd into Immortality and if he lay down his head takes up a crown for it Everlasting happiness is in the best sense length of dayes Besides God may cut him short who has not fail'd in his duty to man for some disobedience to himself and he that 's guiltless and dyes Martyr as to the unjust tribunals of men may in the account of God's justice dye as a malefactor God sometimes reck'ning with the transgressors of his Law and cutting scores as 't were with them depriving them of the reward of one duty for the neglect of some other washing the stain of a guilty life with the blood of an Innocent death And 't is no small comfort to a dying man have he been never so great a sinner in his life that he suffers with a good conscience and is permitted in a manner to quit scores with heaven for his former offences Proceed we now to the summ of the Precept Thou Inferiour whoever thou art that art under another's power or condition shalt give thy superiour the due respect of his place shalt have honourable thoughts of him shalt highly esteem him and revear him as an Angel of God in thy speeches addresses to him demean thy self with humility and meekness and all civil demonstrations of respect according to the customs of thy people giving him the preeminence in every thing bearing with and hiding his infirmities Thou shalt not slight his person nor think or speak meanly of him Thou shalt be subject to him and yield a ready and chearful obedience to him as to the Lord in all things that are just and lawful and bear with his humors and his harshness remembring that though he be man of like passions with thy self yet he is in God's stead and if he at any time swerve from his rule in commanding yet do not thou decline thy duty in obeying but when he bids thee do any thing contrary to my will carry thy self with submission resolve to suffer for a good conscience rather then to resist where thou canst not with a good conscience obey Thou shalt hearken to his admonitions and submit to his corrections and shalt endeavour by all fair means to give him content Thou shalt not withdraw or grudge thy obedience much less shalt thou take upon thee to call him to account nor yet shalt thou basely serve him in lewd offices and wicked designs so as to be an instrument of his cruelty or his lust and to flatter him in an evil way Thou shalt pray for him and assist him in all his just undertakings and shalt return him all the good thou canst for that good which thou receiv'st of him from the influence of his Authority or example Thou Superiour shalt observe the rules of Iustice by giving every one their due thou shalt look faithfully to thy charge rule with diligence lay out thy talents to the best advantage oâ— God's glory and the benefit of thy Brethren Thou shalt be tender of the concerns of all thy Inferiors and oblige them with courtesie and kindness and study how thou mayst be most useful to community Thou shalt not be proud of thy gifts lift thy self above thy brethren and scorn those below thee Thou shalt not be insolent injurious nor too harsh and severe nor yet too fond and remiss but keep a mean so as to gain their obedience to thy Authority and their love to thy Person Thou Child shalt stand in fear and regard thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother and obey thy parents in the Lord Thou shalt not despise them mock at their weakness and with cursed Cham make merry at their shame but shalt shew them all honour and doe them all service and with thy virtuous behaviour well-doing cause him that begat thee to rejoyce and her that bare thee to leap for joy And when they are old and their strength fails them thou shalt provide for them and see that nothing which they have need of be wanting Thou shalt moreover shew a singular honour to their person saluting them upon thy knee often craving their blessing especially in any business of great concernment as choice of life marriage c. And thou Parent shalt love and take care of thy children and provide fashionably for them that they may have a livelyâ—hood when thou art gone thou shalt breed them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord with sweet methods win them to my fear and to the love of virtue Thou shalt not with harshness provoke them to anger nor yet spare correction when they offend or spoil them with indulgence as Heli did to their ruin and thy own sorrow Thou Subject shalt honour and obey the King and his Ministers be subject to the higher powers for conscience sake the Lord having set them to be for a terror to evill-doers Thou shalt pay him tribute and other acknowledgments of thy subjection according to the Laws and custom of the countrey and in an especial manner make prayers and intercessions for Kings and all in authority that we may under them live a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and honesty Thou shalt not raise sedition to bring an odium upon the Magistrates Person his Authority or his Council nor shew any discontent to the disturbance of publick peace nor take up arms against thy lawful Soveraign nor maintain or assist rebellion nor meddle with those that are given to change or any way comply with them or countenance them in their unjust usurpations Thou shalt not offer any violence to the King 's sacred Person but if at any time unrighteous commands are impos'd upon thee have recourse to thy prayers make thy appeals to Heaven to God the King of Kings to whom alone they are accountable and who will in his due time remove the oppression and call the oppressors to an account And thou Magistrate shalt govern according to the rules of my word and the known Laws of the countrey Thou shalt judge the fatherless and regard the widow and doe every one right Thou shalt take care of both Tables of my Law and promote the interests of Religion Thou shalt make wholsom Laws and see them
