Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
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A52249
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An exposition with notes, unfolded and applyed on John 17th delivered in sermons preached weekly on the Lords-day, to the congregation in Tavnton Magdalene / by George Newton.
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Newton, George, 1602-1681.
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1660
(1660)
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Wing N1044; ESTC R29244
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715,417
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610
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Col. 3.16 And hence it is that all the Nations that dwell upon the face of the earth have groped after God and found him too as you may see Acts 17.27 All people have acknowledged him Let a man run from East to West from North to South let him ransack all Ages and where he findeth any men there he shall find some Worship or Religion by which they all acknowledge that there is a God And though they differ in the manner of their Worship they all agree in this that there is a Deity that must be Worshipped Within these hundred years you know my Brethren there have been many Nations discovered and many are discovered still which were unknown in former Ages Among them many have been found to live without Law King house going naked and wandering in the open field yet none without some species of Religion and some notice of a God which shews us evidently that it is not so natural a thing in man to love Society to cover and to cloath himself against the injuries of weather which yet is very natural as to acknowledge God But now my Brethren among which of all these Nations who never had the book of Scriptures shall you find any notice of a Christ any inckling of a Saviour or Redeemer No no there is no hint of that among them they have no glimpse no crevice to give them any light of Jesus Christ And how then can they come to life Eternal since it consisteth in the knowledge both of God and Christ too not of the former only but the latter also And therefore we have cause to pitty them and bleed over them and to importune God for them that the Gospel may be preached where Christ as yet hath not been so much as named that to the people that are yet in darkness there may shine a great light That as they have some intimations of a God they may know Christ too and so may come to live for ever for this is life Eternal c. Is it so my Brethren that the knowledge which is life Eternal c. is the Vse 2 Knowledge both of God and Christ too Then let the Ministers and the Embassadors of Jesus Christ be hence advised as they desire to save themselves and them that hear them to bring their Hearers to Eternal life so to instruct them and to bring them on-ward in the Knowledge not of God alone but of Jesus Christ too Let it be their special labour and endeavour to acquaint them with the things of Jesus Christ and to implant his Knowledge in their hearts which is as I have shewed so necessary to salvation Paul was a very good Preacher and see what vvas the special subject of his Ministry Col. 1.26 27. saith the Apostle there the riches of the Glory of this Mysterie viz. the Gospel is Christ in you the hope of glory whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Iesus Out of Christ vve can never make them perfect and accomplished to salvation the knowledge of the Father will not serve the turn and therefore vve preach Christ to them that in and through him they may be perfect And though the same Apostle did so excel in knowledge that he durst without vain glory compare vvith the very chiefest Apostles as you may see 2 Cor. 11.5 6. Though I be rude in speech saith he yet not in knowledge but we have been throughly made manifest to you in all things q. d. There was no point of knowledge in Religion needful for you to be instructed in no difficult and thorny case of Conscience that any of you had occasion to propound to me but I was able fully and cleerly to resolve you in yea though he had received such abundance of Revelation from the Lord that he was in great danger to be exalted above reason as he himself acknowledges 1 Cor. 12.7 yet he professes notwithstanding that he made no account of all his other Learning in comparison of this to know Iesus Christ and him crucified This was the whole scope and drift of his Ministry 2 Cor. 2.2 This was the high point of Learning that he gloried in This was the Knowledge that he laboured in his preaching to bring the Corinthians to And this he did advisedly and upon mature Judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I determined saith he it was my setled and advised resolution before I preached to you that this should be the highest point of Knowledge that I would profess my self to be acquainted with and to have skill in and which I vvould in the whole course of my Ministry endeavour to instil into you I determined to know nothing among you not a title of any thing but Iesus Christ and him crucified Oh that we vvere all of the Apostle Pauls mind Oh that all Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel would do as this Apostle did that they would not so much affect the knowledge of nice intricate and curious speculations and busie their own and other mens heads with unprofitable controversies with opposition of Science falsly so called as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 6.11 That they would not make this their glory to excel others in secular Learning and in such points of knowledge as are vain as to the main and great business but rather bend themselves to study this point better and to strive to bring themselves and others to this skill to know Iesus Christ and him crucified This were the way indeed to make them happy everlastingly for this is eternal life c. Vse 3 Is it so my Brethren that the Knowledge which is life Eternal in which c. Then be you all intreated and prevailed withall my Brethren to labour after this Knowledge Not to content your selves vvith this that you have some degrees of the Knowledge of God unless withall you know Christ too Let this be your main Endeavour to get an insight into those things which concern him that you may know God in him That you may look upon him through Christ and so may see him as he is in Christ to his people We preach not our selves but the Lord Iesus Christ saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.5 It is Christ that we preach What then might some man say do you not preach God too Yes saith the Apostle there vve preach God but we preach him in Christ for God hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the Knowledge of God in the face of Iesus Christ as it is added in the next words So then my Brethren we must have the light of the Knowledge of God but it must be in the face of Christ It must not shine immediately upon us as it comes from God for then it vvill overcome us but it must shine upon us by Reflection on the face of Christ Jesus If vve would see God we must look on Jesus Christ and we shall see
