Pet. 2.11 12. abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule and haue your conuersations honest amongst the wicked both that they who speake euill of you as of euill doers may glorifie God in the day of their visitations and also that you may assure your selues that you are in Christ by being new creatures 2 Cor. 5.17 2 Thess 2.7 Dearely beloued Antichrist also and his mystery of iniquitie hath alreadie wrought euen from the Apostles times and is so farre growne past his height that his raging time is come because his time is but short Therefore Beware of dogs Phil. 3.2 beware of euill workers For there are false teachers which priuily 2 Pet. 2.1 Marke 8.15 with many false glosses bring in damnable heresies But take heed and beware of the leauen of the Pharisies Matth. 7.16 By their fruits ye shall know them 1 Tim. 4.1.3 They forbid mariage and meats by the doctrine of deuils and serue not the Lord Iesus Rom. 16.18 but their owne bellies and with faire speech and flattering deceiue the hearts of the simple They despise gouernment 2 Pet. 2.10 and feare not to speake euill of them that are in dignitie They haue hearts exercised with couetousnesse Vers 14. Vers 16. eyes full of adultery tongues that speake swelling words and boast of high matters They are brute beasts lead with sensualitie Vers 12. and made to be taken at the last and destroyed 2 Pet. 3.17 18. But beware lest yee be plucked away with the errour of the wicked and fall from your owne stedfastnesse but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ Finally brethren 2 Cor. 13.11 fare yee well be of one minde and liue in peace Gal. 5.15 If ye bite and deuoure one another take heed lest ye be deuoured one of another All which that it may the better be effected Gal. 4.19 my little children of whom I haue trauelled in birth Heb. 13.17 for whose growth I shal trauell I beseech you obey me still who haue the ouersight of you in the Lord and submit your selues for I desire to watch for your soules as one that must giue accounts that I may doe it with ioy and not with griefe for that will be vnprofitable for you Now because my hearts desire is Rom. 10.1 that you may be saued and that to this end I may still pray for you and shew you the good way therefore I humbly pray the very God of peace to sanctifie you throughout 1 Sam. 12.23 1 Thess 5.23 and that your whole spirits and soules and bodies may be kept blamelesse vnto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ So prayeth he who desireth that his ministerie amongst you may be a sauour of life vnto life euen your euer-louing Shepherd and Watch-man ROBERT ABBOT Faults escaped PAge 20. line 10. reade brethren for brother p. 22. l. 30. r. in the mids of for about p. 39. l. 22. r. yee for yea p. 40. l. 7. r. him for whom p. 44. l. 14. adde to seruice in an and l. 15. adde to vnknowne tongue p. 56. l 22. r. in them for them in p. 62. l. 1. r. mouings for meanings p. 71. l. 15. r. parly for partie p. 84. l 9. r. fiue for fine p. 113. marg r. Gal. 2. for Apoc. p. 118. l. 21 r. and for in l 22. r. thy for the and wherein for whereof p. 129. l. 26. betweene â—he second and the third word put in liue in sinne p. 136. l. 1. for I am r. am J p. 184. l. 12. betweene the eight and the ninth words put in powers of TO HIS REVEREND and right Worshipful brethren the Preachers of the glorious Gospell within the Deanery of Charing in Kent ROBERT ABBOTT their fellow-Souldier for the maintenance of the Gospell wisheth faithfulnesse and constancie to the end Right Worshipfull Reuerend and beloued WHom our gracious God hath vnited in one common seruice I neither can in affection nor could in Epistle at this time seuer especially considering that what I shall say to one is fitly appliable to you all My request only is that what I speak freely to one may with a louing and yeelding acceptance bee entertained of all as the messenger of an honest heart desirous to stirre vp the grace of God which is in you and to prouoke your willing mindes I remember what is sayd of the sacke of Beniamin by the way when the sacke was opened Sacco soluto reluxit argentum the money appeared which though I cannot apply to what I haue sayd in my Sermon or shall say at this time yet this I will say that no packet shall be opened wherein you shall discouer more loue and intention of spirit to do your soules good Mans good thoughts were not giuen him for himselfe only but for communication For if they had as the Gâ—d of Nature would not haue taught the tongue to speake them so the God of Art would not haue taught the pen to write them This is the cause that what meditations God hath briefly