and for the miraculous Restauration of our Dread Soveraign to his Rights and of us to our Libertyes which are wrapped up in his Safety And now that the Dread Father of our Countrey and the Reverend Fathers of the Church are return'd to execute their Offices and to govern us with the sword of Iustice and the sword of the Spirit that we have been sufficiently convinc'd by the twenty years discipline of a Civil War that the grand Interest of the People is Obedience let us seek the Peace of our Ierusalem and our Sion and pray that God would confound the devices of all Rebels Schismaticks whom these late mercyes have not converted and disappoint their expectations The sixth Commandement The fifth directs the offices of Relations the rest shew the general dutyes that we ow to all men in common and they are all set down negatively to forbid all violence injury that being in it's very nature destructive to the constitution of societyes which cannot be preserv'd and manag'd without forbearance of wrongs for Iustice is in the Politick as Health is in the Natural body which keeps every part in its due temper so that none have too much or too little but Injury diseases the civil state and will if effectual remedyes be not applyed in short time bring it to dissolution Now the greatest wrong that can be offer'd to our selves or our neighbour is in the life that being the support of all blessings and comforts if it be not it self one since they are but leased out to us for life and depart with it Nothing survives life and death by making an end of the person puts a period to all his contents and joyes Wherefore the security of life is first provided for and set immediately after the fifth Commandement as the Magistrate's greatest care since were our lives expos'd to the wild passions of men Kings would want subjects and God worshippers and two or three mighty hunters would depopulate the earth To kill a man is made therefore the greatest crime as that which cannot be made amends for whereas for other losses there may be some reparation and as a sign of mortal hatred which can be content with nothing but the destruction and annihilation of the thing hated and is the greatest breach of Charity THOU SHALT NOT KILL or MURDER Thou shalt endeavour by all fair and lawful means to preserve thy own and thy neighbour's life Thou shalt not lay violent hands on thy self nor bring thy self rashly into danger of thy life by tempting providence by surfet or any other sinful or perillous course Thou shalt not neglect thy self nor deny thy body fit sustenance and refreshment and for the preservation and recovery of thy health take the advice of the learned and honour the Physician Thou shalt defend thy self from injurious assaults and make a stout resistance when force is offer'd Thou shalt esteem and set by thy life and not part with it upon mean and paultry terms but act like man and give a fair account how thou quit'st the stage think no sorry affront or idle abuse deserves the hazard of so precious a thing or be so fond of thy reputation as to clear it with thy blood and yet when just and honourable occasions call for thy life such as are â—he testimony to my truth the assistance of thy King and defence of thy countrey thou shalt fairly venture it not spare thy life to death but lay it down for thy brethren nor shalt thou make self preservation an argument for thy cowardise since the fearful as well as the dogs shall be excluded my Kingdom nor shalt thou out of self love basely sneak and withdraw thy self from thy duty nor favour thy self in my service but love me with all thy strength and keep thy body under and practise austerityes of self-denyal so as to mortifie the flesh not to procure thy death Thou shalt in like manner doe all that lyes in thy power to maintain thy neighbour's life and safety Thou shalt not slight him and pass him by in his distress but give him seasonable help Thou shalt not out of passion or thirst of revenge with sword or poyson or any other instrument of death make him away for he bears my image and he that spils man's blood by man shall his blood be spilt Thou shalt not beat nor strike or any other wayes misuse him or doe any thing to grieve him Thou shalt not hate him in thy heart or bear him any grudge nor owe him spite for he that hates his brother is a murderer Thou shalt not vex him with reproachful words nor jeer him with upbraiding language or scornful behaviour to sadden his heart and alter his countenance Thou shalt be harmless in thy carriage and meek and gentle and courteous and civil and obliging Thou shalt not doe or think any body any hurt or so much as wound them with a bitter word Thou shalt not break out into unruly and boisterous passions nor be angry without a cause Thou shalt take wrongs rather then give nor yet be of so stupid and sheepish a patience as to bring a contempt upon thy self which may make thee useless or to let my glory suffer but on this occasion to boyl over with a generous zeal and vindicate my name Thou shalt not be too â—igorous and harsh of a fierce and