therefore we have not put off all for we have parted with all though not wholly totum exuimus corpus sed non totaliter The ayre in the morning hath put off all her sable weeds that darknesse which in the night did cladde her but not altogether for it is cleere and cleere till Noone-tyde so here c. The use is to stirre us up with honest hearts to renounce all corruption Vse 1 Many doe by piece-meale part with their evills retayning the love of some though they seeme to leave other one will not part with lustfull affections another will keepe covetousnesse yea some put off the outward actions but never care for putting off their corrupt qualities which are rooted in their spirits 2 In the second place hence assure thy selfe that thou art in Iesus Christ if thou puttest off this body lovest no evill though sin hang about thee every where yet thou lovest and likest none of it but holdest CHRIST thy sanctifier and cryest to be uncladde and freed from all this body of death 3 Of sinnes not sin Observe hence Doct. How our masse of corruption conteyneth in it many kindes of sinne Even as the body naturall is not all one kind of member but hath great variety So this body of corruption therefore he calleth it a body of sins of many sins being as so many members in it ignorance unbeliefe irreligiosnesse pride wrath covetousnesse untruth Ephes 2.1 hence it is that the Apostle sayth the Ephesians were dead in sinnes and trespasses and the old man is sayd to be corrupted through deceivable lusts Eph. 4.22 that is so corrupted as that now he expresseth the image of divers lusts as he was formerly created after the image of GOD or else through lusts of many kindes And from hence it commeth that our native corruption doth bring such variety of fruites as are mentioned Galath 5.19 20.21 Adultery fornication uncleanenesse wantonnesse idolatry withcraft hatred debate c. and observed in experience because it is a body which hath divers members the which bring forth divers operations Which must make us both grow up in acknowledging our naturall misery Vse and to magnifie the grace of the LORD IESUS CHRIST who hath healed us of so many corruptions as have formerly had dwelling in us to take from us one sicknesse is mercy but when a man is a very body of diseases hath every member filled with infirmity then to cure him is much more And let such know who are not yet in CHRIST Vse 2 they are a lumpe of all sinnes what though all appeare not that is because the Lord doth restraine them for else we should not live together men would be woolves to men yet though the fruite appeare not the rootes are within us By the circumcision of Christ Observe hence Doct. Who it is that worketh this inwardly in us Iesus Christ He and none but Hee can remoove the filthy lusts in which the heart is wrapped as Saint Iohn spake of His Baptisme hee baptised with water but Christ baptised with the spirit and Saint Peter saith 1 Pet. 3.21 Not the baptisme which is the washing of the flesh saveth but in that a good conscience maketh request to God by the resurrection of Iesus Christ Saint Paul saith hee that planteth and watereth is nothing in regard of force which doth reach unto the soule it selfe This must be distinctly taught that we may avoyd the Papish snare and that we may glory fie God in ascribing to Him intyrely such workes as these are which are no more communicable with men then to create out of nothing another World VERSE 12. In that yee are buried with Him through baptisme in whom yee are also raised up together through the faith of the operation of GOD which raised Him from the dead NOw he commeth to the third thing buryed with Him in baptisme or by baptisme this is the modus action is and agreeth with those words you have beene circumcised in Him how being buryed with Him in baptisme It openeth both the manner and may be as a proofe thus Such as are dead and buryed to sin in Christ they have put off all the body of sinne But you have beene buryed with CHRIST by baptisme First then from the context we see Doct. that what circumcision was to the old people that is baptisme to us for he saith thus much you have beene circumcised in being baptised though in circumstantiall things these disagree as in the sexe receiving the Sacrament there men onely here women In the matter signified Christ to come in the degree of grace given In the externall rite yet the substance of the thing signified manner of receiving generall ends they conspire Hence we may have a ground and warrant to proove the baptisme of infants lawfull and warrantable by the Word of God Vse For circumcision being administred to infants in the time of the old Testament there is no reason why baptisme succeeding it should not bee administred to them in the time of the Gospell The second thing is Doct. that from our union with Christ dead and buryed we come to have the body of sinne crucified and put away from us This is thus gathered he saith they were circumcised that is had the body of sin put off them while they were together buried with Christ which baptisme signifieth and sealeth up in them from this then we come to put off sins that we are set into Christ dying and buryed for the abolishing of sin and hence Rom. 6. Saint Paul sheweth that we cannot live in sin as formerly we did and have to doe with it because we are dead to it being set into Christ dying and that by baptisme The reason is because that Christ hath by his death killed the sin of all that belong to Him and therefore such as are set into His death they cannot but feele the death of this body of sins which before lived in them Even as when Adam sinned and dyed to the life of God all of us in him are dead and so soone as we come actually to be members of him we feele the effect of Adams death even this that being dead to the life of God we lye in the spirituall death of ignorance and lusts So CHRIST the second Adam He dying to abolish sin even that He might be the death of sin in all His members and lying buried under it that He might so abolish it as never to rise againe Briefly then Adam a roote of mankind finning brought death upon all His. 1. By bringing imputation of sin 2. Extinction of the life of grace 3. A propagation of death in sin and trespasse Christ standeth as a second Adam in the persons of all given Him to be His members and having their sin imputed to Him 1 He doth take away the guilt of it 2 Dyed to sin and lay under it in our nature that we by vertue thereof might dye to it the omnipotent spirit of
we have and when we are to demand this or that how should we look back to this Gospell sealed unto us in baptisme And seeing baptisme is but a seale of other matters let us not content our selves with baptisme alone but make sure we have the things which it serveth to confirme Men that have evidences of house and land they looke not much at their deeds about it but they hold the land it selfe and occupy that carefully Wee contrarily stand upon the seale but let the heavenly estate confirmed be where it will 2 Hence may be inforced upon men what is their estate if they have received baptisme as well inward as outward then as the Apostle saith know you not that you are dead with Christ through baptisme If they are not dead with Him they have but the baptisme of water which is nothing before GOD Circumcision nor uncircumcision are any thing with Him but a new Creature Now hee commeth to a second benefit wee have in Christ the benefit of a spirituall resurrection and new life in whom yee have beene raised up as they had beene circumcised for though this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom may agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which baptisme yet it is fitly reduced to the more remote antecedent Christ and to begin a new benefit opposite to that former in whom wee have beene circumcised For the intent of this Scripture is to set out Christ and the benefits we have in Him not to describe the vertue of baptisme which is onely named here so farre forth as it serveth to note the manner after which Christ wrought in us the former benefit of our circumcision from sin And if he had broke off the subject of