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
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
them blasted the Creature to them As soon as they began to live to God the Flesh was mortified and the World crucified But further In their after frequent Experience they have been herein more confirmed that when their Souls have gone out to any Creature to support them they find the best so weak that they cannot or nothing in comparison of God not at all without God Father and Mother cast off when God alone takes up Psal 27. 10. and therefore Cease from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of Isa 2. 22. And for others so bad that if they could they would not so that oft-times they are the worse the nearer they come to them The Reed breaks and pierceth the Hand when leaned upon for support Ezek. 29. 6 7. the Briar scratcheth and pricks when gone to for shelter They get as much good by applying themselves to them as Joseph did by going to his Brethren or the Levite by turning in to Gibeah Of all others Gen. 37. the Godly are deserted by Friends and pursued by Enemies and they themselves a poor shiftless helpless People and therefore it 's good for the Conies that feeble folk and so much hunted to make their Houses in the Rock Prov. 30. 26. It 's good for the Vine so unable to subsist of it self and so much pluckt by others to clasp fast to the Elm For me that am plagued all the day long and chastned every morning as the Psalmist said of himself v. 14. for me at least it 's good to draw near to God This by experience they find and therefore as Joshua said to Israel If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord chuse you whom you will serve but I and my House will serve the Lord Josh 24. 15. So will every right-born Heir of Heaven however others take offence and go away Joh. 6. 66. yet when asked Whether they also would go away v. 67. with Peter be ready resolvedly to answer Lord to whom should we go Thou hast the words of Eternal Life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ c. ver 68. We know and have found and felt what thou art in thy self and what thou hast been to us in our keeping close to thee and therefore there 's no talking or thinking of leaving thee The faithful Soul from the very Heart saith what the Psalmist v. 25. expresseth Lord whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I desire besides thee And therefore when others v. 27. by their dear-bought experience find at last nothing but destruction is gained by being afar off and going a whoring from thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod ad me spectat I that know this and have had experience both of the mischief of my being estranged from thee and of the blessing of keeping close to thee I must hold to it and shall ever by the Grace of God bide by it that it 's good for me to draw near to thee Which teacheth us with all humble thankfulness to think Vse 1 and acknowledg how good God hath been to us in giving us Jesus Christ by whose Mediation alone we may have this access and without which as we now are it would be as good for us to draw near to God as for a guilty Malefactor to the Bar of an angry Judge or for Briars and Thorns to a consuming fire Isa 27. 4. for so God is to Sinners out of Christ Heb. 12. 29. And then Who among us is able to dwell with devouring fire Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. His Majesty is so infinitely glorious that as the Apostle speaks he dwells in Light unapproachable 1 Tim. 6. 16. His Holiness so impatient of sinful defilement that he cannot endure to behold it Hab. 1. 13. so that even the impudent sinner gets as far as he can out of his fight that he may more freely commit it Isa 29. 15. and the humbled blushing sinner cannot stand before him by reason of it Ezra 9. 6 15. His Justice is so strict and his Wrath so dreadful as makes Adam when now under guilt hide himself Cain run out of his Gen. 3. Gen. 4. Luke 18. 13. Rev. 6. 15 16. presence the poor humbled Publican stand afar off and the forlorn damned Souls at the last day desire Mountains and Rocks to fall upon them rather than he should see them and as Basil thinks wish rather to lie still in the Prison of Hell than to be brought out before him to his Judgment-Seat How awful is that sad word of God's being sanctified in them that draw nigh to him Levit. 20. 3 And how dreadful is that Threat of God's drawing near to Judgment Mal. 3. 5 And can it then be so good to draw near to such a God so glorious and terrible I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord said the Rom. 7. 25. Apostle in alike case and so doth the faithful Soul in this I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Through him my Propitiatory I find my Judg on a Mercy-Seat and so it 's good to draw near happy that we may and more happy if we will It was he that engaged his heart to approach to God Jer. 30. 21. That Son of Man that drew near to the ancient of days Dan. 7. 13. and so brings us with him as Joseph did his Brethren into the Gen. 47. 2. King's presence As our near Kinsman taking our Nature into the nearest Vnion of his Person so as in this Glass we see the Glory John 1. 14. Heb. 2. 14. of God so refracted and attempered to our weakness that instead of being oppressed with it we are changed into it 2. Cor. 3. 18. By our blessed Emanuel God is so with us as that we may have free and near access to him Whilst his Holiness and Obedience become a Vail to cover our Defilement And his Blood hath so fully quenched the fiery Indignation of his Father's Wrath that we who by the Law are kept at a distance afar off Exod. 20. 18. 24. 2. have by the Gospel of Christ brought to us a better hope by which we draw nigh to God Heb. 7. 19. And what now remaineth but that seeing it is so good to draw Vse 2 near to God we be all exhorted in his fear to be so good to our selves as to keep no longer at a distance Let Strangers yea Enemies draw near and let Friends draw yet nearer Let not our sins any longer separate us and then let not unbelief dishearten us Remember that as on the one side the Spirit and the Bride say came and he that beareth saith come viz. in the desires and out-goings of their Soul to Christ so he on the other side in his desire of their union with him ecchoeth back again And he that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take of the
