it most consists of namely Humility Charity and Purity and therefore it will not be unseasonable to shew how expresly and particularly urgent the Gospel is for the promoting these three Graces 3. Our Saviour Christ Matth. 11. makes a solemn invitation to the first of these Vertues propounding himself an Example Come unto me all ye 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 And Matth. 5. v. 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth It is a promise from the same mouth The meaning of both which places is That Humility and Meekness beget a great deal of Peace and Tranquillity and enjoyment of a mans self even in this life whenas Pride exposes a man to perpetual Discontent and Impatiency Besides that the Proud man is as it were the Butt that the Almighty shoots his Arrows against to gall wound and vex the very hackstock of Divine vengeance and the sport and pastime of Misfortune God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble But my purpose is not to interpret such easie places as I alledge but merely to bring them into the Readers view And there are many more yet that testifie of the Excellency of this Grace of Humility For our Saviour again Matth. 11. entitles those Vertues especially to the knowledge of the Mystery of the kingdome of God I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Even so Father for so it seemeth good in thy sight And Matth. 18. Christ being asked who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven called a little childe unto him and set him in the midst of them and said Verily I say unto you Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of Heaven Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little childe the same is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven And Chap. 20.25 Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them But it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your Minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant Even as the Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransome for many In which passage is insinuated that useless and pompous honour is to have no place in the Church of Christ but that if any mans office be more honourable then another it must be also more serviceable especially in matters appertaining to Religion For to the like purpose is that Matth. 23. where the Pride and Hypocrisie of the Scribes and Pharisees is taxed For they binde heavy burthens saith our Saviour and grievous to be born and lay them upon mens shoulders but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers But all their works they do to be seen of men they make broad their Phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments and love the uppermost rooms at Feasts and the chief seats in the Synagogues and greetings in the market-places and to be called of men Rabbi Rabbi But â—â— not you called Rabbi saith our Saviour for one is your Master even Christ and all you are brethren And call no man your Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven Neither be you called Masters for one is your Master even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your Servant And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted 4. Hitherto our Saviour and that very fully In whose foot-steps the Apostles also insist Rom. 12.16 Be of the same minde one towards another Minde not high things but condescend to men of low degree Be not wise in your own conceits And Eph. 4. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called in all lowlinesse and meeknesse with long-suffering forbearing one another in love And Titus 3. Put them in minde to be subject to Principalities and Powers to obey Magistrates to be ready to every good work To speak evil of no man to be no brawlers shewing all meekness to all men So that we see the Christian Religion meets as well with the saucinesse of the Inferiours as with the affected domination of Superiours Thus expresly does the Gospel recommend Humility to the World CHAP. II. 1. Christs enforcement of Love and Charity upon his Church by Precept and his own Example 2. The wretched imposture and false pretensions of the Family of Love to this divine Grace 3. The unreasonableness of the Familists in laying aside the person of Christ to adhere to such a carnall and inconsiderable Guide as Hen. Nicolas 4. That this Whifler never gave any true Specimens of reall love to Mankinde as Christ did and his Apostles 5. His unjust usurpation of the Title of Love 6. The unparallel'd endearments of Christs sufferings in the behalf of Mankinde 1. THe next Branch of the Divine Life is Christian Love or Charity then which nothing is more inculcated in the New Testament Christ has left it as his Motto and the Motto of his Church the Symbolum or Word whereby it may be known to whom they belong Iohn 13.34 A new commandement I give unto you That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye love one another By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another As if he should have said You may have heard something indeed out of Moses of loving ones neighbour as himself which Precept as it did not reach so far as I intend this of mine and that which it reached at is utterly laid aside and neglected I now afresh set it on foot and upon such terms and in such a degree and manner as never was yet For I would have you love one another even as I have loved you that is so heartily and sincerely that you will be ready to lay your lives down one for another if need require Which is more express Chap. 15.12 This is my commandment That ye love one another as I have loved you Greater love hath no man then this that a man lay down his life for his friends Which Christ doing for his Church especially in those circumstances he did is an unparallel'd specimen of true love indeed and the highest obligation that can be of our loving both him and one another 2. Which things while I consider I cannot with patience think upon the gross imposture of that bold Enthusiast of Amsterdam who giving no sound evidence of any such Love as may be deemed
