mortification that they may the better taste the sweet mercy of God in their delivery from the bondage of sinne and Sathan shadowed out in the bondage of Egypt so it is unto us a Sacrament of our union to Christ our head then they were to eate it with sweet unleavened bread that they might bee taught to take heed of the sowre leaven of malice so is ours to us a Sacrament of communion with Saints the bodie of Christ The difference betweene ours and theirs is that their Sacraments were not without blood because Christ as then had not shed his blood but ours are because the truth being come the type is needlesse Againe what were the pillar of cloud and fire and the red Sea in which they were baptised as Paul saith but that which the Gospell cals the Baptisme of water and fire even the effusion of the blood of Christ and the infusion of his graces the merit of his passion and the efficacie of his Spirit in our hearts to make it ours by application What was the water that Moses stilled out of the Rocke by striking it with his Rod when the Israelites were like to perish in the wildernesse for want of water but the blood of Christ issuing out of all his body in a bloody sweat in the Garden when the very wrath of God the Rod of God for the chastisements of our sinnes was upon him lay heavie upon him and streaming out of his blessed side when the Souldier pierced it with his speare I say the blood of Christ spilt for our sakes who otherwise had perished And that Mannah that heavenly food with which they were sustained in the wildernesse what was it but Christ as Christ himselfe expounds it Iohn 6. that he was the bread of life that descended from Heaven and Paul accommodates both of them 1 Corinth 10. For they all ate the same spirituall food and they all drank the same spirituall drink even the same with us for they drank of the spirituall Rock and that Rocke was Christ Christ is the onely Rocke on which his Church was built 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Peter but Christ. The Brasen Serpent tell me what can you see in it but Christ who was lifted up on the Crosse as that was lifted up in the Wildernesse and as that saved all that looked to it from the stinging of the poysonous Serpents so hath Christ saved us from the power of the old Serpent the Divell and all the power of darknesse he hath healed all our infirmities for by his stripes we are cured and by his wounds we are healed You see then how all their Sacraments ordinary and extraordinary receive all their life from Christ and give all their light to him againe All the laborious and teadious paedagogy of their Ceremonies was to no other end then this neither in which this truth was written as it were in great Letters that he that ran might read them because all words of a thing not sinsible but so farre off could not be halfe so legible So the blood of all the Sacrifices propitiatory and gratulatory of Bullocks and Rams Goats and Lambs Sheep and Dove were all but types and copies drawn from Christ and drawing to Christ who was the true sacrifice in which al the other were sanctified which otherwise were of no value and by which Gods justice is satisfied and they were so many in such varietie to seale to them his alsufficiencie So were all their curious ablations and chargable oblations of rost baked sod fryed to teach our perfect washing by his blood and perfect nourishment by his body which suffered the heat of Gods wrath and so was dressed to our appetite and sauced with such diversity that he might take away our satietie Sweet was the figure of the two Goates one of which was offered as a Sacrifice for the sinnes of the people and the other the Scape Goat the Scripture cals it being charged with all their sinnes Aaron laying both his hands upon his head and confessing the sinnes of the congregation over him was let goe into the wildernesse both which expresse Christ in a double respect either because Christ was slaine that we might escape or because Christ the same was dead and is alive as the Revelation speakes because he dyed for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification as the Apostle elsewhere applyes it Much like another in the purgation of the Leper where two Birds or Sparrows were to be brought the one was to be kild the other to be let flie being dipped first in the blood of the former reserved in a vessell for that purpose even as Christ dyed for us and wee being dipped in his blood escape for by him the nets are broken and we are escaped Yea and all their holy persons did but represent unto the people the person of the Messiah all their Priests especially the High Priest they sacrificed and blessed the people in his name who was that Benedictum semen in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed even Iesus Christ who is God blessed for ever and who gave himselfe for us a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice to his father And the High Priest many wayes he bare the names of the Tribes of Israel on his shoulder when he appeared before God so did Christ of all his faithfull he entred into the Holy of Holies once a yeare not without blood so did Christ by his owne blood open the way for us into the highest heavens and make a passage into Paradise in which we could not keep our selvs and out of which we were kept by the flaming sword of a Cherubim upon which the Poets harping have hatched a pretty Fable that the aurea Hesperidum mala are kept by the vigilant guard of a fierie Dragon but Hercules overcame him which in sober truth is thus much that the way to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden is guarded by the glittering blade of