THE TRUE WAY OF A CHRISTIAN, TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. OR, A THREEFOLD DEMONSTRATION: First, of the Excellency of the true and saving Knowledge of Christ; and the means to attain it: with the Antiquity, necessity, and benefit of Catechism. Secondly, of our Union and Communion with Christ, and his Church. Thirdly, of our new Creation in Christ, by the blessed Spirit. With diverse Questions, and Cases of Conscience, most comfortable for a Christian. Delivered first in Brief, in a Sermon Preached at Paules-Crosse, the first Sunday in the new year, 1617. And newly revised and enlarged by IMMANVEL BOURNE Master of Arts, and now Parson of Ashover in the County of Derby. LONDON, Printed for George Fayerbeard, and are to be sold at his shop at the North door of the Royal Exchange. 1622. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL, Dr. PEIRS, THE NOW Reverend, and worthy Vicechancellor of the University of Oxenford; and Rector of St. Christopher's near the Royal Exchange in London: And to the Right Worshipful, and all the rest of the religious and well-willing Parishioners of the same: A daily increase of saving knowledge, of that Union and Communion with Christ and his Church; and of that new Creation in Christ, by the blessed Spirit, in the Canaan of Grace; with the perfection of all these in the jerusalem of Glory for ever. RIGHT Worshipful and the rest beloved: It is a conclusion of St. Augustine's, S. August. in Epist. ad Marcellin. That there is nothing can be spoken more briefly, nor heard more joyfully, nor understood more acceptably, nor performed more fruitfully than the duty of thankfulness. This is true of thankfulness to God; of which St. Augustine speaketh; and true of thankfulness to men, as experience teacheth. Of the first S. chrysostom S. Chrysost. Hom. 51. in Genes. affirmeth, Nihil tam gratum Deo ut anima grata & gratias agens: That there is nothing so acceptable unto God as a thankful mind, nothing more pleasing in his eyes; S. Chrysost. Hom. 1 ad pop●lum Antioch. and therefore he calls thankfulness a rich treasure, yea a heap of riches, a fountain of good, and a tower of strength, because by the memory of benefits received, we are strengthened that we fall not back by Ingratitude, than which nothing is more detestable in the eyes of God, as S. Bernard St. Bern. serm. 1. de septem mise●icor●ijs. Sen lib. 2. de benefic cap. 22. Sabellic. lib. 7. cap. 1. Exempl. Baptista Fulgos. Plutarch. in Apophth. testifieth. And for the second thankfulness to men; not only men (as Augustus Caesar, (of whom Seneca,) Alexander of Macedon (of whom Sabellicus,) Artaxerxes that King of Persia, (of whom Fulgosus) with diverse others, (of whom Plutarch) reporteth:) But even the bruit beasts themselves, may seem to have been delighted with it, and as it were to take pleasure in it. Witness that story of the Dragon, which (as Aelianus Aelianus de varia Hist. lib. 13. relateth) was nourished by a Boy in the City of Patras in Achaia, and being grown big, and driven by the Citizens into the wilderness, (not being forgetful of him by whom he was nourished) when in process of time the Boy travelling through the wilderness, was set upon by thiefs, hearing his voice, he came presently to assist him, and in thankfulness destroyed the thiefs, and conducted him safe on his journey. Witness that story of the Panther (of which Geminianus Geminian. de Exempl. maketh mention) which having her young ones fallen into a pit, and (while she sought for help) meeting with a man whom with fear and fawning she persuaded to follow her; when he had delivered her young she left him not, but in thankfulness kept him from danger till he came forth of the deserts. Pierius Valerianus Hieroglyphicor. lib. 19 Witness that of the Eagle, which being saved by a Reaper (who came to fetch water) from the violence of the Serpent that had poisoned the Fountain, and almost killed her; the Serpent being cut in pieces with his hook, and the Reaper carrying water to his fellows, the Eagle did fly after him; and when his fellows had drunk and were poisoned, he being about to drink himself, she hindered him from drinking, labouring with her wings to break the pitcher: by which (seeing his fellows some dying, some dead before him) he perceived her thankfulness unto him for delivering of her from the cruelty of the Serpent. To conclude, witness that famous History of Androdus the fugitive servant; Aulus Gellius. who by error falling into a Lion's den, which had a thorn in his foot; Androdus pulling it out, the Lion nourished him for a time with him; and when he escaped thence, being (taken for his offence and) cast to a company of Lions, where that Lion also (being taken by hunters) was kept: The Lion knowing Androdus his old Chirurgeon, would not suffer him to be devoured, and therefore both were set at liberty, and the Lion following him every where like a Dog, was pointed at by all men with this observation, Ecce leo hospes hominis, Ecce homo medicus leonis: Behold a Lion the Host of a man, and behold a man the Physician of a Lyon. Thus you see not only God, but also men and bruit beasts, have been delighted with the duty of thankfulness. To acknowledge therefore those many favours which I have received, both from you all in general, and from some in a more especial manner. For from you the learned Pastor (I must confess) I not only sucked my first milk in the University, but received my encouragement and furtherance to be planted in this City, and (by a free election) in this place, wherein (by God's gracious favour) for these four years and upwards, I have happily continued. And from you my worthy and ever honoured friends (with whom I have lived,) I have obtained not only a principal part of my livelihood for the present; but (by a most free and noble gift) a Pastoral charge, wherein I may exercise (with much comfort) my ministerial office for the time to come. Nor can I here end, for from many other in particular I have not wanted private favours, witnesses of their piety to God, and good will towards me. How then can I be silent and suffer myself to be justly branded with the coal of Ingratitude? To prevent this, I have adventured to offer (as a Farewell) these my weak meditations unto you, which though they be fare unable to satisfy your deserving, yet may they remain with you (when I am gone,) as a testimony of my desires. They are a Newyears gift (in respect of the time, and in respect of the subject,) not too high for any, nor too base for the best, fitting, pleasurable and profitable for all, if you read, and remember, and practise them with Conscience. They are a plain and direct platform of the state of a Christian, showing how we may walk, from the true knowledge of Christ (which is the foundation of all) to the true Union, and Communion with Christ and his Church; and in these to that heavenly newness, in and by which we must all pass through the manifold Labyrinths, and dangerous temptations of our spiritual enemies; from the old jericho of this world, to that new jerusalem in the kingdom of heaven. And this is the sum of all that we can teach, or you can desire to learn. Being therefore now (by God's providence) to take my leave of you, my last request shall be (both to you and to God for you,) That not only these meditations, but also all my poor endeavours may by God's blessing, so remain with you, that they may work in you all, such a measure of this excellent knowledge, this blessed Union, Communion and new creation, that you may have peace, that true peace of Conscience, and comfort of soul for ever; that the Lord of peace may give you peace always by all means, 2 Thess. 3.16. and that the gracious presence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the holy Ghost. may be with you, bless, preserve, and keep you all in the kingdom of Grace, to the kingdom of Glory for ever. And thus not ceasing to pray for you; I rest. From my study at Sr. Samuel Tryons, in the Parish of St. Christopher's. April. 1622. Yours and every one of yours in Christ jesus, IMMANVEL BOURNE. A brief Glass wherein you may behold the principal Contents of these ensuing Meditations. 1. Occasion and connexion of the text, from whence is observed, 1. THE Excellency of the true Knowledge of Christ, with the nature and benefit of it. 2. Wherein this true Knowledge consisteth, in which is set forth the Names, the Natures, and Offices of Christ. 3. With what kind of Knowledge, a Christian must know Christ, and in that the difference of true and false Knowledge, and o● true professors and hypocrites. 4. Reprehension of those who teach ignorance, with a lamentation for them which delight in it, and in this what are the causes of so much Ignorance in the light of the Gospel: first, in the Hearers: secondly, in the Teachers. 5. The want of Catechism and necessity of it: And herein the care of the Primitive Church, to use it: the diverse orders of Christians in those times, with the Industry of religious men in all ages, to plant this true and Divine Knowledge. 2. Parts of the Text. 1 Part. Branch. 1. 1. Of the name and nature of man, with his threefold estate in this life. 2. Of the true and false Union and Communion: The first of the Church: The second of Heretics. 2. 1. How we are in Christ, and Christ in us. 2. How we may know if we be Christians. 3. 1. How our second Creation is a greater work than our first. 2. What those are who obtain this Grace. 3. What this new Creation is. 4. Who is the Author of this change. 5. What kind of creatures we are new made. 6. By what means we may attain unto it. 7. How we may know whether we be new Creatures. 8. Comforts against doubting, if we want the signs: Showing the true state of a Christian in this life. 9 How to know whether temptations of doubting come from God or from Satan. 10. Many Cordials to answer Satan's objections, concerning the weakness of our faith and obedience, and to keep us from despair. 2. Part. Branch. 1. 1. What old things are passed away. 2. What errors confuted therein, and the truth confirmed. 2. 1. What things are become new to a Christian. 2. When this newness in Christ is required, namely in the Canaan of Grace, that by this we may come to the jerusalem of Glory. THE TRUE WAY OF A CHRISTIAN, TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. OR, A THREEFOLD DEMONSTRATION: First, of the Excellency of the true and saving knowledge of Christ; and the means to attain it: with the Antiquity, necessity, and benefit of Catechism. Secondly, of our Union and Communion with Christ; and his Church. Thirdly, of our new Creation in Christ, by the blessed Spirit. With divers Questions, and Cases of Conscience, most comfortable for a Christian. 2. Cor. 5. vers. 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, Behold, all things are become new. Divine and profound St. Augustine, Sanct. Augustin. (Hipponens. Epis●op circa ann. Dom. 420. sicut ipse in Epist. ad Isichium 80.) Confess. lib. 8. cap. 12. that worthy Bishop & holy Father of the Church of God, after many devout prayers, humble supplications, and bitter tears, with strong cries of the Spirit for peace of conscience, and comfort of soul, (in that his most terrible combat, the Flesh rebelling against the Spirit, the Old man against the New) he received that divine Oracle, that voice from heaven (for so he conceived it) Tolle league, tolle lege. Take up and rea●e, take up and read: by which he was sent to the Sacred Scriptures, as to a guide in distress, to a Physician in the sickness of his soul (while he lay groaning unto God as it were in an agony, with Quandiu, quandiu cras & cras? Quare non modò? quare non hac hora finis turpitudinis meae? How long, how long to morrow to morrow? why not now? why not in this very hour should there not be an end of my sinful impurity?) And being obedient to that heavenly counsel, he took up the book of Saint Paul's Epistles, which he had laid down by his friend Alipius, and having opened it, he read those words, of the Apostle (upon which he first cast his eyes) Not in rioting and drunkenness, Rom. 13.13, 14. not in chambering and wa●●tonnesse, not in strife and envying. But put ye on th● Lord jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lust thereof. And closing the Book again he concludeth with this resolution (as he himself expresseth it in that eight book of his Confessions, chapped. the twelfth) Nec ultra volui legere nec opus erat, Neither would I read any further, nor was it needful, for that was sufficient to move that good Father to deny himself, and to follow his Saviour, to forsake the first Adam, and be reform according to the image of the second, to be converted and become a newman in Christ. In like manner (Right Honourable, right Worshipful and beloved) or not much unlike to this (though not in the Oracie and heavenly vision, yet in the effect and conclusion) desiring at this present, to find out both for you and myself, as a word of exhortation, so a word of consolation in his time and season: I opened the book of Saint Paul's Epistles, and having found out the words of my Text; I re-resolued with St. Augustine to cease from seeking. Nec ultra volui legere nec opus erat, neither would I read any further, nor was it needful: for this one Text is instar omnium, as it were one of a thousand, fitting and convenient both for the time and persons of this Assembly. First, for the time, for now in respect of the course of Nature, that double faced janus looketh two ways, backwards to the year that is past, and forwards to the year that is to come; beholding at once both the old and the new: And in respect of the order of grace, now is the time when our blessed Saviour (being willingly subjected to the Law for us) received that Sacrament of Circumcision as a type and sign of our new creation; of putting off the old man, and being clothed with the new: so that herein my Text is parallel, for you have in it, first an incitement to newness: Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; and secondly a recitement both of old and new, Old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. Again, fitting it is for the Persons; for so necessary to all is this new creation, that without it, there is no happiness, no salvation to be found. So convenient then, yea so profitable is my Text, that if you would but read it over, 2. King. 5.14. & that seven times (as Naaman washed him in jordan) it might prove a motive sufficient upon due meditation, to work in you a desire of this new creation: in a word, so fitting, so plentiful, so excellent it is; that if you could learn it perfectly, both by heart and by hand, both inwardly in your souls, and outwardly in your lives, it were the best New-yeeres-gift that I could give, or you could receive. But because all that can read and hear, cannot rightly understand and apply (seeing it is necessary that David should have a Nathan, and the Eunuch a Philip to interpret, 2. Sam. 12.7. Act 8.31. ) I will labour to unfold unto you both the Gammer, and Divinity; the Theory and Practice of my Text. Wherein if you make a diligent enquiry, you shall find many excellent lessons worthy your most serious attention, such as are not ambiguous and intricate like the Oracles at Delphos, but plain and easy to be understood; not diffused and large like the Sibyl's leaves, but compendious and brief to be remembered; not curious to busy your brains like the Ephesians books, but necessary to be known and practised for the information of your judgements, and reformation of your lives. If you will see this, cast your eyes upon the words: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Occasion. The blessed Apostle Saint Paul, that great and learned Doctor of the Gentiles, having in the verse before my Text, set down a manifestation of that true and spiritual knowledge of man in general, & of Christ in particular: which was in him and ●is fellow Saints, arising from the true use of the end of Christ's death, from which he infers it: Henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now know we him so no more: He doth again in my Text infer a conclusion concerning the state and condition of such a Christian; Aquinas ex praemissis concludit, etc. endued with such a knowledge: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Division. 1 In which for our methodical and orderly proceeding, if you observe the words; There is First, an imposition, or setting forth of our new man. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: Secondly, a deposition or laying aside of our old man. Old things are passed away. Thirdly, a Reason and confirmation of them both. Behold, all things are become new. Division. 2 Or that I may give you a dichotomy or twofold division; In this conclusion of the Apostle you have, 1. First, a conjunctive proposition; for it consists of two. The one: If any man be in Christ. The other: He is a new creature. 2. And a conjunctive confirmation: for it consists of a twofold Reason. The One: Old things are passed away. The other: Behold all things are become new. Subdivision. In the conjunctive proposition, there is first that which supplieth the place of the subject: Therefore if any man be in Christ. And secondly, that which supplieth the place of the predicate: He is a new creature. In the first, Christ is Subiectum in quo; The subject in which man who was sometime the old Adam, is said to be; If any man be in Christ. In the second Man is Subiectum de quo; the subject, of which Christ, who is the new Adam, is likewise praedicate, He (that is, that man) is a new creature. Again, in the conjunctive confirmation you have First a Termination or Ending Old things are passed away. Secondly, a Renovation or beginning, Behold, all things are become new. And after this manner you have a brief Anatomy of the whole body of my Text. Yet to express it more lively unto you: The first part of my Division. 3 Text is like a vineyard which the Lord himself hath planted with the choicest vine, and with his own right hand: In which (to observe the Apostles order) you have First the branches; Man and every Christian man: Therefore if any man; Secondly, the vine itself, which is Christ himself, If any man be in Christ. And last of all, the fruit of all, the pleasant grapes, which are as a sweet sacrifice unto God. And there are new qualities of soul and of body, new affections and new actions, newness of life. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. Again, in the second part of my Text, the double confirmation. There is a twofold time of the year expressed. The first is the Autumn (or rather winter) when the flower of the lily fadeth, the leaves fall from the trees, and the tender grapes from the vines, when all these are become old, falling, and vanishing. And this in the middle of the verse: Old things are passed away. The second the Spring, when every thing doth bud forth in abundance, Cant. 2.11, 12, 13. when the flowers appear on the earth, and the time of the singing of birds is come, when the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land, when the figtree putteth forth her green figs, and the vine with the tender grapes give out their smell; when the earth having worn out her old garments, beginneth to be clothed anew with grass and flourishing green herbs, when all things change themselves into a new estate. And this in the end of the verse: Behold, all things are become new. Now of these in their order, and first of the first, the vineyard, in that of the vine-tree, and of the first thing I noted therein, the Branches, which are man and every Christian man. Therefore if any man. 1. Part. The 1. Branch. But before I come to this, I meet with an-illative, a conjunction, a Therefore, which like a porter takes me by the hand and stays me in the Entrance: Therefore if any man. This Therefore (like the needle in a sunne-dyall) looketh two ways, not only forwards to my Text, but backwards to the occasion in the verse before, which is the ground from which my text is inferred, and upon which the whole frame is builded. Occasion. Beza annotat. Gualterus. Cornelius Cornelij a lapide. S. Ch●ysost. Vatabl. S. August lib. 9 contra Faust. ca● 7 C●rnelius a lapide. Henceforth (saith the Apostle) know we no man after the flesh: that is, we esteem or approve of no man that liveth carnally according to the corruptions of the flesh, or according to the carnal observations and ceremonies of the old Law, because we know that Christ is the end and fulfilling thereof. Or we esteem not carnal things, nor of men according to these, be they never so profitable or pleasurable, riches, beauty, friends, kindred, or the like. Our judgements now are spiritual, nor carnal as they were; yea though we have known Christ after the flesh, that is, after a carnal manner, glorying in him as our kinsman according to the flesh, Chrysostom, Theod. Synodus 7. General. Act. 6. being of the same nation and stocke-with us, or esteeming of him but as of a mortal man subject to infirmities; yet now know we him so no more, but spiritually as the Son of God and Saviour of the world: and the reason is, because we are changed, our knowledge is changed, and we are become new men in Christ. So that hence doth appear the excellency of the true knowledge of Christ, The excellency of the true knowledge of Christ. from whence the Apostle infers our new creation. Because ordinarily (amongst other causes) the true knowledge of Christ is a special cause and means thereof. For our new creation is a fruit of faith. God (saith Peter) put no difference between us and them (speaking of the jews and Gentiles which believed) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, purifying (or regenerating) their hearts by faith, Act. 15.9. And so the word is used by Saint Paul, Ephes. 5.26. Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, cleansing, purifying, or regenerating with the washing of water by the word: & this learned Zanchius Zanchius in Ephes. cap. 5.26. Calvinus Institutionun lib. 3. cap. 3. Vtrumque fide consequamu●, vita scil. novitatem & reconciliationem gratuitam, neque tamen quum resipiscentiae originem ad fidem referimus, ●patium aliquod temporis somniamus quo ipsam partutiat, etc. confirmeth, interpeting the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, of our regeneration, in his Commentaries upon that Text; & indicious Calvin is a second witness to confirm this truth, rightly averring that regeneration is a fruit of faith, that we obtain it by faith (the spirit of God working by faith in our hearts:) that faith is before it in order, not in time (as he explaineth himself in the third book of his Institutions, chapter the third.) Now faith cannot be without knowledge, How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? Rom. 10.14. And therefore much less regeneration, which is the the companion, yea the fruit and effect of saving faith. Yea further, as the blessed spirit himself is the internal efficient cause of our new birth, kindling faith in us, and by the blood of jesus (apprehended and applied by faith) purging and washing our consciences from dead works, and framing in us that image of Christ in the inner man (as Saint Paul affirms, Titus 3. 5.) so are the Sacraments also (as Saint Peter) 1. Pet. 3.21. Yea and the word of God and true knowledge thereof. For we are borne again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth, and abideth for ever, 1. Pet. 1.23. As the Poets feigned of Medusa's head, Hesiod. Ovid. Metam. 4 Aug. lib. 18. de Civit. Dei, cap. 13. Diodorus lib. 4. that it was of power to turn the beholders into snakes, so, much more true is it of the true knowledge of Christ reveiled in the word; it is a powerful means by the operation of the Spirit to metamorphize our natural deformity, to change our corrupt affections, and to raise us from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. Therefore our Saviour calls this knowledge life, yea and life eternal, john 17.3. This is life eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that they know thee the only true God, and whom thou hast sent jesus Christ. That is, this is the means and only ordinary means to obtain happiness. For, there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved, Acts 4.12. It is the name, the faith, and the true knowledge of Christ that bringeth that life unto us. Via ad Deum est Scientia, (saith Hugo Hugo de instructione novitiorum. ) The way to God is by knowledge, by knowledge we pass to holy discipline, by holy discipline to heavenly goodness, by heavenly goodness to eternal blessedness for evermore. And Saint Bernard S. Bernard de ordine vitae. well observes, that until a man by faith do know his Creator, ignorance the mother of all vices possesseth his soul: and thereupon he noteth a twofold knowledge necessary to salvation. The first is the knowledge of God, the second the knowledge of thyself. Because as from the knowledge of thyself there proceedeth a fear of the majesty of God, and from the knowledge of God, a love of him who is the chiefest good, so from the ignorance of thyself there springs forth pride, and from the ignorance of God there floweth desperation. And what Saint Bernard attributes to the ignorance and knowledge of God in general, is true also of the ignorance or knowledge of Christ in particular: from the true knowledge of Christ there proceeds a love of Christ (yea, a reciprocal love, not only of thee to Christ, but of Christ to thee,) and from the ignorance of Christ, desperation destroyeth the soul. Si Christum benè scis, nihil est si caetera nescis; Si Christum nescis, nihil est si caetera discis. If thou knowest Christ aright, it is nothing though thou be ignorant of all things else: And if thou be ignorant of Christ, all other knowledge is nothing available to attain thy wished felicity? wouldst thou walk the way to heaven? Christ is the way by which thou mayest walk in safety. wouldst thou not be deceived in thy journey? Christ is the truth to guide thee. wouldst thou not faint, or dye in thy way? Christ is the life, to comfort and strengthen thee to life everlasting, as Saint Augustine sweetly upon those words of our Saviour, joh. 14.6. August. in joh. cap. 14.6. And thus likewise Saint Ambrose Ambr. lib. de virginitate. excellently in his book of Virginity. If thou desirest to cure the wounds of thy soul; Christ is the Physician that can heal thee. If thou be scorched with the burning fever of thy sins; Christ is that fountain of living water, that will refresh thee. If thou be weak, and feeble, and wantest help; Christ is that virtue and power, that is able and willing to secure thee. If thou fearest death, Christ is the life. If thou desirest heaven, Christ is the way. If thou be pressed down with the burden of thy sins, Christ is that righteousness, that will take thy yoke of sin upon him, Mat. 11.28. (which is heavy) and put his yoke of righteousnsse upon thee, (which is light) to ease thee. If thou fliest darkness, Christ is the light to lighten thine eyes that they steep not in death, joh. 1.9. yea that light who lighteneth every man that cometh into the world. If thou seekest food, Christ is that bread that came down from heaven to feed and nourish thy soul & body to eternal glory, where is freedom from evil, E●t omnibus omnia, quia isto ha●●o omnia habentur; & sine ipso nihil est quicquid est. Chrysost. ibid. and fullness of good for evermore. Quid plura charissimi? What shall I say more, beloved? (as the Father concludes) Christ is all things to all men, because he that hath Christ, he hath all things; and he that wants Christ, had he the whole world, he hath nothing. All this we have by Christ, and the means of having Christ; and this, is the true knowledge of Christ (of which our Apostle speaks.) So that here you see again the excellency of this true knowledge of Christ, from whence he infers our new creation. And further, that of Saint Bernard Bernard. super Cant. serm 37. Ornat animam & eruditeam, & facit ut p●ssitetiam alios erudire. is truly verified again of this divine knowledge, this knowledge of Christ. It decketh and garnisheth the soul, and instructeth it, and makes it able to teach others also. And hence Saint Paul did so highly esteem it, that he counted all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, Philip. 3.8. So that as Plutarch Plutarch. adversus Colotem. relates of that wise counsel, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Know thyself, that amongst all those sayings which were written or given by the Delphian Oracles, that was generally accounted to be most divine; so may we conclude of the knowledge of Christ, that amongst all those things which are given from God for man to know and believe, there is none more excellent, more necessary, more comfortable, then is this divine and saving knowledge of Christ. Quest. 1 But before I come to the use. To explain this Doctrine a little further, Wherein the true knowledge of Christ consisteth. Answ. What is this knowledge, may some man demand, or wherein doth it consist which is so excellent, so necessary, so comfortable for every Christian soul? And I answer, it consists, first in the knowledge of Christ's person, and secondly of his offices. His person is manifested first by his names, and secondly by his natures: His names in the new Testament are commonly two; The 1. jesus, which signifieth a Saviour, so interpreted by the Angel, and the reason given, for he shall save his people from their sins, Mat. 1.21. Name jesus. Mat. 1.21. A name that is full of joy, full of comfort, and full of unspeakable gladness to the soul of a Christian. jesus, it is honey in the mouth, Bernard. in Cant. music in the ear, and a jubilee of rejoicing in the heart, (as Saint Bernard sweetly:) a name under which no man may despair, since the mercy of God in jesus is abundantly sufficient for all that believe in him. This is his firist name. His second is Christ. We have found the Messiah (saith Peter) which is, Name Christ. being interpreted, the Christ, joh. 1.41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, Vnctus, Christ the anointed, yea anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, Psal. 45.8. Christ is that anointed who giveth freely to us that ointment of the Spirit, 1. joh. 2.20. by whom we have comfort in the beloved. And as his names are, so is his nature gracious and full of goodness. And this is twofold, Divine and Humane. First Christ is God, the second person in the blessed Trinity, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that eternal word of his Father, begotten of his Father, from all eternity, joh. 1.1. The nature of Christ is twofold. 1. Divine nature. Athanasius. Creed, Est patri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Zanchius in Epist. 1. joh. c. 1. loc. 2. Euseb. ecclesi. Hist. lib 10. cap. 1. Luk. 1.35. Galat. 4 4. Coequal and Consubstantial, that is, of one substance with the Father and the Spirit, as it was decreed in the Nicen Council against Arius the Heretic. And so the Scripture affirms him to be the Eternal God, Esay 9.6. The brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, Heb. 1.3. And necessary it was that he should be God. First in respect of that intolerable weight of evil with which mankind was oppressed, which could be taken off by no creature in the world, and therefore the Saviour must needs be God; And secondly in respect of that inestimable good, that freedom from evil, and fullness of joy restored by Christ, who is made unto us of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 1. Cor, 1.30. And therefore the Redeemer must needs be God. Yea Christ is not only God but Man, which is his second nature. 2 Humane nature. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The word was made flesh, and dwelled amongst us, and we beheld his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, john 1.14. Ditata est illa humanitas propter vnionem ad verbum omni sapientia & gratia, saith Damascen: Damaescen. li. 3. De Fide, ca 22. For that admirable union of the Flesh with the Word; the humanity of Christ was enriched with all wisdom and grace. And expedient it was that Christ should be man, that the nature of man might satisfy the justice of God for man, who hath sinned against God. Therefore he took not upon him the nature of Angels, but the seed of Abraham (saith S. Paul) Heb. 2.16. Lastly he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, God and man in one person; Athanasius Creed. Apostles Creed. God of the substance of his Father before all worlds, and man of the substance of his mother, conceived of the holy Ghost, and borne of the blessed Virgin in time, according to the Scriptures. The Offices of Christ. 