Reprobationers have defined it namely That God has irresistibly decreed from all Eternity to bring into Being innumerable Myriads of Souls of men exceeding far the number of them that shall be saved who as without their own consent they were thus thrust into the World so let them doe what they will are certainly determined to unspeakable torment so soon as they go out of it and at the last day shall be adjudged to an higher degree of misery so great and so exceeding that all the racks and tortures that the Wit or Cruelty of the most enraged Tyrants could ever invent or execute would be ease and pleasure in Comparison of it and that these Pangs and Torments shall remain fresh upon them for ever and ever 8. This is the Representation of that sour Dogma Which to Reason is as contradictious as if one should name a square Circle or black Light and as harsh and horrid to the eares of the truly-Regenerate into the nature of God who is Love it self as the highest blasphemie that can be uttered Nor is the nature of those that are irreligious enough so much estranged from the Knowledge of God but that they think if there be any at all he cannot be such a one that laid such dark plots from all eternity for the everlasting misery of his poor impotent and unresisting Creature that never did any thing but what the Divine Decrees determined he should doe and therefore was alwaies the Almighties obedient servant For which at last he must be condemned to eternall punishment by him whom he did ever obey The serious and imperious obtrusion of such a dismal Conceit as this for one of the greatest Arcanums of Religion will make the free Spirit and over-inclinable to Prophaneness confidently to conclude That the whole frame of Religion is nothing but a mere Scar-crow to affright Fools and that there is no Hell at all since such Innocent Persons and constant Obeyers of the Divine Decrees must be the Inhabiters ot it CHAP. III. 1. The true Measure of Opinions to be taken from the designe of the Gospel which in general is The setting out the exceeding great Mercy and Goodness of God towards mankinde 2. And then Secondly The Triumph of the Divine Life in the Person of Christ in the warrantableness of doing Divine Honour to him 3. Thirdly The advancement of the Divine Life in his members upon Earth 4. The Fourth and last Rule to try Opinions by The Recommendableness of our Religion to Strangers or those those that are without 1. I Might adde several other Opinions in several parts of Christendome that tend very much to the defeating and eluding the serious End and purpose of Religion but before I go any further I shall set down the main designes of the Gospel of Christ that we may have a more plain and sure Rule and Measure to try all Opinions by The designe therefore of the Gospel in general is the magnifying of the Goodness and Loving-kindness of God that he has afforded mankinde so glorious a light to walk by so effectual means to redeem them from the love of the perishing vanities of this present world and to recall them back again to himself and to the participation of the ineffable joyes pleasures of his celestial Kingdom For God so loved the World that he gave his only-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him should be saved And Titus 3. For we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another But after that the Kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour To which sense also the Apostle speaks Ephes. chap. 2. And you who were dead in trespasses and sins Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the Aire the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of our fleshly minde and were by nature the children of wrath even as others But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Iesus That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Iesus Christ. To which lastly you may adde Tit. 2.11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world c. These Scriptures give plain testimony of this more general designe of the Gospel 2. The next designe is an external exaltation of the Divine Life that did so mightily and conspicuously appear in the Person of our Saviour Christ as I have already abundantly declared How the mystery of Christianity comprehends in it chiefly this designe of exalting into Triumph the Divine Life above the Animal and Natural and that either externally in the religious worship we do our Saviour and is done even by Hypocrites and wicked Persons or else internally in the advancing of true Faith and Holiness in his living members and sincere followers of his doctrine Philip. 