put into my heart to warme my selfe those haue and shall I more largely blowe and kindle to heate you all in that ministeriall course in which God hath set you I presuppose these two propositions to be Gods truth First that the Churches speciall seruants are of Gods sending And secondly that it is necessary that the people to whom wee preach should be perswaded of it Is not Ierusalem which is aboue the Mother of vs all VVhence then should wee expect all her seruitours not left free to her selfe but from our fathers appointment Yet what though we are called by God will it euer be so comfortable vnto vs if the people to whom we are sent do not know it We would willingly that they should heare what we speake in Christs stead not as the word of man but as it is indeed the word of God which yet they can neuer do except they are perswaded that wee are sent of God It is therefore worth our marking to see how the Apostle labours the perswasion of this point For himselfe hee doth still vrge his mission That the Gospell which he preached was not after men but that hee was called by God And for all others hee calleth them Souldiers as hauing receiued their presse from God and Ministers that all the world may know that God keepeth the royalty of his Office in his owne hand and makes vs his Seruants yea Cryers to lend our good will and voyce to his matters to bee published No doubt the holy Ghost foresaw the necessity of this perswasion not only that the ministery might haue the greater attention and respect giuen vnto it but that Lydeas heart might be opened Felix might tremble the Iewes might be pricked in their very hearts and made to crye out Men and brethren what shall wee doe to be saued Yea and the secrets of hearers hearts might be made manifest and they may fall downe on their faces and
of the Priests Court and whoso was found perfect and fit was clothed in white and accounted worthy To what end should the care of God and man concurre in this if it were not necessary You haue learned how to apply deeper things I will therefore end this rule with that speech of Ierome to Nepotian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sors Talem se exhibere debet vi ipse possideat dominum pos ideatur a domino Ministers are therefore called Clergie-men either because they are the Lords lot or because the Lord is their lot and portion Now he which either is the Lords part or hath the Lord for his ought to carie himselfe that both hee may possesse the Lord and bee possessed of him The last rule which I would commend vnto you to be obserued that you may proue your selues to bee sent of God is to be in a readinesse to giue your Master an account of your seruice For this is an argument of faithfulnesse and faithfulnesse of a diuine Sender who before he sends can try the heart and reines Put case therefore that now yee heard that voice of God Arise ye dead and come to iudgement that now the earth did vomit vp her dead that Saint Peter stood vp with his conuerted Iewes and Paul with his Gentiles that Iohn came in with Asia Thomas India and Titus Creta What would ye doe What would ye do I say Could ye say Lord I tooke thy person vpon me to feed thy Sheep of conscience not of couetousnesse to build vp thy kingdome not to inlarge my owne praise and purse I haue walked before thee with an vpright heart in the middest of thine house and now Lord behold I am ready to giue thee an account of my sinceritie though not of my perfection If it be thus my Reuerend and beloued Brethren giue me your hands and let vs with comforts goe together and trade into heauen by prayer studie and meditation for the best commodities that in Gods stead we may enrich his people and present such as belong to him as chast Virgins to God in the day of Christ What shall I now say I will humbly beseech you to measure with loue what I haue said and to supply some of the defects in particulars with what I could say in the throng of my businesses in the Sermon following which I offer vnto your eyes as I haue for the most part vnto your eares at our last Visitation as ye freshly remember and with it I present you with the prayers of my heart that this my seruice may in this kind as it hath in another be accepted and also that it may some way be profitable to prouoke against all Antichristian abhominations So prayeth hee who desires euer to rest From my Studie this 9th of May 1625. Your faithfull fellow-helper in the haruest of CHRIST IESVS Robert Abbott DAVIDS DESIRES PSAL. 27.4 One thing haue I desired of the Lord that will I require that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the daies