and presented to himselfe a glorious Church not hauing spot or wrinkle Ephes 5. 26. 27. In opposition therefore to those sacrifices of the Law the Apostle here will haue this sacrifice of our selues to be liuing We must then here dâ—eame of sacrificing our selues by killing our selues as the Papists do maâ—ly whip and scourge themselues like to the Priests of Baal before spoken of for this is diuellish and as I before said this is to offer ourselues to the diuell and to do his seruice who Ioh. 8. 44. was a murderer from the beginning God hath forbidden euery man the murdering of himselfe as well as the murdering of another yea though a man haue done any thing worthy of death by the magistrate yet to put him to death for the same must be the work of the magistrate not of himselfe that so hath deserued death neither of any other that hath not authorite so to do Yea though the magistrate himselfe haue committed any such heinous sin as whereby he hath deserued death yet he must not be put to death by himselfe but by some other superiour magistrate If himselfe that hath committed such a sinne be the supreme magistrate no other man must put him to death for the same but he must be left to God the Iudge Iudges 18. 29. of all the world We must indeed as before I said of the second kinde of the passiue sacrificing our selues submit our selues to death for Christs sake for his truths sake not onely for the whole but also for any part thereof if we cannot lawfully auoid it without deniall or betraying of it but otherwise we must not by any meanes take away our owne liues Dauid by the law for his adultâ—rie with Bathsheba and murder of Vrâ—as had doubly deserued death yet he put not himselfe to death neither had any other power so to do Yea to say more I make no question but that a man hauing by some capitall sinne deserued to die may for all that defend himselfe against any priuate man though neuer so neere in kindred to a man murdered by another and not willingly suffer himselfe to be slaine by such a priuate person without authoritie attempting the reuenge of the person murdered or otherwise so iuiured that by the said doer of the iniutie death had bin deserued Might not Amnon haue defended himself against the violence of Absolom if he had bin aware thereof though he had deserued to die for the rape and incest he had committed against Tamar his owne sister by the father and sister of Absolom by father and mother This life here spoken of is not our naturall life onely though touching it we liue in God moue and haue our being Act 17. 28. but especially a supernaturall life here begun and in the world to come to be perfected and therefore called euerlasting life and in a singular maner the life of God It is the Ioh. 10. 28â— Ephes 4. 18. life of grace often times indeed here begun and continued with much heauinesse and with teares as the Prophet speaketh Pal. 126. 5. 6. of the people in captiuitie but ending with ioy as the sheaues by the husband-man are gathered with gladnes though the seed cost neuer so deare and were therefore grieuous to the sower yea in the meane time also all their present afflictions of this life are accompanied with ioy vnspeakable and glorious because after this life ended 1. Pet. 1. 6. 8. and all the miseries thereof ceased then the former life of grace shall be crowned with the life of glorie This life also is the life of Christ himselfe euen in vs because it cometh from Christ who is therefore called the Prince of life and that especially in a double respect first Acts the 3. 15. How Christ is the Prince of life because by his death he hath purchased eternal life for vs secondly because he being our head and we his members as from the naturall head the whole naturall bodie and euery member thereof receiueth life so from Christ Iesus his whole mysticall bodie the Church and euery member thereof euen here receiueth all spirituall life Gal. 2. 19. 20. Therefore the Apostle saith I through the law am dead vnto the law that I might liue to God I am crucified with Christ Neuerthelesse I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in me and the life which I now liue I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God But how do we liue by the faith of the Sonne of How we liue by the faith of the Sonne of God God Because as God is the author of it and Christ the purchaser the subiect and the conduit of it so faith is our hand wherby both we are incorporated into Christ and he is made our head and we ioyned vnto him as to our head and also whereby we turne the cocke of this conduit and so draw the water of life and life it selfe from Ioh 4. 14. and 7 38. Act. 16. 14. him our hearts being before by God himselfe opened as the heart of Lydia was and so made capable both of that water of life and also of the life it selfe This life here being the life of grace is the assurance of the life of glorie and after all our afflictions and combats here well ended and the faith well kept shall at the last be 2. Tim. 4. 7. 8. â—ames â— 12. 1. Pet. 5. 