of private persons though they also are to take heed they put no false or erroneous sense upon the Scripture but he speaks of publick Teachers who by their calling and Offices are to build Now the Object of this Exhortation is To take heed what they build To build after the foundation is laid is the same with watering after planting And it implieth a further continuation and illustration explication and application as also a clearer confirmation of that matter which is already laid down by the Apostles So that observe The Ministers of God are greatly to take heed that they preach no other thing than what is already contained in the Scripture Or It 's a dangerous thing to put that sense and meaning on the word of God which is not the true genuine sense of it They are with much care fear and trembling to consider how they build upon the Scriptures And if Ministers are thus to take heed then likewise all others who reade and search the Scriptures are to take heed of presumptuous boldnesse and irreverent ignorance in the perverting of it The Scriptures are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Testament or Will of Christ Now as it 's a dangerous thing even by the Laws of a Land to corrupt forge or falsifie a mans will No lesse capital is it to the soul of a man any wayes to pervert the Doctrine of the Word of God 2 Pet. 3.16 They that are unlearned wrest the Scriptures unto their own destruction See here a man may damn his soul by wresting and tormenting the Scripture as it were upon a rack to a contrary sense then what it intended Oecumenius on the place saith It 's as great a sinne to pervert the writings of the Apostles as it was to cut and mangle or murder their bodies To amplifie this consider There may be a two-fold building or ADDITION to the Word of God either Destructive and Corruptive such as wholly overthroweth the true meaning and sense of the holy Ghost And this is a very dangerous sinne Or else Perfective and Explicative Thus the New Testament was added to the Old as a perfective addition not corruptive though it could not have been added as Scripture but that the Authors thereof had a divine infallibility And now what the Ministers of God in their Ministerial labours do it must be an addition explicative of the foundation though it be not with divine infallibility We see here God thought it not enough to plant a people but he will have in all ages men to water not enough to lay a foundation but he will alwayes have builders who are to build on this For indeed we must not strain the Metaphor too farre Paul did not only lay the foundation but did also build up all the necessary parts of the house also onely by this similitude he would shew That there must be alwayes in the Church publick persons who by their Office are to build up people in faith and godlinesse but they are not left to their own imaginations to their own thoughts They must dresse every Sermon at the glasse of the Word they must preach as they reade in Scripture Secondly The word of God which containeth the foundation that the Apostles have laid may be either considered in respect of the words only or in respect of the sense cloathed with the words Now indeed it 's not the holy Scripture but when both the sense and the words go together if a man take the words only contrary to the sense he abuseth it and so promoteth the Hereticks and the Devils interest not Gods glory For the sense that is the internal for me and life of all the words So that it is not enough to alledge the words of the Scripture It 's not enough to be able to say The Scripture saith such words but the true sense and meaning that is the soul the words are the body only yet the words must be diligently attended unto as that by which we come to find out the sense The Devil brought Scripture but he perverted it applying it to an ill sense and so all Heretiques have alledged words but not the true sense breathing in them In the next place Let us consider Why we ought so to take heed and that is to be manifest in many respects First From God himself his glory and honour is greatly concerned herein For when we come in his Name and pretend his Word and indeed it is our own What is this but an high offence to God God doth severely threaten those Prophets that broached their own thoughts and preached the lies of their own imaginations yet said Thus saith the Lord. It 's no dallying matter it 's a matter wherein much prayer much humility and many graces are to be exercised lest we should highly dishonour God Oh if this were written in mens hearts they would be more tender and fearfull in delivering their opinions in saying This is the sense or that is the sense For when thou sayest This is the meaning of the holy Ghost This is the truth of God it behoveth thee again and again to consider lest thou put thy lie thy falshood thy sinfull imagination on God Secondly On Gods part we are to take heed Because he hath so severely threatned all those that adde or detract to his Word Any that shall alter these foundations or change these bounds If it be so hainous a matter among men to remove a land-mark and to confound such bounds how much more here That command not to adde or take away is set home with a terrible threatning Revel 22.18 If any shall adde God shall adde unto him the plagues that are in this book Oh see then what thou deliverest out of Scripture as Gods word for the judgments of God are threatned to such as offend herein And Prov. 30.6 Adde not unto his words lest he reprove thee Thou challengest any adversary to confute thee see here God will confute thee he will reprove thee and thou be found a liar Thou thinkest happily such and such an adversary will reprove thee take heed God doth not become thy enemy for such an opinion Oh then while we are preaching and delivering our heavenly message to you we are under a dreadfull account we are to pray and fear and consider lest God find us liars and reprove us at last Secondly On the peoples part Therefore we ought greatly to take heed For 1. The word of God in the true sense of it is the onely food and nourishment of the soul That onely doth nourish and cause to grow So that all those who build up any thing but Scripture-truths they give poison to a people to live upon How great a crime is it to poison any fountain where all people fetch their water And thus all they do and if it be not poison yet it 's but chaff What is chaff to the wheat said the Prophet Jer. 23.28 All
salt is the fire of afflection By these places you see then that fire signifieth in the general Gods severe judgment discovering and trying mens waies which are partly by his Word and partly by afflictions So that the Apostle continueth in his excellent Allegory of building Those parts of the house that are wood and straw are presently consumed by fire but gold and silver will abide This I conceive the genuine meaning only further take notice that the Apostle speaks in the Present-tense it is revealed but we translate it in the future because it 's usual in the Scripture to speak of a thing that shall be continued in the Present-tense as also to shew the certainty of it It 's also doubted to what this doth relate The day shall be declared by fire Some say the Lord shall be revealed in fire as 1 Thes 1.7 Others more probably the work of every man Doct. That God useth to bring people out of errours and false waies by his Word and Afflictions The Word to inform and Afflictions to prepare the heart Even as men out of their senses are kept in Prysons with hard usage so God to humble and tame such a people sadly afflicts them that they may hearken to his Word God made Aegypt an Iron-furnace to the people of Israel they lay under great oppressions that so Canaan might be the more welcome to them To understand this consider That though the word and afflictions both help to bring a man out of false waies yet farre differently For First The word of God is of it self sufficient in a way of light to inform and instruct and hath threatnings also to be like a goad in the side but afflictions of themselves do not inform do not teach Gods Word is able to reduce without afflictions but afflictions cannot do any thing without Gods Word Hence all that fire which is poured upon Idolaters and Heathens is like the fire of hell calidus but not luciâ—us because they have not the Word to guide them Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest and teachest thy word Psal 94.12 Should a man go through fire and water give his body to be burnt for any errour or superstitious doctrine all the imprisonments and burnings in the world could do them no good unlesse the Word go before Heretici sunt lapidandi argumentis è Seripturâ petitis Arguments fetcht out of the Scripture may strike down the greatest Goliah Secondly There is a difference between the Word and Afflictions because though afflictions have a voice as well as the Word and the rod speaks as well as Gods Word yet the word of God doth it distinctly and plainly afflictions in a general manner They tell us God is angry they tell us they come for sinne but why and wherein or what are the sinnes that Gods Word doth only inform us So that Gods Word hath the prerogative above afflictions Thirdly Though the Word of God be thus only able to instruct and convince being a perfect Rule yet that doth not exclude other helps especially the Ministry for Ministers are called the lights and guides So that the word of God is the light but it must be put on a Candlestick The Word of God will convince heretiques but in the hands of wâ—â— and faithfull Teachers Otherwise men through ignorance and corruption fetch their errours from the Word of God misapplied Which made Ambrose compare ignorant heretical persons using Scripture to little David in Sauls Armour it was more then he could weild and so instead of defending it did wound him These things being premised 1. Let us see How God by the word reduceth the wandering sheep 2. How by afflictions And First The word of God is instrumental to open the eyes to enlighten the dark understanding David doth wonderfully commend the Scripture for this use that it was a lanthorn to his feet and a lamp to his paths whereby he became wise and understood even more then his Teachers Psal 119. This is the EYE-SALVE For want of searching into the Scriptures it was they erred so grossely about the resurrection When Christ is promised to be as a refining fire Mal. 3. to the Sons of Levi how did he this but by the clearing of the Word from Pharisaical interpretations And Estius though a Papist thinks this place alludes to that of Malachi and indeed there is a great resemblance Secondly The word of God is fire to try mens works because it containeth all matter necessary to salvation So that when we believe hoc credimus quod nihil ultra credere debemus the Scriptures are said to be able to make us wise to salvation 2 Tim. 3 15. If nature doth not fail in natural necessities much lesse will the Scripture in supernatural These things are written that believing you might have eternal life Joh. 20.31 As God at first put all the light into the Sunne so he hath all necessary things into the Scripture The Word of God then will manifest and reveal both objectively in discovering that matter which is true and subjectively in preparing the eye to see which is more then the Sun can do Though that enlighten the medium yet it cannot give a seeing eye to the blind Thirdly The word of God will be a fire to try because it doth direct to all those means whereby we may come out of all errours As 1. It presseth humility not to lean to our understanding God will teach the humble his way Psal 25. Though such may a long while wander yet they will come back and then they are not ashamed to recant before the whole world Peter commends Paul for the wisdom given him of God 2 Pet. 3.15 and yet we know how Paul reproved Peter to the face as is related Gal. 1. This was great humility in Peter to love and commend the excellencies in Paul for all this Austin wrote his Retractations at the latter end of his age which argued great humility 2 The Scripture bids us love that truth we do know and so farre as we have obtained to obey and to walk according to that Rule Phil. 3.16 You heard last day That errours are not only mens sins but their punishments likewise Because men receive not the truth in the love of it they are delivered up to believe a lye Now then the godly are careâ—ull to prevent the cause thereof He that doth my will shall know whether the doctrine be of God Joh. 7 17. Foggy mists draw a cloud over the Sunne and so noisome affections they becloud the judgement 3. The Scripture directs to earnest Prayer That is the Key to open Heavens Treasury Ask and ye shall have If any man want wisdome let him ask it of God James 1.5 David though a great Proficient prayeth that God would open his eyes to understand the wonderfull things of his word Psal 119.18 Prayer must begin and Prayer must end all reading and hearing and all meditations To study
