material Body of Christ and so become Christiferi and Christo concorporei Christ being concorporated with them as the food is with the body for so they will expound those words of our Saviour John 6. 56. He that cateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him But although in the due receiving of that Sacrament we spiritually by faith are made partakers of whole Christ and so far as saving grace is conveyed to us in the use of it we may be truly said by it as by other Ordinances to be made partakers of that which the Apostle here calleth the Divine Nature yet 1. He speaketh more generally of it here than to be restrained to the effect only of that Sacrament 2. And more spiritually than to understand any such gross absurd and blasphemous commixture and concorporation of Christ's Body with ours so as to be this partaking of the Divine nature 3. Others therefore more rightly and properly interpret it in reference to the Holy Ghost and so C. à Lapide saith we are made partakers of the Divine nature not only accidentaliter as we are by the spirit of God and the work of his grace indued with Divine Qualities and Graces wherein especially the image of God consists and so by those Divine Lineaments drawn by the finger of God which are a shadowy representation of his glorious being and holiness we are made conformable to him and as Children like unto our Heavenly Father But he would have it also understood substantialiter that we Bonavent 1. Sent. dist 14. a. 2. q. 1. Thom. p. 1. q. 43. ar 3. 6. Vasquez Valent Suarez de Deo c. l. 12. c. 5. n. 11 12. are substantially also made partakers of the Divine nature in that the very person of the Holy Ghost is united to us and dwelleth in us as in his Temple substantially and personally novo modo and so in a manner deifieth us This he proveth out of others of their Authors Nor do I deny but that some of our own * Mr. Downham Mr. Cotton Vt in perfectis sima amicitiâ necessaria est amici praesentia Divines though I know none of them that expounds this Text of it do yet hold that not only the grace but even the person of the Holy Ghost is in an especial manner in Believers who is therefore as they conceive said to be given to them 1 John 3. 24. 4. 13. Rom. 5. 5. to be and to dwell and to abide in them John 14. 16 17. 1 Cor. 6. 19. and such like But although I fully believe these Scriptures and therefore subscribe to what Lombard lib. 1. dist 14. proveth out of Antiquity that the Holy Ghost himself is given to and dwelleth in believers yet as concerning that novus modus which they speak of I must confess my own ignorance as not knowing how the Holy Ghost being God and so in his Essence substance and person alike every where should in that respect be more present in believers than elsewhere but only in a more gracious and glorious presence of manifestation of himself to them and operation in them unless they would have the third person hypostatically united to believers as Christ's humanity was to the second person which Lapide's words seem something to sound like to when he saith that the Holy Ghost personally dwells in the righteous Soul which I suppose he meant not of a personal union but only an union of persons of the person of the Holy Ghost dwelling there not as though it were so personally that the spirit and the believing Soul were one person as it was with Christ's humanity in its hypostatical union with the second person of the Blessed Trinity which yet he there compareth this to and to my apprehension doth but nicely distinguish it from it whilst in that personal Union in Christ of the second person with the humanity he makes the bond and tye to be modus substantialis but in this personal Union of the third person with a believer the tie is grace as a quality But I leave these niceties which many a gracious Soul in which the Holy Ghost dwells by his grace cannot conceive and therefore troubleth not it self with It 's sufficient for my present purpose that he confesseth this grace of the spirit to be the medium vinculum causa of this personal indwelling of the spirit in us and therefore it is that as the spirit by his grace dwelleth in us we are made partakers of the Divine nature And this fitly leads me to that which undoubtedly and if not only yet is most fully and properly intended and held out by this Expression Partakers therefore we are of the Divine Nature See Forbes of justification Cap. 8. p. 23 24 25. Id praestant Christi beneficia illud maximè quod sumus filii Dei See Bellarmin de justific l. 2. c. 5. Quomodo autem c. 1. In and by the grace of Adoption and Sonship for by Adoption being called to the fellowship of Christ in his Sonship what he is by nature we are made by grace viz. the Sons of God and so Christs father is our father and his spirit our spirit and consequently the nature of all three being but one is in this relative sense communicated to us we as Sons having our subsistence from the Son who is one with the Father and we in our manner and measure one with them both even the Children of God and so partakers of the Divine Nature So Athanasius * Orat. 4. contr Arrium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by being partakers of the Son of God members of his body of his flesh and of his bones as the Apostle expresseth it Ephes 5. 30. we become thereby partakers of God and of this he addeth this Text is to be understood But as we are the Sons of God upon a double Title both of Adoption and Regeneration for whom he adopts to be Sons John 1. 12. he begets as Sons v. 13. so we are made partakers of the Divine nature upon a double interest as relative in adoption so 2. Positive and inherent in Regeneration and it carried on in sanctification and this I conceive here especially understood So Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 4â— Deiformes effecti Cyprian de singul Cleric Deiformi conversatione Idem de unctione Chrismatis S. 3 Deifico studio Idem de aleatoribus S. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil Tom. 1. de lib. arbitrio Vt in his nos filios ejus veréque Deos praestemus Bucer in Rom. 2. Concil 2. pag. 120. Calvin Beza Piscator Lapide Amesius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are made partakers of the Divine nature by partaking of the Holy Spirit as Athanasius in another place expressâ—th it de S. Trinit dialog Tom. 2. p. 164. whilest by the operation of the Divine Spirit in heart and life we are made like God in the one bearing his image
