is it imputed to us it is derived down upon us as Members of him else the want of Righteousness in us is not a privative want of what we once had in Adam and afterwards lost in him but a meer negative want as being only of that we never had or forfeited Adam's Righteousness being not imputed to us we never had it Adam's sin being not imputed to us we never forfeited it such a meer negative want is no sin Nay if Adam's sin be not imputed to us our inherent pravity is no sin it cannot be sin in unfallen Creatures it is no sin to be born into the World there is no foundation in us to make it sin and the consequence of this is that there is no such thing as original sin at all in us which to say is to oppose the Doctrine of the Church in all Ages We see here that such an imputation to those in conjunction is possible because it is actually done and it must needs be true because it is done by God who is Truth it self and cannot err You will say It cannot be true primitive Righteousness was never in us we never committed Adam's sin I answer This is one thing which over-turns Religion we are apt to reject that as false which our weak Reason cannot comprehend Is not an internal sin in the Will imputed to the Members of the Body if not why must the Body rise and suffer for it if so sin may be imputed to that which it never resided in in this case the conjunction salves the matter and by a parity of Reason Adam's Righteousness and Sin may be imputed to us as being parts and Members of him and the Imputation is true because it is to those in conjunction and according to a just constitution God set Adam to be a Head of Mankind we are propagated from him as Branches from the Root his fin therefore may be justly imputed to us the Imputation of it is according to the Divine Constitution But the reason of that Imputation is because Adam the Head of Mankind sinned and all in him It is a pretty question which is started in Anselm De Concept Virg. cap. 4. how the Senses and Members in Man should be guilty of sin when God himself subjected them to Man's Will I answer God's order was meet and congruous in so subjecting them yet the act of the Will renders them guilty as being in conjunction with it in like manner God's Constitution that Adam should be the Head of Mankind was just and equitable but this transgression of Adam derives a guilt upon us as being parts and Members of him 2ly The Conjunction between Christ and us must be considered and that is double The one is that Conjunction which is between Christ and Mankind in common the Titles given to Christ will manifest it he is a Mediator not only an internuntial one but a satisfying and atoning one a Mediator above all Peer or Parallel and that in all his Offices in which he acted not as a private Person or in his own name only But as the Office was in Gods or ours in his Prophetical and Kingly Offices he acted in God's Name towards us in his Priestly Office he acted in our Name towards God hence the Apostle saith that every Priest is ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Men Heb. 5.1 to act in their behalf towards God he was our Sponsor or Surety he undertook to satisfie Justice for us Loe I come to do thy will O God saith he Heb. 10.7 Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices could not pay our Debts but he would do it and for that purpose he took an Humane Nature to do it in never was there such a Surety as he he undertook to satisfie for us not as common Sureties do upon a meer contingency but upon a certain determinate Counsel not when we were solvents or able to reimburse him again but when we were known utter bankrupts under a perfect impossibility to expiate the least sin So plenary was that satisfaction that if we receive him by Faith we are Debtors no longer all our debts are blotted out of God's Book no more to be charged upon us a second payment cannot be demanded of us he was the representative of Mankind He did sustinere nostram personam he stood in our room he suffered in our stead not only nostro bono but nostro loco it may be thought perhaps that Christ was not a proper substitute but it was well said by the Learned Rivet in another case Regulis Legibus humanis Deum alligare vult pulvis cinis We are apt to limit the Holy one to our Rules and measures But if the Mysteries of Christ may be put into the straights of humane Laws and Reason he can scarce be properly any thing of that which the Scripture ascribes to him he cannot properly be a Surety and a Mediator too much less a Priest and a Sacrifice too least of all these and a Redeemer too in the same sufferings A Mediator doth not pay as a Surety doth nor a Surety offer as a Priest doth nor a Priest die as a Sacrifice doth neither is a Redeemer the very same with these but distinct from them all may there be a proper Priest and Redeemer a proper Offering and Paying a proper Sacrifice and Price in the same sufferings these conjunctions seem to carry difficulty in them Nevertheless I verily believe that he was properly all these yet in a way of transcendency above humane Law and Reason it is observable in Scripture that one notion of Christ runs into another the notion of a Mediator into that of a Redeemer he is a Mediator who gave himself a ransom 1 Tim. 2.5 6. the notion of a Mediator into that of a Priest he is a Mediator for the Redemption of Transgressions Heb. 9.15 that is for the expiation of them by offering up himself to God as it is in the precedent verse the notion of a Priest into that of a Surety hence in the midst of a Divine Discourse touching his Priesthood comes in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the surety of the Covenant Heb. 7.22 nay it is observable that these notions of Christ are interwoven with that of a Substitute as the mode of performing them Thus as a Priest he gave himself an Offering and a Sacrifice for us Ephes 5.2 as a Redeemer he was made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 as a Mediator and Redeemer he gave himself a ransom for all 1 Tim. 2.5 6. in each of which the substitution comes in hence it appears that Christ is properly all these or else as Socinus would have it all seems to be but a Metaphor To add no more these Conjunctions tell us that Christ was so far one with us that those things fell upon him which otherwise he was utterly incapable of The Holy One was made sin the Blessed One a curse his sufferings were properly penal such as were not
Speculum Theologiae in Christo OR A VIEW OF SOME Divine Truths Which are either Practically Exemplified IN JESUS CHRIST Set forth in the GOSPEL Or may be reasonably deduced from thence By EDWARD POLHILL of Burwash in Sussex Esq LONDON Printed by A. M. and R. R. for Tho. Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market MDCLXXVIII TO THE CHRISTIAN READER IT was anciently observed by St. Austin touching the Prophets under the Old Testament Non tantum lingua illorum hominum verum etiam vita fuit Prophetica They did not only prophesie or reveal the mind of God by words but by things done by or upon them Isaiah must walk naked and barefoot to shew the shame of the Egyptian captivity Jeremy must go down to the Potters House and there see the Vessel marred to give the Jews a pregnant demonstration that God could unmake and destroy them Ezekiel was to remove and bring forth his stuff to give them a lively representation of their captivity Above all this was eminently seen in our great Prophet Jesus Christ He did not only reveal the Gospel but he himself is the substance and marrow of it He is the very mirror of Divine Truths and Perfections His stile is the Image of the invisible God the brightness of the Fathers Glory As an eternal Son he is such in himself As incarnate he is such to us The Messiah say the Rabbins is facies Dei the face of God The Glory of God faith the Apostle is in the face of Jesus Christ The Divine perfections appear in him as beauty doth in the face The invisible one may here be seen the inaccessible Majesty may be approach'd unto Infinity to accommodate it self to our Model appears nube carnis in a Cloud of flesh that his glory might not swallow us up In our Emanuel we have a body of Theology an excellent Summary of Divine Truths in a very lively manner set forth to us The Atheist who owns not a God in Heaven might here if he had eyes of Faith see God in the flesh The Wisdom of God doth here appear not in the orders and harmonies of nature but in a plot much greater and more admirable God and Man infinite and finite Eternal and Temporal are met in conjunction that the human finite temporal nature in Christ might be the Theater for the Divine Infinite Eternal nature to shew its perfections in The Truth of God manifests it self illustriously in that no difficulty could hinder the early promise of the Messiah made immediately after the fall of man neither could any time bury it in oblivion He would be true in that which was the hardest thing for him to do in parting with his only begotten out of his bosom for us After many ages the Promise must bud and blossom and bring forth the Messiah We see here That God is the holy one his hatred of sin is writ in Red Characters in the blood and wounds of our dear Lord. His love to holiness was such that he would send his own Son in the flesh to recover holiness into the heart of man again We have here Providence accurately watching over our Saviour all-along first over his Genealogy then over his birth life death resurrection And lastly over the issue of all a Church raised up to sing Hosannah's to him for ever Omnia plena Sacramentorum saith an Ancient Every thing in Christ reads us a Lecture of Divinity