his speech thus in which baptisme he would have named Christ in the end of the verse not Him as having reference to a plaine antecedent and whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the next verse belongeth hither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this verse for these two seeme but a repetition of this matter with some application and amplification of it make it therefore agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 buried with him in whom also ye are raised up The benefit is 1 Propounded in this verse 2 Applyed more at large verse 13 14. In propounding it 1 We have set downe our refurmetion it selfe in Christ 2 The manner of working it by saith For as the body liveth formally or is raysed from death to life by the guift of life created in it So the soule dead in sin is formally made alive when fayth is created in it Secondly you have fayth described from the efficient cause the potent action of God which raysed Him from the dead in whom yee are raysed The summe In whom or in which CHRIST yee are raysed up with Him the life of fayth being created in your dead soules by that omnipotent efficacy of God by which Christ being now dead for us all was raysed up First then this being the scope to make us cleave to Christ thus You must not goe from him in whom you bave beene raysed up to a new heavenly life But in CHRIST you are raysed up Therefore let none beguile you with deceits which are not after Him The second part is here the conclusion in the eight verse before Doctr. Observe hence That to consider of our first resurrection which we have through Christ is a forcible motive to make us cleave to Him If Saint Peter sayd whither shall we goe thou hast the words of life eternall how much more may we say how should we start from thee Lord thou hast raysed us up when wee were dead How did Lazarus thinke you and others whom Christ raysed up love Him and rest in Him when thus bodily life was againe given them though they were within a while to dye againe But how much more would it bind us to Christ if wee saw how Hee hath raised our soules being dead with such a resurrection as that they shall never dye againe When the Galathians were so fledge after their legall ceremonies Saint Paul thus reasoneth Did you receive the spirit by the ministery of the law or by the hearing of faith preached as if hee would set downe this for a ground that is to be held unto which doth bring us the quickning spirit how then is CHRIST to bee rested on from whom as the fountaine all spirituall life floweth unto us Now our resurrection may bee considered two wayes 1 As wrought in our head 2 As applyed actually in us As wee in regard of our naturall life may bee considered First as we have this life in our roote in our Parents in whom we are seminali ratione as an eare of Corne is in the seede Secondly our life may bee considered as now in us received from them Now when they are sayd to be raysed up in Christ it may be understood both wayes both in regard of their resurrection as it was made in Christ the head of them and as it was in part applyed in them for all the resurrection we have in Christ not yet received we have it by faith hid in Him even the resurrection of our bodyes We may hence then see what maketh the Papists Vse and all sorts of carnall Gospellers so fall from Christ even this they know not or consider not who when they were dead in their sins did rayse them up if they ever had felt that CHRIST had done thus much for them they would never doubt His alsufficiency but waite upon Him to accomplish their salvation We see in Patients which have deadly sicknesses if a Physitian doe when they were given over even then rid their disease away in part and make them pretty well will they thinke of looking to another or be desyrous to joyne others with Him who hath alone almost done all the cure So betweene our soules and Christ Let us then consider what we have had wrought in us through Christ Vse it will so confirme us that hell gates shall not make us leave Him Againe if thou worke not upon thy heart the feeling of the benefits thou hast through Him thou shalt cleave as weakely by Him as if he had never done ought for thee Here in particular are three things to be opened 1 That who so is truely in CHRIST is risen againe 2 That our soules are raysed from death to life by faith 3 That the omnipotent power of GOD is the worker of fayth Of each of these a little 1 As Adam was a roote of death to all that were his neither were they borne of him sooner then mortality did seise on them So Christ is a roote of resurrection 1 Cor. 15.22 As in Adam all dye so in CHRIST shall all be made alive For we must not think that when Christ was raysed it was no more then when Lazarus or some other private person was raysed but His rising was all our resurrections in as much as it
this their restoring to life The first is pardon of sin The second is cancelling the obligation against them The third is the setting them free from those jaylors and executioners in whose keeping they were The two first are in this thirteenth verse the latter in the end of the thirteenth verse and in the other two following The first of the antecedents in the end of the thirteenth verse The second in the fourteenth verse The third in the fifteenth verse To returne to the thirteenth verse And first in genenerall from this his Commoration in this benefit wee note Doct. That our quickning in CHRIST is such a benefit which we must not quickly have done with and lightly passe over The Apostle cannot move from this till hee have dwelt a while upon it and amplified and enforced on them the consideration of it So it is we lend it little thought but the more is our fault we should when wee thinke on God's benefits in Christ make a stand and dwell upon them that so we might be more affected 2 Marke What Ministers must doe Doct. viz. they must amplifie to their people the benefits bestowed on them how often doth Moses this in Deutr. For 1 It is for the honour of God that His benefits should be set forth 2 It edifieth others and gaineth glory to God while they are to know the things bestowed on them and they are by this meanes wrought unto thanksgiving Againe wee are like children wee know not the worth of those great things wherewith GOD hath enriched us As a young childe that hath great patrimonies and priviledges doth not to any purpose conceive the worth of them yea we are as forgetfull as the eaten bread is quickly forgotten And beside a benefit while enjoyed groweth no dainties with us in all these regards we must use this practise of the Apostle If men have outward commodities and abilities and gifts of any kinde they know them too well even till they be proud of them but in heavenly things it is quite otherwise Now for their condition it is described from the state of death You when you were dead 2. The kinde of death viz. in sin 1. Actuall in trespasses 2. Originall in uncircumcision of heart which is set downe by a Synecdoche or Metonymie of the signe for the thing signified Outward Circumcision put for outward and inward which is more emphatical when they were so dead that inwardly and outwardly they did lye in evill the meaning is when you were utterly dead in soule mortall in body subject to eternall damnation by reason of your actuall transgressions and original corruption You then He quickened that is GOD the Father out of the Verse before with His CHRIST First then observe That we are by nature dead to God the same is Eph. 2.1 We are not like a man in a sleepe nor like the Samaritan greatly wounded but we are starke dead in regard of the life of GOD. Rom. 5. he saith Wee are of no strength not of feeble strength and the naturall man is often so called My Sonne was dead and is alive let the dead bury their dead A man is every way by nature dead his body is mortall in dying from his birth eternall death of soule and body hangeth over him His soule is quite dead for God in regard of His presence of sanctifying grace going from a man he dyeth in soule As the soule going from the body the naturall life is extinct But it may be said Object why man hath some reliques