of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his Temple WE haue often from this place This Sermon was preached at an Assise beene full fed and fatted with Sermons from Texts which haue put both Iudges and Iurers Lawyers Plaintiffes and Defendants in minde of such duties as God doth require at their hands If you will giue mee leaue this one time to digresse I shall striue to winde vp your hearts to heauen to kindle your affections to religion and religious duties knowing assuredly that if once we be good men we shall also be good Common-wealths men and doe nothing but that which is iust in the sight of God and Man We reade of the Bird of Paradise that shee hauing no legs neuer toucheth the earth but liueth in the aire with the vapors which arise from below till she dieth and then shee falleth to the ground and is discouered Many such birds of Paradise hath our God who though they sucke vpon earthly things for their necessarie releefe and maintenance yet haue their conuersation in heauen and are neuer discouered to be more earthly than when by death they are brought into the wombe and embracings of the earth their common mother Amongst the rest DAVID hath been famous in this kinde whose deuotions doe discouer such liuely graces such mortified lusts such a heauenly minde and such an anatomie of a good soule as the Psalmes are aptly called that as it was with Ierome when he had read the life and death of Hilarion he folded vp his booke and said Well Hilarion thou shalt be the Champion whom I will follow so it may be with vs when we reade the sweet precepts and godly patternes of deuotion in Dauid we may iustly cry out Well Dauid thou shalt be the champion whom we will follow Through the whole bodie of the Psalmes he hath discouered wonders in this kinde neither is this Psalme barren For ye may finde a threefold peece of deuotion in it The first is shewed by eleuation when by an exuberancie of speech he lifteth vp his heart and draweth it to cling close vnto God amid all his enemies Verse 1 2 3. as his light saluation and strength The second is shewed by admiration when he draweth his heart from all the world to loue those meanes wherein God doth communicate himselfe vnto vs. Verse 4 5 6. The third is shewed by petition whereby he draweth his heart to rest vpon God to be vnto him as he had said and to doe vnto him as he had desired Verse 7 8 c. We haue to doe you see with the second discouery of DAVIDS deuotion that is his admiration secretly implied in the frame of his whole speech Wherein by the heauenly disposition of his desires hee doth shew his dependance vpon God in his ordinarie course of offering grace For whereas the soules of men are considered either according to their vnderstandings or according to their desires and appetites reasonable sensitiue DAVID hauing exercised his vnderstanding in the beholding of God as he was to him and as he would be to his enemies doth here exercise his desires to Gods house Touching which desires these three things offer themselues to our consideration 1. The office of his desires which is shewed in two things 1. The first is their choise One thing haue I desired They chose one thing aboue the rest 2. The second is their constancie That will I seeke He doth prosecute his desires and will not let them vanish to no purpose 2. The obiect of his desires The house of God There was nothing after which his heart panted more eagerly than Gods house 3. The motiues of his desires which are two 1. The worth of Gods house in it selfe Beauty amenitie or sweet and amiable presentment which it offereth and holdeth out to the godly view 2. The worth of Gods house to DAVID To inquire in his
by some short Mementoes of what I haue formerly taught I thought that it would become me a little to write something whereby the weake faith of me vnworthy thy Abel might speake being dead and in the publishing of which I might not be altogether vnmindfull of the kindnesses and fauours of my louing friends Hence then commeth this Sermon to appeare which though in respect of the manner it be rude and homely yet it hath matter which is worth our consideration It presseth sobrietie watchfulnesse and prayer which are necessary and vsefull duties euery day and it will stand vp as a little sea-marke to point at those rockes of the Papacie from which it hath pleased God hitherto to preserue you I know that your temptations haue not beene small nor seldome kindred and kinde opportunities haue giuen much aduantage to the tempters but by how much more open you lay by so much greater appeareth the glory of God in your weaknesses which haue beene preserued from the defilements of the filth