promised afore by his Prophets in the holy Scriptures and Zachary saith the raising up of Christ an horn of salvation is that he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began the truth is as God would never have man destitute of a way to come to him so the way for fallen man to come to him hath been one and the same for substance in all ages of the Church and the New Testament is nothing else but the unveiling of Moses his face a breaking of the Old Testament shell a more clear discovery of what was though darkly made known from the beginning 3. And yet to go one step further beyond which we cannot go that which was from the beginning that is before the beginning of the world to wit in the eternal purpose and counsell of God indeed as the permission of mans fall which was in the beginning of time so the effecting of mans redemption which was in the fulness of time was fore-ordained by God before all time so as the Gospel is nothing else but as it were a Copy of that writing which was in the mind of God from all eternity in this respect it is that the Gospel is called the everlasting Gospel and Christ is said to be the Lambâ—slain from the foundation of the world and yet more clearly this eternal life is said to be that which God which cannot lye promised that is purposed before the world began From whence we may profitably infer a double conclusion True Antiquity is a sure mark of verity That Antiquity is true which is from the beginning 1. Would Ministers know what doctrine they ought to declare and the people what they are to receive this is a good rule let it be that doctrine which hath been anciently embraced and maintained by the Christian Church a very seasonable Item in these dayes wherein to use Vincentius Lyrinensis his expression Bene fundata antiquitas scelestâ novitate subruitur well grounded antiquity is overturned by fanatick novelty the cry of the AEgyptian Priest in Plato cited by Clemens Alexandrinus Oh Solon Solon you are alwayes children may fitly be taken up of the men of this Generation they are children pleased with every novell toy and tossed to and fro with every winde of doctrine Not content with the antient Apostolical government universally continued in the Christian Church for many hundred years we have endeavoured to erect new formes which Proteus-like change into several shapes and about which the contrivers cannot tell how to agree Not knowing indeed themselves what they would have not satisfied with nay much offended at the antient devout Liturgie of our English Church which the first compilers extracted as a quintessence out of the several praeceding Liturgies both of the Greek Latine Church we have erected a new or rather no way of worship leaving every Minister to the dangerous liberty of an extemporary devotion and the people to the sad slavery of hearing those vain Tautologies nay many times horrid blasphemies which are vented in those kind of prayers And yet once more not willing to be regulated by those ancient doctrinal truths which the Church from and with the holy Scriptures hath delivered to us how many are there amongst us who seek another Gospel vent strange opinions the people heaping up to themselves teachers and the teachers heaping up to themselves auditors who have an itch after novelty not onely in discipline but doctrine Oh my brethren take we all heed lest we be infected with this itch which is the sister of superstition mother of rashness and the daughter of inconstancy rather let the Prophet Ieremy his words take place with us Thus saith the Lord stand ye in the wayes and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall finde rest for your souls let St. Pauls counsel to Timothy be acceptable serva depositum Hold fast the form of sound words non a te inventum sed tibi creditum which was not invented by thee but committed to thee and according to St. Iudes exhortation let us contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints Finally let St. Hieroms practice be our pattern Meum propositum est antiquos legere a side ecclesiae catholicae non recedere my resolve is to read the ancients and not recede from the faith of the Catholick Church Indeed however it may now be made one of the marks of the well-affected godly party to follow new wayes yet I am sure Lyrinensis sets it down as a continued practise in the Church that the more religious any man was the more zealous he was against factious novelties 2. But further as we must assert antiquity so that antiquity is what was from the beginning for though error may be old yet still that which is from the beginning is truth indeed as crookedness is no other but a deviation from a straight rule so error an aberration from truth and therefore as a crooked line supposeth a straight so error supposeth truth and upon this ground it is that the Fathers rule is veritate manifestâ cedat consuetudo veritati when truth appeareth custome must give way because indeed be the custome never so ancient truth was before it With this it is we must justly answer the Romish plea of antiquity for many of their erroneous assertions that though they have been some of them of many hundred years standing yet they were not known in the pure and primitive times of the Church and therefore as our blessed Saviour in the point of divorce reduceth the Iews to this consideration it was not so from the beginning true indeed it hath been long permitted you for the hardness of your hearts but it was not so from the beginning the first institution giveth no such allowance so we in those points of controversie between us and the Church of Rome reduce them to the beginning of Christian Religion it is true many of their doctrines have been long published but they were not from the beginning they were not taught by Christ or his Apopostles or their Successors in the first Centuries of the Church Whilest therefore the Papists scoff at our Religion as a novell faction as those Athenians did at Pauls doctrine we have this in readiness to retort and are able blessed be God to make it good against them ours is no other than that which was from the beginning and that even at Rome it self preached and professed nor do we differ from them but only in those opinions which since the golden foundation of Christianity was laid by Christ and his Apostles hath been by Babel builders superstructed as hay and stubble fit onely to be cast into the fire The last branch of the Gospels commendation is from the utility of the end Now the end which is here mentioned is double to wit proximus
