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A43607 Syntagma theologicum, or, A treatise wherein is concisely comprehended, the body of divinity, and the fundamentals of religion orderly discussed whereunto are added certain divine discourses, wherein are handled these following heads, viz. 1. The express character of Christ our redeemer, 2. Gloria in altissimis, or the angelical anthem, 3. The necessity of Christ's passion and resurrection, 4. The blessed ambassador, or, The best sent into the basest, 5. S. Paul's apology, 6. Holy fear, the fence of the soul, 7. Ordini quisque suo, or, The excellent order, 8. The royal remembrancer, or, Promises put in suit, 9. The watchman's watch-word, 10. Scala Jacobi, or, S. James his ladder, 11. Decus sanctorum, or, The saints dignity, 12. Warrantable separation, without breach of union / by Henry Hibbert ... Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678.; Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678. Exercitationes theologiae. 1662 (1662) Wing H1793; ESTC R2845 709,920 522

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do hurt by it However Truth may challenge credit It needs not stand begging audience or creep upon the ground with flattering insinuations Truth is a great Prince Magna verit●s praevalet it commands rather than entreats every word of it being a Law or charge Truth is not afraid to be tried It often lieth in a corner but never seeks corners as ashamed to be seen or discussed by men Truth as some have said lieth in a deep pit it is hard to finde it out it lieth out of sight yet Truth doth not hide it self but dares stand forth in the face of all the world It no more fears the tryal than pure gold fears the touch-stone or than a schollar who hath made good progresse in his learning fears to be examined He that hath Truth with him needs not care who appears against him Nay more Truth the more it hath been opposed the more it hath appeared Veritas abscondi erubescit saith Tertullian It was Zwinglius his prophecy scio veritatem superaturam esse ubi ossa mea in favillam erunt redacta occiditur quidem Christus sed brevi resurgit ac de hostibus triumphat Tom. 2. p. 323. R●primi non d●p●imi potest In respons ad Epist amici cujusdam non vulgaris Truth may be overclouded but like the Sun it will break out and appear more glorious Mahomet the great Turk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeing his beautiful wife Irene was the occasion of his neglect of his Realme and his people ready to rebel against him by his dallying with her In the midst of his Bassa's struck off her head Even so rather than hazard truth and a good conscience let go peace which her name in Greek signifies We must know no relations in Truths case Socrates is my friend Amicus Socrates amicus Plato sed magis amica veritas and Plato is my friend but Truth is a better friend than both Whosoever dares speak against truth we must dare to speak for it 'T is noble to shew our selves friends to Truth though we lose friends by it and enemies to errour though we get enemies by it Veritatem desiderant multi sed ad eam viam ignorant Vt è fonte aqua ha●ritur ex igne accenditur ignis ex lumine lumen ita ex Christo qui est veritas Dei veritas Veritas est in Jesu Jesus est veritas veritas Deus est qui deum novit veritatem novit Note further that according to the Philosophers there is a threefold truth 1. Metaphysical in being the conforming of a thing to the Idea Veritas in Essend● cognosc●ndo sign sicando by which it was framed 2. Logical in knowing the conformity of the understanding with the thing 3. Ethical in signifying the conformity both sermonis and facti of our words to the things and our actions to right reason by which distinction it manifestly appeareth that there is a practical as well as a speculative truth 1 John 1.6 And the Truth is done Either 1. Objectively which is to conform in doing to the Truth that is the Word of God the rule and square of Truth to make the Law of God the rule of our conversation Ezek. 18.5 Or 2. Modally which is to do what we do heartily and sincerely for it is not sufficient that we do what is right but that we do it truly with a good and upright heart Isa 38.2 To the former speaks Cyril and Tollet Facere veritatem est operari secundùm legem justitiae rectitudinis honestatis And to the latter thus Facere veritatem nihil aliud est quàm f●n●erè agere Vorst Mercy and Truth are met together Psal 85.10 11. righteousnesse and peace have kissed each other Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousnesse shall look down from heaven Lying Pythagora● was wont to say Mendacium à mend● that in two things we become like unto God 1. In bestowing benefits 2. In telling truth Mentiri Mendacium est falsa ennciatio cum intentione fallendi is contra mentem ire to lie is to utter a known untruth with an intention to deceive or hurt There is Mendacium 1. Malltiosum 2. Officiosum 3. Jocosum For the first it hath been the practice of the Christians enemies first to belie them and then persecute them Thus Epiphanius testifieth that after Saul was turned Christian the Grecians with whom he sometime was forward to joyn against Stephen sought his death but first they gave out that he turned meerly out of discontent because he could not obtain to wife the high-Priests daughter And before the French Massacre it was given out that the Protestants in their night-meetings committed most abominable uncleannesse Those that kill a dog saith the French proverb make the world believe he was mad first The Devil was first a liar and then a murtherer and he hath taught his Impes Diligi proximum ut teipsum nolite destruere ut alium extruas first to take away the credit of the Church and than to wound her For the second that is a good rule In mendacio officios● memento nè destruas spiritum tuum ut serves alterius corpus And for the last lie not in jest lest God send thee to Hell in earnest The Cretians were loud liars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Tit. 1.12 And Tertullian saith of Tacitus he was mendaciorum loquacissimus he never opened his mouth but there came forth a swarm of lies It was grown to a common Proverb A Frier a Liar One of them undertook to shew a feather of the wing of the Angel Gabriel The poor people are perswaded to believe that the thunder of the Popes Excommunication hath so blasted the English Hereticks that their faces are grown all black and and ugly as Devils their eyes and looks gastly their breath noisome and pestilent c. That they are grown barbarous and eat children blaspheme God and all his Saints It was a golden age when that argument took place Sacerdos est non fallet Christianus est non mentietur Hierom writeth of one upon the rack that uttered these words Non ideò negare volo nè peream sed ideò negare volo nè peccem Gods people are children that will not lie they will die rather Seneca observes Epist 97. ad finem Mendacium vitro pellucidius that a lie is of a thin and transparent nature a diligent eye may see through it Lying is a blushful evil therefore doth the liar deny his lie Aristotle saith it is in it self evil and wicked destructive to humane societiy and contrary to the order of nature which hath given words to expresse mens minds and meanings There is a threefold lie which we must both avoid and oppose 1. Verbal when a man tells a false tale or bringeth up a false report Mendax h●●●●cratur ut cum vera aixerit non credatur
