other But now the LORD JESUS hath abrogated this adhering to places to times and to the elements of this world as a low and childish exercise and appointed for his people a service altogether spiritual and divine proportioned to that admirable light of knowledg which he hath shed into the hearts of the faithful a service that wholly consisteth in love to GOD charity and beneficence towards our Neighbour and in honesty and purity in respect of our selves This is the true service of the Deity worthy of man that presents it and of GOD that receives it since man is a reasonable Creature and GOD a Spirit infinitely good and holy according to what our Saviour addeth that the Father seeketh such to worship him and that being a Spirit they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth But though this kind of service be so just and so rational in its self and though the LORD JESUS have so clearly instituted it by his Divine Authority yet on the other part the inclination of our nature is so violent towards gross and earthly things that even among those who make profession of acknowledging JESUS CHRIST for the Son of GOD a multitude is found that cannot let go these bodily exercises in which a part of Divine Service did heretofore consist The Apostle testifies in divers places that there were such in his time 1 Tim. 4.3 and he advertiseth us in others that there would also be such in after-ages and the event hath precisely answered his prediction an evident sign it was the Spirit of Truth that is the Spirit of GOD which illuminated his understanding and caused him to see in those days things hidden in a time to come so far beyond the reach of the natural sight of men It 's against these people that he laboureth in this Chapter for to defend from their abusing them not only the Colossians to whom he writes but also the faithful of all Ages He laid firm and unmovable foundations of the truth in his foregoing discourse and the same as his manner is with great strength and glorious evidence shewing us that we have all those advantages plentifully in JESUS CHRIST upon pretence of which error would introduce its inventions and carnal observations that in him we have all fulness necessary to compleat us that his Resurrection and his Spirit do divest us of all the vices of the flesh and that his Cross doth give us full remission of our sins since it hath both made void the obligation concerning all the punishments we owed to Divine Justice and triumphed of all those powers that were capable of accusing or tormenting us Whence it clearly followeth that it 's a vanity for any to go about to oblige us unto legal and material observations seeing that we most perfectly have in the death and resurrection of our LORD all that sanctification and justification for the advancing of which it is pretended that these things do serve This is Dear Brethren the direct conclusion that the Apostle doth now deduce from that excellent and divine Doctrine which he established afore Therefore saith he let no man condemn you in meat or in drink or in the distinction of a festival day or of a new moon or of sabbaths Which things are shadows of those that were to come but the body of them is in CHRIST He first forbids them to suffer themselves to be put in subjection to these legal things and next he brings them a reason for it taken from their nature for that these things were but shadows of which JESUS CHRIST hath exhibited to us and given the true body These shall be by the will of GOD the two points we will handle in this Exercise observing in the one and the other of them what we shall judg conducible to your edification Those Seducers whom the Apostle opposeth in this place had drawn the devotions which they would add to the Gospel partly from the Mosaical Law partly from Heathen Philosophy and partly out of their own imagination whence it comes that in one of the precedent Verses he advised the Colossians to beware that no one made a prey of them by philosophy and vain deceit Col. 2.8 after the tradition of men and the rudiments of the world They had borrowed from Moses circumcision and the distinction of meats and days They had beg'd from the Schools of Philosophy the worshipping of Angels and the vain discourses wherewith they colour'd over this abuse and they had invented of themselves certain austerities and pretended mortifications of which they made great account in Religion See I beseech you what an heap of strange things the Spirit of Superstition did even at that time thrust into Christianity that you be not amazed if men in so many ages as have rouled down since those days pursuing the same design unheeded according to the passion of their flesh have by little and little quite fill'd up Religion with the like services and observations and as it were foul'd and dirted that pure and clear Fountain of our Saviour's Discipline with the dregs and sediment of their inventions For if flesh had the impudence to promote such abuses during the lives and under the eyes of the Apostles how much more would it have the boldness to enterprise and facility to execute it during the night of so many ages which were not only destitute of the light of those great Tapers but also overspread with the darkness of grossest ignorance But let us see how S. Paul condemneth the Traditions of those of his age to the end we may preserve our selves from those of our own by the example and authority of his Doctrine He spake before of circumcision to which they would have had Christians still submit themselves He now takes to task their other abuses and first the distinction they made of days and of meats and next in the verses following their Doctrine touching Angels and the worship they gave them and last of all their Disciplines and Mortifications from the 20th Verse to the end of the chapter We will see by the grace of GOD the two other parts of His dispute each of them in its place As for the former the Apostle taxeth here two sorts of destinctions or observations which these men made in religion the one of meats the other of days And as to the latter he noteth particularly and by name some of the days which they observed to wit Festivals new Moons and Sabbaths But about the other he expresseth himself in general only saying simply Let no man condemn you in meat or in drink without declaring particularly the kind of meat or drink which they prohibited or permitted so as the Apostle not telling it us and we having no light in it neither any other way it is not easy for us to know precisely what the meats were the distinction whereof these people did set up For first the Law of Moses whence they
first-born of every creature He simply meaneth that He is the Master of them and not as the hereticks pretend that He is a Creature as they are and only created before them For the reason which St. Paul annexeth taken from His having created them concludeth rightly that He is Master of them but not that He was created Himself Otherwise it must by the same means be said that the Father who created all things was also created Himself a blasphemy which the most shameless hereticks would abhorr For if the Apostles discourse be good and pertinent as all Christians confess thus must His reasoning be Whoever hath created all things the same is the first-born of every creature But the LORD JESUS hath created all things He is therefore the first-born of every creature There you see clearly that this first proposition Whoever hath created all things is the first-born of every creature cannot be true save in this sense that He is the master of every creature but it is evidently false in the sense that the hereticks take the words first-born of every creature that is created before every other creature it being clear that the Father who created all things is eternal and sure was not created It must therefore of necessity be said that the Apostle by the first-born of every creature doth mean their LORD and Master Otherwise His discourse would not be pertinent But having sufficiently justified in our last action and cleared this conclusion of St. Pauls that the Son of GOD is the first-born of every creature let us consider now the reason of it he alledgeth drawn from hence viz. that He created all things and that they are all for Him and all subsist by Him that is to say He is the Author the End and the Conserver of them It is a truth of infinite importance in Christian Religion both of it self and for its own merit as also for the great contradictions it hath suffered at all times from the enemies of the Divinity of JESUS CHRIST both ancient and modern who have put to it all their force that they might either overthrow or at least shake it For this cause we are obliged to examine the present Text wherein it is so statelily founded with so much the more care and that we may omit nothing which is necessary for the clearing of it we will consider in the first place what the Apostle saith of the Son of GOD that All things were created by Him and for Him and that He is before all things and that they all subsist by Him Next we will view in the second place the division he maketh of all these things which the LORD created some they that are in Heaven others they that are in earth some visible others invisible as Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers These shall be if the LORD will the two parts and as it were the two Articles of this Action May it please GOD to guide us by His Spirit in so sublime a meditation and to enable us by His grace to refer it to His glory and to our own edification and consolation In the former of these two Articles the Apostle as you see saith first that All things were created by JESVS CHRIST secondly that they were all created for Him in the third place that He is before all things and lastly that they all subsist by Him For though these four points be near a kin and necessarily linked the one with the others yet they are distinct at the bottome and ought to come under consideration severally