defection yea in most dangerous places euen there where Sathan hath his throne for this is no small argument of true religion deepely rooted in your heart that hauing trauelled through Italy Rome and other parts of the Popes Dominions heard and seene all those allurements which carrieth away instable minded men not rooted nor grounded in Christ after the loue of that richly busked Babilonish Whoore your Lordship hath returned home vnspotted neither burnt with their fire nor blacked with their smoake not vnlike those three children who came forth out of Nabuchadnezzars fire and had not so much as a smell thereof on their garments This Pietie euen in the iudgement of them who had no more but Natures light was esteemed the highest matter of a mans praise maiorem virtutem religione pietate in Deum nullam in humano genere inueniri quisque sibi persuadeat The reason hereof is giuen by Diuines illuminate with the light of the word to be this that by Pietie and holinesse of life we ascend ad primarium illud bonum vnde originem traximus and therefore the same father speaking in the praise of Cyprian affirmes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And indeede since we are the generation of God made to his image what greater glory can man haue then to conserue that image and be like vnto him to whose similitude hee was made Vna itaque nobilitas imitatio dei Goe on therfore right Noble Lord follow the course which yee haue happily begunne shew your selfe the kindely sonne of so worthy Fathers aboue all the Sonne of God by the new generation his worke-manship created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes Keepe in minde that warning of our Lord Much will be required of him to whom much is giuen as the double portion obliged the first borne to the greater seruice otherwaies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In all your waies looke vp to the Lord hee it is that exalts them of lowe degree and puts downe the mighty from their seates turning their glory into shame who vse not their glory to honour him Pittifull proofes whereof wee haue in this fearefull earthquake as I may call it going through this countrey by which many Castles Houses and Lands spewes out their inhabitants shaking off the yoke of their ancient Lords and rendring themselues to be possessed of their seruants because they haue also cast off the yoke of the Lord their God or at least not welcommed his grace offred in the Gospell as it became them The consideration whereof I doubt not doth affect your Lordship as it doth others who are become wise through the feare of God and learnes by the losse of others to gather their thoughts and make peace with him whose praise it is that he buildes houses to men and vpholds them for by him enterprises are established And herewithall remember Right Noble Lord that as trees on tops of hils are subiect to the blast of euery winde so men in the height of honour to great temptations against which they haue neede to be armed But least I seeme Monere memorem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more laborious then neede requires I end Humbly praying your Lordship to accept these small and scarse-ripe fruit of my labours as a testimony of my affection to your Honour till it may please God some better token come into my hand whereby to declare it Your Lordships to command M. WILLIAM COVVPER Minister of Perth The Preface IT may iustly be spoken of many in this age which the Apostle Saint Paul spake of the Hebrewes When as concerning the time yee ought to be teachers of others yee haue neede againe that wee teach you the first principles of the word of God and are become such as haue neede of Milke and not of strong meate they professe faith in Christ but in truth doe not beleeue in him neither yet can they because they know him not they are baptised in his name but are not bureid with him through Baptisme neither raised vp together through the faith of the operation of God that raised him from the dead they carrie his cognisance and badge but are not militant vnder him in his warrefare As the Athenians sacrificed Ignoto Deo to a strange God and the Samaritans worshipped that which they knew not so our Atheists profitentur ignotum Christum professe a strange Christ they know not what he is in himselfe nor how hee is become ours nor what hee hath done for vs and therefore neither in life nor death doe they expresse his vertue They liue licentiously reprobate vnto euery good worke dishonouring Christ as if hee were a Sauiour who had no power to sanctifie those which are in him and they dye without comfort as if Christ by death had not obtained life and by death did not transport to life all that are in him thus while they professe fellowship with him they declare themselues to be strangers from him It is witnessed by the Lord in Ezechiel the same soule that sinneth shall die the sonne shall not beare the inquitie of the father neither shall the father beare the iniquitie of the sonne but the righteousnesse of the righteous shal be vpon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shal be vpon himselfe If according to this testimonie of the word it be demanded of them seeing Christ is holy and righteous and wee are the sinners how is it that hee is punished and wee are spared This is but one of the least of Sathans assaults by which he impugnes the faith of men and yet if they be required to answere it they shall soone bewray themselues to be voide of knowledge and solide faith confident onely in a naked profession which will not faile in the end to beguile them For as an house faultie in the foundation cannot abide the stormy windes and raine no more can a Christian not informed with knowledge not rooted grounded and builded in Christ Iesus by faith