they could never side with those that are professed adversaries to the Lord Jesus and who endeavour to subvert and overthrow his worship and religion and destroy his people And certainly Christ cannot choose but take them for his enemies and use them like his enemies while they incorporate themselves with those that live in open opposition and hostility against him And as the friends unto the enemies of Christ even so the enemies unto the friends of Christ are enemies to Christ himself They that are adversaries to the Saints who are as it is said of Abraham the friends of God the friends of Christ must needs be adversaries to the Lord Jesus There is a Covenant and a League of love between the Lord and them and the league is not defensive only but offensive too he that toucheth them saith Christ toucheth the Apple of mine eye touch them touch me Zac. 2.8 Nay they are not alone in Covenant with him but more then so my brethren they are one with him And therefore they are called Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members are but one body so also is Christ conceive it Christ in aggregate comprizing all the Church with him for caput corpus unus est Christus as Austin speaks the head and the body is but one Christ and that which is the name of Christ Jer. 23.6 This is his name by which he shall be called The Lord our Righteousness is the Churchss name too Jer. 33.16 This is the name wherewith she shall be called The Lord our Righteousness Indeed his people are the members of his body and he can never be a friend unto the head who is an adversary to the members Now if on triall by the former evidences you find that you hate Christ believe it God hates you The dearer his affection to his Son Christ is the greater is his hatred of the enemies of Christ The union is so neer and the love so infinite between the Father and the Son that God may truly say to Jesus Christ Do not I hate them that hate thee I hate them with a perfect hatred as though they were mine enemies And I will surely take a course with them I will bring them low enough Sit thou at my right hand there sit thou still unmoved and undisturbed till I have made thine enemies thy footstool JOHN 17.24 For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world IS it so that God the Father dearly loveth Jesus Christ hence then it Vse 2 follows that as he hates them that hate Christ so on the other side he loveth them that love Christ The dear affection that he bears to Christ draws out his very heart to all those that love Christ And this is that which Jesus Christ himself teacheth John 14.21 He that loveth me saith Christ shall be loved of my Father Let him be what he will of what condition or estate he will never so poor and mean and despicable in the world if he do really and truly love me my Father loves that man and loves him dearly for my sake Nay saith the Father this man is my Sons friend he bears a very great affection to my Son Christ and therefore I must needs esteem and love him for my Sons sake I have alwayes loved my Son even from all eternity and that out of all measure and upon this account my love and my affection overflows to all those that love him Oh how should this prevail with every one of us to love Christ and love him dearly since God the Father will requite us to the utmost for all the love we shew to him all the love that we lay out on Jesus Christ he will pay us back again and pay us in the same coin We may depend upon it that we shall have love for love If we love Christ the Father he will love us And is the Fathers love worth nothing Ah my beloved it bringeth with it all the happiness and mercy that a poor soul is capable of And therefore I beseech you let us love Christ let Christ have our love that we may have the Fathers love And here to warm your hearts a little and to draw them out to Christ take notice of these few things 1. View him in himself behold him in the choiceness and excellency of his own beauty There is no spot nor imperfection in him in the very least degree He is fairer then the children of men Psal 45.2 then any of them all let them be what they will for they have blemishes but he hath none All the perfections in the world do meet in him so that there can be nothing added to him Indeed my brethren he is altogether lovely All others have their imperfections and defects something there is unlovely in them but he is altogether lovely And this is that which makes the Church so far in love with him She is taken with his beauty and the delicious savour of his ointments the sweetness of the graces that are in him Cant. 1.3 How is she ravisht in the contemplation of him Cant. 5.8 What is thy beloved more then another beloved say the daughters to her there What is he more saith she me thinks she is an end with that word Why have you no eyes to see He is transcendent incomparable and so describeth him from top to toe and then concludes This is my beloved O ye daughters look upon him this is he As who should say now judge you whether I have cause to love him yea or no. And therefore I am not ashamed to own it and if you meet with my beloved you may tell him that I love him yea that I am sick of love 2. Consider in the next place what he is to you what interest and propriety you have in him Why my beloved he is yours I speak this to believers only And this the Church and Spouse of Christ professeth often I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine and yields this as the reason of the high and dear affection that she bears him A woman you will say hath cause to love her own husband Now Jesus Christ is the husband of the Church she is his wife his spouse his second self she is called by his name We are thine say the people of the Lord the heathen are not so nor are they called by thy name So that the Saints in this respect are infinitely more obliged to love him then these that are without the pale because they have not such relation to him 3. Let the exceeding love of Christ to you draw out your love to him again Amor they say is Câ—s amoris And so let his love be a whet to you Consider he hath loved you and therefore you have reason to love him again This reason doth not hold on both sides we cannot say that we have loved Christ and therefore he hath cause to love us