a glorious Cherubim but Christ hath removed him Lastly the Holy places themselves were teachers of the same truth so that if those the Priests I meane should hold their tongues these the stones I say would cry thus much 1. The Tabernacle was a visible signe of Gods presence among his people and therefore in it were placed among many other things the Mercy seat even Iesus Christ in whom it hath pleased God to have mercy on whom he will have mercy and the Table of Shew-bread is the same Christ whose body is the true bread by which we are fed to eternall life which as one observes was panis propositionis in the Law but is become panis assumptionis in the Gospell even the bread of the Lords Table So was the Temple and therefore they were to offer their Sacrifices at the Temple and their prayers in or toward the Temple because all were sanctified and accepted in Christ who was the true
we stand of a Mediator who might treate of peace and make an attonement for us for otherwise what faith what confidence can we have in God whom sinne hath made our enemie Now Christ alone is that Mediator for hee by his suffering hath smooth'd his Fathers brow having satisfied his justice and beside hath purchased his Spirit for us who teacheth us to call him Abba Father and through whom we have accesse with boldnesse to the throne of grace therefore he is the foundation of our faith which was the first part of Divinitie He is in the second place the fountaine of all obedience I will content my selfe here also with one place looke Phil. 1. 9 And this I pray saith S. Paul that your love may abound yet more and more in all knowledge and in all judgement and in the 11. againe that ye may be fild with all the fruits of righteousnesse which are by Iesus Christ to the praise and glory of God behold here love in all knowledge and that love in aboundance and that aboundance yet more and more behold againe the fruits of righteousnesse and all the fruits and a fulnesse of all the fruits and yet all this and more if more may be by Iesus Christ for he is the Tree planted by the rivers of water of which the Psalmist speaketh who is transplanted out of the old Adam and ingrafted into the new which is Christ he is the tree that bringeth forth her fruit in her season for as soone as we are in him ingrafted into his stocke watered with his blood warmed with his Spirit who is the Sunne of righteousnesse we are inabled to bring forth the fruits of Righteousnesse And well may he challenge this interest in all our obedience in a triple right 1. Because he hath performed all obedience in his owne person but in our name and therefore for us 2. Because all the abilitie we have to performe any thing is his gift and the worke of his Spirit in our hearts For of our selves as of our selves we can do nothing but it is he that worketh in us both the will and the deed 3. Because he hides the deformities and washes away the spots of our actions for otherwise all our righteousnesse is as a menstruous cloth he perfects all our imperfect performances Survey but all the parts of obedience you shall find this true In the observation of the Decalogue it is worth the observation that this is the preface I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage we must be let at libertie by Christ out of the bondage of Egypt out of the fetters of sinne and Satan before we can set a step in the way of Gods Commandements And for our prayers we need no other Beades or bed-roll Christ is the only Pearle of price in them it is his Spirit that kindles the fire of our zeale that teaches us how to pray for we know not how to pray as we ought and it is himselfe ascending in the flame of our ardent desires as he did once in Manoahs sacrifice that makes God smell a sweet savour which otherwise would stinke in his nosthrils would be an abomination and turne to sinne For as Themistocles presented himselfe to the King of the Molossi under the protection of his son and that was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plutarch observes so unlesse we come to God in the name of his sonne there is little hope of speeding unlesse Iacob come in the garments of his elder brother Esau there is small likelihood of a blessing and so unlesse we come cloathed with the Robes of Christ our elder brother but if we do behold it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea the Lord will blesse us as Isaac said and we shall be blessed The Sacrament receiving is the last act of our obedience which without Christ are but cold and dead carkases of Lions unprofitable In a word therefore Christ alone is he that adds value and vertue to our weake faith beautie to our stained obedience being the very foundation of our faith and the fountaine of our obedience as I have shewed of each of them severally taken and will endeavour to the doe same of both joyntly considered If you looke for the proper place of faith in Christ in the bodie of Divinitie you shall find it seated in the very center where it stands in a double relation of that which goes before and that which followes after That which goes before is the former part of the Rule of Faith which all mooves to it that which followes after it is the Rule of life and is all mooved from it and all the lines of either meet in it As it represents a Center it is the heart of Divinitie For as in the naturall generation the heart is first articulated and then the other parts so in our spirituall regeneration faith in Christ is first formed before any other graces and therefore Paul cals the Galatians his Children of whom he travelled in birth till Christ were formed in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As wee looke upon it in that double relation me thinks upward and downeward it expresses Iacobs ladder which appeared in a vision by which he saw Angels ascending and descending and God standing on the top thereof for Christ by the consent of all is that scala coeli by which we ascend to God and descend to good workes and Paul hath excellenty described that comparison in a most sweet gradation Rom. 8. 