us and we have seen his Glory So the beloved Apostle witnesses of him He took on him not the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham Thus the Son of God became the son of man being miraculously conceived of the Holy Ghost in the womb of Mary the Virgin over-shadowed by Gods Spirit and born of her in the humane nature like to us in all things except sin Thus was God the Son made manifest in the flesh by assuming the Nature not the person for then had he been two sons and two persons of man to himself This Man Christ Jesus hath body and soul the two substantial parts of Man even as we have as appear'd in his whole progress both which he hath Glorified not nullified This Fatherless man is as Wonderful as the same motherless God for who can declare his Generation as to the manner of it Thus Infiniteness confined himself God eternal was born of a finite poor Virgin Here is an Object indeed for the best knowledge of the best man God become man 3. Christ is God-man Emmanuel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God with us The true Ithiel God with me the very Vcal who is All. In him by hypostatical Union the humane nature with the Divine do both subsist in God the Son the second person of the divine Trinity Here is indeed a complication of ineffable wonders As there one Divine Nature subsists distinctly in three divine Persons So here two Natures the divine and humane subsist both in one person each of them acting and remaining distinctly conjunctly and inseparably incommutably and unconfusedly as the Fathers expressed it to avoid Errors on both hands Here is no mixtion nor composition no confusion nor conversion but a mysterious and transcendant Union from whence flow the various expressions of Scripture 1. When that is attributed to each Nature which properly belongs thereto as suffering to humane Nature and also when that is attributed to the person which therein belongs to both natures as to be Mediatour this is most proper Secondly When that which is common to the whole Person as to be Mediator is attributed only to one of the Natures suppose to the humane this is more improper Thirdly When that which is proper to one Nature is attributed to the other Nature in concreto by a name denoting the whole Person In that sense its true that God purchased his Church by his Blood and that the King of Glory was crucified by communication of Properties Yet this acception is the most improper of the three being Metonymical as the second is Synecdochical In man two imperfect Natures Soul and Body are coadunated with reservation of Proprieties to the constituting of one Suppositum and Person by the vertue of God Christs Person in the divine Nature being most perfect took the humane nature into the unity of one person by his own Vertue So that its one and the same Christ visible according to the humane invisible according to the divine Nature This hypostatical Union was the work of the Trinity mediately of the Holy Ghost immediately and of the Son terminatively The Fathers compare this Mysterie to the joint work of three Sisters making up one vesture and putting it all conjunctly upon the second of them It was necessary that Christ should be God 1. To impart an infinite value and vertue to his compleat Obedience 2. To overcome all sufferings and enemies 3. To communicate all effectually by his Spirit to his people It was as needful that he should be man 1. Because the Godhead could not suffer Secondly because the same Nature that had offended was to satisfie 3. That our Nature corrupted by the first Adam might be restored by the second Christ Jesus our Lord. Thus is Christs Person the Amiable Object of our Knowledge Secondly CHrist considered in his Office is a precious Object his chief business as Mediator being to procure effectual Reconciliation to the saving of his people by his perfect Oblation presented to God for them and applied to them by Gods Spirit He assumed the Name and function of Jesus the Saviour He was anointed as the Christ of God with all suitable qualifications and made Lord of all but especially made our Lord and Saviour by personal appropriation and effectual application Thus was Christ voluntarily made of a woman under the Law subjecting himself in that wonderful dispensation of his Mediation to receive from the Father his Call to that redeeming Function There was no defect in God but in us only who wanted skil power and will utterly to the curing and saving of our selves Christ therefore was divinely anointed to be our Soveraign Prophet Priest and Prince to effect all for us and in us needful to salvation As a Prophet he Reveals the whole Council of God As a Priest he makes full expiation to God and Intercession for us As a Kingly Prince he subdues all spiritual Enemies and makes all things serviceable to the guidance and protection of his people under his Soveraign Rule and Government All this he did and doth by his Eternal Spirit as the Scripture Records freely fully surely and singularly being therein a glorious Object of Christian knowledge Thirdly Christ in his Progress is considerable under a double state of Humiliation and Exaltation 1. HIs Humiliation appeared in all the steps of his Conception and Birth of his Life and Passion of his death and Burial most wonderfully This God head was then covered with the dark vail of his humane Nature mourning as it were in the sad habit of his infirmities for his peoples Enormities He willingly then eclipsed his divine light within the dark Lanthorn of this submissive state he humbled himselfe to exalt us he emptied himself that he might fill us He parted with all that he might give us all He shewed himself to be the Son of man to the lowest degree that he might bring all his into the state of Children Had there not been an absolute necessity thereof he had never done it Had not our case been so desperate could any other way have expiated and destroyed his peoples sins Christ had not come down from the height of Glory to the bottom of ignominy Here is an object of admiration indeed God humbled to a childs state growing up by degrees in Stature and Grace doing and suffering every moment for his enemies in rebellious arms Behold the Son of man wrastling with earth and hell yea with heaven it self conflicting with mans rage the devils fury and the wrath of God! What think you of sin the murtherer of this Christ and of that Love which gave him to the death Thus made he his soul a sacrifice for sin that he might see his seed and the good will of the Lord prospering in his hands He laid in the grave to confirm his
cruel and painful torment They might as well deny the Sun-light at noon-day who deny this Truth To turn plain Scripture into Allegories is to turn substance into a shadow It cost Origen a self-mutilation for mutilating divine writings thus He was called Centaur for monstrous Opinions flowing from Allegorical strainings of Scripture Christs Manhood should be so precious to us as not to endure affronts put on it Therein God and man do most sweetly meet which will help weak faith in every time of need 3 Against both the parts of his humane nature his soul and Body many also fight Apollinarius denying him a human soul as if the Godhead had supplied the want thereof Eutyches destroyed both by his pretended swallowing of them up into the Divine Nature The Manichees and Valentinians allowed him but an aery phantastical Body running through the womb of Mary as through a Pipe Mahometans fain it to have passed through Maries Paps and by the smell of a Rose Divers Novelists are daily broaching strange conceits about it The Vbiquitarians give him a monstrous Body immense and filling all places the Papists as monstrously would have his Body to be distinctly in many places at once to be without quantity without extension