Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	law_n	moral_a	precept_n	2,880	5	9.5945	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43607	Syntagma theologicum, or, A treatise wherein is concisely comprehended, the body of divinity, and the fundamentals of religion orderly discussed whereunto are added certain divine discourses, wherein are handled these following heads, viz. 1. The express character of Christ our redeemer, 2. Gloria in altissimis, or the angelical anthem, 3. The necessity of Christ's passion and resurrection, 4. The blessed ambassador, or, The best sent into the basest, 5. S. Paul's apology, 6. Holy fear, the fence of the soul, 7. Ordini quisque suo, or, The excellent order, 8. The royal remembrancer, or, Promises put in suit, 9. The watchman's watch-word, 10. Scala Jacobi, or, S. James his ladder, 11. Decus sanctorum, or, The saints dignity, 12. Warrantable separation, without breach of union / by Henry Hibbert ...	Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678.; Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678. Exercitationes theologiae.	1662 (1662)	Wing H1793; ESTC R2845	709,920	522

The Law LEX à ligando vel ab eligendo dicta est Norma faciendorum Lex Naturae The Law of Nature is used in two senses 1. The one which springeth from reason sense induction and argument according to the Lawes of heaven and earth 2. The other imprinted on the spirit of man by an inward instinct according to the law of conscience herein man participates of some light touching the perfection of the Moral Law but how Sufficient to check the vice not to inform the duty Yet this Law of Nature imprinted in the soul may restrain the outward man and stir up in him a desire of vertue and moral honesty and prescribe and follow some things which God commands in his Law Valleius saith That Cato was homo virtuti similimus cui id solum visum est rationem habere quod haberet justitiam omnibus humanis vitiis immunis c. And much may be spoken of Aristides Phocion Socrates and others for their integrity Conscience say our Divines is nothing else but the correspondency of the spirit of man unto the Law to bind or loose him to accuse or excuse him to condemne or absolve him Therefore such as have a conscience must needs have a Law also yea the Thracians gloried that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 living Laws walking Statutes For when the Gentiles Which have nst the Law Rom. 2.14 15. do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law unto themselves Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witnesse and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another Lex Civilis Legibus proposita sunt supplicia vitiis praemia virtutibus It is said that Philosophy Moral did spring from disorder and confusion Natural from learning the causes of things by effects Cice●o for other teaching had they none that were removed far from the Hebrews and the law from evil manners cruelty and oppression Dracoes lawes were said to be written with blood and not with ink And it 's said of the Athenians that their lawes had need of a law to mend them Neither against the law of the Jewes Act. 25.8 nor yet against Caesar have I offended any thing at all Lex Ceremonialis Lex occultum Evangelium Evangelium revelata lex The Ceremonial law was the Jewes Gospel for it was Christ in figure and to him it led them Christus apellatur anima legis The Ceremonial law did obscruely and imperfectly represent Christ to the old Church and is now abolished by his coming in the flesh In the twelveth year of our Saviours age the same year wherein he taught in the Temple Luk. 2. the Sanctuary was polluted by casting about the bones of dead men thorow every part and Porch thereof at the very feast of the Passeover in the night time This Iosephus saith was done by the Samaritanes out of hatred to the Jewish services But God had surely a special hand in it to shew that people that those shadows were to vanish now that Christ the body was come and shewed himself All things have their time the Ceremonial law had her time and the Gospel hath his time We our selves have but our time some threescore years and ten and then we are gone Precessit lex Evangelium sicut umbra lucem virga Spiritum timor charitatem initium perfectionem Dominantis Praeceptum amantis concilium Innocent l. 2. de sacr Altar Myst When the Sun is behind the shadow is before when the Sun is before the shadow is behind So was it in Christ to them of old this Sun was behind and therefore the Law or shadow was before To us under the Gospel the Sun is before and so now the Ceremonies of the Law those shadows are behind yea vanished away Before the Passion of Christ wherein they all determined the Ceremonies of the Law were neither dead nor deadly Nec mortifer● nec mortuae Non mortiferae ut cunque mortuae et mortiferae after the Passion till such time as the Gospel was preached up and down by the Apostles though dead yet for the time they were not deadly But since that they are not only dead but deadly to them that use them as the Jewes to this day For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John Aquin. For the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Wherefore then serveth the Law Mat. 11.13 Joh. 1.17 Gal. 3.19 It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the Promise was made c. Lex Moralis Lex est Sanctio sancta jubens honesta prohibens contraria Legibus vivendum non exemplis Divinis regulis normis Aug. non humanis personis imitandum est The Antinomians cry down the Law calling Repentance a Legal grace and humiliation a Back-door to Heaven Istebius Agricola the first of that Sect and his followers held most unsound opinions That the Law and Works belong only to the Court of Rome That so soon as a man begins to think how to live godly and modestly he presently wandreth from the Gospel That a man was never truly mortified till he had put out all sense of conscience for sin That St. Peter understood not Christian liberty when he wrote these words Make your Calling and Election sure And that good works were perniciosa ad salutem This he once publickly revoked but afterwards relapsed into the same errour and hath at this day too many Disciples who amongst other places do most grievously wrest that Text 1 Tim. 1.9 The Law is not made for a righteous man c. Therefore good men are exempted from obedience to the Law To which we answer Juste lex non est posita neque ad condemnationem neque ad coactionem That a righteous man is freed from the coaction and malediction of the Law but not from the regulation of it To whom the commandments of God are not grievous but joyous The just man doth well not for fear of punishment as compell'd by the Law but of grace and meer love towards God and goodness virtutis amore Albeit there were no Law yet he would be a Law to himself Christ is legis finis Int●rficiens Aug. Perficiens The Ceremonial Law he hath slain and taken out of the way The Moral Law he hath fulfilled for us and we by him that is by faith in his name which maketh his obedience to become ours The Law is not impossible to be obeyed absolutè in se but ex accidenti in respect of us because of the corruptions of our hearts and natures Luther had three golden sayings concerning the Law 1. The first was Walk in the heaven of the Promise but in the earth of the Law That in respect of believing this of obeying 2. That in the justification of a sinner Christ and

goodness to us upon whom the glorious light of the Gospel shineth The vail remaineth untaken away 2 Cor. 3.14 18 Mat. 13.16 17 in reading of the Old Testament But we all with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord. Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear For verily I say unto you That many Prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things Which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them Of Scripture-Interpretation ROgo Greg. Ratio divina in medullá non in supersicie Tert. non verbum ex verbo sed sensum ex sensu transferte quia plerunque dum propriet●s verborum attenditur sensuum virtus amittitur Greg. Epist ad Aristobolum That is a false Exposition which is 1. Praeter fundamentum veritatis when it agrees not with the place treated of but is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliena à proposito 2. Prater fundamentum salutiis when it is not only beside the verity but beside the foundation Christ 3. Circa fundamentum salutis when it weakneth the foundation 4. Contra fundamentum salutis when it raseth the foundation not keeping to the head Christ True interpretation is that which is super fundamentum upon the foundation Hence the Jewish Doctors were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 builders Aedificantes because they were bound to build upon the foundation That there are no real though seeming contradictions Epiphan Epiphanius doth illustrate by this comparison When a man is drawing water out of a deep Well with two vessels of a different metal the water if a man look into the Well as it is coming up will seem to be of a different colour but as it comes nearer and nearer to him the diversity of colours vanisheth and the water in both vessels appears to be of one colour and when we taste it is hath the same relish So although at first sight there may seem to be some contradiction in the holy Scriptures yet when we better consider of it we shall find no contrariety at all but a perfect harmony The Scriptures are difficult 1. In respect of seeming Contradictions 2. Because clothed with dark Phrases Parables c. 3. Because of Prophecies to come not yet fulfilled 4. Because of some places in the Old Testament quoted in the New either not to be found or not in that sense 5. Because of different acceptations of one and the same word The reason of this obscurity is 1. To humble proud man that thinks to know Omne scibile 2. To put a difference between Earth and Heaven 3. To make us painful 4. To shew what need we have of the Ministery Act. 8.30 31. No man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in heavenly literature Well saith one He that here is Scholar to himself hath a Fool to his Master Helps to understand the Scripture 1. Pray 2. Read reverently 3. Practise what we know One said The way to understand the difficulty in Pauls Epistle to the Romans Nunquam Pauli sensum ingredieris nisi Pauli spiritum imbiberis Bern. ad cap. 12. was to practise the plain precepts from thence usque ad finem It is said that Origen was the first that wrote Commentaries upon the holy Scripture The Inditer of Scripture is the best Expositor thereof for he knows four things which no man attains to know Viz. 1. The mysteries of Heaven 2. The perfection of the Laws of Nature 3. The secrets of the heart of man 4. The future succession of Ages 2 Pet. 1.20 No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation Of Gods Fore-knowledge and Decree Praescientia NOn est causa futurorum eventuum Pras●i●ntia Dei est co●●oscitiva non c●●sa●iv● Orig. Pro hoc doctissimè satis amplè argumentatur Origen In Genes Prescience or Foreknowledge in God is to be considered Largely or Strictly In the former sense it notes the whole act of Preordination in the latter the Knowledge of God preceding in order the appointment to the end And thus by the Schoolmen it is distributed into Absolute and Special The first is that by which God from eternity doth know all things simply and absolutely The latter is that by which God not only knoweth the Elect as he knoweth other things but acknowledgeth them for his and loves them above all others This is called the Knowledge of approbation Consider it now in the former sense that is as absolute Foreknowledge And there is difference between Providence Predestination and Prescience for Providence reacheth to all that God would do Predestination only to the counsel of God about reasonable creatures but Prescience reacheth unto all things to be done either by God or any other and so to Sins Now we are not able to express the manner of this divine knowledge unless it be by way of negation that is by denying to God those ways of knowledge which are in the creatures and do note imperfection For God doth not know things 1. By sense These things are spoken of God metaphorically or by an Anthropopathy 2. Nor by opinion or conjecture for that is neither certain nor evident 3. Nor by faith for that comes by relation and report of others 4. Nor by Art for that must be by defining dividing compounding comparing reasoning c. 5. Nor successively for God knows all things in one view and not one after another 6. But by his Essence by a way more excellent above all Men and Angels by a knowledge most true certain evident and perfect Produce your cause Isa 41.21 22 23. saith the Lord bring forth your strong reasons saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth and shew us what shall happen let them shew the former things What they be that we may consider them and know the latter end of them Isa 42.9 or declare us things for to come Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are gods Behold the former things are come to pass and now things do I declare before they spring forth I tell you of them Decretum Gods Decree is both unsearchable and inevitable Zech. 6. Divi●um confilium d●m devitatur impletur Greg. compared to mountains of brass which the Poets hammer'd at in their Inel●ctabile fatum as they called it Gods decrees lie hid till they come to execution They run as a river under-ground till they break out and shew themselves Only when he hath once signified his will then we understand it which before lay hid from us that is to use tho Prophets phrase when the chariots come out from between the mountains of brass when the event declareth what was the immutable Decree of God The Decree of God is so far from calling us off from that it obligeth us to the use of all due means For the life of the body The absoluteness

faith were alone Tanquam sponsus cum sponsà in Thalamo howbeit it is such a faith as works by love 3. He that can rightly distinguish betwixt Law and Gospel let him praise God for his skill and know himself to be a good Divine For ever O Lord thy Word is setled in heaven Ideo moralis lex vocatur quia de moribus●est omni beminum generi semper communis Zanch. The Moral Law it is eternal and albeit some special duties of certain commandments shall cease when we come to heaven yet the substance of every one remaineth We live by the same Law in effect as the Saints above do and do Gods Will on earth as they in heaven The ministerials of this Law shall pass away together with this life the substantials shall pass into our glorified natures and shine therein as in a Mirrour for ever Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets Mat. 5.17 Ne minima quidem litera Luth. Rom. 3.31 I am not come to destroy but to fulfill For verily I say unto you It is easier for Heaven and earth to pass than one title of the Law to fail Do we then make void the Law through faith God forbid yea we establish the Law For the Law is holy and just Cap. 7.12 and good Lex Talionis Lex Talionis A●●st quand● quis idem patitur quod alteri fecit Vocatur à Graecis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi recipro●● mutua passio à verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est vicissim patior A Latinis Talio jus talionis quia talia tribuuntur qualia quis f●cit Aulus G●llius in Histor aut alteri praestitit Vnde apud Gellium dicitur retaliare quasi talia retribuere qualia alter secit De hoc jure etiam in sacris literis extat preceptum Moses exigit vitam pro animo oculum pro oculo Christus in Evangeli● inquit qu● mensur● metieritis remetietur vebis Et Propheta Esaias vae tibi qui spolias alterum quoniam ipse sp●liaberis What wouldest thou have done with me said Tamerlane to the fierce Bajazet Turk hist fol. 220. then his prisoner had it been my fortune to have fallen into thy hands as thou art now in mine I would said Bajazet have inclosed thee in a Cage of Iron and so in triumph have carried thee up and down my Kingdom Even so said Tamerlane shalt thou be served One Perillus gave to Phalaris King of Cicile Necenim ●ex justor ●lla est Quamn●cis artisic●s arte p●ri●● s●● an hollow or brazen Bull wherein to scortch and torment men by fire praising the device with this commendation That the noise of the tormented would be like the bellowing of a Bull. But there was a due reward unto the inventour for the first trial was made of himself God usually retaliates and dealeth with men according to the manner and way of their wickedness The sin and suffering oft meet in some remarkable circumstance Babylon hath blood for blood Jacob cometh as the elder to Isaac and Leah cometh as the younger to Jac●b He that denied a crumb wanted a drop Asa that set the Prophet in the stocks had a disease in his seet Sodom sinned in fulness of bread and it is expresly noted that their victuals were taken from them by the four Kings Their eyes were full of uncleanness and they were smitten with blindness They burned with lust and were burned with fire They sinned against nature and against the course of nature fire descends and consumes them Sisera annoy's Gods People with his Iron Charets and is slain by a nail of Iron Jesabels bra●s that devised mischief against the innocent are strew'd upon the stones By a Letter sent from Jezreel she shed the blood of Naboth and by a Letter from Jezreel the blood of her sons is shed Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomons Temple the seven years work of so many thousands therefore he is turned a grazing and seven seasons pass over him The blasphemers in the Revelations gnaw their tongues through pain and Dives was tormented in that part chiefly Cyprian yielding the reason of it Quia lingua plus peccaverat Thus God delights to give men their own to pay them home in their own coyn to remete them their own measure to