there being neither of them but doth contribute somthing particular to the glory of our great GOD and Saviour JESUS CHRIST The first is plain that All things were created by JESVS CHRIST For where is the Christian who understands not this and knows not that to create doth signifie in the use of Scripture to make a thing either of nothing or of a matter which had no disposedness to the form that it receiveth And forasmuch as there is none but the Divine Power that is capable of such an action or operation thence it comes that this word is never attributed to any but GOD only There 's none but He that doth create things For this cause among the other Titles which are given him for marks of His glory He is stiled The Creator this Title appertaining unto Him alone When the Apostle then saith here and twice repeats it That all things were created by the Son he signifieth that it is of Him they received all the being they have that it is He who by this Noble and Divine manner of working which the Scripture calls Creation brought them from non-being to a being who by His infinite power produced the matter of which they consist prepar'd it and fitted it as it now is investing it with those forms and admirable qualities on which all the motions of their nature do depend that is to say in one word The LORD JESUS is the Creator of the Universe It was not possible to express this truth more clearly And thus it is that all Christians always understood this passage until those new Enemies of the Divinity of our LORD who blasphemously say that He hath no actual subsistence in the world but since His birth of the holy Virgin they not able to bear so respendent a light have endeavoured to obscure it by the fumes of their frivolous and false glosses They say therefore that the word Create signifieth in this place mearly to reform and re-establish things to put them in a better estate than they were in and not to bring them out of nothing and give them their whole being They will have it that the Apostle by saying All things were created by JESVS doth intend not the first Creation of the World when arising out of nothing it receiv'd its natural being and form from the Creator But the Renovation of the World wrought by the Preaching of the Gospel and by the word of the Apostles whom the LORD sent to reform the Nations and to put things in an incomparably better and more happy estate than they were in before Enslav'd they were to the Empire of Sin and Satan whereas by the Doctrine and Power of the LORD JESUS they have now been consecrated to God and sanctified to His glory Unto this I answer That it 's true the World was renewed by the Gospel inasmuch as this holy Doctrine did abolish both the Ceremonies of Moses's Discipline and the false Religions of the Heathen and formed in the whole earth a new people that serve God in Spirit and in Truth being created in righteousness and holiness I acknowledge also that this Renovation is the work of a Divine Power and could not have been effected by any Humane or Angelical strength by reason whereof it may and ought to be called a Creation it being evident that there was need of no less vertue to reform the World than to create it And finally I
XLIX SERMONS Upon the Whole EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLE St. PAUL TO THE COLOSSIANS In Three Parts BY THAT FAMOUS MINISTER OF THE REFORMED CHURCH in PARIS Mr. John Daille Author of that Incomparable BOOK Intituled The RIGHT VSE of the FATHERS Translated into English by F.S. LONDON Printed by R. White for Tho. Parkhurst and are to be sold at his Shop at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1672. To the HONOURABLE Sr. Will. Courtenay Of Pouderham Castle in the County of Devon Baronet SIR THE Divine Epistle of S. Paul to the Colossians was not to rest in their hands but by his express order to be communicated unto the neighbouring Laodiceans as we read in the Epistle it self towards the end It would therefore seem a little congruous that these Sermons which expound it do undergoe a like disposal and not confined to the French to whom they were originally Preached be imparted to the neighbouring English The Author of them was He whom his Auditors at Charenton did frequently call for the beauty and richness of his Discourses the Silver-tongue Daille Readers here have applauded and do esteem highly for his Apologie and that exquisite Treatise of the use of the Fathers both which have for some years spoke our Language The learned all abroad do know him and value him for divers other excellent labours He signalized himself both at the Press and in the Pulpit and GOD was pleased to crown him in His service with the glory of a vigorous and venerable old age I confess I was none of the meetest to represent this Work of his and communicate it as I do nor did I design it at the entrance But a private exercise receiving some encouragement grew up and comes at length into a publication Neither am I without hope but that the known English civility for strangers will be shewed Mr. Daille though his Interpreter be no more then he is Yea while that Reverend man interpreteth here a great Apostle and presseth as he doth solid religiousness towards GOD Loyal Subjection to Princes and Superiours Peace and Love and every Vertue among men I would promise him Christian attention and consideration a calm and generous enduring of little discrepancies if any occurr and all the respect that befits a Minister of CHRIST Now Sir I deem it not improper to put into Your hand a piece which had its Original in France when I reflect upon the illustriousness of Your Ancestry sometime there I cannot but mind in particular how the Family was engraffed into the Royal House it self Peter a Son of Louis le Gros espousing the Inheretrix a Name and Arms of Courtenay so becoming the stock whence those Noble afterbranches issued which did spread forth on this and on that side of the Sea But the Dominion and Empire of GOD is equally over all the Kinreds and Kingdoms of the World and unto Him every one 's greatest and nearest relation I tender therefore the present Volume chiefly as spent upon the illustrating and enforcement of His holy mind and will and do beseech You to accept the gratitude which it is tendred withall That every Divine blessing may descend and rest upon Your Person and Affairs Your Vertuous Honourable Lady and all those sweet Branches about Your Table is the earnest and incessant Prayer of SIR Your Obliged and Affectionately devoted Servant F. S. TO MONSIEUR Monsieur du Candal LORD of FONTINAILLE Counsellour and Secritary of the KING House and Crown of France SIR I Present You these Sermons believing I owe this acknowledgement not only to the Friendship wherewith you honour me but much more to the edification and good offices the Church where I preached them receiveth now a long time from your piety For besides the fair example which your life giveth us a life full of vertue and honour always constant and equal in the profession and holy Exercises of the truth of the Gospel there hath been presented no occasion of doing service to the people of GOD either in the one or in the other of their times but you have embraced with zeal and managed with prudence So likewise we see that the Good and Merciful LORD you serve hath crowned your obedience with the benedictions of His Grace For in the inequality of seasons and the diversity of affairs He hath still rendred You acceptable both to those within and even to them without And which is the principal He hath preserved His Covenant in your house that neither the vanity of the world nor the scandal of the time hath been able to make any of the breaches there which we see with grief in other families To establish this pretious heritage of piety in your blood His Providence hath added to it by alliance persons excellent in knowledge and in merit in whose linage you daily see your own life renew and flowrish afresh It is true Sir you have also had your trials as no true believers are exempted from them But those which GOD hath dispensed to you have been so tempered with his goodness as I believe you may truly say that in this more than in any other passage of Your life He hath made shine forth the marveils of His grace towards You. Such was some years ago the bitter but blessed and happy death of the late Sir Your eldest Son taken away untimely and in the prime flower and vigor of His age This was without doubt a very dolorous stroke which cut down in a moment the sweetest of your hopes plucking from your embraces a Son as love-worthy as he was loved and whose deserving to say all in a few words was no less than the dignity of a Senator to which he was already arrived in the chief of the Parliaments of this Kingdom But how sensible soever His death was unto you it was notwithstanding accompanied with grace of GOD so visible and ravishing as I fear not to refresh Your memory of it well knowing it is no less dear and pretious to You for the piety and the high and truly Christian constancy He shewed in those last and happy moments of His life than troublesom and bitter for the mourning and sadness which it left on Your whole House As soon as His malady appeared to be what indeed it was He looked on Death without disturbance He prepared Himself for it with great courage and His air his eyes and all His discourses were full of resolution and contentment He comforted us all and amid the tenderness and resentments of such a separation never expressed ought of feebleness And though He left on earth of the dearest and sweetest one may here possess or desire yet He quitted it not only without regret but even with joy so firm was the hope or to say better so clear and assured the sight which the LORD JESUS then gave Him of the blisses and delights to which He called him He remained in this graceful and holy disposition even to
