Selected quad for the lemma: mind_n
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A57159
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A sermon preached before the King upon the twenty eighth of March, 1669 by Edward Lord Bishop of Norwich.
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Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676.
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1669
(1669)
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Wing R1284; ESTC R36786
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19,736
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44
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A SERMON Preached before The King UPON The twenty eighth of March 1669. BY EDVVARD Lord Bishop OF NORWICH· Published by his Majesties Command LONDON Printed by Ia. Cotterel for Philemon Stephens at the Kings Arms in Chancery-lane 1669. A SERMON Preached before the King UPON The twenty eighth of March 1669. Philippians 3.8 Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord. OUr blessed Saviour compareth the Kingdom of Heaven to an hid Treasure and a pearl of great price which a wise Merchant having found sold all that he had to buy it This hidden treasure is our life which is hid with Christ in God this pearl of great price is that which the Apostle calls the unsearchable riches of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith St. Paul unto whom the Lord from heaven did reveal this treasure and pearl hath in this chapter discovered himself to be one of those wise Merchants who parted with all for this inestimable purchase He looked on himself before as a rich man in things pertaining unto God Great dignitie of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews Great strictness of Religion a Pharisee separated from the ways of the world Great learning brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the Law of the fathers Great zeal and fervency even unto persecution Great sanctitie in his own opinion I was alive without the law once as touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless These things before he came to the knowledge of Christ he eesteemed very gainful advantagious and meritorious to salvation for he had profited in the Iews religion above many his equals But when it pleased God to reveal his Son unto him he consulted no more with flesh and bloud he set no more value on meer carnal priviledges or performances looked on them as loss and dung on all his own righteousness but as a menstruous cloath durst put no confidence in any thing of his own but in the alone Righteousness of Christ Jesus his Lord in the fellowship of his sufferings and in the power of his resurrection He would glory in nothing but the Cross of Christ he would relye on nothing but the Grace of Christ he would lose all that he might win Christ. I have chosen these words to open the excellencie of the Gospel of Christ and of the saving knowledge of him thereby in comparison whereof the Apostle esteemed all his other dignities priviledges righteousness performances upon which he had formerly built the hopes of his salvation to be all but loss and dung I begin with the former of these the excellency of Evangelical Doctrine called by the Apostle a glorious Gospel a ministration of righteousness which exceeds in glory a word of life a Gospel of salvation the riches of the world a treasure accompanied with the excellency of Divine Power a great mystery of godliness with other the like elogies setting forth those unsearchable riches of Christ therein as draw forth the wonder and adoration both of Men and Angels We shall consider the excellency of the Gospel 1. Comparatively 2. Absolutely For the former I shall not put the whole world nor all the Diadems Honours Pleasures and Revenues thereof into the balance with Christ he having assured us that it will little profit a man to win them all and to lose his soul for though a man could win the whole world yet within a few years he would lose it again but the soul being once lost is lost for ever never to be recovered But I. we shall compare the Gospel with the state of Innocency in Paradise It cannot be denyed but that there were divers things in that state of primitive integrity wherein Adam excelled any of his sinful off-spring He was made then wholly upright without any mixture of corruption or infirmity no evil of sin to defile him no evil of sorrow to disquiet him Whereas now the holiest men are commanded and constrained to cry out Forgive us our trepasses deliver us from evil He had no war between the flesh and spirit no inward combate between the law of the members and the law of the minde no temptation of lust to intice or draw him away from God Whereas the holiest men are now forced to complain O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death He did not in that state stand in need of a Mediator of reconciliation to restore him to the favour of God wherein he stood right and intire by the law of his creation He had no guilt to fill him with shame or fear or to drive him away from the presence of the Lord. Yet in some respect the grace of the Gospel is more excellent then the state of Adam in Paradise 1. Herein is the manifestation of more glorious mercy and wisdom For it was most consonant to the goodness of God to make reasonable creatures righteous at first but when they wilfully fell from their created integrity it was wonderful and free mercy to restore them again wonderful and glorious wisdom to do it by so great a condescension and contrivance as the Incarnation and Passion of theSon of God There lay no bond upon God at all to shew mercy to a creature which had cast him off and rebelled against him He might pari jure have left men unredeemed as he did the Angels and have glorified himself in their just perdition It was meer and alone mercy which made the difference He took not the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham he took Heb. 2.16 2. By the Gospel the humane nature is more highly advanced then it could be in the first Adam had he persisted in his integrity First in the person of Christ in whom it was Hypostatically united to the divine Nature and advanced far above all principality and power might and dominion and every name that is named Angels and Principalities and Powers are made subject unto him He is the first-born of every creature and hath in all things the preeminence 2. In all those who are spiritually descended from him and estated by union and communion with him in his fulness both of Grace and Glory For certainly to be where Christ is and to behold his Glory when he shall come to be admired in those that believe to be like unto him to see him as he is to sit down with him on his Throne to be joynt Heirs with him in his Glory which are some of those exceeding great and precious promises which in the Gospel are made unto true Believers are more high and honourable expressions of the dignity of the Sons of God by gracious Adoption then