He being the second Adam who brought in righteousness and life unto men we are sure that there was a first who brought in sin and death to them From his conception being an extraordinary one we may plainly gather what the Two states of Nature and Grace are By the common generation we are flesh of flesh unclean creatures By the power of the regenerating spirit overshadowing our hearts we become spirit of spirit holy new-creatures In his life and preaching we have miracles triumphing over nature and all the order of it Mysteries exceeding Reason and all its Acumen and a Samplar of humility Meekness Mercy Righteousness Holiness Obedience such as the Sun never saw In his death we have what the proud Socinian thinks impossible Infinite Mercy and Infinite Justice kissing and embracing each other Mercy was seen that God should give his only his dearly beloved Son for us Justice was seen that God should exact of him standing in our stead as much as would counterpoize the sin and suffering of a World in his glorious satisfaction We see what that is which justifies sinners and makes them stand before the Holy God In his excellent example we see how justified ones which are mystical parts and pieces of him ought to walk and tread in his steps These things are the subject matter of the ensuing Discourse may all who are called Christians study Jesus Christ The little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reason of Man is much cried up in this Age may we much more adore the Infinite Word and Wisdom of God The temper of St. Bernard may be recommended to all Si scribas non sapit mihi nisi legero ibi Jesum si disputes aut conferas non sapit mihi nisi sonuerit ibi Jesus The devout Father could not relish any thing but Jesus Christ may our hearts ever burn and be inflamed with love to him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg may we desire none but Christ Non aliud praeter illum non aliud tanquam illum non aliud post illum Nothing besides him nothing like him nothing after him This is the scope of my Book if it profit or do good to any it is enough and as much as is desired by him who is A Lover of Truth Edw. Polhill Jan. 21. 1677. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. A short View of Gods Allsufficiency and condescension in revealing himself p. 1 2. The various ways of manifestation In the making of the World and Man p. 3 4 5 6. After the fall in the Moral Law and in types and shadows p. 7. Lastly and above all in and by Jesus Christ p. 8. CHAP. II. Christ considered as a Prophet and a Speculum p. 9. The Divine Attributes shine in him particularly Wisdom p. 10. The obstacles of Redemption to be removed p. 11 12. The Son of God fit for the work p. 13. Many admirable conjunctions of God and Man of Justice and Mercy of Punishment and Obedience in Christs sufferings p. 14 15. Of Satisfaction and a kind of execution of the Law p. 16. Of Satisfaction and Merit p. 17. Of Merit and Example p. 18. All tending to our salvation ibid. The rare conquest of Sin Satan the World Death p. 19 20 21. Humility of mind necessary p. 21. The desperate issue of the pride of Human Reason p. 21 22. Need of Humility from the threefold state of Reason in Integrity after the Fall after Faith p. 23 24 25. CHAP. III. Holiness the glory of the Deity
p. 26. By it God acts like himself and doth all for his own glory p. 27. It imports an hatred of sin and love of holiness in man p. 27 28. In all these respects it was manifest in Christ p. 28 29 c. It was not indecent for God to come in the flesh and dye p. 29 30. The glory of God breaks forth therein p. 31 32. His hatred of sin and design to extirpate it p. 33 34 35. His love to holiness in doing so much to recover it and linking it with salvation p. 35 36 37 38. We should be followers of God therein p. 38 39 c. CHAP. IV. Gods Punitive Justice asserted from Scripture and Nature p. 42 43 44. It was necessary that there should be a Satisfaction for sin p. 45. Rectoral Justice required it p. 46 to 48. Vnless Christs sufferings were satisfactory no good account can be given of them p. 49 50. It 's not enough to say That he was an Example of Patience p. 50. That he confirmed the Covenant p. 51. That Gods immense love was manifested therein or that his Resurrection assured ours ibid. 52 53. Gods Justice appears in that He though of infinite Mercy inflicted those sufferings on Christ p. 54 55. In that Christ the Patient was Man the Son of God an holy innocent One p. 55 to 58. In that the sufferings of Christ were proportionable to the sinning-powers in man p. 59. To the Law p. 60 61. To the sin and sufferings of a World p. 61 62 63. The fruits of his sufferings as to Himself and as to us p. 64 65. The dreadfulness of sin in respect of the sufferings of Christ and the miserable end of impenitent sinners p. 65 66 c. CHAP. V. Gods Love and Mercy manifested in that he stood not upon the old terms as he might and in giving his Son for us p. 70 to 75. The Socinian objection That if God loved us he was not angry answered p. 76 77 78. The earliness and freeness of Gods love in giving his Son p. 79 80 81. The greatness of the gift p. 82. The manner how he was given p. 83 84 85. The persons for whom p. 85 86 87. The evils removed and the good procured by it p. 87 to 91. The excellent Evangelical terms built upon it p. 91. These are easie and sure p. 92 93 94. The Love and Mercy of God an excellent Motive to stir up our love towards God and man p. 95 96 97 c. CHAP. VI. The Power of God manifest in Christ p. 99 100. In his incarnation and conception p. 100 101 102. In his Miracles p. 103 104. These were true in the History p. 104 105 106. True in the nature of Miracles p. 107. They were numerous and great 108 109 110. They were suited to the Evangelical Design p. 111 112. Divine Power manifest in converting the World notwithstanding its deep corruption and the opposition of Potentates and Philosophers to the Gospel p. 113 to 124. The instruments mean that the power might be of God p. 124 125. The Gospel proposes super-rational Mysteries super-moral Virtues super-mundane rewards things so much above us that without a Divine power the proposal would have been fruitless p. 126 127. CHAP. VII The Truth of God manifested in Christ p. 133 134. The Promise of the Messiah p. 134. The Messiah is already come ibid. 135. Jesus is the true Messiah p. 136 137 138. All the other promises are built upon him 138 139. The truth of the Moral Law evidenced in him 139. The Mandatory part proved by his active Obedience The Minatory by his Sufferings p. 139 140 141. He is the substance of the Types and Sacrifices p. 142 143 144. Somewhat in him answers to them p. 144 145. And somewhat in him infinitely transcends them p. 146 to 149. The truth of Worship set forth in him p. 150. He unclogged it from Rituals opened the spiritual mode of it communicates Grace for it reveals the great Reward of Eternal Life p. 150 151 152. CHAP. VIII Gods Providence asserted from Scripture Philosophy and Reason 156 157 158. It hath a double act Conservative and Ordinative p. 159 160 161. Both are manifested in Christ p. 162. It was over Christ over his Genealogy Birth Life Death p. 162 163 164. Over the fruit of his Satisfaction in raising up a Church p. 165. It aimed at a Church directed the means and added the blessing p. 166 167. That opinion That Christ might have dyed and yet there might have been no Church is false p. 168 169 170. All other Providences reduced to those over Christ and the Church p. 171 to 176. Epicurus's Objection against Providence answered p. 176 177 178. Providence over free acts of men asserted and yet Liberty not destroyed p. 178 to 186. The objections touching the afflictions of good men and the event of sin solved p. 186 to 192 The Entity in sinful actions distinct from the Anomy the Order from the Ataxy p. 192 193 c. CHAP. IX The Doctrine of Original sin the great moment of it p. 202 to 205. Adam's sin imputed to us p. 206. The proof of it from Scripture p. 207 to 209. Adam's capacity p. 210. Adam's righteousness ibid. Objections answered p. 211 to 215. Our inherent pravity p. 216. The proof of it from Scripture p. 217 218. The experience of our hearts p. 219 to 221. The actual sins in the world p. 222 223. The doctrine of Original sin manifested from Christs extraordinary Conception p. 224 225. His Headship opposed to Adam's p. 226 from the institution of Baptism p. 227. The wickedness of the Jews in crucifying of Christ p. 228 229. The purchase of Regeneration and Salvation made by Christ p. 230 to 234. A short improvement of this Doctrine p. 235 236 c. CHAP. X. Touching Grace p. 239. The fountain of it Gods love ib. 240. The streams supernatural gifts p. 240 241. The center Heaven p. 242. It s freeness in that all perish not in the fall Original sin meriting death and Christ being a free gift p. 242 to 248. It s freeness in chusing a Church to God p. 248. Election not of all p. 249. No Legislative act but a singling out of some to life in an infallible way and meerly of Grace 250 to 259. It 's freeness in the external and internal Call p. 259 to 262. The distinction between the two Calls 263 to 269. The efficacy of Grace as to the Principles of Faith and other graces with the manner of their production p. 269 to 276. As to actual believing and willing with the proofs of it 276 to 285. As to perseverance in faith and holiness p. 285 286. The Habits of Grace desectible in themselves but not in their dependence p. 287 to 295. CHAP. XI Touching Justification as to the Law p. 325 to 327. Christs Righteousness constitutes us righteous p. 328. A double imputation One to the proper Agent another to those in