endure in the houre of tentation That therefore the doctrine of Christianitie may be learned by such as knowes it not from the very foundation we haue here proposed three most necessary points to be entreated The first is Christs Genealogie the second his Baptisme the third his Tentation In the first wee are taught what manner of man our Lord is in himselfe In the second what manner of way he is become ours In the third what manner of way he did begin to worke the worke of our Redemption all most necessary to be knowne for the right grounding of our Faith on him In his Genealogie wee see how Iesus the sonne of Mary is that same blessed seede of the woman whom the Lord promised in Paradise to whom the Prophets of all times pointed and for whom the godly fathers of all ages waited and expected lineally desended from Adam by seauentie and foure fathers In his Baptisme wee see how he was consecrated
the sonne of Dauid 35 Nathan 36 Mattatha 37 Mainan 38 Melea. 39 Eliakim 40 Ionan 41 Ioseph 42 Iuda 43 Simeon 44 Leui. 45 Matthat 46 Iorim 47 Eliezer 48 Iose. 49 Er. 50 Elmodam 51 Cosam 52 Addi 53 Melchi 54 Neri Where S. Mathew cals Salathiel the sonne of Ieconias vnderstand his legall sonne succeding as neerest of kin Salathiel Pedaiah Zorobabel Where S. Luke cals Salathiel the sonne of Neri vnderstand the naturall sonne of Neri S. Mathew reckoneth in this line the forefathers of Ioseph Abiud Eliakim Azor. Sadoc Achim Eliud Eleazer Nathan Iacob Ioseph Ioseph is called by Saint Luke the sonne of Eli because he was his sonne in law S Luke againe reckoneth in this line the forefathers of Mary 58 Rhesa 59 Ioanna 60 Iuda 61 Ioseph 62 Semei 63 Mattathia 64 Maath 65 Naggi 66 Esli 67 Naum. 68 Amos. 69 Mattathias 70 Ioseph 71 Ianna 72 Melchi 73 Leui. 74 Matthat 75 Eli. 76 Marie IESVS CHRIST that blessed seede promised to Adam Noah Sem Abraham Isaac Iacob Iuda Dauid Zorobabel and Mary THus you haue the golden line reaching from ADAM to CHRIST it beginnes at the first Adam and is absolued in the second it containes a roll of the Fathers who through the priueledge of the first borne were ordinary Doctors and cheife lights of the Church till the comming of Christ. Vpon this golden line runnes the whole booke of God he that would read it with profit must remember the course of the spirit of God in the diduction of this line If at any time he diuert from it it is onely to interlace some purpose which may cleare the storie of the line So with the description of the linage of Seth hee adioynes also a description of the house and off-spring of Cham who are not in the line Likewise when he draws the Genealogie of Sem hee entreates of the posteritie of Iaphet and Cham and as hee handles the Historie of Abraham Isaac and Iacob so likewise the historie and posteritie of Nahor Ismaell and Esau. But as we may easily perceiue he insists not in the historie of them who are beside the line but hauing spoken so much of them as may cleare the storie of the line he lets them alone and returnes to his purpose alway following forth the line till he come to the promised Shiloh THE SECOND TREAtise of Christ his Baptisme THe second ground of doctrine we proposed to be entreted of is the Baptisme of CHRIST wherein we haue as I said before his most solemne consecration to the publicke office of the Mesiah Hitherto hee had liued a priuate life for the space of twentie nine yeares and now beginning to be thirtie years of age hee is manifested vnto the world by doing the great worke of a redeemer for which he came for so Saint Peter reckons all the time of his publicke charge and ministration to haue ben from the Baptisme of Iohn to the day of his ascension Many Kings Preists and Prophets hath God sent vnto his Church since the beginning of the world but neuer one like Iesus the great King high Preist and Prophet of the Church and therefore it is not without cause that exordium tanti officii tot est mistriis consecratum Neuer one was sent to doe such a worke as he and therefore neuer one had such a calling and confirmation as hee for now the heauens are opened the holy Ghost in a visible shape discends vpon him and God the father by an audible voice from heauen doth authorise him The principall end of this Treatise will be to teach vs how Iesus is become ours which is a speciall and necessary point for vs to learne The parts of his Consecration are two In the first wee see how the Lord Iesus by receiuing the Sacrament of Baptisme doth come in our place and roome as our kinsman as the first borne of his brethren as the head of his misticall body in a word as our cautioner acting and obligating himselfe to pay our debt and to fulfill those points of righteousnesse which we were bound to fulfill but could not doe by our selues and so to releiue and redeeme his brethren In the second wee see how the father not onely accepts him as debtor for vs but also designes and ordaines him to this great worke by annointing him with his holy spirit And thereafter in a publicke assembly of the people at Iorden in most solemne manner by an audible voice from heauen proclames him to be that great high Preist by whom onely attonement must be made betweene him and vs. These two ioyned together make vp vnto vs a most sure ground of Christian comfort If first we consider that the Lord Iesus for the loue hee bare to the glory of his father and saluation of his brethren voluntarily steppes into our roome and in our name becomes obliged to his father according to that notable Prophesie Psal. 40. 6. 