1 Prophetical. Mat. 5.1. joh. 10.11. Mat. 28.19. Zanchius in 1. joh. c. 1. loc. 3. jesus verus Messiah, id est, rex ill●, sacerdos & prophetae unicus promissus in lege. Bucan. loc come. Alsted. Theolog. Catechet. 2 His Priestly Office. john 1.29. 1. john 2.2. Hebrews 10.10. Zanchius in Epist. ad Philip. Capit. 2. Vtraque pars obedientiae Christi, id est, tota eius obedientia nostra facta est, cessitque in salutem nostram. His offices are three. The first is his Prophetical office, by which, first, in his own Person, and secondly, by his Ministers, he hath reueiled the Gospel (that is, that secret counsel of his Father concerning the redemption of mankind) unto us. For this was one end why God sent his Son, that he should preach the Gospel to the poor, Esay 61.1. And in this respect Christ is that Prophet foretold by Moses, Deut. 18.15. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thy brethren like unto me, unto him shall ye hearken. Again, as Christ is our Prophet, so is he also our Priest, or hath also a Sacerdotal Office, by which he being that Mediator between God and man, by his Active and Passive Obedience, by his doing and suffering, he hath perfectly fulfilled the Law for us, fully appeased the wrath of his Father, and reconciled us unto him, so that now God the Father beholding us in his Son Christ, accepteth us as just and righteous for his sake. Heb. 10 19 Mat. 3.17. And thus is Christ our Redeemer, our Saviour, our Priest, who by offering up that Sacrifice of himself, once for all, Rom. 3.25. (as a sweet smelling incense of reconciliation for our redemption) hath made an atonement to God for us. The Lord swore and will not repent, Thou art a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek, Psal. 110.4. And by this his Priesthood, of servants we are become sons, Galat. 4.4. and of bondslaves freemen in him. Lastly, Christ is our King. First, by his power, 3 The Kingly Office of Christ. Ezek. 37.24. Dan. 9.25. Reuel. 19.16. by which he ruleth over all creatures. For all power is given unto him both in heaven and in earth, Math. 28.18. Secondly, by his grace, by which peculiarly he defendeth and governeth his Church, making it rich in earth, with abundance of grace, and rich in heaven, with abundance of glory, defending it outwardly by his power, and guiding it inwardly by his blessed Spirit. joh. 14.16.17. Psal. 2.9. Psal. 20.1. Mat. 11.28. 1. Cor. 15.55.56.57. And in this respect properly he is said to be a King: First, because he hath vindicated and redeemed his Church, which before Satan kept in thraldom. Secondly, because he hath overcome that king or prince of darkness the Devil. And thirdly, because all those that do fly unto him for succour, he defendeth them here, and maketh them blessed for ever hereafter. And in this respect, that is most true which was spoken by the Prophet, That he hath set his King (Christ) upon his holy hill of Zion, Ps. 2.6. And thus you see briefly what is to be known of Christ, both in respect of his Person, and of his Office. But how or with what kind of knowledge must we Question 2 know this, may be a second demand, With what kind of knowledge we must know Christ. Answer. A twofold knowledge of God & Chri●● before this doubt be fully cleared? And to resolve this question, we must know that there is a twofold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, cognition or knowledge of God and of Christ. The first is a true, certain, and perfect knowledge, and this is that by which a man doth truly, certainly, and perfectly, that is, not in part only, and enigmatically, or as in a glass darkly, but in whole, and most clear manner, know God, and Christ as he is God and man in one person. Zanchius in 1. joh. cap. 2.3. v. And with this perfect and absolute knowledge in this world, only Christ as he was man did know God. But with this knowledge (in this life) Christians do not know God, neither can they know him thus, till the life to come. Nay, with this full, perfect, and absolute knowledge, Christ is not known of us, especially as he is God, or as united God and man in one person, in that his most wonderful and admirable union. For in this life we are not fully united to Christ our head, neither shall be till we be glorified with him in heaven. And therefore in this life that of the Apostle may be truly verified both of the knowledge of God and of Christ, For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known, 1. Cor. 13.12. Secondly, therefore there is an imperfect knowledge, but yet it is true and certain, yea, and evident also, though not with the evidence of sense and natural reason, yet with the evidence of faith and spiritual understanding. And this is that by which all the elect being regenerated by the Spirit of God, do in this life know and acknowledge God and Christ. That of the Prophet is truly verified in this: They shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31.34. Zanchius in Epist. ad Ephes. cap. 4. And as there are two sorts of men in the Church who profess Christ: The first of Hypocrites, who do brag indeed of the knowledge of Christ, and in words do confess him to be true God, and true man, and a Saviour, but in their deeds they deny him, always living in their sins, and never repenting; yea, howsoever they profess an obedience to the Law of God, performing (or rather seeming outwardly to perform) some of the Commandments, yet in their minds and hearts they love not the Law of God, yea, rather they hate it; nor are they delighted with the Law, but rather loathe and dislike it, they themselves being but Hypocrites, and their profession mere Hypocrisy. The second kind, are of the elect and regenerate, (though their regeneration in this life be imperfect) and these are they who do so know Christ and believe in him, Psal. 51. Mat. 26.75. Luke 15.21. Nam ●isi Deum ex animo diligunt, & sincere cordis affectu: multam tamen adhuc cordis & animae partem occupatam habent carnis cupiditatibus, quibus retrahuntur & ●istuntur quo minus citato ad deum cursu pergant. Calvin. Institut. lib. 3. cap 19 sect. 4. Rom. 7. Quid hic faciciam cum sentiunt nihil se minus quam legem praestare? volunt, aspirant, conantur, Sed nihil ea qua decei perfectione. Calvin. lib. 3. ca 19 sect 4. A twofold imperfect know l●dge. that they do study and endeavour truly and sincerely to compose and frame their lives according to his will and example; and if at any time they fall into sin, into the breach of God's Commandments, by their own weakness, and the tentations of their enemies, the World, the Flesh, or the Devil: yet with David, or Peter, or the Prodigal, they are truly sorrowful, and unfeignedly repenting, they return again to God the Father of mercy, to Christ their most gracious redeemer, and being reassured of the free remission of their sins in him, they rise as it were from death to life, from sin to righteousness; and being inflamed with a love of God and of Christ, with a love and delight in his law (though imperfect also) they do strive again, and earnestly endeavour to fulfil the same: and although they see that they are not able to keep the commandments as they should, (often complaining with Paul of their own weakness) yet leave they not off to desire, (though this also be sometime eclipsed and weakened, and not all times alike) daily striving to put off the old man, and to be clothed with the new. As there are these 2. kinds of men (I say) the one imperfect hypocrites, hated of God: the other imperfect Christians, like good soldiers in the Church militant, striving, fight, combating for this perfection; and beloved of God in Christ: so is there a twofold imperfect knowledge. The first a bare naked historical, hypocritical knowledge, cold, carnal, dead, fruitless and without efficacy, residing only in the mind and understanding, and showing itself in words, but neither pi r●ing the heart, nor by renovation of life stirring up that man in whom it is, to the good of his neighbour, or glory of God. And this in the Scripture is called a dead faith by Saint james, jam. 2.20. Mat. 13.4, 5, 6 a temporary faith by our Saviour, and an hypocritical faith by Saint Paul; because it is a knowledge without practice, a faith not working by love, like that of the servant who knows his master's will, but doth it not, Luk. 12, 47: or that of the Gentiles who did know God, but did not glorify him as God, Rom. 1.21. Or lastly like that of the Devil, Mar. 1.24. 1. Cor. 8.1. who did know Christ, confessed him to be the holy One of God, but was nothing bettered by his knowledge. And this knowledge edifieth not, but puffeth up, Luk. 12.47. saith the Apostle, and in stead of comfort bringeth confusion to the soul: For he that knoweth the will of his Master, and doth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. There is a second knowledge therefore, which though it be imperfect, yet it is true, certain and sound, lively, operative, and effectual; a spiritual knowledge working in us a love of God and of Christ, a delight in his law, and a desire to fulfil it, such a knowledge, Qua immutamur, ita ut quae novimus opere conemur exprimere (as Peter Martyr Pet. Martyr loc. Com. well describes it) by which we are changed and become new men, so that those things which we know inwardly in our minds and understandings, we endeavour to express outwardly in our lives and conversations; Mat. 7.21. This is the knowledge of the Saints, who strive not to be hearers of the word only, but doers, as Saint james exhorts, james 1.22. And as Aquinas Aquinas prim. part. sum. quaest. 12. art. 13. Vide Suar. in Thom. 1. Cor. 2.8, 9, 10, etc. and the Schools dispute the question concerning the knowledge of God, whether by grace we have a more high and excellent knowledge then that which is obtained by natural reason, and (agreeable to Saint Paul) conclude the question affirmatively: so may we more fully conclude of the knowledge of Christ, That there is none obtained by natural reason, or if any, it is only that carnal, naked, and speculative knowledge which is unprofitable. But for this practical, this sound and saving knowledge, it is not only obtained, but also increased by grace, and by grace it feedeth and nourisheth our souls in faith, and hope, and charity, to eternal life. And thus you see what is to be known concerning Christ, and what this spiritual knowledge of Christ is, of which our Apostle speaks (in the occasion of my text) which is so necessary, so profitable, 2. Cor. 5.16. so comfortable for every Christian soul. I come now to the use, that I may build somewhat upon this foundation worth your observing. First then, if knowledge, 1. Teachers of Ignorance, justly condemned. D. Col. in Confer. with M. jewel. See jewels reply Article 127 pag 471. Nicola. Cusan. Exercit lib 6. ubi Ecclesia. and the knowledge of Christ be so excellent; how much are those to be blamed, who are not ashamed to preach ignorance, or at least in their practice to muffle the people in their superstitious blindness, and hide from them this knowledge, yea this most excellent knowledge of Christ, making ignorance the mother of devotion, and unreasonable obedience without knowledge (as a horse obeyeth his master) to be the most perfect and commendable? And with this did the Pope in old time hoodwink and blindfold the Princes of the world, using them as the Philistims did Samson, putting out the eyes (not of their bodies) but of their souls, so enthralling them in that black dungeon of darkness, that they could not see their miserable bondage, O miseres Imperatores & scholar's Principes qui ha● & alia sustinetis, & vos s●ruos Ecclesia facitis. Pet. Ferra. i●n. Citat. ab li●●v. inter testes ● e●tatis. Revel. ●6. 13. but willingly (or rather by constraint through the pride and ambition of Antichrist) subiecting themselves to be his vassals, to hold his stirrup, to lead his horse, to kneel down and kiss his foot, and like lackeys to run and wait on him at his pleasure. For that was th●ir hour and the power of darkness, as our Saviour once said to the chief Priests and Elders their predecessors, Luk. 22.53. And such hath since been the practice of those Romish locusts, those frogs that crawl out of the mouth of the Beast, binding the people in ignorance by their prayers in an unknown tongue: setting them their Ave-Maries and Pater-nosters, which they understood not; and keeping the Sacred Scriptures, the Key of knowledge from them: Contrary to the command of Christ who bids, Search the Scriptures: John 5.39. to the practice of the Apostles; who without question preached in a tongue not unknown to the people to whom they spoke. For to what end else had they that admirable gift of tongues bestowed upon them, Acts 2.4. or why did Saint Paul commend it, 1 Cor. 14.2. and exhort so earnestly unto it? And contrary to the judgement, doctrine, and practise of the ancient Fathers. For why else did St. Hierome translate the Scriptures into the Dalmaticke or Slauon tongue, Alphonsus de Haeres. lib. 1. ca 13. (as Alphonsus de Castro confesseth) if he would not have had the people to have understood them? Or why did S. Augustine exhort the Priests of his time, to correct the errors of their Latin speech? and give them this reason (which agreeth with that of the Apostle) Populus ad id quod planè intelligit, dicat Amen; 1 Cor. 14.16. That the people unto the thing which they plainly understand may say, Amen; if he would have had the people ignorant, or to be blindfolded for want of this divine and excellent knowledge? In a word, why doth the Apostle exhort, That the word of God should dwell plentifully in the Colossians: August. de Catechizandes rudibus, cap. 9 In all wisdom, teaching and exhorting one another in Psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in their hearts? Coloss. 3.16. (which S. Hierom understands of the lay people:) or why did Origen wish, Hiero. in cap. 3. Epist. ad Colos. Origen. in Esay. hom. 2. Chrysost. Hom. Epist add Colos. Chrysost. Hom. 2 in joh. that all would do that which is written, Search the Scriptures? or S. chrysostom, so earnestly exhort, Audite seculares omnes, etc. Hear ye men of the world, get ye the Bible that most wholesome remedy for the soul. And again, Harken not hereunto only in the Church, but also at home, let the husband with the wife, let the father with the child talk together of these matters, and both too and fro let them inquire, and give their judgements, and would to God they would begin this good custom? Why, I say, do these Fathers so earnestly commend Knowledge, if Ignorance were better, or that it were good to lull the people asleep with their faith in gross, to believe as the Church believes, with their knowledge in gross? to be contented with that which is locked up in the Priest's closet; to bar them from the Scriptures, the Church, or whatsoever may bring them out of darkness into light, or from the power of Satan and his Antichrist, unto God? In a word, if this were the mind of these holy Fathers (whose disciples these men would make the world believe, they only are) why then are they contrary to the Fathers in practice, depriving the people of the means of knowledge, and daily spreading the veil of ignorance over their hearts? Certainly I can give no other reason but that of S. chrysostom, Chrysost. in Opere imperfect. Hom. 44. which is most proper unto them; Haeretici sacerdotes claudunt ianuas veritatis, etc. These Heretical Priests shut up the gates of the Truth, for they know that if the Truth be once laid open, their Church shall be forsaken, and they from their pontificial dignity, shall be humbled and brought down to the common and base estate of the people. August. in Psal. 33. And that of S. Augustine is truly verified not only of the people who are their disciples, but of the Priests themselves, Erat in illis regnum Ignorantiae, id est, regnum erroris. There was (nay there is) in them the kingdom of Ignorance, that is, (not of Devotion but) of Error; or if not of ignorance, then certainly of malice. For as it is related of Caligula that he set golden loaves, and all other services of gold before his guests and bade them eat; so these like Tyrants over the consciences of poor Christians, set their Golden-Latine-seruice before the people; but hoodwink their eyes, and manacle their hands; that though they hear, yet can they not see, nor understand, and therefore neither receive, nor taste of it, neither be moved to repentance, nor get any comfort or quiet to their conscience: and than what profit can it be unto them? For what profiteth a golden key, August. de Doctrina Christiana lib 4. cap. 11. Quid p●edest Clavis aurea si aperire quod volumus non potest? aut quid obest lignea si hoc potest, quando nihil quaerimus nisi aperire quod clausum erat? 2. Sam. 16.10 s●ith S. Augustine, if it cannot open, that we desire to be opened? or what hurteth a wooden key if it be able to open, seeing we desire nothing but that the thing that is shut may be opened unto us? Knowledge in our mother tongue by reading of the Scriptures, by coming to the Church, by hearing of Divine Service and word of God preached, is fare better than ignorance in the Latin, Greek, or Hebrew which is not understood. To conclude this then, as David once speak to Abishai, upon another occasion: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, What have I to do with you, or what business is there between me and you, ye sons of Zeruiah? (for so much the Hebrew imports) So let every true Christian say to these Deceivers, who creep into men's houses, 2. Tim. 3.6. and lead aside simple women; who with signs and lying wonders, bewitch their hearers that they embrace darkness rather than light, (because they receive not the love of the truth, 2 Thes. 2.10. that they might be saved;) What have we to do with you yea teachers of lies? for what fellowship hath light with darkness? or the sons of knowledge with the professors of ignorance? It is not ignorance but knowledge, yea this true knowledge of Christ, that bringeth true joy and gladness to the soul. 2 Those that delight in Ignorance, to be lamented. In the second place therefore, I cannot but grieve at those, who living in the clear light and Sunshine of the Gospel, wilfully shut their eyes, barring themselves from the light, and loving darkness, as the delight of their soul; who grope at noon day, and hug the mists of blindness, going on in their idle and careless security, lest they should see the light, and understand the paths in which they tread: who though they make an outward show of Christianity, yet are they zealous in seeking for honours, riches, and the trash of the world; but careless and negligent in the search of divine wisdom. But doth not Wisdom cry? Prou. 8.1. and understanding utter her voice? How long ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and ye fools hate knowledge? Prou. 1.22. Is not the merchandise of wisdom better than silver, Prou. 3.14.15 and the gain thereof then fine gold? Is not knowledge more precious than rubies? or what canst thou desire that may be compared to her? Why then in the midst of knowledge dost thou live in ignorance? why dost thou not seek after her, as for silver, and desire her more than the choicest gold? O beloved, how miserable are these men, who having lived many years under the Ministry of the Gospel, are yet ignorant of this knowledge of Christ, Heb. 6.1. and had need to be instructed, even in the first principles of the Oracles of God who are ignorant and wilfully ignorant, which addeth to their sin. A twofold Ignorance. For there is a twofold ignorance; the first a simple or single ignorance, which is that deprivation of knowledge, 1. Simple Ignorance. or defect of understanding, or blindness of the mind, which did rise and spring from the fall of our first parents, and was derived to us through the muddy channel of our natural corruption. Of this S. Paul, 1. Cor. 2.14. The natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Thus many a man is ignorant of the Gospel, because he hath never been taught it; And this is that darkness in which natural men delight and sport themselves like a child that is borne in a dungeon, because they know not the benefit of the light. But this ignorance is banished by education, and the excellent means of divine instruction. 2. Gross and careless Ignorance. Secondly, there is Ignorantia crassa & supina, A gross careless and wilful ignorance, such as that of the Scribes and Pharises, who although they did hear the preaching of Christ, and saw his miracles, yet would they not believe nor be instructed. For the god of this world had blinded their eyes, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them. And of this one well observeth, Qui ex crassa & supina ignorantia peccat, D. Case in A.B.C. Moral. Philos. duplici poena dignus est, una pro voluntaria ignorantia, altera pro scelere quod commisit. He that sins of a gross and careless ignorance, deserves a double punishment, one for his wilful ignorance, and another for the wickedness he hath committed. And this for the most part is that kind of ignorance that reigns now in the world; because they esteem not of the ordinances of God, nor desire truly as they ought to be instructed by them. Therefore they endeavour not to know God nor Christ as they should, but delight rather in ignorance; for which cause God oftentimes gives them up (as he did the Gentiles) to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not comely, Rom. 1.28. and having their cogitations darkened, they work all uncleanness even with greediness, Ephes. 4.18, 19 August. Tom. 7. contra julian. Pelag. This ignorance, was the punishment of sin, and sin itself, and the cause of sin, as S. Augustine concludes out of the Scriptures. And therefore there is no cause why men should delight in ignorance or in the light of knowledge cover themselves with the thick clouds of ignorance as it were with a garment. It is S. Chrysostom's S. Chrysost. Hom. 9 in Epist. ad Coloss. observation, That this is the cause of all evils, that the Scriptures are unknown; and it may well be verified of the want of this divine knowledge, this knowledge of Christ which is comprehended in the Scripture, as the pearl is closed in the shell. Ignorance is the mother of error (saith Fulgentius. Fulgentius Episcop. lib. 1. fol. 29. Concil. Tolet. 4. can. 24. Ant. in Meliss. part. 1. ser. 50. Max. serm. 17. ) To whom the fourth Toledan Council agrees, canon the 24. Socrates being asked, what was the most beautiful creature? he answered: A man decked and garnished with learning; And Diogenes, being demanded what burden the earth did bear most heavy? He answered, An ignorant and illiterate man. If these Philosophers did thus judge of the excellency of knowledge, and the vileness of ignorance; how should Christians blush for shame, that having lived so long in the School of Christ, they may yet be found ignorance of Christ, and of the way to happiness? For this without question will prove to be true, if they should be Catechised even in the beginnings of the doctrine of Christ. But as the Lord by the Prophet demands the question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, What is the cause of so much ignorance in the light of the Gospel? What is the defection, Quest. 1 the failing or transgression of Jacob, or as it is read in the old translation of Pagnine, What is the cause of the failing or prevarication of jacob? so may some man demand here: What is this ignorance of Christians? or rather, what is the cause of this want of the knowledge of Christ, since by the grace of God the light of the Gospel shineth so clearly amongst us? And I answer. First, that the cause is in the learners: Answ. 1. In hearers the first cause of ignorance is idleness, want of meditation and prayer. for some there are who although the means of getting this knowledge be offered unto them, yet will they not seek nor labour to obtain it; they lend only their ears to the preacher for the time of the Sermon, but they are so idle, they will neither spend any time in meditation to increase and better their knowledge, nor pray for the blessed Spirit to assist them; therefore they hear, but they understand not, they are always learning, 2. Tim. 37. but never come to the knowledge of the truth. Nonproficiency in the school of Christ is their sin, and a Non novi, Mat. 25.12. I know you not, shall one day be their punishment except they repent. Otium stultitiam, labour scientiam generat, saith Hugo. Hugo de Claustro animae. Idleness breeds folly, but it is labour and industry that begets understanding. As there is no fruit to be loooked for upon that tree where buds and blossoms have not first appeared; so ordinarily, no divine and spiritual knowledge of Christ, where labour and industry, and the grace of God, have not first been the ushers. Therefore when Demosthenes was asked, how he came to be so eloquent an Orator; he answered, St●laeus serm. 27. Plus olei quàm vini mihi consumptum est: I have spent a great deal more oil than wine; intimating thereby that he had not gotten his eloquence without labour and study both day and night. But many men now adays spend more wine than they do oil, and that is the reason why they want this excellent treasure of divine knowledge; they are like those who refuse the nut because they will not take pains to break the shell; Simil. or like a man who loseth a rich treasure, because he will not labour to dig it out of the earth; or like him who neglects a precious Diamond or Orient pearl, because he will not stoop to take it up. But this man shall be marked with the brand of folly, and ignorance shall for ever dwell in his forehead, when those who are industrious shall obtain knowledge, and delight themselves with understanding. 2. Note. And here you may soon espy the cause, why so many students in the Universities, and Lawyers at Inns of Court, come so unfurnished, the one to the Pulpit, the other to the Bar; the one to feed the souls of their flocks, the other skilfully & honestly to plead the rightful cause of their poor clients. They spend more wine than oil; & hence we so often hear words without knowledge, without matter, without method, light as vanity, full of weakness, ignorance, and indiscretion, because they are laborious in sowing the seeds of folly, and idle, spending little or no time for this divine and most excellent knowledge. But as it is related of Bion the Philosopher, Max. serm. 1. that meeting with one of his friends, who was curiously busied to have his picture in stone, cut like unto him, but careless for the study of learning, he reproved him on this manner: Tu ut tibi similis lapis fieret, curasti, ac ipse ne lapidi similis fias non curas? Hast thou been so careful that the stone might be made like thee, and art thou not careful, that thou (by ignorance) be not made like unto the stone? so may we conclude of these sons of vanity, Are ye so careful to fulfil your lusts, which will procure your destruction; and so negligent to be filled with divine knowledge which would fill you with happiness? Be industrious, strive and pray for this knowledge: Thus shall you escape the fetters of ignorance, and this divine knowledge shall guide your souls to felicity. Secondly, 2. Second cause of ignorance in hearers is an opinion that they are too old. joh. 3.4. some there are who think themselves too old to learn, and therefore they continue in ignorance, and refuse to labour for this divine knowledge. But as it is true of regeneration, a man may be borne again when he is old, contrary to the opinion of Nicodemus, joh. 3. yea it is necessary he should, because otherwise he cannot enter into heaven: so is it true of this divine knowledge, this spiritual knowledge of Christ; a man may learn when he is old, yea he ought to learn and labour for this most comfortable knowledge, because without knowledge he cannot attain salvation. joh. 17.3. August epist. ad Hieron. Magis tamen decet discere quam ignorare. It was S. Augustine's opinion, that to learn that which is needful, no age should seem too late, because although it is more fit for old men to teach then to learn, yet it is more fit to learn then to be ignorant. To refuse learning and divine knowledge, because a man is old, is as if a thirsty traveller should refuse to drink, because he had gone a long journey before he could get it. And what is more foolish (saith Seneca) then because thou hast not learned a long time, Senec. epist. 76. not to learn at all? Omnis aetatis homines schola admittit, The school admits men of every age, Philostratus: Honestum est & seni dicere etc. as well old as young. Therefore as Philostratus relates of Marcus the Emperor, that when Lucius came to Rome, meeting the Emperor, he asked him whither he went, and for what cause: to whom the Emperor answered, It is an honest thing even for an old man to tell you, I go to Sextus the Philosopher, discam quae nondum scio; that I may learn those things which I know not. And it is related of Themistocles, that having lived a hundred & seven years, Brusius lib. 3. cap. 31. and being ready to dye, he affirmed that he had spent all his time in the honest study of Philosophy for the use and good of men; but now it did grieve him that he was then to departed this life when he did but begin to be wise by the study of learning: so that if he had lived longer, he would still have laboured for perfection in knowledge, and well he might: Diogen. lib. 3. cap. 31. for learning and knowledge is profitable for all ages, for all persons, for all estates; it bringeth sobriety to young men, solace and comfort to old men, riches to poor men, ornaments to rich men, as Diogenes Laertius w●ll observed. And if this be the fruit of moral learning, much more excellent is the benefit of this spiritual and saving knowledge of Christ, from whence Saint Paul infers our new creation; and therefore let no man make excuse, but seek with diligence to obtain it. Thirdly and lastly, this deceiveth many (saith Hugo Hugo lib. de didasc. A third cause of ignorance in hearers, that they think they have knowledge sufficient. ) that they would seem to be wise before the time; they think if they have but a sprinkling of this divine knowledge, they have sufficient, and they need not labour for any more; But as it is with the light of a lamp, except you daily feed it with oil, the light will soon be extinguished, so is it with the light of this divine knowledge; except you daily increase it by adding of what you have not, you will easily forget what you have. If you anoint Cedar or juniper wood with oil, no canker will eat it. So if you bestow the oil of industry upon your knowledge, the worm of ignorance cannot hurt it. But as a standing pool will soon putrify, or be dried up if it want a spring to feed it; so if your knowledge stand at a stay, or be not supplied by a daily labour of increase, it will quickly be dried up, whither as the grass on the house top, and come to nothing before you be ware. Therefore as in the parable of the talents they that had increased were rewarded, and the unprofitable servant cast into utter darkness, Matth. 25.30. And in the parable of the seed, those only were acceptable with God, who did grow in grace, bringing forth fruit, in some thirty, in some sixty, in some an hundred fold. Matth. 13.23: So doth God require that our talon of knowledge should be increased, and the seed of divine wisdom should grow in us. For what husbandman will dress and till his field, if he hope for no harvest? or what vine-dresser will prune his vines, if he despair of a vintage? or what father will set his child to school if he profit nothing in learning? God is our spiritual husbandman who ploweth up the fallow ground of our hearts: He is our vine-dresser, who prunes the superfluous branches from our soul. He is our heavenly Father who sets us to learning in the school of Christ; and if he find no harvest, no vintage, no increase in divine knowledge, he may well complain against us, as he did against Israel, Esay 5.4. What could I have done more to my vineyard that I have not done unto it? wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? Yea he may threaten us with destruction for our unfruitfulness, as he did them, Esay, 5.5, 6. For as the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing of God; but that which bears thorns and briers, is rejected and nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned, Heb. 6.7, 8: So likewise, those who receive the treaties of this knowledge, so that they profit thereby, there is a blessing attends the●; and for the rest who thinking themselves to be wise enough, become fools, Rom, 1. Rom. 1.22. God striketh them so with blindness, that they are hood-winked with ignorance, and whiles they seek for truth, they find falsehood, and are fettered with error; as the Egyptians were with the bands of darkness, Exodus, 10.23. And thus you see the first cause why at noon days there is such darkness, and in the abundance of knowledge, such abundance of ignorance dwelleth amongst us: It is the fault of the hearers, some being idle, not respecting knowledge, others thinking themselves too old, neglect instruction; and others being wise in their own conceits, content themselves with ignorance, and refuse to labour for increase in Divine wisdom. But is there no other cause, may some man demand? Quest. 