4. crowned by the righteous Iudge himselfe with the crowne of righteousnes the crowne of life the crowne of glorie which shall not fade To speake yet a little more of this adiunct of our sacrifice The adiunct liuing includeth in it allaeritiâ— and constancy liuing it includeth in it two other qualities of our sacrifice first alacritie or cheerfulnesse secondly constancie The former is by some noted vpon the word present before spoken of but all presenting of gifts being not alwayes cheerfull but sometime vnwilling and for feare of some displeasure by not presenting I suppose it rather to be more aptly and naturally signified by this word liuing For euery man in his right mind willingly liueth and desireth to liue Satan had learned this and could therefore say Skin for skinne and all that a man hath Iob. 2. 4. will he giue for his life The word also liuing is all one with liuely or cheerfull For if a man do any thing dully or grudgingly and lazily as though he cared not whether he did it or no do we not say that such a one hath no life in him and that he doth that which he doth as though he were at lest asleepe If one go nimbly about his worke do we not say that such a one hath life in him Hence are those often petitions of the Prophet Quicken me according Psal 119. 25. ver 37. v. 88. and 149. 156. to thy word Quicken me in thy way Quicken me after thy louing kindnesse and Quicken me
first and now also infused into the bodie immediatly by God So Zech. 12. 1. Heb. 12. 9. 2. Cor. 7. 1. Isai 4. 6. it is the same with the word flesh though the word flesh haue diuers other significations most commonly for all mankind as also for the whole corruption and old man and so it is opposed to the word spirit that is the new Rom. 8. 1. 2. c. man wrought by the Spirit of God in vs. In the proper signification thereof the word bodie is taken in diuers other places as when it is said that Christ Phil. 3. 21. shall change our vile bodie c. and when Paul prayeth God 1. Thess 5. 23. to sanctifie the Thessalonians throughout in soule bodie and spirit so also when to the Hebrewes the Apostle saith they were washed in their bodies c. and so in the doctrine Heb. 10. 22. of the resurrection and often elsewhere But in this place it is taken for the whole man consisting of soule and bodie So it is taken when the second person in the Deitie is broght in saying A bodie hast thou prepared for me So after Heb. 10. 5. 10. when it is said By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the bodie of Iesus Christ once for all So Peter 1. Pet. 2. 24. saith that Christ in his bodie bare our sinnes vpon the Crosse In all which places the bodie of Christ is taken for the whole humane nature of Christ soule and bodie yea also for the whole person of Christ God and man in which respect by communication of the properties it is said Act. 20. 28. that God hath purchased his Church by his owne blood So likewise our bodie is taken for our whole man when the Rom. 6. 12. Apostle saith Let not sinne therefore reigne in your mortall bodie For he forbiddeth sin to reigne as well in the soule as in the bodie and although the soule be immortall yet the whole man ioyntly is mortall And so Peter Martyr saith that when he saith bodie per synecdochen he doth vnderstand the whole man as sometime by the word soule he doth the like For so Iacob is said to haue entred into Egypt with seuentie soules and yet presently after he saith Gen. 46. 26. that in this place it is not a name of nature but of vice For our corrupt affections are to be mortified and good are to be put into their place that our sacrifice may be acceptable But I confesse I do not well vnderstand how these words do accord with the former Some other for all that do so interprete the words our bodies in this place viz. not for our whole man neither for our natural bodies distinct from our soules but onely for our whole naturall corruption as the word flesh as before I shewed is diuers times so taken Of these Ambrose vpon this place seemeth to be the ancientest and chiefest Our bodies saith he being subiect to sinne are not accounted liuing but dead Then he saith Non enim sicut tunc corpora pro corporibus immolantur nunc vero non corpora sed vitia corporis sunt perimenda For not as then bodies are sacrificed for bodies but now not the bodies but the vices of the bodie are to be slaine Their reason seemeth to haue bin because as particular sinnes fornication vncleannesse c. are called our Col. 3. 5. earthly members so our whole corruption is called by the name of the body of death as when Paul crieth out Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from the bodie Rom. 7. 24. of this death But for my part I rather approue of the former interpretation of our bodies to signifie our whole man as M. Caluin also interpreteth it because it is said our bodies must be a sacrifice liuing but our whole old man must be slaine mortified and crucified How also can the old man properly be said to be holy and acceptable vnto God when it is killed and mortified it is not in being and not being mortified it is altogether vnholy and odious vnto God who hareth all that is euill That our whole man soule and bodie must be presented Our whole mā soule and body must be sacrificed to God Isai 1. 16. 2. Cor. 7. 1. Psal 51. 2. vnto God a sacrifice it is manifest First of all by diuers commandements for the washing of our selues not in part but in whole and for purging of our selues from all filthinesse both of the flesh and of the spirit Secondly so also by Dauids prayer for himselfe wholy not in part to be washed Thirdly so by Christs sharp reprehension of the Pharisies for their washing themselues onely outwardly for making cleane the outside of the cup and of the Math. 23. 