7. which yet were a small thing were it not that the second followes to wit that the Father of his infinit wisedome finding out in Christ a way to preserue both the glory of his mercy and iustice doth of his speciall loue toward vs not onely accept him but ordaine him to doe the worke of a mediator imponing to him that singular law of a redeemer which was neuer imposed to man nor Angell as we shall here hereafter And here wee learne how by most sure right the Lord Iesus becomes ours to wit by the surest right that can be namely the free gift of God hee is giuen for a Prince of saluation to vs according to these testimonies both of Angels and men speaking by inspiration of the holy Ghost Vnto you this day is borne in the Citie of Dauid a Sauiour which is Christ the Lord. Againe God so loued the world that hee hath giuen his onely begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeues in him should not perish And againe Christ Iesus is made vnto vs of God wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption Looke then what way any other thing is ours which most properly wee may call ours that same way Christ is ours namely by the free and sure gift of God If we know and beleeue this we shall finde it a most sure ground of comfort to vphold vs in the houre of tentation It is true Gloriatio Ecclesiae est omnis Christi actio Euery action of Christ is the Churches reioycing and comfort but what reioycing shall wee haue in any of his actions if this ground be not first laid that he is ours and what he did hee did it for vs and vnto vs If he had not died for our sinnes and risen for our righteousnesse what could his death and resurrection haue profited vs But here is the ground of all that he is giuen vnto vs of the Father for a Sauiour whereunto most willingly hee condescends and for which worke the spirit annoints him
when he is in the hands of his very enemies Againe this is for the comfort of Gods children for sometime power is giuen to Sathan ouer their bodies to afflict them as we see for a time in Iob or for a time to possesse them as hee did the body of Magdalen for albeit then shee was not called yet euen then was shee an elect woman least therefore the children of God should at any time be discouraged with the like of this to take it for an argument of reprobation or finall deliuery of them vnto Sathan that the Lord for a time permits him to haue power our their bodies the Lord Iesus who would in all things be tempted as we are except sinne did taste of this temptation also for our comfort This being spoken concerning the manner of his carrying now we come to the place which is the holy City Ierusalem more particularly the very Temple which stood in the sight of all Ierusalem Sathan sets him on the platforme of it wherein were turrets with pinacles on their tops this place he takes as most conuenient for his purpose thou hast lurked too long as a priuate man among this people if thou be the Sonne of GOD that promised Messiah the king of Israel here is the time and place to shew thy selfe in the sight of Ierusalem all the people shall admire thee and acknowledge thee for to be the Sonne of God if thou cast thy selfe downe among them which easily thou maist doe without all perill or harme seeing the Lord hath giuen his Angels charge ouer thee to keepe thee Concerning the place beside that which we marked in the first temptation how that there is no place so holy on earth wherin we can be free from the temptations of this vnholy spirit In Paradise he tempted Adam at Christs table he tempted Iudas and in the very Temple dedicated to the seruice of God how often finde wee by experience that hee dare tempt vs making vs eyther to turne the house of God into an house of marchandise while hee drawes away our mindes to thinke vpon worldly affaires or else into a den of theeues whilst he carryeth our Eyes to wander after vanitie that so hee may infect the heart or else at least he casts vpon vs the spirit of slumbring that wee cannot with reuerence heare the word of the Lord. Sathan is an enemie to euery good action standing alwayes at Iosuahs right hand to hinder him but specially doth hee resist vs in the Exercâ—ses of the Word and Prayer and seeketh to polluâ—e vs most in those places wherein wee should be most sanctified and therefore as the Iewes in the building of Ierusalem had their weapon in the one hand and their worke-toole in the other so wee when wee come to edifie our selues in the most holy Faith haue neede to haue an eye continually vpon our aduersarie and our weapon ready to resist him And set him on a pinnacle of the Temple FOr what end Sathan set our Lord there is euident out of that which followes that he might from thence cast him downe Sathan in his working is contrary vnto the Lord for the Lord casts downe to the end hee may raise vp so did hee with S. Paul first he cast him to the ground and then raised him vp to the honour of an Apostle but Sathan if he raise vp any man it is for this end that he may cast him downe It is true preferment comes neither from the East nor from the West but from the Lord yet such as come to high places by euill meanes are said to be raised vp by Sathan It were good for men to abhorre such preferments with those famous Martyrs who when offers of honourable Offices were made to them answered Nolumus honorem vnde nobis nascetur ignominia wee will none of that honour which breedes vs ignominie for that honour wherevnto men come with an euill conscience shall assuredly end in shame If thou be THis tentation as wee said is to Presumption and Vaine-glory Before men thou shalt haue great honour if by this Miracle thou manifest thy selfe the Sonne of God and at Gods hand thou needest feare none euill for since thou art his Son thou maist doe what thou wilt hee will not let thee perish This temptation to presumption in this age preuailes mightily ouer many who abuse Gods mercy and turne the grace of God into wantonnesse conceiting with themselues that because God is mercifull and Christ hath dyed for sinners