Inhabitation and Testimony of the Holy Ghost as also from the Sanctification of the Spirit unto all Obedience and the fruits of Righteousness I Have insisted with so much length and variety upon Hope because it is the largest in-let of Christian Consolation Yet in the third place that which carries it on nay that which causeth it is the Holy Ghost As the Air is the medium through which the Eye doth see all things yet it is the light that shines in it that makes all things visible so Hope is the principal means enlivened by Faith through which we rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory yet it is the Spirit inhabiting that kindles it that enlightens it which makes it affect its object and cleave unto it Our Saviour left the world and ascended into Heaven for many reasons one was to give gifts unto men which gifts though very many are all united in their Fountain the Holy Ghost Of which legacy Christ gave warning before his death Jo. 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Verse 17. The world knows him not because it sees him not but ye know him for he shall dwell with you and shall be in you Verse 18. I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you Chap. 16. verse 7. If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you This Comforter the everlasting Spirit to speak after the phrase of men is the Proxy of Christ his representative in our hearts And so it was fulfilled for when the Spirit descended in great abundance upon the Church Acts 2. says St. Peter This is that which is come to pass Verse 28. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance And for the evidence of it it is said Acts 9.31 The Churches were edified walking in the fear of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost Which Text begets this note That Christian solace consists in two things which we may call the Root and the Fruit. The Root is the Holy Ghost taking up his Tabernacle in us so that our Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in us 1 Cor. 6.19 To walk by it in the fear of God is the Fruit of Sanctification in all manner of obedience 1. Unto the former The indwelling of the Spirit let this be premised When we speak of any one dwelling in safety the great question is Who keeps the house When David fled from Jerusalem for fear of Absalom there was no likelihood that his Palace would hold out for he left ten women that were Concubines to keep the House 2 Sam. 15. verse 16. So if we leave our Concubines our lusts and carnal desires to keep our Conscience they will betray us to Satan to get the possession But who can take the City if the Lord keep it Psalm 127.1 How impregnable are we if he dwell in us and we in him because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 Jo. 4.13 All that one can say unto this who is doubtful in Faith will be Shew me that the Father of mercies and that the God of all comfort is entred into me and it sufficeth I answer I cannot shew that is demonstrate it to another that this eternal life is in him but I can perswade an apt Scholler to stir up the Grace which is in him that he may shew it to himself I say he may do it if he give his mind to it Else St. Paul made a question to no purpose Know ye not that ye are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 3.16 I deny not but the Devil hath a way to fetch it about to make you mis-know and take no heed of that you do perceive if he did not stagger you with delusions This is the first lesson that he reads out of his Morals That distrust is a high point of wisdom and be not over-reacht with opinion you are sure of that you see and of no more But to meet with this fallacy Is nothing certain or at least so certain as that which may be seen Why the Wind will blow away this objection the Air will confute it What can you make up so close that the Air and the Wind will not get into it Yet you see it not you know not whence it comes it is an invisible messenger So is every one that is born of the Spirit Jo. 3.8 Breath is an imperceptible expiration therefore Christ breathed on his Apostles and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost Jo. 20.22 Some gales of Western winds in the Spring make the Earth glad with their gentle blast and open the Buds and Flowers so there is a breath of Omnipotent vertue which fans the heart that was hot in sin with its coolness which carries away the Caterpillars that eat up the tender leaf of our first greenness which widens our blossoms to make their expectation shew it self openly which perfumes the evil scents of scandals that annoy us as it is express to that intent in the mystical Song Cant. 4.16 Awake thou North wind and come thou South and blow upon my Garden that the spices thereof may flow out I bring the case again to be examin'd Is no witness so competent to depose for truth unless it be sensible and chiefly discerned by the Eye then what ail all Sects of Philosophers to say That the Sun and all the Stars above work upon these Bodies below by heat and light and likewise by influence An invisible vertue that doth enter into the production of many effects which seems to have God's approbation with his own voice Job 38.31 who mentions there the sweet influences of Pleiades and the bands of Orion And can the Constellations of the Firmament drop down good upon Minerals and Plants upon Man and Beast and by a secret derivation What an error or rather what a madness is it then to scruple whether he that made the Heavens can dart Celestial beams into man's Soul without a sensible perception And this is all I will say more unto it Is not the Soul of Man above a material apprehension Pliny or Galen or whosoever unadvisedly deny the Immortality of it will yield there is a Soul in our composition that holds all the parts of the Body together and moves and acts in them yet they can as soon take a Pensil and paint an Eccho as describe the intelligible nature of a Soul by species drawn out in our sensitive fancy Therefore it concerns us in maintenance of the dignity of our own nature to say That the Spirit of God can inform our Soul as well as our Soul can inform our Body I know not what temptation may rise to gain-say the truth That the Soul is known by her powers and operations that it justifies
it self to be an Immaterial substance a spark kindled in us by God from Reason and Will and Memory But what evidence is there that there is a Divine cause that worketh in and is more than these natural Faculties It is requisite to work close unto this question and I answer First because the bounds of nature are known beyond which nature cannot reach forth it self as it works in its own sphere to preserve it self in being and in well-being in health in wealth in fame and glory in extending our selves unto ages to come by leaving a posterity in preserving our Country where we are born and the like But to have our conversation in Heaven at this present in Heaven to ascend thither in our desires and in the tendencies of all our actions to aspire to live in blessedness for ever to long to be at that rest where there is no sin to look for a Church which hath neither spot nor wrinkle this could not enter into us to prosecute it all industriously constantly chearfully but by a supernatural elevation far above the vigour of a Soul prest down by a corruptible Body that is by the power of the Holy Ghost Secondly I feel the pulse of that Divine Spirit beating in me by delighting in tribulations for Christs sake and taking pleasure in infirmities upon the same score 2 Cor. 12.10 And again I am filled with consolation I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulations 2 Cor. 7.4 An obstinate Pagan might arm himself with patience and resolution to vex his persecutors and rather fall into them than decline them