swallowed up in weakness Let him come down from the Cross and we will believe him Matth. 27.42 as if without a fresh Miracle all his holy Doctrines would vanish into nothing The Jews who were for Signs stumbled and fell in the midst of those glorious Miracles which he wrought among them The Greeks who were for Wisdom saw nothing but foolishness in the midst of the divine Mysteries which he brought down out of his Fathers Bosom A crucified Christ look'd like a spectacle of weakness and folly But here the divine Wisdom appears in that as the Apostle hath it The foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God stronger than men This crucified Christ shall attract a Church out of the corrupt Mass of mankind the foolishness of Preaching shall do it The Plato's or Aristotles of the World shall not be employed in the work no there shall be only Piscatoria simplicitas a few Fishermen shall catch men and draw them home unto God to the effectually called this despised Christ shall be the power and wisdom of God The divine Spirit merited by him shall endue them with a wisdom much higher than that of Nature and Philosophy and cloathe them with a power to make them live above all the hopes and fears of this World Death the last Enemy which had devoured so much humane flesh did not spare that Sacred portion which was assumed into the Son of God but in his death Death it self was swallowed up in Victory It passes indeed upon all men but when it comes to a Believer it lays by its sting and becomes only a passage into life Eternal To conclude In all these Conquests we may see one Contrary brought out of another Life out of Death Power out of Weakness a Blessing out of a Curse and a Victory out of Sufferings which speaks no less than an admirable contrivance therein These appearances of Divine Wisdom naturally teach us humility of mind Humane Reason is indeed in its own Orb an excellent Light but a greater than it the Reason of God himself comes forth to us in supernatural Mysteries to make us sit down at his feet for Instruction Nothing can be more just and purely rational than for our Intellect being finite to be subject to the infinite Truth and being lighted up by God to do homage to its great Original It 's true ever since man tasted of the Tree of Knowledg his Reason hath had a malignant pride in it of a Minister it would be a Lord over our Faith assuming the Magisterial Chair it would fall a-judging Divine Mysteries it would comprehensively span them within it self and what could not be so comprized it would out of enmity cast away as spurious This in the issue hath so far as it hath prevailed desperately overturned all Faith in the act and in the object in the act for to believe a thing because I can comprehend it is not faith in God but trusting in my own heart not a sealing to his Veracity but a subscribing to my own Sagacity Hence the learned Maresius saith of the Socinians That they have manus oculatas hands with eyes in them that only do they believe which they see they will trust God no further than they see him Also in the Object this hath been very subversive to the Gospel In the Pagan Philosophers whose Motto was Soli rationi cedo it cast away Christ crucified as foolishness and the Gospel as an absurd Fable it reflected on Christians as meer Simpletons men of an easie and irrational faith hence that jeer of Cato Stultitia est morte alterius sperare salutem it 's folly to hope for salvation in the death of another In the Socinians whose Rule is Nihil credi potest quod a ratione nequeat capi nothing can be believed which cannot be comprehended by Reason it hath blown up the fundamental Articles of Christianity the sacred Trinity to them is a contradiction the Hypostatical Union an irrational repugnancy the Satisfaction of Christ a contumely to Gods grace and in all this they do but build a Tower a Name to their own Reason and as a just punishment in the doing of it they fall into confusion and inconsistencies Mar. Hydra Tom. 2.460 Sometimes they make the Law to exact a more perfect obedience than the Gospel Sometimes the Gospel to call for a more accurate righteousness than the Law To evert Satisfaction they lift up Grace but to elevate Free-will they depress it They own a God yet deny his Prescience they say Christ is but a creature yet they worship him Thus that great thing Reason falling from the supreme Truth becomes a forlorn spectacle of vanity In a kind of self-splendor it goes out in the darkness of errour and confusion But now to humble our minds it is of excellent use to consider the divine Wisdom which is so much above us When our Reason stands by sense it hath a noble stature and greatness but as soon as it turns about to infinite Wisdom it perceives a greater Presence than it self and must in all reason confess it self a little spark a very Nothing in comparison It cannot step out into the sphere of Nature but it finds matter of humility being true to it self it can do no less than say that it is everywhere posed and nonplust It is not able rationally to stand under the secrets of Nature much more must it stoop and do reverence before such a Mystery as that is God manifest in the flesh in which the transcendent Mystery amazes us and the unparallel'd Pattern draws us into humility Thither must we come or else turn Infidels and allow Reason for a Deity saying with Seneca Quid aliud voces animam quà m Deum in humano corpore hospitantem What is the rational Soul but God dwelling in flesh a kind of Christ or rather Antichrist This I am sure Christian ears cannot bear But a little more to demonstrate how necessary a thing humility of mind is let us consider Reason in a three-fold state then it will appear that Reason in its Integrity could not find out supernatural Mysteries in its Fall cannot spiritually know them and lastly in the irradiations of Faith cannot comprehend them 1. Reason in its Integrity could not find them out The pure primitive light in Adam could dive into the secrets of Nature but it could not reach such a Mysterie as that of the sacred Trinity which is the fundamental center of Christian Religion He could name the creatures and that significantly to their natures but that Question What is his sons name Prov. 30.4 would have been too hard for him There are say the School-men some obscure Images of the Trinity in the Volume of Nature but they were found out à posteriori and not to be read till after Revelation and how should humane Reason dictate in those things which it could not find out or know any thing from it self when it hath
working When Satan who labours to emulate Divine Works doth wonders the end of them declares their Original suitably to the Author they serve only to lead men into lies and Idolatries Antichrist comes with lying wonders 2 Thes 2.9 Lying wonders in themselves as being phantasms and mockeries of sense and lying wonders as tending to confirm men in false Doctrine and Worship but the Miracles of Christ being real ones were done to ratifie the super-natural Truths and pure Worship of God The Jews have a rule that we should believe him who doth Miracles unless he be the Author of Idolatrous Worship had they adhered to this rule they could not but have embraced our Saviour who with so many Miracles sealed up the true Doctrine and Worship of God 2. The Miracles of Christ were not a few but very numerous not in one or two places but diffused over the Creation thereby to proclaim that the Creator was come down to redeem the World There were Miracles upon the Water he turned it into Wine John 2.9 Shewing himself to be the Lord of Nature here doing that in an instant which he doth every year in the Vine Miracles in the Sea a fish brings him the tribute-money Matth. 17.27 to declare that all Creatures were Tributaries to him After an whole nights toil to no purpose the Net being let down at his word enclosed a great multitude of fishes Luk. 5.5 6. So that the awe of his Divine Power fell upon all the Spectators Miracles upon the Sea and Air together in a Tempest he rebuked the winds and the Sea and there was a great calm Matth. 8.26 as a proof that all the Elements were his servants Miracles upon the loaves in multiplying of them John 6.11 and upon the fig-tree in making it to wither away Matth. 21.19 as a clear demonstration that his blessing and curse were great things Miracles upon the bodies of men in healing all manner of sickness and disease Matth. 4.23 and upon their souls too in making them every whit whole John 7.23 in token that he was the great Physician of both Miracles in Heaven at his Birth a star conducted the Wise-men to him Matth. 2.2 at his passion the Sun was darkned Matth. 27.45 The star waited upon its Creator at his Birth the Sun sympathized with him in his Passion Miracles upon the Devils in casting them out by his Word Matth. 8.16 A sure sign that the Powers of Hell could not stand it out against him Very various are the Miracles of our Saviour recorded in Scripture But if all had been written the world could not have contained the books saith St. John Chap. 21. vers 25. The words are Hyperbolical yet they import that many of his Works were not committed to Writing Arnobius enumerates the miraculous Works of Christ and then cries out Adv. Gent. l. 1 Quid simile Dii omnes a quibus opem dicitis aegris periclitantibus latam When did the Pagan Cods do the like from whom you say that help is afforded to men in sickness or danger Never was there such plenty of Miracles as here 3. The Miracles of Christ were very great He did those works which no other man did Joh. 15.24 It was never so seen in Israel Matth. 