Blind zeal which wants knowledge 3. Turbulent zeal which wants love and moderation 1. The First of these Hypocritical zeal is a meer blaze and shew of fervency without any true and solid heat It is nothing but the Vizor of zeal looking a squint one way but tending another pretending God and his Glory but aiming at some private and sinister end Such was the zeal of Iehu who marched furiously and his word was The Lord of hosts Come said he to Ionadab and see my zeal for the Lord but his project was the Kingdom Iezabel proclaimed a Fast as out of an Extasie of zeal that God should be blasphemed but her aim was Naboth's vineyard So in Acts 19. Demetrius the Silver-Smith and his fellows cry Great is Diana of the Ephesians but meant the gain they got by making of her Silver Shrines vers 24. This Zeal is soon descried by the proper Character it hath namely an affectation of having their works seen of men which is said of the vain-glorious Pharisees in Matt. 6. be it by ostentation of their zealous deeds like Iehu or by the excess of affected gestures sighs and other like actions falling within the view of men Not but that a true zeal doth shew it self vehement even in external actions but it is the straining of them beyond measure which argues the Heart to be guilty of emptiness within 2. The Second kind of False zeal is Blind zeal Ignis fatuus or Fools fire leading a man out of the right way when men zealously affect evil things supposing them to be good or are eagerly bent against good things supposing them to be evil Such was the Zeal of the Iews of whom S. Paul witnesseth that they had a zeal of God that is in the matters of God but not according to knowledg And with this Zeal was he himself once carried when he persecuted the Christians with an opinion of doing God good service as the phrase is Iohn 16. 2. I verily thought saith he with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Iesus of Nazareth And such is the zeal of simple and devout Sectaries who blindly run after some person they esteem without knowing themselves either why or whither This kind of zeal is like to metal in a Blind horse that will speed to fall into a pit or to break his neck The counsel I would give for avoiding this kind is to look before we leap and see our way clearly before we run 3. The Third kind of False zeal is Turbulent zeal which S. Iames calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitter zeal a kind of Wildfire transporting a man beyond all compass of Moderation namely when in the excess of our heat we either outgo the bounds of our place and calling or use undue Means or wayes or overshoot the limits of Love and Charity whether to God or our Neighbour For howsoever Zeal be an excess of our affections in the things of God yet must this excess never break over the banks either of our vocation or in choice of Means out-bound the Rule of God's Law as theirs most certainly doth who endeavour to colour their Religion by the Massacres of Princes overturning of Kingdoms breach of Oaths and almost all bands of humane Society Such was the Zeal of Saul when he slew the Gibeonites forgetting the Oath which the Princes of the Congregation had made unto them Iosh. 9. 15 18 19. And such was the zeal of Iames and Iohn in the Gospel when to vindicate the honour of Christ they would have Fire to come down from heaven to consume a whole Village of Samaria Such also was Peter's zeal when he cut off Malchus his ear The former outwent the limits of Love and Charity the last the limits of his Vocation As Clocks whose Springs are broken overstrike the hour of the day So this mad and untempered Zeal the measure of Moderation Thus I have briefly described these False fires that by the Law of contraries we may know who is the true Zealot whom God approveth namely He whose Spirit is in Fervency and not in Shew for God and not for himself guided by the Word and not with humours and opinions tempered with Charity and free from head-strong violence This is that Zeal which our Saviour calls for in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be zealous therefore This is that Zeal which whoso wants in him God hath no pleasure but will spue him out of his Mouth as it is said in vers 15. a little before my Text. But why will you say should this zeal be so needful or why may we not worship God without it Let us therefore now see the Reasons and Motives which do evince and prove it needful and should urge us to it 1. First therefore I will seek no further than my Text where the want of Zeal is reckoned for a Sin a Sin to be repented of Be zealous and Repent Is not that needful without which all our works are sinful But Vertue you will say consists in a Mean and not in Excess and why should not Piety also I answer The Mean wherein Vertue is placed is the Middle of different kinds and not the Middle or Mean of degrees in one and the same kind Vertue so it be Vertue is at the best in the highest degree and so is Religion in the highest pitch of Zeal 2. It is the Ground-rule of the whole Law of God and of all the Precepts concerning his Worship That we must love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our Soul with all our Mind and with all our Strength What is this else but to love him zealously to worship him with the highest pitch of our affections and the uttermost strain both of Body and Soul For he is the Soveraign and chiefest Good what Love then can suite to him but the very top and Soveraignty of Love All things in God are Supreme his Power his Knowledg his Mercy and therefore he cannot truly be worshipped unless we yield him whatsoever is Supreme in ourselves a supremacy of Fear a supremacy of Hope a supremacy of Thankfulness For whom then should we reserve the top and chief of our affections for our gold for our Herodias c How can we offer God a baser indignity will he endure that any thing in the world should be respected before him or equalled to him The Lord our God is a jealous God and will not suffer it Let therefore all the Springs and Brooks of our affections run into this Main and let no Rivulet be drawn another way If Zeal be good in any thing it is most required in the best things and if in any thing it be comely to work with all our might Eccles. 9. 10. certainly in the service of God it is most comely Be not slothful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord
Rom. 12. 11. 3. Zeal is that which carries our Devotions up to Heaven As Wings to a Fowl Wheels to a Chariot Sails to a Ship so is Zeal to the Soul of Man Without Zeal our Devotions can no more ascend than Vapours from a Still without fire put under it Prayer if it be fervent availeth much but a cold Sute will never get to Heaven In brief Zeal is the Chariot wherein our Alms our Offerings and all the good works we do are brought before the Throne of God in Heaven No Sacrifice in the Law could be offered without fire no more in the Gospel is any Service rightly performed without Zeal Be zealous therefore lest all thy works all thy endeavours be else unprofitable Rouze up thy dull and heavy Spirit serve God with earnestness and fervency and pray unto him that he would send us this fire from his Altar which is in Heaven whereby all our Sacrifices may become acceptable and pleasing unto him AND thus I come to the next thing in my Text Repentance Be zealous and repent Repentance is the changing of our course from the old way of Sin unto the new way of Righteousness or more briefly A changing of the course of sin for the course of Righteousness It is called also Conversion Turning and Returning unto God This matter would ask a long discourse but I will describe it briefly in five degrees which are as five steps in a Ladder by which we ascend up to Heaven 1. The first step is the Sight of Sin and the punishment due unto it for how can the Soul be possessed with fear and sorrow except he Understanding do first apprehend the danger for that which the Eye sees not the Heart rues not If Satan can keep sin from the Eye he will easily keep sorrow from the Heart It is impossible for a man to repent of his wickedness except the reflect and say What have I done The serious Penitent must be like the wary Factor he must retire himself look into his Books and turn over the leaves of his life he must consider the expence of his Time the employment of his Talent the debt of his Sin and the strictness of his Account 2. And so he shall ascend unto the next step which is Sorrow for sin For he that seriously considers how he hath grieved the Spirit of God and endangered his own Soul by his sins cannot but have his Spirit grieved with remorse The Sacrifices of God are a contrite Spirit Neither must we sorrow only but look unto the quality of our Sorrow that it be Godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to the quantity of it that it be Great We must fit the plaister to the wound and proportion our sorrow to our Sins He that with Peter hath sinned heinously or with Mary Magdalen frequently must with them weep bitterly and abundantly 3. The Third step of this Ladder is the Loathing of sin A Surfiet of Meats how dainty and delicate soever will afterwards make them loathsome He that hath taken his fill of sin and committed iniquity with greediness and is sensible of his supersinity or abundance of naughtiness and hath a great Sorrow for it he will the more loath his sins though they have been never so full of delight Yea it will make him loath himself and cry out in a mournful manner with S. Paul Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death 4. The fourth step is the leaving off Sin For as Amnon hating Tamar shut her out of doors So he that loaths and hates his Sins the sight the thought the remembrance of them will be grievous unto him and he will labour by all good means to expel them For true Repentance must be the consuming of sin To what purpose doth the Physician evacuate ill humors if the Patient still distempers himself with ill diet What shall it avail a man to endure the launcing searching and tenting of a wound if he stay not for the cure So in vain also is the Sight of sin and the Sorrow for and Loathing of Sin if the works of darkness still remain and the Soul is impatient of a through-cure And therefore as Amnon not only put out his loathed Sister but bolted the door after her as it is said in the forequoted place So must we keep out our sins with the Bolts of Resolution and Circumspection Noah pitched the Ark within and without Gen. 6. 14. So to keep out the waters and a Christian must be watchful to secure all his Senses External and Internal to keep out sin 5. The Fifth and last step is the Cleaving unto God with full purpose of heart to walk before him in newness of life All the former Degrees of Repentance were for the putting off of the Old man this is for the putting on of the New For ubi Emendatio nulla Poenitentia necessariò vana saith Tertullian de Poenit. c. 2. Where there is no Reformation there the Repentance must needs be vain and fruitless for as he goes on caret fructu suo eui eam Deus sevit i. e. hominis saluti it hath not its fruit unto holiness nor the end everlasting life Rom. 6. 22. And thus have I let you see briefly What Repentance is Will you have me say any more to make you to affect it as earnestly as I hope by this time you understand it clearly Know then that this is that which opens Heaven and leads into Paradise This is that Ladder without which no man can climb thither and therefore as S. Austin saith Mutet vitam qui vult accipere vitam Let us change our life here if we look for the Life of Glory hereafter Let us leave the old way of sin for the new way of righteousness and to apply all to my Text Let us change our course of Lukewarmness for a course of fervency in God's service our dull and drowsie Devotions for a course of Zeal Be zealous and Repent AND thus I come to the Third thing I propounded namely the Connexion and dependance of these latter words Be zealous therefore and Repent upon the former As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Many things might be here observed but I will name but one which is this That Repentance is the means to avoid and prevent God's Iudgments For as Tertullian in his de Poenitentia observes * Qui poenam per judicium destinavit idem veniam per poenitentiam spospondit He that hath decreed to punish by Iustice hath promised to grant pardon by Repentance And so we read in Ieremy 18. 7. When I shall speak saith the Lord there concerning a Nation or Kingdom to pluck up to pull down and to destroy it If that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from evil I will repent of the evil which I thought to do unto them And in Ezekiel 18. Repent and turn