out of spight and contumacy But Self-love being spun out of our bowels bred in the bone who could rejoyce to endure anguish upon anguish that God might be glorified but by strength which we are not born unto but which is given us because we are born again of the Spirit Go farther yet How much is the content of a natural man laid aside when a good Christian in his deliberate thoughts sometimes prays to have the rebellions of his heart kept under by some expedient cross wisheth for wholsom correction to beat down the rankness of his sins expects God's fan to winnow the chaff from the wheat For he knows that as too much light dazles the Eyes so too much prosperitie surfeits the mind Therefore a good practitioner in Repentance perceives there is no better way to bring him in from his wandrings than to be scourged home with the gentle hand of God To which some Expositors say the Spouse alludes Cant. 6.5 reading one word as it is right in our Margent Turn away thine eyes from me for they have puffed me up If we be puffed up it is time to pray that the eye of God's outward mercy be for a little turned from us But where had nature learnt that Lesson if the Holy Ghost had never taught it Thirdly As the Apostle says No man hates his own flesh Every man not overcome with a phrenzy of melancholy loves his own being and would preserve his life The Devil that cannot die knows how loth we are to die All that a man hath will he give for his life Job 2.4 But how many Saints have undergone how many more are willing to undergo the fiery trial and offer up their bodies for the testimony of the Lord Jesus not to be cried up in popularity not to be enrolled in the same of an History as there was such a sprinkling among the Heathen But they have died like Lambs in the midst of Wolves when they have been hated and evil spoken of in excess because they would die for the truth of the Gospel which their persecutors accounted to be blasphemy against the Gods which they worshipped If Parents or Wives or Children hung upon their arms and besought them with tears to spare themselves they threw them off as Christ did Peter Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me Matth. 16. verse 22. To see a Martyr at the point of death feel no horror in his fleshly nature but to be raised up as high as the third Heavens with zeal what humane power could bring him to it nothing but the Holy Ghost did as I may say lure his Soul out of the Body with a bait of a Crown of Glory Fourthly The fruits of the Spirit are love joy peace goodness faith temperance c. Gal. 5.22 Is not the Tree known by the fruit Such a cluster hanging all together growing constantly and being fair and sound Tota in toto tempore cum toto corde it is not possible that they should grow like a Bull-rush out of the mud of corrupt nature No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 that is say it effectually and from true allegiance to serve him as a Lord for else Christ will say Why call you me Lord Lord and do not the thing which I say Luke 6.46 This is the Spirit that acts not only in prophesies and miraculous gifts but in every child of God Even in the old Testament Nehem. 9.20 Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them them that is those that were led out of Egypt by Moses and hearkened to him And much more in the state of the New Testament Rom. 5.5 The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us This might be extended into a great length that the Holy Ghost is the Comforter called so by appropriation though it belong to every person of the Holy Trinity and is well exprest in the first Divine Song which is Printed before the Psalms of David in Meeter Thou art the very Comsorter in all woe and distress The Heavenly gift of God most high which no tongue can express This is the Vnction which we have from the Holy One 1 Epist Jo. 2.20 The anointing which we have received of him that abideth in you Verse 27. Anointing-oil is an oil to cure the sick James 5. An oil of gladness Psalm 45. A fomentation to mitigate aches and torments in the bones and in the heart 2. And can the Fruits chuse but be answerable to the Root they must needs partake of it First because all that we do to the honour of God must be done with gladness willingly and chearfully else it comes not from the Spirit of sons but either from the Spirit of bondage or rather from the Spirit of the world The new Disciples received the word gladly and were baptized Acts 2.41 They continued with one accord daily in the Temple with gladness and simplicity of heart Verse 46. I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the Lord Psalm 122.1 Sing Psalms make a joyful noise unto God Psalm 66.1 Let us come with assurance in our supplications that we shall be heard praying with Faith in the Holy Ghost Jud. verse 20. And then the prayer of the upright shall be Gods delight Prov.
Christian Consolations Taught from FIVE HEADS IN RELIGION I. Faith II. Hope III. The Holy Spirit IV. Prayer V. The Sacraments Written by a Learned PRELATE Isaiah 40.1 2. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to his most Excellent Majesty 1671. TO THE READER THIS Manual of Christian Consolations derived from Five Heads of great importance in Religion was written by a late R. Prelate of our Church and is now Printed according to his own Copy The Papers were presented by him to a Person of Honour for whose private use they were designed But as the Noblest Spirits are most communicative that Noble and Religious Lady was pleased to impart them for the good also of others We read in the Evangelists how that the Holy Jesus who went about doing good that 's the short but full Character which * Acts 10.38 Saint Peter gives of him did by a Miracle of Mercy bless five Loaves to the feeding of a very great multitude And may the same Almighty Goodness bless and prosper whatsoever Spiritual good is contained in these Five Helps and Directions for a Christian's Comfort to the refreshing and strengthening of such Souls as truly hunger and thirst after God May the serious and devout Readers taste and see how good the Lord is that his Loving kindness is better than Life and that the Light of his Countenance the sense of his favour is infinitely more Heart-cheering and brings with it a truer and larger satisfaction than the encrease of Corn Psal 4. and Wine and Oil doth to the men of this world who only or chiefly mind Earthly things and unwisely place their felicity in the fading and empty enjoyments of this present life It is good then that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord Lam. 3. for he is good to them that wait for him to the Soul that seeketh him He who is the God of Love and even * 1 Jo. 4. Love it self He who is the ever-flowing Fountain of Goodness will not fail to fill the hungry with good things Such a Christian hath meat to eat which the world knows not of he feeds on the hidden Manna he hath as S. Austin said of S. Ambrose occultum os in corde ejus and with this he doth sapida gaudia de pane Dei ruminare The Father of the World who openeth his hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing Psal 145. giving to all their meat in due season he is as ready to fulfil the desire of them that fear him he will give grace and glory Psal 84. and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly And here from the character and qualification of the Persons them that fear him and them that walk uprightly it highly concerns us to observe and to lay it to heart That a Sincere desire and Serious endeavour to fear God and walk uprightly is a necessary and indispensable Condition to qualifie and make us meet for the receiving of the best of Divine favours and blessings We must first walk in the fear of the Lord if we would walk in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost as these two are set together in Acts 9.31 If we would have the Spirit to be our Comforter we must follow the Spirit as our Guide and Counsellor If we would find rest unto our Souls we must take Christ's yoke upon us Matth. 