the name of Adam was comprehended the man and the woman for by mariage two are made one and Moses calleth both the man and the woman Adam Gen. 5. 2. and last of all the Apostle used the word here signifying both man and woman What reason is there that all their posterity should take part with them both in their fall and in the wofull effect thereof It seemeth not to stand with the Justice of God to punish us for the sin that we never did Our first parents by Gods appointment were to stand or fall in that triall not as singular persons only but also as the head and root of all mankind representing the persons of all that should descend from them by naturall generation and therefore for the understanding of the ground of our participation with Adams fall two things must be considered First that Adam was not a private man in this businesse but sustained the person of all mankind as he who had received grace and strength for himself and all his posterity and so lost the same for all For Adam received the promise of life for himself and us with this condition if he had stood but seeing he stood not he lost the promise of life both from himself and from us and as his felicity should have been ours if he had stood in it so was his transgression and misery ours So that as in the second Covenant the righteousnesse of the second Adam Christ Jesus the Mediatour is reckoned to those that are begotten of him by spirituall regeneration even those that beleeve in his name although they never did it so in the first Covenant the sinne of the first Adam who herein sustained a common person is reckoned to all the posterity that descend from him by carnall generation because they were in him and of him and one with him Rom. 5. 15 16 17 18 19. Secondly that we all who are descended from Adam by naturall generation were in his loyns and a part of him when he fell and so by the law of propagation and generation sinned in him and in him deserved eternall condemnation therefore as two Nations are said to be in the womb of Rebekah Gen. 25. 23. and Levi to have paid tithes to Melchisedec in the loins of Abraham Heb. 7. 9 10. who was not born some hundred years after so is it here Thus we see that as by the act of generation in leprous parents the parents Leprosie made the childrens and the slavish and villanous estate of the parents is communicated unto all the off-spring for a man being a slave his progeny unto the hundred generation unlesse they be manumitted shall be slaves even so the naturall man howsoever he thinketh himself free yet in truth he is sold under sin and is the very servant of corruption and in that state shall for ever remain unlesse the Son doe make him free Joh. 8. 33 34. 36. Rom. 6. 17. 19 20. 7. 14. 2 Pet. 2. 19. We see also that great Parsonages rebelling against the King do not only thereby hurt and disgrace themselves but also stain their whole bloud and lose their honour and Inheritance from themselves and from their children for by our Law a man being attainted of High treason the attaint of bloud reacheth to his posterity and his children as well as he lose the benefit of his Lands and Living for ever unlesse the King in favour restore them againe as God in his mercy hath done unto us Then it appeareth that by propagation from our last parents we are become partakers of the sin of our first parents Even so and for the same transgression of our first parents by the most righteous Judgement of God we are conceived in sin and born in iniquity and unto misery Ps. 51. 5. for men are not now born as Adam was created but death doth reign over them also that sinned not after the like manner of the transgression of Adam Rom. 5. 14. that is over infants who are born in sin not by imitation but by an inherent corruption of sin even as we see the young Serpents and Wolves that never stung men or devoured sheep are notwithstanding worthy to die because there are principles of hurtfulnesse and poysonsomnesse in them How is it shewn that babes new born into the world have sin In that they are afflicted sundrily which they bewray by their bitter cries and in that they comming out of the mothers womb goe straight into the grave What is then the naturall estate of man Every man is by nature dead in sin as a loathsome carrion or as a dead corps and lieth rotting and stinking in the grave having in him the seed of all sins Eph. 2. 1. 1 Tim. 5. 6. For the fuller understanding of the state of sin and the consequents thereof declare first what sin is It is defined in one word 1 Joh. 3. 4. to be the transgression of the law namely a swerving from the law of God making the sinner guilty before God and liable to the curse of the law Gen. 4. 7. Seeing by the law sinne is and the law was not before Moses Rom. 5. 13. it seemeth there is no sin untill Moses When it is said the law was not before Moses it is to be understood of the law written in the Tables of stone by the finger of God and other laws Ceremoniall and Politicall written by Moses at the commandement of God for otherwise the law the Ceremoniall law excepted was written in the heart of man and for the decay therof through sin taught by those to whom that belonged from the fall unto Moses Is every breach of the Law of God sin Yea if it be no more but the least want of that God requireth Rom. 7. 7. Gal. 3. 10. And doth every sin the very least deserve the curse of God and everlasting death Yes verily because God is of infinite Majesty and dignity and therefore what so toucheth him deserveth endlesse wrath wherefore Purgatory and our owne satisfaction for small sinnes is vain How many sorts of sins are there Sin is either imputed or inherent the one without us and the other within us What is the sin Imputed Our sin in Adam in whom as we lived so also we sinned for in our first parents as hath been shewed every one of us did commit that first sinne which was the cause of all other and so we all are become subject to the imputation of Adams fall both for the trasgression and guiltinesse Rom. 5. 12. 18. 19. 1 Cor. 15. 22. What sins are Inherent in us They doe either defile our nature or our actions the one called Originall sin the other Actuall Col. 3. 9. For every one naturally descending from Adam beside the guilt of that first sin committed in Paradise first is conceived and born in original corruption Ps. 51. 5. Secondly living in this world sinneth also actually Gen. 6. 5. Esay 48. 8. yea of
neither God nor man for things mingled together cannot retain the name of one of the simples as hony and oyle being mingled together cannot be called hony or oyle 2. The properties of the Godhead cannot agree to the properties of the Manhood nor the properties of the Manhood to the Godhead For as the Godhead cannot thirst no more can the Manhood be in all or many place at once therefore the Godhead was neither turned nor transfused into the Manhood but both the divine nature keepeth entire all his essentiall properties to it selfe so that the humanity is neither omnipotent omniscient omnipresent c. and the humane keepeth also his properties and actions though oft that which is proper to the one nature is spoken of the person denominated from the other which is by reason of the union of both natures into one person The glory of the Godhead being more plentifully communicated with the Manhood after his resurrection did it not then swallow up the truth thereof as a whole sea one drop of oyle No for these two natures continued still distinct in substance properties and actions and still remained one and the same Christ. Why did he not take the nature of Angels upon him Heb. 2. 16. Because he had no meaning to save Angels for that they had committed the sin against the holy Ghost falling maliciously into rebellion against God without temptation Are not the elect Angels any way benefited by the humane nature of Christ No his humanity only reacheth to sinfull mankind for if he had meant to have benefited Angels by taking another nature he would have taken their nature upon him How is it then said Eph. 1. 10. Col. 1. 20. that he reconciled things in heaven That is to be understood of the Saints then in heaven and not any way of the Angels although by the second Person of the Trinity the Angels were elected and are by him confirmed so that they shall stand for evermore Why was it requisite that our Mediatour should be Man was it not sufficient that he was God No it was further requisite that he should be man also because 1. Our Saviour must suffer and die for our sins which the Godhead could not doe 2. Our Saviour also must perform obedience to the law which in his Godhead he could not doe 3. He must be man of kin to our nature offending that he might satisfie the justice of God in the same nature wherein it was offended Rom. 8. 3. 1 Cor. 15. 21. Heb. 2. 14 15 16. For the righteousnesse of God did require that the same nature which had committed the sin should also pay and make amends for sin and consequently that onely nature should be punished which did offend in Adam Man therefore having sinned it was requisite for the appeasing of Gods wrath that man himself should die for sin the Man Christ Jesus offering up himself a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour unto God for us 1 Tim. 2. 5. Heb. 2. 9 10. 14. 15. Rom. 5. 12. 15. Eph. 5. 2. 4. It is for our comfort that thereby we might have free accesse to the throne of Grace and might find help in our necessities having such an high Priest as was in all things tempted like unto our selves and was acquainted with our infirmities in his own person Heb. 4. 15 16 5. 2. 5. As we must be saved so likewise must we be sanctified by one of our own nature that as in the first Adam there was a spring of humane nature corrupted derived unto us by naturall generation so in the second Adam there might be a fountain of the same nature restored which might be derived unto us by spirituall regeneration What comfort then have you by this that Christ is man Hereby I am assured that Christ is fit to suffer the punishment of my sin and being man himselfe is also meet to be more pitifull and mercifull unto men What by this that he is both God and man By this I am most certainly assured that he is able most fully to finish the work of my salvation seeing that as he is man he is meet to suffer for sin as he is God he is able to bear the punishment of sin and to overcome the suffering being by the one fit and by the other able to discharge the office of a Mediatour Mans nature can suffer death but not overcome it the divine nature cannot suffer but can overcome all things our Mediatour therefore being partaker of both natures is by the one made fit to suffer by the other able to overcome whatsoever was to be laid upon him for the making of our peace Are these his natures separated No verily for though they be still distinguished as hath been said in substance properties and actions yet were they inseparably joyned together in the first moment the holy Virgin conceived and made not two but one person of a Mediatour 2 Cor. 13. 4. 1 Pet. 3. 18. 1 Cor. 15. 27 28. The holy Ghost sanctifying the seed of the woman which otherwise could not be joyned to the Godhead and uniting two natures in one person God and man in one Christ Luc. 1. 35. 42. Rom. 9. 5. 1 Tim. 2. 5. Joh. 1. 14. a mystery that no Angel much lesse man is able to comprehend Why so For that the manhood of our Saviour Christ is personally united unto the Godhead whereas the Angels of much greater glory then men are not able to abide the presence of God Esa. 6. 2. Was this union of the body and soul with the Godhead by taking of the manhood to the Godhead or by infusing the Godhead into the manhood By a divine and miraculous assuming of the humane nature which before had no subsistence in it self to have his beeing and subsistence in the divine leaving of it one naturall personship which otherwise in ordinary men maketh a perfect person for otherwise there should be two Persons and two Sons one of the holy Virgin Mary and another of God which were most prejudiciall to our salvation What then is the personall union of the two natures in Christ The assuming of the humane nature having no subsistency in it selfe into the person of the Son of God Joh. 1. 14. Heb. 2. 16. and in that person uniting it to the Godhead so making one Christ God and man Mat. 1. 23. Can you shadow out this conjunction of two natures in one person by some earthly resemblance We see one tree may be set into another and it groweth in the stock thereof and becommeth one and the same tree though there be two natures or kind of fruit still remaining So in the Son of God made man though there be two natures yet both being united into one person there is but one Son of God and one Christ. What was the cause that the person of the Sonne of God did not joyn it self to a perfect person of man 1. Because that then there