without sensible accidents to be made a new daily at the Priests will to be broken and not broken by himself and by all their Priests c. Many such contradictions against Scripture and sence Reason and all Sciences they are forced to for their fictitious Transubstantiation sake All such Malignant vapours which infest many will be effectually dispelled by the right use of your spiritual confection Christ was and abides ever a perfect man consisting of Soul and Body both subsisting in his divine Person being united to the divine Nature therein It will shew you that his soul was sorrowful to death and was made sensible of all humane affections though without sin as clear Chrystal water moved without any mud It will teach you that his Body had flesh and bones after his Resurrection as before which a spirit hath not That the same Body did visibly ascend into Heaven before the Disciples eyes and shal return thence in the same manner That the Heavens must hold him till the Restauration of all things That the glorifying of his Body hath not could not have annihilated it or changed the substance though it hath bettered the qualities thereof It will help you to know the flesh of Christ spiritually though you learn to know him no more after the slesh carnally It will teach you that his bare flesh and the fleshly sence thereof profits nothing a Capernaitish soul being destitute of his Spirit but that it s his Spirit that quickens us giving Life to his flesh and to his Word that both may be Spirit and Life to us in a spiritual and lively improvement Christs manhood is that precious Golden Ring that sets forth the Jewel of his Godhead to us It s a curious Vail of his contriving that his glorious face may through it be beheld It s a Chrystal Glass of the Lords framing to reflect thereby his Image upon us Out of Christ God is a consuming fire but thereby he becomes a Reconciled Father If Christ were not man still there were no hopes for man if we know him not thus we know him not at all It s not a figment of our own divising but the man Christ Jesus that must be our Saviour He cannot be ours unless wholly ours 4. Against his Person appear Nestorius dividing it into two Persons Sabellius Arius all Antitrinarians denying his distinctly eternal Personality from the Father The Socinians and Notionists that fancy the distiction of persons in God to be but nominal according to various dispensations witness Hob's Leviathan among many other poisonous books so commonly scattered abroad TO queneh the force of these pernicious Errors your Counter poison will season your soul with the scriptural description of Emmanuel our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God with us It will prove him to be God-man having both Natures divine and humane subsisting in his person the Son of God the second Person of the divine Trinity by Hypostatical Union it will clear him to be the Brightness of his glorious Father and the express Image of his Person being that one Mediator between God and Man and therefore God-man that he might conquer by suffering and make his suffering infinite for vertue and value for satisfaction and acquisition It will shew you that there are three in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and that those three are one That this Mystery is not against Reason though above it in its common shallow apprehension that the Son sends the Spirit Comforter from the Father and is therefore distinct from them both yet that he and the Father are one in Essence though distinct in person That Gods Reason is the Rule of ours being revealed to us in his divine monuments that we may assent to his Assertion though we cannot fathom the Explicitness thereof no more then Bruits can fathom our rational expressions That the Person of Christ coming out of the water must needs be distinct from that Person of the Spirit who came in the likeness of a Dove lighting on him at his Baptism and from the person of the Father whose voice from Heaven said This is my Beloved Son hear him Thus the Grace and Knowledge of Christ will teach you that he who thought it no Robbery to be equal wtth God being in the form of God substantially made himself of no Reputation that as God-man he might restore man to God in the gloryfiing of all divine Attributes Our Faith is not true if we do not own the true God truly as he holds forth himself in three distinct persons Those divine persons are not meer modes or manners of Attribution or Manifestation but real subsistences The Father is not the Son the Son is not the Spirit personally though they be one God essentially The person of the Son alone was incarnate not that of the Father he could not be Son not that of the Spirit there had been two Sons then The Word became flesh not the Father nor Spirit Divers Emblems are used to set forth this glorious Mysterie but Scripture-Language describes it best to a sober faith The Word Person is a Scripture Word very proper and significant They that deny this right use thereof make way for further denyal of Truth The Person of Christ is then to be owned by all that intend to be owned of him 5. Against Christs Spirit stirs first Macedonius denying him to be a divine Person distinct from the Father and Son Secondly All Antitrinitarians who oppose the distinction of divine Persons Thirdly The Greeke who deny the Procession of the Spirit from the Father through the Son Fourthly The several Blasphemers that vaunted
Principle in the Habit and Source in the seed and beginning is first given to the Elect in their Regeneration and Conversion to be the original of all actual Graces in them this is called the new creature the new man created after Gods Image the divine Nature the forming of Christ within c. Of this children are capable if they be not of actual Grace which yet seems probable This is inherent Grace in the first principles and Habits thereof both gratis data and gratum faciens in an Orthodox not in a popish sense Secondly Inherent Grace in the Branches and streams in the Acts and Effects in the fruits and progress is variously denominated from the Objects Subjects manner of acting c. it s called faith to express the motion of the renewed soul towards God in Christ upon conjugal terms believing his Truth closing with his Person trusting his Promises depending on his Mercy deriving from his fulness observing him in all things which is called the life of faith It s called Repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it turns the whole soul from all sin to God Both in purpose and endeavour through his Spirit this and all other Graces are still concomitants and subsequents of faith in their gradual proportion It s called love to denote the affectionate embracing of God in Christ and in his people for Christs sake as the most amiable object It s called obedience as it acts the whole man to a free and full compliance with Gods Will revealed in his Word It s called Thankfulness as it affects the heart with the sense of Mercy received It s called self-denial as it moves the soul to prefer Christ before all things else and part with any thing for his sake It s termed Patience in regard of sorrowfull evils which it learns to bear submissively It s named humility with respect to its low thoughts of self submitted still to Christ It s nominated Temperance in regard of its care to avoid all excessive use of Creatures It s termed Zeal as it moves with fervour for good against evil It s termed Justice or Righteousness in respect of its readiness to give every one their due It s called Prudence as it regards all due means tending to right ends It s termed Wisdom as it s acquainted with the best things in their nature cause and end Thus Grace inherent hath its various appellations and distinctions both habitually and actually being the Grace properly