Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	apostle_n	sin_n	transgression_n	5,988	5	10.4357	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86270	Repentance and conversion, the fabrick of salvation: or The saints joy in heaven, for the sinners sorrow upon Earth. Being the last sermons preached by that reverend and learned John Hewyt, D.D. Late minister of St. Gregories by St. Pauls. With other of his sermons preached there. Dedicated to all his pious auditors, especially those of the said parish. Also an advertisement concerning some sermons lately printed, and presented to be the doctors, but are disavowed by Geo. Wild. Jo. Barwick.	Hewit, John, 1614-1658.; Wilde, George, 1610-1665.; Barwick, John, 1612-1664.	1658 (1658)	Wing H1637; Thomason E1776_1; ESTC R209722	86,537	249

innocent from the great transgression And the Apostle himself who in the exercise of his Apostleship finds himself exempt of fault yet forgets not to sigh and demand deliverance from this law of his members which makes him carnal and sold under sin Rom. 7.24 And this excellent Organ of the Spirit of God knew very well that to obtain justification by works it was necessary that works should be perfect and innocency and sanctification should be entire as well in their parts as their degrees because that he that fails in one point of the Law makes himself guilty of the transgression of all and that no single action though perfect in it self can make a perfection of justice whereas one sin alone is able to slay the soul to ternish the lustre and corrupt the value of all precedent justices and therefore he abandons this feeble prop whereon whosoever thinks to rely remains alwaies in uncertainty And therefore not to testifie any incertitude of his salvation but to affirm the assurance of it upon a foundation invariable he reputes all things even his own innocency as dung that he may gain Christ and be found in him having not his own justice which is of the Law but the justice of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ This is then to beat the air and fight with his own shadow to go about to shew the weakness and infirmity of man to sound the depth of the malice of his heart and to open the dark corners and retraicts of his hypocrisie we confesse more then they can accuse us of being only sorry that it is out of an envy to do ill in troubling the consciences and not the love of the truth which pulls this confession from our mouth that no man living can say My heart is clean and I am pure from sin and yet at other times they contest with this confession when they fall upon the strength of their free will and to establish their works of supererogation Yes it is true that there is no just man on earth that doth well and sins not Eccl. 7.21 In many things we offend all James 3.2 If we say we have no sin we are lyars 1 Joh. All the most holy among men have confest their sins before God Job 15.15 and why not since the Heavens themselves are not pure before him He put no trust in his servants and his Angels he charged with folly Job 4.18 But so little doth this confession shake the assurance of the faith that contrarywise it settles it so much the more because hereby a man is led to go forth of himself to go and put his whole affiance in the only mercy of God and to withdraw all his hopes from the merit of his own works to rely entirely upon the infinite merits of him who of God is made unto us wisdome and righteousness and sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Of our selves we have not so much as a good thought but all our sufficiency cometh from God but yet able to do all things in him that strengthens us Philip 4.13 we are combated by him but we are in all things more then Conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8.36 And very well said St. Bernard in the fifth Homily of the dedication of the Temple entring into consideration of the soul I seem to have found two things contrary to each other for if I behold it such as it is in it self and of it self I cannot speak better then in saying that it is reduced to nothing for what need is it for me to recount all her miseries how it is charged with sins envelopt in darkness environ'd with temptations boyling with lusts subject to passions fill'd with illusions inclined to vice full of shame and confusions If all the righteousness of man be before God nothing but pollution what shall be his unrighteousness If there be nothing but darkness in his light how obscure then shall be the darkness it self What shall I then say For certain man is nothing but vanity he is reduc'd to nothing man is nothing But how is he thus nothing whom God so magnifies How is he nothing since Godsets his heart upon him Let us have courage although we be nothing in our hearts yet we shall find in Gods heart something hidden of us O Father of mercies O Father of miserable how is it that thou setst thy heart upon us for thy treasure is where is thy heart and how are we thy treasure if we be nothing Certainly in the judgment of thy verity we are nothing but not so in the affection of thy piety and goodness But why say they if we have absolute assurance of our Salvation are there so many advertisements given us in holy Scripture to take heed to our selves to watch to pray and that he that stands take heed he do not fall and if these be truly profitable as it is to be presum'd then this is a testimony that a man may fall and consequently that he cannot stand firm in his assurance To this we answer That the exhortations and threatnings in Scripture which are commonly made ought to be applied according to the quality and necessity of every one The