2. Let the same minde be in you which was in Christ Iesus Who being in the forme of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God But emptied himself and took upon him the forme of a servant and was made in likeness of men And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the death even the death of the Cross. Wherefore hath God also exalted him and given him a name above every name That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father And Hebr. 1. Thy throne O God is for ever and ever the Scepter of righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oile of gladness above thy fellows that is to say hath exalted thee to this due honour and rule having put all things under his feet Angels themselves not excepted as S. Peter tells us 1 Epist. 3.22 Who is gâ—ne into Heaven
the Beroeans and Philadelphians but names no distinct time nor Prince that should be the Rider of this red Horse The Praeco of the Rider of the black Horse he makes Paul because Agabus foretold him this famine which he fansieth signified here But then Agabus should have rather been the Beast then Paul Beside that Agabus told other Christians as well as him of it The fulfilling of this Vision according to him was in the reign of Claudius The Praeco of the Rider of the pale Horse he makes Iames because he threatens rich men with death chap. 5. But himself acknowledges that by death here is meant plague and pestilence whenas that menace in Iames is war and slaughter the taking and burning Ierusalem by fire as himself also interprets the third verse of that chapter You see by what small strings the applications of these four Beasts are tied to these four Visions hitherto to omit what is very inconcinne the breaking the order they were first named in chap. 4. ver 7. the first a Lion the second an Oxe the third a Man and the fourth an Eagle Which should have answered to the first second third and fourth Seals without any misplacing whenas the second Beast is here applied to the fourth Seal the third to the second and the fourth to the third The Fifth Seal he interprets of the revenge of the bloud of the Martyrs as Mr. Mede does but restrains the Vision to Steven and Iames and some few else he knows not who and by this means leaves no Vision for the Ten bloudy Persecutions which were more then ten thousand times more considerable then what he aims at The Sixth Seal which mentions a great Earthquake the Eclipse of Sun and Moon the falling of the Stars c. he interprets literally of such Prodigies quite against the way of Prophetick interpretation and without the application of History to countenance it Such is the inconcinnity and insignificancy of Grotius his interpreting of the Six seals Which is quite otherwise in Mr. Mede 3. For first the application of the Four beasts to the Four first seals is both orderly and very proper and articulate For the Lion on the East side of the Israelitish camp is applied to Christ the Prince from the East in more senses then I will insist upon they being ordinary and obvious Besides that the nature of a Lion is sutable to the thing signified in the Vision to wit Victory to him on the white horse And the like in the rest For so the Oxe on the West side of the camp is applied to Trajan from West the Man on the South side to Septimius from the South the Eagle on the North side to Maximinus from the North. The natures also of the Visions are sutable to the things that came to pass under those Emperours The mighty Slaughters under Trajan and his successor Adrian are indigitated by the Oxe The exactness of administring Iustice and carefull Provision of Septimius and Alexander Severus by a Man to whom numbring and measuring and the administration of Justice is so proper The extraordinary raging of the Famine Sword and Pestilence under Maximinus by the Carnivorous Eagle that feeds upon dead carkasses In brief the meaning of the First six seals is this That Prince of unspotted Righteousness the Rider of the white Horse with his arrow and his bow in his hand aims at something of high importance and it is no less then what he promised his followers at their lowest ebb Fear not little flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdome and he hits the mark in the Sixth seal where the Pagan Empire of the Devil is shattered to the purpose by Constantine's turning Christian But to adorn the course of time till then by some Prophetick remarks the Riders of the red black and pale Horses are brought in as also most concerningly the cry of the Souls of the Martyrs under the Altar whereby is denoted especially the reign of Diocletian and that ten years unparallel'd persecution then commencing Which Fifth seal the rescuing of the Empire into the hands of Christ by the Subversion of the Pagan powers doth immediately succeed and is the matter of the Sixth seal figured out by proper Prophetical expressions So that all things in Mr. Mede's way as they are easie natural and distinct so are they very weighty and worthy the Spirit of God and his holy Prophets to predict Nor has Grotius so much as any seeming advantage of him in any thing unless in the interpreting of the Rider of the black Horse Which if History would have complied Mr. Mede could have been content to have interpreted of Famine also But in my apprehension