the Incarnation of our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ * Which agrees with Alstedius his account were 1721. years and since the Incarnation are 1660. Both which accounts make up 3381. So that to fill up the said number of Jubilean years there remaineth but one single Jubilee more which will fall out to be in the year of our Lord 1709. About which time the people of Israel called here Daniels people because of his care and tender affection towards them may become a people again according to the concurrency of Scriptural Prophecies their iniquity transgression and sin finished and taken away through the reconciliation that shall be then between their God and them in stead whereof they shall have an everlasting righteousness brought in by the good hand of God upon them whereby they shall become a righteous Nation for ever and so consequently the whole Vision and Prophecy concerning them will be sealed that is confirmed and concluded and the most Holy or the Holiness of Holinesses that is either the Holiness of Israel surpassing all the Holinesses of believing Gentiles shall be anointed that is exalted above all others or the Messiah even the Lord Jesus who is the Holiest of them all for there is Hoâ—ier then the Holiest and there is Holier then they shall be anointed that is reign as King over them and they by their unanimous acclamations and chearful subjection acknowledge him to be their Sovereign The sense of this Scripture I confess is new but it will not follow thereupon that it cannot be true Yet I am not confident that it is the onely meaning of the Spirit for then I should pretend to be wiser then Daniel But I will wait for the determination of the Holy Church about it and expect till the end be what Divine Providence will work in bringing of it to pass hoping to rest and to stand in my lot with Daniel at the end of the dayes Some intricacies I know will appear in this interpretation which I shall endeavour to unfold Yet sure I am they are not so many as other Expositions are perplexed with and so snarled that they can never be resolved First an account will be required of me why I should call and reckon those for Jubilees which are in our Translation called Weekes I answer though the word be translated Weekes which I do not take upon me to correct the word having a measure according to Scripture-phrase extending to various significations yet such as are skilful in the Original do well know that these words may be also rendred thus sevens seventy are pared out for thy people Now the Scripture speakes of three several sorts of sevens or septenaries in order to such times which the Lord hath sanctified First the seventh day secondly the seventh year thirdly the seventh Sabbatical year The seventh day was the Sabbath wherein the people were to rest Lev. 23.3 Lev. 23 3. The seventh year was the Sabbatical year wherein the ground rested Lev. 25.4 The seventh Sabbatical year was the Jubilean Sabbath Lev. 25.8 The acceptable year above all the rest Lev. 25.4 Lev 25.8 Es 61.2 Ezek. 49.17 the year of liking or good-will Es 61.2 or as Ezekiel calls it the year of liberty or general releasement proclaimed by sound of trumpet wherein every man was to return to his Inheritance again and every servant to his freedome which priviledges doubtless brought on much rejoycing and jubilation among them It was a year of great expectation insomuch that it is conceived to be the great Epoche or Cardo of their times as the Olympiads were among the Graecians Hospinian de Orig. Fest. c. 9. and the lustra of old and indictions of late among the Romans Hoc observa saith Alstedius Jubilaeos esse infallibiles Characteres secundum ques praecipua tempora in Scripturis definiri possunt This know that Jubilean Sabbatisins are the most infallible characters to decipher and dâ—stinguish the principal times of note in the Holy Scripture This septenary therefore seems to be worthy of more then ordinary regard And the rather because it did likewise in an especial manner shadow out our deliverance by Christ which was indeed the acceptable year of remission prophecied of before Es 61.1.2 and so interpreted by our blessed Saviour Luk. 4.18 As also thereby was signified our return into the Heavenly Paradise Luk. 23.43 from which we are fallen in Adam The seventh year may be applied to every mans particular consummation when his soule is received up into glory but by the Jubilean Sabbath wherein all the Israelites had their re-entry upon their Lands formerly sold is the general re-entry of all believers into the Kingdome of Heaven which they had formerly forfeited by their sins most happily prefigured These things then being so and the Angel leaving it undetermined which seven of the three it is that is here meant Did not our Saviour allude unto the 70. Jubilees when he spake of our sorgiving one another seventy times seven whether this great Septenary rather then that of weekes of years may not in reason be judged to be that which the Angel here intended when he said sevens seventy are cut out for thy people let the Church determine As for that objection which perhaps may here be cast in that the Jubilean year was not ordained before such time as Moses gave out the Law to the people in the Wilderness and therefore could not be reckoned on before it was in being And that also that the Jubilee was a part of the Ceremonial Law and therefore as out of date not to be reckoned on in the time of the Gospel these I say upon due consideration will appear to be of no force For first the seventh day Sabbaths and Sacrifices were a part of the Mosaical Institute yet were observed by Gods people from the beginning of the World so might Jubilees too for ought that may be objected to the contrary Yea it is apparent that Jubilees have been distinguished of old into two sorts viz. Jubilaei Mundani Jubilaei Mosaici that is Jubilees of the Creation and Jubilees of the Law so that this account by Jubilees might be before the Law But there is no need to go so far for an answer The Angel might here speak of such an account of years by way of Prolepsis or Anticipation a Figure usual in Scripture though there were no Jubilees to be observed by that people for above 200. years after Jacobs going down into Egypt And whereas it is objected in the second place that because the Jubilee is a part of the Mosaical Pedagogy therefore it is not now to be reckoned on I answer no more do we so as to observe it according to the Law of Moses nevertheless while the world standeth 49. years will be so many still and no more nor fewer then they were wont to be when Moses gave out the Law And the Angel might speak according to the Phraseology of
upon reason and was never before heard of as that a part should signifie the whole when that part which should express the whole is not included but shut out from it doubtless in all Synechdochichal speeches the part set down for the whole must be always a part of it as when Saint Paul said Yee shall see my face no more Act. 20. His face is a part of him And thus must all other Synechdoches whatsoever be understood the part signifying the whole must of necessity be included and contained in it If therefore all the Nation of Israel here be put for all the Nations of Believers in the World as a part of the whole then it must certainly follow that the Nation of Israel according to the flesh was included apart and not excluded from the whole Let us go on omitting for brevities sake what might be more added out of the Prophet Esay to this purpose wherein he hath abounded Consider how Jeremiah keepeth also in the same track For thus saith he in the Name of the Lord. Jer. 3 18. In those dayes the house of Judah shall walk with or to the house of Israel and they shall come together c. And again I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all Countryes wither I have driven them and will bring them again to their folds Jer. 23.3 4. and they shall be fruitful and encrease and I will set up Shepheards over them which shall feed them and they shall fear no more nor be dismayed neither shall they be lacking saith the Lord. Add hereunto Loe the dayes come saith the Lord Jer. 30 3.9 that I will bring again the Captivity of my people Israel and Judah saith the Lord And they shall serve the Lord their God and David their King whom I will raise up unto them The like also is prophecyed by Ezekiel Thus saith the Lord Ezek. 37.21 22 23. c. behold I will take the Children of Israel from among the Heathen whether they be gone and will gather them on every side and I will make them one Nation in the Land upon the Mountains of Israel and one King shall be King over them and they shall be no more two Nations neither shall they be divided into two Kingdoms any more at all and my servant David shall be their Prince for ever Moreover I will make a Covenant of peace with them it shall be an everlasting Covenant with them and I will place them and multiply them and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore My Tabernacle also shall be with them Yea I will be their God and they shall be my people and the Heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctifie Israel when my Sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore Again Jer. 31.1 4. At the same time saith the Lord that is Jer. 31.1 4. in the later dayes as appears Jer. 30.24 I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people Again I will build them and thou shalt be built O Virgin of Israel thou shalt be again adorned with thy Tabrets and thou shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry I willingly pass by many other places that might be alledged for it would be too much to insert all that is written thereof But I demand Hath any of these things as yet come to pass When was it that the house of Judah did walk with the house of Israel together since the time they were divided one from the other in the days of Rehoboam Hath the Lord as yet gathered the remnant of his flock out of all Countryes whither he hath driven them or set up shepheards over them to seed or to defend them so as they should fear no more nor be dismayed Do Israel and Judah this day unanimously serve the Lord their God and David their King that is the Messiah David's Son as Interpretersiboth Jewish and Christian expound it of whose government and peace there shall be no end Hath God set his Sanctuary in the midst of them or pitched his Tabernacle among them so as the Heathen do take notice of it that it is the Lord that doth sanctifie Israel If his Sanctuary hath been among some of them it hath been again removed but here it is said his Sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore In fine Hath God as yet in these latter dayes declared himself to be the God of all the families of Israel since their defection from him and own'd them again for his people Is this Virgin as yet repayred since she was stript of her ornaments or hath she yet furbisht over and trimmed up her Tabrets that she might rejoyce at her restauration If none of all these things I say be yet come to pass and the word of God cannot be retracted they are yet to be fulfilled and shall in time most certainly have their due accomplishment Yea more that neither their divisions amongst themselves Israel against Judah and Judah against Israel nor their inveterate stubbornnes against the Lord might be any hinderance unto them the Lord promiseth by the Prophet Jeremy in these words Jer. 32.39 I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever for the good of them and of their Children after them And by the Prophet Ezekiel in these words A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them Oh blessed and thrice happy shall this people be when these things are fulfilled I deny not but these promises have a measure reaching to us Gentiles even all among us that are interessed in the new Covenant But I say again the people that are mentioned cannot without violence done to the sense of the Holy Ghost be excluded from them in the dayes of the Gospel I omit what might be further added out of these Prophets to this purpose As the vision of dry bones in the Prophecy of Ezekiel restored to life again And that of two sticks made both one in the hand of the Prophet with sundry other discoveries of the minde of God concerning this truth which upon an unprejudicate perusal even by those that are contrary-minded would appear unto them to carry in them this sense viz. That this first-born of the Almighty this people so entirely beloved of the Lord shall not at this day be quite forgotten as dead men out of minde nor be ever divided one from another as they have been but shall restored again notwithstanding the seeming impossibilitie of it to their pristine glory and shall be happily re-united together into one as becometh brethren In the next place let us try whether the Prophecy of Daniel
LOOK UNTO JESUS OR An Ascent to the HOLY MOUNT TO SEE JESUS CHRIST IN HIS GLORY WHEREBY The Active and contemplative Believer may have the Eyes of his Understanding more inlightned to behold in some measure the Eternity and Immutability of the Lord JESUS CHRIST I. In his Divine Generation II. In his Power over the World III. In his Power over his Church in her twofold estate I. MILITANT II. TRIUMPHANT As the List of CONTENTS which followeth next to the PREFACE doth more particularly declare At the end of the Book is an APPENDIX shewing the certainty of the Calling of the JEVVS Written by EDWARD LANE M. A. Vicar of Sparsholt c. in the County of South alias Hamshire London Printed by Thomas Roycroft for the Authour and are to be sold by Humphrey Tuckey at the Black spread-Eagle in Fleet-street and by William Taylor near the Checquer Gate in Winchester 1663. Imprimatur Liber ut eò magis imprimatur JESUS Decemb. 6. 1663. M. FRANCK S. T. P. Reverend in Christo Patr. Dom. Episc Lond. a Sacris Dom. OPTIMO MAXIMO 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DEO DOMINO DOMINI DEI Patris Omnipotentis Filio Unigenito omnisque Creaturae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est Primo-Parienti Primogenito Necnon Inter Deum Homines Mediatori Unissimo Fidelissimo Catholicae etiam Ecclesiae Militantis Triumphantis Capiti unice colendo Ad cujus Nomen supra omne Nomen flectendum est omne Genu Celestium Terrestium ac Subterraneorum Tractatum hunc de Aeternitate Immutabilitate Nominis sui Praestantissimi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 susceptum Protractum Peractum EDOVARDUS LANE in domo ejusdem Domini Servorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inutilissimus Cum humili Indignationis ob multas Infirmitates Deprecatione ardenti Benedictionis Supplicatione Meritissimo Consecravit Voto Reverendo in Christo Patri ac Domino Domino GEORGIO Episcopo WINTONIENSI Vigilantissimo Aureae Periscelidis Praesuli Clarissimo Domino suo Dioecesano Summopere Observando Incrementum Gratiae apud JESUM CHRISTUM 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perinde ac Honoris apud Homines in Translatione sua ad hanc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Provinciam Bona Fide Toto Corde Precatur EDOVARDUS LANE Annos nunc plus minus 27. Ecclesiae Paroechianae in Villa SPARSHOLT in agro SOUTH Vicarius Quinetiam una cum ABRECH Congratulationis Librum hunc ad Celelebrandum JESU CHRISTI Nomen Honorandum in Saecula Praeparatum eidemque Supremo Nomini Perpetuae Gratitudinis ergo Consecratum Ad Gravem Religiosam ejusdem Reverendi Patris Inspectionem Disquisitionem lubente dicavit Studio JESVS SIT TIBI JESVS A PREFACE To the Pious and Judicious Reader GOOD READER HEre is a Treatise presented to thy view wherein through the guidance of Gods grace and the conduct of his word is attempted an assay to set forth the honour of the great Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and to make his praise glorious A Design doubtless very acceptable to all that are Christians indeed who cannot but rejoyce in any thing that may tend to the Exaltation of our dear Crucified and Glorified Redeemer who is the Rock of Ages the eternal excellency of his Church the joy of all Generations A work it is wherein all the company of Heaven is to be exercised unto all eternity And albeit whatsoever is undertaken by Men or Angels in this kinde will come infinitely short of his Merit yet it is but fit that what any one hath here seen of his glory either in his word or works he be free in the communication thereof Possibly there have been sundry attempts made already of the like nature and such that this may seem to some at first sight to be superfluous However Let not the day of small things be despised by us If some new materials which will endure the searching fire of Gods spirit be here added to the gold and silver which others have before built upon this foundation there can be no just offence taken thereat Sure I am they will not be disallowed by the Master of the house and therefore ought not to be rejected by those that are employed and salaryed by him to be Co-workers with me in the building It was not God knoweth any vain ambition or self-seeking that did first put me the meanest of the Lords Servants upon this work which is indeed Opus Dei the work of God neither is it any such sinister aim that makes me rush upon the censure of the judicious in the enlargement and compleating of it Onely if Jesus Christ may hereby be magnifyed and his Church edifyed I have my desire and it shall be the Crown of my rejoycing I confess notwithstanding there was an occasion offered that did first induce me to this Undertaking and it will not be amiss here to make a short mention of it Thus it was In the heat of the late Schisme it fell to my lot to preach a Sermon in the Cathedral Church at Winton upon the 26 day of December wherein because I said An Dom. 1654 I would not judge those people in the liberty of their Consciences who did observe the Feast of our Saviours Nativity to the Lord though withall I then * Which is here also inserted in its proper place spake severely against the prophane abuse of it I was accounted a superstitious person and a malignant such was the discriminating terme that was then used and reported far and near that I had done more hurt by that one Sermon then other Ministers that were employed in that Lecture could be able to repair again by many Which reproachful slander was so great a trouble unto me though I was then justifyed by Persons of very good quality that were both wise and godly that I was often minded being perswaded by those persons and sundry others that heard of it to publish in print the Sermon that I then preached to the end the World might see how causelesly I was traduced I did nevertheless forbear the said publication not out of fear of the persecutions of those evil dayes for I did my self observe that Anniversary Festivity in my own Parish preaching and administring the Sacrament of the Lords supper when very few durst adventure to do the like But having begun upon this occasion to prepare it for the Press and finding in the pursuance of it my Meditations enlarged to other matter then I at first delivered I slighted the Calumny wherewith I was asperst as not worthy to be so much heeded and breaking through many difficulties and hinderances have by degrees extended that very Sermon to this length which is now before you The greatest part whereof I have for some years kept by me without further additions but of late I must confess I was as the Apostle if I may so say pressed in spirit to finish what had begun and to publish the whole
to the people of that Nation as Saint James also did yet withall he is very cautious herein to put them in minde of their duty to their own peculiar Guides that had the rule over them which we see he doth once and again in this 13 Chapter vers 7.17.24 But the truth is as it is said these reasons are but conjectural that which is to satisfie us in this point is this even so it seemed good to the Holy Ghost And thus I have given a large and clear resolution of this doubtful matter which indeed was but fit to be done because I do here oftentimes speak of the said Apostle as the sure and certain Authour of that Epistle Secondly Whereas there are sundry branches of this Treatise which do seem to have no affinity with the sense of the Apostle in the Text and consequently not to be connatural with the main Doctrine that is here insisted upon I answer First As Jesus Christ himself is according to the Apostles word All and in All Col. 3.11 That sea of living waters by whom all springs and rivulets of divine truth have their rise and original and unto which they must return again so is this Text as it is here interpreted not onely comprehensive of the whole mystery of Christ but also of the whole duty of man towards him And therefore that which is here written in order thereunto should not be accounted as an impertinent digression Secondly it is no new thing to finde corollaries and collateral intersertions superadded in a way of subserviency to the principal subject handled in Tractates either of a Theological or meer Humane Alloy For it is with Books as one very well makes the resemblance as it is with Trees these have some Masters and chief Branches in which the main Sap of the Root is carried but they have also some under-spriggs and water-boughs which by the vegetation of the principal Shootes do prosper the better and are made to serve both for ornament and fecundity to the whole Body Those have commonly some eminent subject into which their whole strength and stream runs but they have likewise sundry Parerga of less consequence annexed thereto which though abstractedly considered may seem to be at a wide distance yet being Methodically linked together have a coalescency imparting each to other both illustration and confirmation So is it here sundry resultancies and inferences do occasionally spring up in this Book as there do in all our Sermons that we undertake when the bloud and juyce of it runs chiefly into the Apostles sense of the Text viz. the Doctrine of the Eternity and Immutability of the Lord Jesus Christ which giveth life unto all the rest So that what the Evangelist Saint John spake of his Gospel which he wrote the same may I say of all that is contained in this Book These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing you might have life through his name But I hear what is further objected as that I multiply Quotations borrow the help of sundry Authours and do but actum agere bring the same crambe of words repeating what hath sufficiently been imparted to the World by others who have at large and with much perspicuity and serenity of spiritual Wisdome wriâ—ten of this subject Now though I have hinted at this before yet I conceive a necessity is laid upon me to rejoyn unto this Charge a full and clear Vindication First then this I say I know not of any that hath written of this subject so largely before me But this I know that both for the matter and manner of handling it as it is grounded upon that foundation which is precedaneous unto it I am alone without any competitours or pretenders whatsoever Secondly I do yield that I have in the carrying on of this Work consulted with Writers both Ancient and Modern and have thereupon not without good cause been the bolder to offer my conceptions to publick view though possibly in some places they may not be well resented finding them confirmed by those that have been worthily reputed burning and shining Lights of the Church in their several Generations who have born the burden and heat of the day in the Lords Vineyard and upon whose Labours we are now happily entred Yea more I have not onely consulted them but frequently made use of their Testimony rendring it in their own words sometimes to put by Imputations of Collusion otherwhiles for the Conviction of Adversaries alwayes to give full satisfaction to those who shall diligently apply themselves to a religious perusal hereof Nor am I at all ashamed to acknowledge what I have done in this kinde nor need I fear to be taxed with any Plagiary superinducements of other mens Labours though indeed as I have gone thorough my Neighbours Fields the Owners whereof I do for the most part signifie by name I have here and there plucked some Eares of Corn and fitted them for my purpose which by a natural propriety is challenged of all as a common right yet I have no where put in my Sickle and so can plead a justification in that particular Howbeit this I may without arrogancy make my Plea viz. My borrowing whatsoever it hath been is fully counter-ballanced with my lending again which though it be to be reckoned but as a poor Mite cast into the Lords Treasury yet it is secundum mensuram donationis Christi ac moderationem Spiritus dividentis singulis prout vult and may through Gods blessing be to the furtherance of the Gospel especially in regard of those interpretations of Scripture which I have here given to which no Expositors of Holy Writ nor any Authours whatsoever could lay any claim nor any of their Assertours can at this day for them All which I do humbly commend to the Churches Examination a List whereof I conceive fit here to present unto you though the Table at the latter end of the Book will give directions by Asterisks to the places where they are to be found Exodus 33.18 I beseech thee shew me thy Glory Exodus 33.19 And he said I will make all my goodness c. Exod 34.6 And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God c. Deut. 32.7 Remember the dayes of old consider the years c. Deut. 32.8 When the most high divided to the Nations c. Deut. 32.12 The Lord alone did lead him c. Deut. 33.5 And he was King in Jeshurun c. Psalm 2.7 I will declare the Decree c. Psalm 8.3 When I consider thy Heavens c. Psal 74.12 For God is my King of old c. Daniel 9.24 Seventy Weekes are determined c. Amos 5.18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord c. Amos 5.19 As if a man did flee from a Lyon c. John 1.10 He was in the World and the World was made c. John 1.11 He came unto
time of the Old Testament with all the legal Ordinances attending upon it is a day that is set and expired being yesterday and therefore not to be brought into our account neither are we to walk in the light of it p. 118. Proved by sundry instances ibid. Whereupon followeth The conviction of those who in this day will grope after the obscure light of yesterday these are First the Jews p. 121. Secondly they that seek to be justified by the works of the law p. 126. Thirdly the Papists p. 128. Fourthly they that now-a-days pretend to Oracles and wait for Miracles p. 129. Where is to be seen What we are to judge of the pretended Visions and Revelations of these times ibid. And what Miracles are now to be regarded in the time of the Gospel p. 132. A second Doctrine propounded viz. Jesus Christ was the Saviour of his Church in the time of the Old Testament even as nâ—w in the time of the New p. 134. Proved ibid. A Question resolved How Christ could be a Saviour before he was in a capacity to suffer death by taking our nature upon him for the expiation of sin p. 135. Jesus Christ was a Prophet from the beginning p. 136. Jesus Christ was a King from the beginning p. 138. Jesus Christ was a Priest from the beginning p. 149. A difference observed in respect of the dispensation and manifestation of Christ to the Fathers and us p. 155. Examples of sundry of the Fathers believing in Christ Adam Abraham Job Daniel c. p. 156. Moses's intercourse with Jesus Christ upon the Mount p. 159. Whereupon followeth 1. An exhortation to the Jews to look unto Jesus p. 164. 2. A warning to take heed of despising the ages before us p 166. 3. Our religion proved to be the onely true Religion p. 169. 4. The Limbus Patrum of the Church of Rome proved to be an absurd forgery p. 170. 5. To hold that the object of the faith of the Patriarchs of old was not Jesus Christ is a gross errour p. 175. 6. And as gross is it to maintain that we are not now justified by the Object but by the Act of Faith p. 176. Of the second course or computation of time viz. To day Wherein first this Doctrine is propounded viz. The time of the Gospel is a time of light p. 180. It is a true light p. 181. It is a great light ibid. It is a marvellous light ibid. It is an invincible light p. 182. Whereupon follow The duties of those who are the children of this day 1. To rejoyce and be glad in it p. 184. An Objection But this day is a day of trouble of rebuke and blasphemy p. 186. Answered ibid. 2. To let the light of this day shine in upon their souls p. 188. A Question put viz. What is this light p. 189. Answered 1. It is the light of Life ibid. 2. It is the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ p. 190. 3. It is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God ibid. 3. To walk in this light p. 191. A two-fold walk 1. Walk in the Commandments of the Lord ibid. Motives hereunto 1. It is the great design of Almighty God this day to save his people from their sins p. 192. 2. We are to walk worthy of our calling p. 194. 3. Consider the length of our way p. 195. 4. This day will have an end p. 196. 2. Walk in the Ordinances of the Lord p. 199. Let then the world be awakened that lyeth asleep in the darkness of sin and ignorance p. 202. Let the Ignorant be roused p. 202. Let the profance be alarum'd p. 203. A Question put viz. How cometh it to passe that wo and misery falls so inevitably upon profane people this day p. 207. Answered 1. The sin of such persons is found out by the light of this day ibid. 2. Their sin doth finde out them p. 208. Application p. 209. Another Doctrine propounded viz. Jesus Christ is the Same to his Church now in the time of the Gospel which he was before under the Law p. 212. Proved by Scripture p. 213. An Objection But we see there is a change to day from what was yesterday in the form of Divine worship How then can Jesus Christ be the Same p. 215. Answered ibid. Inferences thereupon First the Imputations of Novelty upon those Churches which adhere to this foundation charged on them by the Church of Rome cannot be just p. 217. The said Imputations justly retoried upon the Romish Church ibid. Secondly an Exhortation to let the same minde be in us which was in Christ Jesus that is to be the Same in things pertaining to God p. 220. An Application hereof to us of this nation with a free and plain discovery of our late inconstancy p. 222. An Objection Shall we then be the Same which we have been in profaneness and superstition p. 227. Answer God forbid ibid. 1. The bad Old Cause did not preserve us from either p. 228. 2. The League and Covenant though contrived to strengthen the said Cause yet as it was illegal in it self so was it treacherously carried on p. 229. It is objected But is there not a return to Superstition when the Lyturgie Ceremonies and Episcopacy are restored p. 233. It is answered ibid. Where 1. The Lyturgie and Ceremonies are vindicated p. 234. Particularly 1. Our bowing at the name of Jesus p. 235. 2. Our bowing at our entrance into and departure from the Congregation p. 236. 3. Our Lyturgie and Ceremonies are acknowledged to be a will-worship which is plainly manifested to be in some respects lawful p. 238. But that they are extracted from Romish Missals is a slanderous untruth p. 242. 2. Episcopacy is clearly proved by the Scripture to be of Divine Right Sensu Primario p. 248. An Exhortation to the Jews p. 262. Matter of rejoycing to the Gentiles p. 268. An Application hereof to our own Nation p. 270. A serious Expostulation with Anabaptists ibid. Of the third course or computation of Time viz. For ever p. 273. A Doctrine propounded In the midst of the various changes and chances that may come upon the Church to the end of the world Jesus Christ will be unto it still the Same Ibid. Proved by Scripture p 274. Inferences from hence 1. Assurance may be had of the Churches perpetuity p. 275. 2. A remedy to cure the sad distempers of our Church about Order and Church-Government p. 276. 3. An Exhortation and Christian Advice given to those who pretend they cannot for conscience sake submit to Church-Government by Bishops p. 277. 4. Comfort to all who live goldy in Christ Jesus both in respect of themselves and their posterity p. 281. Another Doctrine propounded viz. Jesus Christ will be the Same unto his Church in her Triumphant and Glorious estate in heaven unto all Eternity p. 282. Wherein first The full sense is given of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 283. Secondly how
