sanctified from sin without the blood of the covenant Heb. 9.22 and Ephe. 1.7 and so there must have been another Mediator beside himselfe which St Paul denieth 1 Tim. 2.5 there is but one Mediator even the Man Christ Jesus the High Priest who is in himselfe holy innocent and undefiled and separate from sinners Heb. Mathe. But if Christs humane nature came from the blessed Virgin and from Adam he could not avoid the taint of sin no more then he could death Phila. We are to consider as I said before that sin cleaving not to substance alone but to persons and considering that he took no person of the Virgin but her substance which was immediately united to his Godhead in subsistence and only so made a person it will follow that though his substance yet his person was never in Adam and so never sinned in Adam and so never tainted with originall sin For as it could not be propagated by his manner of conception so neither could it be justly imputed to his person which was both God and man And for his death it was voluntary Death did not by his own power prevaile over him but he laid it down John 10.17 18. Nor did death fall upon him as a sinner but as the surety for sin Mathe. What effect worketh this conception for us Phila. 1. It hides the impurity of our conceptions from Gods anger because this satisfieth Gods justice for originall sin for the righteousnesse hereof is imputed to us and by it is constituted holinesse of nature for in this he was qualified with all habits of grace and vertue which by his spirit he powreth also upon us For this purpose he took an humane body because sacrifice and offerings would not satisfie Psal 40. and Heb. 10.5 2. This conception worketh a spirituall life and conception in us For our nature in him being conceived and quickned by the holy Ghost in the womb from thence proceeds the power of our regeneration from him that is the originall of spirituall life in our nature for the spirit that formed him in the womb doth beget us again to live in him and so doth justifie us before God from the evils that cleave to our nature Mathe. He is oftentimes called in the Gospell even by himselfe too the Son of man how then shall I conceive his conception to be more then humane Phila. His Conception and Birth are full of wonder yet may be discerned with distinction for it seems a new creation For as he was the Son of God no woman was his mother and as he was man he had no father He is called the Son of man because he took our nature of the blessed Virgins substance Yet he is called the Son of the most High Mat. 1. because he is the second person in the holy Trinity Which title is given to the nature assumed because it had no subsistence but in his person that was the naturall Son of God In which regard the blessed Virgin is called the mother of God not of his deity but of this union of God and man yet his person was not circumscribed in her womb though the humane nature was But as his body is heaven locally and is in the Word substantially and in the Sacrament mystically and in the heart of a beleever spiritually so it was in her body naturally Mathe. How am I to conceive of the birth of Christ Phila. He was born three waies of his Father of his Mother and in the mind of man Of his Father eternally of his Mother temporally and in mans mind spiritually For three things have relation to his birth Deity Flesh and Spirit Of his Father he is born God for ever of his Mother flesh once and in mans mind he is born Spirit figuratively often In respect of his divine nature he had a Father without a Mother in regard of the humane nature he had a Mother without a Father in respect of his spirituall nativity he hath both Father and Mother i. they that do his will Paul saith God was manifested in flesh 1. From the bosome of his Father in whom he was concealed 2. From the shadowes of the Law in which he was prefigured 3. From the womb of his Mother in which he was covered This was the greatest and the most gracious work considered in all the consequences of it as his death and resurrection which without this could not have been that ever God wrought who for these humiliations gave him a name above all names Jesus the Saviour Phil. 2.9 Which name although others had as well as he in the Old Testament yet they were but figures of him yea the name Jehovah signifieth but essence i. God as he is the author of being but Jesus signifieth God our well being a Saviour then which there is no other name of salvation given Act. It was the name of the eternall Word incarnate it contains in it the whole oeconomy of the work of redemption wherein the attributes of God are united wisedome justice peace Psal 85. mercy and truth This was well called his great work of a woman compassing a man And wonderfull great it was in effect For in the Creation God made man in his image and so earth was honoured but in Christs birth God made himselfe in our image and so heaven was debased In creation God made all without resistance he spake but the word and they were made Heb. 12. But in redemption he suffered contradictions of sinners against himselfe In this work he did both speak work and suffer speak graciously work wonderfully suffer unworthily In creation the Word made flesh but in Jesus our Redeemer John 1.3 the Word was made flesh John 1.14 In the creation God took man out of the earth and placed him in Paradise In the redemption he took man out of hell and placed him in heaven through Jesus the Saviour Mathe. What were the effects of his birth Phila. Many For among the heathen voices were heard saying that the great God was about to be born At Rome a woman was seen about the Sun having a child in her arms And the Sybil told Augustus the Emperour that that same child was greater then he and bade him to adore him He would never after be called Lord. The Temple of peace fell down at his birth because he brought better peace to the world The Oracles were all struck dumb by the birth of this eternall Word Jupiters Oak in Dodona was shaken the Caldron smitten with the rod in the hand of Jupiter The Tripode in Delphis Nazi in Julian annotat Nomi the Laurell and fountain of Daphne and the ramfaced image of Jupiter Ammon could utter nothing so that one effect of Christs birth was Gods glory and Satans confusion But further another effect was the good mans peace and salvation For he was born to bring both to passe 1. His salvation being he was born to be a King a Priest and a
