place either expresly or implicitly to direct our prayers to God the Father that he would be pleased to forgive us our sins to be reconciled unto us and bestow such blessings upon us as he hath promised to such as shall be reconciled unto him In the Second place either expressly or implicitly we are to beseech him to forgive us our sins to be reconciled and blesse us for the merits of his only Son who hath made satisfaction for us This is a Point which every Christian is bound expressely to believe that God the Father doth neither forgive sins nor vouchsafe any Term or Plea of Reconciliation but only for the merits and satisfaction made by the sacrifice of the Son of God who by the eternal spirit offered himself in our humane nature upon the Crosse In the next place we are to believe and acknowledge that as God the Father doth neither forgive nor vouchsafe Reconciliation but for the merits and satisfaction of his only Son so neither will he vouchsafe to conveigh this or any other blessing unto us which his Son hath purchased for us but only through his Son not only through him as our Advocate or Intercessor but through him as our Mediator that is through His humanitie as the Organ or Conduit or as the only Bond by which we are united and reconciled unto the Divine Nature For although the Holy Spirit or Third Person in Trinitie doth immediately and by Personal Proprietie work faith and other spiritual Graces in our Souls yet doth he not by these Spiritual Graces unite our souls or Spirits immediately unto himself but unto Christs Humane Nature He doth as it were till the ground of our hearts and make it fit to receive the seed of life But this seed of righteousnesse immediately flows from the Sun of Righteousnesse whose sweet influence likewise it is which doth immediately season cherish and ripen it The Spirit of life whereby our Adoption and Election is sealed unto us is the real participation of Christs Bodie which was broken and of Christs Blood which was shed for us This is the true and punctual meaning of our Apostles speech 1 Cor. 15. 45. The first man Adam was made a living soul or as the Syriack hath it Animale Corpus an enlivened bodie but the second Adam was made a quickning spirit and immediately becometh such to all those which as truely bear his image by the Spirit of Regeneration which issues from him as they have born the Image of the first Adam by natural propagation And this again is the true and punctual meaning of our Saviours words John 6. 63. It is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you are spirit and life For so he had said in the verses before to such as were offended at his words what if you should see the Son of man ascend up where he was before The Implication conteined in the Connexion between these two verses and the precedent is this That Christs Virtual presence or the influence of life which his Humane Nature was to distil from his heavenly Throne should be more profitable to such as were capable of it then his Bodily presence then the bodily Eating of his flesh and blood could be although it had been convertible into their bodily substance This distillation of life and immortalitie from his glorified Humane Nature is that which the Ancient and Orthodoxal Church did mean in their Figurative and lofty speeches of Christs Real presence or of eating His very Flesh and drinking His very Blood in the Sacrament And the Sacramental Bread is called His Bodie and the Sacramental Wine His Blood as for other reasons so especially for This that the vertue or influence of his Bloody Sacrifice is most plentifully and most effectually distilled from heaven unto the worthy Receivers of the Eucharist And unto this Point and no further will most of the Testimonies reach which Bellarmin in his books of the Sacraments or Maldonat in his Comments upon the sixth of Saint John do quote out of the Fathers for Christs Real Presence by Transubstantiation or which Chemnitius that Learned Lutheran in his Books De duabus in Christo naturis and de Fundamentis sanae doctrinae doth avouch for Consubstantiation And if thus much had been as distinctly granted to the Ancient Lutherans as Calvin in some places doth the controversie between the Lutheran and other Reformed Churches had been at an end when it first begun Both Parties acknowledging Saint Cyrill to be the fittest Umpire in this Controversie The end of the Third Chapter A Transition of the Publisher's IT must not be dissembled that I had no Intimation much lesse Commission of the Author's to Insert the Two following Chapters herein this place Yet besides that I knew not of any fitter place where to dispose of them I had these Reasons so to do 1. I held it fit that His Powerful Disputes against the Church of Rome about The Lords Supper in the fourth Chapter and about another Point in the fifth should immediately follow his Learned Argument with the Lutheran 2. The sequence seems very Methodical The Subject of the first Chapter being partly About Christs Exaltation by becoming The Chief Corner-Stone cut out of the Rock or quarrey by his Resurrection from The New Scpulchre lifted up by his Ascension and placed at the Chief Corner by his Sitting at Gods Right-hand and partly about The Union of Christ with true Christians which Union is both a Considerable part of the fourth Chapter and was happily touched upon in the Close of the Third 3. In case any Restive soul should perhaps some faint Dejected Spirit having read Christs Great Exaltation may say Who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above Such an one besides the quickenings he may hear from other Remembrancers Saint Peter telling us that we are pilgrims here and Saint Paul that we seek a Countrie and look for a Citie Jerusalem that is Free and that being Fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of Gods hous-hold our Conversation or Traffick is to be in heaven for those things which are above where Christ sitteth at Gods Right-hand c. may receive mightie encouragement by Experimenting the Contents of these two next Chapters The avowed neer approach and Intimacie of our Lord Jesus Christ with the Believing and Receiving Christian The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart When the holy Sacramental pledges be in the mouth and Faith in the heart The Word the Eternal Word that was made flesh is nigh indeed For Verily Verily He that eateth my Fesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in Me and I in Him CHAP. 1111. A Paraphrase upon the sixth of St. John In what sense Christ's flesh is said to be truly Meat c. What it is To eat Christs Flesh and drink his Blood Of eating and drinking Spiritual and Sacramental And whether of them is meant
gracious words of others in his behalfe will not suffice unless God by their praiers do frame his heart to beleive and move his tongue if God have given him the use of the tongue to Confess that Iesus Christ is the Lord. Corde creditur ad justitiam ore fit confessio ad salutem If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt beleive in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man beleiveth unto righteousnes and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10. 9 10. The Universalitie or extent of this Belief or Confession in respect of the parties whom it concernes is most fully exprest in the verse following For the Scripture saith Esa 28. 16. Whosoever believeth on him shall not make haste or not be ashamed And again Joel 2. 32. Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord whether he be Jew or Gentile shall be saved Thus you see that there is an universalitie of the parties or persons which are bound de Jure to make this Confession and an Universalitie of comfortable promises unto all such as make it as they ought that is not in tongue only but with the Heart not in heart only if God have given them the use of the heart and of the tongue or his blessings of memory and understanding 4. That besides this universality of persons confessing Christ with their tongues to be the Lord there is an Universalitie or Totality of duties to be performed by every one that confesseth Christ to be the Lord is evident from Iesus Christ our Lords own mouth Luke 6. 46. Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say This speech infers thus much at least That though all other both Jews Gentiles even every tongue throughout the world had confessed as much as these his present Disciples of which some were temporary some perpetual Professors did yet this would not suffice to make them capable of the reward universally promised to his true Disciples and servants That this confession though made by every tongue besides was not sufficient to make any particular man capable of the reward promised to all his true servants that are capable of his words and sayings which was not ready and willing to do them That every one which heard his sayings and was willing to do them was truly capable of all the blessings which he promised is clear from his words following ver 47 48 49. Who so cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doth them I will shew you to whom he is like He is like a man which built an house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a Rock And when the flood arose the stream brake violently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon a Rock But he that heareth and doth not is like unto a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruine of that house was great But our Lord and Saviours mind is by himself more fully exprest to this purpose Math. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven The limitation of these words as well for their negative as affirmative extent is this That neither every one nor any one of them which shall confess onely with their tongues that he is the Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven This limitation of the Negative or rather our Assurance of Faith that this negative is thus far to be extended is manifest from the verse following For to prophesie in the Name of Christ is more than to confesse with the tongue only that Christ is Lord. To cast out Divels in the Name of Christ is more then to prophecie in his Name To do many works of wonder in Christs Name is more than to cast out Devils in his Name For to cast out Divels indeed is a wonderful work and yet but One of those wonderful works which then and for many years after were done in Christs Name by such as although they did call Christ Lord Lord as he truly is the Lord of all were not Christs true servants not such as Christ will take notice of or approve as better but rather reject as worse then Infidels in that last and dreadful day when he shall call his servants whether de jure or de facto to a final account For so it is expressed in the words following ver 23 23. Many will say unto me in that day and the more the better so their plea were good Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works And then will I professe unto them I never knew you that is I never approved of you but rather disapproved you and your works as worse then the works of heathens or heathenish workers For unto the Heathens as Heathens he hath not said that he will say in the last day Depart from me Ye Workers of iniquity That the Affirmative extent of his words to such as shall not only with their tongues confess but in heart and practice acknowledge him to be the Lord is as large and ample as his former threatnings to such as either indeed and facts deny him or with their tongues and lips do not confess him to be the Lord his promise in the next words ver 24. will give us full assurance Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock And thus you see The words of our Lord and Savior confirmed by the mouthes of two Authentick witnesses St. Matthew and St. Luke do warrant the truth of these two Universals That never a one of such as onely with the tongue confess him to be the Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That every one which in heart confesseth him though with tongue he cannot confess him to be the Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven For every one which doth the will of his Father which is in heaven and the doing of this his heavenly Fathers will here is not an act of the Tongue but of the heart and of the affections shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven which is the place and seat appointed for all Christs true Servants and onely for them The onely question then remaining is What this Will of his heavenly Father is what it is to do it 5. This will of His heavenly Father is either General whatsoever is expressed in the Ten Commandements in the moral Law or in the Prophets or more Special as it is revealed in Christ or by Christ Did Christ then give us a New Law or other precepts then God by Moses had done
and Dignity of Lord and to put on The Affection of a Priest perpetually to make intercession on our behalf for Remission of sins past Rom. 3. 26. and for Grace whereby for the future we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Seeing then we have so great an High Priest Let us hold fast our Profession And let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and finde grace to help in time of need Worthy is THE LAMB that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honor and Glory and Blessing Revel 5. 12. And THE LAMB shall overcome them for He is LORD OF LORDS and KING OF KINGS Rev. 17. 14. SECTION III. Of Christs coming to Judgement 2 Cor. 5. 10. For we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ That every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Acts 17. 30. But now God commandeth all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given all men assurance in that he raised him from the dead Daniel 7. 9. Rom. 14. 9. To this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living We shal All stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ Every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God Revel 20. 12. CHAP. IX THe First Words contain an undoubted Maxim or principal Article of our Faith yea such a Plurality of Articles of Christian Belief that I could not choose fitter for continuation of my former Argument concerning Christs Lordship or Dominion And His Dominion as was said before was A Dominion both of Property and of Jurisdiction We are his servants not our own Men as we say we may not dispose of our own souls or bodies much less of our bodily imployments or endeavours as We please but as He pleases Or in case we wrong him by alienating the imployments of our bodies or of our souls from his service who hath the full Dominion of Propertie we cannot exempt our selves from his Dominion of Jurisdiction to which all flesh is lyable without Appeal Now of his Dominion of Jurisdiction or of his Royal Power over us the Exercise of Final Judgment is the Principal Part And of this Judgment the general Sum or Abstract is contained in 2 Cor. 5. 10. Before I enter upon the Particulars therein contained I am in General to advertise That albeit the Scripture be such A Compleat Rule of Christian Faith That neither those which are appointed to interpret the Scriptures ought to propose or commend any point or doctrine as an Article of Faith unto others nor are others bound to believe any thing as a Point of Faith unless it be either expresly contained in the Scriptures or may out of the express testimonies of them be deduced by infallible Rules of Reason and Art Yet in the things believed because contained in Scripture there is a Difference to be observed Some things we believe without any Ground at all besides the meer Authority of Scriptures Other things we beleive from the Authority of Scriptures too yet so as we have the truth which the Scriptures teach concerning them ensealed unto us by Experiments answering to the Rules of Scriptures And these Experiments be of two sorts Either Observable in the general Book of Nature and course of times or Observable in our selves Of this later rank are the Articles of the Godhead of the Creation of Divine Providence of Original Sin of Final judgment and of Life and Death everlasting The Being of a Godhead or Divine Power the very Heathens which knew not Scriptures did in some sort believe of Gods Providence and of Judgment after this life the Heathens likewise had divers Notions which were as rude materials or stuffe unwrought The frame or fashioning of which Notions into true and Christian Belief cannot otherwise be effected then by the Rules of Scripture which are The Lines by which the structure or edifice of Faith must be squared or wrought Now whatsoever the Heathens without the help of Scriptures or Divine Revelations did believe or conceive concerning the Points mentioned Every Christian man which doth believe the Scriptures though but by an historical Faith may much better believe and conceive by the help of Scriptures albeit his affections be not as yet sanctified by the Spirit of Grace although he be but in the Estate of a meer Moral or Natural man so he be not delivered up unto a Reprobate sense The Branches then of my Meditations concerning this Grand Article of Christs coming to Judgment shall be in general These First Of the Natural Notions which the Heathens had and which every natural man so his Conscience be not seared may have Experienced in himself of a Final Judgment after this life or of a Recompence according to his wayes or works The Second By what Authoritie of Scriptures the Exercise of this Final Iudgment is appropriated to Christ The Third The manner of Christs coming to Iudgment The Fourth The parties that are to be Iudged to wit the Quick and the Dead The Fifth The Sentence or Award of this great Iudge and that is Everlasting Life or Everlasting Death Thus you see Three Principal Articles of Our Creed to wit This of Christs coming to Iudge the quick and the dead and the Two last viz. The Resurrection of the body and The life everlasting are so link't together that they cannot be so commodiously explained in several as they may be in this proposed Link or Chain CHAP. X. Of the Natural Notions which the Heathens had and the Internal Experiments which every true Christian may have answering to these Notions of a Final Judgment 1. THe Notions which the Heathens had of a Iudgment to passe upon them after this life were of Two Sorts Either Implicite and Indirect such â—s give better Testimony to us then they made of it to themselves or Direct and Express though indefinite and imperfect and mingled for the most part with some errour And these Later are most frequent in the ancient heathen Poets Many of whose Testimonies to this purpose are so Express and direct that they may well seem to have been taken from some scattered Traditions of that truth which God had revealed unto the Patriarchs before the Law was written or from the written Law it self which it is probable Plato with some other Philosophers and Poets had read at the least received at the second hand However unless the truth concerning this point delivered in Scriptures had been imperfectly implanted in mens hearts by nature these meer natural men could not have submitted their Assent or Opinions unto it That not the ancient Poets onely but the ancient Philosophers had an
the widdow These indeed are works of iniquity and deserve Exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven But is it a Work of iniquity not to work at all As not to give meat unto the hungry Not to give drink unto the thirstie Not to cloath the naked or lodge the harbourless Yes even these Omissions deserve Exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven Either by their connexion with sins of oppression because it is scarce possible that any which hear Christs promises should be barren of good Works unless they were too fruitful in the works of impietie and oppression or rather because as our Saviour elsewhere infers that Not to save mens lives when means and opportunitie is offered is to kill Not to feed the hungrie is a bloody sin Not to cloath the naked is as the sin of Oppression The Doing of some Good Works cannot excuse men for the Omission of others which be as necessary To prophesie in Christs name is a Gracious Work to cast out Divels is a Work of Greater Charity and comfort to the possessed then to visit the prisoners and yet such as have done these and many other wonderful Works shall not be admitted at the Last Day Besides the Goodness of the Works which we are bound to do there must be an Uniformitie in them Otherwise they are not done in Faith Now the same Faith and belief which inclines our hearts to works of one kind will incline them to the practise of every kind which we know or believe to be required at our hands by our Lord and Master That even the best Works of mercy or most beneficial unto others are not acceptable unto God unless they be done out of Faith obedience to our Masters Will is clear from our Apostles Verdict of Enoch Heb. 11. 5. Before his translation saith our Apostle he had this testimonie that he pleased God For so it is said Gen. 5. 24. that he walked with God the way by which he walked was his Good Works and Conversation but The Guide of this way and his works was his Faith So the Apostle infers without faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him ver 6. As God is the Author of goodness yea goodness it self so we cannot come unto him by any other way then by doing good to others yet that which must make even our best Works pleasing to him must be our Belief in him and in his goodness and that he is A bountiful Rewarder of all that do good The good Works even of the Heathen and of such as knew neither him nor his Providence of such as in stead of him worshipped false gods were rewarded by him but with rewards and blessings only Temporal He was their Rewarder but not himself their Reward This was the Peculiar of Abraham his friend and of Abrahams children that is of all such as do the works of Abraham out of the Faith of Abraham that is out of a lively apprehension and true esteem of his goodness Unto all such he himself shall be merces magna nimis or valdè magna Their exceeding great Reward Unto men thus qualified and only unto them it shall be said Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world This Kingdom shall be a Kingdom of everlasting bliss and yet the greatest blessedness of this Kingdom shall consist in the fruition or enjoying of the presence of this Everlasting King who is goodness it self the participation of whose goodness is the very Life and Essence of that happiness which all desire but none shall attain besides such as do His Will by well doing To be separated for ever from his presence is the source of all the miserie which shall befall the damned or accursed But from this place of our Apostle Heb. 11. 6. The Romanist alwayes ready like the spider to suck poison from such flowers in this garden of God as naturally afford honey to such as seek God labours to infer as he doth out of the words of the text That the Everlasting Kingdom here promised is the just Reward of our good works and is as properly merited as everlasting death is by the Omission of the works here mentioned or by the Positive Works of inquitie So that I should here according to my proposed method proceed unto the third point That these good works how necessary soever they be are necessary only Tanquam via ad regnum non tanquam causa regnandi only as the Way and Means which lead unto this Kingdom not as the causes of its preparation for us or of our admission unto it But for the present I chuse rather to make some use or Application of what hath been said concerning the necessity of Good Works then to dispute of their Efficacie or Causality for attaining this Kingdom intending to touch that a little more in the next Chapter though with reference to what I have spoken in the 27. and 28. Chapters 6. You see that Good Works done in faith or which is all one a Working Faith are absolutely necessarie unto salvation But are they as necessary to Justification If they be how is it said by St. Austine and approved by the Articles of the Church of England Bona opera sequuntur hominem justificatum non praecedunt in homine justificando Good works follow Justification they do not go before it This Orthodoxal Truth only imports thus much That no man can do those works which are capable of the promises before he be inabled by God to do them and that this ability to do them is from the Gift of Justifying Faith Now every one that hath this Faith in his heart is said to be Justified that is absolved from the Guilt of sins past and freed from the Tyranny and Dominion of sin by receiving this pledge or earnest of Gods mercie and in this sense is Justification taken by St. James when he saith a man is justified by works that is He is not to be accounted the Son of faithful Abraham nor may he presume upon his own Actual Justification or estate in Grace until he be qualified and enabled to do the Works of Abraham In the same sense is Justification taken by St. John Rev. 22. 11 Qui justus est justificetur ad huc Let him that is righteous be righteous still or more justified And in this sort Children or Infants are said to be Justified by the Infusion of Faith The practise of Good Works is not required to their Justification before they come to the knowledge of good and evil But neither is the apprehension or actual Belief of Gods mercies in Christ required of them Though they be justified and saved for the Merits of Christ and through his blood as we are Yet is not the Rule for Application of these Merits the same in them and
Error breeding doubt of Salvation charged upon its proper evident ground viz. Their making the intention of a Bishop essentially necessary to the Consecration of a Priest and the intention of a Priest so necessary that no Sacrament can be without it The Error of the Contrarii teaching a preposterous immature certainty of Salvation The right mean betwixt or cure of these extremities prescribed unto us by our Reformers of Blessed Memory contained in the Publick Acts of the Church 3700 40. Fourth Sermon on Rom. 2. 1. The third point How Jews Papists Protestants evidently condemn themselves while they judg the Idolatry of the Heathen 3709 41 Sermon on 2 Chron. 24. 22. The Lord look upon it and require it 3717 42. Sermon on Saint Matth. 23. v. 34 35 36. c. Wherefore behold I send unto you Prophets and Wise men That upon you may come or by which means will come upon you all the righteous blood shed c. 43. Second Sermon on this Text. 44. On 2 Kings 23. v. 26 27. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath c. 45. On S. Matth. 23. v. 37. O Jerusalem Jerusalem c. 46. Heb. 4. v. 12 13. The Word of God is quick and powerful c. A Table of the TEXTS of Holy Scripture Expounded or Illustrated in this BOOK  Genesis  3 3 4 5 3482  8 10 3404 4 10 3731 15 1 3382 18 22 23 25 3391 48 13 14 17 3308  Exodus  3 6 3456 4 11 3458 15 24 3329 16 2 3329  12 3330  43 48 49 50 c. ibid 17 3 3329 19 4 3773  16 17 18 3406 21 17 3335 3336 24 4 5 9. 3356 25 40 3310 30 11 12 15 3621 33 20 23 24 3404  Numbers  16 46 3758  Leviticus  17 13 3722 3732 19 9 3943  17 3631 23 22 3643  27 3649 25 3 3643 26 14 15. c. 3741  38 3750 3758  40 41 3755  44 45 3757  Deuteronomie  4 5 6 7 8 3373 5 29 3761 3768 8 11 3643 18 18 3748 24 19 3643 21 1 2 c. 3742  20 21 3480 29 19 3659  29 3771 32 15 3643  41 42 3412  43 3365  Judges  9 9 3348 13 22 23. 3404  1 Samuel  8 7 8. 3736  2 Samuel  2 11 3656  1 Kings  2 19 3308 14 25 3759 15 3 3759 20 35 40 3680 21  3668  2 Kings  12 2 4 3717 15 35 3760 17  3763 21 3 16 3761 22 18 19 c. 3668 et 3763 23 30 3670  2 Chronicles  6  3757 20 23 3759 23  3754 21 10 14 3760 22 1 3760 24 17 22 3753  v. 20. 3736. v. 22. 3748 3717 c. v. 17. 3686 v. 22. 3725. v. 17 18. 3718 25 14 23 27 3760 3761 26  27 6 28 22 23 32 25 26 32 24. 3633. v. 25 26. 3670 33 21 3762 34 33 35 21 c. 3670. v. 22. 3764 36 15 16 17. 3753  Ezra  9  3758  Ne ' emiah  9  3758 13 17 18 3685  Job  1 6. 3313. v. 21. 3368 19 25 3421 26 14 3377 38 6 3351  Psalms  2 2 4 8 9 c. 3363 c. 3 6 3389 9 4 6 7 3409 16 3630. v. 8 11. 3308 23 4 3389 27 1 32 1 3421 35 13 3627 37 4 3508 45 9. 3308. v. 6 7. 3312 3365 3367 46 1 3389 50 1 2 3 6 3392 57 5 11 3363  8 3364 71 3 3344 74 10 3736 78 18 3330  34 3758  38 3637 82 1 2 8 3394 89 3 4 35 36 3312  29 c. 3756 93 1 2 3392 94 1 2 3 4 3392 96 10 13 3409 97 1 6 7. 3364. 3365 v. 7. 3312 98 8 9 3409 99  3365 102  3365  19 3310. v. 25 26. 3312 103 15 3501 104 3 3402 106 6 7 3758 108 1 2 3 4 5 9 3364 109 6 7 3308 110  3363  1 3312 3315 3395 112 6 3515 114 4 3407 118 22 3350 132 11 3312 145  3365  Proverbs  1 21 c. 3780 3 9 3639 10 1 3373 11 1 3625 20 22 3610 22  3610  16 3596 28 1 3389. v. 13. 3341  Ecclesiastes  11 5 3548 12 1 3636  Isaiah  2 4 3400. v. 11. 3408 5 1 3752. v. 3 4. 3774 8 14 3346 9 19 20 3540 22 12 3628 26 1 4 3351 27 11 3777 28 16 3346 3369 30 33 3496 34 4 3408 40 6 8 3787 43 24 25 3687 45 22 23 3392 49 16 3355 53  3365 56 4 3770 57 21 3536 58 5 6 7 3496 64 1 2 3. 3409. v. 4. 3539 65 2 3 4. 3773. v. 5. 12. 3780  Jeremiah  3 3 3481 5 3 16 8  9 1 3653 23 7 8 3371 26 3731. v. 23. 3765 31 34 3399 36 6 7 3673. v. 23. 3649 45 2 3 4 5. 3648. v. 5. 3663   3672 4. Lamen 10 3667  Ezekiel  14 14 3763. v. 20. 21. 3670 18 1 2 3 c. 3738. v 4 14 15. 3758. v. 31 32. 3740 21 10 3628 24 6 3732 33 11 3771 37 4 3421  Daniel  2 44 45. 3398. v. 34. 3351 7 9 3375 3409 3410  13 3395 3397 3401 9 3758. v. 8 9 3575  Hosea  13 14 3456  Joel  2 30 31 3405. v. 32 3369 3 15 16 3405  Amos.  6 1 3627  Zephany  1 8 9 3762 2 3 3668 3 1 2 3 4 3762  Haggai  2 6 3407  Zachary  14 3 4 3403  Malachy  1 6 3637 3 2 3. 3400 3420. v. 6. 3637  9 13. 3638. v. 16. 3639 4 2 3371  Libr. Apocr   Ecclesiasticus  4 17 3487 11 27 3644 22 3 3373 34 1 2 3 3386 31 8 3644 41 1 3491  Wisdome  5 1 3389 17 11 3388  1 Maccabees  1 2 3685 6 34 3507  2 Maccabees  5 4 3406  S t Matthew  3 10 11 12 3400 4 3 3681. v. 16. 3371 5 11 12. 3560. v. 16. 3373  17 20. 3620. 3585. 3591  22 3434 7 1. 3678  12 3610 3628 3640  21 22 23 24. 3370 3592 8 31 3345 10 12 3539. v. 28. 3389 12 20 3467. v. 45. 3345 13 58 3778. v. 3. 3681 15 4 3336 16 16 19 3364  27 28. 3399 3405  18 3355 17 2 5 3400 3402 v. 6. 3405 18 23 3633 19 28 3410 20 21 3308. v. 23. 3582  24 3583 21 3752. v. 42 44. 3351 22 8 3564. v. 29. 3423 3448  31 32 3426 v. 37. 3629  45 3364 23 8 9 10. 3371. v. 29. 3684  3722. v. 32. 3723  34 35 36 37. 3725 3674 3768 24 27 29 30 3405 25 33 3308. v 34