2 2. 'Cause of igrancc in teachers. Answer. Plato lib. 6. de Rep. I answer yes. There may be a fault in the Master as well as in the Scholar, in the Preacher as well as in the people. It was the precept of Plato, whosoever doth desire to be learned and wise, he ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, to be desirous of learning, of hearing, ask and enquiring of those things which are heard. These are three good properties in a Scholar. And there are three as needful for a Teacher. The first, soundness of knowledge, that he may be able. The second, sincerity of heart, that he may be willing. The third, aptness of method, that his Scholars may profit by him. Some are ignorant, and cannot teach; more are slothful, and will not teach; most, though they be able and willing, yea, and painful in the path which they tread, yet do they neglect the surest and best means to plant this Divine knowledge in the minds of their hearers. Quest. 3 And what is this, may some man inquire? Answer. Catechism the best means to Plant this Divine knowledge in the hearts of men. I answer, it is that most profitable and excellent means of Catechising, too much neglected both in City and Country, both here and abroad. I confess our ordinary preaching is of admirable profit, of unualuable virtue, of inestimable benefit, to edify both the understanding and conscience, both the knowledge and practice of our hearers. But if Catechising go not before, if they be not first instructed in the first principles of Christian Religion, we build as it were without a foundation; and though we edify their consciences, and work some change in their lives, yet not laying our groundwork in method and order, confusion overthroweth the building, and after much labour we shall find them ignorant even of the grounds and principles of the knowledge of Christ. And hence it comes to pass that they are so easily tossed with every wind of unconstant doctrine, so easily drawn to error and heresy, to make schisms and divisions in our Church; and we lay the blame on them, and speak against them, when the fault is often more in our selves. Both these therefore, catechising and preaching, like Hypocrates Twins, should go hand in hand together, that verity, and unity, and piety, may dwell amongst us. To omit those times of the Fathers before and after the Flood: The care of God himself in catechising of Adam, writing a Catechism or brief sum of his Law, and (as it were) imprinting it in his heart: The care of the Patriarches to instruct their Families, of Shem, Melchizedek, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Josiah, and the Prophets till Christ: Oh how excellent was the care and industry of the Primitive Church, that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, this groundwork of Christian Doctrine might bring men to the knowledge of Christ! The Apostles themselves did use it, witness that of S. Paul, 1 Cor. 14.19. In the Church (saith he) I had rather speak five words with my understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that I might catechise others (for so the Greek signifieth) then ten thousand words in an unknown tongue: And before him, S. Luke the Evangelist in his preface to that most noble Theophilus, he giveth the reason why he did write the History of the Gospel unto him, That thou mightest know (saith the Evangelist) the certainty of those things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in which thou hast been catechised or instructed, as our Translatours render it, Luk. 1.4. And hence Apollo's, an eloquent man, and mighty in tne Scriptures, is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, catechised or instructed in the way of the Lord, Act. 18.25. To illustrate this further, Isidorus Isidorus l●b. 2. de Origen office Ecclesiast. cap. 10. divers orders of Christians in the Primitive Church. 1. affirms, that there were three orders of Lay Christians in the Primitive Church. The first were the Catechumen, who were learners and hearers of the Catechism, of which many were men of ripe years, of jews or Gentiles, who were converted to the Christian Faith, but not yet baptised till they were approved to be fit for the Sacrament. Such a Catechumen, was S. Ambrose, when he was chosen Bishop of Milan, the state of the Church then so requiring, because of that pestilent Heresy wherewith the Arians had infected it, Sozomen. Hist. Eccle. lib. 6. cap. 24. as Sozomen affirms. Such a one was Saint Augustine when of a Maniche he was m●de a Christian, and wrote diverse Books before he was baptised of Saint Ambrose. Such a one was Arnobius, who being fitted by catechism, and desiring baptism of the Bishops, when he saw they deferred, because they feared least being a Secular man, and abounding with eloquence, he might mock and abuse the Sacrament: Arnobius adversus Gentes. for a testimony of his Faith which before his conversion he so much impugned, he wrote an excellent Book against the Gentiles, of whose Heathenish religion before he had been, as Eusebius and others relate. And such a Catechumen as one of them, S. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Append. Chron. a novice in Christianity, of those two Greek words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in English, a new plant, because they were like plants new set, such as were not yet, or very lately baptised, being scant matriculated, or their names entered into the university of Christ. And these the Latin Church called Auditores, Tertull. lib. de poenit. cap. 6. Cypr. Epist. 13. The second sort of Lay Christians. Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. 7. cap. 17. The third sort of Christians. August. Hom. 49. de verbis illis Apost. Ephes. 6.20. The fourth kind of Christians. Hearers, as Tertullian, and S. Cyprian observe. Secondly, there were the Competentes or Competitors, who with their fellow-catechumens, desired Baptism, and at the time of Baptism were arrayed in white robes, as Socrates relates. Thirdly, there were the fideles, the faithful, or believers, which were so called after they had received the Sacrament of Baptism; such a one was the Eunuch when being baptised, he went on his way rejoicing, Act, 8.39. To these S. Augustine mentioneth a fourth kind, who were called Poenitentes the penitents, and these were those believers, who having fallen into some open sin, and being put back into the company of the Catechumen they were (upon true signs of repentance and satisfaction to the Church) received into their ancient order again. And further, as there were these Catechumen in their several orders, so were there also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Teachers of Catechism in the Primitive Church. Cypr. Epist. 24. Euseb. hist. Eccle. lib. 3. cap. 12. The Catechists who did exercise the office of Catechising, and therefore S. Cyprian calls them Doctores audientium, The Doctors or teachers of the Hearers, and Ruffinus Magistros Catechumenorum: the Masters of the Catechumen. For as Christ did institute diverse offices (as Saint Paul witnesseth, Ephes. 4.11.) so the primitive Church (being careful to enlarge and increase the knowledge of Christ) following the steps of the Apostles, amongst other offices, they did appoint some to be Catechists or teachers of the Catechism, as S. Ambrose Ambros. in Epist. ad Ephe. Cap. 6. affirmeth. And such Catechists amongst other had the Church of Alexandria, in a continued order from the Apostles times for many years together. For as Eusebius relateth, after the Apostles they had Pantaenus, who had learned all things from the Apostles, and by word of mouth Catechised that Church, saith S. Hierome. Hierom in Catalogue. After him they had Clemens Alexandrinus, whose Schoolmaster (a book which he entitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in respect of the variety of the matter in it) is yet extant, and it is nothing else but a kind of Catechism with which he had instructed that Church of Alexandria. After him came Origen, who in the eighteenth year of his age, restored the order of Catechising which before in time of persecution was intermitted. And after these was Heraclas and Didimus and Dionysius and diverse others, as S. Cyprian Cyprian. lib. Epist. 3. cap 22 records. The like order we find in the Church of jerusalem; Socrates. Hist. Eccle lib. 2. cap. 25. The like in the Church of Carthage, in the Church of Rome in the purer times, the like in diverse reformed Churches. And the like at this day commanded & continually enforced by the authority and care of the Reverend Bishops and religious fathers of our Church (though the practice be too much neglected.) To conclude, Ancient Catechisms a sign of the Churches care to plant knowledge. would you have this care of the Church further confirmed; look but to the ancient Catechisms, and brief sums of Divinity, which have been compiled to this purpose. Saint Paul to the Hebrews sets down a brief Catechism; Heb. 6.1.2. which he calls the foundation of Repentance from dead works, and of Faith towards God, of the doctrine of Baptism, and of laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgement, Heb. 6.1, 2. And what else is the Apostles Creed, but a brief Catechism or sum of the Christian Faith, made by the Apostles, for the instruction of believers in the knowledge of Christ? For having received that command of Christ to go and teach all nations. Matth. 28.19. and being fitted and prepared by the power of the Spirit, who enabled them with the gift of tongues in a wonderful manner, Acts 2.4. being about to departed one from the other, Normam prius futurae praedicationis in common constituunt: They do first constitute and appoint amongst themselves a rule or square or guide of their future preaching, as Ruffinus Ruffinus Expos. symbol. as S. Cyprian Tom. 3. pag. 56 a. records. Vide Baron. Tom. 1. Annal. pa. 317. S. August de Tempore serm. 181. Hierom. de Script. Eccle. Betulaius Comment. ad Lactant. lib. 2. cap. 11. Ignatius in Epist. ad Ephes. the Presbyter (who lived in the time of S. Hierome, about the three hundred and ninety year after Christ) in his preface to the Exposition of the Creed relates; and he giveth this reason, that being separated, their preaching might yet agree, and the faithful be grounded in one rule of faith, by which they might be directed to the true and saving knowledge of Christ; And for this end as S. Hierome affirms, there was a Catechism written by S. Cyrill Bishop of jerusalem; And there was another written by john Bishop of the same place, which Betulaeius mentioneth in his Commentaries upon Lactantius. And to these I might add the brief partitions and compendiums of Divinity given by diverse both ancient and modern writers, for the instruction of the ignorant. Jgnatius who was the second Bishop of Antioch, ordained by the Apostles, and succeeded Euodius, the first that governed that Church (as he himself testifieth in his Epistle to the men of Antioch, the 71. year after Christ) He giveth this short division of Christian doctrine, Irenaeus Martyr. lib. 4. cont. Hares. cap. 76. Lactantius Diuin. Institut. lib. 4. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The beginning of life is faith, the end of life is charity or good works; and these two (saith he) if they agree in one, they make perfect the man of God. And Lactantius lib. 3. cap. 30. concludes thus: All the wisdom of man consists in this one thing, That he may know God and serve him. S. Augustine August. Tom. 3. lib. 2. de Doct. Christ. cap. 9 Bishop of Hippo, speaking of the books of the old and new Testament, Either the precepts of doing, or rules of believing, are diligently (saith he) to be traced out. Answerable to these, is that of Polanus, Polan. Syntag. who makes two parts of Christian Doctrine, the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of things to be believed, the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, of things to be done. The sum of all our wisdom (saith judicious Caluin) doth consist in two things, Caluin. Institu. lib. 1. cap. 1. Aquinas Catechism. The knowledge of God, and of ourselves. Aquinas in his Catechism observes five things to be remembered: The first concerning Faith, the second Hope, the third Charity, the fourth of Christian righteousness, the fift of the Sacraments. Vrsinus Vrsinus Catechism. giveth but three as principally to be learned: The first concerning man's misery through the fall of our first Parents, and so by sin. The second concerning our deliverance and freedom from this misery by Christ. The third concerning our thankfulness to God by conforming our lives according to his Law. johan. Duns. Scotus in Prologue. quaest. 3. fol. 10. colum. 2. And besides these, the Schoolmen, and later Divines Musculus, Peter Martyr, Beza, Danaeus, Zanchius, Bucanus, Nowell, jacobus Kimedontius, and others have taken like pains, and written several treatises and sums of Divinity. The confessions of the reformed Churches, Harmony of confessions. & in particular of the Church of England, in the Articles of Religion and that Platform of Catechism, set forth in the book of Common Prayer (and rightly commanded by authority) for preservation of Unity in the Christian faith, and to avoid the danger of Schism in the body of Christ. All show plainly the care of the Church and of religious men in their several ages, to plant the Catechism or grounds of Christian knowledge in the hearts and minds of men. And well they might so do, because these principles of Catechism, not only are, and are rightly called Theological verities, and Capita, the heads of Christian Religion, but Cardines religionis, the very Hinges of religion, as Scaliger Scaliger exercit. 307. sect. 20. calls the Articles of our faith: Because upon these are turned the doors and gates, by which the way to happiness is opened unto us. Catechism is Clavis Scripturae, the Key of the Scripture, because as a key doth open the doors, that we may enter into the Chamber of a beautiful Palace, or fetch the treasure out of a rich treasure-house, so doth Catechism help to understand the Scriptures, and to find the rich treasure of salvation in them. And the ignorance of the heads of Catechism, is the cause why so many understand not the points of religion when they are preached unto them. If we speak of the Image of God in Man, of his state of nature corrupted, of his Redemption, his justification, his Regeneration or the like, they are as fare to seek for many points, even of Catechism, as those men in the Acts, who being asked Whether they had received the holy Ghost? answered, They had not yet heard whether there were a holy Ghost or no, Acts 19.2. Hugo Hugo de Sanct. vict. well compareth wisdom to a tree, and it is sown (saith he) by the Fear of God; watered by Grace, it is rooted by Faith, it buddeth forth by Devotion, it is strengthened by Charity, it waxeth green by Hope, and groweth ripe by perseverance in the search of it to the end. The like is true of this spiritual and saving knowledge of Christ; it is not easily obtained, but there are many steps and degrees before it be perfected. It is planted and increased by Catechism, by the word preached, by the true use of the Sacraments, by that heavenly and holy duty of prayer for the assistance and blessing of the Spirit upon all our endeavours. And therefore Beloved, Application. let me entreat you in the bowels of Christ to bless God for the means of this divine knowledge, so long, so happily, so plentifully continued amongst us; and let us take heed lest by our unthankfulness, we move him to remove our candlestick, Reuel. 2 5. and take this light of his grace from us. Be not careless and negligent of the rich treasure; but as Origen exhorts, * Origen in Rom. 10. Ideo danda est praecipue opera setentiae, etc. Fulgentius lib. 2. cap. 1. ex Xenophon. use diligently these good and profitable means, that you may obtain so excellent and heavenly a blessing; for what more excellent than the true knowledge of Christ crucified? As Fulgentius therefore relates out of Xenopho● ●f the noble Persians, that they taught their children three things above the rest: Equitare, iaculari, & vera dicere: To ride their great horses, that they might boldly meet their enemies: To cast their darts, that they might defend themselves: And to speak the truth that they might be found faithful one to the other: so you that are my brethren the Ministers, instruct carefully your people; and you that are parents and masters of families, teach your children and servants: First, to hearken diligently to the doctrine of Catechism, to the word preached, and other means which are the grounds of this knowledge of Christ. Secondly, to meditate seriously of what they hear: and thirdly to practise religiously what they meditate, and be you an example unto them. Thus shall they be armed against their spiritual enemies (having religion settled in their hearts, and being seasoned with truth and piety) as the Persians were armed against their corporal. And if you cannot teach them yourselves, yet may you be like the whetstone; it cuts not, and yet sharpens the knife to perform the will of the master: and so may you sharpen and encourage them to learn that knowledge which may be profitable and comfortable both to them and you. Attalus the master of Divine Seneca was wont to give this rule, Seneca lib. 19 Epis●. 109. Idem docenti & discenti debet esse propositum, ut ille prodesse velit, hic proficere: The same end and purpose ought to be both to him that teacheth and him that learneth, that the master may profit his scholars by teaching, & the scholar proceed in knowledge by learning. And thus if you do, I have my desire, God shall have the glory, the Church the benefit, and your souls and consciences peace at the latter end. If you truly know Christ, Christ shall be yours, and all the benefits of his death and passion: you shall abound with grace here, and superabound with glory and blessedness, for ever hereafter. And thus you see how and why I have so much enlarged myself to set forth the dignity, necessity and utility of this spiritual knowledge of Christ, which our Apostle intimates in the occasion of my Text: Henceforth know we no man after the flesh, yea though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now know we him so no more. And from whence he infers our new creation; Therefore, or hence from this spiritual knowledge (which works a change in man) If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, Text. Explication. and behold all things are become new. From the occasion. I am come at last to the Text. If any man. But why doth our Apostle stop up the way with an if, as if he doubted whether there were any in Christ or not? If he doth not, why then doth he speak so doubtingly? what need an hypothetical or condicional proposition, where the matter is simple and categorical? I answer, the Apostle here doth not speak doubtingly but indefinitely, and it is a rule in Logic, That an Indefinite proposition, in a matter of necessity is equivalent to an universal. And therefore if any man be in Christ, is as much as if he had said, all that are in Christ, or whosoever is in Christ, He is a new creature. To teach us that in this respect all are alike with God in Christ, whether jews or Gentiles, bond or free, All are alike with God in Christ. of what nation, country or kingdom soever they be. Of a truth I perceive (saith Peter) that God is no accepter of persons, but in every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him, Act. 10.34. For in Christ jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing, but a new creature, Gal. 6.15. We who are Gentiles by nature, were sometimes wild olives, but now we are grafted into the true, and are made partakers of the root and fatness of the Olive tree, Rom, 11.17. And so are all one in Christ: for is God the God of the jews only, and not of the Gentiles? yea of the Gentiles also, saith the Apostle, August. serm. 2. in nativit. Christ. Rom. 3.29. And therefore S. Augustine observes well that Christ was manifested both to those that were near, and to those that were fare off; to the jews in the nearness of the shepherds, to the gentiles in the farnesse of the wise men; to the jews by the manifestation of an Angel, to the gentiles by the apparition of a star; both to jews and Gentiles, to show that all are one and alike in Christ. And if all men both jews and Gentiles are one, and alike in Christ; All Christians are in Christ after especial manner. then much more are Christian men amongst themselues: for as all men were one in the first Adam created alike, of the dust of the earth, so are all Christians one in the second Adam, redeemed alike by the blood of the Lamb. The jews before Christ, they did all eat of the same spiritual bread, and drink of the same spiritual drink, for they drank of the rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ, 1. Cor. 10.3. And the believing jews and Gentiles since Christ, they are all partakers in the same communion of the body and blood of jesus, 1. Cor. 10.17. We are all one body in Christ, and one spirit, we are called in one hope of our vocation; we have one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all, Ephes. 4.4.5. So that all the Saints are as one man in Christ, not by a corporal, but by a spiritual union; not in respect of the persons which are innumerable, but first in respect of that one head, Zanchius' Comment, in Ephes. cap. 2. which is Christ, unto whom all are annexed and united as the members of the body are to the head, but in a spiritual manner. And secondly, in respect of that one, and the same Spirit, by whom we are quickened, and in faith and holiness united unto Christ. For as the body is said to be one, though it hath many members, because they are all quickened by one soul, all knit together unto one head, and all making up one and the same humane nature; 1. Cor. 12.12, 13. so are Christians, one body being quickened by one and the same Spirit, united to one and the same head Christ, and having one and the same nature of grace in newness of life. And hence in the primitive times, of the multitude of believers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, there was one heart and one soul, Act. 4.32. not simply, but in God and in Christ. And so Christians though many, yet are one new man in Christ, one in spirit, one in faith, one in charity, one in will and consent, and one in newness of life. Unity required in Christians. Eph. 2.14. And therefore being thus made one in Christ who is our peace: we should follow the Apostles exhortation, Ephes. 4.3. Endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace: To be at unity with our brethren, at one with ourselves, at unity in faith and religion which is the principal point, S. August. de spirit. & litter. and the badge of a Christian. What S. Augustine speaks of charity is true of this unity; it is the way of God to men, and the way of men unto God; it is the queen of virtues, the most excellent gift: yea that very bond of perfection, Coloss. 3.14. The love of God therefore that is shed abroad in our hearts, Rom. 5.5. should unite and cement the souls of Christians. Oh thou divine love (saith Anselme) how great is thy bond, Anselm. lib. de simil. that thou hast united, not only Angels to God, but God and man after a wonderful manner! and much more should it be powerful to unite the hearts of men, and Christian men one to another. The Papists you know brag and boast much of their unity: Nicolaus Roma●s jesuit. contra Calvin. pag. 426. Platina in Stephano 6. falsely applying these places of Scripture which concern unity, unto themselves: For where hath there been more discord then in the Church of Rome, not only in the members, but in the Antichristian heads themselves? After Pope Stephen (saith Platina) it hath been the custom among the Popes, that those who followed afterwards, would either break or abolish the Acts of the Popes that had gone before them: Pope john the two and twenty, and Pope Nicolas in their whole decrees, are contrary the one against the other: yea and that in those things, Quae videntur ad fidei negotium pertinere, which seem to belong to matter of Faith, Erasmus in Annot. in 1. Cor. 7. Platina in vita Silvest. Onuph. addit ad Plat. in vita Greg. 12. as Erasmus observes. I might show you how some of them have been forcerers, Idolaters, Arian Heretickcs, Nestorian Heretics, Menothelite Heretics, Montanist Heretics, and the like, all differing one from another (as their Scotists and Thomists, and diverse others their sects) or at least differing from Christ jesus who is the true head and governor of his Church. Or if we grant them unity, Eph. 4.15. yet if we try their spirits, and put their unity to the touchstone, we shall find it but counterfeit, no Christian but an Antichristian unity that is amongst them; like that of Simeon and Levi, who were brethren in evil, or of Herod, Gen. 49.5. Luk. 23.12. and Pontius Pilate, who agreed together against Christ; or like themselves of whom Saint john prophesyeth, that they have one mind, and should give their power and strength unto the beast, and all to make war against the Lamb, Reu. 17.13.14. They agree together to defend their own traditions of Purgatory, prayer for the dead, Invocation of Saints, Adoration of Images, superstitious relics, and the like which (contrary to the Scriptures, to the Doctrine of the Apostles, Conc. Nicen. Ruffin. Eccl. Hist. lib. 1. ca 6. the consent of ancient Counsels and Fathers) of the Church, they have invented to maintain Concil. Constantinop. 2. ca 36. the pomp and pride of the Pope, his Cardinals, and themselves, to fill his coffers, and set up his Antichristian Throne, above the Thrones of Kings and Emperors, as the History of times, and their own ambitious practice hath made manifest. It is related of the Meletian schismatics, Hist. Eccl. lib. 8. cap. 46. and the Arrian Heretics, that at first they did much disagree in their several opinions, but (not being able to effect their ambitious designs, being separated) at last they agreed together, and made a league to make war against the pious Clergy of Alexandria; In like manner this brood of Antichrist, though separated amongst themselves in their several sects about matters of the life to come: yet agree they well enough together to keep their Temporal power, and worldly honours unto themselves. And if Heretics and schismatics can agree in evil, how much more should the true professors of the faith of Christ (according to the Doctrine of the Apostles and primitive times) practise a heavenly unity amongst themselves? How should we labour to keep that unity which is wrought by the blessed Spirit, in true faith and holiness, by which the Saints are knit and united unto that one Head of the Church? not the Pope (as Hosius and others would have it, Hosius in Petri coven. Confess. ca 27. Clem. 5. ad nost. in Gloss. Chrysost. ad Col. Hom 6. August. in johan. Tract. 6. 1. Sam 4.21. who being a man, is and ever hath been subject to Error:) but Christ who is such a head, from whom Corpus habet, & ut sit, & ut bene sit, The body hath, both to be, and to be well: and by whose power which he hath kept only to himself, that unity of the Church doth stand, of which it is said, una est columba mea, My dove is one, as S. Aug. observes. And with this unity our Church shall prosper, & the glory of Israel, the light of the Gospel shall for ever dwell amongst us. Menenius Agrippa long since shown the danger of division, Livy, Dec. 1. lib. 8. when (the common people disobeying their governors) he told them that wise parable of a dissension between the members of the body & the belly, denying their service so long to the belly, till they began to be feeble, & not able to help one another. And Scilurus when being near his death, he called his eighty sons, Plutarch, Tom. 1. moral. Apoph. descite regum dict. & gave them a sheaf of arrows to break, and when they could not, while they were bound up together, hebade them take the arrows asunder, and then they break them with ease; signifying that if they being brethren, continued in unity, their enemies could not hurt them, but otherwise they might soon be brought to confusion. Sallust. de Bell. Ingurthm. Concordia parvae res crescunt, discordia maximae dilabuntur (said king Mycipsa to his sons) By concord small things increase, but by discord the greatest are speedily dissolved. Much more I might speak of Division, how hurtful it is to the Church, especially about shadows and ceremonies, A sermon on the Rainbow in Gen. 9.13, and such like, but I have touched this upon another subject. Therefore I conclude, since we all have given our names to Christ, let us all labour to be one in him. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. If any man. None excepted from this newness that are in Christ. Gen. 17.14. Chrystop. Marcell. in Concil. Lat. sess. 4. There is an universality in the proposition which comprehendeth all. To show that there is none privileged, of what state, calling or condition soever they be, if he be or will be in Christ, he is and must be a new creature. In the old Law, that person who would not be circumcised, that soul was cut off from the people of God, Gen. 17.14. And in the Gospel he that is none circumcised in heart, and made new by regeneration, he shall have no part with the Saints of heaven, joh. 3.3. The wise man is not privileged by his wisdom, nor the strong man by his strength, the King is not freed by his crown and dignity, nor the Priest by his power of the Keys; no not the * Tu es alter Deus in terris, C●ed●re Dominum Deum nostrum papam non potuis●e statuere, prout statuit, Haeretieum censeretur, Extrau. john 22. cum in●ce in Gloss. impress. Lugdun, An. 1555. Pope himself, who would seem to be a god upon earth, opening and shutting, binding and losing, pardoning and punishing at his pleasure, yet if he open not unto Christ, and become a new man in him, Christ will cut him off as a withered branch, and with all his privileges cast him into the fire of Hell. For if any man be in Christ, and will have benefit by him, he is and must truly endeavour to be a new creature. Make no excuses then, nor delay the time to leave off the bondage of Satan, and submit thyself to the service of Christ. The service of Christ is perfect freedom, as the service of Satan is absolute slavery; when Christ calls therefore, Mat. 11.28. come willingly unto him that thou mayest find rest unto thy soul. The world calleth, and we run hastily to it. The Devil calleth, and without delay we hearken unto him; the flesh calleth, and we resist not the temptations thereof: and why should we delay or be disobedient then to the call of Christ? delay is most dangerous, and disobedience most perilous to the soul. For as it is related of Tamerlane that great warrior, Paul Iov●. lib. 2. vir●ru, illustrium. Primo die castra candida rendeb at, secundo nigra, tertio ●●●ra. who overcame all Egypt, Persia, and Asia the less, and named himself, not a man, but the scourge of God; that when he came to fight against any City, the first day he pitched white tents, the second black, and the third red, to show that they who yielded themselves the first day, should be saved with all that they had; those who deferred till the second, should be received, but not without some punishment; but for those that delayed till the third day, they should he destroyed without mercy. So it is with this great and mighty warrior Christ Isesus, who is the King of Kings, Reuel. 