29. Those whom God hath foreknowne those also he predestinated to be conformable to the image of his sonne whom he predestinated those also he called whom he calleth them he justifieth whom he justifieth those also he glorifieth behold a scala coeli a golden chaine and in it a descent of God to man by the stepps of election and vocation and an ascent of man to God by the staires of justification and sanctification to the highest state of glory I thinke now that I may conclude this point That Faith in Christ is the summe of Divinitie considered in the constant truth thereof for in him it pleased God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to recollect and recapitulate all even in this sense in him it pleased God that all fulnesse should dwell and in him dwels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too for the fulnesse of the Divinitie bodily and the body of Divinitie fully dwell in him Let us come yet a little lower and take this truth in the Rule of Divinitie as it is in a double difference before Christ and after Christ before Christ againe as it was before the Law or under the Law Before the Law I pray what was the Religion of Adam Moses touches it in a word The seed of the woman shall breake the head of the Serpent see the first prophecie concerning Christ and
measure of his fall and therefore could not measure nor comprehend the height and depth of Gods mercy in Christ they had not heard of Gods mercy in Christ and therefore could never teach or thinke of the profunditie of humiliation the latitude of sanctification the altitude of glory but vanishing in their imaginations instead of these groped in the darke to find mans Summuns bonum in himselfe and dreamed a pretty dreame of a shadow of happinesse man is a dreame of a shadow as Pindar speakes which they meant to purchase with a shadow of wisdome and vertue and riches and honour and pleasure and in this respect we must doe with their bookes as they say the Iewes did with the book of Hester The Iewes read the booke of Hester indeed because they account it Canonicall Scripture but before they read it they let it fall to the ground because they doe not finde the name of God once mentioned in it as their Rabbins have observed So for the morall treatises of Philosophers we must read them because they speak of vertue and happinesse but we should let them fall to the ground before we read them because they doe not give glory to the glorious name of God I come to the third which I meane to draw from the efficacy of their Ministery for which purpose I might produce many expresse places of Scripture and many plaine experiments for this respect the Lord Iesus is represented in a Vision to Saint Iohn in the Revelation With a sharpe two edged sword proceeding out of his mouth and when he talked with his Disciples going to Emaus Did not our hearts burne within us said they while he talked with us In this respect the Psalmist saith of him Psalme 45. Thou art fairer then the children of men Grace is powred into thy lips Suada in labris sessitat Apes in ore mellificant t is true of him for Grace is powred on his lips a sweete attractive Grace which is an eloquent beautie as they say that beautie is a dumbe eloquence and therefore Thou art fairer then the children of men and it followes Thy arrowes are sharpe in the heart of the Kings enemies his lips and mens hearts are chained together as you have heard the Embleme of the French Hercules In this respect the Prophet Ieremy saith His Word was like a burning fire shut up in his bones and he could not stay the Prophet Esay had his tongue touched with a cole from from the Altar The Apostles had the gift of fiery tongues and what was the succeesse at one Sermon of Peter three thousand were set on fire and inflamed with the love of God and come rather bleeding then breathing forth these words to the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we doe What should I tell you the voyce of God is mighty the voyce of God breaketh the Cedars the Cedars of Lebanon which is not only true of thunder as interpreâ—ers expound it but of the Word of God For if Caligula trembled at that I am sure Felix did at this Act. 24. when Paul reasoned of righteousnes and temperance and judgement to come Felix trembled a strange thing that the accused party triumphed and the Judge trembled if being touched with his affecting words and trembling he had turned to Christ as the Needle touched with the Loadstone turnes to the North and had shaped his course accordingly Felix had beene happy as one saith But this is the more remarkable because in the same place Tertullus a curious Oratour had made a quaint oration with no such successe as if the Lord would compare as it were with humane faintly eloquence and teach us that all is but painted eloquence in comparison of the divine power of his Word Indeed they report that when Tully pleaded for Ligurius I thinke Caesar trembled and the bils of accusations fell out of his hands as it were wrested out by Tullies eloquence but you shall see the difference anon Yea and Paul himselfe felt the force of this thunder for in the very heat of his persecution as he marched furiously like Iehu to Damascus he was arrested by a messenger from Heaven a great