of all our moral 1 Cor. 3. 11. qualifications and performances but so as to be the Corner-stone too to go up to the top of the building that so our foundation may be laid surer and our building raised up higher For sine Christo omnis virtus in vitio est and so in getting up to heaven by Hieron in 3 ad Galat. this Jacob's Ladder let the foot tread the rounds let us work and walk in Gods way but withal let the hand before lay hold as it usually doth in going up a Ladder the hand of faith I mean withal first lay hold of Christ and his Righteousness for our justification That the principle may be more noble not the Spirit of a man but of Christ as a man seeth and heareth as a bruit doth but not from a brute but a rational Soul which riseth higher than a bare sensitive Creature can attain to so I would have a Christian be sober just temperate as the most compleat Moralist can be but this from the spirit of Christ and not only from a bare spiritless dull morality and so as according to his higher well-head and principle to rise higher to those more noble spiritual operations of Gospel-faith and love which such a pure moralist is so far from attaining to that he doth not so much as think fit to desire or endeavour after but rather to despise and hate This premised I come more particularly to shew the true value and worth of morality in a vertuous and blameless Conversation 1. It 's the honour of humane Nature a chief part of our humanity whereby we are men yea though not the chief yet the more visible part of the image of God wherein at first we were created and what of this kind is in any of us since our fall are as usually they are taken some of the rudera and broken pieces of that first goodly building Which were they wholly demolished and quite rased out of us we should cease to be our selves to be men and degenerate into the sensuality and ferity of brute Wild-beasts immanitate omnem humanitatem repellente as Tully Offic. lib. 1. Notanda est Dei humanitat Calvin in Dan. 10. 13. speaks for humanity in the true sense and common use speaks something of erudition gentleness virtuousness and that not only in Heathen but even in Scripture Language in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 virga hominum plagae humanae the rod of men and the stripes of the Children of men 2 Sam. 7. 14. have something of gentleness and moderation i. e. of humanity in the true sense of that phrase Premunt ità ut non comprimant And therefore I Sanctius in loc must needs say to you be sober chast just vertuous if you would be men not Beasts not Devils 2. But secondly there is more than humanity something Divine in it as being the product of a more common and inferiour working of the spirit of Christ some dimmer and cooler rayes of the sun of righteousness as he is the light which enlightneth every man that cometh into the world John 1. 9. as he said nec Hieron in Gal. 1. quenquam sine Christo nasci How often doth Austin call these lower workings the gifts of God and if Polemon by hearing of Xenocrates of a drunkard prove sober ne id ipsum quod melius in eo factum est humano operi tribuerim sed Divino He accounts it a Divine work to make only a moral change and reformation It 's a special gift of God qui dona sua prout ipse judicaverit hominibus magna magnis parva largitur parvulis as Bede In 1 Cantic speaketh Gods largess Some kind of fruit of the death of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to restrain sin as the word signifieth Dan. 9. 24. part of the preventing restraining grace of the spirit of Christ And therefore such a gift of God is not be sleighted Nay such a part of the purchase of the bloud of Christ and the work of his spirit is duly to be valued 3. Thirdly As being absolutely necessary for humane Society and our quiet and orderly living and conversing in the world for were not men hereby civilized and the rage and violence of lust restrained take away once justice and temperance morality indeed humanity from humane Society how would it come to homo homini lupus and in stead of a Society of men what herds of brutes and wild beasts even of Devils in an hell let loose should we see in the world What some Romanists unhappily R. Thomson Elench cap. 2. pag. 18 19. made the Emblem of Bellarmine a Tiger held in a chain with this motto Solve me videbis qui siem Let me but loose and you shall see what an one I am would be too sadly verified of us all if once by God or Man let loose and it should be said of us as once of Ephraim Ephraim is joyned to idols let him alone Hos 4. 17. it would not come to so good as was said of Naphtali that he was a hind let loose that gave goodly words there would Gen. 49. 