defection yea in most dangerous places euen there where Sathan hath his throne for this is no small argument of true religion deepely rooted in your heart that hauing trauelled through Italy Rome and other parts of the Popes Dominions heard and seene all those allurements which carrieth away instable minded men not rooted nor grounded in Christ after the loue of that richly busked Babilonish Whoore your Lordship hath returned home vnspotted neither burnt with their fire nor blacked with their smoake not vnlike those three children who came forth out of Nabuchadnezzars fire and had not so much as a smell thereof on their garments This Pietie euen in the iudgement of them who had no more but Natures light was esteemed the highest matter of a mans praise maiorem virtutem religione pietate in Deum nullam in humano genere inueniri quisque sibi persuadeat The reason hereof is giuen by Diuines illuminate with the light of the word to be this that by Pietie and holinesse of life we ascend ad primarium illud bonum vnde originem traximus and therefore the same father speaking in the praise of Cyprian affirmes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And indeede since we are the generation of God made to his image what greater glory can man haue then to conserue that image and be like vnto him to whose similitude hee was made Vna itaque nobilitas imitatio dei Goe on therfore right Noble Lord follow the course which yee haue happily begunne shew your selfe the kindely sonne of so worthy Fathers aboue all the Sonne of God by the new generation his worke-manship created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes Keepe in minde that warning of our Lord Much will be required of him to whom much is giuen as the double portion obliged the first borne to the greater seruice otherwaies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In all your waies looke vp to the Lord hee it is that exalts them of lowe degree and puts downe the mighty from their seates turning their glory into shame who vse not their glory to honour him Pittifull proofes whereof wee haue in this fearefull earthquake as I may call it going through this countrey by which many Castles Houses and Lands spewes out their inhabitants shaking off the yoke of their ancient Lords and rendring themselues to be possessed of their seruants because they haue also cast off the yoke of the Lord their God or at least not welcommed his grace offred in the Gospell as it became them The consideration whereof I doubt not doth affect your Lordship as it doth others who are become wise through the feare of God and learnes by the losse of others to gather their thoughts and make peace with him whose praise it is that he buildes houses to men and vpholds them for by him enterprises are established And herewithall remember Right Noble Lord that as trees on tops of hils are subiect to the blast of euery winde so men in the height of honour to great temptations against which they haue neede to be armed But least I seeme Monere memorem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more laborious then neede requires I end Humbly praying your Lordship to accept these small and scarse-ripe fruit of my labours as a testimony of my affection to your Honour till it may please God some better token come into my hand whereby to declare it Your Lordships to command M. WILLIAM COVVPER Minister of Perth The Preface IT may iustly be spoken of many in this age which the Apostle Saint Paul spake of the Hebrewes When as concerning the time yee ought to be teachers of others yee haue neede againe that wee teach you the first principles of the word of God and are become such as haue neede of Milke and not of strong meate they professe faith in Christ but in truth doe not beleeue in him neither yet can they because they know him not they are baptised in his name but are not bureid with him through Baptisme neither raised vp together through the faith of the operation of God that raised him from the dead they carrie his cognisance and badge but are not militant vnder him in his warrefare As the Athenians sacrificed Ignoto Deo to a strange God and the Samaritans worshipped that which they knew not so our Atheists profitentur ignotum Christum professe a strange Christ they know not what he is in himselfe nor how hee is become ours nor what hee hath done for vs and therefore neither in life nor death doe they expresse his vertue They liue licentiously reprobate vnto euery good worke dishonouring Christ as if hee were a Sauiour who had no power to sanctifie those which are in him and they dye without comfort as if Christ by death had not obtained life and by death did not transport to life all that are in him thus while they professe fellowship with him they declare themselues to be strangers from him It is witnessed by the Lord in Ezechiel the same soule that sinneth shall die the sonne shall not beare the inquitie of the father neither shall the father beare the iniquitie of