not swerving one jot therefrom as he somewhere professeth in his Epistles Yea so cautious and careful was he not to determine positively where the Scripture was not express that he confessed he durst not so much as imagine that Christ's presence in this Kingdom should be a Visible converse upon Earth He was also well aware that some both of elder and of later times degenerating from the Piety of the most ancient and purest Ages of the Church and swerving from that Primitive sober sense and harmless Notion of the Millennium which the Christian Church generally entertain'd in the days of Iustin Martyr had shamefully disfigur'd and deformed it with several erroneous conceits and idle fancies of their own But herein our Author's name and reputation is not concern'd he had nothing to do with the wood hay and stubble which some foolish builders had built upon the old foundation nor with those unseemly assumenta and disgraceful opinions which some that were miserable bunglers at the Interpretation of Prophecies had fastned upon the ancient Hypothesis He disavow'd with as much zeal as any one the extravagancies of such men and yet he would not in a rash heat wholly reject an ancient Tenet for having some Error annex'd to it for so he might sometime cast away a Truth as he that throws away what he finds because it is dirty it was his own comparison may perchance cast away a Iewel or a piece of Gold or Silver Thirdly and lastly to conclude this argument His Notion of the Millennial State was both Pure and Peaceable and therefore not unworthy of a fair construction Pure and clean it was altogether free from the least suspicion of Luxury and Sensuality It was his express Caution to beware of gross and carnal conceits of an Epicurean happiness misbeseeming the Spiritual purity of Saints If we conceit saith he any Deliciae let them be Spirituales which S. Austin confesseth to be Opinio tolerabilis lib. 20. De Civit. Dei. And therefore he was justly offended with Hierom. who being according to his wont a very unequal relator of the opinion of his Adverâ—aries imputed to the most ancient Fathers of the Church such an Unspiritual notion as this That the Felicity of this State was Beatitudo ventri gutturi Iudaico serviens and in several parts of his Writings he has clearly detected the unfaithfulness and falshood of Hierom in loading those Holy Souls with the charge of Iudaism and Epicurism as foul and undeserved an aspersion as could be imagined And verily such a Sensual State is so contrary to the character of the Kingdom of Christ and the true importance of what is meant by Reigning with Christ that it is no other in reality than the Kingdom of the Devil and a Reigning with him He well remembred that the proper Character of the New Heavens and the New Earth that is of the World renewed is thus described in S. Peter's Prophecy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherein dwelleth Righteousness A greater increase of Piety and Peace than has yet been in the world is that which makes up the Primary notion of Felicity of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or World to come And what hearty Christian does not most affectionately desire that Righteousness and true Holiness Peace on earth and Good will towards men may spread and obtain more universally in the world These things would as naturally make the world Happy as the abounding of Iniquity with the decays of Charity in any age makes the world Miserable Nor was his Notion lets Peaceable and Pure as may partly appear by what hath been already observed He was a true Son of Peace and lived a life of Obedience to the Laws of the Realm and of Conformity to the Discipline of the Church He feared both the Lord and the King and medled not with them that were given to change And his Writings bare the Impress and Character of his Peaceable Spirit and Life for not one clause not a syllable not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that naturally tends to blow men up into such furious heats as threaten publick Disquietnesses and Embroâ—lments is to be found therein as neither in the Writings of Iustin Martyr Irenaeus Cyprian and others of utmost Antiquity whose Doctrine touching this Point as also their Practices were far from any shew of Unpeaceableness far from provoking to any thing but Love and Good works As our Author himself was a man of a cool Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so likewise is his Notion and representation of the Millennium cool and calm and moderate not ministring to Faction and Sedition to Tumults and subversion of all Degrees and Orders of Superiority in the publick And assuredly the Happiness of the Millennial State shall take place in the world without that Disorder and Confusion which some men have extravagantly imagined men of unhallowed minds and consciences who judging of things according to the lusts of ambition and love of the world reigning in them have deprav'd and stain'd this Primitive Tenet the ancient sober and innocent notion of the Kingdom of Christ as likewise every other Mystery with not a few carnal conceits and intolerable fancies of their own And thus unto them that are defiled is nothign pure Nor shall those Tempora refrigerii ever be brought in by hot fanatick Zelots men set on fire in the Psalmist's phrase and ready also to set on fire the Course of Nature as S. Iames speaks such as are skilful only to destroy and overturn Destruction and Wasting are in their ways they are good at making the World a miserable uncomfortable and unhabitable place but the way of Peace they have not known as for Peace and Charity they have no right sentiments thereof and know not what belongs to them And therefore the Temper and Frame of their spirit being perfectly contrary to the Temper and Quality of those Better times they are thereby render'd uncapable either of furthering and hasting the Felicities of the New Heavens and Earth or of enjoying them when the New Ierusalem shall be come down from God out of Heaven and the Tabernacle of God shall be with men For the primary Character of that Future State being as was before observed Vniversal Righteousness and Good will Piety and Peace it naturally follows That they who are men of embitter d passions and of a destroying Spirit altogether devoid of civility gentleness and moderation kindness and benignity towards men and altogether unacquainted with what is lovely decorous venerable praise-worthy equitable and just can have no part nor lot in this matter so gross and course a constitution of spirit as theirs is speaks them unqualified for the Happiness of this Better State Nor can they ever be made meet for the World to come and the Kingdom of Christ till they have got the victory over their Self-love and Love of the world over their Pride and Envy their Wrath and
Christ were not where the Name of God is call'd upon in publick through the Mediation not of Saint or Angel but of the One Mediator Christ Iesus and where the Word of Christ not unwritten and uncertain Traditions and fabulous Legends is publickly read and preach'd and hath prosper'd through God's blessing to the conversion and salvation of many thousand Souls But our Author being a strong and adult Christian one that could see into the nature and reasons and consequences of things one that had look'd into the perfect Law of liberty and was establish'd with a free spirit well knew the slight insignificancy of what is pretended by some for their uncharitable Separations and that their way was not Perfection but Weakness an argument of a low narrow and Iewish spirit that would engross Messias only to themselves and confine him to their particular modes and no less an argument of a weak servile and really Superstitious spirit to be unreasonably scrupulous about things of an indifferent nature to forbid themselves such things as God hath no-where forbidden and to put a greater stress upon the doing of some things and the not-doing of other things than either the Scripture hath or the nature of the things will bear And therefore the Scripture represents those of this temper as Weak in the faith in opposition to the Strong who as they manifest themselves to be such in a not being over-sollicitous about those little things though in the mean while most mindful and strictly observant of the necessary and substantial things of Religion which are all clearly declar'd in the H. Scripture so likewise in that they can better bear the censurings and sometimes unhandsom dealings of those that are Weak and find it more easie to treat such civilly and to look upon them with a more benign and clear aspect than the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do at least some of them if we may judge of men by their behaviour But of that better temper was our Author a person that did not proudly or passionately despise or behave himself unseemly to those that dissented from him for then of Strong he had become Weak nor would he do any thing that was uncivil or unhumane unto any he could say in a very good sense to borrow that of the Comoedian Homo sum humani à me nihil alienum puto 45. Before we conclude this argument it may be Operae-pretium to superadde one useful Observation and Notion of our Author's not impertinent to the present business There were some in his time who thought themselves excused for non-compliance with the establish'd Liturgy and Orders Ecclesiastick by a vulgar yet false notion of Scandal as if To Scandalize were To displease or aggrieve others or To occasion the dislike or anger of others as of such particularly who had formerly entertain'd a good opinion of them and their Ministery Now as these things came sometimes to be mention'd in discourse he was wont to express his Thoughts concerning the right and genuine notion and importance of that word to this sense That the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and having a Transitive signification as words in the Conjugation Hiphil have in Hebrew and therefore well render'd To make to offend 1 Cor. 8. 13. and so in the Margin Matth. 5. 29. doth according to the Syle of the Scripture generally import thus much By our actions to induce another to sin in imitation of our evil example and so to put a Stumbling-block in the way of piety and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is fitly render'd Stumbling-block in Rev. 2. 14. where Balaam is said to have taught Balak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel c. or when it is joyn'd with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Stumbling-block it is as fitly render'd an occasion of falling Rom. 14. 13 Nor is this sense much distant from the Etymon of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à claudicando and accordingly To Scandalize is to make or to occasion one to fall or some way or other to hinder one from walking evenly steddily and regularly as he ought And agreeable to this sense is that observable description of Scandal given by Tertullian Scandalum ni fallor non bonae rei sed malae exemplum est aedificans ad delictum This our Author did apprehend to be the proper notion of the word rather than that which the other did pretend viz. To do that which may displease or grieve or vex others For some are angry without a cause and are offended and displeas'd sometimes at that which is not in itself evil yea are grieved and vexed when another is doing his duty and being so affected are therefore far from being induced and emboldened to the practice of that which the other accounts his duty and consequently far from being Scandaliz'd according to the general sense of the word in Scripture only they are displeas'd offended and angry but without any just cause and therefore not to be justified in that humour as neither are the Ministers upon that score to think themselves excus'd from their duty For a man to neglect his Duty and such as the performance whereof is accompanied with the advantage of being instrumental to the best good of others is plainly to displease and offend God who is never displeas'd but justly But to offend man is not always to sin against our Brother and to do that which may displease or dislike others and how is it possible in such a contradiction of humours and vast contrariety of fancies not to be displeasing unto some is not necessarily to Scandalize in the Scripture-idiom Besides what the great Apostle saith would be seriously consider'd Do I seek to please men For if I yet pleas'd men I should not be the Servant of Christ To this purpose has our Author been known to express himself in familiar discourse with some Friends And much-what like the Notion did the Learned Dr. Hammond happily light upon as appears by his elaborate Tract of Scandal 46. HITHERTO we have endeavour'd though in a rude and imperfect draught to represent the rich Endowments of his Mind together with those Vertues and Graces that adorn'd and beautified his Inward man and made his Soul a meet Habitation for the Divine Shechinah which loves to rest in such Souls as are Holy Humble and Meek full of Charity and Good will towards men It remains now before we conclude this Narrative that we add something concerning the Frame and Temper of that Body wherein this excellent Soul dwelt that Earthen Vessel wherein these Heavenly Treasures were deposited and which only of him was capable of Mortality and thence pass to the last Scene and Epilogue of his Life His Body was of a comely proportion rather of a tall than low stature In his younger years as he would say he was but slender and
