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A38705 Eucharistia, or, A Grateful acknowledgment unto heaven for the happy discovery of the late horrid plot with some brief and yet plain relmarques upon that hellish conspiracy : delivered in a discours unto a country auditory upon September IX, 1683 : being a day of publique and solemn thanksgiving appointed by authority for the said wonderful and blessed deliveranc / by a country parson. 1684 (1684) Wing E3386; ESTC R31451 17,663 30

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Church under the Gospel From whence this Proposition may be naturally inferred and concluded That every visible Church and Company of Christians do very eminently tast of the Favour and Goodness of God This may be apparent and evident enough if we consider 1. That those gracious Acts of God's Loving-kindness formerly recited which all and every People did communicate in as to their Being and well-being do all appertain unto Israel as the visible Church 2. Moreover superadd to this the Visible Church tasts of God's eminent Loving-kindness in a Blessed Covenant of Peace that which God entred into with obedient Abraham and his Elect Posterity is every where recorded as a signal expression of God's kindness Moses challenges any People to lay a claim to the like signs and tokens of God's Favor and Goodness Deut. IV. 7 8. For what Nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him and for what Nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Judgments so Righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day And by this Priviledg they gained the Character of a great Nation a Wise and understanding People The Royal Prophet David and the rest of the Inspired Writers recite it as the Grand Sign and Characteristick token of God's Love to his People Thus Christ's visible Church are within the enclosure of this Holy Sept and all of that Company this Covenant of Peace hath a Regard unto Hence St. Paul makes a great Differenc between the Ephesians in the darker condition of Heathenism and the State within the Church as being before that merciful Reception Gentiles in the Flesh who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision in the Flesh made with hands who were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenant of Promise having no hope and without God in the World Finally who were sometimes afar off but now in Christ Jesus are made nigh by the Blood of Christ But now God's Loving-kindness will be evident to us in a great and excellent Lustre as a merciful Shine upon his Church and People if we consider these four Particulars 1. The Mandates which God honors his visible Church withal in the Covenant do plentifully signify to us his Loving-kindness Tho there be too many who take a View of God's Precepts with a Sullen Partial and Prejudiced look as Bridles and Checks put upon their Appetite who receiv them upon their Necks as a hard Yoke and upon their Backs as an heavy Burthen yet these are too dull and Melancholy Reflections For our blessed Lord ascertains us the quite contrary telling us that his Yoke is easie and his Burthen light and this Truth is owned and confirmed by his Beloved Disciple that lay in his Master's Bosom and therefore we may upon good ground suppose best acquainted with his Mind St. John I mean who affirms That none of his Commandments are grievous tho it be most tru that whatever Precept proceeds from God carrys with it an Obligation upon the Creature and he to whomsoever it comes is in duty bound to Obedienc yet we may remember that sometimes God's Precepts and the Revelation of his Mind to us carrys with them that Honor and Priviledg which brings peculiar Advantage and encouragement I will not dispute whether the Soveraign Creator may not pro Imperio in the right of his Soveraignty bind his Creature to a Duty whence no other Advantage shall arise but only the very Duty of Obedienc as he might and did engage Abraham to offer up his Son his only Son his Beloved Son Isaac in whom all the Nations of the Earth were to be Blessed and to expect no other Recompenc to look for no other Compensation but the Reward of doing the Duty it self and that was his Obedienc yet I conceiv God's setled Institutions and established Appointments do not only engage to Service but propound Advantage and thereby allure to Obedienc Deut. X. 12. 13. And now O Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul to keep the Commandments of the Lord and his Statutes which I command thee this day for thy Good Thus in our Civil Relations tho our Duty engages us to Obedienc to our Prince from a Principle of Conscienc and out of repect to God's Law yet we frequently look upon it as a great Honor and high Priviledg to be employed in his immediat Service This is the apparent Differenc between the Peremptory Dictates of the Law of Nature given to all and those which are dealt forth unto the Church Those come with an Absolute Intimation of a necessary Engagement from a Supream and Severe Legislator These with more Intimations of unquestionable Honor and Priviledg to be so enjoyned Now hereupon 1. We may take notice of the manner of Delivery the Law of Nature or the Moral Commands were pronounced to Israel with Thunders and Lightning attended with an astonishing Darkness and the sound of a Trumpet striking all those that approached the Mount with a Terror and a fearful Amazement penned in an austere and commanding Style Thou shalt and Thou shalt not whereas God speaks unto his People under the Evangelical Dispensation in a more facil and familiar way which it may be worth our while a little to animadvert upon 1. In a serious Exhortation or a passionate Entreaty we beseech we pray as in 2 Cor. v. 20. 21. Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as tho God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Or els 2. In an heavenly Advice and an affectionate Counsel in the Instanc of the Church of Laodicea Rev. III. 17. 18. Because thou sayest I am rich and encreased with goods and hast need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tryed in the Fire that thou mayst be rich and white rayment that thou mayst be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with the tru Collyrium the Spiritual eye-salve that thou mayst see 3. Or lastly In a kind and loving Invitation in the words of the Holy Jesus St. Matth. XI 28 29 30. Come unto me all you that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in Heart and you shall find Rest unto your Souls for my Yoke is easie and my Burthen is light This is the pleasing Dialect in which Christ's