beat them with their own weapons to over-shoot them in their own bows and to shape their estates according to their own patterns When it is thus know the sin by the judgement and silence murmuring Adonibezek an Heathen observed As I have done God hath done to me With what judgement ye judge Mat 7.2 ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again The Gospel THE word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of to b●●e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nuntius 〈◊〉 unutium Evangelium signifieth glad-tidings that is the proper notation of the Original word And the same may our English word Gospel admit for Spel in ancient signified speech Gespel then is a good speech Or quasi Gods-spell Gods power or charm to call us to be Christians as Romans 1.16 The Gospel is the Power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth It is sometimes taken for the Sacrifice which the Heathen offered to their gods It is so used in Xenophon Homer Odyss for joyful news And sometimes for the reward which is given to him who bringeth glad-ridings In Scripture it is taken for glad-tidings in general For the history of Christ But by an excellency it is restrained to signifie The most joyful message of salvation And sometimes for the publishing of the Doctrine of Christ Consider the Gospels 1. Antiquity 2. Excellency It is at least as old as Moses which was the first writer that we read of The Athenians thought it to be a new Doctrine Yet it is as ancient as Moses nay as Adam for the Doctrine of the Gospel was in Paradise The Law was before the Gospel yet the Gospel is more worthy than it darkness went before the light the night before the day yet the day is more glorious than the night All creatures were made before man yet man excelleth them all The Sword-bearer goes before the Major yet he is not greater than the Major All things are not to be esteemed by their precedency and priority in the world There cometh one after me said John yet in honour and dignity he is before me So the Gospel cometh after the Law yet it is more excellent than the Law In the Law there is nothing but matter of fear in the Gospel of love in the Law God is against us in the Gospel he is Emanuel God with us The Law curseth the Gospel blesseth The Law is a denunciation of wrath of a curse against us because of transgression only the Gospel is an annunciation of mercy and forgiveness That breatheth forth only a cold blast a North-wind of

the Philosophers Animalia gloriae popular is aur● mancipia you shall find it in the Church-windows A bare head in the street doth him more good than a meals-meat He picks his teeth when his stomack is empty and calls for Pheasants at a common Inne You shall find him prizing rich Jewels when his purse yields not money to pay for earnest He is ever on the stage and acts still a glorious part abroad He is a Spanish Soldier on an Italian Theatre a Bladder full of wind a Skin full of words a Fools wonder and a Wise mans fool I know none more vain-glorious than the Pope for he Simon Magus-like gives himself out to be some great thing even the Church-virtual And that in his breast as in Noah's Ark is comprehended all wisdom and worth The like do his Janizaries the Jesuites who will needs be taken for the onely Scholars Laus proprio sord●scit in ore Politicians and Orators of the world The Church say they is the soul of the world the Clergy of the Church and we of the Clergy Many are apt to over-value and over-rate their own abilities as if they had engrossed all Knowledge and had the Monopoly of Wisdom in their own breasts as if all must borrow or buy of their store and light their candle at their torch But no man is a greater stranger to true Knowledge than he who boasts he hath more than his neighbours It is the emptiness of Knowledge not a fulness of it which makes so great a sound Socrates made no distinction between Wisdom and Sobriety We shall be sober Coplav 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non distinguebat if we take not that upon us that we have not nor brag of that which we have Let us not be desirous of Vain-glory. Gal. 5.26 Chastity It is an abstinence and forbearing not from Marriage Castitas à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 orno quia praecipuum est hominis ornamentum River but from all strange and roving lusts about the desire of that Sexe Christians must have chaste desires not indulging to themselves a liberty of looser thoughts keeping the threshold of their Temples pure that the Holy Ghost may observe nothing unclean in the entry of his habitation For he that lusts after a woman wants nothing to the consummation of the act Incesta etiam est sine stupro quae stuprum quaerit Seneca but some convenient circumstances which because they are not in our power the act is impeded but nothing of the malice abated The chaste Tragedian Sophocles being demanded whether he ever applied his mind to sensual affections replied Dii meliora Heaven forefend a Strumpet should put on a Tragick buskin This may reduce a mans stragling motion to a more retired harbour Origen mistaking those words There be Eunuchs which have made themselves Eunuchs for the kingdom of heavens sake gelded himself But that person is truly chaste that hath liberty and opportunity to sin Jerom. and will not So severe in this was our blessed Saviour that he commanded us rather to put our eyes out than to suffer them to become an offence to us that is an inlet to sin or an invitation or transmission of impurity Meaning the extinction of all incentives of lust the rejection of all opportunities and occasions the quitting of all conditions of advantage which minister fuel to this Hell-fire Now the beginnings temptations likenesses and insinuations of lust and impurity to be forbidden to Christians Such are all morose delectations in vanity wanton words gestures revellings luxurious diet garish and lascivious dressings and trimmings of the body In a word all making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it all lust of concupiscence and all lust of the eye and all lust of the hand unclean contacts are to be rescinded all lust of the tongue and palate all surfeiting and drunkenness For it is impossible to keep the spirit pure if it be exposed to all the entertainment of enemies And if Christ forbad the wanton eye and placed it under the prohibition of adultery Archeselaus Philos apud Plutarch it is certain whatsoever ministers to that vice and invites to it is within the same restraint it is the eye or the hand or the foot that is to be cut off Nihil refert quibus membris adu Iteraveris For this is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication 1 Thess 4.3 4 5. that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God Vncleanness He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption This metaphor of sowing sheweth well what it is to live after the flesh For Sowing hath these four things required viz. 1. Praeparatio terrae 2. Praeparatio seminis 3. Manuum injectio 4. Seminis multitudo And to those four do answer 1. Suggestion which prepares our hearts to receive the bad seed 2. Consent which seeks for and provides the seed 3. The act of sinning which is like the hand casting the seed into the ground 4. The continuance in sinning which answereth the multitude of grains Fornication is a complex word comprehending all manner of bodily uncleanness with women And when Adultery is forbidden there is not only a prohibition of the violation of the rights of Marriage but it is also extended to signifie all mixtures not matrimonial As 1. Whoredom Which is in a strict sense that uncleanness which is committed with a Maid or Widow It is soluti cum soluta Hophni and Phineas by their wicked life made men abhor the offering of the Lord. They were guilty of the four Cardinal vices or rather as Peter Martyr wittily of the four vices of the Cardinals 1. Of Imprudence for they were ignorant of their function 2. Of Injustice for they lived of rapine 3. Of Effeminateness for they would not stay for their dinner 4. Of Intemperance for they stained themselves with whoredom This is a grievous sin Because 1. It stains the body with a peculiar kind of filth 2. Such a one is guilty of Sacralidge for that our bodies are consecrated to God as his Temples 3. Because we are not our own to give our bodies to any other much lesse to Satan and the flesh seeing that God himself hath bought us and that with a great price to the end that both in body and soul we should serve him Whoremongers Heb. 13.4 God will judge 2. Adultery Which is properly folly committed with a strangers wife Adulterium quasi ad alterius torum It was to be punished with death even by the law of Nature because the society and purity of posterity could not otherwise continue amongst men It is a capital crime there is great theft in it as the word imports 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the very