and they haue receiued the seales of the Couenant and are now by adoption the Sonnes of God therefore they may doe what they list And though they cast not their bodies from on high to the ground being loath to endanger their naturall liues yet they spare not to make daily shipwracke of their Soules and Consciences by casting themselues downe head-long into euery snare of the Diuell A lamentable thing that the death of Christ should be abused to entertaine the life of sinne he died to abolish sinne and destroy the workes of the Diuell and miserable man will take boldnesse to sin the more freely because Christ dyed for him Where desperation enters all men see and abhorre it but though this presumption possesse the greatest multitude in this generation yet are they few who perceiue it The other branch of this temptation as I noted tends to a seeking of vaine-glory before men while hee would prouoke our Sauiour to manifest by vnlawfull meanes that hee was the Sonne of God And this is Sathans ordinarie temptation whereby hee assaults such as are endued with graces aboue others If the Apostle S. Paul had neede of counterpoyse against pride alas what haue wee Many doth Sathan so bewitch with a loue of their owne glory that rather then it shall not be manifested they will blaze it abroad themselues in most vaine-glorious manner and so vnawares they cast downe themselues before Sathan for to seeke thine owne glory is not glory But this is strange that Sathan hauing power to set our Lord on the toppe of the Temple puts not to his owne hand to cast him downe but tempts him to cast himselfe downe thus we see how in the greatest libertie Sathan hath hee is alwayes bound and brideled that he cannot doe what he would if hee get a commission or power it is euer with limitation as wee see in Iob loe he is in thine hand but saue his life And except wee our selues giue him armour he cannot hurt for it is by man himselfe that hee gets at any time vantage ouer man Let vs praise the power of God that restraines him let vs marke the impotence of Sathan let vs confirme our harts by grace to resist him so shall hee neuer be able to hurt vs. Last of all as here his voyce is Cast thy selfe downe so is it in the next assault Fall downe and worship mee This is the
wee affirme that this is a perishing life and yet wee care for life eternall as if it would last but for one yeere but wee care for this life as if it would neuer come to an end Will wee looke to Dauid and others of the Children of GOD what moued him may we thinke to pray seauen times in the day to water his Couch with teares when hee lay downe and to preuent the morning watch to prayer but that hee knew it was a difficult thing to get through the snares of this life and attaine vnto eternall life But the professors of this age liue as if it were nothing to come to heauen and they were sure at length to get it for a wish and therefore they doe liue busie about many things with Martha pertaining to the body but carelesse of that one thing needfull commended in Mary From this blindnesse of minde the Lord deliuer vs. VERSE 4. And Iesus answered and said HEre the Lord Iesus repelleth this first temptation of Sathan by a testimonie of holy Scripture which conueniently he alledges out of the eight of Deutronomie there Moses sheweth the Israelites how that when ordinarie food failed them in the Wildernesse God fed them with Manna from heauen to declare vnto them and all others that it is not by bread man liueth onely but by the word of God and therefore will our Sauiour say to Sathan thou dost wrong to restraine the prouidence of God to this particular meanes of Bread seeing both the written Word testifieth and GOD by his Word hath declared that any meanes is good enough to preserue the life of man if God by his Word grant his blessing vnto it yea his word without all meanes is able to doe it It is written OF this first we learne how in our spirituall warfare wee should vse the written word as being the sword of that spirit by which Sathan is confounded Of this first Papists are conuinced who debarre the poore people from the comfort of the word alledging it pertaines to churchmen and not to simple people to reade the Scriptures whereas by the contrary as Chrysostome witnesseth it is much more necessarie for them then for the other Qui enim versantur in medio vulnera quotidie accipiunt magis indigent medicamine for they who comes out in publike and are euery day wounded hath most neede of medicine yea how can they fight as the good soulders of Christ seeing the armour of GOD is taken from them by such as pretends to be their gouernors so that in effect as if they were in couenant with Sathan they deliuer the poore people of God armourlesse vnto him handling them as the Philistimes did the Israelites who left not a Smith among them to make them a weapon that so they being armourlesse might more easily be kept in subiection And next carelesse professors are also reproued who being commanded to search the scripture that in them they may finde eternall life and hauing now in the reformed church libertie granted them to doe so yet will not vse it but willingly interdite themselues from the comfort of the word of the Lord threatens the famine of the word as a great plague Quid igitur infoelicius quam vt quod deus in panam minatur hoc tu iam sponte in caput tuum attrahas what more miserable thing can be then this to draw that willingly vpon thine owne head which GOD hath threatned as a curse Man liues not by bread onely THis answere hath two parts Whereof the first is Negatiue denying that necessity which Sathan alleadged the other is affirmatiue The first is here wherein our Lord doth not deny that man liues by bread if the Lord vse it as a meane to nourish him but that