visible Church to which the Word of God is announced is composed of divers sorts of people some have need of a bridle others of a spur some to be held back by threatnings from their abandoned vices others to be waken'd from a natural lethargy by lively exhortations to some consolation to others correction is necessary There are that abuse themselves who under pretext of exterior piety wherein they seem very zealous thinking themselves to be high-flown upon the wings of a holy devotion while avarice and luxury and other vanities have tyed them fast to earth and drag them through the dirt To these men the saying of the Apostle addresses properly 1 Cor. 10.12 that he that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall and those that stand truly ought not to slight this advice but rather to take it not as a presage of their misfortune but as a testimony that although of our selves we are subject to fall yet nevertheless God would not have us fall because he directs his word to us who putting us in mind of our condition conducts us more and more to seek the confirmation of his grace And then to fall is not to make a total loss of our salvation but only a stumbling or a fall in a spiritual course a thing that may happen to the most righteous and yet not that they should fall from the hope of their salvation because they are soon again restored by repentance For if the just man fall yet he can fall no farther because the Lord holds him by the hand Psal 37.24 And so these exhortations tend only to make us distrust our selves but not to ravish us of the confidence we ought to have in God They fight with the carnal security of profane ones but not

whence they had their birth so we say that in the book of Scripture divers matters histories examples judgements threatnings laws instructions and exhortations which like little rivers rejoyce the City of our God and serve to divers uses in the Church But after all Jesus Christ is the mark whereat all aim the Centre whither all return and guide our faith in him to find and obtain rest So Moses and the Prophets give their testimony Luk. 24.27 and the end of the Law is Jesus Christ Rom. 10.4 and to this intent speaks St. Paul 1 Cor. 2.2 that he will know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified because that is the summary and principal end of all the knowledge of the Scriptures which faith not onely beholds as a thing to be consented to but embraces it as the only subject where to find salvation and life Certainly faith believes the creation of the world the genealogy of the fathers the confusion of tongues in Babel the captivity of Israel in Egypt the exploits of the Judges and Kings given to the people of God for Liberators and from all these things there may be gathered divers instructions for this life but to find in this recital the means of our reconciliation with God of the remission of sins and the eternal glory it is not possible because it is not in any of these properly Where the Eternal offers and presents the gifts of his heavenly grace that is a Word of God which he pronounced to Adam with his own mouth after he had transgrest the commandment Thou shalt dye the death in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread Gen. 3.19 These things were conformable to the Law and Word of God all these fearful menaces which the friends of Job with so much preparative denounced to the hypocrites and wicked but these are so far from begetting or keeping up faith which as 't is requisite should be accompanied with peace and consolation that contrariwise they put the conscience into trouble they fill the sinful soul with fear and in stead of giving us access to God go chasing and banishing us behind his face as we read of the people of Israel who not able to abide the thundring voice of the Eternal giving his Law upon the mountain stood afar off and said to Moses Exod. 20.19 Speak thou with us and we will hear thee but let not God speak with us for fear we dye This very part of the word that commands obedience and prescribes a rule for works proposing blessing and life to those that accomplish it Do this and thou shalt live Luk. 10.28 Whosoever doth these things shall live by them Levit. 18.5 is not that where our faith rests because as it promises life to the observers so it denounces malediction against all those that do not abide in all the words of the Law to fulfil them And thus our conscience guilty of many transgressions cannot find nor affirm her assurance nor seek for remission of sins where there is nothing presented but wrath and judgment And therefore the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romans and in that which he writes to the Galatians retires our faith from the Law and tells us openly that the Law is not of faith Gal. 3.12 that all they that are of the works of the Law are under the curse Gal. 3.10 11. that the Law was not given to quicken but contrary that it is the minister of death and of condemnation none being able to be justified before God by the works of the Law declaring with David those to be blessed to whom God imputes justice without works Psal 32.1 2. Nevertheless it ceases not to serve faith because by it comes the knowledge of sin and that it serves as a School-master to lead us to Christ Rom. 3.23 in whom we are freely justified by the grace of him by the redemption which is in Jesus Christ whom God hath proposed a mediator by faith in his blood by whom the remission of sin is announced to the end that in whatsoever we could not be justified by the Law whosoever believes might be justified by him Act. 13.39 For to him all the Prophets give testimony that whosoever shall believe in him shall have remission of sins by his name Act. 10.43 Hither it is properly that our faith is invited Whosoever is thirsty let him come to me and drink Joh. 7.37 Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy loden and I will refresh you Matth. 