sun in which the same light abideth always which though it may be over-clouded and eclipsed yet not extinguished but so as after such overshadowings shines out in more full brightness as Mr. Peacock after a sad hour of darkness that had been upon his spirit broke out into that Divine expression the sea is not so full of water or the sun of light as God is of goodness in Christ Nay Plenitudo Deitatis the fulness of the God-head Col. 2. 9. of the whole Divine nature and all its properties and Attributes which being infinite cannot but infinitely more than fill up our greatest vacuities and emptiness But this leads me to a more particular view of this fulness of Christ which may be considered either 1. in regard of his person or 2. of his offices 1. For his Person if we consider it either quoad gratiam unionis or gratiam habitualem either the Divine Nature assuming the Humane into the same personal subsistence or that Grace which thereupon is from that Divine Nature communicated to the Humane for its compleat accomplishment there can be no less in one Christ than All fulness and perfection in himself and for all such as are united to him 1. For his Nature The fulness of the Godhead dwells in him and that Bodily Col. 2. 9. i. e. not as in the more empty shadows of the law but substantially personally that the same Person who is Man is God also and that Manhood assumed into the subsistence of the Godhead John 1. 14. The word was made flesh and then we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth that it's God who laid down his own bloud as a price of redemption for us Acts 20. 28. and that every way makes a supply to us And then how full must that needs be He would have us hungry But he is too greedy whom an Alsufficient Christ cannot satisfy That want is more than infinite which an infinite God cannot make up Do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord Jer. 23. 24. And cannot he fill thy heart For certain Jesus Christ who is God over all Rom. 9. 5. All in All Col. 3. 11. is able to fill all in all Ephes 1. 23. 2. And this leads to that Fulness of habitual Grace which from the Divine nature flowed into the Humane Not as though the essential properties of one Nature were communicated to the other and so his Humanity were infinite omnipotent or omnipresent as the Vbiquitaries would have it but that the spirit was given to him so above measure John 3. 34. that he became such a Fountain of Grace as was not only full in himself but overflowing to the full supply of all believers And this Grace in him though but a created quality and therefore not properly infinite yet so as not limited to any kind or degree and in that sense in a manner infinite And this grace was full not only in reference to Him and His state and condition for in that sense Mary is said to have been full of grace Luke 1. 28. and Stephen and Barnabas full of the Holy Ghost Act. 7. 55. 11. 24. namely as they were filled so far as was requisite to that condition and service to which God called them But Christ who is said to be full of the Holy Ghost Luke 4. 1. and full of grace and truth John 1. 14. was full also in reference to the Grace it self in that it was in him in the greatest extension both for Kind and Degree which the Blessed Virgin and the perfectest Saint fell short of as not necessary to their place and employment as it was to Christs who as he was in himself God-Man so he was to be Head to all Believers and Fountain and common principle of all Grace in them all which necessarily required it to be a compleat over-flowing fulness And this leads me off from this fulness of Christ in reference to his Person to 2. That in the second place which concerneth his Offices To which as God called him so he fully furnished him that he might as fully execute them and so fulfill all righteousness Matth. 3. 15. as Bezaleel when called by Name was filled with the spirit Exod. 31. â— 3. to prepare all the work of the sanctuory and amongst the â—eâ—t this was one in cutting of stones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to set them or fill â—â—th V. 9. them as the word signifieth which were therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lapides impletionum Exod. 25. 7. because such preciouâ— stones so set by him did fill up the Pales and Ouches which they were set in Even such a Bezaleel was our Emmanuel compleatly filled with all grace for the rearing up and perfecting of God's Sanctuary and his so many offices were as so many Pales or Ouches of gold in which were set all those most precious graces and abilities of the spirit as so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most precious filling stones by which he most compleatly fulfilled the whole work of his Mediatorship and of all his Offices They you know were three of Prophet Priest and King and he abundantly furnished with suteable Grace perfectly to fulfill them all 1. As Prophet In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2. 3. whereby he is most fully able to enrich our empty Heads and Hearts with that saving wisdom which is able to make us wise unto salvation And if Timothy by being much in Paul's Company came thereby fully to know his Doctrine 2 Tim. 3. 10. how much infinitely more must the Son by being in his Father's bosom come to know his will And as by a faithful John 1. 18. Treasurer what in this kind was laid up by him though hid from others yet is brought forth and imparted by him to his Servants Matth. 13. 11. This full fountain is dispersed abroad as his peoples occasions require And if Paul could say that he had fully Rom. 15. â—â— preached the Gospel how much more fully doth Christ both in his own Ministry and in his Servants both commissionated and enabled by him Oh! None teacheth like him Job 36. 22. None so convincingly clearly inwardly savingly There is an abundant over-flowing fulness in him as our Prophet to fill us even the most empty and ignorant with the saving knowledge of his will How eminently wonderfully have Idiots men of weaker parts and Rom. 1â— 14. Psal 19. 7. Making wise the simple Act. 6. 10. women of the weaker Sex not only been made wise to Salvation but also to silence and confound subtlest and most profound opposers which have not been able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which they spake both Scripture and Church Story fully evidence 2. As Priest according to the Hebrew Phrase his hands were filled in his full consecration to that office which he as fully executed as is fully cleared in the Epistle to the
Ranting Enthusiast-Gnosticks of this and former ages who of all men by reason of their abominable filthiness partake least of God and most of the beast and the Devil make yet greatest pretensions to whilest they give out that they are Godded with God and Christed with Christ such is their blasphemous gibberish Whatever either Fantastical or Diabolical trances such may have and divine illapses unions and communications they may vainly boast of yet I am sure that no evil dwells with an holy God Psal 5. 4. and that Christ is separate from such sinners Heb. 7. 26. What diviner raptures and heavenly ravishments I do not say a Platonick Philosopher in his speculations but an holy humble believing Soul may sometimes have in its holy meditations and devotions I neither envy nor now dispute only say with the Psalmist that it is good for me to draw near to God and that they are happiest who in a spiritual union and communion can get and keep nearest but to pretend to get so near as properly to participate of the essence of God flieth higher than Lucifer's pride Isa 14. 14. and is Antichristian Blasphemy 2 Thes 2. 