of necessity but from the abundant freeness and generosity of his Spirit He should not have needed unless he had pleased to mould us into Shape and form us into Creatures What worth or merit can be alledged miserable dust and ashes that we are whereby we might claim a prerogative or Title to a Being Alas it was undeserved nevertheless he did it without force or compulsion which was an Illustrious Act of his free grace and bounty yet farr excelled by that much more eminent one in the Redemption of us from the slavery and servitude of sin and Satan yes and re-instating of us in a better condition then that which our First Parents so justly forfeited To love us before we were I confess is great love but to love us when we had rendred our selves vile yea and worse then nothing what can it be stiled but the heighth of love To love us in our non-entity is an Embleme of a most Noble Spirit but to love us after our monstrous ingratitude I cannot express it Eph 2 7. but in the words of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the exceeding riches of his glorious and merciful grace For man by his own default had lost his Original Righteousness and was trappand by Satan of all those blessings God of his special favour intended to bestow upon him We were so far from meriting this grand mercy the gift of his only Begotten Son that we had provoked him in the highest measure immaginable and cast all his commandments behind us What can we therefore conceive should move him to give us his Son surely not any loveliness or attractiveness in us We were not such amiable and beautiful Creatures as to cause a God to descend from the Battlements of Heaven and subject himself to the miseries of humane nature but his mercy and wonderful goodness alone which caused him to be invested with the garments of flesh and our Restauration to happiness is to be attributed to nothing but the free Bounty and grace of God For Sense or Reason cannot scruple so evident a demonstration especially if we consider against whom we thus transgressed whose Law it was we thus contemptuously trampled upon whose I pray was it but the Law of the great Legislator himself Did we not Rebel against the Supream Governour of Heaven and Sin against him who spreadeth out the Firmament like a Curtain and limiteth the Sea that it shall pass no further Isa 9.7 How doth the Prophet stile him Wise in Counsel wonderful in judgment and admirable in the execution of his unsearchable Will He is essential purity it self He abhorreth iniquity with a perfect hatred and utterly detests against every thing that is unjust Yet still it was against him that we offended who is cloathed with righteousness as with a garment and holiness as a Breast-plate It was him whom we provoked and consequently forfeited all natural right and possibility to happiness Yet stand still all ye that fear the Lord and see what glorious things he hath done for our souls Behold how his restless love could never be at quiet until it had employed his Omniscience to contrive means and expedients to reconcile both his Justice and Mercy in reconciling Sinners to himself Nay and this merciful design by the Incarnation of his Son He prosecuted in a way so worthy of himself and highly advantageous unto Man 1 Pet. 1.12 that the Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are ardently desirous to pry into them How did this make St. Paul to cry out Suam commendat erga nos charitatem Deus Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his love towards us in that whilst we were Sinners Christ died for us that is when we wanted all motives to invite and had nothing but our misery to cry aloud in the Ears of God for pity and compassion It is an usual expression when we see one in a deplorable condition to say his poverty or misery speaketh in his behalf but this is more eminent surely in our case and it was our misery was so prevalent with the Almighty as to give us his Son to save us when all expectation and hope of Salvation was taken away And how did this Son express his love to Mankind even as the Apostle tells us He being in the form of God Phil. 2.6 7. thought it no Robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of man and being thus arrayed as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross The sense of which is that it was beneath so great a love to love at a less rate then death it self and from the supereminent heigth of glory to stoop to the extreamest of indignities being abased to the bottom of abjectedness that we might be exalted to the contrary extream O Eternal Fathet of mercys thy love and goodness is unmeasurable and thy tender mercys are over all thy works what a large portion hast thou given us of thy love that to us a Son is Born to us a Son is given Thou hast not dealt so with any other creatures as thou hast done with man on whom thou didst stamp thine own Image cloathed him with immortality and constituted him Supream over the rest of the Creation Nay so great was thy goodness O God that when we had lost our selves by departing from thee we should still be found of the in sending thy Son to save and restore them that were lost Lord what is man that thou shouldst so regard him or the Son of man that thou shouldst thus respect him with all thankfulness and praise we remember this day we extol thy love and the humble descent of the Son of thy love Christ Jesus Oh grant that he may be conceived in the heart of every one of us that by