Leigh's Body of Divinity.   

A SYSTEME OR Body of Divinity: Consisting of TEN BOOKS.  
Wherein the FUNDAMENTALS and main Grounds of RELIGION are OPENED: The Contrary ERRORS REFUTED: Most of the CONTROVERSIES Between US, the PAPISTS, ARMINIANS and SOCINIANS Discussed and handled.  
SEVERAL SCRIPTURES Explained and vindicated from corrupt Glosses▪  
A Work seasonable for these times, wherein so many Articles of our Faith are questioned, and so many gross Errors daily published.  
By EDWARD LEIGH Esquire, and Master of Arts of Magdalen-Hall in OXFORD.  Quisquis bonus verusque Christianus est, Domini sui esse intelligat, ubicunque invenerit Veritatem. August. de Doctrina Christiana l. 2. 
LONDON, Printed by A. M. for William Lee at the Sign of the Turks-head in Fleetstreet over against Fetter-lane, M. DC. LIV.   

TO ALL THE Orthodox and Godly MAGISTRATES, MINISTERS AND PEOPLE of ENGLAND, who are Lovers of Truth and Holiness.  
I Am not ignorant that the Socinians make sport in their Books with the Protestant Authors, because they call themselves the Orthodox, and say, We use that as a spell, thinking thereby to charm all dissentiates. And some that plead for Universal Redemption, Apostasy of the Saints, and such corrupt Doctrines, seem to slight those mormolukes of Arminianism, Pelagianism, Socinianism.  
Yet there are those who are Orthodox, whose judgement is sound in matters of Faith, and there are also without question many in these days, who are Hetrodox and unsound in the Faith, We have no such custom, nor the Churches of Christ, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 11. 16. 
Quod per omnes Ecclesias receptum est, disputando velle in controversiam vocare est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Grotius in loc. Orthodoxus is videlicet qui de rebus fidei rectam opinionem habet. Drus. Spicileg. Nec etiam illi duntaxat Heterodoxi, vel non Orthodoxi vocari possunt, qui doctrinam aliquam ab Ecclesia apertè damnatam vel rejectam amplexi sunt, sed & qui vel erroneum dogma vel inutile tuentur, quod cum Scriptura non consistit, aut sibi non constat. Aliud etiam est simpliciter orthodoxum non esse, aliud talem non esse in hoc vel illo capite. Spanhem. Exercitat. de Grat. univers. Annotat. in Sect. 2.   
The concurrent judgement of the Reformed Churches is not to be slighted.  
That saying of Vincentius Lirinensis cap. 5. in Commonit. adversus Haereses is worthy our serious consideration, Mos iste semper in Ecclesia viguit, ut quò quisque foret religiosior eo promptius novellis adinventionibus contrairet. That custom (saith he) hath still flourished in the Church, that the more religious any one was, the more readily he would oppose new inventions.  
Truth is precious and should be maintained: Error is dangerous 
Amicus Socrates, amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas.  and should be opposed. Buy the truth and sell it not, saith Solomon. jerusalem is called a City of truth, Zech. 8. 3. The Church is called the pillar and ground of truth, 1 Tim. 3. 15. Christ came into the world, that he might bear witness to the truth, john 18. 27. The Prophet jeremiah complains, That none were valiant 
Jer. 9 3.  for the truth. Contend earnestly for the Faith, which was once 
Judas v. 3. 2 Cor. 13. 8. Nullus enim suavior animi cibus est, quam cognitio veritatitis, cujus asserendae atque illustrandae septem volumina destinavimus. Lactant. de falsa religione. l. 1. Accepi à fide dignissimis, cum illi ex consuetudine oblati essent eo die quo coronabatur in regem, tres gladii, in signum quod esset trium potentissimorum Regnorum Angliae, Franciae & Hiberniae Monarcha: quod tandem dixerit, deesse adhuc unum, & cum interrogassent principes, quisnam ille sit: Respondit, esse sacrorum Bibliorum volumen. Ille liber, inquit, Gladius Spiritus est, & gladiis his omnibus longe anteferendus. Baldaeus' de Script. Brit. Cent. 2.  delivered to the Saints. We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth, saith Paul, It is made a sign of Christ's sheep, john 10. 4, 5. to take heed of errors and false teachers.  
Our Magistrates should do well to follow the examples of our josiah King Edward the sixth and Queen Elizabeth; Two things in King Edward,  

1. In his honouring the Word of God.  
2. In his opposing of error and false worship.   
When he was crowned, they put into his hands three Swords: he answered, there was one yet wanting, the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit, which was far to be preferred before all those. When he was pressed by Bishop Ridley and others to tolerate his Sister Mass in her own Chapel, he would not (though importuned) yield thereunto, saying, He should dishonour God in it; and being much urged by them, he burst out into tears, and they affirmed, That he had more Divinity in his little fingers, than they in all their bodies.  
Queen Elizabeth after her Coronation, when the Bible was 
Speed. Chro. c. 24. p. 838.  presented unto her at the little Conduit in Cheapside; she received the same with both her hands, and kissing it, laid it to her breast, saying, That the same had ever been her chiefest delight, and should be the Rule by which she meant to frame her Government. 
Baldazza● a German Divine, writing to Oecolampadius, saith, Venial verbum Dei & submittemus, etiamsi nobis essent sexcenta colla.   
Fregevill a wise French Writer in his Apology for the general cause of Reformation, observes two memorable things in Queen Elizabeth's Government:  

1. That under her first, Reformation had free and full course throughout England.  
2. That she was a favourer of the Clergy.   
She once in her Progress visiting the County of Suffolk, all the 
Ego quidem sine verbo ne in Paradisa optarim vivere, cum verbo etiam in inferno facile est vivere. Luth. T●m. 2 ●hr. 30. 32.  justices of Peace in that County, met her Majesty, every one of them having his Minister next to his body, which the Queen took special notice of, and thereupon uttered this Speech, That she had often demanded of her Privy Council, why her County of Suffolk was better governed theu any other County, and could never understand the reason thereof but now she herself perceived the reason, It must needs be so (said she) where the Word and the Sword go together. 
In Regum solenni & publica inauguratione, inter alias Ceremonias, quoque Liber legis in manus ipsis datus fuit, & sub isto symbolo veritatis coelestis in eo comprehensae Protectio commendata, 2 Reg. 11. 12. ubi per Testimonium, tam Hebraeorum, quam Christianorum Interpretes, librum legis intelligunt. Buxt. Epist. Dedicat. ad Anticritica.   
It is the Duty of the Magistrate not only to regard that the life of his Subjects be civil and honest, but also that it be religious and godly. Therefore we are taught to pray for them, that we may live under them a peaceable life, not only in all honesty, but also in all godliness, or true worship of God, as the word used by the Apostle doth signify. Therefore the King was commanded to take a copy of the whole Law, and not of the second Table only, implying that he should look to the execution as well of the first Table as the second.  
Ministers also should appear for the truths of God, and be able (now if ever) to convince the gainsayers, Tit. 1. 9 The Scripture is profitable for doctrine and for reproof, 2 Tim. 3. 16. Shall we have the Pelagian Doctrine of freewill, and the power of nature pleaded for; and our Bertii maintaining the Apostasy of Saints, and shall we have no Bradwardines to write de causa Dei, nor Augustine's de bono Perseverantiae?  
I remember when the worthy Prolocutor of the Assembly with other Divines, brought in the Confession of Faith into the House of Commons, he said, They had been the longer, and had taken the more pains about it, that it might obviate the errors of the times.  
Sozomen relates a very remarkable story to this purpose. 
Hist. Eccles. 18.  When the Synod of Nice was called against Arius, many of the wiser Heathens came thither to hear the Disputation there. One Philosopher among the rest behaved himself very insolently there, and petulantly derided the Christian Ministers: an old plain countryman (ex illustrium confessorum numero) being not able to brook his arrogancy, desired to dispute with him, and having a last gained liberty, he began thus, Philosophe audito, VNUS EST DEUS COELI, TERRAE, etc. Hear Philosopher (making a Confession of his Faith) there is one God, maker of Heaven and Earth, and all things Invisible, and then showed how Christ was born of a Virgin, and conversed here with men, and died for them, and should after come to judge men for all that they had done here on earth, and then concludes, That these 
* Ista ita se habere, sine ulla alia curiosa indagatione pro certo credimus. Noli ergo in his quae fide duntaxat rectè intelliguntur curiosè refutandis laborem frustra consumere, quaerereve quî ista fieri aut non fieri possint. Quod si credis, mihi quaed●m sciscitanti respond. Quibus obstupefactus Philosophus, Credo, inquit. Et gratiis illi acts, quod ipsum devicisset, non solùm eadem cum sene ipse sentire, verum etiam consilium dare coepit illis, qui perinde erga fidem Christianam atque ipse antè, affecti erant, ut jam doctrinae Christianae assentirentur: atque jusjurandum adjecit, se non modo sine numine divino mutatum esse, sed etiam vi ac virtute quadam inexplicabili ad religionem Christianam conversum.  things are so without any other curious search, we certainly believe. Therefore do not spend your pains in vain in a curious refuting of these things, which are only rightly understood by faith, or in searching how they may be done or not. But if thou believest, answer me some Questions; with which things the Philosopher being astonished, answered, I believe; and giving him thanks that he had overcome him, was not only of the same judgement with the old man, but also began to give counsel to others (who were before enemies to the Christian Faith as well as himself) to assent to the Christian Doctrine, and added an Oath, that he was not only changed by a divine Deity, but also by a certain unexpressible force was converted to the Christian Religion.  
If Zanchy may be credited, the perseverance of Saints in the 
Doctrina Dei & quidem praecipua pars Evangelii fuit non tantum in dubium vocata, sed etiam damnata, doctrina nimirum de perseverantia Sanctorum in fide, ex qua pendet articulus de certitudine salutis nostrae per Christum. Haec verò doctrina de perseverantia pendet à doctrina de immutabili sanctorum electione ac praedestinatione, sine qua doctrina articulus de gratuita per Christum justificatione, nullo modo consistere potest. Zanch. discept. cum Marbachio.  Faith, is a main part of the Gospel. Vedelius in his Panacea Apostasiae bono constantium & lapsorum praescripta. l. 1. c. 3. shows, that 
Tota haec doctrina Christi est & Apostolorum, explicata ab Augustino, recepta ab Ecclesia Catholica renovata à Luthero & Bucero totius Germaniae duobus luminibus. Id. ibid.  an Apostate breaks all the ten Commandments.  
I wish that the Reformed Churches by their unhappy divisions (fomented by the Boutefeus' of Christendom, the lesuites) do not weaken themselves, and accomplish their enemies great design.  
It is observed by Chemnitius 
* Anno 1540 intercedente Cardinali Contareno, à Paulo III petierunt, ut vitae illud institutum. Pontificia autoritate confirmaret: Qui addita hae cautione, illud ratum habuit, ne plures quam 60 viri, ad eam societatem adscriberentur. Sed cum postea animadverterent, illam vitae rationem ad restituendam & resarciendam nutantem & labascentem Pontificiam Ecclesiam prae caeteris ordinibus maximè idoneam esse, 1543. anno decrevit, ne ullis vel locorum terminis, vel personarum vumero, societas haec jesu nomine insignita circumscriberetur. Chemnit. in exam. part. 1. Decret. Conc. Trid. Praef. , that in the year 1540 the Jesuits by the Intercession of Cardinal Contarenus did obtain from Paul the III, that he would confirm that order by his Pontificial Authority, who did ratify it with this caution, that only threescore men should be of that Society. But when afterward they observed that that order was more active than others in upholding the tottering Church of Rome, he decreed in the year 1543. that this Society of the Jesuits should not be limited to any either terms of places, or number of persons.  
It is also observable what Campanella lays down in his discourse 
Certò constat Regem Hispaniarum si selum Angliam cum Belgio donare posset, toti●s Europae magnaeque partis mundi Monarcham citò evasurum. jam verò ad evertendos Anglos nihil tam conducit, quam dissensio & discordia inter illos excitata, tum perpetuoque nutrita, quod citò occasiones meliores suppeditabit. Campanellae de Monarch. Hisp. Discur. c. 25. Equidem nulla opportunior aut major potentia est ad opponendam classem Anglicam, quam potentia Hollandiae & Zelandiae. Nam hae non solum navium numero, sed etiam experientia maritima omnes alias multis parasangis antecedunt, ut taceam jam de ferocia & divitiis gentium. Campan. ib. c. 27.  of the Spanish Monarchy; It is manifest (saith he) that the King of Spain if he could subdue England with the Low-countrieses, would soon become Monarch of all Europe, and a great part of the world. Now nothing so much conduceth to overthrow the English as a dissension and discord stirred up amongst them and the Dutch, and perpetually nourished, which will soon (saith he) afford better occasions. In Chap. 27. of the same Book he speaks much to the same purpose.  
Parsons the English Jesuit in his Memorial for Reformation, or a remembrance for them that shall live when Catholic Religion shall be restored unto England, he would have the grand Charter burnt, the municipal Laws abrogated, and the Inns of Court converted to some other use; that for Lawyers. Then for Divines, The Colleges in both the Universities should be only in the power of six men, who should have all the Lands, Manors, Lordships, Parsonages, etc. and what ever else belonged to Church or Cloister resigned into their hands. That at the beginning no man's conscience be pressed for matters in Religion: then, that public disputations between Papists and Protestants be held in both the Universities. That for some years it will be more commodious for the public, and more liberty for the Preachers, to have no Appropriation nor Obligation to any particular Benefice, but Itinera— mitto caetera. M. Smith's Preface to Dailles Apology for the Reformed Churches, translated by him. He saith there he hath been told by the London Booksellers, that at the least thirty thousand Popish Books have been printed here within these three last years.  
Shall the jesuitical and heretical party be so active for Popery, for error, and shall not the Orthodox be as studious to hold fast and hold forth the Truth? Let Magistrates make the interest of Christ his Truths, his Worship, his People, their great interest, let them discountenance gross errors and damnable heresies. Let Ministers preach down, pray down, live down those abominable Doctrines now amongst us: Let all the people of God study Fundamentals, labour to be established in the Truth, and in their places oppose Falshood, Libertinism and all horrid Blasphemies, and pray earnestly to God, that he would cause the false prophets and the unclean spirits to pass out of the Land, Zech. 13. ●. and I should yet hope (though our case be very sad) that God would continue his Gospel still amongst us in power and purity, though by our sins we have forfeited so great a mercy▪ Which blessing that it may be vouchsafed unto us (though altogether unworthy) shall be the prayer of,  
Your true Christian Friend and hearty wellwisher Edward Leigh.   

TO THE Christian and Candid READER.  
READER,  
DIvers have since the publishing of my Treatise of Divinity (consisting of three Books) expressed their good esteem thereof, and withal have said, that if the like were done upon the whole Body of Divinity, it would be a very useful and profitable work: I have therefore inserted divers things into the former Treatises, and also enlarged them so far by the addition of other Subjects, as to make a complete Systeme or Body of Divinity.  
I relate not here of the Covenant and Promises, Asslictions or Martyrdoms, because I have in my Books of Divine Promises and Saints Encouragements, sufficiently discussed those several points.  
Divines go different ways in their handling of positive Divinity and give several Titles to their Books; Some call their Work, A Systeme of Divinity; Others, A Synopsis; Others, A Syntagma; Others, Common places; Some, The M●rrow, Some, The Body of Divinity; Others, The Summe of Divinity.  
There are Calvins Institutions, Bullingers' Decades, Zanchies Works, Gerhards' Common places▪ Ursins Sum of Divinity, and some others, that have more fully handled the Body of Divinity, but there are few of our English Writers (unless Master Perkins of old, and Bishop Usher lately, who have largely and fully written in English this way.  
Some reduce all the Principles of Religion into more, some to few Heads. Some refer all to those four Heads,  

1. Quae Credenda, What things are to be believed in the Creed.  
2. Quae Facienda, What things are to be done in the Commandments.  
3. Quae Petenda, What things are to be begged in the Lord's Prayer.  
4. Quae Recipienda, What things are to be received in the Sacraments.   
The Creed, Commandments, the Lords Prayer, and the Sacraments.  
Though I do not punctually observe that method, yet I handle all those four Subjects. I speak of God and his Attribute Almighty in the second Book, and handle all the Articles which concern Christ in the fifth Book, where I treat of the Recovery of man by Christ, and somewhat of the holy Ghost in the seventh Book (where I handle the Benefits by Christ) in Sanctification. Sanctification of the Church and Communion of Saints I speak of in the seventh Book. Of Forgiveness of sins in the fifth Petition of the Lords Prayer, and in the Doctrine of justification. Of the Resurrection of the Body, and Last judgement, and Life Everlasting, I treat in the last Book. I handle the Commandments in the ninth Book. The Lord's Prayer and Sacraments among the Ordinances in the seventh Book. I shall now particularise the several Subjects of each Book according to the method I observe.  
First, I treat of the Scriptures or Word of God, the Divine Authority of both the Old and New Testament: I maintain against the Antiscripturists and such as go about to take away all the Old Testament. It was necessary that God should give us some outward signification of his will. All creatures have a rule without themselves to guide them in their operations. The Scripture is the Rule of Faith and Life, Isa. 8. 20. All extraordinary ways of revelation are now ceased, we are to pray for a further Discovery of God's mind in his Word, Ephes. 1. 17. not to expect new Revelations ex parte objecti, but ex parte Subjecti, a farther clearing of the Scriptures to us. Some say the Old Testament is a dead letter 
* Si quis locus ipsis objiceretur, respondebant, nos literae minimè obnoxios esse, sed Spiritum qui vivificat, sequi oportere. Calv. adversus Libertinos, c. 3. Vide plura ibid. , so is the New without the Spirit; how can we convince the jews but by the Old Testament? the same Spirit spoke in both Testaments. Some turn the whole word into Allegories; Others deny consequences out of Scripture to be Scripture, nothing is Scripture (say they) but what is found there expressly. What is necessarily inferred is Scripture as well as what is literally expressed, Levit. 10. 1. The Apostle proves the Resurrection by consequence. Paul and Apollo Act. 17. 3. & 18. 28. proved to the jews by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ, although in those Scriptures these very words are not found, but are deduced by a necessary consequence.  
In the second Book I treat of God, That place Exod. 34. 6, 7. is as full a description of God's Attributes, as any in all the Scripture. The Hebrew Doctors note, that there are thirteen Attributes, and but one that speaks of judgement (that he will punish the sins of Fathers upon their Children) all the other twelve are merely, wholly mercy, and his justice is mentioned to invite men to lay hold on mercy. All Principles, Rules and Motions to Duty are to be found in God, Gen. 17. 1. Joel 2. 13. The Heathens extolled the knowledge of a man's self,  — E Coelo descendit, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
Juvenal. satire.  
But Christians must chiefly study to know God, 1 Chr. 28. 9 Jer. 9 24. Joh. 17. 3. The understanding of the Angels is perfected by the Contemplation of the Excellencies that are in God. We shall not be properly Comprehensores in Heaven (although the Schoolmen sometimes say so) yet we shall know God in a far more perfect manner then in this life, 1 Cor. 9 12. 2 Cor. 5. 7. If God were more known, he would be more loved, seared, honoured, trusted. God is primum verum which satisfies the understanding, and Summum bonum which satisfies the will. Deo solo nos debemus frui, rebus aliis ●●i, We ought to enjoy 
Aug. de civ. Dei l. 1. c. 25. Lomb.  God alone, and use the world. We are said to enjoy a thing, with which we are delighted for i● self to use that which we refer to another thing. I will conclude this with that excellent Speech of 
* De civet. Dei l. 11. c. 21.  Austin concerning God's knowledge▪ 
Ludou. Viu. in August. loco citato.  Non enim more nostro ille, vel quod futurum est, prospicit, vel quod praesens est, aspicit, vel quod praeteritum est, respicit: sed alio more do quodam à nostrarum cogitationum consuetudine longe alteque diverso.  
In the third Book I handle the Works of God. The serious considering of 
Psal. 136. 5.  God's Works is a great part of sanctifying his Name. Besides the natural there is a spiritual use to be made of all the creatures, Revel. 12. 
* See D. Arrowsmith on that Text.  1. The Sun points to Christ, the Moon to the World, the Stars to the Ministers of the Gospel. How frequently did our Saviour take occasion from earthly things to teach men heavenly truths.  
In the fourth Book I speak of the Fall of Man, and so of Original and Actual Sins.  
Some Divines hold that there are three parts of Original Sin:  

1. The guilt of Adam's sin.  
2. The privation of original righteousness.  
3. The corruption of nature.   
Of the imputation of Adam's sin to us, Garissolius a learned and pious 
See his 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15▪ 16. & 17. Chapters.  French Minister hath written a large Book. He shows there the consent also of Reformed Churches therein; but how great an agreement there hath been of Churches and Ecclesiastical Writers, ancient and modern in this matter, Andrew Rivet hath taught in a peculiar Book published upon that Argument. Every man by nature hath likewise lost the Image of God, and is born empty of Grace and Righteousness, and wholly corrupt, Rom. 3. 23, 24. & 5. 12. Rom. 1. 29. to the end. Ephes. 2. 1. & 4. 25. to the end. & 5. 3, 4, 9 2 Tim. 3. 2. to the 6.  
Some say we are dead, as we come out of the old Adam's hand, but through 
Deus creavit hominem rectum, naturarum autor non utique vitiorum, sed sponte depravatus justéque damnatus, depravatos, damnatosque generavit.  the undertaking of jesus Christ all men are restored unto a State of Grace and Favour, and that through common grace, they may believe if they will. But all unregenerate men are still under the state of death, and there is no such intrinsecal power in them, this man is regenerated (say the Arminians) and not that, because he hath better improved his abilities, but the work of Regeneration is an effect of special discriminating grace.  
Some of our Divines say, God hath left some few relics of his Image 
Omnes enim fuimus in illo uno, quando omnes ille unus corrupit, quia per foeminam Iapsu● est in peccatum, quae de illo fa●ta est ante peccatum. August. de civet. Dei, l. 1●. ●. 14.  in us since the Fall, to leave us without excuse, and as a Monument of his Bounty, and in pity to humans Societies, some Knowledge and some restraint upon the Conscience. Others dislike this opinion, and say, That Righteousness in Adam was connatural, but consisted not in any natural Abilities, and that these remainders of God's Image must be of the same kind with what is lost, and so good in God's account, and then man shall not be wholly flesh, and so there will be something for Grace to graft upon, which the Arminians lay hold on.  
In the fifth Book, I speak of Man's Recovery by Christ, Phil. 2. 6. to the 1●. Heb. 9 11. to the 15. Heb. 1. 3. Mark 10. 33, 34. as he had the grace of Union and Unction, so we through him, when we are united to him, we partake of his fullness, john 1. 14. By the first Adam we lost God's Image, Favour and Communion with him: By the second Adam God's Image is restored in us, we are reconciled to God, and have access to him, yet he died not for all.  

1. The reason why none can lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect, is Because Christ died for them, Rom. 8. 33, 34. if therefore Christ died for all, none can lay any thing to the charge of a reprobate more than to the charge of Gods elect.  
2. Christ prayed only for those who either did or should believe in him; and 
Doctor Twiss against Hord.  for whom he prayed, for them only he sanctified himself, John 17. 9, 19 that is, offered up himself in Sacrifice upon the Cross for them.  
3. If he died for all from the beginning of the world, than he died for all those that already were damned.  
4. Then he hath merited salvation for all, and shall they then fail of salvation?   
In the sixth Book I speak of the Church and Antichrist.  
There is much spoken in these days of the admitting of Members, and of the free gathering of Churches, I would wish such to weigh well what M. Baxter hath in his Christian Concord, pag. 34. to 4●.  
For the judgement of divers Reformed Divines holding the Pope to be Antichrist, see Vigniers Preface to that excellent Book of his, entitled, Theatre De L'Antichrist, and M. Prinns Canterburian Doom, p. 277, 278, 279. if that be true which I heard from the Professor of Divinity in the University out of the Pulpit. Bellarmine saith, That since that Doctrine prevailed amongst us, that the Pope was Antichrist, that they have been of the losing hand: I wonder then why some of our Divines should speak and write so warily that way.  
I might add divers things to that I speak there of the Jesuits and Monks. The Dominicans come nearer us than the Fraciscans.  
Friar Francis is highly commended by the Papists for three notable acts:  
First, For gathering Worms out of the way.  
Secondly, For calling all manner of beasts, as Worms, and Asses his Brethren.  
Thirdly, For taking lice off beggars, and putting them on himself, yea into his own bosom. See Lewis Owen's running Register, his unmasking of all Popish Monks and Jesuits, and also his Speculum Jesuiticum.  
In the seventh Book I speak of Our Union with Christ, and the special Benefits by him, Adoption, John 1. 12. justification, Act. 13. 38, 39 Sanctification, 1 Thess. 4. 1. Col. 2. 13. Rom. 12. 9 to the end. 1 Cor. 13. 4, 5, 6, 7. Gal. 5. 22, 23, 24. Ephes. 6. 14. to 19 Philippians 4. 4. to the 9  
In the eighth of the Ordinances, where I show the need of them, for the 
Nam ista colluvies ab aliis haereticorum sectis in eo differt, quod non tantum certis in rebus erraverit, verum sit immensum quoddam stupendorum deliriorum mare: adeò ut vix unius Anabaptistae caput reperiri possit, quod non sit imbutum aliqua opinione diversa à reliquis. Calv. Instruct. advers. Anabaptistas'.  ablest Christians here, and maintain the several Ordinances. For that of Baptism, Why should the Privilege of Infants under the Gospel be straighter than it was under the Law? Or actual Faith be more required in all that are to be baptised, than it was in those that were to be circumcised, when Cirlumcision as well as our Baptism was a Sacrament of Admission into the Church, and a Sign and Seal of the righteousness of Faith, Rom. 4. 11.  
In the ninth Book I speak of the Decalogue, where I acknowledge I have received much help from a Manuscript of M. Wheatleys for the four first Commandments, and of M. Balls for the first. See M. Caudries second part of the Sabbath.  
In the last I treat of Glorification, Mat. 25. 46. 2 Cor. 5. 10.  
See an excellent Sermon of Master Thomas goodwin's of this Argument, styled, The Happiness of the Saints in Glory on Rom. 8. 18.  
I have not only gone over the several Heads of Positive Divinity, but I have likewise handled many, if not most of the chief Controversies betwixt Us and the Papists, the Arminians, Socinians, and also discussed several things about Church-Government, to make it more full, and generally useful to settle men in the main Truths.  
It is reported of David Paraeus, That his labour was bestowed in polishing the body of Christian Doctrine, collected by Zachary Ursine, and that he desired 
Laeti compend. Hist. Univers. Period. German. Art. 2. p. 536.  not to die, till he had finished that task; but when he had concluded it, he joyfully uttered these words, Now, Lord, suffer thy servant to depart in peace, because I have done that which I desired. I have cause to bless God, as for that good esteem which my other Labours have generally found amongst both learned and pious Christians, so for enabling me to accomplish this great work.  
Some may perhaps blame me for gleaning some notions from such as I hear, as well as from the Authors I read.  
To that I might say, Habes confitentem, sed non reum, I know no such guilt in it, if I do make use sometimes of some special Observations I hear from the Pulpit, though I hear often the same things from several persons. Some hold that a man's Sermon is no longer his own when he hath preached it, and I think the ears as well as the eyes are senses of Discipline. Besides many Divines and 
I had this salutation from one judicious Divine, Sir, You study to make us idle.  some Rabbis (though I had but harsh language from one Divine) have acknowledged themselves beholding to me for my Labours, therefore I hope none will grudge, if I do likewise benefit myself and also others by my Collections in that kind. I pray God to guide us all in the truth, and to preserve us from Apostasy in these declining days.  
Thy hearty Well-willer EDWARD LEIGH.   

Imprimatur  
june 15th 1653, EDMUND CALAMY.   

PROLEGOMENA.  
Hebrews VI I.  
THe Apostle chides the Hebrews in the former Chapter 

1. God takes notice of the time of men's enjoying the Gospel.  
2. He expects proficiency according to this time.  
3. Men that live under the Gospel ought not only to be instructed, but teach others according to that condition wherein God hath set them, not by way of office.  
4. Such must be first instructed themselves in the principles of Religion. 5. There are principles of Religion, Fundamentals, such Doctrines on which all godliness is built, 1 Cor. 3. 12. and all superstructions must agree thereto. 6. There is an order and method to be observed in bringing men to the knowledge of the Gospel, viz. to instruct them in the principles first. 7. Those that are not instructed in principles are not capable of higher doctrine. 8. Ignorance in principles is a just ground of reproof, and a great matter of reproach to those that live under the Gospel.   for their ignorance and uncapableness of Divine Mysteries, from vers. 11. to the end. He tells them they were dull of hearing, and that their ignorance was affected; they might for their time and means have been teachers, and yet now they must be taught; and (which is strange) the very principles of the word of God. Here in the beginning of this Chapter he earnestly exhorts them to increase both in knowledge and obedience.  
Leaving] The Apostle alludes to men running a race, they leave one place and go on forward; we must leave the principles of Religion, that is, not stick there, but pass on to a greater perfection. The Apostle hath reference to the Schools of the jews where he was trained up; there were two sorts of Scholars, 1. Punies or petties. 2. Proficients, Perfectists. Six Principles are named, as so many Heads and Common-places of the ancient Catechism; not but that there were many other necessary principles; yet they might be reduced to these:  
1. Two main duties, that is, 1. The Doctrine of Repentance from 
Mark 1. 15. This takes in the right knowledge of the Law, and sin the transgression of it, its nature & desert, that one must mourn for it, and turn from it.  dead works, that every man is dead in sin by nature, and therefore had need to repent. 2. The Doctrine of Faith in God, in his Nature, as manifested in the Word, and revealed in Christ.  
2. Two means, 1. The Doctrine of Baptisms, by which in the Plural Number he means both the Sacraments; and also the inward Baptism of Christ, and that outward Baptism of john, that is to say, of the Minister, though some 
* Apostolus Baptismorum meminit, quia ad statos inter veteres Baptismi dies alludit, Paschae nimirum & Pentecostes, ubi plures simul bapti●ari consueverant, vel quia de plurium Baptismo simpliciter loquitur. Spanhem.  refer it to the set times of Baptism. 2. The Imposition or laying on of hands, that is by a Trope or borrowed speech, the Ministry of the Church upon the which hands were laid, not the Sacrament of Confirmation, as à La●ide expounds it: So Cartwright in his Harmony. See M. Gillespies Miscel. cap. 3. pag. 47, 48. and M. Cartw. rejoined. p. 278.  
3. Two Benefits, Resurrection of the dead, that the same numerical 
Unum est judicium irr●tractabile valens in perpetuum. Grot.  body shall arise again, that it dies not with the body; and eternal judgement, so called metonymically, because in that Judgement sentence shall be given concerning their eternal state, either in weal or woe. Vide Grot. 
See M. Foorths Exposit. of the Apost. Cat.  in Matth. 26. 45.  
Not laying again the foundations] Three things are required in a foundation. 1. That it be the first thing in the building. 2. That it bear up all the other parts of the building. 3. That it be firm and immovable. Simply and absolutely in respect of all times, persons, and things, Christ 
* Dr. Field of the Church, l. 5. c 22. Isa. 28. 16. 1 Cor. 3. 11.  only is the foundation upon which the spiritual building of the Church is raised.  
The first principles of heavenly Doctrine are named here a foundation, because they are the first things which are known, before which nothing can be known, and because upon the knowledge of these things all other parts of heavenly knowledge do depend. They must be so firmly laid and received at the first, as they should never be questioned more, not that Ministers may not preach again of Principles. Those that deny Fundamentals must of necessity destroy Religion. Perfection is building on the old foundation. In no age since the Gospel dawned in the world, were all fundamentals in Religion denied till now.  
The Apostles are the foundation of the Church, 
* Quod est ab ipsis positum & praedicatum. Jun. ad Bellar. cont. 3. lib. 3. cap. 23. The Prophets and Apostles are not fundamenta fundantia, but fundata, such foundations as themselves had a foundation, even the Lord Christ; the ground of a Christians faith is, Thus saith the Lord, thus it is written.  Ephes. 2. 20. Revel. 21. 14. in three respects,  

1. Because they were the first which founded Churches, and converted unbelievers to the faith.  
2. Because their doctrine which they received immediately from God by most undoubted revelation without mixture of error or danger of being deceived, is the Rule of Faith to all after-comers.  
3. Because they were Heads, Guides, and Pastors of the whole universal Church.   
The Proposition or Observation which ariseth from these words thus opened, may be this,  
The Principles and Foundations of Christian Religion must be well laid. 
The Observation.   
Or thus:  
Catechising and instructing of the people in the Principles of Religion is a necessary Duty to be used.  
The Apostle illustrates this by a comparison, first, from Schools; secondly, from building, the foundation must be first laid.  
The excellent definition of catechising which the Apostle here gives, yields us two good proofs of its necessity.  
1. It is the Doctrine of the beginning of Christ, by some rendered not 
Sermo qui rudes in Christo inchoat.  unfitly for the sense, which gives beginning in Christ.  
2. It is a foundation which bears up all the building (without this, preaching is to no purpose) which though it makes the least show, yet it 
Fundamenti vocabulum est metaphoricum, ab aedificantibus sumptum, atque denotat illud totius structurae firmamentura in imo positum, quo sustentatur aedificium quoque subducto corruit protiu●●, & in frusta dilabitur. Davenant. adhort ad pacem Eccles. c. 2. Extet communis formula cetechismi in usum puerorum, & ●● qui erunt rudiores in populo: sic ipsa veritas illis familiaris reddetur, ac ●imul eam ipsam discent ab imposturis & corruptelis discernere, quae sensim apud cessantes irrepere sole●t. Plane enim tibi persuasum esse oportet, Ecclesiam Dei cateches● career non posse, etc. Calvinus Epist. pro Lectori Angliae.  is of greatest use; it establisheth men, and keeps them free from wavering.  
3. This course is most agreeable, 1. To Art; all Arts proceed from principles. Physicians have their principles, Lawyers their maxims, Philosophers their chief sentences. 2. To Nature, which first forms the vital parts, than the more remote. 3. It is suitable to reason. Principles are, 1. Easiest in themselves. 2. Facilitate other matters. 3. Are the most necessary Doctrines of all the rest, they bear up all the rest. 4. Are of continual and constant use; Principia sunt minima quantitate, maxima virtute.  
4. God's order and practice hath been still to lay principles; things might easily pass from one to another at first, they lived so long. Cain and Abel's sacrificing is an evidence of catechising before the Flood; there was no Word written then, therefore it is like their Fathers taught them. It was practised by Abraham, Gen. 18. 19 the fruit of which observe in his son. Gen. 24. 63. and servant, Gen. 12. 26. God himself writes a Catechism for the Jews, describing a short compendium of Religion in the two Authentic Tables of the Law. Hannah delivered Samuel to Eli 
1 Sam. 1. 25▪  his Instructor so soon as he was weaned. jehoiada taught the young King jihoash. David and Bathsheba practised it, 2 Chron. 28. 8, 9 Psal. 34. 11. Prov. 4. 4. & 31. 1. and Solomon himself seems to give that precept out of the most experience of his own most excellent education, Teach a child the trade of his way, and when he is old he shall not depart from it; though himself scarce did so; and Eccles. 12. 23. he draws all which he had said in his whole Book to two heads, Fear God and keep his Commandments. Catechising 
Prov. 22. 6. See Prov. 6. 22 Prov. 31. 26. which is meant chiefly of instructing her family. Mat. 22. 37. Matth. 3. 8. & 4. 17.  was also practised by Christ and his Apostles, Luke 2. 4. Acts 22. 3. Heb. 6. 1, 2, 3. Christ allowed of Hosanna sung by children. He begins with regeneration to Nicodemus, and he drew the whole Law into two heads, Matth. 22. 37. john and Christ preached Faith and Repentance, and the Apostles 
a Act. 2. 5, 10 & 13. chap. and in their Epistles.  after them. Theophilus was catechised, Luke 1. 4. Apollo's, Act. 18. 23. Timothy, 1 Tim. 3. 15, 2 Tim. 2. 2. The Apostle Paul commends to Timothy's custody a pattern of wholesome Doctrine, which he 
Mark 1. 15.  calls 
b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a word borrowed from the making of an impression by a stamp or seal. John 21. 15. Act. 20. 20. It is good to have the principles of the doctrines of faith and rules of life drawn to brief heads. It is used to draw Arts and Sciences, plentifully laid out into compendious heads, and some few general rules and principles. Luther professed he was still Discipulu● Catechismi, that he studied the Principles.  A form of Doctrine, Rom. 6. 17. and the Analogy of faith, Rom. 12. 6. that is, certain plain rules, unto which all others must hold proportion.  
The Magdeburgenses observe from these places, and that Heb. 6. that there was Catechismus ab Apostolis tra●itus, that the Apostle drew the Doctrine of the Gospel into short heads for the instructing of the children of the Church.  
This Duty principally belongs to Ministers, their Office is set down under the name of catechising, Let him which is catechised make him that catechizeth partaker, Gal. 6. 6. Ministers must plant and beget as well as increase and build up, feed the Lambs as well as the Sheep; they are compared to Nurses, wise Stewards, skilful builders; it must be performed by Householders also, Ephes. 6. 4. God chargeth Parents to perform this Duty, Deut. 6. 6, 7. Rehearse them continually, whet them upon 
Psal. 78. 5. 1 Tim. 1. 5. The practice of this duty is represented in the whole Book of the Proverbs  thy children, often go over the same thing, as a knife doth the whetstone. They are bound to bring up their children in the nurture and information of the Lord; Children were to be taught the meaning of the Passeover, Exod. 12. 16. Masters of Families also must instruct their servants which are ungrounded, as children. Christ instructed his Apostles, he taught them how to pray, he being the Master of the Family, and they his Family, as appeareth, because he did eat the Passeover together with them; and the Law appoints that every family should celebrate that Feast together. The reason why God specifieth not this point in the Master's duty, is, because if it be performed by the Father, it shall be needless, seeing it is done to the Master's hand; but if the Father neglect it, surely the Master which succeeds in the Father's room, and hath his Authority, must see it done. For as a Father in Israel was bound to see his own son circumcised, 
Gen. 17. 12, 13  so he was bound to see his servant circumcised; and if to circumcise him, sure he must as well make him as his child to know what Circumcision meaned. And what Christ did as a master of a Family, that 
Omnis Christi actio Christiani instructio.  must every Master of family do, seeing we must be followers of Christ every one in his place; therefore every one must instruct his ignorant servants in the truths of Religion.  
The Jews did use Catechising; Cyprian saith, Optatus exercised it at 
Dr. Reynolds called Aquinas his Sums, that absolute Body of Divinity. Dr. Twiss Doubting conscience resolve. Prov. 22. 6.  Carthage, and Origen at Alexandria, Clemens Alexandrinus had his Poedagogus, Lactantius and Calvin their Institutions, Athanasius his Synopsis, Augustine his Enchiridion, his Books De Doctrina Christiana, and De Catechizandis rudibus.  
Catechising is Institutio viva voce, a kind of familiar conference. The Hebrew verb Chanach signifieth to instruct or train up even from childhood; and to initiate or dedicate, from which word holy Henoch 
c Chanoe. Gen. 5. 18. So the Hebrews interpret that Gen. 14. 14. his trained or instructed servants, those which he taught in piety; the word comes from Chanach. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vox Graeca est, quam Latina Ecclesia pro sua coepit usurpare. Martinius. Eusebius saith, one was set apart on purpose for this office in the Primitive Church, called the Catechist. Hinc Catechumeni dicebantur qui Catechismu● discebant, Catechistae qui Catechismum docebant. Dietericus.  had his name, importing nurture in the fear of God. The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to sound or re-sound as by an Echo, and is applied even by Heathen Writers unto that kind of teaching which is by word of mouth, sounding in the ear of him that is taught, and especially unto the teaching of the first rudiments of any Science whatsoever. It signifieth any kind of vocal instruction, Acts 21. 21, 24. viz. that whereby the principles of Christian Doctrine are made known unto the hearers, as Luk. 1. 4. instructed or catechised, Gal. 6. 6. taught or catechised. See Acts 18. 25. Rom. 2. 18. 1 Cor. 14. 19  
Catechising is a plain and easy instructing of the ignorant in the 
Catechising what it is. Catechesis est elementaris institutio Christianae Religionis viva docenti● voce tradita, & ● discentibus repotita. Altingius.  grounds of Religion, or concerning the fundamental Principles, familiarly by Questions and Answers, and a spiritual applying the same for practice.  
Whatever the catechising in the Primitive Church was in private, for the public it seems not to have been Dialogue-wise 
d M. Pemble.  by Question and Answer, but in a continued speech, with much plainness and familiarness  
Catechising differs from preaching; Preaching is the dilating of one 
M. Greenham. At Sermons and prayers, men may sleep or wander, but when one is asked a Question, he must discover what he is. Herbert's Remains Chap. 21.  member of Religion into a just Treatise; Catechising is a contracting of the whole into a sum; Preaching is to all sorts, catechising to the young and rude.  

Catechising is, 1. Plain; that none might excuse themselves; that the 
It is to be performed either by the Minister in public, or the Governors in private, or some able body in their place.  most illiterate might not say at the day of Judgement, O Lord, thy ways were too hard for us. 2. That the manner of the teaching might be suitable to the hearers. 3. That no Governors might pretend the difficulty of it.  
2. Instructing, which implieth that original ignorance and blindness we were born with.  
3. It is such an instructing which is by way of distilling things in a familiar manner; our Saviour did not give the people whole Loaves, but distributed them by pieces.  
4. Such an instructing as acquaints them with the meaning of things, 
Verba Scriptura non sunt verba legenda, sed vivenda, said Luther.  and spiritually applies the same for practice. It is not enough to say the Creed and Lords Prayer, but to understand the sense, and apply it to practice.  
5. An instruction by way of Question and Answer, which is thereby made more plain and familiar.   
The exercise of Catechising hath been proved to be most ancient, and very necessary and useful; and therefore it should be always continued in the Church.  

1. Because there will always be found Babes which stand in need of Milk, not being able to bear strong meat.  
2. Because as no building can stand without a foundation, and none can be expert in an Art except he learn the principles thereof: so none can have sound knowledge in Divinity, except he be trained up in the grounds thereof.   
The best way to perform this exercise, is,  

1. By short Questions and Answers, the Minister demanding the Question, the people answering.  
2. It must be done purely, 2 Cor. 2. 4.  
3. Plainly, 2 Cor. 3. 2. Heb. 5. 11.  
4. Sound, Tit. 2. 7.  
5. Orderly.  
6. Cheerfully and lovingly, 2 Tim. 2. 24. praising the forward, encouraging 
Su●●●●um Christianae fidei brevi libell● complex●● est Genevae Joan. Calvinus, quam Itali, Gallt, Belga, Scoti, etc. publice in Ecclesiis suis interpretantur. Eandem, sententia ubique servata, fusi●● apud Anglos & ●uculentius expressit vir non vulgari doctrina & facundia proditor Alexander Noellus. Ad. Hamilton Apostate. Sueton. Orthodox. Respons.  the willing, patiently bearing with all, admonishing such as are unruly. Amesius his Christianae Catechesios' Sciagraphia is useful this way, and Nowel's Catechism in Latin; in English there are B. Ushers, M. Bains, M. Cartwrights, M. Balls, and M. Crooks Guide, and now the Assemblies.   
Here is a fault that both teachers and hearers must share between 
Consectaries of reproof.  them; Ministers do not teach principles sufficiently, happy is that man which can say with Paul, I have kept back nothing that was profitable.  
2. Those are too blame which will not be taught, children and servants which are stubborn and unwilling to be catechised; some say they are too old to learn; but are they too old to repent and be saved? Some say, they are past principles, they are not now to be grounded; but we may say with the Apostle, Whereas they ought to be teachers, they had need themselves to be taught. Such people rebel against their Minister or Master, whose duty is to teach them, and God who commands it.  
Let men be exhorted to practise this duty, Ministers, Masters, Parents; 
2. Of Exhortation.  Schoolmasters teach the A, B, C, and the Grammar, Suffer little children to come unto me.  
Consider, 1. Thou brought'st thy children into the world blind and 
See Gen. 6. 15. & 8. 21. Young people have great temptations, 2 Tim. 2. 22. Their souls are precious.  deformed.  
2. Thou canst not else have comfort in thy children or servants; many are crossed in their family for want of this, and many at the gallows will cry out, If they had lived where they had been instructed, they had never died a dog's death. Greenham saith; Thy children shall follow thee up and down in hell, and cry against thee for not teaching them. He that will not provide for his family (saith Paul) is worse than an Infidel; and he that will not teach them is worse than a beast. The old Nightingale 
f Aristot. de hist. animal. l. 6. c. 6.  teacheth the young to sing, and the old Eagle her young ones to fly. Children ill brought up were devoured by Bears, to teach Parents 
g Caussins' Holy Court, eighth reason of his first book. , that since they have done less than Bears, who shape their whelps by much licking and smoothing them (though Vossius 
* De orig. & progress. Idol. l. 3. c. 54.  and Dr. Brown 
h lib. 3. c. 6. of his Inquiries. Prov. 22. 6. & 31. 1.  deny this) they therefore by Bears were bereft of them. It is good therefore to season our children 
i Non minus placet Deo Hosanna puerorum, quam Hallelujab virorum. The Holy Ghost hath composed some Psalms according to the order of the Hebrew Alphabet (as 25, 34, 37, 119.) that Parents might teach their children the first elements of Religion as well as learning. See Mr Gataker on Psal. 34. 11. & Menoch. de Rep. Heb. l. 3. ●. 3. In octonariis prolixioris omnium Psalmi, ad singulorum versuum initia recurrentes eaedem literae, ostonariis ipsis per ordinem alphabeti dispositis, sunt locali memoriae ad sententias retinendas. Alphabetariis igitur, ut ita dicam, mysteriorum Christi, sic minutatim particular rerum dispensari con●enientissimum est. Guil. Rivet. vindic. Evangel. parte secunda, cap 8.  with wholesome truths betime; a vessel will long keep the savour of that with which it is at first seasoned, and the Devil will begin betime to sow his seed. Master Belton upon his deathbed spoke unto his children thus, I do believe (saith he) there is never a one of you will dare to meet me at the Tribunal of Christ in an unregenerate condition.  
It will be a great comfort to thee and benefit to them when they are instructed 
We have discharged our duty, our prayers and instructions may be as seed sown, and our reward shall not be only in heaven, but in the doing of our duty. Psal. 19 11.  in the points of Religion; If thy children die, yet thou mayest have great hope of them, when thou hast acquainted them with the principal grounds of Religion. The Papists in the Preface to the Catechism of the Council of Trent, confess that all the ground we have got of them is by catechising; and let us look that we lose not our ground again for want of it. julian himself could not devise a readier means to banish 
k Euseb. Eccles. hist. lib. 10. cap. 32.  Christian Religion, then by pulling down the Schools and places of educating children. Egesippus saith, That by virtue of catechising there was never a Kingdom but received alteration in their Heathenish Religion within forty years after Christ's passion.  
All ignorant persons though they be grown in years must be willing to 
See M. Pembles Sermon of ignorance. Luk. 1. 5.  be instructed and catechised.  
Ignorance in principles is a great sin:  

1. The Lord appointed a Sacrifice for ignorance, Heb. 9 7.  
2. He requires repentance for it.  
3. It is the original of all the errors in a man's life, both in doctrine and worship, 1 Cor. 15. 34. joh. 4. 22. such will be a prey to false teachers, Col. 2. 8.  
4. The ground of all instability in the ways of God, Ephes. 4. 14, 15. and of that nonproficiency that is in men, the way to damnation, Act. 4. 12.   
Theophilus a Nobleman and of ripe years was catechised, as the Greek 
Jer. 10. 25. There is generally a great ignorance of Christ, 1. Few men seek after the knowledge of Christ, John 4. 10. 2. Few believe in him because they know him not, John 12. 38. 3. Men are estranged from him in their conversation, Ephes. 4. 18. 4. They go on in their former lusts, 1 Pet. 1. 14. Nescientia dicit simplicem scientiae negationem, haec in Angelis esse potest, ignoraatia importat scientiae privationem, dum scilicet alicui deest scientia eorum, quae aptus natus est scire. Aquin. 1a, 2ae Quaest 76. Artic. 2. Vide plura ibid.  word shows; ignorance bringeth men to the very pit and gulf of destruction, Host 4. 1. and vers. 14. 1 Pet. 3. 15. Christian's should be ready to give an answer to every man which doth ask them a reason 
1 Heb. 5. 13. One being examined, affirmed blindly, that none had died or should die for him. Another, that the Sun shining in the firmament was he Son of God that died for him.  of the hope which is in them; the foundation is that which is first and surest laid, and hath an influence into all the building.  
Men should do all upon trial and solid conviction, 1 Thess. 5. 21. 1 joh. 4. 1. The Papists would have the people take things upon trust, they say, those places concern the Doctors of the Church not the people, but compare the 20, and 21. vers. in the Thessalonians, and 1. vers. with 6. in john, and we shall see the contrary.  
This trial is profitable,  
First, Because truth then will have a greater force on the conscience.  
Secondly, This is the ground of constancy, 2 Pet. 3. 17.  
Thirdly, Hereby we shall be able to maintain the truth, Matthew 11. 19  
The Scriptures are fundamentum quo, the fundamental writings which declare the salvation of Christians, john 5. 37. Christ fundamentum quod, the fundamental means and cause which hath purchased and doth give it, john 4. 42. The 
m The Papists make the Pope their personal foundation.  person we must build on is Christ, 1 Cor. 3. 11. He is called the foundation of foundations, Isa. 28. The doctrinal foundation is the written Word of God, which is not only the object and matter of our faith, but the rule and reason of it. Hold Christ as your Rock, build on him, the Scripture as your rule and the reason of your believing; this is general, there are some particulars. 
See Dr Field of the Church, l. 3. c. 4. and M. Rous his Catholic Charity, chap. 10, 11.   
First, Some things are simply necessary; It were a notable work for one to determine this, how much knowledge were required of all.  
Secondly, Not absolutely necessary. Some make the foundation too 
Some dislike the beginning of the Athanasian Creed, Whosoever will be saved, etc. Upon pain of damnation thou art bound to know the Articles of thy faith, to know God in Christ, and the holy Catholic Church by the Word of God written. The ten Commandments, to know what works thou shouldst do, and what to leave undone. Christ's prayer, which is an abridgement, epitome or compendious collection of all the Psalms and prayers written in the holy Scripture. In which thou prayest for the remission of sin, as well for thyself, as for all others, desirest the grace of the holy Ghost to preserve thee in virtue, and all others, givest thanks for the goodness of God towards thee and all others. He that knoweth less than this cannot be saved, and he that knows no more than this, if he follow his knowledge cannot be damned. B. Hooper on the Command. Fundamentalem Articulum habendum sentio, qui ex voluntate Dei revelantis ad salutem & aeternam beatitudinem consequendam est adeò scitu & creditu necessarius ut ex illius ignorations, ac multo magis oppugnatione, aeternae vitae amittendae manifestum periculum incurratur. Davenant. de pace Ecclesiastica. About fundamental points there may sometimes arise such disputes as are no way fundamental. For instance, that God is one in Essence, and three in Persons, distinguished one from another: That the Son is begotten of the Father; That the holy Ghost is the Spirit of both Father and Son; That these three Persons are coeternal and coequal: All these are reckoned in the number of Fundamentals: But those School-niceties touching the manner of the Sons generation, and the procession of the holy Ghost, are not likewise fundamental and of equal necessity with the former. B. Daven. opin. of the fundam. points of Relig.  narrow, some again too wide; some say that if a man nean well and go on according to the light he hath, though he know not Christ, he shall be saved; Others say, that all are bound to know distinstly the Articles of the Creed.  
Fundamental truths are all such points of Doctrine which are so plainly 
Certa semper sunt in paucis, saith Tertullian. Certain and undoubted truths are not many, and they are such as may be delivered in a few words. In absoluto ac facili stat aeternit as. Hilary.  delivered in Scripture, that whosoever doth not know or follow them shall be damned, but he that doth know and follow these (though erring in other things) shall be saved.  
All the principles of Religion are plain and easy, delivered clearly in  

1. Scripture, they are to be a rule to judge of other Doctrines.  
2. They are very few (say some) reduced to two heads, by john Baptist, Mark 1. 15. and by Paul, 2 Tim. 1. 13.  
3. In all principles necessary to salvation, there hath been agreement among all the Churches of Christ, Ephes. 4. 5. though they may differ in superstructures. Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditur Catholicam est. Vincent. Lyrin.   
These Fundamentals (said a Reverend Divine now with God) are twelve; three concerning God, three concerning Man; three concerning the Redeemer, three concerning the means of attaining good by this Redeemer.  
Concerning God.  

1. There is one God, which is an Infinite, Perfect, and Spiritual Essence.  
2. This one God is distinguished into three Persons or manners of subsistence 
That the Doctrine of the Trinity is a fundamental and necessary to salvation. Vide Voet. Thes. p. 471, etc.  after an incomprehensible way, which we believe but cannot perfectly understand. The Father begetting, the Son begotten, and the holy Ghost proceeding.  
3. This one God, the Father, Son, and holy Ghost, is the Maker, Preserver and Governor of all things, by his Wisdom, Power, Justice, Providence.   
Concerning man.  

1. That he was made by God of a visible body, and an immortal and spiritual soul, both so perfect and good in their kinds, that he was perfectly able to have attained eternal life for himself, which was provided as a reward of his obedience.  
2. That being thus made he yielded to the temptations of the Devil, and did voluntarily sin against God in eating of the Tree forbidden, and so became a child of wrath and heir of cursing, an enemy to God, and slave to the Devil, utterly unable to escape eternal death, which was provided as a recompense of his disobedience.  
3. That he doth propagate this his sinfulness and misery to all his posterity.   
Concerning Christ.  

1. That he is perfect God, and perfect Man, the second Person in the Trinity, who took the Nature of man from the Virgin Mary, and united it to himself in one personal Subsistence, by an incomprehensible Union.  
2. That in man's Nature he did die and suffer in his Life and Death, sufficient to satisfy God's Justice, which man had offended, and to deserve for mankind Remission of sins, and Life everlasting; and that in the same Nature he Rose again from the Dead, and shall also Raise up all men to receive Judgement from him at the last Day, according to their Deeds.  
3. That he is the only sufficient and perfect Redeemer, and no other merit must be added unto this, either in whole or part.   
Lastly, Concerning the Means of applying the Redeemer, they are three,  

1. That all men shall not be saved by Christ, but only those that are brought to such a sight and feeling of their own sinfulness and misery, that with sorrow of heart they do bewail their sins, and renouncing all merits of their own, or any creature, cast themselves upon the mercies of God, and the only merits of Jesus Christ, which to do is to repent and believe, and in this hope live holily all the remainder of their life.  
2. That no man is able thus to see his sins by his own power, renounce himself, and rest upon Christ, but God must work it in whom he pleaseth by the cooperation of his Spirit regenerating and renewing them.  
3. That for the working of this Faith and Repentance, and direction of them in a holy life, he hath left in writing by the Prophets and Apostles infallibly guided to all truth by his Spirit, all things necessary to be done or believed to salvation, and hath continued these writings to his people in all ages. 
Articuli cognit●● & creditu necessarii ad salutem, Such Articles as are necessary to know and believe to salvation, are not such truths as are merely speculative, but such only as have a necessary influence upon practice, and not all those neither, but such as have necessary influence upon the act and function of Christian life. Principia Theologia, or Fundamentalia dogmata & fundamenta salutis, are not the same, but differ formally, though some of them may be materially coincident. Mr Mede in a letter to Mr Hartlib.    
Observe those places, Act. 15. 11. 1 Tim. 1. 15. Let a man hold this, that there was nothing but death in the world till Christ came, and that he is come to save sinners, joh. 17. 3.  
Secondly, There are practical places, 1 Cor. 6. 9 Titus 3. 8. Let us, 
As there are in points of saith, fundamental Articles, so there are in points of practice, fundamental Duties. Master Raynolds on Hosoa 14. 2, 3.   

1. See ourselves dead without Christ, and wholly trust in him.  
2. Let us be exemplary in our lives and conversations.   
There are other Fundamentals which are only comparatively necessary, that is expected from one man which is not expected from another; and more from those that live in the Church. Have these six Principles of the Apostle not only in your heads, but hearts.  

1. That a man is dead in himself. 
The foundations of religion must, 1. Be held with great certainty. 1. Speculative foundations, John 17. 3. We must hold one God in three Persons, Christ the Mediator. 2. Practical, John 16. 8. We must be convinced of the sin of nature, the righteousness of Christ, and the necessity of a holy life, and suspect those opinions, which advance nature, depress Christ, decry good works. 2. We must be earnest about the particular explication of these truths, 1 Cor. 5. 6. Error in matter of Justification is dangerous.   
2. That his remedy lies out of himself.  
3. Know the Doctrine of the Sacraments.  
4. The Word of God.  
5. Have some apprehension of the life to come, 1. That there is a passage from death to life. 2. That there is a fixed and irrevokable estate after this life.  
6. Hold the Doctrine of Faith so, that Christ may live in you, and you be delivered up into that form of Doctrine, lay hold on life eternal.   
Secondly, There are some particular principles. There is a natural light and supernatural The light of Nature teacheth some principles: That, you must do as you would be done by, that no man hates his own flesh, that one must provide for his family, that there is a God, and one God, that he is to be honoured and reverenced above all.  
2. Supernatural, Let all our actions be done, 1. In Love. 2. In Humility. 3. In Faith. 4. In God; This the Gospel teacheth.  
Show yourselves Christians in power, go beyond the Heathen in practising 
Corollaries.  the good rules of Nature.  

1. Be careful to make a wise choice of principles; one false principle admitted, will let in many errors, and erroneous principles will lead men into erroneous practices.  
2. Labour to act your principles, if you captivate the light, God will put it out.  
3. Be sure you work according to your principles; we pity another in an error when he follows his principles.   
Here is an Apology for those Teachers which tread in Paul's steps, are careful to lay the foundation well. It was the Observation of our most judicious King JAMES, That the cause why so many fell to Popery, and other errors, was their ungroundedness in points of Catechism.  
How many wanton opinions are broached in these days? I wish I might not justly call them Fundamental 
n Haeresis est pertinax defensio erroris in fide, opinionem aliquam pugnantem cum fundamento ejus ponentis. Voet. Haereticus non est, nisi qui inverbum fidei peccat. Luther. in Epist. Galat. c. 1. v. 8. Haereticum tota Ecclesia Christiana inde ab initio in hunc usque diem vocavit cum, qui haeresiarcham aliquem sequ●tus, negat doctrinam aliquam fundamentalem & ad salutem necessariam, inter Christianos controversiam. Vedel. de Arcan. Armin. lib. 1. cap. 1. Vide plura ibid. There are damnable heresies, 2 Pet. 2. 1. and errors that are capital, Not holding the head, Col. 2. 19 and such as destroy the faith, 2 Tim. 2. 18.  errors. Some deny the Scriptures, some the Divinity of Christ, some the Immortality of the Soul.  
Errors are either 
o Vide Altingii loc. come. part. 2. p. 262. et Z●nc. misc. de Magist.  Contra, against the foundation, which subvert the foundation, as that of the Papists who deny the all-sufficiency of Christ's once suffering.  
2. Circa about the foundation, which pervert the foundation, as the 
Non omnis error est baeresis, sed illa tantum quae est contra fundamentum a●t in fundamento fidei & pertinaciter defenditur. Voet.  Lutherans opinion of the ubiquity of Christ's body.  
3. Citra merely without, these divert the foundation, as in the controversies of Church-Government, whether it be Social or Solitary; this strikes not at the foundation. Laurentius saith, the Apostle, 1 Cor. 3. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. speaks not of heretical Teachers, and those which err in fundamentals, but of those which err in lighter matters, because he saith of both, they build upon one and the same foundation, Christ. See Mr Burgess 
Some errors do not touch the foundation, others do concutere, and others do evertere. We hold the Lutherans to be true Churches, agreeing with us in fundamental points of faith, and likewise in being free from Idolatry; for albeit they have Images in their Churches, which we conceive to be a very dangerous thing, yet they do not worship them; and although they hold real presence in the Sacrament, yet they do not adore it. Dr Twiss his doubting conscience resolved. My Lord Faulkland in his Reply to him that answered him about the Roman Infallibilitd, pag. 220. to 231. seems to hold the negative.  of Justific. p. 80.  
We should contend for a known fundamental necessary truth, jude vers. 3. The common faith; not every opinion entertained on probable ground.  
It is a great Question in Divinity,  
An Magistratui Christiano liceat capitales poenas de Haereticis sumere? Whether Heretics are to be punished by the Christian Magistrate with death?  
The Papists say, Haeretici qua Haeretici comburendi, That Heretics 
Bellar. Tom. 2. l. 3. c. 21. T. Aquin. part. 2. Quaest undecima, Articulo tertio.  for Heresy sake, though they do not trouble the State, aught to be put to death.  
Luther doth not approve of the capital punishment of Heretics, especially for the pernicious sequel of it among the Papists against the Protestants. 
Vide Gerhardi loc. common. de Magistratu.  He thinks it better that they be banished. The present Lutherans hold the same almost concerning that Question. Meisner 
p Part. 3. Philos. Sob. Sect. 2. q. 6.  doth distinguish between Haereticus simplex, and Haereticus seditiosus ac blasphemus, these last he saith may be punished with capital punishments.  
The Socinians (being themselves the worst of Heretics) would have no outward forcible restraining of any error, though never so gross and pernicious.  
You must not look (say the Socinians) into the Old Testament for a a rule of proceeding against false Prophets and Seducers: Nor (saith Calvin and Catharinus) can you finde in the New Testament any precept for the punishment o● Thiefs, Traitors, Adulterers, Witches, Murderers, and the like, and yet they may, or at least some of them be capitally punished. 
Zanch. tom. 2. Misc. in cap. de Magistratu. Aretius hath written the history of Valentinus Gentilis put to death at Bern.   
For the Protestants, hear what Zanchy saith, Omnes fere ex nostratibus hujus sunt sententiae, quod haeretici sint gladio puniendi. Beza hath written a peculiar Tract, De Haereticis à Magistratu puniendis. Calvin also hath written Aure●m librum (as Beza calls it) of this very Argument.  
We do deservedly condemn the cruelty of Turks and Papists, which go about by force alone to establish their superstitions. The Church of Rome and the Pope, will judge what Heresy is, and who is an Heretic, 
There was a Statute against Lollardi in England, and Hugonots in France.  and they appropriate to themselves the name of Catholics, and all such as descent from them must presently be pronounced Heretics.  
The Pope and Canonists hold him to be an Heretic, Qui non in omnibus ac singulis Papae decretis obtemperat. He that readeth the Bible in his Mother-tongue, will be esteemed an Heretic with them. Virgilius a German Bishop and a Mathematician, was sent for to Rome by the Pope, and condemned of Heresy, because he held that there were Antipodes.  
Because Heresy is not easily defined (as Augustine saith) and because 
Haereticus ego tibi, & tu miht.  faith should be persuaded not compelled, We conceive that all fair means should be first used to convince men of their errors and heresy 
See Statut. of Qu. Eliz. c. 1.  which indeed is so; Therefore we will premise some things concerning the nature and danger of Heresy, before we speak particularly of the punishment of Heretics.  
Chillingworth thus defines Heresy: It is (saith he) an obstinate defence 
Propriè Heretici vocantur qui ea pertinaciter rejictunt, quae in sacris Scripturis docentur. Daven de judice controv. Haeresis est error pugnans cum ●undamento religionis Christianae, isque pertinax. Altingius Tom. 2. Problem. Theol. part. 2. Prob. 14. Heresy is an error in the foundation of Christian Religion, taught and defended with obstinacy. Perk. on Gal. 5. 20. See more there.  of any error against any necessary Article of the Christian faith. Two things must concur (say some) to constitute an Heretic. 1. Error in side, 1 Tim. 1. 19 2. Pertinacia, Titus 3. 10.  Errare possum, Haereticus esse nolo. 
See Mr Vines on 2 Pet. 2. 1. p. 46, 47. Neque vero alia magis ratione definimus, quam si veterum trium Symbolorum, vel si veterum quatuor Generalium conciliorum ulli contraveniat. Episc. And. Tert.  
Dr Field 
q Lib. 3 of the Church, ch. 3. See D. Prideaux his Sermon on 1 Cor. 11. 19 Vide Grotium in Tit. 3. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicuntur ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, eligere, praeferre, est enim haeresis priv●●a aliqua opinio, quam quis prae dogmate Christiano, & fide Catholica sibi amplectendam eligit, eamque pertinaciter defendit. Gerh. loc. common. de ministerio Ecclesiastico, c. 8, Ut quis sit propriò dictus haereticus, requiritur, 1. Ut sit person● in Ecclesiam visibilem per Baptismi Sacramentum recepta, 1 Cor. 11. 9 Act. 20. 13. 2. Ut erret in fide,, sive errorem illum noviter introducat, sive ab alio acceptum amplectatur (quamvis illud haeresiarchae hoc vero haeretici proprium videri possit.) 3. ut error directè in ipsi fidei fundamentum impingat. 4. Ut errori conjuncta sit malitia ac pertinacia, per quam etiam aliquoties admonitus nihilominus obstinatè errorem suum defendat. 5. Ut dissensiones & scandala in Ecclesia excitet, ejusque unitatem scindat. Id. ibid. Haeresis consideratur vel in doctrina, vel in persona; haeresis doctrinae, est quando id ipsum quod proponitur est contra sidem Catholicam & Orthodoxam. Haeresis autem personae, quum quis haeresin doctrinae ita proponit ut asserat etiam convictus. Cham. de Occ. Pontif. l. 6.  thus describes the nature of Heresy. Heresy is not every error, but error in matter of Faith; nor every error in matter of Faith; (for neither Jews nor Pagans are said to be Heretics, though they ●●●e most damnably in those things which every one that will be saved must believe; and with all the malice, fury and rage that can be imagined, impugn the Christian faith and verity) but it is the error of such as by some kind of profession have been Christians; so that only such as by profession being Christians, depart from the truth of Christian Religion, are named Heretics.  
Secondly, For the danger of Heresy. Heresy is a fruit of the flesh, Gal. 
Errors are practical or doctrinal only, fundamental or circa-fundamental, or neither of the two.  5. 20. An Heretic after the first and second time reject, Tit. 3. 10. Heresy or false doctrine is in Scripture compared to 
r See Master Clarks Sermons on Matth. 8. 13. and Master Cranfords' Haereseomachia on 2 Tim. 2. 17.  Leaven, and to a Gangrene, for the spreading and infectious nature of it. The Heresy of Arius 
s Arius in Alexandria una scintilla fuit. Sed quoniam non statim oppressus est totum orbem ejus flamma populata est. Aquin.  was more dangerous to the Church than the Sword of all the persecuting Emperors. It is compared to a Land-floud, Revel. 12. because it did overcome all presently.  
We need not to ask whether he join obstinacy to his error, (saith 
t Ubi supra.  Dr Field) which erveth in those things which every one is bound particularly to believe, because such things do essentially and directly concern the matter of our salvation, and he is without any further enquiry to be pronounced an Heretic, and the very error itself is damnable; as if a man (saith he) shall deny Christ to be the Son of God, coessential, coequal and coeternal with his Father; or that we have remission of sins by the effusion of his blood.  
They therefore who first hold pestilent Heresies; and secondly, who 
Cum agitaretur de ista quaestione (An morte mulctandi & cogendi haeretici) in Synodo quadam Londini. & perrogarentur singulorum sententi●, surrexit quidam senex Theologus, atque hoc planum esse asserit ex ipso Apostolo. Haereticum hominem post unam aut alteram admonitionem d● vita. De vita inquit, ergo manifestum est haereticos istos homines post unam aut alteram admonitionem ● vita tollendos. Erasm. Annotat. in Tit. 3. Vel sola modestia potuisset, vitam redimere, said Galvin of Servetu●●n opusc.  when before they professed the Christian Religion, and held the truth, have yet made a direction from the same, to such Heresies; and thirdly, who labour to infect others; and fourthly, being convicted do yet obsti nately persevere in them, and in the manner before mentioned; such are and aught (say some worthy Protestants) to be punished by the Christian Magistrate with death.  
They reason thus from the Office of the Magistrate. Every Magistrate may and aught to punish offenders; and the more pernicious the offenders are, the more hamous ought the punishment to be.  
That the Magistrate is both custos ac vindex utriusque tabulae, these two 
Here the Spirit of God sets forth, 1. The office of a Magistrate, to bear the sword. 2. The end, which is double, 1. The Minister of God for thy good, in general. 2. To execute wrath on him that doth evil.  Scriptures do plainly evince, For he is the Minister of God to thee for good: but i● thou do what is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the Minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doth evil, Rom. 13. 4. & 1 Tim. 2. 2. For Kings and all that are in Authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, and are urged by Calvin, Beza, and divers others, to this very purpose. For if (saith Beza) the Magistrate have not power over Heretics, one of these two things must necessarily follow either that Heretics do not do ill; or that what Paul speaks in general must be restrained to a certain kind of evil deeds, viz. to corporal sins. Ubi lex non distinguit nec non distinguere debemus. 
God never committed to any that charge of the body only, and not proportionably the charge of the soul, as to Masters, Parents, Heirs Judge 7. 10.   
From 1 Tim. 2. 2. both Melancthon and Beza collect, that the Magistrate is constituted by God, not only a preserver of the second Table, but also and especially of pure Religion, and the external Discipline of it, and so a punisher also of the offences 
u Magistrates in the Scripture (in the Hebrew) are called Masters of restraint. Qui non vetat peccare cum potest jubet. Sene.  against it. Godliness and honesty makes Kings Guardians of both Tables, as well of the first which containeth the worship of God, as of the second which is the fountain of public honesty. D. Hampton on Luk. 22. 24, 25. Vide Episc. Rosseus de potestate Papae in rebus temporal. lib. 2. c. 14. pag. 460. That Magistrate which takes care only of honesty, doth but one and the least part of his duty. See 2 Chron. 17. 7, 8, 9  
For the enforcing of this Argument from these two Scriptures, these Reasons may be added:  
1. The sins against the first Table (Caeteris paribus) are greater than those against the second Table, and the Magistrate is more to respect the glory of God than the peace of the Commonwealth.  
Heresies and corruptions in judgement are held by a Reverend Divine 
x M. Hildersham on Psal. 51. 7. Lect. 146.  to be worse than corruptions in manners; his reason is taken out of Levit. 13. 44. one that was leprous in his head was utterly unclean. There was a special dishonour put on him that had the leprosy in his head, there 45. v. compare with Mic. 3. 7.  
2. Errors and Heresies are called in Scripture Evil deeds, 2 joh. v. 10, 11. and Heretics Evil doers, Phil. 3. 2.  
Divines generally hold, that such who err blasphemously are to be put 
As all blasphemous heretic's Levit. 24. 16. so seducing heretics are to be put to death.  to death, such as Arius and Servetus in France.  
One saith the Devil will think he hath made a good bargain, if he can get an universal liberty for removal of the Prelacy.  
That which Jerome wrote to Augustine, Quod signum majoris gloriae est, omnes Haeretici te detestantur, may be applied to those of our times, who 
The whole 13 Chapter of Deut. is spent about the seducing of false prophets. Are not Moses moral Laws of perpetual equity, and therefore to be observed in all ages? Is blasphemy more tolerable in the New Testament? Mr. Cotton on Rev. 16. third Vial. We are not obliged (saith Beza) to the judicial Laws, as they were given by Moses to one people, yet so far we are bound to observe them, as they comprehend that general equity which ought to prevail every where. By the judicial Laws of the Jews the false prophets and Idolaters were to be put to death, Deut. 13. 8, 9 & 17. 5, 6. where there is a moral equity in the precept, it is perpetual.  have been Champions for the truth, such evil doers will malign them; but if they manage well so good a cause, it will bear them out.  
Jerome was famous for confuting the Heresies of his times, for writing against Helvidius, jovinian, Vigilantius, th● Luciferians and Pelagians. Origen shows great learning in writing against Celsus. Basil opposing Eunomius. Cyprians writings against Novatus, and Hilaries against Constantius, deserves praise. Austin wrote excellently against Pelagius, and Gaudentius the Arians, Manichees. Quis unquam (saith one) in Ecclesia paulo eruditior, post ortam novam haeresin reticuit? Ea demum vera militia Christiana est, haereses expugnare.   

THE CONTENTS.  

BOOK I. Of the SCRIPTURES.  
Chap. 1. OF Divinity in general. Pag. 1  
Chap. 2. Of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures. Pag. 5  
Chap. 3. Of the Books of Scripture. Pag. 28  
Chap. 4. Of the New Testament. Pag. 40  
Chap. 5. Of the Books called Apocrypha. Pag. 54  
Chap. 6. Of the Authentical Edition of the Scriptures. Pag. 58  
Chap. 7. Of the Seventy and Vulgar Translation. Pag. 75  
Chap. 8. Of the Properties of the Scripture, Pag. 81  
Chap. 9 Of the Interpretation of Scripture. Pag. 105   

BOOK II. Of GOD.  
Chap. 1. That there is a God. Pag. 121  
Chap. 2. What God is. Pag. 132  
Chap. 3. That God is a Spirit, Simple, Living, Immortal. Pag. 136  
Chap. 4. That God is Infinite, Omnipresent, Eternal. Pag. 142  
Chap. 5. That God is Immutable. Pag. 150  
Chap. 6. That God is Great in his Nature, Works, Authority, a necessary Essence, Independent, wholly One. Pag. 152  
Chap. 7. Of God's Understanding, that he is Omniscient, and of his Will. Pag. 160  
Chap. 8. Of God's Affections, his Love, Hatred. Pag. 167  
Chap. 9 Of the Affections of Anger and Clemency given to God metaphorically. Pag. 170  
Chap. 10. Of God's Virtues, particularly of his Goodness. Pag. 172  
Chap. 11. Of God's Grace and Mercy, Pag. 175  
Chap. 12. Of God's justice, Truth, Faithfulness. Pag. 181  
Chap. 13. Of God's Patience, Long-suffering, Holiness, Kindness. Pag. 186  
Chap. 14. Of God's Power. Pag. 191  
Chap. 15. Of God's Glory and Blessedness. Pag. 194  
Chap. 16. Of the Trinity, or Distinction of Persons in the Divine Essence. Pag. 204   

BOOK III. Of GOD'S Works.  
Chap. 1. Of God's Decree, and especially of Predestination, and the parts thereof, Election and Reprobation. Pag. 216  
Chap. 2. The Execution of God's Decree. Pag. 225  
Chap. 3. Of the Creation of the Heavens, the Angels, the Elements, Light, Day and Night. Pag. 233  
Chap. 4. Of some of the Meteors, but especially of the Clouds, the Rain and the Sea, the Rivers, Grass, Herbs and Trees. Pag. 243  
Chap. 5. Of the Sun, Moon and Stars. Pag. 258  
Chap. 6. Of the Fishes, Fowls, Beasts. Pag. 261  
Chap. 7. Of the Angels good and bad. Pag. 268  
Chap. 8. Of Man. Pag. 288  
Chap. 9 Of God's Providence. Pag. 295   

BOOK IV. Of the Fall of Man. Of Sin Original and Actual.  
Chap. 1. Of the Fall of Man. Pag. 303  
Chap. 2. What original Corruption is. Pag. 308  
Chap. 3. Of the propagation of original sin, and conclusions from it. Pag. 313  
Chap. 4. Of actual sin. Pag. 315  
Chap. 5. Of the evil of sin. Pag. 318  
Chap. 6. Of the degrees of sin. Pag. 321  
Chap. 7. That all sins are mortal. Pag. 324  
Chap. 8. Of the cause of sin. Pag. 326  
Chap. 9 Of the communicating with other men's sins. Pag. 328  
Chap. 10. Of the punishment of sin. Pag. 329  
Chap. 11. Signs of a Christian in regard of sin, and that great corruptions may be found in true Christians. Pag. 332  
Chap. 12. Two Questions resolved about sin. Pag. 335  
Chap. 13. Of the Saints care to preserve themselves from sin, and especially their own iniquities. Pag. 336  
Chap. 14. Of the cause of forbearing sin, of abhorring it, and of small sins. Pag. 338  
Chap. 15. Of some particular sins, and especially of Ambition, Apostasy, Backsliding, Blasphemy, Boasting, Bribery. Pag. 339  
Chap. 16. Of carnal confidence, Covetousness, Cruelty, Cursing. Pag. 348  
Chap. 17. Of Deceit, Distrust, Divination, Division, Drunkenness. Pag. 352  
Chap. 18. Of Envy, Error, Flattery, Gluttony. Pag. 357  
Chap. 19 Of Heresy, Hypocrisy, Idleness, Impenitence, Injustice, Intemperance. Pag. 361  
Chap. 20. Of Lying, Malice, Murmuring, Oppression. Pag. 366  
Chap. 21. Of Perjury, Polygamy, Pride. Pag. 368  
Chap. 22. Of Railing, Rebellion, Revenge, Scandal, Schism. Pag. 372  
Chap. 23. Of Sedition, Self-love, Self-seeking, Slander. Pag. 377  
Chap. 24. Of Tale-bearing, Vainglory, Violence, Unbelief, Unkindness, Unsetledness, Unthankefulness, Usury. Pag. 381  
Chap. 25. Of Witchcraft. Pag. 387   

BOOK V. Of Man's Recovery by CHRIST.  
Chap. 1. Of Man's Recovery. Pag. 389  
Chap. 2. Of Christ. I. His Person. Pag. 394  
Chap. 3. Of Christ's being Man. Pag. 396  
Chap. 4. Of Christ's Offices. Pag. 404  
Chap. 5. Of Christ's double state of Humiliation and Exaltation. Pag. 424  
Chap. 6. Of Christ's Exaltation. Pag. 438   

BOOK VI Of the Church, the Spouse of Christ, and Antichrist the great enemy of Christ.  
Chap. 1. Of the Church of Christ. Pag. 447  
Chap. 2. Of Pastors. Pag. 454  
Chap. 3. Of Ecclesiastical jurisdiction and Government. Pag. 466   

BOOK VII. Of our Union and Communion with Christ.  
Chap. 1. Of our Union with Christ. Pag. 485  
Chap. 2. Of Effectual Vocation. Pag. 489  
Chap. 3. Of Conversion and freewill. Pag. 491  
Chap. 4. Of Saving Faith. Pag. 499  
Chap. 5. Of the Communion and Fellowship Believers have with Christ, and their Benefits by him, & specially of Adoption. Pag. 510  
Chap. 6. Of justification. Pag. 512  
Chap. 7. Of the parts and terms of justification, Remission of sins, and Imputation of Christ's Righteousness. Pag. 519  
Chap. 8. Of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness. Pag. 522  
Chap. 9 Whether one may be certain of his justification. Pag. 524  
Chap. 10. Whether Faith alone doth justify. Pag. 528  
Chap. 11. Of Sanctification. Pag. 530  
Chap. 12. The parts of Sanctification are two, Mortification and Vivification. 

I. Mortification. Pag. 535    
Chap. 13. II. Of Vivification. Pag. 537  
Chap. 14. The Sanctification of the Whole Soul and Body. Pag. 540  
Chap. 15. Of the Sanctification of the Will. Pag. 542  
Chap. 16. Of the Sanctification of the Conscience. Pag. 544  
Chap. 17. Sanctification of the Memory. Pag. 546  
Chap. 18. Sanctification of the Affections. Pag. ib.  
Chap. 19 Of the particular Affections. Pag. 549  
Chap. 20. I. Of the Simple Affections. Pag. 551  
Chap. 21. II. Of Love and Hatred. Pag. 555  
Chap. 22. II. Desire and Flight. Pag. 558  
Chap. 23. joy and Sorrow. Pag. 561  
Chap. 24. Of Sorrow. Pag. 565  
Chap. 24. Of Hope and Fear. I. Of Hope. Pag. 568  
Chap. 25. II. Of Fear, and some mixed affections. Pag. 571  
Chap. 27. Of the sensitive Appetite. Pag. 579  
Chap. 28. Of the Sanctification of man's body, and all the external Actions. Pag. 580  
Some special Graces deciphered. Pag. 584   

BOOK VIII. Of Ordinances, or Religious Duties.  
Chap. 1. Something general of the Ordinances Pag. 605  
Chap. 2. Of ordinary religious Duties; first, Of Hearing the Word. Pag. 607  
Chap. 3. Of Singing Psalms. Pag. 609  
Chap. 4. Of Prayer. Pag. 611  
Chap. 5. The sorts and kinds of Prayer. Pag. 625  
Chap. 6. Of the Lord's Prayer. Pag. 637  
Chap. 7. Of the Sacraments. Pag. 655  
Chap. 8. Of Baptism. Pag. 662  
Chap. 9 Of the Lord's Supper. Pag. 678  
Chap. 10. Of the Mass. Pag. 700  
Chap. 11. Of extraordinary religious Duties, Fasting, Feasting and Vows. I. Of Fasting. Pag. 735  
Chap. 12. II. Holy Feasting, or religious Thanksgiving. Pag. 739  
Chap. 13. Of a Religious Vow. Pag. 740   

BOOK IX. Of the Moral Law.  
Chap. 1. Some things general of the Commandments. Pag. 749 

And the ten Commandments in so many Chapters following.     

BOOK X. Of Glorification.  
Chap. 1. Of the General Resurrection. Pag. 857  
Chap. 2. Of the Last judgement. Pag. 859  
Chap. 3. Of Hell or Damnation. Pag. 864  
Chap. 4. Of Everlasting Life. Pag. 868    

THE FIRST BOOK. OF THE Scriptures.  

CHAP. I. Of Divinity in General.  
IN the Preface or Introduction to Divinity, six things are to be considered, 1. That there is Divinity. 2. What Divinity is. 3. How it is to be taught. 4. How it may be learned. 5. Its opposites, 6. The Excellency of Divine Knowledge.  
I. That there is Divinity. 
1. That there is Divinity.   
That is, a Revelation of Gods will made to men, is proved by these Arguments.  

1. From the natural light of Conscience, in which 
Rom. 1. 18, 19 20. & 2. 14, 15  (we being unwilling) many footsteps of heavenly Knowledge and the divine Will are imprinted.  
2. From the supernatural light of Grace; for we know that all Divine Truths are fully revealed in Scripture.  
3. From the nature of God himself, who being the chiefest good, and therefore most 
* Omne bonum est sui diffusivum, ergo maximè bonum est maximè sui diffusivum. Ut se habet simile ad fimile, ita se habet magis ad magis, Locus topicus.  Diffusive of himself, must needs communicate the Knowledge of himself to reasonable creatures for their Salvation, Psal. 119. 68  
4. From the end of Creation; for God hath therefore made reasonable creatures, that he might be acknowledged and celebrated by them, both in this life, and that which is to come.  
5. From common Experience; for it was always acknowledged among all Nations, that there was some Revelation of God's will, which as their Divinity, was esteemed holy and venerable, whence arose their Oracles and Sacrifices.   
II. What Divinity is. 
2. What Divinity is.   
The Ambiguity of the Word is to be distinguished.  
Theology or Divinity is twofold, either first, Archetypal, or Divinity in God, 
Theology, if thou look after the etymology of the word, is a speech of God: and he is commonly called a Theologer or Divine who knoweth or professeth the knowledge of Divine things. Peter du Moulin Theology is so named from its end, God, as other arts are called humanity, because man is the end of them.  of God himself, by which God by one individual and immutable act knows himself in himself, and all other things out of himself, by himself. Or second, Ectypal and communicated, expressed in us by Divine Revelation after the Pattern and Idea which is in God, and this is called Theologia de Deo, Divinity concerning God, which is after to be defined. It is a Question with the Schoolmen, Whether Divinity be Theoretical or Practical, Utraque sententia suos habet autores. But it seems (saith Wendeline) rather to be practical, 1. Because the Scripture, which is the fountain of true Divinity, exhorts rather to practise then speculation. 1 Tim. 1. 5. 1 Cor. 8. 3. & 13. 2. jam. 1. 22, 25. Revel. 23. 24. hence john so often exhorts to love in his first Epistle. 2. Because the end of Divinity, to which we are directed by practical precepts, is the glorifying of God, and the eternal salvation of our souls and bodies, or blessed life, which are principally practical. Wendeline means (I conceive) that the blessed life in Heaven is spent practically, which yet seems to be otherwise. Peter du Moulin in his Oration in the praise of Divinity, thus determines the matter: That part of Theology which treateth of God and his Nature, of his Simplicity, Eternity, Infiniteness, is altogether contemplative, for these things fall not within compass of action: that part of it which treateth of our manners, and the well ordering of our lives, is merely practic; for it is wholly referred 
The whole doctrine of Religion is called Theology, that is, a Speech or doctrine concerning God: to signify, that without the true knowledge of God, there can be no true Religion, or right understanding of any thing. Befield on the Creed.  unto action. Theology is more contemplative than practic, seeing contemplation is the scope of action; for by good works we aspire unto the beatifical vision of God.  
Theology amongst the Heathens did anciently signify the Doctrine touching the 
Lactantius de ira Dei. 2. What Divinity is. Tit. 1. 1. 1 Tim. 6. 3. Col. 1. 5. 2 Tim. 2. 18. Theologia est doctrina de Deo ac rebus divinis. Divinity is the knowledge of God.  false worship of their gods; but since it is applied, as the word importeth, to signify the Doctrine revealing the true and perfect way which leadeth unto blessedness. It may briefly be defined, The knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, teaching how we ought to know and obey God, that we may attain life everlasting, and glorify God's name: or thus, Divinity is a Doctrine revealed by God in his Word, which teacheth man how to know and worship God, so that he may live well here and happily hereafter.  
Divinity is the true wisdom of divine things, divinely revealed to us to live well and blessedly, or for our eternal Salvation. Logica est ars benè disserendi, Rhetorica ars benè loquendi, Theologia ars benè vivendi. Logic is an art of disputing well, Rhetoric of speaking well, Divinity of living well, Tit. 2. 11, 12. jam. 1. 26, 27. It is such an art as teacheth a man by the knowledge of Gods will and assistance of his power to live to his glory. The best rules that the Ethics, Politics, Economics have, are fetched out of Divinity. There is no true knowledge of Christ, but that which is practical, since every thing is then truly known, when it is known in the manner it is propounded to be known. But Christ is not propounded to us to be known theoretically but practically.  
It is disputed, whether Theology be Sapience or Science. The genus of it is Sapience 
Theologia est scientia vel sapientia rerum divinarum divinitus revelata ad Dei gloriam & rationalium Creaturarum salutem. Walaeus in loc. Commun.  or Wisdom, which agreeth first with Scripture, 1 Cor. 2. 6, 7. Col. 1. 19 & 2. 3. Prov. 2. 3. Secondly, with Reason; for, 1. Wisdom is conversant about the highest things and most remote from senses, so Divinity is conversant about the sublimest mysteries of all. 2. Wisdom hath a most certain knowledge, founded on most certain principles; there can be no knowledge more certain than that of faith which is proper to Divinity.  
The difference lurketh in the subject; Wisdom or Prudence is either Moral or Religious; all wisdom, whether moral and ethical, political or oeconomical, is excluded in the definition; and this wisdom is restrained to divine things, or all those Offices 
De genere Theologiae est quaestio: quod idem ab omnibus non assiguatur. Nam illis arridet Scientia, aliis Sapientia, aliis Prudentia. Litem hanc dirimere nostri non est instituti: etsi verè scientem, verè sapientem, verè prudentem eum judicamus, qui verus & sincerus est Theologus. Wendelinus' Christ. Theol. lib. 1. cap. 1.  of Piety in which we are obliged by God to our neighbour.  
The third thing in the definition is the manner of knowing, which in Divinity is singular and different from all other arts, viz., by Divine Revelation.  
The fourth and last thing in the definition is the end of Divinity, which is, 1. Chiefest, The glory of God, 2. Next, A good and blessed life, or eternal salvation, begun in this life by the communion of Grace and Holiness, but perfected in the life to come by the fruition of glory. This end hath divers names in Scripture, it is called, The knowledge of God, John 17. 3. Partaking of the Divine Nature, 2 Pet. 1. 4. Likeness to God, 1 John 3. 2. Eternal Salvation, the vision and fruition of God, as the chiefest good.  
The next end of Divinity in respect of man is eternal life or salvation, of which there are two degrees, 1. More imperfect, and begun in this life, which is called Consolation, the chiefest joy and peace of Conscience arising, 1. From a confidence of the pardon of sins, and of freedom from the punishment of it. 2. From the beginning of our Sanctification and Conformity with God, with a hope and taste of future perfection in both. 2. More Perfect and Consummate after this life, arising from a full fruition of God, when the soul and body shall be perfectly united with God.  
III. How Divinity is to be taught. 
3. How Divinity is to be taught.   
In the general it is to be handled Methodically. There is a great necessity of method in Divinity, that being useful both to enlighten the understanding with the clearness of truth, and to confirm the memory, that it may more faithfully retain things; therefore in Divinity there will be a special need of art and orderly disposal of precepts, because the mind is no where more obtuse in conceiving, nor the memory more weak in retaining. There is a different way of handling Divinity, according to the several kinds of it. Divinity is threefold.  

1. Succinct and brief, when Divine Truth is summarily explained and confirmed by Reasons, and this Divinity is called Catechetical, Systematical.  
2. Prolix and large, when Theological matters are handled particularly and fully by Definitions, Divisions, Arguments and Answers; this is called handling of Common-Places, Scholastical and Controversal Divinity.  
3. Textual, which consists in a diligent Meditation of the holy Scriptures, the right 
1. Discenda est Theologia imprimis textualis. 2. Systematica seu dogmatica. 3. Elenctica & problematica. Voetius Bibl. Theol. l. 1. c. 6. 4. How Divinity is to be learned. Job 28. 1, 2. Mat. 7. 7. John 20. 21.  understanding of which is the end of other instructions. This again is twofold, either more Succinct and applied to the understanding of the Learned, as Commentaries of Divinity, or more Diffuse and Popular, applied to the Capacity and Affections of the Vulgar, as Preaching, which is called Pathetical Divinity, and is especially useful to correct the manners of men and stir up their Affections.   
FOUR How Divinity is to be learned.  
There is need of a fourfold mind to the study of it:  

1. Of a godly and heavenly mind, most ardent Prayers in our learning being frequently poured out to God, the fountain of light and wisdom, that dispelling the darkness of ignorance and error he would deign to illuminate our minds with the clear knowledge of himself; we cannot acquire Divine Wisdom (as we do the knowledge of other arts) by our own labour and industry; it is a praise to learn humane a●● of ourselves, here we must be taught of God.  
2. O● a sober mind, that we may not be too curious in searching out the profound Mysteries of Religion, as about the Trinity, Predestination; we must be wise to Sobriety, and not busy ourselves about perplexed and unprofitable Questions, being content to know such things which are revealed to us for our Salvation.  
3. Of a studious and diligent mind; other arts are not wont to be gotten without labour; this being the Queen of arts, requires therefore much pains both for its difficulty and excellency. 
Deut. 29. 29. Rom. 12. 3. & 6. 7. 2 Tim. 2. 23. Mat. 11. 25 Prov. 2. 2. & 8. 4, 5. & 8. 17. 33.   
4. Of an honest and good mind, Luk. 8. 40. We must learn, 1. With a denial of our wit and carnal reason, not measuring the unsearchable wisdom of God by our shallow capacities; 2. With denial of our wicked affections, 1 Pet. 1. 2, 3. 3. With a firm purpose of Obedience, joh. 7. 17. Psal. 50. 23. Prov. 28. 28.   
V. The things contrary to Divinity, are 
5. The opposites of Divinity.   

1. Heathenism, being altogether ignorant of, and refusing the true and saving knowledge of God.  
2. Epicurism, scoffing at Divinity.  
3. Heresy, depraving and corrupting Divinity.   
VI The Excellency of Divine Knowledge, or the study of Divinity appeareth 
6. The excellency of Divinity.  in these particulars:  


1. In the subject Matter of it, which is Divine, either in its own Nature, as God and Christ, 
a Paul calls it The excellency of the knowledge of Christ, Phil. 3. 8 Psal. 40. 8. Christ is the principal subject of the whole Bible, being the end of the Law, and the substance of the Gospel, M. Perkins. Quicquid est in suo genere singular & eximium, id Divinum.  Psal. 70. 7. joh. 5. 46. or in relation to him, as the Scripture, Sacraments. It is called The wisdom of God, Prov. 2. 10. & 3. 13. 1 Cor. 2. 6, 7. and That wisdom which is from above, Jam. 3. 17. If to know the nature of an Herb, or the Sun and Stars, be excellent; how much more to know the Nature of God? Aristotle held it a great matter to know but a little concerning the first mover and Intelligences. Paul desired to know nothing but Christ and him crucified, 1 Cor. 2. 2. 
b Agreeable to which is the French Proverb, Ministre ne doit scavior que sa Bible, a Minister must know nothing but his Bible.  that is, he professed no other knowledge.  
Si Christum discis, satis est si caetera nescis;  
Si Christum nescis, nihil est si cetera discis.  
In this Mystery of Christ God is revealed in the highest and most glorious way, 2 Cor. 4. 6. there is more wisdom, holiness, power, justice discovered in the Mystery of the Gospel, than was known before to men and Angels. Christ is the sum of all divine revealed truths, Luk. 24. 27. Acts 10. 43. Here is the only knowledge which is necessary to make the man of God perfect, Col. 2. 3.  
The Metaphysics handle not things properly divinely revealed, but that which the Philosophers by the light of nature judged to be Divine.   
2. In the End; The principal and main end of Divinity is the glory of God, that is, the Celebration or setting forth of God's infinite Excellency; the secondary end is man's blessedness, john 17. 3.  
3. In the Certainty of it; God's Word is said to be sure, and like Gold seven times refined 
* Psal. 12. 6. , there is no dross of falsehood in it. The Academics thought every thing so uncertain, that they doubted of all things.  
4. In the Cause of it; These truths are such as cannot be known, but by Gods revealing them to us, All Scripture was given by Divine Inspiration: Flesh and 
Mahomet would have had others believe, that he learned the doctrine of his Alcoran from the holy Ghost, because he caused a Pigeon to come to his Ear.  blood hath nor revealed this unto thee; a humane light is enough to know other things.  
5. In the Holiness of it, Psal. 19 5. By them thy servant is forewarned, 1 Tim. 3. 15. The word of God is able to make us wise to Salvation, and to furnish to every good work. Christ makes this a cause of the error and wickedness in man's life, that they do not read and understand the Scriptures.  
6. In the Delight and Sweetness of it: job 23. 12. preferred the Word of God before his food; David before thousands of Gold and Silver, before the honey and the honeycomb, Psal. 19 10. & 119. 103. and when he ceaseth to compare, he beginneth 
Origen saith of the devils, there is no greater torment to them, then to see men addicted to the Scriptures, Num. hom. 27. in hoc eorum omnis flamma est, in hoc ●runtur incendio.  to admire; Wanderfull are thy Testimonies. Archimedes took great delight in the Mathematics. Augustine refused to take delight in Tully's Hortensius, because the name of Jesus Christ was not there, Nomen jesu non erat ibi. He sai●● in his Confessions, Sacrae Scripturae tuae sunt sanctae deliciae meae.  
7. In the Excellency of the Students of it; 1. The Saints of God in the Old Testament, the Patriarches and Prophets, 1 Pet. 1. 10, 11. 2. The Saints of God in the New Testament, Matth. 11. 25. Col. 1. 27. 3. It is the study of the Angels and Saints of God sn heaven, 1 Pet. 1. 12. Ephes. 3. 10. 1. The natural knowledge and enquiry of the Angels could never have discovered to them the Mystery of Christ in the Gospel. 2. They know it by the Church, that is (saith Oecumenius) by the several dispensations of God to his people under the Gospel.  
8. In that the Devil and Heretics oppose it; The Papists would not have the Bible translated, nor Divine Service performed in the vulgar tongue.    

CHAP. II. Of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures.  
TWo things are to be considered in Divinity: 
In Theologia principium duplex, Estendi & Cognoscendi, sive quo quid est aut cognoscitur; illud con, tituit scibile & objectum, hoc gignit scientiam, & perficit subjectum: illud est Deus, hoc Dei ipsius verbum, videlicet ut in Sacra Scriptura expressum & consignatum est. Hoornbeeckii Antisocinianismus l. 1. c 1. controv. 1. Sect. 1.  First, The Rule of it, the Scripture or Word of God. Secondly, The Matter of Parts of it concerning God and man. Principium essendi in Divinity, is God the first Essence; Principium cognoscendi, the Scripture, by which we know God, and all things concerning him. I shall handle both these principles, but begin with the Scripture, as many Systematical Writers do.  

IT is necessary that the true Religion have a rule, whereby it may be squared, else 
Of the Scripture.  there could be no certainty in it, but there would be as many Religions as men. It appears by the light of nature, the Heathen had known rules for their Rites, Ceremonies and Services; the Turks have their Alcoran, the jews their Talmud, the Papists their Decretals, every Art hath its Rule; neither can any thing be a Duty which hath not a Rule.  
There are three general Characters whereby we may know any Word to be the Word of God, and a Religion to be the true Religion: 1. That which doth most set forth the glory of God. 2. That which doth direct us to a rule which is a perfect rule of holiness toward God, and righteousness toward man. 3. That which shows a way suitable to God's glory and men's necessity, to reconcile us to God. The word of God sets forth God's glory in all the perfections, and is a complete rule of holiness to God, and righteousness to men. All the wisdom of the world cannot show what is more suitable to the glory of God and the nature of man, to reconcile God and men, then for him that is God and man to do it.  
God revealed himself divers ways to the Fathers, Heb. 1. 1. The manner of revealing Gods will is threefold, according to our three instruments of conceiving, viz. Understanding, Fantasy and Senses; to the understanding God revealed his Will by engraving it in the heart with his own finger, jer. 31. 33. by Divine inspiration, 2 Pet. 1. 21. 2 Chron. 15. 1. Heb. 8. 11. john 14. 26. and by intellectual Visions, Numb. 11. 5. to the fantasy God revealed his Will by imaginary Visions to Prophets awake, and by dreams to Prophets asleep, Gen. 40. 8. & 41. 8, 9 Acts 16. 10. & 10. 3. Numb. 14. 4. to the Senses God revealed his Will, and that either by Vision to the Eye, or lively Voice to the Ear, Gen. 3. 9 & 4. 6. & 15. 4, 5. Exod. 20. 1, 2. & 3. 1, 2, 3. & 33. 17. And lastly, by writing. This Revelation was, sometimes immediate by God himself after an unspeakable manner, or by means, viz. Angels, Urim and Thummim, Prophets, Christ himself and his Apostles.  

c The Scripture is called, The word of God, Ephes. 6. 1 Pet. 1. 15. The counsel of God, Act. 20. 27 The oracles of God, Rom. 3. 2. The Law of God, Psal. 1. 2. The mind of God, Prov. 1. 23.  The written Word for the Matter contained in it, is called The word 
d It is called Word, because by it Gods will is manifested and made known, even as a man maketh known his mind and will by his words; It is also said to be The word of God, in regard, 1. of the Author, which is God himself, 2 Tim. 3. 16. 2. Of the Matter, which is God's Will, Ephes. 1. 9 3. Of the End which is God's glory, Ephes. 3. 10. 4. Of the Efficacy, which is God's Power, Rom. 1. 6.  of God, Rom. 9 6▪ for the manner of Record, The 
e So it is called the Bible or Book by an excellency, 'tis the only Book, as  Scripture, John 10. 35. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 6. or Scriptures, Matth. 22. 29. John 5. 39 Rom. 15. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 16. By an Antonomasie or an excellency of phrase, 
f August. de civet. Dei lib. 15. c. 23. Ita usus obtinuit ut sacra ista scripta, quibus tanquam tabulis perscripta est ac consignata Dei voluntas, nomine Scripturae per autonomosiam intelligantur, Beza in Joh. 20. 9 The Scriptures exceed all other writings in divers respects; 1. Because all these writings were inspired by the holy Ghost, so were no other writings. 2. They contain a platform of the wisdom that is in God himself. 3. Because they were penned by the greatest, wisest, holiest men, the Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists. 4. They are more perfect, pure and immutable than any man's writings, Mat. 5. 24. 2 Tim. 3. 17. 1 Pet. 1. 23 Mr Bifield on Pet.  as the most worthy writings that ever saw the light; sometimes with an Epithet, The holy Scriptures, Rom. 1. 2. 2 Tim. 3. 15. The Scriptures of the Prophets, Rom. 16. 26.  
Some think that Enoch the seventh from Adam wrote: but jude 14. speaketh only of his prophesying, which might rather be by word of mouth then writing, because our Saviour citing Scripture, ever gives the first place to Moses; and undertaking by the Scriptures to prove himself to be the Messiah, that he ought to suffe●, began at Moses, Luke 24. 27. No doubt if there had been any more ancient than Moses, our Saviour would have alleged it, because all the Scripture that was before him, was to give testimony of him.  
The Author of the Scriptures was God 
* The principal Author of all Scriptures is God the Father in his Son by the holy Ghost, Host 8. 12. 2 Pet. 1.  himself, they came from him in a special and peculiar manner, commonly called inspiration, which is an act of God's Spirit immediately imprinting or infusing those notions into their brains, and those phrases and words by which the notions were uttered, 2 Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is given by Divine inspiration, or by inspiration of God. Prophecy came not of old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved, or carried, by the Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. 1. 21. They did not write these things of their own heads, but the Spirit of God did move and work them to it, and in it, 2 Sam. 23. 2. The spirit of the Lord spoke by me, that is, did immediately guide me, and tell me what matter to utter, and in what words. Stephen saith, they resisted the Holy Ghost when they did disobey the Scriptures. 
* Acts 7. 50. 1 C●●. 11. 23.  The Holy Ghost by the mouth of David, and the mouth of Isaiah spoke, 
The Father hath revealed, the Son confirmed, and the holy Ghost sealed them up in the hearts of the faithful.  Acts 1. 16. & 4. 25. & 28. 25.  
The Inscriptions of many Prophetical Books and Epistles Apostolical run thus, 
Exod. 4. 12. Deut. 18. 1●. 2 Cor. 13. 3. John 1. 56. Heb. 1. 1. Ez●. 12. 25, 28. Rom. 1. 2. Isa. 58. 14. Evangelium dicitur sermo Christi 3. Col. 16. Utroque respectu, & Authoris & materiae, Davenantius  The word of the Lord which come to Hosea, Amos, joel: Paul, Peter, james a servant of God, and an Apostle of Christ. The Proem that is set before divers Prophecies is this, Thus saith the Lord; and the Prophets inculcate that speech, The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it; because they would take off the thoughts of the people from their own persons, and lift them up to consideration of God the chief Author.  
It is all one to say, The Scripture saith, Rom. 4. 3. & 10. 11. & 11. 2. Gal. 4. 30. 1 Tim. 5. 10. and God saith, 
* Rainoldus in Apologia Thesium de Sacra Script. & Eccles.  Rom. 9 25. Heb. 4. 3. & 8. 5. & 13. 5. and the word Scripture is put for God speaking in the Scripture, The Scripture saith to Phara●h, Rom. 9 7. and The Scripture hath shut up all men under sin, Galat. 3. 22. for which in another place God hath shut up, Rom. 11. 32.  
All other disciplines were from God, and every truth (whosoever speaks it) is from the Holy Ghost; but the Scripture in a singular manner is attributed to the Holy Ghost; he immediately dictated it to the Holy men of God.  
The efficient principal cause then of the Scripture was God; the ten Commandments (of which most of the rest is an exposition) were written after a secret and unutterable manner by God himself, therefore they are called the writings of God, 
* Tria concurrunt ut hoc dogma recipiam, Scripturam esse verbum Dei. Esse quosdam libros Canonicos, & Divinos, atque hos ipsissimos esse quos in manibus habemus. Primum est Ecclesiae traditio, quaeid affirmat, & ipsos libros mihi in manum tradit; secundum est ipsorum librorum divina materia, tertium est interna Spiritus efficacia. Episc. Daven. de judic. controvers. cap 6.  Exod. 32. 16. Secondly, all the rest which was written (though men were the instruments) was done by his appointment and assistance, Exod. 17. 14. ●sai. 8. 1. jer. 30▪ 2. The Scripture is often attributed to the Holy Ghost as the Author, and no mention is made of the Penmen, Heb. 10. 15. The Prophets and Apostles were the Penmen of the Scripture, whose Calling, Sending, and Inspiration was certainly Divine; for whatsoever they taught the Church of God, or left in writing, they learned not before in the Schools, 1 Cor. 2. 13.  
The Divine Authority of the Word may be defined, a certain dignity and excellency 
What the Divine Authority of the Scripture is.  of the Scripture above all other sayings or writings whatsoever; whereby it is perfectly 
* Formale ob 〈…〉 generaliter & absolutè consideratum est divin● revelatio in tota sua amplitudine accepta, seu divina authoritas cujuslibet doctrinae à Deo revelatae, sive ea scripta sit, sive non scripta. At formale objectum fidei illius qua creduntur ea quae in Scriptura credenda proponuntur, est ipsius Scripturae divina & canonica authoritas, Baronius adversus Turneballum.  true in word and sense; it deserves credit in all sayings, narrations of things past, present and to come, threatenings and promises, and as superior doth bind to obedience, if it either forbid or command any thing, 1 Tim. 1. 15. 2 Pet. 1. 19 john 5. 39 Heb. 6. 18. Rom. 1. 5. 2 Cor. 10. 5, 6. & 13. 3. & 12. 12. Gal. 1. 1, 12, 13. though the things in man's judgement seem unlike or incredible, or the Commandments hard and foolish to the carnal mind.  
Heretics have laboured to prove their corrupt and damnable opinions out of the Scripture, and have received some books, if not all as Divine. The Turks at this day so esteem the five books of Moses, as they will kiss such patches of Paper as they find having any part thereof written in the same. Aristaeus an Heathen, when he had determined to have disputed against Scripture, confesseth that he was forbidden by God in a dream. Plato is termed Moses Atticus, Moses speaking Greek.  
The holy Scripture in itself is Divine and Authentical, though no man in the world should so acknowledge it, as the Sun in itself were light, though all the men in the world were blind, and could not or would not see it; but in respect of us it is Divine and Authentical, when it is acknowledged and esteemed so to be. 
The description of the Scripture. Rom. 1. 28. 2 Pet. 3. 15, 16. 2 Pet. 1. 20, 21.   
The Scripture is the word of God, written by holy men as they were inspired 
* 2 Tim. 3. 16. Rom. 15. 5.  by the holy Ghost, divinely containing all Divine Truth necessary to salvation, for the edification and instruction of God's Church thereunto, and for the glory of God.  
The holy Scriptures are that Divine Instrument and means, by which we are taught to believe what we ought touching God, and ourselves, and all creatures, and how to please God in all things unto eternal life, Robins. Essays 8th Observ. Divines have given almost forty several Arguments to prove the Scriptures to be the word of God.  
That the Scriptures were from God, may appear by several Reasons: 
Scriptura est verbum Dei ejusdem voluntate à Prophetis, Evangelistis & Apostolis in literas redactum, doctrinam de essentia & voluntate Dei perfectè ac perspicuè exponens, ut ex eo homines crudiantur ad vitam aeternam. Gerh. de Script. Sac. ●o●. 1.   

1. intrinsical, taken out of the Scriptures themselves.  
2. extrinsical acts of God and works of providence about them.   
1. Intrinsecal. 1. From the excellency of their matter, which is heavenly, the divine and supernatural matter contained in it. It telleth us of such things as do far exceed the reach of man's reason, and which it was impossible for any man to counterfeit and feign, and which being told are so correspondent to reason, that no man can see just cause to call them into question; as the Doctrine of Creation of all things in six days; the Doctrine of the fall of our first Parents; the Story of the Delivering Israel out of Egypt, of the Delivering of the Law and ten Commandments; the Doctrine of the incarnation of Christ Jesus, of the Resurrection of the dead, of the last Judgement, of the life to come, and of the Immortality of the soul; for though this last was taught also by Philosophers, yet it is so doubtfully and unperfectly handled by them in comparison of the delivering thereof in 
Scriptura est expressio quaedam sapientiae Dei afflata è Sancto Spiritu piis hominibus, deinde monumentis literisque consignata. Pet. Martyr. loc. common. l. 6. Scriptura est instrumentum divinum quo Doctrina salutaris à Deo per Prophetas & Evangelistas tanquam Dei actuarios in libris Canonicis veteris & novi Testamenti est tradita. Synop pur. Theol. Scriptura est instrumentum sacrum, quo doctrina divina ac salutaris à Deo per Prophetas, Apostolos & Evangelistas sideliter, perspicuè a● plenè in libris canonicis veteris a● novi Testamenti est tradita. Walaeus lo●. common. Vide Traict● de L'escriture Saint par Mestrezat. ●. 9 What power of humane understanding could have found out the incarnation of a God, that two Natures, a finite and an infinite, could have been concentred into one Person, that a Virgin should be a mother, that dead men should live again? D● Tailor on Rom. 8. 9 10. The Person and Offices of jesus Christ the Mediator are both altogether wonderful, Isa. 9 6. 1 Tim. 2 5. & 3. 16. God and man united in one Person, to unite God and man in one Covenant. The purity and integrity of the Law show the Divinity of it, Mat. 22. 37. & 5●▪ 7. ch. per tot. and the sublimity of evangelical mysteries, Eph. 3. 8, 9, 18, 19 1 Cor. 2. 7, 9 Rom. 11. 33.  Scripture, that it is apparent, it was another Spirit which guided the teachers of it here, than they were guided withal. What Angel could ever have found out such an admirable temper and mixture of Mercy and Justice together, as the Gospel revealeth in the reconciliation of God with man? God hath declared himself to be most just, yet most merciful, Rom. 3. 24, 25, 26 Justice requires that there should be no freeing of a guilty person without satisfaction; sin deserved an infinite punishment, that satisfaction could not be made by man himself, mercy therefore provides a Saviour, which God bestows on him, vers. 25. God in giving and establishing his Law, useth no other Preface, but I am the Lord, Exod. 20. nor Conclusion, but I the Lord have spoken it; upon his absolute authority without other reasons to 
The holiness and purity of the Law of Moses, in that it accuseth and condemneth all men of sin, and prescribeth perfect righteousness. Herein it surpasseth the laws of all Countries, Commonwealths, Kingdoms what soever. Mr Perkins, How to live well.  persuade, commanding what is to be done, though it be contrary to our natures; forbidding what is to be left undone, though pleasing to us; he promiseth things incomprehensible, requiring Faith; he relateth and teacheth things strange, above likelihood, above man's capacity; and yet will have them to be believed, to be understood. There is nothing in the Law against reason or common equity. A Jesuit reports in his History, that when his fellows came first to preach in the East-Indies, the Gentiles and Indies there hearing the ten Commandments, did much commend the equity of them. See Sr Walter Raleigh's History.  
2. It teacheth the Nature and Excellency of God, and the Works of God, more clearly and distinctly than any other writings, nay, than any without God could have contrived, viz. That there are three Persons and one God; that God is Infinite, Omniscient, Omnipotent, most Holy; that he created all things, that he doth by a particular Providence rule all things; that he observes all men's actions, and will call them to account, and give every man according to his works; that he alone is to be worshipped, and that he must be obeyed in his Word above all creatures.  
3. It requireth the most exact and perfect goodness that can be, such as no man could ever have conceited in his brain, and yet such as being taught and revealed, 
Triplex ratio est, qua nobis innotescat sacrorum librorum authoritas.  the conformity of it to right reason will enforce any well-considering man to acknowledge it to be most true and needful; for example, that a man must love God above all, and his neighbour as himself; that he must keep his thoughts free from all the least taint of sin, that he must lay up his treasures in Heaven, not care for this life, and the things thereof, but all his study and labour must 
Prima Ecclesiae testimonium, eos libros approbantis, recipientis & commendantis. Secunda interna Spiritus Sancti persuasio, eam ipsam authoritatem cordibus nostris ins●ulp●ntis, cert●que persuadentis. Terti● ipsorum librorum, ut ita dicam, genius! Summum gradum obtinet testimonium Spiritus, in●imum verò testimonium Ecclesiae. Chamierus de Canone. l. 1. c. 1.  be to provide well for himself against the future life; that he must not at all trust in himself, nor in any man, but only in God; and that he must do all he doth in God's strength; that he can deserve nothing at God's hand, but must look for all of free favour through the merits and intercession of another.  
4. The end of the Scripture is Divine, viz. The glory of God, shining in every 
John 7. 18▪ and 5. 41. and 8. 50, 54. All other writings teach a man to place felicity at best in himself and in his own virtue. These lift up to God, and bid him place his felicity in him. Philosophers set their own names to the Books which they wrote against vainglory, and therein sought it themselves. There are Lumina orationis in the Sermons of the Prophets which surpass the eloquence of all the Heathen.  syllable thereof; and the salvation of man, not temporal, but eternal. These writings lead a man wholly out of himself, and out of the whole world, and from and above all the creatures to the Creator alone, to give him the glory of all victories: therefore they are from him, and not from any creature; for he that is the Author of any writing will surely have most respect of himself in that writing. The Scriptures manifest God's glory alone, jer. 9 23, 24. 1 Cor. 1. 31. ascribe infiniteness of being, and all perfections to him, Nehem. 9 6. The Doctrines, Precepts, Prohibitions, and Narrations tend to the setting forth of his glory, and bring solid and eternal comfort and salvation to their souls which follow their direction. They make us wise unto salvation, 2 Tim. 3. 15, 23. Show the path of life, Psal. 16. 11. Guide our feet into the way of peace, Luk. 1. 79. Christ, john 7. 18. proves that he came from God, because he sought not his own glory, but the glory of him that sent him.  
5. Another reason is taken from the difference of these writings from all other whatsoever, in regard of their phrase and manner of writing. There is a certain authoritative or Godlike speaking unto the creature from place to place. See the first Chapter of Isaiah, and 53. and the eighth Chapter to the Romans. The Prophets and Apostles propound divine truths nakedly and without affectation, 1 Cor. 2. 1. Habent sacrae Scripturae, sed non ostendunt eloquentiam. August. They express the things they handle with a comely gravity, the form of speech is fitted both to the dignity of the speaker, the nature of the thing revealed, and man's capacity, for whose sake it was written. All other Writings use persuasive and flourishing speeches, these command, and condemn all other Gods, all other Religions, all other Writings, and command these only to be had in request and esteem, and acknowledged as the will of God, without adding or diminishing, requiring every conscience to be subject to them, and to prepare himself to obedience, without any further objecting or gainsaying, and to seek no further then to them for 
a Augustine was so delighted with the Oratory of Ambrose, that he contemned the Scripture as neither learned nor eloquent enough, yet afterwards whe● he saw his own shallowness, he admired the profundity of God's holy oracles, and held the stile of them very venerable.  direction. Both the Simplicity and Majesty of stile show it to be from God; the wonderful plainness and yet glorious Majesty; the Simplicity because it is plain, in no wise deceitful; and because it describes great matters in words familiar and obvious to the capacity of the Reader: the Majesty, since it teacheth so perspicuously the chiefest mysteries of Faith and divine Revelation which are above humane capacity. Whether we read David, Isaiah, or others whose 
b Licet tam verba quam res ●manu●n●ibus suis Spiritus Sanctus dict●vit, attemperavit tamen & se cujusque amanuensis s●ylo & ●ujusque saeculi dialecto, unde alius est jesaiae, alus Amosi stylus, Alia Mosis, alia Jobi, alia Davidis, alia Ezraei, Haggaei, Danielis, etc. Dialectus. Amama Antibarb. Bibl. l. 3.  stile is more sweet, pleasant and rhetorical; or Amos, Zachary and jeremiah, whose stile is more rude, every where the Majesty of the Spirit is apparent. There is an Authority and Majesty in them above all other Writings of other Authors; the Scriptures command all both King and People, jer. 13. 18. 1 Sam. 12. ult. and bind the heart to its good abearing. jerom could say, As oft as I read Paul, it seems to me that they are not words but thunders, which I hear. junius reading the first Chapter of john was stricken with amazement by a kind of Divine and stupendious Authority, and so he was converted from Atheism, as himself saith in his life, Divinitatem argumenti 
Totus sermo ● medio sumptus est, vulgatus & usitatus, & quamvis altiori & grandisono genere uti poterat Christus, tamen humili contentus est. Lege Geneseos librum, quam sunt omnia submiss●● Equidem arbitror nullam linguam, adeò inaffectatam esse, adeò ●implicem & familiarem. Hin● Dialogismis, narratiun●●lis, similitudinibus plena sunt omnia Biblia. Hum●redus de Interpretatione linguarum, l. 2. p. 268, 269.  & authoritatem sentio. johannes Isaac 
c Hoc ego ingenuè prositeor, caput illud 53. Isa. ad ●idem Christianam me adduxisse. Johan. Isaac contra Lindan. Augustine heard a supernatural voice, saying, Tolle league, tolle lege. He fi●st fell upon that place, Rom. 13. 12, 13. Confess. 8. c. 12.  a Jew was converted by reading the 53. of Isaiah. Our Saviour spak●, As one having Authority, not as the Scribes; So this book speaks not as men; it simply affirms all things without proof; other Author's use many Arguments to confirm the truth of what they say. Therefore Raimundus de 
d Scriptura simpliciter absque probatione omnia dicit & affirmat; in aliis libris probantur omnia quae ibi dicuntur per rationes & argumentationes. Biblia affirmant Deum creasse coelum & terr●m: affirmat mundum habuisse principium, & nihil probat; hoc significat illum qui loquitur in Bibl●is & dicit ista verba, esse tantae Authoritatis, quod ei debet credi simplici verbo fine aliquo probatione. Raimund. de Sabund. in Theol. naturali.  Sabunda hence proves, That he who speaketh in the Bible is of that Authority, that his bare word ought to be believed without any proof; whereas Galen Atheistically urged it the other 
e Moses multum dicit, sed nihil probat.  way. The Socinians reject all things in Religion which they cannot comprehend by reason, Nihil credendum quod ratione capi nequeat. They hold, That a man is not bound to believe any Article of Faith, nor any Interpretation of Scripture, except it agree with his reason; what is above reason cannot be comprehended by it. Bernard in 192 of his Epistles, speaks of one Petrus Abailardus which vented the Socinian Doctrine in his time, Christianae fidei meritum vacuare nititur, dum totum, quod totum Deus est, humana ratione arbitratur posse comprehendere. Cum de Trinitate (saith he) loquitur, sapit Arium, cum de ●ratia Pelagium, cum de persona Christi Nestorium; He was a man of a fair carriage, professing holiness, conversatio●es, doctrina venenum. But Abailar does denies this in his Works lately published. Tertullian called the Philosophers (who followed reason) Patriarc●as haer●ti●orum, pessimum est illud principium recta ratio, non potest statuere de ●ul●u divino. There are these uses of reason, 1. To prepare us that we should hearken to the Word. 2. After we have believed it will help us to judge of things. 3. To prevent fanatic opinions, Mysteries of Religion are not repugnant to reason. 4. That we may draw necessary consequences from truths revealed. 
* Vide Voe●. Thes. de Ratione Humana in Rebus Fidei, & pr●cipuè Vedel. Rationale Theol. lib. 2. cap. 6. & lib. 3. cap 17. & per totum.  The Philosophers called the Christians by way of scorn Credentes. julian derided the Christian belief, because it had no other proof, then Thus saith the Lord. There is an obedience of faith, Rom. 1. 5.  
6. Another Argument is taken from the experience of the truth of the Predictions 
Est Divinatio, ergo sunt Del. T●lly.  and Prophecies thereof. For seeing it is generally confessed, that only the Divine Essence can certainly foresee things contingent which are to come many ages after, 
The foretelling of future things is an evident sign of a Divinity, and for that cause this kind of prediction is called Divination; as if to tell what events are to happen, were a proper sign of a Divinity or Deity; See Sr Walter Raleigh's Ghost, l. 1. c. 12 If there be a God, he ought to be worshipped, & he cannot be worshipped, unless he manifest himself unto us, as he hath done in the Scripture. Vide Kimedoncium de Scripto Dei verb. l. 2. c. 16. The Lord is therefore careful to set a Star or Sclah to the fulfilling of predictions▪ thirty times in the New Testament it is said, Then was fulfilled, that which was foretell by such a Prophet, Idoneum testimonium Divinitatis, veritas Divinationis. Tertullianus Apolog. c. 10.  and which depend upon no necessary cause in nature; therefore in what writings we meet with such things foretell, and do find them fully and plainly accomplished, these writings we must confess to have their birth from Heaven and from God. Now in the Scripture we have divers such predictions. The two principal and clearest which are most obvious and evident, are, 1. The Conversion of the Gentiles to the God of Israel by means of Christ. For that was foretell exceeding often and plainly, In him shall the Gentiles trust, and he shall be a light to the Gentiles. jacob lying on his deathbed said, The obedience of the Gentiles shall be to him; And David, All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God; and Isaiah, In him shall the Gentiles trust; and Malachy, My name shall be great to the ends of the earth. See Isa. 49. 6. & 60. 3, 5. Scarce one of the Prophets but have spoken of the conversion of the Gentiles. Now we see the Gentiles turned from their Idols a great number of them, and embracing the God of the Jews, and the Scriptures of the Jews by means of Christ, whom they see and acknowledge to be the Messias foretell to the Jews. Again, it was foretell that Christ should be a stone of offence to the Jews, that they should reject him, and so be rejected by God from being a people; Do we not see that to be performed? The accomplishment of these two main Prophecies so long before delivered to the world by the Penmen of holy Writ, shows manifestly, that they were moved by the holy Ghost.  
That Promise Gen. 3. 15. was made 3948 years before it was fulfilled, 
f Cyrus was prophesied of an hundred years before he was born. Isa. 44. 28. josias three hundred before his birth. 1 King. 13. 2.  as Scaliger computes it. It was foretell of Christ, that they should cast lots about his Garments, and that his bones should not be broken. Look upon this in the inferior causes, the soldiers that broke the other men's bones, and it seems to be a very hap and chance; yet there was a special ordering of this in God's providence.  
The predictions of Satan were doubtful and 
g The Oracles of the Gentiles needed Delio natatore, the swimmer Apollo to expound them. Verba oraculorum fermè ambigua, & quae fac●lè interpretationem ex qualicunque eventu acciperent. Cicero de Divinatione. 2. Utrum eorum accidisse●, inquit, verum oraculum fuisset. Grotius do veritate Religionis Christianae. lib. 4.  ambiguous, but these 
* The predictions of the Prophets differ much from the devilish Prophecies of the Heathen.  are distinct and plain; Satan's predictions are of things which might be gathered by conjecture, for the most part false, though Satan cover his lying by likelihoods; but these are above the reach of Angels, most true and certain; Satan's end was confirmation in sin and Idolatry.  
7. The Commandments are, 1. Most righteous and equal; 2. Impartial, they 
Deu. 17. 15, 16 Psalm 2.  bind all men, and all in men, the affections, thoughts and consciences, and that 
The Promises and threatenings exceed the limits of any mortal power, to bestow or inflict everlasting life and death, and to assure the accomplishment, this is the only reason, The Lord hath spoken, or, The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do it.  perpetually. The severest Lawgivers never made Laws for the thoughts, because they had no means to discover and control them. Cogitationis poenam nemo patitur; We say commonly, Thoughts are free, therefore it is the Word of God which searcheth the heart, Exod. 20. 17. True love to ourselves is required, and we are to love our neighbour as ourselves. The Laws of men do not bind the conscience, at least, primarily and immediately, Conscientia immediatè Deo tantùm subjicitur. He only can command the conscience, that knows it and can judge it.  
Secondly, The threatenings are general, 1. In respect of Persons. 2. In respect of things, Deut: 28. 59, 60. 3. The Promises are comprehensive blessings of all kinds, Lov. 26. and strange, Exod. 34. 24. of eternal life, Mark 10. 29, 30. 1 Pet. 1. 4.  
8. Another reason may be taken from the Antiquity 
h Primum quodque verissimum. Tertul. The Jewish Nation was the most ancient of all, therefore the Scripture which was delivered to them▪ Cameron de verbo Dei.  of the Scripture; many wonder at the Pyramids of Egypt, being the most ancient structure in the world. The Bible contains a continued History from age to age, for the space of four thousand years before Christ, even from the beginning. No Writer of any humane Story can be proved to be more ancient than Ezra and Nehemiah, who wrote about the year of the world 3500. Amongst the Grecians (some say) Homer is the most ancient Author that is extant, who lived long after Troy was taken, for that was the subject of his Poem. Now those times were not near so ancient as those in which the Scripture was written. Homer was after Moses 
i Between Orpheus his writings, which was the Heathens ancientest Poet, and Moses, are at least five hundred years. B. Andrews. Moses antiquissimus & fidelissimus Historicus. Erpenius. Vide Vossium de Philologia. l. 10. & Simson Parascev. ad Chron. Cathol. c. 1.  six hundred and odd years, saith Peter du Moulin. That which the Egyptians brag of their Antiquity is fabulous; by their account they were six thousand years before the Creation, unless they account a month for a year, and then it maketh nothing against this Argument.  
History is an useful and delightful kind of Instruction▪ Among Histories none are comparable to the Histories of sacred Scripture: and that in their Antiquity, Rarity, Variety, Brevity, Perspicuity, Harmony and Verity. Dr Gouge on Exodus 13. 13. That Song of Moses, Exod. 15. was the first Song that ever was in the world. 
k Mr Burroughs on Hosea. Hoc primum est omnium canticorum quae fuisse unquam facta, vel cantata, sive in sacris, sive in exoticis literarum monumentis proditum sit. Sims. Chron. Cathol. par. 10.  Orpheus, Musaeus and Linus, the most ancient of the Poets were five hundred years after this time.  
9 The Power and Efficacy of the Scripture upon the 
l See the powerful working of it in Pharaoh, Foelix, those in Acts 2. 37. & 41. See Rom. 1. 16. 1 Cor. 2. 3. & 14. 25. Isa. 11. 6, 7, 8, 9  souls of men, showeth it 
Heb. 4. 12. Ps. 19 7.  to be of God; and the wonderful alteration that it makes in a man for God; when he doth entertain and believe it in his heart, it makes him more than a man in power to oppose, resist and fight against his own corruptions; it brings him into a wonderful familiarity and acquaintance with God. It puts such a life and strength into him, that for God's sake and his truth he can suffer all the hardest things in the world without almost complaining, yea with wonderful rejoicing, Psal. 119. 92. The holy Ghost by means of this word works powerfully, 
m Non movent, sacrae literae, sed non persuadent cogunt, agitant, vim inferunt. Legis rudia verba & agrestia, sed viva, sed animata, flamm●a, acul●ata, ad imum spiritum penetrantia, hominem totum potestate Mirabili transformantia. Picus Mirandula ad Hermolaum Barbarum.  in changing and reforming a man, 1. It overmasters the soul. 2. It separates the heart from lusts, and the world. 3. Altars and changeth the customs of men. 4. It keeps the heart up against all the power of the devil.  
It quickeneth the dull Psal. 119. 93, 107. comforteth the feeble, Rom. 15. 4. giveth light to the simple, Psal. 19 7. convinceth the obstinate, 1 Cor. 12. 3. & 14. 24. reproveth errors, rebuketh vices, 2 Tim. 3. 16. is a discerner of the thoughts, 1 Cor. 14. 24, 25. and aweth the conscience, jam. 4. 12.  
10. The Candour and Sincerity of the Penmen or amanuensis 
n They did, as it were, Transcribere animas, publish their own faults. Dr Preston. They dispraise all mankind, abase man and make him the vilest of all creatures except the devils. 1 Tim. 1. 13. Revel. 22. 8. , respecting God's glory only, and not their own; and in setting down not only the sins of others, but their own slips and infirmities, doth testify that they were guided by the holy Ghost. Moses shows his disobedience, Numb. 11. 11. jonah his murmuring, jonah 1. 4. jeremiah his fretting, jer. 20. 14. David shames himself in his Preface to the 51 Psalm. St Mark wrote the Gospel out of Peter's mouth, and yet the denial of Peter is more expressly laid down by the Evangelist Saint Mark then any other; and Paul sets down with his own Pen his own faults in a sharper manner than any other. Matthew 
o Matth. 9 9 The Writers of the Scriptures wrote them when the world bore greatest hatred against them, and yet never any durst write a Book against Moses in his time, or against the Gospel in these days.  the Evangelist tells us of Matthew the Publican. The Penmen of the holy Scripture were holy men, called, sent, inspired by the Spirit, which had denied the world with the lusts and affections thereof, and were wholly consumed with zeal for the glory of God, and salvation of men, 2 Pet. 3. 15. 2 Tim. 3. 16. Matth. 16. 17. Gal. 2. 11, 12. Ephes. 2. 3, 5. They learned not of men what they wrote; Moses, David, Amos, were Herdsmen; jeremiah was almost a child; Peter, james and john, were in their ships; other Apostles were unlearned before their Calling, Acts 4. 13. Moses learned of the Egyptians, and Daniel of the Chaldeans 
Acts 4. 13. Dan. 1. Exod. 5. 2. Levit. 18. 3. Ezek. 8.  humane Arts and Sciences, but they could not learn of them the knowledge of the true God, they themselves being ignorant and gross Idolaters. Neither could they err in that which they delivered, for by them the Spirit of Christ, and Christ himself did speak, 1 Pet. 1. 11. 2 Pet. 1. 21. Acts 28. 25. 2 Cor. 13. 3. In their own judgement the most holy did err, as 1 Sam. 16. 1. and Nathan, 2 Sam. 6. which error is truly related in the Scripture, but when they spoke according to the guidance of the Spirit, which did ever assist them in the penning of the Scripture, they could 
p sol Canonicis d●b●tur fides Caeteris omnibus judicium. Lutherus.  not err. I have learned (saith Augustine to jerom) to give this honour only to the Canonical Books, firmly to believe that no author of th●m erred in writing; from all others he expected proof from Scripture or Reason.  
11. The wonderful Consent, singular Harmony and Agreement 
q Incredibilis quaedam & planè divina conspiratio, atque concordia tot virorum, qui diversis locis, temporibus, linguis, occasionibus sacra volu mina conscripserunt, ut non tam ipsi Scriptores diversi, quam wius Scriptoris diversi calami fuisse videantur. Bellar. Tom. 10. d● verbo Dei l. 1 c. 2.  of the Scriptures, shows that they came not from men, but from God, Luk. 1. 70. Acts 3. 18. john 5. 46. each part sweetly agreeth with itself, and with another, and with the whole, Acts 26. 22. & 11. 17. Luke 24. 27, 44. john 5. 46. Matth. 4. 4. what was foretold in the Old is fulfilled in the New Testament. If there seem any contrariety either in numbering of years, circumstance of time and place, or point of Doctrine, The fault is in our apprehension and ignorance, not in the thing itself, and by a right interpretation may easily be cleared. See D. Willet on Gen. 24. 38.  
Doctor Vane in his lost Sheep returned home, Chap. 2. saith, Seeing no man is infallibly sure that all the answers used to reconcile the seeming contradictions of Scripture, are true; no man can be assured by the evidence of the thing, that there is that perfect Harmony in the Scriptures, nor consequently that they are thereby known to be the word of God. Moreover if we were infallibly assured, that there were this perfect Harmony in the Scriptures, yet this to me seemed not a sufficient proof that they are the Word, because there is no reason forbids me to believe, that it may not be also found in the writings of some men; yea I make no question, but it is to be found, and that with less seeming contradiction than is in the Scripture; 
Amicae sunt Scripturarum lights.  yet no man accounts that this proves their writings to be the Word of God. After he saith, We believe it to be harmonious, because it is the Word of God, not to be 
The Socinians hold Dari in Scriptura res leviores, minoris & nullius momenti, in quibus Scriptores sacri facilè errare potuerint, & dissidere inter se atque pugnare; whom Hoornbeck. in his Antisocinianismus confutes. l. 1. c. 1. controv. 1. Sect. 1. & 2. etc. This is one of the three hundred sixty seven places, or as others ●eckon three hundred and seventy which are cited out of the Old Testament, in the New, Dr Prideaux on Acts 23. 5. See Bifield on 1 Pet. 1. 16  the Word of God, because it is harmonious, which we do not infallibly see. How well this agrees with what I have in the margin quoted out of Bellarmine, (who urgeth that as an argument to prove the Scripture to be from God) let the intelligent Reader judge. Vid. Aberic. Gent. Ad. 1. Mac. Disput. c. 10.  
These considerations strengthen this Argument:  

1. The length of time in which this Writing continued, from Moses until john, to whom was showed the last authentical Revelation, which prevents all conceits of forgery, since they were not written in one, nor yet in many ages.  
2. The multitude of Books that were written, and of Writers that were employed in the service.  
3. The Difference of place in 
r Ezechiel prophetans in babylon concordat cum jeremia prophetante in judaea. See Dr Hals Passion Sermon.  which they were written, which hinders the Writers conferring together.   
Two other Arguments may evince this Truth, that the Scriptures were from 
2. Arguments extrinsical; acts of God, and works of his providence about the Scriptures. Num. 11. 9 & 20. 10. Mark 16. 20.  God.  
1. Miracles, both of  
1. Confirmation, which the Lord showed by Moses, Exod. 19 16. & 24. 18. & 34. 29. the Prophets, 1 King. 17. 24. Christ himself and the Apostles for the confirmation of their Doctrine, such as the devil was not able to resemble in show. The raising of the dead, the standing still and going back of the Sun, the dividing of the red Sea and the Rivers, the raining of manna in so great a quantity daily, as to suffice all the multitude in the wilderness; the making of the barren fruitful. My 
Joh. 3. 2. & 2. 23. & 10. 37. Acts 5. 12. Joh. 5. 36.  works testify of me (saith Christ) and Believe the works which I do, if you will not believe me, See joh. 15. 24. 
In caecitate & surditate natis, Christus videndi & audiendiusum, non quem amiserant reddidit, sed largitus est omnivo novum. Deambulavit super ●umentes undas, ut nos super solidam terram: imperavit ventis, mari, tempestati, & parucrunt dicto. Expulit daemones ex humanis corporibus, abstulit l●pram, roboravit membra, & compages humani corporis dissolutas, sanavit omne genus morborum, reddidit lucem & vitam mortuis. Lod. Viu. de veritate Fidei Christ. lib. 2. cap. 12.   
2. Preservation of the Books of the Scripture from the fury of many wicked 
Many of the Bibles were taken from Christians, and burnt in those cruel persecutions ●nder Dioclesian and Maximinianus his Colleague. Deut. 31. 24. Jer. 36. 23, 27, 28. & ult.  Tyrants which sought to suppress and extinguish them, but could not. As God caused it to be written for the good of his people, so by Divine Providence he hath preserved the same whole and entire. Here we have three Arguments in one, 1. The hatred 
t Veritas odiunt parit.  of the Devil and his wicked Instruments against the Scripture more than any other Book. Antiochus burned it, and made a Law, That whosoever had this Book should die the death, 1 Macchab. 1. 56. Yet secondly, It was preserved maugre his fury, and the rage of Dioclesian, julian and other evil Tyrants. Thirdly, The miserable end of julian, Antiochus Epiphanes, Herod, Nero, Domitian and Dioclesian, and other Persecutors of this Doctrine. The Books of Solomon, which he wrote of natural Philosophy and other knowledge, the profitablest books that ever were, the Canon excepted, are perished 
u Cartwright in his Preface to the Confutation of the Rhem. Annotations on the New Testament. , but those alone which pertain to godliness have been safely kept to Posterity; which is the rather to be observed, since many more in the world affect the knowledge of natural things than godliness: 
Tertullian said, That Gospel must needs be good which Nero persecuted.  and yet though careful of keeping them, they have not been able to preserve them from perpetual forgetfulness; whereas on the other side, these holy Writings, hated of the most part, and carelessly regarded 
x Many delivered the Bible to the Emperor to be burned, whence the name of Proditores & Traditores Bibliorum. Sanguis Martyrum semen Ecclesiae. Foecundi sunt Martyrum cineres. Vide Lod. Viu. de verit. 1. Fid. lib. 2. cap. 19 de verb. 1. People by seeing the sufferings of the Martyrs came more to look into and understand that profession then formerly, which made them patiently endure such torments.  of a number, have notwithstanding as full a remembrance as they had the first day the Lord gave them unto 
Qui enim scit illum, intelligere potest non nisi grande aliquod bonum à Nerone damnatum. Terrul. Apolog. cap. 5.  the Church. The Roman Empire for three hundred years set itself to persecute and extirpate this new Doctrine; and in all these troubles the Church grew and in●●cased mightily, Acts 12. 1. Herod killed james with the sword, yet v. 24. the Word grew and multiplied.  
Calvin with all his Works since the time they were written, scarce made so many Protestants in France, as I have credibly heard it reported, that the Massacre made in one night. L. Falk. reply about the Infallibility of the Church of Rome. 
A precious Gospel that was purchased by the blood of Christ, and sealed with the blood of Martyrs.   
The Miracles wrought in the confirmation of Scripture differ much from the wonders 
Miracula quae sunt à Deo, mu●tis notis distinguuntur à fictis miraculis daemo●●m. Name daemon, ut qui Deum odit, & nos à Deo vellet avertere, omnia quaecunque potest Divina aemulatur: Et tanto accuratius miracula, quod videt eam rem maximè ad potentiam Divinitatis accedere, quae est supra naturam. Lod. Viu. de verit. Fid Christ. l. ●. c. 13. Miracula has habent notas rei ipsius, veritas, essentia, qualitas, modus actionis, causa efficiens, causa movens ante rem, finis. Ad hos tanquam ad lapides Lydios examinanda sunt miracula, tum Christi & sanctorum, nempè divina: tum ficta & diabolica. Idem. ibid. vide plura.  wrought by the false Prophets, Antichrist and Satan himself, Mat. 10. 8. Mat. 24. 24. 2 Thes. 2. 11. Apoc. 13. 13, 14▪ they are neither in number nor greatness comparable to these: 1. They differ in Substance, Divine Miracles are above the force of Nature, as dividing of the red Sea, the standing still of the Sun; the others seem wonderful to those which are ignorant of the cause of them, but are not true 
y They are Miranda non miracula. A ma●vel or wonder is nature mightily improved; a miracle is nature totally crossed, if not contradicted. If miracles be ceased, yet marvels will never cease. Dr Hals Select Thoughts.  miracles, simply above the ordinary course of nature, but effected by the art and power of Satan or his instruments by natural causes, though unknown to men, and many times they are but vain delusions. 2. They differ in the end, those true miracles were wrought by the finger of God, for the promoting of his glory, and man's salvation; these to seal up falsehood and destroy men confirmed in Idolatry and Heathenism, 2 Thes. 2. 9 See Deut. 13. 1, 2, 3. Those were not done in a corner or secretly, but openly in the presence of great multitudes, 
z There were six hundred thousand witnesses of the Seas rising up in walls. Deut. 4. 3. See Mat. 27. 45.  nay in the sight of the whole world; by the evidence of which an unknown Doctrine before contrary to the nature and affections of men was believed. Bainham said in the midst of the fire, Ye Papists, Behold ye look for miracles, and here now ye may see a miracle: for in this fire I feel no more pain, then if I were in a bed of Down, but it is to me as sweet as a bed of Roses. The miracles 
a See Dr Willet on Exod. 7. 9 what a miracle is, and how true and false miracles differ: And Dr Prideaux on Psal. 9 16. the distinction between miracles, signs, prodigies, and Portenta, out of Aquinas. Christi miracula tanta & tam manisesta suerunt orbi, ●t nulla unquam gens fuerit, vel tam impudens, vel tam Christo inimica & infensa, ut ea sit negare ausa. Itaque Gentiles, judaei, Agareni, omnes grandia & mirabilia esse edita opera consitentur, sed alii alias in causas referunt. Agareni Deum authorem illorum fatentur, judaei & Gentiles daemonem. Sed res ipsa clamat apertissimè, Deo authore atque approbatore illa omnia esse acta. Lod. Viu. de verit. Fid. Christ. l. 2. c. 13.  done by our Saviour Christ and his Apostles, received Testimony of the bitterest enemies they had.  
2. The Testimony,  

1. Of the Church and Saints of God in 
b When many agree in a thing, and they wise and learned men, and one generation after another, this is much. All those generally which profess Christian Religion, consent in this main truth.  all ages.  
2. Of those which were out of the Church. 

1. Of the Church 

Both Ancient and Judaical,  
And the present Christian Church.    
2. Of the Members of the Church.     

1. The Church of the Jews professed the Doctrine and received the Books of the 

To which testimony these things give weight.  
1. To them were committed the Oracles of God, Ro. 3. 2  
2. They have constantly professed the truth in great misery, whereas by the only denying thereof they might have been partakers both of liberty and rule. 3. Notwithstanding the High-Priests and others persecuted the Prophets, while they lived, they yet received their writings, as Prophetical and Divine.   Old Testament, and testified of them that they were Divine; which invincible constancy remaineth still in the Jews of these days, who (though they be bitter enemies to the Christian Religion) do stiffly maintain and preserve the Canon of the Old Testament pure and uncorrupt, even in those places which do evidently confirm the truth of Christian Religion.  
2. The Christian Church hath also most faithfully preserved the Old Testament received from the Jews, and the new delivered by the Apostles, as a depositum and holy pledge of the Divine 
c Vide Croii observat. in Novum Testamentum, cap. 15. By universal tradition we know much better that those Books were written by Christ's Disciples (who are sufficient witnesses of what he taught) then the Aristotelians know that these were Aristotle's works; or the Academics knew Plato's; since Christians have both kept them with more care, and in the acceptance of them used more caution, as thinking them so much more important. My L. Falkl. Reply concerning the infallibility of the Church of Rome, part. 2.  Will, Col. 4. 16.   
2. Of the Members of the Church, the constant Testimony which so many worthy 
Ecclesia totum mundum convertit sanguine & oratione. Luther. Christian Religion's chiefest glory is, that it increaseth by being persecuted, and hath that advantage of the Mahometan which came in by force.  Martyrs by their blood have given to the truth, Rev. 6. 9  
Four things are to be considered in this Argument,  

1. The Number which suffered for the same is numberless, many millions, that 
In the two Dominions of France, and the seventeen Provinces, within the space of little more than five years under Charles the ninth of France, and Philip▪ the second of Spain, two hundred thousand suffered as Martyrs. See Foxes Martyrology, Meteranus de rebus Belgicis, and Fuller's profane State, of the Duke of Alva, p. 440.  none can imagine it to arise from pride, weakness or discontent. More Christians were slain (as hath been observed) under the ten bloody persecutions, than Paschal Lambs were offered up under the State of the Old Testament.  
2. The Quality and condition of them which suffered; noble and base, learned and 
d 
A Martyr answered Bishop Bonner, My Lord I cannot dispute, but I can die for the truth.  
john Hus said, when he had a Cap of paper, wherein were 3 devils painted with the title Haerefiarcha, Shall I grudge to wear this paper Cap for Christ, who wore a Crown of Thorns for me?   unlearned, rich, poor, old, young, men, women, children, those which were tender and dainty; all these could not suffer out of vainglory, that stubbornly they might defend the opinion which they had taken up.  
3. The torments used were usual, unusual, speedy, slow, some hewed in pieces, burnt with slow fire, cast in to Lions, given to be devoured by the teeth of wild beasts, some beheaded, some drowned, some stoned with stones.  
4. All this they endured constantly, patiently, with great joy, even a cheerful heart, and merry countenance, singing Psalms in the midst of the fire, so that the madness of the enemy was overcome by the patience 
e In the Primitive times they were wont to call Martyrdom by the name of Corona Martyrii, the Crown of Martyrdom; and Stephen the Protomartyr had his name in Greek from a Crown. Erant torti torquentibus fortiores. Cyprian.  of them which did suffer. Luther reports of the Martyr St Agatha, as she went to prisons and tortures, she said, she went to Banquets and Nuptials▪ That Martyr Hawks lift up his hands above his head, and clapped them together, when he was in the fire, as if he had been in a triumph. So that their testimony was not only humane, God enabling them so stoutly to die for the truth, Phil. 1. 29. See the History of the Council of Trent, pag. 418. and Dr Tailors Sermon on Dan. 3. 22, 23, 24. styled, The Roman Furnace. 
Reformati ligneas sanctorum Papistae vivas Dei comburunt Imagines. Qui primi relictis patriis ritibus ac lege, qui abjectis & repudiatis rebus omnibus, quae solent esse hominibus in vita gratissima & charissima, Christum sunt secuti, qui ilii no●a atque admirabilia dicenti fidem tribuerunt, gravia, dura praecipienti obedierunt, denique cervices suas obtulerunt pro illius Doctrina & Gloria, aliquid certè in co majus & excellentius animadverterunt humana sapientia & potentia. Lod. Viv▪ de verit. Fid. Christ l. 2. c. 14.    
Martyrs of other Sects differ from the Martyrs of the true Church. 1. They were fewer. 2. They suffered not with joy of Conscience, which the godly Martyrs did. 3. They were punished for their 
f Non paena sed causa facit Martyrem.  errors discovered; the Martyrs were burned for having any part of the Bible, and the Bible sometime with them; where the Inquisition reigns it is death to have any part of the Bible in the vulgar tongue.  
The Gentiles also which were out of the pale of the Church, did give testimony to sundry Stories and Examples in the Bible. Suetonius and Tacitus speaks of the miracles of Christ, Pliny 
g Lib. 2. c. 25. Meminerunt Mosis & Diodorus Siculus & Strabo, & Plinius, Tacitus quoque, & post eos Dionysius Longinus de Sermonis sub limitate. jamnis' autem & Mambris qui in Aegypto Mosi restiterunt praeter Talmundicos Plinius & Apulcius. Grotius de verit. relig. Christ.  of the miracles of Moses, and of the wise men's Star; Macrobius of the slaughtering of the Infants; josephus of the death of Herod; the Poets of the Flood; Plutark of the Dove which Noah sent out. josephus (a Jew) saith in his time there was a monument of the pillar of Salt into which Lots wife was turned. Of Sodom's destruction speaketh S●rabo, Diodorus Siculus, Galen in his Book of Simples. Pliny, Solinus, Polyst. hist. Tacitus lib. ult. Mela, acknowledging that the remainders of God's wrath are still to be seen there, as the dead Lake, the Fruit fair to the eye, but falling to cinders and smoke in the hand.  
The Oracles of the Sybillae were in greatest account among the Heathen 
* Bish. Andrews in his large exposition on the ten Commandments. ; and held as true of all men; 
h Credit me vobis folium recitare Sybille.  and if those be they which we 
i Vid. Spanhem. Dub. par. 2. Dub. 34. Sect. 6, 7.  have, there is nothing which can more plainly set forth the birth of Christ, his life and death. 
k Exercit. 1. ad Annal. Bar.  Causabon makes it apparent, that those prophecies of Sibyl were counterfeited pieces, and at first entertained by such as delighted in seeing the Christian Religion strengthened with foreign proofs.  
Heretics also prove the Scripture to be Divine, for they quote that; and therefore Luther calls the Bible Librum Haereticorum. Experience teacheth, That all Heresies either began or increased from the misunderstanding of Scripture. Some particular places of Scripture have been much abused by Heretics. The Arians laid their foundation upon Prov. 8. 22. and much urged that joh. 14. 22. The Manichees perverted that place, Phil. 2. 7, 8. He was found in the form of a servant. Montanus, yea and the Turks lay hold on that place joh. 14. 16. I will send you another Comforter, which the Turks say is Mahomet. The Papists wrest that place to their purpose, Matth. ●6. 18. Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock will I build my Church. The Familists bring that Luke 17. 21. The Kingdom of God is within you. The Antiscripturists stick not to urge those Scriptures joh. 6. 45. 2 Cor. 3. 6.  
Thirdly, The Scripture itself doth give testimony to itself, 
* Isa. 8. 20. Psal. 19  that it is Divine; it is called a Light, Psal. 119. 105. because it discovers itself; The Testimony, and the 
The Authors often testify that they speak not of themselves, or by any humane instinct, but from God's command and the Spirit inspiring.  Testimony of the Lord: because it bears witness to itself. The Prophets give Testimony of Moses, Mal. 4. 4. The New Testament of the Old, 2 Pet. 1. 19, 20. Peter gives testimony of Paul's Epistles, 2 Pet. 3. 15. and Paul witnesseth That all scripture was given of God, 
l Christ commends Moses, the Prophets and Psalms, by which names are meant all the Books belonging to the Canon of the Hebrews.  2 Tim. 3. 16. which must be meant of all Scripture even of the New Testament, that being the last Epistle which Paul wrote, as appears Chap. 4. 16.  
Fourthly, None of all these Arguments can undoubtedly persuade the heart Certitudine fidei, that the holy Scripture, or any Doctrine contained in it is the Word of God, till we be taught it of God, till the holy 
m The holy Ghost inwardly witnesseth in the hearts of the faithful, that the Scriptures are the Word of God, 1 Joh. 2. 20, 27. 1 Cor. 2. 10, 11, 12. & 12. 3. Joh. 16. 23. & 14. 26. Isa. 51. 16. Isa. 59 21. Rom. 8. 16. The inspiration of the Spirit is considered as an efficient cause, which disposeth our faculties to believe the truth, and not as an argument of the truth. The Pelagians say, The faculties of the soul are well enough disposed to understand and believe the things of God without the inward inspiration and illumination of the Spirit.  Spirit of God have inwardly certified and assured us of it. This is called, the Scaling of the Spirit of God, Ephes. 1. 13. by this the Scripture is imprinted in our hearts, as the sign of the Seal in the wax. Other Arguments may convince, but this is absolutely necessary; this is all-sufficient to persuade certainly, Matth. 11. 25. The holy Ghost is the Author of light, by which we understand the Scripture, and the persuader of the heart, by which we believe the things therein to be truly Divine, 1 john 5. 6. It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit (i. Metonymically the Doctrine delivered by the Spirit) is truth. But he that is spiritual, saith Paul, that is, the man enlightened with the holy Ghost, judgeth all things, 1 Cor. 2. 15. that is, all things necessary to salvation. So to prove that there is a God, reasons may be brought from nature and the testimony of the Church, but no man can believe it savingly, but by the holy Ghost.  
It is hard to carry the matter even between the Socinians Reason, and the Familists Spirit. Socinians will have nothing but Reason, no infused Habits, and so 
Scripturam tanquam mortuam literam intuentur & meros spiritus inflatis buccis crepant, interim tamen neque verbum, neque Spiritum retinentes. Hic autem audis Paulum Scripturae testimoniis, ut firmissimis, potissimum nit●, etc. Luth. in 1 Cor. 15. 3, 4. Quocirca noli esse immodicus jactator Spiritus si non apertum & externum verbum habueris, neque enim bonus e●●, qu●m jact●s, Spiritus, sed ipsissimus Diabolus. Id. ibid. Omnes homines quantumvis illustrati Spiritu sancto, tamen manent discip●li ●erb●. Luth. Tom. 4. The work of the Spirit now is not to perfect Scripture, or to add any thing to its discovery, or to be ●● st●a● of a Scripture where it is wanting, much less where the Scripture is: But to remove the darkness from our understanding, that we may see clearly what the Scripture speaks clearly: Before the Scripture was perfected, the Spirit did enlighten the Prophets and Penmen of Scripture both ways. But now I know no teaching of the Spirit, save only by its illuminating ●● sanctifying works, teaching men no new lesson, nor the old without book, but to read with understanding what Scripture, Nature, Creatures and Providences teach. Mr Baxters Saints everlasting Rest, Part 1. Sect. 51.  they destroy the Testimony of the Spirit; The Familists will have nothing but Spirit, they rest wholly in an immediate private Spirit, There art three that bear witness in earth 
n 1 John 3. 8. , Blood (that is, Justification by the blood of Christ) and Water, i Sanctification by his Grace, And the Spirit (say some) witnesseth in these. But ye have an Unction from the holy One, and ye know all things 
1 John 2. 20. ; that is, Ye have received from Christ the holy Ghost the Comforter, and he hath taught and instructed you in all things which are necessary to the salvation of your souls, for you to know and be instructed in; See vers. 27. The testimony is made up by arguing, Whosoever believeth, and is sanctified, shall be saved. So the Antiquity, Efficacy, and Majesty of the Scripture, the Fidelity of the Pen men, and its wonderful Preservation, prove it to be the Word of God. The Spirit of God witnesseth, That this Word which hath these remarkable advantages above all other Writings, is the Word of God. The Spirit doth neither witness concerning my salvation, nor that the Scripture is the word of God immediately, but ultimately. Because I am a believer, and my faith is sound, it assureth me that I am in the state of salvation, and so he maketh use of the excellencies in the Word to irradiate my understanding. We are commanded to try the Spirits; true joy is first heard out of the Word before it be felt, Psal. 51. 8. Spiritual joy is an affection proper to spiritual life, that life is by faith, and 
* Fides Christiana non acquiritur sed infunditur.  Faith cometh by hearing, Job 33. 22. See joh. 16. 14.  
Some question whether every part and parcel of the Scripture be divinely inspired, as those places 
n Leviculum est quod objiciunt qui contra sentiunt. Si omnis Scriptura Divinitus sit inspirata, secuturum inde etiam Graecorum & Gentilium Scripturas esse divinitus inspiratas; nam ut benè respondet Theophylactus, oportebat eos novisse quod Paulus ante dixerat, Sacras literas nosti. Rivet. Isag. ad Script. Sac. , Touch him, and he will curse thee to thy face; Curse God and die, and that Psal. 14. 1. Some answer thus 
o Aliud sanè Prop●●tas hoc vel illud scripsisse, aliud verò scripsisse ut Prophetas. Spanhem. , these places are Historically inspired, not Dogmatically.  
Another Question is, Whether preaching be not divinely inspired, as well as the Word written?  
The preaching of the Prophets and Apostles was divinely inspired: but the preaching of our Ministers, no further than it agrees with the Word.  
Some say, The Scriptures are but a device of man's brain, to give assistance to Magistrates in civil government.  
Nothing is more repugnant to prudence and policy. What policy was it in the 
Vide Lod. Viu. de verit. Fid. Christ. l. 5. c. 1.  Old Testament to appoint Circumcision? to cut a poor child as soon as he came into the world. Two and twenty thousand Oxen were spent at the Dedication of one Altar; to sacrifice so many Oxen and Sheep, such useful creatures? Christ chose silly illiterate men to propagate the 
p Nothing crosseth humane wisdom more than the Scripture. Authoritas sine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scripture.  Gospel.  
This serves for Information of our judgement, and assures us of divers Truths.  
1. That the Scriptures are for themselves worthy to be believed, they have Authority in and of themselves (not borrowed from any persons in the world) by which they bind the consciences of all men to receive them with faith and obedience, 
Illud authenticum dicitur, quod sibi sufficit, quod se commendat, sustinet, probat, & ex se sidem ac authoritatem habet. Whitaker.  for their Author's sake alone, and the Divine Truth which shines in them, though they should not be commended unto men by any authority of any creature. Such as is the Authority of the Author of any writing; such is the Authority of the writing itself; for all the strength of the testimony depends upon the excellency of the person which gives the testimony; now God is the Author of these writings, Thus saith the Lord; therefore such Authority as he hath, such must they have, a supreme, highest Authority, which borroweth from none, and is subject to none. So this acknowledgement of their original teacheth that we must not believe them for the Authority sake of any man or men, for God's Word can borrow no Authority from men, john 5. 34. I receive not testimony from man, saith Christ; that is, need no man's testimony. As the first goodness is to be loved for itself, so is the first truth to be believed for itself, saith Aquinas. And as Christ by himself could demonstrate that he was the Messias; so the Word by itself can prove, 
q 
Every principle is known by itself.  
The Scripture is the primum credendum, the first thing to be believed; we must believe it for itself, and all other things for their conformity with it.   that it is the Word of God.  
We affirm, That the Scriptures are known to be of God by themselves; the Papists maintain, that we cannot be certain of the Scriptures Divinity by any other Argument, than the testimony of the Church, 
r Eccius reckons this among heretical Assertions. Major est Scripturae, quam Ecclesiae Authoritas.  which (say they) doth infallibly propound unto us, what is to be believed, what is not to be believed; and Hermanus saith, That the Scripture is no more worth than Aesop's Fables, without the testimony of the Church. As in other Sciences there are always some principles per se nota & indemonstrabilia, whence other things are proved; so in Divinity all conclusions in point of belief and practice are proved by the Scripture. The Scriptures prove themselves by their own natural light, 
s Nisi Deus hominibus placuerit non erit Deus, said Tertullian in Apol. If God please not man, he shall not be God; as truly and certainly as God is God, so truly is the Scripture the Scripture.  manifesting their divine original whence they are, and their right meaning, how they must be understood. They are like light (primum visibile) which maketh all other things manifest, and itself too by its own proper qualities.  

1. The Church rather depends on the Scripture, which is an object not principle of Divinity; the Church ought to be subject to Christ, Ephes. 5. 24. the Scripture is the word of Christ, Col. 3. 16.  
2. All the words of the Scripture are words of truth, Dan. 10. 21. some words of the Church are words of error, Isa. 1. 21, 24. & 3. 8, 9 & 5. 13. But the authority of him that speaks always truth, is greater than of him who sometimes lies: Ergo, 
Spiritus sanctus Spiritus veritatis, loquitur semper in Scriptura; in Ecclesia verò quandoque Spiritus humanus, spiritus erroris. Rainoldus, Thesi. 3. l. 11.  The Authority of the Scripture is greater than that of the Church. Goodness itself cannot deceive, wisdom itself cannot be deceived; God is both, Tit. 1. 2. The voice of the Scripture is the voice 
t See Chami●rs sixth Book de Canone, divers Chapters, and Mr Pembles Vindiciae Gratiae, pag. 207. to 222.  of God, 2 Tim. 3. 16. but the voice of the Church is the voice of men, Act. 14. 14. & 15. 17. & 17. 30.  
3. Faith and a firm consolation in temptations ought to rely on a sure, that is, a divine foundation, for every humane testimony is uncertain.  
4. In vain shall we dispute against the wicked concerning Religion and Divine truth, if we shall say, it comes from God, because we affirm so.  
5. This is proved by Scriptures, john 5. 34, 35. Christ in his Humiliation did not receive the testimony of john, much less will he receive the testimony of others now he is glorified, joh. 5. 34, 35, 36. 1 Cor. 2. 4, 5. 1 joh. 5. 9  
6. The Authority proving is greater, more certain, and more known, than the conclusion proved by the same. Authoritas probans is greater than probata. The Papists to prove the Authority of the Church fly to the Scriptures 
u Superfluus mihi labor videtur eorum, qui adco sollicite illud quoad nos inquisiverunt: quia n● cogitari quidem potest ulla corum librorum authoritas, nisi quoad nos. Cham. . For I demand, Whence do we understand that the Church errs not in delivering the Canon of the Scripture: they answer, It is governed by the Holy Ghost, and therefore cannot err in its decrees. But how appears it, that it is so governed always? They answer, God hath promised it, and then they allege those 
x Matth. 28. 20 & 18. 20. John 15. 26. & 16. 13.  places to prove it.   

Obj. 1. The Church is ancienter than the Scripture, because it was before Moses; Ergo, It hath greater Authority.  
Ans. 1. The Prophets and john Baptist were ancienter than Christ, yet not of greater Authority.  
2. Consider the Word, 1. Quoad formale 
y Scriptura est vel ipsa scriptio, & literarum per lineas certas, pictura: vel ipsa doctrina per eas Scripturas significata, & in iis literis contenta: Scriptione fatemur Ecclesiam esse antiquiorem, sed negamus esse antiquiorem ea doctrina, quae significatur ea scriptione. Chamier. Tom. 1. l. 1, c. 22.  externum, as written 
z Fuit Scriptura ante Moysen materialiter non formaliter.  and clothed with words; so the Church was before the Scripture, 2. Quoad formale internum; the matter and sense or meaning: so the Scripture was more ancient than the Church, because the Church is gathered and governed by it, 1 Pet. 1, 23. joh. 17. 20. jam. 1, 18. Semen semper sobole illa cujus est s●men, antiquius esse nec●sse est. In the thing itself, the being and substance of the Word was before the Church, although in this circumstance and manner of being it was after.   

Obj. 2. Non crederem Evangelio, nisi me commoveret Ecclesiae Catholicae Authoritas, 
Quibus lect is verbis adeo exultant, quasi reperissent id quod pu●●i in faba se reperisse clamitant: tamque considenter, ac ●i ad plenum victoriae fructum sola triumphi gloria deesset. Chamierus.  saith Augustine.  
Ans. These words (saith Whitaker) are so well known to the Papists that one can hardly exchange three words with them, but they will produce them. It is true indeed, that we may at the first be much moved to receive and hearken to the Scriptures, because the Church gives testimony of them; as the woman of Samaria, by her speeches of Christ, was a means of moving the Samaritans to believe, but when the men of Samaria had heard Christ himself speak, They believed in him more for his own words then the woman's, john 4. 39, 41. In which sense those words of Augustine (so frequently quoted by the Papists) are to be interpreted. Augustine spoke this of himself being a Manichee 
a So Musculus, Calvin, Peter Martyr and Whitaker expound those words; observe the composition of the word, it signifieth to move with other things. ; when he was a Manichee he was first moved by the Authority of the Church to believe the Gospel. His meaning is, that he had vever believed the Gospel, if the Authority of the Church had not been an introduction unto him, not that his faith rested upon it as a final stay, but that it caused him so far to respect the Word of the Gospel, to listen unto it, and with a kind of acquisite and humane faith to believe it, that he was thereby fitted 
b Gerson saith, he taketh the Church for the Primitive Church, and that Assembly which saw and heard Christ.  to a better illumination, by force whereof he might more certainly believe it to be of God. But that the testimony of one Father in one place in a matter of such consequence should be of that force, it is strange.  
We deny not the Ministry of the Church as an external means to move us to embrace the Word of God, but we deny the Authority of the Church to be the principal 
c Ecclesi● non habet magisteri●●m supra Scripturas, sed Ministerium circa Scripturas.  means. When we call the Scriptures Canonical, we call them not so passively, because they are received into the Canon by men, and accepted of; but actively, because they prescribe a Canon and Rule to us.  
The Office of the Church in respect of the Scripture stands in four things.  

1. To distinguish Canonical Scripture from that which is not Canonical; although the determination of the Church be not the only or chiefest cause why the Apocrypha 
There are two causes why the Apocrypha are cast out of the Canon. 1. External, the Authority of the Church decreeing, and the quality of the Authors. 2. Internal, the style, the fabulous and wicked things. Chamier.  are rejected.  
2. To be a faithful keeper of those Books which are inspired by God, like a notary which keepeth public writings.  
3. To publish, declare and teach the truth, as a Crier with a loud voice ought to pronounce the King's Edicts, but to pretermit, add, or alter nothing, Matth. 28. 19, 20. Acts 8. 35. 1 Tim. 3. 15. This Church here is not that Church which the Papists make to be the Judge of controversies, neither the Church representative, which is a general Council; nor the Church virtual, which they imagine to be the 
d Ecclesiae, id est, Romano Pontifici vel soli, vel cum Concilio magisterium tribuunt summum, adeo ut solennis sit apud eos formula, indicet magister sidei. Amesius.  Pope; but the Church Essential 
e Dr Chalonero Credo Ecclesiam Catholicam. Ecclesia dicitur Fundamentum metaphoricè & impropriè, fundamentum secundarium. : the Congregation of all faithful believers, The house of God, as he calleth it. The Apostle here speaks of a pillar, not more Architectonico, understanding by it some essential piece of the building, but more forensi, such a post or 
f Rivet and Dr Preston. De sensu horum verborum vide Cameronis myrothecium, & Collocationem Rainoldi cum Harto, c. 8. p. 557.  pillar on which Tables and Proclamations use to hang. In old time the Gentiles used to write their Laws in Tables, and so hang them upon pillars of stone, that the people might read them, as Proclamations are nailed to Posts in Market Towns. The Apostle describing the Church, likeneth it to one of these Pillars, whose use was to show what hung thereon. It is a Pillar, not because it holds up, 
g An allusion (saith Bedel) to the Bases and pillars that h●ld up the veils or curtains in the Tabernacle.  but holds forth the truth, as a Candlestick doth a Candle, Revel. 2. 1.  
4. To interpret the Scripture by the Scripture. Since many things in Scripture are doubtful, and hard to be understood without an Interpreter, Acts 8. 31. it doth belong to the Church to expound the same, to interpret and give the sense, Nehem. 8. 8, 9 Luke 24. 27. provided that this exposition be by the Scriptures.   
Some of the Papists say, That the Church may condere articulos fidei & facere Canonicum quo ad nos, and though they talk of Counsels and Fathers, yet all is as the 
That distinction of Authoritative in se, but not quoad nos is absurd, because the Authority the Scripture hath, is for and because of us.  Pope concludes.  
The testimony and tradition of the Church, especially the Primitive Church, is necessary to know that the Gospel of Matthew is divine Scripture by an historical and acquired faith, to know this by a divine 
h Dr White of the Church. The Spirit witnesseth, the Scripture co-witnesseth, and the Church sub-witnesseth.  and infused faith, (besides the Authority of the Church) the matter, character and contents of every Book, and comparing of it with other Scriptures, do serve as an inward cause to produce the said infused faith.   