the sonne but the righteousnesse of the righteous shal be vpon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shal be vpon himselfe If according to this testimonie of the word it be demanded of them seeing Christ is holy and righteous and wee are the sinners how is it that hee is punished and wee are spared This is but one of the least of Sathans assaults by which he impugnes the faith of men and yet if they be required to answere it they shall soone bewray themselues to be voide of knowledge and solide faith confident onely in a naked profession which will not faile in the end to beguile them For as an house faultie in the foundation cannot abide the stormy windes and raine no more can a Christian not informed with knowledge not rooted grounded and builded in Christ Iesus by faith endure in the houre of tentation That therefore the doctrine of Christianitie may be learned by such as knowes it not from the very foundation we haue here proposed three most necessary points to be entreated The first is Christs Genealogie the second his Baptisme the third his Tentation In the first wee are taught what manner of man our Lord is in himselfe In the second what manner of way he is become ours In the third what manner of way he did begin to worke the worke of our Redemption all most necessary to be knowne for the right grounding of our Faith on him In his Genealogie wee see how Iesus the sonne of Mary is that same blessed seede of the woman whom the Lord promised in Paradise to whom the Prophets of all times pointed and for whom the godly fathers of all ages waited and expected lineally desended from Adam by seauentie and foure fathers In his Baptisme wee see how he was consecrated
THREE HEAVENLY TREATISES concerning Christ 1 His Genealogie 2 His Baptisme 3 His Combat with Sathan TOGETHER VVITH deuout Meditations for Christian Consolation and Instruction By Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods Word LONDON Printed by T. S. for Iohn Budge and are to be sold at his shops at the great South doore of Paules and at Brittaines Bursse 1612. TO THE RIGHT Noble Lord Iohn Earle of Montrose Lord Graeme and Mugdok one of his Maiesties most Honourable Priuy Counsell in this Kingdome My Lord I Haue beene bold to publish these Treatises vnder your Honourable name not for any light that by them can accresse to that treasure of knowledge which is in your Noble minde but that so farre as I can I might make euident to others for imitation that grace which God hath made so eminent in you I may truely say there is no qualitie which in the iudgement either of learned Ancients or recents hath beene required to complete Nobilitie lacking in you Your honour being not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely Noble by birth but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also generous by manners such as retaine yea by vertue encreases the honour of your honourable Fathers It passed among the ancient wise men in a prouerbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because commonly it fals out that children of worthy men comming short of their fathers vertue derogates to their glorie aequat rara patrem soboles And therefore in them qui clariores genere censâ—ntur it was euer thought an high commendation maiorum famam sustinere like as no greater shame can be to them of that ranke then when by their ignoble life they quench the light of their noble stock et generi suo dedecori sunt It is now twelue hundreth years since your honourable name hath beene famous in this kingdome but which is much more and wherein in my iudgement it is marueilous the first mention of your Tribe in the story doth not record the rising therof from a small estate vnto an higher as it doth in many Peeres of the land who for their vertue also were aduanced but at the first sight it presents your worthy Predecessor standing in the highest top of Honour wherein a subiect can be for not onely was he then brother in law to king Fergus the 2. but for his Wisedome Valour Manhood by consent of the Nobles both Scots Picts then gathered to battell he was chosen as meetest Chieftaine to demolish that diuision-wall of Abircorne stretching from the East sea to the West built first by Victorine and fortified thereafter more strongly by Gallio both of them Romane Lieutenants but more victoriously first last broken down by the valiant Graeme in presence of both the Kings that so a way might be prepared to their armies to make irruption vpon the Romans for which vnto this day the remanents of that worke beares the name of Graeme his ditch when himselfe is gone Facta ducis viuunt operosaquè gloria rerum Haec manet It is true there are many honourrable families in this land who communicate with you in the same name but that this is the honour of your house is euident not onely by the lands bordering with that wall possessed as yet by your L. and was as the story recordeth one of the motiues why that waighty charge was committed to your worthy