of Babylon Long and euer may that gratious worke be continued vpon you and yours And I humbly pray God that as the Aegyptians did vse to offer in sacrifice to their cursed gods of the fruit of the Peach-tree which is not altogether vnlike to a mans heart and of the leaues of the same which are like to a mans tongue thereby teaching that God requireth both tongue and heart so you may still continue and abound in offering vp the outward and inward man in publike and priuate seruices to the true God I hope that from sound knowledge you doe throughly hate the many lies wherewith our aduersaries doe seeke to disgrace vs and our cause as of the noueltie impuritie and blasphemie of our Religion and the like and haue learned from the Persian Law after the third lie to enioyne a man perpetuall silence or if that be not in your power yet neuer to beleeue him more I know that as it is said of Aspes they are of a skie colour and hide their inuenomed teeth within soft gummes so yee shall see and haue seene the Proctors of Antichrist veluet-mouthed and like heauen in appearance mustering the Fathers yea and Scriptures in such order and equipage as if in the cause of Religion all were theirs but I remember what we reade of Balme Pozel de Patef Dâ—i that Vipers are nourished with the iuice of it which they turne into poison and that they with their whole broods are delighted with the shadow of the leaues of it yet the iuice of Balme is an excellent remedie against their poyson Euen so the maintainers of Schismes and Heresies doe feed vpon the Balme of Gilead I meane the sacred Scriptures and Fathers abused and doe turne those wholesome viands into poyson and yet that very word of God and vnsophisticated antiquitie are excellent remedies against all their impostures of false doctrine whatsoeuer Let mee therefore beseech you in the entertainment of any doctrine to vse Gods spectacles still that no false colours may deceiue you to the preiudice of your soules and so to prouide for sobrietie and watchfulnesse in prayer in these perilous times that yee may not be like to vnthriftie seruants who hauing their allowance of candle spend it out in gaming and riot and at the last are faine to goe to bed darkling This would be a wofull abuse of that light of knowledge which God hath giuen you From this therefore euen the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath preserued your Worships hitherto keepe both you and yours for euermore Thus he humbly prayeth who heartily desireth the well-fare of your bodies and soules ROBERT ABBOT A PREVENTER OF SECVRITIE 1 PETER 4.7 The end of all things is at hand be yee therefore sober and watch vnto Prayer THIS speech of the Apostle is short in words and long in sense Brevis in verbis longa in sententijs He hath spoken much in a little and the further opening and applying of it shall by the blessing of God bring it close both vnto our heads and hearts As therefore God saith vnto his people Heare O my people Psal 50. and I will speake so say I Open your hearts and eares wide and through Gods assistance I shall not feed you with the winde but offer you the connexion scope and meaning of the words that at the length yee may taste of the good word of God in the application of it for the benefit of your soules For the Connexion Connexion conceiue it thus The Apostle Peter from the beginning of this Chapter goeth forward to exhort vnto holinesse and to this purpose he vseth diuers arguments The first is drawne from that communion and fellowship which we haue with Iesus Christ our Head in his sufferings Christ hath suffered for vs and in our roome in the flesh that is in his humane nature As therefore he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sinne So it behooueth vs hauing suffered that from hence forth wee should liue not after the lusts of men but after the will of God That faith which vniteth vs to Iesus Christ is a liuing faith which liueth both to kill sinne and to quicken vs to grace As wee reade of a certaine tree which bringeth forth such leaues as doe goe when they fall to the ground as if they were aliue so the godly man as from the tree of Faith he doth bring forth leaues of profession so when they fall off for the vse of themselues and others they doe not proue dead and vnprofitable but going and liuing for the ruine of sinne and the vpholding of the kingdome of Christ The second Argument is drawne from that wrong which we haue done vnto God already by our vnholinesse in times past It is sufficient for vs that we haue spent the time past of the life after the lusts of the Gentiles as if he should say we haue done wrong enough vnto