jurisdiction and authority Mat. 20. 19. Joh. 18. 31 32. as likewise to teach us that he appeared willingly and of his own accord before a mortall Judge of whom he was pronounced innocent and yet by the same he was condemned What comfort have you hereof That my Saviour thus suffering not any whit for his own sins but wholly for mine and for other mens sins before an earthly Judge I shall be discharged before the heavenly Judgement seat What did he chiefly suffer under Pontius Pilate He was apprehended accused arraigned mocked scourged condemned and crucified Mat. 26. 27. and 28. chapters What learn you here That he that knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Did Christ suffer these things willingly as he suffered them innocently Yes he laid down his life meekly as the sheep doth his fleece before the shearer being obedient even unto the death Luc. 23. 41. 1 Pet. 2. 22. Esa. 53. 7. Phil. 2. 8. Heb. 5. 8. Vnto what death was he so obedient Even unto the most reproachfull painfull and dreadfull death the death of the Crosse Mat. 27. 30. 38. Phil. 2. 8. Why was Christ put unto this death of the Crosse Because it was not a common death but such a death as was accursed both of God and man that so he being made a curse for us he might redeem us from a curse due unto us Deut. 21. 23. Gal. 3. 13. What comfort have you by this I am comforted in this because I am delivered from the curse which I have deserved by the breach of the law and shall obtain the blessing due unto him for keeping of the same Why was it requisite that our Saviours soul should be separated from his body Because we were all dead that so he might be the death of death for us 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Heb. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 15. 54 55. for by sin death came into the world and therefore the Justice of God could not have been satisfied for our sins unlesse death had been joyned with his sufferings How could the death and sufferings of Christ which were but for a short time be a full satisfaction for us which have deserved eternall death Although they were not everlasting yet in regard of the worthinesse of the person who suffered them they were equivalent to everlasting torments forasmuch as not a bare man nor an Angel did suffer them but the eternall Son of God though not in his Godhead but in our nature which he assumed his person Majesty Deity Goodnesse Justice Righteousnesse being every way infinite and eternall made that which he suffered of no lesse force and value then eternall torments upon others yea even upon all the world besides For even as the death of a Prince being but a man and a sinfull man is of more reckoning then the death of an Army of other men because he is the Prince much more shall the death and sufferings of the Son of God the Prince of all Princes not finite but every way infinite and without sin much more I say shall that be of more reckoning with his Father then the sufferings of all the world and the time of his sufferings of more value for the worthinesse of his person then if all the men in the world had suffered for ever and ever What use are we to make of Christs death and passion 1. The consideration hereof may bring us to a sound perswasion and feeling of our sins because they have deserved so grievous a punishment as either the death of the Son of God or hell fire 2. Hereby we reap unspeakable comfort forasmuch as by his stripes we are healed by his bloud washed by his sacrifice God is satisfied and by his death we are saved and redeemed 1 Pet. 2. 24. Rev. 1. 5. Heb. 10. 10. 12. Rom. 5. 8 9 10. 3. We learn from hence to die to our sins and to live henceforth unto him that hath dyed for us Rom. 6. 2. 6. 2 Cor. 5. 15. What befell our Saviour after his soule was separated from his body He was buried Act. 13. 29 30. and went to Hades or as we commonly speak descended into hell Act. 2. 31. Why was it needfull that Christ should be buried 1. To assure us more fully that he was truly dead Mat. 27. 59 60. 94 65 66. Act. 2. 29. 2. That even in the grave the very fortresse of death he might loose the sorrows and bands of death Act. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 15. 55. What is meant by his descending into Hell Not that he went to the place of the damned but that he went absolutely unto the estate of the dead Rom. 10. 7. Eph. 4. 9. What doe you call the estate of the dead That departing this life he went in his soul into heaven Luc. 23. 43. and was in his body under the very power and dominion of death for a season Acts 2. 24. Heb. 2. 14. Rom. 6. 9. What comfort have you by Christs death buriall and lying under the power of death 1. I am comforted because my sinnes are fully discharged in his death and so buried that they shall never come into remembrance 2. My comfort is the more because by the vertue of his death and buriall sin shall be killed in me and buried so that henceforth it shall have no power to reign over me 3. I need not to fear death seeing that sin which is the sting of death is taken away by the death of Christ and that now death is made unto me an entrance into his life Hitherto of his sufferings what is the other part of his satisfaction His perfect righteousnesse whereby he did that which we were not able to doe and absolutely fulfilled the whole law of God for us Ps. 40. 7 8. Rom. 3. 19. 5. 19. Why was it necessary that Christ should as well fulfill the Law as suffer for us Because as by his sufferings he took away our unrighteousnesse and freed us from the punishment due to us for our sins so by performing for us absolute obedience to the whole law of God he hath merited our righteousnesse making us just and holy in the sight of God and purchased eternall happinesse for us in the life to come 2 Cor. 5. 21. Gal. 4. 4 5. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Rom. 8. 3 4. For as we are made unrighteous by Adams sinne so are we made fully and wholly righteous being justified by a man that is God How manifold is the righteousnesse of our Saviour Two-fold Originall Actuall VVhat is his originall righteousnesse The perfect integrity and purenesse of his humane nature which in himselfe was without all guile and the least staine of corruption Heb. 7. 26. Being very man how could he be without sin The course of naturall corruption was prevented because he was not begotten after the ordinary course by man but was conceived in the
to bee plainer even our dearest friend as we doe our selves which cannot bee found Deut. 28. 53 56. c. and therefore the righteousnesse of the Papists is a rotten righteousnesse and such as will never stand with the righteousnesse of God What profit ariseth of the second use That by it as by a glasse wee may the easier see and being shortly contrived we may the better remember our whole duty both to God and man it being as a Card or Mappe of a Countrey easier carried about with us Seeing then that the whole summe and maine end of the Law is Love what gather you thereof That which the Apostle exhorteth unto viz. To leave all idle questions as unprofitable and to deale in those matters onely which further the practise of love 1 Tim. 1. 4 5. Why is the love of God called the first and greatest Commandement Matth. 22. 38. Because we should chiefely and in the first place regard our duties to God and be most carefull to understand his will and to worship him 1 John 4. 20. In which respect the first Table is put before the second as being the principall How may it appeare that our duties to God are to be preferred before the other towards our Neighbour First by the inequality of the persons offended because it is worse to offend God than man Acts 4. 19. Secondly by the punishment assigned in the Scriptures For the breaches of the first Table are to be more severely punished than the breaches of the second As he that revileth the Magistrate shall beare his sinne but hee that blasphemeth God shall bee stoned to death 1 Sam. 2. 25. Num. 24. 11. 14. What gather you of this The crafty practices of Papists who would make men beleeve that the chiefest godlinesse and most meritorious good workes of all required in the Law of God are the workes of the second Table as Charity Almes-deeds c. thereby deceiving the people to enrich themselves Are all the duties of the first Table greater than all the duties of the second No unlesse the comparison be equally made for the morall duties of the second Table being perpetuall are greater than the Ceremoniall duties of the first being temporall whereunto agreeth That God will rather have mercy than sacrifice Hos. 6. 6. Matth. 9. 13. When doe you count the comparison equall When they are compared in like degrees as the chiefe Commandement of the first Table with the chiefe of the second the middle duties of the one with the middle duties of the other and the last and least of the former with the last and least of the latter Thus if we compare the greatest with the greatest and the meanest with the meanest the duties and breaches of the first Table are greater than the duties and breaches of the second But though the principall service of the one be greater than the principall service of the other if the comparison be not made in the same degrees as if for example the murther of a man be compared with the least abuse of the name of God or Adultery with the least breach of the Sabbath these of the second Table are greater Why is the second Table said to be like unto the first Matth. 22. 39. For that they goe so hand in hand together that no man can performe the one unlesse the other as St. John teacheth So Ephes. 1. 2. chap. fourth and fift For whosoever keepeth the first Table well cannot but keep the second and whosoever keepeth the second must needs keep the first What is to be said of those that seeme to keep the one and care not for the other If they will seeme to serve God and are not in Charity they are meere hypocrites and if they will seeme to deale uprightly with their neighbour and have not the love of God in them they are prophane Hypocrites and very Atheists Wherein else doe the Tables agree First in that they are both perpetuall Secondly in that they are both perfect Wherein doe the Commandements of the first Table agree In this principally that they concerne the worship of God and containe our whole duties towards him How are they divided They either respect the root of this worship as the first or the branches thereof as the three following For the fountaine worship of God is prescribed in the first Commandement the meanes of this service in the other three Why did God enjoyne his worship in foure Commandements That we might the better know and retaine them in mind or otherwise might be left the more without excuse What is common to these foure Commandements of the first Table That every one hath his severall reason annexed yet with this difference that the first hath his reason going before the Commandement and the other three have it following Have not the Commandements of the second Table their reasons also Yes verily in the Scriptures but for brevity they are omitted in the Decalogue Why are the reasons of the Commandements of the first Table rather set down then of the second First that we might know that there is no lesse light left in us of the worship of God then of the duties wee owe to our neighbours Secondly to teach us that as all obedience should bee grounded upon Reason and Knowledge so especially that which concerneth Gods worship What gather you of this That those are greatly deceived who thinke it sufficient if they have the Commandements by heart or can say them by roat Why is the reason of the first Commandement set before which in all the other commeth after Because it serveth not onely for a reason of this Commandement but also for a Preface to all the ten for it hath a reference to them all and is a reason to urge the observance to every one of them In what words is it expressed In these words of God Exod. 20. 2. I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt and out of the house of Bondage How prove you this to be a Reason and not a Commandement as some doe thinke First because it is commonly used for a reason of other Commandements Exod. 20. 5. 7. Lev. 19. 36. 37. Secondly because it hath not the forme of a Commandement Thirdly sith the other three Commandements have their reasons added it is unlikely that the first and chiefest should have none How is this Preface set as a reason to enforce the observation both of the first Commandement and of all the rest Thus If I bee the Lord the God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt thou must take me for the Lord thy God alone and keep all my Commandements But I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt therefore thou must take mee for thy God alone and keep all my Commandements What ground of obedience is there laid in this Reason That this Law is to be obeyed because it proceedeth from him