superscription Jesus that Nazarene that King of the Jewes God would not it should be altered being a plain affirmation of his glory which otherwise Pilate might possibly have done as well as to crucifie him at their importunity Now in that God doth thus acknowledge his name Jesus upon the Crosse he thereby testified that he accepted him for our Saviour as Jesus signifieth Mat. 1.22 and will not deny those that beleeve on him yea God exalts him in that name which the Jewes despised so that he will honour those whom the world reproacheth yea he will have him now known to be that King his first born higher then the Kings of the earth and at this time of his disgrace too to shew his Kingdome stands not in outward observation nor is his roialty lost by outward abasements for even now like a King he paied the blood-roiall-ransome for his elect even among the Jewes themselves of whose repenting people he was King by whose power they were converted Acts 2. This title was written in the three generall known languages to shew that every tongue should confesse to his glory of Jesus Phil. 3.11 when the Gospell should be preached to the nations This title Pilate would not alter in one tittle to shew that we should not lose one jot of the faith of Christ and indeed whosoever doth it or suffers it to be done by Hereticks or Sectaries are worse then Pilate himselfe Again God honoured him by making nature suffer an eclipse of darknesse as if to shew the Sun of righteousnesse did now set and that the Jewes should be left in blindnesse and all others that did not beleeve in him Also that nature abhorred the fact and that God hereby did threaten the sins of men as Joel 2.10 and that he that now suffered was more then a man for whose sake such a miracle was wrought Next he was glorified by one of the malefactors conversion and confession which shewed Christs power and mercy and justice his power that he did and could work on him in the midst of his anguish his mercy that he would save one at the last gasp that none may despaire and his justice that he would save but one that none might presume upon late repentance Lastly he was glorified by the vaile of the most holy place rending of it selfe which shewed that God did now abhor the Jewes Temple and dissolve their religious rites and utterly rejected them for rejecting Christ his Son And that now we have free accesse to the mercy seat Heb. 4.16 Aequaliter pater arca calestis Helv. Yea heaven is set open to us which before was shut against sinners of Jewes and Gentiles but now open to both Mathe. But what necessiâ—y uas there of Christs death Phila. First to satisfie Gods justice who determined death to be the wages of sin Rom. 6.23 Christ therefore being mans surety Rom. 8.3 and taking on him the similitude of our sinfull flesh God condemns sin in his flesh by putting him to death and satisfieth his justice for all the elect by one who though he was but one yet being both God and Man his death is of infinite price to make satisfaction to Gods infinite justice who had told the first Adam that if he eat of the forbidden fruit he should die that day And that day he became mortall Rom. 5.12 for then death began to seize upon him and all his posterity But Christ comming in Adams stopped the issue of spirituall death by the merit of his death And this he did also to fulfill the prophecies of himself Esa 63.7 that he should be lead as a sheep to the slaughter as also to ratifie the New Testament which was as his last will whereby he grants by covenant with God all the blessed Legacies of spirituall and eternall happinesse to his Church Heb. 9.15 which Testament is of no force without the death of the Testator Also that he might destroy the power that death and the devill had over us Heb. 2.14 even to bring us under eternall death which death though he never suffered himself yet prevents it in us by the worthinesse of his person suffering externall death for us that beleeve upon his precious death which is of more value for one houre then the eternall death of all men in the world And so by this means he hath given us an antidote against the reigning power of sin that it shall not have dominion over us Rom. 6.14 but that by the vertue of his death we might die to sin Rom. 6.2 and that he might purchase life for the world of his elect who by the doctrine of his death receive the seed of eternall life and become the seed of Christ Esa 53.10 Mathe. But how did Christ die in his natures or in his person Phila. Herein you must beware what you conceive for if you think he died in both natures divine and humane or in his whole person as God and man you erre from the faith and prophane his divinity therefore you are to beleeve that though the flesh of Christ only died in respect of the nature that died yet this death having relation to the eternall word by union the Lord of life and glory may be said relatively to suffer in which respect his blood is called the blood of God Acts 20.28 Therefore though death made a separation of his humane soule from his humane body yet both ever subsisted in the divine nature firmly united For if there had been a new manner of subsisting then Christ must be conceived to have two persons as well as two natures Mathe. How shall I reconcile St Paul who saith Christ was slain towards the end of the world Heb. 9.26 and St John saith he was slaine from the beginning of the world Rev. 13.8 Phila. He was actually slain toward the end of the world namely in the year of the world Scalig. 3982. and in the 34. year of his age and on Friday the fifth day of our week which that year was the fifteenth day of the Jewes month called Nisan which that year was the seventh day of our April as some account yea at the ninth hour of that day the time of the evening sacrifice Mat. 27.46 But he was flain from the beginning of the world in Gods determination Gen. 3.15 for all that beleeved on him to come to whom his death proved as efficacious as the composition of a surety doth enlarge a debter out of prison though the debt be not paied a long time after Thus Christ was slain from the beginning in type of Abel slain by Cain and in all the sacrifices offered for sin which were as evidences to the faithfull of things not then seen Mathe. But the Evangelists take notice of many occurrences in his death of which I can find no great reason nor mystery infolded as that no bone of him was broken and that his side was pierced and the like Phila.