His peace His Spirit His Holiness His consolation His life and His immortality But the Apostle doth not speak here of the riches of the glory of the Gospel in general and towards all He addeth particularly among the Gentiles Sure there is no sort of men whether Jews or Greeks but the Gospel sheweth forth riches of glory in them if they receive it Yet we must acknowledge that never-did its glory break forth with so much splendor as when it was preached to the Gentiles First that exceeding great and inexhaustible abundance of goodness and grace which the Gospel goeth fill'd up with did pour forth it self and if I may so speak overflowed all bounds in saving the Gentiles the most hopeless of all men when it raised them from this grave or rather from that abyss of misery wherein they had lain not four dayes as Lazarus in his Sepulchre but for four thousand years For this cause the holy Apostle comparing the grace of GOD in His Son 〈◊〉 15.8.9 shewed to the Jew with that shewed to the Gentile at His calling of each of them doth name the former Truth for that it was promised and the second simply and altogether Mercy Then again how very admirable was the vertue of the Gospel which effected that in a few dayes that the Law had not been able to do in so many ages The Ministers of the Law did compass Sea and Land and after all found it very hard to make one proselyte and with all their diligence for two thousand years that they toiled had not reduced so much as one Nation to the Service of GOD though they employed even sword and strength to that end when they could But the Gospel quite naked and without other weapons then its Cross brought unto GOD many a people converted from Paganism They were a sort of men that worshipped stocks and stones they lay plunged in a bruitish ignorance and in the most infamous vices there was a mixture in them of the stupidity of beasts and the wickedness of Devils Certainly to make so much as one of these a Christian to bring him out of this infernal pit 〈◊〉 and place him in the Church to make him of a slave of Satan a child of GOD was as an Ancient writing on this passage rightly says no less a miracle than if some one should suddenly change an unclean and deformed dog into a man and from the dunghil whereon he lay cause him to sit upon a royal throne It was truly therefore a great and an ineffable richness and abundance of glory for the Gospel to transform so speedily not a small number but hundreds and thousands of Pagans into so many believers And in this the Apostle secretly strikes at the false Teachers who would mix such a noble and glorious mystery with their feeble traditions as if it had not strength and vertue enough of it self to subsist without the succour of their inventions Finally he intimates in two words the ground of all this richness of glory that the Gospel hath which is saith he CHRIST in you that is to say that CHRIST whom they possessed and who dwelt in them by faith 1 Tim. 1.1 And he addeth that He is the hope of glory after the same manner that elsewhere he calleth CHRIST our hope that is He of whom we hope for highest glory and in whom we do infallibly find all the blessedness that we can either defire or expect It is not without design that he advertiseth them that JESUS CHRIST is all the fullness of the mystery of the Gospel He lays a foundation hereby for what he will more clearly tell them hereafter namely that it is in vain that the seducers would mingle the Ceremonies of Moses and the service of Angels with it All this great mystery begins and ends in JESUS CHRIST since it is no other thing 1 Tim. 4.16 as himself defineth it elsewhere than GOD manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preached to the Gentiles believed on in the world and received up into Glory that is JESUS CHRIST our LORD born put to death raised again glorified and set forth in the Gospel for us Such is the mystery whereof the holy Apostle hath spoken to us Judge now Beloved Brethren what grace GOD hath shewed us in communicating so rich and so admirable a secret to us Many Kings and Prophets have desired to see and hear it and not at all had the happiness Heaven and earth did sigh four thousand years after the blessing we possess But in the end only the last ages did obtain it The Jews saw the wonders of GOD but obscurely and through veils and shadows The Gentiles saw them not at all being covered with a disinal night living without GOD and without hope This divine mystery appearing at once in the end of times as a great light that shines forth sudainly from Heaven did dissipate the shadows of the one and dispel the darkness of the other changing by its vertue the whole face of the universe in a moment It hath particularly shewed the riches of its glory among us having brought our Fathers out of the horrours of Paganism which did once cover this whole Land Let us embrace therefore with all the affections of our souls this great and inestimable favour of the LORD's Let us keep it pure and uncorupted without immixing in it ought that 's alien to it It is not only sufficient for our happiness It is even rich and abundant in glory They that would stuff it out with Ceremonies and services whether of Moses's teaching or mans inventing as false Teachers heretofore did and our adversaries at this day do they understand not aright the inexhaustible opulency wherewith it overslows They obscure the resplendency of its heavenly glory by their additions they hide it and cover it again with the veil which JESUS CHRIST hath rent in sunder Let us say to such as propose them unto us We are contented with the mystery which GOD hath vouchsafed to manifest unto His Saints It sufficed for their bliss It will well suffice for ours We do not desire any other riches than those which it aboundeth with or any other glory than that which it shines withall It is enough that this JESUS CHRIST who fills it up is in us the hope of true glory There is no need to associate with Him either Moses or Angels or Saints But Faithful Brethren the securing of this mystery from the errors of superstition is not all For the conversing of it pure among us and placing it in that glory which is due to it there must be a putting far away the filth of vices and of carnal and earthly passions GOD hath not lighted up this great Sun among you that ye should continue to live ill and do the same works in such a blessed light as are done in darkness Far be it from Him He hath discovered to you the mysteries hidden
that is necessary for you Let your whole life be taken up in the continual handling of these Divine Jewels in admiring the beauty and using the brightness of them Let it be all the passion of your souls the matter of your joys and the consolation of your troubles If you have not those false good things which the world so much glorieth in remember that you have the treasures of Heaven the portion of Angels the wisdom and knowledg of happiness Take heed that none bereave you of so rich a possession Shut your ear against the prattle and plausible discoursings of Seducers Conserve this treasure couragiously against their attempts nor be content to have it only communicate it to your neighbours lay forth the wonders of it before their eyes adorning all the parts of your life with it Let the innocency and sanctity and sweetness and humility of the LORD JESUS shine out in it Let these be your Pearls and your Jewels and your Ornaments before men which may constrain them to acknowledg that JESUS CHRIST dwells in the midst of you and to say Of a truth this Nation is a wise and understanding people Above all instruct your Children in this knowledg Leave them this wisdom for an inheritance Such a portion is enough to make them happy whereas without this they cannot possibly be other than fools and wretches though you should leave them all the wealth of the East and West Finally since the Apostle assureth us that all the treasures of wisdom are in JESUS CHRIST let us content our selves with him alone and centemn the vanity of those who under any pretence whatsoever would make pass for wisdom doctrines that are forreign and without the sphere of CHRIST Let us not so much as give them the hearing It 's warrant enough for us to reject them that they make up no part of the treasure of JESUS CHRIST I stand not to enquire whether they be true or false helpful or hurtful It sufficeth me that whatever they be otherways they are not in CHRIST Nothing is to be received in Religion but what comes out of this treasury GOD who hath given it us in his abundant mercy and who calleth us to partake also of it the LORD's day next grant us to conserve it pure and entire to possess it with joy and respect in this world and reap the full fruit of it in that which is to come So be it THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER IV V. Ver. IV. But this I say that none may deceive you by words of perswasion V. For though I am absent in body yet in spirit I am with you rejoycing and seeing your order and the firmness of your faith which you have in CHRIST AS men do not naturally love and desire but things which have an appearance of good so they believe none but those that have a semblance of truth and they lay down love of the one and belief of the others as soon as they certainly discover that the former are evil and the latter untrue Whence it comes that being prepossessed upon some general and confused knowledg with conceit that the enjoyment or belief of a thing would be profitable and advantageous to them they wish it prove good and true evidently presupposing that otherwise their very nature could not permit them to love it or believe it This is to be seen in children themselves who are the sincerest and most natural map of the motions of our nature For when their Nurses tell them any thing they ask if it be true and if the tale please them they are troubled when they perceive it is but a tale and would have it true that they might believe it So deeply imprinted in the mind of all reasonable Creatures is this sacred and inviolable principle of their nature that nothing is to be believed but what is true This advantage which truth