11.28 So that this Gospel of peace this word of reconciliation ministry of spirit and of life power of God unto salvation to all that believe Rom. 1.16 Which opens to us the Abysses of compassions of love grace and the good pleasure of God which deduces to us the coming the incarnation the suffrances the justice and the death of the Redeemer of the world and which represents to us the Holy Spirit applying and sealing by the preaching of the Gospel and the Sacraments these divine and heavenly benefits in our souls and rendring us assured of our reconciliation with God of the abolition of our offences of the imputation of the justice of Christ and of the gift of heavenly life The Gospel is the word of life saith St. Paul Rom. 10.8 It looks at the whole word of God but it embraces only his good will It approves all his truth but it runs only after his gratuity and then 't is best pleased and content when both are met in Christ in whom gratuity and verity are met justice and peace have kissed each other Psal 85.11 by whom the gratuity of God is multiplied upon us and his truth endures for ever Psal 117.2 We do not then reject any part of the word nor we do not tear the faith in pieces but in this general object we observe what is most proper and most particularly belongs to it by reason of the differing parts of it Be then the Word of God a Paradise to the faithful soul but so as among so many fruits of different tast and vertue she may find one tree of life that may fully satisfie the hunger of justice that she so seeks for let the Scripture be her Orchard but yet let there be one apple-tree whose shadow she desires sitting down under it and the fruit sweet to her palate let the truth of God be her garden of aromatique drugs but let there be one Rose of Sharon whose sweet smell may recover her fainting heart and which she may put in her bosome no otherwise then a bundle of myrrhe Cant. 1.13 He knows well enough that his Redeemer is living But if the Gospel be the particular object of faith from whence shall we say that Job learned this science and from whence he could draw the foundations of an assurance so firm since this was not but many ages after his death that the Gospel was publisht to the world or that the Saviour of the world was come to

Repentance is our Physick We may soon with the tears of sincere Contrition wash our selves in the bloud of Christ from all putrefaction and filthiness that sin hath polluted us withal Therefore we ought all of us to begin and take a Lesson of Repentance in the School of Christ we ought to begin ab incunabulis in our very youth and not dare florem diabolo foecem Deo not waste away the flower and vigour of our youthful years in the devils vassalage and when our heads are hoary and Periwig'd with the Snow of Age then to consecrate our selves to the service of God and to offer up our selves to the Altar of his Acceptance and that he would for the merits of our most blessed Saviour his most blessed Son who suffered that cursed and ignominious death the death of the Cross for our sins have mercy upon us and pardon all our enormities past present and to come Begin in May not in December for assure your selves God will never accept of the devils leavings You must not stream out your Youth in Wine and live a Lapling to the Silk and Dainties wear all your Mannors on your back at once and like the rich man in the Gospel go attired in purple and fare deliciously every day and then think when you are come to the Spectacle and bearingstaff to turn to God and steer the Vessel of your soul toward heaven Sera poenitentia raro vera Repentance in the declining of a mans age when the Sun of his life is posting to the West is seldom true The Thief upon the Cross of whom we may truly say Periisset nisi periisset was sav'd There was one sav'd that none might despair and but one that none might presume Use not the common Shift of the world to say that you are not guilty of any Crying sins they are but petty offences For I must tell you Beloved these are but diabolical suggestions infused into you by the spirit of Darkness you must first finde out a small God before you can commit a small sin Nay all sins of what sort soever they be are great sins sins of a high stature because committed against the Law of the sin-detesting God For were it not for the Law of God that strictly and severely prohibits all manner of sin and commands uprightness there would be no such thing in the world as Sin for what is sin but the transgression of Gods Law And therefore holy David acknowledged his sins to be committed against God because he had transgressed violated his Law and Commandment which made him to break forth into that penitent and holy Rapture Against thee against thee onely have I sinned Psal 51.4 We are all naturally sinful there is no difference by Nature between the Elect and Reprobate neither in external nor internal disposition until it be made by Grace St. Paul was a Persecutor of as deep a Scarlet-dye as ever Domitian or Julian was Zacheus as unconscionable and miserable a Worldling as the rich Glutton in the Gospel Luke 16.19 All persons are alike by Nature till Grace comes in and makes a difference for we are all by Nature children of wrath heirs of perdition and in danger of damnation 'T is Regeneration that procures us our passage to heaven Except a man be re-born or