Parents were It is true though that they through want of awful respect or reverence unto the divine Majestie were the Authors of sin and propagators of shame to their posteritie All of us are prone to think that they deserved ill not of God only but of us and yet the truth is that we lay a great deal more blame upon them then they deserved They indeed were the first yet not the greatest sinners Many of their posteritie in this qualitie go beyond them all of us imitate them too well in their sin but not in being ashamed when we sin 8. They had but one Commandement given by God and having transgressed that their Consciences did accuse them their very looks and gestures gave evidences against them We transgress all Gods Commandements and one and the same Commandement over and over God onely knows how often yet are not dejected are not confounded but bear out sail as if there were no danger Though every thing which God in his written Law hath prohibited is a branch of the forbidden tree He hath as peremptorily forbidden all To have any Gods but Him to worship any graven Image to take his Name in vain as he did our first Parents to taste of the Tree of good and evil Yet even such as would be held the only true Catholiques Worship Images and such again as would be accounted the pure Worshippers of God in truth and spirit worship their own Imaginations and transform the unchangeable nature of the Deitie into unfit similitudes Little Children amongst us are mightie Swearers and nothing more common in publique or private then to take Gods holy Name in vain to abuse it more grosly then the Jew or Heathen could who knew not God incarnate And all this they do without any sign of shame Women rail upon revile and curse one another in the open streets until their faces grow red indeed but with a redness which betokens no shame which bears no tincture of blush but rather of revenge and malice boyling in the heart or of heat in their tongue set on fire by Hell But these for the most part are of the meaner and baser sort Others there be as far transported with mis-guided Zeal from that modestie which becomes their Sex and this Zeal they offer up as strange fire unto God without blushing taking the Priests office upon them to be more then Teachers censurers of their Teachers swift to hear any doctrine that shall contradict the publique voice of the Church alwayes listening after the whisperings of such private Spirits as invert the Tenor of the Gospel no less then the old Serpent did the first Commandement which God gave unto mankind God had said unto them Gen. 3. ver 3. Ye shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil neither shall ye touch it lest ye die But the Serpent whispers ver 4. 5. Ye shall not surely die For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil A plausible Comment to her which was now giving the raines to her longing appetite As plausible a doctrine it is to many of her Daughters to meddle with the marks of Election and Reprobation secrets which God hath reserved unto himself Points full of great difficultie and greater danger and wherein such as have waded farthest have as I said before inverted the Tenor of the Gospel For it is the perpetual voice of the Gospel If thou believe thou shalt be saved if thou believest not thou canst not be saved The very sum and final resolution of the doctrine of Election as it is vulgarly taught is this If thou must be saved that is if thou be of the number of the Elect or predestinated thou shalt believe If thou be not of the number of the Elect thou canst not believe To listen after such whisperings as these the weaker Sex take from their Mother Eve but to be confident or presumptuous upon such misinterpretations or to be censurers of their Superiors this they learn not from their Mother Eve but from her false Teacher This is a prodigious disposition in Women whom the Apostle commands to learn in silence with all subjection but will not suffer them to teach or to usurp authoritie over the man 1 Tim. cap. 2. ver 12. This silence and modestie is injoyned them as a Pennance for their Mother Eves transgression Ver. 13 14. For Adam saith the Apostle was first formed then Eve And Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression Notwithstanding she shall be saved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the promised Seed If they continue in faith and charitie and holinesse with Sobrietie These are the meanes to make their Election sure 9. All of us both men and women are too prone to imitate our first Parents in doing that which is evil and forbidden by the Law of God And seeing better cannot be expected it were well if we could as truly imitate them in being ashamed of the evil which we have done They no sooner knew that they were naked but they sought a covering for their nakedness of fig-leaves but this would not serve For when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden they hid themselves from his presence amongst the trees All of us have an experimental pledge of this which Moses relates concerning them in our selves unless we choke or stifle the instinct of corrupted nature by long custom or continuance in sin That our consciences do accuse us that the sight of men whom we know or suspect to be conscious of our mis-doings deject us both these argue that we must appear before a Judge even before that Judge from whose presence our first Parents hid themselves at whose appearance we shall be confounded if we come before him polluted with such blots and stains as our souls are ashamed sinful men such as our selves are should look upon For even that redness or blushing which appears in mens faces upon consciousness of their infirmities or misdeeds is but a mask which our souls do naturally put before them as being afraid lest others should see the stain or blemish of sin As our first Parents sought to hide themselves from God after they had transgressed his Commandements So Offenders hide themselves from his Deputies or Vicegerents on earth not only for fear of punishment but for shame And if we should give you the real or physical Definition of shame It is no other then the striving of Nature to hide the stain of our souls by sending out blood into the face or visage And men do but second this dictate of Nature when they put their hands or other covering before their faces So Disarius one of the Discoursers in Macrobius Saturn lib. 7. cap. 11. saith Natura pudore tacta sanguinem ante se pro velamento tendit Thus both corrupted nature and we our selves
them ye shall scourge in your Synagogues and persecute them from City to City That upon you may come all the righteous blood that was shee l upon the earth from the blood of the righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar Verse 36. Verily I say unto you all these things shall come upon this Generation Or as it is in St. Lukes Narration of our Saviours Comment upon this Story taken by himself or by others who heard him in the very same words wherein he uttered it Therefore also saith the Wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles some of them they shall or will slay persecute That the blood of all the Prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this Generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the Altar and the Temple Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation This vehement reiterated Asseveration literally and punctually referrs unto the words of my Text. The Implication or Importance is as much as if he had said Ye Scribes and Pharisees may call to mind that when your Fore-fathers whose murtherous acts ye acknowledge did slay Zacharias the High-Priest he expired with these words in his mouth Lord look upon it and require it His innocent blood was then in part required upon King Ioash upon the Princes of Judah and other chief offenders But shall now again be required in full and exact measure of this present Generation more murtherous and bloody then their idolatrous fore-fathers at any time were 9. What shall we say then That this last Generation was guilty of the murther of Zachariah or to be plagued for their fathers sins in murthering him This Point will come to be discussed in the Third General And however that may be determined This Case is clear that These later Iews did make up the full measure of their fore-fathers iniquity in killing Gods Prophets especially in murthering Zechariah who was the most illustrious Type of Christ the Son of God in the Manner of his death and for the Occasions which these several Generations took respectively to murther them both The special Occasion which their fore-fathers took to kill Zachariah the Son of Iehoiada or Barachias for he bore both names though both in effect the same or one equivalent to the other was because he taxed them for their idolatry and laboured to bring them again to the worship of the true God The only quarel which the malice of the later Jews could pick against our Lord and Saviour was because he taxed their hellish Hypocrisies which their too Curious Reformation of their fore-fathers Idolatry had bred And taught them how to worship God in spirit and truth not in Ceremonies or meer bodily observance Neither Generation were so blind as to persecute men whom they did acknowledge to be immediately sent from God Yet were both furiously prone to persecute such as indeed were sent from God for pretending or promulging their Commission from God or taking the names of Prophets upon them so often as their doctrine did crosse their practises or violent passions This later Generation of Scribes and Pharisees after they had failed in their Proofs of any Capital matter of Fact or point of doctrine delivered by Christ condemned him for answering affirmatively to this Question proposed Tell us art thou the Son of God or as St. Mark more punctually expresseth it Art thou the Christ the Son of the Blessed Mark 14. 61. Zechariah as was now said was Christs true Picture for Quality for Office and for the Relation of Names and kindred For Zechariah was a Prophet and a Priest the Son of Iehoida which signifieth as much as The knowledge of God or as our Saviour expresseth the Reality answering to his name The son of Barachias that is The blessed of God And our Saviour was The Son of the only wise God the wisdom of God and The blessed of God the very God of blessing being the Great Prophet of God and high-Priest of our souls Lastly the Princes of Iudah having by glozing flattery perswaded their King to authorize their projects against Zechariah the High-Priest and Prophet of the Lord put them in execution upon the solemn Feast of Attonement or expiation The Scribes and Pharisees equal or Superior to these Lay-Princes in cruelty importuned Pilate by pretended observance and loyal obedience to the Roman Caesar to sacrifice The Son of the Blessed whom they had unjustly condemned unto their malice at that solemn Feast which was prefigured by the Feast of Expiation the Feast instituted in the memory of their deliverance out of Egypt CHAP. XLII MATTH 23. verse 34 35 36 c. Wherefore behold I send unto you Prophets and Wise men and Scribes and some of them ye shall or will kill and crucifie and some of them shall or will ye scourge in your Synagogues and persecute them from City to City That upon you may come or by which means will come upon you all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar Verily I say unto you all these things shall come upon this Generation 2 Chron. 24. 22. The Lord look upon it and require it Luke 11. 51. Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation THese words were uttered by our blessed Lord and Saviour against the Scribes and Pharisees with their Associates in Blood a little before the Feast of the Passover Whether that Last Passover wherein this Lamb of God prefigured by that Solemn Feast as also by the Death of Abel and his Sacrifice was offered upon the Cross is or may be a Question amongst the learned not at this time to be disputed But rather if occasion serve in the explication of the last verse Verily I say unto you ye shall not see me henceforth till that ye say Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. For gathering the true and full Connexion of this Passage with the former Relations it shall suffice to observe that as our Saviour never spared the Scribes and Pharisees So at this time above others he reproves them most fully and sharply The Matter of this Reproof was their avarice and hypocrisie The End partly to prevent the like desire of vain-glory with other Enormities in his Disciples Partly to cure if it were possible the Scribes and Pharisees of their hereditary disease Hence whereas they most affected Complemental Greetings in publick places or glorious Titles of Rabbies Our Saviour to allay this humour for respectful Salutations presents them Woes instead of glorious Titles he instyles them Hypocrites For striking at seven several Branches of their Hypocrisie he seven times in this Chapter begins his speech in this style Wo