21. but few good words and fewer good deeds proceed from us no nor so good as what was said of Ephraim that he was a wild asse alone by himself Hos 8. 9. though that would be wild enough Jer. 2. 24. but yet with less hurt and mischief to others and our selves than when we should see what horrid metamorphoses of creatures in the shapes of men into brutes for sensuality ravenous beasts of prey for bloud and violence yea incarnate devils for pride malice and blasphemy partly of our selves and partly from Satans temptations this would come to and as in our dayes we see our Ranters and other Enthusiasts devesting themselves of all morality civility yea even humanity are fast posting to For the preventing of which God the most holy and wise Governour of the world as sometimes in a way of outward afflictions he hedgeth our way with thorns Hos 2. 6. to keep us from treading down all bounds and running into all excess of riâ—t Ephes 4. 19. with greediness so also by inward common workings of his spirit he doth not only lay checks and restraints upon our unbridled spirits and lusts but also composes and regulates our tempers and carriages that we may live at least like men civilly and orderly one with another This Austin in several places especially in his books contra Julianum Epist 5. lib. 4. c. 3. hujus tantum temporis vitam fteriliter ornavit de voc gent. c. 7. Epist 130. Prosp contra collatorem cap. 22. 26. Fulgent de incarnat c. 26. observeth in the vertues of the Heathens the Romans and others that they attained to a moral and vertuous deportment ad mores civitatum concordiamque populorum temporalis vitae societatem praesentis vitae honestatem as he and Prosper express
life yet as when among all the other creatures there was not a fit help for Adam he gave him Gen. 2. 20. a wiâ—e so when all the world and the riches and glory of it the greatest boon that the Devil could offer to Christ are not worth giving or taking to be a Christians portion the great God giveth himself to be that to his children It was the high honour that God put upon Adam that in regard of his rational being and dominion over his creatures which was one part of his image stampt upon him he made him like him and this was as the ground upon which that other part of his image was drawn which as the honour of our nature is in part yet continued in which sense the Apostle approved the Poets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for we are his off spring Act. 17. 28. not as though we were his natural sons and as creatures made of his essence as the Manichees and other Hereticks of old and Weigelius and other Fanatick Crocii Antiweigel parte 1. c. 2. q 1 2. c. 17. q. 4. Enthusiasts of late have blasphemed for so we are by way of creation not of generation which is his essential sons property this prerogative of our nature I acknowledge is our great honour and privâ—lege as we are reasonable men and of this St. Ambrose sometimes expounds my Text Dedit enim de cognatione suà rationabilis scilicet naturae but were this all we might be base and miserable enough for of such as were in this sense God's off spring our Saviour said they were the Children of the Devil John 8. 44. Adam in innocency had aâ— higher honour put upon him and a far nobler part of God's image stampt on him which was in righteousness and true holiness this by our sin and fall in him we have Ephes 4. 24. defaced and lost But oh the infinite condescending Philanthropy and love of God to mankind especially to Believers that to recover it and us he hath sent his only begotten Son into the World Cogitandum enim est unde nos Deus in tantum honoris culmen evehat Scimus quà m abjecta sit naturae nostrae conditio Quòd ergo Deus ità se nostrum facit c. Calvin in Textum Disp privat Thes 45 n. 8. C. à Lapide for him to be made partakers of our humane nature and â—hich next to it is the greatest gift that he â—ould bestow his own spirit into our hearts that we thereby might be made partakers of the Divine Nature What cannot omnipotent mercy do that makes these meet Consider we but seriously how infinitely glorioâ—â— and holy God is and how wofully base and sinful we are and we shall not be able but in an holy ecstasie with the Apostle to cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O height and depth well might Arminius say that it 's Relatio disquiparantiae cujus fundamentum Christus nullâ re indigens terminus fidelis omnium egens that on God's part it is the lowest condescension and on our part the highest exaltation imaginable truly above all that we could ask or can think adeò sublimis est ut omnium Angelorum naturam superet nec altiùs assurgere potest homo as he speaks of it Man can be raised no higher and the Angelical nature of it self cannot rise so high Well might they in the words foregoing the Text be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding great superlatively great and most precious promises if by them we may be made partakers of the Divine Nature We so vile and filthy by nature Children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. to be made partakers of that Divine nature which is Hebr. 7. 26. Matth. 8. 8. so glorious and holy and separate from Sinners If the Centurion thought himself unworthy for Christ in his estate of humiliation to come under his roof how infinitely more unworthy we that the God of Glory should come into our Souls That he should ever draw so nigh to us and take us so near to himself to be Friends Sons Heirs not only to be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints but also of himself and his own nature is as much as God could give and infinitely more than the heart of man could think that he should ever receive and can we then do less than adore and bless him nay give up our selves to him who hath given his Son himself to us and be willing to be partakers of his sufferings 1 Pet. 4. 