Mathe. Whether do we Christians worship this one true God Phila. Yes we do For we worship him that made the world by his word and doth govern it by his wisedome and preserves it by his providence whose glorious presence is far above all heavens yet hath his influence upon all things here below by his Vicegerent Nature whose power he inlargeth and restraineth at his pleasure but a more rare in influx upon mans soule by qualifying of it with rare gifts of Art and Science but most divinely upon souls refined from the drossie world by the operation of his holy spirit informing the mind with divine light inspiring with good desires incouraging in good actions preventing our doing evill furthering us in doing good convincing us of sin affrighting us for it Now this God we know to be a true God because he is the same who hath been worshipped from the beginning by the wisest holiest and best knowing men yea by the Jewish Nation who had the greatest evidences to shew of this true God by his miracles oracles prophecies and promises by which the very heathen have been convinced and became their proselytes 2. Because the heathen gods have been forced to confesse him the greatest As when King Thulis of Aegypt asked Shor-apis their Oracle Suidas who was the greatest it answered God Word and Spirit This is that Trinity whom all true Christians worship in unity 3. Because we find all other gods but counterfeits of this our true God and imperfect representations of his attributes or divine properties As their Baal a lord a counterfeit of this Lord of lords Baal-Zephon of our watching Lord that neither slumbers nor sleeps So their Baal-peor a counterfeit of him who gives the power of generation Baal-zebub a representation of him that is God of Hosts and Armies of all manner of flies which for sin he sendeth to infest the nations and at his word are driven away So Baal-berith a counterfeit of our God who keepeth Covenant with his people For the Devill is but Gods ape God had sacrifice and altar so had he God had a Temple at Jerusalem he had another at Delos God would have his Altar-fire alwaies burning and Satan would have alwaies his Vestall fire glowing God had his mercy Seat so the Devill his Tripodas So Apollo counterfeits Gods wisedome mans his power in battell Diana his purity Mercury his declarative word Jupiter his thundring voice Saturn his peaceable providence Venus his love Ceres and Bacchus his plentifull provision Proserpine the spirit of Nature in the earth Neptune Gods power in the Ocean Plato Gods power even in hell All which are but lame expressions of Gods properties by some seeming shew whereof the Devill hath drawn men from the true God so that the heathens worship they know not what but we know what we worship and that salvation is from our God who is infinite almighty invisible inscrutable the only wise and good God in whom from whom and by whom are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Mathe. Some are content to acknowledge a God and one God but yet only as one person Therefore are we bound to beleeve persons in the Godhead or not Phila. You are bound to beleeve God as he revealeth himselfe Now he hath revealed himselfe to be a divine essence subsisting in three persons that is a Unity in Trinity Mathe. I pray first unfold the terms and then prove God to be a Vnity in Trinity Phila. First for the terms you must not look to find them in Scripture yet it disalloweth them not for they express the sense of them For 1. The essence of God is expressed Exod. 3.14 in that name I am that I am for essence or being is that which is 2. Subsistence signifieth only the manner of Being as humane nature is mans essence or substance of man and his person is his manner of subsisting in that nature So 3. Unity signifieth and shewes the divine nature cannot be divided diversified nor multiplied 4. The word Trinity sheweth the manner of the divine nature subsisting which the Scriptures deliver to us of God as in the 1 of John 5.7 There be three that bear record in heaven Vbi unus ibi unitas ubi tres ibi Trinitas the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one Where by the WORD is meant the Son who is so called also John 1.1 to signifie his divine and spirituall generation like a word expressed by the mind So 5. The word Person signifieth to us that God is in his subsistence or manner of being an intellectuall substance neither divided nor communicated nor sustained in or by any other which is the property of a person This word is found Heb. 1.3 where Christ the Word or Son of God is called the ingraven image of Gods person Mathe. How came these words into use Phila. They were formed by the Doctors of the Church for the more easie confutation of heresie by a shorter way of disputation and demonstration of this mystery of the sacred Trinity which in many words could not have been so well moulded into a form of dispute without much trouble to the memory and the understanding As in all Arts there be proper terms which include in them the sum of the science in short words and therefore we are not to stumble at termes which serve to explain or maintain holy mysteries for whatsoever is not against the truth is for it Mathe. But how prove you that God is Vnity in Trinity Phila. That God is a unity in himselfe none can doubt who beleeves that God is one and that there is but one God as is already proved And that this Godhead hath a Trinity of persons in it selfe subsisting we are to beleeve it upon Scriptures which do first intimate to us more persons in the Godhead then one as Gen. 1.1 which saith Elohim bara that is Elohim plu Bara sing if translated word for word The Lords he created to which answereth John 1.1 In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God And ver 2. All things were made by him that is the Son and yet Gen. 1.2 The spirit of God moved upon the waters so that there were three in this work i. God the Father did it by the Son through the Spirit So Gen. 1.26 God said Let us make man which argued a consultation of persons So when God appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre Gen. 18.1 yet it was in three persons ver 2. though Abraham speaks to them as one saying my Lord The Poets shadowed out this by three prime gods Jupiter The Poets shadowed out this by three prime gods Neptune The Poets shadowed out this by three prime gods Pluto Mathe. But may they not be more then three persons Phila. No because the Lord God never expressed himself by more then three as appears first By his commanding Moses to blesse
