mention upon this account is taken from the union between the foundation and the building erected thereupon They are coupled together and knit into one so as to make up one house So the servants of Christ are knit unto him being built upon him 1 Cor. 3.9 11. Ye are God's building Upon what foundation are they built See v. 11. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ Believers then are as a fabrique erected upon Christ and cemented unto him A little to unfold this resemblance I will only mind you of three things 1. The holy Ghost doth make mention in the records of the Scripture of a twofold foundation with reference to the Church 1. A doctrinal foundation 2. A personal foundation 1. A doctrinal foundation whereupon our faith is to be bottomed as upon an infallible and unmoveable ground This foundation is the Scriptures the doctrines contained in the Bible the Word of God therein revealed and in that way made known unto the children of men Eph. 2.20 Ye are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets that is Upon the doctrines contained in the Old and New Testament whereof the Prophets and Apostles were the publishers and the penmen by whom as instruments the mind of God was transmitted to succeeding generations * Gubernabit te verbum Dei ad portum coelorum te adducet spiritus sanctus Our faith Sirs is not to be bottomed on the dictates of men or the traditions of our fathers for then it would be a fickle unstable uncertain faith But it is to be built on the sure word of Prophecy The doctrines of the Bible are to be the foundation of it In this respect our Lord Jesus Christ is compared to the chief corner stone He is the principal subject whereof the Scripture treats and whereunto the doctrines tend they are appointed to discover Christ unto us and to bring us unto him and to build us up in him He is the person in whom the strength of the building lieth and through whom the two walls of the building are joyned together Jews and Gentiles are made up into one house and Church as the sides of a building are coupled together by the corner stone 2. There is a personal or essential foundation upon whom a Believer depends for life and salvation by whom the Church subsisteth and through whom it is constituted as a temple for God Thus Christ is the foundation and every Saint is a stone in the building founded upon him Isa 28.16 Behold I lay in Sion for a foundation a stone a tryed stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation Which the holy Ghost expoundeth once and again as meant of Jesus Christ And it is an excellent passage containing abundant matter of incouragement for humbled sinners to come unto Christ and to rest upon him 1. He is a Saviour of Gods appointment sufficiently authorized to be the Mediator so that if you come to God by him he will not reject you for it is the Lord 's doing to constitute him to be our Redeemer it is the way which God himself hath set open to bring sinners to salvation He is the foundation which the Lord hath laid I lay in Sion for a foundation 2. For the qualification of his person he is mighty to save able to deliver to the uttermost He is not as sand or gravel by which the building cannot be supported but a stone or rock which noteth the stability and strength of Jesus Christ he is able to bear whatever weight is laid upon him No winds or storms from earth or hell can prevail to overturn what is built upon him And this ariseth from the constitution of his person being very God as well as man 3. He is a tryed stone Do you yet question his sufficiency to save you Are you still in doubt whether you may trust in him Why do but mind the experience which he hath given of his ability he is a tryed stone Eve hath tryed him and Enoch tryed him and Noah and Abraham and David and Solomon and all the people of God in former ages have made the experiment and their expectations were not frustrated they found him such a one as he is discovered to be He is a stone of trial a foundation of proof a sure foundation 4. This is that which God would have sinners to take notice of Behold I lay in Sion for a foundation a stone c. q. d. Hear O people and give ear all ye inhabitants of the earth mind what I have done to carry on the salvation of sinners And to what end is this publication made but that we might come unto Christ and unto God by him with full assurance of faith This is the first particular I would observe under this similitude 2. This resemblance doth import That all such persons whatsoever who are knit unto Christ and built up to salvation upon his righteousness must of necessity be made conformable unto him There must be an answerableness betwixt them As the foundation is the supporter of the building so it is a rule and measure unto the building The stones which are set upon it must be proportioned thereunto the superstructure must be of length and breadth according to the foundation So it is in the spiritual building The souls of Believers who are joyned to Christ must bear a proportion to him with whom they are joyned This is the Statute-Law of the God of heaven and it is more unalterable and irrevocable than the Laws of the Medes and Persians That there is no saving interest in Christ without conformity to him Rom. 8.29 Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son Mark It is the unchangable decree of the Lord of Hosts If you are saved in any other way or at a cheaper rate it must be by the alteration of God's decrees which are unchangeable as his nature and essence without any variableness or shadow of turning As Christ could never have been our Redeemer but he must be made like unto us so we shall never taste of the Redemption purchased by him unless â—e be made like unto him This conformity of a Believer to the Lord Jesus Christ doth mainly lie in five things viz. 1. The qualifications of his â—erson 2. The sufferings of his death 3. His resurrection and ascension into heaven 4. The holiness of his conversation 5. The troubles and persecutions which he underwent upon the earth 1. Believers must be made like unto Chist in the qualifications of his person Their judgments must concenter with Christ's judgment in the approbation of such things as he approveth and disapproving those things which he disliketh Their affections must run in the same chanel wherein Christ's affections run loving what he loveth and hating what he hateth and delighting in that wherein he taketh delight Their minds must be placed on the same objects on which
may be ready at hand upon all occasions for your guidance and direction in the way to heaven If Truth as * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. one saith is of the number of the greatest gifts which the God of heaven could confer on the children of men or they are capable of receiving from the Lord of glory And if those Truths are most worthy of all acceptation which are in their own nature and tendency of the greatest weight and importance Then I hope I may justly expect your loving Reception and diligent Perusal of these Divine Instructions Especially when I call to remembrance your fervent mind and more than usual respect which many of you have formerly expressed towards me If I detain you longer than is customable by way of Preface impute it wholly to the earnestness of my desires of being useful to the promoting your everlasting salvation For I can truly say that since my removal from amongst you I have had you frequently in my thoughts much in my affections and fervently in my Prayers Give me leave to be your Remembrancer That you are a people under manifold Obligations and Ingagements to serve the Lord and to stick fast unto his testimonies 1. You have some of you for a long time made a Profession of Godliness and openly avowed your selves to be the servants of the most High And will you not labour to walk answerably to that Vocation wherewith ye are called If the Principles you own be good they ought to be practised And if they