Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n
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A04101
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The Christian sacrifice by Iames Barker ...
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Barker, James, fl. 1639.
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1639
(1639)
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STC 1418; ESTC S113337
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35,264
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174
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* Luk. 1. 38. ancilla domini Behold the hand-maid of the Lord nay more yet he that was Lord of all became a servant So by Gods own compellation Esay 53. 11. So by his owne profession 4. Matth. 20. 28. and no more in the worlds estimation Philip. 2. 7. enough it is for any man to be reckoned amongst these worthies to be of Gods familie in any Relation but God thinkes it not enough for his Love It is not therefore My servant but My Sonne We that were unworthy to be accounted servants he hath advanced to the honour of Sonnes Not My Servant therefore but My Sonne Nay not my friend this priviledge had Abraham the father of the faithfull Ja. 2. 23. for his faith And the same is promised to Christs disciples upon condition of their obedience Jo. 15. 14. And a great prerogative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laere Diog. do vita c. Ego sensi animam meam animam amici mei unam fuisse animam in duobus corporibus Ang. lib. conf 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ar. lib. 8. 1 th it is to be Gods friend for a friend is alter ego a second selfe and amicorum omnia communia all things are common amongst friends no comfort with-held no secret hid from a friend * Gen. 18. 17. Pet. 1. 4. yet it is not my freind but My Sonne for Gods love which is infinite knows no bounds but extends to the highest degree of kindnesse and calls man now not my Servant not my Freind only but my Sonne To be of Gods Court his servant is much to be of his counsel his Friend is much more but to be partakers of the Divine nature the Sonne of God is most of all of this I may say as Elizabeth in a case not much unlike unde hoc mihi * Luk. 1. 43. whence is this to me that I should be called the Son of God But how the Sonne of God Or what Sonne doth God here meane Not his naturall Son so is none but Christ as God he is both Primogenitus and unigenitus his first-begotten and only-begotten of the same essence consubstantiall coaeternal and coaequal with the father begotten by an unspeakable Generation which we may adore cannot search out for who shall declare his Generation Esay 53. 8. Yea Christ as man by grace of hypostatical or personall union is after a speciall manner the Sonne of God so fore-told to be before he was so Luke 1. 32. That holy thing that shall be borne of thee shall be called the Sonne of God And so declar'd to be when he was so Matth. 3. 17. This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well-plea-sed And thus is none the Sonne of God but only he who both by nature and the union of his person is indeed the very Sonne of God Others there are whom holy Scripture hath honoured with this title Adam he was so by Creation the immediate Sonne of God for God was Father Mother God-Father made him produced him named him Luke 3. The Angels they are so made in Gods image and stiled his Sonnes Psal 89. 6. And so are Kings by Gods owne ordination and special appointment the Sonnes of God Psal 82. 6. I have said ye are Gods and all of you are Children of the most high This title thus taken is a singular prerogative peculiar to some special persons But here we will take it more generally as it is a common title given by God to all the faithfull My Sonne Not by naturall Generation for so is none but Christ as God Not by grace of personall union for so is none but Christ as man Not by immediate creation for so was Adam and the Angels only Nor by Divine Ordination for so are Kings and Princes only But by grace adoption every true beleever is truly the Son of God The faithfull by adoption are filij designati appointed by the Father for the Sons of God Through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus they are filii facti made the Sonnes of God And by the laver of regeneratiō they are filii signati sealed by the Spirit for the Sons of God They are first designed by the Father for heires Then really made and accepted by Christ for Coheyres And finally assured by the holy Ghost of an Inheritance undefiled that fadeth not away reserved for them in the heavens Gods Sonnes the faithfull are before they are so in the purpose of the Vosque si nondum natos jam tamen designatos filios jam credite Chrys Ser. 71. in orat dominum pag. 306. father but not so in his Delight they must declare their predestination by their conversation before they can be admitted into Gods familie there must concurre with the Fathers purpose the purchase of the Sonne and the purging of the holy Ghost when in the Sonne and by the Holy Ghost they are made such as the father purposed they should be then he takes delight in them and ownes them for his Sonnes and not before for it is not the fathers Adoption nor the Sons Redemption that can priviledge the faithfull from being by nature the children of wrath even as others Ephes 2. 3. without righteousnesse holines Innocencie and all right to glory meer carnal men and so by nature must still continue for that which is borne of the flesh is flesh there John 3. 6. must be a new birth they must be borne againe and so made new Creatures before they can become the Sonnes of God and here must not be left out the office of the holy Ghost for as the Sonne of God could not become the Sonne of man so neither can Luke 1. 35. the Sonnes of men become the Sonnes of God without the speciall office and operation of the holy Ghost Jo. 3. this cannot be the worke of flesh and blood which naturally produces it's like carnall and sinfull nor the worke of man for parentes peremptores our parents are our murtherers wee derive from them the contagion of sinne * and Non imitatione sed propagatione with sin an Obligation to eternall death and so saith Saint Austin wee are damnati antequam nati dead in sinne before alive in the world Mans freedome from this wretched condition and translation into the glorious libertie of the Sonnes of God is a worke of Grace Gods entire worke so Saint James Of his owne will Tit. 3. 6. Verbum adveniens aqua dat ei virtutem abluendi Aq. in locum Austin begate he us with the word of Truth cap. 1. 18. with the washing of water by the Word so Saint Paul Eph. 5. 26. Accedit verbum ad elementum fit Sacramentum by the power of the word the Element is made a Sacrament And that water whose common use was to wash the bodie from filth now serves for a holy use to clense the soule from sin to this use God hath ordained it and his Spirit