Jesus Châ—ist wâ—ll be the Same in the world to come is in part declared with a Caution premised p. 284. 1. He will continue to be the Same for ever in the Hypostatical union of his two Natures Divine and Humane p. 285. 2. He will continue to be the Same for ever in his mystical Vnion with his Church p. 286. Where is to be seen First How Christ will be over his Church then as a Head 1. As a Head alone without any subordinate power Celestial or Terrestrial ibid. 2. As a Head he will preserve and uphold the members of his mystical Body in their glorious Being p. 287. 3. As a Head he will keep the members of his said mystical Body in a perfect Vnion ibid. 4. As a Head he will shew unto them those glorious mysteries which in this life are beyond their reach and capacity ibid. Secondly Jesus Christ will then be in his people by love p. 288. The Doctrine proved by Scripture p. 290. And by the Testimony of Divines Ancient and Modern ibid. An Objection taken out of the Apostles words 1 Cor. 15.24.28 concerning Christs delivery up of the Kingdome to God even the Father c. Answered at large p. 291. An Exhortation to look unto Jesus p. 295. In the Appendix these following Scriptures proving the certainty of the Calling and Conversion of the JEWS are Quoted and Expounded DEut. 4 30 31. p. 300. Esaiah 11.11 12. p. 301. Esaiah 43.5 6. p. 302. Jeremiah 3.18.23.4 p. 303. Jer. 30.3.31.1.4 ibid. Ezekiel 37.21 22. ibid. Daniel 9.24 p. 306. Hosea 1.10 p. 316. Hosea 3.4 5. p. 318. Luke 21.23 24. p. 319. Acts 1.6 7. p. 324. Rom. 11. p. 328. An Objection answered viz. The Calling of the Jews shall not be till the very instant of the Consummation of all things p. 342. Another Objection answered viz. Their Pertinacy in despising the Gospel makes them the Object of Gods perfect hatred p. 344. Another Objection answered viz. They are enemies unto God not onely in a Passive sense but in an Active also p. 3â—â— Another Objection answered viz. The Jews are now so embodyed with other Nations that it is impossible they should ever any more become a Nation distinct from the Gentiles p. 350. Another Objection answered viz. To maintain this Doctrine of the Jews Restauration is to put the world into a carelesse security concerning the end p. ibid. A word of Exhortation to all the Churches of the Gentiles to pray earnestly unto God for the conversion of the Jews and to eschew those sins among our selves which may probably be a hinderance to the bringing on of so glorious a work p. 352. AN ASCENT TO THE HOLY MOUNT To see JESUS CHRIST in his Glory OR A PERSPECTIVE to help the Weak Sight to behold the Eternity and Immutability of the Lord Jesus Christ Taken out of the words of S. Paul Hebr. 13.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ the same Yesterday to Day and for ever Adsis O JESV JESVS CHRIST whom we still preach unto you and in whom you do believe else our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain The Lord Jesus Christ I say as he is the Object of your Expectation in this Service we are now about So is he you see by my Text the subject of my intended Business at this time When my Discourse therefore shall answer your expectation you will I hope afford your diligent attention thereunto The words at first sight seem to be the sudden efflux of the Spirit added here in the close as the result of that which had been said before and as the Total Sum of the Epistle shutting up the whole as in a Parenthesis implying that all that was written amounted unto this viz Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for-ever Or else they are inserted as a reviving Cordial to the poor Hebrews who might seeing the Gentiles were received into Covenant with God fear themselves to be quite cast off from Grace because their Nation had so generally with much pertinacy refused that great Salvation which was brought unto them Upon which account the Apostle inferreth this short and sweet Epiphonema to comfort them with now at parting Jesus Christ is the sams yesterday to day and for ever As much as to say Jesus Christ is the same to you as he was from the beginning who as he was at first sent to seek and to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel so now also notwithstanding former unkindnesses and though his grace is not to be confin'd as it hath been but must extend to all Nations yet he abideth still a Saviour unto you if you abide in the faith and he will be so likewise to the end of the world Thus may this Verse seem to carry this sense within its own Verge not having any intercourse with the Contexture bordering upon it But it is generally conceived by Expositours that these words are coincident with those immediately before-going where an Exhortation is given to the Hebrews to be mindful of their Guides who had taught them the way of God truly not according to the Mosaical but Evangelical Pattern and to imitate them in the holiness of their lives and in their constancy to the faith which they sealed with their death The words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember them which have the rule over you or are your Guides who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation The force of example we all know is very great to induce likeness of Manners and the greater the example is the greater power it hath to draw to similitude It was wont to be said Facile transitur ad plures We are easily moved to go after a Multitude but it may well be added Facile transitur ad majores It is no hard matter to make us imitate great Authorities be the patterns good or bad for the vices of Rulers are commonly the rule of Vices and the vertues of Leaders will also lead unto Vertue Hereupon it is that the Apostle proposeth unto the Hebrews the example of their Leaders to the end that they might not as he saith V 9. be carried about with divers and strange Doctrines where they had their instruction there also they might receive establishment by their imitation in whose example Quiddam memorabile designat Apostolus saith Calvin the Apostle noteth some memorable matter worthy of their saddest thoughts implying thus much that their Teachers had in defence of that Word which they had spoken unto them gone through much affliction not loving their lives unto death for that was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the issue and Exit of their Conversation which the Hebrews should consider that when they saw how stedfast and invincible their Leaders were in the faith their example might the better move them And now to set an edge upon this Exhortation the Apostle sheweth in the words of my
I answer 1. In worshipping him with Divine Adoration 2. In a zealous appearance for him against his Enemies 3. In a ready hearkning to the Voice of his Word First We must yield unto him Divine Honour putting no difference in that respect between him and the Father for as the Father hath sworn that unto him every knee shall bow Es 45.23 Es 45.23 Phil. 2.10 So must every knee bow in like manner to the Lord Jesus Christ Phil. 2.10 Neither did Christ who was ever zealous for his Fathers glory ever refuse this Divine Honour when it was given unto him He never said as the Angel See thou do it not Rev. 19.10 But approved Rev. 19.10 commended blessed those that did it as we might instance in the Leper Mat. 8.2 The Ruler Mat. 9.18 The blind man John 9.38 His Disciples Mat. 28.17 and many more If it had not been his due what a derogation had these things been unto his Fathers Honour for which he had been justly liable to his displeasure even as Herod was when he took unto himself the glory due unto God But Jesus Christ is the same with the Father yesterday to day and for ever And therefore is to have the same honour ascribed unto him Heb 1 6. Let then all the Angels of God worship him and let men of what rank soever bow the knee Abrech John 5.23 and cry before him Tender Father for this is the will of God that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father I shall conclude this Branch of my Exhortation with a remarkable Story very well known and very pertinent to our purpose confirmed by the concurrent Testimony of many Writers of great and eminent fame in the Church of God In the Reign of Theodosius there was a Toleration granted to the Arians giving them liberty free from any molestation not prohibiting them to argue publickly against the Godhead of Christ insomuch that they grew thereupon extremely impudent venting their Blasphemy to the great dishonour of the Lord Jesus Christ neither could any man prevail with the Emperour to retract that Toleration which he had with too much indulgence granted unto them At length one Amphilochius Bishop of Iconium a holy man not being able to endure the dishonour that was so frequently done unto Jesus Christ was willing to expose himself to a great hazard for his sake Entring therefore into the Court with some other Bishops and seeing the Emperour and his son Arcadius whom he lately created Joynt-Emperour standing together he did very low obeysance to the Father but none at all to the Son Theodosius imagining the omission of Reverence towards his Son to proceed rather from simplicity and ignorance then from any wilful neglect of the Bishop adviseth him to salute his Son also as became his Imperial Dignity Amphilochius answered boldly in these words Satis est quod honorem ipsi habitisset It was enough that he had given him that honour which he did and withal coming up close to the Son in a familiar manner he stroaketh him on the head saying Salve mi Fili God save you my Child Whereupon the old Emperour being much displeased gave commandment that the Bishop should be punished severely for his insolency which being ready to be executed he having now obtained what he expected very freely speaketh forth his mind in this manner Siccine O Imperator tam graviter fers contemptum filii tui Revocat tibi in mentem quaeso odisse Deumcos qui honoris aliquid adimerent unigenito Filio suo c. Is thy rage O Emperour so great against me for not regarding thy Son Remember I beseech thee that they are odious unto God whosoever they be that take away from his only begotten Son the glory that is due unto him c. The Emperour upon these words bethinking himself better acknowledged his fault to the Bishop and asks him forgiveness immediately issuing forth an Edict against Arianism whereby all whosoever they were that were found guilty of that Heresie were brought to a condign punishment A memorable example in which we may see how Divine Providence hath in those elder times wrought in the hearts of men a reverend awe of the Lord Jesus Christ when possibly convictions from the holy Scriptures through the prevalency of carnal compliancies could not be regarded Which example let it lead the way also to our second particular of giving unto Christ his due honour viz. By a zealous appearance for him against his Enemies who in these our daies lay violent hands upon his Glory cursed Hereticks I mean professing open Hostility against the Lord Jesus seeking by all means they possibly can to snatch his Crown from off his head by undermining the very Foundation of his Honour that is his Divine Nature And surely too many there are of that pestilent Brood in these times of Errour and Vanity an evil Spirit wanders about not only in our Nation but in other parts of the world pretending to Holiness yet doubtless an Emissary sent from the Prince of Darkness that beguileth unstable Souls by infusing into them a lower esteem of Jesus Christ then hath been commonly held up amongst the people of God to the end that this diminution of his Glory might in time bring on with it an annihilation also of his Merit Numine sordidius nihil est cum siditâ—n Imum for as the powers of the Earth when they are brought low are trampled upon and made very despicable so will it certainly be with the Dignity and Honour of the Lord Jesus if it be brought down to the dust there it will be buried and come to nothing It doth therefore highly concern all the faithful people of God to appear in this Quarrel and notwithstanding all the glossing insinuations and pretensions of men willing to be deceived who as they are themselves of a lukewarm indifferency in many points of Religion so they would perswade all others to a sinful silence with them yet doth it I say behove all that truly love the Lord Jesus Christ to proclaim and maintain an irreconcilable War with all those whosoever they be that march under the Banner of that evil Spirit against him And to afford some help herein let us a little sound the depths of Satan to the end that we may lay open some of the stratagems of Hell which have been of late contrived and acted against the Lord Christ and his Glory Two waies it is clear doth this Spirit work to bring about this mischievous Design First By raising up men beyond their due 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their proper Sphere making them equals with Christ and Competitours with him in Glory Secondly By bringing down the Lord Jesus the Lord of Glory from the Throne of his Majesty making him nothing else but a poor Compeer with the sons of men As to the first of these consider what a fearful delusion that is which haunteth some
persons putting them upon this Blasphemy that they poor worms are as well and as truly God as Jesus Christ And why Because they have their Being in God Act. 17.28 are partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and are one with Christ John 17.21.22 c. Now if this were admitted what a sordid profession would Christianity be What in time would become of Satisfaction for Sin Imputation of Righteousness the Purity Dignity Royalty of the Blood of God How ridiculous and contemptible would the pretended terrour of the great Day seem unto the World For a Contest might possibly arise who should be the chief Judge at that time and according to the person and quality of the Judge so would the Judgment be But to these deluded ones we may well say as Moses did to Korah and his Complices Num. 16.9 10. Seemeth it a small thing unto you that God hath separated you Numb 16.9 10. and brought you near unto himself but you will seek the Priesthood also What is it nothing to be as you pretend your selves to be advanced to the knowledge of the true God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord to have the Image of God consisting in Righteousness and true Holiness 2 Pet. 1.4 to be repaired and renewed in you which is the participation of the Divine Nature but that you will aspire like the Devil 1 Tim. 3.6 to be equal with God speaking after the language of him who said in his heart I will ascend into Heaven Es 14.13 14. I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God I will sit upon the mount of the Congregation in the sides of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds I will be like the most High Is the iniquity of our first Parents too little for you from which we are not cleansed until this day but that you will rise up and rebel against the Lord even after the same manner as they did What have you been coeternal with Jesus Christ and immutable like unto him Can ye say You are the same yesterday to day and for ever Where were you then Job 38.4 when God laid the foundations of the earth Declare if you have understanding When he prepared the Heavens when he set a compass upon the face of the Depth when he established the Clouds above when he strenghned the Fountains of the Deep Were you then by him Pro. 8.27 as one brought up with him rejoycing alwaies before him Have you known the mind of the Lord Or have you been his Counsellours Were you joyn'd in Commission with Jesus Christ to be his Co-agents in the great Work of Redemption Es 63.3 Did you help to tread the Wine-press in the discomfiting of his Enemies Or to establish a Church so as the Gates of Hell should not prevail against it Look then now on every one that is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked in their place hide them in the dust together and bind their faces in secret Then will I confess to you that you are free from those Delusions that are charged upon you and unjustly tax'd with Blasphemy whereof otherwise you cannot but be deeply guilty But enough of this The other Project of Hell which is now on foot against Jesus Christ in these our daies is to level him with poor dust and ashes not allowing him a preheminence above the sons of men unless it be such as hath been devised by the Devil for the more close conveyance of his inveterate malice I do not say it is an Egg lately hatch'd by that Cockatrice for it is of an old brood and did exceedingly infest the Church in former times as hath been said before but though it was smitten through and through with the two-edged Sword of Gods word yet there are now again sprung up new Heads of that old monstrous and malicious Hydra who with the faces of Sodom and Gomorah dare publickly tell us that our great Redeemer of whom we make our boast is no other then a meer man I am prone to believe that such as love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity do find their hearts shivering within them at the very mentioning of this horrid Blasphemy but behold yet greater Abominations What an amazement must it be to all the Churches of Christ to read or hear that In A. B. his Exposition of the 17th Chap. of S. John which I have read of Socinus In the reciting whereof there may be some doubt as one said in another case whether you should be desired to open or to stop your ears the speech being so horrible as it is a wonderful patience of God that the Earth opened not her mouth to swallow him up quick yea it may seem strange that the dumb and dead paper did not stand up refusing to take that Ink wherewith such an abominable Blasphemy should be either printed or written which is expressed in these words viz. This Doctrine of Christs Deity is so absurd that the Christian World will one day be ashamed of it and that the word Trinity may be in time as much abhorred as Transubstantiation and the Mass What shall we say to this but as the Angel spake to the Devil Increpet Dominus Es 6.1.3.5.8 John 12.40 41. Psal 102.19 22 23.26 27. Heb. 1.10 11 12. Let the Lord rebuke them whosoever they be that have their Tongues thus set on fire of Hell against Christ and his Glory The Apostle tells us Phil. 2.6 That being in the form of God he counted it no robbery to be equal with God Yet these wretches do in effect say that he is a Thief and a Robber if he shall lay claim to such an equality What Is he the great Jehovah Eternal and Immutable the same yesterday to day and for ever and all this while but a meer man Could a meer man be able to wade into the vast Ocean of the wrath of the Almighty and not be swallowed up everlastingly therein Could he be able to enter into a Plea with Divine Justice and put her to a Non-suit To undertake by his own Righteousness to justifie so many Myriads of Saints and not find to his shame his covering infinitely too narrow to hide the deformities of so great a multitude To encounter with Death and Hell and overcome them in their own Den Surely we must needs say with him in the Gospel If this man were not of God Nay If this man were not God he could do nothing nothing I mean in these great noble and glorious Atchievements For admit that he was perfect in himself both in his birth and in his life the power of the most High when it came upon the Virgin in her Conception stopping up the Current of original sin that it could not pollute him and his own proper power preserving him all his life-time from the least spot of any actual sin yet alas wherein could this single
that put their trust in him The second Interpretation of the TEXT Jesus Christ is the same yesterday to day and for ever In a reference to the whole CREATION Adsis O JESV HEnce it is that Christ calls himself the Alpha and Omega Rev. 1.11 the first and the last Being so in this sense as well as in that before-mentioned The first because he is before all things and by him all things consist Col. 1.16 The last Col. 1.16 in that he is after all things Or He shall stand the last on the earth as that place of Job may be rendred or with the last Job 19.25 Es 41.4 Col. 3.11 as the Prophet phraseth it that is continuing with or ruling this whole World to the end of it He is All and in all saith the Apostle in point of eternal salvation all meritoriously all efficiently all sufficiently so likewise is he All and in all in respect of the World and the Creatures therein for all had been nothing without him and all would fall to nothing without him the same good hand of his Power running constantly without the least Retractation or Interstitium through the whole from first to last which clearly demonstrates him what the Text proclaims him to be viz. The same yesterday to day and for ever That is The same in the work of Creation The same in the work of Preservation The same in the work of Restauration According to this triple Distribution of Time here in the Text Yesterday to day and for ever Let us therefore now consider these distinctly by themselves that we may so far as God shall be pleased to enable us take an exact view of the unchangeable power of the Lord Jesus in order to the Creatures CHAP I. How the Text is Applicable to Christ in the work of Creation JEsus Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same mighty God or the only He as the word signifies in the work of Creation he is that great Jehovah as it hath been made to appear that Ens entium The beginning of the Creation of God Rev. 3.14 Not in a Passive sense but Active that giveth a Being to all Creatures Therefore when this Jehovah saith of himself Es 48.12 I am he Es 48.12 I am the first I am also the last He presently inferreth Mine hand hath laid the foundations of the earth and my right hand hath spanned the Heavens when I call them they stand up together Ob. But we are to believe will some say according to the Tenor of our Creed that the Father is the Creatour of Heaven and Earth Sol. I answer True but that is not to be taken exclusively of the Son and of the Holy Ghost for as there is a Divine Order between the Persons in the Trinity so this Order is the same towards the Creatures as it is amongst themselves Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa Talis agendo qualis existendo The same in working as in their existency one with another the Father is of himself the Son is of the Father the Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son so first the Counsel and Decree of the Father precedeth then the Son produceth that Decree into Act P.R. the Jesuit in his Treatise of Mitigati on against Dr. Morton tels us that Bellarmine Valentia c. Charge Calvin with Arianism for holding that Christ as he is the second person of the Trinity cannot properly be called the Creatour of Heaven and Earth for that say they implieth that he is not God nor equal to his Father Heb. 1.2 then the Holy Ghost maketh it effectual to all those ends and purposes for which it was ordained not as if there were any priority among them either in respect of Dignity or Time but the only wise God being the God of Order and delighting therein this Order is held in all proceedings amongst those three Heavenly Estates as it were who are not either in their Actions or Existence subordinate one to another but only co-ordinate one with another Excellently therefore according to this Rule is this Order in the work of Creation described by Arnobius an Orthodox Writer of the Fourth Century Ipse dixit facta sunt hoc est per verbum Dei facta sunt Patre loquente Filio creante Spiritu Sancto animante He spake and it was done that is By the Word of God were the Heavens and the Earth finished and all the Host of them by the Breath of his Mouth the Father decreeing the Son creating the Holy Ghost quickning Or as Basil the Great at the same time sweetly interprets it In creatione cogita principalem causam corum quae fiâ—nt Patrem conditricem Filium perfectricem Spiritum Sanctum In the work of Creation ever conceive the first Mover thereof to be the Father the working cause to be the Son the perfecting to be the Holy Ghost True it is the Father is said to work by the Son for by him that is the Son saith the Apostle Heb. 1.2 God made the World yet that will not necessarily imply as the Arians impiously construe it that the Son is only ministerial or instrumental to the Father herein as a Servant is to his Lord for this Preposition Per doth sometimes also signifie the very primary efficient cause of a thing that is acted or done v.g. A man may be said per liberum arbritrium by his free-will to undertake a Design his will though cannot be counted as his Instrument in the matter he undertakes but it is the efficient Mover of his undertaking And when a work-man per rationem Idaeam Artis that is by his skill doth perfect some rare artificial Piece we do not say that his Reason or Skill was either his Tool or his Servant that he used in his Work but the very Spring or Principle from whence the Work received its full and whole composure and formality which is so far from being an Impeachment of the Work-mans credit that it rather tends to his greater glory So when the Father is said by the Son to create the World the Son is not thereby subjected to the form of a Servant unto the Father as he was when he undertook to redeem the World but is declared thereby to be in all points 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Co-worker with him as the efficient cause of the Creation to the glory of the Father 1 Cor. 1.24 he being the wisdom of God and the power of God as saith the Apostle And yet to make this clearer we shall find that the said Preposition is in Scripture sometimes used with a reference also even unto the Father v.g. 1 Cor. 1.9 God is faithful 1 Cor. 1.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son 2 Cor. 1.1 And 2 Cor. 1.10 Paul calls himself an Apostle of Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the will of
came unto his own John 1 11. c. is to be understood viz. with a reference not unto any particular people as it is commonly interpreted of the Jews the Context about it utterly excluding that Interpretation but unto Mankind that is to his Rational Creature whereof he being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The man per excellentiam 1 Tim 2.5 1 Tim. 2.5 as being the Original of the whole Species that is the Spirit and Life he therefore like a good Father makes provision for his own that they may live under him quietly and peaceably one with another In order hereunto did this great Jehovah himself in the beginning rule over man exercising his absolute Sovereignty as seemed good unto him keeping Court as we may say and proceeding against Delinquents Adam Eve Cain the old World and there was none in a political Subordination unto him for God gave Sovereignty to Adam over Fishes and Birds Gen. 1.28 Pastores pecorum magis quam Reges gentium Gen. 11.25 c. not over Creatures made to his own likeness And the first Righteous men we read of were rather Shepherds and Herdmen over Beasts then Kings over Nations the name of Servant never imposed in Scripture till Noah bestowed it upon his accursed Son saying Cursed be Canaan a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren Remarkably not Cham though the Offendour possibly because he was one of the old World not to be brought under such a censure whereupon it is probable as one makes the Collection Nomen illud culpa meruit non Natura it was not Nature that brought that Denomination into the World but sin So that it appeareth The Lord alone as saith the Psalmist was our King of old and for a space the justice that was done upon earth he did it himself In those daies to speak of this matter in the words of Moses In those years of many Generations when the most High not Adam Deut. 32.7 8.12 Seth Enos or any of the rest divided to the Nations their Inheritance when he separated the Sons of Adam the Lord alone was at that time the Leader and there was no strange God with him But in that golden Age there rose up a Generation of Rebels the Progeny of that Renegado Cain who would not submit themselves to that incomparable Government which was then established in the World but contrary to the Crown and Dignity of Heaven Gen. 6.11 12 13. of Jesher signifying righteousness or uprightness Gen. 6.3 corrupted their waies and filled the whole Earth with their Violence Gen. 6.11 12 13. This Jeshurun whom God made upright Ec. 7.29 grew lawless and unruly and like a fatted Bullock kicked against his Ieeder Now therefore because God would not have his Spirit alwaies to strive in that way and kind with man who was but flesh Gen. 6.3 He was pleased after he had made himself known by the Judgment which he executed upon the World of the ungodly to constitute a subordinate Power in his stead giving out his Decree for the confirmation of it in these words Who so hereafter sheddeth mans blood Gen. 9.6 by man shall his blood be shed The judiciaâ—y form of Gods proceeding against Man-slayers before was not it seems to transmit them over to men to be punished nor himself to punish them with death Gen. 4 15.23.24 as may be seen in the case of Cain and Lamech But now man is ordained to be a Servant unto God herein and to execute upon those of his own kind the Judgment written yet not every man neither for there is an express Law to the contrary Thou shalt not kill this honour hath the Magistrate who under God hath Jus vitae necis Power to punish and to preserve according to the laws and orders given him by his Superiour that is Jesus Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Irenaeus a holy and peaceable Servant of the Church in the Primitive times gives us his judgment concerning the Introduction of this subordinate Power into the World in these words Because man would not know the fear of the Lord therefore did God put upon him the fear of man that so fearing humane Laws men should not devour and consume one the other as the manner of Fishes is Clearly then the Powers that be are ordained of God and not only so but he who exerciseth the power let him be of what form soever in respect of the power or of what profession soever in respect of Religion or by what lawful way soever he came at first to be vested in his Authority whether by Conquest or by Contract or by Election or by Inheritance he I say with the Apostle is the Minister of God yea and more then so he is the Minister of God to man for good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13.4 Rom 13.4 The Article there added is very emphatical noting the good which it attends upon to be very remarkable If it be demanded what is that Good I answer much every way Look what good the Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ was to bring unto the Sons of men if he himself had still continued his Personal Reign among them the same I say not in a gradual sense but Analogical is to be and undoubtedly shall be if the sins of men do not hinder it the blessed effect of those subordinate Powers that are now under him throughout the World If any shall desire to see this General branched out into particulars they may take notice of a fourfold good that under Christ accrueth unto men by Government viz. Natural Moral Civil Spiritual Natural Is it not good to have our Lives and the Lives of our Posterities preserved and secured against the rage and fury of unreasonable men whose feet are swift to shed bloud as Solomon speaks Pro. 1.16 Pro. 1.16 This is the fruit of Government Moral Is it not good to have Wickedness suppressed and Righteousness encouraged and advanced For Righteousness saith Solomon exalteth a Nation but sin is the shame of any people Pro. 14.34 This also is the fruit of Government Civil Is it not good that Laws and Ordinances be established for where no Law is to invert the Apostles word there will be all kind of Transgression Laws I say by virtue whereof men may sit quietly and safely under their Vines and Figg-trees and enjoy the good of all their labours live peaceably together Mich. 4.4 holding society one with another thereby preserving the honour of Mankind which of all Creatures under the Sun is the most lovely and most loving one to another if the malice of Hell did not mingle with them This again is the fruit of Government Spiritual It is very good doubtless that true Religion should prosper and flourish in a Nation that the Ordinances of Divine Worship be set up in their purity for this is the glory of a people But what alas would
the Lord Jesus Christ in order to the preservation of his Creatures A Doctrine it is that is profitable for Conviction for Encouragement and Instruction For conviction of many sinful practises too frequently appearing in these times to the great dishonour of Christ and his Government over the World and for the encouragement and instruction of all the faithful people of God who desire to walk worthy of that preservation which they enjoy under his Government First then this plainly layeth open the gross blindness that hath come upon many who notwithstanding think they see clearly When men will freely acknowledge this great Jehovah the Lord of all to be the sole Fountain of Being unto all Creatures both in Heaven and in Earth And yet in the several changes and revolutions that come upon the World have their thoughts fixed upon second Causes or such it may be as they have framed to themselves not at all regarding the work of the Lord nor the operation of his hands as if he were now no more then a mean Spectatour and had nothing to do in the various Transactions of his Creatures about him How impiously do some after the manner of the Heathen ascribe unto Fortune that good or ill success which attends upon their undertakings It was my good fortune saith one Si fortuna volet fies de Rhetore Conful si volet haec eadem fies de Consule Rhetor that brought me to this Honour to this Estate wherein now I am It was my hard hap saith another that I met with such a cross and that I am fallen into this misery even as the Poet once said If Fortune Will thou may'st of Poor be Consul made And if that will thou must unto thy former Trade This you 'l say is not as becometh Christians but behold yet more Abominations some there are yea too many who when they go about a matter of any great Import either to free themselves from some sad disaster as they call it or to enterprize a Design which they conceive may be for their advantage will usually like unto Heathens for the Scripture notes it as a part of their Infidelity consult with Astrologers a sort of people who if they will keep themselves within their own Sphere would have the Approbation of all that are wise but being excentrick they are the very Pest of a Common-wealth and when the success appeareth their Stars forsooth must be Idoliz'd as the cause of that which doth befal them And how unworthy alas is this of that Faith which we do profess But behold yet greater Abominations It is an Abomination souc'd in the very dregs of Heathenism when people will in time of any loss danger or distress of what kind soever it be not look up to him who is and alwaies was the great Preserver of men and upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power but consult with Witches and Conjurers for a supply and preservation And this alas is too commonly found amongst those that call themselves Christians As for the Heathen they were not ordinarily wont unless it were the ruder sort in plain down-right terms Acheronta movere Ab Aves Aspiciendo that is to seek to the Devil for help They had their Auspicium which was by flying of Birds to divine of their successes And they had their Aruspicium by looking into the Entrails of Beasts appointed for Sacrifice Ab Aras Inspiciendo Ezek. 21.21 to the same purpose as it is said of the King of Babylon that he looked into the Liver Ezek. 21.21 when he took up a Divination for Jerusalem They had also their Tripudium taking a conjecture of what should befall them by the rebounding of Corn thrown upon the ground to Chickens Quasi terripudium seu terripavium from whence the Southsayer was called Pullarius And their Augurium which was a Prediction from the chirping or chattering of Birds as also by the founds and voices which they heard they knew not whence Ab Avium Garritu All which and many more though abominable enough yet were not so bad as knowingly and willingly to seek for a remedy or supply so directly from the Devil which they do that consult with those who they are assured have for such ends and purposes made a compact with him To all whom it may be said is it because there is not a Divine Providence that ordereth and governeth the World nor a power in Heaven to help and to deliver Or rather is it not because you are faithless and have no confidence in this great Preserver of men that you betake your selves to the Devil and his Angels for help A most wicked and Atheistical Generation who deny the Lord that bought them and run a whoring after Satan to worship him with a most execrable Idolatry For it may well be said such persons they revolt from God to the Devil howsoever they plaister up their impiety with untempered Mortar as that they seek Gods help though by the means of the Magician But terrible is that threatning which the Lord hath denounced against these wretched people Lev. 20.6 The Soul that turueth after such as have familiar Spirits and after Wizzards to go a whoring after them I will even set my face against that Soul and will cut him off from among my people Bishop King upon Jonas Add unto this that common foolish Opinion as a reverend Bishop of our times hath well observed and I shall render it in his own words If ever Tempest arise more then common experience hath enured us unto especially with the havock and loss either of life or limb in our Selves our Cattel or Housings forthwith the judgment is given as if the Lord of Heaven and Earth were fallen asleep and minded nothing there is doubtless some Conjuring And what then is Conjuring A pestilent commistion convention stipulation betwixt men and Devils Men and Devils what are they Look upon the Sorcerers of Egypt for the one they cryed in the smallest Plague that was sent and past their cunning to remove this is the finger of God their power is limited therefore Look upon the Martyrings of Job for the other for though the Circuit of Satan be very large even to the compassing of the whole earth to and fro yet he hath his daies assigned him to stand before the presence of God for the renewing of his Commission And besides Oviculam unam auferre non potuit He could not take one poor sheep from Job till the Lord had given him leave saying Put forth thine hand Nor enter into the Herd of Swine Matt. 8. without Christ's permission To conclude therefore with the same learned Writer Whether Men or Devils be ministerial Workers in these Actions all cometh from him who is the Judge of all as from the higher Supreme Cause whose Judgments executed thereby no man can either fully comprehend or reprehend justly He professeth no less of himself Es 45.7 Es