God It could not There had been indeed an Exaltation of the bodie so assumed but none of the Nature or Person assuming it How then is the Son of God said now to be Exalted by his bodily Ascension into Heaven or by his Sitting at the Right-hand of the Father in our Nature wherein he was formerly humbled Take the Resolution plainely thus God the Father had remained as glorious as now he is although he had never created the world For the creation gave much even all they had to things created it gave nothing unto God who was in Being infinite yet if God had created nothing the Attribute of Creator could have had no real Ground it had been no real Attribute In like manner Suppose the Son of God had never condescended to take our nature upon him he had remained as Glorious in his Nature and Person as now he is yet not glorified for or by this Title or Attribute of Incarnation Or suppose he had not humbled himself unto death by taking the Form of a Servant upon him he had remained as glorious in his Nature and Person and in the Attribute of Incarnation as now he is but without these glorious Attributes of being our Lord and Redeemer and of being the Fountain of Grace and Salvation unto us All these are Real Attributes and suppose a Real Ground or foundation and that was his humbling himself unto death even unto the death of the Cross Nor are these Attributes only Real but more Glorious both in respect of God the Father who was pleased to give his Only Son for us and in respect of God the Son who was pleased to pay our ransome by his humiliation then the Attribute of Creation is The Son of God then not the Son of David only hath been Exalted since his death to be our Lord by a new and Real Title by the Title of Redemption and Salvation This is the Sum of our Apostles Inference concerning our Saviours Exaltation Phil. 2. 11. That every tongue should confesse that Jesus Christ is The Lord unto the Glorie of God the Father To shut up this Point Though Christ Jesus be both our High-Priest and Lord not only as he is the Son of David but as he is the only begotten Son of God and so begotten from all Eternitie yet was he neither begotten a Priest nor Lord from all Eternitie but made a Priest and made a Lord in time The Word of the Oath saith the Apostle Heb. 7. 28. which was since the Law maketh the Son a Priest who was consecrated for evermore And in the very same Charter wherein this Word of the Oath or uncontrollable Fiat for making the Eternal Word an Everlasting Priest is contained this Peculiar Title of Lord is first inferred For so that 110 th Psalm begins Jehovah said to my Lord Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine Enemies thy foot-stool Not that Adonai importeth lesse Honour or Majestie then Jehovah doth as the Jews and Arians ignorantly and impiously collect but with purpose to notifie that this Title of Lord or Adonai was to become as peculiar to Jehovah the Son of God as the Title of Cohen or Priest But this Title of Lord as peculiar to Christ will require and doth well deserve a peculiar discourse and the place allotted it is in the beginning of the second Section 5. Now for Use or Application These insuing Meditations and Considerations offer themselves What branch of sorrow of bodily affliction or anguish of soul or Spirit can we imagin incident to any degree condition or sort of men to any son of man at any time unto which the waters of Comfort may not plentifully be derived from this inexhaustible Fountain of Comfort comprised in This Article of Christs Sitting at the Right-hand of God the Father Almighty No man can be of so low dejected or forlorn estate for means or friends re or spe either by birth or by misfortune but may raise his heart with this Consideration that it is no servitude or beggerie but freedom or riches to be truly entitled A Servant to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings to whom Angels and Principalities as Saint Peter speaks even those Angels and Principalities to whom not Kings and Monarchs but even Kingdoms and Monarchies are Pupils are subject and his fellow servants Or in case any poor dejected soul should be surprized with distrust or jealousie lest his Lord in such infinite height of Exaltation and distance should not from heaven take notice of him thrown down to earth let him to his comfort consider That the Son of God and Lord of Glorie to the end he might assure us that he was not a Lord more Great in himself then Gracious and loving unto us was pleased for a long time to become a Servant before he would be made a Lord and a Servant subject to multitudes of publick despights disgraces and contempts from which ordinarie servants or men of forlorn hopes are freed If he willingly became such a Servant for thee to whom he owed nothing wilt not thou resolve to make a vertue of necessitie by patient bearing thy meannesse or misfortunes for his sake to whom even Kings owe themselves their Scepters and all their worldly glorie But though it be a contemplation full of comfort to have him for our Supreme Lord and Protector who sometimes was a Servant cruelly oppressed by the greatest Powers on earth without any power of man to defend or protect him yet the sweet streams of joy and comfort flow more plentifully to all sorts and conditions of men from the Attribute of his Royal Priesthood To be a Priest implies as much as to be a Mediator or Intercessor for averting Gods wrath or an Advocate for procuring his Favours and blessings * And what could Comfort her self wish more for her children suppose she had been our mother then to have Him for our perpetual Advocate and Intercessor at the Right-hand of God who is equal to God in Glorie in Power and Immortalitie and yet was sometimes more then equal unto us in all manner of anguish of grievances and afflictions that either our nature state or casual condition of life can be charged with * Albeit he knew no sin yet never was the heart of any the most grievovs sinner no not whilest it melted with penitent tears and sorrow for misdoings past so deeply touched with the fellow-feeling of his brothers miseries of such miseries as were the proper effects or fruits of sin as the heart of this our High-Priest was touched with every mans miserie and affliction that presented himself with prayers unto him his heart was as fit a Receptacle for others sorrows of all sorts as the eye is of colours Who was weak and he was not weak who was grieved and he burned not who was afflicted and he not tormented 6. There be Two more special and remarkable Maxims of our Apostles for our comfort The One Heb.
John 6. 56. Of Communion in one Kind and receiving Christs Blood per Concomitantiam Tollet's Exposition of Christs words Except ye eat And drink by Disjunction turning And into Or Confuted And Rules given for Better Expounding like places How Christ dwels in us and we in him The Application All which be seasonable Meditations upon the Lords Supper John 6. 56. He that eateth my Flesh and Drinketh my Blood dwelleth in Me and I in Him Or abideth in me and I in him 1. SEeing these words contain the Grand Mystery of godliness not only of God manifested in the Flesh but of God still with us yea dwelling in us and seeing they are withal the Conclusion or Centre of our Saviours long dispute with the murmuring Jews It will be necessarie to unfold the chief Contents of this Chapter At the tenth verse you may read how our Saviour had satisfied five thousand hungry souls with five barley loves and two fishes and filled twelve baskets with the fragments upon the Experience of this strange wonder this great multitude sought to make him their King A good Project I must confesse if we value it onely by the usual measure or aime of popular Elections What people would not be willing to have such an one for their King as were able to feed a whole Armie without Contribution Tax or Toll from them without any further toil and care either on their part or his then giving of thanks and distribution of extemporarie provision by his Ministers But besides this politick motive they had a Prenotion that their expected Messias or King should enter upon his Kingdom at the Feast of the Passover a little before which time this Miracle was wrought And it was a received Opinion as Tacitus telleth us that there should a great King about this time arise in Judah Nor did this people err much in the circumstance of time wherein their Messias should be enthron'd in the Kingdom of David for so he was at or soon after the Passover following But they utterly mistook the nature of his Kingdom and the manner of his Reign Yet in that they sought to make this man for so and no more then so they conceived him to be their King it is more then probable that they took him for their expected Messias And indeed upon sight of the Miracle which he had wrought they expressly confesse so much ver 14. This is of a truth That Prophet which should come into the world But seeing neither his Kingdome was of this world nor was he to be instated in it by the voyces and suffrages of men he who knew all times and seasons knew this was not the time of his Coronation and therfore when he perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a King he departed again into a mountain himself alone ver 15. And his Disciples being for the present discharged of their attendance crost the sea without him to Capernaum which was the place of his and their abode ver 16 17. The people which had been more then eye-witnesses of the former miracle having observed that he could not come to Capernaum where the next day they found him by ship or boat demand of him ver 25. Rabbi when camest thou hither The strange manner of his coming thither before them did it seems no lesse affect them then the former miracle though neither did affect them as was fitting for so our Saviour plainly tells them ver 26. Verily verily I say unto you ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled These were the same men which saw the miracle but in seeing it they did not see it that is they did not in heart consider that he had fed their bodies with corporal bread to no other end save only to stir up the appetite of their souls after celestial food So our Saviour testifies unto them ver 27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth to everlasting life which the Son of man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father sealed that is he was to be a King of Gods appointing not of theirs 2. Now albeit the former miracle of five loaves and two fishes had extorted that confession from them before mentioned Of a truth this is that Prophet which should come into the world yet this reproof of our Saviour's provokes them to question the validitie of their former verdict for they demand a further sign of him before they will acknowledge that he was indeed the Great Prophet or one whom they might believe was sent from God for so they say ver 30 31. What sign shewest thou then that we may see and believe thee What dost thou work our Fathers did eate Manna in the desert as it is written he gave them bread from heaven to eate The question at last comes to this issue Whether the Manna which their Fathers did eate in the wildernesse were the true bread of life or bread from heaven better then which they were not to expect Our Saviour maintaines the negative ver 32 33. Verily Verily I say unto you Moses gave you not that bread from heaven but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world All this they can well brook in Thesi or General for so they reply ver 34. Lord evermore give us this bread But when our Saviour comes from the Thesis to the Hypothesis or from the general Doctrine which they so well approved to make this particular Application I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst ver 35. They leave their questioning and fall to murmuring taking a sudden occasion or strange hint of offence at his person or Parentage Whereas before they were forward to make him their King they now reply Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know How is it then that he saith I came down from heaven vers 42. 3. Thus their fathers had murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wildernesse one while for want of bread Exod. 16. 2. accounting their estate in Egypt much better than their present condition in the wildernesse Another while they murmur for water Exod. 15. 24. And again Exod. 17. 3. Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our Children and Cattle with thirst Thus they murmured against Moses whom they had seen to work so mightie wonders And thus their foolish posteritie murmured against Him whom for the former miracle they had acknowledged the great Prophet whom God had promised to raise up unto them like unto Moses in all things and therefore like unto him in this in that he endured their murmurings against him with greater patience
not have appear'd so great in the creation of Earth and Water as it doth in the creation not of them only but of the whole heavens with all their Hosts and furniture The more Gods creatures be the greater be his praises for this Tribute he ought to receive from all of them for their verie Being In like manner though the Redemption of one or some few men do truly argue the value of his sufferings to be truly infinite yet the more they be for whom he dyed the more is his glorie the greater is his praise For all are bound joyntly and severally to laud and magnifie his Name for the infinite price of their Redemption 15. Lastly This Doctrine is so necessarie for manifesting the just measure of their unthankfulnesse which perish that without This we cannot take so much as a true Surface of it not so much as the least Dimension of Sin Some there be which tell us that we had power in Adam to Glorifie God but that finning in Adam our sin is infinite because against an infinite Majestie For so it is that the greater the Partie is whom we offend the greater always the offence is And thus by degrees they gather that everie sin against the infinite Majestie of God deserveth infinitie of Punishment But albeit the degrees of Sin which accrue from the degrees of Dignitie in the person whom we offend be successively infinite yet because these Degrees are indeterminate every man which hath any skill at all in Arguments of Proportion must needs know that it is impossible for the wit or art of man to find out the true Product of such Calculatorie Inductions or to conjecture unto what set measure of ingratitude these infinite degrees will amount It is not the ten-hundreth-thousandth part of any Sin that can be truly notifyed unto us by inferences of this kind How then shall we take the true measure of our Sinnes or the full Dimension of our unthankfulnesse From the Great Goodnesse of God in our Creation and the unmeasurable Love of Christ in our Redemption If God in our Creation as the Psalmist saies did make us but litle lower then the Glorious Angels that the might afterward crown us with Glorie everlasting if when through the First mans follie we had lost that Honour he made his Onely Son for a litle while for 33. yeares space lower then the Angels that he might exalt Him above all Principalitie and Power and in Him recrown us with Honour and Glorie aequal to the Angels Their Sin is truly infinite their unthankfulnesse is unexpressible and justly deserveth punishment everlasting who voluntarily and continually despise so great Salvation which by Christ was purchased for them No Torment can be too great no anguish too Durable because no Happiness could be in any degree comparable much lesse equal to that which they refused though treasured up for them in that inexhaustible fountain of happinesse Christ Jesus our Lord our God and our Redeemer To conclude this meditation It is a thing most seriously to be considered That though Gods mercies in Christ can never be magnified too much yet may they be apprehended amisse And that as it is most Dangerous to sink in Deep waters wherein it is the easiest to Swim so the more infinite Gods mercies towards us are the more deadly sin it is to Dallie with them or to take incouragement by the Contemplation of them to continue in Sin The contemplation of their infinitie is then most seasonable when we are touched with a feeling of the infinitenesse of our sins In that case we can not look upon them but we shall be desirous to be partakers of them and that upon such Termes as God offers them the forsaking of all our sinnes Pro. 28. 13. 16. But is this all that thou art to remember when thou art by Spirituall eating and drinking Christs flesh and blood a preparing thy self for Sacramental and Spiritual receiving him together in The Lords Supper is it enough to acknowledge that he payd as great a Ransom for thee as he did for all Mankind in general No! This is but the first part of thy Redemption and this first part of thy redemption was intirely and alsufficiently and most effectually wrought for thee before any part of thy bodie was framed before thy Soul was created it was then wrought for thee without any endeavour or wish of thine No more was required at thy hands for this work then was required of thee for thy creation But there is A second part of thy Redemption of which that saying of A Father is true Qui fecit te sine te non salvabit te sine te He that made thee without any work or endeavour of thine will not save wil not Redeem thee without some endeavour at least on thy part What then is the second part of the Redemption which wee expect that Christ should yet work in us and for us or what is the endeavour on our parts required that he should work it in us and for us The second part of our Redemption which is yet in most of us to be accomplished is The Mortification of our Bodies the diminishing the Reign of sin in them in a word our Sanctification or Ratification of our Election These are wholly Christ's workes the sole works of God for it is He that works in us both the will and the Deed and yet are we commanded to work out our own Salvation to make our Election sure But how shall we do this which is wholly Gods work or what are we to do that these works may be wrought in us Besides the renewing of the Astipulation or answer of a Pure Conscience and Resumption of our BAPTISMAL VOW heretofore mentioned we are to humble our selves mightily before the Lord by a meek acknowledgement of our vilenesse and sincere confession of our sinnes And if we so humble our selves Hee that giveth Grace to the humble will lift us up if we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse not only to remit and cover our iniquities but to purifie our hearts and renew our spirits and mindes that they shall bring forth fruits unto holinesse We are to call upon God by the prayer of faith and perseverance Turn thou us Good Lord and so shall we be turned Speak but Thou the word and Thy Servants shall be whole 17. Thus we may esteem of Christs love to us and yet not examin or judge our selves as wee ought before we eat This Bread and Drink this Cup. To examin and judge our selves aright requires these Two meditations or Two parts of one and the same meditation First How farre wee are guilty of Christ's Death by our Sinnes But this falles under the former Meditation That Christ Dyed for us all not onely all joyntly considered but for everie one in particular or as alone considered and if
stock That fatnesse is as peculiar to the Olive as sweetness to the Fig or Vine besides experience we have the authoritie of Scripture Judg. 9. ver 9. The trees went forth on a time to annoint a King over them and they said unto the Olive tree Reign thou over us But the Olive tree said unto them Should I leave my fatnesse wherewith by me they honour God and man and go to be promoted over the trees And the trees said unto the Fig tree Come thou and Reign over us But the Fig tree said unto them Should I forsake my sweetnesse and my good fruit c Yet is Christ Jesus the True Olive Tree but left his fatnesse for a time that we being by nature wild Olives might be ingrafted into him and being ingrafted might participate of his fatnesse and sweetnesse which is no other then that whereof the natural Olive is the Embleme to wit Peace even the Peace of God which surpasseth all understanding Peace was his Embassage as the Apostle saith He is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us c. And came and preached peace unto you which were afar off and to them that were nigh Eph. 2. verses 14. 17. CHAP. V. The Great Attribute of Christ His being the Chief Corner-Stone handled in the fore-going Chapter prosecuted more amply in this Christ is the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets How Christians being built upon this Foundation do grow into an Holie Temple Ephesians 2. 20 21. And are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. 1. THe Sum of our Apostles speech in this Chapter whereof these words are the Conclusion is this That these Ephesians who were Gentiles by progenie far off from God and Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel had now the priviledge of Gods Saints were fellow Citizens with them and of the houshold of God as it is ver 19. And to assure them of this Priviledge or perogative he adds ver 20. That they were built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the Chief Corner-stone Jesus Christ was the Best Foundation the only foundation which could give this prerogative to the Apostles or Prophets to be either Saints or of the houshold of God And he it is that gave to these Ephesians though by nature Gentiles and that gives to all whosoever are built upon this Corner-stone the like Priviledge a priviledge or prerogative to be native parts of that Holy Temple which Jesus Christ came down from heaven to build here on earth 2. The Points then to be discussed are Three First What is meant by the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Secondly In what manner Christ is said to be the chief Corner-stone Thirdly The manner how we are built upon the foundation here meant or upon this Corner-stone with the manner of our growth into an Holy Temple First Whatsoever be here meant by the Foundation it is not restrained to any one Prophet or Apostle The meanest Prophet is not excluded Moses and Samuel are to be numbred amongst the Prophets here meant they were no foundations of the rest Nor is Peter here included as the foundation of the other Apostles but as a joynt part of this Foundation or of the Building erected upon it whether we consider his Person or Doctrine Many Interpreters of good note understand the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets so saith Hugo Cardinalis Super doctrinam Apostolorum Prophetarum But every Sound Doctrine must have a sure Foundation What then is the Foundation of the Apostolick and Prophetical Doctrine That can be no other then the Corner-Stone here mentioned to wit Christ Jesus God and man Are not the Apostles then true foundations of this building or will not Saint Johns words Rev. 21. 14. infer thus much And the wall of the Citie had twelve foundations and in them the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. Surely neither his words nor the circumstance of the place will conclude that the twelve Apostles were the twelve Foundations but only that their names were inscribed in them So were not for ought we read the names of the Prophets nor can it be concluded that S t John did mean the self same thing by the twelve foundations that Saint Paul here doth by the foundation of the Prophets and the Apostles Saint John describes the new Jerusalem as a Citie lying four square with twelve Gates Three on the East and three on the North three on the South and three on the West bearing the Inscription of the twelve Tribes of Israel And having twelve Gates it must needs have twelve foundations that is the whole Foundation is divided into twelve parts The Apostles were in no other sense the twelve foundations than the twelve Tribes of Israel were the twelve Gates Yet foundations the Apostles might be said of this Citie in such a sense as Hesychius saith Saint Andrew was of Saint Peter because he brought him to Christ Thus the whole Christian world was by the Apostles brought unto Christ as to the only sure foundation which God had promised to lay in Sion or as the Hebraism imports on which or in which God had promised to build up Sion that is in Saint Johns language the new Jerusalem Christ then was the chief Corner-Stone on which the Prophet foretold Sion should be Re-erected the foundation on which the Apostles themselves were laid and we should no way swerve from the meaning of Saint Paul if by the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles we neither understand their persons nor their Doctrine or neither of these only or especially but the self same foundation upon which the Prophets and Apostles were built by whose vertue they grew to be living stones of this edifice For other foundation then this Corner-stone can no man lay nor did Christ himself build upon any other foundation then upon himself He is the only Foundation whether of the Apostles persons or Doctrine I am the bolder to Commend this Interpretation unto you because I see it ingenuously acknowledged by a late Learned Jesuite who I think learned it of Thomas Aquinas Superaedificati supra fundamentum Apostolorum id est Christum qui est Fundamentum Apostolorum 3. But in what sense is Christ said to be the chief Corner-Stone In the interpretation of the Original word I find the Diversitie to be greater then the real difference Some translate the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Summo angulari lapide the highest or supreme Corner-Stone which couples or bindes the Building Beza will have it imo angulari lapide the lowest stone in the corner which we call the Foundation Stone and which in Buildings especially consecrated to sacred use is commonly laid with great Solemnitie and by the hands
exposition of Scriptures doth It requires a greater skill then the skill of Alchymie to extract the true sense and meaning of the holy Ghost from the plausible glosses or expositions which are dayly made upon them But how sincerely soever the word may be delivered by the Pastor it may be corrupted by the hearer Milk as Physicians tell us is turned into purer blood with greater facilitie than any other nutriment so the body which receives it be free from humors but if the stomack or other vitall parts be stuft with Phlegm opprest with Choler or other corruption there is no nutriment which is more easily corrupted or more apt to feed bad humors than milk how pure soever it be Thus though the sincere milk of the word be not only the best but the onely nutriment of soules by which wee must grow up in faith yet if the heart which receives it from the preachers mouth sincere be pestered with corrupt affections it doth not nourish if it do not purge or purifie the corrupt humours but mingle with them they malignifie one another The speciall humours which on the hearers part corrupt the sincere milk of the word and of which every one that will be a diligent hearer must endeavour to purge his soule by repentance are set downe by S. Peter in the same Chapter vers 1. Wherefore laying aside all malice all guile and all hypocrisie and envies and evill-speakings as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word Wee must first then desire the word as Physick to purge our soules That part of the word I mean which teacheth Repentance and denyall of all ungodliness before wee can hope to grow by the milk of it that is by the comfort of Gods promises Unlesse our hearts be in good measure purified by obedience to the Generall precepts or morall duties how sincere soever the milk of the word preached be our desire of it cannot be sincere wee shall desire it or delight in it to maintain Faction or secret pride not to grow up thereby in sinceritie of mind and humblenesse of spirit which are the most proper effects of the milk of the word sincerely delivered and sincerely received SECT II. Of Christs Lordship or Dominion Phil. 2. 11. That every Tongue should Confesse that Jesus Christ is LORD to the Glorie of God the Father Acts 2. 36. Let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye Crucified both Lord and Christ Rev. 5. 13. Every Creature in heaven and earth and sea did say Blessing Honour Glorie and Power to Him that sitteth on the Throne and to The Lamb for ever ever The Degrees or Steps by which we must ascend before we enter this Beautiful Gate of the Lords House are Three First What it is to be a LORD Second Upon what Grounds or in what respects Christ is by peculiar Title called THE LORD Third How our Confession or acknowledgment of Christ to be The Lord doth redound to the Glorie of God the Father CHAP. VI. What it is to be a Lord. Though there be many called Lords yet is there but One Absolute Lord. 1. THe Title of Lord whether we take it in the Greek in the Latin or in our English is sometimes a Title only of Respect or courtesie So strangers usually salute men of place or note by the name of Dominus or sometimes of Domination it self And we usually instile the Eldest Sons of Earles by the title of Lords And all the Sons of Dukes even from their Cradles are so instiled Not to vouchsafe them this Title when we mention them were ill manners or discourtesie Howbeit even they which are bound to love them best the very parents of their bodies do not permit them to enjoy the Realities answering to these honourable Titles before their full age and for the most part till they themselves have surrendred them by death The Realitie answering to this title of Lord is Dominion Every one that hath Dominion is a Lord in respect of that over which he hath Dominion and whosoever really is a Lord is so instiled from some Dominion which he exerciseth Dominus in Latin sometimes goes for no more then our English word Owner and this is the lowest or meanest signification of the word Lord. The full Extent or highest value of the word Dominus or Lord must be gathered from the several degrees or scale of Dominion as either from the Extent of the matter or subject over which Dominion is exercised or from the Soveraigntie of Title Dominion as Lawyers define it is A Facultie or power fully to dispose of any corporal or bodily substance so far as they are not restrained by law And by how much a mans power to dispose of what he hath is lesse restrained by law by so much his Dominion over it is the greater and he in respect of it is if not so much a greater Lord yet so much more properly a Lord. But fitting it is in regard of publick good or of posteritie that most mens power to dispose of that which otherwise by full right is their own should be in certain Cases restrained Many are Lords of great Lands and may dispose of their annual profits as they please but yet cannot sell or alienate their perpetual inheritance Others have a more full power to dispose of the houses wherein they dwell a power not only to let or set them for yeers but to sell or give away the perpetual inheritance who yet are by Law restrained utterly to demolish or set them on fire especially if they be inclosed by neighbour Lodgings The Cases are many wherein Dominuim sub altiore dominio est There is a sub ordination of Lordships or Dominions some are Mean Lords some are Chief Lords Even meaner Lords or owners are not to be denyed the titles of Lords albeit they cannot alienate the soil whereof they are owners without licence of the Chief Lord much more are chief or higher Lords to be so reputed because their Dominion or power to dispose of their own Lands is lesse subordinate howbeit in some cases limited by the Rule of Law And this restraint in how few cases soever it be hinders their greatnesse from growing into absolute Dominion Lords they are but not absolute Lords This is a Title peculiar to Kings or Monarches who are so called only in respect of their own subjects or of their own Lands No meere mortal man since Adam was Lord of the whole earth or bare soveraigntie over all men or bodily substances And the greatest of men have been subject or inferiour to Angels 2. To leave other divisions of Dominion to Lawyers All Dominion is either Jurisdictionis or Proprietatis A power of Jurisdiction or a right to the Propertie The former branch of Dominion is exercised only over men or resonable creatures which only are capable of Jurisdiction passive or of Government The later branch which we call