of knowledge Againe some of the Heathen have excelled in vertuous actions without grace Every knowledge is not the life of God strictly so called Answ but that knowledge which affecteth the heart to follow God to trust in Him love Him They that know thee will trust in thee otherwise the divels doe know God in their kinde 2 The knowledge of man is able to make him unexculable onely not able to make him alive according to GOD for these Heathens vertues they were but pictures without the soule and life of vertue in them splendida peccata good trees they were not and therefore their fruit could not be good all is not gold that glisters This then confuteth all doctrines of free-will Vse 1 or of any power in man which holpen a little can helpe it selfe Dead men have nothing in them to help themselves toward this world so it is with us toward the other Yea we see hence that it is not suggestions to the minde nor exhortations that will doe it we doe but tell a dead man a tale and all in vaine till God create a new light in the minde and take away the heart of stone and give us tender new hearts let us confesse our utter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impotencie and inability and give glory to God Hence must be enforced to the natural man what is his estate dead in his soule Vse 2 hee heareth not the thunder of GOD's Law nor His sweet promises he seeth no heavenly thing neither GOD nor any spirituall matter hee tasteth no relish in any meat of the soule he speaketh not a word powdred with grace hee stirreth not hand nor foot to that which is good Oh the world is full of these ghosts twice dead as Saint Iude speaketh yea the relikes of this spirituall death hangeth about us all Marke from this that we who are alive through grace Vse 3 must not associate our selves with those that are meere naturall men for we see that no living thing can abide that which is dead the beasts will start at a dead carrion our dearest friends we put from us when dead but alas the LORD's children now can goe hand in hand with such who have not a sparke of grace in them Oh this death is not terrible we are al so much in it that we see not the filthinesse of it As a blacke hue among the Black-moores is not reproachfull So dead ones with us whose graces are ready to dye agree well enough In sinnes Observe Doct. That sinne both originall and actuall is the death of the soule Mors animae peccatum Our sin in which we are borne and live is the death of our soules and the demerit of further death Death it is to death it goeth Now what is death is it not the absence of life the soule being gone with the entrance of corruption And what is sinne Is it not the absence of saving knowledge righteousnesse and holinesse with the corruption of the minde will affections so that the spirituall stinch of it streameth out at the eye lust at the eare itching after vanity at the mouth rottennes is the best I mean unfruitfull speech sometime bitternesse Looke as holinesse is the beginning of life everlasting which goeth on till it end in glory so is sin the death of the soule which doth if the grace of CHRIST heale it not never stay till it come to everlasting damnation As for sinfull actions they
for the people yet not inferior to them Answer Emperors are so for the people that they are Lords over them and the people are for them even their Subjects and bodies politique but Saint Peter nor no Apostle are so for the Church that they are Lords of it and that the Church is their Church and body mysticall therefore they are so for the Churches that they are inferiors to them Object Was not Saint Peter and the rest immediate legates from Christ Object and had they not authority which all the Churches were to obey Answer They had yet their persons still under the Church and their worke of Ministery not to domineere over the Churches the reason is because it was the message and order of the Churches Husband which was of authority above her not their persons that did relate it If a man send one of his servants with a command to his Wife the servant when he hath got this errand is not a Lord over the Wife but a servant under her though his message from her Lord is such which she may not gainesay Fiftly Observe Obs the dignity of the faithfull and their neere conjunction with Christ they are the body of Christ not the naturall body united to the second person nor the Sacramentall body but a mysticall body such who by force of Christ His Spirit are knit to Him and receive all things from Him proportionably as the body naturall doth from the head Many other comparisons as of Vine and branches Man and Wife c. doe set it downe but none more lively then this which is the oftenest frequented To shew us the excellent condition to which we are brought Vse 1 to assure us of Christs love who ever hated His owne flesh He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of Mine eye This letteth us also see the fearefulnesse of abusing the godly that are truely faithfull Vse 2 they lift at mill-stones Lastly Obs seeing Christ is risen from the dead we must labour and strive thither also if a Captaine hath made a breach and entered the hold of the enemy will not the souldiers presse after and ambitiously affect who should get next him so we Christ hath led us the daunce and broke through the gates of death into the City of God we should affect to come after as Saint Paul did strive for conformity with Christ in this point both in the first and second Resurrection The third point is Observ That Christs Resurrection hath speciall priviledge above all others for all others before were not begotten from among the dead because they were raised up with mortality tending to death againe but our Saviour Christ in that He dyed He dyed at once not long to be held of it but in that He is risen He is raised to live for ever death shall no more have dominion over Him 2 All other rose as private and singular men not as publique persons in the name of other making hope to all the dead of their resurrection therefore they were not the first fruits duely gathered but like a singular eare of corne by occasion more timely gathered Now Christ is risen as He dyed not for Himselfe onely but for all us so Christ is risen in al our names so that as we all dyed in Him so we all are raised in Him as a Burgesse of a Parliament what he doth or speaketh it is in the name of the Corporation who doth it in him When God created Adam He made all mankinde in as much as He made him who was to be a Principle of naturall generation to all mankind conveying life and being to them in their order so when He raised Christ He raised us all in as much as He hath raised up a second Adam a Principle of spirituall regeneration even of the first and second resurrection to all Gods chosen in their order Hence it is that Paul saith Eph. 2.6 We are raised up in Christ and set in heavenly places in Him that Peter saith 1 Peâ— 1.3 God hath begotten us to that happy hope in the Resurrection of Iesus Christ Lastly He raised Himselfe as who was the Lord from heaven the quickening Spirit Destroy this body and in three dayes I will raise it up Great therefore every way is the prerogative of our Lord IESUS CHRIST even in regard of that Nature which was dead but now is alive He was slaine before the foundation of the world Hee is raised up as the hope and fore-runner of all our immortality Thou lookest at His death as thy death and against all guilt of sinne and terrour of conscience threatning the Curse doest say I have borne the Curse in my Lord Gal. 3.13 made a curse for me So against all terrours of bodily death hold this I am raised up in CHRIST for He is risen in all our names who beleeve on Him If wee beleeve that IESUS is dead and risen againe 1 Thess 4.14 so also God shall bring those who are slept in Iesus say to life eternall with Him VERSE 19. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulnesse dwell NOw he commeth to give a reason of the former opening the fountaine where the Man IESUS CHRIST found such grace as that in Him all of us should be redeemed that Hee should be God in Person over all creatures yea the Head of His Church filling all in all Now the Reason is here set downe to be the good pleasure of God the Father First that the fulnesse of the God-head for so it is best construed out of the second Chap. Vers 9. and not only that the fulnesse of created gifts should dwell personally in this humane Nature as a Temple 2. That this Person God-man should by the Sacrifice of Himselfe reconcile all unto God First then in generall we see Obs That whatsoever the manhood of CHRIST is lifted up unto it is the meere grace of God not the merit of the Creature What could this Man doe which could deserve this grace that it should be personally united with God and so lifted up to be incomparably above all the Angels in heaven And therefore Saint Augustine doth not doubt to make CHRIST the Sampler of GOD's free Predestination the free grace of God appearing in none so much as in Him which is the Head of all This CHRIST looketh to in His members Lord I thanke thee that thou hast beene pleased to reveile these things unto babes and sucklings and hast kept them from the wise and learned Even so O Father because it pleased thee Yea I doubt not but as God did predestinate him of grace to this honour of being God in fellowship of Person and of being the Prince of our salvation So God in the Covenant He did make with Him and the commandement He gave Him of laying downe His life did strike it and fulfill it of grace not requiring any thing Hee imposed on His Sonne more than duties of free
discipline practised where those duties flourish to which the communion of Saints doth tye us They that are estranged from Gods Church can have no society with God He is walking amongst the golden Candlesticks amongst His Saints onely where two or three are met together in His Name He is present among them As they have no acquaintance with God so they are under the power of Sathan where it is that Saint Paul calleth excommunication the giving up to Sathan Hee that hath not the Church for his Mother cannot have God for His Father In a word heaven and earth the Eden and Paradise of God is His Church So that miserable is that state neverthelesse this was ours sometime in our predecessors We were all of us alients from Israel but God hath kept us for happy times Let us therfore be thankfull and bring forth fruites least he take away our Candlesticke Vse 1 and deface the face of our Churches causing us to want our holy assemblies Let us not leave our fellowship Vse 2 and estrange our selves from Gods people from the assemblies as Brownists and other Novelists doe To be discommoned a Towne for a Citizen to be banished a City is a great reproach but to be an exile from Gods City and discommoned from the communion of Saints this is lamentable indeede being alients from this Common wealth of the Church they have nothing to doe with the covenants of grace and of the Gospell but strangers from all meanes of salvation This letteth us see that all true comfortable affinity Vse 3 kindred and society is in Christ onely and in the Word and Ordinances count all strangers that are not allyed to us in Him count them forreyners that will not communicate with us in the Word and Ordinances of GOD strangers as men of another Nation though never so neere allyed in Nature and let our neerest society fellowship and acquaintance be with Saints and holy Christians in the word and ordinances as our neerest kindred our spirituall brethren in CHRIST Therefore Abraham after he was called of GOD and sanctified was commanded to come out from his kindred and fathers house to count them Aliens and strangers to seeke new kindred a new Nation of his owne nature and bloud the generation of the righteous Why should we like prodigalls withdraw our selves from our fathers house and bring upon our selves by such singular separations this great misery to be estranged from them who are Gods true Israell Againe he saith they were enemies in mind and workes affection and action note hence What is our estate by nature Observ we are enemylike affected to God and His people the wisedome of the flesh is enmity against God Rom. 8. it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be In his Iudgement he counteth the things of God foolishnesse in his affections he doth not savour them he counteth of His Commandements as a yoake intollerable and maketh a tush at sincere obedience so for the Saints the righteous is an abomination to the wicked Gal. 4.29 Were not the Iewes a mocking in the mouth of the heathen did they not reproach them for their circumcision To let us see our selves Vse 1 we are altogether by nature thus heathens beasts the most of men in part we have a law in our flesh rebelling against the law of our mindes not enduring the spirituall obedience of Gods law What is all our love of this world know you not that the amity of the world is enmity with GOD If a woman cared not for her husband but were bent to the imbraces of other men were she not enemylike affected to him so we to God what is enmity if this be not not to care for him and his wayes to incline and looke another way for the Saints they are our enemies as we thinke and they are hatefull of all other to us our spirituall phrensie like not them of all others whose presence doth binde us in some sort We must labour to be changed Vse 2 seeking to God to give us another mind who can endure to heare these termes thou art an enemy a hater of God yet who laboureth to be free of the thing praying to God to purge forth the secret hatred which maketh him hee cannot assent to and affect that which is good Could an honest woman find a heart strange to her husband would shee not be ashamed of it labour to the contrary doest thou finde a heart averse not affected toward thy God ô wilt thou not cry who shall deliver me from this body of death Seeke to GOD to put enmity against the seede of the Serpent and to circumcise thy heart making thee love Him Deu. 30.6 Who ever hardened his heart against GOD and prospered Your mindes were set in evill workes By repeating the words from the part of the sentence before it teacheth thus much Obs What it is that maketh discovery of this enemy-like affection our naughty actions when we do that which crosseth God's will that evill worke is the triall of the inward affection He that loveth me keepeth my Commandements he that keepeth them not and saith he knoweth me is a lyar and the truth is not in him As the tongue is the interpreter of the minde so is the action to the affection A traytor we see may be a traytor in heart and not in attempt but when his treason breaketh forth in some disloyall action then it is manifest that he bare a trayterous heart So it is with this inward corruption when now ripe it practiseth the rebellion of it in the workes of unrighteousnesse Which meeteth with such as will say they love God Vse he were unworthy to live that is an enemie to God but if we looke at their course of life they leave the wayes of God and will have leave to walke in their owne wayes This is to give God good words and speake Him faire but indeed to deny Him But we have no such intention in any thing we doe Object If we through ignorance sinfully contracted Answ doe not know that we sinne against God when we doe this mitigateth not our offence If one should make himselfe drunke and after practice against the life of the King and State would this excuse him from being a traytor if he say I had no such meaning in that I did I meant the Kings person no hurt Lastly marke hence That men by nature are altogether occupied in evill works None doth good no not one the thought of man is evill onely and continually It is strange how the naturall man is devoted to his owne wayes which are all evill He museth mischiefe on his bed hee sleepeth not if hee have not done his mind For his mind is as meat and drinke to him and hee is fasting not able to take rest when hee hath not effected it He committeth sinne and doth his owne will with greedinesse he hateth to be reformed in these wayes