pure Worship because 1. God is greatly provoked by the contrary God may be provoked by sinfull worship three waies 2. Corrupt worship â—ends to the breach of Union between God and his Church 3. God looks upon corrupt worship as done to Devils 4. Men are prone to invent new worship Reasons to prove that all acceptable worship must have a Divine Command Quest Answ Of the foundation of practice The parts are 1. It 's directory Gods Word 2. The justifion of our persons 3. A receiving power from Christ 4. A renewed and sanctified nature Why we should be carefull of laying these foundations for every good action The â—oâ—ten foundations that men build upon in regard of practice Observ Of Ministers praising themselves In what cases Ministers may magnifie their Work and Office Observ Ministers are not to preach any new Doctrine The use of Preaching notwithstanding the fulness of the Scripture Observ Of Ministers building upon the foundation of Scripture by their preaching Gal. 3.15 A two-fold building upon the foundation Both the words of Scripture and the sense of Scripture must be attended unto Why Ministers must take heed how they build upon the true foundation 1. On Gods part 2. On the peoples part 3. On the Ministers part Directions to Ministers and people how to build aright upon the foundation Observ Of preaching Jesus Christ as the foundation How many waies Christ is to be preached as a foundation Reasons why Ministers are to lay no other foundation but Christ Object Answ Object Answ The great advantages which those people have who are built on Christ Observ What is implied by comparing the truths of Christ to gold and precious stones 1. In respect of the matter 2. In respect of the way and manner of preaching them Observ Errors not fundamental are hay and stubble Propositions to amplifie this point Why errors are called hay and stubble Wickedness in practice the fruit of errour in judgement Observ What secret sins shall be brought to light The aggravation of secret hidden sins Observ Hidden and secret wayes of false doctrine shall be made manifest What concerning errours shall be made manifest 1. The causes of errour shall be manifest 1. Pride 2. Ignorance 3. Hypocrisie 4. Ambition and affectation of high places 5. Discontent and imparience 6. Envy 7. Contemplative delight in a mans own notions II. The nature of errour shall be manifested III. The cunning subtilty in divulging them shall be manifested Observ That God hath his time for the discovering of errour Errors are spiritual judgements What is meant by fire The way God takes to bring people out of errour By the word and afflictions Which are both helpfull but differently in these respects How wandering sheep are reduced by the Word Object Answ How afflictions may help to reduce men from errour Observ Of the durable nature of Gods Truths Truth two-fold Increated and Created Created truths of two sorts Scripture truths reduced to four heads Truth willing to be tryed They grow more illustrious by the fiery Tryal The effects of truth also upon the heart will abide this tryal Object Qu. Whether any Ministers or Churches are quite free from building hay or stubble Observ Every man shal be a loser by what error soever he maintaineth Wherein they shall be losers Observ Errours in judgment may damn a man as well as a wicked life The several corruptions of the understanding that endanger a mans salvation The difference between errour and heresie The grounds of the Doctrin Observ The difficulty of salvation even to a godly man The Church is Gods Temple Observ Church Priviledges and Relations are great Obligations to Holinesse How the word Temple is used in Scripture What it doth signifie Of Gods spiritual Temple What there is in the Church alusively to the Temple Of Gods presence with his Church The significa of the word Spirit when attributed to God That the Holy Ghost is God and a Person That he is a Person That he is God Arguments Why the holy Ghost is called Spirit Of the Spirits dwelling in us What to have the Spirit dwell in us implieth The special works and effects of the holy Spirit in his Church Doubt Resolution Observ Of defiling Gods Church with errours Why errors are said to defile Gods Church How God will punish Heretiques A godly maâ—n may fall into a damnable heresie How a godly man erring differeth from a wicked man Errour and erroneous persons distinguished Why God is so provoked with corruptions in Doctrine and Worship Observ Of Eternal Damnation The punishment of losse The pain of sense The aggravations of this destruction Eternal Universal Inevitable Observ Of the Temple of God Of the Jewish Tabernacle and Temple Believers joyned in a Church way according to Scripture are Gods temple Observ Of humane wisdome what an hinderance it is to the things of Christ Carnal wisdom an enemy to the Scripture Carnal wisdom an enemy to Christian duties Observ Humane wisdome nothing to Scripture-wisdome Scripture-wisdome excels speculative wisdome Scripture wisdome excels the moral or practical wisdome of the world Observ True wisdome is but folly in the worlds account The things to be believed have these seeming follies The hope of a Christian foolish in the judgment of the world The duties of Christians foolish in the judgement of the world Observ That true wisdom is only in the Church of God demonstrated Observ All worldly wisdom is folly before God And that whether considered actively or passively I. Active foolishnesse How worldly wisdome is foolishnesse in a passive sense God turning all their wisdome into folly A two-fold humane wisdome viz. good evil Observ How God takes the wise men of the world in their own craft Object Answ Observ Of vain thoughts In what sense the Scripture useth the word vain Observ Of glorying in men How many wayes we may be said to glory in men in the general How many wayes we may be said to glory in Doctors and Teachers Observ All things are the Saints In what respects all things may be said to be the godly mans Why God made all things for the godly Object Answ Object Answ Doubt Answ Object Answ Observ All Offices are for the Church In what sense the Ministers are not servants to the Church against Brownists In what sense they are the Churches The end for which they are the Churches Observ In what sense the world is said to be a godly mans Object Answ Observ Godly men only live In what respects it is true that the wicked do not live Observ The generation of death In how many particulars death is a godly mans Observ Observ Observ In what respects a godly man is Christs Characters of such as are Christs In what sense Christ can be said to be Gods Observ Of the Natures and Person of Christ and of the hypostatical Union How Christ as a man and as a Mediatour is Gods The general Character of the godly and the wicked All good the creature affords should lead us to God the universal good All naturally desire felicity The perswasiâ— of what is the best good and which is chiefly to be desired is wonderfully diversifyed according to the several inclinations humours and conditions of men How hardly this sin is discerned untill a man be enlightned by Gods Spirit All have lost the Image of God which alone did elevate the soul And Original corruption is come in the room of it If the godly man is yet conflicting with this sinne then it must needs reign in an unregenerate man The common gifts and graces of Gods Spirit never cures this evil The point is proved from the nature of Conversion And from the restlesse and unquiet heart of every natural man Their very approaches to God demonstrate that they prefer something before him The creature is unable to help us in our greatest exigencies Immoderate love of the creature is inconsistent with the love of God Is's a wofull snare and temptation The Word is unprofitable to a man while he preferres the creature It is a tormenting sinne All the things thus affected are vanities It 's direct Idolatry It 's a debasing of a man Such as prefer the world before God cannot Pray The heart is too noble for the creature Consider that all that have over-loved the creature have experienced the vanity of it Consider the reâ—sâ—â— why God mingles gall with the Honey of every creature Consider how insufficient they are of themselves to help and comfort us Heaven and glory cannot be obtained without a preement and transcendent affection to all other things Consider how â— some Heathens and superstitious persons have trampled upon earthly things to attain a notable end What this phrase to lift up the light of Gods countenance upon a man implyeth I. Riches II. An untroubled Conscience is no Argument of Gods countenance 1. An untroubled Conscience may be a stupid seared Conscience 2. And may be accompanied with grosse sinnes 3. And without taking Gods way for the obtaining and preserving of it Causes of the eclipse of Gods face to the godly The nature of this joy How it exceeds all worldly Joy The wonderfull Effects of Faith in quieting the soul in Afflictions The Doctrine xplain ed. The Arguments by which Faith quieteth the Soul The Stoical Security The Mirth and jollity of most wicked men under Gods Judgements How it differs from a gratious Confidence God alone preserveth in safety I. II. God preserveth principally And by creatures instrumentally 1. Irrational 2. Rational men Angels III IIII. The several waies by which God preserveth his people in safety
their ministerial actions to plant and to water To begin the foundation of Christianity and afterwards to build a superstruction So that Pauls planting supposeth the Corinthians to be a barren untilled and confused people like the world at first a Tohu and a Bohu a meer horrid wildernesse till the Gospel being planted among them they become a pleasant Garden and a fruitfull Field From whence we may observe That it's Gods unspeakable goodnesse sometimes to send his Word and plant his Gospel among a people that never heard or knew any thing before If you consider all the Countreys and Kingdomes wheresoever the Gospel hath taken effect since Christs time you shall find that they were thrones of Satan places where Idolatry reigned They were like those desolate places the Prophet speaks of where the Satyr and screech-Owl even all black and Heathenish confusion did exalt it self So that where God doth out of stones raise up children to Abraham turn a Paganish Heathenish people into a Church there is wisdome power and goodnesse no lesse yea more wonderfull than when he did out of that deformed confusion and chaos make a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a beautifull adorned world Even this England this ancient Britain was once a place of horrible Idolatry Paganism no knowledge of Christ nor his Gospel But served dumb Idols and walked according to the course of this world having the Prince of darknesse ruling over us as in other places So that the Gospel that is like the glorious Sunne and every Kingdome or Nation is like a doâ—esome black dungeon yea like an hell where Legion of Devils are till the beams of this light do enlighten them To amplifie this Doctrine many things are observable First That when the Apostle saith That he planted the Gospel it doth suppose all people to be a wilde barbarous people till the Gospel both civilizeth and sanctisieth them To plant is properly of Orchards and Gardens and Vineyards and supposeth the great care and skill of him that plants Thus God is said to plant Eden Gen 2.8 And so a people are made the Church and people of God by plantation by Gods goodnesse and power of themselves they are like wilde beasts not knowing the way of happinesse It was the custome of the Grecians and Romans because they had the culture of Arts and good Civil Government to call other people Barbari Barbarians And thus the Apostle opposeth the Grecians and Barbarians together Col. 3.11 Barbarous comes from the Hebrew Bar gâ—minated that signifieth a field untilled a desart so they looked upon all other men in the world But indeed even the Grecians and Romans were barbarous wild people comparatively till the Gospel came among them They had no true knowledge or understanding till the Word the Rule of all wisdome was discovered to them Oh