the operation of the Holy Spirit Christ may dwell in us and we in him Oh let that Spirit which was in our Saviour inspire our hearts continually with devout affections towards thee that we may love thee beyond what our tongues can express or hearts imagine and so joyn cheerfully with that Coelestial Chorus who are still giving honour blessing power glory and dominion to thee for ever and ever for this thy unspeakable love to Mankind in giving thy only begotten Son that all may have everlasting life And so I descend from the efficient cause of Mans Redemption the love of God to the parties whom he thus loved and they come under a two-fold Consideration their Quality and Quantity We begin with the First God so loved the World By WORLD may be understood the whole compages of all Beings because every creature by the Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour received almost a new life and was in some measure delivered from the bondage of corruption But by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text is especially signified all
the Sun was placed in the Firmament of Heaven that the whole World might be cherished by the influence of its heat and light yet how many are there to whom it is not much beneficial for are there not some of so reserv'd and melancholy a disposition that they are more affected with darkness upon which account they creep into Grots and Holes to hide themselves from the glory of his Beams In like manner light came into the World and was offer'd up for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Catholick good of all but some loving darkness rather then light keep themselves baricadoed from his benign influence resisting the light of faith for otherwise he should not perish but have everlasting life Heb. 5.9 which is best interpreted by that curt yet full expression of St. Paul he is the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him The Kingdom of Heaven is shut up against none though some are so unhappy as to exclude themselves for they are so far degenerated into Brutes that neither the dreadful apprehensions of an angry God a consuming fire or Worm that never dyes can frighten them into obedience or can the invitatory Charms of Holy things allure them thereunto or lastly can the modest shame of a base and ignoble action move them for like ill-distempered bodies they convert all wholsome food into their own corrupted humours saying unto God depart from us we desire not the knowledge of his ways who is the Almighty that we should serve him or what benefit accrues to us if we pray to him First they abhor the knowledge of his ways and commandments because they are contrary and speak against their works Secondly They refuse submission to his power perswading themselves he is not Almighty because sentence is not executed speedily but he is Merciful Long-suffering and Gracious And then lastly They will not pray unto him because they would ask that which is so repugnant to his supreme wisdom and goodness that they know he will not answer their petitions So that in short it is through themselves they perish and come not to bliss and glory because they decline the presence of God shutting up all the avenues of faith and charity through which he should come in unto them For God hath engaged his word not to be inexorable and the Creator hath protested and sworn that it is far from his thoughts to delight himself in the destruction of his Creature For can the charity of a grave and sober person upon earth pray for the conversion and salvation of all Nations and what shall the charity of Christ be limited or will they ravish him of his goodness No verily he would have none to perish but upon their submission he will embrace them with the arms of his mercy receive them for his own Children by Adoption give them the blessings of eternal life and make them partakers of his everlasting Kingdom Seeing then this was the end and drift of Christs Incarnation seeing God hath dealt thus graciously with us what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness How ought we to esteem and love him who so esteemed and loved us that he thought not his life and bloud too dear for us How ought we toesteem our selves since God hath thought us worthy to be esteemed of him Let us remember this and know that we are men How ought we to take heed that we neither spot or soil that flesh wherein God hath manifested himself For what are we the better that God hath given us his Son if there be not a mystical Incarnation in our hearts and his Nativity our spiritual Birth-day that being born anew Christ may dwell in us and we in him Was it not his purpose to be like us that we might be like him was he not born of a poor Virgin to teach us to be meek and lowly did he not take upon him the form of a Servant to teach us we must not Lord it over them who are beneath us How little did he value the pomp and grandeur of the World to set our affections on things above how contented was he in a mean condition to teach us not to take care for to Morrow How courteous was he to the meanest Clients to teach us humanity and brotherly kindness how liberal was he of doing good to teach us to be diligent in relieving the necessity of the Indigent How patient was he in suffering the the mockeries and scoffs of the ruder multitude to teach us not to pay evil for evil how patient was he amidst the sad tortures and pangs of the Cross to teach us not to repine at the chastisements