4. I acknowledge some of the Fathers especially the Greek in their Rhetorical Hyperboles and desiring to express that lively image of God which his children have instamped upon them do indulge themselves a sufficient liberty as * Orat. 4. in Arrium Athanasius in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and †Orat. 42. p. 680. Basil orat 3. de sp Sanct. Nazianzen in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not as though they ever meant any such abolition of our nature and transformation of it into God's or participation of his essence which being in it self infinite is therefore to the finite creature incommunicable if Christs hypostatical union did not confound the natures and their properties much less will this mystical union of God and the soul work any commixtion or tranfusion of it into the Godhead 1. The three consubstantial persons of the Sacred Trinity only in common partaking if I may so call it of the Divine nature essentially 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Christs humane nature not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nestorius blasphemed for so we partake of it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and personally which is his alone prerogative 3. It 's our highest honour and happiness that we may be made partakers of it by a participation of Divine Grace and image which is wrought in us by him and by which we are made conformable to him so far as the image of his infinite holiness is expressible in a limited and restrained being as the wax receives the impression of the Seal not the essence and that in a picture is called a face or hand which hath the likeness of it as he well expresseth it and as truly addeth that he who raiseth it Dr. Spurstow upon the Text. any higher must have swelling and lofty thoughts of the creature and low and most unworthy and dishonourable thoughts of God Thus Divines say we partake of the Divine nature accidentaliter per donum gratiae sanctificantis as we have Divine Grace wrought in us by the spirit of God which makes us like God But as for Cornel à Lapide's substantialiter which he adds as we are partakers of In Textum the spirit of God himself we shall speak of that by and by we are now dealing with Enthusiasts who as the Manichees of old held that by nature we are ex traduce Dei orti drops and And so as Caelestius said without Sin as God is Augustin de gestis Pelagii cap. ult beams and particles of the Deity so they conceit that in the way of their high attainments they are partakers of the very Godhead Godded with God and Christed with Christ as their blasphemous gibberish blunders it But how much more soberly and piously doth Cyprian express it Nostra ipsius conjunctio nec miscet personas nec unit substantias sed affectus consociat confoederat voluntates This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Divine nature is not the Divine Essence as they conceit it I acknowledge that * Tractat. de foedere in Gangraenâ doctrinae Anabaptisticae Clopenburgh and de †In Textum Dieu after him conceive otherwise and that as Jam. 3. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the nature of beasts signifieth Beasts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the nature of man a man so here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine nature or nature of God may Oâ—thodoxally enough be taken to signify God as considered in his own nature and being but then that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or partakers is not here meant a transfusion or communication of They understand Communion rather than Communication the Divine Essence that in that sense we should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 partakers of the Deity but only as Heathen Idolaters 1 Cor. 10. 20. are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have fellowship with Devils so true believers have not only a real communication of Divine Grace infused into them but also a true and blessed Communion with God himself and truly our fellowship is with the Father and the Son as the Apostle asserts it John 1. 3. Nor hath this exposition any thing in it which is contrary to piety or sound doctrine but yet this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seemeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sound a more inward and inherent communication of something and not only a bare communion and fellowship as one friend hath with another though that be included and of it some good Interpreters expound it 2. Others therefore interpret these words in reference to Christ as Ambrose and Oecumenius of his incarnation in which his humane Epist 38. nature was made partaker of the Divine because hypostatically united to it But 1. Therein the Son of God did more properly take part of our humane nature as is expresly said he did Heb. 2. 14. than we of the Divine 2. Besides that partaking was already in act ever since our Saviour's Cyprian saith divinae naturae communicamus per spiritum humanae per corpus de Nativitate Christi sect 7. birth and conception whereas this which the Apostle here speaks of was in part yet to be accomplished to believers in their several successions and further participation 3. And withall Thus all that have an humane nature might be said to be partakers of the divine which the Apostle here restrains to believers only 4. And therefore Cyril although he interpret it also with reference Catechis to Christ yet of our Symbolical partaking of him and so of God in the Eucharist This the Papists greedily swallow down as making they think for their Transubstantiation by which as they say they come to eat the very
〈◊〉 may ever have the upper hand Prefer Jerusalem above our chief joy Psal 137. 6. Love all men as men as the Prophet saith Hide not thy self from thine own flesh Isa 58. 7. but yet so as to love them most with whom we have one and the same spirit 1 Cor. 12. 13. Honour all men but especially Love the brotherhood 1 Pet. 2. 17. Let at least humanity prevail with us to esteem and love all that with us partake of humane nature for so far we love our selves but so as to put more abundant honour on them who are made partakers of the divine nature for so we shall love God in them SERMON XVIII ON 2 PET. 1. 4. BUT that We may have this honour and love it will be Preacht at St. Maries June 21. 1657. Vse 3. required that we examine our selves whether we have attained to this true ground of it this truly honourable state of being made partakers of the divine nature Wherein that consists hath already in the general been declared in the former doctrinal explication the main of it was that divine grace was this divine nature Pelagius heretically called humane nature grace we may piously and truly call saving grace divine nature to be Godly is to be God like God is holy just wise good spiritual heavenly and it is his very nature to be so And he that is of such an heavenly spirit and carriage although nil humani à se alienum putat yet totus divinitatem spirat though otherwise he be a poor weak man subject to humane infirmities yet by this his conformity to God he is raised to divine perfection As the eye of faith under all that bloud and spittle saw on our Saviours face his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God full of grace and truth John 1. 14. so the same eye under the mean outside of him who hath filled out of Christs fulness his measure of grace and holiness even grace for grace beholdeth with awful reverence and complacential love bright rayes and reflexions of divinity In his heavenly discourse it saith Non vox hominem sonat there is more than a man God speaks in him as Junius thought In ejus vitâ of that poor godly man who was one means of turning him from his Atheism And when it beholds his holy and heavenly conversation though it do not say with the Lycaonians Acts 14. 