ancestors but in this also that the remanant families who come vnder the communion of the same name hold lands of your house from which as from a most ancient stocke they as sproutes and branches haue growne and sprung out And of this as it is euident that your honourable house is more ancient then the Chronicle can declare so doth this greatly increase the glory of it that it hath continued in honour euer since euen to the daies of your noble Father of famous memory who for fidelitie to his Prince loue to his Countrey equity toward all men after he had borne many other offices of honour was in his olde age honored to be his Maiesties high Commissioner and also great Chancellor of this kingdome his house like the open court of Ahasuerus his palace wherein hee banquetted his people euer plenished and patent to such as pleased to resort In a word no lesse honourable in this Kingdome hath your Familie beene then the Tribes either of Leontis or Aeantis among the Athenians for their feates of armes and glorious victories atchieued in battell or among the Romanes these fiue principall families Vitellij Fabij Antonij Potitij Mamilij who for their most ancient discent were called Aborigines But howsoeuer these be great things yet are they not the greatest which doe commend you Virtute decet non sanguine niti It is a miserable pouertie where a man hath no matter of praise in himselfe but must borrow it from others Miserum est aliorum incumbere famae Yea the more honourable the parentage is the greater is the shame of him that degenerates from it and so becomes indignus genere Perit omnis in illo Gentis honoâ— cuius laus est in origine sola Here then is your greatest praise that as you are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lineally discended of so Noble and ancient a stocke for no writ nor memory of man can record the interruption of your Line so are you the vndoubted heyre of those vertues which shined in them Wisedome declared in doubtsome and difficult matters Manhood tryed as we say in discrimine Truth fit enim quod dicitur your words are sufficient warrants to such as know you Noble manners Veram nobilitatem testantur facies mores these are Insignia numina diuum And beside these beautified with other two rare graces wherunto they in regard of their times could not attain at least in the like measure Pietie and Erudition your honour being learned not onely in the common languages of the most famous countries of Europe but in the three most renowned languages whereby as yee haue attained to the knowledge of liberall Sciences so doe ye stil conserue and dayly encrease it by diligent reading and conference with the learned who for learning are loued and honoured by you Nam quae mox imitere legis nec desâ—nit vnquam Tecuâ—…â—…rataloqui Tecum Romana vetustas That which the wise K. Salomon said of Beauty without discretion the like may be said of Honour without Erudition It is as a ring in a swynes snout and therefore hath the learned expressed Erudition by the name of humanitie both because the care and study of Sciences is committed to man onely among all the creatures and for that man without Erudition is liker a beast then a man Turpe est viro principi parem dignitatisuae virtutem non afferre And these two Honour and Erudition shine so much the more cleerely in you that they are both crowned with singular and vnsimulate Pietie both professed and practised and that in a time of reuâ—lting great
the time Some dayes are longer some shorter but all of them are limited and come to their end The Iewes had a faire long Summer day of Grace sixteene hundred yeeres dwelt the Lord with them as with his owne peculiar people and their Father Sem was the first vpon whom God vouchsafed this happinesse and honour as to call himselfe his God blessed be the God of Sem from them hath the Lord remoued to the house of Iaphet and other sixteene hundred yeeres hath hee beene alluring Iaphet to dwell in the tents of Sem offering mercy and grace to their seuerall families according to his wise and gratious dispensation and among the rest he hath also vouchsafed to visit vs. Oh that we knew those things which belong to our peace The course of the Gospell OTher Trees when they grow doe fasten their rootes in the earth and send their branches toward heauen but the Gospell is such a Tree of the Paradise of God as hath the roote of it in heauen for it bred in the bosome of the Father but the branches grow downward to the earth that we may eate of the three-fold fruit which grow vpon it Righteousnesse Peace and Ioy. Wee neede not now to say Who shall ascend into heauen The Word is neare thee If wee be not refreshed with the fruit of that heauenly Paradise the fault must be in the want of good will in our selues not the want of a good occasion seing the Lord hath turned the branches of this tree of life downeward toward vs that the more commodiously we might eate of the fruit thereof The triall of a true Gospeller IN the Gospell