meant in the Text as being that Grace which is capable of Growth The Knowledge of Christ is taken also in a sense more large or more strict 1. LArgely and commonly for a notional Knowledge void of saving Faith and Love such as puffs up an empty Brain 2. Strictly and specially for that saving applicative knowledge which includes all Grace by an elegant Hebraism verbs of sense and knowledge signifying both affectum effectum Natural knowledge of things is acquired by sense Reason or Authority Thus in spirituals this knowledge of Christs is spiritually sensible and rationally fiducial Its a conjugal knowledge which implies 1. Apprehension of the Truth of Christs proper Object 2. Credit and Assent thereto upon his divine Authority 3. Personal consent and particular Applications in mutual Acception and Reciprocation Grace and Knowlede in the Text may be understood 1. Distinctly Conjunctly 1. DIstinctly shewing the excellent Worth and needfull use of every Grace and of the knowledge of Christ 2. Conjunctly by a figure called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace and Knowledge signifies gracious Knowledge as in that like phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace and Apostleship for gracious Apostleship So the sense will be very emphatical suiting our purpose in characterizing this excellent Jewel so singularly transcendent beyond all other This precious Jewel is curiously set out in the golden ring of divine Records where you find it held forth in its radient Lustre whose glorious beams may be contracted for our clearer apprehension into plain description you may then observe it to be a conjugal acquaintance with Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour wrought in Gods Elect by the special operation of his renewing Spirit and effectually improved to Gods honor and mans good in every Relation toward God and Man This is the choice Jewel whose eminent worth hath been in all ages so incomparably prized by the Word and friends of God Every Page of Scripture sets forth the peculiar Eminency thereof every precept and Promise every prefiguration and Prophesie every President and performance points unto this This was under the Old Testament more ceremonially vailed and under the New is more Evangelically Revealed This is the centre wherein all the Lines of Scripture do meet All the Patriarchs aimed still at this Abraham saw his day and rejoiced Davi◠is full of it Job was divinely advised to such an Acquaintance as to the source and sum of all good Paul accounted all loss and dung in comparison of this excellent Knowledge and rationally determined to know nothing else Peter sums all up in this Good Reason for it if we consider the Object and subject the cause and Nature the property and effect thereof which are all hinted in the former Description Reason 1. The proper Object adequate of this gracious Knowledge is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ a singular Jewel indeed in every consideration The Paramount and Non-such the chiefest of ten thousand both in his Person and Office in his progress and Purchase in his Relation and Influence 1. The Person of Christ is a noble Paragon considered as God as Man as God-man 1. CHrist is God blessed for ever the eternal Son of his eternall Father co-essential and co-equal with him the the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image or Character of his Person in whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substantially and bodily the only begotton of the Father full of Grace and Truth essentially one with the Father though personally distinct by an eternal Generation unutterable to man firmly to be believed on Gods Testimony and piously adored not curiously pried into The wonderful Wisdom of the Father who was his Delight before Time by whom in time he made the world and upholds all by the word of his power Essentially he is God of himself Personally God the Son of God the Father His proper Name is the Word of God the Wonderful Councellor the Father of Eternity He that doth what ever the Father doth and to be worshipped as the Father is worshipped He that sends the Spirit from the Father who being in the form and substance of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God To him be glory for ever Amen 2. Christ as Man is the Rare Object of this Knowledge For the word was made flesh and dwelt among
used by him to set forth his goodness What ever defect you find in the Creature he is not capable of that is all goodness all perfection Is not such a Christ a singular object to exercise our knowledge about What his office called him to his progress fitted him for and his relation makes conveyance of through his holy Spirit unto all his Sixthly His Influence is considerable for actual Communication of all Each Relation of his carries still with it a secret sweet and sutable Influx which doth strongly and efficaciously operate on all his thereby they are made more and more Partakers of the divine nature in escaping the pollutions that are in the world through Lust The Apostle had found the precious vertue thereof which made him so desirous to know him in the power of his Resurrection and in the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death This the Converts at Ephesus felt who being made acquainted with this gracious knowledge of Christ were quickned by his power and made to rise with him yea to sit with him at Gods right hand This Influence is free indeed this spiritual wind blows where it lists not being tied to any means it works at pleasure with or without means by weak small improbable or contrary means yet ordinarily God works by his appointed Tools he walks in his own road of Providence and leads his people step by step to the very top of Jacobs Ladder In the course of things natural and spiritual he limits us still though not himself and will be sought and found in each of his ways for the further knowledge of his divine Influence It s he that is the Life of our Life the strength of our strength in whom we live move and have our Being both naturally and spiritually How excellent then is that gracious Knowledge whose Object is thus excellent in every consideration Reason 2. THE Subject and Recipient of this knowledge sets forth the inestimable worth of it They are his Elect his chosen Jewels his peculiar people to whom he imparts this Jewel unto Them only doth he know for his of all the Nations to whom he makes himself thus savingly known As he makes himself the Pearl or Price to them so doth he make them Pearls of Price thereby Blessed are the people who learn to known him being first known of him The rest are refuse stones these are his living precious stones Others he knows with a general knowledge of intuition but these with a special knowledge of appropriation and approbation The rest delight not to know him as he delights not to know them He never knew them and they never knew him in this choise manner For his own he came to make himself thus graciously known to their souls in all the Dimensions of his eternal Love surpassing mans knowledge that they may be filled with the fulness of God How precious is that knowledge that makes the Subjects thereof so precious How admirable is that Jewel that takes up the the sublimest Contemplations templations of the most glorious Angels Those Elect Angels are still attending in his Ordinances to join with his Elect and learn of the Church this manifold wisdom of our God For those Elects sake Christ suffered all things meritoriously and Paul his servant providentially Those Elect whom the Lord did foreknow he never casts away but makes them up among his Jewels by making his Christ so precious to them in a greacious way His choice Love did freely choose them before time and is fully assured to them in Christ being