13. who hath made us partakers of his nature and happiness if we find it in our selves But what shall we do then when we meet with it in others but Vse 2 take heed that 1. We do not malign hate oppose and wrong it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest haply we be found to fight against God as Gamaliel warned the Council Act. 5. 39. It 's not haply but most certainly we shall so do in so doing for we hear that the faithful are partakers of the Divine nature and therefore hate them as such and you are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haters of God Rom. 1. 30. fight against them and you are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fighters against God you persecute not them so much as Christ Act. 9. 5. you touch the apple of Gods eye Zech. 2. 8. whatever good or evil we have done unto them he takes as done unto himself Matth. 25. 40 45. As at that last day he will be glorified in his Saints 2 Thess 1. 10. so now he is opposed and persecuted in his Saints and this not only consequenter interpretativè but propriè formaliter It is the face and appearance of God in the Saints which the malice of ungodly Enemies directly strikes at and would wound him through their sides as David said the reproaches of them that reproached thee have fallen upon me Psal 69. 9. Their natures are oftentimes so sweet and amiable that otherwise they could not but love them but it 's the Divine nature in them the bright lustre whereof angers their sore eyes and shames their filthy nakedness and that 's the reason why they so hate them Cajus Sejus was otherwise a good man but only evil in evil mens eyes because he was a Christian Had only an austere John Baptist lost his head or were they only harshly dealt with whose natural tempers and converse were more rigid and harsh we might think the cause of it were only in them but when Paul loseth his head too who even in Porphyries eyes was a man so full of worth and desireable when David was so cruelly persecuted who was so amiable when Christ himself who was sweetness it self was so bitterly hated and at last crucified and to this day when we shall see that Christians though otherwise in their carriage and temper never so sweet and pleasing yet if zealous and eminent in holding forth Gods truth and grace against other mens errors
〈◊〉 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.
of their recoveries The Sheep may fall in the dirt but it 's the unclean Swine that continueth to lie and wallow in it The seed of God may sometimes be 1 Joh. 3. 9. under-ground but if it abide in us as the Apostle speaks it will at last get up and out again As there is hope of a tree though when cut down the root thereof wax old in the earth and the stock thereof die in the ground that through the scent of water it will sprout again and bud and bring forth boughs as a plant as Job speaks cap. 14. 7 8 9. So even a plant of righteousness may sometimes be so nipt and blasted that all may seem to be dead but being planted by the river implanted into Christ by the scent of water from this Divine nature and supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ after such a nipping Winter doth recover again its verdure in the spring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle of his Philippians Cap. 4. 10. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care hath flourished again Not like Jude's trees twice dead and pluckt up by Vers 12. the roots and so even dead without possibility of after-growth Till Nature be quite spent and extinct which the Divine Nature never can be it hath an inward natural Balsam in it which helps on its cure and recovery and as long as there is any breathing of the Divine Spirit it will at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stir up that 2 Tim. 1. 6. grace which seemed to be raked up under the dead ashes and blow it up into a brighter flame And therefore after such falls and stumbles labour we to express this Divine nature by these happy As corrupt nature breeds these decayes so let this Divine nature work these recoveries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. advers Colot as Cyprian Ep. 2. ad Donatum Quod sentitur antequam discitur after recoveries Nor doth it only play such after-games but is much discovered by its forehand quickness Grace is preventing as well as subsequent And this adds A seventh particular Nature hath its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sympathies antipathies its hints instincts and impetus which antevert the Acts of Reason prevent discourse and deliberation At the first blush the heart closeth with this thing or person before it can think why and riseth up in abhorrency and loathing of that other when it cannot tell wherefore Non amo te Volusi nec possum dicere quare It 's so with the Divine Nature It doth abstain and on the sudden start back 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the very first appearance of evil 1 Thess 5. 