man liues not by bread onely Of this first we learne that the second meanes appointed by God are not to be despised for we see our Sauiour in this disputation with Sathan excludes them not for in the right vse of them the power wisedome prouidence and goodnes of God are praised who hath prouided so many good things for the good of man and hath giuen power vnto things without life to helpe the life of man And this I marke first for weake Christians who are so farre abused by Sathan sometime that they thinke it not lawfull for them to eate and drinke and to nourish that body wherein sinne is harboured against the Lord it is true indeede euery christian ought to haue a care that the nourishment of the body become not a nourishment of sinne in the body but so that thou runne not to the other extremitie to account that euill which God hath ordained for thy good Certainely as Sathan enuies that thou should enioy the fauour of thy GOD so enuies hee that thou shouldst enioy the comfortable vse of any creature that euer God made yea euen of meate and drinke Where he cannot tempt thee to the abuse of it by intemperancie hee doth what he can to defraude thee of it working vpon thy weake conscience makes thee to conceiue a scrupple where there is none and bindes thee there where God hath made thee free And next the vse of the meanes is marked for idle men who are desirous to liue wanting nothing necessary for their life but they wil not work these as afterward followes are tempters of God despising the meanes they will eyther be fed miraculously by the hand of God as Israel was in the wildernes or else impiously will seeke their foode by vnlawfull shifts out of the hands of Sathan Next wee learne that howeuer the second meanes are to be vsed yet are wee not to trust in them as if it were they and not Gods blessing that did helpe our life Physicke is good but because Asa trusted in it it could not profit him And flesh is good for nourishment but because Israel thought that their life was in it GOD slew them by the same meane by which they thought to liue and therefore the Lord to teach men that the vertue is not in the meanes but in his blessing Sometime hee workes without meanes as when hee made light without the Sun fertilitie of the earth without raine when hee kept the life of Moses without meate and made cornes grow vnto Ezechia without sowing and sometimes to small meanes hee giues great vertue as when hee made one paire of shooes and one sute of raiment last Israel forty yeares There were many in the daies of Elisha who had more oyle and meale then the widdow of Sarepta had but wanted the blessing shee had and therefore was theirs spent when her portion being lesse remained to the ende Beside this the very nature of the meanes which wee vse may teach vs it is not they that preserues our life for they being things without life themselues and such as by time putrifies and rots what life can
neuer to be forgotten TAke heede to thy selfe This is a precept most necessary to be practised The Lord is said to number our steps to ponder our pathes to weigh our selues and Sathan is said to winnow vs and to consider vs what great neede haue wee then to consider our selues The fruitlesse care of worldlings VVOrldlings take paines in their life to prouide for others who will not so much as remember them when they are gone for his place shall know him no more Where is the fruit of thy labours O wretched worldling in the heauen Thou hast laide vp no store for thy selfe there for thou neuer had a care to make thy selfe friends there of the riches of iniquitie what hope then canst thou haue to be receiued into those euerlasting mansions for comfort of the earth where is it all the fruit of thy labors thou must leaue to another who will be blythe to burie thee in the earth Oh that men could remember this Or it belong the earth will refuse to beare thee thy body will refuse to lodge thee thy friends will no longer retaine thee and who then shall receiue thee If the Lord also refuse thee and bid thee depart from him where away wilt thou goe for comfort O man make peace with thy God in time Couerings of sinne AS Adam after his transgression couered his nakednes with figge-tree leaues so is it Naturall to his sonnes to seeke couerings to their sinnes but of all it offends the Lord most when men seeke to couer their sinnes vnder the garment of God this was obiected to the Iewes Mal. 2. 16. who couered their adulteries with a shadow of diuorcements allowed as they thought by Moses and is yet practised by the Atheists of our time who bring defences for their sinne out of the word of God for such mockers heauy iudgements are prepared Knowledge and Deuotion AS a Bird that hath but one wing cannot flye the right way so a Christian wanting any one of these two cannot serue God in a right manner yet seldome goe these two together for some haue Knowledge without Deuotion and others haue Deuotion but without Knowledge None of these are good but the first is the worst of the two for the seruant that knowes his Maisters will and doth it not is worthy of double stripes A discouerie of the vanity of worldly honour MAn in his best estate is altogether vanitie his highest honour is like the vanishing shadow on the tops of mountaines when the sunne goes downe Put him in his chariot of triumph let it be drawne with horses of price yea if hee can with stately Lyons let him be decked in most gorgeous manner as Herode was on his birth-day these two interrogators shall soone discouer his vanity First what hath he vpon him or about him which is his owne hath he not borrowed from euery creature to make vp himselfe a begged glory garments from beasts of the earth feathers from foules of the ayre pearles from fishes of the sea silkes from creeping