and corrections of Heaven How little did he fancy the applauses of men to teach us not to court popularity or be fond of the praises of men How absolutely did he resign up his Will to the Will of his Father to teach us in every state to say Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven In a word how did he lay down his Life in full hopes of a glorious Resurrection to teach us to say Though after my Skin worms destroy my Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I my self shall behold and not another These are the Beauties of Jesus to be equally admir'd and practised by us This is a Transcript of the Deity which we must carry always in our hearts for by the copying of it Christ knows who are his Let us then endeavour to follow our Exemplar as close as we can in these steps of his Holy Life Let us not slight that Love which is gone to prepare us a place in his Fathers House Let us make all things conspire to proclaim his Glory Let us conceive Christ in our heart by our believing and hearing his word and let us bring him forth in our life by giving all diligence to practice and perform it Let us look on the Mercy of this day as an hopeful assurance that God will never end his Love and good Will towards Men till he hath brought us thither where Jesus is Let us earnestly beseech him to guide us in those steps whereby he did ascend from Earth to Heaven Let us desire him so earnestly to subdue our Wills to His that it may be our Meat and Drink to perform his Heavenly Pleasure Which that it may be more effectually wrought for the Eternal Interest of us all let us fall down and say in sincerity of heart ALmighty God who hast given us thy only Begotten Son to take our Nature upon him and as this day to be born of a pure Virgin Grant thas we being regenerate and made thy Children by Adoption and Grace may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit through the same Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory Might Majesty and Dominion now and evermore Amen FINIS
For what can be a more Popular Argument to use for the seduction of soft-minded and weakly-principled Protestants and to draw them off from us than to extol and magnifie the perfect unity of their Church and to lament and pity the sad distractions and divisions of ours For though men of reading and consideration can easily disprove them and prove it a Church by far less at unity then our own yet still this Argument may be forcible with them who have not leisure and opportunity to come to know so much of them but they daily observe men endeavouring to rend our Church in pieces and cut it into little bits and mammocks Nevertheless I will not flatter my self that those who believe nothing but what themselves speak or own will consent to the Doctrine of this TRUTH to wit That they who pretend an inbred aversion to Popery and exclaim most against Rome are most instrumental in procuring our Slavery unto that see For they are generally so wedded to their Erroneous Opinions that none can behold the beauty and glory of an Object but those who borrow their Eyes to contemplate withal Nay had I not begg'd your Lordships Protection for who dare avow if a Person so honourable will be pleas'd to countenance I could have expected no better than my usual Entertainment the worst of their spleen and malice For if we will not stile Humour Conscience and Novelty Religion if we have not the precise Cut and walk in their Exact Geometrical Saintship or form of Godliness they presently conclude us scandalous and ungodly But let our Opinions and Judgements concentre with their Dictamens and then the Wind is presently turn'd for they will judge more candidly of our actions by blaming the infirmity of the Flesh and weakness of humane Nature for Actions of shame and debauchery because the construction of our Deeds must differ equally with those of our Principles Nay further they will wrest them with the same Licence they mis-interpret the Scriptures to make them speak according to their Sense and Opinion From such Persons I foretell an indifferent usage unless your Lordship favour what otherwise they will certainly disaffect which after your Lordships Pardon for the dedication of these Discourses so unworthy your Patronage is the Humble Request of Your Honours most faithfully devoted Servant R. Scamler THE STATE OF THE RIGHTEOUS Psalm 34.19 Great or many are the Troubles of the Righteous but the Lord will deliver him out of all WHEN the World was in its Cradle and Religion in her Swadling Clouts The Wisdom of Heaven thought it convenient to educate the tender years of Infant-Piety with the alluring hopes of a temporal Prosperity to prompt and encourage men to a ready entertainment of her Services For had Religion in her tender years appear'd with an austere look and morose behaviour she must of necessity have had fewer admirers of her Beauty Least therefore she should meet but with a slender respect and mean entertainment she came into the World with a mild aspect and for her dowry had all the advantages of a temporal felicity entituled upon her followers which was the state of her first manifestation or making her self known to the World But when she was grown somewhat elder and of a more strong constitution God desisted from courting men by the hopes of her portion of splendid preferments and goodly heritages that they might be enamoured of her Beauty and not of the Appendants that he might see whether it was out of pure