aymed at to the which all the other things do serve To wit Faith Prayer and Hope The Love of God may be yea is taken two wayes in the Scripture First passively for that whereby we are beloved of God or Gods love to us And this is that so frequent in the Scripture Second it is taken actively for the love wherewith we love God If we referre this precept to the former kind of love how can we preserve our selves in the same for wee can neither procure the love of God toward us by any merits nor preserve the continuance of it But to resolve this doubt we must understand that the passive love of God is taken two wayes First for the love wherewith he loved us before we were borne or the World was made This love is wholly gratuitall neither did the Lord find any thing in us by which he should be swayed with the least inclination of love to us 1 John 4.10 Yea there was in us contrary matter of hatred And this love in it self is never interrupted never increased or diminished but is one and the same constant and equall And of this Love of God as it is in God the Apostle gives not charge here for wee have no part or act in this that we can preserve it Only touching this we are willed never to let goe the sense of it out of our hearts in which meaning the Apostle uses the word Love Rom. 8.35 39. And therefore it is said Keepe your selves in the Love of God Note and not keepe for your selves the Love of God The other sort or part of this passive love is that which is called actuall beneficence or bountifulnesse by a Metonimye of the cause for the effect that is those effects of love and for those kindnesses wherewith lovers doe prosecute them they love So that to this are referred first the will and pleasure of doing good and then the actuall beneficence it self And this love of God is not alike towards all the Elect but is greater towards these That is he doth bestow greater benefits on those who have fully and wholly put off all corruption of Nature such as are the Saints in Heaven On these I say he bestowes more then he doth on those Elect which either lie still in their sins as not yet called or then he doth on those in whom the grace of Regeneration is begun and yet he bestowes more on these latter then on the other and so we may conclude that they are dearer to him Iohn 14.21 He that Loveth me shall be Loved of my Father c. Wherein he doth shew that he doth bestow a greater measure of love on the Elect called who now actually love Christ then he doth on them that know him not For God loves his own gifts and the more they are the more he loves and the more lively Image of himself he loves more then an obscurer To the same purpose are these words Iohn 14.23 Doct. Whence it is apparent that the more one loves God and observes and keepes his word he is the more beloved of God and Christ and doth find the presence operation and abode of God and his Spirit more effectuall and fruitfull in him then they doe that do lesse love him And thus much of the Passive love of God with the two degrees thereof The Active love of God is that whereby we love God 1 Iohn 2.5 If any keepe my word truly the Love of God is perfit in him That is he shewes that he doth sincerely love God not in word but in deed expressing it as St. John speakes of our love one towards another Now to apply this distinction of Love Quest. If you aske whither of these two the Apostle meanes Answ Surely neither must be excluded for though they are distinct yet never severed the last being an effect of the former and a meaner to retaine the same though it bee no cause thereof Yet the Passive love of God must have the preheminence and is chiefly meant and as an argument that this is so may be that Precept of Christ in the same words Iohn 15.9 Abide in my Love and the Apostle here may seeme not darkely to allude thither And whereas this love of God was expressed in two degrees this cannot so well be understood of the first degree but onely of the sense and feeling of that Eternall immense constant and most free love of God is alwayes to be cherished in our hearts and that by the bountifulnesse and operative Love of God which is as a speciall meanes to Seale up in our Hearts the former For this gratifying love of God though it be alwayes gratuitall yet God would there should be some part and duty performed of the Regenerate which while he doth bestow on us as deserving no such thing it might give us a taste of that secret and hidden Love of God and might perswade us to depend and leane wholly on that So that this Exhortation hath this meaning Cherish in your Hearts yee beloved with all care and diligence the sense of the Eternall Love of God wherewith before all beginning he embraced you in Christ and because the Actuall and gratifying Love of God whereby he doth daily bestow his benefits on Soule and Body and is most availeable to preserve this sense and feeling we must give all endeavour that wee may provoke the most bountifull liberality of God towards us especially in things concerning our Soules and Salvation Quest Now if you aske how this may be done Answ Sure Christ hath given us a generall Rule John 15.10 If we will keepe his commands we shall abide in his Love for to those that do continue in the wayes of his Precepts God doth daily give a more plentifull increase of the gifts of his Spirit whereby he doth make that his Eternall Love more conspicuous and witnessed to our hearts And hither belong these places above named wherein God doth promise that hee will familiarly converse with those that doe sincerely love him that he will fix his seat there and never remove it as wee may see how hee testifyed the same upon Davids expressing the uprightnesse of his heart towards God 2 Sam. 7.12 13 14 15 16 c. They that Honour God those wâ—ll he Honour Vse Seeing God doth so largely reward the study of Holinesse and when as the great measure of his Graces in us is a most undoubted testimony of Gods eternall love let thâ—s be the first rule of cherishing the love of God in us and a most strong inducement to perswade us to it and as a notable incouragement to confirme us in the course of Sanctification And this reason St. Peter urges 2 Epist 1.10 11 verses To make sure our Election and calling and to get an inward and evident testimony of Gods eternall Love And let us not thinke it in vaine to serve God and that there is no reward in keeping his command For if all outward