born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God Joh. 3. and Luk. 13.5 Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish So that so long as we remain in the state of Nature being conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity we are still remaining in a most desperate and damnable condition For the poyson of our Nature is as virulent in us as in the wicked and by Nature we are as much addicted to all manner of sins And though by the special mercy of the Father of mercies we have escaped many damnable and detestable crimes which we finde the wicked have been often implunged into 't is not because we are of a more pure and undefiled nature then they for 't is the same as theirs but because the envenom'd virulencie thereof hath not as yet manifested it self in us which we have just cause every day to fear for in truth we have taken so much of the devils Opium that without Repentance we shall never be awakened out of the dead sleep of sin Therefore let us strive with a holy resolution to shake off these rags of Natural Corruption and clothe out selves with the precious garment of Christ Jesus Let us get into a state of grace and by a real sincere Repentance turn over a new leaf become converts disciples of our Saviour Adam you know did not fall as a private man but as the Root of all Mankinde and we all partake of that Fall since we are the issue of his loyns and the vessels of our bodies still keep a smack of the old relish For according to the Poet Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu The sweetest Stream that flows will relish of the soyl that it hath saluted Inficitur terrae sordibus unda fluens Sheep never come neer a hedge but they leave some Wool behinde them One man infected with the Plague will corrupt ten men sooner then ten men can cure one infected person You know what the Satyrist saith Grex totus in agris Unius scabie cadit porrigine porci Which our English Proverb renders exactly One scabbed sheep will spoil the whole flock Well might that sweet-mouth'd Romane call this The Iron Age for Iniquity is an epidemical distemper or a Chronical Disease that admits of no Cure but Repentance and that sincere too And I fear that the Poet writ in Prophetick measures when his Muse warbled this so suitable an expression to our Times Nil erit ulterius quod nostris moribus addat Posteritas Our Age is grown to such a height of Impiety that Posterity will not be able to adde any thing to it Pride swaggers in the streets Luxury is housed and Drunkenness reels to and fro notwithstanding the heavie Judgements of God denounced against those that exercise such abominations and all the Armour of the mightiest Potentates in the world is not able to resist the Prophets of God when their Commission is seal'd with God's Ipse dixit cujus verbum ab intentione quia veritas factum a verbo quia virtus non differt Gods word is a word with a deed and what he saith shall be done without doubt or demur And all good men will obey his Law and Commandment but where are these good men now adays A good man is hard to be found he is rara avis in terris sprung from the ashes of some dead Phoenix whose abode is scarce known he is like the Berries of the Prophet Isaiah's tree here and there one to be found nay 't is a thousand to one if you finde one in a thousand The jerking Satyrist the Lash of his time could say so long

the certainty of faith For it is a thing to be observed that in the Holy tongue many times love and hatred are taken for the things which one loves or hates and that which is translated to know signifies as often to dispose or to make use of a thing at our pleasure as where it is said in Job 38.33 Dost thou know the Ordinances of the Heavens or dost thou dispose of the government of each of them upon Earth And in this sense they are not altogether without reason that turn this verse thus But all things are so in the hand of God that none of men can use or dispose at his pleasure of what he either hates or loves Others as Arias Montanus think that by that which is before them the wise man meant those that were before them as friends Parents or Domestickes who many times under a veil of friendship conceal their hatreds and mortal envies which are very hardly discovered while they can be concealed under a feigned appearance Others understand this uncertainty of events of our love and hatred which are so hidden from us that they fall out often contrary to our desires and sometimes so cross that to day we hate what we must love hereafter and love that which we must ere long detest But without straying as much as may be from the literal sense 't is clear enough especially if we consider what immediately follows which serves both as a light and interpretation to this passage that is That all happens alike to all and the same accidents to the good and the bad for the wiseman would have us know that by exterior things by the ordinary course of the world and the good or evil that can be discern'd by the eyes of flesh it is very hard to distinguish who are lov'd or hated of God as 't is also dangerous to go about to judge of Gods curse or grace by th' adversity or prosperity of men And here the friends of Job were deceived when upon the evils that fell upon him they would conclude against him both the hatred of God and the impurity of his own life And here the Jews likewise abused themselves when they said We esteem the proud to be blessed and they that have tempted God were delivered And to this purpose the Psalmist tells us 37.7 9. Fret not thy self because of him who prospereth in his way and who bringeth wicked devices to pass for evil doers shall be cut off but those