Such as a Divine saith very well may be compared to those that being of a cold and flegmatick stomack eat hard and cholerick meats Well they may please their palates but it cannot be for their health and may justly fear to have their meat sauced and drink spiced with the bitter wrath of God Thou that abhorrest Idols doest thou commit Sacriledge Rom. 2.22 Mat. 3.8 9. Will a man rob God yet ye have robbed me Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me Prov. 20.25 It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy Read Joel 3.5 Dan. 5.23 24 c. Tythes Bellarmine contendeth that Tythes are due to the Ministery Non jure divin● sed ecclesiastico Yet he alloweth that in some sense it may be affirmed that they are due jure divino 1. Quoad substantiam non quantitatem 2. Si addatur ecclesiae determinatio 3. That the very quantity is due jure divino non ex vi juris divini sed ex vi juris ecclesiastici These are nothing else but starting-holes For it is a firm and immoveable truth that the very Quantity is due to the Ministers of the Gospel whether the Church determine it or not for Gods institution dependeth not on the constitution of the Church Tythes they say are Jewish But if Melchisedech of whom afterwards tythed Abraham by the same right whereby he blessed him And if Tythes by all laws of God Nature and Nations have been hallowed to God as Junius and other Modern Divines argue and alleadge And if things consecrated to Gods service may not be alienated It will appear to be otherwise They are due to the Ministers of the Gospel not of alms or of benevolence but of justice we have a right and interest to them The labourer is worthy of his hire A beggar is not worthy of alms When ye give a labourer his hire ye give him but his due All are to pay high and low rich and poor because it belongs ad justitiam commutativam in quà non consideratur conditio personae sed qualitas rei ad rem Give to Cesar the things that are Cesar's and to God the things that are God's Caesari tributa Deo decimas Nay more Decimae non dantur clericis quia boni sunt sed quia clerici sunt sicut tributa dantur regibus non quia probi sed quia reges sunt How chearfully then ought ye to give it to them that are faithful and diligent in the work of the Lord But if any man list to be contentious we have no such custom nor the Churches of God This is a thing controversal in this last and wicked age of the world wherein charity waxeth cold as to all in general so to the Ministers in special But it may be sufficiently evinced out of the Word of God We need not saith one stand to mans Courtesie for then in most places we should have a Cursie Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things 1 Cor. 9.13 14. live of the things of the temple and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar Even so Note that hath the Lord ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel Simony Qui vendunt vel emunt praebenda Ecclesiarum dicuntur tales à Simone Simon●ales The buying of Spiritual things is so called from Simon Magus his offer The Schoolmen generally define it thus B●●l●f●r Est studiosa voluntas emendi vel vendendi aliquod spirituale seu spirituali annexum So not the hand only but the heart commits Simony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was no Pactum between Simon Magus and the Apostles but only voluntas He made an offer of money to them and that was condemned And if so who then in this Age almost can say he is assured to have a good conscience in this thing For the branches it is committed four wayes 1. Per pecuniam Sad when Lady Pecunia is the Janitrix to let men into the Church 2. Per adulationem which is venenum mellis dulcedine palliatum 3. Per importunas preces ambientium Est orare ducum species violenta jubendi 4. Per sordidum obsequium Ready to do any base kind of service Whereas the Ambassador of Christ should resemble his Master Christ in the Church Minde Gal. 4.14 Gal. 1.10 Ecclesiastica benefici● nullo modo vendere licet Aquin. quia eis venditis intelliguntur spiritualia venditioni subjici Simonaici tam vendentes quàm ementes spiritualia poenis puniuntur scil infamiâ depositione si sint Clerici excommunicatione si sint Laici Idem If thou comest in by Simony saith Ambrose Caro dominatur populis animae servit daemonibus Caro sacerdotium comparavit anim● detrimentum Paravit I shall shut up this with those Verses which were not amiss to be imprinted in the hearts of all Haec duo damna feres si tu sis Simonis haeres Mortuus ardebis vivus semper egebis Simon offered them money saying Give me this power Act. 8. But Peter said unto him Thy money perish with thee Thy heart is not right in the sight of God c. Things indifferent Sunt autem res mediae opera sive actiones quae in sese sive suapte natura nec Bucan nec bonae vel malae sunt sed ex usus ipsarum circumstantiis vel bonae vel malae causentur Aut res indifferentes sive actiones dicuntur quae lege aut verbo Dei neque praecise jubentur neque expressè prohibentur fieri These things indifferent may not be used indifferently But with caution 1. Concerniing Faith that we do nothing with a doubting conscience 2. We must have respect to our brethren whether strong weak or obstinate that we give none offence unto them thereby 3. That Christians do not condemn one another for the using or not using of things of this nature It is a safe rule Quod dubites ne feceris Plin. Epist Mallem praesentia tuta quàm vetera pericalosa Tacit In doubtful cases be sure to take the surer side An erroneous Conscience maketh a thing unlawful for actions receive their qualification according to the will of the agents and the will is moved by the thing apprehended If reason judge that thing to be sin and yet the will be carried unto it it is manifest that such an one hath a will to sin and the outward action which is informed by the will whether it be lawful or unlawful in it self is a sin Nih●l faciendum de quo dubites necne rectè factum Nothing is to be done Cicer. Ossic l. 1. which thou doubtest whether it may be lawfully done or no said a Heathen man Posse nolle nobile est Forbear for fear of offence unless it be in point of necessary duty for then we may not do evil that good may

hath seen 2. External an outward way of walking That speech of God to Abraham takes in both Gen. 17.1 Walk before me and be thou perfect Thus if we speak metaphorically that 's not onely a way which we tread with our feet but that 's also a way which we tread with our actions A right course of life is a right way Go here saith God it is a way of holinesse go there it is the way of justice Come hither this is the way of truth Thus God beckens and invites man into his way And surely there 's no safety out of Gods way many have died in Christs way but no man ever perished in it God knoweth the way that I take Job 23.10 Quality Worth is valued by the quality not by the greatnesse of a thing Pro. 30.25 26. Some feeble creatures have a notable forecast And others what they want in strength they have in wisedome The least measure of true faith if exerted and exercised will bring a man to heaven though he have not this or that faith to rely upon God without failing without feeling as resolving that neverthelesse God will hear him in that very thing that he prayes for Verily I say unto you if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed Mat. 17.20 ye shall Experience The requisites for a City or Incorporation are One to judge a law to rule power to defend wisedome to order and riches to communicate Man the City of God at his creation had these will for the King reason for the law free-will for power for wisedome knowledge for riches obedience and cogitations for Inhabitants But man triumphed gloriously in a chariot of glasse which was broken with an Apple And now man is deceived by Satan infected with sin banished from Paradise sweating in labour living in sorrow continuing in warre and fearful of death I have read of a monster having a head like a man teeth like a Lion wings like an Eagle tail and nails like a Dragon and breathed fire like a Devil The wicked man hath reason for his head presumption for his wings stiffnesse in wickednesse for his teeth temptation for his nails and envy for his breath Some sparks of the Deity were created in man in the beginning which he striving to blow into a flame blew them out And now what gets man in the Devils service but death what comfort in his conscience but horrours eyes flaming nostrils fuming eares glowing hands burning and heart trembling As the body of Cerberus supports three heads so the stem of sin sends forth three armes The concupiscence of flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life Delilah deceives Sumpson and the Philistines pull out his eyes Delilah is the flesh the Philistines bind him when reason yeilds to sensuality and pull out his eyes when sin perswades him to iniquity Fas est ab hoste doceri Lay thine hand upon him Job 41.8 remember the battel do no more Aeconomical Order