Object. We are sent to the Church to determine all Controversies, 1 Cor. 11. 16.  
Sol. Controversies are either Dogmatic, concerning Faith; or Ritual, concerning true Order; The Proposition is about these, not the first.  
Secondly, From this fundamental truth, that the Scripture is immediately from God, (the Basis indeed of all Religion, 1 Cor. 15.) the wickedness of the Church of Rome is farther to be condemned, which will not suffer the Scriptures to be read in their Churches, but in an unknown 
i Ut olim Caligula, occlusis omnibus horr●is, publicam populo inediam & famem, ita illi obturatis omnibus fo●tibus verbi Dei, sitim populo miserabilem induxerant. Illi hominibus famem, ut ait Amos Propheta, sitimque attulerunt: non famem panis non si●im aquae: sed audiendi verbi Dei. Juel. in Apol. Eccl. Ang Scio maximam partem Galiorum qui appeliantur Catholici, ita abstinere à Bibliorum lectione u● multos viderim & audiv●rim, qui Deo gratias agerent, quod libros illos nunquam contigissent, & se id diligemer in posterum curaturos ne id fa●●rent, etiam juram●nto adhibito protestarentur: non al●a ratione permoti quam Romana prohibition, & periculi metu quod eis à suis concionatoribus & confessoribus incutiebatur. Rivet. Apologet. pro vera pace Eccles. pag. 249.  tongue, nor in private by the common people without special leave and certain cautions from their superiors. Of old they would not suffer them to be read at all, of late they are forced to give licences to some, and they teach them, that they should not make the Scripture judge of the Doctrine and Practice of the Church, but the Doctrine and Practice of the Church must be the Interpreter and Judge of the meaning of the Scripture, that is, they must take the Scripture to mean none otherwise (whatsoever it seem to say) than what is agreeable to that which the Pope doth teach and practise. There cannot be a surer sign of a bad cause, then that it fears to be tried by the writings which itself cannot deny to be written by God, for correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness. Some Papists are more modest herein, as Bellarmine, lib. 2. de verb. Dei. c. 15. Catholica Ecclesia statuit, ne passim omnibus concedatur Scripturae lectio; some more rigid, as Huntly and Hosius.  
The Papists 
k Scripturae obscuriores sunt, quam ut possint ● Laicis intelligi. Bellarm. & Rhemist. Praefat. in No●. Test. & Annot. in Act. 8. 31. & in 1 Cor. 14  object the obscurity of Scriptures, as an argument to hinder Laymen from reading them, and account it a matter of profanation to allow men, women and children, and all promiscuously the use of the Vulgar Translation, and think they will rather be hurt then benefited by them, taking occasion of erring from them. Hosius urgeth that, Give not holy things to dogs, Cast not pearls before Swine, to prove the people must be barred from reading of the Scriptures. It is Pope Innocents' Gloss, a Beast might not touch the Mount, a Layman may not meddle with Scripture. Lindan saith, Nihil noxae inferretur in Ecclesiam salvo traditionis fundamento 
l Populus non solum non caper●t fructum ex Scriptures, sed etiam caperet detrimentum, ac●●peret enim facillimè occasionem errandi. Bellarm. de verbo Dei, l. 2. c. 15. , if there were no Bible; and another, Scriptura citius faciet Haereticum Lutheranum, quam Catholicum. Because we will have all proved by Scripture, and make that the complete Rule for what we believe or do in all Theological matters, they call us Scripturarios, Scripture-men, and Atramentrarios Theologos; and so to carry or read a Bible is matter of 
m Si populus rudis audiret, lingua sua vulgari legi ex Canticis Canticorum, Osculetur me osculo oris sui, Et: Laeva ejus sub capite m●o, & dextera illius amplexabitur me, Et illud Oseae: Vade & fac tibi silios fornicationum; N●●non adulterium Davidis, incestum▪ Thamar, mendacia Judith, & qu●madmodum Joseph fratres suos inebriavit, Sara, Lea & Rachel dederunt ancillas v●ris suis in concubinas, & multa alia ●orum, quae in Scriptures magna cum laude comm●morantur, vel provocaretur ad hujusmodi imitanda, vel comemneret sanctos Patriarchas ut olim Mani●haei, vel putarent mendacia esse in Scriptures. Bellarm. de verbo Dei, lib. 2. cap. 15. Audivi ab homin● fide digno, ●um in Angli● à Ministro Calvinista in templo legeretur lingua vulgari capitulum 25 Ecclesiastici: ubi multa dicuntur de malitia mulierum; surrexisse foeminam quandam, atque dixisse, Istudne est verbum Dei? immo potius verbum Diaboli ●st. Bellarm. ibid. Hujus historiae fides omnis penes sit bonum illum virum, à quo Bellarminus eam acc●pit. Whitakerus.  scoff; we may style them in Tertullia's phrase Scripturarum Lucifugae and Traditionaries.  
St Gregory (who is blessed in their Church) exhorteth a Layman to the serious study of the Scriptures, that thereby he might learn the will of God, alleging that the Scripture is the Epistle of God unto his creature. Quid est autem Scriptura 
The Scriptures were written to give knowledge to the simple, and wisdom to the unlearned, Psal. 19 7. Prov. 1. 4. That is a special promise Isa. 35. 8. for this purpose.  sacra, nisi Epistola omnipotentis Dei ad Creaturam? Greg. lib. 4 epist. 40. ad Theodorum medi●um. Proving further, That obscurity of Scripture is so frothy an argument for persuading any devout Christian not to read it, that it should rather incite them to greater Diligence therein; and therefore he elegantly comp●res the Scripture to a River, wherein (saith he) there are as well shallow Fords for Lambs to wade in, as depths and gulfs wherein the Elephant may swim.  
Chrysostom held it a thing necessary for all men daily to read the Scriptures, Audito quaeso saeculares, comparate vobis Biblia, animae pharmaca.  
St Ierom did exhort divers women thereto, and commended them for exercising 
Origen being but seventeen years old had a fervent desi●e to be mar●y●ed for Christ, and writes thus to his father Leonides (who suffered in the fifth Persecution) Cave tib's ne quid propt●r nos aliud quam Martyrii constanter faciendi propositum cogites. His father brought him up from his youth most studiously in all good literature, but especially in the reading and exercise of holy Scripture, wherein he had such inward and mystical speculation, that many times he would move questions to his father of the meaning of this or that place in the Scripture. Insomuch that his father divers times would uncover his breast being asleep and kiss it, giving thanks to God which had made him such a happy father of so happy a child. Fox●s Acts and Monum. vol. 1. pag. 70.  themselves therein, he writes to Laeta and Gaudentia, and shows them how they should bring up their daughters, Scripturas sacras tenebat memoriter. Hieron. de Paula in Epitaphio. He commends the Husbandmen about Bethlem for being so perfect in the Scripture, That they had the Psalms of David by heart, and sang them as they followed the Blow. Arator stivam tenens cantat Davidicum melos. Epist. ad Demetriad.  
The Apostle would not have commended this in Timothy, 2 Tim. 3. 15. That from his childhood he knew the holy Scriptures, nor noted it to the praise of his Grandmother and Mother, that they had trained him up so, if he had not known that the holy Scriptures are so plain that even a child may be able to understand them. What may we judge of the other easier books, when the holy Ghost would have the Revelation the obscurest book of all the Scripture, to be read, Revel. 1▪ 3? The people took occasion of erring and blaspheming from the humiliation of Christ, many abuse Preaching and the Sacraments.  
2. By this reason the Latin Bibles should not be suffered to be read publicly, because many understanding Latin from the reading of them may take occasion of erring. There is a greater reason to be had of Gods elect which are edified by reading of the Scripture, then of those who wrest them; Peter by this reason stirred up the faithful to read the Scriptures with greater devotion, 2 Pet. 3. 14, 15, 16, 17.  
3. This is common both to the Ecclesiastical Persons and Laity, to take occasion of erring and blaspheming from the Scripture. If we peruse the Histories of times past, we shall find that learned and Ecclesiastical men, did oftener fall into Heresies and Blasphemies from misunderstanding and wresting the Scriptures, than any of the common sort of people, who were often also by the learned drawn into Heresy. The Papists are not afraid the people should be corrupted by reading their legends, and lying fables, by their Images, which do naturally teach Idolatry.  
The Papists further object, That the Hebrews did not permit young men to read 
Davenant. determinat. 39  part of Genesis, Canticles, Ezekiel.  
We must know that the reading of those Scriptures non ablatam hominibus, sed dilatam fuisse, was not taken away from them, but delayed only. They permitted all men before thirty to read all other Chapters of holy Scripture, and after thirty these also.  
2. This tradition concerning the age of men did drive away as well the Ecclesiastic as the Lay persons.  
Notwithstanding all this that hath been objected by the Papists, we hold that the Scriptures ought to be translated into the Vulgar and mother Tongues of each Nation, and that all 
n Vorstius in his answer to Bellarmine joins these two together, the promiscuous reading of the Scripture, and the turning of it in linguas vernaculas.  men ought to read them and meditate diligently in them, and that for these▪ reasons.  

1. From the Commandment and will of God revealed in Scripture; He hath commanded all that live in the Church to study 
o Daven. deter. Quest. 39 & in c. 3. Epist. ad Colos. v. 16. Ingratas esse Ecclesiae Romanae editiones vernaculas inde apparet, quod in illis locis ubi Pontisicis maxime obtinent placita, ut in Hispania, non procurant Pontisicii homines tales editiones, & ab aliis procuratas ferro & flammis prosequuntur. Ames. Bellarm. enerv. c. 3. See Col. 4. 16. & 1 These. 5. 27. 2 Joh. 13. 14.  the Scriptures, and read them, Deut. 11. 18, 19 joh. 5. 39 He speaks not to the Scribes and Pharisees, but to the people in general, They must try all things.  
2. From God's intention, which commanded it to be written for that end that it might be obvious to all, joh. 20. 31. Rom. 15. 4.  
3. Those are commended which did read the Scripture, as the Eunuch, Acts 8. 22. the Bereans, Acts 17. and dispraised which neglected it, as the Israelites, Hosea 8. 12. they are pronounced Blessed who diligently meditate in the Scriptures, Psal. 1. 2. How unlike to Peter, ●2 Pet. 1. 19 are those which pretend to be his Successors?  
4. From the fact of the Apostles, who as they publicly preached the mysteries of salvation to the people; so also in their Epistles they commended the whole doctrine of salvation to be read by them. The Epistles of the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians were written to the people, therefore to be read by them. One Epistle of john was written to Gaius a Layman, another to the elect Lady.  
5. From the Profit and Necessity of this study; men are enlightened and converted 
Scripturae scriptae sunt ut inde p●tamus illuminationem mentis quoad credenda, directionem vitae quoad agenda.  by reading of the Scriptures, Psal. 19 8, 9 they are directed by them as most faithful counsellors in all their ways, Psal. 119. 24. they are armed 
p Quod omnes tangit, ab omnibus tractari deb●t.  by them against the fiery darts of Satan, Eph. 6. 16. One seeing a youth read the Scriptures, said, It was never well since such were permitted to turn over the Bible; but he answered him in the Psalmists words, Psal. 119. 9  
6. From the unanimous Conse●t of all the Fathers, Chrysostom and jerom especially, who exhort the people to the private reading of the Scriptures, and testify that the Scriptures were publicly read in their Ecclesiastical Assemblies, not in an unknown tongue, but in a tongue understood by the people 
q Whitaker. contr. 1. quaest. 2. c. 14. makes mention of very ancient English Translations, and Turretine of old French Translations. Vide Estium ad 2 Tim. 3. 15. . It was decreed by the Council of Nice, That no Christian should be without a Bible in his house. And the Jews at this day suffer no house amongst them to be without the Bible. Christ and his Apostles teaching and disputing before the people, appeal to the Law and the Prophets, without the name of the Author, Book or Chapter, because they knew the Bible Text to be familiar to the Israelites. In an unknown tongue they cannot profit the people, Ergo, They ought to be translated into a Tongue known to the people, 
r The word of God was written by the Prophets and Apostles, Linguis vernaculis, viz. to the Hebrews in Hebrew, to the Greeks in Greek.  1 Cor. 14. 
s Vide Cajetanum in 1 Cor. 14.  The Apostle in divers verses treateth of this subject, vers. 6, 7, 19 He saith, All things ought to be done in the Church for the edifying of the people, that no man should speak in an unknown tongue, without an interpreter: and saith, That he had rather speak five words and be understood, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. Those Arguments before urged for the people's reading of the Scripture, prove this also; for they cannot read them in every Nation unless they be translated into a Tongue they understand. Christ and his Apostles taught the people the Scripture in their mother 
t Vernaculum teste. V●lla ●leg. lib. 1. cap. 5. dicitur, quod est domi nostrae, vel in nostra patria natum; ut lingua vernacula, quae vulgo dicitur lingua materna, dictum à verna, qui est servus ex ancilla, domi nostrae natus. Ebr●is ergo lingua Ebraea fuit vernacula, Graecis Graeca, Lati●is Latin●. Hoc tempore nulli sunt populi, quibus vel Hebraea, vel Graeca pura, vel Latina lingua sunt vernacula. Rive●. Isag. ad Sac. Script.  Tongue. In the next age after the Apostles (saith Grotius lib. 3. de veritate Religionis Christ.) the New Testament was translated into divers Vulgar Tongues, the Syriack, Arabic, Aethiopick, and Latin; which Versions are yet extant, and differ not mainly from the Greek.   
In the elder and purer times, the Scriptures were translated into innumerable, yea into all Tongues usual amongst men. See Gregory's Preface to the Notes on passages of Scripture. The plain and usual words, the phrase and manner of speech most frequented, the comparisons and similitudes in Scripture most familiar, taken out of the shops and fields, from Husbandry and Housewifery, from the Flock 
u Prov. 8. 9 By a man of understanding ●● meaneth every one that is ●odly, as by the ●●ol the wicked  and the Herd, show that the Scriptures were written for the capacity and understanding of the unlearned, john 5. 39 a special place; if it be indicative, it shows the custom 
x Consectary. 〈◊〉 omnes 〈◊〉 illud quod Scriptum est▪ i▪ Scrutamine ●●ripturas, ●ri●●●●●..  of the Jews; if imperative, it shows what they ought to do.  
Many amongst us are to be blamed for not having the Scripture in their houses, and for not reading it constantly in the same as they ought to do, or else they read it as other Books, not with such respect to it as the greatness of its Author deserveth; I mean with a desire and purpose to believe and obey all that they find there, which must needs be the Duty of those that confess these writings come from God. 
y See Mr Torsh●ls Woman's Glory, Cham 11. about women's reading of the Scripture.  We should receive it with reverence, believe it with confidence, exercise ourselves in it with diligence and delight, practise it with obedience.  
Reading the Scripture is a rehearsing out of the Book such things as are there written ●arely without any interpretation. It is to be done publicly, as it was in the Synagogues of the Jews who had the reading of the Law and Prophets amongst them, The Prophets were read in their ears every day, saith Paul, and after the lecture of the Law and the Prophets, in another place. From hence hath been continued the custom of Lessons of the Old and New Testament to the same purpose, 
The Churches of afric had this custom, as Augustin showeth, first, they read a Lesson out of the Prophets, than out of the Epistles and Gospel, with a Psalm between.  saith Mr Thorndike. We honour God more by a public than a private reading of it.  
2. Privately, The godly Jews of B●rea did search the Scriptures, and both King and people are commanded to read the Law, Deut. 17. 19 and 6. 7. 8. 9 What is written in the Law? How readest thou? Luke 10. 26. Matth. 12. 5. and 21. 16, 42. Christ, Peter and Paul in their preaching quote not the Chapter and verse, only say, Isaiah saith, Isaiah is bold, It is written in the Psalms, because people should be so acquainted with the Scripture, as to know where it is. See Grotius on Heb. 4. 4.  
Some good Divines hold that the Scriptures barely read (though preaching be 
Act. 17. 11. Lectio Mosis Sabbathina perantiqua est. Tempore Christi & Apostolorum usitatam fuisse liquet, Act. 15. 21 Buxtorf.  not joined with it) may be the instrument of Regeneration, since the Doctrine of the Gospel is called, The ministration of the Spirit, Psal. 19 The Law of the Lord converteth the soul, it is so when not preached; The word is a means of conversion, whether written, preached or lived, 
* A man may be converted by reading, as Luther says he was; and john Huss by reading of Wickliffs' books. There is a blessing that may be looked for by reading, Rev. 1. 3. But this is very rare. Mr Fenner on Rev. 3. 1.  2 Cor. 3. 2, 3. 1 Pet. 3. 1, 2. Psal. 51. 13. But the Word of God is made effectual by the Spirit, more often, more ordinarily to beget a new life in the preaching (that is, the interpreting and applying of it) then in the b●re reading, 1 Tim. 4. 13. Matth. 28. 29. Christ's custom was (as we may collect out of Luke 4. where one instance is recorded to make us conceive 
The Scripture doth expressly mention Baruch to have read the word in a Church-assembly without adjoining any interpretation to it, jer. 36. 6, 7. The very reading of the Word itself was an Ordinance in the Church of Israel, though no exposition followed, Deut. 31. 11, 12. 13. Deut. 27. 14. to 26. Mr Cotton, Singing of Psalms a Gospel-Ordinance, Chap. 11.  his ordinary practice) when he had read, to interpret the Scripture, and often to apply it.  
Let us all learn constantly to exercise ourselves in the writings of God, which if 
Christus Scripturas scrutari jubet, vel potius Iudaeis hoc testimonii perhibet, quod illas scrutentur. Joh. 5. 39 Zepperus.  we strive to do in a right manner, we shall attain true knowledge of the way to Heaven, and also grace and help to walk in that way. If the Lord should deny to any man the public helps of preaching and conference, yet if that man should constantly read the Word, praying to God to teach him and guide him by it, and strive to follow it in his life, he should find out the Truth, and attain saving grace, the Word would illighten and convert; but if God afford public preaching and interpretation, we must use that too as a principal ordinance.  
Let us all read 
z Scripturam sacram à legendo Cara●oc●●t ●oc●●t & Mic●a, quo● in ea legenda, cognoscenda, operae non parum ac temporis pon●ndum sit. Ideo praecipiunt, ut ●omo annos aetatis suae dividat in tres ' parts, quarum tertiam lectio●i tribuat sacrarum l●terarum. D●usius Ebraic. quaest. Karaim lectores Scripturae sacrae secta olim fuit, quae nudo textui biblico addicta erat, ac Traditiones omnes rejiciebat. Buxtorf. de Abbreviat. Hebr●i●.  the Scripture.  
1. With hearty prayers to God to direct us, and open the sense of it to us 
a Benè orasse est benè studuisse, Luther. He hath studied well who hath prayed well. , Psa. 119. 18. Prov. 2. 3. jam. 1. 5, 17. though Christ himself was the Preacher, yet he opened their understanding to conceive the Scripture, Luk. 4. 45. and with a resolution to put in practice that which we learn, jam. 1. 25. Matth. 7. 24. john 7. 17. and we shall find the Word read God's power to our edification and salvation. Only a spiritual understanding can discern an excellency in the Scripture. Nunquam Pauli sensum ingredieris, nisi Pauli spiritum imbiberis. Bern.  
2. Diligently, Attend unto reading, 1 Tim. 4. 13, 15. John 5. 39 Search the Scriptures; whether the Greek word be a metaphor from hunting dogs, or from diggers in mines, both import diligence. It was a solemn speech used in holy actions, Hoc age. The passions of the Martyrs may be read when their anniversary days are celebrated, Whence the name of Legends. Chamier. We should observe the scope and circumstance of the place, the use of the word and phrase, and compare one place with another.  
3. Orderly, That we may be better acquainted with the whole Body of the Scriptures. We should read on in Chronicles and Ezra, and other places wherein are 
Mr Pemble of the Persian Monarchy. In reading of the Scriptures men must read not here and there a Chapter (except upon some good occasion) but the Bible in order throughout, and as oft as they can, that so by little and little they may be acquainted with the Histories, and the whole course of the Scriptures. Roger's Treat. 3. c. 12.  nothing but Names and Genealogies, to show our obedience to God in reading over all his sacred Word, and we shall after reap profit by that we understand not for the present; though it will be convenient to begin with the New Testament as more plain, before we read the Old.  
4. With Faith, 
h Verbum Scriptum est objectum fidei adaequatum, primum fundamentum, à quo capit initium, & ultimum illud in quod resolvitur. Amesius de Circulo Pontificio.  Heb. 4. 2. The Word of God consisteth of four parts: 1. History, 2. Commandments, 3. Promises, 4. Threats, every thing in God's Word is to be believed. All truths taught in the History of the Scripture ought to be believed. As that the world was made of nothing, only by the Word of God, Heb. 11. 3. and that the bodies of men howsoever they died, shall rise again at the last day, job 19 26. 2. All Precepts, Genes. 22. 6. Abraham obeyed that Commandment though strange. 3. All Promises, as that God could give Abraham when he was an hundred years old, a seed and posterity which should be as innumerable as the states in the firmament; Gen. 15. 5. and that by Sarah an old and barren woman, Gen. 17. 16. Abraham and Sarah believed it, Rom. 4. 20, 21. Heb. 11. 11. 4. threatenings, 
Prima veritas est fidei objectum formale quo; & Deus ipse sive absolute, sieve in Christo est ejusdem objectum formale quod. ●d. ibid.  as that Gen. 6. 13, 17. though unlikely, Noah believed it, 2 Pet. 2. 5. because God had said it, Heb. 11. 7. and that jonah 3. 4. the people of Nineveh believed, v. 5. In narrando gravitas, in imperando authoritas, in promittendo liberalitas, in minando s●veritas. Spanhem. orat. de officio Theologi.  
We read therefore of faith in the Promises Psal. 119. 49. Faith in the Commandments, Psal. 119. 66. Faith in the threatenings, Heb. 11. 6. but Faith in the threatenings is not so much urged, because guilty nature in itself is presaging of evil.  
5. Constantly. Cyprian was so much delighted with the reading of Tertullian, that he read something in him every day, and called him his Master, 
* Divinas Scripturas saepius lege, imò nunquam de manibus tuis sacra lectio deponatur. Hieron. ad Nepotian. de vita Cleric.  Da Magistrum. Let God's command, the examples of the godly, and our own benefit quicken us to a frequent reading of the holy Scriptures. Mr Bifield hath a Calendar, showing what number of Chapters are to be read every day, that so the whole Bible may be read over in the year. The number of Chapters while you are reading the Old Testament, is for the most part three a day, and when you come to the New Testament it is but two 
c Bifields' Directions for private reading the Scriptures. See Practice of Piety, p. 314.  sometimes where the matter is Historical or Typical, or the Chapters short, he hath set down a greater number. The Martyrs would sit up all night in reading and hearing.  
After we have read and understood the Scripture, we must, 1. Give thanks to God for the right understanding of it, and pray him to imprint the true knowledge of it in our hearts, that it may not fall out. 2. We must meditate in the Word of God understood, and so fix it in our minds. One defines Meditation thus: It is an action of the soul calling things to mind or remembrance, and discoursing of them, that they might be the better understood, retained, affected and possessed. 
What meditation is. See Mr Fenner on Hag. 1. 5. A young Disciple ask an old Rabbi, Whether he might not have time to learn the Greek Tongue, he said, If he would do it neither by night nor by day, he might, because by night and day he was to study the Law, Ps. 1. 2.  It is as it were every man's preaching to himself, and is a setting one's self seriously to consider in his mind, and apply to his own soul some necessary truth of God's word, till the mind be informed, and the heart affected, as the nature thereof requires, and is the wholsomest and usefullest of all exercises of piety. This is to ingraff the Word into ones soul, to give the seed much earth; this is to bind it to the Tables of our heart, and to hide it in the furrows of our souls; this is to digest it, and make it our own. 3. We 
c Meditatio est actus religionis seu exercitium spirituale, quo Deum & res divinas intenta, experimentali, & effectuosa cognitione recordamur, nobisque applicamus. Voetius.  must apply to our own use whatsoever things we read and understand the precepts and examples of the Law to instruct our life, the Promises and Comforts of the Gospel to confirm our faith.  
It serves for Thankfulness, 1. That now we have the Scripture: the world was 
4 Consectary.  a long time without it; it was the more wicked, because they had no Canon of Scripture. We are not like to err by Tradition, as former Ages have done. 2. That 
Some gave five marks for a Book. Fox.  we have so great a part of Scripture, and in our vulgar Tongue; the Martyrs would have given a load of Hay for a few Chapters of St james or Paul in English. 3. That we have so great helps for the opening of the Scripture; so many excellent Expositors; 
Quo juniores eo perspicaciores. Salmeron.  Compare Mollerus on the Psalms, with Augustine. As the later thoughts are usually the more advised, so the later Interpreters are generally the quicker sighted.  
All those are to be reproved which contemn or unreverently handle the Scriptures. 
5 Consectary.   

1. Atheists, 
f Speculative and practical Atheists. Speculative Atheism in the judgement consists in maintaining corrupt principles: Practical, in going on in ways which deny Gods Attributes. It argued a profane spirit in Politian, who said, That there was more in one of Pindars Odes then all David's Psalms.  who impiously oppose the Word of God, and all profane wretches, who live loosely and wickedly, their doom is written in this book. julian the Apostate, when Christians craved help against all their injuries, would ask with mocks and scoffs, Why they did complain when the Galilean their Master bade them do good for evil: If any one would take away their Coat, that then they should give him also their Cloak.  
2. Papists, who 1. Set up Images and Pictures in stead of the Scripture; the Scriptures (they say) may teach men errors, but may not Pictures?  
2. Equal the Apocrypha and unwritten verities, or rather vanities with the sacred Scriptures.  
3. Charge the Scriptures with insufficiency 
g jis, qui maximè sibi Christianorum, Catholicorum nomen venditant, nihil tam solenne est, tamque vulgatum, quam Scripturas calumniari. Chamier.  and obscurity, allow it not to be a perfect Rule.  
4. Make it of no force to bind our consciences unless the Pope ratify it.  
5. Give the Pope power to dispense with things therein forbidden, yea and with oaths and vows, which no Scripture dispenseth withal.  
6. Teach that the vulgar Latin is to be received as Authentic.  
7. Wrest and turn it which way they 
h Quam verè dixerit olim Polydorus Virgilius, Doctores quosdam Pontificios sacras literas, quo volunt, retorquere, instar sutorum, qui sordidas pelles suis dentibus extendunt.  please, Isa. 28. 16. Cardinal Bellarmine in praefat. lib. de Summo Pontifice, and Baronius, say, That by precious and corner stone in this place, the Pope of Rome, although less principally, is meant, who is a stumbling stone to Heretics, and a rock of offence, but to Catholics a tried, precious corner stone; yet Peter 1. 2. 6. & 8. expoundeth those words, not of himself, but of Christ. Bellarmine from Matth. 21. Feed my Lambs and Sheep 
i Pasce oves meas, hoc est, regio more impera. Thomas ex Aristotele, Patribus, Conciliis, & barbara Bibliorum versione magnum illud System● compilavit, cui titulum Summae fecit: Liber sententiarum & Summa Thomae, tanquam duo Testamenta, in pulpita introducti sunt. Amama. , would infer the Pope's universal Dominion. Baronius from the Acts, Kill and cat, Psalm. 8. 6. under his feet, that is, say they, of the Pope of Rome; Sheep] i. Christians; Oxen] that is, Jews and Heretics; Beasts of the field, i Pagans; Fowls of the air, i Angels; Fishes of the Sea, i souls in Purgatory.   
They have Tapers in their Churches in the day time, because Christ saith, I am the light of the world: or because they had such at midnight, Acts 20. 8. where Paul preached.  
This is the great fault of the School-Divines, that they handle Paul and Aristotle, Suae curiositati litantes potius, quam pietati; so that he is counted most learned amongst them who dares to seek, and presumes to define most things out of the Scripture. What Distinctions, Orders, Degrees and Offices do they make of Angels? What curious Questions do they raise? What use would there have been of Sexes, if Adam had not sinned? Whether Christ should have been incarnate if there had been no sin? and infinite such like.  
The Schoolmen perverting the 
k Cum Mose ●ugnant, cum Prophetis, cum Apostolis, cum Christo ipso, ac Deo Patre & Spiritu sancto, qui sacras literas & oracula divina contemnunt. Bellar. de verb. Dei. l. 1. c. 2.  Scriptures have profaned Divinity with Philosophy, or rather Sophistry, and yet are called School-Divines, 
l D● Clerk.  when they are neither Scholars in Truth, nor Divines.  
Behold two Swords, Luk. 22. 38. therefore the Pope hath two Swords, one Spiritual, another Temporal, 1 Cor. 2. 15. ergo, The Pope judgeth of all things, and is judged of none.  
The Papists style the Scripture Regulam Lesbiam, Nasum cereum, Evangelium nigrum, Theologiam atramentariam. A Lesbian Rule, a Nose of wax, the black Gospel, inky Divinity.  
Bishop Bonner's Chaplain called the Bible, his little pretty God's Book; 
m Dr Rainolds against Hart.  Giford and Raynolds said, it contained some things profane and Apocryphal.  
Leo the tenth the Pope, when he admired at the Money gotten by Indulgences, he is reported to have said to Cardinal Bembus: Bembe, quantum nobis profuit fabula de Christo? The same man when Bembus brought a place out of the New Testament to comfort him dying, said, Apage istas nugas de Christo. Paraei Medulla Hist. Eccl●s.  
Many wicked men abuse Scripture, they say they must not be too precise, and urge Eccles. 7. 18. they bring that place, Eccles. 3. 4. to justify mixed dancing: that Matth. 25. 27. For usury: that 1 Cor. 9 20. for temporising and complying with all companies, and many that were Professors formerly deny Scripture, they call it a fancy, a mere forgery, the Bible a Riddle.  
The Rebels in Ireland took the Bibles, threw them into the channels, 
n Dr jones his Remonstrance. See S ● john Temple of the Irish Rebellion, pag. 108.  and cast them into the fire, and called it Hell-fire, and wished they could serve all the rest so.  
But I may say of the Gospel, as the French Lady of the Cross, Never dog barked at the Cross, but he ran mad.  
Contra rationem nemo sobrius, contra Ecclesiam nemo Pacificus, contra Scripturas nemo Christianus.  
Thirdly, The Brownists vainly and idly 
o Non d●bet Scriptura quacunque occasione detorqueri à genuino sensu. Imò quod●mmodo foedius est, ●itando detorqu●re: quia indicium est, nos tum Scripture is abuti ad arbitrium & tanquam regulam Lesbiam pro nostro commodo ●uc illuc de●orquere. Hoc verò quum semper verum est, tum maximè in disputatione: quantum enim illud ●rime● est, ut qui aliorum me●d●●i● refutare profitetur, ipse se ita gerat, ut falsarius appellari possit! Chamier. de Canone, lib. 8. c. ●. How the Jews wrest and pervert places of Scripture. See Dilheri Electa, l. 1. c. 15. Dum Scripturas interpretari aggred●●ntur, Coribantum s●mn●● & imaginationes, non hominum sanorum expositiones afferunt. Buxtorf Syntag. judaic. c▪ 1. Satan endeavours in this later age to enervate the Word two ways, 1. In labouring to weaken the Authority of the Old Testament, 2 Tim. 3. 15. given by inspiration, and profitable go together. 2. Men deny all consequences out of Scripture, will have nothing Scripture but what is there in so many words, Matth. 2. ult. james 3. 5. See john 5. 39 There were no other Scriptures to search then but only those of the Old Testament, for none of the New were written till after Christ's Death and Resurrection. See Mr Cooks Font uncovered for In●ant Baptism, pag. 24, 25.  quote the Scripture, filling their margins with many Texts of Scripture, but nothing to the purpose, and misapply it; they allege those Texts of Isa. 52. 51. and Revel. 18. 4. to draw men from all the Assemblies of God's people, whither any wicked men do resort.  
Fourthly, The Antinomians or Antinomists, who cry down the Law of God, and call those that preach the Law, Legal Preachers, and stand for Evangelical grace; the Law is part of Canonical Scripture, and hath something peculiar in it, being written with the finger of God, and delivered with Thunder and Lightning. See Master Gatakers Treatise on Numb. 23. 21. and Master Burgess his Lectures on 1 Tim. 1. 8, 9 Master Bedford's Examination of Antinomianism.  
Those that under a colour of advancing free grace, cry down the Law of God, are enemies to God, to the people of God, to the Gospel, 1. To God in crying down his Law, this is to let every one be at liberty, and do what he list. ●. To the people of God, the Law is to them a Light, a Guide, a Rule, a Councillor. 3. To the Gospel, the Law is subservient to it, 1. In discovering of sin, by the Law comes the knowledge of sin, and the malignity of it against God and the souls of men; 2. In driving men to Christ, Gal. 3. 24. 3. In exalting freegrace, 1 Tim. 1. 13, 14. and the value of Christ's blood.  
Fifthly, Stage-players, who jest with Scriptures; Witches and others, which use charms, writing a piece of St john's Gospel to cure a disease, or the like, are to be condemned for abusing the Scripture. Per voces sacras (puta Evang. johannis, Orationem 
Hujus generis inter Papistas, sunt brevia collo appensa Ave Maria cum Oratione Dominica in globulis, a● certum numerum recitat●. Ames. lib. 4. de Conscientia, cap. 23.  Dominicam frequenter cum Ave Maria recitatam, Symbolum Apostolicum, etc.) morbos curare magicum est. Voetius.  
Sixthly, Printers, who print the Bible in bad Paper, a blind print, and corruptly, are likewise to be blamed.  
Seventhly, The Heathens and Jews. Tacitus calls the Doctrine of the Gospel, Superstitionem 
Iud●i Evangelium dici volunt, qua●i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aven Gilion, id est, mendacium seu in●quit●tem voluminis. Gualtperius. 1 Cor. 1. 22.  quandam exitiabilem.  
The Modern Jews call Evangelium Avengilion▪ a volume of lies, word for word, the iniquity of the Volume; The blasphemous Jews mean (I suppose) the volume of iniquity. Elias Levita in Thisbi mentions this Etymology or rather Pseudology of the word; but P. Fagius abhorred to translate it.  
The Jews think they show great reverence to the Bible, if they place it not under but above all other books, if they do not touch it with unwashen hands, especially after they have been disburdening of nature, if they kiss it as often as they open and shut it, if they sit not on that seat where the Bible is, but they are not in the mean while solicitous to do and perform what the Bible teacheth, viz. Faith, Charity, Justice, Innocency of life, which are the chief parts of Piety. They bend all their thoughts, not to draw out the true and genuine sense of the holy Ghost out of the Scriptures, but how they may by usury and other most unjust means extort money from Gojim, that is, the Gentiles. Paulus Fagius in his Annotat. on Deut. 17. 17.  
Scripture Arguments are the chiefest to convince an unbeliever. Christ by divers 
6 Consectary.  Arguments, john 5. labours to convince the Jews that he was the Messiah promised. 1. john bare witness of him, vers. 33. 2. His works bare witness of him, verse 36. 3. The Father did bear witness of him, vers. 37. 4. He produceth the Testimony of the Scriptures, vers. 39 They are they which testify of me. Will you not believe john, my miracles, my Word from Heaven, then believe the written Word. If we believe not the Testimomy of Scripture, nothing will convince us, though one rise from the dead; nor Christ himself, if he were here in the flesh and should preach unto us, joh. 5. ult.  
The Lord in executing of his Judgements commonly observes proportion 
It is a gradation. Luk. 16. 31.  and retaliation. Antichrist is the greatest opposite to God's Law and Word, he is called therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 2 Thess. 2. 8. The lawless one; He is without Law, above Law, against Law; He abuseth Scripture, takes upon him to jud●● and interpret Scripture, therefore it shall be his ruin, 2 Thess. 2. 8. God shall destroy him with the Spirit of his mouth, id est, Verbo suo. Beza. God hath consecrated the Word to this purpose; the end of it is not only to save, but destroy, being the savour of death to some; and it is a fit instrument for such a work. Antichrists strength is in men's consciences; only this will pierce thither, Heb. 4. 12. God useth the Word for the destruction of Antichrist, these ways: 1. It discovers him, his doctrine, his errors. 2. It hardens him. 3. It condemneth him, and passeth sentence against him.     

CHAP. III. II. The Books of Scripture.  
FRom the Divine ●lows the Canonical Authority of the Scripture. The books 
Tum antiqui Theologi, Basilius, Chrysostomus Augustinus; tum recentiores, celeberrimi nominis inter adversarios, Thomas Aquinas, Ferus, Andradius, aliique Scripturam Canonis nomine designant, aut designatam asserunt, tanquam intellectus & voluntatis regulam ad ●uncta, seu credenda, seu agenda, perfectissimam. Rainoldus Thesi 1. M ● Hobbes in his Leviathan part. 3. chap. 33. saith, Those Books only are Canonical, which are established for such by Sovereign Authority. Then in the times of Popery the Apocrypha were Canonical.  of Scripture are called Canonical books (say some) from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which word is used 2 Cor. 10. 13. Phil. 3. 16. Gal. 6. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, mark the double Emphasis, this notable Canon, because they were put into the Canon by the Universal Church, and acknowledged to be divinely inspired by it, and also are made a perfect Canon or Rule of all Doctrine concerning Religion, Credendorum & agendorum, of Faith and Manners, of all things which are to be believed or done toward salvation. But Cameron thinks it is not termed Canonical, because it is a Rule, for that book (saith he) is called Canonical, which is put into the Catalogue (which the Ancients called a Canon) of those writings which are esteemed Divine. Becanus saith, They are called Canonical 
a Scripturae dicu●tur Canonicae, quia quid nos credere, & quemadmodum vivere oporteat, praescribunt, ut huc fidem omnem, vitamque nostram referamus, quemadmodum l●p●cida aut architectus ad amussim & perpendiculum opus suum exigit. Whitakerus de Script. controvers. prima Quoestione prima. cap. 2. Libri sacrae Scripturae C●nonici dicuntur: quia fidei morumque regulam continent. Whitakerus & Scharpius de sacra Scriptura. , both because they contain a Rule which we ought to follow in faith and manners, and because they are put into the Catalogue of Divine books.  
The Conditions of a Canon are these.  

1. It must contain Truth, or be an express Form and Image of Truth, which is in the Divine mind.  
2. It must be commanded, sanctified and confirmed by Divine Authority, that it may be a Canon to us in the Church.   
These books were sanctified, either commonly, all of both Testaments, by the Testimony of the Spirit, and Church, and Canon itself; or the books of the Old Testament were specially and singularly confirmed by Word, Signs and Event, as the Pentateuch, but the Prophetical books and Hagiographa before their carrying into Babylon by extraordinary sign, the Cloud and Veil in the Temple, 1 King. 8. 10. Levit. 16. 2. and God's answer by Ephod, Urim and Thummim, Exod. 28. 30. after their carrying away into Babylon by singular testimonies of events. The books of the New Testament are confirmed by the Son of God revealed in flesh, by his sayings and deeds, Heb. 1. 2. and by the powerful Ministry of the Apostles, by Signs, Virtues and Miracles, Mark 16. 20.  
There is a threefold Canon in the Church, Divine, Ecclesiastical, and 
Proprii Canoni● dicti univocè due conditiones sunt inseparabiles, quod verit●tem divinam contineat divinitus materia & forma, & quod Authoritate Divina publicae Ecclesiae datus & sancti●icatus, ut ●it Canon sive Regula ipsius, atque hic verè Divinus Canon, Jun. animadvers. in Bellarm.  False.  
The Divine Canon is that which properly and by itself is called the Word of God, immediately inspired of God into the Prophets and Apostles.  
This according to the divers times of the Church is distinguished into the Old and New Testament, 2 Cor. 3. 6, 14. this is a common division of the sacred Bible among Christians, as in the version of Tremellius and junius, Testamenti veteris & novi Biblia sacra; and the Geneva gives that Title to their Bible, La Bible, qui est toute la Saint Escriture du vi●l & noveau Testament. Augustine thinks they are better called, Vetus & novum Instrumentum. Heinsius & Grotius, Vetus & novum Foedus. Vide Grotii Annotat. in libros Evangelii. A Covenant is an Agreement between two; a Testament is the Declaration of the Will of one.  
It is called in regard of the Form, Convention and Agreement between God and man, a Covenant; in regard of the manner of confirming it a Testament. For 1. In a Testament or last Will the Testators mind is declared, so is the Will of God in his Word, therefore it is called a Testimony often, Psal. 19 and 119. 2. Here is a Testator, Christ; a Legacy, eternal life; Heirs, the Elect; a Writing, the Scripture; Seals, the Sacraments. 3. Because it is ratified by the death of Christ, Heb. 9 16, 17.  
The Books of the Old Testament are the holy Scriptures given by God to the 
Est mater Ecclesia & ubera ejus duo Testamenta Divinarum Scripturarum. Aug. Tract. 3. in epist. Joh.  Church of the Jews, showing them what to believe, and how God would be worshipped: The New Testament containeth the books which treat of salvation already exhibited, and Christ already come in the flesh.  
All the books of the Old Testament were written originally 
b Ut veterum librorum ●ides, de Hebraeis voluminibus examinanda est, ita novorum veritas Graeci sermonis ●ormam desiderat. August.  in Hebrew, because they were committed unto the Hebrews, Rom. 3. 2. except what Daniel 
c From the fourth verse of the second Chapter of Daniel to the end of the seventh Chapter; and from the eighth verse of the fourth Chapter of Ezrah unto the end of the seventh, the Chaldee Dialect is used. Omnes libri Canonici veteris Testamenti Ebraicè scripti fuerunt. Daniele & Ezra sunt quaedam parts Chaldaicae, nempè quae ab iis ex publicis Annalibus & fastis regni desumptae fuerant, in quorum Monarchia tum vivebant, ut observavit doctissimus Junius.  and Ezra wrote in the Chaldee. The Jewish Church receiving them from God, kept them and delivered them to Posterity. Many grave Authors hold, That the Hebrew was the first Tongue, and Mother of all the rest; and it may probably be collected from the names of our first Parents. It was called Hebrew (saith Erpenius) not from Heber of the Posterity of Shem, as josephus, jerom, and others think, when it is manifest that he rather spoke Chaldee then Hebrew, because Abraham the Patriarch, which drew his original from him was a Chaldean; but it was so called, saith Erpenius 
d Erpenius orat. de ling. Ebr. dignitate. Some say the Hebrews were so called from Abraham's passing over Euphrates. Id. ibid. Vide Bocharti Geogr. Sac. l. 2. c. 14.  (as all the Rabbins, Origen and others testify) from the Hebrews, which people arose from Canaan. It is honoured with the Title of the Holy Tongue (saith the same Erpenius) because the most holy God spoke it to his Prophets, delivered his holy Will written in it to the Church; and because it is very probable from the opinion of great men, that holy men shall use it with God hereafter in Heaven. Vide Buxtorfium de Linguae Hebraeae origine, Antiquitate & Sanctitate. There are many Hebraisms also in the New Testament, many words and phrases rather used according to the manner of the Hebrews then the Greeks; by which it is manifest that the same Spirit was the Author of the Old and New Testament. The knowledge of the Hebrew much conduceth to the learning of those famous oriental Tongues, the Chaldee, Syriack, Arabic and Aethiopick, by reason of the great affinity which they have with their Mother.  
The Books of the Old Testament may be divided several ways; in respect of the Style, some were written in Prose, some in Verse: in respect of Time, some were written before their being taken Captives into Babylon, as Samuel, Isaiah, Hosea, and many others; some in the Captivity 
f As Ezekiel, Daniel. jerom hath followed this division of the Hebrews. , and some after, as Haggai, Zachary, Malachi. The Hebrews divide the Bible (ex instituto Esdrae) into three special parts 
* Buxtorf. Tiberias, c. 11. . 1. The Law, the five books of Moses. 2. The Prophets. ●. The former, joshua, judges, two books of Samuel, and two of the Kings, so called because they speak of the first Prophets. 2. The later. 1. Greater, three. 2. Lesser, twelve.  
3. The Hagiographa, for want of a more special name, by which title all the rest are understood, and they are eleven 
g Both the Chronicles, the Psalms, Proverbs, job, Ruth, Daniel, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Lamentations, Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah, counted for one book. . Our Saviour himself mentions this most ancient distinction, Luk. 24. 44. calling all the rest of the books (besides the Law and Prophets) Psalms. Ubi Psalmi ponuntur pro omnibus libris, qui Hagiographorum parte continentur, ex quibus etiam in N. T. quaedam citantur, tanquam impleta. Buxtorf. Tiberias. cap. 11. In Masora, quando vox aliqua ter duntaxat reperitur, & quidem in tribus his Scripturae partibus, tum dicunt: Ter occurrit, Semel in Lege, semel in Prophetis, semel in Hagiographis. Id. ib.  
All the Scriptures of the Old Testament (in other places) are comprised in the 
Mark 1. 2. John 6. 45. 1. In ea parte Scripturae quae Proph●tas continet, in volumine Prophetico. Buxtorf. Tiberias c. 11.  Law and Prophets, Matth. 5. 17. & 7. 12. and 11. 13. & 20. 40. Acts 13. 15. & 24. 14, & 26. 22. & 28. 23. Rom. 3. 21. or Moses and the Prophets, Luk. 24. 27. & 16. 29. or in the Scriptures of the Prophets, Rom. 16. 26. or the Prophet's alone, Luke 1. 70. & 24. 25, 27. Rom. 1. 2. Heb. 1. 1. the name Prophet being taken as it is given to every holy Writer.  
The Jews and the Ancient reckon twenty two 
h Joseph. contra Appian. l. 1. Euseb. l. 3. c. 10. Hieron. Praef. in lib. Reg. Some of the Jews reckon four and twenty. See Sixtus Senensis his Biblioth. lib. 1. Sect. 2. Some twenty and seven.  Books in the Old Testament, according to the number of the Letters of the Alphabet for memory sake. Ruth being joined with the Book of judges; and the Lamentations being annexed to jeremiah their Author. Hebraeis sunt initiales & medianae literae 22, finales quinque. Quamobrem V. T. modò in 22. modò in 27. libros partiuntur.  
All the books of both Testaments are sixty six, thirty nine of the Old, and twenty seven of the New Testament. Some would have Hugo Cardinal to be the first Author of that division of the Bible into Chapters, which we now follow. No man 
Waltherus in officina Biblica, p. 237. As the Massorites reckoned all the words and letters, so some Christians all the verses of the Bible.  put the Verses in the Latin Bibles before Robert Stephen; and for the New Testament he performed that first, being 
i Henric. Steph. Lect. in Concordant. Graec. N. T. Grotius de jure Belli, l. 1. c. 2. Rivetus. Isag. ad Script●sac. c. 29.  holpen by no book Greek or Latin. Vide Croii observat. in Nou. Test. c. 7.  
This Arithmetical Distinction of Chapters, which we have in our Bibles was not from the first Authors. Of which that is an evident token, that in all the Quotations which are read in the New Testament out of the Old; there is not found any mention of the Chapter, which would not have been altogether omitted, if all the Bibles had then been distinguished by Chapters, as ours 
k We are not too superstitiously to adhere to our late division. See Heinsius prolegom. ad exercit. , distinguishing of the Bible into Chapters and Verses, much helps the Reader, but it sometimes obscures the sense. Dr Raynolds 
l Dr Raynolds his Letter for the study of Divinity.  gives this counsel to young Students in the study of Divinity, that they first take their greatest travail with the help of some learned Interpreter in understanding St john's Gospel, and the Epistle to the Romans, the sum of the New Testament, Isaiah the Prophet, and the Psalms of David, the sum of the Old, and in the rest they shall do well also, if in harder places they use the judgement of some godly Writer, as Calvin and P. Martyr who have written best on the most part of the Old Testament. 
Usitata divisio sacrorum librorum in capita, & ab hominibus est, & recens; sicut demonstravit Sixtus Senensis. Rainold. de Roman▪ Eccles. Idol. Admonit. ad Lectorem. Nos Codices quosdam ita scriptos vidimus, ut nulla in illis extet vocum distinctio, sed singulae lineae, uno tenore scriptae sint, atque unicam vocem constituere videantur. Croii observat. in N. T. cap. 2. Vide plura ibid. & c●p. 4, 7.   
The Books of the Old Testament are; 1. Legal, 2. Historical. 3▪ Poetical. 4. Prophetical. 
Pentateuchum à quinque voluminibus dicitur: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e●im Graecis quinque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 volumen vocatur. Isid. l. 6. In judaica Ecclesia, etsi summa fuerit omnium librorum veteris Testamenti, Dignitas & Authoritas, maxima tamen fuit quinque librorum Mosis. Rivetus.   
1. Legal (which the Hebrews call from the chief part Torah, Deut. 31. 9 & 33. 4. the Grecians from the number Pentateuch, that is, the fivefold volume) the five Books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all written by Moses (as it is commonly agreed) except the last Chapter in the end of Deuteronomy concerning his death, written by joshua. In which five Books are described the things done in the Church from the beginning of the world to the death of Moses. Atque hîc finitur Pentateuchum, historiam annorum 2552. cum dimidio, ab initio mundi complectens. R. Usserius in Annal. V. T. cap. 37. Vide Sims. Paras. ad Chron. Cathol. cap. 1. The Sadduces (as some say) received no other Scripture but these five Books of Moses; therefore Christ, Matth. 22. 32. proves the Resurrection of the dead, which they denied, out of the second Book of Moses; but Scultetus saith, that they rejected not the Prophets, lib. 1. exercit. Evang. cap. 22. See my Annotat. on Matth. 22. 23.  
Anciently it was not the custom of holy Writers to add Titles to what they had written, but either they left their works altogether without Titles, or the first words were Titles, the Titles now in use, as Genesis, Exodus, were prefixed according to the arbitrement of men; and the like is to be thought of those before the Historical Books of the New Testament, as Matthew, Mark, Luke, john.  
With the Hebrews the Titles of Books are taken sometimes from the subject Matter or Argument, as in the Books of judges, Ruth, Kings, Proverbs, and others 
Spanhem. Dub. Evangel. parte tertia▪ Dub. 1. In Prologo Galeato.  of that kind; sometimes from the Authors or amanuensis rather, as in the Books of joshua and the Prophets; sometimes from the initial words with which the Books begin, which jerom follows. The Books of Moses are denominated from the initial words.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. In Principio. i e. 
m Nomina horum quinque librorum ab Hebraeis sumuntur de primis verbis librorum, Graeci & Latini denominant hos libros à materia de qua▪ agitur in principio libri. Bellarminus. Sims. Parasc. ad Chron. Cathol. c. 1.  Genesis. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Haec nomina. h. e. Exodus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. Et vocavit. h. e. Leviticus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. In Deserto. i e. Numeri. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. Verba. sive Deuteronomium.  
These are subdivided again into 
n See my Epistle to my Heb. Critica Sacra, and Thorndike of Religious Assemblies, chap. 6. pag. 175, 176.  fifty four Sections, that the reading of them may be finished in so many Sabbaths, which is signified, Act. 15. 21.  
junius, Ainsworth and Amama, with Calvin, Cornelius a Lapide and Piscator, have done well on the Pentateuch.  
1. Genesis] In Hebrew Bereshith, the first word of the Book, by the Septuagint it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which appellation the Latin Church retained, because it sets forth the first generation of things, Chap. 2. 4. and of Adam or mankind, Gen. 5. 1. It consists of fifty Chapters, and contains a History of two thousand three hundred 
Two thousand three hundred and eight saith Sixtus Senensis.  and sixty nine years from the Creation of the World, to the death of joseph.  
The best Expositors of this Book are Mercer, Rivet, Paraeus, Calvin, Peter Martyr on forty Chapters, Willet, Ainsworth.  
Origen upon the Canticles, and jerom 
o Hieron▪ in prologo in Eze. & Epist. fam. l 1. Epist. 32. Eustochio, Mercer. praefat. in Gen. & Cantic. Vossius in Thesibus de creatione. Vide Estium ad Ezec. 40. 46.  upon Ezekiel say, That the Hebrews forbade those that had not attained to the Age of the Priesthood, and judgement, viz. thirty years, to read in three Books for their profundity and difficulty; that is, the beginning of the World, which is contained in the three first Chapters of Genesis, the beginning and end of Ezekiel, since that treats of the Cherubins, and the Divine Majesty, this of the structure of the third Temple; and the Song of Songs, in which those things which ought to be understood of the Divine Author, are easily through youthful affection elsewhere drawn and wrested.  
This Book of Genesis is not only profitable, but very necessary for Doctrine; as Moses is the Prince, and as it were, Parent of Divines: So Genesis is the foundation and excellent Compendium of all Divinity, propounding evidently the chief parts of it.  
2. Exodus 
p Significat exitum siliorum scilicet Israel de ● Egypto, ut in terram Chanaan prosiciscerentur. Menochius. ] The second Book of Moses is called in Hebrew Elle Sh●moth, in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which word the Latins have retained. It consists of forty Chapters, and contains a History (say junius and Tremellius) of one hundred forty two years 
* An hundred forty six, saith Senensis. , viz. from the death of joseph even to the building of the Tabernacle.  
The best Expositors of it, are Rivet, Calvin, Willet, Ainsworth.  
3. Leviticus 
q Barbara Turcarum gens hodie Mosis doctrinam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comprehensam, non aliter quam divinam veneratur, adeo ut etiam chartarum lacinias, quibus al●quid ejus fortè inscriptum sit, deosculetur. Paraeus praefat. de libris Mosis. Evangelistae & Apostoli in Novo Testamento, centies quinquagies & amplius in narr●tionibus & concionibus suis Mosaici Canonis Authoritatem adducunt, ut suum cum Mose & Prophetis consensum comprobent. Id. ibid. ] In Hebrew Vajicra, in Greek and Latin Leviticus, from the matter which it handleth, because it treats especially of the Levitical Priesthood, and the Levitical or Ceremonial Laws in it. It consists of seven and twenty Chapters, and contains a History of one Month, viz. of the first, in the second year after their going out of Egypt.  
The best Expositors of it are Calvin, Ainsworth and Willet.  
4. Number's] In Hebrew Vaiedabber, in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in Latin Numeri, in English Numbers, because it begins with declaring the Number of the people, and because many numberings are reckoned up in this Book, as first, third, and thirty three Chapters. It contains a History of thirty eight years, and consists of thirty six Chapters.  
The best Expositors of it are Calvin, Attersol, Ainsworth.  
5. Deuteronomy 
r Est enim Deuteronomium sive ut Philo loquitur Epinomis, nihil aliud quam lex & historia summatim repetita in lorum gratiam qui promulgationi legis rebusque illis non inter●u●rant. Grotius in Exod. 20. ] In Hebrew Haddebarim, from the first words, in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which the Latin retains, because it contains a second repetition of many necessary points of the Law. It consists of thirty four Chapters, and contains a History of the two last months of the year. Some say concerning Ch. 34. 10. that part of it was written by Ezra contemporary with Malachi.  
The best Expositors of it are Calvin, Ainsworth, Wolphius; Cornelius a Lapide.  
2. The Historical Books. 
The Hebrews divide the Books into four Classes. The first is called Thorah, that is, the Law, containing the five Books of Moses.   

1. Before the Captivity, joshua, judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings.  
2. After the Captivity, both the Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah.   
The sixth Book in the Old Testament is called joshua, because it contains a History of things done by joshua the servant of Moses, which he by the will of God put in writing, it being all written by him, except some of the last Chapter, where mention is made of his death, and thought to be written by Samuel. It consists of twenty four Chapters, and contains a History of eighteen years, viz from the death of Moses even to the death of joshua.  
The best Expositors of it are 
s De cujus ingenti at perquam solida erudition, raraque & accurata diligentia nunquam satis dici potest. Muis Assert. 3. Heb. ver.  Masius and Serarius for Papists, Drusius and Lavater 
The second Nebiim Reshonim, the Books of the former Prophets, as joshua, judges, Samuel, Kings. The third Nebiim A●haronim, later Prophets, Isaiah, jeremiah, Ezekiel. And the lesser being twelve but one Book. The fourth Sepher Ketubim the Hagiographal Books.  of Protestants.  
The seventh Book is called Sophetim, judges, because it contains things done under 
It was written as 'tis likely, by divers Prophets Matth. 2. ult. Vide Bezam, Bucer. & Calvin. in loc.  the Government of the twelve Judges. There is nothing certain of the Author of this Book, though some would have Samuel: but he rather collected and compiled into one Volume what was written by many. It describes the state of the Government of Israel, from the death of joshua even to the Priesthood of 
t Petrus Martyr in praefat. come. in lib. jud. scribit, alios putare unumquemque judicem suorum temporum res gestas conscripsisse, quaepostea Samuel (eorum monumenta cum dissecta essent) in unum quoddam corpus seu volumen coegerit.  Eli. It consists of twenty one Chapters, and contains a History of two hundred ninety nine years, say some; of three hundred at least, saith Spanhemius.  
The best Expositors of it are Peter Martyr, Drusius, Lavater, Serrarius.  
The eighth is Ruth, the Author of which Book is unknown; many think it was 
Aliqui hujus libri auctorem faciunt Ezechiam Regem, alij Esdram, alij Samuelem, que opinio verior videtur, & pluribus nititur conjecturis, & graviores habet assertores, & etiam plures. Menochius.  written by Samuel, who added this as a part or conclusion of the Book of judges. It consists of four Chapters, and is an History concerning the marriage and posterity of Ruth.  
The best Expositors of it are Drusius, Wolphius, Lavater, Topsel.  
The ninth in order are the two Books of Samuel 
u The Authors of these Books of Samuel, are thought to be Samuel, Nathan and Gad: Samuel of the first Book to the twenty fifth Chapter, where his death is rehearsed, Nathan and Gad continued it, 1 Chron. 29. 29. , which contain in them an History of an hundred and twenty years. The first beginning an History of eighty years, of forty under Eli, 1 Sam. 4. 18. and of forty under Samuel and Saul, Act. 13. 21. and consists of one and thirty Chapters. The second Book is a History of forty years, even from the death of Saul to the end of David's Kingdom, and consists of four and twenty Chapters. These two Books in the Original have two several Titles: 
x They are called the first and second of Kings by the Greeks and Latins. They contain a large History of things done by Kings, the History of Samuel being preposed. The Ordinary Gloss saith, he wrote a good part of the first Book. Scriptor horum librorum quatuor Hebraeorum eruditissimis creditur esse jeremias. Sermonis forma non discrepat. Eum credibile est usum commentariis illis Nathanis & Gadi● Prophetarum, quorum mentio, 1 Paral. 29. 29. Grotius.  The one is the first and second of Kings, the other the first and second of Samuel. The former Title it hath received as it stands in relation to the two next Books, and in opposition to that of judges; for as in that Story the Regiment of judges was described in one Book; so in this Story, of which these two are but one part, the Regiment of Kings is described: this is the reason of the first Title. The other likewise of the first and second of Samuel is given unto it, 1. Because there is very frequent mention made of Samuel therein, he being a principal subject of the first part thereof. 2. Because it continueth the narration so far, till the infallible truth of samuel's principal Prophecy (which seemed to remain in great doubtfulness, at least when he ended his days) was fully accomplished in establishing the Kingdom upon the Person and Family of David the son of jesse.  
The best Expositors of both the samuel's, are Peter Martyr, Drusius; Willet also hath expounded them, but not so well as he hath other Books of Scripture.  
The tenth is the two Books of the Kings, in Hebrew Melachim, in Greek and 
Because they reckon the first and second of Samuel also among those of the Kings. Esdras and jeremiah are thought to be the authors of the Kings.  Latin the third and fourth of the Kings, from the subject matter of them, because they relate the Acts of the Kings of Israel and judah. This History was written by divers Prophets; but who digested it into one Volume is uncertain; many ascribe it unto Esdras, See Menochius. The first Book consists of twenty two Chapters, and contains a History of an hundred and eighteen years. The second Book consists of five and twenty Chapters, and contains a History of three hundred and twenty years.  
The best Expositors of both the Kings are Peter Martyr, and Gaspar Sanctius.  
The eleventh Book is the two Books of Chronicles, which is called Dibrei Hajamim, 
Munster rendered it, the Books of Annals, Libri praeteritorum appellantur ab Hierenymo. Ab Esdra scriptos hos duos libros constans semper fuit apud Hebraeos fama: qui hos libros vocant verba dierum▪ id est, excerpta ex regum diurnis. Grotius.  verba dierum, because in them the deeds of the Kings of Israel are particularly described. The Greeks and Latins divide it into two; with the Greeks it is called liber 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q. d. praetermissorum, the Book of Remains, because he summarily explains some things either omitted, or not fully described in the Pentateuch, the Books of joshua, judges, Samuel, and the Kings. Of the Latins liber Chronicorum, q. d. Chronologicum; which appellation Luther retains in the Dutch version of the Bible. There is nothing certain of the Author 
y Auctor ignoratur, Alii Esdrae tribuunt, alii joremiae▪ certi nihil habemus ex Scriptura. Menochius.  of these Books, though Esdras be thought to be the Author. The first Book consists of twenty nine Chapters, and contains a History of two thousand eight hundred and five years, viz. from the Creation of the world even to the Kingdom of Solomon. The second consists of thirty two Chapters, and describes a History from the beginning of the Kingdom of Solomon, even to the return out of the Captivity of Babylon.  
The best Expositor on both the Chronicles is Lavater. 
Tempus quo historia Paralipomenon edita, & Canonicis Scriptoribus adjecta sit, non possum pro certo indicare. Suspicor autem post Antiochi persecutionem, qui saevierat in libros divinos, abbreviatorem ex annalibus regum epitomen excerpfisse, praemissis genealogiis ab Adam usque, & additis quibusdam generi Davidico, ut continens temporum series haberetur vulgò usque ad sua tempora. Bibliander de optimo generum explicandi Hebraica.   
Twelfthly, The two Books of Ezra 
Ezra signifieth an helper, Nehemiah a comforter. , they are counted for one Volume with the Hebrews; the Greeks and Latins divide them into two Books, and assign the first to Ezra, the second to Nehemiah.  
Ezra was so called from the Author, which was a Scribe, most skilled in the Law of God, as appears in Chap. 7. v. 1, 6, and 11. 
Certum est libros Paralipomenon, Esdrae & Nehemia esse post reliques ferè omnes sacros veteris Testamenti libros conscriptos, Capel. Critica Sac. l. 1. c. 3.   
The best Expositors of it are junius and Wolphius.  
Nehemiah 
a Nehemiah in English is A Comfort sent from God, to comfort his people in those troublesome times. ] It is called by the Latines the second Book of Ezra, because the History begun by Ezra is continued in it; but usually Nehemiah because it was written by him, and also because it contains the re-edifying of the City of jerusalem, caused by Nehemiah. It consists of thirteen Chapters, and contains a History of fifty five years, viz. from the twentieth year of Artaxerxes to the Kingdom of the last Darius.  
The best Expositors of it are Wolphius and Pilkinton.  
The next Book is Esther 
b Nomen huic libro est à potiore persona. Martinius. , called in Hebrew Megillath Esther, the Volume of Esther. Many of the Jews think this Book was written by Mordechai, which those words in Chap. 9 20. and 23. seem to favour. Isidore saith, Ezra is thought to have written Esther, but some say it was composed after by another; Moses Camius 
Aben Esra docet, historiae hujus Scriptorem fuisse Mardochaeum, idque ex ultimo capite hujus libri colligit. Hanc sententiam tanquam veram amplector tamdiu, donec contrarium probetur. Mayerii Dissertat. Theol. de LXX. Hebdomatibus Danielis. p. 145. LXX huic historiae somnium quoddam Mardoc●aei praemittunt quod non est in Hebraeo. Grotius. Drusius Ammad. l. 2. c 34.  saith it was written by the men of the great Synagogue. Philo judaeus saith, joachim a Priest of the Hebrews, son of the high-Priest, was the composer of it, and that he did it at the entreaty of Mordecai the Jew. It's remarkable, that though the Book of Esther contain most admirable passages of God's Providence in delivering of his Church, yet in this Book alone of all the Books of holy Scripture the name of God is not so much as once mentioned. Dr Drakes Chronol. The Jews throw the Book of Esther to the ground before they read it, because the name of God is not there, as their Rabbins have observed. Dr Stoughtons' Love sick Spouse. It consists of ten Chapters, and contains a History of ten, or (as others will) of twenty 
* Martinius.  years, concerning the preservation of the Church of the Jews in Persia by Esther.  
Drusius, Serrarius and Merlin have done well on this Book.  
3. Poetical Books.  
job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles; to which some add the 
c Grotius reckons the Lamentations among the Poetical Books. Mr Caryl on Job 3. v. 2. pag. 334.  Lamentations. Those parts of Scripture which set forth strongest affections, are composed in verse: as those holy flames of spiritual love between Christ and his Spouse in the Canticles of Solomon. The triumphant joy of Deborah after deliverance from Sisera's Army: of Moses and Miriam after the destruction of Pharaoh: the afflicting sorrows of Hezekiah in his sickness; and the Lamentations of jeremiah for the Captivity of the Jews: The Book of Psalms is as it were a throng of all affections, love, joy, sorrow, fear, hope, anger, zeal, every passion acting a part, and wound up in the highest strains by the Spirit of God, breathing Poetical eloquence into the heavenly Prophet. So the Book of job. whose subject is sorrow, hath a composure answerable to the matter. Passion hath most scope in Verse, and is freest when tied up in numbers. 
Singula in ●o verba plena sunt sensibus. Hier. Quis libri scriptor fuit inc●r●ū est, nec nisi levissimis conjecturis nititur, quicquid de ea dici potest. Beza. Vid. Grotium & Menochium. Walther. in Officina Biblica & Ludou. de Tena Isag ad totam Sac. Script. The Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 19 proves it to be of Divine Authority.   
job] There is great variety of judgement about the Author and Penman of this Book; Some say it was one of the Prophets, but they know not who; Some ascribe it to Solomon; some to Elihu, many to Moses; Hugo Cardinal, Suidas, and Pineda conceive that job himself was the Author of this Book, and it is thus proved, because when any Book is inscribed by the name of any person, and there appears no urgent reason, wherefore it could not be written by him, such a person is to be thought the Author, and not the matter of the Book, as is manifest in the Book of joshua, and those of the greater and lesser Prophets. The Arabical speeches with which it abounds, note that it was written by some man living near Arabia, as job did; Neither doth it hinder, that job 
* Chap. 1. 1. Ante legem datam floruisse satis iude videtur constare, quod vir ob justiciam atque pietatem incomparabilem celeberrimus, vict●mas, filiorum nomine, totie, obtulerit. Cl. Selden de jure naturali. & Gentium l. 2. c. 7. Vide plura ibid. Est liber iste jobi omnium Sacrorum librorum difficillimus, ut qui non modo Theologum, verum etiam Hebraeae, Chaldaicaeque linguae Poetices, Dialectices, Rhetorices, Astronomiae, Physices denique, bene peritum interpretem requirat. Bez. in epist. add exposit. Merc. Vide Sims. Parasc. ad Chron. Cath c. 1. The Book of job is supposed to have been written before Moses time, and the Jews in the Talmud say, that job lived in the time of jacob. Aben Ezra and jarchi on job 1. say, he descended of the sons of Nachor, Abraham's brother, and generally by most he is held to be more ancient than Moses. Mr Nettles Answ. to the Jewish part of Mr selden's History of Tithes Sect. 2.  speaks of himself in the third person, for Canonical Writers are wont to do this out of modesty, Numb. 12. 3. john 
jobi liber antiquior est lege quemadmodum docetur copiose à doctis Sixto Senensi, Mercero, aliisque, ut in eo non sit necesse insistere. Rain. de lib. Apoc. praelect. 191.  21. 24.  
It is conceived to be the first piece of Scripture that was written: if Moses wrote it, it is probable that he wrote it before the deliverance of the people of Israel out of Egypt, while he was in Midian. The main and principal subject of this Book is contained in Psal. 34. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of all. We may divide the Book into three parts, and so it sets forth:  

1. jobs happy condition, both in regard of externals and internals, in the first five verses.  
2. jobs fall, his calamity, from that to the seventh verse of the forty second Chapter.  
3. jobs restitution, or restoring, from thence to the end.   
Beza, Mercer, Pineda, Drusius, Cocceius have well expounded it.  
The Psalms are called in the Hebrew Sepher Tehillim, a Book of Divine Praises, 
Liber Psalmorum complectitur quicquid utile est in omnibus Scriptures: haec sacra poe●is est elegantissima Legis Prophetarumque Epitome sola brevitate & numero à reliquis discrepans, cum commune promtuarium earum omnium est, quae nobis necessari● sunt. Tremel. & Jun.  in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so called from a musical Instrument used in singing of the Psalms, which name the Latins have retained. Vide Menochinm. Hymns is the general Title for the whole Book of Psalms: For though it be translated, The Book of Psalms, yet every one that knoweth that language, knoweth the word is, The Book of Hymns. Christ with his Disciples sung an Hymn, Matth. 26. 30. Mr Cottons Singing of Psalms a Gospel Ordinance. c. 5.  
Psalmi dicti sunt Tehillim ab argumento praecipuo: Etsi enim in libro hoc contineantur etiam petitiones, necnon precationes: hae tamen non adeo sunt frequentes, & his ipsis variae interspersae sunt laudationes Dei, a justitia summa, à misericordia & potentia Dei desumtae.  
It contains sacred Songs to be fitted for every condition, both of the Church and Members. It is called in the New Testament, The Book of Psalms, Luk. 20. 42. and 24. 44. Acts 1. 20. No Books in the Old Testament are oftener cited in the New, than Isaiah and the Psalms; that sixty times, this sixty four.  
They are in all an hundred and fifty, in Greek an hundred fifty one. Augustine and Chrysostom ascribe them all to David as the Author, so do Theophylact, Ludovicus 
Opus omni laude majus, & universae sapientiae divinae atque humanae exiguum quidem, sed eo etiam nobilius, atque admirabilius compendium: ea sermonis elegantia, numerorum & harmoniae suavitate, sententiarum erudition & gravitate, ut nihil majus dici possit. Erpenius orat. de ling. Ebr. dignitate. Quisquis Psalmos ita ordine digessit, ut nunc habemus eos in unum volumen collectos, sive Hezra fuit, sive aliquis alius post reditum è Babylone; conatus est Psalmos ejusdem authoris, aut ejusdem argumenti, aut ejusdem temporis colligere & conjungere. Ford. in Psal. 40. According to the Hebrew account the Psalms have 2527 verses. Beza Psalmos vario Latinorum carminum genere elegantissimè & suavissimè expressos orbi Christiano dedit. Melchior. Adam in ejus vita Psalterium Buchanin. Latinum, opus planè divinum & ad usum Scholasticae juventutis egregiè elaboratum. Graserus' exerci●●in c. 9 Dan.  de Tena. Some think that after the Captivity Ezra collected these Psalms, dispersed here and there, into one Volume. There are ten Authors whose names are put in the Titles of the Psalms, viz. David, Solomon, Moses, Asaph, Etham, Heman, jeduthun, and the three sons of Corah. Odae istae Davidis dicuntur, quod is multas veteres collegerit, multas ipse Psallendi sciens addiderit, aut per homines idoneos addi fecerit. Grotius.  
The Book of Psalms, though it be called from the greater part, by the name of David's Psalms; yet were not all the Psalms in it composed by David; but some of them by Moses, Psal. 90. Some by Heman, Psal. 88 Some of them by Etham, Psal. 89. Some by others, Psal. 137. Mr Gataker on Psal. 82. 6, 7, 8. Seventy four Psalms are expressly entitled David's Psalms, that some others which want titles expressing their Penmen were his also, See Act. 4. 25. Id. ibid.  
The Hebrews divide the Psalms into five Books or parts. The first Book hath the first 41 Psalms; the second 31, from 42 to 73; the third 17, from 73 to 90; the fourth 17, from 90 even to 107; the fifth 43, from the 107 to 150.  
Vide Genebr. in Psal. 1. 1. Tituli sunt Psalmorum claves, the Titles are Keys as it were of the Psalms, saith jerom.  
The best Expositors on the Psalms are Musculus, Mollerus, Muis, Calvin.  
The Scripture is the choicest Book; the Psalms the choicest piece of Scripture, and the 119 Psalms the choicest part of the Psalms. Among 176 verses in that Psalm there are scarce four, or five at most, wherein there is not some commendation of the word.  
The Psalms are frequently read both in the Jewish Synagogues, and in our Christian Churches; the very Turks themselves swear as solemnly by David's Psalms, as by their Mahomet's Alcoran, they have them in such estimation. Of all parts of the Scripture, the Psalms have this excellency, that they do in a lively experimental way set forth the gracious works of God upon the soul. They have a respective direction, or comfort to every one's affliction or temptation. Hence they have been called by some the little Bible, or the Bible of the Bible. Mr Burgess of Justification. p. 225.  
Basil saith, If all the other Books of Scripture should perish, there remained enough in the Book of Psalms for the supply of all; and therefore he calls it Amuletum ad prosligandum daemon●m. Our Saviour Christ himself citys the Psalms, not only as Canonical Scripture, but as a particular, entire, and noble sum of that body, Luk. 24. 44. no Book of the Old Testament (except the Prophecy of Isaiah) is so like a Gospel, so particular in all things concerning Christ, as the Psalms. Dr Donne on Psal. 62. 7, 9  
Proverbs] In Hebrew Mishle, the Book of Proverbs is compared to a great heap of Gold-rings, rich and orient severally, and every one shining with a distinct 
a Mr Bolton on Prov. 18. 14. Sententiae, verba, five dicta graviter & paucis concinnata, quae in omnium animis haerere & in ore versari debent, denique speculum sunt totius vitae & administrationis nostrae. Junius.  sense by itself: but other contexts of holy Writ, to Gold-chains, so enterwoven and linked together, that they must be enlightened and receive mutual illustration one from another. The manner of it is usually to deliver two contradistinct Propositions.  
It consists of one and thirty Chapters; it was written by Solomon, saith Augustine, Chap. 17. of his 20 book de Civitate Dei; and josephus in the 8th book and 2d Chapter of his Jewish Antiquities; and it is proved, 1 King. 4. 32. though there indeed it is said only, he spoke them, yet it is likely also he wrote them. Prov. 1. 1. they are called the Proverbs of Solomon, because most of them are his. It is a Treatise of Christian manners, touching piety toward God, and justice toward our neighbours.  
The best Expositors on it, are Mercer, Cartwright, Dod, Lavater. Graece dicitur 
What special prerogatives this Book hath above the rest of Canonical Books, see Mr Cawdrey on Prov. 29. 8.  hic liber 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, nimirum Hebraeum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proprie comparationem significat, & quia ex comparationibus curtatis plerumque fiebant Proverbia, inde coepit sumi in significatione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Grotius.  
Ecclesiastes] In Hebrew 
b Quod in eum librum collectae sunt omnes scientiae: vel quòd sapientia Salomonis hic homines congreget ad ipsam audiendam. Martinius. The Proverbs were Salomon's Ethics. Ecclesiastes his Physics. Canticles his Metaphysics. Proverbia Scripta sunt potissimum pro aetate juvenili, Ecclesiastes pro virili, Canticum pro senili. The Jews compare the three Books of Solomon to the three parts of his Temple, they liken the Proverbs to the Porch, Ecclesiastes to the Holy Place, Canticles to the Holy of Holies. Opinor Salomonem in senectute postquam à lapsu resipuisset, scripsisse, 1. Novem 1a Capita libri Proverbiorum, & librum qui Ecclesiastes dicitur, ut ex cellatione concipi potest. 2. Librum Canticorum, ut ex eo libro colligere licet. 3. Psalmum istum quasi compendium libri Canticorum. Ford in Psal. 45.  Choheleth, the Feminine hath respect either to wisdom or to the soul, the nobler part. See Menochius.  
The Author of this Book was Solomon, who either at his Table, or in his familiar conference propounded these Doctrines to his Courtiers, as may be collected out of 1 King. 10. 8. Many of the Hebrews say, that this Book was written by Solomon to testify his repentance of his ill led life.  
It consists of twelve Chapters. The sum and scope of the whole Book is explained 
Liber ille Salomonis disputationem continet de summo bono, quod desinit esse conjunctionem cum Deo, ac perpetuam Dei ●ruitionem Simps. Chron. Cathol. parte tertia.  in the last Chapter, or the first two verses, viz. that all things in the world are vain; therefore that nothing is more profitable and necessary then to fear God and keep his Commandments. The principal parts of it are two: The first concerning the vanity of humane matters and studies in the world: the latter of the stability and profit of godliness and the fear of God.  
The best Expositors on it are Mercer, Cartwright, Mr Pemble, Granger.  
Canticles are called in Hebrew Shir hashirim, by the Latins. Cantica 
c Id est, summum & praestantissimum, vide Gen. 9 25. Est autem haec generalis totius libri inscriptio, libri argumentum scriptoremque exponens. Argumentum est Epithalamium excellentissimum sive connubiale Canticum, quo Schelomo decantavit sacram illam, augustissimam, & beatissimam desponsationem conjunctionemque Christi cum Ecclesia. Jun.  Canticorum, The Song of Songs, that is, a most excellent Song, the Hebrews having no Superlatives. Solomon was the Author of it, 1 Kings 4. 32. Many of the Ancients refer it to the spiritual Marriage between Christ and the Church, or every faithful soul. Some think it was penned long after Salomon's Marriage with Pharaohs daughter, by comparing 1 King. 7. 34. with Cant. 7. 4. It consists of eight Chapters, and perpetual Dialogues.  
The Jews had this Book in such reverence and account, that before thirty years of age none would study it.  
The best Expositors are Mercer, Brightman, Ainsworth, Doctor Gouge, Fenner.  
This Book which treats of that Spiritual and Heavenly Fellowship the sanctified soul hath with Christ, cannot be throughly understood in the true life of it, but by those that are sanctified.  
4. Prophetical Books.  
The Greater Prophets four, Isaiah, jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel.  
The Lesser Prophets twelve, Hosea, joel, Amos, Obadiah, jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephany, Haggai, Zachary, Malachi.  
Grotius order them thus: Hosea, joel, Amos, Obadiah, jonah, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephany, Daniel, jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zachary, Malachi.  
They are called Prophetical Books, because they were written by Prophets, by God's Commandment; Prophets were distinguished by the Temples, some were Prophetae priores, those of the first Temple; others Posteriores, of the latter Temple.  
Isaiah] Is placed first, not because he is more Ancient than all the rest; for some say, that jonah 
d Learned men conclude from 2 King. 13. 25. that jonah prophesied first of all the sixteen Prophets. Dr Hill in a Sermon on the Lord of hosts. Isaiah prophesied 60 years, saith Alsted, 96 saith Cornelius a Lapide. He prophesied with elegancy, alacrity, fidelity, variety.  and Amos were before him in time, others that Hosea was before him, for Isaiahs' beginning was in the days of Uzziah. Now Hosea was in the days of jeroboam, and jeroboam was before Uzziah. This Mr Burroughs saith is one reason, why though he intends to go over the whole prophetical Books, yet he rather pitcheth upon Hosea first, because indeed he was the first Prophet, but Isaiah 
e Jeshagneia, quasi dicas, salus Domini vel Dei, quòd prae caeteris plenus sit vivificarum consolationum. Non tam Propheta dicendus ●it, quam Evangelista. Hieron. praefat. in Isa. Quicquid de Physicis, Ethicis, Logicis, & quicquid de sanctarum Scripturarum mysteriis potest humana lingua, mortalium sensus accipere, complexus est summa prae caeteris Prophetis venustate sermonis, & urbanae dictionis elegantia. Hieron. Isaias, quem ex regia ortum familia novistis, tanta eloquentia librum suum contexuit, ut omnes Latinos Graecosve oratores longo post se intervallo relinquat. Waser. i● praef. ad Grammaticam Syram. Vide plura ib. I● sermone suo discrtus est, quip vir nobilis & urbanae eloquentiae, nec habens quicquam in eloquio rusticitatis admixtum. Unde accidit ut prae caeteris, florem sermonis ejus, translatio non potuerit conservare. Ita universa Christi Ecclesiaeque Mysteria ad liquidum prosecutus est, ut non putes eum de futuro vaticinari, sed de praeteritis historiam texere. Hieron. praefat. Inter eos vates, qui de Messia scripsere, perquam disertus est Isaias: oratio ejus erudita ubique, & majestatis plena, facilè ostendit, qua esset natus origine. Vir enim nobilissimus, & principum consanguinitate clarus, arts omnes scientiasque didicerat, quibus ingenia ad magnae fortunae cultum excitantur. Liber autem ejus non tam vaticinia continere, quam Evangelia videtur. Res esse pridem ghost as, non futuras, putes Canaeus de Repub. Heb l. 3. c. 7. Admirabiles omnes in scribendo Prophetae sunt, & parem meriti fidem: sed eminet in Isaia sublime quiddam ingeniosum, vehemens, urbanum, quod majore voluptate, admirationéque lectorem teneat. Maldonat. in Joh. 1.  was rather set first for the Dignity of the Prophetical Oracles which he explains, and because his Prophecy is longer than all the rest. He is eloquent in his speech, being a Noble man, therefore the translation can hardly express his elegancy. He brings so many and such evident Testimonies of the Coming, Incarnation, Miracles, Preaching, Life, Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, that he seems rather to write a History of things past, then to prophesy of things to come, and one calls him the fifth Evangelist. Hence (saith Senensis) our Lord Jesus Christ made choice of this among all the Prophets, first of all to read publicly, and expound in the Synagogue of his own Country; and in the New Testament, he is oftener cited, than all the rest of the Prophets. He began to prophesy in the year 3160, seven hundred years before Christ was born, Uzziah the King of judah yet reigning, and came to the last times of Hezekiah, Isa. 1. 1. and 39 3. therefore he was almost contemporary with Hosea, Amos and Micah, and finished the course of his life under four Kings of judah, viz. Uzziah, jothan, Achaz and Hezekiah: The Hebrews say, he was of the Blood-Royal, and that he was sawed to death with a wooden saw by Manasseh an idolatrous King, after he taught sixty years. His Prophecy consists of sixty six Chapters.  
The best Expositors of it are Calvin, Scultetus, Forerius, Mollerus. 
Lodou. de Tena. jirmijah celsitudo, vel excelsus Domini, quod magnalia Dei animo magno atque forti docuerit. Or Ramah jah, the reject of the Lord, so he was in regard of his condition. jeremiaes omnis majestas posita in verborum neglectu est. Adeo illam decet rustica dictio. Cunaeus de Repub. Heb. l. 3. c. 7. Simplicitas cloqui●, à loco ei in quo natus est, a●ci●●●. Fuit enim Anathotites, qui est usque ●odiè viculus tribus ab Hicrosolymis distans milibus. Hieron. Praefat. in Hi●r.   
jeremiah] This Book was always esteemed as Canonical, and written by jeremiah. He prophesied under josiah, jehoahaz, joachim and Zedekiah. His Prophecy consists of fifty two Chapters.  
He prophesied partly in the Land of judea, and partly in the Land of Egypt. In the Land of judea he prophesied 41 years, and afterward four years in Egypt. See jackson on jer. 7. 16. p. 4, 5.  
The best Expositors of it are Bullinger, Polanus.  
Lamentations] It is called in Hebrew Echa, i. Quomodo, because it begins with this word; The LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, i. e. Lamentationes vel fletus, for the Subject or Matter of it. It contains sad and mourning complaints of the state of the Commonwealth of Israel, into which it fell after the death of josiah. It consists of five Chapters. 
Jer. 14. 1. 7. and 31. 17.   
Nazianzen the Great never read this Book but he wept abundantly.  
jeremiah is thought to be the Author of it. This was the last Prophet that the Lord sent to judah before the Captivity. He was the fittest man to write a Book of Lamentations, he had seen the City besieged, stormed and fired, the Temple destroyed, great outrage and cruelty committed.  
The best Expositors of it are Peter Martyr and Udal.  
Ezekiel 
f jechezkel ●ortitudo sive robur Dei. Stylus ejus nec satis disertus, nec admodum rusticus est, sed ex utroque temperatus. Senensis. Sermo ejus nec satis disertus, nec admodum rusticus est, sed ex utroque mediè temperatus: Sac●rdos & ipse fuit, sicut Hicremias: Principia voluminis, & finem magnis habens obscuritatibus involuta. Hieron. Praef. in Hier. ] Signifieth The strength of God, or One strengthened by God. He prophesied at the same time with jeremiah; Ezekiel in the City of Babylon, jeremiah at jerusalem. It consists of eight and forty Chapters.  
The best Expositors of it are junius, Polanus and Villalpandus.  
This Prophecy is full of Majesty, obscurity, and difficulty. Calvin spent his last breath on this Prophet.  
Daniel] He wrote his Prophecy after the Captivity, Chap. 1. 21. and 10. 1. while 
Dei judicium ad cujus exactam cognitionem necessaria est multiplex Chaldaeorum, Graecorum & ●atinorum historia. Hieronymus.  the visions are general, and not dangerous to the Jews, Daniel writeth in the Syriack tongue, general over the East, from Chap. 2. v. 4. 
* Broughton on Dan. 1. 4. Danielem Hebraei Prophetis non adscribunt, non magis quam Davidem, non quòd non mult● eximia praelixerint, sed quia vitae genus Propheticum non s●ct abantur, sed alter Rex erat, alter satrapa. In Graeco codice praecedunt Prophetae minores, sequuntur majores, & in his Daniel, Grotius. Vaticinandi virtute nemo prae Dani●le est, docet enim quo tempore sit venturus M●ssi●s, & regum edisserit sequentium series, annosque numerat; & ne quid dosit, etiam praenuntia addit signa. Quae omnia ejusmodi sunt, uti Porphyrius, cui studium fuit ista ●ludere, nesciverit quo se verteret, quip arguebat eum manifesta rerum fid●s: igitur ad calumniandum redactus est. Cunaeus de Repub. Heb. l. 3. c. 7. Vide plura ibid.  to the eighth Chapter.  
All the Chapters in Daniel from Chap. 2. 4. to the beginning of the eight, are written in the Chaldee tongue, and from the beginning of that Chapter to the end of the Book, he writeth in Hebrew; for the affairs that fell under the Chaldean Monarchy▪ he registered in the Chaldee Tongue: when the Kingdom was destroyed, he wrote in his own native tongue, the Hebrew. Mr Lightfoot.  
But when the oppressors are named the Medes, and the Jews plainly described to be the people whom God defendeth, then in the eighth Chapter, and all after he writeth in Hebrew, and hath a Commandment to keep close to the plain exposition in Chap. 1 2. 4. Some reckon Daniel among the Prophets, but the Jews place it among 
All the Prophets had not so many visions of providential alterations as he.  the Hagiographa. It consists of twelve Chapters, the six first of which contain matters Historical, the six last Prophetical.  
The best Expositors of it are Polanus, junius, Willet, Broughton, Huit.  
The Latins give the first place to the greater Prophets, the Greeks to the lesser, because there are many among them very Ancient. Grotius.  
The twelve lesser Prophets are so called, because their Writings are briefer than 
Prophetae postr●mi in u●●● librum conj●●cti fu●r●, n● parvitate 〈◊〉 distra●erentu●, aut perirent. Hinc capiendum illud Act. 7. 42. in libro Prophetarum, id est, Prophetarum minorum, nempe Amos 5. 25. Buxtorfij Tiberias cap. 11.  the four first greater; the Hebrews have them all in one Book; the later Prophets spoke more plainly, precisely, and distinctly, touching the coming of the Messiah, than the former Daneus, Gualther, Ribera, Tarnovius and Drusius have done best on all the small Prophets; Mercer and lively have done well on the five first of them.  
Hosea 
g In the order of the twelve Prophets all give the chief place to Hosea, the Hebrews make joel the next to it, Amos the third, Obadiah the fourth, jonah the fifth, Micah the sixth, Nahum the seventh, Habakkuk the eighth, Zephany the ninth, Haggai the tenth, Zachary the eleventh, Malachi the twelfth. But the Septuagint make Amos the next to Hosea, Micah, the third, joel the fourth, Obadiah the fifth, jonah the sixth, the seventh Nahum, the eighth Habakkuk, the ninth Zephany, the tenth Haggai, the eleventh Zachary▪ the twelfth Malachi, Drus. observe Sac. 1. 5. c 24. Non est idem or do duodecim Prophetarum apud Hebr os, qui est apud no● Osee commati●us est, & quasi per sententias loquens. johel planus in principiis, in ●ine obscurior & usque ad Malachiam habent singuli propri●tates suas. Hieron. Praefat. in Duod. Proph. ] Is the first among them, whose Prophecy although it consist of more Chapters than Daniel, yet the other is more prolix. Hosheang noteth Salvator Saviour; he is therefore so called, because he published Salvation to the house of judah, and spoke of the Saviour of the world, and was a Type of Christ our Saviour; He prophesied before the Babylonish Captivity; in the time of King jeroboam, under four Kings of judah, Uzziah, jotham, Achaz and Hezekiah, and was contemporary (as some say) with jonah, 2 Kin. 14. 26. Isaiah, Isa. 1. 1. Amos 1. 1. and Mic. 1. 1. all which prophesied destruction to the Kingdom of Israel: It consists of fourteen Chapters.  
The best Expositors of it are Zanchius, Tremelius, Paraeus, Rivet and lively. Diu vixit Osee, & Prophetam egit, ut volunt Hebraei, per annos 90 ita multos habuit Prophetas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ut Isaiam, joelem, Amosum, Abdiam, jonam, Mich●am, ut notat Hieronymus.  
joel] He prophesied in the time of Hezekiah; it consists of three Chapters, which contain partly exhortation to repentance; and partly comfort to the penitent.  
Danaeus, Paraeus, Drusius and lively are the best Expositors of it.  
Amos] Of a Shepherd he was made a Prophet, Chap. 1. 1. and 7. 14. He was contemporary 
Gnamos, on●s, because he is a vehement Prophet which denounceth a hard burden, that is, most grievous punishment to the people for their impiety.  to Isaiah and Hosea. He prophesied to the Kingdom of Israel, or the ten Tribes, Chap. 1. 1. and 3. 1. and 4. 1. and 5. 1. He utters a few things concerning the Kingdom of judah, chap. 2 4. and 6. 1.  
It consists of nine Chapters, Danaeus, Paraeus, lively and Drusius are the best Interpreters of it; Dr Bensi●ld hath done well on two Chapters.  
Obadiah 
h Gnobadeiah servus Dei, a Minister of God. jeremy 49 Chapter, and Ezek. 25. took many things out of this Prophecy. ] He was almost contemporary to jeremiah. It is but one Chapter. D. Rainold● hath well expounded this Prophecy. The destruction of the enemies of the Church is handled in the sixteen first verses, the Salvation thereof by the Ministry of Pastors in the five last.  
jonah 
i Columba, quemodo dictus videtur a mansuetudine & facilitate morum. jonas ordine quintus numeratur inter duod●●im Prophetas qui minores vocantur; tempore verò illis omnibus prior & ani●quior fuit. Id 2 R●g. 14. 25. liquet, ex co quod de pace & salute Israelitarum sub Ieroboamo futura vati●inatus est, antequam calamitosam corum captivitatem denunciasset Oseas & Amos, cum Isaia. Itaquo temporis ratione eum primo loco collocari oportuit. Livelius in Aunotat. in jon. ] He prophesied in the time of jeroboam, 2 King. 14. 25. jerom proves by the authority of the Hebrews that he was contemporary with Hosea and Amos. It consists of four Chapters. Abbot and King have both commented well in English on this Prophecy.  
Micah] Humiliatus, sic dictus Propheta ab insigni & miranda humilitate. He prophesied in the times of jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah Kings of judah, as appears by the inscription, Chap. 1. 1. and was almost contemporary with Isaiah, with whom he agreeth in many things. He exceeds all the Prophets in this one thing, that he determines the place of Christ's Birth, Chap. 5. 2.  
It consists of seven Chapters. Danaeus and Chythraeus have done well on it.  
Nahum 
k Nomen Hebraeum Nacum significat & poenitentiae Doctorem & consolatorem, quo utroque munere is defunctus est, illo erga Ninevitas hoc erga judaeos. Waltherus in offi●ina Biblica. ] It is probable that he lived before the Babylonish Captivity, and was contemporary to Micah, but ninety years after jonah. It consists of three Chapters, which contain both a prediction of the destruction of the Assyrians, ch. 1. and also an Explication of the causes of it, Chap. 2. and 3.  
Danaeus is the best Expositor of this Book: The Hebrews think that both Nahum and Habakkuk wrote in the times of Manasseh. Both the order in which these Books were anciently placed, and the things themselves which are contained in their writings do intimate as much. Grotius.  
Habakkuk. Luctator.  
It is probable that he lived about jeremiahs' time, or a little before.  
It consists of three Chapters. Grinaeus and Danaeus have done well on him.  
Zephany 
l Tsphan●iah Secretarius vel speculator Domini. ] He prophesied in the times of josiah King of judah, and was contemporary to jeremiah. He prophesieth especially of the overthrow of the Kingdom of judah.  
It consists of three Chapters. Danaeus hath done well on this Prophecy.  
Haggai 
m He excites and earnestly exhorts the people to the restoring of the Temple. ] Chag signifieth a Feast in Hebrew, his name signifieth Festivus & laetus, aut festum celebrans, vel diligens, quòd Templi Hierosolymitani aedificationem post Captivitatem maximè urserit.  
He began to prophesy after the Babylonish Captivity in the second year of Darius' King of Persia, Ezr. 5. 1. Hag. 1. 1.  
Grinaeus and Danaeus have done well on this.  
Zachary 
n Zechareiah memoria Domini, sortassis quiae per ipsum Deus sui memoriam populo suo refricare voluerit, & testari seipsum quoque meminisse ejusdem, aut quia & ipse Domino charus extitit, & quasi in recenti memoria. ] He prophesied after the Babylonish Captivity, and followed Haggai within two months; he handleth the same subject, it consists of fourteen Chapters. His Book is more large and obscure then any of the twelve Prophets.  
Danaeus hath done well on the whole, and Mr Pemble on nine Chapters.  
Malachi] Nuntius seu Angelus meus, Mal. 4. 4, 5, He was the last Prophet of the Old Testament. See Grotius of him. Tertullian calls him the Limit and Landmark of both Testaments, Limbs inter vetus & Novum Testamentum.  
It consists of four Chapters: Danaeus, and Polanus, and Stock have commented well on this Book.  
So much concerning the several Books of the Old Testament.   

CHAP. IU. Of the New Testament.  
THe New Canon is that which the Christian Church hath had written in Greek, from the time of Christ and his Apostles, and it summarily contains the Word published by Christ, and his righteous acts.  
The History of which is in the four Books of the Evangelists, the Examples in the Acts of the Apostles, the Exposition in the one and twenty Epistles, and lastly, the Prophecy in the Revelation.  
All the Books of the New Testament were written in Greek 
a Lingua Graca tunc temporis in orbe terrarum maxime erat communis, quam tamen ob Ebraismorum mixturam eruditi Hellenisticam, quod ea Iudaei Hellenistae uterentur vocare amant, Amama Antibarb. Bib. l. 1. C. 1. Qui dubitat ●tylum novi Testamenti esse Hellenisticum, is Scepticum mihi videtur agere in Philologia sacra, h. e▪ dubitare de ca re quae notissima omnibus, qui stylum LXX Interpretum & Evangelistarum ac Apostolorum vel per transe●●●m asp exerunt, ac cum stylo purè Graeco contulerunt. Mayerus. Vide Salmasium de Hellenistica.  for divers Reasons:  
First, Because that Tongue in the time of Christ and his Apostles was the most excellent of all, among the Languages of the Gentiles.  
Secondly, Because it was then most Common, as Latin is now. Tully shows, Orat. 
b Walterus in officina Biblic●▪ Graeca leguntur in omnibus ferè gentibus, Latina suis sinibus exiguis sanè continentur.  pro Archia Poeta, how far the Greek Tongue spread.  
Thirdly, Because in this Tongue all the Philosophy and Sciences of the Gentiles were written. The Greek Tongue by the writing of Philosophers, Orators, Historians and Poets, was fraught with the best learning, which Heathenism afforbed.  
It came to pass by the singular Providence of God, that this Testament was written in one Tongue only; for what Nation else would have yielded to another, that the Scriptures in their Tongue were Authentic, and so the seeds of debate might have been sown amongst them. All almost agree in this, That all the Books of the 
Rivet. Isagog. ad Scrip. Sac. c. 8.  New Testament were written in the Greek Tongue; it is only doubted concerning three of them, the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, and the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
Novum Testamentum Graecum esse non dubium est, excepto Apostolo Matthaeo, qui primus in Iudae● Evangelium Christi Hebraicis literis aedidit. Hieron. Praefat. in quatuor Evangelia. Matthaeus quidem Hebraicè scripfisse traditur à magnis authoribus, & per Jacobum Apostolum in Graeciae sermonem translatus. Bibliander de optimo genere explicand● Hebraica. Matthaeus Ebraice scripsit, id est, Syriacè, seu lingua in quam Ebraica post captivitatem degenerasset, quia & Syriaca dicta est & Ebraica: Graecam autem versionem alii Jacobo, alii Joanni Apostolo, ip●i Matthaeo alii tribuunt. Selden. ux●r Ebraica, l. 3. c. 23,  Many affirm that the Gospel of Matthew was written by Matthew in Hebrew; or rather in Syriack, the Language used by Hebrews in the time of Christ and his Apostles, that the Epistle to the Hebrews was written in Hebrew, and Mark in Latin.  
All the New Testament is penned from God in Greek. The Reporters that St Matthew wrote in Hebrew, or St Paul to the Hebrews, never marked the Greek styles of both in Attic forms of speech, that Salem hath not. And the holy Ghost never translated Books, but kept still the original of all that he would have translated. Here be four Dialects, the Attic, Judean, Thalmadique and Apostolic. By ignorance of which much darkness covereth dealers with the New Testament. Broughtons' Lords Family.  
It is certain that the Primitive Church from the first times, used the Gospel of Matthew written in Greek 
c Memorabilis est de lingua, qua Evangelium Matthaei ab ipso conscriptum est, controvers●a; quidam enim Hebraam, alii Graecam esse contendunt. Ac prior quidem sententia, si plurium auctorum consensum spectemus primas obtinet, sin verò rei veritatem, posterior amplectenda, ut examen demonstrabit. Gomarus de Evangelio Matthaei. Cajetanus initio suorum Commentariorum severè monet Evangclium Matthaei non fuisse scriptum Hebraicè argumento non i●cpt● ab interpretatione vocum Hebraicarum, ut capite primo Emanuel, quod est si i●t●rpreteris, Nobiscum D●us Mat. c. 27. 46. no● poterat. n. Hebraica editio sic interpretari.  and counted it Authentical. If any one say, That the Latin Edition of Mark, in the vulgar, is not a version, but the first Copy, he may easily be refuted from the uniform style in it with other Latin Gospels, and it will appear to any Reader, that the Gospel of Mark, which the Roman Church useth, is later than the Greek, and that the Latin was made from it. For the Epistle to the Hebrews, though many among the Ancient thought it was written in Hebrew, yet all agree that the Greek Edition was in use thence from the first times of the Church. Glassius saith, Matthew wrote his Gospel first in Greek, for his style agrees with Mark. Writers acknowledge that there is an Ancient Hebrew Copy of Matthew, but upon good ground deny that it is the original truth; for besides that by received Tradition▪ it is held otherwise, Matth. 1. 23. and other such like places do evince it; for why should he writing in Hebrew, interpret Hebrew words, to them which understand that Language. Hieron. in quatuor Evangelia, and Salmasius hold, that Matthew was written in Hebrew, Evangelium Matthaei Hebraicè ab auctore scriptum esse, nemo non veterum tradidit. Hebraeum illud Syriacum esse, quod in usu tunc temporis in judaea fuit, Hieronymus docet, qui Evangelium Matthaei scriptum fuisse testatur Chaldaico Syroque Sermone. Salmas. de Hel●enistica. Erasmus, Cajetan, Calvin, junius, Whitaker, Gomarus, Causabone, Gerhard, deny that Matthew was written in Hebrew. Chamier de canone l. 12. c. 1. saith, we have the New Testament in Greek; for although some contend that the Gospel of Matthew, and the Epistle to the Hebrews was written in Hebrew; yet (saith he) it is very uncertain, and so propius f●lse. I think (saith Rivet 
d In Exo. 24. 8. ) that the Epistle to the Hebrews was written in Greek, a Tongue then most common, and which was used by many Hebrews, which were called Hellenists.  
That Mark 
e Sixtus Senensis saith expressly that Mark wrote in Greek Bibl. Sanct. l. 1.  should be written in Latin originally is improbable; many of the reasons alleged to prove that Matthew was not written in Hebrew are of force here also; the Jews at that time of the writing of the New Testament did speak Syriack 
f Lingua Syria ca Servatori nostro, & Apostolis vernacula fait. De Dieu. vide Whitakeri controversiam primam de Scripturis quaestionis secundae capite quinto. Cum legimus in Actibus Apostolorum Paulum allocutum esse judaeos cap. 21. 40. Lingua Hebraea, intelligendum est de Hebraica lingua, quae tunc in usu erat apud judaeos, id est, Syria●a. Name & Dominus nost●r ea usus est, ut apparet ex omnibus locis Evangeliorum, in quibus aliquid prolocutus est lingua vernacula. Salmasius de Hellenistica ad quartam quaestionem.  and not Hebrew, which Language is mixed, consisting of Hebrew and Chaldee; therefore (saith Whitaker) it is more probable that Matthew and he which wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews wrote in Greek, because the Greek Tongue was not unknown to the Jews, which were Hellenists, Act. 6. 1. and other Apostles wrote in Greek, which wrote peculiarly to the Jews, as I●mes and Peter. Matthaeum Hebrai●è scripsisse convenit inter antiquos. Citat Iren●um, Origenem, Athanasium, Epiphanium, Chrysostomum, Hieronymum, Vossius de genere Christi dissertat. Scripsit Hebraea lingua quia praecipuè judaeorum, quos viva voce hact●nus docuisset, haberet rationem Id. ibid. Vide Grotium in libros Evangel.  
It was needful that the Gospel should be written by many. First, for the certainty. Secondly, for the perfection of it.  
Amongst all the Evangelists there is a general Agreement, and a sp 〈…〉 rinse; 
Princeps & caput & regula divinorum oraculorum, & salutisere ac necessariae veritatis est Christi Evangelium, quo caeteri sacri libri omnes censentur, & precium accipiunt, t●m veteris instrumenti, quam novi. Lod. Viu. de ver. Fid. Christ l. 2. c. 9 Parvae interdum in Evangeliis diffi●entiae argumentum praebent veritatis, ne ex composito videantur scripsisse, si per omnia consentirent. Chrysostomus. Ex omnibus iis qui acta Christi & doctrin●m literis mandarunt, antiquissima illa & prima Ecclesia illorum temporum pene aequalis, solos quatuor tanquam sacro sanctos & ●irmissimae fidei ac veritatis approbavit, ac retinuit: Matthaei & Joannis qui rebus omnibus interfuerunt; Marci, ex relatione Petri: Lucae, tum ex Pauli revelatione, tum relatu aliorum qui erant cum Domino versati. Lod. Viu. de verit. fid. Christ. l. 2. c. 8.  they all agree in the main scope and subject, Christ; they d●●●●r in 〈…〉 all Argument and Order. All describe the life of Christ, some more largely, some more briefly, some more loftily, some more plainly, yet because all were inspired by the same spirit, they all have equal Authority The difference of Evangelists in some smaller matters proveth their consent in the greater to be the voice of Truth; for had they conspired all together to have deceived the world, they would in all things have more fully agreed.  
The Doctrine of the Covenant of Grace is more plainly expounded; the will of God and way to Salvation more plentifully set down in the New Testament, than ever it was in the days of Moses or the Prophets; and in these books of the New Testament all things are so established as to continue to the end, so that we must not look for any new Revelation.  
All these Books we receive as Canonical, because they are Divine for matter and form, divinely inspired by God, sanctified and given to the Church for their direction, written by the Apostles or Apostolical men, sweetly con●enting with other parts of holy Scripture, and with themselves; received always by the greatest part of the Church of God. They were written after the death of Christ, by the direction of the holy Ghost; the Apostles by lively voice first preached, because it was needful that the Doctrine of the Gospel should by their preaching, as also by signs and wonders be confirmed against the contradictions and cavils of the Jews and Gentiles, and be allowed by the assent of believers generally before it was committed to writing, that we might be assured of the certainty of those things which were written.  
These Books are acknowledged Canonical both by us and the Papists; so that touching this matter there is no controversy between us and them.  
Among the confessed writings of the Scriptures attested by all, and not contradicted by any; The four Gospels are first to be placed, and then the Story of the Acts of the Apostles. See Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. 3. cap. 3, 4. and lib. 5. cap. 8. and lib. 6. cap. 18.  
The Epistles 
g Sunt san● in ●o, quo nunc utimur, volumine, libri aliquot non ab initio pariter recepti, ut Petri altera, ea quae jacobi est, & judae, duae sub nomine Ioannis Presbyteri, Apocalypsis, & ad Hebraeos epistola: sed ita tamen ut à multis Ecclesiis sint agniti. Grotius lib. 3. de verit. Relig. Christ. p. 143. vide plura ibid. The Book of Esther and Canticles were doubted of by some. Vide Bellar▪ de verb. Dei. l. 1. c. 17, 18, 19  doubted of by some for a while, were first, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of james, the second Epistle of Peter, the second and third Epistles of john, the Epistle of jude, and the Revelation; of which I shall treat more when I come to handle the Books of the New Testament particularly.  
The Story of the woman taken in Adultery, hath met with very much opposition. 
Joh. 8. See in the Annotat. in loc.  See Gregory's Preface to his Notes upon some passages of Scripture. Crojus defends 
h Vide Calvin. in loc. & Chamier. Tom. 1. l. 12. c. 7.  the truth of it, Observat. in Nou. Testam. c. 17. Vide Seldeni uxorem Ebraicam cap. 11.  
The Inscriptions and Titles prefixed before the Epistles are no part of holy Scripture written by the Apostles, but added to the Epistles by some others.  
The Subscriptions and Postscripts also of divers Books are false, counterfeit and 
Saepe falsissimae sunt Epistolarum Paulinarum subscriptiones. Capellus.  erroneous; not written by the Apostles, but added afterward by the Scribes which copied out the Epistles.  
The Subscriptions 
i Vide Scultetum & Bezam.  of the later Epistle to Timothy, and also to Titus, are supposititious; they are neither found in the Syriack nor in all Greek Copies, 
k Timothy is expressly by the Apostle called an Evangelist, 2 Tim. 4. 5. therefore Titus having the same charge in Crete, as he had in Ephesus, they were both Evangelists. Cartw. on the Title of the Epistle to the Romans. See him also on the Title of the first Epistle to Timothy.  nor yet in the vulgar Latin translation; these additions were made some hundred years after the Apostles.  
The Canonical Books of the New Testament are either Historical, Doctrinal or Prophetical.  
1. 
l We call them Historical in which is contained an Historical narration of things done ● for although in them there be many things pertaining to doctrine, yet the chiefest thread and scope of the speech containeth a narration of an History done, hence they are called Historical.  Historical, containing matters of fact, the History of  

1. Christ exhibited in the four Evangelists or Gospels, as they are styled by God himself, Mark 1. 1. Matthew, Mark, Luke and john, called Gospels, because they contain a message of joy and gladness. They all treat of one subject, Christ Jesus incarnate; are most true Historians, Luk. 1. 2. joh. 21. 24.  
2. His Apostles, in the Acts written by Luke, thirty years after Christ's Ascension, so termed of the principal subject of the History, though the acts of others not Apostles, are there recorded.   
2. Dogmatical or Doctrinal, such as were written by the Apostles for the instruction 
The Grecians call the Letters sent from one to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epistles, Wotton on 1 Joh. 1.  of the Church of God in faith and manners, commonly called Epistles, and that by warrant of the Scriptures, 1 Thes. 5. 27. 2 Pet. 3. 1, 16. because they were sent to them who had already received and professed the Gospel of Christ. The Apostles being oft times unable to instruct by their personal Presence, supplied that by writing Epistles. These are one and twenty, written.  

1. By Paul, 

1. To whole Churches. 

1. Gentiles, 

To the Romans,  
To the C●ninthians,  
To the Galatians,  
To the Ephesians,  
To the Philippians,  
To the Colossians,  
To the Thessalonians.    
2. Jews. To the Hebrews.    
2. To particular Persons, 

1. Timothy.  
2. Titus.  
3. Philemon.      
2. james, one.  
3. Peter, two.  
4. john, three.  
5. jude, one.   
3. Prophetical, wherein under certain resemblances, the state of the Church of 
The holy Ghost styles it a Prophecy. Rev. 1. 8. & 22. 7. 10. 18, 19 See Rev. 1. 19 Ex Lutheranis satis commendari nequit Harmonia, à Chemnitio ad stuporem usque dexterrimè capta, à Lysero fideliter continuata, & à Gerhardo dexteritate & fidelitate pari consummata; ex Pontificiis, Jansenius; ex Calvinianis Calvinus. Waltheri officina Bibl.  Christ till the end of the world, from the time of john the Evangelist, is most truly and wonderfully described, and receiveth its name Apocalypse of the Argument.  
Beza, Piscator, Calvin, Erasmus, Grotius, have done well on all the New Testament. Of the Papists jansenius hath done well on the Harmony; of the Lutherans, Chemnitius and Gerhard; of the Protestants, Calvin. Maldonate and De Dieu, Cameron, Scultetus, and Grotius have done well likewise on the Evangelists.  
Matthew and john were Apostles of the twelve; Mark and Luke Evangelists. Apostle 
m Apostle when it is properly taken, extendeth itself not only to all the Ministers of God, being sent of God, but to the Ambassador of any Prince or Nobleman, or that is sent of any public Authority, and it is used in the Scripture by a Synecdoche for the twelve that our Saviour Christ appointed to go throughout all the world, to preach the Gospel, unto the which number was added St Paul, and as some think Barnabas, these were, 1. Immediately called by God, Gal. 1. 1. 2. They saw Christ, 1 Cor. 9 1. 3. They had the field of the whole world to till, they were sent into all the world. Cartw. Reply to Dr Whi●gist in Defence of the Admonition, p. 45. Apostolatus ●rat functio▪ quae post fundatas semol Ecclesias, successionem non admisit; sed cum ipsis Apostolis des●●t. Down. Diatrib. de Autich. Vide Lod. Viu. de verit. Fid. Christ. l. 2. c. 19  is a name of Office or Dignity. It notes one sent from another with command; in special, certain famous Ambassadors of Christ. The Evangelists were Comites & vicarii Apostolorum, they accompanied the Apostles in preaching the Gospel, and had curam vicariam omnium Ecclesiarum, as the Apostles had curam principalem. The Title Evangelist is taken, 1. For such as wrote the Gospel, 2. For such as taught the Gospel; and these were of two sorts, either such as had ordinary places and gifts, or such whose places and gifts were extraordinary, such Evangelists were Timothy and Titus. Smectymn. Answ. to an Humble Remonstrance, Sect. 13.  
Matthew] There was never any in the Church which doubted of its Authority. Some say he wrote in Hebrew, but that is uncertain (as hath been already declared.) He interprets the Hebrew name Emanuel, Chap. 1. 23. and those words C●. 27. 46. therefore it is likely he wrote not in Hebrew; for why should one that writeth in Hebrew interpret Hebrew words to such as understand Hebrew? And how came this Authentical Copy and Prototype to be lost? for it is not now extant. How ever, the Greek edition is Authentical, because it came forth when the Apostles were living, and was approved by them, which the Ancients confirm. Of the time when Matthew wrote, Authors agree not; Eusebius 
n In Chronica. vide Seldenum de jure naturali.  saith, that he wrote in the third year of ●ajus Caesar; others say he wrote after Claudeus. He wrote his Gospel in the fifteenth year after Christ's Ascension, saith Nio●phorus 
* Lib. 7. c. 12. ; the one and twentieth, saith 
o Lib. 2. c. 24.  ●●en●us; in the eighth year, saith Theophylact 
p Lib. 3. c. 1. .  
It 
q Tertullian calls Matthew, Fidelissimum Evangelii Commentatorem. De serie annorum, quibus scripti sunt libri novi Testamenti, satis est curiosum animosè contendere. Tamen video apud veteres non esse unam eandemque sententiam. Chamierus.  consists of twenty eight Chapters, in which the person of Christ, and his three Offices of Prophet, Priest and King, are described.  
The best Expositors of it are Hilary, Musculus, Paraeus, Calvin.  
Aquinas was wont to say, That he desired but to live so long, till he might see the golden-mouthed Father St Chrysostom his imperfect work upon Matthew finished. Dr Featleys Preface to his Stricturae in Lyndo mastigem.  
Mark] He was the Disciple of Peter, and wrote his Gospel from him, in the fourth year of Claudius Caesar, say some. He wrote not in Latin (as Bellarmine saith) but in Greek. Concerning the Archetypal Language in which the Gospels of Mark and Luke were written; See Mr Selden in Eutichii orig.  
It consists of sixteen Chapters, in which Christ's threefold Office is also explained.  
The best Expositors of it are Calvin, Beza, Piscator, Maldonate, jansenius.  
Luke] He was for Country, of Antioch; for profession, a Physician; there is mention made of him, Col. 4. 14. 2 Tim. 4. 11. Philem. 24. He was companion to Paul the Apostle in his travels, and in prison. He only makes a Preface before his Gospel, that he may briefly show the cause which induced him to write.  
The best Expositors of it are Calvin, Beza, Piscator, Maldonate, jansenius.  
john] In Hebrew signifieth the grace of God; he soareth higher than the other 
Vide Sixti Senensis Bibliothecam sanctam. Walther▪ in officina Biblica. Postremus omnium Evangelistarum scripsit, ut colligeret quae aliis erant omissa, vel brevius perstricta, Chamier. de Eucharistia, l. 11. c. 4. john in his Epistles was an Apostle, in his Apocalypse a Prophet, in his Gospel an Evangelist.  Evangelists to our Saviour's Divinity; and therefore (as Nazianzen among the Fathers) he is called the Divine, by an Excellency, because he hath so graphically and gravely described the Divinity of the Son, and hath written also of things most Divine and Theological.  
Melancthon called Calvin a Divine by an Excellency, and then when Calvin being but a young man did most gravely treat of divine matters.  
He hath the Eagle for his Ensign assigned him by the Ancients. He was called Presbyter, by reason of his age, being the longest liver of all the Apostles. He wrote the last of all when he returned from the Isle Patmos; therefore there is something more in every Chapter of john then any other of the Evangelists. He alone describeth the admirable Sermon which our Saviour made at his last Supper, and his Prayer.  
It is generally thought, and I think not untruly, that the blasphemous heresies of Ebion and Cerinthus (who denied that our Saviour was God, or had any being before he took flesh of the holy Virgin his mother) was one especial occasion of writing this Gospel. Mr Wotton Serm. 2. on 1 joh. 1. 2.  
It consists of one and twenty Chapters, in which the Person of Christ, consisting 
In his Gospel he writes more expressly than the res●▪ of the Deity of Christ, and in the Revelation of the coming of Antichrist.  of the Divine and humane Nature, is described.  
In his Gospel is described: first, Christ's person; in the first Chapter. 2. His Office; in the second Chapter, to the twelfth. 3. His death, from the twelfth to the end.  
The best Expositors of him are Calvin, Beza, Piscator, Rollock, Tarnovius, Musculus.  
Acts 
q Acta Apostolor●●m sunt Chron●●ca quaedam pri●nae Ecclesiae in Novo Testaments. Sic dicuntur, quia r●s primis Ecclesiae Christianae temporibus maximè ab Apostotis gestas describunt. Martinins in memoriali Bibli●●. ] Luke in the Proem of it makes mention of the Gospel written by him, that he might profess himself to be the Author of both. It consists of eight and twenty Chapters. Luke calleth his History, The Acts of the Apostles, though it be specially of their sufferings; because even their passions were actions, they enlarged the Kingdom of Christ by their sufferings.  
The best Expositors of it are Brentius, De Dieu, Calvin, Sanctius.  
The thirteen Epistles of Paul: one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one 
Paulus ad Roman▪ undecim capitibus fidem▪ fundat, & quinque cap. deinde mores superaedi●icat. Ad Galatas quinque fidem, uno & sexto mores docet. Sic in aliis quoque Epistolis facit. Lutherus Tomo 2.  to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, one to Titus, and one to Philemon, the Primitive Church unanimously received into the Canon, and never doubted of their being Apostolical. They have their name Epistles à forma Epistolari qua conscriptae sunt.  
A Lapide, Estius, Grotius and Vorstius, have done well on all the Epistles, Imprimis Estius ex Pontificiis, saith Voetius.  
The Epistles are for the most part written in this order: they have 
In S ● Paul's Epistles this order is kept: those Epistles are set first, which were written to whole Churches, and then those which were written to particular persons. In both these sorts the compiler of them seemeth manifestly to have had respect of setting the Epistles in order, according to their length. Cartw. Ordo Epistolarum Paulinarum respectu scriptionis alius est, quam respectu positionis in Bibliis. Waltherus in officina Biblica. Ludovicus Capellus historia Apostolica illustrata. Epistolae Paulinae non temporis ordine locatae sunt ab iis qui e●s primi in unum volumen compegerunt: sed pro dignitate corum ad quos scriptae sunt. Ideo praecedunt quae ad Ecclesias; sequuntur quae sunt ad singulos. Grotius.   

1. An Inscription: wherein is the name of the Writer, and of them to whom he writes, and his wish.  
2. The matters of the Epistle, which are sometimes merely religious, concerning certain Articles of faith, or piety of life, or about the use of things indifferent; or else familiar things, witnessing their mutual good will.  
3. The Conclusion: in which are Exhortations, Salutations, Wishes, or other familiar matters.   
There are 21 Epistles, fourteen written by Paul, and seven more written by Peter, john, james and jude.  
Concerning the time and place in which the several Epistles were written, it is not easy to determine. I will premise something about the order of the Epistles, before I speak of them particularly.  
Some of Paul's Epistles were written before his imprisonment; some in his bonds, both former and later. Before his imprisonment, the first of all that was written, were both the Epistles to the Thessalonians; they were written from Corinth the 8th or 9th year of Claudius.  
Titus was written by Paul in those two years that he stayed at Ephesus.  
Galatians] At the end of the two years that Paul was at Ephesus, the Epistle to the Galatians seems to be written, 1 Cor. 16. 2. by which words the Apostle seems to intimate, that this Epistle to the Galatians was written before that to the Corinthians.  
Corinthians] Paul living two years at Ephesus, in the 11th and 12th year of Claudius, the Corinthians wrote to him, 1 Cor. 7. 1. and that by Stephanus and Fortunatus, which they sent to him (Chap. 16, 17.) by whom Paul seemeth to have written back the first Epistle to the Corinthians, for in that he exceedingly commends 
C●a. 16. 15. 18  them of Corinth. It was not written from Philippi, (as the Greek superscription hath it) but from Ephesus, as the Arabic interpreter hath it; as is manifest, Chap. 16. 8.  
The second Epistle to the Corinthians, and the first of Timothy strive for priority, Et sub judice lis est. Both of them were written a little after Paul departed from Ephesus, and while he departed to Macedonia, but it is not manifest which was the first.  
First Epistle to Timothy] Some think that this Epistle was written by Paul in his bonds▪ but not rightly; for he makes no mention of his bonds in it. It is probable 
Capellus' ibises.  that it was written from Athens, as it is in the Arabic subscription, when he came from Macedonia to Greece; and so it was written after the first Epistle to the Corinthians.  
Romans] The Epistle to the Romans was written at Corinth, when Paul having spent three months in Greece, sailed to jerusalem, that there he might gather the 
Acts 20. 2.  Collections of the Churches of Achaia, Asia and Macedonia. This is manifest from Rom. 15. 2, 4.  
These are the Epistles which seem to be written by Paul out of imprisonment; the other were written in his bonds. Paul's bonds were twofold; former and later. One only, viz. the later to Timothy seems to be written in the later bonds of Paul, a little before his Martyrdom; the others were written in his former bonds.  
Epistle to the Philippians.] This seems to be the first of them all, which Paul wrote in his bonds. When Paul was Captive at Rome, the Philippians being careful 
Capellus ubi supra.  for him, sent Epaphroditus thither, who visited Paul in his bonds, and ministered to him necessary helps for the preserving of his life, as appears by the second Chapter, and 25 verse of that Epistle, and the fourth Chapter, 10. and 18 verses. Paul sent him back again to the Philippians, and commends him to them, Chap. 11. 28. That the Epistle was written in his bonds, is manifest from the first Chap. v. 7, 13, 14. and from Rome, not jerusalem, Chap. 4. 22.  
The Epistles to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon, were at the same time written from Rome, and sent by the same, viz Tychicus and Onesimus. First, That the Epistle to the Colossians was written by Paul in his bonds, it is manifest from Chap. 4. v. 3. and 18. but it was sent by Tychicus and Onesimus, Chap. 4 v. 7, 8, 9  
That to Philemon was written at the same time with that to the Colossians, since 
Capelli historic Apostolica illustrata.  he salutes Philemon in their name in whose he saluted the Colossians, viz. in the name of Epaphras, Aristarchus, Mark, Luke, Demas, as is manifest by comparing the fourth Chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians, v. 10, 12, 14. with the 22. and 24 of the Epistle to Philemon. For this and other reasons Capellus supposeth they were both written at the same time.  
That the Epistle to the Ephesians was written also at the same time, it may be thus confirmed: 1. Because it was written by Paul in his bonds, viz. from Rome, as is manifest Chap. 3. 1. and 4. 1. 2. It was sent by Tychicus, Chap. 6. 21, 22. by which also that to the Colossians was sent That these three Epistles were written also by Paul in his former not later bonds, it is hence manifest, because Phil. 1. 25. and 26. and 2. 24. also in the 22 verse of Philemon, Paul showeth that he had a most certain hope, that he should be freed shortly.  
The Epistle to the Hebrews was written by Paul from Rome, toward the end of his former bonds. He expressly mentions his bonds, Ch. 10. 34. and showeth, that he hopes shortly to be set free, Chap. 13. 19  
The later Epistle to Timothy was the last of all Paul's Epistles, written by him in his later bonds, of which he writes, Chap. 1. 8. and 2. 9 and from Rome, Chap. 1. ver. 17. a little before his Martyrdom, which he seems to intimate, Chap. 4. ver. 6, 7, 8.  
Thus having by the help of Capellus something cleared the order of Paul's Epistles for the time of their writing, I shall speak of them now according to the method wherein they are commonly disposed in our Bibles.  
Romans] That Epistle is first not in time of writing but in dignity, because of 
Inter Epistolas quae sunt ad Ecclesias, prima est quae ad Romanam ob urbis ejus majestatem. Grotius.  the majesty of the things it handleth, Justification and Predestination. It is rightly called Clavis Theologiae, or the Epitome of Christian Religion. It consists of sixteen Chapters.  
The best Expositors of it are Dr Sclater on the first three Chapters, and Paraeus with Peter Martyr, and Par on the whole. Voetius saith, Willetus est instar omnium.  
First to the Corinthians.] 
* The City of Corinth was a famous Metropolis in Achaia, notable for wisdom; one of the seven Wisemen is celebrated for a Corinthian. Tully calleth it Lumen Graeciae.  How much Authority the Epistle to the Romans hath in establishing controversies of faith; So much the first of the Corinth's hath in establishing Ecclesiastical Discipline; therefore Antiquity hath placed it next the other. It consists likewise of sixteen Chapters.  
The best Expositors of it are Paraeus, Peter Martyr, Morton, Dr Sclater.  
The second to the Corinthians 
a It was famous also for riches and merchandise; and for pride, luxury, lust: whence the Proverb, Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum. Lais there ask a great sum of money of Demosthenes for a night's lodging with her, he answered, Non emam tanti poenitere. ] consists of thirteen Chapters.  
The best Expositors of it are Musculus and Dr Sclater.  
Galatians] St jerom taketh the Argument of the Epistle to the Galatians, to be the same with the Argument of the Epistle to the Romans; wherein the Apostle proveth, that by the works of the Law, whether Ceremonial or Moral, no flesh can be justified before God; using the same words in both, Rom. 3. 20, 28. and Gal. 2. 16. It consists of six Chapters.  
The best Expositors of it are Mr Perkins and Paraeus.  
Ephesians] Ephesus was a Mother-city in the lesser Asia, famous for Idolatry, and the Temple of Diana, as the 
b Acts 19 and 20. 16, 17.  Acts of the Apostles testify, so given to all riot that it banished Hermodore, because he was an honest sober man; yet here God 
c Bayne. See Ephes. 5. 18.  had his Church. It consists of six Chapters.  
The best Expositor of it is Zanchius, Mr Baines hath done well on the first Chapter, and Dr Gouge on some part of the two last Chapters.  
Philippians] The Apostle had planted a Church at Philippi, which was the Metropolis of Macedonia, Acts 16. 12. In this Epistle he commends their godly study. It consists of four Chapters.  
Zanchy and Dr Airy have done well on this Book.  
Colossians.] Colosse was the chief City of Phrygia in lesser Asia; the Apostle directs this Epistle to the Inhabitants of that City. It consists of four Chapters.  
Bishop Davenant, Bifield and Elton, have done best on this Book.  
Thessalonians 2.] These were written to those which dwelled at Thessalonica; it is 
See Phil. 4. 16.  a chief City in Macedonia, whither, how the Apostle came, we may see Act. 17. The first Epistle consists of five Chapters, the second of three. It was written first before any other Epistle, or indeed before any Book of the New Testament. Iraen. l. 3. c. 1. Euseb. hist. l. 5. c. 8.  
Zanchius and Dr Sclater have done well on both these Epistles; jackson and Bradshaw also on the second.  
Timothy 2. 
d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honoro & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus▪ q. d. cultor Dei vel honorans Deum. Sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 magni aestimo, in pretio habeo, honoro. Pasor. ] Signifieth the honour of God, or precious to God. He honoured God, and was precious to him. The first Epistle consists of six Chapters.  
Barlow hath done well on three of them, and Scultetus on the whole.  
The second to Timothy] This consists of four Chapters.  
Scultetus hath done well on it, and Espensaeus on both those Epistles.  
Titus'] Titus to whom this Epistle was written, was a faithful Minister, and beloved friend of the Apostle, 2 Cor. 2. 13. and 7. 6. and 8. 23. Paul sent his Epistle to him out of Macedonia, which is of the same Subject with the first to Timothy. It consists of three Chapters.  
Scultetus, Espensaeus, and Dr Tailor have done best on this Book.  
Philemon 
e Plena roboris & lacertorum est tota Epistola, & singulis ejus verbis mirifica quaedam argumentandi vis latet recondita. Scultetus. ] He was the Minister of the Church at Colosse, vers. 17. it is but one Chapter.  
Scultetus and Dike have well interpreted it.  
Hebrews] The Epistle to the Hebrews was rejected by some Heretics, as Martion and Arius; it is now received as Canonical, because it was inspired of God, doth in all things fully agree with all other parts of Prophetical and Apostolical writings, and was received of the greatest part of the ancient Church, though upon weak and slender grounds the Latin Church for a time did not receive the same.  
Hieron. in Catalogo Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum, after he hath recited all the Epistles of Paul, at length he cometh to this Epistle; 
f Duplex dubitatio de hac Epistola fuit, una de auctore, altera de authoritate ejus. Bellarm. l. 1. de verb. Dei. c. 17.  but the Epistle to the Hebrews (saith he) is not thought to be his, for the difference of the style and speech, but either written by Barnabas, as Tertullian holds, or Luke the Evangelist, or Clement. Some ascribe it to Tertullian, saith Sixtus Senensis. 
Vide Drusium ad titulum ad Hebraeos. De side est, Epistolam ad Hebraeos esse Scripturam Canonicam. Cornel. a Lapide. Dr Fulk against Martin. Multo facilius dicere, quis istius Epistolae non sit Author, quam quis sit Author. Cameron. Tomo tertio praelect. in epist. ad Heb. ubi multis rationibus probare conatur Paulum non fuisse illius Authorem. Tantum vellemus Epistolam ad Hebraeos non adscribi Paulo, quam firmis Argumentis persuasi simus alium esse Auctorem. Calvinus in Epist.   
The diversity of the style and inscription of this Epistle, and manner of reasoning, makes some doubt of the Writer thereof; and also something in the Epistle shows that it was written not by Paul, as the beginning of the second Chapter ver. 3. the Doctrine of Salvation is confirmed to us by them which heard it, which seemeth to agree with the profession of Luke in the beginning of his Gospel; whereas St Paul denieth Gal. 1. 12. that he received it of man. An ancient Greek Copy (whereof Beza speaks) leaves out the name of Paul in the Title, and also divers printed Books. Augustine speaks often of this Epistle, as if it were of doubtful Authority, as you may see in his Enchirid lib. 1. c. 8. & lib. 10. de Civitate Dei, cap. 5. Beza, Hemingius, Aretius, leave it in medio. Calvin and Marlorat deny that it was Paul's.  
The reasons (saith Cartwright in his Confutation of the Rhemists) moving us to esteem it none of Paul's, are first, that his name is not prefixed, as in all the Epistles undoubtedly known to be his. Another reason is, that this writer confesseth that he received the Doctrine of the Gospel, not of Christ himself, but of those which heard it of Christ, Heb. 2. 3. whereas Paul received his Doctrine immediately from Christ, and heard it himself of Christ, and not of them that heard it from him.  
To the first Objection by Fulk it is easily answered, the diversity of style doth not prove that Paul was not the Author of this Epistle; For as men have written divers things in divers styles in respect of matter and persons to whom they wrote; 
It hath pleased the Spirit of God in wisdom to conceal from us the names of the Authors of some Books, both in the Old and New Testament; God would have us believe his Word, though we know not the Authors, it is written by the Spirit of God, though we know not whose hand God guided. Dr Holsworth on Luk. 22. 11, 12.  as Tully his Offices, Orations and Epistles; so the Spirit of God could and might inspire one and the same man to pen in a different manner: 2. The other Argument also against its being Paul's, because his name is not prefixed, hath but little force in it. 1. If it be not Paul's because his name is not prefixed, than it is nonce, because no man's name is prefixed; so jerom, and from him Beza and Bellarmine both thus answer. 2. The Author of this Epistle did conceal his name, that thereby he might not offend the weak Jews to whom he wrote, with whom he knew his name was hateful. 3. Beza saith, he found Paul's name 
g Sciebat nomen suum invisum Hebraeis esse, quamvis ad fidem jam conversis, propterea quod ipse prae caeteris legem veterem esse abrogatam acerrimè disputabat: cujus legis illi adhuc aemulatores erant, Actorum vigesimo primo. Bellarminus ex Hieronymo haec citat. l. 1. de verbo Dei▪ cap. 17. Vide Bezam in titulum illum, Epistola Pauli Apostoli ad Hebraeos. Certè non pauca sunt in hac Epistola quae alibi apud Paulum totidem penè verbis scribuntur. Beza. Compare 2 Pet. 3. 15. with 1 Pet. 1. 1.  added to this Epistle in all ancient Greek Copies, one excepted. Other Books have no name prefixed, as the first Epistle of john hath not his name prefixed, and yet certainly believed to be his.  
For the last Objection, Beza answers, that he reckons himself among the hearers of the Apostles, to avoid the envy of Apostleship; See 1 Pet. 4. 3.  
All the Grecians, and many of the more famous of the Ancient Latins, as Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, and many modern Writers of note, as Beza, Bellarmine, Gerhard, Capellus, Martinius, Hoornbeck, Walter, Cornelius a Lapide hold it was written by Paul, and for divers reasons: 1. The Author of this Epistle commends a certain famous Disciple Timothy, Chap. 13. 23. but none had such an one but Paul. 2. He remembers his bonds, Chap. 10. 34. which is a usual thing with Paul, Phil. 1. 7. Col. 4. 18. 2 Tim. 2. 9 Philem. v. 9 & 10. 3. He hath many of the same Axioms with Paul, compare Heb. 1. 2. & 3. with Col. 1. 14, 15, 16, 17. Heb. 5. 12. and 13. with 1 Cor. 3. 1. and 2. and divers other places. Paul saith, by that sign his Epistles may be known and distinguished from others, viz. that subscription, The grace of our Lord, 2 Thess. 3. 18. which clause is found in the end of this Epistle, Chap. 13. 4. Paul's zeal for the salvation of the Hebrews, Rom. 9 3. makes it probable that he would write unto them. Some think it may be gathered 
Other Books have no name prefixed, and yet they are certainly believed to be Canonical, as job, judges, Ruth, Chronicles.  from that place, 2 Pet. 3. 15. Beza having alleged four reasons urged by some why this Epistle should not be written by Paul, saith, Opponitur his omnibus quae scribuntur, 2 Pet. 3. 15. quae certè videntur hanc Epistolam velut intento digito mon● rare.  
Beza concludes the matter very modestly: Let the judgements of men, saith he, be free; so we all agree in that, That this Epistle was truly dictated by the holy Ghost, and preserved as a most precious treasure in the Church. Vide Waltheri officinam Biblicam, & Whitakeri controvers. 1. Quaest jam de Script. cap. 16. & Hoornbecks' Antisocinianismi, l. 1. c. 1. controvers. Sect. 3.  
Some think (as I have touched it before) that this Epistle was originally written in 
h Epistola Pauli ad Hebraeos Hebraico, id est, sermone tunc in Syria usitato scripta fuit, & ab alio versa, quem quidam Clementem fuisse volunt, alii alium. Salmasius de Helenistica.  Hebrew, but the style and phrase of this Epistle doth Graecam redolere eloquentiam, non Hebraeam. 2. If it was written in Hebrew, the Hebraisms would appear in the Greek version, which yet are rarer here then in other Epistles. 3. The Scriptures of the Old Testament are cited in it, not according to the Hebrew fountains, but according to the version of the Seventy. 4. The Apostle Chap. 7. 
i Waltherus in officina Biblica & Bellarminus ubi supra.  interprets the Hebrew name M●lchised●ch, King of righteousness; and Salem, peace; which he would not have done if he had written in Hebrew. junius 
k Jun. Parallel. lib. 3. cap. 9 pag. 466. Vide Waltheri officinam Biblicam.  in his parallels holds it to be Paul's, and written in Greek.  
Ribera and Ludovicus a Tena, two Papists, have written on this Epistle. Paraeus and Dixon have done best on the whole Book, and Mr Deering on six Chapters. Voetius much commends Gomarus.  
Those seven Epistles written by james, Peter, john and jude, have unfit Titles prefixed before them, in that they are called sometime Canonical, specially of the Latin Church; and sometimes Catholic 
l Epistolae aliorum Apostolorum Catholicae dicuntur, quia generatim ad omnes ●ideles & in omnes quasi mundi partes missae sunt, & ista inscriptione à Paulinis distinguuntur, quae vel ad certas Ecclesias vel ad certos homines missae fuerunt. Rivetus in Catholico Orthodoxo. , chiefly of the Greek Church: neither of which were given them by any Apostle or Apostolic Writer. Yet though this Title Catholic cannot be defended, it may be excused and tolerated as a Title of distinction, to distinguish them from the other Epistles. Also they may have this Title Canonical set before them, (as some Books of the Old Testament were termed Hagiographa by the Jews) not because they were of greater Authority than other holy writings, but to show that they ought to be esteemed of, and embraced as Divine, howsoever in former times they were unjustly suspected. Vide Bezam.  
The second Inscription of Catholic is as unfit as the former; therefore the Rhemists unjustly blame us for leaving out that Title in our English Bibles; for it is well known that that Title is not given by the holy Ghost, but by the Scholiast who took it from Eusebius. General, is a mere English term, and of no doubtful signification; Catholic is both Greek, and (by their saying) of double, and therefore doubtful signification.  
The Syriack Interpreter hath this Inscription of these Epistles (as Tremellius showeth) Tres Epistolae trium Apostolorum, ante quorum oculos Dominus noster se transformavit, id est, jacobi, Petri, & joannis. For the Syrians do not esteem the second of Peter, nor the second and third of john, nor the Epistle of jude, Canonical.  
The Apostles james, Peter, john and jude have published seven Epistles as mystical 
Hieron. Epist. Fam.  as succinct; both short and long; short in words, long in sense and meaning.  
james] For the difference which seems to be between jam. 2. 21, 22. and Rom. 4. 2. and 3. 28. most likely this Book was doubted of in ancient times, as Eusebius and jerom witness. But yet then also publicly allowed in many Churches, and 
M ● Pemble on Justification. Sect. 6. ●. 1.  ever since received in all, out of which for the same cause Luther and other of his followers since him, would again reject it. Erasmus assents to Luther, and Musculus agrees with them both in his Comment upon the fourth of the Romans; both they of the Romish, and we of the Reformed Church 
m This may be seen in the Harmony of Confessions.  with one consent admit this Epistle for Canonical. Vide Polani Syntagma.  
I light upon an old Dutch Testament of Luther's Translation (saith Whi●ak●r against Raynolds) with his Preface, wherein he writeth that james his Epistle is not so worthy as are the Epistles of St Peter and Paul, but in respect of them a strawen Epistle; his censure I mislike, and himself (I think) afterwards, seeing these words in a later Edition are left out.  
It is no where found in Luther's Works, that he called the Epistle of james, Inanem & stramineam. Edmund Campian was convicted of falsehood about that in England, where when he had objected that, he could find no such thing at any time in the Books he 
n Rivet. Iesuit● vapulans, c. 9  produced. Some in the Preface of the Germane Edition say that Luther wrote, that it cannot contend in dignity with the Epistles of Paul and Peter, but is strawy, if it be compared with them. Which judgement of Luther we approve not of, and it is hence manifest that it was disliked by him, because these words are found in no other Edition from the year 1526. Luther's disciples now hold, that it is Canonical and Apostolical; and they answer the Arguments 
Waltherus in officina Biblica.  of those that are opposite thereto, as we may see in the Exposition of that Article concerning the Scripture, by that most learned and diligent man john Gerard. Gravitatem ac zelum Apostolicum per omnia prae se f●rt, saith 
Sect 281. Waltherus also in officina Biblica holds it Canonical.  Walther.  
We may reply against the Papists, who often object this opinion of Luther's, that Cajetan their Cardinal 
o Rainoldus de lib. Apoc ●om. 1. praelect quarta. Vide etiam pr●olectionem tertiam.  denieth the Epistle to the Hebrews to be Canonical; yea (which is far worse) he affirmeth that the Author thereof hath erred, not only in words, but in the sense and meaning of the Scriptures. Nay, Caj●tan (saith Whitaker) rejected james, second of Peter, and second and third of john and jude.  
It consists of five Chapters. Paraeus, Laurentius, Brochmand, and Mr Manton have done best on it.  
First of Peter.] This Epistle is called in the Title Catholical, because it is not written to any one person, as that of Paul to Timothy, Titus and Philemon; no● to any one particular Church, as those of Paul to the Romans, Corinth's: but to the converted of the Jews dispersed here and there, as appears by the inscription. It consists of five Chapters.  
Gerhard, Laurentius, Gomarus and Dr Aims have expounded both these Epistles. Bifield hath interpreted part of the first Epistle.  
Second of Peter] Some in the Primitive Church doubted of its 
p As Eusebius and jerom witness.  authority, and the Syriack hath it not; but the Church generally allowed it, and many reasons may persuade that it is Apostolical, and was written by Peter. 1. Because the Author of it expressly calleth himself Simon Peter, the Apostle of Jesus Christ. He 
Chap. 1. 11, 13.  wrote it in his old-age to confirm them in the Doctrine which before he had taught them. 2. It's inscription is to the same Jews (that the former) viz. dispersed by the Roman Empire, and converted to Christ, whose Apostle Peter was. 3. It shows an Apostolical spirit. 4. It's style and composition is agreeable to the former Epistle. 5. The Author of this Epistle witnesseth, that he was a spectator of the Transfiguration in the Mount; Chap. 1. vers. 16. now Peter, together with james and john were present with Christ. 6. He makes mention of the Former Epistle, Chap. 3. v. 1. 7. He calls Paul his dear Brother, Chap. 3. v. 15. It consists of three Chapters.  
First of john consists of five Chapters.  
Second and third of john.] They were also in times past doubted of by some, 
Eusebius l. 2. 24 & 3. 21. Zanchy hath done well on the first Epistle, Calvin on all three.  as Erasmus, Cajetan: but there are good reasons to prove them Canonical. 1. Their Author calls himself an Elder; so doth Peter, 1 Pet. 5. 1. by which name an Ecclesiastical Office is often signified, but here age rather; now it is manifest that john came to a greater age than the rest of the Apostles. 2. The salutation is plainly Apostolical, Grace, mercy and peace. 3. In sentences and words they agree with the first Epistle. 4. The Fathers allege them for john's 
* Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius. Vide Euseb. l. 2. c. 23. l. 3. c. 22. Erasm. in Anno. , and reckon them among the Canonical Books.  
Each of these Epistles is but a Chapter.  
jude] This Epistle also in times past was questioned by some; but that it is Apostolical, first the inscription shows; the Author expressly calls him a servant of Christ, and brother of james. 2. The matter, it agreeth both for words and sentences with the second of Peter; of which it contains as it were a brief sum and recapitulation. That the writer of the Epistle doth not call himself an Apostle 
It is reckoned among the Canonical books, and cited by Athanafius, Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen, jerom, under judes' name. john neither in his Epistles nor Revelation calls himself an Apostle. This short (yet General) Epistle was written the last of all the Epistles, and is therefore called by some Fasciculus. It was written by jude the brother of james, and Kinsman of Christ, he lived longer than all the rest of the Apostles save john. Besides the Dedication and Preface, it contains two things, 1. Warnings of the Church against false Doctors. 2. Woes against false Teachers.  is of no moment to infringe the authority thereof, for the judgement of the writer is free in that case; that Title was specially used by Paul and Peter; james and john quit the same Title, yea Paul in his Epistles to the Philippians, Thessalonians and Philemon doth not call himself an Apostle, and yet those Epistles were never doubted of. It is but one Chapter. Willet and Mr Perkins have done well on it.  
Revelation 
q Vocatur ist● liber Apocalypsis seu Revelationis, quia in eo continentur ea quae Deus revelavit joanni & joannes Ecclesiae. Ludou. de Tena. Sextus Senensis idem ferè habet Bibliothecae Sanctae l. 7. Apocalypsis johannis tot ●habet Sacrament● quot verba. Hieron epist. Fam. lib. 2. epist. 1. Nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teste. Hieronymo soli Scripturae est proprium & apud Ethnicos non usitatum, sonat revelationem earum rerum, quae prius, non quidem Deo, nobis autem occultae & minus manifestae fuerunt. ] It is called according to the Greek Apocalyps, and according to the Latin Revelation; that is, a discovery or manifestation of things which before were hidden and secret, for the common good of the Church.  
Eusebius l. 3. c. 17. saith, Domitian cast john the Evangelist into a furnace of scalding Oil, but when he saw he came forth unhurt, he banished him into the Isle Pathmos, where he writ this Revelation.  
This Book describeth the state of the Church from the time of john the last of the Apostles, until Christ's coming again; and especially the proceedings, pride and fall of Babylon, the great Whore, with all the Kingdoms of Antichrist. The subject of it is twofold: 1. The present state of the Church: 2. The future state of it, The things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter, Revel. 1. 19 The three first Chapters of this Book contain seven several Epistles to the seven several Churches of Asia, the other following Chapters are a Prophetical History of the Church of God from Christ's Ascension to his second coming.  
The holy Ghost foreseeing what labour Satan and his instruments would take to weaken and impair the credit and authority of this above all other Books (wherein he prevailed so far, as some true Churches called the truth and authority of it into question) hath backed it with a number of confirmations more than are in any other Book of Scripture.  
First, The Author of it, is set in the forefront or face of it, The Revelation of jesus Christ, Chap. 1. vers. 1. who professeth himself to be the first and the last, vers. 11. so in the several Epistles to the Churches in several styles he challengeth them to be his. Thus saith he, 1. That holdeth the seven stars in his right hand. 2. He which is first and last, which was dead, and is alive. 3. Which hath the sharp two edged Sword. 4. Which hath eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet like brass. 5. Which hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars. 6. He who is holy and true, who hath the key of David. 7. He who is Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creatures of God.  
Secondly, The Instrument or Penman, his servant john the Evangelist, the Apostle, the Divine, who for the farther and more full authority of it, repeateth his 
Peculiare est johanni prae reliquis librorum N. T. Scriptoribus Filium Dei vocare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; confer Joh. 1. 1. and 14. jam verò candem appellationem tribuit Filio Dei ●n hoc libro Apoc. 19 v. 13. Gerardus, Waltherus.  name at least thrice, saying, I john, Chap. 1. 9 and 21. 1, 2. and 22. 8. whe●●●● in the Gospel he never maketh mention of his name; there he writes the History of Christ, here he writes of himself, and the Revelations declared to him.  
Thirdly, In the last Chapter are five testimonies heaped together, vers. 5, 6, 7, 8. 1. Of the Angels. 2. Of God himself, the Lord of the holy Prophets. 3. Of Jesus Christ, Behold I come shortly. 4. Of john, I john heard and saw all these things. 5. The Protestation of Jesus Christ, v. 18.  
Fourthly, The matter of the Book doth convince the Authority thereof, seeing everywhere the Divinity of a Prophetical Spirit doth appear; the words and sentences 
Vide Bezae Pr●legomena in Apocalypsin.  of other Prophets are there set down; part of the Prophecies there delivered are in the sight of the world accomplished, by which the truth and authority of the whole is undoubtedly proved; there are extant many excellent Testimonies of Christ and his Divinity, and our redemption by Christ.  
Fifthly, The most ancient Fathers, Greek and Latin ascribe this Book to john the Apostle. Theophylact, Origen, chrysostom, Tertullian, Hilary, Austin, Ambrose, Iren●us.  
To deny then the truth of this Book is contrasolem obloqui, to gainsay the shining of the Sun itself.  
The Chiliasts abuse many testimonies out of this Book, but those places have been 
Non illud receptum est quod ex verbis Apocal. cap. 20. colligerunt Chiliastae, qui ab Ecclesia explosi sunt ut Haeretici, Sanctos nempe in terris cum Christo regnaturos annis mille. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. Tom. 2. Praelect. 131.  cleared long ago by the learned, as bearing another sense. See Dr Raynolds Conf. with Hart, c. 8. p. 406.  
Calvin being demanded his opinion, what he thought of the Revelation, answered ingeniously (saith one 
r Mr Selden of Tithes, cap. 1: ex Bodin. Meth. Hist. See Mountag. against him, c. 1. p. 291. See Broughton on Apoc. p. 244. Apocalypsin johannis Commentationibus i●tactam se relinquere fatetur Lutherus, quod dubiae sit interpretationis & arcani sensus; in qua etsi periculum sui multi hactenus fecerint, nihil certi tamen in medium protulisse. Zepperus. ) He knew not at all what so obscure a writer meant. Se penitus ignorare quid velit tam obscurus scriptor.  
Cajetane at the end of his Exposition of jude, confesseth that he understands not the literal sense of the Revelation, and therefore Exponat (saith he) cui Deus concesserit.  
It consists of two and twenty Chapters; the best Expositors of it are Ribera, 
Mr Perkins on the first three Chapters.  Brightman, Paraeus, Cartwright, Fulk, Dent, Forbes, Mede, Simonds, Ford.  
1. The Scriptures written by Moses and the Prophets sufficiently prove that 
Consectaries from the Books of Scripture.  Christ is the Messiah that was to come; The Old Testament may convince the Jews (which deny the New Testament) of this truth, john 5. 39 They, that is, those parts of Scripture written by Moses and the Prophets; there were no other Scriptures 
See Luke 1. 69, 70. Acts 3. 18▪ & 10. 43.  then written. The 53 of Isaiah is a large History of his sufferings. We have also another Book (or Testament) more clearly witnessing of Christ; The Gospel is the unsearchable riches of Christ, Ephes. 3. 8.  
So much may suffice to have spoken concerning the Divine Canon; the Ecclesiastical and false Canon follow.   

CHAP. V. Of the Books called Apocrypha.  
SOme Heretics utterly abolished the Divine Canon, as the Swingfeldians and Libertines who contemned all Scriptures; the Manichees and Marcionites refused all the Books of the Old Testament (as the Jews do those of the New) 
●otum vetus Testamentum rejiciebant Manichaei, tanquam à Deo malo profectum. Duos n. illi Deos impiè singebant, quorum unus bonus, malus alter esset. Whitakerus de Scriptures. Libri digni qui abscondantur magis quam qui legantur. Athanas. in Synops. Sac. Script.  as if they had proceeded from the Devil.  
Some diminish this Canon, as the Sadduces who (as Whitaker and others hold) rejected all the other Prophets but Moses; some enlarge it as the Papists, who hold that divers other Books called by us Apocrypha (i hidden) do belong to the Old Testament, and are of the same authority with the other before named; and they add also their traditions and unwritten Word, equalling it with the Scripture; both these are accursed, Rev. 22. 18.  
But against the first we thus argue: Whatsoever Scripture, 1. Is divinely inspired: 2. Christ commandeth to search: 3. To which Christ and his Apostles appeal and confirm their Doctrine by it, that is Canonical and of equal Authority with the New Testament. But the holy Scripture of the Old Testament is divinely inspired, 
Stephen Act. 7. 42. citys a book of the twelve lesser Prophets, and so confirms the authority of them all, being in one volume. Luke 16. 29. Vide Whitakeri controv. 1. quest. 3. c. 3. p. 210.  2 Tim. 3. 16. where he speaks even of the Books of the Old Testament, as is gathered both from the universal, all writing, viz. holy, in the 15 verse; and from the circumstance of time, because in the time of Timothy's infancy little or nothing of the New Testament was published. 2. Christ speaks not to the Scribes and Pharisees, but to the people in general, to search it john 5. 39 this famous elogium being added, That it gives testimony of him, and that we may find eternal life in it. 3. Christ and his Apostles appeal to it, and confirm their Doctrine by it, Luke 24. 27. Rom. 3. 21. Acts 10. 43. and 17. 11. and 20. 43. and 26. 20. the New Testament gives testimony of the Old, and Peter, 2 Pet. 1. 19 of Paul's Epistles.  
The Ecclesiastical Canon (which is also called the second Canon) followeth, to which these Books belong, Tobit, judith, first and second of the Maccabees, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Additions to 
* The History of Susanna, Dan. 13. and Bel, cap. 14. and the song of the three Children, Dan. 3.  Daniel and Esther; for these neither contain truth perfectly in themselves; nor are sanctified by God in the Church, that they may be a Canon of faith; and although abusively from custom they were called Canonical, yet properly in the Church they are distinguished from the Canonical by the name of Apocryphal.  
The false Canon is that which after the authority of the Apocrypha increased was constituted by humane opinion; for the Papists as well as we reject for Apocryphal the third and fourth Book of Ezra, the prayer of Manasses, the third and 
Ezra is accounted by some as the Apocrypha of the Apocrypha, because it was never owned for Canonical, either by the Jews, Romish Church in general, or Protestant Writers.  fourth of Maccabees, as Thomas Aquinas, Sixtus Senenfis, Bellarmine, and so the Council of Trent confess, when they omit these and reckon up the whole Canon.  
The state therefore of the controversy betwixt us and the Papists is, Whether 
The Apocryphal Books are either purer, as Syrach, Wisdom, B●●●ch, the first of Maccabees, and the prayer of Manasses: or more impure, as the rest, Toby, judith, the second of Maccabees, the supplement of Esther and Daniel.  those seven whole Books with the Appendices, be Sacred, Divine, Canonical. We do not deny but many of these, especially Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus are very 
Nos quidem non negamus horum librorum plerosque, Sapiential praesertim & Ecclesiai●icum esse valde bonos & utiles, & omnibus Tractationibus praeserendos; sed propriè & per excellentiam Cano●icos esse, & i●sallibilis veritatis, è quibus sirma ducantur argumenta, id verò inficiamur. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. praelect. 6.  good and profitable, and to be preferred before all humane Tractates, but that they are properly, and by an excellency Canonical, and of infallible truth, out of which firm arguments may be drawn; that we deny.  
Those Books which the Jews of old, and the Reformed Churches now reckon for truly Canonical in the Old Testament, are received all even by our Adversaries for Canonical without any exception; 2. For the Canonical Books of the New Testament, there is no controversy between us, and so far we agree; but in the Old Testament whole Books are reckoned by them for Canonical which we hold Apocryphal.  
The reason why these Books at first were added to holy Writ, was this, the Jews 
See Mr Lightfoot on Luk. 1. 17. p. 5. & 6. Acts 6. 1. & 9 29. & 11. 20. Solebant pueri praeparari & excoli (ad audiendas sacras Scripturas) libris Sapientiae & Ecclesiastici, quemadmodum qui purpuram volunt, prius lanam insiciunt, ut in quit Cicero. Rainol. de lib Apoc. tom. ●. praelect. 18.  in their later times, before and at the coming of Christ were of two sorts; some properly and for distinction sake named Hebrews, inhabiting jerusalem and the holy Land; others were Hellenists, that is, the Jews of the dispersion mingled with the Grecians. These had written sundry Books in Greek which they made use of, together with other parts of the Old Testament, which they had in Greek of the Translation of the LXX, when they now understood not the Hebrew; but the Hebrews receive only the two and twenty Books beforementioned. Hence it came that the Jews delivered a double Canon of Scripture to the Christian Church; the one Pure, unquestioned and Divine, which is the Hebrew Canon; the other in Greek adulterate, corrupted by the addition of certain Books written in those times when God raised up no more Prophets among his people. Drus. praeterit. l. 5. Annotat. ad Act. Apost. c. 6. Jun. Animad in Bell. cont. 1. lib. 1. c. 4. l. 2. c. 15. Sect. 21. Tertul▪ in Apol. c. 19  
They are called Apocryphal (i. secret and hidden) not because the names of the writers are unknown (by that reason judges and Ruth should be Apocryphal) but because they were not wont to be read 
* Chamier. de Canonc l. 4. c. 2. Musculus, Waltherus.  openly in the Church of God as the Canonical Books, but secretly and in private by private persons, or because their Authority was obscure and doubtful with the Ancient.  
These Books our Church rejecteth, as not written by Divine Inspiration for these reasons.  
All the Canonical Books of the Old Testament were written by the Prophets; 
a Because they were the Scriptures of the Prophets, Rom. 16. 26. A Prophetical speech, 2 Pet. 1. 19, 20. and Luk. 1. 70. and 16. 39 and 24. 27, 44, 45.  but none of these Books were written by any of the Prophets; for  
1. The last of the Prophets of the Jews was Malachi, Mal. 4. 4, 5. between whom and john Baptist came no Prophet. Mark begins with the same words almost with which Malachi ended; a good argument to prove that the New Testament is next to the Old. But these Books 
b These Books in question were never admitted into the Canon of the Jews, they are not comprehended under Moses and the Prophets, as josephus (contra Ap l 1.) Hieron. in prologue Gal. Origen. (in Psal. 1.) Epiphanius (the pond. & men's.) testify, as Sixtus Senensis and Bellarmine confess. Sapientia quae vulgo Salomonis inscribitur, & jesu filit Sirach liber, & Judith & Tobias, & Pastor non sunt in Canone. Hieron. praefat. in lib. Reg.  were written by such who lived most of them after Malachi.  
2. All the Prophets wrote in Hebrew, the language which the Jews understood; but the Fathers affirm, and Papists acknowledge that most of these Books were written in Greek; Ergo, being not written by the Prophets, they are not Canonical. 2. All the Books of the Old Testament were committed to the Jews and safely kept by them, Rom. 3. 2. our Saviour Christ which reproved the Jews 
c Eus. Hist l. 3. c. 10. Aug. epist. 3 & 59  for corrupting the sense of the Scripture, did yet never reprove them for rejecting those Books which were divinely inspired, which sacrilege he would not have concealed; yea our Saviour sendeth us unto the Scriptures, as they received them, joh. 5. 
Euseb. Eccles. hist l. 5. c. 8.  39 Ezra after the Captivity is reported to have gathered all the Books of holy Scripture, and safely to lay them up. If the Jews should have rejected or not received any Books being Canonical, they had grievously erred, which the Papists themselves will not affirm. Yea there should have been some Canonical Books, 
Whit. de Scrip. controv. 1. q. 1. c. 5, 6.  which no Church received; for besides the Church of the Jews at that time there was none in the world. The Canonical Books of the Old Testament were divided into Moses, 
d Luk. 24. 44.  the Prophets, and Psalms; with which agreeth the old distribution of the Hebrews, into the Law, Prophets and Hagiographa.  
3. There are two ways to know a Book to be Canonical; one by the testimony of some Prophet or Apostle: the other by the certain Testimony of them which did live when the Book was published, who did witness that the Book was written 
Aug. cont. Faustum. l. 33. c. 6. Bellar. de verbo Dei, l. 1. c. 10. josephus, jerom, Origen.  by some Prophet or Apostle. But these Books are known to be Canonical neither of these ways; they were rejected by the Jews, who lived in the times when they were written; our Saviour Christ nor his Apostles never commend these Books unto us as indicted by the Spirit. They are cited by Christ and his Apostles for the confirmation of their Doctrine. All the Canonical Books in general, john 5. 39 and 10. 35. Rom. 16. 26, Luke 16. 29, 31. and Chap. 24. 25, 27, 44. The most of all in special, Genesis, Matth. 19 4, 5, 6. Exodus, Mat. 5. 21, 27, 33, 38. Leviticus, Gal. 3. 12. Numbers, John 3. 14. Deuteronomy, Acts 3. 22. joshua, Heb. 11. 30, 31. judges, Heb. 11. 32. Ruth, Mat. 1. 3. First of Samuel, Matth. 12. 3. Second of Samuel, Heb. 1. 5. First of Kings, Mat. 12. 42. Second of Kings, Luk. 4. 27. First of Chronicles, Mat. 1. 3, 7, 10, 13. Second of Chronicles, Acts 7. 48. Ezra, Matth. 1. 12, 13. job, 1 Cor. 3. 19 Psalms, Act. 4. 25. Proverbs, Heb. 12. 5, 6, 7. Isaiah, Matth. 1. 23. jeremiah, Heb. 10. 16, 17. Ezekiel, Mat. 25. 35. Daniel, Matth. 24. 25. All the lesser Prophets, Acts 7. 42. and 15. 15, 16. Hosea, Mat. 12. 7. joel, Act. 2. 12. Amos, Act. 15. 16. jonah, Mat. 12. 40, 41. Micah, Mat. 10. 35. Nahum, Rom. 10. 15. Habakkuk, Rom. 1. 17. Haggai, Heb. 12. 26. Zachary, Matth. 21. 5. Malachi, Luke 1. 16, 17. These Books were not cited by Christ and his Apostles for confirmation of their Doctrine.  

Object. If they be not Canonical, therefore because they are not cited; then Nahum and Zephany are not Canonical. Aratus, Menander, and Epimenides, profane Poets, are Canonical, because they are cited, Acts 17. 28. 1 Cor. 15. 33. Titus 1. 12.  
Answ. They are not therefore not Canonical only, because they are not cited, but especially because they have not the characters of Divine Scripture. 2. Nahum and Zephany are implicitly quoted, when the Books of the Prophets are mentioned, Acts 7. 41. and 15. 15, 16. The Poets are not cited as Canonical, but the Apostle applied himself to his hearers, who did much esteem their authority. Some have 
Duo genera causarum sunt ob quas libri Apocryphi sunt à Canone rejecti; unum externum, alterum internum. Externae causae sunt, authoritas Ecclesiae decernentis, tum ipsorum autorum qualitas; quip qui ejusmodi non fuerint ut fidem merereutur. Internae sunt, quae ab ipsorum librorum examine diligenti desumuntur, primum stylus, deinde res ipsae, nempe vel fabulosaevel impie. Chamier. de Canone, l. 7.  well concluded from Act. 10. 43. that the Apocrypha are not to be received as Canonical Scripture, because they testify not of Christ.  
4. Those Books which contain manifest untruths contrary to the Word of God, and the Books of holy Scripture, were not inspired of God; for as God is true, so is his Word joh. 17. 17. sweetly agreeing with itself, and every part with other; these Books commend false things as true, and approve things evil as right. judith, Chap. 9 v. 2. commends killing the Sichemites against Gen. 49. 6, 7. 2 Maccab. 14 42. Razis is commended for killing himself, the fact is not only related but commended also in these words, nobly, manfully; and this commendation doth plainly show that the Author thereof was not inspired 
e He craves pardon of his Reader, which is not fitting for the holy Ghost.  of God. When the Donatists out of this Book urged that it was lawful for them to kill themselves as Razis did, Augustine 
f Aug. controv. 2. Epist. Gaudentii. c. 23.  then was forced to acknowledge, That the Authority of this Book was uncertain and questionable, and proves it by the judgement of the Jewish Church, Christ, and the Christians. Manifest Fables are told in some of them for true Histories, as that of 
g Chap. 6. 9 That the heart and liver of a Fish, broiled upon coals, doth drive away the Devil from man or woman, that he shall trouble them no more, contrary to Mat. 17. 21. See Euseb. l. 4. hist. c. 26. & l. 6. c. 25.  Toby, judith, Bel and the Dragon.  
If any desire a particular confutation of the several Books of the Apocrypha, I commend to his reading that learned Treatise of Dr Raynolds de libris Apocryphis, who hath so exactly handled this subject, that to write of it after him were to write Iliads after Homer, or to draw a line after Apelles,  
5. The most ancient Fathers, and Counsels which lived the best and first five hundred years after 
h Car●w. in his Preface to the Confutation of the Rhemish Testament.  Christ, rejected the same Books which we do. Jerome on Matth. 23. saith concerning a Testimony cited out of the Apocrypha, Hoc quoniam ex Scriptura nihil habet authoritatis, eadem facilitate rejicitur, qua profertur. Because this hath no authority out of Scripture, it may as easily be rejected as it is offered.  
All that the Papists object for these Books in the general, is, That the third Council at Carthage, the Florentire Council, and that of Trent do approve the said Books to be Canonical, as also Augustine and Innocentius.  
To which it may be answered, 1. That the Council of Carthage was but a Provincial Council, and therefore it cannot bind the whole world. Moreover in that 
Est duplex Canō fidei, morum: The Jews rejected the Apocrypha à Canone fidei, the Church admirs it into Canonem morum. They are given us to be read, Non cum credendi necessitate, sed cum judicandi libertate. Austin.  Council there are divers things which the Papists will not endure; as in the 26 Canon, there is a Decree that no Bishop shall be called chief or universal Bishop, no not the Bishop of Rome; how should the Papists bind us with the authority of that Council with which they will not bind themselves? 2. The Latin 
* jerom and Augustine.  Fathers judged these Books fit to be read for example of life and instruction of manners; but not for confirmation of faith, or establishing any Doctrine. 3. These Books are not Proto-canonical, truly and properly Canonical, inspired by God, containing the immediate and unchangeable truth of God, sanctified by him, and given to the Church to be a perfect rule of sound doctrine and good life; but Deutero-canonical or rather Ecclesiastical, as they are styled. In this sense Augustine and Innocentius are to be taken, when they reckon these Books among the Canonical. 4. No Council hath Authority to define what Books are Canonical, what not, seeing Books truly Divine receive Authority from God himself, and are to be esteemed of undoubted truth, although all the world should bark against them.  
These two Counsels 
i Florentinum & Tridentinum concilium, ne mihi objeceris, quibus ego nec teneri nec urgeri volo: antiquiora saniora, sanctiora desidero. Whitak. cont. Stapl. Florentinum concilium habitum est ante annos 150. & Tridentinum atate nostra, cujus habendi ea ratio ac consilium fuit, ut omnes Ecclesiae Papisticae errores stabiliret. Eram haec duo non legitima Christianorum concilia, sed Tyrannica Antichristi conventicula ad oppugnandam Evangelii veritateni instituta. Whitak. controv. 1. q. 1. c. 4. de Scriptures. Reus extra provinciam producendus non est; ibi n. causa agenda ubi crimen admissum est. See the Review of the Council of Trent, l. 1. c. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. And B. jewels Epistle concerning the Council of Trent at the end of that History, and Dr Featl●ys Case for the Spectacles, c. 1. p. 23, 24. Rex Christianissimus negabat se habere hunc consessum (viz. Conc. Trident.) pro O●cumenica & legitimè congregata Synodo, sed magis pro conventu privato. Thuanus Tom. 1. hist. l. 2. p 601. Concilium tot acclamationibus ebuccinatum & sub annulo Piscatoris tam solenniter firmatum, non admiserunt Galli, nec magni fecerunt doctiores è Pontificiis: aliqui refutarunt, Kemnitius, Gentiletus, Calvinus ex parte Historiam ejusdem edidit, Paulus Suivius Venetus, technas aperiit Gallus, à D. L. anglicè redditus Orat in eohabitae uno prostant volumine è quibus pat●at, non ad lites componendas, sed ad Christianis imponendum conductos, & seductos fuisse tot doctos à Pontificibus, in hoc ultimo ab illis probato O●cumenico. Dr Prid. Concil. Synops. c. 5.  are of too late standing to oppose against the other ancient Counsels, which reject these Books. The Council of Trent was gathered and kept against all Civil and Ecclesiastical Right; neither was there any form of justice observed in it. 1. It was not kept in a lawful place; for whereas it was intended against the Protestants, and the Germans were the parties accused, it ought to have been kept in Germany, according to the request exhibited by the Body of the States of Germany assembled at Noremberg; this equity was not observed, the parties accused being called into Italy. 2. In that Council matters were concluded, and the sentence passed, the adversary not being heard speak, nor so much as present; for the Protestants might not be admitted to hearing, neither could they obtain to propound their opinion in the Council, much less to avouch it by lawful reasoning. Sleidan. fol. 29. and yet were condemned, against Divine and Humane Law; for they both forbid the condemning of any before he have lawful liberty granted him to plead for himself. 3. In that Council the Accuser and Judge were the same: for the Pope did accuse the Protestants of Heresy, he did convocate the Council, he by his Delegates was Precedent and Moderator in it, and so together was Accuser, Judge and Witness, whereas the Reformation of the Pope was the thing in question.  
Lastly, All Counsels ought to be free; but in this, Protestants might not propound their cause, nor defend it, 
k Sleidan. l. 23.  neither might any thing be proposed, but according to the mind of the Legates, or otherwise then they approved; no man had any voice in the Council, but such as were sworn to the Pope, nothing was there determined which was not first concluded of at Rome by the Pope in the College 
This Council was not General, divers Kings & Nations protested against it, viz. The King of England, and the French King, and would not send their Bishops and Ambassadors to it. B. Carleton.  of Cardinals, and sent from Rome to Trent; whereupon this Proverb arose, Spiritum Sanctum Roma per peram mitti Tridentum, The holy Ghost came to Trent packed up in a Cloak-bag.  
We hope therefore since the Apocrypha are justly rejected out of the Canon, that hereafter they will neither have the honour to be bound with our Bibles, nor read in our Churches.  
The Apocrypha was never received by the Church of the Israelites, before Christ his coming; nor of the Apostolic and Primitive Church, for more than three hundred years after, as both Eusebius out of Origen, and the Council of Laodicea, Can. 59 confirmed afterward by the sixth general Council of Constantinople showeth 
In Prologo Galeato, l. 6. c. 18.  for the Greek Church, and St jerom for the Latin.    