Meridian and runs away out of their Hemisphere And in his stead a Comet ariseth out of Egyptian exhalations which portends nothing but war and blood This is Jehoiakim whom Pharaoh Nechoh which slew his father hath now appointed to be King over this people for his purpose the successe of whose Raign in general the people might well prognosticate by his life and manners the Epitome of which Iosephus lib. 10. cap. 5. hath given very pithily in two words He was neither religious towards God nor just towards men And yet besides this his natural disposition was particularly incensed against this people for preferring his younger brother to the Crown and so more ready to wreak his spite by reason of his dependance upon the Egyptian out of whose Country he had the Prophet Uriah brought to satiate his thirst of blood Jer. 26. 23. which bloodie Fact of his and the like with their like successe is the train I have pursued in these present Meditations I will conclude them with that of Solomon Prov. 28. 2. For the transgressions of a Land many are the Princes thereof And of Iudah never a good one after Iosiah such they were as might serve to scourge this people until they were cast like Vagabonds and unprofitable Members out of that City and Land which had bred them 10. Thus you see Gods largest Promises have their limits greatest prosperity hath a period and mightiest Kingdomes have their fall You have likewise seen how for the uncircumcised hearts of this people is he slain by uncircumcised hands who had so throughly cleansed Ierusalem and Iudah from all the abominations of the Heathen The Heroical attempts of whose Princely resolution and zeal in restoring the true worship of God unto this people needs not mine it hath the commendations of Gods Spirit who hath been curious in calculating his particular good deeds throughout this Chapter to have been matchless in Davids Race and how then possible to be parallell'd in any other Princes Line And what If through the religious care and industrie of some one or two Princes whom the Lord in mercie had raised up as Lights unto this Land the foggie mists of Superstition Heresie and Idolatry be driven hence This is an Infallible testimonie of Gods former love unto our forefathers no sure Document of our continuance in his favour if yet this Land and People may be taken in the very manner of those capital Crimes which did condemn Iudah his first-born amongst the Nations in the dayes of good Iosiah even whilest it was acquitted from profession of Idolatrie and Superstition What shall it avail us that those forrain hungrie Hell-hounds which brought Commissions of Charter Warrant for hunting out the good things of this Land and made this people a prey for maintenance of the many-headed beast have been long time prohibited to continue their wanted raunge if the Princes which are left within her be as roaring Lions and her Judges as wolves in the evening which leave not the bones until the morrow What availes it that the secular Priests and Jesuite are would God they were transported out of this Land if her owne Prophets be light and wicked persons and her Priests pollute the Sanctuary and wrest the Law Or what shall it avail us that the Light of the Gospel doth shine amongst us if the just Lord be in the midst of us and every morning bring forth judgment unto light and fail not and yet the wicked will not learn to be ashamed Or what avails it that we have cast off all blind obedience to the Sea of Antichrist if we will not suffer Gods providence to be a Rule and Christs word a Light unto our paths but walk on still in the wayes of the heathens making secular observations our chief confidence and worldly policie our greatest trust Or what avails it to have purged our hearts from all conceit of merit if we pollute our hands with bribes Or what availes it to give God the glory in all good actions and yet daily dishonor his name with bad dealings I will speak more plainly What advantageth it us to object unto the Papists that they seek to merit heaven by their works and share with God in the honour of good deeds if they can truly reply upon us That the free Almes of Papists Founders have been by Protestants set on sale unto their brethren Or that secular Appendices and Alliance of Spiritual men devour a great part of that liberal maintenance which was allotted only for Prophets and Prophets children 11. Beloved in our Lord were we our selves without sin without these enormous sins which I have mentioned all of us might freely attempt to stone that filthy Whore and all her foul Adulterers unto death But such of us as seek most to purge the Land of them and seek not withal to cleanse our own hearts of those sins which have procured Gods wrath against it may justly dread lest we find no better success then good Josiah did to provoke the enemie to do more mischief then haply they meant Mistake me not I beseech you as though I misliked such as sollicite severitie against that Nation yet cannot I hope but some will be as jealous of me as these Iews of Iosiah's and Jehoiakim's dayes were alwayes of the Prophet Jeremy whose footsteps I have resolved to follow through good and bad report Give me leave to explain my meaning thus As from my heart I reverence their religious labors who have of late so effectually stirred up our Sovereignes heart to this purpose and earnestly request your heartie prayers unto Almighty God that his Holy Spirit may continually enflame his royal heart with those good motions which have been kindled in it of late so do I desire from the very centre of my soul both that men of place Authoritie Gravitie Learning and Integritie of life may prosecute it and that young Divines whether young in years or manners it skills not would oftentimes even for Sions sake hold their peace or at least be wary where and when they open their mouths in this argument For he that looks into the temper of this present people with a discreet religious not with a turbulent factious eye may easily discerne that many ill tempered and extravagant invectives against Papists made by men whose Persons wanting Authoritie as much as their speeches do Reason do nothing else but set an edge upon our Adversaries sword whilst the light behaviour and bad example of the Inveighers life infuseth courage to their hearts and addeth strength unto their armes In one word Many of our words in this place increase the wrath and many of our lives out of this place increase the number of that Faction 12. Though all of us by Profession are Christs Soldiers yet every Soldier is not fit for any service Albeit I discourage no man I only advise that every man that means to be a valiant Soldier in Christ and would do his
place either expresly or implicitly to direct our prayers to God the Father that he would be pleased to forgive us our sins to be reconciled unto us and bestow such blessings upon us as he hath promised to such as shall be reconciled unto him In the Second place either expressly or implicitly we are to beseech him to forgive us our sins to be reconciled and blesse us for the merits of his only Son who hath made satisfaction for us This is a Point which every Christian is bound expressely to believe that God the Father doth neither forgive sins nor vouchsafe any Term or Plea of Reconciliation but only for the merits and satisfaction made by the sacrifice of the Son of God who by the eternal spirit offered himself in our humane nature upon the Crosse In the next place we are to believe and acknowledge that as God the Father doth neither forgive nor vouchsafe Reconciliation but for the merits and satisfaction of his only Son so neither will he vouchsafe to conveigh this or any other blessing unto us which his Son hath purchased for us but only through his Son not only through him as our Advocate or Intercessor but through him as our Mediator that is through His humanitie as the Organ or Conduit or as the only Bond by which we are united and reconciled unto the Divine Nature For although the Holy Spirit or Third Person in Trinitie doth immediately and by Personal Proprietie work faith and other spiritual Graces in our Souls yet doth he not by these Spiritual Graces unite our souls or Spirits immediately unto himself but unto Christs Humane Nature He doth as it were till the ground of our hearts and make it fit to receive the seed of life But this seed of righteousnesse immediately flows from the Sun of Righteousnesse whose sweet influence likewise it is which doth immediately season cherish and ripen it The Spirit of life whereby our Adoption and Election is sealed unto us is the real participation of Christs Bodie which was broken and of Christs Blood which was shed for us This is the true and punctual meaning of our Apostles speech 1 Cor. 15. 45. The first man Adam was made a living soul or as the Syriack hath it Animale Corpus an enlivened bodie but the second Adam was made a quickning spirit and immediately becometh such to all those which as truely bear his image by the Spirit of Regeneration which issues from him as they have born the Image of the first Adam by natural propagation And this again is the true and punctual meaning of our Saviours words John 6. 63. It is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you are spirit and life For so he had said in the verses before to such as were offended at his words what if you should see the Son of man ascend up where he was before The Implication conteined in the Connexion between these two verses and the precedent is this That Christs Virtual presence or the influence of life which his Humane Nature was to distil from his heavenly Throne should be more profitable to such as were capable of it then his Bodily presence then the bodily Eating of his flesh and blood could be although it had been convertible into their bodily substance This distillation of life and immortalitie from his glorified Humane Nature is that which the Ancient and Orthodoxal Church did mean in their Figurative and lofty speeches of Christs Real presence or of eating His very Flesh and drinking His very Blood in the Sacrament And the Sacramental Bread is called His Bodie and the Sacramental Wine His Blood as for other reasons so especially for This that the vertue or influence of his Bloody Sacrifice is most plentifully and most effectually distilled from heaven unto the worthy Receivers of the Eucharist And unto this Point and no further will most of the Testimonies reach which Bellarmin in his books of the Sacraments or Maldonat in his Comments upon the sixth of Saint John do quote out of the Fathers for Christs Real Presence by Transubstantiation or which Chemnitius that Learned Lutheran in his Books De duabus in Christo naturis and de Fundamentis sanae doctrinae doth avouch for Consubstantiation And if thus much had been as distinctly granted to the Ancient Lutherans as Calvin in some places doth the controversie between the Lutheran and other Reformed Churches had been at an end when it first begun Both Parties acknowledging Saint Cyrill to be the fittest Umpire in this Controversie The end of the Third Chapter A Transition of the Publisher's IT must not be dissembled that I had no Intimation much lesse Commission of the Author's to Insert the Two following Chapters herein this place Yet besides that I knew not of any fitter place where to dispose of them I had these Reasons so to do 1. I held it fit that His Powerful Disputes against the