light shone round about him and he heard a voyce from Heaven the light like lightning flashed in his face and dazeled his eyes and laid him flat on his backe But will you heare a terrible thunder-clap Saul Saul why persecutest thou me this was the thunder that boared his eares as Scaliger reports of a countrey fellow that had his eares boared with thunder and this was the lightning which as the Naturalists say melts the Sword and hurts not the Sheath that breakes the bones and bruises not the flesh this was the lightning that broke Pauls heart and melted his very soule within him and made him that was yet breathing out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord Iesus breath out more gentle and humble words Who art thou Lord what shall I doe Lord and the like I cannot stand to presse these and yet I cannot passe over one place because it is most effectuall looke Heb. 4. 12. For the Word of God is quick and powerfull and sharper then a two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soule and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Who hath any gold weights and a ballance of the Sanctuary that we may expend and weigh these golden words exactly I pray marke it is a living Word yea more a working Word yet more a cutting Word yea and more yet a piercing Word it is not as other written words are mutus magister but viva vox a living word it is not living as some do of whom it may be truly said Hic situs est as Seneca said of Vatia but it is an effectuall working word it is not working as some do till they be cold again or as we say as good never the whit as never the better but it is a cutting word it is cutting not lightly to raze the skin and scratch a little but it bites sore it is a piercing word it is like a sword a bloody instrument but that it is sharper for the Apostle saith sharper the word is a word of comparison but the thing is above compare for it is sharper then a sword it is like a two edged sword as I told you of Christ in the Revelation it will cut which way soever it lights either a savour of life to salvation or a savour of death unto condemnation as the Apostle speaks but it is sharper then any two edged sword It was once said of the sword of Goliah by David There is none to it but I dare say it is true of the sword of God and of Gideon the sword of God and his Ambassadors for it pierces to the dividing of the soule and spirit who is so acute
almost that can distinguish these two by an intellectuall precision I am sure Interpreters sweat about it and yet this royall sword like Alexanders is so sharp that it cuts this knot with an actuall diuision betweene the joynts and the marrow not the hardest bones can abate or turn the edge of this invincible weapon not the most hidden marrow can escape the dint of it but as the Sun in the 19. Psalme nothing is hid from the heat of it To conclude it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart the strangest Critick that ever was thought it not free from it and whereas other Criticks pride themselves in restoring some obliturated monuments stopping some gaps in old Manuscripts taking up some stitches let fal in a Poet this goes farther and reades the very thoughts verbamentis the letters written in the soule that abrasa tabula as the Philosopher cals it I have put all the weights graines and scruples that I have into the Scales and yet this place of Scripture as it is pure the word of God is like gold which is tryed in the fire seventimes so for weight it weighs them all downe which was the reason that I insisted the longer on it for me thinks this very place doth not only affirm that the Word is effectuall but confirme it exceedingly being it selfe so effectuall I conclude this generall he that knows the efficacy of this Word cannot chuse but acknowledge the divinitie of this power and be affected as the Prophet Habakuk was with the presence of God in his glorious works When I heard saith he my belly trembled my lips quivered at the voyce rottennesse entred into my bones and I trembled in my selfe that I might rest in the day of trouble There remaines much behind yet for I should shew you this in particular both extensively and intensively as it works 1. In the heart 2. A strange worke in the heart both these in regard of the act it selfe and then in regard of the manner of working 1. Without any helpe ex parte subjecti the heart conferres nothing not so much as naturall receptivitie 2. Without any help ex parte medii no insinuations of wisdome no tricks of Rhetorick but with downe right blowes and I could wish all unsaid that hath beene spoken that I might spend my selfe wholly in these things but I must touch them briefly The heart of man is the most free and hard of any thing to worke upon and to make an impression and stampe upon this hard heart this heart that is so stonie Adamantine harder then the mother Milstones as the Scripture teacheth To compell this freewill that Domina sui actus the Queene in the soule the Empresse it cannot be without a divine power without a hand that is omnipotent but the Ministers doe this by the Word they mollifie and wound and break this heart they incline and bow and draw this free will whither the spirit listeth And Clemens Alexandrinus is not afraid to say that if the Fables of Orpheus and Amphion were true that they drew birds beasts and stones with their ravishing melodie yet the harmony of the Word is greater which translates men from Helicon to Sion which softens the hard heart of man obdurate against the truth that raises up children to Abraham of stones that is as he interprets of unbelievers which he cales stockes and stones that put