Finally doth not onely doe things evill but applaudeth others that doe so with him Which things may open this truth that naturally a man converseth and maketh a trade of evill workes for figges cannot bee gathered from thornes nor an evill tree cannot doe other than bring forth evill fruits We are no murtherers adulterers c. Object There are two sorts of evill workes Answ some apparantly such as the light of nature condemneth Others more close which have the shew of externall righteousnesse now such are honest courses world-ward without religion and the Pharisees course externally both honest and religious but yet wanting the power of godlinesse of which our Saviour testifieth That many things glorious in mans eye are abomination before God Would not every one condemne such a course in a servant if he should spend his time doing things that had no hurt in them but out of his owne head never vouchsasing to know his masters minde in any thing if he should doe the things bidden him but when his master would have them done thus he will doe them after his owne fashion and when his master saith doe such things first and chiefly after take these in hand hee shall let the principall alone and onely be occupied in the other were not this a wicked course in a servant This is the course of every honest naturall man that is no more than honest world-ward To urge upon men the unrighteousnesse of their wayes Vse 1 yea of those wayes which may be called righteousnesse in comparison of the other that they may count all losse to be found having part in grace through CHRIST To shew us the difference of one converted and not converted the one slippeth and intendeth and endevoureth to doe good though evill be present and steppeth in everywhere the minde of the other is set upon evill the one beareth the presence of it mourning under it the other committeth it willingly he lyeth in evill he taketh care to fulfill the lusts of his flesh hee is a worker of iniquitie VERSE 22. Hath He now reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to make you holy and unblameable and without fault in His sight HItherto of their former Condition Now he having beaten them downe in remembrance of their misery doth raise them up in recounting GOD's mercy Observe hence in generall As wee must looke with one eye downe to our unworthinesse Observ so wee must cast the other upon GOD's mercies to us These two doe well together the one corrects the other so that both as wholesome purging medicines without interlacing restoratives will weaken too much 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but now yee are washed c. Eph. 2.13 Now in CHRIST IESUS yee which once were a farre off are made neere by the bloud of CHRIST Tit. 3.3 4. We also in times past were unwise disobedient deceived c. But when the bountifulnesse and love of GOD our SAVIOUR toward man appeared c. This is to be noted from this that Paul doth not shew them their estate of Nature alone but being a bitter pill doth gild it over with annexing their comfortable condition in CHRIST We must learne to compound these meditations Vse now taking a course in remembring our wretched estate now refreshing our selves in recounting the blessed benefits we have by CHRIST as men will walke in some garden or orchard or go a while to some pleasant exercise when they are wearied with bodily labours 2 From this that such are reconciled Obs marke the free and large grace of God if we had beene enemies in heart only it had beene much to finde favour but where wee have made a trade of evill workes and lived all our lives in open rebellion how undeserved and how rich is the grace which giveth pardon If the King doe pardon one whose good will is doubtfull and take him to grace it is much but when one hath lived in making attempts on his person then to forget and to forgive were more than credible clemencie The love of God is seene in this Rom. 5.10 that when we were enemies He gave His Son to reconcile us It is the greatest love that ever the sons of men enjoyed 1 Ioh. 3.16 Hereby wee perceive the love of God because He laid downe His life for us Herein is love not that we loved God but that He loved us 1 Ioh. 4.10 and sent His Sonne to be the propitiation for our sinnes See how the holy Apostle speaking of the love of God still layes his finger upon the matter in this not in noble birth in high Parentage no no away with that carnall plea I hope the LORD loves me why because He hath kept me to this day and He hath given me wealth and health No in this it appeares that He died for you make this good to your soules In the time of the old Law there were as it were some shadowes and glympse of Gods love but now CHRIST is come the Sunne shines in his full brightnesse The blessed Apostle who was almost as neere CHRIST's heart as his body stands admiring at this love So God loved the world as who should say Ioh. 3.16 so wonderfull it is I cannot expresse it it even ravisheth my heart to thinke on it but so it was that God should stoope to man and Majesty to meanenesse and Heaven bow to earth The Reasons hereof are divers The first is taken from the Partie that loved us Reas 1 it was God blessed for ever had He sent to a poore man in time of misery and poverty honour or money it had not been such a wonder but that he should send his Son and that to die for us this is miraculous It hath bin heard that a man hath sent a Pearle to his friend but this was never heard that any should send his whole treasury but God hath not spared to send all His whole treasure Coloss 2.3 the Text saith that in Him are all these treasures of wisdome and knowledge Heare this all you poore creatures that have any part in CHRIST you complaine you are poore comfort your selves in this you have a treasure better than the best gold in India you have the treasures of heaven how then can you be poore Consider this when the least favour was too much for us and the smallest mercy more than we deserved or desired yet God accounted the greatest favours too little for us earth He hath given to us and that 's not enough heaven Hee hath prepared for us with the joy and glory thereof and yet that 's not enough He hath sent His Spirit to guide us His CHRIST to redeeme us nay He hath bestowed Himselfe upon us hath laid downe His life for us that by His death we might live As the person is incomprehensible Reas 2 so the excellencie of the worke is beyond our reach or conceit me thinkes this love goes beyond God Himselfe The
should be three severall Wills in the Trinity Againe there is no conversion of these Natures for that which dwelleth with another is not converted into it And all Nestorius his dreame of two distinct divided Persons said to be one through singular assistance love dignity consent for the Text saith Bodily and Saint Iohn saith They so dwell together that God is made flesh which cannot be said by vertue of any Vnion which is not substantiall We see what reason we have to hold to CHRIST Vse 2 if we had Moses or Daniel or Saint Paul upon the earth with whom the LORD pleased to dwell so abundantly by the effects of grace and gifts of prophecie Oh how would wee sticke to them how would we rest in their words or oracles but behold him who is the substantiall flesh of our GOD. This sheweth us whither wee must come Vse 3 if wee will finde God to no other but this Temple All old worshippers under the Law they went to the Temple when they would come to God and before the Temple was built to the Arke and Tabernacle but these were but types here is the true Temple looke to CHRIST-man to that body of which he said Destroy this Temple and I will build it againe in three dayes Looke hither and God shall over-shadow thee for the God head dwelleth with Him personally Consider the wonderfull love of God Vse 4 that vouchsafeth thus to dwell in our Nature If some mighty Prince should come and dwell in some poore cottage for his subjects good what a rare part of his singular love would it be counted How much more is this And thus answering briefly an objection of the Lutherans we will come to the next Verse The Nature in which God dwelleth is every where Object where God is but God dwelleth in the humane Nature viz. Christ-Man then in the humane Nature Let this answer the first part of the reason Answ I answer it with limitation That in which God