wise and carnal Politician What subjection do all these yield unto this great Preserver of men Though in him they live and move and have their being though they be under his protection every day Act. 17.28 yet they will not be subject unto him the God in whose hand their breath is and whose are all their waies Dan. 9.23 they will not glorifie The covetous Earth worm grovels upon his Dunghil saying to his Wedge of Gold Thou art my confidence and as Riches encrease so is his Soul more and more prostituted to his Mammon Job 31.24 Pro. 10.22 never considering that it is the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich nor remembring that the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof and that he giveth it to whomsoever he will Doth the ambitious man that hunts greedily after honour acknowledge Christ's absolute Sovereignty when he will not content himself with that Station wherein Divine Providence hath put him but breaks over all bounds Civil Natural Spiritual aspiring still higher and higher beyond his proportion of strength and ballast of wisdom for the management of his acquired Interest which undoubtedly will either involve him in a Snare to his eternal perdition or else precipitate him here into many woful miseries As for the proud and vain-glorious man who exalts himself like the Pharisee proclaiming his Merits to the World Luke 18.11 12. and brow-beating others with overly looks of contempt and disdain he I say not closely and sliely disclaimeth Christ's Sovereignty but above all others is most guilty of an impudent and arrogant encroachment upon his Prerogative Royal Ps 138.6 and accordingly doth the Lord look upon him afar off in his due time giving a check to his folly making him to know his distance and that wherein he deals proudly Ex. 18 11. he will be above him In fine the profane Politician also that hath been trained up in the Schole of Machiavel and is become a profest and perfect Disciple of his great Patriarch Achitophel is very busie in his contrivances carrying on his unrighteous projects with much confidence and security as if Providence it self were blinde and that he who formed the Eye could not see and he that teacheth man Knowledge were altogether ignorant And thus do poor Creatures make bold with the Lord of the whole Earth withdrawing from him their subjection though they could not one moment subsist without him But O what a sad account will such presumptuous wretches make at the great Day when they shall come to stand before the Tribunal of this great Lord of Heaven and Earth They shall then finde that their preservation here hath been but a reservation they flourish and prosper awhile but it is that they may be cut off for ever Secondly In that Jesus Christ abideth continually the Governour and Preserver of the World here is matter of Instruction to be learned which Instruction shall be branched out into Three Particulars First It may teach all the faithful people of God not to be dismaied at the appearances and apprehensions of Death or of the troubles that come upon them here in this World Secondly It is a Lesson and inducement to draw poor Creatures to a constant dependance upon Divine Providence Thirdly It may let all sorts of people see their own nothingness in respect of a Spiritual standing in Grace and Holiness First then 1 Branch seeing that the Lord Jesus Christ takes a constant care of the World is the same yesterday to day and for ever in preserving the Work of his own hands what need they who may be well assured of his everlasting love unto them be afraid of death Or be daunted at the troubles that may sometimes come upon them or the World about them Concerning the first of these we may for our comfort know that Death was none of those Creatures that received a being from this Prince of the Creation Wisd 1.13 whose design was ever to uphold and maintain his own Workmanship against whatsoever might be destructive unto it But the Apostle tells us which way Death came in It entred saith he Rom. 5.12 into the world by sin This Thief and Robber then came not in at the door but foolish man lets in sin which came creeping upon him by a Serpentine Insinuation Et sicut mors intrat per peccatum â—a peccatum exit per moriem and Sin like a false Traitour makes way for this Cut-throat the Devils Emissary who no sooner in but he shews himself a Tyrant thrusts Life and Immortality into Darkness Plaies Reakes and makes what havock he pleaseth all the whole Race of Mankinde being in danger for ever to be swallowed up by him But when the Lord Jesus Christ who is the beginning of the Creation of God the first-born of every Creature findes this pragmatical Intruder so busily trampling upon the Work which he had made Gen. 1 26. Ps 139.14 Es 9.6 especially that Work which with such infinite Wisdom and power was wonderfully formed after his own Image whose Name is Wonderful he cannot suffer this Stranger thus to spoil his Labour but as he began it in Wisdom so he will in Mercy preserve it And therefore out of pure love to his own helpless Creatures he undertook to vindicate it against the Assaults of Death sending forth his Challenge with Indignation as hot as fire in these words O Death I will be thy death Hos 13.14 O Grave I will be thy destruction And not only speaks it but acts it too enters into a Combat with him And here may poor Creatures stand amazed to behold this admirable Duel a Duel of so great Import that the Victory which attends thereupon must carry with it the perpetual Monarchy of the whole World First then Christ hath a body prepared for him Heb. 10 5. that so he might be a fit Combatant with Death In this Body he appears Armed with the Breast plate of his own Righteousness though indeed loaden also with the sins of all the Elect 1 Pet. 2.24 for he bore our sins in his own Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both to the Tree and on the Tree which was the field where this Combat was fought and carried them with him also to the Grave yea to Hell which is that Land of separation appointed for them mentioned Lev. 16.22 and there left them with the Devil from whom they had their first Original Lev. 16.22 Death on the other side being set on by the Devil for the Apostle saith Heb. 2.14 He was under his command finding a Body in his way ready to give him the Encounter and finding sin also upon it wherein his great strength was wont to lie makes use of his old Plot and stratagem which never before failed him layeth hold upon Sin and with it mortally wounds the Lord Jesus Christ Where alas is now the hope of the Creatures being rescued from under
Job 14.14 The Creature therefore must wait all the daies of their appointed time untill their change come Now the time when this shall be is here very significantly called the Manifestation or Revelation of these Sons of God which word of the Apostle is in Travel as Rebecca with a Twin of Interpretations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it may be taken not only in a Passive sense as some will have it but also in an Active Consider it first Actively These Sons of God that is The Angels shall be sent forth by Jesus Christ and employed in an eminent Work of Revelation four several waies First They shall break open the Chambers of Death and bring out the naked Bodies of the whole Race of Mankinde that have been there shut up and laid to sleep from the beginning of the World not one shall be missing Secondly They shall gather all the Saints which are God's Jewels together Mal. 3.17 and leave the Wicked which are the dross and dregs of the World by themselves thereby manifesting the one from the other each side to receive a Sentence from the Righteous Judge according to their Works Thirdly That Righteous Judgment which shall then pass must also have its manifestation according to the Apostles word Rom. 2.5 Rom. 2.5 And who but these Sons of God shall be the Messengers and Instruments of Justice at that day So saith Jesus Christ himself in the Parable of the Tares the Reapers that is Mat. 13.30 the Angels have their charge given them not only to gather the Tares together but to binde them in bundles to burn them and as for the Wheat they must bring that safely into the Barn Fourthly and above all these Sons of God shall be employed in the manifestation of the Son of man when he comes in his Glory for they shall in effect proclaim the Name of the Lord before him unto all the World as once it was when he passed before Moses being in a Cleft of the Rock Exod. 34. The Lord the Lord God Ex. 34.6 7 merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and that will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the childrens children Ps 50.3 unto the third and fourth Generation A fire shall devour before him and the Lord shall descend from Heaven as the Apostle speaketh 1 Thes 4.16 with a Shout a Shout that will make the Earth to quake and the World to ring and with the Voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God And what doth this imply but that these Sons of God shall minister unto Jesus Christ at that day in the manifestation of his Glory The Scripture we know speaketh often of the Manifestation and Revelation of Jesus Christ and his Glory 1 Cor. 1.7 1 Pet. 1.7.13 1 Pet. 4.13 c. And though it be most true that the Lord will then make himself known by the Judgment which he then executeth and by his appearing in his peculiar Glory yet doubtless the innumerable multitude of the Heavenly Hostes that attend upon him at his comming will also make his Praise glorious else would not the Wisdom of God have so contrived it that his Appearance should be also made solemn and formidable by reason of his Attendants that wait upon him And to this purpose the Apostle speaks expresly 2 Thes 1.7 So Beza renders it Act. 14.27 15.4 2 Thes 1.7 The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven But how With his mighty Angels in flaming fire or by his mighty Angels as the Preposition there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth also signifie And thus we see how these Sons of God shall be Active in the great Work of Manifestation at the last Day But then secondly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also as hath been said to be rendred in a Passive signification Thus these Sons of God shall themselves be manifested and that in two respects first of their Nature secondly of their Number First Their Nature shall be made manifest to the World for though they have appeared often under several Forms sometimes in the shape of Men sometimes like unto flaming fire for the comfort of the Godly and terrour of the Wicked yet doth it not clearly appear thereby what they are Spirits indeed they are Glorious and Heavenly and Immortal Spirits created after the Image of God of marvellous Agility excellent in Strength able to do Wonderously beyond the power of all other Creatures in the World Yet this and all else that we know of them doth not argue but that there will be a more perfect knowledge of them at the time of their Manifestation then shall it appear plainly what Relation they stand in unto God how they come to have cognizance of things done upon the Earth how they have been present in the Assemblies of the Saints and assistant unto them in the solemn duties of Divine Worship and Service 1 Cor. 11.10 then shall it be known and manifested how and wherein they have been a Guard to the people of God to keep them in all their waies and to conclude then shall they more freely and familiarly converse with men not keeping themselves at a distance as he did who reproved Maneah Judg. 12.18 saying Wherefore enquirest thou after my Name seeing it is secret So that a clear manifestation there will be of them in this regard Secondly Mat. 25.31 Their Number or whole Multitude shall then be also manifested For the Lord Jesus shall come with all his holy Angels not only with his Legions Mat. 26.53 Judg. 5.14 Es 40.26 Mat. 26.53 but his holy Myriads attending upon him He will bring out his Hosts by number saith the Prophet calling them all by Names as a General doth his Souldiers on a Training day not one of them shall fail Well may it therefore be called the Manifestation of the Sons of God when there shall be such a general Appearance of them The Lord among them as in the Holy Place Ps 68.17 Psal 68.17 Thousand thousands ministring unto him and ten thousand times ten thousands standing before him And thus have I given my sense of this Particular also which I submit to the examination of the Church it being I confess somewhat singular the Place being taken generally so far as the narrow extent of my poor Reading doth reach for the manifestation of the believing Saints of whom indeed the Evangelist speaketh after the like manner 1 John 3.2 1 John 3.2 which hath inclined Expositours to give the same Interpretation here Now saith he are we the Sons of God it should rather be rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Children of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him
as he is But I hope I may without offence give in my poor Judgment as I have done concerning this Scripture considering it is not inconsistent at all with the scope of the Holy Ghost therein and being guided hereto by some certain Probabilities First They are Angels we know and a great multitude of them who did at the Birth of Jesus Christ proclaim Peace to the Creature as well as Good-will towards men the Creature therefore may be in expectation of the manifestation of the Angels that this Promise or Salutation given by them might be made good and perfected Secondly It is not without some reason that the Holy Ghost doth use the different terms of Sons and Children in this Scripture viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sons in the 19 Verse and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children in the 29 Verse especially considering that that which is predicated of each carrieth with it also a great difference too for the manifestation of the Sons of God answers the expectation of the Creature But the Deliverance of the Creature is not there to be terminated but only by the liberty of the Children of God Now there seemeth to me to be some probability that the varying of the terms should imply also in this place a varying of persons viz. The first to be understood of the Angels of God and the latter of the Saints the latter word also being comprehensive of the first and not the first in a true propriety of speech of the latter considering withall what hath been before said that the Creature must have the Angels employed in working their Deliverance but not the Saints Sons being also fitter then Children in the bringing to pass so great a Work as delivering the Creature out of Bondage is like to be More might be added but this shall suffice for the third Observation from this Scripture viz. The time of satisfying the Creatures expectation that is at the manifestation of the Sons of God Fourthly That which is next offered to our View is the manner of the Deliverance of the Creature or to what it shall be reduced at the expiration of its Bondage it shall be delivered into the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God For it is but subjected saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hope or under hope of a happy change to a better Estate and though this hope deferred maketh the poor Creature to faint yet the patient abiding thereof shall not perish for ever For hope maketh not ashamed especially when it is fixed upon such a sure Foundation Rom. 5.5 as Gods Eternal Purpose which cannot be disanulled A Deliverance therefore shall undoubtedly arise unto the Creature even as there shall be to the Children of God for as in this corrupt estate wherein they are involved for the present by the first Adam they are both together fellow-sufferers so shall they together in their several Capacities be set at liberty and have their Pristine Excellencies restored yea much more enlarged unto them by Jesus Christ the second Adam who being the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End of the Creation the same yesterday Rev. 21.5 6. to day and for ever is of power sufficient to make all things new It is indeed upon the Childrens account that the Creature shall be Interessed in that glorious Deliverance for as the Apostle speaks in another case Doth God take care for Oxen So may we say doth God so respect the Creature that is the frame of Nature that he will vouchsafe for its own sake to beautifie it when it is deformed Or doth he altogether for our sakes that are his Children For our sakes no doubt shall this glorious Work be accomplished that even the Creature it self also may in a free and liberal manner which is earnestly desired by it be subservient unto his Glory And thus we finde the Preposition here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated into is taken by some as carrying the force of another viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Propter which signifieth for so reading the word thus The Creature shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption for the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God that is That the Childrens Liberty might by their service be the more Glorious For as God made the Creature in the beginning for Man and because of him subjected it likewise unto Vanity that so it might not even in the daies of Vanity be superiour to him for whom it was created So will he deliver it again for Man's sake that is for the Accumulation and Illustration of his childrens Glory Though I confess upon the Creature also it self as it is said before shall be conferred a Glory which shall be in the proportion of its Nature a sutable Advancement unto it as the glory of the children shall be unto them And this I conceive in short to be the sense of the Apostle as to this Particular whereby we may see clearly that there shall be a Restauration of the Creature that is as saith S. Peter 2 Pet. 3.13 Now Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness Which words of new Heavens and new Earth as they are used in a certain place by the Prophet Isaiah being spiritually understood Es 65.17 are I confess appliable to the state of the Church in the times of the Gospel under the Kingdom of Christ when it should be so renewed that it should seem to be as 't were a new World old things being done away 2 Cor. 5.17 Types and shadows removed yea the whole Service of the former Tabernacle abolished and all things made new 2 Cor. 5.17 So that in this sense this Prophecy is already fulfilled Nevertheless though the words of the Prophet may be so taken yet we are not to confine the Spirit of God thereunto especially when he hath declared his meaning elsewhere to be of a larger extent as he hath done in this very particular for the Apostle S. Peter in the forecited place Commenting upon the Prophet speaks of the new Heavens and the new Earth as not so much to be seen in this World as in that which is to come his whole Scope in the said Chapter tending thereunto Let then the spiritual sense be acknowledged by us yet that hinders not but that the other sense viz. That there shall really be new Heavens and a new Earth at the last Day may be acknowledged also even as Glory is said to be begun here in those Graces that are shed abroad by the Holy Ghost in the hearts of the Elect which shall notwithstanding shine forth in its full Splendour in the Kingdom of Glory Objection I hear what is objected unto this viz. That in the Day of the Lord 2 Pet. 3.10 The Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall
be burnt up which implies a total Abolition of the Heavens and of the Earth How then can there be such a Restauration For answer to this Objection if a late Writer may be heard he will tell us that this place of S. Peter is to be understood of the Destruction of Judaea and not of the end of the World Which suggestion of his I shall not for my part insist upon it being an unwarrantable Interpretation differing not only from the Prophet before and the Apostle himself after him in the 7th Verse where he clearly expresseth presseth his meaning to be of the general Conflagration as it were of the Heavens and of the Earth at the Day of Judgment That which I have to say unto the Objection shall be folded up in a twofold Reply Answ 1 First We see the Apostle speaks there of Heavens in the Plural Number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as comprehending all Heavens So that if the place be to be taken in that sense as that the Heavens and the Earth shall so pass away 1 Reg. 8.27 Es 63.15 Heb. 12.28 as to be no more then we must conclude also that even the Heaven of the Blessed which is the Heaven of Heavens the Habitation of Gods Holiness and Glory shall be altogether taken away likewise But that is a Kingdom which cannot be moved therefore surely it is not so to be understood Answ 2 Secondly Whereas the Apostle speaks of the Dissolution of these inferiour Heavens being on fire and their passing away with a great noise of the Elements also melting with fervent heat and the burning up of the Earth and the Works that are therein the meaning is not as if the substance of these Creatures shall be annihilated and reduced to nothing but only that their present Form and quality shall be changed For first the Quintessence of the Heavens is not combustible by any Elementary fire if the Apostles sense should be taken with a reference to any such kinde of fire it being a most certain Maxime Coelum à subcoelestibus nihil patitur that is Heaven cannot fall under the power of any thing that is below it self for being next unto the Angels the prime Agent in Nature it cannot possibly be Passive And if it were subject to any such Consumptive fire then should that fire which is a far more ignoble Creature have a Being in its greatest height and glory when the Being of the Heavens is under a Decay which is too great an absurdity to be imagined by any that take pleasure in searching into the great Works of the Almighty Yea more considering that the constant Product of such fire is nothing else but Ashes it will follow that when the Heavens and the Earth are consumed the Ashes thereof must remain in the presence of God as if he favoured only the Dust of the Creatures But doubtless in stead of Ashes there shall be a glorious Beauty upon the face of Nature at that Day which beauty even that very fire that shall then visibly flame out shall also be a means through the mighty working of the most High to bring forth We will not too curiously search into the nature of that fire possibly it may be such as that wherein God appeared unto Moses in the Bush but consumed it not Ex. 3.2 and connatural with that which took up Elias into Heaven not destroying his body but changing it into a glorious estate 2 Reg. 2.11 In both which Apparitions as in many more the Ministry of Angels was imployed whom as the Psalmist speaks God maketh a flaming fire And therefore when the innumerable multitude of these Angels shall appear at the last Day waiting upon the Lord Jesus when he comes in his Glory well may Heaven and Earth be then said to be in a flame and as it were all on fire But let the Nature of that fire be as it is ordered by the Wisdom of the Creatour far surpassing our shallow Apprehensions being sparkles of those everlasting Burnings that are in himself This fire at that day shall put a new Form and Quality upon the Heavens and the Earth But how Or what I say again we know not neither is it indeed fit for us to know while we are in this our present estate This we know because God hath promised it there shall be new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness that is it may be such Heavens and such Earth at least as there was in the beginning wherein Adam dwelt when he was in his Innocency This also we know that the Angels who are this flaming fire as they are now employed by God in the Ordering Guiding and Governing the Heavens and the Earth which now are so they shall in the end be instrumental in making all things new for they shall take away every thing that doth offend and like unto fire separate the Precious from the Vile which will necessarily bring on a perfect Renovation and this Renovation is that which will surely be the Dissolution of the former both Heavens and Earth so as they shall not be remembred nor come into minde according to the word of the Prophet Es 65.17 Add unto this the melting of the Elements which the Apostle also mentioneth a plain Metaphorical expression what doth it imply but that they shall be brought into a new form even as Mettal when it is melted loseth not its substance but only the faeculency and dross is taken away and the Mettal transformed into another shape then it had before And thus in like manner the Prophet David when he had spoken Ps 102.26 of the perishing of the Heavens doth declare what his meaning thereof was in the words immediately following viz. All of them shall wax old like a Garment Ps 102. 26. as a Vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed He speaketh not of other Heavens but the old changed into better The wrong side of the Vesture is for the present only discernable but the day shall come when it shall be seen in all its Glory Unto this we have the concurrent assent of Expositours both Ancient and Modern whose words because they are so clear and pregnant in the confirmation hereof I judge it fit to intersert them at large as I finde them Holy Hierom upon Isaiah writes thus Extrema illa Coelorum mutatio erit tantum renovatio illorum promotio in meliorem statum That is The change which shall be of the Heavens at the last Day will be nothing else but their Renovation and a promotion of them to a better estate And in his Commentary upon the 102 Psalm writing on these words They shall perish and wax old as a Garment gives his judgment thus Coelorum iste interitus non erit abolitio corum sed reformatio redintegratio that perishing of the Heavens shall not be their Abolition but their Reformation and Redintegration So likewise S. Augustine on the same
yea and the greater was our sin that after we had some large experience of this great Glory wherein Divine Goodness had put us we should through our absurd folly deprive our selves of it This for the second Consideration arising from the said Doctrine The third brings a Light in her hand to guide us in the first Resurrection and to shew us the Glory of the second First we are hereby taught to fit and prepare our selves against this time of Restauration viz. By raising up our dull heavy and carnal hearts from this present evil World where they are too apt to lie groveling and by setting our Affections on things above and upon this Comfortable time of Refreshing wherein the Lord Jesus will freely and fully manifest his love and faithfulness unto his beloved people And indeed seeing that these things shall be dissolved and again restored What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness Scarce any among us I dare say but do look for new Heavens and new Earth that is expect Salvation in the Day of the Lord. But can we be so deluded as to think that the old Adam should bring us thither A Delusion notwithstanding it is wherewith multitudes are miserably deceived But beloved Brethren let it be remembred that the flaming Sword which keeps the Way to the Tree of Life will never suffer any to enter there under such a Conduct There must dwell nothing but Righteousness neither shall there in any wise enter into it any thing that defileth Rev. 21.27 nor whosoever worketh Abomination or maketh a Lye If therefore we carry our sins along with us we shall certainly stand without amongst Dogs and never be admitted Rouze up thy Soul therefore O poor Sinner and with Indignation shake off whatsoever it be that may hinder thee from having a part in that Glory that shall be revealed For be assured the Lord Jesus Christ will never suffer his new Creation to be sullied with the least spot or stain of Uncleanness He will not have his poor Creature to be ever groaning and when he hath once freed it it shall be freed for ever none but the new Creature shall be the Inhabitant of his new Creation Let all old things then be done away both in our hearts and in our lives and let all things become new I shall conclude this first Branch with that excellent Gloss of Mr. Calvin upon that of the Apostle 2 Pet. 3.10 Non subtiliter de igne procellâ c. Disputare voluit Apostolus sed tantum inde elicere exhortationem quam mox attexit nempe ut enitamur nos quoque advitoe novitatem The Apostle's design is not subtlely to argue about the sire c. that shall be at the last Day but from the consideration of the change that shall then be to draw forth an Exhortation to perswade men to newness of life So say I let us not busie our selves about too curious an inquisition after the manner of that change that shall be made of the Heavens and of the Earth rather it should be our care according to the advice and warning of the Apostle that seeing we look for such things as new Heavens and new Earth 2 Pet. 3.14 to give all diligence that we be found of him who is the faithful Authour of this Change in peace without spot and blameless And thus are we guided by this Doctrine to the first Resurrection Secondly it will shew unto us somewhat of the Glory of the second For according to the Power and Wisdom of the Workman so is the Work to be expected that cometh out of his hands if he be able and expert in his Art whatsoever it be his Work will be answerable Now it is to be presumed that Jesus Christ who is the Wisdom of God and the Power of God will like himself produce a most glorious Work in his Restauration of all things for herein also he will be the same which he was from the Beginning What therefore the Prophet spake in a certain place may very well be applied to this purpose Es 64.4 Since the beginning of the World for in the beginning there was some kinde of resemblance of that Glory which shall be Eye hath not seen as the Apostle renders it nor Ear heard 1 Cor. 2.9 neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him The Eye of man hath seen much the Ear perhaps hath heard more but the Heart conceiveth more then Eye hath seen or Ear heard but Eye Ear and Heart are all too narrow to comprehend or describe the exceeding weight and superlative Greatness of that fulness of Glory It may suffice that it is of his wise and powerful ordering who is the same yesterday to day and for ever In the 14 of S. John the Lord speaketh to his Disciples in these words which have a measure that reacheth unto all Believers I go John 14.2 saith he to prepare a place for you a place with himself that where he is there also may his people be Being then I say of his preparation who is the Lord of Glory and of his Prepossession too how can it possibly be but exceeding Glorious Kings do not use to erect Cottages but set forth their Magnificence in sumptuous Buildings How stately then shall that place be which is prepared by Jesus Christ the King of Glory It was as he himself faith elsewhere prepared from the foundation of the World Mat 25.34 Yet after some thousands of years he saith again I go to prepare a place for you Once more behold here by the way how Jesus Christ is still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same that excellent Work which he made and prepared at first and which was afterwards lost and forfeited by man'd Disobedience he will now prepare it again for all those that believe in him for in him there is no variableness nor ever shall be That Preparation therefore that is to be made will be it seems in part the Reparation of that which was made in the Beginning In part I say for it will not become us to mete out or to set Bounds to this great Work of Christ by any Topographical Delineations otherwise then we have the Word to guide us neither indeed can we positively determine what it shall be 1 John 3.2 It doth not yet appear saith the Evangelist what we our selves shall be though for the present we be the Children of God And what the Glory was of our first Creation we are not able in this our low estate to finde out much less do we know what that Glory is which Christ is preparing But notwithstanding this is certain because it is revealed there shall be new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness and where Righteousness dwelleth there must needs be great Glory For if Righteousness here where she is but a Forreiner