how should this make us of England magnifie the goodnesse of God to this Land who once had no Ministry of Christ who were like so many lumps of earth that worshipped the Devil and the Idols of the world They had their Dryades whâ—ch Julius Caesar speaks of that were like Witches serving for their Priests that lived up and down in woody places Why might not we have been born in those days while Britany was Paganish and Heathenish Antiquity in Religion is no good plea for here was Idolatry and the worship of the Devil before any knowledge of Christ It 's a great mercy to be born in such times in such an age and in such places where the name of Christ is published for this is wholly in Gods disposal he hath determined to all men the times of their life and habitations Secondly Consider That in the Old Testament God did limit his gracious presence to the Jews only In Judea only was salvation and the knowledg of God John 4 That was the Goshen where light was all the world else was darknesse Indeed some few particular persons that were forrainers and strangers became proselytes and gave up their names to God but there were no Countreys or Nations received the Word of God but Judea onely But when Christ came then that partition wall was broken down and after his death he gave a Commission to preach the Gospel to all the world And thus the Word like the Sunne in the Heavens went from one end of the world to another and none could hinder the course thereof Yea where Roman Emperours power and sword could not get dominion there the Apostles and their Successours conquered and prevailed And this and no other is the Universal Grace the Scripture speaketh of whereas formerly it was particular Then Christ the strong man came and bound the Devil who had possessed the earth and kept it in quiet slavery to him so that under the times of the Gospel Christ hath been made known where God hath sent his Word though it were into the utmost parts of the earth Thirdly Therefore that there might be spiritual plantations and holy Colonies the Lord Christ appointed extraordinary Officers furnished with extraordinary abilities to propagate the Gospel These were called Apostles It was for the Apostles and not ordinary Officers to plant Churches so that they had a Commission to go and preach to any people in the world They were not bound to keep residence at any one place but to go from Nation to Nation to disseminate the spiritual seed of the Gospel and that like mustard seed at first small and little presently grew up to a tall tree and spreaded its branches through the whole world And as the Apostles had this universal commission so they were endued with power to work wonderfull miracles for miracles were because of the Heathens and unbelievers By these they confirmed their Doctrine and calling to be of God immediately yet this was not so tied to the Apostolical Office but that in afâ—er ages many Countreys have received the Gospel by other means especially persecution and the patient sufferings of Christians did much help thereunto That as a captive Maid was a means to bring Naaman to the knowledge of God and his Worship so captive persons have been instrumental to make whole Kâ—ngdoms acquainted with the Gospel of Christ Thus God hath alwayes disappointed the hopes of wicked men and that very way whereby they have thought to destroy the Gospel it hath flourished more It 's the Vine that by pruning hath increased As the grain of corn except it die cannot bring forth any fruit so is it with the Gospel These precious herbs the more they are pressed and pounced the sweeter smell they make Fourthly Gods severity and mercy hath been observable about the first planting of the Gospel For when a people have lived rebelliously and sinfully under it a long time then he takes it away and gives it to another Nation Thus God began with the Jews told them That to them the Word must be fiâ—st preached but seeing they had rejected the counsel of God they were to go
doth divide the whole Ministerial employment in two parts planting and watering so it attributeth the cheifest and noblest of all to God without whom the other abilities are in vain The fat in the offerings was to be given to God and God gives the fat to us in spiritual services the soul and life of all is expressed in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is one word in the Greek but our English Translatours and so the Latin read it giving the encrease The Metaphor is easie As the Gardiner sets his herbs waters them but he cannot make them grow he cannot make the least flower that is though he hath never so much skill Thus it is here though they be Ministers of Seraphical affections and Cherubinical knowledge yet they cannot make the Word to prosper and to encrease in the hearer it 's God doth that Isa 55.10 Isa 61.11 There you have such similitudes so that this latter part is an admirable direction to look above the abilities above the parts and gifts of men We think Oh if we have such a Ministery all would be well whereas Apollo and Paul cannot give encrease Observe That it's God only who can and will give encrease and spiritual success to the Ministerial labours in the Church God that at first said to the earth which had no more natural power of it self then a stick or peice of wood Increase and bring forth fruit doth also speak to such exhortations instructions to convince and convert when there is no inward strength in them and therefore howsoever the preaching of the Word be compared often to rain that falls on the ground and makes the grass to grow yet there is this difference The rain workes by a natural power as a natural cause but the Word of God only as an instituted and appointed cause by him Did it work naturally all that hear would be converted every Sermon would work like those of the Apostles that brought home so many To open this Consider First That though God only gives the encrease yet it is only in and through the Ministery We must not make such cavils What use is there of Preaching What need of the Ministery Men will be as prophane and as ungodly as ever till God change the heart for you may as well urge What needs the Husbandman plow or sow or prepare the ground it 's God only that blesseth it No God hath instituted means to which he hath bound us and those that will not hear Paul planting or Apollo watering may justly expect God will give no encrease Therefore the Apostle foresaw that great evil of forsaking the Assemblyes the Ordinances and bids them take heed as the forerunner of Apostacy Heb. 10.25 26. If you take a tree from the River side where it grew and brought forth fruit and plant it in a wilderness it will quickly wither Secondly As God giveth the encrease only so the time when and the persons on whom is wholly at his good pleasure The Lord makes the Word prosperous at one time and not another sometimes it cometh like fire into the bosome it burneth thee all over at another time thou findest no operation To some people it 's like the leaves of the tree in the Revelation it 's the healing of the Nation it 's the healing of people it makes the ignorant to know the prophane to become holy it mollifieth the hard heart it turneth a wilderness into a garden But to another people it 's like salt that hath lost its savour or that maketh a place more barren it maketh no relish no tast no alteration You would wonder a people should sit so long under the beames of the Sunne and be no more coloured by it preaching and no preaching is all one to him this is the Lords doing it should be not only marvellous in our eyes but dreadfull to our ears To some it is given to know and understand but to others not Mat. 13.11 Now let us consider why God only giveth the encrease and then the ends that God hath in this First God only can give the encrease because he only hath a soveraignty and power over the heart Others may speak to the ear propound Arguments to perswade but to change the heart to perswade the heart indeed that God only can who made the heart Thus Noah prayeth or prophesieth God perswade Shem to dwell in the tents of Japhet God perswade him or God will perswade him we translate it enlarge as if he should say all the men of the world all Arguments cannot till God overpower his heart Gen. 9.27 So Ezek. 36.36 I will take away the heart of stone and give an heart of flesh No Potentate no Emperour can say I will give a man another heart He may force the body but not change the heart Hence it is that the Scripture atttributes all the work of grace to Believe to Repent only to God Oh then lift up your hearts on high in every Sermon Look up to those Hils to Heaven from whence comes Conversion When the Apostles wrought Miracles they looked up to God and the people they glorified God They were convinced none could do such things but God And so we Ministers are to look up to God and you people that God may be glorified Secondly God only can give the Increase because the Increase is of spiritual and supernatural consideration It 's altogether Heavenly Now there is no proportion between humane abilities and heavenly graces There is no disposition Inter ordinem naturae ordinem gratiae The order of nature and the oder of grace All that the most able Ministers can do is within the compass of nature but the fruits being Heavenly must come otherwise As in man though a Child hath his body from the Father yet the soul comes immediately from God because it 's of an immaterial and immortal substance Thus also Faith and Repentance being immaterial Graces though the Minister may prepare and dispose the Subject yet the working of them is only from God It 's true indeed that the Parts and Abilities of one Minister may be objectively better for Conversion and more likely for profiting then another They may propound stronger Arguments to convince the Conscience They may set those Arguments home with greater life and vigour as Apollo was said to be potent in the Scripture Thus one Minister may exceed another in Glory as one Starre doth another Yet God only is the efficient Cause of every good and perfect Gift Thirdly Therefore God only giveth the increase because of the deep pollution that is in every man who is not only blind and deaf but dead Now to what purpose is an eloquent Pathetical Oration to a dead man David that did with so much affection weep over dead Absalom yet could not bring him to life So that the Preachers of the Word differ from all the humane Oratours Greek and Latin They might by their eloquence
become of me The Psalmist complains of wicked men They made long furrows upon his back but this is happy when the word makes deep furrows in thy heart otherwise it 's but sowing upon the high-way which comes to no good Secondly This implieth that you should answer the satisfaction of that Husbandman whose Husbandry you are Who will bear that ground which after much labour and cost brings forth no fruit at all Now God hath greatly complained of this that when he looked for grapes behold wild grapes when he looked for righteousness behold Hemlock Oh this will confound you at the day of Judgment This will be your condemnation This you will never endure that God hath caused his seed to be sown given you an excellent seed-time precious seasons of grace but you for fruit have brought forth briers We read of Christ that when he looked for fruit on a Fig-tree and saw none he cursed it for ever although the Text saith it was not the time or season for figs Mat. 11.13 Oh then with what a grievous Curse may God curse thee when the time and season is of fruit and thou hast none Oh bethink your selves how you shall answer God in this matter Thirdly It supposeth a carefull improvement of all those means which God useth for our spiritual good If we be Gods Husbandry we are patiently to receive and fruitfully to improve whatsoever may make for our fruitfulness Now the meanes are of two sorts either essential and intire and perfect such as the hearing of the Word praying godly Communion or accidentall and occasional such as afflictions troubles and persecutions Even as the pruning of the Vine the burning of the Ground makes it fruitfull so all the troubles calamities and miseries that God brings on his Husbandry is to make them more fertile They need a Winter as well as a Sommer If thou then despisest the Ministry thou art careless under the means of grace no wonder if thou art no better then Heathens or Pagans that live in the wilderness Thou that art a tree planted by the River side yet bringest forth no fruit thy condemnation is near Lastly Consider how neer such a people are to utter ruine