their trust in stones and stockes which metamorphoses men that are beast-like wild birds for their lightnesse and vanity serpents for their craft and subtilty Lions for their wrath and crueltie Swine for voluptuousnesse and luxurie c. and charmes them so that of wild beasts they become tame men that makes living stones as he did others come of their owne accord to the building of the walls of Ierusalem as he of Thebes to the building of a living Temple to the everliving God this must needs be a true perswasive charme as he speakes Herodotus relates of Cambyses that being admonished of his drunkennesse by Prexaspes a noble Counsellour in a rage he commanded his sonne to be placed before him as a marke and his Bow and Arrows to be brought and He shot and killed the boy and then caused him to be opened and finding the Arrow in the middest of his heart he made this argument that he was no drunken man and turning him to the father asked him with a cruell smile what he thought of it O my Lord said Prexaspes betwixt griefe for his sonne and feare for himselfe I think the gods cannot shoote better I may paralell this out of Scripture and apply it to my purpose for the Apostles in the Acts being charged with drunkennesse Peter steps up to make an apologie he takes his bow and arrowes as the Prophet Esay speakes he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me and made me a polished shaft in his Quiver hee shootes and smites three thousand with one arrow and when they opened themselvs it was found they were pricked in their hearts and you shall now be judges whether I may not well say as he did with a little alteration O Lord I thinke none but God none but thou can shoot so well I conclude this the Ministers of the Word are stars in the right hand of God as it is in the Revelation and therefore they dart their influence into the secret corners of the soule their words fall high from heaven and therefore sinke deepe into the hearts of men As the woman of Tekoah was subtile because the hand of Ioab was with her so they are powerfull because the hand of God is with them they are the pen that write in mens hearts but it is the hand of God In a word they beare such authority because they are men under authority men of God Gods Ambassadors I should prosecute the rest but I will rather leave the point abruptly then be tedious 2. CORINTH 5. 20. Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God IT is a maxime in Divinitie received by generall consent of all Cathedram habet in coelo qui corda docet and therefore I see no reason why that which hath beene said should not bee a sufficient argument to prove that those that sit in Moses chaire are sent from Heaven except it be to those that from walking in the way of the ungodly and standing in the way of sinners are come to sit in the chaire of the scornfull Yet I will adde a second degree to put it out of question for they doe not only worke upon the heart in generall but in a speciall and strange manner as might be shewen many wayes I will but touch the principall It is our Saviours promise to his Disciples Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me the
workes that I doe shall he doe also and greater workes then these shall he doe greater workes then these O blessed Saviour might the Disciples say how can that be Thy name is Wonderfull the great Counsellor and thou dost wonders alone and is not this one of thy great wonders how we should conceive the wonder of this speech greater workes then these O blessed Saviour The Schooles of men have an Axiom among them indeed Many Schollers are better than their Masters but we have learned another lesson in thy Schoole The Disciple is not above the Master and it is enough the Disciple be as the Master is it is enough O humble Saviour among proud sinners it is too much greater workes then thou O Lord didst not thou cure all diseases cast out Divels didst not thou rebuke the Feaver and it durst not stay chide the winds not as he in the Poet expostulate with them but chids them with authority rebuk't the winds and they were silent calmed the Sea and walked upon the swelling waves as it were upon some Marble pavement and can there be greater works then these But who was that O Lord was it not thou that diddest raise the dead that Rulers daughter at the house the Widows sonne at the Hearse the two sisters brother I meane Lazarus in the grave when he that stunk was revived with thy sweet voyce and he that was bound hand and foot with linnen cloaths which was a miracle in a miracle as a Father speakes came forth and walked and can we do greater works then these Now we have begun to speak unto our Lord suffer us to speake once more though we be but dust and ashes Didest not thou feed five thousand men with five loaves five loaves which by a strange Arithmetick were so multiplied by Division and so augmented by Substraction that five loaves sufficed five thousand guests and yet twelve baskets full were gathered up for thy twelve Apostles Didest not thou cure the poore woman of her incurable issue of blood with a touch of the hemme of thy garment only it was her contactus but thy vertue O blessed Lord that did it and shall we doe greater workes than these Yes they doe greater miracles saith Augustine Majus enim est quod sanet vmbra quà m quod sanet fimbria comparing the last I mentioned with that which is recorded of Peter in the Acts that those which had diseases were healed by his shadow as he passed by and they did greater workes that were no miracles then all the miracles that Christ wrought and they were the conversion of many soules to God by their ministery and good reason it should bee