God no man all spirit no body And besides it argues an impossibility for no creature can be changed into the Creatonr no finite body into an infinite and eternal substance It sufficeth us to know that Christ's soul and body were conditioned according to the description given when he entred into his glory And thus much of the person exalted Christ who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse despising the shame Hebr. 12.2 and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God We are next to consider Christ's exaltation the degrees of which are threefold the first degree is his Resurrection answering to the first degree of his humiliation which was his death The second degree is his ascension answering the second of his humiliation which was his burying The third degree which is the height of his exaltation is his sitting at the right hand of God opposed to the lowest of his humiliation which was his desc●nt into hell his remaining in the state of the dead By these degrees Christ entred into his glory My text limits me to the first degree of his exaltation which is his Resurrection from the dead It was a cruel conflict that Christ had upon the crosse he had his own Father against him taking vengeance upon him for the sins of the world he had Satan against him who out of a malicious disposition plotted and attempted his ruine he had the world against him in bruing their hands and their hearts in his blood his blood be upon us and our children say the Jewes The chief Priests the Scribes the common people the souldiers bandied themselves together against the Lord and against his annointed So close was their pursuing of him that indeed he received the foile they pierced his hands and his feet with nailes and his sides with a speare in the end they ended his dayes the height of their malice But not long after he reviv'd for the third day he rose again which he did for his own greater glory for his and our enemies more shamefull overthrow and for his disciples firmer consolation This was foretold by himself this was testified by men and Angels and is beleeved that he rose the third day Our faith in this is underpropt not only by the testimony of Angels and men Luk. 24.46 but also by Scripture and Arguments Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day By Arguments containing manifest demonstrations of the truth of his resurrection drawn from 1. His body 2. His soul● In that which is drawn from his dody Christ doth declare three things 1. That his body was a true real substantial and sollid dody And not framed onely in the imagination or compos'd all of an airy substance Feele and see saith he a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have 2. That his body was a humane body by shewing how that he had the true and perfect effigies and expressions or a man to be seen by the eye 3. That it was the very same numerical body which he h●d before by laying open to the view the grievous wounds which he suffered in his body Behold my hands and my feet that it is my self The wounds in his body discover the naked truth of his resurrection In the Argument which is deducted from his soul reunited to his body his resurrection is proved and that by the operations and works of the threefold life proceeding from the soul whereof man is partaker 1. By the works of the nutritive life in that he did eat and drink with them 2. By the works of the sensitive life his answers to his disciples giving evidences of his hearing his discerning them from others of his seeing 3. By the works of the intellective life in his discourses and explications of the profound mystery of the crosse Moreover the time when he rose was the third day He lay not dead in the grave three compleat dayes under the dominion of death for then he should not have risen till the fourth day So that he was but one day and two pieces of two dayes in the grave for he was buried in the evening before the Sabbath and rose in the morning the next day after the Sabbath The Friday evening he was buried the sunday morning he rose again which was the first day of the week and is now our Sabbath observed in memory of his glorious rising who is the Sun of Righteousness from death unto life And as in the first Day of the first World Light was commanded to shine out of darkness upon the deeps So in the first Day of this new World made new by Christ this glorious Sun after its Eclipse come to its period appeared in the brightness of his glory and gives light for ever to those that sit in darkness and dispels those clouds of obscurity that were under the Old Testament from the Christian world So long he rested in the grave as three days yet not full for a demonstraiton of the truth of his death And no longer that his body might not see corruption For had he risen presently we might doubt of the truth of his death Had he remained longer in the grave or unto the end of the world his body would according to the course of nature be corrupted and we might doubt of the truth of his Divinity which required for the manifestation of his power a quick resurrection of his body and a reuniting of the soul thereunto To confirm therefore our faith in both He rose the third day from the dead to enter into his glory As for the power by which he was raised it was not by any other than his own Though this act be attributed to the Father Act. 2.24 yet it is his power too For whatsoever is the Father's is his because He and the Father are one It was the power of his Divinity Superas evadere ad auras Hic labor hoc opus est that effected this great work Destroy this temple and within three days I will raise it again Joh. 2.19 I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it again cap. 10.18 Secundum Divinitatis virtutem corpus resumpsit animam quam deposuerat anima corpus resumpsit quod dimiserat sic Christus propriâ virtute resurrexit saith Aquinas According to the mighty working of the Godhead his body reassumed the soul which it did resigne and the soul that body out of which it parted and thus Christ by his own proper power did rise from the dead For indeed it was not possible that he should be holden of it Act. 2.24 for then should he not enter into his glory Here come two points occasioned by these words to be treated of Viz. 1. The Necessity of Christ's Resurrection 2. The Ends thereof Of the Necessity of his Resurrection As it was necessary that Christ should