and undefiled love to Religion or out of affection to the World which made them to comply with the observance of his Laws upon which account he did then command them to renounce the World and all their hopes therein that they should no longer live by sense but Faith that they must expect to be encountred with sorrows and afflictions calamities and crosses if they would be reputed his children and lead a vertuous and godly life And this is that condition of the Righteous Holy David describeth in the text where looking on the miseries they suffer he seemeth to cry Great are the troubles of the Righteous respecting the Promise he seemeth to sing the Lord will deliver them out of all Both which make our lives fitly compar'd to a Musick-book where we shall seldom observe many white notes but they art intermixed with black and both together compose the sweetest harmony God set's us our lesson in a little book it contains no more then two pages one stiled consolation the other dissolution 't is necessary for both to take their turns In the day of prosperity remember thy self of adversity In the day of adversity comfort thy self with the hopes of prosperity For the divine providence mingles our life as one would Wine and Water in the same Cup Some drink the purest others the most compound but all taste a commixtion for great are the troubles c. This Psalm the sweet Singer of Israel compos'd after he had chang'd his Behaviour and feigned himself mad in the Court of Abimelech his deadly enemy which dissimulation proved a means for happy deliverance from that imminent peril which otherwise had most infallibly proved fatal He therefore no sooner saw the net broken and himself escaped as a Bird from the hand of the Fowler but he tunes his instrument and falls a warbling forth the praises of the Almighty saying verse 1. I will always praise the Lord which may serve as a reproach to them who dayly observe the benigne providence of God in protecting them from those perils and dangers which are obvious to all amidst the changes and chances of this mortal life yet seldom or never send up their praises to him from whence cometh their help Nay they will scarce be brought to acknowledge 't is the hand of the Lord which hath brought such mighty things to pass But Holy David here thinks it too mean a performance for none but himself to sing the marvelous kindness of the Lord he therefore entreats others to bear a part with him in this consort of thanksgiving saying Oh magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together v. 3. But alas Men think they exceed in their duty if when Heav'n hath been concerned in procuring a deliverance they cry out with the Pharisee Lord I thank thee and conceit it too troublesome and tedious a service to be always telling forth his loving kindess unto others Our Psalmist therefore to prompt and encourage them to this holy duty and to incite them to piety reckons up a Catalogue of the many privileges of the Righteous How that their crys will pierce beyond the Clouds and sound in the ears of God for they are open to their complaint how that he is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit Yea let never so many sorrows and afflictions oppress the Righteous yet still in his appointed time
appeared unto him under a Cloud of troubles He changed his note for having received a fall out of his Chariot and his Insolency curbed by an immediate blow from Heaven He could say Justum est hominem mortalem subditum esse Deo It is meet and requisite for Mortal Men to be Subject to the Immortal God So likewise Nâ—buchadnezzar in his carier of impiety defied the Lord of Hosts and proudly vaunted himself against the Almighty until he enter'd into the Armory of his wrath and Metamorphosed this proud King into a base beast and then he could confess the Lord was able to abase all them that walk in pride Dan. 4. last v. For when God perceives a constant course of his kindness cannot wean us from our sins he then applyes the Ministers of his Fury the storms and tempests of afflictions to ruffle us out of them 'T is true great prosperities do not easily corrupt the souls which have taken a good temper in the fear of God nevertheless they wound and in some sort change them A little Bee sometimes playeth so long upon her hony that by much walking there she entangleth her wings So a Soul yea one of those most eminent for devotion and piety being continually soothed with a long sequel of the good successes of the affairs of the World taketh some small flight out of it self seeking recreation in a smiling and delicate air which affords nothing but objects of pleasure and delight But so soon as adversity hath given her blow it reentreth into it self it foldeth it self within it self it fasteth it self it knoweth it self it findeth God in the bottom of her heart afflicted and perplext with the revolutions of the World she raises and darts her self above the ways of the Moon and Tracks of the Sun to that goodly Temple of Eternity where Spirits dwell disrobed of these garments of flesh and bones which we dragg along with us in this mortal life This is that High-Rode the devout soul journeys in so soon as she is alienated from the Court of prosperity and disentangled from the affairs of the World She then enters into a sweet retirement and looks on the embroideries of nature in the Mountains and Vallies Forrests and Rivers as a Theater declaring the glory of God and shewing his Handy-work