wormes and beasts and wormes and fishes at length shall deuoure his flesh in a recompence of that which they haue lent him And Secondly that which hee hath how long shall hee haue it the Samaritane Prince who this day leaned on the kings shoulder and the next day was trampled vnder the peoples feete stands vp among innumerable examples to witnesse how mutable and vaine the glory is of flesh Surely as Nabuchadnezzars image had a head of Gold but feete of Clay so is it with all worldly honour glorious in the beginning but it ends in dust and ashes Euery day should shadow our death THe end of euery day is a shadow of the end of our life our lying downe in the bed vnder couerings of clothes to rest vs till the morning should remember vs of our lying downe in the graue vnder the couering of moulds The sting of sinfull pleasure not perceiued in the day doth sting more liuely the conscience of men in the night when they examine themselues on their beds and all are at quiet no sight presented to the eye nor sound to the eare to distract the minde then conscience speakes the more loudly to warne a man of his sinnes and this may forewarne vs that if we doe not vnfainedly repent vs in time our sinnes will much more trouble vs in the end of our life let vs not keepe such a serpent in our bosome Contentment to dye I Desire not to out-liue the time whether it be long or short appointed to mee of the Lord. I know hee is permanent Iehoua death cannot take me from him but restore me to him Prophets dye and people to whom they speake die also but the word of the Lord endureth for euer and no word spoken in his name shall fall to the ground I know it shall not be well with the wicked though I see not their end and thy Saints shall haue cause to praise thee and say there is fruit for the righteous Glory be to God Si quid feceris honestum cum labore labor cito abit si quid turpe cum voluptate turpitudo manet voluptas abit Aul Gel. FINIS THE BAPTISME OF CHRIST VVherein the typicall Goel is compared with the true and is shewed how CHRIST our kinsman is made our right REDEEMER MARKE 1. 9. And it came to passe in those dayes that Iesus came from Nazaret a citie of Galile and was baptised of of Iohn in Iordan LONDON Printed for Iohn Budge 1612. A TABLE OF THE PRINCIpall points contained in this Booke A A Ccusations of Sathan and the Christian mans answere to them pag. 306 Adam the first son of God among men and the first father of Christ according to the flesh pag. 8 The euill that Adam brought on himselfe and his posteritie 59 How the second Adam hath the same similitude of generation with the first 13 What course the second Adam takes in our Redemption 58. the effect and comfort thereof 59 Our spiritual Adoption how confirmed 14 Our Election and Adoption impugned by Sathan 170 How wee should confirme our selues in the assurance of our Election and Adoption 175 Atheists conuinced 182 Professors of Atheisme 170 B BAptisme of Christ among sinners shewes his loue and humilitie 57 Christ baptizing with the spirit seeks the Baptisme of water from his owne seruant 60. to what end hee did so 61. the reasons thereof 62 Christ baptized to sanctifie Baptisme 66. and to seale vp his fellowship with vs. 68. he receiued it with prayer 64 The seale of Baptisme with the promises thereof 65 Why Constantine deferred his baptisme 67 The order of Sathans threefold Battell 162 How a Christian should order the Battell against him 163 Desperation fights in the left wing of Sathans battell 167. and Presumption in the right wing 192 A warning to Battell 277 Glory of Brittaines Ile 265 A warning to Brittaines Ile 267 C THe fatherly care and prouidence of God to his
children 223. Christs glory manifested in that he tooke no holinesse from his parents 27 Christs Line from whence deduced 34 Christ neuer called the natural son of Salomon 35 Christ as man was borne a Noble man ibid. Christ the companion of Iehouah 39 Christ our kinsman ibid. Why Christ is called Shiloh 40 Christ the true Redeemer and auenger of his brethren 40 Christ most solemnely consecrated King Priest and Prophet 50 Christ willingly maketh himselfe debtor for vs. 51 Christ how become ours in most sure manner 53. 54 What comfort Christ hath brought vs. 59 Why Christ prayed for himselfe 69 How Christ teacheth vs to sanctifie all our actions by Prayer 71 How Christ cures his Patients by annointing them 86 Christ endues his children with meekenes 87 Christ how the Sonne of God 97 Christ his life and doctrine c. confirmed vnto vs by diuers notable testimonies pag. 99. 100. c. to page 110. Why Christ is led into the Wildernes by the motion of the spirit 124 The Actions of Christ how receiued 150 Christs transportation whether mentall or corporall 195 Christ tempted at the eye with a faire show at the eare with faire offers 229. 231. 241 Christ his loue 313 Warning for carelesse Christians 153 Carnall men in words despise Sathan but in deedes doe serue him 121 Circumspection needfull 315 A Comfort in that we be come of Christ by grace 18 Comfort for poore distressed sinners 25. 26 Comfort arising from the consideration of Christs person 39 A strong Bulwarke of Comfort 77 Comforts against the feare of Sathans power and our weakenesse 90 Comfort against the want of worldly things 174 Comforts when ordinary meanes faile 191 Comfort for a Christian exercised with vnaccustomed temptations 119 After great Comfort looke for temptation 308 An euill Conscience what it is 287 Consecration of Christ to the office of a Redeemer considered 51. the solemnitie thereof vnmatchable 50 Warning to such as are within the Couenant 23 Two parts of the Couenant of Grace and both sealed by Baptisme 64 D DEath of Christ abused to the nourishing of sinne 205 Euery day should shadow our death 324 Contentment in Death 325 Desertions Spirituall 305 E THe agreement of the foure Euangelists confirmes the truth of the Gospell 2 The different courses of the two Euangelists Mathew and Luke 55. Their harmony in the Genealogie of Christ. 