that wait upon the Lord they shall inherit the earth Sometimes the righteous man mourns under the oppression and he that walks upright is subject to a thousand evils the wicked are terrible and flourishing like a green bay-tree and they have more then their heart could wish Psal 73.7 And sometimes also joy and the voice of singing and triumph is heard in the tabernacles of the righteous and the wicked man is ensnar'd and overthrown by his own iniquities And so it is a hard matter to judge of this immutable will of God by accidents so divers and changeable But it goes far otherwise with the inward sense of conscience for the most righteous among men setting their life and works before the clearness of Gods justice do know well and profess openly that they find themselves worthy of hatred and so Moses said We are consumed by thee we are troubled by thy wrath thou hast set our iniquities before thee our secret sins in the light of thy countenance Psal 90.7 8. For this the Psalmist cryes out Enter not into judgement with thy servant for no flesh is righteous in thy sight And Daniel avowing the verity and justice of Gods judgements said Dan. 9.7 Lord with thee there is justice but shame and confusion of face unto us So the Centurion said Matth. 8.8 I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof and the Apostle St. Paul esteemed himself unworthy to be an Apostle 1 Cor. 23.9 But these men returning toward the compassions of God and relying upon the merits of the Redeemer of the World have not ceased to esteem themselves in him and for his sake worthy of eternal life And upon this assurance David saith Psal 16.11 Thou shalt make me to know the way of life Daniel besought the Eternal that according to all his righteousness his anger and fury might be turn'd away from Jerusalem Saint Paul assures himself that the Crown of Justice is reserved for him 2 Tim. 4.8 And in the Apocalypse 't is said of those that have not defiled their garments in the corruptions of the world that they shall walk with the Lamb in white cloathing for they are WORTHY Apoc. 3.4 And this consideration furnishes an answer to another passage which they alleadge to as little purpose as they have maliciously falsified this which we have now answered This is the saying of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.4 I find my self guilty in nothing but for this I am not justified A passage that cuts their throats For without doubt they dare not say that St. Paul was not assured of his salvation since to some other passages we have already produced that had no other subterfuge but that he was assured of it by particular revelation What is it then the Apostle would say but that this inward conscience whereof his conscience bears him witness is not sufficient to justifie him before God And of this he does not speak doubting but as in the Epistle to the Galatians he had said Gal. 3.10 That all they that are of the Law are under malediction and all they that seek to be justified by the Law are fallen from grace Gal. 5.4 Thus he pronounces openly and without any sort of uncertainty that by this he is not justified And yet it must be observed that this interior sentiment of his innocency is not extended over all the actions of his life for by that which followes may easily be comprehended that he speaks only of the execution of his charge wherein being conducted by the Spirit of God he knows he hath gone right As he said in another place 2 Cor. 1.12 This is now the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and sincerity and not in carnal wisdome but according to the grace of God we have convers'd with the world and chiefly toward you Now he that in some one of the actions and occupations of his life finds himself innocent will yet not stick to acknowledge himself in consideration of other things culpable And thus we see that David sometimes speaking of some action and particular cause wherein he implores the justice of God against his enemies does yet glorifie himself in his integrity to God Psal 18. to have kept the wayes of the Lord and not wickedly to have departed but elswhere he confesses his faults and in the 19 Psal he prayes the Lord saying Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and

sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of Death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Though these things buz about his ears like bees provoked or irritated yet they have lost their sting If the old serpent bruise his heel yet his head is broken if the Devil give us a false alarm by persecutions yet we are souldiers fighting under Christs Banner listed and registred into the Book of Life at our Baptism he hath bought and redeemed us by his most precious blood and no one can ravish us from him What soul can be so sordid as to fear the arm of flesh when he is guarded by the spirit of Christ that doth not only intercede for sinners but of sinners makes them become just That is not only Advocate of a bad cause but also renders it good That doth both pray and pay for us so that his pardoning of us is not onely a work of his mercy but also an effect of his justice Besides these obligations we have an infinite number of incitations to the love of Christ if we will but recollect our selves and seriously consider how often he hath delivered us from imminent danger caused inexpected overtures of evil intended to us that we might avoid them for according to the old Proverb Praemoniti praemuniti forewarned forearmed and afflicted us here that he might save us hereafter Now 't was the wish of that famous pillar of the Latin Church St. Augustin Hic ure hic tunde hic seca modo in