them their own Mercies choose Death rather then Life they shall most assuredly reap the fruit of their own Option in the latter end unless they will learn betimes to be wiser and make a better choice For what else can be expected when Christ hath prepared so Glorious an Inheritance for men in whom he professeth to have a peculiar Interest John 1.11 Mat. 25.41 and they shall lightly regard it And when there is a fire an everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels whom his Soul abhorreth and men shall wilfully plunge themselves into it O foolish people and unwise who hath deluded you A wretched Covetousness you will undoubtedly finde it to be in the end to be intruders upon the Devil a wosul ambition to be Usurpers upon Damnation and a folly not to be parallel'd unless it be by the reprobate Angels to leave your own Habitation so Gloriously repaired for you by Jesus Christ who not only Created you but Bought you at a dear Rate everlastingly to dwell in Surely it were much better for you to stand your ground and to preserve your Interest with all your strength preparing your selves against the time when an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into that everlasting Kingdom Rom. 8.23 waiting for the Adoption a Glory above the Creatures expectation viz. The redemption of our body when Body and Soul shall be reunited again and all things shall be ours in their perfectest Beauty purged throughly from that dross and corruption which now sticks upon them This I say should be our chiefest Ambition next unto God's Glory and if we were wise would be our utmost endeavour for then shall we be with Christ which is best of all then shall we experimentally finde the blessed effects of his immutable love towards us unto all eternity then shall the Creature yield unto us not a groaning Subjection but a willing and a cheerful Subjection rejoycing that it hath somewhat in it that shall conduce to the advancement of our Glory O let the consideration hereof work in us a holy Indifferency towards the things of this present life What though some be poor and of low account in the eyes of the world yet let not the hearts of such be troubled at it for our Lord when he comes if he finde them doing his will will make them as well as others who abound in wealth Rulers over all that he hath If Riches encrease Ps 62.10 Pro. 23.5 let us not set our hearts upon them Or if they decrease and take to themselves wings and flie away let us not be guilty of such folly as to let our hearts flie after them Bishop King upon Jonas but as Fabritius the Roman a late learned and laborious Bishop made the Comparison told King Pyrrhus who one day tempted him with Gold and another day terrified him with an Elephant which he had never seen before Plutarchus in vita Pyrrhi Vtimur mundo fruimur Deo Aug. Yesterday I was not moved with thy Money nor to day with thy Beast So whether we be tempted with gain or terrified with the loss of these worldly Commodities we do not trouble our selves either way Knowing that we have in Heaven a more enduring substance Heb. 10.34 And thus have we done with the second Interpretation of our Text viz. That Jesus Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same in reference to the whole Creation The Third Interpretation of the TEXT is this Jesus Christ is the same yesterday to day and for ever With a more especial Respect unto his Peculiar People Adsis O JESV JEsus Christ is the same unto his Church from first to last that is from the first man that was created to the last that shall be born in this World or from the first Evangelical Promise given in Paradise viz The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head unto the last Sentence that shall be pronounced at the great Day Gen. 3.15 viz. Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Mat. 25.34 The same King and the same Priest and the same Prophet of his Church throughout all Ages the same in his Power over them the same in his Satisfaction and Intercession for them the same in his Doctrine unto them Semper idem alwaies the same And now that we may understand more fully the Sense of the Holy Ghost in this excellent Scripture according to this Third Interpretation of it let us confider distinctly the several Courses or Periods of Time here specified viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Yesterday to Day and for ever And in them all observe the Immutability of the Lord Jesus Christ towards his Church from Generation to Generation By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Yesterday must according to this sense be meant all the time of the Old Testament By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is To day is understood the time of the New Testament By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever the continuance of that time unto the end and that Eternity in order to the fruit and benefit of Christ's Immutability towards his Church when Time shall be no more CHAP I. Of Yesterday and the Benefit that the Church enjoyed by Christ's Oeconomy therein TO begin then with Yesterday which as it is said must in this sense which we are now upon be taken for all he time of the Old Testament that is from the Minority of the Church in her first springing unto her maturity in that fulness of Time when Christ came into the World In which long Tract of time notwithstanding he was the same in the Exercise of his Mediatory Office towards his selected People which he is to Day in the time of the Gospel when he was made Flesh and visibly appeared among us Two things are here to be considered by us 1. The Denomination of the Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yesterday 2. What is predicated of that time viz. Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The only He or the same Yesterday Both which will afford unto us their several Instructions From the first we may learn that which will be of some use for us to know and that is this The Time of the Old Testament with the Legal Ordinances attending upon it is a Day that is set and expired being Yesterday and therefore not to be brought into our account neither are we to walk in the light of it I say not that the Old Testament it self Quoad scripturam vel spiritualem veritatem as it is a part of God's Revealed Will unto his Church is now at this time quite out of date for even Jesus Christ who is the Sun that shineth gloriously in this our Day was the Doctrine of the Prophets as well as of the Apostles and he commandeth us in the New Testament to enquire of him in the Old Search the Scriptures John 5.39 Luke 16.29 that
is enquire into Moses and the Prophets They are they that testifie of me But Quoad dispensationis modum c. The Manifestations of God's Presence with his People are not now after the same manner as in the time of old and the outward form of his Worship which he hath prescribed is not the same with us as it was with the Fathers yet nevertheless this doth no more impeach the Immutability of the Mediator by whom the change is made then a Covenant written and expressed more plainly with a distinct form of words from what it had before doth put an imputation of Inconstancy upon him that granted it Of which more shall be said hereafter The Scripture is very clear for the confirmation of the proposed Doctrine Even Yesterday was the setting of that Day foretold for Daniel prophecied of the putting out of the Light thereof Dan. 9.27 viz. Dan. 9.27 Jer. 31.31 Mal. 1.11 of the cessation of the old Sacrifices and Jeremy foretelleth of a new Covenant Jer. 31.31 c. and Malachy of a new Oblation and the Jews themselves acknowledge according to these Prophecies that when Messiah shall come he shall turn their Day into Night and change their Laws Answerable hereto is that of our Saviour Luke 16. The Law and the Prophets were untill John Luke 16.16 which John was indeed the true Janus who saw both daies the Concluder of the former and the Beginner of the latter There will be no great need to insist much upon the proof hereof the Epistle to the Galatians is in a manner wholly spent upon this Argument let us single out some places wherein the Apostle giveth very pregnant testimonies concerning this matter We saith he Gal. 4.3 Gal. 4.3 when we were children that is before we had that true manly knowledge and wisdom whereto we have now in the fulness of Time attained were in bondage under the elements of the world Heb. 9.10 Carnal Ordinances which were the Abecedarian Rudiments of the Paedagogy of the Law were the Light of that Day but these Elements are now utterly destitute of their former Influence Luster and Vigour being become but weak and beggarly Gal. 4.9 Gal. 4.9 of so mean account are they now even in the judgment of him who saith of himself When he was a childe he spake as a childe making his boast of them 1 Cor. 13.11 verily thinking with himself that he ought to do many things according to those Rudiments but when he became a man he put away all those childish things True it is they had as one saith well been Elements in their time and God had used them as the first Letters of the Book to schole his People with but their Office was ended that fulness of Time which brought Christ into the World and that fulness of Knowledge and Grace which Christ brought with him was their Diminution The Light which they gave though Glorious in that Day is by reason of a more excellent Brightness that now shineth quite extinct and of no value even as the poor light of a Candle is of no use when the Sun appeareth in his full strength Again the same Apostle tells us in the same Epistle Gal. 3.23 Gal. 5.18 Rom. 6.14 Gal. 3.23.5.18 and so also Rom. 6.14 that we are not under the Law And what is the priviledge that we have hereby Surely very great for we are not only not under the Curse of the Law but not under the guidance and conduct of the Law as it was in the hand of Moses John 1.17 He indeed gave the Law that is the Letter of it and that was all the light that he could give and the Veil upon his face did then shadow out the Veil upon the peoples hearts which was not taken away in the reading of the Old Testament 2 Cor. 3.14 2 Cor. 3.6 but the Ministry of the New Testament is not the Ministry of the Letter but of the Spirit and the Veil which was of old under the Law in the reading of the Old Testament is now under the Gospel done away by Christ So that I say again we are not under the Law in the Letter of it as they of old were neither can the Veil of Moses hinder us as it did the people formerly As here so likewise in other places of Scripture doth the Apostle bear witness to this truth Col. 2.14 v.g. Col. 2.14 * Or De crees Deleto quod adversum nos erat Chirographo Doctrinis Christ hath blotted out the Hand-writing or Obligation of Ordinances whereby is principally understood the Law of Ceremonies which was an Act of Yesterday Or Christ hath by his Doctrines that is new Statutes of the Gospel blotted out the Hand-writing viz. of the Law which was against us for so the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be rendred without the least perverting of the Apostles sense Let it be construed either way it plainly demonstrates that the Obligation which was of Yesterday in the time of the Old Testament in full force and virtue is now utterly cancelled made void and of none effect And least some might cast out a scruple that though it be blotted yet still it may be legible the Apostle further saith He hath taken it out of the way yea and that it may not be suspected that it should be afterwards brought to light again it is added for the removal of all fears and jealousies whatsoever that he nailed it for our greater security to his Cross that is to die with him and so rent it in pieces Again Col. 2.17 Col. 2.17 having spoken of certain Customs and Rites proper to the Time of the Old Testament he saith of them They were but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shadow of things to come And what things were those Such things as many Prophets and Kings have desired to see Luke 10.24 but could not A Complication of all which glorious things the Apostle there ascribeth unto Christ calling him the Body which when it is come there is no more use at all of the shadow but it must give room thereto and vanish away Types are to endure but till the time of Rectifying Heb. 9.10 that is Heb. 9 10. the Evangelical Jubilee which sets all in their due Order and Station Lastly To insist upon no more in Heb. 1.1 2. there is set down a plain difference between Then and Now observe God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last daies spoken unto us by his Son To them at sundry times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by many parts as the word importeth now a part of his will and then a part the Lord was then in the way only of revealing his Minde to his Church letting forth Light by little and little till the Sun of Righteousness Jesus Christ arose he had not told his whole Will And so
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in divers manners and troops not revealing his Will after one manner but sometimes by a lively Voice sometimes by Visions sometimes by Dreams by inspiration by Urim and Thummim by Signs from Heaven by Types and Ceremonial shadows c. One while making known his Grace under the Promise of the Seed of the Woman breaking the Serpents head which in all likelyhood was the constant Doctrine that the Patriarchs those Preachers of Righteousness in the first Age of the World insisted upon So Luther speaking of Enoch saith Summâ fiduciâ prae aliis Patriarchis Satanae Cainitarum ecclesiae se opposuit confitendo semen mulieris praedicando de conterendo capite Serpentis Another while entituling himself The Lord God of Shem Gen. 9.26 27. who first of all Men upon Earth had God entailed unto him in a special reserved sort of peculiar Appropriation and Noah prophecies concerning him that God should dwell in his Tents that is So Musculus Meo judicio simplicius est ut intelligamus loqui Noc de Deo qui fuerit habit turus in Tabernaculis Shem i e. Omnia illius posteros quoque benedicturus in omnibus illi adfuturus c. Ita etiam Mercer Ex. 3.15 Mat. 19.28 John 15.15 2 Cor. 3.18 2 Cor. 4.6 that his presence should peculiarly be confin'd to him and his Linage Afterwards Ex. 3.15 The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob professing that this should be his Name for ever and his Memorial to all Generations that is till the time of Regeneration should come spoken of Mat. 19.28 Thus diversly did the Light of that Day break out and shine forth which various Light is now vanished and another more firm and steddy more resplendent and glorious displaies his Beams over our Horizon for in these last daies God hath spoken unto us by his Son and that not in part but this Messenger of the Covenant hath made known the whole Counsel of God nor obscurely for with open face we may behold as in a Mirroir the Glory of the Lord and the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God shineth now clearly to us in the face of Jesus Christ Now the kindness and love of God towards man hath appeared more plentifully more clearly then ever before being now discovered unto the Church under the Title of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom he hath opened all the Treasures of his bounty in whom his Name is more magnified and his Grace more exalted then Yesterday in all the Ages that were from the beginning From all which it appeareth that the time of the Old Testament with the whole Order and Institute of it is a Day that is past being Yesterday and therefore not to be recalled Which being so this serveth then for the conviction of all those who in this Day will be still groping after the obscure Light of Yesterday The first sort that come under this Censure are the Jews who are still of Yesterday and will know nothing of the Light of this present Day Poor people what wait you for Let me speak unto you in the words of truth and soberness Your Fathers of old did well to take heed unto that sure Word of Prophecy giâ—en unto them by the holy Spirit of God as unto a Light that shined in a dark place whereby they did foresee and acknowâ—edge the expiration of their Day even in the same manner as it hath already come to pass and did discern afar off this present Day which the Lord hath made Rejoycing in it Oh that you would now also in this Day when the Sun of Righteousness hath gotten up into the Meridian of his full Strength take Counsel of the same Word too possibly your eyes may then be opened so as you may plainly perceive the Change that hath been wrought how the great God who hath the Times and Seasons in his own Power hath concluded the Light of Yesterday not onely in Demolishing your Temple and Depriving you of all your Glory but in the full Accomplishment of all whatsoever was written in that Word concerning the Messiah who is the Light of this our Day If you have not Faith to believe this let the faith of the Gentiles convince you of your Unbelief Is it not a clear demonstration without all controversy seeing Light is sprung up to the Gentiles who sat in Darkness that the former Light is vanished and utterly destitute of its Brightness I speak not of a few Proselytes that might be gathered unto you from among the Nations but that whole Nations and Kingdoms should so Unanimously joyn together to believe in the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and with one voice to cry out as they did of old 1 Reg. 8.39 Jehovah is the God Jehovah is the God What can it argue but that God hath taken them into Covenant with himself even as he hath done you Time was indeed when you were his peculiar People Deut. 4.7 Ps 147.19 20. and there was no Nation how great soever that had the true God so nigh unto them as you had in all things that you called upon him for Hee made known his Word unto Jacob his statutes and his judgments unto Israel He did not deal so with any Nation and as for his judgments we did not know them But now every Nation that worketh righteousness and feareth God is accepted of him now may we make our boast of Abraham as well as you if we walk in the steps of the Faith of our Father Abraham for we finde it by experience to our Comfort that God hath made him according to his Promise the Father of many Nations Gen. 17.5 God doth not now limit his Presence to an Ark as he did before but as it was Prophecyed by Malachi from the rising of the Sun even to the going down of the same Mal. 1.11 his Name is great among the Gentiles and in every place for no place is now Unclean Incense is offered unto his Name and a pure offering for the Lord of Hostes had said it and his Word must stand that his Name should be great among the Heathen Yea and the Prophet Esaiah likewise telleth us Es 11.10 that In that day that is another Day distinct from that wherein the Prophet lived there shall be a root of Jesse that is a sprig sprouting out and springing up from Jesse as from a Root which shall stand up for an Ensign of the people To it shall the Gentiles seek that is repair and flock together as to their Sanctuary and Refuge wherein they shall trust Now what have we Gentiles to do with Jesse were it not for Jesus this Root should for ever have lain hid in the Earth and we should have joyned with those who once said Look to thine own House David were it not for the Son of David in whom we trust Alas alass your continued Contempt of us
Gentiles was no prevailing Inducement to us to take your God to be our God we were as willing to keep our Distance in those times of our Ignorance as you your selves could possibly desire we should but such hath been the exceeding goodness of your God and our God as to make himself known unto us in this our day as clearly and fully to say no more as he did unto your Fathers Yesterday and as he was pleased to make a Promise that the time should come Es 11.1 Jer. 23.5 when this root of Jesse should shoot forth a Branch Whose name should be called the Lord our righteousness whom he would give to be a Covenant to the people and a light to the Gentiles and that in him should the Gentiles trust Es 42.6 so hath he made good his word unto us blessed be his Name unto us I say who were a foolish people a people that did neither understand nor seek after him He hath brought us into the bond of the Covenant avouching us to be his People and we have avouched him to be our God yea and He shall be our God for ever and ever and we will have no other God besides him If then there be such a blessed Change in us must there not bee a Change in the divine dispensation of Grace if we own your God for our God Is it not clear that there hath a Light appeared which was not of Yesterday And whence comes it that we who were sometimes Darkness are now Light in the Lord surely flesh and bloud hath not revealed it unto us but we have received it by the hand of that true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World A Light that lightens the Gentiles as saith your Prophets and which alone must be the glory of Israel Now therefore O yee Jews I beseech you be as we are for in the knowledg of the true God according to the Scriptures we are as you are You have not injured us at all rather your I all hath been to our advantage neither will our Breaches be made up among one selves but by your conjunction with us O consider it is the purpose and decree of the Almighty to make you instrumental in bringing to pass his great Work which is the perfecting of his Church in these latter dayes for as your Fathers were not to be perfect without us so neither shall we be Perfect without you Behold this is that will make you as a Crown of Glory in the hand of the Lord Es 62 3 and as a royal Diadem in the hand of your God which when it is come to pass as it will surely come Oh how shall we flock together unto you Zech. 8.23 and hang upon you Ten of us taking hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying we will go with you for we have heard that God is with you Since therefore this honour is reserved for you What will you be still groping in the Dark will you be ever poring upon Yesterday shall the Day be almost spent before your Eyes be opened to see the Light that now shineth and the Glory that waiteth for you And if ever through the good Providence of God this paper may come to your perusal O let the good hand of God go along with it to rouze and quicken you This is not spoken to you with Disdain but with a hearty desire of your Restauration nor with any contempt or abhorrency at the appellation of Jew but with Pity For though the Name and Title of your Nation carrieth with it a reproach among us Gentiles because you Crucified the Lord of Glory yet we know it hath been a Title of the greatest dignity and honour upon earth and shall be so again unless as it is said by the Prophet you be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name Es 62.2 Yea so far is any shadow of scorn from this address unto you that I do here in the behalf of all the Churches that profess the Faith of Christ crucified declare unto you that upon your return unto that great Messiah whom you have hitherto rejected and besides whom it is in vain to seek for any other we will yeild unto you that Preheminence which is your due for though we were in Christ before you yet we must ever acknowledg you to be the First born the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power and as we have been first so we shall be contented according to the order and appointment that is given us to be Last and as you have been the Last so shall it be your lot and honour to be First again In the mean time we must confess that we poor Novices are grown up to be a wanton Generation quarelling and wrangling one with another oftentimes about trifles God knoweth to the blemishing of our holy Profession among those that are without and greiving of that good Spirit of the Lord that dwelleth in us and among us All which would undoubtedly be remedied if we had your Brotherly assistance to make us Wiser We know well what honourable Priviledges God hath of his abundant love graunted unto you Our great Apostle Saint Paul an Hebrew of the Hebrews who as you have heard was at first a bloudy Persecutour of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus yet afterwards even in the heat of his Fury was miraculously converted to the Faith which he before sought to destroy even he in his Epistles hath set us an Example to give you the Preheminence speaking in this manner once and again the Jew first and also the Gentile the Jew first and also the Gentile he hath also given us a Synopsis of your Prerogatives which we with gladness of heart are willing to look upon He hath told us that you are Israelites the noblest Generation in the World Rom. 9.4.5 a People that were wont to prevail like Princes with God himself even as Jacob your Father did whom therefore God was pleased to honour with the name of Israel which name was also by a special indulgence from God devolved upon you as the greatest blessing To you pertained the Adoption being the First born Exod. 4.22 upon whom the name of the Lord was called when we poor Strangers were not under his rule and governance neither were then called by his name Es 63.19 You had the Glory the Ark of the Covenant of your God the Symbol of his glorious presence in the midst of you You had the Covenants even those Tables written by the Finger of God To you was the Law given by the disposition of Angels that is the Oracles of God both Moral and Judicial The service of God was committed unto you which consisted in a Holy Typical use of Divine Rites and Sacrifices prescribed in the Ceremonial Law The Promises also were yours both Legal and Evangelical of this life and that which is to come You are
concerning this matter The affront that is hereby put upon the Lord Jesus Christ is so notorious that it is discernable by all that are not given up to strong Delusions To conclude therefore it is very well noted by one who hath a long time been a laborious Workman in the Lord's Vine-yard that the Lord by Burying the dead Body of Moses in an unknown place did in a kinde signify that he hath so abolished the Legal Ordinances that they must be buried in eternal Oblivion and never to be looked after nor minded any more Whosoever therefore shall now go about to revive any of those Ceâ—emonies of the Law as the Papists do their Work is no other in God's eyes then the raking up of Moses's Dead Body which the Lord hath concealed Such a Censure likewise giveth Saint Augustine when he had spoken of the Jewish Ceremonies that they were to have a Solemn Funeral which would require some time upon which account were the Apostles excusable for their temporary connivence at them He addeth Quisquis nunc c. Whosoever shall now use them as it were raking them up out of their Dust he shall not be pius deductor corporis sed impius violator sepalturae A pious Helper in the Burial but an impious and sacrilegious Wretch that ransakes the quiet Tombs of the Dead In the last place such who now-a-dayes Pretend to Oracles that is Visions and Revelations and wait for Miracles may by this Doctrine be convinced of a woful Delusion wherewith they are Haunted for it will appear that even these also were the Light of Yesterday Indeed when God was letting forth Light by little and little now a part of his Word and then a part of his word he did at that time as hath been said before reveal his Minde sundry ways but now when the Day is not onely Dawned but the Sun of Righteousness is come forth out of his Chamber appearing like a strong man in his Race God doth not use to interpose Heterogeneous Flashes of Light differing from that which he hath in his Wisdom and Goodness set forth to be the Fountain of Light to all the World The Firmament of Heaven cannot endure two Suns yea horrid Confusion would seaze upon the Face of Nature if such a thing were even the Parelii that is Resemblances of the Sun in the Aire usually called Mock Suns are Praemonitours of fearful Prodigies like to ensue and these new Lights differing from the ordinary Light of our Day have not onely Portended but brought on Dismal and Lamentable Disasters upon the poor Church of God Visions and Revelations were the Light of Yesterday and though there were some such Manifestations of it now and then Ps 89.19 when it was in Occasu in the instant of Setting in the Primitive Times as there were Prophecies and Jewish Ceremonies of which we finde some though very rarely were taken up and made use of for after a Shower will come some Drops yet to expect them now or to pretend any need of them at this time when with open Face we do behold the Glory of the Lord and this Glory of the Lord likewise shines clearly unto us in the Face of Jesus Christ what were this but shameful ingratitude It is as if a man should exclaim against the Light of the Sun and call for a Candle to be set up at High-noon Day Objection It may perhaps be Objected if such Revelations were so frequent under the Old Testament and not to be expected now then was the State of the Church better at that time then it is now under the Gospel Solution But this I affirm to be no good Consequence for first we are recompensed by having the Scriptures Perfect and Compleat which they of the Oâ—d had not Secondly they indeed had more ordinary Revelations of matters Personal and Private but of such things as do necessarily concern Salvation we in the time of the New Testament have more evident Demonstration and more full Revelation according to the Prophecy that went before of us Jer. 31.34 Jer 31.34 For Example particular mercies to some of God's special Servants or particular Judgments on his Enemies whether particular Men or whole Kingdoms were often revealed to Godly Men in those Days but Salvation by the Messiah And the manner how the Messiah should save his Church is more fully and †plainly plentifully revealed now then it was in those Days Besides we have the Substance of their shadows and the performance of their Promises In which respects it must be acknowledged our State is far more excellent then theirs From whence we may Collect with a late Writer Mr. Perkins who in his Generation laboured much in the Lord That Revelations of God's Will to be expected now under the Gospel are ordinarily nothing els but these viz. The true Sense and Meaning of Holy Scripture and a discerning of True Scripture from Forged of True Sacraments from Supposed of True Doctrines from False of True Pastours from False Prophers these and such like as far forth as they are necessary to Salvation all true and faithful Believers which out of an humbled Heart do seek it by devout Prayer at God's hand are sure to have revealed unto them from God Ps 25.14 Ps 25.14 But as for other Purposes of God viz. of Personal and particular matters or what shall be his blessings or what his Judgments to these and these Men Families Cities or Kingdoms or when or how he will change States or translate Kingdoms or by what extraordinary means he will have his Gospel propagated or a declining Church or State upholden these we are not now to expect nor easily to believe any that shall say such things are revealed unto them And yet as the said Authour saith well we do not hereby limit the Almighty or tie the Lord in such strait Bonds but he may sometimes extraordinarily reveal his Purpose in some such Cases to some of his selected Servants provided that that Revelation be examined and allowed of by the Church Thus he And the truth is it is but necessary that such restrictions should be in this Case which undoubtedly God doth allow of it being a most certain rule Deus non deficit in necessariis God is not wanting in things necessary Now surely this is needful For though the Holy Scriptures are not to wait upon the allowance of the Church rather let the Church stand or fall to the infallible Judicature of the Scriptures yet this Power hath the Church given unto her of God to judg of extraordinary Revelations whether they be of God or no neither are they to be of any account with the people of God till they have passed the Scrutiny and Censure of the Church otherwise what dangerous Consequences would follow hereupon it is not any hard matter to foresee Here we shall have one cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have Dreamed I have Dreamed as those Impostours
did Jer. 23.25 Jer 23.25 And his Dream must pass for Currant without a Scripture-interpretation though notwithstanding it may proceed from a filthy Dreamer There another will come and pretend Impulses of Spirit as some of late have impudently done in this Nation for the justifying of his coursel though the unwarrantableness of it be made so plain to his Face that it is past all Gainsaying Yea seeing that Satan transforms himself into an Angel of Light what meanes shall we have to distinguish between Diabolical Delusions and the Infusions of the Spirit of God if every man may obtrude upon us what he pleaseth for a Divine Revelation But we have a more sure word of Prophecy as the Apostle writeth 2 Pet. 1.19 my meaning is we have the Holy Scripture 2 Pet. 1.19 whereunto we should do well to take heed and to have a standing Word to be a constant Light unto us which is the Light of this our Day is far better then to have the several glimmerings of Revelations which were the Light of Yesterday and if we will not believe Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles our Faith will be little furthered by Visions and Revelations Say not therefore who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above even to pull the Sun of Righteousness out of his Orb or who shall descend into the Deep that is to bring up Christ again from the Dead this were to overturn the Series of thy Salvation the Word is nigh thee and therefore content thy self with it and seek not to call back Yesterday which doth not belong unto thee This Scripture viz. Rom. 10.6 7 8. Rom. 10.6 7 8. I onely in this place make use of by way of allusion and no otherwise O but may some say if there were Miracles wrought now amongst us as there were formerly would not this conduce much to our Confirmation in the Faith I Answer this also was Yesterday's Light therefore of no use unto us and though it did continue also a while at the Dawning of our Day yet it served onely for the manifesting of Christ unto the World and the Propagating of the Gospel in those Primitive Times To this purpose saith Peter Martyr fuerant miracula ut buccinae praecones quibus Evangelium commendabatur Miracles were as Trumpets and Harbingers whereby the Gospel at its first appearance was proclaimed and made glorious which being done the Trumpets became useless Non nunc ut olim sunt necessaria miracula Priusquam crederit mundus necessaria fuere ad haec ut mundus crederet St. Aug. and therefore fit to be laid aside As the Law of Moses obtained Authority among the people by the Miracles done upon Mount Sinai and in the Desart which afterwards ceased upon the entrance of the Israelites into the Land of Promise so likewise Miracles being ordained to be subservient to the Gospel for the same End are now also to cease when the Gospel hath spread far and wide about the World in so much that we may well say if any man who lives under the Light that now shineth should waite to be converted by a Miracle it would bee a Miracle indeed if he were converted Nevertheless to satisfy such amongst us who are too like unto those of whom our Saviour speakes in the Gospel except yee see signes and Wonders Joh. 4.48 yee will not believe Be it known unto you that the Heavenly Oracles by which we are guided in this our Day are accompanied with continued and standing Miracles though Miracles of a more spiritual nature what is the demolishing of the Fortifications of Flesh and bloud and casting down of strong Holds mortifying the Old Man which is our corrupt Nature and ejecting the strong Man which is the Devil out of the Hearts of Sinners whereby the Arm of Lord is made Bare and the Spirit of Christ in the Gospel exerciseth its Virtue and Vigour more abundantly then ever it being as the Psalmist speaketh the day of the Lord's Power More Divels being Cast out since Christ's Ascension then were before what I say are these but Miracles The Miracles which the Lord wrought when he was upon Earth were indeed the Product of an Almighty Power yet he himself tells his Apostles that they and not onely they but others that should be employed in the same Ministery after them Joh. 12.14 should do greater things then those whereby he seemeth to mean the Conversion of Men to the Faith by the Preaching of the Gospel to this purpose saith Saint Austin who himself was a Miracle both in his Conversion and Conversation Mundi ad Christum conversio per Apostolos alios facta omnium miraculorum maximum est miraculum the Conversion of the World unto Christ is of all Miracles the greatest Neither is this an Hyperbole considering as it hath been observed that by so inconsiderable so despicable meanes against so implacable so powerful enemies Truth should triumph and so mightily prevail as that the Conquered should command subdue and at length give Laws to the Conquerours till almost the whole World became her Convert Reason cannot conclude less then non hac sinc Numine this must needs be the Lord 's doing A Miracle well worthy of Admiration that by the Foolishness of Preaching so many Millions have been Converted and made Wise unto Salvation To open the Eyes of the Minde is without all question more then to give bodily sight to make the Deaf to hear and the Dumb to speak were indeed great things But to pronounce Ephatha to the Heart and Mouth of a Wretch desperately set against Christ and his Gospel and he thereupon Immediately to rise up and give Glory to God what can it argue but a marvellous Work and a Wonder It was a Wonder heretofore to hear of Saul amongst the Prophets insomuch that it grew to a Proverb 1 Sam. 10 12 Is Saul also among the Prophets and is it not as great a Wonder to hear of Saul among the Apostles That he who persecuted the Saints in time past should after preach the Faith which he once Destroyed Gal. 1.23 Now if such Changes and Conversions were in other material or sensible things as from Water to Wine from Iron to Gold or a Transition from one Species to another what astonishment would arise thereupon whereas in Spirituals this Changing is more Wonderful though less discernable So then Miracles there are also in these times sufficient to evidence the Truth and Power of the Gospel and to confirm the Faith of those that do believe though not such as were of Yesterday which is past with all the Appurtenances of it and must not be recalled as hath been said and therefore Men had best beware how they quarrel at the present Dispensations of Grace by a pretended Zeal after the Light of Yesterday least that of our Saviour be in the end Charg'd upon them viz. That Light