25. platter and for being like to whited sepulchers c. but within full of dead mens bones and of all vncleannesse Fourthly ver 27. our whole man hath sinned therefore our whole man must be offered to God Fiftly our whole man was at the first created and after our fall redeemed Sixtly in the world to come we desire our whole man to be glorified and so it shall be Seuenthly Christ suffered in his whole man in soule and in bodie in the one as well as in the other And it is to be obserued that as the word soule is expressed by Isaiah so the word vsed by Iohn and translated Isai 53. 10. Ioh. 10. 17. 1. Ioh. 3. 16. Christs suffering in soule and body for vs necessary life is not the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 life but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soule And so it was necessarie that Christ should suffer and present himselfe a sacrifice to God in both parts of his humane nature that he might be a perfect Sauiour vnto vs of our soules and bodies because wee had sinned in both And this Christs suffering in soule as well as in bodie is manifest by his threefold most earnest prayer to God to be deliuered from that passion if it had bin possible by his sweat trickling downe like great drops of blood by his bitter Math. 26. 39. Luk 22. 44. Math. 27. 46. Ioh. 12. 27. crie vpon the Crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me yea also by his prayer to be deliuered from that houre long before All these things do plainly testifie that Christ suffered more then in bodie onely euen in soule also and not such punishment as man onely did inflict but the heauie wrath and indignation of God his Father For many a man hath suffered as great torments in body and greater that hath not so prayed to be deliuered from his sufferings nor so sweat nor so cried out Moreouer the necessitie of Christs such suffering and consequently of his so offering himselfe is further manifest because himselfe speaking of his suffering before saith not onely that he should or would so suffer but also that
fashions of the Shechemitish daughters and the Israelites Gen. 34. 1. 2. being inuited by the Moabites to the sacrifices of their gods that is to their idolatrous feasts became idolaters Num. 25. 2. with them and bowed downe to their gods If of necessitie we come in companie where we cannot but behold such things and if by the like necessitie we haue some dealing with the men of the world and cannot auoid it then by prayer to God let vs carrie such spiritual preseruatiues about vs against all corruption thereby as we vse to carrie about vs in times of common sicknesse so to preserue vs from all infection of such sicknesse These things must be ioyned with those afterward now to be spoken of in the meane time let none flatter themselues Sin of small beginnings and small meanes quickly groweth great and being once so growne it is hardly repressed Neither doth one sinne go alone but is accompanied with another The world also is a subtill harlot yea more subtill then that harlot whereof Salomon admonisheth his sonne and all men to beware and to take heed of Pro 6. 25. and 7. 5. c. her inticements and allurements vnto her fashions Thus much of this first part of this second verse in these words And be not conformed to this world CHAP. XIII Of the next words viz of the amplification thereof by an opposite thereto namely transformitie as also of the meanes whereby we may be transformed and of part of the second amplification of our said transforming from the end thereof that is that we may proue what is the will of God THe next words are But be ye transformed Of these Be be transformed words I will speake very brefly The first word but here and elsewhere noteth a plaine opposition betwixt that before and this now spoken betwixt that conformitie to this world and this transformitie yea such an opposition as that the one and the other cannot agree together neither may be ioyned together The like opposition of impossible agreement together is noted by the same word in the originall text elsewhere as when our Sauiour saith Mat. 16. 17. Ioh. 6. 27. Flesh and blood hath not reuealed this vnto thee but my Father which is in heauen And Labour not for the meate which perisheth but for the meate which abideth to euerlasting life By the same word also Paul noteth such an opposition betwixt fainting and being daily renewed in the inward man 2. Coâ— 4. 16. as that thereby he teacheth such as so faint and be discouraged by afflictions cannot all the while they so faint be renewed in their inward man The opposition also betwixt ver 17. looking on the things that are seene and the things that are not seene is exprest by the same word that is here translated but. So when Iohn saith to Gaius Follow not that which 3. Ioh. 11. is euill but that which is good he teacheth that both euill and good cannot be followed Many other the like places there are needlesse to be here alledged By this word therefore but the Apostle in this place teacheth vs that 2. Kin. 17. 33. 41 we can be no more conformed to the world and thus transformed then we can truly feare God and yet serue other gods or then we may sweare by the Lord and by Malcham Zap 1. 