CHAP. VI Of the Authentical Edition of the Scripture.  
NOw we must inquire which is the Authentical Edition of holy Scriptures, it being necessary that this heavenly truth committed to writing, should be delivered in some form of words, and in some language which may be understood. Lawyers, from whom the use of the word Authentic 
a Authentieum est quod ex se fidem facit, sua authoritate nititur, ab iis de quorum authoritate constat comprobatur. To be authentical is to have authority of itself. Respectu materiae in sacris illis libris contentae, caelestis nimirum doctrinae, versiones omnes fideliter & cum accuratione factae dici possunt authenticae, non respectu ●ormae, seu verborum & phraseon quibus doctrina illa fuit primùm scripto tradita; hoc enim respectu soli textus originarii Graecus & Hebraeus sunt revera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, divini, authentici, quia illi soli sunt à spiritu Dei immediatè Prophetis & Apostolis dictati. Capel. Crit. Sac. l. 6. c. 5.  seemeth borrowed, do call those instruments and writings Authentic which have a certain and just authority in themselves.  
A Book or writing is Authentic either by Divine or humane institution; those are by Divine Appointment and Institution authentical, which have from God sufficient and absolute Authority to command and approve themselves worthy credit and faith, in as much as God himself doth approve them; by humane Institution such writings are held authentical, which by the opinion and sentence of learned men in their several professions may be esteemed worthy credit and belief for themselves, and for the truth in them.  
There is a great diversity of Editions of holy Scripture; all cannot be simply and perpetually Authentical, in, of, and for themselves, without reference unto another, no more than many draughts of the same Lease or Deed, or copy of one pardon can be. Some amongst many are authentic, whence the others are transcribed; yea it cannot be that there should be many; but although there may be many counterpanes of the deed, yet there is but one or two principal Deeds: so, amongst this great variety of Editions one or more ought to be as principal and authentical.  
There is a Question betwixt the Church of Rome, and the Reformed Churches about the Authentic Edition of Scripture; they say, That the Edition of the Bible in Hebrew and Greek is not authentical, but rather the Vulgar Latin. We hold, that the Vulgar Latin is very corrupt and false; that the Hebrew 
b Hebraeis ●●aecisque textibus concedatur utilitas maxima, laus maxima, exemptio de 〈…〉 corrupt●●●s absolutissima: ●● vehementey approbo. Morinus in epist. ad Diatribeu.  for the Old Testament, and the Greek for the New i● the sincere and authentical writing of God; therefore that all things are to be determined by them; and that the other versions are so far to be approved of, as they agree with these 〈◊〉.  
The ●ride●tin● Council thus 
c Latina vetus vulgata editio in publicis lectionibus disputationibus, praedicationibus & expositionibus pro ●uth●n●ica habeatur, & nemo illam rejicere quovis protextu audeat, aut praesumat. Concil. Trident. Sess 4. decrete 2 do. Pr●●●gi●sum certè decretum & cujus cordat●ores Ponti●icios & tunc cum illud ●uderetur pudu●rit, & etiamnum dispudet, ●●●●ma Antibarb. Bibl.  decreeth, That in all Sermons, Readins, Disputations, Controversies, the Vulgar Latin Translation should be taken for authen●●●● before the Hebrew or Greek, and that no man should presume upon any oc●●●on to reject ●●, or to appeal from it. When the Council of Trent saith the Vul●●● Latin i● authentical, it compares it with other Latin Translations, not with ●he Hebrew. Mu●s de Heb. Edit. Author. ac ver. Vide illum ibid.,  
Andradius (the chiefest of the Divines at the Council of Trent) thinketh that ●he Council of Trent did not mean either to condemn the Hebrew truth (as he calls it) or to acquit the Latin Translation from all error, when they called it Authentical; but only that the Latin hath no such error by which any pestilent opinion in ●aith and manners may be gathered. This saith Rainolds against Hart, c. 6. p. 202. and Chamier. Tom. 1. l. 12. c. 2.  
The Rhemists in their Preface to the New Testament, translated by them, prolixly extol this Latin Edition, and contend that it is not only far better than all the Latin versions, but then the Greek itself, which is the Prototype.  
Before we come to defend our own or disprove that opinion of the Papists, it is necessary first rightly and fully to state the Question, and to premise some things concerning the several Versions and Translations of the Scripture.  
We deny not that part of Daniel and Ezra which was written in the Chaldee Dialect to be Authentical, because we know the Lord was pleased that in that language as well as the Hebrew some of his Divine Truth should be originally written.  
1. For the more credit of the Stories, the Lord bringeth forth foreign Nations and their Chronicles for witnesses, lest any of them should doubt of the truth thereof. 2. The Lord would have some part of those Stories come to the knowledge of the Heathen, and it was requisite that the Chaldeans should know the 
junius.  sins and impieties of that Nations, and the judgements that should befall them, to testify unto all the truth of God; therefore in general the alteration of the terrene States and Kingdoms is shadowed forth and published in the Chaldee Tongue, that the Gentiles might take knowledge thereof; but the particular Histories of the coming of the Messi●s, of his Office and Kingdom, and of the calamities and afflictions which should befall the people of God, are set forth in the Hebrew Tongue, as more especially concerning them. Likewise it pleased God for the better credit of the Story, that the History of those things which were said and done in Chaldea should be written in the same Language wherein they were first spoken; and therefore the Epistles and Rescripts of the Kings are delivered in the Chaldee speech, as taken on● of their public Acts and 
d Nec obstat, quaedam in. jeremia, Daniele & Ezra, idiomate Chaldaico co●●ignata esse, e● n lingua ab Hebraea inflexione saltem differt, & ab eadem tanquam matre, nascitur, ac demum post captivitatem Baby lon●c●m Iud●is coepit esse famili ●ris. Waltherus in offici●a Biblica. Sciendum quippe est Danielem maxim & Ezram Hebraicis quidem literis, sed Chaldaico sermone conscriptos, & unam Hicremiae pericopen, job quoque cum Arabi●● ling●● plurim●m habere societatem. Hieron. Praefat. in Da●. Qu● omnes scripserunt Hebraicè, praeter Danielem, qui secundo & d●inceps quinqae capitibus Chaldaicè exponit r●● in Chaldaea gestas: praeterque Ezram, qui capite quarto ac deinde usque ad octavum decre●a regum Persicorum Chaldaicè resert. Una etiam sententia verbis Chaldaeis exprimitu, Hierem. 10. cap. per mim●sin Assyri● dialect●. Pa●c●●e quoque dictiones in job ponuntur Syris & Arabibus concedendae Bibli●nder de op●i●o genere explica●di Hebr●ica. 〈◊〉 Jun. in Dan. 7. & prelog. ●n Dan.  Records; and that the History in Daniel set forth in the Cha●dee speech gaining him respect with the Chaldeans, might stir up the Jews to receive Daniel as a Prophet of God whom the Heathens admired. If there be any footsteps of the Chaldee and Arabic in job, as some learned say; we do not exclude them from authentic Authority; for we say the whole Old Testament for the most part in Hebrew, and few parcels in Chaldee, are the authentic Edition of the Old Testament.  
The Greek Copies of the New Testament are also from God immediately, the very dialect wherein those Prototypes were, which the Pens of the Evangelists and Apostles did write. For the Gospel of Matthew, and the Epistle to the Hebrews being written in Hebrew, and Mark in Latin, we have refuted that opinion already; the Greek Edition of those three Books, as well as of all the other of the New Testament is authentical.  
The Versions of the Scripture are either the Chaldee and Greek of the Old Testament, the Syriack and Arabic of the new, the Latin, Italian, French and English of both Testaments.  
All the Versions 
c Singulae versiones habe●t suas taudes, suas labes. Amama Antibarb. Bibl. l. 2. c. 1.  of the sacred Scripture have so far Divine Authority as they agree with the original Tongue; and to say that any Translation is pure and uncorrupt, and that the very fountains are muddy, is both a foolish and impious blasphemy. The tongue and dialect is but an accident, and as it were an argument of the Divine truth, which remains one and the same in all Idioms; therefore the faith of the unlearned depends on God, not on men; although the Translations, by benefit 
Multo purior (inquit ipse Hieronymus) manat fontis unda, quam fluit rivuli aqua. See Mr Vines on 2 Pet. 2. 1. p. 67, 68  of which they are brought to believe, be perfected by the labour of men. God's providence and care of the Church is such that he would never let it be long destitute of a fit Translation 
f The accurate inspection of the Hebrew Bible teacheth which Translation hath most exactly expressed the meaning of the holy Ghost. , which being published by learned men, and approved of by the Church, however it failed in some things, yet following the truth constantly in the more principal and necessary things, might be sufficient to all for wholesome instruction.  
The Versions differ often much among themselves; Arias Montanus differs much from Pagnin a learned Translator, and Vatablus from both; from all these Luther, and from him again the Vulgar. Ofiander, the LXX vary.  
The Chaldee Edition of the Old Testament is not a Translation done word for word, but a Paraphrase, and so called; the Chaldee Paraphrase, by the Jews 
g Targum Chaldaicè significat Interpretationem, item Paraphrasin, quando non tam verba quam sensus ex alia lingua redditur. significatio hujus vocis est generalis, ad omnes linguas se extendens, sed tamen usus jam obtinuit, ut per Targum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intelligatur solum Chaldaica Bibliorum Vet. Testamenti translatio. Helvicus de Chald. Paraph. Nomine Targum non significatur semper Chaldaeus Paraphrastes, verum eo vocabulo Interpretem in genere notant. Rainoldus de libris Apocryphis tomo 1. cap. 82. Vide Schickardi Bechinath, etc. Et Capel. Critic. Sac. l. 5. c. 1. Ista Targum 1. Translatio, est tantae auctoritatis apud judaeos quod nep●andissimum est eis ei contradicere. Porcheti victoria adversus Hebraeos, parte 1. c. 2. Abrahamus' princeps Patriarcharum, natione Chaldae●●, omni disciplinarum genere, praesertim verò Mathematicarum, non tantum excelluit, sed ●●s quoque Aegyptios in lingua Chaldaea doc●it. Daniel & Esdras magnam partem Chaldaeè conscripti crant. Waserus Praefat. ad Grammaticam Syrain. Vide plura ibid. Lingua Chaldaica Hebraeae omnium vicinissima, Teste Mercero & Wasero.  Targum, though some conceive that there is some kind of distinction (to speak accurately) between the Chaldee Paraphrase and Targum. Targum being a general word, signifying an Interpretation or Paraphrase, though it usually now by an excellency denoteth the Chaldee Paraphrase. There were three Authors of it (as it is reported,) according to the threefold difference of the Hebrew Books.  
R●bbi Achilam or Aquila, who is vulgarly called O●●glos upon the five Books of 
Vide B●xtorf. de Abbreviat. Heb. p. 106, 107.  Moses; Rabbi jonathan the son of Uziel upon the former and later Prophets; Rabbi joseph coecus (or as some will, a certain Anonymus) upon some of the Hagiographa. Those Paraphrases of Onkelos and jonathan are the ancienter and certioris fidei; that upon the Hagiographa is far later and less certain, it being doubtful both who was the author, and in what age it was made. The common opinion concerning Onkelos and jonathan is, that jonathan wrote a little before Christ, the other a little after him. Capellus lib. 1. de punctorum Hebraicorum antiquitatecap. 1. Helvicus de Chaldaicis Paraphrasibus cap. 2. Vide Paulii Fagii Praefat. in Paraphrast. Chald. Vide Buxtorf. de punctorum Antiquitate & origine, parte 1. c. 10. Rabbi joseph coecus (saith Galatinus de Arcan Cathol verit. lib. 8. cap. 17.) flourished almost 340 years after Christ suffered. jonathan (saith Broughto●) was no less ancient than the holy Apostles.  
These Paraphrases among the Jews (saith Helvicus) sunt autoritatis plane aequalis ipsi Scripturae Hebraicae, neque fas habent illis contradicere. Quorum Paraphrasin nemo doctus non suspicit, saith Capellus of Onkelos and jonathan.  
The Jews write that jonathan received his Doctrine of the Targum from Zachary, Haggai and Malachi the Prophets: Onkelos his from Rabbi Elieser and Rabbi joshua, which also themselves received them from the Prophets: They write that jonathan interpreting the Scripture, all Palestina was shaken with an Earthquake, and a voice heard from heaven; Quis est iste, qui filiis hominum Arcana mea revelat? Also that if by chance a fly or any other flying thing should have fallen upon him or his paper, whilst he was writing this work, they would presently have been burnt from Heaven without hurting him or the paper.  
The use of these Paraphrases are very great, 1. To illustrate the Hebrew Text by 
Ea lis adhuc sub judice haeret, Ebraeave au Chaldaea fit reliquarum mater▪ & certè Chaldai pro sua non levibus militant argumentis. Erpenius. Observa quaso pie & Christiane lestor, à Paraphraste nostro expresse hic poni nomen M●ssiae, qui per vocem Hebraicam Schilo intelligitur, quod certè multum facit pro tutanda confirmandaque fide ac religione nostra Christiana, contra impudentes quosdam judaeos, qui impiè contendunt hunc locum non esse de Messiah se● Christo intelligendum. Ideoque variis stultis, frivolis, tortis & impiis expositionibus conantur nobis eum obscurare. Fagius Annotat in Paraphras. Chald in Pentateuch. Vide plura ibid.  circumstances or a more full explication of it. 2. To confirm the integrity of the Hebrew Text, Gen. 3. 15. 3. In controversies against the Jews, In controversiis judaicis praecipuum robur obtinent 
* Illud solum considera, terrori Iudaeis eos Christianos esse, qui in Thargum & Rabbinis mediocriter versati sunt; non enim ignorant, pleraque hodierni judaismi fulera in iis vebementissimè concuti, imò convelli. Quo magis doleo haec utilissima studia adeo iis in locis jacere, ubi Iudaei catervatim habitant. Amamae consilium de studio Ebraico bene instituendo. , saith Helvicus. The Chaldee Paraphrasts Gen. 49. 10. both of them most excellently expound the place, which themselves understood not: being like therein to Virgil's Bees, which make Honey for others, and not themselves. First, Onkelos interpreteth it in this manner: A Magistrate exercising authority of the house of judah, shall not depart, nor a Scribe of his Posterity for ever, till Christ come, to whom the Kingdom pertaineth, and him shall the people obey. The 
i lively in his Chronology of the Persian Monarchy. Chaldaica lingua in Vet. Test. periude ut & Syra in Novo, purior longè est, quam ea quibus Paraphrases Chaldaicae conscriptae sunt. Waltherus. Talmudh propter ejus magnitudinem nunquam legit Hieronymus, sicut nec Targum ob Syrae linguae imperitiam. Wakfeld. orat de laudibus & utilitate trium linguarum Arab. Chald. & Heb. The Rabbins generally however they interpret Siloh, confess it notes the Messiah. joh. Isaac. l 2. contra Lindanum.  other called the Interpreter of jerusalem, thus: Kings of the house of judah shall not fail, neither skilful Law-teachers of his posterity, unto the time wherein the King Christ shall come: unto whom the Kingdom pertaineth, and all the Kingdoms of the Earth shall be subdued unto him. If Christ came when authority was gone, and authority went away at jerusalem's fall, needs must one coming of Christ be referred to the overthrow of that City. The Talmudici and later Rabbins, Rabbi Sal. jarchi, Rabbi Dau. Kimchi, expound it of the Messiah, as Buxtorf shows.  
There are many profitable explications in that Paraphrase on the Pentateuch 
* Targum, hoc est Paraphrasis Onkeli Chaldaica, in quinque libros Mosis ex Chaldaeo à Paulo Fagio versa; quibus adjecit breves doct asque annotationes. Melchior Adamus in vita ●agii. , but it is too late to be of authentic Authority; and the other Chaldee Paraphrases (that excepted) are besprinkled with Jewish Fables and 
* Rainoldus de lib. Apoc. Helvicus.  Thalmudique toys. The third Paraphrase hath not expounded all the Hagiographal Books: For there was never seen any Targum upon Chronicles, nor Daniel, nor Ezra; peradventure because much of the Chronicles was expounded in the Books of the Kings, and a great part of Daniel and Ezra were written in Chaldee, that there was no need of a new Paraphrase.  
Onkelos his Paraphrase seldom merits that name, being indeed commonly nothing but a rigid version  
Cudworths' Discourse concerning the notion of the Lords Supper. Chap. 3.  
The third Targum of the Pentateuch is named Hieerosolymitanum, either from the  
〈…〉 Seventy 〈…〉 
〈…〉  〈…〉 ommandment) were the Authors 〈…〉 years' after the death of the Author of Nehemiah, 〈…〉 before Christ. They are said to be 72 Elders chosen 〈…〉 are commonly called Seventy, although they were See 〈…〉 showeth where he speaks of their Edition, as the 〈…〉 hundred and five. Ptolomeus Philadelphus the most learned of 〈…〉, had made a Library at Alexandria which he stored with many 〈…〉 Books, and understanding that the Divine Books of the Prophet's full ●● all good Doctrine, were kept amongst the Jews, written in their Tongue, by ●●e motion of Demetrius Phalerius the best Grammarian of that age, whom Ptolemy had appointed the Library-keeper, he requested of Eleazar the Highpriest of the Jews those Books and Interpreters, than Seventy two Elders of all the Tribes of Israel were sent unto them. All the Latin Translations of the Bible (except that of jerom) were made from it. The Evangelists 
n 〈…〉 ow●s 〈…〉. ●. 〈…〉 apel. 〈…〉 l. 4. 〈…〉 vitur; Apostoli usi sunt ca editione, Ergo ost authentica sive divina. Nam Paulus usus est etiam propha 〈…〉 rum testimo●●is, qui tamen propterca non sunt Divini. Caeterum quia scripserunt Graecè Apostoli, facilè usi sunt c 〈…〉 tum sola 〈…〉 raecis crat cognita. Chamier. Non ideo Apostoli in citationi●●s suis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. X. X. tran●●ationem Grae 〈…〉 sunt, quod eam existimarent esse divinam, & ● Dei Spiritu immediate profectam, sed quòd ●am ad fidei & more 〈…〉 ctrinam quod attinet, sinceram satis esse nossent, quodque ●● esset maximae ●●●i judaeos auctoritatis, quam repudi●r● 〈…〉 e, nulloque co ore aut prae textu posse●t, ●●po●● à viris Iud●is, 〈◊〉 ●erme ante Christ 〈…〉 apparatu, procurante summo judaeorum 〈◊〉 adorn●●●m. ●●●pel. Cri●●●. Sac. l. 4. c. 18.  followed the version of the Seventy in many things, which was in the hands of many, and of great Authority amongst the Hellenists, when they might do it without much swerving from the sense of the Prophets, both to show their Liberty; and that in things indifferent and of little consequence, they would not give occasion of cavil to the wicked, no● of scandal to the weak Rainold. in lib. Apoc.  
The LXX Interpreters do manifestly swerve from the Hebrew truth in reckoning 
.  of years, for Gen. 5. they say that M●thusel●h was more than 16● years old, whe● he begat Lam●ch; so that of necessity, they make him live fourteen years after the flood, which is false, for than were nine souls saved contrary to ●en. 〈◊〉. Vid● Cape● Critic. Sac. l. 4. c 14▪  
The Syriack Translation of the New Testaments comes next to be considere● 〈◊〉 
〈…〉.  is Ancient, yet it is not certain who w●s the Author thereof, no● in what time i● was made; though Cham●er thinks a little after Christ's time, the great elegan●● and purity of speech, doth show 〈◊〉 it is ●n●ient. It is probable th●● i●●●s mad● about the beginning of the Christian Church, because the second of Peter, with 
Syriaca lingua quasi proles quaedam est Hebraicae & ●haldaicae linguae: Hebraei siq●idem, qu● usque ad captivitatem Babyloni●am Hebraicè solum, id est, lingua sua loqui consueverant, cum abducti essent in Babylonem, caeperunt oblivisci linguam propriam, & addiscere alienam, id est, Chaldaicam, quia tamen non perfectè eam pronunciare poterant, & semper aliquid ex Hebraica retine▪ bant, factum est, ut lingua quaedam tertia nasceretur, Syriaca, dicta à regione. Bellarminus. Modum in scribendo à dextra versus ●inistram introrsum omnes Populi orientales sequuntur exceptis Aethiopibus qui à sinistra dextram versus scribunt. Waltherus.  the second and third of john, jude, the Revelation, are left out, which though they were written by Inspiration, yet they were questioned by Ecclesiastical Writers, because they were omitted by the Syriack Translator.  
It is very profitable for the understanding of the Greek Testament. It well interprets those Greek words, Matth. 6. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per panem indigentiae nostrae, and that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 1 Cor. 16. 22. The Syriack hath two words Maran Atha, which signify our Lord cometh. The Papists endeavour to establish their Administration of the Lords Supper under one kind from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 1 Cor. 11. 20. but that word is generally used for the whole action of the Sacrament, viz. the distribution of the Bread and Wine. The Syriack so renders it Comedentes vos & bibentes. Andrea's Masius in his Syriack Grammar saith, That the Syrians do not write Sinistrorsum toward the lefthand, as the Hebrews, nor Dextrorsum toward the right-hand, as the Greeks and Latins, but Deorsum downward; which manner of writing (it is probable) was then observed by Christ, joh. 8. 6. 
p Piscator. Scholar in loc. & Walther. in officina Biblica. Novi Testamenti Syram editionem magni faciunt omnes docti. Chamier. Lingua Syriaca servatoris nostri ore sanctificata est, cui, dum in terris versaretur, vernacula fuit atque domestica. Waser. Praefat. ad Grammaticam Syram. ●ingua Syra hodiè Antiochena & Maronitica dicitur, à locis, ubi ea oreberrimi inter i●colas est usus. Est enim haec ex Hebraea & Chaldaea conflata coepitque circa Cyri, Persarum Monarchae tempora, aut non ita multo post, regnante videlicet Dario Histaspis F. Post servatoris aetatem primostatim nascentis Christianismi saeculo, vel ab Apostolis ipsis, vel à Discipulis corum, Paraphrasis Syra in Novum Testamentum erat conscripta. Cujus praestantissimae Paraphrasoos antiquitatem cum incorrupta sermonis elegantia, tum defectus Epistolae Petri TWO, johannis TWO, & III, Sancti judae, Apocalypscos, & accusationis adulterae apud johan, quae ipsa apud ●hrysostomum quoque, Theophylactum & Nonnum desideratur, sa●is superque confirmant. Waser. ubi supra. Antiquissimum illud monumentum, nec unquam satis laudatum, versio Syriaca. Fuller. Miscel. Sac. l. 3. c. 16. Vide Fuller. Miscel. Sac. l. 3. c. 20.  because at that time the Jews used the Syriack tongue.  
The New Testament in Syriack is in Latin of Trostius his Edition, the Revelation was De Dieu's Edition, the later Epistle of Peter, and two Epistles of john, and that of jude, are M. Pococks' Edition.  
It is manifest that Christ and his Apostles spoke in the Syriack Tongue, since Tabytha Kumi, Eloi, Eloi, Lammasabachthani, Bethesda, Gabbatha, Golgotha, Aceldama, are mere Syriack; yet the Evangelists often call it Hebrew, because it was the language of the Hebrews, john 5. 2. and 19 13, 16. Acts 21. 40. and 22. 2. and 26. 14.  
The Arabic Translation.  
It is uncertain by whom it was made, or when; sure it is, they had the Scriptures in their own Tongue; and it were to be wished that that Tongue were more 
The Arabic Testament was set out by Erpenius. Erpenius saith, the Arabic is ancienter than the Syriack. Walther. in officina Biblica.  common, and better understood; that Religion might be spread amongst the Saracens, which for the most part speak that Language.  
In the year 1592. the New Testament in Arabic, was first divulged at Rome.  
The Arabic Tongue (saith Walter) is thought to be a Branch of the Chaldee and Syriack proceeding from both, but that it exceeds them in six letters, there being eight and twenty in the Arabic Tongue. It was in use anciently with the Ishmaelites and Hagarens, who drew their original from Abraham, and afterward would rather be called Saracens from Sarah. It is now used thorough all Asia and Africa; Mahumed who descended from the Ishmaëlitish Nation, wrote his wicked and blasphemous Alcoran in this Tongue.  
Erpenius 
q Orat. 1. de ling. Arab. dignitate. De lingua Arabica agitur, Act. 2. 11. Arabism is referti sunt Scripturae libri Poeticl, jobi maximè, ut pridem observavit Hieronymus, Bochartus Geogr. Sac. par. 1. l. ●. c. 15.  (who was excellently skilled in this Tongue) saith, It is more necessary and excellent then either the Syriack, Aethiopick, Persian, or Turkish Language; he extols it for its Antiquity, Largeness, Elegancy and Profit.  
The Arabians (saith he) have many more accurate for Geography then Ptolemy; Avicenna and other famous Physicians have written in this Tongue. He saith thirty two thousand of Arabic Books were to be had in one Library in Mauritania.  
joseph Scaliger, Raphelengius, Isaac Casaubone, Emmanuel Tremellius, and 
Epeni us orat. prima & secunda de Ling. Arab. dignitate. Mr. Cudworth calls Mr. Selden the glory of our Nation for oriental learning.  Franciscus junius, all learned men of special note, much esteemed this tongue, and promoted the study of it, as their writings show. Mercer, who was most versed in the Hebrew and Chaldee tongues, in his old age, a little before he died, thought to have traveled into the east, only out of a desire to learn the Arabic tongue.  
The Latin translations were so many, that Augustine 
r Qui ex Hebrea lingua Scripturas in Graecam verterunt numerari possunt. Latin● autem nullo modo. August. de doctrina Christina l. 2. c. 11.  saith, they could not be numbered.  
That new version of Tremellius and junius both, is best for the old Testament, and that of Erasmus and Beza for the new Testament. See in Chamiers first Tome, l. 12. c. 1. his censure of all three.  
There is a great use also of the Interlineary version put forth by Arias Montanus, for the finding out the sense, and genuine signification of all the Hebrew and Greek words.  
Amongst many and divers Latin Translations, there was one more common than the rest of the old and new Testament, usually called the vulgar, because it was of vulgar use, and received by many. Who was the Author of this Edition, it is not manifest: Some say it was more Ancient, then that of Jerome▪ Jerome wrote pure 
s Maldon. ad Luc. 16. 1. & Estius ad 1 Cor. 5. 6. & ad Ephes. 1. 10.  Latin, being skilful in the Latin tongue, but the vulgar Translation is barbarous in many places; therefore Pagnine, 
t Hieronymus Latinitatis auctor est non contemnendus, qui in omnibus scriptis suis sermone utitur grammatices puro. Quam barbara contra sit versio vulg. res ipsa loquitur, ut v●●rum sit jesuitas elegantiae Latinae aliàs studio●issimos, vulgatam illam. translationem vel hoc nomine non improbasse. Waltherus ●● o●●i●ina Biblica.  Maldonate, Estius, Sixtus Senensis, Burgensis, Valla, Lindan, deny it to be Ieromes; that was translated from the Hebrew by the Greek, and not by ●erome, but by some uncertain and unknown Author saith Whitaker.  
Bootius in the Index of his Sacred Animadversions, ascribes it to Jerome. 
Vide Whit●kerum de Scriptures Quoest. secund. controversiae. Cap. Sexto. & Waltheri officinam Biblicam.   
The Geneva translation for the French, and our last translation for the English, and Deodate for the Italian are the best, which is now set out in English, Diodatus noster in eximia Bibliorum I●alicorum version, saith Spanhemius 
* Clarissimus vir Joh. Diodati in aureis suis Annotationibus, q●as versioni suae Italicae (operi profecto nunquam satis laudando) Bibliorum annexuit Ved. Rationale. Theol. l. 2. c. 6.   
The question betwixt us and the Papists, now cometh to be considered, which of these Editions is Authentical, that is, which of itself hath credit and authority, being sufficient of itself to prove and commend itself, without the help of any other Edition, because it is the first exemplar or Copy of divine truth delivered from God by the Prophets and Apostles. This, in respect of the old Testament, is the Hebrew, and in some Chapters of Daniel and Ezra the Chaldee, and in respect of the New Testament is the Greek; all other Editions are but of humane authority.  
This proposition true in itself, is yet divers ways opposed by the Papists, whose opinions may be set down in three propositions:  
1. That the Hebrew and Greek Text are corrupt, and therefore not 
u Bellarm. l. 2. de verbo ●●i c. 2 and ●hemists Preface before the New Testament.  Authentical, for the fountain is to be preferred before the streams, if it come unto our hands uncorruptly. The Book of Moses 
x Fateor equidem & à me dissentiet opinor, nemo, Apostolorum & Prophetatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 regulam esse & amussim ad quam versiones omnes exigendae sint. Morinus exercit. Bibl. l. 1. exercit. 1. c. 1.  which by God's Commandment was preserved in the Ark, and that very Gospel written by Matthew: Those autographs (saith Morinus) are certainly the rule of all versions.  
The second proposition is, That the 70 Translators, were not so much Translators as Prophets, who wrote by Divine inspiration; so that their translation had been authentic, if it had come to our hands and had not perished.  
The third is, That the vulgar Translation is of authentic authority, and aught so to be received; neither may any man presume to reject it upon any pretence; They say it hanged between the Hebrew and Greek, as Christ did between the two Thiefs.  
To these three propositions, we oppose three which are most true, and shall prevail.  

1. The Hebrew of the Old Testament, 
y Scriptura Hebraea in U. T. & Graeca in N. T. ab Hieronymo rectè vocantur fontes veritatis.  and the Greek of the New, is the authentic Edition, and the pure fountain of divine truth.  
2. The 70 were not Prophets, but Translators.  
3. The vulgar translations neither is authentic nor perfect, neither ought it in any case so to be esteemed.   
Reason's proving that the Hebrew of the Old Testament, and the Greek of the New, are authentical and pure.  
To prove our first proposition, these Arguments may be brought.  
1. The Hebrew of the Old, and Greek 
z In Ecclesia Christiana nulla unquam suit Editio authentica, excepta Hebraica veteris, & Gr●ca Novi Testamenti. Nam id opinor in ecclesiae catholica dicendum est authenticum, quod apud omnes authoritatem habet, Chamierus.  of the New Testament, are the very Scriptures which came immediately from God; the very particular, and individual writings, both for Character and stile of speech, yea, the dialect as well as the matter of them is immediately by inspiration from above, and written by holy men, as they were moved by the holy spirit; what Edition therefore is worthy to be compared to this?  
When we speak of the original and authentic Text of the holy Scripture, that is not to be so understood as if we meant it of the Autographs written by the hand of Moses, or the other Prophets or Apostles, but only of the original or the primogenial Text in that tongue, out of which divers versions 
a Rivetus in Catholico orthodoxo. Scriptura dupliciter intelligitur; vel enim significat ipsam literarum picturam & sic accipitur Exod. 32. 16. vel res ipsas, quae significantur per eas voces ut Matth. 22. 25. Aeque Biblia Sacra nuncupantur codices illi qui passim circumferuntur Latinè, Gallicè, Chaldaicè, Syriacè; ac qui Hebraicè & Graecè, ●●it longè alii sint literarum ductus & syllabarum compositiones. Chamierus de Canone l. 9  were derived according to the variety of tongues.  
2. For a long time before the Birth of Christ, the Hebrew was not only the alone Authentic Copy, but the only Edition which was extant in the world. In the days of Moses, the Kings of Israel and the Prophets before the Captivity, what Edition of Scripture had the Church but the Hebrew? what did the Jews read in their Synagogues, and in their Solemn Meetings, but only this Hebrew Edition?  
After the time of Christ, for the space of 600 years, the Hebrew Edition of the Old Testament, and the Greek of the New, were held Authentic, and no other.  
3. If any thing be erroneous, doubtful, less emphatical or improper; or if in the Articles of Religion any doubt or difficulty arise, which cannot be decided out of Translations, we must necessarily then have recourse to the Hebrew of the old, and the Greek of the new Testament, as Augustine 
b D● doctrina Christiana l. 2. c. 11. Si translatio ab originali dissentit, ei linguae potius credendum est unde in aliam per interpretationem facta est translatio. Augustinus l. 15. de Civitate Dei c. 3.  witnesseth, and Jerome in lib. Contra Helvidium.  
Bellarmine grants, that sometimes we must have recourse to the Hebrew and Greek fountains, 1. When in the Latin Edition there be any errors of the Scribe. 2. When there are divers readings. 3. When there is any thing doubtful in the words or sentence. 4. To understand the force and Energy of the word, because all things are more emphatical in the Original.  
4. If the authority of the authentical Copies in Hebrew, Chaldee and Greek, fall, then there is no pure Scripture in the Church of God, there is no High Court of Appeal where controversies 
c Hieronymus & coaevus ei Augustinus difficultatibus obortis, jubent in versionibus nos rec●r●re ad ipsos fontes, Erpenius.  (rising upon the diversity of translations, or otherwise) may be ended. The exhortation of having recourse unto the Law, and to the Prophets, and of our Saviour Christ ask how it is written, and how readest thou, is now either of none effect, or not sufficient.  
The Papists differ among themselves in this controversy 
d Bellarm. lib. 2. de v●rbo Dei cap. 7. Morinus exercit. Bibl. l. 1. exercit. 1. c. 2. 3. 4.  about the corruption of the originals: Some of them say, That the Hebrew of the Old, and the Greek of the New Testament, is not generally corrupted, and yet is not so very pure a fountain, that whatsoever differs from it, is necessarily to be corrected by it.  
Others 
e As Canus l. 2. c. 13. de locis Theologicis Lindanus. l. 1. c. 11. de optimo genere interpret.  say, That the Jews in hatred of the Christian faith, depraved and much corrupted the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament. Which opinion as absurd is rejected by Bellarmine, and is easily refuted.  
I shall first lay down some reasons against the grosser opinion, and also that of of Bellarmine's, before I come to Answer the particular Objections of the Papists.  
1. Jerome and Origen thus argue, if the Jews corrupted the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament, than they did this before the coming of Christ, or after it: Not before his coming, for there was no cause why the Jews should do it, and our Saviour Christ would never have suffered so gross a crime to have passed without due reproof, when he was not silent for lesser faults. On the contrary, our Saviour sendeth us to the Scripture to learn the Doctrine of salvation, Luke 16. 29. and proveth his Doctrine out of Moses and the Prophets. Not after Christ's coming, than the Testimonies cited by Christ and his Apostles, would have been expunged by them, and the special prophecies concerning Christ, but they are all extant. The Jews have, and yet still do keep the holy Text 
Notissimum est, nulla in re suisse judaeos tam curiosos, pios & religiose observantes, quam ut Biblia sua casta, pura, inviolataque conservarent. Nam illud mandatum Dei, quod Deut. c. 4. v. 2. legitur, non solum de quinque Moysis libris dictum esse interpretantur, sed in universum de omnibus libris & verbis quae per spiritum Sanctum Prophetae Iudaeis Communicarunt, intelligunt. I●super multis ab ipsis Iudaeis sancitum est legibus, eum, qui aliquid in Bibliis mutet, peccatum committere inexpiable. Quin & hoc ad jecerunt: siquis velex ignorantia & impietate unum vocabulum mutet, ne totus propterea mundus p●reat, & in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vertatur, periculum esse. Has autem sententiae suae causas adduxerum, quod credant Deum Opt. Max. propter solam Scripturam sacram (quam ipsi opinionem variis modis probant) hunc mundum creasse. johanues Isaacus contra Lindanum l. 2. p. 66. 67. 68 Vide Wakfeld. Syntagma de Hebraeorum codicum in corruption. Ab hoc mendo praeservavit Deus locum Gen. 3. 15. ubi primum de Christo Evangelium, ubi in omnibus Ebraicis Bibliis, nullo omnino codice excepto, mansit masculinum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum vau mavet ergo Deo solida Laus, & sontibus debitum aestimium. Amams' disserta. de K●ri & Khetib. Tu illos accede, & urge disputatione; ducenta tibi argumenta ex Bibliis contra illos suppetunt, quae in textu Hebraeo clariora & dilucidiora, quam ulla conversione inven●untur. Id. ib p. 77.  of Scripture most religiously and carefully, which may appear, since (as johannes Isaac contra Lindan▪ l. 2. a learned Jew writeth) that there are above 200 arguments against the Jews opinion, more evident and express in the Hebrew Text of the Old Testment, than there be in the Latin translation. From the days of our Saviour Christ until this time, the Jews keep the Scripture with so great reverence (saith the same Isaac) ut jejunium indicunt si illa in terram ceciderit, they publish a fast if it fall upon the ground. This Testimony of Isaac Levita is the more to be esteemed, because he was Lindans own Master, and professor of the Hebrew Tongue in the University of Coolen, and hath written three Books in the defence of the Hebrew truth, against the cavils of his Scholar. Arias Montanus for his rare skill of Tongues and Arts, was put in trust by King Philip to set forth the Bible in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, wherein he hath reproved that Treatise of Lindan, and disclosed his folly. Muis (who hath written a Commentary on the Psalms) a great Hebrician and learned Papist, hath written against Morinus about this subject. The most learned Papists, Senensis, Bannes, Lorinus, Pagnine, Marinus Brixianus, Valla, Andradius, Bellarmine and Genebrard, hold, That the Jews did not maliciously corrupt the Hebrew Text.  
josephus' l. 1. contra Appian (who lived after our Saviour) saith, That the Jews 
R. Ben. Maimon saith, If in the copying of the Hebrew Bible, one letter were written twice, or if one lttter but touched another, that Copy was not admitted into their Synagogues, but only allowable to be read in Schools and private families. Masora est doctrina critica, à priscis Hebraeorum sapi●ntibus, circa textum Hebraeum sacrae scripturae, ingeniosè inventa, qu● versus, voces, & literae ejus numeratae, omnisque ipsarum varietas notata, & suis lotis cum singulorum versurum recitatione indicata est, ut sic constans & genuina ejus lectio conservetur, & ab omni mutatione aut corruptione aeternum praeservetur, & valide praemuniatur, Buxtorsii Tiberias, c. 2.  did keep the holy Scripture with so great fidelity, that they would rather die then change or alter any thing in it. Euseb. Eccles. Hist l. 3. cap. 10. teacheth the same thing. The Stupendious diligence of the Massorites, in numbering of the words and letters, with the variations of pointing and writing▪ least any place or suspicion should be given of falsifying it, seems to be a good plea also against the Jews wilful depraving of Scripture: Paulo post Hieronymmm confecta est Masora, quam utilissimum thesaurum Arias appellat. Chamierus. Masora opus immensum, & Herculeo labour elaboratum, quo omnia Scripturae vocabula, syllabae, litterae, apices numerantur, illud Rabbini usitata appellatione, Legis vocant sepimentum Dilher. Elect. l. 1. c. 22. Vide Muis de Heb. edit. Author. ac verit.  
If Origen or Jerome (the two 
f Paucissimi ex Antiquis patribus Linguae Hebraicae periti fu●runt, Graeci Graece, Latini Latinè scripserunt: Et omnes, exceptis Origine & Hieronymo, Linguae Hebraicae imperitissimi, Graecis & Latinis interpretationibus, quas ad manus habuerunt, contenti fuere, adeo ut D. Hieronymus de Origine scribat, illum Hebraeam linguam contra aetatis gentisque suae naturam didicisse. Buxtorf de Punctorum Antiquitate & Origine parte prima c. 11.  chiefest Hebricians among the Fathers) had had the least suspicion of this, they would never have bestowed so much time in the learning of this tongue, nor have taken such indefatigable pains, in translating the Bible's out of Hebrew. Yet Morinus would seem to give answer to this, viz. That we might convince the Jews out of their own Books. Jerome doth in a thousand places call it the Hebrew truth, & fontem limpidissimum, and prefers it before the Translation of the Septuagint, and all other versions whatsoever. He calls the Hebrew in the Old and Greek in the New Testament, Fontes veritatis. Farther, if the Jews would have corrupted the Scripture, they could 
g Non potu●runt Iudaei Scripturas corrumpere. Augustinus ex exemplarium Bibliorum multitudine id probat l. 15. de Civitate Dei cap. 13. Absit (inquiens) ut pruders aliquis judaeos cujuslibet perversitatis atque malitie tantum potuisse credat in codicibus tam multis, & tam longè latèque dispersis. Potissima ratio à fingulari providentia divina deducitur. Glassius l. 1. Tract 1. de textus Heb. in V T. puritate. Sect. secunda,  not, for the Books were dispersed throughout the whole world; how could the Jews then, being so far dispersed themselves, confer together, and corrupt them all with one consent? The Books were not only in the hands of the Jews, but of Christians also, and in their custody; and they would never have suffered the Books of the Old Testament (which are the foundation of faith and life) to be corrupted. Add, if the Jews would have corrupted the Scripture, they would have corrupted those places which make most against them, concerning Christ's person, and office; as that prophecy of Dan. 9 of the Messiahs coming before the destruction of jerusalem; that Hag. 2. 9 which setteth out the glory of the second Temple, to be greater than the glory of the first, in regard of the presence of the Lord in it; that Gen. 49. 10. Who is such a stranger in the Jewish controversies, as to be ignorant how stoutly and pertinaciously many of the Jews deny, that by Shiloh there, is understood the Messias? but the three fold paraphrase there, hath expressly added the word Messias, and stops the mouths of the Jews, who must not deny their authority; so that they fear nothing more, then to 
h Amama Antibarb. Bibl. l. 1.  contest with those Christians, who read and understand the Chaldee Paraphrases, and interpretations of the Rabbins. See Mr. Mede on that Text.  
Psalm 2. 12. where the vulgar Latin hath apprehendite disciplinam (quae lectio nihil magnificum de Christo praedicat) the Hebrews read osculamina filium, which is more forcible 
i Ipse Bellarminus fatetur, ex Textu Hebraeo judaeos sortius constringi & vexari saepius posse, quam ex versione latina. judaei reliquerunt in suis lebris quae maxime pro nobis contra ipsos faciant, i. e. Quae mysterium Trinitatis comprobant, qua cum Iudaei nihil habent common, & de Christo testimonium perhibent, Hieron. Si falsandi aliquem locum Iudaeis Causa unquam fuit, certè Esaiae cap. 53. in quo ita de Christi, Domini nostri morte ac passione Esaias vaticinatus est, ut ejus coram spectator fuisse videatur. At totus iste locus integer relictus est, habetque in Hebraeo codice prorsus, quomodo in Graeco & Latino, Muis de Heb. Edit. Author acver.  to prove the mystery of Christ's Kingdom, and celebrate his ample dominion over all.  
That place Isa, 53. contains both the prophecy, and whole passion of Christ in itself. Yet what is wanting there in the Hebrew Text? is there a letter taken away or altered, to violate the sense of the mysteries? Isaac Levita 
k Lib. 2. contra Lind p, 82.  saith, That this Chapter converted him, that he read it over more than a thousand times, and compared it with many translations, and that more of the mystery of Christ is contained in it, then in any translation whatsoever.  
He addeth further, that disputing with five Rabbins at Frankford, he urged this Chapter against them, and thereby brought them into those straits, and so stopped their mouths, that they could not reply to his arguments. We have the second Psalm, the 21. the 110. and all others entire and complete, in which there are most manifest 
l Quid illustrius de Christi Messiae nostri dici potest exhibitione, quam istud Esa. 5. 7. Esa. 9 6. Quid de passone ejus accerba & resurrectione gloriosa splendidus dici potest, quam quod in Esa. 53. cap. dicitur, itemque in Psal. 22. Nec tamen corruptelam vel his, vel permultis aliis Scripturae locis ullam fuisse à Iudaeis illatam deprehendere possumus Glas. Philol. Sac.  prophecies concerning Christ.  
There are many besides the Papists, who have stood for the uncorrupt truth of the fountains, and have defended the Jews faithfulness in preserving the Hebrew Copies, as Whitaker, Lubbertas, junius, Ames, Rivet and others. But none hath performed more for the vindicating of particular places, which are either suspected, or openly charged of corruption by certain Papists, than Solomon Glassius a most learned man, who in his Philologia sacra hath vindicated seventy two places of the Old Testament, and twenty of the New.  
All know, that that place in the 7th of Isa. A virgin shall conceive, was constantly objected to the Jews from the beginning, and yet they have left it untouched. Chamier de Canone l. 12. c. 4.  
Objections of the papists against the purity of the hebrew text in the old Testament.  
Bellarmine 
m L. 2. de verbo Dei c. 2.  only produceth five places of the Scripture, in which he endeavours to prove, not that the Hebrew Text is corrupted by the labour or malice 
n Aliis occurrendum videtur, qui zelo quidem bono, sed nescio an secundum scientiam, omni●o contendunt, judaeos in odium Christianae fidei studiose depravasse & corrupisse multa loca Scripturarum. Bellar. de verbo Dei l. 2. c. 2. If the Old Testament be corrupted, God gave it not, for God's providence would keep pure all Books he would have continued. Broughton.  of the Jews (that opinion he evidently and solidly refutes) yet that it is not altogether pure and perfect, but hath its errors brought in from the negligence of the Scribes, and ignorance of the Rabbins.  
Coton saith, The originals are miserably corrupted; and that there is a multitude almost incredible of depravations and falsifications, made by the Rabbins and Masorites.  
But Bellarmine, who was more learned than he, and from whom he hath stolen a great part of his Book against the Genevah Translation, doth sufficiently confute him.  

Object. Psal. 22. 16. There is no Christian, but he readeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caru, they have pierced my hands and my feet, yet it is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caari, as a Lyon.  
Answ. This is the only argument 
o Nullum habet Lindanus argumentum, quod vel faciem quandam veritatis habeat praeter hoc. Ut veritatem fateamur, hoc vocabulum ab annis decem non parum nos torfit, maximamque suspicionem praebuit, ut omnino corruptum esse crederemus. johannnes Isaacus contra Lind. l. 2 p 102 Ego profectò ausim praestare praeter locum Psalmi 22. in totis Hebraeis Codicibus inveniri nihil, quod optimam, Cohaerentem▪ ●iam & Christanae fidei prorsus congruentem non habeat sententiam. Muis de Hebraicae editionis authoritate ac veritate. Voici l' unique lieu, en tout l' Hebrieu, qui semble aveir appearance d● r●ison, pour faire penser à une malicious entreprinse de juiss. Benedict. Turretin response à la Preface de Coton. Nullus, Deum testor, veteris instrumenti seu doctrinae codex Hebraicus, quem variis in regionibus videre potui, sive is vetustissimus ac integerrimus, Scriptus ac membranaceus fuerat, sive impressus & papyriceus, etiam regulatus, & artificioso judicio seu subtili consideratione castigatus ac correctus, Caru, id est soderunt, habebat, sed omnes ad unumusque Caa●i, id est, quasi Leo, Wakfeld. Syntag de hebraeorum codicum incorruptione. Caari his extat, & sub duplici significatione, semel Psal. 22. 17. & ingrum Isa. 38. 13. ubi cum absque ullo dubio & contradictione propriam significationem, Sicut Leo, obtineat, necessariò in Psalmo ali●m significationem habebit, quod invictum est contra judaeos argumentum, aliquid peculiare ibi in ista voce latere, & aliter illic omnino explican●um esse quam in Isaia. Buxt. Clau. mas. c. 1. vide Hotting. Thes. Philol. l. 1. p. 191.  which Lindan hath of any show, to prove that the Jews have corrupted the Hebrew Text, saith Rainolds against Hart. Whitaker saith, Hoc unum posse ab illis probabile in fontibus Hebraicis corruptelae indicium inveniri. The same say john Isaac against Lindan, Muis against Morinus, Turretinus against Coton. The Jews (they say) corrupted that word pierced, because they saw that it proposed that manifest prophecy of the crucifying of Christ.  
But it is easy (saith Whitaker) to vindicate this place from their calumny, For first, Learned men witness, that Caru is read in many Hebrew Books. john Isaac a Popish Jew, in his second Book against Lindan witnesseth, that he saw such a Book. Hoc idem ego johannes Isaac ipsa veritate & bona conscientia testari possum, quòd hujusmodi Psalterium apud avum meum viderim, ubi in textu scriptum erat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & in margin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et ita omnia olim exemplari habuisse, hand dubito. Hinc itaque manifestumesse puto, cur septuaginta & alii transtulerint, foderunt. Siquidem illi non Keri sed Ketif sunt secuti. The Massorites say, it was written Caru in many exact Copies. It is not therefore a corruption, but a divers reading in certain Copies by the mistake of the Scribes, as Bellarmine himself confesseth. Apparet (saith he) imprudenter quosdam, dum se Hebraeos oppugnare credunt, Ecclesiam ipsam oppugnare. Si enim illae correctiones Scribarumsunt Hebraici textus corruptiones, sequitur apertè, vulgatam quoque editionem esse corruptissimam: quam tamen nobis Ecclesia pro versione authentica tradidit. Bellarm. l. 2. de verbo Dei. c. secundo.  
Genebrard the King's Professor of Hebrew in Paris on the place, concludes that the Jews did not corrupt this word. Vide sis in loc. & Hulsii Annot. in loc.  
Mr john Ford (who hath written an Exposition of the Psalms in Latin) gives divers reasons to prove that Caru is a true reading; one is this; The History of the Gospel witnesseth, that Christ's hands and feet were pierced by the Soldiers with nails. Secondly, The Vulgar Latin, the Seventy, jerom, Augustine, Pagnine and Vatablus, Tremellius and junius, Arias Montanus, and some other Translators so read it. The most learned Hebricians teach in their Hebrew Lexicons, that it is so to be read.  
The Chaldee Paraphrast hath joined both readings together, q. d. They have 
Readins are eight hundred forty eight in the Hebrew, where the Text and the Margin are both pure and from God. Our Lord's Family by Broughton.  digged or pierced my Hands and my Feet, as a Lion is wont to dig with his teeth.  
Elias Levita writes, That he observed all the words which are otherwise read and otherwise written, (the Hebrews call them Keri and Ketib) and that he numbered eight hundred forty eight, sixty five of which are in the Law, four hundred fifty four in the Prophets, three hundred twenty nine in the Hagiographa. But Buxtorf in his Masoretical Commentary. c. 13. observed many more words which differ in the reading and writing.  
Morinus a learned Papist hath written nine exercitations on the Bible, and labours to prove from Beza, Amama, De Dieu and other Protestant Writers, that there are many faults in the Hebrew and Greek Copies which we now have. Muis a learned Papist also hath answered him.   

Object. Psal. 19 4. The 
p Vide River. in Comment. & Glassium in Philol. Sac. The Chaldec Paraphrast agrees with the Hebrew. Profectò haec res, ut ingenuè fatear, me quoque aliquando tor●it. Amussis, quae funiculo constat, non omnino voce caret, siquidem architecti & alii artifices, quando aliquid signare aut metiri volunt, dum amussim vel funiculum extendunt, & deinde mittunt, sonum quendam edere Consueverunt. Isaacus Levita lib. 3. contra Lindanum. Illa Coelorum linea, vel ut Tremellius transtulit, Delineatio, id est illa Machina, structuraque orbium Caelestium, quodammodo ad amissim expolita, infinitam artificis Potentiam, sapie●tiamque praedicat. Whitakerus.  Hebrew Books have, In omnem terram exivit linea eorum, Their line is gone forth thorough all the Earth, but the Septuagint turn it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Hierom, Sonus eorum, Their sound; and St Paul approved of this version, Rom. 10. 18.  
Answ. Whitaker in his Answer to this Objection, follows Genebrard in his Scholia upon the place, and Genebrard follows Beza on Rom. 10. 18.  
The Hebrew word (say they) truly signifieth a Line, but the Septuagint Interpreters respected the sense, and the Apostle followed them. The Scope of the Psalm is, That God's people may see what documents are given unto them of God, whereby they may be brought and led to the true, certain and saving knowledge of God: to the seventh verse, it showeth how they were taught by the works of God: thence to the end, how they were instructed by his word; the Apostle allegeth this Psalm to prove that the Jews might come to know God by his Word, and thereby might have faith in Christ Jesus; the sense therefore is, not only the delineation and constitution of things created, but also the Word of God, and the Doctrine of the Gospel, long since propounded to the Jews, and so propounded as they could not but hear, because it was published openly to all the whole world by the mystery of the holy Apostles out of the predictions of the Prophets. Paul interprets the comparison propounded by the Prophet, and teacheth, That as certainly as the lines of heaven run forth into all the earth, so certainly in these last times, the Doctrine of the Gospel came forth into all the earth by the Apostles preaching, and therefore the Apostle did not rashly change the word of the Prophet, because the Hebrew Text in the Prophet was corrupt, but purposely in stead of delineation the Apostle put in sonus, having respect to the present accomplishment of the promise, whereby God had foretell, that all the Gentiles should be converted to the communion of the Gospel; and to this end he did foreshow that he would give unto them Preachers.  
Coton urgeth two other places, to show that the Hebrew Text is corrupted, Mat. 2. 23. and Mat. 27.   

Object. Mat. 2. 23. He shall be called a 
p Vide River. in Comment. et Glassium in Philol. Sac.  Nazarene, is no where found, though the Evangelist say, that it is written, therefore it followeth (saith he) that the Hebrew original 
Isaiae undecimo, est in Hebraeo vox Netzer quae alludit ad Nazaraeum, imò est ab eadem radice; proinde poterit, si quis velit, eo referri; aut certè non erit versio sed allu●io. Itaque melior eorum videtur sententia qui indicatum potius censent decimum tertium caput judicum, ubi praedicitur Samson futurus Nazaraeus: fuisse enim Illum typum Christi nemo dubitat. Chamier. Tom. 1. de Canone. lib. 13 cap. 8. Ex Isai. 11. 1. & Zach. 6. 12. Commodissimè videtur posse exponi. Casaub. in exercitat.  which we have, is imperfect.  
Answ. Saint jerom saith, That this place was objected to him above a hundred times, and that he hath as often answered it, viz. That if the Hebrew be imperfect having no such passage, then is also that of the Septuagint and the Vulgar; so that the Objection is not against the Hebrew, but against the Scripture in what language soever it be. Maldonat, after he had well weighed divers opinions, holds that of Ieroms for the most sure, which is to draw Nazarene from Netzer a branch, Isa. 11. 1. junius in his Parallels; Piscator, Dr Tailor, Mr Dod go the same way. Chrysostom and Theophylact, because they cannot undo this knot, cut it, thus, saying that many of the Books of the Prophets are lost. Bucer thinketh that place jud. 15. 5. is here noted, Samson being a Redeemer as he was a figure of Christ, and the Book of the judges was composed by divers Prophets. Calvin, Marlorat, Beza, Scultetus, and Mr Perkins seem to incline to this opinion.  
The last large Annotations mention both these Interpretations, but adhere rather to the former.   

Object. The second place urged by Coton, to prove the corruption of the Hebrew, is Matth. 27. 9 
r Omnes Interpretes locum illum à Matth. citatum ad ea quae scrip●it Zacharias re●ulerunt, nec aliqui eorum de omisso aliquo Ieremiae Prophetico libro cogitarunt. Nisi quod unus est inter jesuitas qui locum existimat ex duobus conflatum, nempe ex jeremiae cap. 32. & Zach. cap. 11. & hoc esse usitatum in Scriptura exemplis probat, ut cum verba & testimonia duorum sunt, aut altero omisso alterius tantum nomen exprimatur, aut totum testimonium, quasi unius tantùm esset, significetur. Haec Ie●uita Sanctius (in Zach cap. 11. Hieronymo baec maximè placit solutio, quam Baromus amplectitur, ut & jansenius, Mald●natus, & Suarez, Matth●um suo more tantum pos●isse quod dictum est per Prophetam, ab aliquo autem in margin scriptum fuisse jeremiam, quod postea Scriptorum incogitantia inter textum irrepserit. Ad hoc facit quod in Syr● version nomen Prophetae omittitur. Rivetus in Catholico Orthodoxo. Citantur sub nomine jeremiae, vel quia Zacharias ea à jeremia, cujus discipulus fuerat, acceperat, vel quia idem binominis fuit, pr●sertim, cum utriusque nominis sit ●adem significatio. Id. ibid.  The Evangelist citys jeremiah for that which is to be found only in Zachary.  
Answ. junius in his Parallels, and Dr Tailor on the temptation bring six answers to reconcile these places.  
1. Some say it joins together both, one place in jeremiah, Chap. 18. 1, 2, 3. and that of Zachary; but there is little or no agreement between them. 2. Some say, that it is not in jeremiahs' writings which are Canonical, but in some Apocryphal Writings of jeremiah which the Jews had, and which Chrysostom confesseth he saw, wherein these words were; but it is not likely, that the holy Evangelist would leave a Canonical Text, and cite an Apocryphal, or give such credit to it, or seek to build our faith upon it; and by our rule, that Book should be Canonical, which is cited by Christ or his Apostles. 3. Some say that Matthew forgot, and for Zaechary put down jeremiah, so Augustine and Erasmus; but with more forgetfulness, for holy men wrote as they were moved by God's Spirit. 4. Some think it the error of heedless Writers, who might easily so err; but all the oldest Copies, and the most Ancient Fathers have the name of jeremiah. 5. Some say that Zachariah being instructed and trained up with jeremiah did deliver it by tradition from jeremiah, and so jeremiah spoke it by Zachariah, which might be true, because it is said in the Text, As was spoken by jeremiah, not written. But sixthly, the most compendious and likely way of reconciling is this, that Zachariah and jeremiah was the same man having two names, which was very usual among the Jews, as Solomon was called 
jeremiah and Zachariah differ not much in signification, one signifieth the commemoration of God, the other the exaltation of God.  jedidiah, jehoiachim jeconias and Coniah; Simon Peter, Cephas and Bariona; Matthew, Levi. So far junius and D. Taylor. See M. Robert Baily on Zach. 3. 1. p. 11. and last large Annotat.  
The best of the Popish Writers cannot deny, but that the name jeremiah the Prophet is put for Zachary, either through the negligence of the Scribes, or else it was inserted into the Text out of the Margin, the Evangelist saying no more, But that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, as both jansenius and Maldonat● in loc. do confess.  

Hic nodus vetustissimos quosque interpretes torsit. Beza. In literarum compendiis facile potuit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutari. Rivetus. Aliqui dicunt esse errorem calami & librariorum indiligenter oscitanterque exemplaria sibi proposita aut legentium aut exseribentium, ut si quis hîc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 legerit, id est, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam sententiam Syrus & Arabs videntur consirmare. Sed vetustas ipsa consensus omnium & exemplarium, quae jam olim versata sunt in Patrum Orthodoxorum manibus, videtur nobis meritò hoc defensionis genus ex●orquere; quod etiam agnovit memoria sua Hieronymus. Junius in Parallel. Vide Sixti Senensis lib. Sextum Annotat. 131.  Chamier distinguisheth of a two fold depravation, one of Interpretation, herein we excuse not, nor defend the Jews. Second of the letter, herein they are to be patronised against the Papists, who thorough their sides, strike at the very Scriptures, and labour to overthrow their Authority.  
The Hebrew Edition then (notwithstanding these and such like frivolous Objections) 
Non exhibetur nobis semper & ubique in hodierno textu Hebraeo prima atque vetustissima quae in ipsis S. Sriptorum fuit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 codicibus lectio, sed quae fuit omnium omnino in universum librorum sors & conditio) humana fragilitate in transcriptione tot exemplarium quae alia ex aliis, tam longo tot saeculorum curriculo, descripta sunt ab hominibus errori & lapsui obnoxiis, irrepsit in sacros codices, qui j●m exstant, multiplex varia lectio, quae manifestam arguit Codicum, iis in locis, in quibus invicem discrepant, à primi● autographis dissensionem atque discessionem. Capel. Crit. Sac. l 6. c. 1. Vide l. 5. c. 11. Sect. 6.  is sincere and uncorrupt, and if any errors crept in through negligence or ignorance of the Penmen, which copied out the Books; yet Bellarmine himself granteth they are of no great moment; In matters pertaining to faith and manners (saith he) there is nothing wanting in the integrity of the Scriptures. Vide Capel. Critica Sac. l. 6. c. 2. Haud negare ausim, & temporum injuria & descriptorum incuria errata quaedam & sphalmata in textum Hebraeum irrepsisse. Amama Antibarb. Bibl. lib. 1. c. 1. What reasons can the Jesuits allege, why the Hebrew and the Greek which kept their integrity four hundred years together after Christ, amidst as bitter Enemies as ever they had, as troublesome and tempestuous times as ever were since, should after in time of less danger, and greater quiet, lose not their beauty only, but their chastity also! And we marvel that the Jesuits are not afraid to suffer this blot to fall upon their Popish government; which boasteth and saith, It is the pillar of truth, and yet hath had no better care to preserve the truth.  
Objections of the Papists against the Purity of the Greek Text in the New Testament.   

Object. They instance in Rom. 12. 11. to be corrupt, the Greek hath serving the time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for serving the Lord, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Answ. Many of the ancient Greek 
s The Greek Scholiast, Oecumenius, so read Chrysost. Theophylact. and Basil. See Par. in loc. Franciscus Lucas testatur se sex Graecos codites vidisse in quibus esset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & Beza asserit ita legi in probatissimis quibusque. Arias Montanus, non tantùm in textu posuit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, sed etiam in Apparatu nullam adnotavit lectionis varietatem, quo satis ostendit se nullos legisse codices Graecos, in quibus esset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: alias non omissurus opinor, qui lo●ge leviora collegit. Chamier.  Copies and Scholiasts have also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Salmeron the Jesuit confesseth, Serving the Lord, and it appeareth in the Syriack Translation: and who seeth not, that it might rather be an oversight of the writer taking one word for another, rather than a fault in the Text; and the cause of the mistake (saith Beza) was the short writing of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which was taken by some for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas they should have taken it for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. If we should admit the other reading, we must not understand the Apostle as if he commanded us to be Temporizers, or to apply ourselves to the corrupt customs and manners of the times; but to keep time in all our actions, and do them in the fittest season, as Col. 4. 5. Ephes. 5. 16.  
Object. Erasmus the best Translator of all the later (by the judgement of Beza) saith, That the Greek sometimes hath superfluities corruptly added to the Text of holy Scripture, as Matth. 6. the Doxology, For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever. He calleth these words trifles, rashly added to the Lords Prayer, and reprehends Valla for blaming the old vulgar Latin, because it hath them not. Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, jerom and Augustine do expound the 
See Mr Gregory his Observations upon some passages of Scripture, c. 38.  Lords Prayer, and yet make no mention of these words. Beza confesseth it to be Magnifi●um illam quidem & longè sanctissimam, a most high and holy form of expression, sed irrepsisse in contextum, & quae in vetustissimus aliquot codicibus Graecis desit, it is not to be found in that vetustissimus codex by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge; that Copy perhaps was corrupted by the Heretics.  
It is not presently trifles, whatsoever Erasmus or any other man shall reject out of the Greek Copy under that name: and yet they do Erasmus wrong, to say that he called that part of the Lords Prayer trifles absolutely; for he styles it so conditionally, if it be not part of the Ancient Text.  
2. If Erasmus had understood that that passage had been taken out of the Book 
Cartw. in his answer to the Rhemists' Preface.  of Chronicles written by the pen of the holy Ghost, he would no doubt have taken heed how he had called this conclusion of the Lords Prayer Trifles, for it appeareth manifestly, that this sentence was borrowed from David, 1 Chron. 29. 11. with some abridgement of the Prophet's words.  
3. That cannot be superfluous without the which we should not have had a perfect 
Coronis precationis Dominicae, Quia tuum est regnum, etc. Etsi in multis Graecis codicibus & apud Syrum quoque interpretem reperitur, tamen, Bezâ reserente, in vetustissimis aliquibus Graecis codicibus deest, & à nemine exponitur, praeter à vulgato & à Chrysostomo. Dost quoque in version Arabica, nec in ullis Latinorum exemplaribus visitur: ut non immerito Erasmus conjectet, ex solemni consuetudine à Graecis adjectam, & postea in Textum ipsum fuisse transtatam. Scultetus in locum.  form of Prayer; for since Prayer standeth as well in praising of God and thanksgiving, as in petitions and requests to be made unto him; it is evident that if this conclusion had been wanting, there had wanted a form of that Prayer which standeth in praise and thanksgiving.  
4. If to give a substantial reason of that which goeth before be superfluous, than this conclusion may be so.  
5. For confirmation of this reading, we may allege besides the consent of the Greek Copies, the Syrian interpretation which is very Ancient, Chrysostom, Theophylact and Euthymius expound it. The Lord's Prayer in Luke is perfect in respect of the Petitions, yet nothing hindereth but that in Matthew might be added the confirmation and conclusion; Matthew hath many other things in his Gospel, which Luke hath not.  
Salmeron reproves Cajetan for calling this Multiloquium, since there is a notable confession of four Properties of God, his Kingdom, Power, Glory and Eternity.  
I should now show, That neither the Translation of the Seventy, nor of the Vulgar Latin are Authentical; but there are two Questions of great moment first to be discussed.  
The first is, Whether any Books of the Scripture be lost.  
The second, Whether the Scripture of the Old Testament was punctata from the beginning.  
To the first Question, That we may give a right answer, we must distinguish of the Books of Scripture, some were Historical, Ethical or Physical, 
Spanhem. Dub. Evang. parte tertia. Dub. 130. Codices sacros in excidio Hierosolymitano prorsus intercidisse commentum est, non veritas. Id. parte secunda. Dub. 89. That was too confidently spoken by Whitaker (though otherwise a worthy Writer) Canonica quaedam periisse, credo esse, enminem qui dubitct, Cartw, in his answer to the Preface of the Rhem. Test. Nego canonem, id est, numerum librorum sacrorum, ex quo confectus est, unquam fuisse majorem, quam sit hodié. Chamierus.  others Dogmatical. The former might perish and fall away, but not the later. Therefore that common Objection of divers Books mentioned in the Old Testament, whereof we find none so entitled in the Canon thereof, is easily answered. Either they were Civil and Commonwealth Stories, whether the Reader is referred, if it like him to read the Stories more at large, which the Prophets touched shortly; or else they are contained in the Books of the Kings, which are manifestly proved to be written by divers Prophets in their several ages, wherein they prophesied. Salomon's Books which he wrote of general Philosophy, fell away, but all the other Books of the Scripture do still remain.  
First, They are all of God, all whose works remain for ever, therefore the holy Scriptures being not only his handiwork, but as it were the chief and Master-work 
Psal. 111. 8.  of all other, must have a continual endurance.  
Secondly, They all are written generally for our instruction, and more particularly for Admonition and Warning, for Comfort and Consolation, unless we will say that God may be deceived in his Purpose and End wherefore he ordained them; it must needs be, that it must continue whatsoever hath been written in that respect.  
Thirdly, If the Lord have kept unto us the whole Book of Leviticus, and (in it) 
Vide Alting. problem. Theol. partem. 1. & 6. prob.  the Ceremonies (which are abolished, and whereof there is now no practice) because they have a necessary and profitable use in the Church of God; * how much more is it to be esteemed, that his providence hath watched over other Books of the 
Drusium de quaesitis per Bpistolam epist. 101 See B. Ushers Body of Divinity, p. 17. Deut. 29. 29. Psal. 119. ●52. Matth. 24. 35. Mat. 13. 32. Mat. 5. 18. Luk. 16. 17.  Scripture, which more properly belong unto our times?  
Fourthly, Let us hear the Scripture itself, witnessing of its own Authority and Durableness to all Ages; Moses thus writeth of it; The secret and hidden things remain to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed to us and our children for ever. David also professeth, That he knew long before, that the Lord had founded his testimonies for evermore. But our Saviour Christ's testimony is of all other most evident: That Heaven and Earth shall pass, but that his word cannot pass: And yet more vehemently, That not one jot, or small letter 
u Cui ignorata non scrupu●osa tantùm sed & superstitiosa prorsus Iudaeorum anxietas, non in libris tantùm sed in apicibus librorum sacrorum numerandis conferendis, custodiendis? & tantum abest ut volumen sacrum integrum interversum voluerint, ut contra profiteantur totum mundum ruiturum in Tohu va Bohu antiquum, si vel una vox in Scriptura mutetur. Spanhem. Dub. Evangel. parte secunda Dub. 89,  of his Law can pass until all be fulfilled, Rom. 15. 4. therefore none of those which were written for that end, are lost.  
Origen in Praefat. in Cant. Canticorum, Augustin. lib. 18. de Civitate Dei. cap. 38. thought it could not neither stand with the Divine Providence, nor with the honour of the Church, that any Canonical Books, and given for such to the Church, should be lost. Of this opinion are many worthy modern Divines. junius, Chamierus tom. 1. lib. 9 cap. 5. Polanus, Wendelinus, Waltherus, Spanhemius, Cartwright, Gerardus in exegesi loci primi de Scripturasacra, cap. 6. Joh. Camero Tomo 3. in Praelectionibus de verbo Dei. cap. 15. Rivetus in Isagoge ad S. Script. cap. 6. & in summa Controversiarum Tom. 1. Tract. 1. Quaest 1. Altingius. But Chrysostom and Whitaker, also Bellarmine l. 4. de verbo Dei. cap. 4. Gretzerus and Becanus hold that some Canonical Books are lost. I rather subscribe to the judgement of the former Reverend Divines who held the contrary.  
The second Question is, Whether the Scripture of the Old Testament was punctata 
* Apices vocali● Christi tempore nondum adscripti erant, ac ne hodie quidem scribuntur cum lege. Qui viderunt volumen legis in Synagogis judaeorum; sciunt me verum dicere. Drus. Praeterit. in Luk. 16. 17.  from the beginning; or Whether the Hebrew Text had Vowels or Points from the beginning, as now it hath. Controversiam de punctorum antiquitate vel novitate, inter viros eruditos disceptatam, non attingo. 
* Spanhem. Dub. Evangel. par. 3. Dub. 129. Vide D. Prid. Lect. 12. de punctorum Hebraicorum origine.  Sententia utraque suos habet assertores, & magni quidem nominis.  
Cevalerius, Buxtorfius, Marinus, junius, and other very godly and learned 
Buxtorfius punctorum patronus fortissimus. Capellus.  men have defended the Antiquity of the pricks, which to the Hebrews are in stead of vowels, and say that the Bibles were punctata in our Saviour Christ's time, and that he approved of the same Matth. 5. 
* Piscat. in locum.  18. Others hold, That the invention of the pricks, and the Massoreth is to be ascribed to the Tyberian Massorites, who flourished about five hundred years after Christ's birth; This opinion divers learned 
Puncta ista Hebraica à Masorethis sunt excogitata, & textui sacro addita circa Christi annum 500 aut saltem post 400. Capellus de punctorum Heb. Antiq lib. 2. Amama. dissertat. de jehova. Vide Riveti Isagog. cap. 8  men have defended with most weighty reasons, as Martinius in Technologia, Luther, Mercer, Scaliger and Drusius, Calvin upon Zach. 11. Zuinglius in his Preface on Isaiah Raynolds in his censure of the Apocryphal Books. But above all Capellus in his Book entitled Arcanum punctationis revelatum, hath so strongly confirmed that opinion, and hath so solidly confuted the reasons which are commonly brought to the contrary, that he hath drawn some learned Divines to his opinion, which before did stiffly adhere to the contrary opinion, and left others very doubtful: He hath well answered that place, Mat. 5. 18. l. 2. c. 14. This Book is now answered by learned Buxtorf.  
But (as Amama saith) if any will not be moved from the other opinion, that the 
Altum in omnium antiquorum Patrum Graecorum & Latinorum scriptis, de punctis silentium, ut ne minimus quidem apex de illis apiculis in iis extet. Capellus l. 1. c. 9 Sciendum quod nec Moyses punctavit legem, unde Iudaei non habent eam cum punctis, i. cum vocalibus scriptam in rotulis suis; nec aliquis ex Prophetis punctavit librum suum; sed duo judaei, quorum unus dictus est Nephtali, Alter verò Ben Ascher, totum vet●s Testamentum punctasse leguntur; quae quidem puncta cum quibusdam virgulis sunt loco vocalium apud cos. Raymundi Pugio fidei adversus judaeos part. 3. Dist. 3. c. 21, Vide Vossium de orig▪ & progressu I dol. lib. 2. c. 3.  Puncta were invented by the Prophets (which many godly Divines do out of a good zeal stand for) suum cuique liberum sit judicium.  
Vide Fulleri Miscel. Sac. lib. 4. cap. 4. Mercerum ad Gen. 16. 13. & Drusium ad difficiliora 
Hoc tam certum est, quam quod certissimum, nullos Hebraeorum antiquius sentire de punctorum origine quam Cabalistas. Buxtorf. de punctorum antiquitate & origine, part. 1. cap. 5.  loca Genes. Buxtorfii dissertationem de Ebraeorum literis, & librum de punctorum Antiquitate & origine. Our Saviour saith, Matth. 5. 18. That not one jot or prick of the Law shall perish; whereby it should appear that the Law and the Prophets (for of both he speaketh immediately 
* B. Ushers Body of Divinity, p. 13.  before) had vowels and pricks: whereunto also belong all those places of Scripture, which testify of the clearness and certainty of the Scripture, which could not at all be now, if it lacked vowels. Yet this is not B. Ushers judgement, as he himself told me.  
The Jews thought there was abundance of mysteries in every one of those tittles of the Law: Christ alludes to this opinion though he allows it not.  
Non est improbabile argumentum ex Mat. 5. 18. 
* Christus eo loco proculdubiò respicit non ad puncta, v●calia & accentus, quitum nulli fuerunt; sed (uti rectè observat Hieronymus) ad figuram literarum, & ad cornicula illa, quibus literarum capita in hodierna Scriptura (quâ in scribendo Legis volumine utuntur judaei) armantur: hocque duntaxat vult, Se non venisse (quod de eo falsissimò calumniabantur judaei) ad evacuandam & abolendam Legem, ut contra potius venerit ad eam perf 〈…〉 issimè implendam. Capelli Diatrib. de literis Ebr. Apicibus & accentibus nec vetussimi Graecorum nec vetustissimi Hebraeorum usi sunt. Hujusmodi virgularum apicumque notae, quibus Hebraei nunc pro vocalibus & accentibus utuntur, non in illa primaeva sanctae linguae origine excogitatae fuerunt, imò nec extiterunt ab initio legis, sed noviciae sunt, atque ad ejus integritatem usquequaque pertinent minimè. Wakfeld. Syntag. de hebraeorum codicum incorruptione.  Luc. 16. 17. ubi per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; puncta & accentus commodè intelligi posse docti opinantur: inter quos Broughthonius in Daniel, p 45. & Polanus Syntagm. lib. 1. cap. 37. quamvis argumento illi nolimus insistere. Voetius Tom. 1. disputat. de authoritate Scripturae.  
Buxtorf in his Answer to Capellus saith, That there are three degrees in general of Antiquity, the chiefest, those which refer the original of the points to Adam, middle of those which refer them to Moses, lowest those which refer them to Ezra. Buxtorf. de punctorum Antiquitate & origine par. 2. c. 2.  
Sine punctis legere (saith Drusius) paucis hodiè concessum. Serarius de Rabbinis, saith, Elias Hutter a Lutheran writes thus, è mille Praedicantibus ne unum quidem esse, qui etiam punctatissima possit Hebraea legere, nedum absque punctis.  
An impudent Jesuit came to Conradus Graserus, to confer with him about the Hebrew Text of the Bible, which he said was corrupt and could not be held Authentic; to whom desiring the original Text, Graserus gave the Hebrew Bible without pricks; he took the Book and turned over the leaves, and the Book upside down, and was so ignorant or little skilled in the Original, that he could not distinguish betwixt the right and wrong end of the Book: Which his arrogance a young scholar of Graserus' perceiving, he could not forbear laughter, and Graserus himself had much ado to conceal it. Melchior▪ Adam in vita Conradi Gr●seri, pag. 845.    

CHAP. VII. Of the Seventy and Vulgar Translation▪  
NOw I proceed to show that neither the Translation of the Seventy, nor the vulgar Latin are authentical.  
1. The Greek Translation of the Old Testament, which is commonly ascribed to the Seventy Interpreters, is not Divinely 
a In editione Graecam librorum Mosis, Psalmorum & Prophetarum, nihil fermè est quod peregrinum non sonnet, & quod Hebraicam non ol●at loquendi rationem. Croii observ. Augustinus hanc versionem ait esse f●ctam divina dispensatione, eamque apud Ecclesias peritiores maximi fieri, cum tanta Spiritus Sancti praesentia high interprete adjuti esse dicantur in interpretando, ut omnium & unum fuerit.  inspired.  
The chief Pillars of the Primitive Church ran into this error, whence sprung many other errors. The Greek Fathers, who were generally unskilful both in Hebrew 
Vide Capel. Critic. Sac. l. 4. c. 18.  and Latin (some few excepted) were the less to be blamed here, since they made use of no other Editions, therefore they more confidently affirmed their own to be Authentical. Augustine, Tertullian, and many of the Latin Fathers (whom divers Divines follow) ascribed too much to the Seventy Interpreters. Yet there was a controversy between Augustine and jerom concerning their Authority, as is evident by both their Epistles. Bellarmine 
b Lib. 2. de verb. Dei, cap 6.  is large in commending this version, saying, That it is most certain, that those Interpreters did very well translate the Scripture, and had the holy Ghost peculiarly assisting them, lest they should err in any thing, so that they may seem rather to be Prophets than Interpreters. Gretzer bestoweth a prophetic spirit upon them, because they did so agree and absolved their task in so short a space of time, viz. in 72 
c Valido stomacho opus est, ut concoqui possit narratio de Lxx cellulis, de consensu illo miro, & de exiguo temporis intervallo, quo totum opus confectum fertur. Spanhem. Dub. Evang. part. 1. Dub. 22.  days.  
They are said to have been put a part in 72 Cells, and to have all agreed in their Translation, and the ruins thereof were (as is reported) showed a long time after at Alexandria.  
But Hierom and many of the 
* Masius praefat. in Graec. edit. Josuae & Bellarm. lib. 2. de verbo Dei. cap. 6.  Papists held this to be a Fable of the 72 Cells, since neither Aristaeus, who was a chief man about King Ptolemy, that set the Seventy Interpreters on work, nor josephus, (who was most desirous of the honour of his Nation) maketh any mention thereof. And as touching the Interpreters themselves, jerom saith, Aliud est vatem agere, aliud Interpretem. It is one thing to be a Prophet, another to be an Interpreter. And as for the Translation, he saith, Germana illa & antiqua translatio corrupta & violata est.  
That ancient and true Translation 
d * Distinguimus nos inter versionem LXX. primaevam purioremque, & inter posteriorem corruptam. Hac Auctoritatis est perexiguae, Illa autem meruit quidem quondam auctoritatem aliquam▪ Waltherus in officina Biblica.  of the Septuagint, is corrupted and violated, which (as Hierom saith) was agreeable to the Hebrew, but so is not the Greek Copy now extant, which is full of corruptions, and seemeth to be a mixed and confused Translation of many.  
If the Seventy, as well as the Hebrew, had been Authentical, the Lord would have been careful to have kept it pure and uncorrupt unto our days, as well as he hath done the Hebrew. There is indeed a Greek Edition extant, which goeth under the name of the Seventy; but Whitaker 
e De Script. Controversiae primae quaest. Secunda c. tertio. Aut haec Graeca versio, quae ad nostra tempora pervenit, non illa est quam Septuaginta Iudaici seniores ediderunt, aut est tam infinitè faedéque depravata, ut authoritatis perexiguae nunc sit. nam ne ipse Hieronymus puram habuit translationem Graecam Septuaginta interpretum. Illam ●nim, quam habuit, corruptam vitiosamque esse, saepe in Commentariis conqueritur. Whitakerus ibid. Vide Bezam in Matth. 17. 9  saith, That the true Seventy is lost, and that this which we now have is mixed and miserably corrupted. Danda LXX Interpretibus venia, ut hominibus; juxta Jacobi sententiam Multa peccamus omnes. Hieron. ad Pamach. The Apostles and Evangelists writing in Greek, often followed the version of the Septuagint then common amongst the Grecians▪ and cited it sometimes where there is a most manifest difference from the Hebrew Text, but yet they did not always use that Translation, which they would have done, if they had esteemed it Divine and Authentical.  
Spanhemius Dub. Evangel. part. 1. Dub. 23. and Amama Antibarb. Bibl. lib. 2. both think that conjecture of Heinsius (in his holy Aristarchus) very probable, viz that the fable of the number and consent of the Interpreters, took its original from Exod. 24. Hence (saith Heinsius there) without doubt the History concerning Ptolemy; hence those famous Cells which jerom scoffs at; hence that invention, that none of all that number differed in their Interpretations.  
Therefore since that version when pure was but a humane, not divine work, and proceeded from Interpreters not Prophets; it could be neither Authentical, nor side digna, any farther than it agreed 
f Graeci ab Hebraeis sapè recedunt. Mercerus ad Job 15. 32. Vide Drusium in Gen. 6. & Fulleri Miscel. Sac. lib. 2. cap. 6. pag. 201. Mendas in Chronologicis numeris habet complures. See Dr Willet on Gen. 47. and Chamiers first Tome de Canone, lib 13. cap. 8, 9, 10. Libri Mosis omnium sunt optimè translati: & Psalmi omnium deterrimè. Chamierus ib. cap. 8. Psalmo primo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 postilentes pro irrisoribus & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non resurgent impii in judicio: Periculosa amphibolia, ne fortè videantur à resurrectione excludi impii; debuit autem verti, non consistent in judicio, nimirum quia condemnabuntur. Chamierus ibid. Vide Capel. Critic. Sac. l. 4. c. 18. Et R. Episcopi Usserii ad illum Epistolam.  with the Hebrew Text.  
The Ancients themselves commenting upon Scripture, used not the Septuagint Edition as Authentic, from which it would not have been then lawful to depart; but rather often correct it, as Origen and jerom from the Hebrew fountains: which every one knoweth that is versed in their works.  
They are most bold in changing numbers without any reason, as Genes. 5. to S●th, Enos, Cainaan, Malaleel, they give each a hundred years beyond the Hebrew truth. In the 46 Chapter of Genesis for Seventy souls they say Seventy five.  
The Seventy read Prov. 8. 23. In the beginning God created me; for, In the beginning 
Quod ipsi Ario, ut ait Epiphanius, erroris principium.  God possessed me, whether because they mistook the Hebrew word Chava for Cava, upon their likeness in the Hebrew Characters, or their Translation was at the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possedit, possessed, and the Copies slipping in one letter, made it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 creavit, created, as Bellarmine after Zanchy thinketh  
2. The vulgar Edition is not Authentical.  
We are now come to show, that the vulgar Latin Edition 
g De vulgata latina translatione, Vide collationem Rainoldi cum Harto, c. 2. p. 23 & cap. 6. p. 201, 202. & cap. 8. p. 447. & Drusium in Num. 1. cap. 8. & cap. 96. Rivetus in Catholico Orthodo●o. Wendelin. in Christiana Theologia. Gerh. loc. prim. de Script. Sac. with learned Papists hold that it was not Ieroms translation. Capel Crit Sac. l. 5. c. 7. saith it was. De latina Editione longè animosissima Catholicis est & Papistis controversia. Cham. Tom. 1. l. 14. c. 1.  is not Authentical, a thing of itself manifest, but yet to be proved by some Arguments, because our Adversaries stand upon it. Our Arguments are these:  
1. It was not Divinely inspired in respect of Ma●ter, Form, Speech, as the Hebrew of the Old Testament, and the Greek of the New were, but was translated by humane endeavour, and therefore it is against both religion and reason to say it is Authentical; a work of men cannot in perfection be equal with a work of God; for as jerom saith, Aliud est esse vatem, aliud est esse Interpretem.  
It is the office of an Interpreter, to translate the Authentical Scripture, no● to make his Translation Authentical; for both jerom and every other Interpreter might err, so did not the Prophets and Apostles; the Council of Trent first decreed that this Translation should be Authentical: before it many learned Papists themselves did disallow that Translation, as Paulus Brugensis, Valla, Eugubinus, I●idorus Clarius, johannes Isaacus, Cajetan, Erasmus, jacobus Faber, I●●dovio●s Vives, and divers others.  
2. The vulgar Translation doth oft change the sentence of the holy Ghost, yea, it doth dangerously and heretically deprave the sense of holy Scripture, and translate senslesly many times, therefore it is not to be held Authentical.  
Gen. 3. 15. ipsa for ipse, viz. Christ, or ipsum, viz. semen, which place it seemeth was corrupted idolatrously to extol the praises of the Virgin Mary, and to prove her patronage 
Hebraici libri constanter legunt Hu, Gen. 3. Septuaginta haben 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Chaldaica Paraphrasis hanc lectionem confirmat: Temque quidam codices vulgatae Editionis retinent ipse, quidam ipsum. Postremò pondus ipsum sententiae postulat, ut hoc de semine mulieris, non de mulicre intelligam. Whitak.  and protection. This reading drew Bernard into this opinion, Maria abstulit opprobrium matris Evae, & patri pro matre satisfecit quod promittitur, Gen. 3. 15. ipsa conteret; & cui servanda est victoria nisi Maria? B●rn. See Bedels' answer to Wadesworths' Letters, ch. 6. Vide Capel. Crit. Sac. l. 5. c. 11.  
Ho● conteret, Tremel. & alii, that is that same seed, rather he, viz. that one person. Hier. Ipse conteret caput tuum, accordingly in the Septuagint and our Translation, Gen. 4. 13. Major est iniquitas mea quam ut veniam merear, a corrupt Translation serving to countenance the error touching merit de congrno. In the Hebrew there is nothing which hath the least signification of merit; it should be translated Ut feram vel sustineam, vel remissionem consequ●r. Translatio ista potest tolerari si sumatur mereri pro consequi, ut saepissimè olim apud veteres. Chamier.  
Exod. 34. 29. The vulgar hath Videbant faciem Mosis cornutam, 
h Ex voce Hebraeapotest emendari prava vulgi consuetudo, qui duobus Cornubus pingunt Mosen; rident igitur nos & execrantur Iudaei quoties Mosen in templis cornuta facie depictum aspiciunt, quasi nos eum diabolum quendam, ut ipsi stultè interpretantur, esse putemus. Sixtus Sene●sis Biblioth. Sanct. l. 5. Annot. 116. Vide Grotium in loc.  for radiantem which the Hebrew word signifieth; the 70 translate it (the Apostle Paul approving of it, 2 Cor. 3. 7, 10) was glorified. This interpretation of the vulgar is reprehended by Valla, Vatablus, Arias Montanus, Ste●chus, Cajetan, Ferus, Oleaster, ●ho. Aquinas and Bellarmine himself De Ecclesia triumphante, l. 2. c. 4. which is also confirmed by the Text itself, for the Scripture witnesseth, That the people could not behold the face of Moses for the brightness thereof, Exod. 34. 30. and therefore his whole face, not the highest part of his forehead, or his head was covered with a vail, v. 33. of that Chapter, 2 Cor. 3. 3.  
job 5. 1. The vulgar Latin hath, Voca ergo si est qui tibi respondeat, & ad aliquem sanctorum convertere; Hence the Papists would prove invocation of Saints, whereas it should be translated Voca quaeso, seu voca jam an sit qui respondeat, & ad quem è Sanctis respicies? q. d. ad neminem. The vulgar makes it a simple speech without any interrogation; the meaning of Eliphaz is, q. d. Go to I pray thee, call or bid any one appear or come, that by his consent approves of thy opinion, try whether any one is of thy mind, which acknowledgest not that great calamities are inflicted by God for great sins; To which of the Saints that ever have lived, or yet do live in the earth, wilt thou turn, by whose testimony thou shalt be helped in this thy complaint against God?  
Psal. 2. 12. The vulgar hath Apprehendite Disciplinam, apprehend Discipline or 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, LXX.  Instruction, whereas in the Hebrew it is, Osculamini filium, 
i Invictum in hoc loco prout in Hebraeo extat, contra judaeos pro Dcitate Christi argumentum situm esse agnos●unt Pontificii. Amama Antibarb. Bibl. lib. 3. Proculdubio e●●iro illo erga Christum Dei silium odio, profecta est illa Ebraei●textus detorsic, potius quam interpretatio; ringi enim videas Iu●aeos, cum audiunt, Messiam Dei esse filium. Mayerus in Philologia Sacra. Illustre est vaticinium de Christo faedissimè obs●uratum à Graeco & Latina interpret à quibus neutra vox est expressa. Chamier●s de Canone, l. 13. c. 9  Kiss the Son. Thus an evident place against the Jews for the second Person in Trinity is obscured and overthrown, by the corrupt Latin Text. To say the sense is the same, is in vain; for an Interpreter ought not to change the words, and then say he hath kept the sense; neither is the sense of the words the same; Who will say, to kiss the Son is the same with lay hold of Discipline? We must needs embrace the Doctrine of Christ, if we acknowledge him to be our Messiah; but hence it doth not follow that these two are the same, for then all things which agree should be one and the same, which will not stand. The Chaldee Paraphrast favouring that reading, doth it to defend the error of the denying the Deity of the eternal Son of God.  
Saepe Codices Hebraei magis judaeos ve●ant quam Graeci, aut Latini. Certe in Psal. ●. Latini & Graeci habent, Apprehendite Disciplinam, ne irascatur Dominus, ex quo nihil aperte contra judaeos deduci potest: at in Hebr●o est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Osculamini Filium ne irascatur, id est, reverentiam exhibete filio Dei, ne ipse irascatur, etc. qui locus est invictissimus contra judaeos. Bellarminus de verbo Dei. lib. 2. cap. 2.  
Psalmi videntur data opera versi in contumeliam Latini Sermonis. Chamier.  
jerom praefat. in Prov. saith, That he had allotted himself but three days for the translating of the three Books of Solomon, viz. the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Canticles; which yet a man will hardly be able to read over well and exactly in a month, by reason of the great difficulties he will there meet withal, as well in the words and phrases, as in the sense. And nevertheless (if the pretences of the Church of Rome be true) this little three day's work hath been so happy, as to be not only approved and esteemed, but even canonised also by the Council of Trent. Now whether the will of God be that we should receive this Translation of his, as his pure word, or not, I shall leave to those, who have a desire and ability to examine: However I dare confidently affirm, that Saint Hierome himself never had any the least thought or hope that ever this piece of his, should one day come to this honour, it being a thing not to be imagined, but that he would have taken both more time, and more pains in the thing, if ever he had either desired or foreseen this, Daille, du urai usage des Peres, l. 2. c. 3.  
The vulgar Latin of the New Testament is no less corrupted then of the Old.  
Matth. 6. 11. The English Papists at Rheims (who translated the New Testament 
Supersubstantialem, id est, Ad substantiae nostrae Conservationem necessarium. Eman. Sa.  into English, not out of the Greek Text, but out of the vulgar Latin) read, Give us to day our super-substantial bread, the Latin hath it, Panem supersubstantialem for Quotidianum, Daily bread. The Rhemists note upon the same is, By this Bread so called here according to the Latin and Greek word, we ask not only all necessary sustenance for the body; but much more all spiritual food, viz. the blessed Sacrament itself, which is Christ the true Bread that came down from Heaven, and the Bread of life to us that eat his Body. Our Saviour Christ which condemned vain repartition, and by a form of prayer provided against the same, is made here of the Jesuits to offend against his own rule: for that which is contained in the second Petition, they teach to be asked in the fourth. Secondly, They lodge in one Petition things of divers kinds, and far removed in nature, spiritual and corporeal, heavenly and earthly; yea the creature and the Creator. Thirdly, Hence it should follow, that he taught them expressly to ask that which he had neither instituted, nor instructed them of, and whereof his Disciples were utterly ignorant. Solomon, from whom our Saviour seemeth to have taken 
Omnes veteres latini Scriptores panem quotidianum legcrunt, itaque ineautè quidam nostro tempore in vulgata Editione pro quotidiano Supersubstantialem posuerunt, quod corporis Cibo quem à nobis peti probavimus, minimè convenit. Maldonatus, & Jansenius idem ferè habet Harm. cap. 41.  this Petition, confirms that exposition of things tending to uphold this present life, Prov. 30. 8. Lechem Chukki, The Bread which is ordained for me. The Jesuits will never be able to justify the old Interpreter, which translateth one word the same both in syllables and signification, in one place Supersubstantial, and in another, viz. in Luke, Quotidianum or Daily, against which interpretation of his, he hath all Antiquity before that Translation, and some of the Papists themselves retained the words of Daily Bread.  
Bellarm. l. 1. de bonis operibus, c. 6. prefers Quotidianum, and defends it against the other. Tostatus applieth it to temporal things. 
Their own Dictionaries and Doctors expound the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gratified or undeservedly, accepted, or whom Gods singular favour had made acceptable.   
The Syriack saith Panis indigentiae, vel sufficientiae nostrae.  
Luke 1. 18. Plena gratia for gratis dilecta, as chrysostom renders it, Hail Marry full of grace, for freely beloved. The word signifieth not any grace or virtue inherent in one, but such a grace or favour as one freely vouchsafeth and showeth to another; the word retained by the Syriack in this place is Taibutha, and signifieth happiness, blessedness, goodness, bountifulness. Tremellius turneth it gratia, which may and aught to be Englished favour, as the Greek word signifieth, and is expounded by the Angel and the Virgin Mary themselves, the Angel adding in the same verse, The Lord is with thee, meaning, by his special favour; and in v. 30. saying, She had found favour with God. The Virgin in her thankful song magnifying the mercy of God toward her, that he had so graciously looked on her in so mean estate, as to make her the mother of her own Saviour, after so marvellous a manner.  
They foolishly salute her, who is removed from them by infinite space, and whom their Hail cannot profit, being in Heaven, as the salutation of the Angel did and might do, whilst she was here in the vale of misery. Their Alchemy also is ridiculous, to make that a prayer unto her, which was a prayer for her; to make it daily, that served in that kind for one only time; to make it without calling, which the Angel durst not do, unless he had been sent.  
Ephes. 5. 32. 
a Non habet ex hoc loco prudens lectora Paulo, conjugium esse Sacramentum, non enim dicit Sacramentum sed mysterium hoc magnum est. The Apostle saith, he speaketh not of corporal marriage of a man and his wife, but of the spiritural marriage of Christ and his Church.  Vulg. Sacramentum hoc magnum est, and the Rhemists, This is a great Sacrament, for great mystery. Sacraments are mysteries, but all mysteries are not properly Sacraments. How can it be a Church Sacrament, which hath neither element, nor word of promise? Secondly, Sacraments are the peculiar and proper possession of the Church of Christ; how can that be a Sacrament, which is (and lawfully may be used) out of the Church, amongst the Turks and Jews, to whom the benefit of Matrimony cannot be denied? The old Interpreter, Coloss. 1. 27. translateth the same word a mystery or secret.  
Chemnitius reckons this place among those which the Papists abuse, not among the corrupted; for 
b Erasinus dicit an fit sacramentum olim dubitatum erat à scholasticis, Certè ex hoc loco non possit effici; nam particula adversativa ego autem satis indicat hoc mysterium ad Christum & ecclesiam pertinere, non ad maritum & uxorem. Mark. 6. 8. Vide Salmeronem & Riberam in loc. Praefat in nov. Test. Dr Fulk against Martin. Vide Whitakeri Controversiam primam quaest. secundum cap. 10. 11. & 12. de Scriptures. Sixtinus Amama censuram vulgatae versionis in Pentateucho caepit, telam pertexturus nisi morte fuisset praeventus Waltherus in officina Biblica. Sixtinus Amama Haereti●us, & versionis Sixtinae, inimicissimus, ut proinde meritò dici possit Anti-Sixtinus. Tract. Joan D ● Es ieres de Text. Heb. Disput. 2. Dub. 2  Sacrament is the same with the Ancient Latin Divines, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is with the Greeks. Chamier.  
Heb. 11, 21. The vulgar hath, & jacob adoravit fastigium virgae, the Rhemists adored the top of his rod; whereas the words are, He worshipped upon the top of his staff, and not as they have falsely turned it; so also doth the Syrian Paraphrast read it. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used elsewhere in the New Testament for a walking staff, agreeth fitly unto jacob, who being both old and sick, had need to stay himself thereupon, whilst he praised God. joseph was no King, and therefore had no Sceptre to fall down before. In the Hebrew, Gen. 47. for top we read head, which by a metaphor, signifies the top, because the head is the end and highest part of man, and consequently of any thing else. And for staff we now read in the Hebrew bed, which fell out, because the word mittah there extant, pricked with other vowels, signifieth a staff, for in the Hebrew matteh is a staff, and mitteh a bed. The Septuagint whom the Apostle follows, read it matteh, and so translated it staff, otherwise than we now read it in the Hebrew Text. If we follow the Hebrew Text, as it is now extant, the sense will be, That jacob, because he could not raise his body out of his bed, therefore he bowed his head forward upon his bed's head, and so worshipped God.  
Beza speaking of the divers Latin Translations of the New Testament only, he saith of the vulgar Latin, That he followeth it for the most part, and preferreth it before all the rest. Maxima ex parte amplector & caeteris omnibus antepono. He speaks of the New Testament only, and of that Latin Translation of the New Testament, in comparison of all other Latin Translations which were before him, as Erasmus, Castalion, and such like.  
These places may serve to show, that the vulgar Latin is corrupt, no Book being entire or free from error. Isidore Clarius Brixianus (praefat. in Biblia) a great learned man of their own affirmeth, That it hath 8000 places, in which the sense of the Holy Ghost is changed. Since the Council of Trent, two Popes have set forth this vulgar Edition diversely; which of these shall be received as authentical? How often do the Papists leave the vulgar in all their controversies, when it is for their advantage so to do? it is a matter ordinary with them, and needless to be proved  
There is no Edition Ancienter than the Hebrew; if the Latin hath been used a 1000 years in the Church, the Hebrew hath been used almost 3000 years; the Chaldee, Arabic, Syriack and Greek Editions also have been used above a 1000 years, and so should be authentic by the Papists Argument.  
Having spoken of the authority of the Scriptures, the Canonical Books, and the authentical Editions; I now go on to treat of the end of the Scripture, its adjuncts or properties fitted to that end, and Interpretation of Scripture.  
The end of the Scripture comes next to be considered, of this I have spoken somewhat afore, but shall now enlarge myself.  
The end of the Scripture is considered, 1. In respect of God. 
b God in Christ or God and Christ is the object of Christian religion; without knowledge of Christ we cannot know God savingly, john 11. 37. In judah only is God known. No man cometh to the Father but by me. The ultimate object of faith is God 1 Pet 1. 21.  2. In respect of us.  
In respect of God, the end of the Scripture is a glorifying of him, john 7. 18. 2 Cor. 4. 6. by it we may learn to know, love and fear him, and so be blessed. The glory of God is the chief end of all things, Prov. 16. 4.  
In respect of us, The end of the Scripture is,  
1. Intermediate, Temporal Edification, which is fitly referred to five 
c 2 Tim. 3. 16. Rom. 15. 4. The word of God is profitable five ways: 1. For confirmation of true Doctrine, or teaching men the truth. 2 Tim. 3. 16. the Apostle tells us of four ends of Scripture: The first two are commonly referred to Doctrinals; the last two to Practicals: If any of these be wanting, a Christian is not perfect, so much as in the perfection of parts; he is but half a Christian, who is an Orthodox believer, if he be not practical also; and he is but half a Christian, who is practical, if he be not an Orthodox believer. Mr Gillesp. miscel. c. 12.  principal uses: The two first respect the mind, the other three the heart, will and affections.  
It is profitable for Doctrine, it serves to direct to all saving truth; nothing is to be received as a truth necessary to salvation, but what is proved out of Scripture. Where that hath not a tongue to speak, I must not have an ear to hear: Hoc quia de scripturis non habet autoritatem, eadem facilitate contemnitur, qua probatur, Hieron.  
2. Reproof or Confutation, to refute all errors and heterodox opinions in Divinity. 
2 Reproof of error, 1 Tit. 9 Rectum est index sui & obliqui. Quibus principiis veritas astruitur, iisdem principiis falsicas destruitur. Tertullian calls the Scripture Machaera contra haereses. Aufer haebreticis quaecunque Ethniri sapiunt, ut de scriptures solis quaestiones suas sistant: Et stare non poterunt. Teicul. de resurrectione carnis. In comitiis Vindelicorum, cum Episcopus Albertu●, aliquando leger●t Biblia (referente Luthero in Sermon. Convival.) & interrogasset quidam è Consiliariis, quid libri hic esset: Nescio equidem (respondet) qualis sit liber, sed omnia quae in eo lego, nostrae religioni planè sunt contraria. Dr Prid. orat. octava de vocatione ministrorum.  By this sword of the Spirit, Christ vanquished Satan, Mat. 4. 4. 7. 10. by the Scripture he opposed the Jews, john 5. 45. 46. 47. & 10. 34. by this he refuted the Scribes and Pharisees, Mat. 9 13. and 22. 1. Luke 10. 25, 26. 27. Matth. 19 34. and 21. 12, 13. the Sadduces, Matth. 22. 29. Thus Apollus convinced the Jews who denied Jesus to be the Christ, Acts 18. 28. Thus the Apostles convinced those which urged Circumcision, and the observation of the Jewish Law, Acts 15. 15. Heretics are to be stoned with Scripture-Arguments, Lapidandi sunt Heretici sacrarum literarum argumentis. Athanasius. By this Austin refuted the Pelagians, Irenaeus the Ualentinians, Tertullian the Mareionites, Athanasius the Arrians.  
3. Correction of iniquity, setting strait that which is amiss in manners and 
3. Correction of ill behaviour.  life.  
4. Instruction to righteousness, Instruunt Patriarchae etiam errantes. Basil saith, 
4. Instruction in a good behaviour.  The Psalms are a common Store house and Treasury of good Instruction. The Title of the 32 and some other Psalms is Maschil, that is, A Psalm of Instruction.  
5. Comfort in all troubles, Psal. 19 8. and 119. 50. and 92. the Greek word 
5. Consolation in troubles. Rom. 15. 4. Psal. 119. 29. Vide Zepperi Artem habendi & audiendi conciones. l. 1. c. 3 p. 34. 35.  for Gospel, signifieth glad-tidings. The Promises are the Christians best Cordials; as God's Promises are the rule of what we must pray for in faith, so they are the ground of what we must expect in comfort.  
All things which belong to the Gospel are comfortable: 1. God the Author of the Gospel, and revealed in it, is the God of all comfort, 2 Cor. 1. 3. 2. Jesus Christ the Subject of the Gospel, is called Consolation in the abstract, Luke 2. 25. 3. The Holy Ghost, which breathes in the Gospel, is called The Comforter, john Chap. 15. 16. 4. The Ministers or Ambassadors of the Gospel, are the Messengers of peace and comfort.  
2. Ultimate and chiefest, our Salvation and Life eternal, john 5. 39 and 20. 31. 2 Tim. 3. 15. It will show us the right way of escaping hell, and attaining Heaven: It will show us what to believe and practise, for our present and eternal happiness.  
This was God's aim in causing the Scripture to be written, and we shall find it fully available and effectual for the ends for which it was ordained by God.   

CHAP. VIII. Of the Properties of the Scripture.  
THe properties which the Scripture must have for the former end, are these:  
It is,  

1. Of Divine Authority.  
2. True and Certain.  
3. The rule of Faith and Manners.  
4. Necessary.  
5. Pure and Holy.  
6. Sufficient and Perfect.  
7. Perspicuous and Plain.   
1. It's of Divine Authority, 
d Divinae autoritas Scriptur● est Infallibilis veritas in verbis & sensibus, ob quam omnes fidem ei & ob●dientiam debent. Altingius. Exod. 32. 16. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 2 Pet. 1. 21. Heb. 11. Joh. 12. 14. 26.  we must believe it for its own sake. It is Divine.  
1. In its Efficient cause and Original, which is God the Father dictating, in his Son declaring and publishing, by his holy Spirit confirming and sealing it in the hearts of the faithful. He wrote the Decalogue immediately with his own finger, and commanded the whole Systeme, and all the parts of Scripture, to be written by his servants the Prophets and Apostles, as the public Actuaries and Penmen thereof; therefore the authority of the Scripture is as great as that of the Holy Ghost, 
e Divina auctoritas suam trahit originem una ex parte ex immediato Spiritus S. afflate, & ex alterâ ex sublimitate rerum quas exponit. Waltherus in officina Biblica.  who did dictate both the matter and words: Those speeches are frequent, The Lord said, and, The mouth of the Lord hath spoken.  
2. In the subject matter, which is truth according to godliness, certain, powerful, of venerable antiquity, joined with a sensible demonstration of the Spirit, and Divine presence, and with many other things attesting its Divine Authority.  
Whence it follows, that the Authority of the Holy Scriptures is  

1. Infallible, 
f Mat. 5. 18. Scriptura est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fide digna, & propter se cr●denda, quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est, Divinitus inspirara. Hic illud Pythagoricum valet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. We must take heed of believing Scripture to be the word of God, because there is the greatest reason for it, but for its divine Authority. Matth. 24. 35▪  which expresseth the mind and will of God, to whom truth is essential and necessary.  
2. Supreme and Independent into which at last all faith is resolved, from which it is not lawful to appeal.   
By which singular authority the Scripture is distinguished, both from all profane and Sacred writings, and Paul honours it with this Elegy, A faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, 1 Tim. 1. 15. A more sure word, 2 Pet. 1. 19 the Comparative for the Superlative, in which there is no doubting and uncertainty, but all things firm.  
As God is jehovah of himself, so is his word Authoritative of itself, and is true and to be obeyed, whether thou think it Scripture or no. There is no higher authority for thee to appeal to, it is above opinions of men, conscience, and therefore it must determine all controversies.  
2. It is true 
g The material parts of Scripture are true Historical narrations, all the Histories ther● related, are undoubtedly true, that of the Creation, fall, of Christ. ●. threatenings the eternal torments in hell are sure as if thou wast already in them. 3. Promises, the Scripture calls them the sure mercies of David. 4. Predictions and Prophecies, in Daniel, Revelation, as the downfall of Antichrist, they speak therefore of things to come in the present tense, to note thereby the certainty of the accomplishment, Isa. 9 6. Apoc. 18. 2. Veritas est conformitas rei cum Arche●ypo. that is a great excellency of the word of God, to be the word of truth, Ephes. 1. 1●. james 1. 18. Acts 26. 27. it is so called, ●. In opposition to the shadows and types in the Law▪ 1 john 17. 2. By way of exclusion of all falsehood, i● comes from the God of truth. 3. It contains all needful and transcendent truths.  and certain, verity is affirmed of the Scriptures primarily, interternally, and by reason of itself, which is called the truth of the object; which is an absolute and most perfect agreement of all things delivered in the Scripture, with the first truth or divine will, of which the Scripture is a symbol and lively image, so that all things are delivered in it as the Holy Ghost hath dictated, whence those honourable Titles are given to it, the Scripture is called A sure word, 2 Pet. 1. 19 Psal. 19 7. The Scripture of truth, Dan. 10. ult. words of truth, Eccles. 1●. 10▪ Yea, truth itself, john 17. 17. having the God of truth for the Author, Christ Jesus the truth for the witness, the Spirit of truth for the Composer of it, and it worketh truth in the hearts of those which hear it, 2 Pet. 2. 2. The Apostle prefers the Scripture, before the revelation made by Angels, Gal. 1. 8. Christ commend● the certainty of it above all other sorts of revelation, 1 Pet. 1. 19 above information from the dead, Luke 16. 31.  
The word of God is not only true, but eminently true, truth itself, Prim● veritas, and pura 
h Ego in hu●usmodi quorumlibet ●ominum scripti● liber sum quia solis ●anonicis scripturis debeo fine ul●a recusatione consensum. August. de natura & gratia. c. 6. The essential form of the word is truth informing the whole and every part, all divine truth is there set down.  veritas.  
The Scripture hath a twofold truth:  

1. Of assection, it containeth no error.  
2. Of promise, there is no unfaithfulness in it.   
The first truth refer▪ to the matter which is signified, properly called Truth o● Verity.  
The second refers to the in●ention of the Speaker, which is properly called veracity or fidelity, the latter is employed, Psal. 19 Thy Testimonies are sure, and so th● sure mercies of David; the former is employed, in that the word is purer than gold seven times refined.  
There are two signs of truth in the Scripture:  

1. The particularity of it, it names particulars in geneolagies, dolosus versat●r in generalibus.  
2. Impartiality toward friends and their adversaries; the most holy men have their faults described, they give due commendation to their adversaries.   
The truth of Scripture is, 1. More than any humane truth of sense or reason. 2. Above all natural reason; as the Doctrine of the Trinity, the incarnation of Christ, Justification by faith in Christ. 3. A truth which evidenceth itself. 4. The standard of all truth, nothing is true in Doctrine or Worship, which is not agreeable to this.  
3. The Scripture is the rule of faith and manners. It is termed Canonical generally by the Fathers of the word Canon, 
i Scripturae Sancta appellatur Canonica, & to●um ejus. corpus Canon. Rationem nominis aut omnes, aut ferè omnes esse testantur, quia ●it regula fidei. Chamierus. The Scripture is therefore called canonical, because it prescribes a rule of our faith and life, Phil. 3. 16. Gal. 6. 16. Tertullianus appellat Scripturam regulam veritatis. Augustinus de doctrina Christiana l. 2. c. 8. ait in Scriptures inveniri omnia quae continen● fidem moresque vivendi.  which signifies a rule, because it contains a worthy rule of Religion, faith and godliness, according whereunto the building of the house of God must be fitted.  
These properties (saith Suarez) are required in a rule. 1. That it be known and easy, the Scripture is a light. 2. That it be first in its kind, and ●o the measure of all the rest. 3. It must be inflexible. 4. Universal.  
1. It is a perfect rule of faith and obedience, able to instruct us sufficiently in all points of faith or doctrinals, which we are bound to believe, and all good duties or practicals, which we are bound to practise. Whatsoever is needful to believe or to do to please God, and save our souls, is to be found here; whatsoever is not here found, is not needful to believe and practise for felicity.  
Christ proveth the resurrection of the dead, being an Article of our faith against the Sadduces, Mat. 22. 32. and the use of the Sabbath being a rule of life against the Pharisees, by an inference made from the Scripture, Mat. 12. 7.  
The heads of the Creed and Decalogue, are plainly laid down in Scripture, therefore there we have a perfect rule of faith and manners.  
It is a rule, 1. For Faith. Jerome in his controversy with Helvidius saith, Credimus 
Advers. Helvid. cap. 9 Sacra Scripturae regula credendi certissima tutissimaque est. Bellarm. de verbo Dei l 1. c. 2.  quia legimus, non credimus quia non legimus. We believe because we read, we do not believe because we do not read. Christ often saith, Have ye not read, is it not written, what is written in the Law? Luke 10. 26. Faith and the word of God must run parallel. This we first believe, when we do 
k Hoc primum credimus, cum credimu●, quod nihil ultra credere debemus See Mr. Anthony Bur●●● on Mark 1. 2, 3. Deut. 5. 29. Isa. 8. 20.  believe (saith Tertullian) that we ought to believe nothing beyond Scripture. When we say all matters of Doctrine and Faith are contained in the Scripture, we understand as the Ancient Fathers did, not that all things are literally and verbally contained in the Sripture, but that all are either expressed therein, or by necessary consequence may be drawn from thence. All controversies about Religion are to be decided by the Scripture, Deut. 12. 32. and 4. 2. josh. 1. 7. Franciscus de Salis a Popish Bishop, saith, The Gospel was honoured so much, that it was brought into the Council, and set in the midst of them, and to determine matters of faith, as if Christ had been there.  
Erasmus in his Epistles, tells us of a Dominican, that when in the Schools any man refuted his conclusion, by showing it contrary to the words of Scripture, he would cry out, Ista est argumentatio Lutherana, protestor me non responsurum, This is a Lutheran way of arguing, I protest I will not answer to it.  
2. It is a perfect rule for our lives and practice Psal. 19 11. and 
l Verba Scripturae non sun● legenda sed vivenda. Doctrinae sa●itas servatur confirmando verum, refellendo balsam, vitae sanctimionia fugiendo malum, saciendo bonum. Satis habet Scriptura quo veritatem doceat, errorent redarguat, iniquitatem corrigat, instituat ad justiciam. Nec haec●●tiliter praestat solummodo quae sophistarum cavillatio, sed etiam sufficienter, nempe ut perfectus ●it homo etc. Rainoldus.  Psal. 119. 9 In Scriptures there are delivered remedies against all vices, and means are there laid down for the attaining of all virtues. We must follow the Scriptures exactly, and not swerve to the right hand or left; a metaphor taken from a way or rule, saith Chamier. When Linacer a learned English man, heard the beginning of the 5 of Matthew read, Blessed are the poor in spirit, etc. he broke forth into these words, Either these sayings are not Christ's, or we are not Christians.  

1. It is a perfect, not a partial and insufficient rule, as the Papists make it: As God is a perfect God, so his word is a perfect word; if it be but a partial rule, than it doth not perfectly direct, and he that should perfectly do the will of God revealed in Scripture, should not yet be perfect. Secondly, if the Scripture be a partial rule, than men are bound to be wise above that which is written; that is, above the Law and Gospel. Regula fidei debet esse adaequata fidei, aut regula non erit. Whitakerus. 

1. All addition and detraction are forbidden to be made by any man to the word, Deut. 4. 2. and 12. 32. Deut. 5. 32. Gal. 1. 8.  
2. The Scripture is said to be perfect, to beget heavenly and saving wisdom, Psal. 19 8. 2 Tim. 3. 15, 16, 17.  
3. Men in the matter of Faith 
m Deut. 17. 18. Isa. 8. 20. Luke 16. 29. Acts 24. 14. Christian's shall be judged by that hereafter, john 12. 48. 2 Thess. 1. 8.  and Religion are sent to the Scripture only.    
2. The Scripture is an infallible rule, Luke 1. 4. of which thou hast had a full assent. Regula rectè definitur mensura infallibilis quae nullam vel additionem vel detractionem patitur.  
3. It is a just rule.   
Lastly, It is an universal and perpetual rule, both in regard of time and person; ever since the Scripture hath been, it hath been the only rule: in the Old Testament, to the Law and the Testimony; in the New, they confirmed all things by the Old, it directs in every case. 2. To all persons, this is able to make a Minister, yea, a Council, a Church wise to salvation; to reform a young man whose lusts a●e unbridled, Psal. 119. 9 to order a King, Deut. 
n judaei docen● exhoc loco te●eri regem sua ma●● sibi legem describere, etiamsi aliàs cum privatus esset, descrip●isset Chamierus Regula fidei est quasi causa exemplaris fidei, quam videlicet fides in omnibus sequi, & cui se conformare debet. Formale objectum ●idei est Causa objectiva fidei, seu est principium propter quod fotmaliter & principaliter credimus. Baron. contra Turnebul. Nos discamus ex verbo non tantum sapere, sed etiam loqui. Be ●●●● Epist. 7. David, Psa. 119 desires, that all his counsels, thoughts, manners, actions, might be directed according to God's word. The Scriptures contain, 1. A necessary doctrine, viz. Of the Law and Gospel, Mat. 22 37. john 13. 16. without which we cannot be saved, Rom. 7. 7. It is 2. Necessary in respect of the efficient cause, Of the Form, Matth. 22. 29. 4. The end john 20. 31.  17. 29, 30.  

Object. Faith was before the Scripture, therefore the Scripture is not the rule of Faith.  
Answ. The word of God is twofold. 1. Revealed, that preceded faith. 2. Written, that did not.  
Though it be a rule, yet first, it doth not exclude other Ministerial helps, as Prayer, Preaching, the knowledge of the Tongues, and the Ministry of the Church, these are means to use the rule, and subordinate to it, we need no more rules: Therefore it is a vain and absurd question of the Papists, Let a man be locked up in a study with a Bible, what good will he get by it if he cannot read?  
2. There must be reason and judgement to make use of it, and apply it: judge What I say, saith Paul, 1 Cor. 10. 15.  
The Scripture should rule our hearts, thoughts, and inward cogitations, our words and actions; we should pray, hear, receive the Sacrament according to the directions of it, buy, sell, clothe ourselves, and carry ourselves toward all, as that bids us, 2 Sam. 22. 23. the people of God wrote after this copy, followed this rule, Psal. 119. 5, 59, 111. because they desired in all which they did to please God (now God is pleased when his own will is done) and to glorify him in their lives, and therefore they framed themselves according to his statutes. We cannot better express an high esteem of God and his excellencies, then by following him in all things. Every one esteems that person most excellent, to whom he gives up himself most to be ruled and ordered.  
The Scripture is necessary.  
In respect of the substance thereof it was always necessary; in respect of the manner of revealing it is necessary, since the time that it pleased God after that manner to deliver his word, and shall be to the world's end. It is not then absolutely and simply necessary, that the word of God should be delivered to u● in writing, but only conditionally, and upon supposition. God for a long time, for the space of 2400 years, unto the time of Moses, did instruct his Church with an immediate living voice▪ and had he pleased still to go on in that way, there had been no necessity of Scripture now, more than in that age; there was a continual presence of God with them, but now there is a perpetual absence in that way; and the word of God was written.  

1. For the brevity of man's life. See the 5 & the 11 Chapters of Genesis. The Patriarches were long lived before and after the flood, to the times of Moses; they lived some centuries of years, therefore afterward the purity of the word could not fitly be preserved without writing. By writing we have the comfort of the holy word of God, which from writing receiveth his denomination, in being called Scripture, which is nothing else but Writing 
o Writing doth a larger good to a greater number and for a longer time than speaking, Psal. 102 19 vox audita perit, litera scripta manet. To show how much a more faithful keeper record is, than report, those few miracles of our Saviour which were written, are preserved and believed; those infinitely more that were not written, are all lost and vanished out of the memory of men. .  
2. That the Church might have a certain and true rule and Canon, whereby it might judge of all questions, doubts and controversies of Religion, Luke 1. 4. Every man's opinion else would have been a Bible, and every man's lust a Law.  
3. That the faith of men in Christ which was to come, might the better be confirmed, when they should see that written before their eyes, which was done by the M●ssias, and see all things that were foretold of him, verified in the event.  
4. That the purity of God's worship might be preserved from corruption, and the truth propagated among all Nations.  
5. To take off excuses from men, that they did not know, Rom. 10. 18. Civil Laws are written and published that offenders may be inexcusable.   
The Penmen had a command from God. 1. A public and outward command, as jeremy 30. 2. and 36. 2. Moses, Exod. 17. 14. and 34. 17. and john was commanded twelve times in the Revelation to write, Rev. 1. 11. and 2. 1. 8. 12, 18. and 3. Ch. 1. 7. and 14. and 14. 13. and 19 v. 9 & 21. 5. 2. an inward command by private inspiration and instinct, 2 Pet, 1. 21.  
5. The Scripture is Pure and Holy, it commands all good, and forbids, reproves, and condemns all sin and 
p Among the Turks Polygamy is lawful, Theft was permitted among the Spartans'.  filthiness; it restrains not only from evil words and actions, but thoughts, glances. Those are frequent adjuncts of the word of ●od, holy, pure, and clean, Psal. 12. 6. and 18. 31. and 119. 40. Prov. 30. 5. It is pure in its narrations, it speaks purely of things evil and unclean.  
It is termed holy, 
q Literae sacrae dicuntur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scripturae ut non solùm à saecularihus & pro●anis lit●ris. sed etiam a quibuscunque, quae de sacris rebus agunt discerna●tur.  Rom. 1. 2. and 2 Tim. 3. 15. 1. From its efficient principal cause, God who is the holy of holies, holiness itself, Isa. 6. 3. Dan. 9 24, he is the author and inditer of it, Luke 1. 67. 2. In regard of the instrumental cause, the Penmen of it were holy men, 2 Pet 1. 21. Prophets and Apostles. 3. From its matter, the holy will of God, Acts 20. 27. the Scripture contains holy and Divine Mysteries, holy precepts of life, holy promises, Psal. 105. 42. holy Histories. 4. From its end or effect, the holy Ghost by the reading and meditation of the Scripture sanctifieth us, john 17. 17. it sanctifieth likewise all the creatures to our use, so as we may use them with a good conscience, 1 Tim. 4. 5.  
From the purity 
r Mahomet said his doctrine came from God, but the blasphemy and villainy therein contained, showeth it came from Satan, whereas the purity and▪ perfection of the doctrine contained in the Scripture, showeth that it is from above. Mahomet puts in some ingredients of the flesh, gives them liberty to revenge themselves, and to have as many wives as they would. There is in the Precepts of Philosophers, little condemning of fornication, and of the desire of revenge.  of it, the Scripture is compared to a glass, james 1. 23. to fire, jer. 23. 29. to light, Psal. 119. 105. The reason of it is, because God himself is pure, most pure, Psal. 92. ult. Hab. 1. 13.  
It is pure. 1. Subjectively in itself, there is no mixture of falsehood or error, no corruption or unsoundness at all in it, Psal. 12. 6. Prov. 8. 6, 7, 8. 2. Effectively, so as to make others pure, john 15, 3. It begets grace, james 1. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 23. and preserves and increaseth it. Acts 20. 32. Ephes. 4. 11, 12.  
The assertory part is pure; what it affirms to be, is; and what it denies to be, is not; Psal. 19 7. and 93. 5. james 1. 18. 2. What it promiseth shall be performed, and what it threateneth shall be executed, Numb. 23. 19 1 Sam. ●. 30. Zach, 1. 6. 3 What it commandeth is good, and what it forbiddeth is evil. Deut. 4. 8. Psal. 119. 108. and 19 8, 9 Rom. 7. 12.  
In other Books some truth is taught, some good commmended, some kind or 
Dr Featleys Preface to newman's Concordance.  part of happiness promised: But in the inspired Oracles of God, all truth is taught, all goodness commanded, all happiness promised; nay, we may invert the words with Hugo de sancto victore, and say, Quicquid ibi docetur est veritas, quicquid pr●cipitur bonitas, quicquid promit●itur felicitas. All that is there taught is truth, all that is there commanded is goodness, all that is there promised is happiness.  
It is a wonderful thing, that all the particulars which the Canticles contain, being taken from marriage, 
s The General view of the holy Scriptures Notatur verecunda & casta scriptur● locutio ex genere per Synecdochen, designantis specialem congressum, sic 1 Cor. 7. 1. Non est bonum tangere & Gen. 6. 2. ingredi ad filias hominum. Quo major est spurcities eorum, qui ex sacris scripturae loquendi formulis ansam arripiunt sermonis impuri Cartw. in Harm. Evang. in Matth. 1. 18. Quidam Hebraeorum linguam Hebraeam, linguam sanctam dici putant, eò quod nulla propria vocabula in ea inveniantur, quibus pudenda utriusque sexus Egestio, aliaque obs●●na significantur, Paulus Fagius Annotat. in Deut. 25. 11.  are handled so sincerely, that no blemish or spot can be found therein.  
Therefore the Scriptures should be preached, read and heard with holy 
t Sancta sanctè Mr Gregory in his preface to observations upon some passages of scripture.  affections, and should be reverently mentioned.  
The Jews in their Synagogues will not touch the Bible with unwashed hands, they kiss it as often as they open and shut it, they sit not on that seat where it is laid, and if it fall on the ground, they fast for a whole day. The Turk writes upon the outside of his Alcorar, Let no man touch this Book, but he that is pure: I would none might meddle with ours (Alcoran signifieth but the Scripture, you need not be afraid of the word) but such as indeed are, what other men do but think themselves.  
6. The Scripture is Perfect 
u Luke 16. 29. john 5. 39 Psal. 19 and 119. .  
The perfection of the Scripture is considered two ways:  
1. In respect of the matter or the Books in which the holy doctrine was written, 
Augustinus affirmat, omniaquae contin●●t fidem & mores, in illis inveniri, quae apertè posita sunt in scriptura. Chrysostomus manifesta itidem in divinis Scripturis esse perhibet, quaecunque necessaria. Tertullianus adorat Scripturae plenitudinem, Et vae denunciat Hermogeni si quid iis quae scripta sunt vel detra●●t▪ vel adiiciat. Rainoldus' 1 Thesi. Deut. 4. 2. and 12. 32.  all which (as many as are useful to our salvation) have been kept inviolable in the Church, so that out of them one most perfect and absolute Canon of faith and life was made, and this may be called the integrity of the Scripture.  
2. In respect of the form, viz. Of the sense or meaning of these Canonical Books, or of Divine truth comprehended in them, which Books contain most fully and perfectly the whole tru●h necessary and sufficient for the salvation of the Elect, and therefore the Scriptures are to be esteemed a sole adequate, total and perfect measure and rule both of faith and manners, and this is the sufficiency of the Scriptures, which is attributed to it in a twofold respect.  
1. Absolutely in itself, and that in a threefold consideration. 1. Of the principle; for every principle, whether of a thing or of knowledge, aught to be 
De Scripturae plenitudine & perfectione, qu●● sentiat Maldonatus, vide ad Joan. 7. 4. De Scripturae integritate vide Estium ad Galat. 3. 10. See Bishop Ushers Body of Divinity▪ p. 18▪ 19 20, 21. 2 Tim. 3. 16, 17. John 15. 15. Acts 20. 27. Be●e habet, ut iis quae sunt Scripta, contentus si●, Hilary?  perfect, since demonstration and true conclusions are not deduced from that which is imperfect, therefore it is necessary that the holy Scripture, being the first only immediate principle of all true doctrine, should be most perfect.  
2. Of the subject, for it hath all Essential parts, matter and form, and integral, Law and Gospel, and is wholly perfect: Both  
1. Absolutely, because for the substance, it either expressly or Analogically contains the doctrine concerning faith and manners, which is communicable and profitable for us to know; which may be proved also by induction, that all necessary opinions of faith, or precepts of life, are to be found in the holy Scripture.  
2. Relatively, because as it hath a perfection of the whole, so of the parts in the 
In every age there was revealed that which was sufficient to salvation, and yet now no more than is sufficient; the Word itself is not now, but the revelation only is more perfect. The Old Testament was sufficient for the Jews, but both the New and Old make but one complete body for the Church now. Sing●li libri s●●t sufficientes sufficientia p●rtium ad quam ordinatio sunt; ●●●●●●rò s●rip●ur● est sufficiens essentiali sufficientia per ●i bros singulos su●●. jun. Animad. ●● Bellarm Con●r●●. P●tmae, c●pi●● quarto.  whole; that perfection is called essential, this quantitative. For all the Books are sufficient with an essential perfection, although integrally they have not a sufficiency of the whole, but only their own, yet so that at distinct times every part sufficed for their times; but all the parts in the whole are but sufficient for us.  
3. In its effect and operation it makes men perfect, 2 Tim. 3. 16, 17. Rom. 15. 4. john 2. ult. & 5. 39  
2. As opposed to unwritten. Traditions, all which it excludes by its sufficiency; but we do not understand by Traditions generally a Doctrine delivered in Word and Writing; but specially all Doctrine not written by Prophets or Apostles, whether Dogmatical. Historical or Ceremonial; for a perfect reason of the primary opinions belonging to Faith and Manners, is delivered in Scripture; and those things which are out of, beside, or against the Scripture, do not bind the Conscience. 2. Historical, the Sayings and Deeds of Christ and the Apostles, are perfectly contained in the Scriptures, as many as suffice us for our salvation, john 20. 30, 31. Those things which are delivered out of Scripture are to be esteemed man's writings. 3. Ceremonial or secondary opinions concerning Ecclesiastical Rites and Customs are for Essentials, Substantials and Fundamentals, generally contained in the word of God; the accidentals, accessaries, and circumstantials are free and mutable. If Traditions agree with the Scripture they are confirmed by it; if they oppose it, they are disproved by it.  
The perfection of the Scriptures is not,  
First, Infinite and unlimited: That is an incommunicable property of God▪ every thing which is from another as the efficient cause, is thereby limited both for the nature and qualities thereof.  
Secondly, we do not understand such a perfection as containeth all and singular such things as at any time have been by Divine inspiration revealed to holy men▪ and by them delivered to the Church of what sort soever they were; for all the Sermons of the Prophets, of Christ and his Apostles, are not set down in so many words as they used in the speaking of them; for of twelve Apostles, seven wrote 
The scriptures are a perfect rule for matters of Faith, but not a perfect register for matters of fact. Mr Geree. Whitakerus de Script. c. sexto▪ quaest. 6. Stapleton and Serrarius are more wary than some other Papists; We are abused (say they) when we are said to hold that the scripture is not perfect; for (say they) a thing is said to be imperfect, not when it wants any perfection, but when it wants a perfection due; as a man is not imperfect, if he have not an Angel's perfection, because this is not due unto him; they say it is not a perfection due to the Scriptures, to teach us every thing necessary to salvation.  nothing, which yet preached, and did many things; neither are all the deeds of Christ and his Apostles written, for that is contradicted, john 20. 30, 31. and 21. 25. but we mean only a Relative perfection, which for some certain ends sake agreeth to the Scripture as to an instrument, according to which it perfectly comprehendeth all things which have been, are, or shall be necessary for the salvation of the Church.  
Thirdly, The several Books of Scripture are indeed perfect, for their own particular ends, purposes, and uses, for which they were intended of the Lord; but yet not any one Book is sufficient to the common end; the whole Scripture is complete in all the parts thereof, one speaking of that which another doth wholly pass over in silence, one clearly delivering what was intricate in another. Paul speaks much of Justification, and Predestination in the Epistle to the Romans, nothing of the Eucharist or Resurrection  
Fourthly, Since God did reveal his will in writing those writings which by divine hand and providence were extant in the Church, were so sufficient for the Church in that age, that it needed not Tradition, neither was it lawful for any humane wight to add thereto, or take therefrom; but when God did reveal more unto it, the former only was not then sufficient without the latter.  
Fifthly, The holy Scripture doth sufficiently contain and deliver all doctrines which are necessary for us to eternal salvation, both in respect of faith and good works, and most of these it delivereth to us expressly, and in so many words and 
Perinde sunt ea quae ex scriptures coll guntur atque ea quae scribuntur. G. egg. Nazia●zen. l. 5. Theol. Mat. 28. 29.  the rest by good and necessary consequence. The Baptism of Infants, and the consubstantiality of the Father and of the Son, are not in those words expressed in Scripture, yet is the truth of both clearly taught in Scripture, and by evident proof may thence be deduced: That Article of Christ's descent into Hell, totidem verbis, is not in the Scripture, yet it may be deduced thence, Acts. 2 27. Some Papists hold, That we must not use the principles of Reason or Consequences in Divinity, and require▪ that what we prove be expressed in so many words in scripture▪ These are opposed by Vedelius in his Rationale Theologicum, l▪ 1. c. 3. 4, 5. 8. and l. 2 c. 5. 6. and also by Daillè in his Book entitled, La●foy fondee sur les Saints Escritures, 1 Party, He shows there, That Christ and his Apostles, and the Ancient Fathers in disputing against their Adversaries, used consequences drawn from the scripture, Mat. 12. 32. Acts 17. 2. 3. and 18, 23. Acts 17. 3. opening and alleging. St Luke there useth two words very proper for this subject; the first signifies to open, the other to put one thing near another, to show that the Apostle proved his conclusions by the scriptures, in clearing first the prophecies, and in showing the true sense, and after in comparing them with the events; the figures with the things, and the shadows with the body, where the light of the truths of the Gospel of itself shined forth, Mat. 22. 29, 31, 32. He blames them for not having learned the Resurrection of the dead by this sentence of the scripture; therefore they ought to have learned it: Now the sentence which he allegeth, saith nothing formally and expressly of the Resurrection of the dead, but infers it from what he had laid down, Hic Dominum uti principiis rationis & naturae adeo manifestum est, ut ne Veronius quidem Magister Artis negandi, negare illud possit, Vedel. Rat. Theol. l. ●. c. 6. vide plura ibid. etc. 5.  
The Ancient Fathers prove by consequences drawn from scripture, that God the Father is without beginning, against the Sabellians; and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, against the Arrians; that Christ hath two Natures, against the Eutychians. The Papists will not be able to prove their Purgatory, and many other of their corrupt opinions by the express words of Scripture.  
We shall now lay down some Propositions or Theorems about the sufficiency of Scripture:  
First, In every Age of the Church, the Lord hath revealed so much supernatural 
Catholici in perfectione Scripturae, Papistae in imperfectione, totius causae, id est, omnium controversiarum de Religione proram & puppim constituunt. Chamierus Tom. 1. de Canon● lib. 8. cap. 1.  truth as was for that age necessary unto salvation, his ways he made known to Moses, Psal. 103. 7. and his statutes to Israel, Deut. 4. 6. Psal. 147. 20. Heb. 1. 1. Therefore that is an erroneous opinion, that before the Law written men were saved by the Law of nature, and in the time of the Law by the Law of Moses, and since in the time of the Gospel by the Word of grace.  
Secondly, The substance of all things necessary to salvation, ever since the fall of Adam hath been, and is one and the same, as the true Religion hath been one and unchangeable.  
1. The knowledge of God and Christ is the sum of all things necessary to salvation, joh. 17. 3. Col. 2. 2. but this knowledge was ever necessary, jer. 9 23. Act. 4. 12. the fathers indeed saw Christ more obscurely and enigmatically, we more clearly, distinctly and perspicuously, but yet they knew him and believed in him unto salvation, 
1 Cor. 10. 1, 2, 3  as well as we, joh. 8. 56.  
2. The Covenant of grace which God made with man is an everlasting Covenant, therein the Lord hath revealed himself to be one and unchangeable; as in nature so in will, Heb. 13. 8. Rom. 3. 29. showing that as God is one in nature, truth and constancy, and that as well toward the Gentiles as toward the Jews, so he would justify both the Circumcision and Uncircumcision, the Jew and the Gentile by one way of Religion; that is to say, through faith and belief in his Son Jesus Christ.  
3. Christ and his Apostles professed and taught no new Religion, but the same which the Scriptures of the Old Testament did before instruct, Matth. 5. 17. john 5. 39 Acts 10. 43. Luke 24. 25, 26, 27, 44, 45. Acts 18. 28. and 17. 7. and 26. 22. and 28. 23. Rom. 6. 26. Therefore the believing Jews and the converted Gentiles are styled the children of faithful Abraham, being justified by Faith as Abraham 
Mat. 8. 11. Luk. 19 9 Gal. 3. 7, 8, 29. Rom. 4. 15, 16.  was. Whence we may conclude, that before, under, and after the Law, since the fall of Adam, there was never but one true Catholic Religion, or way to Heaven and happiness.  
Thirdly, The Word of God being uttered in old time sundry ways, was at length made known by writing; the Lord stirring up, and by his holy Spirit inspiring his servants, to write his will and pleasure.  
Fourthly, So long as there was any truth in any Age, necessary to be more fully and clearly known than was already revealed in the Books of Moses, it pleased God to stir up holy men whom he divinely inspired, and sufficiently furnished to make the Truth known unto the Church; thus after Moses during the time of the Law, the Lord raised up Prophets, who opened the perfect way of life unto the Church of the Old Testament more clearly, than it was before manifested in the Books of Moses, the Time and Age of the Church requiring the same. The Church of the Jews in the several Ages thereof was sufficiently taught, and instructed in all things necessary to Salvation by the writings of Moses and the Prophets, which appears:  
1. In that our Saviour being asked of one, What he should do that he might inherit 
Some Papists say the Scriptures are not imperfect, because they send us to the Church which is he perfect Rule, and therefore they are perfect implicitè, though not explicitè: but so I might say every rustic were a perfect Rule of Faith, because he can show me the Pope, who is the infallible Judge. If the Scripture send to the Church to learn that which is not in the Scripture, by this sending she confesseth her imperfection. See Moulins Buckler of Faith, pag. 45.  eternal life? answered, What is written in the Law and Prophets? How readest thou? Luke 10. 25, 26. and out of the Scripture he declared himself to be the Saviour of the world, foretell and promised, Matth. 21. 44. and 26. 31. Luk 4. 21. and 24, 25, 26, 27, 44. joh. 3. 14.  
2. The answer of Abraham to the rich man, sending his friends to Moses and the Prophets, showeth that they sufficed to instruct the faithful Jews in all things necessary to Salvation, Luk. 16. 29, 30. by them they might learn how to obtain Life and escape Death, when he saith, Let them hear them, he meaneth them only, as that place is meant, Mat. 17. 5.  
The Jews themselves acknowledged the sufficiency of those writings, to lead them unto life and happiness, joh. 5. 39  
Fifthly, The Prophets did expound the Law of God, and speak more plainly, precisely and distinctly touching the coming of the Messias, than Moses did; but the last full and clear Will of God touching the Salvation of man was not manifested by them; that was together, and at once to be published and taught by the Messias, who also at his coming did establish that order in the Church of God, which was to continue therein for ever. For  
1. Christ was ordained of the Father to be the great Doctor of his Church, a Prophet more excellent than the rest that were before him, both in respect of his Person, Office, Manner of receiving his Doctrine, and the excellency of the Doctrine which he delivered.  
2. This was well known not only among the Jews, but also among the Samaritans, 
Joh. 1. 18. & 3. 22.  insomuch that the woman of Samaria could say, I know when the Messias is 
Isa. 61. 1, 2. Heb. 1. 1. & 2. 3 Act. 1. 3. Mat. 11. 25, 27.  come, he will tell us all things. Joh. 4. 25.  
3. The time wherein God spoke unto us by his Son, is called the last days or the last time, Heb. 1. 2. 1 Pet. 1. 20. to note that we are not hereafter to expect or look for any fuller or more clear Revelation of Divine Mysteries then that which was then delivered.  
4. Christ is called a Mediator of the New Testament, or the New Covenant, Heb. 9 15. because all things are established by him as they ought to continue for ever; for that which is old decayeth and is ready to vanish, but that which is new abideth, Heb. 8. 13.  
5. It pleased the Lord in great wisdom to reveal the Covenant of grace to the Church that she might not despair; but obscurely at the first, that she might earnestly long for the coming of that Messiah, who was to make known what he had heard and seen of the Father, which dispensation was needful, that the grace of God might not be contemned, as haply it would have been, if God had fully revealed and made known his bounty unto man, before he had seen his misery, and the necessity thereof. Our Saviour Christ for substance of Doctrine necessary to Salvation, taught nothing which was not before in some sort contained in the writings 
Mat. 22. 32. Joh. 5. 46. Luk. ●4. 44, 45  of Moses and the Prophets, out of whom he confirmed his Doctrine; but that which was in them more obscurely, enigmatically and briefly, he explained more excellently, fully and clearly; the Apostles proved their Doctrine out of the Book of Moses and the Prophets, Act. 17. 11. and 26. 22. Luke 24. 27. Rom. 1. 2. Act. 28. 23.  
Sixthly, All things necessary in that manner as we have spoken, were taught 
Montanus held that there was no sufficient instruction given by the Apostles unto the Church, but that there were only certain principles of Religion given by them, being unperfect, and were afterward to be finished and polished by the Comforter, which himself did forge. Tertullian was a Montanist, he often likeneth the Church of God in the Apostles time unto a Tree whose fruit was not bloomed, and unto one which is in his base age Cartw. Reply to whitgift's 2d answer 79.  and inspired to the Apostles by our Saviour Christ, and there were no new inspirations after their times; nor are we to expect further hereafter, which we prove,  
1. By places of Scripture, joh. 14. 26. he that teacheth all things, omitteth nothing; Christ said all things to his Apostles, as appears, john 15. 15. and 17. 8. john 16. 13.  
2. By reasons drawn from thence, 1. The plentiful pouring forth of the Spirit was deferred till the glorifying of Christ; he being glorified, it was no longer to be delayed; Christ being exalted on the right-hand of God, obtained the Spirit promised, and that was not according to measure, and poured the same in such abundance, as it could be poured forth and received by men, so that was fulfilled which was foretell by joel 2. 28. Acts 2. 33. john 3. 34, 35. Acts 2. 16, 17. 2. The Scripture and the Prophecies of the Old Testament do teach and declare, That all Divine Truth should fully and at once be manifested by the Messias who is the only Prophet, high-Priest, and King of his Church; there is no other Revelation promised, none other needful besides that which was made by him, Isa. 11. 9 Act. 3. 23, 24. joel 2. 23. Vide Mercerum in loc. therefore the last inspiration was made to the Apostles, and none other to be expected. The Doctrine of the Law and the Prophets did suffice to Salvation; yet it did send the Fathers to expect somewhat more perfect, 1 Pet. 1. 10. but to the preaching of the Gospel nothing is to be added, we are not sent to wait for any clearer vision.  
3. So long as any truth needful to be known, was unrevealed or not plainly taught, the Lord did stir up some Prophet or other, to teach the same unto the Church; therefore the Lord surceasing to speak since the publishing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the delivery of the same in writing, is unto us a manifest token, that the whole will of God is now brought to light, and that no new Revelation is to be expected.  
Our seventh Proposition is, Christ and his Apostles were able to propound and teach by lively voice, that Doctrine which pertains to perfection, john 1. 18. and 11. 11, 32. john 8. 26 and the Apostles perfectly taught all things which are or shall be necessary for the Church, Acts 20. 27. Gal. 1. 7, 8, 9 The Doctrine of repentance and remission of sins in the name of Christ, doth summarily contain all things necessarily to salvation, Act. 5. 31. and 11. 11. but this Doctrine the Apostles preached, Act. 13. 38, 39 Luke 24. 47.  
The Word of God is not only Milk for Babes, but strong Meat for men of ripe years, 1 Cor. 3. 1, 2. Heb. 5. 14. and 6. 1, 2. therefore it containeth not only matter of preparation, but of perfection.  
Our eighth Proposition is, The sum and substance of that heavenly Doctrine which was taught by the Prophets and Apostles, was by them committed to writing; the holy Ghost giving them a commandment, and guiding their hands therein, that they could not err, so that the Word preached and written by them is one in substance, both in respect of matter, which is the will and word of God, and inward form, viz. the Divine Truth immediately inspired, though different in the external form and manner of delivery.  
Our ninth Proposition is, That nothing is necessary to be known of Christian over and above that which is found in the Old Testament, which is not clearly an● evidently contained in the Books of the Apostles and Evangelists.  
Our last Proposition is, that all things which have been, are, or shall be necessary to the salvation of the Church to the end of the world, are perfectly contained in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles, long since divinely inspired, writte● and published, and now received by the Church of God, so that no new Reveltion or Tradition beside 
* Additio ad Scripturam fit tripliciter. 1. In quo additum est contrarium, & est error●s. 2ᵒ. In quo additum est diversum, & est praesumptionis. 3o. In quo additum est consonum, & est fidelis instructionis.  those inspired, published and comprehended in the Scripture are necessary for the salvation of the Church.  
There are three opinions, 1. Of the Papists who altogether deny it. 2. Of the Socinians which would have all things expressly contained in Scripture, and if it be ●●● totidem verbis they reject it. 3. Of the Orthodox, who say it contains all things expressly or by consequence.  
Crocius in his Antiweigelius, cap. 1. Quaest 8. shows, that private Revelation Dreams, Conferences with Angels are not to be desired and expected in matters ●● faith, the Canon of the Scripture being now complete. The Weigelians talk of ●● Seculum Spiritus Sancti, as God the Father had his time, the time of the L●● Christ his time, the time of the Gospel; so (say they) the holy Ghost shall ●●● his time, when there shall be higher dispensations, and we shall be wiser than the Apostles. See Mat. 24. 14. and 28. 20. 1 Cor. 11. 26. See Mr Gillesp. Miscel. c. 10.  
Some say the Scriptures are but for the training up of Christians during their ●●nority (as Grammar rules for boys) and are not able to acquaint the soul ●● the highest discoveries of God and truth. And most corruptly they serve themselves with that expression of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 13. 11. This Glass (say they) is ●●● Scriptures; through which we see something of God indeed (whilst we are ●●●●dren in understanding) but very obscurely and brokenly; and therefore (say the●●● if ye would discern of God clearly, and see him as he is, ye must break the Glass, and look quite beyond Scriptures; when ye become men ye must put away these childish things. Blow at the Root, p. 82, 83.  
The express testimonies of Scripture, forbidding even Angels to add 
* That Doctrine of Religion, to which God would have nothing added, and from which he would have nothing taken away, must needs be perfect. Illud perfectum in suo genere cui nihil in eo genere aut addi, aut diminui potest. Psal. 19 8. the Hebrew word signifieth that perfection cui nihil deest.  any thing to those things which are commanded by the Lord, do prove the perfection of the Scripture, Deut. 4. 5, 12. and 12. 32. and 30. 10. and 5. 12, 13, 14. and 28. 58. joshua 1. 7, 8. Prov. 30. 5. wherefore the Apostle commands, That no man presume above that which is written, 1 Cor. 4. 6. 2 Tim. 3. 15, 16. Divers reasons may be drawn from this last place to prove the perfection of the Scripture.  
1. The Apostle teacheth, That the Scriptures are able to make a man wise to salvation: therefore there needeth no further counsel nor direction thereunto, 
a 
Salus nostra Christus est, salutis via fides, viae dux, Scripturae. Raynoldus.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. It is taken Collectiuè not distributiuè. Si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non totam sed omnem significaret, eo fortius futurum argumentum nostrum: nam si partes singulae sufficerent, tum multo magis omnes. Chamierus.   but 
2 King. 5. 8. 2 Tim. 3. 15, 16, 17.  out of the Scriptures.  
2. The Scriptures are able to make the man of God, that is the Minister of the Word, perfect and complete unto every work of his Ministry, whether it be by teaching true Doctrine, or confuting false, by exhorting and putting forward to that which is good, or dehorting from that which is evil.  
Paul would not have us think that all and every writing, viz. of Plato, Aristotle, is divinely inspired, for in ver. 15. he not only useth the plural number, calling them the holy writings; thereby to note the word of God, and not one sentence or Book, but all the sentences and Books of the Scripture, and also useth the Article, which hath force of an universal note, therefore the Greek words, the whole Scripture, signifieth the whole altogether, and not every part severally in this place. 2. No one part of holy Scripture is able to make the Minister perfect, therefore it must needs be understood of the whole body of holy Scripture, wherein this sufficiency is to be found. The Ancient Fathers and other Divines, have from this place proved the perfection and sufficiency of the Scripture in all things necessary to salvation.  
We do not reason thus (as the Papists charge us) it is profitable, therefore it is sufficient; but because, 1. The Scripture is profitable for all these 
b Nullus Papista aptè & plenè huic argumento unquam respondit, aut respondebit. Whitak.  ends (viz. to teach sound Doctrine, to refute false opinions, to instruct in holy life, and correct ill manners) therefore it is sufficient; 
c Is not the Scripture (said Hawks the Martyr) sufficient for my salvation? Yes, saith one of Bonner's Chaplains, it is sufficient for our salvation, but not for our instruction. Hawks answered, God send me the salvation, and take you the instruction. Fox. Martyrol.  or it is profitable to all those functions of the Ministry, that a Minister of the Church may be perfect; therefore much more for the people. Argumentum non nititur unica illa voce (utilis) sed toto sententiae complexu. Chamierus.  
Hitherto of the perfection of the Scripture absolutely considered, now follows the sufficiency thereof in opposition to unwritten traditions or verities, as the Papists speak.  
D Davenant premiseth these things for the better understanding of the sufficiency 
Episc. Daven. de judicé Controvers. cap. 5.  of the Scripture.  
1. We speak of the state of the Church (saith he) in which God hath ceased to speak to men by the Prophets or Apostles divinely inspired, and to lay open new Revelations to his Church.  
2. We grant that the Apostles living and preaching, and the Canon of the New Testament being not yet sealed, their Gospel delivered Viva Voce, was no less a rule of Faith and Worship, than the writings of Moses and the Prophets.  
3. We do not reject all the traditions 
d Notandum hoc loco verbum Dei, Scriptures seu scripto verbo definiri, quod enim prius Dei verbum seu serm●nem, nunc Scripturas appellat, adversus Pontificios, qui verbum Dei ad non Scriptas Traditiones & Pontificum etiam decreta transferunt. Sed verbum Dei Scripturis cingi & terminari apparet, Rom. 1. 2. deinde 2 Tim. 3. 17. Denique ex hoc loco, cum vitam aeternam conferat, eamque in se inclusam habeat Scriptura, quid est quod ad cam accedere aut adjungi potest? Hanc enim judaeorum, de vita aeterna Scripturis comprehensa, opinionem, Christus ipse comprobat. Cartw. in Harm. Evangel. in Joh. 5. 39  of the Church; for we embrace certain Historical and Ceremonial ones; but we deny that opinions of faith or precepts of worship can be confirmed by unwritten traditions.  
4. We call that an opinion of Faith; to speak properly and strictly, when a Proposition is revealed by God, which exceeds the capacity of nature, and is propounded to be believed, as necessary to be known to Salvation. Fundamental opinions are those which by a usual and proper name are called Articles of Faith.  
5. What is not in respect of the Matter an Article of Faith, may be a Proposition to be believed with a Theological Faith, if you look to the manner of revealing, as that the Sun is a great light, the Moon a less, Gen. 1. 16. that Rachel was beautiful, Leah blear-eyed.  
The Papists do not cease to accuse the Scripture of imperfection 
e Minima veritatis particula in Scriptures continetur. Charronaeus.  and insufficiency, as not containing all things necessary to salvation. The Council of Trent, Sess. 4. decret. 1. saith, That the Truth and Discipline is contained in libris scriptis, & sine scripto traditionibus. The Papists 
f Bellarm. de verbo Dei, lib. 4. cap. 3. Rhemists annotat. in Joh. 21. sect. 3. & aunot. in 2 Thess. 2. 16. & annot. in Act. 15. sect. 3. & in Apoc. 10. sect. 1.  generally divide the word of God into the word written and traditions. They affirm, that there are many things belonging to Christian faith, which are neither contained in the Scriptures openly nor secretly. This opinion is maintained by the Papists, but it was not first invented by them. The Jewish Fathers did use the traditions of the Elders, and it hath been said of old, Mark 75. Matth. 5. 21. for their errors and superstitions, yea, at length they affirmed that God gave to Moses in Mount Sinai the Scripture and the Cabala, or a double Law, the one written, the other 
g Asserimus in Scriptures non contineri expressè totam doctrinam necessarian●, five de side five de moribus & proinde praeter verbum Dei scriptum requiri etiam verbum Dei non s 〈…〉. id est, Divinas & Apostolicas traditiones. Bellarm. lib. 4. de verbo Dei non scripto. Omnes libros veteris & Novi Testamenti, ne● non traditiones ipsas tum ad fidem tum ad mores pertinentes, tanquam vel ore tenus à Christo, vel à Spiritu Sancto dictatas, & continua successione in Ecclesia Catholica conservatas pari pietatis affectu ac reverentia suscipit ac veneratur. Tridentina Synodus. sess. 4. sect. 1.  unwritten. The Tridentin Fathers, S●s. 4. do command Traditions to be received with the same reverend affection and piety with which we embrace the Scripture; and because one Bishop in the Council of Trent refused this, he was excluded. In the mean space, they explain not what those Traditions are which must be so regarded, none of them would ever give us a List and Catalogue of those Ordinances, which are to be defended by the authority of unwritten Traditions, not of the Word committed to writing; only they affirm in general, whatsoever they teach or do, which is not in the Scripture, that it is to be put into the number of Traditions unwritten. The cause of itself is manifest, That at their pleasure they might thrust what they would upon the Church, under the name of Traditions. Vide Whitak. de Script. contro. Quaest 6. c. 5. See also Moulins Buckler of Faith, p. 51.  
Lindan the Papist was not ashamed to say, That it had been better for the Church, if there had been no Scripture at all, but only Traditions. For (saith he) we may do well enough with Traditions though we had no Scripture; but could not do well enough with Scripture, though we had no Traditions.  
Baldwin saith, a Testament may be either Scriptum or Nuncupativum, set down in writing or uttered by word of mouth. But a Nuncupative Testament, or Will made by word of mouth without writing, must be proved by solemn witnesses. The solemn witnesses of Christ's Testament are the Prophets and Apostles. Let Papists, if they can, prove by them, that part of the Testament of Christ is unwritten.  
Any indifferent Reader will conceive, that the Scriptures make most for them, who stand most for their Authority and perfection, as all the reformed Divines do, not only affirming, but also confirming, that the Scripture is not only a most perfect, but the only infallible rule of faith, Titus 1. 2. Rom. 3. 4. God cannot lie, and Let God be true, and every man a liar, that is, subject to error and falsehood. Every Article of Divine Faith must have a certain and infallible ground, there is none such of supernatural truth but the Scripture.  
Because our Adversaries 
h Bellarmin● ha●h a whole Book De verbo Dei non scripto, of the word of God unwritten  do contend for Traditions not written hotly and zealously, against the total perfection of the Scripture, that they might thrust upon us many points (by their own confession) not contained in Scripture; and usurp to themselves irrefragable authority in the Church, it shall not be amiss largely to consider of this matter: And first to inquire of the signification of the words Greek and Latin, which are translated Tradition; and then to come to the matter which is controverted between us and the Papists.  
The Greek word signifying Tradition, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which in the New Testament is 
Do we not allow of all the Apostolical Traditions, which agree unto the Scriptures? Nay more, Do we not translate the word Traditions in the Scripture, when the Text will bear it, according to the Greek original Look upon Mat. 15. and in three several verses, 2, 3, 6. we use the word Tradition. Look upon the 7th of Mark, and in four several verses, vers. 3, 8, 9, 13. we translate Traditions. Look upon St Paul to the Colossians 2. 8. Gal. 1 14. and upon St Peter, 1 Pet. 1. 18. and in all these in the Translation joined with your Rhemish Testament, you shall find the word Traditions. Dr Featley's Case for the Spectacles, ch. 8.  used only in these places, Matth. 15. 2, 3, 6. Mark 7. 3, 5, 8, 9, 13. 1 Cor. 11. 2. Gal. 1. 14. Colos 2. 8. 2 Thess. 2. 15. and 3. 6. and in the vulgar Latin is rendered Traditio, Mat. 15. 2, 3, 6. Mark 7. 3, 5, 8, 9, 13. Gal. 1. 14. Col. 2. 6. 2 Thess. 2. 15. and 3. 6. and Praecepta, 1 Cor. 11. 2. Whereto the Rhemists' translation (which seemeth to be but a bare translation of the Vulgar Latin) doth wholly agree, using the word Tradition every where, excepting 1 Cor. 11. 2. where they use the word Precepts, but set in the margin the word Tradition. Arias Montanus in his interlineal Translation doth render it Traditio. Beza doth commonly express it by the word traditio. In the English Geneva Bible, we translate it by the word Instruction, Tradition, calling men's precepts Traditions, the Apostles Doctrine, Ordinances or Instructions, not that we feared the word Tradition but because we would not have the simple deceived, as though the unwritten verities of the Papists were thereby commended, or as though we had some honourable conceit of them; and what we did herein, the signification of the word doth give us free liberty to do; in our last English Translation we use the word Tradition, as often as the Vulgar Latin or the Rhemists have done; not that we were driven by fear or shame to alter what was done before, but because we would cut off all occasion of carping at our Translation, though never so unjust.  
First, We contend not about the name 
i The word originally may import any thing which is delivered howsoever, either by word or writing. Thus whatsoever we have received in the Scriptures, was first Tradition as delivered by word, and still is tradition because it is delivered in writing. But though the word in itself have this general and indifferent signification of anything that is delivered, yet in our disputation it is restrained to one only manner of delivering by word and relation only, and not by Scripture. We deny that either in the Law or Gospel there was any thing left unwritten, which concerneth us to know, for attaining of true Faith and Righteousness towards God. Abbot against Bishop.  Tradition, the word may lawfully be used, if the sense affixed thereto be lawful. 2. All Traditions unwritten are not simply condemned by us. 3. The Apostles delivered by lively voice many observations dispensable and alterable, according to the circumstances of time and persons, appertaining to order and comeliness; only we say That they were not of the substance of Religion, that they were not general concerning all Churches. 4. We receive the number and names of the Authors of Books Divine and Canonical, as delivered by tradition; but the Divine Truth of those Books is in itself clear and evident unto us, not depending on the Church's Authority. The Books of Scripture have not their Authority (quoad nos) from the approbation of the Church, but win credit of themselves, and yield sufficient satisfaction to all men of their Divine Truth, whence we judge the Church that receiveth them to be led by the Spirit of God; yet the Number, Authors and Integrity of the parts of those Books, we receive as delivered by Tradition. 5. The continued practice of such things as are neither expressly contained in Scripture, nor the example of such practice expressly there delivered, though the Grounds, Reasons, and cause of the necessity of such practice be there contained, and the benefit and good that followeth of it, we receive upon Tradition, though the thing itself we receive not for Tradition. Of this sort is the Baptism of Infants, which may be named a Tradition, because it is not expressly delivered in Scripture, that the Apostles did baptise infant's, nor any express precept there found that they should so do; yet is not this so received by bare and naked Tradition, but that we find the Scripture to deliver unto us the ground of it.  
Bellarmine and Maldonat 
k In Mat. 15.  both do confess, That the Baptism of Infants may be proved by the Scripture; and therefore Maldonat concludes, Nobis verò traditio non est. Bellarmine 
l Vide Whitakerum de Scrip. c. 9 Quaest 6. p. 405. & 406. In his Book De verbo Dei standing for unwritten Traditions, as a part of the word of God, he will have Baptism of Infants to be one; but when he disputes for Baptism of Infants against Anabaptists, than he heaps up Texts of Scripture. Mr Blakes Birth-Priviledge.  (as Whitaker shows) contradicts himself; for first, he saith, That the Baptism of Infants is an unwritten Tradition; and after, That the Catholics can prove Baptism of Infants from the Scriptures.  
To this head 
m Exstat nomen diei Dominicae, Mat. 28 Mar. 16 Apoc. 1. Exstat exemplum Apostolicae Ecclesiae quae eum diem solennem habuit celebratione Coenae, praedicatione verbi Dei, Collectione El●emosynae, Act. 20. 1 Cor. 16. 1. Quod exemplum suum & Ecclesiae praxin cum Apostoli nobis repraesentant in suis scriptis, quis non videt eos praecipere imitationem sui? Vedel. 〈◊〉 Epist. Ignatii ad Magnesios' c. 7. Vide plura ibid.  we may refer the observation of the Lordsday, the precept whereof is not found in Scripture, though the practice be. And if for that cause any shall name it a Tradition, we will not contend about the word, if he grant withal, that the example Apostolical hath the force of a Law, as implying a common equity concerning us no less than it did them.  
If any man shall call the summary comprehension of the chief heads of Christian Doctrine contained in the Creed, 
n Symbolum Apostolicum ex traditione est secundum formulam rationemque verborum; at secundum substantiam est Scriptura ipsissima. Junius Animad. in Bellarm. controv. 1. l. 4. Negamus ullum esse in toto Symbolo vel minimum articulum, qui non disertè constet, ac totidem penè dixerim verbis, in Scripture sancta: adeò ut merito dici possit opus tesellatum, u●pote constans ex variis loc is hinc inde excorptis, atque in unum collatis, artificioséque compositis. Chamier.  commonly called The Apostles Creed, a Tradition, we will not contend about it. For although every part thereof be contained in Scripture; yet the orderly connexion, and distinct explication of those principal Articles gathered into an Epitome, wherein are implied, and whence are inferred all Conclusions Theological, is an Act humane, not divine, and in that sense may be called a Tradition. But let it be noted withal, that we admit it not to have that credit as now it hath, to be the Rule of Faith; for this is the privilege of holy Scripture. The Creed itself was gathered out of Scripture, and is to be expounded by the Scripture; therefore it is not given to be a perfect Canon of faith and manners.  
By Tradition is noted, 1. Whatsoever is delivered by men divinely inspired and 
2 Thess. 2. 15. Hoc suit primum Pharisaeorum dog ma, quòd negarunt omnia quae spectant ad Religionem scripta esse. Joseph. Antiq. l. 13.  immediately called, whether it be by lively voice, or by writing. 2. In special it notes the word of God committed to writing, 1 Cor. 15. 3. 3. It signifies Rites expressly contained in writing, Act. 6. 14. 4. It betokens that which is not committed to writing but only delivered by lively voice of the Apostles. 5. It signifieth that which is invented and delivered by men not immediately called. In Scripture Tradition is taken, 1. In good part, for any Rite or Doctrine of God delivered to his Church either by word or writing, whether it concern faith and good works, or the external Government of the Church, 2 Thess. 2. 15. 1 Cor. 11. 15. and 23. 2. In ill part, it noteth the vain idle and unwarrantable inventions of men, whether Doctrine or Rites, Mat. 15. 3. Mar. 7. 8, 9  
When the Fathers speak reverently of Traditions, by the word Tradition, either they understand the holy Scripture, which also is a Tradition, it is a Doctrine left unto us; 
o Traditiones istae non Scriptae Pharisaeorum nunquam in N. Test. dicuntur simpliciter & absolutè Traditiones, sed notantur semper aliquo clogio, ut quum dicuntur, Traditiones seniorum, Traditiones humanae; siquando Traditionis vox pon●tur simpliciter, sum●●ur in bonam partem, & ipsum Dei verbum Traditio est. Camer. in Mat. 15.  Or by Traditions, they understand observations touching Ecclesiastical policy. Du Moulin.  
Reason's confirming the sufficiency of Scripture against Popish Traditions.  

1. The whole Church is founded upon the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles; 
Ephes. 2. 20. Apoc. 21. 24.  which were not true if any Doctrine was necessary to Salvation not revealed by the Prophets and Apostles.  

2. The Prophets, and Christ and his Apostles condemn Traditions, Isa. 29. 13. Mat. 
Christ taxeth the ignorance of Scripture, commends the knowledge of it, was careful to fulfil the Scripture, did interpret it, and gave ability to understand it.  15. 3, 6. Col. 2. 8. Therefore they are not to be received; Christ opposeth the Commandment and Scriptures to Traditions, therefore he condemns Traditions not written.  
If the Jews might not add to the Books of Moses, 
* Deut. 4. 2. and 12. ult.  then much less may we add to the Canon of Scripture so much increased since.   

3. Those things which proceed from the will of God only, can be made known to us no other way but by the Revelation of the Scripture; all Articles of Faith and Precepts of Manners, concerning substance of Religion proceed from the will of God only, Mat. 16. 17. 1 Cor. 2. 9, 10, 11.  

p Locus est egregius, coque nostri omnes utuntur, qui contra Papisticas Traditiones aliquid scribunt, Whitakerus. Longè illustrissimus lacus est. Chamierus.  Gal. 1. 8. As in this place, the Apostle would have nothing received besides that which he preached, so 1 Cor. 4. 6. He will have nothing admitted above or more than that which is written. See Act. 26. 22.    
john 20. ult. Whence it is manifest, that all necessary things may be found in Scripture, since full and perfect Faith ariseth from thence, which eternal salvation followeth.  
Bellarmine saith, john speaks only of the miracles of Christ, that he wrote not all, because those sufficed to persuade the world that Christ was the Son of God. Those words indeed in ver. 30. are to be understood of Christ's miracles, but those in ver. 31. rather are to be generally interpreted; for the History only of the miracles sufficeth not to obtain Faith or Life.  
The Question betwixt the Papists and us is, De ipsa Doctrina tradita, 
q Nobis adversus Papistas non de quibusvis traditionibus controversia est, sed duntaxat de traditionibus dogmatum, quibus continentur fides & mores, hoc est, de ipsa Doctrina. Chamierus lib. 9 de Canone cap. 1.  non de tradendi modo, touching the substance of the Doctrine delivered, not of the manner of delivering it, and of Doctrine delivered as the Word of God, not of Rites and Ceremonies. They maintain that there be doctrinal Traditions, or Traditions containing Articles of Faith, and substantial matters of Divine Worship and Religion, not found in the holy Scriptures, viz. Purgatory, Invocation of Saints, Adoration of Images, Papal Monarchy.  
Bellarmine (and before him 
r Virro & ob ingenium laboremve, & ob Episcopatus dignitatem inter Papistas non postremi nominis. Chamierus. Vide Maldonat. ad Joan. 16. 12. & Estium ad Rom. 16. 17.  Peresius) distinguisheth Traditions both from the Authors and the Matter.  
From the Authors, into Divine, Apostolical and Ecclesiastical.  
From the Matter into those which are concerning Faith, and concerning Manners, into perpetual and temporal, universal and particular, necessary and free.  
Divine Traditions, that is, Doctrines of Faith, and of the Worship and service 
Received from Christ himself teaching the Apostles.  of God, any of which we deny to be but what are comprised in the written Word of God.  
Apostolic Traditions (say they) are such Ordinances as the Apostles prescribed for ceremony and usage in the Church, as the observation of the memorial of the Nativity, Death and Resurrection of Christ, the alteration of the seventh day from the Jews Sabbath, to the day of Christ's Resurrection.  
Ecclesiastical, ancient Customs which by degrees through the People's consent 
Illud erat explicandum, quo discrimine istae. Traditiones tam multiplices graduque habendae sunt. Nullum discrimen faciunt, forsan ergò volunt, Ecclesiasticas etiam Traditiones parem cum Divinis Scripturis Authoritatem habere. Script. cap. 3. Quaest 6.  obtained the force of a Law.  
Traditions concerning Faith, as the perpetual Virginity of Mary the Mother of Christ, and that there are only four Gospels; of Manners, as the sign of the Cross made in the Forehead, Fasts and Feast to be observed on certain days.  
Perpetual, which are to be kept to the end of the World.  
Temporal for a certain time, as the observation of certain legal Ceremonies, even to the full publishing of the Gospel.  
Universal Traditions, which are delivered to the whole Church to be kept, as the observation of Easter, Whit sontide and other great Feasts.  
Particular, which is delivered to one or more Churches, as in the time of Augustine fasting on the Sabbath-day, which was kept only at Rome.  
Necessary Traditions, which are delivered in the form of a Precept, that Easter 
Traditionum janua perniciosa est, hac semel aperta nihil est quod non inde erumpat in ecclesiam. Chamier.  is to be celebrated on the Lord's Day.  
Free, which are delivered in the form of a Council, as sprinkling of holy Water.   

Object. The Scripture is not perfect with a perfection of parts, because many parts are either defective or excessive.  
1. Some labour with a defect, as Genes. 11. 12. a person is omitted in the 
1 Chro. 1. 18.  Genealogy of Canaan, which was the Son of Arphaxad, but it is reckoned 
Luk. 3. 36.  in Luke in Christ's Genealogy, not in the Old Testament, therefore there is a defect.  
Answ. Luke reckons it according to the vulgar opinion of the Jews; junius in 
Eorum mihi videtur sententia samor, qui negant vel è Lxx, vel à Luca nomen Cainani suisse insertum, existimantes potius al●unde irrepsisse post Evangelium à Lucâ conscriptum, eujus suae conjecturae rationes habent non leves, ut videre est apud Cornelium à Lapide in cap. 11. Genes. Rivet. Isag. ad Scr. pt. Sac. cap. 10. Vide plura ibid.  his Parallels would have the fault to be in the Septuagint, whom Luke followed, not approving of their error, but yielding to the time, lest the Gospel otherwise should have been prejudiced; but Beza's opinion is rather to be approved of, that this word is inserted from the Ignorance of those who undertook to correct this Text, according to the Translation of the Seventy Interpreters. For in an Ancient Manuscript which Beza followed, this word Canaan was not to be found, therefore he omitted it in his Translation, and so hath our great English Bible.   

Object. There is something found in the Scripture against the Commandment of God, Deut. 4. 2. therefore there is excess as well as defect; for many Books which we believe to be Canonical, are added.  
Answ. He doth not forbid adding by God's Command, but from the will of man, for God himself added afterward.  
The Papists Arguments for Traditions answered.   

Object. Bellarmine saith, Religion was preserved for two thousand years from 
Lib. 4. de verbo Dei, cap. 4. Vix ullum videas de Traditionibus agentem, qui non hic magno fastu immoretur Chamie●us. Distinguenda sunt & tempora & personae; Non erant necessariae Scripturae ante legem, ergo ne quidem post legem, non erant necessariae Apostolis, ergo ne nobis quidem: negatur consequenti●. Ratio est, quia aliter Israelitas doceri voluit post legem Deus, aliter ante legem: Aliter Christus Evangelium voluit Apostolis revelari, aliter nobis praedicari. Chamierus.  Adam to Moses only by Tradition; therefore the Scripture is not simply necessary.  
Ans. By the like reason I might argue, That Religion was long preserved, not only without the Pope of Rome, but also without Baptism and the Lords Supper, with the like Institutions; therefore they are not simply necessary; yet none of ours hold the Scriptures simply necessary. 2. It is false, that Religion was preserved all that while by ordinary Tradition only; for the living voice of God sounded most perpetually in the Church, and the Doctrine of Religion was conveyed successively from the Father to the Son; which living voice of God by little and little ceasing, writing afterward succeeded, and hath the same necessity now which Gods living voice had before.   

Object. Whatsoever things are commended from Scripture are necessary, but so are Traditions, Ergò, They are necessary. john 16. 12. I have yet many things to say unto you; but ye cannot bear them now; therefore (say they) the Lord spoke many things which are not written.  