11. that Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men yet though but an Idiot he will report that God is in him of a truth 1 Cor. 14. 25. But enough of this in general Let us rather for our better direction consider some particular properties of this Divine Nature by which it may be discovered and manifested some from that it 's called Nature and some from that it 's stiled a Divine Nature 1. Nature is an inward inbred principle In natural bodies it 's ordinarily defined to be principium motûs quietis and so this Principium motûs intrinsecum Aquin. 1. 2 ae q. 10. a. 1. corp divine nature in a gracious spirit is an inward principle of power and act the spring that in this divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sets all the wheeles a going like the spirit of the living creatures in the wheels Ezek. 1. 20. In this sense our Saviour saith that the water which he giveth to the thirsty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it shall be in him but what a well of water springing up to everlasting life John 4. 14. not a Cistern which hath all its water from without put into it It is so indeed as it hath all from God but in regard of outward supplies such a well it is that hath such a spring in it as from it self is continually bubbling and springing up to everlasting life It 's no artificial engine to spout out that water which it had not of its own but a true natural fountain that poureth out of what springeth up in it self Jer. 6. 7. as in the creation the herb brought forth seed and the tree fruit after its kind Gen. 1. 12. from its innate seminal vertue its inward natural temperament and constitution and the stone moveth down to the center and the sparks fly upward from their Job 5. 7. natural propension nature being that ingenita rei vis potentia quâ ipsa à seipsá movetur so in this new creation where there is a Divine Nature there is something within not only a blaze in the lamp but also oyl in the vessel Matth. 25. 4. an inward principle which sets the soul in motion to God and heaven these divine sparks naturally fly upward as it 's said of Timothy Philip. 2. 20. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did genuinely and naturally care for the things of God and his Church and Job said of himself that the root of the matter was in him Job 19. 28. contrary to what is said of the stony-ground hearer that he had not root in himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 13. 21. which is the broad difference between a true born child of God and a formal hypocrite the one flutters and makes a great stir in the things of God but God knows and he himself knows and feels there is no inward vital principle that sets him on work nothing from within unless vain-glory or other finister â—imes and intentions which are only corrupt nature but usually all is from without either the applause or frowns of men and the one as the wind drives about the millsails which else would stand still and the other as those Trochlerâ— or water-works force the water upwards which else would lie below or fall downward But O friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he laid of Plutarch the dead statue which he could not make stand by it self there must be something within that goes to a divine nature an inward principle of Divine life and love which without these pullies and plummets sets the wheels of the soul on going God-ward Doth not even nature it self teach you saith the Apostle in that case 1 Cor. 11. 14. and doth not the Divine nature it self where-ever it is in truth from an inward principle and pondus animae prompt and incite and carry you out towards God in communion with him and obedience to him as Act. 18. 5. it 's said of Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was pressed in spirit occasioned by the Jews obstinacy but there was a spirit within him that pressed him to it But here take a double caution when I speak of this inward principle it is not with our Enthusiasts so to cry up a Christ within them as to cry down a Christ without them indeed without them because never truly in them Christ indeed dwells in our hearts but it is by faith Ephes 3. 17. and that is both brâ—d and fed by his word and ordinances Rom. 10.
17. 1 Pet. 2. 2. 2. Nor is it to strike down such poor Christians as are already sinking by reason of inward faintness I acknowledge that in the new-born babe through weakness of nature this pulse may be weak and in the grown Christian through accidental corruptions and temptations there may be obstructions and interruptions but then the man is the more sick for it and nature thus oppressed if it be Divine struggles and groans the more under it when the man of God cannot do the good that he would he cryeth out of himself as a wretched miserable man for it Rom. 7. 18 24. though the root of the matter be in him as it was in Job yet sometimes it may be under-ground and as seed sown under a great weight of earth that keeps it under but it works and works and at last peeps out and then sprouts and springs apace such an inward principle there is in nature and such also in the soul that is made partaker of the divine nature in its outgoings to that which grace hath made connatural to it 2. Hence in the second place from this inward principle natural motion of it self is ready and free not forced or violent With what inward freedom doth my heart go out to him whom I naturally love and with what a free source doth the fountain cast out or as the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the active form signifieth empty her waters that naturally flow from it And A free spirit Psa 51. 12. how willing a people are God's in the day of his power Psal 110. 3. and our Saviour sheweth that as free a current floweth from this fountain of life when in the place before quoted he John 4. 14. saith that his Spirit and Grace shall be as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a well of water so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aquae salientis of water springing freely fully spouting yea leaping up to everlasting life No need of pumping and pulling How naturally doth such a Soul fall into thoughts of God and desires after him O! never more free than when it can run in this Channel most freely Or if at any time as too often it is this current be hindred or dammed up what a complaining murmur may you hear though without murmuring against God and how may you see it though not rising and swelling in discontent and pride yet running over in tears of true repentance And therefore for trial know that a constant As Hos 11. 7. bent to backsliding from God and total averseness from God and the things of God speaks plainly either a Devilish temper or at best corrupt nature And although as in some cases in a mans body there may be listlesness where there is life so an auk backwardness may and often doth consist with the Divine Nature yet it 's but as life in such a weak sick body in which nature is oppressed Grace is but weak or weakned the man of God in such a case stands in great need of cure and relief that his Soul may freely breath and go out to God as Davids did naturally to his Son Absalom 2 Sam. 13. 39. 