Church of Rome about The Lords Supper in the fourth Chapter and about another Point in the fifth should immediately follow his Learned Argument with the Lutheran 2. The sequence seems very Methodical The Subject of the first Chapter being partly About Christs Exaltation by becoming The Chief Corner-Stone cut out of the Rock or quarrey by his Resurrection from The New Scpulchre lifted up by his Ascension and placed at the Chief Corner by his Sitting at Gods Right-hand and partly about The Union of Christ with true Christians which Union is both a Considerable part of the fourth Chapter and was happily touched upon in the Close of the Third 3. In case any Restive soul should perhaps some faint Dejected Spirit having read Christs Great Exaltation may say Who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above Such an one besides the quickenings he may hear from other Remembrancers Saint Peter telling us that we are pilgrims here and Saint Paul that we seek a Countrie and look for a Citie Jerusalem that is Free and that being Fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of Gods hous-hold our Conversation or Traffick is to be in heaven for those things which are above where Christ sitteth at Gods Right-hand c. may receive mightie encouragement by Experimenting the Contents of these two next Chapters The avowed neer approach and Intimacie of our Lord Jesus Christ with the Believing and Receiving Christian The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart When the holy Sacramental pledges be in the mouth and Faith in the heart The Word the Eternal Word that was made flesh is nigh indeed For Verily Verily He that eateth my Fesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in Me and I in Him CHAP. 1111. A Paraphrase upon the sixth of St. John In what sense Christ's flesh is said to be truly Meat c. What it is To eat Christs Flesh and drink his Blood Of eating and drinking Spiritual and Sacramental And whether of them is meant
our Apostle here saith that the whole building doth grow unto an holy temple it is included that every part of this temple should be a living stone For growth such growth as the Apostle speakes of is an effect of life Things inanimate or without life as materiall buildings stones of the quarrie or any heap or congest may become greater by addition of matter unto them they cannot Grow unto greatnesse as wanting the facultie of vegetation or Nutrition That onely is capable of growth which is capable of nutrition and nothing is capable of nutrition but that which is endowed with life Hence saith S. Peter 1. Ep. cap. 2. vers 2. c. As new born babes desire the Sincere milk of the word that yee may grow thereby if so be yee have tasted that the Lord is gracious The Growth then of every Christian is more than the Growth of vegetables for it includeth the sense of tast wee must tast the graciousnesse of the Lord by faith and wee must come unto him by faith as unto a Living stone disallowed of men but chosen of God and pretaious and coming thus unto him As the Apostle adds vers 5. wee also become lively stones and are built up a spirituall house an holy Priesthood to offer up spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ S. Peters inference in that place vers 6 7 c. is the very same with our Apostle S. Pauls in this place and so is the Use or Application of it the very same with that which our Apostle makes in the later end of this Epistle But of the Use hereafter It will in the meane time be very Usefull for us to observe That neither S. Paul nor S. Peter when they purposely handled the building of the Gentiles upon this chief Corner-stone do mention or intimate any other Foundation on which wee are to be builded before we be builded on Christ Neither of them taught us to rely on themselves or on their personal faith or their successors Authoritie as upon secondary foundations by Union with whom or relying upon whom we might be grounded upon the Prime Foundation which is Christ If this they had taught us they had taught us not to believe as they believed and not believing as they believed we could not possibly become such live stones of this spirituall edifice as they were 5. But if wee must beleeve as S. Peter believed must wee not beleive as the Church beleeves yes Al that hope to be saved must believe as the true Church believes and they onely are the true Church which believe as S. Peter believed The Question is Who they be that believe as S. Peter believed These wee say are the members of Reformed Churches or the Reformed Churches themselves No member of the Romish Church can possibly believe as S. Peter did unlesse they will abandon the absolute infallibilitie of the visible Romish Church For every one which beleeves as S. Peter did must have the same Object of Faith which S. Peter had He may not believe any Article of faith which S. Peter did not believe he may not seek he cannot hope to be built on the same Foundation on which Peter was built by relying upon any Authoritie upon which Peter himselfe did not rely The manner of his union unto this Foundation must be the same that Peters was as immediate as Peters Union was What then was the proper Object of Peters faith What was the Fundamental Rock on which Peter was by this faith immediately built That was only Christ the Son of man and the Son of the living God And the Branches which naturally issue out of this Root or living Rock are That Christ the Son of the living God the Son of God the Father was Conceived by the Holy Ghost was Born of the Virgin Mary did suffer under Pontius Pilate was Crucified dead and buried c. Did S. Peter believe all or any of these Articles by believing his own Authoritie Was he founded on Christ by the intermediation or interposition of any other secondarie foundation Was he the foundation or Rock on which himself was built If we cannot believe these Articles but by believing S. Peter or his personal faith to be the Rock on which the Church is built then Peter or his personal faith must be to us as a second foundation We cannot be united to Christ we cannot be builded on Christ unlesse we be first united unto and builded on Peter But Peter was not builded upon himself or upon his own faith wherefore if we be builded upon Peter or upon Peters faith we have not the same Object of faith nor the same faith which Peter had for neither Peters person nor his faith were any part of the Object of his Faith His Authoritie was no meanes of his Union with Christ 6. That the Object of Faith must be formally the very Same in all true Believers the present Romish Church if this were the Question between her and us could not deny Her greatest Clerks do expressely teach and maintaine it as a principle of true Divinitie And maintaining this truth they must confesse unlesse they will contradict themselves that we must be as immediately united to Christ by Faith as Peter was we must be as immediately builded on Christ by this faith as Peter was we must not be built on him by being built upon Petes Faith or upon his successors Infallible Authoritie For so we should have another Object or Article of faith than Peter had or his successors have We should have another foundation then Pete had as many more foundations as Peter hath successors Our Union with them should be a part of our Union with Christ Our Belief of their Infallible Authoritie should be the chief Bond of this Union such a bond or stay of our edification upon Christ as the stones or cement in a material building is between the lowest foundation and the intermediate Rows of stone which are layed one upon another until the highest Row be finished And to be thus united unto Christ were to make him no living stone which diffuseth life unto all that are built upon him but a dead stone or a stone only able to support the material or dead weight which is laid upon it there should be no growth in faith but an addition or cementing of one part unto another until the edifice were finished Whereas our Apostles words are expresse that all the building is fitly framed together in Christ and so framed groweth up unto an holy Temple in the Lord. He saith not we are builded one upon another but builded together in Him for an habitation of God through the Spirit This Spirit by which we are builded together in Christ or through which we become the habitation of God is not communicated and propagated unto us from S. Peter and his Successors as from intermediate Foundations or Roots We and all true believers receive the influence of the Spirit
to the Jews which had answer'd him rightly that the Messias was to be the Son of David is unanswerable and most satisfactorie If the expected Messias were not to be the Son of God and truly God the supreme Lord as well of the dead as of the living why did David in spirit call him Lord before he was the Son of David It is a point to be observed that the Iews in our Saviours time did not or could not deny that this Psalm was literally meant of their expected Messias albeit the later Iews seek to wrest it but most ridiculously some to Ezekiah some to Abraham But that the word Adonai is of no lesse value or importance then Iehovah but only imports Iehovah or God incarnate or the Messias his Exaltation to be Lord or King may be evinced against the Iew for that the same sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving which One Psalmist solemnly offers unto Iehovah Another Psalmist or perhaps the same doth alike solemnly offer up to Adonai or to the expected Messias in another Psalm As Psal 57. which is a Prophetical Song of David and containes the Exaltation of his God and Lord Exalt thy self O God above the heaven and let thy glory be upon all the earth ver 5 11. This Prophecie was then punctually fulfilled and Davids prayer or request signed by the mouth of God when our Saviour after his Resurrection said All power is given to me in heaven and in earth go therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holie Ghost Mat. 28. 18. Unto this Iehovah or God whose Exaltation he foresaw and heartily prayed for and unto whom he had directed his prayers ver 1. He offers the Sacrifice of praise ver 9. under the title of Adonai I will praise or confesse thee among the people O Lord I will sing unto thee among the Nations The verie self-same sacrifice David offers unto the same God under the title of Iehovah Psal 108. 1 2 3 4 5. O God mine heart is prepared so is my tongue I will sing and give praise Awake Viol and Harp I will awake early I will praise thee O Lord among the people I will sing unto thee among the Nations For thy mercie is great above the heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds Exalt thy self O God above the heavens and let thy glorie be upon all the earth which last words were twice repeated in the 57. Psam 2. These Fundamental Points of Faith are clear from this collation of Scripture First That Adonai or Lord was the known Title of the Messias whom the Jews expected in our Saviours time and this was the reason that the Pharisces had not a word to answer or rejoyn unto our Saviour when he avouched that the Messias was to be The Son of God because David in Spirit called him Adonai Lord Matth. 22. 45. The second That he that was Adonai or the Messias was likewise Jehovah truly God because David did not in spirit onely call him Lord but did in spirit worship him as his Lord and God with the best sacrifice that he could devise as appears from Psalm 57. 8. A great part of the Book of Psalms even all those passages if my observation fail me not without exception which mention the extraordinary manifestation of Gods glory or his exaltation as King run the same way and as it were pay Tribute unto the infinite Ocean of Gods mercy first manifested in our Saviours Exaltation to the right hand of God The more remarkable Passages are these Psal 97. ver 1. Jehovah reigneth let the earth rejoice let the multitude of the Isles be glad Whilest Jehovah was onely known in Jurie the multitude of the Isles or Nations had no special reason to be glad for Iudah was then his Sanctuary and Israel his dominion but after God had given our Saviour Christ the utmost parts of the earth for his possession that is after our Saviours Ascension into Heaven and the effusion of the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples enabling them to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom unto all Nations the multitude of the Isles the whole Earth had reason to rejoyce Then was that fulfilled which followeth in that Psal ver 6. The Heavens declare his righteousness and all the people saw his Glory That this Psalm is literally meant of Christs Exaltation to be Lord of Lords and of his Inauguration to his everlasting Kingdom The Apostle St. Paul Heb. 1. 