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A50402 The law of God ratified by the gospel of Christ, or, The harmony of the doctrine of faith with the law of righteousness wherein many of the types and rites of the ceremonial law are unfolded, and the moral law adjusted a rule of holy living to all, though justified by faith / as it was delivered in several sermons preacht to the parochial congregation of Mayfield in Sussex by Mr. Mainard late rector thereof, publisht since his death. Maynard, John, 1600-1665. 1674 (1674) Wing M1450; ESTC R33505 161,259 298

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Lord Christ gave her Jesus saith unto her Woman beleeve me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet at Hierusalem worship the Father Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Iews But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and Truth for the Father seeketh such to wrship him God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in Truth The woman saith unto him I know that Messias cometh which is called Christ when he is come he will tell us all things Iesus saith unto her I that speak unto thee am he I conceive in this Answer the Lord Christ sheweth 1. That both the Iews and Samaritans were in an errour for it seemeth both of them thought that the Lord had confined his most solemn worship to one certain place throughout all ages as one party said at Mount Gerizim the other at Hierusalem and that the Ceremonies and Sacrifices there used should be alwaies continued Bus the Lord Christ told the woman that God had not limited himself to either of these places and that the time was now at hand when it should be as free to worship God in any other place as in either of these 2. He passeth sentence for the Iews against the Samaritans in this Controversie So far as concerned the present state of things saith he ye scil ye Samaritans worship ye know not what We scil we Iews know what we worship for salvation is of the Iews Ye Samaritans do ye know not what in your worshipping ye know not God aright ye have no warrant from his word either for your Temple once standing on this Mount or for limiting the worship of God to this place or for the way of worship Ye blindly follow the groundless Traditions of your Fathers But we know what we worship we follow the directions of God himself delivered by Moses and the Prophets both for the place and manner of Gods worship for salvation is of the Iews They are the Church of God to whom God hath committed his oracles teaching the way of Salvation and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ the Saviour of the world was to come 3. He confirmeth and amplifieth the first part of his Answer shewing that the Lord in a short time would set up a more spiritual way of worship in his Church more sutable to his spiritual Nature to which these carnal ordinances and Ceremonial ordinances should give place Secondly I Answer affirmatively that the doctrine of the Gospel and in particular this Gospel-doctrine of free justification through the righteousness of Christ doth establish the Ceremonial Law For 1. Then is a thing established when it attaineth its proper end Now by the Gospel the Law of Ceremonies attained its proper end For 1. The end of it was to be a School-master to bring men to Christ. Circumcision sealed the righteousness of faith which Circumcision it self could not give but was to be found in Christ it taught men to look after the Circumcision of the heart which was to be had in Christ alone by union with him by faith and partaking of his spirit The Passeover pointed out unto them Christ the Lamb of God without spot which taketh away the sins of the world The Sacrifices directed them to Christ the perfect Sacrifice The blood of the Sacrifices led them to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ which alone was sufficient to take away sin Now these and other Ceremonies attained their end in Christ and in the justification of sinners through the blood death satisfaction righteousness of Christ apprehended and applied by faith according to the doctrine of the Gospel and so this Law of Ceremonies was established and the validity of it declared But on the other side they that pretend so much zeal for Circumcision and other Ceremonies of the Law making it a part of the matter of their justification and resting in the bare outward observance as pleasing to the Lord in it self did cross the main end of the Ceremonial Law and propose such false ends as were impossible to be attained Secondly The doctrine of the Gospel making Christ the end of the Law for righteousness in whom wisdom righteousness sanctification redemption and salvation alone is to be had sheweth that the Ceremonial Ordinances were no empty shadowes and vain appearances like those of the Heathen but significant signs and Types full of deep Mysteries of exceeding great weight and importance pointing at the person of the Lord Jesus his office his actings his sufferings and the fruits and benefits of these whereas they that so stiffely opposed the strict observation of the Ceremonies of the Law against the doctrine of Christ delivered in the Gospel what did they make of them but begerly elements empty appearances without fruit use or profit So that the Preachers of the Gospel did honour the Ceremonial Law though they took away the observation of them by declaring the substance whereof