over the souls and spirits of Kings and Monarchs over the blessed Angels under whose Guardianship the greatest Monarchs are then they have over their meanest Vassals So that His dominion extends beyond the definition given by Lawyers which comprehends only things corporal but meddles not with coelestial substances or spiritual as Angels which are not subject to the Iurisdiction of Princes nor can they be imprisoned in their coffers Men as they could not make themselves so neither can they by their valour wit or industrie gain or create a title to any thing which is not Gods and whereof he is not Absolute Lord before and after they come to be Lords and owners subordinate of it They cannot move their bodies nor imploy their minds but by his free donation nor can they enjoy his freest gifts but by his concurse or Co-operation He hath a Dominion of propertie over their souls yea an absolute dominion not of propertie only but of uncontrollable iurisdiction over their very thoughts as it is implyed Deut. 8. 17 18. He doth not only give us the substance which we are enabled to get but gives us the very power wit and strength to get or gather it Not this power only whereby we gather substance but our very Being which supports this power is his gift and unlesse our Being be supported and strengthned hy his power sustentative we cannot so much as think of gathering wealth or getting necessaries much less can we dispose of our own endeavours for accomplishing our hopes desires or thoughts To conclude then All we have even wee our selves are Gods by absolute Dominion as well of propertie as of Iurisdiction There is no Law in heaven or earth that can inhibit or restrayne his absolute Power to dispose of all things as he pleaseth for he works all things by the Counsel of his Will and He only is Absolute Lord. But absolute Lordship or Dominion how far soever extended though over Angels Powers and Principalites from this ground or universal Title of Creation is intirely jointly and indivisibly common to the Blessed Trinitie For so S. Athanasius teacheh us the Father is LORD the Son is LORD the Holie Ghost is LORD absolute Lord as well in respect of Dominion as of Jurisdiction and yet not three Lords but one Lord and if but One Lord then the Lordship or dominion is One and the same alike absolute either for intensive Perfection or Extension in the Son as in the Father in the Holy Ghost as in the Son Yet is it well observed by a judicious Commentator upon S. Pauls Epistles that to be LORD is the proper Title or Epitheton in S. Pauls Language of Christ the Son of God both God and Man and Emphatically ascribed to him even in those passages wherein he had occasion expressely to mention the distinction of Persons in the Trinitie As where he saith The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the love of God he doth not say of God the Lord and the fellowship of the Holie Ghost without addition of this title of Lord be with you all And so in our Apostles Creed we professe to Believe in God the Father Almightie without addition of the title LORD and so in God the Holie Ghost not in the Lord the Holy Ghost but in Christ our Lord. Which leades to the Second Point proposed in the Entrance to this Second Section CHAP. VII In what respects or upon what grounds Christ is by peculiar Title called The Lord. And First of the Title it self Secondly Of the Real grounds unto this Title 1. COncerning the name of Lord there is no verbal difference in the Greek or Latin whether this name or Title be attributed to God the Father as oft it is or to God the Holy Ghost unto the Blessed Trinitie or unto Christ God and Man Yet in the Hebrew there is a difference in the very Names or words The Name Jehovah which is usually rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominus or Lord is alike common to every Person in the Holie Trinitie as expressing the Nature of the God-head he that is being it self Howbeit even this Name is sometimes in peculiar sort attributed unto Christ But that Christ or the Son of God is in those places personally meant this must be gathered from the Subject or special Circumstances of the matter not from the Name or Title it self But the name Adonai which properly signifies Lord or King as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek doth implying as much as the Pillar or Foundation of the people is the peculiar Title of the Son of God or of God incarnate And for attributing this Title unto Christ as his peculiar the Apostle St. Paul had a good warrant out of the Prophetical Writings especially the Psalms which he questionlesse understood a great deal better then many great Divines and accurate Linguists have done his writings or the harmonie betwixt the Psalmists and his Evangelical Comments on them This Title of Lord Adonai is used most frequently in those Psalmes which contain the most pregnant Prophecies of Christ or the Messias his exaltation Psal 2. 2 4. The Kings of the earth band themselves and the Princes are assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ But he that dwelleth in the heavens doubtlesse he means the same Jehovah shall laugh Yet he doth not say Jehovah but Adonai the Lord shall have them in derision The Reality of Dominion answering to this Title of Lord whereunto the Messias against whom they conspired was exalted is more fully expressed in the same Psalm v. 8 9 10. Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the ends of the earth for thy possession Thou shalt crush them with a Scepter of Iron and break them in pieces like a Potters vessel Be wise now therefore ye Kings be learned ye Judges of the earth serve the Lord in fear and rejoyce in trembling Kisse the Son the Son doubtlesse of Jehovah lest he be angry and ye perish in the way when his wrath shall suddenly burn Blessed are all they that trust in him And so again Psal 45. which is as it were the Epithalamium or marriage song of Christ and his Church The Prophet exhorts the Spouse to do as Christ willed his Disciples to do and as Abraham had done at Gods Command Forget thine own people and thy Fathers house so shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty for he is the Lord reverence or worship him v. 10 11. And again Psal 110. wherein Christs everlasting Priesthood is confirmed by Oath it is said Jehovah said to my Lord Adonai sit thou at my Right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool But may not the Jew thus Object that seeing our Christ or their expected Messias is enstyled Adonai not Jehovah in these very places wherein his Exaltation or supreme Dominion is foretold That therefore he is not truly God as Jehovah is To this Objection our Saviours Reply
to the Jews which had answer'd him rightly that the Messias was to be the Son of David is unanswerable and most satisfactorie If the expected Messias were not to be the Son of God and truly God the supreme Lord as well of the dead as of the living why did David in spirit call him Lord before he was the Son of David It is a point to be observed that the Iews in our Saviours time did not or could not deny that this Psalm was literally meant of their expected Messias albeit the later Iews seek to wrest it but most ridiculously some to Ezekiah some to Abraham But that the word Adonai is of no lesse value or importance then Iehovah but only imports Iehovah or God incarnate or the Messias his Exaltation to be Lord or King may be evinced against the Iew for that the same sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving which One Psalmist solemnly offers unto Iehovah Another Psalmist or perhaps the same doth alike solemnly offer up to Adonai or to the expected Messias in another Psalm As Psal 57. which is a Prophetical Song of David and containes the Exaltation of his God and Lord Exalt thy self O God above the heaven and let thy glory be upon all the earth ver 5 11. This Prophecie was then punctually fulfilled and Davids prayer or request signed by the mouth of God when our Saviour after his Resurrection said All power is given to me in heaven and in earth go therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holie Ghost Mat. 28. 18. Unto this Iehovah or God whose Exaltation he foresaw and heartily prayed for and unto whom he had directed his prayers ver 1. He offers the Sacrifice of praise ver 9. under the title of Adonai I will praise or confesse thee among the people O Lord I will sing unto thee among the Nations The verie self-same sacrifice David offers unto the same God under the title of Iehovah Psal 108. 1 2 3 4 5. O God mine heart is prepared so is my tongue I will sing and give praise Awake Viol and Harp I will awake early I will praise thee O Lord among the people I will sing unto thee among the Nations For thy mercie is great above the heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds Exalt thy self O God above the heavens and let thy glorie be upon all the earth which last words were twice repeated in the 57. Psam 2. These Fundamental Points of Faith are clear from this collation of Scripture First That Adonai or Lord was the known Title of the Messias whom the Jews expected in our Saviours time and this was the reason that the Pharisces had not a word to answer or rejoyn unto our Saviour when he avouched that the Messias was to be The Son of God because David in Spirit called him Adonai Lord Matth. 22. 45. The second That he that was Adonai or the Messias was likewise Jehovah truly God because David did not in spirit onely call him Lord but did in spirit worship him as his Lord and God with the best sacrifice that he could devise as appears from Psalm 57. 8. A great part of the Book of Psalms even all those passages if my observation fail me not without exception which mention the extraordinary manifestation of Gods glory or his exaltation as King run the same way and as it were pay Tribute unto the infinite Ocean of Gods mercy first manifested in our Saviours Exaltation to the right hand of God The more remarkable Passages are these Psal 97. ver 1. Jehovah reigneth let the earth rejoice let the multitude of the Isles be glad Whilest Jehovah was onely known in Jurie the multitude of the Isles or Nations had no special reason to be glad for Iudah was then his Sanctuary and Israel his dominion but after God had given our Saviour Christ the utmost parts of the earth for his possession that is after our Saviours Ascension into Heaven and the effusion of the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples enabling them to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom unto all Nations the multitude of the Isles the whole Earth had reason to rejoyce Then was that fulfilled which followeth in that Psal ver 6. The Heavens declare his righteousness and all the people saw his Glory That this Psalm is literally meant of Christs Exaltation to be Lord of Lords and of his Inauguration to his everlasting Kingdom The Apostle St. Paul Heb. 1. 6. puts out of question amongst all Christians when he bringeth in his first begotten Son into the world he saith Let all the Angels of God worship him so the Psalmist had said in this 97. Psal ver 7. Confounded be all they that serve graven Images worship Him all ye Gods or as the Septuagint upon which our Apostle often Paraphrased Worship him all ye Angels of God The matter or subject of this Psalm is almost the same with Psal 2. Both of them contain Prophesies concerning the Declaration of Christ to be the Son of God And from this harmonie between this 97. and the second Psalm and from the common Prenotion or Rule of interpreting Scriptures known to the Learned or unpartially observant in those days the Apostle adds that Preface unto his Testimonie when he bringeth in his onely begotten Son into the World He supposeth that the Learned among his Countrie-men should or might have known that both these Prophecies were to be punctually fulfilled upon the Exaltation of the Messias or of those times wherein God should be manifested in the Flesh 3. Yet some conjecture that our Apostle Heb. 1. 6. hath reference rather to Deut. 32. ver 43. in the Greek Translation then unto the 97 Psalm in the Hebrew The words indeed in the Greek or Septuagint are the very same though in the Hebrew not the same by any Equivalencie of the literal sense At nec sic quidem malè There is a varietie of sense yet no discord but rather a full and perfect Consort between the Literal and Grammatical sense of the Hebrew and the mystical and real sense which the Greek or Septuagint in both places expresseth First The 97 Psalm as many others are is a Poetical descant upon Moses his divine Prophetical Song Deut. 32. And the 70 Interpreters whether out of some Prenotion or out of the admirable Concord between that song of Moses and the 97 Psalm or out of a divine Instinct wherewith as St. Augustine is of opinion they were impelled sometimes to intersert a more express meaning of the Holie Ghost then an ordinary Commentator could out of the Hebrew have observed whether this way or that way moved they have given the same Paraphrase upon Deut. 32. ver 43. which our Apostle hath made upon Psal 97. ver 7. which is no other then the Septuagint had made before but literally more consonant to the Hebrew then their Paraphrase upon Deut. 32. is But
Or did he give us as the Church of Rome saith Evangelical Counsels as Additionals unto the Law In no wise Christ taught no other things then his Apostles after his resurrection did preach and his Apostles taught no other things then Moses and the Prophets had taught Acts 26. 22. But these they taught after another maner then the Scribes and Pharisees did then the ordinary Expositors of the Law and the Prophesies had done So that Gods will concerning man was more fully declared by Christ then it was by Moses or by the Prophets the very true meaning of Moses himself and of the Prophets was more fully revealed and clearly manifested unto mankinde in Christ then it was to Moses himself or to the Prophets Unto me saith our Apostle Ephes 3. 8 9 10. who am less then the least of all Saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mysterie which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ To the intent that now unto the Principalities and Powers in Heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God And by this more full declaration of Gods Will in Christ we Christians are tyed unto more strict observance of His Will known then men were tyed unto before Christ was declared to be the Lord Admitting the Services to be the very same yet the same services are now due under a double Title They are due to God the Father by right of Creation and due to Christ as he is Lord For God the Father is to be honored not onely in himself but in Christ 6. God when he gave the moral Law to Israel useth this Preface I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt This was his peculiar right or Title unto Israel and the Precept grounded upon this Title follows Thou shalt have no other Gods but me But you may remember how it was foretold by the Prophet Jeremie Jer. 23. 7 8. That it should no more be said the Lord liveth which brought the children of Israel out of Egypt But the Lord liveth which brought up the seed of the house of Israel out of the North Land Or according to the prime Grammatical sense of the word principally intended by the Holie Ghost out of the Land of darkness and This was fulfilled onely in Christ So that He who was the Lord of Israel by right of redemption from Egyptian bondage is now become the Lord of every Language of every Nation and Kindred by a more peculiar Title by right of redemption from the Powers of darkness and from Hell it self Hence saith our Apostle 1. Cor. 8. 5 6. Though there be that are called Gods whether in heaven or in earth as there are Gods many and Lords many But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him As the Israelites are forbid to have any other God besides the Lord which brought them out of the Land of Egypt so are we Christians forbid to have any Lords or Masters besides Christ So saith our Saviour Matth. 23. 8 9 10. Be not ye called Rabbi for one is your Master even Christ call no man your father upon the Earth for one is your Father which is in heaven And he repeats the former Caveat Neither be ye called Masters for one is your Master even Christ He that forbids them to be called Masters over others doth likewise forbid them to be servants to other Masters besides himself And this Duty is more fully exprest by our Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 23. Ye are bought with a price be not ye the servants of men He no way forbids bodily service but rather injoyns such as were servants properly so called that is slaves or bond-men to continue in their calling ver 20 21. as knowing bodily servitude not to be incompatible with Christian liberty no not with the Liberty of the Sons of God He that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lords free-man likewise he that is called being a Free-man is Christs servant What service of men then doth Christ or his Apostles forbid The vassalage of our reason or understanding or the submission of our consciences to the pleasures or services of men or of the corrupt times wherein we live Thus to alienate our service from Christ to any mortal men is whether you list to call it a branch of Sacriledge or Idolatry if not more gross yet certainly more deadly in all such as confess Christ to be their Lord then the worshipping of stocks and stones was either in the Heathen or in the Israelites themselves before Christ was declared to be the Son of God and solemnly proclaimed to be the Lord. To give you another Instance how Gods Will is more exactly done by Real Confession of Christ to be THE LORD 7. This is the will of God saith the Apostle 1 Thess 4. 3. Even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God To this duty the Israelites were as truly tyed as we Christians are It was as the Apostle intimates a necessary branch or fruit of the true knowledge of God a service due unto him as he was the Creator But unto this same duty the Israelites were not bound by so many ties as we Christians are It is required of us by a strict peculiar Title not onely by our knowledge of God as our Creator nor by our acknowledgement of Christ to be the Lord as this Title of Lord hath relation onely unto servants he may and doth exact this duty at our hands not onely by right of Redemption or by paying the ransom for our sins upon the Cross but by right of Espousals or by Title of Lord as he is the Head and Husband of his Spouse the Church No motive can be so forcible to deter men from transgressing this negative Commandment or for incouraging them to do Gods Will in the affirmative part of the former Commandment as that of our Apostle 1 Cor. 6. 13. 14 15. Now the body is not for fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the body And God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid And again ver 20. Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods 8. It was well observed long ago by Occolampadius that
observe did report of Them to the Asiaticks who slandered and persecuted them Take notice saith he of the late and daily Earthquakes compare our estate with theirs They he means Christians have more confidence to God-ward then you have 15. This was The solid Truth whose liveless Lineaments or obscure Picture nature had drawn unto the Heathen in the former indefinite Notions or Suggestions The best fruits of a good conscience the principal end why we are to study and labor for the preservation of our Consciences void of offence towards God and man throughout the whole course of our life is that we may be enabled in that last day to stand without horror or confusion before the Son of Man As peace of conscience breedeth confidence so the onely Fountain whence this peace of conscience can issue must be our reconciliation to that supreme Judge whose doom or Censure the Consciences of meer natural men implicitly or by instinct of Nature dread albeit they cannot apprehend the express manner of the Judgement to come or who it is that shall be Judge Both these and all like points which are necessary unto true Christian Faith must be learned out of the Book of Life Thus much of the First General viz. Heathen Notions of a Judgement to come c. we proceed to the second according to the method proposed in the 9 th Chapter CHAP. XI By what authority of Scripture the Exercise of this Final Judgement is appropriated unto our Lord Jesus Christ 1. THat there was to be a Judgement general to all but most terrible to the wicked and ungodly was a Truth revealed before any part of the sacred Books now extant were written But if it be a Revelation more ancient then the written Canon what warrant can we have to believe it besides Tradition Is then Tradition a sufficient warrant for us to believe unwritten verities or Revelations made to Gods Saints for many thousand years ago It is not unless the Tradition be expresly avouched by some Canonical Writer But then it or rather the Vouchers authority concerning the truth of the Tradition is to be believed So that our Belief in this Point must be resolved into a written verity or a parcel of Canonical Scripture The Revelation concerning the final Judgement whereof we now speak was made to Enoch before the Flood The Avoucher of this Revelation is St. Jude ver 14 15. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints To execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Besides the authority of St. Jude which makes this Tradition to be no more a meer Tradition but Canonical Scripture we have other more special Grounds to believe that Enoch did thus Prophesie then we have to believe any other pretended Revelations which are not contained in Scripture The truth and certainty of this Judgment denounced by Enoch was so publickly and notoriously known that the Hebrew Church before our Saviours incarnation did begin the Writ or Instrument of their Great and terrible Excommunication with the first words of Enochs Prophesie Dominus veniet the Lord shall come As if they meant to bind the party whom they excommunicated besides all other punishments or infamies over to this Grand Assize But is there in this Prophecie any particular character of Christ Any pregnant intimation that this Great Judge of the world should be the Second Person in the Trinity rather then The First In the words themselves there is no peculiar Character of Christ save only in The Title LORD which as we said before is peculiar to Christ whether it be in the Original exprest by the word Jehovah or Adonai whensoever Judgment or visible exercise of Jurisdiction Regal is the subject or matter of the prophetical discourse as in this Prophecy of Enoch it is Besides this Character in the words of the prophecie the Prophet himself Enoch was a lively Type of Christ the great Prophet in the very ground of his Title to Lordship and Jurisdiction Enoch was translated that he should not see death but before his translation had this testimony that he Pleased God Hebr. 11. 5. Before his Translation he denounced this Wo or Curse against all that continue in ungodliness fore warning the world withal that the Lord himself whose Embassador he was should come to put his Embassage in execution The congruity of the Fact or Type with the Body fore-shadowed implies that this Propheeie was then to be fulfilled after the Prince of Prophets had been translated as Enoch was from earth but in a higher degree then Enoch was into heaven it self And albeit before his translation he had a more ample Testimony then Enoch had this is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased yet was he not made Lord and King and Judge till after his Resurrection and Translation From that time the Angels and Principalities and Powers even all the Hoast of Heaven intimated by Enoch became by that Title subject unto him That Christ is that very Lord against whom those ungodly men whom Enoch mentions did speak such bitter words our Apostle St. Paul though obscurely yet fully implies in the conclusion of his first Epistle to the Corinthians chapt 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Let him be accursed or excommunicated with that Great and terrible Excommunication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Lord shall come for so they call their Excommunication as we do Writs by the first words of the Writ or Instrument and these were the first words of Enochs Prophecie Veniet Dominus The Lord shall come The full meaning or implication of the Apostle is That whosoever doth not love the Lord Jesus shall be liable to all the Iudgments or Woes denounced by Enoch against the hard speeches of ungodly Sinners which they have spoken against their Lord and Iudge 2. That God is Judge of all the Earth that there shall be a final Judgment generally awarded to all the Inhabitants of the Earth by God himself the places of the old Testament are infinite I shall only touch the principal or more pregnant testimonies to this purpose To begin with the First Gen. 18. 22. When the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom Abraham stood yet before The Lord and drawing neer he said wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked ver 23. And again ver 25. To slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee Shall not The Judge of all the Earth do right Thus he spake in the case of Sodom whose Judgment this Lord and Judge of all the earth was then