followers do more devoutly give themselves to the practice of good workes then wee do What then It may be that a servant may use greater industry and paines then a Sonne is his condition therefore better then the Sons no the obedience which is performed through feare proceeds from love of it selfe this which is done in love doth come from the love of another whom we love Now whereas every man loves himselfe more then another it must needs be that that be greater obedience in outward shew which comes from feare then that is which comes fâ—om love but that greater obedience hath lesse truth and solidity then this lesser and therefore by this it cannot be rightly judged of men it must be left alone to God O that the Papists or seduced by them would consider what wrong they doe Chrstians for while they goe about to make them the Sons of God they make them most fearefull bondmen and prescribe them such a course that the longer they walke in it the further from liberty doe you so reward your followers doe you so blesse your friends And thus much of the Application Now of the reason or manner of applycation verse 25. Why Agar doth resemble the Law given in Mount Sina This is for the great agreement that is twixt Agar and Sina and this agreement is seene in foure things 1. In Name 2. In the Place 3. In the Married condition 4. In the Servile As touching the Name I thinke the Greeke Fathers are here to be followed Chrysostome Oecumen Theophilact who say that Mount Sina had two names the one whereof was Agar For these men in regard of vicinity both of time and place when and wherein they lived might know these things better then we can doe Againe the Article To prefixed before the word Agar being of the newter Gender doth shew that the woman her selfe is not here understood but the name but the name was not a Type of the Mount or of the Law but the woman herselfe and therefore the name is here taken because the name of the Mount was the same as the Scripture seemes to teach 1 Chron. 5.10 And other Authors as Dion in Trajano and Ziphilin The second thing is the place of this Mount whence is great agreement twixt Agar and the Mount and so of the Law delivered there The Mount was in Arabia out of the confines of Canaan and what doth Agar signifie but a stranger as was shewed before so that whether we respect the name it selfe or the force of the Name it might justly and fitly resemble this Mount Whence is manifest that God doth governe and dispose the smallest things in the earth with great Counsell and wisdome For what is more sleighter then the imposing of a name and yet we see here that the names both of men and places are so wisely ordered that they are not rashly imposed but so as may serve most fitly both for his own providence as also for our Instruction and the Law was given on this Mount out of the bounds of the promised Land that we might understand that it was not the Law of our Country and of heyres but of Exiles and banished whither also tended that that Moses the Law-giver could not bring the people into Canaan but Ioshua did it whom the Author to the Heb. calls Iesus And answers to Ierusalem that now is Here is touched the third argument and it is as it were of conjugall condition for as Agar was not the lawfull wife of Abraham but subordinated by her Mistris into the fellowship of the marriage bed So this may seeme to be the meaning of the word in the originall which in military use properly signifies a Ranke in the Army extended from the Fore-front to the rereward or hindmost So was Agar subordinate to Sara in the same ranke or order but behind in a more inferiour place and order then was Sara and so as Agar subordinate to Sara was correspondent to her so was Sina to Ierusalem For this Covenant that God made with the Jsraelites on Sina is compared to a Marriage Ezech. 16. For this Covenant of the Law was as the fellowship Abraham had with Agar But as this servant though she was admitted into the fellowship of the marriage bed yet was subject to her Mistris so is Sina inferiour to Jerusalem to which God made a Promise of straiter fellowship Hos 2.19 20. This interpretation may shew strange and is new indeed yet me thinks it agrees most fitly with the purpose of this place The fourth Agreement is that as Agar with her sons are in bondage so is Sina with her Sons and in this the Ierusalem that now is on the earth is in bondage also both bodily and spirituall For first they were in subjection to the Roman Empire and are now under the Tyranny and Superstition of the Turke and Mahomet neither was the Inhabitants of that place only in bondage but all those wheresoever they dwell which cleave to the Law And thus much for these foure particular agreements of Sina and Agar which are sufficient to declare that Agar was a Type of the Law Vers 26. But Ierusalem which is above is free Here is the second Application of Sara to the other Testament it stands thus As Sara was to Isaac such is the Church of the New Testament to the faithfull and that the Text might runne more fully some words may seeme needfull to be supplied thus But the other Mother which is Ierusalem or is Sara c. As in the Text This Mother the Church is described by three things First she is above 2. She is free 3. A Mother of all beleevers For the first she is said to be above first in way of distinction from the other that thereby their minds might be withdrawn from thinking on the earthly Ierusalem For as this was a Type of the other above because by the appointment of God it had a Propitiatory yet when the