6. puts out of question amongst all Christians when he bringeth in his first begotten Son into the world he saith Let all the Angels of God worship him so the Psalmist had said in this 97. Psal ver 7. Confounded be all they that serve graven Images worship Him all ye Gods or as the Septuagint upon which our Apostle often Paraphrased Worship him all ye Angels of God The matter or subject of this Psalm is almost the same with Psal 2. Both of them contain Prophesies concerning the Declaration of Christ to be the Son of God And from this harmonie between this 97. and the second Psalm and from the common Prenotion or Rule of interpreting Scriptures known to the Learned or unpartially observant in those days the Apostle adds that Preface unto his Testimonie when he bringeth in his onely begotten Son into the World He supposeth that the Learned among his Countrie-men should or might have known that both these Prophecies were to be punctually fulfilled upon the Exaltation of the Messias or of those times wherein God should be manifested in the Flesh 3. Yet some conjecture that our Apostle Heb. 1. 6. hath reference rather to Deut. 32. ver 43. in the Greek Translation then unto the 97 Psalm in the Hebrew The words indeed in the Greek or Septuagint are the very same though in the Hebrew not the same by any Equivalencie of the literal sense At nec sic quidem malè There is a varietie of sense yet no discord but rather a full and perfect Consort between the Literal and Grammatical sense of the Hebrew and the mystical and real sense which the Greek or Septuagint in both places expresseth First The 97 Psalm as many others are is a Poetical descant upon Moses his divine Prophetical Song Deut. 32. And the 70 Interpreters whether out of some Prenotion or out of the admirable Concord between that song of Moses and the 97 Psalm or out of a divine Instinct wherewith as St. Augustine is of opinion they were impelled sometimes to intersert a more express meaning of the Holie Ghost then an ordinary Commentator could out of the Hebrew have observed whether this way or that way moved they have given the same Paraphrase upon Deut. 32. ver 43. which our Apostle hath made upon Psal 97. ver 7. which is no other then the Septuagint had made before but literally more consonant to the Hebrew then their Paraphrase upon Deut. 32. is But
seek to hide our souls from the view of others albeit we cannot discern the inward stain or filth of sin but are rather in love with her painted pleasures But when he shall appear that knew no sin in himself and yet knows all the secrets of mans heart it is no vail of flesh no die of nature no covering of the visage with bloud that will avail such as continue to do those things whereof they are or ought to be ashamed or which they are afraid that others should see or know They shall then desire the Hils for a vail and the Rocks and Mountains for a covering to their shame but in vain for perpetual darkness shall be their habitation and their present shame and confusion of face shall then appear to be the harbinger or fore-runner of death CHAP. XIX ROMANS 6. 21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed c. We are many wayes ingaged to serve God rather then to serve sin though sin could afford us as much fruit and reward as God doth But there is no proportion no ground of Comparison betwixt the fruits of sin and the Gift of God The Case stated betwixt the voluptuous sensual life and the life truly Christian Satans method And Gods method A Complaint of the neglect of Grace 1. THe Scope of our Apostles whole discourse in this Chapter is to deter us from the service of sin and by the help of Super-abounding Grace and Hope of an exceeding great Reward both to encourage and engage our best Endeavors unto the service of God His Motion or Argument was reasonable albeit sin or he that is the Author of sin were able to afford us as much fruit or as full a recompence as the service of God doth There is no man amongst us of this Church I presume but doth abhor the Heresie of the Manichees which was in part this that we were beholding to another God for our bodies then unto Him which made our souls Yet if their abominable doctrine were for disputation sake supposed as true We could not be by any right so ingaged unto the service of this imaginary god as unto the service of the True God which made our souls and doth purifie them by his Word and Sacraments For we are not debters to the flesh but unto the God of the Spirits of all Flesh we are Debtors indeed unto the only God which made both our bodies and souls and spirits He may challenge our service by double right First by the right of Creation which we had shamefully violated by alienating our Allegeance unto his Enemy Secondly by right of Redemption for he that made us all hath redeemed us all and if we continue servants unto sin we do not only violate that antient or former Bond which we owed unto him by right of Creation but that second Bond whereby we stand bound unto him by right of redemption And transgressors we should be and most unthankful wretches if we did not cheerfully and sincerely betake our selves unto his service albeit the reward or recompence which he hath promised and will perform were but equal to the fruits or pleasures of sin But the truth is that so far they are from all equalitie that there is No Proportion between them The wages of sin are lesse then nothing compared to the reward of righteousnesse which is more then all things else that can befal us For not to Be at all never to have had any Being were better then to suffer the death here meant So that death and life especially everlasting death and everlasting life cannot come into any Ballance That which is worse then nothing or not Being so is everlasting death cannot be compared with any thing that is Good much less with the perfection of goodness such is everlasting life which containeth all goodness whereof we can imagine our nature to be capable 2. The only Comparison then must be between the service of sin and the service of righteousness in respect of our present estate or during the time of this mortal life And so if you mark it our Apostle hath Two Motives to withdraw us from the service of sin and Two to draw us to the service of righteousness The first Motive to withdraw us from the service of sin is that it is fruitless and shameful for the present The First Motive again to sway us unto the service of righteousness is the present fruit which we have unto Holiness and between these two there may be some Comparison if we sequester them from the other two to wit from life and death everlasting To sequester the service of righteousness altogether from the hope of everlasting life or the service of sin altogether from the fear of everlasting death is a thing if not impossible yet not warrantable as was shewed before in the tenth Chapter For those things which God hath conjoyned man may not sever Yet we may so far sever them as God permitted them to be severed in the wiser Heathen The very Heathens felt a kind of Compunction or sting of conscience upon the commission of grossers sins which did suggest a kind of tacit fear but of what evil to come they expresly knew not They had again a kind of joy or Grateful Testimonie or congratulation of spirit or conscience upon the practise of things honest and comely And this joy did kindle a secret hope or incouragement to go forwards in those courses but it burst not out into a flame it wanted the light or guidance of divine truth For both this fear and this hope they had without any express hope of everlasting life or express fear of everlasting death However the wiser or more moderate sort of them did prefer the practise of vertue or such pietie as they knew before the wonted pleasures of this life Yet this their greatest Philosophers did not do without the Contradiction of such as were given over to bodily pleasures And this opposition of sensual men may seem to have some Ground of Reason even from the Rule of Faith it self if we had no more express hopes of everlasting life or more distinct fear of everlasting death then they had For shall we not think that the estate of Dives was much better then the estate of Lazarus in this life wherein Dives received pleasure and Lazarus pain Now pleasure is much better then pain And if such a life as Dives here led afforded pleasure how was it Fruitless specially in respect of Lazarus his life which was full of pain Indeed in respect of a life so charged with pain as Lazarus's was or with such vexations and dangers as the life of Saint Paul and other more eminent Saints of God in the primitive Church were That Saying of our Apostle is most true 1 Cor. 15. 19. If in this life onely we have hope in Christ then are we of all men most miserable His meaning is That if bodily
glorified There are no Envious Comparisons there seeing every one of them hath his full portion in that publick and common joy which amounts from their joynt expressions of thanksgiving The Ditty of their song is the same and no man there shall be either deaf or silent 4. This Inequalitie of Essential Ioy and this equalitie of joy Accidental cannot to my apprehension be better represented then by A Chorus or Quire of voyces well skilled and practised to hold perfect consort Amongst a great number thus qualified it cannot be expected that every one shall have either the like clearness or sweetness of voyce or the like command over his voice that another hath Nor can he that hath the best natural voyce or best skill in singing impart or communicate either his voyce or skill unto others which sing in consort with him and yet every one is partaker of the sweetness of anothers voyce as well as of his own The concent or harmony is alike to all that have musical ears And a man even in this life is oftimes more delighted to hear another man then himself sing either alone or in consort but most delight in a full Chorus A Choir or consort After this manner the blessed Saints and Angels shall not impart any part of that Internal joy or happiness which ariseth from the Fruition or vision of the God of Love unto another nor shall he have any need of it as we say at the second hand for every one shall have as much of it within himself as he is capable of But of that external joy which results from their joynt consort in singing praise and glory unto God every one shall be partaker and the more they are the greater shall be every ones portion of this delight or joy And thus much of life Eternal and of the blessedness which is contained in it or is the property of it whether it be Blessedness Essential or Concomitant 5. Yet some there be which give a more particular Terrar or distinct Map of this heavenly life or Kingdom out of the fifth of Saint Matthews Gospel And many Excellent Discants upon our Saviours words in that place you may find in Authors Ancient and Modern in all such as Comment upon the Eight Beatitudes as they call them Yet whilst you read or hear them take this Memorandum with you That there are not eight several Beatitudes distinct one from another for all are contained in this one word to wit Eternal life which is but one and the same the joy or happiness which is the property of it is the same it hath not eight several branches albeit our Saviour pronounce this blessedness eight several times What then Are these but so many Tautologies or repetitions of one and the same thing God forbid we should so think or speak of him who spake as never man spake Or is there a mystery in the Number of eight None questionless in the abstract number All the mystery if it be to be termed a mystery is in the Reference of one and the same Blessednesse to eight several qualifications without which no man shall be partaker of the life to come and to eight sorts of men unto whom according to their several qualifications or conditions One and the same Blessednesse comes more welcome under one Style or Title then it would do under another especially whilest it is proferred not as present or In re but as future and In spe as a thing far off whilst it is yet under promise 6. The First Promise of this Blessedness is unto such as are poor in Spirit that is to men free from secular ambition to men of an humble mind The greatest grievance which men thus qualified and affected in this life suffer is that they are in a manner trod upon by others and for the most part excluded from rule or Jurisdiction inferiors to all superiors to none And if they be as poor in wealth as spirit there is a kind of necessity laid upon them for continuing such For his Observation is not yet out of date Pauper eris semper si pauper es Aemilianc Munera non dantur nunc nisi divitibus If a man be once poor he shall be alwayes poor for no man grows rich by gifts but he that is able to give Now to encourage such as already are poor in spirit to continue this Resolution and to arm their humilitie with constancy against all the secular inconveniences or grievances wherewith it is charged The Blessednesse of the life to come is promised to them under the name or Title of a Kingdom Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 5. 