while you are but neer it there is some hope of scaping if you seek out who after all Gods Husbandry are the same ignorant and prophane people still The Apostle is plain in this The ground that often receives rain and yet brings forth nothing but briers and thornes is nigh unto cursing Heb. 6.8 It is nigh that is a mercy but at last it will be actually cursed and thrown in the fire Thou that art a wicked man in Gods field it will be worse with thee then all the wicked men in the world that are not Gods Church Let there be a weed in a Corn-field or a Garden it is sure to be weeded up whereas if it had been in the Heath or high-way it might have grown long enough Oh then say it cannot be that I should hold long with this wickedness in Gods field his judgments will overtake me Vse of Instruction Learn understanding by this familiar similitude You are Gods Husbandry The Spirit of God from the vocation and calling of many of you useth a comparison that so by earthly things you may come to heavenly What you would have your fields be to you after all your pain and cost the same be you to God Barrenness and unfruitfulness how doth it discourage you You care not for that Ground which never will yield a crop after all cost upon it How can God indure thee Thy soul is Gods field Oh what fruit what reformation shouldst thou shew forth Thus not only the Sabbath day but every day may be a Sabbath day Every field thou goest into Every goodly crop thou seest on the ground it may teach and preach unto thee As our Saviour said If I have spoken to you earthly things and you understand them not how then heavenly Joh. 3. If heavenly things be represented to you under the compâ—rison of earthly things and you not receive them how then if spoken in their own nature Take heed then lest thou who art as yet Gods field by his love and care on thee do not by his just wrath make thee a field of blood yea the blood of thy own soul Ye are Gods building This is the later similitude which taken singly of it self affords many necessary considerations For still take this along with you that he speaks not here of the mystical and invisible Church but that visible Church which was at Corinth and you will conclude this is a great title If the Centurion said He was not worthy that Christ should come within his roof How much more unworthy then are a people to be made a constant dwelling house for Christ spiritually to reside there And as it is a Title full of glory so it is also full of duty What manner of persons ought they to be who may be called Gods house Gods building I need not enlarge my self further in the Preface The word hath no difficulty onely as the former similitude did seem to comprehend both the matter and Gods action about it So here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may take in both that we are the house of God and that the building also is of God that we are of God both in fieri and facto esse Doct. That particular Churches are or should be Gods house Gods building Gods house or a Church is not properly the building made of timber and stones When we call that place a Church or the house of God it is onely by a Trope the persons contained put for the place containing and we can hardly in the New Testament find it so called yea some learned men say not at all to be sure there is but one place 1 Cor. 11.22 contended for that Church is put for the place where believers meet It is true some other places are pressed for this sense but with great constraint But in our common speech we call the material building a Church figuratively as Civitas is sometimes put for the place whereas properly it signifieth the Community of men met together by some orderly way So Synagogue doth properly signifie the company gathered together or their gathering together though afterwards for the place as in the Scriptures often Thus custome hath authorized it about the word Church Now see what degeneration grew in time The Material building which they called the Church the House of God they gave a relative sanctity to they made it holyer then other places but a reall sanctity or personal holiness of those men who indeed were the Church and the House of God that they persecuted and destroyed Isidore Pelusiota in an Epistle of his speaketh excellently to this purpose reproving a Bishop that adorned the Church-building with Images and costly Ornaments but persecuted those that were the Church indeed The latter he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
then believe no longer as men Do not think or speak as men but as those who have God perswading you Secondly The Scriptures are only the foundation because they are the immediate verity or truth coming from God who is the first essential truth They have not only a Divine Authority but evident infallibility As God himself is Truth and is not like man that may lie So his Word is likewise Truth and cannot lie or deceive as the writings of men Therefore Psal 19. they are said to be purer than gold seven times refined And it 's said The Scripture that cannot lie or cannot be broken John 10.35 It 's an heavy judgement to be delivered up in matters of salvation to believe a lie It 's the spiritual curse that is threatned to those of the Antichristian apostasie 2 Thess 2.11 Now they must needs be thus punished that forsake the Scripture and build upon other foundations Seeing then the Scripture doth contain infallible truth onely and not one iota or tittle of that can fall to the ground and in all other foundations that may be laid there may be falsehood errour and grand Impostures Let then those hearers that are carefull to keep a good faith walk by this Rule Chrysostome said Never expect good from that man who is not searching of the Scriptures attending to the Scriptures It 's an heavy grievous sinne that in your family in your closets you do no more acquaint your selves with the Bible Take a Tree from the River side and plant it in a wildernesse what can you expect but a withering And thus it is if you take a man from the Scripture his seeming faith graces godlinesse will all presently vanish Thirdly The Scriptures onely are the foundation of faith because they are onely immutable and unmoveable They abide alwayes the same they are not subject to changes to perturbations of affections as men are Councils consisted of men carried by passions and interests Even in the Council of Nice and the four first Councils there were great sidings great animosities particular interests and parties and therefore unlesse we had an unchangeable foundation we must be mutable Camelions Now the word of God that is said To abide for ever whereas all flesh is grasse and the glory thereof fadeth away 1 Pet. 1.24 25. It 's called the eternal Gospel Revel 14.6 So then that which was three thousand yeares agoe is still true because the Scriptures are still the same There is no new Bible though there may be many new opinions and new Sects Aristotle commendeth the Government of a Nation by Lawes above the wils and arbitrary resolutions of men because Lawes are fixed and known And so it is in the Church of God that hath a known Law and Rule Therefore it is an hainous errour which the learned note in Cusanus though otherwise not a very bad man in affirming That the Scripture is to be interpreted Secundum currentem statum Ecclesiae according to the present course and exigency of the Church and therefore in some age those things are received which in another are rejected Lastly The Scripture is only to be laid for a foundation because this onely is strong enough to support and bear up in sad hours of temptation and dangerous times of persecutions Who would be cheated or distinguished out of the Truth by subtil Hereticks or scared and terrified by violent opposers Therefore we had need be built upon such a rock that can endure all waves How could the Martyrs have resisted to blood had not they had Scripture-assurance Luther had this temptation Tune solus sapis c. and nothing but the Scripture confirmed him Our Saviour quelled Satans temptations by arrows out of the Scripture quiver When a man comes to die may he not be assaulted about the truth of his faith whether he die not in heresie or damnable opinions and nothing but the Scripture can uphold him Now for the matter of Doctrine to be believed some men lay four rotten and weak foundations others may be reduced to this The first is that of the Papist The Authority of the Church and the Pope being wholly ignorant themselves but resting all on their Authority Bellarmine doth not blush to expound that place Behold I lay in Zion a foundation stone secondarily to the Pope Now although we grant That the Ministry of the true Church is very usefull and necessary as the instrument of our faith and the preservation of it In which sense it 's called The pillar and ground of the Truth 1 Tim. 3.15 yet it is onely a Ministry not a Magistry It 's a political Pillar upon which Edicts use to hang for Declaration of the Magistrates will not an Architectonical Pillar that beares up the house So that Austins speech is true I had not believed the Gospel had not the Authority of the Church moved me viz. by way of introduction and preparation As the woman of Samaria did to the Samaritans who at first believed because she told them but afterwards they believed for Christs own sake We do not believe in the Church as we doe in the matter revealed in the Scripture Therefore that ignorant implicit faith to believe what the Church saith is not a Scripture-faith faith of knowledge besides then every member must believe according to that Church he is of and seeing there are Churches against Churches there shall also be faith against faith The second foundation men lay is The Authority of the Civil Magistrate This is a meer political faith Many men have no other apprehension about Religion than the Laws of the Land wherein they live They matter not whether true or false whether acceptable to God or consonant to Scripture but this is commanded and this they do As Seneca said in his time He observed that Worship of their gods Non tanquam Diis grata but legibus jussa not as acceptable to the gods but commanded by the Lawes But the Apostles example is clean contrary for they preached a faith to be believed that was contradictory to that Religion which was established by humane authority and they resolve thus It 's better to obey God than man Act. 5 29. The third is Private Revelation and Enthusiasmes As the Papists on one side have cryed down the sufficiency and perfection of the Scripture so Illuminatists men fancying to themselves Revelations from God have also decried it making themselves above the Scripture A dangerous and damnable delusion Therefore the Apostle John bids us Try the spirits and that cannot be without the Rule of the Word 1 John 4.1 And Fourthly Another false foundation is Meer humane Reason There are many risen up that make Reason the Judge and foundation of all Doctrinal Points the Socinian especially hereupon they reject the Trinity the Divine Nature of Christ as being against Reason Now although rectified Reason be necessary as an instrument to revive the things of faith yet it