true one comes the shadow will vanish And out of this first respect of this title here fals to ground the vaine boasting and confidence of the Iewes in their earthly Ierusalem for those goodly and lofty Predictions of the Prophets of Sion and Ierusalem did not concern the flesh or the earthly Ierusalem but in a Type God is not tyed to any place though it hath been beautifyed by him with most singular blessings and speciall Promises So then much more vaine is the bragging of the Papists of their Romish Babylon which can shew no such Promise as the earthly Ierusalem had but only resembles herin this in a reducing and reviving all the dead and buried Ceremonies of the Synagogues Second this Ierusalem is said to be above in regard of the Originall of it Because it hath it beginning from the Heavenly grace Iohn 1.13 13. Iohn 3.3 4. Every member must be borne from above Psal 110.3 The birth of thy womb is as the Morning dew which comes from
false Doctrines to arise to seduce many So that the Romish Antichrist arose who challenged the authority of God to himself in abrogating divine Ordinances and making new in binding Conscience in pardoning Sin and in making a God of the Bread and how many follow this worship Now whence is it but that by the just Judgement of God they dash against this Rock which have not received a love of the truth And the same Iudgement of God is among us for when the love of Religion hath long since begun to decay God hath sent such as shall embrace the same in shew onely Hath not this Scandall caused that many who began to professe Religion long since have made yet so small progresse Many that had gone well on are gone backward and few that increasing persevere hence it comes by Gods just judgement that the evill wee see in others we follow as a Banner displayed This is the first Reason of this necessity which teaches that men are farre off from that happinesse they dreaming feyne to themselves while they injoy occasions and liberty of Sin without controlement for then are they carried with the heaviest judgement of God if they had eyes to see it as the Prophets above did bewayle the peoples case in this behalf and such as Christ in justice left the Pharises unto saying Let them alone and the Scripture Hee that is filthy let him bee filthy Dan. 12.10 The second Reason of this necessity is the Depravation of man for it must needs be to wit Mans wicked nature being such as it is confirmed by evill custome As it must needs be that Fire burne and an evill Tree brings evill fruit So it can not be that our corruption should bring forth any thing but evill Not that this depravation was planted in us by our Maker but that wee voluntarily have contracted the same to us in the fall of Adam for if it were in us by Creation it could not bee put off by no meanes nor in no measure As by no meanes the Fire can be made to coole or the Stone to flye and therefore seeing many holy men doe in part put of this Corruption it is apparent it is not Essentiall to mans nature Now the particular Corruptions which in men are the procuring causes and instruments of Scandall are these First a want of the love of God and his Truth Second the want of the Love of our Neighbour Hatred against some private persons love of our estimation profits pleasures honours and in generall the whole corruption of man whereby the tongue is made a Scandall by evill speaking the members of the body by being weapons of iniquity Blindnesse of mind frowardnesse of will perversenesse of affections selfe-love naughty Conscience conceit of ones own wit holinesse and righteousnesse and an aptnesse to receive any evill from another as one body receives infection from another These are the subserving causes to which the Divell insinuates himselfe Vse This consideration doth serve lively to decipher to us the greatnesse of the evill of sinne and naturall Corruption seeing it is a sin and a cause of sin and much woe and misery and in all these takes away all excuse from man as will appeare below The third reason is the finall cause of Scandall which in regard of the Elect is their tryall for it is the will of the Father that the elect be tryed that the chaff may be severed from the wheat that his gold might be purged his power in preserving might shine in our weaknesse and his mercy in our misery And the truth and power of Gods graces might be knowne to be greater while thereby the godly are preserved from the common infection As we admire those constitutions on those receits of Art whereby men living in the midst of an infected ayre and persons are yet free from the infection this consideration affords a double use Vse First It is a singular comfort to the godly in this necessity of so great misery that these Scandals are onely for their tryals and not for their confusion it may be their feet may trip against these blocks so that for a while they may goe slowly forward in the wayes of Piety but they shall never so fall as to depart from God and his truth Math. 24.24 There should be such strange delusions that if it were possible the Elect should be seduced thereby inferring to their endlesse comfort that it is not possible This is the priviledge of Gods children and the staffe of comfort in all miseries Vse Second this may serve to admonish unstable persons as Brownists who if they be the children of God as they perswade themselves they shall not be prejudiced in their Salvation It shall be only for their tryall therefore considering this end why God permits these Scandals it should be an effectuall meanes to strengthen them against them it shall turn to our further praise and glory if we can will and without offence in the midst of a froward and crooked generation And thus much of the Necessity In the fourth place a secret objection offers it self to be satisfied which is this Object That if a necessity be on these Scandals then the Authors thereof are not faulty and this Doctrine may seeme to make men desperate since these