John 2. 22. Jansenius affirmat, haec multa non suisse diversa ab illis, quae hactenus docuerat, sed illustriorem illorum explicationem, & ●uc adducit illud appositè, quod habetur 1 Cor. 3. Christus testatur se discipulis suis omnia tradidisse, Joan. 15. 15. nihil ergo tac●. it.  Answ. 1. He saith not, that he had many things to tell them, which he had not taught them before, but which they were not now so well capable of: For it appeareth that he taught them that which they understood not, and therefore they needed to be further taught of them by the holy Ghost, which should not teach them any new thing that Christ had not taught, but only make them understand that which they had been taught of our Saviour Christ.  
2. If the holy Ghost did teach them any thing which our Saviour Christ had not before spoke unto them of, yet that makes nothing for Traditions; seeing that which the holy Spirit taught them, he taught them out of the Scriptures.  
3. If the holy Ghost should have taught the Apostles some things which neither Christ had told them of, nor the Scriptures had taught them, yet this is rather against the Papists. For that which the holy Ghost taught them, they undoubtedly left in record unto the Church, as being faithful stewards, and revealing the whole counsel of God unto the people.  
4. It hath been the practice of Heretics (as Augustine affirmeth) at all times to cover their dreams and fantasies, with this sentence of our Saviour Christ.  
Lastly, If it be asked, What were those grave and great mysteries, which the Apostles could not for their rudeness bear; they are forsooth oil and spittle in Baptism; Candles light at noon days (which was not in the darker time of the Law) baptising of Bells, and such like gue-gaws, as the grossest and carnallest men are fittest to receive.  
Object. 2 Thess 2. 15. Therefore Brethron, stand fast, and hold the Traditions which 
Hic locus omnium celeberrimus est; Papistisque nostris inter primos in deliciis. Chamierus.  ye have been taught, whether by word, or our Epistle. From these words (say our Adversaries) it appears that all things were not written, Et nullum Papistae in Scriptures locum probabiliorem inveniunt, saith Whitaker.  
The Heretics (say the Rhemists on this place) purposely, guilefully, and of ill conscience refrain in their Translations, from the Ecclesiastical and most usual word Tradition, evermore when it is taken in good part, though it express most exactly the signification of the Greek word; but when it soundeth in their fond fantasy against the Traditions of the Church (as indeed in true sense it never doth) there they use it most gladly. Here therefore and in the like places, that the Reader may not so easily like of Traditions unwritten, commended by the Apostle, they translate Instructions, Constitutions, Ordinances, and what they can invent else, to hide the Truth from the simple or unwary Reader, whose Translations have none other end, but to beguile such by Art and Conveyance.  
Thus far the Rhemists.  
Paul taught the Thessalonians some things by word of mouth, which he taught 
Vide Grotium in loc.  them not in his two Epistles which he wrote unto them; therefore he taught some Doctrines which he wrote not, as if that Paul wrote no more Epistles than these two; whereby that which he taught not them in writing unto them, he taught them by writing unto others.  
Secondly, How followeth this Argument? Paul wrote not all the Doctrines of 
2 Tim. 3. 15, 16 Luk. 16. 29, 31  God unto the Thessalonians, therefore they are not all written in the Prophetical and Evangelical writings: whereas it is plainly testified, that the Old Testament containeth a perfect Rule of the Doctrine of salvation; the New being written for a Declaration of the fulfilling and further clearing of that in the Old Testament.  
Thirdly, It appeareth manifestly in the Acts, what was the sum of that which 
Act. 17. 3. What the tradition was he preached is expressed, 2 Thess. 3. 6.  Paul taught the Thessalonians by word of mouth. For there it is witnessed, that Paul taught out of the Scriptures, that it behoved Christ to suffer and rise again from the dead, and that Jesus was Christ; this teaching then by word is there limited to the Scriptures of the Law and Prophets. Neither ought it to seem strange, that this was the sum of all which the Apostle taught at Thessalonica, where he he tarried so small a while, when amongst the Corinthians (where he remained longest 
1 Cor. 2. 2.  of any place, and consequently taught most) he showeth that he taught nothing but Christ and him crucified.  
Fourthly, The Apostle himself, in this very place, calling (vers. 14.) whatsoever he taught by word, or wrote by the name of the Gospel, doth declare evidently, that he taught nothing but that which is contained in Scripture, seeing the Apostle defineth the Gospel which he preached, to be that which is contained in the Scriptures.  
Fifthly, That the Thessalonians had some part of Christian Doctrine, delivered 
D. Fulk against Martin in his Preface.  by word of mouth; that is, by the Apostles preaching at such time as he did write unto them, and some part by his Epistles, the Text enforceth us to grant. But that the Church at this day, or ever since the Testament was written, had any Tradition by word of mouth necessary to salvation, which was not contained in the Old and New Testament, we will never grant. The Papists 
s Papistae maximi, qui unquam fuerint Traditionarii. Chamier.  do commonly abuse the name of Tradition, which signifieth properly a delivery, or a thing delivered; for such a matter as is delivered only by word of mouth, and so received from hand to hand, that is, never put in writing, but hath his credit without the holy Scripture of God, as the Jews had their Cabala, and the Scribes and the Pharisees their Traditions besides the Law of God. For the justifying of our Translation, it is true, that we alter according to the circumstances of the place, especially considering that the word Tradition, which of itself is indifferent, as well to that which is written, as to that which is not written, hath been of us and them, appropriated to note forth only unwritten Constitutions, therefore we must needs avoid in such places as this, the word Traditions, (though our last Translation useth it) where the simple might be deceived, to think that the Holy Ghost did ever commend any such to the Church, which he would not have committed to writing in the holy Scriptures, and in stead of the word so commonly taken (although it do not necessarily signify any such matter) we do use such words as do truly express the Apostles meaning, and the Greek word doth also signify; therefore we use these words Ordinances, or Instructions, Institutions, or the Doctrine 
Syrus interpres habet praecepta sive mandata.  delivered, all which being of one or near sense, the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signify, and the same doth Tradition signify, if it be rightly understood.   

Object. 1 Timothy 6. 20. O Timothy, Keep that which is committed to thy trust. By the name of pledge (saith Bellarmine) not the Scripture, but the treasure of unwritten Doctrine is understood. Depositum (say the Rhemists) is the whole Doctrine of Christianity, being taught by the Apostles, and delivered their Successors.  
Answ. Though other learned men interpret this pledge or gage to be the gift 
Cartw. Annota. on the Rhem. Test.  of the Holy Ghost, yet we willingly acknowledge, that it is to be understood of the Doctrine of Christianity, as that which hath best ground both by circumstance of this, and conference of other places. Whence we infer, That the Doctrine of truth is not the Church's Decrees, but the Lords; given to the Church to keep only, wherewith the Title of a pledge cannot stand, unless one may lay to pledge a thing in his own hands, since in Popery the Church herself maketh the Doctrine which herself taketh to pledge: Herein they handle it like a pledge, that they lock it up fast, where the people of God, for whose use it is given to be kept, cannot come unto it.  
What had become of the Law of God, if others had not been more faithful keepers of it then the Priests, to whom the principal Copy thereof written with 
Hic Achilles est Papistarum magno fastu ostentatus ab omnibus & singulis qui versantur in hac controversia. Chamier. de Canone, l. 9 c. 8.  the finger of God himself was committed?  
There are some points of faith not contained in the Scripture, neither in the Old nor New Testament; therefore it is not perfect. In the Old Testament, no doubt but the females had some remedy, whereby they might be purged from original sin as well as the males; circumcision was instituted only for the males, the Scripture mentions not what was instituted for the females.  
In the New Testament, the perpetual virginity of Mary the mother of Christ.  
Two things are considered in circumcision, 
t Cicumcifio faeminarum continetur sub illa masculorum. Signum in solis masculis crat, pro utrisque tamen saci●bat, si finem & usum ejus spectes. Mariae perpetua virginitas non est fidei articulus, ideò libenter amplectimur eam sententiam quae jam ab initio ●mer Christia●os videtur invaluisse, ut virgo fuerit, hoc est, pura à coitu viri non tantùm in toto Christi generationis mysterio, quod sanè ut credamus necesse est, sed etiam toto deinceps vitae tempore. Chamierus de canone l. 9 c. 9  1. Signum. 2. Res signata, or the end and use of the sign.  
Answ. The thing signified or efficacy of the outward sign of circumcision, was common both to Males and Females; the very institution of circumcision teacheth that; for it was a sign of the Covenant, the Covenant belonged to all which were of the seed of Abraham, if they renounced it not.  
Although there were no decision of the other point out of the Scripture, yet would it not thence follow which the Jesuits pretend, that some necessary point of Christianity wanted the ground of holy Scripture, it being sufficient for us to know, that she was a Virgin when our Saviour Christ was born of her, as the Prophets did foretell. Yet (as Chamier said well) we believe that she continued a Virgin all her life time, for in those things (said he) which are not properly the side, we hold the authority of the Church is great, if it contradict not Scripture, or produce no other absurdity. Vide Riveti Apolog●am pro Virgin Maria, l. 1. c. 15.  
Helvidius would gather from those words, Matth. 1. 25. until, and firstborn, that Mary after 
u Quam pertinaci●èr ludebat Helvidius in primogenito Mariae & fratribus Christi: ut negaret perpetuam virginitatem. Chamierus.  had Children by her Husband: The word till doth not import so much. See Gen. 8. 7. and 28. 15, 1 Sam. 15. 35 Sam. 6. 23. Matth. 28. 20. He is called the firstborn in Scripture, which first opens the womb, whether others follow or no.  
7. The Scripture is plain and Perspicuous.  
The Perspicuity of the Scripture is a clear and evident manifestation of the truth delivered in it.  
It is Perspicuous 
Augustinus dicit, nihil ad fidem necessarium obscurè in Scriptures doceri, quin idem apertioribus locis aliis explicetur. Non est traditum Evangelium obscurum & difficile ad intelligendum, tanquam paucissimis profuturum, sed facile, dilucidum, apertum, exp●situm omnibus, ut nemo esset quin petere illinc posset, & tanquam de fonte haurire, quae salnti suae expedirent. Lod. Viu. de ver. Fid. Christ. l 2. c. 9 vide plura ibid.  both in respect of itself and us.  

1. In respect of itself, as appears: 

1. In the things delivered, which although they seem obscure for their majesty and dignity, yet they carry the light of truth before them, 
y Verbum Dei collatam cum live, analogia multiplex, Lucis est dispelier● tenebras, omnia manifestare, ●l●is lac●re non sibi; l●renihil purius, illustrius, gra●ius, utilius, faecundius, celest is ejus cr●go, odio habetur sape à malis, est bonum Commune plurium, penetrate sordes sine inquinamento. Sphanhemius Dub. Evangel parte tertia Dub. 94. Scriptura seclaram prositetur tum formaliter tum effectiuè, ●umi●osam & illuminantem. Id. ibid., Isa. 59 21. Jer. 32. 40. and 31. 31.  therefore the Scripture is frequently termed a light, Psal. 19 8. and 119. 105. Deni. 30. 11. Prov. 6. 2. 2 Pet. 1. 19 2 Cor. 4. 3, 4, 6. the Scripture is a most bright light: The nature of a light is first to discover itself, than all things else. There are two things in Gods revealed will, verbum rei, the word, and res verbi, the mystery. The Scriptures are hard, if we look to the mystery, but not if we look to the word; as for example, the Scripture teacheth that there is one God in three persons, the words are plain and easy: every man understands them, but the mystery contained in those words pasteth the reach of man; we may well discern these things to be so, though we cannot fully conceive how these should be so.  
2. In the manner of delivering, or kind of stile, which is fitted to the things and persons; showing the greatest simplicity both in words, either proper or figurative; and in the clear sense and most perspicuous propriety of signification; viz. That one which is called Literal and Grammatical.    
2. In respect of us, because the Scripture is to us the principal means and instrument of faith; every Principle ought to be by itself, and in its own nature known and most intelligible; and there being three degrees of faith, knowledge, assent, and full assurance, these cannot consist without the perspicuity of the Scripture; the divine promises also of writing the Law in our heart, and concerning the spreading abroad, and clear light of the Gospel, should be to no purpose, if the Scriptures should not be plain in things necessary to Salvation.   
All difficulty 
z Difficultas dut à rerum ipsarum natura est qu● percipiuntur, aut ab ipfis percipientibus, aut ab its quae intercurrant mediis, Res quae percipiantur natura sua intellectu diffic●les sunt, aut per obscu● it atem, ut res futurae, aut per majestatem ipsarum, ut mysterium S. Trinitatis. Sic quid Sole clarius? quid difficilius aspectu? nam hebescit ac●es oculorum nostrorum vi radiorum illius. A percipientibus difficultatem esse quis sanus neget? nam res quae sunt Spiritus homo naturalis non potest capere A mediis quae Deus ipse ecclesiae obtulit, id est, à Scriptura, negamus difficultatem esse Junius.  in understanding the Scripture ariseth not from the obscurity of it, but from the weakness of our understanding, corrupted by natural ignorance, or blinded by divine punishment and curse; therefore it no more follows from thence, that the Scripture cannot be an infallible and only rule of faith and life, (because some obscure things are found in it, not understood of all) then that the Books of Euclid are not perfect elements of Geometry, because there are some abstruse Theorems in them, which every vulgar Geometrician cannot demonstrate; or that Aristotle's Organon is not a perfect Systeme of Logic, because a fresh Sophister understands not all its subtleties. More distinctly we say, that the Scriptures are plain, and obscure in a threefold respect.  

1. They are plain and easy to be understood by all men in Fundamentals, and the special points necessary to salvation, as the Decalogue, the Apostles Creed, the Lords Prayer, and the like, unless by those whose minds the God of this world hath blinded; if they be obscure in some less principal and circumstantial matters, there is need of interpretation, that the meaning may be more clearly unfolded.  
2. A difference of persons is to be considered, either more generally, or more specially. 

1. More generally, as they are elect and regenerate, or reprobate and unregenerate; 
The fundamentals in Scripture are plain to the Elect, who are all taught of God so much as is necessary for their salvation, john 6. 45. the least as well as the greatest.  to those the Scripture is plain and perspicuous, to whom alone it is destinated, and whose minds the Holy Ghost will enlighten by the Scripture, john 7. 17. Rom. 12. 2. 1 Cor. 12. 15. Psal. 19 7. Matth. 11. 5. and 25. 25. Psal. 9 10, 12, 13, 14. Yet the flesh and unregenerate part in them puts in impediments, but that ignorance is removed at last, Luke 8. 10. The reprobates continue involved in perpetual darkness and blinded with ignorance, hypocrisy, covetousness, pride and contempt of divine learning, even seeing they see not, Psal. 36. 3. Isa. 29. 9 jer. 5. 21. Isa. 6. 9 2 Cor. 3. 14. there is a vail over their hearts, 2 Cor. 4. 3, 4. which is the cause why in so many ages under the Papacy, the Scriptures were not understood, because they preferred a lie before the love of the truth. 2 Thess. 10▪ whose ignorance is a deserved punishment of that contempt, which they showed to the Scriptures and their authority.  
2. More specially, the persons are distinguished according to the diversity. 
I believe, that toward the evening of the world, there shall be more light, and knowledge shall be increased, Dan. 12. 4 and many things in scripture better understood, when the Jews shall be brought home, and the spirit of grace and illumination more abundantly poured forth, Mr. Gillesp. miscel. c. 10. See Rev. 22. 10.      

1. Of Conditions of life and vocations, for so many places of Scripture are hard to this sort of men, which are more easy to another, neither is it required that all things be understood of all men; the knowledge of more places is necessary in a Minister, than a Tradesman and Husbandman; yet it is an infallible rule to every one in his vocation.  
2. Of capacities and wits, for every one hath his measure of Gifts; so among Ministers, some understand the Word more obscurely, some more plainly, yet it is to all a perfect Rule according to the measure of Gifts.  
3. Of Times, all things are not equally obscure or perspicuous to all Ages, many things are better understood now then in times past; as the Prophecies and Predictions of Christ, and the times of the Gospel: so in the Mysteries of the Revelation the exposition rather of modern Interpreters than Fathers is to be received; because in our times, not theirs, there is an accomplishment of those Prophecies, and many things were more clearly known by them in those days, the Ceremonies and Types of Moses his Law were better perceived by the Jews than us.   
God the Author of the Scripture, could speak perspicuously; for he is wisdom 
In the first times of the Church, there were no commentaries upon the Scriptures, the fathers had them without, and yet then the Scriptures were understood. Origen (who lived 200 years after Christ) was the first that wrote any Commentary upon Scripture. The pure Text of Scripture was ever read to the people, and never any Commentaries, and yet was understood by them Apoc. 1. 3.  itself; and he would speak so, because he caused the Scripture to be written to instruct us to our eternal salvation, Rom. 15. 4. and he commands us to seek in the Scripture eternal life.  
We do not account the prophecy of Isaiah touching Christ, which the Eunuch read, to be a dark and obscure prediction; but we know it was clear and plain enough, though the Eunuch, a raw Proselyte, understood not the meaning of it.  
The Fathers proved their opinions out of the Scriptures, therefore the Scriptures are more clear than the writings and Commentaries of the Fathers.  
To every one which readeth (with humility and invocation of God) the Book of the Apocalypse, the obscurest 
* Solet obscuritas lectores absterrer●: quo modo ajunt olim quendam dixisse Authorem obscurum à se removentem, Tu non vis intelligi, neque ego te intellige●e.  and hardest Book to understand of all other, blessedness is promised, when it cannot befall to any that understandeth nothing, it is manifest that the promise of blessedness includeth a warrant of understanding of it, so much as is necessary to salvation.  
We affirm, that many places 
a Especially in Genesis, job, Canticles, Ezek. Daniel, and the Revelation. In regard of the manner of writing, there are many abstruse phrases in scriptures, as divers Hebraisms, which perhaps were familiar to the Jews, but are obscure to us. All the skill of all the men in the world (from the beginning to the end thereof) will not be able to find out all truths contained in scripture, either directly, or by consequence; the full opening of the Book of Scripture, and of providence, will be a great part of the Saints work and happiness in Heaven. Dr Drake in his Preface to his Chronol. Mr Bolton hath almost the same in his four last things. There are many things very difficult and hard to be understood in the Prophecy of Ezekiel, and especially in those Chapters, which are written of the Temple; as Hierome observeth on Chap. 45. and the Jews themselves confess, that there are many things here expressed, which they conceive not; but say, That Eliah when he comes shall expound them; as R. Kimki notes on Ezek. 40 13. and 42. 5. and 45. 18. Aben Ezra thus writes, Urim & Thummim quid suerunt, ignoramus.  in the Scripture are very obscure, and that either from the obscurity of the things, as in the Prophecies of future things, the event must interpret them, as daniel's Prophecies of the four Monarchies were in times passed very dark, but easier since, when all things were fulfilled; so the coming of Antichrist in the New Testament, drew the Fathers into divers opinions; so even yet there are many things obscure in the Revelation 
b The 20 Chapter especially Camierus de Canone l. 15. c. 4. Plato, Aristotle, Euclind, have their nodos, and the Scriptures have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 2 Pet. 3. 16. in them are dark sayings, Psal. 78. 2. Riddles, Ezek. 17. 2. Parables, Mat. 13. 35. Mysteries, Mat. 4. 13. Mr. Greenhil. That is a very difficult place, 1 Cor. 3. 15. See Laurentius, Augustin saith, This is one of the places of which Peter speaketh, 2 Pet. 3. 16. and that Heb 6. 4. 1 Pet. 3. 19 the last, Luther and Beza say, is one of the obscurest places in the New Testament. Vide Tarnovium in exercitat. Bib. & Cameronis Myroth. Evan.  which are not accomplished. So those things which are spoken of the Messiah in the Old Testament are either not understood, or not fully without the New Testament. Sometimes the ambiguity of words breeds a difficulty, as I and the Father are one, the Arians understood it of a union of will, as when Christ prayed, john 17. that the Disciples might be one. Hitherto may be referred those places which are to be understood allegorically, as the Canticles, the first Chapter of Ezekiel, 3. Some places are obscure from the ignorance of ancient Rites and Customs, as that place, 1 Cor. 15. 29. 
* See Laurentius, and D. Featly on the place, in the last large Annotations on the Bible. Non desunt primarii apud Judaeos Scriptures, qui dicant insaniae ●initimum esse sperare cognitionem certam in animalibus immundis, in qua tamen observationem ordicus haeret Judaeorum superstitio, Bibliander de optimo genere Grammaticorum Hebraeorum.  of Baptising for the dead is diversely explained by Interpreters, both old and new. There are six Interpretations of it in Bellarmine l. 1. de purgatorio c. 8. Viginti praeter hujus loci expositiones deprehendo, saith one in a Theological disputation, De baptismo veterum. Ambrose saith, Paul had a respect to that custom of some, who baptised the living for the dead. Piscator and Bucane say, The custom of the ancient Church is noted here, who baptised Christians at the Graves, that so it might be a symbol of their belief and confession of the Resurrection of the Dead: Tarnovius proves that that rite was not in use in the Apostles time; Calvin interprets it of those who were baptised, when they were ready to die; but Beza thinks by Baptising is understood the Rite of Washing the bodies before the Burial, that ablution used upon the dead, as if the Apostle should thence confirm the Resurrection of the dead, q. d. that that is a cold, vain and foolish Ceremony, if the dead should not rise again. And truly it is certain, 
Locus sanè obscurus siquis alius & explicatu difficilis, qui multos torquet & vicissim ab illis torquetur.  that those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being considered in themselves, may as well be rendered Super mortuos, as pro mortuis. Andrea's Hy●●rius showeth in a particular Tract what various opinions there are about this place. Voetius hath written a Tract D● insolubilibus Scripturae. Estius and Dr Hall on the hard places of Scripture. Divers reasons may be rendered, why God would have many things in the Scripture obscure and difficult.  

1. To make us diligent both in Prayer to him, to open to us the meaning of the 
Augustinus de Doctrina Christ. lib. 2. cap. 6. Ita Scripturas dicit à Deo temperatas, ut locis apertioribus sami occurreretur, obscurioribus fastidia detergerentur. Idem Augustinus ait, Nos apertis Scripturae locis pasci, obscuris exerceri.  Scriptures, and likewise in Reading, Meditating, searching and comparing the Scriptures.  
2. To remove disdain from us; we quickly slight those things that are easy.  
3. That we might more prise heavenly Truths gotten with much labour.  
4. To tame our arrogance and reprove our ignorance, joh. 16. 12.  
5. God would not have the holy Mysteries of his Word prostituted to Dogs and Swine; therefore many a simple godly man understands more here then the great Rabbis.  
6. That order might be kept in the Church, some to be Hearers, some Teachers and Expounders, by whose diligent search and travel, the harder places may be opened to the people.   
Here the Lamb may wade, and the Elephant may swim, saith Gregory. The Scriptures have both Milk for Babes, and strong Meat for Men, saith Augustine.  
It is a note of a learned Interpreter, That the benefit of knowing the Prophecies concerning 
Apoc. 5. 1. 4, 65 Mr Burroughs on Isa. 66. 10.  the Church, Christ before he was slain had it not so as he had after his death; it was the purchase of the blood of Christ to have those things opened.  
We do not therefore hold, that the Scripture is every where so plain and evident, that it needs no interpretation, as our Adversaries do slander us, and here 
Bellarm. l. 3. de verbo Dei, c. 1.  they fight with their own shadow. We confess, that the Lord in the Scriptures hath tempered hard and easy things together. But this we affirm against the Papists:  
First, That all points of Faith necessary to Salvation, and weighty matters pertaining to Religion are plainly set forth in the Scriptures.  
Secondly, That the Scriptures may with great profit and to good edification be read of the simple and unlearned, notwithstanding the hardness of some places, which in time also using the means they may come to the understanding of.  
Therefore I might save that labour in answering the Arguments of our Adversaries, since they are of no force against us, nor indeed touch our cause, proving only that some places in the Scripture are difficult which we deny not; But I shall first take off their Answers, whereby they would evade the strength of our Reasons for the perspicuity of the Scripture, and then refute their own Objections.  
First, When we urge divers places to prove the Scripture to be a Light, 
Psal. 19 9 and 119. 115. 2 Pet. 1. 19  the use of which is to dispel darkness, which it would not if itself were obscure.  
Bellarmine answereth, That those places are not to be understood of all the Scripture, but only of the Commandments: and that these also are called a Light, not because they are easily understood (although that be true) but because being understood and known, they direct a man in working. 2. If it be understood of all the Scriptures, they are called Light, not because they are easily understood, but 
〈…〉  because they illustrate the mind when they are understood. But the Apostle Peter speaks not only of the Precepts of the Decalogue, but of all the Scripture of the Old Testament: which, if it be Light, much more shall the Scripture of the New Testament, and therefore the whole body of Scriptures which the Christians now have▪ shall be Light.  
Secondly, That place, Psal. 119. 130. doth not speak of the Precepts alone▪ [Of thy words] by which is signified the whole 
c Genebrardus testatur aliquos de tota Scriptura locum interpretari, nec loquitur de nostris, sed aut suis, aut autiquis, Hieronymus quidem à parte est ejus opinionis, & Lyranus, & alii multi. Whitak.  Scripture; in Psal. 19 David speaketh of the word of God in general, which he adorneth with many Titles, The Law or Doctrine of the Lord, The Testimony of the Lord, The Statutes of the Lord, The Precepts of the Lord, The Fear of the Lord; It is so called Metonymically, because it teacheth us the Fear and Reverence of the Lord, he saith, this Doctrine is perfect, converts the soul, and makes wise the simple, therefore he understands the whole Scripture, the teacher of true and perfect wisdom. 2. It is called a light, because it hath light in itself, and because it illightneth others, unless they be quite blind or willingly turn away their eyes from this light.  
Thirdly, If the Commandments be easy, the rest of the Scriptures is likewise, as the Prophets and historical Books, being but Commentaries and Expositions of the Decalogue.  
That evasion of the Papists will not serve their turns, That the Scripture is a Light in itself, but not Quoad nos (as if the Scripture were a light under a Bushel) for that the Scripture is Light effectiuè, as well as formaliter, appears by the addition, Giving understanding to the simple. It was a smart answer, which 
Mr Durant.  a witty and learned Minister of the Reformed Church of Paris gave to a Lady of 
Dr Halls Peacemaker, sect. 15.  suspected Chastity, and now revolted; when she pretended the hardness of the Scripture; why, said he, Madam, what can be more plain, than Thou shalt not commit Adultery?  
The Scriptures and Reasons answered, which the Papists bring for the obscurity of the Scripture.   

Object. 2 Pet▪ 3. 16. Peter saith there, That in the Epistles of Paul there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned aend unstable wrist, as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction.  
Answ. First, Peter restraineth the difficulty of Paul's writings to that point himself 
He saith not in which Epistles, but in which points and heads of Doctrine, i. those things which are obscurely set down in Saint Paul's Epistles, may be, and are elsewhere in holy Scripture more perspicuously delivered.  then wrote of, touching the end of the world; therefore it is unreasonable that for one hard point in the Epistles the people should be debarred the reading of all the rest.  
Secondly, Even in that point he affirmeth, That some things only are hard, and not all.  
Thirdly, The understanding of the Scriptures dependeth not principally on the sharpness of men's wits for their learning, but on the Spirit of God which is given to the simple that humbly seek it by Prayer; therefore though the whole Scripture were hard to be understood, yet that is no good cause to bereave the people of God from reading of his Word.  
Fourthly, Peter assigning the true cause of error and abuse of the Scripture, to be the unstability and unleardnesse of such as deal with them, cannot thereby be understood to speak that of the body of the Church, and of the people.  
Laurentius in his Book entitled, S. Apostolus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, hoc est, explicatio locorum difficilium in Epistolis Paulinis, reckons up forty hard places in Paul's Epistles.  
Rom. 1. 19, 20, 28. and 2. 12, 13, 14, 15. and 4, 5. and 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20. and 7. 9, 14, and 8. 3, 4, 19, 20, 21, 22. and 9 3, 11, 12, 13, 18. and 11. 25, 26. 1 Cor. 2. 15. 1 Cor. 3. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. 1 Cor. 4. 9 and 5. 11. and 6. 2, 3. 1 Cor. 7. 1, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. 1 Cor. 11. 7, 10. and 15. 29, 51. 2 Cor. 2. 15, 16. and 3. 6, 15, 16. Galat. 1. 8. and 2. 14. and 3. 10. 1 Thess. 4. 15, 16, 17. 1 Tim. 1. 9 Heb. 6. 4, 5, 6. and 10. 26.  
They say the Scriptures are difficult also in the manner of writing as well as in the 
Act. ●. 31.  matter, for which they allege Psal. 119. 18. the Eunuch, and Luk. 24. 45. also the divers expositions of old and new Writers.  
The first place is directly against them: for teaching that it is the gift of God's holy Spirit obtained by Prayer to understand the Scripture, the Spirit through Prayer, being as well obtained by the simple as learned sort, yea, rather by them then the others, it followeth that the reading of them belongeth to the simple as well as unto the learned.  
The like answer serveth for the place of Luk. 24 45. for by that abuse of the place, they may wring the reading of the Scriptures from all men, even Ministers of the Word commanded to attend the reading of them, since they of whom they say, that they understood not the Scriptures, were Ministers of the Word, and that in the highest and most excellent degree of Ministry in the world, which was the Apostleship. The cause of want of understanding than was this, the Spirit of God was not given because Christ was not glorified, which can have now no place. Besides that, in saying they understood not the Scriptures concerning the suffering and glory of Christ, it must needs be understood comparatively, that they did not clearly, particularly, and sufficiently know them. For that place Act 8. it is to be understood comparatively, viz. That a man faithful and already gained to the truth, as this Eunuch was, cannot understand the Scriptures by the bare reading of them, so well and throughly, as when he hath one to expound them. The Lord which helped the endeavour of the Eunuch searching the Scriptures by sending of Philip▪ will n●ver suffer those which seek him in careful reading of his Word, to go away ashamed without finding that which they seek for, in directing unto him some lawful and sufficient Ministry to instruct him by. The Mystery of the Gospel then (indeed) fulfilled, remained notwithstanding unpublished to the world by the Apostles, which is now by their preaching and writings laid open and made more manifest. The Eunuch which professed that he could not understand the Scripture without an Interpreter, did notwithstanding busy himself in reading of it.  
The multitude of Commentaries 
* There was a time when the Scriptures were read without Commentaries, and there was a time when they were hardly understood with Commentaries. D. Ames.  was not so necessary (because the Scripture might have been understood without them) although they deserve singular respect amongst all those that are desirous to understand the Scripture, who write learned and elaborate Expositions on the Scripture.  
That was a witty speech of Maldonates on Luk. 2. 34. Nescio an facilior hi● locus fu●sset, si nemo eum exposuisset; sed fecit multitudo & varietas interpretationis, ut difficilis videretur.  
Secondly, These Commentaries are published, that the Scriptures may better and more easily be understood.  
Thirdly, The Papists confess that the Articles of the Apostles Creed being necessary for all, are easy; Yet there are many Commentaries of the Ancients upon the Creed, as Russinus, Augustine, Cyril, chrysostom, Chrysologus; and of Papists also.  
Some Scriptures are hard for the matter which they handle, as are the Books of 
Cartwrights Letter to Master Hildersham for the study of Divinity.  Daniel, Ezekiel, Zachary; or throng of much matter in few words, as are in the Old Testament the Poetical Books, wherein no doubt the verse hath caused some cloud, and amongst them the Proverbs from the tenth Chapter, and the Prophecy of Hosea.    

CHAP. IX. Of the Interpretation of Scripture.  
THis 
a The interpretation of the Scripture is necessary in the Church of God. 1. Because it i● commanded by Christ, john 5. 39 2 Cor. 4. 1, 39 2. It is commended to the faithful by the holy Ghost, 1 Thess. 5. 19, 20. 3. It conduceth much to the edification of the Church, 1 Cor. 14. 3. 4. It was used by Christ and his Apostles, Luk. 4. 16. and 24. 26. Mark 4. 34.  Question divides itself into three parts.  
First, Concerning the d●vers senses of the Scripture.  
Secondly, To whom the chief Authority to expound Scripture is committed.  
Thirdly, What means must be used in the Interpretation of Scripture.  


1. Of the divers senses of Scripture.  
The Interpretation of Scripture is twofold,  
One of the words, which is called Version or Translation, this hath been handled already.   
2. Of things, which is called Explication, the finding out of the meaning of any place, which is more Theological, the other being rather Grammatical. And this signification of the thing they commonly call the sense, Neh. 8. 9 Interpreting Scripture is, 1. Ancient, N●h. 8. 8. 2. Honourable, Mar. 4. 34.   
The Scripture hath often two senses, one of which the later Divines call Literal, Grammatical or Historical, another Mystical or Spiritual.  
The sense of the Scripture is that which God the Author of the Scripture in 
b Glassiu● Phil. Sac. lib. 2. part. 1. Tract. 1.  and by the Scriptures gives to men to know and understand. Ratio divina in medulla non in superficie. Tertul▪ the resurrectione carnis. Nec putemus in verbis Scripturarum esse Evangelium, sed in sensu, non in superficie sed in medulla, non in sermonum foliis, sed in radice rationis. Hieron. in Epist. ad Gal. 1. 11.  
The right expounding of Scripture consists in two things. 1. In giving the right sense. 2. In a right application of the same, 1 Cor. 14. 3.  
The Literal sense is that 
c Literalis sensus est is, quem Spiritùs Sanctus author Scriptura intendit. Chamier. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. Est ille literalis sensus qui proximè per ipsa verba sive propria, sive figurata sunt, significatur▪ vel ut Glassius, quem intendit proximè Spiritus Sanctus. Amama.  which the letter itself, or the words taken in their genuine signification carry. And because the genuine signification of the words is that, in which the Author useth them, whether speaking properly or figuratively, therefore the literal sense is subdivided into plain and simple, and figurative, which ariseth from the words translated from their natural signification into another, as where Christ saith, joh. 10. 16. I have other sheep which are not of this fold; whereby he understandeth other people besides the Jews.  
The mystical or spiritual 
d Sensus secundarius, diversus à literali, similis tamen. Chamier. Not the Letter but the right sense and meaning of the Scripture is God's word, joh. 19 Litera gesta docet Quid credas▪ Allegoria Moralis quid agas, Quotendas Anagogia▪  sense is that in which the thing expressed in the literal sense signifieth another thing in a Mystery, for the shadowing out of which it was used by God. The waters of the Flood, with which the Ark was upheld, signified Baptism, by which the Church is saved under the New Covenant, as the Apostle teacheth, 1 Pet. 3. 21. that History Exod. 12. It is a Passeover unto the Lord, is spoken figuratively, the other words properly. The mystical sense is, the bones of Christ were no more broken then of the Paschal Lamb, which did signify Christ.  
The Papists say, The literal sense is that which is gathered immediately out of the words, the spiritual which hath another reference then to that which the words do properly signify. The last they subdivide into Allegorical, Tropological, Anagogical, they say that the Scripture beside the literal sense, may have these also.  
The Allegorical sense is, when the words of the Scripture besides the plain historical, and literal meaning, signify something in the New Testament, which belongs to Christ or the Church, as Gal. 4. besides the truth of the Story of the bond and freewoman, S. Paul applieth it unto the two Testaments.  
Tropological when the words and deeds are referred to signify something which belongs to manners; as Paul 1 Cor. 9 teacheth from that place, Deut. 25. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the corn; that things necessary are to be allowed to Pastors.  
Anagogical, when words or deeds are referred to signify eternal life, as Psal 94. I swore unto them they should not enter into my rest, this is literally understood of the rest in Canaan, but applied by Paul, Heb. 4. to life eternal.  
Becanus 
e In Manuali Controvers. cap. 1. de Script. Quaest 3.  saith, As there are three Theological Virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity, so there are three mystical senses. The Allegorical Answers to Faith, the Analogical to Hope, the Moral to Charity. Jerome (saith he) excelled in the Literal sense, Ambrose in the Allegorical, Augustine in the Anagogical, Gregory in the Moral.  
The Papists err three ways in this subject.  

1. In that description which they make of the literal sense.  
2. In that they hold there are divers literal senses of one place.  
3. In their division of the mystical sense into Allegorical, Tropological, Anagogical.   
1. That is false which Bellarmine saith, Literalis sensus est quem verba immediatè prae se ferunt. What then shall the literal sense of those words be, Ps. 91. 13. Let them show the Lion which Christ did tread on, and what shall be the literal sense of those places, Isa. 11. 6, 7, 8. & 65. ult. And what literal sense shall those words of Christ have, Mat. 5. 29. Origen 
f Origenes sic Paradisum terrestrem allegorizat, ut historiae auserat veritatem, dum pro arboribus Angelos, pro fluminibus virtutes Caelestes intelligit, & tunicas pelliceas Adae & Evae, corpora humana interpretatur. Bellarm. ex Hieronymo Concedit Bellarminus ex solo literali sensu peti posse argumenta efficacia. To prove any matter of faith or manners, no sense must be taken, but the literal sense. Aquinas.  (though otherwise he allegorized much) interpreted that place according to the letter, but foolishly. That therefore is rather the literal sense which ariseth from the words, whether properly or figuratively taken; as for example, this is the literal sense of those words, The seed of the woman shall break the Serpent's head, viz. Christ shall overcome Satan and subdue all his force and power, although the Devil neither be a Serpent nor hath a head.  
Secondly, We hold that there is but one true proper and genuine sense of Scripture, viz. The Literal or Grammatical, whether it arise from the words properly taken, or figuratively understood, or both. For that there should be divers Literal senses of one and the same place, is against the truth, the Text, 
g Chamier. Tom. 1. de Scripturae sensu. lib. 15. cap. 3.  and reason.  

1. The truth, because of one and an Individual thing there is one constant truth and not various; verum & unum convertuntur.  
2. The Text, because it draweth away from its one true sense.  
3. And lastly reason, because this is the chiefest reason in explaining the Text, that the true literal sense of it may be found out.   
The literal sense than can be but one in one place, though a man may draw sundry consequences 
h Confundunt Pontisicij sensum Scripturae cum applicatione sensus, & accommodatione ejus ad usus Apostolicos. 2 Tim. 3. 16. dum vel cum literali & mystico sensus alios introducunt, vel mysticum subdividunt in Allegoricum, Tropologicum, & A●●gogicum, & totidem diversos sensus in Scriptura dari contendunt, confundendo heterogenea, sensum & applicationem sensus. Spanliem. Dub. Evangel. par. 3. Dub 66.  à contrariis, à similibus.  
3. We do not altogether reject the third, for we hold there are Allegories, Anagogies and Tropologies in the Scriptures, yet these are not many and divers senses of the Scripture; but divers collections from one sense, or divers Applications and accommodations of one sense. Besides the Tropologies and Anagogies are unfitly opposed to an Allegory, since they are certain kinds of it.  
Haec nominum curiosa distincti●, ex Scholarum potius morosiuscula diligentia, quam ex ulla eorum vocabulorum necessitate, Itaque Salmero agnoscit esse quid novum, & à posterioribus patribus traditum. Chamierus Tomo de Sensu Literali & Mystico. lib. 15. cap. 1.  
Gal. 4. The Apostle saith not that there is a double sense; but that it may be allegorically applied, which is Historically set down. There is then but one sense of the place; part whereof consisteth in the Story, part in the Allegory: So that the whole sense is contained in them both.  
So for the second example of the Tropological: There is not a twofold sense of that place, but one general sense, that as the mouth of the Ox was not to be muzzled, so the Minister of the Gospel must be provided for. Likewise of the Anagogical kind: It is not one sense to understand the rest of Canaan, another the Kingdom of God: But there is one whole sense, that as they for their Idolatry were deprived of the Land of promise, so we should take heed least by our disobedience we lose the hope of the Kingdom of heaven. So we conclude that those are not divers senses, but one sense diversely applied.  
The literal sense is the only sense of the place, because out of that sense only may 
Theologia Symbolica non est argumentativa. This is a good reasoning, the Ox's mouth must not be muzzled, ergò The Minister must be maintained, because it is part of the sense. The Fathers were too much addicted to Allegories. jerom sometimes went out of the way through a liking of Allegories, as a great reader and follower of Origen, who handled the Scriptures too licentiously. Rainolds against Hart. Sess. 4.  an argument strongly be framed: wherefore seeing Allegories and Tropes do not conclude, they are not the senses of the place; and Allegories devised beside the sense prove not, though they may illustrate. It is manifest that is always the sense of the holy Ghost, which is drawn from the very words. But we are not so certain concerning any mystical sense, unless when the holy Ghost himself teacheth us; as for example, it is written Host 11. 1. Out of Egypt have I called my Son; and Exod. 12. 46. Ye shall not break a bone of him. It is evident that the first place is understood of the people of Israel, the later of the Paschal Lamb. Who durst have applied those things to Christ, unless the holy Ghost had first done it, and declared his mind and meaning to us? viz. That Son in the first place doth not only signify the people of Israel, but Christ also, and by bone in the later place, not only the bone of that Lamb, but of Christ also is understood.  
Secondly, To whom the chief Authority to expound Scripture is committed.  
It was decreed in the Council of Trent, That Scripture should be expounded, as the Church expoundeth it, and according to the common and unanimous consent of the Fathers. If the Fathers agree not, the matter is referred to a general Council: If there it be not determined, we must have recourse to the Pope and his Cardinals.  
We say also that the Church is the Interpreter of Scripture, and that this gift of interpreting resides only in the Church, but we deny that it belongs to certain men, or is tied to a certain place or succession of men.  
The Ministry of judgement 
i judicium est triplex. 1. Directionis quale habet Minister. 2. jurisdictionis quale habet Ecclesia. 3. Discretionis quale habet privatus, ut Act. 17. 10. Dr Prid. There is Iudex Supremus, and judex Ministerialis visibilis but not Supremus, and judicium practicae discretionis, which is left to every one. B. Downam.  the Lord hath given to his Church, 1 Cor. 2▪ 15. and 10. 15. 1 joh. 4. 1. Act. 15. 16. 2 Cor. 14. 29, 31, 32. but the Sovereignty of judgement he hath reserved to himself.  
The holy Scripture knows not, the ancient Fathers acknowledge not, as long as we have the Scripture there needs not any such standing Judge in the Church. These three things Mr Down proves in his not consent of Fathers, but Scripture the ground of faith. p. 261. to 266.  
The holy Ghost is the Judge, and the Scripture is the sentence or definitive Decree.  
We acknowledge no public Judge except the Scripture, and the holy Ghost teaching us in the Scripture. He that made the Law should interpret the same, 1 Cor. 1. 12. 1 joh. 2. 27.  
Arguments brought by the Papists for their opinion.  

Object. 1. They object that place, Exod. 18. 13, 26.  

Primo non sequitur à lege ad Evangellum. Secundò non sequitur à Mose ad Episcopum Romanum, qui hic non eundem locum tenet inter Christianos, quem Moses inter judaeos. Chamier.  Answ. Moses was a Prophet endued with singular wisdom, adorned by God with extraordinary gifts, sent immediately by him, and commended by Divine Testimonies to the people, the Pope is not so. He had chiefest Authority from God over all the Israelites; but the Pope hath not so over all Christians. Moses his Authority was extraordinary, no man succeeded in his place; joshua was a Captain only, or Judge in Civil things. Aaron only a Priest to administer in things sacred, but Moses exercised both functions.   

Object. 2. They urge that place, Deut. 17. 9  
Answ. Here the Civil Magistrate and the Judge are joined together, as vers. 12. If it will follow hence that the Pope must be Supreme Judge in all Ecclesiastical matters, the Emperor ought to be as well in Civil.  
2. The Pope doth not hold the same place among Christians, that the high-Priest did among the Jews. For he was the chiefest, having all the rest of the Priests subject to him; but the Pope is one amongst all, having colleagues, many Bishops as at first, or a few Patriarches as after.   

Object. 3. Eccl. 12. 11. If the chief Pastor in the Old Testament had such authority, much more the chief Priest in the New.  
Answ. This one Pastor 
k Hieronymus in locum ait: Etsi plures verbum Dei do●●ant, unus tamen est illius Doctrinae Author, nempe Deus; ubi Manichaeos refellit, qui unum statuerunt Authorem Veter● Testamenti, alterum verò Novi. Alii Spiritum volunt esse hunc unum Pastorem, ut Vatablus. Alii Christum, ut Mercerus; Papam nulli, praeterquam insulsi Papistae, Whitakerus. Interpretes omnes de Deo exposuerunt, cum veteres tum recentes, etiam Papistae. Chamierus. Vide Geier. Comm. in Coh. in loc.  signifieth neither the Highpriest in the old Law, nor the Pope in the new; but Jesus Christ the high Shepherd for our souls.   

Object. Matth. 6. 19 Christ saith to Peter, To thee will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; Therefore the Pope hath Authority to expound Scripture.  
Answ. First, By the Keys here is meant Commission to preach the Gospel; not Authority of interpreting the Scriptures. When the Gospel is preached, the Kingdom of Heaven is opened to the Believers, and shut to the unbelievers.  
Secondly, That Authority of the Keys was not committed to Peter only, but to the other Apostles also, Mat. 28. 18, 19  
There is a twofold Judgement, 1. Of Discretion, 1 Cor. 10. 15. 2. Of Authority, as the Parliament judgeth capital crimes. If the Papists understand the word judge to signify Discerning (as when we judge of meats by the taste) every faithful person ought to pray unto God for grace to judge, to discern, and to know the true sense of the Scripture. But if by judging they understand to pronounce Decrees, definitive and infallible Judgements, touching the sense of the Scriptures, thereby to bind other men's consciences; there is no man in the world that hath that power. See Moulins Buckler of Faith. We have a more compendious way, to come to the understanding of the Scripture. It were too long when we doubt of any place, to stay till we have the general consent of the Pastors of the Church, or to expect a general Council, or to go up to Rome. But the word of God is amongst us; the Scriptures themselves, and the Spirit of God opening our hearts, do teach us how to understand them. And yet we say not (as the Papists fals●y charge us) that we allow every private man's Interpretation of Scripture, refusing the judgement of the Pastors of the Church. 
l Cap. significasti de Elecl. Review of the Council of Trent, l. c. 8. p. 45.  Panoruitan saith, 
m Deum atque homines testamur, cum plurima nobis in Papismo displiceant, tum hoc omnino intolerandum videri, quod Scripture as quili●et apud eas doctorculus, it a sibi in manum traditas arbitretur ut eas sursum deorsum versare queat, quid libet inde confecturus suo arbitrio; suo, inquam arbitrio, suo mart, quidlibet excogitans & commentans. Ita enim evenit, ut qui maxim▪ praese ferant detestari privatum spiritum, two huic ipsi indulgeant omnium maxim. Enimverò quis docuit prophetiam illam ● Psalmo 72. Adorabunt cum omnes reges terrae, omnes gentes servient ei, impletam esse in Leone decimo. Chamier. ●●●. 1. de Scripturae interpretatione; l. 16. c. 1. Vide Cameron. ad 2 Pet. 1. 20. Mat. 23. 8, 9, 10.  The opinion of one godly man ought to be preferred before the Popes, if it be grounded upon be●ter authority of the Old and New Testament, 2 Pet. 1. 20. No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private Interpretation. Stapleton saith, juterpretation is private, either Ratione personae, when the man is prviate, or Ratione medii, when it is not taken out of the Context and Circumstances, or Ratione finis, when it is for a false end. Now private Interpretation in regard of the person, if it be public in regard of the means, is not forbidden; for it is lawful for one man with Scripture Toti resistere mundo, saith the Gloss of the Canon-Law; the meaning of this place is, That the Prophets were no Interpreters or Messengers of their own minds, but Gods. The Catholics hold (saith Chamier, meaning still by that Title the Protestants) that the Scripture is to be interpreted by private labour and industry, viz. of Augustine, jerom, Chrysostom, but not in a private sense, that is in a sense arising from the brain of the Interpreter.  
It is true (saith Cartwright against the Rhemists) that the Scriptures cannot be expounded of every private spirit, nor (which is more) of any private spirit, nor yet of all private spirits together, but only of those which are inspired of God, viz. the Prophets and Apostles, which are here opposed unto private Interpretation. And therefore it is evident, That the Exposition of the Scripture, ought not to be fetched from Ecclesiastical either Fathers or Counsels, which speak not by Inspiration, but from the Scriptures themselves; what he meaneth, he declareth in the next verse, where he showeth the reason of his saying; namely, that it must be interpreted, as it was written, and by as high Authority. Seeing therefore it was first spoken by holy men, which spoke as they were led by the holy Spirit, and were inspired of God, it followeth, that it must be interpreted by the same Authority. The Interpretation therefore that is brought out of the Apostles and Prophets, is not private, although it be avowed by one man only. On the other side that Interpretation which is not brought from thence, although it have the allowance of whole general Counsels, is but private.  
This is a principal meaning of our Saviour Christ, when he willeth that we should call no man Father or Master in the earth, that is, in matter of Doctrine, we should 
Matth. 17. 5.  depend upon the Authority of no man, nor of all men in the earth, but only upon Christ, and upon God.  
Our reasons by which we prove, that the chiefest Judgement and Authority of interpreting Scriptures is to be given not to the Church, but to the Scriptures themselves and the holy Ghost. 
Soli Scripturae vel Spiritui in Scriptura loquenti competum requisita summi judicis, quae tria sunt; 1. Ut certo sciamus, veram esse sententiam, quam pronunciat. 2. Ut ab illo ad alium judicem non liceat provecare. 3. Ut nullo partium studio ducatur. Wendelinus in Prolegom. Christ. Thcol. cap▪ 3.   

1. That which only hath power to beget faith, that only hath the chiefest Authority of interpreting Scripture, and of determining all Controversies concerning Faith and Religion; but the Scriptures only and the Holy Ghost have this force, Rom. 10. 17. The Holy Ghost only can infuse saving Faith into our hearts, which is called by the Schoolmen Infusa Fides. The Faith which we have from the Church is acquired, and sufficeth not to a certain persuasion.  
2. The Scriptures cannot be interpreted but by the same Spirit wherewith they were written; 
n Cathedram in Coelo habet qui corda docet. Aug. Luk. 10. 21, 22. Jer. 31. 33, 34. Convenit inter nos & adversarios, Scripture as intelligi debere eo Spiritu quo factae sunt, id est, Spiritu Sancto. Bellarm. lib. 3. de verbo Dei, cap. 3, 11.  that Spirit is found no where but in the Scripture; whosoever have promises from God to understand the Scripture may interprett it, but so have all the faithful.  
3. Christ himself makes the Scripture a Judge, john 12. 48. and still appealed to it.  
4. Although the Fathers were men endued of God with excellent gifts, and brought no small light to understanding of the Scriptures: yet learned men in our days may give a right sense of sundry places thereof which the Fathers saw not, yea against the which perhaps they consent.   
Hath any man living read all the Fathers? Nay, have all the men living read them? Nay, Can they show them? Can they get them? I had almost said, Can they name 
* Dr Rainolds against Hart. The number of Ancient Fathers (whose Works are yet extant) who lived within six and seven hundred years after Christ are recorded to have been about two hundred. Bishop Morton of the Mass, lib. 7. cap. 6.  them?  
In the Exposition of those words, Tu es Petrus, & super hanc petram, almost 
Nos in hoc Romanenses absque iniquitate summa culpare non possunt, qui quà non libertate, sed temeritate Patrum authoritatem rejiciant, quoties ea ipsis contrariatur, non jam dicam cum id antea à viris Doctissimis, nominatiw à Cl. Riveto in Tractatu de auctoritate Patrum, & viro Doctissimo Jacobo Laurentio in Conscientià Iesuitica cauteriata praestitum abundè sit. Vedelii. Rationale Theologicum l. 3. c. 6.  every one of the Fathers, at least the most part of them, and the best expound it of Peter's faith; yet the Papists understand it, non de fide sed de persona Petri. Here they disagree themselves from the Fathers.  
john 10. 16. by the title of one Shepherd, Augustine, chrysostom, Jerome, Cyril, Theodoret, Theophylact, Euthimius, Rupertus, Cyprian, and other Fathers agree, that Christ is theredesigned; but Stapleton saith the Pope is there meant.  
In the Division of the Law, they go clean contrary to the greatest part of the 
The Fathers wrote some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to confute the adversaries with whom they had to deal, and in these they err sometimes; somethings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to praise the Saints of God, and stir up others to their virtue, wherein they overlash. Rainolds against Hart.  Fathers: for they divide the Commandments as we do, but the Papists make the two first one, and the tenth two. 2. They have no father to countenance them in this, but Augnstine. Revet. de Authoritate Patrum, c. 5, 6, 7.  
There were no writings of the Fathers for a time, many of them wrote 400 years after Christ, but some 500 and 600 years after Christ; what rule had they before that time of interpreting Scriptures.  
The Fathers were given too much to allegorising, Cajetane therefore in the Preface of his Commentaries upon the Books of Moses, saith; That the exposition of the Scripture is not tied by God to the sense of the Fathers; therefore he admonisheth his Readers not to take it ill, if he sometime descent from the stream of the Fathers.  
4. The Doctrine of the Church must be examined by the Scriptures, Acts 17. 11. If Paul's doctrine, much more may the decrees of the Pope, Church, Counsels be examined by the Scriptures.  
5. The interpretation of the Scripture is a gift freely given by God, for the edification of the Church, Rom. 12. 6. 1 Cor. 12. 10. therefore it is not tied to a certain kind of men, but common to the faithful.  
6. The faithful are commanded diligently to try and examine every doctrine, 1 Thess. 5. 21. 1 john 4. 1. which cannot be altogether done without interpretation. 
Of the means to find out the true sense of the Scripture. Oratloni lectio, lectioni succedat oratio. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.   
What means must be used in the interpretation of Scripture.  
The end of the Scripture (we heard) was to direct the Church to all saving truth.  
The means to be used for the attaining of that end, by the Minister, is diligent study and humble Prayer; by the People, attentive reading, hearing, prayer and meditating.  
First, the Teachers must pray earnestly to God for his spirit to inlighen them, Mat. 7. 7, 8, 9 Rom. 15. The Scriptures are understood by that spirit that dictated them.  
Secondly, The Pastors and Teachers of the Church must diligently and painfully study the Scriptures, giving themselves to read, compare place with place, 
a There must be a comparing of obscure places with such as are more evident, Gen. 11. 35. with Gal. 3. 16. of like with like, Exod. 12. and 1 Cor. 11. 24. unlike with unlike, john 6. 53. with Deut. 5. 23.  john 5. 39 Search the Scriptures, it is a metaphor taken from such as search for Gold and Silver Oar in the earth, who will search and sift, and break every clod to find out the gold. Solomon useth the same metaphor, Prov. 2. 4. and to this diligence in searching doth the Apostle exhort Timothy, 1 Tim. 4. 13. This diligence of often expressed in Scripture in the Old Testament, by the phrase of meditating in the word, josh. 1. 8. Psal. 1. 2.  
Thirdly, they must labour for a competent knowledge in the original tongues the Hebrew and 
b Contra ignota signa magnum est remedium linguarum cognitio, & Latina quidem linguae homines duabus alliis ad scripturarum cognitionom opus habent Hebraica & Graeca August. 2 Tim. 2. 15. Tit. 1 9  Greek, in which the Scripture was written, that so they may consult with the Hebrew Text in the Old, and the Greek in the New Testament; and see with their own, not another's eyes; as Gen. 3. 15. The Papists read it corruptly, She shall break, here the original soon determines the controversy, wherein the pronoun Hu, can signify nothing but He, or It, both which are all one in effect in this place.  
Fourthly, They should likewise be expert in all the liberal Arts, especially in Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, general Philosophy and History. All the Treasures 
c Dr. Featley in a Sermon on Psal. 2. 10. Logic teacheth the Preacher to Analize and divide his Text. It teacheth to collect true and proper Doctrines from it, assisteth him in confuting of Heresies, and in resolving all questions.  of wisdom and knowledge are hid in the Scriptures; the Treasures of natural Philosophy in Genesis, of Moral Philosophy in Exodus, Deuteronomy and Ecclesiastes; of the Politics in the Judicials of Moses, and the Proverbs of Solomon; of Poetry in the Psalms; of History in the Books of Chronicles, judges and Kings; the Mathematics in the dimensions of the Ark, of the Temple; of the Metaphysics, in the Books of the Prophets and Apocalypse.  
Fifthly, They must consider:  
1. The several words. 2. The phrases.  
In the several words they must consider:  

1. Whether the word be taken properly or tropically, and that they may the better understand the words, an inspection, 


1. Of Lexicons 
d Lexicon Chaldaicum, talmudicum, & rabbinicum, opus immensi laboris atque fructus, & incomparabili multorum annorum industria patris atque filii Johan. Buxtorfii claboratum. Bootius.  is needful, some of which observed the order of the Alphabet, but so as they distinguished between the roots, and the Derivatives, as Pagnine hath done for the Hebrew, and Stephanus for the Greek.  
The best Lexicons for understanding the Hebrew Text, are Buxtorf, Avenarius, Forster, Schindler, Mercer on Pagnine, and Marinus Brixianus his Arca Noae; for the Greek, are Stephanus, Budeus, Scapula; my own two Critica (I hope) may be useful for understanding both Testaments.   
2. Of Concordances, 
e Concordantiae Bibliorum hebraicae, editae à Joh. Buxtorfio juniore, magni patris majore filio. Arnoldus Bootius. Henrici. Stephani maximae & absolutissimae Concordantiae.  some much extol Buxtorf for the Hebrew, Kirchers is a very useful one both for the Hebrew and the Septuagint, Stephanus for the Greek is the best. Cottons Concordance (as it is now enlarged by Newman) is esteemed the best for the English.     
See Dr. Featlies' and Dr. Gouges Prefaces to it commending it and showing the use of Concordances in general.  
They must,  

1. Consider the Text exactly in itself, the Grammar of it must be sifted, the nature of every word by itself and the alteration it admits in diversity of construction. 2. The Rhetoric, whether any word leaving the proper signification receiveth a borrowed. 3. Above all the Logic, as to know what he proveth, and by what.  
2. Compare parallel places, and obscure with plainer. To interpret that place, This is my body, 
f This Bread is my body, 1. the communion of my body. The Prophets explain the books of Moses, and the New Testament interprets the Old.  make use of that other, The Bread which we break, is the communion of the body of Christ, because both places are not only concerning the Eucharist, but also one and the same kind. Illyricus calls the conference of places, Ingens remedium & saelicissimam expositionem sanctae scripturae. Paul is much in this, compare Heb. 3. 7, 11, 15, 17. with Chap. 4. 4, 5,— 9 ye shall see he makes out the sense of Psal 95. 7. by comparing it with other Scriptures.  
3. Make use of Paraphrases and Versions, among which the Chaldee and the Septuagint for the Old Testament, the Syriack and the Arabic for the New excel.  
4. For the knowledge of the phrase, they must proceed the same way; and to understand the better both the words and phrases, they must diligently consider of the scope and circumstances of the place, as the coherence of that which went before, with that which follows after, and of the matter whereof it doth entreat.  

5. All Expositions ought to agree with the Analogy of faith, 
g Analogia fidei nihil aliud est▪ quam constans & perpetua sententia Sc●ipturae, in apertis & minimè obscuris Scripturae locis: quales sunt articuli fidet in symbolo, quaeque continentur in oratione Dominica, in Decalogo. Whitakerus. Rainoldus de lib. Apoc. Plura Rabbinis debemus, nos praesertim qui accuratum istud interpretandi genus sectamur, quam quisquam existimet. Drus. observ. Sac. l. 15. c. 6.  Rom. 12. 6.  
Analogy is either of faith, comprehended in the Doctrine of the Creed, L P. Command. Sac. and gathered out of evident places of Scripture, or of the Text, by the coherence of Antecedentia & Consequentia, by the propriety of the phrase.   
6. The Jewish Expositors, the ancient Fathers, and other Interpreters, ancient and modern, Popish and Protestant, are useful for the right understanding of the Scripture, if they be read with judgement.   
Not many, but a few, and those the best Commentaries, are to be consulted with: of the Hebrew Interpreters and Rabbins? two were most learned, R. David Kimki, and Rabbi Aben Ezra, saith Dr. Rainolds.  
The pure Masters of the Hebrews (saith Mayerus in Philologia Sacra) are specially Maymonides, Rabbi David Kimchi, wise Aben Ezra, Rabbi Solomon jarchi, although the last two much favour Talmudical dreams.  
The Cabalists and many of the Rabbins are very fabulous, and men in a burning fever cannot dream of things more ridiculous, than some of the Rabbins have seriously written and taught, saith 
h Censura in exercit. ●. 4. Morini c. 80. Doctissimus Hebraeorum Grammaticus idem que interpres Kimchius. Fuller Miscall. l. 5. c. 8. vide l. 2. c. 3. & l. 3. c. 12 & l. 4 c. 18. David Kimchius è cujus Grammatica & Lexico sive radicum libr●, tanquam ex equo Trojaxo prodiit, quicquid Grammaticorum & Lexicorum Hebraicorum ubique videmus. Morinu● l. 1. exercit. 6. c. 4. Ebraeorum Interpretum Coryphaeus Kimchi, Amama Antib. Bibl. R. David Kimchi, sive Kamius, scriptor tersus & styli Biblici aemulus, scriptor ●or●atior et à Thalmndicis fab▪ li● alienior. Amamae consilium de studio Ebraico feliciter in ●ituendo. Ingeniosissimus ille Hebraeorum doctorum David Kimchi Hispanus, dictionario suo Hebraico nunquam satis laudato, quod inscripsit Sepher has●hurschim, Librum radicum. Waserus de num. Heb l. 1. c. 1. Aben Ezra meritò audit Philol. Sac sapientissimus Ebraeorum, Mayer●s in R Aben Ezra Hispanus, Chacâm, sapiens seu doctus cognominatur Waserus d● num. Heb. l. 1. c. 1. vide Bux●o●sium Abber●iat. de Hebr. p. 34 Rabbi Solomon jarchi, Campensis Gallus, tantae est apud Hebraeos authoritatis, ut cog●omentum retulcrit Raschi, quasi capitis tribuam Israel, ac universa Biblia Hebraica doctissimis quidem, sed argutis ad moaum Commentariis illustravit. Was. ubi supra One of special credit among the Jews, and therefore usually styled with an Epithet, Aben Ezra the wise man, Nettles Answer to the Jewish part of the History of Tithes. Sect 5. Aben Ezra, utait sixth Senens. sapiens cognomento dictus est ab Hebraeis, commentariis versati sunt, is est qui i● Grammaticus, Philosophus, ●strologus, & Theologus magnus ●erte ut sciunt, qui in Hebraeis sacris scripturis ex intima lingua cognition, quod atti●●t ad verba, omnium Rabbinorum scientissime est versatus, Rainold. de lib Apoc. praelect 116.  Muis against Morinus. Vide Spanh●m. Dub. Evangel. parte tertia. Dub. 21. & Dub. 129 Glass. Philol. Sac. l. 2. partem primam. Tract. 1. Thalmud liber fabulosissimus. Chamier.  
Abarbanel hath done well on the greatest part of the Old Testament. Scriptor fam●sissimus, saith Buxtorf of him in D●●alogo. judaeorum doctissimus L'Empereur on Dan. Authorest perquàm solidi ingenii & Doctrinae, Muis, Assert. 3. veritat. Heb. Yet he was unknown (it seems) to Mercer, for he doth not mention him. The most curious that ever handled the Tongue, though not the soundest, saith Broughton.  
The Jews say of Rabbi Moses Ben-Maymon, that From Moses to Moses there 
A Mose (Propheta) ad Mosen, (hunc ● Aegyptium) non surrexit sicut Moses, qui seilicet doctrina & cruditiòne Mosi legislatori esset aequiparandus. Dilherus Elect. l. 1. c. 5. Ebraeorum communi judicio, doctissimus Rabbi Moses Aegyptius, saith Rivet of him Exam. Animad. Hugon. Grot. Is anno is ab hinc amplius quadringentis scripsit, Fullerus. In Aegypto educatus & studiis consecratus, unde vocatur Moses Aegyptus Buxtors. de Abbreviat. Hebraic. Rabbi Ben Maimon (commonly called Rambam) the most judicius Rabbin that ever was known to the Christian world. Dr. Casaubones Treatise of use and custom. R. Mose Ben Nachman, ●uem Ramban per Nu● in fine, qui & Moses Gerundensis, cum alius. R. Mose Ben Maimon, qui Rambam, per Man in fine vocatur, sit; qui R. Moses Aegyptius dicitur; uterque vir insignis, Mercer in Gen. Ralbag, that is, Rabbi, Levi Ben Gerson, he wro●e Commentaries upon all the Bible, on Radak, that is, Rabbi David Kimchi Rashi, that is, Rabbi Solomon, jarchi, he hath commented upon all the Bible, and almost all the Talmud. Solent Judaei ad hunc usque diem, cum notantur initialibus literis quaedam vocabula, ex illis vocem unam conficere, ut quia primariae literae Rabbi Solomon jarchy sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, solent appellare Rashi, & Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, quoniam quatour hae voces incipi●nt, a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judaei eum appellant Rambam, Rainold. de lib. 4. Apoc. praelect. 150. Quid suerint Urim & ●●umnum, ne Rabbinorum quidem Principes jamdiu s●ire po●uerunt. Chamierus.  arose not such a Moses. He was the first of the Rabbins that ceased to dote. Maimonides antiquus & celeberrimus inter judaeos Scriptor. Capellus de Literis Ebr. Mr. Gregory styles him the very learned Maimon.  
The Church of God is much beholding to the Hebrew Rabbins, * being great helps unto us for understanding holy Scripture in many places, as well of the New Testament as the Old. Vide Capel. Critic. Defence. p. 59 There are divers places both in the Old and New Testament, which cannot be well understood, unless we borrow Candle-light from the Hebrew Doctors, as Exod 6. 3. Ruth. 4. 7. Isa. 1, 29. & 12. 13. jer. 16. 7. Ezek. 8. 14. and 9 4. Matth. 5. 22. and 21. 9 and 23. 7, 8. and 26. 23. Mark 7. 11. Rom. 5. 7. john 7. 37. and 3. 20. 1 Tim. 3. 8. Rev. 4. Cálverts Annotat. on the demonstrat. of the true Messias.  
2. The Fathers, Doctores scil. probati antiquae ecclesiae qui scriptis Fidem suis illustrarunt, as Vo●tus speaks, not one of them but hath his error, because God would have them known to be but men. Of the right use of the fathers. see Daille's excellent 〈◊〉.  
They are called Fathers in respect of their age, they preceding our times many hundreds of years, and in respect of their Doctrine, which they diligently inculcated to those that then lived and endeavoured to propagate; many of their worthy labours being transmitted to posterity. Rivet. de Patrum Authoritate cap. 1.  
There was an eminency of Office and Dignity in them, because they were Pastors and Teachers in the Church; Of Time, because they were nearer to the Apostles; Of Science, because they were more learned than many of those that succeeded; and of Conscience, because they were of an unblameable life, less subject to ambition, covetousness, envy, and other evil affections, with which the succeeding generations were too much tainted.  
Those Fathers 
a Neque enim n●g●nt ad ad●●rsarii ●psi qui natribus aliquando videntur nimium tribuere, quo magis Apostolorum vicini fuerunt, co etiam majoris esse authoritatis. Quo plus enim homines ab Apostolorum temporibus recesserunt, eo plus sumpserunt audaciae. Apud omnes autem orthodexos in confesso est; signum publicè erexisse intichristum post sexcentos à nato Christo annos, regnante Phoco, à quo, Pontifici Romano Tyrannica in omnes Episcopos potestas est confirmata, etc. jure igitur ●oannes Juellus Anglus, Episcopus Sarisburiensis, qui ad patrum authoritatem Pontificios provocavit▪ edito scripto, in praecipuis horum temporum controversiis ●nodandis, non egressus est sexcentorum à nato Christo annorum limits, quibus negavit probari posse authoritate antiqui alicujus patris receptos fuisse viginti septem articulos, in quibus ho● tempore Pontifici● rei Christianae summam constituent. Rivet. de patrum authoritate, c. 1.  of the first six hundred years we reverence more, and rather admit then those of the thousand years following, because they were freer from error, as living nearer the Apostles, and before the first discovery of Antichrist, which was about the six hundred and seven, when Boniface the third purchased of that bloody Tyrant Phocas the title of Universal Bishop, and with it the Supremacy over all Churches.  
Erasmus (accuratissimus Patrum vetustiorum censor,) was much exercised in the writings of the Fathers, and hath bestowed great pains in restoring and illustrating jerom, 
* Neque vereber illud vel ●ure●uran lo confirmare, minoris ipsi Hierony●no const●●isse suas scripsisse lucubrationes quam nobis restituisse & illustrasse. E●as●. lib 2 Epist. 1. Leoni decimo. The Fathers had their Naevi, their errors, as Daille du urai usage des Peres, & Rivet. de authoritate patrum. & Laurentius in River. Eccl. Rom. erga Pat. Subdola show. Summi ●rant homines, sed tamen homines erant. ●ook in his Censura quorundam Scriptorum veterum; and Rivet. in his Criticus Sacer, show which of their works were spurious and supposititious.  Augustine, and others of them.  
For the Fathers, jerom among the Latins, and Origen among the Greeks were 
See Burrh. on Host 3. 4.  learned in the Hebrew, saith Chamier.  
jerom 
b Vix ullum habet & ipsa docta Graecia, quem cum hoc viro queat ●●mponere. Q●● tam in illo Romanae facundiae? Quanta linguarum peritia? Quanta om●is antiquitatis, omnium historiarum not●●●a, quam sida memoria, quam foelix rerum omnium mixtura, quam abs●luta mysticarum literarum cognitio? super omnia quis ardor ille, quam admir●●i●is Divini pectoris afflatus? ut unus, & plurimum delectet eloquentia, & doceat erudition, & rapiat sanctimonia, Erasm. Epist. l. 2. Leoni decimo Pontifici. In cognition sacrarum literarum adeo praefero Hieronymum Augustino, ut vehementer impudens arbitrer, alterum cum altero confer. E●●sm. Eckio, l. 2. Epist. Vide plura ibid. Dexterrimus ille literarum sacrarum interpres. Glassius. Hieronymus solus inter Patres fuit doctus Hebraeas literas, quas quia reliqui ignorabant, saepè in V. Testamento explicando lapsi sunt. Tarnov. exercit. ●ib.  w●s the chiefest among them, for skill in the Hebrew, Chaldee, Greek, Latin Tongue, and the most diligent searcher of the Jewish affairs, he spared no labour, cost nor time, that he might attain to skill in that Tongue. He made use of the Jews for that purpose, and the skilfullest amongst them, whose labour he purchased with a great deal of money, this he often witnesseth of himself; five times, saith Morinus, he made use of them.  
That one labour of his deserveth eternal praise, that he translated the Scripture out of the Hebrew into Latin.  
That was a most laborious work 
* Opus laboriosum & divinum, maximo ecclesiae damno amassum, eujus operis jacturam deplorare possumus, compensare nunquam possumus. Whitak. Vid. Whitak. de author. Script. l. 2. c. 1.  of origen's in gathering together divers Editions of Scripture. 1. The Greek of Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint and Theodosion into one Volume distinguished by four Columns, called Tetrapla, to which he after added two more, one in Hebrew, the other in Greek Characters, and called it his Hexapla; at last he joined two other Editions, and then called it Octapla; by them one might have compared the several Greek Editions together, and with the Hebrew Text. Vide Erasm. Epist. l. 28. p. 1155. It is manifest (saith Buxtorf) that the most and best of his writings are lost.  
It was said of him, Ubi benè nemo melius, Ubi malè nemo pejus.  
Quod attinet ad Origenem, meacertè nihil interest quid ille senserit: quem scio Theologum fuisse a●daciorem, quam saniorem. Chamierus Tomo 2. de S. Trinitate. cap. 8.  
Salmasius, Whitaker, Sixtus Senensis, and others say, Origen 
b Inter antiquos ecclesiasticos auctores Graci generis non tantum primus, sed ferè solus Hebraicè fuit doctissimus. Salmasius de modo usurarum. Author non purus, ut vix unquam nominari possit in rebus fidei absque praefatione. Chamierus.  was skilful in the Hebrew. He wrote so many Books, that jerom saith, Quis nostrum tanta potest legere, quanta ille conscripsit?  
Vir tantae fuit eruditionis & ingenii, ut ei parem doctissima Graecia faelicissimorum ingeniorum parens, nunquam habuerit. Sixtus Senensis Bibliothecae sanctae, l. 4.  
He saith much more there in his commendation. Tantum in Scripturas divinas habuerit studium, ut etiam Hebraeam linguam contra aetatis gentisque suae naturam edisceret. Hieronymus de viris illustribus. He lived a little after the year two hundred.  
Augustine 
c Magnus Augustinus ingenio, cruditione, san●●itate, zelo, etc. Quo res tantam illi meritò authorita●em conciliarunt, ut nemo sit antiquorum qui in scholis nostris aut Pont●si●iis pluris aestimetur aut aestimari debeat. Rainoldus de libris Apocr. Tom. 1. praelect. 29. Augustinus habitus Theologorum veterum acutissimus, neque immerito. Id. Quid habet orbis Christianus Aurelio Augustino vel magis Aureum vel Augustius? Ut ipsa vocabula nequaquam fortuity, sed numinis providentia videantur indita viro. Erasm. Ep. l. 2. Leoni decimo Po●tisici. Vide plura ibid. Joannes Chrysostomus, mellitissimus ille concionator Christique praeco indefatigabilis, cui jure optimo ob sapientissimam cloquentiam & eloquentissimam sapientiam, oris aurei cognomen tri●utum est. Era●m. Epist. l. 28. pag. 1332. Vide etiam pag. 1333, etc. Graecorum disertissimus Chrysostomus. Fullerus.  for the Latin Church, and golden mouthed Chrysostom for the Greek Church, were most famous. He is abridged by Theophylact. A Father so ancient, so learned, so godly, so skilful in the Scriptures, saith Rainolds of chrysostom. Augustine for disputations, jerom for the tongues, Gregory for Morals.  
Augustine,  
Vir supra omnes, qui ante eum & post eum huc usque fuerunt mortales, admirabili ingenii acumine praeditus, omnibus liberalibus disciplinis instructus, Divinis Scripturis longè omnium eruditissimus, & in earum explanatione ultrà, quam dici queat, incomparabili subtilitate sublimis, omnes Latinae Ecclesiae scriptores scribendi labour, & l●cubrationum multitudine superavit. Sixtus Senensis Bibl. Sanct. l. 4.  
Subtilissimus Patrum Augustinus. D. Prideaux lectione 4.  
Gregory Nazianzen the learnedest of all the Greek Fathers, and firnamed the 
Tulit eadem f●rme aetas aliquot summa ●acundia parique Doctrina ac pietate vi●os Athanasium Alexandrinum Episcopum, Gregorium Nazianzenum Basilii Pyladem, ac studiorum sodalem, Joannem Chrysostomum & ipsum Basilio familiarem, ac fratrem Gregorium Nyssenum Episcopum. Horum suis quisque dotibus summus erat: A●hanasius ad docendum accommodatissimus. Nazianzenus floridum & argutum orationis genus amplexus videtur. Chrysostomus lic●t pul●re suo cognom●ni respondens, alicubi verbis redundat, & in digressionibus videtur immodicus. Nysseno placuit pia simp●icitas. Erasm. Epist. l▪ 28. p. 1157. Vide plura ib. de Basilio.  Divine. D. Featleys' Transubstantiation exploded. He lived about the year 375.  
Chrysostomus habet nescio quid submolestae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gregorius Nazianzenus nonnihil affectatae argutiae in verbis, in Basilio nihil est quod off●ndi●. Erasm. Epist. l. 24. Reginaldo Polo.  
Irenaeus (saith Capellus) was almost the Ancientest of all the Fathers, whose 
Magnus ille Ecclesi●e propugnator, ac pro sui nominis augurio pacis Ecclesiastisticae vindex. Spirant illius scripta illum Evangelii vigorem, ac phrasis arguit pectus martyrio paratum. Fuit vicinus Apostolorum temporibus, quum adhuc martyrum triumphis ●●oreret Ecclesia. Nam puer audivit Polycarpum in Asia. Polycarpus autem Joannis Evangelistae fuit Discipulus: hujus viri de Christo deque Christi Discipulis Sermons, Irenaeus pu●r avi●issimis imbibit auribus, ac penitus inscripsit cordi suo, sic ut senexetiam horum omnium vividam ac praesentem reti●e● memoriam. Era●m. Epist. l. 28. p. 1145.  genuine writings are extant. He was Polycarpus his Disciple, and lived about the 172 year after Christ.  
Tertullian was one of the Latin Fathers most Ancient, and very near the Apostles, 
See a great commendation of Tertullian in jackson's Raging tempest, pag. 8. Vir pro●ectò acris ac v●hem●ntis inge●ii, multo latino eloquio eleganter scripsit, sed stylo nimium elaborato ac dur●, & propter inusitatam vocum novitatem obscuro. Sixtus Senensis. Vide Vincent. Ly●in. c. 24. Versor nunc in Tertulliano emendando & illustrando duro quidem Scriptore, nec ubique orthodoxo, sed plane inter omnes, tum Graecos, tum Latinos Theologos admirando. Beza Exist. 67. de patribus. S●ptimus Tertullianus fuit omni genere literarum peritus, sed in eloquendo parum ●acilis, & mi●●● comptus, & multum obscurus fuit, ergo ne hic quidem satis celebritatis invenit. Lactant. lib. 5. de justitia.  flourishing in the Reign of Severus the Emperor, about two hundred years after Christ's Birth, and not past one hundred after the death of john the Evangelist. jerom being urged with his authority, said, De Tertulliano nihil aliud respondeo, quam Ecclesiae hominem illum non fuisse.  
In Graecia celebres agnosco Patres, Clementem, Athanasium, Cyrillum & Damascenum. Montacutius Analect. Eccles. exercit, 1. Sect 6.  
Cyprian the Martyr was of great authority amongst all for his holiness of life. 
Cyprianus unus est mult●rum i●star veterum habendus, sive spectes eloquentiam, sive doctrinam, sive pastoris dignitatem, sive pectus Apostolici spiritus vigorem ubique fragrans, sive Martyrii gloriam. Pectus ardet evangelica pietate, & pectori respondet oratio: loquitur diserta, sed magis fortia quam diserta: neque tam loquitur fortia quam vivit, ut ipse meminit alicub●. Erasm. Epist. lib. 28. pag. 1148, 1149, etc. Unus praecipuus & clarus extitit Cyprianus, quoniam & magnam sibi gloriam ex artis oratoriae professione quaesierat; & admodum multa conscripsit in suo genere miranda. Erat enim ingenio facili, copioso, suavi, & (quae sermonis maxima est virtus) aperto; ut discernere ●equeas, utrumne ornatior in eloquendo, an facilior in explicando, an potentior in persuadendo fuerit. Lactant. lib. 5. de justitia. Augustinus copiosus est, Hieronymus su●cinctus: Lactantius Ciceronem imitatur, Tertullianus obscuritatem amat: Chrysostomus ornatus & apertus est, Nazianzenus pressus & acutus. Whitak. de Script.   
Dr Hall calls Lactantius, the Christian Cicero. jerom calls him Eloquentiae Tullianae Fluvium. Epist. ad Paul. Tom. 1. and M. Selden de Dis Syris calls him Politissimum Patrum. He lived about the year 250.  
Sententious Tertullian, grave Cyprian, resolute Hierom, flowing chrysostom, 
In Athanasio suspicimus scriam ac sedulam docend● perspicuitatem. In Basilio pr●ter subtilitatem, exosculamur piam ac mitem suaviloquentiam. In hujus sodali Chrysostomo sponte profluentem orationis copiam amplectimur. In Cypriano spiritum v●neramur Martyrio dignum. In Hilario grandi materiae parem grandiloquentiam. atque ut ita loquar, Cothurnum adm●ramur. In Ambrosio dulces quosdam aculeos, & Episcopo dignam amamus verecundiam. In Hieronymo divitem Scripturarum penum optimo jure laudamus. In Gregorio puram nulloque fuco picturatam sanctimoniam agnoscimus. Erasmus lib. 28. Epist. Praesat. in August.  divine Ambrose, devout Bernard, heavenly Augustine. Bishop Hals 4th Decade of Epist. Epist. 3. Vide Hieron. Epist. ad Paulinum the Institutione Monachi.  
One saith, He that looks upon the Father's Works would think they did nothing but Write; he that looks on their Devotions would think they did nothing but Pray; he that looks on their Learning would think they did nothing but Reade.  
Bernard was a worthy man in the corrupt age in which he lived, but Bernardus 
Patrum Latinorum propè ultimus. Bern.  non vidit omnia, say the Papists.  
Bernardum non admitto, utpote recentiorem, & longè post confirmatam Romani Pontificis tyranidem, scribentem ex more & errore sui temporis. Chamier. de Canone lib. 3. cap. 3. & cap. 5. 
Mercerus in Gen.   
Danda venia bonis illis & sanctis patribus qui ignorantia linguarum multa saepe aliena à germana Scriptura senserunt, pio alioquin attulerunt.  
3. For Protestant Interpreters.  
Calvin is not only commended by our own Writers, but by the very Papists. 
Ex Scriptura ipsa Calvinus ita Scripturam interpretatus est, u● inter aequos rerum judi●es, doctis●imi interpretis nomen jure meritus fit. Rivetus in Catholico Orthodoxo.   
I would content myself among the new Writers with Mr Calvin, who performeth best of all others that which he of himself professeth, that a man in reading his Expositions reapeth this benefit, that for the shortness he useth, he departeth not far from the Text itself. Cartw. letter to M. Hildersham.  
Calvin was the notablest instrument that the Lord hath stirred up for the purging of his Churches, and restoring of the plain and sincere interpretation of the Scriptures, which hath been since the Apostles times. Cartw. Reply to Dr Whitgift, in defence of the Admonit. p. 19  
Name me one Papist who preached so often, and wrote so accurately upon the holy Scriptures, as Calvin. Dr Featleys Stricturae in Lyndomastigem, c. 14.  
I so honour the judgement of reverend Calvin, that I reckon him amongst the best Interpreters of Scripture, since the Apostles left the earth. Dr Hals Revelation unrevealed, p. 33.  
Piscator hath done well in his Scholia on all the Bible. He follows junius for the Old Testament, and Beza for the New, and in his Aphorisms he follows calvin's Institutions▪ Piae & venerabilis memoriae propter eruditionem textualem singularem, & sanctitatem parem, Joan. Piscator, saith Dr Twisse.  
Bucer 
d Quo nemo aetate sua solidier & nervosior Theologus. Whitakerus in concione ultima. Non immeritò aliquando magnus Scaliger dixit, Ab Apostolorum temporibus hactenus parem Theologum nullum vidisse seculum. Innumera loca primus illustravit, L'Empere●r in Dan. 2. 45.  also was an excellent Divine. He hath written a twofold Exposition on all the Psalms, one more large and Paraphrastical, the other briefer and ad verbum.  
Francis junius 
e Incomparabilis illa editio Tremelliana, opera & cura doctissimi Theologi Francisci Junii elucubrata & expolita pluribusque Scholiis locupletata. Fuller. Miscel. Sac. l. 2. c. 1. Vide Bootii censuram in Indice Autorum. Animadversionibus sacris praefixo. In Novo Testamento laboravit Erasmus Roterodamus non inutiliter, cum vertendo, tum paraphrasi explicando, tum annotando. Chamierus de Canone, l. 12. c. 1  the very Oracle of Textual and Scholastical Divinity, as Dr Hall calls him, Epist. 7. Decad. 1.  
Vatablus his Annotations upon the Old Testament, and Beza's on the New are commended by Zanchy in his Miscellanies: But Arnoldus Boot in his Index Autorum before his Animadversiones Sacrae, saith Robert Stephens, and not Vatablus was the Author of those Scholia which are in Vatablus his Bible.  
Doctus Vatablus prae caeteris quos adhuc videre contigit omnibus, abstrusa quaequ● in Psalmis explicuit; partim suo sano judicio, partim doctissimorum Hebraeorum testimonio: quem etiam admirandus Calvinus studiose sequitur ferè ubique, quasi à sententia Vatabli non tutum esset discedere. Ford. in Ps. 45. 1.  
Quid hac phrasi denotetur optimè exposuit D. Beza suis in Novum Testamentum nunquem satis laudatis notis. Constantin. L'Empereur in Dan. 2. 8.  
See more of him in Zanchies Epistles.  
Amama, Paulus Fagius, Drusius, Ludovicus Capellus, lively, Cameron, Ludovicus de Dieu, have been great Lights, and by their skill in the Tongues, have excellently interpreted Scripture.  
Peter Martyr, Lavater, Musculus, Zanchy, Paraeus, Rollock, Rivet are sound Expositors.  
Ex omnibus antiquis & recentioribus medullam variarum interpretationum, & circa eos disceptationem collegit Willetus in hexaplis ad Genesin, Exodum, Leviticum, Danielem, Epistolam ad Romanos (in libros Samuelis sibi dissimilis est, & compendio atque alia plane methodo commentatur) optandum esset telam illam à Willeto tam foeliciter coeptam, eadem methodo in reliquos Scripturae libros pertexi. Voetius Biblioth. Theol. lib. 1. cap. 14.  
4. For Popish Expositors.  
Aquinas 
f Papa Innocentus primum locum tribuit Thomae post Scripturas, & meritò, nam melius de Papatu meruit quam omnes Patres. Rainoldus. B. Morton's Appeal, l. 2. c. 2. Sect. 22. Papistarum Homerus Thomas Aquinas. Rainold. de lib. Apoc.  is esteemed by the Papists as the Oracle of the Romish School, 
g Rainolds against Hart. Thomas Aquinas adhuc infans chartam versa●s, imò comedens, significabat quam studiosus foret adultior factus. Cornel. a Lapide in Gen. 25. 22.  whom for his profound learning and search into the mysteries of all Divinity they surnamed 
* Omnium Pontificiorum quasi communis quidam pater est, & propter prosundam eruditionem atque eximiam pietatem Divus Thomas, Doctor Seraphicus, Doctor Angelicus, vulgo salutatur. Quicunque Beati Thomae Doctrinae impugnat, semper fuerit de veritate suspectu●, Salmer. Laurent. River. Eccles. Rom. erga Pat. Subdola Artic. 7. Sect. 2.  Angelical.  
He was the first thorow-Papist of name that ever wrote, and with his rare gifts of wit, learning and industry did set out Popery most.  
Maximo & altissimo ingenio vir, cui ad plenam absolutamque totius tam divinae, quam humanae eruditionis gloriam solus defuit linguarum & eloquentiae usus, quem eruditi istius saeculi, utpote sublimioribus studiis intenti, neglexere. Sixtus Senensis. Vide plura ibid.  
Luther on Gen. 9 chief commends Lyra for following the literal sense. Nicolau● Lyranus, Vir tanta tamque pura, vera & germana Sacrae Scripturae scientia praeditiu, ut in illa exponenda nullum habeat illius temporis parem. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. Tom. 1. praelect. 21. Vide plura Tom. 1. praelect. 42. He was a Jew converted.  
Ex antiquioribus tanquam universales & communes Commentatores habiti fuerunt Lyranus & Glossa. Voetius in Biblioth. Theol.  
Jansenius eruditus & moderatus 
a Spanhem. Dub. Evang. part. 2. Dub. 34. Vide ibid. Dub. 5. pag. 132, 133.  Interpres. Neque Pontificiorum quisquam doctius interpretatus est Evangelicam historiam. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. Tom. 2. Praelect. 194.  
Cajetane went over all the Scripture, 
b Chamierus.  saving the Canticles and Prophets, which dying he left begun, and the Revelation, Quam de industria attingere noluit.  
He was both a learned and moderate Papist, as Chamier and Whitaker both show. He was chiefly intent on the literal sense, 
c Cardinalis Cajetanus omnes Epistolas Novi Testamenti & Actorum librum recensuit ad veritatem Graecans & Annotationibus illustravit, intra spatium circiter decem men●ium. Chamierus Tom. 1. de Canone, l. 13. c. 4. Vir meo judicio quam vis Papista, tamen candidus plurimumque distans ab ea pertinacia, quam in reliquis deplorare cogimur. Idem de Canone l. 12. c. 1. Vide Whitakerum de Scriptures, p. 16, 17. & 196. Andradius mentione Cajetani sacta subjungit, omnes illum aetatis suaelonge superasse.  and that according to the Hebrew truth, of which Tongue he had little knowledge, but had by him those that were skilled in the Hebrew, who would interpret ad verbum, not only exactly, but superstitiously, and often absurdly, which often drew the like Expositions from the Cardinal.  
Tostatus was admirable for his deep skill and almost incredible pains in interpreting holy Scripture.  
There are now five Papists joined together in several Volumes on the whole Scripture, Immanuel Sa, Estius, Gagneius, Tirinus and Menochius; the last of which Grotius commends in his Preface to his Annotations on the Old Testament. Estius doth excellently on all the Epistles.  
The Commentaries of Immanuel Sa the Jesuit upon the Bible, are shorter than the Text itself.  
Familiam ducant inter Commentatores Jansenius & Maldonatus. Montac. Analecta Exercit. 6. Sect. 4.  
Maldonate doth well on the Evangelists, but was a most supercilious Writer; and no marvel, since he was for his Country a Spaniard 
d Maldonatus Hispanus, quae gente nulla gens confidentior sui; & jesuita, qua secta nulla secta magis despiciens aliorum. Chamier. de Euchristia l. 10. c. 10. , and his Profession a Jesuit.  
Masius 
e Andraeas' Masius Papista quidem, ac sanior & dexterrimus Scripturae sacrae sanctae interpres. Glassius O●omat.  hath written learnedly on joshua.  
Quanta vir ille linguae Graecae, sed praesertim Hebraicae, Rabbinicae, & Syriacae cognition fuerit imbutus, nemini docto opinor incognitum. Morinus lib. 1. exercitat. 9 c. 6. & exercit. 1. c. 4. Andraeas' Masius linguae Hebraicae & Syriacae peritissimus, atque in lectione Rabbinica egregiè exercitatus.  
The Popish Postils are the burden of many Camels (as Lipsius speaks of the 
Postillae voce Barbara significant ●aciles & breves expositiones. Rainold. de lib. Apoc.  Books of the Law) and are fitly styled by godly Divines, Pigrorum pulvinaria. Vide Zepperi Artem Habendi & Andiendi conciones sacras. lib. 1. cap. 4. pag. 38, 39 etc.  
Ministers to all the means formerly mentioned for the interpreting of Scripture, must add a conscionable practice of what they know, and must in all humbleness of mind seek the people's edification.  
The means to be used by the people, to understand the Scripture, and find out the sense and meaning of it.  

1. If they be learned, they may make use of most of the former means prescribed to Ministers.  
2. Such as are unskilful, and know not how to make use of those means, are 
One well observeth that there are three stars to direct us in reading a book of Scripture, the Persons, Time and Place; the more one observes these three, the better he will be able to carry on the series of the Discourse.  

1. Diligently to read the Scripture, in which are to be considered, 

1. Antecedent Preparation, that they come to the reading and study of the Scriptures with Prayers and greatest Reverence, relying on the Divine Promises for the enlightening of their minds by the holy Ghost. The Scripture may well be called The Revelation of Christ, Rev. 1. 1. See Rev. 5. 5.  
2. The Adjuncts of reading, which are, 

1. Chiefest Attention in reading, and a pious disposition and spiritual frame 
Prov. 4. 13.  of the heart, that they may not understand only, but cordially affect what they understand.  
2. Application of all things to the Examination, Correction, and amendment 
Joh. 7. 17.  of their own lives.  
3. Diligent Meditation.  
4. Conferring of it with others, and catechising. 
Deut. 6. 6, 7.     
2. They ought to have recourse to those that are more skilful than themselves, and to consult with the best Commentaries and Expositions of the Scripture, and read them judiciously.       
We teach concerning our Means, that they all together do make a perfect way whereby we may find the right sense of the Scripture.  
Our Adversaries prescribe this method and course to be taken in expounding of 
Praxis Ecclesiae, Patrum consentions interpretatio, Conciliorum praescripta & decreta, Regula fidei. The custom of the Church is but the custom of men: the sentence of the Fathers is but the opinion of men: the determination of Counsels, but the judgements of men, what men soever. Whitaker.  Scripture, which consists in four Rules: The general Practice of the Church, The Consonant Interpretation of the Fathers, The Decrees of general Counsels; Lastly, The Rule of Faith consisting partly of the Scriptures, partly of Traditions unwritten.  
In all these means the Pope is implicitly understood, for the Rule of Faith is 
More credit in matters controverted between Rome and us is to be given to the Churches and Fathers of that first Age after Christ, then of the later, when the mystery of iniquity (rising by degrees) had gotten too great both height and breadth. Robin's. Essays Observ. 9  that which the Pope approves: The Practice of the Church is that which the Pope observes, the Interpretation of the Fathers is that which the Pope follows, the Determination of Counsels, what the Pope confirms; so that the Pope must interpret all Scripture. But divers Reasons may be alleged to show that the true Interpretation of Scripture is not to be sought for from the Popes of Rome.  

1. Because the Popes of Rome have frequently and grossly erred in interpreting of Scripture, as in Rom. 8. 8. Those that are in the flesh cannot please God; that is, Those that are married, said Siricius the Pope. Innocent so expounded those words, john 6. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall have no life in you; that he thence concluded, That there is no salvation without receiving the Eucharist, and that it is to be given to Infants. Pope Boniface interpreted Luke 22. 38. of the Temporal and Spiritual Sword delivered to the Pope.  
2. Because the Popes of Rome do differ among themselves in interpreting of Scripture, as Matth. 16. 18. Some Popes say rightly that by the Rock, Christ, or the Confession of Faith given by Peter concerning Christ, is meant; others interpret it of the person of Peter the Apostle, others expound it to be the Roman Seat or Chair.  
3. Because many of the Popes of Rome have not only erred, but been gross and wicked Heretics▪ Liberius the Pope about the year 350 was an Arian, and subscribed to the unjust condemnation of Athanasius, and afterward as an obstinate Heretic 
Inter Pontisices Romanos multi fuerunt scelerati, ex quorum improba vita plus red●it ad Christianos scandali, quam ex eorum authoritate aedificationis. Non potuit vir humani ingenii non fremere, cum legenti Pontificum Romanorum vitas tot occurrerent monstra scelerum. Chamier. de Canone lib. 3. cap. 6. Vide plura ibid. Absit ut unius homuncionis, & quidem infirmissimi, arbitrio stare credamus vel cadere veritatem Dei. Chamierus ibid. cap. 7.  was deposed. Honorius the first was a Monothelite, he held that Christ had but one will, and so but one nature, and for this Heresy was condemned in three General Counsels. Some Popes were Atheists, as Leo the tenth, who called the Gospel Fabulam de Christ●.   
One calls the Pope that great Heteroclite in religion; another saith, The Pope is the worst of Cardinals, who are the worst of Priests, who are the worst of Papists, who are the worst of Christians.  
That the general consent of Fathers is no good Rule for interpreting Scriptures, See Ia●●●us Laurentius his singular Tractate entitled Reverentia Eccles. Rom. erga S. Pat. veteres subdola Artic. 2. & Proposit. 9  
In his Auctarium he proves, that the Protestants do more esteem the Fathers than the Papists and Jesuits.  
For Counsels.  
Gregory the Pope equalizeth the four first General Counsels to the four Gospels, not in respect of Authority, but in respect of the verity of the Articles defined in them: He saith not, They could as little err, but they did as little err in their decisions; or to speak more properly, That their Doctrine was as true as Gospel, because the Determinations in those first General Counsels against Heretics, are evidently deduced out of holy Scriptures. Dr Featley's Stricturae in Lyndomastigem concerning the 7 Sac.  
For if these four general Counsels be of equal Authority with the four Gospels, the Pope's Authority (as Papists say) being above the Authority of the Counsels, it followeth, That his Authority is greater than the Evangelists; than which what can be more blasphemously spoken?  
We say, the true Interpretation of Scripture is not to be sought from general Counsels.  
First, Because even universal Counsels have erred; the Chalcedonian Council, 
g Plus credendum est simplici laico Scripturam proferenti, quam toti simul Concilio. Panormitanus.  one of the four so much magnified by Pope Gregory in rashly preferring the Constantinopolitan Church before that of Alexandria and Antioch. Those that condemned Christ were then the universal visible Church, Matth. 26. 65. john 11. 47. See Act. 4. 18.  
Secondly, General Counsels have been opposite one to another, that of Constance to the other of Basil; whereof one setteth down, that Counsels could err, and so also the Pope, and that a Council was above the Pope; the other affirmeth the quite contrary.  
Thirdly, There were no general Counsels after the Apostles for three hundred years till the first Council of Nice, when yet the Church had the true sense of the Scriptures.  
Fourthly, The general Counsels interpreted Scripture by Scripture, as Athanasius and Ambrose teach concerning the first Council of Nice.  
Fifthly, Because they cannot be so easily celebrated to declare any doubtful sense of Scripture. They have expounded but few places of Scripture, neither is it likely the Pope will assemble them to expound the rest.  
The Papists say, That the Scripture ought to be expounded by the Rule of Faith, and therefore not by Scripture only. But the Rule of Faith and Scripture is all one.  
As the Scriptures are not of man, but of the Spirit; so their Interpretation it not by man, but of the Spirit like wise.  
Let Counsels, Fathers, 
h Mr Greenhill on Ezek. 3. 14▪ p 316. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Analysis 1. Grammatica quae proprias, 2. Rhetorica quae tropicas dictiones excutit. 3. Logica quae scopum, quae antecedentium & consequentium seriem, probationumque vi● indicat. Altingius.  Churches, give their sense of the Scripture, its private, if it be not the sense and interpretation of the Spirit. Let a private man give the true sense of the Scripture it's not private, because its Divine; the sense of the holy Ghost, and private, in 2 Pet. 1. 20. is not opposed to public, but to Divine; and the words are to be read, No Scripture is of a man's own Interpretation; that is, private, contrary to Divine.  
The word is interpreted aright, by declaring, 1. The Order, 2. The Sum or Scope. 3. The Sense of the words, which is done by framing a Rhetorical and Logical Analysis of the Text. In giving the sense, three Rules are of principal use and necessity to be observed.  

1. The literal and largest sense of any words in Scripture must not be embraced farther, when our cleaving thereunto would breed some disagreement and contrariety between the present Scripture, and some other Text or place, else shall we change the Scripture into a Nose of wax.  
2. In case of such appearing disagreement, the holy Ghost leads us by the hand to seek out some distinction, restriction, limitation or figure for the reconcilement thereof, and one of these will always fit the purpose; for God's word must always bring perfect truth, it cannot fight against itself.  
3. Such figurative Sense, Limitation, Restriction or Distinction must be sought out, as the Word of God affordeth either in the present place, or some other; and chiefly those that seem to differ with the present Text, being duly compared together.     
The End of the first Book.   

THE SECOND BOOK. OF GOD.  

CHAP. I. That there is a God.  
HAving handled the Scripture, which is principium cognoscendi, in Divinity, I now proceed to Treat of God, 
a Illum Graece 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant, Latini post eos, & ab iis Deum dixere: Galli, Itali, Hispani, mutuato à Latinis nomine, Dieu, Dio, Dios, appellant. Germani, Angli, Belgae Got. vel God eum nuncupant.  who is principium essendi; or thus, The Scripture is the rule of Divinity, God and his works are the matter or parts of Divinity.  
This Doctrine is,  

1. Necessary, 

1. Because man was made for that end, that he might rightly acknowledge and worship 
b Acts 17. 27. Rom. 1. 20, 21▪  God, love and honour him.  
2. It is the end of all Divine Revelation, john 5. 39  
3. To be ignorant of God is a great misery; Being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them.    

2. Profitable,  
Our welfare and happiness consists in the knowledge of God, jer. 9 23. john 
ᶜ Ephes. 4. 18. There is no equal proportion between the faculty and the object. Deum dignè aestimamus dum inaestimaabilem dicimus, Cyprian, de Idol. vanit. De Deo etiam dicere vera periculorum est. Ruffin. in exposit. Symb. Lod. Viu. de verit. fidei l▪ 1. c. 8. Things that excel in Scripture phrase, usually are said to be things of God, Psal. 36. 6. and 80. 10. john 3. 3.  17. 3. the knowledge of God in the life to come, is called the Beatifical vision.   

3. Difficult;  
God being infinite, and our understanding finite; betwixt which two there is no proportion; who knows the things of God, save the spirit of God? A created understanding can no more comprehend God, than a vial glass can contain the waters of the sea. His wisdom is unsearchable, Rom. 11. job 11. 7. and 26. 13. The Holy Fathers thought no word lawful concerning God, which he hath not in his holy word granted us to use. Euclid answered very fitly to one ask many things concerning the gods, Coetera quidem nescio, illud scio, quod odêre curiosos. Simonides being asked by Hiero, What God was, required some days time to be given him to think of it, and as many more at the end of them, still doubling his time for inquiry; till at last being by Hiero asked a reason of his delays, he answered him, Because (saith he) quò magis inquiro, ●ò minus invenio, how much the more I inquire, the less I understand. The glorified Saints in heaven, though they know God to their own perfection, being spirits of just men made perfect, yet they shall never know God to his perfection: None but God himself can know God perfectly, john 1. 18. 1 Tim. 6. 16. Tunc enim dicitur aliquid comprehendi, quando pervenitur ad finem cognitionis ipsius, & hoc est quando res cognoscitur ita perfectè, sicut cognoscibilis est. Aquinas, part. 1. Quaest 14. Art. 3. qui prè infinita prosequitur et si non contingat aliquando, tamen proficiet prodeundo. H●l. de Trin. l. 2.    
We know God per viam eminentiae, negationis, causationis.  

1. All perfection which we apprehend must be ascribed unto God, and that 
All excellencies are originally, essentially and infinitely in him.  after a more excellent manner then can be apprehended, as that he is in himself, by himself, and of himself; that he is one, true, good, and holy.  
2. We must remove from him all imperfections whatsoever; he is Simple, Eternal, Infinite, Unchangeable.  
3. He is the Supreme cause of all, jer. 2. 13.   
There is a threefold knowledge of God.  

1. An implanted knowledge, which is in every man's conscience, a natural engrafted principle about God, O anima naturaliter Christiana! said Tertullian, 
Q●●d est totus mundus nisi Deus expli●●tus?  Apologet. c. 17.  
2. An acquired knowledge by the Creatures, Psal. 19 1. that is the great Book, in every page thereof we may behold the Deity. 
ᵏ Some urge this, What Moses was to the Jews, Christ in the new Testament, that was Philosophy to the Heathens; enough to save them. Erasmus had much ado to forbear saying, Sancte Socrates, ora pro nobis: but omnis doctrina Philosophorum sin● Capite, quia Deum ignorabant, Lactantius, & Extra ecclesiam nulla salus. V●de Montac. Analect. eccles. exercit. 1. Sect. 4. See Matth. 4. 16. Co●. 4. 3. and Dr. Prideaux in his eighth Lecture de Salute Ethnicorum. To believe there is a God, is the foundation of all Religion. Caput est primum Divin● legis, ipsum Deum nosse. Lactantius. It is a question, whether a man by the light of nature may know that there is a God. Though this be denied by the Socinians, yet those Scripture, Rom. 1. 19 and Psal. 19 beg. seem to prove it. Cardinal Perron having in an excellent Oration before Henry the 3 King of France, proved, that there was a God, and his Auditory applauding him, he offered (if it pleased the King) the next day to prove the contrary; whence (saith Voetius de Atheismo) He was commanded to depart the Court; Because (saith Vedelius in his Rationale Theologicum. l. 1. c. 3.) He favoured that opinion of not admitting the principles of reason in arguments of faith: Hence it was easy for him from that foundation to plead for Atheisin, since it is impossible to prove that there is a God, without the principles of Reason.  Praesentemque refert quaelibetherba Deum.  
3. Revealed knowledge of faith, spoken of Heb. 11. 6. and this is only sufficient to Salvation.   
The Heathens had the knowledge of God in a confused manner, they might know there was a God, and that he was to be worshipped, but could not learn who God was, or what kind of God he was, and how to be worshipped 2 Tim. 1. 10. Rom. 1. 19, 21. and 2. 14. a practical knowledge, v. 15. Which show the work of the Law written in their hearts, not the gracious writing promised in the Covenant; the light of nature is not sufficient to bring men ᵈ to salvation, Only in ludah is God known, Psal. 76. 1, 2. and 1●7. 19 See john 14. 6. and 1●. 27. Ephes. 2. 11, 12. The Heathens might know God's Nature and Attributes, that he was the Creator of the world, that by his providence he did preserve and rule all things, but they could not by the most industrious use of all nature's helps, attain unto any the least knowledge of God, as he is man's Redeemer in Christ; they know not the truth as it is in Jesus, Ephes. 4. 21. Vide Barlow exercitat. Metaphys. de Deo exercit. 4.  
In God we will consider:  

1. His Nature.  
2. His Works.   
In his nature two things are considerable.  

1. That he is.  
2. What he is.   
That God is, is the most manifest, clear, evident, ungainsayable truth in the world. It is the first verity, and the principal verity; from which all other truth hath its original; and it is the foundation of all true goodness and Religion truly to believe it; so saith the Author to the Hebrews, He that cometh to God, to do him any service, or to receive any benefit from him, must believe, that is, be firmly and undoubtedly persuaded, that God is. Some think this is a needless subject to treat of, but it is necessary:  

1. Because the most universal and incurable disease of the world is Atheism, Psal. 14. 1. fond surmises are wont to grow in the hearts of all, where Religion is not settled: Foundation-stones indeed cannot be guarded so much by argument as divine testimony.  
2. Supreme truths should be laid up in the greatest certainty; if the principles of Religion were firmly assented to, confidence would follow of its own accord.  

3. It is good often to revive this truth of the being of God: the forgetfulness of God is a kind of denial of him, Psal 9 17. and 10 4.  
By a God, we mean an essence better than all other things, and before all other things, and of whom all other things are; such a first essence is God, and such an essence there must needs be; neither is any thing of absolute necessity but this one thing, even the Divine essence.    
Reasons to confirm this, that there is a God, are taken from authority or Testimony, and reason. 
Principles can only be demonstrated testimonis, effectis, & absurdis, showing the absurdities that will else follow.   
The Testimonies are,  

1. Of God himself.  
2. The Creature. 

1. General of all men.  
2. Particular of each man's conscience.     
Reason's may be drawn from two chief places; viz. The effects and the contrary.  
The effects are either,  

1. Ordinary, and those: 
There are two kinds of Demonstrations or proofs. 1. A demonstrating of the effects by their causes, which is a proof à priori. Principles cannot be demonstrated à causa and à priori, because they have no superior cause. 2. A demonstrating of causes by their effects, which is a proof drawn à posteriori. So principles may be demonstrated. All principles being Prima and Notissimae of themselv●s, are thereby made indemonstrable, Vide Aquin. part. 1. Quest. 2. Art. 2. & 3.  

1. Natural, both General, the making and preserving of the world; and Special, the framing or maintaining of each man or other like creature in the world.  
2. Civil, the upholding and altering the States of Kingdoms, and particular Country's.    
2. Extraordinary, miracles.   
Arguments from the contrary are two:  

1. The Being of the Devils.  
2. The slightness of the reasons brought to disprove this truth or to show the Contrary.   
Though no man can prove â causa, why there should be a God, yet every man may collect ab effectu, that there is a God: By that wisdom, which we see to have been in the making; that Order in the Governing, and that Goodness in the preserving and maintaining of the world. All which prove as effectually, that there needs must be a God; as either warming or burning, that the fire must needs be hot.  
That there is a God, is proved. 
Quod fit Deus.   

1. By Testimony.  
2. By Reason.   
1. By the Testimony of God 
c The weightiest Testimony that can be brought to prove there is a God, is to produce the Testimony of God speaking in his word. None other in the world can have equal authority, john 8. 13, 14. Yet this Testimony is not allowed by the Atheists. For as they deny that there is a God, so they deny likewise that the Scripture is his word. Atheomastix, l. 1. c. 2.  himself, he that testifieth of himself, either by word or writing, is. God hath written a Book to us, in which he affirms of himself that he is; every page almost, and line of Scripture point to God. He begins his Book with himself, saying, In the beginning God made heaven and earth. He concludes this Book with himself, saying, If any man shall take aught from this Prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of life. In every particular prophecy, he testifieth the same thing, saying, Thus saith the Lord.  
2. By the general Testimony of all men, by the universal and constant consent 
See Rom. 1. 20.  of all Nations in the world, Rom. 2. 15. It is called a Law written in their hearts; all publicly confess and profess their belief of God; we never read nor heard any so barbarous and uncivil, which acknowledged not a Deity. There is no 
Nulla gens tam effera ac barbara quae non cognoscat ●sse Deum. Cicero de natura Deorum. Epicurum ipsum, quem nihil pudendum pudet, tamen Deum negare pudet. Mornaeus. Numen esse aliquod sumitur à manifestissimo consensu omnium gentium, apud quos ratio & boni mores non planè extinct● sunt inducta feritate. Grotius de rel. Christ. l. 1. Inveniuntur qui sine reg● sine lege vivunt, qui sub dio degunt, qui nudi ferarum instar sylvas oberrant, avia quaerunt & obvia depascuntur. Qui religionis specie, qui sacris, qui numinis sensu planè, carerent nulli inventi sunt, nulli ctiammon inveniuntur. Mornaeus de veritate Christianae relig. c. 1.  History which showeth the manners of any people, but showeth also their Religion. All Commonwealths had always something which they worshipped, and called in their language God; this principle is written by God himself in the Table of every man's soul. That which is written in the hearts of all men, which with one mouth all acknowledge, must needs be a truth, seeing it is the voice of reason itself.  
Munster in his Cosmography, and Orteli●s in his Theatrum Orbis, have delivered unto us not only a Cosmographical description of all Countries, but also a Tropographical description of their manners, yet neither of them hath noted any Nation to be without all Religion, ᶠ none to be professed in Atheism. Idolatry itself (as Calvin observes in his institutions) is hujus conceptionis amplum documentum, a sufficient Testimony of a Deity, men will rather have false Gods than none, and worship any thing than nothing. Hinc, quod homines naturaliter hanc propositionem tenent, Deus est, nata est omnis idololatria, quae sine cognitione divinitatis non venisset in mundum, Lutherus in cap. 4. ad Galat. See Isa. 44. 15, 17.  
Porrum & Caepe nefas violare ac frangere morsu.  
O sanctas gentes, quibus haec nascuntur in hortis.  
Numina—  juvenal. Satyr. 15. 
Pythagoras, Plato, and all the Poets began their works with God's name. A jove principium musae.  
Socinus affirms, that there are whole Country's found at this day, which have no sense or suspicion of a Deity; which is very false, for God never suffered the Gentiles so to walk in their own ways, as to leave himself without all witness among them. Acts 14. 16, 17. The very Cannibals are found to believe the immortality of souls, and highly to prise their Priests. The Heathens lifted up their eyes & hands to heaven in any distress that came upon them. See 1 john 6▪ Vide Lud. Viu. de ver. Fid. Christ. l. 2. c. 1. & Voss. de orig. & Progres. Idol. l. 1. c. 2. Rom. 1. 19, 21. Acts 7. 28, 29.  
3. By the particular Testimony of each man's conscience. Gen. 42. 21, 22. Conscience 
* The most pregnant and undeniable proof of the Godhead with the Heathen, was the voice of conscience. The Scripture showeth, that the wicked were much terrified in their consciences, after the committing of heinous sins, Rom. 2. 15. Isa. 57 20, 21. Mark 6. 14, 16 So doth common experience teach in Murderers, Thiefs, and the like. Richard the third, after his murders, was full of horror and fear; the night before he was slain, he dreamt that the Devils were tormenting him, Credo non erat somnium, sed conscientia scelerum. Polyd. Virgil. Wicked men may be without faith, they cannot be without fear. Isa. 33. 14. they are afraid after committing of sin, though in secret, because they know there is a Supreme Judge, who can call them to account, Psal. 53. 5, 6. Quid resert vemin●m scire si tu scias. Vide Grot. de relig. Christiana l. 1.  proclaims a Law in every heart, and denounceth a punishment for the breach of Gods Law. Conscience is a natural ability of discerning the condition and state of our Actions. whether good or bad; and that not alone in respect of men, but of some other thing above men; for when one hath done things unlawful, though such as no man can accuse us of, because no man doth know; yet than he is accused and tormented, than he hath something in him threatening, arraigning, accusing and terrifying; a Deputy of God, sitting within him, and controlling him; A man must therefore confess, there is a higher power and Supreme Judge, to whom that conscience of his is an Officer. That which the conscience of every man beareth witness unto, is sure a truth, for that is a thousand witnesses. The fears of an ill conscience, the joy and security of a good conscience proves this, that there is a God, a revenger of sins, and a rewarder of virtues, Nero having killed his Mother Agrippina, confessed that he was often troubled with her Ghost. Caligula at the least thunder and lightning would cover his head, and hide himself under his bed; whence Statius saith— Primus in orbe Deos fecit Timor; on the contrary Paul and Silas could sing, and Peter could sleep securely in prison; David could triumphantly rejoice in God, in the greatest dangers, 1 Sam. 30. 6. Austin calls peace of conscience, The Souls Paradise; and Solomon● continual Feast, Prov. 15. 15.— HIc murus aheneus ●sto, Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa 
* Acts 16. 25. and 12. 6. Psal. 3. 6. and 46. 1, 2. Si fractus illabatur orbis impavidum ferient ruinae Horat. .  
2. Divers Reasons may be brought to prove that there is a God, from the effects and the contrary  
1. From his effects  

Ordinary.  
Extraordinary.   
1. Ordinary,  

Natural.  
Civil.   
1. Natural.  
1. General, The Creation and preservation of the world.  
1. Creation, or making all things. 

Every effect hath its cause, whatsoever is wrought or done, is wrought or done by some thing, which hath ability and fitness to produce such an effect; seeing nothing can do nothing, and what hath not sufficiency to produce such and such effects, cannot produce them. Of whom there be works and effects, he is; of God there be works and effects, therefore there is a God.  
As God is to be felt sensibly in every man's conscicience, so is he to be seen visibly in the Creation of the world, and of all things therein contained. Man, the best of the Creatures here below, was not able to raise up such a Roof as the Heavens, nor such a floor as the earth. Doctor Preston, job 12. 9 Serviunt omnia omnibus, uni omnia. Mundi Creatio est Dei Scriptura, cujus tria sunt folia▪ Coelum, terra, mare. The Sun, Moon and Stars move regularly; yea, the Bee and Ant according to their own ends, wonderfully. The creatures which have no reason, act rationally; therefore some supreme reason order them. Finis in sagitta determinatur a Sagittante, say the Schoolmen. Vide Bellarm. de Gratia & libero arbitrico. l. 3. c. 15. Vos. de ●●ig. & Progres. Idol l. 3. c. 31.    
The world must needs be eternal, or must be made by itself, or by some thing which was before itself; and therefore also was far better than itself; but it could not make itself, for what maketh, worketh; what worketh, is; but what is made, is not till it be made: Now nothing can be, and not be at the same time; for both the parts of a contradiction can never be true together; neither could it be eternal, for a thing compounded of parts, must needs have those parts united together by some other thing beside itself, and above itself; and if they be compounded wisely, artificially, strongly and excellently, by some wise, strong and excellent worker, it is inimagible how each of these parts, being not reasonable, should come together of themselves; therefore sure there was some worker, which did so handsomely dispose and order them; and this worker must needs have a being, before he could so work, and therefore also before the conjunction of them; and so things in such sort made by composition of parts, could not be eternal, for that neither hath, nor can have any thing before it; therefore it must needs be made by some thing which was capable of being from Eternity. What is Eternal; is of itself what is of itself is God; the world is not God, because the parts of it are corruptible, therefore it is not eternal; and what is finite in quantity, cannot be infinite in continuance. It could not be made by any creature in it; for the part cannot possibly make the whole, because it is of far less virtue than the whole, and because it hath its being in and of the whole; wherefore it must needs be made by some thing better than itself, which is no part of itself, and that is no other than God; so the making of the world proves a God. What created the world, is, and is better than the world, and before the world, and above all creatures in the world: God created the world. When we see the glorious frame of Heaven and Earth; the excellency, magnitude and multitude of natural things, the beautiful order and harmony, so great variety, we cannot but conclude that there is a God, who made and ordereth all these things.  
2. The Preservation and Continuance of the world in that order which we see, maketh it manifest, that there is a God which preserveth and ordereth it, Heb. 1. 3. For either it must be preserved, ruled and ordered by itself; or by some more excellent thing than it; not by itself; for what could not make itself, cannot of itself keep and uphold itself, seeing no less power is required to its continuation then to its constitution; for it could not continue, if each of the parts did not so work as to help and uphold the other in some respect or other. Now these several parts could not so work for one common end, 
The preserving and ordering of the world, and humane societies in it; the planting and defending of the Church. A number of wheels in a Clock, do work together, to strike at set times, not any one of them knowing the intention of the other; therefore they are ordered and kept in order by the care of some wise person, which knows the distance and frame of each, and of the whole. An Army of men could not meet together at one time, and in one place, to fight for, or against one City, if the wisdom of one General did not command over all. A number of Letters cannot all fall orderly together, to make perfect sense, without some Composer. Protogenes by the smallness of a line drawn in a Table, knew Apelles the chiefest Artificer. He that sees but the shape and effigies of man presently thinks of a Painter. Nec terram propter se vel Sol calefacit, vel nubes irrigat; nec terra vel tepefacta à Sole, vel madesacta à pluvia, sui gratiâ herbas ac fructus producit, sed propter muta animantia, ac hominem imprimis, qui mentis altae capax in ●oetera dominatur. Non suo id confilio faciunt. Alius igitur est qui dirigat universum, Voss. de orig. & progress. Idol. l. 1. par. 1. c. 1.  if they were not guided thereto by some common and understanding guide, which were acquainted with, and had power over each of them, therefore it hath one ruler and upholder. That which is effected by the constant, orderly and subordinate working of innumerable particulars for one common end, whereof no one of them hath any knowledge or acquaintance, must needs be wrought by some common Ruler and Governor which knows the motion and working of each, and rules all, and each to that end in their several motions. What upholds the world is; but God upholds the world, Therefore he is.  
1. This is Aquinas his reason, Natural bodies which want knowledge, work for a certain end, because they frequently work after the same manner; therefore there must be a mind, understanding and governing all things, and directing them to that special and chief end. The whole world doth aptly conspire together for the attaining of one end, the good and benefit of man. All creatures incline to their proper operations, the stone downward, the fire upward, the seasons of the year constantly follow each other.  
2. Particular Effects, the framing and maintaining of each creature in the world; 
Pulchra sunt omnia faciente te: Et ecce tu inenarrabiliter Pulchrior, qui fecisti omnia. Aug. Confess. l. 13. c. 20.  the Heavens and Man especially; these two were most artificially made, as the Scripture shows. The Psalmist calls the heavens, The works of God's fingers, Psal. 8 4. because they were made with greatest ease and with exquisite Art, Heb. 11. 10. whose builder (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Artifex) is God, speaking of the Heavens.  
David spends the 139 Psalms in admiring Gods goodness to him, in the framing of his body, there is a multitude of members, and they have distinct offices, and one member sympathizeth with another, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, ver. 15. curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth: The Hebrew word is very emphatical, it signifieth embroidered, or wrought with a needle, that is cunningly wrought with Nerves, Veins▪ Arteries. Galen upon the contemplation of the admirable workmanship in the body of man, breaketh 
Hic compo●o canticum, in Creatoris nostri la●dem. S● Humani corporis admirabilem constructionem intus extráque conspicimus, & ut omnia ibi etiam minima suos usus habeant, nullo study, nulla industria parentum, arte verò tanta, ut philosophorum ac medicorum praestantissimi nunquam eam satis possint admirari, Ostendit hoc opificem natur● esse mentem excellentissimam: Qua de re videri potest Galenus, praesertim qua parte oculi & manus usum examinat. Grotius de relig. Christ. l. 1.  out into an Hymn, in the praise of him that made g him. The infusing of the soul, Eccles. 11. 5. and sustaining the infant in the womb (where it cannot breathe) and the taking it out of the womb, are wonderful, Psal. 22. 9 and 71. 5.  
1. The creation of the Heavens proves, that there is a God.  
The largeness, roundness, pureness, solidness, the continual and constant motion of the heavens; doth excellently declare the glory of God. The very name of Astronomy (whose object is the motion of the heavenly Orbs and Stars) in exact signification importeth that the stars observe a Law 
* Astrology is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the speech of stars, Astronomy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the law of the stars. The Sun is moved by another, by whom he is tied unto such a strict and unalterable morion, that Astronomers can surely tell (unto the very minute) all the Eclipses, that shall ever fall out so long as the world itself shall last.  in their motion; which Law is given unto them only by God himself, who is their true Lawgiver.  
Suidas affirmeth, that even Abraham himself was first occasioned, to seek after God by considering the motion of the stars; for he being by nation a Chaldean, (who, as Aristotle observeth, are naturally given to that kind of contemplation) and observing in their motion a wonderful order and variety, and yet no less a constancy, he presently collected that these strange revolutions were directed and guided by some God. The Sun is a representative god, the brightness of his beams shows the majesty of God; his influence, the omnipresence of God; his indefatigable motion, the eternity of God.  
2. The Creation of man proves this truth, that there is a God.  
1. A man may reason from his own framing in the womb, and preserving in the world. Man is framed in the womb, by some most noble, wise, and excellent workman. The Parents frame him not there, for they know nothing of his framing, neither when, nor how he was so form; therefore some more excellent thing then a man did frame him there, and doth daily and hourly frame other men; and that is a wise worker, which is alike wise and potent in all places of the world at all times; seeing there is something more excellent than man which hath set down this order for producing of men, and so a God  
2. The Nobility and Excellency of the soul, showeth plainly, that it is of Divine Original; 
h The Heathens called the soul of man divinae particulam aurae, a parcel of the divine essence; but that speech must be taken cum grano salis.  it being spiritual and incorporeal, could not but proceed from that which is incorporeal. The effects cannot be toto genere better then the cause▪ Divers works are done by man, arts invented, Zach. 12. 12. The immortality of the soul proves that there is a God, the soul is quick and lively, when the body is sick and dying.  
3. The being and preservation of each particular man. Each particular man in the world, may reason from his own being thus; either there must be an infinite number of men▪ or else there must be a first man, which was the beginning of all men; but an infinite number of particular men is not possible, seeing there can be no infinite number at all; for every number begins with an unity, and is capable of being made greater by the addition of an unity; therefore there cannot be an infinite number of particular men. Therefore we must come to some first man, and that first man could not make himself, nor be made by any inferior thing to itself; therefore it must be made by some thing more excellent than itself; viz. One infinite thing, from which all particulars had their original.  
4. God is manifested in the consciences of men, as was touched before:  
1. By the Ministry of the word, by which he powerfully worketh on their consciences.  
2. By the inward Checks of conscience after sin committed.  
1. In the godly, 1 Sam. 24. 5. and 2 Sam. 24 10.  
2. In the wicked, Matth, 27. 3, 4, 5.  
2. Civil Effects. 
Civil Effects.   
States and Kingdoms consist, and are governed by a few Magistrates and Rulers. 
●olitiae & Leges pro●ant men●em esse divinam intelligentem, illas hominibus tum monstra●tem tum cons●●vantem, ne Diaboli & impiooum o●io & machinationibus dissolutae corruant; Deus enim est ●eus ordinis.  There are innumerable more men, that wish and desire the overthrow and ruin of the State, then that would live under Government, and be subject to Order.  
This effect must have some cause, either the wisdom and goodness of the governed, or of the Governors, or of some higher cause than they both. Now it cannot be attributed to the wisdom of the Governors, as being often times foolish, and men of mean understanding, at the best, such as cannot prevent the conspiracies of those under them: Nor yet doth it arise from the goodness of the persons governed, most of which most times are wicked, and unwilling to come under government: Therefore it must be of God; that is, a common Superior which holds all in awe.  
2. Extraordinary Effects, Miracles. 
Miraculous Effects.   
There is a work of miracles, for all stories both of Scripture, and other Countries, do agree in relating divers▪ Miracles. Now the worker of a miracle, is he that can lift nature off the Hinges, as it were, and set it on again, as seemeth best to himself; and therefore is above the course of nature, and the Commander 
Exod. 15. 11. Psal. 72. 18. and 136. 4. I●a 41. 23.  of the course of nature, and so is the Author of all things under himself, under nothing; and that is none but God. The certain and plain predictions of future Contingents long afore, whose events could by no wit of man, be either gathered from their causes, or conjectuced from their signs. Miracles 
A Miracle is a work of infinite strength, or omnipotency; surpassing the whol● power of created nature, as to turn water into wine, to multiply seven loaves to the ●eeding and satisfying of 4000 me●, to give the use of sight to one born blind, to raise up a man indeed dead, to cure a leprosy with the word. Miraculum proprie dicitur quod sit praeter ordinem totius naturae creatae. Aquin. part. 1. Quaest 114. Artic. 4. & ibid. quaest. 110. Artic. 4.  are wrought beyond, and above the course of nature; therefore some supreme power must work them.  
Secondly, Arguments may be drawn from the contrary, to prove that there is a God.  
Reasons,  
From the contrary are two:  
1. From the being of Devils.  
There is a Devil, an Enemy to God, which sets himself against God; and desires, and strives, and prevails in many places, to be worshipped as God; therefore it must needs be there is a God, to whom the service and honour is due, of being confessed and adored as God; which these do unduly affect and seek. Again, the Devil is a Creature for strength, wisdom, nimbleness, able to destroy 
The bridling of wicked spirits and men. Plutarch saith, some men were converted from Atheism, by seeing of Ghosts and Apparitions.  all mankind quickly, and out of his malice and fury very willing to do it. Yet he cannot do it, it is not done; of this restraint there is some cause, therefore there must be something, which over-commands, and overrules him, and that can be no other than a God; that is, something of higher Power, and in Wisdom far beyond him. Now there are Devils, it is apparent by the horrible temptations, which are cast into the hearts of men, quite against and beyond their natural inclinations, as Blasphemous suggestions, and as appeareth by the practices of Conjurers and Witches, who practise with the Devil; and of those Countries which worship him instead of God. Vide Lod. Viu. de Ver. Fid. Christ. l. 2. c. 16.  
2. From the slightness of the Reasons brought to disprove this truth, or to show the contrary.  
The Reasons produced to show there is no God, are fond and weak; and what is opposed alone by weak and false Reasons is a truth.  
1. If there were a God, some man should see him, and sensibly converse with him.  
This is a brutish Reason, What cannot be seen is not, than man hath no soul: God is above sense, more excellent then to be discerned by so poor, weak and low a thing as sense is.  
2. God daily makes himself, after a sort, visible to men by his works.  
2. If there were a God, he would not suffer wicked men to prosper, and 
Attend totum & laudabis totum. Aug. Non est judicandum de operibus Dei ante quin●um actum. Pet. Mart. The Atheists third objection, that Religion is but an humane invention. It is the actual acknowledgement of God which preserveth his respect in the world. Gen. 3. 3.  oppose better men than themselves; nor himself to be so Blasphemed as he is.  
Those things that to us seem most unjust and unfit, if we could see the whole tenor of things, from the beginning to the ending, would appear just and wise. Look on the whole story of joseph, and then it is a rich piece.  
All Divine Religion (say the Atheists) is nothing else but an Humane invention, artifically excogitated to keep men in awe; and Scriptures are but the device of man's brain, to give assistance to Magistrates in Civil Government.  
This Objection strikes at the root and heart of all Religion, and opposeth two main principles at once: 1. That there is a God. 2. That the Scripture is the word of God, which though it be but a mere idle fiction; yet it prevailed too much with some learned men. Tully and Seneca were the chief Patrons of that conceit, Tha● Religion is no better than an humane invention.  

1. Religion is almost as ancient as man; when there were but three men in the world, we read that two of them offered up their sacrifices unto God.  
2. The Universality of Religion, declareth that it is not a Humane invention, but a Divine impression; yea, and a Divinity-Lesson of Gods own heavenly teaching. 
G●n. 3. 3. So●●● homo sa 〈…〉 uctus est ut religionem Solus intelligat, & haec est hominis atque mutorum, vel praecipua, vel sola di●●antia. Lactantius de Ira Dei.  Lactantius accounteth Religion to be the most proper and essential difference between a man and a Beast.  
3. The perpetuity of Religion proveth also that it was planted by God. 
Mat. 15. 1●.    
For the second part of the Objection about the Scriptures, I answer:  
Nothing is more repugnant to prudence and policy.  
What policy was it in the Old Testament, to appoint circumcision, to cut a poor child, as soon as he comes into world? two and twenty thousand Oxen▪ and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep were spent by Solomon, at the dedication of one Altar. To slaughter so many Oxen and Sheep (such useful creatures) was enough to bring a famine.  
They were to give away the seventh part of their time to God.  
Christ was not the Son of the Emperor Augustus, to commend him to the Grandees of the world, but the supposed Son of a poor Carpenter; a Star leads the wise men to a stable, though that shined gloriously without, yet there was nothing within, but what was base and contemptible.  
Christ fell on the Pharisees, the great Doctors, Mat. ●3. called them fools and blind, and threatened them with hell; he cried down the Ceremonial Law, the Ministry which had been practised divers hundred years; the Jews were naturally tenacious of their Customs, Christ chose silly unlearned men to propagate the Gospel.  
Nothing crosseth humane wisdom more, than the whole Scripture from the beginning to the end.  
Martin Fortherby 
i He spends his whole second Book about this Reason. The Greeks insinuate, that all Arts come from God; in making Mineroa, the daughter of jupiter, and to have had her generation in his Divine brain: as God the Son is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; so Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, carry upon them the same name. There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verbum, that is Grammar; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ratio, that is Logic; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oratio, and that is Rhetoric.  Bishop of Salisbury, (who wrote Atheomastix) adds another reason, to prove that there is a God, and it is taken from the grounds of Arts: There is no Art (saith he) neither liberal nor illiberal, but it cometh from God, and leadeth to God.  
1. From Metaphysics he urgeth, that the bounding of all natural bodies, is 
The sea is bound up in a sandy girdle.  the work of God; to be unlimited and boundless, is only the Prerogative of the Maker of all things. Every finite body being thus limited, must needs have those bounds prescribed unto it by some other thing, and not by itself. For every thing by nature, seeking to enlarge itself as far as it is able; if it had the setting of its own bounds, it would set none at all, but would be as infinite as God himself is, who hath the setting of limits unto all things. Who could circumscribe all things within their limits, but only God himself, who is both the Maker and Ruler of all things? Psal. 33. 7. job 38. 11.  
2. From Philosophy. Every thing that is, must needs have a cause, and nothing can be the cause of itself, and among all the causes, there can be but one first and principal cause; which is the true cause of all the rest, and of all those 
All second causes depend on the first, and we cannot proceed in Infinitum. All the Reasons of the Natural Philosopher for this purpose, may be reduced to three principal heads; viz. Ex Motu, ex sine, & ex causa efficient, arguments drawn from the motions, ends, and the efficient cause of Crea●u●es. Bunnys resolute. part. 2. Ch. 2.  effects which proceed from all of them: Then the first cause can be nothing else but God; for what can that be, which giveth being unto all things, but only God?  
2. All motion depends on some mover, the motion of sublunary things depend▪ on the motion of the Heavens, and their motion must needs be caused 
Quicquid movetur, ab alio movetur. Some derive Deus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fear, because the fear of him is planted in the very natures and consciences of all reasonable Creatures, others a dand●; in English God, quasi good; his daily mercies and blessings show that there is a God, Acts 14. 17.  by some supreme first mover. Therefore we must necessarily come at last to some first mover, which is moved of no other, and that is God. This was the common argument of Plato, Aristotle, and all the best Philosophers.  
Every thing hath a peculiar end appointed, whereunto it is directed by nature (as the Bird to build her nest, and the Fox to make his den) the Director of nature herself herein must be something above nature, which is God.  
3▪ Others add these Reasons to prove that there is a God:  

1. The heroic motions and prosperous success of some famous men in undertaking and acting those things which exceed the common capacity of humane nature; the gifts of mind in Aristotle, Achilles, Alexander.  
2. The heinous punishments inflicted on particular men, families and Kingdoms for great offences, some of which were wonderfully brought to execution, when by their power and subtlety they thought they could escape the Magistrates Sword.  
3. There are virtues and vices, therefore there must be some law: There can 
The pure Atheist (according to the propriety of that name) is he, which generally and constantly denieth all Deity, and believeth as he saith. The stoutest Atheist that ever lived, cannot resolutely and constantly believe there is no God.  be no eternal reason in the things themselves.   
If we speak of Atheists strictly and properly, meaning such as have simply denied all Deity, and denied it constantly, Tully's sentence is most true, that there was never any such Creature in the world, as simply and constantly to deny God. The name of an Atheist in this sense, is nomen ociosum; a name without a ●●ing. If we speak of Atheists in a larger sense, for such as have openly (though not constantly) denied the Divinity, of such professed Atheists, there have not been past two or three. If we speak of Atheists in the largest sense, meaning such as denied God's providence, justice, goodness, though they have done it but weakly, rather upon some sudden passion, than any settled resolution, their number hath scarcely amounted to a score, I mean of such open Atheists, as have made any public profession of their Atheism, though but even in these secondary points.  
Those Atheists that denied a God, spoke what they wished, rather than what they thought, or else they opposed the Heathenish gods, or to show their 
a Diagoras made a very eloquent Oration, that there was no God; but the people coming to him, applauded him, saying, that in his oration ●e had almost persuaded them, but he did i● so eloquently, that they thought he was the god.  wit▪ Diagoras (the chiefest of them) did 
b Morneus cap. 1. de verit. Relig. p. 16. Anonymus quidam, qui praesente Calvino i● Hospi●io omnem Dei cultum, spem melioris vitae deridens, subi●de nefariè ing●minabat, blasphemam Scripturae detorsionem Atheis u●itatam Coelum Coeli Domino, terram autem dedit filiis hominum, à Deo diris torminibus rep●●e dercussus est, quo sactum, ut ●●binde magno boatu vociferaretur, o Deus, o Deus, cui quidam ex hospitibus homo probut sed facctus: Tune Deum invocas? an Philosophiae tuae oblitus es? Cur non in suo Coelo sinis Deum quiescere? Et quoti●s ille to●abat o Deus, hic alter subsannans regerebat, ubi nunc est illud tuum, Coelum Coeli Domino? Sic Calvin. Comment. in Psal, 115. Vo●t. Theses. de Atheismo part. 2.  Potius Gentilium D●os r●dere, quam Deum negare: He rather derided false gods, than denied the true; 〈…〉 he was not a mere Atheist, appeareth in that he thus began his P●em● Quod a numine su●●no reguntur omnia. It is reported of him, that at the first he was very devout, and a great worshipper of the gods, but having committed some certain money unto a friends keeping, and afterwards demanding it again, his friend loath ●o forego such a booty, forswore that he had received any, whom when Diagoras●aw ●aw, notwithstanding his horrible perjury, to thrive and prosper, and no Divine judgement to fall upon him, he presently turned Atheist, and enemy to the gods, and then laboured by all means to bring other men to like impieties.  
Athenians also condemned Protagoras for an Atheist; yet not for denying God, but for seeming to doubt of him: Because in the beginning of his Book he propoundeth this Problem, De diis quidem statuere nequeo; neque an sint, necn●. For this the Athenians banished him, and decreed, That his Books should be publicly burned. Theodorus (who for his notable profaneness was surnamed Atheos') though at the first he was noted of 
c When he wanted fire he took one of Hercul●s wooden Images, and made a fire of it, saying, Go to, Hercules, thou shalt now go thorough thy thirteenth labour.  Atheism, yet at the last he fell into Autotheism, professing himself a god, as Laertius reporteth; though carrying God in the name, he was an Atheist in his opinion, saith Fuller in his profane State of this Theodorus. A Pope 
* Clement the seventh.  dying said, Now I shall be resolved of three things, 1. Whether there be a God; 2. Whether the soul be immortal; 3. Whether there be an Heaven and Hell.  
Some indirectly deny God by denying his providence, as Epi●urus, who denied 
Psal. 14. 1. and 53. 15. So Genebrard and Muis expound that Ps. 14. of indirect Atheists, who deny God's Providence. Heb. 11. 6. It is not only innatum, sed etiam in animo insculptum, esse Deos. Cic. l. 2. de natura Deorum. No Atheists almost can be named, neither in the holy Scriptures, nor in Ecclesiastical Histories, nor in Heathen writings, which came not unto some fearful end. See Atheomastix. lib. 1. c. 15.  not God's Essence, but only his Providence. He granted that there was a God, though he thought him to be such an one as did neither evil nor good. But God sitteth not idle in Heaven, regarding nothing that is done upon the Earth (as the Epicure conceiteth) he is a most observing God, and will reward and punish men according to their actions.  
First, This serves to blame and condemn the miserable corruption of our evil hearts, which are so far overrun with Atheism; though this be the very first Truth which God hath engraven into the soul of a man, That there is a God, yet we weakly hold this conclusion; for all sin may and must be resolved into the ignorance of God and Atheism; Haereticus disputat contra fidem, malus Christianus vivit contra fidem. A●g. We should be humbled for our thoughts of Atheism, for saying in our hearts th●t there is no God; the Devil in judgement never was an Atheist, because of the sense he hath of God's wrath, jam. 4 19 we should take notice of, and bewail this foul vice.  
There are few Atheists in opinion, more in affection, and most of all in life and conversation, Titus 1. 16. We should beware of opinions and practices that strike at the being of God:  

1. Opinions that tend directly to Atheism: 

1. To think men may be saved in all religions, Ephes. 4. 4. Micah 4. 4.  
2. To deny the particular Providence of God, and exempt humane actions from his determination.  
3. To hold the mortality of the soul.    
2. Practices which seem most contrary to the being of God, 

1. Hypocrisy, that is a real blasphemy, Revel. 2. 9 Psa. 10. 11, 12, 13. an hypocrite denies God's omniscience and omnipresence.  
2. Epicurism, this comes from and tends to Atheism, Psal. 14 2.  
3. Scoffing in matters of religion, and applying of Scriptures to profane occasions, 2 Pet. 3. 1.     
Secondly, We should oppose this Atheism, and labour to grow more and more in 
The Saints of God have still stuck to principles, Psal 73. 1. and Jer. 12. 1.  the knowledge of God, and to strengthen our Faith in this principle. That God is; meditate and ponder of his Works, and be perfect in those Lessons which the common book of Nature teacheth, pray to God to clear the eye of our mind, and to imprint a right knowledge of himself in us; The Papist is a make-god, and the Atheist is a mock-god; The Papist deludeth his conscience, and the Atheist derideth 
* Marbury on Gen. 9 27.  his conscience; Popery comforteth the flesh, and Atheism suppresseth the spirit.  
As the Heathen Emperors took upon them the Title 
d So Demitian, Dominus Deus noster, sic fieri jubet. Suetonius. Edictum Domini Deique nostri. Martial. More Caligulae, Dominum se, Deumque vocar● coegit. Aurelius' Victor.  of god, so doth the Pope, Dominus Deus noster Papa. His Decrees and Canons are called Oracles; Oracle signifieth the answer of God, Rom. 3. 2. and 11. 4. And his decretal Epistles are equalled to the Canonical Epistles.  
Deal with thy heart, as junius his Father dealt with him: he seeing his son was Atheistical, he laid a Bible in every room, that his son could look in no room, but behold a Bible haunted him, upbraiding him, Wilt thou not read me Atheist? Wilt thou not read me? And so at last he read it, and was converted from his Atheism. The often meditating in the Scriptures will (through God's blessing) settle us in these two great Principles, 1. That there is a God; 2. That the Scripture is the Word of God; That God which made Heaven and Earth is the only true God; we must believe that this God which we read of in Scripture is the only true 
e Psal. 48. 14.  God; so it is not enough to believe there is a God, but that 
f Isa. 40. 5, 8.  the Scripture of the Old and New Testament is the Word of God.   

CHAP. II. What GOD is.  
IN him consider, 
Quid sit Deus.   
First, His Nature.  
Secondly, His Works.  
In his Nature two things are considerable:  
First, His Essence.  
Secondly, The Distinction of Persons in that Essence.  


1. Of God's Essence.  
God is an Infinite Essence which is of Himself 
a ●ùm dicunt multi ex antiquis pa●iter & recentioribus De●● esse à seip●o: hoc intellig●●●um est neg●●ivè, ad ex cludendum principium externum: ita ut Deus dicitur esse à seipso, hoc est, ab alio nullo habeat esse: non autem positiuè, seu affirmatiuè, pon●ndo principium internum, quasi revera à se duceret originem: cum manifestum sit Deum esse absolutè, & initium omnino nullum habere posse, vel à se, vel ab alio. Barlo. exercit. 5. , and gives being to all other things: Or thus, He is a Spirit, in and of himself, Infinite in Being, Glory, Blessedness and Perfection, All-sufficient, Eternal, Unchangeable, Incomprehensib●●▪ every where Present, Almighty, Knowing all things, most Wise, most Holy, most Just, most Merciful and Gracious, Long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth▪ So the Assembly in their larger Catechism.  
Some things have their being wholly in another, as accidents, whiteness in the Wall, Wisdom in the mind.   
2. Some things have a being by themselves not inhering in another, as substances, which are of two sorts: 

1. Bodily Substances, which have dimensions, length, breadth and thickness, possessing a place by commensuration of parts.  
2. Spiritual, freed from dimensions and from all circumscription of place; God is not an accident, that is, the most weak and imperfect being, nearest to a not being, and most easily reduced into nothing, as if the grass and flower fade, than the colour and fashion of it cometh soon to nothing. God is not in any other thing, but all things are in him.     
God is a Spirit, a being void of all Dimensions, Circumscriptions, and Divisiblenesse of parts. Other Spirits are compounded of Substance and Accidents at least, and exist in a place by limitation of Essence by which they are here and not there; but God is an Essence altogether simple and immaterial, utterly free from all manner of composition any way, in whom are no qualities, nor any limitation of Essence. He is a Spiritual, Simple, and Immaterial Essence. His Essence is substantial, an Essence which hath a being in itself, not in another, simply and wholly Immaterial (He is one most Pure 
b Intelligences are acts, not pure acts, because it may be said Potuerunt esse. Job 11. 7, 6. and 26. 24.  and mere Act) but Incomprehensible, goes quite beyond our knowledge, so that we cannot comprehend his Essence, nor know it as it is. He only perfectly knows himself, but he may be known in some sort.  

1. By his Names.  
2. By his Attributes.   
The word God is attributed.  
First, Properly to him who is essentially God, Isa. 42. 8. ● Cor. 8. 6. and either personally, commonly, without a determination of a certain person, john 4. 24. Or singularly to some one person by a Synecdoche, john 3. 16. Acts 26. 28. 1 Tim. 3▪ 16.  
Secondly, Improperly to those which by nature are not God, 1 Cor. 8. 5. Gal. 4. 8. and that N●me is given to these, either from God's Ordination, for the Dignity and Excellency of their Office, as to Angels, Psal. 8. 6. to Magistrates, Psal. 82. 6. to Moses, Exod. 4 16. or from their own unjust usurpation, as to the Devil, who is called the god of the world, 2 Cor. 4. 9 or from the erroneous persuasion of men, as to Idols, 1 Cor. 8. 4, 5.  
For the ten Hebrew Names of God (having handled them in another 
* In the Epistle to my Hebrew▪ Critica Sacra, and in the Book itself. Being is Gods Excellency. The being of the creatures is no being compared with God, Isa. 40. 17 judaei in legendis & scrib●ndis nominibus Dei oppidò quam superstitiosi sunt, interpretantur tertium praeceptum, nomen jehovae non esse pronunciandum, & librum in quo integrè scriptum est, nudis manibus non esse contrectandum. Of those two Greek names, see my Greek Critica Sacra.  place) I shall say but little of them here. The Name jehovah, jah, Ehejeh, signify Gods Perfect, Absolute and simple Being of and by himself. 2. Such a Being as giveth Being to other things, and upon whom they depend. 3. Such a God as is true and constant in his Promises, ready to make good whatsoever he hath spoken. His Names El, Elohim, Schaddai, Adonai, signify a God All-sufficient in himself, strong and powerful, able to bless, protect and punish.  
The Jews in pronouncing or writing the Names of God were reverend even to superstition. D Fulk against Martin.  
In the New Testament God's most frequent Names are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and Lord.  
The Title of Lord so often given to Christ in the New Testament, doth answer to the Title of jehovah in the Old Testament. Some Reverend Divines conceive the Apostles did purposely use the Title of Lord, that they might not offend the Jews with the frequent pronouncing of the word jehovah. Compare Deut. 6. 13. with Mat. 4. 10. & Deut. 6. 5. with Mat. 22. 37. D. Cheynels Divine Triunity.  
He is also called the Father of lights, jam. 1. 17.  
The Essential Names of God, are, 1. Proper, 
* As jehovah, jah, Eh●eh, Exod. 13. 19  which agree to no Creature not Analogically. 2. Common, which are applied to others, but agree to God principally by way of excellency, as God, King, and Good.  
The Name of God is used five ways in Scripture;  
First, Essentially for God himself, Isa. 30. 27.  
Secondly, For the Power and Efficacy which comes from God, Psal. 118. 10, 11, 12.  
Thirdly, For the Command and Authority of God, 1 Sam. 17. 45.  
Fourthly, Passively for those actions whereby he is acknowledged by us, Mat. 18. 19 that is, nothing but worshipping and calling upon the Father, Son and holy Ghost, for assistance.  
Lastly, For that Word whereby he is distinguished from creatures, and by which we are to have our thoughts directed about him.  
2. God may be known by his Attributes and essential Properties, of which some show, 1. What he is in himself, 2. What he is to us.  
They are called Attributes, 
* Vocantur Attributa quia ea sibi attribuit Deus nostrâ causâ. Zanchius de Attributis l. 2. c. 11. Attributa illa Dei dicuntur, vel negativa, ut immensus, immutabilis, etc. vel relativa, orta ex Dei variis extra se tendentibus actionibus, ut Creator, salvator, &c vel denique absoluta & posit●va, Deo extra relationem & ordinem ad creaturas sem ●r convenientia: qualia esse sapientem, bonum etc. Hoornbeeck. Antisocin. l. 2. c. 4. Attributum est Divinae simplicissimae essentiae pro diversa agendi ratione, diversa, & vera habitudo & conceptio nobis expressa.  because they are rather said to be attributed to God (that we might by them better conceive what he is) then to be in him in such a way. They are that one most pure Essence diversely apprehended of us, as▪ it is diversely made known unto us, Isa. 43. 25. 1 john 4. 16. or they are those divine Perfections whereby he makes himself known unto us. They are called Properties, because they are peculiar to his Majesty, and are so in him, as they are not in any creature.  
Some do distinguish of God's Attributes and Properties. Attributes are those 
Mr Stock of God's Attributes.  which belong to the Essence, and Properties to the Persons themselves.  
A Property 
* Proprietates Divinae Naturae, seu Essentiae, sunt Attributa Dei essentialia, quibus essentiae Divinae veritas ac Majestas nobis innotescit, & ab aliis distinguitur. Wendelinus. God revealed his Simple undivided Essence under several Attributes, because he would be honoured in every Attribute.  in God is an essential Attribute in him, whereby his Nature is known in itself, and is distinguished from all other things.  
Some Rules are to be observed in attributing these to God.  
First, They are all Essential to God; for in him is no accident at all; whatsoever 
These Attributes differ not among themselves, nor from the Divine Essence. Isa. 43. 5. For myself, not for my Mercy; to teach us, that his mercy is himself, and not different from his Essence, as it is with us.  is in God, the same is God. God's wisdom is himself, and his Power is himself. God punishing the wicked, is the justice of God; God compassionating the miserable, is the mercy of God. All these are also one in him; his Mercy is his Justice, and his Justice is his Mercy, and each are his Essence, only they differ in our apprehension, and in regard of their different objects and effects.  
Secondly, They are all Absolute Properties in God, and so distinguished from those respective Properties whereby every Person in the Trinity hath his own subsistence.  
Thirdly, They are all equal to all the three Persons, and alike affirmed of all. 
These Divine Properties are most perfect in their kind, Ergo, Equal in perfection. 2. They are all one and the same real and individual divine Essence.  The Father Eternal, most Holy, Almighty, Merciful; so is the Son and Holy Ghost.  
Fourthly, These Attributes are altogether in God alone, and that in the highest 
God is so light that in him there is no darkness at ●ll 1 joh. 1. 5. John 8. 12. John 4. 16.  degree and measure, yea above all degree and measure; they are Eternal and Infinite in him. He alone is good, Matth. 19 17. and only wise, Rom. 16. 27. and King of Kings, 1 Tim. 6. 15. They are affirmed of him, both in the concrete and abstract; He is not only wise and good, but wisdom and goodness itself, Life and Justice itself.  
Fifthly, They are all actually and operatively in God. He doth know, live and will; his holiness makes us holy. Every Attribute in God, as it is an excellency in him, so it is a principle to convey this to us. God's wisdom is the fountain of wisdom to us: We are to seek Eternal Life from his Eternity, Rom. 6. 23.  
6. All these are in God objectively and finally; our holiness looks upon his holiness, as the face in the Looking glass on the man, whose representation it is; and our holiness ends in his.  
The Attributes of God are Everlasting, Constant and Unchangeable, for ever in 
Psal. 105. 8. ●am. 1. 17. Psal. 136. 1. and 100 5. Psal. 117. 2. Namb. 23. 10.  him, at one time as well as another.  
The Qualification of every service we perform aught to be taken from the Attribute of God which we would honour. He is a great King, Mal. 1. 14. therefore great service is due to him.  
The Attributes of God are the objects of our Faith, the grounds of our Prayer, and the matter of our Thankfulness. If one cannot pitch upon a particular promise in prayer, yet he may bottom his Faith upon an Attribute, 2 Chron. 20. 6. john 17. 17.  
This may minister comfort to God's people; God's Attributes are not mutable accidents, but his very Essence: his Love and Mercy are like himself, Infinite, Immutable and Eternal.  
In the midst of all Creature comforts, let thy heart rise up to this, But these are not my portion. 2. If God at any time take away the comforts from thee, say, Satis solatii in uno Deo; his aim is when he takes away creature-comforts, that you should enjoy all more immediately in himself, Matth. 6. 21, 22. This shows that the Saints selfsufficiency lies in God's All-sufficiency, Gen. 17. 1. Prov. 14. 14. exercise Faith therefore upon every Attribute, that thereby thou mayst have the use and improvement of it, Ephes. 6. 10. and give unto God the praise of every Attribute, Psal. 21. 13.  
2. We should imitate God, and strive to be immutably good and holy as he is, Levit. 11. 44. Mat. 5. 48.  
These Attributes are diversely divided:  
They are affirmative and Negative, as Good, Just, Invisible, Immortal, Incorporeal.  
Proper and Figurative; as God is Good, Wise; Members and humane affections are also attributed to him.  
Absolute and Relative, without any Relation to the creatures; as when God is said to be Immense, Eternal; he is likewise said to be a Creator, King, Judge.  
Some describe God, as he is in himself; he is an Essence Spiritual, Invisible, most Simple, Infinite, Immutable and Immortal. Some as he is to us, he is Omnipotent, most Good, Just, Wise and True. 
Propri●tates Dei sunt primi vel secundi generis. Primi generis propri●tates sunt, quae ita Deo competunt, ut earum contrariae, omni infint croaturae. Cujusmodi sunt Independentia, simplicitas, immutabilitas, immensitas, aeternitas. Secundi generis sunt, quae ita Deo competunt, ●t earum expressae imagines in creaturis reperiantur. Wendelinus Christian. Theol. l. 1. c. 1.   
Some declare Gods own Sufficiency; so he is said to be Almighty, Infinite, Perfect, Unchangeable, Eternal; others his Efficiency, as the working of his Power, Justice and Goodness over the Creatures; so he is said to be Patient, Just, Merciful.  
Some are Incommunicable and agree to God alone; as when he is said to be Eternal, Infinite. Others are Communicable in a so●t with the creatures, as when he is said to be Wise, Good.  
The communicable Attributes (of which there are some resemblances to be found in the creature) are not so in us as in God, because in him they are Essential. The incommunicable Attributes are communicable to us in their use and benefit, though not in their Nature; they are ours per modum operationis, the others per modum imaginis, his Omnipotency acts for us, 1 Pet. 2. 9  
These Properties in God differ from those Properties, which are given to men and Angels.  
In God they are Infinite, Unchangeable and Perfect, even the Divine Essence itself; and therefore indeed all one and the same; but in men and Angels they are finite, changeable and imperfect, mere qualities, divers, they receiving them by participation only, not being such of themselves by nature.  
God doth some great work when he would manifest an Attribute, when he would manifest his Power he created the World, when he would manifest his Holiness he gave the Law, when he would declare his Love he sent his Son, when he would show his Goodness and Mercy he made Heaven, when he would discover his Justice and hatred of sin he made hell, Psal. 63. 2. and 106. 8. Arminians and Socinians endeavour to corrupt the Doctrine of God in his Essence, Subsistence, and Decrees.  
Under the first Covenant three Attributes were not discovered, 1. God's pardoning Mercy, that was not manifested till the fall: 2. His Philanthropy or love to man, Hebr. 2. 16. 3. The Patience and Long-suffering of God, he cast the Angels into hell immediately after their sin. All the Attributes are discovered in the second Covenant in a higher way, his Wisdom was manifested in making the world, and in giving a Law, but a greater Wisdom in the Gospel, Ephes. 3. 10. the Truth and Power of God were more discovered under the second Covenant.  
It is hard to observe an accurate method in the enumeration of the Attributes. Zanchy, D. Preston and M. Stock have handled some few of them, none (that I know) hath written fully of them all.   

CHAP. III. That GOD is a Spirit, Simple, Living, Immortal.  
GOd in respect of his Nature is a Spirit; that is, a Substance or ●ssence altogether Incorporeal. This the Scripture expressly witnesseth, john 4 24. 2 Cor. 3. 17.  
An understanding Spirit is either created or uncreated:  
Created Spirit, as the soul of man or an Angel, Psal. 104. 4. 1 Cor. 6. ult. uncreated, God.  
Whatsoever is affirmed of God, which is also communicable to the creatures, the 
God is called a Spirit, 1. Negatively, because he is not a body. 2. Analogically, or by a certain likeness, because there are many perfections in spiritual substances, which do more shadow forth the Divine Nature, than any bodily thing can. D ● Ames▪ Medul. Theol. At enim quem colimus Deum nec ostendimus, nec videmus. Imm● ex hoc Deum credimus, quod eum sentire possumus videre non possumus. Minut. Fel. Octau.  same must be understood by a kind of Excellency and Singularity above the rest. Angels are Spirits, and the souls of men are spirits, but God is a Spirit by a kind of Excellency or Singularity above all spirits, the God of Spirits, Numb. 16. 22. the Father of Spirits, Heb. 12. 9 the Author of Spirits, and indeed the Spirit of spirits.  
The word Spirit in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in Hebrew Ruach, is used chiefly of God, and secondarily of the creatures; when it is used of God, it is used either properly or metonymically; properly, and so first essentially, than it signifieth the Godhead absolutely, as john 4. 24. or more restrictively the Divine Nature of Christ, Heb. 9 14. 1 Pet. 3. 18. Secondly, Personally for the third Person in the Trinity, commonly called the holy Spirit or Ghost, 1 Cor. 2. 11. If the word be taken metonymically, it signifieth sometimes the effects of grace, either the common graces of God's Spirit, prophetical, 1 Sam. 10. 6, 10. miraculous, or the sanctifying graces, Ephes. 5. 18.  
Angels and men's souls are created spirits, but God is an infinite Spirit, the word is not applied to God in the same sense, Nihil de Deo & creaturis univocè dicitur, say the Schoolmen: God is not simply Invisible, but in reference to us, Angels and Saints above see him, they behold his face. He is Invisible to a mortal eye, as the Apostle speaketh.  
Reasons.  
First, God is a Spirit, because a Spirit is the best, highest and purest Nature; 
God is of a pure and spiritual Nature. To be a spirit implies, 1. Invisibility. 2. Efficacy and activity, Ezek. 1. 20. 3 Simplicity. God is invisible, Luke 24. 39 Col. 1. 15. john 1. 18.  God being the most excellent and highest Nature, must needs be a Spirit too.  
Secondly, God is a most simple and noble being, therefore must needs be incorporeal; Angels and souls have a composition in them; their Essence and Faculties are distinguished; they are compounded of Subject and Accidents, their Nature and Qualities or Graces; but God's Holiness is his Nature.  
Thirdly, God is insensible, therefore a Spirit. Spirits are not subject to senses, john 1. 18.  
This confutes, 1. Tertullian 
a I●b▪ adver. Pr●●. & de a●●ma. Rom. 1. 23. 〈…〉 ‑ 〈◊〉, a so●t of ●e ●●i●ks so called, because they misconceived that God had a bodily shape like man.  who held God to be corporeal, than he should 
Consectaries.  consist of matter and form.  
2. The Anthropomorphites who ascribed to God the parts and members of a man; they ●lled●e that place, Gen. 1. 27. But some think the soul is the only subject and seat, in which the Image of God is placed; Grant that it was in the body likewise, it being capable of Immortality, yet a man was not said to be made after the Image of God in respect of his corporal figure, but in respect of Knowledge, Righteousness and Holiness, Ephes. 4. 23. Col. 3. 10. not in respect of his substance, but qualities.  

Object. God is said to have Members, Face, Hands, Eyes, in some places of Scripture, and 
Psal. 34. 16. Zech. 4. 10.  yet in others he is said not to be a body, but a Spirit; and consequently to have no hands nor eyes.  
Answ. The word Hand and Eye is taken figuratively, for the power of seeing and 
Quod de Deo dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intelligi debet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Dextra Dei significat potentiam & majestatem Dei: Oculi & Aures Omniscientiam. The Scripture referring Eyes to God, by them intends, 1. His Knowledge, and notice of things, Prov. 15. 3. 2. His Care, Psal. 34. 15. 3. His Direction, Psal. 42. 8.  working, which are actions, that men perform with the hand and eye as an Instrument; and so it is attributed to God, because he hath an ability of discerning, and doing infinitely more excellent than can be found in man. Sometimes again, those words are taken properly for members of the body of some such form, fashion, making; so they are not to be attributed unto God; who because he hath no body, cannot have an hand, an eye. A body is taken three ways, 1. For every thing which is opposite to a fancy and notion, and so whatever hath a being, may be called a body; in this sense Tertullian attributes a body to God. 2. For that thing which hath some composition or change; so God only is incorporeal. 3. More strictly for that which consists of matter and form, so some say Angels are incorporeal.  
3. This shows the unlawfulness then of painting the Godhead; Cajetan disliked 
c Lib. 2. de Imag. Sanct. cap. 8.  it. Bellarmine ᵇ argues thus, Man is the Image of God, But man may be pictured, Therefore the Image of God may be pictured.  
Man is not the Image of God, but in the faculties of his soul, which cannot be pictured; therefore the Image of God cannot be pictured. Although the whole man may be said Synecdochically to be pictured; yet is not man called the Image of God in his whole, but in a part, which is his reasonable and invisible soul, which can not be pictured.  
1. We must call upon God, and worship him with the Spirit; our Saviour 
Consectaries from Gods being a spirit, and invisible▪ See Phil. 3. 3. Rom. 1. 9 Rom. 1. 20.  Christ teacheth us this practical use, john 4. 24. Bless the Lord, O my soul, Psalm. 103. Whom I serve in the Spirit, saith Paul. The very Heathen made this inference,  Si Deus est animus, sit pura ment colendus. 

1. The Lord chiefly calls for the heart, Prov. 23. 26. His eye is upon it, Ezekiel 33. 31.  
2. He abhors all services done without the heart, Matth. 5. 8.  
3. It hath been the great care of God's people to bring their hearts to these services, Phil. 3. 3.   
Motives to excite us when we draw near to God to bring our hearts:  

1. It is this only which will make the service honourable, Gal. 4. 9  
2. This only makes it acceptable, 1 P●t. 2. 5. Host 14. 6.  
3. This only makes it profitable, 1 Tim. 4. 7. Heb. 9 9 Rom. 6. 22.  
4. This only will make it comfortable, all true comfort flows from the sweetness in fellowship with God and Christ, Revel. 3. 24.  
5. Else in every service we tempt God, Acts 5. 9 Isa. 29. 13.   
How to know when I serve God in my heart, or worship him in Spirit:  

1. Such a ones great care in all services will be to prepare his heart beforehand, 2 Chron. 30. 9  
2. Then the inward man is active throughout the duty, Revel. 3. 3. 2 Pet. 1. 5.  
3. Than one keeps his thoughts intent throughout, Matth. 6. 21.  
4, The grief after the duty done will be that the heart was so much estranged from God in duty.   
2. God though invisible in himself, may be known by things visible: He that seeth the Son hath seen the Father, Joh. 14. 9 We should praise God, as for other Excellencies, so for his Invisibility, 1 Tim. 1. 17.  
2. Learn to walk by faith, as seeing him who is Invisible, Heb. 11. 27.  
3. 
c Matth. 5. 12.  Labour for pure hearts, that we may see God hereafter.  
4. 
d Invisibile aliquid dicitur dupliciter, inquit Chamier; Primò, per se, & ipsa sui natura; Ut Deus, ut Spiritus sunt invisibiles. Secundò, per accidens; cum quid in se tale est quidem ut possit videri: sed aliqua externa superveniente causa, sit invisibile iis à quibus vel alias potuit, vel etiam debuit videri: quomodo ils qui sunt ad Septentrionem invisibiles sunt stellae ad Austrum, quomodo stellae quaedam minutissimae sunt invisibiles.  Here is comfort against invisible Enemies, we have the invisible God, and invisible Angels to help us.  
3. God hath immediate power over thy Spirit, to humble and terrify thee. He is the Father of Spirits, he cannot only make thee poor, sick, but make thy conscience roar for sin: it was God put that horror into Spira's spirits. He is a Spirit, and so can deal with the Spirit.  
Lastly, Take heed of the sins of the heart and spirit, ignorance, pride, unbelief, insincerity, 
Prefer spiritual excellencies, privileges and comforts, be spiritual in duties and performances.  2 Cor. 7. 1. 1 Thess. 5. 23. such as not only arise from, but are terminated in the spirit. These are first abhorred by God. He is a Spirit, and as he loveth spiritual performances, so he hates spiritual iniquities, Gen. 6. He punished the old world, because all the imaginations of the thoughts of their hearts were evil. 2. Most contrary to the Law of God, which is chiefly spiritual. 3. Sin is strongest in the spirit, as all evil in the fountain, Mat. 15. 19 ●4. Spiritual evils make us most like the Devils, who are spiritual wickednesses. All sin is from Satan, per modum servitutis, these per modum imaginis.  
We should therefore also take heed to our own spirits, because of the danger we are in from these spiritual adversaries:  

1. They are malignant spirits, 1 john 5. 18. and 2. 13, 14.  
2. The spirit of a man is most maligned by Satan, all he did to jobs name, estate, posterity, was to enrage his spirit.  
3. The spirit of a man is frequently and very easily surprised, few men are able to deny temptations that are suitable.  
4. When the spirit is once surprised one is ready to engage with and for the Devil, Mat. 12. 30.  
5. The spirit will then bring all about for the service of sin, the excellent parts of the mind, wit, memory, strength, Rom. 8. 7. and 6. 13, 19 james 3. 15. Matth. 23. 15.  
6. It is hard for such a sinner to be recovered, Prov. 27. 1.   
God is most Simple, Ens simplicissimum, Simplicity is a property of God, whereby 
The Divine Essence is simple and altogether uncompounded. Simplex propriè dicitur quod compositum ex diversis non est.  he is void of all composition, mixtion and division, being all Essence; whatsoever is in God, is God. Simpleness is the first property in God, which cannot in any sort agree to any creature.  
God is Simple, because he is free from all kinds of composition, which are five.  

1. Of Quantitative parts, as a body.  
2. Of essential parts, matter and form, as a man consists of soul and body.  
3. Of a genus and difference, as every species.  
4. Of subject and accidents, as a learned man, a white wall.  
5. Of act and power, as the spirits.   
Every creature is subject to composition, and consequently to division. All things 
2 Cor. 1 2. 3. The Gospel and the ways of it are not Simple, as Simplicity is opposed to the the depth of wisdom (For therein is made known the manifold wisdom of God. Ephes. 3. 10.) But as Simplicity is opposed to mixture. Every thing the more simple (in this sense) the more excellent. In Deo idem est esse & essentia, viveus & vita, quia Deus non vivit per aliud essentiae superadditum, sed vitam habet in seipso, & est ipsa vita, vivit a scipso & per seipsum.  which are created, are made by joining together more things than one in one, and so they consist of divers things.  
Some have a more gross and palpable composition of parts, both essential and integral, as a man of soul and body, and the body of flesh, blood, bone, and such parts. The Spirits which have not so plain a composition, are yet compounded of substance, and accidents sustained by that substance, and inherent in it; for the substance of an Angel and his faculties, and qualities are different things; his life is one thing, his Reason another, his Will another, his Power, Wisdom, Nimbleness, other things. So the soul of a man, and all created things, are made up of many things conjoined in one.  
God is absolutely Simple, he is but one thing, and doth not consist of any parts; he hath no accidents; but himself, his Essence and Attributes are all one thing, though by us diversely considered and understood. If he did consist of parts, there must be something before him, to put those parts together; and then he were not Eternal, Isa. 43. 10. In God to be, to will, and to do are the same, john 15. 26. compared with john 14. 6. and 1 john 1. 7. compared with 1 joh. 1. 5. where to have life, and be life; to be in the light, and be light, are the same. God is therefore called in the Abstract Light, Life, Love, Truth, john 14. 6. 1 john 4. 8.  
This is one Reason why God is so perfect, because he is Ens Simplissimum. 
Unum quodque quo simplicius co Deo similius, say the Schoolmen.  In every kind a thing is so much Perfect, by how much it is more Simple and Pure. Whence the same 
c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Hebrew word signifieth both Simple and Perfect.  
2. No Accidents are in God; when we affirm that God is good and gracious, we mean it not as when we say so of men; in men they are Qualities, Virtues, in God they are his Essence. 
Consectaries of God's simpleness. Simplex quasi sine plicis. Sin●erus sine cera. See Prov. 11. 20.   
1. We should be simple as Doves, Matth. 10. 16. Simplicitas Columbina, non Asinina. Carthusian, Eph 6. 5. 2 Cor. 1. 12. It is called godly sincerity, which God worketh, and which is pleasing to him. Simpleness and Simplicity of heart is the main thing in 
* A great French Pear is called Le bon Chrestien, the good Christian, because (they say) it never rots in the core, Matth. 22. Christ opposeth a single eye and corrupt one, an Israelite in whom is no guile, is worth an Ecce, a rare man: Mistress Elizabeth juxton said, She had nothing to comfort her but poor Sincerity. Lactantius observes that the Heathens counted it the greatest honouring of their gods to be like unto them, one would be drunk, because he would be like Bacchus.  Christianity, Eph. 6. 5. Col. 3. 22.  
2. Here is matter of joy and comfort to the good; Mercy and Love are God's Essence, Isa. 54. 8. and of Fear and Terror to the wicked, because God's Anger and Justice are his Essence, and he is Unchangeable.  
God is Living.  
He is often called the living God in opposition to dead Idols: Turn from Idols to 
1 Joh. 5. 20, 21 Psal. 115. 4, 5. Psal. 42. 2. Rom. 9 26. Graeci Deum vocant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à vivendo, quoniam solus verè vivit & omnia vivificat, ut meritò sic ut vocatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ita appellari possit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Jer. 10. 10.  serve the living God, Gen. 16. 14. & 24. 62. & 25. 11. Deut. 5. 26. Ruth 3. 23. jud. 8. 19 Isa. 3. 10. jer. 10. 10. Ezek 3. 11. Dan. 4. 34. Matth. 16. 76. Acts 14. 15. He is called Life, 1 john 5. 18. The fountain of Life, Psal. 36. 9 He hath his name in Greek from life; He saith often of himself, I live; as if he should say, I alone do truly live, and he often adds for ever, Deut. 32. 40. The Oath which the Fathers used, is most frequent, The Lord liveth, Jer. 5. 2. and 12. 16. for they swore by him, who truly and always lives. He himself swears by nothing but by his Life and Holiness, jud. 8. 24. Ruth 3. 3. This Oath is used fourteen times in Ezekiel, Zeph. 2. 9 Jer. 46. 18, 22, 24. Isa. 49. 18. Deut. 32. 40. Numb. 14. 21, 28. God is called the living God.  

1. To distinguish him from the false gods of the Gentiles, which were dead and senseless stocks, Acts 14. 15. 1 Thess. 1. 9  
2. To represent unto us the 
f Vivere est esse actuosum in se per se, singulari vi; unde & Latinis vivo à vi, ut Graecis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur. Deut. 30. 20.  active Nature of God, he is all life.  
3. To direct us to the Fountain or Well of Life, from whom all Life is derived unto the creature by a threefold stream. 