Prophet by which three offices he could effect all that belonged to mans salvation To deliver as a King to instruct him as a Prophet Acts 4.12 to purge him from sin as a Priest 2. To bring him to peace with God above him and to peace about him with Angels and men to peace within him in his conscience and to peace belowe him for hell cannot hurt him though it would all which may be gathered from the Angels song Luke 2.14 But to the wicked it brought judgement even to make them stumble and fall Luke 2.34 because he brought light and men loved darknesse rather John 3.19 Beside nothing about his birth but had some effectuall signification for he was born at Bethelem the house of bread to shew that in effect he should be the bread of the houshold of faith So born in the fulnesse of time when the Church was at the lowest ebbe and no hope on earth was left for it to effect faith in the Church that God could help when all help in man was past So he was born poor and thereby not only made us rich but also taught us with him to trample upon world pomp and glory since by lying in the manger he procured us an heavenly mansion And the very publishing of his birth unto the wisemen and simple shepherds to Gentiles and Jewes to Anna as well as Simeon shewed that his birth should take effect on Jewes and Greeks learned and simple male and female and all should be one in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.21 Mathe. I pray tell me how could Christ suffer being God and man 2. Why he so suffered and what is the effect of it upon us Phila. For the first Quere how Christ suffered We understand that though the sufferings of Christ belonged to his whole person and so is attributed to both natures yet only to the humane nature sensibly and to the divine relatively For the divine nature cannot suffer being immutable nor die being immortall yet as his person consisteth of both natures his sufferings belonged to both For the word divine was not severed from the humane nature neither in his birth nor suffering Nor was the nature inviolable hurt by the sufferings of the nature passible no more then the beams of the Sun that shineth on a tree is wounded by the Axe that felleth the tree And thus we are to understand those phrases Acts 20.28 that God redeemed the Church with his blood and 2 Cor. 2.8 the Lord of Glory was crucified 2. The reason why he suffered for us as it was not casuall but by divine providence the drops of his cup were measured by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God And this was so 1. That the Scripture might be fulfilled Luke 24.26 27. and God found true of his word just in all his waies not sparing his own Son being but surety for us how can wilfull sinners expect to escape Gods wrath 2. That he might revive the pattern of patience almost decaied and lost and leave it to us to imitate 1 Pet. 2.21 That we might be consecrated by affliction as he the Prince of our salvation was 3. That he might deliver us from the bondage of the ceremoniall Law Gal. 3.13 Also that he being made sensible of our sufferings might become a more mercifull High Priest to us and more apt to succour us in temptations Heb. 2.17 and 4.15 Beside he suffered that he might reconcile us to God 1 Pet. 3.18 by being made an expiation for us and condemning our sins in his flesh Isa 53.5 and Rom. 8.3 For if one died for all then are all dead to that fault for which he died so that our disease of sin is cured by the mediation of his passion and by the speciall vertue of his Ordinances operating in us by the Holy Ghosts application of Christs sufferings to us Lastly that we might being sprinkled with his blood enter within the vaile namely into heaven the Holy of Holies from whence for sin we are shut out as well as out of paradise Mathe. What use may we make of this Phila. 1. It teacheth that those sufferings have relation only to the Son not to the Father nor to the Holy Ghost 2. To wonder at this gracious work that the Son of God should be condemned by the sons of men that righteousnesse it selfe should be condemned by the unrighteous that the God of order should be corrected with rods that the nower of God should be weakned salvation wounded and life killed Also to think on the hatefulnesse of sin that brings God to suffering and to be pitifully affected with the sufferings of such an eminent person yet to wax strong in faith because such an one hath made satisfaction 1 John 3.7 and to be ready to suffer from wicked men because he did so Heb. 12.3 and 1 Pet. 2.18 And farther to distinguish rightly for whom he suffered It was not for all but for all the elect therefore Mat. 26.28 it is said his blood is shed for many for Christ will not know some Mat. 7.23 Nor did he pray for the world but for those that God gave him out of the world So he gave his life for his sheep not for goats nor swine for his righteousnesse extends to all them that beleeve Rom. 3.22 As those were only cured that looked on the brazen serpent and turn from transgression in Jacob Isa 59.20 and are ruled by the voice of this Shepherd and are conformed to his Image by afflictions and that dedicate their lives and services to him that died for them 2 Cor. 5.15 All which should make us 1. To be affected with his love which was never paralleld The just died for the unjust 1 Pet. 3.18 whereas few or none will die for a just man Rom. 5.7 but he for us which were ungodly yea his enemies Rom. 5.10 and never sought to him for any kindnesse much lesse thought of such a kindnesse that Piety would be scourged for impious man Wisdome derided for fools Truth denied for lyars Justice condemned for unjust men Life to die for dead men 2. To be ready to suffec for him or for one another 1 John 3.16 And 3. To plead his sufferings before God against our sins and satans accusations and not to feare but that seeing such a price is paid for our reconcilement that God will save us being reconciled Rom. 5.10 And 4. Being this sweet Passeover is sacrificed for us to purge away the old leaven of malice and wickednesse and all corruptions and become a new lump full of sincerity and truth 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Mathe. How can the suffering of one satisfie for the sins of many and how is it just in God to punish the righteous for the unrighteous Phila. His suffering is a sufficient satisfaction for all because of the dignity of his person God and Man which made his sufferings of more value then if all men and Angels had suffered and though his death were
them to that one place in which God had appointed to put his name Deut. 12.5 6. so that we may by better reason pull down all private Conventicles that people may be brought to the place of Gods publick worship They may as well be afraid to pray in any Parish called by a superstitious name as in the Church so called if they neglect the doctrin of faith which directs us to the true use of every creature 3. The Church is taken personally and so for either the Church malignant Psal 26.5 called the congregation of evill doers and sometime for the true Church or any assembly thereof and that company is called Ecclesia as the assembly of the Jewes was called the Synagogue and of wicked men a congregation because like greges a flock of cattell they met together disorderly as Acts 19.39 41. Aug. in Levit. Q. 57. called the Beasts of Ephesus 1 Cor. 15. though sometime they be used indifferently one for the other as Lev. 8.3 So that all the three words Kuriake Synagogue and Ecclesia signifie a Church or an house set apart for a people to meet in about sacred occasions which people are the Church personall which Church is to be considered as it is known to God or to us As it is known to God who only knoweth who are his we rather beleeve it then see it as our Creed teacheth when we say I beleeve in the holy Catholick Church that is I beleeve there is such an universall Church dispersed throughout the world though I know not the parties Beside this Church is to be considered not only in the whole but in the parts whereof every holysociety is a communion of Saints and so the Church is partly known to us at least in outward calling to be Saints and in an answerable profession of it As the Brown hold Not therefore such an holy society is meant as is totally and perfectly sanctified and fully obedient to the whole will of God revealed for such a communion was never found in Adams family there was a Cain and Noahs Ark clean and unclean men as well as beasts that were as unlike in their conditions as the Raven and the Dove Aug. in Joh. 6. Beda in Rom. â— as Shem and Cham Rebecca had Esau in her womb as well as Jacob the Church of Israel