11. the yoke of his Precepts which are all holy and just and good A state of inward Comfort and true Tranquillity of Spirit can never be secured and preserved but by a continued care to walk before God in a faithful obedience to his Will in all things For there is no peace to the wicked as is * Chap. 48. 22. Chap. 57. 21. twice exprest by the noble Prophet Isaiah But Great peace have they that love thy Law Psal 119.165 saith the Royal Psalmist the man after God's own heart who herein spake his own experience and elsewhere Psal 37.37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace While he lives he lives in peace his Soul dwells at ease he feels an unspeakable joy and pleasure within upon the sense of his doing his duty and being faithful in obedience to his Lord and Master in Heaven And when he dies he departs in peace and shall * Isa 57. enter into peace and ‖ Mat. 25. into the joy of his Lord. Here he tastes how sweet the Lord is but there he shall be abundantly satisfied with the plenty of God's House Psal 37. and made to drink of the River of his pleasures The meek shall eat and be satisfied and their heart shall live for ever Psal 22. And so full and compleat shall be their joy and satisfaction that they shall neither hunger nor thirst any more Rev. 7. for the Lamb shall feed them and shall lead them unto living Fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes This is the happy Portion of those Souls who have the Lord for their God with whom there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures most pure and permanent for evermore The Contents of the Chapters THe Introduction CHAP. I. Of Faith That Faith is the Ground and Foundation of a Christian's Comfort Several doubts and scruples about Believing answered Page 1. CHAP. II. Of Hope That a Christian's Comfort flows from the Grace of Hope The object of Hope is 1. That which is Good 2. A Good absent 3. Though absent yet possible and that for Three Reasons 4. Though possible yet difficult An account of two sorts of difficulties with particular encouragements against them Pag. 13. CHAP. III. Of the Holy Spirit How a Christian's Comforts flow from the Inhabitation and Testimony of the Holy Ghost as also from the Sanctification of the Spirit unto all Obedience and the fruits of Righteousness Pag. 67. CHAP. IV. Of Prayer Prayer is the great Instrument of a Christian's Comfort Concerning Prayer three things to be considered I. The Substance or Matter of Prayer in three Heads 1. Thanksgivings 2. Supplications 3. Intercessions II. The Qualification of them that Pray III. The fitness of Time for Prayer Pag. 99. CHAP. V. Of the Sacraments How the Sacraments minister to a Christian's Comfort A general Survey of Sacraments Five Reasons why God ordained Two Sacraments under the Gospel What Comforts flow from the Grace of Baptism What Comforts flow from the Lord's Supper Pag. 155. Christian Consolations taught from five Heads in Religion THE INTRODUCTION THE work of the Ministry consists in two things in Threatnings or Comforts The first is useful for the greatest part of Christians who are led by the Spirit of bondage and
Faith is drawn through these narrow and abject means that like himself have no comeliness in specie and when we see them there is no comeliness that we should desire them Isa 53.2 Nevertheless it is fit we should be well taught in the Contemplation of the hidden vertue inclosed in Baptism or else we could never think it worth our labour and obedience Our Common-Prayer-Book a store-house of rare Divinity tells us what is to be expected at that Laver for them that come to be Baptized 1. That God hath promised to be the Father of the faithful and of their seed and will most surely perform and keep his promise with them and by this introduction we are incorporated into the holy Congregation Behold they whom we love above all others by nature our Children are naturalized to be the Citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom and enter into it through this door of Grace 2. Secondly As God did save Noah and his Family from perishing by water and safely led the Children of Israel through the Red Sea while their enemies were drowned so the millions of the Nations whom God hath not given to Christ for his inheritance are drowned in their own lusts and corruptions But O what a priviledge it is to be among those few that are received into the Ark of Christs Church to be exempted from the common deluge and to be the faithful seed of Abraham led through the Chanel of the Sea and Baptized in the Cloud that went along with them when the Armies of the mighty are mightily consumed 3. Thirdly We may gather out of our Church-office for Baptism that the everlasting benediction of Heavenly washing affords two Comforts it signifies the bloud of Christ to cleanse us Per modum pretii as the price that was paid to ransom us from death and the sanctifying of the Holy Spirit to cleanse us per modum habitûs by his In-being and Celestial infusion and both are put together in one Collect That all that are Baptized may receive remission of sins by spiritual regeneration There is no remission of sin without bloud says the Apostle Heb. 9.22 meaning the invaluable bloud of the Lamb of God Verse 14. And the Heavenly thing is represented by the visible Element of Water for there must be some aptitude between the Sign and the Thing signified else it were not a Sacrament that as Water washeth away the filth of the body so the Bloud of Christ delivereth our Souls from the guilt and damnableness of sin The Bloud of Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 Epist Jo. 1.7 The metaphor of cleansing must have respect to Baptismal-water Again Who loved us and washed us from our sins in his Bloud Revel 1.5 Where the Scripture speaks of washing from sin it must be taken from the water of Baptism figuring the vertue of Christs Bloud that in the sight of his Father makes us white as Snow The Scriptures indeed strike most upon the other string and more directly as Ephes 5.25 Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word Titus 3.6 He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost And in many other places Therefore our Liturgy falls most upon the purifying operation of the Spirit to be shadowed in the outward washing of water As when it prays Send thy Holy Spirit to these Infants and grant that they may be Baptiz'd with Water and with the Holy Ghost And Grant that all that are Baptized may receive the fulness of thy Grace Spiritual Regeneration is that which the Gospel hath set forth to be the principal correlative of Baptism O happy it is for us to be born again by Water and the Holy Ghost For better it were never to be born than not to be born twice God put a good mind into us and reform one great fault in us which is that our Baptism being past over a great while ago we cast it out of our memory and meditate but little upon the benefits and comforts of it We are got into the Church and do in a sort forget how we got in Whereas the whole life of a Christian man and woman should be a continual reflection how in Baptism we entred into Covenant with Christ to believe in him to serve him to forsake the Devil the vanities of the world and the sinful desires of the flesh Water is a pellucid Element to look through it to the bottom So look often through the sanctified Water to see what Christ hath done for you and what you have engaged to do for Christ And there is no heart so full of blackness and melancholy but will recover upon it and be as fresh in sound health as if it were filled with marrow and fatness Well did St. Paul put Baptism among the principles and foundations of Christian doctrine Heb. 6.2 For all the weight of Faith Sanctification and Mercy doth lie upon it Recount this by particulars 1. The first thought that my Soul hath upon it is That I am no longer a stranger and foreigner but a fellow-Citizen with the Saints and of the houshold of God Ephes 2.19 I am no more a-far off but made nigh by the Bloud of Christ partaker of the priviledges of the Church and called by the new Name which the mouth of the Lord shall name a Christian Isa Chap. 62. Verse 2. 