3. that is they are neerer to life eternal to true happiness and glory then ambitious or aspiring minds which have not a desire only but oft-times means and opportunitie to attain to honor and dominion over others here on earth This Affection of Poornesse in Spirit is the first degree and step to Blessednesse And with Reference to this scarcitie of means or external povertie is for some men more expedient then wealth For though many be humbled which are not humble yet few are humble which have not been first humbled by some cross or affliction 7. But many are poor in spirit which have no extraordinary occasion to spend their dayes in mourning Unto such as truly mourn the very conceit or mention of pomp or jollity is ungrateful To provoke them to mirth until nature have her Forth is unseasonable a kind of sin To tell them of a Kingdom were all one as to mock them yet none there are who truly mourn which do not seriously desire Comfort though it be but in mourning with them And for this reason it is that unto such as mourn our Saviour promises the blessednesse of the life to come not under the style or title of a Kingdom but under a title more grateful and that is Comfort Ver. 4. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted So they mourn not as those that have no hope so they murmur not nor repine at Gods providence As for mourning it self it is a branch of evil a kind of punishment or chastisement no way pleasant for the present Comfort in the Sacred Dialect includes abundance of good things as appears by Abrahams answer unto Dives Luke 16. 25. Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented The very joyes of heaven could not have been so sweet to Lazarus unless in this life he had wanted Comfort 8. Many again have just occasion to mourn and whilst these occasions last do not transgress in the manner of their mourning they repine not at God are not malicious against the men which find them matter to mourn for and yet for all this are not of so meek a spirit as every Good Christian
or Title of being called the sons of God And under this style it is promised ver 9. Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called the sons of God 13. Yet all these qualifications were not sufficient unless they be accompanied with a firm and constant resolution to suffer persecution all the persecution that flesh and blood can in this life devise against them rather then they should forego their humilty their mourning their meekness their love of righteousness their mercifulness and puritie of heart towards God There must be a greater love of all these qualifications here mentioned then of our selves otherwise we shall be uncapable of the least portion of the Blessedness here so often promised This patience in suffering or constant resolution to endure persecution is the very girdle or tie of all other Christian vertues and for this reason it is twice repeated Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness sake ver 10. And again ver 11. Blessed are you when men shall revile you c. 14. Many may be forward to suffer persecution yea to affect it but as he said Res ingeniosa est esse Christianum It is a matter of extraordinary wit to be a true Christian unto true Martyrdom there is required not only sobrietie of spirit but of Iudgement for none can be a Martyr but he that suffers for Righteousness sake or for Christs sake who is such a fountain of righteousness as the sun is of light Now to discern true righteousness from pretended or to sever Christs Cause from our own particular Interest or engagements is a point of extraordinary skill Whereas it is an easie matter to pawn our fame or credit our very lives in maintenance of that which we have boldly avouched to be true and just None were more forward to sacrifice themselves for their Religion then were the Jews which yet blasphemed the name of Christ and the wayes of truth after they had crucified the Lord of truth and of glory none more forward then they to raise up persecution against the Apostles and disciples in every City and albeit many of them were put to cruell and ignominious deaths for their stiff adherence to Moses Law as they imagined yet Martyrs they were not because they died not for Moses sake nor for his sake for whom Moses wrote but for maintenance of their own perverse opinions and affections For though they abhorred the Idols of the heathen yet they committed more abominable sacriledge then the Heathens did for of all kinds of Idolatry or Sacrilegious worship the most untoward and least to be pittied is when men are prone to sacrifice themselves to their own pride or head-strong ignorance 15. The truth is that no man can suffer persecution for righteousness sake but he that is a follower of righteousness and a son of peace No man can suffer persecution for Christs and the Gospels sake but he that hath learned of Christ to be humble and meek And for this reason haply it is that unto such as suffer persecution whether in their body or good name so they suffer it for Christs name the blessedness of the life to come is promised First under the same Style or Title that it was unto the poor in spirit He had said of these ver 3. That theirs is the Kingdom of heaven and of those ver 10. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven As also secondly under the same Title that it is promised to the meek of whom he had said ver 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth And unto such as are reviled and persecuted falsely for his sake he addeth verse 12. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven 16. And thus hath our Saviour taught us the Use and application of all that hath been delivered concerning Eternal Life And the Use or application of it is as General and large as are the commandments of God There is no duty enjoyned whereunto the hope or belief of this Eternal Reward doth not enable and bind us This was the first Lesson our Saviour taught after he entred upon his Propheticall function and it is the last Article in our Creed It is as Christ himself is Imus angularis lapis et suminus It is both the foundation stone and that which bindeth all the building nor need we be afraid to do well Intuitu mercedis with respect to recompence or reward seeing Christ himself when he first begun to Preach the glad tydings of the Gospel did make no promise of reward save only to such as continue in weldoing or suffer evil with patience And his Apostle Saint Paul exhorting us to cheerfulness in weldoing and patience in suffering proposeth the like hope of reward making Christ Iesus himself a patern for us to follow Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us Looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Crosse despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Heb. 12. 1 2. Nor is it possible for flesh and blood to resist either their proper Enticements or the temptations of Satan much lesse to vanquish this tempter by any other means then by serious meditation upon the several Rewards proposed unto such as shall overcome and of the several punishments which are threatned and shall be awarded unto all such as forsake the field and neglect the service of God And though it be true that we must obtain this victorie by the spirit of God yet one special means by which the spirit of God obtaines this victory for us is by representing and imprinting such punishments or plagues as are dreadful and fearful even to flesh and blood so that the flesh must be affrighted and deterred from or forth of the wayes of sin by the wages of sin And the spirit of God which is in man must be daily animated and encouraged by the hope of heavenly joyes whose very nature and qualitie is spiritual The flesh or sensitive part cannot truly apprehend the joyes of the spirit nor is the spirit so capable or so apprehensive of deadly punishment or pain as the sensitive or animal part is 17. To branch this Use or Application which our Saviour makes of this point into his proper particulars Though it be true that all of us are the seed of rebellious parents and have gone astray from the womb as well by sins of omission as of commission yet that which the heathen Philosopher long since observed if it be candidly interpreted and with such charity as becometh Christians is likewise true Nemo sponte malus No man in his
never dieth which is the chief part of the second Death as heaviness of spirit or grudgings are of Fevers or other diseases which without preventing Physick or diet do alwayes follow them 4. But this Prognostick of the second death or this fear of hell pains which the Sting of Conscience alwayes exhibits must be warily taken and weighed with Judgment The right observance of them as every other good quality or habit is beset with Two contrary extremes The one in defect The other in excess The defect is Carelesnesse The excesse Despere or too much dejection of mind The intimations or Prognosticks which the Sting of Conscience exhibits of death spiritual are often mistaken for the effects of bodily melancholy and the best medicine for melancholy is pleasant society or mirth Out of this mistaking most men prevent that Compassion which is due to their own souls after such a manner as Jewish parents did prevent their natural pity towards their children when they sacrificed them unto Molech by filling their ears with the loud sound of wind Instruments lest the shrikes of the Infants whom they inclosed in an Image of hot glowing brass by entring in at their ears might move their Jewish hearts to pity And most men lest they should be stung with grief of spirit or conscience seek to stifle their first murmurings and repinings either with unhallowed or unseasonable mirth Others by seeking to avoid this common extreme often fall into the contrary which is of the Two the worse to wit dispere or too much dejection of spirit That which the Heathen observed of grief in General is most true of this Particular the grief of a Wounded Spirit Dolori si fraena remitt as nulla materia non est maxima If we let loose the reins to grief or sorrow the least matter or occasion of either will be more weighty then we can well bear Mans unbridled fancie is as a multiplying Glasse which represents every thing as well matter of sorrow as of pleasure in a far greater quantity then it really hath And unless our Cogitations or sad remembrances of sins past be moderated with Judgment and discretion they will appear to our fancies like Cains transgression greater then can be forgiven or then we can hope that the God of mercy will forgive For holding the right mean betwixt these Extrems Carelesnesse and despere there is no means so effectual as to be rightly instructed in the hope of everlasting Life and Fear of everlasting death Immature or unripe hopes of the One ingendereth carelesnesse or presumption so doth erroneous fear of the other bring forth despere He that is perswaded that every one always is in the Estate of the Elect or of the Reprobate cannot avoid the one or other extreme And the only remedy to prevent despere or being swallowed up with grief either in the consciousnes of grosser sins lately committed or whiles we reflect upon sins past is to purge our selves of that Erroneous Opinion concerning Absolute Reprobation or irreversible ordination to death before we were born or from the time of our second birth by baptisme 5 To purge our brain or fancie of this opinion let us take the form and Tenor of the Final sentence into consideration which we may do without digression or diversion Both branches of this sentence we have Mat. 25. The first branch ver 34. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world he doth not say before all worlds though this in a good sense is true most true if we speak of Gods designe or Act for all his Acts or designes are as he is Eternal without beginning so are not the things designed or enacted by him they take their beginning in time or with time The Kingdom prepared for Gods people was prepared when the world was made not before so good and gracious was our God that he did not make man or Angel untill he had prepared a place convenient for them take them as they were his creatures or workmanship and they were all ordained to a life of bliss Paradise was made for man and it may be after man was made but the Heaven of Heavens was prepared for man before he was made and made for the Angels if not before they were made yet when they were made But the Sentence of death ver 41. runs in another Tenor Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire he doth not say prepared for you from the foundation of the world but prepared for the Divel and his angels Those immortal spirits which now are divels were sometime Angels God made them so They made themselves divels Now hell fire was not prepared for them whilst they were Angels not from the foundation of the world but from the time wherein of Angels they became Divels Nor are men at all ordained to it untill of men they become Satans angels And as Satan and his angels the spirits which fell with him continue the self same individual substances which they were when God first created them yet are no way the same but quite contrary for qualitie and disposition so the place whereto they are confined may be for substance space and dimension the same it was at the first creation but not the same for quality it became a prison or place of torment when Satan and other spirits which fell with him of Angels made themselves Divels Satan as some think brought that fire wherein he and his Angels shall be tormented into the bowels of the earth when he fell like lightning from heaven However if the Angels had not sinned there had been no hell no tormenting fire and unless men become the Divels Angels they shall not be cast into hell fire God doth not ordain men to be Satans angels but men continuing his sons or servants God ordaines them to take their portion with him So that if we remove the opinion of Absolute-Reprobation or of irreversible ordination of mens persons unto death before they were baptized or born or if men would be confirmed in faith that no such Sentence or Decree is gone out against them whilst they have either will desire or opportunitie to call upon God through Jesus Christ for remission of sins whether by confession of them or by absolution from them upon such confession or by receiving the Sacrament of Christs body and blood no danger can accrue from the frequent meditation of everlasting death or from such representations of the horrours of it as the often reflecting upon our sins past and the working of the Sting of Conscience upon such reflections will present unto us 6. Another excellent Use and that a Positive One there is of these meditations For no man ordinarily can have a true Tast or rellish of Eternal Life but he which hath had some Tast or grudging of everlasting
of sense into the Vine as it might continually tast the sweetness of that fruit which it beareth and wherewith as the Scripture saith it cheereth the heart of man How full would it be of gladnesse both root and branch would be as full of mirth and gladness as they are of life and sap How much more graciously doth God deal with those that hearken to his Word and obey the motions of his Spirit We being by nature more dead unto the Fruit of holinesse and more destitute of spiritual Life then the Vine or Fig-tree is of the Life sensitive he infuseth a new sense or Tast into our souls and makes them more fruitful then the Fig-tree which is never without fruit either ripe or green and makes us withall sensible partakers of the sweetness of all the Fruit which his Spirit bringeth forth in us and from the Tast of this Fruit of Holinesse ariseth that Joy and Gladnesse of spirit which is the pledge and earnest of Eternal Life 10. But have we this Joy whilst we sojourn here on earth in our selves or in our own souls or in Christ only So we be fraught with the Fruit of Holinesse we have this Ioy as truly in our selves as we have the Fruit Though we have neither of our selves or from our selves We have Both in our selves in such a manner as the Vine branch hath both Life and sap in it self though both originally from the Root So long as the Vine branch continues in the Vine it is really partaker of the Life and sweetness of the Root The similitude is our Saviours John 15. 1. c. I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman Every branch that beareth not fruit in me he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you for it is The Word which purgeth us and maketh us apt to bear fruit in our selves so long as we are in Christ For so he addeth ver 4. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit in it self except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me For I am the vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit ver 5. And where there is Much Fruit there is Plenty of Joy For contrary to the custome of other husbandmen or Vine dressers the sweetness of the Fruit redounds not to the Vine-dresser but to the branches that bear it The fruit is wholly Ours The glory is only Gods For so he adds ver 8. Herein is my Father glorified he doth not say profited that ye bear much fruit The more we bear the more we are benefited the more God is glorified by us for no man can truly glorifie God until his heart and spirit be cheered with that joy which is the fruit of peace and holiness God as the Apostle tels us did never leave himself without a witnesse All the good things which the Gentiles received even whilst they walked in their own wayes were so many witnesses of his Goodness though they perceived not it was he that did them good that gave them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladnesse Acts 14. 16 17. He doth not say with Food and Ioy for Joy properly taken hath its seat in the mind and spirit of man nor is it there placed without the spirit of God whereas the gladnesse whereof the Apostle there speakes may harbour in the inferior or affective part This difference which we now observe between joy and gladnesse in our English The Greek writers curiously observe between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so do the Latines between Laetitia and Gaudium Every blessing of God though but a blessing temporal is matter of gladnesse even to such as know not or acknowledge not God to be the Author of such blessings but True Ioy alwayes presupposeth the knowledge of God in Christ and some acquaintance with the spirit 11. As it is said in this 22. verse that the End or issue of the fruits of Holinesse is Eternal life so our Savour tels us Iohn 17. 3. that the same Eternal Life is the effect or issue of the Knowledge of God and of Iesus Christ whom he hath sent These two then do reciprocate without the knowledge of God and of Christ there is no peace of Conscience no fruit of Holinesse no Joy in the Holy Ghost and yet the greater measure of such fruit we have the more we shall abound in the knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ in the knowledge of whom this Ioy in the Holy Ghost which can be had in this world and Life Eternal in the world to come doth consist So that the only way to attain unto this Ioy wherein the Kingdom of God doth consist is to be rightly instructed in the knowledge of God whose the Kingdom and glory is and of Jesus Christ who is Our King even the King of glory There is a kind of secret Joy in the knowledge or contemplation of every truth or true principle though of secular and humane Arts. And no marvel for as God is Righteousness and Holinesse it self So He is Truth it self The truth of all sciences is as truly derived from that Truth which He is as that Righteousnesse and Holiness whereof his Saints are made partakers is from his Holiness and Righteousness Now that Ioy which some heathen Philosophers or Artists did reap from contemplation of some Truths and Principles in themselves but dry and barren did oft-times more then counterpoize that inbred delight or pleasure in other secular vanities which usually missway us Christians to folly and lewdnesse yea this Joy did sometimes bring their souls into a kind of Rapture or forgetfulness of life natural or sensitive with their contentments Many of them in hope to find out the Causes of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon of other appearances in the heavens and the like have been more abstemious and moderate in their dyet and spent more time and hours in observing the motion of the Stars and in perusing Every leaf of the Book of Nature or of Gods visible creatures then we bestow in fasting and praying or in meditation upon The great Mystery of godliness God manifested in the Flesh and if they hapned to satisfie themselves in these points of truth which they most sought after the Expressions of their Joy and sometimes of their thankfulness to their Gods were oft-times more hearty and cheerful then most of us can give any just proof of for all the benefits which God hath bestowed upon us by his Gospel So * one of them having found out that Mathematical Principle concerning the equalitie between the Square of the base and of the sides
certainty of Faith of his present estate in saving Grace Yet no man knows anothers heart he hath no tast or experimental knowledge of those gifts and graces which God bestows upon others yet unless he know the nature and quality of those Gifts and Graces wherwith others are indowed as he doth the nature quality of those Graces wherewith his own heart is seasoned it will be impossible for him to determine whether the Graces which God hath bestowed upon him be for their nature or specifical quality the very same with those which others have had and finally lose them Yea whether the Grace whereby one man is finally saved be for specifical quality the same with that by which another is saved Only this we know and believe That whosoever is saved is saved only by the free grace of God not as it is a Quality inherent in us but as it unites us unto Christ who is the Author and Fountain of all heavenly Gifts and Graces As for the particular manner how God doth work in us or by us me thinks the Observation of the Wise King might long since have put a Period to all the curious disputes of this Age. So he said Eccles 11. 5. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit by the Spirit I take it he means Vis Formatrix nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child even so thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that or whether they both shall be alike good 2. Wherefore to wave all these and the like Curious Questions which rather breed Contention then Edification we will build this Discourse upon these Two sure Foundations The First That the Illumination of our minds and Spirits that the Tast of the heavenly Gift the participation of the Holy Ghost the rellish of the good Word of God and of the Powers of the Life to come are all of them True Graces of God through Jesus Christ The Second That from these Graces some men have fallen and may yet fall both totally and finally The former Principle to wit That the participation of the Holy Ghost the Tast of the heavenly Gift c. are Graces of God through Jesus Christ none but a Pelagian will question The Second That from these Graces a man may fall both totally and finally no Christian should question For it is supposed by our Apostle Hebr. 6. 