Quia exercitiis stultitiae delectatur Pro. 10.23 5. Quia stultitiam suam spargere aliis communicare amat Pro. 12.23.13.16 6. Quia contemnit opponit sese mediis instructionis Pro. 15.5 7. Mediis illis quae maximè faciunt ad sapientiam abutitur Pro. 26.9 8. Omnes suas facultates applicat ad nequitiam exercendam manifestandam Pro. 6.12.13.14 Thus Sin and Folly are more than like one another for they are the same He is a fool who hath not wisdom to direct himself but he is the fool who will not follow the counsel and direction of the wise He is a fool that hath no knowledge and he is a fool who makes no use of the knowledge which he hath A fool is not able to judge of the nature of things and therefore he is angry with every thing that hits not his nature or his humour Hence Solomon Eccl. 7.9 Be not hasty in thy Spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosom of fools They that are emptiest of understanding are fullest of will and usually so full that we call them wilful And surely those men are more foolish than others inasmuch as they think themselves wiser than all Stustorum plena sunt omnia Wisdom like the Rayl flyes alone but foolishness Partridge-like by covies Mr. Adams There is the 1. Sad fool 2. Glad fool 3. Haughty fool 4. Naughty fool The sad fool that 's the envious man an enemy to all Gods favours if they fall from him he dies languishing The glad foll or rather mad fooll the dissolute man ready with a jest to put goodnesse out of fashion he dies laughing The haughty fool the ambitious man ever climbing towers though he never looks how to get down he forsakes peace at home to seek war abroad The naughty fool the coveteous man the very fool of all losing his friend time body soul and yet having no pleasure for it Jer. 17.11 He wasts him self to preserve his meanes Christ calls him fool which might best do it Luk. 12.20 As for the Atheistical fool he is that meer animal that hath no more than a reasonable soul and for little other purpose than as salt to keep his body from putrefying When an heire is impleaded for an Ideot the Judge commands an apple or a counter with a peece of gold to be set before him to try which he will take if he takes the apple or the counter and leaves the gold he is then cast for a fool and unable to mannage his estate for he knows not the value of things or how to make a true election Wicked men are thus foolish and more for when which is infinitely more sottish Heaven and hell life and death are set before them they chuse hell rather than heaven and death rather than life They take the mean transitory trifling things of the world before the favour of God Pardon of sin a part in Jesus Christ and an inheritance among the Saints in light Fools make a mock at sin Prov. 14.9 Shame shall be the promotion of fools Cap. 3.35 Sèe then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wìse Eph. 5.15 Sincerity It is the bottome grace especially commending us to God It is conceived not to be so properly a distinct grace as the perfection of every grace It s the filling up of all our duties without this they are as empty sounds A sincere man is like a Chrystal-Glass with a light in the midst which appeareth through every part thereof so as that truth within breaketh out in every parcel of his life There is in his obedience to God 1. An universality 2. Uniformity 3 Ubiquity He hath respect unto all Gods Commandments so far as he knows them without prejudice or partiality and is the same at home as abroad in the closet as in the Congregation His faith is unfained his love cordial his wisdom undissembled his repentance a renting of the heart he truly aims at pleasing God and not at by-respects Christ is said to be girt about the paps with a golden girdle Rev. 1.13 So the Angels are brought in girded there Cap. 15.6 to signifie the best estate of their Pastours coming nearest then in sincerity to Christ In the first age of the Church they wore their girdle about their middle but the more spiritual they became their girdle went the more upward To this the Apostle may seem to allude Eph. 6.14 And truely here as one saith well if ever unbelt unblest he is a loose man that wants this girdle of sincerity There is a devilish proverb passeth amongst men That plain dealing is a Jewel but he that useth it shall die a beggar But the contrary may be asserted that it is both a means formally enabling to outward happinesse and also a special qualification that hath in a peculiar manner the promises annexed to it Pro. 14.11 Cap. 11.3.2 Chro. 16.9 And whereas it may be said that it often falls out that uprightness is oppressed This is easily answered if we consider 1. That many of the outward calamities that befal godly persons are not simply evils as the world judgeth but rather markes of special honour God puts upon them Jobs body was full of ulcers but his heart was pure and those tribulations he grapled with were onely probatory to trie his strength to draw out his graces and increase his glory 2. We must not limit God to every moment of time when he will honour and cleer his people The world at first was a confused Chaos but at the end of six dayes it was a curious work So God hath his time and we should not desire God should break off his work before he hath made an end of it Jam. 5.11 And David calls upon us to mark the upright man Psal 33.37 The beginning may be trouble but the end is peace Qualis Majorisreatus minoris infamia es tali● appare For secret sins 1. They are as visible to God as the most open 2. As damnable to the soul 3. And what they want in number they have in nature and frequently in delight Encouragements to sincerity 1. It s the onely perfection we attain here Deut. 30.6 2. It makes us acceptable to God Eph. 6. ult 3. Where it is God passeth by many infirmities 2 Chro. 30.19 4. It is the best policy Psal 101.1 Pro. 11.3 5. It brings wonderful comfort and support under all afflictions and temptations 2 King 20.3 2 Cor. 1.12 That sincerity is most opposed by Satan is plain Job 2.3 As if the Holy Ghost would intimate this unto us that Satan pulled more at that than at his estate Satan did not care at all to pull Jobs Oxen c. from him but to pull his grace and sincerity from him As this gotten and improved is the joy of Angels so could it be stoln away or destroyed it would be the joy of Devils Sinceritas quasi sine carâ pure honey without the wax
that we hold or do out of bare ignorance of the truth But Heresie is an Errour and more having these three things in it Viz. 1. In regard of the matter it must be in some great and fundamental truths 2. It is accompanied with pertinacy and obstinacy after clear light offered 3. There is in it a taking of pleasure or delight It is numbred among the lusts of the flesh Gal. 5.20 Hereticks like the dog in the fable lose the substance of Religion while they gape too earnestly at the shadow Fire proves gold the furnace vessels tribulation friends wars good subjects Permittit Deus haereses ut qui probati sunt appareant and schisme or heresie the true Christian Therefore it behoves that there be heresies in the Church as it is necessary there should be poison and venemous creatures in the world because out of them God will work medicines 1 Cor. 11.19 Tertullian compares hereticks to the sepiae a kind of fish who lest they should be taken of their pursuers cast behind them abundance of black matter and so escape out of sight Epiphanius was semper haereticorum acerrimus oppugnator And Knox the Scottish Divine he so fully answered all his adversaries objections Lot Com. Heresie is exceedingly infectious and for most part mortal hence the Italian Proverb Jealousie Frensie and Heresie can hardly be cured Tit. 3. 