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A43229 A guide to the godly, or, The dayly meditations of Returne Hebdon Gentleman who for his conscience (through the tyrany of the Bishops) suffered many years imprisonment in the Kings-Bench and their remained till death : being very useful for instruction of all those that desire to walke in the paths of Jesus Christ. Hebdon, Returne. 1646 (1646) Wing H1347; ESTC R28069 48,364 109

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to bring the price of the sale to the distribution of the whole body and he lye against the holy spirit wherein he promised and detained a part and yet say that there is all this is a sin a great breach of the love and truth of Christ as Act. 4.32.36 37. with 5.2 3.8 9. or if one have much good and yet detaine it from one Member that wanteth this his hardnes doth discover to all the brethren that such a churl● hath a dead faith and no love of God and to be such an one as is unprofitable to the body of Christ in any kind and therefore such are known by the word of Christ to deny Jesus and the Communion of his Body and so being divided from the naturall and true love of the Body that suffereth they will be scone of the Brethren to fall away of themselves as leaves from a tree The 5. day of the Week I Consider the estate of the Church of Christ in unity universality and free consent that Jesus Christ is the head thereof and is gone before as a husband goeth before his wife by sufferings the place whither he goeth is the Kingdom of Heaven which cannot be entered into but by the death of the flesh 1 Cor. 15.49 50. the doore whereby we follow him is death and hell whereof Christ hath the keyes Rev. 1.18 the power and authority of these keyes is given to every one by mane through Jesus Christ who in love to his Father having power to lay down his life had in himselfe also power or authority to take it again and this Commandement he received of his Father Iohn 10.17 18. Therefore having in himselfe the keyes of the Kingdom of heaven as being Christ the Sonne of the living God he gave them to Peter to whom the Father of Christ gave to know and acknowledge Jesus to be his sonne as Mat. 16.16 to 19. The authority of these keyes is proper to every one that hath the testimony of Jesus by vertue whereof he openeth a doore through death to follow his Mister Jesus into the Kingdom of his Father this doore every one that is constant to death doth open in the eyes of all that see his constancy according as Stephen the first Martyr doth declare even before his death that others might offer violence to enter into it Act 7.55 56. And seeing these keyes are so effectuall towards God in the love of Jesus Christ Therefore Peter by name and so whose-ever is sealed by the same holy spirit of promise hath by vertue of these keyes in Christ authority also towards men before their sufferings that whatsoever he or any one that is apt and able to hold the confession of Jesus to be Christ by authority of the keyes hath also authority to bind or loose according to the Word so as whatsoever such do bind or loose must needes be confirmed in heaven where Christ that giveth the keyes is with his Father Mat. 16.16.10 19. Iohn 20.21 22 23. 1. Men now boast against the Jew that the Law is not of faith and that faith is now come and therefore say they we are no more under the Law but under grace as Gal. 3.12.23.25 with Rom. 6.13 This boasting against the Jew is not carnall but spirituall against God who gave them the Law and this turneth to the shame of all such as so boast and yet do worse things then they did as appeareth by the word faith for the Law while it is holden under the authority of men in the glory of a present and mortall state is of sight which feareth men and not of faith which only feareth and apprehendeth the authority and power of the invisible God by the spirit of Christ so as all that are holden under the feare and authority of men are of faith no more then the Jewes yea it may be under the Law more worse then they as being without the knowledge of the true God and so of necessity without any faith of God for whosoever hath faith believeth that God is present with him and seeth his thoughts and actions and therefore will not dishonour his presence in which hee liveth by counting sin against him though no man seeth whereas the infidell that walketh by sight under the law hath only respect to the feare authority and judgement of Magistrates and therefore when they can sin in secret or without feare of bodily payne or worldly shame they do sin without and feare of God or Conscience of the judgement to come whereby appeareth that all that live by the Law of faith do feare to offend without the feare of men and that are of faith they will in meeknesse and feare shew to infidells what the life of faith is both by word and example that they also may know God The 6. day of the week 1. IT is a misery to have ones body at liberty by the procurement of men and ones minde and conscience in perpetuall prison by ones own Act 2. There is a twofold justification arising from the Law the one of workes under the Leviticall Priesthood the other of faith under the Priesthood of Christ Jesus The former justification is only if sight and by report of men and it was effectuall to justifie the slosh before the King and the authority of the Kingdom according to this justification was Zachary and his wife righteous before God in this life Luke 1.5.6 but this Law made none perfect and pure in Conscience before the spirit of God Heb. 9 8. to 14. Therefore of necessity upon the defect of this first justification ariseth a perfect justification which is of the Kingdom of God Mat. 6.33 This justification is of faith in spirit and truth according to the spirituall Priesthood of Jesus Christ which is effectuall to justifie the heart and spirit of a man so that in conscience of the worke of the spirit whereby the justifications of the Law is fulfilled in us Rom. 8.3.4 we have boldnesse to come to the Throane of the grace of God in the Heavens Heb. 4.14 15 16. which freedom no unclean person or secret sinner can have but only such as being condemned of men have good Consciences towards God so as they can willingly suffer in the mortall blood that so they may come to be present with the Lord for the justification of their spirit 1 Tim 3.15.16 3. In the power of Christianity there is a twofold knowledge at the gate the one of Christ Rev. 3.20 the other of the Christian Mat. 7.8 The gate standeth as an interstitium or interposition between immortality and mortality and it is called the gates of Hell and of death which are the many tribulations through which the Christians must enter into the Kingdom of God Act. 14.22 with Rev. 7.14 and they are the diverse torments Heb. 11.25 36.37 and whatsoever authority the Divill and his seed in mortall bodis have from the power of death to sever the mind and