2. Secondly I find that I have gained to have the highest point of Faith unfolded to me which was but darkly discerned in the Old Testament to confess the Holy Trinity in which Faith I was Baptized For because that mystery was revealed at Christs Baptism it goes ever along with this Sacrament All Nations being Baptized in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost 3. Thirdly I observe that my Christian engagement allows me not the liberty of sinning after the custom of the world but obligeth me to the strict discipline of my Lord to live holily justly and soberly to walk in newness of life as planted into the likeness of Christs death so to die unto sin for he that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 In every thing and at all times I must remember what the Sureties at the Font called Godfathers and Godmothers did promise for me in my Name which the Liturgy of Geneva retains in these words Do you promise to warn this Child to live according to God's Word and make the Law of God the square of his life to live by 'T is a binding Ceremony and we are brought up from our tender years in the knowledge of it that we continually may feel the work of the Ordinance to have our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washt with clean Water Heb. 10.21 22. And as many as are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 To put on Christ is to follow Christ in the Law of a
new Creature and to perfect holiness without which no man shall see God 4. Fourthly I have assurance that the Spirit is not disjoyned from the Water for Christs Word cannot sail that we shall be Baptized with the Holy Ghost But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1. Cor. 6.11 The power given to keep the Covenant makes it a Covenant of Grace else we shall administer but the Letter and not the Spirit The outward act of man unless we make our selves unworthy is certainly assisted with the increase of God If the good effect ensue not the Sacrament doth not want its vertue but the receiver marr'd it Very much it s to be ascribed to the Word preacht it is a powerful means to convert us and to save us 1 Tim. 4.15 Take heed unto thy doctrine for in doing this thou shalt save thy self and them that hear thee And 1 Pet. 1.23 Being born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth in you The Word disposeth and prepares God is the efficient cause of our Regeneration Now this Sacrament whether we speak of Infants they are to call to mind how they received the outward Seal of Grace or whether we speak of Converts of ripe years who at the same time were taught the vertue of it it hath reason to work more powerfully and effectually upon their knowledge and affections than doctrine alone because Christ and his Benefits are manifested in a sensible operation which himself did dignifie in his own person at the waters of Jordan and afterward institute it to be used by all his Disciples 5. The fifth thing that I draw from hence gives me exceeding Consolation in Christ that no man who is made the Child of God is in the damnable state of sin therefore in Baptism being made the adopted Child of God I have obtained the pardon of all sins Original and Actual as Naaman was cured of all his leprosie Who saved us by the washing of Regeneration Tit. 3.6 Be Baptized every one of you in the Name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins Acts 2.38 So Ananias said to Paul Acts 22.16 Arise and be Baptized and wash away thy sins Yea but some will cavil Infants have not Faith and God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation through Faith in his Bloud and he that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved Mark 16.16 I will not contend about it whether Baptized Infants have a secret imperceptible habit of Faith I am sure there is Innocency of life in them instead of Faith They that are of Age to come to the knowledge of Faith must bring their own Faith with them to the Font but for Infants they have priviledge to be in Church-communion by the Faith of the Church wherein they were born There is another contest made by some that notwithstanding Baptism Original sin remains in us all the days of our life True the sin is not blotted out in the Infant but it is blotted out of the Book of God And as Actual sins are pardon'd for Christ's sake yet it cannot be brought about that they should never be done which are done and past but it is enough that they shall not be imputed so Original sin cleaves unto us it is not cast out for I feel it in me but it is remitted 6. For the complement of this subject the largest and the longest Comfort flowing from the Grace of Baptism is That we are to rely upon the Covenant made between God and us therein for the remission of all our sins which we commit after Baptism unto the end of our life Far be it from me to say that it sufficeth us to cast our eyes back to the Covenant then made as if the bare and historical memory of it did suffice to blot out sins that 's but an empty flash and a vapour of presumption But this I say Build upon the Eternity and Infallibility of God's Truth and then by a true and sure-grasping Faith joyn'd with Repentance renew your self in God's mercies by the promise of the Old Baptismal Covenant Repentance is a condition never to be omitted to lift us up again when we have been overtaken with sins But Faith doth not comfort it self in the sincerity of Repentance which in us is ever imperfect but in Christ's merits once for all consigned to us in Baptism For the Scriptures speak indefinitely that the Laver of Regeneration purgeth away all our sins it doth not speak restrictively of sins past as if it did operate no longer than in that moment when the water is sprinkled For Baptism doth now at the very present time save us 1 Pet. 3.21 And some collect it out of that figurative place Ezek. 49.9 Every thing where the Waters do come shall live After a shower of rain is fallen and ceaseth the grass continues to grow By grievous and presumptous sins we debar our selves from the sense and comfort of the Covenant for the present yet when we repent we come not to make a new Covenant with God but to beseech him to be gracious to us for the old Covenants sake As an Adulteress if she be received again and pardon'd by her Husband is not new married but accepted for a wife upon the first contract of marriage Take some examples of those in the New Testament that sinned against God and in their return again did not suppose the first Covenant of Baptism to be abolisht but they comforted themselves that the mercies promised then would hold firm and not fail them St. Paul challengeth the Corinthians Chap. 6. Epist 1. that they had been Adulterers Effeminate and much of the like Yet Verse 11. he speaks thus to them Ye are washed sanctified justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus In the same manner he deals with the Galatians who had embraced much false doctrine mingled Judaism with the Gospel yet Chap. 3. Verse 27. As many of you as are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ Can any thing equal all these heart-refreshings that swim in the pool of Baptism Therefore in many Ages past the joy of the Neophytes was excessive that came to be Baptized Many Torches were lighted and carried before them to shew it was the day of their illumination They came in white garments and wore them constantly eight days together a most Festival habit Yet they affected too much to defer their Baptism till their elder nay their latest years out of the erroneous principle that Baptism was the healing water for the remission of sins past and they rather relied upon Repentance than upon the Baptism which they had received for the remission of sins that did follow Whereas Repentance is not a new paction with God but a return to the use of the old a restitution as it were to our bloud when we had been tainted by