them on as well as an internal assistance enabling them to this holy work In this respect it is that St. Augustine saith expresly whatsoever God would have us know concerning his word and his works he gave in charge to those sacred amanuenses to write and therefore let none of us be wise above what is written but humbly and meekly confine our selves to that which his goodness and wisdom hath allotted for us to walk by the writings of his Prophets and Apostles beseeching him that as he hath caused his truths to be written that they may be read with our eyes so he would write them in our hearts and thereby we may have a comfortable evidence that our names are written in the book of life And thus I have given a dispatch to the first general part to wit the Apostles care of their duty pass now on to the other General which is the Gospels excellency and therein to the Eminency of its object in the close of the first and part of the second verses in those words the word of life the life that was manifested that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us all which is spoken concerning Christ. But before I enter on the handling of these words in this which I conceive to be the most genuine interpretation there is another exposition which being neither improbable nor unprofitable I shall not pass by and it will be all I can discuss at this time It is of those who understand these words concerning the Gospel it self as if that were here called the word of life wherein this eternal lâ—fe is manifested though even according to this construction the encomium is of the Gospel with reference to its matter where about it is conversant This Exposition is that which is alleadged by Calvin asserted by Grotius and assevered by Vorstius nor is it dissonant to the analogy of faith according to it here are two things to be considered namely the appellation given to the Gospel it is the word of life and the reason of that appellation because in it the life eternal life is manifested to us 1. The appellation here affixed to the Gospel is choice and comfortable it is the word of life a title which is made use of by St. Paul when he required of the Philippians that they should shine as lights in the world holding forth the word of life and by the Angel when he commands the Apostles to speak in the ears of the people all the words of this life suitably hereunto it is that it is called else where the word of salvation and the Gospel of salvation and the Grace of God that bringeth salvation and the ingrafted word which is able to save our souls and yet once more that word of Gods Grace which is able to build us up and to give us an inheritance among them which are sanctified 2. The reason of this appellation is fit and pregnant because those words eternal life is manifested to us are such a confirmation that they ate withall an explication of the Title in both the branches of it For 1. Would we know what this life is whereof the Gospel is the word the answer is it is eternal life in which respect St. Peter saith to Christ thou hast the words of eternal life In these two expressions is contained a short description of felicity it is a life for since life is the highest of all created excellencies it is aptly used to set forth a state of happiness especially if we take vivere as comprehending in it valere and so denoting an hayle vigorous and prosperous life But that which crowneth life it self and maketh it an happiness is its eternity since as the Schools well true bliss must be able to give satisfaction to the appetite which it cannot do if there be any fear of losing or expiring the truth is neither of these two can be severed in an happy condition were it eternal if it were not life there could be no bliss since it is true of the damned that they shall exist eternally and were it life if it were not eternal it could not be happy since a transitory fading life is rather a death than a life and therefore that the Gospel may appear a means of happiness it is said to reveal to us eternal life And 2. Would we know in what respect the Gospel is the word of this life the answer is because this eternal life which was with the Father is by it manifested to us indeed we must here distinguish between data and manifestata the giving and the manifesting of this life nor is it mine but St. Pauls own distinction where he informeth us that salvation or life eternal was given us in Christ Iesus before the world began but is now made manifest by Christ who hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel The truth is eternal life before the time of the Gospel was with the Father that is did latere quodâ—mmodo apud patrem lie hid in the Fathers bosome unrevealed to the world As to the Gentiles it was altogether unknown who therefore are said to sit in darkness and the shadow of death as being wholly strangers to this life and as to the Iews it was hid as Learned Davenant hath observed ex parte comparativè the greatest part of the Iews looked no higher than an earthly Canaan and dreamt onely of a temporal happiness to be accomplished by the Messiah the discoveries of life were so dark that few could spell them and that manifestation which any of them had was very obscure in comparison of what is by the Gospel It is true eternal life was so far revealed in the old Testament that the believing Iews attained to some knowledge of it so as that they looked for it and no doubt are in their souls possessed of it upon this account St. Paul tells Timothy that the holy Scriptures to wit of Moses and the Prophets were able to make him wise to salvation and Christ bids the Iews to search the Scriptures because they thought which yet Christ reproveth not as a bare surmize in them to have eternal life but stil those discoveries were very imperfect in comparison of that knowledge which the Gospel imparts and therefore one observeth an Emphasis in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to us not to the Patriarchs not to the Prophets was this life to wit so clearly manifested as to us the Apostles of Christ and by us to the Saâ—nts throughout the world in which respect St. Paul writing both to the Ephesians and the Colossians stiles not onely the calling of the Gentiles which is as much spoken of by the Prophets as any other evangelical truth but the whole doctrine of life in the Gospel a mysterie which hath been hid from ages and generations nor was in other ages made known to the sons of