had a world of wicked in it in Christs little Colledge was one traitor in the field of the Church is tares as well as wheat and a through reformation or purgation of them cannot be till the worlds end Zuinglius art 34. Mat. 13.29 yet this Church is called the kingdome of Heaven in the New Testament because it makes us to be of heavenly natures and guides us to Christs heavenly kingdome But if we will be of a congregation absolutely holy Socrat. schol lib. 5. cap. 10. we must get a new found ladder to go up to heaven as said Constantine to Acesius the Novatian Bishop Mathe. What is meant by this personall Church Phil. Not any one man as the Papists make the Pope to be the Church virtuall nor a company of any creatures save men for bruits are uncapable of rationall doctrine nor are Angels tied to it for Christ is not their nature but the seed of Abraham Heb. But the Church personall is a company of people every where dispersed effectually called ordinarily by the ministers of the word from the prophanesse of the world to the supernaturall dignity of Gods children to whom they are united in Christ by faith and to one another by love In which people we are to consider their invisible essence and their visible existence First their visible existence which they have in common with the visible Church being admitted into it by that way that God in his word hath appointed for that purpose as the Jewes were by circumcision under the law and both the professors of Christ among Jewes and Gentiles by baptisme under the Gospell Secondly they are to be considered in their invisible essence which is faith in God through Christ and love to one another This Church is included in the visible Church though not so plainly discerned as the visible is yet they partake of the same blessings and afflictions with the Church visible as a child in the womb of the mother partaketh of her joies and griefs Mathe. I pray Sir shew me the state and condition of the visible Church and how to distinguish of the invisible company from others meerly visible if it may be Phila. The visible is that universall and Catholike Church which God hath endowed with the means of salvation through Christ typed or preached as he was typed and prophecied of the Jewes were a chiefe part of it as they were a setled Church but before that it remained in the family of Adam and Sheth and Noah whose Ark was a type of the Church Then after the flood in a few families especially in those that came of Shem from whom came Abraham in the ninth generation after him being the son of Terah whom God called from Vr of the Chaldees and with him setled his Covenant of Christ first promised to Adam From him came Isaac Jacob and the twelve Patriarchs and from them the people called Israel after old Jacobs name given him of God But afterward were called Jewes of Judah whose tribe stood to the house of David and was the Kingly tribe yet in processe of time it came to be a name of profession or distinction from the ten other tribes who worshipped in the Temple of Samaria John 4.20 built upon the mount Gerizam between whom there was a feude implacable as John 4.9 and St Paul affirms it a name of religious profession Rom. 2.28 he is not a Jew that is one outwardly but inwardly But these were once the true visible Church especially after their redemption from Egypt by Moses and Aaron by whom God gave them lawes Ecclesiasticall and Civil which were put in practice first in their travels in the wildernesse and quiet possession of Canaan under divers sorts of Governors as first Moses secondly Joshua and then under Judges Aug. de civit dei l. 18. c. 22. for the space of 320 years next under Kings about 520 years till they were carried captive to Babylon for seventy years Then they returned by King Cyrus his leave and had commission to rebuild the Temple which was forty nine year in finishing From that time they were under the power of the Medes and Persians and such Deputies as they appointed called the heads of the captivity such as Mesullam Hanania Benechia Husadiah Zerobabell of the line of David as also other ten more after Alexander the great yet still there was a visible Church among them Next the government divolved to the Machabees of the tribe of Levi and in them continued till Herod by the Roman power deprived them of all soveraignty In whose time Christ was born 536 years after the captivity
baptisme requireth of him namely to forsake worldly lusts and vanities the devill and all his wicked designs and to live soberly righteously and godly in the sight of all men this is to be a visible Christian and a company thus qualified make a visible assembly and being setled by the Regiment of Pastors and necessary Officers for governing them they are called a visible Church constituted Mathe. What be the marks of an invisible Christian by which he may know himselfe to be of the true invisible Church and then I shall desire some satisfaction in the outward government of the Church Phila. The marks of an invisible Christian by which he knoweth himselfe to belong to salvation in Christ are vocation adoption regeneration justification and sanctification and a certain hope of eternall glory built upon his beleefe in Christ which is the ground of his hope Now vocation is not that by which God cals men in common by the Word and Sacraments but a divine vertue wrought in our hearts thereby through the Holy Ghost by which we are moved from our corrupt and sinful condition to a supernaturall life in Christ to whom being united as to our head are justified by faith sanctified by repentance to Gods glory and a mans owne salvation This is an act of Gods free good wil to his elect therfore is both efficacious unchangeable Rom. 11.29 and therefore this grace of calling is not universal but belongeth only to those whom God foreknew and elected Rom. 8.30 and whom Christ hath redeemed only we may know that we are called if our hearts be stirred up to praise God for it 1 Pet. 2.9 and pray to be established in it 1 Pet. 5.10 and to live a godly life Eph. 4.1 aiming at eternall glory that we may be found blamelesse 1 Thes 5.23 The next mark is adoption a most gracious benefit of God whereby he receives us that are strangers from him for Christs sake to be his children and makes us with him to become heirs of heaven and eternall life Eph. 1.5 Col. 1.21 by which we are incouraged to call God Father Chrys hom in Psal 150. Rom. 8. and confesse that we have received and hope to receive all graces and favours from him This grace is begun in this life in those who receive Christ by faith John 1.12 in whom it appeareth they are sons but yet it appeareth not what they shall be 1 Joh. but that shall be perfected at the resurrection for which perfect adoption we sigh longing for the redemption of our bodies Rom. 8.23 Now we know that we are adopted by the liberty which God hath given us not only from the servitude and bondage of the law which exacts that of us which we cannot do and from the service under the dominion of sin Rom. 6. and from humane traditions and worldly rudiments Col. 2. but also from that human fear of serving God so that we can serve him with a free and ready mind as Luke 1.74 he having delivered us and so we delight in the law of God after the inward man and can come boldly to the throne of grace to make our wants known to God our Father The next note is regeneration a blessed benefit of God whereby he restoreth our corrupt nature to his own image by the Holy Ghost and the incorruptible seed of his Word 1 Pet. 1.23 This is the effect of a most blessed marriage where God is the