your self upon every disquietness and deep plunge of heart and how can you chuse but convince your self that your melancholy and distrust is causeless The hope of the righteous shall be gladness Prov. 10.26 And we rejoyce in hope Rom. 12.12 The design of Hope is consider'd four ways First it intends unto that which is good which makes a difference between Hope and Fear for we hope for that which is good we fear that which is evil Secondly It is not that good which is present but absent and this makes a difference between Hope and Fruition Rom. 8.24 Hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for Thirdly Though it be a good absent and not yet obtained yet it is possible which is the difference between Hope and Despair but we have no colour for despair since all things are possible to God Fourthly It is a possible good but bonum arduum to be gotten with difficulty and pains which puts a difference between the diligence of Hope and careless Security These are the four promontories of Hope and a good wind blows from every quarter I. First It is good for a man to Hope since we hope for that which is good so good that it exceeds all that Eye hath seen for as yet we see not God but in his creatures Nor Ear hath heard it that is in its full unutterable excellency which the words of Holy Scripture cannot express to our imperfect reason Then neither can it enter into the heart of man for things can seem no greater than words can utter We know as yet but in part hereafter we shall know as we are known If we have boasted to the Heathen that we look for a Kingdom and a Crown of glory we are sure we shall not be ashamed of that hope Rom. 5.5 We may be ashamed that we have doted upon petty things out of which we have devised felicity and they have failed and deceiv'd us but our treasure laid up in the Heaven is so sure that in the end and in the day of trial none shall insult over our hope and say where is now the Lord your God If a mortal man detain the wages of the labourer 't is a sin Therefore it cannot be incident to God who is not unrighteous to forget our work and labour of love Heb. 6.10 We shall not always be forgotten our Expectation shall not perish for ever Psal 9.18 The judgment of a good eye-sight is to see afar off so is the judgment of a good hope to remark the unspeakable reward of a better age to come Whereupon it hath sufficient satisfaction and content to leave or to lose all it hath things not worthy to be compared to the glory which is revealed in us Rom. 8.18 The rich Mines and Golden trade of both the Indies are on the other side the Line so the rich trade of Hope is in the other world Change your poor fraught which is your lading in this vessel of clay and barter it for an immortal possession Hope that is not under the embers but mounts up in a trembling flame reckons not what it is worth by a very little which it hath in hand but by its share which is reserved in the store-house of God's eternal recompence Now I am abased but there is mine honour a far abundant exceeding weight of glory Now I carry about a crazy sickly body there it shall be immortal and incident to no distemper Now my neighbours and acquaintance despise me and run far from me there I shall be enrolled with Angels and Saints and with the Church of the first born and with the Spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 Now I live in all disorder of Church-ordinances in distraction of Schisms in the filthy stanch of old and new heresies but there is the new Jerusalem where all things set forth the glory of the Lamb in beauty and holiness and truth Now I must die and deliver up my body unto the dust but Christ died and rose the third day and will bring again with him in due time all those that sleep and comfort one another with these words saith St. Paul 1 Thess 4.14 And as when Christ ascended into Heaven He went up with a merry noise and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet Psal 47.5 So let every heart break out into praise and gladness whose hope flies up unto the Lord in his holy places Holding fast the confidence and the rejoycing of hope firm unto the end Heb. 3.6 II. Stay yet and consider it is a good which is absent that we hope for When it is come and brought to pass Hope is at the journeys end Say to the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Isa 3.10 It shall be well Dixit erit It is not paid down as we say in ready money but we have a good bond for assurance Let me object upon this Doth not Hope deferr'd afflict the Soul Yet be not disheartened it is better than so For first we have somewhat in hand because that which Faith lays hold of is really and actually its own now Hope is Faith's rent-gatherer and takes up that which Faith claims upon the bargain which Christ hath made for us To be clearer yet Eph. 1. verses 13 14. We are sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance You see then that though we have not the inheritance as yet we have the earnest of it and an earnest-penny is more than nothing Here I must distinguish between a pledge and an earnest A pledge is laid down for assurance to repay that which was lent but an earnest is given upon a bargain to keep that till the rest be brought in Now the earnest that we receive of the Kingdom to come is the seal of the Spirit an imprinted comfort that it shall be ours A seal that cannot be defaced a comfort that cannot be taken from us So much as you have of that seal so much you have of the earnest therefore you cannot say that Hope hath quite nothing to stay its longing The blossoms of the Spring do not only promise but are God's earnest to represent the fruits which will wax ripe in Autumn I will make it out in another similitude He that is in a Merchants ware-house where spices are stored up shall have some taste of them in his palate by their strong scent though he put not one corn into his mouth so we taste Heaven because the Spirit that comes from Heaven dwells in us and gives many delightful signs of a glorified reversion But to go forward it may not be denied but that Hope is anxious and restless till it come to enjoy How tedious a thing it is to stay long without the company of them whom we entirely love And can it be otherwise than irksom to be so long absent from the vision of