is a great mysterie therefore it hath never been without controversie nor hath the Devill been wanting to blow this slame raise these commotions At the very first he strove to strangle this Babe in the cradle nip this blossom in the bud and devour Christianity in its infancy whilest he stirred up the Iews and Pagans without various false teachers within the Church to oppugne true Religion for this reason no doubt it was that this holy Apostle endeavoured to confirm those to whom he wrote in the verity of Christian faith to which end he beginneth this Epistle with discovering both its antiquity and certainty in these words That which was from the beginning c. The antiquity of the Gospels origination is that part I am next to handle as it is expressed in the very beginning That which was from the beginning I am not ignorant that a great part of Expositors refer these words to the person of Christ as if St. Iohns meaning were thus to be construed The word of life which was from the beginning A special argument moving them to this interpretation is the fit correspondence between the Epistle and the Gospel which begins with those words In the beginning was the word and is no doubt to be understood of Christ signifying his eternal subsistence Indeed these words was from the beginning do very fitly and fully represent that divine truth to us For 1. The verb was being a verb substantive is peculiar to God and so belongs to Christ as God the being of all creatures is determined to some species as it is an Angel or it is a man and the like onely of God we say he is without any additament for that is the name God gave himself I am hath sent thee and Christ applyeth to himself before Abraham was I am Indeed the Tense is very improper since eternity admits not of prius or posterius nor knoweth any succession but yet as St. Austine observeth because of the mutability of time in which we subsist we best conceive of eternity by referring to those distinctions of time past present to come affirming of Christ as God that he was is and shall be since there was no time wherein he was not there shall be no time wherein he shall not be and there is no time wherein he is not in which respect he is said to be yesterday to day and the same for ever 2. These words from the beginning serve yet more clearly to express the eternity of his God-head whether we understand by beginning eternity it self or the beginning of the Creation some construe beginning by eternity for though it is true eternity hath no beginning yet in as much as it is no less true that there was nothing before eternity this word beginning may though improperly be applyed to it and so was from the beginning is was from eternity The most I conceive most rationally understand by beginning rerum omnium initium the beginning of all things that time when all creatures began to have a being and so this from is the same with the Gospels in and both as much as before the beginning in this respect it is that St. Austin observeth it is not said God made him in the beginning as it is of the heaven and the earth and the things in both but he was in the beginning even then when other things began to exist he had a personal subsistence and therefore eternal because whatsoever was before the beginning of time must be eternal And if in this sense we construe these words they are praefixed no doubt on purpose to prevent a mistake which might arise from the following words for whereas they might have been apt with some Hereticks to think that this word did not begin to be till he was heard seen handled he first acquaints them that he was from the beginning Indeed then it was he began to be man but not to be then he was made flesh but he was the word before even from all eternity the word of life which was from the beginning But when I observe the Grammar of the Text I must crave leave to receed from this Exposition for it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he which was or the word which was but that which was from the beginning concerning the word of life by which it appeareth that the most proper reference of these words is not to the person of Christ but to the doctrine which the Gospel revealeth concerning him and this exposition no less agrees with the Logick then the Grammar of the Text since in this sense as Oecumenius Theophilact and Athanasius have observed the words are an answer to that objection which was made against Christian doctrine by its enemies as if it were a new doctrine that therefore he might take off this aspersion which both Iewes and Greeks did cast upon Christianity he assureth us that it is no novell fancy but an ancient mysterie that which was from the beginning And now according to this Interpretation we are further to enquire in what respect this is verified of Christian Religion Evangelicall doctrine that it was from the beginning The answer to which will be dispatched in three considerations each of which exceedeth the other 1. That which was from the beginning that is which was preached from the very first that Christianity was published to the world That this phrase from the beginning is so to be understood in some places both of the Gospel and Epistle is not to be denyed and Vorstius is positive that it must be so understood here nor will I reject this sense though I shall not confine the words to it Take it then thus briefly soon after the Gospel was preached there arose up some who broached another Gospel and filled the Church with damnable heresies now St. Iohn in these words acquits his doctrine from partaking with heresies and lets them know that what he declared to them was not what some Hereticks had lately invented and privily brought into the Church but what was taught by Christ to his Apostles and by them to the world from the very beginning 2. But besides this we may very well carry the expression a great deal further and look backward as far as the fall of man which was in the beginning of the world and so that which was from the beginning that is the doctrine which soon after the world began was preached to man for indeed the promise made by God to Adam the seed of the woman shall break the serpents head what is it but an abridgement of the Gospel an epitomy of Christianity a summary of Evangelical truths nay this doctrine is that which stil along was umbris praefigurata vaticiniis praedicta praefigured in the types and foretold in the prophecies upon which ground St. Paul saith expressely of the Gospel of God it is that which he had