nothing can be more significant of that which Mr. Mede applies it to then this Vision is For what colour is more significant of the Severity of Iustice then black whether we look upon the Temper of Spirit wherein it resides which is a grave sad rigid melancholy or the Execution thereof in criminal matters which is death whose mournfull Emblem is black The black Horse therefore with the pair of balances argues the Rider severely just frugal and provident and one that will have a special care 1. That if one Choenix of wheat be sold for a penny that three of barley shall be sold for a penny 2. That men shal live by their honest labours and not by theft and rapine For Choenix signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the food for a day and Denarius the wages for a days labour 3. That there shall be no stealing nor robbing but buying by measure though it should be so hard a time that their day-labour will but find them food 4. He will provide that they shall have at least a Choenix for a penny that the price of bread-corn and necessary victuals may not exceed a daies wages And so of Wine and Oile he will take heed there be no fraud in buying and selling there neither nor any spoil or wast by the unruly souldiery 4. I should now pass to the Trumpets but I will rather deal with those Visions first that are Synchronal to the time of these Six seals And that is the Fight of Michael with the seven-headed Dragon and the Temple and Altar of God that are Symmetral or commensurable to the Angels measure Mr. Mede interprets this Fight of the seven-headed Dragon and Michael the conflict of the Church of Christ with the Pagan cruelty till Constantine's and Theodosiu's times which therefore as it is Synchronal so has it also a great cognation with the Visions of the Six seals For the Archer on the white Horse aims at that Effect all the time of this bloudy battel which he hits or reaches in the completion of the Sixth seal But Grotius referres the Vision to Simon Magus and Peter who brought him down headlong out of the Air by his praiers at which he supposes
will become more kexy and loose of its Solidity For a Body that is porous and can imbibe moisture the more moist the more solid it is the more solid the Earth is the better it will keep its distance from the Sun as it is swung about him in this common Vortex of the Planets Wherefore the distance of the Earth lessening so as Astronomers observe might it not come from other causes would be a parlous Symptome and sign that the Earth grows old apace and much exhausted And the more it is exhausted the nearer still it will be wrought toward the Sun according to the Cartesian Philosophy So that at last what by its over-drieness and what by its approaching so near to the Fountain of heat not only Forrests and Woods which has happned already but the subterraneous Mines of Sulphur and other combustible Matter will catch fire and set the whole Earth in a manner on burning 4. I say therefore that the Earth will thus at the long run be burnt either according to the course of Nature of which manner of destruction these be the main concomitants That by reason of a long distemper and languishment she will be utterly unable or very wretchedly able to sustain either Man or Beast for abundance of Ages together before she be ruined and burnt up by this mortiferous Fever and after this death and destruction of hers far less able she becoming then but as a Caput Mortuum by reason of the long exhaustion of the life and heart of the soil before this lingring Conflagration or else by a more special or solemn appointment of Providence the Period of her Conflagration shall be shortned From which if any universal good doth accrue to the Creation it is not unworthy of the Son of God and his mighty and most glorious Host to be emploied in so weighty a performance For is not the whole Earth the Vineyard of the Lord a particular platt of his skillfull Culture and Husbandry 5. Thirdly and lastly There being so many obdurate rebellious Spirits as well among the Apostate Angels as Men that are so far revolted from God that they scarce retain any sense of him in their minds that peremptorily deny a particular Providence and stoutly phansie that if there be a Deity he takes no notice of the affairs of any particular Creatures that jear and flout at Religion and look upon the life of the Son of God when he lived in the world as a poor and contemptible Example of Pusillanimity and Dejectedness of Spirit that contemn all his true followers for moaped Fools but make their own Lusts their law in all things and therefore are insensible of whatever Injustice or Cruelty they commit or whatever Beastliness or Vileness they give themselves up to these being past all sense within but all of them sensible enough in their bodies or vehicles the Devils themselves not excepted how fitting nay how necessary is it that a fiery Whirlwind and Tempest of Vengeance should rattle upon their external persons and that corporeal pain should pierce them to the very quick and that all whatever they took delight in should be demolisht and that they should be smothered in tormenting Heat and Darkness of which they know no end 6. These Considerations which I have alledged make the Conflagration of the World not only possible but also very reasonable especially with that