thought so for if a shadow a privation a nullity may produce such a reall effect then what shall we think of the light of the Gospell the most beautifull the warmth the most active the truth of the Gospell the most powerfull quality in the world if we believe the Wiseman and two of which are so transcendently excellent that it hath beene said that if God himselfe would take a visible shape he would make a body of light which should be acted and animated by truth as by a soule Thou hast made light thy garment and thou lovest truth in the inward parts Yea and that same Father affirmeth that the justification of a sinner is a greater worke then the creation of a World Aut si aequalis sit utrumque potentiae certè hoc est majoris misericordiae as he concludeth it The Schoole follow him in this and dispute whether it be not simply the greatest worke that ever was and determine that it is ex parte effectus averring that the least worke of grace is greater then the greatest in nature they doubt also whether it be miraculous and leave it doubtfull Our moderne Divines give a reason of it because in creation there is only a negative indisposition of nothing to being but in regeneration there is besides a positive opposition of sinne to grace I will not now discusse whether this be precisely true or no but a great work it is without question as may appeare by the act which is called in Scripture a rising from the dead Blessed are they that have their part in the first resurrection saith the Spirit in the Revelation a generation except a man be borne againe he can never see the kingdome of God saith Christ to Nicodemus a new creation saith Paul to the Corinthians it appeares likewise by the effect the which is called the new heart Create in me O Lord a new heart A new man That the new man may be renewed daily A new creature Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but a new creature It appeares lastly by the terms between which there is as much difference as betweene light and darknes death and life Heaven and Hell the Divell and God immane quantum for these are the termes betweene which this mutation runnes as the Scripture teaches us Who can bring to passe this true transmigration Pythagoras dreamed of another but he that is the Father of Spirits and th◠Word that doth it must needs be the breath of his mouth This divine Conversion as Plato calls it speaking admirably of it though he knew it not but he to whom the Prophet goeth in this case turne us O Lord and we shall be turned this wondrous change as Clemens cals it as I noted but he that formed the mountaines and of whom the Psalmist Manus tuae plasmaverunt me he that formed man after his owne image Dii coeptis nam vos mutâstis illas aspiratemeis figmentum cordis saith Moses The imagination of mans heart is only evill and that continually but as for the heavenly work of grace of holinesse of a new man is as the Heaven is said to be and as the Protoplast was figmentum manuum tuarum the workmanship of thy hands O Lord. In a word none can restore or vindicate a man from the servitude of sinne into the libertie of Gods children and of a miserable bond-slave make one a royall man as Clemens cals his Gnostick but the great King of whom it is said if his Spirit make us free then are we free indeed the knot in which we were tyed is dignus vindice nodus and our desperate case doth require a strong helpe according to the use and phrase of Tragedies I could be infinite in this theme if I would tell you all the wonders that they worke in the heart of man the terrours of the Law which make a man think that he is in Hell more truly and more profitably then the Jesuites doe their Clients in their chamber of meditation by the consolations of the Gospell which gives a man wings to flie into Heaven and take sanctuary there from all afflictions from whence he lookes downe upon this lower world with heroicall contempt and scorne wondring at the
the Lord had not beene on our side they had swallowed us up quicke But thanks be to God in Christ Iesus the net is broken and we are escaped and behold they are dead that sought our lives The Divell like a Serpent in the Garden stirred Adam to sinne and Sinne like a Serpent in the Wildernesse stung Israel to the death but our Saviour hath overcome them all he tamed the Serpent in the wildernesse that tempted Adam in the Garden to sinne and he tooke out the sting of sinne the Serpent of the Desart by the desert of his suffering for sinne was the Serpent and the sting of sin was death and death he vanquished in the grave even in his owne denne even on his owne dunghill So that if death should now reason that he hath us still in captivitie because he hath us still in keeping we may say as Tully once to Atticus O mors ubi est acumen tuum or rather as S. Paul prompteth us O death where is thy sting ô grave where is thy victorie And thus was Christ the Lambe sltaine the price paid the propitiatory sacrifice for his chosen and this was his passive obedience whereby he suffered and overcame that which we should have suffered but could not have overcome satisfying even the rigorous exaction of Gods exact justice and these are both the parts of the payment which he tendred up to God in our behalfe and for our behoofe by which he hath not only freed us from our naturall misery which was the first part of Salvation and hath beene shewed hitherto but hath also filled us with all good things which as the former consists in two things Holinesse and Happinesse Both which Christ hath furnished us withall out of the rich storehouse of his merits for what he did he did for us and we are righteous in his righteousnesse and