covet thy Neighbours House thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife c. VVhat is the sinne chiefely here forbidden Concupiscence that is those secret and internall sinnes which goe before consent of will and are the seedes of all other vices of which sort are wicked and corrupt inclinations thoughts desires which are repugnant to charity VVhat is the end of this Commandement It respecteth either God our Neighbours or our Selves VVhat is the end which respecteth God That He might shew the perfection of that Charity which in His Law He requireth of us and the excellency of it above all other humane laws For humane and Divine Lawes differ as the Lawgivers themselves And as God is a Spirit who is omniscient and searcheth the heart so Hee requireth spirituall obedience Rom. 7. 14. and bindeth by His Law which is spirituall like Himselfe not onely the hand tongue and outward man as men doe by humane lawes but even the most inward hidden and secret thoughts and desires of the minde and heart VVhat is the end respecting our Neighbours That wee might not thinke or desire any thing tending to their hurt but that with all the powers of our soules we exercise Charity in doing them good not seeking our owne good onely but theirs also 1 Cor. 13. 5. What is the end of this Commandement respecting our selves That it might discover unto us our corruption and how far wee are from that perfection which Gods Law requireth Rom. 7. 7. 13. 24. Prov. 20. 9. Psal. 19. 13. and secondly that it might bee unto us a perfect rule of spirituall obedience and might teach us chiefly to observe our hearts Prov. 4. 23. to suppresse the first and inward motions of sin and to aspire to that originall puritie that we had by Creation What was the occasion of this Commandement Threefold first the pravity of our hearts and thoughts Gen. 6. 5. and 8. 21. Secondly the blindnesse and stupidity of our mindes and hearts which could neither see nor feele their owne pravity and corruption Rom. 7. 7 8. Thirdly the errour of our judgements which suppose that our thoughts be free and that concupiscence and first thoughts are not sins till they have our conscent because they are not in our power to restraine them What is the difference betweene the spirituall obedience required in this and the other Commandements In that it not onely requireth the internall obedience of the heart with the outward man as the rest doe but also restraineth the first motions and inclinations which goe before consent If wee had not rather say that it is added to the other as a full and more cleare explication of that spirituall obedience which is required in all the rest Now shew the meaning of this commandement and first what is that concupiscence which is here spoken of There are two sorts of concupiscence or of the affections of the heart the first called the Irascible conceived against things evil which we shuâ— as anger hatred feare griefe c. The other called Concupiscible conceived towards things good and desirable as love joy delight c. And these are things either truely evill or good or else so onely in appearance Is all concupiscence here forbidden No for there is some good and lawfull some evill and unlawfull the one commanded the other forbidden What is lawfull concupiscence It is either naturall or spirituall Naturall that which desireth things good and necessary to our being or well-being as food cloathing and other lawfull comforts of this life Secondly spirituall which lusteth and fighteth against the flesh Gal. 5. 17. and affecteth and coveteth after spirituall things Psal. 119. 40. What is opposite hereunto Vnlawfull and evill concupiscence Col. 3. 5. which is also called concupiscence of men 1 Pet. 4. 2. concupiscence of the flesh Gal. 5. 16 17. worldly concupiscence Tit. 2. 12. lusts of the Devill John 8. 44. What are the kindes of this evill concupiscence Either habituall or actuall Habituall is an evill inclination and pronenesse to that which is evill or an evill desiring of it which is a part of originall injustice Rom. 8. 6 7. What is that evill concupiscence which is actuall It is distinguished into two kinds First in respect of the forme Secondly in respect of the object What is that which respecteth the forme It is either inchoate and imperfect which is an act of sensuality onely and the first and sudden motions of concupiscence which goe before the act of reason and the will tickling the minde and heart with a kinde of delight Or it is formed and perfected having also the act of the will joyning with it and consenting to it 1 Thess. 4. 5. What are the degrees of that inchoate concupiscence They are three First an evill motion cast into our mindes by either the Devill the World or our owne Flesh corrupting the sense memory or phantasie whereby wee have an hanging and hankring appetite after that which is our Neighbours as thinking it fit and convenient for us Secondly a longing after it and wishing for it following that motion Thirdly a tickling delight arising from a conceit of the pleasure or profit which we should have in the enjoying of it James 1. 13 14 15. How then doth sinne grow from its first conception to its full growth Saint James in respect of the degrees of it compareth it to the conception growth and birth of an Infant in and from the wombe James 1. 14 15. The first is the abstraction of the minde and heart from good to evill by the evill motion and appetite which may be called the carnall copulation between the heart and sinne and Satan The second inescation and enticing of the heart with delight and consent unto it as it were the retention of the seed The third consent to the acting of it which may be called the conception of it The fourth deliberation after this consent by what meanes and how it may be acted which is the articulation and shaping of the parts and members The fifth is the acting of sin it selfe that is the birth of it which being borne causeth death Which degrees and growth of sin may be observed in the example of Eve Ahab and David himself How may evill concupiscence be distinguished in respect of the object Into three kindes First of pleasure which is the lust of the flesh Secondly of profit which is the lust of the eyes Thirdly of honour and glory which is the pride of life 1 John 2. 25. What are the parts of this Commandement Two First the Affirmative Secondly the Negative The first is here to be understood the other is plainly expressed What is forbidden in the Negative Evill concupiscence which is twofold either originall or actuall What is originall concupiscence Originall sin which is the corruption and disorder of all the powers and faculties of soule and body disposing them to all that is evill
instant pronounceth and the conscience apprehendeth the sentence of blessing or cursing Heb. 9. 27. 2. The soule of every man accordingly is by the power of God and the ministery of Angels immediately conveyed into that state of happinesse or misery wherein it shall remaine till the resurrection and from thenceforth both body and soule for ever Luke 16. 22 23 26. Eccl. 11. 3. What gather you of this That the doctrine of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead is vaine seeing it appeareth by the Word of God that the souls of those that die in Gods favour are presently received into joy Isay 57. 2. Ioh. 5. 24. Luke 23. 43. Apoc. 14. 13. 1 Thess. 4. 16. and the souls of those that dye in their sinnes cast into endlesse torments no means being left after death to procure remission of sinnes Isay 22. 14. Iohn 8. 24. Rom 6. 10. What is the generall and finall judgement The great day of assize for the whole world wherein all mens lives that ever have been are or shall be being duly examined every one shall receive according to his works In which judgement we are to consider 1. The preparation to it 2. The acting of it 3. The execution of the sentence Wherein doth the preparation to the last judgement consist In five things 1. In the foretokening of the time thereof which though it be so sealed up in the treasury of Gods counsell that neither men nor Angels nor yet our Saviour himself as man in the dayes of his flesh had expresse notice thereof that from the uncertainty and suddennesse of it we might be taught to be alwayes in readinesse for it yet it hath pleased God to acquaint us with some signes whereby we may discern Christs approaching as men in the Spring time may discerne Summer approaching by the shooting forth of the Figtree What are the signes foretokening the last judgement They are certaine notable changes in the world and Church some further off some nearer unto the comming of Christ as 1. The publishing and receiving the Gospel throughout the world 2. The Apostasie of most part of professors not loving the truth 3. The revealing of Antichrist that Man of sinne and Childe of perdition who under the title of Christs Vicegerent opposeth himselfe to Christ in all his offices and ordinances both in Church and Common-wealth 4. Common corruptions in manners joyned with security as in the dayes of Noah and Lot 5. Warres and troubles in the world and Church 6. False Christs attended with false Prophets and armed with false miracles 7. The calling of the Iewes unto the faith of the Gospell 8. And lastly signes in Heaven Earth and all the Elements As the darkning of the Sunne and Moone c. Yea firing of the whole frame of Heaven and Earth with the signe of the Sonne of man whereby his comming shall then be clearly apprehended by all men What is the second thing in the preparation The comming of Iesus Christ the Iudge of the world who in his humane visible body but yet with unspeakable glory shall suddenly break forth like Lightning through the Heavens riding on the clouds environed with a flame of fire attended with all the host of the elect Angels and especially with the voice and shout of an Archangel and the Trumpet of God and so shall sit downe in the royall throne of judgement What is the third thing The summoning and presenting of all both dead and living men together with Devils before the glorious throne of Christ the judge How shall all men both dead and living be summoned By the voice of Christ appeared by the ministery of Angels and namely by the shout and Trumpet of the Archangel whereto the Lord joyning his divine power as unto the word preached for the work of the first resurrection shall in a moment both raise the dead with their own bodies and every part thereof though never so dispersed and change the living so that it shall be with them as if they had been a long time dead and were now raised to life againe Shall there be no difference betweene the resurrection of the elect and reprobate Yes for howsoever they shall both rise by the same mighty voice and power of Christ in the same bodies wherein they lived upon earth and those so altered in quality as then they shall be able to abide for ever in that estate whereunto they shall be judged yet 1. The elect shall be raised as members of the body of Christ by vertue derived from his resurrection the reprobate as Malefastors shall be brought forth of the prison of the grave by vertue of the judiciary power of Christ and of the curse of the law 2. The elect shall come forth to everlasting life which is called the resurrection of life the reprobate to shame and perpetuall contempt called the resurrection of condemnation 3. The bodies of the elect shall be spirituall that is glorious powerfull nimble impatible but the bodies of the reprobate shall be full of uncomelinesse and horror agreeable to the guiltinesse and terror of their consciences and liable to extreame torment How shall all men be presented before the throne of Christ The elect being gathered by the Angels shall with great joy be caught up into the aire to meet the Lord Luke 21. 