cannot be avoided Answ To this Christ answers that this necessity doth not exâ—â—â—pt the Authors of Scandall from blaâ—â— and punishment for there is a double Necessity The first is of Coaction or constraint when by some outward force and not of any internall and voluntary motion one is compelled to the doing of a thing As a stone by force is made to fly upward If such a necessity lay on man as whereby he were made to sin against his will then he were free from all fault But when as this necessity do adde no violence to the will but it is carryed wholly by its owne swing to wickednesse as loving the same this Necessity hath no excuse because it takes not away freedome This is briefly set down but excellently by that learned and judicious writer Doctor Abbot out of Barnard It is a voluntary and miserable free Necessity wherein neither can necessity Note ☞ excuse the Will because it is voluntary nor the will exclude necessity because it is intangled with delight therein Wherein Will takes from man all matter of defence and necessity bereaves him of possibility of amendment of himselfe So that the Will in a strange wise causes this Necessity to her self for there is one way Necessity by the habit of corruption and another way liberty by the free motion of the Will Vse Hence we learne that excuse that men make pleading Necessity is a false plea and unsufficient seeing this Necessity is such as was voluntary and was also contracted and procured by our own default The Philosophers could say That hee that offended by Drunkennesse was worthy of double punishment First for his fault Secondly for his
was the materiall Oyle of the inward Spirituall Annoynting Psal 105.15 and 1 Kings 19.16 Elisha is said to be Annoynted and yet had nothing but Elias Cloake cast on him Object But you will say if the presence of the Spirit be the Annoynting then Christ was Annoynted in his very Conception Answ To this answer is made that there is a two-fold Annoynting The one was Sanctity of nature and this was from the Conception But the other was for a publikâ— Office and that was only in Baptisme by the visible shape of the Holy Ghost and with the voyce of the Father having seene the meaning let us see the instruction Doct. 1. Doctrine Christ did not of his own swing and Counsell leap into the Office of Reconciliation but by the Authority and Ordination of God and the Holy Spirit So that whatsoever was done by Christ in that Office was done by the will and common consent of the Trinity Heb. 5. chap. 4 and 5. verses So that whosoever embraces Christ he doth by the same meanes and at the same time come into favour with the whole Trinity who committed this Office to Christ as on the contrary they that despise Christ the Annoynted of God in vain do they boast of God when as together with Christ they reject the Father and the Spirit And hence appeares the miserable Condition of the Jewes Turkes and all Infidels who refuse to hearken to the Annoynted of God Doct. 2. Doctrine No Creature Man or Angell can perform this high Office but Christ alone to whom is given fulnesse of the Spirit yea not only are any able but it it not lawfull for any to attempt the same but Christ alone because there was none ever ordained or Consecrated to this Office besides him Iohn 6.27 Him hath the Father sealed to wit as with his Letters Patents testifying that Christ his Son is the only Mediator by whom he will be Reconciled 2 Cor. 5.21 God was in Christ recoâ—ciling the World And 1 Cor. 1.30 Christ is made to us of God Acts 4. There is no other Name or Person by whom we may yea or by whom it is lawfull to seeke Salvation Acts 5. at the end Acts 10. Him hath God annoynted So that alwayes the Apostles from this inferre that this Christ is the Saviour So that all are accused of falsification and forgery before God who presume to Translate the praise of this to any other then Christ for they goe about to Corrupt the Authentike Seale of God Vse So that this serves both to demonstrate and refute the Audacious boldnesse of the Papists in obtruding any into any part of the Office of Christ for be it granted that any either Man or Angell were found without sin and had the fulnesse of the Spirit yet might not such presume nor any for him to put him into this Office because not only sufficiency is required but also Ordination from God Now this can no where be shewed that God appointed any other If Christ should need any assistant it is either because he cannot or will not beare the whole burden himselfe The one whereof is most blasphemous against the power of God And the other is most derogatory to the infinite love and bountifulnesse of Christ Though in a Land there may be many fit for an Office yet if by Charter the Kings Majesty grant it to one alone who dare presume not only not to set up another but not so much as go to any other about that businesse or Office but he shall incurre the Kings displeasure And shall we not thinke Simile that if any seeke for Salvation at the hand of any other then at this Ioseph that God shall not be offended Shall one Sun in the Firmament suffice to inlighten the whole World and shall not the Sun of righteousnesse Christ Iesus Better had these men controuled any of the workes of Gods Creation yet a woe belongs to such then of Redemption and as their madnesse would appeare who to help the Sun would light Candels at noone day So no lesse madly deale they who would adjoyn any assistants unto Christ Second the meditation of this That God annoynted Christ is the foundation of Christian comfort both in that we may be assured that no exception can be taken against Christ who was sent by God himselfe as also because God out of his infinite and free Love to Man-kind gave Christ to be a Saviour And this the Scripture oft beats on as Rom. 3.21 25 26. Rom. 5.8 2 Cor. 5. at the end And Christ himselfe Iohn 3.17 So God loved the World For wee being the parties that had offended a Mediator should have beene procured by us and from