though all flesh and the flower thereof doth perish It 's true indeed Davids grace and Peters grace in the fiery tryal of sinne seemed to be quite extinct but they were as the trees in winter which have life in the root though no signes of life appear by fruit or leaves If therefore you see any who seemed to have been regenerated by the Word totally Apostatize and fall off take the Scriptures saying up They went from us because they were not of us Joh. 2.19 No true Starres can indeed fall from Heaven meteor's may Thus not only the truths we preach but even you that are Hearers ought to be our work and an abiding work The Apostle cals the Corinthians his Epistle to be seen and read of all men 2 Cor. 3.2 You are to be as walking Sermonâ— and no temptations or persecusecutions yea The gates of Hell are not to prevail over you Mat. 16.18 The forgetfull or unprofitable Hearer doth as much as lies in him to make the truths of God of no more durable operation then humane figments Now to this Doctrine there is an obvious and palpable Objection How can we say that the true and Orthodox building in Christs Church will abide all stormes Do we not read frequently that in the Church truth hath been condemned errour owned All those Martyrs that lost their lives for the truths of God were they not condemned as heretiques Hath not errour alwaies found more upholders then the truth Was not the Lord Christ condemned and that by a Council of the Priests and Elders of Jerusalem Was not the whole world turned Arrian And in our forefathers daies was not the Aegyptian darknesse of Popery covering the whole world Was not the Masse Transubstantiation and Image worship set up as the principal truths of God And are there not men that write the time will come when the Word Trinity Co-essential or Consubstantial shall be as much hated as Masse and Transubstantiation To this Objection we Answer That those matters of fact cannot be denyed and yet the Doctrine is true for those oppressions and overwhelmings of the truth were but for a while The truth of God did abide the fire even then and afterwards prevailed more then ever The Sunne for a while may be in an Eclipse and hidden by black cloudes but at last it's light doth prevail We do not say that in every place and at every time truth alwaies is extolled and errour condemned but in time it will be It 's with the truths of Christ as it was with Christ himself he seemed to be overcome by his adversaries he was dead and buried yet he had a glorious Resurrection and Ascension So that as God would not suffer his holy one to see corruption so neither will he let his holy Truths But as in Christ his bones by Gods providence were not to be broken the seat of strength so neither can the bones of Truth be The Apostle saith The Day shall declare it that is the time appointed by God 2. This abiding or decaying must not be judged by carnall reason but by the eye of Faith It 's enough that to the godly and Believers though but a few truth is acknowledged though the greater part of the world vote for an errour Christ himself was not owned for the Messiah but by a very few that had the eye of Faith the greater part denyed him To every mans eye the Sunnne is lesse then the whole world but to art it is farre bigger That therefore is said to abide the fire which indeed and to the eye of Faith doth so Wisdom is justified of her Children Mat. 11.19 3. We told you Though the day of Judgement was not principally intended yet we could not wholly exclude it neither And then the truth and sound principles of faith will abide when errours shall call for the mountains and hils to cover them Vse 1. Of Exhortation to us Ministers Seeing we are builders How behoveâ—lliâ— it to build such sound solid matter that will abide Oh that this Text were written in the heart of every one that undertakes to maintain or preach any thing in Religion It is a Babel or Jerusalem thou buildest and God will discover so at last But Secondly Of Instruction what you hearers should be such in whom the truths we preach should live and abide How can we say All flesh is grasse but the Word of God abideth for ever in your hearts Nay rather the Word and all preaching withereth as the grasse and the works of sinne and the world abide for ever with you Well know this that whatsoever we preach out of Gods word it is of everlasting abode it will go to the grave with you it will go to Hell or to Heaven with you Do you forget it never so much that will not forget you The Word will judge and condemn you And how can that be but because it will be alive and come forth at that great day against thee Verse 15. If any mans work shall be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire THis Text containeth the contrary event of the foolish builder to the wise We would think hay and stubble should be no such great matter that God would not much stand upon such small things But this Text will sufficiently inform to the contrary In the words then consider The evil worke supposed and the sutable Reward threatned The evil worke supposed is to be such that cannot endure the tryal but will be burnt If any mans Doctrine be hay and stubble which cannot endure the fire but will immediately be burnt Then there is a two-fold reward even resembling that of an hell There is Poena damni a punishment of losse 2 Sensus He shâ—ll be saved but so as by fire There is no difficulty in the former For though it may be thought to referre to the work yet it is farre more probable that it doth relate to the person whose work it is So that as metal cast into the fire loseth its dross and so cometh out lesse then it was thus it shall be with him he shall be afflicted yet so that it shall turn to his good But the later is much vexed And First You see the Apostle speaks not of fundamental Heresies such as are damnable in their nature and carry the party without repentance to destruction but of such as are consistent with salvation Learned men apply it to the Gnosticks the famous Heretiques of those times who did not deny Christ but superstructed many evil and sinfull Doctrines upon this rock or foundation In the second place They are such as make a mans salvation very difficult Even as you have an expression of a righteous man A righteous man is scarcely saved 1 Pet. 4.18 For this phrase So as by fire is a proverbâ—al expression to denote the extream danger a man is in and yet escapes as those three Worthies in the fiery furnace
mans salvation as well as ungodlinesse in practice An unsound mind as well as unsound life may undo a man Austin once made a Question and knew not well how to resolve it viz. Which was worst an Heretique living with an unblameable life or an Orthodox man with a vicious and corrupt life Non audeo dicere saith I dare not determine it Though Austin could not determine it yet Salvian a religious and zealous Ancient he seemeth to preferre an Heretique if unblameable in his life before a wicked liver Now the truth is in some respects one is worse than another only herein there can be lesse said to excuse a prophane wicked Christian than an Heretique because moral duties such as not to lie swear or to be drunk or unclean are more easily known than many points in Religion especially those which are of a sublime consideration But yet if we speak in the general they both do endanger a mans salvation Thus the Apostle Peter saith That ignorant men wrâ—st the Scripture to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 So that you see a man may destroy his soul not only by a prophane life but by a presumptuous abusing and wresting of the Scripture from the true sense And the Apostle James speaketh of it as a great matter To convert one that erreth from the truth he hath saved a soul and covered a multitude of sins Jam. 5.20 To open this Doctrine consider That the understanding of a man hath sâ—veral kinds of corruption whâ—ch do more or lesse endanger a mans salvation First There is ignorance in a mans understanding whereby he doth not know or believe the truth and this indangers a mans salvation This is eternal life to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.2 Therefore not 〈…〉 these is eternal death God would have all men to be saved and to come to thâ— kâ—â—wledge of the truth 2 Tim. 3 7. Thus as the true knowledg of God and Christ is the way to salvation This is the starre to lead to Christ so ignorance of these things is the way to damnation Hence wicked men are often said Not to know God and yet how universal is this sinne Few have any knowledge or understanding in the matters of Religion They have Eagles eyes to worldly things but very blinde Owles they are in heavenly things A second Corruption of the understanding is Errour Ignorance is in the first act of the understanding which they call simple and bare apprehension but Error is in the second Act which they call Judgement So that to erre is to mis-judge in matters of Religion as those that denied the Resurrection are said to erre because they did not know the Scriptures Mat. 22.29 Indeed sometimes the wicked wayes of a mans life are called errours They have alwayes erred in their hearts saith the Scripture of the Israelites in reference to their ungodly actions Heb. 3.10 because every sinne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an errour or missing of the mark so that in this sence we may say thy ungodly actions are errours Thou dost well to complain of errours in doctrine but why dost thou not complain of thy errours in thy life Omnis peccans est ignorans every sinner as so is ignorant and erroneous but we speak not of this but of those errours in judgement whereby it judgeth false things true or true false And there is no man in the world but he hath some errour in his mind As there is not in any constitution Temperamentum ad pondus an exact temperament So neither in any mans understanding an exact and right judging of all things in matters of Religion We know in paâ—t saith the Apostle 1 Cor 13. Yea we are ignorant of farre more things than we know Thirdly There is a further corruption of the mind and that is heresie Which word though in the first rise of it was innocent in its signification and is so used twice or thrice in the Acts of the Apostles as some affirm yet in the Epâ—stles it is alwayes used in an ill sense and by ecclesiastical use it 's different from errour two wayes 1. Errour is in matters of lesse consâ—quence that are not of necessity but heresie they make to be of things fundamentall therefore the Apostle speaks of some Who shall bring in damnable Heresies 2 Pet 2.1 2. They make it differ in the affection of the person He that is an Heretique hath pertinacy and obstinacy An Heretique after the first and second admonition reject Tit. 3.10 But errours are with willingnesse to learn and to be informed as Austin Errare possum haereticus esse nolo Thus Ecclesiastical custome hath used the word Heresie though I cannot say the Scripture doth make that the adequate notion of the word Thus you see in these three wayes the minds of men may be corrupted and through every one of them more or lesse a man may be brought to the very brink of hell This is a truth little thought of yea some have thought Heresie to be innocency yea there are some who have maintained a man may be saved in any Religion or in any sect which if so then there could be no damnable Heresies Let us consider the Grounds of the Doctrine And First Therefore errours as well as ungodlinesse in life will damne Because they are a sinfull corruption of the best and noble faculty in a man The understanding is wounded with sinne as well as the will and affections insomuch that if it were possible for a man to have a right will and well ordered affections yet the sinfulnesse of his understanding is enough to damn him Grant then that ignorance errours or heresies are sinnes and you say enough to make any godly man afraid of them Therefore think of this you who make it no matter to hold this or that opinion in Religion If not to know the truth be a sinne know that is an infinite evil that will divide between God and thee and then it 's a sinne of the best and most noble part the understanding and reason whereby we are differenced from beasts A disease in the eye is a dangerous thing because so choice a part and if our eyes be so dear to us as that it 's a Proverb How dear should your minds and understandings be Nature hath provided a covering for them and hair to defend them and thus we should be carefull to keep our minds from all infections Secondly It must needs be damnable Because it 's opposite to saving grace and that is a true faith and knowledge of God in his Word Now this is a Rule We judge of the illnesse of every privation by the excellency of the habit it is contrary unto Now ignorance and errour they are contrary to a sound faith to a true knowledge and deprive the soul of those divine truths which are so instrumental to all holinesse Therefore to say to