cruel of a dogged and sullen or of a peevish and froward disposition but be mild even in thy corrections and punishments and pitty the person when thou chastisest the vice Thou shalt not be strict in asserting thy own right and prosecute thy interest to the utmost advantage but yield of thy right and be content to sit down with the loss rather then engage in quarrel and venture the loosing of peace Thou shalt not only refrain injurious actions thy self but shalt do thy best to hinder others too in their violent attempts Thou shalt exercise a just severity upon capital offenders and take heed of licensing or encouraging villany by a fond gentleness Thou shalt for God's glory and thy neighbour's safety venture upon brave hazardous actions and in the confidence of thy honest intentions defie danger yet thou shalt not rashly and presumptuously cast thy self away nor shalt thou upon slight occasion or a private account give or entertain a challenge and in the wicked folly of duelling venter thy death and damnation together but when the Magistrates authority has arm'd thee against a publik enemy whether a forreign Invader or a domestick Rebel upon just and necessary reasons let the goodness of thy cause embolden thee and with Christian courage dispute the Interests of Religion and thy Country and make not power or pay but peace and settlement the end of thy warlike undertakings Lastly thou shalt be very tender of every one's life as of thy own and shalt not doe any thing purposely to prejudice another's life or his comforts and shalt
faith applyes that purchase So then we are sav'd by the mercy of the Father by the merit of the Son and by the efficacy of the Spirit This form of Baptism is one of the clearest proofs of Trinity in all Scripture and indeed when our Saviour was Baptiz'd of Iohn all Three did shew themselves present Christ himself whom Iohn did Baptize was the second Person the Spirit descended upon him in the shape of a Dove and the Father spoke out of the Cloud saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased In the Command is set down the rite or outward action i.e. the washing with water The Promise delivers the grace signified and conveyed by the action to wit remission of sins The analogie betwixt the outward sign and the inward grace lyes in this that as Water being powred or sprinkled on the body washes off the filth so the Blood of Christ which was the Fountain open'd for the cleansing of iniquity doth purge the conscience and doe away sin whether original or actual and present us clean without spot in the sight of the Father by the virtue of the Spirit HE THAT BELIEVES AND IS BAPTIZED SHALL BE SAVED Faith is the soul's hand by which a man receives and applyes to himself the benefits purchased by Christ. By Faith we are justified Baptism is the laver of regeneration the seal of the Covenant the conveyance of Grace They are both necessary neither can either of them serve turn by it self There must be an Ordinance to ground Faith upon and there must be a Faith to make the Ordinance effectual For every appointment as the just man doth lives by Faith Faith without Baptism were a bucket without water and Baptism void of Faith were but a well without a bucket to draw up the waters of life He that believes by confessing his sins and professing Faith resolves upon amendment of life and gives himself up to Christ's discipline and then is baptiz'd obliges himself by vow enters into Covenant of strict walking with God He shall be sav'd from his sins the punishments due to them being free as well from the power as from the guilt His nature shall be renewed and by the continual supplyes of grace if he make good use of it he shall be enabled more and more to withstand temptations get ground of his lusts he shall be put into a state of salvation and every day set forward on his way to bliss through the paths of holiness till with Christ at last he arrive at perfection have his grace changed into glory HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT SHALL BE DAMNED This is a threat annexed to the promise which holds good by the law of contraries for if those that believe shall be saved then those that believe not must expect nothing but damnation We must observe that there is not added here any mention of Baptism because unbelief it self is enough to shut the gates of Heaven against any one and send him to Hell wherefore it is not said he that believes not and is not Baptiz'd for the unbeliever whether he be baptiz'd or no is lyable to this sentence If he hath been baptiz'd it will be look'd upon as a formal cheat a cloak to disguise his hypocrisy And if he hath not the very neglect of Baptism serves for an open discovery of his unbelief so that either way he aggravates his sin by being on one side hypocrite on the other profane The meaning of these words then is this But on the contrary whosoever doth not with true Faith entertain my Doctrine and with sure purpose of mind resolve on the keeping my Commands but doth either so far disbelieve Christian Truth that he will not so much as take upon him the outward profession of it or having been baptiz'd is of loose opinions and practises and disparages his profession with foul errors or wicked manners such an one will have no benefit by Christ no share in the salvation wrought by him but brings upon himself the guilt of his own sins and continues still in a state of wrath and perishing in his unbelief will assuredly