22. quicquid malè fuerit coloratum as Bernard phraseth it Some expound it of matters of Doctrine De Considerat lib. 3. and so the good Womans Spirit rose against false Doctrine preached though she could not say it was so some understand it of practice and so the chast Soul hates even the garment spotted with the flesh Jude v. 23. is troubled sweats and faints at the first appearance of it as some naturally do at the presence of that against which they have a secret Antipathy On the contrary at first sight or speech by an unio animarum closeth with persons of the same spirit and things that are as it were connatural before it hath time or leisure to give a rational account of it I know the word of God must be the standing rule both of our Faith and practice and am far from indulging the wild phansies and the sudden violent impetus of rash inconsiderate men and yet in some cases give much to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and propendency as also to the aversation of the spirits of sober godly men especially if of all or most as having in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something of the workings of this Divine Nature in them which anticipates their discourse and as John out-ran John 20. 4. Peter is got out before they can come to any deliberate resolution By its nature the Lamb dreads the Wolf when so young that it cannot discern him and we should discover more of this Divine Nature if by the divine instinct of it we can loath sin when we are otherwise so weak or surprized that we have not time or Nature doth act always as high as it can and then how high should this Divine Nature carry us ability to make a deliberate judgment of it 8. As Nature sometimes anticipates Reason so this Divine Nature always exceeds and goeth beyond that which is only humane Divinity is above Humanity Grace above Nature A Christian is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bare man but more than a man And therefore to have or express no more than what Nature can work or natural men by other helps can attain to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to walk as men with the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 3. terminus minuens or as Cap. 6. 7. he calls the like it 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a defect in which we fall much short of and below that which a man or God that is made partaker of the Divine Nature should arrive at and come up to For as man by nature and kind is and acts above other creatures so a Christian man should even above himself as a man and above other men that want that Divine Principle The widwives once said that the Hebrew women were not as the Egyptian women Exod. 1. 19. And truly the men of God should not be as other men I mean not more proud and froward and worldly but more holy and humble and unblameable than other men Samson the Nazarite became then only like another man when his locks were shaved off and the Spirit of God departed from him Judg. 16. 17 20. But as long as the sanctifying Spirit acts and abides in us we are true Nazarites as by our holy Vows separated to God so we should be though not wholly separated yet very much distinguished from other ordinary men Christ expects from us a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where much is given much is required and more than a Divine Nature could not be given therefore there he requires most Mat. 5. 47. something singular eminent and transcendent a proportionable distance from others in our lives which may answer that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we expect to be fixed between them and us after our deaths Luc. 16. 26. Contarenus de Justificat makes the comparison of the manners of a Rustick and of a Citizen or Courtier and a like difference he saith there is between the carriage of an earth-born sinner and a Saint made partaker of the Divine Nature The Sons of Princes should not be in the garb of Peasants children but that comparison is too low Between Nature and Grace there should be a more vast distance A Child of God should be as much above a natural man as heaven is above the
earth and as much above a fouler sinner as heaven is above hell But how then cometh it to pass that the roof of hell should be so nigh as I may so speak to the floor of heaven that there should be so little difference between the Apogaeum and highest of moral Heathens or other natural men and the Epigaeum or lowest of a collapsed or go-by-ground Christian Doth not this puff up proud Nature and if not debase the Divine yet make our Philosophical Christians think low and meanly of it Make it in these mens esteem but a name a thin fine notion and them that are partakers of it some Eutopian fancies which Preachers talk of but the world seeth little of SERMON XIX ON 2 PET. 1. 4. AND therefore that we may either prevent or refute these Preacht at St. Maries Jan. 17. 165â— their misprisions and blasphemies and convince them that this we speak of is a very reality be we exhorted to 3. things 1. To aspire and indeavour really to attain to this high dignity Vse 4 of being indeed partakers of this divine nature 2. Then to walk answerably to it and worthy of it 3. Because both will be here imperfect to long for heaven where both will be in their full perfection 1. First I say let us with our whole might aspire to this highest dignity and not rest till we arrive at this Divine Prerogative of being the Sons of God and so partakers of the divine nature John 1. 