〈…〉 that one of them said I see all our shifts will serve nothing before God they serve us in so small stead before men All heresies are found to flow saith Chemnitius either from the superstitious pride of Samosatenus or from the sophistry of Arrius or from the ignorance of Aelius These mens wits will better serve them to devise a thousand shifts to elude the truth than their pride will suffer them to acknowledge it And here St. Pauls rule takes place A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject Knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself See Hos 4.17 Blasphemie Blasphemers set their mouths against heaven Blasphemous speeches Leviter volant sed non leviter violant and their words are stout against God Such are all desperate speeches imposing upon God any thing unbeseeming of his Majestie which he can by no means away with The Church-Historian reports of Julian the Apostate that when he was wounded in the battel against the Parthians he took of his blood Theod. l. 3.6.20 Niceph. l. 10. c. 35. and threw it up to heaven he stretcheth out his hand against God saying in derision of Christ O Galilaean thou hast overcome This outward gesture of his body expressed the secret indignation of his minde And indeed blaspheming of God Vicisti Galilae● properly taken is ever joyned with an intent to cast reproach upon God Amalachit● Israelitas in exitu de Egypto vel ob lassitudinem vel ob legalem immunditiem extra castra degentes ●cciderunt corum circumcisionem amputatam in subsannationem Dei projecerunt in coelum Euseb l. 2. c. 6. And it is observed by Hierom who saith he received it from the tradition of the Jews that the Amalekites who were professed enemies to them did lie upon the watch to take all advantages against them In their march from Aegypt to Canaan and when at any time they turned aside out of the way either because of legal uncleannesse or upon any natural necessity they would fall upon them and slay them which being done they cut off that member which had the seal of the Covenant Circumcision upon it and with their hand stretched out threw it up toward heaven as if they would challenge God himself to revenge their blasphemy of him and the contempt of that sacred institution Such was the blasphemy of Caius Caligula that he set up his picture in many places and claimed mens prayers unto himself and dedicated the Temple in the holy City to his proper use translating and consecrating the name to new Caius as a famous God This was far beyond the Bishop of Constantinople who onely desiring to be called Universal Gregory the great calls it N●m●nistud blasphemia It is a sin against the light of Nature which Princes have severely punished some by searing their lips with an hot iron and others with death The very Turks cannot endure them that wound the eares of heaven but punish the Christians their Prisoners when they through impatience or desperateness do blaspheme Christ But how piercing is it to the heart of God and his people visible vengeance hath fallen upon such wretches and they have come to a fearful end Mr. Anno 1553. in Helvetia at a town 3. miles distant from Lucerna on a Lords day under the town-wall The truth of this relation is farther attested by others Iob Tincelius Philip Loincerus Theat Hist p. 142. Isa 37.23 Psal 42.10 Psal 56.7 Trapp in his Exposition on Malachy recites a terrible story out of Andrew Musculus concerning a desperate Dice-player who having lost a great deal of money swore that if he lost the next cast he would sling his dagger at the face of God He lost it and in a rage threw up his daggar with all his might toward heaven The daggar vanished in the ayr and was seen no more five drops of blood fell down upon the table where they were playing which could never be washed out part of it is still kept in the town for a Monument and the blasphemer was fetcht away presently body and soul by the Devil with such an horrible noise as affrighted the whole town The other two came to a miserable end shortly after Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high even against the holy one of Israel As with a sword in my bones mine enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me where is thy God Shall they escape by iniquity in thine anger cast down the people O God Types ΤΥΠΟΙ A Type is a shadow of things to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Typus vestigium figura exemplar forma signum rei futurae Sometimes called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subostentio obscura repraesentatio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 umbra Heb. 9.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All that was in the Ceremonial Law were types of our Saviour Christ and of the Kingdom of heaven The Sanctuary a shadow of heaven the Tabernacle of Christs body the High-Priests of Christ Their sacrifices types of his the brazen serpent a figure of him c. They had the shadow and we the substance The Levitical Ordinance is also called a figure or Parable That is such a form of service as intimated some greater matter than to the sense appeared And called upon the people to look through the type to the truth of things through the history to the mystery When the sun is behind the shadow is before when the sun is
Rom. 7.25 There 's a great difference betwixt the regency and residency of sin In a regenerate person rebel it may raign it shall not It fareth with sinne in them saith one as with those beasts Dan. 7.10 they had their dominion taken away yet their lives were prolonged for a season While we are at conflict and combate with sin it will not be our ruine but when we willingly take these bonds and chains upon us then sin will be our overthrow Sin comes to prevail over a man by degrees James 1.15 Nemo repe●tè fit turpissimus so that as the cloud in Elias time which was at first but as big as an hand did afterwards increase into a vast cloud able to darken the whole skie so sin hath its beginnings and subtle ingresses but afterward these sparks do prove a very great flame Therefore it should be our godly wisdom to subdue sin in the beginning of it to break it in the egge before it come to be a flying Serpent One spark let alone may endanger a whole town if we give indulgence to our lusts at first Voluptates l●tronum more quos Philetas Aegyptii vocant in hoc nos amplecluntur ut stran●ulent Senec. Epist 51. Rom. 6.12 they will be our Masters afterwards Jacob complained of Labans deceit about his wages but to all eternity thou wilt have cause to cry out that sinne hath deceived thee promising joy and pleasures but instead of this honey thou meetest with gall and wormwood to feed upon for ever Let not sinne reign therefore in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof Servant of God To serve God is a comprehensive term taking in all the duty of man in holinesse To serve God is to give him all the duties both of natural and of instituted worship We serve God while we love him fear him believe in him trust upon him yet all these have distinct and proper respects to God We trust God as he is faithful believe on him as he is true fear him as he is great love him as he is good and serve him as he is our Soveraigne and Lord of all Carnal men count the service of God unprofitable The reason is because they account nothing good but that which is outwardly good Psal 4.6 They can look no further than they see and therefore because they see no profit they conclude there is none to be had and are ready to say Mal. 3.14 It is in vain to serve God At the best many desire to be his retainers rather than servants willing they be to shrowd themselves under that name because they think that in the end it will go well with such also they think it a disgrace to be said to be of no Religion yet for all that they are loath to be tyed desiring to be free still and at their own disposing serving God now and than out of formalitie more than conscience and when their own occasions will give leave The end of our Redemption is to