naturally hath over falshood doth enforce its very enemies to counterfeit its mark and wear its livery they being sensible that their errors and falshoods can have no passage among men except they go under the appearance of some truth Even as Coiners that they may put off their Copper and Lead do give it the colour and resemblance of Gold and Silver and counterfeit the image and stamp of a lawful Prince or as they that would travel through an enemy's Countrey do privily accommodate themselves with the enemy's badges so Seducers well knowing that the understanding of man is the proper and lawful Kingdom of truth where nothing passes but under the avouching and marks of the same do fard and disguise the fictions which they would put off and give them as finely as they can the countenance and colour of truth that by the means of this false resemblance they may pass currant among men who would reject them immediately if they saw them in their own natural likeness There hath ever been a great number of these cheats in the world a multitude of persons being every where found who pricked forward by ambition or some other particular interest do strive to bring their fancies and dreams into reputation But as Christian Religion compriseth the best and most important Verities in the world so there never was any profession that Error and Imposture have more laboured to corrupt both by decrying some of its true doctrines on one hand and by intermingling of falshoods on the other And as all the artifice of such unhappy wits tendeth only to confound truth and lies so ought we to employ the utmost of our industry that we may effectually sever them and so discern them as we never take the one for the other This discerning dear Brethren is one of the most important duties of our life It is loss I confess to take Copper for Gold and bad money for good and it is moreover ignorance ever shameful sometimes not a little hurtful to receive an error for truth in Philosophy and in civil life But yet the loss and shame that accrues from all this kind of cheats reacheth no further than the present time whereas the consequents of those impostures which we suffer in Religion do extend even to eternity For this cause the holy Apostle often warneth the faithful Rom. 16.17 1 Thes 5.21 Eph. 4.14 Heb. 5.14 to whom he writeth to beware of them and to try all things with a great deal of care that they may not be inveigled by seducers nor take up their traditions for truths willing every sound and thorough Christian to have his senses exercised and habituated to discern between good and evil You may have observed in the Text we have read that this is the happiness which he wisheth and would procure to the Colossians keeping them from being drawn in by the fair speeches of those seducers that courted them He had afore represented to them at large the abundance and excellency of the benefits of their LORD and Saviour and he protested again in the
him by a person that know it not to be poyson who perchance took of it himself thinking it a remedy so error from whatever hand it come hath still a bad effect and the opinion they have of it who present it to us doth not change the venom of it nor impede its corrupting of our souls and extinguishing Divine life in us if we do receive it But the Apostle in this place pointeth out the means also which false Teachers use for the setting up of their errors That none saith he may deceive you by words of perswasions These he calls elsewhere in the same case sweet and flattering words Rom. 16.18 saying in his Epistle to the Romans that Schismaticks and such as make divisions contrary to the doctrine we have learned do seduce the hearts of the simple by sweet and flattering words 1 Cor. 2.4 And this he nameth again elsewhere the enticing words of man's wisdom Under these terms he comprehendeth all the advantages and attractives of discourse all that it hath in it which is apt to touch and win hearts as either probable reasons wherewith it is furnisht or beauty of terms and expressions or artificial disposition and graceful pronunciation There is none but knows how potent these charms of eloquence are They sometimes dazzel the best eyes and do deceive the firmest minds It 's a kind of Magick and Enchantment which makes things appear quite otherwise than they are and gives them colours and qualities that are not their own which maketh Honey pass for Wormwood and Wormwood for Honey black for white and white for black There is no cause so good but this kind of illusion overthrows nor so bad but it establisheth There is no affection which it doth not allay nor bâ—lâ—â—f which it doth not shake nor resolution which it doth not break It hath often 〈◊〉 the innocent to be condemned and the nocent absolved with applause 'T is by its sleights that truth how invincible soever it be hath sometimes seemed to be vanquished 'T is to its dexterity and its stratagems that error and falshood do we the greatest part of their lying-triumphs For feeling themselves in reality weak they have recourse ordinarily to this kind of Sorcery that they may carry by its illusions what they could never win by true and legitimate strength 'T is it that maintaineth Sophisters and Wranglers and Mountebanks and Seducers With the sophistry and prattle which it lendeth them they have the hardiness to shew themselves and to oppose the clearest truths and recommend the grossest errors But among all the busie people that use it there are none that employ it more perniciously than Hereticks and corrupters of Religion This false Rhetorick is the principal instrument they seduce withall Accordingly it is evident that they have always taken it up and scarce ever attempted upon Truth but with this sort of weapons And it must be confessed that they help themselves by them with wonderful dexterity Never was cause in matter of Religion more sordid or shameful or seeble than that of the Pagans yet they that pleaded it against the ancient Christians knew so well how to fard it with the colours of their false reasons and the gloss of their brave words that they made it pass for plausible among the multitude and rendered Christianity ridiculous to them how holy and lightsome soever its truth was Those Hereticks which arose from among Christians had no less ability and artificialness to recommend their impostures borrowing for this purpose from the Philosophers and Orators of the world the subtilties of their Logick and all the colours of their Rhetorick There are still left us some pieces of the one and the other in the Books of Antiquity as the Discourses of one Celsus in Origen of one Caecilius in Minutius of Porphyrius and Symmachus for Paganism divers writings of Tertullian for Montanism of Fanstus for the Manichees and of Julian for the Pelagians in S. Augustine It 's wonderful with what dexterity and with what grace and eloquence they do manage such bad and infamous subjects nor can I read them without lamenting the unhappiness of so many excellent and highlyapprovable things to be miserably profaned in the service of error as one cannot chuse but groan to see Marble and Gold and Azure and precious Stones employed in adorning the Temple of an Idol And I note it expresly to you my Brethren that you may not think it strange if those of Rome at this day do speciously defend a very bad Cause nor be much moved at the ostentation they make of it who are not ashamed to boast of the eloquence and subtilty of their Teachers as if this were one of the marks of truth I freely consent to the praises they give them and do acknowledg that words of perswasion as the Apostle here calls them do abound on their side but I dare affirm notwithstanding and am assured that every intelligent and unpassionate person will accord with me herein That how subtil and eloquent soever their Masters be and how much pains soever they have taken for the better plastring over and colouring and burnishing of their Doctrine in conclusion their works are not more neat nor more polite nor more specious and fair-seeming than the works of those Pagans and Hereticks whom I but now named yea to speak without passion I believe they are far inferior to them Let them forbear therefore to urge unto us for a mark of truth an advantage which is common to them with Pagans and Hereticks an advantage which the most infamous Causes do employ which the worst do ordinarily seek after more earnestly than the best so much more cunning being used in their defence by how much less strength they have in themselves Not that I would decry eloquence and acuteness or render them suspect with you as if they never were in other service than of error I willingly acknowledg they are excellent graces of GOD and that he gives them to men properly for the defence of Truth and sure they have not always had the hard hap to contend for Falshood They have often done good service to the Gospel and employed their might for its glory both heretofore against the Pagans and the old Hereticks and in our times against those of Rome as appears by the writings both of the Fathers and of our own Doctors a good number of them being found who even in this respect come no whit behind their adversaries besides their having the principal advantage that is the truth on their side This Paul himself who here condemneth words of perswasion when they recommend error doth not reject them when they are labouring for truth And though he was not much versed in the art of prophane eloquence whence it comes that he saith of himself that for speech he was as one of the Vulgar yet his discourses want no strength nor grace that rich heavenly knowledg which abounded in his heart giving