43. 44. c. they agree where they seeme most discordant 37 Exercises spirituall and their profit 289. Bodily Exercises how to be vsed 290 F CHrists miraculous Fasting confirmed his doctrine 149 Christs Fast abused by Papists 150 Fasting how manifold 152 The end of Religious Fasting 154 Rules in Fasting 155. 156 c. Blinde Folly of men bewitched with Sathans offers 250. Friendship of the world 291 G GEnealogie of Christ why registred pag. 1 The whole Genealogy diuided into Sections pag. 5. 6. to pag. 37. c. and described according to the consent of the Euangelists p. 43. 44. c. Gentiles haue their part in Christ. 30 Why the Holy Ghost descends in the similitude of a Doue c. and not of fire 84. 85 Neuer any full of the Holy Ghost as Christ Iesus was 127 God being become the sonne of man it is not impossible that man may become the Sonne of God 14 The gaine of Godlinesse 275 Gospell an heauenly doctrine 94. the Maiestie and Dignitie thereof ibid. No way to bring a man to heauen but by the faith of the Gospell 95 A short summe of the Gospell 97 Gospell how it should be preached 92 The course of the Gospell 270 The triall of a true Gospeller 271 Time of Grace how dispensed by the Lord. 268 H TO infect the Heart by the Eye one of Sathans pollicies 232 To keepe the Heart we must first haue a care to keepe the Eye 233 An Awe-band for the Heart 315 I ARrogancy of the Iewes glorying of their progenitors repressed 24 Watch-word for Impenitents vnder Grace 280 Incarnation of Christ a great token of Gods fauour to man p. 10. how we should be thankefull for so great a mercy p. 11. The Article of Christs Incarnation confirmed 12. 13 A Rule for the vse of things indifferent 273 K SAthan speakes of earthly Kingdomes not of heauenly 235. his subtiltie in shewing the glory of them 236 Earthly Kingdomes may be represented not so the heauenly 237 Religious bowing of the Knee to Creatures a note of Idolaters 257 Knowledge and Deuotion 321 L THe Gospell should be preached in a language the people may vnderstand 92 Wherefore Christ endued the Apostles with the gift of Languages 92 The Law was proclaimed with terrour the Gospell was not so 86 Spirituall Life helped by Fasting Prayer 147 Three helpes to a spirituall and godly life 273 True life what it is 281 Sufficiencie of Eternall Life 283 Many care for this earthly Life as if it were eternall and for eternall as if it were to be obtained in a moment 178 Vanity of this earthly life 285 Carnall lusts nourished by intemperancy â—48 Meditation against sinfull lusts 311 M THat the Virgin Mary was conceiued and borne without sinne an erronious doctrine 28. and long agoe condemned 29 Meanes ordained of God not to be despised 184. 185 We must not trust in the Meanes but in God 186 God worketh without Meanes by small Meanes and sometimes against Meanes 187 What to doe when ordinarie meanes faile 191 Mercy of God towards vs to be marked 215 Publike Ministration of Christ how long it continued 49 Murthering ones selfe or selfe-Murther 304 P PApists conuinced for taking the word from the people 181 Such as glory of their Parcntage confuted 25 Passion what it is 298 Remedy of Passion 299 Patience of God should not be abused 312 Pharises whether more then one conuerted in the Gospell 55 Good actions without Prayer are like bodies without Spirits 71 Continuance required in Prayer 72 Feruency and attention in Prayer 73 Comfortable effects of Prayer 74 Prayer is the first step of our ascension to God with Iesus Christ. 75 A Preachers comfort 307 Temptation of Praesumption preuaileth in this age 209 Wherein the greatest happinesse of Christs progenitors consisteth 19 Iewes such as glory of their progenitors answered 24. 25 The promises of God can be no comfort to vs if we neglect the conditions 220 R BLockishnesse of men that rebell against God 190 Christ our Redeemer 80 How the three persons of the Trinitie concurre to the worke of our Redemption 89 The mystery of our Redemption explained for our greater comfort 163 A spurre to Repentance 274 Reuenge of Thamar 91 A soule filled with conceipt of it owne Righteousnesse vncapable of grace 57 S TWo sorts of Sathans operations 142 Sathan expressed by many names for the great wickednesse of his nature 144. 145 Sathan a Tempter an Accuser a Tormenter ibid. Sathan restlesse in Temptations 160. hee obserueth time and occasion for temptation 164. What a false and craftie Calumniator hee is
the vvant of worldly necessaries The dignitie of Gods sons stands not in aboundance of worldly things Comfort against the want of worldly things How wee shold confirme our selues in the assurance of our Election and Adoption We should do nothing for sathans command though it seeme neuer so reasonable Sathan in his temptations aymeth at this to make vs earthly minded Mat. 4. 3. Many care for this life as if it wer eternall for eternall life as if in a moment it might be obtained Christs reply to Sathans first tentation The word is the sword of the spirit by which we should fight against Sathan Christin Math. hom 2. Papists conuinced who take the vse of the word from the people 〈…〉 vpon themselues a famine of the word Amos 8. 11. Chris. ibid. Two parts of Christs answere Of the first we learne that second meanes ordained by God should not be despised This serues first for weake Christians who through errour of conscience defraud their bodies of necessary foode Next for idle men who neglect the ordinarie meanes by which they should liue And yet we should not trust in the second meanes but in God Who sometime workes without meanes sometime by small meanes and sometime makes the meanes of life instruments of death The nature of the second meanes proues that our life is not by them Experience also confirmes the same This is made more cleare out of the second part of Christs answere Psal. 90. 