9.33 I shall instance in two or three things First he raised up the dead The maid in her Fathers house the young man carried out upon the byer and Lazarus four days dead and stinking in the Grave What things are these How much above all the Powers in Nature In the sixth Council at Constantinople Crab. Tom. 2.386 Polychronius a Monothelite in Confirmation of his opinion offered to raise up a dead man but upon tryal he could do nothing at all which made the people cry out Novo Simoni Anathema Polychronio seductori populi Anathema The Emperor Basilius being in great grief for his deceased Son Spondan Annal 879. Theodorus Santabarenus presented his Son to him as alive but this was but a meer spectrum an illusion of sense After a few kisses and embraces the Emperor saw his Son no more Apollonius did call up the Ghost of Achilles that is to say a Devil De Verit. Relig. as the noble Mornay speaks Elisha raised the Shunamites Son to life but he was only a Minister and a Type of Christ the Power of God did the work but our Saviour raised the dead by his own Divine Power Another instance is his restoring sight to one born blind John 9. Touching which the blind man saith Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind vers 32. It was a work fit for the Messiah It is indeed storied that Vespasian the Emperor restored sight to the blind but it may be the person was not really blind at least not naturally Satan as Bellarmine well observes might possibly reside in his Eye and impede the use of that part that he might seem to cure when he did but cease to hurt But our Saviour by a Power above Nature and Art did cure one really and naturally blind and that with Clay a thing in it self more probable to put out Eyes than to cure them And so there was as the Rabbins speak Miraculum in miraculo one Miracle within another much as it was when the bitter waters were made sweet by salt 2 King 2.21 Another instance we have in his casting out Devils this was the Finger and Power of God It is said indeed that Apollonius did cast Devils out of Men But how Rayn de lib. Ap. Tom. 2. fol. 990 991. It was in the very Method and Discipline of Devils by such words and symbols as they themselves had prescribed so it was not an ejection but a going out by consent to honour the Sacraments of their own making But our Saviour did not cast them out in their own way but whether they would or not by his Almighty Power It is further to be noted that soon after the Death of our Saviour the Devils Oracles were struck Dumb. The Oracle told Augustus That the Hebrew Child bid him leave that house and be gone to Hell no more answers were to be expected from thence Whereupon Augustus erected an Altar in the Capitol with this inscription upon it Haec ara est primogeniti Dei the Altar of the first-begotten of God The Evangelical light made the Oracles cease the Priests of Delphos were brought to beggery Plutarch Morn de Ver. writing touching the ceasing of Oracles at last cometh to this point That the Spirits were mortal and by their Death the Oracles ceased Oh! what an one was our Saviour who made the Pagan Gods shrink and hide their heads What a Divine Light was he who chased away those false Lights These Works were for Greatness such as became God manifest in the flesh 4. The Miracles of Christ were excellently suited to the Evangelical design Miracles in their general Nature are
foundation of the Law Dr. Li. Harm fol. 38. The words of the Scribes say they are more worthy than the words of the Law and more weighty than the words of the Prophets Thus departed they from the Scriptures and run themselves into a Labyrinth of Errors the power and vigor of Religion was evaporated into rituals and empty formalities if their Phylacteries were broad it was no matter how narrow the Law or Obedience to it were A clean outside would serve the turn though within there were nothing but hellish pollution Great vices might pass so as they were but sub umbrâ virtutis under a shadow of virtue their honesty was confined to those of their own Religion none else were neighbours with them they might lye or deal falsly with a stranger he was no neighbour if they did kill a stranger Seld. de sure Nat. Dr. Li. Harm fol. 46. they were not to dye for it by the sentence of the Sanhedrin he was no neighbour Nay and among themselves their Corban was able to untie the bonds of Nature and free them from Duty and Charity to their very Parents they seemed to be for cleansing the outside yet they fell into gross abominations The very Scribes and Pharisees their great Rabbies and Leaders from whom they were not to decline though they were told by them that their right-hand were their left would devour Widows houses and what but frauds and oppressions could be looked for among the ordinary sort Indeed among great and small ones there was a deluge of iniquity they had made their sins great and to fill up the measure they killed the Lord of life This was the fearful state of the Jews The Gentile World lay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 5.19 in the evil one in the hand and power of the Devil or in that which is evil in wickedness corrupting as a dead man doth in his Grave It 's true within they had an implanted notion of a Deity without they had the Creatures proclaiming their Creator But alas They held the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 That little spark in their bosom which revealed a Deity was but a Captive it could not break out to give Glory to its Maker nor was it able to bear up the Honour of God in the World They could not but know God yet acknowledg him they would not though he made and bear up all things yet they owned him not no not in his own World They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed leasts and creeping things Rom. 1.23 And a little after They changed the truth of God into a lye and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Vers 25. They fell into all manner of Idolatries any thing might be God but the true one An high dishonour it was for them to prefer the vilest Creatures before the Optimus Maximus the best and greatest of Beings An horrible lye it was for them practically to say That a brute or a man or a star was a God or that a stock or a stone or a little dead matter in an Image did resemble the infinite Spirit Upon their Idolatry being an accursed departure from God the fountain of Goodness immediately followed a black train of abominations They were filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murder debate deceit malignity whisperers back-biters haters of God despiteful proud boasters inventers of evil things disobedient to parents without understanding covenant-breakers without natural affection implacable unmerciful Rom. 1.29 30 31. They were in these things as in their Element acting out of sinful hearts and habits and so gratifying their first and second corrupt Nature both at once And for all this they seemed to have a Patent from Heaven in the Vices of their gods which their own Authors set before them they did but follow their Deities their sins were made Divine by the highest Example This was the state of the Gentiles And now what manner of Power was that which raised up an holy People to God out of so corrupted a World And how much work was there to be done about it The light was to be commanded out of darkness The blind minds were to be opened upon Divine Mysteries The Law was to come forth in its pure Spirituality The great necessity of Christ and Grace was to be inwardly felt Shadows were to be turned into substance Religion was to be brought back to the heart The musty Traditions were to vanish before the Word The old Idols to be cast to the Bats and the Moles those blind Creatures The fallen Nature was to be new-framed The sinful habits to be unravelled Sinners twice dead in sin were to be raised up into a Divine Life Here a very excellent Power was manifested Hence the Apostle prays for the Ephesians That they may have eyes to see it that they may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Eph. 1.19 20. The words are very magnificent Power mighty Power exceeding greatness of Power all working and in act as it was in the raising up Christ from the dead so great a work is it to bring home sinners to God! The Divine Power will yet be more illustrious in our Eyes if we look upon the state of the World in the great Men of it such as were great in Power or Wisdom The great men in Power the Emperors and Potentates of the World were utter Enemies to Christianity breathing out nothing but blood against the Professors of it Nero first kindled the furnace of Persecution against them he took occasion as pure malice uses to do from his own barbarous act first causing Rome to be set on fire and then casting the odium of that horrid act upon the Christians He set forth Edicts commanding to persecute them unto Death as Enemies of mankind which made Tertullian say That it was grande bonum Apol. cap. 5. some great good that Nero condemned Domitian first slew his Brother Titus and then blowed up the furnace of Persecution against the Christians He spent most of his time in catching of flies yet would not omit the Christians Trajan no Nero no Domitian but in esteem a pattern of uprightness carried on the bloody work he would not indeed have the Christians sought for yet if found he would have them punished Antoninus Philosophus was amiable to all others yet cruel to Christians Severus though illustrious in Moral virtues was stained with their innocent blood Afterwards Maximinus Si Tyberis ascendit in mania si Nilus non ascendit in arva si coelum stetit si terra movit si fames si lues statim Christianos ad leonem acclamatur Tert. Ap. cap. 39. Decius Valerianus