Manners are a pollution of this spiritual Temple So that in the words you have a strong Argument against all Church pollutions whether doctrinal or practical from a similitude or comparison the Apostle useth Those that are the Temple of God must be dedicated to him and not polluted with any unclean thing but the Church of Corinth is the Temple of God And that this Argument might pierce the more he puts the sting of a sharp Interrogation upon his words Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God Know ye not as if he would have said This is a confessed Principle a truth acknowledged by all none can or ought to be ignorant of it Now for the explication of the word Temple and the Reason to prove they were the Temple as followeth in the words I referre it till we come at it For truly this Text is a Mine of gold every word hath precious matter in it Only consider at this time the interrogative Introduction Know ye not One great cause why they admitted such prophanensse and corruption in the Church was the ignorance of or the not attending to those Priviledges and Relations they were called unto If they had duely considered they were Gods Temple they would not have suffered strange Doctrines or strange manners to come in amongst them as no strange uncircumcised might enter into the Temple Observe That the consideration of those Priviledges and Relations which all the People that professe God are put into would be a great Argument against all kind of Pollutions In the 1 Cor. 6.19 the Apostle argueth against all libidinous and unclean waies because their bodies were the Temple of the Holy Ghost now here the Apostle doth not so much speak of every man as their Assembly united together as they were a spiritual Society joyned together As is more largely to be shewed The Apostle argueth chiefly though not excluding sinnes of practice against corruptions in Doctrine and the Ordinances instituted in the Church by which we may see the Scripture puts corruptions in Doctrine through errours and in our lives through ungodlinesse in the same guilt both are unclean and so may not be admitted into the Temple even as the Apostle in the first Chapter verse 5 6. and Gal. 59 useth a Proverbial speech A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump against corruptions in life and in Doctrine but of this more afterwards That which at this time I insist on is To shew what a goade and spurre to all purity and holinesse in Doctrine and Manners the consideration of Church-Priviledges Church-Titles and Relations aâ—e Thus Rom. 6.3 Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death Ignorance of the extent of their baptism what it did signifie and oblige to made them live in sinne I know nothing more to be complained of then that people generally rest in this They are the Church of God They are Christians They are baptized but they do not understand what these things mean nor what they oblige them unto It would make us all tremble to consider the vast disproportion between our Names our Relations and our lives This hath occasioned many to runne into an extremity to say We have no true Churches no true members of a Church amongst us because the ignorance corruption and prophaneness is so great amongst us though therein they go beyond bounds For this Church of Corinth was not unchurched by the disorders and corruptions amongst it To enforce this Doctrine upon us consider some of the chief and notable Titles or Relations the people of God have and see if rightly considered they would not work like fire to consume all our drosse As First The very word Ecclesia Church This is given to all the spiritual Societies and Assemblies that we read of in the Scripture converted to the true Faith Thus the Church of Corinth the Churches in Asia Now how great a matter is this very word Church For a people to be a Church the word signifieth as much as a company of people called out of the ignorance idolatry and prophanenesse of the world to worship and serve God in his way and to obey his Laws So that when men come to be of this body they are to renounce all their former prophanenesse and wickednesse and live a life conformable to the Word which is the Churches Charter and by which it walketh Thus all our Congregations should be men called out of the ignorance and prophanenesse of the world to live according to Gods Rule But where are the persons or the Societies that do this Are not many of our Assemblies in the world and of the world still in respect of conversation There will be scandals and offences in the Churches of God too often but woe be to such who by their prophanenesse idolatry and wickednesse give so many scandals as to make us accounted a Babylon a Sodome or as the world Indeed they who do thus charge us go beyond their line for we have a true Church and a true Ministry and true Ordinances only the lives of men are generally so corrupt and wicked so ignorant and beastly that they are spots in our Assemblies and a grievous reproach to that holy Profession which we have taken upon us So then if we would have our Congregations and persons freed from all these defilements remember what the word Church is a company called out of the world And as for ignorant and prophane men the orders of Christ are to endeavour their reformation but if they continue obstinate then they are to be cast out As the Clouds that are exhaled from the earth which though terrestrial in nature yet follow the motions of the Heavens so though in our original we be of the world and are dust and ashes yet by this heavenly call we are wholly to live a heavenly conversation Is it for Starres to be like the dung of the earth Is it for a Church to be a prophane ignorant and worldly people Oh this very title should raise up your hearts Are we not a Church persons called out of wickednesse Why then are we such Apostates as to degenerate from our Titles and Names If Christ complained of those that had made the material Temple a den of thieves Mat. 21.13 will he not also of such who shall make his Church a stew a dunghill a place of wickednesse and ungodlinesse I beseech you know these things and consider them better If you would have the Name of a Church have the nature Life and operations of a Church Secondly The consideration that we are the people of God in a more peculiar manner then all the Nations of the world that do not know God This also should affect us This is that Covenant of Grace God enters into I will be their God and they shall be my people Jer. 7.23 2 Cor. 6.16 Yea a peculiar people Gods Jewels Gods Treasure Deut. 26.18 Psal 135.4
no Sunne beames to comfort and refresh Secondly Here only is the Foundation of all graces or the Mediatour by whom God is gracious to us As they say in Aegypt there is never any rain from Heaven so all that part of mankind which is without Christ partaketh not of gracious influences of Heaven God is a consuming fire to them There is no death of Christ no Ascention no Intercession no pleading for them they come into Gods presence without Beniamin Thirdly Only in the Church are such persons who are qualified for gracious Priviledges Here only is true Piety here only is Faith Repentance Here only men do in a right manner pray to God All those moral vertues and excellent endowments amongst the Heathens though gilded over were nothing but drosse Vse of Instruction Are the Churches of God thus Temples of God and should every one of us be thus in particular Oh then how holy how godly how orderly should all our Assemblies be What Jeremy can make Lamentations bitter enough to see how this Temple of God is made a dunghill How comes so much ignorance and prophanenesse to be amongst us Are we not places prepared rather for the Devil and his evil Spirits to dwell with us then Temples of the Holy Ghost Know this that your defilements are worse then those of Heathens and therefore it 's said Judgment should begin at the House of God 1 Pet. 4.17 And in Ezechiel's Prophesse The destroying Angel is commanded to begin at the Sanctuary Ezek. 9.6 Yet we sit and hear these things and do not fear and tremble Where is Gods gracious presence discovering it self How few are the men that have God and his Spirit dwelling in them but rather their souls are possessed with Devils Hence cometh that pride that malice that opposition unto all godlinesse Oh then let us so live that we may say Such men have God and his Spirit dwelling in them Be men affected with understanding of these things To see nothing but a man in you nothing of God yea to see nothing but a Beast or a Devil in you how contrary is it to that holy relation we stand in And that the Spirit of God dwels in you We have considered what that is to which the Church of Corinth is compared viz. The Temple of God what more is to be said of that will come in the next verse I proceed to the ground and reason of the Comparison Why they were the Temple of God and that followeth in the next words And that the Spirit of God dwels in you The particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath many significations or uses in the Scripture Here it is Causall as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ye are In many other places it 's so used Jere. 42. Thou art angry And We have sinned i. e. For Joh. 2. they staid not there many daies and the Passover was at hand i. e. For. So here you are the Temple of God for the Spirit of God dwels in you Thus you see it 's a causall Inference In the Reason consider the Person described Secondly His efficacy or operation The Person described is said to be the Spirit 2. The Relation to whom the Spirit of God Thirdly The operation or effect it dwels in you The Greek word Spirit as the Hebrew Ruach is of a vast signification in the Scripture I know none more boundlesse but when attributed to God it signifieth either absolutely the Divine Nature common to the three Persons Joh. 4. God is a Spirit because of his most pure and simple essence 2. It signifieth the Divine Nature of Christ as when it is said to be dead in the body but quickned in the Spirit 1 Pet. 3.18 3. Sometimes the anger of God and the effects of his wrath Thus we read of a Spirit of judgment and burning Isa 4. And a Spirit of giddinesse c. Lastly Relatively for the third Person in the holy Trinity Baptizing them in the Name of the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 And thus it 's used here because it 's called the Spirit of God Now this Texe doth two waies prove the Divine Nature of the Holy Ghost 1. From the Manner of argunig They were the Temple of God because the Spirit did dwell in them which could be no sound Argument were not the Holy Ghost God And 2. Partly Because Temples wâ—re built to none but God even as Sacrifices were offered to God only And this is so ingrafted a truth in nature and acknowledged so professedly by Papists that when they are charged for Idolatry in dedicating their Temples to such and such Saints they say Temples indeed are to be built only to God but they name such a Saint only for memorial not as a Person they dedicate them to But that distinction is a meer fig leaf if you consider their practice So that we have two Doctrines 1. That the holy Spirit of God is God 2. This Spirit of God dwels in the Church These Points will be very profitable For the first The Holy Ghost is God There have not only Heretiques of old as the Macedonians or of late in other Countries as Polonia and Transilvana Servetus and the Socinians but even some in this land very lately not only maintained privately but have published Books on purpose to prove the Holy Ghost not to be God of the same essence with the Father and the Sonne Indeed there was a long contention whether verball or real it 's disputed between the Greek Churches and the Latin Churches about the procession of the Holy Ghost whether from the Father and the Sonne also or Father only but no doubt at all about the Deity of the Holy Ghost I intend to handle this point Practically yet so as first Doctrinally to inform your judgments about the truth of it and that I may do it the more orderly you must know that those who have denyed the holy Ghost to be God have been divided into two waies Either First Such who have thought him to be no Person but to be an attribute or operation in and from God which in man we would call an accident So that as Gods wisdome Gods anger and power they do not make a distinct Person they say So neither doth this concerning the holy Ghost but is no more than the mighty power of God putting forth it self Secondly Others make him a Person yet not a God but in the fore-front of the Angels they make him the chief Angel as they say there is a Prince of Devils But the Scripture is very clear to overthrow those damnable Heresies And 1. That he is a Person not an attribute appeareth by all those personal operations that are given to him So that by what arguments we can prove God the Father or any man to be a Person by the same we may prove the holy Ghost to be a Person as that form in which we are baptized Into the name