3. The great stupiditie of men who rebell against God of whom they hold their life Comfort when ordinarie meanes failes In the right wing of Sathans battell stands Presumption Sathan changes tentations for his owne aduantage Sathans second captaine ouerthrowne also by our Lord. After victory in any temptation let vs stand ready for a new battel Christs transportation whether mentall or corporall Offences that may arise of Christs corporall transportation remoued In it the inuincible power of our Lord is made manifest Comfort for Gods children whose bodies are afflicted by Sathan for a time The place of this temptation is Ierusalem the holy City No place on earth free from the temptations of Sathan Yea in most holy places he is a most busie tempter The Lord casts down that hee may raise vp Sathan by the contrary raises vp that he may cast downe The pith of this second tentation The temptation of presumption preuaileth greatly in this age Christs death abused to nourish the life of sinne Sathans tentations to vaine-glory customable among men Pro. 25. 27 Sathan can not hurt vs except wee helpe him Sathans proper voice is Cast downe thy selfe Still seeking mans disgrace destruction The reason vsed by Sathan to strengthen his most vnreasonable desire He seekes to remoue godly fear that hee may bring men to a remediles most fearefull estate Greg. moral lib. 6. This testimony of Scripture is falsely vsed by Sathan in three respects 1 Ioh. 2. 1. That hee makes any place of Scripture to confirme a sin How Atheists Sathans disciples doe learne at him Greg. moral lib. 2. That reciting such a place of Scripture as reproueth his sinne he is touched with no remorse This proceedeth from his obstinacie which lets him not repent By presumption he fell by obstinacie he cannot rise Gods great mercy to vs worthy to be marked His Grace hath put a difference betweene vs and others wher there was no difference by Nature Such as heare their sins condemned by the word and are not moued are here conuinced How the children of God tremble at the rebukes of his word Acts 2. 37. Act. 16. 30. Chrisost. in Mat. hom 6 Thirdly he abuseth Scripture in mutilating of it The promises of God can be no comforts to vs if we neglect the condition wherupon they are made In the right vse of this testimonie we consider two things First the great glory and maiestie of God Dan. 7. 10. Psal. 68. 17 How farre inferiour the most glorious Courts of Kings is to the Lords Court Secondly the fatherly care and prouidence of God toward his Children Sathan should alwayes be refused resisted 2 Tim. 2. 26 The best weapon whereby wee can fight against him is the sword of the Spirit Scripture should be expounded by Scripture The summe of our Sauiours answere to this temptation How men tempt God In his prouidence In his mercie In his Iustice By neglecting the ordinarie meanes Both the wing◠of Sathans army being discomfited he now comes forward with his maine battell Sathan againe seeketh vantage by the place Num. 23. Christ tempted here at the eye with a faire shew at the eare with faire offers How it is that Sathan presented to the eye of our Lord al the kingdomes of the world One of Sathans customable policies is to infect the heart by the eye And therfore if we would keepe the heart we should first haue a care to keepe the eye Augu. Gregor lib. 21. Moral Nazian in deploratio calam animae sua Sathan speakes of earthly kingdomes but not of the heauenly which he hath lost Worldlings by their talke declares that they are of the same spirit Gregor Moral lib. 7. Sathans great subtiltie in shewing the glory of worldly kingdomes but not their misery Earthly kingdomes may be represented not so the heauenly 1 Cor. 29. Aug. de ciuit Dei lib. 10. cap. 18. Ephes. 5. 14 Vanitie of earthly pleasures proued by their breuitie Heb. 11. 25. Gregor Moral lib. 15. Sathan hauing assaulted the eye of our Lord now goes about and assaults his eare Psal. 24. 1. In this he makes two notable lyes first in affirming that the kingdomes of the world were his How Sathan is called The God of the world Next he lies in pretending that hee would giue them to Christ which he neuer would albeit he might Sathans promises are alwaies to be distinguished from his performances Yet blinde worldlings follow Sathan as if the world were at his donation Sathan frames his temptations according to the estimation he hath of men He bids but a small price for such as hee knowes may be easily conquered ☜ This is their shame who doe Sathan seruice for small rewards Hee seekes more from men then he is able to giue vnto them If he offer earth it is vpon this condition that wee forsake heauen The blind folly of men bewitched with Sathans offers Many abhorre to be called Sathans worshippers who abhor not to be so indeede As namely they who worship the Lord otherwise then according to his owne will And they in like manner who serue their own beastly affections Rom. 6. 16. Why Christs last answere is sharper then any of the former In worship the Lord can suffer no companion 1 Sam. 7. 3. Papists worshipping others with God guiltie of Idolatry How the distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not excuse them Religious bowing of the knee to creatures a note of Idolaters Leuit. 2. 1. 2 King 18. 4. 2 King 23. 5. An obiection of the Aduersaries answered Worship and the glory of saluation should be reserued to the Lord onely Psal. 19. Ios. 10. 2. Cor. 6. Rom. 10. Psal. 119. 57. Psal. 119. 77. Mal. 2. 15. 1. Pet. 3. Aug. Nazian De ira cap. 5.