by the Right hand of God only the Power of God be literally meant as many other Protestant Writers take as granted or leave unquestioned then Christ cannot be said to come from the Right hand of God for it is impossible that Christ should come or that there should be any true motion from that which is every where Neither can it be said nor may it so much as be imagined that Christ should depart from the Power of God which wheresoever he be as man doth accompany and guard him But if by the Right hand of God at which Christ sitteth be literally meant A visible and glorious Throne then Christ may be said as truly and locally to come from thence as from heaven to Iudge the Quick and the dead At least His Throne may remove with him Now that by the Right hand of God at which Christ sitteth A Visible or local Throne is meant I will at this time add only one Testimony unto the rest heretofore avouched in the handling of that Article which is more literally concludent then all the rest and it is Heb. 12. 2. He endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Not at the right hand of his own Throne but at the right hand of the Throne of God the Father 2. For perfecting this Map or Survey of Christs coming to Judgment already begun would it not be as pertinent to know The Place unto which he shall come as the Place whence he comes By the Rules of Art or method this last Question would be more pertinent then the former But seeing the Scriptures are not in this Point so express and punctual as in the former we may not so peremptorily determine it or so curiously search into it This is certain That Christ after his descending from heaven shall have his Throne or Seat of Judgment placed between the heaven and the earth in the air over-shadowed with clouds But over what part of the earth his throne shall be thus placed is uncertain or conjectural at the most but probable Many notwithstanding as well Antient as Modern are of Opinion That the Throne or Seat of Iudgment shall be placed over the Mount of Olives from which Christ did ascend and This for ought we have to say against it may be A Third Branch of the fore-mentioned similitude betwixt the manner of Christs ascending up into heaven and of his Coming to Judgment that is As he was received in a cloud into heaven over Mount Olivet so he shall descend in the clouds of heaven to Judge the world in the same place But the Testimony of Scripture which gives the best Ground of probability and a Tincture at least of moral certainty to the former opinion or conjecture is that of Zach. cap. 14. ver 3 4. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those Nations to wit all those Nations which have been gathered in battel against Ierusalem and these in the verse precedent were all Nations as when he fought in the day of battel And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the East and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the East and toward the West and there shall be a very great Valley and half of the Mountain shall remove toward the North and half of it toward the South c. This place albeit perhaps in part it were verified in the destruction of Ierusalem yet may it be also literally meant of the Last General Judgment in which the rest of the prophecie following shall punctually and exactly be fulfilled 3. But to leave these Circumstances of Place from which and unto which Christ shall come and utterly to omit the Circumstance of Time which is more uncertain The most useful branch of the Third General Point proposed is to know or apprehend the Terrible manner of his Coming Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord saith our Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 11. we perswade men His Speech is very Emphatical and Significant an Aphorism of Life unto whose Truth every experienced Physician of the soul will easily subscribe For but a few men there be especially in these later times and these must be more then Men in some good measure Christian Men whom we can hope to perswade unto Godliness by the Love of God in Christ our Lord Albeit we should spend our brains in drawing the picture or proportion of the Love exhibited in Christ or give lustre or colour to the proportion drawn by the Evangelists with our own blood But by the Terror of the Lord or by decyphering of that last and dreadful day we shall perhaps perswade some men to become Christians as well in heart as in profession by taking Christ's Death and their own Lives into serious consideration Now of Terror or dread there be Two Corporeal Senses more apprehensive then the rest which are apt rather to suffer or feel then to Dread the evils which befal them The Two In-lets by which Dread or terror enters into the soul of man are the Eye and the Ear. All the Terrors of that last day may be reduced to these Two Heads To the strange and unusual Sights which shall then be seen and unto the strange and unusual Sounds or Voices which shall then be heard If we would search the Sacred Records from the Fall of our first Parents until our restauration was accomplished by Christ or until the Sacred Canon was compleat The notifications or apprehensions of Gods extraordinary presence whether they were made by voice or spectacle unusual have been fearful and terrible to flesh and blood though much better acquainted with Gods Presence then we are When our first Parents heard but the Voice of the Lord God walk in the garden in the cool of the day they hid themselves from his presence amongst the trees of the Garden Gen. 3. 8 10. When Gideon Judg. 6. 22. perceived that he which had spoken unto him albeit he had spoken nothing but words of comfort and encouragement was the Angel of the Lord Gideon said Alas O Lord God because I have seen an Angel of the Lord face to face The issue of his fear was Death which happily he conceived from Gods word to Moses Exod. 33. 20. Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live But to assure Gideon that he was not compriz'd under that universal sentence of Death denounced by God himself to all that shall see him face to face the Lord saith unto him ver 23 24. Peace be unto thee fear not thou shalt not die and Gideon for further ratification of this Priviledge or dispensation built an altar unto the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom that is the Lord send peace or the Lord will be a Lord of peace unto his servants Yet could not this assurance made by the Lord himself unto
Writers of those times But however the world had a general warning of the last Judgement in that fearful Spectacle yet may we not deny that the like or more fearful Spectacles shall be again exhibited upon or immediatly before our Savior's second coming From St. Peters Comments upon the forecited Prophecie of Ioel Acts 2. 20. there ariseth A Question The Prophet saith as the Hebrew word imports that these signs should be exhibited before the great and Terrible day of the Lord. St. Peter saith They shall be exhibited before the great and Conspicuous or notable day of the Lord So indeed the 70 Interpreters whose Translation St. Peter follows renders the Hebrew Hannora not as the Latines do horrendum or tremendum but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conspicuous And the reason why they so render it as some later Criticks think was because they took the Original word to be a Derivative or Branch of the Hebrew word Raah which signifies To see and so the Object of it should be only some visible apparition or matter of Sight whereas the later and more accurate Hebricians take the same Hebrew word to be a Branch of the root Jarah which signifieth to Fear or Dread and for this reason render it not the visible or conspicuous day but the terrible day of the Lord. But there is no necessity of conceiving any error either in the 70 Interpreters concerning the derivation of the Hebrew word Hannora or of any alteration of Rules concerning the right derivation of words between the Ancient and Modern Hebricians For the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our English renders Notable or Conspicuous is as Grammarians say Mediae significationis that is General to any strange or uncouth apparitions in the Heavens whether they be apparitions of Horror and Dread or onely of Lightsomness or good hope Every man prayed saith the Author of the second of Maccabees chap. 5. 4. that the apparition might turn to good Yet was the Apparition then exhibited Prodigious and fearful 5. But the most lively representation of the last Judgement as well for matter of Fearful Spectacle as for matter of Terrible Sound was exhibited immediately by God himself at the promulgation of the Law upon Mount Sinai And it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount and the voice of the Trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people that were in the camp trembled And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God and they stood at the neather part of the mount And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoak because the Lord descended upon it in fire and the smoak thereof ascended as the smoak of a Furnace and the whole Mount quaked greatly Exod. 19. 16 17 18. Our Apostle Heb. 12. 21. addeth which is not in the Old Testament exprest So terrible was the Sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake And if Moses the Man of God did so exceedingly quake at this Sight Who shall be able to stand without trembling and quaking at the like But shall Christs appearance at the last day be like to this fearful Sight at the giving of the Law Yes and a great deal more terrible What Comfort then doth the Gospel of Christ afford us Christians more then Moses his Law did the Israelites The Law being given in this Terrible manner did Prognosticate or portend their fearful end which should adhere unto it or seck salvation by it without the intercession of a Mediator who was to be the Author and Fountain of a better message and more gladsome tidings from Heaven to all such as shall seek Redemption by him or Absolution from the curse of the Law This is the Prerogative of the Gospel as it stands in opposition to the Law and this Prerogative is prosecuted at large by our Apostle in that Chapter Hebr. 12. But the benefit of this Prerogative is not absolutely Universal but Conditional It extends onely to such as shall shew better obedience unto Christ and to his Gospel then most of the Israelites did to Moses and to his Law To such as contemn or disobey the Gospel Christ shall appear a more dreadful and terrible Judge in the last day then he appeared unto Israel in Mount Sinai This point of Doctrine is fully prosecuted by our Apostle Heb. 12. 25 26 27. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on the earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven whose voice then did shake the earth but now he hath promised saying Yet once more I shake not the earth onely but also heaven And this word Yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that these things which cannot be shaken may remain God as a learned Father observes did call his people at the giving of the Law unto the mountain then burning with fire to testifie unto the world what our Apostle saith in the conclusion of chap. 12. That he is a consuming fire unto the obstinate Transgressors of his Laws and that fire and smoke that burning blackness darkness and tempest shall be the everlasting portion of all such as shall not be found in Christ at the day of Judgement nor then absolved by him from the curse of the Law 6. The Point which I would commend to the Reader 's more special consideration out of the 26. verse of this Chapter is That it was the voice of Jesus Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant which did shake the earth at the giving of the Law The Apostle takes it as granted from the Common Rule of Interpretation well known in those times that the shaking of the Earth then was an Emblem or token of the mutability of the Law and of the unstability of the Earth or visible World it self The Earth being then subject to shaking or motion did thereby testifie it self to be obnoxious unto ruine and destruction And in that after this terrible commotion of the Earth at the giving of the Law when the Mountains as the Psalmist speaks Psal 114. 4. skipped like rams and the little hills like yong sheep God again by the Prophet Haggai chap. 2. ver 6. denounceth That yet once more he would suddenly shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land This intimates unto us that the second commotion of the Heavens and of the Earth which was to be once and no more should finally accomplish that which was fore-shadowed or represented by the former commotion of the earth at the giving of the Law This second commotion shall bring the Heaven and Earth to ruine and put an end to all things mutable or as our Apostle speaks it includes the removing of those things that can be shaken that those things which cannot be
were changeable The life it self and the light of the world was in the Son of God John 13. And now dwelleth bodily in Christ who is God and man and when he shall appear the life which is in him shall be imprinted on us we shall be partakers of the life which is unchangeable And as is life he so is he light it self light unchangeable And when we shall see him as he is our knowledge shall from this vision be as He is without possibilitie of change without decay or diminution God saith the Apostle is Love and when we shall see him as he is we shall become like him in this Attribute also that is as his Love to us was everlasting without beginning so our love to him shall be uncessant unchangeable without ending And what expression of true happiness can be more full then to be everlastingly beloved of him who is Love it self and to love him everlastingly The fruition of all things which we desire or love cannot be so much as the the fruition of him who as he is all things else so is he love it self And as was said before although we have all things else which our hearts desire yet till we enjoy his presence we cannot have our hearts desire we cannot have the accomplishment of our love untill we enjoy his presence who is love it self But some will ask What shall we do that we may enjoy the comfort of his everlasting love and presence The Psalmist hath told us in few words Psal 37. 4. Delight thou in the Lord and he shall give thee thy hearts desire But how shall we delight in him whom we have not seen or how should we love him whom we know not We must take notice of our love to God who is invisible from the experience of our love unto our brethren whom we have seen we cannot assure our selves that we delight in him unlesse we delight in his Saints that are on earth This is the Importance of Saint Johns words He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hoth not seen 12. These are the usual Marks or Tokens whereby we are taught to know the truth of Our love towards God and of Our Allegeance to Christ But many there be who call themselves Brethren which have no other bond of brotherhood then Simeon and Levi had Many there be which boast in the Communion of Saints which have no other Union then such as Corah Dathan and Abiram had an Union in Conspiracie against Moses and Aaron against the visible Church and her Governors The Papists will tell you that the Communion of Saints is amongst them in their Church So will the Brownists and other Separatists So will such as live amongst us and yet complain of the burthen of Ceremonies in our Church And how shall men the unlearned specially know which of all these or whether any of these are the true Brethren of Christ or the Saints in which we are bound to delight This as will be replied you may know by their delight in hearing the word for he that loveth God loveth his word he that delights in God delighteth in his word Yea but many delight in the outward letter of the word only or in the word as it is interpreted by Teachers of their own Faction or after their own Fancie men either not able to discern the Evidence of truth or not willing to have it manifested unto them And how then shall any man know whether he love the Lord whether he delight in the Lord by delighting in any of their Societies which pretend themselves to be Christs Brethren to be Gods Saints Surely there is a better way then all these to delight aright in the Lord and to know that we delight in him and yet a way made known unto us by Gods Word A way A direct and plain way which we can not follow but by sincerely delighting in his Word The Word of God doth tell us and all sorts or Sects of men confess it that God is love that he is righteousnesse that he is holinesse that he is the God of all peace that he is good to all that he is merciful and long-suffering Now he that in these things doth imitate God he that is charitable and loving to all he that is merciful and beneficial to all so farre as his means will suffer him he that deals justly and truly with his neighbor he that doth delight in so doing he doth truly delight in the Lord and the Lord in his good time shall give him his hearts desire As there is a sinceritie of Conversation required towards men so likewise there is a Puritie of heart and Conscience towards God and he that delights in this or seeks after this doth delight in the Lord and he only shall truly know that he delights in the Lord or that his hope is stedfast For every one as Saint John saith that hath this hope to wit of seeing God as he is doth purifie his heart as he is pure And our Saviour saith as a blessing to the pure in heart that they shall see God They shall see him in this Life in his Word and in his works and in the life to come they shall see him as he is and be partakers of everlasting life which is the Crown of puritie and holiness CHAP. XXII ROMANS 6. 22 23. But now ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life The Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Of the Accidental Joyes of the Life to come A particular Terrar or Map of the Kingdom prepared for the Blessed Ones in a Paraphrase upon the Eight Beatitudes or the Blessedness promised to the Eight Qualifications set down in St. Matthew Chapter 5. Eternal Life the strongest obligation to all Duties Satans Two usual wayes of Tempting us Either Per Blanda or per Aspera 1. BUt if in the next life we enjoy His Presence who is Life it self who is Love it self who is All in All at whose right hand is Fulness of pleasures for evermore What need is there of any Access of Accidental or Concomitant Joyes It is true There is no need of them for so they should not be Accidental Therefore are they called Accidental because such as enjoy Gods Presence might be fully happy without them So God himself is most happy in himself he is Happinesse it self Yet even in this that he is Goodnesse it self that he is Happinesse it self he communicates both Goodness and Happiness to his Creatures so far as they are capable of them not by any Necessitie but Freely And when it is said that when we shall see him as he is we shall be like him part of this likeness doth herein consist that we shall communicate this Goodness and happiness to others so far as they are capable of it So that the Accidental or Concomitant Joyes of the life to come whose Essence
Kingdom to give it countenance And whilst either the Church or Lawes of the Kingdom do enjoyn you to do these things which in themselves are not unlawful in obeying them you obey Gods Law which commands obedience in disobeying them you disobey the Lawes of God which forbid disobedience to the higher powers If then you will obey the Lawes specially where they command fasting or abstinence or devotion in publick God will blesse your private devotions and your use of meat and drink the better CHAP. XXVII ROMANS 6. 23. For the wages of sin is Death but the Gift of God is Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. About the Merit of Good Works The Romanists Allegations from the force of The word Mereri amongst the Ancients and for the Thing it self out of Holy Scriptures The Answers to them all respectively Some prove Aut nihil aut nimium The different value and importance of Causal particles For Because c. A difference between Not worthie and Unworthie Christs sufferings though in Time finite of value infinite Pleasure of sin short yet deserves infinite punishment Bad works have the Title of Wages and Desert to Death But so have not good works to Life Eternal 1. DEath as was expressed in the 21. verse is the End of sin and Life Eternal as you have it verse the 22. is the End of Holinesse or of the service of God The Proof of both Assertions you have in this 23. verse because Death is the wages of sin and Life Eternal the Gift of God the last and best Gift wherewith he crowneth such as serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse Now the final recompence or reward whether that be good or bad is the End or Period of all our wayes or works Herein then doth Life and death everlasting only agree that as well the One as the Other is the End or issue of mens several wayes or courses here on earth Yet these Ends are Contrary the one to the other and so are the wayes which lead unto them The only way to the One is Righteousness and holiness the ready way unto the other is sin and wickedness But however sin be injustice and the author of sin be most unjust yet herein they both observe the Rule of Justice that they pay their servants their wages to a mite and unlesse the righteous Judge did moderate their cruelty they would pay their servants more then is their due But doth not the Just Judge deal so with his servants Yes he payes them more then is their due yet this he doth without injustice for he rewardeth them not according to the Rule of Justice but according to his Mercy and Bountie To punish men beyond their desert is injustice But to Reward men above their deserts is no way contrary to Justice but an Act of mercy triumphing over Justice But hath Justice no hand no finger in distribution of the Final Reward of Holinesse This is or should be the brief issue of that great Controversie between the Romanists and Reformed Churches An bona opera renatorum mereantur vitam aeternam Whether the Good Works of men regenerate do deserve or merit eternal life And it is a very Good Rule which a Great Champion of Reformed Churches hath given us To reduce all Controversies to those places of Scripture wherein they are properly seated and out of whose sense or meaning they are emergent To handle them especially in Pulpit upon other occasions or to go out of our way to meet with them is but to nurse Contention And of all the places in Scripture which are brought either Pro or Con for the Merit of Works none is more pertinent none more fit to be discussed then this 23. verse of Rom. 6. Those Answers which are often given by Romanists unto other places of Scripture alleadged by our Writers will appear impertinent if they be rightly examined by our Apostles Conclusion in this Chapter Our Method in handling this Controversie shall be this First To set down the Arguments brought by the Romanist for establishing the Merit of Works Secondly To press the sense and meaning of our Apostle in this 23. ver of Rom. 6. against them Thirdly To joyn issue with them or to set down The true State of the Question not only betwixt us and them but between the just Judge and our own souls and Consciences 2. First They alledge That the word Merit is frequent in the Antient Fathers of the Church and that albeit the same Word be not so frequent in the Scripture yet the matter it self which the Fathers expresse by the word mereri is often intimated or necessarily implyed in Terms Equivalent And if we agree upon the Matter it is but a vanity to wrangle about Words Both points of their Allegation deserve the scanning To the First Concerning the word mereri or to merit in the Latine Fathers we reply that as Coyns or metals instamped so Words do change their value or importance in different Ages and in several Nations Custom hath as great authority in the one Case as Soveraign power hath in the other Mereri to merit imports as much in the antient secular Roman or Latine Writers as to deserve that which we sue for or attain unto or to have a just Title unto it So a Souldier is said to merit his pay a servant his wages and good States-men or Commanders in warre their honours But unto this pitch or scantling the Ecclesiastick Writers as St. Austine St. Jerome or later as St. Bernard do not extend the word Merit Mereri according to their meanings is no more then Assequi that is to attain or get that which men desire So Turonensis brings in a blind man supplicating to an Holy Man of his time in this form Ut possim per preces tuas mereri visum that I may merit my sight through your prayers In which words the word Mereri to merit can imply no more either in the poor mans meaning or in this Historians then Assequi to get or obtain For no man can merit any thing by anothers prayers If these could properly merit or deserve any thing at Gods hand the merit should be his whose prayers God vouchsafed to hear not his for whom he prayed The same word Mereri with some Writers doth not import so much as to obtain or get any thing at Gods hands by vertue of our own or others prayers but only to be an Occasion or Condition without which that which befals us though not desired by us should not have befallen us So as we said before one speaks of Adams sin Felix peccatum quod talem meruit redemptorem O happy sin which merited such a Redeemer Now there is nothing in the world which could less deserve any benefit at Gods hand then sin which yet was the Occasion or Condition without which the Son of God had not been incarnate at least had not been Consecrated through Affliction
no dependence of man upon the Divine Power did often shew commendable effects of this Law written in their hearts in sundry duties of Good neighborhood as we speak and civil kindnesses As for any Affinity or Bonds of society between man and man at least between men of divers Countries more then is between beasts of the same kind most of them acknowledged none nor did they acknowledge as much affinity betwixt Creatures of any kind as we do that acknowledge all things to have one Creator Herein then is Our Equalitie and Affinity greater that we all acknowledge one God for our Father who is in a more peculiar sort the Creator of every man then of any other corruptible Creature Again All we Christians acknowledge One Christ for our Head of whose Body we are Members hence ariseth another Peculiar Equalitie from the equal price of our Redemption which was all one for the Rich and Poor for the Little and Mighty Ones of the Earth This God pre-figured in the Law Exod. 30. verse 11 12 15. Afterwards the Lord spake unto Moses When thou takest the sum of the Children of Israel after their number then they shall give every man a Redemption of his life unto the Lord when thou tellest them that there be no plague among them when thou countest them The Rich shall not passe and the poor shall not diminish from half a shekel when ye shall give an Offering unto the Lord for the Redemption of your Lives From this strict Dependencie of all men upon one and the same Creator and this Equality and Brother-hood which we have in one Father doth our Saviour Christ Luke 6 v. 36. draw that precept Of loving our Enemies which he makes as it were an Essential property of all such as truly acknowledge One God Not that all men were not bound thereto and might have known so much by nature but that it was a greater shame and more praeposterous sin in such as did acknowledge One God not to perform that Duty The Consciences of the Gentiles as St. Paul saith might secretly accuse them But the Others words and speeches did bear open Testimony against them if they neglected so to do so saith our Saviour Christ immediately upon the words of the Text For if you love them which love you what thank shall you have for even the sinners love those that love them And if you do good for them which do good for you what thank shall ye have for even the sinners do the same And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive what thank shall ye have for even the sinners lend to sinners to receive the like Wherefore love ye your enemies and do good and lend looking for nothing again and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the most High for he is kind to the unkind and to the evil 15. This further confirms what out of the principles of Nature was formerly gathered to wit that where it is said Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you do ye so unto them The meaning is not What ye would have this or that man do unto you do ye so unto the same man but rather thus Whatsoever ye would that any man should do unto you do ye the like in like case to every man in that he is man in that he is your fellow Creature in that he is the Son of your heavenly Father be he otherwise friend or foe Yet further we may nay we must inlarge this Precept if we will have the full meaning of it Thus. Whatsoever ye would should be done unto you whether by Man by Angel or any other of Gods ministring Spirits or procurer of mankinds good or by God himself That do to every man because every man that God to his Father who as He hath a care and providence over all so is it his will that every Creature under him all men especially that call him Father should be his Ministers in procuring and furthering any others good of whom this our heavenly Father vouchsafes to take care and charge A lively Emblem of this Duty we have in the Ravens feeding of Eliah being destitute of all ordinary means of Food If we consider the nature of this Bird none more Ravenous none more Greedy of the Prey then it yet because the Lord feeds the young Ravens when they call upon him being otherwise destitute of ordinary relief from their Dams or old Ones as both Aristotle and Plinie observe and the Psalmist alludes to it in that speech Therefore the Lord commanded them to afford the like help to Elias being forsaken or rather persecuted by the King and his Officers who should have yielded him house and harbour and from their example we should learn the practise to do for others as either the Lord hath done or we expect he should do for us Thus much I say is fully and directly included in our Saviours Deductions and Conclusions drawn from this Principal Rule albeit so much be not fully exprest in his words especially if we observe the Greek phrase only But the language whose manner of Dialect the Evangelists retain though writing in the Greek Tongue will very well bear and our Saviours words Luke 6. 36. verse enforce as much Be ye therefore merciful as your H. Father is merciful and in the 6. of Matth. v. 14. He tels us that if we look for mercie at Gods hand we must shew mercie unto men not to our friends or brethren by kindred or Nation but unto men The place is so much the more worth our observation because he adds no Exposition or Comment to any one Petition in all the Lords Prayer save only that He gives this Note upon that And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us his Note is this If ye forgive men their Trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if you do not forgive men their Trespasses no more will your Heavenly Father forgive you your Trespasses Wherefore as we desire God to forgive us our Trespasses though we have been his Enemies so must we be ready to forgive our Enemies and as we desire all good of him so must we be ready not only to forgive but even to do any good to our enemies If he be our enemie deservedly we should therefore do him good that we might make amends for the occasion offered if our Enemy he be without any just occasion given by us we should consider that this voluntary Enmity in him is the work of Satan but he Himself as man is our fellow Creature the workmanship of Gods own hand God made him man but the Divel made him an Enemy And we should seek by all meanes possible to dissolve the works of Satan and to repair the handy work of God that is we should love his person and seek to reform his vice we should overcome his evil with our good-will to him if