She relisheth this retreat from the World as Manna from Heaven and tasts the deep silence of sorrow with incredible delight Oh! how will she be delighted How will she be ravished when she shall reflect on the marvelous kindness of God towards her that he should chasten her here least she should be chastised for ever that she should be afflicted with sorrows in this life to free her from eternal gnashings of teeth that he should deprive her of the gilded nothings of this World that she may enjoy an everlasting and supream good That he should make her unfortunate here least she should be eternally unhappy amidst the tortures of Brimstone and Fire hereafter In a word How happy will she be when she shall consider how God hath made her smart under the light afflictions of an adverse fortune on earth to adopt her for an eternal and exceeding weight of glory in Heaven Her adversity will make her imagine as if she were discoursing with God face to face This gall will make her open her eyes and see that it is the hand of God which presseth her fore and the consideration that it is the Lord will make her to say cheerfully with old Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 Let him do what seemeth him good But indeed until we be thus varnish'd and brightned till we be refined by this fire of affliction until we have whitened our souls by the tears of sorrow our affections will espouse the quarrel of the World and wholly declare in favour of it God therefore to curb us that we may not stray beyond our limits keeps us in a vale of tears often leading us through an Aceldema a field of bloud and persecution that with Jacob we may long for our Fathers house not saying with St. Peter it is good for us to be here but rather with St. Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ For if like the Moon in the Eclypse we fail not to appear dark on that side which looketh towards earth we shall most assuredly appear radiant and bright on that which tends towards Heaven for it is to withdraw our affections from of the World that Great are the troubles of the Righteous A Second Reason why God visits us with afflictions may be to draw us to amendment of life Thus the Royal Prophet Before I was troubled I went wrong but now have I known thy Law As the eyes of Tobit were opened by the gall of the Fish so the judgments of Heaven inflicted on us make us to reflect on the past actions of our life that we may correct and reform all the errataes and misdemeanors thereof For as the Rod of Moses stricken on the Stony Rock caused whole Buckets of water to issue out thence in like manner the Rod of afflictions smiting on our flinty and obdurate hearts forceth whole Rivers of tears to flow from our eyes for our sins committed For what is more natural to every one when he is in distress than to call to remembrance those sins which he concludes the occasion thereof When Heaven is pouring forth its vials of wrath and vengeance upon us can we act so insensibly as well as irrationally as not to commune with our hearts and ask our souls what have we done How have I deserved this what notorious crime have I committed that I have made my God who delighteth not in the misery of his people so highly displeased with me as to afflict my body with this disease and that distemper Is it not for the Plague of the heart that I am now tormented with the Plague in my Body was not I afflicted with this tumour because I was so affected with the tympany of pride How come I dismembred in my Limbs but because I did not set the broken bones of my soul together Had I been afflicted with Strangury or Stone had I dissolved the Stone in my heart by the tears of a really godly sorrow I had never been oppressed with this Calenture had not that more fatal one of anger needed a cure was not this Feaver this Sickness or that Disease prescribed by God as medicinal for this or that Sin And when he hath ransacked his soul to the botom and found out the troubler of Israel the Fonah who raiseth these Storms and Tempests the Rebel who disquiets him in his peace what can be the issue of it but that he bring him forth and stone him to death I mean that he should be perfectly sorry for his sin and make an absolute reformation least if he return to his wickedness a worse thing fall unto him We must imagine him only the shape of a man who
the never-dying Worm to feed upon How well therefore is it stiled a Mistery that a God most perfect in himself who stood in no need or want should love so forlorn a Creature by reason of his sin at such vast and great distances from him who could do him small service and stand him in little stead Yet still this immense Being hath out of his Infinite Bounty given us the dear production of himself coeternal consubstantial and equal to the Father in respect of his God-head though inferiour to the Father as touching his Man-hood God and Man a Problem whose solution puzzleth all the Reason humanity possesseth a Riddle which cannot be unfolded but by Faith Did we not behold it through that Perspective but employ our reason to consider it we should as soon conclude to the Suns Union with a Clod or a Thoughts Corporeity as to believe immortality incarnate spirituality turn'd body and the infinite Ocean of goodness in so small a Vessel The composure of the World and the variety of Creatures was the effect of an Almighty Power that Man should be made after the Image of God wonderful enough but that God should be made like