5. or to be short then we can follow both good and euill Secondly this word but in sinuateth something to be vnderstood after the word be transformed whereunto we must be transformed as well as before the Apostle had shewed whereunto we must not be conformed viz. to the world As therefore conforming and transforming are opposed one to another so what is to be opposed to the world but God himselfe For we haue before heard that the amitie of the world and the wisedome of the world are opposed to the loue of God and to the wisedome of God By these things therefore it is euident that when the Apostle exhorteth vs to be transformed he meaneth we should be transformed to God in being holy as he is holy as before we heard It is a turning but from the world vnto God as God himselfe saith If thou returne returne vnto me And Iam 4. 1. A 16. 18. Ephes 22. 2. Cor. 4. 4. this all one with turning from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan the Prince and god of this world vnto God This turning must be of our whole man as the former sacrificing of our selues It must be in truth and not in shew as the Apostle saith that Satan transformeth himselfe into 2. Cor. 11. 13. 14 an Angell of light For the word there vsed is not that that is here in the second place but that that is before vsed and translated be not conformed to this world whereby the distinction before noted out of Chrysostome and his difference betwixt the two originall words here translated conformed and transformed seemeth to be the more authenticall because as Satans transforming himselfe into an Angell of light is not reall and permanent but superficiall and therefore suddenly vanisheth he quickly appearing in his colours againe so all conformitie to the world is superficiall and doth quickly vanish like a morning mist or dew or rain-bow in a cloud But transformitie and turning to God is that that continueth and abideth for euer Once wrought it is done for euer For as it is vnto God so it is of God who is not like to that vnwise man that taketh in hand the building of a tower neuer counting before Luk. 14. 28. what it will cost him and is therefore forced to leaue before he haue finished it as not being able to go through with it but God is wise and able to go through stitch with whatsoeuer he beginneth for who can hinder him Notwithstanding because no man is here so transformed and turned to God but that stil there remaineth in them some corruptions and some dregs and as it were stumps of the old man in respect whereof he may still crie out as Paul himselfe did O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me Rom. 7. 24. from this bodie of death Therefore the Apostle here exhorteth these worthy Romanes to transforme themselues that is more and more to turne vnto God as before he had exhorted them to present themselues a sacrifice to God liuing c. though they had bin such a sacrifice long before Now both our first and our second and our daily turning vnto God is the worke onely of God according Psal 80. 7. 19. to the Prophets prayer Turne vs againe O Lord God of hoasts c. and that because our said first turning is as great a worke as the first creation of the world and our second and daily turning is as great a worke as Gods daily gouernment of the world yet for all that we haue all need of daily exhortations so to
and spoiling principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing ouer them in the said crosse This time of the Gospell is the time wherein the Lord according to Ioel. 2. 28. Act. 2. 18. Ephes 4. 8. his promise hath powred out his Spirit vpon all flesh and wherein at the ascending vp of Christ Iesus on high and leading Ephes 4. 8. captiuitie captiue he hath giuen gifts vnto men euen greater gifts then all the mightie Monarks of the world can giue to their greatest fauourites It is likewise much for this purpose that the mystorie of Rom. 16. 25. 26. the Gospell kept secret since the world began and not made knowne to the sonnes of men that is to the Gentiles that were onely the sonnes of men as the daughters of the wicked Gen 6. 2. Ephes 3. 5. are called the daughters of men is now made knowne and reuealed vnto his holy Apostles before and in these times also to the sincere Ministers thereof Whereas before also God shewed his word onely to Iaakob Psal 147. 19. 20. and his iudgements vnto Israel not dealing so with any nation and the Oracles of God were onely committed to the Rom. 3. 2. Iewes now they are communicated to all nations the partition wall being broken downe and Iewes and Gentiles made Ephes 2. 13. 14. Gal. 3. 28. one and there being no difference of the one from the other In all the former respects may not the will of God now reuealed in the Gospell be called good yea better then the will of God reuealed in the old Testament Certainly we may so call it by Apostolicall warrant and authoritie For this will of God contained in the new Testament and being the new Testament is expresly said to be a better testament Heb. 17. 22. and 8. 6. or a better couenant as hauing better promises not of an earthly Canaan but of an heauenly kingdome typically signified by the former Canaan and being confirmed and sealed not by the blood of buls and goates but by the Heb. 9. 13. and 10. 4. blood of Iesus Christ though figuratiuely also represented by that blood of bules and goates and yet not repeated but Heb. 7. 27. and 9. 28. and 10. 