Precept of our Saviour binds every man to further his Neighbor or Fellow Creature in all such desires that is Generally in all desires which pertain either unto the necessary supplies or comforts of this life or to the hopes and means of attaining the life to come Unto what part of the Affirmative Precept it is most requisite I should exhort you or from what part of the Negative I should disswade you I cannot tell because I am ignorant in what part of the one you are defective or in what part of the other you most exceed In both no doubt we all offend both In not doing to others in sundry cases as we desire it should be done to us and also in doing that to others which we would not have them do to us Two especial Breaches of this Law of Nature I have observed so farre as my experience reacheth and have heard noted by others to be almost general through out the Land The one in not affording our distressed brethren that comfort for the support of this life which in their case we would desire The other in procuring their undoing or grievous loss by our greedy desires of enlarging our own estates advancing our selves or increasing our wealth and commoditie For the First None of us can be ignorant how in ofttimes Sometimes the Famin oft-times nay alwayes for this seven or eight years past the Plague of Pestilence hath raged one where or other throughout the Land The grievousness of that Maladie albeit we know not fully yet that we know it in some sort and esteem of it as a grievous maladie A Plague indeed sent from God our fear of it when it is near unto us doth sufficiently witness and from the measure of our own fear or care to avoid it we may gather how desirous we would be of any comfort if it should seize upon us Of any comfort I say either bodily to case the pain by Lenitives or to prevent the last danger of it by Physick and good Diet. Or if in these we could have no Hope the less we had in them the more desirous would we be of spiritual comfort under the wings of the Almighty The less help Art or Nature or men themselves could afford us the more earnestly would we desire hearty prayers for succor and comfort from the Almightie It would much strengthen our Faith and Hope to know that others did joyn with us in fervent prayers for mercie and it would much lessen our bodily grief and discontent of mind to know that they did bear a part with us it would abate our sorrow to know that they did abate their wonted mirth and jollitie as in compassion to us The Saying is most true Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris But the solace is most comfortable when men do willingly and not by constraint share with us in our miserie for then they take as it were part of our burthen from us and put it upon their own shoulders So as that which is most heavie and grievous whilst it is only laid upon one or some few becomes very light and easie when it is divided and laid upon many willing to communicate in the burden These and many like but more effectual Arguments all of us could plead for our selves if we were in this or any other kind of miserie But who is he of a thousand that would lay half of this to heart when sorrow lies heaviest upon his poor distressed brethren I know not how men in this place are affected but elsewhere for the most part if they be so mindful of their distressed brethren as to relieve their wants and furnish them with the necessaries of this life they think it almost a work of super-erogation and if they should not be commended for it at first they would be more slack to do the like again But that they should afflict or pinch themselves for others penurie That they should abate their ordinary mirth for others sorrow is an ungrateful Doctrine almost a Point of Puritanism Or if some be thus well minded towards their neighbors or allyes they think they have sufficiently discharged their dutie They think this Precept of our Saviour extends it self no further then the Statutes of the Land binding them to do good such good as they would have done to them only to the men of their own or the next Parish As for the miseries of such as are afarre off the sound of them enters not into their ears their sighs and groans move not their hearts If we should tell the people of one Shire or Countrie That they ought to mourn and lament to fast and pray for the afflictions of others some forty miles off or in the utmost confines of another Countrie in this Realm They would be ready I am afraid to laugh at our folly and count us as uncivil as any voluntary disturbes of their sports But here I trust I may be bold to say as much as the Lord hath said whose word requires at least as much I think much more then I have done 20. Consider I beseech you What was their sin to whom Amos pronounceth the dreadful Wo Amos. 6. 1. Wo to them that are at ease in Sion Why What harm was there in this May not men take their ease Yea when the Times so permit But now their Brethren of Samaria were disquieted by their Enemies ease which before was good was now unseasonable and preposterous because not consorting with their Brethrens Estate They lie upon Beds of Ivorie and stretch themselves upon their Beds and eat the Lambs out of the Flock and Calves out of the Stall What of all this Doth any man keep a Flock and eats not of the milk thereof Doth any man plant a Vineyard and not eat of the Fruit thereof Yea of all or any the increase thereof at his pleasure Yet is not all kind of eating of moderate eating fit for every season There is a Time as well of Fasting as of eating and Feasting Herein then was their sin that they did not sympathize with their brethren who were either pined for hunger or fed with the bread of Affliction They sing saith the Prophet unto the sound of the Viol they invent to themselves Instruments of Musick like David Why Could they have followed a better Example Not if they had followed it aright for Davids Musick was invented to praise the Lord. And Yet as the Sons or Daughters of Sion might have replied partly to delight himself and his friends It may be so Where is the point of difference then There is a Time to be sad saith Solomon and a Time to be merrie a Time to weep and a Time to laugh Every thing hath its appointed Time and every thing out of his Time is preposterous and evil If David did solace himself with pleasant mirth it was because prosperitie flourished in those Times he did not use it when news was brought him of Saul and
servant Mat. 18. 23. We are in many respects bound most strictly to render unto God himself according to his reward It was Hezekiahs sin that he did not so 2 Chro. 32. 24 First because he hath prevented us with his blessings he gave us Being before we could desire it and with it He gave us a desire of continuing it Secondly he gave it Us of his meer freewill and abundant kindness And therefore in all equitie we are bound First to render what possibly we can unto Him and that with greater alacritie and cheerfulness then unto man for his sake as Reason teacheth us to perform our personal duties and services to our Parents Patrons and Benefactors with greater care and forwardness then such offices as for their sakes we owe to their Followers or Favorites Hence may we descry the equitie of those two main Commandments on which the whole Law and Prophets depend Love God above all and thy neighbor as thy self All the services of worship of praise thankfulness or the like which we return immediately to God himself belong unto the First Table All the duties we perform to men either because we have received or could desire like kindness from them or because we expect some greater matters from God belong unto the second Table It remains we see how this Rule doth direct our thoughts for the true practice of every particular Commandment What I omitt your own meditation may easily supply 8. None of us as in charity I presume is so ignorant of God or his Goodness but often prayes that he would continue his blessings of life and health unto us desiring withall that he would do some other good unto us which yet we want Could we in the next place take a perfect measure of our own desires of what we want whilst they are fresh and at the height and withall duly weigh those Blessings of life and health considering the full and sole dependence they have on the good-wil and pleasure of our God the strength of the one and weight of the other could not but impell and sway our minds to performance of such duties towards God as his Law and this Rule of Reason require These are good Beginnings of such performances as this Rule requires But here we usually commit a double oversight First We do not weigh blessings received as duly and truly as we should For who is he that truly considers what life is till he come in danger of death Or how pleasant health is till he be pained with some grievous sickness wound or other maladie Or if we come by such occasions duly to esteem of life and health or other blessings already injoyed or to take a true measure of our desires of what we want whilst they are fresh and at the height yet either we apprehend not or we consider not what absolute and intire dependance the beginning or continuance of benefits received or the compleating of others desired have on the good-will and pleasure of our God We think we are in part beholden to our Parents for our Life to our Physician to our strength of nature or good diet for recovery of health to our own wit or friends for obtaining such things as we desire These or like conceits arising from ignorance of Gods providence or want of faith in his Goodness are as so many props or stayes that hinder the weight of his best Blessings or the strength of our desires of further good to have their full shock upon our souls and minds Otherwise the true consideration or feeling of their dependence on Gods will and pleasure would sway and impel us to do our duty to him with the same alacritie we desire good from him to love him with all our heart with all our souls with all our strength yea we would be as desirous to do his will and pleasure as we are to obtain the things that please us as unwilling any way to displease him as we are to forgo any thing we have from him As willing to consecrate our lives and actions to his service as we are to injoy life and use of limbs If a Land-lord should command his Tenant at will to do him such a business perhaps to go some errand of importance for him or else he should go without his Tenement but promise him a better if he did it faithfully The sweetness as well of what he injoyed as of the Reward he looked for would disperse it self throughout his thoughts and season his labour with chearfulness and make all his very pains sweet unto him But if he had lately received an Estate for Lives and could not hope for any further good shortly to come from him although perhaps he would do what his Lord bad him least he should be upbraided with unthankfulness Yet his service would but be faint and cold in respect of the former like his that wrought as we say for the dead Horse This may serve to set forth the difference betwixt the faithful or true believers and the unfaithful or unbelievers heart in the performance of this great Commandment The unbeliever although he acknowledge in some sort That he received all he hath and must expect all he hopes for from God and in this respect must do what God commands yet if at any time he do his Will it is without all Devotion or Chearfulness partly because he thinks the Blessings he looks for must be gotten by his own indeavor and such as he hath have been improved by his own good husbandrie nor doth he fear that the Lord should dispossess him of life or health but there will be time enough to gain or renue his Favour before his Lease as he takes it of life of health and prosperitie be run out The faithful man stedfastly believes and knows that God is the Lord and giver of life that he kils and makes alive that he wounds and alone makes whole that we have no hold of either but only during the Term of his Will and Pleasure he firmly believes all the threatnings of his Law as that either God will punish sinners with sudden and unexpected death saying unto them as he did unto the rich man in the Gospel Thou Fool this night shall thy soul be taken from thee or else suffers them to injoy life and health and other Blessings to their greater condemnation He believes likewise all his promises to the righteous to such as do his will Whence as well the Goodness of all the Blessings he injoyes life health wealth and estate as of those which he hopes for whether in this life or in the life to come do as it were provoke a desire in him of worshipping God and doing his will equal at least to his desire of either having present blessings continued or greater bestowed upon him His joy in praysing God and keeping his Laws is greater then in the injoying of life of his soul his strength or other endowments His life is
lives or consecrate our selves to his honor and service to offer our selves in sacrifice to him when he requires not only in remembrance of what he hath done for us which we would not for ten thousand lives but he had done but in respect of Future Hopes which it were better we had never been then they should not be accomplished We look he should in the last day acquit us from the accusations of Satan the great Accuser and in the mean time give Testimonie of us as his faithful servants to his Father The dutie which we owe to Him is in this life to be witnesses of the truth he taught to testifie unto the world that he hath appeared by our lives and conversations answerable to His by our readiness to suffer povertie exile disagrace or ignominious death for defence of His Lawes to fear him whether in life or death 12. To every thing we can desire of God there is A semblable Dutie to be performed by us without whose performance we cannot pray to Him in Faith To pray in Faith is to be so surely perswaded of Gods Benignitie as to be ready to render up all that he requires of us to abstain from those things which we know to be offensive to him especially from such as have any particular repugnance to that we seek If we expect God should provide for us as for his children we must honor and reverence Him as an Almighty and everlasting Father If we desire he should protect us we must fear him as our Greatest Lord. A son honoureth his Father and a servant his master If I then be a Father where is my Honor and if I be a master where is my fear saith the Lord of Hosts unto you Mal. 1. 6. If ye offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evil and if ye offer the lame and sick is it not evil offer it now unto thy Prince will he be content with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of Hostes and now I pray you pray before God that he may have mercy upon us This hath been by your means will he regard your persons saith the Lord of Hosts No! they did not pray in Faith For so to pray presupposeth a fidelitie in the discharge of duties appointed for their calling God for his part never changeth I am the Lord I change not Mal. 3. 6. As if he had said This is my nature and essence to be immutable And therefore Ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed For so they had been unless his mercies had continued the same But to do them that good they desired or to deal as graciously with them as he had done with their fathers he could not if with Reverence I may so speak because of their infidelitie or unbelief for which cause the Evangelist saith Christ could not work many miracles amongst His Countrymen Matth. 13. 58. From the dayes of your Fathers you are gone away from mine Ordinances and have not kept them Now there must needs have been a Change in God if he had dealt as bountifully with this back-sliding Generation as with their Godly Predecessors that had been sted fast in his Covenant But let them be as their fathers were and He will be to them as he was to their Fathers For he is no accepter of persons but rewardeth every one according to his works Wherefore he saith Return unto me and I will return unto you ver 7. But they were so far from returning that they would scarce acknowledge their sin For they said wherein shall we return They should have done unto their God accordingly as they desired he should do to them They desired the Lord should blesse them as Moses had spoken In the City and in the field in the fruit of their bodies and in the fruit of their grounds in the fruit of their cattel and in the increase of their kine and in the flocks of their sheep Deut. 28. 4. But God at this time had done to them in some fort as they had done to him They had robbed him in tithes and offrings ver 8. Therefore were they oursed with a curse ver 9. Notwithstanding if they would deal better with him he assures them he will deal better with them Bring ye all the Tithes into the Storehouse that there may be meat in mine house and prove me herewith saith the Lord of Hostes if I will not open the windows of Heaven unto you and pour you out a Blessing without measure And I will rebuke the Devourer for your sakes and he shall not devour the fruit of your ground neither shall the Vine be barren in the field saith the Lord of Hosts And all Nations shall call you blessed saith the Lord of Hosts As he that had wrong'd his brother was the forwarder to repine against Moses so the words of such in this people as had most robbed and spoiled God were most stout against him They said It was in vain to serve God And what profit is it that we have kept his Commandments And that we have walked humbly before the Lord of Hosts Therefore they accounted the proud blessed even they that work wickednesse are set up and they that tempt God yea they are delivered It is not likely that they would thus speak with their mouthes for so they should have had no occasion to demand as they did V. 13. What have we spoken against thee But that they thought in their hearts That God did not respect them according to their deserts or that his Bounty had not been so great to them as to their Fathers If they said not they thought with Gideon Ah my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this come upon us and where be his miracles which our Fathers have told us and said did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt But now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of the Medianites He thought this Change was in God not in himself or in his Countrymen As most men at this day think that God is not as ready to hear our prayers as he was to hear the Israelites or the Fathers in the primitive Church When as the reason why he hears them not is because we are not so ready to do His will If we perform any obedience to his Laws it is for the most part such as those murmurers did we offer unto him either the vile or the lame or else but half that which is due and yet perswade our selves we deal bountifully with him too In Fine we do so much as serves to ground a Pharisaical conceit of our selves not so much or not so sincerely as may induce Our God who knows our hearts to think well of us We do not so to him as we desire he should do to us for we desire that he should bless us above the ordinary means of humane forecast or procurement but we adventure not any practice injoyned by him
the whole Latitude of his lawful wonted liberties were to transgress the bounds of Religious discretion yea to outrage in licentiousness So heavie were the burthens which the Lord had laid upon the mothers neck that for her best born sons not to stoop at her dejection bewrayes in them a stubborn spirit of untimely ambition 2. The least quantitie of food that could be assigned was more then this people might lawfully take during the time of their solemn fasts And the meanest external contentments which Baruch at this instant could affect must needs be deemed A great matter because too much in these dayes of publick sorrow and discomfort All he sought for was to be freed from the danger disgrace and scorn of Great Ones in whom he saw matter store of Just reproof but little hope of amendment And who will be forward to procure his own harm by free speeches without probabilitie of doing others good Baruch had once adventured to read all the Woes of this Prophecie in a solemn assembly of all sorts A task which with fair pretence of conscience might easily have been avoided by him If reading the word of God as he found it penned by others might in no Case go for preaching Unless the Lord had hid them he for reading and Jeremy for indicting had been used perhaps as the Roll was wherein this burthen was written Now the Roll Jehoiakim King of Judah did cut with his penknife and after cast it into the fire till it was consumed Jeremie 36. 23. But though the paper were subject to the flame as Christs body to use Theodorets application of this Type was unto death yet the word of the Lord endures for ever And this is the word of the Lord which came to Ieremie and which Baruch was to preach after the King had burnt the Roll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremie Take again another roll and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll which Iehoiakim the King of Iudah burnt And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim the King of Judah Thus saith the Lord Thou hast burnt this roll saying why hast thou written therein saying that the King of Babel shall certainly come and destroy this land and shall take thence both man and beast c. 3. Baruch's late persecution and hard escape for being the imprisond prophets hand and mouth in notifying the Contents of the former Rolles unto Prince and People might well make him shrink at writing or preaching this latter being purposely replenished with the addition of many like words to the former because more personally directed to Jehoiakim Out of the abundance either of grief and sorrow during the time of his Latitation from the Kings Inquisitors or out of present fear least the Tyrants rage might be inlarged against him for undertaking this second Charge imposed upon him by Jeremy or as it is likely upon both occasions did he utter those Complaints registred in the third verse of this Chapter Wo is me now for the Lord hath laid sorrow unto my sorrow I fainted in my mourning and I can find no rest But why should it grieve him not to find what the Lord had commanded him not to seek for this is the Tenor of the message which Jeremy was to deliver unto him The Lord saith thus Behold that which I have built will I destroy and that which I have planted will I pluck up even this whole Land And seekest thou great things for thy self Seek them not c. 4. The sum of what I principally have or would have observed out of the words of this Text may be comprised in these Two Propositions 1. The desire of a faithful man specially of a publick Minister must alwayes be suited to the condition of the times wherein and of the parties with whom he lives 2. In times of publick calamitie or desolation the bare Donative of life and libertie is a priviledge more to be esteemed then the prerogative of Princes Or in other Terms thus Exemption from general plagues is more then a full recompense for all the grievances which attend our ministerial charge or service in denouncing them Unto the Former the truth of whose Doctrine must be the principal subject of my present meditations I shall add or annex this Useful Corollarie As the intemperate desire of myrth of pleasure or preferment in the dayes of publick Calamitie is in every private man preposterous So where the humor is general it is the usual Symptom of a forlorn or dying state or fearful sign that God hath forsaken the land and people wherein it raigneth Seekest thou great things for thy self Seek them not c. What were the great things which Baruch sought Excessive pleasure wealth or honour Any positive delight more then ordinary or solace greater then could agree with his calling Any exemption from tax or trouble common to all The principal if not the only fault for which he was taxed by the Prophet was his untimely desire of ordinary ease of freedom from extraordinary and thankless pains in service distastful to the present State and therefore dangerous Did ever the austerest Founder of most superstitious strict Orders tie their Followers to a more rigid Rule then Baruch here is bound unto The Predicant or begging Frier may interpret his ministerial Commission in the strictest sense He does not ride but go as bare footed as he was born to Preach the Gospel unto every Creature under heaven unto stocks and stones as St. Francis his Father they say hath fondly taught him But unto which of them was it by Rule of Founder enjoyned Or what monkish Votary did ever voluntarily undertake to proclaim Romes final desolation in St. Peters Church in the year of Jubily Or menace downfal to red Hats and the triple Crown in the Consistory Yet all together such no easier was the task which Jeremy had enjoyned Baruch Was this Injunction then given him by way of Counsel or necessary Precept Did he super-erogate ought in undertaking Or had he not grievously sinned in refusing this necessary but hard and dangerous service Surely a Necessity not from the General Law but from the particular Circumstances of the time was laid upon him and a Woe had followed it if he had not read the Prophet Jeremies Prophecie The Scholar was not greater then his Master nor his liberty more Both their liberties were alike great yet both subordinate both subject to the diversitie of times and seasons Both were free in their persons both free in their actions and choise of life yet both absolutely bound to walk as they were called 5. Had not Jeremy as good authority as Isaiah and his fellow Prophets had to have taken a Wife of the Daughters of his people Doubtless the Law was one to Both and Matrimony alike lawful to Both What then did restrain Jeremy of that liberty which Isaiah used Nothing but instant necessitie