us But we were unable to supply any because we were children of wrath Behold and wonder It was Man that had offended it was God that was injured and therefore in all reason it was that if man could not by himself yet he should have sought out one who might have stood twixt God and him to make an atonement But loe the contrary God offended and Man offending even God I say the Creator all-sufficient in himselfe and blessed for ever And man a worme a wretch before him yet this great God vouchsafes to send an embassage to us weake men to entreat of conditions of Peace and to offer the bloud of his own Son to be shed who was the Embassadour to confirme the league of Peace twixt himself and us Was there ever any love like this and wonderfull Oh the Ocean of comfort O endlesse love how should this confirme weake Consciences How can we doubt that the Lord will fayle his when he hath done this for them all ready O let us render love for love that wee be not worse then Publicans and sinners who love those that love them Doct. The third Doctrine Out of this with the former circumstance we learne whom and what manner of ones God doth preferre to any Office to wit such as are fit and are replenished with such gifts of the Spirit as the place requires ☞ for so it is here said Christ was Annoynted because he was furnished So was Saul 1 Sam. 10.9 And David 1 Sam. 16.14 So Cyrus Esa 42. and 44. chap. So Joshua Moses and all the Apostles and Ministers Ephes 4.12 13. Vse The use of this is that none presume to insinuate or intrude themselves into those Offices to the executing wherof they are not in some sort fitted of God So that it is plaine that many that boast themselves Ministers are nothing lesse then that they would seeme for when as they art rude and altogether void of Edification God hath not sent them for he hath not committed his flock to dumbe dogs or blind watchmen ☞ but whosoever he doth advance unto that dignity he doth furnish them in some good measure and as they mock both God and men who will enter Marriage estate having neither ability or desires to performe Marriage duties being either
6. Esay 54.9 10. If the World shall not be drowned againe because God hath said it no more shall an afflicted Soule be cast away Yea Ier. 31. at the end Ier. 33. If Gods Covenant with Day and Night and with Sunne Moone and Starres can be broken then may the truth of Gods promises faile Nay they shall not though Heaven and Earth passe 2 Salve is Christ Iesus bloud The second Soveraigne Salve that Christ cures withall is the plaister of his own heart bloud He doth not only help by promising but he performes it it-selfe He doth not only give the Receits but he makes it and affords the Ingredients which grow alone in his garden Hereby Christ takes away the guiltinesse of sin and eases the Conscience and heart of that burden that did crush it Esa 53.3 4 5. 1 Pet. 2. at the end Iohn 1. The Lamb of God Heb. 9. How much more shall the bloud of Christ c. Yea whereas there are three great wounds and running sores in Man First guiltinesse of Adams sin Second Corruption of Nature Third actuall disobedience Christ the heavenly Physitian doth cure all those ☞ The first by his Death The second by the holinesse of his Nature imputed The third by his obedience to the Law 3 Is the working of the spirit The third Plaister Christ afford and provides is the effectuall worke of his Spirit which is as a defensive and disperser and consumer of all the Corrupt humours that they grow not to a head These takes away the dominion of Sin and eats out the Core of Corruption drying up the filthy streames of sin and opening a new spring for Holinesse and Sanctification This Plaister is taught Rom. 6.2 3 4. Phil. 3.10 Heb. 9.14 4 The Intercession of Christ The fourth and last effectuall Remedy is the Intercession of Christ for whereas there are two things which are ready to cause the sore to breake out againe being healed To wit our daily sins and our failings and coldnesse in our best actions The Intercession of Christ doth help both these For he doth thereby daily remember his death to God his Father that it may be effectuall for 〈◊〉 our siâ—s past and to come and he doth forthwith as the great high Priest take his Censer and step into the gap when at any time we have made a breach And for our Prayers he doth perfume them with his sweet Incense Revel 8.4 5. Vse To reach us whither to run in all our miseries not to the deceitfull confections of the Romish Church which are like the Plaister and Salves of many dishonest Surgeons They do but venome and cause the sore to rankle But let 〈…〉 to Christ who is able and willing hâ—â—ever excluded any comming to him for bodily 〈…〉 in the â—â—guish of sâ—â—â—â— he hath said He would not breake the broken Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax. O then let us beseech him with David to heale us and he will restore us Psal 38. How ready is he to imbrace heale the widest gaping wounds as of Manasseh the sinfull Woman the prodigall Child yea many of the murtherers of himselfe whereby they murthered themselves in Soule hee healed Secondly Let it teach us thankefulnesse How is the bodily Physitian honoured and rewarded Much more the healer of thy Soule Psal 103. Luke 17. Remember the Leaper that was clensed he requires no other gift He shewed great love to thee and all Man-kind that he stayed not for sending but he came to visit us Which is strange in the World to see the Physitian seek to the Patient and not the Patient rather to the Physitian O then should we not love our Physitian should wee not follow his direction which is being healed Goe thy way and Sin no more And seeing Christ hath made his Minister the Apothecary to temper and administer these Heavenly Physicks how should wee seeke to their Shops the places of Gods worship how should all that are diseased come and lye down at this Poole of Bethesda wayting till the Lord effect our cure there God opens his Schoole of Physicke and