flesh and a Spirit is mightier than flesh Apply that of the Prophet Zachary to it as we may read it by the direction of our Margent and keep to the Original Chap. 8. Verse 6. If it be difficult in the eyes of this people shall it be difficult in mine eyes saith the Lord Therefore since God is our help against the insurrection of this rebellious sin let us be comforted in his help and not in excuses For we must not plead our personal maladies and natural inclinations and think that God will take it for an answer and ask no more I am dull of understanding says one and what I am taught I cannot bear it away I am suddenly transported with indignation and cannot chuse but break out I am retentive of an injury and cannot easily be reconciled All this and the like is no better than the answer of those ill manner'd guests in the Gospel which were invited to a Feast made by a King We cannot come I pray you have us excused which sounds like confession and humility but it is denial and defiance Spend your breath in a better way and cry out often and affectionately Give me not over to my self O Lord take away from me my stony heart and give me an heart of flesh Drop down upon this barren earth and it shall bring forth quite against the byass of nature The high minded will grow meek as a Lamb the covetous will begin to disperse and scatter abroad the lying lips will confess the truth bitter cruelty will melt into pity new-fangled braveries will be laid aside and blush at vanity To what purpose are the pourings in of the Spirit but that what is wickedly in-bred from our conception should be shaken off from the tree and a better fruit spring up in the place from the increase of God Mark the rain that falls from above and the same shower that dropt out of one cloud increaseth sundry plants in a garden and severally according to the condition of every plant in one stalk it makes a Rose in another a Violet divers in a third and sweet in all So the Spirit works its multiformous effects in several complexions and all according to the increase of God Is thy habit and inclination cholerick why try thy self if thou be very apt to be zealous in a good cause and it turns thy natural infirmity into holy heat Is melancholy predominant the grace of God will turn that sad humor into devotion prayer and mortifying thy pleasures to die unto the world Is thy temperature sanguine and chearful the goodness of God will allow it unto thee in thy civil life in a good mean but over and above it will make thee bountiful easie to pardon injuries glad of reconciliation comfortable to the distressed always rejoycing in the Lord. Is a man phlegmatick and fearful if this freezing disease which is in thee from thy mothers womb be not absolutely cured yet the Holy Ghost will work upon it to make thy Conscience tender wary to give no offence to make thee pitiful penitent contrite ready to weep for thy transgressions There are two handles to take hold of every thing says a Heathen A dissolute man takes hold of original frailties and makes them Serpents a holy man declines their Serpentine nature and catcheth them by that part which may conduce to all manner of vertue This is the comfort of Hope against original inquination that this great enemy by the operation of the Spirit shall be made our friend or our foot-stool O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 7.24 What is stronger than a Lion yet if the Lion be kill'd out of the strong comes forth sweetness Jud. 14.14 For all this the worst is not past beside natural pronity to sin we have contracted much more evil by custom education strong habits noxious examples bad enticements and infusions The Cockatrice-egge was laid when we were in our mothers womb but it proves more venemous being hatcht and grown able to flye abroad There are seventy sons of Ahab who shall kill thee Even the sword of the Spirit There is none like it as David said of that of Goliah 1 Sam. 21.9 This is sufficient not merely to cut down grass and briars but to hew down the tree to cut off the branches to shake the leaves to scatter the fruit to fright away the fowls from the branches and the beasts from grazing under it Dan. 4. verse 14. or as the Apostle comforts us in plain words without a Parable I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Phil. 4.13 If you be over-toiled and heated too much you know how to cool cast off some garments wipe away the sweat sit still and stir not lest you enflame your self with motion Follow the same method lay aside the burden of sin that enflames you cast off the weight and the superfluity of naughtiness bear in mind that Christ sweat drops of bloud in his Agony to make you ashamed of toiling and sweating in Satan's drudgery Take ease in a Sabbath of holy rest and moil not in the unprofitable works of darkness Try what refrigeration this will give unto your Conscience else take heed that you be not put to a terrible sweat of fear lest God take you away in his wrath and give you up for ever to Satan whom you have served so willingly To the Law and to the Testimony mind no examples but when they are wrapt up therein Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind Rom. 12.2 What a case had Noah been in if he had framed his life by common practice when all flesh had corrupted their way Chuse better company as Enoch did to walk with God Gen. 5.24 And can two walk together unless they be agreed Amos 3. verse 3. It is more than agreement it imports endearment benevolence friendship with God No title can be greater or sweeter what can match that honour of Abraham and the Apostles to be called the friends of God and Christ No league in the world more sought for or more willingly accepted no amity less burdensom or more beneficial St. Austin 8. Confess Cap. 6. brings in a couple that served the Roman Emperor thus debating upon it What can we look for in this Palace more than to be call'd the friends of our Soveraign When we have got this it is no sure and unchangeable favour And how long shall we attend before we be promoted to it But let us turn to God in this hour and sue to be his friends and it shall be done instantly and remain eternally Ask and it shall be given seek and we shall find And as we trespass by sins of daily prevention there is a dailiness of mercy to comfort us But as you love Christ and would be beloved struggle with temptations do not yield upon
Church but such an humble sinner God draws thee and none but those that are like unto thee near unto his mercy Though thy sins do cleave unto thee be comforted that thou dost not cleave unto thy sins Elkanah gave a more worthy portion to Hannah that was barren but meek and devout than to Peninnah that bare him sons and daughters but was proud and scornful 1 Sam. 1.5 God hath heard his beloved Son when he made Prayers for sinners will hear those sinners that are his Sons when they ask any thing in the name of Christ III. Good fruit must be brought forth in a good season which only remains to be thought upon and to be added to the Consolation of Prayer For every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the Heaven Eccles 3.1 But neither days nor hours nor seasons did ever come amiss to faithful Prayer Evening and morning and at Noon will I Pray and cry aloud and He shall hear my voice Psal 55.17 which includes all the space of duration For all time is included in Morning Noon and Night Pray without ceasing 1 Thess 5.17 Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance Ephes 6.18 Short passes quick ejections concise forms and remembrances holy breathings Prayers like little posies may be sent forth without number on every occasion and God will note them in his book But all that have a care to walk with God fill their vessels more largely as soon as they rise before they begin the work of the day and before they lie down again at night Which is to observe what the Lord appointed in the Levitical ministery a morning and an evening Lamb to be laid upon the Altar So with them that are not stark irreligious Prayer is the key to open the day and the bolt to shut in the night But as the skies drop the early dew and the evening dew upon the grass yet it would not spring and grow green by that constant and double falling of the dew unless some great showers at certain seasons did supply the rest So the customary devotion of Prayer twice a-day is the falling of the early and the latter dew but if you will increase and flourish in the works of grace empty the great clouds sometimes and let them fall into a