be evil why are they professed When King Alexander had a cowardly Souldier of his own name he is reported to have called him aside and thus to have spoken to him Friend either change thy name or leave thy cowardise The like may be fitly said to Professors of Religion Either sh w forth the power of godliness in your lives or do not take upon you the profession of Godliness Why call ye me Lord Lord if ye do not the things which I say Luk. 6.46 2. You are many of you I am apt to think a people under convictions The clear light of the Gospel which hath shined amongst you hath left at least such impressions on your spirits That you cannot but approve the things that are excellent You cannot but acknowledge the wayes of God to be right and the service of sin to be abominable Ask your consciences to whom I appeal in this case if it be not thus So that I may speak to you as the Apostle Paul to the King Act. 26.27 King Agrippa Believest thou the Prophets I know that thou believest My brethren Do you believe the absolute necessity and incomparable worth of Holiness Do you believe That the fear of the Lord is the best wisdom and the favour of God the chiefest portion That Godliness is great gain and ought to have the supremacy and preheminence above all worldly enjoyments Do you believe that the pleasures of sin are folly and madness and will end at length in everlasting destruction I am perswaded many of you believe it Now Sirs it is a dreadful thing to sin against convictions to disown that in your conversations which you subscribe to in your consciences Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth Rom. 14.22 To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Jam. 4.17 3. You are most of you a people of low estate and poor in the world And will you not secure an interest in the true riches If you have little or no treasures upon earth should it not quicken you to be the more industrious to lay up treasures in heaven that you may not be poor in every respect When Bishop Hooper as I remember was led to his Martyrdom there came to meet him a poor boy that was blind but had received the knowledge of the truth To whom the Martyr spake to this effect See to it that you continue to serve the Lord and that you lose not the knowledge of God for then thou wouldest be blinde both in soul and body So let me say to those of this rank amongst you Well is it if you have chosen the good part which cannot be taken away if you have in heaven an enduring substance else you are poor both in this world and in relation to that which is to come Study to shew your selves men and women approved of God that it may appear you are of the number of those whom the Apostle James makes mention of Chap. 2.5 Whom God hath chosen the poor of this world but rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him 4. You are all of you a people of signal and eminent mercies And if the mercy of God rise up in judgment against you what will be able to plead for you If mercy condemn you how sore will be your condemnation Will ye trample upon the bowels of the compassion of God And tread under foot his loving kindness Deut. 32.6 Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is he not thy father that hath bought thee Hath he not made thee and established thee I will not multiply the mention of Particulars only there are two mercies principally come at present into my thoughts which I would have you never to forget 1. Remember the dayes of old consider the years of some generations at the least Ask your Fathers and they will tell it your Elders and they will shew it That you have been remarkably blessed with Gospel-priviledges and advantages for attendance upon God and communion with him You have had for some good while together a succession of faithful and painful Ministers who rightly divided the word of Truth When some other places were comparatively in darkness you dwelt in Goshen a place of light Keep therefore an holy suspicion and jealousie over your hearts and lives lest you be found guilty of receiving the grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6.1 And to that end let me beseech you often to read and meditate with seriousness and self-application upon these awakening Texts Mat. 11.20 21 22 23 24. 2 Cor. 4.3 4 5 6. 2. Consult your late experiences of the goodness of God That was a special preservation which I would have you to keep fresh in your Memories and constantly to retain the sense of it upon your hearts When it pleased the Lord in the late dreadful year to contend with the Nation by the destroying Pestilence you were as a fire-brand pluckt out of the burning You were exposed to the contagion as well as other places where it violently raged Nay more upon several accounts than some other Towns which it laid almost desolate And the Lord was pleased only to give you thereby an awakening call to Repentance and to suffer the destroying Angel to proceed no further One house amongst you was infected and it swept away all that dwelt therein
as thirst after them The remainders of the light of nature are enough to leave a sinner inexcusable in his condemnation when he doth not live up to that light but they can proceed no further they can make no discoveries of the path of salvation But now persons in the visible Church have these things revealed before their eyes they have Christ set forth that they may know him and his excellencies displayed that they may love him So that it is a merciful priviledge in this respect Nay if the fault be not in themselves it may bring them to Christ in a saving way Psal 147.19 20. He sheweth his word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Judgments they have not known them Praise ye the Lord. q. d. Here is matter of praise and abundant thanksgiving See also Rom. 9.4 and Ezek. 20.11 12. 2. Hereby persons do enjoy communion with such as are real Saints and servants of Christ in sincerity which may be of excellent use to provoke them to emulation and so to save their souls They have the benefit of the society of the godly to be an incouragement unto them to serve the Lord indeed and the advantage of their example as a copy for imitation Multum resert quibuscum vixeris They are under their counsel for admonition and many times partakers of their provoking conferences to incite and stir them up to become such as they are They have a share in their inspection and watchfulness over them whereby oftentimes they are restrained and kept in due bounds And so it is a signal mercy in this respect As by fellowship with the wicked and contracting friendship with them men learn their wayes and get a snare unto their souls so by communion with the Saints persons are in a capacity of learning their ways and saving their souls Psal 141.4 5. Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyl which shall not break my head Nihil tutius amico monitore that is by an usual Meiâ—sis it will abundantly tend to my spiritual good and to the promoting and carrying on my eternal welfare As coals are kindled by other burning coals so are the ungodly many times by hearty counsel and holy walking and the like made instrumental to quicken and inflame such as have fellowship with them Jam. 5.19 3. From hence it is that they do in a sort partake of that special care which God taketh of his Church and receive some drops of those blessings which Christ doth showr down upon his Church You know that although God by a general providence doth mind and govern the whole creation he feeds the ravens when they cry and gives meat to the beasts of the field yet he hath a special inspection into the affairs of his Church he maketh peculiar provision for them reserving his dainties in store for them Now by this external adhaesion unto Christ and being in the visible Church a person may have a share in those mercies and the out-skirts of those blessings may fall down upon their heads As one that is but a sojourner in a family and no stated fixed member of it