they were shadowes and the observers of the Ceremonies in the times of the Gospel did greatly disparage them Thirdly The doctrine of the Gospel doth still establish the Ceremonial Law as an illustration of the mystery of Christ in the Gospel and sheweth that great use may still be made of them that way for the Ceremonies were as it were visible Prophesies of Christ and the things of Christ. And as Prophesies are dark before they are fulfilled but clear after they are accomplished and do much illustrate the events so these Ceremonies were obscure resemblances of Christ but now since what they signified is fulfilled the comparing the Types with the Antitypes giveth much light The Use which I intend to make of this point is to compare some of the principal Ceremonies of the old Testament with the Mysteries of the Gospel that so we may more clearly see how they are established by Christ and that we may improve them for our edification And first to begin with the Sacraments of the Ceremonial Law and there in 1. Circumcision The institution of this Sacrament is laid down Genesis the sevententh saith the Lord to Abraham This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every man child among you shall be Circumcised and ye shall Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the Covenant betwixt me and you And elsewhere Moses saith to the people of Israel Circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiffe-necked This sheweth that the Circumcision of the flesh directed them to the inward Circumcision of the heart the mortification of sinful lusts inordinate affections and all sorts of corruptions To which agreeth that of the Apostle Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not
and Light of Nature which Heathens did and beside against a far clearer Light and more perfect Law delivered to them in the holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament for the Light and Law of Nature though it was given to the Heathen yet it was not peculiar to them it was not limited to them alone but was common to them with others it is given also to Iews who have the old Testament also it is given to Christians who have both old and new Testament and therefore their sins are highly aggravated So the the Lord by the Prophet Amos having threatned heavy Judgements against those Heathen Nations mentioned before then turneth his speech to the people of Iudah Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Iudah and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof because they have defiled the Law of the Lord and have not kept his Commandment and their lies caused them to err after the which their Fathers have walked but I will send a fire upon Iudah and it shall devour the Palaces of Ierusalem they had the written Law and Commandments of God which the other had not and therefore they despised and kept not they had the Truth of God revealed from Heaven and delivered to them by Moses and the Prophets immediately inspired by the holy spirit of God but they rather chose to walk in lyes after the example of their Fathers and therefore their sins were much more sinful than those of the Heathens Then he threatneth Israel scil the rest of Israel the Kingdom of the ten Tribes who followed the sin of Ieroboam charging them first with barbarous cruelty and oppression contrary to common humanity because they sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes I conceive he speaketh especially against that great sin of Judges and Magistrates in perverting justice for Bribes and withal against them which hired such corrupt officers to act unjustly by giving them rewards They sold the righteous for Silver they exposed the innocent to the lust and will of their Adversaries for mony and the poor for a pair of shooes either because being once corrupted with some considerable gains they afterward were so hardened in their sins that they would pervert justice for a pair of shooes for a triflle or else because they could not get much for giving sentence against a poor man in his Cause because their Adversaries would not offer much to have their will of them who had little to loose these corrupt judges would transgress for a petty-bribe where no more was to be had That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor or as one readeth it that pant or breath after the head of the poor that they may cast it down to the dust of the earth If we take it the former way the sense may seem to be this when they have overthrown the poor and laid him in the dust such is there inhumane cruelty that they are not satisfied with his misery but desire his utter ruine and destruction 2. An other sin was abominable uncleannness that Father and Son would lye with the same woman which is set forth and heightned with this aggravation they prophaned the holy Name of God pretending to be the people of God and yet committing such lewdness this highly redounded to the Lords dishonour above the sins of meer Heathens 3. Their wicked glorying and triumphing in their oppression and prophaning that worship which themselves had embraced as religious laying themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every Altar keeping the garments of the poor which they had taken to pledge and being so far from restoring them according to the Law that they durst lye upon them by the very Altars and drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their