communicated through the precious Operations of his Spirit to make them precious like himself in due time unto eternity Reason 3. The cause of this Gracious Knowledge doth as wonderfully magnifie the same considerable in the Efficient formal and final 1. THe Efficient cause and Author thereof is the blessed Trinity jointly yet distinctly Revealing and communicating Jesus Christ unto his chosen people 1. The external Operations of God towards the creature being indivisibly effected by the three Persons concurring in One the Son doing nothing but what he sees his Father do and working still as the Father works and the Spirit proceeding from both speaks not of himself but whatsoever he hears from them both that speaks he unto Christs Disciples 2. Distinctly according to their distinct personal Relations 1. The Father electing from eternity having chosen them in Christ before the Foundation of the world that they might be holy and unblameable before him in Love and therefore predestinating them to the Adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his Will and making them through his knowledge meet partakers of his Inheritance in Light by translating them into the Kingdom of his dear Son who were chosen according to his foreknowledge through sanctification of the Spirit 2. The Son accepting and undertaking tendring and effecting in and by himself the whole business of their Salvation making known the same by his Word and Spirit as also by his own Person in the dayes of his flesh 3. The holy Spirit by wooing of their souls opening their eyes and fitting them for the Reception of this Excellent Knowledge infusing the same into them applying it particularly to their several dispositions and occasions removing daily the scales of their ignorance and sin scattering the mists raised by the Prince of darkness Repressing the vapours steeming from their boyling Lusts and dunghil hearts setting forth Christ to their souls in his full Beauty and Loveliness and leading them into all Truth by taking of Christ to impart unto them the gracious secrets of the Fathers Counsel Thus the glorious God works graciously in and by all Means of his appointing to the creating encrease and perfecting of his singular Jewel 2. THe formal Cause is very Remarkable in that peculiar saving application made of Christ to his Elect in their conversion gradually carried on towards perfection by the Spirits gracious Operation For then doth he stamp on that soul the glorious characters of Christs Image and begets that new creature which divine off-spring moves upward instantly in conjugal Reciprocations dilating the soul in all her faculties to the further comprehension of Christ It may be parallel'd with that Energetial Power whereby the rational soul and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 animates the humane nature into all suitable operations What the soul is to man in naturals that 's Christ to the soul in spirituals The principle of all Life Sence and Reason thus spiritually applied to the Regenerate enables and excites directs and strengthens them to the choice Improvements of this conjugal Acquaintance Christ on marriage terms by his Spirit in his Word tenders and gives himself to be their Husband By this quickening Touch they
places in Ezekiel and other Scriptures hold this forth to the Life by the increase and Improvement of the Sanctuary-waters A fruitfull Parable the Lord himself spreads before us to express this emphatically by a large and pregnant Allegory whose divine Branches have been elaborately trimmed to this purpose by a very worthy Pen. The God of all Grace likes not to see his gracious Off-spring wasted with Rickets in a decaying posture His Messages from Heaven to the seven Churches of Asia testifie the same and hold forth a lively resemblance of his various dealings with his people from that time hitherto according to the various proportions of their Growth or Decay Reason 1. Their Nature requires it full of Spirit and Life they are and must needs grow The more of Life in any thing the more of Growth The more of Spirit the more of liveliness Grace is spiritual Life the seed of Glory and eternal Life It s the Life of Christ the operation of his holy Spirit as far as man is capable thereof The best of a mans natural Life is but dull and dead in comparison of this gracious Life Union to the living God and Communion with him in Christ through the Spirit is the Principle of this supernatural Life The new Creature must needs grow that Partakes so much of the divine Nature in similitude though not in sameness in quality though not in equality Want of lively Principles makes so many glorious Professors to wither and waste so miserably They were but seeming Branches as Cions meerly fastened about the stock but never incorporated therein intimately They that have their root and Life from earthly Nature still may for a while flourish but will soon be blasted The Root and Life of the new man is above in Gods bosom in the heart of Christ still supplied by his Spirit to safeguard them from all winter-blasts of renewed Temptations and corruptions Reason 2. Gods honour cals for it All things are made for him as they were framed by him Of him through him and to him are all things as in Nature so in Grace peculiarly This people hath he formed for his praises They are the plants of his setting the work of his hand that he may be glorified And herein is their Father glorified that they bring forth much fruit The growth of his Garden is the glory of that Divine Husbandman The thriving of his children must needs commend his Fatherly care His Love and service cannot but press thereto If his children be so unlike him they can neither honour nor serve him aright He hat much work for all his servants in every Relation and occasion If they be sickly and wasting what are they fit for Must not his people be lively like him that they may be stil faithful and successful The more Christ is known in a gracious way the more doth sin waste and Grace flourish The vigor of a Christian is still in his Christ The Love of Christ must needs constrain him to live more to him in being more like him Much strength and Spirit is still required in every part of the Lords service He would have us fervent in spirit as Paul himself was therein which doth require a spiritual growth to make us vigorous Reason 3. Mans Interest challenges it their credit and comfort their honour and happiness depend upon their growth Their profit and pleasure their helpfulness to others still attend the same A wasting sickly life is as uncomfortable as unserviceable to our selves and others Rickets and Consumptions render our children useless and burthensom spiritual decaies are far more offensive unto Gods children They can neither help themselves nor others that are thus pining and consuming The life of our life is in our health and strength without it we cannot receive nor do good to any purpose A diseased Life is but a living Death and a dying Life Christ must be known more graciously stil that we may enjoy more of his comforts and be more useful to all his members The more any Limb receives from the head the more assistance may the same afford unto its Body We must still be deriving from Christ what we are stil to communicate to our fellow members Christian sympathie and communion will still challenge serviceableness from every part of his mystical Body Vse 1. See the Necessity and Benefit of a perpetual Ministry and Ordinances They are the special means appointed and blessed for the promoting of this spiritual growth He gave Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ untill we all come into a perfect man in him to the full measure of his stature that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine but speaking the Truth in Love may grow