manner declare his consent unto that Judgment Thou saith he hast driven me this day from the face of the earth But how could that be Gen. 4.14 But how could that be seeing it is after said of him that he went and dwelt in the Land of Nod and there he built him a City Gen. 4.16 where he became the prime Leader or Patriarch of an Antichristian Church in that Generation a cast-away-company of forlorn Miscreants both he and they giving themselves up to all sensuality Bishop Mountague Dr. Light-foot Jude v. 11 so to sweeten their misery and banishment as their corrupt fancy might suggest unto them which as one saith probably is that way of Cain mentioned by the Apostle S. Jude He was not therefore quite taken off from the earth but from that part of the earth where he had joyn'd with his Parents in the solemn and pure Worship of God as appears in the words following where he saith And from thy presence shall I be hid which clearly implieth that he was excommunicated by Christ out of his Church where the Lord is wont to manifest his Gracious presence among his people in his holy Ordinances After this the Church in process of time having degenerated from her purity by a corrupt Commistion with the accursed Progeny of Cain thereby contracting to it self the Guilt of all that prodigious Villany that was then acted in the world The Lord Jesus Christ as became a vigilant and faithful Governour over his Charge strove and travelled by his Spirit in the Ministry of his Servants to reclaim his people from the errour of their way 1 Pet 3.19 calling upon them to separate themselves from that wicked Generation but finding them to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Immorigeri a people that would not be perswaded into Order when he had waited 120 years while the Ark was preparing he did at length like a righteous King and Judge execute his judgment by bringing in the â—loud upon the World of the ungodly 2 Pet. 2.5 so cutting off at one blow the whole Posterity of Cain together with a sort of treacherous Rebels that would not be ruled nor reclaimed by him But I shall not insist upon many Instances that might here be inserted to this purpose Ex. 23.20 take only one more That Angel which God promised he would send to the Israelites to keep them in their way and to bring them into the Land of Canaan was undoubtedly no other then Christ himself For as Pelargus noteth upon that place it could not be Moses according to Caictan's conceit for he did not lead the people into the Land of Promise neither could it be Joshuah for he did not keep the Israelites in the way nor punish their transgressions neither could it be a created Angel for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Adjuncts there specified are not applicable to any such they do only Quadrare i. e. Aptly sute with Jesus Christ Yea the Apostle S. Paul doth testifie so much 1 Cor. 10.9 1 Cor. 10. where it is plainly said of Christ That the Israelites tempted him in the Wilderness Now concerning this Angel God forewarned the people in these words Beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions That is he will surely execute his judgment upon you if you rebel against him 1 Cor. 10.9 10. as he did one while by Serpents another while by the Destroyer viz. the destroying Angel Num. 14.37 For saith he Exod. 23.21 My Name is in him that is He is the Lord Jehovah as I am of the same Essence Power Majesty and Authority as one well interprets the place which agreeth with that of the Apostle Col. 2.9 In him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily that is not in Clouds and Ceremonies Col. 2.9 as between the Cherubims but essentially personally So that Orthodox and sound Divine Davenant and therefore it deeply concerned them to stand in awe of him And now to conclude this Point wherein possibly I may be charged with over-much Prolixity but that the advancement of the Honour of Jesus Christ will I hope be a sufficient excuse and plea for me among those that take pleasure in the promoting thereof It is I believe very clear and evident by what hath been here said That the Lord Jesus was the King of his Church Yesterday as well as to Day And therefore when the people of Israel did out of a proud affectation to be like other Nations desire a King to be set over them the Lord saith 1 Sam. 8.7 1 Sam. 8.7 that they had rejected him from being their King that is even Christ the Lord as not contenting themselves with that Church-state wherein by his Spiritual Government over them they were made a people happy and glorious above all other Nations in the world whom preposterously they would now all on a sudden without any direction from God seek to imitate In the next place we are to take into consideration the Priestly Office of Christ for even in this also we shall finde him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ a Priest Yesterday the same yesterday i. a Priest to his Church from the beginning In the pursuance of this Point we shall fix our discourse principally upon two places of Scripture which will I believe make it evident and manifest unto all And first very remarkable is that which the Prophet David speaks of Christ in the 110 Psalm Ps 110.4 Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek In which words we may take notice of two things first the continuance of Christ's Priesthood Secondly the order of it For the continuance it is an eternal Priesthood to last for ever which word for ever comprehendeth in it the whole time and age of the Church from the beginning Or if it be limited to time to come it is to be understood with a reference unto Christ's first entrance upon his Mediatorial Office which was then when the new Covenant passed between God and Christ in the behalf of poor man immediately after the violation of the first as hath been said before And this possibly may be the reason why the Apostle speaking very frequently of Christ's eternal Priesthood Heb. 6 7 Chapters still renders this word for ever in the Singular Number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb 7.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat tum supra legem quam post legem ut Metaphysicâ—â— c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saepe ponitur pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because Christ's Priestly Office was not to take in that time wherein our first Parents stood in the state of Innocency but only that seculum which was to ensue even unto the end of the world If it be objected that Christ was made Priest since the Law because the Apostle saith Heb. 7.28 That the Word of the Oath which was since the
Jehovah that is God the Father who is essentially one with the Son passed by in his Glory proclaiming his Name To say nothing of the Lord's stay and abode with Moses and his converse with him as it is at large declared in the following part of the Chapter Ex. 34 28. and that for fourty days and fourty nights as appears V. 28. after the end of this glorious Vision which did also put a glorious lustre upon the face of Moses which never any of God's former appearances unto him did It is I suppose manifest unto all men that this preparation that was here made doth demonstrate clearly that Jesus Christ was a mediatour to Moses for good and that without him he could never have been able with safety to his Life to have endured that excellent glory Secondly The form or method of that divine Proclamation doth also intimate the same unto us Let us consider it so far as I conceive for the present it hath a pertinency to the point in hand and that is in the order and method of the Names wherewith the God proclaimeth himself viz. The Lord the Lord God Observe first Ex. 34.6 The Lord then The Lord God The first implying one that hath his Being of himself and who is the Authour of all subordinate Beings the second signifying the Lord Strong and Mighty The first sheweth Goodness the second Greatness The first puts the Creature into a relation unto God and gives it a dependance upon him Ex. 6.3 Note Moses his former admissions into Gods presence were grantted unto him by an extraordinary condescension possibly because he was then to be Mediatour of the renewed Covenant of Works wherein Jesus Christ was not to be concerned the second advanceth the Divine excellency above the Creature and beyond the descent of a Correlation unto it in a Word The first conferres a Right upon Believers to and in the Mediatour for it is Jehovah that gives a being to all the Promises Exod 6.3 the second makes the Mediatour himself-subordinate unto God Now therefore behold the Goodness of God presented unto Moses in that The Lord is named before The Lord God had this Proclamation of the name of God been without this preceeding Title I doubt it had not been safe for Moses to have seen any glimpse of all that transient Glory such as never was the like manifested unto him or any other mortal man before and if so what can this argue but the necessity of a Mediatour between God and man without whom never could any of the posterity of Adam since the humane nature was defiled by his Disobedience have the least Acquaintance with the Almighty to their Comfort but must for ever have been kept at a distance from him But it is the Lord that is between Moses and the Lord God which makes all that God saith of himself to be very good And now I do here humbly commend this Interpretation which I have given of this place of Scripture to the whole Church of God being partly led thereunto by the consideration of the different manner which also is observable of the Scriptures speaking of God before the expulsion of our first Parents out of Paradise where the promise of Grace was given unto them immediately upon their Fall from that which is spoken of him afterwards before viz. In the second and third Chapters of Genesis Moses speaks of God with the Appellative Title of The Lord God but after in the fourth Chapter and so forwards he maketh mention of the Lord onely not The Lord God which to my apprehension doth plainly imply that God did not appear unto Man after the Fall as he did before but what intercourse soever passed between God and Man was in and through the Mediation of Jehovah that is Jesus Christ the Lord Not but the Father and the Holy Ghost are called in Scripture Jehovah too even as the Son see Ps 2.2 Ps 110.1 1 Cor. 12.4 5. But wheresoever these two Titles Jehovah Jehovah El. The Lord and The Lord God are set together and distinguisht each from other as in that to Moses before mentioned and in this latter mentioned by Moses there is the Son onely Quatenus Mediatour to be understood by it Clearly then Jesus Christ was the Mediatour Yesterday between God and his people as well as to Day And upon the whole it is manifest that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Same or the onely He to his Church in point of Salvation under the Old Testament even as now under the New And let this suffice for the Confirmation of this Doctrine But as we have proved the Truth of it so it is very fit that we should now improve it in making some Use thereof for the furtherance of the Gospel In the first place I shall again take this opportunity to make an Address to the dispersed of the Jews whom I do beseech by all that antient Love that hath been between God and them that they would yet look upon him whom they have pierced And herein I do but exhort you O yee that were once a People Zech. 12.10 yea the onely people of God to that which your selves know well enough is prophecyed of you 1 Pet. 1.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which shall surely be accomplished shortly by you And I beseech you will it not be far better for you that the Prophet's words should be made good in this Generation then in those that come after you Look upon your present estate wherein you stand and see whether that honourable Bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ which your Fathers shed do not lie upon you as a stupendious guilt unto this very Day Look upon all that is written by Moses and the Prophets concerning him and see whether it be not all exactly fulfilled to a Tittle in that our blessed Lord who on Mount Calvary by Jerusalem was with wicked hands crucified and slain Nay have not your selves been instrumental in executing that upon Jesus of Nazareth which was prophecyed should be done unto the Messiah Alas alas will you be still wilfully blinde look up and behold your King Pilate once spake it in scorn or out of a Design of Rebellion against Caesar Joh. 19.14 but I speak it unto you as I said before out of a hearty desire of your Restauration to your former Glory Behold I say your King and behold your Priest and behold your Prophet Your King who watched over you in all your Generations of old to defend and protect you and to deliver you from all your Enemies and whom now also to serve you will undoubtedly finde to be your perfect freedom Your Priest whose Sacrifice did virtually accompany all the Sacrifices of the Aaronical Priest-hood making them effectual for your Good and will fully expiate your great sin in sacrificing that is Crucifying even this your High-Priest who is now in the Holy place at the right hand of his
therefore hath God made choice not of the Object but the Act of faith to be imputed to us for our Justification There is indeed a lenitive cast in to qualifie the sharpness of this corroding and poisonous errour graunting faith not to be the meritorious cause of Justification But why then is the Lord Jesus Christ the Object of our faith so plainly shut out from having any part at all in this matter and why are we told that where it is said we are justified by faith it is not to be taken Tropically and Metonymically for the Object as many Orthodox Writers do interpret it whom I could set in opposition to those that are mustered up for the defense of this Errour if they have at least given that suffrage unto it as is pretended yea and why is such an inference derived from the Apostles frequent magnifying of faith Rom. 4. as to say the Holy Ghost had not bound himself so precisely to those words and syllables viz. of justification by faith if he had not meant to give this Honour unto faith it self but rather to some other thing as it is most uncomely called which faith laieth hold upon Alass alass that any who pretend to have a share in the merits of Christ should in this manner detract from his Glory did the Lord Jesus Christ himself Bear our sins in his own body on the Tree yea become sin for us that his righteousness might be imputed unto us and according to the appointment of his Father be made glorious in our justification and shall not the travel of his Soul be his peculiar satisfaction what is faith it self become false to the justling of Christ out of his Throne whose office it is and ever hath been to advance and promote his Crown and Dignity or rather is not the hand of Joab I meane the malice of the Devil as I said before evidently to be seen going along in this matter In vain it is for any man living to make a flourish and to boast of a constant adherency to the Protestant Profession notwithstanding the fury of late persecutions when there is such a manifest agreement avouched with Rome in this particular viz. of justification by works It seems by common report that the Authour of the Book called Theologia Veterum is of late deceased nevertheless what is here written may stand as an antidote to preserve others from the infection of these postilent errours which if there were nothing else to work in the hearts of those that are faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ a loathing of that Anti-christian Synagogue this alone were enough to cause an everlasting separation But I have done and do be think my self what I have done how I have raised up some spirits that may possibly be thought not to be easily laid again whereas my hope is they are rouzed to give Glory to God in consenting to what is written Nevertheless so long as I have Truth on our side I shall not be afraid though an Hoste of adversaries how Potent soever they may prove to be did rise up against mee It is not God knoweth out of any unbeseeming contempt or disrespect of any Person that I have medled in this controversy Learning I do reverence wheresoever it is as much as any shall onely I do wish that it may not be used as a Weapon to fight against Jesus Christ But floreat Veritas Ruat Coelum Let the World go which way it will with me I cannot I dare not betray the Truth by a sinful silence when so fair an opportunity of vindicating it is presented unto me I must confess there hath been in this particular some small digression for having an Errour in chase it hath made me go beyond my bounds But we shall return and take into consideration the second Period of Time here mentioned in the Text with a reference unto this third interpretation of it Consider what hath been said and let us pray that the Lord may give unto us a right understanding in all things CHAP. II. Sheweth the meaning of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to day as it is rendred in the Text according to our Third Interpretation and treateth also of Christ's Oeconomy therein Proposition JESUS CHRIST is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Same or the onely Hee to Day Now herein also two things are to be considered by us First The Denomination of Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly What is predicated of that Time viz. Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Same to Day First the Denomination of the Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. mansuetus ad differentiam noctis quae immitis â—orrida est to Day from whence we may collect The Time of the Gospel is a time of light The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implying it which the former word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not The text we see calleth it a day and it is light we know that formeth the Day without which it vanisheth and cometh to nothing A Day then it is and a light-some day A day which the Lord hath made even the Lord our Light and our Righteousness the Path of that just one having from the beginning been as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day A glorious day wherein is concluded the light of Yesterday For as the light which for the three first dayes of the Creation was dispersed through the Heavens it pleased God to gather and unite into one body of the Sun so that Light of Yesterday which was diffused through so many shadowes and Legal Ceremonies was at last complicated and folded up in Christ the Son of Righteousness who is now in this day of his Power like a strong man running his Race displaying his Beames distilling his Influences filling the Earth with knowledge even as the Waters covers the Seas But let us more particularly behold and see the Glory of this Light First the Light of this Day is the true Light 1 Joh. 2.8 as the Evangelist Saint John calleth it 1 Joh. 2.8 Not like unto that of old which was darkned with the shadowes of the Mosaicall Oeconomy but clear and manifest Lumen illuminans Joh 1.9 A Light that inlightneth every man that cometh into the World non illuminatum not inlightned by Moses or any man in the World Secondly It is a great Light overspreading the whole World shining out into all Nations making a day of Salvation unto all People There were two great Lights which God Created in the beginning the greater Light to rule the Day Gen. 1.16 and the lesser Light to rule the Night Answerably hereunto hath God ordained two great Lights for his Church the lesser Light to rule the time of the Law and the greater to rule the time of the Gospel and as the Evening did precede the Morning in the ordering of the natural
Day so was the Law before the Gospel in Reference unto this Day When therefore the Night is spent and the Day come we may conclude that a great Light greater then what was before hath appeared in the World and as it was foretold so can we say It is fulfilled The People that walked in Darkness have seen a great Light Es 9.2 they that dwell in the Land of the shadow of death upon them hath the Light shined so then it is a great Light Thirdly It is likewise a marvellous Light as Saint Peter calleth it 1 Pet. 2.9 Leading its followers into a knowledge that passeth knowledge either Humane or Angelicall So Zanchy interprets the Place Eph. 3.19 Revealing such things which Eye never saw nor Eare ever heard 1 Cor. 29. nor could have entred into any heart to conceive Marvellous to the Blessed Angels whose Glory and Crown though it be to be Angels of Light alwayes beholding the face of God in Heaven yet perceiving a Light here also in this Day of the Gospel Mat. 18.10 whereby they might come to have more experience of the manifold Wisdome of God they are said with much greediness of Speculation to stoop down and to gaze upon it Marvellous to the Children of the Day who are on all sides filled with Admiration of the glorious appearance of that shining Light which they constantly behold in the dispensations of Grace and wherein they conceive themselves ten thousand times happier then if they had the Glory of the world laid at their feet Marvellous also to the Children of this World it being the Astonishment of Nations that all their Projects and Attempts to put out the Light of this Day have ever been frustrated and blown away like the Spiders web for loe the powers of the Earth and the Gates of Hell were Assembled they passed by together they saw it and so they marvelled they were troubled and hasted away Ps 48.4.5 Ps 48.4 5. Veniunt vident vanescunt they come and see and vanish together Yea fourthly so invincible is the light of this day that all the powers of darkness shall never be able to extinguish it To illustrate this particular let us take into consideration the invincible nature of that light whatsoever it is which God who is the Authour of Lights hath set up among the Creatures in this World And to this purpose give me leave to intersert a very pithy and pertinent Meditation of an Anonymous Authour that I have met with in a late Writer which may lead us farther into the knowledge of the Light of this day we see and prove saith he by dayly Experience how powerfull and dreadfull a thing the darkness of the Night is for when it falleth it covereth and muffleth up the face of the whole World it obscureth and hideth the hue and fashion of all Creatures it bindeth up all hands and breaketh off all employments it arresteth and keepeth Captive all living Wights Men and Beasts that they must be still and rest there where it arresteth them yea it maketh them fearfull and faint-hearted full of fancies and much subject to frights It is of all other such a powerful and unconquerable Tyrant as no man is able to withstand And yet nevertheless it is not of that Might that it is able to overwhelme or to quench the least Light in the World For we see that the darker the Night is the clearer the Stars shine yea the least Candles-light that is lighted withstandeth the whole Night and not only suffereth not the darkness to cover or to smother and oppress it but it giveth Light also even in the midst of the Darkness and beateâ—h it back for some space and distance on every side of it So that which way soever it is borne or wheresoever it cometh there must Darkness depart and give place unto Light all the power and dreadfulness of it cannot help or prevaile ought against it And though the Light be so weake that it cannot cast Light far about or drive the Darkness far from it as in the sparkle of an hot Coale yet cannot the the Darkness cover or conceale and much less quench it but it giveth light to it self alone at least so that it may be seen afar off in the darke and it remaineth unconquered of the dark though it cannot help other things nor give light unto them Yea that that is yet more wonderful a rotten shining piece of wood which hath the faintest light that can be found yet remaineth invincible of all the power of darkness and the more it is compassed about with darkness the clearer light it giveth so little is darkness able to overcome or keep down any light but that it ruleth and vanquisheth and expelleth the darkness which else overwhelmeth and snareth and fettereth and putteth all things in fear Now if this natural light be so powerful and so able to prevail against the darkness of the night why should not the glorious light which now shineth in this day of the Gospel continue still in its Brightness notwithstanding all the attempts that are made by the Prince of Darkness and his Adherents to put it out Continue doubtless it shall and remain invincible to the end of the World Yea according to that measure and proportion of the darkness of errour which in sundry Generations is raised up to obscure and deface it It shall certainly encrease into a greater Glory And though this may carry with it the sound of a paradox in the ears of some people unacquainted with the ways of God yet it will be found to be a most certain truth because this day of the Gospel is not a day of small things of things to be despised of things easy to be reduced to a non-entity as if they never had been such as the designes of Men oftentimes to their shame prove to be but excellent things they are surpassing the comprehensions of Angels which are the fruit and ofspring of this day even the Arcana Coeli Magnalia Dei The secrets of Heaven and the great things of God things which many Prophets and righteous men in the generations of old have desired to see but could not are now clearly made known to the Church in this day which is therefore called the Day of the Lord's power Ps 110.3 Ps 10 3. Dies exercitus dies successus dies victoriae A day of assembling his armies that is his Apostles and Ministers to subdue the World A day wherein his mighty acts have appeared unto men and the glorious Majesty of his Kingdom ruling in the midst of his enemies and making himself known to his Church not onely by the name of God Almighty but to be the faithful Jehovah giving such a being to all his promises as never could be the like in the Generations that were before and therefore whensoever any adverse power shall now rise up against him to hinder or interrupt him in the
compleating of his most glorious design in this day of his power he will most certainly get himself a name in casting it down and having commanded his Light to shine out of Darkness Joh. 1.5 though the darkness of mens hearts will not receive it yet his Commandment still continueth in force and his word runneth very swiftly In a word true and great and marvellous and invincible is the light of this day concerning which much might be spoken from the predictions of the Prophets who prophecyed of this day and much might be added from the triumphant exultations of the Apostles whose eyes were first opened to see the light of this day but there is no need to undertake any further the clearing of the truth of this point for the day it self doth declare it the Sun which is the light and life of this day being not onely risen but ascended and not onely risen and ascended but fixed in his Meridian never more to descend till time be no more Nescit occasum Let us therefore now come to improve it by some close Applications unto us all whose lot it is to live under this Light First Seeing that this time of the Gospel is such a Lightsome day we then that are the Children of the day are to take notice of those Duties which the day requireth of us First whereof is that we rejoyce and be glad in it Truely Light is sweet saith Solomon and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun Eccles 11.7 1. Duty Ec. 11.7 How sweet then and pleasant a thing is it to behold the light of this day wherein the Glory of the Lord is risen upon the Church Es 60.1 as the Prophet foretold it should Es 60.1 That glory which since the beginning of the world was out of the reach and apprehension of any Creature which yet notwithstanding was earnestly longed for by the Holy and faithful Servants of God of old How happy would Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses David Hezekiah Josiah Esaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel c. have accounted themselves to have seen that Glory which is now revealed How full of joy would they have been in the light of this day wherein with open face we behold as in a Mirroir the Glory of the Lord saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3. 2 Cor. 3.18 Nay wherein all flesh seeth the Salvation of God wherein the Word of God comes with power and evidence and Demonstration wherein the Spirit is shed forth abundantly in the hearts of Believers wherein knowledg covereth the earth even as the waters covers the seas so that God's people now need teach no more every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother the sense and meaning of the Shadows and Ceremonies of old saying Jer. 31.34 Know the Lord the Lord whom these things do typifie and so far as such carnal Ordinances are able make known unto you for now is fulfilled that which then the Lord promised saying they shall all know me from the least of them to the Greatest of them The whole Mystery of Godliness is now clearly revealed in so much that they who are endued with the Spirit of God know all things yea 1 Job 2.20 Act. 2.17 even Children and Handmaidens people of all sorts and Sexes understand more fully the Doctrine of Salvation then the Prophets and great Rabbies of old could be able to reach into And therefore it is worth our considering how emphatically the Spirit of God in scripture doth found out this word now in reference to the great glory of this day of the Gospel to that very end that all who are I say Children of the Day may see the Light and rejoyce in it Observe some instances Behold now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 Now is manifested the Righteousness of God Rom. 3.22 2 Cor. 6 2. Rom. 3.22 Eph 3.10 Eph. 3.5 Col. 1.26 1 Joh. 2.8 Now is made known the manifold Wisdom of God Eph. 3.10 The Mystery which was hidden from Ages and Generations is now revealed Eph. 3.5 Col. 1.26 The Darkness is past the true Light now shineth 1 Joh. 2.8 Now Now Now implying that now and never before the dawning of this day there was a light in the world to be reckoned of the highest value O blessed and happy Day And for ever and ever blessed be that good Providence of Heaven that hath brought us to see the Light of this Day making it unto us a good Day A Day of good tidings A day of Reconciliation with the God of Heaven A Day of joy and gladness Let us therefore I say again and again rejoyce and be glad in it Let the Children of the World glory some in their carnal wisdom some in their strength some in their riches But let us glory in this that we underl and and know the Lord. Now in this serene and joyful day of his gracious visitation did Abraham with great pleasure and rapture of spirit rejoyce to see this day afar off and shall not we now rejoyce when it is at hand yea when it comes upon us and the Light of it shineth round about us Surely we are not Abrahams Children unless we do the works of Abraham and if herein we do not rejoyce we are not of the Faith of Abraham and consequently shall not be blessed with him Objection But alas you 'll say this day is a day of trouble of rebuke and blasphemy of trouble to the Churches of Christ throughout the world of rebuke for God is angry with the world for sin of Blasphemy the Provocations wherewith God is provoked every day being very great reaching up into Heaven And should we now rejoyce Answer I Answer It is indeed a day of trouble to the people of God and possibly if they had rejoyced more for the consolation which their eyes have seen they had not seen so much trouble upon them as they do this day But nevertheless albeit there be so great and sore afflictions lying upon the Churches which all the Children of the Day must be sensible of yet in the midst of all this sorrow there is cause of rejoycing for why it is not a Night of trouble wherein no succour or comfort can be found but the Light of the Lord so shineth out before his people that they may plainly see his good works which with an out-stretched arme he hath wrought and still doth for their deliverance Ps 112.4 Vnto the Righteous saith the Psalmist Ps 112.4 Ariseth Light in Darkness that is in the darkest times of trouble then hath their light of comfort been wont to arise most And therefore though in some respect the day be somewhat cloudy yet it is not a Dismal Day though the Affliction be great yet the consolations of God are not so small with us but we may glorifie God in this day and rejoyce before him True you 'll say But alas we remember