4 5 6 7. For no man fals into the sin against the Holy Ghost but he which hath had these Graces and is fallen from them But shall we hence conclude that every one which hath had the Tast of the Good Word of God and of the powers of the Life to come and loseth it for a while or for a long time doth thereby fall into the Sin against the holy Ghost God forbid It is not every falling away from these Gifts and Graces but a falling from them into Apostacie which makes up the measure of that irremissible sin It is not every sin but the sin of blasphemie against the Holy Ghost which is unpardonable And blasphemie against the Holy Ghost alwayes includes a slanderous disposition against the wayes of truth a renunciation of Christ as their Redeemer and a back-sliding either into Atheism Judaism or Mahumetanism Now many there be who live a dissolute and ungodly life whose practises are as bad as may be which yet do not slander the way of truth which do not so much as wish in heart much less profess themselves to be Jews Turks or Mahumetans rather then the Disciples of Christ Nor do all which slander Christ and his profession fall into this unpardonable sin but only such as have tasted of his Goodness and afterwards fall from him and speak and think contumeliously of him and of the Religion which he hath taught us 3. The whole Host of Israel some few excepted did murmur against God and against his Servant Moses yet all that murmured were not cut off from seeing of that Good Land but only those which had seen his wonders in Egypt at the red Sea and in the wilderness and being of years to lay them to heart provoked him ten times that is as often as they had seen them As the rejection of those murmuring Israelites from the Land of Canaan was a Type of such as are Reprobated from the Kingdom of Heaven So the sin of those that were sent to view the Land was a peculiar Type or shadow of the sin against the Holy Ghost These men after they had seen this good and pleasant Land after they had tasted the fruits of it brought a malicious slander upon it that it was a Land which ate up its own Inhabitants that it was not worth the pains and danger which they were to undertake in encountering the Anakims and others which were much stronger then they and would not be put out of their own possessions but by strong hand and much blood on both parts In this manner if any man after God hath endowed him with the heavenly Gift and with the Tast of the Powers of the Life to come shall so farre fall away from Christ as to think that the promises of that Blessed Life are not worthy of that spiritual warfare without which it cannot be obtained unworthy of that sincerity and integrity of life which is peremptorily enjoyned all that seek after it And in this resolution rather in this want of true Resolution for sake the Church of God and despite the Spirit of Grace he by thus doing fals into this irremissible sin But as our Apostle saith unto these Hebrews so may I say of you I hope better things of you yea I am perswaded that all and every of you are free from this sin None of you can pretend ignorance of the wayes of Life Let me therefore exhort you in the words of our Apostle Hebr. 6. 11 12. This we desire that every one of you shew all diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that you be not slothful followers of them which through faith and patience inherit the promise Or as St. Peter speaks Give all diligence to make your election sure Not by way of Syllogism but by good Practise and Conversation 4. Reason not thus with your selves He that hath once tasted of saving Grace cannot lose the tast of it But I have tasted of saving Grace Therefore I cannot lose the Tast of it To prevent the uncertain or ticklish issue of such Collections Remember First That God doth not promise the Kingdom of Heaven to subtil disputers but to faithful practisers Secondly Consider how easie a matter it will be for Satan when temptations arise to shake all the joynts of the former Syllogism and to dissipate and break the Jamor Proposition He that once tasted of saving Grace cannot lose it into shivers For That in any ordinary or intelligible sense is saving Grace from which if a man do not fall or lose the
imports the Real Cause of the thing it self which is known But oftentimes the Cause only of our knowledge of it Again such Causal Particles do not alwayes import some Efficacious Causalitie but only Causam sine qua non some necessarie means or condition without which the prime and principal Cause especially if it work freely doth not produce its intended effect To give you Examples or instances of these Observations If a stranger coming into a Citie should say surely yonder Gentleman is the chief Magistrate because the sword is born before him No wise man would hence collect that the bearing of the sword before him is The Cause why he is the chief Magistrate For his lawful Election is The Cause of that and that is the Cause why the sword is born before him Yet may we not for this reason deny that the former speech doth necessarily import a Cause for the bearing of the sword before him is the true True Cause of his knowing him to be the chief magistrate And in as much as we oftentimes come to know the Cause by the Effect this word For or other Conjunction Causal doth oft-times point out the Effect rather then the Cause of the thing it self So it doth in the speech of our Saviour Luke 7. 45. Wherefore I say unto thee her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much However some Romanists whose delight it is to set Christian Charitie and faith at odds would hence collect that Charitie is the Cause of the forgiveness of sins yet their greatest Scholars acknowledge their error or oversight and ingenuously acknowledge their understanding being convinced by the evidence of truth that This womans Love was not the Cause why her sins were forgiven but that the Free forgiveness of her sins which were many was the True Cause why she loved so much however her extraordinary love being testified in such solemn sort was a true Cause or reason by which all that saw her might know both that her sins had been many and that she had an internal feeling or apprehension of their forgiveness And the true reason why the Pharisee did neither bear such love unto our Saviour nor exhibit the like signes of respect unto him was because he did not feel himself sick much lesse did he feel or apprehend the cure of his sickness as the woman did For if he had known either the measure of his own sins or that our Saviour was the Physician of his soul he would have given better Testification of his love and respect unto him then he did by a Complemental Invitation of him 12. To instance again If of two parties equally suspected of Felonie a man admitted to hear their examination or tryal should say This is the thief For Two competent witnesses have given evidence against him no man would hence infer that the evidence given in against him by two honest men was the Cause why he was a thief and yet was it the true Cause why he knew him to be the thief Every Revelation or authentick Declaration of any truth before unknown is the true Cause of our knowledge of it but not of the Truth it self for that is the Cause why the Declaration or our knowledge of it is true Now amongst such as professe Christ and call him Lord it is unknown to us who be the true heirs of this heavenly kingdom who be not but in the day of Final Judgement in which all shall be judged by their works the sheep shall be known from the goats and the first certain knowledge which we shall have of this difference shall be from The Declarative sentence of the Judge who cannot erre and his Declaration as you see shall be made according to their works The ones performance of the Good works here mentioned declared and testified by the Judge shall be the True Cause by which men and Angels shall know them to be heirs of the everlasting Kingdom the others Omission of the like works testified likewise by the same Judge shall be the true cause by which we shall know them to be altogether unworthy of Gods favour or mercy most worthy of everlasting death We shall then truly know that the one sort are crowned as Saint Cyprian saith according to Gods Grace and that the other are condemned according to Justice That the ones omission of Good Works is the true Cause of condemnation and that the others performance of Good works is not the Cause of their salvation but the Declaration only or a Testimonie that they are the Sons of God and that they did Good works by the secret Operation of the spirit of Grace in them And thus much if you observe it is implyed in the Reply or Answer of them that be saved to their Judge Lord When saw we thee an hungred c So farre they shall be from conceiting their works to be meritorious or worthie of eternal bliss that they shall be ready to disclaim them as not worthie of it ready to blame their sluggish backwardness or want of chearfulness to have done much better seeing what they did unto their poor brethren as now they perceive shall be so graciously accepted that Christ in his Throne of Majestie will acknowledge that he takes them as kindly as if they had been done unto himself The Case is the same as if a Gracious Prince of his own free motion and goodness should proclaim a general Pardon to a multitude of Rebels Thieves and Traytors so they would accept of it and make their peace with their honest neighbors whom they have wronged All of them in shew accept the Pardon but some of them in the Interim secretly practise treason or disturb the publick peace If at the general Assize or at their Arraignment the Judge upon certain notice of their several demeanors should say to the one sort I restore you to your former state and dignity Because since the Proclamation of your Pardon you have demeaned your selves as becomes Loyal Subjects and thankful men And to the other you I condemn to death Because you have abused your Soveraigns Clemency No man would ascribe the restauration of the one unto their good demeanor in the Interim betwixt the getting of their Pardon and their Arraignment but unto the Princes Clemencie Albeit the condemnation of the other were wholly to be ascribed unto their misdemeanors not unto any want of Clemencie in the Prince towards them The good demeanor of the one could but be at the most Causasine qua non A necessary Condition without which the Princes Clemencie in his Pardon exprest could not profit them And so we say of Good Works They are Causae sine quibus non necessary Conditions or means without which no man shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven but no Positive or meritorious Causes of our inheritance in it To conclude If any one should ask me Why all men that profess they beleive in Christ shall not be saved Albeit Christ