Man is much more admirable 'T was a greater demonstration of his Omnipotency that God should be made a like Creature than his formation of all Creatures Immortality put on Mortality and Incorruption dressed in the garments of Corruption We read that the Ark of the Covenant was overlaid with Gold whilst Shittim wood was in the midst which was to Typifie Christs Humanity decked and adorned with his God-head A Mystery so fruitful in Miracles that natural Reason cannot comprehend them Nature was stopt as to the result of an humane subsistence in whose place was intimately applyed the Personality of the Divine Word and this infinite subsistence was adorned with graces virtues and privileges superiment Dost thou wonder to see the Sea divided and stand upon an heap come here then and admire this boundless Ocean contained in the narrow Vessel of a Virgins Body Dost thou wonder to see the Bush in the midst of hungry Fire and not consumed behold a Virgin the Mother of a Son and yet her Virginity spotless and undefiled Dost thou wonder to see a Moses preserved in a Cradle of Bull-rushes behold the King of Heaven in a Manger Was it strange to see the Sun go back on the Dial of Ahaz how marvellous then is it to see the true Sun Light of very Light under a small cloud and the most glorious Candle of Heaven put under a Bushel Dost thou wonder the Bread of Life became Flesh look into the Sacrament of his Supper and see how he can turn his Body and Bloud into Bread and Wine to nourish the Souls of Men Dost thou wonder at the Wisdom of Solomon lo a greater than Solomon is here How did the Wisdom of God become foolishness for us and the Word it self speechless And He who is our God is He not also our Brother Rouze up thy self then O my dull and sordid soul mount up thy self even to the Heavens above slighting the things of the World as dross and dung if compar'd with the honourable Title of being the Son of God Many an express had been sent unto us from the Court of Heaven by those winged Embassadours the Angels But Oh infinite mercy He now sends his Legat à latere his Son from his bosom expecting he would be more honourably treated by us But alas how did we entertain him 'T is true he had his brows encircled with a Crown but it was of Thorns 'T is true he was a King but annointed with his own bloud or as the Evangelical Prophet stiles him a King of sorrows 'T is true he had a Purple Robe but it was of derision 'T is true he had a Bed-chamber but it was a Stable 't is true he had a Cradle but it was a Manger to compleat the saying which was written The Oxe lodged with his owner and the Ass and the Master were content with the same Crib Was he an Isaac a Son of Laughter or rather vir dolorum a man of griefs Was he clothed in his dress of Majesty or did he disguise himself in Purples and Furrs that he might enjoy ease and govern all the Nations of the Earth or rather was he not clothed with shame and dishonour Did not Heav'n nay the God of Heav'n descend to Earth that Earth might ascend to Heaven Thy Fore-head was furrowed with Thorns O blessed Jesu yet thou wouldst not frown We did chain those Arms which thou didst stretch forth to embrace thy Enemies and those who continually provoke thee to wrath thy Bowels of tender compassion yearned towards them who were ready to rake into thine with their bloudy hands Oh! most compassionate Son of the most merciful Father What shall we render unto thee for all thy mercies How shall we pay our acknowledgements whom shall we love to whom shall we resign our Wills and ways but unto thee and the Father of mercies who hath not thought the gift of his Son too great to confer upon us Oh blessed Incarnation oh happy day never will we forget thee but entirely devote our selves to his service and worship who hath this day called us to be his Son by adoption settle our affections and confirm us in this our resolution that by the influence of thy Holy Spirit we may obtain the end and purpose of thy Incarnation everlasting Which is the last to be considered And the words are easie to be understood for by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant whosoever shall receive and obey the doctrine of his Gospel and frame his life according to the rules thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not perish but be rescued from eternal death and made partaker of eternal life but on the contrary if we disown him and reject his rules we shall receive no benefits by the merits of his death and Passion for though Heaven should become a desart yet he will not people it with persons refractory and disobedient but the sentence of the first Curse shall not be repealed but still hold valid and of force for if they will work their own destruction by refusing to lay hold on Christ this inconveniency happens unto them not from the inefficacy of Christs satisfaction or a defect of his commiseration 2 Pet. 2.1 and goodness towards his Creatures but from their own default because as the Apostle speaks they deny him by whom they were bought He purchased the souls of the whole World but if they will not accept of such a Ransom by believing on him and regulating their wills by his will they may be damned though he was offered up a Sacrifice for them thus the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 8.11 thy Brother perish for whom Christ died For he died for all yet those only receive the priviledges thereof who believe on him by their obedience to his word For though