what he merited for us he merited and we are victorious in his victorie in a word he hath cloathed us with an undefiled immaculate robe of righteousnesse and crowned us with an immortall crown of glory even in incorruptible crowne of inconceivable glory with righteousnesse irreprehensible with glory incomprehensible And if any man doubt yet of the sufficiency of his satisfaction weighing the heinousnesse of our transgression let that man consider but who it was that did these things and what the things were that he did and suffered and then I hope he shall be sufficiently satisfied It was the Lord of glory that emptied himselfe into the forme of a servant it was the Lord of life that shed his precious blood for us he humbled himself to be a man yea a servant of whom it was every way true if ever it were true there is one servant only which is master of the house yea not a man a worme and no man he humbled himselfe to the death the death of the crosse the most ignominious and ignoble death of all other◠he descended out of the bosome of blessednesse into the bottome of basenesse and therefore needes must his passion be very meritorious whose person was so magnificent his desert must needs be great whose descent was so glorious Neither need any man doubt of Gods acceptation for beside that which hath beene said that what he did and what he suffered it was for us because he was man he tooke not the nature of Angels upon him but of man and it was sufficient because hee was God which adds infinite value to both beside this I say who could be so fit to reconcile man to God as he who was both God and man Man quia solus Deus sentire God quia solus homo superare non potuit mortem quam pro nobis obire debuit yea and it was the counsell of the Lord that this should be the meanes to bring this to passe and therefore hee laid his wrath upon him which otherwise had beene injustice his wrath I say so heavily upon him that it wrung out strange words My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and therefore he that accounted him a sinner for our sakes must needs accept of the sacrifice that he offer'd for our sins Now when I review all that I have said for his sufficiency me thinks I need not have gone further off my text for demonstration of this truth for Paul saith he determined to know nothing but Christ Iesus and him crucified therefore he is Christ and Iesus and crucified therefore he is an alsufficient Saviour for these three like the three termes of a Syllogisme draw in a demonstrative Conclusion like the three tongues that were written upon the Crosse Greeke Latine Hebrew to witnesse Christ to be the King of the Iewes doe each of them in his severall Idiom avouch this singular Axiom that Christ is an alsufficient Saviour and a threefold cord is not easily broken He was that Christ which was annointed and appointed of God for that purpose and therefore filled and furnished with all graces fit for the accomplishment According to the smell of thine Ointments thy Name is an Ointment powred forth therefore the virgins love thee saith the Spouse in the Canticles His name is the Annointed and in him many graces concurred to make a full performance as in a precious ointment many spices concurre to make a sweete perfume Therefore the virgins love thee the virgins that are pure in heart hence they fetch Oyle for their Lamps and therefore they burne in love virgins love ointment for their beautie thy Name is an ointment powred forth therefore the virgins love thee the wise virgins love thee because they are wise and so would the foolish too but that they are foolish 2. This Christ was crucified for us there was the whole box of ointment broken and powred forth there all the spices gave their smell a sweet smelling savour which ascended into the nosthrils of the Lord and became to him a dutifull smell in which he is well pleased And therefore 3. He must needs be Iesus whether you derive the name from the Greeke as some have done to heale more finely then fitly and yet more fit then finely for he hath healed all our infirmities by the merit of his blood and the annointing of his Spirit or from the Hebrew as it is most truly for he hath saved us from our sinnes from all our sinnes and therefore is a true Iesus a Saviour a perfect Saviour for so the Angell that imposed his name expounded it And therefore is an Angell from Heaven preach any other doctrine then this let him be accursed saith S. Paul I need not heape up any more yet it will not be amisse to let you heare the voice of the Scripture where to omit the common consent of the whole frame and phrase of the booke and the murmure of every letter which all of them proclaime this truth and beside those words of note which note thus much every where as Grace
it that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge and who is so impious as once to call it into question We read in the golden Legend of Poets of a fruitfull tree of which he sayes Vno avulso non deficit alter Aureus and something like in Alcinous's Garden but Christ is the tree of life in the middest of the Paradise of God whose fruits are of twelve sorts according to the seasons of the yeare and according to the families of the house of Israel whose leaves also were for the healing of the Nations how much more golden then that one fruitfull then those other We are beholding to Polydore Virgil and ancient Histories that call our England Puteus inexhaustus for the store of commodities but Christ is a fountaine better then that Well of Iacob a Fountaine of whose water whosoever drinketh shall never thirst againe For he is a fountaine of living water springing up to everlasting