CHRIST the Prince of Life and with that fulness of grace we have received and the holy Apostles preached Mix nothing forreign with it To add to it is to accuse it of imperfection and insufficiency Instead of losing time in the inventions of Error and in the laborious but childish exercises of Superstition Let us employ all hours in good and holy works walking in JESUS CHRIST rooting and building up our selves more and more in him establishing our selves and abounding in faith and testifying and proving the truth of it by a pure piousness towards GOD and an ardent love towards our Neighbour by the fervency of our Prayers the liberality of our Alms the humility of our Deportments the modesty of our Persons the honesty justness and integrity of all our Words and Actions to the glory of the LORD JESUS whom we serve and own for our Master to the edification of men and our own salvation Amen THE TWENTIETH SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER VIII Ver. VIII Beware lest any man make prey of you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after CHRIST OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST comparing the society of his faithful ones in the tenth Chapter of S. John to a Flock of Sheep doth advertise us that there are Thieves who coast about this mystical Fold and do come only to steal to kill and to destroy as also that there are Wolves which take away and scatter the Sheep You are not ignorant dear Brethren that under the names of these spiritual Thieves and Wolves he doth represent unto us evil Spirits and the false Teachers whom they set on work who both together earnestly promote the same design though by divers means namely the debauching and alienating of the faithful from the Communion of JESUS CHRIST their only Pastor getting them and appropriating them to themselves as the Thief who takes what is another's and makes it his own Whence ensues their death and destruction For as the Wolf kills the Sheep he hath seized so these Ministers of Satan do bereave of life those whom they pull away from the Flock of Christ out of whose communion there is nothing but death and perdition But these wretched workers do employ as I said many different means to compass their cruel and bloody design Some they take away by downright force making them leave the bosome of the Church by the violence of persecutions or drawing them into the world by the pleasures of the flesh and do bring them even to a renouncing of the very Name of JESUS CHRIST the Prince of Life Against others they make use of fraud training them forth and distancing them by little and little from JESUS CHRIST under fair and plausible pretences so as in the end they have nothing of his left them but a name and a vain unprofitable profession remaining indeed under the power and in the possession of his Enemy It 's against these mystical Thieves and Robbers that the Apostle doth awaken the Colossians in the Text we have read exhorting them to take heed of ' em Before he prayed them to establish to build up to root themselves more and more in the Communion of the LORD JESUS acknowledging with humble gratitude the excellency of his gift mâ—de them 〈…〉 ensure this Treasure to them he adviseth them to watch against th◠〈…〉 ambushes of their Enemies who sought to surprise them and pluck by 〈…〉 tifice of their subtilities and fair discourses JESUS CHRIST out of their hearts and render themselves Masters of them and of their life Beware saith he lest any man make prey of you c. For it is the duty of a good Pastor such a one as the Apostle was not only to seed the mystical Sheep which the chief Shepherd hath committed to his care by giving them the pure and wholsom doctrine of the Gospel the only pasture of souls but also to preserve them with all his power from the paws of Wolves and the hands of Robbers advertising them of the danger and dextrously delivering them out of it by the saving-tone of his voice But as your Pastors are obliged to this care so you see dear Brethren that it is your duty to watch for your own safety to open your eyes and senses that ye may discern a stranger from a domestick a thief from the shepherd the hand of a robber from that of a friend Beware saith the Apostle to you He would not have the faithful be silly sheep that let themselves be led away by the first commer and indifferently embrace all that is offer'd them His will is that we have our senses exercised and habituated in discerning between truth and falshood able to prove all things that we may hold fast what is good and not suffer our selves to be surprised either by the dignity of a Robe or the blaze of Wit or some appearances of Deportment seeing that Angels of Satan do sometimes clothe themselves with light The prudence of the Beraeans is praised by the Holy Ghost Acts 17.11 who examined S. Paul's preaching comparing what he had spoken to them with the Scriptures that they might assuredly know the state of the matter The salvation of our souls is too precious for us to trust any other than GOD in it Whence appears how dangerous that security of implicit faith as they call it is which without any scruple receives all that its Teachers deliver and is so far from examining it that it vouchsafes not so much as to understand it believing it true without knowing it provided only that the mouth which publisheth it hath been opened by the Pope's hand If the question were only of a title those of whom the Apostle adviseth the Colossians here to take heed were Teachers and he contesteth not with them about their dignity in any part of this Epistle He deals with them only about their Doctrine Accordingly the case is concerning Doctrine whether we ought to believe it or no and whatever may be the hand that delivereth it to us if it be false it will not fail to destroy us as poyson doth not forbear to kill though he that prescribed it hath taken his degrees with all the formalities requisite S. Paul too elsewhere with one word overthrows all the prepossessions that might be for any Preachers upon any ever so eminent quality of their persons when he proclaims twice together If we our selves Gal. 1.8 or an Angel from heaven do preach another Gospel to you beside what we have preached let him be an Anathema Be you all that you will you cannot be more than S. Paul or an Angel of Heaven Since their Doctrine ought to be examined by the Gospel for its having reception or being accursed as it should be found conform or contrary thereto it will be no wrong done you if yours be put to the same trial But consider I pray with what emphasis the Apostle recommendeth to us
task of our whole life in especial manner at present now that the death of our LORD and Saviour and his resurrection and his holy Supper do call us to extraordinary efforts of piety and sanctity And if the labour be great the felicity and the glory that follows it is infinite Let us employ our selves in it well-beloved Brethren with ardency and generosity put off the body of all our sins that having truly crucified our old man with the LORD JESUS we may also rise again with Him to be enliven'd by his Celestial food and have part for ever after the short trials of this life in His blessed immortality Amen The Twenty-third SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER XII XII Being buried with Him through baptism in which also you are raised again together through the faith of the efficacy of GOD who hath raised Him from the dead DEar Brethren It is very true that the solemnity of this great day which hath been consecrated by all Christians to the resurrection of the LORD JESUS and sanctifi'd by the Mysteries of his Table at which we have communicated doth require more than ordinary devotion and meditations of us Yet I have not needed to seek a subject for the present exercise any other where than in the series of the ordinary Texts which I do in this place expound to you the words I have read which immediately succeed those you heard last LORD's Day excellently suiting each of those duties to which this day is particularly dedicated For they treat of our LORD's resurrection and of the fruits that redound to us thereby as also of Baptism wherein they are communicated to us and which was wont for this reason to be solemnly administred heretofore in the ancient Church on the night before Easter and of that faith by which we become possess'd of this Divine Resurgent Lastly They speak of the interest we have in his burial that sequel of his precious death the blessed commemoration whereof we have celebrated this morning Subjects these which are as is plain to all eminently meet for the devotion of this day This then shall be by the will of GOD the matter of this action Faithful Souls afford it a vigorous and a deep attention elevating your thoughts to JESUS CHRIST the Prince of our salvation and Author of our immortality whiles we shall endeavour to represent to you what his Apostle here teacheth us about our communion in his burial and resurrection You may remember that to confound the impiety of certain Seducers who would oblige Christians to Mosaical Circumcision this holy man alledg'd in the precedent Text that we have in JESUS CHRIST that substance and truth whereof the Judaical Circumcision was but the shadow and model having in him put off the body of the sins of the flesh so as having receiv'd through the grace of JESUS this mystical and divine circumcision the other carnal and typical one is altogether useless to us and cannot be desired or practis'd by Christians without wronging their Saviour He still prosecutes that same intention and to shew how rich that sanctifying-grace is which we have in JESUS CHRIST he adds that besides our being circumcised by the virtue of his word and divested of the body of the sins of the flesh we have moreover been buried with him through Baptism and further that we are therein risen again with him through the faith of the efficiency of GOD who raised him from the dead For a right understanding of these words we are to consider First The communion we have both in the burial and resurrection of our LORD JESUS CHRIST And secondly The twofold means by which this communion is given us to wit Baptism and the Faith of the efficiency of GOD who hath raised our LORD from the dead The Apostle expresseth the first point in these words Being buried with him