1. Nature, God is the Author of the life of Nature, Gen. 2. 7. Acts 17. 28. We could contribute nothing to natural life.  
2. Grace, he is the Author of that life, john 1. 2. Ephes. 4. 18.  
3. Glory, he is the Author of the life of glory, Rom. 2. 7.     
A reasonable life (to which God resembleth his) is a power to perform variety of regular and limited actions, to a certain known end, and that out of choice and council. God's life is his power of working all things according as seems good to himself after his own council for his own glory; to say he liveth, is to say he doth perpetually work.  
The life of God is an essential Property of the Divine Nature, whereby it is, and is conceived of us to be in perpetual action, living and moving in itself, and of itself.  
Life in things bodily ariseth from the union of the body and the soul together; and in things that be not bodies but spirits, from the perfection of the matter and qualities of them.  
Our own life is a power, by which we are able to produce lively actions; Gods life is that power, whereby he is fit to work or produce all sorts of actions suitable to the perfect Essence of his Divine Majesty; Or it is that whereby he knoweth, willeth and affecteth, and can do all sort of actions, beseeming his excellent Nature.  
Reasons.  
First, From the Effects of life, God understands, wills, loves, therefore he truly lives; for these are all the Properties of livers, therefore Aristotle often concludes from this, that because God understands all things, he lives a blessed Life.  
Secondly, Those things live which move and stir themselves; God doth all things 
Act. 17. 28.  by himself, he is the first and perfectest cause of all; therefore he most properly lives, and that a most blessed life.  
Thirdly, From his Name jehovah, he is jehovah, who is by himself and most 
Gen. 2. 7. God lives because life is originally in him, Psa. 36. 9 john 1. 4. In him was life.  perfectly, and of whom all things are which are and live; God therefore so lives, that he is the author of all life to all livers, and therefore he is called our life, Deut. 30. 20. john saith of Christ, in him was the Author of life, and Acts 3. Ye have killed the Author of life.  
Amongst the creatures which are subject to our sense, there is a threefold kind of life: Two more imperfect; the third more perfect.  
The former is the life of Vegetation or growth; by which things are able to do what is requisite for the attaining and maintaining of their full strength and Nature, and the propagating of their kind, according to their several kinds.  
The second is the life of sense, whereby things are enabled to discern things hurtful to them, and things good for them; to shun the one, and to seek the other.  
These are imperfect kinds of life, because they are inherent after a sort in the bodies of things, accompanying a corporal being, which is the meanest being.  
But thirdly, there is a more worthy and noble kind of life called reasonable, such as is seen in men and in Angels, which is an ability to proceed reasonably and 
A man hath four kinds of faculties in the exercise of which he liveth; and life in him is an ability to exercise them. He hath understanding, will, affections, and a power to move and work outwardly. The living God sees it sit to ascribe all these to himself.  understandingly in all actions, for the attaining of good and shunning of evils, fit for the welfare of the person endued with reason. Now we must not conceive in God any such imperfect thing as growth or sense, for he is a spiritual, a simple and immaterial Essence; but his life is to be understood by the similitude of the life of reason, for he is a perfect understanding. To the being then of God adjoin reasonableness in our conceiving of him, and we conceive his life somewhat aright.  
God's life differs from the life of the creature:  

1. His life is his Nature or Essence, he is life itself; theirs the operation of their Nature, he is life, they are but living.  
2. His life is his own, he liveth of, and by, and in himself; their life is borrowed 
Their life hath a cause, his none.  from him, in him we live and move, Acts 17. 25, 28. He is life, and the fountain of life to all things.  
3. His life is Infinite, without beginning or ending; their life is finite, and had a beginning, and most of them shall have an end.  
4. His life is entire altogether and Perfect, theirs imperfect, growing by addition 
His life consisteth in rest, and he possesseth all his life in one instant, our life is a flux and succession of parts.  of days to days. He liveth all at once, hath his whole life perfectly in himself, one infinite moment.  
5. He liveth necessarily, they contingently, so as they might not live.  
6. His life is immutable, theirs mutable and subject to many alterations.   
First, This serves to blame those which carry themselves no otherwise to God, 
Consectaries from God's life.  then if he were a very dead Idol, not fearing his threats, or seeking to obey him.  
Secondly, To exhort us all often to revive in ourselves the memory and consideration of his life, by stirring up ourselves, to fear his threats, respect his Promises, obey his Commandments, decline his displeasure, and seek his favour. Let us 
Dan. 6. 27. Heb. 9 14, 15. Rev. 4. 9, 10.  serve, fear, and trust in him, which liveth for evermore. Provoke not the Lord by your sins; For it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, Heb. 10. 31.  
Thirdly, Here is comfort to all the faithful servants of this God, which desire to please him; for they have a King which liveth and hath lived for ever, a King 
Psal. 18. 46. This upheld Luther amidst his opposition, Christus vivit & regnat. St Augustine prefers a fly before the Sun, because a fly hath life, and the Sun hath not.  Eternal, Immortal, Invisible and only Wise; in his life they shall enjoy life; though friends die, God ever liveth. His life is the preserver, upholder and comforter of your life. God living of himself, can bless you with natural, spiritual and eternal life, john 14. 10. Rom. 8. 10. 17. Life is better than all the comforts of it. Men will give skin for skin, and all that they have for life. It is reported of one, that he offered to redeem his life, thrice his weight in Silver, twice in Gold, once in Pearl. But we do little for the living God, and communion with him in the life of grace, and for obtaining eternal life.  
It were better we had never had any life at all, then only the life of nature, Mat. 26. 24. and 18. 5. Eccles. 6. 3.  
God is Immortal and Incorruptible, he liveth for ever in like perfection.  
The Scripture confirmeth this:  

1. Negatively, when it removes mortality and corruption from God, Rom. 1. 23. 1 Tim. 1. 17. and 6. 16.  
2. Affirmatively, when it giveth life to God, Genes. 16. 14. Deuter. 5. 26. jer. 2. 13.   
The property of God's life is, it is Endless, Incorruptible, Deut. 32. 40. Life is essential to God, he is life itself, but the life of other things is accidental. His life is also effective, he gives life to all living creatures.  
2. God is of himself Eternal, of himself, and absolutely Immortal and Incorruptible. He only hath immortality, 1 Tim. 6. 16. Angels are not immortal in and of themselves, they have not original or absolute immortality; their immortality is dependent and derivative.  
3. Because he is void of all composition, therefore he is free from corruption.  
4. Because he is simply and every way Immutable.  
5. This is proved from the Nobility and perfection of the Divine Essence. Living bodies are more perfect than such as do not live; but God is the most perfect and noble being, john 5. 26.  
6. Because he is blessed, therefore he is Immortal, Ezek. 37. 14.  
1. This comforts all God's people, who have the living God for their friend; who liveth for ever, and they shall live eternally with him; the life of God comforted job 19 25. Let them trust in the living God. This should comfort us against spiritual weakness and deadness, though we be dull and dead in Prayer, God is life, and will quicken us.  
2. We miserable men for sin are all subject unto 
g The Latin word for men, is mortales, Ipso vocabulo suae conditioni● admonentur. Erasm. in Coll●. Psal. 17. 15.  death, 2 Sam. 14. 14. Psalm. 144. 4. Psal. 90. 6. job 14. 1. job describes there the brevity, frailty, instability, and manifold miseries of this life; therefore let us place all our confidence and hope in God, who is Immortal and Incorruptible; our soul is immortal, and made for immortality, it is not satisfied with any thing nor resteth but in God, who is Immortal and Incorruptible. A thing may be said immortal two ways: First, Simpliciter, absolutè, per se, suaque Natura, so that there is no outward, nor inward cause of mortality; so only God. Secondly, which in its own nature it may be deprived of life, yet ex voluntate Dei neither dies, nor can die; so the soul and 
Zanchius de immortalitate l. 2. c. 8.  Angels are immortal.    

CHAP. IU. That GOD is Infinite, Omnipresent, Eternal.  
GOD is truly Infinite in his Nature and Essence, actually and simply, by 
Col. 3. 3. Exod. 40. 12, 15, 17. Psal. 145. 3. Spiritu infinitus, non corpore; non inquam quantitate, magnitudine, mole, sed qualitate, virtute, bonitate, & siquid praestantius ab homine de Deo dici vel cogitari potest. Mornaeus cap. 4. de veritate Relig. Christ. Infinitas absoluta est essentiae Dei proprietas qua neque causae neque me●surae ullius terminis finitur. Gomarus. Dupliciter potest aliquid dici infinitum. Primò, In ratione entis, sic Deus est absolutè infinitus, quia Scriptura Divina tribuit ipsi absolutam infinitatem, Psal. 145. 3. & 147. 5. Secundò, In certo genere. Estius.  himself, and absolutely he is Infinite. It is a vain conceit, that there cannot be an infinite thing in Act.  
He is not Infinite  

1. In corporal quantity and extension, but in Essence and Perfection.  
2. Not privatiuè but negatiuè, he hath simply no end.  
3. He is Infinite not according to the Etymon of the word, which respects an end only; for he is both without beginning and end; although the word be negative, yet we intent by it a positive Attribute and perfection.   
The Scripture demonstrates God to be Infinite:  

1. Affirmatively, Psal. 143. 3.  
2. Negatively, in the same place.  
3. Comparatively, job 11. 8. Isa. 40. 12, 15. Dan. 4. 32.   
2. Reason proves this:  
The perfection of God; whatsoever thing hath not an end of its perfection and virtue, that is truly and absolutely Infinite. Infiniteness is to be without bounds, to be unmeasurable, to exceed reason or capacity; it is opposed to Finite.  
Infiniteness is such a property in God, that he is not limited to any time, place, 
g Infiniteness is that, whereby God cannot be limited, measured, or determined of any thing, being the first cause from whom, and the end wherefore all things were made.  or particular nature and being; or it is that whereby God is free altogether from all limitation of time, place, or degrees.  
He hath all good things in him in all fullness of perfection, above all measure and degrees, yea above all conceivable degrees by us. He hath all Wisdom and power, above all that all creatures can conceive and think, Ephes. 3. 20. that goodness which is in him is Infinite, 
h All his properties are infinite. Limitatio est duplex, in natura & naturae. Limitatio in natura, in Deum solùm non cadit. Omnes enim creaturae in natura terminum habent. Limitatio vero ●aturae, est ad situm, & haec in creatura corporea locum habet. Sanford. de Descensu Christi ad inferos, l. 2. p. 103.  his Love is Infinite, his Mercies are Infinite, and so is his Anger. That which is of itself cannot be limited by any thing. Every creature is limited and hath certain bounds set to it by its causes, especially the efficient and the matter; but God is no way limited, he hath not any bounds of any kind, but is altogether Infinite or boundless, Isa. 40. 12, 15, 17.  
Every creature hath a threefold limitation:  

1. Of Kinds of being.  
2. Of Degrees of its being.  
3. Of Circumstances of its being.   
First each thing is set in its own rank or order with other things, some being of one kind, some of another; some things are simple, some compounded, some corporeal, some incorporeal, some things living, some things void of life, some things sensible, and some things senseless, and so in the rest. The maker of all things hath as it were sorted them into divers kinds, for the greater beautifying 
i Nature triumpheth in nothing so much as in dissimilitude.  of the whole, and demonstration of his wisdom in this variety.  
Again 
k All creatures have such a measure and degree, as the author of them would communicate unto them.  things of the same kind, and of other kinds too, differ in the degrees of being; some have lower, some higher degrees of what they have, some a more lively life, some a quicker sense, some more power, some less, some greater degrees of wisdom.  
God is not limited to any kind of being, but hath in himself all kinds of being, not subjectively but eminently. He 
l Infinite power is that whereby God can do more than all creatures can do, yea more than all creatures can conceive he can do; infinite understanding by which he knows more than all creatures do know, or can conceive▪ that he doth know.  hath a being beyond all degree and measure, whence all his properties are Infinite, All-sufficiency, Omnipotency, Omniscience, infinite Wisdom and Truth, and all in him Incomprehensible and Infinite.  
He is unlimited in regard of Time or Duration, and so is Eternal; in regard of place, and so is Immense or Omnipresent, in regard of degrees of all things that are in him, and so is Perfect. Infinite in stability, Immutable in his Power, Omnipotent.  
God's infiniteness makes all wonderful, his Mercies are Infinite, his Love Infinite, his Goodness and Excellencies Infinite.  
A thing may be said to be Infinite, either absolutely and in the whole kind of being, so God, all good is in him formally or eminently. 2. In some certain kind only; as if there were Infinite Quantity, it were only Infinite in the way of a body; it would not contain all other things in it.  
From God's Infiniteness ariseth his All-sufficiency, he is enough for himself and all things else, to make them happy and perfect in their several kinds; his All-sufficiency is that whereby God is of himself All-sufficient for himself to make himself most blessed, and to satisfy all other things, and make them happy in their several kinds; God hath therefore taken this Name upon him, and by the commemoration of it did comfort Abraham, and encourage him to be his 
Gen. 17.  servant.  
But Dr Preston hath written so largely and well of this Attribute, that I shall 
This one Attribute of God's All-sufficiency may answer all the scruples of a Christian.  need to say but little of it.  
God is an All-sufficient good, because he is a Perfect good. He hath enough in him to supply all the wants, and satisfy all the desires of his people both in this life and that which is to come.  
1. To supply wants:  

1. He that hath God for his God hath all things, Mark 10. 13. Revel. 21. 7.  
2. There could not be a selfsufficiency in the Saints if there were not an All-sufficiency in God, 2 Cor. 3. 5. but there is a selfsufficiency in them, Phil. 4. 11. 1 Tim. 6. 6.  
3. There is enough in God to supply all our wants here: 

1. For Provision, he may have all in God, and he needs none else, jerem. 2. 13.  
2. Protection, He is a shield, Zech. 9 12, 13. Psal. 62. 7. Zech. 2. 5.  
3. For Pleasure, job 22. 26. Psal. 37. 4.  
4. For Glory and Honour, Psal. 3. 3. jer. 2. 31, 32.  
5. For Society, 1 john 1. 3.  
6. For a pattern to imitate, Ephos. 5. 1.  

7. For reward, Gen. 15. 1.  
Secondly. To satisfy all your desires, 1. Here, jer. 31. 14. 2. In the life to come. Psal. 17. ult.      
God in Covenant makes over himself as All-sufficient:  

1. He promiseth himself to his people in his All-sufficiency, Psal. 84. 11. and 34. 10. Hosea 14. 5, 6, 7.  
2. The people of Israel in the wilderness had neither bread nor water, provision nor protection, yet having an All-sufficient God, they wanted none of these, Deut. 33. 26, 27, 28.   
Reasons,  

1. His love, which is the ground and bottom of the Covenant, and of all mercies: Love is bountiful, john 3. 35. 2 Thess. 2. 6. God's great end in the Covenant of Grace was, his Manifestative Glory; if he will have the highest glory, he must make out the highest manifestation, therefore he made over himself and his All-sufficiency, because he had not a better to bestow.  
2. In regard of the insufficiency in all things else for supply, Ier, 2. 13.  
3. Because God would have the happiness of the Creature concentred in himself alone, Isa. 26. 3. 1 Pet. 1. 13.   

Object. The Angels and Saints see the Essence of God, therefore it is not infinite, Matth. 18. 10. 1 Cor. 13. 12. 1 john 3. 2.  
Answ. 1. We must distinguish between vision and comprehension, God is seen of the Angels and Saints, but not comprehended.  
2. The finite understanding knoweth God beatifically, not by the force of nature, but by a supernatural illumination of the Holy Ghost, and benefit of grace. 
Consectaries from God's infiniteness.   
1. This is a terror to wicked men, his anger and hatred are Infinite, therefore his anger is compared to all things terrible. 2. Serves to reprove their folly who will lose God to get any pleasure or profit, Infinite glory and happiness, for finite things.  
2. Exhorts us not to pronounce rashly of his decrees and attributes, for this only can be comprehended of God, that he cannot be comprehended; we must not measure Gods Infinite power and wisdom by our shallow capacities: The endeavouring to measure the nature and decrees of God by our humane reason, hath been one main cause of many desperate errors in the world; therefore Paul Rome, 11. silenceth high and inquisitive disputes by this Exclamation, Oh the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his ways!  
3. What is a sinful mortal man in comparison of God, Isa. 40. 15, 16, 17. therefore 
See Gen. 18. 17. Isa. 6. 2.  he should humble himself before him, and acknowledge his nothingness.  
All the whole world compared to the Infinite God, is but as a point; let us therefore stand amazed at the consideration of this Infiniteness, and say with David, Psal. 8. 5. and 86. 8.  
ᵃ We should love God intensively with our chiefest affection, and extensively 
God is infinitely go●●, therefore deserves all our love and obedience; the best Angel in heaven cannot love God according to his excellency; we should love him with a love, 1. Of Union. 2. Complacency. 3. Friendship. 4. Dependence.  above all things. He is an infinite Ocean of all joy and happiness, he is a continual object of joy and delight to the Saints and Angels in heaven, they are not weary of him; our desires are fully satisfied with him alone that is infinite.  

b This Attribute of Gods being every where, is called Immensity▪ Omnipresence, or Ubiquity.  God is Immense or Omnipresent, Psal. 139. 7, 8, 9, 10. josh. 2. 11. job. 11. 8. jer. 23. 23, 24. Immensity is taken 1. Largely, so it is the same with infiniteness, signifying that God is neither measured by place or time, nor by any other thing, but is in his own nature and essence infinite and immense. Immensum proprie est quod non possis metire. 2. Strictly, so it differs from infiniteness, as the Species from the Genus, there being two kinds of infiniteness, Immensity and Eternity.  

c Immensitas est proprietas Dei qua omnes essentiae terminos excludit, ubique quoad essentiam simul in caelo & in terra, imo & extra caelum est: absque ulla tamen expansione vel multiplicatione. Wendelinus' Christ. Theol. l. 1. c. 1.  Immensity is such a property of God, by which he cannot be measured nor circumscribed by any place, he fills all places without multiplying or extension of his essence.  
He is neither shut up in any place, nor shut out from any place, but is immense, he is without place, and above place, present every where, without any extension of matter, but in an unspeakable manner.  
He is above all, in all, and through all, Ephes. 4 6. over all (men) by his power, in all the (Saints) by his Spirit; and through all (the world) by his providence.  God is every where by his Essence, Presence and Power; Enter, praesenter, Deus hic & ubique potenter. 

1. By his Essence, because he fills 
d The Jewish Doctors call God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is, place, as containing all things, himself being not contained of any thing. Deus non solum est infinitus ratione Essentiae & perfectionis: sed etiam ratione praesentiae, (ut loquuntur) ita ut Essentia ejus nullo spatio finito limitari poterat; & hic gradu● infinitatis divinae dicitur Immensitas. Barl. Exerci. l. 6.  all places and spaces with his Immensity, ● King's 8. 27. Isa. 60. 61. Acts 17. 27.  
2. By his Presence.  

3. By his Power and Operation, because he works all in all, 1 Cor. 6. 26.  
This Immensity and Omnipresence of the Divine Essence, is proved to be essential to God.  

1. From Scripture, and that 

1. Affirmatively, when he is said to be every where present. David proves it by a particular enumeration of places, Heaven and the Grave, the farthest parts of the earth, yea, all things, Psal. 139. 7, 8, 9, 10. He compares places most opposite together, and showing that God is present in them, he understands, that he is present in the places between, Amos 9 2. jovis omnia plena.  
2. Negatively, when he is denied to be concluded and comprehended in a certain place, 1 King. 8. 27. 2 Chron. 2. 6. and 6. 18. Acts 7. 48. and 17. 24, 27.  
3. Symbolically, Isa. 66. 1. Acts 7. 49.    
2. From Reasons, 

1. From the simplicity of the Divine Essence, God is a pure act; therefore altogether 
Deus aut nusqu●m est & nunquam, aut ubique & semper: aut est alicubi, & alicubi non, & aliquaendo, & aliquando non. Sin nusquam dicitur esse & nunquam, oportebit cum nihil omnino esse: Si vero tantum alicubi, & aliquando; ergo definitur loco & tempore, sed quia horum omnium falsitas manifesta est à sufficient divisione; Sequitur q●od Deus ubique, & semper est. Raim. Pug. F●d. Adversus jud. 3. part. Dist. 3. c. 5.  indivisible▪ and therefore he is in every thing, and in every part of every thing, whole and undivided.  
2. Whatsoever is in its Essence Infinite, that also is every where present, else it should be terminated in place. God is infinite in his Essence and Being, therefore also of an infinite presence.       
ᵉ Each creature is limited by place, though spirits do not fill up a place 
ᵏ The Angels are in an ubi though not in a place properly▪ in English we cannot so well distinguish these words: they are limited, & confined to some space, an angel cannot be at the same time in heave● and earth.  by Commensuration of parts, yet they have a certain compass (as I may call it) beyond which their Essence extendeth not: they are so here, that they are not there; so in heaven, that they are not the same time on earth. But God is altogether above place, he is Omnipresent, not by any material extension, but after an incomprehensible and unexpressible manner. He is quite above all place, wholly without, and within all and every place, and that without all local motion or mutation of place. He is every where totally and equally, he was as well in the Jewish Synagogues, as in the Temple of jerusalem, or Holy of Holi●s, as well in earth or hell, as in the Heavens in respect of his Essence.  
God's being in every place, is not first by multiplication; there is not a multiplication of his being, as loaves were multiplied, so that they held out to do that 
Deus ubique est secundum modum ineffabilem, Nazianzenus in orat. sua 2. de Tbeol. dicit disquisitionem de modo quo Deus ubique est, quasi fructum arboris vetitae, esse nimis curiosam putat, Sanfordus de descensu Christi ad Inferos, l. 2. p. 112.  which otherwise they could not; for then there should be many Divine Essences; nor secondly by division, as if part of his nature, were in one part of the world, and part in another; but he is wholly wheresoever he is. Nor thirdly, by commixtion, as if he came into composition with any creature. He is not the air or fire, but he is every where effectively with his Essence and Being, repletively he fills all places, heaven and earth: Yet he fills not up a place as a body doth; but is present every where, by being without limitation of place; so that he coexists with every creature. He is every where ineffably; where any creature is, there is he more than the creature; and where no creature is, there is he too: All the sins that we commit, are done in his presence, and before his face, Isa. 65. 3. Psal. 51. 4. as if a Thief should steal, the Judges looking on. We should set the Lord therefore always before us, as David, Psal. 16. 8. We should be comforted in troubles, and patient, Phil. 4. 5. a child will not care so long as he is in his father's presence, Psal. 23. 4.   

Object. God is said to descend and ascend.  

God is said to descend and ascend two ways:  Answ. This hinders not his being every where.  

1. He is said to descend, as often as by any visible shape objected, he testifieth his presence, as Gen. 18. 21. Exod. 3. 8. when God withdraws that presence, he is said to ascend, as Gen. 35. 13.  
2. When God by the destruction of his Enemies, and deliverance of his own, 
Cameron praelect. in Psal. 68 19  testifieth to his Church that he is with it on earth, Isa. 64. and the contrary, Psal. 68 19    

Object. If God be every where, how is he then said to dwell in heaven? Psal. 2. 4. From those places, Isa. 66. 1. Mat. 6. 9 Vorstius thus argues, The Scripture placeth God there, therefore he is there only.  
Answ. In respect of his Essence, God is every where, and in every thing, as well 
Psal. 103. 49. and 115. 3. Matth. 6. 9 John 14. 2. Acts 7. 49. cum scripturae dicunt Deum esse in Coelo, hoc intelligendum ●st positiuè solum & affirmatiuè, quod ibi ●it: Non exclusiuè, quasi alibi non sit, 1 Reg. 8. 37. 2. Deus est in Coelo secundum excellentiam, nempe modo eminentiori, Angelis & sanctis revelatus. Barlow exercit. 6.  as in heaven; but he doth more manifest his glory, wisdom, power and goodness, and bestows his grace more liberally on his Angels and Elect in heaven, than he doth here below.   

Object. How can God be said to depart from man, if he be every where.  
Answ. He departs not in respect of his essence, but in respect of the manifestation of his presence.  
The Schoolmen say, God is five ways in the creatures:  

1. In the Humanity of Christ, by hypostatical union.  
2. In the Saints, by knowledge and love.  
3. In the Church, by his essence and direction.  
4. In Heaven, by his majesty and glory.  
5. In Hell, by his vindicative justice.   


1. This may teach the godly to be sincere and upright, because they walk before 
Confecta●ies from God's Immensity, or Omnipresence. job. 31. 14.  God. Gen. 17. 1. he is present with them, understands their secret thoughts and imaginations, Psal. 139. 7. 8, jer. 23. 23, 24. This should curb them from committing secret sins, and encourage them to perform private duties, Mat. 6. 6. approving themselves to their father, who seeth in secret. Solitariness should not embolden us to sin, nor hinder us from well-doing. It was Joseph's reason to his Mistress, How can I do this great evil? though they were alone, God was present.  
Two Religious men took two contrary courses with two lewd women, whom they were desirous to reclaim from their ill course of life; the one came to one of the women, as desirous of her company, so it might be with secrecy, and when she had brought him to a close room, that none could pry into, than he told her, that all the bolts and bars which were, could not keep God out. The other desired to accompany with the other woman openly in the street; which when she rejected as a mad request, he told her, It was better to do it in the eyes of a multitude, then of God.   
2. This serves to confute the Lutherans, who hold Ubiquity to be communicated 
Nos Protestaentes omnes dicimus contradictionem esse inter has duas propositiones, Datur purgatorium, & Solus sanguis Christi purgat nos ab omni peccato: illam propositionem Romanensem contradicere huic quae est verbi Dei. Sic nos Reformati dicimus Enunciationem hanc Corpus Christi est ubique, non solùm ideo falsam esse, quia ibi contradictio in adjecto in eâ Enunciatione, sed etiam quia ista Enunciatio Corpus Christi est ubique contradicat multis Enunciationibus Scripturae, quae quidem non formaliter ei, sed tamen contradicunt, ut Christus ascendit in Coelum, Christus est venturus etc. Vedel. Ration Theol. l. 3. e. 7. Some when they hear God is essentially every where, and in every creature, labour to comprehend this great mystery, and infer, that every creature is God; but God is not divided nor mixed with any creature: All creatures compared to him are as nothing.  to Christ's body, and therefore they say his body is in the Sacrament, and every where else, because it is assumed by God; but this is false; for the reason of God's Omnipresence is the infiniteness of his nature, and therefore it can be no more communicated to the body of Christ then the Godhead can; for his humane nature might as well be eternal as every where. Christ's body is a finite creature, and though it be glorified, yet it is not deified. It is an incommunicable attribute of the Deity, to be in many places at one and the same time, Totus Christus est ubique, but not totum Christi, whole Christ is every where, but not the whole of Christ, Totus Christus est homo, sed non totum Christi, whole Christ suffered, died and rose again, but not the whole of Christ; that is, both Natures.  
3. Let us esteem God a greater good than any creature; friends are distant one from another, God is with us in our journeys and families. He only is the object of Prayer, for he is every where to hear thee; and so are not Angels. God himself comforts his people, by promising his gracious presence, Gen. 46. 4. Exod. 3. 12. josh. 1. 9 Isa. 43. 1.  
4. No man by wit or policy, flight or hiding himself, can escape the hand of God; for he is every where present, Amos 9 2.  
5. This is a terror to the secret devisers of wickedness, their plots are discovered.   
God is Eternal.  
Eternity 
f Bootius defines Eternity to be Interminabilis vitae tota simul & perfecta possessio. l. 5. de consol. pros. 6. The Schoolmen define it to be Duratio interminabilis, indivisibilis & independens; interminabilis quia excludit terminum à quo & ad quem; indivisibilis quia excludit omnem successionem temporis; independens quia excludit omnem imperfectionem & mutationem. Philosophi distinguunt inter aeternitatem, aevum & tempus: Et aeternitatem principio & fine carentem tribuunt soli Deo: Aevum solo fine carens, creaturis nunquam defituris: Tempus nec principio nec fine carens creaturis aliquando defituri●. Wendelinus. Est duratio semper praesens, est unum perpetuum Hodie, quod non, transit in praeteritum aut futurum, Drexel. de Aeternitate Considerate. 1. Sect. 1. Vide Barlow Exercitat 5. & Dr Prid. Lect. 18. de Christi deitate. Isa. 43. 13. Job 36. 26.  is a being without limitation of time, or a being without beginning, ending, or succession. Time is the continuance of things past, present and to come, all time hath a beginning, a vicissitude, and an end, or may have, but God's Essence is bounded by none of these hedges. Time is Nunc fluens, but Eternity is Nunc stans, a standing moment.  
First, he is without beginning, he is before time, beyond time, behind time, as it were, and above all circumscription of time. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God. He is what he is in one infinite moment of being, as I may ●peak. I am Alpha and Omega, Rev. 1. 8. In the beginning God made all things, and he that made all things could not have a beginning himself. What hath no beginning, can have no succession nor end. We cannot properly say of God, that he hath been, or that he shall be, but he is. To him all things are present, though in themselves they have succession.  
He is an everlasting King, everlastingly powerful and glorious; as the conclusion of the Lords Prayer showeth.  
He is called the King eternal, 1 Tim. 5. 17. and the eternal God, Rom. 16. 26. the Maker of times, Heb. 1. 2. he inhabiteth eternity, Isa. 67. 15. God only is properly and absolutely eternal: Angels and men's souls are said to be eternal, à posteriori, or à parte post, God à priori & à posteriori, ex parte ante & post, since he hath neither beginning, succession, nor end.  
The Scripture confirms this Eternity of God divers ways:  

1. With a simple and plain asseveration, Gen. 21. 33. Isa. 40. 28. and 57 15. Dan. 6. 26. Rom. 16. 26.  
2. By denying to him time and succession, job 36. 26. Isa. 43. 10. Psal. 90. 5. 2 Pet. 3. 8.  

3. By attributing to him eternal properties and operations; his mercy is said to 
His purposes are eternal, Ephes. 3. 11.  endure for ever, Psal. 103. 17. and 136.  
1. Eternal counsel is attributed to him, Psal. 133. 11. Eternal Kingdom, Exod. 15. 18. Eternal power, Dan. 6. 26. Rom. 1. 20. Eternal glory, 1 Pet. 5. 10. his Dominion is an everlasting dominion, Dan. 7. 14. his Righteousness is everlasting, Psal. 119. 142. and his truth.   

4. By a metaphorical description, days and years are attributed to him; but most distinct from our days and years, job 10. 5. Dan. 7. 9, 22. He is called The ancient of days, Psal. 102. 28. thy years are not consumed. 
Heb. 9 14. Thou Lord remainest for ever, say the Scriptures often, Prov. 23. 25. he was said to be before the world, Psal. 90. 2. Eph. 1. 4. Of necessity there must be a first cause, and therefore must be something without a beginning.   
1 Sam. 15. 29. he is called eternity itself; Christ is called The father of Eternity, Isa. 9 6. most emphatically, to signify that he is Eternity itself, and the Author of it. The French stile God in their Bible's l' Eternel, because he only is perfectly Eternal.    
Reasons.  

1. God is the best that is, therefore it must needs follow that he is an eternal Essence; for that which is eternal, is better than that which is not.  
2. Else he should depend on something else, if he were not eternal, and then he were not God.  
3. If he were not eternal, he must have a beginning, and then something else must give it him, and so be better than he.  
4. God created all things, even time itself, Heb. 1. 2. he is therefore before all things, and without beginning, Rom. 1. 2. and whatsoever was before time, must needs be eternal.  
5. He is the Author and Giver of eternal life to those that have it, therefore he must needs be eternal himself; for whatsoever can give eternity, that is eternal.    

Object. If God were eternal, where was he before the world was? and what did he before he made all things? and 
* Vide Augustini Confess. l. 11. c. 12.  why did he make the world no sooner than a few thousand years since?  
Answ. These are curiosities, but for answer, as he was of himself, so was he in 
Agebat aut● mundum, & ●ine mundo, quod m●ne cum mundo, in sua foelicitate scipso contentus, & sufficiens, plenus bonorum omnim, & ab aeterno constituit mundum procreare, atque ea condere quibus beatitudinem communicaret suam: sed tunc, non antea, nec post, quia sic illi est visum, Ludou. Viu. de veritate Fidci Christianae, l. 1. c. 10.  and with himself. He is that himself, to and in himself, which to us our being, time and place are found to be. 2. He enjoys himself, and his own happiness. 3. He made the world no sooner, because it did not please him.   

Object. Is not the Creation of the world passed with God, when he made it in six days, and the day of judgement to come?  
Answ. God's acts are twofold: 
Compare God's Eternity with the duration of the creature, 1 Tim. 6. 10. Ps. 7. 27 Fore & fuisse non est in ●o, omnia sunt praesentia, cut hoc esse nostrum vix competit, Lod. Viu. de verit. Fid. Christ. l. 2. c. 24.   

1. Immanent, terminated in himself, Ephes. 1. 9 these have no succession, God plotted not, nor devised one thing after another.  
2. Outward, in and upon the Creature, as Creation, Providence, Vocation, Sanctification, Glorification, Phil. 1. 6. there we must distinguish between the action itself, and the work. God's act in Creating is the act of his will, that such a Creature should stand up in time, Creatio is but Essentia Divina relatione ad Creaturam, Aquinas. But if we consider opus, the work itself, so the Creatures have a being one after another.   
The Creature is limited by the circumstance of time, by which it hath its being measured out as it were by parcels, past, present and to come; it had beginning, hath succession, and may have an end. The most glorious Angel, as well as a worm, is thus limited by time; once he was not, than he began to be; that which is past, is gone, and that which is to come is not yet, and he hath but a little time present. But God's essence had no beginning, hath no succession, can have no end. We cannot say of it properly, It was or shall be, but alone It is, Exod. 3. 14. john 8. 58. he hath his whole being at once; not some after, some by parcels, 
Gnolam from Gnalam, because the beginning and end of eternity lieth hid. Consectaries from God's eternity. Who can speak of eternity, without a Solecism, or think thereof, without an ecstasy, brown's Religio Medici 1. We should ascribe Eternity to God, job 36. 30. Deut. 32. 3. Psal. 68 34. 2. Endeavour to make it known to others, Psal. 145. 12, 13. 3. We should make it the ground of our confidence, Isa. 26. 4.  one following another, Gen. 21. 13. and 23. 33. Psal. 90. 2. 24. Isa. 57 15. Eternity is the continual existence and duration of the Divine Essence. The creatures being is a flux or perpetual flowing from one moment to another. God is a being above time, hath his being measured by time, but is wholly eternal.  

1. God's love and election are also eternal, and he will give eternal life to all believers. That which is eternal, is perfect at once, therefore he should be adored and obeyed, his counsel followed. Old men are honoured for their wisdom. God saith to job, Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth?  
2. Let it be a foundation of comfort to us, as Psal. 102. 12. though friends die, 
Psal. 48. 13, 14. Isa. 46. 4. Hab. 1. 12, 13. Zeuxis the Painter, was exact and curious, because he did pingere aeternitati. We are to pray, live, speak, and do all for eternity. Crede, stude, vive aeternitati. Cornel à Lap. in Evangel. Dr●xelius a Jesuit hath written well of Eternity.  goods be taken away, God remains for ever, he fails not.  
3. It must encourage the people of God to serve him, and do his will faithfully, for he will recompense it; whatever we hazard or lose, he liveth for ever to requite, Isa. 54. 8. 2 Cor. 4. 17, 18.  
4. It is a terror to the wicked, he shall be ever to make them everlastingly miserable; as heaven is an eternal Palace, so hell is an everlasting Prison. He whom thou dishonourest, is an eternal God, than all thy sins are always present before him, no sin past or to come. When Christ was made a Curse for us, God looked on him as bearing all the sins past, present and to come of all his Elect, Isaiah 53. 6. and he chargeth the guilt of all sins at once upon the damned in hell: He looks on your sins now, as he will hereafter, chargeth them all on thee at once, as on Christ, and the damned, there is nothing to come to him. 2. His preparations of wrath have been from eternity, as of glory for his people, Matth. 25. 41. how dreadful will the execution be, Isaiah 30. 33. and God bears with the sins of men so long, because he hath eternity to reckon with them in.  
5. We must carefully and earnestly seek him, place our happiness in him that is 
Psal. 117. 2. and 146. 6. Heb. 13. 8.  everlasting, all other things are fleeting; if we get his favour once, we shall never lose it, he will be an everlasting friend, his truth and mercy remains for ever.  
6. Every one should resolve in his own thoughts, and covenant with God, to 
Precious are the serious thoughts of eternity; the treasures of eternity, are opened in the times of the Gospel. 2 Tim. 1. 10.  spend but one half quarter of an hour every day, in meditating of eternity; renew these thoughts every day, This body of mine, though frail and mortal, it must live for ever; and this soul of mine, it must live eternally, Nulla satis magna securitas ubi periclitatur aeternitas, mind such things that are eternal, Col. 3▪ 2. 2. Cor. 4. 18. 1. Upon this inch of time eternity depends, Eccles. 9 10. john 9 14. 2. God sent you into the world for this end, that you might provide for eternity, Luke 16. 9 1 Tim. 6. 19 Eternal life is one of the principal Articles of our Creed, 1 Tim. 1. 16.     

CHAP. V. That GOD is Immutable.  
GOd is in himself, and in his own nature Immutable, Numb. 23. 19 1 Sam. 15. 29.  
Immutability is that whereby any thing in its essence, existence or operation is unchangeable. God's unchangeableness is that whereby God in his essence, properties and decrees, is unchangeable.  
The Scripture proves the Immutability of God, both affirmatively, Exod. 3. 6. Psal. 102. 29. and negatively, Mal. 3. 16. james 1. 17.  
Immutability is twofold: 
Dicamus Deum immutabilem non modo mutatione substantiali, quia esse, & vivere, non modo nunquam definet, (qued & Angelis competit, & animabus rationalibus) sed & fieri non potest, ut definat. Dicimus etiam ne accidentalis mutationis capacem esse, quia transferretur à potentia ad actum aliquem accidentalem Twis. Animadvers. in Colat. Arm. cum jun. propofit. 6. Sect. 3. Vide Aquin. part. 1. Quaest 9 Artic. 1, 2. Quaest 9 Art. 7.   

1. Independent and absolute, and that is only in God.  
2. Dependent and Comparative, this may belong to some creatures, which they have from God, but yet infinitely different.   

1. God is unchangeable originally and of himself, these from him.  
2. In the manner, God is in his essence Immutable, that and his being are all one, therefore he is both potentially and actually so; the creatures are only actually.  
3. God is so from eternity, they only from their first being.   
All other things are subject to change and alteration, they may lose what 
job. 4. 18. And his Augels he charged with folly, the good Angels with possible, though not actual folly.  they had, and attain something which before they had not; even the immortal Spirits are thus mutable, they may fall into sin, be annihilated; but in God there is no change, he is what he is, always the same, void of all mutation, corruption, alteration, and local motion, Psal. 90. 2. and 102. 26, 27, 1 Tim. 1. 17. Psal. 110. 4. Heb. 1. 11. and 6. 2.  
A reasonable creature may be changed five ways:  

1. In respect of existence, if it exist sometimes, and sometimes not.  
2. In respect of place, if it be moved from one place to another.  
3. In respect of accidents, if it be changed in quantity o● quality.  
4. In respect of the knowledge of the understanding, as if it now think that to be true, which before it judged to be false.  

* Geth. loc common Martinus de Deo, & Wendelinus Christ, Theol. l. 1. c. 1. Psal. 120. 27, 28.  5. In respect of the purpose of will, if it now decree to do something, which before it decreed not to do.   
God is not changed any of these ways:  
Not the first, because he is eternal, neither beginning nor ever ceasing to exist.  
Not the second, because he is present every where, not newly beginning to exist in any place.  
Not the third, because God is a Simple Essence, and there is no accident in him.  
Not the fourth, because he is Omniscient, and cannot be deceived in his knowledge. 
Heb. 4. 13.   
Not the fifth, because he changeth not his decrees, since he most wisely decrees all things.  
God is unchangeable every way:  

1. In Essence or Being, he cannot be changed into another nature, neither can that nature which he hath, be corrupced and decay.  
2. In essential properties, his mercy endureth for ever, he doth not love and after hate.  
3. In his will and counsel; Psal. 33. 11. Rom. 11. 29. The council of the Lord shall stand, Prov. 19 21.  
4. In place, the Sun runs from one place to another, but God doth not remove from one place to another; but is always where he was, and shall be always; viz. In himself.  
5. In his word and promises, Isa. 14. 24. 2 Cor. 1. 19 Rom. 46. 
Mat. 5. 18.    
Reasons,  

1. From his perfection, all change is a kind of imperfection; there is indeed a change corruptive and perfective; but the perfective alteration supposeth the subject to be imperfect.  
2. He is uncompounded, therefore altogether Immutable, a pure act.  
3. He is truly and properly eternal, therefore Immutable; for he is truly eternal, who is always the same, without beginning, change or end.  
4. If God should change, then either he must change for the better, and then he was not best and perfect before; or for the worse, and then he is not best now.   
If he should be changed, it must be from some other thing stronger than himself, and there is none such. Nothing without him can change him, because he is omnipotent; and nothing within him, for there is no ignorance in his mind, inconstancy in his will, nor impotency in his power.  

Object. God doth repent, Gen. 6. 6. 1 Sam. 15. 11. 2 Sam. 24. 16. Psal. 135. 14. jer. 26. 13. & 18. 8. to repent imports a change.  
Answ. God is not said properly to repent; but after the manner of 
* Cum nos paenitet, destruimus quod fecimus. Sic Deus pae●tuisse dicitur secundum similitudinem operationis, in quantum hominem quem fecerat, per diluvium à terrae fancy delevit● Aquinas Quaest 19 Artic. 7. partis primae.  men, not affectiuè but effectiuè. God doth that which men use to do when they repent, they forbear to do what they have done, and do the contrary, change their actions; Gods repenting of the evil in those places, is a putting on a resolution not to do the evil he had threatened, or not to persist in doing that which he had begun to do. There is a change in the creature, but no change in God, either in respect of his nature or decree; therefore in other places it is said, he doth not repent; that is, not change or alter his mind. God wills 
* Mutat facta, non mutat consilia, August. Aliud est mutare voluntatem aliud velle mutationem. Aquinas Quaest 19 Art. Septimo partis primae.  a change, but changeth not his will. The change is in us, not God; as houses and trees seem to move to them which are in a Ship, but the Ship moves and they stand firm. One may with the same will continuing immutable (saith Aquinas) will that now, this thing be done, and after the contrary; but the will should be changed, if one began to will, what he willed not before.   

Object. God promiseth and threateneth some things which come not to pass.  

* Jer. 18. 8. and 26. 2, 3.  Answ. Those threatenings and promises were not absolute, but conditional; and howsoever the condition was uncertain in respect of men, yet it was most certain in respect of God. His promises are made with condition of faith and obedience, Deut. 28. 13. and his threatenings with an exception of conversion and repentance, Psal. 7. 2.   

Object. God is reconciled with men, with whom he was offended before.  
Answ. The object is changed, God is still the same; as the Sun which was troublesome to sore eyes, is pleasant to them being healed; the Sun here is not changed, but their eyes.   

Object. Why are Prayers or means, if God be Immutable? why do I pray or hear?  
Answ. God Immutably wills both the end and the means, and therefore as he wills thy pardon, so he wills thy prayer.   

Object. God created the world, and so Christ was incarnate and made man; now he that was made something he was not before, or did make something he made not before, seems to be changed. He is a man, he was not so once; he is a Creator, he was not so from eternity.  
Answ. Christ did only assume and take to himself an humane nature, he was 
Windelinus Christ. Theol. l. 1. c. ●.  not changed into it. Creation is nothing but Gods will from eternity, that the world should exist in time, so that the creature hath something now, which it had not before, but Gods will hath not.  
God is not changed any way, though he change his actions according to his 
Consectaries from God's Immutability.  good pleasure.  

1. This is terrible to wicked men, God is unchangeable, which hath threatened to curse them, and bring destruction upon them; they must change, or else 
1 Sam. 15. 18, 19 Adam supported himself with that one promise. God's promises are faithful and firm words. What good thing the Lord hath promised, what grace or privilege (as Christians) any ever received, or succo● found, the same may the faithful iook for.  there is no repealing of the curse. The wicked hope he will change, the godly fear he will change.  
2. It comforts the godly, to whom he hath made many promises, Numb. 23. 23. Heb. 13. 5. He is constant and will perform them. He told Adam, That the Seed of the woman should break the Serpent's head: He was long, but sure, for it was fulfilled at last. His Covenant is everlasting, Isa. 55. 3. I am God and change not, therefore you are not consumed, Mal. 3. 6. we should labour for God's love, it is a free hold, and like himself, Immutable; whom he loves once, he loves for ever: God's people shall never fall from Grace, never be wholly overcome of Temptations.  
3. We should imitate God's Immutability in a gracious way, be constant in our love to God and men, in our promises and good purposes; as the Martyr said, 
Gal. 6. 9 2 Tim. 3. 14. 1 Cor. 15. ult. Queen Elizabeth's word was Semper eadem.  Rawlins you left me, and Rawlins you find me; we should pray for the establishment of our faith and patience.  
4. We should admire the glorious nature of God; for what an Infinite glorious God must he be, which hath had all that happiness and glory from eternity. 2. Worship the true God, because he is immutable, and we shall be so hereafter, being made most like to him, Psal. 102. 27.  
5. It confutes the Eutichians and Ubiquitaries, which held, That the Godhead became flesh; Can a Spirit be a body, and both visible and invisible?     

CHAP. VI That GOD is Great in his Nature, Works, Authority, a necessary Essence, Independent, wholly One.  
GOd is exceeding Great, 1 Kings 8. 42. 2 Sam. 7. 22. Psal. 95. 3. and 96. 4. 
Deut. 32. 3.  and 99 2, 3. and 145. 3. Tit. 213. God is great and greatly to be praised, and who is so great as our God? He is great: 
Nihil magnum, ni●i magnus Deu●   

1. In his Nature and Essence.  
2. In his Works.  
3. In his Authority.   
His name is Great, jer. 10. 6, 11. josh. 7. 9 his power is Great, Psal. 147. 5. his acts are great, Psal. 111. 1. his judgements are great, Exod. 7. 4. he is great in counsel, je▪ r. 32. 19 and mighty works, Deut. 32. 4.  
There is a double Greatness, 
Of God's Perfection.   

1. Of quantity or bulk, and that is an attribute of a body, by which it hath very large bodily dimensions, as a mountain is a great substance, the Sun a great body; and this cannot be found in God, who is not a body, but an Immaterial Essence.  
2. Of Perfection, Worth and virtue, and that is abundance of all excellencies 
Greatness is attributed to God metaphorically and denoteth an incomprehensible and unmeasurable largeness of all excellencies.  and largeness of whatsoever makes to perfection of being, and this is in God. He is so perfect every way that he stands in need of nothing. God is absolutely and simply perfect, because he hath all things which are to be desired for the chiefest felicity.   
He is perfect: 1. In the highest degree of perfection, simply without any respect or comparison. 2. He is perfect in all kinds, 1 john 1. 5. john saith, he is light, in which there is no darkness, 
* 
The Apostle by an Hebrew pleonasm, saith the same thing twice illustring it by the contrary.  
Reasons of God's Perfection.  
1. That which is the chiefest being and Independent, is most perfect. 2. That which is infinite in Essence, can want nothing. 3. The more simple a thing is, the more perfect.   that is, Perfect and pure without the least mixture of the contrary, the author and cause of all perfections in all the creatures, they are all in him, but more perfectly, and in a perfecter manner. God is most absolutely perfect, job 22. 2. Psal. 16. 2. Matth. 5. 48. The words in Scripture, attributed to God, which signify this, are  

1. Schaddai, which is as much as One sufficient to help himself, or one that gives nourishment to all other things, and therefore (Gen. 17. 1.) when God was to make a Covenant with Abraham, to leave all earthly things, and so trust in him only, he brings this argument, that he is such was sufficient God.  
2. Gomer, The verb is used five times in the Psalms; 
* Psal. 7. 10. and 7. 6, 8. and 137. 9 Psal. 56. 3. and 11. 1.  as much as perfect from the effect, because God doth continually preserve to the end.  
3. Tom, job 37. 16. It signifieth both Simple and Perfect.  
4. Calil, à Col. omnis, that in which all good things are.   
God is perfect: 
Rom. 12. 2.   

1. Essentially, he is perfect in and by himself, containing in him all perfections eminently, Matth. 5. 48. he hath all needful to a Deity.  
2. Nothing is wanting to him, he hath no need of any other thing out of himself, 
Perfect in the general, is that to which nothing is wanting, therefore that is most perfect, to which agreeth no imperfection.  job 22. 2, 3. Psal. 16 2.  
3. Originally, he is the cause of all perfection; what hast thou, which thou hast not received? james 1. 17.  
4. Operatively, all his works are perfect, Deut. 32. 4.   
A thing is perfect:  
1. Negatiuè, which wanteth nothing which is due by nature to its integrity.  
2. Primatiuè, which wanteth no perfection, and so God only is Perfect. 
Little works of nature and of providence have a greatness in them, considered, as done by God. 2 Sam. 22. 31. All Gods works are perfect, Gen. 1. 31. Alphonsus was wont to say, If he had been of council with God in the making of his works, he should have made some of them melius & ordinatius, Ezek. 36. 23. job 38. 34, 35, 37. Isa. 40. 12. Elihu allegeth God's works to job, to show his greatness, job 36. 27. 28, 29. and 37. 1. to 7. Reason's why Gods works are great: 1. He that worketh most universally, unlimittedly, supremely, must work great things. 2. He that works most wisely, must needs do great things, Psal. 104. 24. 2. He that works most mightily and powerfully, must needs do great things, Isa. 43. 13. 4. He that does all this most easily, must needs do great things. Psal. 33. 6.   
2. God is great in his works, Deut. 4. 36. Psal. 111. 2. job 5. 9 God's perfection stands in an infiniteness of goodness (Matth. 19 17.) wisdom (Rom. 11. 33.) power, (Gen. 17. 1.) perfect wisdom, goodness, righteousness, moderation, holiness, truth, and whatsoever may possibly be required to grace, and commend an action, that is found in the whole course and frame of God's actions; the work of Creation is a perfect work, he made all things in unsearchable wisdom; no man could have found any want of any thing in the world, which might be reasonably desired; no man could have found there any evil thing worthy to be complained of. The work of providence is perfect, all things are carried in perfection of wisdom, justice and goodness. So is the work of Redemption likewise perfect. The perfectest measure of justice, wisdom, truth, power, that can be conceived of, doth show itself forth in that work.  
Reason. Such as the workman is, such must the work be, a perfect Artists workmanship will resemble himself. The perfection of God, is his incomprehensible fullness of all excellencies, he is absolutely and simply perfect.  

Object. Why doth God use the help of others?  
Ans. Not out of need, as the Artificer his Instruments, so that he cannot work without them; but out of choice and liberty, to honour them the more. Hence sometimes he will use no means at all, sometimes contrary means, to show that they help not, and that we should not rely upon them.   

Object. Why is there sin in the world, seeing God needs not any glory that comes to him by Christ, and by his mercy in pardoning of sin? Why doth he suffer it.  
Answ. Because sin is not so great an evil, as Christ is a good, and therefore God would not have suffered sin, if he could not have raised upto himself matter of honour; God makes an Antidote of this poison.   

Object. How comes it to pass, that God makes one thing better than he did at first? as in the Creation, all things had not their perfection at first.  
Answ. Those things were perfect ex parte operantis, he intended not they should have any farther perfection at that time; the essence of nothing can be made better than it is, because it consists in indivisibili. God makes not our graces perfect in us, because he aims at another end.  
God's perfection hath all imperfections removed from it, 2 Tim. 2. 13. Titus 1. 2. james 1. 3. There be six imperfections found in every Creature: 1. Contingency. 2. Dependence. 3. Limitation. 4. Composition. 5. Alteration. 6. Multiplication.  
Now God is free from all these. He is 1. A necessary Essence. 2. Independent. 3. Unlimited. 4. Simple. 5. Unchangeable. 6. Wholly one. Three of these, viz. God's Simplicity, unlitedness in respect of time and place, and unchageableness, I have handled already; I shall speak of the other three, when I have dispatched this Attribute of God's Greatness or Perfection.  
3. God is great in his Authority.  
I have showed already that he is great in his Nature and Essence, and also in his works; now his greatness in Authority is to be considered.  
He is a great King, he hath sovereign, absolute and unlimited Authority over 
God is great in his Authority. He is King of Kings, the only Potentate.  all things, they being all subject and subordinate to him; for at his will they were and are created. This is signified by the Title of The most high, so frequently given him in Scripture. He is the high and lofty one, Isa. 57 15.  

1. In respect of place and dwelling, he is in heaven, Eccles. 5. 2. above the 
God is most high. The Greatness of God's authority standeth in two things: 1. The universality of it, God's authority reacheth to all things; the whole world, and all creatures in it are subject to his will and disposing. 2. The absoluteness of it, what he willeth must be done.  clouds.  
2. In respect of Essence, he is high indeed, unexpressibly high, the high God, Gen. 14. 22. the Lord most high, Psal. 7. 17.  
3. In respect of Attributes, he hath more wisdom, power, justice, mercy, than all creatures.  
4. In respect of State and Dominion; he is exalted in Authority, power, jurisdiction; he is above all, as Commander of all. 
Absolute Dominion is a Power to use a thing as you please, for such ends as you think good. God hath a double power and authority over the Creature: 1. As an absolute Lord. 2. As a Judge, according to which double power he exerciseth two kinds of acts, Actus Dominii, and judicii. 1. He hath an absolute sovereignty over all the Creatures, and hath no rule to govern the Creature by, but his own will, Dan. 4. 17, 32. Ephes. 1. 11. He can do the creature no wrong in any of his dispensations. Four things he doth to the creatures, as an act of Sovereignty. 1. He gives the Creature what being he pleaseth. 2. He appoints it to what end he pleaseth, Rom. 9 22. 3. He gives it what law he will, here come in acts of Justice and Mercy. 4. Orders all their actions by his effecting or permitting will. 2. He resolves to govern these creatures Modo Connaturali, suitably to their own natures: He gives reasonable creatures a Law, which they must know and approve, and the service they perform to him must be reasonable. God's Sovereignty here below is seen in ordering. 1. Natural causes, which act from an instinct of nature, and are carried to their end by a natural necessity. 1. In acting them according to their natures, for the ends he appointed them. 2. In restraining their acting sometimes, that fire shall not burn. 3. In acting them above their natures, the rock shall yield water. 4. In acting them contrary to their natures, fire shall descend. 2. Voluntary causes, acting from a principle of reason, and the liberty of will, Prov. 16. 11. Psal. 33. 15. Prov. 21. 1. in ordering their thoughts, apprehensions, counsels, affections.    
God hath supreme dominion and power over all creatures, to order them as he pleaseth, job 9 12. and 33. 12, 13. and 34. 13, 14. jer. 16 6. Isa. 45. 9 Dan. 6. 26. Rom. 11. the 4. last verses. and 9 15, 16, 17, 18.  
Dominion in the general is twofold:  

1. Of jurisdiction, whereby he ruleth all subject to him, as he pleaseth.  
2. Of propriety, whereby he having a right to every creature, may order it as he pleaseth.   
The first is employed in that of james 4. 12. there is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.  
The second, in that he is called the Lord of the earth; and all the beasts of the field are said to be his.  
God's Dominion is that absolute right and power, whereby he possesseth all things as his own, and disposeth of them as he pleaseth, God over all, Rom. 9 5. Ephes. 4. 6.  
Reason. The supreme excellency of his nature; whereby he is infinitely above, not only those things which are actual, but likewise possible.  
God's first dominion of jurisdiction hath these parts:  

1. To Command.  
2. To forbid; as Adam the eating of the tree.  
3. To permit: thus he suffers sin to be, being Supreme Lord.  
4. To punish or reward.   
Secondly, his dominion of propriety consists in these particulars:  

1. That he can order every thing as he pleaseth for his honour and glory, Psal. 
Rom. 9 17.  8. 1. the strange punishments laid on Pharaoh, were for this, God raised him up to show his glory.  
2. He is bound to give none account of what he doth; that is true of God, 
Rom. 9 20.  which the Papists attribute falsely to the Pope, none may say to him Cur ita facis?  
3. He can change and alter things as he pleaseth, Dan. 2. 21. as when he bid Abraham kill his Son, and the Israelites take the Egyptians goods.  
4. He can distribute his goods unequally to whom, and when he pleaseth, to one health: sickness to another.   
The adjuncts of this dominion:  

1. It is Independent on any other, he hath this Dominion of himself, as he is God of himself, Dan. 4. 17. Ezek. 21. 25, 26.  
2. Universal; it comprehends all places, times; this Kingdom is everlasting, God rules in heaven, earth, hell, james 5. 4.  
3. Full and Perfect, 1 Chron. 29. 11, 12. His Dominion is infinitely greater than all others.  
4. It extends to the soul and heart; God is called the Father of Spirits, the 
Heb. 12. 9  hearts of Kings are in his hand; he can terrify the conscience.   
We should first prefer God above all things: The greatest person in any society 
Consectaries from God's greatness in his nature.  is set before the rest. The Sun is respected above other Stars; the King above other persons; we should highly esteem his favour, Isa. 40, 12. there is a lofty description of God's greatness.  
Secondly, We should perform all duties to him with the greatest care, diligence and reverence, and in the highest degree; love him greatly, fear him greatly, praise him with all our might, yield unto him a service proportionable to his incomprehensible greatness, Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, 1 Chron. 16. 25. Psal. 145. 3. and to be feared, Psal. 76. 7, 11.  
Thirdly, It is a terror to all those to whom this great God is an enemy. The wrath of a great King is terrible, he must needs inflict great punishments on such a● rebel against him.  
Fourthly, Here is great consolation to those to whom he is a Friend and Father; he will do great things for their good, they shall have great happiness.  
We should choose the Lord to be our portion, for in him alone is true happiness, 
Corollaries of God's perfection.  and contentedness to be found; in our wants we should confidently go to him for help, he being perfect can supply them.  
We should place all our confidence in God alone, expect all good things from him, since he is an inexhausted fountain of all good things; we should imitate him, 
Deut. 18. 13. Matth. 5. 48.  Be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Let Patience have her perfect work. Let us perfect holiness in his fear. Those which would be excellent Orators propound to themselves Cicero and Demosthenes to follow. Paul pressed on forward; Labour first to be perfect in heart, Psal. 119. 80. then in your ways. This may serve also 
Psal. 18. 22.  to comfort the godly against their weaknesses; God will make his works perfect. He that hath begun a good work in them, will perfect it; they should be comforted therefore against all their imperfections to which they are subject in this life, and seek perfection from him. He will supply all their wants, bear with them here, and make them perfect in the other life, 1 Cor. 15. 28. the understanding shall have 
1 Cor. 13. 10.  perfect sight, the will perfect goodness, the heart perfect joy.  
We should not mutter under any affliction; for he himself cannot do better than he doth, he makes all things perfect, Eccl. 3. 11. Every thing beautiful in its season, this is the most perfect state and condition for thee, and so account it, God hath perfect wisdom, power, love.  
Let us not be puffed up with any thing we do to him; the Papists abound in this when they maintain merit; for that supposeth some eminency, as if God needed their graces, obedience and service; but let us walk more humbly; say rather, If I had no corruption in me, if I could do every duty required with as much purity as Angels; yet this would add nothing to thee; thou art a perfect God, perfectly happy, though I were not at all.  
God's works are wonderful great; far exceeding the power of all creatures, 
Consectaries from Gods great works. There is a twofold greatness in the works of God. 1. In the bulk or quantity of them, as the work of Creation. 2. Of quality or virtue, Gen. 1. 16. The Moon is a great light, in regard of light and influence, excellency and usefulness to the world. See job 37, 38, 39  either to do the like to them, or to stop and hinder them. Let all the men on earth lay their hands and heads together, let all Kings unite their counsels and their forces; Can they make an Earthquake, a Whirlwind? Can they make the thunder to roar? Can they cause the flashes of lightning to flame out? It is not a mortal worm to whom the course of nature will submit itself. And if God will that these effects be wrought, what can any man, all men do for the hindering thereof?  
2. God's works are unsearchable, and past finding out, job 5. 9 Who can dive into the secrets of Nature, and tell us the true reason of the Wind, the Earthquake, the Thunder, the Rain, the Snow? We cannot dive into the bottom of God's Works, nor find them out by any study or wisdom.  
3. We should so much the more honour, dread, and wonder at God, by how much we can less comprehend his works.  
4. Let us learn often to contemplate God in his Works; see his Goodness, Greatness, Wisdom, Power in them, and so we shall profit much in the knowledge of him.  
The exaltation of God is a terror to those who will needs be his Enemies, and 
Consectaries from Gods being most high.  slight and disesteem him, as the greatest part of men do. O how unhappy are they, that have so high and so a great a person to be their Enemy, seeing they have nothing to save themselves from his wrath.  
2. We should labour to exalt him now, by striving to form and fix in ourselves a most reverend esteem of him, and by exercising in ourselves this virtue of honouring God, often reviving in our minds these thoughts, How high is God, and making them familiar with him; Oh how excellent is he that hath made and governs all! Why do I not esteem him more and more! The more we can lift up our hearts to exalt God, the more we shall grow in all holiness and righteousness.  
3. His friends and servants shall also be exalted at last, though for a time despised and set light by.  
We should often and seriously consider of this great Perfection of God's Nature, Authority and Works. The very Saints and Angels have a Negative Imperfection, though not a Privative; they are not deprived of that which should be in them, but there are many Perfections which they have not. God is simply and universally Perfect; and he only hath all kind of Perfection, according to his Essence.  
God is a Necessary Essence. 
Mihi verò dicendum videtur Nihil extra Deum esse absolutè necessarium, sed tantum ex hypothesi. Attamen esse necessarium secundum quid, viz. ex hypothesi, reicuique fateor, vel contingentissimae poterat accidere. Twiss. Animadvers. in collat. Armin. cum jun.   
Contingency is found in the Essence of every creature, it might not have been, as well as have been; it may not be, as well as be; there was once a possibility of its not being; as there is now a possibility of its not being; yea, there was an equal or greater possibility of its not being, than its being.  
God is a necessary Essence; it is absolutely necessary that he should be, and he cannot but be, and be as he is, and his actions upon himself are altogether and simply necessary; they must be as they be, and cannot but be so.  
God is Independent, Isai. 44. 6. Revel. 1. 8. and 21. 6. and 22. 13. Rom. 11. 35, 36.  
Every Creature as a Creature, is Dependent, and hangs upon some other thing 
Independentia est proprietas Dei, qua quoad essentiam, subsistentiam & actiones à nulla aelia dependet causa, cum à seipso fit, subsistat & agate. Wendelinus. John 1. 3. Act. 17. 25. Ab independentia Dei non differt sufficientia, qua ipso in se & à se sibi & nobis sat habet, nullaque re indiget: cum omnia alia uti à Deo dependent, ita sibi ips●s minimè sufficiant. Proprietatem hanc indigitat nomen Dei Schaddai.  than itself, and owes its being and continuance to another, Nehem. 9 6. It hath causes of its being, from which, of which, by which, and for which it is; and further than these causes did, and do contribute to its being, it cannot be. The Angels have an efficient cause and end, and they do as much stand indebted to God for their being and continuance as the poorest worm; and would no more have been without God, nor continue to be, than the silliest Gnat; but God is altogether Independent of himself, by himself, for himself; he hath no causes, but is to himself in stead of all causes.  
He is what he is, without any help from any other thing; as himself shows in his Name, I am that I am.  
There are many things which have a beginning from some other thing; there must be something therefore that is of itself, or else we should wander infinitely, a self-essence and subsistence. God's being is neither ab alio, ex alio, per aliud, nor propter aliud.  
We should acknowledge God to be a Necessary and Independent Essence.  
3. God is wholly one, Deut. 6. 4. Gal. 3. 20. 1 Tim. 2. 5. Host 13. 4. Mal. 2. 10. 
Gen. 17. 1. & 35. 11. Wendelinus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Hom. Il. β Rex unus est apibus, & dux unus in gregibus, & in armentis rector unus; multo magis mundi unus est rector, qui universa, quaecunque sunt, verbo jubet ratione dispensat, virtute consummate. Cyprian. de Idolorum vanitate. Vide Grot. de Relig. Christ. l 1. p. 6. Psal. 18. 32. and 86. 10. Deut. 4. 35, 39 and 32. 39 Psal. 18. 31, 45. Isa. 44. 6, 8. Ephes. 4. 5, 6. 1 Pet. 2. 9 Mark 12. 2, 19, 32. 1 Cor. 8. 5. John 17. 3. 2 Sam. 2. 2. Isa. 42. 36. and 44. 1. and 45. 5. and 21. and 48. 11, 12. Hinc disces (inquit Plato Epist. 13. ad Dionysium) scribam ego scriò necne: Cum scriò, ordior Epistolam ab uno Deo; cum secùs, à pluribus. Unde igitur ad homines opinio multorum Deorum persuasióve pervenit? Nimirum ij omnes, qui coluntur ut Dii, homines f●erunt, & idem primi, ac maximi reges: sed eos aut ob virtutem, qui profucrant hominum generi, divinis honoribus affectos esse post mortem; aut ob beneficia, & inventa, quibus humanam vitam excoluerant, immortalem memoriam consecutos, quis ignorat? Lactant de ira Dei.  All creatures are subject to multiplication; there may be many of them, and are many; many Angels, Men, Stars, and so in the rest. Not one of them is singular and only one so; but one might conceive that there should be more; for he that made one of them, can make another and another, and as many as he pleaseth; but God is simply one, singular and sole Essence; there neither is, nor can be more than one God, because he is the first and best Essence; and there can be but one first, and one best. He is Infinite, and there can be but one Infinite, because either one of them should include the other, and so the included must needs be finite, or not extend to the other, and so itself not be Infinite.  
There was a first man, and a first in every kind of creature, but not any Absolute first save God: one Eternal, and one Incomprehensible, saith Athanasius in his Creed.  
There can be but one chief Good, which we desire for itself, and all other things for it, say the moral Philosophers; and this must needs be God, for no infinite Good can be conceived but Herald  
Some places of Scripture simply deny other gods; and others exclude all but this one God; Though there be gods many, and Lords many; that is, that are so called, 
In respect of some excellent Majesty, and glory above others, Angels are called gods, Heb. 1. 6. and Psal. 97. 7. and Magistrates, Psal. 82. 6. in respect of usurpation, the Devil, 2 Cor. 4. 4. 1 Cor. 8. 5, 6. Primò Omnis multitud● revocanda est ad unitatem. Cum igitur in mundo multae fint Creaturae, revocari eas oportet ad unum primum Creatorem. Secundò, Res omnes sunt per aliud, ergo reducendae erint ad unum per se.  and reputed by men, who deceive themselves in their own imaginations; yet to us (in the Church) there is but one God. Zech. 14. 9 after Christ shall come, the Gentiles with the Jews shall all worship one and the same true God.  
That which is perfect in the highest degree can be but one; because that one 
That Latin phrase (Si Diis placet) is a more Ciceronian then Christian expression. Mat. 4. 10. We must love him only, have one heart for one object.  must contain all Perfections; that which is omnipotent can be but one; if one can do all things, what need is there of many gods? if there were more gods than one, we might and ought to do service to more than one, to acknowledge them, praise and love them, and be at least in mind ready to obey them. If they should command us any thing, we might lawfully seek to them for what we need, and give thanks to them, for what we received. But the Lord professeth himself to be a jealous God, and cannot endure any Copartner in worship. The Romans refused Christ, because they would have had their gods with him, and he would be worshipped alone without them.  
He is one God  
Not numerically, 
* Unity here noteth not number but rather a denial of multititude; for unity as it denotes number, leaves also a place for a second and third, at least in apprehension and conceit; though there be but one Sun, yet we may conceive of a hundred. Deus est monarcha mundi. Rex unicus est●. Homer. Essentia Dei unica est unitate absolutissima, non generis, speci●i, subjecti, accidentis, causae, consensus, sed numeri quae unitas est restrict issima. Vide Cornel. à Lapide in Deut. 6. 4. Atheomastix lib. 2. cap. 9  as one is a beginning of number (for that is a quantity) but transcendently, as Ens and unum are counted only one, solely and alone God; there cannot be two Infinites in Essence, for then one should not have all the other hath in it; God is Infinite, for of his Greatness there is no end.  
Secondly, Others would be imperfect or superfluous, he being Infinite and Perfect.  
Thirdly, From his Absolute Lordship, and Dominion over all; He is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. My God (said Luther to the Pope) will make your God know, that you are too weak for him. If there were two Gods, there would be a strife between them (as between Caesar and Pompey) who should be the greater and chiefest of all. God may be said in a special manner to be one, two several ways.  

1. For the Purity and Simplicity of his substance, which is not compounded with any thing else. For that is most truly and properly one, which is nothing but itself, and hath no other thing mixed with it. God is so pure and simple an Essence, that he is not compounded so much as of parts.  
2. From his Singularity, because there are no more Gods but one, God is not 
Deut. 6. 4. Is●. 43. 10. He is God, and there is none else, Deut. 4. 35. and 32. 39 Un●m non superaddit enti aliquid po●itivum, but notes only Negationem compositionis & divisionis. One God in opposition to multitude, there is none besides him, and to mixture, Quicquid est in Deo est Deu●: So Zech. 14. 9 his Name one, that is, his worship shall be without humane mixture, and without multitud●s, one way of worship. All Christians, jews and Turks agree that there is but one God.  only One, but he is also the only One. He is such a one as hath no Copartners in worship. Both which Titles are expressly ascribed unto God in the Scriptures: Both that he is One, and that he is the only One. God is not only Unus, but also Uni●us, or to use St Bernard's word, Unissimus. If that word may be used, he is of all things the Onest. Socrates and Plato in their definition of God, ascribe to him Unity, with particular respect unto his singularity.   
Pythagoras' his advice to his Scholars was to search the Unity.  
There is a threefold Unity; 
* Dr Rainolds against Hart.  First, of Persons in one Nature, so there is one God, Deut. 6. 4. The second, of Natures in one Person, so there is one Christ, 1 Cor. 8. 6. Thirdly, of sundry Natures and Persons in one quality; so there is one Church, Cant. 6. 8. The Socinians reject these three Unions, because they so far transcend reason, and they receive not those things, which their reason cannot comprehend.  
The more we content ourselves with God only, the happier we are; he is the 
Consectaries from God's unity. Christian's should be one in affection, as God is one in Essence. Mal. 2. 10. John 17. 21. Eph. 4. 3. to 7. Act. 4. 32.  only infinite Riches, Wisdom, Goodness; how happy are they that have him in quo omnia? spend all thy pains in getting him.  
2. If he be your enemy, there is none else to rescue you; he is God, and there is none else; he will destroy, and none shall be able to deliver out of his hands.  
3. It shows the wickedness of those, which set up other gods, besides the true God. The Epicure makes his belly, and the covetous man Gold his god. Some worship stocks and stones; this is a great dishonour to him: the Papists worship the Cross, Invocate Saints and Angels, make a god of the Pope.  
The Heathens were guilty of Polytheism, 
* The Gentiles although they were Polytheists, yet are called Atheists, Ephes. 2. 12. not worshipping him which is the only true God, they worshipped none, Gal. 4. 8.  they worshipped many gods: they had their Dii majorum, and Minorum gentium. Hesiod reckons up thirty 
b August. lib. 4. de Civitate Dei. Et Va●ro lib. 1. de Rebus Divinis.  thousand gods; They had their Dii mortui Idols, Mortales men, and Mortiferi lusts. The Romans had their Capitol full of gods, yet the Geese preserved it, whom Augustine thus derides, Dii dormiebant, anseres vigilabant. The Manichees said there were two gods: The Tritheites that there were three.  
The Heathens multiplied gods, because men cannot be happy without Associates they thought God could not see, Isa. 55. 8, 9  
This is the very first of all God's Commandments, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. If there were more, for us not to acknowledge, adore and honour them, were a wrong and act of injustice against them; so the first and foundation of all the rest of the Commandments, should be a most injurious and unlawful Command; and therefore we must either conceive of him, which gave that Commandment, as a most envious, vainglorious, arrogant and self-seeking God, that could not endure that other gods, perhaps his equals, should enjoy their due glory and homage (which were most absurd and blasphemous) or else we must needs confess that which is the truth, That he forbade us to make any other, because there is no other, 
c Cum praeter unum Israelis Deum in Scriptura aliorum quoque Deorum fit mentio, vel fictitii intelliguntur Dii; quales gentilium fuerunt vel impropriè dicti Dii, quales sunt summi Magistratus, qui Dei in hisce terris vices gerunt. Psal. 82. 6. Wendelinus. Apollinis oraculum apud Porphyrium legitur, quo ait caeteros Deos aereos esse Spiritus, colendum autem unum Hebraeorum Deum; cui dicto ●i parent Apollinis cultores, jam tales esse desinunt: si non parent, suum Deum mendacii accusant. Grotius. Variety is the pleasure of nature, but unity is the business of Nature. Holiday.  and he would not have us mis-place our devotion and service, by tendering it to that which is not god.  
If there be many gods, then either they must all be Subordinate, one being Superior; or else Coordinate each being equal to other. If one be inferior to another, that which is at the Command of another, or exceeded by another, is not God; if coordinate and equal, than one of them may cross another; or many may hinder one, and what can be hindered in its working is not God.  
If there be more gods, they cannot be Eternal; for an Eternal being admits not of multiplicity; for that is Eternal which is simply first; and that which is simply first hath nothing of as long a continuance as itself.  
God united heaven and earth, and made them one world, the Sea and the Land, and made them one Globe; soul and body, and made them one man; Jews and Gentiles, and made them one Church; Adam and Eve, and made them one flesh, nay, God and man, and made them one Christ.    

CHAP. VII. Of God's Understanding that he is Omniscient, and of his Will.  
THe next Attribute in God is his Understanding; which is the Divine 
a In homine differunt intellectus tanquam facultas, scientia tanquam habitus intellectus, cognitio tanquam actio à facultate per habitum proficiscens. In Deo omnia sunt unum, & tantùm nostro concipiendi modo distingunntur.  Essence, Understanding, and knowing all things always, and by one act. It is called also Science, Knowledge and Omniscience. God knows all things, because first he knew himself 
b Matth. 11. 27. 1 Cor. 2. 10. Vide Aquin. part. 1. Quaest 14. Art. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.  directly in himself, by himself, and primarily as a most perfect object; which knowledge in God, is of Absolute Necessity (for he could not exist without the knowledge of himself) and infinite apprehending an infinite object, Psal. 147. 5.  
Secondly, Because he knows the creatures all 
c See john 21. 17. Heb. 4. 13.  and singular 
d De singularibus, qualia sunt, hic Angelus, hic homo, haec planta, olim multi Philosophi dubitaru●t an Deus haec nosset. Sed manifesta veritas est. Creavit enim Deus singularia; judicia sua exercet circa singularia; reddit cuique secundum opera sua, supputat numerum stellarum, & nominibus suis singulas vocat. Psal. 47. 4. Vide Psal. 56. 9 & Matth. 10. 30. Pertinet huc totus Psalmus 147. Wendelinus. Simul & semel, uno actu & uno ictu.  viz. all things which have been, are, or shall be, might have been, and may be; not only the substances, but all the accidents of creatures, not only things necessary, but also contingent, all good things by himself, and all evils by the opposite good; and that infallibly without error.  
For the manner of Divine Knowledge, God knows all things by his Essence, not by Species abstracted from the things; for so things should be before the Disvine Knowledge, on which yet they depend. God doth not understand by dicoursing from a known thing to that which is unknown, in a doubtful and successive reasoning; but by looking on them, and by one most simple individual and eternal Act comprehending all things. He apprehends by one Act of his Understanding, and by himself simple things without Species, compound without composition and division, Syllogisms and consequences without discourse; Lastly, he most perfectly understands all the multitude of things without distraction, and distance both local and temporal, without distinction of former and later, past or future, according to the beginning, progress and end, possessing all things together, and always present; which with us are revolved in time, Dan. 2. 21, 22. 1 Cor. 3. 19, 20. Isa. 44. 7. Rom. 11. 33. Heb. 4. 13. Psal. 94. 9, 10, 11.  
The Scripture proves God's Omniscience.  
1. Affirmatively or Positively, job 28. 24. 1 Sam. 2. 3. he is called by Hannah in 
Psal. 139. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12. Act, 15. 18. 1 John 3. 20.  her Song, a God of Knowledge, 1 Sam. 16. 7. 1 King. 8. 39 Psa. 94. 11. He knows from eternity, by one simple Act, before all time, before there was a world; secondly, certainly; he cannot be deceived.  
2. Negatively, job 42. 2. Psal. 139. 45. Heb. 4. 13.  
3. Metaphorically and Figuratively, for when eyes and ears be given to God, his Omniscience is signified, 2 Chron. 16. 9 Psal. 11. 7. when he is called light, ● john 1. 5.  
2. It is proved by Reason.  
1. By way of negation, ignorance is a defect and imperfection; but God is most Perfect, therefore all ignorance is to be removed from him.  
2. By way of Causality; God governs all things in the whole Universe, and directs to convenient ends even those things which are destitute of all Knowledge and Reason. Therefore he fore-knows and sees all things; all creatures are Gods works, and an Artificer knows his work; the Prophet knew what was in Gehezi's heart, God revealing it to him. God made the heart; shall not he know it?  
3. By way of eminency. God hath made creatures intelligent and full of knowledge, viz. Angels and men; therefore he knows and understands in a far more perfect and eminent manner, Psal. 94. 10.  
He knows.  
1. The substantial natures of all other things; as of Angels, Men, Beasts, Plants, Gen. 1. He saw all things which he had made. Matth. 6. He is said to take care of Sparrows, which could not be without knowledge.  
2. Their accidentals, as actions and passions with the circumstances of them. 
Psa. 33. 14, ●●▪ and 94. 11. and 73. 9 per totum▪ Prov. 15. 11. Psal. 139. 2. God is totu● oculus quia omnia videt. August. It was said of Christ, He knoweth what is in man. He pondereth the heart of every man, Prov. 21. 2. He knows, 1. The general bent and inclination of the heart, Deut. 31. 21. 2. What graces are in the heart. 3. What actings of grace there are in the heart. 4. What ends the heart hath in all its undertake.  Hence he is said to know the hearts and try the reins of men; and there is nothing hid from him. Mat. 6. The Father which seeth in secret.  
3. He knows things which are to come, not as if they were to come; for to him all things are present. God makes this an argument of his Divinity, when he bids them see, if their Gentile gods can tell what is to come. He doth not only know what things naturally shall be, but likewise what is possible.  
By his Prophets, he hath often foretold future things.  
4. He is privy to all our actions, Psal. 119. 168. job 34. 21, 22. 2. Knows our words, 2 Kings 6. 12. Psal. 139. 4. Matth. 12. 36. 3. He knows our thoughts, Prov. 15. 11. job 42. 2. 4. 1 Sam. 16. 7. Psal. 94. 11. God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he sees and knows the heart, Gen. 6. 5. Psal. 90. 8. and Rom. 8. 27. Apoc. 2. 23. He made the heart, and will judge men for their thoughts, he gives laws to the heart, saying, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; else God were not Infinite in Knowledge, if he knew not the heart.  
Our Understanding differs from Gods many ways:  

1, We have our knowledge from others, from him; he his from himself. He understands by himself without any help; man needs many helpers, his senses, fancy, and intelligible Species.  
2. In extent; we know but some things, he all, general and particular.  
3. Our knowledge is simply finite, but God's infinite.  
4. We understand things by Species or Images, abstracted from them: he by his Essence.  
5. We understand things successively one after another, with pains of discourse, proceeding from an unknown thing to a known, or from a less known to a more known: but God knows all things together, and by one most Simple, Immutable, and Eternal Act of Understanding.  
6. He knows himself, and all other things perfectly, all things past, present 
He is primus intelligens and primum intelligibile.  and to come, open, secret, certain, contingent, that which shall be, which shall never be; we cannot show the Causes nor Properties of an Herb, and understand only those things which are, or at least have been, and we know doubtingly.   
There is in God (say the Schoolmen) Scientia visionis & simplicis intelligentiae. the object of the first is all things possible, of the other only things which really are, have been, or shall be. Visio enim terminatur ad existentiam rei, non ad solam possibilitatem, saith Bellarmine.  

1. This is a terror to the wicked, who is ignorant of God, 2 Thess. 1. 8. The study of the knowledge of God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, is the highest, noblest, the most soul-perfecting and exalting knowledge that can be; all other knowledge without this will nothing advantage us.  
2. It is necessary for us to be ruled by him, who is so full of Knowledge, and to believe all which he saith by way of relating, promising, threatening.  
3. This may comfort God's people, My witness is in Heaven, said job: 
Against worldliness. Matth. 6. 30, 32.  If they know not how to express themselves in Prayer, God knows their groans.   
To God's Understanding are referred his Wisdom, or Prudence, and Prescience.  
The Wisdom or Prudence, and counsel of God, by which God rightly perceives 
Great in Counsel, jer. 32. 19 Rom. 11. 33. job 9 4. The wisdom of God is sometime taken personally, and so the Son of God is called wisdom, Prov. 8. 1. Sometime Essentially which is common to all the persons in the Trinity.  the best reason of all things which are done. Hence it is that all things are joined and knit together in a most perfect harmony, and beautiful order, so that they well agree, both amongst themselves and with God.  
God is wisdom itself, Prov. 8.  
His Wisdom is,  

1. Infinite, Psal. 136. 5. and unsearchable job 11. 7.  
2. Essential to himself. He is the only wise God, Rom. 16. 27. 1 Tim. 1. 17. He is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working, Isa. 28. 29.  
3. He is perfectly, originally, unchangeably wise, Isa. 40. 13.  
4. The fountain of all wisdom; Was there such wisdom in Adam, to give names to things according to their natures? and in Solomon to discourse of all things? and is there not much more in God?   
Wisdom 
e Wisdom is a virtue of right understanding things to be known, and making right use of that knowledge to the ordering of himself and his actions for the best. Wisdom is such a knowledge of things, as they are absolutely in themselves, and comparatively with others, that a man is thereby persuaded unto that which will be his own true good for ever. There is a twofold act of wisdom, and both most eminent in God. The first is knowledge in the nature of things, which is properly called Science. The second is knowledge how to order and dispose of things, and it is called Prudence.  is an ability to fit all things to their ends. He that worketh for a worthy and good end, and fitteth every thing unto it, worketh wisely. God doth four Actions to all his Creatures as Creatures, viz.  
1. He made them. 2. Sustaineth them. 3. Actuateth them. 4. Guideth and disposeth them all wisely; aiming at a noble end, viz. his own glory, content and satisfaction.  
He hath set also to each of them special ends, to which they serve in nature, and that end is the mutual preservation one of another, and common beautifying of the whole workmanship, in subordination to that high end of his glory; and so he hath sitted each thing for that particular end he made it; and all for the universal end, to which he intended all. The Sun was made to distinguish day and night, and the several seasons, it is most fit for that end, it is most fit for the end in its quantity, quality, motion, and all that pertain to it. God made grass for the food of Beasts, it is fit for that end; so in the rest.  
Wisdom hath two principal acts, Foresight and Forecast, by which a man can before hand see what will be after to make his use of it; 2. Disposing and ordering things, by taking the fittest means and opportunities to attain his own good and right ends. This virtue is Infinitely in God, for he doth foresee all things eternally; and in time disposeth of them most fitly, by the fittest means and opportunities for the best that can be, to his own glory, which is the highest end that he can and should aim at; for to that which is the best of all things, must all things else be referred; therefore God is the only wise God. God's knowledge differs from his wisdom, in our apprehension thus. His knowledge is conceived as the mere apprehension of every object, but his wisdom is conceived as that whereby he doth order and dispose all things. His knowledge is conceived as an act; his wisdom as an habit or inward Principle; not that it is so, but only we apprehend it in this manner. 
It was a blasphemous speech of Alphonsus, Si ego Deo adfuissem mundum m●lius ordinassem. M●ramur artificium hujus corporis ad vitam, id est ad rem temporariam: quantum est artificium foetus in utero ad novem menses? quantum formicae & musc●, & Papilionum, & flosculi eodem dic p●rituri quo nascitur. Lud. Viu. de verit. Fid. Christ. l. 1. c. 1●. Prov. 3. 19, 20. Eccles. 3. 11. Prov. 12. 12, 13, 16.   
God's wisdom is seen in these particulars:  

1. In making of this great world, 1 Cor 1. ●1. all things therein are disposed in the best Order, Place, Time, by the wisest Architect. How doth David in the Psalms admire the wisdom and power of God, in making of the world, Psal. 136. 5. and 104. per totum. Much wisdom and art is seen in the Sun, Stars, creeping things; Solomon in all his glory was not comparable to one of the Lilies; for that is native and imbred, his adventitious.  
2. In particular, in making of man, the little world. David is much affected with this, Psal. 139. 14, 15.  
3. In the Order which is in these things, God hath made every thing beautiful in his season, saith Solomon. He is called The God of order. Psal. 19 The heavens are said to have a line, which is likewise called their voice, because God by this exact order and art, which he showed in making of them, doth plainly declare to all the world, his Glory and Power.  
4. In that nothing is defective or superfluous.  
5. In contriving things by contrary means. He brings about contrary ends, by contrary means; by death he brought life to believers, by ignominy and shame the greatest glory. By terrors for sin, he brings the greatest comfort, and leads men by hell to heaven.  
6. By catching those which are wise in their own craftiness, Psalm. 59 job 9 4.  
7. In finding out a way to save man by Christ, Ephes. 3. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 
1 Cor. 2. 7. Ephes. 1. 8.  Wisdom in many curious passages, 1 Pet. 1. 12. the very Angels desire to pry into this Mystery; and indeed here was so much wisdom, that if the understanding of all men and Angels had been put together, they could not have devised a possible way for man's salvation.  
8. In the Church, in the Oracles of Scripture, exceeding all sharpness of 
Ephes. 3. 10. Rom. 11. 33. Matth. 11. 25.  humane wit, in the Original, Progress, Change, and migration of the Church, and other mysteries of the Gospel, the profound and immense wisdom of God's counsels shines.  
9 In the particular passages of his Providence to his Children, about their outward condition; in taking David from the sheep-fold to be a King; but how much misery did he undergo before he was settled? So to jacob, Abraham and Paul; in doing them good by their sins, making them wary.  
10. In heaven, in which the Counsels, Acts, Decrees, and Promises of God (all obscurity being removed) shall be most clearly unfolded.   
Dost thou want wisdom, go to this fountain, jam. 1. 5. Psal. 94. 10. all the wisdom 
Dan. ●. Christ is made unto believers Wisdom, 1 Cor. 1. 30. He taught us Wisdom while he was on earth in his own person; now he teacheth us Wisdom by the written word of the Old and New Testament, Col. 3. 16. 2 Tim. 3. 15. 2. Makes it effectual to us by his Spirit, john 14. 15. and 16. Chapters. 1. We shall understand so much as shall certainly make us happy. 2. We have not a perfection of Wisdom in this world, 1 Cor. 13. 9 3. This is the alone Wisdom, Prov. 4. 18.  of men and Angels comes from him. The godly have a most wise teacher, job 36. 22.  
2. Take heed of trusting in thy own crafty wisdom, 1 Cor. 3. 18.  
3. God's wisdom calls for our fear; the people feared Solomon for his wisdom; and praise, Rom. 16. 27.  
4. The order and variety of things ariseth not from nature, but the Divine working.  
5. We should be content with the portion which God gives us, that weather which he sends, those troubles he brings on us; since he is wisest, and knows best what is fittest for us, and when is the best time to help us.  
6. Admire that in the works of God which we understand not: God's wisdom is unsearchable, and his counsel like unto the great depth.  
7. Be constant and diligent in reading and pondering upon the Scriptures; they 
Psal. 119. 99, 100, 101.  will make you wise to Salvation, to which add Prayer and Practice.  
A holy close conversation, walking according to the rule of the Gospel, is a Christians only wisdom, Ephes. 5. 15, 16. Fifty times in the Proverbs a godly man is called a wise man, and every wicked man a fool; see Prov. 4. 7.  
Reasons. 1. Such a conversation is most conformable to the rule of wisdom, the word of God.  
2. All the Properties of wisdom are to be found in it.  
1. A great part of wisdom is to choose that which is a real good, to propound the greatest good for his end, Eccles. 12. 13.  
2. A wise man searcheth into the bottom of things, sees them inwardly; many things appear good that are not so, this is only found in a holy conversation.  
3. Another property of wisdom is to take a right way to attain his end.  
4. He will lose no opportunity, but pursues the chiefest good with all his might, A wise man's eyes are in his head. A fool hath a price in his hand, but no heart to it.  
5. He will part with a lesser good for obtaining a greater.  
6. Wisdom acts men by the highest principles, and is seen in a right judging and esteeming of things and persons, Daniel 4. 17. puts men upon the noblest actions, Prov. 15. 24.  
God's Prescience or Foreknowledge is that, whereby God fore-knew all future things necessarily, certainly, immutably, and from everlasting. Neither foreknowledge 
Act. 2. 23.  
f It is called Prescience, not in respect of God but men, Gen. 18. 1. and 15. 16. Praescientia Dei est cognos●itiva, non causativa. Act. 2. 23. Rom. 8. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 2.  nor remembrance are properly in God, all things both past, and to come, being present before him.  
Although God's prescience bring not a necessity upon events, yet it is necessary for all things to happen so as God hath foretell, because God so fore-knows, as he hath decreed and wiled it shall be; but his decree give existence.  
A certain Science and Prediction of future and contingent things, is that first mark by which we are taught to distinguish the true God from Idols, Isa. 41. 23. Vide Voet. Thes. de Scientia Dei, p. 251, 252, 253.  
So much for God's Understanding; his Will follows; by which God 
g Voluntas, qua Deus seipsum vult per se, & extra se omnia propter se seu suam gloriam. Wendelin. Job 9 12. Psal. 115. 3. and 135. 7. Dan. 4. 25. Exod. 33. 19 Rom. 19 18, 21. 2 Cor. 12. 11. God created all things, because he would, he redeemed us of his good pleasure, showeth mercy to whom he will show mercy. God is, 1. Most Perfect. 2. Truly blessed, therefore most free. Licet Angelos atque homines agentia libera esse dicamus, Deum tamen solum primum agens liberum (sicut aequum est) pronunciamus; à cujus voluntate sicut omnis creaturae libertas dependet, ita etiam à motione Dei, omnis libertatis creatae in actum productio. Twiss. contra Corvinum, cap. 8. Sect. 4.  freely, immutably, and efficaciously wils and approves of Good, and that only, both the chiefest and first, viz. himself and his own glory, as the end, Prov. 16. 4. and Rom. 11. 36. john 8. 50. and also the secondary, inferior and subordinate good, viz. that of the creature, as far as it hath an Image of that chiefest good, and tends as a mean to that ultimate end. God wils, 1. Most freely; for as liberty is essential to every will; so it is chiefly proper to the Divine, because it is a will especially; yet God wils good necessarily with a necessity of Immutability, but not with a necessity of coaction; for he is necessarily and naturally Good, and that which he once willed, he always wils immutably and yet freely; 2. God wils efficaciously; for no man resisteth, nor can resist his Will, Daniel 4. 32. Rom. 9 19 Voluntas Dei semper impletur aut de nobis aut à Deo in nobis. Augustine.  

1. For a faculty or power of the soul whereby we will; so we say there are these faculties in the soul, the understanding and the will. So for that faculty of willing which is in God, so it is one with God's Essence.  
2. For the act of his willing called volitio: so it is one also with his Essence. For 
Nulla causa datur voluntatis Dei, quoad actum volentis. Aqui●. Qu. ●. Art. 23, 45. & this is the opinion of all the Schoolmen, saith Doctor Twisse.  as he is Eternal and Immutable, so is also his will.  
3. The Object or thing willed, so john 6. This is the will of my Father, that is, that which he willeth and hath decreed. So we say, It is the Princes will, that is, that which the Prince willeth; he willeth his own glory chiefly.   
God's will is his Essence 
h The Scripture often ascribes a will to God, Isa. 46. 10. Rom. 9 19 john 6. 39 The will of God is an essential Property whereby the Lord approveth that which is good, and disproveth the contrary, Matth. 19 17. james 1. 17. Psal. 5. 4.  whereby he freely willeth good, and nilleth evil; or it is a faculty whereby God chooseth all and only good, and refuseth all and only evil.  
The Will of God is:  

1. Most holy, Rom. 12. 2. Psal. 119 137. the rule of justice, Lam. 3. 37: Ephes. 1. 11. Deut. 29. 29. Isa. 8. 20.  
2. Eternal, Rom. 9 11.  
3. Unchangeable, Mal. 3. 6. Rom. 11. 1.   
The will of God is one and the same, but it is 
i Every distinction of God's will, must be framed ex parte volitorum, no● ex parte volentis, Dr jackson. See Dr Prideaux his Sermon on 2 Chr. 32. 24. p. 17.  distinguished  
1. In respect of the object into voluntatem beneplaciti & placiti. God wils good things, and good effects with the will of his good pleasure, approving them first of all, and by himself, he intends their end and means, Ephes. 1. 5. but evil and evil effects as they are evil, he nils, disapproves and dislikes. Yet he voluntarily permits evil, and as there is a good end of it, he wils it with the will of his pleasure, for it is good that there should be evil, Psal. 81. 12. Acts 14. 16. 1 Cor. 10. 5. Divines thus distinguish, there is volitio mala & mali, to will sin to be, is not sinful, it had never come into the world if God had not willed it.  
2. In respect of application to the creature, into  
1. Absolute 
k Piscator negat ullam Dei voluntatem esse conditionatam. Negat etiam Bradwardinus, demonstratque omnem Dei voluntatem esse absolutam. Est ista m●o judicio sententia accuratior. Sed voluntas Dei potest distingui in voluntatem absolutam & conditionatam; nimirum non quoad actum Dei volenti●, sic omnis Dei voluntas est absoluta, sed quoad res hoc Dei actu volitas. Vult enim Deus ut alia absolutè eveniant, alia verò non sine conditione, sic fidem hominis & regenerationem & resipiscentiam vult Deus absolutè elect is suis, hoc est, vult ut ista iis contingant absolutè, at ut salus eis absolutè co●ting at non vult, sed duntaxat sub conditione fidei & resipiscentiae, sinalisque in iisdem perseverantiae. Twiss. contra Corvinum cap. 8. Sect. 4. Vide plura ibid. & cap. 14. Sect. 8. Miro & in●ffabili modo non fit praeter ejus voluntatem quod etiam contra ejus fit voluntatem, quia non ●ieret si non sineret, nec utique nolens sinit, sed volens. Nec fi●cret bonus fieri malè, nisi omnipotens etiam de malo facere possit benè. August. E●chir. ad Laurent. c. 100 , when God willeth and concludeth any thing concerning us without any condition in us.  
2. Conditional, when he wils, some condition being put in us; so God would have all men saved on this condition, if they can believe. The first of these is by another name called Voluntas beneplaciti, the last Voluntas signi.  
God's will is:  
1. Secret, Voluntas propositi, that whereby he hath absolutely, and freely determined with himself what he will do, permit or hinder.  
2. Revealed, Voluntas praecepti, that whereby God hath manifested what he 
Psal. 115. 3. Ephes. 1. 11. Rom. 9 18. called the will of God concerning us.  would have believed, done or left undone by his reasonable creatures, Mark 3. 35. 1 Thess. 4. 3. That distinction of Gods will into beneplaciti & signi, differs little from this. Signi is the same with revealed. Beneplacitum is the decree properly so called, which may be either hidden or manifest.  
It serves first to comfort us in adversities; God is a most free Agent, therefore he is not bound to second causes, so as he cannot help without them, Psal. 115. 3.  
Secondly, To exhort us to Sobriety in our judgement of God's works. He is a most free Agent, therefore we should not rashly exact of him a reason of his 
Rom. 9 20, 21, 22.  deeds.  
2. We should labour first to know God's will; so did Eli, 1 Sam. 3. 17.  
2. Our wills should be pliable to the will of God.  
All goodness and truth in the creature is a conformity cum Archetypo, say the Schoolmen, of truth to the mind of God, and of goodness to the will of God, the first truth and goodness is in him; those passages therefore in some men's writings had need to be well weighed, Quaedam volita quia bona, & quaedam bona quia volita, God wils some things because they are good, as if some things were antecedently good to the will of God. His will is the rule of all goodness, Non ideo volitum quia bonum, sed ideo bonum quia volitum. The power of grace mainly consists in a ready submission to the will of God.  
Reason.  
1. Grace is the Law written in the heart, jer. 31. 33. when there is a disposition there suitable to every Commandment, Praebendo vires efficacissimas voluntati, saith Augustine.  
2. The highest subjection of the soul to God is the subjection of the will.  
He will be obeyed as well as worshipped, as a God:  

1. You are his servants his will should be subdued to his Master's ends, he is to have no will of his own.  
2. You are said to be married to God, Host 2. 19 The woman is to subject her will to her husband, Gen. 3. 16.  
3. Because the act of the will only is the act of the man, Actus voluntatis est actus suppositi, Psal. 119. 30. that is an act of a man, which if he were free he would choose to do, Psal. 40. 6.  
4. The main power of sin lies in the will, the blame is still laid upon that, Israel would have none of me, you will not come to me that you may have life, I would and you would not; I am bound (saith Augustine) Meaferrea voluntate.  
5. The main work of the Spirit in the omnipotency of it, is seen in subduing the will, Eph. 1. 19 Psal. 110. 3.  
6. Our sanctification shall be perfect when our wills shall be perfectly subjected to God, Heb. 12. 23.   
We should be careful: 1. To do his will cheerfully, speedily, sincerely, constantly; 
Psal. 110. Deut. 16. 14. Psal. 119. Psal. 51. 8. Revel. 2. 4. Levit. 10. 3. Job 1. 21. Psal. 39 19 Psal. 119. 6. Prov. 30. 6. 2 Sam 6. 7. and 7. 7. Aug. Ench ad Laur. c. 101. Deut. 29. 29. Rom. 9 20. Eccl. 7. 15, 16. Mr Pemble, Vindiciaegratiae, p. 108, 109. Apostolus 1 Tim. 2. 4. non intelligit singulos homines, sed quosvishomines, hoc est, omnis generis homines, genera singulorum, non singula generum.  a Christian makes God in Christ his portion, that is his faith; and the word of God his rule, that is his obedience.  
3. Be patient under the hand of God in all afflictions, for nothing can befall us but that which is the good pleasure of our heavenly Father.  
3. We should not depart from the Word of God, but make that the warrant of all our actions; for there is nothing sin but what God forbiddeth; and nothing acceptable, but what he commandeth. A man may with a good will, will that which God nils; as if a good Son desire his Father's life whom God would have die, and one may will with an ill will, that which God wils with a good will, as if an ill Son should desire his Father's death, which God also wils.  
4. Pry not into the Lord's secrets, they belong not unto thee, but be wise unto Sobriety.  
5. We should be afraid to sin against God, who can punish how he will, when he will, and where he will; God wils seriously the conversion of all men, by the preaching of the Word, Voluntate approbationis, by way of allowance, but not Voluntate effectionis & intentionis, not effectually, by way of full intention to work it in them. It is one thing to approve of an end as good, another thing to will it with a purpose of using all means to effect it. God's Commandments and Exhortations, show what he approves and wils, to be done as good; but his promises or threatenings show what he intendeth effectually to bring to pass.  
Under God's will are comprehended affections which are attributed to God, and are divers motions of his will according to the diversity of Objects. Yet they are not sudden and vehement perturbations of God 
* God pleaseth to ●scribe to himself our humane affection's, not because he hath any perturbation, or passion, or troublesome stirring, and working within, as we have; but because he hath an aptness to produce such effects, as we out of those passions do accustom to produce, but without any manner of those weaknesses or distempers, which accompany us in such actions.  as they are in man, rising and falling as occasion serves, but constant, fixed, tranquil, and eternal Acts and Inclinations of the will, according to the different nature of things, either contrary or agreeable to it. There are in man some habitual and perpetual affections, as love and hatred, much more hath the Eternal will of God Eternal affections, whiles it moves itself to the objects, without alteration, impression and passion. God is so far affected toward particulars, as they agree or disagree with the universal and immutable notions and Ideas of good existing in God from Eternity; so God hates evil and loves good, both in the abstract and universal Idea, and also in the concrete in particular subject as far as it agrees with the general.   

CHAP. VIII. Of God's Affections, his Love, Hatred.  
THe Affections, which the Scripture attributes to God, are  
1. Love which is an act 
a It is an attribute, whereby God loveth himself above all, and others for himself.  of the Divine Will, moving itself both to the most excellent good in itself, and to that excelling in the reasonable creature, approving it, delighting in it, and doing good 
b Amor Dei est, quo se oblectat in ●o quod approbat, eique bene vult, & sibi unit, Wendol. God is first affected toward himself and his own Glory. Passiones Deo tribuntur non quoad affectum, sed quoad effectum. Love is not a passion or perturbation in God as in man, 1 john 1. 5.  to it, john 6. 16, 35. Rom. 5. 8. In which definition two things are to be noted.  
1. The Object of Gods Love.  
2. The Effect or Manner of Gods Love.  
The primary object of God's Love is himself, for he taketh great pleasure in himself, and is the Author of greatest felicity and delight to himself. The Father, Son and holy Ghost, love one another mutually, Matth. 3. 17. and 17. 5. john 3. 33, 35. and 5. 20. and 10. 17. and 15. 9 and 17. 24. The secondary Object of God's love 
John 14. 23. Ezek. 33. 11. Amor Divinus est. 1. Naturalis quo Deus necessariò amat seipsum, 2. Voluntarius, 1. Universalis, quo omnes creaturas aliquo modo Deus diligit. Amare enim est velle alicui bonum, Matth. 5. 45. 2. Specialis, quo Deus inaequaliter amat has & illas creaturas, respectu boni in●qualis, quod iis vult; sic magis diligit creaturas rationales, & inter illas electos, & Christum. Wendelinus. Some dispute whether God loves all creatures with an equal love, Ex parte actus divini, he doth not: Ex parte boni voliti, he wils heaven to some.  is the reasonable creature Angels and men. For though he approve of the goodness of other things, yet he hath chosen that especially, to prosecute with his chiefest love: for these Reasons.  

1. For the excellency and beauty of the reasonable creature, when it is adorned with its due holiness.  
2. Because between this only and God, there can be a mutual reciprocation of love, since it only hath a sense, and acknowledgement of God's goodness.  
3. Because God bestows Eternity on that which he loves; but the other creatures besides the rational shall perish.   
God's love to Christ is the foundation of his love to us, Matth. 3. 17. Ephes. 1. 6.  
God loves all creatures with a General Love, Matth. 5. 44, 45. as they are the work of his hands; but he doth delight in some especially, whom he hath chosen in his Son, john 3. 16. Ephes. 1. 6. Psal. 106. 4.  
God loves his Elect before they love him; his Love is actual and real in the purpose of it to them from Eternity. There are four expressions in Scripture to prove this:  

1. He loves his people before they have the life of grace, Ephes. 4. 5. 1 john 4. 19 Rom. 5, 8.  
2. Before they have the life of nature, Rom. 9 11.  
3. Before the exhibition of Christ, john 3. 16.  
4. Before the foundation of the world was laid, Ephes. 1. 3. 2 Tim. 1. 9 Therefore God loves the Elect more than the Reprobate, and our love is not the motive of his love.   
Object. How could God love them when they were workers of iniquity, Hab. 1. 13. Psal. 5. 3, 4. He loved their persons, but hated their works and ways. God loved Christ's person, yet was angry with him when the guilt of our sins was upon him.  
He loves his people, 1. Before conversion, Amore benevolentiae, with a love of goodwill and of pity, which is properly showed to one in misery, Ezek. 16. 5.  
2. After Conversion, with a love 1. Of sympathy, Isa. 63. 9 Heb. 4. 15. and 5. 2. 2. Of Complacency and delight, Psal. 16. 10, 11. that Psalm is a Prophecy of Christ, see Ephes. 2. 5. This love of his delight is discovered four ways:  
1. By his valuing of his people, Since thou wast precious in my sight thou wast honourable.  
2. By his commendation of his Church and people, as often in the Canticles.  
3. By his frequent visits, Luke 1. 68 Rev. 3. 20.  
4. By revealing his counsels to them. john 15. 15.  
2. The effect or manner of God's love is, that God makes the person happy 
1 John. 4. 16. John 3. 35. Rom. 5. 8. Mal. 1. 2.  whom he loves. For he doth amploy reward that joy and delight which he takes in the holiness and obedience of the Elect, while he pours plentifully upon them all gifts, both of grace and glory.  
This love of God to the Elect is:  

1. Free, Hosea 15. 5. he was moved with nothing but his own goodness, Ezek. 
Ephes. 2. 3, 4. 1 joh. 4. 10, 19  16. 8.  
2. Sure, firm, and unchangeable, Rom. 5. 8, 10. 1 john 4. 10. john 13. 1. and 31. 
jer. 31. 3.  3. Infinite and Eternal, which shall never alter, john 3. 16. It is without cessation, Psal. 27. 10. Diminution, Cant. 8. 7. interruption, Rom. 8. 35. to the end, or alteration, every created thing is imutable.  
3. Effectual, as is declared both by his temporal and eternal blessings, 1 john 3. 1. Dei amare est bonum velle.  
4. Sincere, It is a love without any mixture, love, and nothing but love. This is the motive which persuades Gods to communicate himself, and act for his people Isa. 63. 9 Rev. 3. 19 and hath no motive but itself, Deut. 7. 6, 7, 8. 1 john 4. 8. God hath no need of us, or our love, nor doth not advantage himself by loving us, job 22. 2.  
5. Great and ardent, john 3. 16. and 15. 13. Rom. 5. 6, 7. God bestows pledges 
Rom. 8. 1, 2. and 5. 5. 1 John 3. 1. Psal 36. 7.  of his love and favour upon them whom he hath chosen, and sometimes he sheds the sense of his love abroad in their hearts, transforms us into his own image, Cant. 4. 9 and 6. 5. see Zeph. 3. 17.   
We must love God Appreciatiuè, love him above all things, and in all, Psal. 73. 
God is the only immediate and proper object of love. He is diligibilis natura.  24. Mat. 10. 37. Intensiuè and Intellectiuè, with all our might and strength. Affectu & Effectu, love him for himself, and all things for the Lords sake: else it is not, 1. A Conjugal love, 2. Not an equal love, to love the gifts, and not the giver.  
We should love:  

1. All the Divine persons in the Trinity, 1. The Father, Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. 2. Christ, for taking our nature upon him. He gave himself to us, and for us, Cant. 5. 16. 3. The Holy Ghost, for drawing our hearts to the knowledge of this great mystery, Rom. 5. 5.  
2. All the Divine properties and excellencies, whereby God makes himself known to the sons of men: Love him for his holiness, Es. 6. beginning, fidelity, 1 Cor. 10. 13. Omniscience and Dominion, The Sceptre of thy Kingdom is a Righteous 
Beatus qui amat te, amicum in te & inimicum propter te. Aug. conf. l. 4. c. 9 Minus te amat, qui te cum aliquid amat, quod non propter te amat. Aug. confess. l. 10. c. 29. Vide Ames. l. 4. de conscientia. c. 10. Mr Bradford when others we●e merry at Table, fell a weeping, because he could not get his dull heart to love God.  Sceptre.  
3. We should love all his Ordinances, Psal. 27. 4. and 84. beginning, and all his discoveries to us in his word, 2 Thess. 2. 10.   
We should express our love to him by our care in keeping his Commandments, 1 john 2. 3. john 14. 25. and 15. 10. and earnest desire of his presence, Psal. 4. 2, 3.  
2. Our love should be conformed to Gods, in loving the Saints, Psal. 16. 3. Gal. 6. 10. john 3. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 21. and Christ above all, desiring to be united to him, 1 Cor. 5. 44. 1 Pet. 1. 8.  
3. We should admire the love of God, 1 john 3. 1. For the sureness, greatness, and continuance of it, it passeth our knowledge, Ephes. 3. 19 he hath given his son for a price, his spirit for a pledge, and reserves himself for a reward.  
That Tantus so great a God, should love Tantillos so little creatures as we before we were, Rom. 9 11. tales when we were Enemies, Rom. 5. 10. tantum so much.  
Means to love God: 1. Beg this love much of God in Prayer. 2. Study much to know him, his nature, attributes, excellencies. 3. Labour to enjoy communion▪ with him. 4. Mortify other loves contrary to this, inordinate self-love, and love of the world, 1 john 2. 15.  
There are many promises made to the love of God: 1. Of Temporal blessings, Psal. 91. 14. Rom. 8. 28. 2. Spiritual, all the comforts of the Gospel, 1 Cor. 2. 9 3. Of heavenly and eternal blessings, james 1. 12. and 2. 5.  
1. God is Maximè amabilis, he is truly lovely. 2. Consider the great benefits we receive from him, Psal. 116. 12. 3. He desires us to love him, Deut. 10 4. Mark 12. 33, 4▪ This affection only and joy abide for ever, 1 Corinth. 13. ult.  
The second affection in God, contrary to love, is Hatred, which is an act 
* God's hatred is that whereby he is ready to do that which we do when we hate, even to separate a thing from himself, Ezek. 33. 11. Rom. 9 14. Psal. 45. 7. and 5. 6. Isa▪ 1. 14.  of the Divine will, declining, disproving and punishing of evil', prevailing and reigning in the reasonable creature.  
In which definition three things are to be noted:  

1. The object of God's hatred.  
2. The cause and condition of the object hated.  
3. The effect of God's hatred.   

1. The object of God's hatred is the reasonable creature, for that only sins. 
Hatred is of things contrary ●o us, as God hates sin, being contrary to his 1. Nature. 2. Law. 3. Honour. Psal. 45. 8. God's love hath variety of objects, he loves himself, his son, his Saints, all his creatures; he hates nothing but sin; and his hatred is as infinite as his love: 1. He forbids nothing but sin, and all degrees of it, jer. 44. 4. therefore it is set forth in Scripture by most odious names, whatsoever is shameful or hurtful. 2. All his judgements are denounced against sin.  He hateth iniquity, Psal. 71. 59 Hab. 1. 13. Prov 11. 1. and the creature which ob stinately and stubbornly persisteth in evil, so that he doth rejoice in the calamity and destruction thereof, Psal. 11. 5. and 5. 6. Prov. 16. 5.  
2. The cause and condition of the object hated, is sin; for which God abhors the delinquent creature; only the reasonable creature hath left his station, and defiled himself with the filth of sin; all the rest of the creatures, whether brute beasts or insensible creatures, persist in the state of goodness wherein they were created, although perhaps not in the same degree of perfection and excellency for man's sin: But although God cannot hate the creature, unless as sinful, yet not every degree of sin, but a high measure of it, makes the person hated. It is true that God abhors the least sin, yet he doth not abhor the persons of the godly, in which are the relics of sin, as he doth those of the wicked in whom sin reigns.  
3. The effect of God's hatred is to punish the person whom he hates, Psal. 9 11. whom when once it is rejected by God, troops of evil do invade, God both permitting and commanding; and this actual hatred or outward manner of manifesting it, it may not unfitly be referred to the Divine justice. Hatred in God is a virtue and fruit of his justice, and not a vicious passion.   
Consider, 1. The unsupportable horrors of conscience, Prov. 18. 14. 2. The painful death of little children, Rom. 5. 14. 3. How grievously God punisheth the sins of the Elect in his own Son, when he was made sin he was made a curse. 4. How small sins have been punished: The Angels for one aspiring thought were cast into hell; Uzza struck dead for touching the Ark, fifty thousand Bethshemites for looking into it. Mr. Peacock felt a hell in his conscience for eating too much at one meal. 5. The appointing of everlasting torments. 
Prov. 6. 16. Hatred in a reasonable creature is a motion of the will, whereby it flieth from that which it apprehends to be evil and opposeth it. It ariseth from a disconformity of the object   
We should hate sin (for God hateth it) and that with the greatest hatred, even as hell itself, Rom. 129. Sin is the first, principal, and most immediate object of hatred. Paul mentioning divers evils, saith, God forbid. I hate vain thoughts, saith David, our affections must be conformable to Gods. He hateth nothing simply but sin, and sinners for sin's sake. 2. Sin is, as most injurious to God, so most hurtful to man; therefore it is in itself most hateful. The ground of hatred of any thing is the contrariety of it to our welfare, as we hate wild, fierce, and raging beasts, for their mischievousness, Toads and Serpents for their poysonfulness, which is a strong enemy to life and health. Sin is the most mischievous and harmful thing in the world. Just hatred is general of whole kinds, as we hate all Serpents, so we should all sins.  
Means to hate sin:  

1. Pray to God, that his Spirit may rule and order our affections, and set the same against evil. 
There is a twofold hatred: 1. Odium abominationis, a flying only from a thing. 2. Odium inimicitiae, whereby I pursue what is evil. As much of our original corruption is found in this affection as any.   
2. Exercise ourselves in meditating of the infinite torments of hell, which sin deserveth, and the fearful threats denounced against it in the word of God, of all sorts of evils.  
3. We should labour to get out of our natural estate, for the unregenerate man hates God, Psal. 81. 15. Rom. 1. 30. Christ, john 7. 7. and good men, eo nomine, as Cain did Abel, 1 john 3. 10, 12. they hate Gods ways and Ordinances, Prov. 1. 22, 29. This hatred is 1. Causeless, Psa.. 69. 44. 2, Entire, without any mixture of love. 3. Violent, Psal. 53. 3. 4. Irreconcilable, Gen. 3. 15.    

CHAP. IX. Of the Affections of Anger and Clemency, given to God Metaphorically.  
OTher affections which are given to God metaphorically, and by an Anthropopathy; are 1. Anger, 
* Anger is given to God, Non secundum turbationis affectum, sed secundum ultionis effectum, say the Schoolmen, God's wrath is his revenging justice; which justice of God, as it simply burns against sin, the Scripture calls his Anger; when it doth most fiercely sparkle out, it is called his Wrath; the same justice when it pronounceth sentence, is called his judgement; when it is brought into execution, it is called his vengeance. Mr. Marshal on 2 King. 23. 26. Irasceris Domine tranquillus, fur is pacatus. Gerson.  and its contrary, complacency or gentleness, which are improperly in God, for he is neither pleased nor displeased; neither can a sudden either pertubation or tranquillity, agree to God; but by these the actions of God are declared, which are such as those of offended and pleased men are wont to be; viz. God by an eternal and constant act of his will approves obedience, and the purity of the creature, and witnesseth that by some sign of his favour, but abhors the iniquity and sin of the same creature, and shows the same, by inflicting a punishment, not less severe, but far more just than men are wont to do, when they are hot with anger, Exod, 32. 10. Now therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great Nation.  
God's Anger is an excellency of his own Essence, by which it is so displeased 
God's anger signifieth three things: 1. The eternal decree, whereby God hath purposed in himself to take vengeance upon all evil doers, john 3. 36. Rom. 1. 18. 2. His menacings or threatenings, Psal. 6. 1. jonah 3. 9 Host 11. 9 3. It is put for the effects of his anger, for punishment and revenge, Rom. 3. 5. ●●ath. 3. 7. Ephes. 5. 6. Dr Benfields' Sermon 10. on Heb. 10. 30.  with sin, as it is inclined to punish the sinner; or a settled and unchangeable resolution to punish sinners according to their sins.  
God is greatly moved to anger against all impenitent sinners, especially the unjust enemies of his people, Rom. 1. 18. and 2. 8, 9 1 Cor. 10. 22. Ephes. 5. 6. and Col. 3. 6. Deut. 32. 21. Psal. 106. 40, because such wrong God: He cannot be hurt, for that were a weakness; but he may be wronged, for that is no weakness, but a fruit of excellency, seeing nothing is more subject to be wronged then an excellent thing or person: for wrong is any behaviour to a person not suitable to his worth. And the more worthy a person is, the more easy it is to carry one's self unseemly.  
Sin wrongs God:  
1. In his authority; when a just and righteous Governor hath made just and right Laws; than it is a wrong to his authority, a denying and opposing of it, to neglect, disregard, and infringe those Laws. Sin is a transgressing of God's Law, and impenitent sin, doing it in a very wilful manner, with a kind of carelessness, and bold disrespect of the Lawmaker. God should not have showed himself wise, just, good, careful of mankind; that is to say, of his own work, if he had not made his Law; for it is a rule tending to guide man, to order his life most fitly for that which was the main end of it, the glory of his maker, and that which was the subordinate end of it, his own welfare.  
2. It wrongs him in his honour, name and dignity; it is a denying of his perfect wisdom and justice.  
3. In his goods, abusing them:  
4. In his person, sin being offensive to the purity of his holy person.  
Lastly, the opposing of God's people wrongs him, in those that are nearest him.  
The properties of God's anger:  
1. It is terrible: He is called Bagnal Chemah, the Lord of anger, Nahum 1. 5. 
See Nehem. 9 32. Heb. 10. 17. Rev. 6. 16, 17. See those words Zagnam, Zagnath, & Charad in my Hebrew Critica.  His wrath is infinite like himself, Rom. 9 22. if we consider it, 1. In regard of its intention, for God is called A consuming fire, Heb. 12. 29. it pierceth the soul, and the inmost part of the Spirit. 2. In respect of its extension, it comprehends in it all kinds of evil, Corporeal, Spiritual, 
* To this belongs the Catalogue of curses repeated Deut. 21. and Levit. 26.  in life, death, after death; it reacheth to Kingdoms, as well as to particular persons or families; to the posterity, as well as to the present generation. 3. In respect of duration, it continueth to all eternity, john 3. 36. it is unquenchable fire.  
2. irresistible, compared to a whirlwind.  
God is most wise, of great and perfect understanding. He is slow to anger, never 
God is infinitely just, a perfect hater of sin.  moved till there be great cause; therefore he holds out in his anger. Great persons inflict great punishments on those with whom they are displeased.  

Object. Fury is not in me, Isa. 27. 4.  
Answ. Take fury 
* The word Chamath in the original is rendered excandescentia, burning or fiery wrath, which the last Translation fitly calls fury.  for unjust, undue and excessive anger, which riseth too soon, worketh too strong, and continneth too long; so it is not in God; but a discreet and well advised motion against any offender, by which one is moved to punish him according to his offence; anger so taken is in him.  
Anger, wrath and rage, 
a Dr Burges on Psal. 76. 10.  (or fury) are sometimes promiscuously put one for another, and sometimes distinguished. Anger is a boiling of the blood about the heart, causing a commotion of the spirits that are near. Wrath is the manifestation of that inward distemper by looks, gestures or actions tending to revenge; but rage is the extremity of both the former, Prov. 27. 4.  
This may humble and astonish impenitent sinners, Host 8. 5. Psal. 90. 11. We 
Consectaries from God's anger.  must quench God's wrath as men do fire at the first, by casting in water, and taking away the fuel; by repentance and reformation; pour out water, 1 Sam. 7. 8. jer. 4. 14. Psal. 6. 8. pray earnestly to him, Zeph. 3 3. Moses by prayer turned away God's hot anger from Aaron and Israel.  
2. Let us take heed of sinning, and so provoking God to anger; and let us be angry with all sin, as he is. He is angry sometimes at the best people, Israel his peculiar treasure, judges 2. Num. 11. 2. At the best of his people, with Moses, Aaron, 
Deut. 9 9  and Miriam, Mic. 6. 4. Exod. 4. 14. 3. At the best of their performances, their prayers, Psal. 80. 4. 
Psal. 103. 10. God commandeth meekness in his word; Christ paterneth it in his life and death; the holy Spirit produceth it in our hearts.   
God's Meekness or Clemency is a property in him, whereby he doth so moderate his anger, that it doth not exceed, yea it doth not match the heinousness of the offence; or, it is a property, whereby the Lord in judgement remembreth mercy, not laying such grievous punishments, or of so long continuance upon his creatures, as their sins deserve, no not when he doth correct them, 2 Sam. 7. 14. jer. 3. 5. joel 2. 13. john. 3. 9, 10.  
Queen Elizabeth said, next the Scripture she knew no Book did her so much good as Seneca de Clementia. Her clemency was such, that her brother King Edward was wont commonly to call her, His sweet sister Temperance.  
Magistrates and Ministers, and all Christians should labour for this grace, they should be slow to anger, and moderate wrath. Magistrates should rule, and Ministers instruct in meekness. No virtue is so generally commended, 1 Tim. 6. 11. Titus 3. 2. james 3. 17, 18. Humbleness of mind, and meekness of spirit, are 
Mat. 5. 5.  often in Scripture set down together, Ephes. 4. 2. Coloss. 3. 2.  
God takes to himself also grief and joy. God's grief is his aptness to be displeased with a thing, as a man is with that which grieves him. Joy is the excellency of his nature, by which he is well pleased with other things.  
So God attributes to himself desire and detestation, hope and fear. Desire is that whereby he useth fit means to effect any thing. Detestation is that whereby he useth fit and due means to prevent any thing.  
God is said to expect or hope for that which he hath used due means to effect, 
Much what the same with desire and detestation.  and therefore requireth that it should be. To fear what he hath used due means to prevent, and so will order the means that it may not be.    

CHAP. X. Of God's Virtues, Particularly of his Goodness.  
SO much concerning the affections attributed to God, his virtues follow; which as they have their seat in man, in the will and affections; so it is not inconvenient for methods sake to refer them to the same in God. God's virtues 
* Virtues in men are certain excellent and confirmed habits, by which they are made apt and prompt to use their faculties well and orderly. Deus est summum bonum simpliciter; & non solum in aliquo genere, vel ordine rerum. Aquinas. Luke 18. 19 Matth. 19 17. Some say God comes from Good. for God only is essentially and perfectly good, Nos Germani usque à majoribus nostris (praeclarius perfectò & pulchrius quam ulla alia lingua) Deum à bonitatis vocabulo, sermone nobis vernaculo vocamus, quip qui sons perennis sit & perpetuo scaturiens, affluentissimis bonis exundans, & à quo omne quicquid uspiam boni est dicitur & emana●. Lutherus in Catechismo majore.  are his essence considered, as it always worketh orderly, fitly, and agreeably to perfect reason. They are not things differing from his essence as in us, but we must conceive of them according to our capacity, and handle them distinctly.  
By virtues we understand first in general the idea of virtue, or the chiefest moral perfection, by which God is in himself absolutely the best, and in respect of which all the virtues of angels and men are only slender shadows and representations. For God is Summum bonum, the chiefest good, and most perfect goodness, both metaphysically and morally; so that his nature and will is the first rule of goodness and rectitude, with which, as far as things agree, so far they are, and are called good. 2. He is the cause of all goodness in the creatures, which have so much goodness as God works and keeps in them.  
God's Goodness is an essential property whereby he is infinitely, and of himself 
Exod 33. 19 Psal. 34. 8▪ 9 & 73. 1. & 117. 2. Rom. 2. 4.  good, and the author and cause of all goodness in the creature.  
God's goodness is considered as he is good in himself, yea, goodness itself, Exod. 34. 6. Psal. 119. 68 or as he is good to his creatures, which is his bounty, which being referred to his creatures, either as having goodness communicated to them, is his love; or as being in misery, is his mercy, or as having deserved no good thing at the hands of God, but rather the contrary, is his Grace.  
Goodness 
* Bonum est id quod omnes appetum, Aristotle Seu, quod natura sua appetibile est. Goodness is a property of things by which they are fit to produce actions requisite for their own and the common welfare. David seemeth to give us this description of God's goodness, Psalm 119. 68 Bonitas Dei est, qua Deus in se maximè perfectus & appetibilis, omnium que extra se appetibilium & bonorum causa est. Wendelinus' Goodness is the fitness of every thing for its own end, and for the actions which for that end it ought to perform. Whatsoever thing is excellent in the creatures, is much more in God, james 1. 17.  is the perfection of things for which they are desirable; good and appetible are convertible: What is good is to be desired. God is to be desired of all, he is the chiefest good.  
The properties of which are these:  
1. It is propter se amabile, to be desired for itself; so only God.  
2. It is able to satisfy the soul, and that satisfaction which it gives is perpetual. In God there is both satiety and stability; satisfaction of the appetite, and continuance of that satisfaction.  
2. God is causally good, worketh all goodness in the creature, and doth good to them, Psal. 33. 5.  
3. Eminently and absolutely good, the only good. There is a goodness in the creature, its nature is good, but goodness is not its nature; so there is none good but God; viz. Essentially, originally.  
Our Saviour Matth. 19 17. reproved one for calling him good; not that he is not so essentially, but because he thinking him to be no more than a Prophet, did yet call him so. God is only good essentially, independently; comparatively to God the creature is not good; as a drop is no water compared to the Ocean. 
Psal. 25. 8.   
The Scripture proveth God's goodness,  

1. Affirmatively, when it affirmeth that God is good, and commends his goodness.  
2. Negatively, when it denieth that there is any evil in him, Psal. 92. 16. Deut. 32. 4.  
3. Symbolically, when it celebrateth the riches of his goodness, Rom. 2. 4.  
4. Effectively, when it affirms that all the works of God are good, Gen. 1. 31. It was said of every thing particularly when it was made, The Lord saw that it was 
There are naturally the good Heavens, the good Sun, and Moon, good Food and Raiment; Spiritually, good Angels and Men, because there is a good God. God is abundant in goodness, Exod. 34. 6. This will appear by considering, 1. The various kinds or sorts of his goodness, in giving, james 1. forgiving, forbearing, and mitigating evil, Psal. 78. 38. 2. The freeness of it, he gives where there is no obligation, nay, a disobligation, Matth. 5. 45. 3. His multiplying the acts of goodness, often giving, forgiving, many times sparing, mitigating evils. 4. The continuance of it, it is a lasting, nay, an everlasting goodness, Psal, 52. 1.  good; and in the conclusion of the whole creation, God saw all his works that they were good, yea, very good; that is, commodious for the comfort of man, and all other creatures. He made all things good, therefore he is good himself. This may be proved by the goodness which still remains in the creatures; each creature hath yet remaining in him a power and fitness to do much good, and bring much comfort to man, as daily experience proves; therefore he, that notwithstanding the rebellion of man hath continued yet much good in the world, is surely good; the beasts do good to their young, man to his children; this power they received from God.  
5. God is to be loved, honoured, praised, and served by man, therefore he is good; or else he were not worthy this respect from the creature.   
The goodness of God is either considered ad intra and absolutely, or else ad extra and respectively. For the first, God in himself is good.  
This appears:  

1. In reckoning up all the kinds of good things that are; for there is 1. Bonum utile, the profitable good; now how happy must they needs be who have him, which can command all things; if thou hast him, thou hast all things else 
Psal. 34.  in him. 2. There is bonum jucundum, taste and see how sweet he is, At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. 3. Bonum honestum, he is the holy God, the Author of all holiness, and the exemplar of it.  
2. This goodness of his cannot be increased, it being his essence, it cannot be made better; for God hath in him, not only all the actual, but all the possible goodness that is in the creatures; any creature still may be better; thy riches, honours, comforts may be better, but thy God cannot be a better God; therefore we should infinitely affect him more than all creatures.  
3. It is independent goodness, he is omnis boni bonum; hence he is said to be only good, that is, essentially and immutably.  
4. It is essential; the essence and goodness of the creatures is different; goodness in the Angels the perfectest creatures, is a superadded quality to them, they may be good, but ille bonus suo bon est, He is good with his own goodness, he cannot be God if he be not good.  
5. It is illimitted goodness, infinite, without all bounds, above all that can be conceived, he being essentially so, and not limited to this or that being, neither is his goodness.  
6. It is immixed goodness, 1 john 1. 5. he is light, and there is no darkness in him, not the least evil of sin.  
7. It is the sampler and form of all goodness in the creatures: So far a thing is good as it doth resemble him.   
All the good of a creature is in God always:  

1. Eminently, as you consider it in its kind, without imperfection.  
2. Efficiently, as he is the Author and cause of all the good the creature hath.  
3. Exemplarily, as he is the rule and pattern of all goodness.  
4. Finally, as he is the chiefest good of all creatures, so that all terminate their desires in him.   
Secondly, God is good respectively in what he doth to the creature: that appeareth in the good things bestowed upon them. He gives to all liberally, especially the rational creatures, as men and Angels, partake of his goodness, being made capable of enjoying him for ever. 2. In the evil he keeps off from the Elect; as 
James 1.  he will withhold no good things, so he will let no evil befall them.  

Object. God is infinitely good (say the Arminians) therefore he cannot but naturally will good to the creature.  
Sol It doth not follow; for out of his goodness he made the world, his goodness freely communicated, not out of necessity, than it will follow that he naturally made the world. 2. God is infinitely just, therefore he also naturally wills 
Rhetor fortis.  the perdition of all sinners, which they will not admit. 3. He is infinitely good in himself, not therefore so to his creatures, for so he should will all good to them, and actually communicate it, and so should save all. Notwithstanding 
Bonitas Dei ●●ga creaturas 〈…〉 i merè volun●●ri● atque armoric, nisi quum ●●● aliquid in creatura quod ●●●●rat De●ima 〈…〉 m qua sanctas est. 〈…〉 ion potest ●● creaturam suam non amet ●● qu● refulgere videt imaginem suam, at cum aliquid est in creatura ab i●la imagine abhorrens & ci repugnans, tum sa 〈…〉 moderatur bonitatem. Cameron praelect. in Matth. 16. 20.  God's goodness of nature, he suffered man to fall; but yet he was so good that he would not have suffered it, unless he could have showed as much goodness to man another way; and indeed Christ is a greater good to us by faith, than Adam's innocency could have been; but yet since that evil is come into the world, how many calamities might befall thee, did not God's goodness prevent it? that the earth swallows thee not up 'tis God's goodness. The goodness of God is so great, that no creature should suffer punishment, but that the justice of God doth require the same, or else some greater good may be drawn from thence, Ezek 33. 11.   

Object. How doth it agree with God's goodness, that it is said Psal. 18. 27. With the froward he will show himself froward?  
Answ. In the general, the meaning is only, that God's judgements shall agree with men's manners, and David shows not how God is in himself, but relatively 
Confectaries from God's goodness. Two things make men happy in heaven: 1. Because they will nothing but what is good. 2. They enjoy what they will, Gal▪ 5. 22. Paul calls it The riches of God's goodness, Rom. 2. 4. and maketh ●● is use of it, that i● should lead us to repentance, to consider, 1. What we were originally, good, the Creator be 〈…〉 creature must needs be; 2. What we are n●w, unlike him.  how he is to us.  
We should 1. Love God because of his goodness, for it is the proper object of love. That which is the chief good, aught to be the principal object of all the powers of our souls. God is the principal good: O that we could account him so, and accordingly carry ourselves toward him. Sine summo bono nil bonum, there is no thing good, without the chiefest good, Psal. 73 25, 26.  
2. Imitate him, be good as he is good, be like our heavenly father, good to all, Summae religionis est imitari quem Colis. Aug. the Civ. Dei, l. 8. c. 27. It is a chief point of Religion to imitate him whom we worship, Rom. 12. 9 Cleave to that which is good, we should still be doing or receiving good.  
3. God's goodness will support his children in their calamities, Nehem. 1. 7. and arm them against poverty, and the fear of death itself. I do not fear to die (said Ambrose) because we have a good lord Nec pudet vivere, nec piget mori, quia bonum habemus Dominum.  
We are much to be blamed for slighting, despising or neglecting him the fountain 
Isa. 5. 25.  of all goodness. Man is a most loathsome creature that hateth, and foolish, that sleighteth this chief good.  
Here is a ground of thankfulness to God's people, which enjoy the goodness of 
Luke 6. 36,  God in part here in the creature, and shall hereafter immediately and fully. God is good to all in bestowing upon them gifts of nature, of body or of mind, but he is especially good to some, whom he hath chosen to life eternal.  
We may see the great evil of sin; nothing is so opposite to this attribute of God's goodness as sin; the Devils are not evil as creatures, but as sinful.    

CHAP. XI. Of God's Grace and Mercy.  
SO much in general of God's virtues.  
Secondly, in special, the virtues which imply not imperfection in the reasonable creature, are attributed to God. 
God's bounty. God is like a most liberal householder, which takes order that nothing in his house or about it shall want that which is necessary, farther than the fault is in itself. He gives more than we ask, and before we ask. Uberior gratia quam precatio. 2 Chron. 20. 7▪ Isa. 41. 8. James 2. 23.   
The principal of which are,  
1. Bounty or graciousness, by which God shows favour to the creatures freely, and that either commonly or specially: 1. Commonly, when he exerciseth beneficence and liberality toward all creatures, pouring upon them plentifully all goods of nature, body, mind and fortune, so that there is nothing which tasteth not of the inexhausted fountain of his blessings and goodness, Matth. 5. 44, 45. Psal. 36. 5, 6. God's bounty is a will in him to bestow store of comfortable and beneficial things on the creature in his kind. This bounty he showed to all things in the creation, even to all Spirits, all men and all creatures, and doth in great part show still, for he opens his hand, and filleth every living thing with his bounty, he gives all things richly to enjoy.  
2. Specially toward the Church, by which he bestoweth eternal life on certain men fallen by sin, and redeemed in Christ, Titus 2. 11. and 3. 4. As this is exercised toward the whole Church, so in a special manner toward some members of it, as toward Enoch, Moses, jacob, Paul, and especially Abraham, who is therefore often called The friend of God; he made with him and his seed a perpetual league of friendship, and he constantly kept his Laws and Statutes, john 15. 14, 15.  
God's graciousness is an essential property, whereby he is in and of himself most gracious and amiable, Psal. 145. 8. God is only gracious in and of himself, and whatsoever is amiable and gracious is so from him.  
God's graciousness is that 
a Gratia est, qua Deus in seipso est a nabilis, sueque creaturae fa●et & bene facit▪ unde hoc respecta gratia Dei c● favour quo creaturas suas & imprimis homines prosequitur▪ Wendelinus.  whereby he is truly amiable in himself, and freely bountiful unto his creatures, cherishing them tenderly without any defert of theirs, Psal. 86. 15. and 111. 5. Gen. 43. 29. Pelagius taught, that grace is given to men in respect of their merits, Gratia Dei datur secundum merita nostra, he said that Gods will had respect to merits foreseen, for this Pelagius was condemned for an Heretic in three Synods. S ● Austin refuteth this error, and referreth the matter to Gods will and purpose only. B. Carleton against Montague, Ch. 3. Vide Bellarm. de Gratia & lib. arbitrio l. 6. c. 4, 5, 6. john Scotus was the greatest Pelagian that lived in his time; for it was he that brought in the doctrine of Meritum ex Congruo, he teacheth that Faith, Charity, Repentance, may be had ex puris naturalibus, which some of the most learned Papists do confess to be the true Doctrine of Pelagius, Vide Bellarminum de Gratia & libero arbitrio l. 6. c. 2.  
God is gracious to all, Psal. 145. 8, 9, 10. but especially to such whom he doth respect in his wellbeloved Son, Jesus Christ, Exod. 33. 19 Isa. 30. 19 Luke 1. 30. 
The Arminians speak much of Gods offering mercy, all giving Christ and faith, is with them, but an offering of Christ and faith, if we will receive them. God doth not only conditionally offer them, upon such performances of ours, but actually gives them to his people, 2 Pet. 1. 5. and he gives them absolutely, he sees no loveliness in us to invite him thereunto.  Gen. 6. 8. 1 Cor. 15. 10. God's free favour is the cause of our salvation, and of all the means tending thereunto, Rom. 3. 24. and 5. 15, 16. Ephes. 1. 5, 6. and 2. 4. Rom. 9 16. Titus 3. 5. Heb. 4. 16. Rom. 6. 23. 1 Cor. 12. 4, 9 The gospel sets forth the freeness, fullness, and the powerfulness of God's grace to his Church, therefore it is called The word of his grace, Acts 14. 3. and 20. 32. The Gospel of the grace of God, Acts 20. 24. Deus expandit gratiae immensum Coelum, Luther.  
God's graciousness is firm and unchangeable, so that those which are once beloved can never be rejected, or utterly cast off, Psal. 77. 10.  
God bestoweth, 1. Good things. 2. Freely. 3. Plentifully, Psal. 111. 4. 4. In a special manner he is gracious toward the godly.  
Love is 1. Grounded often on something which may deserve it; the grace 
b Dr. jackson of God's Attributes. l. 1. c. 14.  of God is that love of his which is altogether free. 2. Grace is such a kind of love as flows from a superior to an inferior; love may be in inferiors toward their superiors.  
We should be also liberal in our services toward God, in our prayers and good works.  
We should desire and strive to obtain the grace and favour of God. David often 
Consectaries of God's graciousness.  calleth on God to cause his face to shine upon him, and to lift up the light of his countenance upon him. The holy Patriarches often desired to find grace in the eyes of the Lord. It is better than life to him that hath it; it is the most satisfying content in the world, to have the soul firmly settled in the apprehension of God's goodness to him in Christ. It will comfort and establish the soul in the want of all outward things, in the very hour of death. 2. It is attainable, Those that seek God's face shall find him.  
Means of purchasing God's favour:  

1. Take notice that your sins have worthily deprived you of his favour, and press these thoughts upon you till you feel your misery; meditate on the Law, to show you your cursedness.  
2. Consider of the gracious promises of the Gospel, and see the grace of God in Christ. His grace was exceeding abundant, saith the Apostle.  
3. Confess and bewail your sins, with a full purpose of amendment, and cry to God for grace in Christ.  
4. This stays our hearts, when we apprehend our own unworthiness; God 
Psal. 103. 8, 9 1 Pet. 5. 16. N●h 9 17, 31. Rom. 5. 20, 21. It is called Freegrace. 1. à liberalitate, because God gives it freely, Isa. 55. 12. 2. à liberatione, because it frees us from sin, Luke 1. 71. Rom. 6. 17, 18, 22.  is gracious, and shows mercy to the undeserving, the ill-deserving. 2. We should acknowledge that all grace in us doth come from him the fountain of grace, and should go boldly to the throne of grace, and beg grace of him for ourselves and others, Heb. 4 16. Paul in all his Epistles saith, Grace be unto you. The Apostle, Ephes. 1. 3. and so on, speaks of Redemption, Vocation, Justification, Glorification, And all this, saith he, is to the praise of his glory, and 12. 14. verses, we should give God the praise of all: He is the first cause, and last end. The Arminians will seem to say, That all comes from grace, and that faith is the grace of God, but they say it is a power given to all, and that God hath done alike for all, only some improve the power of reason and will better than others, without any special discriminating grace from God; then God is not the first cause, that I believe it is the free working of God within me. We should take heed of encouraging ourselves in sin, because God is gracious; this is to turn God's grace into wantonness. We should frequent the Ordinances where God is graciously present, and re●dy to bestow all his graces on us: The word begets grace, prayer increaseth it, and the Sacraments seal it.   
It refutes 1. The Papists, which boast of their own merits, By the grace of God 
Ephes. 2. 9 2 Tim, 1. 9 Bona mea dona tua. Aug. l. 10. confess. c. 4. Every one is born with a Pope in his belly, men had rather be saved by something of their own, then be beholding to Christ for salvation. Ignorant people say, they hope to be saved by their good deeds and meaning,  I am that I am, 1 Cor. 15. 10. Rom. 11. 6. By grace we are saved, Ephes. 2. 8. They distinguish grace into that which is gratis data freely given, as the work of miracles, the gift of prophesying, and that which is gratum faciens, making us accepted, as faith and love are graces making us accepted; but the grace which maketh us accepted, is freely given, therefore they are not opposite members. There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace, and the gift of grace, they differ as the cause and the effect, as Lux in sole, and Lumen in aere, one is in God subjectiuè, the other in man objectiuè. 2. The Arminians (the Patrons of man's free will, and enemies of God's freegrace) who say that a man may so far improve naturals as to merit grace, and that God gives effectually grace to the wicked which 
* Dr. Twisse in a Manuscript.  shall never be saved, to judas as well as Paul. How is that effectual, which moving men unto faith and repentance, doth never bring them to one nor other? it seems these Remonstrants never learned this Lesson, Arminio praeceptore; for he defines effectual grace to be that qu● sortitur effectum, which obtains the effect. They say that a man without God's grace may keep all the Commandments, whereas Christ saith not (as Augustine 
* In johannem tract. 1. Vide Aquin. part. 1, 2. Quaest 3. Aatic. 1. Quantum vis audierit & merito suo, Pelagius, gratiae inimicus; subinde tamen gratiae meminit, ●amque iuculeavit, nec à verbis orthodixis abstinuit, quamvis sensum, contrarium occultarit, saepè etiam aliis verbis expresserit, & re ipsa docuerit. Rivetus, Disput. 9 de efficacitate grati● & Conversionis modo. Vide plura, ibid. St. Augustine precisely in that time and place delivered the orthodox Doctrine of grace, when and where Pelagius began to spread his heresy. Gratia praedestinatos usque ad gloriam perducit. Augustine. We should learn of Austin (who may truly be said to have written rather ex gratia, then de gratia, so graciously doth he write of grace) Totum Deo dare, qui voluntatem hominis bonam & praeparat adjuvandam, & adjuat praeparatem. Euchir. ad Laurent. Paul's heart was so full of the apprehension of God's freegrace, that he could not hold on his discourse begun, Ephes. 2. 4. without mentioning God's grace, v. 5. and v. 8. Tanquam silius gratia, saith Bradwardine, he always commends it.  notes) john 15. 5. without me you can do little, but, Without me you can do nothing. Never had the Church of God (saith Dr. Featly in his Pelagius Rediviuns, 2. Parallel.) since the Apostle St. Paul, a more valiant and resolute Champion of Grace then St. Augustine. Pelagius would change himself into divers forms, as is manifest by the History of him; although sometimes he seems to restrain the whole operation of grace to external persuasions; yet being pressed by Augustine and others, both he and his disciples have often been compelled also to confess the inward gifts of grace and the Holy Ghost.  
It comforts us against sin and fear of eternal death, Rom. 5. 20, 21. Paul and Silas sung in prison.  
We ought to love and reverence God above all; and return praise to him for his free goodness; gracious and amiable men win love and reverence from others. Some Divines think David is called a man after Gods own heart, especially for his frequent praising of God in the Psalms. We should learn contentation and patience also under God's hand, and to bear losses quietly in these times, since all that we have we received freely from God. This was jobs argument, The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken, though he was plundered by the Chaldeans and the Sabeans.  
2. Mercy, which is, at it were, a sense of another misery, with a prompt 
Exod. 33. 19 Psal. 103. 8. Exod. 22. 22. Isa. 30. 18. Lament. 3. 22. Titus 3. 5. Exod. 34. 6, 7. Ephes. 2. 4. Rom. 4. 19 and 11. 30, 31. The Schoolmen dispute, whether mercy be in God, passion being not in him, (say they) Compassion cannot be in him, a● it is defined agritudo animi de malis alienis: So it is not in him, or as it is a perturbation, it is far more glorious and transcendent in him, then in us. Vide Aquin. part. 3. Q. 21. Art. 3. conclus.  and ready inclination of the will to help the creatures freely in their miseries. This affection God challengeth as proper to himself, and glories in it. Heroick and Noble Spirits are most gentle and merciful; cruelty is a sign of a weak and base mind. This merciful nature of God, although it principally appear toward man, as appears by the Laws given concerning Orphans, Widows, Strangers, Poor, and others oppressed with any calamity, yet his mercy is exercised also toward the bruit beasts, Dent. 22. 4, 6, 7. Exod. 23. 5, 11, 12.  
Mercy is a disposition toward the creature considered as sinful and miserable by his sin.  
It is a readiness to take a sit course for the helping of the miserable, or it is an Attribute in God 
* 
Misericordia est, qua propensus est Deus ad succurrendum sui● creaturis in aliqua miseria constitutis, iisque re ipsa succurrit. Wendelinus.  
The Scripture hath there notable words to expres●e the fullness of God's mercy in Christ, Ephes. 2. 7. Rom. 5. 10. 1 Tim. 1. 14. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s put upon God's mercy.   whereby the Lord of his free love is ready to succour those that be in misery, judges 2. 18. & 10. 26. He is called The Father of mercies, 2 Cor. 1. 3. said To be abundant in mercy, 1 Pet. 1. 3. Rich in mercy, Ephes. 2. 4. He hath a multitude of mercies, Psal. 51. 1. is said To be of tender mercy, Psal. 25. 6. Luke 1. 58. to have bowels of mercy, Psal. 40. 12. God's mercy in Scripture usually hath some Epithets, Matchless, Jer. 3. 1. Great, 2 Sam. 24. 14. Psal. 57 10. and 103. 11. Nehem 13. 22. Everlasting▪ Psal, 25. 6. Luke 1. 50. Free, Ephes. 2. Rom. 9 15, 16. Sure, Isa. 55. 3.  
God's mercy to his Church shines in these things: 1. In passing by her insirmitimes, Exod. 34. 7. 2. In accepting her endeavours. 3. In correcting, 1. Sparingly. 2. Unwillingly. 4. In providing all things needful for it.  
Mercy in God is not any passion or quality, as it is in men, but it is the very 
Luk 1. 50. 54. Psalm 48. 2, 3. and 89. 28.  divine Essence itself, and therefore 
* Ephes. 2. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 3. Mercy and compassion differ only in the excrinsecal denominations taken from different objects. Compassion is good will toward others, provoked from notice of their misery; mercy is an excess of bounty not estranged from ill deservers in distress.  perpetual and infinite, such as no tongue can express.  
Mercy in God and in us differ:  

1. It is in him essentially, in us as a quality.  
2. In him primarily, in us secondarily.   
God's mercy is the cause of all mercy, it is without motive or worth in us, natural, free, Rom. 9 18. boundless, extends to a man's soul, body, this life, the next, to a man and his posterity, Exod. 34. 6, 7. it is above all his works, Psal. 145. 9 it is beyond his promise, and our expectation. He doth acts of mercy with delight, jer. 32. 42. Mic. 7. 18. Counts it his glory to show mercy, jer. 33. 9  
Reasons:  
1. Whatsoever good and commendable thing is to be found in the creature, 
That God hath mercy in him.  that must needs be found eminently and excellently in the Creator, from whom it is derived to the creature; and who could not derive it to the creature, if he had it not more perfectly in himself. Now mercy is to be found in all good men, and it is a lovely and commendable thing in them, such as begets good will and liking towards them; therefore it is much more fully in God.  
2. He hath great mercy in him; if God be merciful at all, he must needs be 
He is ready to forgive more sins than we can imagine.  merciful in great measure, yea, above all measure, beyond all degrees, in all perfection; for the essence of God is infinite, and his wisdom, power, and mercy are infinite. See Gen. 8. 21. Isa. 57 17. and 55. 8, 9 He gives and forgives far beyond us.  
First, He exceeds us in giving.  
1. Our courtesies are often extorted from us, Luke 18. 11. he gives freely, Isa. 65. 1. Rom. 10. 21. 1 jehn 4. 9  
2. We give but small gifts, God the greatest, himself, his Son, his Spirit, 3 john 16. Luke 2. 14. Rom. 8. 16. john 17. 24.  
3. We give with self-respect, job 35. 8.  
4. We give to our friends and relatives, 1 Sam. 24. 11. Matth. 5. 45.  
5. We are soon weary of giving, but so is not he, james 1. 5. 2 Sam. 7. 18, 19  
6. We give at death, when we can keep no longer, Rom. 5. 11.  
Secondly, He exceeds us in forgiving.  
1. Man is revengeful to those which wrong him, so is not God, Exod. 34. 7. Host 11. 9 jer. 3. 1.  
2. We forgive when it is not in our power to avenge ourselves, 2 Sam. 24. 19 we are always in God's power.  
3. We are hardly drawn to forgive, Neh. 9 17. Psal. 37. 3. Ephes. 3. 18, 19, 20. Isa. 65. 20. Luke 15. 40.  
4. We cannot forgive often, Mat. 18. 21. God doth, Gen. 6. 5.  
5. If we forgive, we do not forget, jer. 31. 18, 19, 20. Mark 6. 3. 
Luke 6. 11.   
There is a mercy of God, which extends to all his creatures, Psal. 145. 9 Luke 
* Exod. 20. 6. The mercy of God which reacheth to the pardon of sin, is peculiar to the Catholic Church, Isa. 33. 24. Luke 16. 24, 25 Titus 3. 5. Luke 1. 77, 78. Lament 3. 12.  6. 35. God is merciful unto all men as men.  
First, To the worst of men, his foes:  
1. In giving the good they do not deserve, but abuse.  
He gives abundance of outward blessings to them, 1. In their bodies, firm strength, Psal. 73. 4. 2. Their estates, fills them with hid treasures, Psalms 17. 14. 3. In liberty, they are free from fear, job 29. 9 4. In their posterity, job. 21. 8.  
2. In forbearing that evil they deserve and provoke him every day to inflict, Acts 13. 18. yet he perfectly knows their sins, and hates sin infinitely, Psal. 5. 5. and hath power in his hand to execute vengeance on sinners: When wicked men abuse all these forbearances, slight his threats, Isa. 5. 19 Rom. 9 22. and his own people are much offended with this forbearance of his, jerem. 12. 1. Hab. 3. 14.  
Secondly, To his own children especially, is God rich in mercy; all his mercies and forbearances to the wicked are for the good of his own, he hath saving, sanctifying, pardoning, cleansing mercies for his Saints: 1. In all ages. 2. To them of the lowest form, Zach. 4. 10. Matth. 12. 20. 3. In their saddest condition, Psal. 40. nlt.  
The special mercy of God is offered unto all within the Church, Ezek. 16. 6, Acts 13. 40, but is bestowed only upon some, viz. Such as receive Christ, john 1. 11, 12.  
This life is the time of mercy, wherein we obtain pardon for sin; after this life there is no remission or place for repentance.  
All blessings Spiritual and Corporal are the effects of God's mercy. Common blessings of his general mercy, special blessings of his special mercy.  
The effects of Gods special mercy, are,  
1. The giving of Christ for us 2. His Word. 3. Justification. 4. Sanctification. 
Alhis' thoughts are thoughts of mercy to his people, jer. 29, 11. all his designs are projects of mercy, Deut. 6. toward the latter end, the ways whereby he comes down to their souls preventing, convincing, converting mercies, Psal. 25. 10. and whereby they ascend to him, in their communion with him, Isa, 57 17.  5. Giving his Spirit for a Comforter in our griefs and afflictions▪ john 14. 16. 6. The Sacraments.  
Mercy must accord with wisdom, justice, and truth; therefore those that stoop 
On what terms God will show mercy.  to justice by acknowledging their offence, and worthiness to be punished for it, and are sorry they have so offended, and resolve to offend so no more, and earnestly also implore God's mercy, shall partake of it. The Lord is plenteous in mercy to all which call upon him, and the Lords delight is in them which fear him, and hope in his mercy. Judge yourselves, and you shall not be judged; humble yourselves under the hand of God, and he will exalt you. On these 
2. To whom he will show mercy.  terms he will show mercy universally to all, which submit to him thus, and seek to him for mercy, without any exception of person, fault, time.  

Quest. Whether mercy and justice be equal in God, and how can he be most just and most merciful?  
Answ. Mercy and Justice may be considered ad intra, as they are essential properties in God, and so he is equally just as well as merciful. 2. Ad extra, as he puts himself forth into the outward exercise of mercy and punishment. In this latter sense, we must distinguish between this present time, where mercy triumphs against judgement, james 2. 13. and the day of judgement, that is a time of justice and retribution to the wicked; and so David speaking of this present time, saith, All thy ways are mercy and truth, Psalm 25. and that of the Schools is true, Remunerat ultra condignum, punit infra.  
God's justice and mercy are both infinite and equal in him, 
* Etsi omnes homines Deus damnaret uno excepto, tamen adhuc major esset misreecordia quam judicium, 〈◊〉 quia nullunt sit judicii divini effectum nisi propter merita eorum qui damnantur: at miscricordia nullainvenit meritita. Chamier. tomo 3. lib. 7. ●▪ 8▪ Misericordia & justitia Dei ●●se & quatenus in Deo sunt, parts sunt▪ respectu effectorum & objectorum major est miscricordia. Wendelinus.  only in regard of man there is an inequality: For God may be said to be more merciful unto them that are saved, then just to them that are damned; for the just cause of damnation is in man, but of salvation is wholly from God. In himself and originally they are both equal, and so are all his attributes; but in respect of the exercise and expression upon his creatures and abroad in the world, there is some difference. Mr. Bolton on Prov. 18. 14. Justice seeks a fit object, Mercy only a fit occasion; Justice looks on those which deserve, Mercy only on those which need.  
1. We should believe this point, labour to be fully persuaded in our hearts that God's mercies are great and many; he hath preventing mercies; how many sins hath he preserved thee from? 2. Sparing mercies▪ * Lam. 3. 22▪ behold Gods severity 
* ●●l. 3. 17. God will spare his in all their weaknesses and services, sparing mercy in some respects is as great as pardoning mercy.  towards others, and mercy toward thee. 3. Renewing mercies. 4. Pardoning mercies. He is willing and ready to help us out of misery; therefore we should praise him for this attribute: How excellent and desirable a thing is mercy? therefore give him the glory of his mercy.  
2. It is full of comfort to a child of God, he need not be dismayed with any thing, not his imperfections, since the devil himself cannot hurt him; for God is more merciful to help him, than the devil can be malicious to hurt him.  
3. We should be encouraged to seek to him for mercy, seeing there is so great store of it in him. There is an infiniteness of mercy in God, so that whatever 
Matth. 18. 30.  my sins have been, if now I will turn, he will accept me; if I strive to turn he will enable me; therefore I will now run to him 
* The Papists seek to the Virgin Mary, and other Saints, Maria mater gratiae, mater miscricordiae, Tu nos ab host besiege & horâ mortis suscipe.  for mercy, I will fall down before the throne of justice, and confess I have deserved wrath, and nothing but wrath, but will cry to him for mercy.  
The great motive to draw sinners to repentance, is God's mercy, Isa. 55. 7. Acts 2. 38, 39  
This will 1. Keep men from despair, Psal. 130. 4▪ and carnal confidence, Isa. 55. 1. 1 Cor, 1. 29.  
2. It lays the greatest obligation on men, Tit. 2. 11. and gives the clearest satisfaction, Rom. 4. 16.  
3. It is the great aim of the Scripture to draw men by mercy, Exod. 34. 6. Neh. 9 17. Luke 15. 20. Isa 65. 20. jer. 31. 20.  
4. It is the aim of providence, and all God's dispensations, Psal. 145 9  
4. Those that have and do seek, should give him the glory of his mercy, and take comfort themselves in the confident hope of finding mercy. Praise him for 
Psalm. 106. 3. Luke 1. 46, 60.  his mercy to others, and he will give thee some comfortable hope of finding it thyself.  
5. We should be merciful like God, to ourselves and brethren, their souls and bodies, imitate his mercy, be you merciful to the afflicted and distressed, show 
Luke 6. 36.  mercy freely and constantly, and then we shall obstain mercy, Mat. 5. 7.  
6. We should labour to be qualified for mercy.  
1. Confess our sins, and forsake them, Prov. 28. 13.  
2. Fear God, his mercy is on them that fear him, Luke 1. 50. Psal. 103, 11▪ 17, 18.  
3. Love God, he shows mercy to them that love him, Exod. 20. 6.  
4. Trust in God, than mercy shall compass us, Psal. 32. 10.  
5. Think on good things, than we shall have mercy, Prov. 14. 32.  
6. Keep close to the rule of God's word, Gal. 6. 6.    

CHAP. XII. Of God's justice, Truth, Faithfulness.  
A Third virtue in God is justice, by which God in all things wills that which is just; or it is the Attribute whereby 
* justitia est qua Deus in se justus est, & extra se conunanti voluntate suum cuique tribuit.. Wendeli-Genes. 18. 25. Isa 9 7. Psal. 45. 6. justitia disponens, qua Deus universa & singula justo ordine disponit & gubernat. Deut. 32. 4. Psalm 11. 7. & 48. 11. & 145. 17. 1 Pet. 1. 17. 〈…〉 m. 2. from the 6. to the 12. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Col. 3. 25. Rev. 22. 12. justitia Distribuens est gratiae velirae: illa est promptissima voluntas praestandi promissa: ista, voluntas implendi comminationes. Wendelinus. Mat. 19 29. God assigns fit rewards for well and evil doing.  God is just in and of himself, and exerciseth justice toward all creatures, and giveth every one his due, Isa 45. 21. Psal. 11. 7. Gen. 18. 25. Zeph. 3. 5. Rom. 2. 6, 7. 1 Pet. 1. 17. 2 Thess. 1. 6, 7. 2 Tim 4. 8. 1 john 1 9 & 2. 29. Justice in man is a settled will to do right in every thing to every person, so God hath a settled will to do right, Shall not the judge of all the world do right? and, Are not my ways equal? God styles himself by this title, and gives himself this Attribute, Zeph. 3. 5.  
God's Justice is twofold:  

1. Disposing, by which, as a most free Lord and Supreme Monarch of all, he disposeth all things in his actions according to the rule of equity, and imposeth most just Laws upon his creatures, commanding and forbidding only that which is fit for them in right reason to do and forbear.  
2. Distributive, which renders to every one according to his work, without respect of persons, Psal. 62. 12. job 34. 11, 19 Prov. 24. 12. jer. 32. 19 Ezek. 7. 27. Mat. 16. 27. Deut. 16. 17. 2 Chron▪ 19 7. Acts 10. 34. Ephes. 6. 9 Gal. 2. 6. and this distributive justice is also twofold, praemii, & paenae, of reward and punishment. 

1. Of reward, when God bountifully rewards the obedience of the creature with a free reward, 2 Thess. 1. 5, 7. Mat. 10. 41, 42. Mark 9 41. God bestows this reward not only on the godly, both by heaping divers mercies on them in this life, and by the fullness of glory and felicity in the life to come, but also on the wicked, whose moral actions he rewards with temporary rewards in this world, as the obedience of jehu, the repentance of Ahab.  
2. Of punishment, by which he appointeth to the delinquent creature, the 
Dogma est Armyraldi, quod peculiari libro propugnavit, Deum posse, il●ibataisua justitia, prosuo summo jure, torquere cruciatibus ●ternis animam sanct●a●n & innocentem. Si dixisset, Deum posse anim ●●● sanctam destruere, cam reducendo ad nilulum, quanquam inutilis est qu●stio, & temeraria, ●olim tamen pertinaciter super e● re du●●re contentionis sunem. Sed bene est quod Amyraldus libro adve●sus: Spanhemium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●●t si●● contradict, dicit enim, Deum non posse ● s● impetrare quin peccata Condonet resipisceti. Molin. praefat. ad judiciu a de Amyr. lib. adversas Sphanhem.  punishment of eternal death for the least sin, Gen. 2. 17. Rome 6. 23. which death is begun in this life, in divers kinds of miseties and punishments, which for the most part are proportionable to their sins, Gen. 3. 17. and 20. 18▪ but is perfected in the life to come. when the full wrath of God is poured upon it, john 3. 36. 2 Thess. 1. 16.     
This justice is so essential 
* God's justice is not a quality or accident in him, but his very nature, essential to him A man may be a man, and yet unjust; but God cannot be God, and be unjust. Gerh. loc. come.  to God, immutable, and (as I may so speak) inexorable, that he cannot remit the creatures sins, nor free them from punishment, unless his justice be satisfied; God cannot dispense against himself, because sins do hurt the inward virtue of God, and the rule of righteousness, the integrity therefore and perfection of God cannot stand, if he satisfy not that; yet through his bounty and goodness he hath found out a way by which due satisfaction may be given thereunto; viz. By Christ, who hath born a punishnent equivalent to our sins, for us.  
The Scripture proves the justice of God,  

1. Affirmatively, when it calls him Just, A Revenger, Holy, Right, and extols his Justice, Exod. 9 27. Psal. 11. 7, jer. 12. 1.  
2. Negatively, when it removes from him injustice and iniquity, respect of persons, and receiving of gifts, and also all the causes and effects of injustice, Deut. 32. 4. & 10. 17. Dan. 9 14. job 8. 3.  
3. Affectively, when it Attributes to him zeal, anger, fury, Exod. 20. 5. & 32. 10. Numb. 11. 10. which are not in God such passions as they be in us, but an act of the immutable Justice.  
4. Symbolically, when it calls him a consuming fire, Deut. 4. 24. compares him to an angry Lion, an armed Soldier, Isa. 38. 13.  
5. Effectively, when it affirms that he renders to every one according to his works, 1 Sam. 26. 23.   
God's Justice comprehends his righteousness and truth, he is just in words and deeds.  
God's Justice 
* The righteousness of God is taken divers ways in Scripture, sometimes for the essential Attribute of God, sometimes for the righteousness of faith, which is called the Righteousness of God, because it is such a righteousness as God doth approve of, and with which we may appeal boldly in his presence. Again, righteousness is taken for his truth and faithfulness in promises. David prays God to do good to him for his righteousness, he means, his faithfulness in his promises. See Mr. Burrhows on Mnt. 5. 6.  is considered four ways:  

1. As he is free Lord of all, and so his decrees are just, Rom. 9 13. 14.  
2. As he is God of all, and so the common works of preserving both the good and bad are just, 1 Tim. 4. 14. Mat. 5. 45.  
3. As a Father in Christ, and so he is just in performing his promises, and infusing his grace, and in bestowing the justice of his Son, 1 john 1. 5.  
4. As Judge of all the world, and so his justice is not only distributive, but corrective.   
His Justice is,  

1. Impartial; he will not spare, 

1. Multitude, all S●dome and Gomorrha, and the old World perished.  
2. Great ones, the excellency or greatness of any creature will not exempt it from punishment; the Angels and Adam fell, he spared not the Angels, but threw them into hell. Adam was cast out of Paradise for one sin.  
3. Nearness; the Jews, God's people formerly, are now cast off; Moses and David were punished.    
2. General, it extends to a man's posterity; God will visit the iniquity of fathers upon their children.  
3. Inexorable, no sinners can escape unpunished; the sins of the godly are punished in their surety Christ, and they are afflicted in this life. God is Justice itself, justice is essential to him, his will is the rule of justice: a thing is just because he willeth it, and not he willeth it because its just. He will right the wrongs of his children, 2 Thess. 1. 6, 7, 8. He cannot be corrupted nor bribed.   
God's Justice comprehendeth two things under it:  

1. Equity, in that he directs men equally, and requites them equally, commanding all and only good things, such as they in reason ought to do, promising and threatening fit and due recompenses of their obedience and disobedience.  
2. Truth, whereby he declareth nothing to them but as the thing is; and fidelity, whereby he fulfilleth all that he hath spoken.   
The Arminians urge, How can God in Justice command a man by his word, the performance of that which cannot be done by him, without the inward help of the Spirit, and yet in the mean time God denies this inward grace unto him?  
God may without blemish to his Justice, command man to perform his duty, although he have now no strength to do it, because once he had strength, and he 
God hath not lost his right to command, though we have lost our ability to obey. A drunken servant is not disobliged from service. See Phil. 2. 3. The Apostles often incu●●a●e th●●, Believe and repent, yet they hold Faith and Repentance to be gifts of God, Dei m●ada●a non sunt m 〈…〉, sed regula officij, declaratio debiti, & materia precum. Molinus contra Amyraldum.  hath now lost it Precepts and Exhortations ordinarily signify the approving w●ll of the Commander, and his duty to whom they are propounded, although sometimes the duty rather of the hearer, than the will of the speaker be declared by them. Rescrip. Ames. ad responsum. Grevinch c. 12. Deus jubet aliqua quae non possumus, ut noverimus quid ab illo petere debeamus, Aug. the great. & lib. arbit. c. 16. God's Commandments and Exhortations show what he approves and wills to be done as good, but his promises or threatenings show what he intendeth effectually to bring to pass. Mr. Pemble of Grace and Faith. Da Domine quod jubes, & jube▪ ●uid vis, said Austin. God giveth thee, although thou be unable, a Law to square thy life by for three causes, Ut scias quid acceperis, ut videas quid amiseris, ut intelligas unde repetendum sit quod amiseris.  
It reproves such as live in sin, Exod. 34. 17. Psal. 5. 5. Gal. 6. 6. if God be merciful 
Consectaries from God's Justice.  that he may be feared, much more is he just that he may be feared. 2. We must take heed of justifying the wicked; we should be just in our actions to man, in buying and selling, in rewarding and punishing, Magistrates, Ministers, Masters, Parents should be just. We should not murmur at Gods disposing justice in 
2 Chron. 2. 5. Nehem. 9 33. Psall. 119. 137. Dan. 9 7. Rom. 3. 26.  making us poor, and should yield to his directing justice, obeying his Commandments seem they never so unreasonable. Mauritius the Emperor, when his wife and children were murdered before him, and his own eyes after bored out, uttered this speech, justus es, Domine, & recta judicia tua. We should get Christ's righteousness to satisfy God's Justice for us, and to justify us.  
The consideration of God's Justice, should affright us from hypocrisy, sinning in secret, keeping bosom sins. It ministers comfort to the godly, who are wronged by the wicked, they shall have an upright and just Judge, who will uphold them in a good cause, Psal. 33. 24.  
It may serve to exhort us to glorify God's Justice, both in fulfilling of his promises, and punishing wicked men, Psal. 7. 18. and 51. 15. 
Rev. 19 1.   
4. God is True.  
Truth or veracity is, by which God is true as in himself, so in his sayings and 
John 14. 6. God is aeterna veritas & vera aeternitas. If God (said one) were to be corporeal, he would have light for his body, and truth for his soul. Truth is originally from God, the first Idea, Rule or Standard of truth, is God's will, which is veritas Dei. whereby he is what he is, essentially, simply, immutably, by which he wills all things to be what indeed they are, and knows them to be such as they are most certainly. Veritas rei, entitatis, whereby things are such as God would have them to be, and so are true and good. Magna vis est veritatis, quae cum per se intelligi non possit, per ca tamen ipsa quae ei adversantur elucent: ut in natura sua immobilis manens, firmitatem naturae suae quotidie dum attentatur acquirat. Hoc enim ecelesiae proprium est, ut tum vincat, cum laeditur, tum intelligat cum arguitur, tum obtineat cum deseritur. Hildrius l. 1. de Trinitate.  deeds. He revealeth himself to his creature such a one as indeed he is.  
Real truth, or the truth of things, is a property of them by which they are the same indeed which they seem. It is an agreement betwixt the being and appearance of things▪ it is double, 1. Essential, or of the very substance of things. 2. Accidental, of the qualities and actions of things; and this, as it is referred to the reasonable creature (for such truth can be no where but in it) is inward and outward according as the actions are.  
Inward truth of understanding, is an agreement betwixt its conceit of things, and the things themselves, contrary whereto is error, or misjudging, and of the will contrary to hypocrisy and dissimulation.  
Outward, 1. Of word, which is Logical, when I speak as the thing is; Moral, when I speak as I conceive the thing to be; and also in the matter of promises, when I mean as I say, and hold still that meaning till I have actually made good my words.  
2. Of deeds, when they are such in the intention and meaning of my mind, as in the outward pretence, and are agreeable to the promises I have made.  
God is true in all these respects:  
1. His Essence is real and true, he is a God indeed, not in imagination alone; the Scripture calls God the true God, To know thee, saith our Saviour Christ, the only true God, and whom thou hast sent, jesus Christ. He is the true God, not a bare conceit of our own head or siction: He hath not an imaginary and counterfeit, but 
An Idol is nothing in the world.  a very real being; he is indeed such he saith he is; for that which gives being to other things, must needs itself be in very deed. The other supposed gods alone in name and in fancy of the worshippers, but he is.  
2. He hath a true, not an erroneous conceit of things, he knows all things most exactly, he is indeed a willer of true goodness.  
3. He speaks nothing but as the thing is, and as he doth conceive it; he means what he promiseth, and doth what he means, the Lord dissembleth not with men; 
Matth. 24. 35. John 17. 17. Which truth of God in his promises may be referred to justice, because it is just to perform what thou hast promised. 2 Tim. 4. 8.  he is true in his word, and his whole word, whether Narrations, Promises, Threats, Visions, or Predictions: He is abundant in truth, Exod. 34. 6. what he telleth, it is as he telleth it; what he promiseth or threateneth to do, he intendeth, and will perform, Psalm 89. 33, 34, Deut. 7. 9 2 Cor. 1. 20. Promissa tua sunt; & quis falli timeat, cum promittit veritas? Aug. Confes. l. 12. c. 1.  
4. God is true in his works, they are not done counterfeitly, as those of the Devil, but truly, Psal. 145. 17. Rev. 15. 3.  
The Scripture proves the truth of God, 1. Essentially, when it affirms God to be true in his works, Deut. 32. 4. Psal. 25. 10. Rev. 15. 3. & 16. 7. 2. In his words, which is proved both affirmatively, john 17. 17. 2 Sam. 7. 28. and negatively, Num. 23, 19 1 Sam. 15. 29. Heb. 6. 18.  
Reason 1. All lying and falsehood ariseth from weakness 
* If I speak falsehood out of error and mistake, I am weak; if wilfully, I am wicked: if I keep not promise, it is either because I cannot, and then I am weak; or will not, than I am wicked; therefore God cannot possibly lie, 1 Kings 22. 23. Ezek. 14, 9  and imperfection, or wickedness, neither of which is in God, seeing to be God is to be perfect and absolute. He is the Lord God of truth, Psal. 34. 5. his Son is truth, john 14. 6. his holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, john 17. 6. the Gospel is the word of truth, Col. 1. 5. God is the chief and first truth, the Author of truth, truth is in him essentially and immutably, Psal. 100 5. only true, Rom. 3. 4. This distinguisheth him from false gods, 2 Chron. 15. 3. john 17. 3. God is worthy to be trusted, honoured, and esteemed, ergo most true. Where it is said, God seduced the Prophets, it is not so understood, as if God inspired a false prophecy and an error; but that he delivered them to the devil to be seduced.  
1. It serves to reprove the wicked, who believe not threats; and the weak Christians, 
Consectaries from God's truth.  who in temptations and desertions doubt of promises.  
2. It exhorts us to desire the manifesting of this truth, Psal. 43. 3. we should be true like God. Zach. 8. 16. in our words and deeds, keep our vows with God, and 
Ephes. 4. 25.  promises with men. God loves truth, as in himself, so in his creatures, but abhors dissimulation and hypocrisy, Prov. 12. 22.  
The true Church is the pillar of truth, God's word the word of truth, Psal. 19 9 We should therefore believe God's word, and depend upon his promise, seem it never so unlikely or impossible, give him the glory of his truth; He that believeth, 
Heb. 10. 23.  setteth to his seal that God is true, he that believeth not, maketh God a liar. Will you receive the testimony of men? and will you not much more receive 

We should observe how God's truth is fulfilled, Gen. 32. 10. Luke 1. 70.  
1. This heightens gratitude, Psal. 108. 4. & 56. 10. 2. It strengthens faith, Psal 18. 30. & 116. 1, 2. For this end, 1. We should get an interest in Christ, 2 Cor. 1. 20. the promises are the Church's dowry, as she is Christ's Spouse. 2. Observe all providences, and compare them with promises, Col. 4. 2. especially observe the fulfilling the promises, 1. When God makes good the letter of them, josh. 23. 19 1 Kings 8. 56. 2. When you have pleaded them in prayer, Psal. 119. 49. & 34. 6.   the testimony of God? He that believeth God's promises, will surely do the things to which the Lord by promises encourageth him: He that believes the threats, will forbear the thing which God by his threats seek to deter him from.  
This is matter of solid comfort for all the true children of God; if he be faithful, they must be happy.  
Truth is that virtue of the will by which it is moved to goodness for God's sake, when the thing moving us to be good, is God's Commandment, and the end whereat we aim is the glorifying and pleasing of God, than we serve God in truth.  
5. God is Faithful, Rev. 19 11.  
First, In himself, by an uncreated faithfulness.  
Secondly, In his Decrees, Isa, 14. 24, 27.  
Thirdly, In all his ways and works, Psal. 145. 17.  