Surgery Examine what comes from thee what thy Pulse is Observe thy heart if any Lust of uncleannesse Ambition or Covetousnesse like a Plurisie vex thee here mayst thou have a veyne opened If any Fever of malice vex thee it may be abated If any swelling of Pride and Vain-glory it may be taken away Doth any Vitall part wast in thee or any Spirituall Consumption ceaze on thee as if any defect in thy Liver that the Word turne not to good nourishment or if thy Lungs be naught that thou growest cold and feeble in Prayer here mayst thou have remedy Doth the Palsie Lethargie Apoplexie or such stupifying diseases creepe on thee heere mayst thou have those grosse and tough humors expelled Doth loathsome Leprosie begin to rise up in botches here it may be cured O then seeing there is such Soveraigne confections why is not the sore of my daughter healed Let it not be said of Israel as it was of Babell We would have cured her and she would not be cured Least the Physick of the Word not prevailing God send his scaring Iron and make Incisions Yea excisions which God for bid Vse Lastly Ministers and Spirituall Physitians are admonished how and whom they heale to wit the Broken and not the whole Ezec. 34.16 Wee must take heed how we draw a dead skin over the wound before it be thoroughly searched For as we may not wound and gall the wounded with sharpe wine of threats and rebukes so neither may we power in Oyle into festered sores and daâ—be with untempered Morter ☞ wee must take heed we sley not the Soules which we should revive and quicken those we should kill Ezech. 13.18.19 20 21 22. For so to doe brings death and was a cause of destruction to the old people of God Lament 2.13 14. O the misery of a Land through foolish and flattering Physitians And thus much of the second Metaphor declaring our misery with the remedy correspondent Vers 28. Recovering of sight to the Blind This is the third comparison or Metaphor expressing our misery by a word fetched from the defect of bodily sight and applyed to the Mind This shall not need much to be insisted in because partly it hath been handled before as a branch of our Spirituall Captivity Yet because the Scripture is most frequent in the use of this as much delighting in it it shall be profitable a little to view the Spirituall blindnesse by that of the body the understanding is the eye of the Soule and the informer and director to the Will affections and so to all our actions now therefore for it to be bâ—ind who sees not the great inconveniences thereof For if the eye be darknesse how great is that darknesse and if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch now the Scripture doth exceedingly beat of the minds
expressed in so many words to wit That they must fight but in the roome thereof it is declared by what meanes and after what manner the faithfull must contend For in vaine might one discover a danger unlesse some meanes be prescribed for the avoiding of it He therefore shewes that the faithfull must contend both for themselves and for others For themselves in the 20 and 21 verses and for others their brethren verses 22 23. Whereas they are not in a like danger or fault therefore to some one kind of meanes must be used for they that are fallen by Infirmity must be restored by the Spirit of Lenity Gal. 6. at the beginning But they that have betrayed themselves into their Enemies hands and drawn others they must be brought home againe with Terrour and severity by shewing them their dangerous estate wherein they stand For themselves The way of safegarding themselves is by the diligent practice of one chiefe thing they must keep themselves in the Love of God And fence themselves with it as with a Trench but to the making of this fence they need three things as three ditches or bankes to wit Faith Prayer Hope Briefly There are foure things commended to every Christian whereby he may defend himselfe against the force of the wicked to wit Faith Prayer Love of God Hope Now let us speake of each particular in a word first admonishing this that this care ought not lesse to touch us then those ancient Christians to whom Iude wrote Yea it much more concernes us diligently to provide for our selves least our Faith being vanquished wee be brought into bondage yea everlasting destruction wee being in as great danger as ever were any For we see Reverend Fathers into what times and manners we are fallen for although at the mention of so great Impiety as the Apostle here speakes of There is none but doth feare and tremble yet these are the times wherein Christ foretold That Iniquity should abound the Charity of many wax cold and in which the Son of man when he came to judgement should scarce find Faith in the Eath The Apostles time was the best and as the Spring time fit to grow and increase the Church but these our times are Autumnall fit for gathering fruits which if they be not reaped in their due time do grow flush and wither through too much ripenesse and go backward while at last the graine or Seed being shaken and fallen to the earth there remaines nothing but empty blades I confesse that the horrible Impietie of Popery is by the power of God blessed be his Name long since banished our Church with the neighbour Countries are illustrated with the beames of the truth Yet there doth slyly creepe some secret and lurking evill in the wrapping it self in the cloke of Religion which doth weaken all the strength of Religion Wee will all be called Christians and all professe we know the true God But who almost denies him not with his deeds Wee all make a shew of Piety What Did I say All. I would it could truly be so said For many do so hate the semblance of Piety that they abhorre from all shew of honesty But be it that all professe Piety but how few make Conscience of any Sin Yea who is it not almost that under this name of Religion thinkes not that all liberty is granted to filthy lusts So that although these times have whereof they may boast if they knew to use