19.16. and Lord of Lords. The first day, that is, in the beginning when he calleth men to repentance, to forsake their sins and follow righteousness, he hangeth out his white tents of grace, to show that those who are obedient to the heavenly call, he will receive them to favour, free them from much misery (which otherwise sin would have brought upon them) and reward them with happiness for ever in heaven. The second day, that is, when men have a long time neglected his mercy, made excuse, and refused his instruction, he hangeth out black tents to show that they must come then with much repentance, with much sorrow, with many tears, (like the Prodigal, & Mary Magdalen) before they can taste the sweetness of his favour. The third day, that is, when then the time of grace, the time of this life is past, at the day of judgement, either particular at the hour of death, or general at the end of the world, he will hang out, and pitch his red tents, declaring the vengeance that he will then pour upon the wicked, because it is a time of justice and not of mercy. Plutarch. de sanitat. tuenda. pag. 257. Quam ob brevem voluptatis causam summam amisi faelicitatem? And then (though it be too late) as Lycimachus, being surprised in the Country of Thrace, by King Dromichetes, and driven into such a straight, that he was constrained to yield himself and his Army to his enemy for very thirst, cried out, in the bitterness of his grief, (having tasted the water) good God for how short a pleasure have I lost a most excellent happiness! So will they be constrained to cry (but all in vain) For how short a pleasure in sin and wickedness have we lost the pleasure of eternal felicity! Oh then beloved, Let us not make excuses (like the unthankful guest, Mat. 22. Matth. 22.5. ) nor suffer any thing to hinder us from Christ, (though it were our hand, or a foot, or our eye, or any thing more dear unto us:) But let us willingly, and readily, and cheerfully give ourselves unto Christ, that in him we may obtain that newness required; because no man is excepted, no man privileged. If any man be in Christ, he is a new Creature. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. If any man be in Christ. Expositio. Beza in Annotat. Here is the Adiective us, any. But the Substantive man, is understood, yet necessarily employed both in the Greek and Latin, and well expressed in our English translation, If any man. A word or two therefore of this. That you may know man, and what man our Apostle here speaks of, consider his name: First in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as Earth or earthy, to teach man that he is mortal, and as he was taken from the earth, so he must turn to earth again, Gen. 3.19. The name of Man In Hebrew, first Adam, red Earth. To teach man to remember his end. Gen. 3.19. And therefore he should study to live in this life here, as ever remembering he must once die, and so change this life, if he live well, Dan. 12. Mat. 25.2. Bu●aeus lib. de cont●mptu reru n so●tunarum, psum ●oelum suffi●ere h●●●mi natura dedit, ut nom●● Gra●um indicat for a better, a life of glory, and happiness in heaven. But if he live ill, for a worse, a life of woe, and misery for ever in hell. Secondly, in Greek, his name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which seemeth to signify as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is tending upwards (as Budaeus intimates) To show that he only liveth as becomes his name, who lifteth up his eyes to heaven and heavenly things, to God in thankfulness, who gave him both his name, and his nature, with all the good that he hath, Man should h●ue his eyes towards heaven. both for his soul and body. But for that man who hath his eyes, the eyes of his body and mind always fixed downwards towards the earth and earthly things, as he hath the nature, so he deserves the name of a beast, rather than that excellent and noble name of Man. In Latin, to teach man obedience to God. Steph. Paris serm. Thirdly, in Latin, the name of Man is Homo; which (as learned Varro infers) hath his signification ab Humo, from the moist and pliable ground: easily following the turn and winding of the Potter's wheel, that men might learn from the proper name of their own nature, To teach unity between man and man. Dominicus Naws in Peliante. tit. hom. socialis est homuus ac benefica natura, quo solo cognationem cum deo habet. Lactantius lib. 5. insititut. easily to be turned and guided in obedience to the will and command of God. But some derive the Latin name Homo, from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifieth, unity, concord, and agreement of mind. To show that men should strive to be at unity and charity, one with another, like Pylades and Orestes, who had but one mind in two bodies, so true was their love. But I go no further concerning his name. If you consider his nature: First, after a Philosophical manner, I find there were three opinions amongst Philosophers concerning man. The first did teach that man was only ap●orporall substance, that his soul itself was a body, The nature of man. Opinions of Philosophers. and b● consequence, the whole man corporeal; So Democritus, Leucippus, and a sort of Philosophers called Epicures. The second did teach that man was only incorporeal, that is, all soul; for they would have only the soul of man to pertain to the substance and essence of man, and his body to be but an instrument to the soul, as the ship is to the pilot. So Plato and other Stoical of philosophers like himself. The third sort did affirm that man was composed of both as of his essential parts, of a soul as of his formal, and of a body as his material cause, and both required to make up the essence and being of man. Thus Aristotle and the Peripatetics his followers. And this is most agreeable to the Scriptures, for when God made the body of man of the earth, he made his soul from heaven, and uniting them both together in a wonderful manner, Psal. 139.14.15. man became a reasonable creature, or a living soul, Gen. 2.7. Not that he is only a living soul, for he is a living body as well as as a living soul, (the body living by the soul,) but he hath his denomination in that place from the better part which is his soul. And thus you see man's nature philosophically. If we consider him theologically, Man considered Theologically. 3. Estates. 1. Estate, of creation. we shall find him changeable according to the diverse estates whereunto he is subject. And in this life there is a threefold estate of man. The first our excellent estate of creation in Adam, when God did give us our portion with large endowments of all graces, both spiritual and temporal. The second our state of nature, and natural corruption since Adam's fall, 2. Of nature corrupted. in whom like prodigals we spent our patrimony, and lost the excellency of that image wherein God did make us. 3. Of grace. The third and last is our state of grace and regeneration in Christ, for whose merits God the Father doth freely embrace us in the arms of his mercy, and accepts us in him to be sons and heirs of eternal glory. And this is the estate of a Christian man, of that man of whom our Apostle speaks in my Text, If any man be in Christ. And thus having gathered some fruit from the branch which is man, and every Christian man, let us see what we can find in the vine which is Christ, 2. Branch. If any man be in Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, In Christ. The Scripture doth as well teach that Christ is in us, as that we are in Christ. I will give you a few places for many, which are most emphatical. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you (saith Christ to his disciples) john, 14.20. Know you not that Christ jesus is in you, except ye be reprobates? saith Saint Paul, 2. Cor. 13.5. And if any man be in Christ, An admirable union between Christ and his Church. A threefold union of Christ and Christians. Greg. lib. 6. epist. 61. Verbum carnem dicimus factum, non immutando quod erat, sed suscipiendo quod non erat; nostra auxit, sua non minuit. Hil. lib. 12. de Trinit. Cyril lib. 1. c. 16. Chrys. Hom. 10 Ambr. de. Incarn. Dom. c. 6. is my Text. So that hence we may learn that there is an admirable union and Communion between Christ and his Church, between our Saviour and every faithful soul. And to understand this, we must know that there is a threefold Union and Communion of Christ with us. The first in nature: the second in grace, and the third in glory. The first is that Hypostatical or personal Union of our humane nature with the divine, of which Saint John speaks, john, 1.14. And the word was made flesh, and dwelled amongst us, and we saw the glory thereof, as the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word, that is, the Divinity of Christ, was made flesh, that is, did take upon him our humane nature; he took on him the seed of Abraham, saith the Apostle, Heb. 2.16. and did dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in us, (as it is in the Original) that is, in our humane nature, as Saint Hilary, S. Cyrill, S. chrysostom, S. Ambrose, and others observe. And so they used this place against those heretics who affirmed that the Word was converted into the flesh; for if he dwelled in the flesh, that is, in our humane nature, than he remained still what he was, and therefore could not be converted into the flesh, as they falsely imagined. This exposition is true in the substance, though it doth not fully explicate this union of Christ with us; for Christ doth not only dwell in our nature as a man in his mansion house, but is united unto our nature, as the soul to the body, yea after a fare more excellent and wonderful manner. The two natures of Christ, the divine and humane, being united, make one person, saith Damascen; Damasc. lib. 3. cap 4. there is one Christ, not by conversion of the Divinity into the flesh, but by assumption of humanity into his Godhead; one altogether not by confusion of essence, but by unity of person, as Athanasius Athanasius in Symb. affirms. And by this admirable union, Christ the eternal Word of his Father did assume in most near manner unto himself our whole humane nature, without any conversion, confusion, alteration, or separation as the Chalcedon Chalcedon. Symb. creed doth testify, and that, (as Damascen addeth) the proprieties of both natures being safe. Therefore the Ancients did affirm, that the mystery osthis union was Mirabiliter singular, & singulariter mirabile, Wonderfully singular, and singularly wonderful; it is that great mystery of godliness, 1. Tim. 3.16. Of which there is no example in nature, which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in all respects is answerable unto it: for howsoever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in some kind there are some to illustrate it, as that union of the soul and the body, of the fire and the iron red hot, of the Sun and the light (which justine Martyr, Cyrillus, Athanasius, and others use in their writings,) yet none can fully explicate this great and wonderful mystery. To conclude, this union is not imaginary only, but true and real (though supernatural,) and the foundation of our spiritual with Christ, both in grace and glory depends upon it. For had he not taken our nature upon him, and so freely married himself unto us, Hosh. 2.19. we could never have been united to him. But Christ uniting himself to us in nature, (and God accepting us as just and righteous for his merits,) we are united to him in grace, which is the second union between Christ and us. The second union is of our persons with Christ here. Zanchias in comment. in Ephes Gen. 2.24. And this is the union of our persons, of our whole man both soul and body, unto the whole person of Christ, God and man, by the excellent bond of our spiritual marriage, in which Christ hath united us unto himself; as the whole person of Adam, was joined in wedlock to the whole person of Eve, so are we to our heavenly bridegroom. For that carnal marriage between Adam and Eve was a type and figure of this spiritual between Christ and his Church, as S. Paul witnesseth, Ephe. 5.33. And this is in the kingdo me of grace in this life. The third union, is our union with Christ in glory, in the kingdom of heaven, A union with Christ in glory. by which we shall enjoy the presence of our Saviour, yea we shall have union with God and his Angels, and be filled with abundance of glory and happiness for evermore: of this our Saviour speaks, John 14.3. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there may you be also. And for this union, our Saviour prayeth to his Father, john 17.24. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me, where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. And this union the blessed Apostle did so earnestly long after. Philip. 1.23. Idesire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. Neither is it to be doubted, but that our Saviour in the first union, the union of our nature, was willing to praemonstrate the second, our union in grace, and in the second to manifest the third, that by that union which we enjoy in present, we might be confirmed in the hope of that which we shall enjoy hereafter. Amandus' Polanus sontag. The first union is referred to the second, and the second to the third, as nature is ordinated to grace, and grace to glory. The first union is the cause of the second, and the second is the cause of the third. For we cannot be united to Christ in glory in the life to come, except we be engrafted into him in this life by grace; but we could not have been united to him in grace, except Christ had united himself to us in nature, by taking our nature upon him: Whosoever therefore will be united to Christ in glory, it is necessary that he be first united to him in grace; and whosoever is united in grace, it is necessary that he should have been united to him in nature. Thus you have a brief view of our threefold union with Christ. But it is the second of these, our union with Christ in grace, of which I am now to speak. And therefore to illustrate this a little further, I shown you it was a union of our persons, soul and body, with the person of Christ both God and Man: For as in the first union, the union of Christ with our nature, the whole person of the Son of God did assume into the unity of himself the whole man, that is, his whole humane nature, not the body alone, nor the soul alone, but both together; So is it when Christ is united to a Christian, he is united to the whole man, both soul and body, as a Christian is united to the whole Christ, both God and Man. Therefore the Apostle doth not only witness, that he which is joined to the Lord is one Spirit, 1 Cor. 6.17. 1 Cor. 12.13. but that our bodies are the members of Christ; in the 15 verse of the same Chapter; Yea, we which are many, are one body in Christ, Rom. 12.5. So that Christ is united both to our souls and bodies. And thus are we united unto whole Christ. To his humanity (not after a carnali but a spiritual manner) For thus, Heb. 2.14. we are members of his body, yea, of his flesh, and of his bones; (saith the Apostle) Ephes. 5.30. This he speaks for that near conjunction which we have with Christ; He that eateth my flesh (saith Christ) dwelleth in me, and I in him, joh. 6.56 From whence we must consider (saith Cyrill Cyrillus in joh. lib. 10. cap. 13 ) that Christ is not in us only by habitude, as he dwelleth in us by Faith and Charity; but also by a natural participation: not in respect of the matter, for it is supernatural; but in respect of the manner, or of the thing participated, which is the true flesh of Christ: Not grossly and carnally, as the Papists imagine in their imaginary Transubstantiation, but spiritually by a true and real union of Faith: The bread that we break, it is the Communion of the body of Christ, 1 Cor. 10.17. That is, that thing by which we are received into Communion with the body of Christ, as Zanchius interpreteth it: yea, by this we are united to his Divinity: as S. Peter affirms, Who according to his divine power (saith he) hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, 2. Pet. 1.3.4. having escaped the corruption, that is the world through lusts. And thus it is manifest that there is a union of our persons in grace with the person o● Christ; not that we are made one person with him, but that we which are many are one body, of which Christ is the head; we are one wife and Christ our Husband. But to explain it a little more: The question may be demanded, What kind of union is this, Question. by which we are so wired unto Christ, and Christ to us? I answer, If we respect the things which are united, Answer. and the verity or truth of the union; it is a real, a substantial, an essential union. And if we respect the manner and order of it; it is a union spiritual, and supernatural. To illustrate the verity and reality of this union, there are diverse similitudes in sacred Scriptures, set forth unto us by the Spirit of God. First, as there is the union between the Husband and the Wife, Similitude to illustrate our union with Christ. which the Apostle S. Paul useth, Ephes. 5.31. And they two shall be one flesh. Which certainly is a substantial union of the Husband and Wife, because two persons are united; and a true and real union, because they are united into one true flesh, and are always truly one flesh; But how? In respect of that conjugal bond in which they are united by the ordinance of God. And this the Apostle applieth to that spiritual union between Christ and his Church. This is a great mystery (saith he) but I speak concerning Christ and the Church, Ephes. 5.32. But this union of Christ with us is more excellent, for Christ doth not only communicate unto us all needful graces, as the wife doth partake with the Husband in all his goods; and he not only dwelleth with us, as the Husband with the Wife, but in us, in our hearts, by faith, and by love, and by his Spirit, in a fare more absolute and perfect manner, than the Husband can with the Wife; Though this be an admirable similitude, by which in a lively manner is thus expressed the mystery of that union between Christ and his Church. Secondly, this union is described by the similitude of the head and the members of the body, 2. Simil Ephe. 4.15.19 which members are united and knit together, not only by veins and arteries, but also by one living Spirit; whereby is noted, not only our most near union with Christ, but also that we receive our life from Christ, as from the root and fountain, from whence all the veins of our spiritual life do spring and flow forth. And this union without question is a substantial, true, and real union, without which, we cannot receive the fruit of his Passion, nor the gifts and graces of his Spirit: as the members of the body cannot receive their nourishment, and life, and motion, being separated from the head; and in which we grow up to perfection, as S. Paul intimates. Thirdly, 3. Simil. this union is confirmed by the similitude of a living foundation, and living stones built upon it, which by the truly substantial, and real conjunction of them with the foundation, do daily receive an increase, until the house or building be perfected. So is it in our union with Christ. Christ is a living stone (saith S. Peter) and we as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, 1 Pet. 2.4.5. We are built (saith S. Paul) upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone: In whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth up unto an holy Temple in the lord Coloss. 2.19. Ephes. 2.20.21. Fourthly, this union is expressed by Christ himself in the similitude of eating and drinking: 4. Simil. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him, joh. 6.56. But this with a manifold difference, Tollet in johan. as interpreters observe; For first, he that receiveth common meat and drink, is said indeed to have meat and drink within him: But yet he doth not remain in the meat and drink, neither doth the meat and drink remain or continue in him; for either it is corrupted and evacuated, or converted into the substance of the flesh and blood of him that eateth it: But Christ is not such meat and drink unto us. Because the flesh of Christ is neither corrupted nor converted into the flesh of the eater; But it remaineth still what it was, and doth rather by a new qualification change us into him, or conform us unto his image, when we do eat or receive him by faith. Secondly, common meat receiveth life and virtue of nourishment from him that eateth it; for a dead man that hath not life and heat in him, yea a sick man whose life and power of nature is so fare spent, that he cannot digest what he eateth, can receive no life, nor strength from his meat, it being but dead flesh or the like; till it be as it were quickened and raised to life by the heat and virtue of the eater, it cannot nourish nor preserve life in him. But it is not so with Christ our spiritual food; he doth not receive life from us, but he rather giveth life unto us: and therefore S. Ambrose affirms that for this reason, S. Ambrose lib. 6. de sacram. Christ is that living bread that came down from heaven. joh. 6.51. So that Christ remaineth in the eater, because he is so united unto him, that he cannot be corrupted, nor converted into the substance of him that eateth: but rather changeth it into him (as I said before:) and the eater remaineth in Christ, because he receiveth life from him, whose blood is drink indeed, and whose flesh is meat indeed; not carnally to feed the body (as the fleshly Capernaits and gross Papists do imagine, Ludolphus in vita Christi part. 2. cap. 56. joh. 6.55. ) but spiritually to feed and nourish our souls and bodies to eternal life. For so Christ explaineth himself, showing (against his fleshly hearers) how his speech was to be understood, not after a carnal and fleshly (as Bellarmine Bellarm. lib. 1. de Sacram. Eucharist. cap 5. Tertul. lib. 4. contr. Martion. S. Ambros. de illis qui initiantur mysteriijs. August. in Psal. 3. Chrysost. hom. 11. would have it) but after a spiritual manner (as the Fathers agree.) It is the spirit that quickeneth (saith Christ) the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you are spirit and life. joh. 6.63. And by this union also, you may see how our union with Christ is exemplified. Again, Christ expresseth it in most lively manner, by the comparison of the vine and the branches. I am the Vine, saith Christ, and ye are the branches; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. joh. 15.4, 5. So that as there is a union between the vine & the branches, so is there between Christ and his Church; and as the branches receive the sap and life from the vine, so do we from Christ. Lastly, 6. Simil. it is demonstrated yet more plainly by the Emblem and similitude of the graft and the stock, of the branches of the wild olive grafted into the good, which S. Paul sets forth excellently, Rom. 11. from 17. to 25. ver. of the chapter: for as the wild olive cannot be changed, except it be first grafted into the good; nor can it bring forth good fruit until it be partaker of the root and fatness of the true Olive tree; so we who by nature are wild olives, cannot spring out of this true Olive Christ jesus, except we be first engrafted into him by grace, and after so dressed and ordered by that heavenly Olive-planter (the blessed Spirit,) that by little and little, leaving the bitterness of our natural corruption, we may bring forth, and become sweet fruit for our heavenly Father. Similitudo non Cur●it quatuor pedibus. Herein the similitude agreeth, but it runneth not of four feet (as the proverb is) but in some respect is different as are the rest; For first in natural grafting, look of what nature the graft is, such fruit will the stock nourish and bring forth, because the stock is turned into the nature of the graft: But in this spiritual grafting it is not so, for it is necessary that we who are the grafts, should be turned into the nature of the stock Christ jesus: that we may bring forth such fruit as is answerable to his nature, Luk. 1.75. in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. Secondly, hence there is not to be imagined any confusion, or transfusion of Christ, or of his essential qualities into us, (as may seem to be of the stock into the graft, and as the Libertines did imagine) but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaedam, a certain power, and virtue, and efficacy, by which Christ doth change us by his Spirit, (being freely justified and engrafted by faith in him) and doth regenerate and daily renew us unto a spiritual and heavenly life; And in this especially, our union doth consist and is made manifest: that being engrafted by faith, we do spring up in all holiness and heavenly virtue, and are conformed to the image of him, 2. Cor. 3.18. (even of Christ) unto whom we are united. Thus than you may see plainly, the verity and reality of this union declared unto you; If you consider the manner and order of it, you shall find it spiritual and supernatural (as in part I have touched already.) It is a spiritual union; Lanchius in Ephes. because it is wrought by the Spirit, and by faith; by the spirit in respect of Christ, because Christ worketh it by the spirit; and by faith in respect of us, because true faith working by love, is as it were the bond and tie, by which the blessed spirit, doth as it were knit and Unite us to Christ. It is the Spirit that works faith and all other graces in us, and therefore questionless he works and effecteth this union, which is the fountain and foundation of the rest. All these worketh that one and the same Spirit, dividing to every one severally. 1. Cor. 12.11. We are made the spouse of Christ, the members of Christ, and flesh of his flesh, by his spirit, by whom he doth incorporate himself to us, and us unto him. And faith is the instrument by which we are united: Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith, (saith the Apostle,) Ephes. 3.17. Therefore whether Christ be propounded in the word, or in the Sacraments, it is by his spirit and our faith, that he is united to us, and we to him; and this not in a carnal but a spiritual manner; for the works of the spirit are spiritual, and spiritually to be understood. De naturali in nobis Christi veritate, quae dicimus, nisi ab eo discimus, stultè atque impiè dicimus, saith Hilary, Hilary de Trin. lib. 8. pag. 141. of the natural truth of Christ being in us; Those things which we speak, we speak them foolishly and impiously, except we first learn them of Christ. And this is the scope of cyril Cyril. in joh. lib. 10. cap. 13. on john, that we should understand the words of Christ spiritually, and not after a carnal manner. Thus shall we see and know that spiritually, we may receive Christ and be united unto him; though Christ be in heaven and we in earth; as S. Augustine August. Tract. 50. in joh. fol. 368. declareth excellently in his Tractate upon john: Let the jews (saith he) hear and lay hold on Christ, who sitteth at the right hand of his Father in heaven: But they will answer, Whom shall I hold? what, he that is absent? how shall I send up my hand into heaven, that I may hold him there? (This is done spiritually not after a carnal manner,) Fidem mitte, & tenuisti: Send thy faith (saith S. Augustine) and then thou hast laid hold on Christ; thy forefathers did hold Christ in the flesh, and do thou hold him in thy heart, because Christ absent is also present. For except he were present he could not be holden of us; absent in the flesh in his humanity, but present in his Deity, present in his Spirit working faith and love in us, by which in a spiritual manner we may be united to Christ, though he be absent; and lay hold of him, though he be in heaven: And thus (as plain as I can) I have set forth unto you both the substance and manner of our union with Christ. If any man be in Christ. I have laid the foundation of our union at large, I will once again Catechise the point, in brief, before I come to the use. That if it be possible, you may yet more plainly understand it. The question Quest. 1 may be demanded, if Christ be in us, how are we in Christ, or if we be in Christ, how is Christ in us? I answer, Answ. First, that Christ is in us, as the King is in his kingdom to rule over us; as the father of his family is in his household, to oversee us; as the bridegroom is in the bride-chamber, to honour us; as the head is in the body, to guide and direct us in all our actions: but all this in a spiritual manner. Or otherwise, Christ is in us: First, by faith and charity, as a Saviour in the hearts of those that are saved: Secondly, by his spirit of virtue and grace, by which he doth quicken, illuminate, feed, govern and conserve his children. After the first manner one friend may be in the breast of another, by affection and love; but after the second, no mortal man can be in the heart of any man, but only Christ in us; which showeth the excellency of this heavenly union. Quest. 2 Secondly, How are we in Christ? I answer, Answer. we are in Christ not carnally neither, but after a spiritual manner. For although our bodies are not carnally in Christ, nor Christ's in ours, yet spiritually we are united to Christ and Christ to us, we are one with Christ and Christ with us, In the Book of Common Prayer, the exhortation at Communion. Hosh. 2.19, 20. we dwell in Christ and Christ in us, (as our Church doth witness:) and this in a more near manner, as is admirably declared in that excellent union of the husband and wife. For Christ is our heavenly Bridegroom, and we are his Spouse, Cant. 5.1, 2. He hath married us unto himself in righteousness and in judgement, and in loving kindness, and in mercies, and in faithfulness, and in the knowledge of the Lord: An excellent wedding ring, beset with six beautiful Diamonds, to illustrate that most gracious and glorious union between Christ and his Church. Quest. 3 But Christ is righteousness and life itself; in him is no sin, neither was death able to hold him in the prison of the grave: How then is it possible that sinful man, who is subject unto death by sin, should any way be in Christ or Christ in him? Like thing are wont to be joined to like; but between so different and contrary natures, what communion or fellowship is any where to be found? Are we in Christ as the creatures are in God? After this manner not only all men are in him; (For in him we live, and move and have our being. Acts 17.28.) but also all things that live, (for he is before all things, and in him all things consist, Coloss. 1. verse 7.) and this were a union common to wicked men, and to the brute beasts, as well as to us. How then are we in Christ? Quest. I answer, Answ. wicked men have not this union with Christ, Wicked men have no union with Christ. (but only the elect,) no not so much as the union of nature; for howsoever in general, in that Christ was truly man as they are, they may seem to have a kind of communion; yet in this there is a main difference, that Christ did not take upon him our humane nature corrupted and defiled with the pollution of sin, August. in joh. Sine peccato, sine peccati macula. S. Bern, in vigil. Nativit. serm. 4. Mater est sine corruptione virginitatis, filius sine omni labe peccati. Esay, 53.9. but sanctified and made most pure and holy in the womb of the blessed Virgin, by the power of the divine Spirit; he was conceived without sin, and borne without the least spot of iniquity; he lived and died without sin, Neither was there any guile found in his mouth. The wicked therefore being conceived in sin, and borne in sin, living and dying in sin, they can have no union with Christ, neither in the quality of his nature nor in Grace. It is only the Elect who are purified by the blood of Christ, justified by imputation of his merit, and sanctified, and regenerated daily by the power of his Spirit, that have this union and Communion with Christ; He that keepeth his commandments, dwelleth is him, and he in him; and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. 1. joh 3.24. If any man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him, john 14.24. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Rom. 8.1.) who worketh a change in their hearts, and by steps and degrees conforms them to the image of Christ; This union is a union of faith, by which our hearts are purified, Acts 15.9. which belongeth only to the Elect: and therefore to them only pertaineth this union, not barely as they are men, but Christian men; not in respect of their generation, but regeneration; not according to the substance of the humane nature received from the first Adam, but according as it is renewed with sanctity and heavenly purity in the second: by the power of whose Spirit dwelling in us, Our mortal bodies are quickened to newness of life, Rom. 6.10, 11. And thus Christ is in us, not in the wicked: he is in us by an internal, a true and lively co-adunation and union of the spirit, which consists in a true and sincere faith, and a true and unfeigned love, by which we are conformed to Christ our head; for by faith and love we are translated into Christ, so that now we live, no longer in ourselves but in him: Our life is hid with Christ in God, Coloss. 