3. As natural actions and motions are free so thereupon they are not irksome and grievous but pleasing and delightful How merrily doth the wheel run down the Hill from its natural propension And with what delight doth the Scholar plod even on those harder studies to which he is naturally affected The generous Wine with a kind of jollity and tripudium mantles and sparkles upward when in Solomon's phrase it moves it self Pro. 23. 31. Psal 19. 5. Psal 119. 32. aright and the Sun in its natural course rejoiceth as a mighty man to run his race but not so much as the man of God when his heart is enlarged to run the ways of Gods Commandments The generous spiritual Christian never thinks he mounts so right or with more delight than when he sparkleth and moveth upward How merrily doth this sweet Bird sing when it moves upward and soars aloft in Divine Meditations Prayers praises and such like more pleasing uninterrupted outgoings of the Soul to God! yea what melody in the heart doth it make both to God and it self in its sweet sad notes whilest it is tugging in the snare below 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have a complacency and take pleasure in infirmities reproaches persecutions distresses for Christs sake saith Paul 2 Cor. 12. 10. it's the same word that God the Father said of his Son when he said he was well pleased in him Matth. 3. 17. as though with the like natural complacency that the Father embraced Christ the same doth his servant from the instinct of this Divine nature welcom even heaviest sufferings for Christ With what delight doth this Scholar in Christs School who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read these hard Chapters with which he is so naturally taken for all delight and pleasure ariseth from the sutableness of the faculty and the object and therefore where a law of commands without doth so naturally suit with a law of love within us how doth it hug and embrace Then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I consent and approve for my judgment Rom. 7. 16. and for my affections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 22. I delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man and when it is so within the heart then I delight to do thy will O my God Psal 40. 8. then it 's meat and drink to do the will of God Matth. 11. 30. 1 John 5. 3. John 4. 34. the yoke is easie and the burden light and no command grievous no task but a recreation no distastful Medicine but pleasing food which the palate relisheth and the stomach naturally closeth with I confess the Child is weak and may not be so well able for the time to digest so strong meat and the man of God may be sick and then it may not go down with so much delight Weakness or distemper may sometimes weaken and hinder this actual complacential rejoicing as sickness or a cut finger may take off the Musician from actual playing on his instrument wherein yet he habitually much delighteth but then that sickness maketh him more sick to think of it Where there is habitual delight such actual indisposition causeth actual and hearty grief for it and so this grief for the presence of the contrary impediment proclaims aloud what love he bears and what delight he hath in that from which he is hindred And this sufficiently enough distinguisheth in this Case the true Divine Nature from a counterfeit form of Godliness the one saith with them Mal. 1. 13. Behold what a weariness is it But the other cryeth out oh how weary am I A genuine Child of God crieth out of himself and his own uncomfortable weariness in that which he so naturally loveth and delighteth in bewails his being so weakned and hindred as the
unhappy days gives too sad Examples of many who have indeed got as far from God as they think they are above Ordinances but till we gain Heaven where we shall at the next hand see and enjoy God without such mediums let all sober-hearted Christians ever keep close to them as they would ever draw near to him 1. To the Ministry of the Word in which if the Minister do not so much jingle in the Ear as labour to fasten Nails and Goads in the Heart Eccles 12. 11. that it come to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa 34. 1. 58. 2. an ingrafted Word Jam. 1. 21. It then and God in it comes very near to us as we do to him as Scholars sitting down at his feet to hear his Instructions Deut. 33. 3. or as Servants standing Ezek. 33. 31. before him to receive his Commands as Children and Friends from his gracious Promises to carry away intimations of his Love and his Threats prick our hearts Acts 2. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 4. 20. fastning the Eye and putting the Ear to his Mouth as it was said of our Saviour's Auditors Luke 19. 48. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hung upon him to hear him By these mutual out-goings of the Soul to God and God to it they come in this Ordinance to an happy meeting and then are very near 2. As likewise in the Sacraments it 's very near that we either do or may draw on to Christ In our Liturgy we say well Draw near c. not so much to the Minister as to God He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him and as I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me John 6. 56 57. Though no Popish corporal Transubstantiation yet there is a very near spiritual union set out by three very strong and almost strange Expressions Of a kind of Concorporation as of the Meat and the Body that is fed by it in that Metaphor of eating and drinking Of a mutual cohabitation or coinhabitation in that other of his dwelling in us and we in him Nay of a more divine coalition into the same Nature as in that third expression of our living by Christ as he by the Father In it with the Elders of Israel we go up to God in the Mount Exod. 24. 11. And it 's mercy that as it 's there said he doth not lay his hand upon us but that we may eat and drink draw so near as Children to sit down at our Father's Table with John to lean on our Saviour's Brest and with Thomas be bid reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing John 20. 27. It was our sin that when we more frequently enjoyed Sacraments we drew no nearer to Christ in them and therefore it 's deservedly our misery that we are cut short of such opportunities of these blessed Approaches now in our too much want of them 3. In the Communion of Saints if rightly improved we may enjoy very near and full communion with God and therefore the Apostle when he had said Let us draw near with a true heart to God Heb. 10. 22. he adds not forsaking the assembling of our selves together Thither God comes down to us Matth. 18. 20. and thereby our mutual help as upon one another's shoulders our hearts are gotten nearer up to him The Saints are a People near to him Psal 148. 14. and therefore they that keep close to them are not far from him as they that dwell in the Court are near to the King 4 I add Prayer for Petitioners use to draw near when they tender their Petitions Numb 32. 16. and so do God's Suppliants when they present him with their Prayers 1 Sam. 14. 