be cast into everlasting torments If the One Sacrament may be termed the Bosom of the Church by which we are entred and have admittance into the fellowship of the Saints The Other may not without reason be call'd the Churches Breast by which we are nourished to a spiritual growth and are refreshed and fed to life everlasting Of the Lord's SUPPER AFter that our Saviour had sufficiently made known by his Doctrine the will of God concerning man's salvation and proved by many miracles that he was the Son of God that came down from Heaven to the end that having put on our nature he might in our stead satisfy the Law and undergoe the punishments due to us for our sins that we through Faith in him might live It pleased him that he might leave with us the Symbols of his presence for ever and preserve the memory of his sufferings afresh in the mind of the faithful to prefigure his Death by a Sacrament appointing Bread Wine the usual supplyes of life for the representing of his sacred Body which was broken on the Cross and torn with the nails and the spear and his Blood which trickled from his sacred Head by the pricking of the thorns gush'd out of his hands feet when he was nail'd to the tree and brake forth of his side when he was wounded with the launce and plentifully stream'd forth out of every vein of his sacred Body when he was cruelly scourged with whips Now his Body thus broken and his Blood thus shed doe no less feed a believers soul and improve the force of grace then the body is nourished and natures strength repaired by Bread and Wine But this hath a spiritual meaning not that any one doth eat the very flesh of Christ and drink his very blood in a gross manner for that will be as absured to think as 't is savage to doe or that Christ can be receiv'd any other way then by Faith for 't is a point of Faith that the Body of Christ did goe up to Heaven and there is to remain till the last day and 't is contrary to very reason to say that the same Body can at the same time be in several places and to bring to pass contradictions is a thing out of the power of omnipotence it self not to say that it is plain even to our outward senses that the elements of bread and wine doe still remain after consecration the same in substance as well as in colour and accidents as they were before In fine it would indeed be no Sacrament if the signs should change their nature and the thing signified be it self really there for a Sacrament is nothing else but a figure and representation of some thing that is absent exhibiting to the understanding that which cannot be seen with the eye and by
outward actions resembling the inward virtue and efficacy of that thing of which it is a sign This sacred Rite is called the Holy Supper either by the way of Metaphor to denote the communion and fellowship which the Saints have with one another for which reason we also usually term it with the Apostle Paul the Communion The whole family meeting together at that time when all the business of the day is over to refresh themselves and take their repast Nor is it otherwise with the houshold of Faith who though imployed in several dwellings and dutyes of life yet as members of one and the same body whereof Christ is the Head are united to one another by the same spirit fed with the same spiritual food So that the Mystical body of the Church is made up of many Saints just as the bread it self of many corns and the wine of drops whence 't is frequently by the Greek Fathers called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. the gathering together of the Saints whither as some Interpreters would have it that place hath allusion where the car case is that is the crucified Body of Christ thither shall the eagles the quick-sighted high-flown believers be gathered together Or out of a more particular respect to the Passeover into the place and stead whereof this Sacrament came as the other succeeded circumcision for the Iews were wont by God's appointment yearly to celebrate a Feast whereon at evening in each houshold they slew a Lamb dressed it and eat it together in remembrance of the deliverance from the Egyptian slavery and from the Angel who striking all the first born of Egypt pass'd over the houses of the Israelites who for that purpose had according to that command dash'd the Blood of the Lamb upon the lintel of the door Now Christ being the substance was to put an end to all ceremonies came to make one perfect sacrifice once for all who in that he dyed dyed but once being the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world and his death we are to remember in these pledges of his love whereby he hath delivered us from a spiritual slavery and wrought salvation for us And indeed in that very nick of time when our Saviour had finisht the Paschal Supper with his Disciples he appointed this as to abide for ever in the room of the other The Lord's Supper it is styled because appointed by the Lord Jesus and represents him to be fed on by Faith The words of the Scripture wherein the Institution is set down expresse both time when and manner how it was performed the manner again delilivers partly what he did partly what he said in consecrating the bread first and then the cup. The Institution of this Sacrament is described by the authour time and manner The Authour the Lord Iesus The Time the night wherein he was betrayed the Manner consists of two parts shewing partly what he did partly what he said and