God feasting themselves in the Temple of their God with the very spoils taken from those whom they had unjustly condemned these sins of Israel are aggravated divers ways in the words following There Israel and Iudah are both joyned together Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you O Children of Israel against the whole family which I brought up from the Land of Egypt saying You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities The Lord had owned them above others and made himself known to them above all other people and therefore their sin was greater than others and they might expect more gievous punishments How much more are sins of professed Christians more heinous than those of the Heathens who have greater light then the people of Israel had having the new Testament added to the old who have the Lord Jesus Christ set forth before them in the Gospel not under Types and shadowes but clearly not as to come but as already come actually crucified for sin buried risen again ascended into Heaven The Lord Christ sheweth that the sins of Corazin and Bethsaida were more heinous than those of Tyre and Sidon and their condemnation would be more intolerable in the day of Judgement because they sinned against greater light The like comparison he maketh between Capernaum and Sodom And the very Name of Christian is an aggravation of the sins of those who profess themselves Christians This Name was first given to them that professed the faith of Christ at Antioch because of the great success of the Gospel there Barnabas and Saul or Paul a whole year assembled themselves with the Church and taught much people and the Disciples were called Christians first at Antioch The denomination of a Christian is derived from the blessed and glorious Name of Christ himself as he is annointed of God the Father with the spirit above measure What signifieth a Christian then but 1. A member of Christ united to him as the head of the whole mystical body of the Church How great is the sin of those that can themselves Christians and suffer themselves to be led by Satan the enemy of 〈◊〉 readily entertaining his suggestions and temptations serving this Prince of darkness in the work of darkness Saith the Apostle Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot God forbid or let it not be What know ye not that he which is joyned to an Harlot is one body for two saith he shall be one flesh It is a fearful thing for a man professing himself a Christian that is a member of Christ to make himself a member of an Harlot or for a woman making the same profession to make her self the member of a fornicatour or Adulterer 2. The name of a Christian signifieth one that partaketh of the annointing of Christ of the same spirit and the same graces in some measure wherewith Christ was annointed above his fellows yea above measure He which stablisheth us with you and anointeth us is God The
dye to sin to mortifie their members which are upon the earth to live to righteousness to walk in newness of life Thirdly the pride of corrupt Nature is very contrary to the Gospel which teacheth to be poor in spirit to empty our selves of all self-sufficiency to go out of our selves to become fools that we may be wise to be less than nothing in our own eyes to receive all of meer grace the free love and favour of God to present our selves in anothers garment before God in the righteousness of Christ for the covering of our shame and cloathing of our nakedness to look for no acceptance of any service but by anothers worthiness the merit of Christ. Fourthly corrupt and inordinate self-love may move men to reject or corrupt the Truths of the Gospel which teacheth self denyal and the renouncing of all that is dear unto us so far as it standeth in opposition against Christ Then saith Iesus unto his Disciples If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me The Gospel striketh at the right eye at the heart and root of the most beloved lusts How then will self-love rise up against it Fifty inordinate love of the world of things below being deeply rooted in corrupt Nature raiseth rebellion against the Gospel and moveth men either to reject or corrupt the Truths revealed in it Felix trembled at Pauls discourse and commanded him away the young man went away sorrowful when Christ required him to fell all and give to the poor and follow him in hope of treasures in Heaven The Pharises who were covetous when they heard Christ speak against that sin de●ided him Love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him So if any man love the world inordinately the love of the Truth is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world The Use of this may be First to teach us to see and bewayle the corruption of our nature and withal to make us sensible how dangerous it is to continue in our natural estate destitute of the spirit of Christ Our corrupt nature is apt to corrupt and deny the precious Truths of the Gospel it were a dangerous and malignant disease of the body that should turn the best physick into poyson and either cast it out of the stomach as soon as it is taken in or grow worse by occasion of the remedy Our natures are wholly overspread with the deadly disease of sin and corruption and there is no part ●ound in them as the Apostle saith I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing He had much good in him through grace a great measure of the