may taste of many good things which the good man of the house prepared for his own children And therefore a people are said upon this kind of neerness to have God himself nigh unto them that is to be under his special care even the body of the people though multitudes of them went no further than profession Psal 148.14 The children of Israel a people neer unto him Deut. 4.7 For what Nation is there so great that hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all that we call upon him for And it seemeth to be mentioned as a priviledge of the whole visible Church Isa 4.5 That the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion and upon her assemblies upon the Church of Christ whereof Zion was a type and upon all the particular Congregations thereof a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night The meaning is this God will in a special manner be a guide unto them and undertake for their safeguard and protection He will lead them and preserve them as he did the children of Israel in their travels out of Egypt when he went before them in a cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night So Isa 31.5 As birds flying so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem defending also he will deliver it and passing over he will preserve it As birds flying that is swiftly and speedily at the cry of his people he will come as in an instant before the adversaries are aware Or as a bird doth hover over the nest to preserve her young ones so will the Lord watch over his people to secure and deliver them These and such promises are made to the Church in general and even carnal Professors by vertue of their station in the Church may have a share in this security these deliverances As when the godly joyn in confederacy with the wicked they may be made to smart under the judgments that are sent upon the wicked so Professors by their fellowship with the godly may taste of the blessings imparted unto them 4. It is a great priviledge because hereby men are often restrained from venting many corruptions that otherwise would have prevailed from turning aside into such sins and abominations wherein others wallow And so they are prevented and kept from contracting much guilt which otherwise would be contracted by them And this is no small advantage Restraining grace is a mercy though sanctifying grace is an higher And God doth make use of this neerness to Christ as a restraint or bridle to stop sinners in their carier hereby they are purged from their old sins 2 Pet. 1.9 That 's the second Position 3. Position 3. When men and women are only thus united unto Christ by way of visible profession or external adhaesion though they may abide with him for a time and seemingly cleave unto him yet at last there will be made a separation betwixt them and this union will be dissolved and broken asunder As it is a dissoluble Union for the nature of it Quomodo ergo Zizania sunt in regno Dei Putres pisces in reti Evangelico carena veste nuptiali in nuptiis Christi ita in Chricto est qui non sert fructum nomine tenus stilicer secundam externam 〈◊〉 tantum non antem verâ— fiâ—e Quare telluntur isti tandem velut resecti arefactique pelunites gebennae addiciottur Bucer so in the event it will actually be dissolved sooner or later by one means or another When a soul is in Christ by a spiritual implantation he shall never be parted from Christ but this common union will be
unto the world Joh. 14.22 and mark our Saviours answer v. 23. Jesus answered and said unto him if a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him q.d. We will be united and knit to such a one and thereupon maintain a constant communion and intercourse with him which is a way of the manifestation of our selves which the world knoweth not of The world is shut out of Christ's prayer for this mercy and it is confined to believers Joh. 17. v. 9. compared with v. 21. 2. It belongeth to believers Universally and comprehensively that is to all of that sort and number whether they are weak Christians or strong whether they are more eminent in the Church or of a lower esteem My brethren this grace of Oneness with Christ is not a dignity conferred upon some eminent Saints whereby they are advanced above their fellows but this honour have all the Saints If there be true justifying faith but as a grain of mustard-seed as our Saviour speaketh in another case it putteth a man into the possession of this priviledge It may be the comfort of the meanest and poorest of the people of God upon earth that however men despise them yet they are married to the King of Kings to the only begotten Son of God You read of babes in Christ who are the lowest rank of Believers 1 Cor. 3.1 It may be improved as a point of wonderful consolation by poor drooping souls that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity When your corruptions struggle within you and you are violently assaulted by temptations from without and thereupon are afraid how you shall be able to hold out and to keep on in the way of godliness when your spirits are ready to sink under your burdens indeavour to raise them up again with this meditation The Lord Christ is my Husband why should I fear He is ingaged to preserve me for I belong to him nay I am in him See and study Isa 40.27 28 29 30. 3. This Union appertaineth to Believers entirely and undividedly My meaning is this the whole persons are the subjects of this Union and every part of them not only their souls the spiritual and immortal part but their very bodies which are made of the dust of the earth For as the grace of Vnction or sanctification where it is poured out upon a person it maketh an entire change both in body and soul so doth the grace of Vnion reach to the whole man to the body as well as to the soul 1 Cor. 6.15 What know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ q. d. This is a known truth a foundation principle you must not be ignorant of it you should be well instructed in this Point that you may be careful not to defile your bodies that it may quicken you to glorifie Christ with your bodies as well as with your spirits 1 Cor. 6.20 At the resurrection the bodies of the Saints shall be fashioned and made like to Christ's glorious body and here upon earth they are knit to his person 4. Believers are the subjects of this Union formally that is under that very consideration as such quatenus Believers For the grace of saith is the principle which God doth peculiarly honour in this very business to make up our union with Christ or to knit a person and the Lord Jesus together Whom he hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And therefore our Apostle applyeth the doctrine of my Text unto them that believe in the words immediately following v. 12. He that hath the Son hath life c. And v. 13. These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that ye have eternal life How should Believers know it hereby Why because Believers have the Son by believing they are in the Son eo nomine because they believe That 's the third Branch of the description the proper subjects of this Union viz. Believers 4. Here is the foundation of this Union on which it is bottomed and from whence it doth arise namely from their intimate conjunction with Christ It is that special relation which Believers have to the Lord Jesus arising from their intimate conjunction with him Or from the closness of their being joyned together This is well to be observed as a material point for first there must be unition as one noteth before there can be Vnion First they must be brought together and must be linked and fastened one to the other before they can become one together At least in order of nature conjunction must precede for Union doth result or flow from it and hath a necessary dependance thereupon As it is in marriage the great resemblance for illustration of this mystery First the man and woman are brought together and married one to the other and thence their union