life What doe I speake of Fables They say it 's true of the Oyle at Rhemes that though it be continually spent in the inauguration of their Kings of France yet it never wasteth and this they attribute of the crosse to the blessing I am sure it is true of the Oyle in the Cruse of the Widow of Sarepta that it fed her house and failed not though they be false and foolish which would father that miracle upon the Crosse too which they find in the sticks that she gathered which they say lay a crosse as well it may be as Helena found her crosse and as true I am sure it is that Christ crucified is the pot of Mannah the Cruse of Oyle a bottomlesse Ocean of all comfort to the faithfull he is rivers of oyle and his steps drop fatnesse for this cause received the Spirit without measure and was annointed with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes and in him God is as he cals himselfe I am because in him hee is all good that the heart of the godly can wish or want he is that benedictum medicamentum that annointing medicine the only all-healing medicine against all diseases the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against all danger To conclude as Demosthenes said of Pronunciation that it was primum secundum tertium in all Rhetorick so may I say of Salvation it is primum secundum tertium in all Divinitie and in it Christ is all in all And thus I see I have taken up my speech where I let it fall the last time for if you remember when I ended I said a great word That faith in Christ crucified was the theme of all Theologie the scope of all the Scripture which now that I may liberare fidem I must endeavour to make good I feare not that you should thinke I make quidlibet ex quolibet as Alchymists they say can fetch oyle out of flint and as the Papists say the Scripture is a nose of wax and make it so when they conclude the Popes supremacie out of Peters walking on the waters for I see my Text will warrant me in what I have said for if Paul would preach nothing but Christ Iesus and him Crucified and yet was to preach all that was necessarie to salvation then questionlesse he judged Christ crucified to bee the summe of all beside this evidence that convinced me necessity compelled me to take this course for when I sought for witnesses of that I had delivered in the Scripture the whole booke of God offered it selfe and therefore in such copious plentie I deemed this the most compendious path to prove that in generall which otherwise would have proved infinite if I had once minced it into the particulars Having thus scoured the way I come now to enter upon the point to shew that faith in Christ is the summe of Divinitie the scope of the Scripture and first I will begin with Divinitie because the rule of it being the Analogie of faith will light us in the search of the secrets of the Scripture and lead us into the native meaning therof with more facility and this I will apply to the double consideration of Divinitie both in the maine substance which was alway the same and the mutable circumstances therof which according to divers times had some diversitie The maine substance of Divinitie was alway that Doctrine and Rule that chalked out the way in which man was to walk to eternall salvation and eternall happinesse which will easily appeare to be summarily comprised in faith if that be true which is most true which I have already proved that it is sufficient to attaine salvation and the same will shine yet more brightly if we do but lay downe the severals of the art for this will be the summe that all will amount to this will be the Epitome of all even Christ Iesus who is the foundation of faith and the fountaine of all obedience which are both and all the parts of Divinitie Take these asunder now and consider them severally That Christ is the foundation of our faith I will alledge but one place for it heare what Paul saith 1 Tim. 3. 16. Great is the mysterie of godlines God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit seene of Angels preached of Men believed in the World received into glory See here the mysterie the whole mysterie of godlinesse and that a great mysterie yea and without controversie great is the mystery of godlinesse and yet this is all even Christ Iesus Reason it selfe will subscribe to this Article and proove it too for you know the object of faith is God alone and by it we are united unto him and this was the condition of our integritie our bodies were temples of his blessed Spirit and the delight of the Lord was in the sonnes of men but now having provoked him to indignation against us by our voluntarie transgression his mind is alienated and the case is altered his good Spirit being grieved is departed from us and he frowns upon us with an angry countenance neither can it be otherwise for he could not love his owne justice if he did not hate our iniquitie We may read our misery in Adams story who after his sinne when he heard the voyce of the Lord walking in the Garden was afraid and hid himselfe And againe in the children of Israel who hearing the terrible thunders and seeing the thick flashes of lightning and the mountaine smoaking when the Law was given at Mount Sinai in a great fright came to Moses and said Speake thou unto us and we will heare but let not God speake to us lest we die and the reason of this is because our guiltie conscience suggests no other conceit of God unto us but as of an angry Judge who is cloathed with revenge and terrour as with a garment and whose garments are dyed in blood as the Prophet elsewhere speaketh Moses à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And these examples teach us in what need