Natura AS Galaton painted Homer vomiting Reliquos verò Poems ●a quae ips●●●muisset haurientes To signifie saith Aelian that he was the first Poet and all the other as well Greek as Latine but his Apes In like manner Moses is called Oceanus Theologus from whom all other Writers as Armes are derived Aristotle was called Vltimus conatus naturk Nature the common mother breedeth divers effects according to the constitution of each body Many times by events and accidents divers deformities and blemishes appear which by nature were not decreed to be There is greatest cold in the bosome of the earth when the Sun with greatest vehemency shines on it to heat it even so our corrupt nature doth never shew it self more rebellious and stubborn than when the Law of God begins to rectifie it as an unruly and untamed horse the more he is spurred forward the faster he runs backward Rom. 7. so the perverse nature of man is so far from being reformed by the Law that by the contrary sin that was dead without the Law is revived by the Law and takes occasion to obey its concupiscence When we speak of sins against nature our meaning is against the light of nature not against the corruption of nature Naturally Homo est inversus Decalogus whole evil is in man and whole man in evil And there is never a better of us Therefore Christ came to dissolve the old frame and to drive out the Prince of darknesse who hath there entrencht himself We were by nature the children of wrath Eph. 2.3 even as others Marriage It is called In scripturis 〈◊〉 conjugalis 〈◊〉 tur Conjugium à conjungendo i.e. à jugo communi q●o vir 〈◊〉 simul in unam carnem veluti in unum hóminem junguntur Matrimoniam quasimatrem monens nam à matre dictum est Conubium numero plurali Nuptiae à nubend● i. e. tegends vel obtegendo quia sicut coelum interdum nubibus obtegitur sic untiquitus virgines dum ad vires dactbantur G●dw Anti● belamine tegebantur idque ad testandum 1. Pudor●m verecundi●m 2. Subjectionem obedientiam sen alterius potestatem in se Some honour marriage too much as the Papists that make a Sacrament of it Sacramentum hoc magnum est Ephes 5.32 yet the Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if every mystery should be a Sacrament there should not be seven but seventy Sacraments and more Neither doth he speak of marriage but of the conjunction of Christ and his Church in that place A number there be also that have exceedingly disgraced it So Epiphanius recordeth o● him Mar●●on called Matrimony Inventionem diaboli Saturnius and Basilides blushed not to affirme that Nubere generare were à Satana And Hierom with Tertullian wrest some sentences of St. Paul to the disgrace of marriage But let them all say what they will The very first work God did after the very first creation was his marrying of man to woman and one of the first Miracles Christ wrought was in honour of marriage Here Bellurmine also toyes with a triple distinction such as that in his Treatise for Purgatory where Peter Martyr non-plust him A great scholar but were he as great as his great-Grandfather that came to our Saviour with scriptum est his greatnesse were nothing because it is against God who onely is great without quantity Great is Diana of the Ephesians yet nothing because an Idol Before marriage let us begin with God as Abrahams servant did Dos non Deus makes such marriages Forma bonum fragile est 〈◊〉 Res est forma fuga● Senec. send me good speed this day And make a Christian choice let not red angels and ruddy cheeks be the loadstones though the one is not wholly to be contemned and the other is an ornament much to be commended But rather grace and vertue remembring what the wise man saith Prov. 31.30 Favour is deceitful

the conscience of his faithfulnesse herein being more sweeter as it is more secret In favours done his memory is frail in benefits received never failing He is the joy of life the treasure of earth and no other than a good Angel cloathed in flesh It is said of Augustus that he was ad accipiendas amicitias rarissimus ad retinendas verò constantiss●mus Euripides saith that a faithful friend in adversity is better than a calme sea to a storm-beaten Marriner The world is full of Jobs comforters and friends miserable ones who instead of comforting reproach vizarding themselves under the cloke of amity when their hearts are no better than lumps of hypocrisie But true friendship is Hercules knot indissoluble And like Mercuries sta●●e whereon are placed two snakes both the male and the female alwayes clipping and clasping together One asking a poor man how he would prefer his children his answer was Zenophon Cyrus is my friend But O happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help Psal ●46 5 and whose hope is in the Lord his God Kisse To kisse noteth 1. Worship and service 1 Kings 19.18 2. Duty and obedience Psal 2.12 3. Love and affection As a sign of unity and onenesse Salute one another saith Paul with an holy kisse Rom. 16.16 As it is the fashion among us for men meeting with their friends to shake hands So was it among the Jewes as appears by many places in both Testaments for men to kisse men at meeting and parting The Apostle intends a true conjunction of minds and affections forgetting all former offence This Peter calleth the kisse of charity and Austin Osculum columbinum the Dove-like kisse But there are unholy kisses The unchast kisse of the Harlot The idolatrous kisse of the Israelites to Baal The flattering kisse of Absolom and the trayterous kisse of Joab and Judas Above all its good to kisse him in whose lips grace is seated Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth Cant. 1.2 for thy love is better than wine Enemie Wisdom tells us it is good to keep a bit in the mouth of an enemie but much more of our spiritual enemies Fury fights against the soul like a mad Turk Fornication like a treacherous Joab it doth kisse and kill Drunkennesse is the master-gunner that sets all on fire Gluttony will stand for a Corporal Avarice for a Pioner Idlenesse for a Genleman of the company And Pride must be a Captain Let us therefore put on our spiritual armour To love our enemies is a hard task but Christ commands it and it must be done be it never so contrary to our foul nature The spirit that is in us lusteth after envy but the Scripture teacheth better things and God giveth more grace This is our Saviours Precept and this was his practice He melted over Jerusalem the slaughter-house of his Saints and himself Called Judas friend Prayed Father forgive them And did them all good for bodies and souls And all his children in all ages of the Church have resembled him Abraham rescueth Lot that had dealt so discourteously with him Isaac forgives the wrong done him by Abimelech and his servants and feasteth them Jacob was faithful to Laban who changed his wages ten times and alwayes for the worse Joseph entertained his malicious brethren into his house Elisha provides a table for them that had provided a grave for him And Stephen prayes heartily for his persecutors Lord lay not this sinne to their charge and prevailed as Austin thinketh for Pauls conversion In doing some good to our enemies we do most to our selves for God cannot but love in us that imitation of his mercy who bids his Sun to shine on the wicked and unthankful also Love your enemies Mat. 5.44 blesse them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you c. Read Rom. 12.20 21. Money It was and still is a common medler It is the worlds great Monarch and bears most Majesty What great designs did Philip bring to passe in Greece by his gold The very Oracles were said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to say as Philip would have them Antipater non tenuis fuit pecuniae ideo praevalidae fuit potentiae saith Egesippus he was a well-monyed man and therefore a mighty man But what security is in money Doth the Devil balk a lordly house as if he were afraid to come in Dares he not tempt a rich man to lewdnesse Let experience witnesse whether he dare not bring the highest gallant both to sin and shame Let his food be never so delicate he will be a guest at his table and perhaps thrust in one dish at his feast Drunkenness Satan will attend him though he have good servants Wealth is no charm to conjure away the Devil such an Amulet and the Pope's Holy-water are both of a force An evil conscience dares perplex Saul in the throne and a Judas with his purse full of money Can a silken sleeve keep a broken arm from aking then may a full barn keep an evil conscience from vexing Hell-fire doth not favour the rich mans limbs more than the poor's Dives goes to hell out of his purple-robes to flames of the same colour The frogs dare leap to King Pharaoh's chamber into his sumptuous pallaces The rich Worldlings live most miserably slav'd to that wealth whereof they keep the key under their girdle Esuriunt in Popina They starve in a Cooks shop The Poet tells us that when Codrus his * A little cottage in the forrest house burns he stands by and warms himself knowing that a little few sticks straw and clay with a little labour can rebuild him as good a tabernacle But if this accident light upon the Usurers house distraction seiseth him withall he cries out of this Chamber and that Chest of this Closet and Cabinet Bonds and Mortgages Money and Plate Strabo saith That Phaletius feared lest in digging for Gold and Silver Effodiuntur opes c. men would dig themselves a new way to Hell Plutonem brevi ad superos adducturos And bring up the Devil among them Gold is that which the basest yield the most savage Indians get servile Apprentices work miserable Muckworms admire and unthrifty Ruffians spend Yet the danger is not in having gold and silver so as these metals have not us Minut. Octav. so as they do not get within us But that is too often verified of which an Antient complaineth and not without cause Divites facultatibus suis alligatos magis aurum consuevisse suspicere qu●m coelum That rich men mind Gold more than God and Money more than Mercy If wealth be wanting they sit down in a faithless sullen discontent and despair And if they have it they rise up in a corky frothy confidence that all shall go well with them Money answereth all things Eccl. 10.19 Clothing