serve God whom we must serve 1. Integraliter with the whole man 2. Peculiariter him and him alone 3. Perseveranter to our lives end 4. Totaliter in every part of the same If God be not served with all he counts himself not at all served There is no fishing to the Sea No service to the Kings Nor no service to the King of kings Our Master 1. Is rich 2. Loving 3. Liberal 4. Lives for ever Adde God will protect his servants Psal 146.14 Never be ashamed of them Heb. 11.6 And his service is best and sweetest at last To be called the servant of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo in l. de Regno is an higher title than Monarch of the world said Numa the second King of Rome Constantinus Valentinianus and Theodosius three Emperors called themselves Vasallos Christi the vassals of Christ as Socrates reporteth It is written Mat. 4.10 thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Read Cap. 12.28 Josh 24.15 Luke 1.74 John 12.26 Rom. 1.9 1 Thes 1.9 2 Tim. 1.3 Heb. 9.14 cap. 12.28 c. Truth If any ask as Pilate did John 18.38 What is Truth I answer it is the most perfect essence of any thing or the most absolute perfection it self of any matter Veritas and bonitas differ but as the seal and the print for truth prints goodness and they be the clouds of errour which descend in the storms of passions and perturbations It hath these two properties 1. It is Divine grounded on the Scriptures 2. Truth is single one and the same at agreement with it self whereas errour is manifold dissonant and contradictory to it self Veritas simplex Error multiplex And truth is ever the same The declarative truth of God is like Christ the essential truth the same yesterday and to day and for ever Truth though it be very old yet waxeth not old Neither ever wanteth she voluntary witnesses to depose for her or arguments that offer themselves in her defence As the Poets feined the stones came of their own accord to the building of Thebes Yet Truth hath many cold friends When Callidus once declared against Gallus with a faint and languishing voice Oh saith Tully Tu nisi fingeres sic ageres Obsequium amicos veritas odium parit Wouldst thou plead on that manner if thou wert in good earnest Mens faint appearing for the Truth shews they do but faine Their coldnesse probably concludeth they do but counterfeit Yea Truth hath alwayes opposites Dogs saith a Divine though they fight never so fierce and mutually entertear one another yet if a Hare run by they give over and run after her Martial makes mention of a Hare on the Sicilian shore that having hardly escaped the hounds that hunted her was devoured by a sea-dog Whereupon he brings her in thus complaining In me omnis terraeque aviumque marisque rapina est An expectas ut Quintilianus ametur For sitan Coeli si canis astra tenet Moreover the defenders of the truth in all ages were accounted Schismaticks Tertullian saith it hath ever been seen veritatem in terris peregrinam agere inter ignotos facilè calumniatores invenire Elias the troubler of Israel Paul a mover of sedition Amos accused of the like before Jeroboam yea Christ to seduce the people and to affect Caesars Kingdome And Satan is the enemy of Truth either openly or covertly Indeed though he be the father of lies yet he sometimes speaks truth for his own advantage But as it is said concerning Judas speaking for the poor Joh. 12.6 so Satan will sometimes speak that which is true not that he regards the truth or that he would speak a word of Truth for he hath nothing but lies in his heart there is a lie in his heart when there is truth in his mouth But when ever he speaks truth it is to deceive and
indeed in this judgment the Lord speaks aloud One calls it Bellum divinum Homer saith that the Plague is the arrow of God And Hyppocrates That a great Plague among them was the Divine disease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because a punishment sent from God more immediately as an evil messenger And indeed it hath less of man and second causes in it than others Though second causes are not wholly denied yet they are hard to be found out Quicquid asseratur omnis pestilentiae caeca et delitescens est causa et aliunde quàm ex primis qualitatibus aut ex putredine perfecta Fern. De abd it rerum caus it puzzles the learned Physicians clearly to express them some referring it to the indisposition of the air others to malignant occult qualities in the air body or diet some to corruption in the blood and others to hunger and surfeit But Senertus concludes very honestly Qualis sit pestilentialis veneni natura qua ejus in qualibet pestilenti constitutione differentia nemo hactenus satis explicavit Lib. 4. cap. 10. Gods hand is seen much in this noisom disease Some Pestilences kill cattel and not men some kill men and not cattel and some kill one sort of men and not others as the le●rded have observed A certain Historian calls it and aptly A scourge of the greatest multitudes and the handmaid of Famine For this deadly disease lays heaps upon heaps as many places have had lamentable experience and scarce leaveth living enow to bury the dead As in the days of Decius the Emperor In David's time Seventy thousand were consumed by it in three days 2 Sam. 24.15 In Vespasian's days at Rome Euseb in Chrónico there died Ten thousand a day for many days together And in the year 1345. it was so general through the Christian world that it destroyed half mankind Where God gives it a commission it runs as fire in a corn-field Experience clears it however some have questioned it that a godly man may die of the Plague As did Oecolampadius and others Psal ●91 Hezekiah is thought to have had it So had reverend Beza his family was four several times visited herewith who was much comforted under it and other heavy afflictions by that sweet Psalm as himself witnesseth The Arrow that flieth by day the Pestilence that walketh in darkness Psal 91.5 6. Political Administration Vulgus The Common people I Do not regard saith Seneca to please the Vulgar for the things that I know the people do not approve and the things that the people approve I know not Nunquam volui populo placere nam quae ego scio non probat populus quae probat populus ego nescio Epist. Yet it 's good for Princes to know that if the common people be a beast of many heads it hath more hands and therefore not to be despised A good Horsman must sometimes use the reins not always the spur Some are to their Country as the worm in wood or moth in cloth not Common-wealths but rather Common-woes men Grievous was the disorder when Herod cannot be wrought with but by Herodias nor Pilate but with his wife underhand It is also hard with the whole body when the stomack which should feed all and concoct nourishment is foul and distempered The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint Isa 1.5 Magistrate A good Magistrate is a faithful Deputy of his Maker B. H. Magistratus descrip●●● His breast is the Ocean whereinto all the cares of private men empty themselves which as he received without complaint so he sends them forth in a wise conveyance by the streams of Justice His doors his ears are ever open to suiters and not who comes first speeds well but whose cause is best On the Bench he is another from himself at home all private respects of blood alliance amity are forgotten and if his own Son come under trial he knows him not Pity which is the praise of