up into him in all things who is the Head even Christ The slighting of Christs Institutions makes so many to decay apace in their profession and affection in their parts and practice They are the food and refreshings of Gods House suited to the case of all his children and servants therein The neglect abuse and poisoning thereof must needs be very sinful and woful How can they but languish and perish that scorn and defile that spoil and pervert the precious Means of their Life and growth Providence ever knits the End and the Means What the Lord appoints he doth surely and seasonably bless Out of his road he will not be look'd for nor assure his Grace where he Records not his Name His General presence fils all places indeed and Rules in hell it self Judicially But his favourable and fatherly presence is to be sought and found in his gracious Ordinances What can Rebels expect from a Soveraign whose Orders they stil oppose and reject Who can look for the Blessing of Heaven in following the waies of darkness What hope of growing in any good things without answerable supplies and relief We waste a pace and need refreshing still that we may grow in the knowledge of Christ Vse 2. It may convince and humble all ignorant and negligent Christians It s our sin let it be our shame and sorrow that we grow so little under such helps in the Lords husbandry This evil reigns in most it remains in the best Most continue in the love under the power thereof making a trade and a sport of it the best find much cause to be still judging themselves for the sad Reliques of these unhappy weeds The dunghil abounds continually with filth and Vermin so doth mans unrenewed heart The best Garden will ever be troubled with some trash or other to be look'd after Their case is saddest that are most sensless of it and secure in it The soundest bodies
our Israel The Method thereof appears clearly from what hath been said This gracious knowledge will afford us the sure Medicines for a distracted Church and a discomposed State Any diseased soul and disordered Family may hence take Receipts with the best Probatum Politicians would prove far more prosperous would they study Christ more and Machiavel less Did Ministers know him more graciously they would meet surely with better success Did all Superiors attend his Prescripts every business would find under them much facility Did private Christians observe this better they would sure enjoy much of Truth and Peace both for the internal and external man The Lord thy Physitian is his Title of honour which Christ sets up by his great Herauld and proclaims to his people for speedy help in every trouble Vse 2. It should admonish all carnal and notional Christians under the total Reign or partial Remainder of Spiritual Errors and Revolts What pity is it that such a choice Help so freely tendered should be so basely slighted and abused Doth not this Point then justly Reprove 1. Such as are under the total Reign of sin and Error all sinners in grain Is not your case very woful indeed that wilfully abide in a Christless state by still abiding in a sinful state Sin is your plague and you know it not Error Rules in you and you feel it not why are you sensless in such a danger Because sin is there in its Element Your disease is a sleepy feaver or a phrantick madness else you would never slight Christs Physick no more then his Person You feed upon ashes a deceitful heart hath carried you aside that you cannot see the lye in your right hand It may be you think you Reject not Christ why then do you reject his Terms and prefer your own Why do you stil love what he loaths and loath what he loves Why do you then continue stil in the love and trade of your darling sins secret or gross Why do you stil provide for your Lusts and plead for them covering of them mincing the matter and returning still thereto as the dog and swine Why do you stil then loath his Ordinances his Word and Sabbath his service and servants Do you pretend Allegiance to him and yet continue stil in Rebellion Do you profess to own his marriage terms and yet remain stil wedded to the world to your gain and will to sensual pleasure and windy honour Do you profess to believe in Christ and yet will not do what he bids you nor forbear what he forbids This is to mock not to honour Christ he knows you not that wilfully and constantly work iniquity in opinion affection or life 2. Under the partial Remainders thereof will Regnerate Saints be found though not all alike The best therefore may justly be Reproved for their sinful estrangedness from Christ Is not this the cause of so many Errors and Revolts our not growing in that gracious Knowledge that would prove our Soveraign Antidote Why do we study the Lord Christ so little and the world so much Is not our ignorance and self-conceitedness our sloth and neglect about this main thing the great cause of our sad distempers Factions and Fractions we justly bewail in every Relation Most carry fire and fuel to the common Incendy to encrease it stil few mind the water of the Sanctuary for to quench the same Do not the best find upon due search much of selfishness in all disputes and controversies Do they not also find in their private affairs how much self is preferred before Christ Should not this great evil humble our souls deeply that we thus forsake the Fountain of living Waters and dig unto our selves broken empty Cisterns that will hold no water Is this our kindness to our dearest friend Is this our Loyalty to our dread Soveraign Is this our love to our selves and Neighbor to despise thus the only way of cure Be we ashamed of this vile neglect that Christs Truth and Waies have suffered so much through our great folly Are our experiences of so little worth and our acquaintance with Christ so inconsiderable that we slight all and yield to every assault of temptation and corruption drawing us aside Vse 3. Enquiry and search into our spiritual state our Complexion may be hence observed that the Tokens of our Personal and publike Constitution may be duly brought to Divine Test 1. Hence may every one personally view his case and state towards Eternity We are all by Nature deadly sick of sin still subject to Error and Apostacy of the basest kind Our hearts are full of mortal poison carrying still within the seed and Root of the worst disease naturally and spiritually What Antidote have we got against all such dreadful evils Have we learned Christ in the truth of him that our gracious knowledge might stil be growing Are we thereby fenced against the sinful causes of Error and Revolt Are we daily mortifying sin dying to the world resisting Tempters denying our selves through the knowledge of Christ Are we still fortifying our souls with his precious Grace that all our Faculties may be preserved in spiritual health against sin and Error Do we rightly apply the vertue of this Christ in each of his specifick properties whilst we attend his will and Blessing in the diligent use of all the means appointed by him Do we still mind his Word and Blood his Grace and Favour in every Ordinance and Providence through his Spirits help 2. May we not hence also take a Publick Estimate of the state of Affairs in this place in this Land in this Republique yea of any place whatsoever The true Prognosticks of present and future Weal or Wo will be hence made perspicuous Away with Star-gazers and carnal wisdom that we may consult with Gods own Personal Wisdom How far are we then in a publike posture acquainted with Christ How far is that Acquaintance improved Resolve these queries and the case will be as clear as Noon-day God may save us with A Notwithstanding miraculously at his own pleasure But we must judge of persons and things by the known Rule of his Word compared with Providence So far as we slight Christ publickly in any concernment of his so far may we rationally expect that he should slight us in our concernments Let every one make due application as he shall see cause in all publike Affairs whilst God is shaking and overturning all things in the Nations and will do so still til Christ come to his Right to fill his house with Glory Vse 4. May be for counsel to all Christian Professors prize and desire embrace and insure Keep and improve this precious Antidote It s an infectious season it concerns all to look to themselves and therefore look well after this Antidote to prevent and remove all sinful diseases That it may be yours effectually