God alreadie in liuing wickedly let vs not for shame goe on still but let vs now liue vnto God Esay 59.15 Or as others reade it Hee that departeth from euill is counted trad Dr. Cur. Ser. pag. 41. f. But yee will say meane while we are made a by-word to the wicked as the Prophet saith Hee that refraineth himselfe from euill maketh himselfe a prey Like enough saith the Apostle they carrie themselues like strangers because ye runne not with them into the same excesse and they speake euill of you but yet know that they shall giue an account to him that is readie to iudge quicke and dead As if he should say Looke as it is with a Bat or Flinder-mouse it is in kinde like a bird and it flieth like a bird but it doth not bring forth young like a bird nor feed them like a bird nor feed it selfe like a bird So yee that are the children of God though in respect of kinde yee be men though in ciuill and
in all our thoughts What shall I therefore now say I will humbly beseech you not to forget that the end of all things is at hand that so wee may be stirred vp to these things lest God doe suddenly come in flaming fire to render vengeance vnto vs before we be aware Soli Deo gloria THE NEVV MANS NEW LIFE VPON GALATH. 2.20 By ROBERT ABBOT LONDON Printed by John Haviland for Nathaniel Butter 1623. TO THE WORshipfull his worthy friends Master WALTER ROBERTS Esquire and Mistresse MARGARET his most louing yoke-fellow Life Health and Saluation Worshipfull and worthy friends THIS Sermon hath beene some yeeres in both your hands And I see in the returne of it the good entertainment which it hath found by the well-wearing of the Copie while it was in your custodie It was the request of one of you but it was in the inioyment common to you both and I ioy that the word of God deliuered plainly in euidence of spirit can finde such fauourers Psal 45.12 Though the daughters of â—yrus with the rich of the people doe homage before the face of Gods Church with presents and Egypt doe sometimes succour Christ Matth. 2. yet ordinarily the poore receiue the Gospell Oh how hard is it for a learned Pharisie or for a Ruler of the people to yeeld to the doctrine of a crucified Sauiour Puto multos potuisse ad sapientâ—m pâ—rvâ—nâ—re nisi putassent se pervenisse Many might haue beene wiser if their breeding had not taught them to thinke that they had wit enough To see therefore Heires of great Houses and men and women of qualitie and fashion as we say to renounce their owne wisdome and to become fooles that they may be wise is a spectacle worthy the beholding How glorious an example doth History offer vnto vs in King Alfred who is reported to haue diuided the night and day into three parts Eight houres he spent in writing reading and praying eight houres in sleepe and other bodily prouisions and eight houres in hearing the complaints of his subiects Lay before your eyes I beseech you such excellent patternes and by how much more rare and difficult it is in the throng of so many temptations both at home and abroad for eminent persons to be eminent in grace and goodnesse and to appeare aboue others as the tops of the mountaines in the ebbing of that great Floud Gen. 8.5 by so much shew your godly cares to striue to enter into the strait gate and as they who are violent to take the kingdome of heauen by force There are two dangerous rocks in the course of Christianitie which I pray God you may still auoid the one is fruitlesse knowledge the other is the mixture of fleshly wisdome with the wisdome of the spirit Many are like to the Athenians Nummos habuerunt ad numeranduÌ„ scientiam ad sciendum of whom it is said that they had their money only to tell and their knowledge to know Oh what a butter-flies life is this who spends her time in painting of her wings as some Naturalists haue said euen a these men doe in gilding of their braines Demosthenes was little the better though when he went in the streets the people would say There goeth learned Demosthenes neither shall we be euer the happier except our heads rule our hearts hands and feet to loue and doe according to Gods will If we know these things we shall not be blessed except wee doe them for the knowledge that bringeth blessing is compared to the waters of the Sea which as they are plentifull Es 11.9 so they are brackish yea and are conueyed vnto vs by the salt of the earth to season vs that our obedience may be better than sacrifice in the sight of God As for the mixture of worldly wisdome doe yee not see how it choaketh and smothereth grace This is that god Policie which we worship and of which we make more account than of God and Man In this we hide our selues