of Christendome with their continual intelligence is thought to advise most of that mischief which the Turks put in execution against us I omit what Authors report of them concerning the judgement of God upon their bodies that they are to this day a nasty people much addicted to the leprosie Hence that fable in Tacitus that the Israelites were driven out of Egypt Symmâ D●i bonitate id factum est nè populos ad lepram proclives animal leprosissimum magis ac magis infestaret Theat Nat. p. 354. for that lothsome disease Mind Bodinus his observation He observes it for a special providence of God that in Arabia which bordereth upon Judea there are no swine to be found lest that most leprous creature saith he should more and more infest and infect that people who are naturally subject to the leprosie And therefore some have thought they were forbidden to eat Swines-flesh and Hares-flesh because in diseased bodies it easily turnes to ill humours They are so despicable a people for their unexpiable guilt in crucifying Christ that they are therefore banished as it were out of the world by a common consent of Nations Yea the very Turks themselves so hate them Iudaus sim si fallo that they use to say in detestation of a thing I wish I might die a Jew if so and so But chiefly Gods judgement for their unbelief is upon their mindes as may be read at large Rom. 11. Whence we may observe Note that God in his just judgment gives over such as are enemies to the Gospel to the Devil to be blinded that they cannot convert This is a fearful estate But yet for all this before the end of the world they shall be called That Nation lies under many promises Therefore it is our duty not to despise them nor despaire of their conversion but to pray for them as they did for us when we had no breasts Cant. 8.8 The natural Branches Rom. 11.21 Gentiles Great was the knowledge of the Heathen sages witness the seven wise men of Greece Archimedes of Syracuse who had a name and fame saith Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of humane but of a kinde of divine wisdome So had Socrates so had Apollonius of whom Philostratus saith Non doctus sed natus sapiens that he was not taught but born a wise man These all were the worlds wizards but what came they to Lactantius truly telleth us in the name of the whole community of Christians That all the wisdome of a man consisteth in this Instit l. 3. c. 30. to know God and worship him aright But this they never attained unto The Tyrians had an hand in building the Temple the molten sea stood upon twelve oxen which looked towards East West North and South The new Jerusalem hath twelve gates A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To shew that there is every way accesse for all sorts to Christ who is also fitly called the second Adam the Greek letters of which name as Cyprian observeth do severally signifie all the quarters of the earth He was born in an Inne to shew that he receives all commers His garments were divided into four parts to shew that out of what part of the world soever we come Christ is willing to entertain us Jether an Ishmaelite may become an Israelite and Araunah the Jebusite may be made an exemplary Profelyte The Gentiles saith one were converted by vertue of this prayer Gen. 9.27 as Paul was by Stephens But this text Mal. 1.11 the perverse Jews could never abide to hear of nor can they to this day And therefore it is that they have in their expositions basely depraved it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and corrupted the true sense of it Calling us still Goi Mamzer bastard Gentiles Let us pity and pray for them as Isa 25.7 8. And let us praise God who hath made us Gentiles meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 And take heed we sin not away our light causing God to take his Kingdom from us and give it to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof God shall perswade Japhet Gen. 9.27 and shall dwell in the tents of Shem. Countrey A mans native countrey is pleasant and sweet to all Nos patriae fines dulcia linquimus arva Nos patriae sines Nescio quâ natale solum dulcedine cunctos ducit immemores non sinit esse sui Vlysses was very desirous to see the smoke of his countrey Shall I leave my countery that hath been as a mother to bring me into the world and to nourish me in it A man in conscience by the law of Nature is bound to his own countrey But this world is not our countrey Socrates is highly commended for his answer Omne solum sorti patria est being demanded what countrey man he was he answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mundanus the world is my countrey all countreys are alike to me Yet in truth we have no countrey in the world Heaven properly to speak is our countrey and we must seek it Desire a better countrey Heb. 11.16 that is an heavenly Signes Signum est quod seipsum seu sui praeter se aliquid animo repraesentat There are signs 1. Of Gods wrath such are prodigious events 2. Of his power such are Miracles 3. Of his grace such are Sacraments For irreverent using of good means Vzziah was smitten with leprosie Fifty thousand Bethshemites for looking irreverently into the Ark which was a sign of mercy These signes of mercy proved means of misery Signa sunt triplicia 1. Memorativa quae praeteritum aliquid in memoriam reducunt Hujusmodi voluit Deus esse Irieum 2. Demonstrativa quae praesentia monstrant Vt fumus ignem 3. Prognostica quae futura praenunciant ut varius solis color dum occidit Juxta illud Poetae Caeruleas pluvias denunciat igneus Eurus As God hath given us signes and foretokens of a tempest so hath he also of an ensuing judgement and blames those that take not notice thereof sending them to school to the Stork and Swallow Jerem. 8.7 If Elias see but a cloud as an hand arising from Carmel he can tell that great store of rain will follow that the whole heaven will anon be covered Many prodigies there were before the last desolation of Jerusalem A terrible tempest at Rome the same year that Luther began to stir Blood raining at Brixia in Italie in the year 874. for three dayes and three nights c. Gods signes have a voice and words speaking both to our eyes and ears A prudent man foreseeth the evil not by divination or star-gazing but by a judicious collection and connection of causes and consequents As if God be the same that ever as holy just powerful c. If sinne be