28. 1 Thess. 4. 17. The reprobate together with the Devill and his Angels shall with extreame horrour and confusion be drawne into his presence Rev. 6. 15. What is the fourth thing The separation of the Elect from the Reprobate For Christ the great Shepheard shall then place the Elect as his Sheep that have heard his voice and followed him on his right hand and the Reprobates with the Devils as straying Goats on the left hand Matth. 25. 33. What is the fift and last thing The opening of the book of record by which the dead shall be judged Rev. 20. 12. viz. 1. The severall books of mens consciences which then by the glorious illumination of Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse shining in his full strength shall be so enlightned that men shall perfectly remember what ever good or evill they did in the time of their life the secrets of all hearts being then revealed 2. The book of life that is the eternall decree of God to save his Elect by Christ which decree shall then at length be made known to all Thus farre of the preparation to judgement what are we to consider in the second place The act of judgment wherein the Elect shal first be acquitted that they may after as assistants joyne with Christ in the judgement of the reprobate men and Angels How shall the act of judgement be performed 1. By examination 2. By pronouncing sentence The examination shall be according to the Law of God which hath been revealed unto men whether it be the Law of
of God is to bee had partly by his Works namely so much as may serve to convince man and make him unexcusable Rom. 1. 19 20. Act. 14. 15. but most sufficiently by his Word contained in the holy Scriptures which therefore are called his Testimonies Psal. 119. 14. because they testifie of God Joh. 5. 39. what hee is and how hee will bee served of us Lastly that forasmuch as all that is writen in the Word of God is writen for our instruction and learning Rom. 15. 4. therefore we being prepared by true Prayer sanctified by Faith and seasoned with the Spirit of sobriety and humility may safely learn so much as is revealed in the Scripture for our profiting in the knowledge of God What is the first point of Religion that wee are taught in the Scriptures That there is a God Why doe you make this the first point Because the Scripture saith hee that commeth to God must beleeve that hee is Heb. 11. 6. Have any called this into question at any time Yea so saith the Prophet David but hee sheweth also that it was by wicked proud and foolish men Psal. 14. 1. whose lives were nothing else but abomination and corruption Psal. 10. 4. What pretence of reason might they have for this wicked imagination Because no man ever saw God yet by which foolish argument they may deny also that there is any wind or that man hath a soule for no man yet ever saw them But how come you to perswade your selfe that there is such a God Beside infinite testimonies of the Scriptures as Gen. 1. 1. Psal. 19. the common consent of all Nations approveth this Truth who rather worship any God or gods then none at all and though man by nature doth desire to bee exalted and in respect of himself despiseth all other creatures as Wood and Stone yet when a peece of wood is framed out like a man and set in the Temple and man conceiveth an opinion that it is a God hee falleth down and worshippeth it Esa. 44. 15. 17. How then commeth it to passe that the wicked say there is no God Psal. 14. 1. First though upon a sudden passion they may seem to say so as the Devill laboureth to tempt them yet their very Conscience after doth check them Secondly they deny rather Gods providence then his beeing as appeareth by Psal. 10. 4. 11. What other reasons have you to prove that there is a God Gods works of Creation and Providence both ordinary and extraordinary For first the glorious frame of the World the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and all that is in them must needs argue that their Maker was God Rom. 1. 19 20. Act. 14. 17. Zach. 12. 1. it being evident that the world could not bee made by the Creatures that are in it neither could it make it self as when a man comes into a strange Countrie and sees faire and sumptuous buildings and findes no body there but birds and beasts hee will not imagine that either birds or beasts reared those buildings but hee presently conceives that some men either are or have been there The Creation of the Soule of man indued with Reason and Conscience doth specially prove the same Zach. 12. 1. The preserving of things Created together with the wonderfull and orderly government of the world Day and Night Sommer and Winter c. manifestly convince the same For example Bread is no better in it self then Earth yet man is preserved by Bread and if hee eate Earth hee dyeth the reason whereof must bee attributed to the blessing of God giving to the one force and power to nourish more then to the other By the order of causes even the heathen men have found out that there must bee a God seeing that of every effect there must needs be a Cause untill we come to the first Cause which is the universall Cause of the being of all things and is caused of none If we shall observe in Gods Works an infinite multitude a wonderfull variety Psal. 104. 24. as amongst so many millions of men never a one like another in the compasse of the face a most constant order a seemly agreement and an endlesse continuance or pleasant intercourse of things comming and going and what exceeding Majesty is in them we must needs attribute these things to a God The consciences of wicked men after sin are perplexed with feare of being punished by some supreme Judge who disliketh and detesteth dishonest things and exerciseth judgements upon the mind which maketh the most ungodly miscreants will they nill they to acknowledge and tremble at him c. Rom. 2. 15. Esa. 33. 14. 57. 20 21. 66. 24. Psal. 14. 5. 53. 5. for a man that commits any sin as murder fornication adultery blasphemy c. albeit he conceale the matter never so close Gen. 38. 10. 13 14. that no man living know of it yet oftentimes he hath a griping in his conscience and feares the very flashing of hell fire which is a strong reason to shew that there is a God before whose Judgement seat he must answer for his fact There is a devill that suggesteth a temptation against God into the mindes of men and sometimes also really possesseth their bodies which is a sufficient argument to prove that there is a God The death of the wicked with Gods apparent Judgements upon them besides the terrour of their conscience and the dreadfull punishment executed even in this world upon many Atheists that have laboured to deny it Psal. 58. 10 11. prove that there is a God this is Davids argument Psal. 9. 16. The same appeareth by the rewards of the godly and the mercifull preservation of those the trust in God above and against naturall means By the wonderfull miracles which God hath wrought for his Church By the foretelling of things to come so many thousand yeers before they were accomplished By the divers revelations he hath made of himself to men as to Adam Noah Moses c. This ground being now laid that there is a God what doth Christian Religion teach us concerning him It informeth us first concerning his nature Act. 8. 12. Secondly concerning his Kingdom and that respectively as they have relation one to the other Act. 28. 23. What is to been known concerning his nature First vvhat his Essence is secondly to whom or what persons it doth belong In the first he is considered in his unity in the second in the Trinity the former whereof in the Hebrew tongue is noted by the singular name of Jehovah betokening the simplicity of Essence the latter by the plurall term of Elohim importing a distinction of Persons in the God-head Can wee understand what the Essence of God is Very imperfectly for all nature is not able to teach us what God is in himself neither can man in nature comprehend him Job 36. 26. 1 Tim. 6. 16. Why is not all nature able to teach
mercy in God doth spring out of his free love towards us Why doe you say out of the free love of God are there more loves in God then one There are two kinds of love in God one is wherewith the Father loveth the Son and the Son the Father and which the holy Ghost beareth towards both the Father and the Son and this love I call the naturall love of God so that the one cannot but love the other but the love wherewith he loveth us is voluntary not being constrained thereunto and therefore is called the free love of God and thereof it commeth to passe that mercy is also wholly free that is without reward or hope of recompence and excludeth all merit How prove you that the mercy of God ariseth out of his love That the love of God is the cause of his mercy it is manifest in the Scriptures 1 Tim. 1. 2. Paul saluteth Timothy in this order Grace mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ to shew that that peace which the world cannot give the mercy of God is the cause of it and the cause of his mercy is his grace and his grace is nothing else but his free favour and love towards us The same order doth Paul observe in Titus 3. 4 5. where he saith when the goodnesse and love of God our Saviour appeareth not by the works of righteousnesse which we had done but according to his mercy he saved us First he sets down the goodnesse of God as the cause of his love Secondly his love as the cause of his mercy And thirdly his mercy as the cause of our salvation and our salvation as the effect of all and therefore there is nothing in us which may move the Lord to shew mercy upon us but only because he is goodnesse it self by nature and to this doth the Psalmist bear witnesse Psal. 100. 5. saying that the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth is from generation to generation Towards whom is the mercy of God extended or shewed For the opening of this point we are to consider that the mercy of God is twofold First generall Secondly speciall God as a God doth shew mercy generally upon all his creatures being in misery and chiefly to men whether they be just or unjust Psal. 140. 147. and so doth succour them either immediately by himself or else mediately by creatures as by Angels or Men by the Heavens by the Elements and by other living creatures and this generall mercy of God is not extended to the eternall salvation of all but is only temporary and for a while Of this read Luk. 6. 36. What say you to the speciall mercy of God That I call the speciall mercy of God which God as a most free God hath shewed to whom he would and denyed to whom he would and this pertaineth only to the elect and those which fear him Psal. 103. 11. for he sheweth mercy upon them to their eternall salvation and that most constantly while he doth effectually call them unto himself while he doth freely and truly pardon their sins and justifie them in the bloud of the Lamb Jesus Christ while he doth sanctifie them with his grace and doth glorifie them in eternall life and of this speciall mercy we may read in Eph. 2. 