Father mans eare is the wife the seed is the word the heart is the womb and the regenerate soule is the child which is bred with sighing and brought forth with sorrowes but great joy at the delivery But as it groweth it is like Jacob in great conflict with Esau namely the flesh as you see Rom. 7. both dwell in one house but Jacob the spirit alwaies gets the upper hand both in the blessing and in the birthright yet with great reluctation in this till we are freed by death and the flesh glorified at the resurrection The effects of this regeneration is 1. A love to God that begot us above all things and love to them that are begotten as we are 1 Joh. 2. Avoiding of sin 1 John 5.18 he that is born of God sinneth not but keepeth himselfe namely he sinneth not willingly wilfully delightfully despitefully against the rule of grace not continually not to death and by vertue of Christs resurrection leadeth a new life Rom. 6.4 and 1 Pet. 1.3 and therefore through Christ God seeth no sin in him to condemn him however he doth to correct him Rom. 8. for it is Christ that justifieth who can condemn The next note whereby one may know himselfe to be of the Church invisible is justification which signifieth as much as to make just as to purifie is to make pure The word is not found in any of the old and purest Latine authors but is taken up by divers to expresse the Hebrew and Greek terms Tsadhick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a just man Now a man is said to be made just by infusion or by plea. By infusion when the habit or quality of justice is put into one as into Adam by creation and so men by regeneration in some degree and thus one may be said to be formerly or inherently just yet to justifie signifieth somewhat else 2. A man may be justified by plea as he that accuseth one makes him unjust Esa 5.23 so he that by plea doth vindicate him hath made him an honest man Job 9.20 that is to be esteemed or reputed so as the ancient authors doe interpret the word Hesichius Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that in this case we are rather to lean to the common use of the word then to the sound arising from the notation for Psal 119.4 8. the law is called by the interpreter justifications not because they justifie a man but because they declare him just that doth them because he hath done according to those statutes So a Judge condemning a malefactor is not by that act made formally or inherently just but approved just by that law which he hath executed But this declaration of a mans justice is not justification for that takes place upon accusation only if Adam had not sinned he might have been commended and declared to be just and innocent yet not properly justified So wisedome is said to be justified by her children Mat. 11.19 i. vindicated to be just against all the cavils of wicked men by the apology that her children make in her defence Some men therefore are justified yet not inherently just as when a fault is charged and acknowledged and satisfaction pleaded or sufficient amends is made to the party offended and so freedome from punishment is merited and the fault therefore as it were extinguished because the party offended reapeth as much benefit as if the fault had never been committed but if the offended shall
each in each Aug. de Trin. Christ is in the Father and the Father in him and the holy Spirit in both so they be all in each For the Son is in the bosome of the Father and the Father in the Image of the Son the holy Spirit in the breath of each and they both in his operations 3. All in each for one is possessed of the other 4. All in all the whole essence being in every person And yet 5. But one in all because all three are but one God And take heed of thinking therefore 1. That there is no God 2. That there be no persons in the God but only relations Socin Patrisp offices or dispensations For so we may count the Father to suffer not the Son for our redemption 3. That they be only like one another in substance Arri. Eunom Tritheit but not of the same substance or of an unlike substance but of one and the same substance And take heed of thinking they be three gods for there is but one God in essence though three persons in subsistence one God in being though three persons in the manner of that being Nor may you like the Mahometans acknowledge one God without persons or like the Indians denie the Son of God Mahom. Indians because then they say God must have a wife These people only understand carnall generation not spirituall and in what they know naturally therein they abuse themselves Jude ver 10. and speak evill of what they know not For they perceive not how the soule begets children namely the thoughts and words without female conjunction This high knowledge of God should teach us to admire him whom we cannot comprehend and therefore to serve him in faith fear and reverence Psal 2.11 especially in his Temple and service Psal 138. and so say with Job O Lord what I know not do thou teach me so that in thy knowledge I may find felicity We must not think this knowledge to be superfluous since it is life eternall to have it John 17.3 Mat. 16.18 and that Christ so much approved St Peter for acknowledging it I know all men cannot apprehend this alike yet if we desire that Christ would shew us the Father John 14.8 and that we may have his Spirit he will not denie it to him that asketh him especially if we lament for the losse of the excellent knowledge no doubt he will reveal so much of it to us as shall acquire eternall life Mathe. What means hath God given us to know him by Phila. Two means his Works and his Words His Works Natura naturans natuâ— rata and the book of Nature naturated by the power of God His Word is the book of Nature naturating i. of God himselfe without which revelation man cannot apprehend God at all or very darkly The reason whereof is 1. Because Adam seeking curious knowledge beyond the light which God gave him in nature he lost that light of God which by nature he had and despoiled himselfe of that image and character of God which God had impressed upon him and so fell into false conceptions of God in his generations and by himselfe into a more obscure apprehension of him in his time 2. This dark knowledge of God in man ariseth from the depravation of his affections which desires to know God sensibly as men behold Princes which cannot be in this world 1 Cor. 15. no more then flesh and blood can inherit heaven till it be mortified by death and fermented in the grave and refined at the resurrection Moses desire was exuberant to see Gods glory in visible appearance For though God was pleased to be represented by Angels in shapes of men in the Old Testament yet he hath no shape For to what will ye liken me saith God 3. Men being not read in Scriptures are oftentimes driven by some accidents in the world and change of times and strange events above or beside reason to think that either there is no God or else that God is not just Psal 37.36 Psal 73.1 2 3. Wisd 1.1 2. 