dwelleth as a thing contained in a place containing that must needs be where ever God is not that in which God dwelleth in other manner as here he doth or that in which God dwelleth per aequipatentiam I illustrate the vanity of their argument with this That in which the light dwelleth that is every where where the light is But the light dwelleth in the body of the Sunne Therefore the body of the Sunne is every where where the light is VERSE 10. And yee are compleat in Him which is the Head of all Principality and Power NOw he commeth to the Reasons taken from the all-sufficient benefits wee receive in Him which first are laid downe in this tenth verse indefinitely after by particular enumeration The reason from this verse standeth thus You must not looke to others leaving Him in whom you have the fulnesse of all grace behoovefull given you But in Christ who is the Head of all Principality and Power you are compleat Ergo c. The Verse then containeth 1 Our most full blessednesse in CHRIST 2 A repetition of His dignity from whom we are replenished Now in the Verse we must first marke the coherence In whom having all the fulnesse of the divine Nature in Him you are compleat or full Observe hence Doct. Whence it is that CHRIST Man doth send out all the streames of grace and good things to all His members even hence that this fountaine dwelleth in Him Did not the divine Nature which is the fountaine of all life naturall and supernaturall Psal 36.9 For with Him is the Well of life Did not this dwell with this man or humane Nature we could not be enlightned and quickned by it So that when we reade Ioh. 6. he that eateth my flesh hath life in him we must know that these things are spoken truely of the man-hood not that this Nature of it selfe can doe these things but because the Deity dwelleth with it and by it as by an instrument joyned personally with it doth properly and efficiently worke these things Even as we see the body of the Sunne doth enlighten all but as an instrument of the first created light which GOD hath united to it This must be held that neither the omnipotent power of ereating spirituall graces nor yet the omnipotent action which doth produce them is in the humane Nature or proceedeth from the humane Nature but in God onely and from God in and with this humane Nature working to the same effects according to the propertie of it As a Scrivenour writing with a pen the effect viz. writing may be ascribed to the pen for we say this pen did write this but the faculty of writing and the proper action which produceth it is in the scribe and goeth not from the scribe into the pen So here after some sort for the pen hath no reason and will to worke with the scribe in that to which it is used but he is an instrument having this humane understanding and will whereby hee worketh The pen is an externall instrument without the person of Him that useth it but CHRIST's humane Nature is an internall instrument united within the Person of God the Sonne as a part of His Person as the body of a man is to his soule yea more nearely for death severeth this but not the other yet in this they are like that one is the effect viz. the thing written is properly and efficiently from the Scribe from the pen instrumentally with efficiencie of inferiour degree So these divine workes which CHRIST the Mediatour worketh the chiefe vertue and action which properly effecteth them is in God not communicated really with the other Nature though it doth worke them in this humane Nature with it yea and by it as a most neerely conjoyned instrument which within the person of God the Sonne hath His proper actions concurring in an inferiour degree of efficiencie to that which the divine Nature principally and properly worketh GOD worketh graces CHRIST-Man worketh the same Saint Paul by laying on of hands giveth grace as to Timothy the divine Nature that createth them and infuseth them into this or that man through CHRIST Man being as a common conceptacle and conduit-pipe of them the humane Nature worketh them not by powerfull creating them but by taking away fin and the cause that so way might bee made for this promised Spirit Galath 3.14 2 By interceding Mediator-like for them 3 By willing the going of such graces from Him as who is with God the Sonne but one Worker though a distinct principle of working that is though distinct in Nature yet the same in Person Hee therefore worketh them as His owne workes from His owne power for God's power is by Vnity of Person made His the divine power not being without Him as the power of another Person than He is but being personally with Him Those things which His humane Nature worketh or which are wrought after His humane Nature they are the workes
are nothing but the stinch which commeth from the dead corps I meane the body of sin dwelling within us For as heavie savours come from a putrified body so doe these motions from a corrupt soule And as a childe if he doe swarve from morality and civill vertue following whores and abominable courses be a royoter a theefe when thou seest an absence of civill vertue thou sayest he is even a lost childe what then shall wee thinke of our selves being without all heavenly vertue of faith hope joy in the Spirit godlinesse temperance c. The use is Vse that we would consider of sinne and our estate through it that we who have not thought of it may yet set our hearts to the way of life that we may be thankfull who have escaped from it that we may take heed of it and labour to be healed more and more of it Should some learned Physitian tell you such or such a deadly thing were growing on your body how would you thank him and make use of it Oh it is well with thee if God make thee wise that thou hearest this day how thou art dead in spirit and for us we are glad when we escape some great bodily sicknesse and if there dwell reliques of sicke matter wee keepe rules desanitate tuenda how much more should we be wise for our soules 3 That he saith they were dead in trespasses Observe What is the life of a naturall man even a death in trespasse Doct. tota infidelium vita peccatum like tree like fruit now the very conscience of them is polluted Tit. 1.15 without faith it is impossible to GOD. True it is that outwardly they doe many things that are laudable but still they walke in the flesh the Divell hath conjured them so into that circle that they cannot stirre forth of it Looke as in the flesh of a beast there is some part of greatuse bought up at great price some that is cast to the pudding pits yet all is flesh so in the life of the naturall man some workes are of good use and in commendation with man some are abominabl but all are of the flesh As a livelesse image hath the resemblance of a man but is nothing lesse So the vertuous actions of naturall men have that appearance of good but want the soule and life of it in which it consisteth This is to be marked against the Papists Vse as it teacheth us not to rest in this that we are neither theefe nor whore for be our life never so civill it is death in sinne till grace quicken There is a double madnesse as Hippocrates observeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one very light and toying the other more sober and solemne in which men sit still musing deepely upon some fancies Such a difference we have in spirituall phrensies some are very sober over other some as we see the lives of some naturall men gravely ordered and morally in comparison of others but yet all is deluded phrensie before GOD. 2 Marke hence Doct. 2 That our course in actuall sinne doth sinke us deeper and deeper in death when you were dead in sinne intimating thus much that the custome of their trespasses did hold them under death Even as the more the body putrifies it goeth further into death So here the more the soule doth exercise it selfe in evill the deeper it sinketh into the death of it It is fitly likened to the stone of the sepulchre this custome of actuall sinning for it doth seale us up and keepe us downe more strongly under it Vpon this ground the Prophet asketh How shall the Leopard change his spots no more can those that are accustomed to evill learne to