established by Grace Again The Power of God being revealed in a way of Grace How should we look up to him by Faith that he may do great things for us He who gave his own Son to come in the flesh can do every thing for us He can raise up Children to Abraham out of the very stones He can melt the Rocky heart into Repentance He can write his Law in the inward parts He can make us willing in the day of his Power He can subdue the most strong and inveterate lusts He can new-frame the heart and draw his own Image upon it He can make all Grace abound towards us and supply all our need according to his Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus Let us look unto him and be saved Let our Souls ever be in a posture of waiting and dependance upon him that the Divine Power which was so eminently manifested in Christ may in a measure be felt and experimented in us that we who are poor impotent Creatures in our selves may be able to do all things through Christ strengthning us CHAP. VII Chap. 7 The Truth of God manifested in Christ The Promise of the Messiah The Messiah is already come Jesus is the true Messiah All the other Promises are built upon him The truth of the Moral Law evidenced in him The Mandatory part proved by his active Obedience The Minatory by his Sufferings He is the substance of the Types and Sacrifices Somewhat in him answers to them and somewhat in him infinitely transcends them The truth of Worship set forth in him He unclogged it from Rituals opened the spiritual mode of it communicates Grace for it reveals the great Reward of Eternal Life HAving spoken of other Attributes I proceed in the last place to consider the TRUTH of God It was a notable speech of a Philosopher That Truth is so great a Perfection that if God would render himself visible unto men he would chuse Light for his Body and Truth for his Soul Indeed God is Ipsissima Veritas very Truth it self and can no more cease to be such than he can cease to be Himself He is true in his Essence Others are only gods by fancy or fiction but he is God by nature and essence He is true in his Promises he means what he promises and he doth what he means Promissa tua sunt Confes l. 12. c. 1â— quis falli timeat cum promittit veritas saith St. Austin He is true in his Commands these are the counterpanes of his Will he approves what he commands and rewards what he approves He is true in all his Works the Creatures have first an Ideal being in him before they have a real one in themselves they are therefore true because congruous to the first Truth He is so true that it is impossible that he should lye A lye which arises from weakness or wickedness can no more be found in him than Weakness can be found in Power or Wickedness in Sanctity it self The Truth of God doth in an excellent manner appear in Jesus Christ He is the Complement of the Law the Pearl of the Gospel The Truths of the Old Testament run unto him as to an Ocean to be swallowed up in his Perfection The Truths of the New meet in him as in the Center to receive all their strength and stability from him The Divine Truth is manifested in Jesus Christ several ways First It is manifested in him in that all the Promises and Predictions of a Messiah to come are accomplished and compleated in him Two things will clearly evidence this The one is this It is plain that the promised-Messiah is already come The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be saith Jacob Gen. 49.10 Shiloh is the Name of the Messiah the ancient Rabbins confess it Messiah saith one of them shall not come till there be a clean riddance of Judges and Magistrates in Israel The Jews had Kings in their own Land Heads or Princes of the Captivity in Babylon and after their return from thence they had Governours and Judges but now Government and Judiciary Power hath been for 1600 years departed from them The Messiah therefore is already come Again within the compass of the Seventy weeks mentioned in Dan. 9 many things were to come to pass The re-edifying the City and Temple of Jerusalem the coming and cutting off the Messiah the confirmation of the Covenant the cessation of the Sacrifices and after all these the universal destruction was to ensue However these weeks be computed yet it evidently appears that first the Messiah was to come and be cut off ver 26 and afterwards the Oblation and Sacrifice was to cease v. 27 this being the true order of things in the Text the Messiah must needs come whilst the Sacrifices were standing If the Sacrifices under this second Temple have for these 1600 years ceased as they have then the Messiah must needs be come many Centuries since Scho. Sacr. disput 10.72 73 74. Franzius used this argument to a learned Jew who only returned this answer Perhaps one week in Daniel might be one thousand years Franzius replied If that were admitted Yet if he thought that Daniel's weeks were not expired he would entreat him to shew where the Jews do now sacrifice seeing according to Daniel the Messiah was to come before the abrogation of the Sacrifices it must needs be that the Sacrifices must still stand in being if the Messiah were not yet come To this no answer at all was made the knot being indeed too hard to be untied Further the Messiah was to come while the second Temple was standing hence that of the Prophet The glory of this latter House shall be greater than of the former Hag. 2.9 The first Temple had more of outward glory and magnificence than the second Under the first there were as the Rabbins observe five things the Ark the Fire from Heaven the Majesty or Shecinah the Spirit of Prophecy the Vrim and the Thummim which were wanting under the second From whence then came that greater glory in the second The Prophet tells us God would shake the heavens and the earth that is do a very great work the Messiah the Desire of all Nations should come v. 6 7 His presence should put a greater glory upon the second Temple than was upon the first In the first there was the types and symbols of Gods presence but into the second the Lord himself came in our assumed nature Mal. 3.1 and so filled it with glory This is the only tolerable account can be given of that greater glory This second Temple being long since destroyed it must needs be that the Messiah did come before the fall of it The other is this Our Jesus the Son of Mary is the true Messiah he is that seed of the woman who broke the Serpents head Gen. 3.15
from the fountain of light Leaving the first Truth it wanders and loses it self in a wilderness of Errors Forgetting its great Original it gropes in the dark about the Supreme End and cannot of it self find the dore to true happiness It doth and that by a singular priviledg above other creatures know its Maker and yet in an unreasonable manner it turns away from him and seeks an happiness in the lower World or at best in it self It should like the Celestial bodies move circularly and after a survey of all creatures return back to the same point from whence it came which is the bosom of God himself and yet it flies away from him and makes its nest in one Creature-vanity or other It hath a natural and indelible instinct after happiness and perpetually cryes out Who will shew us any good And yet it is not able so much as by a holy thought to aspire after the great Blessedness set forth before it in the Gospel Heavy things descend by a right line to their center Brutes hasten to those things which are congruous and convenient to their natures Only Man though endowed far above these with Reason and Liberty falls short and misses the mark Pure Precepts excellent Promises heavenly Mysteries are set before him in the Gospel yet without a supernatural illumination he cannot perceive or receive them at most he sees them only in the image or picture of the Letter but not in their liveliness and spiritual glory a form or shell of knowledg he may have but he doth not tast or savour the sweetness of them And all this because his Reason though active enough in naturals is in spirituals but as an eye without an optick faculty dark nay darkness it self The Will though its proper object be good turns away from God who is Goodness it self and seeks its chief good somewhere else It opens it self in a free choice to every vanity that passes by yet is it shut to God and all the offers of grace forsaking God the Fountain of Liberty it becomes an arrant Slave and Drudg to sin and which is wonderfully prodigious it is in love with its chains and loth to be made free indeed All the goodness in God Christ Heaven Blessedness outwardly proposed move it not to stir a foot towards such attracting objects still it hangs in vanity and lyes upon the dunghill of the world and rowls it self in the mire of one lust or other It hath an enmity against God who made it free it would be above his Will who is Supreme rather than its inordinate lusts should be restrained it would have God cease to be There is in every man De Civit. l. 14. cap. 28. as St. Austin speaks Amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei a love of himself even to the contempt of God The Affections are all vain earthly carnal mutinous against reason insomuch that they by an unnatural violence depose it and so unman the man Hence he becomes as the beasts that perish The Reason saith this or that is good but the Affections repugn and resist The Soul is paralytick Reason moves to the right hand Affection to the left and carries all before it Hence that saying Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor The Affections which primitively were servants to Reason are now upon the Throne Reason