doth arise they become one flesh So it is in this spiritual grace first Christ and a Believer are joyned together and then they become one This conjunction is so closs and in imate that it is called a being glewed unto Christ so the word signifieth 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui Domino agâ—utinatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gluten or glewed to the Lord is one spirit First they are joyned and so become one spiritually How this conjunction is wrought I shall open at large in answer to the next question This is the fourth branch of the Description 5. Lastly You have the blessed consequents which flow from hence or the glorious effects produced hereby and they are especially three 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ 2. Their spiritual state is fundamentally changed 3. The benefits of redemption are effectually applyed 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ Being made so they are reckoned and esteemed as such and accordingly made partakers of whatsoever advantage doth accrew thereby and doth grow upon this root of Oneness with the Mediator It is not an empty name and an airy appellation which is hereby attained but believers are answerably esteemed and dealt with in all sorts of dispensations Therefore they are said to be found in him Philip. 3.9 That I may win Christ and be found in him that is in all the dealings of God towards them they are looked upon as one with his Son so their concernments are regarded and blessings are dispensed unto them evils are averted and kept from falling upon them and spiritual good things are given forth When God doth go forth in his providence twoards the children of men he findeth the wicked in their sins polluted in their blood under the curse of the Law and so there is a curse interwoven with his proceedings with them but when he looketh down upon Believers they are found in Christ They are reckoned as one
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That 's the second thing I intended for the confirmation of this property of a Believers union with Christ viz. the inseparableness of it 3. A little to vindicate this point from the grand exceptions thas are made against it I will lay down only two rules Rule 1. This doctrine of the perseverance of a sincere Believer in the faith or the inseparableness of his union with Christ is so far in it self from being as enemy to practical holiness and new obedience that if rightly improved it will be a mighty incentive and provocative thereunto It will have a powerful influence to inlarge a mans heart to run the steps of God's commandments and to cause him to take heed unto himself to continue upright and undefiled in the way of the Lord. This assertion I maintain to obviate the main cavil and objection that is made against this comfortable truth For there is an aspersion cast upon it as if it were not a doctrine according to godliness as if it did minister occasion to slothfulness and carelessness and carnal security They will be ready to say who are the opposers of this truth if a person be in Christ so as to be sure he shall in no case be separated from him then they will be apt to think they may live as they list that they may take what liberty they please to indulge the flesh and satisfie their lusts and walk in a way of licentiousness seeing whatever they do they shall abide in a state of grace and come safe to heaven at the last Thus a door say they would be opened to all manner of wickedness But mind it Sirs It is a calumny falsely laid to the charge of this doctrine For in it self it is a strong argument and motive unto holiness It is a consideration that may have a tendency to the mortifying sin and awakening the Spirit if rightly pressed on the soul and thus it will be improved by a gracious heart * Hac igitur certitudo perseverantiae non potest consistere cum deliberate proposito peccandi nedum tale quid causari Piis exercitiis procreatur conservatur eadem etiam invicem procreat conservat auget Ames Coron 'T is true there is not the most wholsom herb but a toad or spider may suck poyson from it there is not the most heavenly doctrine but a carnal heart will pervert it unto evil especially such truths as are purely evangelical that hold forth the free grace of God Jude 4. They turn the grace of God into lasciviousness that is not only the experience which they have of the grace of God in the exercise of it in their preservation and affording to them means and seasons for working out their salvation but it seemeth principally to be meant of the doctrine of the grace of God There is no doctrine more influential in its native tendency to the subduing of sin and crucifying the flesh and quickning to a closs walking with God But ungodly men wrest it and writhe it to countenance their filthiness So hath it befallen this particular point of the Saints perseverance though in its proper causality it will help to cleanse a man from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit and make him vigorously to pursue the designes of holiness See what use the Apostle Peter makes of it 1 Pet. 1.5 13. He had before told them that they were elect according to the foreknowledge of God v. 2. and that this grace of election had broken forth in their regeneration from whence they had a lively hope of enjoying the inheritance prepared for the Saints v. 3 4. And then he doth assure them that they were kept by the power of God is the state of grace that they might not fall short of actually possessing what they hoped for v. y. c. And in the close of all he subjoyneth this exhortation v. 13. Wherefore gird up the loyns of your minds be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance but as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation q. d. If God hath graciously taken care of the concernment of your souls will not you be diligent to advance the glory of his grace Will not you be ashamed to sin against him who hath in every respect dealt so bountifully with you If the Lord has not been unmindful of securing your salvation will not you mind his honour and follow his conduct Should not this mightily prevail upon you never to cast off this God but to cleave unto him unto the end O set diligently and industriously about your work be ready and prepared for all the wayes of holiness and to continue stedfast and unmoveable therein Do not walk as the generality of people walk nor as your selves have formerly walked for God hath called you out of the world and prepared for you a kingdom and taketh care of your preservation that you may come to the enjoyment of it This is the proper use of this doctrine which will plainly appear if you seriously weigh these four things 1. That God hath not promised to preserve his people in the state of grace and union with Jesus Christ whether they be holy or no or however they walk But the promise is to keep them in the exercise of grace in the ways of holiness that so they may not be separated from him If any represent it in another dress it is not the Scripture doctrine of perseverance but they endeavour to cast a slurre upon it We do not teach that God hath ingaged to bring his people safely to heaven let them live as they list or that he will keep them from falling away from Christ though they cast off the fear of the Lord and run to all excess of riot But God hath ingaged to inable them to live the life of the just and to cause them to fear his Name and through the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the body that so they may never draw back to perdition 1 Pet. 1.5 Ye are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation It is not said God will keep them by his almighty power whether they believe or no but he will suodue their unbelief and set their faith on work in order to their being secured Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Mark it is not said They shall never depart from Gâ—d though they slight his word and despise his Majesty and reject the fear of his Name But he will maintain in their hearts an holy aw and dread of him that so they may never be cast out of his favour 2. Consider That the