that severally of these two several signs by which he would represent his Body and Blood For this Holy Supper was to consist of spiritual meat and drink as men use both to eat and drink in their other ordinary meals The Bread is the sign of his Body the Cup of his Blood First as to the Bread what did he He took it he bless'd it he broke it he gave it What said he Take eat this is my Body Again for the Cup what did he he took it he bless'd it he gave it What said he Drink ye all of it for this is my Blood c. Now let us goe over each part again and explain it more fully THE LORD JESUS Who by the merit of his Passion and at the price of his Blood purchased for us Salvation and for himself glory and a Name above every Name that he might become Head of the Church and to him might be given all power from the Father He alone has authority to appoint Sacraments and order the affairs of his Church by his word and spirit whereby he hath impowerd his Ministers to act in his Name to dispense his ordinances even to the end of the world IN THE NIGHT. For it was a Supper which he intended and 't was at supper or rather after supper when he had with his Disciples about him eaten the Passeover the type of himself who was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world when he said at the Table One of you shall betray me and discovered his betrayer by giving him a sop which some think was no other then a piece of consecrated bread Nay the self-same night IN WHICH HE WAS BETRAID by Iudas with a kiss bringing a multitude along with him arm'd with swords and staves the rage of the rulers and the curses of the priests to lay wicked hands on him after he had sweat drops of blood in his agony and powred out his Soul in Prayer being sad even to death in a garden where he made the praeludium to his Passion BREAD by which the heart of man is strengthned which is therefore called the staff of life is made use of to represent the Body of Christ who was the bread which came down from Heaven by which souls are fed to life everlasting HE TOOK IT That he might by his example shew the Ministers of his word what they are to doe when they invite their people to the holy Table himself doth in a solemn manner begin the ceremonies taking the bread i.e. lifting it up and holding it in his hand which amongst the Iews was then the fashion observ'd by the master of the house AND GIVING THANKS We doe not read anywhere that Christ ever sate down to meat without Thanksgiving which especially before the Holy Supper is necessary it being for that reason call'd the Eucharist And surely the death of Christ which is here set forth was the greatest blessing that ever befell mankind Or Blessing it The meaning may be that by consecrating it he did set it aside from common use and praying for a special blessing upon it that it may become an effectual means of grace he stamp'd upon it a kind of reverence which was not due to it before HE BROKE IT Whence this mystery is also call'd the breaking of bread he divided it into several pieces that there might be the better distribution of it amongst the company at table AND GAVE IT i.e. reaching out his hand he set to every one his part and bestowed it amongst them TO THE DISCIPLES Who did then represent the whole Church of Christ and society of the faithful both men and women who should give up themselves to the discipline of Christ and take upon them the profession of the Gospel not so much as Iudas excepted though Christ well knew what was in his heart Wherefore by Christ's own example Ministers might learn that none should be excluded and kept from the table where Christ
himself entertained the Traitour the Thief and the Apostate Iudas All are invited to this heavenly banquet and if any one crowd in having not on his wedding garment he does it at his own peril 'T is the Apostle's rule in this case that a man examine himself and so come He that shall censure his brother as unworthy to share in this divine worship to be sure by his want of charity makes himself unfit to be there and uncapable of the blessing charity being as necessary a qualification as repentance and we are out of charity to suppose that any scandalous liver or notorious offender would venture upon these sacred mysteries without having repented him of his sins since he is told aforehand that by coming unworthily he will but eat and drink damnation to himself delivering himself into Satan's power filling up the measure of his sins and hastning his own destruction as it far'd with Iudas AND SAID Here follow the words of consecration for this too as wel as the common food is sanctified by the word and Prayer It was not enough to have broken and given it unless he had also said Take eat God is wont to instruct all our senses as he requires to have them all exercised in holy things The outward Sign is propos'd to the eye the Word to the ear so that what the eagle-sighted Evangelist saith of the Incarnation of Christ may have here a peculiar place That which we have seen That which we have heard and our hands have handled of the word of life declare we unto you and accordingly it follows TAKE Stretching out the hand of Faith lay hold on life embrace salvation offer'd Take for ye have it not by nature in your selves it is the gift of God through Christ who took upon him the Humane nature that he through it might convey to men the power virtue of the Divine nature He took that he might give we take to enjoy Take it not