from simple honest men and fooles and of this wee haue so high a conceit that wee flocke to those Idols that most flourish with it as to an Oracle It is our Purueyour to get our Treasurer to keepe and our Steward to spend so that if we can get keepe or spend by policie we neuer hearken to the voice of conscience we haue no feeling what God commands nor any care what men say By this Kain spake peaceably to his brother Abel when he meant to murther him By this Gen. 4.8 Exod. 1.10 Pharaoh dealt wisely as he thought in the suppressing of Gods people By this the Politician in the Psalmes crowched and bowed Psal 10.10 when he meant that heapes of poore innocents should fall by his might O cursed policie whither wilt thou goe How many Christian duties dost thou suppresse in others and hinder in thy owner Goe on my deare and worthy friends to gouerne your liues by godly wisdome and to keepe out this monster I contemne not the gifts of any man but desire to see God in the meanest of his creatures yet so far as my muddie braine can pierce the French Charrons Books of Wisdome vnder smooth precepts of wisdome giue too great way to principles of Atheisme and so magnifieth this Idoll that God loseth his honour and nature is so lifted vp that it cannot submit it selfe vnto the crosse of Christ I commend therefore no precepts of wisdome but Gods and doe humbly desire that Iesus Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith He alone who is the wisdome of the Father can make you truly wise and to follow his imitable patternes and precepts shall be your wisdome and glory Sir Walt. Rawl hist l. 1. cap. 9. §. 4. out of Charrons chap. of Nobil Those that magnifie this Humane wisdome haue considered three sorts of honours Honour nâ—turall which comes by descent and may fall vpon a true villaine Honour in parchment which is bought with siluer or fauour and depends vpon the fauour of Princes and Honour personall which depends vpon vertue and well-deseruing and these men haue had so much wisdome giuen of God as to account vertue the forme of honour and that which giues life and being to it To the end therefore that yee may be a little furthered by me to this true Honour I doe offer this Sermon to you againe intreating your perusall and obseruation It was once heard by you with delight yee may many times reade it with the same affection if yee finde it worthy The like power yee cannot expect God will haue this honour in his ordinance that the liuely voice shall leaue a more secret working in the soule than all written scrowles This yee shall finde that I haue not striued aboue my ordinarie straine wherein I aime to speake to the hid man of the heart for whom I haue prepared such diet as I may commend if good meat be not marred
in dressing What euer they be the defects are mine what euer it be the good is Gods and for your with other of Gods peoples goods Let God haue your praise to whom it is due let me haue your prayers who need and craue them that I may still continue Your faithfull Shepherd wishing and striuing for your eternall good ROBERT ABBOT THE NEW MANS New Life GALAT. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ neuerthelesse I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in me and the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God WE reade that the tombe wherewith the carkasse of proud Sennacherib was couered had this inscription Jntuens me aliquis discat essâ— piuâ— Let him that lookes vpon me learne to be godly Much more may a spirituall eye see this ingrauen vpon this golden saying of the Apostle Let no man dare looke vpon me except he resolue to be godly For the Apostle presenteth vs himselfe and all the children of God in his person vnder such an one as is dead vnto the world and sinne and liueth not the life of nature but of grace and godlinesse Neither is it needlesse for vs to behold such draughts in these dayes we being not onely cast asleepe through our securitie but dead in sinnes and trespâ—sses and buried vnder the clots of this world to the wofull miserie of our soules and the dishonour of our Maker How needfull therefore is it for vs to vse all meanes for a ioyfull resurrection and amongst the rest deeply to consider this speaking patterne of Paul in these words which in the naturall language of them doe make some such out-cry as this Lift vp your heads yee gates and be yee lift vp yee euerlasting doores that the King of glory may come in and dwell in your hearts by faith To which that we may haue the more hearing eares and from which that by the blessing of God wee may reape the more comfort let vs with humble hearts carry along with vs the context sense and seuerall obseruations setled by application vpon our soules Context As for the context and coherence with the words foregoing conceiue it thus The Apostle being to dispute against the Galatians Galat. 