37. In Prayer we seek him fall down at his footstool come into his presence We speak to him we lift up our Eyes Hands and Souls to him we wrestle with him These and such-like Expressions of it we meet with in Scripture and they all speak drawing near to him according to Jamblichus his description of it that it 's Copula quâ homines cum Deo conjunguntur Clavis quâ Dei penetralia aperiuntur the Soul's Wing by which it mounts up to Heaven and the Key that opens the Gate of Heaven and lets us into the presence of the everlasting King How deep doth it thrust both Petition and Petitioner into its Saviour's Bosom And how often doth the loving Father with a sweet kiss take up the weeping Child from his knees into his Arms How near doth he bow the Ear and how low doth he reach down his hand to take us by ours when it 's lifted up to him O the blessed interviews in this Duty when God's and our Eye meet Thou drewest near in the day when I called upon thee said Psal 145. 18. the lamenting Church Lament 3. 57. When for any other relief she could say The Comforter that should relieve my Soul is far from me Chap. 1. 16. In Prayer God draweth near to the Soul and the Soul to God and one of his main Suits as Esther's first was for the King's company and the second for it Esther 5. 7 8. again the second time so it is that God would both draw nearer himself and draw it also nearer Draw nigh to my Soul Psal 69. 18. and draw my Soul nearer to thee unite my heart Psal 86. 11. With holy Austin Redde mihi te Deus meus redde Confess l. 13. c. 8. te mihi ut currat vita mea in amplexus tuos O convert me and I shall be converted Jer. 31. 18. Draw me and we shall run after thee Cant. 1. 4. as well knowing that we cannot draw near to him till he draw near to us first We cannot come till the Father draw John 6. 44. and therefore the Child reacheth out the hand in Prayer and layeth hold on the Father that he may draw and thereby it also may draw nearer And thus we see how by these and the like Ordinances as by means appointed and sanctified by God we do or at least may draw near unto him Which saith these things to us 1. First therefore use them and carefully attend on them as ever we would draw near to God who for that very end hath appointed them and as we would not with the Pharisees Luk. 7. 30. reject the Counsel of God against our selves it 's there said they did it in refusing one Ordinance of Baptism Too many now reject not only that but all Ordinances else But do they get the nearer to God by it No The Autumn's witherings tell us that the Sun is withdrawn backward and the woful decays of fome of their both Professions and Practises saith that the Sun of Righteousness instead of drawing nearer is got further off Ordinances are sanctified Means of our approach
live to our selves but to think and designe how we may live and be subservient therein to Christ His Interest should direct determine subordinate and qualify all As the Box smells of the Musk that is in it so should all our designs and undertakings of Christ and as the Artery goeth along with the Vein so should Christ with whatever our warmest Life-Bloud runneth in and therefore our thoughts should run much in this Channel Jacob said to Laban thou knowest how I have served thee but when shall I provide for my own House Gen. 30. 29 30. I have lived thus long and thus much to my self but how much mean while to Christ By all these Employments and Attainments I have exalted my self but have they been as so many under-steps to lift up Christ the more and me nearer to him I have other ways gained so much and so much but how much or rather how little have I gained to my Lord and Master by them This were a right Anagogical Sense and Interpretation of our Lives and Actions And thus to live were Christ whilst we reduce and subordinate all to him 3. And this if with all diligence and seriousness earnestness and liveliness for we do not loiter it when we labour for Life Then Skin for Skin and all that a Man hath will be give for it Job 2. 4. And so when Moses told Israel that their obedience to God's Commands was not a vain thing but it was their Life as much as their Life was worth he thinks he hath cause to bid them set their hearts to it with all seriousness Deut. 32. 46 47. and indeed Life is active and lively I am sure a Christian 's should be so if Christ be his Life for 〈◊〉 was not idle but still in his Fathers business ever going up and down doing good and Paul who Act. 10. 38. laboured as he said that the Life of Christ might be manifested in him how active and serious and unweariable was he in Christ's 2 Cor. 4. 11. service He in another sense said to the Corinthians so then Death worketh in us but Life in you but it was Ironically for v. 12. he was very far from being a dead-hearted Servant No the Life of Christ was excedingly operative in him according to that Colos 1. 29. in which almost every word hath a quick Emphasis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whereunto I also labour and the word signifieth a cutting labour striving against Dangers and difficulties as the Actors in the Olympick Games with all contention and earnestness yea this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 secundum efficacem illam vim according to the Energy and most effectual power and efficacy and that of Christ which wrought in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 potenter mightily I thus to live was Christ when Christ and his Spirit thus effectually and mightily lived and wrought in him and the like he called for in others not to be slothful in service but fervent in Spirit whilst they served the Lord Rom. 12. 11. For on the contrary nothing almost is so unlike yea and contrary to Life especially the Life of Christ than a dull listless Dead-heartedness a cold benummed Frozenness or an indifferent Lukewarmness in service unworthy and falling short of that animi presentia and vigour of Spirit which was found in Heathen Worthies as in him who said se malle mortuum esse quam Curius Dentatatus non vivere that he had rather dye out-right and be dead than to be dull and rather not to live at all than not to be lively for which Drones and Dullards the Pythagoreans would have prepared a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore how much more unworthy is it for Christians who pretend to the Life of Christ whilst they say Christ is their Life to be either all amort Nabal-like through Dejections or to be dull and dead through the Lethargy of Spiritual Sloth Listlesness and Negligence to be as the Scripture speaketh either dull of hearing Heb. 5. 11. when we should be swift to hear James 1. 19. slow of heart to believe Luk. 24. 25. when we should receive the Word as they Act. 2. 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gladly or as the more noble-spirited Bereans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all readiness of mind Acts 17. 11. when the work of Christ is a weariness to us and we puff at it as Matth. 11. 30. 1 John 5. 3. under a burden Mal. 1. 13. when Christ's Yoke should be easy to us and his Burden light and no command of his grievous In a word when what is said of the wanton Widow in regard of her 1 Tim. 5. 6. wantonness may be said of us for our sloth and negligence that we are dead whilst we live But is not this to seek the living among the dead Or is the Life of Christ in this deadness whilst we thus present God with dead Hearts dead Prayers and Services Is this as the Apostle requireth to offer to him that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12. 