1. Of Creation, 1 Pet. 4. ult.  
2. Of Redemption, Heb. 2. 17.  
3. Of Justification, john 1. 19  
4. Of Protection and Preservation of his Church, Rev. 19 11.   
Fourthly, In all his words and speeches:  

1. His Commandments are the rule of truth and faithfulness to us, Psalm 19 9  
2. His Predictions are all faithfully accomplished many thousand years after, as Christ's incarnation in the fullness of time, so Gen. 49. 10.  
3. His Menaces are most faithful.  
4. His Promises, Exod. 12. 41. Heb. 10. 23.   
There is a difference between faithfulness in the Creator, and in the Creature.  

1. This is the ocean and fountain from whence all faithfulness and truth in men 
1 All the saints are heirs of all the promises, yet many of the temporal promises shall not be fulfilled unto them in this life, as the ungodly are heirs of wrath, and subject to the curses, yet they are not all accomplished on them here. God bestows the promises in a kind of prerogative way. 2. God will exercise the patience of the Saints, in not accomplishing many temporal promises. Patience is showed in waiting as well as in suffering. 3. Those to whom God denies temporal promises in this life, he will make them amends to all eternity, they shall be gainers, not only by their services and sufferings, but deprivements.  and Angels issue.  
2. This is the rule and measure of that, and the nearer it comes to this, the more complete it is.  
3. It is unchangeable in him; the Angels that fell were faithful, but soon changed, so Adam.  
4. It is in God in most high perfection.   
Reasons.  

1. Because of his most just and righteous nature, whose most righteous will is the rule of all his ways, Psal. 145. 17.  
2. He is most perfect and unchangeable in perfection.  
3. Because of his most pure and holy affection.  
4. There is no imperfection in him to hinder his faithfulness.   
God's faithfulness is the ground of all true Religion.  

1. We must ground all the Doctrine of faith, all the Articles of faith, all our judgement and opinion in matters of faith upon this faithfulness of God, and this by holding fast all the faithful word, Titus 1. 9 Rom. 3. 4.  
2. All our obedience of faith must be grounded on this, john 3. 33. Heb. 11. 11. & 10. 23, Zeph. 3. 5. Heb. 6. 30.  
3. All our prayers of faith must be grounded on God's faithfulness, Dan. 9 16. 1 john 1. 9 1 Pet. 4 19 Psal. 1. 5.  
4. All sound profession of faith must be grounded on this, Genes. 17. 1. Psal. 91. 4.  
5. All true perseverance in the faith, 1 Cor. 1. 8. & 10, 13.   
We must be faithful:  

1. To God, by being faithful in his Covenant, as the Psalmist speaketh. 
Consectaries from God's faithfulness.   
2. To men for God's sake in our several places, in friendship as David and jonathan.   
Moses and Christ were faithful, the Apostle saith, In Stewards it is required that 
Heb. 2. 15. & 3. 5.  they be found faithful, 1 Cor. 4 1. Titus 2. 10. 1 Cor. 4. 10. Ephes. 6. 21. Col. 4. 7, 9 1 Sam. 3. 20. 2 Sam. 2. 35. Nehem. 13. 13. 1 Tim 3. 11. Faithfulness is required and commended in all sorts of men.  
Reasons:  
The welfare and prosperity of all estates dependeth upon man's fidelity and faithfulness, it will be impossible for any good to be done amongst men, if each in his person and place be not faithful; this therefore is required of all men.  
Faithfulness is that virtue by which a man is careful to perform constantly and 
What faithfulness is.  in truth all those duties to which either his place or promise, or both, do bind him. Or, it is that virtue by which a man is as good as his word, when one doth speak good, and is in deed as good as in speech, this is faithfulness. It hath two parts: 1. The agreement of his meaning with his words at the time that he speaketh, when he purposeth to do according as he speaketh. 2. The agreement of his actions with his words and meaning, when he continues constant in his purpose till he have done what in him lies to effect it; as it is said of Boaz, that when he had said the thing, he would not be quiet until he had brought it to pass. A promise is the proper subject of faithfulness, in the well making and well keeping of that standeth fidelity.   

CHAP. XIII. Of GOD'S Patience, Long-suffering, Holiness, Kindness.  

GOd is Patient, Psal. 103. 8. job 2. 17. God's patience is that whereby he 
Nahum. 1. 3. Isa. 30. 18.  bears the reproach of sinners, and defers their punishments; or it is the most bountiful will of God 
a Patientia est, qua ita iram suam modoratur Deus erga creaturas, ut vel poenas disserat, vel iram uno momento non essundat. Wendelinus. , whereby he doth long bear with sin which he hateth, sparing sinners, not minding their destruction, but that he might bring them to repentance.  
This is aggravated:  

1. In that sin is an infinite injury offered to him, therefore in the Lord's Prayer it is called a Trespass.  
2. He is infinitely affected 
b God is sensible of the wrong offered to him, and provoked to wrath thereby, 2 Pet. 3. 13. he not only restrains his anger, but gives them time to repent. Master Bolton saith, If but any tenderhearted man should sit one hour in the Throne of God Almighty, and look down upon the earth as God doth continually, and see what abominations are done in that hour, he would undoubtedly in the next set all the world on ●ire.  with this; hence in the Scripture he is said to be grieved with our sins, to be wearied, as a cart full of sheaves; he is said to hate sin, for although he be such a perfect God that none of our sins can hurt him, yet because he is a holy and just God, he cannot but infinitely distaste sinners. Psal. 7. 11, 12,  
3. He can be avenged immediately, if he please: Men many times are patient 
Amos 9 2, 3. When man begins through God's forbearance, to have high Atheistical thoughts about him, Psal. 50. 20. and to strengthen himself in a way of sinning, Eccles. 8. 11. and to grow to that height as to mock at his judgements, Isa. 43. 14. 2 Pet. 3. 2, 3.  perforce, they would be revenged, but they know not how to compass it. He apprehends at the same time what he hath done for us, and withal our unthankfulness, unkindness, and yet endured Cain, Saul, judas a long time.  
4. He beholds the universality of sin, all men injure him, the idolatry of the Heathens blasphemy among Christians, the prophaner sort are full of oaths, adulteries; the better, negligent, lazy, cold. Men make it their business to sin against him. jer. 32. 31.  
5. God not only not punisheth, but still continues his benefits; the old drunkard is still alive.  
6. He sets up a Ministry to invite us to come in, and we have that many years; Forty years long was I grieved with this generation.  
7. In Christ patience was visible, there was living patience. 
Matth. 26. 39   
8. He afflicts lightly and mercifully to win us; he makes thee sick and poor, to see if it will make thee leave thy sinning.   

Object. God seems to be very impatient by his severe judgements inflicted on Persons, Families, Churches, Nations.  
Answ. 1. Such are very few in comparison of those to whom he shows great patience. 2. He is long patient to them, before he come upon them in justice. 3. He proceeds very deliberately and leisurely, when he doth punish such. 4. When at last he comes in judgement, it is in goodness to mankind, and that they might be a warning to others.    

God must punish sometimes, to evidence  
1. That his patience is a powerful patience, proceeding from riches of goodness, Rom. 2. 4. not a patience perforce.  
2. To show that it is a knowing patience, and comes not from ignorance▪  
3. That it is a just patience.  
4. That it is a holy patience, Psal. 50. 21.  
7. God is Long-suffering, Exod. 34. 6. 

This is in effect the same with patience. Num. 14. 18. Nehem. 9 17. 2 Pet. 3. 9, 15, 20.  
Longanimity is toward them of whom we can, patience toward them of whom we cannot be revenged. Nisi Deus expectaret impium, non inveniret quem glorificaret pium. Aug.    
Long-suffering is that whereby he expecteth and waiteth a long time for repentance; or it is the most bountiful will of God, not suffering his displeasure suddenly to rise against his creatures offending, to be avenged of them, but he doth warn them before hand, lightly correct, and seek to turn them unto him. Christ endured judas till the last.  
Long-suffering is a dilation of revenge, though we be provoked; it is a further degree of patience, patience lengthened out further, Rom. 9 22.  
God endures to wonderment above measure, beyond all expectation.  
Reasons. 1. That men might not despair, 1 Tim. 6. 16. 2. For his glory. 3. From his love; a husband will forbear his wife. 4. To leave men without excuse, Gen. 6. 3. and 15. 16. 1 Pet. 3. 20. God cannot properly suffer, for all things are active in him.  
It denounceth a woe to all those who despise and abuse the riches of God's patience 
Consectaries from God's patience and long-suffering.  to us; the Apostle calls it, Treasuring up wrath; that is, as a man lays up something every day till at last he get a great sum, so thou addest still to thy damnation; God will so much more severely damn thee, by how much he hath dealt more kindly with thee.  
We should glorify God for sparing us so long, and waiting for our repentance; we should be like him, slow to anger, 
* Prov. 14. 29. Posse & nolle nobile. The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and his glory is to pass by an offence, saith Solomon. What patience is.  patient, not easily provoked, Rom. 15. 4. Magistrates, Ministers, and all must be like God, wait for repentance; Eccles. 8. 11.  
It reproves them that hence take liberty to sin (patience abused turns into fury) and are the worse for God's forbearance, Matth. 24. 48. Luke 12. 45.  
Christian patience is that grace of God whereby a man is enabled through conscience of his duty to God, to bear what evils God shall lay on him, and to wait for the promises not yet performed, it is the fruit of faith and hope. Faith and patience are often coupled together.  
As by faith we enjoy God, and by love we enjoy our neighbour; so by patience 
It is a grace of the sanctifying Spirit of God, whereby the soul doth freely submit to the will of God in bearing its own burden without inordinate for row or fretting discontent. Patience is 1. Commanded, Luke 1. 19 james 5. 7. 2. It is commended to us by special examples: 1. Of Christ, Heb. 12. 2. Rev. 1. 9 2. Of all the Saints, 1 Pet. 2. 20, 21. james 5. 10.  we enjoy ourselves, saith a Father.  
We had need of patience, that our faith may be lively, and our hope continue to the end. Without patience we cannot worship God, believe in him, love him, pray, hold out, deny ourselves, suffer losses, bear reproaches. God will exercise us with many trials, defer the bestowing of good things, therefore we have need of patience.  
There is a threefold patience, 1. In working, Rev. 3. 26. Hab. 2. 10. to be able to go through the difficulties which clog holy duties. 2. In waiting, to wait God's time in fulfilling the promises, Hab. 2. 3. 3. In suffering, when we quietly submit to the will of God in bearing our own burden, Levit. 10. 3.  
A Christian in these suffering times way write this as his Motto, Sat miser, qui miser esse potest. Let him be miserable that can be miserable, 2 Cor. 4. 8, 9 and 
Periissem nisi periissem.  6. 10.  
8. God is Holy, the holy one, Isa. 40. 25. Hosea 11. 9 Hab. 3. 3. Job 6. 10. he is called The holy one of Israel, above thirty times, see Isa. 41. 20. & 43. 14. that is, Israel's most eminently and incommunicable one, or his God. The holy one of jacob, Isa. 49. 23. Holy is his name, Luke. 1. 49. I the Lord am holy, and, Be you holy as I am holy, Psal. 99 Isa. 6. 3. it is three times repeated, Holy, holy, holy (or, The holy one, the holy one, the holy one; the Lord of Hosts; so Rev. 4. 8. where according to some Greek Copies it is nine times (that is, thrice three times) repeated. As 
There is a twofold holiness: 1. Original, absolute, and essential in God, which is the incommunicable eminency of the divine Majesty exalted above all, and divided from all other eminences whatsoever. For that which a man taketh to be, and makes an account of as his God (whether it be such indeed or by him fu●cied only) he ascribes unto it, in so doing, a condition of eminency above and distinct from all other eminencies whatsoever, that is of Holiness, Psal. 49. 18. Isa. 17. 7. Habak. 1. 12. 2. Derived or relative in the things which are his, properly called, Sacra, holy things. Mede on Matth. 6. 9  Isa. 6. the Angels ascribe holiness to him, so do the Saints in heaven, Rev. 6. 10. and the godly on earth, Exod. 15. 11. 1 Sam. 2. 2. All the persons of the Trinity are holy, God the Father is called The holy one of Israel, Christ is holy, Dan. 9 24. Psal. 16. 10. The Spirit is the Spirit of holiness.  
Holiness in the general nature of it is the moral goodness of a thing.  
Holiness in man is that virtue whereby he giveth and yieldeth himself to God, in doing all for and to him, in regard of which the actions he doth are acceptable to God. Holiness in the creature, is a conformity to the holiness in God, in respect of the principle, rule, pattern and parts of holiness.  
God's holiness is that excellency of his nature, by which he gives himself (as I may say) unto himself, doing all for himself, and in all, and by all, and above all, aiming at his own pleasure and glory; or it is the absolute purity of his nature, and his abhorring of evil, Exod. 34. 30. Revel 15. 4. he is holy without iniquity, Psal. 5. 5, 6. and 145. 17. 1 Sam. 2. 2. Hab, 1. 13. Zeph. 3. 5. the Lord is said to swear by his Holiness, Psalm 89. 35. Amos 4. 2. that is, by himself.  
Holiness is in God essentially and originally, 1 Sam. 2. 2. he is the Author of all 
There is a threefold holiness: 1. Essential, the holiness of God, all one with God himself, Exod. 15. 11. 2. Habitual, an inherent holiness, such as it the holiness of righteous men, so Abraham, job, David, and all the Patriarches, are called Saints and holy men; this the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Latins Sanctimonia. 3. Relative, a peculiar relation which a thing hath unto God, in regard of propriety of possession, or speciality of presence: That which is holy after this manner, the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Latins Sacrum, for persons, things, times. Mr. Mede on Deut. 3. 8.  holiness; he is called Holiness itself, Isa. 63. 15. all the holiness in Saints or Angels comes from God, and is a quality in the creature. He is holy of himself, men and Angels are sanctified by him; his holiness is a substance, in men it is an accident. The essence of many Angels continues, though their holiness be lost; most men never had holiness, and the man would remain, though his holiness were lost.  
2. Holiness is in him without measure, in the highest degree, man's may be limited, it is in him immutable and infinite, like himself, and cannot be lessened or augmented.  
3. He is holy formally and subjectively, holiness is a conformity to the will of God; how holy then must he needs be, when his nature and will are all one?  
4. Objectively, he is the object of all holiness, for there is no holiness but what 
Our holiness is terminated in him. Exod. ●●. 26.  hath him for the object.  
5. Exemplarly, Be ye holy, as I am holy, so Christ bids us learn of him, for he was meek and humble. He as Mediator was impeccable; he was God and man in one person, actus est suppositi; He discovers unholiness in the best of the Creatures, job 15. 15. and cannot be tempted with sin, james 1, 13. or take pleasure in that which is evil, either in persons, or actions, Hab. 1. 13.  
God is holy in heaven, holy in earth, holy in hell itself, holy in glorifying Angels, holy in justifying men, holy in punishing devils, holy in his Nature, Word Works, Glorious in holiness, Exod. 15.  
Reasons of God's Holiness:  
1. This is the foundation of all his other excellencies; for if he were not thus taken up with himself, he could not be perfect in wisdom, power, justice, mercy, neither could he carry himself to the creature as were fit, if he did not first carry 
Why God must be holy. God hath manifested his holiness, 1. In his word, his precepts. 2. By instituting the Sabbath to be kept holy, Isa. 58. 3. 3. By causing a holy Tabernacle and Temple to be erected, wherein were all holy thing. 4. By instituting holy Priests. 5. By inflicting his judgements on those which profane holy things, 2 Sam. 6. 7. and 6. 19, 20.  himself to himself as were fit. If a King do not duly regard himself in his Royal authority, he can never duly govern his subjects.  
2. Else he could not be perfectly happy, whatsoever thing looks to somewhat without itself, to make it be well and contented, and enjoy itself, that is but imperfectly happy, because not happy without another. That alone is capable of perfect blessedness, which hath all things in and of itself, without respect to any other thing, by which it enjoys itself.  
God is holy in these particulars:  
1. In his will; whatsoever God wils is holy, whether it be his secret will and purpose, or his revealed will and word. 
In his works: 1. Of creation, Acts 17. 28. Eccles. 7. ult. 2. Of providence, Psal. 45. 17. & 103. 1. unusquisque operatur ut est.   
2. In all his works, Ephes. 1. He hath predestinated us to be holy, this is the end of all his graces, to make us like himself; this is likewise the end of his Ordinances, his Word and Sacraments are to make us holy, so his works of justice, Christ's death.  
3. In his Laws and Commandments, Psal. 19 his Commandments are just and right, and require holiness of heart, not suffering the least sinful motion, Thou shalt not covet.  
4. What ever relates to him is holy:  
1. The place of his habitation, Psal. 11. 4. & 20. 6. 1 Cor. 3. 7.  
2. His Attendants: 1. The Angels, Luke 9 26. Mat. 25. 31. 2. His people, Leu. 10. 1. Dan. 12. 7.  
3. All his Services are holy, 2 Chron. 35. 30. Psal. 29. 1.  
Holiness is the beauty of all God's attributes, without which his wisdom would be subtlety, his justice cruelty, his Sovereignty Tyranny, his mercy foolish 
Mr Scudder.  pity.  
This distinguisheth him from all Heathen gods which were wicked, holiness 
Holiness is (as it were) the Character of Christ Jesus, the Image of God, the beauty, the strength, the riches, the life, the soul of the soul, and of the whole man. It is a very beam of the Divine light, called therefore by the Apostle, The Divine Nature.  distinguisheth between Angels and Devils, Heaven and Hell.  
Holiness is the working of God to his own end in all things suitable to his nature. When the Saints in heaven glorify God for his chiefest excellency, it is thus, Holy, holy, holy: We find not in the Scripture any of God's Attributes thrice repeated, Wise, wise, wise, or Almighty, almighty, almighty, but Holy, holy, holy, because the excellency of God consists chiefly in that. Master Burrh. jac. Seed.  
The Holiness of God is an universal Attribute, something of holiness runs through all the Attributes; his power is holy, Isa. 52. 10. his truth. Psal. 109. 4. his mercy, Acts 13 34. it is unchangeable, he is so holy, that he cannot be tempted to evil, james 1. 13.  
He is the principle and pattern of all holiness in the Creature:  
1. The principle, Levit. 20. 8. and 21. 8, 15. he conveys holiness by Ordinances and Sabbaths, Deut. 7. 6. and afflictions, Isaiah 27. 9 see 1 Thessalon. 5. 23. and 1. 1.  
2. The pattern of holiness, 1 Pet. 1. 11. the more any have been holy, the more they have eyed the holiness of God, Rev. 4. 9 Ephes. 5. 1. his holiness is a rule to itself, we should have the Law written in our hearts.  
Amongst the Turks, Jews, Indians, Persians, and the Papists themselves at this day, the most zealous and holiest, as they conceive them in their Religion, are most esteemed and honoured, and only in the greater part of the Protestant Churches, the most knowing and tenacious of the Evangelical truth, and the most strict and godly in their lives are hated, nicknamed, disgraced and vilified. Sir Simonds D' Ewes Primitive practice for preserving truth, Sect. 17.  
1. This condemns the Pope, who proudly arrogates the Title of the most 
* Qua de re jepida fabula acci●isse narratur in concilio Tridentino, de quodam Episcopo, quem offendit ille Pap● titulus propterea, Nam si Deus inquicbat tantum sanctus, quomodo cjus vic●●i●us dici potest sanctissimus? Adut magnum periculum ●ade causa. Drusius in 15. num, c. 64.  holy, 
Consectaries from God's Holiness.  and holiness itself; the high Priest was to be holy, Numb. 16. 7. but he will be termed most holy.  
2. Hypocrites, civil honest men, and profane men, who scoff at purity and holiness which is God's excellency, it was the Devil's device to bring that slander on earthly holiness, A young Saint an old Devil.  Angelicus juvenis senibus satanisat in annis. 
Erasmus (in his pietas puerilis) saith, that proverb was devised by the Devil himself; it is contrary to that of Solomon, Prov. 22 6. It was a great commendation 
See Eccles. 12. 1. Psal. 119. 9 It is a great honour to seek the Lord betimes, M●ason was an old disciple, See Rom. 16. 17.  of Origen, that he learned the Scripture of a child, Eusebius. The like Paul saith of Timothy, 2 Tim. 3, 15.  
3. Confutes merits, the Angels are impure in his sight.  
4. We should be holy like God, not in degree; but in resemblance, 1 Pet. 1. 15, 16. we should be holy in our affections, actions. Holiness should be prized and 
This of all Attributes is the most over-awing to a sinful creature. We should especially think of the holiness of God, when we worship him, john 17. 11, 22. Psalm 3. because then we draw nigh to God. Levit. 10. 3. and his end in ordering ordinances is, that we might be partakers of his holiness. If we may judge of the privation by the habits perfection, how great an evil must sin be, when God is so great a good.  admired; the Seraphims sing one to another, Holy, holy, holy, Isa. 6. 3. They choose this out of all God's Attributes to praise him for. We should pray to God with pure hearts, worship him holily, john 4. 24. Zach. 14. 20, 21. that is, men should be holy in those ordinary natural actions of eating and drinking.  
5. This ministers comfort to the Saints, and assures them that they shall find favour with him; and is for a terror to the unholy, which are altogether carried to themselves, led by themselves, and set up themselves, and these things below. They love that which God loathes; God must necessarily hate sin, because it is so contrary to him: That he doth so, it appears, 1. In his depriving man of an infinite good, infinite glory and happiness. 2. In inflicting on him infinite torments. A holy heart may draw much comfort from God's holiness. 1. He will distinguish between the precious and the vile, they have to do with a holy God, Num▪ 16. 2, 3. Mal. 3. ult. 2. Thou hast communion with this holy God, there is sweetness and comfort in conversing with holy men, after this life they shall behold the beauty of God's holiness, and give him the glory of it. 3. He will take special care of them, that they shall not be polluted, Exod. 29. 33, 34. 4. What holiness is there in any of their services, it shall be accepted, and their holiness begun shall be perfected.  
6. We should labour after holiness, 1. To go quite out of ourselves and all creatures, and go wholly, as it were unto God, making him the ground, measure and end of all our actions, striving above all things to know him, esteem him, and set all our powers upon him. This is the felicity of the creature, to be holy as God is holy; this is the felicity of the Saints in heaven, they care for nothing but God, are wholly and altogether carried to him and filled with him. He is all in all unto them, as he is all in all unto himself. In being thus carried to him, they are united to him and enjoy him, and are blessed. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q●●st 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l●y the E●ym●logists, holy is as much as not earthly. Holiness is a separation both from sin and the world. The will of God is the rule of holiness, as his nature is the pattern of it, Sec Act, 13. 22.   
There are Saints on earth, as the Scripture shows, Psal. 16. 3. and 132. 9 though the Papists deny this. Men are said to be Saints here: 1. In regard of Sacramental holiness: Baptism is called the laver of Regeneration, Tit. 3. Sanctum, quasi sanguine tinctum. Isidore. Such are dedicated to God, and set a part for a holy use. 2. In regard of inherent holiness, the denomination is from the better part, so man is called a Reasonable creature, from his reasonable soul; and men (though in part corrupt) are called Saints from the image of God, in the better part. 3. In regard of imputed holiness; Christ is made to us Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification.  
Sanctification is 1. The end of our Election, Ephes. 1. 4. 2. Of our Redemption, Luke 1. 75.  
Holiness is 1. A beautiful thing, Psal. 110. 3. therefore Christ calls his Spouse The fairest of all women. 2. A beneficial thing makes one bear all afflictions easily, makes all our services acceptable to God, will give us a sight of God, Matth. 5. 8.  
9 God is Kind, Exod, 34. 7. Keeping Kindness for thousands, so it should be 
This Attribute of kindness is the same with goodness before spoken of, viz Communicative goodness.  rendered; he spoke of God's mercy in the sixth verse, see Ephes. 2. 7. Titus 3. 4. it is called, Great kindness, Neh. 9▪ 17. Marvellous kindness, Psalm 31. 21. Merciful kindness, Psalm 119. 2. Everlasting kindness, Isa 54▪ 8. Excellent loving kindness, Psalm 36▪ 7. Multitude of loving kindness, Isa. 63. 74. We should show loving kindness unto Christ, and one unto another, 2 Peter 1. 3. 1 Corinth. 13. 4.  
Some mention two other virtues:  
2. God's Jealousy, by which he will have all due glory given to him, and suffers not the least part of it to be communicated to the creature. This care of his 
Isa. 48. 11. & 42. 8. Exod. 20. 4.  honour and fame is manifest by the grievous punishments inflicted on those who have dared to arrogate part of the Divine glory to themselves, as on the building of Babel, Gen. 11. ●. the Bethshemites, 1 Sam. 6. 19 Nabuchadnezzar, Dan. 4. 29, 30. and Herod, Acts 21. 22, 23.  
2. His Humility, by which God descends to our capacity, and graciously provides 
Psal. 113. 5, 6.  for our weakness, examples of which are both Gods familiar conversing and 
Gen. 18. 1 Sam. 30. 8.  conference with Moses and Abraham, interceding for Sodom, with David and others, and especially the incarnation of Christ.    

CHAP. XIV. Of GOD'S Power.  
SO much be spoken concerning Gods Will, Affections, and Virtues: there 
God is Omninipotent. 2 Cor. 6. 18. Revel. 1. 8. Luke 18▪ 28. Matth. 19▪ 26. Ephes. ●. 19  followeth Power in God, by which God by the bare beck of his Will, effecteth all things which he will, and howsoever he will, perfectly without labour and difficulty, and can do perfectly all things which he wills; this is called Absolute 
* Matth. 3. 9 Phil. 23. 1.  Power, by which he can do more things then either he doth or will. Actual 
a Psalm 135. 6. & 115. 3.  Power is when God causeth those things to exist which he will have exist.  
Both Gods Absolute and Actual Power is Active 
b Ephes. 3. 20. 1. In se & per se quia idem est cum essentia divina. Wendol.  only, and no way Passive.  
This Power of God is Infinite,  
First, In respect of the Divine Essence, since it slows from the Infinite Nature of God; for it is a most certain Rule, that the faculties and powers of the Subject slow from the form, and agree with the form.  
Secondly, In respect of the Object 
c Potentia ●ei infinita est respectu objectorum, quia innumera sunt, quae produci ab eo possint. Respectu actionis infinita est: quia nunquam effectum producit tam praestantem, quin praestantiorem possit producere. Wendelinus. Culices & muscas ipsas per omnipotentem voluntatem producit, aeque ac elephantum & cetum, quamvis non aeque illa nobis in utrisque forte manifesta fiat. Omnipotens est Deus (ait August. de Temp. serm. 119) ad facienda majora & minora: magnus est in Magnis, nec parvus in Minimis. Rescript. Ames. ad responsum. Grevinchov. c. 8.  and Effects, for God doth never so many and so great works, but he can do more and greater; although we must hold that God cannot make a creature of infinite Perfection simply, or creatures indeed infinite in number, for so they should be Gods; for the Divine Power is so far exercised on the object, as the passive Power of the object extends itself, but Infinite Perfection imports a pure Act.  
Thirdly, In respect of Duration, which is perpetual as his Essence is, therefore this force and power of God is deservedly styled Omnipotency, job 42. 2. God's 
Luke 1. 37.  Power is not only Potentia, or Multipotentia, but omnipotentia, for degree infinite; Shall any matter be hard for the Lord?  
The Scripture confirms the Omnipotency of God, 
Revel. 15. 3. Omnipotent is often put for God. Ruth. 1. 20, 21. job 21. 15. & 27, 10. & 31. 2. God is called Almighty One and thirty times in job.   
1. Affirmatively, when it calls God Abbir, Job 34. 20. Shaddai Alsufficient, Gen. 35. 11. Deut. 10. 17. Psal. 89. 13. Gibbor Powerful, Deut. 10. 17.  
2. Effectively, when it witnesseth, that God can do all things, Mat. 3. 9 & 19 16. Mark 14. 36. Luk. 18. 26. Eph 3. 20. Hitherto belong all the works of the Divine Power and supernatural Miracles.  
3. Negatively, when it denies any thing to be difficult to him, muchless impossible, Gen. 18. 14. jer. 32. 17, 27. Luke 1. 37. Matth. 19 36.  
4. Symbolically, when it gives him a strong right hand, a stretched out arm, 1 Chron. 29. 12. jer. 32. 17. Ephes. 1. 19  
Reason proves it also:  
1. His essence (as was said) is infinite, therefore his power.  
2. He is most perfect, therefore most powerful.  
3. Whatsoever good thing is to be found in any creature, the same is perfectly and 
There is strength in Angels, Men, Beasts, and all creatures in their kind, therefore it is much more perfectly and eminently in God from whom they have it.  infinitely in God.  
Some observe that this is expressed seventy times in Scripture, that God is Almighty. He is the only Potentate, 1 Tim. 6. 15. The Psalmist saith, Power belongs to God. The first Article of our faith teacheth us to believe that God is Omnipotent.  
God can work by weak means, without means, contrary to means.  
It shows one to be a skilful Artist, when he can effect that by an unfit instrument, which another can scarce do with a most fit one: As it is reported of Apelles, that with a coal taken from the fire he so expressed him by whom he was invited to Ptolemies dinner, that all at the first sight of it knew the man: But it is no wonder for God to perform what he will with unfit instruments, since he needs no instruments at all to effect what he pleaseth.  
God's power is,  
Essential and Independent, it is the cause of all power, john 19 8. it reacheth beyond his will, Mat. 26. 35.  
2. It extends to things that are not, nor never will be, as to raise up children 
Power is Gods originally and primarily, all power of all creatures is derived from him, and continued and ordered by him.  of stones to Abraham, Matth. 3. 9 to give Christ more than ten Legions of Angels.  
The object of Divine power are all things simply and in their own nature possible, which neither contradict the nature of God, nor the essence of the creatures; those which are contrary to these are absolutely impossible; such things God cannot do, because he cannot will them, nor can he will and do contrary things, as good and evil, or contradictory, as to be, and not to be, 
God can do all things, quae habent rationem factibilitatis, quae contradictionem non implicant. Titus 2. 2. 2 Tim. 2. 13. There are impossibilia naturae which exceed nature's sphere, as to make a thing of nothing, to raise the dead to life, these God can do; and impossibilia natura, those things which are by themselves simply impossible. God cannot will the same thing at the same time to be and not to be, nor cause that which hath been not to be, this would argue inconstancy. Propterea quaedam non potest, quia omnipotens est. There is impossibility ex parte Dei, & ex parte rei. See Dr. Willet on Gen. 18. 12. Asylum haereticorum est omnipotentia Dei. Chrysost. Vide Vedel. Rationale Theologicum, l. 3. c. 8.  that a true thing be false, that any thing while it is should not be; God cannot sin, lie, deny, change or destroy himself, suffer, for all these things do ex diametro, oppose the Divine, Immutable, Simple, most true and perfect essence. God cannot create another God, nor cause a man to be unreasonable, nor a body to be infinite and every where, for these things contradict the essential definitions of a creature, of a man, and a body; not to be able to do all these things is not impotency, but power, for to be able to do opposite things, is a sign of infirmity, being not able to remain altogether in one and the same state.  
God is therefore omnipotent, because he cannot do these things which argue impotency, as if I should say The Sun is full of light, it cannot be dark. Yet it is not so proper a speech to say God cannot do these things, as to say, these are acts too mean, base, and worthless to be effects of Divine power, Haec non possunt fieri, rather than, Deus non potest facere, saith Aquinas.  
God's omnipotence lies in this, * that he is able to do whatsoever is absolutely, 
Matth. 3. 9 In Scholis Aristotelicis percrebuit illud, Deum, & naturam nihil ●acere frustra, Deum fine suo frustrari nihil aliud est, quam Deum praestare non posse ut fiat, quod fieri vult, quod quid aliud est, quam divinam omnipotentiam convellere. Name & nos quecunque & vol●mus & possumus, praestamus. Twiss. contra Corvinum c. 12. Sect. 3.  simply and generally possible. A possible thing is that, the doing of which may be an effect of God's wisdom and power, and which being done, would argue power and perfection; an impossible, that which cannot be an effect of wisdom and power, but if it should be done, would argue weakness and imperfection in God, The Arminians say, That God is often frustrated of his end, which derogates from his power. 2. In respect of manner, he doth it with a Word, Let there be light, saith he, and there was light. 3. He can do all things of himself, without any creatures help. God's power is styled, Might of power, Ephes. 1. 19 and it is seen in his works of creation, making all things of nothing, therefore that follows the other in the Crred. 2. In his works of providence. Christ is a mighty God and Saviour to his people, Isa. 7▪ 6. Psal. 89. 19 Isa. 63. 1. Heb. 7. 25. Rev. 18. 8. He is strong in himself.  
He was mighty:  
1. In suffering, he bore the revenging justice of God, he suffered the wrath of God upon the Crosse.  
2. In doing: 1. Made all, john 1. 5. Col. 1. 16. 2. Preserves all, Col. 1. 17. 3. As he is the head of the Church.  
2. He is strong in his Saints:  
1. In the gathering of his Church.  
2. In upholding it.  
3. In raising all people out of their afflictions.  
4. In his Ordinances, Prayer, Sacraments, Word, Rom. 1. 16.  
5. In his Graces, Faith, Heb. ●1. Love, 1 Cor. 13.  
God's power is limited and restrained:  
1. By his nature, he cannot contradict himself.  
2. Regulated by his will, he cannot do evil.  
3. By his glory, he cannot lie, he is truth itself, nor be tempted of evil, james 1. 13.  
There is a difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, potentia and potestas: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or potestas is properly authority, right to do a thing, as a King hath over his Subjects, a father over his children, a husband over his wife, a master over his servants, of which Christ speaks, john 17. 2. Mat. 28. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or potentia is properly strength to do something, as some great King may have power to overcome his enemies over which he hath no authority. A Layman hath power to give Bread and Wine, but he hath not potestatem, a calling or right to do it.  
It serves both for a spur to do well, since God is able to save, Gen. 17. 1. and a 
Consectaries from God's power or omnipotency. Whatsoever God hath promised or uttered, we may be sure shall be fulfilled, Acts 26. 8. Mat. 22. 29.  bridle to restrain from evil, seeing he hath power to destroy, we should therefore humble ourselves under his mighty hand, 1 Pet. 5. 6. Luke 12. 5.  
It reproves the wicked, which care not for God's power, but provoke the Almighty God, Matth. 10. 28. and so contend with power itself, none shall deliver them out of his hand, 1 Cor. 10. 22. and it condemns the godly, which distrust the 
Ephes. 3. 20. Prov. 18. 10.  power of God, Num. 11. 21. john 21. 32. Remembering not that he hath unlimited power. The Lord's Prayer ends thus, For thine is the power.  
This ministers comfort to those which have God on their side, they need not fear what man or Devil can do against them. He can strengthen them in spiritual 
John 10. 39 Rom. 8. 38. 2 Tim. 1. 12. This power of God is not idle, but creates, sustains, and governs all things.  weaknesses against sin, and unto duty, all the Devils in hell are not able to pluck them out of his hands. Mat. 16. 18. john 10. 28, 29. if a people fall from him, he is able to graft them in again, Isa, 44. 22. Rom. 11. 23. they are kept by his power through faith to salvation, 1 Pet. 1. 5. he can protect them against their enemies, though they be never so many, Dan. 3. 17. Psalm 3. 6. he can and will make you strong in his power to bear patiently all afflictions. God is able to raise them up again, when they are rotten in the grave, at the general resurrection, Heb. 11. 19  
We should not despise a weak Christian, God is able to make him strong; we should by this strengthen our faith in God's promises, as Abraham, Rom. 4. 22. it is 
Of all the Attributes of God, this only is mentioned in the Creed, I believe in God the Father Almighty, and fits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, because our faith is especially to be fixed on the power of God and Christ.  prefixed in the Creed, as the prop of our belief in the Articles of our Christian faith. That Commandment, Be strong in Christ and in his power, includes a promise, that he will give us his power, if we seek to him, and rest on him; for it were a very mocking to bid us be strong in him, if he would not communicate his strong power to us; if we have any strength either of body or mind to do any thing, we must return to him the glory of it, and be ruled by him in the use of it, because we have it from him, and hold it at his mere pleasure. Oh saith God to job, Can you do this and that? and than Who made the clouds? by which qustion he would cause job to see his own impotency, and Gods Omnipotent power.   

CHAP. XV. Of God's Glory and Blessedness.  
FRom all these before mentioned Attributes, ariseth the Glory or Majesty of God, which is the infinite excellency of the Divine Essence, Heb. 1. 3. Exod. 33. 18. Psal. 29. 9 This is called, The face of God, Exod. 33. 20. and light inaccessible, 
Glory is not so much adistinct Attribute (say some) as the lustre of all his Attributes together, the excellency which results from all. See Mr. Strongs' Sermon on 1 Sam. 2. 30. about man's honouring of God, and his honouring of man.  1 Tim, 6. 16. which to acknowledge perfectly belongs to God alone, yet the revelation and obscurer vision thereof is granted to us in this life by the ministry of those things which are seen and heard, the clearer in the life to come, where we shall see God face to face, 1 Cor. 13. 12. Mat. 18. 10.  
God is and ever shall be exceeding 
* Isa. 6. 1. Ezek. 1. 28. Numb. 12. 8. Exod. 33. 23.  Glorious, Exod. 15. 11. Deut. 28. 58.  
Glory is sometime taken for outward lustre and shining, as one glory of the Sun; 
Non perceperunt vim gloriae qui eam de●imerunt notitiam claram cum laude; nam si ita se res haberet, ne ita quidem Deus gloriosus esset, volo dicere praeditus gloria, nam Latinis gloriosus superbus est. Cameron. de Ecclesia. Gloria quasi claria, saith Aquinas, it is the manifestation and shining forth of Excellency. God is said to glorify himself, when he manifesteth his unspeakable and incomprehensible excellency. Num. 14. 21. Psal. 72. 19 Levit. 10. 3. Angels and men glorify him when they extol his greatness, and testify their acknowledgement of his glory, Isaiah 6. 3. 29. Psal. 1, 2. Luke 2. 14. Revel. 4. 11.  sometimes for outward decking and adorning, as long hair is a glory to a woman; but the proper signification of it is, excellent estimation by which one is preferred before others.  
It is the splendour, clarity or shining of a thing, resulting and rising from the perfection, eminency, or excellency it hath above other things. The glory of God is the perfection of his Nature and Attributes, infinitely surpassing and outshining the perfection of all creatures.  
Things that are good we praise, things that are excellent we honour, and things that are transcendently good we glorify.  
Glory is used metonymically for that which is the ground and matter of glory, as Prov. 19 11. & 20. 29. Sometimes the glory of God signifieth the very essence and nature of God, as Exod. 33. 18. Sometimes it is used to signify some of God's Attributes, Ephes. 1. 12. that is his grace and good will, by showing forth of which he makes himself glorious. Sometimes it is put for some work of God which is great and marvellous, john 11. 40. that is, the grace and powerful work of God in raising up thy brother Lazarus unto life again, Exod. 25. 16. & 40. 35. that is, some extraordinary splendour, as R. Moses expounds it, which God created thereby to show forth his magnifience and glory.  
Glory is essential, so it signifieth the incomprehensible excellency of the Divine Nature, Exod. 33. 13. or else it signifieth manifestatively the acknowledgement and celebration of his excellencies; and this is called properly glorification: this may have more or less.  
Or secondly, much to the same purpose, the glory of God may be taken two ways:  

1. For the inward excellency and worth whereby he deserves to be esteemed and praised.  
2. For the actual acknowledging of it, for glory is defined a clear and manifest knowledge of another's excellency; therefore the glory of God is twofold.   
First, Internal, which is again twofold:  

1. Objective, that glory of God is the excellency of his Divine nature, for such is his Majesty and excellency, that he is infinitely worthy to be praised, admired and loved of all.  
2. Formal, is his ●own knowledge love and delight in himself; for this is infinitely more the glory of God, that he is known and beloved of himself, then that he is loved and praised by all Creatures, Men or Angels, because this argueth an infinite worth in Gods own nature, that an infinite love and delight is satisfied with it.   
God hath this kind of glory objective and formal, most fully even from all eternity; therefore when he is said to make all things for himself or his glory, it is not meant of this inward glory, as if he could have more of that.  
Secondly, External; and that again,  
1. By way of object, viz. when he made the Heavens and Earth, and all these glorious creatures here below, which are said to show forth his glory, Psal. 19 that is, objectively, they are the effects of his glorious wisdom and power, and so become objects of men's and Angels praises of him; and as the glory of men consists in outward ornaments, so God's glory consists in having such creatures, men and Angels to be his followers.  
2. Formal, when men and Angels do know, love and obey him, and praise him to all eternity.  
The Scriptures every where extol the Majesty and glory of God:  
1. Essentially, when it calls God Great, Most high, glorious, The God of glory, Acts 7. 2. King of glory, Psalm 24. 8. Father of glory, Ephes. 1. 17.  
2. Efficaciously, when it affirmeth that all the earth is full of the glory of God, Isa. 6. 3. and propounds the glorous and wonderful works of God to be considered by us, Exod. ●2. 18. He means he will show him so much of his glory as it is possible for a creature to behold and live, we cannot behold the fullness of it.  
God is glorious in his nature, 1 Cor. 11. 7. his glory obscureth all other glory, Isa. 6. 2. Gen. 18. 17 1 Kings 10. 13.  
His glory is manifested:  
1. Extraordinarily, ●n the cloud, in apparitions and visions. 
Exod. 16. 10. Ezek. 1. 28.   
2. Ordinarily, in his word and works. 
* Exod. 9 15. Fearful in praises, because God's Majesty is so excellent, that even with trembling we are to praise him, but especially because he works such miraculous deliverances, and showeth his terrible power.  The Law sets forth the glory of his justice, and the Gospel that of his mercy, 2 Cor. 3. 8. it is called his glorious Gospel, Luke 2. 14.  
All his works set forth his glory, both those of creation, and preservation or providence, Psalm 19 the whole creation must needs show forth his glorious power and wisdom, the sound is said to go over all the world; that is, All creatures must needs gather, that if the Heavens be such glorious Heavens, the Sun so glorious a Sun, how much more must that God be a glorious God, who is the author and worker of them.  
The whole Platform of saving the Church by Christ, sets forth God's glory principally, Phil. 2. 11. Luke 2. 14. glory to God in the highest. In some works the excellency of God's power, in others the excellency of his wisdom, patience, but in this all the Attributes of God shine out in their utmost perfection.  
1. His wisdom, that all the three persons of the Trinity should join in one work, to one end, wherein mercy, power, grace, justice, patience, all meet together.  
2. Power, in upholding Christ to undergo the weight of God's vindictive Justice.  
3. Freegrace, to do all this without any motive in the world but himself, nothing was foreseen in them, and some rather than others were saved.  
4. His revenging Justice and Wrath here were manifested, as much as they be in Hell itself.  
5. His Holiness, he can have no communion with those that are unclean.  
6. His Majesty, none may be admitted to speak or come nigh to him, but in the mediation of Christ. The Gospel is The glorious Gospel of the blessed God, 1 Tim. 1. 11. that is, The glory of all the Attributes of God doth appear in the Gospel more brightly, then in all the works which God hath made, Mr. Burrh.  
God is glorious in all his works upon the hearts of believers, he puts a glory upon them, so that in this sense he is effectually glorious, Ephes. 5. a glorious Church, and Psalm 43. The King's daughter is all glorious within; this glory is grace, when God makes one holy, heavenly minded, meek, zealous; hereafter we shall have glorious bodies and souls.  
God made all things for his glory, for of him and to him are all things, Rom. 11. All the unreasonable creatures are for God's glory.  
1. In that they are serviceable to man, for herein God is glorified, in that they can accomplish those ends for which they were made, and that is for man, Gen. 1. the Sun and Stars are for him, as well as creeping things: These creatures are for a twofold use:  
1. To give him habitation and to be means of his corporeal life.  
2. To be continual quickners of him, to praise Gods glorious power and wisdom; God is said Acts 4. not to leave himself without witness; the reasonable creatures are made chiefly for his glory, because they know and love him.  
That God is Glorious appears:  
1. God hath made many of his creatures glorious, Dan. 10. 8. so there is one glory of the Sun, another of the Moon; the King clad with gorgeous attire, and being arrayed with the Ensigns of his Sovereignty is glorious, so Solomon.  
2. This glory shall continue for ever, because God hath it from himself, and deriveed it not from another. He is a perfect being, independent, all things are under him; the inferior cannot work without the Superior.  
There is a double glory in things:  
1. Inherent in themselves, which is partly visible, as that of the Sun; partly intelligible, 
Solomon's glory was in part visible, the shining of his Throne, his glittering apparel, but his wisdom and understanding were not; God perceives his own glory, and that it shall continue for ever; the Apostle beheld the glory of Christ as of the only begotten Son.  an excellency in a thing which affects the understanding.  
2. From without, given by others; so there is a kind of glory and excellency in some precious stones which affect a man with a kid of wondering; so in an Angel a great shining, as in that which appeared to Zachary; so in the vision that Paul saw, and when God appeared to Moses.  
There is an inward glory standing in being worthy of highest esteem, and an outward glory standing in being highly accounted of; God is worthy to be esteemed above all, and is so by the Saints.  
The chiefest and highest cause of any benefit showed to us, is not ourselves, but the name of God, even his glory, and the clear declaration of his own excellencies, Ezek. 20. 9 14. 22. Psalm 25. 1. Ezek. 36. 22.  
Reas. 1. The thing which induced God to make all things, must needs be the cause of all other benefits bestowed after the creation; now he made all things for himself, and his own name; for neither had they any being, nor could they have any before, and therefore could not be any moving cause to their own creation, therefore neither of any other thing.  
2. All creatures are nothing, and less than nothing in comparison of God, therefore he could not by them be moved to work any thing, but doth it for his own names sake. Things mean and trifling are not fit to be the highest end of an excellent work. God is most high and glorious, and all creatures are less than nothing before him, therefore himself must be moved by himself, not by them chiefly to do any thing for them; for as God hath no efficient, material or formal cause at all, but is to himself instead of all these, because he is of himself, so neither can he have any final cause but himself; for if he have any other end then himself, that is, his own glory, he were some way dependent upon some other thing, which is impossible.  
If it be objected, How is it said then, that God doth this or that for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob's sake, as often Moses presseth him in his prayers.  
The Answer is, he looks upon them still in subordination to his own name, so that they are motives but in reference to his name, and no otherwise. He glorifieth himself, and aimeth at his own glory, in keeping covenant and promise with them.  
God's glory is the end of predestination, both reprobation, Prov. 16. 1. and election, Ephes. 1. 5, 6. of the creation and administration of all things, Rom. 11. 36. of all benefits obtained in Christ, 2 Cor. 1. 20. and should be of all our actions, 1 Cor. 10. 35.  

Quest. Whether the infinite glory which God hath as God, be communicated to Christ's humane nature.  
Answ. That being a creature, cannot have that glory which is due to the Creator. It is true, Christ is infinitely to be glorified, because he is God and man, but not therefore his humane nature. Our Divines distinguish between a glory merely divine, and a Mediators glory, which is next to Divine, far above all creatures.   

Object. Christ prayed for the glory which he had before the beginning.  
Answ. Christ had it in decree and predestination, and that was not God's essential 
John 17. 5.  glory, which is a property, for he requires he may have it now, which could not be if he had it from eternity.  
We glorify God, not by putting any excellency into him, but by taking notice of his excellency, and esteeming him accordingly, and making manifest this our high esteem of him.  
There is a twofold glory:  

1. Essential, infinite, everlasting; this is called gloria, it receives neither addition nor diminution by any created power.  
2. Accidental, finite, temporary, called glorificatio; this ebbs or flows, shines, or is overshadowed, as goodness or gracelessness prevails in the world.   
It serves,  

1. To show the vileness and baseness of all wicked men, which oppose God's 
Consectaries from Gods, glory.  glory, and strive to obscure it, dishonour this glorious God, setting light by him in their hearts, and blaspheming him with their tongues; a sinner in sinning lifts up himself above God, preferring his own wisdom before Gods, and his will before his; therefore David worthily concludes the 104 Psalms with an imprecation against sinners, God will gain glory of them in despite of their hearts by magnifying his justice.  
2. We should labour to partake of God's Image, that we might be partakers of his glory; we must earnestly desire that God's glory may be communicated to us, that he would send forth his Spirit of glory to rest upon us, by which means we shall commend ourselves to God, Christ, the Angels and Saints, and our own consciences.  
3. We must learn to contemplate the glory of God with admiration; by this 
Those that do not take notice of God's name, lose the chief fruit of his works.  one principally differs from a beast. He hath not a capacity to behold the excellency of Gud, the Saints in Heaven are even taken up and filled with beholding God's glory; set your eyes round about to behold God's works and his glory in them, so as you may admire God, this will make your souls to enjoy God. Paul saith, In the mystery of the Gospel we behold as in a glass the glory of God; be much in this exercise.  
4. We must long to go out of this world to behold God's glory 
* It is said of Fulgentius when he came out of Africa to Rome, that he said, Quantum fulges Coelestis Hierosolyma, cum adeo splendet terrestris Roma?  fully, john 17. 24. raise up your hearts to heavenly desires, wish earnestly to be in Heaven. Every one would be willing to go to Heaven when he dyeth, but we must desire to leave this life to go thither.  
5. This should comfort us: 
It is a comfort to God's people when they go to him for any favour. Let them not be out of heart because they find nothing in themselves upon which to ground their prayers or faith. There is enough in his own Name, the Lord doth not look upon any thing in us, but upon himself for argument of doing good to us. His name is the more magnified by how much we are more vile.  

1. Against reproaches and contempt in the world; if God be glorified, we must sacrifice our names as well as our lives to him.  
2. Against death, than we shall no more dishonour God.  
3. The day of judgement should be longed for, because it is Gods glorious day, 2 Thess. 1. 10. we run to glorious sights on earth, as the Queen of Sheba.  
6. We should ascribe all glory to God, the fountain of glory, 1 Chron. 29. 11, 12. Psalm 115. 1. God challengeth this from men, Give unto the Lord glory and strength, give unto the Lord the glory due to his name. He is very jealous of his glory, 
We should ascribe unto his Name all the inercies we enjoy, giving all the praise from ourselves wholly to him. God for his Names sake hath made and redeemed us.  and will not suffer the least part of it to be given to the creature.  
7. Take heed of those Tenets which oppose God's glory; as 

1. The lawfulness of giving religious honour to images; the Popish Doctors have wearied themselves and wracked their brains to coin distinctions, how divine worship may be given to Images, but the second Commandment forbids Image-worshipping, and God acknowledgeth himself a jealous God, and saith, He will not give his glory to another.  
2. Attributing too much to our freewill, or setting up our merits, 
* Hereby we may judge which is the true Religion, what Doctrine is sound, pure, and of God, and what corrupt and from men. That Doctrine which letteth forth the praise of God cometh from Heaven, but that which is from men advanceth the power, pride, and merit of man.  this is robbing God likewise of his glory.       
Let us first live to his glory, and do all for his glory: 1. Because he intended it. 2. He hath joined our happiness and his glory together. 3. It is infinitely more worth than all the world. 4. It is his condescending, that he will take this for glory. 5. He will have glory of us against our wills. 6. The Creatures glorify God in their way. 7. How much glory do we give to things of an inferior nature? 8. God will hereby give us glory.  
We should do all we do for him and to him, even to show forth our apprehension 
John 7. 18. Ephes. 1. 6. & 2. 4. Rom. 3. 21.  of his name. Doing whatsoever good we do, and leaving whatsoever evil we leave, that we may declare our high esteem of him, and make it appear that we do judge and repute him most wise, good, just, excellent, worthy all the service that we can do, and more too. And whatsoever is not thus done with reference to the name 
* Duobus modis referri aliquid ad Dei gloriam dicitur. Primum formaliter & explicitè, quando aliquis cogitat cum animo, hoc sibi agendum esse, quia nomini divino sit gloriosum. De●●de virtualiter & implicitè, cum quis divinae studens gloriae, eoque nihil facere decernens nisi quod legi congruat, & ad hoc gratiam Dei quotidic exposcens, boni quippiam facit, de universali fine actu non eogitans; sed solùm particularis finis bonum intendens. Vossius in Thesibus. Though we cannot actually intend God's glory always in every thing, yet we should virtually. Vide Aquin, 1. 2. Quest. 1. Artic. 6.  of God, as the motive and end of it, doth want so much of goodness as it wants of this reference. Nothing is good, farther than it hath reference to God the chiefest good. If we aim at only or chiefly, and be moved only or chiefly by temporal benefits and respects of this kind, looking to ourselves, our deeds are hollow and seemingly good alone, not real. If we look to ourselves alone even in respect of eternal benefits, and not above ourselves, to him and his name, that also is but hypocrisy. But this is truth, to make our ends and motives the same with Gods, and to have an eye still above and beyond our selxes, even to God's name, that we may cause it to appear to him, and ourselves, and others, that we know him and confess his great name. Omnibus operibus nostris coelestis intentio adjungi debet. Aquinas.  
It is a great question among the Schoolmen, and some of our Divines, Whether one should actually propound the rule, and intent the end in every service, Adam and Christ did so, though lapsed man cannot do it: it is a duty nevertheless, it is good to do it as often as possibly men can. In serious and solemn actions our thoughts should be actual, in lesser the habitual intention sufficeth.  
God glorified himself, john 12. 28. Christ glorified him, his whole life was nothing but a seeking of his Father's glory, john 17. 4. 
* Christ glorified his Father, 1. By denying himself and his own glory, john 8. 50. Heb. 5. 5. 2. By his word, by his preaching, Luke 4. 15. by his prayer, john 12. 28. Mat. 26 39 by his confession, john 10. ●9 and 14. 27. 3. By his works or miracles, Mat. 9 8. & 15. 31. Mark 2. 12. Luke 17. 16. & 13. 13. & 17. 15. & 23. 47. 4. By his sufferings, john 13. 3●. To glorify is to manifest one's excellency, as appears john 17. 4. compared with Verse 6. See of glorifying God Church his Miscellanies, p. 11. to 18.  See Phil. 2. 11. the Saints and Angels spend eternity in setting forth his glory, Isa. 6. 23. Rev. 4. 10, 11. & 7. 9, 10. all the creatures do glorify God in their kind, Psalm 145. 10. & 148. the worm is not exempted, therefore that man (saith chrysostom) which doth not glorify God, is base than the basest worm. This is all the first Table of the Decalogue, and above half of the Lords Prayer; the three first Petitions concern God's glory, and the conclusion likewise hath reference to it. We should glorify God in all conditions, in adversity as well as in prosperity, Psalm 50. 15. in all the parts of our bodies, in our hearts, 1 Pet. 3. 15. with our mouths, Rom. 15. 6. in our lives, 1 Cor. 6. alt. Mat. 5. 16.  
Let us often think of the personal glory and excellency which the Saints shall enjoy when they come to Heaven.  
1. In Body.  
2. In Soul.  
The bodies of the Saints in Heaven shall be,  
1. Perfect, free from all blemishes, and every way for the souls use.  
2. Incorruptible, not liable to sickness, weakness, 
* 1 Cor. 1●. 42, 43.  mortality.  
3. Spiritual, 1. In regard of state and condition, because they shall be upheld by the Spirit of God, without the use of meat, drink and sleep. 2. In regard of quality and operation, active and agile as a Spirit, they shall move swiftly upward, downward, any way at the command of the soul.  
4. Glorious, the bodies of the Saints shall then shine as the Sun, and be like the glorious body of Christ.  
The soul shall be totally freed from all spiritual evils, all relics of sin, and 
There is (say the Schools) Beatitudo objectiva, so whatever is the chiefest good of the soul, is the souls blessedness. 2. Formalis, when the soul and its beatifying object are united, as the fruition of God. The soul is here united to God remotely and imperfectly, there immediately and perfectly. 2 Sam. 22. 47. 1 King. 1. 48. Paul entitleth him, God blessed for ever, the only blessed Potentate.  all possibility of sin; the corruption of the understanding, will, affections, conscience shall, be quite taken away. 2. From all apprehensions of wrath and eternal death.  
2. It shall perfectly enjoy all spiritual good: 1. The Image of God shall be absolutely perfect in every one of the glorified Saints, every faculty of the Soul shall have all grace that faculty is capable of, and that in the highest degree. The mind shall have all intellectual virtues, the will and affections all moral virtues, and that in the highest degree they are capable of, 1 Cor. 13. 10. The understanding uno intuitu shall know omne s●ibile, the will shall be fully satisfied with God, the conscience filled with peace, the affections of love and joy shall have their full content, the memory shall represent to you perpetually all the good that ever God did for you.  
God is most Blessed, 1 Cor. 11. 31. Rom. 9 4. 1 Tim. 1. 11. & 6. 15. 2 Cor. 11. 31. yea, blessedness itself, he is blessed in himself, and to be blessed by us.  
God's blessedness is that by which God is in himself, and of himself All-sufficient Or thus, God's happiness is that Attribute whereby God hath all fullness of delight and contentment in himself, and needeth nothing out of himself to make him happy.  
The Hebrews call blessed Ashrei in the abstract, and in the plural number, Blessednesses, 
Vide Amesium in Psal. 1. 1.  Psal. 1. 1. & 32. 1. Because no man (saith Zanchy) can be called and be blessed for one or another good, unless he abound with all goods. Blessedness is a state of life wherein there is a heap 
* Beatitudo status est omnium bonorum aggregatione perfectus Boetius de consol. Phil.  of all good things. The Greeks called blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, one that is not subject to death, miseries. By the Etymologies and significations of these two words, it appears (saith Zanchy) that there are two parts of blessedness, one to be free from all miseries, another to abound with all goods, and so to abound with them that thou desirest nothing more. A third particle (saith he) is to be added per se & sua natura, and a fourth condition, that he well know his own blessedness. So that he is truly blessed (saith Zanchy) which of himself and from his own nature is always free from all 
1 Tim. 6. 15.  evils and abounds with all goods, perfectly knowing his own felicity, and desiring nothing out of himself, but being fully content with himself, which description agreeth only to God.  
God is blessed essentially, primarily, originally, of himself such, and not by the help of any other thing.  
Reasons.  
1. He that is the fountain 
* He that is the cause of all welfare to other things, and makes them in their several kinds happy, he must needs be therefore most happy himself. God is the author of all blessedness, Psal. 132. 1. 2.  of all blessedness to others, how can he be but infinitely blessed himself. He makes all those things happy to whom he vouchsafeth in any sort to communicate himself. Wherefore as that which maketh hot and light, that is more hot and light then that which is made so; so must he exceed all other things in blessedness, which makes all those persons blessed which have any part of bliss.  
2. Either he hath blessedness, or there should be none; for if it be not found in the first and best essence and cause of all other essences, it cannot be found in any other thing. All men and things affect it, therefore such a natural and universal inclination cannot be wholly in vain, as it should be if there were no blessedness to satisfy it. The happiness of every thing stands in the perfect enjoying of itself, when it hath all which it inclineth to have, and inclineth to have all and only that which it hath, than it is fully satisfied and contented, and full contentment is felicity. Goodness filleth the reasonable appetite of man's soul, therefore must he needs be happy whose will is filled with good, for than he enjoys himself, then is his being truly comfortable to him, and such as he cannot be weary of. Nothing is happy in enjoying itself, and of itself, but God alone; all other things do enjoy themselves by help and benefit of some other thing besides themselves. And if they enjoy themselves by help, favour, and communication of a perfect, lasting, constant, eternal and full goodness, then have they a real, solid and substantial happiness; but if by a vain, short, momentany, partial, defective goodness, then have they but a show and resemblance of happiness, a poor, weak, feeble, imperfect, nominal happiness. The happiness of a man consists in enjoying 
Dicimus nos ea re frui, quam diligimus propter se▪ & ea re faciendum nobis esse tantum qua efficimur beati: Caeteris ver● utendum. Lombard. lib. 1. Distinct. 1.  himself by virtue of the possession of the greatest good, whereof he is capable, or which is all one, by enjoying the greatest good; for enjoying it he enjoys himself in and by it; and enjoying himself by it, he doth enjoy it, these are inseparably conjoined. So when a man is possessed of such a thing as doth remove from him all that may be discontentful and hurtful to him, and can fill him full of content, then is he happy, and that is when he hath possession of God as fully as his nature is capable of possessing him. Accordingly we must conceive God's happiness to be in the enjoyment of himself; he doth perfectly enjoy his being, his life, his faculties, his Attributes, his virtues. I say himself in himself and of himself doth perfectly enjoy himself, and this is his perfect happiness. He liveth a most perfect life, abounds with all perfect virtues, sets them a work himself in all fullness of perfection, and in all this enjoys himself with unconceivable satisfaction.  
Blessedness or felicity is the perfect action or exercise of perfect virtue in a perfect life. The Lord hath a most perfect life, and perfect faculties, and also most perfect virtues, and doth constantly exercise those perfect virtues and faculties. He is blessed because he is strong, and enjoys his strength, wise and enjoys his wisdom, just and enjoys his justice, eternal and enjoys his eternity, Infinite, Perfect, and that without any dependence, reference or beholdingness to any other.  
God is Happy.  
First, Formally in himself, which implies: 1. That there is no evil of sin or misery in him, neither is he less happy because men offend him. 2. That he abounds with all positive good, he hath infinitely himself, and after a transcendent manner the good of all creatures; this is implied in that name, when he is called a God All-sufficient; he made not the Angels or the world because he needed them. 3. That he is immutably happy because he is essentially so. Happiness is a stable or settled condition; therefore Saints and Angels also are happy but dependently, they have it from God.  
God's happiness is more than the happiness of any creature. The creatures are happy by the aggregation of many good things together, they are happy in their knowledge, in their love, joy, and these are divers things; but now God is happy by one act which is the same with his Essence. A man here on earth is happy, but it is not in Act always, it is sometimes in habit.  
Secondly, Those Acts by which Angels are happy are successive, they have one 
Happiness is taken two ways: 1. Objectively, for the object wherein one is happy. as God's infinite Essence is the object both of Gods, Angels, and men's happiness. 2. Formally, for those acts whereby we possess that object. God is happy formally, because he knoweth, loveth, and enjoyeth himself; therefore it is said, Our goodness extendeth not to him; so Angels and men are formally happy, when they know and enjoy God. Beatitudo objectiva consists in the vision of God, and the glorious excellencies that are in him. Beatitudo formalis is that glory which shines from God to the creature, by which he is made conformable to God in holiness and happiness for ever.  Act of Understanding, one of Love, one of Joy after another; but God's happiness can be no more multiplied than his very nature or being can.  
Thirdly, He is happy effectively, he makes his children happy, Deut. 28. 3. Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. He can bless the conscience with peace, though hell and devils rage, the soul with grace, he is the Author of all blessedness, all the blessedness in Heaven is from him.  
Fourthly, He is objectively blessed, God the only object and good thing, which if a man have, he must needs be blessed.  
God is also to be blessed by us, which blessing adds nothing to his blessedness, but is therefore required of us that we may somewhat enjoy his blessedness. The reasonable creature ought to bless God, that is, to observe and know his blessedness, and to do two things to him.  
1. To applaud it.  
2. To express and acknowledge it.  
In Scripture-phrase to bless signifieth two things:  
First, To praise a person for those things which are praiseworthy in him, as God's name is said to be above all blessing and praise. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy Name.  
Secondly, To wish well to it, That my soul may bless thee before it die, pronounce 
We should praise God, 1. Intensiuè, Psal. 36. 19 and 103. 1. 2. Extensiuè, with all praise, Psal. 9 14. and for all mercies, Psal. 71. 7, 8.  and wish thee blessed. We cannot pronounce any blessing upon God, nor bestow any benefit upon him. He is too excellent to receive any thing by way of promise or performance from us, but we must perform these two things, viz. wish well to him, speak well of him. Wish well to him, that is, acknowledge his exceeding happiness, and will that he may be ever what he is, as we know he ever will be. For to wish a thing continue being that is, is possible, and to will Gods eternal, blessed and glorious being, that is one of the most excellent acts of the creature, and in doing so we bless God so much as a creature can bless him.  
Perfect happiness is not to be had here, but so much happiness as can be had 
Dicique beatus ante obitum nemo supremaque funera possit. Vide Aquin. summam 1, 2. Quaest 5. Art. 3  here is to be had in him, he can give himself to those which seek him in some degrees, and then are they in some degrees happy; he can give himself to them in the highest degree, and then they are in the highest degree happy, according as he doth communicate himself to us more or less, so are we more or less happy.  
1. We have little mind to wish well to God, or rejoice in his welfare, or to acknowledge 
Consectaries from God's blessedness.  and speak of it.  
2. We should stir up ourselves to bless God, and say, how blessed art thou, and blessed be thy Name. We should set our minds and our tongues a-work to set forth to ourselves and others his exceeding great excellencies. When we see and know excellent abilities in any man, we cannot but be oft talking with ourselves and others of his great worth: so we seeing and knowing the infiniteness of God must be often telling ourselves and others what we do know by him, thereby to stir up ourselves and others more and more to know him, and we must declare before the Lord his goodness, and his loving kindness to the sons of men.  
3. We must learn to seek happiness where it is, even in God, and in his favourable 
Happiness consists in two things, when the soul enjoys a proportionable good; and a good that it hath a propriety in, a good of his own. The happiness of man consists in the enjoying of God. All other things are no otherwise means of happiness or helps to it, then as we see and taste God in them. We must account ourselves happy in this thing wholly and only in that God is ours. Happiness is the enjoyment of good commensurate to our desires. Ad perfectam beatitudinem requiritur, quod intellectus pertingat ad ipsam essentiam primae causae: Et sic perfectionem suam habebit per uniovem ad Deum sicut ad objectum in quo solo beatitudo hominis consistit. Aquinas 1●, 2ae, Quaest 3. Art. 8.  vouchsafing to be ours, and to give himself to us. It is not possible for the creature to be happy and enjoy itself, unless it enjoy the best and greatest good, whereof it is capable, and which will fully satisfy all the longings and inclinations of it. We should, 1. See our misery, that being alienated from God must needs be miserable till this estrangement be removed. 2. Set ourselves to get true blessedness by regaining this union and commuoion with God the fountain of all bliss, and hate sin which only separates between God and us, and hinders us from enjoying the blessed God. 3. We should place all our happiness in him, and in him alone, for he is not only the chief but the sole happiness; we should use the world, but enjoy him, Psal. 16. 11. we should use the means which may bring blessedness, Psal. 1. 1. Matth. 5. 3, to 12. if we live holily we may look for happiness. All the promises in the Scripture belong to godly men, they shall be blessed here and hereafter, who serve God in sincerity. We must expect and look for happiness only in our union with and fruition of him. Augustine allegeth out of Varro two hundred eighty eight several opinions of Philosophers concerning felicity. Aristotle made it to consist in the knowledge of the Summum bonum, Seneca in the possession of virtue, and Epicurus in the enjoying of delight. Vide Ludovic. Viu. de veritate Fidei Christianae l. 1. c. 5. & Aquinam 1am secundae, Quaest 2. Art. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.  
Blessedness is the enjoying of the Sovereign good, now what that is, we must judge by these two Characters 
* Bishop Lake. , it must be 1. Optimum the best, otherwise it will not Sistere appetitum give us content, we will be ever longing. 2. Maximum the most complete, otherwise it will not Implere appetitum, we shall not be satisfied therewith; God is Optimus maximus.  
Some say five properties must concur in that which shall be unto a man the chief good:  

1. Summum bonum est tantùm bonum, there is no mixture of evil in it, as there is in all the creatures, job 4. 18. There is none good but God, that is Essentially.  
2. Summum bonum est bonum universale, contains all good, Revel. 21. 6. it must be a self-sufficient good.  
3. Summum bonum est bonum proprium, the chief good must be ones own good, he must have a propriety in it, God even our own God shall bless us.  
4. Summum bonum est bonum incommutabile, the chief good is an eternal and unchangeable good.  
5. Summum bonum est appetitus quietativum. Aquinas, The chief good must be a satisfactory good, it must satisfy without satiety, I shall be satisfied with thy likeness, Ps. 17. ult. See 1 Joh. 2. 15. That God which is the happiness of the Angels in heaven, And to the souls of just men made perfect, and to Christ as Mediator, Psal. 16. ult. nay which is his own happiness by his selfsufficiency will be an All sufficient portion.   
Perfect blessedness consisteth in the immediate fruition of the chief, perfect, 
Man in the state of blessedness cannot see God absolutely as he is in himself; for that which is infinite cannot be comprehended of that which is limited. Visio beatifica est cognitio non comprehensiva sed quid ditativa But God doth manifest himself so far forth as a creature is able to know him. As a vessel may be filled with the water of the Sea, but it cannot contain all the water in the Sea. The Apostle saith, We shall know God even as he also is known. But as is not a note of equality, but of likeness. As God knoweth me after a manner agreeable to his infinite excellency, so shall I know God according to my capacity.  and all-sufficient good, even God himself. The good to be desired simply for itself is God only, who being the first cause of all things, the first essential, eternal, infinite, unchangeable and only good, must needs be the chief good, and therefore the last end intended by man, given by God, who being not only desired but enjoyed, of necessity must fully satisfy the soul that it can go no further, not only because the subject is infinite, and so the mind can desire to know no more, but also because fullness of all good that can be wished is to be found in God. Therefore our happiness is Complete and Perfect when we enjoy God, as an object wherein the powers of the soul are satisfied with▪ everlasting delight.  
This may suffice to have spoken concerning Gods Essence and Attributes, by which it appears, that God is far different both from all feigned gods, and from all creatures. The consideration of the Divine Persons followeth, for in one most simple nature of God there are distinct Persons.    

CHAP. XVI. Of the Trinity or 
* The word Essence or Trinity are not found in Scripture, but Essence is duly derived thence; for seeing God saith that He is Exod 3. Essence is fitly ascribed to him. Trinity hath a sufficient ground, There are three that bear witness in heaven, 1 John 5. 7. and the most ancient Fathers use the word. The word Person is extant, Heb. 1. 3. therefore these words are rightly used in the Church. Calvinus ait, in Trinitate non comprehendi essentiam, quasi una ●it ex numero tr●um, sed includi in omnibus tribus, quod quidem verissimum est, atque utinam sic semper erraret Calvinus. Bellarm. de Christo l. 2. c. 5.  Distinction of Persons in the Divine Essence.  
WE say God may be known by light of nature, Quod attinet ad unitatem Naturae, but not Quod attinet ad Trinitatem Personarum.  
We cannot by the light of nature know the mystery of the Trinity, nor the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 2. 7, 8.  
Aquinas par. 1. Summae Theol. Quaest 32. Art. 1. Conclus. saith, Impossibile est per rationem naturalem ad Trinitatis divinarum personarum cognitionem pervenire. It is impossible by natural reason to come to the knowledge of the Trinity of the Divine Persons. He there shows that he which endeavours to prove this mystery by natural reason, derogates from faith in respect of drawing others to believe. Cum enim aliquis (faith he excellently) ad probandum fidem inducit rationes quae non sunt cogentes, cedit in irrisionem infidelium. Credunt enim quod hujusmodi rationibus innitamur, & propter eas credamus. When a man to prove any Article of faith urgeth reasons that are not cogent, he exposeth himself to the derision of Infidels. For they suppose that we rely on such reasons, and believe because of them.  
We think (saith Cloppenburg in his Answer to Bidel, Argum 1.) that the mystery of the holy Trinity (as many mysteries of faith) can neither be demonstrated nor refuted by reason, 2 Cor. 10. 5. Adam in the state of innocency was not able by natural reason to find out the Trinity.  
But when by faith we receive this Doctrine we may illustrate it by reason. The similes which the Schoolmen and other Divines bring, drawn from the creature, are unequal and unsatisfactory, since there can be no proportion between things Finite and Infinite.  
Two resemblances are much used in Scripture, the Light and the Word. The 
Origo verbi Hebraei & radix non fine arcano ternarii divini, cujus potestate omnia consistunt, tribus literis notatur. Bibliander de optimo genere Grammaticorum Hebraicorum. Omne thema seu primogenium Hebraeae linguae constat tribus literis substantialibus, sicut per totum Dictionarium cernis, idque non sine magno mysterio. Nam ut una est dictio, & ea tribus subsistit literis substanti alibus, ita una est divina essentia, tribus Personis realiter distincta Forster. praefat. ad Dictionarium Hebraicum.  Light which was three days before the Sun, Gen. 1. and then condensed into that glorious body, and ever since diffused throughout the world, is all one and the same Light. So the Father of Lights which inhabiteth Light which none can approach, jam 1. 17. and Sun of Righteousness, Mal. 4. 2. In whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily; and the holy Ghost the Spirit of illumination are all one and the same God.  
Again, It is the same thing that the mind thinketh, and the word signifieth, and the voice uttereth: so is the Father as the mind conceiving, the Son as the Word conceived or begotten, the holy Ghost as the voice or speech uttered and imparted to all hearers; and all one and the same God.  
A studious Father meditating on the mystery of the Trinity, there appeared unto him a child with a shell lading the Sea into a little hole; he demanding what the child did, I intent, said the child, to empty the Ocean into this pit. It is 
Par. on Rom. 11, 23.  impossible, said the Father; as possible, said the child, as for thee to comprehend this profound mystery in thy shallow capacity.  
The Mystery of the Trinity is necessary to be known and believed of all that 
Vix contuli unquam cum aliquo ex Iudaeis, qui vel aliquantulum esset s●piens in oculis aliorum qui non concederet Deum trinum & unum: Verum Personae nomen, & Patris & Filii unanimiter omnes usque adeo detestantur, ut nullatenus valeat eis pulchrum fieri tale aliquid de Deo etiam somniare. Raymundi Martini Pugio Fidei adversus judaeos part 3. cap. 4. Vide plura ibidem. judaeorum populus maximè ad idololatriam pronus erat, ne igitur in eorum qui plures Deos colebant, errorem incid●rent: Cautè à divina providentia factum est, Ut ipsum divinae Trinitatis arcanum non explicitè, sed implicitè eyes traderetur. Sed quoniam idololatria per Messiam penitus explodenda erat: universusque orbis ad unius Dei cultum reducendus, Idcirco mysterium illud Trinitatis explicitè atque apertè reuclandum, ad dies Messiae reservatum suit. Galatinus de arcanis Cathol. verit lib. 2. cap 1.  shall be saved; it was not so plainly revealed to the Jews of old, as it is to us in the New Testament, a perfect and full knowledge of this mystery is not attainable in this life.  
Although Trinity in its native signification signify the number of any three 
Exod. 33. 20. 1 Cor. 13. 9  things, yet by Ecclesiastical custom it is limited to signify the three 
* Si rectè dicuntur tres Elohim, etiam rectè dici possit tres Dii; nam Elohim Latinè sonat Dii vel Deus. Drusius de Quaesitis per Epistolam. Epist 66. Vide Drusii Tetragrammaton, cap. 6. Sic concidit gravis quaerela & expostulatio viri Docti adversus libri cujusdam▪ titulum, De tribus Elohim. Non enim voluit author libri illius voce Elohim propriè significare personas, ac proinde tot esse Elohim quot fides Christiana agnoscit esse personas in D●vinis, cum Scriptura apertè contrastet, quae testatur Deum nostrum esse Deum unum. Non sic erravit, aut caecutiit doctus ille Theologus, ut diceret & doceret Tres esse, propriè loquendo, Elohim. Sed quoniam vocis illius terminatione plurali Scriptura innuere voluit S. S. Trinitatis mysterium, ipse huc respicient, & et volens in libri (quem de S. S. Trinitate scribebat) titulo alludere cata●hre●i non infrequenti, sed ordinaria. Capel. Davidis Lyra. Vide illius Diat. de nomine Elohim, cap. 7. & 12. & Rivet. Grot. Discus. Dialys. Sect. 16. In Deo una substantia, sed tres person: in Christo duae substantiae, sed una persona: In Trinitate alius atque alius, non aliud atque aliud; in salv●tore aliud atque aliud, non alius atque alius. Vincent. contra Haeres cap. 19  Persons in the Trinity. This is not meant as if the Essence did consist of three Persons, as so many parts; and therefore there is a great difference between Trinity and Triplicity. Trinity is when the same Essence hath divers ways of subsisting; and Triplicity is when one thing is compounded of three as parts, they are three not in respect of Essence or Divine Attributes, three Eternals; but three in respect of personal properties, as the Father is of none, the Son of the Father, and the holy Ghost of both; three Persons but one God, as to be, to be true, to be good, are all one, because Transcendents.  
The acts of the Persons in the Godhead (say some) are of three sorts:  

1. Essential, in which all the Persons have equal hand, Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa, the outward works which concern the creature, belong to one Person as well as the other, as to create, govern.  
2. Some ad intra, opera propria, The personal properties or internal works are distinguished, as the Father begets, the Son is begotten of the Father, and the holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son.  
3. Appropriata, as the Schools speak, acts of office, more peculiarly attributed to one Person th●n another, Eph. 4. 7. So the Father is said to give the Son, the Son to redeem the world, to be made flesh; the holy Ghost is the bond of union. See Dr Hampton on Gen. 1. 6. & 1 Pet. 1. 2. God's plot in the work of Redemption, was not only (say some) to exalt the Attributes of the Nature, but to glorify the Persons distinctly according to their appropriated acts.   
There is in the Trinity alius & alius, another and another, but not aliud & aliud, another thing and another thing, as there is in Christ; the Father is another Person from the Son, but yet there is the same Nature and Essence of them all. They differ not in their Natures as three men or three Angels differ, for they differ so as one may be without the other; but now the Father is not without the Son, nor the Son without the Father, so that there is the same numerical Essence.  
The Father in some sense is said to be the only God, john 17. 3. that is, besides the Divine Nature which is common to the three Persons, there is not another God to be found, the word (Only) is opposed to all feigned gods, to every thing which is not of this Divine Nature; So when it is said, None knoweth the Father but the Son, and the Son but the Father, that excludes not the holy Ghost which searcheth the hidden things of God, but all which are not of that Essence.  
Though there be no inequality in the Persons, yet there is an order, not of dignity but of beginning 
* Mat. 28. 19 John 5. 26, 27. The Father is the fountain and original of all the Deity, and the cause of the Son, which the very word Father signifieth; therefore he is said to be unbegotten; and hence the name God is often peculiarly, and by an excellency given to the Father in Scripture. He is usually called Fons Divinitatis & Operationis. . The Father in the Son by the holy Ghost made the world, not as if there were so many partial causes, much less as if God the Father were the Principal and these Instrumental, but only mere order. A Person is Diversus modus ha●endi eandem Essentiam. Subsistentia in Schools signifies a being with an individual property, whereby one is not another; Person (say some) is a Law term, it is any thing having reason with an individual property.  
A Person is such a subsistence in the Divine Nature, as is distinguished from every 
Modum istum subsistendi diversum, haud alio nomine, quam personarum expressit hactenus in hoc ●rticulo, consentiens Catholica Ecclesia. Dr Prid. Lect. 17. de S. Trinitate. Qui personam vocant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, hoc est, modum subsistendi, non existendi; illi non intelligunt modum nudum, sed substantialem ac entitativum, ut Scholastici loquuntur. Bisterfeldius contra Crellium, lib. 1. Sect. 2. cap. 2.  other thing by some special or personal property, or else it is the Godhead restrained with his personal property. Or it is a different manner of subsisting in the Godhead, as the nature of man doth diversely subsist in Peter, james, john, but these are not all one. It differs from the Essence as the manner of the thing from the thing itself, and not as one thing from another; one Person is distinguished from another by its personal property, and by its manner of working.  
We have no reason to be offended with the use of the word Person, if we add 
judaei nomen personae in Deo plurimum detestantur audire, trium namque Personarum audito nomine trium mox concutiuntur errorc Deorum, pariter & horrore. Raym. Pug. advers jud. par. 3. Distinct. 1. cap. 1. Psal. 2. 17. proves that the Father begets, and the Son is begotten of the Father. Gal. 4▪ 6. See Joh. 15. 26. & 14. 26. Quomodo autem Deus Pater genuerit Filium, no●o discutias, nec curiosius ingeras in profundo arcam, ne forte dum i● accessae lucis fulgorem pertinacius perscruteris, exiguum ipsum, qui mortalibus divino munere concessus est, perd●s aspectum. Ruffinus de Symbolo Vide plura ibid. Haec est differentia inter essentiam divinam & personam divinam; Essentia divina est communis pluribus divinitatis Personis. Persona autem una alteri non est communicabilis. Unde Pater non est Filius, nec Filius Pater. 2. Essentia divina est una, Person● plures. Wendelinus.  a fit Epithet, and say, The Father is a Divine or Uncreated Person, and say the same of the Son and holy Ghost. The word Person signifies an understanding Subsistent, 2 Cor. 1. 11▪ Persona, quasi per se una. This word doth express more excellency than the word subsistence, as one doth import, for it is proper to say, that a beast doth subsist, but it is absurd to say a beast is a person, because a Person is an understanding subsistent. Dr Cheynels Divine Trin-unity.  
The personal property of the Father is to beget, that is, not to multiply his substance by production, but to communicate his substance to the Son. The Son is said to be begotten, that is, to have the whole substance from the Father by communication. The holy Ghost is said to proceed, or to be breathed forth, to receive his substance by proceeding from the Father and the Son jointly; in regard of which he is called The Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit of the Son both, Gal. 4. 6. The Father only begetteth, the Son only is begotten, and the holy Ghost only proceedeth; both procession and generation are ineffable.  
When Gregory Nazianzen was pressed by one to assign a difference between those words Begotten and Proceeding. Dic tu mihi (said he) quid sit generatio, & ego dicamquid sit processio, ut ambo insaniamus. Distinguere inter Processionem & Generationem, nescio, non vel●o, non sufficio. Aug.  
In the manner of working they differ, for the Father worketh of himself, by the Son, and through the holy Ghost; the Son worketh from the Father by the holy Ghost; the holy Ghost worketh from the Father and the Son by himself. There is so one God, as that there are three Persons or divers manners of being in that one Godhead, the Father, Son, and the holy Ghost.  
1. Whatsoever absolutely agrees to the Divine Nature, that doth agree likewise to every Person of the Trinity.  
2. Every Person hath not a part, but the whole Deity in itself.  
A Person is one entire, 
* Persona est individuum subsistens, vivum, intelligens, incommunicabile, non sustentatum ab alio, nec pars alterius.  distinct subsistence, having life, understanding, will and power, by which he is in continual operation.  
These things are required to a Person:  

1. That it be a substance; for accidents are not Persons, they inhere in another thing, a person must subsist.  
2. A lively and intelligent substance endued with reason and will; an house is not a Person, nor a stone or beast.  
3. Determinate and singular, for mankind is not a Person; but john and Peter.  
4. Incommunicable, it cannot be given to another; hence the nature of man is 
Persona igitur non est essentia qua pluribus est communicabilis. Personae v●x non his significat officium aut relationem (ut Persona principis) vel vultum & visibilem speciem, gestum, vel formam alterius representantem ut Personae in drammate, sed modum quo Essentia Divina subsistit.  not a person, because it is communicable to every particular man; but every particular man is a person, because that nature which he hath in particular, cannot be communicated to another.  
5. Not sustained by another, therefore the humane nature of Christ is not a person, because it is sustained by his Deity.  
6. It must not be the part of another; therefore the reasonable soul which is a part of man, is not a person.   
That there are three Persons in the Deity, viz. Father, Son, and holy Ghost, 
There are three distinct rational Authors of action, three Hees, John 8. 16, 18.  is manifest by express Testimonies of Scripture, Gen. 1. 26. Let us make man in our image after our likeness. Deus qui loquitur ad Deum loquitur: Ad Patris & Filii imaginem homo conditur, nomen non discrepat, natura non differt. Hilary lib. 5. de Trin. Vide plura ibid.  
Gen. 19 24. Then the Lord reigned upon Sodom and Gom●rrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. The Lord reigned from the Lord, the Son from the Father. Mercer on the place saith, Sed efficaciora in judaeos, aut alios qui Trinitatem negant argumenta sunt proferenda. Num quid (saith Hilary de Trin.) non verus Dominus à vero Domino? aut quid aliud quam Dominus à Domino? vel quid praeter significationem Personae in Domino ac Domino coaptabis, & memento quod quem solum verum Deum nosti, hunc eundem solum justum judicem sis professus. Adime filio quod iudex est, ut auferas quod Deus verus est. Vide plura ibid.  
Psal. 110. 1. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy foot stool. Rabbi Saadia Gaon on Daniel interprets this of the Messias. Vide Grotium in Matth. 22. 42. It is of Christ that he speaks, so Peter, Paul and Christ himself show Mat. 22. 43. and the Pharisees acknowledge it, since he calls him His Lord, although he ought to descend of his race, and should be called the son of David.  
Psal. 33. 7. there three are named, the Word, the Lord, and the Spirit, Isa. 6. 3. Holy, Holy, Holy.  
But this truth is most clearly taught in the New Testament, Matth. 3. 16. Luke 
Qui nescis Trinitatem, ita ad jordanem. Quando Antitrinitarii adversus sanctissimum illud mysterium inferunt, id falsum esse, quia v. g. Tria non sunt unum; ibi tum pronunciat ratio ex se ipsa de hac connexione, & dicit eam falsam esse. Nam novit lumen rationis id axioma intelligendum esse de iis, ad quae per se ratio exsurgere potest. Vedel. Rational. theol. lib. 3. c. 6.  3. 22. The first Person in the Trinity utters his voice from Heaven, This is my beloved Son; The Son is baptised in jordan, the holy Ghost descends in the shape of a Dove upon Christ. Pater auditur in voce, Filius manifestatur in homine, Spiritus Sanctus dignoscitur in Co●umba. Aug. Tract. 6. in Joh.  
Add to this the History of Christ's Transfiguration, described Mat. 17. 5. Mark 9 7. Luke 9 35. In which likewise the voice of the Father was heard from Heaven, This is my beloved Son, the Son is transfigured, the holy Ghost manifests himself in a bright cloud.  
Matth. 28. 19 The Apostles are commanded to baptise in the Name of Father, Son and holy Ghost. Cameron thinks that is the most evident place to prove the Trinity. But that it is as apposite a place as any for this purpose, 1 john 5. 7. For there are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the holy Ghost. 
See Joh. 15. 26.  The Arrians wiped this place out of many Books, 2 Cor. 13. 14. The grace of the Lord jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the holy Ghost be with you all.  
The Arrians, Samosate●ians, Sabellians, Photinians, and others deny the Trinity 
The Heretics that are Antitrinitarians. See Joh. 8. 58. Psal. 2 12.  of Persons in one Essence of God. Servetus a Spaniard was burnt at Geneva in calvin's time, he denied that Christ was God's Son till Mary bore him. 
* Vide Placei Disput▪ de argumentis; Quibus efficitur, Christum prius ●uisse, quam in utero beatae Virginis secundum carnem conciperetur. Paulus Samosatanus, more fitly Semisathanas, held Christ was but a mere man. Matth. 6. 6.  Servetus Trinitatem idolum, item Cerberum Tricipitem vocabat.  
The Ministers of Transylvania (in a most pestilent book of theirs) often contumeliously call him Deum Tripersonatum, whom we holily worship. Hoornbeeck Antisocin. l. 2. c. 5. sect. 1. p. 415.  
Those of Polonia (in their Catechism) say, That there is but one Divine Person, and urge john 17. 3. 1 Cor. 8. 6. Ephes. 4. 1. Zanchy long since hath vindicated the truth and refuted them.  
Socinus calls him, Deum tripersonatum, ridiculum humanae curiositatis inventum. Infaustus Socinus omnium haereticorum audacissimus, saith Rivet. See Cheynels rise of Socinianism, chap. 3. and ch. 1. p. 6.  
Some glory in this as a great argument against the three Persons in the Trinity. If there be Persons in the Trinity, they are either something or nothing, Nothing they cannot be, Non entis nullae sunt affectiones, if something, they are either finite or infinite, finite they cannot be, nor infinite, then there should be three Infinites.  
It is, 1. plain in Scripture, there is but one God, 1 Cor. 8. 4.  
2. The Scripture speaks of Father, Son and holy Ghost or Spirit, these are said to be three, 1 john 5. 7.  
3. The Godhead is attributed to all, and the essential Properties belong to all.  
4. Something is attributed to one in the Scripture that cannot be said of all. The Son was made flesh, and the Son is begotten, this cannot be said of the other; the Son and the Spirit are sent, but this cannot be said of the Father. It is not strange among the creatures that a Father should be distinguished from himself as a man, the Persons are something and infinite, each of them infinite, as each of them is God, yet not three Infinites nor Gods; so Athanasius in his Creed. A Person is Essentia divina cum proprietate sua hypostatica, the divine Nature distinguished by an incommunicable property, though we cannot express the manner of this great mystery, yet we should believe it. The ground of Arminianism and Socinianism is, because they would examine all the great truths of God by their Reason. That saying of Bernard here hath place, Scrutari haec temeritas est, credere pietas est, nosse vero vita aeterna est.  
That the Father is God, is confessed by all, and it is manifest from Scripture, we 
See Act. 4. 24, 25, 26, 27. & Joh. 8. 54.  are directed to pray to him. The Apostle saith, Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, Philem. v. 3. See Rom. 1. 7. 1 Cor. 8. 6. Ephes. 1. 3.  
That Christ is God, is proved  
1. By clear Texts of Scripture affirming this truth in so many words. The Prophet 
Those that deny the Godhead of Christ must deny, 1. The satisfaction of Christ 2. The purchase of Christ, he that is but a man cannot merit. 3. That Christ shall judge the world. No creature can redeem us from hell, nor satisfy infinite justice. God purchased his Church with his blood, Acts 20. 28.  foretelling of him saith, this is his name by which you shall call him, jehovah, or The Lord our Righteousness, Jer. 23. 16. and The mighty God, Isa. 9 6. Paul saith, Rom. 9 5. Who is God over all, blessed for ever; and St. john saith, 1 john 5. 20. This is very God; and St. Paul saith, 1 Tim. 3. 16. Great is the mystery of Godliness, God manifested in the flesh; and accordingly Thomas made his confession, joh. 20. 28. My Lord, and my God, which title he accepteth and praiseth Thomas for believing, and that he could not have done without extreme impiety, had he not been God, Vide Bellarm▪ de Christo l. 1. c. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9  
2. By evident Reasons drawn from the Scripture.  
He hath the Name, Titles, Works, essential Attributes and worship of God ascribed unto him in Scripture. 
Joh. 1. 1, 2.   
1. Divine Names and Titles are given to Christ; He is the only blessed Potentate, 1 Tim. 6. 15. The King of Kings, Revel. 1. 5. and Lord of Lords, Apoc. 17. 14. and 19 16. He is called The Image of the invisible God, Col. 1. 15. The brightness of his glory, Heb. 1. 3. The word and wisdom of the Father, Prov. 8. 12. and 9 1. He 
Dignum est haereticos non jam Apostolicis viris, sed daemonum clamore convinci▪ Clamant enim & saepè clamant, Luc. 8. Quid mihi & tibi est Jesu Fili Dei altissimi? Invitis veritas elicuit confessionem, & naturae potestatem testatur dolour, obediendi virtute vincuntur, cum possessa diu corp●ra deserunt: honorem reddunt, dum naturam confitentur. Dei se inter haec filium Christus & opere testatur & nomine. H●●arius de Trin. lib. 6. Joh. 20. 28. Gen. 18. 13, 14 jehovah is Christ whom Abraham calls the Judge of heaven and earth. 1 Cor. 8. 6. By the Apostle Christ is expressly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. He takes the Godhead as his own right, Phillip 2. 7.  is called the Word, because he is so often spoken of and promised in the Scripture, and is in a manner the whole subject of the Scripture; he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum articulo, Joh. 1. 1. Act. 20. 28. 1 Tim. 3. 16. The great God, Titus 2. 13. The true God, 1 John 5. 20. God over all, or Blessed above all, Rom. 9 5. The most high, Luk. 1. 76. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which name the Septuagint have expressed jehovah the proper name of God alone, john 20. 28. My Lord, Judas 4. The only Lord, Acts 10. 36. The Lord of all, 1 Cor. 15. 48. The Lord from Heaven, 1 Cor. 2. 8. The Lord of glory, 1 Cor. 2. 8. The Lord of Heaven and Earth, Matth. 28. 18. These Titles are too high and excellent to be given unto any mere man whatsoever, God therefore who will not have his glory given to another, would never have given these Titles to another, if he were not God.  
2. The works of God, even the principal and most eminent of all, which are proper 
Divine works.  to the Lord only, are ascribed to Christ. 
No man can of himself, and by his own power do divine works, unless he be truly God: Christ doth works by his own power, and the same with his Father, john 10. 37, 38.   
1. The work of Creation, even of creating all things, john 1. 3. and Col. 1. 16. He for whom, and by whom all things were created, is very God. For Christ and by him all things were created, therefore he is very God. Heb. 1. 10, 11, 12. The foundation of the earth, and the creation of the Heavens, and the change which is to happen to both at the last day, are attributed to the Son of God.  
2. The work of Preservation and Government is attributed to him also, he 
He governs his Church. Ephes. 4. 11. 1 Pet. 3. 19 Matth. 8. 2. compared with 2 King. 7. 9 Christ cured those that were born blind. John. 10. 28.  is before all things, and by him all things consist, Heb. 1. 2. He who upholds all things by his powerful word, is God. So doth Christ, therefore he is God.  
3. The working of Divine miracles, raising up the dead by his own power is given to him, joh. 6. 54. and joh. 5. 21. He that can quicken and raise the dead is God. So doth Christ, therefore he is God.  
4. Redeeming of mankind, Luke 1. 68 Matth. 20. 28. Ephes. 1. 7. Revel. 1. 5.  
5. Sending of the holy Ghost, john 21. 22. and 14. 16. and of Angels, is ascribed to him, Mat. 13. 41. Revel. 1. 1. He forgives sins, Mark 9 2, 5. He gives eternal life.  
3. The principal and incommunicable Attributes of God are given to him.  
1. Omniscience, john 2. 24, 25. He knew all men, and he knew what was in 
See Rev. 2. 23  them, joh. 21. 17. Lord, thou knowest all things.  
2. Omnipotency, Revel. 1. 8. and 4. 8. and 11. 17. Phil. 3. 21.  
3. Eternity, joh. 17. 5. Revel. 1. 18. john 1. 1. Isa. 9 6. 
* Mirum est adversarios hunc locum ubi agitur de Patre aeterno, ad filium refer, quem constat secundum eos ipsos Patrem non esse. So the Polonian Catechism: But the Text itself shows this place speaks of Christ, who is a Father not in respect of his Person, but in relation to his Church. He is the author of their spiritual life and being. 2. In that he is the Author of everlasting life to his, john 6. 39, 40, 47, 51. He is styled the Everlasting Father, in Hebrew, The Father of Eternity. The Septuagint hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Pater futuri saeculi. Vide Raymundi Pugionem Fidei adversus judaeos, part. 3. Dist. 1. cap. 9  He is called The everlasting Father.  
4. Omnipresence, Matth. 18. 20.  
5. Unchangeableness, Heb. 1. 11, 12, 13. and 13. 8. He that is Omniscient, Omnipotent, Eternal, Omnipresent, Unchangeable, equal to the Father 
John 17. 5.  in Majesty and Glory, Phil. 2. 16. is God. So is Christ, therefore he is God. 
Psal. 45. 11. Joh. 5. 22.   
Lastly, Worship due to God is ascribed to him, Heb. 1. 6. Let all the Angels of God worship him, Revel. 5. 13. The Lamb, that is, Christ, hath the same worship rendered to him that the Father hath. We are commanded to call upon his name, to believe and trust in him, john 14. 1. & 3. 16. & 6. 40. to hope in him, Isa. 11. 10. we are baptised in his name, Matth. 28. 19 Act. 8. 16. and swear by him, Rom. 9 1.  
The mystery of the Sons generation is so profound, that it is difficult and dangerous to wade further in it, than we have clear ground from Scripture: that the Son was of the Father begotten from eternity, and is one with him, and of equal power and dignity, seems clear from Prov. 8, 23, 26. john 1. 3. & 10. 30. and 17. 5. Phil. 2. 6. but Modus quo genitus fuerit, seems to some beyond humane reach.  
Some of our Divines say, Christ is begotten of the Father by a communication of the Divine Essence; if this be granted (say others) it will be hard to defend the Godhead of Christ. He that is God must have his being from himself, à se Deus, à Patre Filius. Mr Wotton on joh. 1. goes this way, and some others. But 
Filius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur, quia habet essentiam divinam quae est à seipsa, non verò quia eam habet à seipso; habet enim à Patre Joh. 5. Zanch. Vide Voet. Theses.  some say then he should be his adopted Son. Vide Bellar. de Christo l. 2. c. 15. The Athanasian Creed hath it, God of God, and Christ saith of the holy Ghost, that he shall receive of him. Illud arctè nobis tenendum, à persona Patris per generationem Filio esse communicatam essentiam ingenitam. R. Usser. Ignat. & Clem. Interpolator haeresi suspectus. cap. 15. That Christ hath his Godhead from the Father, makes not against his Godhead but for it, if he hath the same Godhead which the Father hath though from the Father, than he is the same God with the Father.  

Object. Matth. 19 17. Christ denieth that he was good because he was not God.  
Answ. Christ applieth himself to 
* juvenls' aste, quamvis in jesu majus homine uthil agnosceret, sperabat tam●●● eo monstrante se perventurum ad possessionem ejus boni quo vita aeterna paratur, quasi ad eam rem monstratore tantum eg●r●●, caetera per se confecturus. At jesus occurrens huic errori, simulque modestiae nobis praebens exemplum, ait non esse multos boni fontes, sed unicum, Deum scilicet, hoc ips● indicans, non satis esse bonum nobis monstrari, nisi Deus mentem illustrans vir●s nobis suggerat. Grotius in loc.  him to whom he spoke; now he called Christ good in no other sense than he would have done any other Prophet, and in this sense Christ rebuked him for calling him good.   

Object. joh. 17. 3. God the Father is called the only true God.  

See Rom. 16. 27. 1 Cor. 8. 6 Ephes. 4. 6. Debitus Patri à Filio honor redditur, cum dicit: te solum Deum: non tamen se Filius à Dei veritato secornit cum adjungit: Et quem mi●isti jesum Christum. Non habet intervallum confessio credentium, quia in utroque spes vitae est. Hilarius lib. 3. de Trinitate. The words are to be read (as we render them) That they may know thee (to be) the only true God, not, That they may know thee only (to be) the true God, according to the first reading, the predicate is common to the Father and the Son. Vide Bezam.  Answ. Some refer both these to God himself and Christ, but others give a general rule, that the Word alone is not opposed to the other Persons, but to the creatures, and feigned gods, and so joh. 8. 9 the woman is not excluded, but her accusers; the added expressions show him to be God, because it is life eternal to know him as well as the Father.   

Object. Ephes. 4. 6.  
Answ. The word Father is not there used relatively or personally, for the first Person in the Trinity; but essentially, as Mal. 2. Is there not one Father of us all? and so he is God, called Father in regard of his works ad extra.   

Object. john 14. 28. My Father is greater than I  
Answ. As he was man only or Mediator, the Father was greater than he, but as he was God, that is true, john 10. 38. 
* Hoc testimovio utuntur omnes Patres contra Arian●s, ut probent u●am esse essentiam Patris & Filii. Bellar. de Christ. l. 1. c. 6  I and my Father are one; not in union of will (as joh. 17. 21.) but in unity of nature. See Phil. 2. 6.   

Object. Prov. 8. 22. Ariu● 
* Ariu● stumbled at the Greek Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The Lord created me, and on that corrupt Translation grounded his heresy, That Christ was a creature. Christ is God by nature, Gal, 4. 8. which place was strongly urged by Mr Cheynel against Earbury, who held, that the Saints have the same fullness of the Godhead dwelling in them, as it doth in Christ, and that the Spirit is but the power of God in the man Christ An Account given to the Parliament by the Ministers, sent by them to Oxford.  objected this place, The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way.  
Answ. This place much puzzled the Fathers for want of skill in the original Tongue; it is in the Hebrew, Possessed me the beginning of his way. So Arius Montanus reads it. See vers. 25. It is spoken of Christ as Mediator.   

Object. Col. 1. 15. Christ is called the firstborn of every creature, therefore he is a creature. Here the Arrians say, Christ is imanifestly called a creature. Cum Christus prim●genitus omnis creaturae sit, eum unum ● numero creaturarum esse oportere necesse est. Ea enim in Scriptures vis est primogeniti, ut primogenitum unum ex eorum genere, quorum primogenitus est, esse necesse est. Catechis. Eccl. Polon. c. 1. de persond Christi.  
Ans. There are three answers given to this Text in the Annot. Edit. 2. Vid. Bez. in loc. It is a figurative speech, Christ had the pre●eminence over the creatures, was Lord over them as the firstborn.  
An Arrian executed at Norwich for blasphemy against Christ, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, being moved to repent that Christ might pardon him, replied to this effect: and is that God of yours so merciful indeed as to pardon so readily those that blaspheme him? then I renounce and defy him.  
The Socinians deny Christ to be God, and oppose his merits and satisfaction unto God for our sins, they hold Christ is God salvo meli●ri judicio, or prout mihi videtur, till they can examine it better.  
They are more vexed with Athanasius, then with any other, and call him for Athanasius Sathanasius, he stood against three hundred Bishops in a Council, and maintained the Divinity of Christ against the Arian faction. He hath written also most copiously against the Arrians, and hath solidly refuted their arguments against the Divinity of Christ.  
The Gospel of S. john was chiefly penned for this end to prove the Deity of Christ, Christ there gives a resolute and constant testimony of himself, that he was the Son of God, and very God, never any creature took this title upon him to be called God, but the fearful judgements of God were upon him for it. Mr Perkins on the Creed; See him also on jude. Vide Lod. Viu. de verit. Fid. Christ. l. 2. c. 12. & 14.  
Many Heretics denied the Godhead of Christ, as Ebion, Cerinthus, Arrius, 
In the first Nicene Council gathered together against Arius the Prince of all Heretics who denied the Divinity of Christ, there were 318 Bishops. A man would think that there were but small difference (it is but a little jota) between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, yet the right believers could never be brought (as Theodoret witnesseth) either to omit the one, or admit the other. Dr Prideaux Ephesus Backsliding. justinus 1. Imperator Edicto praecepit, ut ne quis vel unicam syllabam in Doctrina Ecclesiae orthodoxae de Trinitate mutaret, addita hac ratione, quod in ipsis syllabis veritas fidei contineatur. Vedel. de Prud. vet. Eccles l. 3. c. 3.  the Jews also and Mahometans, some denying him to be God, others saying, that he was not absolutely God, but inferior to him.  
He is God, not by office, nor by favour, nor by similitude, nor in a figure, as sometimes Angels and Magistrates are called Gods; but by nature, he is equal and coessential with his Father, there is one Godhead common to all the three persons, the Father, the Son and the Spirit; and therefore it is said, Phil. 2. 6. that He was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God. Lo an equality to God the Father ascribed to him, he is not God in any secondary or inferior manner, but is in the very form of God equal to him, the Godhead of all the three Persons being one and the same. To beat down Arius his heresy the first Council of Nice was called, the Nicene Creed made.  
The difference between the Council of Nice and Arius was but in a Letter, whether Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ●. like in essence; or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coessential to the Father. The Arian Heretic presseth Augustine to show where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is read in Scripture. Angustine asketh, what is Homoousion Consubstantial, but, I and my Father are one. See of Arius his Heresy and end. Heilins' Geograph. pag. 725.  
Amphil●chius a worthy Bishop petitioned Theodosius the Emperor, that the Arians might not have public meetings in the City, but in vain. Shortly after, he coming to the Court, and finding Arcadius the Emperor's Son, whom Theodosius had newly made Emperor together with him, standing by his Father, He reverently bowed to the Father Theodosius after his usual manner, but gave not the like respect to his Son, but coming near to him he spoke to him as unto a young boy, Salve mi Fili, saith he, and with his hand stroked his head. Theodosius being here with provoked to anget, chode Amphilochius with indignation for so slighting his Son, and not honouring him equally with himself, and withal commanded him to be cast out reproachfully. As he was carrying away, he turned and said, Think, O Emperor, that the heavenly Father is thus angry with those who honour not the Son equally with the Father, and dare say, that he it inferior in nature to him. The Emperor hearing this, called back the Bishop, begs pardon of him, admires his act, makes a Law presently against the meeting of the Arians, and forbade their public disputations, and the Emperor himself was hereby more confirmed in the true Religion, in which he wavered before. Vedel. Proleg. ad lib. de Prud. vet. Eccles. c. 2.  
Thirdly, That the holy Ghost is also God 
* Vide Bellarm. de Christo l. 1. c. 13, 14, 15, 16 17, 18, 19, 20. , is proved by the same Arguments.  
1. The Names and Titles of God are given to him, 1 Cor. 3. 16. Three times doth the Apostle call the holy Ghost God, 1 Cor. 3. 16, 17. The taking of the shape of a Dove, and fiery Tongues, are acts of a distinct Person. Act. 5. 3, 4 compare Act. 1. 16. with Act. 4. 24. Numb. 12. 6. with 2 Pet. 1. 21. He is called the Spirit of Glory, 1 Pet. 4. 14.  
Secondly, Divine Attributes are given to the holy Ghost.  

1. Omniscience, he knoweth all things, 1 Cor. 2. 10, 11. joh. 14. 26.  
2. Omnipresence, Psal. 139. 7. Rom. 8. 9 joh. 14. 26. 
The holy Spirit, 1. Works grace in the hearts of all God's people, that is done by an almighty power, Ephes. 1. 19 therefore ●e i● an omnipotent Essence. 2. Dwells in the hearts of all God's people, therefore he is omnipresent. 3. Assists the people of God in their prayers, and increaseth their graces, therefore he is an omniscient God. In the Apostles Creed, as I believe in the Father, and in the Son, so in the holy Ghost. Credimus multu●, sed in sibyl praeterquam in Deum credimus. Quid est in aliquem credere, ●isi ●● per omnia assentiri, atque in ●o omnem spem & ●iduct●m coll●cdr●▪ Hoc autem ●●lli creaturoe sed Deo duntaxat conven●●▪ 1 Pet. 1. 21.   
3. Omnipotency, Heb. 3. 7.  
4. Eternity, Heb. 9 14.   
Thirdly, The works of the true God are given to the holy Ghost.  

1. Creation, job 26. 13. Psal. 33. 6. 
He is called the Spirit of truth, john 14. 26. the Spirit of adoption, Rom. 8. 15. the Spirit of sanctification, Rom. 1. 4. the Spirit of renewing, Tit. 3. 5.   
2. Preservation and sustentation of all things created is attributed to the holy Ghost. Gen. 1. 2. Zech. 4. 6.  
3. Redemption, 1 Cor. 2. 10.  
4. The power of working miracles is ascribed to the holy Ghost, Matth. 12. 2●. Act. 2. 4. Rom. 15. 19 the resurrection of the flesh is ascribed also to the holy Ghost, Rom. 8. 11.  
5. Disttibuting of graces according to his pleasure, 1 Cor. 12. 4. and 11. instructing of the Prophets, 2 Pet. 1. 21. Governing of the Church, and making Apostles, Act. 13. 2. and 20. 28.   
Fourthly, Divine honour and worship is given to him, Apoc. 2. 29. we are baptised 
Rom. 9 1.  in his Name, as well as in the Name of the Father and Son, Matth. 28. 10. we are commanded to believe in him, and call upon him. Blasphemy against the holy Ghost shall never be forgiven, Mat. 12. 31. therefore he is no less religiously to be worshipped then the Father and the Son.  
In the first Constantinopolitan Council assembled against Macedonius who 
Una tautum est in Deitate Persona & Spiritus Sanctus est, ut verba Christi ad Apostolos indidicant. Luc. 24. 49. Cate●h. Eccles. Polou. c. 6. Vide plura ibid.  denied the Divinity of the holy Ghost, there were an hundred and fifty Bishops.  
Vide Doct. Prid. Lect. 20. de S. S. Deitate & Personalitate. The Arminians and Socinians (as Peltius showeth in his Harmony) say, The holy Ghost is only Vis & Efficacia, the power of God, but not a distinct Person, God himself, but 1 Cor. 12. 11. as he (i. the Spirit) will, therefore he is a Person as well as the Father and the Son, Ephes. 1. 14. the Spirit of promise, who is (so the Greek may well be rendered) The ●arnest of our inheritance.  
The Communion and Distinction of these three Persons is to be constdered.  
1. Their Communion; the same mumerical essence is common to the three in one God, or of one essence there are three Persons, by reason of which community of Deity all the three Persons remain together, and are coeternal delight to themselves, Prov. 8. 22, 30. joh. 14. 10.  
1. The Persons differ:  
1. From the Essence, not really as things and things, but modally, as manners from the things where of they are manners, as degree● of heat from heat, and light from light.  
2. They differ amongst themselves, as degrees from degrees, a● relations in a subject from other relations in the same; as for example, if three degrees should remain distinctly in the same heat, this is a distinction not of degree, state or dignity (since all the Persons are equal) but in other respects, and it is either Internal or External.  
Internal is threefold:  
1. In Order, the Father is the first Person from himself, not from another, both 

The Father ●s prima Persona, in order, not in dignity.  
2. The fountain and original of the Derty unto the Son and the holy Ghost, unto the Son giguendo, unto the holy Ghost, together with the Son spirando.  
3. He is unbegotten, and proceeding from none. Mr Dow● on john 17. 1. Proprietates patris personales, quibus à filio distinguitur & Spiritu sancto, sunt duae.  
1. Esse à se; Pater enim ab alio non est.  
2. Gignere filium ab aeterno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
Wendelinus. Quinque dicuntur de Deo, Paternitas, innascibilitas, filiatio, processio, & communis spiratio. August. Paternitas & innascibilitas conveniunt solummodò Patri: Filiatio tantummodò Filio: Spiritui verò sancto processio: communis spiratio Patri & Filio respectu Spiritus sancti. Raym. Mart. Pugio adversus judaeos part. 3. Dist. 1. c. 5.   in respect of his Essence and Person. The Son is the second Person from his Father in respect of his Person and filiation, existing by eternal generation, after an ineffable manuer, and is so called God of God. The holy Ghost is the third Person, proceeding or flowing co-eternally from the Father and the Son in respect of his Person.  
2. In the personal property unchangeable and incommunicable, which is called personality, and it is  
1. Of the Father, paternity, and to beget in respect of the Son; to send out or breathe in respect of the holy Ghost.  
2. Of the Son, generation or to be begotten of the Father, Psal. 2. 7. Heb. 1. 5. joh. 3. 16. & 5. 18. 1 joh. 4. 9 Absque ulla Essentiae, temporis, gloriae imparitate, Chamier.  
In this generation we must note  
1. That the begetter and begotten are together in time.  
2. He that begets communicates to him that is begotten, not a part of his Essence, but the whole Essence; that which is begotten is within, not without the begetter.  
In respect of this generation, the Son is called The Word of the Father, John 1. ●. not a vanishing, but anessential word, because he is begotten of the Father, as the word from the mind. He is called The Word of God, both internal and conceived (that is, the Divine Understanding reflected upon itself from eternity, or God's knowledge of himself) so also he is the inward wisdom of God, Prov. 8. because God knows himself as the first and most worthy object of contemplation; and external or uttered, which hath revealed the counsels of God to men, especially the elect; that we may know the Father by the Son as it were by an Image, john 1. 18. so also he is the external wisdom, instructing us concerning the will and wisdom of the Father to salvation, 1 Cor. 1. 21. and vers. 30.  
3. The Property of the Son in respect of the holy Ghost is to send him out, john 15. 26. 
Cartwright in his Harmony saith, Hic locus eximius est ad asserendum processum Spiritus à Filio, meaning john 14. 15. The holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Christ, and of the Son, Rom. 8. 9 Gal. 6. as he is called the Spirit of the Father, Mat. 10. 20. because he is breathed from both. Vide Aquin. Sum. Theol. part. 1. Quest. 36. Art. 3. 4. In Ecclesiaveteri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in templo ca●tari solebat quam orthodoxi hoc modo 〈◊〉: Gloria Patri & Filio, & Spiritui Sancto in secula seculorum. Ariani autem glorioe Filii & Spiritus Sancti detpahe●tes sic eam concipiebant: Gloria Patri per Filium in Spiritu Sancto. Vedel. de prudentia veteris Ecclesioe l. 2. c. 5.   
Hence aro●e the Schism between the Western and the Eastern Churches, they affirming the Procession from the Father and the Son, these from the Father alone.  
To deny the Procession of the holy Ghost from the Son, is a grievous error in Divinity, and would have grated the foundation, if the Greek Church had so denied the Procession of the holy Ghost from the Son, as that they had made an inequality between the Persons. But since their form of speech is, That the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father by the Son, and is the Spirit of 
Dr Field somewhat qualifieth this opinion of the Grecians, and saith, they differ but modo loquendi, they held (saith he) that the holy Ghost was not à Patre & Filio, but à Patre per Filium. See Dr Halls Peacemaker, Sect. 4.  the Son, without making any difference in the Consubstantiality of the Persons, it is a true, though an erroneous Church in this particular; Divers learned men think, that a Filio & per Filium in the sense of the Greek Church, was but a Question in modo loquendi in manner of speech, and not fundamental.  
3. The personal propriety of the holy Ghost is called procession or emanation, john 15. 26.  
Bellarmine proves the Procession of the holy Ghost from the Son by joh 16. 14. and from john 20. 22. by that ceremony Augustine and Cyril say, Christ would signify that the holy Ghost proceeds from him, and Bellarmine produceth fifteen Latin, and as many Greek witnesses, who most evidently taught (before the Grecians denied the Procession of the holy Ghost) that the holy Ghost proceeded from the Father and the Son. Bellarm. de Christo l. 2. c. 22.  
Neither hath the Word defined, nor the Church known a formal difference between this Procession and generation.  
The third internal difference among the Persons is in the number, for they are three, subsisting truly, distinctly and per se, distinguished by their relations and properties, for they are internal works and different, and incommunicably proper to every person.  
There follows an external distinction in respect of effects and operations which the Persons exercise about external objects, namely the creatures; for though the outward works are undivided in respect of the Essence, yet in respect of the manner and determination, all the persons in their manner and order concur to such works. As the manner is of existing, so of working in the Persons.  
The Father is the original and principle of action, works from himself by the 
1 Cor. 8. 6. Rom. 11. 36. Heb. 1. 2, 3.  Son, as by his image and wisdom, and by the holy Ghost. But he is said to work by his Son, not as an instrumental but as a principal cause distinguished in a certain manner from himself, as the Artificer works by an Image of his work framed in his mind, which Image or Idea is not in the instrumental cause of the work, but his hand.  
To the Son is given the dispensation and administration of the action from the Father by the holy Ghost, 1 Cor. 8. 6. john 1. 3. & 5. 19  
To the holy Ghost is given the consummation of the action which he effects from the Father and the Son, job. 26. 13. 1 Cor. 12. 11.  
The effects or works which are distinctly given to the Persons, are, Creation ascribed to the Father, Redemption to the Son, Sanctification to the holy Ghost; all which things are done by the Persons equally and inseparably in respect of the effect itself, but distinctly in respect of the manner of working.  
The equality of the Persons may be proved, 1. By the work of Creation, jointly, Psal. 33. 6. severally; for the Father, those places prove it, 1 Cor. 8. 6. Heb. 1. 2. the Son, john 1. 3, 10. Col. 1. 16. the holy Ghost, job 33. 4. 2. By the work of Redemption, the Father sends and gives the Son, the Son is sent and given by him, the holy Ghost perfects the work of Conception and Incarnation, Luke 1. 35. 3. By the work of Sanctification, the Father sanctifieth, john 17. 17. jude v. 1. the Son, Ephes. 526. the holy Ghost, 2 Thess. 2. 13. 1 Pet. 1. 2. 4. By the worship of religious adoration. The Father is religiously adored often in the Scripture, Ephes. 1. 17. the Son, Acts 7. 59 Heb. 1. 6. the holy Ghost, Act. 28. 25, 26. Rom. 9 1.  
This is a wonderful mystery rather to be adored and admired then enquired into; 
Nec periculosius alicubi erratur, nec laboriosius aliquid quaeritur, nee fructuosius, aliquid invenitur. Aug. 1. de Trin. Simon Magus was the first man that denied the Trinity of Persons, he saith they were Diversa nomina sub diversa operatione. Irenaeus The Turks at their prayers use often to reiterate these words, Hue, Hue, Hue, that is, He, he, he alone is God, or There is but one only supreme power; which they do in derision of Christians, who (as they say) adore three Gods. He who denies any one Person doth not worship the true God, as the Jews and Turks, and too many others in these days, john 16. 2. 1 john 2. 22, 23. No man can know the Father, nor believe in him, john 14. 2. but by Christ. Vide Vedel. de Deo Synagoga, l. 1. c. 6.  yet every one is bound to know it with an apprehensive knowledge, though not with a comprehensive. No man can be saved without the knowledge of the Father; he hath not the Father who denieth the Son; and he receives not the holy Ghost who knows him not, joh. 14. 17.  
2. We must worship the Unity in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, as it is in Athanasius his Creed. We must worship God as one in substance, and three in Persons, as if Thomas, john, and Matthew, had one singular soul and body common to them all, and entirely possessed of every one; we were baptised in the Name of Father, Son and holy Ghost.  
We worship another God than the Idolaters could imagine their God to be; they conceived him to be the Creator and Governor of all things, Omnipotent, Eternal, but they worshipped not one God in three Persons, the Father who accepts, the Spirit who works, and the Son who presents our services. One main intendment in the New Covenant was not only to honour the Attributes of the nature, but the glory of the Persons, Ephes. 1. 3, 7, 13, 14.  
2. All the Persons have a special hand in the salvation of a sinner, and every believer hath a special interest in the promises of the Persons, joh. 5. 19  
3. The order of working in the Persons is suitable to the order of their subsisting, the Father is first in order therefore in working, therefore Adoption is reckoned by some Divines, as the first of spiritual benefits, than Redemption and Sanctification.  
4. We should walk in the love of them all, 1 joh. 4. 16. See john 5. 9 & 14. 23, & 16. 27. and fear to offend them all, not only the Father, but the Son, Ezek. 21. 10. and the Spirit, Ephes. 4. 30.  
3. We should praise God for revealing this mystery to us in his Word, and be assured that what he promiseth or threatens shall be accomplished, being confirmed by three witnesses.  
Prudentius hath exercised his Poetry well in defending and illustrating the whole Christian religion against the Jews, Heathens and Heretics, and in celebrating the holy Trinity.    
The End of the second Book.   

THE THIRD BOOK. OF Gods Works  

CHAP. I. Of God's Decree, and especially of Predestination, and the Parts thereof, Election and Reprobation.  
HAving spoken of the Scripture, and God; the works of God in the next place are to be handled, which some make two; the Decree, and the Execution of the Decree: others, three, Decree, Creation, Providence. The works of God, whereby he moves himself to his Creatures, are three; Decree, Creation, Providence; not three individually; for so they are innumerable, but in the species and kinds of things.  
The works of God, are,  
1. Before time or eternal, his Decree.  
2. In time.  
1. Past, Creation of all things.  
2. Present, Gubernation and Sustentation, Government and Preservation. Or thus;  
Gods Works are, 
There are two sorts of the Works of the Lord. 1. Immanent, terminated in himself, his Decree. 2. Transient, the execution of his eternal decree in time. 1. Quid nominis.   
1. Internal, which are in the very will of God from eternity, and they are called the Decrees of God, by which God determined from eternity, what he would do in time: We follow the received Phrase of Divines, when we call the Decrees, the works of God, and speak of God after our capacity. Therefore we call Decrees of God, his Works; because the Decrees of man are Works, or Actions from man, and really distinct from his understanding and will, by which we conceive the Decrees of God, or rather God decreeing.  
2. external; Creation, and Providence.  
1. Of God's Decree.  
Decree is a speech taken from the affairs of men, especially Princes, in the determination of causes between parties at variance, whose sentence is called a Decree: or secondly, it is a resolution of things consulted of, either negatively, or affirmatively, according to the latter use of the Phrase, it is applied to God, Esay 46. 10.  
Decretum in the Latin is indifferent, to signify either in the Abstract, God's 
2. Quid Rei.  Decree; or, in the Concrete, a thing decreed.  
God's Absolute Decree 
a Decretum Dei est definita ejus sententia de rebus omnibus per omni potentiam & secundum confilium suum efficiendis. Ames Medulla Theol. Ephes. 1. 11. , is that whereby the Lord, according to the Counsel of his own Will, hath determined with himself what he will do, command, or forbid; permit, or hinder, together with the circumstances of the same, Acts 2. 23. and 4. 28. Luke 22. 22. john 7. 30.  
Or, God's Decree is an eternal and infinite act of the Divine Essence, by which he doth determine to do, or not to do, whatsoever is, or shall be done, from the beginning to all eternity, that good is; and to permit or suffer whatsoever evil is done, or shall be.  
God's Decree is called Counsel 
b Decretum Dei est actio illius interna atque aeterna, quae ex rebus possibilibus atque indefinitis, ea omnia & sola, quae jam fuerunt, sunt, & erunt, secundum sapientiae suae judicium, immutabili liberrimae voluntatis placito, ut ita fierent, ad suam gloriam rectè praefinivit. Gomarus in Thesibus. Decretum est actio Dei ex confilio & proposito suae voluntatis omnia omniumque rerum circumstantias omnes ab aeterno in se certò & immutabiliter, & tamen liberè defimens. , because it is done most wisely; all things being so ordered, as is most agreeable to truest reason; as if things had been long the bated, or consulted of before; though the Divine Nature be free from all need of consulting; and it is called the Counsel of his Will; because his Will doth determine all things agreeably to that Counsel.  
It is an eternal determining of all things which have been, are, or shall be, so as 
Remonstrantes absolutum nullum admittunt decretum de futuro quovis contingenti, sed conditionatum tantum. Ames. Cotan. Though the Lord hath decreed sin to be, yet he decreed it not as sin, but as a means of the manifestation of his Justice on the wicked, and grace on the Saints. Ipsum peccatum, quamvis non qua peccatum praefinitur, in ipsa tamen praefinitione certò videtur, & aliquo modo dici potest decreti illius consequens, effectus autem nullo modo. Vult Deus actus bonos, & qua actus & qua bonos: malos qua actus non qua malos. Rescript. Ames. ad responsu● Grevinch. c. 13. Acts 2. 23. and 4. 28. Gen. 45. 5, 6, 7. 1 Cor. 10. 13.  himself saw fittest to have them, upon best reasons known to him, though not to us.  
The Decree of God extends to all things good and bad; and the rule of it his own wisdom, and good pleasure guided by his wisdom: the end is for his glory; that is, the manifestation of his excellencies. His mercy moved him to decree, his wisdom order the Decree, his power perfects it, and brings it to pass.  
The Properties of God's Decree.  

1. It is complete, that is, it comprehends the determination of every thing, whatsoever the Creature itself works, or God concerning it, that was decreed from eternity so to be, Mat. 10. 29. it reacheth to greater matters; the Incarnation and coming of Christ, Psalm 40. 6, 7, 8. Compared with Heb. 10. 5, 6, 7. the Kingdom of Christ, Psal. 2. 2. to less matters, in things which befall the Church, as the ordering of things in Egypt, when the Israelites were in Captivity. Nothing comes to pass but what God hath decreed shall come to pass; and nothing comes to pass otherwise then as he hath decreed it shall come to pass, we do not only subject res ipsas, but modos rerum to the Will and decree of God. Neither hath God decreed only good things, but even justly the evil works of evil men; for evil in respect of Gods ordering it, habet rationem boni. 
* Habet rationem boni triplici respectu: 1ᵒ. ut est poena peccati, poena enim est bonum m●ral● quia justitiae opus est. 2ᵒ. ut est mera actio ab ipsa creatura producta. 3º, ut est castigatio atque exercitium fidei, act Martyrium vel satisfactio pro peccatis; ut mors Christi. Creavit omnia bona, & mala ex bonis oritura praescribit. Aug.  viz. that by it the glory of God may be revealed in his Justice and Mercy. He doth order, determine, and direct the sinful actions of men, but not effect them.  
2. It is most wise, Ephes. 1. 11. 1 Tim. 1. 17. Rom. 11. 33. In decretis sapientum nulla 
Unde factum est ut tot gentes unà cum liberis eorum infantibus aetern● morti involveret lapsus Adae absque remedio, nisi quia Deo ita visum est; Decretum quidem horribile fateor. Calv. Instit. ●. ●●,  litura.  
3. Just. Rom. 9 13, 14.  
4. Free, Rom. 9 18. Nothing moved the Decree of God without, or beyond himself: Even so, O Father, saith Christ, because it pleaseth thee.  
5. Certain, firm, 2 Tim. 2. 19 infallible, unchangeable, Matth. 18. 14.  
6. Eternal, Acts 15. 18. Ephes. 1. 4. 2 Tim. 1. 9 It was one of Vorstius prodigious Doctrines, to maintain, that God's Decrees are not eternal; then he would be changeable.  
7. Absolute; not so as to exclude means, but Causes, Merits, and Conditions. 
In aeternitate nihil est prius & posterius: there is not something first and something after, but there are quaedam subordinata in God's Decree, 1 P●t. 2. 3.    
The Decree is twofold.  

1. Common and General, which concerns all Creatures, the Decree of Creation, and Government, or Providence. So that nothing comes to pass unawares, but it was ordered by an eternal Decree, Zach. 6. 1. Mountains of brass; that is, stable and eternal Decrees.  
2. Special, which belongs to reasonable Creatures, Angels and Men; and orders their eternal estate. It is called the Decree of Predestination, Psal. 135. 6. and it consists of two parts; viz. of a Decree of Election, about saving: and of Reprobation about damning some Angels and Men.   
The Execution likewise of the Decree is twofold.  

1. Common; the execution of the Decree of Creation, which is Creation: and of Government, called Providence.  
2. Special: 1. the execution of the Decree of Election, in good Angels, their confirmation in that state, and in elect men. Redemption, and Restauration, and all the gracious works of God. 2. the execution of the Decree of Reprobation, partly in evil Angels, casting them out from their state and condition, and their punishments in Hell; partly in men, viz. their rejection, obduration, and all effects of Divine anger upon them.   
But I shall handle the special Decree first, called Predestination, and speak briefly concerning the two parts of it, Election and Reprobation; and then proceed to treat likewise of Creation and Providence.  
Of Predestination.  
To Predestinate 
* To Predestinate, signifieth to Decree, Appoint, and Design a thing before it come to pass: and also to separate a thing to this, or that use. Praedestinare nihil aut majus aut minus significat quam destinare. Chamierus. , is to Decree the attaining of some end, by such like means as counsel shall prompt us with. It differs from Election; Election is in the Will; Predestination in the understanding, Act. 4. 28. Election is only of the end, this is of the means also.  
By Divines, Predestination is used to signify the Decree of God concerning the 
Arminius & Arminiani nudum Praedestinationis nomen retinentes postdestinationem revera introduxerunt, imò sub inani titulo praedestinationis nihil aliud intelligunt quam voluntatem admittendi fideles in regnum Coelorum, & excludendi infideles, concepta in Deo tum demum quoad singulares, cum pr●vid●ret eos ad extremum usque, five in ●ide five in sua infidelitat● perseverasse. Daven. Dissert. de Proedest. c. 11. Praedestinatio Dei in Scriptures aliud nihil notat, quam Dei ante Conditum mundum de hominibus decretum ejusmodi, quod iis, qui in ipsum credere●t, eique ●bedire●t, dat●rus esset vitam aeternam: ●os verò qui in eum credere, & ei par●re recus●rent, aeterna damnatione puniturus esset. Catech. Eccles. Polon. c. 10.  eternal and supernatural estate of Angels and men, or of men elect and reprobate: although predestination concern Angels and men alike; yet the Scripture especially inculcates to us men the Predestination of men.  
Predestination in Scripture (say some) is all one with Election almost every 
Si quae hodi● est controversia religionis, in qua cauto & suspenso pede sit ambulandum, ea n●co judicio est, in qua ●e Praedestinatione agitur. Caussab. Epist. 13. Eckius ventures upon the highest and most mysterious question of Predestination, ut in ●á juveniles possit calores exercere. Austin is observed by occasion of the error of Pelagius, to have examined more diligently, and more exactly discerned the truth in the points of Predestination and freewill, then others his Ancients. Robin's. Essays, Observ. 9  where, as Rom. 8. 30. When they are distinguished, Election is especially and properly referred to the End itself, Predestination to the Means. With the ancient Latins, Destinare, is used of punishment as well as reward; and ancient Divines make a Predestination to punishment, as well as to glory.  
Predestination is the Sentence, or Decree of God, according to Counsel, determining 
Ephes. 1. 4, 6. Rom. 9 22, 23. 2 Tim. 1. 9  with himself from all eternity, to create and govern mankind for his special Glory, viz. the praise of his glorious Mercy, or excellent Justice.  
Or thus;  
Predestination is the secret and immutable purpose of God, whereby he hath decreed from all eternity, to call those whom he hath loved in his Son Christ, and through faith and good works, to make them vessels of eternal glory. Or thus;  
Predestination is the 
* Praedestinatio, quatenus pro objecto habet homines, est aeternum & immutabile Dei decretum de futuro hominum statu aeterno. Wendelinus.  infallible purpose of God, whereby he hath made choice of some, and rejected others, according to the pleasure of his own will.  
It is part of Providence, 1 Pet. 1. 2. There is a double difference between Predestination and Providence; 1. In respect of the Object; all things are the object about which Providence is conversant; reasonable Creatures only are the object of Predestination: 2. In respect of the End; Providence directs all things, as well to natural as supernatural ends, but Predestination only directs reasonable Creatures to their supernatural ends.  
The Lord hath not only decreed in general, that he will save some which believe, 
Matth. 24. 24. John 10. 15. Dan. 12. 1. Ezek. 13. 9 Exod. 33. 19 John 13. 18. 2 Pet. 1. 10. That is a full place for Election, Epes. 1. 3, 4, 5, 6. Rom. 11. 22. Mal. 1. ●, 3. Joh. 3. 16. Ro. 9 23. Eph. 2. 14. Tit. 3 5. The Doctrine of Election is 1. one part of God's counsel, Acts 20. 27. 2. It will support us in trouble, to consider that every thing falls out by God's Decree: yet it ought to be taught wisely. Rom. 12 3. Psal. 10 5. 6. ● Thess. ●. 4. Ephes. 1. 11. Rom. 9 ●●. Ephe●▪ ●▪ 4▪ 5▪ 6. Electio est volun●as ●●●vina con●●r●udi glorious. singularibus quibusdam personis cum praeteritione ali●rum. Daven. Dissertat. de Praed. c. 1. Electio est praedestinatio hominum quorundam ad vitam aeternam in Christo per fidem obtinendam, ex solo Dei ben●placito ad declarandam in ●is miserecordi●m divinam. Wendelinus. Est decretum Dei quo destinavit alicu● salutem, Twiss.  and condemn those which continue in infidelity: but he hath determined whom, and how many he will bring to holiness, and life eternal, for the praise of his Grace, and how many he will leave to themselves, and punish for sin, for the praise of his Justice. The ancient Fathers call that Verse, Rom. 8. 30. the golden chain of our salvation.  
The parts of Predestination are two; Election, and Reprobation.  
This Doctrine of Election is profitable to be taught in the Church of God; for it sets forth the profound depth of the Lords love, the glory and riches of his grace and mercy, ascribing the whole praise of our Vocation, Justification, Adoption, and Glorification, to the Mercy of God; it holds forth the wonderful Wisdom of God, Rom. 11. 33. It sets out his Power and Sovereignty, Rom. 9 20.  
The word Election signifieth.  

1. The choosing or taking of one into some office, 1 Sam. 10. 24. Luke 6. 13. and 17. 12. either in the Commonweal, Psal. 78. 70. or Church, john 6. 70.  
2. The making choice of a Nation to be Gods peculiar people, upon whom (passing by others) he will bestow his Laws, Ordinances, and singular pledges of his love, D●ut. 4. 37. and 7. 7. and 10. 15. and 32. 8. Rom. 11. 5. 25.  
3. It is put for the Elect themselves, as Rom. 11. 7.  
4. It notes Electionem & salutem, the eternal Decree of God, separating some men to holiness and glory, for the praise of his rich grace, Ephes. 1. 4. 11. 2 Tim. 1. 9 1 Tit. 1. 2. Particularis & completa electio, neminem spectat nisi morientem, say the Arminians.  
5. It is taken for the execution of God's eternal Decree, or the separation of certain men in time by effectual vocation, Luke 18. 7. Col. 2. 12. Apoc. 17. 14.   
Election is the Decree of God's good pleasure, according to Counsel, whereby he hath from eternity chosen and determined with himself to call some men to faith in Christ, to justify, adopt, sanctify, and give them eternal life, for the praise of his incomprehensible grace, and rich mercy.  
Or, it is an action of God ordaining some men out of his mere good will and pleasure to eternal life, which is to be had by faith in Christ, for the manifestation of his grace and mercy.  
Or it is an unchangeable Decree of God, whereby he hath out of his own freewill in Christ appointed some Angels and men to holiness and happiness, for the praise of the glory of his Grace. 1. A Decree of God in Christ, Ephes. 1. 4. and 3. 11. Christ is first elected as the Head, we as the Members. 2. Of certain Angels and men, they are called elect Angels; jacob have I loved; Moses his name was written in the book of Life, Rev. 13. 20. and 8. 17. It is unchangeable, Zach. 6. 1, 2, 4. It is to the Means as well as the End, Ephes. 1. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 1, 2. a Decree founded on God's freewill, Ephes. 1. 11.  
1. The general nature of it, it is an action of God ordaining.  
2. The impulsive Cause, of his mere good will, Ephes. 1. 6. Rom. 9 16, 18. There can be no other reason given, when men have wearied themselves out in disputes, but only Gods will, 
* Quare Deus hu●● trahat & illum non trahat, noli velle judicare si non vis errare. August. Vide Bell. de Grat. & libero arbit●io. l. 2. c. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.  Even so Father, because it pleaseth thee, Matth. 11. God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. God's mere free▪ will makes us differ in naturals; thou art a man, and not a Toad; how much rather must it make us differ 
That scientia media which the Jesuits glory of as a new Light, is but the very old error of natural man, which looks upon things contingent, as not decreed and determined by the will of God. Mr. Gillesp. miscel. c. 1. Illud de futuris contingentibus per mediam quandam & conditionatam scientiam cognoscendis, novum est. Fons●c● & ●imilium jesuitarum Commentum, quod & Logicis & Theologicis principiis adversatur. A. mes. cum Grevinchov. de Arm. senten.▪ Scholast. Disput. 5. Vide D▪ Prid. Praelect. de scientia media & Voetii Thes. de scientia Dei, p. 254. 255, 256, 257, 264.  in supernaturals? To fly to a scientia media, or a congrua motio divina, or to the preparation and use of freewill, is to wander, and to say any thing in man makes a difference.  
3. The Object of Election, whether man absolutely considered, or respectively, as good by Creation; miserable by sin. Some make homo 
* Dr. Twisse. Objectum circa quod versatur electio; est massa nondum condita, nam considerare tanquam conditum quod conditum non est, nam tam est considerare quam fingere. Twissus contra Corvinum. c. 6. digress. 2.  condendus, man to be made, the object of Election, some man made, but not fallen; some man made and fallen. But these opinions may be reconciled, for those who hold homo Condendus, or massa pura to be the object, do extend Election further than the latter do, even to comprehend in it a decree to make man, and to permit him to fall; but as for that actual Election and Separation, Austin, Calvin, Beza, Rivet, hold it to be from the corrupted Mass; and so doth B. Carleton and others; of which opinion these reasons may be given.  
1. We are chosen, that we might be holy and unblameable; this supposeth that we were considered in Election, as sinners, Ezek. 16. 6. 9 Election is of God, that showeth mercy, and we are called vessels of mercy; mercy presupposeth misery.  
2. We are elected in Christ as our head; and he is a Mediator and Saviour which presupposeth sin; he came to save sinners, Mat. 20. 16. the means of salvation are given to few, few are holy, the effect of Election, Matth. 7. 13. 
If men extend the Decree of Election to the Creation of man, and the permission of his fall, than man created and fallen, could not be the object of Election so called, but the effect of it rather. Ephes. 1. 4, 5. I● him, that is, Christ as a Mediator, Christ as God comes not under the act of his will. 2. Take notice of the order of our Election, you in him, he was first beloved. 3. According to this order of Election is the order of God's benediction, Unica tantum est electio totius corporis Christi mystici. There are three great ends God aims at in his electing love, as may be proved out of that first of the Ephesians. 1. his own glory. 2. the glory of his Son. 3. the holiness and happiness of the Saints. Eligi à Christo nihil aliud est, quam ordinari vel ad gratiam, vel ad gloriam obtinendam per Christum, non ut Christus hoc ipso statuatur causa electionis sed salutis duntaxat ●ive gratiae, ●ive gloria Twiss. Animadvers. in Collat. Jun. propos. Armin. c. 6. sect. 5.   
3. Man simply considered is the object of Predestination, in respect of the preordination of the end; but man corrupted, if we respect the ordination of the means which tend to that end; or man absolutely, in respect of the supreme or last end, not in respect of this, or that subordinate end.  
4. The end of Election is twofold: 1. near and immediate, eternal life. 2. farther 
Finis electionis est patefactio divinae misericordiae in graetuita quorundam peccatorum salute. Wendelinus. Ephes. 1. 4. 2▪ Tim▪ 1. 7. & 2. 19 Vid. Daven. dissert. de Praedest. c. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.  off and ultimate, the glory of his Name, Ephes. 1. 3, 4, 5, 6.  
5. The means to bring about these ends, Christ's merits apprehended by faith.  
Consider also the adjuncts of this Decree, the eternity, immutability, and certainty of it. There is a certain and determinate number of the Elect, which cannot be diminished, or augmented.  
Christ prayed to his Father that the Faith of his Elect might not fail, john 17. 16, 20. It is impossible they should be deceived, Mat. 24. 24.  
The Papists think that the certainty of immutable Election begets in a man carnal security and profaneness: but Peter thinks far otherwise, 2 Peter 1. 10.  
God was not moved by any thing outwardly to choose us to eternal life, but it was only the mere will of God.  
Some of the Papists say, God did choose man to eternal life upon the foresight of his good works, and his perseverance in them.  
The Lutherans 
* A man is elected (say they) on foresight that such a man will believe and persevere in this, and if he do not so, he shall not be elected.  say for faith foreseen, not because of any dignity in faith, but for Christ apprehended by it.  

Object. If God should not predestinate for some thing in us, he is an accepter of persons, for all were alike, judas was no more opposite than Peter; why then should one be elected and not another?  
Ans. 1. This makes the Doctrine of Election such a depth, that God loveth jacob and hateth Esau; in the Angels, some are elected, and some fallen.  
2. To accept of persons is then when we prefer one before another, and ought not to do so; now that God chooseth some, it is of his mere grace, for all 
Laudet misericordiam Dei qui liberatur, non culpet judicium qui punitur. August. Epist. 106.  deserve eternal damnation. Vide Dau. Dissert. Praedest. p. 132, 133.   

Obj. Predestination or Election is grounded on God's foreknowledge, Rom. 8. 28, 29▪ 1 Pet. 1. 2. Ergo, say the Papists, God out of the foresight of man's good works, did elect him. And the Arminians say that God elected them out of the foresight of men's faith and perseverance; so Election and Predestination shall be grounded on the will of man.  
Answ. The foreknowledge of God is, 1. Permissive, so he foresaw all men's sins, the fall of Angels, Adam. 2. Operative, so he foreknows all the good that is in men, by working it: God foresees to give men faith, and then they shall believe; perseverance, and then they shall hold out. There can be no difference till elective love make it: When God hath decreed to give grace, he foreknows that man which believes.  
2. Predestination is not only an eternal act of Gods will, but of his understanding, Ephes. 1. 5. Act. 2. 23.  
3. There is a twofold foreknowledge of God, 1. General, whereby he foreknew all things that ever were. 2. Special, a foreknowledge joined with love and approbation, as 1 Pet. 1. 21. Mat. 7. ●8.  
Arguments against the Papists and Lutherans.  
That which is the effect and fruit of Election, that cannot be a cause or condition, for then a thing should be a cause to itself. But these are effects, Ephes. 1. 4. It should be according to them, he hath chosen us because we were foreseen holy, Acts 13. 48. A man is not ordained to eternal life, because he believeth, but he 
See Rom. 9 16. and 11. 13. Nostri Theologi dicunt Deum primò deceruere alicui salutem deinde verò fidem, quia fidem statuunt medium ad salutem, & omnis ratio sobria confirmat intentionem finis priorem esse iutentione mediorum ad finem. Twissus contra Corvinum, cap. 8. object. 17. Sect. 1. v. plura ibid. Cum fideles dicuntur vocari in Scriptura, intelligendum idem, terminatiuè, non objectiuè, hoc est, terminus in quo acquiescit & definite Dei vocati● ut in effecto, est fides qua aliquis constituitur fidelis, non autem objectum circa quod vocatio Dei versatur, ut aliquid praesuppositum. Camero in Collatine cum Tilen. de Grat▪ etc.  believeth because he is ordained to eternal life, Acts 2. 27. and 13. 48. Rom. 8. 30. Secondly, than we should choose God, and not he us, contrary to that joh. 15. 19 Thirdly, Infants are elected, who cannot believe or do good works. This argument (saith Rivet, Disputat. 4. de causa electionis) although it be puerile by reason of the Subject, yet it is virile if we respect its weight; for the Adversaries cannot avoid it, without running into many absurdities, by denying that Infants are saved, against that of Matthew 18; and by affirming that some are saved which are not elected, against Rom. 11. Fourthly, If man were the cause of his own election, he had cause to glory in himself, election should not be of grace. See Master Bailyes Antidote against Arminians p. 26. to 46.  
All the sons of Adam without exception are not elected; for election supposeth 
Vide Molinei Enodat. Gravis. Quaest Tract. 77. de Praed. c. 2, 3, 4.  a rejection. He that chooseth 
* Elegit qui è multis aliquos legit, The very word Election signifieth a separating and culling out of some from the rest, john 15. 19 2 Thess. 3. 2. Matth. 8. 11: Rom. 5. 19 Rev. 7. 9 & 13. 3. Heb. 2. 10. Multitude is not then a good mark of the Church.  some, refuseth others. See Esay 41. 9 john 13. 8. Whom God electeth he doth also glorify, Rom. 8. 30. but all are not glorified 2 Thess. 1. 10. & 2. 13. Chosen out of the world, John 15. 19 therefore he chose not all in the world, but some.  
2. Saving faith is a true effect of God's election, peculiar to the elect, and common to all the Elect which live to be of age and discretion, but many are destitute of faith for ever: therefore they must needs be out of God's election.  
3. The Scripture saith expressly, that few were chosen▪ Matth. 20. 16, Rom. 11. 5, 7. Few saved, Luke 13. 23. The Elect considered apart by themselves, are a numberless number, and exceeding many; in comparison of the wicked, they are but few, even a handful, Mat. 7. 13, 14. & 22. 14. Luke 12. 3●.  
Though some of the places of Scripture may be expounded of the small number of Believers in the days of our Saviour, yet some are more generally spoken, showing plainly that only few do find the way to life.  
At this day, if the world were divided into thirty parts, nineteen of them do 
Br●rewoods Inquiries touching the diversity of Languages and Religions.  live in Infidelity, without the knowledge of the true God. The Mahometans possess other six parts of the world. Amongst them which profess Christ, scarce one part of those five remaining do embrace the true religion: And many more do profess with the mouth, then do with the heart believe unto salvation.  
The Arminians say there is an election axiomatical, not personal: they acknowledge that there is a choice of this or that particular means to bring men to salvation. God (say they) hath revealed but two ways to bring men to life, either by obedience to the Law, or by faith in Christ. But they deny that there is an election of this or that particular man. God hath set down with himself from all eternity, not only how many, but who shall lay hold on Christ to salvation, and who not, ● Pet. 1. 10. speaks of an election personal, Rom. 9 11, 12. of both elections, axiomatical and personal. See john 10. 3▪ 2 Tim. 2. 19 Some hold that God's election is so uncertain and changeable, as that the elect may become reprobates, and the reprobate elect. There is (say they) a constant and frequent intercourse of members between Christ and Satan, to day a member of Christ, to morrow a member of Satan. Rom. 8. 28. All things work together for their good, than nothing shall work for their greatest hurt, that is, their damnation. And ver. 30. he saith, Those whom he predestinated, he hath called, justified, glorified; not others, but those whom he hath predestinated, these he called and justified. God's election is most firm, certain, and unchangeable, john 6. 37. & 10. 28. Matth. 24. 24. By the Arminian Doctrine there can be no certainty of election, for they hold that absolute election only follows final perseverance in faith, and that faith may be totally lost, and fail finally. So much concerning Election.  
In the Scriptures reprobate, and to reprobate are referred rather to the present conditions of wicked men, than God's eternal ordination concerning them. But the decree of reprobation is expressed in such terms as these, God is said not to have given them to Christ, not to show mercy on some, not to have written the names of some in the Book of Life.  
Reprobation is the purpose of God to leave the rest of men to themselves, that he may glorify his justice in their eternal destruction. Est decretum aliquod quo destinavit alicui Deus damnationem. Twiss. 
Reprobatio est praedestinatio quorundam ad ●ternam mortem, propter peccata infligendam; ad declarandam justiti●m divinam. Wendelinus Reprobavit Deus propter voluntatem, damnavit propter peccatum. Rom. 9 22. Electio comple●a neminem spectat nisi morientem.   
The Schoolmen and others distinguish between a negative, and positive or affirmative act of Reprobation. The negative act is called preterition, nonelection, or a will of not giving life. The positive or affirmative act is called pre-damnation, or a will of damning the reprobate person; So there are two parts of election, viz the decree of giving grace, by which men are freed from sin by faith and repentance; 2. of rewarding their faith and repentance with eternal life  
The word Reprobation is taken three ways, saith B. Davenant out of junius, 1. For preterition and damnation jointly. 2. For the alone decree of damnation: so▪ to be reprobated, is to be appointed to eternal torments, 3. As it is opposed contradictorily to election, so it is taken for preterition only or nonelection. Daven. Dissertat. de Praedestinat. c. 7.  
The object of it are some sinful men, or the greatest part of sinful men, which are called vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, Rom. 9 22. that there are more damned then saved, is proved, Matth. 20. 16. Matth. 7. 14.  
The end of reprobation is the declaration of God's justice in punishing of sin.  
There is no cause of reprobation in the Reprobate, that they rather than others are passed by of God; that is wholly from the unsearchable depth of God's good pleasure, but that damnation whereto they are adjudged, is for their own sins.  
There are five dreadful consequences of reprobation or preterition,  
1. Such whom God passeth by, he never calls, or not effectually; calling is according to purpose.  
2. He deserts, leaves them to follow their own corrupt lusts.  
3. Hardens them, Rom. 9  
4. They shall prove Apostates, 1 Tim. 2. 18.  
5. They are liable to that dreadful sentence, Matth. 25. 41.   

Obj. 1 Tim. 2. 4. Who will have all men to be saved.  
Ans. That is, God would have some 
* Qui quosvi● homines vult servari. God doth no● will that simply every man should be saved, but all given to Christ, whom God doth call externally, them he doth seriously▪ invite to come unto him that they may be saved, and doth approve of their conversion, but doth not effectually move every particular man to believe. The Greek word here used answereth to Chaphets; the Hebrew word used by Samuel, 1 Sam. 15. 20. David, Psal. 51. 21. I●rem. 9 24. Ezek. 33. 11. and signifies not only to will, but also to agree to a thing and to be pleased.  of all sorts of men to be saved; so all men is taken, verse 1. Let prayers be made for all men, that is, all manner of men; he instanceth in one kind, viz. Kings. All, is likewise here to be taken, not pro singulis generum, but pro gen●ribus singulorum. So Austin expounded this place above a thousand years since. All manner of men of all Nations and qualities. All, in this place doth not signify universally, every man in every age and condition, but All opposed to the Jews only▪ all indefinitely, and that in the times of the new Testament, of which the Apostle speaketh.   

Obj. 2 Pet. 3. 9▪ Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to reap tance: therefore there is not an election of some, and reprobation of others.  
Ans. He speaks there only of the Elect; and he would have none of them to perish. He speaks that for the comfort of the godly, and includes himself amongst them, long-suffering to us-ward: therefore he means those in the same condition with himself. He shows why God stays the execution of his wrath, because all his Elect are not gathered. See 1 Pet. 2. 8. 
Consectaries of God's decree.   
There is nothing doth more set out the glory, excellency, and sufficiency of God than his Decree. O the infinite depth of the wisdom of God, which hath fore-seen, decreed, and determined with himself, the innumerable things that ever did or shall come to pass. We should not search into the depths of his counsels, Deut. 29. 29. but in all things profess our dependence on him, and refer all to his decree, Psal. 37. 5. 
Psal. 115. 3. & 135. 6. Jam. 1. 14.   
They are justly blamed that ascribe any thing to chance, fate, fortune, or good luck, as also such as are impatient under any cross.  
Admiring the methods of Gods eternal Counsel, and the execution of it for the 
Consectaries of Predestination, Eph. 1. 4. Praedestinatorum haeresis (inquit Sigebertus ad annum Christi 415.) hoc tempore coepit s●rpere: qui ideo Praedestinati vocantur, quia de Praedestinatione & divina gratia dispu●●ntes asserebant, quod nec piè viventibus profit bonorum operum labour, si à Deo ad mortem Praedestinati fuerint, nec impiis obsit quod improbè vivant, si à Deo Praedestinati fuerint ad vitam. Quae assertio & bonos à bonis avocabat, & malos, ad mala provocabat. Camero Collat. cum Tileno.  salvation of our souls, will be a great part of our work in heaven▪  
That is a desperate inference: If I be predestinated, I shall be saved, * though I neglect and scoff at sanctity. God hath predestinated the means as well as the end; he hath decreed us to be holy as well as happy, 2 Pet. 1. 3. Ephes. 1. 4. Christ laid down his life not only to save us from the guilt of our sins, but to sanctify us, Tit. 2. 14. The Spirit of God is a Spirit of sanctification, 2 Thess. 2. 13. In good things the Devil strives to sever the means from the end; in evil, the end from the means. We must not reason whether we be predestinated, but use the means, prove our Election by our calling, we should judge of our predestination, not so much descendendo, by prying into God's secret Counsel, as ascendendo, by searching our own hearts. It was good counsel that Cardinal Poole gave to one who asked him how he might most profitably read the Epistle to the Romans. He advised him first to read the twelfth chapter to the end, and then the beginning of the Epistle to the twelfth chapter. Because in the twelfth chapter the Apostle falls on matter of duty and sanctification, which is the only way to attain to the knowledge of those great mysteries handled in the beginning of Predestination.  
Take heed of abusing this Doctrine. 
Consectaries of God's election and reprobation. Austin and some others which have written largely of election, write sparingly of reprobation, because there appears more seeming offensive harshness in the Doctrine of reprobation, then in that of election: the first being known gives light to the other.   
1. Quarrel not with God's justice, because he hath determined not to give grace to some, Rom. 9 14. That any are saved it is from God's mercy, there can be no injustice in refusing, when it is the mere mercy of God to take any: as if of many Traitors the King spare some, and hang up the rest: neither have the Elect a just cause to glory, nor the reprobate to complain; since undeserved grace is showed to the one, due punishment inflicted on the other. It bewrays no more want of mercy in God, that he takes but such, than it did want of power, because he made not many worlds, since the exercising of one and the other, is determined by his wisdom.  
It were unjust (say the Polonian Churches in their Catechism) to punish any one because he hath not done that which by no means he could do. But when God punisheth the wicked and those that are refractory to his word, what doth he do else but punish those which do not do that which they cannot do? See more there, cap. 10. of the same bran.  
2. This may comfort the people of God, who may be certain of their election 
This Doctrine of absolute election is very comfortable and useful, Eph. 1. 5, 6, 11 The Apostle there inculcates it three times in one Chapter, Rom. 8. 33. It is absolute as it opposeth cause or condition in us, not as it opposeth means. Licet electio non sit conditionata, tamen per electionem constituit Deus ut salus non Contingeret adultis nisi sub conditione fidei. Twissus contra Corvin.  and salvation, Rom. 8. 38. 39 Paul had not this by immediate revelation, because he concludeth upon such arguments as are general to all the godly, see 1 joh. 3. 14. Certainty of man's election and salvation is not such as we have of arts and sciences, yet the truths of God are more to be adhered unto then any humane principle.  
3. Nor is it such as we have of doctrinal truths, we are not so persuaded of God's favour in particular to us, as that there is a God, and that there is Jesus Christ, because the dogmatical truth is contained in the Scripture, the other is but a practical conclusion drawn from the General. 3. It is not such an assurance as expelleth all doubting and wavering, Mar. 9 24. yet doubting is a sin, and we are to bewail it: but the Papists teach doubting, and praise it under the name of humility, and say it keeps us from presumption. They say we can have but a conjectural and wavering knowledge of our salvation; justly therefore did Luther term the Romish Doctrine concerning uncertainty of salvation, Non Doctrinam fidei sed diffidentiae, no Doctrine of faith but distrust.  
4. It is not such as presumption and carnal security, excluding all use of the means, work out your salvation with fear; those which have been most persuaded 
It is the duty of Christians to make their Election sure by their calling, 2 Peter 1. 10. Make it your main study: there is the adverb of correction rather: you would rather look after other matters, but study this most. 1 The Apostles exhortation shows it is a thing possible. 2. It is necessary, of great concernment, use all diligence. 3 It is profitable, Such shall never fall utterly, an entrance shall be ministered unto them abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour jesus Christ.  of God's love to them, have been most active for him: the love of Christ constraineth us.  
5. It is more than probable, conjectural, or moral.  
6. It is not of our own conscience and Spirit only, but enabled by the Spirit of God thus to conclude and determine, Rom. 8. The Spirit witnesseth with our Spirit.  
Those that find this in themselves should feed upon this eternal comfort, it is absolute, eternal, immutable, nothing shall oppose it, who shall lay any thing to the Elect? It is full of love and grace. We may make our election sure by our calling, Rom. 8. 29, 30. and our effectual calling by two things: 1. By a new light. 2. A new life. 2 Cor. 4. 5. 1 Pet. 2. 9 john 12. 36. Ephes. 5. 8. We have a new knowledge wrought in us of ourselves, we see our misery by sin, and our inability to help ourselves, Rom. 2. 23. 2. Of God, God in Jesus Christ is discovered to us, 2 Pet. 1. 3. We see our need of Christ, and know him to be a mediator, who must reconcile God and us. 3. A new life is wrought in us, Ephes. 2. 1. We now die to sin, and live to God, 1. By faith, Rev. 17. 4. These three are put together, faithful, chosen and called. 2. By new obedience.  
1. It is every man's duty to give diligence to make his election sure, both for the glory of God and the comfort of his soul, but in God's way, and according to his Ordinance, first Calling, than Election.  
2. When he hath used his utmost diligence, if he cannot make it sure, it is his misery not his sin.  
3. When the Spirit of God reveals to a man either the truth of his own graces, or else God's eternal love to him, than a man is bound to believe it. It is 1. A certain assurance. 2. Secret, Rev. 2. 17. 3. Exceeding sweet, rejoice in that your names are written in the Book of life. 4. It is an imperfect assurance, the assurance of faith not of sight, it may be eclipsed.    

CHAP. II. 2. The Execution of God's Deeree.  
GOD executes his Decree by Actions, Creation, and Providence. 
2 Gods external works. Psal. 33. 6. Heb. 10. 13.  God's works are in time  
1. Past, Creation of all things.  
2. Present, Government and preservation.  
Creation is taken, 1. Strictly, when God makes any Creature of nothing, merely of nothing, not as if nothing were the matter but the term, so the souls of men and Angels are created of nothing.  
2. Largely, when of some prejacent matter, but very unfit and indisposed, a creature is made, as Adam of the earth.  
Creation is the action of God, 
* Creatio est actio Dei externa, qua in principio temporis, sex dierum spatio, mundum produxit solo voluntatis suae imperio, ad nominis sui gloriam. Wendelinus.  whereby out of nothing he brought forth nature itself and all things in nature, both substances and accidents, in and with the substances, and finished them in the space of six days, both to his own glory and the salvation of the Elect.  
Or, It is an action whereby God the Father by his word, and holy Spirit made 
Creation is a work of God, wherein in the beginning of time, He did by the word of his mouth, make all things of nothing exceeding good, in six days, for his glory.  all things exceeding good for the glory of his Name.  
Or thus, Creation is a transient or external action of God, whereby in the beginning He made the world by a mere command out of his own free will in six day's space to the glory of his Name.  

1. An action,] not a motion or change, motion argueth some succession, but in the things created, the fieri & factum esse is all one, nor is it a change, because that supposeth some alteration in the Agent.  
2. Transient,] it passeth from the Agent to the thing created, whereas in immanent actions, as Gods will, decrees, and personal actions, they abide in himself.  

3. Of God,] The efficient cause of all things is God the Father, Son and Holy 
Gen. 1. 1. And the beginning of the Apostles Creed, The Father is said to work all things by his word and spirit, not as by an instrument, but as by a principal efficient of the same substance and equal with himself. Vide Ludou. viv. de veritate Fidei Christianae, l 1. c. 9 Plus apud me valent illa quitique verba: In principio creavit Deus coelum & terram quam omnia Aristotelis Coeterorumque Philosophorum argumenta quibus docent mundum carere initio. Eras. Epist. Pellicano. l. 19  Ghost. Creation is the proper work of God alone, so that he is God which created the world, and he created the world who is God, jer. 10. 11. It is without controversy, that the work of creation agrees to God the Father, the same is expressly given to the Son, john 1. 3. Col. 1. 16. and to the Holy Ghost also, Psal. 33. 6. He brooded on the waters, Gen. 1. 1, 2.  
Aquinas parte prima Qu. 44. Artic. 1. hath this question, Utrum sit necessarium omne ens esse creatum a Deo. The Schoolmen much dispute, whether God may not give a creating power to a creature; and answer, no creature can be so elevated as to concur to the execution of an almighty act. In Scripture it is always made the work of God, Gen. 1. 1. Prov. 16. 4. Psal. 33. 6. 8, 9 Creation is an act of omnipotency. The Apostles when they dealt with the Heathens, urged the works of creation, Acts 14. 10. & 7. 26. Rom. 1. 19, 20.   
4. In the beginning,] by the Scripture it is a matter of faith to hold that the world was not from all eternity, in the beginning notes not that there was time first, and then God created the world (for time is a creature and concreated) but it denotes order, that is, at first.  
5. The world,] that is, the Heaven and Earth and all things contained in them, 
Rom. 1. 20. Ephes 1. 4.  Act. 4. 4. and 17. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that well ordered, decent, beautiful and comely frame of heaven and earth.  
6. By his mere command,] as appears Gen. 1. Let there be light, let there be 
Psal. 33. 9  heavens, which argues his omnipotency.  
7. Out of his own free will,] for God did not need the world, and therefore he created it no sooner. He was happy enough in himself without men or Angels, Psal. 115. 5. Prov. 8. 30.  
8. The final cause, to the glory of his Name, Rom. 2. 30. Three Attributes especially manifest themselves in this work of Creation, God's power, wisdom, goodness; his power in that he made all things by a word, and of nothing, Isa. 40. 16. his wisdom is seen in the order and variety of his works, Psal. 136. 5. and their exceeding wonderful and particular uses; his goodness, in that he would communicate being to the creatures.   
Plutarch writeth, that the old Philosophers, the ancientest Divines amongst the Pagans, were wont to describe portrayed out in stone, wood, and other matters, the Images of their Gods, with musical Instruments in their hands, not that they would teach others, or did believe it themselves, that the Gods were Fiddlers or Pipers, or used to solace themselves with Lute or Viol., but because they held nothing more fit or answering to the nature of God, then to do all things in sweet harmony and proportion; which the Wiseman calleth in number, in measure, and in weight. Montague against Seld. c. 1.  
The work of Creation (say some 
a Fareus & alij. Acts 17. 24. Col. 1. 16. ) is set out generally in a general proposition, In the beginning 
b Dubitare non potest primum fidei articulum, quo credimus in Deum creatorem coeli & ter●e, extructum esse ex hoc. Mosis aphorismo. Pareus. Prov. 8. 23. John 17. 24. Ephes. 1. 4. 1 Pet. ●. 20. Vide Gatakeri Adversaria miscell. l. 2. c. 2.  God created the Heavens and the Earth; Which proposition He after explains by its parts.  
That the world was not from eternity, but was made by God, these arguments may persuade.  
First, and principally Faith, Heb. 11. 3. which is grounded upon divers places of Scripture, 
c Quamvis naturall lumine demonstrari posset mundum à Deo fuisse conditum, tamen rectè Augustinus de Civit. Dei. l. ●1. c. 4. Quod Deus mundum fecerit, nulli tutius credimus quam ipsi Deo. Si mundus sit opus Dei, necesse est ut Creator ejus fit aeternus, Rom. 1. 26. alioquin fuisset ipse factus, & consequenter pars mundi. Nam per mundam intelligimus compagem five aggregationem rerum Creatarum. 'twill. contra Corvinum, cap. 6. sect. 2.  as the first and second chapters of Genesis, 38 & 39 chapters of job, and some Psalms almost whole, as 104 & 136. this also is the first Article of our Creed, that the world was created in time by God. The Apostle Paul, Acts 14. 15. & 17. 24. 28 doth point out God to the Heathen by this work above others.  
The Doctrine of Creation is a mixed principle, partly discovered by nature, and chiefly in the word. Consider it, 1. Ex parte rei, so the thing itself was known to the Heathens. 2. Ex parte modi, faith only teacheth what it is: the manner and circumstances of the Creation, how and wherefore the world was made, was wholly unknown to them, because these things are not matters of sense, but depend on the limitation of God's will; nor matters of reason, but depend on the exuberancy of his power.  
The same individual assent to the same truth may be both Cognitio Scientiae, and Cognitio Fidei. By Faith we know that the worlds were made, and assent to it. And by demonstrations it may be proved, that the world was made; and these also are sufficient to persuade assent. Now we from both grounds (jointly) assent to this proposition, that the world was made. The which Assent in respect of the Ground (propter evidentiam rei) is an assent of Science or natural knowledge. In regard of the other Ground (propter anthoritatem dicentis) is an assent of Faith, or supernatural knowledge. Mr. Wallis Truth tried, ch. 8.  
Secondly, and probably, the light of nature shining in these reasons.  