1.6 who had made a defection from the doctrine of the Gospell to iustification by works doth plainly set downe this proposition That we are not iustified by the works of the Law Galat. 2.16 but by the faith of Iesus Christ Which being proued by a reason drawne from the feeling iudgement and conscience of the best Iewes in these words we know as also as it is thought by this testimonie Psal 143.2 that by the works of the Law no flesh shall be iustified in Gods sight he fore-seeing that this doctrine of free iustification without our works might by false Apostles be charged with carnall libertie doth propound an obiection to that purpose Is Christ the minister of sinne and doth with a secret detestation answer it God forbid As if he should say Farre be it from the doctrine of the Gospell to giue libertie vnto sinne for as I will at no hand build againe iustification by workes which I haue destroyed because I can finde no comfort in the Law I being dead vnto it and it driuing mee to Christ so I doe know that Christ is not onely my price but my purger that Christ doth not onely say Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee but sinne no more lest a worse thing come vnto thee For I account my selfe crucified with Christ neuerthelesse I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in mee and the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God Thus I haue brought you vnto the Text. Sense In the consideration whereof I would next intreat you to stay a while vpon the meaning of the words lest the hard and difficult phrases thereof like Asahels body 2 Sam. 2.23 doe hinder the passing of the people by The hard phrases are fiue The first is when he saith I am crucified with Christ for how can this be true when hee was not conuerted to Christianitie before Christs ascension was past For the opening of this you must know that thâ—re is a double crucifying spoken of in the Scriptures The first is Actuall and so according to a double custome it may signifie two things for according to the custome of the Iewes it is to be stoned to death Alsted in Theol. Catech. and aâ—terwards with cords to be bound vnto a crosse and to be set vp as vpon a gibbet for a terrifying example to the like offendors but thus neither Paul nor Christ was crucified Ioh. 18.31 for it was nor lawfull for the Iewes at that time to put any man to death But according to the custome of the Gentiles it is to bee racked and fastned to a crosse with nailes driuen through the hands and feet of a liuing man and so to continue vnto death Thus Christ was crucified but not Paul or we The second is a virtuall crucifying and thus the children of God are said to bee crucified with Christ when they by vertue of that communion and fellowship which they haue with him in his sufferings and death as the members of him their head doe behaue themselues as those that are dead to their corruptions and finde no sauour in the courses of sinne and vanities of this world but spend all their liuelihood in denying vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and liuing vnto God And of this crucifying doth the Apostle speake in this place The second phrase or manner of speech is in these words I liue I liue not How can both these bee true I answer they may both be true in diuers respects I liue the life of grace and godlinesse I liue not the life of sinne and corrupted nature As if hee should say It is true indeed I haue the same naturall organs or instruments the same head tongue hands and feete but as there is great difference betweene a well-tuned Cymball and a loud Cymball so is there betweene all my parts when they doe receiue actiuitie from God and from nature As the gracious life is a death in respect of the glorious life which is the cause that that life which wee shall haue in glory is for excellencie sake called Life so the naturall life is no better than a death in respect of the life of grace The third phrase is in these words Christ liueth in me that is Christ is my life If you aske me how that can be I answer that it is by vertue of that communion and fellowship which we haue with him For as wee haue a naturall fellowship with him by his assuming and sanctifying our natures and becomming flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone and as we haue a sacramentall fellowship with him when in the Sacrament Christ is exhibited and giuen to the faithfull receiuer as he