came to Elijah the Tishbite saying seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me for he rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly because he humbleth himself before me I not will bring the evil in his dayes but in his sons dayes will I bring the evil upon his house Such was that Message which Hulda the prophetesse delivered unto Josiahs messengers But to the King of Judah which sent you to enquire of The Lord thus shall ye say to him Thus saith the Lord God of Israel as touching the words which thou hast heard because thine heart was tender and thou hast humbled thy self before the Lord when thou heardest what I spake against this place and against the inhabitants thereof that they should become a desolation and a curse and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me I also have heard thee saith the Lord Behold therefore I will gather thee unto thy fathers and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace and thine eye shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place Yet did the arrowes of Israels and Judahs most inveterate enemies the arrowes of the Aramites and Aegyptians make violent entrance for death into both these Princes bodies long before the time by ordinary course of nature prefixed for dispossession of their souls How then should life be unto Baruch as a welcome Prey being to be fully charged with all these hard conditions and bitter grieviances whose release or avoidance made untimely bloody death become A kind of gracious Pardon unto Ahab and a grateful Boon or Booty to good Josias For what evil did the Lord either threaten or afterward bring upon Iosiahs posteritie or people which Baruchs eyes did not behold Nor did this lease of life and libertie here bequeathed unto him expire till long after Jerusalems glasse was quite run out till after her whitest Towers were covered with dust and all the cities of Judah and Benjamin laid wast till the King the Princes and nobles were led captives or slain and the remnant which War had left in Iudah as a gleaning after harvest disperst and sowen throughout the Land of Egypt never to be reapt but by the Sword which even there pursues them excepting a very small number that escaped Ierem. 44. 28. And what greater evil could Iosias's eyes have seen though he had lived as long as Baruch The Difficulty therefore seems unanswerable How life should be a more grateful prey unto Baruch then it might have been unto Josias 6. But here if we rightly distinguish the Times the Persons and Offices We may easily derive the violent shortning of good Josias his dayes and this lengthening of Baruch's to see the evil which Josias desired rather to be sightless then to see from one and the same loving kindness of the Lord. Josias we must consider was The Great Leader of Gods People and could not but wish their Fall should be under some other then himself It was a Donative more magnificent then the long reign of Augustus that being slain in warre he should go to his grave in peace For this included his peoples present safety whose extirpation had been till this time deferred for his sake though now at length he must be taken out of the way that the Messengers of Gods wrath which could forbear no longer may have a freer passage throughout the Land No marvel if after thirtie one years raign in prosperitie and peace he patiently suffered violent death being thus graced with greater honour then either Codrus the last King of Athens or the Roman Decius purchased by voluntary sacrificing themselves for their people Perhaps the plagues which these men feared might otherwise have been avoided Or it may be the fear it self was but some vain delusion of Satan alwayes delighted with such sacrifices But that Ierusalem and Iudah standing condemned before Iosias's birth were so long reprieved so well intreated for his sake we have the great Judges Sentence for our warrant And therefore the Word of The Lord which Huldah the Prophetess had sent must needs seem good to him It was a message more unwelcome then such a death as Iosias suffered which Isaias brought to his great Grand-father Hezekiah lately delivered from the Assyrian and miraculously restored to life but more forward to receive Presents from Berodash King of Babylon then to render praise and thanksgiving to his God according to the Reward bestowed upon him Behold the dayes come saith Isaias that all that is in thine house and that which thy Fathers have laid up in store unto this day shall be carried unto Babylon nothing shall be left saith the Lord. And of thy sons which shall issue from thee which thou shalt beget shall they take away and they shall be Eunuchs in the Palace of the King of Babylon Doth he repine or mutter at this ungrateful Message No But with great submission replies Good is the Word of the Lord which Thou hast spoken And he said Is it not good if peace and truth be in my dayes Isaiah 39. 8. Shall we hence collect that this Good King was of that wicked Tyrants mind who as he had shortened her dayes from whom he had beginning of life so did he envie his Mother Nature should survive him wishing the world might be dissolved at his death and that Old Chaos might be his Tomb God forbid we should wrong the memory of so Gracious a Prince by the least suspicion of such ungracious thoughts Rather his heart did smite him for shewing his Treasury his Armory and other provision wherein he had gloried too much unto the King of Babels Messengers This sin he knew to be such as his Father Davids had been in numbring the Hosts of Israel The plagues now threatened by his God he could not but acknowledge to be most just and great therefore must his mercy toward him needs seem to be in that for his sake who had so ill requited this strange Delivery and Recovery he would yet deferre them But seeing the wickedness of Manasseh and the mighty encrease of this peoples iniquity from Hezekiah's death did earnestly sollicit the Day of Visitation the former adjourning of it must cost Iosiah dear And Gods Arrows being flesht in him No marvel if they return not empty from the blood of the slain or from the fat of the mighty Having begun with so good A King it might well be expected they would make an end of so naughty a people This was he of whom not the people only but the Prophet hath said Under his shadow we shall be safe As he was a shadow without question of that Great Shepheard which was to be smitten ere the flock were scattered upon the occasion of whose death his Disciples likewise said We trusted it had been he which should have redeemed Israel And for Josias to become the true shadow or the bloody
picture of that Great Shepheards death was a greater honour then if the shadow in the Dial of Ahaz had returned backward ten degrees in token of prolonging his dayes as long as Hezekiah's had been specially if we consider that the Saying fulfilled in the Great Prophet was verified in him Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none Though he were slain yet his Army returned home safe and he went to his grave in peace being buried in his own Sepulcher by his Servants 7. But alas Baruch lives in an Age super-annuated for any such Grace or Favour as Hezekiah or Iosias found in a City in which though Noah Iob and Daniel lived together yet as I live saith the Lord God they shall deliver neither son nor daughter they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness And shall not the Word of the Lord which Ieremy hath spoken unto Baruch be good For is it not good that when the Lord hath determined to send his four sore judgments upon Ierusalem the Sword and the Famine and the noysom Beast and the Pestilence to cut off from it man and beast yet his life shall be a prey not unto these but to himself Yes this is much better considering the season then if he had been sole heir to Hezekiah or Iosias Three or four of whose Successors all in their turns Kings of Judah he lived to see led bound in chains and their Nobles linkt in fetters of Iron For Baruch with reference unto these mens persons and present calamity to have such an ample safe Conduct as no Monarch living could have granted him License to travel whither he listed with full assurance of life was An Honour peculiar to Gods Saints A Reward wherein at this time my Prophet Ieremy and Ebedmelech which had received Ieremy in the name of a Prophet ministring bread and water c. unto his necessities were to be his only partners 8. But though they had liberty to travell whither they please will they be as careless passengers without all regard of their mothers sorrows wherewith the Lord had afflicted her in the day of his fierce anger Jeremie doubtless would have endured all the tortures cruel Babylon could have devised upon condition Jerusalem and Judah might still have dwelt in saftie The Galatians were not more affectionate towards Paul then Jeremy was to the meanest branch that sprang from good Josias willingly would he have pluckt out his own to have redeemed Zedekiah's eyes or to have prevented that lamentable Farewel which they were to take of sight the barbarous massacre of his dearest children And how then can this short prolongation of life be sweet to Jeremy the Aged or unto Baruch the Scribe being now to see such miserie fall upon their native Country King and people as they might justly wish their mothers wombs had been their graves rather then they should have been brought forth to behold it A thousand lives had been well spent upon condition such calamity had never been seen in Jury and yet the prorogation of Baruchs and Ieremies life though certain to see the execution of all the plagues here threatned these becoming now at length without any fault or negligence in them but rather by others neglect of their forewarnings altogether Fatal and inevitable is much better then a thousand years spent in mirth and jollity But would they not sorrow day and night for the slain of the daughter of their people The Book of the Lamentations will witness tears not sweet wine to have been the drink of him that wrote them And shall life though it have continuall sorrow for its sauce be sweet whose heart among us would not be sad even full of sorrow whose eyes would not overflow with tears at the Tragical representation of their disasters and calamities whose living persons we had alwayes honoured whose memory and never dying Fame we reverence And yet to minds deckt with more polite literature or mollified with the Muses songs the secret delight which in this Case ariseth from the Poets Art and contrivance much more from our Observation of the strange concurrence of real causes conspiring to work designes worthy of God whether for mercy or for vengeance is infinitely more sweet and pleasant then the profuse mirth of lascivious Comedies on any other positive delight whereof humane senses whether external on internal are capable And if with Reverence any may be thereto compared This secret placid delight which is thus accompanied with sighes and composed sadnesse most perfectly resembles the internal comfort of the spirit alwayes rejoycing in tribulation Such truly was the joy and comfort which Ieremy and Baruch found who had now been admitted spectators twentie years and more of a true unfained Tragedy whose Catastrophe was to contain the most doleful spectacle the great eye of the world since it first rolled in his sphere untill this time had ever beheld Had they lookt upon the several parts of this Tragedy the last Scene especially with natural eyes the gastly sight had doubtless inspired them with some desperate Romane Resolution to have acted the like crueltie upon themselves as the Babylonians had done upon their brethren to have set a full and Capital Period to all the woes which they had written against this people with their own blood spilt in the ruines of the Temple or mingled with the ashes of the Altar But now that The Lord hath enlightned their hearts to discern the sweet disposition of his all-seeing Providence still counterplotting the subtle Projects of man and making the Politicians which had accounted his Prophets silly fools unexperienced Idiots or raving Bedlames more curiously cunning then the spider to weave the net which he had ordained to spread upon them the more they sorrowed to see the desolation of their country the greater still was their solace in contemplating the justice power and wisdom of their God in accomplishing his indignation contrary to Prince and peoples expectation but agreeable to their predictions Finally as men compacted of flesh and blood they could not but sympathize with miserable men even their brethren their flesh and bones As faithfull men they could not but be in mind and affection conformable to The Lord their God by whose good spirit their hearts were toucht and their souls illuminated to fore-see the contrivance of his designes upon these his disobedient children which had so often refused the wayes of peace which he would have led them in but they would not follow 9. From this Double Aspect the One of Nature the other of Grace and this Twofold Sympathie thence arising the one with their Creator the other with their fellow-Creatures doth the Lord frame this Pathetical and forcible Charge vnto Baruch Behold that which I have built will I break down and that which I have planted will I pluck up even this whole Land and seekest thou great things for thy self Seek them not The Exegesis or Implication fully unfolded
entertained with battel invade the borders of any Nation In such a Case t is held a point of politick husbandry to waste the Country round about them least it might maintain their Armies But heretofore I have had and elsewhere shall have occasion to decypher all the symptoms of a dying State either set down by the Word of God or observed by the expert Anatomists of former dead bodies politick 14. My message unto you my Brethren the Sons of Levi is briefly this Add not Gods anger to our Countries Curse which at this day whether just or no is bitter and rife against us as if we were all or most of us like the companions of Jesus the son of Josedech persons Prodigious but in a worse sense then they were Persons that had procured her much and did yet portend her greater sorrow partly by our Dastardly silence in good causes but especially by our prophesying for Rewards and humoring the great Dispensers of those dignities on which our unsatiable desires are now unseasonably set It was a saying amongst the Ancient Romans Qui Beneficium accipit libertatem vendit It is thus far improved in true modern English He that will purchase preferments Ecclesiastick especially must adventure to lay his soul to pawn What remedie Only this to make a virtue of necessitie For so must every one do that means to live as a Christian ought Let us not look so much upon the sinister intentions of corrupt minds as upon the purpose of our God even in mens most wicked projects And who knowes whether The Lord by acquainting us with mens bad dealings in dispensing Ecclesiastical honour do not lay the same restraint upon us his children which he did upon Baruch Without all question he absolutely forbids us to seek afer great matters in this age in that he hath cut off all hopes of attaining them by means lawfull and honest And all this he doth for our good that using Baruchs freedom or Jeremies Resolution in our ambassage we may be partakers of their Priviledge in the Great day of visitation wherein such as in the mean time crush and keep us under by their greatness will be ready to give their wealth for our poverty and change their honor for our disgrace upon condition they might but enjoy life with such libertie and contentments as we do Or in Case they shorten our dayes by vexation or oppression yet faithfully discharging our duties whether we live or die we are the Lords And though they out live us an hundred years yet shall they be willing to give a thousand yea ten thousand lives if so many they had so they might be but like us for one hour in the day of death We need not search forain Chronicles nor look far back into ancient Annales The registers of our own memories and our fathers relations may afford examples of some sons of Levi men if we rightly value their admirable worth of place and fortunes mean in respect of our selves which after their death hastned perhaps by hard usage have fild both this and forrain Lands with their good name as with a perfume sweet and precious in the nostrils of God and man whilst those great lights of state so they seemed whilst parasitical breath did blaze their fame which had condemned them to privacie and obscuritie were suddenly put out but with an everlasting Stinch God grant their successors better successe that a precious well deserved fame may long survive them For our selves Beloved as we all consort in earnest desires and hearty prayers that the Lord would renew his Covenant made with Levi his Covenant of life and peace so let us joyn hearts in this meditation The only way to derive this blessing from this our father unto us his sons must be by arraying our selves with Phineas our eldest brothers integritie by putting on his zeal and courage to walk with the Lord our God in peace and equitie and to turn many away from iniquitie And now remember them O my God that defile their Priesthood and break the Covenant of the Priesthood and of Levi Smite them through their loyns that make a prey of his possessions and grinde their heads as thou didst Abimelechs with broken milstones from the wals or with the reliques from the ruinated houses yea grinde all their heads O Lord to powder that grinde the faces of his poor and needy children But peace be upon all such as walk according to this Rule here set to Baruch and upon all those that Love God To this God The Father The Son and the holy Ghost be ascribed all honour and glory now and ever Amen Imprimatur Ric. Baylie Vicecan Oxon. The Publisher To the Readers of these two last Sermons WHo may see That this great Author was not affraid Most aculâ—atly to reprove the sins of his own Time nor is The Advertiser ashamed to set his seal to the justnesse of them by a full and true Publishing his Reproofes Let the Lord be glorified though with our shame and justified when he speaketh Judgement And to Gods glory be it spoken This word hath prospered in the thing where unto God sent it in some of the Gentrie and Clergie Yet can it not be denied but there is still too great store of matter of Reproof in the same kinde Many whose estates are sore diminished have minds still set upon Great Things what ever they have lost they find pleasure Had The Author lived to this day I am perswaded he would have gone on with The Holy Bishops complaints Perdidere tot calamitatum utilitates Pacem et divitias priorum Temporum non habent Omnia aut ablata aut imminuta sunt sola tantum vitia creverunt nihil de Prosperitate pristina reliquum nisi peccata quae prosperitatem non esse fecerunt c. These are wracks indeed To Misse the Good which may be got by suffering evil is the worst of evils To lose that gain which should be gotten by losses is of losses the greatest But to grow worse with suffering evil is perdition it self Now if any one of Prosperous condition when he reads this shall triumph and bless himself in his heart saying We have not sinned in devouring these men I beg his Pardon and beseech him to read on if he saw our faults in the last he may perhaps see his own in the next And humbly desire leave to say 1. A man may punish sin and yet inter puniendum Commit a sin greater then that be punisheth 2. In these times and among the persons promising Reformation there hath been Greater seeking after great things and that with greater Inordination too then was in former Times Our Author complained that the Baruchs of his Time sought great things by the Art of Philip of Macedon Would God my Clergy Brethren so I do esteem such and none but such as were begotten to our mother by the R. R. Fathers of the Church had not used
place it where he list But if the inordinate desire of gain do mis-sway men by profession Christians to use deceit in bargaining to over-reach their Neighbors or to work their own advantage out of their brethrens miseries or necessities they transgresse the second great Commandement as grievously as the Heathen did the sum whereof you know is to love our Neighbors as our selves to do to all as we desire to be done unto And by the manner and measure of transgressing these two great Commandements on which the whole Law and Prophets hang the true measure as of Idolatry so of all other sins must be taken 10. If we should take an unpartial survey of all the several sorts or conditions of men throughout this Land and of their demeanors in their several callings What root or branch of goodness is there wherein we can be imagined to overtop many Heathen Nations unless it be in point of Faith and Opinion But these we know without correspondencie in practise of good life will be so farre from justifying us in respect of the Heathens or Infidels that they will more deeply condemn us Covetousness deceit and violences were not more rife amongst private Heathens then they are with us If opportunity serve Homo homini fit lupus every one is as a snare or gin unto his neighbor The Remedy which God hath appointed for this enormitie are publick Laws and Courts of Justice And yet if the greivances which private men suffer from one another were put in one scale and the greivances which befal them from the corruptions of Courts appointed to do them right whether these be Civil or Ecclesiastick were put in the contrary Scale it would be hard to determine whether sort of greivances would overpoize others And if the remedie prove worse then the disease what hope of health As for drunkenness ryot and other prophaneness these were not so rife in many Heathen Nations as they are now in most Christian States because for the most part more severely punished amongst them then they are with us and yet I pray God that the sins of the Pulpit and of the Printing-house may be found much lighter then the sins of the Play-house or the Tavern c. when the great Moderator of Heaven and Earth shall weigh them in the Balance of his un-erring Justice This is certain that notorious delinquents almost in every other kind are ashamed to justifie themselves when their facts come to light their very Consorts will not be their Advocates when they are proved against them Whereas many popular Sermons and Treatises albeit ful stuft with Characters of more then Heathenish pride hatred malice sedition and scurrilitie pass for currant amongst the factions Consorts as containing rare expressions of fervent zeal in Gods cause and of sincere love to true Religion And if the light of the body be dark how great must the darkness of that body be 11. In drunkenness in gluttony in wantonness and other branches of licentiousness some Heathen Nations in former ages haply have exceeded us But in this publick and farre spreading licentiousness of tongues and pens in bitter invectives against their brethren in audacious libelling against lawful Superiors no Age before the Art of Printing was invented could no State or Nation since the invention of that Art hath exceeded or may compare with those times wherein and those people with whom we live But admit the faults or delinquencies of our time were but equal to the delinquencies of the Heathen yet as that ancient and religious Writer Salvianus well observes Though the vices of the Heathens and the Christians were but equal yet the same vices are more criminous and scandalous in Christians then they can be in the Heathen If the Heathens were prophane were covetous were dissolute licentious or disobedient what great matter is it they never heard of A Redemption from this vain conversation to be purchased at so high a rate as with the pretious blood of the only Son of God They never were called solemnly to vow integrity of life and conversation as a service due unto that Lord which had redeemed them All this we have done and yet have left our Masters will which we vowed to do altogether undone yea continue to do the will of his Enemie with as great alacrity and fidelity as the Infidels or Heathens do Again the Heathens had no expectation of any gratious immortal reward for well-doing they feared no dreadful doom or sentence after death for the errors or mis-doings of this mortal life But we ever since we learned the ten Commandements and our Creed have been hedged in on the right hand and on the left on the right hand with hopes of a most blessed everlasting life on the left hand with fear of an endless and never-dying death and yet have transgressed these bounds have on both hands out-rayed as licentiously as the Heathens did Surely one special reason why after so long so much good preaching there is so little practice of good life so much licentiousness in the wayes of death is because we Preachers do not maintain that double hedge which Christ hath set us for keeping us in order that is we do not press the fear of death and hope of life everlasting so forcibly and seasonably as we ought and might Now these meditations of everlasting life and everlasting death are the points whereunto these discussions upon this Text have been praemised God grant you docile hearts and me the Spirit of Grace and Understanding for rectifying your hopes and fears of your final reward in that last and dreadful Day CHAP. XLI 2 CHRON. 24. 22. The Lord look upon it and require it 1. THe Sayings of men in perfect health of mind are then most pithy and their Testifications most valid when their bodily limbs and senses are at the weakest pitch And the Admonitions or Presages of wise Governors whether Temporal or Ecclesiastick sink deeper into sober hearts being uttered upon their death-beds then if they were delivered upon the Bench or Throne These few words amount unto an higher Point of Consideration then these Generalities import For They are the last words of a great High-Priest and a great Prophet of the Lord of a Prophet not by General Calling only but uttered by him whilest the Spirit of Prophesie did rest upon him They are the words of Zechariah the Son and lawful Successor to that Heroical High-Priest Jehoiada who had been the chief Protector of the Kingdom of Judah A Foster-Father unto the present King The Restorer of Davids Line when it did hang but by one slender thred unto its Antient Strength and Dignity 2. The Points most considerable in the survey of this Text are Three First The Plain and Literal sense which wholly depends upon the Historical Circumstances as well precedent as subsequent Second The Emblematical Portendment of that prodigious fact which did provoke this dying Priest and Prophet of the
Lord to utter these words Or which is all one The fulfilling of his imprecation according to the Mystical sense Third The discussion of such Cases of Conscience or controversed Divinity as are naturally emergent out of the Mystical or Literal sense and are useful for this present or future Ages To begin with the Circumstance of the time wherein they were uttered That apparently was the dayes of King Joash Heir and Successor unto Ahaziah King of Judah who was next Successor save one unto good Jehoshaphat by lineal direct descent but no Successor at all to him in vertue or goodness or happiness of Government For Ahaziah was Pessimi patris haud melier proles a very wicked son of a most wicked father and too hard to say whether he or his Father Jehoram were the worse King or more unfortunate Governour But Joash the Orphan Son of Ahaziah hath the Testimonie of the Spirit of God That he ruled well whilst Jehiiada the High-Priest did live 2 King 12. 2. And his zeal to the House of the Lord recorded at large in this chapter as also in the 2 Kings 12. 4. was so great as more could not be expected or conceived either of Jehoshaphat Hezekiah or good Josiah And thus he continued from the seventh year of his Age until the five or six and thirtieth at the least A competent time a man would think for a full and firm growth in goodness But amongst the Sons and Successors of David we may observe that some begun their Reign very well and ended ill Others being extream bad in their beginning did end better then the other begun So Manasses in the beginning and middle of his Reign filled the City with innocent blood and died a Penitentiary This present King Joash begun and continued his Reign for thirty years or thereabouts in the spirit but ended in the flesh or rather in blood leaving a perpetual stain upon the Throne and Race of David This strange Apostacie or Revolt argues that his fore-mentioned goodness and zeal unto the House of the Lord was Adventitious and not truly rooted in his own brest That the fair Lineaments of a pious man and noble Prince were drawn not by his own skill but by the manuduction of Jehoiada the High-Priest as Children oft-times make fair letters while their Tutors guide their hands but spatter and blot and dash after they be left to their own guidance Jehoiada saith the Text waxed old and was full of dayes an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died and they buried him in the City of David among the Kings because he had done good in Israel both towards God and towards his House The solemnization of his death was a strong Argument of the respect and love which both Prince and People did bear unto him whilst he lived and much happier might both of them have been had they continued the same respect unto his Son and Successor But they buried their love unto Jehoiada and which was worst the zeal which he had taught unto the House of God in his Grave For so it followeth verse 17 18. Now after the death of Jehoiada came the Princes of Iudah and made obeysance to the King Then the King hearkened unto them and he left the House of the Lord God of their Fathers and served Groves and Idols Yet Gods love to them doth not determine with the beginning of their hate unto the House of God and to his faithful Servants For notwithstanding that wrath came upon Iudah and Ierusalem for this their trespasse yet he sent Prophets to them to bring them again to the Lord and they testified against them but they would not give ear And the Spirit of the Lord came upon or cloathed Zechariah the Son of Iehoiada the Priest who stood above the people and said unto them Thus saith God Why transgress ye the Commandement of the Lord that ye cannot prosper Because ye have forsaken the Lord he hath also forsaken you And they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the Commandment of the King in the Court of the House of the Lord. Thus Ioash the King remembred not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done unto him but slew his Son and when he dyed he said or inter moriendum dixit The Lord look upon it and require it 3. But did the Lord hearken to him or require his blood at the Kings and Princes hands which slew him Yes that he did oftner then once For it was required of their posterity But for the present he did visit both the King and his Princes most remarkably by an unexpected Army of the Syrians unto whose Idolatrous Rites they had now conformed themselves complying too well with them and with their neighbors the Heathen in all sorts of wickedness But here the Polititian will reply That the Syrians did upon other occasions intend to do some mischeif to the King the Princes and People of Judah For it was never unusual to that Nation to vex or molest Israel or Judah Nunc olim quocunque dabant se tempore vires As often as opportunity served as often as they could spy advantage And to assign the Probable or meritorious Causes of such Plagues as befal any Nation by their inveterate enemies unto the Judgment of God for this or that sin is not safe specially for men not endued with the Spirit of Prophecie In many Causes I confess it is not yet in this particular we need not be afraid to say as much as the Spirit of God or sacred authority of his Word hath taught us We say no more as indeed we need not for the point is so plainly and punctually set down by the pen-man of this Book from verse 23. to the 26. as it needs no Comment no paraphrase or marginal conjecture any of which would rather soyl then clear the meaning of the Text. And it came to passe at the revolution of the year that the hoast of Syria came up against him and they came to Judah and Ierusalem and destroyed all the Princes of the people from amongst the people and sent the spoyls of them to Damascus c. 4. The Observations or plain Uses which these Literal Circumstances of this Story afford are many I shall touch upon some principal ones As First To admonish Kings or other supreme Magistrates to reverence and respect their Clergy seeing Ioash did prosper so well while he followed the advice and counsel of the High-Priest Iehoiada but came to this fearful and disastrous end first by contemning the warning of Zechariah the Cheif-Priest and afterward by shedding of the innocent blood of this great Prophet of the Lord. But this will be a common place not so proper to this time and place wherein we live wherein there is such happy accord between the supream Majestie and the Prelacie and Clergie of this Kingdom as no good Patriot can desire more then the continuance of it