Acts 2. 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They continued in breaking of Bread and in Prayers As for bodily expressions by gestures and postures as standing kneeling bowing and the like our Blessed Saviour himself lift up his sacred eyes to heaven when he prayed for Lazarus fell on his face when he prayed in his agony S. Paul as himself saith bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ He and S. Peter and the rest of the Believers do the like more than once in the Acts of the Apostles What was Imposition of hands but an external gesture in an act of invocation for conferring a blessing and that perhaps sometimes without any vocal expression joyned therewith Besides I cannot conceive any reason why in this point of Evangelical worship Gesture should be more scrupled at than Voice Is not confessing praising praying and glorifying God by Voice an external and bodily worship as well as that of Gesture why should then the one derogate from the worship of the Father in Spirit and Truth and not the other To conclude There was never any society of men in the world that worshipped the Father in such a manner as this interpretation would imply and therefore cannot this be our Saviour's meaning but some other Let us see if we can find out what it is There may be two senses given of these words both of them agreeable to Reason and the analogy of Scripture let us take our choice The one is That to worship God in Spirit and Truth is to worship him not with Types and shadows of things to come as in the Old Testament but according to the verity of the things exhibited in Christ according to that The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ. Whence the Mystery of the Gospel is elsewhere by our Saviour in this Evangelist termed Truth as Chap. 17. ver 17. and the Doctrine thereof by S. Paul the word of Truth See Ephes. Chap. 1. ver 13. Rom. 15. 8. The time therefore is now at hand said our Saviour when the true worshippers shall worship the Father no longer with bloudy Sacrifices and the Rites and Ordinances depending thereon but in and according to the verity of that which these Ordinances figured For all these were Types of Christ in whom being now exhibited the true worshippers shall henceforth worship the Father This sense hath good warrant from the state of the Question between the Iews and Samaritans to which our Saviour here makes answer which was not about worship in general but about the kind of worship in special which was confessed by both sides to be tied to one certain place only that is of worship by Sacrifice and the appendages in a word of the Typical worship proper to the first Covenant of which see a description Heb. 9. This Iosephus expresly testifies Lib. 12. Antiq. cap. 1. speaking of the Iews and Samaritans which dwelt together at Alexandria They lived saith he in perpetual discord one with the other whilst each laboured to maintain their Country customs those of Ierusalem affirming their Temple to be the sacred place whither sacrifices were to be sent the Samaritans on the other side contending they ought to be sent to Mount Garizim For otherwise who knows not that both Iews and Samaritans had other places of worship besides either of these namely their Proseucha's and Synagogues wherein they worshipped God not with internal only but external worship though not with Sacrifice which might be offered but in one place only And this also may seem to have been a Type of Christ as well as the rest namely that he was to be that one and only Mediator of the Church in the Temple of whose sacred body we have access unto the Father and in whom he accepts our service and devotions according to that Destroy this Temple and I will rear it up again in three days He spake saith the Text of the Temple of his Body This sense divers of the Ancients hit upon Eusebius Demon. Evang. Lib. 1. Cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not by Symbols and Types but as our Saviour saith in Spirit and Truth Not that in the New Testament men should worship God without all external services For the New Testament was to have external and visible services as well as the Old but such as should imply the verity of the promises already exhibited not be Types and shadows of them yet to come We know the Holy Ghost is wont to call the figured Face of the Law the Letter and the Verity thereby signified the Spirit As for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Spirit and Truth both together they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but once found in holy Writ to wit only in this place and so no light can be borrowed by comparing of the like expression any where else to expound them Besides nothing hinders but they may be here taken one for the exposition of the other namely that to worship the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with to worship him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But howsoever this exposition be fair and plausible yet methinks the reason which our Saviour gives in the words following should argue another meaning God saith he is a Spirit therefore they that worship him must worship in Spirit and Truth But God was a Spirit from the beginning If therefore for this reason he must be worshipped in Spirit and Truth he was so to be worshipped in the Old Testament as well as in the New Let us therefore seek another meaning For the finding whereof let us take notice that the Samaritans at whom our Saviour here aimeth were the off-spring of those Nations which the King of Assyria placed in the Cities of Samaria when he had carried away the Ten Tribes captive These as we may read in the second Book of the Kings at their first coming thither worshipped not the God of Israel but the gods of the Nations from whence they came wherefore he sent Lions amongst them which slew them Which they apprehending either from the information of some Israelite or otherwise to be because they knew not the worship of the God of the Country they informed the King of Assyria thereof desiring that some of the captiv'd Priests might be sent unto them to teach them the manner and rites of his worship which being accordingly done they thenceforth as the Text tells us worshipped the Lord yet feared their own Gods too and so did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Chrysostome speaks mingle things not to be mingled In this medley they continued about three hundred years till toward the end of the Persian Monarchy At what time it chanced that Manasse brother to Iaddo the High Priest of the returned Iews married the daughter of Sanballat then Governour of Samaria for which being expelled from Ierusalem by Nehemiah he fled to Sanballat his Father in Law and after his
of Zophar Iob 20. 4. was known in the days of old and found true ever since man was placed upon the earth For as the Apostle saith of righteousness that it hath both the promise of this life and of the life to come so it is most true of unrighteousness that it hath the curse of this life as well as of the life to come The first sin of our first Parents whereof we all stand guilty was thus punished as it were to be a Rule and Law of what God would do after I say the first sin of our first Parents was punished with a curse in things of this life From hence come all the outward calamities and miseries of mankind wherein the happiest man on earth hath his share hence our labour and vexation of spirit hence our pain our want and all our trouble wherein we travel under the Sun No man in the world is exempted from this Law all of us as well feel a present punishment here in this life as fear that which shall be to come hereafter in the world to come Now as the universal misery we all feel is a temporal punishment of an universal sin so the clods of daily sin which we add unto this great mountain of transgression doth usually bring us under some special kind of punishment above that which we have in common with other men The whole History of the Bible if we look well into it is most part taken up in Examples of this one Maxim whosoever thinketh otherwise he hath taken too slight a view and too short a survey of the world's affairs Perhaps he sees the person of a Tyrant of an Oppressor of a Blasphemer to live long in jollity and to end his days in tranquillity or to use the words of Iob in the same argument to spend their days in wealth and in a moment without any more trouble go down into the grave How is it then true That God requiteth sin in this life or that any regard should be had to any temporal calamities or worldly disasters since these come alike to the just and unjust to the fool and to the wise to those whom God favoureth as well as those he favoureth not But for Answer hereunto we must know That the way of God in temporal punishments is one and his way in eternal and spiritual another he deals not after the same fashion in both For eternal punishments in the world to come the person which sinneth shall alone suffer and no other for him but as for temporal punishments which are seen in this world sometimes God lays them upon the person sometimes upon the posterity of the offender or sometimes upon others which in such like respects are near unto them as he sees best in his wisdom When therefore thou seest a man live in open and gross sins confine not thine eye unto his person only but look farther about him survey his whole family if nothing appear while he is living yet after his death consider of his posterity and thou wilt find the ways of God to be just and glorious in the avenging of sin and wickedness This question was long debated between Iob and his friends and at last came to this very issue Iob himself determining and assoiling it after this manner I will teach you saith he chap. 27. ver 11 c. by the hand of God that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal Behold all ye your selves have seen it why then are you thus altogether vain This is the portion of a wicked man from God and the heritage of oppressors which they shall receive of the Almighty If his children be multiplied it is for the sword and his off-spring shall not be satisfied with bread c. The reason of this difference between temporal punishments and eternal is to be gathered from the several and differing Ends of them both Because they are for divers Ends and Purposes therefore the way of God is diverse in the execution of them The End of eternal punishments is to satisfie the justice of God in avenging sin but the End of temporal