1. The original of Nations laid down by Moses, Gen. 10. and elsewhere, which could not be feigned by him, since some memory of them was then extant among many, which yet in progress of time was extinguished.  
2. The beginning of Arts, the first inventors whereof are known, and in what time they flourished: for it is not probable that so many ages before, mankind lived without Arts, and that in these last times they were all both invented and perfected.  
3. The newness of all Heathenish Histories, the ancientest of which tell of nothing 
Master Pemble in his Treatise of the providence of God.  before Noah's flood, or the beginning of the Assyrian Empire under Ninus. The holy History itself is only of 4000 years or thereabout, which nevertheless is the greatest mowment of antiquity. Now it would be a most unworthy reproach and contumely cast upon all those men who had lived so many infinite ages ago, to 
Vide Ludou. Viu. de veritate Fidei Christianae. l. 1. c. 10.  say they were so ignorant that they could not, or so slothful that they would not deliver in writing what was done in their times.  
4. The decay of man's body and age, which from a great strength, quantity, bigness and time of life, is now come down to a narrow scantling, which if had 
August. de civitate Dei, l. 15. c. 9 Plin. l. 7. c. 16. Aul. Gell. l. 3. c. 15. Iuven. Sat. ●3. See the several reasons urged by the Philosophers and their followers to prove the eternity of the world, answered by Raymundus in his Pugio Fidei adversus judaeos parte primae, c. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. See also ibid. c. 12, 13, 14.  decreased so always in infinite ages, it would by this time have been brought almost to nothing.  
5. The certain series and order of causes and impossibility of their proceeding in infinitum: for it must needs be that there should be one first, which is the universal cause: but first it is not unless it be One, nor One except it be God.  
6. As a thing is, so it works, but God doth not depend upon another in his being, therefore neither in working doth he require a pre-existent matter.  
7. Art presupposeth nature, and nature matter; but God in working is a more excellent cause then art or nature, therefore presupposeth nothing in working.  
8. The first cause, viz. God is infinite, therefore he can do whatsoever implieth not a contradiction, but the Creation of things in time implieth it not.  
9 Whatsoever perisheth hath a beginning: the world doth perish, because all 
Lactantius.  its parts decay, and are subject to corruption, therefore the whole. The Angles and souls of men are changeable by nature, as appears by the fall of the Devil and man's fall.  
10. Either the world was eternal or had a beginning; It could not be eternal,   
1. Because it is compounded of divers parts, and those in nature contrary one 
That the World is so compounded our senses tell us, seeing some things are heavy, some light, some hot, some cold, and one of these is apt to destroy another, as is the nature of Contraries. What is eternal, is without beginning, mutation, succession, or end, so only God. See Doctor Hackwels Apology of God's providence, p. 39 46. De qua re inter duos Rabbinos est Controversia, R Eliezer, & R. Josue; altero mundum in Martio: altero in Septembri contendente conditum esse. Quod quia nobis Scriptura non exprimit, tanquam curiosum relinquamus. Mercet. If the question were asked indefinitely, Whether the world began in the Spring, the Summer, the Winter, or the Autumn, the answer must be, That it began in all. For so soon as the Sun set forth in its motion, the seasons immediately grew necessary to several positions of the Sphere, so divided among the parts of the earth, that all had every one of these, and each one or other at the same time. Gregory de Eris & Epochis, c. 5. julius Scaliger saith, Mundum primo vere vatum sapientes autumant, & credere par est. So the most part maintain, and for the best reasons. And if it were not otherwise evident, Nature itself is very convincing, whole Revolutions begin and end in the Vernal Aequinox▪ Id. ib. Mundi, adeoque Anni primi initium circa vernum aequinoctium fuisse non dubito. Unde Astronomi omnes coelestium motum initia à primo Arietis puncto sumpserunt. Haec opinio firmata est omnium Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum consensu, atque veterum Theologorum calculo comprobata. Sims. Paras. ad Chron. Cathol. c. 6. Vide plura ibid. & Voet. Thes. de creatione partem secundam, p. 587, 588, 589, 590.  to another, which could not meet together in that order themselves, therefore it was made by somewhat, and then either by itself, which could not be: for that which makes, is before that which is made; and the same thing cannot be before itself, or else it was made by some creature, which could not be; because that is but a part of the whole, and therefore meaner than it considered as whole, and not able to make it.  
2. The world could not be eternal, because it is limited in respect of place, quantity, power, therefore it is not infinite in time. That which is eternal is the first thing, and consequently the best, therefore God is only so, having no parts, nor being subject to corruption.  
By these reasons it is evinced, that the world is not eternal, but was created by the chief workman of all things in time. But concerning the time of the year, when the world was made, whether in Summer, Autumn, or the Spring, we will not raise any curious and unprofitable questions. See Sarsans Chronologia vapulans, page 123. Let it suffice to know that it was created by God in the beginning, Gen. 1. 1. that is, in the beginning of time, or rather together with time then in time; for the instant and moment of Creation was the beginning of all following, but not the end of precedent time.  
Hitherto concerning the efficient cause, there followeth the matter of Creation.  
Of the first and immediate Creation, there was no matter at all, the 
* This is a kind of contradiction in Logic, The matter was no matter, but true in Divinity.  Divine power drew out nature itself, not out of any Pre-existent matter, but out of mere 
Nothing negatively, a thing that never had a being.  nothing.  
Materiam noli quaerere, nulla fuit.  
Nothing but nothing had the Lord Almighty, 
* Silvester. When we say God made the world out of nothing, our meaning is not, that nothing was the matter whereof the world was made: but only that it was the Terminus à quo, non materia ex qua.   
Whereof, wherewith, whereby to build this City.  
Thus were created all incorporeal and immaterial Substances; the Angels, the 
God made some things immediately perfect, as the Angels and highest Heavens which were made the first day, other things he made by degrees, as the Inferior Creatures.  reasonable soul, and the highest Heaven (as some say) for those things which are void of matter, cannot be framed out of matter.  
2. The mediate Creation is, when a thing is brought forth of a preaexistent matter; yet so rude and indisposed, that it may be accounted for nothing: so Adam's body was created of the dust or slime of the Earth, Gen. 2. 7. Beasts and birds out of the Earth, Gen. 1. 19 which God did merely of his good pleasure, no necessity compelling him, nor the matter he took any way helping him in working; it was nothing privatively, as they call it.  
Divines observe four things in God's Creation.  
1. His Command; whereby he said, Let there be light, and there was light. God's words are things.  
2. His Approbation; whereby all things are acknowledged as good. God sa● they were good. They were so in respect of their own kind and nature. 2. In respect of the universe, that is, apt for the end 
* Bonitas rei creatae est illa perfectio, qua apia fit ad usum, cui inservit, Amesius. Haec bonitas duplex est, 1. Generalis omnium creaturarum, viz. Integritas & Per●ectio omnium donorum & virium naturalium, quarum beneficio suas operationes exercere possunt conformiter ad divin●● voluntatem & ordinate ad proprios fines. 2. Specialis, creaturae rationalis, Angelorum & hominum; qui donis supernaturalibus ornat● sunt, quae vocantur uno nomine sanctitas five imago Dei. Gen. 1. 26.  for which they were made, free from all defect and deformity. God made all the creatures to be serviceable one to another, especially to man, 1 Tim. 4. 4. I cannot tell by what Logic we call a Toad, a Bear, or an Elephant ugly, they being created in those outward shapes and figures, which best express those actions of their inward forms. And having past that general visitation of God, who saw that all that he had made was good, that is, conformable to his will, which abhors deformity, and is the rule of order and beauty. D. brown's Religio Medici.  
3. Ordination and Appointment, whereby he assigned unto all creatures their use, jer. 52. 15. He made nothing in vain.  
4. A Sanction of a Law and Decree which the creatures must always observe, called a Covenant with day and night.  
Hitherto of the efficient cause and the matter, there followeth the form of Creation, which may be considered either in respect of God, or in respect of the things created.  
1. The manner of Creation in respect of God is this, He did not create the world by a necessity of nature, but according to the Eternal and Immutable; yet most free decree of his will. 
The manner of Gods producing all things, by the word of his mouth, he spoke not so many audible words, Let there be light, this word was Nutus Dei, an actual putting out of the will of God.   
2. By his word and beck alone, without any change, weariness or toil, he made and established all things.  
The form of Creation in respect of the things created, is twofold.  
1. Internal (viz.) the very force and power of nature imprinted by God both in all things in a common manner and respect, and in the several kinds according to the particular essence and condition of every thing, by which they are made powerful to proper or common operations.  
2. The external form is twofold, partly a sudden and momentary production of all things, partly a most beautiful disposing and excellent order of all things 
Mr Pemble, ubi supr●.  produced, both in themselves, and among one another, Gen. 1. 3. There is order,  
1. In making them: In simple things as the Elements, God began with those that are most perfect, the light or fire, the purest creature, Psal. 104. 2. and then went on to the less perfect, in mixed bodies, he began with things more imperfect, First made things that have being and no life, than plants, after beasts and men. 2. In disposing all things in their proper places for the beauty and service of the whole, the beasts in the earth, the fishes more in number and greater in bulk in the Sea. The world hath its name in Greek from beauty, God could have created them all at once, but he made them in the space of six 
a That opinion of Augustine, that God made all things in a moment, and distributed them into days, because of our better understonding, is exploded by all. Although Creation was done in a moment, in respect of the particular bodies severally considered, yet in respect of all, it was not perfected in an instant, but in the space of six days; which spaces of days, note not a temporal succession of the same, but the order of divers works. Some allege, Gen. 2. 4. but it is not unusual in the Scripture to comprehend many days under the name of one. Vide Aquin. part. 1, Quest. 74. Artic. 2.  days, that he might show,  
1. His power in producing whatsoever effects he would without their general causes, while he enlightened the world, made the earth fruitful, and brought plants out of it, before the Sun and Moon were created.  
2. His goodness and liberality while he provides for his creatures not yet made, and brings the living creatures into the earth filled with plants and nourishment, men into a world abundantly furnished with all things for necessity and delight.  
3. That we might thereby more easily conceive, that the world was not made confusedly or by chance, but orderly, and by counsel, and might not perfunctorily but diligently consider the works of Creation. How should we deliberate in our actions 
b Frstina lent●.  which are subject to imperfection? since it pleased God not out of need to take leisure.  
So much for the form of Creation, there remains in the last place the End, which is twofold.  
1. The last and chiefest, the glory of God the Creator, in manifesting his Goodness, 
Magnitudo creaturarum ducit nos ad Dei potentiam: Ordo verò, & pulchritudo ad ejus sapientiam: Bonitas autem, gubernatio atque conservatio, ad benignitatem. Raymund. Pug. adversus jud. parte 3. Dist. 1. cap. 6.  Power and Wisdom, which excellencies of God shining forth in the existence, order and wonderful workmanship of all creatures, and in the wise Government and administration of them, God would have acknowledged and praised by reasonable creatures, Psal. 19 1. & 10. 24. Prov. 16. 5. Isa. 40. 26. Rom. 1. 20▪ & 36.  
2. The next End for the work itself, that all things should serve man, and be useful to him, especially to further the salvation of the Elect, Gen. 1. 20. Psal. 8. 4, 5, 6. 1 Cor. 3. 21, 22.  
It serves to confute sundry errors:  

1. The Arians, which said the world was made by Christ, as the instrument 
Consectaries from Creation in general.  and secondary cause, that place Rom. 11. 36. doth not prove an inequality of persons.  
2. The Manichees, which held two beginnings contrary to themselves, God the author of good things, and the Devil the author of evil, this is blasphemy against God, and is contrary to what Moses saith, Gen. 1. 31.  
3. Aristotle, that held the world was eternal (as Ludou. Viu. de veritate Fidei Christ. l. 1. c. 10. saith,) though some 
d Albertus Magnus, Et ●● major discipulus, Thomas Aquinas.  say he did not. Democritus who held that the world was made by a casual concourse of Atoms, and that there were infinite worlds, when the Scripture speaketh but of one; God sent his Son into the world, not worlds; See the Discovery of the World in the Moon, Proposit. 2. Mr Rosse opposeth those Atoms Refutat. of Dr Brown's Vulgar Errors, c. 17. Ubi 
Persuasum nobis cupiverunt ●on tam propositum Aristoteli fuisse aeternitatem mundi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ac invictis rationibus comprobare quam illud solùm ostendere, mundum non esse genitum, hoc est non incepisse per motum, quae Philosophorum priorum sententia erat. Vossius in Thesibus de Creatione. Vide plura ibid. Et Hackwell Apol. pag. 442, 443, 444. Vide Raymundi Pugionem Fidei part. 1. c. 14.  sunt, aut unde ista corpuscula, cur illa nemo praeter unum Leucippum somniavit, à quo Democritus eruditus, haereditatem stultitiae reliquit Epicuro. Lactant. Divin. Instit. l. 3. de falsa sapientia p. 190. Vide plura ibid. & 191.   
Galen, who having read the fifth Chapter of Genesis, said, That Moses said much, but proved little.  
2. It condemns.  
1. Those which set their affections on the creature, If there be beauty in that, what is in the Creator?  
2. Those that abuse the creatures by cruelty, or pretended Lordship.  
3. Those which mock at the parts of any man; if born lame or deformed; this is to despise the Workman, to murmur at the Potter.  
3. It shows that God hath first, chief, absolute, and perpetual Sovereignty over all his creatures; so that he can use, command, and do with them as in equity seems 
Jer. 27. 5. & 45 4.  good to his henvenly wisdom.  
4. When we'behold the Heavens, the Earth, Air and Sea, how they are filled, 
Rom. 9 21.  what use and commodities they have, we should contemplate God in these things we see with our eyes. 2. We should learn what a one God is,  
1. Eternal, He that made Heaven and Earth, is ancienter than both.  
2. Almighty; Great works cannot be brought to pass without great strength: 
He bounds the Sea with his Word only; God instanceth in the work of creation to job, to show his power His wisdom shines in the exquisite workmanship, variety, order, and subordination of them one to the service of another.  he must needs be infinite in power, which made Heaven and Earth, and hangs the Earth as a Ball, without any pillar to support it.  
3. Most Wise; strength separated from wisdom, is little worth: God knows all things, the nature of the Heavens, Earth, Water perfectly; because he put such a Nature into them: Tell yourselves, that God is a wise understanding Essence, can order all to the best.  
4. Exceeding Good; He hath infused goodness into the Heavens, Waters, Earth, they are helpful and serviceable to man: how much more goodness is there in God He is good and doth good, Psal. 119.  
5. See his Love in making man 
* Man was magnified, in Creation, in being made so excellent a. Creature, Psal. 8. 5. and in having so many excellent creatures made for him, Psal. 8. 3, 6, 7, 8. Luther in his Comment upon Magnificat relates a Story of two Bishops, that ●i●ing to the Council of Constance, and espying by the way a poor countryman weeping, turned toward him, asked him, Why he wept, he answered, I weep to see this Toad (that lay upon the ground before him) because I never blessed God sufficiently, for that he made me so beautiful a creature, and not so ugly as that Toad, at which one of the Cardinals admired, and said that speech of Augustine's was true, Surgunt indocti & coelum rapiunt, & nos cum doctrinis nostris sine cord, ecce ubi volutamur i● carne & sanguine? But may it not be said of this speech (though the intention were good) what Lactantius wittily saith of Plato's thanking Nature, that he was a man rather than a beast, a male rather than a female, a Grecian rather then a Barbarian, an Athenian, and born in the times of Socrates. Ego planè contenderim, nunquam quicquam dictum esse in rebus humanis deliries. Quasi vero si aut Barbarus, aut mulier, aut asinus denique natus esset, idem ipse Plato esset, ac non ipsum illud, quod natum suisset. Lactant. Diu. Instit. de fals. sapient. l. 3.  best of the creatures here below: we should honour God in our minds, account him the chiefest and only good, and his favour the chiefest felicity, bring our wills to long after him, to desire him above all other things, choosing him as our happiness, loving him and desiring to enjoy him fully: Learn to fear him above all, not daring to offend him, Acts 4. 24. and obey and please him; what more agreeable to reason, then that the Maker of all should be Ruler of all? We are more his, than a child his Parents, a servant his Masters. We should also acknowledge that he made us, Psal. 100 and praise him: Gods great works call for great praise; Commend him with our tongues, and speak good of his Name, Psal. 19 2. The Heavens declare the glory of God, i. e. give occasion to man of declaring it.  
5. This is a comfort to those who acknowledge God to be such a one as he is; 
There are special occasions when we should think of the works of Creation. 1. When we are not affected with the majesty and glory of God, let us see his Excellencies in the creatures, Psal. 104. 1. 2. When we are haunted with the thoughts of Atheism, the world could not make itself, that which is supported by another must needs be framed by another. 3. When we doubt of the promises of God, because of appearances to the contrary, Isa. 51. 6. & 40. 11, 12. Psal. 124. 1. 4. When our hearts doubt in respect of our provision, Matth. 6. 25, 26. 5. When we would greaten the privileges of our Covenant-interest, jonah 1. 9 1 Cor. 3. 22, 23. Marks to try when we meditate fruitfully of the creatures: 1. Then our hearts will be more apt to praise the Lord, Revel. 4. 11. 2. Then the heart will be drawn off from the creatures to God. 3. There will be a greater fear of God, jer. 5. 22, 24. 4. There will be more love to God for all his kindness, and more obedience to him; what interest hath the Lord in you, who made you out of nothing, and sustains you by his Providence? and you will trust in him more. 1 Peter 4. 19  Is not he rich enough to maintain them? Wise enough to direct them? Strong enough to protect them? If thou want goodness, he can create in thee a new heart; it may comfort the godly in regard of the Resurrection; God can raise them up at the last day.  
6. It is a great terror to the wicked, which do not fear but despise him; God will hate, despise and destroy them: God can do it; he made Heaven and Earth, and he will do it, because he is true, he hath threatened it; Oh the misery of that 
Isa. 17. 11.  man which hath him for his enemy!  
7. We may learn from all the creatures in general, 1. To bewail our Rebellion against God, which all of them reprove, for they all stand in their kind and station in which God set them at first. The Sun rejoiceth to run his course: the Sea keepeth her bounds; the Earth stands upon her foundation; the Heavens keep their motion, and declare God's glory; the very Winds and Seas obey him. 2. All of them teach 
a He that studies the creature much shall find much of God, and of himself. Some conceive Isaac, Gen. 24. 63. studied the Book of the creatures.  the invisible things of God, Rom. 1. 20. as was before-shewed.  
8. We should make a right use of the creatures: use them, 1. Devoutly, 1 Tim. 4. 5. in Faith, Rom. 14. 14. & ult. with Prayer and Thanksgiving, Mat. 15. 36. Act. 27 35. 2. Soberly, 1 Cor. 10. 31. 3. Thankfully, 1 Tim. 4. 4.  
Having handled the works of Creation in general, I now proceed according to Moses his Method, to a more particular enarration of each day's work.  
The whole first Chapter of Genesis may be thus divided:  
1. The Author of the world's Creation, God.  
2. The Work.  
3. The Approbation of it.  
Verse 1. In the beginning of time, or being, therefore the World was not eternal.  
john begins so, and took it hence: But beginning there may mean from Eternity: or as here, Christ did not begin then, but was then, Prov. 8. 22.  
Bara Elohim, God's Created 
b 
Aliis Scripturae locis ap●rtiùs & expressiùs potest Trinitas con●irmari & essicacius adversum judaeos est pugnandum ne nos illis ridiculos praebeamus linguae corum imperiti●. Mercer. in loc.  
Ego cum Calvino, Mercero, & aliis, in ea re sentio, ex sola voce Elohim terminationis pluralis, conjuncta cum verbo singulari, non posse solidum duci argumentum pro tanto mysterio, quia rationes allatae mibi videntur aliis adductis pro sententi● contraria praeponderare. Etsi existimem laudandum esse pium illorum studium, qui aliter sentiunt, & ex hoc loco sic intellecto mysterium Trinitatis probare conantur; sed quia non agitur de intention eorum, quam piam & bonam censemus, ver●●m de Mosis proposito in hujus vocis usu, missa eorum intention, rem ipsam in se spectantes, judicamus solidiora consectanda esse argumenta quam quae à vocula aut constructione aliqua grammatica deducuntur, quam Iudaeis & haereticis proclive sit eludere, & quasi de re ipsa triumphata, ex taltum argumentorum refutatione gloriari. Rivetus in loc. Vide Galatin. de Arcanis Cathol. verit. l. 2. c. 9 Pha●us Vet. Test. Sect. 8. Capel. Diatrib. de nomine Elohim, c. 7. & 11. Non puto argumentum esse admodum solid●m; Siquidem Scripturae consuctudo id habere videtur, ut nomina illustrium personarum ponantur in numero multitudinis, licet verba retineant numerum singularem. Quam consu●tudinem nos Itali exparte imitamur, dum viris gravibus non dicimus, Tu, sed Vos: licet unum, non multos ●lloquamur. Bellarm. de Christo l. 2. c. 6. Vide plura ibid.  . That difference between the Noun Plural, and Verb Singular (saith Rivet) signifieth not the mystery of the Trinity, but is an Idiotism of the Hebrew Tongue, in which such Enallages are frequent, as Numb. 32. 25. Most of our men take the joining of a Singular Verb with the Plural Elohim, for a mystical expressing the holy Trinity. But the Jewish Grammarians make it an Enallage of number, chiefly to express excellency in the Persons, to whom it is referred. Mr Seldens Titles of Honour, part. 1. chap. 6. However, there is no difference in the thing itself; for the Name of Gods being taken here essentially, (not personally) is common to the three Persons; Gods created, is as much as the Father, the Son and holy Ghost created: for elsewhere it is manifest from Scripture, that not only the Father, but the Son and holy Ghost also created the world.  
Created, signifieth an act of infinite power, and is not communicable to any creature. i. Ex nihilo fecit, & quidem potentissimè ac magnificentissimè. Junius. 
Per Coelos intelligendum esse statuitur omne quod in Coelo supra lunam est: per terram verò, omne quod in terra infra lunam est, ita ut hisce duobus comprehendatur Creatio universi mundi, Menasseh Ben Israel Problem. 25. de creatione.   
Heaven and Earth. In the first day were created Heaven and Earth; as it were the foundation and roof of the building, Psal. 104. 5. Isa. 40. 21, 22.  
The work of the first day, was 1. Heaven, under which name are comprehended partly the Empyraean first and immovable Heaven, which is called in Scripture, the third Heaven, and Heaven of Heavens, Ephes. 4. 10. 2 Chron. 6. 18. Acts 1. 11. and partly the celestial Spheres, which it is probable were made the first day; but without those lights of the Stars, with which at length in the fourth day, they were adorned: the Hebrew word for Heaven being of the Dual number may imply both. The heavenly Intelligences or Angels, the Inhabitants of the invisible Heaven were then made, as is probable, saith Chemnitius, Coelum, id est, extimum illum hujus universitatis ambitum cum super coelestibus incolis illius & spiritualibus formis atque intelligentiis, Gen. 2. 1. Job 38. 7. junius in loc.  
2. The four first simple things or elements, as some think, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and the fitting of them for use, by making day and night. Though others hold, that the Air and Fire are comprehended under Firmament, the work of the second day. For the Earth, there is He emphatical; this Earth which we dwell in, though then unpolished. The Earth is described in the second verse, It was without 
Easdem habes voces Hebraicas Jer. 4. 23. Vide Heb. 11. 3 Picherellus in Cosmopoeiam Annot.  form and void, Informity and Vacuity in the original, without inhabitants and without ornament, the Earth and Waters were joined together among themselves; the waters at first did encompass and cover the Earth round about, as it were a clothing and garment, Psal. 104. 6. Darkness was on the face of the deep; that is, the waters, which enclosed the earth in themselves.  
Vers. 3. There is an extraordinary Light mentioned; (the ordinary fountain of 
It is questioned whether this light was spiritual or corporeal, a Substance or Accident. Vide Fulleri Misc. sac. l 1. c 13 The out-spread thing Expansum in Latin, Estendue in French.  light is the Sun) which in what subject it did inhere is not certain: Some say water in the thinner parts of the Superficies, some the heavenly Spheres, others say the Element of fire: for that (say they) is either included under light, or we know not whether to refer it; and God created not accidents without subjects.  
The works of the second day were twofold:  
First, That most vast firmament, viz. that space between the Earth and Sky: The Hebrew word signifieth the extending of any thing, or the thing itself.  
Secondly, The division of the waters above, from the Waters below 
c This made some hold that there were waters above the Skies, as Br●ntias saith, alleging that place, Psal. 148. 4. The Schoolmen understand it of the crystalline Heaven. , that is of the clouds which are in the middle Region of the Air, from the Fountains, Rivers and Sea, which remain under the lowest Region. But by the name of Clouds and Waters above the Firmament, we may understand all the Meteors, both watery and fiery, which were created then in their causes, jer. 10. 13.  
The approbation given of other days, is here omitted in the Hebrew, not because Hell was created on this day, as the Hebrews 
d Mere. in Gen. Vide Voss. ●c orig. & progress. Idol. l. 2. c. 67.  say: but because this work of distinguishing the waters was yet imperfect and finished on the third day.  
The work of the third day was threefold.  
First, The conflux, or gathering of the waters below into one place in regard 
Eccles. 1. 7. Job 26. 10. & 38. 13. Psal. 104. 9  of the greater part of them, called Sea, that so they might not overflow the Earth: and by this command of Gods, they still continue so: Luther said well, that all a man's life upon the Earth is as great a miracle, as the Israelites passing thorough the red Sea.  
Secondly, The drying of the earth, to make it habitable, and fit for nourishing plants and living creatures.  
Thirdly, The producing of Herbs and Trees of all kinds.  
The works of the fourth day were, the Lights both greater, as Sun and Moon; and lesser, as the other Stars, placed in the Heavens as certain receptacles or vessels, wherein the Lord did gather light, which before was scattered in the whole body of the Heavens.  
Secondly, The use of them; they were to give light to the world, to distinguish the Night from the Day, the Day from the Week; as also to distinguish seasons, 
Gen. 8. 22. Pallida luna pluit, rubicunda stat, alba serenat. Rogue soir & blanc matin, Cest le plaisir du Pelerin. S●●● Pliny's Nutural Hist. lib. 18. cap. 35. See josephus, and Luke 21. 25.  Summer and Winter, Spring and Autumn, Seedtime and Harvest. They are Signs:  

1. Natural: By them we may guess of the Wether, Matth. 16. 2, 3. from the colour and figure of the Moon, some will conjecture what weather is like to be.  
2. Civil: Husbandmen, Gardeners, Fishermen, Mariners, gather observations from them.  
3. Ecclesiastical: To know the New Moons, and strange apparitions in them are signs of God's anger, as extraordinary Eclipses 
c As at Christ's Death, which Eclipse Dionysius Areopagita, a great Astronomer, beholding, and little knowing of Christ's Death, cried out, Aut Deus naturae patitur, aut mundi machina dissolvetur. , blazing-stars.   
The works of the fifth day; were,  
The Fishes of the Sea, and Fowls of the Air, divers in nature, shape, qualities; virtues and manners of living: the fishes were appointed to increase, multiply, and fill the waters: and the fowls to increase, multiply, and fly in the air.  
The work of the sixth day is twofold:  

1. All terrestrial bruit creatures, Beasts 
f The Beasts of the earth are here distinguished into three ranks. 1. cattle, that is, all tame and domestical Beasts. 2. Creeping things, whereby are understood those which have no feet. as Serpents, or those which have but very short feet, as Worms, Ants. 3. Beasts, whereby are understood all wild Beasts, which have their name from life in the Hebrew. The Jewish Rabbins gather from Gen. 1. 27. that the first man was both Man and Woman, both Male and Female, an Hermaphrodite. Paget of Talmud. Alleg. cap. 1. , Cattle, and every thing which creepeth upon the earth in their kind, having virtue and power from God to increase and multiply.  
2. Man, Male and Female, Adam's body of the dust of the Earth, viz. that he might have in his own bosom an argument and incentive of humility, lest for his excellency he should wax proud against God; Eves body out of a rib of Adam, for a sign of most near conjunction, and love betwixt man and wife. The Creation ceased in man, as in the Masterpiece of God's skill, and as in the end to which all other things were destinate. For all other Creatures, by the bounty of the Creator, were to serve Adam, as their Lord and Prince.    

CHAP. III. Of the Creation of the Heavens, the Angels, the Elements, Light, Day and Night.  
I Shall now insist more largely on the particular Creatures, and draw some 
All Philosophy is in the first Chapter of Genesis; Basil, Ambrose, Zanchy, Plotinus, have drawn Discourses of Philosophy hence. Du Bartas hath most excellently described the Creation of the world in his Week. Ronsard being asked, what he thought of that Book, answered wittily, Mounsieur Du Bartas à plus fait en une Sepmaine que je n'ay fait en toute ma vie: Bartas hath done more in one week, than I have done in all my life.  Consectaries from them, saying little of the reasonable Creatures, Angels and Men; because I intent more fully to treat of them by themselves.  
The Creation of the Heavens is a great and wonderful work of God; the Heavens were not always, neither came they by chance, or any other way, but by the wonderful power of God creating them. So the Scripture telleth us often, Psal. 102. 15. Isa. 40. 12. & 22. & 42. 5. & 45. 2. & 48. 13. God frequently challengeth to himself the glory of this exceeding great work, alleging it as an effect of his wonderful power and greatness. The excellency and greatness of this work appears in divers things:  

1. The Abstruseness of the matter.  
2. The Perfection of the form.  
3. The exceeding hugeness of its Quantity.  
4. The height of it.  
5. It's swift motion.   
Lastly, The excellent Usefulness of it for the Creatures here below, and all other things contained in it.  
First, The Matter of the Heavens is dark and hidden, and goes beyond the power of mortal Creatures, certainly to determine of it. Philosphers know not what to say here; some of them do think, that the upper Heavens are made of the same matter with these inferior bodies; and some again do deny it, and think it consists of another, which they call the fifth Essence; because they perceive it to be of such different working and qualities from the things below.  
Secondly, The Perfection of the Figure 
g Among all Geometrical Figures, the Spherical, or the round is the most perfect, & amongst all natural bodies, the heaven is the most excellent. It was therefore good reason the most beautiful body should have the most perfect and exquisite shape. Mr Pemble.  of the Heavens, and all the Stars of Heaven doth marvellously grace it: For it is of an Orbicular or round form, a circle encompassing the earth and waters round, which is of itself also for the main Orbicular; and this concerning the Stars our senses do declare, and concerning the whole Heavens the motions of the Stars, which our eye doth tell us: for the Sun riseth every Morning over against the place it did set the Evening before, and so evinceth that its course is round 
h The Earth it round but not precisely: there are Hills like Warts, and Valleys like Wrinkles in a man's body. Exact roundness it not found in any body but the Heavens. : The round figure is the most beautiful, strong, perfect and capacious figure, and this may mind us of God's Infiniteness, Perfection, and Unchangeableness.  
Thirdly, Consider the hugeness of its 
i How else could it contain the Sun, Moon & Stars, in convenient distance from the Earth, one from another. Prov. 25. 3. The Philosophers think that the highest Heaven must be their Primum mobile, because they find no motion beyond, it is not necessary that every heaven must move.  Quantity: for who can measure the backside of Heaven? or tell how many miles space that mighty Circle doth contain? The Globe of Earth and Water is very great, but all that is, as it were, an undiscernible point, compared to the whole Globe of Heaven: how incomprehensibly great is he which hath made a building so great? The whole circuit of the heavens, wherein are the fixed Stars, is reckoned by Astronomers to be a thousand and seventeen millions of miles at least.  
Fourthly, It is a high and stately building, job 22. 12. an hundred and sixty millions 
k Mr Greenhill on Ezek. pag. 104.  of miles high from Earth to Heaven: It is so far by the Astronomers rules. It is a wonder (saith 
l Bishop Hall in his Contemplations on the Creation. Vide Vossium Orig. & Progress. Idol. lib. 2. cap. 35.  one) that we can look up to so admirable a height, and that the eye is not tired in the way. If this ascending line could be drawn right forward, some that have calculated curiously, have found it five hundred years' journey unto the starry Heaven. 
* Vide Fulleri Miscellanea, lib. 1. cap. 15. Insita à Deo vis quae in Scriptures saep● appellatur praeceptum Domini est causa motus.  This putteth us in mind of the infinite mercy and goodness of God, Psal. 103. 3. and of his Majesty; The highest Heavens are a fit Palace for the most High, Psal. 104. 3.  
Fifthly, It's admirable swift Motion and Revolution in four and twenty hours, which our conceits cannot follow; teacheth us, that God is far more swift and ready to help us in our need. A Bullet out of a Musket flies swiftly, it will sly an hundred and eighty miles an hour according to its motion. The Sun moves swifter, 
m Mr Greenhill ubi supra.  1160000 miles in one hour; the fixed Stars some of them two and forty millions of miles each hour.  
Macrobius saith by Hercules the driver a way of evils, is meant the Sun, whence Porphyry interprets those twelve labours of his so often celebrated by the Poets, to be the twelve Signs of the Zodiac yearly run thorough by the Sun. The Philosophers have ascribed certain intelligences to the Orbs to move them, but there is no 
Philosophers say, the Heavens work up on Inferior bodies by three instruments, viz. L●●ht, Motion, ●●iluence. The Ancients speak of the music of the Spheres, caused, as they conceived, by their circumvolution, audible as they affirmed, but not heard, or rather not discerned, because we heard it always. Philo saith it is not audible to us men, and the reason why God would not have it audible, he faith is, left men ravished with the sweetness of it, should give over all care and thought of worldly affairs. Casaub. Treatise of Use and Custom, p. 53. 55.  warrant for it in Scripture; they say the Orbs move regularly, which cannot be without some understanding mover: there is the same order in inferior creatures, and that which worketh by nature worketh equally always. Archimedes the great Mathematician did make Sphaeram automatam, a Sphere to move itself, which many yet imitate. Poterit ergo sine angelis movere sphaeram suam homo, non poterit Deus? saith Ludovicus Vives, Vossius also denies it.  
Lastly, the use of it is admirable, the motion of the heavenly bodies is the cause of generation and corruption here below: if they should cease moving, the being of sublunary bodies would cease. The inferior heavens are fitted for the generation of Meteors, Rain, Snow, Thunder, Lightning, by their fit distance as it were from the Earth and Stars. Here is room for the making and showing of them all. The lower part of it also, by reason of its thinness and subtlety, is fit for the flying of Birds, and for the breathing and the living of man and beast; and it is fitted to be enlightened by the Sunbeams, and to receive that illumination and heat, without which the Creatures here below could not subsist, and the stars, chiefly the Sun, are placed at a convenient distance; and it is sitted for the swift motion of the heavenly bodies, in regard of its rarity and subtleness, which if it were thick and gross, could not have so speedy a passage through, or about the same; especially the highest heavens are fitted for the in habitation of those immortal persons; some of which do, and others shall inhabit a being so spacious, bright, and every way glorious, that the multitude of those happy persons may have space enough to see the beauty of God.  
The Philosophers divide the Region of the world into two Regions, the Celestial, and Elementary Region. The Celestial, they divide into divers Orbs, or Globes: for the Heaven of heavens, sedes Beatorum, the seat of the blessed Saints and Angels, they had little knowledge of, if any at all. The first movable, as they termed it, the highest Orb, by the unspeakable swift circumrotation of which, they thought all the other Orbs were carried from East to West, in the space of 24 hours. This is the tenth Globe or Orb; the next they call the Crystalline or watery Orb, because it is clear bright, and apt to shine through as water. 
a Some say the Orbs are contiguous each to other, and closely enfold each other as the skins of an onion contain one another; and others think there is no such variety or multitude of Orbs, but alone one first movable, in which they conceive the fixed stars to be placed, and they think the planets move not in Orbs but of themselves, as birds fly in the air.  The next is the Starry heaven, which hath eight Spheres, one for the fixed Stars, and seven other for the Planets, each Planet having (as they say) his distinct Orb. Saturn is the uppermost, next jupiter, than Mars, in the midst the Sun, than Venus, next Mercury, the last and lowest of all is the Moon. So is the division of the heavenly Region; the Elementary they divide into the region of fire next to the Moon, and of air next to that; and that they distinguish into three Regions, the highest, middle, and lowest; then that of the Water and Earth, compounded together; so they: But now the Scriptures divide the World into two parts, Heaven, and Earth, as you read in the first words of the Bible, In the beginning God made Heaven and Earth. By Earth, it meaneth this Globe of Earth and Water, where Men, Beasts, and Fishes are. By Heaven, all the space from the Earth upward; and of this Heaven it maketh three parts:  
1. The highest Heaven, the Heaven of Heavens, 1 Kings 8. 27. the habitation of God himself, and all his Saints and Angels, john 14. where God reveals his glorious presence to them for ever. This is called by Paul the third Heaven, 2 Cor. 12. 4. for its situation, above the Air and Sky, both which have the name of Heaven, and Paradise 
b It is called the Paradise of God, Rev. 2. 7. , 2 Cor. 12. 4. because the earthly Paradise was a figure of it; and because it is a place of endless joy and pleasure.  
2. The Starry 
c It is called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is altogether shining, because of the great number of stars in it. The Sanctum Sanctorum was laid within with gold, a most glorious place, and the type of Heaven.  Sky, where the Stars are; it is described ie job to be firm as a molten Looking-glass.  
3. The lower Heavens; all that place above our heads to the Starry Heaven. Hence the clouds are called the clouds of Heaven, and the Fowls of Heaven, and Birds are said to fly in the face of the Heavens.  
Every one is to fall out with himself, and blame himself for slighting and neglecting the consideration of this work, that offers itself so constantly to our eyes, 
Psal. 104. 2. There he alludes to Gen. 1. 6. Let there be a Firmament or stretching forth. God made the heavens with as great ease as one can stretch out a curtain when it is folded up. Anaxagoras, ●um ab ●o quaerer●tur, ●ujus rei causa natus esset, respondit, Coeli ac Solis v●●●●●i Hanc vo●●m ●●●irantur omnes, ac Philosopho dignam jud●cant. At ego hunc puto non invenientem quid responderet, esfudisse hoc passim, ne taccret quod quidem secum, si sapi●us suisset, commentatum, & meditatum habere debuit: quia si quis rationem sui neseiat, non homo sit quidem. Sed putemus non ●o tempore dictum illud effusum. Vid●amus in tribus verbis quot & quanta peccaverit: Primum, quod omne hominis officium in solis oculi● posuit, nihil ad mentem reserens, sed ad corpus omnia, etc. Lactant. Divin. Instit. l. 3. de falsa Sapientia.  even this so curiously wrought Curtain, which God hath spread forth, especially let us blame ourselves for not seeing God in the workmanship of heaven; that we take not notice of him, as the Author of it, and raise our hearts higher than the heavens, to him that measures them forth as with a Span: we should believe that he is so Great, Good, and Wise, as this Heaven proclaimeth him the Maker thereof to be. Let us see and bewail this blindness; there is no place in the earth, which hath not the Heavens spread over it. Oh that we could put ourselves in mind of him that did spread out the Heavens, and remember, that be sees us every where; for where any work of his is to be seen, surely there is himself to be seen; and there he sees all things that are there; especially, let us learn to press this knowledge upon our will and affections, that it may be get in us obedience, love, fear, joy, confidence, and other holy virtues; without which, all talking, yea and thinking of God, is idle and fruitless. Let us press ourselves to become subject to him, who hath the heavens at command, because he made them, to love him that hath form, for our use, so excellent an house, so richly vaulted above; see the invisible things of him that made all in these things which you behold, thy conversation should be there where Christ is, Col. 3. There is thy Father's house, thine own Country, thy inheritance. It is a great deal of comfort to God's people, that have such a Father, who can so easily stretch out Heaven, trust in him for houseroom, that can build a world with so much ease.  
For the Angels (because I intent to speak more largely of them afterwards) I 
Consectaries f●om the Angels. Angel● non sunt praetermissi in illa prima rerunt creatione, sed significantur nomine coeli, aut etiam lucis. Ideo autem vel praetermissi sunt, vel nominibus rerum corporalium significati. Quia Moses rudi populo loquebatur, qui nondum capere poterat incorpoream naturam. Et si else fuiss●● expressum aliquas res esse super omnem naturam corporcam, fuisset eis occasio idololatriae, ad quam proni erant, & à qua Moses ●os praecipuè revocare intendebat. Aquin. prima parte Quaest 61. Artic. 1.  shall here only answer one question about them.  
Why are they not spoken of in the Creation, where man and beasts are mentioned, and why is not the special day named wherein they were made?  
Answ. Not so much, for fear the Jews, a people prone to Idolatry, should have worshipped them: for then by the same reason Moses should have forborn to have mentioned them in the whole story of Genesis, which was published at the same time, and to the same people, that the first part of it: but it may be to give us to understand, that God did not use any of their help in the Creation, and had no need of them at all, but made the whole world without them, or because he relates the making of sensible things 
* Quia Moses ruditati se nostrae accommodare voluit, ideo quae altiora nostro captu erant praetermissis, ●a tantùm commemoravit quae sub oculis sunt. Zanchius de Symb. Apost. Ego Mosen puto voluisse populo creationem rerum aspect abilium proponere, & nihil de invisibilibus dicers, unde in toto sex dicrum opere ne unius quidem invisibilis Creaturae mentionem fecit. Mercerus in Gen. 1. 1. ide● habet in caput secundum versum primum; & idem habet Par●us. Vide Menass. Ben. Isr. Probl. 25. & 26. de Creatione.  only, but that they were created, appears, Col. 1. 16.  
The Scripture hath not so clearly expressed the precise time and day of their Creation, 
Vide Aquia. Partem primam Quaest 6●. Artic. 4. Gen. ●. 1. Job 38. 7.  therefore Ambrose and Danaeus confess that they know not when they were created. But it is probable they were made with the highest Heaven, the first day of the week.  
As man was then first made, after his habitation the earth was made and adorned; so it is probable that the Angels were made together in a great multitude, after the Heavens their habitation was finished. Chemnit in loc▪ common.  
Gen. 2. 1. The heavens and all the host of them. It is plain from job 38. 7. that they were made before the Earth. When God laid the foundations of the earth, and laid the Corner▪ stone thereof: then the Sons of God (that is, the Angels, job 17.) shouted for joy.  
An Element is that whereof any thing is compounded, and itself uncompounded. 
See Sir Kenelm Digbies Treatise of Bodies, ch. 4. The Germane Erred and the English Earth as the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Each element is superior to other, not more in place then dignity.  
The dry land is called earth, which is a firm, cold, and dry Element, round and heavy, hanging unmovably in the midst of the world, fit for habitation.  
The Psalmist describes the creation of the earth, Psal. 104 5. Who hath laid the foundation of the earth, or founded the earth upon his Basis, that it should not be iremoved for ever. The earth is the heaviest and lowest element. It is so made that it doth stand firm in its place, so that neither the whole earth is moved out of its place, nor yet the great parts of it. This is an exceeding wonderful work of God to settle the earth so upon certain foundations, that it is not shaken out of its place. Take a little piece of earth not bigger than ones fist, ●ay then ones eye, or the apple of it: hold it up in the air, let it fall, it will never cease moving till it come to lie upon some solid body, that it may hold up and stay the motion of it. Now how 
A Base is the lowest part of a pill●r. Nec circumfuso pendebat in acre tellus ponderibus librata suis. Ovid. met. Carpenter in his first book of Geog. ch. 4. saith, the earth's circular motion is probable. Copernicus' said, that the earth moved, and the heavens stood still. See more of this after about day and night. And in Fuller's Miscel, Sac. l. 1. c. 15. At terram (quae immota in perpetuum manet) locum mutare incongruum puto & rationi rect●e contrarium: non moror ingeniosa Copernici commenta, quae nervosè convellit Libert. Fromondus in sua vesta; ubi Copernici, Galilei, Kepleri, Moestlivi, Lanbergii Hortensii sophismata ad examen revocat, & suam terrae quietem restituit. Barlow Exercit. 6. Aristotle would have Earthquakes to proceed from a spirit or vapour included in the bowels of the earth (2d. of his meteors 7 ch.) which finding no way to pass out, is enforced to turn back, and barred any passage out, seeks every corner: and while it labours to break open some place for going forth, it makes a tumultuous motion which is the Earthquake. It is 1. Universal, which shakes the whole earth in every part, at least in the upper face, the cause whereof is not natural, but the immediate and miraculous power of God; such a one happened at our Saviour's passion. 2. Particular, that which is limited to some one or more particular places. What Thunder is in the clouds, the Earthquakeiss in the Earth.  is it, that this whole lump of earth, the whole body I say of the earth hangeth fast in the wide and open air, and doth not sway and move now hither and now thither? what is it that holdeth it up so steadfast in the very midst of the air? It is God's work who hath founded it on his Basis that it cannot be moved. This work is often mentioned in the Scripture, job 26. 7. There is nothing which might hold it up, and yet behold it hangeth still and quiet, as if it had some pillar or base upon which to rest itself. The Lord doth in larger words commend it to the consideration of job, when himself comes to speak with him, job 38. 4. & 6. God there compareth himself to a builder that lays the foundation, and then sets up the building by line and measure, and convinceth job of his weakness, that knoweth not how this earth should be set up or founded, whereas the Lord himself effected this building long before job was. David telleth of it, Psal. 24. 2. as a ground of God's right unto it, and to all things that are in it: for saith he, He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. And Solomon mentions it, Prov. 8. 29. and 30. 4. Eccles. 1. 4. This is a great work, because it is both necessary and unsearchable. It is necessary, for it is the cause of the order of things in all the world, and of their not being jumbled and confounded together. If the lowest part of any building be not firm, all that is built upon it will totter and tumble, and come down quickly: so if the earth, this lowest part of the world should shake or reel, and be apt to move hither and thither, the things that be upon it by nature, or that are built upon it by the workmanship of man, could not possibly subsist or endure, Rivers and Channels would be daily altered, dry ground would ever and anon become Sea, and Sea dry ground: trees would often totter and fall, or else be changed from place to place: buildings and houses would still be falling and tumbling down off the earth, did it not keep its own room: nay heaven and earth would come together, utter confusion would overcome the face of the earth, and men, beasts, and all things below would come to nothing. So needful it was for this great Architect to set the Cornerstone of the earth fast, firm, and immovable▪ But the cause of it is unsearchable, who can find out to the full, the reason of this so necessary a work? Every heavy thing we see must have something to keep it up, something on which to rest itself, that it may go no further but abide where it is: but what doth this earth rest on? How is it held so even in the very midst, and sweyed neither one way nor another? who can tell me a full, just, satisfactory reason in nature? We must not think that God doth hold it up by an immediate, violent, supernatural, or miraculous working, but in a natural way, by ordering the principles of nature so, that they shall necessarily concur to effect this settledness. Philosophers give this reason of it, they say, the simple bodies were made, some of a light, subtle, thin, and spiritual nature: and their property is to ascend, to go upward still, so as the light still flies higher; and some of a more gross, thick, and heavy nature, and the property of these is to move downward, and still the heavier to make itself a way through the lighter, and to press toward the Centre, that is the middle point of the whole round of the world; for it must be confessed that the world is round. Wherefore seeing every part and portion of the earth presseth toward the very middle point of all, it cannot be, but that all must stand fast in the midst, seeing each part thronging the other, and leaning upon the other toward the very middle: all will be quiet if the parts be even poised. But now how heavy things should be made so to move toward the Centre, and how each part should so evenly move, and a number of other questions more, let them answer that are able, especially seeing the earth doth not carry in itself to sense, a perfect, even, and smooth roundness, it is hard then to answer to the question which God propounded to job, Upon what be the sockets of it fastened? It is a work of God exceeding our capacity, and must therefore quicken and call up our admiration.  
We should blame ourselves for so seldom putting ourselves in mind of this great work, to stir up ourselves to magnify the Author of it, and make it an argument of our blessing his Name, for which David speaketh of it, Psal. 104. or of humbling ourselves before him in acknowledgement of his power and wisdom, and of our weakness and folly, to which end it is mentioned in other places, or indeed to any good purpose of informing ourselves the better, either of his nature or our duty. Oh how brutish and blockish are we! So strange and so mighty a work is done and continued in our sight, here it was done before I was here, and here it will remain and be continually done after I am gone hence. I enjoy the benefit of it as well as any other, and with all others, and yet when did I take it into consideration? When did I once offer it to the serious meditation of my mind? When did I say to myself, How doth this great ball of earth remain unmoveable in the midst of this wide and spacious Heaven? Why doth it not reel or totter toward the North or South, the East or West, or now upward, now downward? What hand doth hold it up, and that so steadfastly, that for thousands of years it hath not moved? surely some potent and intelligent workman hath in such a wonderful manner reared up and founded this building. This is he whom we call God; why do I not fasten in myself a more sure and firm notion of his being, and a more lively, firm, and effectual acknowledgement of his excellency?  
We are worthy of great blame that have scarce ever directed our minds to the contemplation and fruitful meditation of this great act of God among the rest, for any good, spiritual, and holy intent. Scholars sometimes in their Philosophical studies stumble upon these questions, and set their wits on work to find out the natural reason of them, but alas in how unsanctified a manner, so as not at all to enforce the thing upon their souls, for making of them more thankful and obedient! But for the plain man that is no Scholar, though he have wit enough for all things else, yet he hath no wit to enter upon these cogitations: and when he findeth the matter so far above his reach, yet to tell himself that this is one of God's works, and so to call on himself to fear, know, and obey him, this, this is that we must every man lament in himself, as a just and due cause why the Scripture should ascribe brutishness unto us, and we unto ourselves, and why we should present ourselves before the divine Majesty with bashful and lowly confessions of our wrong done to God, in robbing him of the honour due unto him for his works which ourselves have the fruit of. Secondly, to ourselves, in depriving ourselves of the best and most excellent fruit of them, which is to be led by them above themselves unto him.  
This may exhort every one of us to take this work of God from David, and to make it as it were our theme, or the object of our meditations. Whosoever applieth himself to raise up such thoughts, shall find a great unaptness in himself, and a kind of weariness to them with a vehement inclination to entertain other ●●ncies, and the Devil will take occasion hence to dissuade him from doing the duty at all, as if it were as good omit it, as perform it so weakly: it is a fal●e tale which Satan tells, for God hath promised acceptance to the weakest endeavours, in calling himself a Father, but to accept of the non-performance he hath never promised, for even a Father cannot do that.  
Lastly, we must learn to seek unto God, and trust in him for spiritual stability of grace in our souls, and must thus importune him. Lord, when there was never an earth, thou mad'st one, and didst lay the foundation of it so sure, that no force nor skill can move it. O, thou canst also create a frame of holiness in my heart and soul, and so establish, settle, and confirm it that it shall never be mov●d. I beseech thee do it, and trust that th●u wilt do this as thou hast done the former. One prime use to which we must improve these natural benefits, is to quicken our prayers, and confirm our faith in begging, and expecting such as are spiritual. When God will confirm the faith of his people, and win them to call upon him for good things, he puts them in mind of these wonders in nature, they must make use of them therefore for this purpose. 
Exod. 17. 6. Numb. 20. ●. 1 King. 3. 16, ●0.   
The second Element is water 
* Aqua, quasi ●qua, of the equal and plain face and superficies thereof, or as Lactantius, quasi à qua ●ata sunt omnia, because hence all things are bred and nourished. Because waters are either without motion, as in Lakes, or of an uniform motion, as in Rivers; or divers, as in the Sea; the Heathen ascribed a Trident, or threefold Sceptre to Neptune, their supposed Sea-God. Purchas. Pilgrimage, l. 5. c. 13. sect. 1. Lysimachu● (in Plutarch's Apothegms) for great thirst yielded up himself and his army, and being captive, when he drank, said he, O d●●, quam brevis voluptatis gratia ●e ●x r●ge feci ser●um. , so necessary a creature, as nothing can be more dangerously or uncomfortably wanting to the life of man. It is an Element moist in some degree, and cold in the highest, therefore it cools the body, and tempers the heat that it grow not excessive. It hath manifold uses constantly. Triplex maxime aquarum est usus, in irrigando, in abluendo, in navigando, Vossius.  
1. We and our cattle drink of it, and neither can continue without water or something made of it, our bread must be kneaded with it, and our meat boiled with it.  
2. It serves to wash our bodies and the apparel we wear: if our hands and feet were never washed, what an evil smell should we carry about?  
3. It makes the earth fruitful. The Husbandman looseth his labour, if after sowing there come no rain; it is  
1. Of large and common use, no Country can want it, neither rich nor poor, man nor beast.  
2. Of constant use, we must have it daily, or something made of it, and our beasts also.  
3. Very profitable, we drink it, and wash with it, and our meat is prepared by it, and beasts drink it.  
Because of so many good things in water, God himself in his word hath so often compared the grace of his Spirit with it, Isa. 55. 1. john 4. 14. Rev. 22. 17. Divine grace purgeth the soul from sin, extinguisheth the heat of anger, lust, and other perturbations, satisfies the desires of the soul thirsting after God.  
It reprehends us, that so ungratefully enjoy and devour this benefit without lifting our hearts up to God, and praising him for it; A secret Atheism prevails in our hearts, which is the cause of this great blockishness and ingratitude, and corrupts all things to us, and forfeits them, and provokes God's justice against us, Say, Lord, thou mightest justly choke me for the time to come, for want of water, that have not been particularly thankful to thee for this mercy. We should bring in the parcels of God's goodness for bread, water, fire; when thou washest thy hands, let thy heart be lifted up to God that made the Element; Stay, O that I could praise, love, and obey him, that hath done this for me.  
The usefulness, abundance, and easiness to come by; doth highly commend this benefit, and the giver of it, showing water to be very good, and ourselves much beholding to him that giveth it.  
Anciently, in th●se warmer Countries especially, water was the usual drink of men; therefore in the description of the cost of families in house-keeping, when we read of so many Oxen and Sheep slain, and so much meal and fine flower, we read not of any wine; which would have been mentioned, if it had been usually drunk.  
3. The Air or all the void place between the clouds and the earth, giving breath of life to all things that breathe, this is the third Element, light and subtle, moving upward, not downward, because it hath no heaviness in it.  
It is divided into three regions or stages. The highest is said to be exceeding hot, and also dry, because it is near the fiery Element and Stars, by the force of whose beams it receiveth the heat, which is much increased by following the motions of the Heavens. The lowest region is (they say) hot and moist: hot by the reflection of the Sunbeams meeting with the earth, and moist from its own proper nature, and by reason of the vapours exhaled out of the earth and water: or rather it is variable; now hot, now cold, sometime temperate, differing according to times and seasons of the year, and places also, or several climates. The middle region of the air, is cold in respect of the two other, because it cannot follow the motions of the Heavens (as the upper region doth) being hindered by the tops of mountains. 2. Being free from the reflex beams of the Sun, by which the lower region of the air is made hot.  
The air is most thin, without light or colour, but apt to receive heat, light 
The qualities and use of the Air.  and cold, heavier than the fire, lighter than the earth or water, placed in the midst of them, fit for breathing, seeing, smelling and moving.  
This Element also leads us to God. For 1. It truly and really subsisteth though it be not seen: So also the Lord, the Maker of it, hath a real, but invisible existence. 2. It is every where within and without us, so is God every where present. 3. It is the preserver of my life, and we may say of it truly, as the Apostle of 
Act. 17. 28.  God himself, in it (under God) we live, move, and have our being.  
4. Fire, which is (some say) to be understood in light, an adjunct and quality 
Fire is a most subtle Element, most light, most hot, most simple, and immixed. Therefore the Persians worshipped fire as a god, The Chaldeans adored Ur, and the Romans worshipped holy fire. Vide Vossium de orig. & progress. Idol. l. 2. c. 64, 65, 66.  of it, Scaliger would prove a fiery Element because fire tends thither. First, God made the Elements of the Earth and Water, which in Geography make one Globe. Others say light neither is that Element, nor proceeds from it, but the Sun: however I shall handle it here among the works of the first day.  
Without light Gods other works could not have been discovered by men. Light is an excellent work of God, tending to manifest his excellency to men, it is a comfortable thing to behold the light, Psal. 104. 2. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, that is, createdst the light: thereby showing his excellency as a man doth by making and wearing a rich and glorious suit of clothes: he made and doth maintain the light in its perfection.  
God expresseth his greatness above job, in that he could not make light, nor 
Job 38. 19 24. Bonaventure hath seven opinions, de quidditate luminis, it is an old saying, Non constat ex lumine natur● quid sit natura luminis.  knew not what it was, q. d. job, thou art a mean Creature, thou dost not create nor order the light, neither dost thou know the nature and working of it. The greatness of this work appears principally by two considerations.  
1. The hidden, abstruse, and difficult nature of it. Philosopher's cannot tell 
See Sir Walter Ral●gh's history of the world, l. 1. c. 1. Sect. 7. If this light be not spiritual, it approacheth nearest unto spirituality: and if it have any corporality, then of all other the most subtle and pure; for as it is of all things seen the most beautiful and of swiftest motion: so it is most necessary and beneficial. Sir Walter Ralegh. It is a great paradox to think light to be a body, which yet is maintained by Sir Kenelm Digby in his Treatise of bodies. But that light should be a spiritual substance, is much more absurd, for how then should it be visible. Vide Aquin. partem primam Quaest 66. Art. 1, 2, 3.  what to say of it, whether it be a substance or accident: and if a substance, whether corporeal or incorporeal and spiritual, it is a quality (say they) which makes other things visible: that is the effect of it. This word, light, in English, signifieth both that which the Latins call lux. and that which they call lumen, which yet are two distinct things: The first being in the Sun or Moon properly, the second in the air, and an effect of the other.  
Some think that it is a substance, and one of the simple substances, which they call Elements; of which compounded substances are made, by mixing them together; and is nothing but the Element of fire, which Philosophers speak of▪ being more subtle then the air. And as the water compassed the earth, and the air the water, so did light the air, and was far greater than the air, as that was then the water and earth, so as this is the highest of all the Elements. See Sir Kenelm● Digb. Treatise of Bod. c. 7.  
2. It is very useful, needful, and beneficial; For first it carrieth heat in it, and conveigheth heat, and the celestial influences unto all other things. 2. It distinguisheth day and night each from other: without it, what were the world but a dungeon?  
3. It is exceeding necessary for the dispatch of all business.  
4. To make the beautiful works of God visible, Heaven and Earth, and dissipate those sad thoughts and sorrows, which the darkness both begetteth and maintaineth.  
1. We cannot see light without light, nor know God without his teaching. 
Consectaries.   
2. This serves to condemn ourselves which cannot see God in this light, though we see it with content, we should lament this blindness. When the day begins to peep in at your windows, let God come into your thoughts, he comes clothed and thus attired, tell yourselves how beautiful and excellent he is.  
3. It may exhort us to labour to raise up our hearts to God in hearty thankfulness 
The eye cannot see any thing without a double light Lumine innato, an inward light in the Crystalline humour of the eye. 2. Lumine illato, an outward light in the air, and on the object  for the light, How merciful and gracious art thou, who givest me light and the sight of it! take heed of abusing it to sin, and thy eyes, whereby thou discernest it, especially magnify God that giveth you spiritual light, and sight. Christ is the light of the world; natural darkness is terrible, light comfortable, what is spiritual?  
Light is so pure, fair and clear, that nothing can pollute it, a resemblance of God's infinite purity.  
The creation of day and night, and the distinction and vicissitude of both, is the 
Gen. 1. 4, 5.  last thing in the first day's work.  
Day is the presence of light in one half of the world, and night the absence of 
The day is in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gentle or tame; because it is appointed for tame creatures, or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I desire, because it is to be desired. In Latin it is dies à Deo of God, as a divine thing. The night is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to strike, as in latin nox à nocendo of hurting.  it in the other. So that the dispute whether day or night were first, seems superfluous, seeing they must needs be both together: for at what time the light is in one half of the world, it must needs be absent from the other; and contrarily, for all darkness is not night, nor all light day: but darkness distinguished from light, that is night, and light distinguished from darkness, that is day; unless we will take day for the natural, not the artificial day; that is, the space of 24 hours, in which the Sun accompl●sheth his diurnal motion about the earth. Darkness is nothing but the absence of light. Night is the space of time in every place, when the light is absent from them. Day is the space of time in every place, when the light is present with them; it is not simply the presence of light, but presence of light in one half of the world, when the other is destitute of it; and night is not simply the absence of light, but the absence of it from one half of the world, when the other half enjoyeth it. God made the Sun the chief instrument of continuing the course of day and night for ever, by its diurnal and constant motion. This is a wonderful work of God, and to be admired.  
The Scripture notes it, The day is thine, and the night also is thine, saith the Psalmist, and the ordinances of day and night cannot be changed.  
The greatness of this work appeareth in the cause of it, and the beneficial effects.  
First, for the cause, it is the incredibly swift motion of the Sun which goeth round about the world in thes ace of 24. hours, that is, the space of 60 miles every hour in the earth, but how many thousand 60 miles in its own circle or circumference, for the earth is a very small thing, compared to the Sun. The body of the Sun is 166 times (as it is thought) greater then the earth, therefore the circumference that it goes must needs be at least so much larger than the compass of the Earth, therefore its course must needs be at least 160 times 60 miles every hour, 
This incredible swiftness gave occasion to C●pernicus and others to conceive the globe of the earth did rather move, and the Sun stand still. See Dr. Hackwels' Apology, and Carpen●ers Geography. Some think there is a greater probability the earth should move round once a day, then that the heavens should move with such an incredible swiftness, scarce compatible to any natural body. Others deny it, grounding their opinion upon Scripture, which affirms the earth to stand fast, so as it cannot be moved; and upon sense, because we perceive it not to move: and lastly upon reasons drawn from things hurled up, and let f●ll upon the earth. Mr. Pemble in his brief Introduction to Geography, p. 12. Vide Wi●helmi Langi de Annis Christi, l. 1. c. 2.  that is, almost 16000 miles every hour, that is, 166 miles every minute.  
The celerity of this motion * is incredible, it goes beyond the thoughts of a man to conceive distinctly of the passage through every place; if a man should divide the circumference of the circle of the Sun into certain parts, he could not so soon have thought of them, as the Sun runs through them. God doth this great work, it is thought to be caused by the turning round of the highest Sphere or the Firmament, which pulling along with itself the inferior Orbs, makes them to move according to its course: but who can give a reason why that Sphere itself should go so swiftly, even much more swiftly than the Sun, because it is far higher than the Sun, as much as that is higher than the earth: but the immediate power of God who doth move all in moving this one. But that God should make the Sun fulfil such a daily race to make day and night, it highly commends the work.  
Again, the usefulness of it is great: for if it should be in any place always night, what could they do? how should they live? How would any thing grow, seeing the nights are cold, light and heat being companions, and cold and darkness companions. If no light had been in the world, the world would not have been a place fit for living things. But if one half only of the world should have had light with it always, it would have caused excessive heat, and so would have burnt up and consumed all things, and been no less harmful than the defect of heat: but now the succession of one of these to the other, viz. light and heat to 
The night easeth the burden of the day; and the day driveth away the terror of the night.  darkness and cold, doth so temper them by a kind of mixture, that it is in such proportion in every place, as is necessary to bring forth all sorts of living things, especially the fruits of the earth. So God hath assigned such a way and race to the Sun, which by his presence makes day, and by his absence night, as was fit, and only fit for the quickening, enlivening, and comfort of every kind of living creature, so that upon this course the well-being, yea the very being almost of all things doth depend.  
We should lament and bewail our exceeding great blindness, that live day after 
Consectaries from day and night.  day, and night after night, and yet busy not ourselves about this work, nor se● God in it, though it be so constant as it was never stopped but twice s●nce the beginning of the Creation, viz. in Hezekiah's time by going back of the Sun, and in Ioshuah's time by stopping of the Sun for a certain time by the immediate power of God.  
We have the profit of the day and of the night, but neither in one nor other do we mark the wisdom, goodness, and power of God. In the night men rest 
Night is the time of rest. Sleep is the parenthesis of our troubles. Psal. 104. 20. 21, 22, 23.  and refresh their bodier with sleep, wild beasts than wake and hunt for their prey. In the day men and tame creatures make and dispatch their business, and eat and drink, and wild beasts than rest in their dens. God is still working for us, our thoughts are still idle towards him: their is a proof of our Atheism and estrangement from him; this is the blindness of our minds, a not being able to discern of things by discourse of reason, and the power of understanding; for the conceiving of which, just and plain reasons are offered unto us. There is a natural blindness of the eye, when it is unable to discern things by the light of the Sun: this 
Spiritual blindness.  is felt and complained of, but spiritual blindness of mind is, when it is unable to discern supernatural truths which concern the soul, and another and better life, by the use of reason, and help of those principles which are as light unto it: this is not felt nor lamented, but it is therefore not felt, because it is so natural to us, and because we brought it into the world. The beginning of the cure of spiritual blindness, is to see it: let us see it therefore, and be troubled at it; why do not I see God's great work in making night and day to succeed each other?  
Let us look up to God in this work, and meditate on it at fit times, in the morning so soon as we are awake, and begin to see the darkness vanquished, and the light conquering, and that the Sun is raised above our Horizon, and is come to visit our parts again, it were a fruitful thing to think thus. How great a journey hath the Sun gone in this little time wherein I have been asleep, and could observe nothing, and now returned again as it were to call me up? say, Lord, thou hast 
Sol exprobrat dormientem. Erasm.  made night, I have the benefit of it, and now light visits me. O that I could honour thee, and magnify thy power and the greatness of thy hand and use the light of the day to do the services that are required at my hand in my place. Again in the evening a little before we sleep, we should think of the great work of making 
Esay 40. 5. The glory of the Lord, that is, Christ in the doctrine of the Gospel: Shall be revealed, that is, made public and openly known: And all flesh shall see it, that is, men generally and universaliy in the far greater number, and in a manner all the Nations, Together, at one and the self same time.  day, for these many hours the Sun hath been within our sight, and showed its beams and light unto us, and hath run a long race for our good, bringing with it lightsome cheerfulness, the companion of the day. Now it is gone to the other part of the world to visit them, that God might show his goodness to one place as well as to another. Where a multitude of things concur to one effect, with which none of them in particular is acquainted, there we cannot but know that one common wisdom ruleth them all, and so it is in the working of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, to make the Seasons of the day and night, and of Summer and Winter, therefore some common wisdom must overrule all of them. There is a spiritual light in our Horizon: whereas Judaisme and Tur●isme is darkness, and Popery, a glimmering light. We should pray to God to give us spiritual light, and be thankful for it. He makes day and night also in respect of prosperity and adversity: weeping may continue for a night: this vicissitude keeps the soul in growth, in good temper, as the other is profitable for the body, pray to God to send. Christ to them which sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and vouchsafe to make it day with them as well as with us. He hath said in his word, that he will discover the glory of his Son, and all the earth shall see it together.   

CHAP. IU. Of some of the Meteors, but especially of the Clouds, the Rain, and the Sea, the Rivers, Grasse, Herbs, and Trees.  

BY the name of Clouds and Waters above the Firmament, Gen. 1. We may understand all Meteors both watery and fiery, which were then created in their causes, and so by clouds and winds, Psal. 104. 3. must be understood all the Meteors, the great works of God by which he showeth himself and worketh in this lower Heaven.  
They are called Meteors, because they are most of them generated aloft in 
* Meteora à loco, quia in sublimi regione pendent, Brierwood. There are three sorts of Meteors, one of fire, and hot, the other of ai●e or water, and cold, the other mingled. He sendeth snow like wool.  the air.  
Zanchius saith there are four sorts of Meteors, others make but three sorts.  

1. Fiery, which in the Supreme Region of the air are so inflamed by the fire, that they are of a fiery nature, as Comets, Thunder.  
2. Airy, which being begotten of dry vapours of the earth, come near the nature of air, as winds.  
3. Watery, which retain the nature of the water, as snow and rain.  
4. Earthly, which being begot of earthly vapours, are also digged out of the Earth, as metals, stones.   
The efficient cause is God, according to that of the Psalmist, hail, snow, ice, wind and storm do his will.  
The remote matter of the Meteors are Elements, the next matter are exhalations, which are twofold, fumus & vapour, smoke is of a middle nature between earth and fire, vapour between water and air. If it come from the earth or some sandy place, it is fumus a fume or kind of smoke: if it come from the water or 
Vapour est calidus & humidus, oriturque ex acre & aqua, exhalatio calida & sicca, oriturque ex igne & terra. Zab.  some watery place, it is a vapour.  
Vapours or exhalations are fumes raised from the water and earth by the heavenly bodies, into one of the three Regions of the air, whence divers impressions are form according to the quality and quantity of the exhalations.  
Thunder is a sound heard out of a thick or close compacted Cloud, which sound is procured by reason of hot and dry exhalations shut within the cloud: which seeking to get out with great violence rend 
a Like chestnuts or eggs breaking in the fire.  the cloud, from whence proceeds the tumbling noise which we call Thunder.  
The earth sends out partly by its own innate heat, and partly by the external heat and attraction of the Sun, certain hot and 
b Cum exhalatio Calida & sicca in nubibus occurrit humidae & frigidae, illam violenta eruptione perrumpit, atque ex hac collisione fragor oritur qui tonitru dicitur, atque accen●io & inflammatio exhalationis, quae fulgur nominatur. Arist. l. 2. Meteor. c. 2. & 8. Job 37. 4. 1 Sam. 7. 10. 29 Psal. per tot. & 18. 13. A winter's thunder is a summer's wonder. In Autumn or Spring are oftener meteors seen then in the summer and winter, except in such places where the Summer and Winter are of the temper of Spring and Autumn. Job 37. 1. to 6.  dry steams, which the Philosopher calls exhalations: and these going up in some abundance, are at last enclosed within some thick cloud, consisting of cold and moist vapours, which finding themselves straightened, do with violence seek a vent, and break through the sides or low part of the cloud. There is first a great conflict and combat there of the contrary qualities, a great rumbling and tumbling and striving of the exhalations within the cloud, until it break forth into a loud and fearful crack. Then the exhalation by its heat incensed in the strife, proves all on a flame as it comes in the air, and that is Lightning.  
Lastly, the exhalation falling down upon the earth is so violent, that sometimes it breaks trees, sometimes it singeth and burneth what it meets with, it kills m●n and living creatures, and in the most abundance of it, there is a Thunderbolt begotten through exceeding great heat hardening the earthly parts of it.  
God hath power over the Thunder. He commands it, rules it, orders it, for time, place, manner of working, and all circumstances, the Thunder in Egypt at the delivering of the Law proves this. Therefore in the Scripture it is called the voice of God, and the fearfulness and terribleness thereof is made an argument of the exceeding greatness of God, that can at his pleasure destroy his enemies even by the chiding of his voice; in Egypt he smote them with hail, lightning, thunder, and with stormy tempest.  
At the delivering of the Law, mighty thunderclaps made way to the Lords appearance, and were his harbingers to tell of his coming, and prepare the hearts of the people with exceeding great awfulness and obedience to receive directions from him. The Lord puts down job 40. 9 with this question, Canst thou thunder with a voice like God, speak terribly, and with as big and loud a voice as thou canst; and if thy voice be answerable to loud thunder, either in terribleness or loudness, then will I confess myself to be thy equal; and Elihu reasoned for God by consideration of this great work.  
David, Psal. 29. showeth the greatness of God in the greatness of this mighty sound. But it pleaseth God to effect this work, not immediately but mediately, using natural and ordinary causes according to his own good will and pleasure for the effecting thereof.  
There do arise from the ends of the earth as the Scripture speaks, that is, from all quarters of this inferior part of the world, consisting of earth and water, certain steams or fumes partly drawn up thence by the heat and influence of the Sun and other Planets or Constellations, partly breathed out of the earth by the natural heat thereof. Whereof some are hot and moist, being us it were of a middle nature betwixt water and air: some hot and dry being of a middle nature betwixt fire and air, as some Philosophers think, of which two, as of the matter, are 
Plutarch in the life of Flaminius reporteth that there was such a noise made by the Grecians after their liberty was restored, that the birds of the ai●e that flew over them were seen to fall down by reason that the air divided by their ●●y, was made so thin, that there was no strength in it to bear them up, therefore the thunder must needs rarify and make thin the air▪  brought forth these strange things which we see in the air, and among the rest, Thunder. Though thunder be first in nature, being by the violent eruption it makes out of the cloud the cause of fulgurations, yet we see first the lightning before we hear the Thunder, because of the swiftness of the fire above the air, and because the eye is quicker in perceiving its object then the ear.  
This is done for the benefit of the world, that by shaking of the air it might be purged and made fit for the use of man and beast, being cleansed from those ill and pestilent vapours, which otherwise would make it too thick, gross, and unwholesome for our bodies, for this is one special end of winds, thunders, and the like vehement works that are in the air, besides the particular work for which God assigneth them, and therefore with thunder likely is joined much rain, because the cloud is dissolved at the same time, and sometimes violent winds and tempests, because the exhalation inflamed, snatcheth with itself such windy fumes as it meets withal in the air, and so by violent stirring the air purgeth it, and openeth the parts of the earth by shaking and moving it.  
1. We must turn all this to a spiritual use, viz. to instruct us in the fear of him that is Lord of Hosts, who shows his greatness in these mighty deeds of his hand, to which purpose always the Scripture speaks of it, exhorting the mighty to give unto the Lord glory and strength in regard of this.  
2. We must observe God so in this and all his great works, as to cause our minds to increase in the knowledge of his excellency, and our hearts in the love and fear of him. All his works are therefore exhorted to praise him, because we by all should learn his praise and greatness. How able is God to destroy sinners! how quickly and in a moment can he bring them to ruin! let him but speak to the thunder, hail, tempest, and they will beat down and consume his adversaries before his face. O then tremble before him.  
3. We must learn to put our confidence in God, and boldly to promise ourselves deliverance when he promiseth it. 
If it be a great cloud it is called nubes, if but a little one, it is called nubecula, ab obnubendo, operiendo coelum. The clouds are called the bottles of heaven, job 38. 37. The windows and floodgates of heaven, Gen. 7. 11. & Mal. 3. 10. the fountains of the deep, Prov. 8. 28. and the watery roof of God's chambers, Psal. 104. 3. The pavilion, chariot, and treasure of the Lord, Psal. 18. 11. 2 Sam. 32. 12. swaddling bands for the Sea, job 38. 9 The cloud is a thick & moist vapour drawn up from the earth by the heat of the Sun to the middle region of the air, and by the coldness there further thickened, so that it hangeth, until either the weight or some rosolution cause it to fall down. Mr. Perkins on Judas 12.   
God is wonderful in making and ruling the clouds. This is a work which God doth often allege in Scripture to prove his greatness, job 37. 26. He binds the waters in a garment, Prov. 30. 4. that is, makes the Clouds. How as it were by an even poising of one part with the other God makes these Clouds to hover a great while over the earth before they be dissolved, is a thing worthy admiration, and greatly surpasseth our knowledge, job 38. 34. Psal. 14. 78. and Prov. 8. 28. Psalm 104. 3. The cloud is water rarified drawn upward till it come to a cold place, and then it is thick, and drops down.  
They are but nine miles (say some) from the earth, but they are of unequal height, and are lower in Winter then in Summer, when the Sun hath the greater force, than they ascend higher, and in his smaller force they hang the lower. Vide Vossium de orig. & progress. Idol. l. 2. c. 83.  
Let us consider the causes of these clouds, and the uses of them.  
The efficient causes are thought to be the heat and influence of the Sun and the Stars which doth rarify the water, and draw thence the matter of the clouds, as you shall perceive if you hold a wet cloth before the fire, that a thick steam will come out of it, because the fire makes thin the thickness of the water, and turns it into a kind of moist vapour, and the earth hath some heat mixed with it through a certain quantity of fire that is dispersed in the bowels of it, which causeth such like steams to ascend out of it, and the coldness of the middle region doth condensate and thicken these steams or breaths, and turn them again into water at length, and at last to thick clouds.  
2. The matter is the steams that the waters and earth do yield forth by this heat.  
The uses of it are to make rain and snow, (snow is nothing but rain condensated and whitened by the excessive cold in the winter time as it is in descending) for the watering of the earth and making it fruitful, or else for the excessive moistening of the earth to hinder the fruitfulness of it, if God see fit to punish. The earth without moisture cannot bring forth the fruit that it should, and some parts of the earth have so little water near them below, that they could not else be sufficiently moistened to the making of them fruitful. God hath therefore commanded the Sun among other offices to make the vapours ascend from the Sea and Earth, that he may pour down again upon the forsaken wilderness or other places, whether for punishment or otherwise.  

Obj. How can it be conceived, that the clouds above, being heavy with water, should not fall to the earth, seeing every heavy thing naturally descendeth and tendeth downward?  
Ans. No man by wit or reason can resolve this doubt, but only from the word of God, which teacheth that it is by virtue of God's Commandment given in the Creation, that the Clouds fall not, Gen. 1. 6. Let the Firmament separate the waters from the waters: by force of which commanding word the water hangeth in the clouds, and the clouds in the air, and need no other supporters, job 26. 7, 8. setting out the Majesty and greatness of God in his works, here beginneth, that He hangeth the Earth upon nothing, he bindeth the waters in the Clouds, and the Cloud is not rend under them. Philosophy is too defective to yield the true reason of this great work of God, which commonly attributeth too much to Natura naturata, Nature; and too little to Natura naturans, the God of nature.  
Now we must here also blame our own carelessness and folly which forbear to 
Consectaries. Job 37. 11. to 〈…〉 17. Job 36. 32. Psal. 91. 1.  consider of this work that hangs over our heads. The Clouds are carried from place to place in our sight, and cover the Sun from us. They hinder the over-vehement heat of the Sun from scorching the earth, and yet we never think what strange things they be, and what a merciful Creator is he that prepared them. Not seeing God in the works of nature, shows great stupidity, and should make us lament. Let us endeavour to revive the thoughts of God in our minds by his works. When we see the Clouds carried up and down as we do sometimes one way, sometimes another swiftly, then let us set our heart a work to think there goes God's Coach, as it were, here he rides above our heads to mark our way, and to reward 
Psal. 104. 3.  or punish our good or bad courses with seasonable rain for our comfort, or excessive showers for our terror. O seek to him and labour to please him, that he may not find matter of anger and provocation against us.  
When the Clouds either favour or chastise us, let us take notice of God's hand in these either comfortable or uncomfortable effects, and not impute it all to the course of nature.  
By means of the Clouds God waters the earth, yea the dry wilderness: without moisture there can be no fruitfulness, without clouds no rain, without that no corn or grass, and so no man or beast.  
Rain 
a Great rain is called Nimbus, small rain imber. Amos 4. 8.  is as it were the melting of a Cloud turned into water, Psal. 104. 13.  
It is a great work of God to make rain, and cause it fitly and seasonably to descend upon the earth. It is a work often named in Scripture, Deut. 11. 14. & 28. 12. Levit. 26. 4. jer. 5. 24. It is noted in job divers times, ch. 36. 27. He maketh small the drops of water. God propounds this work to job, as a demonstration of his greatness, job 38. 25, 34. See jer. 30. 13. Psal. 137. 8. Now this work is the more to be observed in these respects.  
1. The necessity of it in regard of the good it bringeth, if it be seasonable and moderate, and the evil which follows the want, excess or untimelinesse of it.  
2. In regard of man's utter inability to procure 
b Though all men should unite all their wits, purses and hands together, to make or to hinder one shower of rain, they are unable. Rich men, great, wise men have not these waters at command: The less a creature can do to effect it, the more doth the greatness of God shine forth in it.  or hinder it, as in the days of Noah, all the world could not hinder it; and in the days of Ahab none could procure it. The Hebrews say, God keeps four Keys in his own hand, 1. Clavis Pluviae, the Key of the Rain, Deut. 28. 12. 2. Clavis Cibationis, the Key of Food, Psal. 145. 15, 16. 3. Clavis Sepulchri, the Key of the Grave, Ezek. 37. 12. 4. Clavis Sterilitatis, the Key of the Womb, Gen. 38. 22.  
3. In regard of the greatness of the work in the course of nature, for the effecting of which so many wonders concur.  
First, Without this drink afforded to the fields, we should soon find the world pined and starved, and man and beast consumed out of it for want of food to eat. It is the cause of fruitfulness, and the want of it causeth barrenness, and so destruction of all living creatures that are maintained by the increase of the earth. As mischievous and terrible a thing as a famine is, so good and beneficial a thing is rain which keepeth off famine.  
Secondly, It procureth plenty of all necessaries, when the Heavens give their drops in fit time and measure, the earth also sends forth her offspring in great store and fit season, and so both men and beasts enjoy all things according to their natural desire, this so comfortable a thing as plenty is, so worthy a work of God, is the effect of rain, I mean rain in due season and proportion. 
In Egypt there is seldom rain, it is made fruitful by the inundation of Nilus.   
Terra suis contenta bonis, non indiga Mercis,  
Aut jovis, in solo tanta est fiducia Nilo. Lucan.  
Egypt no rains nor merchandise doth need,  
Nilus doth all her wealth and plenty breed.  
The Romans accounted it their Granary.  
Lastly, The greatness of the works which must meet together for making and 
In judaea rain is not so frequent as with us. Jerome saith, He never saw rain there in the Months of june and july: hence rain in Harvest was there unusual, Prov. 26. 1. 1 Sam. 12. 16.  distributing of ram, doth magnify the work. The Sun by his heat draws up moist steams and breath from the earth and water, these ascending to the middle region of the Air which is some what colder than the lower, are again thickened and turn into water, and so drop down by their own heaviness: by drops, not all together as it were by cowls 
* As they do in the Indies. Verbum Dei comparatur pluviae, Deut. 32. 2. Ideoque Hebraei uno verbo Jorah, & doctrinam, & pluviam efferunt. Mollerus.  full, partly from the height of place, from which they fall, which causeth the water to disperse itself into drops, and partly because it is by little and little, not all at once thickened and turned into water, and so descends by little portions, as it is thickened. So the Sun and other Stars, the earth, the water, winds, and all the frame of Nature are put to great toil and pains as it were to make ready these Clouds, for from the ends of the earth are the waters drawn which make our showers.  
God is the first efficient cause of rain, Gen. 2. 5. It is said there, God had not caused it to rain, job 5. 10. jer. 14. 22. Zech. 10. 1. 2 The material cause of it is a vapour ascending out of the earth. 3. The formal, by the force of the cold the vapours are condensed into clouds in the middle region of the Air. 4. The end of rain, to water the earth, Gen. 2. 6. which generation and use of rain David hath elegantly 
Thaumantis filiam dixere Iridem ●oetae; Colores ejus tam exacti, ut vix artificis possit exprimere manus. Confectaries from the Rain and Rainbow  explained, Psal. 147▪ 8.  
The cause of the Rain bow is the light or beams of the Sun in a hollow and dewy cloud, of a different proportion, right opposite to the Sunbeams, by the reflection of which beams, and the divers mixture of the light and the shade, there is expressed as it were in a glass the admirable Rainbow.  
We should be humbled for our unthankfulness and want of making due use of this mercy, the want of it would make us mutter, yet we praise not God nor serve him the better when we have it, jer. 14. 22. intimating, without God's omnipotency working in and by them, they cannot do it. If God actuate not the course of Nature, nothing is done by it; let us have therefore our hearts and eyes fixed on him when we behold rain, sometime it mizleth, gently descending, sometimes 
Job 5. 8, 9, 10.  falls with greater drops, sometime with violence, this ariseth from the greater or less quantity of the vapour, and more or less heat or cold of the Air that thickneth or melteth, or from the greater or smaller distance of the cloud from the earth, or from the greater purity or grossness of the Air by reason of other concurring accidents; either we feel the benefit or the want of rain likely once every month. Let not a thing so admirable pass by us without heeding to be made better by it. Want of moisture from above must produce praying, confessing, turning, 1 King. 8. 35, 36.  
The colours that appear in the Rainbow are principally three, 1. The Cerulean 
Jam. 5. 17, 18. See Gen. 9 13.  or watery colour, which notes (they say) the destroying of the world by water. 2. The grassy or green colour, which shows that God doth preserve the world for the present. 3. The yellow or fiery colour, showing the world shall be destroyed with fire.  
Dew consists of a cold moist vapour which the Sun draweth into the Air, from whence when it is somewhat thickened through cold of ●he night, and also 
Host 14. 5.  of the place (whether the Sun exhaled it) it falleth down in very small and indiscernible drops to the great refreshment of the Earth. It falleth only morning and evening.    

Hath the rain a Father? or who hath begotten the drops of Dew? Out of whose womb came the rain and the hoary frost of Heaven? who hath genared it? saith God to job, Chap. 38. 28, 29.  
A frost is dew congealed by overmuch cold. It differs from the dew, because the frost is made in a cold time and place, the dew in a temperate time; both of them are made when the weather is calm and not windy, and generated in the lowest region of the Air.  
Hail and ice is the same thing, viz. water bound with cold, they differ only in figure, viz. that the hailstones are orbicular, begotten of the little drops of rain falling, but ●ce is made of water continued, whether it be congealed in rivers, or 
Valesius de sacra Philosophia.  sea, or fountains, or pools, or any vessels whatsoever, and retains the figure of the water congealed.  
Though Ice be not Crystal, yet some say Crystal is from Ice; when Ice is hardened 
The Art of Glasle-making is very highly valued in Ve●●ce, for whosoever comes to be a master of that profession is reputed a Gentleman, ipsa arte, for the Art sake; and it is not without reason, it being a rare kind of knowledge and Chemistry to transmute the dull bodies of dust and sand, for they are the only main ingredients, to such a diaphanous pellucid dainty body, as we see crystal-glasse is, which hath this property above gold and silver, to endure no poison. Howel of Venice, p. 38, 39  into the nature of a stone it becomes Crystal; more degrees of coldness, hardness and clearness, give Ice the denomination of Crystal, and the name Crystal imports so much, that is, water by cold contracted into Ice. Pliny 
a Lib. 37. ch. 2.  in his natural History saith, The birth of it is from Ice vehemently frozen. But Dr Brown 
* Lib. 2. c. 1.  in his Inquiries into Vulgar Errors, doubts of it.  
The winds are also a great work of God, he made and he ruleth the winds 
b Psal. 104. 24. & 135. 7. It is a dry and hot fume ascending upward, and beaten back again by the coldness of the middle region and some comes downward again sideling, with more or less violence, as the fume is larger or subtler, and the cold more or less. . They come not by chance, but by a particular power of God, causing them to be, and to be thus, he brings them out of his treasures, he caused the winds to serve him in Egypt to bring Frogs, and after Locusts, and then to remove the Locusts again. He caused the winds to divide the red Sea that Israel might pass. He made the winds to bring quails; and the winds are said to have wings for their swiftness, the nature of them is very abstruse.  
The efficient causes of them are the Sun and Stars, by their heat drawing up the 
Ventus à violentia & vehementia nomen habet, quòd veniat abundè, & magna vi irruat in vaum aliquem locum. Mag. Ph. Some think the Angel's cause the winds to blow, Rev 7. 1. but that is but a conceit. Prov. 30 4. Amos 4. 13. ' The profit of the wind. Dr Fulk of Meteors.  thinnest and driest fumes or exhalations, which by the cold of the middle region being beaten back again, do slide obliquely with great violence through the air this way or that way. The effects of it are wonderful, they sometimes carry rain hither and thither, they make frost and they thaw, they are sometimes exceeding violent, and a man that sees their working can hardly satisfy himself in that which Philosophers speak about their causes, The wind bloweth where it listeth, we hear its sound, but know not whence it cometh, nor whether it goeth. It is a thing which far surpasseth our understanding to conceive fully the causes of it.  
They blow most ordinarily at the Spring and fall, for there is not so much wind in Winter, because the earth is bound with cold, and so the vapour the matter of the wind cannot ascend; nor in Summer, because vapours are then raised up by the Sun, and it consumes them with his great heat.  
These winds alter the weather, some of them bringing rain, some dryness, some frost and snow, which are all necessary; there is also an universal commodity which riseth by the only moving of the air, which air if not continually stirred, would soon putrify and infect all that breath upon the earth.  
It serves to condemn our own blindness that cannot see God in this great work; 
It made Adam tremble when God came in the wind.  the wind cometh down unto us, it is near us, we feel the blasts of it, and yet we feel not the power and greatness of God in it. When God doth so plainly, and so many ways discover himself to us, yet blind wretches we perceive him not. We are now to stir up our minds to the consideration of God in this his mighty work. See him walking through the earth, and visiting it in the swift wings of this creature. It hath also an apt resemblance and image of God in it, 1. In the subtleness and invisible nature of it, the swiftness of the wind may note his omnipresence, 
1 Cor. 12. 11.  who is said to ride on the wings of the wind. 2. In its powerful motion and efficacy which no man can hinder or resist. 3. In the freedom of its motion, john 3. 7. 4. In the secrecy of his working of mighty works, the winds are invisible.  
The consideration of the winds, leads us into ourselves, and that  
1. For Humiliation; for who knoweth the nature of the wind, the place of the wind, the way of the wind, to see in it our own vanity, job 7. 7. Psal. 78. 39  
2. Instruction: Shall so fierce a creature be at a beck, and shall not I? See 
Matth. 8. 26. Jer, 18. 17.  the miserable estate of wicked men, on whom destruction and fear shall come as a whirlwind, Prov. 27. 18. They shall be as stubble or chaff before the wind, Psal. 1.  
Metals 
* Metalla, i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, which is engendered or bred about, or with some other thing, as gold about silver, and silver about brass. Pliny, lib. 33. chap. 6. Metals naturally grow (as some observe) in Lands most barren: Nature recompensing the want of other things with these hidden treasures. Purchas his Pilgrimage, l. 8. c. 1. Sect. 3. See more there.  are mineral substances, fusible and malleable. They are commonly distinguished into perfect and imperfect; perfect, because they have less impurity or heterogeneity in them, as gold and silver: imperfect, because they are full of impurities, as iron, copper, tin and lead.  
Gold of all metals is the most solid, and therefore the most heavy. It will lose 
Of Metals gold is esteemed most precious, as most enduring both age and fire, and least subject to rust. Latini uniones vocant, non quia nun quam duo simul reperiantur, ut Solino proditum, & Isidoro: verùm, quia, ut melius ait Plinius, Nulli duo reperiantur indiscreti. Voss. de orig. & progress. Idol. lib. 4. cap. 47.  none of his substauce neither by fire nor water, therefore it will not make broth more cordial, being boiled in it. The second place is given to silver amongst metals, because next to gold it is the most durable, and least endamaged by fire.  
Precious stones (in Latin Gemmae) are esteemed for their rarity, or for some virtue fancied to be in them, or for their pureness and transparentnesse.  
Those Pearls are preferred which are most white, bright, round, light, especially if naturally they be pierced. Rueus l. 1. c. 13. de Gem.  
The Psalmist declares the great work of God in distinguishing the waters from 
Third days work. Psal. 104. 8, 9  the earth, and making Sea and dry land. The waters at the first did encompass and cover the earth round about as it were a garment, and overflow the highest parts 
* It is called Mare either from the Latin Amarum, or the Chaldee Marath signifying also bitter, because the Sea-water is bitter and salt. For the use of man and all other living creatures God made a separation of the earth and water, causing the water to sink down into huge hollow channels prepared to receive it, that so the dry Land might appear above it.  of it altogether, so that no dry ground was seen or could be seen in the world, this was the first constitution of them, as Moses relateth, Gen. 1. 2. The deep was the whole Orb of waters which enclosed the earth in themselves. But then God pleased to divide the waters from the earth, so as to make dry land appear, and for that end, 1. He drove the waters into one place, spreading the earth over them, and founding it upon them, Psal. 104. 6, 7. God by his mighty power (compared there to a thundering voice) did make the waters to gather together into the place that he had appointed for them under the earth, and that by raising up hills and mountains, and causing dales and valleys, than God appointed the waters their bounds, that they should still continue in these hollows under the earth, and not return to cover the earth, as else of their own nature they would have done.  
There are divers profitable Questions about these things:  
1. Whether the Sea would not naturally overflow the Land, as it did at the first Creation, were it not withheld within his banks by divine power?  
The answer is affirmative, and the reason is evident, the water is lighter than the 
We must consider the earth and waters, 1. Absolutely, as they are Elements and solid bodies, so the water hath the higher place, being ●●●n●er. 2. In respect of the superficies of either, so the superficies of the earth is higher. Carpenter's Geography. If we campate the Coasts and the nearest Sea, than the Land is higher than the Sea: But if we compare the Land and the main Sea, than the Sea is higher than the Land, and therefore the Sea is called Altum, where ships fly faster to the shore then from it.  earth, and heavier things are apt to pierce through the light, and the light will take to themselves an higher place, and give way to the heavier things to descend through them; mix a great deal of dirt and water, and let it stand a while and take its own proper course, and the dirt will sink to the bottom, leaving the water above itself. Aristotle and others say, that the Sea is higher than the earth, and they can render no reason why it (being apt to run abroad) should be kept from overslowing the Land, whence he proves God's providence; but Vossius de Orig. & Progress. Idol. l. 2. c. 67. and others deny that the Sea is higher than the earth.  
Secondly, Whether there be more Sea or Land. The multitude of waters made 
Nos vivimus in ipso mari, & sicut aquae diluvii qui●decim cubitis superiores fuerunt altissimis montibus; Ita etiam num Oceanus superat terram trium ulnarum altitudine. Sed quare non obruit nos? Quia Deus posuit terminum mari. Idem videre est in omnibus furoribus mundi tumultuantis adversus Ecclesiam. Lutherus in Genes. 35.  by God at first did cover the earth, and enclose it round, the Sea therefore must needs be far greater than the Earth. The Maps show it to be greater in quantity then the earth.  
Thirdly, Whether the deepness of the Sea 
* Carpenter in his second book of Geography, cap. 10. saith the perpendicular height of the highest mountains seldom exceeds ten furlongs. See Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World, l. 1. c. 7. Sect. 11. and Purchas his Pilgrimage, lib. 5. cap. 13. Sect. 1. Nothing is to be seen but snow at the top of the Alps, which hath lain there beyond the memory of man, and as some say, ever since the Flood. Raymunds' Mercurio Italico, p. 252.  doth exceed the height of the mountains.  
It was a great work of God to make mountains and valleys, hills and dales. The Scripture often mentions it, Prov. 8. 25. Psal. 65. 6. & 95. 4. & 90. 2. Psal. 104. 8. Amos 4. 13. Therefore are the mountains exhorted to praise God, Psal. 146. 9 Isa. 40. 12. He is said to have weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in balances, that is, to have poised them even, so that the earth might remain unmovably in the parts of it as well as in the whole. The greatness of this work appears:  
1. In the strangeness and hiddenness of it.  
How should so heavy a thing as the earth thus heave up itself into so great ascents, to give place unto the waters under it? The immediate power of God is the cause of it, Psal. 24. 6. & Psal. 136. It may be some hills were made by the fury and violent motion of the waves of the waters of Noah's flood, but the most and greatest were created on the third day. See Gen. 7. 20.  
2. In the usefulness of it.  

1. For beauty and ornament, it gives a more delightful Prospect to see hills and dales, then to look upon all one even and flat piece of ground without any such risings.  
2. It conduceth to the fruitfulness of the earth. The vales are much more fruitful than if they were flats without hills, because of the dew and moisture that descendeth upon them from the hills, and some things grow better upon the higher places, on the sides or tops of the mountains.  
3. Without such hills and mountains there could not have been room for the waters which before did swallow up the earth in its bowels, neither could the dry land have appeared.  
4. Without such hills and dales there could not have been rivers and springs running with so constant a course.  
5. Hills and mountains are the receptacles of the principal mines for metals and quarries for all kind of useful stones, Deut. 8. 9 & 33. 15. They are for boundaries betwixt Country and Country, Kingdom and Kingdom. We should tell ourselves how admirable and useful this kind of frame and situation of the earth is.   
4. Whether 
* Ins●●lae portiones terr, sunt O●●ano ●●n●lae ortus varia ha●ent principia. Emersere quaedam ex mari, ac continenti av●lsae quaedam aggesta nonnullis ortum dedit materia. Johnston. Thaumatographia naturalis.  Islands came since the flood? See Dr brown's Vulgar Errors refuted by Mr Rosse, c. 13.  
5. What is the cause of the saltness of the Sea?  
The water of the Sea is salt, not by nature but by accident. Aristotle refers the 
Duo maxima quae Mari tribuuntur mira, sa●●c●o & reciprocatio. Johnstoni Thaumatographia naturalis.  saltish quality of the Sea-water to the Sun, as the chief cause, for it draws up the thinner and fresher parts of the water, leaving the thicker and lower water to suffet adustion of the Sunbeams, and so consequently to become salt; two things chiefly concur to the generation of saltishness, drought and adustion; Therefore in Summer, and under the torrid Zone, the Sea is salter. Our Urine and Excrements for the same reason are also salt, the purest part of our nourishment being 
A●●●●alsedine quidem salum vocatur Poetis ob amar●rem autem dictum est mare. Na● & mare & amarus veniunt ab Hebraeo ●●● quod notat amarum esse. Vossius de origine & progress. Idol. lib. 2. cap. 68  employed in and upon the body. Lydiat attributes it to under-earth or rather under-sea fires of a bituminous nature, causing both the motion and saltness of the Sea. Vide Voss. de orig. & progress. Idol. l. 2. c. 68  
The Sea is salt, 1. To keep it from putrefaction, which is not necessary in the floods, because of their swift motion. 2. For the breeding and nourishing of great fishes, being both hotter and thicker.  
6. What is the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea?  
There have been many opinions of the cause of the ebbing and 
* It is called Reciprocatio & aestus maris, because it is caused by a hot exhalation boiling in the Sea, or because the Sea suffers, as if it boiled again with heat. Brierwood de Meteoris. See Purchas his Pilgrimage, l. 5 c. 13. Sect. 2. Vide Voss. de orig & progress. Idol. l. 2. c. 6.  flowing of the Sea. De quo plura pro ingeniis differentium, quam pro veritatis fide expressa.  
Some say it is the breathing or blowing of the world, as Strabo, Albertus Magnus One said it was because the waters getting into certain holes of the earth, were forced out again by Spirits remaining within the earth. Macrobius said it was by meeting the East and West Ocean. Cicero seems to ascribe it only to the power of God; others for the most part ascribe it to the various light or influences of the Moon, which rules over all moist bodies. Some attribute it to certain subterranean or under-sea fires. The final cause of the Seas motion is the preserving and purging of the waters, as the Air is purged by winds. Isaiah alludes to the ebbing and flowing of the Sea, chap. 57 2.  
Coelius Rhodiginus (Antiq. Lect. lib. 29. cap. 8.) writeth of Aristotle, that when he had studied long about it, at the last being weary, he died through tediousness of such an intricate doubt. Some say he drowned himself in Euripus, because he could find no reason why it had so various a fluxion and refluxion seven times a day at least, adding before that his precipitation, Quoniam Aristoteles non coepit Euripum, Euripus capiat Aristotelem. Since Aristotle could not comprehend Euripus, it should comprehend him. But Dr Brown in his Inquiries 
* Lib. 7. cap. 13  seems to doubt of the truth of this story. And Vossius lib. 2. the orig. & progress. Idol. cap. 69. denies that Decumani fluctus are greater than the other nine, for he saith, that he and his friends often observed it at the Sea that they were no greater than the others.  
Other Questions there are concerning Rivers. What is the original of 
a See Dr Iorden of Baths, c. 3. Purchas his Pilgrimage, l. 5. c. 13. Sect. 3. Rivers are said to be engendered in the hollow concavities of the Earth, and derive both their birth and continual sustenance from the air; which penetrating the open chinks of the earth, and being congealed by the extreme cold of that element, dissolves into water, as the air in winter nights is melted in a pearly dew sticking on our glass windows. * H●c est origo fontium & fluv●orum, ut Salomon etiam apertius indicat, Eccles. 1. 7. Hoc tamen n●s●ivit doctus Aristoteles, rerum naturalium diligentissimus indagator. Ford in Psal. 104, 10, 11, 12.  Springs and Rivers? What manner of motion the running of the Rivers is, whether strait or circular?  
As one part of the waters, and the far greater part, is gathered into one place, and much of it hidden in the bowels of the earth, and there as it were imprisoned or treasured up by making the Sea and dry Land, so another part of them was appointed to run up and down within the earth, and upon it in Springs and Rivers, which Rivers are nothing but assembling of the waters into divers great channels from the fountains and springs, which the Psalmist describeth by its matter and use or effect, Psal. 104. 10. He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run along the hills, that is, He made the Springs and Fountains to convey waters from place to place, the use of this is to give drink unto the beasts, even unto the wild Asses who quench their thirst there, vers 11. There be many other uses of Springs and Rivers, but this is noted as the most manifest and evident. Another use is for the Fowls, which have their habitation in the Trees which grow near, and by means of these Springs, and there they sit and sing, vers. 12. These Springs bring up so much moisture to the upper parts of the earth, as causeth Trees to grow also for Fowls to build and sing in *. Some of the waters were drawn up into the middle region of the world, and changed into Clouds, that so they may be dissolved and poured down again from thence upon the hills also and other places which cannot be watered by the Springs, that so the whole earth may be satisfied with the fruit of God's works.  
john Baptista Scortia, a Jesuit, hath published two Books of the River Nilus. Wendeline hath written a Book, which he calleth Admiranda Nili. It seemeth not without cause that the name Paper is derived from Papyrus, growing in Nilus; so much Paper hath been written thereof. Purchas his Pilgrimage, lib. 6. cap. 1.  
The soil of Egypt is sandy and unprofitable, the River both moistening and manuring it. Yea, if there die in Cairo five thousand of the plague the day before, yet on the first of the Rivers increase, the plague not only decreaseth, but merely ceaseth, not one dying the day after. Id. ibid. The name Nachal, a Torrent, is given to this River in the Bible, Numb. 3. 5. josh. 15. 47. Isa. 27. 12. 2 Chron. 7. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and the name Nilus is derived from it.  
The Poets feigned that jupiter, Neptune and Pluto divided the Universe, and that Neptune had the Sea for his part, which is called Neptunus, either à nando from Navigation, or a à nubendo, from Covering, because the Sea covers the earth: and Pontus; the Nations about Pontus thought no Sea in the world like unto their own, and doubted whether there were any other Sea but that, whence Pontus was used for the Sea in general.  
The Sea is a wide and spacious place, Psal. 104. 25. The great deep, the womb of moisture, the well of fountains, the great pond of the world. 
Dr Halls Contempl.   
The reason of the greatness and wideness of it is the multitude of waters which were made by God at the first, which because they did cover the earth, and enclose 
It must be large to contain so many creatures.  it round, it must needs be far greater than the earth, and therefore when God saw fit to distinguish the dry land from the earth, must needs have very great ditches cut for it in the earth, and caverns made to hold it; and therefore the earth in the Scripture is said to be spread out upon the Sea, because a great part of it is so in respect of the waters that are under it.  
Again, The principal use of the Sea and waters thereof was, that it might supply vapours for making of the Clouds by the attraction of the Sun, and native heat of the Sea, in respect of some fire which God hath mixed with the earth and waters that 
Amos 5. 8. & 9 6.  they may be more fit to give life to living things.  
Now if the Superficies of the Sea were not very large and wide, the Sun could not have power enough by its attractive heat and warmth, by which it doth attenuate and make thin the waters into vapours: which after the cold of the air, when they come into the middle region of it, doth again thicken and turn it into waters. I say, The Sun could not else have power to draw out of the Sea sufficient store of these vapours for watering the earth with showers. So the multitude of the waters and the necessity of having much of them drawn up for rain required, that they should not have little receptacles, but one so great and spacious a receptacle, which we call the Sea. Oceanus, the Ocean is that general collection of all waters which environeth the world on every side, Mare the Sea is a part of the Ocean, to which we cannot come but by some strait. 
Psal. 104. 25. 107. 23, 24, 25 26, 27, 28. Dr Halls Contempl.   
In the Sea are innumerable creatures, small and great, there walk the Ships, there play the Leviathans. What living monntains (such are the Whales, some of which have been found six hundred foot long, and three hundred and sixty foot broad) roll up and down in those fearful billows! for greatness of number, hugeness of quantity, strangeness of shapes, variety of fashions, neither air nor earth can compare with the waters.  
Another use of the Sea is, That there go the Ships, as the Prophet speaks in a kind of wonderment. 
Psal. 104.   
The whole art of Navigation is a strange Art, the Lord fitted the Sea for this purpose, that it might be useful to transport men from place to place. and other things from Country to Country. Men build movable houses, and so go thorough the waters on dry ground: they fly thorough the Sea by the help of winds gathered in fitly with sails, as birds do thorough the air: and having learned of birds to steer themselves in the Sea, they have an Helm, at the which the Master sitting, doth turn about the whole body of his Ship at his pleasure. The swiftness of the motion of a Ship is strange; Some say, that with a strong wind they will go near as fast as an arrow out of a Bow. The Lord hath given understanding to man to frame a huge vessel of wood cut into fit pieces, and to join it so close with pitch and rozin and other things mixed together, that it shall let in none or but a little water, and it shall carry a very great burden within, and yet will not sink under water; and hath given wisdom also to man to make sails to receive the strength of the wind, and cords to move them up and down at pleasure, and to make masts to hang on those sails, and hath given men a dexterity to run up to the tops of these masts, by means of a cord framed in fashion of a ladder, that can but even amuse an ordinary beholder, and all this for a most excellent use, viz. of maintaining commerce betwixt Nation and Nation, and of conveying things needful from one place to another, that all places might enjoy the commodities one of another.  
To this Art of Navigation do Kingdoms owe most of their riches, delights and choice curiosities, a great part of Solomon's riches came in this way; it is the easiest, 
1 King. 19 26. & 10. 22.  safest and quickest way of transportation of goods.  
How obnoxious are we to God, therefore we should not be bold to offend him, 
Consectaries from the Se●.  how much danger do we stand in if he should let the waters take their own natural course, and exalt themselves above the mountains.  
At the flood he gave leave to the great Deeps to break their bounds, and permitted the waters to take their own place, and the waters were some seven yards higher than the tops of highest mountains. He can do as much now for the demonstration of his just wrath, for though he hath promised that the waters shall never overflow the whole earth, yet not that they shall never overflow England which stands also in the Sea.  
2. Let us praise the goodness of God which preserveth the whole world alive by a kind of miracle, even by keeping the water from overflowing the earth. God would convince us that we live of his mere favour, and that his special power and goodness keeps us: the waters if they were left to their own natural propensity, would soon overwhelm the earth again, but that God locked them up in the places provided for them. This work is mentioned in divers places, job 38. 8. & 26. 10. Psal. 37. 7. Prov. 8. 29 jer. 5. 22.  
First, It is absolutely useful for the preservation of the lives of all things that live and breathe out of the Sea.  
Secondly, It is a strange and hidden work, God effecteth it by some settled reason in the course of nature, but we cannot by searching find it out. Perhaps this may be it, the natural motion of every heavy thing is toward the Centre, and then it will rest when it hath attained to its own proper place. Now the earth is stretched over the floods, and it may seem that a great part of them doth fill the very bowels and concavity of the earth in the very place where the Centre or middle point of it is seated.  
Hence it is, that they will not be drawn up again, nor follow the upper parts which toss themselves up and down, but rather pull down those rising graves again, especially seeing it is most evident in nature by many experiments every day, that it is utterly impossible there should be any Vacuum, as they call it, any mere empty place in which nothing at all is contained, because that would divide the contiguity of things, and so cause that the world should be no longer an orderly frame of divers things together: for the parts would not be contiguous and united together if such a vacuum should fall out, therefore water will ascend, air will descend, and all things will even lose their own nature, and do quite contrary to their nature, rather than such a thing should be.  
Now it may seem the Lord hath hidden the water in the earth with such turnings and windings, some places in which it is, being larger, some less large, that the larger places having no open vent for air to succeed the water, cannot be so soon filled from below, as they would empty themselves upward, and so there must needs be vacuity, if they should not return back again, and stop their course, and therefore they must needs stop as it were in the midst of their career. And this also may seem to be a great and principal cause of the flux and reflux of the Sea, which if it were not, the waters having their course always one way, must needs by little and little return again to cover the earth. If this be the cause (as is probable) it is wonderful, that God should set such an inclination into all parts of the world, that they will suffer any crossing of their own particular natures, rather than not maintain the general course of nature in the close joining together of things: for if they might be sundered one from another, at length the whole must needs be quite out of frame, and a general confusion would follow.  
We must even chide and reprove ourselves for our extreme stupidity that are so little (if ever a whit) affected with this work so great in itself, and so behoveful for our very life and being.  
How are we daily and hourly preserved from the swelling waves! how comes it 
See the History of Canutus in Camb●en.  that in all this length of time the Sea hath not broken in upon us, and overtopped the earth? We do not tell ourselves of our debt to God for commanding the waves not to be so bold as to drown us.  
It may exhort us to fear him that hath appointed the Sands for a bound of the Sea, and will not let the waves prevail over us for all their tossing and tumbling. He is of great power, and can overrule so furious an Element, and fear not though the waters roar, and though the Mountains were cast into the midst of the Sea.  
This commends unto us God's greatness who doth so infinitely surpass the Seas greatness, and who hath made so much water for it, and it a place for so much water. Let us think of it in particular, and dwell a little upon it, that we may also know our nothingness. What a great thing is the Sea in itself considered! What is this Island in comparison of the Sea, and yet we call it Great Britain? It must needs be greater than the earth, for the waters did round about involve and encompass the Earth, what then is the whole Globe of Earth and Water, and yet that whole Globe is a thing of nothing in comparison of Heaven, and yet all that is nothing in comparison of God. Oh how great is he, and how much to be admired? Great, not in quantity and extension of dimensions, but in perfection of Essence. How great is he that is beyond Earth, Sea and World, and all more, than these are beyond Nothing!  
And let us a little compare ourselves with this great and wide Sea. The Sea is but part of this Globe, yet hath in it water enough to drown all the men that are in the world, if either it were suffered to overflow, as once at Noah's flood, or else they were cast into it, so that all men are but a small trifling thing in comparison of this Sea, and then What am I must every one say to himself▪ and what compared to God the maker of the wide Sea and this wide world? Oh how nothing is man, am I myself among other men, and why am not I humble before God? Why do I not cast down and abase myself in his presence, and carry myself to him as becometh so poor mean and small a creature, to so infinite and great a Creator? Let us morally use the things we see, else the natural knowledge will do us no good at all.  
We may see in the Sea a Map of the misery of man's life, it ebbeth and floweth, seldom is quiet, but after a little calm a tempest ariseth suddenly. So must I look for storms upon the Sea of so troublesome a world.  
For the great work of Navigation, and so of transportation of things by Sea, and for the fitness of the Sea to that use we must praise God, every man hath the benefit of it. By virtue of it we have Pepper, Cloves and Mace, Figs and Raisms, Sack and Wines of all sorts, Silks and Velvets, and all the Commodities of other Kingdoms distant a thousand of miles from us, and by this they have from us such Commodities as our Land affords above theirs.  
There is no art which helps more to enrich a Nation, and to furnish it with things 
The safety of this Kingdom consists much in its wooden walls. Our Navy exceeds all others in the world in beauty, strength, and safety.  for State, pomp and delight. And yet how is it abused by Mariners, who behold Gods wonders in the deep, being the worst of men, and never good but in a storm, and when that is gone, as bad or worse than ever?  
The materials of a Ship are wonderful▪  
First, It is made of the strongest and durablest Wood, the Oak and Cedar. 
* See Plinics Natural History, lib. 16. c. 40.  Now it is a strange work of God to make such a great Tree out of the Earth.  
Secondly, The Nails in it are made of Iron, that the pieces may be closely compacted.  
Thirdly, Tar and Pitch to stop every crevise, that no water or air might enter, this they learned of God himself, who bid Noah to plaster the Ark within and without with pitch.  
Fourthly, Cords made of Flax, a multitude of strange things concur to this work.  
What pity is it that Soldiers and Mariners (as was said) who are so subject to 
He that carries his life in his hand must carry grace in his heart. Docto. Sibbs in his Epistle to Sir Horatio Vere prefixed before his Bruised Reed. Qui nescit orare discat navigare. Latini distribuunt plantas in tria genera, herbam, fruticem, & arborem. Hebrai aliter in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Mercerus in primum caput Gen. 5. 11.  dangers, and have such frequent experience of God's goodness and mercy to them in their preservation, should generally be so profane and forgetful of God. For the Soldier it is an old saying,  Nulla fides pictasque viris qui castra sequuntur. 
And for the Mariner,  
Nautarum vota, is grown into a Proverb.  
In the third day's work were likewise created Grass, Herbs, Plants and Trees.  
The first is Grass, or green Herb, which is that which of itself springs up without setting or sowing.  
2. Herb bearing seed, that is, all Herbs which are set or sown, and increase by man's industry.  
The third, Trees and Plants, which are of a woody substance, which bear fruit, and have their seed, which turns to fruit in themselves.  
God by his powerful word, without any help of man's tillage, rain, or Sun, 
Voluit Deus per primam germinationem terrae non modo pastui animantium, sed etiam immortalitati speciei consuluim. Paraeus.  did make them immediately out of the Earth, and every one perfect in their kind, Grass and Herbs, with Flowers, and Seeds, and Trees with large bodies, branches, leaves and fruits, growing up suddenly, as it were in a moment by God's word and power.  
The great power of God appears in this, He is able to work above nature without means, the fruitfulness of the Earth stands not in the labour of the Husbandman, but in the blessing of God. He also caused the Earth to yield nourishment for such divers Herbs and Plants, yea Herbs of contrary quality will grow and thrive close one by another, when those which are of a nearer nature will not do so.  
The Herb was given at first for man's use as well as beasts, Gen. 1. 9 Psal. 104. 14. Herbs are one wonderful work of God. The greatness of the work appeareth in these particulars:  

1. The Variety of the kinds of Herbs.  
2. The Variety of their Uses, of their shapes and colours, and manner of production, and of their working and growth. Some come forth without seed, some have seed, some grow in one place, some in another, some are for food, some for 
* A poor man in Kent mowing of Peason did cut his Leg with a scythe, wherein he made a wound to the bones, and withal very large and wide, and also with great effusion of blood; the poor man crept unto this Herb, which he bruised with his hands, and tied a great quanity of it unto the wound with a piece of his shirt, which presently staunched the bleeding, and ceased the pain, insomuch that the poor man presently went to his days work again, and so did from day to day, without resting one day until he was perfectly whole, etc. Gerrard's Herbal Book 2. Chap. 390. of Clowns Wound-wort, or All-heal.  medicine, and some for both.   
That out of the earth by the heat of one Sun, with the moisture of one and the same water, there should proceed such infinite variety of things, so differing one from another, is a wonder; some are hot in operation, some cold, some in one degree, some in another, some will draw, some heal, some are sweet, some four, some bitter, some of mild tastes.  
In the bowels of the earth the Lord created gold, silver, precious stones, and 
Job 28. 1, 2. Ezek. 6. 16, 17. Joel 3. 5. Hag. 2. 8. Gen. 1. 11, 12. Vide Mercer. in Gen. 1. 29. Before the flood both herbs & fruits of trees were so wholesome and good, as that man needed no other food, after it the earth was so corrupted by the inundation thereof, and man's body became so weakened, that he stood in need of more solid and nourishing meat.  the face of the earth above was beautified with grass, herbs and trees, differing in nature, qualities and operations.  
Plants grow till they die, whence they are called vegetables.  
At the first, Herbs were the ordinary meat of men, Gen. 1. 20. and they have continued ever since of necessary use, both for meat to maintain life, and for medicines to recover health.  
Solomon's wisdom and knowledge was such, that he was able to speak of the nature of all plants, From the Cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, not that he spoke of the greatest tree and lest plant, as some interpret it, because some trees are greater than the Cedar, and some plants lesser than the hisop, but because he discoursed of noble and base plants. It is likely (saith Bartholinus de latere Christi cap. 8.) Salomonem ad crucem Christi ejusque per hysopum contemptum respexisse, That Solomon had respect to the Cross of Christ, and his contempt, by hyssop.  
We must here condemn our stupidity and blindness of mind, that are not provoked many times by this particular to magnify the name of God. When a man hath occasion to travel thorough a close or ground, how great store of herbs seeth he, whose nature, yea names he is ignorant of, yet admireth not God in them, nor confesseth his power and goodness.  
Secondly, We are to lament the fruit of our sin, which hath made us blind, there is nothing hurtful to man's body, but some herb or other rightly applied would cure it.  
It is a great and worthy work of God to make grass on the earth 
* Gen. 1. 11, 13 . Psal. 104. 14, 15. & 147. 8. He maketh grass to grow upon the mountains▪ The omnipotent power of God was exercised to make this creature, else it could not have been, and at his appointment it came forth. This is one of the benefits which God promiseth to his people upon their obedience, Deut. 11. 5. Zech. 10. 16. There are many things considerable in this work of making grass.  
First, The plenty, store and commonness of it: It groweth every where, and 
It is a Carpet upon the earth to adorn and beautify it.  in abundance, covering the face of the earth, and hiding the dry and naked face thereof.  
Secondly, The colour of it. It is of a green and somewhat of a dark green colour, which is neither overlight nor over-dark, but of an indifferent and middle nature, and so most fit to content and delight the eye, refresh and preserve the sight.  
Thirdly, The usefulness of this creature for the cattle, it is a soft covering to make the lodging of the poor beasts more easeful for them, even as it were a matteresse for them to lie upon. It hath a sweet juice and verdure in it by which it is pleasant to the tastes of the beasts, as any dainty meat can be to us, and is fit to nourish them to be turned to blood and flesh, so to make them fat and well liking.  
Fourthly, The ways, means, and manner for bringing it forth for this use, the whole course of the Heavens, Sun, Moon and Stars, which run a large race daily with great swiftness, and the great works done in the air for producing divers Meteors, do tend in great part for the bringing forth of this grass. The grass itself hath a life and vigour in the root of it, by which it draws from the earth that moisture which is agreeable to it, and disperseth it likewise.  

1. We are dull and blind, and behold not God in this great work, when we go into the fields, and can scarce tread beside it: We do not consider God's greatness and goodness in making so beneficial a thing so common: We let this work of God perish in respect of any spiritual use we make of it, to make our souls the better.  
2. Let us stir up ourselves to observe God's hand in this work with others, and confess our debt to him, that gives us Commons and Pasture for all our cattle.   
Trees are certain plants springing from a root with a single Trunk or Stem (for the most part) shooting up in height, and delineated with limbs, sprigs or branches.  
Leaves are Ornamenta Arboris, & munimenta fructus, they serve to grace the Tree, make it pleasant to behold, and defend the fruit from the injury of the weather.  
The Philosopher saith, Homo est arbor inversa, a man is a Tree turned upside down, for a Tree hath his root in the ground, and his branches spread above ground, but a man's root is in his head, therein is the fountain of sense and motion, and there doth he take in nourishment, but the arms and legs are branches of this Tree, they spread downward. The Psalmist compares a good man to a Tree, Psal. 1. 3.  
The Palmtree grows in Egypt all along the shores of the red Sea. It is 
See rare things of a tree called Coquo in Doctor Primrose on the Sac. p. 30. and Purchas his Pilgrimage, l. 5. c. 12. pag. 56. 7. The Palm is a famous Tree which bringeth forth Dates, and is so called because upon the top the boughs are thick and round, extending out like fingers, from whence it is called Dactylus, that is, a finger. Travels of the Patriarches.  said to yield whatsoever is necessary to the life of man. The pith of it is an excellent Salad, better than an Artichoke, which in taste it much resembleth. Of the Branches they make Bedsteds and Lattices; Of the Leaves, Baskets, Mats, Fans, of the outward half of the Cod, Cordage, of the inward, Brushes.  
It is the nature of this Tree, though never so huge or ponderous a weight be 
Rem mirandam. Arist. in 8●. problematum, & Plutarch. in 8●. Sympofiacorum dicit. Si supra Palmae (inquit) arboris lignum magna pondera imponas, ac tam graviter urgeas ut magnitudo oneris susti●ere non queat, non deorsum Palma cedit, nec infra flectitur, sed adversus pondus resurgit, & sursum nititur recurva●urque. Aul. Gel. Noct. Attic. lib. 3● cap. 6.  put upon it, never to yield to the burden, but still to resist the heaviness thereof, and to endeavour to lift and raise itself the more upward; for which cause it was given to Conquerors in token of victory. Hence figuratively it is used for the victory itself, Plurimarum Palmarum homo: and for the sign of it,  
— Palmaque nobilis  
Terrarum Dominos evehit ad Deos.  Revel. 7. 9 With white robes, in token of their innocency; and palms in their hands, in token of their victory. 
It is reported that the Arms of the Duke of Rhoan in France, which are Lozenges, 
josephus Acosta writeth of a tree in America that on the one side being situated towards great hills, and on the other being exposed to the hot Sun; the one half of it flourisheth at one time of the year, and the other part at the opposite season.  are to be seen in the wood or stones throughout all his Country, so that break a stone in the middle, or lopa bough of a Tree, and one shall behold the grain thereof (by some secret cause in nature) diamonded or streaked in the fashion of a Lozenge. Fuller's Profane State, l. 5. c. 6.  
It was a great work of God in making all sorts of Trees to proceed out of the earth, Psal. 104. 16, 17. The nature of the Trees is wonderful in these respects principally.  
First, The way and manner of their growing and being. An Oak comes from an Acorn, an Appletree from a Kernel. What a kind of power and virtue is that which God hath put into a kernel being so small a thing, that it should pull to itself by an unknown way the juice of the earth, and should send some of it downward into little small strings as it were to fasten itself in the earth, and send some upward to spread itself above the ground; and yet it should distribute the moisture so fitly, as to grow in due proportion within the earth and without; that it should frame to itself a body, and divers branches in such fashion, that it should bud and put forth leaves, that it should cause a fruit to grow upon it, or seed, and that in great numbers, every one of which is able to make another Tree, and that Tree to yield as much more!  
Secondly, The great variety of kinds of Trees; we in our Country have divers Oaks, Elmes, Ashes, Beech-trees, Chestnut-trees, Sally, Willow, Maple, Syecamore, besides Apple and Pear-trees of divers kinds, Cherry-trees, Hazel, Walnut-trees. Some Trees are of huge growth, as Oaks, Cedars, Elms, some low as the Thorn, the Nut. Some of one fashion, colour, making and manner of growth, some of another: this showeth an exceeding great measure of wisdom in him that made them all.  
The use of Trees in the next place is manifold:  

1. They serve for fruit: what great variety of fruit do they yield, what pleasant and wholesome fruit, what store and plenty of fruit? Some Summer fruit that will be gone quickly, some Winter fruit that will last most part of the year, and some all the year.  
2. For building both by Land and Sea, to make us houses both strong and stately, warm, dry and cool, under which we may rest ourselves, in Summer free from scorching heat; in Winter and stormy times, free from pinching cold, and the injury of the weather. With wood also we make floating and fleeting houses, with which we may dwell upon the face of the waters, and pass through the deep Sea, as upon dry ground.  
3. It yieldeth fuel too, by which we do both prepare our food, and keep ourselves warm in the Winter, and in the time of weakness and sickness. Had we not something to burn, we could neither bake our Bread, nor brew our Beer, nor seethe our meat, nor roast it, nor at all make use of flesh, to eat it as now we do.  
4. For delight: How comfortable a shade doth a spreading Ash or Oak yield in the hot Summer, how refreshing is it to man and beast!   
How pleasant a place was Paradise, and what made it so? but the artificial order, fashion, and growing of all sorts of Trees fit for food and shadow.  
We must observe our own faultiness with sorrow and humiliation, for that we 
Corollaries.  have not observed more seriously and usefully this work of God. We have perpetual use of Timber and Fuel: We eat much fruit from these Trees, we reap the benefit of this work of God from time to time. We sit upon wood, we feed upon wood, we dwell under wood, under Trees cut down and fitted for our use: We cannot step out of doors but our eyes are fixed upon some Tree or other, great or small: but we take not notice of God in this work, and praise his name that made all these Trees.  
Let us mend this fault, and stir up ourselves to consider God in this work, praise him for fruitful Trees, and all other kinds of Trees. Let us acknowledge his power, wisdom and goodness in them, and his exceeding bounty and tender care to man that hath so furnished the world with innumerable sorts of Trees.  
Let us be careful of preserving these works of nature for our own use, and the use of posterity, let us set and plant Trees for 
* Serunt arbores, quae prosint alteri saeculo. Cicero.  after ages.    

CHAP. V. Of the Sun, Moon and Stars.  
ON the fourth Day were made the Sun, Moon. and Stars, which are as it were certain Vessels wherein the Lord did gather the light, which before 
Gen. 1. 14, 15.  was scattered in the whole body of the Heavens. The Hebrew word translated Lights, signifieth Lamps, Torches, or other things which shine forth and give light.  
It was a great work of God in making and ordering the Sun, Moon, and other heavenly bodies. This work is often spoken of in Scripture, Gen. 1. 14. Psal. 104. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. Psal. 136. 7, 8, 9 Psal. 148. He calleth upon the Sun, Moon and Stars of light to praise God: and Psal. 19 he saith of the Sun, God hath set a Tabernacle for the Sun. In another place he saith, He guideth the Stars, and calleth them by their names.  
The wonderfulness of these works of God is seen,  

First, In the very matter and substance of them, which is wonderful and inexplicable, who can tell what the Sun is made of?  
2. In their quantity, both in respect of multitude and greatness. For multtiude they be innumerable: and for magnitude, many of the stars are far greater than the earth.  
3. In their qualities, which are principally three. 

1. Their figure, the fittest for motion and use, round and orbicular.  
2. Their brightness and shining, especially the splendour of the Sun and Moon.  
3. Their durableness: they do not change.    
4. In their motion which is very swift and regular.  
5. In their effects, working so constantly and variously in the seasons of the 
2 Chron. 33. 3 Jer. 44. 17. Deut. 4. 19  year.   
The most beautiful bodies of the Stars which we see fastened in Heaven, are not Gods, as Plato in Timaeo called the Stars, by the worshipping of which the blind Gentiles, and the Jews also horribly polluted themselves: but excellent works of God, by the contemplation of which we ought to be stirred up to acknowledge and celebrate the Majesty, Glory, Wisdom and Power of the Creator, Psal. 8. 3, 4.  
First, For the Sun that is called the greatest Light, and that most truly and properly, both for the body and substance of it, and also for the brightness and abundance of light which is in it. For the most skilful Mathematicians have demonstrated, that the very body of the Sun doth exceed the whole earth in bigness a hundred sixty six times, others say a hundred and forty times.  
The Sun 
* Sol ufitatissimè Hebraeis dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schemesh à ministrando (quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schimme●ch) quia Dei Minister in natura clarissimus: aliter à calor● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chammah. Graecis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, i. e. splendore, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Latinis Sol, vel qui● solus ex omnibus ●ideribus est tantus, vel quia quum est exortus, obscuratis aliis solus appareat. Martinius.  is the glorious servant of all the world, therefore it hath its name in Hebrew from serving.  
The Sun is the fountain of heat and light, the life of the Universe, the great Torch of the world, and the Ornament of Heaven.  
It's beauty, magnitude, the swiftness of its course, and its force are commended by David:  

1. Beauty, It comes forth as a Bridegroom out of his chamber, Psal. 19 6.  
2. Strength, It is compared to a Giant.  
3. It's Swiftness, v. 6. goes ten hundred thousand miles, say the Mathematicians, in an hour.  
4. It's force and efficacy upon the inferior bodies, There is nothing hid from the heat thereof.   
The Sun is fitly situated, being in the midst of the six other Planets, neither too high nor too low.  
Altius egressus coelestia tecta ●r●mabit,  
Inferius terras: medi● tutissimus ibis. 
See Dr Brown's Enquities, lib. 6. cap. 5.   Ovid. lib. 2. Metamorph. 
The Philosophers conceive that the Sun and Moon are not Actu calidi, only they have a virtue, and by way of eminency as it were, they do produce heat below, and are not hot themselves. To contain any thing by way of eminency, is a property of God, he contains all things eminenter, these faculties which he hath not actually, habitually and subjectively in himself, as faculties, yet he contains them eminently, as being able to produce all; but no creature can produce any thing but by some virtue put into it. Dr stoughton's Burning Light.  
If the Stars be not fiery, why are waters (saith Vossius) placed above the Heaven, as Moses, and in other Scriptures, but to temper their burning heat, lest the Heavens should be destroyed by their burning? Vossius de orig. & progress. Idol. l. 2. c. 39 Vide c. 38.  
Secondly, The Moon is also called a great Light, not for the bigness of the body of it, but because it is the lowest of all the Planets, and nearest unto the 
* Non tam ad magnitudinem corporum, quam splendoris eorum respexit Moses, & ad popularem captum & aspectum, qui haec judicat esse maxima sydera in Caelo juxta sensum. Mercer. See Doctor Hackwels Apology of God's Providence, pag. 74, 76. 77.  earth, and therefore appears biggest of all next unto the Sun, and gives to the earth a greater light than any of the Stars, which are far greater in substance, and brighter in light.  
Some say it is the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea, for it agreeth exactly with the Revolution of the Moon, it causeth it, 1. By its motion, as it brings its beams, 2. By its beam, as that brings the influence. 3. By infusion, as that stirs the waters.  
It is called in Latin Luna à lucend●, saith Tully, or because Solâ lucet nocte, saith 
Dominatur corporibus humidis; as over women (the brain) sh●ll-sish. From the new Moon to the full, all humours do increase, and from the full to the new Moon decrease again.  Varro. In Hebrew jareach and jerech, which words signify a month, because it is renewed every month.  
A Star is the thicker part of Heaven, round and full of light.  
In the day the glistering light of the Sun (say some) obscures all the Stars, but 
To think that the brightness of the Sun's body above, doth drown o●● discerning o●●he lesser lights, is a popular error; the sole impediment being that lustre, which by reflection doth spread about us from the face of the earth. Sir Henry Wotton's Elem. of Architect. part. 2. Only God can number the Stars, Psal. 147. 4. It is impossible for man to number them, which God intimates to Abraham, Gen. 15. 5.  in the night how many hundred thousand of them do we see, besides those that are hidden from us in the other part of the Sphere which is not seen by us? The number of Stars set upon the Globe are 1025. and divers of them have proper names. All the Stars of the Heaven are not numbered nor cannot, since divers of them are so small: but these 1025. are the principallest amongst them, and all that have ever been accounted of.  
Philosophers distinguish them into fixed Stars and Planets. The Planets are apparently seven, Saturn, jupiter, Mars, than the Sun in the midst as it were the King of all, after Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Neither Moses, job, nor the Psalms (the most frequent in Astronomical observations) mention any of the Planets but the Sun and Moon.  
Of these Stars some are greater than other, and are distinguished into six sorts of 
1 Cor. 15. 41. All Stars are not Primae magnitud●nis.  quantities. Their proportions are thus delivered, viz. a Star of the first bigness or magnitude, is a hundred and seven times bigger than the earth.  
A Star of the second magnitude, ninety times bigger than the earth.  
A Star of the third bigness, seventy two times bigger than the earth.  
A Star of the fourth bigness, is four and fifty times bigger than the globe of the earth.  
A Star of the fifth magnitude, is six and thirty times bigger than the earth.  
A Star of the sixth bigness, is eighteen times bigger than the globe of the earth.  
We are to bewail our own great folly and blindness, that we have not more 
Corollaries. Ethnici colebant solemn & Lunam prius quam alias creature as terres●res: usque a●●● ut Moses, Deut 40. 19 notans duos sontes idololatriae, prius facit mentionem Solis & Lunae, deinde similitudivem viri aut soemin●, a●t qua●rupedis, Job 31. 26. ●er. 44. 17, 18. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. Tom. 2. Praelect. 237. Sol ab antiquissimis, ut Deorum maximus col●batur: nominaque Jovis, Saturni, Martis, Liberi, Ariosto, Osiridis, aliaque multa Solem significarunt. Qu● d● re Macrobius l. 1. Saturn. c. 16. Voss. in Maimon. de Idol. c. 6.  admired, honoured, feared, loved that great worker to whom these Creatures do point us. We do not often enough tell ourselves, this Moon, this Sun, these Stars could not, nor did not make themselves. They could not possibly be without any beginning at all, for they are but parts of the whole world, and no part of any whole can be eternal, because there must be something before that did unite those parts together; wherefore they were made by some superior essence, and more excellent than themselves, and that is God. How great, how wise, how good, how infinitely excellent is he whose hand framed and ordered these things! The Sun ariseth to us constantly, the Moon also keeps her course with like constancy. Doth not that mighty Army of Stars which in a clear night show themselves, even speak to us as it were to consider of his incomprehensible excellency, which made and rules them? See job 38. 31, 32, 33.  
Let us accustom ourselves hereafter to these Meditations, if God had not beautified Heaven with these excellent bodies, light and heat could not have been equally and in due quantity conveyed into all the quarters of the world. We must observe this work so as to praise God for it, to inform ourselves of his nature, and strive to work more love, fear, obedience and confidence in ourselves towards him. The Apostle saith, That in the times before the Gospel, the Gentiles might have found God as it were by groping, Act. 17. 27.  
Now we that have the Scripture to direct us as in the daylight, shall not we find God out by these illustrious works of his?   

CHAP. VI Of the Fishes, Fowls, Beasts.  
THe fifth Day's work was the Creation of all living Creatures which live 
Gen. 1. 20, 21, 22.  and move in the two moist Elements, the Water and the Air, viz. Fishes 
* The Fishes were appointed to increase and multiply, and to fill the waters: the Fowls were appointed to increase & multiply and fly in the Air.  and moving Creatures, which live and move in the waters; and all kind of Fowls which fly in the open Region of the Air, divers in nature, shape, qualities, and manner of living.  
The Hebrew verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here translated The moving Creature, is derived; is used as here, so in other Scriptures frequently, first to signify creeping or moving forward without feet, as Gen. 7. 21. & Levit. 11. 19 And secondly also to bring forth abundantly as here, and also Exod. 1. 7. Fish's breed and bring forth young in great abundance, more than any other creatures do, by the multitude of spawn they would increase beyond all measure and number, if by one means or other the spawn were not devoured and consumed.  
Who can render a reason of their ability to swim so in the waters, to support themselves in the midst of the waters, and convey themselves up and down in it?  
Fishes are in Scripture termed Reptilia, Psalm 104. 25. In the great and wide Sea there are things creeping innumerable both small and great, so called, because things when they swim seem to creep along in the water. As Birds have their wings and trains by means whereof they cut their way, and make smooth passage through the Air, so Fishes are furnished with fins wherewith they guide themselves in their swimming, and cut the current of the streams and waves for their more easy passage, wherein their course is directed by their tail, as Ships are conducted by their Helm.  
The Sea gives more and greater dainties than the Earth, those that did most affect to please their Palate of old, set great store by Fishes, and paid dearer for them then flesh. God hath furnished them with a strong power of increasing. Birds bring forth some four or five in a nest, some three, and some but two, the most but twenty, as the little Wren, for being so little, the kind would be consumed by the things which devour such weak creatures, if those that be did not bring forth very many: But every Fish brings forth a great multitude, many hundreds, as we may see in their spawn.  
That God should give unto these things a power to multiply so very fast, is wonderful, and it is agreeable to reason too, for the fishes do more devour one another then the beasts do, the greater being much more ravenous than any beast, as being bigger; and their stomaches by an Antiperistasis of the cold water more vehement in digesting.  
They are said to be without number, Psa. 104. 25. not simply, but to us, for we cannot tell the number of them, though God (which made them) do know the particular number of them. He can tell how many fishes there be in the Sea, though to us they exceed the power of counting, yet he hath the precise and exact number of them.  
We know not the kinds of fishes, how much less the particulars!  
There be (saith Pliny) of fishes and other creatures living in the Sea; one hundred 
Pliny's Natural History, l 32. c. 11.  seventy and six several and distinct kinds.  
What Philosopher can tell how many Dolphins, Herrings, Whales, Sword-fish there be in the Sea?  
A Crocodile equals eighteen cubits, it comes from an Egg as big as that 
Quidam hoc unum animal quam diu vivit, crescere arbitrantur. Pliny l. 8. c. 25. Naturalists write of the Crocodile that it grows as long as it lives. Scribunt humanum caputà Crocodilo ob crassitiem ossis non posse devorari. Cum vero persentiat medullam, hoc est, cerebrum cranio subesse, lacrymas in id effundere quarum vi suturae protinus dissipentar: inde medullam exsorberi à truculentissima bestia. Abiere hinc in Proverbium, Lacrymae Crocodili, quae non a commiseratione sed ab immanissima crudelitate proveniu●●. Wendelinus de admirandis Nili. c▪ 16. vide plura ibid. etc. 17.  of a Goose: Nec aliud animal ex minori origine in majorem crescit magnitudinem. Pliny lib. 8. cap. 25. From so small a beginning it increaseth to eight or ten yards in length. Their bodies are not much longer than their tails, which is of like use with them, as the Proboscis is to the Elephant; their mouths are very wide, at one gulf able to swallow horse or man. The name is taken a Croceo colore, or per Antiphrasin quòd Crocum timeat. The Ichneumon steals into his belly, and gnaws his guts, whilst he opens his chaps to let the little Troclill pick his teeth, which give it feeding. Herb. Trau. l. 3.  
The Echeneis, Remora, or stop-ship, but half a foot long is able to stay the greatest 
Pliny's Naturali history, l. 32. c. 1.  Ship under sail. Keckermannus humori frigido à remora fuso adscribere videtur qui aquam circa gubernaculum conglaciet. in Disput. Physic. The Cramp-fish Torpedo is able to benumn and mortify the arms of the lustiest and strongest Fishers that be 
Id. ibid.  by touching only the end of any part of an angle-rod, which they hold in their hands, although they stand aloft and a great way from her: hence it hath its name, 
johnstoni Thaum atographia.  quod torpore manus afficiat, because it benumbeth the hands. See Voss. de orig. & progress. Idol. l. 4. c. 11. both of the Remora and Torpedo.  
The Naturalists tell us of one fish which they call the Uranoscope, which hath but one eye, and that in a vertical point, on the top of the head, directly upward: by which it avoids all rocks and dangers.  
There have been known Whales six hundred foot 
* Pliny Ibid. Four Acres long in the Indian Sea. Idem l. 9 c. 3. Amama Antibarb. Bib. l. 3. Chamierus tom. 2 l. 9 c. 11. Plin. ib c. 2. Ante omnia nihil velocius habent maria ut plerumque saliente transvolent vela navium. Solinus c. 21.  long, and three hundred and sixty foot broad, some like mountains, and some like Islands. God himself speaking of his own power over all the creatures, rehearseth only two, the Behemoth, Job 40. 15. to the end, that is, the Elephant; and the Leviathan Job 41. per tot. that is, the Whale, this being the greatest among the Fishes, as that among the Beasts.  
The Swordfish hath a beak or Bill sharppointed, wherewith he will drive through the sides and planks of a Ship, and bore them so, that they shall sink withal.  
The Dolphin is said to be a fish of such exceeding great swiftness, as that oftentimes he outstrippeth a Ship under sail in the greatest ruff and merriest wind, in swiftness of course. In this fish is propounded to us an example of charity, and kind affection toward our Children, as Plinyb in his description of the nature of this fish showeth, and Aelianus l. 5. c. 18. As also of his singular love toward man, whereof Aelianus produceth strange examples.  
It may seem strange that it should please the Pope to forbid flesh to men rather than 
* Pisces Deus noluit sibi offerri, tum quod extra aquam non vivant (nihil autem mortuum ex animalibus offerri sibi Deus velit) tum etiam quod ex Serpentum genere cense●tur Pisces: Serpentum vero genus universum damnatum est à Deo, proptereà quod per serpentem deceptus fuerit homo, fuitq● serpens organon Diabelt, Gen. 3. Danaeus Isag. Christ. l. 2. c. 23.  fish, that is, the less dainty and luxurious, before the more: for what is by some alleged, that the curse fell upon the earth, and not the Seas, is fond affirmed, seeing when it is said, cursed be the earth, by earth is meant the whole globe of the earth consisting of Sea and dry Land.  
Some fishes are exceeding small, and for their smallness and workmanship bestowed upon them, admirable. In the Sea the Cockles, a little kind of shellfish, yet in its kind very artificial, somewhat resembling a Crefish, which are dainties for rich men.  
Those little and small things are made with so many joints and parts and turnings, such a proportion and shape, and every thing so exact and suitable, as would stir up astonishment in any beholder. God's power is likewise seen in the greatness of some fishes, as the Whale, some of which are 80. yards long, their eyes are as big as an hogshead, and their mouth so wide, that a man sitting on horseback might be held in it.  
God hath created the Fowls of Heaven among other creatures, Psa. 104. 12. Gen. 
The orderly course of birds in breeding their young ones is most remarkable. After they have coupled they make their nest, they line it with moss, straw, and feathers; they lay their eggs, they set upon them, they hatch them, they feed their young ones, and they teach them to fly 't all which they do with so continuate and regular a method, as no man can direct or imagine a better. Sir Kenelm Digbies Treat. of Bod. c. 37.  1. 20, 21.  
The things wherein the Fowls differ from other creatures are. 1. That they be winged, having feathers and wings by which they are covered, and by which they do pass through the air, and the place wherein they fly, viz. in the open firmament in this lower heaven. Their creation is wonderful in divers respects.  

1. Their making is wonderful, far differing from that of beasts, fishes, and men.  
2. They have great variety of kinds, some wild, some tame, some great, some little, some Sea or water birds, some land birds.  
3. Their manner of breeding, they lay eggs and hatch them, and out of a kind of confused substance, that to us seems void of life, by the heat of their bodies they do bring forth their young naked at first, which after by the same cherishing of warmth, do bring forth feathers to cover them. Many of them are so beautifully adorned with their feathers for colour, and are so glorious, as a man cannot but look upon them with wondering and delight, for where doth nature show more variety, and a pleasinger composition of colours then in Dove's neck, a Peacock's tail, and some other like Birds?  
4. For their swiftness of flying, that they can with such celerity pass through the air.  
5. They are many ways serviceable to many: they are a dainty food for weak stomaches, they pull up many kinds of worms and vermin, that else would be harmful to us.   
Fowls or Birds are more worthy than Fishes, because they do more participate of air and fire (the two noblest Elements) then of water and earth. All birds are mastered under the name of Fowls as under their Genus.  
There are examples of virtues in the fowls propounded for us to imitate, and of vices 
Job 12. 7.  for us to shun.  
In the Phoenix an example of the Resurrection: in the Stork of loving affection: 
One cannot say of the Phoenix being only one in the world, Increase and multiply, there were two of all creatures went into the Atk, therefore there is no Phoenix. Aldrovandus and Pliny. Vide Voss. de orig. & progress. Idol. l. 3. c. 99  In the Dove of innocency and conjugal faith: in the Crows and Ostriches of unnaturalness.  
We should imitate the Stork, Crane and Swallow 
c Job 39 13, 14, 15, 16. Lam. 4. 3. jer. 8. 7.  in acknowledging the seasonable time of our repentance.  
The Stork hath her name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, love, and the * Hebrew word is near of kin 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  with another, which signifieth bowels of compassion, as which indeed are most tender in her. A story whereof 
a She is somewhat like a Hern having a long neck and feet. Doctor Twisse against Doctor jackson. Petronius Arbiter & Solinus call the Stork pictatis cultricem.  we have in the description of the Netherlands, viz. of a Stork, that when the house was on fire where her nest was, kept the fire off from her young ones with her own body and wings so long till she was burnt herself.  
It is loving to mankind, delightful to build in the tops of houses and chimneys, as is usual to be seen in Germany.  
It is the emblem of a grateful man: for at her departure from the house where 
They count it there a happy Omen for the Stork to build in their houses.  she builds (as some report) she usually leaveth a young one behind her. Aelian lib. 8. the Animal. cap. 19 writeth of a Stork which bred on the house of one which had a very beautiful wife, which in her Husband's absence used to commit adultery with one of her base servants; which the Stork observing, in gratitude to him who freely gave him houseroom, flying in the villain's face, struck out both his eyes. It is recorded also of the Stork, that when the dams are old, the young ones feed them; and when through age they are ready to faint in their flying, the young ones help them; and when they are passed flying, the young ones carry them on their weak backs.  
The Eagle is reckoned the Sovereign Queen of all Fowls, as the Lion is reputed the King of all beasts.  
It is Altivolans avis, an high soaring bird, that sometime flieth so high a pitch as she transcendeth the view of man, whence the Proverb, Aquila in nubibus, she makes 
Job 39 27, 28, 29. See of the Nightingales singing. Pliny l. 10. of natural History, c. 29. and Famianus Stradas Pr●lusions.  her nest also in the high trees or rocks, lest her young ones should be hurt of the lesser birds, jer. 49. 16. She flies also swiftly, job 9 26. She sees acutely when she is so high that men can scarce see her, she sees (they say) fishes swimming in the Sea.  
— tam cernis acutum,  
Quam aut aquila aut serpens Epida●r 〈…〉.  
She hath a tender care of her young, when they be ●l●sh and ready for flight▪ then she stirreth up her nest and fluttereth over them; yea she taketh them on her wings, and so soareth with them through the air, and carrieth them aloft, and so freeth them from all danger. In that she carrieth her young ones rather upon her wings then in her ●alons, she showeth her tender care and love that she beareth unto them, Exod▪ 19 4. Deut. 32. 11.  
The Hebrew name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated Fowl, Gen. 1. 26. signifieth in general 
Inter omnia Infecta principatus apibus, & jure praecipua admiratio, solis ex eo genere hominum causa genitis: Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 5. Nomen Insectis datur ab incisuris, quas habent, quasi annulos. Vossius de orig. & progress, Idol. l. 4.  every living thing, which by help of wings flieth above the earth in the air: so that not only birds, but also bees, wasps▪ hornets, and all other winged things may here be understood: Bees are principal among the Infects; Bees are notable,  

1. For their good husbandry, she is very painful, she flies to every herb and flower, 
When bees are most angry in swarming, cast but a little dust upon them, and they ar● presently quiet, and leave their humming. Practise the fedulity of the Bee, labour in thy calling: and the community of the Bee, believe that thou art called to assist others: and the purity of the Bee, which never settles upon any foul thing. D. Donne on Prov. 25. 19 See Butler's history of Bees. Vide Voss. de orig. & progress. Idol. l. 4. c. 72▪ de apum prudentia in fabricando alveari deque tota corum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  and seeks and searches into every corner of the same. She so abhors idleness that she punisheth the idle drone, and will not give it any quiet harbour in the hive. 2. She is thrifty, which is another part of good husbandry, what she hath gotten in the Summer, she charily lays up in her Cells, and doth not spend it till she must needs.  
2. For their cleanliness and neatness, mundissimum omnium hoc animal, they will not suffer any sluttery within if they may go abroad, neither can they endure any unsavoriness without nigh unto them, Pliny l. 11. c. 10. & 18.  
3. For their care of the common good, she is an admirable lover of that, she labours, eats, fights in common, and all her pains is directed to the common good, she will with unresistable courage assail any enemy though never so strong, which shall offer to wrong the common body.  
4. For their concord, Bees of the same hive are linked together in the bond of amity, though they be many of them, yet they know and love each other, and keep peace among themselves, and fly domestical sedition, unless the rulers be multiplied, and by their disorders set the rest of the Bees at variance.  
5. For their dutifullnesse to their King or Prince (for they have a Monarchy, as the Ants a Democracy) 
* See Pliny's natural history, l. 11. c. 17. Vide Moufetum de Insect is l. 2. corpora bello. objectant, pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem. Virg. 4. Georg. Corollaries.  they are most loyal subjects to him, they labour for him, and build him more than one Palace, and that more large and stately than their own, they fight for him, and go abroad with him.   
The workmanship of God is more excellent in some Infects, as Bees, and others little creatures, then in those of great bulk; See Pliny l. 7. c. 21. and 36. 5. Austin prefers a fly (in regard of its life) before the Sun. But some things (saith Vossius) are not so much to be valued for their form, as their end, which is more excellent in the Sun, then in any perfect living creature, man only excepted.  
We see and use the fowls, and eat their flesh, and lie upon their soft feathers, and yet contemplate not the goodness of God in them.  
We have divers kind of tame fowl in our backsides, they bring us young, and we kill and dress them, and let them upon our Tables and feast with them. They lay eggs, and we eat of them: they sit and hatch and cherish their young, and we see that admirable manner of drawing actual life out of a potential life by the working of heat. And we have many wild fowl, but who seeth God's wisdom, power, bounty, in giving them to us?  
Let us stir up ourselves to give God his due glory, in respect of this kind of creature.  
Amongst other creatures, the Lord hath stored the world with divers kinds of fourfooted beasts, which move and walk upon the face of the earth, Psa. 104. 11, 12. these were created on the sixth day. Gen. 1. 24.  
These beasts are creatures endued not with life alone, but with sense also: Yea, 
There are not known to be of beasts and creeping things above the number of 150 kinds, probably there are not many nor great that are not known. Plin. not hist. l. 10. Gesn. de animal. There are dive●s kinds of brute beasts differing in nature, qualities, figure, colour, quantity, voice.  they excel man in quickness of sense,  
Nos aper auditu praecellit, ar●●ea ●●ctu,  
Vultur odoratu, lynx visu, simia gustu.  
They consist of a body and of a sensible soul, and besides the life of vegetation which is to be found in plants, by which they grow and are nourished; They have also a soul whereby they discern divers bodily objects, and can both discern and follow that which is good for them, and shun what is evil, and so preserve themselves alive by using things helpful for them, and avoiding the contrary. All these beasts were made to walk upon the ground with 4. feet, having their heads bowing down to the ground to seek their diet, without which they could not live, and which is provided for them upon the face of the ground.  
This work is wonderful in respect of the divers sorts of these beasts, some great, and some small, some of one shape and nature, some of another.  
We see great variety of them in our own Country, and there is far greater variety abroad in the world which we have never seen. That out of the same earth and water all these kinds should grow by a word spoken with the mouth of God, let it be so, is a strange and wonderful thing. By virtue of these words, there were Sheep, Goats, Kine, Horses, Camels and Dromedaries, Elephants, Lions, Bears, Dogs, Tigers, Wolves, Foxes, Deer. What are all these but a most artificial mixture of earth and water put into a certain shape or form of members, having head, feet, back, breast, belly, brain, liver, heart, guts, and other entrails, and having power to see, hear, to touch, smell, taste, to eat, drink, go, generate, to remember, to have a kind of thought of things within, to imagine and discern, having also affections and passions. They carry us, feed us, clothe us, till the ground for us. How full of tedious and toilsome pains would our lives be, if we had not a horse to bear us up and down from place to place, and Horses or Oxen to convey all manner of things for us!  
We must magnify the name of God, and frame ourselves to sincere thankfulness unto him who hath made such a multitude of creatures inferior to ourselves, and given to us the use of them. O what a wonderful skilful workman is he, that out of the earth could produce such a number of such creatures! And how good was he to us, that he did not give reason unto them as well as sense; for if they had reason to know their own strength and our Weakness, we should never keep them under as we do.  
Let us not abuse creatures of God to bad purpose, or use them in a cruel and inhuman manner: they are our fellow-creatures, made of a little courser earth; and since they obey us with all cheerfulness, let us be likewise obedient to God.  
There is no creature among all the beasts of the world which so aptly demonstrates the power and wisdom of Almighty God as the 
* Utrum ea vox Elephas ab Eleph bos, a● verò potius ab Alaph quod Syris & Ebraeis discere est, derivata sit, meritò dubites, adeò verisimi▪ lis utraque sententia est; Nam quod primam attinet, in confesso est apud Graecos & Latino's, nobilitatam semper fais●● bovis pra ceteris terrestribus animantibus magnitudinem. Ita credibile est, Ebraeos, Syros & Phaenices cum hoc animal & mole & figuratione corporis ad bovem quam proxime accedens primò vidissent, bovis nomine appellasse. Quod ad alteram attinet, quis ignorat ea, quae de hujus belluae docilitate narrat Plinius, l. 80 c. 1. 3. 7. Cicero Epist. Famil. 1. 7. & plena manu Lipsius. Centuria prima Epist. 5. Amama Antibarb. Bibl. l. 3. Vide Plin. hist. l. 8. The Elephant is for growth and understanding, chiefest of unreasonable Animals. They go two, sometimes three years with young, and haun extreme torm●●●●● in their labour: They grow till fifteen, in that time mounting to 24. foot, yet lie down, dance, and prove very active. Herbert's Trau. l. 3.  Elephant, both in respect of his proportion of body and disposition of spirit. He is by the Hebrews called Behemoth, by way of excellency, as the Latins for the same cause call him Bellua, and by job 40. 15. he is likewise called Behemoth in the plural number. Behold now Behemoth which I made with thee, he eateth grass as an ox. The LXX and Chaldee by Behemoth understand all earthly beasts of great bulk, but the Hebrews think the Elephant is only meant, whom Thomas Aquinas and Nicolaus Lyranus follow; God stirs job up to consider well of this huge beast, as if he had said, If thou dost not yet understand how weak a man thou art, and how unfit to grapple with me, see how thou canst deal with this great beast. Vide Vossi. de Orig. & progress. Idol. lib. 3. cap. 50, 51. He is wittily called by julius Scaliger, Bestiarum Heros: and by job in the same Chapter, vers. 19 the chief of the ways of God, that is, the greatest, strongest, and most understanding of all earthly irrational creatures, as Deodate interprets it. Vide Fulleri miscel. Sac. l. 4. c. 10.  
Elephas peregrinum est apud nos animal, Indis & aliis notissimum & obvium, Certè turres olim armatorum in praelia ferebant, Johnstoni Thaumatographia. The Elephants were useful in the wars, they carried Towers, whence ten or fifteen soldiers did cast darts or spears, See Mac. 6. 37. If by accident in their fury they kill him that feeds them, they so mourn for it afterward, that they die through hunger, saith Strabo: the like I have heard reported of an Elephant here in England.  
Aristotle l. 9 de hist. animal. c. 47. makes mention of a memorable thing to make men fly incest. The King of Scythia had a Mare of a most excellent race, which brought forth most excellent colts; among the rest she had one which excelled them all; the King was desirous that this colt might horse his dam, that so he might have an excellent race of them: but the colt when he was brought to his dam, would not horse her; the King seeing this, he caused them to cover the dam that he might not know her. But he perceiving afterwards that it was his dam, ran away and cast himself over a steep rock, and broke his neck. Vide Vos. de orig. & prog. Idol. l. 3. c. 61.  
There are many things wonderful in the Dog, his sagacity, docility, fidelity: Of this creature and the horse is Pliny's Elegy. Fidelissimi ante omnia homini canes atque equi.  
A dog in Epyrus in a great assembly of people, knowing the man that had murdered 
Pliny's not. hist. l. 8. c. 40. See Camerar. Hist. meditat. l. 2. c. 6.  his Master, flew upon him with open mouth, barking and snapping at him so furiously, that he was ready to take him by the throat, until he at length confessed the fact, that caused the dog thus to rage and foam against him. Vide Voss. de orig. & progress. Idol. l. 3. c. 61.  
Alexander the Great being on his voyage toward the Indies, received for a Present 
Id. ib.  a very great Dog which the King of the Albanians sent him, with advice, that he should not set his Dog against Wolves, Bears or Boars, but against Lions and Elephants. Alexander desiring to see some sport, made a Lion to be brought, whom the dog overcame, and with a trice tore in pieces. Then he commanded to set an Elephant upon him, longing to see the issue of that fight. The dog seeing his adversary, begins to bustle himself, and to bristle his hair all his body over, and casting out a furious bawling, maketh the Elephant turn tail, and proceedeth so courageously, to the great applause and astonishment of all that beheld it. Pliny l. 8. c. 40. See Camerar. Histor. meditat. l. 2. c. 6. & Voss. de orig. progress. Idol. l. 3. c. 56.  
The dogs which be near unto Nilus' lap of the River, running still, and never stay while they are drinking, for fear of the greedy Crocodiles. Aegyptio canes è Nil● nunquam nisi currentes lambitant, dum Crocodilis insidias cavent.  
It happened, that upon a narrow thin plank that lay for a Bridge, one goat met another, both coming from divers parts: now by reason that the place was so narrow, that they could not pass by, nor turn about, nor yet retire backwards blindly, considering how long the plank was, and so slender withal; moreover the water 
Plinies●●● ●●●. hist. l. 8. c. ●0.  that ran underneath, ran with a swift stream, and threatened present death if they failed and went besides, Mutianus affirmeth, that he saw one of them to lie flat down, and the other to go over his back.  
In Sibaris there was a young man named Crathis, which being not able to retain 
A memorable story of the punishment of buggery.  lust, but forsaken of God, and given over to a reprobate sense, committed buggery with a female Goat, the which thing the Master Goat beheld and looked upon, and dissembled, concealing his mind and jealousy for the pollution of his female. Afterward finding the said young man asleep (for he was a Shepherd) he made 
* Topsell de quadrupedibus.  all his force upon him, and with his horns dashed out the Buggers brains.  
Alexander the Great had a very strange and rare horse called Bucephalus, 
* Bucephalus signifieth an ox head. Vide Vos. Instit. orat. l. 4. c. 7. Sect. 11. Plin. nat. hist. l. 8. c. 42. l. 6. c. 20. Aul. Gel. Noct. Att. l. 5. c. 2. This horse is also celebrated by Plutarch and Q. Curtius.  eithr for the greatness of his head, or else from the mark or brand of a Bull's head, which was imprinted upon his shoulder. He would suffer no man to sit him, nor come upon his back but Alexander, when he had the King's saddle on, and was also trapped with royal furniture, for otherwise he would suffer any whomsoever. When he was dead the King solemnised his funerals most sumptuously; erected a Tomb for him, and about it built a City that bore his name Bucephalia.  
That is a lofty description of a horse, job 39 19 to 26. By which words it is signified, that that terrible strength of the horse is from God, that neighing almost like to thunder, that mettle, when not being able to stand still, he hollows the earth with his hoofs, goes on undaunted into the battle, neither is terrified with so many darts falling near him and his rider, and runs with that swiftness that he seems to swallow up the earth, and rejoiceth at the sound of the Trumpet stirring up the soldier to battle.  
If Banks 
a Sir Walter Raleigh.  had lived in elder times, he would have shamed all the Enchanters of the world; for whosoever was most famous among them, could never master or instruct any beast as he did his Horse. He would restore a glove to the due owner after his Master had whispered that man's name in his ear; he would tell the just number of pence in any piece of silver coin barely showed him by his Master, and obey presently his command in discharging himself of his excrements whensoever he bade him.  
That story of Androdus and the Lion 
b Hic est leo hospes hominis; hic est homo medicus leo●is. See D. Willet of the Camel on Leu. 11. quest. 14. The ape is so docible, that he will learn to play at Chess. See Plin. nat. hist. l. 8. c. 54. vide plura de Simia. Voss. &c orig. & prog. Idol. l. 3. c. 59  is commonly known: Vide Auli Gellij noctes Atticas, l. 5. c. 14. and Vossius de orig. & prog. Idol. l. 3. c. 52. relates a strange story out of Aelian, of the sagacity of the Lion; a Bear in the mountain of Thracia entering into his Den, and killing the young Lions, the old He and Shee-Lion returned at last home from hunting, and seeing this Spectacle, they pursued the Bear, and the Bear getting up into the next Tree, the Lioness stayed at the tree, and the Lion wandered about all the mountains, till he met with a Carpenter, who at the first sight of him out of fear let the hatchet fall from his hand, but the Lion fawned upon the man, and with his foot showed him the hatchet, that he might take it up, and at length with his tail embracing the man he brought him to his den, and the Lioness came thither, both show the destruction of their whelps, and also looked up to the tree where the Bear was, than the Carpenter conjecturing that the Bear did this injury, cut down the Tree, that falling with the Bear, the Lion and the Lioness presently tear the Bear in pieces, and the Lion brought back the man safe to the place where before he did cut wood: See more of the Lion in that Chapter, and 53. of Vossius his Book before-cited.  
It is a great token of God's goodness to us, that from the vety Serpents (which are poisonful for man's sin) a threefold profit redounds to man.  

1. In respect of nourishment, in Africa, as Pliny relates lib. 6. cap. 29. men feed on them.  
2. They serve for Medicament: See Vossius de Origine & Progress. Idol. lib. 4. cap 62.  
3▪ They are a Preservative against poison, amoletum ab amoliendo, or as they commonly write it amuletum. Treacle is made of the flesh of a viper, the oil of Scorpions is good against the sting of Scorpions. Being bitten by a Serpent, if you anoint the wound with spittle, it will hinder the poison from spreading any farther.    

CHAP. VII. Of the Angels good and bad.  
AMong the works of Creation, the principal are the reasonable Creatures, Angels 
Angelorum nomen Graecum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enim est nuncius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nunciare Graecum nomen Angeli, Europaeae gentes ferè retinent, nisi quod id inflectart ad terminationem suam & Galli id 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicunt ange, Germani a in ● mutato engel. Martinius de Creatione. Angeli ex ministerio quod regi suo praebent, nuncupantur. Ludou. Viu. de verit. Fid. Christ. l. ●. c. 14. That there are Angels. Omnes apparitiones veteris testamenti ad illam apparitionem ordinatae fuerunt, qua filius Dei apparuit in carne. Aquin. part. 1. quaest. 2. art. 2.  and Men.  
The Name Angel comes of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies a Messenger, sent forth from some superior person or State to deliver a message, and to declare the mind of him or them that sent him. The Hebrew name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the name of an Angel in the Old Testament, signifies also a Messenger; but yet in a more full and large sense: for it signifies such a Messenger as doth not only deliver and declare a Message by word of mouth, but also doth act and execute indeed the will of him that sent him, and doth perform his work enjoined as a faithful Minister and servant.  
First of all, It signifieth that chief and principal Messenger and Ambassador of God, his Son Jesus Christ, who is called Malachy 3. 1. The Angel of the Covenant.  
Secondly, Pastors are called Angels, Rev. 2. and 3. Ch. being God's Messenger sent to the Church.  
Thirdly. This word is most frequently used to signify the heavenly Spirits, who are so called, because they are both ready to be sent on God's message, and often are sent out to do the will of God, Gen. 19 1. Psa. 103. 20. 21. Mat. 18. 10.  
That there are Angels is proved out of Scripture. where they are often mentioned, Psa. 68 17. Dan. 7. 10. Col. 1. 16. and 2, 10. Heb. 12. 12. and by the manifold apparitions of them, Gen. 3. 24. Cherubims, that is, Angels, appearing in the form of flying men to keep the entrance into the Garden. Abraham entertained Angels unawares. They were sent to destroy the filthy Sodomites, and the Cities about them that ra● into the like exorbitancies. An Angel stopped Abraham's hand which he lifted up according to God's Commandment to slay his only son Isaac. 
a Esse Angelos vel h●●c l●quet, quòd sint in rerum natur● quae nullis possint adscri●i causis Physicis, unde necesse est Spiritus esse unde illa proficiscantur. Tum etiam videtur ipse ordo universi id requirere ut sint Angeli, nempe certum est naturam esse corpoream, & certum ●●em est mediam esse naturam, quae nempe partim corporea, partim incorporea sit; consequens igitur est ●● sit natura quemadmodum m●re corporea, sic etiam merè incorporea. Scriptura vero ●on probat esse Angelos, quemadmodum neque probat ammam ●sse immortalem, sed hoc sumit. Cameron ●om. 2. Praelect.  Abraham told Eleazar that God would send his Angel with him to prosper him in the business of taking a wi●e for his son Isaac. An Angel of the Lord met Hagar and sent her back to her Mistress, when through discontent she had played the Fugitive. An Angal appeared to Zachary and foretold the conception and birth of john the Baptist. An Angel acquainted the blessed Virgin that she should conceive our Saviour in her womb by the over▪ shadowing of the Holy Ghost. A multitude of Angels celebrated the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour with an hymn of joy. Angels ministered to Christ after his temptation in the wilderness, and in his bloody agony in the Garden. An Angel also set Peter at liberty when he was imprisoned between two soldiers. An Angel shook the foundation of the Prison wherein St Paul and Si●as were laid fast in the stocks, An Angel showed unto john the vision of the Revelation at the appointment of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now besides these and many more apparitions of the heavenly Spirits, we read that the Angels of God are many thousands, yea millions, and of the company of innumerable Angels, and of Angels pitching their tents about the righteous, and holding them up in their hands, and chase the wicked and destroying them.  
And besides the testimony of Scriptures, the Heathens also had some notions 
The Peripaterick call them Immaterial substances, Intel●igences, abstracted and separated forms. The Angels are material. 1. They are perfect effects, therefore must have all the four causes. 2. Finite, therefore terminated in their essence: nothing terminates things but matter & form. Barlow in Hierons' last farewell. Zanchy & others hold otherwise.  of them, as appears in their writings▪ but indeed it was in some respect a false notion; for they conceived them to be a certain kind of petty Gods, and did perform worship unto them, the evil angels beguiling them: and if there be evil angels, there must needs be likewise good.  
The Angels are diversely called in Scripture: Spirits, Psal. 104. 4. to express their nature; and Angels to express their Office, as Messengers sent from God: They are called Sons of God, Job 1. 6. & 38▪ 7. Yea Elohim, Gods, Psal. 8. Cherubims, Gen. 3. 24. Ezek. 10. 1. from the form they appeared in, viz. like youths. Caph is a particle of similitude, and Rabiah signifies a young man in Chaldee, witness R. David. But Ludou. de Dien in his Animadversions upon Mr. Medes Clavis Apocalyptica saith, Hoc est puerile & frivolum. Seraphim, Isa. 6. 2. Burning quasi accensi ardore justitiae divinae, they execute those things which God commands when he sits in the Throne of his justice, and according to it judgeth mankind. Not from their burning love toward God, as some imagine. Watchmen, or the watchful ones, Dan. 4. 10. 13. being in heaven as a watchtower, and keeping the world. Stars of the morning▪ Job 38. 7. from their brightness of nature. A flaming fire, Psal. 104. 4. because God useth their help to destroy the wicked.  
In the New Testament they are called Principalities for their excellency of nature and estate; and 
b Col. 1. 16. & 2. 10.  Powers for their wonderful force.  
Reason's why God made Angels.  
The will and power of God, therefore they are, because God saw it fit to make them, yet two reasons may be rendered of this work.  