their kinde as 2 Pet. 2.22 Or evill trees cannot but bring forth evill fruit whatsoever they shew at first Whereas good simple and perfect of heart that hath received the good seed will bring forth fruit to perfection When the tree is of a good nature it cannot but bring forth good fruit Math. 7.16 c. The branch that is in Christ is fruitfull to the Father and it is more fruitfull Ioh. 15.1 c. The new man that is once borne againe from above is renewed dayly 2 Cor. 5.17 with 4.16 Men that are imperfect and wavering minded will looke forward and then backward Luk. 9.62 Iam. 1.8 Whereas perfect men forgetting the things behinde doe stretch forward to the things before they presse hard to the marke c. Phil. 3.13.14.15 All that are perfect in love mercy towards the Brethren the grace of God and his love and mercy remaineth firme to them 6. There is great difference betweene the repentance under the Law of works and the repentance under the Law of faith They after the Leviticall Law were borne holy according to the carnall Commandement and were instructed in the Law of God from the breasts and whensoever they sinned they repented and were justified by the works of the Law and because their conscience was never freed from the weaknesse of the flesh they fell commonly into sinne and repented and this was the course of the obedient men such as of David till they came to know the free justification of God by faith whereas the true repentance after the Priesthood of Christ doth clense the Conscience from the guilt of all sinnes past and doth perfect them from that minde of the flesh so as sin doth no looger raigne in their mortall body but in this justification by faith in Christ they present themselves to God as living from the dead and their members weapons of righteousnesse to God Hebr. 9.9 14. Rom. 6.2 12.13 The third day of the VVeeke THe mysteries of the Kingdome are shewed by the Parable of a Sower Luk. 8.10 c. with 5. The Sower is the Sonne of man and the seed is the word of God inlightening to immortality The Deceiver is the Devill both as hee is a spirit and as he hath the authority in men of this world which as vessell or a bed do cover and darken the light of immortality in this world under mortality The men that heare the word are of foure sorts The first sort of hearers are onely hearers and no doers these deceive themselves in the vaine knowledge of the word for the Devill and the World take away the word from the heart that they cannot beleeve the truth of it in such sort as to reforme their lives and to fulfill it in their obedience that so they should be saved but as an hard way hath seed and sheweth it as to allure the fowles of the ayre So a● hard●●d heart and worldly minde as Matth. 13.15 May have knowledge by the word but they onely boast of it in a common profession after the mortall life whereby they may be made the better instruments for the Devill to possesse such hearts commonly to serve every lust as turne and to be subject even as for a man to walk in a hard way at his pleasure these are such as know but beleeve not 2 The second sort are such as receive the seed in stony ground These doe both know and beleeve the Word so as with joy to doe it very hastely for as the stony ground doth make the seed to spring forth soonest so these take the Word quickly with joy as Mat. 17.13.5.20 Matt. 4.5 but have no strength of heart to hold the word constantly in the faith hope and love of immortality but when the mortall Authorities come upon them and afflict them with the Sun beames of their torments and chastise them as a Father for that they would forsake them and their mortall glory to embrace a vaine base word as it seemeth to them without any wordly society honour or pleasure And thus wordly men being offended at the Word do rage against these sort of people that with such joy received it whose hearts also being not prepared for these tryals doe faint under the burthen and all their knowledge faith and obedience to the word is by force of the hard persecution disdained to bee any longer beleeved in their heart and as stony ground it is able to bring the fruit of the word to no further perfection therefore they now submit their heart to the power that oppresseth from without them by which all their former light is concluded in darkenesse 3. The third sort are such as receive the seed amongst thornes These also are such as know and believe for a time but they nourish an enemy to the word within them namely worldly cares desire of riches and the pleasures of this mortall life which may seeme to sustain and to give honour and credit to the word but in the end it will quite chocke the faith hope and love to immortality as that such will fall away of themselves wholly to imbrace this present world the reason is because these were never perfect in love nor sound in the faith but having a heart and a heart the deceits of sin which are in the world through lust growing naturally in the hart will soone exalt such men in pride of knowledge to fall into the condemnation of the Devill secretly For thus much doth the parable import to them which know it that the seede which fulleth among thornes doth by helpe of the thornes in some part of the seede spring up to be taller and longer yet at length the thornes take away the naturall being of the corne so as it perisheth as a man whose breath is stopped if the thornes riches and pleasures of life be cut down and fall from him he is seen to fall of himself as a tree that being decayed at the roote is overswayed of the top and the fall thereof is greater by how much the weight of the branches is heavier This is the estate of those which receive the word of Christ with the glory of the world pleasures of s●●s the greater shew it maketh the greater shame it bringeth in the end the greater condemnation in the word and none of these can bring forth fruit to perfection 4. The last sort of men are like good ground These receive the word as the Children of wisdom and the Children of light they know believe the word with reverence they prepare the heart that it be gentle perfect and simple as worthy to receive it being carefull that what they know and believe they may hold both in profession and practice constantly and with increase wherefore this good ground bringeth forth fruit in patience Luke 8.15 The reason is because of the contrariety of the evill one either in worldly authorities or in the lusts of the flesh which hate the word