the Beast by this usurped Supremacy When all that is dispatched we shall have more work for them to clear their Antichristianism in ruling by their own not by Christs Scepter by their will not by his which they have taught their mongrel Brood quaking among us to spread under disguises their chymical sublimations of old rotten Errors As for the fifth Monarchy it s a point needing much sobriety in the sence and use thereof Christ indeed hath a kingdom in this world though not of this world and his work is to Reform Rulers and people not to confound his own Ordinances 10. Christs humiliation state is opposed much as 1. by the former so 2 by many Novelists who make light of it accounting it but a type and figure of what was to be done within them Christs Incarnation Life and Passion are with them but stories and shadows the Life and substance is all within them There say they lies Christ very deep in every mans heart covered with earth to be born and raised up to live and die to do and suffer As for the Christ that died at Jerusalem many do slight him and many that seem to own him verbally yet renounce him effectively 3. By our late Quakers who have revived those rotten drugs from the Familists dunghil adding a new dress and access thereto as Paracelsus and David George Swenkfield and Battenburg Manno and Jacob Behmen with their German followers So do our Modern Enthusiasts rake up the kennels of old fanatick Dreamers with disguises and additions of their own Against this Venom spiritual Growth will help that we may know Christ as the great Apostle did labour for in the fellowship of his sufferings It will inform us of his wonderful abasing of himself in every step from his first conception till his resurrection It will shew us the absolute need all his Elect had of his miraculous Incarnation and Birth Life and Death Burial and abode for three daies in the Grave It will make us feel the effects thereof in our very souls that his Transcendent Love in stooping so low and parting withal may direct and press Returns of the like to him and for him That experience will engage our hearts to that Christ above who died once for sin but can die no more living unto God that we may likewise reckon our selves to be dead to sin but alive to God through him That Knowledge of Christ will teach us aright how to distinguish of the Person of Christ that once suffered for us and of the Grace of Christ which is by his Spirit formed within us in Regeneration Christ Personal is the God of Heaven that eternal Creator But his Grace in us which seems sometimes to be called by Christs Name as the Church is also by a Metonymical Metaphor and Synecdochically is but a finite creature a spiritual quality not subsisting by it self but inhering in a subject humane Scripture saith indeed that Christ is within us dwelling in us by his holy Spirit But may not he work within our heart by gracious communications without a personal fixation there The Sun conveys Light and Life by his Beams to all parts yet his substance abides stil in Heaven There is indeed a spiritual Relative union between Christ and the Regenerate set forth in Scripture by divers Emblems The Natural union between the Head and Members the civil union between Husband and Wife the artificial union between Foundation and Building set it forth But we must not strain figurative speeches beyond their scope This union is Real yet mystical full of mysteries There is no confusion nor composition no Transmutation nor Annihilation here Our persons are stil distinct Christs Godhead is indeed a Circle whereof the center is everywhere the Circumference nowhere He fils all places comprised in none Hell it self feels him though with little comfort But his manhood is not Infinite being a creature though wonderfully glorified by assumption and hypostatical union unto the Godhead in the second Person Christ as Saviour must stil be considered in both his Natures Divine and Humane subsisting in his own Person Thus considered he dwells not in us personally The person of the Husband is one with the Wife Relatively not personally Christs manhood cannot be personally within us The Heavens must hold as they received him till the Restauration of all He dwels in our hearts by Faith and we in him mutually as the Root in the Branches and the Branches in the Root by Relation and communication His whole Humiliation was for us and his Spirit enables us gradually to conform thereto by a fiducial Improvement thereof Thence he is said to be formed within us to be in us or among us the hope of Glory to live and act in us c. Hence the sufferings of Paul are called Christs sufferings not personally but causally because they are for his sake through his Grace undergone It s a sad abuse put on Christ and his Word thus to slight and destroy Christs personal Humiliation whereon depends all our Salvation If Christ suffered not then he rose not again and then are we still in our sins and of all men most miserable But Christ is as effectually Risen as he effectually suffered That effected Redemption by price in Impetration this by Power in application Thus it became him to suffer and so to enter into his Kingdom How far the Justice of God absolutely considered may be thought to require such satisfaction in order to pardon we need not controvert It suffices that upon supposition of his purpose and Engagement this way is of absolute need By this all his Attributes harmoniously concur to the perfecting of his peoples Salvation 11. Christs Exaltation is also much abused as 1. By the former Errors so 2. By our Modern Sadduces denying the Resurrection of the Body as some did at Corinth 3. By the Quaking Rabble who own no Christ but what is within them 4. By our Novelists who deny his Ascension and his Session at the Fathers Right hand 5. In effect also by the Papists in their Impanation Transubstantiation and such monstrous Doctrines 6. The Vbiquitaries trespass too much thereon in divers fond conceits broached and encreased after Luthers death by Brentius Osiander c. 11. AGainst such Opposers the Knowledge of Christ is of Soveraign force Thence we learn to Believe according to Scripture the several steps of his Resurrection and Ascension of his Session and Intercession It teaches us to improve the many Arguments so cogently pressed by Paul on the Corinthians as on the Romanes Thence we learn to know Christ as the Apostle did more experimentally in the power of his Resurrection being made conformable to his death So it became Christ to suffer and enter into Glory As by Humiliation he wrought out our Salvation by Price in way