4 5 6. How great is the mercy of God It is so great that it cannot be expressed nor conceived of us and that is proved by these Scriptures following Ps. 145. 9. James 2. 13. 1 Cor. 11. 32. Psal. 57 10. How long doth the mercy of God continue towards us Although the mercy of God be great and infinite in Christ yet for that mercy which pardoneth our sins and calleth us to faith and repentance by the Gospel there is no place after death but onely while we live in this world which is warranted by these places ensuing Gal. 6. 10. Let us doe good whilest we have time to shew that a time will come when we shall not be able to doe good Apoc. 7. 17. Be faithfull unto the death and I will give thee a Crown of life to shew that the time which is given unto death is a time of repentance and of exercising of faith and of works but after death there is no time but to receive either an immortall Crown if we have been faithfull or everlasting shame if we have been unfaithfull Besides these see Apoc. 14. 13. Mark 9. 45. Esa. ult 24. Luk. 16. 24 25 26. Mat. 15. 11 12. John 9. 4. What uses may we make of Gods mercies First it serveth to humble us for the greater mercy is in God the greater misery is in us Secondly we must attribute our whole salvation unto his mercy Thirdly we must flee to God in all our troubles with most sure confidence Fourthly we must not abuse it to the liberty of the flesh to sin although we might find mercy with God after death for the mercy of God specially appertains to those that fear him Psal. 103. 11. Fiftly the meditation of Gods mercies towards us should make us to love God Psa. 116. 1. Luk. 7. 47. fear God Psa. 130. 4. praise God Ps. 86. 12 13. 103. 2 3 4. Sixtly it must make us mercifull one to another Luk. 6. 36. Matth. 18. 32 33. What is the justice of God It is an essentiall property in God whereby he is infinitely just in himself of himself for from by himself alone and none other Psalm 11. 7. What is the rule of this justice His own free will and nothing else for whatsoever he willeth is just and because he willeth it therefore it is just not because it is just therefore he willeth it Eph. 1. 11. Psal. 115. 3. Mat. 20. 15. which also may be applied to the other properties of God Explain this more particularly I say that God doth not always a thing because it is just but therefore any thing is just that is just because God will have it so and yet his will is joyned with his wisdome as for example Abraham did judge it a most just and righteous thing to kill his innocent son not by the law for that did forbid him but only because he did understand it was the speciall will of God and he knew that the will of God was not only just but also the rule of all righteousnesse That wee may the better understand this attribute declare unto mee how many manner of wayes one may be just or righteous Three manner of ways either by nature or by grace or by perfect obedience How many ways may one be just by nature Two ways First by himself and of himself in his own essence and beeing thus we say that in respect of this essentiall righteousnesse there is none just but God onely as Christ saith none is good but God only Secondly derivatively by the benefit of another to be either made righteous or born just and in
2. 8. and for the discovery of sin and punishment due thereto Deut. 27. 26. Rom. 1. 31. 3. 20. What then doth the Law now require of us All such duties as were required of Adam in his innocency Levit. 18. 5. and all such as are required since by reason of his fall Deut. 27. 26. binding us to eternall death for our least defect therein Declare now out of that which hath been said what the Covenant of works is It is a conditionall Covenant between God and man whereby on the one side God commandeth the perfection of godlinesse and righteousnesse and promiseth that he will be our God if we keep all his Commandements and on the other side man bindeth himselfe to perform intire and perfect obedience to Gods Law by that strength wherewith God hath endued him by the nature of his first creation What was done in this Covenant on Gods part There was his Law backed with promises and threatnings and unto them were added outward seales What was the summe of this Law Doe this and thou shalt live if thou dost it not thou shalt dye the death What is meant by Doe this Keep all my Commandements in thought word and deed What is meant by life promised to those that should keep all the Commandements The reward of blessednesse and everlasting life Levit. 18. 5. Luke 10. 28. What is meant by death threatned to those that should transgresse In this world the curse of God and death with manifold miseries both of body and soule and where this curse is not taken away everlasting death both of body and soule in the world to come Deut. 27. 26. 29. 19. 20. 32. 22. Levit. 26. Deut. 28. What were the outward seales added hereunto The two trees planted by God for that purpose in the midst of the garden Gen. 2. 9. 3. 3. that Adam before and in the sight of them might resort to some speciall places to serve God in and might by the sight of them be put in mind of those things whereof they were signs and seales What did the tree of life serve for It sealed up happinesse life and glory unto man upon condition of obedience that by tasting thereof which no doubt according to the manner of Sacramentall signes was a tree of marvellous comfort and restoring he might be assured he should live in Paradise for ever if he stood obedient to Gods Commandements Gen. 2. 9. Prov. 3. 18. Revel 2. 7. Was this tree able to give everlasting life to man or otherwise why did God after the fall shut man from it It was no more able to give everlasting life then the bodily eating of any other Sacrament but Adam having by sin lost that which was signified hereby God would have him debarred from the use of the Sacrament What did the tree of the knowledge of good and evill serve for Both for triall of obedience and also for a warning of their mutability and of what would follow upon sin so sealing death and damnation in case of disobedience not as though the tree was able to give any knowledge but that by tasting of it contrary to Gods command they should have experimentall knowledge of evill in themselves which before they had of good only and by wofull experience should learn what difference there was between knowing and serving God in their integrity and being ignorant of him by their sin Gen. 2. 17. What was done in this Covenant on mans part Man did promise by that power which he had received to keep the whole law binding himself over to punishment in case he did not obey In what state is man to be considered under this Covenant In a twofold estate 1. Of Innocency 2. Of Corruption and misery What things are you to note in the innocent estate of man First the place where he was seated Secondly the happy and glorious estate he there enjoyed both in soul and body Where did God place man when he created him In a most glorious pleasant and comfortable Garden which is called Paradise or the Garden of Eden for pleasantnesse Gen. 2. 8. What doth the Scripture teach concerning it The place where it was and the commodities thereof Where and in what part of the world was it In Asia neer the meeting of Euphrates and Tygris those two famous Rivers What commodities had it All the principall creatures of God did adorn it and therefore it is said to be more extraordinarily then the rest of the world planted by God There are set down also the precious stones thereof under the Sardonyx pure metals under the gold precious woods under the Bdelium and so all other living things and growing creatures that it might be as it were a shop furnished for man to see in and learn by it Gods Wisdome Power and Majesty Doth this place now continue The place remaineth but the beauty and commodities be partly by the Floud partly by mans sin for which the whole earth is cursed almost abolished though as may be observed out of good Authors it is a very fruitfull place still What happinesse did man enjoy thus placed in Paradise It was partly inward partly outward Wherein did the inward appear First in his wonderfull knowledge whereby he made use of all the creatures of God as the greatest Philosopher that ever was Secondly in that holy and heavenly image of God of which Adam had the use and comfort before his fall it shining in him without tainture or blemish and he thereby being without all sin or punishment of sin Thirdly in the full fruition and assurance of the favourable and blissefull presence of his Creator Matth. 5. 8. Psal. 17. 15. and his heavenly company and conference with God without all fear as a subject with his Prince Gen. 3. 8. Fourthly in his joyfull serving God together with absolute contentment in himself Gen. 2. 25. Wherein did the outward appear First in having so comely perfect and glorious a body in which there was no infirmity pain nor shame though naked Gen. 2. 25. Secondly in his dominion over all the creatures that submitted themselves and did service unto him to whom also as their Lord he gave their originall names Gen. 2. 19 20. Thirdly in the comfortable state and sense not of Paradise alone but of all the world round about him having neither storm winter nor extremity in any creature What employment had man in this estate A twofold employment the first outward to till and dresse the Garden Gen. 2. 15. the other spirituall to worship and serve God his Creator and to procure his own everlasting blessednesse whereto he was fitted with freedome of will and ability for perfect obedience unto God according to the tenor of the Covenant of works What use are we to make of the knowledge of mans happinesse before his fall First to admire and praise the great goodnesse and favour of God in so dealing with man a clod of the earth Secondly
mercy of God in Christ whereby grace reigneth unto life through the obedience of one which is Jesus Christ. Rom. 5. 21. For there being three persons of the Trinity the Father sent his Son to accomplish the work of our Redemption and both of them send the Holy Ghost to work saving grace in our hearts and apply unto our soules the holinesse purchased by the Son of God What is promised therein The favour of God and everlasting salvation with the means thereof as Christ and in him Conversion Justification and Sanctification What is the condition on mans part The gift being most free on Gods part nothing is required on mans part but the receiving of grace offered which is done in those that are of capacity by Faith in Christ John 1. 12. 14 15. Acts 16. 31. whence followeth new obedience whereby the faithfull walk worthy of the grace received and this also is by Gods grace What then is the summe of the Covenant of grace That God will be our God and give us life everlasting in Christ if we receive him being freely by his Father offered unto us Jer. 31. 33. Acts. 16. 30 31. John 1. 12. How doth this Covenant differ from that of works Much every way for first in many points the Law may be conceived by reason but the Gospell in all points is farre above the reach of mans reason Secondly the Law commandeth to doe good and giveth no strength but the Gospell enableth us to doe good the Holy Ghost writing the Law in our hearts Jer. 31. 33. and assuring us of the promise that revealeth this gift Thirdly the Law promised life onely the Gospell righteousnesse also Fourthly the Law required perfect obedience the Gospell the righteousnesse of Faith Rom. 3. 21. Fifthly the Law revealeth sin rebuketh us for it and leaveth us in it but the Gospell doth reveale unto us the remission of sins and freeth us from the punishment belonging thereunto Sixthly the Law is the ministery of wrath condemnation and death the Gospell is the ministery of grace Justification and life Seventhly the Law was grounded on mans own righteousnesse requiring of every man in his own person perfect obedience Deut. 27. 26. and in default for satisfaction everlasting punishment Ezek. 18. 