aeternum parcas Cut saw burn my body here so thou savest my soul hereafter Now for shame let it not be said that God hath showred down his blessings on the sand Let us not be so bestial as to drink of the stream and ne'er think of the fountain without elevating our thoughts unto God the source of all benedictions But when we say God doth good unto us to the end that we may love him not that he stands in need of our Love but he will have us love him in regard that we cannot be saved if we hate him Nay farther that we love him proceeds from him as a gift for 't is he that kindles in us his love He doth not only bestow and confer his bona upon us but he gives us a hand to receive them grace to use them and vertue to glorifie for them so that Deus primo dat quod jubet and then jubet quod vult first he gives what he commands viz. Love Love is the gift of God and then he commands what is most agreable to his will and pleasure This first degree or step of Love though it be holy and useful yet 't is but principium amoris divini 't is but the prologue to the Love of God for he that loves God only for profit is like an infant or child that prays only for his break-fast and to speak properly such persons love not God but themselves Such love is but mercenary and injurious to God a palpable affront put upon the Deity Therefore he must know that hath gained this first degree he must proceed for non progredi est regredi to be at a stand is to be retrograde he must therefore I say ascend the second step The second degree of our Love toward God is to Love him 2 Degree not only for our profit but also for himself i. e. laying aside all consideration of his benefits that he is daily pleased to confer on us and though we expected no profit from him yet to love him supra omnia Holy David spake of this Love in the 69 Psalm Let all those that love thee rejoyce in thy name He counsels us to love God for his name because he is the supream Wise in his counsel just in his actions true in his promises whose habitation is in glory inaccessible enjoying a Soveraign perfection God whose life was without beginning and his duration without end his eternity without alteration his greatness without measure and his power irresistible That created the World by his Word governs it by his vertue and will reduce it to a Chaos of ruine when it is his pleasure Who in one sole vertue and perfection which is his Essence encompasseth all other vertues that are infused into all other creatures All other vertues do concentre in this punctum and the more they deviate from him the more eccentrique they are God therefore is to be loved for these preceding considerations more then for the good that he is pleased to confer upon us Our Saviour instructeth us the same in that most absolute pattern that he himself hath set before us in which he commands to beg the sanctification of his Holy Name and the advancement of his Kingdom before we put up a petition for our daily bread We naturally are enamoured with beauty now Light is the first of beauties without which there is no distinction between beauty and deformity God therefore being the primum lumen it follows necessarily that he be also the prime beauty He is the Father of Lights Pater Luminum saith St. James and holy David the Psalmist in the 36 Psalm 9. For with thee is the Fountain of Life in thy light shall we see light Wherefore in laying his hand to the stately Fabrick of the World when he reduced the Chaos of confusion into a beautiful and harmonious order he began first with the light as that by which his nature is best represented He is the Sun of Righteousness a Sun that never comes to the West never sets nor casts a shadow all things are naked unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things are bare-neckt unto him 't is in the Original being a metaphor taken from the mode in the Eastern Countreys where they go bare-neckt such a Sun as doth not only clarifie the sight but gives it also And judge you what a splendid sight-offending lustre this is that the Seraphims assisting at his Throne cover their faces with their wings as Isaiah saith 6 Chap. 2 vers not being able to endure so glorious a splendor And if at the coming and appearance of the humanity of Christ the Sun shall be benegroed in darkness as a petty light at the coming of a greater how if you cast an eye upon the life of God! The life of God ours is but a shadow if compared to it nay a nihil for our life is a flux or succession of parts But God possesseth and hath full and entire fruition of his eadem instanti and all together And his only begotten Son was willing to lay down his life for the redemption of us miserable and wretched sinners That Son that Isaiah calls Chap. the 9. Father of eternity was content to assume this frail flesh of ours He became Son of Man that we might become the sons of God He was born in a stable that we might