circumstance of not coming naturally for they would then look on it only as a common calamity but of being inflicted visibly by one whose Person and Laws are so much vilified and scorned by all the Powers of the Dark Kingdome And then again for further conviction and aggravation after such a time as they have seen the supernatural deliverance of the righteous before their eyes For this makes good that Promise and Threatning of our Saviour what difference he would make betwixt the Sheep and the Goats saying to one Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom and to the other Goe ye accursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels CHAP. XI 1. A Recapitulation or Synopsis of the more Intelligible part of the Christian Mysterie with an Indication of the Usefulness thereof 2. The undeniable Grounds of this Mystery The existence of God A particular Providence The Lapsableness of Angels and men The natural subjection of men to Devils in this fallen Condition 3. God's Wisdome and Iustice in the Permission thereof for a time 4 5. Further Reasons of that Permission 6. The Lapse of Men and Angels proved 7. The Good emerging out of this Lapse 8. The exceeding great Preciousness of the Divine Life 9. The Conflagration of the Earth 10. The Good arising from the Opposition betwixt the Light and Dark Kingdome 11. That God in due time is in a special manner to assist the Kingdome of Light and in a way most accommodate to the humane Faculties 12. That therefore he was to send into the World some Venerable Example of the Divine Life with miraculous attestations of his Mission of so sacred a Person 13. That this Person by reason of the great Agonies that befall them that return to the Divine Life ought to bring with him a palpable pledge of a proportionable Reward suppose of a Blessed Immortality manifested to the meanest Capacity by his rising from the dead and visibly ascending into Heaven 14. That in the Revolt of Mankind from the Tyranny of the Devil there ought to be some Head and that the Qualifications of that Head ought to be opposite to those of the old Tyrant as also to have a power of restoring us to all that we have lost by being under the Usurper 15. That also in this Head all the notable Objects of the Religious propensions of the Nations should be comprized in a more lawfull and warrantable manner 16. That this Idea of Christianity is so worthy the Goodness of God and so sutable to the state of the World that no wise and vertuous Person can doubt but that it is or will be set on foot at some time by Divine Providence and that if the Messias be come and the Writings of the New Testament be true in the literal sense it is on foot-already 1. WE have I think fully enough set forth the Reasonableness of Christian Religion in the Idea thereof it may be more fully then was needfull before we come to prove That it is more then an Idea We shall by way of Recapitulation contract the more Intelligible frame thereof into a lesser model that its due symmetrie and proportion may be better seen at once Which will be both a relief to our Memory and also a help to our Judgment when we shall have a more easie opportunity of considering the solid strength and handsome congruity of the whole Fabrick 2. And I dare challenge the most maliciously-wise and skilfull if he can find any rational exception against the structure of this so intelligible a
are competible to Jesus whom we worship and to him only 1. THE first mark of the Messiah was his Rejection that he should be rejected of the Jews but those places that foretel his Killing more strongly implying his Rejection we need add nothing particular thereof That the Messiah was to be slain and be a Sacrifice for sinne besides that full and copious prediction of Isaiah is clear out of Daniel who saith that after sixty nine weeks the Messiah was to be cut off and then adding afterwards that in the half of the seventieth week he should make the sacrifice to cease it is plain that his Death and ceasing of the Jewish sacrifices and oblations were in one Week and that thereupon his Death was a Sacrifice whereby those Iudaical Oblations were antiquated For it is well known that the Temple and their Oblations continued about forty years after the Passion of Christ so that it cannot be understood of the outward destruction of the Temple and Prohibition of Sacrifices and therefore it must be understood of the nulling of the Validity and Authority of them their Law of sacrificing being abrogated by that transcendent Sacrifice of the body of our blessed Saviour upon the Cross. For there is nothing else that can be imagined to cease or take away the Iudaical Sacrifices in the midst of the last Week but that To these we might adde Psalm 22. and Zachar. 