spirit of Christ but in his flesh so far as he was carnal so far as he was not renewed by the holy Ghost ●o far there was no good thing dwelling in him which sheweth that in them which are not regenerate there is nothing spiritually good nothing suitable and pleasing to God Whence these two great evils follow First an inclination to reject the Remedy● like a corrupt Stomack that gives no entertainment to the Physick leaveth it no time to work the cure but presently casteth it out So do many in the state of corrupt Nature they hear the Truths of the Gospel which the Lord hath appoynted as pre●ious Remedies against that disease and reject them cast them up again either denying them in the secret thoughts not believing them or not seriously minding or regarding them So the Apostle told the unbelieving Iews it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing ye put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life Lo we turn to the Gentiles He charged them for putting the word of God from them The Apostle had put the word of God home to them and they put it from them thus it is with many The Gospel is tendered to them as necessary physick sent down from Heaven and ministred to them by the Preachers of the word but they put it from them either they do not take it down or presently cast it up again Secondly there is an inclination in corrupt Nature to corrupt the Truths of the Gospel and to make them occasions of increasing the disease and so to make the Gospel to become the servant of death unto death Corrupt Nature is apt to make both the law and the Gospel occasions of increasing these diseases of the soul concerning the Law the Apostle saith when we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death This explaineth afterwards as in other passages wherefore the Law is holy and the Commandment holy and just and good the Law is perfectly holy and just and good and therefore cannot be properly the cause of any thing sinful and unholy Was that then which is good made death unto me God forbid But sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful such is the malignity of corrupt Nature that it worketh evil out of good and maketh the pure and holy Law of God an occasion of sin the more sin is forbidden reproved threatned condemned by the Law the more vehemently is the corruption of nature carried after sin So for the Gospel the Apostle Peter saith that Christ preached in the Gospel is to them that are disobedient a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence when to them which stumble at the word being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed They stumble and take offence because they like not those terms upon which Christ is offered to them in the Gospel How dangerous is it then to continue in this estate of corrupt nature How earnest should poor souls be with the Lord to deliver them The body is in a sad estate when all both food and physick increaseth some deadly disease in it The word and Gospel of God is both food and physick and corrupt Nature is apt to make it an occasion to increase sin and aggravate condemnation Cry mightily to the Lord to work a through cure upon your souls to change and renew your natures to send his spirit along with his word that it may overpower the diseases of your souls and be unto you the favour of life unto life Secondly This may teach us not to think it strange that so many pretious Truths of the Gospel are denyed and rejected in these days so many parts of Scripture abused with false interpretations and corrupt glosses so many errors and lyes maintained instead of Truths Corrupt nature
and that for this cause he delivered Himeneus and Alexander unto Satan He sheweth that Heresies are doctrines of devils and Lyes spoken in Hypocrisie and foretelling the perillous times that should come in these last dayes that men should be lovers of their own selves c. then he addeth of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins led away with divers lusts ever learning c. He compareth them to Iannes and Iambres that withstood Moses meaning I suppose the Egyptian Sorcerers or Juglers so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith and afterwards he sheweth the miserable progress that they shall make scil from bad to worse Evil men and Seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived Yea he sheweth the folly of those that hearken to seducers The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth an● shall be turned unto fables He calleth fals● teachers unruly and vain talkers and deceivers whose mouths must be stopped who subvert who●● houses teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre sake And he giveth this charg● to Titus concerning such a man that is a● Heretick after the first and second admonition reject knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself It is conceived that the Epistle to the Hebrew was written by this Apostle and how largely doth he there confute the corrupt doctrine of them that maintained the necessary use 〈◊〉 legal cremonies and giveth this admonitio● Be not carried about with divers and strang● doctrines and saith We have an Altar where● they have have no right to eat which serv● the Tabernacle shewing they have no pa● in Christ which obstinately prefer the sh●dows of the old Testament before Christ the● substance Secondly to these Examples may be add● divers Arguments or Reasons whereby it