God and are troubled for his Anger we see is enkindled it smoketh against the sheep of his Pasture By terrible things in Righteousness doth God answer his People now in this day when they call upon him chiding and chastning them very sore should we then make mirth I Answer far be it from us when the Lord God of Hostes calls to Weeping and Mourning c. that we should be of that cross grain'd disposition as to thwart the sad Dispensations of his Providence by giving up our selves to any vain and carnall Delights and when his hand is lifted up to correct and punish that then we should wilfully shut our eyes refusing to see that I say be far from us But I beseech you though this be a day of rebuke Is it not a time also of Love Nay when with rebukes the Lord doth correct his people is there not both love and faithfulness to be found in the bottom of those rebukes which makes them very sweet unto the soul of a Believer Besides can we not distinguish between the sorrowful dispensations of Providence whensoever they come upon us and the glorious dispensations of grace If the former be matter of sorrow the latter are of joy Rejoyce therefore in the Lord alwayes and again I say rejoyce Oh but it is a day of blasphemy And who that hath a tender regard to God's glory and the Churches Welfare can chuse but sigh and mourn to see and hear the Abominations that are so frequent this day How alas doth errour and heresie justle with divine truth Yea trample it under their feet And that which encreaseth the sorrow people that profess godliness love to have it so Some make a mock at Sin That which should be the terrour and amazement of the soul as being most of all contrary to God and a worse enemie to the whole creation then all the devils in Hell Fooles at this day do play and dally with it Others make a mock at Holiness Pro. 14.9 either by a profane Diabolical derision of it or els by a false Pharisaical Profession of it thereby to palliate their abominable wickedness Here are some jesting pleasantly with their Maker as he did who would needs drink a Health to his Patron blasphemously calling him his Maker There others sporting themselves with the Holy Scriptures exercising their scurrilous Wits upon those sacred Oracles whereat they should rather tremble and which the glorious Angels do stoope down to adore Alas alas is not the Air polluted with most execrable Hell-invented oaths and that Vnmanly vice of Drunkenness as our late King of never-dying Memory according to the excellent Wisdom given unto him in a Speech of his at Oxford most properly termed it grown Impudent notwithstanding all the good laws in force against it And such Brothelry commonly belched out by a Brutish Generation who yet live under the light of this day that the very Heathens would abhor it And is this a time then thinke you to Rejoyce I Answer For these things indeed let us be humbled and walk mournfully before the Lord let horrour feise upon us as it was with the Holy Prophet Ps 119.53 Ps 119.136 because of the wicked that forsake the law of the Lord Yea let us as he did for these things even swim in tears Ps 119 136. But we must know that this kinde of sorrow and humiliation is to be manifested in denying our selves that natural and lawful joy and liberty we may take sometimes in the free use of the Creatures not at all in quenching our spiritual joy We rejoyce not in iniquity but we rejoyce in the truth this joy no man nor no Devil should take from us because God hath called us to it and calleth upon us for it All this therefore hindereth not but that we may and ought to rejoyce in the Light of this day though there be much affliction upon the Church rebuke from God iniquity and blasphemy among men to be seen in it Secondly 2 Duty suffer the Light of this day to shine in upon your soules that the beams thereof may have their free and clear penetration into every corner of your inner man If ye be Children of light and Children of the day sprung from the womb of the morning you will be still craving after light ambitious of a Conformity to the nobleness of your extraction yea light is your proper element and the more you are swallowed up in it the more comfortable shall your life be unto you Mis-mean me not I exhort you not now to stand gazing after a Light that is too high for your reach or to break through God's pavilion to that light that is inaccessible There is a knowledge too wonderful for poor man which while he is cloathed with mortality yea and in some respect when his mortality hath put on immortality He shall never be able to attain unto Neither do I call upon you to look after those new lights which the varity and darkness of these times do so much cry up and extol for sure I am that which is new in point of Salvation cannot be true A position though much disliked by some giddy heads may well be maintained against Men and Angels Yea whatsoever may be obtruded upon you as a fundamental Light that shall appear in this Noontide of the Gospel to be of so narrow an extent that it hath not or cannot overspread the whole Hemisphere of the Church is most certainly counterfeit a prodigious comet portending some strong delusions rather then a true fixed light derived from the fountain of light For saith Christ himself Luk. 17.24 As the lightning that lightneth from one part under Heaven shineth to the other part under heaven so also is the Son of man in his day Not onely in the great day of his glorious appearance but even in this his day He is not concluded within the narrow confines of Africa as the Donatists of old would have him Nor in the conclave at Rome as the Papists at this day foolishly imagine Nor in the Desart that is in the separation amongst those that now-a-days forsake the Assemblies Nor in their secret Chambers that is in the Conventicles of Schismaticks But his going forth is from the end of Heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it his Church hath infallibly universally been inlightned by him with that knowledge that is necessary to Salvation unto which whosoever shall add is a Deceiver and to be anathematized by all the Churches of Christ Putting away therefore these vanities Let your soules give entertainment to that Light which this Day presenteth unto you And so much the rather because the Prince of darkness hath raised up many foggie noisome palpable mists to obscure this light with which mists the eyes of a multitude of people pretending to Holiness are miserably blinded And now if it be demanded what this light is I Answer First It is the light of Life not a
dead light Joh. 8.12 as the light of yesterday was which consisted in carnal Ordinances and dead Sacrifices but a living light that is Jesus Christ himself who though he was dead to extinguish the former Light yet being quickned by the Spirit he liveth to establish this new Light that shall therefore undoubtedly continue to the end of the World For behold saith hee I am alive for evermore affixing his Seale with an Amen to note the unalterableness of his present estate Hee I say again is this light of life not like unto other lights that have no Life in them whoso followeth the Sun in the firmament 't is true hath light but it is a Light wanting life when death cometh it cannot give him life because it hath it not to give There is indeed hope of a tree Joh. 14.7.10 when it is cut down that it may live again saith Job and that the tender Branch thereof will not cease but when Man giveth up the Ghost where is Hee Not the sent of water nor the light nor heat of the Sun can be able to revive him But saith Christ Hee that followeth mee hath the light of Life that is my self Who am the Sun of Righteousness having healing in my Wings Mal. 4.2 Joh. 5.26 Joh 5.2 it being given unto me to have Life in my self Joh. 5.25 So that I quicken whom I will Joh. 5.21 And thus saith the Evangelist of him Joh. 1.4 Joh. 1.4 In him was Life and that Life was the Light of Men. So then here you see what is the light of this day that you are exhorted to receive It is Christ Jesus let him come therefore into your souls He will bring both light and life with him light into your understandings whereby you shall get more intimate Acquaintance in the great Mystery of Godliness and life into your Affections raising them above the World and from groveling in flesh and bloud to a spiritual elevation light to direct you in the way and life to quicken you in it light to comfort you in your troubles and life to deliver you out of them the light of the life of grace here and the light of the life of glory hereafter Awake therefore thou that sleepest rise up from the dead and Christ shall give thee Light Secondly The light of this day is the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ 2 Cor. 4.4 shewing to the world such glorious Mysteries which before this day could not be so clearly known such as the Incarnation of God the expiation of sin by his death the freeness of Salvation through faith in a Mediatour remedy against the Curse and mitigation of the rigour of the Law reconciliation with God spiritual Administrations of the New Covenant all which and many more had never been manifested to the Children of Men had not the day sprung from on high even from the Zenith of the Heaven of Heavens visited the Church with this glorious light and therefore is it well worthy to be entertained by us Thirdly It is called the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God then which nothing can to the Saints be more desireable and unto which when the Soul hath in the utmost extent of her Capacity fully attained she is fully satisfied setting up her rest with a Ne plus ultra as the Prophet confessed saying I shall be satisfied when thy Glory shall appear When as therefore this glory now appeareth in some glimpses to the Soule whiles she is shut up in this Corps of Clay such Apparitions being the Praeludium of that perfect happiness that is to come must needs be very welcome Now the Light of this Day sheweth unto the Soule of a Believer so far as it is capable the Glory of God viz. The Glory of his Wisdome the Glory of his Power the Glory of his Grace and Goodness with other his glorious Attributes in the Protection of his people in the fulfilling of his Promises in the propagating of his Gospel yea it filleth the Soule with Joy and Gladness raising it up to a Life Heavenly and Angelical And therefore well worthy of Acceptation Consider I beseech you shall the Glory of the Lord shine round about us and shall not we open our Hearts to let it in Have we a Price put into our Hands to get Wisdome and shall we have no heart unto it God forbid Yea let us not content our selves with that which we have already attain'd 1 Cor. 12.31 but labour to see more and more of this Glory covet earnestâ—y the best things saith the Apostle be still craving Lord shew me thy Glory Let me see thy goings how thou my God and King goest in the Sanctuary in the Dispensations of thy Grace in the manifestations of thy Presence O come into my Soule and let me be Metamorphosed into thine Image from Glory to Glory 2 Cr. 3.18 from one degree of Grace to another till I come in the Light of Glory to see the King in his Beauty beholding him as he is and knowing him even as I am known Thirdly As we must rejoyce in the Light of this Day 3. Duty and receive it into our Hearts so are we to walke in it and by it ordering our whole Conversation according unto it otherwise we are very unworthy of it And here give me leave a while to lead you into that Walke wherein Zachary and Elizabeth a holy couple whose Praise is in the Gospel were wont to walke They Walked saith the Evangelist Lak 1.6 in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord Luk. 1.6 Let us then joyn Hearts and Hands together and go and do likewise First let us walke in the Commandments of the Lord Quid enim est Lex Dei nisi Lux Diei Ps 104.23 doing the work of the Lord in this Day of the Lord. The Day we know is ordained for man to work in Man saith the Psalmist goeth forth unto his work and to his Labour untill the Evening Psal 104. So also is this Day set apart and appointed by God for his people to walk in that is to worke for so is a holy walking before God interpreted in Scripture e. g. I must saith Christ Walke to day and to morrow and the day following Luk. 13.33 Eph. 2.10 speaking of his workes which he wrought at that time And good workes saith the Apostle Eph. 2.10 God hath ordained that we should walke in them This Light therefore must not be consumed in vain not whelm'd under the Bushel of filthy lucre nor hid under the Bed of slothfull Negligence but we must make use of it to shew us our way and to guide us in our worke Let us then arise and walke up and be doing not spend the day in hearing and talking onely as the manner of some is For as the light of the Sun is no help to the Eares and Tongues of men but to their hands and feet to walke
and worke in so is the Light of this Day set up for other ends and purposes then for people to sit and chat by pardon the Word for such in truth is all the Twanging of Religion upon the Tongues end so much affected in these dayes without doing It is the working Believer that is the onely Believer and whosoever shall say the contrary he is a Deceiver saith St. John For he that doth Righteousness is Righteous 1 Joh. 3.7 Let no man therefore make a flourish of his Faith though he could remove Mountains therewith Unless he walke in Love nor say he is a Professour unless he be also a Practitioner of Piety A vain thing it is for a man to boast how far he will walke to heare a Sermon unless he will shew out of a good Conversation how far he will walke to do a Sermon Oh it is doing it is doing that is the Ornament of Religion the Crown of a Christian Profession It is the end and sum of all as we may learn from a good Arithmetician when he had cast up all his Accounts Let us heare saith he Ec. 12 13. The conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole Duty of man upon which a Reverend Divine of our times glosseth in this manner it is as if he had said I will in two words give you an Abridgement of all that can be spoken A tedious thing it is to write many Books and as tedious to read them but if a man should write a hundred nay read over a thousand This is the upshot and end of all viz. To fear God for his inward Worship and to keep his Commandments for his outward Service Loe this is the end of man the perfection of the creature all that is written tends to this all that 's commanded all that 's promised all that 's threatned all that 's done for or against man in Scripture may be resolv'd into this to stir us up to a holy and upright walking with God and to a working out our own Salvation according to that Light which this Day bringeth unto us And now the better to quicken us hereunto let us take these Perswasions along with us Consider it is the designe First Motive the great designe of the God of Heaven which he hath undertaken this Day against all the Machinations of Hell to save his people from their sins and to rescue them from the common Destruction which the old Serpent called the Devil and Satanas had with deep Subtlety and in the blackest and darkest Caverne of his inveterate malice contrived against the whole race of mankind To bring which glorious design to pass was the Light of this Day with infinite Wisdome formed And being so formed God saw that it was very good good to discover the Counter-workings of the Adversary and Good to guide his people in all their wayes till they have quite escaped the danger and entred into his rest with joy Moreover as he hath begun his design so his desire is very earnest that it might go on and prosper without any let or hinderance from those for whose sakes he undertook it therefore do we finde him very frequently in Scripture calling to this purpose Ps 81.13 Deut 5.29 Luk. 19.42 Oh that my people had hearkned unto me and that Israel had walked in my wayes Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep my Commandements alwayes Oh that thou heast known even thou at least in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace c. Thus all the day long he reacheth out his hand and stretcheth out his voice unto us least by our back-slidings and treacherous tampering with temptations in our way we give advantage to the Enemy to interrupt the Lord in this day of his power in the perfecting his work his great work And now I beseech you brethren If the Lord hath of his abundant mercy been careful with all this care for a Company of poor Creatures that were ready to perish setting up such a light so exceedingly helpful unto them in their way as that without it they could never be able to keep themselves upright but must undoubtedly stumble and fall into utter ruine should they not do well then to take heed unto it that they walk in it And should they not do very ill to turn their Backs upon it thereby so much as in them lieth to frustrate the design of the Almighty for their good Consider shall the Lord the great and glorious God declare the vehement desires of his Soul unto us and shall not we regard them That be far from us For us It is but ask and have with God He bids us open our mouth wide and promiseth that he will fill it When he shall therefore wish and desire a thing of us it is but reason that we should readily grant it The wishes and desires of Kings work mightily upon loving and loyal Subjects No difficulty shall hinder the fulfilling of them as when David did but signifie a desire to drink of the water of Bethleem meaning onely if he could have had it with a wish not requiring or so much as intending that any should fetch it with the hazard of their lives yet immediately three of his mighty men brake through the Hoste of the Philistims and drew of the water and brought it unto him Scipio Africanus being in Sicile preparing for his expedition into Africk when one asked him what made him so confident being a young man to equipp a Navy for the invasion of so great a Countrey he presently shewed 300 of his Souldiers that were before him and pointed likewise to a high Tower whose top was prominent over the Sea saying unto him There is not one of these Couragious and stout fellows that you see but without delay would get up to the top of this Turret and throw himself head-long into the Sea if I commanded him And shall mortal man prevaile more to have his desires fulfilled then the Almighty God who ruleth and governeth all things can have with those people that profess subjection unto him Especially when his desire is towards them for their own good Surely if there were that loyalty in our hearts towards God as there ought to be we could not but give our consent unto whatsoever he shall desire Job 22.3 It was well argued by Eliphaz Job 22.3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art Righteous or is it gain to him that thou makest thy wayes perfect What is there can be added to infinite perfection Rather Pro. 9.12 Phil. 2.12 if a man be wise he is wise for himself And it is our own Salvation that we are called upon to work out so that a threefold Cord is here twisted together to draw us to a diligent walking in the light of this day according to God's Commands viz God's design
of our Salvation which we should not frustrate his desire which we should satisfie and our own interest and benefit which we should be so wise as to promote to the uttermost of our power therefore arise and walk up and be doing Secondly 2 Motive As we must walk worthy of God who hath called us to his Kingdom and glory so should we walk worthy of our calling wherewith we are called 1 Thess 2.12 Eph. 4.1 1 Thess 5.5 and what are we called Wee are the Children of the Light and the Children of the Day we are not of the Night nor of Darkness whereupon the Apostle inferreth Let us not sleepe as do others but let us watch and be sober Brethren let me freely speake to you we vaunt our selves very frequently that live under a glorious light and whatsoever others have been before us we regard it not Wee are the Men Our lot is fallen unto us in this time to know more of the Mysteries of Heaven then hath been known in former Ages Well be it so but then our service must be answerable Rom. 12.1 it ought to be as the Apostle calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Reasonable service not reasonable as most of us make it confining it within those narrow and easy boundaries which our false deceitful hearts have devised but reasonable it must be viz. Such as is rather sutable to men grown up in a Gospel-stature then that which is fit to be done by those who were but the Children of Yesterday under the Paedagogy of the Law We are the Lords dayes-men he hath singled us out for special service his eye is continually upon us and we have much work to do it behoves us therefore to look about us for we shall be inexcusable if we be found negligent in the day of the Lord. 3 Motive Thirdly therefore consider the length of your way that you have to walk and the multitude of businesses that you have to do and then see whether you have not need to use well the Light of this day without which you can never be able to finish your course with joy You have I say a great journey to go viz. through all the wayes of God's Commandments before you can get to Heaven Ps 119.96 And these Commandments are exceeding broad yet must you traverse them in their whole breadth having respect unto every particular circumstance so far as you are concerned therein In this journey there must be no picking and chusing of our way according to our own fancies nor turning aside from any one Commandment for he that turneth away from the holy Commandment 2 Pet. 2.21 it had been better for him that he had never known nor entred into the way of Righteousness at all And now alas how is it possible for a poor weak Creature blinde and lame such are we all the best of us all of our selves to walk steddily in this way and to continue in it to the end unless he hath the light of this day to go before him which alone is ordained of God to be a conduct therein especially considering withall the variety and multitude of businesses that are to be done in the way Bishop Reinolds Let us take notice of them as they are prepared to our hands by a skilful Workman one of a thousand Christ saith he hath service much more then enough to take up all the Might strength studies abilities times callings of all his servants businesses towards God and himself worship fear Communion Love Prayer Obedience Service Subjection Businesses towards and for our selves watchfulness repentance Faith Sincerity Sobriety Growth in grace Businesses towards other men as instruments and fellow-members exhortation reproof direction instruction mourning rejoycing restoring relieving helping praying serving in all wayes of love so much evil to be avoided so many slips and errours to be lamented so many earthly members to be crucified so much knowledge and mysteries to be learned so many vain principles to be unlearned so much good to be done to my self so much service to be done to my brother so much glory to be brought to my master every Christian hath his hands full of work and can all this be done without light Or will you stand all the day idle as if you had not been hired at all into the Lord's Vine-yard but still continue in the market-place of the World amongst those that are without But be it known unto you you have been hired and the penny of eternal life hath been offered unto you again and again therefore woe unto you if you stand out any longer As yet there is day light for you to come in but you know not how soon it will expire Which indeed ought also to be thought upon by us as another special Consideration to quicken us in our way 4 Motive This day I say will have an end and we know not how soon the mystery of God will be finished and the Oath fulfilled that time shall be no more This nevertheless we know that there is an appointed time to man upon earth and that his dayes are as the dayes of an hireling Job 7.1 that is very short and uncertain so that how short this day of the Gospel may be to us we cannot tell and many times it is made shorter then the dayes of our lives being through God's just indignation taken from us leaving us in the darkness of our own foolish hearts and under the power of the Prince of darkness because we chuse darkness rather then light Very needful then it is to hearken to the advice which the Lord giveth Joh. 12.35 Walk saith he in the light while you have the light least darkness come upon you And also to follow his example I must saith he work the work of him that sent me Joh. 9.4 Ps 19.5 while it is day the night cometh wherein no man can work We see daily that the Sun in the firmament hath his rising and setting he cometh forth of his Chamber in the morning like a Bridegroom and retires again at even Thus in like manner is it with the light of this day it came forth De umbraculo suo out of its place where it lay shadowed before in the Tabernacle of Moses or if you will De thalamo for the word will bear both out of the Presence-Chamber of the God of Heaven where it was trimmed after the form of a Bridegroom in a more gorgeous manner then formerly it had been and being come forth hitherto like a strong man he hath run his race bearing down all opposition driving before it the darkness of Judaisme Hellenisme Paganisme Papisme and Atheisme and what ever it be that is contrary to sound doctrine But being in a race it will have an end and we may probably conjecture that it is well neere finished For as the coole of the day doth foretell the approaching of the night so that coldness
of love which was foretold to be in the last times and is now too palpably to be discerned in the World doth plainly demonstrate the setting of our Sun to be very neere Yea and Satan also hath great wrath because hee hath but a short time to work for his Kingdom knowing well that the end of this day will be concluding of his whole design against the Kingdom of Christ Do not these things I say signifie to us that the day goeth away and that the shadows of the evening are stretched out That our Sun is declining and his race even almost at an end Work therefore now for your lives if ever you will do it the night cometh wherein no man can work Could we speak to the light of this day as Joshua did unto the Sun to stand still and make it slay our leisure we might then take our own time But as all our times so especially this is in the hand of God and as no worldly or infernal power can precipitate this day or cut short the hours thereof so can none protract it beyond that measure which the grave and wise antient of dayes hath appointed unto it The day is his and the night is his saith the Psalmist the day I say of the gospel and the expiration of it as well particular to some Persons and Nations as universal at the end of the World are in his power under his irreversible decree to be ordered according to the good pleasure of his Will and therefore out of our reach to be interrupted in their course by any thing that we can do Arise then and walk Up and be doing least dreadful darkness seize upon you before you be aware It is reported by Historians of Titus Vespasianus entituled by them deliciae humani generis because he delighted to do good unto all that when he had spent a day without doing somewhat whereby the Common-wealth or some private persons might be benefited by him he was wont to say Diem perdidi the day is lost O let us consider the day is well nigh spent and the night is at hand If now we stand idle and will do nothing or if we be slothful in the multitude of businesses Rom. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Lord hath set us not Serving the time with that fervency of spirit as is fit for the day we also may say hereafter when it will be too late Perdidimus diem we have lost the day and are lost in the night without any remedy What therefore the Preacher saith in his sense Ec. 9.10 the same say I in this Whatsoever thine hand findeth in the word to do do it with all thy might for there is no work nor device nor Knowledge nor wisdome in the grave whither thou goest That being as one saith Seculum Mercedis not Seculum Operis not a time of work but of wages and your wages shall surely be according to your work To Conclude Let us according to the Advice of the Apostle walk honestly Rom. 13.13 that is Decently as in the Day in all the Commandments of the Lord doing that which is good in his sight for this is indeed that honest decency which adorns a believer and sets a beautiful lustre upon his holy profession In which Adviso the Apostle seems to allude to the civil Customes and Manners of people that are modest in the World who are wont both in their apparel and deportment to demean themselves decently in the day time and will while they are in the light be ashamed that any thing dishonest and unseemely should be found upon them or acted by them whereupon he would have us also that believe to learn and remember to bear such a respect unto this day of the Gospel and the light shining about us as to have our Conversation honest and to do nothing uncomely in it No Rioting or drunkenness no Chambering or Wantonness nor other the like dishonest works of Darkness should be seen amongst us which in this day will cover us with shame to the loathing of our persons in the Eyes of God and his Holy angels Away with them therefore and let us walk honestly And now for a close of this Exhortation I shall take liberty to speak a word unto you in season If you be Children of the day beware of the deeds of darkness in this time wherein you pretend to remember the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ It is not my work to argue against the solemnity which Yesterday to Day and some Dayes following is still held up and continued among us neither will I undertake as the manner is to judge any man here present in the freedom of his Conscience for his observing this Anniversary Festival yea though his observation of it be accompanied with a more then ordinary use of the good Creatures of God provided that he doth as the Apostle speakes observe it to the Lord. But I beseech you Is this to celebrate the Nativity of the Lord to run into excess of Riot and to let loose the reins into all manner of disorder and Licentiousness Is this to Commemorate the Birth of Christ to spend the time in gourmardizing and swinish Drunkeness Siccine exprimitur publicum gandium per publicum dedecus Haeccine solennes dies decent quae alios non decent Will you so testisie your publick rejoycing as to make your selves a publick shame Do such things become these festival dayes which are scandalous and unbecoming those that profess the name of Christ upon other days It was the complaint of Tertullian in his time and we have too much reason to make use of it now O my Brethren beware I fay again of the unfruitful works of darkness at this time if you be the Children of the Day And a needful Caveat it is for I think it hath been too truely said God hath been more dishonoured in many places of this land by Rioting and Drunkenness and other Abominations in the twelve dayes then in all the twelve months following Let us therefore I say again walk honestly as in the Day and as becomes Children of the day in all the Commandments of the Lord. I have I confess been somewhat large in handling this subject But the day will not fail us though we take a turn or two more then ordinary in walking this round I mean in meditating upon this holy walk and in exhorting one another while it is called to day to bestir ourselves in it Let us now pass on to the other side of this walk that is the ordinances of the Lord for they indeed are the excellency and glory of this day and methinks it should be our endeavour yea it should be our Ambition to exercise our selves in this walk also more frequently then we do What greater happiness can there be in this world then to walk with God and to hold a sweet correspondency with him To pour out our complaints before him to
make known our requests unto him and to receive instruction and benedictions from him what a priviledge is it peculiar to this day to finde the Lord Jesus Christ in his Regal and Pontifical attire walking in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks that is in the assemblies of his people breathing upon them with his spirit and insinuating himself kindly into their hearts by his word and Sacraments Are not the goings of the Lord the Lord I say our God and our King in his Sanctuary worthy to be traced by us especially when the savour of his Oyntments doth so spread it self that it is sensibly to be discerned What do not the words of God do good to those that walk uprightly Shall God all the day long from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same stretch out his hands unto us filled with the choicest of his blessings that ever he did hold out to the Children of men And shall not we put forth our hands to receive them Is it nothing to have Satan fall down like Lightning before us in the powerful dispensations of Gospel-Ordinances O how happy were we if we knew our Happiness But since I am fallen upon a serious expostulation in this case suffer me I beseech you good brethren that belong unto this Congregation to bring it home to your Consciences by a particular application and without offense bee that speech which is intended not to offend but onely to affect with a clear Truth Yesterday it is like if there had been a Sermon in this place here would have been a full Congregation To day also it appeareth our Assembly is greater then it was wont to be upon these dayes yet yesterday and to day and all our dayes what do we that are your Ministers but work the work of him that sent us preaching peace by Jesus Christ he is Lord of all Whence is it then that our Message is despised That the holy and divine Ordinance of preaching is so much sleighted by your absenting your selves upon such dayes of the week wherein Ministers come freely to impart unto you some spiritual gift such as they have received from the Lord If indeed we did preach any other Gospel then that which the Church of God hath received from the beginning or any other Jesus then him who is the same yesterday to day and for ever ye might have just cause to despise our ministery and to hold us accursed But when we bring unto you no other doctrine of salvation then that which hath been professed and maintained by the Church of God in all Ages sealed and confirmed by the bloud of Martyres yea by the bloud of God himself accompanied also with the mighty operations of the spirit of God to the conversion and salvation of multitudes that hear it how can you without contracting unto your selves an extraordinary guilt in the sight of God refuse as you do to resort to this place at such times when this word is faithfully preached having no lawful lett to hinder you and to keep you from it Do you not hereby openly proclaim unto the world that you have no care of your souls what becomes of them whether they sink or swim whether they saved or damned Pro. 15.32 He that refuseth instruction saith Solomon despiseth his own soul Nay is it not a plain demonstration of too great an impiety as that you care not for God himself that you regard him not fear him not nourishing in your hearts a secret atheism and enmity against him Where there is not a desire of the knowledge of Gods waies there is questionless a slender account made of the majesty of God and a secret if not an open separation from him To this purpose saith Job They that desire not the knowledge of his waies say unto him in their hearts depart from us Nay more Job 21.14 To refuse to hear the word preached when we may and God offereth it unto us at such a time I say to have no minde to it no love to it but disdainfully to turn our backs upon it is a greater sin according to the judgment of Christ himself then the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah Hear what he saith Matth. 10.14.15 And what he speaketh there to his Disciples Matth 10.14.15 he speaks to all his servants lawfully called to the work of the ministery into whatsoever City you enter and they receive you not shake off the dust of your feet Verily I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment then for that City Weâ—l be assured of it when all 's done and the time of reckoning shall come This will be found to be a very great sin It will not boot thee then poor man to say I have been careful to celebrate the commemoration of my Saviours Nativity at the usual time of the year no no thy observation of this Ecclesiastical Constitution will not by ten thousand talents counterpoize thy great sin in disobeying the commandment of thy God by so frequent refusing to hear him as thou doest at other time of the year when he speaks unto thee in the ministery of his word Whereas therefore you will do this from which I will not disswade you Do not leave the other undone which God hath so expresly commanded should be done but to day hear his voice and harden not your hearts There are sundry other Ordinances which the children of the day might here be exhorted to walk in But it will not be expedient now to insist upon them all severally onely let the Sacraments which are together with the word the prime Ordinances of this day have that regard which is due unto them The Lord we know hath commanded that we should walk in them For as he said of old under the Law Lev. 18.4 So hath he in effect spoken it again and again in the Gospel concerning his Sacraments especially Levit. 18.4 ye shall keep mine Ordinances to walk therein I am the Lord your God Observe It is not said to talk and discourse of them onely as the manner of some is now-a-daies much less to keep them closed up and confined within those narrow limits which our late upstart Anabaptistical Projectors have devised with whom there hath been too much tampering and compliancy even almost to the irrepairable ruine of that whole Evangelical Institute under which we have hitherto prospered but to walk in them that is to use them both for our incorporation into his Church and our corroboration in it Since then the Lord hath commanded us this service we had not best stand arguing still about the administration of it and in the mean time leave it quite undone But let Ministers and People look to it betimes least the anger of the Lord smoke yet more and more against them for their disobedience Thus much for that which concerns the children of the day and what