S. Paul stiles a being justified This is expressed elsewhere by not remembring transgressions any more Heb. 8.12 And there are three wayes how they shall not be remembred any more 1. God will not remember them so as to upbraid his people with their miscarriages He will never hit them in the teeth with their sins When the wicked seek unto him in affliction and howl for deliverance God doth upbraid them with their wickedness Jer. 2.27 28. Where are thy Gods which thou hast made thee Let them arise if they can save thee in the time of trouble q. d. Why do ye come to me seeing you hate me and cast me off and set up idols in your hearts Get you to them for deliverance for you are none of my servants But when persons are justified their sins shall be as if they had not been God will welcom them into his house and embrace them in his arms and never throw it in their dish how unkind or unthankful or stubborn they have been formerly See it in the return of the Prodigal Luke 15.20 21 22. When he was a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him And the son said unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son But the father said unto his servants bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring upon his hand and shoes upon his feet One would have thought he would have fallen foul upon him and said You are well enough served to depart out of my family you see what it is to think your self wiser than your father What account can you give me of the patrimony you received Do you think I will give you entertainment now you have spent your substance with riotous living and amongst harlots Go to your sinful companions that have made a prey of you and see what relief they will afford now in the day of your distress But here is not a word of such language But welcome my dear son he is a pleasant child my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him Jer. 31.20 2. Their sins shall not be remembred so as to stop the current of God's bounty or to with-hold good things from them When God would have healed Israel their sins came to remembrance and put a stop to the progress of his mercy Hos 7.1 2. But now by the grace of pardon this obstacle is removed out of the way that his compassions may flow down freely upon them * â—et in peccati reatu est luerum cessans damnum emergens Ita condonatio peccati non est tantum ablativa mali sed collativaâ—oni Mic. 7.19 20. 3. He will not remember them so as to condemn them for sin iniquity shall not prove their ruine * Peccata sis velantur ut in judicio non revelentur Joh. 5.24 That is the first part of justification namely the pardon of sin 2. There is the acceptation of the person as righteous in God's sight pronouncing him such and dealing with him accordingly restoring him into that favour again which he had lost by his transgressions Rom. 5. v. 16. compared with v. 19. This is the first thing I would note to shew you the force of this argument That justification for the â—ature of it is the gracious pardon of the sinners transgressions and acceptance of his person as righteous in God's sight 2. In order to our partaking of this grace of the forgiveness of sin and accep ation of our persons we must be able to produce a perfect righteousness before the Lord and to present and tender it unto God And the reason is evident from the very nature of God himself He is infinitely immutably inexorably just as well as incomprehensibly gracious And in the justification of a sinner he doth act as a God of justice as well as of compassion He doth forgive iniquity in a way of righteousness 1 Joh. 1.9 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness God doth not pronounce men righteous when they are not but first he maketh them righteous and then receiveth them as such and pronounceth them to be such * Non igitur docemus credentes sine justitiâ justificari qualem justificationem impii Deus pronunciat esse abominationem Prov. 17. Isa 5. Sed dicimus necesse esse ut in justificatione intercedat interveniat justitia Et quidem non qualiscanque-justitia sed talis quae in judicio Dei sufficiens digna sit ut justa pronuncietur ad vitam aeternam Chemn exam Conâ— Trid. So that if a man will be justified he must be able to produce such a compleat righteousness as wherewith he may stand before the justice of God This is a matter very seriously to be weighed because multitudes deceive themselves herein They hope God will forgive them because he is a God of mercy and of unspeakable compassions but they never consider what entertainment the justice of God will give them nor how they shall stand before his righteousness Why man remember The Lord is infinitely just as well as merciful and if ever thy sins be pardoned it must be by an admirable contemperament or mixture of mercy and justice together I will not enter upon the debate of that question which some have ventilated whether God in his absolute soveraignty could not have forgiven sin meerly as an act of grace without the sinners producing any satisfaction to justice Suffice it us to be assured That God will not and supposing his word and purpose he cannot for he is a God that cannot lie that cannot change or vary in his determinations It was one of the great ends of the Gospel dispensation that God might exalt his justice in the justification of a sinner Rom. 3.26 3. The only matter of mans righteousness since the fall of Adam wherein he can appear with comfort before the justice of God and consequently whereby alone he can be justified in his sight is the obedience and sufferings of Jesus Christ the righteousness of the Mediator There is not any other way imaginable how the justice of God may be satisfied and we may have our sins pardoned in a way of justice but by the righteousness of the Son of God And therefore this is his name Jehovah Tzidkennu The Lord our righteousness Jer. 23.6 This is his name that is this is the prerogative of the Lord Jesus a matter that appertains to him alone to be able to bring in everlasting righteousness and to make reconciliation for iniquity Dan. 9.24 All our obedience to the Law and the good works we can perform throughout the whole course of our lives can never be a sufficient righteousness for us Alas what are they even all out righteousnesses put together but as a
Christ's mind is placed and act in the like manner as his acteth Their hearts must be moulded into the same frame with his heart and so I might instance throughout the whole man Christ must be formed in them Gal. 4.19 And Phil. 2.5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus They must be so clothed with his divine qualities that it may be said they have put on the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 13.14 2. There must be conformity to the sufferings of his death in a spiritual sense As Christ died for sin so Believers must die unto sin As our Lord Jesus was put to a painful lingring and ignominious death in like sort must their corruptions be mortified and killed For Mark it Sirs The death and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus is not only the meritorious cause through which sin is mortified and a strong evangelical reason why it should be mortified but it is also the pattern and exemplar according to which it is done In the very same way and manner as Christ was put to death for us so are our lusts and corruptions to be crucified within us Hereby we are rendred conformable unto his death Phil. 3.9 and planted together into the â—â—keness of his death Rom. 6.5 3. There must be conformâ—y to the Lord Jesus in his resurrection and ascension into heaven As he rose again from the dead and went up into heaven never to return to corruption any more so must the hearts of believers be raised unto spiritual objects and their affections