4. Because we find all things fall alike to all and a naturall succession of things to be as they were alwaies so they think we are all born at adventure and all things come by nature or fortune 5. It comes by the devils craft deluding men with vanity and making them not to think of God and so bold to perpetrate horrible sins through blindnesse and hardnesse of heart whereas if they did but consider Gods waies and footsteps in Scripture in making all things and in disposing them to their severall ends and orders the rare knowledge given to man above other creatures the peace of his mind when he doth well the terrors of his conscience in doing ill the impression and stamp of Elohim upon his Magistrates whom he calleth Gods the strange vengeance following wicked men to them whom temporall Judges either do not or cannot punish Besides prodigious signs in heaven of future calamities So to see monstrous births terrible earthquakes which though they have naturall and second causes yet why they are not alwaies or oftner or not at all or in this place more then that must needs be the rule of some superiour power But yet nothing of all these leads us to the knowledge of God like the Scripture Mathe. Why so Phila. Because the Scriptures are the word of the true God of whom nothing can testifie better then his own word and truth therefore Christ saith Search the Scriptures for they testifie of me Secondly because they clearly set forth God in his nature attributes and works Mathe. How prove you the Scripture to be the Word of the true God Phila. Because it alone doth treat primarily of that God who is Trinity in Unity three persons in one Godhead and of their relations one towards another and their operations in and towards man 2. Because it is the most ancient truth as the true God is the ancient of daies Now what is most ancient and first is true Moses writings are most ancient upon which the rest of the Bible is a comment and the New Testament is a perfect complement and is therefore called grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ John 1.17 because he brought to man by the Gospell the love and favour of God and brought the truth prophesied into fact and performance But this Moses is the ancientest writer Eupolem Masius whom some call Musaeus some Trismegistus as some have thought the Aegyptian Serapis to be a monument of Joseph Sure enough he was the oldest writer of divine Revelation if not of any other He lived in the time of Cecrops King of Athens Aug. The oldest writing the Greeks have is the wars of Troy which fell out in the time of Israels Judges which was three hundred years after Meses Acts 7.27 It is true the Scripture saith he was learned in all the
some may not also into the children of Christians by his preventing grace convey so much seminall grace as may make them capable passively at least of this Sacrament of entrance Beside why may they not be admitted upon their parents faith as well as Christ cured some for the faith of others as the Palsey man and the woman of Canaans daughter and the centurions servant especially they having only sinned in their parents I see not but the imputation of their parents faith may possibly remove that which is imputed for the parents fact through that means which God in Christ hath ordained and so as they sin by another so in this case they may beleeve by another that as the malady is brought upon him without his will so without his will it may be healed Cypr Ep. 59. for no doubt the grace of God in Christ aboundeth above the guilt of Adams sin Rom. 5.15 16 17 18. and so the ordinance of Baptisme required and applied by the faith of the parents answereth to the ordinance of imputation of guilt for the parents fact and so Gods waies are equall that he may be justified in his doings and clear when he is judged By all which it may be collected beside from the ancient custome of the Church which is not to be despised that parents may without fear and in faith bring their children to baptisme Mathe. But how shall I resolve the fearfull in mind about their refraining to the Lords Supper Phila. Their fears may be good or bad If they be good as fear of their unworthinesse as Job feared all his works they be the fitter guests for this Table whose precious viands is able to remove that cold Systole of fear and bring forth the warm Diastole of faith both which those that have the spirit of God do breath at certaine times Psal 119.131 this may be a filiall fear of offending God by their unworthinesse But a despairing fear is bad as if Christ would cast thee away when thou commest to him and so is a panick fear when thou canst give no account of it so is an erroneous fear of taking the Communion in a mixt assembly because I have not a certain good character of all present or do certainly know that some of them are not so strict and conscientious livers as they ought to be For it is true that many are not to be admitted as the unbaptized and those that are ignorant of the grounds of religion and of the mystery of this holy Sacrament and some are to be sequestred from it as Adam from the tree of life lest he prophane it and as the leprous out of the camp lest they infect others so are obstinate and scandalous men and inordinate walkers Mat. 1â— 1â— 2 Thes 3. pertinacious hereticks wilfull schismaticks are to be suspended and they that neglect to do it if it be in their power do highly offend God But now let the fearfull consider whether they consent or allow of the one sin or the other if not he need not fear or whether it be in his power to separat those vile from the precious if not let it content him that God hath given him an heart to grieve for the disorder or if thou hast power to separate one from the other thou must be carefull that you mistake not the wicked for the just lest while you fear to beguilty of spilling the blood of Christ yet thou bringest the blood of some of his flock upon thee because thou takest from them the food allowed them by their Shepherd Consider therefore your fear to receive in a mixt assembly whether it proceed not from selfe conceit that you are more holy then others or that you may be defiled by them or that it is sinfull to accompany with such at the Communion and search if you can find any prohibition for it or reprehension in Scripture for so doing you may find prohibition of mixing with scandalous Christians company in common society and at meat not in sacred things 1 Cor. 5.11 So in 2 Thes 3.14 they are bidden to have no company with those that obeied not the Apostles words in that Epistle that was that Christians should walk orderly and laboriously in their callings So then they must forbear the company of such in common conversation not at the Lords Table for were it fit that the whole Church should forbear the Communion because of a wicked person there present surely nay but rather imitate Christs Disciples who did not avoid receiving the Lords Supper because Judas was there Luke 22.21 Neither did Christ forbid him because though inwardly bad enough yet be was not convicted of it and Christ not comming then as a judge would not censure him If we therefore look not narrowly into this feare it will make us neglect the duty we owe to God and the benefit God offers to us because another man doth not do his as he ought Aug. ex Cyp. lib de lapsis which is a thing disallowed by ancient Churches and Doctors namely that one is defiled with those mens sins that come unworthily to the Lords Table Mathe. How may one become a fit communicant of the Lords Supper Phila. The New Testament sets down two rules Christ bids us do it in remembrance of him St Paul bids us to examine our selves and shewes the danger of the neglect that it incurs judgement and the reason of that danger because for want of examination we discern not the Lords body By all which we may find what is the duty of a true communicant which no doubt consists in a right knowledge of the mystery of it and a true faith in the application of it both which to examine is our preparation Therefore we are to consider First the thing it selfe Secondly the relation that it hath to Christ Thirdly the end of it Fourthly the fitnesse of a receiver The thing it selfe is a visible earnest of an invisible good expected by faith in Christ to whom we have right through his word of which the Sacrament is a seale In this Christ hath shewed his abundant love that he would not only make himselfe visible to us by taking our nature but also humble himselfe to our sense of tasting and feeling that we may not only see but taste and handle the word of life so that though he be gone far from us and above us in the union hypostaticall having taken our manhood into God yet he is with us by an union sacramentall that we may take him into our selves and by vertue thereof be transformed to his likenesse in righteousnesse and holinesse The next thing to consider is the relation the Sacrament hath to Christ First in the elements Secondly the actions of the receiver The elements are mean and plain bread and wine the common food of the poorest man in that Country where it was first instituted But the element is made excellent by the institutor Christ as sometimes coins