the only wise God he sees their thoughts to be vain He seeth that Ahitophels that Tullies that Pharaohs thoughts even when they intend to deale wisely are vaine Let men applaud them yet God derideth them 2. The Lord knoweth the thoughts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their reasonings their choisest acts of the understanding their best and most accurate Discourses all their Logick as it were to be a meer fallacy And then Lastly To be vain to be fruitlesse to be empty they make empty webs all the day long Domitian the Emperour is derided for spending time in catching of flies and yet as vain and foolish are all the thoughts and projects of every natural wise man So that what Motto the wise man would write upon every creature Vanity of vanity all is vanity So the same may be upon all the best thoughts meditations and counsels of the wisest men and if a mans mind be vain every thing else in him must needs be vanity for this is the salt that seasons a man and if that hath lost its seasoning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 become a fool all is likewise foolish Observe That the choisest and best thoughts of the wisest men are vaine We may consider man in a three-fold capacity 1. Politicè as a political creature endued with civil wisdome and so is part of a society and thus his thoughts are vain 2. Ethicè as he is to walk according to the Rules of reason which sound and rectified nature doth guide a man in and thus he is vain 3. Theologicè as he is to look up to Heaven to obey God and to aim at supernatural happinesse And in this sense especially he is a most vain empty man and to this the Apostle relateth To open the Doctrine let us consider In what sense the Scripture useth the word vain and you shall see them fitly applicable to the wisest mens thoughts that what is said of mans body may also be true of his soul Every man at his best estate is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 And First That is said to be vain which is empty and void of that worth and excellency which ought to be within Thus a fool is called often a vain person because he is empty of that solid judgement and reason which ought to be in a man Hence foolish persons are compared to empty straws that are blown up and down with every wind because they have no weight in them Nabals name and his nature agreed he was a fool The word comes of a root that signifieth to wither As the withered branch hath lost all its sap and juice so a fool hath And thus the thoughts of all men naturally are empty void and destitute of true wisdome They knew not wherein true happinesse doth consist or what is the way that looketh to it they do not provide for eternity they consider not that upon this moment depends eternity they look not out to the best and choisest things in the first place all that inward juyce and sap of spiritual wisdom is taken from them Secondly That is said to be vanity which seemeth to have great happinesse and content in it but indeed it 's the clean contrary A vain thing is that which hath a goodly appearance but inwardly hath no profit As those apples of Sodome so much spoken of Thus Eve called her son Abel vanity because she thought that before she had brought forth the man the feed that should break the Serpents head but finding him to be without the Image of God and devoid of all holinesse subject to mortality she called him Abel as deceived in her expectations And thus it is with all the thoughts of the wisest in the world they think at first they have possessed a man brought forth that which will accomplish all their desires but upon experience they see it is an Abel it 's vanity So that as Solomon tels us of a vanity in all earthly comforts in riches and pleasures because though they have a goodly appearance yet there is indeed no substance no solidity like the thorns which have white flowers but thorns Thus it is with the best and choisest thoughts and projects of the wisest men they have a goodly lustre you would think such wise men could not but be happy their expectations are raised but the issue doth deceive them Call us not Naomi but Marah may they say Thirdly Vanity in the Scripture is often applied to a lie Every man speaks vanity to his neighbour that is a lie Psal 12.2 And thus the thoughts of the most wise are a lie Let God be true and every man a liar Rom. 3.4 All thy thoughts are so many lies Now a man is a liar two wayes 1. To himself And then 2. To others To himself all his thoughts are a meer lie They promise such happinesse glory and felicity to themselves and in the mean while they are very lies they prove as the Land-flood as a reed a man leaneth on The rich man that said Thou hast many goods laid up his thoughts were so many lies Those proud thoughts of Tyre and Sidon that set her heart as God and said No evil should come near them were nothing but lies And if this were only in temporal and fading things the deceit would not be so dangerous but it 's in spiritual things also All mens thoughts naturally are concerning the goodnesse of their heart the purity of their wayes the happinesse of their condition but in all things they lie most damnably What a dangerous lie was that of Laodicea who said She was rich and cloathed and wanted nothing when indeed she was naked miserable and wanted all things Revel 3.17 All the Pharisees thoughts whereby they trusted in their own righteousnesse and justified themselves were nothing but lies And thus John Baptist reproved the Jews for their vain thoughts Thinke not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our father Mat. 3.9 The thoughts of men are never more dangerously vaine than when they please themselves about their good condition as to spirituals that all is well with them that God loveth them these are lying vain thoughts Again The thoughts of all men naturally are lies actively in respect of others They are full of falshood and dissimulation there is no truth or sincerity in men as David complaineth Psal 12. And the Prophet Isaiah complaineth Every one is an hypocrite the best is a liar Isa 9.17 That as the sheep runneth to the briars to shelter her self in a storm but they prove a lie because they tare her in stead of defending her Thus it is with all men therefore he is said to be cursed that puts his trust in men Jer. 17. For unlesse men have godlinesse and so are made sincere and unfeigned there cannot be any trust in them Hence are those Rules of wise men Nemini fidas in teipso spes tuas pone Fourthly Vanity is often in Scripture used for that which is
Discipline amongst themselves if any of their company did commit any grosse sinne they did cast him out of their company and provided a coffin for him intimating hereby they looked upon him as a dead man This heavenly spiritual life whereby a man doth all things by supernatural and holy principles to holy and godly ends deserveth the name of life Hence Ephes 4.18 it 's called The life of God either because of the conformity and likenesse of it to Gods life or because God is the Authour and worker of this life in his children Tell us not then that such a man liveth richly and happily having a great Estate a glorious Seat large Revenues he liveth that liveth this spiritual life and without it as the Apostle saith of those wanton widows They are dead while alive 1 Tim. 5.6 Oh now thou wouldst weep over thy husband thy child if they were corporally dead why doest thou not much more for their spiritual death We reade of the Aegyptians what an outcry they made for the death of one in every family But how many families are there that have none but dead persons in them Alas thou must needs be dead for thou seest not with thy eyes the beauty of spiritual things Thou hearest not with thy ears the lively word of God neither canst thou walk with thy feet in the way to Heaven Thirdly The godly man onely liveth Because he only hath the true blessednesse and comfort of this life He onely hath true joy and peace of conscience and this not onely the Scripture cals life viz. a prosperous happy estate as when they said Live ô King but the Heathens also Vivamus mî amica vixit dum vixit bene vita non est vivere sed valere There are some men who live this life and yet Job saith they long for death Their life is a burden and a torment to them when it 's day they wish it were night and when it 's night they wish it were day This God threatens as a curse to every one that shall not keep the Law Now the godly man he onely liveth so as to have true joy real happinesse because his sinnes are pardoned God is only his portion and delight At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore said Dâ—vid Psal 16.11 And although the godly may sometimes through their own sinne or for their exercise be deprived of this joyfull and blessed life yet that is for their good as Lazarus's death was that his Sisters faith and Gods glory may be the more magnified And besides as Christs body so their souls shall not alwayes be kept under the cords of this death This is therefore by accident The promise to godlinesse is joy and gladnesse of heart They are called upon to doe it they are commanded to it Lay this then downe for a sure Rule That thou doest not live thou hast not a prosperous joyfull and happy heart till thus sanctified Fourthly The godly only live or life is theirs Because they only know how to improve the dayes of their life for God They make the right uâ—e of their life and time here which is to provide for eternity to glorifie God and save their souls When Paul could say I have fought a good fight I have finished my course 2 Tim. 4 7. This was an argument he lived Our Saviour spake many Parables to shew how we should improve our Talents and be alwayes gaining till our Master come whereas if thou spendest thy time on thy losts and pleasures of sinne if thou art idle and negligent thou hast not lived Idlenesse is the burial of a man alive We do not account our time of sleep so properly part of our life because we do nothing then And this is a full proof that only godly men live because they only make honey while the Summer shines they onely husband their time while it's day calling upon God They onely accomplish that work and errand for which God sent them into the world Remember this he liveth that is active for God in his generation that moveth continually for the good of his soul Let it not be said of thee as Seneca of one who kept close in his house Hic situs est Bascia as if he were buried there Fifthly Life is onely the godly mans Because he hath an interest in eternal life John 5.24 He hath passed from death unto life He shall never die that liveth this life Now alas this temporary natural life doth not deserve the name of a life The very Heathens thought so and the Scripture cals it but a shadow not a substance What are a few evil dayes here and full of misery Shall we judge it a life No surely eternal life deserveth only that name where there is no fear of a change where no power or violence can overcome where mortality is swallowed up in immortality This is the life that the Scripture inviteth all unto Did Dives live though he boasted good things were stored up for him No This night thou fool thy soul shall be taken away Wilt thou call this a life to have a few pleasures of sinne for a season and then to go into eternal torments Do not the damned in hell wish they had never been born that this natural life had never been bestowed upon them Do not thou then matter this moment but set thy heart upon eternity Is not this life a vapour a bubble but the life to come that must make me happy When God promised several outward mercies to Abraham O saith Abraham that Ishmael might live before thee All these outward things are nothing if he live not this spiritual and eternal life Sixthly The godly man only liveth Because he taketh his life from God and referreth it to his glory Whether we live we live to the Lord said Paul Rom. 14.8 They receive their life thankfully from God and they live to his glory Now we say he hath a thing that knoweth how to make the right use of it and thus because the godly know how to receive their life from God and to return it again to him Therefore it is that they have life yea they have it because they can readily part with it at Gods Command I die daily said Paul 1 Cor. 15.31 And this is our Saviours sure Rule Luke 17.23 He that will lose his life shall save it and he that will save it shall lose it You see the way to have life is to part from it he hath it that hath it not as the Martyrs who as willingly laid down their lives as we our garments Seventhly The righteous only live Because they mortifie and subdue those sinnes that kill our bodies that take away our lives Wrath and quarrelling that depriveth a man of the peace of his life now he refraineth his tongue he is of a meek spirit whereas anger is like a fire burning in the bowels and so grief is a waster of the very bones Worldly sorrow worketh