is as with the Father so with the Son but likewise a discovery of the means whereby we come to have this fellowship with the Father and that is by having fellowship with the Sonne according to which notion we may fitly conceive the Father to be the terminus and the Son the medium of this societas the Father is he with whom and the Son is he by and through whom we have this fellowship with the Father and therefore it is else where said he hath made us accepted in his beloved and we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ and God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and to name no more they who were a far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ that amity and communion which we have with God being onely in and through a mediator Iesus Christ. The Heathens were in part sensible of this truth who conceiving that the supream Gods were defiled by the unhallowed approaches of mortals invented Heroes and half Gods a kinde of middle powers to be as mediators between those Gods and them but this doctrine of a mediator the Gospel fully revealeth and this to be no other than Iesus Christ by whom we are brought to communion with God Indeed there was a time to wit in innocency when man stood not in need of a Mediator but injoyed a fellowship of perfect amity with his Creator but now man being fallen from that integrity and thereby having lost the favour of God there is no other way of reconciliation but by Christ. So that as TheThemistocles when Admetus was incensed against him brought the Kings son in his armes and implored his favour so we can by no means obtain a fellowship of reconciliation with the Father but by his Son Iesus Christ in this respect it is that Christ saith concerning himself I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me and upon this ground he is not unfitly resembled to that ladder in Iacobs vision which reached from earth to heaven by whom alone we climb to heaven so that if we will pervenire ad Deum we must ascendere per hominem to come to God we must ascend by the man even the man Christ Iesus There is onely one thing further to be enquired for the full explication of this clause and that is why the Apostle having mentioned two doth not annex the third person and with the Holy Ghost In answer to which you must know that the third person though he be not expressely mentioned is necessarily implyed for the truth is we can neither have fellowship with the Father nor with the Son but by the Holy Ghost by the spirit it is that God begets us again unto himself and therefore it is called the renewing of the Holy Ghost by the spirit it is that we participate of Gods holiness and therefore he is called the spirit of holiness not onely because he is so in himself but it is he that communicateth it unto us finally by the spirit it is that the Father and the Son dwell in us and have communion with us in which respect our Apostle saith we know he abideth in us by the spirit he hath given us and therefore it is that we finde this elsewhere directly expressed concerning the Holy Ghost to wit in that solemn benediction to the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the love of God the Father is joyned the communion or fellowship of the Holy Ghost Though then he is not here named we are not therefore to imagine he is excluded Indeed it is a rule in Divinity which St. Ambrose hath observed to my hand qui unum dixerit Trinitatem signavit when any one of the persons is nominated in any external operation all the rest are implyed and therefore as when we find onely mention of the fellowship of his Son Iesus Christ we must take in the Father the spirit and when we read onely of the fellowship of the spirit we must conceive it as well of the Father and the Son so when here we find the Father and the Son expressed we must not exclude the holy spirit and look as our blessed Saviour when he speaketh of that knowledge which is the way to eternal life though he only mention the Father and his Son Iesus Christ is to be understood as including the holy Ghost so are we here to interpret S. Iohn and therefore may very well adde by way of explication our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Iesus Christ and with the holy spirit nor yet doth there want a reason as Iustinian hath well observed why the Apostle maketh no expresse mention of the Holy Ghost as he doth of the Son of God namely because as for the communion of the Holy Ghost they to whom he wrote could not be ignorant of it as having no doubt had experience themselves of the effusion of his gifts upon them and therefore it needed not to name him but because the divinity of the Son of God was oppugned by the Hereticks of those times therefore he thought it fit with the Father to mention the Son And thus much or rather thus little of this unconceivable much more unspeakable benefit the fellowship which Believers have with the ever blessed and glorious Trinity what now remaineth but that I bring it home by some comfortable application to our selves There are onely three inferences which are plainly deducible from hence for our practice 1. Whatever men do either for or against any Christian reflects on God and Christ with whom they have fellowship Christ shall say to those at the last day who releive his members now In as much as you did it unto them you did it unto me and it was his saying to Saul in the vision when he breathed forth threatenings against the Church Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and why this but because of the fellowshâ—p which is between Christ and his Members Take then heed O ye sons of Belial how you scoffingly deride at proudly insult over and maliciously persecute the servants of God and members of Christ. Haman notwithstanding all his greatnesse durst not but honour Mordecai because he was the man whom the King delighted to honour and dare you abuse such whom God vouchsafeth to honour know you not that they are his jewels and will you deface them the apple of his eye and will you touch them his temple and will you seek to destroy them Are they not to speak it with an humble modesty all in all with God his bosome friends his daily associates and dare man whose breath is in his nostrils do any injury to them or can he do it and hope impunity Let none deceive themselves Qui insurgit in Christum Domini insurgit in Dominum Christi he that riseth up against the Lords anointed riseth up