10 once shed for euer to sanctifie them that are sanctified yea that are to be sanctified for euer afterward yea also that were sanctified euer before For all the Fathers euen of the old Testament were not sanctified and saued by the sacrifices of those times but by the sacrifice onely of Christ Iesus himselfe offered by himselfe and typed by the former Ephes 44. 5. sacrifices For as there is but one faith and one hope c. so there was but one saluation and that one was common to all beleeuers vnder the Law as well as in the time of the Gospell Christ Iesus is the same yesterday and to Heb. 13. 8. â—â—nâ—l 13. 18. day and for euer He is the Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world that is by vertue of whose blood shed in these last times all the elect before the coming of Christ in the flesh as well as they that were borne after were saued and enâ—red into heauen immediatly after their translation from hence And therefore our Sauiour promiseth no other happinesse or saluation to them that shall be called and come from the East and from the West that is from all corners Mat. 8. 11. of the world then to sit downe with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen But to returne in consideration of the things before said the Apostle speaking of these times wherein this good will of God is reuealed saith The grace of God hath appeared bringing saluation vnto all men By the word grace Tit. 2. 1â— of God he meaneth the Gospel by the word appeareth he meaneth hath shined and gloriously broken forth dissoluing and scattering all the cloudie types of the Law like to the Sunne breaking out of or scattering the darknesse of the night and the thick clouds of the aire By the words bringing saluation he meaneth the declaring yea also the conferring of saluation more plentifully then before And by all men he vnderstandeth all both of what state and condition soeuer old or yong men or women masters or seruants c. and also of what nation soeuer Iewes or Gentiles as before was shewed And though in the words following he saith that it teacheth vs the same things that the morall Law teacheth and that as children according to the signification of the word thereby insinuating that all that will be taught by the Gospell of the kingdome and Mat. 4. 23. that will by the Gospel enter into the kingdome of God must be like to little children yet he meaneth another maner Mark 10. 15. of teaching then onely of the bare Law namely not imperatiuely onely and outwardly but also effectiuely powerfully and inwardly working that it teacheth So also and in the former respects the Gospell is called Heb. 2. 3. Act. 3. 15. and 5. 31. Heb. 2. 10. by the name of saluation and of great saluation as more powerfully and abundantly making men partakers of saluation and of the Prince and author of saluation Christ Iesus himselfe who therefore by Simeon in his Song is called Luk. 2. 30. by the name of Saluation Neither is the Gospell called great saluation in the former respects onely but also because of the great miserie of all men without the Gospel all men without the Gospel sitting in darknesse and in the shadow of death and being in Luk. 1. 79. the hands of their enemies not bodily but spirituall euen of Satan himselfe Act. 26. 18. The punishment also of the contempt or neglect of the Gospel the meanes of that great saluation being greater then of the men of Sodom and Gomorrha at the day of iudgment Mat. 10. 16. doth plainly shew that the Gospell is more excellent then the ministerie of former times yea so much the more because the Apostle saying How shall we escape if Heb. 2. 3 we neglect so great saluation by that maner of question noteth an impossibilitie of escaping the punishment For this Ioh. 3. 4. 12. Mat. 26. 54. Rom 8. 32. word how noteth an impossibilitie in diuers other places of the Scripture And is not this iust sith they that contemne the Gospel contemne Christ Iesus and God himselfe Luk. 10. 16. And falling away from the Gospell after the receiuing Heb. 6. 5. 6. thereof and thereby tasting the powers of the world to come they againe crucifie to themselues Christ Iesus Neither Heb. 10. 26 doth there remaine any more sacrifice for their sinnes The contemners of Lots ministerie and of the ministerie of the Law had and haue their remedie in Christ Out of Christ in his Gospel and out of his Gospell so neglected and renounced there is no other remedie to be vsed no
prouoked to the like but the parties themselues shall be neuer a whit the better without this last dutie of obedience Euen all knowledge without obedience to them that haue knowledge shall be in vaine The more also that a man knoweth of this will not doing accordingly 1. Ioh. 2. 4. 1. Cor. 13. 2. Luk. 12. 47. Rom. 2. 5. the good commanded and refraining the euill forbidden with the more stripes shall he be beaten and the more wrath he heapeth vp to himselfe against the day of wrath All the premises by the people to be performed to the Preachers of this wil of God are the more to be respected because the said Preachers by their preaching and by their prayers are the charets and horsemen of those places where they liue as well as Eliah and Elisha were of Israel Whether 2. K. 2. 12. 13 14. also such Preachers be poore or rich the former duties are to be performed vnto them They are neither the more to be regarded for their riches nor the lesse to be respected for their pouertie as touching their maintenance but all respect of them must be for this wils sake the which they preach and declare As the faith of our glorious Iam. 2. 