full shower of Prayer chuse out the seasons in your own discretion when Prayer should overflow like Jordan in the time of harvest keep strictly as much as you are able to those times of the day which you have designed to appear in before the Lord for then you offer up not only your Prayers but the strict observation of set times which is a double sacrifice and an evidence that you will not dispense to pretermit that holy work for any a vocation He that refers himself at large to Pray when he is at leisure gives God the worst of the day that is his idle time I account them prudent therefore that are precise in keeping Canonical hours of Prayer as they call them so they Pray to God alone who alone knows their heart and so they Pray with the Spirit and with the Vnderstanding 1 Cor. 14.15 that is in a tongue wherein they know what they say and understand the language wherein they vent the meditations of their Spirit This was the milk that the Church of England gave every day out of her breasts to praise God in Common-Prayer at set hours before noon and after in the assemblies of her devout children How many have rejoyced to hear the Chiming of the Bells to call them together and would never miss their station As Peter and John went together to the Temple at the hour of Prayer being the ninth hour Acts 3.1 O when will these profane days come to an end that we may again so orderly so delightfully appear before the living God Of one thing the Devil disappointed us many years past in the time of Prayer which was the Night-offices of prayers called Vigils which are disused because it was feared they grew incident to scandal and uncleanness And though they be left off I believe for good reason in a concourse of open meeting yet let not God lose his tribute of Prayer which should be paid him in the still and quiet opportunity of the night The day is God's and the night is God's the darkness and light to him are both alike let not so many hours as run out from our lying down to our rising up again pass away without any Prayer Says David O Lord I remembred thee in my bed and meditated on thee in the night-watches Psalm 63.6 It seems while the Tabernacle of Moses stood that the Priests did some duties in it all night long Psalm 134.1 Bless the Lord ye servants of the Lord which by night stand in the house of the Lord. The Apostles allowed widows must continue in Supplication and Prayers night and day 1 Tim. 5.5 And Anna the widow-prophetess served God with Fasting and Prayers night and day Luke 2.37 The Lord hath foretold that he will come as a thief in the night at the great day 2 Pet. 3.10 Therefore O Lord with my Soul will I desire thee in the night and at midnight will I think upon thee and call unto thee that if it shall be this night even now when Christ Jesus will come to judge the world my Soul may find mercy from him and both Body and Soul may be glorified and so continue with him for ever All this about the opportunity of time shall shut up with one Instruction of the Psalmist Psal 32.6 Every one that is Godly shall Pray unto thee O Lord in a time that thou mayest be found When you find stirrings and impulsions more than ordinary to provoke you to Prayer follow the admonition of the Spirit and let not such a time slip You know not whether such a divine presage may rowle in your thoughts again I make no question but there are some Critical moments wherein God offers more than he will do again if you neglect him when he courts you with so great advantage But now change the case from mine to the whole Nations from private to publick then thus I will be peremptory in my resolution There is no time too late for any Christian that lives in his single person to beseech God to be merciful to him he may find the same propitiousness that the penitent thief did But there may be a time too late to save a Kingdom or a state from ruine when the Lord hath decreed the period of it Therefore when confusions threaten and begin to peep out watch them betimes and let the whole Land Pray for peace and let the Governours prepare conditions for it to avert publick calamitie If we let tumults and conspiracies grow to a head it will be in vain to struggle by monthly or weekly humiliations when our destiny is unavoidable Plutarch
says that a discontented person challeng'd the Oracle of Delphos that it never gave a comfortable answer That 's your fault says the Oracle for none of you come to me till your case is past help Venimus huc lapsis quaesitum oracula rebus says the Poet that ever keeps decorum in his Verses Therefore awake right early seek the Lord in the first season that the course of misery may not wax too strong and remediless Otherwise the Prophet will say The days of visitation are come the days of recompence are come Israel shall know it Hos 9.7 and then whither will ye flie for help to be delivered But prevent such dismal tribulations while it is called To day For nothing is more Consolatory than seasonable Supplication CHAP. V. How the Sacraments minister to a Christian's Comfort A general Survey of Sacraments Five Reasons why God ordained Two Sacraments under the Gospel What Comforts flow from the Grace of Baptism What Comforts flow from the Lord's Supper THough by that which hitherto hath been set forth I trust I may assume that every one that sets his heart to make use of it hath drunk well yet as the Ruler of the Feast said at the Marriage in Cana of Galilee I have kept the good that is the best Wine until now Jo. 2.10 The water of life in Baptism the wine that delighteth the Spiritual thirst in the Lord's Supper Other things in the Word report unto us what a good land the Lord hath promised to his Israel but these two Sacraments are Caleb and Josuah spies that have seen and searcht the land and bring us sensible and sure tidings that it is a noble land flowing with Milk and Hony by the Grapes which they have brought with them and by their ocular and diligent survey they yield evident testimony that God hath provided a gracious Country for us in the Kingdom of Heaven To put all my work of Consolation into one prospect together Prayer the best comfortable Grace is married to Hope the Holy Ghost gives it in marriage Faith is the Priest that joyns them together and the two Sacraments are the outward signs by which they have declared their consent as it were by giving and receiving a Ring and by joyning of hands First I will treat of Sacraments in general then of each in particular by it self A Sacrament being a visible sign of inward grace as a means whereby we receive the same and a pledge to assure us thereof or more at large which comprizeth the end of all such outward signs a token to confirm mens Faith in the promises of God observe first That God hath condescended above all expression to our weakness that He would have us to take notice of his mercies in gross and sensible things A way that is framed to our level and dull apprehension For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth Jo. 4.24 that 's purely a Heavenly way But some alterations have been admitted to bring us forward in our own pace that is after humane and bodily fancies Deus quandoque insantilia loquitur For our sakes the Lord speaks in the Scriptures in a plain and vulgar Emphasis strangely beneath his Infinite wisdom as a nurse useth to babble to her Infant So He is pleased to give himself to our hands to our eyes to our taste in common and obvious matter but out of his surpassing wisdom to make us more spiritual by cloathing Religion in a bodily attire The Church began in innocency and yet it began with a Sacrament the Tree of life instituted to keep mankind on Earth immortal by tasting it if Adam had not ambitiously eaten of the Tree of knowledge When the old world was drowned and repaired again God