of God that we understand not what it is to love him This Tree of Knowledge grows not in our Eden This flower springs not up in our Garden 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a gift dropt out of Heaven proceeding from the Father who is Love and Charity as St. John saith This is a divine liquor the true Nectar that God poures into our souls guttatim drop by drop as in narrow-neckt vessels Wherefore to accommodate our selves to our native slowness we 'll endeavour to infuse into our spirits by little and little so by degrees to arrive at the highest degree and Apex of Love There are five degrees of this our Love to God 1. The first is to love God for the good he doth us and we expect to receive from him still 2. Secondly To love him propter seipsum or sui ipsius gratia for his own sake because he is most excellent and most amiable 3. Thirdly To love God above all things nay your own selves but to love nothing in the World but for his sake 4. Fourthly To detest and abhor himself for the Love of God 5. Fifthly to love him as we shall in the life to come when we shall be in glory with this love the Saints are extasied and assist at the Throne of God in secula seculorum We call these Degrees of Love and not species or kinds because the superior contain the inferior as the chiefest white differs from the other parcels of the same colour that are less clear and transparent not in specie but in gradu we must remount up these degrees or stairs and rest our selves a little upon every one of them 1. The first degree and lowest is Five degrees by which we are brought to love God To love God for the good he doth us upon this step of Love was King David when in the 116 Psalm and in the 1 verse I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplication and so in the 18 Psalm for God will have respect and love from us because he extends his bounty so liberally to us 'T is God that created us 't is God that preserves and keeps us being created that nourisheth our bodies that cherisheth our souls that redeemeth us by his Son that governs us by his holy Spirit that instructeth us by his word that hath vouchsafed to admit us as his servants nay his friends and children and which is more the same with himself Plato playing the Philosopher with the grace of God Plato blessed God for three things thanked him for three things 1. That he was created a man and not a beast 2. That he was born a Graecian and not a Barbarian and 3. That he was a Philosopher Now we that are instructed in the School of Christ a School of more strict discipline So ought we for these especially make another kind of distribution of the grace of God and return him thanks for these three things 1. That of all Creatures we were created men 2. That of all men Christians And 3. That among those that are Christians he hath made us in the number of the true elect And if you please you may add a fourth That he hath adopted us by his Son Jesus Christ before the foundation of the World having been carefull of us not onely before we had any existence but even before the world had its creation Now if God did manifest his love to us before we were how liberally will he extend it to us how bountifully will it flow from him when we invocate and call upon his Sacred Name and affect him with a filial and reverential love Now the smaller our number is the larger is our priviledge the more extensive and diffusive is his bounty and goodness to us to endow us with sight among so many blind persons as the portion of Jacob in Aegypt solely enlightned in the midst of obscurity Cimmerian darkness like the fleece of Gideon that was only bedewed with the grace of God when the rest of the earth was dry and destitute of it God hath encircled us with abundance of examples of stupendious caecity or blindness that he might raise our estimation of light and that we might make a farther progress in the way of salvation that so whilest it is called to day we may steer the ship of our souls by the Lanthorn of his Word All these vertues the constellation of all these graces depend upon one Soveraign and Prime one viz. reconciliation with God by the passion of our blessed Jesus This is the Chanel through which the graces of God stream unto us 'T is Jacobs Ladder that joyns Heaven and Earth together that rejoyns God and Man The Angels ascending this Ladder represent our prayers that we piously dart up to Heaven the Angels descending signifie the blessings of God that are distilled in answer to our prayers Jacob sleeping at the foot of the Ladder intimates unto us the quiet and tranquillity of conscience that we enjoy under the cool and comfortable shade of his intercession Before man was environed with horror and astonishment he could not cast his eye aside but he met with an object of fear If he look't upon God he discerned a consuming fire a supream Justice armed with revenge against sinners If he cast his eye upon the Law he immediately perceived the arrest of condemnation If he viewed the Heaven he concluded himself excluded thence by reason of sin If the World he saw his irreparable loss of dominion over the Creatures if himself a thousand spiritual and corporal infirmities At the signes of Heaven and the Earth-quake he was ague-struck with fear Then Satan Death Hell were his inveterate foes that either drew him to perdition or did behel and wrack him with the expectation of them But now every person that hath confidence in Christ Jesus changes his language and speaks in a more pleasing dialect If he look upon God he 'll say 'T is my Father that hath adopted me If his thoughts pitch upon the day of Judgement he 'll bespeak himself thus My Elder Brother sits there and he that is my Judge is also my Counsellor If he think on the Angels he cries out They are my guardians Psalm the 34. If he view the Heaven he terms it his habitation If he hear it thunder he 'll reply 'T is the voice of my Father If he consider the Law The Son of God saith he hath accomplisht it for me If he swim with the flowing tide of prosperity he 'll say God hath reserved better things for me If in the low ebb of adversity Jesus Christ hath endured far more for me God exerciseth or proves corrects or afflicts me making me therein conformable to his Son If he thinks on Hell the Devil or Death then he will triumph over all with the holy Apostle in the 1 to the Corinth the 15 Ch. and the 55 56 and 57 vers O Death where is thy