set upon things that are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Col. 3.1 Their hearts must be withdrawn from sin and the world never to be ingaged upon them any more but they must live as persons that are revived and made partakers of a new life Rom. 6.4 As he was raised from the dead by the glory of the father even so must we also walk in newness of life 4. Believers must be made conformable unto Christ in the holiness of his conversation They must tread in his steps doing the same work as he did and acting upon the same principles and motives as he acted upon and carrying on the same designs as Christ carried on and serving the Lord in the like manner with cheerfulness delight and alacrity as he served him Eph. 5.2 Walk in love as Christ also loved us And Rom. 15.1 2 3. We ought not to please our selves but every one his neighbour for his good to edification for Christ also pleased not himself c. 5. They must expect to be made conformable to Christ in the troubles and persecutions that befel him upon the earth Therefore it is called a suffering with him that is the same things and in like manner as he suffered Rom. 8.17 If we will be faithful unto Christ we must look to meet with the like usage as he met with and to go through many tribulations into the Kingdom of God This is the second thing to be noted under this comparison 3. According to the purport and tenour of this similitude taken from the foundation and the building Our faith which is the uniting grace is a resting upon Christ and his righteousness The stones are joyned to the foundation by being laid upon it and there resting So when we lay the stress of our salvation upon Christ and cast our burden upon him and there stay our selves as upon a rock thereby we are united unto Jesus and made one with him By nature we are as rough unpolished stones in a quarry without any relation to Christ Now the work of conviction may be compared to the unsettling of these stones and humiliation and legal terrors upon the heart are the hewing of these stones By the first they are removed out of the Quarry and by the other their ruggedness is pared away The grace of conversion is as the fitting and polishing the stones for the building and faith is a putting them upon the foundation and their resting upon it As by the cement of love the stones are coupled one to another so by faith they are knit unto the foundation By the Spirit they are brought unto Christ and so stay upon him Isa 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant and walketh in darkness and hath no light Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God Rom. 9.33 Behold I lay in Sion stumbling stone and rock of offence and whosoever believeth on him shall not be confounded Mark it As Christ is a foundation to his people so he is a rock of offence to them that are disobedient they split themselves against this rock they stumble and fall and are broken in pieces If you would be saved by him you must by faith rest upon this foundation For whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2.4 5. To whom coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house c. See likewise Eph. 2.21 22. This is all that I shall speak under the sixth general Head for the illustration of this Mystery of Union with Christ by those similitudes which the holy Ghost hath made choice of to this purpose That which remains further is the Application of the Point CHAP. X. Inferences drawn from the Doctrine of Union with Christ The excellency and dignity of Believers The peculiarity of the providence of God towards them The miserable estate of Christless sinners FOr Application or practical improvement of this Doctrine I will manage it under these three Heads By way of 1. Information 2. Examination 3. Exhortation 1. By way of Information What are the practical Inferences which may be deduced from this Point of a Believers union with the Son of God and the necessity thereof I will not aim at the ingrossing of all that might be taken in upon this fruitful and spiritual subject Only I shall select these three Inferences which naturally arise from what hath been delivered 1. If believers are united unto Christ and made one with him in order to their salvation then hence I gather That they are the most honourable and most excellent persons upon the face of the earth Why Because they are united unto the Son of God and accordingly they should have the greatest esteem of us and be most precious and lovely in our eyes It is the character of a man that shall see the Lord in Sion that he contemneth a vile person but he honoureth them that fear the Lord Psal 15.1 4. Now here is that which maketh them right honourable above all their fellow-creatures they are intimately joyned unto Christ So that the Saints which are in the earth are the excellent of the earht Psal 16.3 more excellent than their neighbours than all that dwell round about them Prov. 12.26 You know the excellency or worthlessness of any
me to wrath who am able to break thee in pieces like a potters vessel Think of it Saul as if Christ had said it is a dangerous way which thou art in it is a miserable imployment thou spendest thy pains about thou art but kicking against the pricks contending with one * Sententia est proverbialis à bobus out equis sumpta qui dum stimulis punguntur calcitrando nihil proficiunt nisi quod stimulis altius infixis malum duplicant that is too strong for thee for it is Jesus whom thou persecutest 4. Do not neglect to give believers what help and furtherance you can in their pilgrimage Be ready to shew them any kindness that lieth in your way to shew them and to contribute what relief and assistance soever you are able to minister upon any occasion for they are united unto Christ intimately acquainted with him and neerly related to him So that the Lord Jesus will take it kindly at your hands whatever friendship you shew to his people Art thou a Lawyer Plead their cause Art thou a Magistrate Protect their persons against the Sons of violence Break the jaws of the wicked and pluck the spoil out of their teeth Art thou a private person and hearest the godly traduced and their profession bespattered Endeavour to vindicate them and what in thee lieth to clear up their innocency Art thou a man whom God hath intrusted with wealth and riches Why then as thou hast opportunity do good to all but especially to the houshold of faith For they are members of Christ and thou shalt in no wise lose thy reward Christ hath all the blessings in the world put into his hauds to distribute and in the distribution of his doles of bounty be sure he will not forget such as have shewed kindness to his servants he will recompence them to the full the smallest courtesie done to the Saints shall not be forgotten Mark 9.41 Whosoever shall give you a cup of cold water to drink in my name because ye belong to Christ verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward He hath promised to reward those that feed their enemies when they are hungry and give them water to drink when they are thirsty and will he not much more reward such as relieve and shelter his own Saints and people Prov. 25.21 22. They are united to him what kindness is shewed unâ—o them is reckoned as if it were shewed to our Lord Jesus Christ A little to press home these Exhortations let me intreat you to consider these four moving considerations Cons 1. Holy men and women who study to please the Lord and to walk in integrity before him are the very pillars of a Nation by which it is upheld They are the main props and supporters of the places where they live of the families wherein they dwell It is for their sakes that mercies are continued unto a people or kingdom and judgments are kept off from falling down upon them to their utter desolation and ruine So that it concerns you to seek their good and to incourage them in their holiness as you tender your own welfare Were it not for the servants of Christ you would