told Noah Gen. 9. I do set my Bow in the cloud and it shall be for a tokken of a Covenant between me and the Earth that the waters shall no more become a floud to destroy all the Earth This is the World's Covenant and not the Churche's a Covenant to save all the Earth from a total deluge And God is to be perceived and to be thought of in that sign Ezek. 1.28 The glory of the Throne of God was as the appearance of the Bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord and so the same glory is figur'd in the Rainbow Revel 4.3 After this it being not discovered who did openly and entirely profess the worship of the true God Abraham was called out of Chaldea and he and his family were imbodied into a Church and received the sign of Circumcision as a mark stampt upon them to be known to be those whom God had called out for his own and did admonish them to circumcise the fore-skin of their heart Deut. 10.16 Chiefly to imprint into them that the promised seed should come from that stock in whom all Nations should be blessed When Abraham's seed became a National Church before they could get out of Egypt the bloud of a Lamb was sprinkled upon their doors with a statute given upon it that from thenceforth every family at that time of the year should give account for a Lamb slain and be eaten within their houses till John Baptist's Lamb was slain to take away the sin of the world Under the like discipline they were trained up for a while in the wilderness when Moses set up the figure of a Serpent upon a Pole that they might look upon it and live that were stung by Serpents Numb 21. verse 9. The Author of the Book of Wisdom writes Divinely upon it That they might be admonisht for a small season it was a sign of Salvation And he that turned himself toward it was not saved by the thing he saw but by thee that art the Saviour of the world Wisd Chap. 16. Verses 6 7. Neither are we such perfect men under the New Testament to be taught only by the words of holiness and truth but we are received into the Covenant of Grace and preserved in it by Mysteries signifying wonderful things to our outward senses that we may suck and be satisfied with the Churches two breasts of Consolation Isa 66.11 And be filled with the two golden pipes that empty the golden oil out of themselves Zach. 4.12 I stand upon the number of Two because they are put together 1 Cor. 10.3 The Israelites were all baptized in the cloud did all eat the same spiritual meat and all drank of the same spiritual drink As good account for it is 1 Cor. 12.13 By one spirit we are all baptized into one body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit Or learn it from St. John 1 Epist 5.6 Christ came not by water alone but by water and bloud And there are three that bear witness the Spirit that is the ministry of the Gospel the water that is Baptism and the bloud
unthankfulness will undo us if we take not heed of it O rub over your memory and consider the noble works of the Lord especially this great work how he suffered for us unto Death Remember seriously this one thing as you ought and God will let you forget nothing that will do you good There is no grievous sin which we incur but for the present Christ is forgotten as if he had never come to charge us to keep our selves unspotted from the world But look upon his wounds which bleed for our transgressions and it will stanch the flux of sin and make our hearts bleed because we have forgotten obedience In our distresses our sickness and losses we cry out that God hath forgotten us he hath forgotten to be gracious and shuts up his loving kindness in displeasure But distrust him not a Mother cannot forget her Child much-less such a Father Every tribulation which he inflicts is but a Thorn in our sides to prick us and awake us because we have forgotten God And remember the Death of Christ not only casting your eyes back to the large Histories of it in the Gospels as if that would suffice but affectingly practically zealously and then every thing else will come to mind to perfect holiness When we remember his Death we are sure he is past Death and Risen again now to Die no more and that he is Ascended into Heaven and makes Intercession for us We have obtained that Faith that we partake in the New Testament of his Bloud and that our Names being found in the Testament we are heirs of God co-heirs with Christ The custom of the world will teach us that an Heir is bound to execute the Will of the Testator to see every thing perform'd that he hath charg'd and bequeathed Do your part like a true Executor with a righteous Administration in remembrance of him But forgetfulness cannot creep upon us when there is so visible a Monument before us to bring it often into our thoughts Luther says it will help a man more in the study of Piety to meditate profoundly upon Christ's Passion one day than to read over all the Psalms of David A bold comparison It will indeed ravish the Soul with trembling to consider how much Christ loved us by how much he suffered for us it will make us look upon sin with horror which begat such torment and ignominy to the innocent Lamb of God it will Comfort our weak Faith that he who hath done so great things for us will not abandon us and having subdued our Enemies will not let them renew the Battel to overcome us it will encourage us to lay down our life for him who hath laid down his life for us My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord Psalm 104.34 He hath drunk up the Cup of sorrow that I might drink of nothing but the Cup of Salvation This is the Wine Prov. 31.6 which being given unto him that hath a heavy heart confutes all the objections of Infidelity Despair an evil Conscience or whatsoever the tempter can suggest against the Hope of my Glorifications Says the Son of Syrach Chap. 49.1 The remembrance of Josias was sweet as Hony in all mouths and as Musick at a Banquet of Wine If the Name of Josias was so precious for restoring Religion what melody is there in the remembrance of Christ's Name what Musick in his Banquet which is the very Mercy-seat from whence the voice of the Lord gives the principal Oracles of Consolation Whose Definition I have reserved to be the last words of all Consolatio est conveniens Vnio potentiae cum Objecto as our best Scholars have it Consolation is a convenient Vnion of any Faculty with its Object As when the Eye meets with light it is the Comfort of the Eye When the Ear meets with harmony it is the Comfort of the Ear. What is the most transcendent Consolation therefore but the Union of the Soul with God the best Object in a real and most significative manner the Union of the Spirit with Christ in the Sacrament of his Holy Supper To whom be Praise and Glory and Thanksgiving Amen ERRATA PAge 39. line 21. read taught us p. 54. l. 18. r. these p. 59. l. 18. r. wherefore p. 146. l. 5. r. God that p. 187. in the Title read the Sacrament of Baptism THE END Some Books Printed for R. Royston since the Fire A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament The third Edition by H. Hammond D. D. Ductor Dubitantium Or the Rule of Conscience in Four Books Folio The second Edition by Jer. Taylor Chaplain in Ordinary to King Charles the First and late Lord Bishop of Down and Conner The Sinner Impleaded in his own Court The third Edition Whereunto is now added The love of Christ planted upon the very same Turf on which it once had been Supplanted by the extream Love of Sin in 4o. A Collection of Sermons upon several occasions by Tho. Pierce D.D. and President of St. Mary Magdalen-Colledge in Oxon. A Discourse concerning the true Notion of the Lords Supper to which are added two Sermons by R. Cudworth D. D. in 4o. The Vnreasonableness of the Romanists requiring our Communion with the present Romish-Church in 8o.