God David did run the pure path of Gods commandments and Christ did all things well We are to have respect to all the divine ordinances of the God of Truth that in none if it be possible we may be sound faulty Forsake evil and do good saith the Prophet and so the Lord shall crown our desires above what we are able to ask or think saith the Apostle Let your Covetousness be turned to Liberality that the Saints of God those of the houshold of faith may be the better for you Let your Ambition be turn'd to Humility that ye think not of your selves above that which is meet Let your Adulteries be turn'd to Chastity that your bodies may be fit temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in Let your Idolatries and Superstitions be turn'd to the zealous and Primitive service of God that God may dwell in the midst of you Let your Wantonness in attires and habits be turn'd to Gravity whereby the Heavenly graces of the Eternal Spirit may be enlarged in you and manifested by you as becometh Saints Let your hideous Blasphemies and horrid Oaths be turn'd to a reverent naming of the Lord that his Name may be hallowed by you In conclusion let all the Intemperance Prophaneness and Corruptions of our lives be turned to Holiness whereby all our actions may favour of grace goodness and obedience This obedience in actions whereby we glorifie God must be 1. Speedy 2. Cordial 3. Ever augmenting 4. Resolutely constant It must be speedy To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Dilatory procrastinarions beget difficulties and augment our miseries Wherefore to keep a Field from overgrowing with weeds is to pluck them up in the Spring and to preserve ones Body from overcharging with diseases is to purge the bad humors betime Thus sin and disobedience must be nipped in the bud or else they bring forth much soure fruit of trouble and danger 'T is the Polititians observation That à parvis veniunt summa mala principiis The greatest evils have but small beginnings Our obedience must be cordial My son give me thy heart saith the Wise man saith the wiser God If obedience be wrung from us it is not acceptable A cheer 〈◊〉 giver obtains acceptation at Gods hands Abraham's obedience in offering to offen up his son Isaac upon Divine command was cordial So were Davids services being a man after Gods own heart Christs obedience was cordial both in fulfilling every tittle of the Law and suffering the punishment due to our sins So was Paul's when in his conversion he consulted not with flesh and blood but immediately obeyed the Heavenly vision Our obedience must be ever augmenting It is the genuine nature of true grace to be ever growing and of good Christians to grow in grace The perfection of obedience is not compassed in a moment which is but a point of time but by degrees and many previal dispositions Were it not that we are too much indulgent to our corrupt affections our obedience would never leave growing until by Divine assistance and pious endeavours we increase the quantity thereof I know the desire of enjoying the home-pleasures of this sinful life hath the more favorable audience and powerful perswasions in a mind captivated to his own passions and prevails more But where the heart is set at liberty from the bondage of sin there Piety beareth sway and obedience aboundeth Hence proceeds the Apostle's elegant Climax Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. Acti agamus and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity If these things be in yo● and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Our obedience must be resolutely constant With the Galatians to begin in the spirit and to end in the flesh is a deep apostacy from the truth of obedience and from obedience to the truth It is manifest cowardise in Souldiers to forsake their Colours when they are upon service Our whole life is no other than a continual warfare If our resolution be not fixt in our Christian enterprises if we fail after the military oath is solemnly taken by us in our Baptism in obeying the Captain of our salvation the Lord of Hosts we cannot avoid the bafest imputation of coward●se nor be accounted other than dastardly fugitives We know Satan and the World lay strong siege to take us and to draw us by head and shoulders from our obedience But we may learn from Job this point of valour that though God should kill us much less then if Satan should yet we should not upon any terms forsake him For the crown of life and diadem of glory Rev. 2.10 shall be given unto them alone that are faithful to the death Thus much concerning the honour of Obedience which this Glory in the Text imports Now follows the other honour imported by it which is the honour of Divine worship or adoration whereof there are two degrees 1. Internal 2. External The first is the internal affection or serviceable submission which is as the soul or life The other is the external note or sign of such submission as bowing kneeling supplication these are the body or material parts of it Now this worship when divine and opposed unto civil is proper unto God and incommunicable to any creature For the glorious prerogative of our Creation and Redemption in these works he admits no instrumental service much less can brook a Partner in the glory redounding to them My glory will I not give unto another Psal 95.6 In consideration of the works of Creation the Princely Prophet invites all to adore God O come let us worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our Maker In consideration of our Redemption God speaking of Christ saith Let all the Angels of God worship him much more men Besides the seeds of grace and true religion are sown immediately by Gods sole powerful hand and their native off spring acts of faith especially must be reserved entire and untouch'd for him Prayers intrinsecally religious or devotions truly sacred are oblations which may not which cannot without open sacriledge be consecrated to any others honour but only to his who infuseth the spirit of prayer and thanksgiving into mens heares Bowing the body and kneeling as used to express a religious and divine worship must not be directed to honour them which are no gods but the Only wise and Immortal King Never had any man juster occasion to worship an Angel than S. John or a Saint than Cornelius and his company had The reason why the Lord in wisdom would have as well their willingness to worship as the Angel's and S. Peter's unwillingness to accept their proffered submission so expresly registred was to imprint the true meaning of that Law in

the ordinance of God for He did all things well Wherefore to shew that God keeps his word and that the truth of his promises is infallible He rose again from the dead In regard of us the end of his Rising is threefold Viz. 1. For our Example 2. For our Justification 3. For our Faith c. First for our Example tending to the information of us in the ways of righteousness in the paths of life That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life that the body of sin might be destroyed Resurectione Domini configuratur vita quae hic geritur and that henceforth we should not serve sin Rom. 6.4.6 The Resurrection of Christ from the dead should be a pattern for us wherein there is some effective vigor to raise us from the death of sin to a gracious life The power of effecting both is in God A D●o est quod unima vivat per gratiam corpus per Animam That the soul lives by grace and the body by the soul comes from God Aquinas who is the Author of life And saith Ames Christ rising from death is tum demonstratio quam initiatio as well a demonstration as the initiation or beginning of our Rusurrection by whom we pass from death unto life Secondly for our Justification They are the express words of the Apostle He was raised again for our justification Rom. 4. ult For now that he hath gotten the victory over death by reviving he applies by the vertue thereof all the benefits of the Gospel unto us to the exceeding great consolation of our souls Lastly for the establishment of our faith concerning the obtaining of life everlasting For indeed if the Head be risen the members may be sure to rise too and if the Head receive life and glory doubtless the members which have their proper dependunce of him shall receive the like perfection for a glorified Head cannot be without a glorified body Now Christ is the head of the body the Church Col. 1.18 who is the beginning the first-born from the dead that in all things he may have the preheminence Of the fulness of whose glory in the day of our perfect redemption we shall all receive a full measure For a Conclusion Communi naturae lege moriuntur homines The sons of men composed of dust and ashes die by the common law of nature Eternity is proper to another world not to this to this Inconstancie The Son of the most High himself when he became the Son of man was subjected to Mortality He pleaded no Prerogative royal to be exempted from that end which God setled in the course of nature Our times upon the Earth may be said to be lasting but not everlasting though in the hands of God Heaven decreed a period to our Lives which we cannot prevent and to which Christ at the appointed houre did submit himself with all obedience not able to avoid it Necessity was laid upon him to pay the dubt to Nature which might serve for a payment of our debt to God yet not respectu peccuti W●ems Protralcture of Gods image in man pag. 43. but respectis poenae this necessity was not in respect of sin He was a Lamb without blemish and without spot but in respect of that punishmen● which he did oblige himself to undergo for the sins of men Est illata necessia● Adamò innata necessit as nobis assumpta necessitas in Christo Necessity of death was laid upon Adam for his sin necessity of death is imbred in us and by a voluntary assumption there was a necessity of death in Christ A man willingly gives his word for such a summe for his friend but when he hath willingly given it he must of necessity pay it So Christ willingly took this debt upon him and in the fulness of time when 't was exacted paid it down even his life to God and nature But albeit he thus parted from the world yet God hath raised him up Etiam animalula quaedam typ● Resurrectionis sunt Lavat in Job 14.12 having loos'd the paines of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it So though the hand of fate by Natures unconfused order reduce us to our first principles yet shall we rise again by the mighty power of our eternal Maker The Judge of all the word hath appointed a day wherein to judge the world to which all must rise And as all must die and after death come to judgment so Christ was once offered to bear the ●ius of many and unto them that look for him shall be appear the second time without sin unto salvation THE BLESSED AMBASSADOR OR THE Best sent into the Basest GALATH. 