quickly be in a miserable case And therefore when God doth gather his own people unto himself it is usually the forerunner of some sore calamity Isa 57.1 The righteous is taken away from the evil to come Plainly intimating that it was their presence which staved off vengeance for a time and when they are called home then the floud-gates of wrath are set open It is upon their account that God doth restrain the wickedness of men that they are not as monsters and devils one to another and that he doth with-hold the pouring out his wrathful indignation You know what he saith in relation to Sodom whose sin was grievous and the cry of it was great and went up to heaven yet if there had been ten righteous persons in it the place had been spared for their sakes And however nothing could be done against it till righteous Lot was gone forth Gen. 18.32 Gen. 19.22 23 24. Indeed sometimes the wickedness of a place is so excessively heinous that it is beyond the prayers of the godly The most eminent persons in holiness shall not prevail for the sparing it Though Noah Daniel and Job were in it they shall deliver but their own souls by their righteousness Ezek. 14.13 14. Yet in many cases they are instrumental by their presence and prayers not only to deliver themselves but to keep off vengeance from others And will you root them out who are the means of your preservation You think they are these precise persons who speak so much of Religion and are more strict than others that hinder your mirth and jollity What brave times of pleasure should you have were it not for these Precisians who are as thornes in your sides and rubs in the way of your rejoycings and merriment But Sirs if you believe the Scriptures it is evident that were it not for the godly amongst you you might soon expect to fall under the saddest dispensations and to have the sluces of the fury of the God of heaven set wide open upon you As soon as Noah was arkt the floud swept away the world of the ungodly As soon as Lot was lodg'd in Zoar it rained fire and brimstone as it were hell from heaven upon Sodom and Gemorrah And mark what our Saviour speaketh of Gospel-times Mat. 24.22 Except those dayes should be shortened there should no flesh be saved But for the elects sake those dayes shall be shortened Were it not upon the account of the servants of God who are converted and such as hereafter are to be converted the tribulation would prove like a sweeping rain that leaveth nothing behind it So that it concerns you in point of wisdom to love and cherish the Saints and to take heed that they be not wronged For they are the best subjects in a Kingdom the best neighbours in the places where they abide the best relations and servants you can get into your families they bring the blessing of heaven along with them Gen. 30.27 Gen. 39.5 They are the best friends you can have for they will be friends to your souls So that I may allude to that passage of the Lord to Abimelech Gen. 20.7 Restore the man his wife for he is a Prophet and shall pray for thee and thou shalt live Shew kindness to the godly for they are favourites in the Court of heaven intimately acquainted with God yea united to Christ the Son of God They will pray for thee and be instrumental to avert and turn away judgments from thee and to bring down blessings upon thy head if not to save thy precious and immortal soul Cons 2. It is a shrewd sign that you are persons intended for uttâ—r extirpation and ruine when God doth make use of you as scourges to afflict his Saints and
foundations and therefore do not rest upon them It is Christ in you which is the hope of glory Col. 1.27 If the Lord Jesus have not taken up his residence in you by the workings of the holy Ghost and if you are not implanted into him all your hopes of salvation will vanish and come to nothing whatever other foundations you build upon I will instance in divers things which carnal persons are apt to rely upon 1. Church-membership and such spiritual advantages as have a dependance thereupon are but a sandy foundation though many lay the stress of their hopes upon this bottom They expect to be saved because they were born in the Church and are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus they enjoy the presence of Gospel Ordinances and give their attendance upon them Surely think they it cannot go amiss with our souls who hear Christ's word and are present at his institutions and belong unto the Church however it fareth with Heathens and infidels But mind it Sirs these things may be without having the Son which is of indispensable necessity to eternal life A man may be visibly a member of the Church of Christ and yet an utter stranger unto Christ himself the head of the Church He may externally and in appearance belong to Chris◠kingdom and yet really be a subject of the devils kingdom He may be present at the Ordinances and yet have no communion and fellowship with the Lord Jesus in his Ordinances He may be baptized with water in Christ's name and yet never taste the baptism of the holy Ghost whereby believers are spiritually knit unto him You read of the children of the Kingdom cast into outer darkness Mat. 8.12 And in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Gal. 6.15 Circumcision is put by a Synochdoche for all outward priviledges into which that Ordinance was an inlet These will never save you from hell unless you be sanctified by the Spirit of Christ and so implanted into him When the Lord cometh to execute judgment upon the ungodly he will bind the Heathen and unsanctified Church-members in the same bundle together and cast them into the lake of fire Jer. 9.25 26. He will punish the circumcised with the uncircumcised Egypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moab and all that are in the utmost corners that dwell in the wilderness For all these nations are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart Church-priviledges if not rightly improved will be as oyl to make the flames of hell fire burn hotter upon thee But they will avail nothing to save thee from hell except thou be married unto Christ the head of the Church 2. Great measures of the knowledge of the will of God and an insight into the doctrines revealed in the Scriptures are a sandy foundation whereupon to build your hopes of eternal life For they are to be found in persons that were never ingraffed into Christ A man may know much of the doctrines of Christianity when yet he never was taught the truth as it is in Jesus There may be a clear head to apprehend the principles of Religion and yet an unclean and unsanctified heart He may discourse understandingly to the edification of others of such mysteries of godliness as he never felt the power of in himself He may know many things touching the Son that never learnt of the Father so as to be drawn unto the Son And indeed all the knowledge of hypocrites is no knowledge in Gods account and will only serve to double the stripes * Melius est ergo utilius idiotas parum scientes existere per charitatem proximum fieri Deo quam putare multum scire multa expertos in suum Deum blasphemos inveniri Iraen adv haer wherewith they shall be beaten Luke 12.47 He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him 1 Joh. 2.4 If a sinner did truly know the excellency of Christ he could not but love him and thirst after his righteousness he would never be at rest in his spirit till he had secured his interest in him and were able to call him his Lord and his Saviour Joh. 4.10 3. Some inclination in the affections towards the things of God is not a sufficient ground whereupon to build our hopes of eternal life For it may consist with an estate of estrangedness and separation from the Lord Jesus Christ and there is no salvation by the Son without having the Son A man may rejoyce at Christ's word that doth not give up himself in sincerity to be his servant He may see a loveliness and excellency in the wayes of holiness that was never wrought