we shall drink deep of the river of pleasure Now we have onely the first fruits hereafter our joy shall be as the joy of harvest Finally now the joy of the Lord enters into us but then it is we shall enter into the joy of the Lord and be as it were swallowed up in the boundless ocean of that joy the truth is according to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our exultation answereth our participation because this fellowship cannot be perfect till we come to heaven where we shall fully enjoy sanctity and immortality with God and Christ for ever therefore then and not till then shall this be verified our joy shall be filled And now to tell you how full that joy shall be I want words St. Peter speaking of our joy which we have in believing calls it unspeakable and full of glory indeed sentire est cordis dicere non est oris the heart feeleth what the tongue cannot express but oh then how glorious and not onely unspeakable but unconceivable shall that joy be in seeing Surely as when Christ miraculated wine he filled the vessels to the brim so shall he fill the vessels of our souls in that day with the water of joy to the very brim so as there shall not be the least deficiency but an abundance yea a superabundance both over and everflowing to make glad the inhabitants of that heavenly City to all eternity What then is the inference which we are to draw from hence but that we learn what joy to seek after namely that which is full and wherein to that end to place it namely in fellowship with God and Christ. Beloved it is a false slander an odious calumny which by black mouths is belched forth against Christianity as if it were an enemy to all joy whereas it doth not extirpate but ordinate our joy teaching us to place it on the right object you are mistaken when you think that we would rob you of your comfort and spoile your mirth no brethren our aim in indeavouring to bring you to God and Christ is to use Seneca's phrase upon better grounds that you might never want mirth or according to St. Pauls expression that you may rejoyce evermore Indeed this is our scope to confine your carnall joy or rather refine it that it may be pure spirituall and heavenly Oh that you would at last be wise and fix your joy in the right center by elevating it to the things above how should you say with that penitent Father Far be it Lord far be it from the heart of thy servant that I should account my self happy by any earthly joy that is the joy which is not given to the wicked but onely to them who serve thee whose joy thou thy self art and that is the blessed life to rejoyce of thee in thee for thee that is it and no other or in words not much unlike those of St. Paul God forbid that we should rejoyce in any thing save in fellowship with the Father and his Son Iesus Christ. 2. Refer this clause to the former part of this verse and then the truth which is manifestly implyed is that those things which the holy men of God did write are able to give fulness of joy This is the doctrine which I shall endeavour to illustrate both generally of all the holy writings and particularly of the Apostolical writings 1. There is fulness of joy to be had in the holy Scriptures this was that which David experienced and therefore affirmeth concerning himself that the words of God were sweet to his taste and he rejoyced in them as one that found a great spoyle and that holy man Ambrose upon those words breaketh forth into these expressions I have great cause to rejoyce for I have found the spoyles for which I have not laboured I have found the Pentateuch of Moses the writings of the Prophets I have found Christ the wonderfull Counseller and Paul the prudent builder for this reason no doubt it is that the word of God contained in the Scripture is compared to light and wine and honey and milk all which are of a pleasing and exhilarating nature indeed the holy Scriptures are a tree of life whereof every leaf is healing or according to St. Chrysostom a pleasant garden wherein every flower yields a fragrant smell or to use St. Ambrose his comparison a feast in which every book is a dainty dish affording both sweet and wholesome nutriment No wonder if St. Paul speaking of the Scriptures maketh mention of the patienâ—e and hope and comfort of the Scriptures there being no such ground of hope and patience and therefore no such comfort to be found elsewhere as in these sacred books 2. As this is true in general of all parcels of holy writ so more especially of the Apostolical writings to this purpose St. Cyril mystically interpreting those words of the Prophet Micah that every man should sit under his vine and under his figtree observeth that wine is an embleme of joy the figtree of sweetness and by both is shadowed that joy whâ—ch the Evangelâ—cal doctrine should produce in those who sit under the preaching of it indeed those doctrines which reveal God and Christ satisfaction to God by Christ reconciliation to God in Christ can only give solid comfort to the soule since God out of Christ is a consuming sire onely in Christ he is a reviving Sun out of Christ he is a sin-revenging onely in Christ a sin-forgiving God now these doctrines are no where made known but in holy writ and they are most clearly delivered in the Apostolical writings what Moses and Esay and Ieremy spake obscurely that Paul and Peter and Iohn declare plainly and therefore though we find joy in those yet by these our joy is filled It is not unworthy our obsetvation in the Text that this clause These things we write stands in the middle between our fellowspip is with the Father and his Son Iesus Christ and that your joy might be full as having indeed an influence on both and by effecting the one it produceth the other these things which the Apostles write reveale God and Christ and the way of fellowship with them and by bringing us to this fellowship they convey unto us this fulnesse of joy and comfort To apply this in some short confectaries 1. How injurious is the superstition of the Papists and that both to the Scriptures themselves and to the people 1. To the Scriptures in that they deny to them a perfect sufficiency containing all things necessary to salvation and that for this reason that thâ—y might advance the esteem of their unwritten Traditions indeed such traditions as are not fictitious but real not particular but universal and clearly appear to be sâ— we reject not but withall we assert there are no such traditions delivering any thing necessary to