4.6 And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father GODS love wherewith he hath embrac'd the sons of men in his onely Son is of such large extent as cannot be limited as cannot be measured the breadth and length and depth and height thereof Eph. 3.18 19. doth passe our knowledge Doth passe our finding out The length the breadth the depth of the earth the sea the heavens Mathematicians by their speculations do conjecture but the love of God the most ingenious and judicious cannot it so exceeds so much as conjecture much lesse perfectly know because infinite Would a man part with his only son and alone darling and he content he should die a most ignoble and ignominious death to ransome his servants his cantives his slaves rebels that would cut his throat I cannot be perswaded the world affords such a man such a Phenix there was but one in all the world Abraham found willing to slay his son to rip up his bowels that spruug out of his own when God commanded it Yet the Lord of heaven and earth whose mercies are over all his works sent his only Son to save sinners to dye that by his death we may live Though servants Cantives slaves rebels yet by his Son made Kings Priests Prophets sons and heirs of an eternal inheritance O the depth the height and length and breadth of Gods love He sent his Son forth from him to bring us to him he freely gave him to redeem us from the insulting power of Sathan from the captivity and dominion of sin from the oppressing tyranny of the world to bring us into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God This liberty this sonship is obtained by faith for to as many as beleeve in his name hath he given power to become the Sons of God All ye then that beleeve are no more servants but sons not sons of wrath but sons of God not sons by nature but sons by grace And because sons behold the Lords bounty is en●arged toward you the treasures of his graces are open for you the store-house of his riches is

in the salvation of penitent and beleeving soules the glory of his justice in the condemnation of obdurate and perverse malefactors As it is a perfect law so it is a law of liberty oppos'd to the Mosaical which is lex senvitutis a law of thraldome The liberty of this law in respect of our twofold condition is twofold 1. Gracious here in the life of grace wrought by Christ the Son of the everliving God if the Son make us free we are free indeed Joh. 8.36 Wherefore we have a free accesse at all times to call upon the Father of mercys imploring his powerful assistance in holy actions and invincible protection from all evil 2. Glorious in the life of glory called Vindicationis libertas the liberty of compleat redemption the creature being delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God Phrasis qulgatissima est Deum colere Non secus at que agri fertiles inprimis optimi sic Dei cultus f●uctus fert ad vitam aternam uberrimos Of this twofold liberty there are these parts 1. A liberty from sin our submission to the Gospel and faithful embracing of the promises of God in Christ frees us both from the raigning power of sin and from the condemning power For being made free from sin we become servants to God and have our fruit unto holiness and the and everlusting life Rom. 6.22 2. A liberty from the yoke of the ceremonial law and bondage of the morall From the yoke of the ceremonial law which was so ponderous as that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear but now by Christ and the law of faith it is blotted out quite abolished and taken out of the way And from the bondage of the moral law in these ensuing particulars 1. From the curse and consequently from the punishment of sin the transgression of the law Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 Rom. 8.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Apostle certifies us that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus 2. From the rigour and exaction of the law requiring of us for our justification perfect righteousness inherent in us and perfect obedience to be practis'd by us 3. From the terrour and coaction of the law which ingendereth servile fear in those who are under it and compelleth them through the horror of torment as bond-slaves by the whip or rack to the outward though unwilling performance of it But those that are under the law of grace are zealously addicted to good works and services of God which are over done by them with the free consent of a plous mind the original cause whereof is not any natural disposition but the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given unto us 4. from the instigation of the law for which reason saith Pareus on 1 Cor. 15.56 it hath got the name of the strength of sin whereby sin appears more sinfull which is not caused by any fault in the law in it self good and condemning sin but through the viciousness of our unregenerate nature that takes occasion from the sacred prohibitions of it to transgresse which irritation is accidentall not essentiall to the undefiled law of the righteous Lord. Another part of this liberty is a liberty from death which is twofold the first and the second They that are effectually in subjection to the Gospel the glad-tidings of peace are free from the first death as it is a punishment And from the second over them the second death shall have no power Tollitur mor● non ne fiat sed ne obsit Aug. To them the nature of the first death is changed and made but transitus ad vitam a passage from death to life it is the end of sin and misery and the beginning of our unspeakable happiness the high-way from the vale of teares to the Kingdom of glory and Celestiall joyes the Period of a mortall life and the innitiation of a life immortal Last of all there is a liberty from Sathan and the world granted to the sons of God adopted in the Son of God the Son of God hath over come the strong man Not imperium Principis but Carnificis à Lapide and bound him as being stronger than he thorough death he destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Devil and delivereth them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2.14 Get thee behind us Satan as Christ said to Peter and let the wicked world follow thee which Christ hath over-come Joh. 16. ult And since O loving Saviour we live free men free from sin reigning condemning free from Satan and the world under the easy yoke of thy Evangelical Law and under the protection of thy wings We will with thy disciples follow thee whithersoever thou goest and run after thee whither thy good Spirit shall lead us Thus it is apparent how the Gospel of Christ is a perfect Law of liberty into which whoso looketh and continueth therein he being not a forgetfull hearer but a doer of the work shall be blessed in his deed From the bottome of the stairs or ladder we now go up the steps the first whereof is speculation whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty Joh. 5.39 Audite saeculares comparate vobis Biblia animae Pharmaca Chrysost Prono capite propenso collo accurate in trospieere 1 Pet. 1.12 It was a good advice blest be the mouth that gave it Search the Scriptures which is made good by the reasons rendred for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me saith our Saviour hence this search must not be slight this speculation not vain this looking not perfunctory our Knowledge of Christ and eternal life depending on it This is intimated in the original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying an exact and accurate prying into a thing as if one to find out somewhat difficult to find out should stand in this posture with his body or head bended towards the earth his eyes contracted and fixed upon some object as if he did intend to look it through and so to inform himself fully Thus when we attempt to look into the abstruse mysteries of divinity to acquaint our selves with the sacred Principles of Religion a superficial view is of no avail Profound matters require a serious and frequent meditation an indefatigable study hence the Apostle St Peter describing the desire of the Angels to know the hidden mysteries of salvation expresseth it by the same word the Angels desire to look narrowly into the things revealed to us by the Holy Ghost a work worthy their and our pains not to be posted over with a careless run but to be stuck close unto and prosecuted until finished and the mind in