humanity and the fruit of a Christian love is by him thrown over the bar As for Favour the false advocate of the gracious he allows him not to appear in the Court there only Causes are heard speak not Persons Truth must strip her and come in naked to his bar without false bodies or colours A Bribe or a Letter on the Bench or a word of a Grate man are answered with an angry repulse Displeasure Revenge and Recompence stand on both sides the Bench but he regards them not only he looks at Equity right before him His hand is flower than his tongue but when he is urged by occasion either to doom or execution he shews how he abhorreth merciful Injustice his forehead is rugged and severe able to discountenance villany I know not whether he be more feared or loved his affections are so sweetly tempered The good fear him lovingly the mild sort love him fearfully and only the wicked man fears him slavishly If he be partial it is to his enemy His sword hath neither rusted for want of use nor surfeiteth with blood but after many threats is unsheathed as the dreadful instrument of Divine revenge He is the Guard of good Laws the Refuge of Innocency the Recompencer of the Guilty the Pay-master of good Deserts the Champion of Justice the Patron of Peace the Father of the Country and as it were another God on earth Magistratus vocantur ab Aristotele 3 Pol. c. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui enim legi concedit imperium ille videtur Dei permittere imperium Amongst the Romans Godw. Antiq. l. 3. c. 1. the Praetor or Lord Chief Justice might not keep Court and administer Justice upon certain days without the speaking of these three words Do Dico Addico Dabat actionem dicebat jus addicebat tam res quàm homines The Magistrate hath not to do in sacris but circa sacra He may not do Vzzia's work but Hezekia's The Minister hath vim admonendi the Magistrate vim coercendi Heathens pictured Magistrates by a Fountain because it conveys water all about Bad Magistrates are as a Briar Ut t●i inveniatur dolor ubi sperabitur auxilium Hierom. Mic. 7.4 or as a Thorn-hedge a man that takes hold with his fingers is prickt and glad to let go Or as the silly sheep that flying to the bush for defence in weather loseth part of her fleece So that a man shall have grief where he hoped for help and succour Or like unto Oaks which are strong but bear no other fruit but acorns for swine A good Magistrate like thunder fears many Poena ad paucos c. Psal 101.1 hurts few He sings of mercy and judgment which are the brightest stars in the sphere of Majesty He bathes the sword of Justice in the oil of mercy A well-tempered mixture of both these preserves the Commonwealth Cujus potestas ejus est actus People are but the Magistrates
discrepancy and distinction from the members 2. In a congruity or agreement with them The relation of a natural head to the members doth consist in a discrepancy which is four-fold 1. The natural head differs from the members in regard of eminence and dignity so Christ from the Church and every single member thereof for he is God over all blessed for ever 2. In regard of perfection so of Christs fulness do we all receive 3. Thirdly in regard of Government so Christ by his Spirit ruleth in the hearts of the faithful and they are at his service 4. In regard of influence so there are infused in the soules of the elect the divine and heavenly motions of grace from Christ through whom they are able to do all things It consisteth likewise in a congruity and agreement which is three-fold 1. The head hath a natural conformity with the members so Christ as man with every one of the Church we are of his body of his flesh and of his bones 2. The head and members do agree in ordination to the same end conspiring together for the preservation of the whole entire So Christ is now in glory and the Church presseth forward to that eternal blessedness which in the day of perfect redemption they shall with Christ be actual possessours of 3. The head and the members do agree in contiguity so there is a spiritual contiguity effected by the supernatural operation of Gods Spirit betwixt Christ and his mystical body whereby they are made one they that are joined unto Christ are one spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 And hence those supernal graces whose original is God are with the more facility more copiously diffused and the life of grace with heavenly inspirations the more amply distributed to each part the power of which diffusive distribution principally resideth in Christ the head from whom the prime act of all transcendent information doth proceed For further illustration of this first Christ is the head of the Church 1. In all places 2. At all times 3. In every state and condition considered 4. In all Authority He is the head of the Church in all places for he is every where the Deity cannot be excluded neither yet included All places are full of him and yet all places do not comprehend him he is free from the limits of local circumscription and yet every where present Go from his Spirit we cannot Nocte latent mendae sed non Deum Dco o scura clarent muta respondent silen●um con●●it●tur faith an Ancient we cannot fly from his all-filling presence if we ascend into heaven he is there if we descend into hell be is there if we take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall his hand lead us and his right hand shall hold us darkness shall not cover us darkness shall not hide us the night shall be light about us for to him the night shineth as the day Psal 139. An uncontroulable demonstration of this ubiquity and special presence of Christ in Spirit is the universality of the Church which is not comprehended as heretofore within the narrow bounds of Jury or the circumference of one Kingdom but the uttermost parts of the earth are his possession his call hath been heard in all Lands and all Nations The sound of the Apostles Doctrine concerning the Kingdom of Christ Rom. 10.18 went into all the Kingdomes of the earth and their words into the ends of the world Vitra Garamantas Indos protulet imperium all sorts of people are in subjection to his dominion This was intimated to Peter in a vision as is by some wittily observed Act. 10. Where he saw heaven opened and a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowles of the aire The vessel knit at the four corners did denotate the universality of the Church the four corners of the vessel answering the four corners of the world East West North South The several kind of creatures in it call'd by Peter unclean but by God cleans'd signifies the Church of God collected out of all Nations and conditions of men purified with the blood of Christ and sanctified by his Spirit Wherefore pious was that conclusion which Peter hence deducted that in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness without respect of persons is accepted with him We read Mat. 24.31 that at the end of the world Christ will send forth his Angels to gather together his Elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other which infallibly is a significant expression of the dispersion of Gods Church through all the quarters of the world We may yet ascend higher Christ is not head on earth alone but in heaven also every sainted and glorified man is a triumphant member of this body of Christ Thus Christ is the head of the Church in all places He is also the