know that not here but in heaven where their Father is their inheritance is there must their hope be fixed on that their care placed and for these temporall blessings they must cast their care upon God and depend upon his fatherly providence who knows their wants and will supplie them your heavenly Father knoweth whereof you have need saith Christ and Matth. 6. you know it is enough for a father that is of abilitie such an one as is our heavenly Father to know the wants of his Children his owne goodnesse will supplie whatsoever is needfull or convenient It is not then against the honestie and it may well agree with the pietie of a Father such an one as God to owne a wretched if a contrite sinner for his beloved Sonne But all this while this Title seems to determine the Relation to one Sex seems but doth not for God who of the woman requires the dutie will his Justice permit her to be excluded from the Dignitie certainly no! the word is not to be restrained to the sex but extended to so many of the whole kind as truly beleeve whether they be male or female for God is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he maks no difference of sexes ages nations professions degrees estates or conditions of men but he that is Lord of all is rich unto all that call upon him male and female Jew and Gentile young and old rich and poore prince and people bond and free if true beleevers he ownes them all without difference for his Children And yet there is a difference amongst them both in respect of Gods grace towards them and his grace in them they are all beloved but not equally and that Gods grace and favour is more to this then that man is not from Gods final intention which is equall and alike to all his chosen Salvation and Happinesse but as men are said to love more where they conferre more and to favour most where they receive most so God in regard of some outward expressions of love and favour is said to love one more then another and in regard of mens apprehension to some having a greater sense and feeling of his love and favour then others And for his grace that is in them whether for the qualification of their persons or salvation of their soules If wee speake of the former some are better fitted and enabled for the execution of such offices and duties wherewith by their callings they stand charged wherein he that is most faithfull is most highly favoured If we speake of the latter the more grace God worketh in them the more gracious hee is said to be towards them and so the stronger their faith the ferventer their love the more unfained their repentance the more universall their obedience the more sincere their conscience the greater his love unto them the more he is delighted in them and such as in his love he hath gifted above their fellows he usually honoreth above their fellows and according to the excellency of their graces is the eminencie of their places And therefore though all the faithfull be Gods sonnes and in relation to him brethren and he the common Father of all yet for all this it will not become an inferior to affront his superior with a jam sumus ergo pares haile fellow well met for his communitie overthrows not that difference which nature civilitie and Gods owne ordinance hath made betwixt man and woman and one man and another nor will either state or Church or private families admit so absurd a paritie To lay all level no principalitie in the state no Prelacie in the Church no command in families were to ruine all an inconvenience which the seasonable fore-sight of Almightie God hath by his owne blessed Ordinance prevented nor did Christ at his comming unto whom God committed all rule and all Authoritie and Power divest the Princes of the world of that Regal and Soveraigne power wherewith God Per fidem Christi non tollitur or do justitiae sed magis firmatur Aq. prima secundae qu. 104. Art 6 conc hath invested them he abolished it not established it rather And thus though all men be alike in the first Adam made of the same mould And all the faithfull alike in the second Adam the Sonnes of God Yet the Lord for the singular benefit of mankind hath distinguished How son ser hab Oxon. 1602. them in great knowledge and made their wayes and reputations divers some of them he hath blessed and exalted as Kings and Princes Some he hath sanctified and appropriated to himselfe as Priests and Prophets Some he advanceth above their brethren and makes their fathers children bow downe before them and others hee leaves in the common rancke some he hath laden with honours wealth promotions and dignities and others he hath bestowed in meaner callings thus wisely hath God ordered the estate of this present world with the connexion of such variety of parts begetting a harmonie and bringing a perfect soundnesse and sweetnesse to the whole body Where all the strings are of one sound there is no musicke where all the members are alike there is no body but a bulke and even so there is nothing but discord and deformitie where there are not differences of degrees estates and callings of men and where God hath put a difference let man doe so too that mans estimation concurring with Gods ordination every man may be honored and respected according to his place and dignitie The stones in a building are not all of one syze The vessels in an house not proportioned all for one use The members of the body are not all of one fashion or for one office There are many stones in a building many vessels in one house many members in one body and in these many there is varietie not Identitie not many of the same but of divers syzes for divers uses of severall fashions for severall offices and this varietie of parts doth beget an unitie in the whole so we being many concludes St. Paul are one body and in a body composed of multiplicitie and varietie of parts there is more beautie greater safety and this not only in the natural Connexio totius corporis unam sanitatem unam pulchri tudinem Tacit. Leo. Ep. 8. cap. 11. body which is man but in the politicke body the state and in the mysticall body the Church beautified and strengthened with the severall offices orders degrees and callings of men diversly qualified making a distinction amongst men of the same Christian profession for a communitie of Religion induces not a confusion into Christian common wealths but confirmes them rather in peace and good order enjoyning every one by an Apostolical Canon 1. Cor. 7. 20. to abide in that calling wherein he is called propounding no new but perswading a more conscionable use of the old * and if there See Luke cap. 3. verse 10 11 12 13. be any that