the day requireth of them In the next place seeing the Time of the Gospel is such a lightsome Day let this serve to awaken the World that lyeth asleep in the darkness of Ignorance and Profaness And oh that I were now a Boanerges that I might with the Thunder and Lightning of this day rouze and startle such Sleepers out of their sloth and security wherein they are willing to lie down like those the Prophet speakes of Es 56.10 Loving to slumber miserably stupified with the Delusions of the Noone-day Devil scarcely so much as dreaming of their imminent danger till it comes upon them with the dreadfull Alarmes of Gods Insupportable Vengeance Look up O ye poor Creatures behold and see the Night is past and the Day is come the Morning is not onely spread upon the Mountains and the Day Star in his Course driving before it the shadowes of the Night but the Sun hath shined out in his full strength What Are you not ashamed thus to turne Day into Night and to lie snorting in your sinfull Security whiles so glorious a Light shineth round about you If you will still shut your Eyes let your Eares yet be open to that Gospel-Thunder clap Joh. 3.19 and let them tingle to heare it Joh. 3.19 This is the Condemnation the very damning Sin which sinkes men deepest into Hell that Light is come into the World and men love Darkness rather then Light But let us a little take these sleepers apart one from another and proclaime before them the Day of the Lord. First you that are wilfully ignorant who know not nor will understand but take Pleasure to walke on in Darkness and will not see the Light very apt to learn how to carry on a Design to your Advantage in things of this World but starke fooles in the mystery of Godliness Consider Is this a time to be Ignorant when the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God hath shined out not in the vailed face of Moses as it did Yesterday but in the glorious face of Jesus Christ Is this day of the great things of God so illustriously visible to be despised Or is there such Comeliness and Beauty in the Black hue and prodigious feature of darkness that men should so much delight in it The times of former ignorance God was pleased to wink at but now he commands all men every where to repent Awake Awake therefore you that have hitherto despised knowledge Awake I say open your eyes now if ever you will see for if this Gospel which this day hath so demonstratively made known to the World be as a Hidden thing unto you it is an evident token of your everlasting perdition But if this Day doth produce such Terrour and prove so Dismal for those that are ignorant oh what a black Day is it like to be unto those that are Profane Let Swearers and Liars and Drunkards and Oppressours and unclean Adulterers and cruel Mockers and Despisers of Gospel-Ordinances with all the rest of that Rabble that lie down in the Lethargy of Sin tremble and be horribly afraid at the Apparitions of this Day Since you will not open your Eyes to see the Light of it you must and shall abide the evil that attends upon it The evil I say how strange soever it sounds in the eares of men unacquainted with God and his Word who think of this Day as if there were nothing but calmnes and serenity in it And truely to a Believer that walks in the light of it It is a day as hath been said of rich and abundant Grace A joyful day Mal. 4.2 To such as fear the Name of the Lord saith the Prophet Malachy shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings bringing in his rayes the cheerful and comfortable light of life that health and salvation which shall keep them safe in the midst of all dangers But will it shine forth thus alike unto all to those that serve God and to those that serve him not hear the Prophet in the words before-going proclaiming the contrary Behold let the world take notice of it the Day cometh that is Mal. 4.1 this very Day we now speak of as appeareth clearly by the context that shall burn as an Oven and all the proud yea all that do wickedly shall be as stubble You 'll say perhaps as those Scoffers did 2 Pet. 3 4. Where is the promise of his coming So where is the terrour of this day For since we are fallen asleep in our sins as you tell us we are safe and secure even in this day that you would have us believe to be so terrible we see no sorrow at all but thrive and prosper in the World according to our hearts desire and to morrow shall be as this day yea much more abundant But O poor deluded people is this indeed your presumption Wo unto you that ever you were born if you suffer this delusion to prevail upon you What Do you think to be safe in the day of the Lord's Vengeance Es 61.2 For whatsoever you vainly dream of it such it is to all obstinate impenitent sinners as it will appear more hereafter For the present let me expostulate the Case with you Are you indeed so safe from the evil of this day as you do pretend If you be Scelus tutum aliquis nemo securum tulit Sen. Hyp. Tuta esse scelera secura non possunt Bern. yet as one said surely you cannot be secure Or rather secure say I with another you may sometimes be but you can never be safe A miserable safety that is surrounded with so much danger And the security that you boast of is a sure token of your imminent Destruction 1 Thess 5.3 You may I confess prosper in the World and encrease in riches yea you may come in no misfortune like other folke nor be plagued like other men and yet notwithstanding this day of the Lord's Vengeance have a terrible influence upon you There is an Vltrix misericordia an avenging mercy giving freedome from trouble in Anger and Displeasure Solo auditu contremisco saith Holy Bernard sweetly I tremble at the very hearing of it God keep me from such mercy These blessings are beyond all wrath But what talke you of prosperity and security Did you never hear that God rains down snares here upon his enemies as well as fire and brimstone storme and tempest And that the prosperity of fooles shall destroy them What advantage then have you by these outward things wherein you so much pride your selves and applaud your own happiness When they shall be instrumental in bringing you to utter ruine In the mean time oh how doth the Soul lie scorching under the burning heat of this day Which though it be by some but little felt yet it is the forest judgment of all other for as the Lightning never pierceth more fiercely then when it melteth the sword and
hurteth not the scabberd so is the wrath of God never more incensed then when he punisheth the soul and spares the body Look then into thy soul O poor Sinner and see what this day doth there bring forth either an obduration upon thy heart or an inflammation upon thy Conscience O how is the heart sometimes hardened in sin Made more and more obstinate and perverse against the Lord Yea and that which aggravates the misery it is by that very means whereby the Saints are renewed and made happy in their Conformity to God in righteousness and true holiness for as the heat of the Sun softeneth wax and hardeneth clay both at the same time so hath the light of this day its several operations upon the Godly and Ungodly according to their several Capacities and dispositions The one it brings into an humble frame fit for such impressions as the spirit of God will fix upon them The other are thereby made more and more refractory and inflexible in their sin till they be ripe for destruction And is not this a great terrour unto men that that which might have been for their wealth to enrich them with grace and glory should become unto them an occasion of falling into extream miserie Sometimes again the Conscience of an impenitent sinner is set all on fire by the light of this day and put into such a flame that nothing can quench it yea the more illuminations it hath of the glimpses of that glorious grace which is now revealed the more violent flashes of God's glittering sword do withall break in upon it to the amazing of the soul with terrours that are inextricable and unexpressible A black cloud of Witnesses might be produced that have found this true by too lamentable experience Not as if this light did naturally bring forth such sad effects but wheresoever it shineth being mighty to prevail if it be resisted wo unto them that make the opposition it comes I say like Lightning with greater Violence and where it meets with such combustible stuff as a reprobate Spirit it proves through the just judgement of God a devouring fire True it is that even the most holy and faithful servants of God may sometimes for want of a due observation of this day have terrible apprehensions of it The light of it may seem to go altogether retrograde unto them and the illuminations thereof may also turn into dreadful inflammation upon their Consciences But yet because they are the Children of the Day The healing which is under the wings of that Sun that giveth light unto it shall surely have a comfortable influence upon them And the anointing which they have from the Holy one shall be as an eye-salve whereby they may see the light more clearly and a preservative likewise so to keep them as that the promise shall in this sense be made good unto them Though they walk through the fire they shall not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon them Es 43.2 Es 43.2 Impii autem non sic non sic said the Psalmist in a certain place As for the Ungodly Ps 1.4 it is not nor never shall be so with them For the Prophet as I told you before puts the difference even there where he speakes of that healing that shall come upon those that fear the Lord The day saith he cometh that shall burn as an Oven Mal. 4. â— and all the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble c. In an Oven or furnace there is no Healing nor escaping but burning and consuming of all that is within the compass of it especially if it be dry stubble so is this day to all Ungodly persons a Magormissabib a terrour round about And to apply the Words of the Prophet Amos to our present purpose for they have a measure that will reach unto it Amos 5.18 The day of the Lord is darkness and not light as much as to say You are much mistaken if such as you think to meet with any light of consolation in this day so long as you continue in your rebellion against the Lord rather you will finde it tobe with you as if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the House and lean'd his hand on the Wall and a Serpent bit him Amos 5.19 If you have escaped from a Lion the Lion of the Gospel because possibly he is of so noble a nature that he hath not pursued his prey This day will send out a Bear even the terrour of the Law to meet you that shall rend and tear without mercy But if neither of these can overtake you when you enter into the Grave and think to be at rest a Serpent an immortal Worme shall bite and sting you without any remedy Where are now all your glorious boastings of this day of the Lord As that your Lot is fallen unto you in such a pleasant time wherein you need not doubt you say of Gods mercy but hope to be saved as you often swear it too and come to heaven at last as soon as others For why you know this day salvation is come into the World Jesus Christ died for sinners and such you know your selves to be Let Preachers therefore say what they will we fear nothing say you though we do perhaps live in sin as who is there that liveth and sinneth not Yet we will hope howsoever that all shall be well in the end Alas Alas miserable people your expectation will be frustrated and all your hopes vanish away like the spiders Web. Do you not see what a dreadful day is come upon you You look for peace saith the Prophet but behold trouble and for a time of healing but no good comes Even the very Ordinances of this day Jer. 4.19 which are sweeter then Honey to those that live in Gods fear are unto you so long as you abide in your profaness no better then poison You have been baptised with water whereby you are distinguished from those that are without God in the World But if your Souls lie still wallowing in the pollutions of sin it shall be more tolerable for Infidels and Pagans at the day of judgement then for you When you come to the Lord's Table to which you may pretend a right because you outwardly profess the faith of Christ Crucified neither are you to be repelled from it untill you be juridically cast out But when you come O what a woful hazard do you run I need not tell it you in any other words then those the Apostle useth You eate and drink your own Damnation The Word also when you hear it proves not onely a dead but a deadly Letter sent unto you from Heaven to pronounce your Condemnation yea all the Exhortations Admonitions Convictions Reprehensions that you meet with from Ministers from friends from enemies from your own Consciences bring forth no better fruit then to sink
Application Consider then with your selves O poor People ready to perish Is not this a great and and notable day And can you now be able to endure the Coming of the Lord Mal. 3.2 Now as the Prophet saith when he appeares as a Refiner's fire and as Fullers sope that is to cast out all dross and filth out of his Church when as the Baptist saith He comes with his Fan in his hand Mat. 3.12 that is The preaching of his Gospel in the Ministery of his servants whereby as with a purging blast he will throughly cleanse his floor gathering his wheat into his granary but burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire Can your hearts endure or your hands be strong in the day wherein the Lord thus deals with you How much better were it for you to awaken your selves out of your sinful security and to walk in the light of this day then to have the Thunder and Lightning of it flash into your Souls with the pledges and first-fruits of everlasting burnings What meanest thou O steeper said the ship-master unto Jonas when the Sea wrought and roared for his prey So now when you are in such apparent hazard may it not be very well said unto you what mean you sleepers Will you go away in a sleep and be swallowed up for ever in the bottomless sea of Gods wrath and fury What mean you thus carelesly to lie down in sin when you should walk before the Lord in the light of the living Is this a time think you to say with the Sluggard Pro. 16.10 Yet a little sleepe a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleepe when dreadful danger is so neare and ready to fall upon you as an armed man Awake therefore I say you that are ignorant Be not still brutish for lack of understanding when God hath sent out his Light and his truth to leade you and guide you do not you refuse any longer to follow it If in the things of this World you can as occasion is offered manifest some skill and dexterity promoting carnal interests and negotiating your affairs to your best advantage will you not be without excuse if in those things that concern the everlasting estate of your Souls you be foolish and ignorant even as beasts before the Lord O remember that you have Souls souls more precious then all the world which should be cared for as well as your Bodies And what is both the Ornament and the Nourishment of a Soul but that knowledge which this day would enlighten it with Alas consider Is it not a shame that all the labour of a man should be for his mouth as the wise Preacher once said Eccles 6.7 and his Soul in the mean time which denominates the man distinguishing him from other Creatures that are inferiour unto him to be altogether Vnsatisfied Awake therefore and get Wisdom now while it is to be had which is the principal Pro. 8.7 And will all your gettings and above all get understanding Awake also you that are profane Let the swearer awake lest God also swear in his wrath that he shall never see the light of this day unless it be to his horrour and amazement Let the swinish drunkard that makes a swill-tub of his body and his soul a trough for the Devil to bouze in let him I say awake out of his intemperance for it is the eleventh hour of the day and if he continue until night he shall be inflamed with the cup of Gods fury which is full of mixture that is Ps 75.8 of curses that are written for eternity against impenitent sinners Let adulterers and unclean persons awake out of their filthiness They shall else be thrown into a bed of shame and the day shall un cover their nakedness to the loathing of their persons in the sight of God and his holy Angels Let the merciless oppressour awake that grindes the faces of the poor with a heart more hard then the nether mil-stone let him I say awake betimes and break off his sin by repentance undoing heavy burdens and letting the oppressed go free otherwise the Arrow of Gods indignation that now flieth by day shall surely find him out and peirce him-thorough with a wound incurable In a word let the fraudulent Deceiver the voluptuous Epicure the atheistical Scoffer the greedy Mammonist and the Idolatrous Rimmonist I mean the Superstitious Romanist with all other of that Cimmerian crew children of darkness who are this day fast asleep in their sins rouze up themselves and be awakened Alas poor creatures what mean you Will you I say again go away in a sleep De tenebris ad tenebras from the inner darknes of your minds swallowed up in ignorance and profaness to the outer darkness of Gods everlasting displeasure Shall the terrible lightning of this day blast your souls till there be no remedy What mean you sleepers Awake awake it is now time that you should arise from sleep yea the time is almost past Now is salvation nearer then when you first believed Rons 13.11 that is when you first gave up your names to Christ to be his Disciples and now is damnation nearer then when you first were threatned To conclude be confident what ever Satan may suggest unto you or what ever vain imagination your own foolish and deceitful hearts have entertained concerning this day be assured I say of this it will bring you no better tidings then what I have here proclaimed in your ears unless you awake you will certainly perish Albeit you lie sleeping in sin yet your damnation as the Apostle saith slumbreth not for the day light keeps it awake 2 Pet. 2.3 and not onely so but provokes it with greater and greater rigour to fall upon you But I will hope better things of you Who will not disdainfully reject what is here offered unto you yea such things as accompany salvation because the light of this day naturally bodes that which is good unto the world whereas the judgment that comes along with it is but accidental mercy being now in her prime beautified with an evangelical lustre and rejoycing against judgment With this hope we shall terminate this first Point viz the Denomination of the Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to day as it is rendred in the Text according to our third Interpretation That which comes next to be considered is what is here predicated of that Time viz. Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same to Day THE same now as yesterday the same which he was from the beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id prorsus as he told the Jewes when they demanded of him saying Who art thou Joh. 8.25 That which he was from the beginning viz the Prophet Priest and King of his Church he is the same now in the time of the Gospel Other foundation can no man lay 1 Cor. 3.11 saith the Apostle then that that is laid
which is Christ Jesus And other salvation can no man expect then that which hath been from the beginning there being no other name given under Heaven nor in Heaven neither whereby believers may ever get to Heaven Via seculi Via Antiqua Ps 139. ult It is the decree of Heaven not to be disanulled till time be no more It is the way everlasting wherein the Wisdome and Power of the Almighty shall be gloriously manifested to the eternal confusion of that grand apostate the Devil and all his Angels whose inveterate malice hath from the beginning been principally bent against Jesus Christ In the handling of this Subject our business should be to consider Jesus Christ in the execution of his Mediatorial Office For that indeed hath been the work of this day And which hath made this day more glorious then yesterday Yesterday 't is true he was as it is said before the onely Mediatour between God and man being ordained of the Father to that high honour but it was by virtue of that which he hath to day actually accomplished both in his life and in his death Whatsoever therefore hath been spoken concerning him must be understood with a reference unto the work of this day whereby all the former mediation in the High Court of Heaven for the Fathers of old is made good and effectual in the Law of God and ratified for eternity And this speaks him still to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same or the onely he who was willing in this day of his power to perfect for ever them that in all the Ages of the Church have been are or shall be sanctified that is consecrated and separated out of the world and dedicated to be vessels of honour unto God We shall not enter into a large survey of that which Christ hath done and suffered nor make any strict search into his office whereby it may in all points be made manifest that he hath now in this time of the Gospel fully perfected the work of redemption and so proved himself to be the same to day which he was yesterday We have spoken somewhat of these things before and therefore shall for bear to speak much of them now and there have been Writers of late who have magnified the Office of Christs Mediatourship therein doing eminent service both unto him and his Church Yet it is but meet that we should for our methods sake take this sweet subject also along with us though it be folded up but in some general termes which being opened particularly would enlarge our discourse too much wherein already I may be judged by some to have gone beyond my bounds In the first of the Revelation we read how the Lord Jesus Christ appears unto his beloved Disciple St. John clothed in his regal and pontifical attire Rev. 1.13 intimating that he is now ready fitted for that whole Oeconomy to which he was designed from the beginning and implying that he is now solemnly inaugurated into and possessed with that honour which did alwayes belong unto his Office Never did he in all his apparitions of old shew himself in such a manner as now he doth This garment was then laid up as I may say in the Cabinet of Gods Purpose and Decree wherein the smell of it was very acceptable to the Father inclining him to give out his blessing to his children who did then by faith according to their capacity lay hold upon it But now since that this our great Lord Advocate and Mediatour the first begotten among many brethren hath been actually called of God unto his office and assumed the right of his Primogeniture he appears vested with it exercising his authority fulfilling the will of his Father and confirming all that he hath done in the preservation of his people and their reception to himself since the World began With which confirmation Divine Justice rests her self fully satisfied and the Pleas of the Law and the clamours of Satan are all husht and silenced Having then thus put on this garment for the execution of his office what doth it argue but that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same which he was from the beginning A Prophet to day as he was yesterday teaching his people the way of God truly and fore-telling them what shall happen to them in the way A Priest to day as he was yesterday wherein he hath offered up a sacrifice for sin and maketh intercession for us A King to day as he was yesterday protecting preserving and providing for his Church ruling in the midst of his people ruling also in the midst of his enemies Precisely and punctually the same as yesterday without any variableness or shadow of turning Yea so far is he now from being defective in any thing that concerns his office that he rather is the same to day in a more transcendent manner then he was yesterday Heb. 6.20 For observe it he is said Heb. 6.20 to be made an High Priest after his entry into Heaven not that he had not been a Priest before for his Church but because it was never so clearly manifested in former times as it was after his ascension when he shed abroad his Grace and powred down his Spirit abundantly upon his Church We shall not multiply Proofes for this out of Scripture some mention having been hereof before Take onely one instance viz. Rev. 1.8 Rev. 1.8 Where the Lord saith I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending which is and which was and which is to come In which last words the order that he useth in the description of himself as Mediatour is to our purpose very observable For mark first he saith I am which is and then followeth which was c. Whereas according to the course and method of time that which was should have had the precedence But here we see It is by Christ speaking of himself with a respect unto his Mediatourship as appears by the 11.13 and 18. verses following he doth put in the second place to note unto us that his present estate in his office is to be preferred before that which was and gives a Being unto it Objection But it may possibly be objected How can this be that Jesus Christ is the Same to day as yesterday when we see a revocation of Divine Ordinances that were of old instituted for the Publick Worship of God and the benefit of his People and others now appointed in their stead Was not the seventh day in the week commanded to be kept Holy to the Lord and is it not now changed to the first Did not God give unto Abraham the Covenant of Circumcision for an everlasting Covenant to him and to his seed adding also a terrible penalty upon the least failing thereof in these words Gen. 17.14 The Vncircumcised Man-child whose flesh of his foreskin is not Circumcised that Soul shall be cut off from his people he hath broken my Covenant Yet now
much obtruded upon the people of this Nation But those times of darkness are not within the verge of this Vindication But for our present Liturgy which hath been established since the Reformation that it should be originally taken out of the said Missal and consequently transmitted to us from Rome as they would make us believe is clearly as manifest an Untruth as that we have originally received our Religion from Rome True it is that that breviary as it is called secundum Salisburiensis Ecclesiae usum doth agree in some things with our Liturgy But it will not therefore follow that our Liturgy is a poor puisne extract taken out of it Sober and discreet men would rather infer thereupon that our Liturgy and as much of that Popish Portifory as is incorrupt are taken out of the Primitive Christian Liturgies which were devoutly used in several Churches persecuted for the faith of Christ long before any Romish Superstitions were in Being whereunto if there be with us a holy desire of Conformity to shew that we are in communion and fellowship with that poor persecuted Church of old that was valiant for the Truth resisting the enemies of Christ even unto bloud and upon whose unwearied labours and sufferings we are happily entred What offense is it Now that our Liturgy is such we might alledge the faithfulness of the Compilers of it who according to the trust reposed in them as master Fox reports it in his Martyrology had in this important business as well an eye and respect unto the most sincere and pure Christian Religion taught by the Holy Scriptures as also to the usages of the Primitive Church which the Act of Parliament made for the Confirmation of it attesteth in these words 5. 6. of Ed. 6. c. 1. The Common Prayer established by Law in England is agreeable to the word of God and the Primitive Church And as the King a Zealous and Religious Prince to satisfie some of his mutinous Subjects about it saith It is altered from that the Popes of Rome for their lacre brought it unto But it may be this will not be accounted argumentative with our techy Opponents though the faithfulness of some of those very Persons is by them oftentimes proposed unto us for our imitation We shall therefore here produce somewhat that is more convincing And first that we may see it is no new thing to follow the example of the Primitive times in the forms of Divine worship let an instance be considered by us out of Eusebius an Authour of good account as he is well known in all the Churches Eccl. Hist lib. 2. cap. 17. This Eusebius having taken notice of what Philo the Jew who lived in the dayes of Claudius Caesar above 200 years before him had observed in the religious Exercises of the Christians in his time about Alexandria where Saint Mark had then newly constituted a Church how they in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a place set apart and dedicated to Holy uses devoted themselves with marvellous austerity to the Service of God which they celebrated with a certain Order and form peculiar unto them Omnis geneâ—s metrorum carminum rythmis Uno cum rythmo psallente reliqui quiete auscultantes posteriores hymnorum partes ad extremum una decantent and with what Gravity and reverence they sang their spiritual Songs and Hymns of all sorts of tunes He I say noting these observations of Philo addeth thereupon Quae etiamnum apud nos durant which devout Order of religious exercise is in use amongst us to this very day Et praecipuè circa salutaris Domini Passionis Festum diem in jejuniis c. especially those which we use upon the Solemn day of the Lords Passion yea the very Hymns themselves and the manner of their singing Eusebius saith A nobis recitari solebant we our selves have been accustomed to recite in our Church-Assemblies Much more to this purpose is written in the said History But from hence we may infer First that the Christians in the purest Primitive times had places set apart for divine worship which were reserved onely for that use Secondly That they had their Forms of Divine worship when they met together in those places Thirdly that there were some special times of the year as appears by the instance of our Saviours Passion wherein they had their Forms proper for those times Fourthly which is the cause of the inserting of this Story the manner of their worshipping God and the very subject matter of their Forms were taken up and continued by the Church in the following ages Furthermore it will be requisite that an apologie be premised and admitted which is this It is not to be expected that the whole Frame of our Liturgy should be found in those Historians and others that have written of the Church in the Primitive times The dispensations of Gods providence towards his people are much varied now from those of old and therefore we are not obliged precisely to follow their exemplar in the whole Form of any of their Liturgies but are to make our Supplications according to the present state and exigency of the Church wherein we are concern'd They prayed heretofore pro mora finis That the final consummation of all things might be deferred because as it is supposed they were afraid to come under the tyranny of Antichrist which they knew would make havock of the Church in the last dayes But we on the contrary have reason to pray That the end may be hastned that so Antichrist may be destroyed If therefore we can finde that that spirit of devotion which we use in our Liturgy in the order of Prayers Psalms Lessons Collects Letany Versicles Responds c. be the same with that of the antient Churches before Rome usurp'd Authority over the Churches and that in their Ecclesiastick Ministrations there be sparsim found some of the same express terms which we use in ours I hope we shall not be far from giving a clear testimony in this matter As for reading the holy Scriptures and singing of Psalms no man can deny that we therein do conform to the practice of all Churches ever since the beginning And for our Collects this we shall say of them When the order of Sarum which probably was the ancientest wherein there was a compliancy with Romish Superstitions when I say that was first framed by that Osmund aforesaid the Tradition that was then generally received concerning some forms of Prayer that were derived from Primitive Liturgies was the less regarded and so might be swallowed up by time because they were in that Ordinale collected together and brought thereby into Common and Publick use whence it came to passe that the Collects of it which we have gathered into our Liturgy though according to the significancy of the term it is like they were collected from the Catholick Prayers of the Primitive Church yet have no certain Constat for them that