in which also you are risen again together As for our burial with the LORD you know that having suffer'd on the Cross that dolorous and accursed death which we had merited his sacred body loosned from that mournful tree and wrap'd up in a sheet was by Joseph of Arimathea laid in a new Sepulcher where it remained three days without motion without respiration and without life in this sad state the last of our infirmities until the beginning of the third day when he gloriously rose again The transcendent wisdom of the Father which ordered all the parts of this great work proceeded thus here very fitly to justifie the truth of his Son's death by his stay in the grave For if he had resum'd his life immediately after he laid it down and descended from the Cross alive again I confess such a Miracle might have astonish'd and transported the minds of the Spectators and demonstrated that this Divine crucified Person was more than man But on the other hand it would have rendred his death suspicious and without doubt made men imagine that it had been but a feigned and false appearance and no real separation of his soul from his body which opinion would evidently have shaken and overthrown our salvation it being entirely founded on the death of the LORD JESUS Whereas therefore it so highly concerns us to believe the same GOD hath in such sort assured and certifi'd the truth that we have not any shew of reason to call it in question For this cause it was his will that the LORD JESUS having commended his spirit into his hands should be laid in the Sepulcher and continue there three days there remaining after this no more cause to doubt but that he was truly dead since he was so long a time in the state of the dead Moreover our consolation required that he should enter into our Sepulchers to take away for us the horror of them and to assure us by His example that they have not force enough to detain our bodies for ever or to hinder them from rising one day again It 's for these reasons and other such that JESUS CHRIST would go down into this death's last entrenchment The Apostle saith then that true believers have been buried with him How so you will say seeing that they being living persons were never laid in the grave and surely not in our LORD's that was situate on Mount Calvary nigh to Jerusalem places very far distant from our abode Dear Brethren there is no man so gross but doth plainly see that these words are not to be taken according to the letter but figuratively and that they signifie not a natural but a mystical Sepulcher And in such a sense it may be said two manner of ways That we have been buried in CHRIST or with CHRIST First in regard of our justification that is the remission of our sins And secondly in regard of our sanctification and the mortifying of the old man For as concerning the first it is evident that JESUS CHRIST was not buried as neither was he crucified and put to death but for us only
to think and medirate on Him and to receive from His hand the Divine fire of His Spirit that we may speak of His wonderful works Our feast of Tabernacles is to live as strangers in the world without cleaving to it still aspiring unto Jerusalem which is above the Mother and the City of the faithful Our new Moons are the praise we continually sound forth unto GOD not with Silver-trumpets but with heart and understanding In fine Our Sabbath is to do not our own will but the will of GOD repressing and restraining the motions and sentiments of our nature that place may be left for CHRIST to work in us so as it may not be we that live but CHRIST who liveth in us This is Christians that true body which was represented heretofore by the Jewish shadows These are your festivals your solemnities and your devotions Keep them holy and celebrate them religiously It is the great Prince of your salvation who hath instituted and consecrated them He recommends them to you every where in His Gospel and hath indissolvably obliged you to them by that death of His the remembrance of which we are to celebrate next LORD's day If you acquit your selves worthily herein be assured that after such stay for a time as you make here below He will raise you up to Heaven there to celebrate with Him and His Angels that last mystical feast of the great day which rising at the point of our Resurrection shall not go down for ever but shine eternally and render us happy in the fruition of that life and immortal glory which was prepared for us before the foundation of the world So be it THE XXVIII SERMON COL II. Ver. XVIII Vers XVIII Let no man master it over you at his pleasure by an humility of spirit and the service of Angels intruding into things which he hath not seen being rashly puffed up with the sence of his flesh DEar Brethren It 's a thing infinitely strange and which shews the extream corruption of our nature more sensibly than any other that men should have so vehement and invincible a passion for the serving of creatures GOD the Soveraign LORD both of them and of the Universe did manifest Himself clearly to them causing the illustrious and glorious marks of His goodness and wisdom and infinite power to shine forth every where above and beneath upon them and about them yea bringing the same home even to their hearts and giving them a feeling of Him by the innumerable benefits which He poureth out continually upon all the parts of their lives In short He shewed Himself and drew near and presented Himself in so lively a manner to their understandings Senses and perceptions that they could not if I may presume to say it be ignorant of Him though they would Besides all this He vouchsafed to reveal Himself to them at the beginning in a particular way speaking familiarly to Adam and Noah and others of the primitive Patriarchs who were the sources of the first and second world Nevertheless you know that notwithstanding all these lights the rage of that passion men had for Idolatry was so violent that it made them forget all these holy and admirable discoveries of the Deity and induced them instead of their great and abundantly good and omnipotent Creator blessed for â—ver to serve the creature and their phrensie rose to such an height that besides the Luminaries of Heaven and the invisible Powers that do govern them as also besides Kings and Sages and persons whom worth or authority had raised above others they were not ashamed to adore yet other things of the lowest in nature as Beasts and Plants and Elements and to compleat their extravagancy they added to all the rest Images and Figures things absolute insensible and unprofitable Changing as the Apostles does reproach them the glory of the uncorruptible GOD Rom. 1.22 into the resemblance of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed Beasts and creeping things This Bruitish error having overwhelmed all mankind the LORD was so gracious that He drew Abraham out of it as a brand out of an universal Conflagration and afterwards manifesting Himself more clearly unto his posterity by the ministry of Moses and giving them His Law He raised up amid this people a publick testimony of His truth against the general misdemeanour of the world fulminating a thousand and a thousand maledictions against all such as served Creatures But the love of Idolatry was so strong as it broke this barr of Heaven and violated this Divine declaration which prov'd to be so far from reducing the Nations to their duty as it could not keep the very Israelites in theirs but they as we learn by their History often gave up themselves to the serving of Creatures At last after so many significations of His mind GOD sent His only begotten the Sun of Righteousness and truth into the world who opened to us the manner and the reasons and causes of the worshipping of GOD and did fully discover that which both the Gentiles were ignorant of by reason of their stupidity and the Jews did but imperfectly know in their minority Now who would think that so shameful and gross an errour as the serving of creatures is should have the shamelesness to shew its self in so noble and so glorious a light Yet you know this wretched passion found the means to content its self bringing in under divers vain but plausible pretences the worshipping of Angels and men by little and little among Christians But however it is not so strange a thing that a corruption should get such ground in the latter ages when it was favoured by an universal ignorance and by a decay of truth and by the depravedness of men such a thing doth frequently come to pass in their disciplines and constitutions commonly as they go on they grow worse That which surpasseth all admiration is that in the time and under the eyes of the holy Apostles of our LORD and Saviour there should be men found of so impudent a spirit as to promote so vile an errour in the profession of Christianity We should scarce be able to believe it if S. Paul did not give us that testimony of it which we even now read to you And GOD permitted it as well to exercise and prove the Church which then was as to confirm ours this occasion having here drawn from the Apostle's pen a clear and magnifick condemnation of this abuse He hath rejected already in the precedent context those observances which the false Teachers he opposeth had taken from the Mosaical Law now he refuâ—es those which they had borrowed from the Philosophers of the World For as we shall shew anon that serving of Angels which these men would have introduced among Christians was a fruit and an invention of Heathen Philosophy S. Paul strikes down this vain impiety in few words Let no man saith he master it ever you at his