the good given them yet it is come to that dissolute negligence in all Piety that there is none but can witnesse that to be true which Christ and his Apostles once foretold of the miseries of the Times Wherefore seeing Iniquity the floud gates being set open doth poure forth it self into our Age let us thinke that this exhortation of the Apostle doth meerely concerne us And let us be armed and prepare our selves to the battle and let us diligently attend The Precept of the Spirit that we may be found worthy to escape these heavy times And now let us come to the first particular propounded before The first succour of preserving the love of God in us is Faith it self For this only certainly knowes that we are received into favour Through the alâ—ne mercy of God for Christs sake It feeles all our sins bâ—otted out it knowes that nothing can befall us which is not a furtherance to good Wherefore it must needs be that while this shall remaine in our hearts it will mâ—ke the greatnesse of Gods love to us most cleere and sure And not this only but it doth also so vehemently enflame us to a mutuall love that we shall desire to shew our selves thankfull by all meanes The Woman that had many Sinnes forgiven Loved much and the debter Loves much whose debt forgiven was the greatest 1 Iohn 4.19 We Love him because he loved us first But let us see the Precept it self This Faith is declared in this place by a two-fold argument First from the adjoynt of Holinesse called a Holy Faith because this alone doth teach us to thinke holily of God and to conceive honourably of him It doth purge the heart and endue and season it with true holinesse Acts. 15.9 1 Pet. 1.19 20. The second thing by which Faith is here described is the subject Our the common Faith of all the faithfull for the Apostle doth not exhort Christians to build themselves of another Faith whereof themselves have either none or a very slender notion but by this speech he doth warne that no man privately coyne to himself a new Faith devised from that the holy Scriptures would have one and common to all Hence Paul cals the same Faith a common Faith as Iude did a common Salvation Tit. 1.4 2 Pet. 1. chap. 1 verse The thing exhorted to be peâ—formed touching this Faith is noted in this word Build up which is a figurâ—tive speech taken from Architectors or Masons for as that they build not on one side or other besides the Foundation layd but doth reare their building just and straight on the ground-worke and after the worke once begun they never intermit their labour till they have finished the just building So if we desire to beare the force and assaults of the wicked it behoves us that our selves and all our actions thoughts and words be laid on no other then the sole foundation of Faith and that wee never give over so doing till wee have brought our worke to some perfection So that two things are heere commanded First that whatsoever wee doe we referre it to Faith as to the square thereof Second that we labour daily to increase in Faith As touching the first What Faith is That Faith whereby all our actions and counsels must bee ordered as farre as I can judge is not only a certaine and stedfast manner and knowledge of things to be done and not to be done for why should this be called most Holy neither is
1 Thes 1.3 Describing the three common graces of a Christian the Apostle gives to each one their peculiar property or effect giving to Faith a Worke to Love Labour and to Hope Patience ☞ And this Hope every where is made a Badge of a Christian 1 Cor. 1.10 Rom. 8.24 25. Tit. 2.13 14. Yea this is not only a Badge but it is a part of the Christian Armour and that a chiefe one the Helmet of Salvation to cover the head and to beare of the blâ—â—es Yea also it is compared to an Anchor Heb. 6.18 19. And therefore it had need be of good Mettall and well tempered Now the grounds of Christian Hope are chiefly three First the merits of Christ for as Faith beleeves justification and forgivenesse so Hope beleeves as I may say Salvation and the possession of the Inheritance And in this regard the Apostle hath conjoyned Faith and Hope in one common description For Christ as well purchased Heaven as pardon of Sin so that as Faith beleeves the one so doth Hope the other especially since Sin being taken away nothing can debarre us Heaven Esa 54 9 10. Ier. 31.34 35 36 37 verses The second ground of Hope is the Truth of Gods Promises not only simply in themselves But confirmed with experience of accomplishment of many past concluding thence that seeing the greatest is accomplished the lesse will much more especially these Promises being ratified with an Oath Heb. 6.16 The third ground is the Pledge of the Spirit the earnest and first fruits and a Seale Now any of these are sufficient with men to put away doubting much more with God If Hope be not builded on these grounds as on a Rock the House will fall as the Papists have given experience when the Tempest hath come on them So that hereby is overthrown both the Hope of the Papist as also of the common people For as it is in Faith so with Hope in the Ideot He hopes well but gets naught because both his Faith and Hope are misgrounded Arising of the ignorance of God and himself While not knowing his deserved misery and cursed corrupt estate he takes himselfe to bee wholly Gods workmanship forgetting how the Divell by his finger hath marred the same And so thinke that God cannot but love him and accept his own handy worke and if happily he know and in some sort confesse this yet presently all is stopped with this that God is mercifull not thinking of his justice without satisfaction whereof there is no place for Mercy Simile But whosoever would not have his Hope deceive him hee must have better grounds then this conceit for as he that for some heynous offence is cast in Prison and for the same hath the sentence of Death passed on him Now for him to have not only a pardon for his offence but also a great revenue assigned