though once a Royal Prince is dethroned and become servile That which is the glory of our nature and proves us to be men that is hurried up and down by the rude rabble of lusts and malapert passions This being the natural frame and temper of man let us sit down and consider Was it thus from the beginning Was humane nature such in the first impression Did God put his Reason under a Cloud or his Will into chains and servitude Was it from God that the one turns away from the first truth and the other from the chief good Did God put into man an instinct after happiness in vain or inspire into him an immortal spirit that it might creep upon the earth and pour out it self to every vanity Did God create man at variance with himself and at first set up that unnatural intestine war which is between the rational and sensitive powers Was it his pleasure that the inferior faculties in man should contumaciously reluct against the superior or that the superior should basely serve the inferior Without doubt it cannot be God is light purity Wisdom it self these things are darkness corruption ataxy and cannot be from him No other account can be given of them but this That they are the bruises of the fall the wounds of corrupt nature 3. No man who looks abroad into the World can with any colour oppose this truth The millions of actual sins which as a mighty deluge overspread the world are as so many pregnant proofes of that original pravity which is in us In the old world all flesh had corrupted its way Gen. 6.12 Afterwards all nations walked in their own ways Acts 14.16 That is in sinful ones sin is the course of the world Ephes 2.2 It is the element and proper ubi of it the whole world lies in it 1 Joh. 5.19 And whence is it that sin is so universal that iniquity abounds in all times and places Our Saviour opens the bloody fountain of it Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false-witness blasphemies Matt. 15.19 All these black troops of wickedness issue out from the corrupt heart of man the inherent pravity which is there is seminally all the monsters of vice The Apostle Paul proving all under sin doth thus describe the corrupt estate of men There is none righteous no not one There is none that understandeth none that seeketh after God They are all gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable there is none that doeth good no not one Their throat is an open sepulcher with their tongues they have used deceit the poison of asps is under their lips Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness Their feet are swift to shed blood Destruction and misery are in their ways The way of peace have they not known There is no fear of God before their eyes Rom. 3. Here the Apostle paints out corrupt nature not that all men actually do these things but that there is in every one even from their infancy a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an universal seminary of iniquity a venemous root of all actual sins In this respect the description appertains to all even to little infants and the scope of the Text requires that it should be so interpreted for before this description the Apostle tells us that all are under sin vers 9 and after it that every mouth is stopped that all the world is guilty before God that by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in his sight vers 19 20 and afterwards that all have sinned and come short of the
be subject to Gods and in that subjection stands his Liberty and true Freedom His will doth not stand upon its own bottom but resignes up it self to his Grace to be made free indeed and to his commands as the supream Law his affections are not his own he suffers them not to wander up and down among the Creatures there to gather Hay and Stubble a false happiness to himself but he dispatches them away into the other World and makes them ascend up to God the true Center of Souls and Fountain of Goodness he surrenders up his Soul and all to God the Image of Heaven which is upon him plainly tells him that all is due to him who is above to keep back part of the price or substract ought from him is to lie to that Holy Spirit who hath set his stamp upon every part of the new Creature and by an Universal Sanctification sealed up the whole Man for his own The life of an Holy Man is a life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to God 1 Pet. 4.6 It aspires after an Imitation of the holy one it complies with his holy commands and in all aims at his glory as the supream end of all The Apostle notably sets forth this Consecration of Man to God they gave themselves to the Lord 2 Cor. 8.5 They would be their own no longer They surrendred up themselves to God they dedicated themselves to his Will and Glory All Christians nay almost all Men will at least seem to cry up an holy Life but that we may see wherein it doth consist I shall set down several things First An holy Life is not the product of our Natural Reason and Will Aug. in Job Tract 81. that of Pelagius A Deo habemus quod Homines sumus à nobis ipsis quod justi sumus That we are Men is from God that we are just Men is from our selves is impium effatum a very wicked Saying such as justly grates upon the Ears of good Men because it utterly evacuates the Grace of Christ It s true Reason is a very excellent thing it can dive into Nature and bring up some of the secrets of it It can teem out many Arts and Sciences it can measure out Rules and Moral Vertues to Men but it cannot make a Man holy it can of it self tell us That God is an Infinite Wise Just Good Superexcellent Being but after all is done it cannot raise up that Love to him which is the Spring of an holy Life that Love is from God and a fruit of the Holy Spirit Bellarmine laies down this very fairly and roundly Non posse Deum sine ope ipsius diligi De Grat. Lib. Ar. l. 6. c. 7. neque ut Authorem Naturae neque ut Largitorem Gratiae neque perfectè neque imperfectè ullo modo That without the help of Grace we cannot love God neither as the Author of Nature nor as the Giver of Grace neither perfectly nor imperfectly any way If Reason cannot elevate our Love to God then it cannot produce an holy Life which is a fruit of that Love Further it may having the Gospel set before it gather up a great stock of Notions touching God and Christ and the holy Commands in the Word and the incomparable Rewards in Heaven but it cannot raise up holy Principles and Actions in us if it could then the very first and rudest draught of Pelagius which made all Grace to consist in Doctrinâ Libero Arbitrio must be a very Truth then internal Grace which renews the Soul and rectifies the Faculties thereof must be a fancy needless and altogether superfluous its true the Will in Man is a free Principle but to Divine objects it is not at all free till it be made so by Grace There is such a gravedo Liberi Arbitrii such a pressure of innate corruption in it that it cannot ascend above it self to love God above all and dedicate the Life to him Thus we see that an Holy Life is too high a thing to issue forth from meer Principles of Nature when the Apostle tells us That Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance are Fruits of the Spirit Gal 5.22 It is no less than prophane to put our Spirit in the room of God's and to say these are the fruits of our Reason and Will when again he tells us that We are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works Ephes 2.10 It is horrible presumption in us to put by the New Creation and think that the Old may serve the turn for an holy Life I can as easily believe that Jewish Fable That there is in the Body a Luz a little Bone never putrifying from whence the Resurrection begins as that there is any thing left in fallen Man which in it self may become a Principle of Regeneration and holy Living could there be any such thing found in us there would be no necessity of Grace but of Nature only a Creator we might praise but a Redeemer we need not our own Spirit may serve the turn God's may be spared Secondly An holy Life is the fruit of a renewed and regenerated Heart it is the budding and blossoming of a Divine Nature in us in it a Man shews himself to be a Man off from the old stock of Adam and to be ingraffed into Christ and as a branch in him to have Life and Spirit from him to dedicate and consecrate himself unto a God Without this New state there can be no such thing as an holy Life upon this account St. Austin tells the Pelagians Contr. Jul. lib. 5. c. 4. those enemies of Grace That they were in their Doctrine Ruina morum the ruin of good Life For if you take away that Grace which makes the New Creatures there can be no such thing as an holy Life that must stand upon some foundation and in lapsed Nature there is there can be no other but a New Creature To shew this more fully I shall lay dawn two things distinctly The one is this An unregenerate Man cannot lead an holy Life The other is this An holy Life issues out of a Principle of Regeneration These two will fully clear the Point The first thing is An unregenerate Man cannot lead an holy Life I say not That an unregenerate Man cannot become regenerate but that an unregenerate Man whilst such cannot live holily not that there is a natural impotency a want of the Faculties of Understanding and Will but that there is a Moral one and in-dwelling corruption which renders him uncapable to attain to it That of our Saviour A corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good Fruit Matth. 7.18 carries a great evidence of Reason in it the Fruit cannot exceed the Tree the effect will not be better than the procreant cause is if an unregenerate Man be a corrupt Tree if an holy Life be good Fruit the one cannot proceed from the other It is vanity and