Life a Turning of men from darkness to Light and from the power of Satan to God by opening of their eyes and renewing their Will It s expressed by taking away the heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh in putting his Spirit within us and giving a new heart and a new spirit in our special effectual Calling It s said to be our Regeneration and being born again absolutely needful to open an entrance into Gods Kingdom Though there be some Reliques of natural and moral Endowments left in men since the fall in their powers and parts as appears by the Heathens Improvements yet these only testifie the wofulness of mans desperate fall in ruining so glorious a Fabrick Thence the blindness and perversness of his mind and will are so aggravated the crooked distortions of his Affections the searedness and corruption of his Conscience with the disorder of every part are set forth so Emphatically to convince every man Thence men are said before Conversion to be Godless and hopeless because Christless Thence is the wonderful operation of Renewing Grace so extolled still in this new creation bringing forth Light out of darkness in making man partaker of the Divine Nature This supernatural Work is carried on rationally by the Spirit of Christ in a way suitable to mans rational Being He works strongly yet sweetly he opens their heart-springs with a special Key of his own framing This Renewing Grace runs parallel with the Fathers Electing and the Sons Redeeming Grace whom God did foreknow and predestinate those he calls effectually seasonably savingly Their corrupt nature doth much resist it till Grace prevails and conquers all its Forts The outworks of the Mind and Judgement Christs Spirit conquers first thence breaking through the Iron Gate of mans Will into the possession of all the powers and parts of the soul Many sins remain still in every part like so many Cananites and Tories to be gradually subdued These Rebels being broken in their Head and Reign Grace doth orderly dispatch by mortifying exercise The Spirit of Christ carries on his work in supporting and supplying still those gracious Beginnings which are weak at first By the Gospel Light he communicates his gracious Life Thus he perswades enables his people to embrace Jesus Christ upon Gospel terms by a Covenant of Marriage and Adoption Thus is mans dunghil heart by Renewing Grace broken up and dressed into a spiritual Garden sown and set with the fruits of his holy Spirit It differs exceedingly from common convictions and external Reformations as earth differs from Heaven That difference is still morally-specifical though it seems to be Physically but Numerical and gradual It s the same Spirit that works conviction on the Reprobate and on the Elect but not in the same manner He knocks at both and is resisted He leaves the Reprobate justly he opens the Elects heart mercifully and prevailingly The Reprobate may be externally and professedly sanctified in a partial superficial way Gods Elect are specially sanctified universally in every part and gradually through every part Mans free will by sin subjected to Satan is through this Renewing Grace set at liberty so far as Grace prevails The unregenerate is free only to spiritual evil being an enemy to spiritual good The Regenerate soul is so far free to spiritual good as it s renewed When Grace is compleated in Glory the soul like good Angels shall be free only to good The Nature of mans will is thus bettered by Grace which was made a slave by sin The Devils and damned do freely will sin so do unregenerate souls on earth yet necessarily Thus necessity man stand with freedom both to good and evil By this Renewing Grace the regenerate soul is made conformable to Gods Image and is so far called the new man and gradually learns to be holy as God is Holy That Seed and Root of Grace cast into it at first grows up by degrees as the grain of mustard seed as the corn as the Light as the living Child Thereby the soul is enabled to believe and Repent and further to actuate every sort of Grace being excited corroborated and directed still by the same Spirit Thence is the conflict so continuall between the spirit and flesh the Law in the members and the Law in the Mind Grace and sin which ends not till the death of sin in bodily death Thus acti agimus Implanted Grace then co-works still with the Lords gracious Spirit who works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure This Grace appears also most free and full most choice sure to the glorifying of all Divine Attributes Man could not be conceived to have any skil power or will to procure the same By Grace the Lord cals unto Grace and so to Glory By Grace are we saved through Faith and that not of our selves it s the gift of God not of works least any man should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works so that it s not in him that wills nor in him that runs but in God who shews mercy Of his own will begat he us by the Word of Truth that we might be to the praise of his Glory Object But why then is man commanded to believe and repent to change his heart c Answ Because as we hinted before God deals with men by men rationally orderly to convince all of their Duty and insufficiency to humble and awaken them to put them upon all due means to render the most inexcusable and moralize many to convey his Grace into his Elect through those very means peculiarly sanctified to the spiritualizing of their heart Object But is not God partial in so doing Answ No. For he is not bound to any further then he pleases neither is he led by any sinful respects which render men partial Object But why doth he yet complain of the Reprobates if he give them not sufficient Grace as to others how can they help it Ans God justly complains of the wicked for insolvency and squandring away his goods wilfully and rebelliously both in their first Father and by themselves They smart not but for their fault their being Bankrupts is no payment nor discharge of their debts to him He gives them more then they could expect or make right use of Though they cannot change their own heart yet they might use the means better then they do they are still wilfully negligent and selfish in all they do and suffer justly for their demerits Can the wicked say they sin not wilfully Will not their own conscience condemn them Are they not all corruptly estranged from the womb and speaking Lyes by time Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Can the
3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and partial acceptation of persons forbidden of God is to be found only in debitis and matters of Duty not in Gratulties and things of free Gift About this Truth besides the Fathers Greek and Latin and our former Reformed Divines you may consult with late Writers as Dr. Preston Dr. Ames Dr. Sibs Mr. Bolton Dr. Thom. Goodwin Dr. Ward Dr. Twiss Bishop Davenant Bl. Morton Mr. Hooker Mr. Shepherd Dr. Owen Mr. Rutherford Mr. Cotton Mr. Burges Lectures Mr. Baxter Mr. Gataker Mr. Lyford c. Sleidan Cloppenburg Becman Hornebeck Altingius Bulinger c. Eph. 1. 3 4 5. Tit. 3. 4 5. 2 Thes 2. 13. Rom. 8. 28 29 30. Iohn 6. 37 39 44 45. Iohn 10. 27 28 29. Iohn 17. 2. 1 Pet. 1. 25. 2 Thes 2. 13. 1 Pet. 1. 2 3 4. Phil. 1. 19. Phil. 4. 19. Iohn 1. 12. Act. 13 48. Iohn 10. 3 14 15. Tit. 2 11 12. 1 Iohn throughout Iohn 6. 37 38 39. Iohn 10. 27 28 29. Heb. 8. 2 Sam. 23. 5. Ierem. 31. 33. Ezek. 36. 26 27. Psalm 73. 23. 2 Cor. 12. 9. 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 c. Tit. 2. 10 11 12. Mirae Gradationes in divina Catena inseparabiles 1 a. decretorum Rom. 8. 28 29 30. 2 a. Virtutum 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7 8 9 10. 3a Officiorum 1 Thes 5. 17 18. 19 c. 4 a. Privilegior 1 Cor. 1. 30. 1 Cor. 3. 21 22. 5 a. Beatitudinum Matth. 5. 3 4 5. c. Omnes isti Coelestes nexus sunt firmiter contexti nulla vi aut fraude dissolvendi Pendent enim omnes ab Optimi Maximi Throne ipsius Omnipotenti manu connectuntur conservantur 2 Tim. 2. 13. Rom. 8. 32. Ephes 1. 13. 2 Cor. 1. 22. About this Subject you may read much in all Antiquity and among Divines and Civilians of late especially in English you 'l find it handled exactly by Mr. Cobbet of New England in 1653. and much in scattered places among Mr. Baxters and others Works and in the Volumes of Sermons preached before the Parliaments since 1640. to this day You may see about it our Libertine School'd lately published Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6. 