they were all of such venerable Antiquity Howsoever the matter of them being sound and Catholick and because it is not to be imagined that one Osmund though an Earl and a Bishop should be generally owned for Os mundi the Speaker to the whole Church in the Liturgy of it we may safely affirm that the said Collects are of the same pure primitive Original with the rest of our Church-Service The form of Letany in the next place which is most cavill'd at was ordered by Saint Gregory Lib. 9. Indict 4. Epi. 45. while Rome continued in the state of innocency to be used in the Church of Sicily without intermission upon the fourth and sixth dayes of every week which our Liturgy in a conformity thereunto enjoyneth to be said or sung upon the same dayes viz. Wednesdayes and Fridayes Lib 1. De vocatione Gentium And Saint Ambrose who was above two hundred years before him saith That this form of publick devotion in the Church for the substance of it was so generally observed Vt nulla pars mundi sit in qua hujusmodi orationes non celebrentur à populis Christianis That there was no part of the world where these Prayers were not used in Christian Assemblies Non solum pro Sanctis in Christo regeneratis sed etiam pro omnibus infidelibus inimicis crucis Christi pro omnibus Idolorum cultoribus pro haereticis schismaticis c. Even as we do at this day in our Letany not onely praying that God would be pleased to bless and keep all his people but that he would bring into the way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived Our Versicles and Responds we oftentimes meet with in Primitive Liturgies E. g The Lord be with you And with thy Spirit Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us c. Lift up your hearts We lift them up unto the Lord. Let us give thanks unto the Lord It is meet and right so to do c. Thus saith Saint Chrysostome The Priest in the holy Ministration speaks unto the people In 2. ad Cor. Hom. 18. and the people unto the Priest to quicken their devotion and to testifie their unanimity in the Service of God Neither is our Alternate singing though it be not enjoyned in our Liturgy without good warrant from that Antiquity which we ought to reverence Lib. 2 cap. 24. Theodoret writeth that Davids Psalms were sung in the Church of Antioch by the Quire of Singers one side answering the other in their singing Act. 11.26 Which order it seems beginning there as the Appellative title of Christian did Ad fines orbis terrarum tandem pervenit saith he was at length spread over the world And this saith Sozomen wrought marvellously upon Theodosius Lib. 7. cap. 23. diverting him from his intended purpose of destroying the Citizens of Antioch because of some contempts which they had put upon him For as the said Historian relates it they fearing the Emperours displeasure repented them of what they had done against him much bewailing their near approaching ruine and having prevailed with Flavianus their Bishop to intercede for them took this course according to his directions Some of them when the Emperour sat at his table came into his presence singing Psalms after the manner of Antioch that is Antiphonicws one answering the other wherewith the Emperour being a religious Prince was so taken that he let go his anger was reconciled to their City Phialam quam manu tenebat lachrymis obortis irrigavit The Cup which he held in his hand he watered with his tears and so mingled his drink with weeping In fine Lib. 6. cap. 8. This manner of Antiphone in the Church was saith Socrates occasioned first by a vision of Angels which Ignatius Bishop of Antioch that faithful servant of Jesus Christ who had been conversant with the Apostles had presented unto him whom he heard lauding the blessed Trinity with Responsory Hymns the Pattern whereof he commended to that Church to be ever after observed and practised by them Vnde ad omnes Ecclesias ista traditio promanavit saith the Historian From whence also that order of singing went among all the Churches Many more Instances might be produced to witness that our Liturgy is not of such an upstart Original as to derive its Extraction from Rome since by her Apostatizing she hath chang'd her name into Babylon But we must not extra oleas vagari and these few may suffice to convince gain-sayers of their false and uncharitable accusation of our Church-Service as that it is Superstitious and Idolatrous because Popish and Babylonish which is so unjust a calumniation that as it hath been observed There is not any one Protestant Divine of any note or eminency even among the Reformers of Religion who did ever condemn our Service-Book of the least point of Popery but rather many among them did highly commend it Yea and Sir Edward Cook that Oracle of the Law of England unto whom we have reason for his Gravity Courage and integrity in his place and calling notwithstanding all the oblatrations of Popish Rabshekah's against him to give some heed more then ordinary Such was P.R. in his reckonings with Bp. Morton about Equivocation The like is also a. vouched by D. Ben. Carrier in hit letter to K. James pag. 126. He I say affirmeth with much confidence That Pope Pius Quintus wrote unto Queen Elizabeth a letter about the tenth year of her Reign offering to allow and ratifie the English Service-Book if she would accept it as from him which she refusing to do he did excommunicate her and by his Bull roared out an Inhibition to all his party called Roman Catholicks that they should not from thenceforth go to any of our Churches while the said Service-Book was read though to the hearing of our Sermons a Toleration was granted unto them To conclude Since the Primitive Pattern is thought fit next to the holy Scriptures to be a Standard for Church-Orders in the Service of God throughout the Christian world let our adversaries and friends too but conform unto it in such a manner as we have done since we separated from Rome and I dare boldly say we shall have no just cause in the sight of God to charge one another with Superstition And now that Imputation of Superstition upon the account of our Liturgy being with as much brevity as the matter could well bear yet sufficiently if not satisfactorily to our irrefragable opponents removed We should undertake the vindication likewise of Episcopal Government for that also is by our Objectours brought under the same Censure But concerning this neither need there much be said it being abundantly cleared of late against those that have openly professed themselves enemies to that Government We shall not here repeat the Arguments that have been used in the behalf of Episcopacy such an unsipid crambe must
the Jews to expect and good warrant for us to believe their restauration First Hear what Moses saith of this people Deut. 4.30.31 When thou art intribulation as they are this day and all these things are come upon thee Deut 4.30 31. even in the latter dayes remember that if thou turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient unto his voice For the Lord thy Ged is a merciful God he will not forsake thee neither destroy thee nor forget the Covenant of thy Fathers which he sware unto them But if God hath now cast away his people in these latter dayes so as that they shall be no more a people hath he not forgotten the Covenant of their Fathers which he sware unto them Possibly it will be replyed That promise was attended with this Proviso If they turn unto the Lord their God and be obedient unto his voice But that will never be because of the hardness of their hearts to which they are given up by the just judgement of God for their contempt of the Gospel when it was sent unto them In answer hereunto hear Moses once again Deut. 30.3 c. If thou return unto the Lord thy God Deut. 30.3 c. then will the Lord thy God turn thy Captivity and haâ—e compassion â—pon thâ—e and wâ—ll return and gather thee from all Nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee If any of thine be driâ—en out unto the utmost parts of heaven from then â—e will the Lord thy God gather thee and from thence will he fetch thee And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live You 'll say How doth this take away the premised Objection Hear and consider First These promises doubtless are grounded upon the new Covenant for the old admits of no mercy to be shewed unto any upon the violation of it The condition therefore must be understood in an answerable sense If you return and if you obey that is when thou shalt Return and when thou shalt obey being induced thereunto by that Grace which I will give unto thee Secondly Of whom speaketh Moses this Of some few a Tribe or two of the Children of Israel or of the whole Nation Surely of the whole Nation but hitherto is not the Captivity of the whole nation turned neither hath the Lord gathered them from all those nations and the utmost parts of heaven whither he had in his sore displeasure scattered them Thirdly Circumcision being the Sacrament of initiation whereby this people were separated from the World and solemnly admitted to be a peculiar portion to the Lord the promise here of circumcising their hearts doth not so much imply their confirmation in their obedience during their restored estate as the turning of their hearts even at the time of their re-admission to be the Lords Fourthly This promise hath never yet been fulfilled in any of their former deliverances For Saint Steven speaketh to them in this manner after all that God had done for them Act. 7.51 Yee stiff-necked and uncircumeised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do yee It remaineth therefore that the accomplishment thereof is yet to come viz. In these latter dayes Thus Moses The Prophets likewise with one Consent do testifie the same First Isaiah is very free and copious in this matter It shall come to pass saith he Es 11.11 12. in that day Es 11.11 12. that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people that shall be left from Assyria and from Egypt and from Pathros and from Cush and from Elam and from Shinar and from Hamath and from the Islands of the Sea that is from all quarters of the World And he shall set up an ensign for the Nations and shall asseble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four Corners of the Earth Let us here also take notice of some considerations very pertinent as I conceive to our present purpose First The Prophet we see speaks of the second time of Gods stretching out his hand for the deliverance of all the posterity of Jacob which second time must be in the dayes of the Messiah as appeareth by the tenth verse Secondly Observe this place is not to be understood of the elect both Jew and Gentile as some will have it For the Prophet had in the tenth verse spoken particularly of the Gentiles Therefore the people here intended are without controversie onely the seed of Abraham according to the flesh Thirdly Consider how the Prophet speaks not of Judah alone or the two Tribes that came out of Babylon after the seventy years Captivity but which is very remarkable not onely here but in sundry other places of Israel and Judah together who never yet were united since their first separation Fourthly This assembling and gathering of Israel and Judah together shall be in those dayes when the Lord sets up an ensign for the Nations that is when the Messiah shall be lifted up in the Ministery of the word For he is the rock of Jesse which should stand for an ensign of the peoples See another Prophecy from the same hand Es 43.5 6. Fear not saith the Lord to Israel for I am with thee I will bring thy seed from the East and gather thee from the West I will say to the North give up and to the South keep not back bring my Sons from far and my Daughters from the ends of the earth And again Es 45.22 2a Look unto mee Es 45.22.25 and be yee saved all the ends of the earth In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Let it be now hereupon considered Hath there been as yet an universal gathering of Israel to the Lord such as is here mentioned Hath the Lord as yet justified all the seed of Israel that is the Nation of them against their enemies Or doth the Nation yet glory in that salvation which hath been wrought in the world now in the time of the Gospel If not then surely these things are yet to be fulfilled If it be objected as some will not stick to do it that these and the like places are to bee understood Synechdochically as putting a part for the whole viz. Israel for the whole Church of God throughout the World that it should be gathered and justified and that all the people of God should glory and make their boast of the Lord. I answer Though it should be so yet the literal meaning here as it referreth to the posterity of Jacob is not to be wholly sleighted for admit that it be an usual form of speech by a Synechdoche to put a part for the whole Yet such a Synechdoche must needs be accounted a violent assault
that Age and to the apprehension of the Prophet though the Judaical observation of Jubilees was to cease long before the expiration of the time that he was insisting upon But enough of this Let us proceed The time of Jacobs going down into Egypt is as hath been said before very remarkable and may be esteemed a fit Epocha for the beginning of these seventy Jubilees The grounds and reasons of which conjecture I do now here offer to consideration First when Jacob went down into Egypt God promised him to make him a great Nation Gen. 46.3 And withall designed that very place for the performance of his word which was there fulfilled For thus Moses tells the people Deut. 10.22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the Stars of Heaven for multitude Whence we may collect this journey into Egypt was the beginning or providential occasion of forming this people into a Nation and whereby God did visibly fore-lay his design of proving himself unto them to be the great Jehovah in giving a being to his Promise made before unto Abraham Therefore very fit to be the Epocha of the Vision and Prophecy concerning this people Secondly Egypt was the place where Israel was first as a Childe trained up under his Fathers discipline and for the sins wherewith they there sinned God made them there to pass under the rod and brought them first into the bond of the Covenant Lev. 17.7 Josh 24.14 Ezek. 23.3 so that in all likelihood there did the time of Jacobs trouble begin which in the purpose of the Almighty was as the Angel here speaketh cut out and pared for this people And as they continued in their undutifulness forgetting the God that formed them so was their trouble also continued afterwards by sundry punishments inflicted on them in their several Generations but especially in the Babylonish Captivity and to this day lengthned out in their present dispersion into all Lands where the Lord hath scattered them And have we not good reason then to suppose that Jacobs going down into Egypt at the commandment of the Lord was eminently subservient to these ends that God might enter upon his work his great work which he had determined concerning this people Somewhat surely there is in it that the Spirit would have us to take special notice of because we find it so often mentioned in the Scripture see Gen. 46.6 Deut. 10.22 Deut. 26.5 Josh 24.4 Psal 105.23 Act. 7 15. It may be said Abraham also went down into Egypt two hundred and sixteen years before Jacob this account therefore of Jubilees may as well begin from that time as from Jacobs going thither A negative answer must hereunto be given For first though Abraham went into Egypt yet it was not at the commandment of the Lord Ps 105.14.15 but as a traveller from one Country to another as his affairs called him and it was but for a short time for he went up from thence again and which is remarkable All that he had he brought away with him Gen. 13.1 But as for Jacob he went not thither but at the express word of the Lord and there he continued till the day of his death and his Posterity removed not from thence till the Lord led them forth with a strong hand and stretched-out arm Secondly when Abraham went thither God had not made known unto him the afflictions that his Posterity should endure in that Land and therefore he might be at his liberty before to go thither or not as seemed good unto him but when once this was revealed unto him Gen. 15. there must then be no more journeying into Egypt by these Patriarchs till the very beginning of that time came which is here by the Angel said to be cut out for this people that is as I have said for their growing up into a Nation and suffering such chastisements which the Divine Wisdome had appointed for them Gen. 26.2 And hence it was very probably that an express inhibition was given unto Isaac that he should not go down into Egypt as his Father Abraham had done though it seems a necessity lay upon him to relieve himself and his family at that time by the plenty of Egypt being put to as hard a strait by reason of a second famine in the Land of Canaan as his Father Abraham was Thirdly Jacobs going into Egypt was a Type of our Saviours going thither one resembling the other in sundry notable circumstances and in that regard is the greater notice to be taken of it To instance First Jacob went thither at the commandment of the Lord so was Jesus carried thither by a Message from Heaven Secondly Joseph was a means of bringing Jacob into that Land so did another Joseph carry Christ into it Thirdly Jacob went down into Egypt that being the Countrey chosen of God for Israels infancy for he grew a lovely Childe there God taught Ephraim to go taking them by their arms Hos 11.1.3 So was the Holy Child Jesus carried into Egypt to be there for a while kept at nurse as I may say with his mother and during his * Sabellicus Historiographus scribit Josephum cum Maria puero Jesu in Aegypto 7. annos exulasse tantum scil temporis debuit implendae Herodis malitiae Minority to have that education as was meet and convenient for him Fourthly Jacob went thither to preserve his life from the Famine Gen. 45.5.7 And Jesus was carried thither to keep him out of harms-way and to preserve his life from those that sought to destroy it Fiftly Jacob and his posterity were to stay there till the time came which the Lord had set for their dismission from thence so Jesus was not to be brought out of Egypt till he was called according to the saying of the Prophet Hos 11.1 Out of Egypt have I called my Son and word brought by the Angel for that very purpose Matth. 2.13.19 These things being so may we not infer that the time of Jacobs going into Egypt was a time of great remark in Scripture and that it is the fittest of all other to make an Epocha from whence these seventy Jubilees are to derive their commencement and beginning Another argument there is yet to be considered for the confirmation of this sense of the Angels words taken from the end or final cause for which these 70 sevens were determined which is here said To finish the transgression and to make an end of sinnes and to make reconciliation for iniquity that is that no unrighteousness of what kinde or degree soever whether that single transgression of Jacob in the sinful manner of supplanting his brother Esau or that unnatural cruelty of his ten sons against their brother Joseph or the numberless multitude of sins whereof they have since been guilty or their most execrable iniquity against the Lord of life and his Gospel sent among them
tell who knows but that by the Commandment may be understood the Word which the Angel spake of before unto the Prophet vers 23. that came forth from God himself at the beginning of his supplications to restore and build Jerusalem rather then an Edict from those Persian Princes whom Expositors have severally fancied to themselves to have issued out for that end without warrant uncontroulable from the Spirit of God Yea and some other sense might yet be rendred of these words more then hitherto hath been thought upon by any which upon trial may possibly endure the Test as well as those that have formerly pass'd for currant amongst us But I approve of that sage advice which an Ancient hath long since given viz. It is best at some time to say nothing at every time to say enough but at no time to say all Go we on therefore to the next that is the Prophecy of Hosea In the first Chapter whereof we finde that when the Lord pronounceth Loammi against his people which should be the last Abdication of them even in this their present dispersion according to the concurrent judgement of sundry Expositors making no other account of them then as of a heathen Nation Hos 1.10 The Prophet notwithstanding upon this angry word which sounds terribly to all that hear it addeth immediately a word of comfort again saying Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbred It will be said that this word of comfort hath reference to the Israel of God among the Gentiles I answer Be it so yet I say here again the holy Ghost hath not set any such limitation as if the posterity of Jacob were to be quite excluded For let me ask with an inversion of the Apostles words Is God the God of the Gentiles onely Rom. 3.29 Is he not also of the Jews Yes of the Jews also otherwise how should the children of Israel and the children of Judah be gathered together as it is said they shall vers 11. after this ultimate abdication and appoint themselves one Head to be their Governour which being yet to be done it followeth that this Prophecy also is not yet fulfilled Yea and if it be true that that vast and large part of the world called now America hath been the receptacle and hiding-place for the ten Tribes ever since their exile out of their own land as of late it hath with very great probability been conjectured to be some conceiving the same to be fore-signified by the Prophet Obadiah vers 20. Obad. v. 20. The captivity of Jerusalem shall possess the cities of the South that is of America so scituate or the dry Cities that Countrey being much under the Torrid Zone Others construing that Prophecy Esa 66.19 as fore-telling the same thing Esa 66.19 I will send those that escape of them unto the Nations to Tarshish Pul and Lud that draw the Bow to Tubal and Javan to the Isles afarre off that have not heard my fame neither have seen my glory c. Then also shall that be fulfilled in them which followeth Hos 1.11 And they shall come up out of the Land where they have all this while layen hid and where the Lord hath shut them in But how shall they come up will some say seeing they are now ever since their entrance there environ'd round with the sea Shall the sea give them way again as it did when they came up out of Egypt So indeed some are of opinion taking their guess from 2 Esa 13.47 Or shall the Angels be sent to be their Convoy with some unwonted miracle through the ayr I answer First it is questionable whether that other world as it is called be divided from this by the sea some Writers of very good note think otherwise and if both be still contiguous What hinders hut this people may return the way that they went But put case that Time and the Sea two insatiable devourers have through Gods permission made a separation to the end that this banished Nation might be there shut up till the time of their Enlargement be fully come then may that of the Prophet Esay be verified concerning the manner of their return Esa 60.9 Esay 60.9 The ships of Tarshish that is of the Mediterranean sea for so is Tarshish in that place to be taken shall be first ready being of the nearest vicinity to the land of Canaan to bring these Sons of God from far c. unto the Name of the Lord their God Hos 1.11 and to the Holy One of Israel c. At which time great shall be the day of Jezreel saith the Prophet in the fore-cited place that is It shall be a day of great admiration unto all by reason of the gathering together of the Israelites which before seemed rather to be Jezreel that is a people dispersed by God then an Israel that had power with God and prevailed Again in the third Chapter of this Prophecy of Hosea Hos 3.4 vers 4. it is foretold of this people in this manner The children of Israel shall abide many days without a King and without a Prince and without a Sacrifice and without an Image and without an Ephod and without Teraphim As much as to say They should live like a company of salvage Indians no government Ecclesiastical or Civil no form of Religion to be found among them either according to the law of Moses or according to the corrupt Exemplar of their fore-fathers All which hath come upon the ten Tribes in these latter days But mark now what the Prophet addeth Vers 5. vers 5. Afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their King that is as it is confessed on all hands the Messiah Davids sonne according to the flesh and shall fear that is worship the Lord and his goodness manifested in the Messiah without Types and Shadows much more without the least mixture of Idolatry old or new in the latter days If then this judgement here written be executed upon this people to the uttermost undoubtedly their Restauration and Return both from their sin and their captivity shall according to the words of this Prophecy be fulfilled and in the determined time brought to pass also Thus have we hitherto seen the Prophets as with one voyce testifying and proclaiming the purpose and counsel of God concerning the Calling and Conversion of the Jews in the latter dayes More Testimonies of the like nature might be produced out of the other Prophets to this purpose But the time or at least the patience of some would fail if we should undertake to shew further what David and the rest have Prophecyed and written hereof We shall therefore forbear to insist upon any more and seeing that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word is established the Prophets already mentioned may suffice
of the first of the Acts sixth and seventh verses Act. 1.6.7 The words are these When they therefore were come together they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel And he said unto them It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own pâ—wer I know well the Apostles have been and are to this day charged here with an errour common among the Jews as it is reported of them namely That the time should come when the Messiah should reign as Lord and King upon the Earth according to the manner of the world and that all Nations should in that kinde be subject unto him and because the Jews were to have the preheminence among them therefore doth the Apostle speak here of his Dominion in this manâ—er calling it the kingdom of Israel But I must crave leave to enter my dissent unto this charge because it runs on too fast in the world without a warrant yea I cannot but account it too much rashness to impute a fault unto those eminent servants of Christ where the Holy Ghost in Scripture hath not given a clear demonstration thereof A fault indeed here is whereof they were too guilty in busying themselves about the knowledge of a time wherein they were not concerned and for which the Lord rebukes them But that they should now as for what they had done formerly in that kinde it is not here Material look for such a temporal Kingdome of the Messiah as the Jews generally did and do still expect this I confidently deny The grounds of which confidence will appear when I shall have proved that this discourse between Christ and his Apostles is a clear confirmation of the point in hand That we may understand aâ—ight the sense of this Scripture let us consider distinctly three things First the occasion of this Question Secondly the persons that put the Question Thirdly the Answer unto it First the occasion from whence the Question did arise is couched in this word therefore when they therefore were come together they asked of him c. By which word of connexion it is manifest that their Question was not suddainly started as of a thing impertinent to the purport of Christs Doctrine which he had been pressing upon them in those fourty dayes since his Resurrection but rather was produced by them as a result very consonant thereunto He had been speaking to them as it is said vers 3. of the things pertaining to the Kingdome of God that is of the future estate of his Church for as for the Doctrine of Salvation he had fully made that known unto them before as appears Joh. 15.15 Where he saith All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you So that probable it is the Subject of his discourse now was as I have said concerning his Church giving instructions for the planting and governing of it and premonitions also what dangers and difficulties it was like to suffer and how it should prosper and prevaile over them all in the latter end And herein the Lord manifests his provident care and tender compassion which he had of his Church resembling thereby good old Jacob his Type in this very particular who when he was about to leave the world calls upon his sons to gather themselves together that he migh shew unto them what should befall them in the latter dayes Gâ—n 49 1. Whereas therefore the Lord Jesus Christ had been speaking to his Apostles of these things pertaining to the Kingdome of God and they thereupon enquire of him concerning the restoring the Kingdome to Israel is it not past all gain-saying that some at least of the things which he spake had reference to this restauration Especially when as it is well observed by Grotius In his Annota Luk. 21.24 non negat se id facturum sed quo id futurum esset tempore noluit ab ipsis inquiri he doth not deny that such a thing he would do but onely was not willing to be enquired of by them when it should be done Much was to be done as the sequel now proveth before this which they so hastily sought for could come to pass which they thought not of for it could never have entred into their hearts to conceive unless it had been revealed unto them wherein nevertheless they and their Successours for many Ages should be employed as servants and co-workers with Christ to the end that this much desired restauration might by the bringing in of others also to the faith of the Gospel be attended with the greater glory And hence it is that the Lord commands them that they should not depart from Jerusalem because from thence was the word of life to go out into the world till they were baptised with the Holy Ghost which was the promise of the Father whereby they were to be endued with power extraordinary as being the chief intruments under Christ for so great a work and to authorize others in an ordinary way to be their co-agents in it Secondly consider the persons that put the Question First it was the Apostles men not to be despised such as were legati à latere whom Christ had chosen above all others to be his witnesses of what he did and taught and to be his Embassadours to carry his name into all the world Who did eate and drinks with him after he arose from the dead Act. 10. Secondly the Apostles who though they were not yet baptised with the Holy Ghost according to the promise of the Father yet had received the Holy Ghost by Christs breathing on them whereby they had not onely power given them more then ordinary but knowledge also more then ever they had to discern what might be most conducible to the advancement of their Masters honour and so knew more of his minde in order thereunto then any others could or can possibly attain unto Thirdly the Apostles altogether not one or two of them separated from the rest desirous to winde themselves into their Masters favour above their fellows as it had unhappily fallen out in former time but the eleven with one consent joyned as one man to put this Question unto him for when they were come together it is said they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdome to Israel Which Kingdome if it were never any more to have a being in this World as a thing inconsistent with the manner of Christs Spiritual Kingdome their general agreement about it would doubtless have been adjudged no better then a conspiracy against the Dignity and Prerogative Royal of their Lord and Master and consequently had not gone without a severe check no more then their precipitant disquisition after the time did for which they are reproved Thirdly consider the answer that the Lord giveth It is not saith he for you to know the times or
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie for that is not a blindness in the mind onely but a spiritual obduration overspreading the whole soul whereby they are become utterly unsensible of their sin and misery And thus we finde the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred before verse 7. by Beza and others reliqui occaluerunt that is the rest were hardened or covered all over with a brawny thickness Thus also is it written of them Act. 28.27 The heart of this people is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes have they closed least they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts c. For why God hath given them in his just displeasure saith the Apostle verse 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A slothful spirit a spirit that luls them asleep in their sin leading them in the dark or as the word may imply A spirit that pierceth them through railing them fast to their infidelity pricking their eyes that they should not see and boring their ears that they should not hear unto this day Hence it is that they obstinately reject all means of their conversion they blaspheme Christ in their Synagogues and whensoever any mention is made of him they cry out Deleatur nâ—men ejus let his name be forgotten and then spit thrice upon the ground in detestation of him they inure their Children from their Child-hood to curse the Lord Jesus and the blessed Virgin his Mother and if any do undertake to refute their errours out of the word they presently stop their ears refusing to hear c. Thereby verifying the Word of the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.15 2 Cor. 3.15 even unto this day when Moses is read the Vaâ—l is upon their Heart In a word as the same Apostle summeth up their wickedness in another place They killed the Lord Jesus and their own Prophets 1 Thess 2.15.10 and have persecuted us and they please not God and are contrary to all men Forbidding to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved to fill up their sins alway for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost Surely a very fearful and sore judgement it is that is fallen upon this people And what should we do in this day wherein the avenging hand of God lieth so heavy upon them Should we now forget the brotherly-Covenant and with Edom insult over them in the day of their calamity Obad. v. 12 speaking proudly in the day of their distress That be far from us Rather let us for our humiliation consider so long as they are under so severe a lash of Gods just indignation we that are sinners of the Gentiles shall still have a taste given us of the cup of Gods anger none of all our Churches must look to be delivered from their present troubles they must and shall be still haunted with a spirit of division among themselves and with persecution from the Devil and his Anti-Christ For loe the Lord hath begun to bring evil upon his people and upon the City which is called by his name and should we be utterly unpunished Thus argueth the Apostle Saint Peter 1 Pet. 4.17 18 Whose words we may make use of to this purpose When God had begun to cast off the Jews for of them it is probable the Apostle in this place is especially mindful because otherwise the order which he there observeth that God used in bringing his people under his rod before he poured out his fury upon his enemies was no new or strange matter but had been of old He thus writeth 1 Pet. 4.17 18. The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us that is the Jews for these Epistles were written to them whether it be those amongst us that profess the faith or the generality of our Nation that deny it what shall the end be of them viz. the Gentiles who obey not the Gospel of God that is Who when they have received it are not easie to be perswaded by it but are refractory and unruly under it as we all are to this very day And if the righteous such were all the Jews whiles they continued the house of God scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner of the Gentiles appear Whether this be the proper sense of the place or no I will not contend but will leave it to consideration nevertheless our argumentation cannot be refelled if the green tree suffer in this manner shall the dry tree escape If the children the dearly beloved of Gods soul be thus severely punished shall we in the mean time that were strangers reckoned no better then dogs feeding under our Masters table bee without chastisement especially when now grace hath abounded towards us there are with us also even with us sins against the Lord our God The consideration hereof may I say teach us to walk humbly and should put us to our prayers yea to earnest importunities that God would be pleased once again to look upon his antient people with an eye of compassion and the rather should we be willing hereunto because there is hope in Israel concerning this thing for behold here the unspeakable goodness of God in a mystery made manifest by this scripture of the Apostle according to the commandment of the everlasting God this obduration which is upon Israel is but in part till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in Observe first It is but in part that they are thus hardened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In part I say not as if the Jews for the generality had not wholly rejected the grace of God for alas the judgment written in that respect is as it hath been said before come upon them to the uttermost the whole way of God for their salvation being hidden from their eyes but it is in part How because all the Nation hath not fallen under this judgement say some so Saint Austin Ex parte dixit quia non omnes excoecati sunt He saith in part because all are not hardened Epist 59. Tom. 10. Molli locutione significare vellet plurimos non omnes aut non omnino Grotius Ambr. Tom. 5. But if this were the meaning wherein lay the mystery For it was manifest by the Apostle himself and sundry others with him that there was a remnant of Believers among the Jews in those dayes according to the election of grace Rather therefore I conceive with Saint Ambrose He saith in part because this obduration was to be but for a time so that this restriction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not set by the Apostle as Calvin and others would have it to temper the asperity of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so as to be an extenuation of their sin for that appears still to be exceeding sinful but it referreth to Gods decreed boundary for the time of the worlds continuance implying that