snatch it take it with reverence and such devotion of mind and body as becomes so great a mystery and this indeed has alwayes been the custom of the Church to use an humble posture upon this occasion and receive kneeling EAT Apply to your souls the benefit of my death feed upon me and be transformed into my likeness that ye may be united to me and I may live in you no otherwise then the meat which we dayly eat is turn'd into juice and blood and intimately adhering to us becomes part of us THIS IS MY BODY This i.e. this bread for though they disagree in gender yet who is so unskil'd in Grammar as not to know that the Relative this may agree either with the former Antecedent bread or with the later body or This mystery and Sacrament This action of my breaking and giving of your taking and eating IS MY BODY Is the representation of my death the assurance of salvation to those that believe as we commonly say of a writing in Law This is my estate i.e. this gives me a title to such a house and land and by a sure conveyance makes me right owner of it as if the house and fields and meadows were really included in the parchment Such a manner of speech is frequently us'd in Scripture as where 't is said the rock was Christ which to take properly and strictly as the words sound were absurd there being no more meant by it then this that the rock was the type and emblem of Christ. So here that the bread is Christ's Body is not to be understood in a gross sense as if that the substance of the bread were changed into the very flesh of Christ but that whosoever doth with faith receive these sacred Symbols doth truly and to all intents partake of the benefits which Christ hath purchas'd for us by his death and is closely united to Christ and grows in grace even as our bodily food being taken in does pass into our nature and give nourishment and increase to all the parts of our body WHICH IS BROKEN or Given The present Tense here is put for the future which shortly shall be broken for Christ was yet not crucified but spoke these words before his Passion Or the whole life of Christ having been nothing else but an enduring of hardship it may be understood not onely of the cross and the nails the scourges and the thorns wherewith his sacred Body was rent and torn but also of hunger and cold fasting and watching grief and pains which he underwent all along from the Cradle to the Cross or in a mystical and Sacramental sense which by this breaking giving of the bread is represented shown forth as broken and given for them For the very actions us'd by our Saviour at this Supper have a spiritual meaning and doe allude to some mystery He took bread and so he took to himself a body that he might become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh and suffer in the flesh the punishment due to us as it is written Burnt offerings and sacrifices thou wouldst not but a body thou hast prepared for me He blessed it i.e. he set it aside from common use in like manner the mass of flesh and blood which he would put on he separated from the defilement of our nature that he might after an extraordinary manner be born of the Blessed Virgin without sin He broke it Iust so was that his body used cut and mangled with cruel whips bruised with blowes and buffets gash'd with a spear pricked with the thorns and bored with nails that we by his stripes might be healed He gave it hanging on the Cross with stretched armes bowed head he seem'd to invite all men to the well of salvation which was open'd in his side for the cleansing of iniquity and the quenching of spiritual thirst laying down his life like the good shepheard for the ransom of souls And his Father gave him so loving the world that he gave his only begotten Son to the death that whosoever believes in him might have everlasting life FOR YOU For your sake upon your account to your benefit for the appeasing God's wrath satisfying his Iustice and obtaining his mercy for the redemption of your souls the purchase of pardon and grace and the assurance of salvation that you by my death may live by my wounds you may be cured and by receiving me thus offered unto you may be received into favour Or in your stead Behold I suffer what you should have suffered I as your Mediator stand betwixt you and God betwixt your sins and his wrath and undergoe the penalty which was due to you my body is torn and mangled and my soul powred out to death not for any thing that I have done amiss for there hath bin no iniquity found in my hand nor guil in my mouth but I am that Lamb of God slain from the beginning of the world I am
that good shepheard of souls that lay down my life for my sheep Thus broken and given thus delivered for you and to you I seal pardon of sins to your hearts I improve grace supply strength feed your souls to life everlasting Broken or Given as if it were all one for this heavenly Bread was given that it might be broken 't was broken that it might be given Christ could not have suffered for us had he not had a body given him for that purpose nor could that body have done us good or furnisht us with spiritual nourishment had it not bin broken Had not Christ dyed we could not be sure of living As it is with the bread it self which is the Symbol of his Body The corn must be first cut down and threshed and winnowed and grownd and sifted kneaded and baked with a hot oven before it can become bread THIS DOE YE These words either have reference to the actions of the