3.3. I live (saith the Apostle) yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Gal. 2.20. We live not by ourselves, but by Christ, who liveth in us; And therefore, first this is a most excellent benefit and comfort to the soul of a Christian. It is profitable for us that our life of grace is not in us, but in Christ. For if our spiritual life of grace were our own, and did consist only in ourselves, we should soon spend it like prodigals, and die that spiritual death, that brings death eternal, But our life being in Christ, and Christ in us, having once given this life of grace unto us, (for our eternal comfort in all temptations) he will never take this life totally and finally from us, but (though he may withdraw his breath for a time) yet he will return, revive, and quicken us to life everlasting. And to this end Christ is in us by his Spirit, as the sap is in the tree; as the blood in the body, as the quickening Son of God, who is Lord both of life and death, who doth love his Elect with a perpetual love, and having united once unto himself, doth keep and conserve them, as his own forever. Secondly, Use. 2 this union or marriage is made by the Spirit, uniting us unto Christ in faith and love. O most sweet and happy change! Christ hath taken our flesh, and instead thereof, he hath given us his blessed Spirit, by reason both he may be in and with us, and we in and with him; and what greater joy can there be to the soul and conscience of a Christian, then to be in and with Christ his blessed Saviour? As Simonides the Philosopher, being asked of Hiero the Tyrant, what God was, Cicere de nat. Deor. lib. 1. did at the first desire one days respite, and then two days, and after four days, still doubling his request; and being demanded the reason, gave this for an answer: Because the more (saith he) I do consider of the excellency of the essence, and power, and Majesty of God, the less able am I to express it: So must I desire time to set forth the excellency of this our union with Christ; it is like the peace of conscience, there is no man knoweth what it is, but he that enjoyeth it. If you would see it a little more, cast your eyes upon the benefit of it; and I have given you already that our life of grace is in Christ, and conserved by him. But this is a most excellent benefit, that from hence we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Communion and Fellowship with Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, into the Communion or Fellowship of his Son jesus Christ our Lord, 1 Cor. 1.9. And by this we have Communion, not only with his person, but we have also Communion with him: First in his Offices. He hath made us Kings and Priests unto God the Father, Revel. 1.6. Secondly, we have Communion with him in his goods and gifts, and graces needful for us to salvation, yea in all the benefits of his death and passion. He is made unto us of God, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, 1. Cor. 1.30. Thirdly, we have Communion and fellowship with him in temptation and affliction, and that for our good and comfort; because Christ hath sanctified them unto us. As the unicorn dipping his horn in the water makes it wholesome (though before it was poisoned) for the beasts that drink after him; so Christ our Saviour, testing the cup of afflictions and temptations for us, hath made them wholesome and profitable unto us. Yea Christ being our head, and we his members, he having a Communion with us, and we with him, he must needs have a feeling of our infirmities, and therefore though we be tempted, yet will he not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it, as Saint Paul witnesseth, 1. Cor. 10.13. This is our joy therefore, that though we be weak, yet Christ is strong; His grace is sufficient for us, and his strength shall be made manifest in our weakness, 2. Cor. 2.9. Lastly, as we have Communion with Christ in afflictions so we shall have Communion with him in glory. For if we be children, than heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we also be glorified together: yea saith Saint Paul, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be reueiled in us, Rom. 8.17.18. Thus we have, and shall have Communion with Christ, and this is the fruit of our union with him. Nay hence we have not only a Communion with Christ, but with God the Father, 1. joh. 1.3. 2. Cor. 13.14. Eph. 4.5.6. Gal. 3 26. Heb. 12.22, 23, 24. with the blessed Spirit, and (with the congregation of Saints, yea of Angels and men, the Church militant and triumphant, as in diverse places of the sacred Scripture is sufficiently proved. And thus you may see the excellent state of a Christian, the excellent benefit of our union, this most happy Communion which is a fruit of it, and the unspeakable love of Christ in thus freely uniting us unto himself. But what is the state of those that are out of Christ? Question. I answer, Answer. they have no part in this blessed Communion, therefore their estate is miserable, fearful and damnable, 3. To be out of Christ is a miserable estate. except they repent, and Christ of his mercy engraft them into him, For he that is not in Christ, Christ is not in him, and, Know ye not? saith the Apostle, that Christ jesus dwelleth in you except ye be reprobates? 2. Cor. 13. 2. Cor. 13.5. Without Christ, no grace nor goodness to be found in them. If Christ dwell not in their hearts by faith, Satan will dwell by infidelity: If Christ dwell not by charity, the devil will dwell by malice and envy. If Christ do not possess them by Humility, Satan will possess them by pride. If the one be not in them by mercy, the other will be in them by cruelty: if Christ do not work in them a conscience of chastity, liberality, piety, purity, and other virtues, Satan will draw them to adultery, covetousness, oppression, Simony, sacrilege and all kind of impiety. For where the spirit of truth is not a director to goodness, there will the spirit of error be a leader to wickedness, drawing his disciples through the paths of darkness to the pit of destruction. As is a City besieged without walls or munition, so is a man without Christ easily overcome of the enemy, and bound to eternal thraldom; he is like a withered branch, that shall be cut off and cast into the fire of hell, joh. 15.6. 4. Union with Christ requireth a Christian life. O then beloved, how are we bound to show our thankfulness to God, for this our most joyful and happy union with Christ, since he hath made us freely to be Christians, and engrafted us into Christ! By faith we should strive continually to live like Christians, like those that have a union and Communion with Christ. The Apostle in my Text doth describe the state and condition of a Christian, and yet he doth not say, if any man be a Christian, he is a new creature, but, If any man be in Christ, to show that Christianum esse, est esse in Christo, to be a Christian, Musculus in Text. is to be in Christ; and to be in Christ, is to live the life of Christ, and to be made like to him, in whom we live. Whosoever is without Christ, and doth not endeavour sincerely to live the life of Christ, he is no true Christian, though he make an outward profession of Christianity; it is an easy matter to be made partaker of the external sacraments and name of a Christian, but not so easy thus to be in Christ; for this requireth newness of life (as I shall show at large in the next circumstance.) If then thou wouldst know a Christian, or know thyself to be in Christ, look not to the external and verbal profession, but search into thy own conscience, joh. 5.5.6. M. Hooker Ecclesiast. policy, book 5. pag. 306. and look to the real and actual life of a Christian. No man actually is in Christ, but he in whom Christ is actually, and in whom the life of Christ, or of grace and newness, from Christ doth appear: he that hath not the son, hath not life; and he that hath not life, the life of grace, we may truly say, he hath not the son. The bird is known by her singing, the tree is known by his fruits, and a Christian is known by his life and conversation. He is pure by imputation of purity from the merits of Christ; and he is pure by the grace of regeneration wrought in him by the holy and blessed spirit: for the perfection at which he strives and labours truly according to the measure of that grace which is given unto him, and the effects of this purity, is like a burning lamp shining forth gloriously in all his actions; it is holiness itself, and not the name of holiness that makes a Christian. How then canst thou be called a Christian, in whom no acts of a Christian do appear? saith S. Augustine S. Aug. de vita Christiana of the life of a Christian. Christianus nomen iustitiae est, Christian, is a name of righteousness, of integrity, innocency, chastity, humility, humanity, patience, prudence, purity, piety and other virtues: and how canst thou challenge that name unto thee, in whom of so many virtues, so few are to be found? He is a Christian who is so not in name only, Aug. in Psal. 33. but also indeed: he is a Christian that accounteth himself to be a stranger in his own house; for here we are pilgrims, our country is in heaven, and there we shall be no strangers, but citizens with the Saints, and of the household of God. Aug. de vita Christ. Christianus unctus est (saith S. Augustine) Christian is as much as anointed, and the learned know that in ancient time, those who were anointed, were Holy men, Kings, and Priests, and Prophets, of an high and holy calling; and thus was Christ himself anointed spiritually, Psal. 45.7. and his Disciples and all Christians. To teach us, that to whom there is so holy an anointing, there should also be a holy life and conversation; for what will it profit thee to be called what thou art not, and to usurp a name that belongs not unto thee? But if thou delight to be a Christian, do those things that are fitting for a Christian, & then take the name upon thee to thy comfort: it is a name that is ancient (given long since at Antioch) and honourable better than the names of any other master whatsoever; Act. 11.26. thou mayest rejoice therefore in the rightful enjoying of it; but if otherwise thou desire to be called a Christian, and not to be so, this is a punishment miserable and detestable enough, that thou desirest to be an hypocrite, and to be called that thou art not: for no man can have any benefit by Christ, who will be called a Christian, and not strive and labour to be a Christian in deed. True Christians imitate the life of Christ. Let no man then judge himself to be a Christian, who doth not truly endeavour to imitate Christ in purity of life. Excellently S. Bernard. S. Bern. lib. sent pag. 496. Christiani a Christo nomen acceperunt, & operae pretium est, ut sicut sunt haeredes nominis, ita sint imitatores sanctitatis; Christians receive their names from Christ, and it is worth the labour, that as they are heirs of his name, so they should be imitators of his holiness. Art thou a covetous man that makest thy money thy God? thou art a Christian but only in name, and thy money shall not profit thee in the day of vengeance. A●t thou a voluptuous man that makest thy pleasure ●hy God? thou art not a Christian but only in name, and thy pleasure shall not profit thee in the day of vengeance. Art thou a blasphemer, that delightest in wicked & damnable oaths? Thou art not a Christian but only in name, and thy oaths shall condemn thee in the day of vengeance. Art thou a glutton or drunkard that delightest in drunkenness, and makest thy wine or thy belly thy God? Thou art a Christian but only in name, and thy abuse of God's creatures shall certainly condemn thee in the day of vengeance. To conclude, art thou hard-hearted, and makest no conscience of spoiling thy brother, by deceit and fraud, by robbery and violence, by oppression and cruelty? S. Augustine S. August. de verb. Apost. ser. 21. will tell thee, Cum tu qui Christianus es spolias paganum, impedis fieri Christianum: When thou who art a Christian (by profession) dost spoil a Pagan, thou dost hinder thyself from being a Christian; and more art thou hindered if thou being a Christian dost spoil thy brother, and thy Hypocrisy shall one day condemn thee. All these do dishonour Christ; and separate themselves from him by their wilful impieties, and therefore except they repent, they cannot be saved. Excellent was the example of famous julitta that blessed Martyr and servant of Christ (of whom S. Basil S. Basil. in ser. relates in his sermons) who when she was condemned to death by her Pagan judges, because she would not worship their heathenish gods; hearing her sentence she broke forth with this Christian resolution, Farewell life, welcome death; farewell riches, welcome poverty: All that I have, if it were a thousand times more, would I rather lose, then to speak one wicked and blasphemous word against God my Creator. An excellent resolution, and fit to be followed of every Christian. We should walk worthy our vocation, and have our conversation as becometh the Gospel of Christ; we should lose our riches, our honours, yea our life and all, rather than dishonour Christ our Lord and Saviour. And that we may the better do this, I will end this part, with that excellent counsel of S. Bernard: Bern in Cant. serm. 21. Disce O Christiane a Christo, quemadmodum diligas Christum. Learn O Christian of Christ, how thou mayst love Christ; learn to love him sweetly, to love him prudently, to love him valiantly: Sweetly, lest thou be enticed from him by pleasure; prudently, lest thou be deceived by Satan's policy; and valiantly, lest being oppressed by afflictions, or temptations, thou be averted from the love of thy Saviour. Zelum tuum inflammet, charitas, informet scientia, firmet constanta: Let his charity inflame thy zeal, let his knowledge inform thy zeal, and let his constancy confirm thy zeal in constancy unto the end. Thus shalt thou show thyself to be a Christian, and rightly enjoy the Name of Christ. And thus having pricked the Vine (who is Christ) and sucked out some juice to clear the eyes of our understandings, and refresh our spirits: Let us now come to press the grapes, that from them we may receive a draught of sweet comfort, to strengthen us in our pilgrimage, through the wilderness of this world, to the Canaan of heaven. These grapes are the fruit of the Vine to be found in our new Creation. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. This is a great mystery and therefore to speak of this my request unto you, shallbe that, 3. Branch. S. Bern. serm. 36. ●n Cant. which S. Bernard sometime made to his Auditors; Jwate me orationibus vestris, ut semper possim & loqui quae oportet, & opere implere quae loquor: Help me with your prayers, that I may be able to speak those things which I ought, and to practise that which I speak: Thus I speaking, you understandding, and both of us practising, Beza. Annotat in 2 Cor. 5. Aquinas in ●phes cap 4.23 Aquinas in in 2 Cor. 5. Regeneration a new Creation. we shall receive the Crown of glory in the end. In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, A new Creation, that is, as it were a thing newly Created of God, (as Beza sound:) For we are re-created in our new Creation, that we might be righteous (as Aquinas.) So that our regeneration or renovation in Christ, is a new Creation: For Creation is a motion, ex nihilo ad esse, from nothing, unto something, from no being, unto a being. And there is a twofold being, the first of nature, the second of grace; the first was in the first Creation, when the Creatures were produced by God of nothing, in esse naturae, into the being of nature and then the creature was new, but since it became old by sin. And therefore it was needful that there should be a new Creation, in esse gratiae, into the being of grace. And this was creatio ex nihilo, a creation of nothing also; for those that are deprived of grace, are nothing; and those who are polluted with sin, are as nothing; Sin doth so obliterate and blot out the image of God in them, August. Peccatum nihil est & nihil fiunt homines cum peccant. Bellar. in Psal. 51.10. 2 No newness to man, but in and by Christ. that it makes them of no ability to do good, of no account in the eyes of God: for sin is nothing; and men when they sin are made as nothing (yea worse than nothing) as S. Augustine speaks. If then man be as nothing by sin: If (as Bellarmine against himself confesseth) when God was to new make man, and the heart of man, he could find nothing in man of which he might make him new, but was as it were constrained Creare to Create, that is, ex nihilo aliquid facere, to make something of nothing, (from which (saith Bellarmine) it is evident that man cannot merit being justified freely by grace:) If I say this be the state of man before he be new created. Tollet. in johan, 15. Then how can that Pelagian, or semi-Pelagian Doctrine be justified; the one affirming, that although the grace of Christ was necessary that we might do good more easily, yet it was not simply needful, but that the free will of man was able of itself to do works acceptable to God: B●za Annot. in Text. Augustin. The other teaching, that we are assisted only by the first grace to rise from sin? whereas not only the faculty of willing, but also the volition or willing itself, is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, this new Creation; since they are both old by sin, and both made new by God in Christ. It is God that worketh in us both the will and the deed, Philip. 2.13. Yea, both in the faculty and act of willing, we are dead by nature, and in both, we are made alive by grace. We were dead in trespasses and in sins, Ephes. 2.5. And our Saviour did not say, without me, can ye not do any thing easily, or ye can do no great work, but simply, Without me can ye do neither small nor great, neither easy nor difficult: No manner of way are you able of yourselves to do any good work acceptable to God. Without me, can ye do nothing (saith Christ.) john. 15.5. Augustin. lib. 1. de gratia Christi contra Celestin. & Pellag. cap. 29. August. lib. 2. contra 2. Epist. Pelagianas'. caep. 9 And thus S. Augustine applieth that place. And the same Father in his second Book against the two Epistles of Pelagius, Bonum propositum quidem adiwat subsequens gratia, sed nec ipsum esset nisi praecederet gratia. True it is (saith he) that the subsequent grace of Christ doth help our good purpose or desire to do good, but neither would this good purpuse be, except there went a precedent grace before; There is a preventing Grace, and an assisting Grace, and qui praevenit nolentem ut velit, August in Luc 24. subsequitur volentem ne frustra velit: He that preventeth the unwilling with his grace that he might will, assisteth him also with his grace that he might not will in vain. August. de gratia & lib●ro arbitrio. c. 2. And therefore he concludeth in his book of Grace and Free will: True it is, that our will is required to do good, but we have not that will of our own strength, but God worketh in us, both the will, and the deed, according to the Apostle. Philip. 2 13. And the same Father again: The will of the regenerate is kindled and stirred up by the blessed Spirit. August. de corruption & g●atia. That therefore they are able (to do good) because they will (and desire) and therefore they so will, because God worketh in them that they might will. So that as a Lantern cannot give light of itself, except it have a Candle lighted therein, or as the branches cannot bear fruit, except they abide in the Vine, and the life of the Vine abide in them: No more can we do good, except Ch●ist devil in us by his Spirit, giving life and light unto us, and we dwell in Christ by Faith. If any man be in Christ, he is a new Creatures. Again, man in his state of nature, being brought as it were to nothing, and worse than nothing by sin: Hence it is evident that our second Creation was a greater work than our first; 2. Our second Creation a greater work than our first. For in our first Creation, there was nothing to hinder the work of God, Dixit, & facti sumus; God did but speak the word, and we were created; but in our second Creation, Ponitur obex, there is a resisting perverseness in our will, striving to hinder the work of Grace; yea, the ground of this newness, our redemption by Christ, cost a great deal of labour before it was finished: Et dixit multa, & gessit mira, & pertulit dura (saith S. Bernard: S. Bernard. Tract. de diligendo deum. ) He spoke many things, and did marvelous things, and endured terrible things, and all to purchase our new Creation. We were not so easily remade, as we were made at first; the work of our Recreation cost our Saviour a great price, the price of his dear and precious blood, and that not once or twice, but six several times. As the Pelican sheds her blood to revive her young ones; so did Christ shed his blood to revive us. He shed his blood in his Circumcision; in his bitter Agony in the Garden; in his Crowning with thorns; in his Whipping with scourges; in his Crucifying with nails; in the Piercing of his side with a spear, that the dearest blood of his most precious heart gushed out amain. O sweet jesus, how comes this to pass? Did we owe God a death, and dost thou pay it? Have we sinned, and art thou punished? D. Bern. in serm. Opus sine exemplo, gratia sine merito, charitas sine modo: as a Father sweetly; This was a work without any example; a grace without any merit of ours, and a love beyond all love that can be imagined. I own thee much more, O Lord, saith S. Ambrose, S. Ambros. in Luc. lib. 22. for thy injuries by which I was redeemed, then for thy work by which I was created. What then shall we render unto thee, O blessed Saviour, for this thy unspeakable love? In our first Creation, thou gavest us unto ourselves, but in our second Creation, thou didst give thyself unto us; and when thou gavest thyself unto us, thou didst then re-give us unto ourselves; And therefore being twice given; given in our first Creation, and regiven in our second, we do owe ourselves twice unto thee, both bodies and souls; and though we should give ourselves ten times for this, yet can we by no means satisfy thy love. But what then shall we give thee for thyself, that thou hast not spared thine own life, but hast given thyself to the death for us? Certainly if we could give thee ourselves ten thousand times for this, yet are we nothing in respect of thee, who art the eternal God, and we but dust and ashes. O then beloved, what shall we render unto Christ, 3. The price of our new creation, a motive to be a new Creature. for giving himself unto us, and us unto ourselves? or what doth he require at our hands? Certainly, it is nothing but this, that we should labour to be new creatures, since he hath paid so dear for our new creation: Dominus factus est servus, ut servus fieret dominus; the Lord himself became a servant, that we who were servants might be made Lords: God descended from heaven unto earth, that man might ascend from earth to heaven: the Son of God, was made the son of man, that men might be made the sons of God: he that was rich became poor, that we who were poor, might be made rich: the light itself was darkened, that we who were dark might be enlightened; the Bread of heaven did suffer hunger, that we might be satisfied; the Fountain of living water endured thirst, that we might drink of the fountain of life; Gladness itself was made sorrowful, that we might rejoice; Confidence itself did fear and tremble, that we might be strengthened; the Way to heaven was made weary, that we without weariness might go to heaven. All this did Christ for us, and shall we not strive to be new creatures? Christ came a Physician unto those that were sick, a redeemer unto those that were lost, a directing way unto those that erred, and life itself unto those that were dead; and shall we not strive to be new creatures? Christ came as Manna from heaven, that those might rejoice who were hungry; as a cluster of grapes from the vineyard, that those might rejoice who where thirsty; as oil poured out in abundance from the olive, that those might be cherished who were in misery; and shall we not strive to be new creatures? He came as a precious stone cut without hands from the mountain; Dan. 2.34. that those might fear who were careless and negligent; and shall we not strive to be new creatures? As God the Father did create all things in the beginning with his essential word, so hath he re-created all his Elect by his incarnate Word, in the end of the world; and shall we not strive to be new creatures? As S. Augustine observes of a Rhetorician, that being asked what was the first and chiefest amongst the precepts of Rhetoric, he answered Elocution (or good utterance:) and being asked what was the second, he answered Elocution, and what was the third, he answered still Elocution. After the same manner (saith the Father) if you ask me what is the first, or the second, or the third amongst the precepts of Christian religion, I must answer Humility. And what S. Augustine August. epist. 56, ad Dioscor. attributes to Humility in the praise and commendations thereof, I may justly attribute to our new creation, and to the dignity and excellency of that. If you ask me what is the first, or the second, or the third, amongst the precepts of Christian religion: I must answer in the words of my Text, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our new creation, to be regenerated and become new men in Christ: For without this new creation, there is no freedom from damnation, no happiness to be obtained; for if any man be in (and will have benefit by the death of) Christ, he is and must be a new creature; O then, beloved, let us strive and labour for this new creation; let us not rest in ourselves, till we find a change in our souls, and become new men in Christ. Thus if we do, happy and blessed shall we be. If any man be in Christ, he in a new creature. But that I may explicate this point a little unto you: Who are those that are new created, or to whom doth Ques; t. 1 this new creation belong? I answer, To those that are in Christ: If any be in Christ, saith my Text; Answ. New Creation is of the Elect. To those who in him were chosen before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without blame before him in love, Eph. 1. verse 4. To those who are of the Election of grace, to whom is given the knowledge and faith of Christ; Ephes. 4.20. for they only are regenerated, and so new created who have faith, because regeneration is a fruit of faith, Acts 15.9. and this have only the Elect, Tit. 1.1. they only are called and justified, and so sanctified, who were predestinated before of God. Rom. 8.30. And therefore to them only belongs this grace: and they either have or shall have it, when it shall please God to call them, (either at the first, or third, or ninth, or eleventh hour, either in their youth or middle age, or old age) and to send them into his vineyard, Matth. 20. Math. 20.1, 2, 3. A comfort to those who find but the beginnings of this grace in them; it is the gift of God, a sign of their Election: and God will in time perfect it, for the gifs and calling of God are without repentance. Rom. 11.29 Phil. 1.6. And He that hath begun a good work, will perfect it in his children (saith the blessed Apostle.) Yea whom God loveth, he loveth to the end, as Christ himself witnesseth. joh. 13.1. So that our regeneration being the work of God the Father, in Christ, by the holy Spirit; as he hath begun, so at the last he will wholly conform us to the image of Christ, in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the good purpose of him, who worketh all things after the Counsel of his own will, Ephes. 1.11. If any man be in Christ, or those that are in Christ, they are, or shall be wholly new creatures. Ques; t. 2 But secondly what is this new creation of the elect? or what is it to be a new creature? Answer. What is our new creation. joel 2.12. Our new creation is a new resurrection; for as Christ after his death did rise again unto a new life, so a Christian, being buried with Christ in Baptism, being washed from his sins by the blood of Christ, being watered with the tears of a true and unfeigned repentance, doth rise again to newness of life; and this is our new creation. For as the death of Christ was an image of our spiritual death unto sin, so was his resurrection, a type of our spiritual rising again to newness of life. Thus S. Augustine in his Enchiridion: S. August. Enchiridion. cap. 53. Whatsoever is done, in the cross of Christ, in the burial of Christ, in his ascension, in his session at the right of his Father; it was so done that in these things there might be signified, the life of a Christian which is acted upon the earth. To manifest this further, S. August. de Tempore. the same Father observes a threefold Nativity: The first of Adam, when he was created of the dust of the earth; the second of Eve, when she was made of the rib of Adam; the third of Christ, when he was borne of the blessed Virgin, all different one from the other. And to these I may add a fourth kind, which is as much different as the rest, and this is the spiritual new birth, both of soul and body, of which our Saviour speaketh, john 3.7. Marvel not that I said, ye must be borne again: in your first birth, you were polluted by sin; in your second therefore you must be purified by grace: your first birth was of the flesh, in which you were dead in sin; your second birth must be of the spirit, in which you are made alive unto God through jesus Christ our Lord. And Except ye be borne of water and the Spirit, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. joh. 3.5. Our new creation than is a certain spiritual change or new birth, of our understandings, of our wills, of our affections, and of all our actions; for in this our understandings are enlightened, our wills are rectified, our affections sanctified, and all our actions directed to the will and command of God. The whole man is regenerated, not his soul alone, nor his body alone, but both soul and body together: For all was polluted by sin in Adam, and all must be renewed by grace in Christ. Create in me a clean heart, Eph. 4.23. A total regeneration required in us. Psal 52.23. Rom. 2.24. Psal. 39.1. jam. 3.10. Ma●th. 5.34. Psal. 59 7, 8. Luk. 9.5. jam. 1.18, 19 jam. 1.22. 2. Pet. 2.14. Psal. 119.37. Matth. 5.28. job 31.1. joshua 7.25. Eph. 4.28. Prou. 6.17. Deut. 27.26. Prou. 6.18. Psal. 1.1. Psal. 119.32. Math. 15 19 Tit●s 2.12. jam. 1 15. O God, and renew a right spirit, saith David. Psal. 51.10. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, saith the Apostle: Heart and mind, body and spirit, all must be new created if we be in Christ. This perfect regeneration then is to be laboured for; we must be changed outwardly, in our tongues that they speak not wickedly by blasphemy towards God, nor evil towards our neighbour: In our ears, that they be not hardened to good and delighted with evil, but swift to hear the word of truth to practise it, that the life of grace may be preserved in us: In our eyes, that they be not full of adultery; and to prevent this, that they behold not vanity to lust after it; we should make a covenant with our eyes as job did, lest they bring us to misery, like Achan and his family. In our Hands that they steal not, that they shed not innocent blood, that they work no iniquity, lest the reward of wickedness light upon us. In our Feet that they make not haste to evil, that they walk not in the way of the wicked, but be ready to run the ways of God's commandments. We must be changed inwardly in our hearts, lest impiety slow from them; yea in our affections and desires, lest lust when it is conceived bring forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. This is the change that is required, and that not in part but total. As the essential parts of man must be changed, his soul and body; so his integral parts, his several members: not part of them, the eye alone, nor the hand alone, nor the foot alone, but altogether, every one in particular. And so not some part of the heart, but the whole heart, all the affections, all the desires of the soul: Prou. 23.26. My son give me thy heart. For turn unto me with all thy heart, is the Platform of this new creation given by the Prophet, joel 2.1.12. This should all labour for and that in perfection, that they may be truly conformed to the image of Christ. To be content with half newness is worthy reproof. Heb. 3.12. And yet some, yea too many there are, who live in the Church, and think themselves to be in Christ; and yet harbour in them an evil heart to departed away from the living God, imagining that God requireth not this perfection, this total regeneration to be in them: they think if their hands be pure, their feet may lawfully be defiled with sin. But if Christ wash not their feet also, joh. 13.8. they shall have no part in him: if they strive not for this total new birth, they cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. They will be contented with wicked Saul, and the disobedient Israelites to perform part of God's commandments, so they may let part of them alone; this total obedience, they cannot endure. They can be contented to destroy the common people of the Amalekites, 1. Sam. 15.8, 9 and the worst of the sheep and of the oxen; they can be contented to forsake some of their petty sins, which are not so profitable nor pleasurable unto them; But when they come to Agag the king of Amaleck, and to the best of their sheep, when they come to their kingly sin (be it drunkenness, or adultery, covetousness, or envy or the like,) when they come to their Delilah the sweet sin in which their soul delighteth; they can by no means endure a change in this, here no new creation must work upon them; it is a string that must not be touched, a sore must not be searched: or if it be, it makes them kick like a galled horse, and procures harsh music to their souls; they take him for no friend that tells them of it, yea they are angry with God that he hath made his Law against it; and yet for all this secret impiety, they will be called Christians, and make an outward show of holiness in their lives. But tell me whosoever thou art, dost thou think thou canst come with a harlot's countenance, wiping thy lips, Prou. 30.20. when thou hast been a whoring, to meet thy enticing lovers (the world, the flesh, or the Devil) and stand before Christ thy spiritual husband without blushing, since thou canst not do any thing so secretly, but he seethe thee? Prou. 5.21. For the ways of man are before the Lord, and he pondereth all his doings, Prou. 5.21. If thou shouldest know that thy own wife hath played the Harlot, or is estranged from thee in her affections and love to another man, so that her show of love and kindness to thee is but in hypocrisy, lest thou shouldest suspect her treachery to thee: If thou shouldest see her often meetings with him whom thy soul hateth, with thy deadly enemy, wouldst thou take it kindly at her hands, or think her a faithful wife unto thee? wouldst thou embrace her in thy arms? or set her as a seal upon thy heart, though she loved but one besides thee? What woman would do so to such an husband? or what husband to such a wife? I appeal then to thy own conscience; How canst thou think that Christ will look well upon thee, if thou go a whoring after any one sin, and against thy conscience live in any one impiety, which thou know'st his soul hateth? His pure eye cannot endure to behold any wickedness, 2 Cor. 6.15. neither shall any evil dwell with him. What fellowship hath light with darkness, or Christ with Belial, or thy Saviour with sin, that once cost him the price of his own blood? Oh than whosoever thou art, wash thy heart, jer. 4.15. and thy whole heart trom wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. If thy eye offend thee, or hinder thee from this change, that is, any thing as dear to thee as the apple of thine eye, pluck it out from thy heart and cast it from thee. It is better, saith Christ, to enter into heaven with one eye, Ma●. 5 29. then having two to be cast into the fire of hell. It is a fearful thing to live in any known sin, it maketh thy person and thy prayer abominable in the sight of God, Esa. 1.15. Strive therefore earnestly, and without hypocrisy for this total change. Shake off the fetters of thy beloved sin; (for I speak to thee that hast the beginning of grace in thee, and a change in some measure wrought upon thee) and pray earnestly unto God; and I will pray for thee with the bl●ssed Apostle, That the very God of peace may sanctify thee wholly, 1. Thes. 5.23. and that thy whole spirit and soul and body, may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord jesus Christ. Thus shalt thou be happy in the change. And thus being a new man in Christ, thou shalt be united unto Christ to the eternal joy of thy soul. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. S. Bern. in se●t. There was a threefold change in Christ; the first of sublimity, into humility, when the eternal Word of the Father, became flesh, and took our nature upon him: the second, of contemptibility into majesty, when the man Christ, who was then despised in the eyes of the world, was gloriously transfigured before his disciples: the third of mutability, into eternity, when rising from the dead, he ascended into heaven, to reign in glory for evermore. And like unto this, there is a threefold change in man. A threefold change in man. The first, was the change of Adam's glorious innocency in Paradise, into the deformity of sin and wickedness; the second is the change out of the state of nature and natural corruption, into the state of grace and regeneration in Christ, (and this is meant in my Text.) The third and last is the change of this state of grace, into the state of glory and happiness for evermore; and this shall be at the resurrection. Adam's fall was a change; our resurrection shall be a change; 3. Quest. Answ. God the author of our re-creation. and our new creation is also a change. But who is the author of this change? The answer is given by the Apostle in the next verse to my Text, All things are of God; and therefore our new creation is not of ourselves. It is the work of God the Father, in the Son, and by the blessed Spirit: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them, Eph. 2.10. We are the work of God in Christ, and by the spirit: For according to his mercy he saveth us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the holy Ghost, Tit. 3.5. 1. Pet. 1.23. Thus inwardly; and outwardly by the word & the Sacrament, by which the spirit doth beget & increase this newness in us. No creature in the world can work this miracle, this new birth more strange than the seven wonders of the world; Thou art created, thou art healed, S. Bern. de graetia & liber arbitr. thou art saved, but which of all these is from thee oh man? Thou couldst not create thyself when thou wast not; thou couldst not justify thyself when thou wast a sinner, and worse than if thou hadst not been; thou couldst not raise thyself when thou wast dead, because than thy strength was as if thou hadst never been. Where then is our own free will in the state of nature? Where is our merit at the hand of God? Those that are wise do confess a threefold operation, not of free will to merit, but of divine grace, and these in man, but from God. The first is our creation; the second, our reformation; the third our consummation and perfection to glory; and God is the author of them all. And therefore to us humility, to him belongs the glory, for he it is that maketh us to be new creatures; 4. Quest. What kind of creatures we are ●re-made. Answ. If any man be in Christ, through the grace of God in him, he is a new creature. It is God the Father in Christ by the blessed spirit that worketh this new creation. But what kind of creatures doth he make us? I answer, that as God in his first creation, did create Adam according to his own image and similitude, Gen. 1.27. So in our second creation, he doth renew and repair in us by little and little, the excellency of that image which we lost by the fall of o●● first parents; he re-makes us like unto himself, in wisdom, in righteousness, in true holiness, alike in all heavenly virtues, as much as it is possible (as God in his wisdom thinks convenient) for finite creatures. To express the excellency of an infinite Creator, this similitude he beginneth in this life, and will one day perfect it fully in the life to come. The absolute pattern of this image is Christ, he is the Idea and lively figure of our heavenly nativity, both of that which we must strive for here, and that which we shall have hereafter: For as we have borne the image of the earthy, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly, 1. Cor. 15.49. that is, that image of the new man, Which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, Eph. 4.24. In righteousness, that is, in obedience to the first table, Zanchus come. in Ephes. in the duty we own to God; and in obedience to the second Table; in the duty which we own to our neighbour, and in holiness, that is, in that purity of life, which we ought to have in our own selves, our souls and consciences in the sight of God. And, Beholding with open face, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord; we are changed into this same image from glory to glory, even a by the Spirit of the Lord, 1. Cor. 3.18. So that the second creature shall be made like, but (being confirmed by grace in Christ) more excellent than the first. In the first creation God gave unto Adam rule and dominion over all the creatures, and in our second creation, the right of this Dominion is regiven unto us. And this Dominion we should labour to exercise. Origen & S. Chrysost in Gen. But as Origen and S. chrysostom express it; we should have dominion over the fishes of the sea, by ruling our appetites and lustful desires; over the birds of the heaven, by pulling down ambition with the cords of humility; over the creeping things of the earth, by keeping in avarice with the bounds of charity; over the beasts of the field, by holding in anger with the raines of temperance. And thus if we do, we shall seem to rule well, and be rewarded with double honour, as Saint Paul speaketh in another kind, 1. Tim 5.17. We shall declare ourselves to be new men in Christ, such as have our parts in the first resurrection, and of whom the second death shall have no power, Reu. 20.6. For those who are new creatures are free men in Christ, and those who are in Christ are new creatures, If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. 5. Quest. But what means we may attain this newness. S. August. Tom. 9 de decem chordis. Whosoever desireth to be a subject in the kingdom of Christ, he must be a new creature. But by what means may a man attain to this new Creation? Or how may a man come to be a new man in Christ? Saint Augustine observes well, that the old man in the state of nature cannot sing the new song in the state of grace, but that he may sing it, he must strive to be a new man in Christ; but how he may be a new man, hear not me (saith the Father) but the Apostle, Put off the old man, and p●t one the new, Eph. 4.24. So that as before grace we are like Lazarus, dead in the grave of our sins, unable to rise from iniquity until Christ give us his hand and power of grace to revive and strengthen us, (contrary to the error of Pelagians, of which I have spoken before:) so after this grace we have a spiritual life given unto us, (our understandings being enlightened, and wills rectified:) and though it be but weak, yet must we not think ourselves as stocks and stones, or like children sitting idle in the market place, but we must work in the vineyard being called, and using the grace that God hath given us, labour to work out and perfect this newness in us: on Gods part it is wrought by the blessed Spirit within, and by the word and Sacraments without. But there is somewhat required of us: that we strive to cherish the sparks of grace which God kindleth in us; that we reject not the Spirit, but embrace those special means of Faith and Repentance, and Prayer, and labour earnestly to obtain them. Because without Faith and Repentance, none of this newness can be found in us. Faith upon sight of our sins (meriting God's justice on the one hand,) and beholding the mercy of God in Christ, on the other hand, worketh in us that godly sorrow which causeth repentance never to be repent off: That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that dolour and grief arising in the heart for sin, committed against so good a God, so merciful a Father: it is a means by the operation of the Spirit, to beget in us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that change of the mind, that newness which is so acceptable with God in Christ. As the Eagle feeling her wings heavy, doth plunge them into a fountain, and washing off her old Feathers, reneweth her youth: So likewise a Christian feeling the the burden of the old Man, must wash himself in the fountain of repentance, joel. 2.12. in a river of tears for his impurity, that by this means, washing off the old Feathers of sin, he may put on the new wings of righteousness; by which he may fly with comfort (strengthened by grace) to the heavenly Tabernacle. It is related again of the Eagle, Barradius. that when the upper crooked part of her bill doth grow long that she cannot eat her meat, she striketh her bill against a stone, and breaking off the part that did hinder, reneweth her strength: After the same manner, we must break of the impediments of our sins by repentance, that hinder us from taking the heavenly food of our souls, (as Daniel Dan. 4.27. counselled Nabuchadnezzar,) that with the Eagle we may be renewed; and strengthened more and more by Christ in the inner man, Ephes. 3.16.7. that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, and our faith appear in holiness, without which no man shall see God, Heb. 12.14. Lastly, S. Augustine S. August. lib. 8. de Civit. dei & in Psal. 56. relateth of the Serpent, that when she groweth old, she draweth herself through a narrow hole, and by this means, leaving her old skin, she reneweth her age. Our Saviour bids us, to be wise as Serpents, Matth. 10.16. And if in any thing, sure it is in this, that we should follow their wisdom, that forsaking the broad way of vices, we may pass through the narrow and straight way of repentance, and leaving off our old Coat of sin, we may be clothed a new with the rich garments of righteousness, and so become new men in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he is a new Creature. But how may a man know whether he be a new Creature or not? 6. Question. How to know we are Christians. since there are so many in the world that make an outward show of this new Creation, and have nothing less to be found in them; that make Religion a cloak of hypocrisy, to cover their enormities; that are like an Iuy bush at a Tavern door, where there is no Wine to be had: or like a blazing Comet, that seemeth glorious for a while, but falleth to the ground on a sudden; or as Christ himself compareth them, Mat. 32.27. like sepulchers, that seem fair on the outside, but within are full of dead men's bones and rottenness. And therefore since there is such deceit, how may a man know whether he be a new Creature, and so in Christ or not? The master of the Sentences moveth a like question concerning Faith, Sent. lib. 3. Dist. 2●. lib 3. Trinit. cap. 1. whether a man may know that he have faith or not? And S. Augustine resolveth it, Fidem ipsam videt quisque incorde tuo esse, si credit, vel non esse si non credit. Every man may see Faith to be in him, if he believe, or not to be, if he believe not. In like manner it is with this new Creation, we may see by diverse signs, whether we be new men or no: of many I will give you a few. Answer. There were four Rivers in the Garden of Paradise, and there are Sign. 1 four Rivers that water the Garden of God, S. Bernard, in simil. which is the soul of a new Creature. The first, is the bewailing of our natural corruption, and the guilt of sin, like that which did compass the Land of Aethiopia. The second, the charitable compassion of our brother's misery; like that which ran towards the Country of Assyria. The third, a consideration and love of Divine grace; like that which divides the Kingdom of Babylon. The fourth, an affectation of heavenly virtues; like that which did compass the whole Land of Havilah. These have the dew from above, and the water from below; the waters of the Sea, of the Rivers, of the Fountains, and of the Snow, all to make plentiful with spiritual graces; and if thou canst find these four spiritual Rivers in thy soul, then mayst thou be persuaded, that thou art a new Creature. Sign. 2 Secondly, the Spouse in the Canticles hath two eyes like Doves, Cant. 4.1. These two are in the soul of a new Creature. The first is a true meditation of the love of Christ, like a Cordial Electuary to comfort the heart. The second, is the high estimation of heavenly glory, like a burning fire, to inflame our souls with the desire of Heaven; these wound the heart of the Bridegroom Christ jesus. And if thou canst find these in thy soul, then mayest thou be persuaded thou art a new Creature. Sign. 3 Thirdly, there is a threefold bed whereon our Saviour doth delight to take rest. The first is, the unity of the two Testaments, which is as the womb of the Virgin wherein he was conceived. The second is, the Church of his Elect, which is as the Manger wherein he was laid at his birth. The third is, the soul and conscience of a new creature, which is as the grave in which he was buried. And if thou canst find Christ thus resting in thy soul, thou mayest certainly be persuaded that thou art a new Creature. Sign. 4 Fourthly, if you observe the Moon when she is decreasing, she hath her open ends downwards, and is shut upwards; But when she is increasing, she hath her open ends upwards, and is shut downwards: So likewise, men that are merely natural, they have their hearts open downwards, being set only upon the earth and earthly things. But men regenerated and made new men in Christ, they have the open ends of their hearts ever upwards towards God, heaven and heavenly things. For God hath given unto man a heart with the broad end upwards, and the narrow end downwards, to teach us that our hearts should be open towards heaven, and shut towards the earth. And if thou hast thy heart thus spiritually disposed and ordered within thee, thou mayest assure thyself that thou art a new Creature. Lastly, there is a relation of a Controversy which fell Sign. 5 out on a time between the Scottish and the Irish, about a little Island lying between them, to whom it did belong; and being put to arbitrement, it was thus decided. If any venomous serpent will live within it, than it belongeth to the Scottish: but if they die quickly, or pass away from it, than it belongeth to the Irish: For this is the nature of the Irish ground, that no venomous serpent will live within it. And in this manner, beloved, you may decide the question between you and your own hearts. Search into them, if any venomous serpents, that is, serpentine sins, the temptations of Satan, the spawn of that great serpent the Devil, will live and grow up within them; if your hearts be still a nest of unclean birds, of noisome lusts, which bring the soul to perdition: If you cherish these in your souls with delight and pleasure, and suffer them to grow up in your lives to the dishonour of God, and shame of yourselves (as there are two many in the world that do;) It is evident that you are yet in the state of nature and natural corruption, ye are old men in sin, unregenerated, in whom this new Creation is not to be found; and therefore as yet you are neither in Christ, nor can you (without repentance) have any benefit by him. But if the temptations of Satan, the world, or the flesh, be but like sparkles flying in the air, or falling on the water, that suddenly perish and vanish away: If they be but like seed sown by the way side, that wanteth rooting; or like Corn on the house top, that withereth before it be plucked up, before it bring forth fruit; or if these seed of the Devil, these evil lusts, and concupiscence should grow a while like the tares amongst the wheat, and appear in your actions: Yet if you espy them betime like the faithful servants, Matth. 13.27. and be diligent and careful to pluck them up, that they choke not the wheat, the good seeds of grace, the good motions of the Spirit within you. If you labour faithfully to quench the sparks of sin▪ (having by Satan's violence, and your own weakness, broken forth into the flame of some evil deeds in your lives) with the tears of true repentance. If you find a sorrow in your souls, that you have yielded so much to Satan, as to entertain his evil motions; as not to have been more watchful to avoid his flights, more careful to escape the occasion of his enticements; but suffered lust to proceed so fare, as to conceive and bring forth sin in you, yea some open sin, to the dishonour of God and shame of your profession: (for into such may the dear child of God fall by the violence of temptations:) If this be a grief to you; and that you can fly by faith in Christ, like Prodigals, to the Father of mercy, bewailing your sins, and craving pardon; and resolve with yourselves to be more careful hereafter, to eschew the evil, and to do the good: If you find (with S. Paul) a will and desire in you to cherish the graces that God hath bestowed upon you; Rom. 7.18. and so to increase your regeneration, that you may be conformed to the image of Christ: It is evident that this new Creation is begun in you; And therefore without question ye are in Christ, and Christ who by his Spirit hath begun so good a work, he will increase his grace, and one day bring it to perfection, to the eternal joy and comfort of your souls. For if any man be once in Christ, he is and shall be a new Creature. But what if I have not these signs of newness in me (may some man object, 1. Objection. Against our new Creation. ) am I therefore out of Christ, and so have no part of his death and passion? then am I in a fearful and miserable estate; for I find that Satan's temptations oftentimes get the victory over me, that I am not able in many things to resist them; that I have much corruption in me; for I see a Law in my members, rebelling against the Law of my mind, and leading me captive to the Law of sin, so that what I would do, that do I not, and what I would not do, that do I. Answer. To comfort a weak Christian. I answer this was Saint Paul's complaint, Rom. 7.19. And know this for thy comfort, that if thou hast but the beginnings of grace, and a desire to have them increased, thou art entered into God's hospital, and God will in due time wholly cure the wounds of thy soul; Luk. 10.34. he will pour in wine and oil, and not leave thee till he bring thee to perfect health. And this striving and combating against sin (though it be yet but in the Embryo, in the conception as it were, in desire only, yet) it is an evident sign, that grace hath entered into thy heart, and this new creation is begun in thee. For while the strong man armed keepeth the palace, Luk. 11.21.22. the things that he possesseth are in peace: that is, so long as Satan dwelleth in the corrupt heart of a natural man, without any grace of faith, or this spiritual newness in him; all is in peace, there is none of this combating or striving between the flesh and the spirit in his soul. But when a stronger than he cometh, that is, when Christ cometh to dwell in the heart by faith, and by his Spirit to work in us this new creation, then is the war begun between Christ and Belial, and this combat to be found in the heart of a Christian; which is a plain demonstration that thou art in Christ, yea though thou find many corruptions which are not yet fully purged from thy heart. For as a living body although naturally it be the subject of sense, yet one part may for a time be benumbed when the rest are quick and lively; so a regenerate man, in whom this work is begun, may have some part unreformed, when the rest is renewed by grace. As a man is not borne a strong man at the first, nor a plant grown up to a tree in a moment: so it is with the state of a Christian, we are by degrees conformed to the image of Christ. Musculus in Text. Vetus creatura non ita subitò exuitur, nec nova repentè induitur, (saith a good interpreter) The old man is not so soon put off, nor is the new man so soon put on; this must have time to be brought to perfection. It is a comfortable observation of S. Bernard: S. Bern in serm. 1. Domin. Palm. Qui parvulus natus est, parvulos a gratia non excludit, He that was borne a little one himself, doth not exclude little ones from grace, that is, such as are babes in this new creation. For as a little branch is as truly in the vine, as a great one, though it bring not forth so much fruit; so is a man that is but a new convert, and newly engrafted into Christ by faith, as truly in Christ: yea and (though he be weak in himself, and may seem easily to be broken off, yet) Christ will keep him as sure in him, and nourish him with grace, till he come to strength, as he that hath been a long time in Christ, and obtained an excellent measure of this new creation. For he that is once engrafted into Christ by faith, though Christ may suffer him to be shaken with the wind of temptations; Matth. 14.30, 31. or with Peter on the water to fear and doubt and begin to sink, (being affrighted with the waves of Satan's assaults,) though Christ may leave him to himself for a time, yet he will never totally and finally forsake him: he will not suffer the wind to break him off, nor the waves of the sea to drown him: For though we be weak, yet Christ is strong; though we be often unconstant, yet Christ is constant in his love to the end. imperfectness in our brethren, no sufficient cause to condemn them for reprobates. Ezekiel 47.3, 4, 5. Seeing therefore this grace of newness in a Christian, is but like those holy waters in Ezekiel's vision, first to the ankles, then to the knees, after to the loins, and at last a great river not to be passed over, that is, not perfect at first, but increasing by degrees; and since that many who are engrafted into Christ, may yet have some corruption to be found in them not fully cleansed: It must teach us not rashly to condemn those for hypocrites, for such kind of Civil honest men which cannot be saved, whom we may see subject to some imperfections. What though thy brother hath not obtained so great a measure of grace as thou hast. Is it the part of a Christian, in an instant to enter into the treasury of God's secrets, and condemn such a one, for a reprobate? Who gave thee authority to climb up into the judgement seat of Christ, that thou shouldest so speedily pronounce sentence against thy brother? and because regeneration is but new begun in him, exclude him quite out of the favour of God? Charity is the badge of a Christian, and thence thou mayest learn a fare better lesson. Math. 7.1. judge not that ye be not judged. If thou seest thy neighbour wicked, labour to convert him; If thou seest him civilly honest, outwardly just in his actions to men, keeping in some good measure, the second table; but not so diligent as thou art in observing the first: if he have only restraining grace, as thou mayest imagine (though it be hard to judge the heart, of which God only is the searcher;) Damn him not presently (and much less thy weak brother, for every slip and fall into sin by Satan's violence, or his own frailty;) but grant him the benefit of repentance, and pray for him rather, that God would give him renewing grace, that by little and little he may wholly be changed, and come to th●t perfection which thou thinkest thou hast obtained. Thus shalt thou more easily win thy brother, and declare thy sincerity that thou desirest his good. If thy zeal be hot, guide it with knowledge. Every plaster is not fit for one soar; some must have wine, and some oil, some the Law, and some the Gospel; Luk. 10 34. if thou apply not aright, thou mayest sooner wound then heal, sooner destroy then save the soul of thy brother. I conclude this with this admonition. Take heed lest Satan infect thee with spiritual pride. 2. God's acceptance of sm●ll grace (in Christ) no argument to stand at a stay. A censuring spirit is one mark of an Hypocrite: the Pharisee condemned the Publican; but humility received the blessing: This man went home justified more than the other, Luke 18.14. Secondly, this favour of God in Christ jesus, that he accepts lambs as well as sheep, Babes in grace, as well as men of riper years, must not move us to stand at a stay, or to sit idle, as if we needed not to go any further; for there is a groweth in graces required of us. Grow in grace (saith the Apostle) 2. Pet. 3.18. And Be (that is, strive to be) perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, saith our Saviour, Matth. 5.48. Howsoever sometimes by the subtlety of our spiritual enemies, we may be like the Sun at Christ death, Luk. 23.45. darkened with the thick mists of temptations or afflictions; yet we must not be like joshuahs' Sun that stood still: joshua 10.12 2 King. 20.9. nor like Ezekiah's Sun that went backwards; but like David's Sun that cometh forth as a Bridegroom out of his chamber, as a Giant to run his course. Psal. 19.4, 5. I have a Baptism, saith Christ, to be Baptised withal, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished? Luk. 12.50. We have a Baptism likewise to be Baptised with all, namely this regeneration and newness in Christ, and how should we be straitened, till it be perfected in us? There be many that will strive to be in the newest fashion, to have the newest head-tire, the newest upholder for their pride: but they will not strive to be new creatures; except it be by daubing and painting their faces with hellish devices, taking upon them to mend their creation, as being angry with God, because he hath made them no better. But shall the clay challenge the potter, and say why hast thou made me thus? Certain it is, that as a painter having finished his work cannot endure that a stranger should come and lay other colours upon it; so is it impossible God should endure that a mortal woman whom he himself hath created, should by painting her face, take upon her to correct the workmanship of God. True it is, that cursed and painting jesabel was one of this number; but the vengeance of God brought her to a fearful destruction, the dogs did eat the flesh and drink the blood of jesabel. 2. Kings 9.30. I will end this objection with that exhortation of S. Bernard: S. Bern. de modo bene vivendi. Study to please Christ jesus, not with precious garments, or new fangled fashions, but with newness of life: not with the beauty of the flesh, but with the beauty of the mind; not with the outward face, but with the inward heart; by putting off the old man, and being clothed with the new: and endeavour earnestly for an increase of this newness; thus shalt thou show thyself to be a Christian, and so to be a favourite of Christ, not only to dwell with him (as the favourites of Kings so highly esteemed) but to dwell in him, and he in thee, which is fare better: If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature. But once again some Christian may reply, 2. Objection of Sata● to move ●o despa●re. howsoever I have heretofore felt these beginnings of grace, and some of these signs of newness in me, by which I might be persuaded that I was in Christ, and Christ in me: yet now I find that I am subject to manifold temptation●, and am sometimes overcome to fall into grievous sins which wound my conscience; yea I see a decay of grace in me, I find a weakness of faith, and a kind of deadness in my soul, so that I delight not in the Law of God, as I should; nor do I feel that assurance of the favour of God, and of my salvation as I desire; and therefore I fear that my faith was but feigned, and my holiness but in show, and so that I am not in Christ nor Christ in me, and hence I conclude that woeful and miserable is my estate. This objection is large, and hath diverse parts, 1. Answ. First of the conclusion. but I will answer all as brief as I can. And first for the conclusion, who is it that tells thee that thou art not in Christ, nor Christ in thee; and therefore thou art out of God's favour, and the benefit of Ch●ist belongs not unto thee? Thou wilt reply, it is thine own conscience, seeing thy decay in faith, in holiness, and the burden of thy sins too heavy for thee to bear: this pronounceth the curse against thee, b●cause thou hast not continued in those things that are written in the book of the Law to do them; Deut, 27.26. because thou hast not that measure of grace which should be in a Christian, in one that is in the favour of God. But once again, who is it that persuades thy conscience to this doubting upon these grounds? Quest. If thou canst not tell, I will answer for thee: it is either God, or Satan that puts this into thy mind. First it may be, it is God, and then it is certainly for thy good, 1. Answ. How and to what end God suffers doubting. that God for a time leaveth thee to thyself, and suffers these doubtings to be in thee. It may be it is for some secret sin, for which thou art not yet humbled, or of which yet thou hast not a true sight and repentance; and than God doth it to work a humiliation in thee, that thou mayest be converted and turn truly unto God; or it may be, it is to keep thee from security, to make thee the more to fear sin and the fruit of sin (this spiritual desertion) that thou mayest avoid it: or to prevent spiritual pride; or to try thy faith, patience, constancy, and trust in his promise; or to move thee to esteem better of the service of God's love, and of these spiritual graces in thee hereafter: or to teach thee that confessing thine own unworthiness and weakness in performing of the Law, thou shouldest fly by earnest prayer unto Christ, who hath performed it for thee, & implore mercy at his hands, with the renewing of these graces and assurance of God's love again unto thee; because in him God is well pleased, and in him thou mayest find mercy in the depth of misery. If it be God, it is for these or the like ends, and it is a sure argument to confirm thy faith, to ascertain thee that thou art engrafted into Christ, and that mercy embraceth thee on every side. 2. How and to what end Satan moveth to doubt. 