1. living Sacrifice Thus to live is it Christ Or expresseth it any thing of the Life of Christ whom the Scripture calls a quickning 1 Cor. 15. 45. Spirit not only at the last day to raise up our dead Bodies but now also by his Grace and Spirit to enliven our dead Hearts Is this any partaking of the Divine Nature which is a pure Act to be thus restive Sure those that come nearer to it give another kind of resemblance of it The Heavens in their unwearied motion and the Sun that like a mighty Man rejoyceth to run his Psal 19. 5. Race the glorious Cherubims whose pictures God would have made in his Temple delighting in them as Stella observeth as Emblems maximae velocitatis of greatest swiftness and chearfulness in his Service as also the Seraphims of burning Zeal who in Isaiah's Vision are described to have six Wings to shew saith Isa 6. 2. Cornelius a Lapide that vere obediens est totus alatus and are there said both to stand and fly to signify as he addeth that Deo adstare volare est that to stand before God as his Servants is speedily and chearfully to fly at his Commands But to come lower to them in a lower Orb who dwell in dull and heavier Houses of Clay yet if the Spirit and Life of Christ dwell there especially if with some more freedom Paul often expresses his Course by the metaphor of running which expresseth speed and earnestness and David 2 Sam. 6. 14. 16. danceth before 1 Cor. 9. 26. Gal. 2. 2. 2 Tim. 4. 7. the Ark which manifesteth his chearfulness but the words in the Hebrew are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words not so usual and one of them in formâ duplicatâ to hold forth David's extraordinary and double vigour in that Service and which signify intense strength and seriousness and therefore translated Saltabat
Grace It 's Christ the Everlasting Father who in this sense of his own good will begets us James 1. 18. P. Martyr conceiveth that for the Godly Parents sake God may do much to their Children at least in a tendency hereto ut ad fidem adducantur donis spiritûs i◠Rom. 11. 16. Minimè sanctitatem ur à cum semine transfundi◠imò potius peccatum naturae vitium instruantur And I deny it not but yet so as that he there confesseth that they do not propagate grace with nature but sin rather Such a propagation of holiness had been by the first Covenant in the first Adam if he had stood but in the second Covenant it 's not so derived by Parents but infused by Christ the second Adam immediately from himself So that although it be sometimes called the holy seed yet that 's meant of federal holiness or of the Mal. 2. 15. Isa 6. 13. former advantages to true holiness not of any necessary or constant bestowing much less of any natural propagating it to their posterity Though the mother was an elect Lady yet it was only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 John 1 4. not all but well that some of her Children walked in the truth For 3. Very often good mens Sons prove as bad as others indeed sometimes very good and it was Jacob's preheminence above his Gen. 49. 26. Progenitors that all his Children were taken into the Church But Josiah was a very good man too and yet whereas he had but four Sons 1 Chron. 3. 15. they all proved stark naught A just man Of three of them See 2 Chron. 36. of the fourth See Jer. 22 Anonym Annot. Cantabrigiae begets a robber and shedder of blood Ezek. 18. 10. as we read Judg. 20. 16. there were seven hundred men left-handed of Benjamin who had his name from the right hand Upon which one not more argutely than truly and piously Ità non rarò scaevolae nascuntur à Benjamin dextrae filio and imitate them rather in their deformities and sins than in their graces and beauties 4. Nay too often best mens Sons prove the very worst Adam had a Cain Noah a Cham Abraham an Ishmael Isaac an Esau 1 Sam. 2. 12. Hezekiah a Manasseh Elies Sons the Sons of Belial Many of Davids Sons proved notoriously wicked and the unworthy base Nabal is 1 Sam. 25. 3. registred to have been of the most noble and generous Caleb's posterity The Jews who claimed Abraham for their father John 8. 33 39. our Saviour Matth. 3. 7. calls a generation of vipers and saith they were of their father the Devil V. 44. Nati de amico Dei Abraham vitio suo facti sunt quasi filii Cham as Hierom saith on Jer. 2. 14. A sad truth so notoriousl known that it came to be a Proverb both with the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acetum vini proles Wine begets Vinegar and with the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heroum filii noxae And I wish that our sad experience here in the University of many promising blossoms cankered in the bud of very many godly mens Sons if not wofully debauched yet much degenerated did not prove this too true and that the Papists had not such occasion to condemn our Ministers marriages by reason of the frequent abominable miscarriages of their Children as of old the seven Sons of Sceva the chief of the Priests proved Vagabond Exorcists Acts 19. 13 14. Thus Corruptio optimi est pessima and best mens Sons prove oft the worst of Sinners whilst pinning their faith on their Parents Sleeves they do not only thereupon not accept of Christ as the Jews upon this account rejected him because they were Abraham's Seed John 8. 33. but also think it will bear them out in their grossest impieties 5. And as thus they are often most enormously sinful so of all most extreamly miserable 1. For a Godly Parents Covenant will not in this secure and exempt their ungodly Children when by their degenerateness they cut off the entail of those mercies which would otherwise follow upon it Not from temporal Judgments here Sad is that word of such that they that found them devoured them and that because they Jer. 50. 7. had sinned against the Lord the hope of their fathers Because God had been the hope of their Godly Fathers therefore it made their wicked Childrens Case desperate So that as Ezekiel adds even Noah Daniel and Job three men eminent for piety and for protracting or diverting of God's judgments from others should not be able to deliver either Sons or Daughters Ezek. 14. 16 20. Nor from eternal at the last day And here Consider 1. With what face wilt thou then look upon thy godly Parent A sad last meeting who wilst remember what Prayers he made for thee what counsel and admonitions he gave thee and what care every way he took about thee to keep thee from that place of torment and all in vain It was a piercing word of that man of God on his Death-Bed Mr. R. Bolton which he charged his Children standing about him that they should not dare then to appear before him much less before Christ in an unregenerate Condition 2. Again think what sinking over-whelming grief and confusion A sadder last parting it will be then as our Saviour said to see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and so your godly Parents and Friends in the Luke 13. 28. Kingdom of heaven and your selves thrust out and so vast a gulf set between them that were by nature so nearly united Parting of friends though but for a time and for necessary and good occasions do now oft-times occasion tears and at parting at death or by some heavy outward judgment very sad ones when one is taken and the other left Luke 17. 34. though they be taken away to heaven whither we have hope to follow after them But such a sad parting as this is when we shall go away into everlasting punishment and our godly Parents into life eternal never never Matth. 25. 46. never to enjoy or see them more unless it should be as the Rich man that saw Abraham afar off he himself being in torment The Luke 16. 23. thoughts of this should sink into our hearts now else it will sink us into the very lowest depths of despair and Hell then Unless 3. This prove yet a lower that those Godly Parents of thine And the close of all saddest of all who whilest they did not know whether God would have mercy on thee as David for his sick Child 2 Sam. 12. 22. fasted and prayed and wept over thee when they see the issue and the good will of God accomplisht upon thee they will then quietly acquiesce in it Nay as then God will laugh at thy destruction and mock when Prov. 1. 26. thy fears then are come so that godly Woman when she had used all