salvation which is not to be found either in expresse termes or by evident consâ—quences in the holy Scriptures and that I may not wander we meet with a strong argument to this purpose in my text That which is able to give us full joy must not be deficient in any thing which conduceth to our happinesse but the holy Scriptures give fulness of joy and therefore the way to happiness is perfectly laid down in them the major of this syllogisme is so clear that it needs no probation for who can or will deny that full joy is only to be had in a state of blâ—sse the minor is plain from this Scripture and may thus be drawne forth That which the Apostles aimed at in may doubtlesse be attained to by their writings for they being inspired of God it is no other then the end that God purposed in inspiring which they had in writing and either God himself is wanting in the means which he hath designed for this end or these writings contain in them what will yeild fulness of joy and to that end bring us to a state of blessednesse 2. To the people whom they expressely forbid to read the holy Scriptures esteeming the permission of them to the vulgar eye to be the casting of pearls before swine and the giving holy things to dogs hence is it that in a seeming reverence to holy writ and withall a pretended care of the Laicks that they may not wrest the Scriptures to their own perdition they lay upon them a prohibition but the truth is as they are but false friends to the Scripture so in this they are manifest enemies to the people bereaving them of that comfort which they might have in the reading of those divine books Certainly the Apostles intended that their Epistles should be read both to and by them to whom they wrote them now these you to whom S. John wrote were ordinary Christians dispersed in several countries such whom in the second Chapt. he calls not only Fathers but young men and children and the other Apostles expressâ—ly direct their Epistles to all that are called to be Saints as well private persons in as publick officers of the Church nay yet further when we consider what singular benefit is to be gained by the reading of the holy Scriptures for correction â—nstruction and in particular consolation surely it is no small injury that the Church of Rome by this prohibition doth to her members even as great as if the mother should deny the dug to the tender infant 2. How odious is the prophanenesse of those Christians who neglect the holy Scriptures and give themselves to reading other books How many precious hours do many spend and that not only on workdays but holy-days in foolâ—sh Romances fabulous histories lascivious poems and why this but that they may be cheered and delighted when as full joy is onely to be had in these holy books Alas the joy you find in those writings is perhaps pernicious such as tickleth your lust and promoteth contemplative wickednesse at the best it is but vain such as onely pleaseth the fancie and affecteth the wit whereas these holy writings to use Davids expression are right rejoycing the heart Again are there not many who more set by Plutarchs Morals Seneca's Epistles and such like books then they do by the holy Scriptures it is true beloved there are excellent truths in those moral writings of the heathen but yet they are far short of these sacred books those may comfort against outward trouble but not against inward fears they may rejoyce the mind but cannot quiet the conscience they may kindle some flashy sparkles of joy but they cannot warm the soul with a lasting fire of solid consolation And truly brethren if ever God give you a spiritual ear to judge of things aright you will then acknowledge there are no bells like to those of Aarons no harp like to that of Davids no trumpet like to that of Isaiahs no pâ—pes like to those of the Apostles and you will confesse with Petrus Damianus that those writings of heathen Orators Philosophers Poets which formerly were so pleasing are now dull and harsh in comparison of the comfort of the Scriptures 3. Lastly let us so diligently read stedfastly beleive and obediently conform to these writings that our joy may be full by them It is very observable what the Prophet Ieremy saith concerning himself Thy words were found and I did eat them and thy word was to me the joy and rejoycing of my heart the word caused in Ieremy joy and rejoycing that is a full joy but by what means it was by eating it so must we get comfort in the Scriptures by eating that is reading meditating and applying them to our selves Let then that counsel which St. Ambrose giveth be acceptable to us Eat and eat daily of this heavenly manna that thy hunger may be satisfied and thy soul nourished to eternal life remember the advice which St. Hierom giveth Whatever joyes and pleasures others may take let our delights be in the law of the Lord. Finally hearken to the exhortation of Drogo hostiensis Let not the Law depart from thy heart read and ponder again and again that thou mayst find the savour of this manna with the Bee suck the sweetness of these heavenly flowers And yet more particularly when thou art cast into any danger labourest under any affliction make use of these writings for thy comfort which are as St. Ambrose truly styleth them the onely refuge in all temptations Excellently to this purpose is that even of a Roman Bishop in his exhortation to the Clergy Doth any one labour with ignorance these writings are a light to the feet and a lanthorn to his paths do we weep in this valley of tears here we may find that which will dry our eyes and revive our spirit doest thou thirst after righteousnesse here is a fountain of pure water art thou spiritually hungry here is the bread which came down from heaven indeed there is no condition that can befall a Christian to which these holy writings do not afford a sutable and proportioned consolation I end this therefore with allusion to that expression of the Prophet Esay With joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation These wells of salvation are Evangelical truths so St. Hierome spiritual sayings so Procoptus Oh let us by the bucket of faith draw the water of comfortable doctrine out of those wells to the joy and solace of our hearts I have now dispatched the first and most genuine reading of this pronoun the other which the Greek Scholiast taketh notice of would not be altogether passed by which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pronoun of the first person since not onely some Greek copies but the Syriack version also so renders it that our joy might be full And thus as venerable Bede observeth upon these words it lets us see