doe well Which must make us take heed how wee goe on in a sinfull course Vse for it maketh us rot in this spirituall death and maketh it more difficult for us to returne Many that procrastinate repentance they thinke not on this You hath He quickened with CHRIST that is both perfectly in CHRIST with whom your life is hid and initially in your selves being joyned with CHRIST Vos cum Christo convivificavit conjunctos Christo Observe hence Doct. How farre we are from being prepared to receive the grace shewed us by GOD when we are quickened to beleeve Even as well disposed as Lazarus was for his resurrection to this present life of whom it was said that he now stanke in the grave No there was as much disposition in that Tohu and Bohu that inanity and deformity which was before the world to the being yea the ordinate being of all the Creature as there is in our soules to the worke of grace We are as farre from this heavenly forme of supernaturall life as the deformed Chaos of the Creature was from this beautifull figure before the LORD did bring it forth There is nothing in Nature can so dispose a man to grace as that it should necessarily follow for onely the principal agent which bringeth in the forme it selfe is able to worke the immediate disposition upon which the forme ensueth As nothing but fire can bring combustible matter to be so sparke as that whereupon it presently burneth for such a disposition is the first point of bringing in he forme it selfe In this therefore many of the Papists are wide yea Vse erre from sound reason it selfe let us therefore by confessing our owne utter untowardnesse and repugnancie to GOD's worke glorifie His Name 2 That hee doth mention their estate before to illustrate GOD's mercy Observe Doctr. What is the way to bring men to thankfull acknowledgement of GOD's grace to teach them to see what they were when GOD shewed it Thus Moses thorow the Booke of Deuteronomie often calleth on them to think what they were in Aegypt yea from their comming forth of Aegypt to that day wherein he spake being now not many dayes from his death So Ezek. 16.30 Saint Paul every-where The Papists doe most wickedly derogate from GOD's glory Vse 1 while they teach something in us which is a partiall agent with God so good preparations and dispositions to this and that But Moses otherwise Not for the goodnesse of thy heart not that yee were more in number though He cast off others for their sinnes He tooke not thee for thy deservings We may hence strengthen our selves Vse 2 not to doubt in receiving God's particular promises though we finde our selves unworthy nothing so fitted as we should be Not unto us O Lord but unto thy Name c. For my Name-sake not for your sake O yee House of Israel As at the first so after GOD doth dispense His favours that we have still cause to confesse our unworthinesse to His Name to CHRIST our Mediatour to His Truth all is to be attributed and from them all is to be expected Hath He quickened together with Him Observe then That all believers have a new life in and through Christ Doct. To understand it wee must note that CHRIST in
heavenly newes that our King hath subdued all our spirituall enemies yea triumphed over for this argueth full conquest when no wise man will ante victoriam cantare triumphum We must hence strengthen our faith Vse 2 for this triumph was all our triumphs the like being to be done in every member through the power of this begun in the Head in behalfe of all the members Is not the victory of a King the victory of all his subjects Likewise can we be in danger of them whom the King hath surprised so that they are altogether within his power So it is betweene us and our spirituall King the LORD give us faith This letteth us see what a potent Vse 3 all sufficient SAVIOUR we have If death and the power of hell could not prevaile against Him under death and in the grave in His lowest humiliation how much lesse shall any creature take from Him now in glory those things which He hath in keeping for us Finally that He saith in that His Crosse We see hence that in CHRIST crucified all victory is obtained against these infernall enemies this must be read in that Crosse not in Himselfe For the antecedent in all these is GOD the Father working these things in His Sonne Iesus Christ crucified In this unlike those great Potentates they never celebrated triumphs while they were receiving the assault of the enemie but stayed till they were returned into their owne Countries to their Imperiall Cities as Claudius who when he had conquered this Countrey of Britaine he went home to Rome there to rule in triumph But our LORD while He receiveth all the hot assault of these powers of darknesse triumpheth Nobile genus vincendi Patientia to let them doe all their worst and by His suffering it to overcome them is a most triumphant kinde of conquest The very fight it selfe is triumph It is reported of the Lion and the Vnicorne that there being deadly hostility betweene them when the Lion spyeth the Vnicorne he taketh a tree the Vnicorne following him eagerly runneth his horne into the tree in which case the Lion spoileth him at his pleasure So betwixt our Lion of the tribe of Iudah God-man and these proud Vnicornes those spirituall sons of Pride there being great hostility these Principalities hating GOD and oppugning His glory in the salvation of mankind it pleased Him to dwell under the vaile of our nature even with such a body and soule as we have sinne excepted that while the Divell did run with all his strength and lodge his horne as it were in this man his power might be broken for ever every stroake he gave returned on his owne head being the death of this man hee killed himselfe the head of him in which you know lyeth the life of a Serpent was bruised for ever And as angry Bees foolishly stinging once make themselves drones ever after So these wily Serpents but foolish here if ever foolish stinging our SAVIOUR CHRIST have made themselves stinglesse to all that are CHRIST's for ever their wisdome had beene not to have stirred up any sinful men to have attached this sacred Person they should have fled from Him to the most remote quarters of Hell rather than have made Him suffer the least thing from them Had they done thus their power in the world had still remained For as the sparkles of fire lighting on water are extinct so sinne and death falling on the GOD of Holinesse and life were extinguished in Him The use is first to arme us Vse 1 that wee take not offence at the scandall of the world at this that our GOD and Saviour dyed was a man hanging upon a Crosse Looke by the eye of faith what victory was gotten by this Crosse what was the powerfull worke of this death and then it shall no more hinder us in beleeving when we know that GOD created light out of darknesse Nay that our GOD did thus by His death as a second Adam abolish spirituall death and bring immortality and life to mankind is more wonderfull than the Creation of the world Wee see that when Satan seemeth the most to prevaile on CHRIST Vse 2 or His members that then hee is most of all foiled and subdued Now his power was comming now hee made Him feele the sting of the Crosse he killed Him c. all this was against himselfe Thus it is in all that are CHRIST's when hee thinketh to have the greatest hand over them all turneth to their good when by death they are stricken death it selfe dyeth and his power is almost quite abolished Wherefore let us not faint in our straits but stand still looking to the salvation of GOD Thus that type of him Pharaoh when he sore tasked the Israelites they most encreased when hee had them so hemmed in betwixt mountaines and seas that there seemed no evasion then was their deliverance at hand and his confusion VERSE 16. Let no man therefore condemne you in meat and drinke or in respect of an holy day or of the new Moones or of the Sabbath dayes YOu have heard at the sixth Verse of this Chapter that there began the exhortatory part of this Epistle and the Exhortations were generall concerning all sorts or speciall The generall you heard were either principall as that in the sixth and seventh Verses or secondary