1. Lord Iesus Christ must not be had in respect of persons so must not the ministerie of our Lord Iesus Christ as the which is the meanes whereby the said faith is to be obtained and increased And touching the former obedience it must not be seruile As such Ministers must not be Lords ouer their people being Gods inheritance neither reigne ouer 1 Pet. 5. 3. Mat. 20. 26. them as Kings ouer their subiects so must not the people be in any such subiection vnto them Their subiection must not be to them but to their doctrine in teaching this good this well pleasing and this perfect will of God To leaue the duties of the people to their Ministers in An other vse of the former excellencie of the will of God concerning the Ministers theâ—of respect of the said will of God let me now shew one vse more of the former doctrine concerning the Ministers themselues The more excellent therefore the sayd adiuncts shew this will of God to be the more carefull diligent and faithfull ought all the Ministers thereof to be in declaring the same and laying forth all the benefits thereof to the people of God to whom the same appertaine and over whom the Lord hath set them Let them neither ad any thing thereto nor detract any thing there from lest so of the will of God they make the will of man And indeed how foule a thing were it so to deale with the will of 2 Tim. 4. 2. a man Let them preach it in season and out of season The great ignorance and the like impietie of the people every where requireth it so to be Yet alas how great is the negligence of the Ministers herein I haue spoken somewhat hereof before But who can speake enough to cure this disease against which so many of other Churches so many of our owne all most worthy men haue written so much so divinely so learnedly so fully and substantially and yet no reformation either of Non residencie or of the idlenes of them that are resident Verely this is the staine and the blame of many Churches This is the the bane of many soules so much worse then the murder Ezech. 3. 18. 33. 6. Act 20. 26. 27. of so many bodyes by how much the soule is better then the body And yet the death of the soule is also the death of the body for ever in the world to come The body may here be killed and yet the soule liue yea soule and body may liue forever in heaven But if the soule be here murdered both soule and body cannot but be cast into hell where their worme dyeth not and the fire shall never be quenched Mar. 9. 43. 44. Oh what then shall become of such murderers themselues Shall they speed better No No A thousand ten thousand woes shall fall vpon them without repentance yea great repentance How fearefull was the state of the rich man that would not refresh the body of one poore Lazarus He would haue ben glad of the least mitigation Luk 16. 24. of his torments and begged hard for it but could not obtaine it The negligence also of the Ministers in discharge of their office is the cause likewise of all outward evills and calamities to the people But this sore requyreth the help of our governours for the cure thereof by their authority without it all speaking all preaching all writting will doe no good The more this evill hath hitherto ben spoken preached and written against the more it hath increased and dayly doth increase Let vs therefore the more earnestly pray the Lord to incline the heart of our dread Soveraigne and of out other Rulers vnder his Maiestie to put to their helping hands for redresse and Reformation thereof Thus much of these two verses and of this Argument The conclusion of this Treatise of the Christian Sacrifice Now the Lord sanctifie the consideration of all his mercies as especially of the life to come so also of this life receiued and promised to the good of all to whom these my weake labours shall come yea also of my selfe that from the same and according to the measure of the same to every one imparted we may present our selues soules and bodyes with all the powers of the one and members of the other such a sacrifice both actiue and passiue as before we haue heard even living holy and well pleasing to God and that according to his word and because his word doth both require it and is also the meanes to quicken vs to sanctifie vs and to make vs well pleasing unto him The same Lord also for our better so doing keep vs from all conformitie spirituall and other vnto this world and the wicked therein giving vs grace likewise not onely so to doe but also to be transformed and turned to God by the renuing of our mindes touching our vnderstanding reason will and affections and also of our whole man to this end that we may be able to proue iudge and approue how gracious well pleasing and every way perfect the will of God now is in this time of the gospell since the comming and by the coÌ„ming of Christ both farre differing from and also farre aboue all his will in the time of the law and old Testament that so we may labor the more for the knowledge of it and so much the more to blesse God for it by how much the more he hath blessed vs in it striving likewise so much the more to excell all that lived vnder the old Testament in all true godlines by how much the more this his last will excelleth the former and that we may accordingly regard all the Ministers thereof by how