punishments chiefly exemplary that is for example and warning unto others that they might hereby know that God regardeth and observeth the actions of men and therefore fear lest the like might come unto themselves which they have seen to have befallen other men Now for such an End as this it is not always requisite that God should punish every offender in his own person because the punishment here respecteth not so much the person of the offender himself as others who have been witnesses of his sin that they might take heed of committing the like Now this End may be as well attained in the punishment of a mans posterity subjects servants as of his own person For by both alike may others see that God observeth the sins of men and hath plagues in readiness for those which commit them And by both alike will men be afraid of the hand of God seeing most men do most vehemently wish the good and happy condition of their posterity and others having like relation unto them Kings the weal of their Subjects Fathers the good of their Children Husbands the good of their Wives and therefore will refrain from doing that which they see by experience of others may bring a plague or a curse upon any of them Yea God so much regardeth this exemplary End in temporal punishments that I think this to be one chief reason why God forgiving the sin and consequently eternal punishment yet he remitteth not temporal plagues and chastisements lest when the sin is notoriously known and scandalous those who saw the sin and could not so well know of the inward reconciliation between God and the sinner might stumble and doubt in their hearts Whether there were a God or no who observeth the ways of men In this sort and for this end was David punished whom though upon his humble repentance Nathan had told The Lord hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die yet nevertheless did God raise up evil against him out of his own house he took his wives from before his eyes and gave them unto his neighbour and the sword never departed from his house according as the Lord had spoken The reason hereof follows in the Text in the words of Nathan Because saith he by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the child also which is born unto thee shall surely die The child also that is all the former plagues together with the death of the child shall come upon thee for this end This then being so plain what End God chiefly aims at in his outward and visible judgments we ought hence to learn what to do as often as we see the hand of God fall heavy upon any open and known sinner namely to accomplish in our selves the End which God aâ—ms at to
speeches and gesture and their outward seeming be so that in their hearts they condemn and abhor such sinful actions as outwardly they seem to approve This is the opinion of too-too many But let us hear what our Saviour Christ saith He that denieth me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven Would any man excuse his wife's adultery though she should say never so often she kept her heart and love only unto him No more will Christ excuse us when we yield our outward man to wickedness though we say we keep our hearts intire to him Christ suffered not only in Soul but also in Body that he might redeem us both Body and Soul from everlasting destruction and shall not we glorifie him with both Yes verily and since God hath given us both a Body and a Soul it becomes us as S. Paul saith 2 Cor. 7. 1. to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God THUS having spoken sufficiently of the first degree of Repentance I come unto the second which is contained in these words Forsaking of evil thoughts Whence first I observe That Concupiscence or the evil dispositions or motions of our hearts are sins before God though we never consent to put them in execution For this is the style of the holy Ghost in my Text not only to call the bad liver a wicked man but the owner too of evil motions unrighteous If we seek for a Law whereof they are a breach it is the last Commandment of the Decalogue which prohibits all irregularity of our desires and thoughts whatsoever Non concupisces Thou shalt not so much as covet any thing amiss if thou dost it will be sin The natural man could not know thus much S. Paul himself confessing that he had never known concupiscence to be sin had not the Law said Non concupisces Thou shalt not covet Concupiscence he calls not the Faculty or nature of the Act it self but the Anomaly of the Act not the desire only but every motion of the heart not agreeable to the will of God and that from the Style of this Commandment Non concupisces If any shall say that the inward motions of our Mind are involuntary and past the command of the Will and therefore not sinful I answer Ab initio non suit sic It was not so from the beginning we procured this evil unto our selves in the sin of our first parents and therefore the fault is our own Secondly It is not necessary that whatsoever is sin should be under the mastery of our Will for so original sin should be none But this is necessary that all should in some sort belong unto the Will and so do our desires affections and all other motions as we call them of the Mind If any shall further add that the Apostle Iames 1. 15. saith of Concupiscence that it bringeth forth sin and therefore it self not like to be sin the Cause being always diverse from the Effect I answer The Apostle saith not it is the cause of sin simply or all sin but only of outward sins or sins of fact and howsoever this reason is so far from proving Concupiscence not to be sin that it argueth the mere contrary for that so bad an off-spring as sin cannot find a more natural parent than sin it self The serious consideration hereof should be a cooling to the pride of our nature and a strong motive to Humility in the esteeming of our selves and our best actions Alas what are we that any good work we do should make us so highly conceit of our selves Let us examine our inward thoughts our hopes our fears our by-respects our vain-glory the whole Regiment of Concupiscence and it will make us even ashamed to think what we have done howsoever that which is seen outwardly be blameless and glorious in the eyes of men If the Peacocks-wings of a laudable work or the gay feathers of seeming worth do make thee swell do but cast thine eyes a little upon the legs whereon thou standest upon the rotten post whereon thou hast reared thy work so glorious without and then thou wilt cast down thy high looks and cry with S. Paul Rom. 7. 18. Lord whatsoever men see without me I know there dwelleth no good thing within me The second thing I observe from hence is The Priviledg the Law of God hath above the Laws of men It is true in the Laws of men that Thoughts are free but with God's Law it is not so Mens Laws are not broken though only the outward man observe and keep them but God's Laws are broken if the inward man alone transgress them be the outward man I mean man in outward conversation never so conformable And this is our meaning when we say That the Law of God only doth bind the Conscience meaning the inward actions of the soul and spirit those actions which only God and our Conscience are privy unto But the Laws of men do bind only the outward man that is to the performance of outward actions which men either do or may take notice of Which that we may the better understand we must know that Laws are said to bind in two regards 1. in commanding the doing of some actions which else were at our choice and 2. in making liable to an agreeable punishment if they be transgressed Now whosoever commandeth must be Lord of what he commandeth whosoever maketh liable to punishment must both be able to take notice of the fault and of power to inflict the punishment Seeing then God alone is Lord of the soul and spirit he alone can bind them by Commandment Seeing God alone can take notice of the sins of the heart and is only able to inflict the punishment namely everlasting death and damnation the proper punishment which the conscience feareth he alone may command upon pain of eternal damnation Man's Law therefore in this sense which I have spoken binds not the Conscience or inward man because no man is Lord of anothers conscience nor can take notice of the actions thereof nor yet hath in his power to inflict the punishment which it only feareth In one word conceive it thus The actions whereunto the Conscience alone is privie are not the object of the Laws of man but only such actions as fall within the notice of men And yet this is also true Though the Laws of men do not bind the Conscience yet a man is bound in Conscience to obey the Laws of men but this bond is from the Law of God which commands us to use sutable affections in obeying the Laws of men Obey every ordinance of men not for fear of punishment but for conscience sake If now we did truly acknowledge this Prerogative of the Laws of God we would witness the same by our extraordinary care in keeping them in an extraordinary fear of breaking them But what do we even
to commit it in God's Temple How impudently contumelious was this Sin therefore which was committed in God's very presence-chamber All these Aggravations are common to both our Parents which all laid together make their Sin as great as ever any was saving the sin against the Holy Ghost for so the best Divines do think But Eve adds one Aggravation more to her weight in that she was not content to sin her self alone but she allured and drew her husband also into the like horrible transgression with her whereby she was not only guilty of her own personal sin but of her husband 's also And this added so much unto her former sum that S. Paul 1 Tim. 2. 14. speaks of her as if she had been the only transgressour Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression So great and horrible a thing it is in the Eye of God to be cause or mover of another's sin Wo be unto them who by any means are the cause of another's fall And justly might God say to Eve for this respect though there had been no more What is this that thou hast done NOW I come to the Woman's excuse The Serpent beguiled me In which words are three things considerable The Author The Serpent The Action Guile The Object Me. Concerning the Author The Serpent two things are inquirable First What the Serpent was indeed Secondly What Eve supposed him to be For the first I think none so unreasonable as to believe it was the unreasonable and brute Serpent For whence should he learn or how should he understand God's commandment to our first Parents and how is it possible a Serpent should speak and not only so but speak the language which Eve understood For though some there be who think that Beasts and Birds have some speech-like utterings of themselves yet none that a Beast should speak the language of Men. It remains therefore that according unto the Scriptures it was that old deceiver the Devil and Satan who abused brute Serpent either by entring into him or taking his shape upon him The last of which I rather incline unto supposing it as you shall hear presently to be the Law of Spirits when they have intercourse and commerce with men to take some visible shape upon them as the Devil here the Serpent's whence he becomes styled in Scripture The old Serpent Now for the Second question What Eve took him to be whether the Serpent or Satan If we say she thought him to be the brute Serpent how will this stand with the perfection of Man's knowledg in his integrity to think a Serpent could speak like a reasonable creature Who would not judge her a silly woman now that should think so and yet the wisest of us all is far short of Eve in regard of her knowledg then Again If we say she knew him to be the Devil I will not ask why she would converse at all with a wicked spirit who she knew had fallen from his Maker but I would know how we should construe the meaning of the Holy Ghost in the beginning of this Chapter where he saith The Serpent was the subtillest of all the beasts of the field which God had made and so implies the woman's opinion of the Serpent's wisdom was the occasion why she was so beguiled otherwise to what end are those words spoken unless to shew that Satan chose the Serpent's shape