meaning if I render it thus Israel that very day committed seven deadly sins at once that is without interposition or intervention of any good work or thought First They allege Zechariah was their High Priest and to kill a Priest though of inferior rank was a sin amongst all Nations more then equivalent to the killing of a meer secular Potentate A sin sometimes more unpardonable then any sin could be committed within this Kingdom besides the making of Allom. Secondly As these Jews allege Zechariah was a Prophet and to kill a Prophet was the next degree of comparison in iniquity unto the laying of violent hands upon Kings and Princes for he which forbid To touch his annointed did also forbid to do his Prophets any harm both are given in the same charge Thirdly Zechariah was a second Magistrate among his People and to kill a prime Magistrate is more then murther or at least a mixture of Murther and Treason Fourthly This Priest and great Magistrate by the Testimony of their sons who murthered him was upright and entire in the discharge of all his Offices and a man unblemished for his life and conversation Fifthly they polluted the Courts of the Lords House within whose precincts Zechariahs bloud was shed without such reverence to the place as Jehoiada his Father upon a farre greater exigencie for the preservation of Ioash and his Kingdom did observe For he would not suffer Athaliah though guilty of murther of the Royal Seed and of high Treason against the Crown of David to be put to death within the Courts of the Temple but commanded her to be killed at the Gates of the Kings House Chap. 23. 14. Sixthly As these Iewish Rabbins observe Their fore-fathers polluted the Sabbath of the Lord for on a Sabbath day as it is probable not from their testimony only but from the Text Zachariah was thus murthered That which makes up the full number of seven and the measure of their unexpiable iniquity the Sabbath wherein this unexpiable murther was committed was the Sabbath of the great Feast of Attonement All these transgressions or deadly sins for every circumstance seems a transgression or principal sin not an accessary were committed in one day or at once Another circumstance these later Iews charge their fore-fathers withal That they did not observe the Law of the * Deer or of the Hart after they shed Zachariah's innocent blood for they did not so much as cover it with dust But this Circumstance will fall into the discussion of the Third General proposed The sins or circumstances hitherto mentioned were enough to sollicitate the Execution of Zachariah's dying prayers or imprecations Lord look upon it and require it Another circumstance for aggravation of this sin specially on King Io ash his part omitted by the later Iews might here be added For that this good man this godly Priest and Prophet of the Lord Zachariah was by birth and bloud of nearest kindred as we say Cousin Germane to Ioash as being the Son by lawful descent of Iehoshabeath daughter of Iehoram sister to Ahaziah and so Aunt to King Ioash whom Iehoiada the Priest had to wife 2 Chron. 22. 11. 7. But did these Aggravations or curious Commentaries of later Jews upon this and the like sins of their fore-fathers any way help to prevent the like diseases in such as made them Rather their Exclamations against them and Rigid Reformation of them and their affected Zeal unto the Prophets whom their Fathers had murthered did cast them into farre worse diseases of pride and hypocrisie whose symptomes were fury madness and splenctical passions which in the issue brought out more prodigious murther as will better appear in the Second General proposed which was The Emblematical portendment of this cruel and prodigious Fact against Zechariah or the accomplishment of his imprecations according to the mystical sense For proof of our last Assertion or Conclusion of the Literal sense no better Authority can be alleged or desired then the authority of our Saviour Christ No better Commentaries can be made upon the mystical sense of the former History then he who was the Wisdom of God made upon it Matth. 23. verse 29. Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites so he had indicted them seven or eight times in this Chapter before But the height or rather the depth of their hellish hypocrisie was reserved unto this verse and the original thus expresseth it Because ye build the tombs of the Prophets and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous and say If we had been in the dayes of our Fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets wherefore ye be witnesses unto your selves that ye are the children of them which killed the Prophets What if they were so What will follow Must the children be punished for their fathers sins or for the acknowledgment of them Surely no! if they had repented of them But to garnish the Sepulchers of the Prophets or the righteous men whom their Fathers had killed was no good Argument of their true Repentance So farre was this counterfeit Zeal unto the memory of deceased Prophets from washing away the guilt of blood wherewith their fore-fathers had polluted the Land that it rather became the nutriment of hatred and of murtherous designs against the King of Prophets and Lord of life And to this effect the words of the Evangelist St. Luke chap. 11. ver 48. would amount were they rightly scann'd and fully express'd Truly ye bear witness and allow the deeds of your fathers for they killed them to wit the Prophets and righteous and ye build their sepulchres In building the Sepulchres and acknowledging their fathers sins which killed the Prophets they did bear Authentick Witness that they were their sons And in not bringing forth better fruits of Repentance then the beautifying of their Graves they did bear witness against themselves that they were but as Graves as our Saviour saith in the 44. verse which appear not or do not outwardly shew what is contained in them and the men that walk over them are not aware of them 8. That the Scribes and Pharisees who were respectively Priests and Lawyers did more then witness that they were the sons of them which killed the Prophets that they did though not expresly yet implicitely more then allow their Fathers deeds and were at this instant bent to accomplish them is apparent from our Saviours fore-warnings or threatnings against them Matt. 23. 32 33. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers ye generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of hell or the judicature unto Gehennah That the Scribes and Pharisees and the People misled by them were now prone to make up the full measure of their Fathers sins is apparent from Matth. 23. 34 and 35. Wherefore behold I send unto you Prophets and Wisemen and Scribes and some of them ye shall or will kill crucifie and some of
them ye shall scourge in your Synagogues and persecute them from City to City That upon you may come all the righteous blood that was shee l upon the earth from the blood of the righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar Verse 36. Verily I say unto you all these things shall come upon this Generation Or as it is in St. Lukes Narration of our Saviours Comment upon this Story taken by himself or by others who heard him in the very same words wherein he uttered it Therefore also saith the Wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles some of them they shall or will slay persecute That the blood of all the Prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this Generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the Altar and the Temple Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation This vehement reiterated Asseveration literally and punctually referrs unto the words of my Text. The Implication or Importance is as much as if he had said Ye Scribes and Pharisees may call to mind that when your Fore-fathers whose murtherous acts ye acknowledge did slay Zacharias the High-Priest he expired with these words in his mouth Lord look upon it and require it His innocent blood was then in part required upon King Ioash upon the Princes of Judah and other chief offenders But shall now again be required in full and exact measure of this present Generation more murtherous and bloody then their idolatrous fore-fathers at any time were 9. What shall we say then That this last Generation was guilty of the murther of Zachariah or to be plagued for their fathers sins in murthering him This Point will come to be discussed in the Third General And however that may be determined This Case is clear that These later Iews did make up the full measure of their fore-fathers iniquity in killing Gods Prophets especially in murthering Zechariah who was the most illustrious Type of Christ the Son of God in the Manner of his death and for the Occasions which these several Generations took respectively to murther them both The special Occasion which their fore-fathers took to kill Zachariah the Son of Iehoiada or Barachias for he bore both names though both in effect the same or one equivalent to the other was because he taxed them for their idolatry and laboured to bring them again to the worship of the true God The only quarel which the malice of the later Jews could pick against our Lord and Saviour was because he taxed their hellish Hypocrisies which their too Curious Reformation of their fore-fathers Idolatry had bred And taught them how to worship God in spirit and truth not in Ceremonies or meer bodily observance Neither Generation were so blind as to persecute men whom they did acknowledge to be immediately sent from God Yet were both furiously prone to persecute such as indeed were sent from God for pretending or promulging their Commission from God or taking the names of Prophets upon them so often as their doctrine did crosse their practises or violent passions This later Generation of Scribes and Pharisees after they had failed in their Proofs of any Capital matter of Fact or point of doctrine delivered by Christ condemned him for answering affirmatively to this Question proposed Tell us art thou the Son of God or as St. Mark more punctually expresseth it Art thou the Christ the Son of the Blessed Mark 14. 61. Zechariah as was now said was Christs true Picture for Quality for Office and for the Relation of Names and kindred For Zechariah was a Prophet and a Priest the Son of Iehoida which signifieth as much as The knowledge of God or as our Saviour expresseth the Reality answering to his name The son of Barachias that is The blessed of God And our Saviour was The Son of the only wise God the wisdom of God and The blessed of God the very God of blessing being the Great Prophet of God and high-Priest of our souls Lastly the Princes of Iudah having by glozing flattery perswaded their King to authorize their projects against Zechariah the High-Priest and Prophet of the Lord put them in execution upon the solemn Feast of Attonement or expiation The Scribes and Pharisees equal or Superior to these Lay-Princes in cruelty importuned Pilate by pretended observance and loyal obedience to the Roman Caesar to sacrifice The Son of the Blessed whom they had unjustly condemned unto their malice at that solemn Feast which was prefigured by the Feast of Expiation the Feast instituted in the memory of their deliverance out of Egypt CHAP. XLII MATTH 23. verse 34 35 36 c. Wherefore behold I send unto you Prophets and Wise men and Scribes and some of them ye shall or will kill and crucifie and some of them shall or will ye scourge in your Synagogues and persecute them from City to City That upon you may come or by which means will come upon you all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar Verily I say unto you all these things shall come upon this Generation 2 Chron. 24. 22. The Lord look upon it and require it Luke 11. 51. Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation THese words were uttered by our blessed Lord and Saviour against the Scribes and Pharisees with their Associates in Blood a little before the Feast of the Passover Whether that Last Passover wherein this Lamb of God prefigured by that Solemn Feast as also by the Death of Abel and his Sacrifice was offered upon the Cross is or may be a Question amongst the learned not at this time to be disputed But rather if occasion serve in the explication of the last verse Verily I say unto you ye shall not see me henceforth till that ye say Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. For gathering the true and full Connexion of this Passage with the former Relations it shall suffice to observe that as our Saviour never spared the Scribes and Pharisees So at this time above others he reproves them most fully and sharply The Matter of this Reproof was their avarice and hypocrisie The End partly to prevent the like desire of vain-glory with other Enormities in his Disciples Partly to cure if it were possible the Scribes and Pharisees of their hereditary disease Hence whereas they most affected Complemental Greetings in publick places or glorious Titles of Rabbies Our Saviour to allay this humour for respectful Salutations presents them Woes instead of glorious Titles he instyles them Hypocrites For striking at seven several Branches of their Hypocrisie he seven times in this Chapter begins his speech in this style Wo
Womans seed And whereas they thought themselves of all men most free from stain of the Prophets blood whose tombs they garnished our Saviour in my Text layes that especially to their Charge indicting them of all the murther committed from the beginning of the world until that present time or at least till Zechariahs death 3. The Indictment we must believe to be most true and just because framed by Truth it self But what the true meaning of it should be is not expressed by any Interpreter we have hitherto met with Such as a man in reason would soonest expect best satisfaction from for the most part pass it over in silence Others like young Conjurers which raise spirits they cannot lay cast such doubts as they are not able to assoil For acquainting you with as much as my reading or Observation upon late desires to satisfie my self in a point so difficult and useful have attained unto give me leave to reflect upon 2 Chron. 24. 22 and to look fore-right also into the words of St. Luke chapt 11. verse 51. Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation Which few words include the greatest measure of righteous blood most unrighteously shed that ever was laid to any People or Nations Charge And yet laid to the charge of the Jewish Nation not indefinitely taken or according to several successions or generations but to the present Generation of this People and so laid by One that could not erre either in giving of the Charge or in point of Judicature upon any matter within the Charge For the Charge is laid by the Wisdom of God by the supreme Judge of quick and dead as you may see from the forty ninth verse Therefore also saith the wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles and some of them they shall or will slay and persecute that the righteous blood of all the Prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this Generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zechariah which perished between the Altar and the Temple Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation The same Charge though with some variation of words yet with full Aequivalencie of sense we have in my Text Wherefore behold I send unto you Prophets and Wise men and Scribes c. But however the Charge and the Emphatical Ingemination for laying this Charge upon this Generation of Serpents in both Evangelists be for equivalency of sense the very same Yet St. Luke as I take it reherseth the Charge in the self-same words wherein our Saviour uttered it It shall be required of this Generation And in thus saying he declared himself to be Vates tam preteritorum quam futurorum better knowing the true meaning or importance of Zecharias his Imprecation or Prophecy and the time wherein it was to be fulfilled then Zecharias himself although both an High-Priest and a Prophet did when he uttered it The Imprecation or Prophecie of that Zecharias unto whom as I suppose the words recited out of St. Matthew and St. Luke have a peculiar Reference are recorded the 2 Chron. 24. 22. And when he died or as the Original hath it when he was a dying or in the very moment of death he said The Lord look upon it and require it The Exposition of which words First according to the Literal or Grammatical Sense with the Historical Circumstances precedent and subsequent And Secondly according to the Mystical Sense or the Emblematical Portendment of that Prodigious Fact which provoked that Godly High-Priest and Prophet to utter the fore-cited Imprecation Lord look upon it and require it hath been the Subject of my meditations of late delivered in A less and yet a greater Audience The Third General then proposed but left untouched comes now to be handled in this learned Auditory upon another Text. And that was The Discussion of such Questions or Cases of Conscience as were emergent whether out of the Literal or Mystical Sense of Zacharias the son of Jehoiada his dying words especially of such as be useful either for this present or future Times 4. And of such Questions the first is Who this Zachariah in St. Matthew and St. Luke is Whether it be He that was slain as is told 2 Chron. 24. 22. or some other of that name The Second supposing the same Zecharias to be meant in all three places Why the Wisdom of God after he had laid the blood of all the righteous men and Prophets whom their fore-fathers had slain or haply whom they intended to slay should instance in Zachariah the son of Jehoiada or of Barachiah as the last man whose blood was to be required The Third Whether the blood of Zecharias or other Prophets or righteous men slain by their fore-fathers or the blood of the Son of God himself or of his Apostles of whom this present Generation were the murtherers was in strict and Logical Construction of these words required of this present Generation Or in other Terms thus Whether the murther of Our Saviour or of his Apostles plotted or practised by this present Generation or rather the cruelties practised by their Fore-fathers upon the Prophets and other righteous men were the true and Positive Cause of all those unparalleld Plagues and Calamities which befel the Jewish Nation within forty or more years after our Saviours death of the desolation of Jewry and the Jews utter extirpation thence by Titus and Adrian The Fourth In what Cases or how farre the posterity or successors of any people or nation are liable to the punishment of their Ancestors sins or what manner of repentance is required for the known and grosse sinnes of their Fathers The Fifth VVhether it were lawful for any of Christs Apostles or other of his followers at this day upon the like provocations as Zacharias had to curse their persecutors in such manner as he did his upon their death-beds or when they are a dying The Sixth which might as well have been the First is VVith what Intent or to what End The Wisdom of God did send Prophets Apostles and VVise men unto this present Generation or their fore-fathers As whether to rescue them from the Plagues denounced against them by Zachariah and other Prophets or to bring their Righteous Blood upon them 5. To the first Question VVho this Zacharias was Some have questioned whether He was Zechariah Coaeval to Isaiah and witness of his Espousal Isai 8. Others there be of opinion this Zachariah here meant should be Zachariah the Prophet whose Prophesie is extant in the Sacred Volume the last in order but one as he was one of the last in time and prophecied about this peoples return from Babylon And it is true indeed that this Prophet was the Son of Barachiah as appears from the very first words of his Prophecie But this opinion is obnoxious to the same exceptions the former is viz.
present generation in my Text had crucified But so returning unto him by true Repentance he will return unto them in mercie and be as gracious and favourable to the last Generations of this miserable people as he was of old unto the first or best of their Fore-fathers For in this Case especially and in this and the like alone that Saying of our Apostle which some in our dayes most unadvisedly and impertinently mis-apply and confine to their own particular state in Grace or Gods Favour is most true The Gifts of God are without repentance That Lord and God whom they solemnly forsook hath not finally forsaken them but with unspeakable patience and long-suffering still expects their Conversion For which Christians above all others are bound to pray Convert them Good Lord unto the Knowledge and us unto the Practise of that Truth wherewith thou hast elightened our souls that our Prayers for them and for our selves may ever be acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our Redeemer Amen Amen CHAP. XLIII The Second Sermon upon this Text. MATTH 23. verse 34 35 36. Wherefore Behold I send unto you Prophets and some of them ye will kill c. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth c. Verily I say unto you All these things shall come upon this Generation 2 Chron. 24. 22. And as he was dying he said The Lord look upon it and Require it Luke 11. 51 Verily I say unto you IT that is ver 50. The blood of all the Prophets shed from the Foundation of the world shall be Required of this Generation 1. OF several Queries or Problems emergent out of these words proposed unto this Audience a year ago One and that one of greatest difficultie was How the sins of former Generations can be required of later specially in so great a distance of time as was between the death of Abel and of Zachariah and this last Generation which crucified the Lord of life the Discussion whereof is my present Task In this disquisition you will I hope dispense with me for want of a formal Division or Dichotomie because the Channel through which I am to pass is so narrow and so dangerously beset with Rocks and shelves on the right hand and on the left as there is no possibility for two to go on brest nor any room for Steerage but only Towage One passage in my Disquisition must draw another after it by one and the same direct Line For first if I should chance to say any thing which either Directly or by way of Consequence might probably inferre this Affirmative Conclusion That God doth at any time punish the children for the fathers sins or later generations for the Iniquities of former This were to contradict that Fundamental Truth which the Lord himself hath so often protested by Oath Ezek. 18. 1 2 c. And the word of the Lord came unto me again saying What mean ye that ye use this Proverb concerning the Land of Israel saying the Fathers have eaten sour grapes and the Childrens teeth are set on edge As I live saith the Lord God ye shall not have occasion any more to use this Proverb in Israel Behold all souls are mine as the soul of the Father so also the soul of the Son is mine the soul that sinneth it shall die And again verse the last I have no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth saith the Lord God wherefore turn your selves and live ye Now to contradict any Branch of these or the like Protestations or Promises would be to make shipwrack of Faith more dangerous then to rush with full sail upon a Rock of Adamant On the other hand if I should affirm any thing either directly or indirectly which might inferre any part of this Negative That God doth not visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children or of former Generations upon later This were to strike upon a shelf no less dangerous then to dash against the former Rock directly to contradict Gods solemn Declaration in the second Commandement of His Proceedings in this Case which are no less just and equal then the former Promise Ezekiel the 18. By this you see the only safe way for passage through the straits proposed must be to find out the middle Line or Mean whether Medium Abnegationis or Participationis or in one word The difference betwixt this Negative God doth not punish the Children for the Fathers sins and the other Affirmative God visiteth the sins of the Fathers upon the Children even unto the third and fourth Generation c. 2. But in the very first setting forth or entry into this narrow Passage some here present perhaps have already discovered a shelf or sand to wit that the passage fore-cited out of the second Commandement doth better reach or fit the Case concerning Josiah his death and the calamity of his people then the present difficultie or Problem now in handling For Josiah was but the third in succession from Manasseh and dyed within fewer years then a Generation in ordinary Construction imports after his wicked Grand-father But if the blood of Zachariah the son of Jehoiada or other Prophets slain in that Age or the Age after him were required of this present Generation God doth visit the sins of Fore-fathers upon the Children after more then three or four after more then five times five Generations according to St. Matthew's account in the Genealogie of our Lord and Saviour Yet this seeming Difficulty to use the Mariners Dialect is rather an Over-fall then a shelf or at the worst but such a shelf or sand as cannot hinder our passage if we sound it by the Line or Plummet of the Sanctuary or number our Fathoms by the scale of sacred Dialect in like Cases For when it is said in the Second Commandement that God doth visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him This is Numerus certus proincerto aut indefinito an expression or speech equivalent to that of the Prophet Amos. For three transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not turn away the punishments thereof For three transgressions of Tyrus and for four for three transgressions of Ammon and for four c. Throughout almost every third verse of the first Chapter and some part of the Second The Prophets meaning is that all the Kingdoms or several Sovereignties there mentioned by him especially Judah and Israel should certainly be punished not for three or four only but for the multitude of their continual transgressions and many of them transgressions of a high and dangerous nature Both speeches as well that in Amos as in the Second Commandement reverently to compare magna parvis are like to that of the Poet O terque quaterque beati that is most happy So that unto the third and fourth generation may imply more then seven