up to an actual walking in those wayes Wemeet with John Baptist's hearers that they were willing for a season to rejoyce in his light Joh. 3.35 He was a powerful and affectionate Preacher and his doctrines raised up some flashy joy in their spirits that heard him when yet the word took not such root as to make them fruitful So many who attended upon the Ministery of Christ wondered as the Text saith at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth and yet never felt a gracious work upon their hearts as is evident from the sequel of their carriage towards him Luke 4.22 A sinner may be warmed at the fire of Gospel-truths that hath not his lusts and corruptions consumed thereby 4. Comparative righteousness is a sandy foundation of hopes of eternal life Although many persons imbarque in this bottom They are better than others and wallow not in that filthiness wherewith multitudes are defiled and therefore their inward thought is that certainly their condition is good however it fare with such and such profane persons But mark it Sirs this is no proof of unior with Jesus Christ you may be better than others comparatively i. e. not so bad as others and yet enemies to the Son of God and the power of godliness For there are different ranks and degrees of impenitent sinners but all of them in the same state of damnation There was none of the Kings of Israel like unto Ahab and yet many of them were bad enough being servants of the devil and such as promoted his interest though not at that rate as Ahab did 1 King 21.25 He may die of a Feaver that never had such violent paroxysms as others have felt So a sinner may perish in his iniquity who yet is not so notorious for impiety as some others are This the Pharisee could have pleaded nay it was the foundation which he bunt upon Luk. 18.11 God I thank thee that I am 〈◊〉 as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican And yet he went down to his house a condemned person All that can be said for the comfort of such a one is this
non omnibus sed iis qui in illum aspiciebant Non quod aspectus medicamentum esset sed quod virtus serpentis per aspectum in iis sanitatem operaretur Ita Christas in cruce exaltatus virtutem passionis suae in iis exercet qui credunt in ipsum Tolet. in Rom. 3. Rom. 3.24 25. Faith doth not justifie a sinner as the hand of a labourer doth enrich him but as the hand of a beggar * Non ut manus laborantis sed ut manus mendicantis Fidem dicimus justificare correlativè hoc est per modum instrumenti quod justitiam evangelicam extra nos in Christo constitutam apprehendit nobis applicat Wendel system majus who is enriched by a free gift which he receiveth with his hand We are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by virtue of the satisfaction which he hath made faith only doth knit us legally unto Christ and implant us into him that we may receive the benefit of that satisfaction 1 Cor. 6.11 Act. 13.39 Rom. 5.1 9 10. 2. Set upon the discharge of those duties which are upon this account to be discharged That is to say 1. Bless the Lord for the manifestation of this great mystery and that your lot is fallen in such times and places when and where it is discovered and set open before your eyes For as the Apostle speaketh It is a mystery which hath been kept hid from ages and generations but is now made manifest unto his Saints To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory Whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus Col. 1.26 27 28. 2. Adore the condescention and grace of our Lord Jesus who was pleased to humble himself to come down to us that we might be exalted unto a state of oneness with him Especially if thou art partaker of this grace how should thy heart be ravished in the contemplation of it Thou shouldst be ready to cry out with an holy astonishment of Spirit as David in another case 2 Sam. 7.18 Who am I O Lord God my Redeemer and my Saviour Where is any loveliness in my person or what have I deserved at thy hands that thou hast brought me hitherto 3. Take heed to your selves that you do not fall short of this grace and priviledge Labour every day more and more to clear it up to the consolation of your hearts that you have the Son by being united unto the Son And to that purpose besides what hath been mentioned already seriously weigh and ponder these three further evidential properties of such as are in Jesus 1. If you be knit unto Christ you will be sharers with him in all his concernments You will be affected with his interest and affairs as if it were your own If Christ be advanced it will rejoyce your hearts and if his name be dishonoured or his glory be ecclipsed it will bring trouble and sadness upon your spirits If you are in Christ you will joyn interests with him and you will have * Amici sunt qui simul laetantur commodis contristantur adversis quibus eadem bona malae sunt qui sunt iisdem amici inimici common friends and enemies with the Lord Jesus You will be able to say in a measure with Paul it matters not what becomes of my secular concernments so that Christ be magnified Phil. 1.20 And with David The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me And in another place Do not I hate them that hate thee O Lord Am not I grieved with them that rise up against thee I hate them with a perfect hatred I count them mine enemies Psal 139.21 22. 2. If you are ingraffed into Christ you will not walk in any way of ungodliness whatsoever For whosoever abideth in him sinneth not i.e. he doth not sin allowedly and presumptuously at the rate as wicked men sin Compare 1 Joh. 3.6 with 2 Sam. 22.22 23. 3. Lastly If you are united to the Son of God you will not only readily close with his word but continue stedfast and unmoveable therein unto the end Joh. 15.7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you 1 Joh. 2.5 Whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected Hereby we know that we are in him Whoso keepeth his word that is he that hideth it as a treasure in his heart and walketh by the guidance of it in his wayes and will not part with the word nor with the way of holiness therein prescribed notwithstanding all assaults and opp sitions of men and devils In him verily is the love of God perfected i.e. then it doth appear to be love of the right kind and then it hath attained its end which is the perfection of it For to this end is the grace of love planted in the hearts of Christs seed that they may cheerfully obey his word and precepts and stick close thereunto at all times and seasons Hereby we know that we are in him that is If we keep his word and stedfastly cleave unto Christ and to the doctrines which he hath taught For as it is in the second Epistle of John v. 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ he both hath the Father and the Son Orig. hom in Gen. cap. 19. Si vis amplecti amplectere sapientiam dic sapientiam sororem tuam esse ut sapientia dicat de te Qui fecerit voluntatem Patris mei qui est in coelis hic meus frater soror mater est Quae sapientia Jesus Christus Dominus noster est cui est gloria imperium in secula seculorum Amen FINIS Courteous Reader By reason of the Authors absence from the Press many literal mistakes and some errors in pointing have happened for which a pardon of course is expected Such Errata as most disturb or alter the sense are here noted Errata PAge 2. The quotation is by the Printer misplaced p 6. l 6. for either r. one p. 22. l. 10 for compare r. comport p. 36. l. 27. r. are p. 37. l. 25. and in some other places for closs r. close p. 40. l. 22. dele un p. 61. l. 17. r. distinguished p. 85. l. 26. r. into p. 94. l. 29. r. him p. 106. in the quotation r. tentat p. 118 l. 2. r. from p. 135. l. 27. dele q.d. p. 136. l. 23. r. Temporary p. 137. l. 10. dele who in the quotation r. testes p. 149. l. 8. r. in both l. 26. r. hungring in the quotation r. unimur p. 212. l. 31. r. naturally p. 219. l. 2. l. 6 for might r. may p. 239. l. 17. r. the p. 253. In the quotation