gratias Aust in Psal 132. God be thanked for this Mercy and that Mercy so in adversity his answer is an holy Silence under God's hand or if he open his mouth it is in some such Language as that It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good who should sit at the Stern and rule all but he his Will is supream and a law to it self his actions are all just and wise the holy Man will not murmur or charge him foolishly he will not interpose in the Government or so much as start a thought that things might be better ordered than they are what ever his sufferings be still he would have God govern still he concludes nothing can be better than that which God doth When he is tossed on Earth he casts his Anchor in Heaven his Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord in an admirable manner he hangs upon him who smites him he adheres to him who seems to cast him off he looks for a secret support from him who presses him down he expects that the very hand which wounded should heal him though all outward things take wing and fly away he will not part with God though God wrap up himself in a cloud of black Providences yet he will wait at the door of one Promise or other till he have a smile or glimpse of the Divine favour and if that be suspended yet he will wait on and comfort himself the affliction is not Hell all the troubles of this Life are but the ashes of the furnace a little time will blow them away and then comes an Heaven an Eternity of joy and comfort which pays for all The holy Man will wait but that is not all he sets himself seriously to read the meaning of the Cross and by comparing his Heart and this affliction he picks out the sence thus Here saith he pointing to his Heart is the vanity and there 's the Fan which drives away the Chaff here 's the dross of earthly affections and there 's the Fire which melts it away here are the ill humours and there the bitters Pills which purge them out and while he is humbling himself in such considerations as these at last he comes to read Love in the Cross and to have a sweet experience that even that works for his good God doth it in faithfulness to wean him from the Breasts of Creatures and to endear Heaven to him to make him learn that great Lesson To be subject to the Father of Spirits and live for ever to make his Faith and Patience come forth as gold doth out of the Furnace in their pure lustre and glory and as soon as he perceives this all is well he can now sit down and sing Deo gratias not to Blessings only but also to Afflictions upon the whole account he finds That it was good for him that he was afflicted Thus he sanctifies God under the Cross Take him in his Contracts and Dealings in the World he is holy there he doth according to that golden Rule Do to others as he would have them do to him In his Contracts he deals Bonâ fide truly and honestly so he makes and so he performs them In Selling he will have no more gain than what is reasonable and in a just proportion In Buying he will allow as much he imposes not upon an unskillful Person but uses him as one would a Child in a fair manner he will not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 go beyond his Brother he will not have Lucrum in Arcâ damnum in Conscientiâ gain in the Purse with loss in the Conscience No he loves plainness he speaks the truth he doth that which is just and right he carries himself like a true honest Man and this he doth with a respect to God Three great things God calls for in the Prophet To do justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with God Micah 6.8 If there be no Righteousness there will be no Mercy if there be no Mercy there will be no humble Walking with God Three great things the Gospel Grace calls for in the Apostle To live soberly righteously and godly in the World Tit. 2.12 Here is Summa Vitae Christianae the total of Christianity to live soberly as to our selves righteously as to others and godly as to God Still Righteousness is one of the three the holy Man deals justly not meerly because it is congruous to his own Reason but because it is congruous to the will of God the fear of God urges him to it If he did oppress Destruction from God would be a terror to him Job 31.23 A Divine Nemesis would pursue and overtake him the love of God constrains him to it God is true to him and he will not be false to others God is mercifull to him and he will not be unjust to others The honour of Religion calls for it from him He that is pious in the first Table must not be wicked in the second A Christian must not in Honesty be below a Pagan the Child of Grace must not live against Principles of Nature Grace is not to take away Morality but to refine and spiritualize it An horrible shame and blot it would be upon Christianity if Pagans should live as Men in just and fair dealing among themselves and yet Christians should live as Wolves or Beasts of prey tearing and devouring one another In nobis Christus patitur opprobrium De Gub. Dei lib. 4. saith Salvian As often as we do wrong the Holy JESVS suffers a Reproach in us The Holy Man therefore will deal justly that Religion may not suffer by him Lastly Take him in a Calling he is holy there he knows he must not be idle That of Cato hath been received as an Oracle Nihil agendo malè agere discis Idleness teaches to do evil it opens an ear to every extravagant motion it entertains every sinful fancy it tempts the Devil the great Tempter to tempt us St. Jerom adviseth his Friends thus Semper aliquid boni operis facito ut Diabolus te semper inveniat occupatum Be always a doing of some good thing that the Devil may not find thee at leisure the Holy Man therefore will have a Calling and therein he will abide with God 1 Cor. 7.24 and his Works by a Divine Prerogative are wrought in God Joh. 3.21 The Ordinance of God which saith That he must eat in sudore vultûs in the sweat of his brow presses him to diligence that he may do what the idle Man cannot eat his own Bread The All-seeing Eye of God which is upon all his ways makes him faithful in his station A mean Servant if holy serves in singleness of Heart fearing God Col. 3.22 The Eye of God which is upon him causes him to be upright in the service the Holy Man in the Works of his Calling so carries himself Davenant in Col. c. 3. ac si nihil aliud in hoc mundo esset
in Christ and then there is a Progeny of good Works first he quickens and gives us a Spiritual Being and then we walk and live an holy Life first there is a good Treasure of Grace in the Heart and then the good things are brought forth out of it Matth. 12.35 Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine whereto or into which you were delivered saith St. Paul Rom. 6.17 Here we see whence an holy Life springs the Gospel was not only delivered to them but by the Regenerating Spirit they were delivered into it and cast into the holy Mould of it and this was the true Reason of their Obedience in an holy Life Of his own Will begat he us with the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of First-fruits of his Creatures Jam. 1.18 The Apostle in the precedent verse shews us the infinite Sun or Fountain of all good things and in this Verse he gives us a famous instance in Regeneration opposing it to that concupiscence which is immediately before spoken of conpiscence is the Fountain of sin and so is Regeneratition of holy Obedience the very end of Regeneration is that we might be a kind of First-fruits of his Creatures separate from the World and consecrated unto God in an holy Life living as those who by Regenerating Grace are made a choice portion and peculiar People to him It is observed by some Divines That the Holy Patriarchs had barren Wives that their Posterity might shadow out the Church which is not produced by the power of Nature but of Grace the end of which production is that Fruit might be brought forth unto God in an Holy Life The Hebrew Doctors say That God out of his great Name Jehovah added the Letter He to the Names of Abraham and Sarah Hence that of the Cabalists Abram non gignit sed Abraham Sarai non parit sed Sarah In allusion to this I may say It is not the Humane Principles but the Divine Nature which Believers the Children of Abraham partake of that makes them bring forth the Fruits of an holy Life We have this exemplified in a greater than Abraham even in Jesus Christ he was first conceived of the Holy Ghost and then gave us that incomparable Pattern of Holiness in his excellent Life Sutably we are first supernaturally begotten to a Spiritual Being and then we live an Holy life He that Sanctifieth and they who are Sanctified are all of one Hebr. 2.11 Hence Camero observes De Eccles 223. that between Christ and Believers there is a wonderful Communion of Nature Both have an humane Nature Sanctified by the Holy Spirit he was conceived by the Holy Spirit they are regenerated by it that they may live unto God but to make this point the clearer I shall consider the two parts of the new Creature that is Faith and Love I call them so because the Apostle who saith Neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new Creature Gal. 6.15 saith also Neither Circumcision availeth nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 intimating that Faith and Love are two great parts of the new Creature an holy Life flows from both these Hence some Learned Divines observe that the good Acts of Heathens have an essential defect in them the good Acts of Believers have only a gradual defect but the good Acts of Heathens have an essential one in that they do not flow from Faith and