12.10 but what has been alledged already is more then enough 2. Let us now rather see what has been foretold of his Resurrection from the dead And in my mind that is a very clear Prediction thereof Psalm 16. v. 8. where David being transported in his Spirit by a divine power writes higher matters then are competible to any but the true David the Messiah himself I have set the Lord alwaies before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of Ioy and at thy right hand there are Pleasures for evermore This is so natural a description of one raised out of the Grave before he corrupt there and ascending into the presence of God in the Heavens to enjoy Eternal Life that nothing can be more express But David was never raised out of the grave himself but his flesh saw corruption Wherefore it appears that it was a Prophecie of some other viz. the Messiah of whom David was a Type 3. The Ascension of the Messiah is lively prefigured Psalm 68. The chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels the Lord is amongst them as in Sinai in the holy place Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led Captivity captive thou hast received gifts or men for the rebellious also that the Lord God may dwell among them If this be applied unto Christ the sense is easie especially if you take notice how the Lord was amongst them in Sinai that is there was one chief Angel whom some would have to be Christ which sustained the person of God who might have the name of Adonai as Christ also has and is styled the Angel of the Covenant Malachi 3.1 In lieu of him is here the Messiah himself attended with many Squadrons of Angels and receiving gifts of his Father to communicate to the World that God might dwell amongst them that they might be brought in to be of his Church 4. This Prophecie also plainly points at his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but there are also other places that make it still more clear as Psalm 110. The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool and then vers 4. The Lord has sworn and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck The Jews themselves of old acknowledged this Psalm to be a Prophecie of the Messiah and the first and fourth verses are such that they can bear no other sense but that the Messiah was to be greater then David and to be a King Priest and Intercessour at the right hand of God for ever Also Psalm 45.6 Thy throne O God is for ever and ever the Sceptre of thy Kingdome is a right Sceptre Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of Gladness above thy fellows Him that the Psalmist speaks of here he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it cannot signifie an ordinary King or Magistrate because he saies his throne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is for ever absolutely as R. Moses Aegyptius expounds that Phrase Wherefore most justly does the Chaldee Paraphrast make this Psalm a Prophecie of the Messiah whose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divinity is plainly expressed in these verses I have recited I will add one place more out of the Prophet Isaiah chap. 9. v. 6. For unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderfull Counseller The mighty God The everlasting Father The Prince of peace of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdome to order and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth and for ever the zeal of the Lord of hosts will doe this I do not doubt but that this Prophecie is in some sort referrable also to Hezekiah and hits upon him first but the main scope of it is the Messiah and that therein his Divinity and the Eternity of his Kingdome is set out both the Testimony of the Chaldee Paraphrast the Translation of the Septuagint and the expressions in the Prophecie according to the Hebrew Text is evidence enough For they translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his name shall be called Wonderfull Counseller The mighty God The everlasting Father The Prince of peace after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which exposition cannot possibly be sense if referred to Hezekiah but agrees very well with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Messiah Besides the English translation Of the increase of his Government and Peace there shall be no end is so exactly according to the Hebrew that it is plain all the expressions are not competible to Hezekiah and Grotius himself who loves to stretch the sense of every particular expression of these kind of Prophecies to the person they first aim at yet he acknowledges ingenuously that they are more fitly and more plainly applicable to the Messiah Which to any indifferent man is satisfaction enough that they were meant of him especially if he consider that the ancient Iews who may well be thought to understand the Genius of their own Prophets the
Libertinism as you may see more at large in that Chapter 5. Wherefore it appears out of what already has been said That there are Terms to be performed on out part in this New Covenant as well as there are Promises on God's part and that Christianity is no such loose remiss and inert Religion as some Deceivers would make it which we shall make still more plain from several other testimonies of Scripture Matth. 