as by remembring his love expressed to us in his death than which none could be greater being endured for us while we were enemies Rom. 5.8 or the horrour of his death being most painfull shamefull fearfull enduring not only the spight of wicked men but an abstraction of the divine comfort for a time so that never was sorrow like his Lam. 1.12 all which was most properly due to us nor remembring the benefits of his death which concerns us as by it the sting of death is taken away though a stain is left the curse of the law is abolished it is to us no killing letter the exaction of the law is nullified we being not bound to every jot and tittle of it for our justification but our weak performances are excepted of God in Christ because we have a right to all Christs righteousnesse and a just claim in him to all the blessings of the law so that neither the corruption of nature can reign over us Rom. 6.14 nor sin bind us over to punishment everlasting and for temporall afflictions they shall all work to our good and glory as they did to Christs Rom. 8.28 Phil. 2.9 Mathe. How may one then rightly remember Christ in receiving the Sacrament and so become a faithfull receiver Phila. These do one include the other For as faith looks upon Christ and his benefits so remembrance cals those things to mind which faith beleeves so that this remembrance must be a beleeving remembrance that the Sacrament presents to us under seal the benefits of Christs death and passion It also must be a thankfull remembrance for those inestimable favours of which I told you Next it must be an obedient remembrance to what he hath commanded and now God in him entreats us to do out of love By all which you may discern how a communicant must be qualified and in what he must especially examine himselfe namely in faith which is the speciall condition of the covenant of grace of which the Sacrament is a seale Now faith must be considered in the cause the nature and the effects of it The causes of faith are the word which is the seed of it and the spirit which is the vertue of this seed both these brings light to discover the darkness of our naturall estate and the comfort in Gospell light Then next a power to regulate and conform us to its own rules and to subdue all opposition 2 Cor. 10.4 Now for the nature of faith it being convinced that the word is of divine authority it gives both an intellectuall assent to the truth of it because God doth avouch it and a fiduciall assent to the goodnesse of it for our own salvation and as to the Word so to the Sacrament which is the seal thereof which goodnesse breedeth in us a love longing and delight in the holy mysteries Upon which followeth an heavenly and holy effect of faith as to desire and hunger after the food of the soule and a strong conversion of it into our soules nutriment and growing in grace by the strength of it more and more Rom. 13. 2 Pet. 2.2 Next a sympathy with Christs members in their griefs and joies Then a readinesse to every good work and a strong repulse of evill upon which followeth affiance in God hope in his promises peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost and a continuall fructification in an holy life by the strength of the Word and Sacrament while we walk here in this wildernesse of sin as the Israelites did in the strength of Manna and the Rock-water till we come to the land of everlasting rest Mathe. I thank you for your patience and resolutions of my generall and disordered queries I shall make bold hereafter if God give leave and you will affoord me your assistance in resolving me to trouble you with some other more particular cases But before I part I desire you since there is such divisions among us to tell me what Church you think most safest for one to cleave unto in life and death and what congregation is best to associate my selfe withall Phila. I suppose you find by what hath been said that the Protestant Church is the soundest for doctrine and therefore hold you to their principles of doctrine as they have been set forth and maintained by our * The 39. Articles of the Church of England Church of England in the time of King Edward the sixt and Queen Elizabeth and her successors And for matters of discipline it is to be wished that some were setled among us for the suppressing voluptuous living and libertinisme But if it may not be had let us be content with the Gospell preached and pray for reformation As for the Congregation you speak of I hold the publike generally best because Preachers in Churches will make more conscience of what they preach then those of the private conventicles or chambers except it be some that are forced to make such places their refuge to exercise their ministry which in conscience they cannot give over though prosecuted much like as the primitive Doctors were persecuted Mathe. But they that do preach in publike some are of one opinion some of another as Prelaticall Presbyterian and Independent Phila. Let no titles trouble you but trie the spirits whether they be of God by their teaching faith and an holy and good life Let men impose upon others or take up what names they please to themselves be thou content to be a Protestant Christian And for mens private opinions except they publish them to seduce others they must stand or fall to their own master And for joining your selse to a Congregation I will give you no advice but only since you have liberty given use it to the best advantage for your soule by hearing ministers of the soundest judgement and most edifying And because all Congregations are mixed it is best to consort with those that are the most pious in their lives and unanimous in their worship of God Mathe. But some say the learned are not the right Preachers but the plain man though a Tradesman who preacheth by the spirit Phila. Surely the learned are more to be trusted for the soule as a learned Physitian for the body but they go by rule others by rote so do these mechanick preachers they despise learning as some do riches because they despaire to get and so they entitle the spirit to their ignorance of which the spirit is no author but the devill and mans presumptuous sins for the spirit never imploied any about his Church but either he made them able by infusion which they cannot prove he hath them or else by acquisition He gave Isaiah the tongue of the learned as well as Bezaleel and Aholiab the gift of handicraft So Christ took plain men to preach his Gospell but he made them learned by the gifts of the Holy Ghost which he hath not done these So he imploied Paul the learned and