1â— And to quicken us hereto consider 1. How studious and ambitious men have alwayes been of nearness to great Princes and for that purpose of an imitation Camerar med cent 1. cap. 66. Eunomius cum impeditae linguae erat hoc facundiam fuisse dixit Philostorgius Niceph. lib. 12. cap. 29. Epist ad Laetam and likeness of their deportment fashions gestures and oftentimes even of their both moral yea and natural vices and deformities Poppea's yellow locks a beauty in the Court Leonides his gate and manners Alexander could not forbear to imitate as his Courtiers did many things in him A wry neck or a long hooked nose much doted on because it looked like an Emperours And for the minds complexion Hierom from experience could say Quorum virtutes assequi nequeas citò imitaris vitia when we cannot reach their vertues we are very prone to take up in imitating their vices like foolish wanton children when we cannot stride their steps in fair way we will follow them through the dirty puddle Exempla exemplaria so that the imitation As Lactantius observes lib. 5. c. 6. mores ac vitia regis imitari genus obsequii judicatur of their manners and vices their subjects account to be a piece of the homage they owe to them which therefore made Tully say that plus exemplo quam peccato nocent 3 de legibus they do more mischief by their example than by their sin Great mens examples I say are Laws and holy mens tempers and carriages have a kind of necessitating cogency in them to imitation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Paul to Peter Why compellest thou the Gentiles to Judaize Gal. 2. 14. So like do we desire to be to good at least to great men but how much rather should we aspire and endeavour to be like to him who is Optimus Maximus to the great King and most holy God even God blessed for ever whose nature is most holy whose works are truth and his ways judgment Dan. 4. 37. in whose Divine Beauty is no deformity And therefore as our Saviour said to his Dâ—sciples Ye believe in God believe also John 14. 1. in me I may well say to all Do you imitate man shall we not imitate God and Christ rather If foolish men glory in an Apish symbolizing with men like themselves and that in their humane infirmities how glorious and therefore desirable should it be to us to partake with God in his Divine Nature and perfections 2. And this the rather because this high honour and happiness Obj. But you will say heaven is high and we cannot reach it God infinitely higher and therefore no possibility of imitation is attainable The happy event puts it out of question Many in all Ages of the Church have arrived at this height who have shewn forth the vertues of God who hath called them 1 Pet. 2. 9. who by emanations of Divine Grace in heart and life have expressed a participation of the Divine Nature and what in this kind hath been in some by the same Grace may be in others Ab esse posse c. did we but put forth the strength and activity of Pauls faith who could be and do all things through Christ strengthning him Phil. 4. 13. The Text in hand had we nothing else doth sufficiently clear this possibility for it doth not only say that precious promises were given to them that they may be partakers of the Divine Nature and Gospel-promises do at least assure us of a possibility and when by faith laid hold on of a certainty of their accomplishment but withal adds the happy event in their having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust In which this actual participation of this Divine Nature in part consisteth and by which according to the true sense and intention of the Apostle in his adding of those words it is evidenced Well then it 's hence plain that such a participation of the Divine Nature may be had and truly then such a may-be of such a mercy should be enough to any awaekned spirit to imploy and improve its utmost endeavours for the attaining of it It encouraged the Widow of Tekoah to make a great petition to David because she said in her self It may be the King will grant it 2 Sam. 14. 15. And It may be the Lord will look on mine affliction said David himself and upon that ground patiently endured it 2 Sam. 16. 12. Who knoweth saith the Prophet Joel 2. 14. and Who can tell said the people of Nineveh Jonah 3. 9. whether God will turn and repent and so the more seriously they set upon their duty that he might Truly Gods may-be's are better than mans shall-be's A may-be of salvation is one of the first casts of faiths eye to justification In matters of outward estate we much value even our possibilities and they set the whole world upon busie action What crowds of poor where a doal may be had What trâ—dging over sea and land for a may-be of profit And if such an height of honour or place may be got up to what creeping up though upon hands and feet as Jonathan 1 Sam. 14. 4 13. V. 6. between sharp rocks to come at it upon this very ground it may be the Lord will work for us As it was enough for Jacob to hear that there was corn in Egypt to be had though he was not assured to have any of it to
spirit of God could effect it for so that particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As by the spirit of the Lord signifieth causam congruam dignam tantae transformationis as C. à Lapide rightly observeth All cometh to this and all fully to my present purpose That now when God is in Christ so fully as I may say exhibited and exposed to our view and in the Gospel so clearly manifested and held forth to us He expecteth and where grace prevaileth he thereby effecteth such a change and transformation that we are not like our former selves but are molded into his likeness and having laid aside our corrupt nature we are made partakers of his Divine Nature This is or should be according to Paul's doctrine there the effect of the Gospel and as Calvin observeth upon my Text according to Peter's doctrine here when he saith that the exceeding great and precious Gospel-promises are given to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by them we should be partakers of the Divine Nature He telleth us this is the end of the Gospel Notemus hunc esse Evangelii finem ut aliquando Deo conformes reddamur id verò est quasi Deificari that at last we may be conformable to God which is as it were to be Deified or as our Apostle phraseth it to be made partakers of the Divine Nature Which whilst we are so plentifully partakers of the Gospel we should be exceedingly ashamed of that we so far fall short of it which yet the very Heathens so much aspired to who fell so short of us as thus in pattern so 2. In principle for as our pattern is more clear so our principle is more high This conformity to God in true Christians you heard from 2 Cor. 3. 