Love and so cannot Center in the Glory of God Therefore St. Austin retracts that Speech wherein he said Retr lib. 1. cap. 3. Philosophos virtutis luce fulcisse that the Philosophers did shine with the light of virtue But to speak distinctly of these two Graces First An Holy Life-issues out of Faith an holy Life is virtually in Faith and proceeds actually from it Faith sees the commands of God to be as they are richly Engraven with the Stamps and Signatures of Divine purity and equity such as Proclaim that God is in them of a truth and that they are the very Counterpains of his Heart and from hence it presses the Believer unto obedience and secretly dictates that these are the very Will of God and must be done Thy word is very pure therefore thy Servant loveth it Saith David Psal 119.140 The Emphatical therefore in the Text cannot be practically understood by any thing but Faith the Carnal Mind which is enmity to God would argue from the purity of the command to the hatred of it but Faith such is its Divine Genius argues from thence to Love and Obedience It doth not only point out the Divine Authority which is stampt upon the command but shew the purity and rectitude which is there to attract us into our duty and that we may do it in a free filial manner Faith derives a free Spirit from Christ to make obedience easie and natural to us a Man with his old Heart drudges in the ways of God and brings forth duties as the Bond-woman did her Son in a dead Servile manner but when Faith comes the commands are easie and the Will is upon the Wheel ready to move sweetly and strongly in compliance thereunto The Believer is Spirited and new Natured for Obedience his Heart is in a posture to do the Will of God every where Faith finds Arguments and Impulsives for it Doth it look upon the Life of Christ it immediately concludes these are the steps of our dear Lord and shall we not follow him After whom shall we walk if not after him It 's true he walked in pure sinless perfection such as we cannot reach but the gracious Covenant hath stooped to our frailty and made us sure that sincerity will be aceepted and how can we deny it or refuse to comply with such condescending Grace Doth it look upon Christs wounds and bloody Death these will cast shame and confusion upon an unholy life May any one imagine that our Saviour bore the Curse and Wrath of God that we might provoke it or expiated our sins at so dear a rate as his own Blood and Life that we might indulge them who sees not now that Sin is bloody and holiness amiable and what easie terms are proposed to us when the Death and Curse was only Christ's and the sincere Obedience is all that is required to be ours Doth it look up for the Spirit the purchase of Christ's death We well know where that is to be found the more we walk in the holy Commands and ways of God the more are we like to have of the gales and Divine comforts of it while we are obeying and doing the Will of God that Spirit will usher in assistances and Heavenly consolations upon us to give us an experimental proof of that Promise That the Holy Spirit is given to them that obey him doth it look within the vail to the Rivers of pleasures and plenitudes of joy in Heaven where pious Souls see Truth in the
original and drink good at the Fountain head Nothing is more obvious than this that an holy Life is the true way thither who can rationally think that he can carry the blots and turpitudes of an impure Life into such a place or that any thing less than sincere Obedience can make him meet to enjoy God and holy Angels there nothing can be more vain than such an imagination as sure as Heaven is Heaven an holy Life must be the way thither Thus we see what a mighty influence Faith hath into Holiness hence Ignatius saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is the beginning of Life Epist ad Ephes without Faith a Man cannot live an holy Life And St. Austin calls Faith Omnium Bonorum Fundamentum De Fide ad Petr. Proli The Foundation of all good things So good a thing as an holy Life cannot stand without it A Fide saith another venitur ad bona opera Unless we begin at Faith we shall never come to an holy Life To conclude this with that of the Apostle Without Faith it is impossible to please God Hebr. 11.6 Therefore without Faith it is impossible to lead an holy Life which is very acceptable to him The next thing is An holy Life issues out of Divine Love without this neither Heart nor Life can be right not the Heart the Will without Divine Love in it is tota cupiditas all concupiscence pouring out it self to every vanity that passes by not the Life whatever good is done without that Love is done servilitèr non liberalitèr whate ever is in the hand it is not done out of choice in animo non facit his Will concurres not as it ought in God's account it is as if it were not done at all Love is the root of an holy Life the summary of the Law though the Precepts of the Law are many in diversitate operis in the diversity of the Work yet they are but one in radice Charitatis in the root of Charity True Love is Donum amantis in amatum the Soul being drawn and called out of it self by the object loved yields and surrenders up it self thereunto if thus we love God there must needs be an holy Life the Heart when given up and consecrated unto him cannot chuse but carry the Life with it It would be a prodigy in Nature if the Heart should go one way and the Life another True Love sets a great price upon its object and if the object be as God is supreme it rates it above all things if we set the highest estimate upon God's Will and Glory nothing can divert us from an holy Life which complies with his Will and promotes his Glory it is irrational to neglect that which we value above all other things True Love seeks more and more Union with God to be one Spirit with him to have idem velle idem nolle to love as he loves that is Holiness to hate as he hates that is Sin It aspires after a further transformation into the Divine Image and likeness it never thinks the Soul like enough or near enough to him where it is thus there an holy Life cannot be wanting the Heart being assimilated to God the Life must needs answer the Heart and shine with the rays of the Divine Image which is there True Love desires to have a complacential rest and delight in God it flies to him like Noah's Dove to the Ark there to repose it self what weight is in a Body that Love is in the Soul Amor meus Pondus meum Aust weight makes the Body move towards its center Love makes the Soul tend by an holy Life to center in God the Supreme goodness leaving all other things as the Woman of Samaria did her Pitcher It hastens in a way of Obedience to enjoy him Thus we see how an holy Life issues out of a Regenerate Heart and particularly out of Faith and Love the Doctrine of it is not to be slubbered over as if it did meerly consist in external Actions or Moralities But we must search and see Whether there be a new Creature a Work of Regeneration at the bottom of it Job being by his Friends charged as an hypocrite tells them That the root of the matter was found in him Job 19.28 He was not a Man of leaves and outward appearances only but the root of true Piety was in him without this all good actions how specious soever are but like the Apples of Sodom which though fair to the Eye upon a touch fall into ashes and smoak Thirdly An holy Life proceeds out of a pure Intention Bonum opus Intentio facit Intentionem Fides dirigit saith St. Austin * In Psal 31. The Intention makes the Work good and Faith directs the Intention This is the single Eye mentioned by our Saviour If thine Eye be single thy whole Body shall be full of light If thine Eye be evil thy whole Body shall be full of darkness Matth. 6.22 23. A pure Intention casts a Spiritual Light and Lustre upon the Body of our good Works but that being wanting the whole Body of our Works is dead and dark like a carcass void of all Beauty and Excellency Let thine Eyes look right on saith the Wiseman Prov. 4.25 That is Have a pure Intention to the Will and Glory of God This is one thing in the Church which ravishes the Heart of Christ Thou hast ravished my Heart with one of thine Eyes with one chain of thy Neck Cant. 4.9 The first thing which excordiated Christ and took away his Heart was the One the single Eye and then the Chain of Obedience ravished him also without a pure intention a Man in his fairest Actions squints and looks awry by a tacit blasphemy he makes as if there were something more excellent than the Will and Glory of God for him to look unto and when Man squints God looks off and will have none of his Obedience Israel is an empty Vine he bringeth forth fruit to himself Hos 10.1 Fruit and yet empty is a seeming contradiction but the words reconcile themselves He bringeth forth to himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he weighs out his Fruit to himself he proportions his Religion to himself all being for himself God accepts it not but esteems it as nothing at all such Fruit and meer emptiness are much one before God He tells them Levit. 26.27 That they did walk with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in accidente at all adventures when they chanced to light upon him by the by and besides their intention quasi aliud agentes as if the Service of God were a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a business only by the by but would God accept them or take it well at their hands No he will walk with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too by chance at all adventures his Blessings shall come upon them as it were per accidens his Mind is not towards them as it