14. Gal. 3. 10. 12. but the Gospell is grounded on the righteousnesse of Christ admitting payment and performance by another in behalfe of so many as receive it Gal. 3. 13 14. And thus this Covenant abolisheth not but is the accomplishment and establishment of the former Rom. 3. 31. 10. 4. Wherein doe they agree They agree in this that they be both of God and declare one kind of righteousnesse though they differ in offering it unto us What is that one kind of righteousnesse It is the perfect love of God and of our neighbour What thing doth follow upon this That the severe Law pronounceth all the faithfull righteous forasmuch as they have in Christ all that the Law doth aske But yet those remaine transgressors of the Law They are transgressors in themselves and yet righteous in Christ and in their inward man they love righteousnesse and hate sin What are we to consider in the Covenant of Grace The condition 1. Of the Mediatour 2. And then of the rest of mankind In the former consisteth the foundation of this Covenant The performance whereof dependeth on Christ Jesus Acts 10. 43. 3. 24. Rom. 1. 3. 4. To the latter belongeth the application thereof for salvation unto all that will receive it 2 Cor. 5. 20. Mat. 6. 33. When was the Mediatour given 1. If we regard Gods decree from all eternity Eph. 1. 4. 2. If the vertue and efficacie of his Mediation as soon as need was even from the beginning of the world Rev. 13. 8. 3. If his manifestation in the flesh in fulnesse of time Gal. 4. 4. 1 Tim. 2. 6. from whence we reckon now 1643. yeares Who is this Mediatour between God and man Jesus Luk. 2. 11. Mat. 1. 21. 1 Tim. 2. 5. the Son of the Virgin Mary the promised Messias or Christ whom the Fathers expected the Prophets foretold John 1. 45. 8. 56. Whose life death Resurrection Ascension the Evangelists describe Joh. 1. 1. Act. 1. 1. Whose word preached unto this day subdueth the world 1 Tim. 3. 16. 2 Cor. 10. 4. 5. Finally whom wee look for from heaven to bee the Judge of quick and dead Acts 10. 42. What doe the Scriptures teach us touching Christ our Mediatour Two things first his person Joh. 1. 14. 3. 33. Secondly his office Esa. 61. 1 2. Luk. 4. 18. What is his Person The second Person in the Godhead made man John 1. 14. What have we to consider herein First the distinction of the two natures Secondly the hypostaticall or personall union of both into one Immanuell What be those two natures thus wonderfully united in one person First his divine nature or Godhead which maketh the person Secondly his humane nature or Manhood which subsisteth and hath his existence in the person of the Godhead and so we beleeve our Saviour to be both the Son of God and the son of man Gal. 4. 4. Luk. 1. 31 32. Rom. 1. 3 4. 9. 5. 1 Tim. 3. 16. Mat. 26. 24. What say you of him touching his Godhead I beleeve that he is the only begotten Son of the most high and eternall God his Father His Word Wisdome Character and Image begotten of his substance before all worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made finally God coessentiall coeternall and coequall with the Father and the Holy Ghost Why call you him the onely begotten Sonne of God Because he is the alone Son of God by nature even the onely begotten of the Father full of grace and truth John 1. 14. 3. 18. For though others be the Sons of God by Creation as Adam was and the Angels Job 1. 6. Others by Adoption and Regeneration as the Saints and the man Christ Jesus in another respect by hypostaticall union yet none is his Son by naturall generation but the same Christ Jesus and that in regard of his Godhead not of his Manhood according to the Apostle who saith that he is without Father according to his Manhood and without Mother according to his Godhead Heb. 7. 3. But it seemeth that he is called the Sonne of God in respect of the generation of his humane nature wherein it is said that the Holy Ghost did that which Fathers doe in the naturall generation especially seeing he is therefore said to be the Sonne of the Highest Luk. 1. 35. He is the naturall Sonne of God onely in regard of the eternall generation otherwise there should be two Sonnes one of the Father and another of the Holy Ghost but he is therefore called the Sonne of the Highest for that none could be so conceived by the Holy Ghost but he that is the
2. 13. 13. 18. Act. 10. 43. 13. 11. Luk. 16. 16. Joh. 1. 17. Heb. 11. 2. 8 9 10 11. 2 Cor. 3. 6 7 8. What call you the old Testament That which was delivered unto the Fathers to continue untill the fulnesse of time wherein by the comming of Christ it was to bee performed Heb. 1. 1. 9. 10. Act. 7. 44. 2 Cor. 3. 7. 11. What are the properties of this Ministery First the commandements of the Law were more largely and the promises of the Gospel more sparingly and darkly propounded the latter being more generally and obscurely delivered as the manifesting was the further off Secondly the promises of things to come were shadowed with a multitude of types and figures which when the truth should be exhibited were to vanish away Jer. 31. 31 32 33. Heb. 11. 13. 2 Cor. 3. 13. 18. Heb. 8. 13. 9. 1. 8 9 10. 2 Cor. 3. 11. 13. Gal. 4. 3 4. Col. 2. 16 17. What were the chiefest states and periods of this old Ministery The first from Adam to Abraham the second from Abraham to Christ. What were the speciall properties of the last of these two periods First it was more specially restrained unto a certaine Family and Nation Secondly it had with it solemne repetition and declaration of the first covenant of the Law Thirdly besides the ceremonies which were greatly inlarged under Moses it had Sacraments also added unto it Luk. 1. 54 55. Psal. 44. 19. 26. Rom. 9. 4. Act. 13. 17. Deut. 4. 1. 6 7 8. 37. 1. 6 7 8. 14. 2. 26. 18 19. Joh. 1. 16 17. Exod. 24. 7 8. Deut. 4. 12. Rom. 10. 5. Heb. 9. 1 2 3. Joh. 7. 22. What were the ordinary Sacraments of this Ministery The Sacrament of admission into the Church was circumcision instituted in the dayes of Abraham the other of continuall preservation and nourishment the Paschall Lambe instituted in time of Moses Exod. 12. 48. Act. 7. 8. Joh. 7. 22. Gen. 17. 9 10 Rom. 4. 11. Col 2. 11. Deut. 30. 6 7 8. Exod. 12. 3 4. Numb 9. 11 12. Deut. 16. 2. 1 Cor. 5. 7. 1 Pet. 1. 19 Joh. 9. 56. with Exod. 12. 46. What is the new administration of the Gospel That which is delivered unto us by Christ to continue unto the end of the world Joh. 1. 17. Heb. 1. 2. 2. 3 4. 3. 5 6. 1. Cor. 3. 11. What are the properties thereof First it is propounded indifferently to all people whether they bee Jewes or Gentiles and in that respect is Catholick or universall Secondly it is full of grace and truth bringing joyfull tydings unto mankinde that whatsoever was formerly promised of Christ is now accomplished and so in stead of the ancient types and shadows the things themselves with a large and cleere declaration of all the benefits of the Gospel are exhibited What bee the speciall points of the words of this ministery That Christ our Saviour whom God by his Prophets had promised to send into the world is come in the flesh and hath accomplished the work of our Redemption that hee was conceived of the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified and dyed upon the crosse that body and soule thus separated his body was laid in the grave and remained there under the power of death and his Soule went into the place appointed for the soules of the righteous namely Paradise the place of the blessed that the third day body and soule being joyned together againe hee rose from the dead and after ascended into Heaven where hee sitteth at the right hand of his Father untill such time as from thence hee shall come unto the last Judgement Rom. 1. 1. 2 3. Joh. 1. 14. 25. 19. 28. 30. Heb. 9. 12. 16. 18. 1 Tim. 3. 16. Luk. 1. 35. Matth. 1. 18 19 20 21 22 23. 27. 2. 26. ver ad 50. 12. 40. 27. 59. 60. Rom. 6. 9. Luk. 23. 43. 46 47. Matth. 16. 21. 28. 16. 1 Cor. 15. 4. 8. 6. 1 Tim. 2. 8. Mark 16. 19. Act. 1. 2 3. 10 11. Ephes. 4. 10. Heb. 1. 3. 2 Tim. 4. 3. What are the Sacraments of this Ministery The sacrament of admission into the Church is Baptisme which sealeth unto us our spirituall birth the other the sacrament of our continuall preservation is the Lords Supper which sealeth unto us our continuall nourishment What Sacraments bee there of the Covenant of Grace They bee of two sorts some of the Old Testament before Christs comming others of the New under Christ. What Sacraments were there of the Old Testament Besides divers extraordinarily given 1 Pet. 3. 20 21. 1 Cor. 10. 1 2 3 4. and serving but for a season there were two of ordinary and perpetuall use from their institution untill the comming of Christ to which those other may bee referred first Circumcision for entrance into the covenant of Grace Gen. 17. 10. Deut. 30. 6. secondly the Passeover for continuance and confirmation therein Exod. 12. 3. 1 Cor. 5. 7. To which two the two Sacraments of the new Testament answer How doe the Sacraments of the New Testament differ from those of the Old In respect not of the Author God the substance Christ or the receivers the people of God which are in both the same Rom. 4. 11. 1 Cor. 10. 2 3 4. but of continuance Matth. 28. 19 20. evidence 1 Cor. 11. 26. easie performance and efficacy in all which those of the New Testament have great preheminence 2 Cor. 3. 9. What Sacraments bee there of the New Testament Onely two to wit Baptisme succeeding in the place of Circumcision and the Supper of the Lord answering to the Passeover Rom. 4. 1. Gen. 17. 11 12. 1 Cor. 10. 1 2 3. 12 13. Matth. 26. 26. 28. 19. By the former wee have our admission into the true Church of God by the latter wee are nourished and preserved in the Church after our admission How may it appeare that there bee no more then two Sacraments of the New Testament First when the number of Sacraments were most necessary as under the Law they had but two wherefore wee need require no more 1 Cor. 10. 1 2 3. Secondly having meat drink and cloathes wee ought therewith to bee content 1 Tim. 6. 8. now by the Sacrament of our entrance our spirituall cloathing is sealed unto us Gal. 3. 27. and by that of our growth is sealed our feeding 1 Cor. 10. 16. Thirdly those two seales assure us of all Gods graces as of our regeneration entrance and ingraffing into Christ so of our growth and continuance in him and therefore wee need no more 1 Cor. 12. 13. For there are as many Sacraments as there are things that need to bee betokened to us about our justification Now they bee two our birth in Christ and our nourishment after wee are born as in the bodily life