manner of Gods augmenting the punishments or plagues upon succeeding Generations which would not take warning by the punishments of their fore-fathers usually runs by the scale of seven Every man that seeth me saith Cain after the Lord had convented him for killing his brother will kill me whereas there was not a man in the world besides his father and himself But a mans Conscience as we say is a thousand witnesses And his Conscience did sufficiently convict him to have deserved Execution whereas there was neither Witness nor Executioner According to this Sentence engraven in this murtherous heart did God afterwards enjoyn Noah and gave it in express Commandement under his hand to Moses Whosoever doth shed mans blood by man shall his blood be shed If this Law were Just amongst the Israelites why was it not executed upon Cain the first Malefactor in this kind Nay why doth God expresly exempt him from it and punish him with exile only Doubtless this was from His Gracious Universal Goodness which alwayes threats before it strike offereth favour before he proceed to Judgment and mingleth Judgment with Mercie before he proceed in rigor of Justice Now Cain had no former warning how displeasant murther was to God and therefore is not so severely punished as every murtherer after him must be For so it is said Gen. 4. 15. Whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance shall be taken on him seven-fold Yet for any of Seths Posteritie to have killed murtherous Cain had been a sin in its nature farre less then for Cain to murther his righteous brother yet by Rule of divine Justice to be more greivously punished then Cains murther was because in him they had their Warnings 6. The same Proportion God observes in visiting the sins of Fathers upon their Children So in that Great Covenant of Life and Death made with the Israelites Levit. 26. 14 15 16. After promise of extraordinary blessings to the Observers of his Law the Lord thus threatneth the transgressors But if ye will not hearken unto me and will not do all these Commandements And if ye despise my Statutes or if your soul abhor my Judgments so that ye will not do all my Commandements but that ye break my Covenant I also will do this unto you I will even appoint over you terror consumption c. But if for all this they will not yet turn unto him he will plague them still with the pursuit of their enemies Nay it followeth verse 18 And if ye will not hearken unto me then will I punish you seven times more for your sins and if all this will not reclaim them these later plagues shall be seven times multiplied and this third plague three hundred forty three times greater then the first and the fourth Transgression shall likewise be multiplied by seven So that the same Apostasie or rebellion not amended after so many warnings if we may call the literal meaning to strict Arithmetical Account shall in the end be One thousand one hundred ninety seven times more severely punished then the first But it is likely that a Certain Number was put for an uncertain That the visitation of sins of Fathers upon their Children may be continued seventy Generations even from the first giving of the Law by Moses unto the worlds End is apparent from the verses following Levit. 26. 37. unto This Yet will the Lord still remember the Covenant made with Abraham c. For not putting this Rule or Law of confessing their fathers sins in practise the Children of that Generation which put our Lord and Saviour to death are punished this day with greater hardness of heart then the Scribes and Pharisees were For however They were the very Paterns of Hypocrisie yet had they so much sense or feeling of conscience that they did utterly dislike their Fore-fathers Actions and thought to super-erogate for their Fathers transgressions by erecting the Tombs or garnishing the Sepulchres of the Prophets whom their Fathers had murthered or stoned to death But these modern scattered Jews will not to this day confess their fore-fathers sins nor acknowledge that they did ought amiss in putting to death the Prince of Prophets and Lord of Life And their Fathers sins until they confess them are become their sins and shall be visited upon them To confess the sins of their Fathers according to the intendment or purpose of Gods Law implies an hearty Repentance for them and repentance truly hearty implies not only an Abstinence from the same or like transgressions wherewith their Fathers had provoked Gods wrath but a zealous Desire or Endeavour to glorifie God by constant Practise of the Contrary vertues or works of Piety This Doctrinal Conclusion may easily be inferred from the afore-cited 18. of Ezekiel 7. Sin is more catching then the Pestilence and no marvel if the plagues due for it to the Father in the course or doom of Justice seize on the Son seeing the contagion of sin spreads from the unknown Malefactor to his neighbors from the Fields wherein it is by Passengers committed into the bordering Cities or Villages unless the Attonement be made by Sacrifice and such solemn deprecation of guilt as the Law in this Case appoints Deut. 21. 1 2 c. If one be found slain in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possesse it lying in the field and it be not known who hath slain him Then thy Elders and Judges shall come forth and shall measure to the Cities which are round about him that is slain And it shall be that the City which is next unto the slain man even the Elders of that City shall take a Heifer which hath not been wrought with and which hath not drawn the yoak And that City shall bring down the Heifer into a rough valley which is neither cared nor sown and shall strike off the Heifers neck there in the valley And the Priests the sons of Levi shall come neer for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him and to bless in the name of the Lord and by their word shall every controversie and stroke be tryed And all the Elders of that City that are next to the slain man shall wash their hands over the Heiser that is to be beheaded in the valley And they shall answer and say Our hands have not shed this blood neither have our eyes seen it Be merciful O Lord unto thy people Israel whom thou hast redeemed and lay not innocent blood unto thy People of Israels charge and the blood shall be forgiven them So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. The nearer unto us Actual Transgressors be the more they should provoke our zealous endeavors for performance of contrary duties otherwise Gods Justice will in time over-sway his mercie and plagues first procured by some one or few mens sins will diffuse themselves from the
intended by Maldonate and others That the plagues here threatned by our Saviour must wholly be ascribed to the murthering of Him and his Apostles without any Reference to the slaughter of Gods Prophets The Infiniteness of the Person offended makes up but one and not the greatest Dimension in the body of sin the Soliditie or heynousness of it must be derived from another Root And though it be most true that every sin is an offence against an Infinite Majestie yet is He whose Majestie is Infinite in a manner infinitely more offended with some sinnes then with others 2. Ignorance of those great mysteries which we beleive and acknowledge did somewhat mitigate the Iews offences as personal against our Saviour and excuse their Persons a Tanto though not a Toto We speak the Wisdom of God which none of the Princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory 1 Cor. 2. 7 8. And again They of Jerusalem and their Rulers because they knew him not nor yet the voices of the Prophets they have fulfilled them in condemning him Acts 13. 27. St. Peter hath avouched as much upon his own knowledge as St. Paul did in mitigation of these Jews offence And now brethren I wot that out of ignorance ye did it as did also your Rulers Act. 3. verse 17. Some rigid Accuser of these hateful men would perhaps reply that they were ignorant through their own default All this being granted their fault lies properly in the true and immediate Cause of their Ignorance not in that ignorance which was no otherwise Cause of their actual murther then by not restraining their malice which first brought forth ignorance and then murther What then were the true and proper Causes of their malitious Ignorance Self-conceit of their own righteousness pride ambition covetousness unto all which as also to their obdurateness in all these and like enormities such partial apprehensions of their fathers idolatry and cruelty in killing the Prophets as we have of their hypocrisie and cruelty against Christ did concurre as Accessarie or Causes Collateral Being so much addicted to covetousness to pride and ambition and so self-conceited of their own righteousness in respect of other men it was impossible they should not do as they did These Collections to my apprehension are the same with that of our Saviour He that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God And this is their condemnation What That they went about to kill Christ No but that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather then light But why did they so Because their deeds were evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light He that now is otherwise as evil as they were before Christ came would have hated him and his Disciples as much as they did and is as liable as they were to any punishment which they suffered for their trespasses against him Suppose he had come into the world in the dayes of Joash who put Zachariah to death done the same works used the same admonitions and reproofs to have recalled that headstrong generation from Idolatry which he did to reclaim the Scribes and Pharisees from their hypocrisie and malice Gods Prophets which knew their temper would not I am perswaded have been too forward to have been their Bails for much better behaviour towards their Lord and Master then they had shewed towards themselves his servants St. Stephen's Censure of this people from time to time Ye do alwayes resist the holy Ghost As your fathers did so do ye gives us occasion to suspect that they were sometimes afore Christs time so wicked as if he had come in their dayes they would have done as this later generation did But these have killed him De Facto Their sin notwithstanding is not hereby greater then theirs that would have been as forward to kill him if he had given them the like provocation For so his manifestation in the flesh should necessarily have made this later Generation worse then any former had been and God had dealt less graciously with them in presenting his Son unto them then with their wicked fathers which never had seen him But against these and the like necessary Consequences of the former Position our Saviour protests God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved John 3. 17. And this salvation was first out of love no doubt to be tendred unto Ierusalem and her children 3. The Issue of these Deductions in brief is this The Scribes and Pharisees did no way exceed their fathers in wickedness unless perhaps in Hypocrisie or unwillingness to be reclaimed Christ was a better Teacher then the Prophets were and unto us it is manifest that these Scribes and Pharisees which would not learn goodness of him were most wickedly wilful But whether more wicked or wilful then any of their fathers before or others that lived since that time have been is more then man can determine It must be left to his judgment which judgeth not as man doth by the Event but by clear sight of the heart For the same reason it cannot be resolved whether they that put our Saviour to death were greater sinners then King Ioash and his Princes Only this we know and must believe That these later did fill up the measure of their fore-fathers iniquity that the complement of their iniquity being come the vials of Gods wrath were poured more plentifully upon this last Generation then upon any former but should not have been so plentifully poured upon it unless Zacharias and the Prophets had been so desperately slain by their fathers And for any Argument that can be brought to the contrary had Christ been crucified when Zacharias was slain and Zacharias slain when he was crucified all other proper Circumstances of each Fact besides this change of time continuing the same it is probable from my Text That Gods judgments upon this Nation had been less in the former age then they were and more greivous more sudden and terrible in the later then are now recorded Nor can this Consequence be any whit prejudiced albeit we grant the practises of cruelty against our Saviour to have been seven hundred thousand times more heynous in themselves then any could have been attempted against Zacharias The destruction of our Saviours Enemies upon the first Arrest or shameless abuse of His sacred Body in justice might and without his Intercession perhaps would have been more sudden and dreadful then Sodoms was Obdurate pride unrelenting cruelty and general impenitencie for other foul sins as they concerned the Whole Trinity or were matter of sin against the Holy Ghost he could not remit or make intercession for them in the dayes of his flesh but is to call their Authors to strict account as he is the Judge
husbandmen which shall render him the fruits in their season Matth. 21. Luke 20. Most men I doubt not understand the General meaning of the Parable And it is in effect the same with the Prophets Song of his Beloved concerning his vineyard Esay 5. 1. The one is as a Paraphrase upon the other The histories of this Nation from that time to this is as a full and just Commentary upon both The vineyard of the Lord of hoasts saith the Prophet v. 7. is the house of Israel and the men of Judah his pleasant plants And being reasonable plants they were also the husbandmen here meant The fruits looked for were Iudgment and in stead of it behold oppression righteousness and in lieu hereof behold a Cry These were wild grapes If any list to descend to more particulars By the fruitful hill wherein the vineyard was seated he may understand the hill of Sion or Jerusalem by the Tower the Temple By the hedge the fortifications of Hierusalem begun by David without which our Saviour who is the heir meant in the Gospel was crucified being sentenced to execution within the vineyard The judgment which the chief Priest and Elders gave against themselves was by the Prophet referred unto the Inhabitants of Hierusalem and men of Judah The Tenour of it is the same in the Prophet and the Evangelist I will tell you saith the Prophet what I will do to my vineyard I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof and it shall be troden down And I will lay it waste and it shall not be pruned or digged But there shall come up briars and thorns I will also command the Clouds that they rain no rain upon it That is Not whiles it remained in Judah whose mountains are now become like the mountains of Gilboah accursed for the slaughter of the King of Israel The execution of this Sentence was fitted to divers times in different measure according to their unfruitfulness or fertility in bringing forth wild grapes when good grapes were most expected More exactly parallel to the Parable as it is proposed by our Saviour we may besides all other particular diseases or distempers of this flourishing State observe Three principal Climacterical Seasons In the first and second it escapes very hardly and dies in the last The First we take from Zachariah's death a Season wherein God the men or Iudah being Judges might justly expect extraordinary fruit of his vineyard For Jehoiada the High-Priest father in Zachariah had lastly pruned and drest it re-ingrafting Joash as a forlorn Plant into the stock of David from which he had been for a while dis-planted by Athaliah the Queen Regent through whose cruelty all the rest of the Royal Branches utterly perished But instead of grapes the Princes bring forth wild grapes After the death of Jehoiada Came the Princes and made obeysance to the King who hearkened unto them And they left the House of the Lord and served groves So wrath came upon Judah for this trespass Yet he sent Prophets to them to bring them again unto the Lord and they testified against them but they would not give ear After all this the Spirit of the Lord came upon Zachariah and he said unto them Thus saith God Why transgress ye the Lords Commandements that ye cannot prosper 2 Chron. 24. 17 22. He said no more then Moses their Law-giver had expressed in that Divine Song Deut. 32. which this people were to teach their children that it might be a witness against them Notwithstanding in despight of Moses Law and the Spirit of the Lord which emboldened Zachariah to preach it they confirm their desperate league with the Prophets blood that did disswade it Of those other Servants of the Lord sent unto them about the same time we may without breach of charity suspect one at least was beaten and another slain Because it is certain that Zachariah whose Father had deserved so well of King Princes and People of Judah was by the Kings appointment stoned to death And besides the Calamities of warre which befell the Land in the end of that year the Temple in which he died was by his dying curse designed to ruine and destruction It could not be purged from guilt of his guiltless blood but by that fire which in the next generation did devour it Yet before the approach of this Second Climacterical Season The Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his Messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place But they mocked the Messengers of God despised his words and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose till there was no remedy 2 Chron. 36. 15 16 17. 8. This affectionate description of Gods tender care and compassion in sending Prophets to reclaim them argues what Our Saviour expresseth in the Parable That he sent moe then before And in the age following Zachariah's death lived all the Prophets whose Prophecies are extant But unto all those though moe they did as they had done unto the former Isaiah as the Jews confess was slain by Manasses Uriah as you heard before was killed by Jehoiakim and Jeremiah sometimes beaten sometimes imprisoned perpetually abused during the reign of Iehoiakim and Zedekiah And so at length the plagues threatned and in part executed upon this people immediately after Zechariah's death are multiplied upon that wicked generation The Rod of Gods wrath is for fashion the same but now more sharp and terrible Their fathers had slain Zachariah in the Temple And for this sin not expiated but continued and approved at least by like practises of this Generation The Lord brought upon them the King of the Chaldees who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their Sanctuary and had no compassion upon young men or maidens old men or him that stoopeth for age he gave them all into his hand And all the vessels of the House of God great and small and the treasures of the House of the Lord and the treasures of the King and of his Princes all those he brought to Babylon 2 Chron. ch 36. v. 17 18. What are those but meer enlargements of the former calamities which ensued the Butchery of Zacharias which were these It came to pass in the revolution of the year that the hoast of Syria came up against Joash and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the Princes of the people from among the people and sent all the spoil of them unto the King of Damascus 2 Chron. 24. 23. Some principal particulars of the spoils here intimated are fully expressed 2 Kings 12. where the rest of this story is omitted And Jehoash King of Judah took all the hallowed things and all the gold found in the treasures of the House of the Lord and in the Kings house and sent it to Hazael King
fruit whereby they sought to be like him in Majestie Conscious of this transgression the first Actors immediately hid themselves from his presence And as if this their terror had imprinted a perpetual Antipathy in their posteritie the least glympse of his glory for many generations after made them cry out Alas we shall dye because we have seen the Lord. We stil continue like the off-spring of tame Creatures growen wild alwayes eschewing his presence that seeks to recover us as the Bird doth the Fowler or the beasts of the Forrest the sight of fire And yet unless he shelter us under the shadow of his wings we are as a prey exposed to the destroyer already condemned for Fewel to the flames of hell or as nutriment to the brood of serpents To redeem us from this everlasting thraldome our God came down into the world disguised in the similitude of our flesh made as a stale to allure us with wiles into his net that he might draw us with the cords of Love The depth of Christs humiliation was as great as the difference between God and the meanest man therefore truly infinite He that was equal with God was conversant with us here on earth in the form and condition of a servant But of servants by birth or civil constitution many live in health and ease with sufficient supplies of all things necessary for this life So did not the Son of God his humanitie was charged with all the miseries whereof mortality is capable subject to hunger and thirst to temptations revilings and scornings even of his servants an indignitie which cannot befal slaves or vassals either born or made so by men Or to use the Prophets words He bare mans infirmities not spiritually only but bodily For who was weak and he was not weak Who was sick and he whole No malady of any disease cured by him but was made his by exact and perfect sympathie Lastly He bare our sinnes upon the Crosse and submitted himself to greater torments then any man in this life can suffer And although these were as displeasant to his humane Nature as to ours yet were our sins to him more displeasant As he was loving to us in his death so was he wise towards himself and in submitting himself to this ignominious and cruel death did of two evils chuse the lesse Rather to suffer the punishment due to our sins then to suffer sin stil to reign in us whom he loved more dearly then his own life If then we shall continue in sin after manifestation of this his Love the heinousnesse of our offence is truly infinite in as much as we do that continually which is more distasteful to our gracious God then any torments can be to us So doing we build up the works of Satan which he came purposely to destroy For of this I would not have you ignorant that albeit the end of his death was to redeem sinners yet the only means predestinated by him for our Redemption is destruction of the works of Satan and renovation of his Fathers Image in our souls For us then to re-edifie the works of Satan or abett his Faction is still more offensive to this our God then was his Agony and bloodie Sweat For taking a fuller measure of our sins let us hereunto adde his patient expectation of his enemies Conversion after his Resurrection 15. If the son of Zaleucus before mentioned should have pardoned any as deeply guilty as himself had been of that offence for which he lost one eye and his Father another the world would have taxed him either of injustice folly or too much facility rather then commended him for true Justice or Clemencie But that we may know how far Gods Mercie doth over-beare his Majestie he proceeds not straight way to execute vengeance upon these Jewes which wreaked their malice upon his deare and only Son who had committed nothing worthy of blame much lesse of death Here was matter of wrath and indignation so just as would have moved the most merciful man on earth to have taken speedy vengeance upon these Spillers of innocent blood specially the Law of God permitting thus much But Gods mercy is above his Law above his Justice these did exact the very abolition of these sinners in the very first act of sin committed against God made man for their redemption Yet he patiently expects their repentance which with unrelenting fury had plotted his destruction Forty yeers long had he been grieved with this generation after the first Passeover celebrated in sign of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage and for their stubbornesse he swore they should not enter into his rest And now their posterity after a more glorious deliverance from the Powers of darknesse have fortie yeers allotted them for repentance before they be rooted out of the Land of Rest or Promise Yet hath not the Lord given them hearts to perceive eyes to see or ears to hear unto this day because seeing they would not see nor hearing they would not hear but hardened their hearts against the Spirit of Grace Lord give us what thou didst not give them hearts of flesh which may melt at thy threats ears to hear the admonitions of our peace and eyes to foresee the day of our visitation that so when thy wrath shall be revealed against sin and sinners we may be sheltred from stormes of fire and brimstone under the shadow of thy wings so long stretched out in mercie for us Often O Lord wouldst thou have gathered us and we would not But let there be we beseech thee an end of our stubborn ingratitude towards thee no end of thy mercies and loving kindness towards us Amen CHAP. XLVI HEER 4. verse 12 13. For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper then any two edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do 1. IF a meer Artist altogether unacquainted with the Mysteries contained in Scripture or with the drift on scope of this Epistle should have dipt upon this Text he would have thought the Author of it had intended some Copia Verborum or Poetical Sylva of Epithites the words be so many and so ponderous And yet there be as many several Propositions almost as there be words And of all these Propositions or this weighty structure of words the Foundation or Subject is but One to wit The WORD OF GOD. About the Attributes or Epithites of This Word though these be many there is no difficultie or matter worthy of any disquisition which is not meerly Verbal or Grammatical The Subject though but One admits or rather requires many Disquisitions all truly Theological worthy the search or paines of a true
A Discourse about Thou art Peter c. Book 2. ch 30 Valentian his Inchanted Circle Anton. Fernand. See Book 8. Ch. 7. And Book 10. Chap. 15 16. See Matth. 16. 16 19. Two Fundamental points collected by collating Scripture with Scripture The Exaltation of Jehovah as King is that Kingdom of Heaven which S. John Baptist preached to be then approaching The Septuagint Deut. 32. 43. reconciled with Psal 97. 7. See Chap. 2. §. 5. and ch 3. §. 11. The Grounds of Christs Title to be Lord. Other grounds of Christs Title to be the Lord. Revel 5. 13. An universalitie of Duties as well as of Tongues is included in this confession The same will of God is declared by Moses and the Prophets and by Christ but more fully by Christ The first Instance how Christians are bound more strictly to obey now then Jews were before Christ Mal. 4. 2. Matth. 4. 16. Luke 2. 32. John 1. 6. What service of men is forbidden 1 Cor. 7. 23. A second instance of obedience more strictly enioyned Christians then it was the Jews See the 10 Book Chap. 39. pag. 3187. * So Christ saith Joh. 15. 8. Herein is my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruit so shall ye be my Disciples See how Salvian answers the like Objection in his 5 Book De Providentia Deut. 4. 5 6 7 8. See the Application Chap. 2. §. 5 6. f. 3316. An Advertisement concerning H. Scripture Experiments in Nature and in our selves or Consciences confirm the truths of H. Scripture Five General Points Heathen Notions of Two Sorts The Pythagorean Notion S. G. Nazianzen's story of Bishop Marcus Arethusus is in his third Oration or former Invective against Julian S. Austins story of Bishop Firmus Metaphrastes hath a story of Anthimus Bishop of Nicomedia partly like This. The opinion of the Stoicks How Virtue is a Reward to it self Gen. 15. 1. Hebr. 11. 26. Philip. 3. 14. Heb. 12. 2. Rom. 2. 7. Notions of Good and Evil as fresh as those of True and false ☞ ☞ The Jealousie and inquisitiveness of Conscience shews that it is deputed by God as our visitor or supervisour The Checks Gratulations of our Consciences be tastes or pledges of the Two-fold award that shall be given at the last day Rom. 2. 6 7 c. The Heathen Notions of a final Judgement vanished like dreams A Discourse about Dreames Though Heathen Notions were like Dreams Christian Divines may see realities of Truth in them Touching Epicurus See Book 10. fol. 3139. How Epicurus did collect That Nature detested Vice See the conference betwixt Dionysius and Daâ—ocles Tull. Tùscul Lib. 5. And Philip Comines of Lewis the eleventh See Wisdom 17. ver 11. See Juvenal Set. 13. See Horace Epist Lib. 1. Epist 1. Hic murus abenevâ— esto Nil conscire sibi Psalm 3. 6. and 23. 4. and 27 1. and 46 1. Prov. 28. 1. Wisd 5. 1. That there was to be a Judgement was known to the original world It was foretold by Enoch See Book 10. Chap. 38. num 11. p. 3171. Enoch a lively Type of Christ Testimonies of the Old Testament That God That Christ shall be Judge See Book 7. Chap. 36. It was revealed by degrees That Christ should be Judge Two Conclusions one Corollary An useful General Rule Christs Answers to the Jews were but Comments upon the Prophets A main Branch of That Good Confession which Christ witnessed was His Title to be Judge The Adversative Particle Nevertheless The blasphemous and treacherous Jews condemn Christ of Treason and Blasphemy The Application So God took away the Author of this Book some 16. or 17. years ago It is 〈◊〉 this was preacâ—'d at Newcastle where he was Vicar divers yeers The literal meaning of Dan. 7. 13. enquired Polanus his restriction of Dan. 7. 13. to Christs Ascension One Prophesie may in the literal sense have two verifications yea contrary senses lib. 7. cap. 17. An answer to all Texts bâ—ought for the Rom Churches great Glory by distinction Inchoativè and Completivè See chap. 12. §. 8. An Exposition of Jerem. 31. 34. Mal. 3. 2. meant Inchoativè of Christs first coming Completivè of his second By first coming he means His coming to judge and punish the Jews The coming spoken of John 21. 22. Such a discrimination of Elect and Reprobate as was then may not be lookt for till Doomes-day See Book 10. chap. 37 38. Dan. 7. 13. fulfilled Acts 1. 9. The manner of Christs going up to Heaven shewd the manner of his coming to Judge the Earth The Place or Term from which Christ shall come to Judgment To what Place Christ probably shall come See Book 9. Chap. 43. Two Senses chiefly apt to receive the impressions of Terror Terrors of Sounds and Terrors of Sights A view of the terrible Spectacles and Sounds preceding Doomsday See Book 1. Chap. 24. See Book 1. chap. 24. §. 4 5 c. The terrors on mount Sinai Types of the Terrors of Doomsday A special Observable It was Christ that shook the earth at the giving of the Law The dreadful sounds that will be heard at Doomsday Clavius Another Author tells that the Birds fell to the earth upon a great shout given by a multitude in an Army or at some great solemnity The Process of the final Judgement Of this Rule see chap. 11. §. 9. Christs Exercise of the power of the Keys of Hell and Death not fully manifested till Doomsday The great Excellencies of Christs Name The Word The Real Dignity Emblemed in the Sharp Sword going out of Christs mouth is Defender of his Church Whether S. John and S. Paul by The Word of God mean our Lord Jesus Christ An Explication of Heb. 4. 12 13. The Word writ or preached not only nor chiefly meant Heb. 4. 12. Most high perfections implyed in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Books to be opened at Christs coming See ch 10. §. 9 Psal 32. 1. 1 Cor. 1. 23 ☜ Three Errors about the last Judgment See Tully De Senectute Two Points proposed Pythagoras his broken Notion of a Resurrection See Juvenal 15. Sat. v. 174. The Solid Truth extract out of Pythagoras his Opinion of Transmigration Vid. For catulum lib. 1. pag. 87 90. Points wherein Heathens held consort with Christianitie The opinion of the Genethliaci This Error of the Genethliaci may Facilitate the Christians Belief of Gods Power Some Christians erre as much as the Genethliaci Three principal Propositions That there is a Logical Possibilitie presupposed to the working of Gods Power See Book 10. Fol. 3177. The bringing Possibilitie into Act doth not impair Gods power but shewes the exercise of it pro hac vice See §. 9. These differ as Addition and Substraction ☞ The Jesuite makes a Sinister use of this Truth touching The Power of God The several Shifts of Romish Writers to maintain their Doctrine of Transubstantiation Of Christs virtual influence See Book 10. ch 55 56. The Corinthian Naturalist his Two curious