the time of his imprisonment in Constantinople This Busbequius the Legate there for Ferdinand being requested by some of Sandeus's quondam followers now his companions in captivity to comfort their master by his letters tels us Ego recusabam quod mihi non ratio non oratio suppetebat quâ hominem tam graviter afflictum consolarer It is a true and lively Symptome of a great spirits temper whom the Lord begins to humble once subject to the Almighties discipline which the same Author hath observed upon this occasion Erat Sandeus ingentis spiritus vir spei abundans timoris nescius sed qui sunt hujusmodi ut omnia quae optant sperant sic post quam cuncta retrò ferri et contra animi sententiam evenire experiuntur Ita plerunque animis concidunt ut non sit facile ad aequitatem eos erigere 4. Pearls are precious and as he sayes cara auro contrà though such simple creatures as Aesops cock value them lower then a grain of barley And life at all times is sweet alwayes more worth then any pleasure wealth or honour unless that honour which cometh from God alone however haughty cock-brains or furious hot-spurs esteem it lighter then a puff of popular fame But besides the untimely losse of life or ordinary dread of violent or bloody death the manner how it is God grant we never know by experience but so assuredly it is That When the wrath of God once throughly kindles against any Land or people it puts an unusual terror upon the countenances of their enemies an unusual edge upon their swords It sharpens the sting of natural death and so envenomes the jawes and teeth of famine and his fellow messengers that the smart of their impressions or the mere terror of their threatnings becomes unsufferably grievous beyond all measure of former experience or precedent cogitation Nothing before hath been held so base whereunto greatest spirits will not then be fain to stoop Nothing so cruel or unnatural unto whose practise the mildest and lovingest natures will not be brought upon Condition yea upon Hope nay upon probable Presumption that they might become but half sharers in the Donative which is here bestowed on Baruch Thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest Not the most womanish among the weaker sex in this whole Land but would presume of so much manlike resolution as by one means or other to lay down the wearisome burthen of an irksome life rather then she should be inforced to seek the preservation of it by killing them whom she had lately quickened or devouring their flesh whom she lately brought forth with sorrow and dayly fed with her own substance Suppose we then that those mothers of Jerusalem which re-intombed their sucking infants in their wombs were naturally more cruel and savage than other women ordinarily are No! The Lord himself hath fully acquitted them of this imputation The hands of the pittiful women saith the Prophet Lament 4. 10. have sodden their own children they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people And if women women of pitie in the time of War can thus bestrip themselves of all wonted bowels of compassion towards the tender off-spring of their wombes shall not the strong man put off his valour and the valiant forget to fight shall not flight be far from the swift and wisdom perish from the Politick It is the day of the Lords wrath saith the Prophet and who can stand who can abide it Not such as for any motion of fear have stood more immoveable then a rock whilst the strongest wals of their defence have been terribly shaken with the enemies shot The stronger their wonted confidence had been the greater their horrour and confusion when they shall discern the finger of God beginning once to draw the dismall lines of their disasterous Fates or when with Belshazzar they begin to read their Destinyes in visible but Transient and unknown Characters then feebleness wo and sorrow come upon the mightiest men as upon a woman in her travel breeding a dissolution in the loyns and causing their knees to smite one against another The terrors of War or other affrightments whereunto they have formerly been accustomed though oft-times very great did never appear more then finite because alwayes known in part But of these Panici terrores or Representations which usher Gods wrath in the day of vengeance that is most true which the Philosopher gives as the Reason why uncouth wayes seem alwayes long Ignotum quà ignotum infinitum est And as the the Kingdom of God so his judgements and the terrors which accompany them come not by Observation In respect of this sudden dread or un-observable terror wherewith the Almighty blasts their souls whom he hath signed to fearful destruction They may say of their adversaries most furious assaults as he did of his Antagonists most blustering words Non me tua fervida terrent Dicta ferox Dii me terrent et Iupiter hostis One while they shall seek for death but it will not be found of them Another while death shall present it self to them and they shall make from it and yet it in the very next moment wish they had entertained it And though life abide with them still yet shall it not be as a Prey unto them but as a Clogg their persons being exposed unto their enemies pleasure perpetually tortured either between vain hopes of escape and uncertain expectance of an ignominious doom or between their desires of speedy and gentle death and the lingering grievances of miserable and captived life In all these respects the Prophets Advice is good seek ye the Lord all the meek of the earth which have wrought his judgements seek righteousness seek lowlinesse if so be that you may be hid in the day of the Lords wrath 5. But be it true in Thesi That life in its naked substance is sweet That ingenuous Libertie though mixt with povertie is as a pleasant sauce to make it rellish better yet who shall perswade Baruch as The Case stands with him so to accept it Nay me thinks flesh and blood should regurgitate his former murmurings upon this motion made by Jeremy and interpret the Prorogation of his life as a fresh heap of sorrowes laid unto the burthen of griefs under which he fainted Profers made by earthly Princes must be respected by their followers though worth little in themselves for unto them Court holy-water must seem sweet although it have no smel of gain But shall the The King of Kings obtrude That as an Extraordinary blessing upon his poor distressed servant which had been adjudged as his own word bears Record for a bitter curse or grievious plague from which Two Kings the one of Israel the other of Judah were not exempted but upon great humiliation and penitent tears For was it not The word of the Lord which
Womans seed And whereas they thought themselves of all men most free from stain of the Prophets blood whose tombs they garnished our Saviour in my Text layes that especially to their Charge indicting them of all the murther committed from the beginning of the world until that present time or at least till Zechariahs death 3. The Indictment we must believe to be most true and just because framed by Truth it self But what the true meaning of it should be is not expressed by any Interpreter we have hitherto met with Such as a man in reason would soonest expect best satisfaction from for the most part pass it over in silence Others like young Conjurers which raise spirits they cannot lay cast such doubts as they are not able to assoil For acquainting you with as much as my reading or Observation upon late desires to satisfie my self in a point so difficult and useful have attained unto give me leave to reflect upon 2 Chron. 24. 22 and to look fore-right also into the words of St. Luke chapt 11. verse 51. Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation Which few words include the greatest measure of righteous blood most unrighteously shed that ever was laid to any People or Nations Charge And yet laid to the charge of the Jewish Nation not indefinitely taken or according to several successions or generations but to the present Generation of this People and so laid by One that could not erre either in giving of the Charge or in point of Judicature upon any matter within the Charge For the Charge is laid by the Wisdom of God by the supreme Judge of quick and dead as you may see from the forty ninth verse Therefore also saith the wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles and some of them they shall or will slay and persecute that the righteous blood of all the Prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this Generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zechariah which perished between the Altar and the Temple Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation The same Charge though with some variation of words yet with full Aequivalencie of sense we have in my Text Wherefore behold I send unto you Prophets and Wise men and Scribes c. But however the Charge and the Emphatical Ingemination for laying this Charge upon this Generation of Serpents in both Evangelists be for equivalency of sense the very same Yet St. Luke as I take it reherseth the Charge in the self-same words wherein our Saviour uttered it It shall be required of this Generation And in thus saying he declared himself to be Vates tam preteritorum quam futurorum better knowing the true meaning or importance of Zecharias his Imprecation or Prophecy and the time wherein it was to be fulfilled then Zecharias himself although both an High-Priest and a Prophet did when he uttered it The Imprecation or Prophecie of that Zecharias unto whom as I suppose the words recited out of St. Matthew and St. Luke have a peculiar Reference are recorded the 2 Chron. 24. 22. And when he died or as the Original hath it when he was a dying or in the very moment of death he said The Lord look upon it and require it The Exposition of which words First according to the Literal or Grammatical Sense with the Historical Circumstances precedent and subsequent And Secondly according to the Mystical Sense or the Emblematical Portendment of that Prodigious Fact which provoked that Godly High-Priest and Prophet to utter the fore-cited Imprecation Lord look upon it and require it hath been the Subject of my meditations of late delivered in A less and yet a greater Audience The Third General then proposed but left untouched comes now to be handled in this learned Auditory upon another Text. And that was The Discussion of such Questions or Cases of Conscience as were emergent whether out of the Literal or Mystical Sense of Zacharias the son of Jehoiada his dying words especially of such as be useful either for this present or future Times 4. And of such Questions the first is Who this Zachariah in St. Matthew and St. Luke is Whether it be He that was slain as is told 2 Chron. 24. 22. or some other of that name The Second supposing the same Zecharias to be meant in all three places Why the Wisdom of God after he had laid the blood of all the righteous men and Prophets whom their fore-fathers had slain or haply whom they intended to slay should instance in Zachariah the son of Jehoiada or of Barachiah as the last man whose blood was to be required The Third Whether the blood of Zecharias or other Prophets or righteous men slain by their fore-fathers or the blood of the Son of God himself or of his Apostles of whom this present Generation were the murtherers was in strict and Logical Construction of these words required of this present Generation Or in other Terms thus Whether the murther of Our Saviour or of his Apostles plotted or practised by this present Generation or rather the cruelties practised by their Fore-fathers upon the Prophets and other righteous men were the true and Positive Cause of all those unparalleld Plagues and Calamities which befel the Jewish Nation within forty or more years after our Saviours death of the desolation of Jewry and the Jews utter extirpation thence by Titus and Adrian The Fourth In what Cases or how farre the posterity or successors of any people or nation are liable to the punishment of their Ancestors sins or what manner of repentance is required for the known and grosse sinnes of their Fathers The Fifth VVhether it were lawful for any of Christs Apostles or other of his followers at this day upon the like provocations as Zacharias had to curse their persecutors in such manner as he did his upon their death-beds or when they are a dying The Sixth which might as well have been the First is VVith what Intent or to what End The Wisdom of God did send Prophets Apostles and VVise men unto this present Generation or their fore-fathers As whether to rescue them from the Plagues denounced against them by Zachariah and other Prophets or to bring their Righteous Blood upon them 5. To the first Question VVho this Zacharias was Some have questioned whether He was Zechariah Coaeval to Isaiah and witness of his Espousal Isai 8. Others there be of opinion this Zachariah here meant should be Zachariah the Prophet whose Prophesie is extant in the Sacred Volume the last in order but one as he was one of the last in time and prophecied about this peoples return from Babylon And it is true indeed that this Prophet was the Son of Barachiah as appears from the very first words of his Prophecie But this opinion is obnoxious to the same exceptions the former is viz.