that through the opinion and colour of his well-known wisdom and sagacity he might beguile the Woman For the assoiling of which difficulty I offer these Propositions following First I will suppose There is a Law in the commerce of Spirits and Men that a Spirit must present himself under the shape of some visible thing For as in natural and bodily things there is no entercourse of action and passion unless the things have some proportion each to other and unless they communicate in some Common Matter So it seems God hath ordained a Law that invisible things should converse with things visible in a shape as they are visible which is so true that the conversing presence of a Spirit is called a Vision or Apparition And Experience with the Scriptures will shew us that not only evil Angels but good yea God himself converseth in this manner with men And all this I suppose Eve knew Secondly I suppose further That as Spirits are to converse with men under some visible shape so is there a Law given them that it must be under the shape of some such thing as may less or more resemble their condition For as in nature we see every several thing hath a several and sutable Phisiognomy or figure as a badge of their inward nature whereby it is known as by a habit of distinction so it seems to be in the shapes and apparitions of Spirits And as in a well-governed Commonwealth every sort and condition of men is known by some differing habit agreeable to his quality so it seems it should be in God's great Commonwealth concerning the shapes which Spirits take upon them And he that gave the Law that a man should not wear the habit of a woman nor a woman the habit of a man because that as he had made them diverse so would he have them so known by their habits so it seems he will not suffer a good and a bad Spirit a noble and ignoble one to appear unto men after the same fashion And this also I suppose Eve knew Now from these grounds it will follow That good Angels can take upon them no other shape but the shape of Man because their glorious excellency is resembled only in the most excellent of all visible creatures the shape of an inferiour creature would be unsutable no other shape becoming those who are called the sons of God but his only who was created after God's own image And yet not his neither according as now he is but according as he was before his fall in his glorious beauty of his Integrity Age and deformity are the fruits of Sin and the Angel in the Gospel appears like a young man his countenance like lightning and his raiment white as snow as it were resembling the beauty of glorified bodies in immutability sublimity and purity Hence also it follows on the contrary That the Devil could not appear in humane shape whilest Man was in his integrity because he was a Spirit fallen from his first glorious perfection and therefore must appear in such shape which might argue his imperfection and abasement which was the shape of a Beast otherwise no reason can be given why he should not rather have appeared unto Eve in the shape of a Woman than of a Serpent for so he might have gained an opinion with her both of more excellency and knowledg But since the fall of man the case is altered now we know he can take upon him the shape of Man and no wonder since one falling star
may well resemble another And therefore he appears it seems in the shape of Man's imperfection either for age or deformity as like an old man for so the Witches say and perhaps it is not altogether false which is vulgarly affirmed That the Devil appearing in Humane shape hath always a deformity of some uncouth member or other as though he could not yet take upon him Humane shape entirely for that Man himself is not entirely and utterly fallen as he is By this time you see the difficulty of the Question is eased Now it appears why Eve wondered not to see a Spirit speak unto her in the shape of a Serpent because she knew the Law of Spirits apparitions better than we do Again when she saw the Spirit who talked with her to have taken upon him the shape though of a Beast yet of the most sagacious Beast of the field she concluded according to our forelaid suppositions That though he were one of the abased spirits yet the shape he had taken resembling his nature he must needs be a most crafty and sagacious one and so might pry farther into God's meaning than she was aware of And thus you may see at last how the opinion of the Serpent's subtilty occasioned Eve's fall as also why the Devil of all other Beasts of the field took the shape of a Serpent namely to gain this opinion of sagacity with the Woman as one who knew the Principles aforesaid Here I observe That overmuch dotage upon a conceived excellency whether of Wisdom or whatsoever else without a special eye to God's commandment hath ever been the Occasion of greatest Errors in the world and the Devil under this mask useth to blear our eyes and with this bait to inveigle our hearts that he may securely bring us to his lure It was the mask of the Serpent's wisdom and sagacity above the rest of the Beasts of the field whereby he brought to pass our first Parents ruin The admired wisdom of the long-living Fathers of the elder world having been for so many ages as Oracles their off-spring grown even to a People and Nation while they yet lived was the ground of the ancient Idolatry of mankind whilest they supposed that those to whom for wisdom they had recourse being living could not but help them when they were dâ—ad This we may learn out of Hesiâ—d The men saith he of the golden age being once dead became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they became Godlings and Patrons of mortal men and Overseers of their good and evil works So the opinion of the blessed Martyrs superlative glory in Heaven was made the occasion of the new-found Idolatry of the Christian Churches wherewith they are for the greater part yet overwhelmed And the esteem which Peter had above the rest of the Apostles in regard of chief-dome even in the Apostles times was abused by the old Deceiver to instal the man of sin This made S. Paul to say The mystery of iniquity was even then working and therefore he laboured as far as he could to prevent it by as much depressing Peter as others exalted him Nay he puts the Churches in mind of this story of the Serpent's beguiling Eve that her mis-hap might be a warning to them 2 Cor. 11. 2 3. I am jealous over you saith he with a godly jealousie for I have esponsed you to one husband that I might present you as a chaste Virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And to come a little nearer home Have not our Adversaries when they would get Disciples learned this of the Devil to possess them first with an opinion of superlative Learning in their Doctors surpassing any of ours I will say no more in this point but that we ought so to prize and admire the gifts and abilities of Learning which God hath bestowed upon men that the Pole-star of his Sacred Word may ever be in our eye THE next thing to be spoken of is The Action Guile And first I shall shew what it is To beguile is through a false faith and persuasion wrought by some argument of seeming good to bereave a man of some good he had or hoped for or to bring upon him some evil he expected not Practice hath made it so well known that I should not need to have given any definition or description thereof but only for a more distinct consideration Whereas therefore I said that Guile wrought by forelaying a false persuasion or belief I would intimate that it was nothing else but a Practical Sophism the Premisses whereof are counterfeit motives the Conclusion an erroneous execution Now as all Practice or Action consists in these two The choice of our End and The execution of Means to attain thereunto So is this Practical Sophism we call Guile found in them both either when an evil End is presented unto us in the counterfeit of a good and so we are made to embrace Nubem pro Iunone and find our selves deceiv'd in the event whatsoever the Means were we have used or else we apply such Means as are either unlawful or unsufficient to attain our End as being so mask'd that they appear unto us far otherwise than they are With both these sorts or parts of Guile the Devil wrought our first Parents ruin First by making it seem a thing desirable and by all means to be laboured for To be like unto God which was an ambition of that whereof man was not only not capable but such as little beseemed him to aspire unto upon whom God had bestowed so great a measure of glorious perfections as he seem'd a God amongst the rest of the creatures What unthankfulness was this that he upon whom God bestowed so much as he was the glory of his workmanship should yet think that God should envy him any degree of excellency fit for him For this was the mask wherewith the Devil covered both the unfitness and impossibility of the End he insinuated but he beguiled them Secondly He put the same trick upon them in the choice of the Means to be used which was to transgress the severe commandment of Almighty God Had the Aim been allowable yet could not the Means have been taken for good but only of such as were beguiled in that the Devil made the Woman believe with his questioning the truth of God's commandment that the danger was not great nor so certain as it seemed or that evil which might be in the action would be countervailed with the excellency to be attained thereby the gloriousness of which End the Devil so strongly sounded that it drowned in her imagination the least conceit of evil in the Means And as a man which always looks upward sees not the danger in the patâ— and way he walks in until he tumbles into
with cattel and beasts of the field thereby accounting the Serpent one of that number Besides Satan they say was accursed before this time and some of the words in this Curse cannot well be applied to any but the brute Serpent as that he should eat the dust of the earth c. 2. Others would have this Curse pronounced only upon the Spiritual Serpent the Devil because the brute Serpent was only an Instrument abused by the Devil and neither knew what was done nor could do withal and why should it therefore be punished 3. Others would divide the Controversie applying the first part of the Curse in the 14. verse to the brute Serpent the latter in the 15. vers to the Devil or Spiritual Serpent because as the latter words Of the promised seed of the woman which should destroy the Serpent and his seed must needs be meant of Christ and Satan so the former words are most fitly appliable to the brute Serpent only But against this may be said That the same Thou and Thee spoken of in the first part of the Curse is all one with the Thou and Thee in the latter and therefore of whatsoever the first is meant of the same is also meant the latter 4. There is therefore a fourth opinion That this Curse is throughout pronounced upon both both upon the Serpent and the Devil In which though there be some difference about the manner how yet I embrace it as the truest as not only conceiving it may be so by the fitness of all the parts so applied to both but think moreover that this only ought to be the meaning and no other if it be conceived as I am now to shew For in the first place The Devil when he beguiled man came not as a naked Spirit but in the shape and figure of a Serpent as I have shew'd heretofore and therefore that his punishment in the manner might be sutable and answerable to his offence he was to receive his doom likewise under the figure of a Serpent and the style thereof framed unto a Serpent's condition For God useth in his wisdom to brand the Punishment with the stamp of the Sin that the offender thereby might not only know what he felt but also read why he suffered Why were Adonibezek's thumbs and great toes cut off but that he might read therein as he did his former cruelty Threescore and ten Kings having their thumbs and toes cut off gathered meat under my Table As I have done so God hath requited me Why was Pharaoh with his Host rather drowned in the Sea than slain in the Field but that all the world might read it was for his cruel Edict to drown all the male children of the Hebrews Why did Absalom lie with David's Concubines but