give them unto whom they ascend in the heavens and in whom is the propitiation for our sins Ibid. Paulo post as excellently saith St. Austin It 's the express doctrine of St. Paul who having said that there is but one Mediator between GOD and men even the man JESVS CHRIST immediately adds for a reason of this quality that He gave Himself a ransome for all But let us now see what prayers the Apostle requires of the Colossians and what particular he would have them crave of GOD for him Being prisoner at Rome one would think he should desire above all things to be set at liberty But behold I beseech you the generosity of this holy man and how nobly he despiseth the interests of the flesh He says nothing of this He would have them entreat GOD to open him the door not of his prison but of the word that he may publish the mysterie of CHRIST This is all his heart is set upon He takes no thought for his ease or liberty He hath no sentiment nor desire but for the exercise of his ministery that is for the advancement of the glory of GOD and for the edification of men He is content provided he may disseminate his Master's Gospel with fruit If his prison hinder that he doth it not with such conveniency and to such a latitude as he would were he free in this case only and out of no other design would he have prayer made to GOD to take him out of bonds If not his chain is indifferent to him provided it obstruct not the course of the Gospel and that notwithstanding his bonds the word of GOD be not bound 2 Tim. 2.9 This is all he craves of the LORD and all that he desires others should crave for him that He open saith he the door of this word that is give him in His providence the opportunity and ability to preach it removing from before him the aversion and hatred and fury of men against this holy doctrine and those other scandals which the Devil never faileth to raise in its way as so many thick and impenetrable gates to hinder this Divine scepter of CHRIST from entring in among men and accomplishing the good pleasure of GOD upon them He useth the same phrase otherwhere also in the same sense and the reason of it is evident 1 Cor. 16.9 For speaking of the fair occasion he had to preach at Ephesus he saith that a great door and an effectual was opened to him by the LORD and again to signifie the same thing in reference to the Countrey about Troas he affirms that being come thither on the account of the Gospel of CHRIST he found the door opened to him by the LORD 2 Cor. 2.12 In process he addeth the end for which he desires the LORD would grant him such an opening For the declaring of the mysterie of CHRIST saith he for which also I am a prisoner The mysterie that is the secret of CHRIST is precisely the very thing which even now he termed after his wonted manner the word that is the Gospel the sublimest and most admirable of all the revelations of GOD. It is called a mysterie both here and also often elsewhere because it is a wisdom hidden of its self to men and Angels Eph. 6.19 Rom. 16.25 Col. 1.26 2.3 such as no created understanding could have ever penetrated This counsel which GOD had taken to save men by the cross of His only Son being above the conception of all creatures and one may say of it in truth with the Apostle in another place that it is things which eye hath not seen 1 Cor. 2.9 nor ear heard and which never ascended into the heart of man 1 Tim. 3.16 He gives us the summ of it in another Text where he clearly explaineth what this mysterie of CHRIST is Without contradiction saith he great is the mysterie of godliness GOD manifested in flesh justified in Spirit seen of Angels preached to the Gentiles believed on in the World and raised up into glory Now he calls this grand secret the mysterie of CHRIST first because JESUS CHRIST is all the fulness thereof that is the sole subject that fills up the whole of it Whence it comes also that the Apostle who was an excellent and most consummate Preacher of it 1 Cor. 2.2 for the right discharging of his Office does determine to know nothing among those he preached to but JESVS CHRIST crucified Secondly because it 's the LORD JESUS who first reveal'd it unto men who brought it out of the abysses of the Divine wisdome Rom. 16.25 Eph. 3.9 and from under the figures and obscurities of the old Law where it lay hid during precedent generations and communicated it to the holy Apostles in the light of that heavenly Spirit with which they were baptized on the day of Pentecost and afterward set it by their ministry before the eyes of Jews and Gentiles It 's not in vain that the Apostle says here by the way he is a prisoner for this Gospel of his Master's For what allegation could be more proper or more potent to affect the Colossians and render them prompt and earnest to pray unto GOD for him and for the progress of the Gosspel than a remonstrance that it 's for this holy and glorious cause he suffers And that this mysterie of CHRIST which he so passionately desires he may report is so divine a thing as he stuck not to seal the truth of it by a constant and couragious enduring of the captivity he was in But after this opening the door of the word the Apostle would have the faithful crave of GOD further that he may manifest the Gospel as he ought to speak that is preach it in such a manner as may be worthy of so sublime a subject with meet liberty diligence and fidelity For it 's not enough to have once receiv'd of GOD gifts necessary for the executing of this holy office except he conserve them in us by a continual influx of His light and give us the courage the zeal and spiritual prudence to use them in such sort as is proper for the edification of men Thus you see Beloved Brethren what the Apostle e're-while demanded of the Colossians both in general and for himself in particular Make account that this great Minister of CHRIST doth now demand the same things of you by our mouths in general that ye persevere in prayer watching thereto with thanksgiving and in particular that ye pray for us who have the honour to preach the Gospel to you As for prayer we have afore sufficiently justified the necessity of it to you It remains only that you make your profit of it that this holy exercise be ordinary in your families that this sacrifice be there daily offered unto GOD morning and evening that ye do not undertake nor begin any thing before ye have dedicated it unto GOD by prayer Instruct
such as have had the curiosity to enquire what this letter might be have faln upon different opinions as in a matter both obscure and besides of no great necessity Some of the Ancients say that it is the first Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy written from Laodicea as is expresly reported by an old tradition which is read still to this day at the end of that Epistle And the truth is it cannot be deny'd but this Epistle containeth divers instructions fit to edifie the Colossians about the business of those seducers whom St. Paul here opposeth they dogmatised a discrimination of dayes and meats and this is there expresly condemned And whereas it is alledged against these Authors that the Apostle had not been in the City of Laodicea by means whereof he could not have thence written any letters either to Timothy or any other they perhaps would answer with an Ancient Author Theodoret by name that the History of the Acts assuring us St. Paul had traversed Phrygia it is not very probable but that he pass'd through Laodicea the capital City of the Province And whereas he saith in the 2. chap. to the Colossians that he hath a great conflict for them and for those at Laodicea and for all such as had not seen his presence in the flesh this shews indeed that the Apostle had care even of those of the faithful whom he had not seen but not that they of Laidicea or of Coloss were of the number and that the sense of these words is he was in pain not only for them whom he had seen and known but even for the Christians he never saw Yet because this exposition may seem a little forced it is better and more easie to stick to the common opinion follow'd by the greater part of Expositors both Ancient and Modern even that the Epistle from Laedicea here mention'd by the Apostle was a letter written by the Church of Laodicea to St. Paul which letter he desireth the Colossians should read in their Assembly because it contained things which he judged helpful to their edification perhaps concerning the persons or the errours or the procedures of those very seducers whom he combateth in this Epistle This in my opinion is that which may be said in the matter with greatest probability There remaineth the third and last order he gives them say to Archippus Take heed to the Ministry thou hast received in the LORD that thou fulfill it We learn from the Epistle to Philemon that Archippus was a fellow-souldier of the Apostle's that is a Minister of the holy Gospel The meaning then is that the Church do advertise him on St. Paul's behalf to mind both the quality of that excellent Ministry and the Authority and Divinity of the LORD in whose name he had been called to it that he might acquit himself worthily in it and diligently fulfill all the functions of it leaving no part of them unperformed It is thought that some negligence or other defect of this Pastor might oblige the Apostle to cause this advise to be given him But for my part I would not without a more pressing reason suspect such a thing of a person whom the Apostle had so much honoured as to call him his fellow-souldier in the Epistle he wrote at the same time to Philemon and should rather beleeve that Archippus having been newly receiv'd into this sacred charge the Apostle would encourage him by this advertisement to a good discharge of his duty in it However it were you see he gives the body of the Church a power to address some remonstrances sometinâ—es to it 's own Pastors An evident sign that they are not the Masters and Lords of it as those of Rome pretend but Ministers and Officers only In fine he adds for a conclusion The salutation by the own hand of me Paul The rest of the Epistle had been dictated by the Apostle and written by another hand He writeth these and the following words himself with his own hand 1 Thes 3.17 and it was his ordinary use so to do as he declareth elsewhere 2 Thes 2.2 to assure his letters by this mark against the fraud of falsifiers who even then impudently