11. The Kingdome of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Whence is plainly intimated that no lazy or careless endeavours will carry us on to the enjoiment of the Promises of the Covenant As elsewhere He that laies his hand to the plough and looks back is not fit for the Kingdome of God And Luke 13.24 Strive to enter in at the streight gate For I say unto you many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able Because streight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life but wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that goe in thereat As it is in the parallel place of S. Matthew Which plain places of Scripture one would think should awake those filthy dreamers out of their mischievous conceits opinions whereby they would make us believe the Evangelical dispensation is so soft and delicate a thing that there is no laying of the hand to the plough no crouding or striving but that we shall be carried to heaven on that easie featherbed of unactive Faith or fanatick Libertinism Whenas the Evangelical Oracles tell us that we are to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling that we are to run and to wrastle to fight and to resist even unto bloud 1 Cor. 9.24 Know ye not that they that run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize So run that ye may obtain And every one that strives for the victory is temperate in all things Now they doe it to obtain a corruptible crown but we an incorruptible I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the air But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest by any means when I have preached to others I my self should become a cast-away And yet S. Paul was as chosen a vessel as the choicest of these pieces that befool themselves so with self-flattery that they think they have found an easier way to Salvation then Paul himself knew that think they shall get the victory and the crown by not fighting against their own corruptions but by beating the Air with knackish forms of gracious speeches and vain grandiloquence that tends to nothing but the masking of their own Hypocrisie and unfaithfulness in the Covenant and to the seduction and ruine of others 6. But S. Paul however they would abuse some passages in him to the favouring of their ill cause is an utter disclaimer of such false doctrine and does yet more expresly tell us That the promises of the Gospel are conditional This is a faithfull saying saith he to Timothy 2 Epist. chap. 2. If we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he will also deny us If we deal unfaithfully in the Covenant yet he is faithful and cannot deny himself He will stand to his Covenant in all the intents and purposes thereof whether to punishment or reward And Rom. 8. There is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Iesus but their qualification presently follows that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit and ver 8. They that are in the flesh cannot please God But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you and if this Spirit be in you the body is dead unto sin And again If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if through the Spirit ye mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live And ver 16. The Spirit it self bears witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God And if Children then Heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ if so be we suffer with him that we may also glorified with him Which plainly implies that the Inheritance of Heaven or Kingdome of glory is a conditional Kingdome or Inheritance And not to speak of Kingdoms we shall not so much as have remission of sins but upon condition Matth. 6.14 15. For if ye forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses What can be more evident then this CHAP. IX 1. What it is really to enter into this New Covenant 2. That the entring into this Covenant supposes actual Repentance 3. That this New Covenanter is born of water and the Spirit 4. The necessity of the skilfull usage of these new-born Babes in Christ. 5. That some Teachers are mere Witches and Childe-Suckers 1. WE have therefore undeniably demonstrated That this New Gospel-Covenant is a conditional Covenant and but that Hypocrisie and Impietie has made mens souls so degenerate that Sense and Non-sense is alike to them they would from the very sound and signification of the word perceive that there are mutual Terms and Conditions implied or else it could be no Covenant This therefore being premised we shall the better understand what is that due affection and qualification of mind that is required of him that would enter into this Covenant or what it is whereby he has really entred into it For it is not a mere Historical Faith or Belief of those things that are in the New Testament and an acknowledgment that they all tend to the peace and salvation of man and that he is obliged to live up to the utmost of his power to those holy Precepts that are there conteined but further there is a love and liking of the said Precepts as well as a desire of the enjoiment of the promise of Eternal life and a sincere resolution of endeavoring to live as near as he can according to those Evangelical Rules and a chearfull expectation of Divine assistance that God will enable him by the cooperation of his Holy Spirit to make such due progresses in life and Godliness as shall become an unfeigned professour of Faith in Christ Jesus 2. He that upon the perusal of the Records of the Gospel as they are found in the New Testament or by what other way soever the substance thereof is communicated to him and so upon information of his errours and mistakes whether in opinion or practice is thus affected as we have declared it is manifest that he has already repented him of his sins and errours and is in a real mislike of his former Conversation so far forth as it was unconformable to the mind of Christ. So that the state