m●● appear why Heresies false doctrines opinnions that oppose or corrupt the truths 〈◊〉 Christ are odious to the godly and abho●red by them First because the glory of God is exceedingly wronged by false doctrines and Heresies an● the grosser any such Heresies are the more 〈◊〉 God dishonoured by them God the Fathe● is such as Christ witnesseth of him he th●● sent me is true yea he cannot lye God the Son is Truth God the holy Ghost is the spirit of Truth Now what a high disho●our is it to the God of Truth when lyes are fathered npon him and attributed to him errours and false opinions in matters of Religion are taught professed received as Truths of God What is this but to go about to derive darkness from light lyes from the Fountain of Truth The Apostle disputing against that great errour of them that denyed the Resurrection of the dead bringeth this Argument amongst others that Christ is risen and the resurrection of the Head proveth the Resurrection of the Members and sheweth that divers absurdities would follow if the resurrection of Saints should be denyed among the rest this We are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom be raised not up if so be the dead rise not They that maintain any falshood in point of Religion as a Truth they bear false witness of God as much as in them lies they make him a lyar the Author of falshood Which tendeth highly to the dishonour of his great and glorious name and therefore all that are born of God all that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity abhor errours and Heresies Secondly There is a contrariety in the hearts of the godly against errours and Heresies They have in them a principle of opposition against false doctrine A stranger will they not follow but will flee from him for they know not the voice of strangers There is something within them which suiteth not with strange doctrine but is averse from it For 1. They are begotten with the word of Truth Of his own will begat he us with the word of Truth As they are new creatures they have their original from the word of truth it i● as it were one of the ingredients of their new nature and so in that regard there is a natural antipathy and contrariety betwixt them and false doctrines The Apostle Iohn saith o● the godly we know that we are of the Truth They do as it were derive their new being from the Truth and therefore errour and fals● doctrine is hateful and abominable in their sight 2. They are the children of the God of Truth they are united unto Jesus Christ who is ful● of grace and truth they are led by the spirit of Christ who is the spirit of truth and therefore abhor and detest lyes spoken in Hypocrisie Thirdly The godly have learned that errou● tend to the destruction of poor Souls and therefore Peter calleth them damnable Heresies Paul calleth them doctrines of Devils It 〈◊〉 said they eat like a canker or gangrene whic● is such a malignant disease that it require●● the cutting off of a limb otherwise the who● body is in danger to be destroyed Now 〈◊〉 people of God being tender and compassionate toward immortal Souls How can the● chuse but abhor such deadly poyson when the● find it offered by Seducers and readily swallowed down by the simple Is it not strange that some would have protection and encouragement given to all false doctrines and to those that spread and propagate them and that under a pretence of tenderness Is it not rather a high degree of cruelty to protect any in destroying Souls to give them full liberty to wander about with their Plague-sores running upon them freely to spread their contagious and pestilent Errours to the infecting of thousands Fourthly one errour begetteth many one false principle may be the cursed root of many rotten branches and a spring of many streams How many gross absurdities as the Apostle sheweth follow as conse●uents from that one grand errour of denying the Resurrection of the body as that Christ is not risen the preaching of the Gospel is vain the faith of believers vain and they still in their sins under the guilt and power of them and when they die they perish and that they have hope only in this life and so are of all men most miserable because they expose themselves to the scorn and malice of the wicked in hope of a better life And doth not experience shew how people when once they depart from the truth fall from errour to errour and with giddy heads run about in a maze of vain delusions Satan the Father of lyes having once seduced and gotten them into his circle leadeth them from one by-path to another Now how can a man
manifested and made visible and so framed this humane nature thus united to his God-head after the image of God in perfect Righteousness and holiness and inabled it to perform full and compleat obedience to the Law And thus the work of Satan was destroyed one of the Sons of Adam one of the seed of the woman after the fall of mankind being inabled to fulfill the Righteousness of the Law Fourthly Ye may note by the way that I do not speak of this as the full sense of this Text as it this were all that Christ did in destroying the works of the Devil and in restoring what he had ruined but I speak of it as a part of the Apostles meaning and a part of that work of Christ concerning the point in hand Fifthly Observe that by this work Christ established the Law For first As the Law was given to man so the Son of God took upon him the nature of man and