them meeting in this they bring good to the godly man And 1. There are happy and prosperous events Or 2. Adverse and afflicting ones And For the first What ever mercies or good things come about they are the godly-mans in these respects First They are for his necessary use and supply They come as so many gifts immediately given by God for thy necessities And when I say use I mean a sanctified use All the food raiment and wealth he hath are sanctified in their use to him and this the Scripture speaks of as a property to the godly only Wicked men may abound in wealth honours greatnesse but they are a curse to them they have them not from God as intending good to them thereby But as the Rule is Corpora impura quantò plus nutrias impuriora reddis The more you nourish unwholsome bodies the better food they have the more doth their disease increase So these worldly mercies draw out the lusts of wicked men the more Take notice of these two Texts Tit. 1.15 and 1 Tim. 4.5 There we may see a curse is upon every creature It 's unclean to a wicked man though he hath a civil right to his estate and comforts yet he can make no sanctified use of them for their own persons are not pure and sanctified and so nothing belonging to them is pure Seeing therefore there is a curse by Adams fall upon every creature Thy food thy raiment thy goods thy estate they neeâ—â—anctification by the Word and prayer Therefore the godly only have the sanctified use of them because they are humble in prayer for the cleansing of them But how atheistical are the men of the world They labour to have this state and that state still more and more not at all enquiring whether this come sanctified to them or not Doth not health wealth and all outward mercies come with the curse upon them they had at first The Devils Have not they a life Are not they preserved in their being Yet this is no mercy to them And thus it is with all wicked men We see what Paul saith Rom. 11.9 Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block It 's a terrible place A mans table his dainties his greatest pleasure may be made a snare to thee Wouldst thou receive the richest goods that are brought into thy house if the plague or infection were on them Couldst thou endure to have one at thy table to lay a snare to catch thee in thy words to bring thee in temporal danger And art not thou afraid thy house thy estate thy wealth may be made by God a snare to thee But how happy are the godly that how great soever the outward mercies are yet they are pure and sanctified to them The danger is taken off by Christs death Secondly These prosperous things are not only in a sanctified way to the godly but God alâ—o requireth that with joy and gladnesse we should make use of them for his glory It 's lawfull for them to eat and drink and enjoy the good mercies they hâ—ve with a cheerfull joyfull spirit I speak not of carnal and sinfull joy which quickly ends in terrour and trembling and is like the crackling of thorns that make a blaze but immediately go out No but of a well-ordered gladnesse and joy in the good things God bestoweth on them For God doth not call his people to a worldly dejected sorrow which worketh death but to a godly sorrow which causeth great joy and serenity of spirit Insomuch that Scripture speaks of it as a provoking sinne if we do not serve the Lord with joy and and gladnesse of spirit when he bestoweth these outward mercies upon us Deut. 28 47. Many terrible curses are there threatned to Israel Because they did not serve God with joyfulnesse and gladnesse of heart for the abundance of all things If therefore God giveth thee plenty of outward things and thou doest not serve him with joyfulnesse and thankfulnesse of heart it is a provoking sinne God doth not only love a cheerfull giver but a cheerfull receiver also of his mercies So then when prosperous things befall thee thou mayest with great joy of heart make use of them Thirdly These prosperous things are not only sanctified to them but they are also made sanctifying of them God giveth them those good things of the body to make their souls better Abraham had many outward mercies but these also were helpfull to his graces he was rich in faith as well as in cattel and great substance Thus Godlinesse hath the promise of this life and the life to come 1 Tim. 4.8 To have the good things of the world and not the gracious things of the Gospel and the glorious things of Heaven is to have a cistern but to be without the fountain to have a starre but to want the Sunne Art thou drawn near to God more improved in holinesse by all the mercifull things thou hast Then art thou beloved of God God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith Jam. 5. And The poor receive the Gospel Be afraid lest wealth and greatnesse make thee reject the Gospel When thy outward mercies are sanctified then art thou happy Fourthly These prosperous present things are theirs Because they know how to make the present use of them for Gods glory As life was theirs and death theirs because they only could live well and die well so present riches present death present comforts are theirs because they know how to make the present improvement of them The Scripture still presseth While we have opportunity to do good to lay hold on it and while it is called to day 2 Heb. 3.15 Do good with thy present wealth improve thy present strength thy present health for who knoweth how long thou mayest enjoy it especially of all present things the present time is a godly mans Redeem the time Ephes 5.16 And now is the acceptable time 2 Cor. 6.2 This is a great part of wisdome to make the present time ours even now to turn to God now to reform and amend One Heathen complained that his friends were fures temporis the thieves of his time they stole that precious jewel away from him by their visits Oh take heed that no lusts no pleasures no enticements and worldly delights steal away thy present time it is all thou hast and it 's but a moment yet on this moment depends eternity Well therefore is it for the godly who knoweth how to make the best improvement of all prices put into his hand A Christian is not called to ease but labour to a spiritual merchandize to make profit of every thing And thus it should be with every godly man there is nothing befals thee no good comes to thee but thou shouldst bethink thy self how can this be improved for God How may I make heavenly advantages of these things Thus be like the Bee sucking honey out of every herb
was shut out of his fathers blessing But this is farre greater to be shut out of Christs prayers Christs intercession and Christs expiation Thou canst not retain sinne and Christ too Thou canst not love the world and Christ too What hope then and refuge remains for thee If Christ cast thee off Is there any other remedy left Can any Angels help thee Are there any more Christs No thy case is altogether desperate who art cast off by him yet men sit and hear these things without fear or trembling And Christ is Gods We are now come to the last round in the Ladder à primo ad ultimum we are now at the last step we cannot go further to say God is any thing else beside himself for he is of himself and to himself All the other particulars may well be received without any difficulty but this seemeth to be a pill hardly taken down The expression seemeth hard Christ is Gods as if Christ were not God but made for God as the world is for the godly But Chrysostome saith well Though the words be the same yet the sense is much different The world is ours as being made for us we are Christs as being his creatures purchased but Christ is Gods as his most beloved Sonne This is true but yet this is not fully the Apostles meaning Therefore Christ is considered two wayes Either First As an absolute God in which sense he is said To think it no robbery to be equal with God Phil. 3.6 And thus though he be the Sonne of God yet he is equal with God Or Secondly As a Mediatour consisting of two Natures Divine and Humane Now if we consider Christ in respect of his Humane so that is a creature and wholly to be referred to God Or if we consider him as a Mediatour thus he is in reference to God the Father For a Mediatour is to bring us to him who is at distance from us Thus Christ both as a man and as a Mediatour in his whole Mediatory Office is not for himself but for God the Father as it is 1 Cor. 15.24 When the Sonne shall give up the Kingdome that God may be all in all We have two places like this 1 Cor. 11.3 The head of the woman is man and the head of Christ is God that is not in respect of his Divine Nature for the first Person cannot be said to be the Head or cause of the second but the beginning but in respect of his Mediatory Office So John 14.28 My Father is greater than I in respect of his Manhood and his Mediatory Office I shall not enter into these sublime Disputes about Christ as a Mediatour Whether that be Divine Worship that belongs to him as so And if Divine How there can be a primary Object of Religious Worship as God the Father and a secondary Object as Christ the Mediatour This though a noble Question yet because not so practical I wave onely some positive things I shall deliver in the point Observe That Christ as man and as a Mediatour is wholly Gods His Office and work as a Mediatour is to reconcile us to God the Father He is called The Saviour and the Mediatour The Saviour in respect of the end which is salvation that he obtaineth for believers and Mediatour in respect of the means and way by which this is accomplished To open this take notice First That Christ is a Person consisting of a Divine and Humane Nature not by mixtion or confusion or by meer inhabitation but by a Personal Vnion which is commonly called Hypostatical I shall not tell you how much that word Hypostasis troubled the Church The Latine Church having a clear contrary thought about the word to the Greek Church So that when they both agreed in the same thing yet the words and phrases they condemned in one another as heretical But the Scripture is very clear both that Christ was God and also man yet but one person not making two Christs and this is one main fundamental Article of Religion The Devil in former ages alwayes endeavoured to rob him of one of these Natures and some have raised these monstrous and damnable heresies again from hell but this foundation and pillar standeth sure Secondly By reason of this Personal Vnion though there be not a real communication of the Properties of each Nature yet there is a verbal one in the concrete both things are predicated of Christ As for example though the Divine Nature is not passible but the Humane Nature onely nor the Humane Nature omnipotent and omniscient but the Divine only yet of Christ we predicate that he suffered that he died that he is omnipotent and omniscient though this be true in respect of one Nature only Thirdly Christ being thus a Person that he may be our Redeemer he is cloathed with those three Offices which fit him fully for our Redemption He is first Medius in respect of his Person God and man Then he is Mediatour in respect of his Office His Office is three-fold a Prophet a Priest and a King This makes him the Trismegist the ter maximus Now we must not judge these things metaphysical curiosities No These are the Articles of our Christian Religion these are to be received by a divine and firme faith Yea in believing Christs Person and his Office lieth all the comfort and treasure of a Christian It 's Christ that should be our study our meditation day and night Quis sit qualis Who he is and what he is Now the Doctrine speaks of Christ both in respect of his Humane Nature and as he is a Mediatour not as God Let us see then How Christ as a man and as a Mediatour is Gods And First His Incarnation and coming into the world it was not for himself but for God He therefore took our Nature upon him that he might bring to God the Father his Elect people God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Sonne John 3.16 And To us a Sonne is borne to us a Sonne is given Isa 9.6 So that this work of Incarnation this coming into the world from the bosome of the Father which is so stupendious a mystery is originally from the Father It was to do Gods work to obey his will and therefore Christ is called Gods servant Isa 52.13 Not that Christ came into the world against his own will or as if this were against his own desire but God the Father is the original of all Secondly That Christ is Gods appeareth in that he acknowledgeth his Doctrine and Truth not to be his but his Fathers taking all off from himself and making himself only a Minister or Embassadour coming in his Fathers Name and revealing his will See this notably John 8 26 28. I speak those things which I heard of him I do nothing of my self but as my Father hath taught me I speak these things So vers 42. I came not of