to put David in mind that he had lien with Vriah's wife And why was the Curse of the Devil shaped here in and unto the condition of the Serpent but because he had beguiled man in a Serpent's shape Secondly For the Serpent The known excellency and subtilty of the Serpent above all the Beasts which God had made the Devil had abused to gain credit with the woman that he was an excellent and a most sagacious Spirit and therefore might be ably to pry farther into God's meaning than she could which was the cause of her attention and so of her ruin For I have shewed heretofore that the Woman in the state of Integrity knew well enough That as it was the Law of Spirits in their commerce with men to present themselves under the shape of some visible thing so it must be likewise under the shape of some such thing as may more or less resemble their condition And that as the glorious Spirits might take no other shape but of Man the glory of visible creatures so the fallen Spirits could not then afore Man's fall take any other shape but of a Beast thereby to bewray his abasement Yet because the Devil here took upon him the shape of the most wise and most excellent of Beasts he so bleared the Woman's eyes with an opinion of his Excellency and Sagacity that in a manner she forgot or regarded not that he was one of the evil and abased Spirits which was the ground of her miserable ruin and overthrow Now because the Excellency and Sagacity of the Serpent had thus been the occasion of man's confusion by being made the lying counterfeit of the Devil's Excellency and Wisdom and the mask whereby he so covered his vileness that the Woman took him not to be as he was indeed therefore God in his wisdom thought good to change the copy and henceforth to bluâ—and deface that unhappy Physiognomical letter and by abasing the Serpent for the time to come to make him an everlasting embleme and monument wherein man might hieroglyphically read the malice vileness and execrable baseness of that wicked Spirit which had beguiled him to hate him as now we do the Serpent with mortal hatred and by his unlucky fortune to expect the Devil 's deadly destiny In a word that which was once used for a mask to cover the Devil's knavery should for the future be a glass wherein to behold his villany These being the Reasons which have led me to understand this Curse in an equal sense both of the brute Serpent and the Devil and in the literal sense applied unto the Serpent yet therein shaping out the Malediction of the Devil as truly as the Devil had taken upon him the Serpent's shape Let us now come to a more particular handling of the words And first we will consider them As they are the Curse of the unreasonable Serpent Secondly As they include the Devil's malediction But for the better understanding thereof before we can proceed two things are to be resolv'd First How it could be just with God to punish the brute Serpent who was Instrumentum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and had neither will to sin nor yet knowledge of what the Devil had done especially if we suppose as I have done hitherto that the Devil took only the shape of a Serpent which the Serpent could not do withal For this argument hath driven some to affirm That the whole Curse was to be understood only of the Spiritual Serpent and not at all of the Natural But why should this strumble them more as concerning the Iustness of God than that in Adam's censure in the 17. verse where the whole Earth is cursed for Adam's sake Cursed be the Earth for thy sake c. But what had the Earth done or how was it guilty of Adam's transgression Again Chap. 6. v. 5 7. it is expresly said That because God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth he said I will destroy both man and beast and the creeping things and the fowls of the air But how were the beasts the creeping things and the fowls of the air partakers of man's wickedness what had they
sacrifices for expiation and cleansing of sin whereas in the New he writes his Law only upon the Soul and Spirit in that he now stipulates only the service of Faith which is an action of the inward man and not of the outward not of the hand or bodily members but of the Soul within For by Law here I suppose is meant the condition which God stipulates in the Covenant and through which he makes good his promise unto us Not as though this spiritual condition was not also required under the Law in the Covenant of Grace then but because it was not only nor so openly therefore is it made as a formal difference of the New Covenant and the Old Secondly On God's part the Scripture shews the difference of the Covenants thus The Old Covenant was a Covenant of worser promises the New a Covenant of better Promises and so a better Covenant Heb. 8. 6. Indeed they in the Old Covenant had the same Spiritual Promises we have and so it was one and the same Covenant but they had them not open and uncovered as we have and so our Covenant is not the same but a better Covenant So S. Paul makes his comparison in the same argument 2 Cor. 3. 11. If that saith he which is done away was so glorious much more that which remaineth As if he had said If the Cover seemed so glorious much more shall the Iewel within so seem when the cover is taken from it as now it is For all the open Promises in the Old Covenant seem to be no other than Temporal blessings as for Spiritual they had them only as enwrapped in them so that they could look for them no otherwise but in and through the Temporal which they had as Pledges of the Spiritual veiled under them But in the New these are all revealed and no longer hid from us by such curtains the veil is taken from the face of Moses and we behold with open face the glory of the Lord as the Apostle speaketh 2 Cor. 3. 14 18. Remission of sins Reconciliation with God Everlasting life these are our Promises not deliverance from Temporal enemies worldly prosperity nor the land of Canaan or long life in the land the Lord hath given us So the case here is quite altered For then Earthly blessings were as Pledges of Spiritual but now unto us Spiritual are Pledges of Temporal so far as God sees good for us For the tenour of the Gospel now is Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you And it is now time we should say with S. Paul Rom. 11. 33. O the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! and with David Psal. 40. 5. Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward and Psal. 92. 5. O Lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep THUS I come to a second Observation which these words afford us namely If the Fathers ate the same Spiritual Meat and drank the same Spiritual Drink which we do then eat we not the real Body nor drink the real Bloud of Christ For the Manna they ate was the same Manna still though a Sacrament of Christ the Water of the Rock was verily Water still though a Sacrament of his Bloud If then we eat the same Spiritual Bread we eat Bread still though Spiritual Bread If we drink the same Spiritual Drink our Drink is Wine still though Spiritual Wine Yea S. Paul himself calls them as they are 1 Cor. 10. 16. The Bread we break is the communion of the Body of Christ Ergo That which is the communion of the Body of Christ is Bread still And unless it should be so how could there be a Sacrament which must consist of a Sign and a thing signified of an Earthly thing and a Heavenly thing For if the Sign once becomes the thing signified it is no more a Sign and so then is no more a Sacrament If it be urged That Christ himself saies plainly of the Bread Hoc est corpus meum This is my Body of the Wine Hic est sanguis meus This is my Bloud I answer He saies also I am the Door and in my Text is as expresly said The Rock was Christ. If therefore it be absurd from hence to infer the Rock left being a Rock and was made the real Person of Christ so will it be of our Spiritual Bread and Wine For the manner of these speeches is nothing but a Figure of certainty or assurance He that receiveth the Bread as assuredly receiveth Christ Body as if the Bread were his Body He that receiveth the Wine as assuredly enjoyeth the Bloud of Christ as if this Wine were his very Bloud indeed A predication in casu recto is a predication of sameness and therefore is used properly in things which are in a manner the same as Genus and Species Homo est animal but in things which are disparate and of several natures we speak usually in concreto or obliquo and from hâ—â—ce arises a Scheme or Figure of speech when we would express a most near union of things even different yet to speak them in casu recto which is the predication of sameness as it were to express they were as nearly link'd together as if they were the very same So we are wont to say a man is Virtue or Piety it self meaning they are throughly link'd unto him And because of all other things the things in the Sacraments are so assuredly and throughly link'd together the Holy Ghost used this Scheme for a Sacramental speech Hoc est corpus meum and Hic est sanguis meus that is a Sign so sure as if it were the very same AND so I will come to a third Observation The Fathers saith my Text ate the same Spiritual Meat and drank the same Spiritual Drink therefore is our Sacrament also to be eaten and drunk of us and not only offered for us Except we eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud we have no life in us And very fitly For as our Bodies are nourished by eating of corporal meats so our Souls are nourished by the Spiritual feeding upon Christ. This condemns that lurching Sacrifice of the Mass where the Bread and Wine are offered as a Sacrifice for the people but they receive no one jot thereof they are invited to a Banquet but eat never a bit Even like the unbelieving Ruler spoken of 2 Kings 7. 19. who saw all the plenty foretold by Elisha but ate no whit thereof And what is it but as Christ said to light a Candle and put it under a Bushel Matt. 5. 15. They think it is enough if the Priest eats all himself though he gives no body else any with him But it is no less absurd to affirm that another should receive good by the Priest's receiving
Offering is presently exhibited De futuro when we bind our selves then to do it when we obtain our suit And this is called a Vow differing from the other not in nature but in time and this special kind because usual my Text puts for the whole kind Pay thy vows c. Further here is to be noted that as Thanksgiving is joyned with Prayer so is the Gift for Thanksgiving joyned with a Gift for Prayer Or the same Gift is first applied to Thanksgiving and then to Prayer that so as Thanksgiving is a mean to obtain by Prayer so a Present of Thanksgiving for a former Benefit is a mean to obtain of God a favour Herein then consists the Nature of an Offering addressed to Prayer not to merit the thing we ask but to be an argument before God that he would hear us because he hath promised in Christ to hear them who honour him This is not then orare satisfactoriè as the Papists do in their Mass but only oblatorié To pray satisfactoriè or meritoriè is to offer a price worth the thing we ask for To pray only oblatoriè is to offer a motive or condition in regard of God's promise in Christ to obtain our suit that is to make as it were a visible or real Prayer And such a Prayer were the Alms of Cornelius Acts 10. of whom it is said v. 4. That his Prayers and Alms were come up for a memorial before God Now before this Offering Euctical or Eucharistical can be complete it must consist of three degrees or parts Cordis Oris Operis the Offering of the Heart of the Mouth and of the Hand The Offering of the Heart is a Sursum Corda the lifting up of our Hearts to God either to praise him or to pray unto him The Offering of our Mouth is to express the same with our tongues and is called The Calves of our lips The Offering of our Hand which is properly call'd an Offering is a Testimony of what our Heart conceives or Tongue can express by honouring God with a Present of our substance The first of these is the formalis ratio or that whereby the two last are sanctified without it they are no Offerings no Thanksgiving no Prayer But the last is hallowed by the two former for a Sursum corda the lifting up of our Hearts and the