heaven yet he is not by and by to be admitted to all priviledges of the Church but to be suspended for a time till the fruits of repentance may better appear for if some in the law for a certain pollution in a lawfull duty of burying the dead were suspended from the Passeover Numb 9. 6. much more in the Gospell for such obstinacy How many sorts of suspensions then are there Two one going before excommunication and the other following the same towards them that are penitent both which were shadowed in the Leviticall law in the case of Leprosie For first in the 13. of Levit. we finde that upon suspition of Leprosie a man was shut up for a time not only from the worship of God but also from all society of men and how much more may it be lawfull under the Gospell to execute the censure of suspension afâ—er two admonitions upon a known offence when it is set down in the 14 of Levit. That a man cleansed from his leprosie was brought home unto the campe and placed in his tent where he stayed for certaine dayes it being not lawfull for him to come into the Tabernacle So much of the medicinall censures what is the last censure of fearfull revenge The curse unto death called by S. Paul Anathama Marenatha 1 Cor. 16. 22. that is accursed untill the Lord come or everlastingly which is thought to have been executed upon Hymeneus and Alexander by Paul 1 Tim. 1. 20. and afterwards upon Iulian by the Church then Against whom is this censure to proceed This everlasting curse which is the most fearfull thunderclap of Gods judgement is to be pronounced only against such as are desperately wicked that have nothing profited by the former censures and shewe thâ—ir incorrigiblenesse by their obstinate and malitious resisting all means gratiously used to reclaime them giving tokens even of that unpardonable sinne against the Holy Ghost Which fearfull sinne by how much the more difficult it is to be discerned and knowne by so much the more care is this heavie doome to be used by the Church Yet doubtlesse God doth sometimes give cleare tokens thereof in blâ—sphemous Apostates such as Iulian and others who malitiously oppose deride and persecute that truth of God which they have been enlightned in And where God doth set such marks upon them the Chuâ—ch of God may pronounce them to be such and carry it selfe towards them accordingly What are the outward enemies that oppose against the Church of Christ Some doe under the shew of friendship and some with profession of enmity Who are the open enemies Heathens Iewes Turks and all that make profession of prophanenesse by sitting down in the seat of scorners What enemies are they that make shew of friendship Such are al those that bearing the name of Christians do obstinately deny the faith whereby we are joyned unto Christ which are called Hereticks or that break the bond of charity whereby we are tyed in communion one to another which are tearmed Schismaticks or else adde tyranny to schisme and heresie as that great Antichrist head of the generall apostasie which the Scriptures forewarned by name Where are we forewarned of the Apostasie Where the Apostle foretelleth that there shall be a generall apostacy or falling away from the truth of the Gospell before the latter day Is it meant that the whole Church shall fall away from Christ No it were impossible that a perfect head should be without a body Why is it then called generall Because the Gospell having been universally preached throughout the world from it both whole Nations did fall and the most part also even of those Nations that kept the profession of it howbeit still there remained a Church though there were no setled estate thereof Is it likely the Lord would barre so many Nations that lived under Antichrist and that so long from the means of salvation Why not and that most justly for if the whole world of the Gentiles were rejected when the Church was onely in Iury for some 1500 years and seeing of the Iewes ten Tribes were rejected and the remainder but a few were of the Church with great reason might the Lord reject those Nations and people for so many ages seeing they rejected Gods grace in falling away from the Gospell which the Lord most graciously revealed unto them rather then to their Fathers before them Is this apostasie necessarily laid upon the See of Rome Yes verily as by the description may evidently appear What are the parts of this Apostasie The head and the body for as Christ is the head of the Church which is his body so Antichrist is the head of the Romish Church which is his body Who is that Antichrist He is one who under the colour of being for Christ and under title of his Vicegerent exalteth himselfe above and against Christ opposing himselfe against all his offices and ordinances both in Church and Common-wealth bearing authority in the Church of God ruling over that City with seven Hils which did bear rule over Nations and put our Lord to death a Man of sinne a Harlot a Mother of spirituall fornications to the Kings and people of the Nations a childe of perdition a destroyer establishing himselfe by lying miracles and false wonders all which marks together do agree with none but the Pope of Rome How doth the Apostle 2 Thess. 2. 3. describe this Antichristian head unto us First he describeth what he is towards others and then what he is in himselfe What is he towards others That is declared by two speciall titles the Man of sinne and Sonne of perdition declaring hereby not so much his own sinne and perdition which is exceeding great as of those that receive his marke whom he causeth to sinne and consequently to fall into perdition as Ieroboam who is often branded with the mark of causing Israel to sin and he is so much more detestable then he by how much both his idolatry is more and hath drawn more Kingdomes after him then Ieroboam did Tribes In what respect is he called the man of sin In that he causeth man to sinne and this the Pope doth in a high degree justifying sinne not by oversight but by Lawes advisedly made not onely commanding some sinnes which we are by our corrupt nature prone unto as spirituall fornication but also to the great profanation of the holy name and profession of Christ permitting and teaching for lawfull such as even our corrupt nature not wholly subverted through erronious custome of sin abhorreth as incestuous marriages and breaking of faith and league equivocating and the like which profane men by the very light of nature doe detest In what sense is he called the child of perdition Not as the unthrift mentioned in the Gospel neither as Judas who is passively called the Son of perdition but actively as it is other where expounded where he is called the destroyer Rev.
9. 11. because he destroyeth many And that the Pope is such an one some of his owne Secretaries make it good confessing that many who were well disposed persons before their entry into that Sea became cursed and cruell beasts when once they were setled in the same as if there were some pestilent poyson in that seat infecting those that sit therein What learne you of this That the calling of the Pope is unlawfull for every office or calling which the Lord doth not blesse or wherein none occupying the place groweth in piety is to be esteemed for an unlawfull calling for in a lawfull calling some at the least are found in all ages profitable to the Church or Common-wealth What is the use of all this Doctrine That whosoever are partakers of the sins of Rome are also under the same curse and therefore such as have lived in Popery should examine our selves if we have truely repented us of it first by the change of our understanding as whether we have grown in the knowledg of the truth And secondly by the change of our affections as whether we hate Popery and love the truth unfainedly and so let every one judge himselfe that he be not judged and that with harder judgment Rom. 2. 4. according as God hath been the longer patient towards us What further That there can be no sound agreement betwixt Popery and the profession of the Gospel no more then betwixt light and darknesse falshood and truth God and Beliall and therefore no reconciliation can be devised betwixt them for if the members of Antichrist shall be destroyed we cannot in any sort communicate with them in their errours unlesse we will beare them company in their destruction also Doth every errour destroy the soule No verily for as every wound killeth not a man so every errour depriveth not a man of salvation but as the vitall parts being wounded or infected bring death so those errours that destroy the fundamentall points and heads of faith bring everlasting destruction in which kind is Popery which sundry ways overthroweth the principles and grounds of our holy faith and therefore is tearmed an apostasie or departing from the faith Is it then impossible for a Pope to be saved No it is not impossible his sinne being not necessarily against the holy Ghost to which onely repentance is denyed for some in likelhood have entered into and continued in that Sea ignorantly and therefore may possibly finde place to repentance But if any be saved it is a secret hidden with God for concerning any thing that appeares by the end of any Pope since he was lift up in the Emperours chaire and discovered to be the man of sin there is no grounded hope given to perswade that any one of them is saved So much of Antichrist what he is towards others what is hee in himselfe That is set downe in two points first in that contrary to right and by meere usurpation he seateth himselfe in the Temple of God as if he were Christs Vicar being indeed his enemy both which the word Antichrist noteth Secondly in that he is here expressely named an adversary and one that is contrary to Christ. Wherein is the Pope adversary unto Christ Every way in life and in office How in life In that Christ being most pure and holy yea holinesse it selfe the Popes many of them are and have been most filthy and abominable in blaspheming conjuring murthering covetousnesse whoring and that incestuously and Sodomitically and yet will they in their ordinary Titles be called holy yea holinesse it selfe which is proper onely to Christ. How in Office First in his Kingdome Christs Kingdome is without all outward shew or pompe But the Popes Kingdome consisteth wholly in Pompe and Shewes as imitating his Predecessors the Emperours of Rome in his proud stately and lordly offices princely traine and outrageous expences in every sort Secondly in his Priest-hood in raising up another Sacrifice then Christ another Priesthood then his other Mediators then him Thirdly in his Propheticall office in that he teacheth cleane contrary to him Christ taught nothing but what hee received of his Father The Pope setteth out his owne Canons and Decrees of councells and in them he teacheth such Doctrine as overthroweth the maine foundation of that which Christ taught What is the second effect That he is exceedingly lifted up against all that is called God How doth this agree to the Pope More fitly then to any other person for Christ being very God abaseth himselfe unto the assuming of the nature of man the Pope a vile man advanceth himself to the Throne of God Christ being above all secular power paid tribute and was taxed and suffered himselfe to bee crowned with a crowne of Thornes and beare his owne Crosse but the Pope being under all secular power exalteth himselfe above all secular powers exacteth Tribute of Kings setteth his foot on the neck of Emperours carrieth a tripple Crowne of gold and is borne upon mens shoulders But he calleth himself the servant of servants Though he doe yet by the confession of his owne Canonists he doth it but dissemblingly and in hypocrisie which is double iniquity for they say that he doth in humility onely say so not that hee is indeed so as he saith What are the effects of this his pride They are two First he sitteth in the Church as God for he bindeth the consciences of men by his decrees which no Princes Law can doe for though men observe not such Lawes yet if they break them not of contempt they are discharged as if they did beare the penalty prescribed in them By this it seemeth that the Church of Rome is yet the Church of God although corrupt seeing it is said that hee sitteth in the Temple of God No verily but it is so said first because it beareth the name of the Church for the Scriptures give the name to a thing according to that it hath been as when Christ saith The abomination of desolation shall stand in the holy place he meaneth not that the Temple was then holy which at that time being no figure nor shadow of Christ and his Church was profaned but that it had been holy so we confesse that there had beene a true Church in Rome which is now no Church of Christ but the Synagogue of Satan Secondly he is said to sit in the Temple of God because he exerciseth his tyrannicall rule in the Christian world and is most busie in those parts where Christ had his Church and the Gospell is professed labouring in all places either by himselfe or his wicked instruments to overthrow or corrupt poyson or hinder the free course of the Gospel so that in this regard he may be said to sit in the Temple of God that is to reigne and tyrannize in the Church of God though the City where he is be Sodome and the Church whereof he is head the Synagogue of Satan What is the other