him He hath need to have all the Kings Seales and large Charters Even so must every true Christian be able to shew his pardon under the broad Seal of the Word and Bloud of Christ and must also know the Conveyance Title Tenure of Heaven and by what service hee holds it before hee can have an assured Hope especially there being great danger in mistaking the Title for if we claime Heaven any other way then that by which it is offered unto us we can never obtaine it As the Apostle doth notably shew Rom. 9.32 Rom. 10.3 Rom. 4.16 Secondly true Christian Hope doth qualifie a man and fit him that while hee holds this in Reversion hee may daily prepare himselfe for it against it fall and therefore look what conditions are injoyned on his part he will be carefull to perform and what the Word prescribes to be in them that hope for Heaven he doth demonstrate to be in himself As 1 Iohn 3.3 He clenses himself continues in Prayer armes himselfe with Patience puts on the Shoes and all the Christian Armour and where his treasure and purchase is there is his heart talke joy and delight and makes him that he cannot settle himselfe on any thing here below he hath casted so of the fruits of Chanaan that he cannot pitch his Tents in the Wildernesse ☞ this is plainly taught in the example of Abraham who forsooke his own Country c. The reason was He looked for a City whose builder was God Heb. 12.19 The like of Moses Heb. 11.27 And this effect is notably taught Heb. 6. at the end Where is shewed that Hope is the Sacred Anchor that pierces in For as in the storme if the Anchor bee so deeply pitched that by the violence of the Tempest it lose not his hold the Ship safely endures the same So a Christian man having this is secured from Stormes and Raines which the Divell and all his forces can raise And therefore Simile Whereas we see many Christians with every light wind so to be tossed in the World as in the deep Sea and float here and there What is the reason but that they want this Anchor which being pitched in Heaven they might stay themselves till the Tyrannie was passed Esa 26.20 This is as a Pent-house to keep off the dashes And thus having cast Anchor let us apply this a little and so draw to shore Vse Seeing these things are so it is necessary that every one have this Anchor ready especially in these troublous times wherein it is not only hard to hold on in an even course but very difficult for a wise Pylot to escape the Rockes and Sands Wherefore my beloved let us strengthen our weake hands and weary knees let us call back this Hope and expectation which may seeme to be almost banished from among men For why are the Profits of this life so greedily sought after why is there no end of heaping up wealth what meane these common fraud and circumventions one of another Whence is that lust of ruling every where there being no care to profit those over whom they are set Why will many be Pastors and will not feed their Sheepe Why doe men at this day measure the Truth Note not in equity of Conscience and sincerity of judgement out of the Word but by their private profits Why have men cast off all care of seeking the Heavenly Inheritance not being heires of those who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises They heare and partly see that the Godly are of all men most miserable this Hope excepted and they thinking this Hope to be a small comfort and succour against so great a misery they chose rather to imbrace things present leaving Hope for Fooles as they thinke But sure it is not for true Christians so to lead their lives as they that have no Hope not to be groveling on the Earth as Sons of the Earth Wee are borne of God and are Citizens of the Heavenly Inheritance we are as strangers not Denizens why should wee bee curious or inquisitive in a strange Countrey why do we imbrace the place of our Exile as our home But we whither we be called in the Morning or at Noone into the Vineyard let us labour stoutly and let us looke for the penny at the end of the day Neither will the Lord deferre our Hope long For loe He comes and his reward is with him and yet a little while and the Lord will come and not stay Heb. 10. at the end Our Fathers dyed in the Faith foure thousand yeares since and received not the Promises but saluted them a farre off Heb. 11. Our race that we have runne is much shorter It shall not need that we should lie so long in the dust before the Creature be perfitly restored and though it should be long yet our dayes are circumscribed in the compasse of a few yeares Wherefore lâ—t us liâ—◠〈◊〉 thâ—ads that hang downe to the Earth let us with great Ioy behold these everlasting Tabernacles If wee shall feed our selves with this Hope surely wee shall abide in the Love of God in all affliction 2 Thes 1.5 6 7. For this Hope will whet our desire and as a Wife looking for her Husband doth prepare her self and will not be entangled in any businesse much lesse set her affection on any other man So the Faithfull Soule longing for Christ will dispose it self for this Hope Simile though it moderate the desire as touching the time yet it quenches not nor snibs the earnestnesse thereof but it cryes out Come Lord Iesus come quickly For he shall appeare to all that look for him in Faith to Salvation But the to wicked Woe to that day when they shall fly to the Mountaines to fall on them and the Rocks to hide them For if the time of his first comming be so terrible as is expressed in the second and third chapters of Malachi How then will they endure the second Now the same Lord IESUS CHRIST our Lord and our God even the Father which hath loved us and hath giver us everlasting Consolation and good Hope through Grace comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and worke 2 Thes 2.16 17 verses Glory to GOD alone Jmprimatur JOSEPH CARYL 1646. FINIS LONDON Printed by Thomas Forcet for John Rothwell at the Sun and Fountaine in Pauls Church-yard and Hannah Allen at the Crowne in Popes-head Alley 1647.