profession of our Mouths is that which makes our Gift an Offering which without this Consecration is no Offering at all Hence it is that this kind of Offerings in regard of other Offerings is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as some have thought from the thing offered as though nothing were offered but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rationes or orationes but from the manner of hallowing it which was as Iustin Martyr speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of Prayer and Thanksgiving For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not as some have thought opposed to a material offering but to an offering earthly and terrenely sanctified as were the Typical Sacrifices of the Law by Fire and Bloud but this Offering is offered by no other Fire but the Fire of the Spirit by no other Bloud than the precious drops of Prayer and Thanksgiving In brief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an Offering spiritually offered not an offering only of the Spirit it is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to a material and real offering as it is easily to be seen in Iustin Martyr Irenaeus and the ancient Liturgies who call the material offering of Bread and Wine for the Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reasonable and unbloudy Sacrifice As the most Holy offerings were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fiery offerings not because they offered only fire but because that which was offered was done by fire so are all these Heave-offerings called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they were offered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning the manner not the matter of the offering To come therefore to a conclusion That the Heave-offerings were such Offerings as I have now described it appears plainly in three principal sorts of them First-fruits Tithes and Voluntary Heave-offerings In First-fruits it appears by the Confession which every one was to make who offered them Deut. 26. 6 c. When the Egyptians evil intreated us and afflicted us and when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers the Lord heard our voice and brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm and he hath brought us into this place and hath given us this land even a land that floweth with milk and honey And now behold I have brought the First-fruits of the Land which thou O Lord hast given me And so saith the Text thou shalt set them before the Lord thy God and worship before the Lord thy God Whither tend all these words but to a thankful acknowledgment and remembrance of the Blessings they had received from God in giving them so good a Land and doing so great things for them And for Tithes you may see in the same place what he was to say that offered them namely I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house and also have given them unto the Levite and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow according to all thy Commandments which thou hast commanded me Look down therefore from thy holy habitation from heaven and bless thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us as thou swarest to our fathers a Land that floweth with milk and honey Here is an Euctical offering an offering applied to Prayer as if they had said We honour thee O Lord with this part of our substance that thou seeing our Obedience mightest in mercy vouchsafe to look down from thy holy habitation and bless us thy people and the Land which thou hast given us I come now to the voluntary Heave-offering of which we have a noble Pattern in that great Terumah of Gold and Silver which David and his Princes offered for the building of the Temple in 1 Chron. 29. Where we shall find first Praise or Thanksgiving that is an acknowledgment of God's Dominion Power and Goodness from which comes all the good we have Thine O Lord saith David ver 11. is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the Majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine ver 12. Both riches and honour come of thee and thou reignest over all ver 13. Now therefore our God we thank thee and praise thy glorious name And afterwards he comes to Prayer ver 18 19. O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel our fathers Give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart to keep thy Commandments thy Testimonies and Statutes I will add for a conclusion that of Nehemiah 13. 14. who being the Head and Ruler of his brethren when he commanded
though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow c. and that in Esay the last To this man will I look to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit He that killeth an ox namely otherwise is as if he slew a man he that Sacrificeth a lamb unless he comes with this disposition as if he cut off a dog's neck he that offereth an oblation as if he offered bloud he that burneth incense as if he blessed an Idol And surely he that blesseth an Idol is so far from renewing a Covenant with the Lord his God that he breaks it So did they who without conscience of Repentance presumed to come before him with a Sacrifice not procure atonement but aggravate their breach According to one of these three senses are all passages in the Old Testament disparaging and rejecting Sacrifices literally to be understood namely when men preferred them before the greater things of the Law valued them out of their degree as an antecedent duty or placed their efficacy in the naked Rite as if ought accrued to God thereby God would no longer own them for any ordinance of his nor indeed in that disguise put upon them were they I will except only one Passage out of the number which I suppose to have a singular meaning to wit that of David in the 51. Psalm v. 16 17. which the ancient translations thus express Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium dedissem utique sed holocaustis non oblectaberis vel holocaustum non acceptabis Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus c. If thou wouldst have had a Sacrifice I would have offered it but thou wilt accept no burnt-offering c. For this seems to be meant of that special case of Adulterie and Murther which David here deploreth for which Sins the Lord had provided no Sacrifice in his Law Wherefore David in this his Penitential confession tells him That if he had appointed any Sacrifice for expiation of this kind of sin he would have given it him but he had ordained none save only a broken spirit and a contrite heart which thou O God saith he wilt not despise but accept that alone for a Sacrifice in this case without which Sacrifice in no case is accepted Now out of this Discourse we are sufficiently furnished for the understanding of this Caution of Solomon in my Text Be more ready to obey than to offer the Sacrifice of fools or as the words in the Original import Be more approaching God with a purpose and resolution of obedience to his Commandments than with the Sacrifice of fools that is Have a care rather to approach the Divine Majesty with an offering of an obediential disposition than with the bare and naked Rite But the sense is still the same namely The House of God at Ierusalem was an House of sacrifice which they who came thither to worship offered unto the Divine Majesty to make way for their prayers and supplications unto him or to find favour in his sight Solomon therefore gives them here a caveat not to place their Religion either only or chiefly in the external Rite but in their readiness to hear and keep the Commandments of God without which that Rite alone would avail them nothing but be no better than the sacrifice of fools who when they do evil think they do well For without this readiness to obey this purpose of heart to live according to his Commandments God accepts of no Sacrifice from those who approach him nor will pardon their transgressions when they come before him He therefore that makes no conscience of sinning against God and yet thinks to be expiate by Sacrifice is an ignorant fool how wise and religious soever he may think himself to be or appear unto men by the multitude or greatness of his Sacrifices The reason Because the Lord requires Obedience antecedently and absolutely but Sacrifice consequently only and then too not primariò or chiefly and for it self but secondarily only as a testimony of Coutrition and a ready desire and purpose in the offerer to continue in his favour by Obedience This is Solomon's the Preacher's meaning Wherein behold as in a glass the condition of all external Service of God in general as that which he accepteth no otherwise than secondarily namely as issuing from a Heart respectively affected with that devotion it importeth For God as he is a living God so he requires a living worship But as the Body without the Soul is but a carkass so is all external and bodily worship wherein the pulse of the Heart's devotion beats not But if this be so you will say it were better to use no external worship at all of course as we do the worship of the Body in the gestures of bowing kneeling standing and the like than to incur this danger of serving God with a dead and hypocritical service because it is not like the Heart will be always duly affected when the outward worship shall be required I answer Where there is a true and real intent to honour God with outward and bodily worship there the act is not Hypocrisie though accompanied with many defects and imperfections Here therefore that Rule of our Saviour touching the greater and lesser things of the Law must have place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These things that is the greater things of the Law we ought to do and not to leave the other though the lesser undone For otherwise if this reasoning were admitted a man might upon the same ground absent himself from coming to Church upon the days and times appointed or come thither but now and then alledging the indisposition of his Heart to joyn with the Church in her publick worship at other times or if he came thither act a mute and when others sing and praise God be altogether silent and not open his mouth nor say Amen when others do For all these are external services and the service of the voice and gesture are in this respect all one there is no difference But who would not think this to be very absurd We should rather upon every such occasion rouse and stir up our Affections with fit and seasonable meditations that what the order and decency of ◠Church-assembly requires to be done of every member outwardly we may likewise do devoutly and acceptably These things we ought to do and not leave the other undone But you will say What if I cannot bring my Heart unto that religious fear and devotion which the outward worship I should perform requireth I could say that some of the outward worship which a man performs in a Church-assembly he does not as a singular man but as a member of the Congregation But howsoever I answer Let the worship of thy Body in such a case be at least a confession and acknowledgment before God of that love fear and esteem of his Divine Majesty thou oughtest to have but hast not For though to come