his mercy in a word the designe of these precepts is to teach us what we ought not what we can to set the marke before us which we must shoot at though we cannot reach to it till we come to Heaven And therefore 2. Voluntate decreti Gods decree is that we shall gradually come to perfection and here indeavouring to attaine hereafter attain what we indeavour To this purpose it is that the Church which Christ is said to present to himselfe not having spot or wrinckle is called a glorious Church to intimate saith Chemnitius excellently That then and not till then the Church shall be without spot when she is glorious and that is when it shall be tâ—iumphant and appeare with him in glory 4. This impeccability is not denyed as that which might not have been but as that which supposing Gods councel cannot be S. Austin moveth the question whether it be possible for a man assisted by grace to be without sin and resolveth it affirmatively nor can it be gainsayed but that if God had so pleased he might have restored his Image to man perfectly at his first conversion or he might have conferred such extraordinary grace as a pecuilar priviledge upon some particular men whereby they should have been free from all sin God neither hath commanded any thing which was impossible in it selfe for man to do nor is it impossible for God to assist a man fully to performe what he commands but what need we dispute of Gods power when we know his purpose divine decree hath placed impeccability beyond the reach of any meer man in this life there cannot be any one named that hath been and we may surely conclude there never will be any one on whom such a praerogative shal be conferred From hence S. Ierome hath wel reasoned against Pelagius It is in vaine to assert such a power which never is reduced into act and to say a man may do that which yet no man could ever do yea as he doth to say a man might be without sin if he would when the blessed Apostle cryeth out The good I would do I do not and the evâ—ll I would not do I do is foolish and absurd yea hereticall and impious 5. There is a great deale of difference between these two phrases Habere peccatum Haberi a peccato to have sin and to be had by sin to the one is required onely the presence to the other the domâ—nion of sin There are many that can say nay all truly regenerate persons may say they are not had by and under the possession of sin but yet they cannot say they have no sin remayning in them the weakest Christian is not under the raigne and the strongest is not without the being of sin aliud est non habere peccatum aliud non obedire desideriis it is one thing not to have sin and another not to obey sin He that obeyeth any sin and yet saith he is a saint deceiveth himselfe and he that is a saint should he say he had no sin would but deceive himselfe likewise 6. It is not a possibility of freedome from grosse scandalous enormous sins which is here denyed but from any sin whatsoever St. Gregory maketh a distinction between crimen and peccatum that though every crime is a sin yet every sin is not a crime and proportionably many in this life are without crime but not without sin To the same purpose St. Ierome asserts that a man may be without that which the Greeks call malitious wickednesse and yet not free from sinful spots and not much unlike St. Austin where he saith It is one thing to be without sin and a-another to be without blam We may read of men without crime without blame but of none without sin It is the Apostles councell to the Philippians that they should be harmless without rebuke and accordingly it is said of Zachary and Elizabeth that they walked in all the commandements of the Lord blameless and no doubt there are many godly men who lead such lives that the world cannot taxe them nor they themselves with any known grosse wickednesse but still they want not infirmities cleaving to them When therefore St. Paul saith of the Saints that they are free from sin it is an inchoate not a consummate liberty and a freeedome from great not all sins as St. Austin appositely the truth is to be without sin is the holynesse of Heaven to be without grosse sin the holynesse of earth 7. It is not a possibility of freedome from this or that particular sin but from all sin that is here denyed There are severall sins which godly men may say they have not nay there is not any one particular great sin which a man may not through divine assistance be able to avoid but to say We have no sin at all in no kind nor respect were arrogancy in the holyest person this is the position of that great schooleman A man may shun any sin in particular but not sin in generall and his instance excellently illustrateth it If there be an 100 leakes in a ship it is easy to stop any one of them but difficult to stop them all we may be in a great measure and in many respects but not in all free from sin till the resurrection of the flesh 8. Lastly these two expressions the one of havâ—ng sin the other of having sinned are not improbably referd by interpreters the one to originall and the other to actuall sins and accordingly I shall demonstrate the truth of this doctrine in respect of both 1. If we say we have no sin that is no originall sin remaining in us we deceive our selves That our Apostle here intends originall sin is probable because he useth the singular number sin not sins as if it were some special sin he pointed at and likewise because of the phrase of having which intimateth that he speaketh of that sin which is as it were habitual and innate in us It is not unworthy our observation that Christ speaking to his own Disciples calls them evill and St. Hilaries note upon it is that the reason of this appellation was in respect of that common staine of naturall corruption which did still adhere to them Indeed we all bringing sin with us into the world cannot be without it whilest we are in the world it is the Apostles expression that we must be renewed dayly and it is St. Austins glosse that therefore we are but in part renewed and so the old man is still abâ—ding in us Indeed according to that known elegant expression of St. Bernard this sin is weakned but not plucked up cast down but not cast out subjugated but not extirpated in the best of Gods saints Hence the dolefull sigh and sorrowful complaint of the holy Apostle Oh wretched man that I am who shal deliver mee from this body of death knowing saith that devout