not thy Father that hath bought thee c. Thy God and Saviour that hath redeemed thee and doth Jeshurun when grown fat begin to kick to forsake God that made him and lightly to esteem the God of his Salvation vers 15 18. but what follows vers 19. When the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and daughters It 's an unmanly sin man loaths it a most ungodly sin God abhors it in all especially in a Jeshurun and that signifieth an upright people it 's matter of highest provocation if he find it in his sons and daughters With others this despising of the riches of the goodness and forbearance and long-suffering of God treasures up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2. 4 5. And even in the dearest of God's children God so ill takes it that if the most upright Hezekiah make such returns he shall smart for it 2 Chron. 32. 25. compared with 2 King 20. 17 18. Let them so ungratefully abuse such a mercy the very worst of the Heathens shall rather have it than they continue owners of it Ezek. 7. 24. A return in this case God expects but it 's a return of praise and obedience and not a return to our sin that 's most hateful ingratitude 2. Most desperate Obstinacy as standing out against God when he hath gone through a full course of all means of the very last and most likely and which usually are wont to be most effectual for when God hath delivered his people from straits he hath endeavoured to fasten on them all obligations to obedience besides the tye of the Word in his Command there hath been the bond of affliction in their by-past misery and the thick cord of love in their present deliverance and shall this three-fold cord be so easily broken It 's not the Heroick Impetus of the Spirit of God coming Judg. 15. 14. Matth. 8 28. with Mark 5. 3 4. upon us as sometimes upon Sampson but from the insult of some evil spirit more fierce than ordinarily as in the Gospel that none of all not all these chains and fetters can hold us nor any thing tame us a tough bad humour which strongest Physick cannot purge and which is the Physicians last receipt for such are Afflictions and Mercies Sometimes indeed afflictions are the last as pinching and pineing Poverty at last brought home the Prodigal Luke 15. As a Winter-frost helps to kill these Weeds which in Summer sprung up and multiplied When Lenitives will not do corrosives searings cuttings off sometimes work the Cure But what hope if after all the Gangrene creep on still It may be you will say sometimes that may be preserved in Sugar that will not in Brine and when God hath not been before in the Wind and Earthquake and Fire he may be after in the still voice 1 King 19. 11 12 13. And therefore God that he may leave no means unessayed like a careful tender-hearted Father to a stubborn Child whom he would not lose will try whether mildness as a Summer-Sun will not melt that heart which harshness as a winter frost hardned You are told of a stone that will move at the gentle touch of a finger more than with the violent rush of your whole body and such stones sometimes are our hard hearts and therefore God that delights not in the death of a sinner and with the goodness of whose Nature this sweet way of Mercy most agrees is willing as at first to begin with it so after other sharper means used at last to end with it When after the Israelites want of Food he in Mercy gave them Bread from Heaven he saith it was that he might prove them whether they would walk in his Law or no Exod. 16. 4. So that if after Judgments we have a return of Mercies we had need take heed for it may be then we go upon our last and strongest trial In Afflictions God indeed strongly tryeth us whether we will cleave to him in want of Mercies but by Mercies he maketh fullest tryal of us whether we will serve and obey him whether we will set upon our Journey for Heaven in such fair Way and Weather when we have nothing to hinder us and whether we will build when the Scaffold is built and all Tools and Materials ready that we want nothing that might help us And then Isa 5. if after all Mercies yet sour Grapes what can God do more but quite extirpate If after tryal thus made of all means of the last and best we continue as ill or prove worse than before then Reprobate silver call them for the Lord hath rejected them Jer. 6. 29 30. Meneh Meneh Tekel Dan. 5. 25 to 30. Vpharsin God hath again and again numbred and weighed us and we are found light nay heavy-hearted and immoveable and what then follows Peres thy Kingdom is divided the Lord knows so is ours miserably And the Lord grant that which is added do not follow and is given to the Medes and Persians that God give us not up to our Enemies who after all this variety of powerfullest means will not yet give up our selves to him in a way of Obedience For if after we are made whole we sin again as we are over prone which was the first point it cannot be avoided but that every way both in point of sin and misery it will be worse with us which was the second point here implyed Of both which the Use and Application should have been in Vse the more full opening and inforcing the other two things here enjoyned 1. A serious and heedful Consideration and Review of the Mercy received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behold thou art made whole saith our Saviour he sets an Ecce upon it as to set forth the remarkableness of the Mercy so to put him in mind of his Duty and that was to take a diligent and exact survey of the Mercy and because being made whole speaks a former Disease and a present Cure he is called to think of both of them together and to compare them together how weak before he was and how well now before not able to crawl he can now rise up and walk he that could not before carry himself from the Porch to the Pool can now carry his bed from the Pool through the City He that for many years together was made sick with delayed Hopes and quite cut to the heart with vexatious Disappointments hath with the speaking of a word his Health perfectly restored and his longing Desires in an instant fully accomplished All this our Saviour would have him wisely behold and consider and for ever remember with all thankfulness And would he not have us of this City and Kingdom behold with the like care a greater Cure Indeed I cannot say to England thou art perfectly made whole we are yet come short of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that perfect Soundness which Peter told the Jews