there is a truth and a power the truth is embraced by many professors the power is knowne to few Now it is thought religion good enough if a man receiue the truth so great is our corruption not remembring that truth knowne shall but conuince them who by the power thereof are not conuerted to walke after it A golden Rule for the vse of things indifferent ALl things which are lawfull are not alwayes expedient where the lawfulnes is certainely knowne aduise on the expediencie and when thou art resolued of both yet remember it is not good to come vnder the power of any thing custome drawes a carnall man to necessitie that hee cannot want that which he hath beene vsed to haue but so to vse the creature that thou keepe thine heart free vnthralled with the seruitude thereof and ready at all occasions to want it is the perfection of him who hath learned while he walkes vpon earth to haue his conuersation in heuen Three helps to a godly life THere are three things which helpe a man to liue godly as Dauid records who found it by his owne experience Determination Supplication Consideration Determination is first by it we resolue and conclude to liue a godly life Supplication is second for without helpe obtained of God our determinations soone vanish Consideration is the third whereby we examine our selues whether or not we haue done as we determined Determination helps vs to beginne to doe well and this purpose would be renewed euery morning Supplication holds vs forward continuing in well doing and consideration brings vs home when we haue gone astray I may say happy is that man in whose life one of these three is alwayes an actor A spurre to Repentance HEe that goes downe to the graue saith Iob shall come vp no more namely to liue here on earth as he was wont to doe he that goes to a farre countrey goes from his friends in hope to come backe againe it is not so with him that goes to the graue and therefore it is a point of great wisedome in time to doe what thou hast to doe What wee learne not one day we may learne another and so long as wee haue time what wee haue left vndone at one time wee may doe at another but if we dye not well wee shall not returne to dye better where the tree falles there it lyes and such as a man is when hee dies such abides he for euer let vs therefore so liue as learning to die happy is the man who wil not liue in that state wherein he dare not die The gaine of Godlines THe Apostle saith that Godlines is great gaine and the Psalmist that there is fruit for the righteous but what we gaine by godlines and what fruit growes on the tree of righteousnes is not well knowne in this life here of all men they who are godly seeme to most miserable because they must suffer many persecutions but as the sweet grapes of the vine tree are gathered in the vintage and the fruit of the husbandmans labour comes home in the haruest so doth the gaine of godlinesse in the houre of death when all other comforts forsakes vs then godlinesse lets vs taste of her fruits peace and ioy in the holy Ghost Grace of thanks giuing AS a vessell by the scent thereof tels what liquor is in it so should our mouthes smell continually of that mercy wherewith our hearts hath beene refreshed for we are called vessels of mercy Sathans defiancâ— IT makes no matter what our enemies be though for number Legions for Power Principalities for subtilty Serpents for crueltie Dragons for vantage of place a Prince of the Ayre for maliciousnes spirituall wickednes stronger is he that is in vs then they who are against vs nothing is able to separate vs from the loue of God In Christ Iesus our Lord wee shall be more then conquerours A warning to battell HE shall not be in heauen with the Church triumphant who liues not on earth a member of the Church militant I suppose thou hast no enemies without and knowest no externall crosse to trouble thee thy chiefe enemie and most dangerous is the corruption of thy owne heart within thee against which if thou fight not with the daily weapons of the word and prayer thou art a captiue and at a cursed peace with Sathan And yet alas how many are so liuing in securitie neuer grieued nor troubled with their inhabitant corruption Gedeons armie OF thirty thousand men that rose at the sound of Gedeons Trumpet onely three hundreth after triall were found meete for the battell and of many thousands who now at the sound of the Gospel makes a shew as if they would follow Christ in his warfare few wil be found after triall to receiue the crowne for many are called but few are chosen let euery man take heede to himselfe Three most excellent vertues THese are Faith Loue and Patience he who is partaker of them is a possessor of all good which is to be desired for by Faith he possesses Iesus Christ all his blessings by Loue he possesses his neighbour and hath ioy of all the good which is in them and by Patience he possesses himselfe A watch-word for impenitents now vnder grace SInnes done against the Law may be cured by the