1. Pet 5.9. jonas 4.7. Isa. 50.4. Again, if it be Satan that tempteth and persuadeth thee to this doubting, he doth it to work despair in thy soul, and so to procure thy utter destruction. And therefore believe him not, yield not unto him; resist the temptation at first entrance, prevent the occasion by not musing too much (without ask counsel at the learned) of those high mysteries which thou understandest not; and avoid solitariness, the opportunity that Satan desires to hatch his mischievous practices (when Eve was alone, Gen. 3.2, 3. she was tempted by Satan.) Be circumspect and give no credit to him that persuades thee to such evil motions. First, because he is a liar, joh. 8.48. Secondly, because he is thy enemy that seeketh thy destruction, 1. Pet. 5.8. And why shouldest thou believe a liar, and give credit to thy adversary, rather than to the sweet promises of the Father of mercy? This were injustice in thee, to prefer Satan before God, and thy enemy before thy friend. How full the Scripture is of the sweet promises of mercy, if thou searchest, Ezek. 18.27. Mat. 11.28. job 13.14, 15 thou mayest find to thy comfort. And therefore hold this for a ground, that though thou mayest be subject to doubting, yet by God's assistance (with holy job) thou wilt never despair, but pray earnestly and without ceasing for the gift of perseverance, and the re-assurance of God's favour; thus shalt thou find comfort in the latter end. And thus I have answered thy conclusion, to show that thou oughtest not to despair of the Favour of God in Christ: because God's mercy is free, for the merit of Christ, not for thy deservings. Again, that thou art subject to diverse temptations, 2. Answ. Of Satan's objections. and enticed often to grievous sins: sometime to think that there is no God, to doubt of the Scripture of God, of his providence, his power, or the like; sometimes to deny Christ, sometimes to lay violent hands upon thyself, sometimes to sin against the first table, and sometimes against the second: and that although thou desirest and prayest to be free from them, and from those ill motions and corruptions that are in thee, yet thou findest that thou canst not, (Satan, the world, and the flesh not leaving off to assault thee) and therefore beginnest again to fear thy estate, to doubt of God's love, and to be persuaded that the promises of grace belongs not unto thee; and therefore thou oughtest not apply them particularly unto thyself. 1. Th●●● c●u●es of Co●●●●n●s in the 〈◊〉 o● Gods children. jam. 3.2. I answer, that these temptations and corruptions may sometimes be f●und in the b●st of God's children (in those upon whom he hath bestowed an excellent measure of grace,) arising either from the corruption of their own nature's, f●om which they are not yet fully purged, and in wh●ch there are the seeds of all th●se sins, of atheism, infidelity and the like: or else from the temptations of Satan, from which they neither are, nor can be free so long as they live in this vale of misery. Paul was often buffeted with Satan's temptations, Rom. 7. 2. C r. 12. ●. Gen. 9.24. Gen. 19.33, 34 Gen. 12. ●9. Psal. 51. ●●. job 13.6. job. 16 9 Peter had a shrewd fall when he denied his master; Noah, Lot, and faithful Abraham had their resurrections from sin, and David was constrained to pray, Create in me a clean heart oh God, and how terrible were jobs temptations? job. 6.4. If these than were not free, how canst thou look to be privileged? 2. Christians in this life ●●e ever soldiers and ha●● these enemies to fight against But to satisfy thee further, know that thou art yet a me●ber of the Church militant, and therefore subject to this fight and warring continually against sin and Satins temptations; nor canst thou be free from these till thou art a member of the Church triumphant, which shall be in the world to come. For first, thy regeneration is not perfect in this life, and therefore the seeds of sin a●d corruption remaining, there is a sear and doubting in God's dearest children, yea and sometimes a kind of despair; but Christ hath felt the terror of God's absence that the faithful might be delivered from it: yet there will be a continual combat in thee between the fl●sh and the spirit. 1 Pet. 5.8. M●t. 27.49. Secondly, Satan is a perpetual enemy, and he will never leave off to seek thy destruction. Howsoever therefore thou mayest get the victory and be at peace for a time, (when upon true repentance thou art reconciled unto God,) yet thy enemies will adventure again, and thou shalt be sure of many skirmages with them before thou canst pass through the wilderness of this world to the Canaan of heaven. Temptation is one sign that thou art the child of God, and it is profitable for a Christian, therefore Saint james, Count it all joy (saith he) that ye fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trial of your faith, worketh patience, jam. 1.2, 3, 4. Our Saviour himself was tempted, and that to grievous sins, to idolatry, to distrust in God's providence, to doubt whether he were the Son of God or not; to pride, and vainglory, yea to lay violent hands upon himself, and be the cause of his own death; and when the devil left him, it was but for a season, Luk. 4.13. Saint Paul was an excellent Christian, and the dear child of God, and yet could not be free from ●hese assaults; he had the seeds of sin in him, and a 〈◊〉 in his members rebelling against the law of his mind, Rom. 7.23. and often leading him captive to the law of sin; he had inward enemies, and he was not free from outward; the messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him; that is, 2. Cor. 12.7.8. Satan assaulted him with one temptation or other to move him to sin. And Saint Paul prayed thrice, that is, often and earnestly to be free from it, that he might have had no more of these assaults; and why did not God grant his desire? If he would have given this freedom to any, then why not to Saint Paul? I answer, the state of Saint Paul required it, (being a member of the Church militant) that he should not be free, lest he might grow secure, leave off fight, and so cease to be a Soldier, which we must not do in this life; for we must fight manfully, and be faithful Soldiers to the death, that Christ may give us the Crown of life, Reuel. 2.10. S. ●●●n. 〈◊〉 ●●rm Daemonis est mala suggerere, nostrum est non consentire, It is the property of the Devil to suggest evil motions, but it is our parts not to consent unto them; for as often as we resist them, so often we overcome the Devil, & we honour our God, who visiteth us that we should fight, who h●lp●th us that we may overcome, who strengtheneth us that we faint not in the combat, as Saint Bernard excellently. To be tempted by Satan is Satan's sin, not thine; but to yield and consent to temptations, this is sin in thee. Christ was tempted (as I said before) but temptations to him were but like sparks of fire falling upon the waters, quickly quenched. But to us they are like sparks falling upon tinder, or dry row, quickly set on fire; and therefore we had need to pray that our hearts may be wet with the dew of Grace, that we may the better resist and overcome them. And comfort thyself with this, that God (who is thy loving Father in Christ) hath the Devil in chains; and as he stayeth the waves of the Sea at his pleasure, job 38.8. so he holdeth Satan as with bit and bridle, that he can tempt thee no otherwise, nor any longer than God seethe for thy good, as is evident by the example of job. Chap. 1.12. And if the children of God be tempted and overcome by them, yet upon true repentance and coming unto Christ, we have an advocate with the Father, jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins. 1. john 2.1. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, & the truth is not in us; but if we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just (according to his promise) to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1. john 1. We must not then conclude, that because we are subject to temptations, or because the seeds of sin are still in us, and the corruption of our nature not fully purged, that therefore we are out of the favour of God; (for these may be in God's dearest Saints.) But we must pray to God for help; 2. Thess. 3.16. Heb. 10.35. Encouragements from the state of a Christian to endure the combat. Because he is the Lord of peace, who giveth peace to his children. Cast therefore thy care upon God the finisher of thy faith, 1 Pet. 1.2. And labour earnestly to resist these temptations, and endure the combat with patience, having an eye to our Captain, Christ jesus, who is the Author and finisher of our faith, Heb. 12.1.2. And to strengthen thy faith, and free thee from doubting the better, let me entreat thee to remember, that the state of a Christian in this life, is but like a man on the top of a Simil. 1 tower; so long as he looks upwards, he stands sure without doubting, but if once he look down, his head gins presently to be giddy, and he fears falling. So whiles we look up to Christ, and remember how God freely accepts us as righteous in him, we are confident of our estate and of God's mercy in Christ; but if we cast down our eyes upon our own corruptions, our weakness of faith and holiness, than doubtings begin to assault us. We must not then seek peace in ourselves, but in Christ who is our peace, Ephes. 2.14. Rom. 3.24. 2. and in whom (upon repentance) we are justified freely by his grace. Mat. 14.28.29.30.31. Or whensoever Simil. 2 thou art in temptatations, or doubtings trouble thy soul, remember that thy estate in this life, is like Peter on the water, whose faith at first was so strong, that at the call of Christ he came boldly to him on the water without doubting. But when he saw the waves coming against him, he presently doubteth & feareth drowning; gins to sink, till finding himself unable to save himself, he flieth to Christ, & prayeth earnestly to him for help, Master save me, I perish. And then Christ giveth him his hand, and bringing him into the ship, saveth them from drowning. And in like manner it is with a Christian; at first when Christ calleth him to faith and repentance by the preaching of the Gospel, being persuaded by the Spirit of God to believe, he comes boldly unto Christ, being moved by the excellency of Christ's merit, and the free promises of grace and mercy in him; but when he once comes to see his unthankfulness, and the weakness of his faith and obedience; the unbelief, and want of Sanctification in him: then (the waves of Satan's temptations and corruptions of his own nature assaulting him) fears and doubtings seize upon him: and he is ready to sink down into the Sea of despair for want of Faith. If this be thy estate, what must thou now do, but confess and acknowledgeth 〈…〉, 4. Weak Christians should imitate Peter. jam. 5.13. james 1.17. an● insufficiency, and with Peter (b●i●g re●d● to 〈◊〉) fly unto Christ, and pray unto hi● for co●●●●●, the Author and fountain of life and peace. If ●ny m●●b●●fflict●d, l t him pray, (saith S. James.) Thus will Ch●ist give thee the hand of his gracious assistance, (as he did to Pet●r) and delivering thee in his due time from the w●ues of fear, and Sea of despair, he will bring thee safe into the ship of Comfort, and re-assurance of his love and favour again. And to find out this assurance and persuasion of thy Election and God's favour, to which S. Peter 2 Pet. 1.10. exhorts that by holiness we may perfect our assurance, (as S. Paul exhorts to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, to keep us from security and presumption, Phil. 2.12.) As he that would find the Sea, must take the River by the hand, and follow that: So a Christian, who would find out his Election, and be assured of his Calling, he must go to the golden Chain of his Predestination, and lay hold on those links first that are nearest unto him: He must begin, first, to find out the effects and fruits before he can find the cause. The Sun rising is known by the light approaching, the fire by the heat, the tree by the fruit, and so our Election by the effects and signs of it. If we go first to that unsearchable depth of God's secret counsel, to that most glorious Sun of his wonderful decree: (as Satan will move us to do, hiding the effects and signs of his free grace from us, that we may be confounded in the search of the cause) how can we choose but be drowned with the depth, and have the eyes of our weak faith, dazelled with that unspeakable brightness of the wisdom and knowledge of God? For in this manner, How unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out? Rom. 11.33. If we find the light then in us, we need not doubt but that the Sun of God's favourable countenance in our free Election hath shined towards us, and once shining upon us: though it be eclipsed or darkened by the clouds of temptation, or corruption for a time, yet when God seethe it fit for us, it will shine again; for being once given, Rom. 11.29. it can never be totally and finally taken from us. The means how to find out our Election. To find thy desire therefore, consider that of S. Paul, Rom. 8.29.30.31.31. Whom God did foreknow, he did also Predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his Son, partly by inherent righteousness and sanctification wrought by the Spirit, begun in this life, and to be perfected in the life to come; and partly by glory with Christ for ever in heaven. And whom he did Predestinate to this end, freely in Christ before all time, them he calleth in time by the preaching of the Gospel, from the dark ignorance of the world (who know not the way to happiness) unto the light of the knowledged of Christ. And whom he hath thus called to know Christ and believe in him; that is, to be persuaded that the Sacrifice of Christ's death and Passion hath sufficiently and fully satisfied the justice of God for their sins, (they repenting of their sins and coming unto Christ to be refreshed by him) Them also he justifieth, that is, Math. 11.28. accepteth as just and righteous freely for Christ's sake, by the consideration of which they have and may have peace with God: (because God is reconciled and at peace with them in Christ) Rom. 5.1. And whom he justifieth, them (saith the Apostle) he will glorify. But first working regeneration and sanctification in some measure in them; and so conforming them to the Image of his Son, (of which the Apostle had spoken before) effecting (I say) a change in them by his Spirit. First, in their understandings to know, and in their wills to desire good, that which may may be pleasing in the sight of God. Secondly, in their lives and actions (in thankfulness to God for their free justification in Christ,) to strive and endeavour to the uttermost of their powers to to do that which is agreeable to his will, till having finished their course, they obtain glory in heaven. This is the order of our salvation; and we must not now begin at the first of these, the Foreknowledge of God, or the Act of God's Predestination, to know whether we belong to God or no (for then we are sure to be confounded:) but we must begin at the last of these that is given to the Saints in this life. And this is our sanctification, and newness of life, of which our Apostle speaks in my Text. 2 Cor. 13.5. Prove & examine thyself then (as the Apostle exhorteth) ask thine own conscience, and look with an unpartial eye, as not to flatter thyself with the conceit of that grace which thou hast not, so not to deny thyself that grace which thou hast. See if thou canst find in thee: First this change, that whereas by nature, first thy will and desires were corrupted, 1. Rom. 7.5. Rom. 8.5. lusting wholly after sin, and being contrary to the Law of God, by grace thy will and desires are now to do good; and thou art sorry that thou hast not a greater measure of grace in thee to desire better, to hunger & thirst more earnestly after righteousness: know for thy comfort, that in this thou art blessed, Matth. 5.6. and in the end thou shalt be satisfied. Secondly, for thy actions, which by nature were vile and wicked, being the works of the flesh, of which S. Paul speaketh, Galat. 5.19.20.21. (or the like) unto all which we are subject by nature; yea, not only to do such things but to have pleasure in them that do them, as the Apostle testifieth of the Gentiles, Rom. 1.32. yea, to work all uncleanness even with greediness: yet now thou art changed, so that thou lovest not sin, but hatest it, nor delightest to commit any iniquity, but art sorry for it, if thou know once that thou hast done that which is contrary to the Law of God. Yea that thou hast a love and desire and endeavour to perform the whole law (which is that perfection of parts required in a Christian in this life (for we must have an eye to all God's commandments as David had; Mat. 5.48. Psal. 18.22. ) if thou canst find these and the like signs in thee, though it be but imperfectly in respect of that perfection of degrees which we cannot attain unto in this life. For our best actions are and will be full of imperfection; yet these are infallible signs, that thou art in Christ, that Christ dwelleth in thee by his Spirit, working these good things in thee, and therefore thou hast faith; by which thou being justified, thou art certainly called; and being effectually called, thou art certainly the true child of GOD, and thy name is written in the book of life, which being once written, can never be blotted out. This is the way to be assured of thy Election, and the more holiness and sanctification thou canst get, the more sure thou mayst be. But if thou yet doubtest, because of thy imperfection in these, because thou art not yet fully regenerated, know that Christ is thy perfection, and God beholdeth thee in him. For if we look upon ourselves, when we have done all that we can, we must say we are unprofitable servants: and for peace in ourselves, we cannot find it; Gen. 8.9. so that as Noah's Dove was constrained to fly to the Ark, before she could find where to rest, so are we constrained to fly to Christ, before we can find rest to our souls, Math. 11.29. As the Israelites therefore whensoever they were stinged, did go presently to the brazen serpent, Num. 21.9. by beholding of which, they were cured: so whensoever thou art wounded by sin, or moved to doubting by thine own weakness, or Satan's temptations, fly presently to Christ, behold him by the eye of Faith, how he was crucified, how he shed his blood, how he died, and rose again; how he sits on the right hand of his Father, and maketh intercession, and all this for thee to purchase thy peace. james 1.12. And with this persuasion, possess thy soul in patience, and hope that thou shalt one day enjoy that inheritance of the Saints, where is freedom from all these fears and doubtings, which he hath bought for thee, (not for thy merits) but for the price of his own blood. This Hope will not make thee ashamed. Rom. 5.5. Yea, by this Hope thou art and shalt be saved, Rom. 8.24. Conclude not thyself then to be out of the favour of God, because thou art not yet free from sin, and Satan's temptations, but comfort thyself in hope, that as Christ's prayer for Peter was heard, 〈◊〉. 22.32. that (though he failed in faith, and that fo● a time, yet) he could not fail totally and finally; so it is heard also for thee. For he hath prayed for thee as effectually as he did for him, yea for all that shall believe on him, john 17. I●h. 17.20. And th' refore as job job 19.25. in the midst of his mis●●e did co fort himself with this meditation, that his Redeemer un●d: so do thou comfort thyself in C●ri●●, th●● one drop of his blood is of virtue to procure pardon for all thy sins, if the sins of all the men in the world were thine. And therefore wait with patience, 2. Cor. 22.9 a●d b● content with God's answer to Paul: My g●a●e is su●●●●ient for thee, and my strength shall be made manifest in thy we●●●nesse. It is not for our merits, b●t for the me●i s o● C r●●●, that God freely accepts us. And this is th● pr●mise of God, to those who are once his children, (on whom h● hath ou●e bestowed, these graces of the knowledge of Christ, of faith, of repentance, of ●egeneration and newness of life, (which thou canst not deny once to have been in some measure in thee;) though he suffer them to fall into diverse great and grievous temptations, (yea temptations of this nature) yet he will lay no more upon them, 1. Cor. 10.13. than he will make them able to bear; and if he suffer them to be overcome for a time, yet will he make a way to escape, he will give them the grace of repentance and faith, by which they shall be reconciled and reassured of the love of their heavenly Father. Doubt not then to apply the promises of God in particular into thyself, upon repentance and coming to Christ: because their is no kind of sin which thou canst commit, but the mercy of God in Christ, is fare greater. For that sin against the holy Ghost thou canst not commit; which is not any transgression of the moral Law, either in general or particular, either of ignorance or infirmity, or a sin committed wilfully, presumptuously and against a man's conscience (though these be grievous sins: Bucan. loc. Com. ) But an universal and a final Apostasy or falling away from Christ; it is a voluntary renouncing of the known truth of the Gospel, and a rebellion proceeding from the hatred of it, being joined with a tyrannical, sophistical, and hypocritical oppugnation of the same, when a man that hath been enlightened with the true knowledge of Christ, and convinced in his conscience of the truth of it by the blessed Spirit, Heb. 6.5. and hath tasted of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (but it is only a taste, for they that do feed of these graces spiritually, and do digest them, and are nourished by them to newness of life; God will never suffer them to fall into this sin) when such an one, I say, shall afterward universally and with a full consent, fall from the truth, deny Christ, persecute him with reproaches, despising the sacrifice of his death and passion, and continuing thus without repentance to the end: this is the sin against the holy Ghost. Thus did julian and other Apostates sin, and of these is that of the Apostle to be understood, Heb. 6. verse 6. This sin, I say, thou canst not fall into (being engrafted into Christ by faith:) and for all other sins, be they never so grievous, remission is promised upon faith and repentance; and that freely, not for the merit of thy faith or repentance, but for the merit of Christ. Why then shouldest thou not apply the general promises of grace unto thyself in particular? Come unto me (saith Christ) all ye that be weary and heavy leaden, and I will refresh you: this promise is general, Mat. 11.28. But thy own conscience will tell thee, that thou art weary and heavy loaden with the burden of thy sins; and therefore thou mayest well conclude, that coming unto Christ, the promise of mercy belongs to thee: Whosoever shall believe and be baptised, shall be saved: this is a general promise, Mark. 16.16. But thy own conscience will tell thee, that thou art baptised, and that thou believest (though it may be thy faith is but weak, but like a grain of mustardseed (that is, very small) Matth. 17.20.) yet if thou canst but say with the man in the Gospel, I believe, Lord help my unbelief, Mark 9.24. If thou canst but touch the hemne of Christ's vesture with the finger of faith (if the hand of faith by which thou mayst lay fast hold on him be wanting;) yet by this touch of Christ even with the finger of faith, the virtue of Christ may flow forth sufficiently to stop the bloody issue of thy sins, and to cure the maladies of thy soul; and with this thou mayest truly apply the promises of grace unto thyself. To conclude this then, since thou art, and must be a soldier, while thou livest in the camp or field of the Church; faint not at the sight of thy enemies, though they be many and terrible; 2. King. 6.16. but comfort thyself with this, that (as Elisha said to his servant) There are more with thee then with them, yea and (though thou be weak,) yet the strongest part is on thy side, thou hast God thy friend to send thee more aid of grace (if at any time thou art decayed in thy strength:) thou hast Christ a conqueror thy Captain, under whose banner thou dost fight; thou hast the blessed Spirit to encourage thee: and though he may leave off to show his favourable presence for a time, yet will he not long be absent from thee; though for a moment he hide his face, yet with everlasting kindness will he have compassion on thee, Esay 54.7, 8. In a word, thou hast myriades of Angels to accompany thee, and the prayers of the Saints of the whole Church, yea of Christ himself, at the right hand of his Father, like the shouting of the Israelites, Iosh. 6.20. to make the walls of jericho, the strength of thy enemies to fail. And therefore go on with faith and constancy to endure the combat, and faint not though thou hast many losses of grace, many wounds by sin, by thy spiritual enemies, for Christ being thy Captain thou shalt certainly be conqueror in the end. But if with all this thou findest that thou art unable to apply the promises of mercy and free grace unto thyself, or to do it so weakly, that fear is not yet removed: Confession and Absolution an excellent means of peace. Then as in the sickness of thy body, thou art ready to seek to the Physician for help and counsel, that he may apply somewhat unto thee, to cure thy disease, so must thou do in this sickness of thy soul. Thou must fly to the Minister of God, whom he hath appointed for thy help herein. The Priest's lips must preserve knowledge, Malac. 2.7. and thou must seek the Law at his mouth. To him thou must open the wounds of thy soul; jam. 5.16. the causes and occasions of thy fear, whether they be thy sins (if any trouble thy conscience,) or thy temptations to sin, thy weakness of faith and holiness, or the like; that he upon sight of thy estate, and arguments of thy faith and repentance (though they be weak) may apply the promises of mercy, the refreshing oil of the Gospel unto thy soul. Thou must confess thy sins and weakness (as that reverend Divine Mr. Perkins Perkins Cases of Conscience. lib. 1. cap. 1. sect. 1. well observeth) that the Minister of God may pronounce the sentence of absolution (of thy free remission and reconciliation with God in Christ;) unto thee; that hence thy hope and confidence in God may be confirmed, which he may truly do, if (by thy confession) he find in thee the grounds, and signs of faith and repentance; of which thou mayest find many signs in this Treatise, and no doubt but some in thyself (if thou be called, brought to repentance and faith in Christ,) I will here put you in mind, A most comfortable ground of assurance that our sins are pardoned in Christ. but of one ground of comfort for many: And this is, that A desire to repent, and believe, in a touched heart and conscience, is faith and repentance itself; though not in nature, yet in God's acceptation by Christ. This is evident in Scripture. First, because If there be a willing mind, it is accepted, not according to that a man hath not, but according to that he hath, 2. Corinthians, 8. verse 12. Again, God doth not only call all that thirst and desire, to the waters of life, and offers them freely, Esay 55. verse 1.2. but if they do but desire and thirst for it, he promiseth to give it them freely, Revel 21.6. Reu. 22.17. And he will be as good as his word to thee, thou shalt be sure to receive and taste of these waters of comfort, (if thou wilt pray for it and desire it, and expect with patience, and tarry the Lords leisure for it.) Thou art blessed in the desire of it, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness; for (first or last) they shall be satisfied. Matth. 5.6. and then blessed shalt thou be, in the happy possession of it. A bruised reed will he not break, and smoking flax will he not quench (that is, the least sparks of grace, but kindle them to thy comfort.) Matth. 12.20.) The Lord (saith David) heareth the desires of the poor (the poor in Spirit especially) who are blessed (though they be poor in their own eyes, seeing but little or no faith or holiness in themselves, yet they are rich in Christ, in whom God accepteth them) for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matth. 5, 3. If thou confessest that thou hast but this desire in thee: as thou thyself mayest apply to thyself, with the help of thine own conscience & spiritual understanding; so may the minister also boldly and certainly apply the promises of grace and mercy to thy soul. M. Perkins Cases of Conscience. lib. 1. cap. 7. sect. 5. And that with this or the like argument. He that hath an unfeigned desire to repent and believe in Christ, hath remission of sins, and life everlasting. But thou hast an earnest desire to repent and believe in Christ, (as thy own conscience, cannot choose but tell thee, and as thou confessest unto him:) and therefore (as thou mayest apply and conclude; so) if thou canst not) he may certainly conclude to thee and for thee, That remission of sins, and life everlasting belongs to thee; and therefore he may assuredly and boldly (for to procure thy peace the better,) pronounce unto thee that excellent sentence of Absolution, The Book of Common Prayer in the visitation of the sick. appointed by our Church for the comfort of sick and distressed souls. Our Lord jesus Christ, who hath left power to his Church to absolve all sinners which truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences: And by his authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. Amen. And if thou be (as thou oughtest to be) persuaded of the power of this absolution, thou mayest after this, possess thy soul in peace, with assurance that thou art justified freely in Christ; and labouring to increase in holiness, thou needest not doubt of happiness in the end. For this is one end why Christ hath given that power of binding and losing unto his Ministers, those keys of the kingdom of heaven: That whatsoever they do bind on earth, Math. 16.19. should be bound in heaven, and whatsoever they should lose on earth, should be loosed in heaven: And withal gave them the holy Ghost, to direct and guide them; Receive ye the holy Ghost (saith Christ,) whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained, joh. 20. verse 22, 23. And this power though it be not absolute, but ministerial (Christ absolving by his ministers) yet as no water could cure Naaman's leprosy, but the waters of jordan, 2. King. 5. because God had given a special gift unto them; So the same words of absolution being pronounced by any other, cannot have that power to work on the conscience, or to persuade to peace, as when they are pronounced by him, that hath this ministerial office; because the promise only is given to God's Ministers, who are sent forth to this end. joh. 20.12.13. And being pronounced by them in this form and manner, Christ doth as certainly lose thee from the bonds of thy sins by his Ministers, as he did lose Lazarus by his disciples, from the bonds with which he was tied, when he had raised him to life. john 11.44. Be at peace therefore, & quiet thy conscience with divine Answ. 3 Hope, and confidence in Christ, and the God of peace shall be with thee, 2. Cor. 13.11. And yet further: thirdly, for thy decay in grace, Quench not the spirit, (saith the Apostle) to the Christian Thessalonians, Against decay in grace. 