head of the Church at all times 1. Before the law for then the Patriarchs our forefathers enjoyed the benefit of the same glorious promises made in Christ Jesus that we now do only the circumstance altered they believing that Christ should be incarnate we that he was 2. Under the Law for all the ceremonies services and sacrifices at that time had reference unto him without whom they could do nothing It were through Christ they were vigorous and for his sake acceptable to God and the persons for whom the sacrifices were offered were not respected so much for those sacrifices as for the Principal intended by them Christ Jesus So that his Spirit was in the faithful then elevating their souls to more sublime objects than there presented to the outward view and guiding their actions to an higher end than there appearing 3. He is the Churches Head after the Law under the Gospel For by the Gospel the power of God unto salvation and by his holy Spirit leading us into all truth and filling us with all eminent graces and Celestial benedictions he governeth the Church Gods flock conducting them to that Kingdom which for them he hath purchased with his precious blood And having since his manifestation in the flesh confer'd upon his people a more ample proportion of gifts the assurance of these dayes in Christ and happy communion with him is more apparent than ever before By him we have accesse unto the throne of grace by him we are made partakers of the divine nature In brief he is the head of the Church by an unrevokable constitution from all eternity and so unto eternity shall last No Pontifical competitour can put him by it no proud Prelate of Rome can partake of this honour proper to himself and which he will not give unto another Thus he is the head of the Church at all times And he is the Churches
of ignorance suggest unto us that the Scriptures are obscure and so unfit for the Vulgar to look into beleeve it not 't is a false alarum 't is a bold tale by Davids help ye may des●ry them Thy Word is a light unto my feet Psal 119.105 2 Pet. 1.19 and a lanthorn unto my paths faith the blessed King Saint Peter calls it a light that shineth in a dark place which if the darknesse comprehend not the aspersion is not to be cast upon the Word but upon us in whom the darknesse dwelleth The Sun is not a jot the more obscure that a blind man seeth it not no more is the Word of God that a natural man understands it not for it is impossible for him so considered 1. In regard of his natural corruption whereby he loves darknesse more than light 2. In regard of his natural dimnesse whereby saith Justin Martyn he is too weak to apprehend clearly the greater matters 3. In regard of the malice of our ancient enemy who labours to take that seed which is sowen out of our hearts and make it unprofitable Yet this word is to be lookt into of all to be heard received meditated and discourst of because by this means we may in time attain to the understanding of it But specially by the guidance of the unerring Spirit that teacheth us all things for which we must daily supplicate unto the Father of wisdom to make us wise unto salvation For if he be once confer'd upon us 1 Cor. 2.10 we are fitted then to search all things even the deep things of God Until which there remains a vail over the heart and scales of ignorance which must first fall lo● as those did from Pauls eyes It is not every one that bringeth with him a rational soul that is capable of Divine Revelations 't is true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The mind seeth the mind heareth Epicharmus said it Epicharmus yet never is it fit to entertain sacred and supernatural objects until first rectified by the Spirit of truth For the Gentile that is the unregenerate walkers in the vanity of their minds until the power Divine actuate them anew until the holly Ghost who is the anointing eye-salve Joh. 14.26 open their eyes and teach them all things remain in that dark condition Velamen amove volumen evolve Hence proceeded Davids Petition Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy La● Psal 119.18 If God open the heart of man as he did the heart of Lydiu What should 〈◊〉 from reading Gods mind in his written Word For this the Bereans won the reputation of being Noble which none but the ignoble brood of the lying Whore of Babylon oppose who were not their faces thatcht over with impudence as is their devotion laid over with ignorance might extremely be ashamed For which grand Sacriledge they pretend Apostolical authority derived from the Popes Chair under the disguise of holinesse wherein lyes a deep plot how to cheat mens souls of saving knowledge and thereby men of their souls The scope of which damned project is to keep the people in a servile awe at their back and make them submit to what they prescribe whereby poor souls they are hurried aloug●ood winckt into an unavoidable destruction I would to God they were better advised A Chancellour in England advising a Judge told him it was his duty to open the Jurors eyes and not to lead them by the nose So I may say to the Popish Clergy it is their duty not to debarre any Lay-man for looking into the perfect law of liberty which is all the evidence they can shew for the Kingdom of heaven the land of the living but to let them use that granted liberty for their own satisfaction and better assurance Let them then say what they will the Scriptures are not for hardnesse like unto the Cities of the Anakims which were so strong and so walled that they made the Israelites quake to think of them Numb 6.13 neither are they for danger so perillous as they report to be medled with as the tree of knowledge of good and evil that brought death to them that tasted it but it is the power of God unto salvation and to them that keep it there is great reward I advise you therefore to fear nothing but in the strength of the Lord seek to know your Fathers will every way that you may be the better enabled to do it to your endlesse comfort and his endlesse glory who is God over all blessed for ever For what remains I contract my discourse The second step is Perseverance And continueth therein That is persevereth in the study of this holy doctrine and remaine thin the Knowledge belief and 〈…〉 Non quaruntu● in Christianis initis sed finis Hierom. 〈…〉 their glory when they lest their love to the truth It is the evening that crownes the day and the last act that commands the whole scene If ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed Joh. 8.31 The third step is Remembrance He being not a forgetfull hearer There is an Hebraism in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an hearer of oblivion a term answering the former similitude Wicked men are often expressed by their bad memories and the sins of Gods people are usually sins of forgetfulnesse and incogitancy Our souls saith one are like filthy ponds in which fish die soone frogs live long Prophane jests are remembred pious passages forgotten Our memories naturally are very false and there is a wilful forgetfulnesse of the best things Therefore we should use the best helps As Attention Prov. 4.21 Affection Psal 119.97 Application Job 5.27 Meditation Luke 2.19 And Practice Psal 119.49 All these are great friends to memory which is the Chest and Ark of Divine Truths Isa 42.23 in which we should see them carefully locked up We should lay up something for the time to come and learn that in Zion which may support us in Babylon The fourth step is Practice But a doer of the work That is laboureth to refer and bring all things to practice Non quid legerint sed quid eperint non quid dixerint sed quomode vixerint This is the end of all our reading and hearing that we may do it it is not knowing but practising that bringeth blessednesse At the last day Christ will demand not what have we read or said but what have we done One practical Christian brings more glory to God than a thousand notional formal professors Is Optimè legit Scripturas qui verba vertit in opera An evidence we are truly godly when the Word is written in the heart and held forth in the life Phil. 2.16 It is not talking of wine but drinking of it that comforts and chears the heart The Theory of Musick is delightfull but the practice is far more excellent and pleasant A real good man is