Daemon-gods of the Nations for Christ's Monarchical Mediation excludes all other Mediators and Daemons not that the wooden Idol was ought of it self but that the Gentiles supposed there dwelt some Daemon therein who received their sacrifices and to whom they intended their services Thus may this place be expounded and so the use of the word Daemon in the worst sense or directly for a Devil will be almost confined to the Gospel where the subject spoken of being men vexed with Evil spirits could admit no other sense or use and yet S. Luke the best-languaged of the Evangelists knowing the word to be ambiguous and therefore as it were to distinguish it once for all doth the first time he useth it do it with an explication Chapter 4. verse 33. There was saith he a man in the Synagogue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having the spirit of an unclean Daemon Thus much of the word Daemonium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture whereby I hope it appears that this place of my Text is not the only place where the word is used according to the notion of the Gentiles and their Theologists But you will say Did any of the Fathers or Ancients expound it thus in this place If they had done so the Mystery of iniquity could never have taken such footing which because it was to come according to divine disposition what wonder then if this were hidden from their eyes Howsoever it may seem that God left not his spirit without a witness For as I take it Epiphanius one of the most zealous of the Fathers of his time against Saint-worship then peeping took 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Text for a Doctrine of worshipping dead men You may read him in the seventy eighth Heresie towards the conclusion where upon occasion of some who made a Goddess of the blessed Virgin and offered a cake unto her as the Queen of Heaven he quotes this place of my Text concerning them saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in English sounds thus That also of the Apostle is fulfilled of these Some shall apostatize from the sound Doctrine giving heed to Fables and Doctrines of Daemons for saith he they shall be worshippers of Dead men as they were worshipped in Israel Are not these last words for an Exposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what will you say doth he mean by the Dead worshipped in Israel I suppose he means their Baalim who as is already shewed were nothing else but Daemons or Deified Ghosts of men deceased yet he brings in two examples besides one of the Sichemites in his time who had a Goddess or Daemoness under the name of Iephtah's daughter another of the AEgyptians who worshipped Thermutis that daughter of Pharaoh which brought up Moses Some as Beza would have these words of Epiphanius to be a part of the Text it self in some copy which he used But how is that likely when no other Father once mentions any such reading Nay it appears moreover that Epiphanius intended to explain the words as he quoteth them as he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Faith by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sound Doctrine and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erroneous spirits by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fables and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giving heed to Doctrines of Daemons by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worshipping Dead men Otherwise we must say he used either a very corrupt copy or quoted very carelesly But grant that Epiphanius read so Either this reading was true and so I have enough because then the Apostle with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. should expound himself by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to mean the Deifying of the dead Or it was not the original reading but added by some or other for explication sake and so it will follow that those who did it made no question but that the words there contained some such thing as worshipping of the dead Therefore take it which way you will it will follow that some such matter as we speak of was in times past supposed to be in this Text and Prophecy CHAP. VII Why those words in the description of the Mystery of Godliness Received into Glory are set last That praying to Saints glorified as Mediators and Agents for us with God is Idolatry For the proof of this several Grounds are laid down To be prayed to in Heaven and to present our Devotions to God and to deal as an Agent and Mediator between us and him is a Prerogative appropriate to Christ a Flower of his Glory and Exaltation to sit at God's Right hand a Royalty incommunicable to any other That none but Christ our High Priest is to be an Agent for us with God in the Heavens was figured under the Law in that the High Priest alone had to do in the Most holy place and there was to be Agent for the people That though Christ in regard of his Person was capable of this God-like Glory and Royalty yet it was the Will of God that he should purchase it by suffering an unimitable Death This proved from several Testimonies of Scripture Saint-worship is a denial of Christ's Prerogative Bread-worship in the Eucharist to what kind of Idolatry it may be reduced How Saint-worship crept into the Church NOW I come to the Second point to maintain and prove That praying to Saints glorified as Mediators and Agents for us with God is justly charged with Idolatry For this is the hinge whereupon not the Application only of my Text but the Interpretation thereof chiefly turneth For this is that which I told you in the beginning that my Text depended upon the last words of the former chapter and verse Received into glory which were therefore out of their due order put in the last place because my Text was immediately to be inferred upon them The like misplacing and for the like reason see Heb. 12. 23. where in a catalogue or recension of the parts of the Church Christ the Head and the sprinkling of his bloud is mentioned in the last place and after the spirits of just men because the next verses are continued upon this sprinkling of Christ's bloud Ye are come to the general assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven and to God the Iudge of all and to the Spirits of just men made perfect And to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the bloud of sprinkling which speaketh better things than that of Abel whereas the right order should have been◠First God the Iudge of all secondly Christ the Mediator of the new Covenant and thirdly in the last place the Spirits of just men made perfect Agreeably therefore to this dependance of my Text I am to shew That the Invocation of Saints glorified implies an Apostasie from Christ and a denial of his Glory and Majesty whereunto he is installed by his Assumption into heaven to sit at the right hand of God Which before I do I
one and the other were Spiritual or Sacramental namely in being Signs resembling and assuring Christ with the Spiritual Blessings through him 3. In what sense these Sacraments are said to be the same with ours to wit not in the Signs but in the Spiritual thing signified which is the Soul and Essence of a Sacrament We come now to such Observations as these Words and Explications will afford us The first whereof is That if the Seals and Sacraments under the Law were the same with ours then must they also have the same Covenant of Grace with us for the Sacraments are Seals of the Covenant If the Seals then were the same as our Apostle affirmeth how should not the Covenant also be the same and seeing their Sacraments were differing in the Signs from ours how could they be any way the same with ours but only in what they sealed and signified The Fathers therefore were saved by Grace and through Christ as well as we So true is that the Apostle says Acts 4. 12. There is no other name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved For Iesus Christ as it is Heb. 13. 8. is the same yesterday and to day and for ever that is He was a Saviour of old is still and shall be for ever hereafter This is that which S. Peter yet more expresly affirmeth Acts 3. 25. saying Ye are the children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying to Abraham And in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed Yea not only from Abraham but even from that time when God said The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpent's head was this Covenant made with men and at length diversly shadowed in the Types and Sacrifices of the Law until Christ himself was revealed in the flesh For the better understanding of this we must know what a Covenant is and what are the kinds thereof A Covenant is as it were a Bargain between God and man wherein God promises some Spiritual good to us so we perform some duty unto him if not then to incur everlasting punishment This Covenant is of two sorts the one is called The Covenant of Works the other The Covenant of Grace The Covenant of Works is wherein God on his part makes us a promise of Eternal life if we on our part shall perform exact obedience unto his Law otherwise to be everlastingly condemned if we fail The Covenant of Grace or of the Gospel is wherein God on his part promises us sinners Christ to be our Saviour and Redeemer if we on our part shall believe on him with a lively and obedient faith otherwise to be condemned The Covenant of Works God made with man at his Creation when he was able to have kept the conditions he required but he through his disobedience broke it and so became liable to death doth Corporal and Spiritual And though the Covenant of Grace then took place as we have said yet was the former Covenant of Works still in force until Christ who was promised should come in the flesh And therefore was this Covenant renewed under Moses with the Israelites when the Law was given in Horeb as Moses sayes Deut. 5. 2. The Lord God made a Covenant with us in Horeb. For all the time under the Law the open and apparent Covenant was the Covenant of Works to make them the more to see their own misery and condemnation and so to long after Christ who was yet to come and at whose coming this obligation should be quite cancelled Yet nevertheless together with this open Covenant there was a secret and hidden Covenant which was the Covenant of Grace that they might not be altogether without the means of Salvation whilst Christ yet tarried This truth is plain Gal. 3. 17 c. where the Apostle affirms That the Covenant of Grace in Christ was four hundred and thirty years afore the Law was given and that therefore the Law could not disannul it or make it of none effect but that the Law so he calls the Covenant of Works was only added to it because of transgressions until the blessed Seed should come v. 19. and that it might be a Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ v. 24. For in the Moral Law of God under whose curse they stood bound they might as in a Glass see their sin their guilt their want of Righteousness and in their Ceremonies and Sacrifices they might again as in Shadows of Heavenly things behold the means of their Reconciliation through his bloud who was to be slain and offered to God for them Now though this Covenant of Grace afore Christ be the same for substance with that under which we are now since his coming yet the circumstances and outward fashion thereof are so varied that the Scripture for this regard makes of this one Covenant two Covenants calling one the Old Covenant for the old manner thereof under the Law and the other a New Covenant for the new manner thereof now the Gospel is revealed Having therefore already seen the agreement and onâ—ness of them for the inward part let us now behold their differences for the outward fashion and so we shall see that as the Fathers ate the same Spiritual meat and drank the same Spiritual drink and yet there was some difference in them so the Fathers were under the same Covenant of Grace with us and yet after a different fashion This difference S. Paul Gal. 4. 1. c. setteth forth thus by a similitude The heir as long as he is a child c. i. e. The difference of the condition of those afore Christ and since is but as the condition of Heirs when they are under age and when they come to full years They are Heirs and Lords of all in both conditions as well in one as the other only the difference is that in the one condition they are in the state of Servants under Tutors and Governors in the other they enjoy the freedom of Sons So the faithful in the Law enjoyed the same Covenant of Grace with us but under the bondage of worldly Elements but we now have the same in a state of freedom as not held under such burthensome Elements and Pedagogies as they were But elsewhere he shews this difference more expresly both on God's part and our part First On our part Heb. 8. and elsewhere thus The Old Covenant which required so many external services is called a carnal Covenant the New wherein no such are required but works of the Spirit only is a Spiritual Covenant whereof God means when he saith v. 10. I will put my Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and so he will be their God and they shall be his people For in the Old Covenant he wrote a Law as it were upon their hands and fleshly members in that he required so many fleshly washings and sprinklings and