18 is from the spirit of the Lord whilst by the spirit of Christ inlightning and regenerating we are renewed after the Image of God Col. 3. 10. As also from faith in Christ laying hold of thâ—se exceeding great and precious promises of the Gospel and on Christ in them from whose fulness alone God would have us receive grace for grace grace in us answerable and conformable to grace in him and so to be partakers of the Divine Nature Now this faith these promises this Christ and this spirit of Christ those Heathens and their most â—â—â—limate Philosophers were utter strangers to him they knew not to him by faith they went not nay out of themselves they went not but to their Philosophical moral considerations and their purgative vertues to which they ever joyned their heathenish idolatries and superstitious lustrations and sacrifices With Porphyrie to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 charms and sorceries as utterly inconsistent with the Divine nature as the true God is contrary to a vain idol and therefore it is no wonder that it was so wofully deformed a deiformity which they arrived at how trimly soever their admirers do trim it up and turkess it And therefore when there is so much more light and power in the Gospel when our both pattern and principle so far every way exceed theirs Surely God cannot but expect that it should be another-kins likeness to him that we should attain to than what they arrived at And on the contrary let us sadly think what a shame it is to us and to the Gospel too that when there is so much of God in it there should be so little in us who profess it That when we read David's Psalms and the other Prophets writings in the old Testament we should find so much light and life that they both breath and express so much of God in them and we so little so that in truth although as Eusebius observeth they were not called yet indeed they were the true Christians and many of us are really as much without God as we are strangers from that Commonwealth of Israel Especially that even Heathens should herein exceed us that they should so honourably speak of that God whom we so blaspheme that they should express more of God by the twilight of nature than we in the sun-shine of the Gospel that Erasmus should so hardly forbear to pray to Socrates as a Saint whilst many who are named Christians may without breach of charity be called Atheists that any of us should have upon us such black marks of the Devil when on many of them we may discover though ruder yet very lovely characters and lineaments by the help only of their natural Divinity of the Divine nature which we who have better means in all reason should be more possessed of SERMON XX. ON 2 PET. 1. 4. AND should it be here asked what those means are which Quest we should make use of whereby to attain to this high honour and happiness I must answer that all that we of our selves can do as to any Ans inward worth or efficacy operative of so great an effect is just nothing We that can do nothing to make our selves men surely can do as little to make our selves men of God can less concur to the producing of this Divine nature than we did to our humane both are a Creation and therefore the work of God only but yet so as we are to make our addresses to him for the one now that we have a natural being which we could not for the other when he had none And here as the Divine nature essentially considered in God is common to all thâ—â—hree persons so this communicated symbolical Divine nature in us is the common work of them all and therefore to them all we are to make our applications for it 1. To God the Father who as he is Fons Deitatis and communicates Means that Divine nature to the Son and the spirit so he is Fons Gratiae and through the Son by the Spirit imparts this Divine nature to all his children It was his breath that breathed into Adam at first that soul in which especially was his image and it must be his breathing still that must breath into our hearts that divine grace in which consists that his image renewed and this Divine nature God our Creatour is the Author of this new Creature And here the means of it on our parts is by humble and earnest prayer to breath after him for it as the dying man gaspeth for breath that is going away or rather as the dry earth gapeth for heavens rain and influence which it wanteth and so in this systole and diastole upon the out-breathing of our souls and desires followeth in God's way the breathing in of this Divine breath of life the quickning spirit by which we are made spiritual living souls In this case it was said of Saul Behold he prayeth Acts 9. 11. For although it be true that the prayers of the wicked whilst they purpose to go on in sin are an abomination to the Lord Prov. 28. 9. And as true that the prayer