1. Thes. 5.19. (in whom no doubt the grace of God's Spirit was in good measure.) The Spirit therefore may be quenched, and God's dearest children may lose grace for a time, though not finally and totally: because God in his mercy doth in due time renew the vigour and strength of his graces in them. Thou must not conclude then by thy decay in grace for a time, or want of holiness, that thou art excluded from the favour of God in Christ. The best wheat hath some chaff, and the best of God's servants some imperfection. In this life we are not like the Sun, 1. In this life we continue not in one stay. job 14.1.2. perfect in brightness and light, but like the moon, receiving our light of grace from Christ, as the moon receiveth her light from the sun; and like her we have ever one spot of darkness or other within the Centre of our hearts: we are not fully purified, therefore God tryeth us, sometime by temptations, sometime by afflictions, all for our good, as S. chrysostom chrysostom Hom. 32. ad pop. Antioch. 2. All Gods children have some taste of afflictions in this life. speaketh of afflictions, that the cross is the fountain of life, because it fitteth better for life eternal: so is it true of these temptations, by which God tryeth his children for their greater glory. And first or last all must have some taste of this cup: for as none can expect the penny without labouring in the vineyard, so none can look for the crown without enduring the combat. The wheat is not pure except it be winnowed from the chaff, nor the silver except it be severed from the dross, nor the gold except it be tried in the furnace; But this being done, the wheat is commodious, the silver precious, and the gold glorious, and therefore all well esteemed of in the eyes of all: so it is with them, and so it is with us, who are the servants, the soldiers of Christ; we must pass through the fan, the fining pot, the furnace of manifold trials and temptations, sometimes inward, sometimes outward, before we can be good wheat for the table of Christ, good gold and silver for the treasury of our Saviour. But Christ our Saviour hath led the way before us, 3. Christ's temptations our encouragements. 1. Cor. 13.12. and to our eternal comfort gotten the victory for us. And all this makes us more like him, and therefore more dear in his sight: it is but to purge out the dross of our natural corruption, because as we know but in part, so we are regenerated but in part in this life, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part, shall be done away. If thou be tempted then with David, and the rest of God's children, because of thy infirmities, outwardly with manifold afflictions, or inwardly with manifold doubtings (of which David complained: Psa. 77.7, 8, 9 ) Let not Satan therefore make thee to become his advocate, to plead for him against thyself (which is his policy when he seethe that otherwise he cannot hurt thee) that thou art out of the favour of God; Rom. 8.28. but know that these are certainly for thy good, (All things fall out for the best to them that fear God) and they will bring thee happiness in the end. 4. For thy weakness of faith which maketh thee to fear that true faith is not in thee, 4. Sense of spiritual weakness, an argument of spiritual life. because it bringeth forth no better fruits: let me tell thee, this sight and sense of thy weakness is an evident argument of thy faith. For as sense of seeing or feeling, or the like is a sign of life in the body (for a dead body can neither feel nor see:) so this sight and sense of our own weakness of faith and holiness, is a symptom and sign of life, the life of grace in the soul, and therefore of true faith in us (though it be weak:) for as we cannot have life, this life of grace, except we be in Christ, from whom we receive the life as the branches from the vine, 5. A true faith sometimes little or no feeling in the heart of a Christian. so we cannot be in Christ without faith, by which we are engrafted into him; and therefore the signs of the spiritual life being in thee, it is an evident token of thy faith. Nay further, if thou dost not always feel this life of faith in thy heart, but that thou hast in thee a numbness, and as it were a deadness of faith; yet may thy faith be true and good, though it be weak, and although, as Satan or thy own weakness (strong enough to fight against thyself) may persuade thee, thou canst see no signs or symptoms of faith in thee. For the children of God are sometimes Simil. 1 like a man in a trance, who in his own sense, (being as it were without sense or understanding) yea and in the judgement of others, may seem to be dead, and yet after revive and come to himself again. Simil. 2 The children of God in this life are often like the moon, sometimes increasing in faith and holiness, sometimes decreasing; or like the tide, sometimes ebbing and sometimes flowing: not that they should willingly be thus subject to change, or decay in grace; for we must strive and pray against it: but that God leaving us to ourselves, or not always assisting us alike with his grace, we are so. Simil. 3 And yet take this with thee for a special note, that in this respect, we should be like a man in a crowd or throng, sometimes carried forwards, and sometimes backwards; but carried forward in grace willingly, striving together in one consent with the grace given us, and good motions of the spirit assisting us, that we may press forward with all our power to perfection in grace, to the fullness of the image of God in Christ. But when we are carried backwards by our corruptions, and the violence of Satan's temptations, it must be sore against our wills, and we must not rest contented, but so soon as we see how we are gone back from that degree we were in, we must strive and struggle like a man fallen into a quickemire, till by God's assistance we get out and go forwards again. Simil. 4 If thy faith be asleep then, as Christ's humanity was in the ship and thou thyself in a sea of temptations, because thou findest not the anchor of faith and holiness in thee: yet judge not presently that thou hast no faith, to bring thyself to despair: because if once thou hadst true faith, it can never finally be lost; but the divine power will at his pleasure cause thy faith to be awakened and stirred up in thee: he will command the wind & the storm of thy troubles to cease, that a calm of comfort may refresh thy soul. And last of all, that thou feelest not that measure of love and delight in the Law of God, nor that assurance of God's favour, and of thy salvation which thou Answ. 4 desirest, and therefore fearest that thy faith is but feigned, thy holiness but hypocrisy, and so thy state miserable; I answer once again for thy comfort, that if thou hast but a true desire of these, though but imperfect (and weak) yet God in Christ accepts thy will & desire for the deed, 2. Cor. 8.12. and when he pleaseth, he will perfect these graces in thee. 1. Not the Act of faith, but object that justifieth. It is not the act of our faith and believing, or the act of our holiness that maketh us acceptable in the sight of God (although these graces are required in us:) But the Object of our faith, the thing received, the pattern of our holiness, Christ jesus, whom we must strive to be like, Mat. 17.5. and in whom God the Father is well pleased with us. As it is not the hand that receiveth the plaster and Simil. 1 applieth it to the sore, that cureth the wound, but the plaster itself, and the virtue of that which is applied: so is it not our faith or the virtue of that be it never so strong, and the fruit of it at the best that it can be in this life: but the virtue of Christ's merits applied, that justify us before God, and procure safety unto us. 2. A Christian must not content himself with a weak faith, nor despair if his faith be not strong. And therefore although thou oughtest not to content thyself with a weak faith, but to use all good means, (the often hearing of the word of God, the often receiving of the blessed Sacraments and prayer) to increase it: yet if it be but weak, thou must not presently deny thyself, the benfite of Christ: For as a hand shaking with the palsy, may as truly receive a plaster and lay it to Simil. 1 the wound, as a hand that is firm (though it cannot do it in so firm a manner) so a weak faith may as truly receive Christ and apply his merits to cure the wounds of our souls (though it be not so free from ●auering and doubting) as a faith that is stronger. And for the sense and feeling of the love of God's law in thee, or of the love of God unto thee; these are rather effects and fruits of faith, than faith itself; and therefore if thou canst not always find these to be in thee, thou oughtest not, for this to conclude that thou hast no faith, that God loveth thee not, that thou art not in Christ, nor Christ in thee. For as thy sanctification, 3. Faith and holiness not always seen in God's children. so thy faith may sometimes be like the fire covered with ashes, the effects of which heat and light are neither felt nor seen of those that stand by, but if the fire be uncovered, they both are made manifest: yea how great a matter will a little fire kindle, how great Simil. 1 a flame of divine love may arise in thy soul, from the sparks of grace that lie hid in it, jam. 3.5. (yea what assurance of God's favour, of peace of conscience, or the like,) when it shall please God to kindle those sparks with the breath Simil. 2 of his Spirit? Or as a sick man may for a time lose his taste, and yet be recovered to health again: so a sick and weak faith may through infirmities, and manifold temptations, for a time lose the sense and taste of divine love, and yet in time be refreshed with comfort again. And as the light of the sun is oftentimes eclipsed Simil. 3 and hid from us, and yet when the thick clouds or the object interposed, is banished, it shineth bright again: so it is with the light of God's grace; it is often hidden and eclipsed in us, by the clouds and mists of temptations, by our natural corruption, by falling into sin or the like, which breedeth a dulness in our souls towards all the works of piety and devotion. And yet when the mists are gone, and these hindrances removed, the divine graces begin to shine again, and the warmth of spiritual devotion, and happy assurance is kindled in us. Simil. 4 In a word, as a tree in the Winter may outwardly seem to be dead, having neither leaves nor fruit (which are signs of life) upon it; yet hath it the sap secret at the root, which at the Spring time, will cause it bud forth in abundance, and show the life of it to the eyes of all. So is it often times with the faith of God's children; in the Winter of temptations, it may seem to be dead, and neither seen nor felt in the heart of man; but when the Spring time of God's grace approacheth, then will it be lively and operative, and show forth the life and virtue of it, both to thyself and others. 4. The true knowledge of our estate in this life an excellent means of Comfort. Be not daunted then with any temptations, but resist them with boldness; and if this spiritual grace be asleep, or this day of holy devotion, and Divine comfort be ended, despair not of mercy, but wait with patience and prayer, till thy love be awakened, and till the day Star of heavenly zeal, and blessed peace be risen in thy heart. For God doth often exercise his children with long trials before he give them deliverance, and yet all at last turns to their good, Rom. 8.28. God did try the Israelites forty years in the wilderness, before he brought them to Canaan, (when he might have led them a fare nearer way) and they had many enemies before they could get possession of the land of Canaan, which is a true type of our spiritual warfare in the wilderness of this world to the Canaan of heaven. Prou. 3.11. Through many tribulations (temporal and spiritual) we must enter into the kingdom of heaven, Acts 14.22. Great are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver them out of all; Psa. 34.19. Mark the upright man and behold the just, for the end of that man is peace, Psal. 37.73. His morning may be cloudy, his midday stormy, with doubts and fears, and his own corruptions, but his end shall have a calm. The end of that man is peace. Our light affliction which is but for a moment, 2 Cor. 4.17. worketh unto us an excellent weight of glory. Stay thyself then in hope till Christ thy heavenly Bridegroom return with a gracious smile unto thee. Then shalt thou see and feel the virtue and power of that Sun of righteousness in the sweet fellowship of the Spirit of truth to thy eternal comfort. Then shalt thou be reassured of thy new Creation, that thou art in Christ, and Christ in thee. If any man be in Christ, he is a new Creature. And the reason and confirmation follow in the next place. Because unto this man old things are passed away, and behold all things are become new. This is the second general of my Text, consisting of two particulars, the Autumn 2. ● The autumn of my Text. (or rather Winter) and the Spring. But because the Autumn and Winter is commonly tedious, I will not be too tedious in the Autumn, but briefly pass it through, and hasten to the Spring of my Text, and so to a conclusion, because the time hasteneth. Old things are passed away. Quae autem vetera transierunt quae facta sunt nova? (saith S. August. S. August. de Cantico novo. ) What are these things which are passed away, & what are those things which are become new? The answer is, the old Law 1 How the old law is passed. Exod. 31.18. which was written in tables of stone. This is passed, first in respect of our justification by it, for by the works of the Law, shall no flesh living be justified, Rom. 3.20. And secondly, in respect of the condemnation & curse of it, Deu. 27.26. For there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ, Rom. 8.1. Because Christ hath satisfied the Law for them: and though by their own weakness, or the violence of Satan's temptations, they have fallen into sin, yet upon true repentance, and turning to God, they have an advocate with the Father, jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for their sins, 1 john 2.1. There is a new Law written in our hearts, and this is lex Fidei, the Law of Faith, true, lively, and operative, by which we are justified in the sight of God, Rom. 5.1. Again, the ceremonies of the old Law, the Priesthood, the old Sacrifices, these are all passed in Christ: for in that he saith, Heb. 7.12. Heb. 8.13. Galat. 3.24. a new Testament, he hath abrogated the old. The Law was but our Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ: And Christ is the end and fulfilling of the Law, Ro. 10.4. And therefore in the transfiguration of Christ, there appeared Moses and Elias, 2 The jewish oldness is now erroneous. the Law and the Prophets, to show that Christ was the end of them both. Wicked then are the old Heresies, first of the jews, who do violently retain the Ceremonies of Moses Law, as much as in them lieth amongst the Gentiles, 2 The Papists oldness ceremonious. vainly expecting a Messiah to come. Secondly, of the Papists Qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quadam impulsi, who being driven by a kind of evil zeal, do also keep amongst them many jewish Ceremonies; mingling the shadow with the substance. Thirdly, of the Anabaptists, 3 The Anabaptists oldness curious. who would bind us to live according to the jews politickes, as if the Gospel did not permit every Christian to live according to the honest and just Laws of his own Prince and country. Lastly, of that new sort of old Schismatics 4 Our new jews new schismatics. amongst us, who would tie us again to the strict Ceremonies of Moses Law, to shadows which are long since, passed, infringing thereby our Christian liberty, and laying heavy burdens upon the tender consciences of their weak brethren, which nor we nor our fathers were able to bear. We must not run again into these beggarly rudiments (as the Apostle calleth them. Galat. 4.9. ) Because old things are passed away, and behold all things are become new. Old things are passed, that is, the old Adam, or the old man, in whom there is a threefold oldness, Cord, over, opere, in the heart, in the mouth, in the hand; 2 Oldness of heart and mouth and hand, passed away in a Christian. in which we sin after a threefold manner, in thought, in word, and in deed: all these are passed away unto that man who is a new man in Christ. Old things are passed, the old year is gone, and the new year is come, the Autumn is passed (yea the Winter passing) and the Spring time 2. The Spring time of my Text. approacheth, and therefore I will leave the Autumn, and pass to the Spring. Behold all things are be come new. The Apostle describing the Autumn in my Text, the abrogating of old things, enters into it without any stay, as if it were a matter not to be stayed at, but to be passed away with the bare recital & remembrance only. But coming to bring news of the Spring, he gins his style with Ecce, Behold, as it were a glorious portal before some stately Palace, or a Harbinger sent before to prepare an honourable expectation of his lord Behold all things are become new. There is many an Ecce, The godly man's guide to gain heaven, a sermon on jam. 4.13. a behold noted in the Scripture, which I might here set down. But I have showed them already in another Treatise; and I will only give you this of my Text. And this is an Ecce excellentiae & novitatis, a Behold of new excellency, and of excellent newness. Behold all things are become new. To note out the excellency of the new above the old, the Gospel above the Law, 1 The excellency of the Gospel above the Law. the second Adam above the first. For when the blood of bulls and goats, could not take away sin, Christ by his own blood, entered in once into the holy place, and hath obtained an eternal redemption for us, Heb. 9.12. When that flesh and blood could not inherit the kingdom of God, Christ hath recreated us, and made us new men in him; so that being now spiritual in him by the work of his Spirit, Rom. 8.17. we are fellow heirs with him of the kingdom of glory. O then how highly should we esteem and earnestly labour to be made partakers of this new Creation! For to us in Christ old things are passed away, and behold all things are become new. Quest. 2 But what are those things that are become new? shall we expect a new heaven and a new earth? these shall come (saith Peter 2 Pet. 3.13. ) but not till the day of judgement. Shall we expect a new glory of the Sun, of the Moon, or of the Stars? If you look to them, they keep their old beauty without any change. What then are those things that shallbe made new? If we look to the beasts of the earth, the days of the year, or generations of men; we may conclude of all these with the Preacher, There is no new thing under the Sun. Eccle. 1.10. Seeing then all these things remain without change, and our Apostle here speaketh of a change, we may justly demand the question, What are these things that are passed away, & what are those things that are become new? We must not think of any such alteration as Pelagius 3. The error of Pelagius. Chemnitius de discrimine veteris & novi Testam. did, who falsely imagined, that at every change of time, there was a new way of salvation, that before Moses men were saved by the Law of nature: after Moses by the Law of Moses; and since Christ by the Gospel: this is contrary to the Scriptures, for there is no other name by which we can be saved, but by the name of jesus Christ of Nazareth. Act. 4.12. who is the way, the truth, and the life. joh. 14.6. This is the same way that was preached to Adam in Paradise, The seed of the woman shall break the head of the Serpent. Gen. 3.15. This is that which was from the beginning. 1. joh. 1.1. and therefore this is not that newness of which our Apostle speaketh. What then are those things that are passed away? and what are those that are become new? Of the old you have heard already; once again of both together. The first man is gone, who was of the earth earthy; the second Man is come, who is from heaven heavenly. August. de Cant. novo. Transit vetustas mentium, accessit novitas credentium: the oldness of our minds is passed, and the newness of the faithful is approached; we were by nature the sons of wrath, we are now by grace the sons of God; we were before carnal, but now we are spiritual; the Babylon of Satan is destroyed, and the jerusalem of Christ is builded up; the Egypt of sin is wasted, and the Canaan of righteousness is enlarged. Old things are passed away, and behold all things are become new. As there was a threefold oldness, so is there a threefold newness: 4. A three fold newness. Cordis, oris, operis, of the heart, of the mouth, and of the hand; all these are made new by this new creation, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. Vetus peccatum transit, novaque nobis anima & nowm Corpus factum est, saith Theophylact, Theophylact. in 2. Cor. 5.17. upon my text; Our old body of sin is passed, and we have as it were a new soul, and a new body given us. A new man is come into the world, and he hath given new precepts unto the world (saith S. Gregory S. Gregory. Hom 33. in Euangel. ) All things are become new. I will not now stand to dispute the controversy, between the Papists and us, concerning the oldness, and newness of our religion 5. A controversy about oldness and newness of religion. and theirs; neither will I detain you any longer, with the declaration of their manifold innovations since the Primitive Church; of their strange Doctrine, new Ceremonies, and other Popish fopperies, of merits, of purgatory, prayer for the dead, 6. Witness the Powder Treason. (Ann. R●g 3) 1●05. Never to be forgotten. invocation of saints, adoration of images, superstitious relics, feigned miracles, denying of the Cup to the laiety, absolving of subjects from their oath of Allegiance, killing of Kings and Princes, and subverting of whole kingdoms, by villainous treacheries, with a multitude of the like jesuitical abominations, contrary to the Scriptures, and unheard of in the purer times of the Church. Yet this let me tell you, or those whomsoever that defend their positions. Aliud est novare, aliud renovare. It is one thing to make new, and another thing to renew that which was made before. Those are said to make new, who do institute and device such things as have never been; and those are said to renew, who do but reduce old things to their Primitive perfection and integrity. Our religion is not a new but a renewed religion; 7. Our Religion not a new but a renewed Religion. what was deformed, in the darkness of Popery, is now reform in the light of the Gospel: their false oldness of superstition is banished, and the true primitive oldness of Apostolic Doctrine restored. Blessed be God that their dark oldness is passed, and that the true light hath shined amongst us. This newness of truth, God of thy mercy keep with us: and keep from us that oldness of error for evermore; And let every faithful Christian say, Amen. Much more I might say concerning this point. But I hasten to an end. And those who desire to be further satisfied herein, either of the new or renewed part, either Papists, or Protestants, who are the truly ancient Catholics: I refer them to that learned and worthy work of a now Reverend and learned Father of our Church, Dr. Morton in the Protestants Appeal. lib. 4. cap. 16. to the 30. Quest. 1. who hath sound and fully handled this question. Old things are passed away, and behold all things are become new. There is one question more, of which but a touch and I have done. All things are become new. But when was it that all things did become new? or when is it that all things should become new? If we speak of the heavenly newness of the Gospel, it was at the coming of Christ unto us; when the Angel brought that glad tidings of the Gospel, Luke. 2.10. Renewed again, when the black clouds of error and superstitious darkness (eclipsing for a time the light of grace) those thick mists of Egyptian Antichristian blindness, ascending from the valley of ignorance, were banished from us, with the bright beams of truth. But if we speak of the spiritual newness of the inner man, it is and must be at the coming of us unto Christ: 1. The time of our new creation, at our coming to Christ and Christ to us. no sooner can we be in Christ, but presently we are and must be new creatures, than this change is begun, though not perfected in us. There is no deferring, no procrastination, no posting off till the morrow: we must not say with Augustine, in that his combat between the flesh and the spirit, Ecce modò fiat, modò fiat, Augustine lib, confess. 8. cap. 11. behold I will leave my pleasure anon, anon; but let me stay a while: yet happy if we follow his example, and leave it so soon: if we pray, and sigh out with tears, as he doth in the chapter following, Quandiu, quandiu, cras, cras, How long Lord, August. conf. lib. 8. cap. 12. how long to morrow, tomorrow? Why not even now, even this very hour should I not obtain this new creation? should there not be an end of my sinful corruptions? O Lord give us this newness, while it is called to day, lest we be deprived of tomorrow; & the day of death come upon us at unawares. There are many in the world, 2. Deferring of repentance a dangerous sin. that will defer this change till the morrow; till they be old, or till the day of their death; and think that time to be time enough, to wash away their sweet pleasures of sin, with the bitter tears of repentance, that mend not their lives until their life's end; but these are like a man that carried a candle lighted at his back, and walketh in the dark to destruction. If the ship be in danger by leaking, it is to be mended in the haven, not to be deferred till it come to sea; If the wall of a city be broken down, it is to be builded in peace, and not to be left off till the time of war. The soldier must prepare his weapon before the combat, otherwise, as Plutarch Plutarch Graet. Apothég. reporteth of Alexander the Great, that seeing a soldier prepare his dart in the battle, he banished him from his army, because he was then a preparing, when he should have been a fight; and such may be the state of all those who prepare not to fight under the banner of Christ, till the day of Battle; who begin not to lead a new life, till their life gins to leave them: for deferring their repentance until their ends, they oftentimes come to an end without repentance; and if thou hast been forgetful of God all thy life time, how canst thou think that God will be mindful of thee at thy death? God sometime takes a man away, and giveth him time and grace; sometimes he giveth him time, but not grace to repent: and sometimes neither grace nor time. There is a terrible example of this related in the life of S. Thomas Moor: In vita Thom. Moor. cap. 32. of a certain profane wrech, who living wickedly all his life, was wont shamelessly like an Atheist to boast, that he cared not for repentance, for he could be saved with the saying of three words, though it were at the point of death. But mark his end; before he came to be old, riding post haste over a broken bridge, his horse stumbled, and not being able to stay him, when he saw he must needs fall into the water, he let lose the raines, and cried out with this fearful exclamation, Capiat omnia daemon, Horse and man to the devil: and thus with his three words in stead of being saved (for aught we know) he went down quick into hell. Oh then beloved let us not defer and put off our new Creation, but labour truly for it while we have time. 3. This new creation is to be sought while we have time. The feast of dedication amongst the jews was in the winter, when they did dedicate their new temple unto God. It is now winter, and the time of the new year, oh than let us likewise dedicate the new temples of our souls and bodies as a new-yeares-gift unto him. Our Saviour offers unto us the new Robes of his righteousness, for a glorious new-yeares-gift. Let us then put off our old rags of sin, as we put off our old , but let us not put them on again: for this new-yeares-gift of our new Creation, is a garment of great price, of excellent virtue, that must not be put off neither night nor day; for it is like a coat of male to defend our souls from all the poisoned darts of sin and Satan. 4. The avoiding of occasions an excellent means to prevent sin. Annal August. If we be made new by Christ, let us not make our s●lues old again by sin. Art thou made whole, sinne no more, saith our Saviour, lest a worse thing happen unto thee. Avoid all occasions that may cause thee with Lot's wife to look back towards Sodom. It is related of Henry the fift, King of England, who after his father's death obtained the sceptre, that he called together all his old familiars, with whom he had lived dissolutely, and giving them some gifts, he bond them upon pain of their lives, that (except they became new men) they should never come near the King's Court, lest by their familiarity either he himself might he corrupted, or he might be drawn by them to corrupt justice and judgement: so careful was that Princely Convert to avoid all occasions that might bring him back unto evil. And thus should every Christian be watchful to avoid all enticements, that may withdraw his heart from Christ unto sin, like that young man of whom S. Ambrose S. Ambrose lib. 2. de penitent. cap. 10. maketh mention; that having been in love with a harlot, going into a strange country, he left his wicked love, and became a new man, and therefore at his return home again, meeting the harlot, he passed by her, as if he had not known her: but she called to him in her wont manner, Non nosti me, Hast thou not known me, my love? Ego sum, it is I: to whom the young man answereth, At ego nom sum ego, But I am not I, I am not as I was. I was not as I am, I am now become a new man, and therefore thy old enticements shall not prevail against me. And blessed is the man that can behold this blessed change in himself, that when those three entizing harlots, the world, the flesh, and the devil, shall labour again to deceive him, by alluring him to his wont sins, can answer with this young man, Ego non sum ego, I am not I, I am now become a new creature, and therefore my oldness is passed. I am free from the bondage of sin, and become the servant of righteousness, that I may have the fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Rom. 6.22. 5 O beloved, the day of our conversion, of our new Creation, is our newyears day, The day of our new conversion is our new years day. to be celebrated with joyfulness for ever: and because so long as we live in our mortal bodies, we sinne every day (less or more) against God, every day should be our newyears day, wherein we should dedicate ourselves, Rom. 12.1.2. our souls and bodies as a new-yeares-gift unto God. Wherefore as merchants & tradesmen use every year to cast up their accounts, to see what they have gained, or what they have lost: so let us every year, nay every month, every week, yea every day cast up our spiritual account, and see what we have gained, or what we have lost; how far we have gone forward, or how backwards in perfecting the work of our new Creation. And as the crowing of the cock did put Peter in mind of his new conversion, so let the return of the year, the crowing of the cock, the rising of the Sun, and the striking of the clock, put us in remembrance of our new Creation, so that every year, every day, every hour, we may strive and labour to be new men in Christ, wholly conformed to the image of our Saviour. And thus if we do, 6. The newness of grace is rewarded with newness of glory. God will give unto us the most glorious and blessedest new-yeares-gift that our hearts can desire; we shall have a new King, our blessed Saviour to rule over us: a new captain the blessed Spirit to guide us: a new light, the light of grace to enlighten us in this world, and the light of glory to make us glorious for ever in the world to come. We shall have a new city the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above, a new union and Communion with God the Father, with Christ our Saviour, and the blessed Spirit, and the Saints and Angels in glory for ever. And then my Text shall be verified in a higher nature, Old things are passed away, and behold all things are become new. And to close up all with prayer: This new King, new Captain, new law, new light, new city, (that heavenly Jerusalem) new union and Communion, first in grace here, after in glory in heaven: God of thy eternal and infinite mercy grant unto us all, and to thy whole Church, for the precious merits of thy dear beloved Son, and our blessed Saviour; to whom with thee and the holy Spirit, one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, be ascribed (as is most due) all glory, honour, and praise, might, majesty and dominion, from henceforth and for ever. Amen. FINIS.