1 Sam. 2. 30. Rom. 13. 2 Sam. 23. 2 3. Exod 18. 21. Nehem. 3. 5. 2 Chron. 19. 5 6 7. Esay 49. 23. Ierem 30. 21. Their Queries and Objections you find answered in our Libertin School'd briefly more largely in other Authors Rom. 13. 2 3 4 5. Prov. 8. 15 16. Esay 8. 20. 2 Pet. 1. 19 20 21. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. 1 Tim. 1. 13 14. Tit. 3. 3. Act. 26. 9. 1 Pet. 2. 20. 2 Kiâ—g 17. compared with 2 King 19. Esay 49. 23. Revel 13. Revel 17. This Theme hath been frequently and fully handled in all Ages and in ours by the Assembly of Divines the Ministers of London by Mr. Shepheard Mr. Hooker Mr. Rutherford Mr. Gilespy Mr. Norton Mr. Cotton c. who harmoniously agree in the substantials though they sometimes vary in Circumstantials of Order Ecclesiastical Mal. 2. 7. Num. 16. Num. 17. Num. 31. 30 47. Num. 35. 2 8. Gen. 49 7. Deut. 33. 9 10. their scattering was for the publike good Deut 12. 19. Ezek. 44. 28 29 30. 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. 2 Chro. 30. 22. Ezek. 48. 10 11 12 13. This Prophesie from the 40 th Chapter of Ezek. is Evangelical though set out by Mosaical Expressions as the whole scope demonstrates Expositors harmoniously agree 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. See Josephus his Antiquity and of the Iewish wars Iohn 2. 14 15 16. Matth. 21. 12. Luk. 19. 45 46. Luke 9. 1 2 c. Luke 10. 1 2 c. Eph. 4. 10 11. Eph. 4. 11 12. 1 Cor. 12. 28 29. Act. 20. 28. Matth. 28. 18 19 20. Ioh 20. 22 23. Heb. 13. 7 17 24. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Revel 2. and Chap. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 19. 1 Cor. 4. 1. 1 Thes 5 12. Act 14. 22. 1 Tim. 5. 17 22. 2 Tim. 2. 2. Tit. 1. Eph. 4. 13 14. Revel 1. 20. Revel 11. About this you may see much in Smectymnuus in Waâ—o Messalinus in Salma sii libro de primatu Papae In the London Ministers Jus Minist Presbyt in Gilespie A-Aarons Rod Blossoming where the Fathers as Iren. Iustin Tertul. Austin Ierom c. are quoted to your hand See also Centur. Magdeb. Calvins Institut All our Divines about Church-Order Myster Inquit Morn c. Revel 13. Revel 17. 2 Thes 2. 4 5 6 7. 1 Tim. 4. 1 2 3 c. Revel 11. Revel 12. Revel 13. Revel 17. BishopVsher de Antiq success Ecclesiar Centur Magdeburg Catalog Test veritat Myster Inquit Morn Histor of the Church Chemnit Exam Field of the Church Iewels Apolog Whitaker Rainold Ius divinuÌ„ Minist Evangel Fox Monuments Spelman de Christ Relig. in Britan. Isaak's Chronology Speed c. Voet. Desperata causa papat pag. 405. The Romish usurpations were vigorously opposed in England from time to time witness Eademer Hist Nov. Selden Speed c. 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. 1 Thes 2. 7 8. Heb. 5. 4. Rom. 10. 13 14 17. Ierem. 23. 21 22 32 38. Ierem. 29. 31. Numb 16. 1 King 12. 30 31. 1 King 13. 34. 1 Tim. 3. Act. 14. 22. 1 Tim. 5. 22. Matth. 10. 40. Luke 10. 16. Matth. 24. 2 Tim. 4. 3 4. Ierem. 23. 32. 1 King 17. 18 1 Cor. 9. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 c Many choice Pleces are extant of this Subject by the Ancient and Modern in all Nations About these see Picus Mirandula Perkins Mr. Gauls Magastromanier Spanhemius c. Cornelius Agrippa himself once a great friend hereto saw at last the great danger thereof and discovered it to others Heb. 1. 2 3. Amos 3. 6. Godâ— not the Author of sin though active about sin in his decree and execution Therein he acts 1. as the supreme Mover man as the proper subject 2. God as the Author of Nature man as a moral Agent 3. God by a pure Rule man against Rule Gen. 50. 20. Act. 4. 20. Matth 10. 21. Esay 47. 12 13. Deut. 18. 9 10 11 12. 2 King 17. 17. Ierem. 14. 14. Ezek. 12. 24. Ezek. 13. 6 7 22. Act. 16. 16. The chief Hereticks who troubled the Church most in all Ages have been great promoters of this black Art as Manes the Priscillianist the Simonians Menandrians Marcionists Mark confuted by Irenaeus c. The Laws Imperial Ecclesiastick and Municipal have been zealous in all Ages against it both among the sober Pagans and all Christians The notorious Lyes and Impostures of the prime Astrologers stand on Record in History Tully shews how horribly they cheated Pompey Crassus and Caesar Alapide upon Act. 19. declares their horrid deceits in Rome See their lives in print by several Authors and many Histories to that purpose in the Records of all Nations and Ages Iob 9. 9. Iob. 38. 31. Amos 5. 8. If the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coeli may have a little Influence upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corporis it hath less upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenij if any least of all upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rationis in such a multiplicious variety of millions of men in all places and ages How great then must needs the uncertainty be and how fallacious the Conjectures that poor sinful worms below are put upon by judicial Prognosticks from thence Woful was the Catastrophe of Ahab and Iezabel Balak and Ahaziah Haman and Belshazzar harkning thereto In Malach. 4. 2. Christ is elegantly compared to the Sun to set forth his Divine Perfections represented to the Life by that abstract of Natures Wonder in its Essence and Attributes Properties and Effects Accidents and Adjuncts Thus a spiritual use may be made of the Caelestial Bodies besides the natural and moral But that horrid abuse of their lying Vanities and jugling Impieties who pretend to divine future events of Contingent affairs and humane transactions hath been still branded as the servant of Satan The commendation given to the ancient Magi or Wise men by Caelius Albertus and other learned men hath no colour of plea for our divining Astrologers what was commendable in the Chaldaean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the Grecian and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for natural and moral Philosophy should not patronize any Juglers Tricks or Satanical Divinations The Chaldaeans and Phenicians had opportunity to learn much from Ioseph Moses Daniel David Solomon and the other wise men of Judea which the most of them corrupted and so transmitted to the Greeks and Romans Rom. 13. 3 4 5 6. Esay 8. 19 20. What is objected by some from the Star observed by the Wise men Matth. 2. is impertinent to this purpose That case was transcendently extraordinary and miraculous in every part thereof as all learned Commentators observe The Star it self was of a nature motion appearance seat and rest quite different from all the Caelestial Stars The Persons being wise Chaldaeans surnamed Magi in those Eastern Countries had been instructed by many Prophesies of the Messias coming at that season and of his Star Besides Balaams Prophesie Numb 24. 17. of Great repute with them they had the Sybils Oracles particularly that of Sybilla Erythraea which writ very plainly of Christs Birth and Life They had especially the Iewish Instructions received from Daniel and others successively and most especially the Greek Translations of Scripture very frequent In all those parts which foretold plainly the time place and all Circumstances of his coming which was then generally expected not by the Jewes only but by all Nations also who minded Oracles and Prophesies Cicer. 2. lib. de divinatione Calcidius Platonicus in Timaeum Platon and divers others both of the Gentiles and Iews give pregnant testimony thereof Hence the inquisitive Greeks had received so much of Scripture-truth which they disguised under multiplicious fables 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was Apollos Oracle 1 Cor. 10. 12. Phil 3. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 c Heb. 3. 12. Heb. 12. 15. Heb. 3. 13. Heb. 12. 14. Matth. 5. 9. Rom. 16. 27.