Disciples who took the bread which Christ gave them and eat it and so they belong to all Christians in general to the whole company of believers according as the Church doth in more words deliver it Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee feed on him in thy heart with Faith and thanksgiving And so of the Cup afterward 't is said This doe ye as oft as ye drink it i.e. when ever ye drink it drink it in remembrance of me Or to Christ's own actions who broke it and gave it and thus they imply a special charge to the Officers of the Church the Ministers of the Gospel and Preachers of the Word such as also were these Disciples as if he should have said you are Apostles with whom I leave the care of planting Churches and preaching the Gospel whom I trust for the management of the affairs of my Kingdom and duly administring the Sacraments wherefore I charge and require of you that in celebrating this mystery you follow my example and doe no otherwise then you have seen me do before you that it may remain pure to all succeeding ages according to this first institution And hither St. Paul in this case makes his appeal where he discourses of the Holy Supper That which I received that deliver I unto you how the Lord Iesus c. This or Thus This which I have done or thus as I have done now in your company doe ye and all from hence forward that derive authority from you in your several assemblyes take bread and bless it and break it and give it about to those who rightly prepared come to the holy Table and use these words of consecration which I have done to you The Greek is make this hence it is an ordinary phrase amongst the Popish Priests when they perform Mass to say that they doe make the Body of the Lord thinking possibly that the Doctrine of Transsubstantiation is much advantaged by the word of making which in the Greek is indifferently applyed to all manner of actions and the other which signifies to do would have bin very improper and not fit to be us'd in this place THIS DOE YE The word will also in the Latine and Hebrew carry a sense of sacrificing and then 't would intimate that our Saviour's death was our peace-offering whereby God's wrath conceived against sin was atoned and his Iustice satisfied we being cleansed by the sprinkling of his Blood The Papists therefore call the Mass a Sacrifice without Blood and the holy Table strictly and properly without any Metaphor an Altar 'T is true we doe here represent and commemorate the death of Christ and when we come to partake of these Mysteries we may use the Psalmist's words What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord I will Sacrifice unto thee the Sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the Name of the Lord I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people But he having offer'd once a perfect Sacrifice for the taking away of sin and cry'd upon the Cross It is finished and in that he dyed dyes no more 't were absurd to think there needed a repetition of that act which in it self was all-sufficient Christ's Blood being of an infinite value as it immediately follows in the same Psalm Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints A word peculiar to Christ as in the fourth Psalm He hath set apart the holy one for himself and in the 16. Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption meaning Christ. Besides to what purpose is it to ground an unreasonable doctrine upon the nicety of a word which in ordinary plain meaning signifies but this doe so hereafter as ye now doe or do ye in your companies what ye have seen me now do in mine IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME. For a memorial of me and a monument of my love who have not spar'd my life for your sakes and with a sense of gratitude to keep up the memory of my bitter death which I as your surety upon your account underwent and the benefit whereof you will receive by believing on me by eating my flesh and drinking my Blood and becoming one with me Or for my remembrance appointed by me to be one of my sacred ordinances to be kept up in the practise of the Church till my second coming in the clouds as ye will see me goe away Wherefore in the mean while to leave behind me a remembrance and to bear up your hearts in Faith that what I have suffered hath bin out of love to you and that those who in following ages shall not see me in the flesh yet may have some further assurance then my bare word I have provided this to be a standing ordinance in the Church whereby I may be remembred to the end of the world LIKEWISE ALSO HE TOOK THE CUP Now follows the other part of this Sacrament to wit the consecration of the Cup for it would not be a compleat meal were there not spiritual drink as well as meat the Blood of Christ being as necessary to quench the thirst as his flesh to satisfie the hunger of a believing soul that hungers and thirsts after righteousness But first the Bread and then the Cup. Why because there must be a body broken before there could be blood spilt First bread to strengthen and then wine to refresh the heart Again the Cup last as of great importance for the flesh could have profited nothing without the blood and God is said to have redeem'd his Church with his Blood nor does he onely redeem us with the shedding of his blood but wash us by the sprinkling of it upon our consciences from dead works and preserve his Church spotless till the great day Nay the author to the Hebrews observes