dispersed forged letters under his name as himself in another place intimates unto us Yet before he shuts up he conjures them to remember his bonds as an excellent seal of the truth of his Gospel and an irrefragable testimony of the affection he bore to them and to the rest of the Gentiles for whose sake he suffered these things which consequently obliged them to love him and to pray the LORD ardently for him and above all to imitate his constancy and his patience on the like occasions if they should be called to them After this he gives them his blessing in these words Grace be with you Amen He means the Grace of GOD in JESUS CHRIST His Son our LORD and it was not possible to crown this divine Letter with a fairer and a fitter close Bless we GOD my Beloved Brethren who hath vouchsafed us the grace to read and to explain it throughout in these holy Assemblies and pray Him that he would please to continue the same liberty and tranquility still unto us causing His word to fructifie among us At present let us particularly meditate the remarkable Lessons which this conclusion doth contain to the end we may sedulously practise them each of us according to our Vocation Let Ministers mind the advertisement given to Archippus and imitate the example of Epaphras in loving cordially their flocks in striving for them both by prayer and by word and by deed fulfilling their Ministry and so demeaning themselves in it as may be worthy both of the excellency of the charge and of the respect and love they owe to the son of GOD who hath honoured them with it Let Flocks have reverence and amity for their Pastors and live an good intelligence with their neighbours as Coloss and Laâ—dicea mutually communicating all things that tend to their common edification Let the Epistles of St. Paul and the Books of his fellow-brethen the Prophets and Apostles of the LORD resound eternally in our Assemblies Let their Voice alone be there heard and their Doctrine alone receiv'd and every tradition not marked with their zeal be banish'd thence Let heads of Families imitate the zeal of Nymphas so conscionably forming their children and their people unto piety and so regularly establishing the exercises of it among them that it may be truly said of them they each have a Church in their house And all of us together of what order or condition soever let us study to be perfect and compleat in all the will of GOD and persevere unto the end in this holy profession remembring also the bonds of St. Paul and the sufferings of the faithful by which GOD hath confirmed the truth of His Gospel and so walk in the steps of these blessed ones enjoying the favours of
GOD with thankfulness and undergoing his chastisements and trials with patience that His grace may be with us for ever both in this world and in the world to come Amen FINIS Books to be Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chapel A Commentary on the Hebrews By John Owen D. D. Folio An Exposition of Temptation on Mat. 4. verse 1. to the end of the Eleventh By Dr. Thomas Taylor fol. A Learned Commentary or Exposition on the first Chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians By Richard Sibbs D. D. fol. A practical Exposition on the third Chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians with the Godly Man's Choice on Psal 4. vers 6 7 8. By Anthony Burgess fol. The dead Saint speaking to Saints and Sinners living in several Treatises The first on 2 Sam. 24.10 The second on Cant. 4.9 The third on John 1.50 The fourth on Isa 58.2 The fifth on Exod. 15.11 By Samuel Bolton D. D. fol. The view of the Holy Scriptures By Thomas Broughton fol. Christianographia or a Description of the Multitude and sundry sorts of Christians in the world not subject to the Pope By Eph. Pagit Fol. These Six Treatises next following are written by Mr. George Swinnock 1. The Christian Man's Calling or a Treatise of making Religion ones business in Religious Duties Natural Actions his Particular Vocation his Family Directions and his own Recreation to be read in Families for their Instruction and Edification The first Part. 2. Likewise a second Part wherein Christians are directed to perform their Duties as Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants in the conditions of Prosperity and Adversity The second Part. 3. The third and last part of the Christian Man's Calling wherein the Christian is directed how to make Religion his business in his dealings with all Men in the Choice of his Companions in his carriage in good Company in bad Company in solitariness or when he is alone on a week day from morning to night in visiting the sick on a Dying-bed as also the means how a Christian may do this and some motives to it 4. The Door of Salvation opened by the Key of Regeneration 5. Heaven and Hell Epitomized And the true Christian Characteriz'd 6. The Fading of the Flesh and the flourishing of Faith Or One cast for Eternity with the only way to throw it well All these by George Swinnock M. A. Quarto's A Learned Commentary on the fourth Chapter of the second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians to which is added First A Conference between Christ and Mary Second the Spiritual Man's Aim Third Emanuel or Miracle of Miracles By Richard Sibbs D. D. 4to An Exposition on the five first Chapters of Ezekiel with useful observations thereupon By Will. Greenhil 4to The Gospel-Covenant or the Covenant of Grace opened Preached in New-England By Peter Bulkley 4to Gods Holy Mind touching Matters Moral which himself uttered in ten words or ten Commandments Also an Exposition on the Lords Prayer By Edward Elton B. D. 4to Fiery Jesuite or an Historical Collection of the Rise Increase Doctrines and Deeds of the Jesuites Exposed to view for the sake of London 4to Horologiographia Optica Dialling Universal and Particular Speculative and Practical together with the Description of the Court of Arts by a new Method By Silvanus Morgan 4to Praxis Medicinae or the Physicians Practise wherein are contained all inward diseases from the head to the foot By Walter Bruel Regimen Sanitatis Salerni or the School of Salerns Regiment of Health containing Directions and Instructions for the guide and Government of Mans Life 4to Heart-Treasure Or a Treatise tending to fill and furnish the head and heart of every Christian with soul-inriching treasure of truths graces experiences and comforts to help him in Meditation Conference Religious Performances Spiritual Actions Enduring Afflictions and to fit him for all conditions that he may live holily dye happily and go to Heaven triumphantly By O. H. with an Epistle prefixed by John Chester Large Octavo Closet-prayer a Christians Duty The sure Mercies of David Both by the same Author The Conversion of a Sinner explained and applyed from Ezek. 33.11 The Day of Grace Discovered from Luke 19.41 42. Worthy walking pressed upon all those that have heard the Call of the Gospel All three by Nath. Vincent The Duty of Parents A Little Book for Little Children Method and Instruction for the Art of Divine Meditation All three by Thomas White The Childs delight together with an English Grammar By Tho. Lye The Life and Death of Dr. Sam. Winter The inseparable Union between Christ and a Beleever which death it self cannot sever or the Bond that can never be broken Opened in a Sermon at the Funeral of Mrs. Dorothy Freeborn By Tho. Peck An Antitode against Quakerisme By Stephen Scandret 4to A Glimpse of Eternity By A. Caley A practical Discourse of Prayer wherein is handled the Nature and Duty of Prayer By Tho. Cobbet Of Quenching the Spirit the evil of it in respect both of its causes and effects discovered By Theophilus Polwheile Wells of Salvation opened or Words whereby we may be saved With advise to young Men By Tho. Vincent The re-building of London encouraged and improved in several Meditations By Samuel Rolles The sure way to Salvation or a Treatise of the Saints Mystical Union with Christ wherein that great Mystery and Priviledge is opened in the nature properties and the necessities of it By R. Steedman M. A. The greatest Loss upon Matth. 16.26 By James Livesey Small Octavo Moses unvailed By William Guild The Protestants Triumph being an exact Answer to all the sophistical Arguments of Papists By Ch. Drelincourt A Defence against the fear of Death By Zach. Crofton Gods Soveraignty displayed By Will. Geering A sober Discourse concerning the interest of words in Prayer The Godly Mans Ark or City of Refuge in the day of his distress in five Sermons with Mrs. Moor's Evidences for Heaven By Edm. Calamy The Almost Christian discovered or the false Professor tryed and cast By Mr. Mead. Spiritual Wisdom improved against Temptation By Mr. Mead. 1. A Divine Cordial 2. The Doctrine of Repentance 3. Heaven taken by Storm 4. The Holy Eucharist or The Sacrament of the Lords Supper briefly opened 5. The mischief of Sin it brings a person Low All five by Tho. Watson The True bounds of Christian Freedom or a Discourse shewing the extents and restraints of Christian Liberty wherein the truth is settled many errours confuted out of John 8. verse 36. The Lords Day enlivened or a Treatise of the Sabbath By Philip Goodwin The sinfulness of Sin and the Fulness of Christ two Sermons By W. Bridge A serious Exhortation to a Holy Life By Tho. Wadsworth Comfortable Crumbs of Refreshment by Prayers Meditation Consolation and Ejaculations with a Confession of Faith and sum of the Bible Aurifodina Linguae Gallicae or the Golden Mine of the French Language opened By Edw. Costlin Gen. Four Centuries of Select Hymns collected out of Scripture By Will. Barton Sins Sinfulness By Ralph Venning Sober Singularity By R. Steedman The Parable of the great Supper By John Crump of Maidstone in Kent The Christians dayly Monitour By Joseph Church A Memento to young men and old By J. Maynard The History of Moderation or the Life Death Resurrection of Moderation None-such Wonder in Martha Taylors Life who hath been supported above a year without use of Meat or Drink FINIS