pertaining to the Principall the lesse principall assistant to that great duty of walking in CHRIST were prohibitions of things to be avoided In this Chapter are rules of spirituall practice in the next the Prohibitions are given first in generall Verse 8. Goe not after Philosophy and vaine deceit after the tradition of men and elements of the world the which generall prohibition hath beene propounded and by reasons hitherto enforced Now he commeth to some particular prohibitions which doe open unto us what things he meant by vaine deceit which leaneth on mans tradition and is carnall The dehortations are two-fold 1 From a servile respecting the censures of men so walking in CHRIST that they meddle not neither with Iewish nor Philosophicall superstitions to the twentieth Verse 2 He dehorteth them from the practice of every carnall and elementary fashion of worshipping GOD from the twentieth Verse to the end of the Chapter To returne this dehortation in the sixteenth Verse may be divided into the prohibition and the reason The Prohibition Let no man condemne you in these things The Reason they are shadowes of things which now in Christ and His Church are exhibited for this hath a secret force enforcing what by the Apostle is urged That which is a Shadow vanished that is not so to bee regarded as to feare lest you bee censured in the neglect of it But these are such Therefore passe not though you be condemned for omitting these But the former part of the sixteenth Verse may be diversely construed Let no man condemne you First it may sound to this sense Let no person in heart Iewishly affected take on him
dead in Christ from these why as if yee lived in the world No they cannot live in that which their head is dead to How can we that are dead to sinne live yet therein and therefore he saith as if you lived in the world for hee knew it was impossible for true believers to live unto the fashions of the world either in regard of civill duties or religious ordinances the children of God being set into Christ have presently wrought in them a death of their sinfull and sensuall life It is mortally wounded at the first though it liveth in us long after yea though the Lords children doe not often perceave it for many a man goeth awhile with his death and yet discerneth not till sometime after that he is deepely wounded Even as we our selves feele nothing lesse when we come into the world then that we are dead in our Father Adam and yet with our nativity entereth mortality which never resteth till we are utterly extinct by death The use is to reproove us who live in sinne after the fashion of the world Vse we have forgotten to what we dyed in Christ As if yee lived in the world Observe hence Doct. That Gods children live out of the world while they are in it this maketh CHRIST say they are not of the world for though they are in it for place yet their affection and conversation is in heaven and hence it is Phil 3 2â— that the Church is called by the name of heaven in some propheticall Scriptures and this is here taught while he saith as if yee lived in the world insinuating that it could not be that they lived in the world for they are called out of the world to a heavenly hope and to bee of another body even of that Corporation whereof CHRIST is the head So that as a Townsman in the Vniversity if he be taken to be a Scholars servant though he live in the towne he is no longer of it as who is gone from them and belongeth to another body So it is here Wherefore Conforme not your selves to the fashions of the world you are pilgrims forreyners Vse sojourners at the most here is not the place of your aboad And how farre they are from knowing CHRIST and the power of His death whose life is altogether carnall whose conversation doth not so much as smell of Heaven may hence be convinced to them VERSE 21. Touch not taste not handle not Now he commeth to lay downe more distinctly these rites enjoyned them from Pharisaicall seducers and he doth unfold it by a mimeticall expressing the charge that these false teachers gave Touch not taste not handle not O take heed you know all the old people were tyed from the eating and touching of many things as upon the touch whereof they were uncleane God out of His most wise pleasure annexing a legall uncleannesse unto them as the touching of a dead body of a garment spotted with leprosie of one troubled with a bloudy issue c. Now the Divell that soweth tares did by some pharisaicall spirits which so received Christ that they would still hold the Law he did set on foot by these amongst the Gentiles that unlesse they kept the Law they could not be saved this occasioned the first Councell about some eighteene yeares after CHRIST'S death and within some yeares after this occasioned the Apostle to write that Epistle to the Galathians the same kinde of men began to vent the same wares amongst the Colossians and gave them these caveats Touch not taste not handle not 1 Observe from this practice of theirs Doct. How exact and precise men are in their outward observancies who know not the power of godlinesse It is the Property of all pharisaicall spirits that care not for the great things of the Law and the true spirituall obedience of it they will tithe mint and cummine precisely wash hands and cups their hearts being all foule and full of lusts For looke as idle bodies which will not follow due labour they will go with their tales as a Pedler with his packe from one to another yea their fingers shall goe and their feet shall speake they will occupie themselves busily in that which is superfluous So here when men will not exercise themselves in the power of godlinesse it is strange how they will abound in c. This may be seene in the Church of Rome who not knowing the powerfull ordinances of God have turned all into such dumbe shewes as are the Masse their Precessions c. as full of superfluous observations as emptie of substance To teach us how to know these spirits Vse 1 he that stands precisely on every little trifle is at least halfe a Pharisie Wee must take occasion by them to be precise in the least points of spirituall obedience and not to stand so nicely on externall rites and empty shadowes those that doe diligently looke to themselves this way have no leasure and lesse affection to follow such bawbles Even as a man seriously occupied hath no fancie to dally and sport as others will who have little to doe So here Who more in heavenly labour than Saint Paul Hee laboured through the grace of GOD in Him more abundantly than they all who more despised those kinde of Iewish legall rites who cryeth them downe as beggarly things which profit nothing 2 Marke in this their enforcing these things Doctr. What a hard thing it is to forgoe such old rites to which we are accustomed these had beene brought up in them and had seene no other and loe they will not part with them no not when GOD will have them cease and CHRIST nailes them to the crosse Nay they are more fond on them than before for such is the malice of our wils that when GOD will not then commonly we will like those Israelites when they should have gone up to bid battell to the Canaanites discouraged with the Spies they murmured and refused when GOD would have them go backe into the wildernesse and not goe on against them then they would have no nay to battell they would to die for it Besides as in other things man taketh on like a god so in affecting a kinde of immutability which maketh him hee will not be beaten off that whereunto he hath beene accustomed thus it is in opinion likewise that one is bred up in is often maintained too too stiffely the first things make the deepest impressions Let a false tale get the start and come the first to us truth spoken in the second place is lesse beleeved Wherefore let us take heed Vse and not thinke therefore things must stand because they have beene so since our knowledge and long before but let us see how all customes agree with GOD's Word and will and so accordingly be affected to them If this had beene a good reason These Mosaicall rites have ever beene observed since we can remember any thing yea by all our ancestours these