sin because Christ is in them and they in him whom the Apostle according to this construction here plainly contradicteth and indeed it cannot be otherwise since where ever Christ is there is his Spirit and where the Spirit of Christ is there is a divine light discovering to a man the darkness that is in him and effectually convincing him of his own sinfulnesse But though this be a truth I doe not conceive it the truth of this clause and therefore with the generality of the best interpreters I understand it in the proper and usuall sence not for Christ the word but for the word of Christ not the word which is God but the word of God And thus it will not be amisse to consider this clause both in iâ—s selfe and in its reference 1. Consider this clause in its selfe and that which we have to inquire is what our Apostle meaneth by this phrase negatives are best known by the affirmatives as privations are by habits and therefore by knowing what it is for the word of God and Christ to be in us we shall learne what this meaneth the word is not in us The word is then said to be in us when according to Christs phrase in the Gospel it doth take place in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being there according to Camerarius as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and finde entertainment with us and surely then it taketh place in us when it taketh place in our hearts as it did in David who saith Thy word have I hid in my heart The word is then said to be in us when according to St. Iames his phrase it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ingrafted word and that is when as the tree being opened a graft is set deep into it and so becometh one with it or rather it one with a graft so our hearts being opened as Lydias was the word is deeply imprinted in it and it sweetly closeth with the word If yet more perticularly you ask how this is done I answer in one word by beleeving when the minde giveth a cleare assent and the will a full consent to the word then it is received by and dwelleth in us so interpreters paraphrase Non amplectiâ—r non intelligimus non retinemus veram ejus doctrinam His word is not in us that is we doe not understand and imbrace by faith the true Doctrine of his word And that this is S. Johns meaning in this place we need no other expositor then himself in his Gospel where he bringeth in Christ saying yee have not his word among you For him whom he hath sent you beleeve not thereby plainly intimating that to have his word abiding in us is to beleeve in his word Look how Christ himselfe is said to be and to dwell in us So is his word now the Apostle Pauls expression is full of Christs dwelling in our hearts by faith indeed on Christs part the Spirit and on our part Faith maketh the union between him and us and both these concurre to the inbeing of the word when the word is received as St. Paul saith of the Thessalonians in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance to wit of faith To end this be pleased to know that there is a great deale of difference between these two his word among us and his word in us his word is among us when published and made known to us but it is not in us unlesse received and beleeved by us and therefore my brethren let us not content our selves with the former but labour to find the latter It is very observable what St. Paul saith of of the Colossians The Gospell is come unto you and bringeth forth fruit in you which it could not doe were it not ingrafted and therefore the Authour to the Hebrews saith of the Iews The word did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it Oh beloved it may be truly said of us that Gospel is come to us but is it in us doth it bring forth fruit in us St. Austin excellently compareth the word to an hooke which then taketh the fish when it is taken into the fist so the word when it is taken into us by faith then taketh us and that not to our ruine but safety and St. Iames when he speaketh of the word as able to save our soules calls it the ingrafted word to teach us how necessary it is to our spirituall and eternall profit by the word that it should be in us the truth is it were farre better never to have had the word among us then not to have it in us that this light had never shone in the midst of us if it be not set up in the candlestick of our hearts and therefore let it be our prayer that the Gospel may come to us not in word onely but in power that the seed of the word which is sowne and scattered among us may be hid in us Finaly that it may please God to give unto us increase of grace that we may heare meekely his word receive it with pure affection and bring forth the fruits of the spirit 2. But further consider this clause in its reference and ye shall find according to a severall reference severall things not unworthy our observation It is not amisse to compare the end of the eighth and of the tenth verse together in the one it is said the truth is not in us the other his word is not in us and if as doubtlesse we may we look upon these as synonimous phrases we may observe that what he calleth truth in the one he stileth Gods word in the other and so it amounts to that which our blessed Saviour himselfe elsewhere asserts Thy word is truth in which respect it is called by St. Paul and St. Iames the word of truth and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminently and primarily indeed it may be said of many words that they are true but onely Gods word is the word of truth yea truth it selfe consonant to this it is that the psalmist calls the words of the Lord pure words and compareth them to Silver purified in the fire seven times that is fully perfect so as there is not the least drosse of errour in them Indeed when we consider whose word it is namely his word who as he is the first being so he is the first truth we cannot but conclude that it must needs be altogether true therefore if we would have an answer to Pilates question what is truth the text giveth it it is Gods word and if you would know when doctrines are true this word is the onely sure touchstone and therefore the prophet Isay calleth to the lawe and to the Testimony If they speake not according to these it is because there is no light to wit of truth in them 2. If we put these two clauses together We