Decalogus explicatus a living Decalogue his life is a comment on the commandments He walks up to his principles and priviledges answering his Gospel-light with a Gospel life Ille plus didicit quiplus facit A grain of grace is better than many pounds of gifts Obedience is better than sacrifice These lead to the top of all which is blessednesse This man shall be blessed in his deed Mark this against the Papists the Apostle doth not say for but in his deed 'T is an evidence of our blessednesse though not the ground of it the way though not the cause There is a blessednesse annexed to obedience not for the works sake but out of the mercy of God see then that we so carry as that we may come within the compasse of the blessing His disciples were more blessed in hearing Christ than his mother in bearing him Luke 11.28 DECVS SANCTORVM OR THE Saints Dignity PSAL. 149.9 This honour have all his Saints HOnor Christianorum Crux Christi The Cross of Christ is the Christians glory God forbid that any of Christs flock should glory in any thing save in the Cross of Christ There is pain indeed but there is pleasure too the pain is outward but the pleasure inward the pain is for a moment lasting but the pleasure time out of mind everlasting There is trouble in the Cross but hold out unto the end and the consequence of it will be rest world without end All afflictions are but light in comparison of that exceeding and eternal weight of glory that crowns them Besides the joy of the Holy Ghost is wrought in the hearts of the afflicted members of Jesus Christ weighs down the burden of that sorrow that is laid upon them Hence it is that they faint not for though the outward man perish yet is the inward man renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 It is an infallible Maxim dictated by Gods Spirit That they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 1 Cor. 4.12 13. But observe the magnanimity of the Martyrs Though they be reviled yet they bless though they be persecuted yet they suffer it though they be defamed yet they bless though their blood run down about their ears yet they rejoice forasmuch as they are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed they may be glad also with exceeding joy For whosoever suffereth reproach or any kind of persecution for the name of Christ keeping a good conscience happy are they for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon them and God on their part is glorified The Church of God which is the Congregation of Saints is compared to a City which is besieged ab hostibus oppugnatur non expugnatur which is assaulted but not vanquisht by any adverse power the gates of hell cannot prevail against it 1 Pet. 4.13 14. The Bush that Moses in a vision saw burning but not consuming did signifie the Church of God then in Egypt burning in the fiery furnace of tribulation yet free from consumption You may easily conceive the reason God was there Here am I said he to Moses Where the Lord is there is safety No power can destroy that which is supported by the highest power Vritur non comburitur the bush the Church doth burn but consumes not away it is preserved for greater glory and greater glory reserved for it For no doubt but the Saints the holy ones of the Holy One of Israel shall at length have the upper hand of their enemies Principalities powers and dominions do set themselves against them but what of that Principalities powers and dominions must submit unto them Wherefore Let the Saints be joyful in glory let them sing aloud upon their beds let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people to bind their Kings with chains and their Nobles with fetters of iron to execute upon them the judgment written This honor have all his Saints Observe in these words these three parts 1. A Subject and that is Gods Saints 2. An Attribute which is a special honour proper and peculiar to the Saints exprest in the precedent words and here implied This honour 3. The latitude and extent of this attribute of honour all Gods Saints are partakers of it This honour have all his Saints The Subject must be the first subject of my discourse There are two sorts of Saints 1. Seeming Saints and 2. Real Saints Seeming Saints are whose Religion is terminated in outward appearances None can have a fairer outside none a fouler inside Whereupon our Saviour compares them by the name of Hypocrites to painted sepulchres and others give them the plausible appellation of white Devils Painted sepulchres are glorious without but within nothing visible but rottenness White Devils appear like Angels of light but do but search them and you shall find them Angels of darkness Devils though white as the Devil would have it and as the Negro's paint him as a colour contrary to their own Multa videntur quae non sunt Many good things appear by them but not one good thing can be found in them Our Saviour deciphered them by the name of Wolves in Sheeps clothing harmless in profession but in truth of a wolvish disposition like those in the Revelasion that said they were Jews and were not but the Synagogue of Satan These are Saints in the Devils name and of his making whose damnation is just and from whom good Lord deliver us Let us leave them as nothing to do with this Text nor this Text with them which hath only to do with Gods Saints And take this note with you Si vita sanct●rum nobis acerit appellatio sanctorum nihi proderit saith reverend Davenant The name of Saints will nover do us good if we lead not the good life of Saints There are real Saints Saints of God and they are Saints two ways 1. By Imputation 2. By Renovation By Imputation for to them the sanctity and righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed in which respect the Saints gone were the Saints living are perfect in this lise John 17.19 Ephes 5.27 Tales nos amat Deus quales futu●i sumus ipsius dono non quales sumus nostro merito Saith an Ancient Councel For the holiness of our dear Saviour in a bottomless mercy and goodness imputed to them is in it self most perfect Of this our Saviour speaks when he saith For their sakes sanctifie I my self that they also may be sanctified through the truth And the Apostle delivers this doctrine thus That Christ loved his Church and he gave himself for it that he might sanctifie it and present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinckle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Were it not that they are not imputed and that Christs righteousness is