subjected it to the Law as it is said he was made under the Law 2. He wrote this Law of perfect holiness and Righteousness upon this humane Soul thus united to his God-head 3. In this nature of man He perfectly fulfilled the Law by all which he acknowledged the Law to be a perfect Rule of Righteousness which as man he was bound to obey and so did really confirm and ratifie the Authority of it whereas on the contrary they that taught m●n to seek justification and to approve themselves as Righteous in the sight of God by their own personal works of obedience to the Law though they pretended to magnifie the Law they did make void the Law because their Righteousness was far short of what the Law required and therefore to profess that they looked to be justified or found Righteous in the sight of God by their own imperfect works done in obedience to the Law was to accuse the Law of imperfection and so to make void the Law Saith David The Law of the Lord is perfect and therefore none can be justified by the Law unless their Righteousness be perfect Now for sinful men whose natures are contrary to the Law whose sinful omissions and commissions are numberless whose best works are exceedingly imperfect and defective to profess themselves justified by the Law is to deny the perfection of the Law and so to abolish or make void the Law So much for the first particular point comprehended in the general doctrine The second is this That the Lord Iesus Christ established the Law by making full satisfaction to the Law where note two particulars 1. That Christ did make full satisfaction to the Law 2. That hereby he did establish it 1. For the former When Christ was gloriously transfigured upon a certain mountain in the sight of three of his Disciples Behold there talked with him two men which were Moses and Elias who appeared in glory and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Ierusalem These two holy men of God who many ages before had been taken out of this world by an extraordinary dispensation of God were sent to meet the Lord Christ upon this Mount and why these two Moses was the Lawgiver I mean the ministerial Law-giver the Minister Servant or Instrument of the Lord by whom God who is the only authentical the supream Law-giver delivered and as it were handed over his Law to the people of Israel Elias was one of the most eminent among all the Prophets and exceeding zealous of the Law and by an extraordinary warrant from God slew divers hundreds of false Prophets for Idolatary and for teaching the people to transgress the Law and when he complained against Israel for their heinous sins against the Law the Lord directed him to annoint Hazael to be King over Syria Iehu to be King over Israel and Elisha to be Prophet in his stead as so many executioners of Gods justice upon backsliding Israel for their horrible sins against the Law It seemeth then that these two were sent to shew that the Lord Jesus Christ was he of whom the Law and the Prophets spake whom the Ceremonial Law shadowed out by Types and Figures who was to perform full obedience to the Moral Law and make full satisfaction for the transgressions of men against the Law and to accomplish what was foretold by the Prophets and it is said expresly that they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Hierusalem They spake of his death and sufferings whereby he should make full satisfaction for the sins and transgressions of men against the Law and fulfill the sayings of the Prophets It is not barely said he should dye or suffer death but that he should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accomplish his decease He should fully and compleatly suffer such a death as should make full satisfaction to the Law He should undergo the full penalty of the Law and make full payment of all the debts which the Law could charge upon his people To make this appear more clearly consider these particulars 1. That the Lord Iesus Christ was very God in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made The Son of God is called the word God the Father manifesting himself by the Son as a man maketh known his mind by his words or speech There is the coessential word of God and there is the declarative word of God the Son of God is the coessential word of God of the same essence with God the Father The declarative word of God is that which we have in the holy Scriptures So Christ prayed to his Father for his people Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy word is truth For this cause saith the Apostle thank we God without ceasing because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which worketh effectually in you that believe These and the like places shew the folly of those who seem to hold that there is no other word of God but Christ whereas it is plain that the holy Ghost calleth the word written in the Scriptures and the word preached and taught according to the Scriptures the Word of God scil his declarative word but Christ is the coessential or co substantial word of God and here it i● said He was in the beginning declaring his eternity when the world and the creatures in it were made He was not made but he was from eternity before all things and accordingly he saith to his Father O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was that is from all eternity And the word was with God that sheweth the personal distinction betwixt the Father and the