and night And thus for our main and principall debt of Obedience hath our Mediatour given satisfaction unto the Justice of his Father with good measure pressed down shaken together and running over But beside this we were lyable unto another debt which wee have incurred by our default and drawne upon our selves by way of forfeiture and nomine poenae For as Obedience is a due debt and Gods servants in regard thereof are truly debters so likewise is sinne a debt and sinners debters in regard of the penalty due for the default And as the payment of the debt which commeth nomine poenae dischargeth not the tenant afterwards from paying his yearly rent which of it self would have been due although no default had been committed so the due payment of the yearly rent after the default hath been made is no sufficient satisfaction for the penalty already incurred Therefore our surety who standeth chargeable with all our debts as he maketh payment for the one by his Active so must he make amends for the other by his Passive obedience he must first suffer and then enter into his glory For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the Captain of their salvation perfect that is a perfect accomplisher of the worke which he had undertaken through sufferings The Godhead is of that infinite perfection that it cannot possibly be subject to any passion He therefore that had no other nature but the Godhead could not pay such a debt as this the discharge whereof consisted in suffering and dying It was also fit that Gods justice should have been satisfied in that nature which had transgressed and that the same nature should suffer the punishment that had committed the offence Forasmuch then as the children were partakers of flesh and bloud he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Such and so great was the love of God the Father toward us he spared not his own Sonne but delivered him up for us all and so transcendent was the love of the Son of God toward the sons of men that he desired not to be spared but rather then they should lie under the power of death was of himself most willing to suffer death for them which seeing in that infinite nature which by eternall generation hee received from his Father he could not doe he resolved in the appointed time to take unto himselfe a Mother and out of her substance to have a body framed unto himself wherein he might become obedient unto death even the death of the crosse for our redemption And therefore when hee commeth into the world he saith unto his Father A body hast thou fitted me Lo I come to doe thy will O God By the which will saith the Apostle wee are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Thus we see it was necessary for the satisfaction of this debt that our Mediatour should be Man but he that had no more in him then a Man could never be able to goe through with so great a work For if there should be found a Man as righteous as Adam was at his first creation who would be content to suffer for the offence of others his suffering possibly might serve for the redemption of one soul it could be no sufficient ransome for those innumerable multitudes that were to be redeemed to God out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation Neither could any Man or Angel be able to hold out if a punishment equivalent to the endlesse sufferings of all the sinners in the world should at once bee laid upon him Yea the very powers of Christ himself upon whom the spirit of might did rest were so shaken in this sharp encounter that he who was the most accomplisht pattern of all fortitude stood sore amazed and with strong crying and tears prayed that if it were possible the houre might passe from him This man therefore being to offer one sacrifice for sins for ever to the burning of that sacrifice he must not onely bring the coals of his love as strong as death and as ardent as the fire which hath a most vehement flame but he must add thereunto those everlasting burnings also even the flames of his most glorious Deity and therefore through the eternall Spirit must he offer himself without spot unto God that hereby he might obtain for us an eternall redemption The bloud whereby the Church is purchased must bee Gods own bloud and to that end must the Lord of glory be crucified the Prince and author of life be killed he whose eternall generation no man can declare be cut off out of the land of the living and the man that is Gods own fellow be thus smitten according to that vvhich God himselfe foretold by his Prophet Awake O sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered The people of Israel we read did so value the life of David their King that they counted him to be worth tenne thousand of themselves how shall we then value of Davids Lord who is the blessed and onely Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords It was indeed our nature that suffered but he that suffered in that nature is over all God blessed for ever and for such a Person to have suffered but one houre was more then if all other persons had suffered ten thousand millions of years But put case also that the life of any other singular man might be equivalent to all the lives of whole mankind yet the laying down of that life would not be sufficient to doe the deed unlesse he that had power to lay it down had power likewise to take it up again For to be detained always in that prison from whence there is no comming out before the payment of the uttermost farthing is to lie always under execution and to quit the plea of that full payment of the debt wherein our surety stood engaged for us And therefore the Apostle upon that ground doth rightly conclude that if Christ be not raised our faith is vaine we are yet in our sinnes and consequently that as he must be delivered to death for our offences so he must be raised again for our justification Yea our Saviour himself knowing full well what he was to undergoe for our sakes told us before-hand that the Comforter whom hee would send unto us should convince the world that is fully satisfie the consciences of the sons of men
the glory of Christ. We read in the holy story that God took of the spirit which was upon Moses and gave it unto the seventy Elders that they might bear the burden of the people with him and that hee might not bear it as before hee had done himself alone It may bee his burden being thus lightned the abilities that were left him for government were not altogether so great as the necessity of his former imployment required them to have been and in that regard vvhat vvas given to his assistants might perhaps bee said to bee taken from him But wee are sure the case was otherwise in him of whom now wee speak unto whom God did not thus give the Spirit by measure And therefore although so many millions of beleevers doe continually receive this supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ yet neither is that fountain any way exhausted nor the plenitude of that well-spring of grace any whit impaired or diminished it being Gods pleasure That in him should all fulnesse dwell and that of his fulnesse all wee should receive grace for grace That as in the naturall generation there is such a correspondence in all parts betwixt the begetter and the Infant begotten that there is no member to bee seen in the Father but there is the like answerably to bee found in the Childe although in a farre lesse proportion so it falleth out in this spirituall that for every grace which in a most eminent manner is found in Christ a like grace will appeare in Gods Childe although in a far inferiour degree similitudes and likenesses being defined by the Logicians to bee comparisons made in quality and not in quantity Wee are yet further to take it into our consideration that by thus enlivening and fashioning us according to his own image Christs purpose was not to raise a seed unto himself dispersedly and distractedly but to gather together in one the Children of God that were scattered abroad yea and to bring all unto one head by himselfe both them which are in Heaven and them which are on the Earth That as in the Tabernacle the vail divided between the Holy place and the most Holy but the curtaines which covered them both were so coupled together with the taches that it might still bee one Tabernacle so the Church Militant and Triumphant typified thereby though distant as farre the one from the other as Heaven is from Earth yet is made but one Tabernacle in Jesus Christ In whom all the building fifty framed together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord and in whom all of us are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit The bond of this mysticall union betwixt Christ and us as elsewhere hath more fully been declared is on his part that quickning Spirit which being in him as the Head is from thence diffused to the spirituall animation of all his Members and on our part Faith which is the prime act of life wrought in those who are capable of understanding by that same Spirit Both whereof must bee acknowledged to bee of so high a nature that none could possibly by such ligatures knit up so admirable a body but hee that was God Almighty And therefore although wee did suppose such a man might bee found who should perform the Law for us suffer the death that was due to our offence and overcome it yea and whose obedience and sufferings should be of such value that it were sufficient for the redemption of the whole world yet could it not be efficient to make us live by faith unlesse that Man had been able to send Gods Spirit to apply the same unto us Which as no bare Man or any other Creature whasoever can doe so for Faith wee are taught by S. Paul that it is the operation of God and a work of his power even of that same power wherewith Christ himself was raised from the dead Which is the ground of that prayer of his that the eyes of our understanding being enlightned wee might know what is the exceeding greatnesse of his power to us-ward who beleeve according to the working of his mighty power which hee wrought in Christ when hee raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all Principality and Power and Might and every Name that is named not onely in this World but also in that to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to bee head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all Yet was it fit also that this Head should bee of the same nature with the Body which is knit unto it and therefore that hee should so bee God as that hee might partake of our Flesh likewise For wee are members of his body saith the same Apostle of his flesh and of his bones And except yee eate the flesh of the Son of man saith our Saviour himself and drink his blood yee have no life in you Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in mee and I in him Declaring thereby first that by this mysticall and supernaturall union wee are as truely conjoyned with him as the meate and drink wee take is with us when by the ordinary work of Nature it is converted into our own substance Secondly that this conjunction is immediately made with his humane nature Thirdly that the Lamb slaine that is Christ crucified hath by that death of his made his flesh broken and his blood powred out for us upon the Crosse to bee fit food for the spirituall nourishment of our soules and the very well-spring from whence by the power of his Godhead all life and grace is derived unto us Upon this ground it is that the Apostle telleth us that wee have boldnesse to enter into the Holyest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which hee hath consecrated for us through the vaile that is to say his flesh That as in the Tabernacle there was no passing from the Holy to the most Holy place but by the vaile so now there is no passage to bee looked for from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant but by the flesh of him who hath said of himself I am the way the truth and the life no man commeth unto the Father but by mee Jacob in his dream beheld a ladder set upon the Earth the top whereof reached to Heaven and the Angels of God ascending and descending on it the Lord himself standing above it Of which vision none can give a better interpretation then hee who was prefigured therein gave unto Nathaniel Hereafter you shall see Heaven opened and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man Whence wee may well collect that the onely meanes whereby God standing