1. God saw it ●it to raise up our thoughts from meaner to more excellent 
c Angels are a mean betwixt God and man, as man was betwixt the Angels and the beasts.  creatures, till we came to him: First, things (say some) were made which had no life; then living things without fence, as plants and trees, then sensible, then reasonable.  
2. It was convenient that every part and place of the world should be filled with inhabitants fit for the same, as the air with birds, the earth with beasts and men, the sea with fishes, and the heavens which we behold with stars, and the highest Heavens with Angels.   
God is the maker of Angels. These glorious Creatures which shall have no end, 
God made the Angels, Psal. 104. 4. Solus Deus est ens per suam essentiam, omnia verò alia sunt entia per participationem; omne autem quod est per participationem causatur ab eo quod est per essentiam▪ sicut omne ignitum causatur ab igue: Unde necesse est Angelos esse cr●●tos. Aquin. part▪ 1. ● Quaest 61. Artic. 1. Qui apti essent ad generandum, eos non oporteb●t condi universos pariter, nam super●iua fuisset generandi facultas attributa. Angeli, quibus gignere datum non erat, uno sunt vel●t partu editi. Lud. Viu. de veritate fidei Christ▪ l. 1. c. 16.  had a beginning as well as the silliest beast, bird, or fish, and they are equally beholding (nay more, because they have received more excellent endowments) unto God for their Being, with the silliest worm. And though Moses mentions not in particular either the act of creating them, or the time; yet St Paul saith, that By him were all things made, visible and invisible: and it is evident by discourse of reason, that the Angels were made by God. That is too bold an assertion of Mr. Hobbes his in his Leviathan, part 3. c. 34▪ Concerning the creation of Angels there is nothing delivered in the Scriptures: See more there. What can be meant but the Angels by Thrones, and the words following, Col. 1. 16. Vide Grotium in loc. For either they must be made by God or some other maker, or else they must be eternal; for whatsoever is not made by some maker, cannot be made at all; and whatsoever is not at all made, is eternal. Now if the Angels were eternal, then were they equal with God in self-being, they might be called self-subsisting essences, and so should be equal with God, standing in no more need of him then he of them, owing no more service, homage and praise to him, than he oweth to them, and so they were Gods as well as he; and then we should have multitude of Gods, not only one God, and so should not God be the first and best Essence, there being so many others beside him, as Good and Omniscient as he; wherefore they must be made by some Maker, because they cannot be Eternal: and if made, then either by themselves or some other thing besides themselves, not by themselves, because that implies an absolute contradiction: and if by some other thing, then by a better or worse thing, not by a more mean, for the less perfect cannot give being to a more perfect thing, for than it should communicate more to the effect than it hath in itself any way, which is impossible that any efficient cause should do, not by any better thing than themselves, for excepting the Divine Majesty which is the first and best, there is no better thing than the Angels, save the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, which could not be the Maker of them, because they were created some thousands of years before the humanity was form in the Virgin's womb, or united to the second person in Trinity.  
We are not able to conceive of their Essence, they are simple, incorporeal, Spiritual 
Their nature.  substances, therefore incorruptible.  
An Angel is a Spiritual, created, complete substance, endued with an understanding 
An Angel defined. Wendelinus.  and will, and excellent power of working.  
An Angel is a substance.  
1. Spiritual, that is, void of all corporeal and sensible matter, whence in Scripture, Angels are called Spirits 
d They are spirits, Heb. 1. 14. Glorious spirits, Heb. 9▪ 5. Heavenly Spirits, Matth. 24. 36. Spirits●u ●u 26. 36. For their nature or substane they are called Spirits, for their property o● quality glorious, for their place or abode heavenly, for their continuance immortal. , Psal. 104. 4. Heb. 1. 14. Therefore the bodies in which either good or evil Angels appeared, were not natural to them, but only assumed for a time, and laid by when they pleased, as a man doth his garments; not substantial, but aerial bodies: they were not Essentially or personally, but only locally united to them, so that the body was moved, but not quickened by them.  
The Hebrew, Greek and Latin words for Spirit, signify breath; there is no more subtle being that we are acquainted with then breath, being condensed by the cold indeed it may be seen.  
The Angels good and bad are Spirits, because 1. They are immaterial and incorporeal. 2. Invisible, 1 Tim. 1. 16. That was a foolish fancy of the disciples, Luke 24. 37. If Christ had been a Spirit he could not have been seen. 3. Impalpable, Luke 24. 37. compared with vers. 39 4. Incorruptible and immortal, they end not of themselves, and no creature can destroy them. God alone hath immortality, 1 Tim. 6. 16. Origine in himself, so as to communicate it to others. 5. They are intellectual beings, all understanding. 6. Their spirituality appears in the subtlety of their moving. It is a question whether they do transire ab extremo ad extremum, without going through the middle parts, yet they ●ove like lightning. 7. In respect of their strength and power, there is a great deal o●●orce in a natural spirit extracted, Isa. 31. 3.  
2. Created, By which name he is distinguished from the Creator, who is an infinite Spirit, john 4. 24. Nihil de Deo & creaturis univocè dicitur.  
3. Complete, By which an Angel is distinguished from the reasonable soul of man, which also is a spiritual substance, but incomplete, because it is the essential part of man.  
4. Endued with 1. An understanding, by which an Angel knoweth God and his works. 2. A will, by which he desireth or refuseth the things understood. 3. An excellent power of working, by which he effects what the will commands, this is great in them, Psalm 103. 20. See 2 Kings 19 35.  
The Angels are most excellent creatures, when the highest praise is given of any thing, it is taken from the excellency of Angels, Psal. 
e The bread of the mighty, or Angel's food, not because they brought it, but because it was most pleasant, so that should Angels need food, they could not feed on better. See Rivet & Willet on Exod. 16. Their faculties.  78. 25. 1 Cor. 13. 1. They are called holy Angels, Luke 9 26. Mark 8. 36. therefore they are clothed with linen, Dan. 11. 4. to signify their purity, and are called Angels of light, 2 Cor. 12, 14. to note the purity wherein they were created. All the individual Angels were made at once; and as God made Adam perfect at the first, so they were made of a perfect constitution. They have all our faculties, save such as be badges of our weakness: They have no body, therefore not the faculties of generation, nutrition, augmentation. They have reason, conscience, will, can understand as much as we do and better too, they have a will, whereby they can refuse evil and choose good, a conscience, reasonable affections, though not such as depend upon 
Matth. 28. 5.  the body.  
They are endowed with excellent abilities, know more of God, themselves, us, and other things than we do; love God, themselves and men, are obedient to God. The good Angels obey God.  

1. Universally, in all things, Psalms 103. 20.  
2. Freely and readily, make haste to do what he would have done, therefore they are said to have Harps, Revel. 15. 2▪ as a sign of their cheerful mind.  
3. With all their might, They serve God with diligence and sedulity, therefore they are said to have 
a Angeli alas habere dicuntur propter velocitatem & celerem in cuncta discursum. Hieron. in Isa. 6. & vento alas quoque adfingunt ob candem causam. Drus. in Observ. Sac. l. 4. c. 19  wings to fly.  
4. Constantly, Rev. 7. 15. & 14▪ 4.   
They have incredible strength, and therefore by an excellency they are called Strong in strength, Psal. 103. 20. Angels of the power of the Lord jesus, 2 Thes. 1. 7. Powers, Ephes. 3. 10. Col. 2. 10. One Angel is able to destroy all the men, beasts, birds, and fishes, and all the creatures in the world, and to overturn the whole course of nature if God should permit it; to drown the earth again, and make the waters overflow it; to pu●▪ the Sun, Moon, and Stars out of their places, and make all a Chaos: Therefore we read of wonderful things done by them, they stopped the mouths of Lions that they could not touch Daniel; they quenched the violence of the fire that it could not touch so much as a hair of the three children's heads, nor a thread of their garments; they made Peter's chains in an instant fall from his hands and feet; they can move and stir the earth (say the Schoolmen) as appears Matth. 28. 2. The Angels shook the foundation of the Prison where Paul and Silas lay, and caused the doors to fly open, and every man's bands to fall from him. They destroyed the first born of Egypt, Sodom and Gomorrah. One Angel slew in one night in the host of Senacherib an hundred fourscore and five thousand men.  
Reas. Their nature in respect of bodily things is wholly active not passive, they are of a spiritual nature, what great things can a whirlwind or flash of lightning do?  
They are swift and of great agility, they have no bodies, therefore fill not up any place, neither is there any resistance to them, they move with a most quick motion, they can be where they will, they move like the wind irresistibly and easily, without molestation, and in an unperceivable time; they move more swiftly than the Sun, can dispatch that space in as few minutes which the Sun doth in twenty four hours.  
They have admirable wisdom, 1 Sam. 18. 14. & 14. 20. The knowledge of the 
Acts 6. 15. Mark. 16. 32. The Angels have not only cognitionem concreatam & infusam, but acq●●sitam say the Schoolmen.  good Angels is increased since their Creation; for besides their natural knowledge, they know many things by revelation, Dan. 9 22, 23. Matth. 1. 20. Luke 1. 30. either immediately from God or from his Word, Ephes. 3. 9, 10. 1 Pet. 1. 12. Luke 15. 18. by experience and conjecture, Ephes. 3. 10. So perfectly knowing are they, as that the very Heathen Philosophers have styled them by the name of Intelligences, as if their very being were made up of understanding.  
How an Angel doth understand is much disputed, their understanding is not infinite, they know not all things, Mar. 13. Of that day the Angels know not: Again, they cannot know future contingent things any further than God reveals these things to them, neither can they know the secrets of man's heart, 1 Kings 8. 39 Psal. 7. 10. for that is proper to the Lord alone.  
They are said indeed to rejoice at the conversion of a sinner, but that is no further than their inward conversion puts itself forth into outward actions.  
They do not know the number of the Elect, nor the nature of spiritual desertions, the manner of mortifying sin, unless by the Church and Ministry of the word. So again, for the manner of their knowledge, That of the Schools about their morning and evening knowledge, is vain: but it is plain they know discursiuè as well as intuitiuè: though some say they are creaturae intelligentes, but not ratiocinantes.  
There are three degrees of their knowledge (say the Schoolmen 
b Tum veteres patres, tum etiam Doctores Scholastici triplicèm cognitionem trib●●●nt Angelis, ex Patribus Augustinus triplicem in Angelis statuit rerum cognitionem: unam, qua res in verbo, in filio scilicet Dei vident, alteram qua ●as cernunt in earum naturis: Tertiam, qua cas norunt in suis mentibus, Casmanni Angelographia. ) 1. Natural, which they had from the Creation, john 8. 4. Some abode in the truth, others fell from it. 2. Revealed, 1 Pet. 1. 12. Ephes. 3. 10. The Greek word signifies to look into it narrowly. Piscaetor thinks it hath reference to the Cherubims who did turn their faces to the propitiatory which was a type of Christ. 3. Experimental, which they have by the observation of those things which are done among us, so they know the repentance of the godly, Luke 16. 10.  
2. The will of Angels is to be considered: Will in the good Angels is that whereby they desire good things known, and forsake evil.  
The Angels would never have sinned if they had not been voluntary, for although 
Ista necessitas quae scilicet ex suppositione sit optimè conspirat cum libertate. Deus mundum creavit liberè, & tamen supposito Dei decreto de mundo aute annorum millia condendo, necesse fuit ut Deus mundum crearet, non tamen ut crearet necessariò sed liberè. Sic proposito Dei decreto de non frangendis ossibus Christi, necesse fuit ut ab iis frangendis abstinerent milites Romani, non tamen ut abstincrent necessariò sed libere; nam proculdubio quam libere fregerunt ossa latronum, tam libere abstivebant à frangendis ossibus Christi. Twiss. contra Coru. c. 4. Sect. 11. Gratia non ausert libertatem arbitrii, licet vera & physica operatione determinet arbitrium, sed potius libertatem illi ad bonum restituit & confirmat. Dicimus enim determinare voluntatem ad bene agendum liberè. Id. ibid.  the good Angels be now so confirmed in holiness, that they can will nothing but good, yet that hinders not liberty, no more than it doth in God or Christ himself; to be a free Agent is a perfection, to sin is a defect, and ariseth not from the liberty, but the mutability of the will.  
3. Their motion and place. That they are in a place is plain by Scripture, which witnesseth that they are sometimes in heaven, and sometime on earth, as their service and office doth require.  
They are not in a place as bodies are, they are not circumscribed by place: for 
The terms definitiuè & circumscriptiuè being mere words, and on this occasion insignificant, pass only in Latin, that the vanity of them may be concealed. For the circumscription of a thing, is nothing else but the determination or defining of its place; and so both the terms of the distinction are the same. Hobbes his Leviathan, part 4. c. 46. But we must be content with those terms (for want of better) to distinguish between bodies and Angels being in a place: Though Sanford de descensu Christi ad inferos, l. 2. p. 108. calls it distinctionem nuperam, of a bodies being in a place circumscriptiuè, the soul desinitiuè, and God repletiuè; and saith he dare affirm hujus acuminis prorsus nihil cognitum fuisse ante Scholasticorum tempora.  a legion of devils was in one man, Luke 8. 30. They are so here, that they are not there, and therefore one Angel cannot be in many places, although many Angels may be in the same place, and they move not in an instant though they move speedily. They continue in the highest heavens, unless they be sent thence by the Lord to do something appointed by him: where being freed from all distractions and humane necessities, they behold the glorious presence of God, their understanding and will being pitched upon him. Mat. 18. 10. & 22. 30. Ps. 68 1. Luk. 2. 13.  
4. Their society and communion: for it cannot be conceived that these glorious 
Isa. 6. They cry one to another, Holy, holy, holy. Vide Aquin. part. 1. Q. 107. Art. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Mighty Princes are attended with many followers. See Job 25. 3. Numerus lapsorum in Scriptura non est desinitus. Quod Scholastici cum Thoma definiunt ex, 2 Reg. 6. 16. plures Angelos permansisse in gratia, quam peccasse, parum soliditatis habet. Voet. Disput. de natura Damon.  Spirits should not signify to one another their meaning: but how this should be, it is hard to determine; they say that the Angels make known their minds to one another by their mere will.  
5. Their multitude and order. That there are many Angels appears, Dan. 7. 10. and Heb. 12. 22. an innumerable company of Angels, Rev. 5. 11. Matth. 26. 23. that is, seventy two thousand, as jerom computes it.  
The Fathers generally thought that the number of the Angels which fell, should be made up by the Elect Saints: Some think that Heb. 12. 27. seems to speak little less.  
Some say the good Angels exceed the number of the wicked Angels, by how much evil men exceed the good; the greatest number of evil Angels that we read of is but Legion, the good very many, as those places in Daniel, Mattthew, Hebrews, and Revel. 5. 11. will show.  
As for their order, the Apostle indeed, Colos. 1. showeth that there is an order among them, so that one may be above another in dignity, but not in power and 
There are degrees of them, Col. 1. 16. Rom. 8. 32. 1 Thes. 4. 16. Some are named Angels, some Archangels, 1 Thes. 4.  command: Hence they are called an host, which word signifieth chiefly what hath a complete order.  
Dionysius Areopagita makes nine 
c That ancient and high soaring (though counterfeit) Dionysius describes the Hierarchy of Angels, as exactly as if he had dwelled amongst them▪ delivering unto us nine orders of them▪ out of nine words, found partly in the Old, partly in the New Testament, and tells us the several natures, distinctions and properties of them all. Master Mede on Zach. 4. 16. See more there. He that was rapt into the third heaven can tell us of Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Angels and Archangels, in that region of blessedness. We cannot be so simple as to think these to be but one class of spirits, doubtless they are distinctions of divers orders; but what their several ranks, offices, employments are, he were not more that could tell, than he bold that dare speak. I do verily believe there are divers orders of celestial Spirits▪ I believe they are not to be believed that dare to determine them; especially when I see him that was rapt into the third heaven, varying the order of their places in his several mentions of them. Compare Ephes. 1. ●1. with Col. 1. 16. B. Halls Invis. world. l. 1. Sect 7.  orders of Angels, and distinguisheth them into three. The first containing Cherubims, Seraphims, Thrones. The second Dominions, Armies and Powers. The third, Principalities, Archangels and Angels. Much more modest is Augustin: Qui fatetur se rationem hujus distinctioni● ignorare. cont. Priscil. c. 11, etc. 57 Enchirid ad Lau. See Doctor Prideaux on Mat. 18. 10. for their Nature, Properties, Order and Ministry.  
The Papists say there are different degrees of Angels, and that this is founded in their nature. The Protestants say that this difference lies not in natura Angelica, but in Officio, as they are drawn forth to more eminent employment.  
The Scripture makes mention only of two orders of Angels, Angels and Archangels, Heb. 1. 4. 1 Thes. 4. 16. Seraphim is a common name unto all Angels: they are all described to be flames of fire, Psal. 104. 4. and all the Angels are Cherubims, as is evident by the Curtains of the Tabernacle which were set forth and garnished with Cherubims only, Exod. 26. 31. signifying the presence of the Angels in the Assembly of the Church, as the Apostle expounds it, 1 Cor. 11. 10.  
It is evident (saith Mr Cartwright) that the Apostle, Col. 1. 16. heapeth up divers 
d Cartwright on Ephes. 1. 21. in his Annotat. on the Rhem. Test. Quatuor iis vocabulis thronorum, dominationum, principatuura, & potestatum, Apostolus complexus est universam caelestem societatem. Quid inter se dictant quaetuor illa vocabula dicant qui possunt, si tamen possunt probare quae dicunt, Ego me ista ignorare confiteor. August. Enchirid. ad Laurent c. 58. Vide Aquin. part 1. Q. 118. Artic. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.  words of one and the same signification, thereby the more effectually to set forth ᵈ the supereminent power of our Saviour Christ above all.  
6. The names of the Angels. The first and most common name is that of Angel, which name is common to the good and evil Angels, yet in a far different sense. The evil spirits are seldom called so simply, though they be sometimes, to note the excellency of their original, because they fell from their blessed condition, 1 Cor. 6. 3. jude 6.  
The evil spirits are called Angels, the name which was first given them: Otherwise they are not absolutely called Angels, (that name being peculiar to the Angels 
Cameron tom. 2. Praelect.  which stood) but angels of the devil and angels of Satan, viz. because they are sent by the devil their Prince.  
Some as proper names are given to certain Angels, Michael, Dan. 10. 13. which is compounded of three Hebrew particles, Micael, who is like or equal to the strong God? It signifieth the power of God, because by him God exercised his power: And Gabriel, Dan. 8. 16. & 9 21. Luke 17. 19 that is, the glory of God, who executed the greatest Embassages in God's name to men. Vide Sculteti exercitat. Evangel. l. 1. c. 9  
7. The Angel's Ministry and service. Their service may be considered either in respect of God, the Church, or the enemies of the Church. Respecting God, and the Church, and the people of God, they have divers services.  
The office of good Angels in respect of God:  
1. They enjoy God and glory, 
e They are called Thrones (saith a School man) because they do attend on the Throne of God. They love themselves and one another, ●● the creatures, yet they love God above all. Angelus Deum p●●●quam se diligit. Aquinas▪ Their happiness consists in disione & dilectione ●●●.  Matthew 18. 10. & 22. 30. This implieth their great purity and happiness, and withal their Ministry: What God bids them do they are ready to do. They shall attend Christ when he comes to judgement.  
2. They praise God and celebrate his Name, cleave inseparably unto him, and obey his Commandments, Isa. 6. Psalm. 103. 20, 21. & 104. 4. Dan. 7. 10. job 1. 6. they see the worth and excellency of God, that he deserves more praise than they can give.  
3. They praise and worship Christ as the Head of the Church, Apoc. 5. 11, 12. Heb. 1. 6. Phil. 2. 10. also as his Ministers, Matth. 4. 11. Luke 22. 43. Matth. 28. 2. they stand always ready to do him service, so in his agony an Angel comforted him.  
2. Their service in respect of the Church and people of God. 
Heb. 1. 14. The Angels are next to Christ in ruling the visible world, and therefore called Shinan in the Hebrew, Dan. 10. 12. Next to the first; and Principalities and Powers in the Greek, Col. 1. 16. that is, chief Governors next to Christ in reference to all the creation beside. Lockier on Col. ●. 16.   
1. They are glad for the good which befalls the Elect: So when Christ came into the world how glad were they, Luke 2. they cried Glory be to God on high: They rejoice at their conversion, Luke 15. 10.  
2. They reveal unto them the will of God, Dan. 8. 9 Rev. 1. 11.  
3. They keep the Elect from dangers both of soul and body, so far as is expedient, 
Psalm. 68 17.  Gen. 19 16. & 28. 12. & 25. 7. & 32. 1. 2. Psal. 34. 7. & 91. 11. Numb. 22. 1 King. 19 7. 2 King. 6. 16. & 8, 9, 10. Both in the curtains of the Tabernacle, Exod. 26. 1. and the wall of the Temple Cherubims were painted up and down, to signify (as judicious Divines think) what protection the people of God have in 
Exod. 34. 24.  serving him.  
4. They comfort them in distress, heaviness and distraction, Gen. 20. 17, 18. & 
Gen. 10. 9 Matth. 4. 10.  3●. 1, 2. Isa. 6. 6. Luke 1. 30. & 2. 10. Matth. 28. 5. Acts 10. 4. & 27. 23, 24. judges 6. 12. & 13. 10. Dan. 10. 12. Matth. 1. 20. & 2. 12, 13.  
5. They suggest holy thoughts into their hearts, as the devil doth evil and unclean 
Joh. 13. Act. 5.  thoughts: Resist Satan, as in jude.  
6. They carry the souls of the Elect into heaven at the end of this life, Luk. 16. 22. 
They are present at our Assemblies, Eph. 1. mysteries are made known to them, and the woman must be covered because of the Angels.  And at the day of judgement they shall gather the Elect from the four winds, and separate between the Elect and reprobate, Matth. 24. 31. & 13. 27.  
3. Their services against the wicked 
* An Angel defeated Scnacheribs army. Revel. 16.  and all the enemies of the Church.  
They are ready to execute vengeance upon the enemies of God's people, Isa. 37. 36. An Angel smote bloody persecuting H●rod, Acts 12. At the last day the Angels shall hurry the wicked to Christ's Tribunal, and cast the reprobate into hell, Matth. 13 40, 41, 42, 49, 50.  
8. The speech of Angels.  
Angels and devils communicate with God, and one with another; not by speeches, 
a M●. Bayly on Zach. 3. 1. p. 43. See Doctor Preston on Prayer.  for language requires bodily instruments, which these Spirits want: but as they apprehend every object without senses, so they express it without language in a secret way.  
We come now to some profitable questions about the Angels.  
The first is this, If the Angels be so beneficial to us, whether may they not be prayed unto?  
The ground and cause which brought in praying ●o Angels, is laid down Col. 2. 18. 

Origenes Angelos docet invo●andos cer●amque inv●●uionis formulam pras●ribit. Homil. in Eze●h.  
Erant ex Iudaei●, qui cum docerent legem, Angelos colendos asserent, quip qui d●cerent legem per A●gelos esse traditam. Apostolus ad Col●ssenses sccundo reprehendit ●orum impictatem, Rainold. de lib. Apoc. Christiani veteres, & seorsim, & juncta, & prose singuli, & alii pro aliis, Deum precabantur; mutuò etiam, ut id sier●t, rogabant; verùm quem pr●sentem nescirent, srve Angelus, sive anima for●t defuncti, minimè invocabant: quia de cujus praesentia non constaret, cu● cum sidu●ia auditionis, ut de extuditione nihil dream, minimè invocare auderent: praesertim cum cjus rei in Scriptures nec prae●●ptum haberent ne● ex●mplum. Vossius de Orig. & Progres. dol. l. 1. part● altera c. 9 Vide plura ibid.   where you have a general prohibition of religious worshipping of Angels, with the cause of it.  
There are three causes why they attempted this.  

1. They entered into things which they did not know, as the Papists, How can they tell whether the Angels pray for us, whether they know our wants?  
2. They follow their carnal mind, because they see in the world that to great Magistrates we use Mediators and Intercessors, they dare not go of themselves, so here.  
3. Humility, For this they talk as Papists do now, We are unworthy to go directly to God, and therefore we need the help of Angels: but this is vain, for Christ is nearer to us then Angels are, Ephes. 3. 12. Tutius & jucundius loquar ad jesum, quam ad aliquem sanctorum.   
We say that all lawful and moderate reverence is to be given to Angels, which consists in these particulars.  
1. We acknowledge the great gifts of God in them, and praise God for them. We confess it is his mercy that he hath made such noble creatures to be serviceable to us, and then for themselves in our judgements.  

1. We honour them and judge them more noble creatures than man, they have greater wisdom, holiness and power then man hath.  
2. For our will and affections, we love them because they love us and delight in our good, being ready to help us every where.  
3. We should be careful of our carriage because of their presence, we should not sin because of the Angels.  
4. We desire to make them examples of our lives, that we may do Gods will as they do.  
5. If Angels should appear visibly to us, we should honour them as more excellent creatures, but yet still keep within the bounds of civil or sraternal honour 
b Cultus sratern● soci●tatis.  as to our fellow servants; but yet above us, and not honour them with Religious worship.   
The Papists 
c 
Rhem. Ann●●. in Apoc. 19 S●● Mr. Car●w. Rej●ynd. to the Marqu●sse o● Worc●ster, p. 256, 257, 258, 259, 260.  
There were a sort of Heretics called Angelici, who professing true Christianity and detestation of Idolatry, (as having learned that God only is to be worshipped properly) yet reserved a certain kind of adoration to the blessed Angels. Ang●lici vocati quia Angelos colunt. I sid Orig. in l. 8. c. 5.   say a Religious worship is due unto them, but (yet that we may do them no wrong) not indeed such as is due to God, but secondary; yet still Religious; and so they say they intercede ●or us, not as Christ, but in an inferior way: and in this sense they hold they may be worshipped and prayed unto.  
Now we will refute their arguments, and then confirm the truth with strong reasons.  
For the first, All lawful reverence is commanded by the sust Table, and that is Religious; or else by the second, and that is civil: But that manner and degree of their worship is required in neither, Therefore it is merely invented.  
Secondly, By general consent, Religious worship is that whereby we do acknowledge God to be the primum principium, the ultimum finem, and summum bonum, now this is but one: and we may as well say there is a summum bonum secundariò, as there is a secondary Religious worship.  
Thirdly, There is the same reason of a Religious worship, as there is of a Divine act of faith, love and hope: but if a man should say, We may with a Divine faith believe in God primarily, and Angels secondarily, it were ridiculous, therefore here if Religious worship were due because of supernatural excellencies, than every godly man were religiously to be worshipped.  
Our arguments in general against this are these.  

1. Matth. 4. 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Heb. 1. it is applied to Christ.  
2. The promise is to those only which call upon him, Psal. 51. 15 Call upon me.  
3. It cannot be of faith, for how shall I know whether they hear me, whether they be present?  
4. Colos. 2. 8. It is condemned for will-worship, so that Idolatry is here committed, that kind of it Quando divinè colitur id quod non est verus D●us. john was reproved for this, Rev. 19 10. & 22. 9 Now john might have distinguished, I do not worship you religiously, as God, but in the second place.   
The second question is, Whether every man hath his peculiar Angel?  
This is not a question of faith, but yet the more to be suspected, because it was 
Scriptura piis tantum Angel●rum custod●●m & ministerium attribuit, Psal. 148. 2. Heb. 1. 14. impiis non item. Imò plures Angelos indefinitè circ● p●os excubar● docet, non umum, Psal. 34. 8. Spanhemius. Matth. 18. 10. Undeconcludunt tum Patres tum ●cholastici, singulis pueris, atque adultis etiam certos Angelos esse attributos. Sic interpretati sunt bunc locum Chrysostomus, Angustinus, Hieronymus & alii, Casm●nnus. It is greater both Dignity and benefit, that every one of the faithful have many Angels appointed by the Lord for his guard, whereof the proof is manifest, Psal. 34. 7. & 9 12. an host of Angels pitch th●ir Ten●s round about them. As many reprobate Angels seek the destruction of one only man, Mark 5. 9 & 12 45. so the Lord encount●eth them by a number of his elect Angels Cartwright.  generally held among the Heathens, who did ascribe to every man born a bad angel to afflict, and a good one to defend him: a good and ill Genius as they called them. Becanus brings places of Scripture to prove it, but there is altogether silence in the Scripture concerning it: for when the Angels are charged to have care over us, it implieth that it is all their care. The chiefest place which most seems to favour that opinion, is Act. 12. 15. where they said that it was his Angel: Now to this some answer, that the men spoke according to the opinion of men then generally received, and not according to the truth, as we may give an instance concerning the blind man, when they asked Whether he or his parents had sinned, that he should be born blind: How could he sin before he was born? but some answer, that there was an opinion generally received, which all the Platonists held (and so Origen and many of the Ancients) that the soul was created before it was put into the body; and as it did good or ill it was put into a well▪ tempered or a maimed body: Especially they thought these Angels did appear a little before or after men's death.  
Calvin thinks that it was an Angel peculiarly destinated to Peter for that time 
Magister scent▪ a●t, unum quemque habere ad sui custodiam unum bonum Angelum, & unum malum ad exer●itium. I●st quidem antiqua ista sententia, verum hanc sententiam Scripture non tradunt; manavit hic error ex somniis Rabbinorum Rainold. de lib. Apoc. Luke 7. 24. that is, some Angel which God hath sent for his deliverance. Mr. Dering on Heb. 1. ult. See Mr. Cartw. rejoined. to the Marq. of Worcester, p. 251, 252, 253. Singulis hominibus singuli Angeli ad custodiam deputantur, quia Angelorum custodia est quaedam executio divine providentiae circa homines. Aquinas part. 1. Quaest 113. Artic. 2. Vide etiam Artic. 5.  of his imprisonment. If it were a peculiar Angel, than it would follow, that he spoke and had the same gestures that men have to whom they belong. Therefore it may well be rendered it is his messenger, as the word is elsewhere translated. But you will say then, they thought the messenger spoke like him; No, but it might fall out, that they thought Rhode did mistake: and when he said, I am Peter, they might think he said I am come from Peter, and so it may be answered. If every man have one Angel, why did more than one carry Lazarus his soul to heaven, And he hath given his Angels charge over thee, that is, many over one particular man Cameron tom. 2. Praelect. Vide Rainold. de lib. Apoc. tom. 1. cap. 61. & Voet. Th●s. de Angelis.  
The third question, What is the meaning of that, Let her be covered because of the 
1 Cor. 11. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. See the last large Annotations. 〈…〉 might be a mistake of the ●●anscribers to ●●uble the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for if it were read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and the sense be, Women in public Assemblies must wear a vail, by reason of the companies of the young men there present; it would be no ill exchange for the loss of a letter, to make so probable, so clear a sense of the place. Dr. tailor's liberty of Prophesying, Sect. 3. Tertullianus de velandis virginibus, c. 7. mulier●s velandas ait propter Angelos▪ ne ipsarum forma illecebra illis sit ad libidinem. Fuit e●im veterum quorundam ea absurdissima sententia, viz. Angelos amore mulierum corruptos caelo occi●isse. Vide Tertull. de Habitu muli●bri, c. 2. Justin Martyr Orat. ad Gentes. Lactant. Institut. l. 2. c. 15. ortus hujus erroris est ex Gen. 6. 2. Viderunt filii Dei filias hominum & ingr●ssi sunt ad eos, ubi per silios Dei intelligebant Angelos. Vide August. de Civitate Dei, l. 15. c. 23. Cyril contra Ju●●an. l▪ 9 ● Unicus, quod sciam, ex veteribus Ambrose, & ex nostris unicus Beza, Angelos exponunt, Sacerdotes, s●u pastors Ecclesie, Rectissime omnes alii, tum veteres, tum recentes, intelligunt ipsos Angelos, eosque bonos ac sanctos. Laurentius. Mal. 2. 7. Revel. 1. 20. ● Beza in loc. Ministers (saith Laurentius) are not any where in the Scripture called Angels absolutely, but always with addition.  Angels? Where the Apostle commands a woman in public duties to have power, that is, covering, in sign of her subjection to God, and that because of the Angels. Some understand this properly of the Angels the heavenly Spirits, but differently, some because they are present at our Assemblies: and if you ask What need that, seeing God and Christ are there? they answer, That he mentioned God and Christ before, and now addeth these as inseparable servants which are sent for the salvation of believers: Others as probably make it a new argument from the Angels, Isa. 6. as they covered their feet before God to show their subjection, so should these.  
Others understand it of the Ministersdwho are called Angels, because they are the Messengers of God, and so they compare this place with that, Eccles. 5. 6. Before the Angelo, there is He notificative, by which is signified the high Priest, before whom vows were made, Levit. 27. 8. Some interpret it generally of all good men, for we ought to be as so many Angels.  
The fourth is, What is the meaning of those places, Acts 7. 53. & Gal. 3. 19 
J●nius negat dari per Angelos sell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idem, inter Angelos. Vide Grotium & Aquin. part. 1, 2. Quast. 98. Art 3. Jun. Paral. l. ●. par. 92. Ipse Deus locatus est immediatè ad Mosem praesentibus ac testibus Angelis, Laurentius. See Willet on Exod. 19 37. ●u▪ ●st. Ordination is put for Ministration. ● Mr. Palm●r and Mr. Caudery of the Christian Sabhath, part. 1▪ c. 4.  ●earned junius renders the words, Acts 7. 53. You have received the law in the midst of the ranks of Angels, viz. who ᶠ accompanied God their Sovereign Lord when himself came to deliver the Law. The same answer may be made, as it is by the same Learned Writer (among Angels) they attending God when he ordained and delivered it. It seems improper that Angels in the plural number ᵍ should have been employed in speaking of the Law: For without extraordinary guidance of God many speakers at once would have bred confusion of sounds, and by an extraordinary guidance one would have sufficed. There is no necessity to ascribe the delivery of the Law of the Decalogue to 
h Grotius & Rivet & D. Whits say, God spoke not immediately but by an Angel. See Psal. 78. 49.  Angels, Exod. 20. there is not so much as a word of the Angels in the whole matter. The earthquake, thunder, lightning on mount Sina were raised by the Angels (saith Cameron) who can easily change the state of the elementary Region.  
The fifth, What is the meaning of that story, jude v. 9 Michael striving with the devil: The Apostle aggravates the sins of those who speak evil of Dignities, by an argument from the greater to the less, the Archangel durst not do so, where you have the chief cause, Michael, which is as much as who is like God, and then 
Dan. 10. 13.  you have the adjunct, he is the Archangel, that is, a chief among the Angels, therefore it cannot be meant, say some, of 
i Cartwright on the Rhem. Test. interprets it of Christ. See M. Perkins on jude. Michael apud Patres & Rabbinos est è numero Angelorum; apud magos, Daemonum: In Scripture â verò arbitror esse ipsum jesum, Dominum nostrum; idque satis patere mihi videtur, tum ex nomine ipso, cum ex iis quae de eo reseruntur. Primum enim nihil apud Hebraeos vox haec sonat plusquàm, quis sicut Deus? Atqui non est verisimile, ut nomen hoc tribuatur alii, quam illi, qui & ipse Deus est. Deinde Dan. 12. mentio sit hujus Michaelis, voc●●urque Princeps magnus, qui stat à populo Dei contra perditos & impios Ecclesiae hosts. Huc accedunt ca quae reseruntur à Zacharia c. 3. unde judae verba sumpta esse videntur: ibi enim Angelus ille, qui causam agit josuae summi Pontificis, dicitur jehovah, quod nomen, ut omnes sciunt, nulli Angelorum vel homini tribuitur, sed solius Dei est proprium. Croius in Conject.  Christ, because Christ is expressly distinguished from him, 1 Thes. 4. 6. Now what this dispute was, and where the Apostle had it, it is hard to say: but that there was such a thing done is plain. The matter of the strife was Moses dead on mount Nebo, Deut. 34. 6. which is added either by Samuel, joshua or Ezra: Some make this to be the body of Christ, and therefore called Moses his, because he prophesied of it: Very likely the dispute was that it should not be buried to occasion idolatry, the Archangel rails not on him, but leaves him to God. Now, Deut. 3. 44. where it is said the Lord buried him, that is to be understood by the means of the Archangel, and no man knew his burial, that divine honour might not be given him, and the devil might say how fit it was such a man should be solemnly buried.  
The sixth, What is meant by the voice of an Angel, 1 Thes. 4. 15. where the Apostle 
Apud Hebraeos, Graecos, & Latino's veteres populus convocabatur classic. Ad id exemplum, cum Deus homines convocat, dicitur id facer● per tubam, Psal. 47. 6. Isa. 27. 13. Jer. 4. 1. & 6. 1. & 51. 27. Os. 5. 8. Joel 2. 1. Zach. 9 14. Idem in Apocalypsi, in omnibus Dei judiciis dantur Angelis tubae, quia vero hoc judicium omnium est ut postremum, ita maximum atque generalissimum, i●o● hic iuba datur, non Angelo, sed ali●ui Angelorum principi, qualis Michael Dan. 12. 1. Grotius in loc.  describes the great and glorious coming of Christ to judgement, from some circumstances which commend his power and Majesty; the Lord himself shall come down in his own person with a shout: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that voice which mariners and soldiers use when they call one another to put to their strength, so that it is no more than a great command of God that all be ready, Matth. 25. like that, There was a voice, Behold the bridegroom comes, or like that, joh. 5. All that are in theeir graves shall hear his voice; So it shall be the instrument to raise them up as it was Lazarus; for this may be compared with Matth. 24. The voice and the trump of God are all one, that is a great noise expressed by this Metaphor, so that it should go to all in their graves.  
The seventh, Whether they have any efficacy in our conversion. Though they be sent Heb. 1. for the salvation of those that believe, yet they have no efficacious power on the heart of man, for it is God only that can turn the heart; and therefore it is a wicked opinion of some, who give God no more efficacy in moving the heart to conversion, then good Angels have, which can be but by persuasion: It is true, in the Scriptures you may read of their admonishing and comforting, so an Angel comforteth Elias, and Christ himself as he was man; joseph was admonished in a dream: but than you must know this was a sensible appearance or like it, viz. in dreams. But now you may read of the devil tempting in Scripture judas and David without such a way: the change of our hearts is to be ascribed to God.  
The eighth, Whether the Angels need Christ as a Mediator. Some say no, They never sinned and therefore need not a Mediator 
k Angels are the best creatures, yet they are mutable creatures, they were created blessed (as the Schools determine). with a natural blessedness, not with a supernatant, which consists, in the vision of God, for than they had never fallen. The good Angels indeed have obtained by Christ a supernatural blessedness, though he be not a Redeemer, yet he is a Confirmer, a Supporter of the holy Angels. In reference whereunto he is called The Head of all things, Eph. 1. 22. & 3. 15. Col. 1. 20. and that last place is not to be restrained to men, but takes in all things both in heaven and earth. Mr. Caryl on ●ob 4. ●8. As Christ is to us medium reconciliationis, ●o he is to ●●e Angels medium confirmationis & clevationis say the Schoolmen. Col. 2. 10. A Head notes eminentiam. In ordine naturae, as Christ was man he was below them, In ordine gratiae he was above them. ●. Influxum. 3. Gu●ernationem.  to reconcile them to God, 1 Tim. 2. 5. Heb. 2. 16. A mediator is where two parties do disagree. As for that place (say they) Ephes. 1. 22. He hath reconciled all things in heaven and earth: some do mean by those things in heaven, the souls of those departed; the Greek word signifieth briefly to recollect the things which were more largely spoken, and so a sweet consent of all things together: As by sin God was angry with us, so were the Angels, for they hated whom God hated; but by his death it is otherwise. But though Angels needed not such a reconciliation as supposeth a breach of peace, yet they needed such a one as consists in the continuance of that peace which they had before. The Lord hath now so fully revealed himself and his excellencies unto them, and his love and favour, and the necessity of their being obedient, that they cannot but continue to obey and serve him, they were not so far enlightened and sanctified at the first creation, but that then in respect of themselves there was a possibility of sinning as well as of those that did sin, but now they are so confirmed 
l In bono confirmatio non tollit bonorum Angelorum liberum arbitrium. Bernardus triplicem ostendit è sacris literis libertatem, quarum unam vocat libertatem à peccato, 2 Cor. 3. 17. alteram vocat libertatem à miscria, Rom. 8. 20, 21. Tertiam appellat libertatem à necessitate, hoc est, à coactione; necessitas enim hic non opponitur voluntario, sed coactioni. Ca●mannus.  by the clear sight they have of God, that they cannot be willing to sin against him.  
The Angels by Christ obtained, 1. A glorious Head: Men had a head at their creation, Adam. The Angels stood by virtue of their personal Covenant. 2. From his becoming their Head they are confirmed in grace; they were created perfect, but mutable, job 4. 18. 3. By Christ their nature was elevated above what it was in itself; Electio sive hominum sive Angelorum, extra Christum intelligi non potest. A●optati sunt in silios Dei propter Christum. 4. They have an honourable employment, by this means they serve Christ in his humane nature.  
The Angels which abode in the truth are called good Angels, not only in respect 
The standing of the Angels and Saints in heaven consists in manuto●entia perpetui infiuxus b●ati●i●i, say the Schoolmen. Wheresoever the good Angels are (though employed about the affairs of this lower world) yet do they still see and enjoy the vision of God, Bishop H●lls Invis. world, l. 2. Sect. 2.  of the righteousness which God bestowed upon them at their creation, but also in respect of the obedience which they performed, and ●●eir confirmation in that good estate. The causes why they abode still in the tru●●▪ are the firm and unchangeable decree of God, 1 Tim. 5. 21. his free grace, Phil. 2. 13. wherewith they were holpen, and their own free choice of will cleaving f●rmly unto God.  
The ninth and last question concerning Angels is, How can they be happy in enjoying God's face, and yet be on the earth, Matth. 18. 10. By heaven there is not meant the place, but their heavenly estate and condition: Now though they go up and down doing service, yet this hinders not their happiness, for they do not this with distraction: and these things are appointed as means for the end, viz. enjoying of God, and as the soul is not hindered in its happiness by desiring the body again, so it is here.  
1. We should imitate the Angels. 
Con●ect●ries from Angels   
2. It shows us how much we are beholding to Christ, no Angels could love us if it were not for him.  
How much are we to love God who hath provided helps for man, especially 
Let us not by our ill carriage thrust away our guard.  Christ who took our nature upon him, not that of Angels. God's Angels are our Angels to defend and keep us. God hath committed the care of us to these ministering Spirits.  
3. It shows the woeful condition of the impenitent, when Christ shall come with 
One Angel would quickly destroy all the wicked if God should charge him to do it.  all these Angels, when those great shouts shall be, Come thou swearer, drunkard, how terrible will this be?  
The more potent God is in Himself and in his Ministers, the more wretched are they, and the surer is their destruction.  
4. This confutes the Papists in three errors.  
1. In that they hold nine orders of Angels, They are distinguished ratione objectorum & officiorum, in respect of the object and message they go about.  
2. They would have them worshipped, but the Angel forbade john. 
See Elton on Colos. 1. and Cameron on Act. 12.   
3. They say every one hath his good Angel to keep him, so Bucan thinks in his Common places.  
2. The Saducees, who said there was neither Angel nor Spirit, Acts 24. 8. but held good Angels only to be good thoughts, and evil angels to be evil lusts and affections. Their names, offices, actions, apparitions show plainly, that they are not bare qualities, but true substances.  
It serves for instruction, 1. To see the blindness and erroneousness of mankind, 
Objectant nobis judaei, quod Saducaei libros Mosaicos agnoscerent pro divinis, ubi saepius commemoratur, ut Angeli apparuerint. Verùm verisimile mihi sit Saducaeos eludere haec solitos: cujus ratio nunc gemina occurrit. Una est, ut per eas non aliud intellexerint, quam qualitates à Deo product as in imaginatione ejus, quem de re aliqua velit edocere. Altera est, ut putarint Deum producere spiritus, quando eorum opera uti velit, post●a eos dest●uere, ac producere quidem separand● quiddam ab anima mundana, quod postea redeat in naturam generalem. Voss. de Orig. & progress. Idol. l. 1 part altera. c. 6.  in that a great number of men of learning and wit and parts good enough, and that such as lived in the Church and acknowledged the five books of Moses to be divine, should yet make a shift to wink so hard, as to maintain that there were no Angels.  
What falsehood may not the devil make a man entertain and defend, and yet seem not to deny the Authority of Scripture, if a man confessing Moses writings to be true, will yet deny that there be either Spirits or Angels, which are things so plainly revealed by Moses, that a man would account it impossible to receive his writings and not confess them? But if God leave man to the devil and his own wit, he will make him the verier fool because of his wit, and he will err so much the more palpably, by how much he seems better armed against error, even as a man's own weapon beaten to his head by a far stronger arm, will make a deep wound in him.  
See we our aptness to run into and maintain false opinions, 
m Superbi sunt nec noverunt Moysis sententiam, sed amant suam; non quia vera est, sed quia sua est. Aug. Confess. l. 12. c. 25.  and let us not trust in our own wits, but suspect ourselves, and seek to God for direction.  
Secondly, Let us learn humility from this, and by comparing ourselves with these excellent Spirits, learn to know how mean we be, that we may be also mean in our own esteem. So long as a man compares himself with those things and persons which are base than himself, he is prone to lift up himself in his own conceit and to think highly of himself; but when he doth weigh himself in the balance with his betters he begins to know his own lightness. The Lord hath set us men in the midst, as it were, betwixt the bruit beasts and the celestial Spirirs, we do so far exceed them as the Angels exceed us; as for bodily gifts, the beasts in many things go beyond us, some are more strong, swift, have more excellent sight and smell than we, but in few things do we equal the Angels. They are swifter and stronger than we, and their excellent reason goes beyond ours in a manner, as the understanding which is in us excelleth the fancy of the beasts, they know a thousand things more than we do or can know, One Angel can do more than all men, can speak more languages, repeat more histories; in a word, can perform all acts of invention, and judgement, and memory far beyond us.  
Thirdly, Since God hath made Angels to serve and attend him, should not we that are far inferior to them be content also to serve him, yea exceeding glad and thankful that he will vouchsafe to admit us into his service. Doth he need our service that is served with such Ministers and Messengers? Let us frame ourselves to obedience, and do Gods will on earth with all readiness and cheerfulness, seeing there is so great store of more worthy persons in heaven that do it. An Angel will not esteem any work too difficult or base, why should we?  
Fourthly, The Angels which wait about the throne of God are glorious, and 
They have a glory which flows from their own obedience as they stood in integrity, and an additional glory, as they have received a commission from Christ to be the Saints guardians, Heb. 1. 14. Some Angels fell from God, John 8. 44. 2 Pet. 2. 4. Judas 6.  therefore the Lord himself must needs excel in glory, Isa. 6. 1, 2. Ezek. 1. 28.  
Of the Devils or evil Angels.  
The Angels which persisted in the truth, are called good Angels, Luke 9 26. but those which revolted and kept not the law were called evil Angels, or evil spirits, angels of darkness 
n There is but one word (Dajiva) in the Syriack for the raven, ink, and the devil, because commonly he appears to men in some black and terrible shape. Weemes. , Luke 8. 20. & 19 42. and Angels absolutely, 1 Cor. 6. because they were so created of the Lord. In respect of their nature they are called spirits, 1 King. 22. 21. Matth. 18. 16. Luke 10. 20. In respect of their fall they are called evil spirits, 1 Sam. 18. 10. Luke 8. 2. unclean spirits, Matth. 10. 1. Zach. 13. 2. not so much because of their instigation to lust, as because their natures are defiled with sin: Lying spirits, 1 King. 22. 22. john 8. 44. Devils, Levit. 17. 7. 1 Cor. 10. 20.  
The Hebrew names for the devil are 1. Satan an adversary, 2 Sam. 19 32. of Satan to oppose and resist, 2 Pet. 2. 14. Belial, 2 Cor. 6. though some read it Beliar unprofitable. He is likewise called Beelzebub, or Beelzebul, which word comes of Bagnal Dominus, a Lord or Master, and Zebub a fly, the Idol of the 
o Quia civitatem Accaron invocatus à civibus, à muscis liberarat. Cornel. à Lap. They have figurative names likewise in the Scripture, as Lion, Scrpent, Dragon, the Accuser of the Brethren. It is written in the law of Mahomet, That God created the Angels of the light, and the devils of the flame. Dr. Stoughtons' Happiness of Peace.  Achronites, because they thought these best of those pestiferous creatures, or else because the devils were apprehended as flying up and down in the air; but if it be read Z●bul, than it signifieth by way of contempt a Dunghill god, Levit. 17. 7. The devils are called Shegnirim the hairy ones, because they appeared to their worshippers like hairy goats and in the mountains.  
The devil is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to accuse, because he accuseth men to 
He is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked one, Matth. 13. 19 which notes a special wickedness. God is called by the Prophets in the Old Testament The holy One, because He is infinitely and altogether holy; so the devil because he hath the most wicked nature is called the wicked one. 1. They fell of themselves and made themselves wicked. 2. They persist in their wickedness, 1 Joh. 3. 8. 3. They labour to make others wicked like themselves, they are wicked subjective & effectiuè.  God and God to men, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scio, because they know much by creation and by experience.  
The devil is called an enemy or the envious man, Matth. 13. 139. The tempter, Matth. 4. 3. 1 Thes. 3. 5. A destroyer, Apoc. 9 11. The old serpent, Apoc. 12. 7, 9 A roaring lion, 1 Pet. 5. 8. The strong man armed, Matth. 12. 24. The prince of the world, three times, john 12. 31. & 14. 30. & 16. 11. Nay The God of this world, 2 Cor. 4. 4.  
2. Their nature.  
The evil angels are spirits created at first entire and good, Genesis 1. ult. Vide Aquin. part. 1. Q. 11. Art. 4, 5. But by a willing and free apostasy from their Creator, are become enemies to God and man; and for this eternally tormented, john 8. 44.  
It was a total, wilful, malicious apostasy from God with spite and revenge: 1. Totall, because God never intended to offer to the Angels a second Covenant, Heb. 2. 16. 2. With despite and revenge; therein lies the formality of the devil's sin, and of the sin against the holy Ghost, 1 john 5. 19  
That they are spirits appears by the opposition, Ephes. 6. We wrestle not with flesh and blood; and this is to be opposed to those that deny that there are any spirits, or that the devils are incorporeal.  
For their sin, what, when, and how it was, it is hard to determine. That they did sin is plain, but the sin is not specified. Some say it was lust with women, misunderstanding that place, The sons of God saw the daughters of men, for it is plain the devils were fallen before. chrysostom and our Divines 
p Verisimile est ex superbia Daemones esse lapsos, quod Filium Dei contempserunt, & se ei voluerunt anteferre, Lutherus in primii cap. Gen. 26. Doctor Ames.  generally 
q Downam. Mr. Ball.  conclude it was pride, from that place in Timothy, 1 Tim. 3. 6. though there be different opinions about what this pride showed itself, whether in affecting a higher degree than God 
r Mr. Caryl on Job 4. 18. Some bring that place, Isa. 4. 12. that is literally meant of the Assyrian King. It is probable the Devil's sin was pride, seeing man was enticed to offend with an argument drawn from the promise of excellency, Gen. 3. 4, 5. Vide Voet. disputat. de natura & operationibus Daemonum. Diabolus volint se parificasse Deo is Peter Lombard's expression. Austin saith the sin of the Angels was quod ab illo qui summè est▪ aversi, ad scipsos conversi sunt.  created them in, or refusing the work and office God set them about; which (some conceive) was the ministration or the guardianship of man, which trust they deserted or scorned. Zanchius thinketh their sin was, That they were not contented with the truth of the Gospel concerning Christ propounded to them at the beginning, and that they chose rather to leave their heavenly mansion, then 
The devil would not yield to this, that the second person of T●●nity for the salvation of mankind, should become flesh, and that in him the nature should be advanced above that of Angels. Bishop Down. of Justif. c. 1. Some say his sin was Envy, but that rather followed and was a kind of punishment: Post peccatum superbiae consecutum est in Angelo peccante malum invidiae, secundùm quod de bonum hominis doluit, & etiam de excellentia divina. Aquinas part 1▪ Q. 63. Art 2. He is called the envious man; he envied 1. That mankind should be restored, when they were cast off. 2. That the nature of man should be taken into glorious union with the Son of God, and that thereby the image of God should be repaired.  subscribe to the truth. An inordinate desire of power to be like God in omnipotency, say the Schoolmen. Pride seems to be the devil's sin by his first temptation of man to be like God.  
Concerning the time when the devil first sinned, it is uncertain, Tempus lapsus non definit Scriptura; It seemeth they continued in their integrity till the sixth day was past 
s Some collect from Joh. 8. 44 that the devils fell the first day. , Gen. 1. 31. It is likely that neither man nor Angel did fall before the eighth day, Gen. 2. 1, 2.  
The devils stood not long, john 8. He was a manslayer from the beginning: They fell before man, that is plain.  
3. How the devil sinned, seeing his understanding and will were perfect.  
It was initiatively in his understanding, and consummatively in his will. Many 
See Mat. 25. 41. Rev. 12. 9 & 20. 2.  of them fell, as appear Luke 8. 30. there was a legion in one man: one of the chiefest (as some conceive) fell first, and drew the rest with him by his persuasion and example. That one great Angel (now Beelzebub) did first fall, and then drew after him the rest, is likely enough. Capel of Tentat. part 1. c. 1.  
It was in all likelihood some prime Angel of heaven that first started aside from his station, and led the ring of this highest and first revolt; Millions sided with him, and had their part both in his sin and punishment. B. Hals Invis. world. l. 3. Sect. 2. Vide Aquin. part. 1. Q. 63. Art. 8. Yet Voetius seems to doubt of this.  
They fell irrecoverably 
t Hoc est Angelis casus, quod est Hominibus, mors. Damascen. Four things aggravate the devils first sin. 1. If we consider their nature, they were Spirits, spiritual substances, and so had the greater power and advantage against sin, they might more easily have kept themselves pure, because their natures were so simple, a great deal of the power of man's temptation rose f●●m the flesh, the fruit was beautiful to look on and pleasant to the taste. 2. They sinned no● having any tempter or solicitor without; there was no tempter till they themselves became tempters, therefore they fell by the mere freeness of their will, every sin the more it hath of will in it the greater it is. 3. They were endued with a great deal of knowledge, and so synod against more light. 4. They were highly exalted above man in their creation. The Angels are not by propagation one from another, but were created all at once, so that of them some might fall and others stand, but men descend by generation from one stock or root, and therefore the first man falling and corrupting his nature, derived to all his posterity a sinful nature.  being obstinate in wickedness. The Schoolmen and Fathers give reasons why they fell so, and not man.  
Aquinas gives this reason from the condition of an Angels will; whose nature is such (they say) that what it hath chosen with full deliberation, it cannot refuse it again: but this is no good reason, because the choice made cannot alter the nature of the will. The Fathers give these reasons, 1. The devil sinned of himself, but man was tempted. 2. In man's fall all mankind would have been damned, but in the Angels fall, not all Angels.  
The best answer is this, When they had sinned, God out of his justice refused to give them any help of grace, by which they might rise from sin, and without which it was impossible for them to recover: and this is the Apostles argument, If God were so severe that he would not give these so great and noble Creatures time of repentance, neither would he others. The Angels were intellectual Spirits, dwelling in heavenly places in the presence of God, and the light of his countenance, and therefore could not sin by error or misperswasion, but of purposed malice, which is the sin against the Holy Ghost and irremissible. But man fell by misperswasion, and being deceived by the lying suggestion of the spirit of error.  
The devil's malice against mankind appears, Gen. 3. where there is an imbred 
Vide Amesii medullam. l. 1. c. 11.  enmity in the devil, as likewise, 1 Pet. where he is said to be a roaring lion, a lion roars when he hath got his prey, by way of triumph, or when he is hungry and almost starved and so most cruel.  
This malice of his appears in his going up and down the whole world to damn 
His malice is against all mankind, but especially against the Saints, Gen. 3. 15. Rev. 12. 8. 1. Because God hath set his love upon them. 2. Because they are members of Christ, his Kingdom was set up in opposition to Satan's. 3. Because they bear the image of God. 4. They conquer him here, and shall judge him hereafter.  men, and that though he get no good by it, nay, though his condemnation be so much the greater, and therefore if God should let him do what he would against us, he would first bring all outward misery as upon job, and then eternal damnation. And though he knows God will defend the godly, yet he never leaveth to vex them, to tempt them to sin, to overwhelm them with grief and despair, so that he is opposite to God. The devil's malice is beyond his wisdom, else he would never oppose the people of God as he doth, since he doth hereby advance their glory and his own ruin.  
The devils are subtle creatures; 1. In nature. 2. They have perfect intelligence 
Hence the devil is compared to a serpent, what subtlety did he show in beguiling of Eve. Leonem agit & saevit, Draconem agit & fallit. Diabolus metuendus magis cum fallit quam cum saevit. Aug. The strength of a temptation lies in the repetition of the motion. Luther was so often tempted to self-murder that he durst do nothing but repeat the Commandment, Thou shalt not kill.  of all things done in the world. 3. They have gotten subtlety by long experience, job 32. 7. 4. They have strong delusions and great stratagems, 2 Cor. 11. 14. 5. Their subtlety appears by their prevailing over the wisest men in all ages, and by making choice of the sittest instruments to accomplish their designs: When he would deceive Eve he made choice of the serpent; when he would deceive Adam he made choice of the woman. The devil's design was to draw job to curse God, therefore he spared him two things, his tongue that he might be at liberty to curse God, and his wife to be a counsellor to him thereto.  
Their craft is seen likewise in their divers and suitable temptations, 2 Cor. 2. 12. We read of his methods, Eph. 6. and depths, Rev. 3.  
His first stratagem and device is to observe the natural constitution of every man's mind and body, and to sit his temptations thereunto.  
2. To observe our natural abilities and endowments, and accommodate his temptations thereunto.  
3. To apply his temptations to men's outward estate, condition and place.  
4. To tempt us by method, beginning with questionable actions, thence proceeding to sins of infirmity, and so to wilful transgressions, and at last to obstinacy and final impenitency.  
5. To bring us from one extreme to another.  
6. To persuade that his suggestions are the motions of God's Spirit.  
7. To make advantage of time by alluring every age to the peculiar vices thereof, as children to idleness and vanity; youth to lust; perfect age to violent and audacious attempts, old age to covetousness, and every one to the sins of the time.  
The devil is called the Tempter, because of his trade and way. He takes advantages, 
He tempts first by inward suggestions, for being a spirit he hath communion with our souls and can dart thoughts into us, so he filled the heart of judas. 2. By outward objects, he hath one temptation for the proud, another for the timorous. He tempts us, 1. From duties, as unseasonable and unfit. 2. In duties, Ezek. 14. 3, 7, & 22. latter end. 3. By duties, to rest upon them, Prov. 7. 14. Bonaventure reckons up six kinds of Satan's temptations. 1. Those which are so sudden that they do judicium rationis praevenire. 2. They are often so secret that one cannot spy out where the temptation lies, they do subterfugere rationem. 3. Some of his temptations are so impetuous that they do vires transcendere. 4. They are importunate in respect of their continuance. 5. The way is so dark that misery and transgression lie at the door. 6. Those fraudulent temptations wherein he prevails over us to be our own tempters. The Saints may yet be comforted, 1. That a restraint is put on Satan in all his temptations, 1 Cor. 10. 13. 2. They shall tend to the increase of their graces; Satan's temptations and accusations increased jobs graces. 3. They have experience of the power of Christ within them; experimental knowledge is knowledge upon trial, 2 Cor. 12. 19 4. Hereby they know the power of Christ's intercession, Luk. 22. 31, 32. and their own prayers, Rev. 11. 7, 8. 5. This quickens their wisdom and watchfulness, 1 Pet. 5. 8. 6. His temptations and accusations shall increase their glory hereafter.  tempted Eve when she was alone; our Saviour in the wilderness, and being hungry. He hath variety of temptations, if one will not take another shall, if not presumption then despair; and strives to prevail by his importunity. He assaults the Saints ardentius, the wicked liberius.  
The devil is very powerful 
a The devi's power is not a physical but a moral power only, that is, by suggestions and temptations from suitable objects. Astutiam suadendi, non potentiam cogendi habet diabolus. Austin Psal. 73. 48. & 136. 4. The devil is magnipotent but not omnipotent, saith Luther.  Eph. 6. 12. the devils are called Principalities and powers. Alexander of Hales saith they have as great power as the good Angels; wicked men may be stronger than the Saints. Peccatum non tollit naturam, say the Schoolmen. Yet the Schoolmen generally say, that the lowest order of good Angels is stronger than the highest order of the evil Angels. And Aquinas part. 1. Qu. 109. Artic. 4. saith, Boni Angeli habent praelationem super malos.  
He is said Ephes. 2. 2. to be the god of the world which rules in the children of disobedience. He is called the strong one, Matth. 12. 29. He hath a strong power over every one by nature, john 12. 31. the Lord represented this spiritual bondage by the Egytian and Babylonish bondage.  
But here is our comfort, Christ is stronger than he. He hath bruised his head, 
Daemons n●● possunt quicquam crea●e, sed pos●unt cr●ata spec●● tenus muta●●. Qu●ma●modum docet Augustinus de ●●●it. Dei lib. 18. cap. 18. Et ex co Theologi Scholasticique uno consensu. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. * They are so 1. Ratione causae, they proceed from the Devil who is the father of lies. 2. Ratione formae in manner of working, they are but delusions. 3. Ratione sinis. Vide Aquin. part. 1. Quaest 110. Artic. 4. & Quaest 114. Art. 4.  Col. 1. He hath led them captive, and triumphed over them; and their power is wholly limited by God. The Devil is chained up as it were; he could not enter into the swine without a permission. He cannot produce any substance, or change one substance into another, he cannot call the souls of men out of their place and unite them to the body again, he cannot turn the will of man, as he pleaseth, nor do that which is properly a miracle. The works of the Devil are called lying wonders , 2 Thess. 2. 9  
In respect of the work itself, they are for the most part feigned though not always, but in respect of the end they always tend to deceive and beguile.  
The Devil can 1. Hurry bodies up and down in the Air, Matth. 4. 5. Luke 
The Schoolmen say the Angels (if God would suffer them) could tear the fabric of heaven and earth in pieces. The Devil is 1. A creature. 2. A chained creature. 3. A cursed creature. 4. A conquered creature. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Cameron saith Paul was beaten black and blue by some angel of Satan. See my Annot, in loc.  8. 29, 33.  
2. Raise tempests, job 1. 16, 19  
3. Bring diseases both of body and mind, Luke 13. 16. & 9 31.  
4. Overthrow houses and buildings, job 1. 18.  
5. Break chains and bars, Mark 5. 4.  
They are used as instruments by God, to punish the wicked, and exercise the godly; as we may read in that story where God sent one to be a lying spirit in the mouth of the Prophet; and so Paul had one, 2 Cor. 12. to humble and try him.  
Therefore in all thy temptations, in all the sad exercises and buffet of Satan, still remember this, He is at God's command, he bids him go and he goeth, leave off and he leaveth. That is a difficult place, 2 Cor. 12. 7. Paul repeateth the first words in that verse twice, as a thing worthy to be observed, Lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan (so we read it) it may be rendered with Beza the Angel of Satan to buffet me. Some interpret this of a bodily disease, others of the concupiscence of the flesh; others think he meaneth some inward suggestion of Satan working upon his corruption, whatsoever it was.  
I proceed to resolve some Questions concerning the Devils:  

Quest. 1. Whether the Devils have all their punishment already?  
No; What are thou come to torment us before our time? and they are reserved in chains.  
They have the beginning of eternal wrath, although the aggravation and increase 
Quocunque volitant gehe●nam & cat●nam suam portant, say the Schoolmen. Respectu culpae suae, their proper place hell, Respectu exercitationis humanae, they have their principality in the air, saith Aquinas. Interpretes recentiores Paulum metapboricè dicunt in aere daemones collocasse: quasi hostes è loco superiori cervi●ibus nostris imminentes, ut reddamur cautiores. Sanfordus de Descensu Christi ad inferos, lib. 2. pag. 130. In p●nam suam, inquit Bernardus, in Canti●. ●●rm. 14. Diabolus Locum in aere isto medium in●●r Coelum & Terram sortitus est, scili●et ut videat & invideat.  of it shall be hereafter, as men's souls damned are full of God's anger, yet shall have greater torment at least extensively when soul and body are united at the day of Judgement, and while they are in the Air and go up and down tempting, they have not all they shall have, but hereafter they shall have the accomplishment of all; and shall never be received into favour again, although Origen held otherwise.   

Quest. 2. How can they be punished with fire?  

They that go to hell shall find the fire no metaphor, B. bilson's Full Redemption of mankind by the death of Christ, p. 52. Vide Sanford. de Descensu Christi ad inferos, p 137, 138, etc. Nobis certum, ignis & flammarum in inferno nihil esse nisi metaphoricum, & pueriliter nugari quicunque corporea, sive ●●terialia sunt imaginati. Chamierus tom. 2. lib. 5. cap 2. Aquinas Supplem. part. 3. Quaest 97. Artic. 5. holds it to be corporeal, yet ibid. Art. 2. he holds the worm to be metaphorical.  Seeing the fire is corporeal, how can it work upon immaterial substances?  
Some therefore to answer this, do deny that there is material fire in hell, only the torments thereof are set forth by what is most terrible, and the Worm is metaphorical; others say by God's power it is elevated.  
Mark 9 44, 46, 48. The same thing is three times repeated. The never dying worm is the Spirit of God by the co-active power of the Law holding a man's sins before his eyes, and filling him with self-convictions, and so with perfect fear and despair for ever. The unquenchable fire is the wrath of God immediately upon the whole soul, especially the Conscience. The Scripture often sets forth the wrath of God, and the effects and impressions of it by fire, Deut. 4. 24. & 3. 24.   

Quest. 3. Whether the Devils shall torment the wicked after the day of Judgement? This is handled by the Schoolmen; I see no reason (saith Voetius) why the affirmative may not be admitted, although it is not to be made an Article of Faith.  
The Scripture saith to be tormented with, not by the Devil and his Angels.  
Gerhard in his Common-places de Inferno propounding this Question, An Daemons futuri sint damnatorum tortores? thus resolves it, the Devils before judgement, and in this life torment men, but after judgement they themselves shall be tormented in the bottomless pit, therefore they shall be companions in torment, not executioners of it. The object of this wrath in hell is the soul, and the punishment upon it must be its destruction, 2 Thess. 1. 9 The Devils cannot fill all the corners of the soul with wrath, God only can correct and destroy the Spirit. The wrath of God shall be the great and immediate executioner of the ungodly hereafter, 1 Cor. 15. 28. He shall dispense himself immediately in Heaven and hell. The Schoolmen dispute, Whether the Devils that have been incentores in culpa, shall not be tortores in poena. The ministry of the evil Angels shall last no longer than that of the good Angels, that shall be laid down at the Day of Judgement. Vide Calv. in 1 Cor. 15. 24.   

Quest. 4. What is the meaning of those Stories, Possessed with Devils?  
More were possessed with them in the time of the Gospel, than ever before or after. See Matth. 4. 24. & 8. 16, 28. & 9 32. & 12. 22. & 15. 2. & Luke 24. 33. Act. 8. 13. The reason is because as our Saviour had spiritually, so he would corporally or externally manifest his power over Devils. This possessing was nothing but the dwelling and working of the Devil in the body: one was demoniac and 
* These Daemoniacks mentioned in Scripture were no other than such as we call madmen; and Lunatics, as appears by john 10. 20. Matth. 17. 15. compared with Luke 9 Mr Mede on John 10. 20.  lunatic too; because the Devil took these advantages against his body, and this hath been manifested by their speaking of strange tongues on a sudden. The causes of this are partly from the Devil's malice and desire to hurt us, and partly from ourselves who are made the slaves of Satan: and partly from God who doth it sometime out of anger, as he bid the Devil go into Saul; or out of grace, that they may see how bitter sin is, Vide Voet. Thes. de Energ.   

Quest. 5. The meaning of Christ's temptation by Satan, and how we shall know Satan's temptations?  
Matth. 4. The Devil carried Christ's body upon the pinnacle of the Temple. It is hard to say whether this were done in deed or vision only, although it seem to be real, because he bid him to throw himself down headlong: but now this was much for our comfort, that we see Christ himself was tempted, and that to most hideous things, Satan was overcome by him.  
Damascene of old, and some of our Divines say, That Satan in his temptations of Adam and Christ, could not have access to their inward man to tempt them, therefore he tempted Adam by a Serpent and audible voice, and Christ by a visible Landscape of the world.  
Satan's temptations (say some) may be known by the suddenness, violence and unnaturalness of them. All these are to be found in the motions of sin which 
M● Elton on the tenth Commandment gives two rules to know 1. If the temptations ●e against the light of nature corrupted, as for one to kill a parent without any cause. 2. Blasphemous thoughts, Gen. 3. 4. 1 Tim. 2. 14. 1 Sam. 15. 2 Cor. 11. 3. Tentare est propriè experimentum sumere de aliquo Diabolus semper tentat ut noceat in peccatum praecipitando, & secundum hoc dicitur proprium officium ejus tentare. Aquinas part. 1. Quaest 114. Arti●. 2.  arise from ones own heart, original sin will vent sin suddenly, Isa. 57 20. Violently, jer. 8. 6. and it will break forth into unnatural lusts, blasphemies against God, and murders against men, Mark 7. 21, 22. Mr Liford saith, if they seize upon us with terror and affrightment, because our own conceptions are free, it is very difficult to distinguish them: When thoughts often come into the mind of doing a thing contrary to the Law of God, it is an argument Satan is at hand.  
The Devil tempts somero sin under the show of virtue, job. 16. 2. Phil. 3. 6. Omnis tentatio est assimila●●●●o●i, say the Schoolmen. Some under the hope of pardon, by stretching t 〈…〉ds of God's mercy, lessening of sin, propounding the example of the multitude 〈…〉 e●ting before men what they have done, and promising them repentance hereafter before they die.  
The difference between God's temptations and Satan's, they differ:  
First, In the matter: the matter of God's temptations is ever good, as either by prosperity, adversity, or commandments, by chastisements which from him are ever good: but the matter of Satan's temptations is evil, he solicits us to sin.  
Secondly, In the end, the end of God's temptation is to humble us and do us good: but of Satan's, to make us dishonour God.  
Thirdly, In the effect; God never misseth his end, Satan is often disappointed.  
A question is made by some, Whether Satan may come to the same man with the same tentation after he is conquered? Mr Capel resolves it that he may, part 1. of Tentation, cham 7. pag. 132, 133. It is also a question, An omnia peccata committantur tentante Diabolo? John 8. 41, 44. Every work of sin is a work of falsehood, and all falsehood is from the Devil; And likewise it is questioned, Whether man might not have sinned if there had not been a Tempter? To that it is answered, he might, for Satan fell without a tempter, the angelical nature was more perfect than the humane. 2. Nature is now so depraved that we cannot but sin, jam. 1. 14. Non eget daemone tentatore qui sibi factus est daemon, saith Parisiensis.  
Fourthly, What is meant by delivering up to Satan, 1 Cor. 5. 5? Some with chrysostom think it was a corporeal delivering of him, so that he was vexed of him by a disease or otherwise, and that they say is meant by destruction of the flesh, and so expound that Mark 6. They had power over the unclean spirits, that is not only to expel them, but to put them in whom they pleased; but this is not approved, therefore others make it to be a casting out of the company of the faithful, and so from 
It seems to be taken from 1 Sam. 16. 14.  all the good things that are appropriated unto that condition, and therefore to the destruction of the flesh, they expound to be meant of his corruption, for so flesh is taken in Scripture 
* Rom. 8. 13. Gal. 5. 20. Satanae tradi idem est atque ex Ecclesia (extra quam regnat Satan) ejectum declarari quempiam, non tanquam apud Satanam permansurum, & cum eo periturum, sed contra ut miserrimi sui status sensu permotus, resipis●at: at que ita carne abolita quae antea ipsi dominabatur, spiritus superior evadat, ut ita salvus fiat. Beza de excommunicatione. .  
Sixthly, Whether the Devils may appear, 1 Sam. 28. He which appeared was 
Spectrorum vox est à veteri verbo specio, h●c est, video, unde species, item speculum, composita item inspicio, conspicio, alia. Graecè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur Mat. 14. 26. & Marc. 6. Graecanicam vocem vulgatam retin●it interpres: sed spectrum praetulit Erasmus. Vossius de orig. & progroes. Idol. lib. 1. parte altera, cap. 6.  1. Subject to the Witches power, therefore it was not the true Samuel. 2. If Samuel had been sent of God, he would not have complained of trouble no more than Moses did, Matth. 17. 3. The true Samuel would not have given countenance to so wicked a practice, to the Magic Art. 4. True Samuel would not have suffered himself to be worshipped as this did. 5. Saul never came to be with the 
Agrippa hoc ipso exemplo Pythoniss●e Samuelem e●ocantis consir●●are conatur, posse Spiritus fanctorum arte magica evocari. Rainol. de lib. Apoc. tom. 1. c. 75. Vide plura ibid. ' As yesterday is put for the time past, though long ago, Gen. 31. 2. Exod. 5. 4. Josh. 10. 3, 4, So to morrow is put for the time to come, not the next day only, Exo. 13. 14. Mat. 16. 30. * Isa. 57 2. Rev. 13. 14. That it was not Samuel himself which appeared, but the Witches familiar spirit in his likeness: these reasons prevail with me, 1. Neither by Witches nor Devils could the souls of the Saints be commanded, or disquieted from their places, when they are in rest and peace. 2. We are assured by the Doctrine of our Saviour, Luk. 16. that God will send none from the dead to instruct the living. 3. That which appeared received adoration at Saul's hands, which the Angel refused at St john's, Revel. 22. and the soul of Samuel neither might nor would have accepted. 4. Saul forsaken of God could not after death rest in the same place with Samuel the elect and approved servant of God. Lastly, The Fathers do for the most part resolve it was an illusion of Satan to st●ike Saul into desperation. Bishop bilson's Redempt. of mankind, etc. pag. 204, 205.  soul of Samuel in bliss: yet he saith 'to morrow shalt thou be with me. 6. God refused to answer Saul by Prophet, Vision, Urim or Thummim, therefore he would not answer him by Samuel raised from the dead. 7. True Samuel after his death could not lie nor sin, Heb. 12. 23. He said Saul caused him to ascend, * and troubled him, if he had been the true Samuel, Saul could not have caused him to ascend, if not, he lied in saying he was Samuel, and that he troubled him.  
If God had sent up Samuel the dead to instruct the living: Why is this reason given of the denial of the Rich man's request to have one sent from the dead? because if they would not believe Moses and the Prophets, They would not believe though one rose from the dead. In so doing the Lord should seem to go against his own 
Luk. 16. Willet. in loc.  order.  
The souls of Saints which are at rest with the Lord, are not subject to the power or enchantment of a Witch: But Samuel was an holy Prophet now at rest with the Lord. Bellarmine answereth, That Samuel came not by the command of the 
Bellarm. de purge l. 2. c. 6. Vi●e illum de Christolib. 4. c. 11.  Witch, but by the command of God, and that rather impeached than approved Art Magic, which he proveth, because the Witch was troubled. But the Scripture expressly teacheth, that her trouble was, because it was the King: who (having lately suppressed Witches) had now in disguised apparel set her on work, and so deceived her.  
Bellarmine objecteth, The Scripture still calleth him that appeared Samuel, as if it were not an ordinary thing in Scripture, to call things by the names of that which 
Bellarm. de purge. l. 2. c. 19 Scriptura Deos appellat qui nihil minus erant, 1 Cor. 10. Ideò quòd Gentiles crederent Deos esse, & ut Deos ipsos venerabantur. Ita Scriptura Diabolum Samuelem vocat, ideo quod Saul illum Samuelem esse putaret. Lavater de Spectris, part. 2. cap. 8. Gen. 18. 2. & 32. 24.  they represent, or whose person they bear; the representations of the Cherubims are called the Cherubims. And things are often called in Scripture not according to the truth of the thing, or Scriptures judgement thereof, but according to the conceit and opinion of others. The Angels which appeared to the Patriarches are called men, Gen. 18. the Idols of the Heathen are called gods, Gen. 25. because they were so esteemed by those which worshipped them.  
First, We must walk warily and watchfully against Satan's temptations. We 
Corollaries. The Devils have an angelical nature, therefore are more dangerous adversaries. 1. They are more spiritual. 2. Undiscernible, he discerns us, but we cannot discern him, Luk. 24. 39 3. They are very agile, swift in motion, Ps●l. 104. 4 4. Act unweariedly, job. 〈…〉. 5. Terrible. 6. Potent, Ephes. 2. 2.  should be sober, 1 Thess. 5. 6, 8. Strong, 1 Cor. 16. 13. 1 Pet. 5. 8, 9 Watchful, 2 Tim. 4. 5. Matth. 26. 41. Prov. 4. 23. Wise, Heb. 5. 14. Prov. 2. 9, 10. and of good courage, Josh. 1. 9 1 Chron. 28. 10. Taking unto ourselves the whole armour of God, Ephes. 6. 12, 13, 14. that we may be able to stand in the evil day.  
Secondly, Believe not Satan though he flatter, 2 Cor. 11. 3. 1 Tim. 2. 14. Foar him not though he rage. 1 Pet. 5. 8, 9 Harken not to him though he tell the truth, 2 Cor. 11. 14. Acts 16. 17. For if he transform himself into an Angel of light it is to s●duce.  
He assaulted our first Parents in innocency, and Christ himself, 1 Cor. 7. 5. But  

1. He cannot hurt the people of God, 1 john 5. 18.  
2. All his assaulting is by leave, Luk. 22. 32. See Matth. 8. 31. he hath not only a general warrant to tempt, but a new commission for every act of temptation. Compare job 1. 12. with 2. 6.  
3. God looks after him still.  
4. This opposition of Satan is more for the honour and safety of our spiritual life.  
5. He is a foiled enemy, Christ hath conquered him, Col. 2. 15.  
6. Wait till death, and thou shalt then have a full conquest over him, 1 Pet. 5. 11. Rom. 16. 20.   
Thirdly, See Gods great goodness, who offers us repentance, and Christ, when he absolutely refused the Devils.  
Fourthly, See the exact justice of God, no greatness can privilege one from punishment, none can be greater, nearer, holier, than Angels: yet if they sin they 
2 Pet. 2. 4. Per Caliginem intelligunt nonnulli miserimam & horroris plenam vitae conditionem, sumpta translatione à facinorosis damnatis, qui in carceris pedore retinentur constricti, dum ad ultimum judicium protrahantur. Casmanni Angelographia.  shall be tumbled out of heaven. Therefore we must leave all sin if we desire to go to heaven, it would not hold the Devils when they had sinned, No unclean thing shall come thither.  
Fifthly, Be not like the Devils, than thou art one of his children: Wicked men 
1 John 3. 7, 8.  are called sons of Belial. Certain particular sins make us like the Devil.  

1. A liar or murderee is like to him, John 8. 44. 
Persisting in sin makes one like the Devil. Humanum est errare, in errors perseverar● Diabelicum.   
2. A slanderer or an accuser of another.  
3. Envious and malicious persons, as Witches.  
4. He that tempts others, or persuades them to sin: the Devil is called the tempter, Eve spoke for the Devil, therefore she hath two punishments more than man, sorrow in childbed, and subjection to her Husband.  
5. He that goes about to hinder others from godliness, as Elimas', Act. 13. Thou child of the Devil.  
6. A drunkard, 1 Sam. 1. 15, 16.  
7. A proud person: especially take heed of pride in spiritual Illuminations and Gifts.   
Sixthly, See the folly of those who do the Devil service, how ill will he repay them? Never did any trust in the Devil, but he deceived him, even for the base things of this life. Witness all Witches (his most devoted and professed 
Perkins on Heb. 11.  servants) if ever he made any one of them wealthy: all Ages are not able to show one.  
Seventhly, Satan's great business in the world is to study men, Hast thou considered my servant job? When he comes near to us in his temptations, there is something in us to take part with him, 1 john 5. 6. there is abundance of self-love, self●lattery, and natural blindness, 2 Cor. 2. 11. He hath a strange power to make all his suggestions take with us, they are called fiery Darts: fire will quickly take: 
2 Cor. 2. 7.  We are led Captive to do his will. He comes to us sometimes in the Name of God, and can transform himself into an Angel of light, 2 Cor. 11. 14. He can raise up in men's spirits strange ravishments, and can swallow them up with joy as well as sorrow.    

CHAP. VIII. 2. Of MAN.  
When God had created Heaven and Earth, he rested not in Heaven nor any heavenly thing: neither in Earth, nor any earthly thing, but only in man, 
a Vocabulum homo est duarum substantiarum fibula. Tertullian. Man was made last, because he was worthiest, the soul was inspired last, because yet more noble. Dr Halls Contempl. of Paradise. Man was created after God's Image. 1. To awe the creature, whose Sovereign he was. 2. That he might acknowledge God to be his Lord, and do him homage, and that God and he might delight in each other: Ad imaginem ac similitudinem, id est, imaginem valdè similem. Eman. Sa ad loc. Significatur absoluta similitudo utraque voce, qua quid sit ita effectum ad exemplar alterius, ut proximè ad illud accedat, & quam maximè exprimat ac referat, ut in co agnoscas illud ipsum Archetypon ad cujus effigiem sit factum. Mercer. in loc.  because he is a heavenly thing for his soul, and earthly in regard of his body.  
Prometheus' fashioned the bodies of men out of clay, but was fain to steal fire from Heaven for the quickening of them with souls.  
Man is a living creature made after the image of God, Gen. 1. 26.  
The efficient cause of man was the holy Trinity, God the Father, Son and holy Ghost.  
In the Creation of man three things are considerable: 
Cum ibi sermo fiat in numero plurali faciamus, sunt multi Thecologi, qui Angelos ideo convocatos esse dicant, non ut consulat illos, cum nemo fit tam rudis, qui 〈…〉 consilio, sed ut indicaret velle se efficere longè nobilissimam illam creaturam. Aut voluit forsan Deus 〈…〉 tudinem ostendere. Menass. Ben Isr. de fragilitate humana, Sect. 4.   

1. The consultation of the Trinity, Let us make man, Gen. 1. 26▪ Quia rationalis creatura quasi cum consilio facta videretur.  
2. The work made, not an Hermaphrodite, as some would have 〈…〉 Adam comprehended both sexes) but he is distinguished into both sex's 〈…〉 lows after, male and female. The man was made of the dust of the earth, the woman was made of the man's rib, to show the near and social conjunction between man and wife. She was not made of his head, because she should not rule over him; nor of his feet, because she should not be servilely subject to him. So Aquinas. 
Quoniam haec duo synonimicè pro ●odem usurpantur, verto, Ad imaginem sive similitudinem nostram. Quod autem ejusdem sint significationis, ne quis in his vane philosophetur, nimium liquet ex eo quod proximè in repetitione, & cap. 9 6. infra tantum dicitur imò & repetetur, Ad imaginem Dei, ut & Col. 3. ●0. Picherellus in Cosmopoeiam Annotat. Vide Molin E●odat. Gravis. Quaest ●. de Dei imagine.   
3. The pattern of it, the image of God, 1 Cor. 11. 7. Col. 3. 10. Bellarmine distinguisheth between an image and similitude; the first (saith he) consists in natural endowments: the other in supernatural graces: rather image and similitude represent an exact likeness. These two words are in an inverted order joined together, Chap. 5. 3. jam. 3. 9 mentions only likeness, leaving our image, which is a certain sign, that there is no difference between them, but that the second is added to insinuate the perfection of the image.   
Man's primitive and pure condition was the enjoying of God's image, Gen. 1. 26. his Apostate condition is the loss of God's image, his renewed condition is the repairing of God's image, 1 Cor. 3. ult. his blessed condition in the state of glory, is the perfection of God's image, Psal. 17. 15.  
The image of God in Adam and the Saints is not specifically distinct▪ though his image was conveyed to him by God immediately, and ours by a Mediator, Rom. 8. 29. the old image is renewed in his people, Col. 3. 10. Man is said to be after God's image, Gen. 1. 27. in that he was endued with perfect knowledge, and with true holiness and righteousness, Col. 3. 10. Ephes. 4. 24.  
There is a fourfold image or likeness▪  
First, Where there is a likeness with an absolute agreement in the same nature, and so the Son of God is called the express image of the Father.  
Secondly, By participation of some universal common nature, so a man and beast are like in the common nature of animality.  
Thirdly, By proportion only, as when we say, the Governor of a Commonwealth, and the Pilot of a ship are like.  
Fourthly, By agreement of order, when one thing is a pattern or exemplar, 
The Schoolmen make Images and Similitudes divers; and again they distinguish between imaginem Dei and ad imaginem Dei. Vide Aquin. parte 1. Quaest 93. Art. 1. & 9 Et Bellarm. de Gratia primi hominis, cap. 2.  and the other thing is made after it: Now when man is said to be like God, it is meant in those two last ways, Christ was the essential image of God, Man's was Imago representantis: aliter Imago imperatoris in nummo, aliter, in Filio, Augustine.  
The Image of God in which man was created, is the conformity of man unto God, 1. In his soul. 2. In his body for his soul. 3. In the whole person for the union 
* Quamvis imago propriè resideat in anima, tamen ratione animae totus homo rectè dicitur conditus ●d imaginem Dei. Scriptura non dicit Gen. 1. 27. factam esse animam ad imaginem Dei, sed factum esse hominem. Bellarm. de Amiss. Grat. l. 4. c. 11. Verily either my eyes be dim, or there is not much set down in precise terms, wherein Adam his perfection did consist. The image of God is that high perfection of whole Adam, and the integrity of all the powers both o● his soul and body, and that conformity that he had with God his Archetypus. Dr Hampton on Gen. 1. 26.  of both.  
The soul of a man is conformable to God in respect of its Nature, Faculties and Habits.  
First, In respect of its Nature, Essence or Being, as it is a spiritual and immortal 
This was a great controversy between Hierom and Augustine. An anima sit ex traduce, an immortalis? Hierom held the immediate creation of it, and this is most suitable to the perfection and simplicity of the soul. Austin did at least incline to the later, that it is by propagation. That of Zech. 12. 1. & Heb. 12 9 makes it the more probable opinion, that it is by immediate creation, and for that of original sin, the soul is created as part of man, & ●o justly deprived of that original excellency.  Substance. The Scripture witnesseth, 1. That the soul of a man is a spirit, Mat. 27. 20. Acts 7. 59 as appears by comparing the 1 Pet. 4. 19 with Heb. 12. 9 in Peter God is called The Creator of souls, in the Hebrews, The Father of spirits, in the same sense.  
2. That it is immortal, 2 Cor. 5. 8. Phil. 1. 21, 22. 2 Pet. 1. 14. The Sadduces indeed denied the immortality of the soul, this opinion of theirs began on this occasion, Antigonus Sochaeus, the Disciple of Simeon the just said, We must not serve God for hope of reward or wages. Hence his Disciples Sadok and Baithos took occasion to teach that there is no reward or punishment after this life, whereas Antigonus meant, that there ought to be in us so great love of the Divine Majesty, and of virtue itself, that we should be willing to serve God, and ready to suffer any thing, without looking for any reward or wages.  
Reasons of its immortality:  

1. Because it cannot be destroyed by any second cause, Mat. 10. 28.  
2. Being severed from the body, it subsists by itself, and goes to God, Eccl. 12. 7. Luk. 16. 22.  
3. Because it is a simple and immaterial substance, not depending on matter: the mind works the better the more it is abstracted from the body, when it is asleep or dying.  
4. Because it transcends all terrene and mortal things, and with a wonderful quickness searcheth after heavenly, divine, and eternal things. There is an invincible argument for the thing secretly imprinted in the instinct and conscience of the soul itself. Because it is every good man's hope that it shall be so, and wicked man's fear.  
5. The food of the soul is immortal, 1 Pet. 1. 23. the evident promises of eternal life prove the soul to be immortal, He that believeth in me hath eternal life: and To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. Nothing can satisfy the soul but God.  
6. Man is capable of virtue and vice, of immortal desires and affections.  
7. The souls of Adam and Eve were not made of any matter, but came by immediate Creation, in whom God gave a specimen what he would perpetually do with other men. That is but a cavil, that Solomon, Eccl. 12. 7. speaks only of our first Parents. See Dr Rainolds of the Passions, c. 34.   
Children are called the fruit of their Parent's body, to note, 
Bishop Lake on Ps. 132. 11. See Num. 27. 16. Ps. 35. 15. Isa 57 16. Etiamst fuerint nonnulli apud Ethnicos qui putarint animam esse mortalem, Epicuri de grege porci, qui animam dixit sui da●am pro sale ne putr●sc●r●t: tamen omnes paulò saniores, & agnoverunt animae immortalitatem, & ●irmissimis documentis stabilire sunt cona●●. Rainold. de lib. Apoc●om ●om. 2 praelect. 33. Illud autem maximum argumentum immortalitatis est, quòd Deum solus homo agnoscit. In mutis nulla suspicio religionis, quia terrena prospiciunt. Homo ideo rectus coelum aspicit, ut Deum quaerat. An potest igitur non esse immortalis, qui immortalem desiderat. Lactant. Divin. Institut. E●it.  that they are only fathers of their flesh: they have another, namely God, which is Father of their spirits. S. Paul teacheth it, Heb. 12. 9 and the use of it. And this checks their opinion who will have souls propagated no less than bodies.  
Many collect the immortality of the soul, and salvation of jobs children, because they were not doubled as the rest of his estate was.  
The soul of man is as it were the breath of God: God did not say of man's soul as of other creatures, Let it be made, Let there be a soul in man's body. No, but when he had form the body, he breathed the soul into him. It was to note, that the soul of man had a more heavenly and divine original, than any of the other creatures that are here in this world. Vide Bellarm. de Amis. gratiae, lib. 4. cap. 11. See Sir Walter Raleigh's Ghost, lib. 2. per totum. And Master Rosse his Philos. Touchstone, Conclusion.  
2. The soul of man is conformable to God in respect of its 
* Imago divinae sapientiae in intellectu effulsit, imago bonitatis, man●uctu●●nis, tolerantiae in ejus animo, imago charitatis & misericordiae in cordis affectibus, imago justitiae sanctitatis & puritatis divinae in voluntate; imago comitatis, benignitatis & veritatis in gestibus & verbis, & imago divinae potentiae in dominio concesso super omnia animalia. Rivetus.  faculties, in its Understanding, Will and Memory, is like the Trinity.  
3. In the Qualities, Graces and admirable endowments of it. In the Understanding there was,  
First, An exact knowledge of God and all Divine things, Col. 3. 10. Knowledge is a principal part of God's Image, by reason he was enabled to conceive of things spiritual and universal.  
Secondly, A perfect Knowledge of all inferior things, Adam knew Eve, and 
See Mr Burgess on 1 Tim. 1. 8. Lect. 12. p. 111 112, 113, 114, 115, 116. Adam was by his natural frame and disposition apt and ●it to know, do, and forbear all that God would have him know, do and forbear, Gen. 9 6.  imposed names on the creatures suitable to their natures. He had most exquisite prudence in the practical part of his understanding, in all doubtful cases. He knew what was to be done. 2. In the Will there was holiness, Ephes. 4. 24. God had the highest place in his soul, his glory was his end. His liberty then stood not in this that he could stand or fall, a possibility to sin is no perfection.  
Thirdly, The image of God in our affections stood in four things:  

1. All the affections were carried to their proper objects; Adam loved, feared, and desired nothing but what God had commanded him to love, fear and desire.  
2. They were guided by a right rule, and carried in a due proportion to their objects. Adam loved not his wife more than God.  
3. They were voluntary affections, he loved a thing because his will made choice of it.  
4. They were whetstones of the soul in acting.   
From this Image did necessarily follow peace with God, fellowship and union. He knew God to be his Creator, and to love him, in all good things he enjoyed God, and tasted his sweetness, Man's body also after a sort is an Image of Divine 
Os homini sub●ime dedit, etc. Man only hath a hand, which is the instrument of instruments.  Perfection.  
Observe first, The Majestical form of it, of which the Heathens took notice; by the structure of the body a man should be taught to contemn the earth which his feet tread upon, and to set his heart upon Heaven whether his eyes naturally tend.  
It was convenient for man to have an erect stature, 1. Because the senses were 
All other creatures but man have only four muscles, one to turn downwards, another to hold forwards, a third to the right hand, a fourth to the left: only man hath a fifth muscle in his eye to roll it up to God. Columb. de re Anatom. God hath showed admirable power and wisdom in the countenances of men and women, in that within little more than the compass of an hand breadth, he hath made such variety, as that among millions of millions, there are none either much unlike or absolutely like in all lineaments, and also in the variety of voices. See S ● Walter Raleigh's Ghost, l. 1. c. 10. Mr. Ross his Arcan● Microcosmi.  given to man not only to procure the necessaries of life, as they were to other living creatures, but also to know, 2. That the inward faculties may more freely exercise their operations, whiles the brain is elevated above all the parts of the body. Aquinas part. 1. Quaest 91. Artic. 3. he gives two more reasons there of it.  
Secondly, God's artifice in it, Psal. 139. 15. 
* Cum primis verò Jobus & Regius Psaltes stupendum illud conceptionis, ●ormationis ac nutritionis in utero miraculum accuratiùs expendiss● videntur, unde verbis admodum emphaticis, de eo loquuntur, Job 10. 8, 9, 10, 1●, 12. Psaltes Ps. 139. 14. Gerh. loc. common. de conjugio. Vide illum ibid. verba Hebraea optimè, c. 8. explicantem.  Thou hast curiously wrought me, and I was wonderfully made▪ Vide Lactantium de opificio Dei. Materiam superabat opus, of the basest matter, dust, God made the noblest creature.  
Thirdly, The serviceableness of every part for its end and use.  
Fourthly, There is matter of humiliation, because it was made of the dust, Gen. 
Dr. Clerk.  3. 19 job 14. 18, 19 & 5. 15. The Greek name makes man proud, calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bids him aspire, look up, but the Hebrew 
b Adam ab Adamah, Hom● ab humo. Nobilissimis creaturis, & inter eas homini, vilissima nomina Deus imposuit, tanquam fraena superbiae, & humilitatis documenta. Sic & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homo ab Adama, id est, humo. Sunt quidem & alia animantia ab humo, sed quia non indigent istis documentis, nec capiunt, adeo ab humo non sunt denominata. Amama.  and Latin humble him, bids him stoop, look down.  
Adam's body was mortal conditionally, if he had not eaten of the Tree, there could be no outward cause of his death, for God's protection kept that off; nor no inward cause because original righteousness was in his soul, and for old age and weakness, the Tree of life would have preserved him from that.  
3. The whole person (consisting both of soul and body) was conformable to 
Experienti● docet multò excellentius in statu innocentiae habuisse hominem hanc potentiam, quam in statu peccati. Tunc subjectio animalium erga hominem fuisset perfecta, quae nunc difficilis est, & non obtinetur nisi adhibita cura maxima & assiduo labore sunt enim quaedam animalia fera & indomita, quae nunquam cicurantur. Vide Gen. 2. 7. Uno verbo imò nutu etiam ursos & leones fugasset Adam. Hodiè habemus quidem defensionem, sed planè horribilem. Opus enim est ad eam gladiis, hastis, bombardis, muris, sepibus, fossis, & tamen vix possumus cum nostris in tuto esse, Luth, loc. common. 2. ●lass. loc. 3.  God, in respect of his felicity and dominion over the creatures, Gen. 1. 26, 28. The image of God doth not principally consist in this, but secondarily, therefore though the man and woman were created perfectly after God's image in other respects, yet in this respect the woman had not the image of God, as the Apostle showeth. The power which Adam had over the creatures, was not absolute and direct (that God reserved to himself) but it was for Adam's use, than the stoutest and fiercest beasts would be ruled by Adam, this dominion since the fall is lost for a great part, because of our rebellion against God, the creatures rebellion should mind us of ours: we may see sometimes a little child driving before him an hundred Oxen or Kine this or that way as he pleaseth.  
For the infusing of the soul, it is most probable that the body was first made as the organ or instrument, and then the soul put into it, as God did make Heaven and Earth before man was made.  
God did not create all the souls of men at once, but he creates them daily as they are infused into the body, for that the reasonable soul is not ex traduce. Baronius in his Philosophia Theologiae Ancillans. Exercit. 2. Artic. 3. proves it well.  
There are these two Questions to be resolved:  

1. Whether immortality was natural to Adam?  
2. Whether original righteousness was natural to Adam?   
For the first. A thing is immortal four ways:  

1. Absolutely, so that there is no inward or outward cause of mortality, so God only, 1 Tim. 6. 16.  
2. When it is not so by nature, but immortality is a perfection voluntarily put into 
●ide 〈◊〉 de Gratia primi hominis c. 9 Et Aquin. part. 1. Qu. 97. art. 1.  the constitution of the creature by the Creator, so Angels are immortal.  
3. Not by any singular condition of Nature but of Grace, so the bodies of the Saints glorified.  
4. When it is mortal inwardly but yet conditionally it is immortal, that is, if he 
Affirmativam sententiam tu●●ntur Evangeli● contra Pontisi●ios. Vide Bellarm. de Gratia primi hominis cap. 1. & 5, 6, 7.  do his duty, and so Adam was immortal.   
For the second Question.  
The properties of it are these.  
First, It is original righteousness, because it is the natural perfection of the whole man and all his faculties, for distinction sake we call it original righteousness.  
It is so both in regard of itself, for it was the first in the first man.  
Secondly, In regard of man, because he had it from his very beginning.  
Thirdly, In regard of his posterity, because it was to be propagated to others.  
Secondly, It is universal, it was the rectitude of all parts, it could not else be an image of God, unless it did universally resemble him in all holiness. His understanding had all things for truth, his will for good, his affections for obedience.  
Thirdly, Harmonious, every faculty stood in a right order, the will subject to the understanding, and the affections to both.  
Fourthly, It was due to him, not by way of desert, as if God did owe Adam any thing; but conditionally, supposing God made Adam to enjoy himself, and by way of means. 
Rivet. exercit. 6. in Gen. 1. Scholastici disputant, quod justitia originalis non fuerit co●●aturalis, sed c●● ornatus quidam additus homini, tanquam donum: Ut si quis formose p●●ll● coronam imponat, Corona certè non est pars virginis naturae, sed quoddam separatum à natura, quod ab extra accedit, & sine violation● naturae potest ●●erum a●imi. Quare disputant de homine & daemonibus, quod etsi originalem justitiam amiserint, tamen naturalia pura manserint, sicut initio condita sunt. Sed haec sententia quia peccatum originis extenuat, ceu venenum ●ugienda est. Quin haec statuimus, justitiam non fuisse quoddam donum, quod ab extra accederet, sed fuisse verè naturalem, ita ut natura Adae esset diligere Deum, credere Deo, agnoscere Deum. Luth. loc. common. 2. Classis loc. 3.   
Fifthly, Natural, 1. Subjective, that which inwardly adheres to the nature of a thing from its beginning. 2. Perfectiuè, that which perfects nature for its end and actions. 3. Propagatiuè, when it would have been propagated in a natural way, if man had continued in innocency; but Constitutiuè and Consecutiuè supernatural.  
The Papists deny that that was natural to man in innocency, and therefore they say man's nature is not corrupted by the fall, because a supernatural gift only is taken from him, all his naturals being left, which is the opinion of the Pelagians, who affirm, That the nature of man fallen is perfect before the committing of actual sins.  
Paradise is spoken of in Gen. 2. Some of the Ancients (as Origen, Philo) yea 
See Sir Walter Rawl●igh in the History of the World, pag. 1. Multi quia locum à M●se hic descriptum reperire nusquam potu●runt, ●●●tum, arbores, ●●●mina, aquas, & omnia haec in allegorias transform trunt, qued rectè August. re●ellit, quamvis & ipse se idem sensisse fateatur. Alii eodem decepti errore Paradisum sinxerunt proximè sphaeram Lunae id aëre suspensum. Paraeus in loc. Vide Bellarm. de Gratia primi hominis, cap. 10. & 11.  and of later Authors have turned all this into an Allegory, but now that it was a real corporal place, we may prove, 1. Because God planted a Garden, and put Adam into it, and there went a River out of it which was divided into four streams; but these were visible, and corporeal as Euphrates and Tigris; and in the third Chapter, it is said, That Adam hid himself with the leaves of the Tree, therefore the Trees in Paradise were real and not allegorical, and lastly Adam was cast out of it. The ground of allegorising all these things ariseth from the vanity of man's mind, which thinketh these things too low for the Spirit of God to relate, and therefore endeavours to find out many mysteries.  
2. In what part of the earth it was. 
Mihi dubium non est, terram Canaan fuisse delicias totius orbis terrarum, itaque facile illis accedo, qui eo in loco fuisse ante diluvium Paradisum putant. Solus ille locus est, in quo postea Deus voluit Ecclesiam & populum suum esse. Luth. in Gen. 10. As the Scripture borroweth the term of Tartarus from the Heathen, 2 Pet. 2. 4. so it is thought by Tertullian and Gregory Nazianzen that the Heathens took the ground of their Elysian fields from the Scripture-Paradise.   
Some have thought it to be the whole world, but that cannot be, for it is said, God took Adam and put him into it, and likewise that he was cast out of it: Others 
It is certain that Paradise was near or about Mesopotamia and Babylonia, as besides the consent of the best writers, the rivers Tigris & Euphrates which compass Mesopotamia, and which watered the Garden, do infallibly demonstrate. Dr Crak. Defence of Constant. c. 11  thought Paradise to be a very high place reaching to the very Globe of the Moon, but that cannot be habitable for the subtlety of the air. Others (as Oleaster and Vatablus) think it was in Mesopotamia only, and that it hath lost his beauty by the flood.  
A Lapide, Willet, Rivet, Zanchius, and others, say it was about Mesopotamia and Armenia, because  

1. There are the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris.  
2. Because Eden is part of Babylonia, and this part of Mesopotamia, as is manifest from Ezek. 27. 23. Isa. 37. 12.  
3. These Regions are in the East, and most pleasant, and so agree with the description of Paradise, Gen. 2.   
But the safest way is not to trouble ourselves any further than Moses Text, which saith it was in the Region of the East, in respect of judaea, Egypt or Arabia, and as for the limits and bounds of it, they cannot now be known. Vide Bellar. de gratia primi hominis, c. 12, 13.  
Homer had his invention of Alcinous Gardens (as justin Martyr noteth) out of Moses his description of Paradise, Gen. 2. And those praises of the Elysian fields were taken out of this story,  Ver erat aeternum, etc. Ovid. Metam. lib. 2. 
And from the talk between Eve and the Serpent, Aesop's Fables were derived.  
Thirdly, Whether the waters of the Flood did destroy it?  
Bellarmine 
* De Gratia primi hominis, c. 12. & 14. , and generally the Papists will not admit that it was destroyed by Noah's Flood, and it is to maintain a false opinion, for they say, That Enoch and Elias (who are yet in their bodies) are the two Witnesses spoken of, and that they shall come when Antichrist shall be revealed, and then he shall put them to death; and therefore they hold that Enoch and Elias are kept alive in this Paradise which they say still remaineth; but that this is a mere fable, appeareth, because john Baptist is expressly said by Christ to be the Elias that was to come, because he came in the spirit of Elias. Therefore we hold that wheresoever Paradise was, yet in the great Flood it was destroyed, not but that the ground remaineth still, only the form, beauty and fruitfulness is spoiled, Gen. 7. 19 Paradise signifieth a Garden, the word being translated out of Greek into Latin, and so into French and English; In Hebrew it is called Heden, which signifieth Delights, a Garden of all manner of Delights, a place beset with all kind of fruitful and beautiful Trees.  
Paradise was a little model of Heaven, and a sign of the great Heaven, assuring Adam, that if he continued in obedience to God, he should be translated into Heaven, to enjoy God supernaturally, as there he did enjoy him naturally; for the Law saying, Do this and live, means it of everlasting life. So Mr Wheatley held, but M Ball seems to differ from him in his Book of the Covenant.  
Man was to die if he disobeyed, Gen. 2. 17. which implies strongly that God's Covenant was with him for life if he obeyed. In several other Scriptures the promise is annexed, This do and live, Negatio fundatur in affirmatione, the life promised must be answerable to the death threatened, that was not only a miserable condition, but a separation from God for ever in hell, therefore the life promised was not only a happy condition, but a translating of Adam to Heaven, and his enjoying of God for ever there. How long Adam should have lived before he had been translated, is not determined. There is an innate desire in the soul after the full enjoyment of God here, this instinct was not put in men in vain, Rom. 3. 23. And come short of the glory of God. The word signifies to fall short of the race, that price and crown he ran, for the full and perfect enjoyment of God; See Heb. 4. and what man fell short of by sin, if he had not sinned he should have obtained.  
This is the received opinion of Divines; That if Adam had not sinned, then as 
See Kellets Miscel. l. 1. c. 3.  soon as the number of Saints had been accomplished, men should have been translated from the earth to heaven, from their natural life to spiritual life, as we read of Enoch and Elias, Heb. 11. 6. 2 King. 2. 11. Dr Hampton on Gen. 1. 26. Though Menasseh Ben Israel de fragil. hum. Sect. 12. saith, That common opinion, that Enoch was translated with his body and soul to heaven, doth not take place with them, and saith, that R. Solomon, Abrabanel, Aben Ezra interpret Gen. 5. 24. of a short death. See more there.  
There were two special Trees in it, one called the Tree of life, the other of the knowledge of good and evil.  
Some say 
* Paraeus in Gen. 2. 7.  it was called the Tree of Life from the effect, because of the hidden power and force it had 
a The Poets from the tree of life took their Nectar; and Ambrosia, Nectar, signifieth making young, and Ambrosia Immortality: therefore they are said to be the meat and drink of the gods.  of sustaining and prolonging man's life. Although it be a Dispute, Whether it had this force as meat to prolong life, or as a medicine to prevent death, old-age and diseases, as likewise whether this power in the Tree were natural or supernatural. Vide Menass. Ben Israel the fragil. hum. Sect. 4.  
Therefore others say it was called so not from the effect, but signification, because it was an outward sign, that God would give them immortality if they did continue.  
It is questioned, Whether the Tree of Life was a Sacrament?  
Paraeus answers, That it was a Sacrament three ways:  
First, As an admonition to them, that the life which they had, they had it from God, for as often as they tasted of it, they were to remember that God was the author of life.  
Secondly, As it was a symbol of a better life in heaven, if he did continue in obedience.  
Thirdly, Sacramentally of Christ, as in whom Adam and Angels did obtain life, Revel. 2. 7. He is called The Tree of Life in the midst of Paradise, but that is only allegorical and allusive, so that what the Tree of Life was to Adam in innocency, the same is Christ to us in our corrupt estate.  
2. The Tree of Good and Evil.  
It was not so called from any internal form, as if itself were knowing good and 
Paraeus.  evil, nor from the effect, as if by eating thereof it would have procured wisdom in man, and made him wiser; nor yet was it called so from the lying promise of 
Arbour scientiae boni & mali sic nominata propter eventum futurum: quia post ejus esum homo per experimentum poenae didicit, quid interesset inter obedientiae bonum & inobedientiae malum, Aquin. part. 1. Quaest 102. Artic. 2. Hanc arborem hoc nomine à Deo appellatam non legimus: sed ab eventu Moses appellavit: quo Adamus & Heva, si ex hujus fructu comedissent, aeternum erant victuri, c. 3. 33. infra. Picherel. in Cosmop. Annotat. Corollaries from God's goodness to man in his Creation. 1. It serves to blame mankind for his wonderful naughtiness in striving against God, who hath bestowed so great and undeserved benefits upon him. 2. Let us seriously consider of ourselves and of our making, that we may come to a due knowledge of God, of ourselves. One saith, the soul is not altogether immaterial, for what hath accidents, hath matter, nothing but that is the subject of accidents. 2. What is finite is material: seeing sinitenesse is the attribute of matter by which it is contained within its own limits: but it subsists, lives and works, being separated from the body, therefore it is immaterial.  the Devil, concerning omniscience, for God called it so before they met together, therefore it was named so from the Event, for God by this name foretell what would follow, if man did not abstain from it; that he should experimentally know what was good, and what was evil, he should practically feel what he had lost, and what evil he had plunged himself into. Some have thought, that those words Gen. 3. 24. should not be understood historically but allegorically, that is, that God gave him no hopes of coming into this place again, but the Text contradicts that, some have understood by Cherubims, some species and images of terrible creatures, as we call Scare-crows, but that is simple to think that Adam was so childish to be afraid of those; others interpret it of the fire of Purgatory. The more probable Interpretation is, that by Cherubims are meant Angels, who did after a visible manner shake up and down this fiery sword, Moses doth therefore call them Cherubims, because the Jews knew what he meant, having such forms over the Ark. Therefore it is taken for Angels, not simply, but as they appeared in some shape. It is a curiosity to inquire how long they stayed there, although it is certain they ceased when Paradise was destroyed, which was by the Flood.  
Therefore this serves, 1. For Information to instruct us.  
1. That every man and woman hath a soul, there is a body, and a spirit which enlivens and acts the body for all performances of the Compositum, we must glorify God in both, 1 Cor. 6. 20.  
2. It is immortal by Gods appointing (but in itself endable, because it hath a 
Vide Raymundi Pugionem adversus judaeos, part. 1. c. 4.  beginning) that it may be capable of everlasting weal or woe.  
3. It is so immortal that it admits of no cessation or intermission, the Anabaptists say, It is asleep when it parts from the body till the day of Resurrection, as 
It is a strange impudence in the Author of the Leviathan (whose ignorance in Divinity cont●steth with his presumption, and I know not which may get the victory) to deny eternity of torments unto the damned, by wresting the express words of Scripture, and rejecting the general consent of the whole Church. But I must confess this Assertion is suitable to another of his abominable Principles, that the rational soul hath no Subsistence out of the body, so that herein he is consentaneous to himself, though opposite to all the world besides, denying what hath been generally received, as well by the choicest Philosophers in the School of nature, as by Christians in the School of grace. These are Doctrines well agreeing to the Title of his Treatise, The Kingdom of Darkness. Master Samwaies his Devotion digested, pag. 227, 228.  soon as it leaves the body, it goes either to Abraham's bosom, or a place of torment. This opinion of the souls sleeping is repugnant to the holy Scriptures, Luk. 16. 23. Phil. 1. 23▪ and an heresy long since condemned in the Church. The soul lives after death, and in a state of separation, Psal. 90. 10. and we flee away, that is, the soul as a bird out of the shell, Eccles. 12. 3. Revel. 6. 9 2 Cor. 5. 1, 8, 9 See joh. 17. 22, 24. 1 Cor. 13. 12. and B. Hall's Invis. world, l. 2. Sect. 3.  
4. At the last day it shall be united with the body, and the body raised up for it, and both be happy or miserable for ever.  
2. Be thankful to God that hath given us our souls, and redeemed them by the blood of his Son, Propter hanc Deus fecit mundum, propter hanc Filius Dei venit in mundum, Chrysost. Bless him especially for soul-mercies, Eph. 1. 3. joh. 3. 2, 4. and let the soul praise him, Psal. 103. & 104. first and last.  
We should love our souls, Psal. 22. 26. David calleth his soul his darling, it is the immediate work of God.   

CHAP. IX. Of GOD'S Providence.  

TWo things are to be discussed about it. 
Moses affirmeth Gen. 2. that God rested from all the works which he had made, that is, from creating new species, but he creates individua daily, and both governs and preservesthem, and the species or kinds of things already made, joh. 5. 17. Requies dupliciter accipitur, uno modo pro cessatione ab operibus. Alio modo pro impletione desiderii. Et utroquo modo dicitur Deus requievisse die septimo. Primò quidem, quia die septimo cessavit novas creaturas condere. Alio modo secundùm quod rebus conditis ipse non indigebat, sed s●ipso fruendo beatus est. Aquin. part. 1. Quaest 13. Art. 2. Providentia Latinè dicitur à videndo, at Hebraicè, ut & Latinè vox à sensu ad intellectum transfertur. Rivetus. In its proper signification it may seem to comprehend all the actions of God, that outwardly are of him, that have any respect unto his creatures, all his works that are not ad i●tra, essentially belonging to the Deity. Mr owen's Display of Armin. c. 4. See more there.   

1. That there is a Providence, whereby the world is governed.  
2. What it is.   
1. That there is a providence which governeth the world, and that nothing is done in the world without the certain and determinate counsel of God, is thus proved,  
First, Faith which leans and rests on testimonies of holy Writ, Psal. 14. 2. & 33. 13. the 104 Psalms wholly, and Psal. 91. 8, 9, 10, 11. Act. 17. 25, 28. Eph. 1. 11. Heb. 1. 3. At the Feast of Tabernacles, the Jews were wont to read the Book of Ecclesiastes, principally because it speaks so much of the Works of God's Providence.  
2. Certain demonstrative reasons, taken  
1. From the causes, viz. the Attributes and Nature of God.  
1. There is a God: therefore providence, because he is a most powerful and wi●e King, Isa. 44. 6, 7. Epicurus granted that there was a God, yet he denied providence, than which (saith Lactantius) what can be more repugnant? Etenim si est Deus; utique providens est, ut Deus; nec aliter ei potest divinitas attribui, nisi & praeterita teneat, & praesentia sciat, & futura prospiciat. Lactant. de ira Dei.  
2. The omnipotent will of God, whereby all things are done, without which nothing can come to pass.  
3. His infinite wisdom, whereby he can be present with all things which are done in his Kingdom, Ephes. 1. 11.  
4. His Justice in distributing rewards and punishments, and goodness whereby he communicateth himself to the creatures.  
5. His foreknowledge of all things, unchangeably depending on the counsel and 
God by his Prophet infallibly foretold future contingents.  decree of God, Prov. 15. 3.  
6. He regards the ends of things, therefore also the means to those ends.  
7. He is the first cause: therefore on him depend the second causes. There is a concurrence of the first cause with all the acts of the second causes, Causa prima concurrit immediatè cum omni agente creato, say the Schoolmen. Dan. 3. 27. The Lord took not away actum primum, the nature of fire, but actum secundum, suspended his own concurrence.  
2. From the Effects: the Works of God, job 12. 7.  
1. The most wise order of things both natural and politic, which could not be 
The Devil would else overturn all, and the godly would be of all men most mible, Joh. 16. 20.  settled, much less preserved by blind nature, chance or fortune. Aristotle judiciously observes, if any one should come out of darkness into this light of the world which he never saw before, nor heard of, and should consider the courses of things, he could not doubt that all these things were ordered by the care and counsel of a most wise and powerful Prince.  
Secondly, Natural notions, or the law of Nature in the difference of honest and dishonest things.  
Thirdly, Peace or torment of Conscience from keeping or violating the Law.  
Fourthly, Punishments and rewards agreeable to men's deeds: which prove there is some Judge of the world, and revenger of sins, whose severity we cannot shun, Psal. 58. 11.  
Fifthly, Heroic Motions, Virtues, and singular Gifts given by God to Princes, Magistrates, Inventors of Arts, Artificers and others, for the common benefit of mankind.  
Lastly, By the same reasons it is proved, that there is both a God and Providence.  
2. What Providence is?  
It is an external and temporal action of God, whereby he preserveth, governeth 
It is the execution of God's decree, whereby he upholdeth and governeth all things according to the counsel of his will. It is continuata quaedam creatio; Creation gives esse primò, Providence esse porrò.  and disposeth all and singular things which are and are done, both the creatures, and the faculties, and actions of the creatures, and directeth them both to the mediate ends, and to the last end of all, after a set and determinate manner, according to the most free Decree and Counsel of his own will; that himself in all things may be glorified.  
1. The matter or object of God's providence, is the whole world, and whatsoever is 
b God observeth all our particular speeches and actions, seem they never so small and trifling. God therefore pleaseth of purpose to put into writing things that seem not otherwise worthy the registering. See Psalm. 104. & 147.  in it, for God ears for, and governs all things, Substances, Accidents, things great and little, necessary and contingent, good and evil, Heb. 1. 3. Nehem. 9 6. The care of God for the bruit beasts, living creatures, all Meteors, is described, Psal. 135. job. 37. 2. & 38. Matth. 6. 26. Also concerning voluntary things and actions of men, good and bad, as Prov. 26. 1, 9 jer. 10. 23. Psal. 139. 1. Psal. 33. 15. Concerning things that are contingent, Exod. 21. 13. Prov. 16. 33. Matth. 10. 29, 30.  
The least and smallest things are by the God of Heaven ordered and disposed of 
God is maximus in minimis. Matth. 10. 29, 30. God's providence is chiefly exercised about the noblest creatures Angels and men, Psa. 36. 6.  according to his own pleasure and wisdom for very good purpose; not so much as a Sparrow falls to the ground without God's providence; he saith, The hairs of our head are all numbered. Qui numeravit porcarum set as, multò magis numerabit sanctorum capilles. Tertul. He feeds the young Ravens, and hears them when they cry. Some say, when the young Ravens are a little grown up, and too numerous for to feed, the Dam casts them off, and that the Lord by his providence feeds them so cast off. Therefore Cicero was out when he said, Magna Dei curant, parva negligunt: and the Poet,  Non vacat exiguis rebus adesse jovi. Qui curate Angelos in Coelo, curate vermiculos in coeno. 
The Reasons of this are these:  
First, God is Infinite in all excellencies, infinite in wisdom: there may as much 
Prov. 21. 10. God is an understanding Essence, present in all places at all times, with all persons, therefore he must needs observe and know all their motions. 2. All things are spoken and done by an influence of power derived from him. He is the most principal worker of every action, without a special and immediate operation of whose might the secondary cause would be dead and powerlesse. 3. God hath given us a law to order men in all their words and carriages, little and great. 4. He is the Judge of all the world: he must judge certainly, infallibly and perfectly.  wisdom be seen in little as in great things: all things in the world, yea even all things which might have been as well as those that have fallen out, are subject to his wisdom and power, nothing so small, but it is a fit subject of knowing and ordering.  
Secondly, There is a necessary connexion and mutual dependence between great and small things, the one supporting and upholding the other, so that it is not possible to conceive how any thing should be ordered by God if all things were not, the little things being like the pins of a house which hold the building together, or the hinges of a great gate, upon which the whole is moved.  
Thirdly, The meanest creature works for an end which it understands not, Amos 9 3. a Serpent doth not bite without a command, the Lion that slew the Prophet but meddled not with his carcase.  

Object. These things are so small, as it is an abasement to the Divine Majesty to intermeddle with them.  
Answ. It is his highest commendation to be Infinite, so that nothing can be hid from his knowledge: the Lords manner of working in the smallest things is so wise and excellent, as it serveth sufficiently to free him from all imputation of baseness in regarding them. No Philosopher would count it a base thing to be able to dispute accurately of the nature of a flea, and to give a reason of its making and working: why therefore shall it be an impeachment to God's glory, in a more perfect manner then we can conceive of both to know and guide them?   

Object. 1 Cor. 9 9 Doth God take care for Oxen?  
Answ. He doth not take care for Oxen chiefly and principally, but subordinatly as his care is toward the other bruit creatures, Psal. 36. 7. & 147. 9 Paul doth not simply exempt the Oxen from God's care, but denieth that the Law, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the Corn, was especially written for Oxen, but rather for men, that they may understand what their duty is to the Ministers of the Gospel, whose labours they make use of.    

The government of the world is in the hand of Christ as Mediator, Isa. 49. 8. john 5. 22. When Adam fell by the breach of the Covenant, the world must else have perished, lying under the curse of the first Covenant. God the Father looking on man as a sinner could not dispense himself immediately any more. He therefore hath committed a twofold Kingdom to Christ as Mediator,  
First, A spiritual Kingdom, whereby he rules in the hearts of his Saints, Revel. 4. 3.  
Secondly, A providential Kingdom, whereby he is the King of Nations, Ephes. 1. 22. Christ rules and governs the world by his Spirit, which Tertullian calls Vicarium Christi, Ezek. 1. 20. He hath as great a hand in the providential as spiritual Kingdom, in the government of Kingdoms and Nations, as well as in the hearts, of his people, Zech. 4. 7. The Angels are the instruments of the Spirit, and used by Christ in his providential Kingdom, these are the living creatures, compare Ezek. 1. 13. with 10. 20. They 1. rule all things for the Saints, Heb. 1 they make one Church with them, 2. They pray for them, Zech. 1. 11.  
2. The kinds of God's Providence.  
1. The Providence of God, is either  
1. General and common to all creatures, that whereby God taketh care of the world, and all things therein according to their nature, Acts 17. 25. Heb. 1. 3. Gen. 9▪ 1, 2, 3▪ Psal. 36. 6.  
2. Special, that which doth peculiarly appertain to creatures endued with reason 
The Saints are under God's peculiar providence, Zach. 2. 18. The Lord order every thing for their good, Psal. 106 46. Nothing can do them hurt, Psal. 46. 1 Luke 10. 19 Isa. 54. 17.  and understanding, viz. Men and Angels: and among them he looks chiefly to his Elect with a fatherly care, 1 Tim. 4. 10. and of this Providence is that place before-noted, 1 Cor. 9 9 to be understood.  
The Lord hath promised his people a special interest in temporal salvation, Isa. 26. 1. & 60. 8. the Devil envies this, and complains of it, job 1. 20. This peculiar providence in temporal salvation consists in these things:  

1. Their temporal salvation slows from electing love, the same principle that their eternal salvation, Isa. 43. 4.  
2. It is grounded on the highest relation, Exod. 4. 22, 23. jer. 31. 20. & 24. 3.  
3. It is grounded on a promise, Psal. 119. 41.  
4. It flows from the Headship and Priesthood of Christ, Acts 7. 56. Ezek. 4. 19  
5. It comes out of Zion, Psal. 14. 7. & 53. ult. they have it as a return of Prayer, and a fruit of their communion with God in Ordinances.  
6. It is a reward of their graces, Ps. 91. 9, 14.  
7. They have the presence of God with them, Isa. 43. 2. Dan. 3. 25.  
8. All their salvation works for their good, Isa. 4. 3. Rom. 8. 28.   
2. God's Providence is either, 1. Mediate, when God governeth creatures by creatures, as by means and instruments. But God useth them,  
1. Not necessarily for want of power in himself, but of his own freewill in the 
The creatures are instrumentum arbitrarium not necessarium.  abundance of his goodness. Whatsoever the Lord works by means, he can work by his own immediate hand without means. He is Independent in working as well as being. The Effect shall be more gloriously produced by his own hand immediately, then by the concurrence of second causes.  
2. God well useth evil instruments besides and beyond their own intention, as the Jews, Act. 2. 23. and Joseph's brethren, Gen. 45. 5.  
2. Immediate, when God himself without the ministry of the creatures doth preserve and govern things; this is called the making bare of his arm, Isa. 52. 2. Thus the Apostles were called, Gal. 1. 1. thus God made the world immediately without any instruments.  
Though the Lord delights to use means in his providential administrations, yet he worketh sometimes without them.  
First, To discover his own almighty power, the hearts of men would else be apt to be terminated in the creature.  
Secondly, To keep up in the remembrance of his people a creating power. God hath the same power in the administration that he had in the Creation of all things.  
Thirdly, To show that he useth the creatures voluntarily not necessarily, Hab. 3. 17, 18.  
Fourthly, To accustom our hearts in the meditation of heaven, when all means shall cease, and God shall be all in all.  
3. God's Providence is:  
1. Ordinary and usual, when God governeth the world and things of the world according to the order and laws which himself set in the Creation. 
He is the governor of nature, else he could not cross nature. Neh. 9 6. Heb. ●. 3. Act. 17. 28   
2. Extraordinary and unusual, when he worketh either against or beside that order so appointed, as in working miracles, Psal. 36. 6. Rom. 11. 36.  
3. The Degrees and Parts of God's Providence:  
1. Conservation, joh 12. 14, 15. Psal. 44. 2. It is that whereby God doth uphold the Order, Nature, Quantity and Quality of all and every creature both in their kind and in particular, until their appointed end, Psal. 19 1, 2. & 36. 6. & 65. 2. 
Tres sunt gradus divinae providentiae, 1. Conservatio, actio Dei, qua essentias Creaturarum quoad species vel individua, continuat, corumque agendi vires conservat. 2. Gubernatio, actio, qua prae summa sua autoritate, potentia & sapientia, de rebus omnibus disponit casque pro arbitrio suo regit. 3. Ordinatio, qua Deus pro admirand● sua sapientia & potentia omnia in ordinem redigit, fines certos & bonos constituendo, & media ad fines disponendo, & disposita regendo, Isa. 10. 6, 7. Wendelin.  Psal. 135. 6, 7. & 136. 25. He conserveses those things quoad species, which are subject to death in their individua, as Trees, Herbs, bruit Beasts, Men; He preserves things quoad individua, which are incorruptible, as Angels, Stars. This sustentation or preservation of all things in their being, is rightly by the Schools called Divina manutenentia, Act. 17. 28.  
2. Government, it is that whereby God doth dispose and order all things according to his own will and pleasure, so that nothing can come to pass otherwise then he hath determined, Psal. 33. 13, 14, 15. Eccles. 8. 6. Psal. 75. 6, 7. Gubernatio quâ prospicit actioni rei ad finem Dan. 4. 30, 31, 34. conservatio quâ prospicit esse rei.  
It is a great work of God to continue a succession of living creatures in the world, Psal. 104. 30. This is that for which God took order in the beginning; when having made the several things, he bade them Increase and multiply, and fill the face of the earth, Gen. 1. 22. God challengeth this work to himself in his speech to job 39 1. One generation comes and another goes. It is noted as an act of Divine blessing to increase the fruits of the Cattle and the flocks of sheep and kine, Deut. 28. 4. Psal. 107. 38,  
Reason 1. If this work were not wrought, the world would be empty of living creatures within one age: Beasts, Birds and Fishes, and all would fail within a few years, and so should men be deprived of that help and benefit which they enjoy by them.  
Secondly, The power of propagating kinds is a wonderful work no less than that of Creation, done by a wisdom and power infinitely surpassing all the wisdom and power of all men.  
Let us sanctify God in our hearts by contemplating this great work. We see the truth of one part of the narration of Scripture, in the increasing and multiplying of creatures, and we see it done by a secret and hidden way, let us therefore believe his promises. Can God promise any thing to us more exceeding our reason, to conceive how it should be effected, than it exceeds our reason to think how the kinds of things are increased and continued in the world for so many hundreds of years? We can see no reason how an egg by the Hens sitting upon it for a few days should be made a Sparrow, Starling, Hen, or other Bird.  
God prepareth fit nourishment for all the creatures to eat, and conveyeth it to each of them in that quantity and season which is fittest for them, Psal. 104 27, 28. & 145. 15. & 147. 9 & Psal. 136. 25.  
Reasons. He that provideth food for all, must know their number, their nature and places of abode, and their several needs, and he that knows these particulars, must be none other but God: he must know the quantity of the thing provided for food, and the quality of it, and the season of it, and none can do these things but an infinite Essence, that is to say, a God. 2. God in providing for the Creatures, provideth for man who feedeth on them, and he declareth his own wisdom and goodness in continuing the kinds of things, and continuing them in welfare.  
This should teach us faith in God's promises, by which he hath undertaken to seed and to provide for us, so our Saviour argues Mat. 6. 26.  

Object. The adversity of the good, and prosperity of the wicked seem to oppose God's providence. If there were any providence, God would see that it should be Bonis benè, & malis malè: si Deus est, unde mala, si non est, unde bona?  
Answ. There is no man absolutely good or absolutely evil, but as the best 
God turns the misery of the godly to their special good, and the prosperous estate of the wicked is an occasion of their woe.  have some evil, so the worst have some good, and therefore God will punish that evil which is in the good with temporal punishments, and give temporal blessings to the evil for the good that is in them: that seeing all good must be rewarded with good, and all evil with evil: the good of the good might have an everlasting reward of good: and on the contrary, the evil of the evil might have an everlasting reward of evil▪    

The godly are many times brought to great straits:  
1. That their sufficiency may be in God alone, and that they may live by Faith.  
2. That he may make them partakers of Christ's sufferings, Rom. 8. 29.  
3. Though they be in wants, God is all-sufficient to them in the loss of all things, 2 Cor. 6. 10. Host 14. 3. The wicked often have great abundance, Psal. 73. 7. but they receive these things ex largitate, from an overflowing bounty, not from any interest and propriety in God. 2. These things are their portion, Psal. 17. 14. they are but solatium to the godly, and praemium to them, as Prosper speaks, as afflictions are justi exercitium, and injusti supplicium, saith he. 3. These outward things are often their snare, job 20. 22. 
Consectaries from God's providence. Satis constat Epicurum, quem admodum animorum immortalitatem, ita Dei providentiam sustulisse. Voss. in Maimon. de Idol c. 2. God's providence is like a well-drawn picture which eyeth each in the room. O tu bone Omnipotens, qui sic curas Unumquem. que nostrum tanquam solum cures & sic omnes tanquam singulos. August. confess. lib. 3 c. 11. His providence is conversant about sin, but without sin. The story of joseph is one of the fairest draughts of providence, a lie cast him into prison, and a dream fetched him out.   
1. It refutes the fancy of Atheists and Epicures, which pretend that the observation of such slender matters, holds no correspondence with God's greatness. Aristotle said, It was as unfit for God's knowledge to descend into these inferior things, as for a Prince to know what is done in the kitchen. Whereas it is God's greatest greatness to be Infinite, the light of the Sun extends to every little hole. 2. Some say he cares for universal things only, and not singular; but then he should not care for himself, and his Knowledge should not be Infinite. He takes care for all things as if they were but one, and for every thing as if that one were all.  
2. We must admire and adore the excellency of God which knoweth all things. David contemplating this point, confesseth this knowledge is too wonderful for him.  
3. Let us often put ourselves in mind of this truth, that it may work in us a reverend care of ordering all our words and actions aright in his sight, that nothing may slip from us unworthy his eye and ear, offensive to his most great and pure Majesty, and allseeing eye. How careful are we of our speeches and actions, when we know that they are marked by some one of note and quality?  
4. God hath a general providence about all things, yea even in sins. God determines sin in regard of time and measure, and orders it: and evils of punishment, job 1. 21. & 2. 10. The Lord hath taken away, when the Sabaeans spoilt him. Amos 3. 6. Is there evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it?  
God preserves the persons and estates of his people in evil days. They are called The hidden ones, Psal. 81. 3. See Isa. 26. 12.  
Esth. 6. That the King should not sleep that night, and that then he should call for a book rather than any thing else, and that book of the Chronicles, and that in that book ●e should light on that place which specified Mordecai's service.  

1. The Lord decrees their preservation from eternity, there is an election to preservation as well as to salvation: See Isa. 4. 3. Dan. 12. 2.  
2. In evil times the Lord sets his mark upon them, Ezek. 9 & Revel. 7. he will order all things so that the judgement shall not come till they be secured.  
3. He so order all things that every thing shall tend to their deliverance.  
4. The Lord will speak to the hearts of those that are the instruments of vengeance that they shall show kindness to them, the great rule of God in the world is over the spirits of men, jer. 39 11, 12.  
5. Sometimes God raiseth up the spirits of his people that they overcome their oppressors, Isa. 41. 15. Zech. 16. 3.  
6. By ordering of counsels, reports and apprehensions.   
A Philosopher could say in danger of shipwreck in a light starry night, Surely I shall not perish there are so many eyes of providence over me.  
We shall never feelingly applaud and acknowledge God's Wisdom, Justice, Goodness, or other Excellencies, if we contemplate not the exercise of them in the works of his providence, but in observing these, we shall surely attain an high esteem of him, and be ready to confess his worth. When Gods works imprint not in our hearts a reverend fear of him, a hearty love to him, a confident trusting in him, a dutiful submission to him, and the like virtues, they are fruitless to us, and we receive no profit by them.  
In respect of God, there is no confusion, but he rules wonderfully in the midst of all disorder that seems to be in the world, wisely disposing of the same to the glory of his great name, Eccl. 5. 7. & 3. 17. Isa. 26. 20, 21. job 21. 30.  
It teacheth us thankfulness and patience, if things make for us, to praise God; if against us, to be humbled.  
If thou be'st hungry and in penury, murmur not nor repine, but say with the 
Eliz. Young. Vide Histoire universelle du D' Aubigne Tome premier, l. 5. c. 1. & 2. p. 371, 372. etc. 4. p. 379. I trust God which hitherto hath preserved and led me by the hand, will not now of his goodness suffer me to go alone Q. Elizabeth. Stow Chron.  blessed Martyr, If men take away my meat, God will take away my stomach. Merlin during the massacre at Paris, some fortnight together, was nourished with one egg a day laid by an hen that came constantly to the hay-mow where he lay hid in that danger. The whole power almost of France being gathered together against the City Rochel, and besieging them with extremity who defended the Town, God in the time of famine and want of bread, did for some whole months together daily cast up a kind of fish unto them out of the Sea, wherewith so many hundreds were relieved without any labour of their own.  
Be of good comfort Brother (said Ridley to Latimer) for God will either assuage the fury of the fire, or else strengthen us to abide it.  
In the time of the Massacre at Paris, there was a poor man, who for his deliverance crept into a hole, and when he was there, there comes a Spider and weaves a cobweb before the hole; when the murderer came to search for him, saith one, certainly he is got into that hole: No saith another, he cannot be there, for there is a cobweb over the place; and by this means the poor man was preserved.  
Let us observe the signal acts of God's providence amongst us. He studies not the 
Psal. 106. 2. & 14. 2. Psal. 92. 4, 5. Psal. 107. ult. Psal. 48. 8.  Scripture as he should, which studies not providence as he should; we should compare God's promises and providences together. What we hear of him in his Word, with what we see in his Works.  
There is a threefold vision of God in this life, In his Word, Works, and in his Son: answerable to our vision of God will be our communion with him.  
The very Providence of God is sometimes called Prudence:  
Nullum numen habes si sit Prudentia, sed nos  
Tefacimus Fortuna Deam, Coeloque locamus. Juven. Sat. 10.  
Prudence in man is a virtue some way like Providence in God. Prudens dicitur quasi porrò videns. Isid. in lib. Etym.  
Austin preaching once forgot what he had purposed to utter, and so made an 
Austin travelling on the way mistook it, and thereby saved his life, escaping an ambush of the Donatists. See a special providence in Mr Clarks Life of Mr Dod. p. 411. Totum vit● meae curriculum plenum est mirandarum divinarum liberationum ex magnis morbis, periculis, calamitatibus, nullum elementum est à quo non infestatus sum. Scultet. praefat, ad curriculum vitae.  excursion from the matter in hand, and fell into a discourse against the Manichees. Possidonius and others dining with him that day, Austin told them of it, and asked them whether they observed it. They answered that they observed it, and much wondered at it. Then Austin replied, Credo quòd aliquem errantem in populo Dominus per nostram oblivionem & errorem curari voluit. Two days after one came to Austin before others, falling at his feet and weeping, confessing also that he had many years followed the heresy of the Manichees, and had spent much money on them; but the day before, through God's mercy, by Augustine's Sermon, he was converted, and then was made Catholic.    
The End of the third Book.   

THE FOURTH BOOK. OF THE Fall of Man, OF Sin, Original & Actual.  

CHAP. I. Of the Fall of Man.  

HAving in my Treatise of Divinity handled three principal heads there, viz. the Scripture, God, and the Works of God: I shall now proceed to speak of man's Apostasy and Restauration, or of the Fall and Recovery of Man.  
There is a fourfold Estate of man to be considered.  

1. That happy estate wherein he was made, Ecc. 7. 31. 
Res adoo cognitu necessaria atque utilis, ut in duorum istorum Adami Christique rectanotitia, à quo primo peccatum & maledictio, ab altero gratia omnis & salus, summam religionis bene constituat, Augustinus Hoa●beek Antisocin. l. 3. c. 3. Sect. 1. Gen. 3. 63. Eccl. ult.   
2. That miserable estate whereto he fell, Rom. 3. 23. 24. and 5. 12.  
3. That renewed estate whereto by grace he is called, 1 Pe. 1. 3.  
4. That glorious estate which is in Heaven reserved for him, 1 joh. 3. 2.   
Having spoken already of his estate of Innocency or primitive condition, I shall now speak of his corrupt estate, in which I shall consider,  

1. The cause of it, the Devil's temptation, and our first Parents yielding to it.  
2. The parts of it, sinfullnes●e of nature and life, and the punishment of sin here and hereafter.  
3. The properties of it, 

1. General,  
2. Irremediable.     
Though I shall not perhaps handle the last.  
The Apostasy of man is his fall from the obedience due to God, or the transgression of the Law prescribed by God.  
In which two things are considerable.  

1. The transgression.  
2. The propagation of it.   
Our first Parents being seduced by Satan sinned against the known Law of God in 
Causa prima peccati erat Diabolus, 2 Cor. 11. 3. secunda Adam. Rom. 7. 14. & 5. 12. Attend ordinem progressum humanae perditionis: primò Deus dixerat: Qu●cunque die comeder●●is ex eo, morte mori●mim. Deinde mulier dixit: Ne fortè moriamur. Novissimè serpens dixit, Nequaquam moriemim. Deus affirmavit, mulier quasi ambigendo illud dixit, ●iabolus negavit. Lomb. l. 2. distinct. 21. Rev. 12. 9 and 20. 2. Adae peccatum primum non fuerit, quod fructum ederit; peccatum antè conceperit, quo prolectus & quodammodo protractus ad edendum suit: Cumque eo animo esset, etsi fructum omnino non attigisset, tamen peccasset graviter, quemadmodum quidam etiam Scholastici concedunt. Sed hujus peccati extremus quasi actus suit, edisse quod ●itatum erat. Whitakerus l. 1. de peccato originali c. 14. Transgressionis perpetratio consummata fuit in esu fructus arboris prohibitae, quae dicta fuit arbor scientiae boni & mali: sed hujus inobedientiae primus motus ac gradus necessaraò antecedebat externum illum actum comestionis: ita ut rectè dicere liceat, hominem fuisse peccatorem, antequara externum illum actum comestionis perfecerat. Peccatum illud fuit consummatum, quoad humani generis defectionem in Adamo. Adam enim propr●è fuit principium humani generis, non Eva; Hinc est quod de secundo Adamo legimus in Scriptures, sed non de secunda Eva. Ames. medul. l. 1. c. 11.  eating of the forbidden fruit. Adam's sin was against his own light, and therefore a presumptuous sin, so some interpret that place, Rom. 5. 14. Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression; that is, those which had not the Law clearly revealed to them, yet he was seduced by Satan, whereas Satan sinned without temptation, thence he is called the old Serpent, because by the Serpent he seduced Eve.  
When God saith, Gen. 3. 22. Behold, Adam is become like one of us, knowing good and evil; it confuteth S. Augustine's conjecture, that he believed not the Serpent, but consented to his wife out of matrimonial indulgence; Etsi credendo non sunt ambo decepti, peccando tamen ambo capti sunt & diaboli laqueis implicati: and showeth manifestly that Adam also was circumvented with error, wherefore doth God else upbraid him so ironically, that he is now like unto God: That Sarcasmus in my understanding is a taxation of his credulous temerity in believing the Serpent's promise. When S. Paul 1 Tim. 2. 14. saith that Adam was not deceived, but the woman, he meant not to extenuate the man's offence, or to exempt him from the fraud of the devil, but to show whether sex was more credulous or like to be seduced, Doctor Hampton on Rom. 5. 9  
The consummation of that transgression was the eating of the forbidden fruit, or of the tree of knowledge of good and evil by Adam, Gen. 2. 17. as the beginning of it was looking on it by Eve, saith Paulus Fagius on Gen. 3. 6.  
2. The tree was no better than the rest, only God forbade him to eat of it, for the trial 
It was Praeceptum exploratorium. The Serpent of all beasts was the best to creep into the garden unseen of Adam who was to keep the beasts out of it, and to creep out again.  of his obedience. The lesser the thing was required to show his obedience, the greater was his fault in disobeying.  
It is called disobedience, Rom. 5. 19 and offence or fall, Rom. 5. 15, 17, 18. Some say the devil as an unclean Spirit could not have access to Adam's inward man to tempt him, therefore he tempted him by a Serpent and audible voice, as he did Christ▪ 
b The evil one finds nothing in me, saith Christ, and Eph. 6 12. If we had stood in our integrity (say they) Satan could have suggested objects to the senses, but he could not have dealt immediately with the Spirit. Shepherd's Theses Sabbaticae. Septimo die cum per●ecisset Deus opussuum quod fecerat, qui 〈…〉 ab omni opere; & diei septimo benedicens, Sabbatum instituit & consecravi●, Gen. 2. 2, 3. quip in quo respiravit & re cred●i● se: nec dum (ut videtur) peccato admisso, aut p●na sontibus (vel Angelis, vel Hominibus) à Deo insticta. Usserii annal veteris P●●●amen●● p. 2. Non est verisimile, tam multa & varia, quae inter Creationem ejus narra●tur ●acta, in dimidium ferè u●ius 〈…〉 Simps. C●●on. Cathol. par. 1. vide Cl. ●a●aker● Cinnum. vide plura ibid. lib. 2. cap. 2.  by a visible Landscape of the world.  
The time of Adam's fall is not certain. Some say he fell the same day he was created: Neither Angels nor men did fall the sixth day before the Sabbath, for then God looked upon all his works and they were very ᶜ good, Gen. 1. 31. and therefore could not as yet be bad and evil by any sin or fall. The objections against this from john 8. 44. and Psa. 49. 12. are easily answered.  
Some learned Divines (as Simpson in his Chronology observes) conjecture that Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise the eighth day after they were created. The space of eight days was sufficient somewhat to try the felicity of their state.  
Adam's sin was a great sin.  
1. In the nature of it. 2. In the several aggravations of it.  
1. In the nature of it.  
It was 1. a transgression of a positive Law, wherein God gave to Adam a clear discovery of his will, it heightens sin when it is against great light, Heb. 6. Psa. 51. 1 King. 11. 9  
2. A command wherein the mind of God was much, mens legis est lex, we must measure sin by the intention of the Lawgiver.  
3. Of so easy a Law, the Fathers 
* Hoc itaque de uno cibi genere non edendo, ubi aliorum tacita copia subjacebat, tam leve praeceptum ad observandum, tam breve ad memoria retinendum, ubi praesertim nondum voluntati cupiditas resistebat. Quod de paena transgressionis postea subsecutum est, tanto majore injustitia violatum est, quanto faciliore posset observantia custodiri. Aug. de Civ. Dei. l. 14. c. 12.  aggravate it from this, praeceptum tam breve ad retinendum, 
Vide Bellarm. l. 3. de Statu peccati. ca 9 & 10.  tam leve ad observandum, God gave Adam liberty to eat of all the trees in the garden save one, there was no cause why Adam should break it.  
4. A Commandment much for his advantage, life here and eternal was promised, as eternal death was threatened.  
5. A Symbolical Precept, God gave him this whereby he should testify his obedience unto all the rest of the Commandments.  
2. In the several aggravations of it.  
1. It was a sin against the clearest light, there was no darkness at all in Adam's understanding, 
Rom. 5. 14. that is, those which had not the Law clearly revealed to them. Gen. 1. 26. & 2. 16, 17. Col. 3. 10. That man adorned by God with such excellent gifts of knowledge and holiness, created in integrity, did yet sin in a matter wherein he might so easily have abstained, it much heightens the sin. The place also where the fault was committed aggravates the offence, for Adam sinned in Paradise, a holy place, Apoc. 2. 7. and a Type of heaven, Gen 3. 23. M. Ball.  he knew the law, the danger of the sin, that he stood for himself and all his posterity; God had adorned him with sufficient grace and holiness.  
2. It was a sin against the greatest goodness, being in Paradise where God set him.  
3. Against the greatest trust, the Covenant was made with Adam and all his posterity, he forfeits this trust, Rom. 3. 2. Host 6. 7. But they like Adam have transgressed the Covenant, so Grotius.  
4. Against a threatening, In dying thou shalt die, Certitudinem denotat & durationem.  
5. It was voluntary, the more there is of the will in sin, the worse it is, Satan could not force them to sin, but only allure and persuade them.  
First, Adam admitted and received the temptation of Satan, whence followed 
Nota hic ordinem & gradum peccati. 1. Est incredulitas. 2. Addere & detrahere verbo Domini. 3. Blasphemia. 4. Contrarium dicere quam habeat verbum Dei. 5. Cupiditatis seu concupiscentiae sensus. 6. Ipsum opus quod sequitur sensus mortis. P. Fag. in Gen. 3.  blindness of understanding, forgetfulness of God's benefits, doubting of his truth, affectation of excellency, giving credit to Satan, corrupt beholding of the fruit, and an inclination of the will and affect●ons to eat thereof.  
There were these sins in this offence, Infidelity, Idolatry, Contempt of God, Discontent, Ingratitude, Curiosity, Blasphemy, Murdet, and Apostasy.  
There were many sins in that one sin.  

1. Desperate unbelief, Eve believed the devil before God.  
2. Pride, they desired to be like God, not only in knowledge, but in state and condition, to be Independent.  
3. unthankfulness, though God had given them such glorious excellencies.  
4. Vain curiosity to know more than they did know.  
5. Disobedience in respect of that particular command.  
6. Spiritual murder, this sin would have damned all mankind, though there had been no actual sin: Primordialis lex est data in Paradiso quasi matrix omnium praec●ptorum, That first Law (saith Tertullian) given in Paradise, was the sum and comprehension of the whole divine law that was published afterwards. Therefore in the breach thereof all manner of offences are contained.   
That first sin of his (excepting only the sin against the holy Ghost) was in sundry respects the most heinous sin that ever mortal man did commit, Hildersham on Psal. 51. 5. Lect. 57 Vide Aquin 2. Q. 163. art. 3.  
There are 
* 
As D. Whitaker.  
Extensiuè it is not greater than original sin, but intensiuè it is, Aqu.   that call this sin omnium gravissimum, and that except none but that against the holy Ghost, Robroughs Doct, of justific. cleared. par. 2▪ 1. & 2. Ch.  
Next unto the sin against the holy Ghost and contempt of the Gospel, this is the greatest sin, Shep sincere Convert. c. 3.  
The dangerous and woeful consequents of Adam's sin were five.  

1. A perfect obliteration of the Image 
* 
We lost 3. things in reference to God when we ●●ll, God's Image, God's favour, and God's fellowship.  
Adam made genus hum ●num damnationis traducem, Tert. Stetit homo ille ut radix & caput, principium omnis naturae; hoc quidem duplici titulo; ut caput naturale, ex quo tota n●t●ra proseminanda erat, Act. 17. 26. Et morale, in eujus obedi●ntia, aut inobedientia stabat, ruebatque universae naturae nostrae aequa sors. Ind derivatur nostra natura, hin● naturae moralitas. Ex isto venit quod homines sumus; ex hoc, quales, sive boni, sive mali. Hornbeeck. Antisocin. l. 3. c. 3. sect. ●.   of God, Rom. 3. 23. of original righteousness, and casting out of Paradise.  
2. A total depravation of man's nature, the devil's image is introduced. john 6. 7. 1 Cor. 15. 4. Every man is de suo Satanas de Deo beatus. Aug.  
3. It sets up the devil's kingdom and dominion in the world, his dominion lies in sin, Eph. 6. 12. and death Heb. 2. 15.  
4. It hath destroyed all the Creatures, they groan under bondage, Rom. 8. 20, 21.  
5. It had brought damnation on all mankind, had not Christ died and rescued them. The wicked Angels were entrusted but with their own portions, but Adam had the estates of all his posterity put into his hand, and he knew if he sinned he should draw a thousand souls after him.   
In Adam's act there were three things; An actual fault, a legal guilt, and a natural pravity: According to these three came the participation of the fault, the imputation of the guilt, the propagation of the natural filthiness.  
In Adamo tanquam in radice totum genus humanum computruit. Greg.  
Sin came upon all by Adam.  

1. By imputation, the Lord in justice imputing the guilt of that first sin to all his posterity, Rom. 5. 13, 14, 19 1 Cor. 15. 22. See 45. 47. There were two men by whom all fall and rise. Adam was the head of the Covenant of nature, if he had stood none of us had fallen; and so Christ is the head of the Covenant of grace, if he be not risen we cannot rise, ver. 16, 17.  
2. By propagation, the lump and root of mankind being corrupted, so are the branches, Rom. 11. 16. Gen. 5. 3. job 14. 14. M. Lyf. Princ. of Faith and good Conscience. c. 2.   
All mankind sinned in Adam, because we were all in his loins, Rom. 5. 12. 1 Cor. 15. 22. Heb. 7. 9, 10. and as Adam received integrity for himself and us, so he lost it for himself and us, saith M. Ball in his larger Catechism. The Arminians and Socinians deny the imputation of Adam's sin, therefore they say corruption of nature is a punishment but not a sin, for man can have no nature but what God gives him, that was a corrupt nature.  
We are all guilty of this sin for these reasons. 
The first Adam represented all mankind, and the second all the Elect. God might as well ground an imputation on a natural as on a mystical Union. The Law cannot give life now, because it was broken by the first man. Omnes erimus unus ille homo, August. therefore the sin of that one man is the sin of us all, the children of bondmen are bondmen, of traitors are traitors: beneficium transit cum onere; Adam stood for us and fell for us. D. Rainolds. Our first Parents were not so much Parents as Peremptores, Bernard.   

1. The Covenant or promise Do this and live, belonged not to Adam's person only, but to all his posterity, and doth still stand in force, the Covenant was not only made with Adam, but with us in him, therefore the breach of it is not only by him, but by us in him, Rom. 8. 3.  
2. The Spirit of God clears this, that the nature of man is defiled by one man, and by one offence of that one man, Rom. 5. 12. compared with the 17. ver. because he was a public person before he broke this Covenant.  
3. The curse of the sin came upon all, therefore the guilt of the breach of the Covenant, Patet culpa ubi non latet poena. Prosper.  

4. All men by nature are under the Law as a Covenant, Gal. 4. 21, 22.  
It was God's mercy to enter into Covenant with us, he might have dealt with Adam in an imperial way, therefore he might order the Covenant as he pleased. 2. Adam entered into Covenant on these conditions, that his righteousness should be hereditary to all his seed in case of obedience, and his sin in case of disobedience. 3. There is an after consent on our part to Adam's treason, Imitation is a kind of consent, Isa. 43. 27. 4. The offering of another Adam to thee in the Church, shows that the dispensation is not rigorous, so you may share in his obedience as well as the others disobedience. It is as agreeable to the wisdom and justice of God by the first Adam to introduce death, as to the wisdom and grace of God by the second Adam to introduce life. The first Covenant makes way for the second.   
5. There is a parallel in Scripture between the first and second Adam, Isa. 49. 18. Rom. 5. 12. 1 John 5. 11. Christ is caput cum foedere, as well as the first Adam.   

Object. This sin of Adam being but one, could not desile the universal nature. Socinus.  
Ans. Adam had in him the whole nature of mankind, 1 Cor. 15. 47. by one offencr 
Adam's personal sin did infect the whole nature, and ever since the nature hath infected the personal actions. It was poenalis vitiositas. Aug. In which (Adam) all have sinned. So it is expounded by Hilary, Ambr. Chrys. Theoph. Ita in Adam proper peccatum, tanquam in semine vel radice, omnis humana caro damnata est, & quemadmodum vitiato semine aut radice omnes deinceps fructus nascuntur vitiati, ●ic in vitio Adae, quoniam ex eo omnes sumus. Quapropter generatio hominis facta est pudenda: quod ostendit naturalis pudor in ostensione genitalium, ideoque ea solum texerunt Adam & Eva, namque ubi senserunt vitium de illis crubuerunt. Lod. Viu. de verit. Fid. Christ. l. 1. c. 17.  the whole nature of man was defiled, Rom. 5. 12, 17.   

Object. Adam's sin was nor voluntary in us, we never gave consent to it.  
Answ. There is a twofold will, 1. Voluntas naturae, the whole nature of man was represented in Adam, therefore the will of nature was sufficient to convey the sin of nature. 2. Voluntas personae, by every actual sin we justify Adam's breach of Covenant. Rom. 5. 12. 19 seems clear for the imputation of Adam's sin. All were in Adam, and sinned in him, as after Austin, Beza doth interpret that, Rom. 5. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so our last Translators in the Margin: And though it be rendered (for that all have sinned) by us, the Syriack, Eras. Va●ab. Calv. Pisc. yet must it so be understood that all have sinned in Adam, for otherwise it is not true that all upon whom death hath passed, have sinned, as namely Infants newly born, it is not said All are sinners, but All have sinned, which imports an imputation of Adam's act unto his posterity. Vide Bellarmine Tom. 4. l. 4. the Amiss. great. & Statu peccati c. 3. Peccatum Adami ita posteris omnibus imputatur, ac si omnes idem peccatum patravissent, Id. ib. c. 16. and again, c. 8. peccatum originale, tametsi ab Adamo est, non tamen Adami, sed nostrum est.    

Some Divines do not differ so much re as modo loquendi about this point, they grant the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity in some sense, so as that there is a communication of it with them, and the guilt of it is charged upon them, yet they deny the imputation of it to posterity as it was Adam's personal sin: But it is not to 

Vide Garissolium & Rivetum the imputatione peccati Adami.  
See also the national Synod held at Charenton 1645 pag. 72.   be considered as Adam's personal sin, but as the sin of all mankind, whose person Adam did then represent. It was one that made us sinners; it is one that makes us righteous: prior in semine, alter in sanguine: it was man that forfeited, it is man that satisfied, D. Hampton on Rom. 5. 10.  
The parts of this corrupt estate. Sinfulness of nature and life, and the punishment of sin here and hereafter.  
The division of sin into Original and Actual is gathered out of Rom. 5. 14. and I shall first treat of original sin or the corruption of nature.  
Sin is an absence of that righteousness which should be in us, in our nature, as original 

Sin in general.  
Non est idem peccatum & vitium. Peccatum enim est nom e● operationis malae, quae opponitur operationi virtutis: vitium autem est nomen habitus mali, qui opponitur virtuti, ut virtus habitum significat. Bellarm. controv. 2. de Statu peccati. l. 1. c. 1. Peccatum differt a malo, quia illud potest esse poenae & divinae justitiae actus (cum Deus peccati author absque blasphemia non statuatur) à vitio etiam distinguitur, quia illud inanimatis & brutis; peccatum vero rationabilibus tantum competit. D. Prid. Scholast. Theol. Syntag. Mnemon. c. 3.   sin, in our actions, as actual sin, a moral inconformity or difformity in nature or life to the Law of God.  
This viciousness of nature is not unfitly called Sin, Rom. 6. 7. 1. Ex causa, it is the 
It is called Sin. Psal. 51.  fruit and effect of that first transgression of our Father Adam. 2. Ex effectu, it is the root, seed, spawn of all actual transgressions in every one of us; Original sin is 
M. Bedford on Rom. 6.  against the whole Law which is spiritual, and requires perfect integrity in man, more specially against the first and last Commandments.  
That there is original sin, a defilement in every man's heart as soon as he is born, 

That there is such a vilenc●s in all our natures which ought to trouble us more than any thing else in the world.  
Your very clothes tell you of original sin, as often as thou sweatest so often doth it shewits effects.   which were enough to destroy him, though he break out into no outward acts of rebellion, is proved  

1. By Scripture, Gen. 6. 5, 8. job 14. 14. & 15. 14, 15, 16. Psal. 51. 5. Sunt qui dicunt quod per hoc innuitur Eva, quae non peperit nisi postquam peccavit. Porchetus. Rom. 5. 12. Eph. 2. 13.  
2. By the effects. 1. Man's desperate contrariety to good things even from his youth; Psal. They went astray from their youth up. In Isay, Transgressor's from the womb. A child is opposite to any good duty, and ready to imitate all evil. 2. The Lord instituted circumcision to show the filthiness we are begotten and born in, and which should be cut off: Therefore (saith Bellarmine) it was commanded to be done in that member in which the effect of that sin doth more violently appear, and by which mankind is propagated, and by propagation infected. The use of baptism also is to take away the guilt and filth of nature: The woman that had a child was to go offer as unclean.  
3. It is demonstrated by sickness, other crosses and death, even of infants, Rom. 3. 23.  
4. The unserviceableness of the creatures proves that there is original sin.  
5. Because there must be a change of our natures. 

1. Every man is born guilty of Adam's sin. 

Alensis cum Bonaventuram puerum sub discipli●a haberet, solitus est dicere, In hoc Adam non peccavit. Chemnit. loc. common.  
Mr Bradford would never look upon any ones lewd life with one eye, but he would presently return within his own breast with the other eye, and say, In this my vile breast remains that sin, which without God's special grace I should have committed as well as he.    
2. Every man is born dead in sin, Ephes. 2. 1.  
3. Every natural man is born full of all sin, Rom. 1. 29. as full as a toad of poison.  
4. What ever he doth is sin. 1. His thoughts, Gen. 6. 5. 2. His words, Psal. 50. 16. 3. His actions. 1. Civil, Prov. 21. 4. 2. Religious, Prov. 15. 18, 19 & 28. 9     
The vile nature of man is apt to commit most foul and presumptuous sins, Rom. 3. 9, 10, 11, to 18. v. Mark 7. 21.  
Reas. 1. From man's self, sin hath come over all together with death.  
2. The devil laboureth to bring men to the most notorious sins, that he may render them most like to himself, Ephes. 2. 2.  
3. The world is full of such things and persons as may induce an evil nature to most horrible deeds.  
4. God in justice gives men over to work wickedness with greediness.    

CHAP. II. What Original Corruption is.  
THese names are given to Original sin in Scripture. It is called sin, Rom. 7. 8. 

Hoc verbum in Scriptures non habetur, neque in patribus vetustissimis, sed res ubique tamen in Scriptures occurrit, Gen. 5. 2. & Joan. 3. 6. Et patres vocabulis usi sunt ejusdem significationis.  
Augustinus ut haberet certum aliquod in quo Pelagianis resisteret, Originale passim nominavit. Unde hoc nomen doinceps in Ecclesia frequentatura est. Whitakerus de peccato originali. l. 1. c. 4. Peccatum originis s●u originale peccatum Augustinus constanter & far ubique ita appella●, non ab origine humanae naturae, sed cujusque personae. Chemnit. Originale dicitur, non quòd ●ons & origo peccatorum sit (quanquam omnia in nobis peccata ex hoc fonte aut potius sentin● hac fluant) sed quia propagatione perpetua atque haereditaria nostram naturam maculavit, atque in nobis statim, ut primum homines sumus, insedit, atque in nos naturae & originis instinctu ac lege derivatum est, ut non nisi peccatores & silii irae nascamur. Whitakerus ubi supra. Originale peccatum potest vel ad causam comparari à qua contrahitur, vel ad effectum, vel ad subjectum, si ad causam, vel ad propinquam, sic peccatum originale dicitur quia à partente contrahitur, vel immediatam, & sic dicitur lex carnis quia à carne contrahitur. Si ad remotam, dicitur languor naturae. Si autem comparatur ad effectum, vel erit hoc prout est in dispositione remota, & sic dicitur concupiscibilitas; vel prout in propinquiori, & sic vocatur foams: vel prout in propinquissima, & tunc vocatur concupiscentia. Si verò comparetur ad subjectum, tunc vel comparabitur ad rationem, & sic dicitur tyrannus, vel ad naturam, & sic dicitur lex naturae: vel ad carnem, & sic est lex membrorum. Raymundi Pugio fidei adversum Judaeos part. 3. Dist. 2. c. 6. Peccatum originale dicitur, ratione habita originis nostrae à generatione, potius quam respectu originis in Adamo, quamvis nec haec omninò excludatur, distinguunt aliqui originans, quod fuit peccatum in Adamo, & originale, vel originatum: inde in nobis duplex est origo naturae nostrae humanae, eaque arcessitur ab Adamo, & hominis cujusque personae in individuo singulari; eaque arcessitur ab Al●. Hoornbeck. Antisocin. l. 3. c. 3. Sect. 61.   The sinning sin, Rom. 7. 13. Sin that dwelleth in us, Rom. 7. 20. Sin that doth easily beset us, Heb. 13. 1. The body of sin, Rom. 7. 23. A law in the members, and the body of death, Rom. 7. 24. It is also called flesh, Joh. 3. 6. Rom. 7. 5. The old man, Rom. 6. 6. Ephes. 4. 12. Col. 3. 9 The law of sin, Rom. 7. 25. The wisdom of the flesh, Rom. 8. 6, 7. The law of sin and of death, Rom. 8. 2. The plague in ones own heart, 1 King. 8. 38. The root of bitterness, Heb. 12.  
It is called by the Fathers, Original sin.  
It is not a mere want of Original righteousness, carentia justitiae originalis debitae in●ss●. The Papists make Adam fallen to be the man in the Gospel that was wounded as he was going to jericho, by thiefs, and lay half dead. The scope of that parable is to teach who is to be accounted our neighbour. Our nature is not only void of God's image, Romans 3. 12. but fertile of all evil, Genesis 6. Psalm 14. & 53. Acts 13. 10. Ephesians 4. 19 It is hard to determine what kind of positiveness can be in sin. There are two kinds of privations, 1. Simple, which doth merely deprive, as darkness doth light. 2. Compound, which besides the mere privation includes the contrary form, privatio male disponens; as sickness, besides the mere privation of health, includes the humours abounding. Health is affectus corporis ad actum benè agendum, disease is the contrary.  
We call it positive, because the Scripture describes it by habitual deprivation, 
Malum hoc originale nomen suum habet vel ratione inherentiae, & à modo inessendi, quia ab ortu nobis inest, Adeo ut mali sumus pene priusquam sumus. Vel secundò potest dici originale ratione efficientiae, quia ipsa haec culpa est radix & origo unde reliqua mal● infausto ortu enascuntur. Vel tertiò ratione termini, nempè boni privati, prout est privatio justitiae originalis debitae inesse. Et ut mihi videtur, causa primaria & principalis cur hoc malum dicatur originale, est haec ultima. Barlow Exercit. 2. Malum originale duo includit, defectum justitiae originalis, & affectum pravum, quod communiter asserunt non solum Pontificii varii, s●d & Reformati. Id. ibid. Sicut ●gritudo corporalis habet aliquid de privatione, in quantum tollitur aequalitas sanitatis, & aliquid positiuè, scilicet ipsos humores inordinatè dispositos: ita peccatum originale non est pura privatio, sed quidam habitus corruptus. Thomas 1. 2. Quaest 82. Art. 1. respon. ad 1. Peccatum originale includit in se 1. Defectum physicum. 2. Affectum moralem. 3. Effectum quasi politicum, hoc est deordinationem, maculam, & reatum ad paenam obligantem. Istud autem peccatum est vel primum vel à primo ortum. Primum fuit originans, nempè Adami factum, contra pactum & mandatum creatoris, quod non contaminavit solum perso●am, sed naturam omnibus communicandam posteris. Sic quod in illo fuit originans, in illis evasit originale, quod originem comitatur, & usque ad vitae periodum haeret quasi lateri Lethalis arundo. Dr Prid. Lect. 2●. de peccato originali. Parts peccati originalis sunt tres; Primò, participatio peccati primorum parentum, illud enim fuit commune peccatum totius generis humani. Secundò, carentia originalis justitiae, id est, defectus donorum, tum intellectus, tum voluntatis, quibus Adamus & Eva ante lapsum ornati sunt. Tertiò, propensio vel inclinatio ad malum. Baron. Philol. Theol. ancill. Exercit. 2. Art. 6.  jer. 17. 9 When we say such an one is a drunkard, it is not only a mere privation of sobriety, but a readiness to that sin, because of the inhesion of it, and to denote the efficacy of it. Original sin is an affection ad actum malè agendum. It is both a privation of the habit of original righteousness, and also an evil disposition and proneness to all manner of sin infecting all the parts and faculties of the soul. B. Down. of Justificat. l. 7. c. 7. Vide Hoornbeeck. Anti Socin. l. 3. c. 3. Sect. 1.  
It is 1. An internal uncleanness, Titus 1. 15. It is called concupiscence, which is the act of the will.  
2. An abiding uncleanness, it never ceaseth so long as a man liveth, to provoke him to sin, Rom. 7. 21. Actual sins are but transient acts, an affront to God's commands: Original sin is a rooted contrariety to his nature.  
3. An abounding uncleanness, Psal. 14. Rom. 3. It defiles all men and all of men. In the first Covenant Adam was made a root of all mankind, therefore all sinned and died in him, being all in his loins, Heb. 7. 9 Hence all that descend from him are children of wrath, Ephes. 2. 3.  
Sin came upon all by Adam two ways: 1. By imputation; The Lord in justice imputing the guilt of the first sin to all his posterity, Rom. 5. 12, 14, 19 1 Cor. 15. 22. see 45, 47. verses.  
2. By propagation, The lump and root of all mankind being corrupted, so are the branches, Gen. 5. 3. job 14. 14. Rome, 11. 16. They are dead in sins, Matth. 8. 22. Luke 15. 24. Ephes. 2. 1. 1 Tim. 5. 6. under the power of sin naturally, under the guilt of sin legally, Rom. 5. 15, 18. Therefore regeneration is called a creation and resurrection, Rom. 6. 5. john 3. 35. Ephes. 1. 19, 20. 1. All the faculties of the soul are dead, the mind blind, Zach. 11. ult. 1 Cor. 2. 14. Ephes. 4. 17. and vain in its apprehensions, resolutions, thoughts, jer. 4. 14. 2. Reasonings, The will most desperately shut against Christ and duty, Matth. 15. 29. & 23. 37. Luke 19 14. john 8. 44. violently evil, Isa. 57 17. The memory retains toys and lets go solid things. The affections are not carried to their right objects; we love sin, are angry with those that reprove us, or not in a right measure, we overlove, overjoy, Col. 3. 5. they are contrary one to another, and inconstant: The conscience is not active in accusing or excusing, Titus 1. 15. 1 Tim. 1. 19 & 4. 2. Ephes. 4. 19 2. They are dead in respect of spiritual duties, 1 Thes. 1. 13. Heb. 1. the Sabbath is a burden. 3. In their profession, Rev. 3. 1. jude 12. 4. In their whole conversation.  
4. An active powerful uncleanness, Rom. 7. 23. It is peccatum actuosum, though not actuale, it acts continually, Gen. 6. 5. Sinful acts and habits both flow from the pravity of our nature.  
5. A diffusive or infectious uncleanness like a leprosy or plague, Psal. 106. 36. it makes all bad that we meddle with; to the defiled all things are defiled.  
It may well be called the sinning sin, not only because it is the punishment of sin and the cause of sin, but because itself is sin, as Austin.  
Next unto the sin against the holy Ghost and contempt of the Gospel, original sin is the greatest sin. Mr Shepherd.  
All the sins of our lives are but original sin exercised and multiplied.  
The will of man is more wilful than the understanding blind. See Mr Fenners 
Corruptio originalis veneno suo pr●cipuè 〈…〉 t nobilissimum opus generationis. Ideò statim post lapsum primi parents, non manus, non pedes, sed pudenda texerunt. Chemnit. loc. common. Insana Manichaeorum haercsis toties à patribus damnata. Barlow Exercit. 2. Malum originale in Scriptures habet nomina substantialia, dicitur vetus homo, cor durum, animalis caro, cor lapideum. Hoc non est tanti ut solutione indigeat. Siquidem nemini ignota ex hac parte Scriptur● phrasiologia, quae tropos suos & metaphoras usu frequenti adhibet; & attributis substantialibus utitur, cum non substantiam ipsam sed qualitates indigetat. Id. ibid. Illyricus peccatum originale essentiam esse hominis opinatur, certè substantiarum & naturarum omnium creator Deus est: peccatum autem neque à Deo creatum est, neque omnino creatura aut substantia, aut essentia est. Adamus post peccatum eandem naturae suae essentiam retinuit, quam antè habuit, idemque homo fuit; & nostra essentia neque peccato neque gratia in aliam mutatur. Whitakerus de peccato originali l. 1. c. 14. Vide Bellarm. de Amiss. gratiae & s●atu peccat. l. 5. c. 2, 3. Et Crocii Antiweigelium. c. 7. Q. 1. Original righteousness was not a superadded grace in Adam, but the natural rectitude of Adam's faculties of his soul, so original corruption is not a superadded sin, but the natural defect of all the faculties in working: Erras si existimas nobiscum nasci vitia, supervencru●t, ingesta sunt. Seneca Epist. 96. Vide Bellarm. tom. 4. l. 4. de statu peccati. c. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Rom. 5. 19 Politicus Machiavellus in quaestionibus suis hominem nasci vult aequè ad virtutem, quam vitia pro●um. Atqui hoc manifestè repugnat divinis literis, Gen. 8. 20. hoc est, ab ●o tempore, quo prodit è ventre suae matris. Nam simul ac ubera sugit concupis●●ntiam suam sequitur, & adhuc infans, occupatur ab ira, invidia, odio, ac caeteris vitiis, quibus tenera illa aet●● est obnoxia. Menas. Ben. I●r. de frag. hum. Sect. 16.  Epist. Ded. to his Hidden Manna or Mystery of saving grace.  
The seat or subject of this sin is the whole man: Some say only the passions, that we have ●ound reason and and free will, every faculty of the soul and member of the body is corrupted, but principally the soul, Eph. 4. 18, 19, 23, 24. Rom. 12. 1, 2. 1 Thes. 5. 23. and in it the understanding, will and affections, Ephes. 4. 18. The will is primarium peccati subjectum, Rom. 7. 14.  
The Manichees and Illyricus a Lutheran, make original corruption to be the essence and substance of a man; those places of Scripture where it is called the old man, a body of death, and the flesh, give no warrant for it, but the Scripture useth them 1. To show how near it is to us, and inseparable, even as our hands and feet, and that we have it from our birth. 2. To teach us that in all repentance, and so in the graces of sanctification, the greatest matter lieth within.  
The Pelagians out of hatred to this opinion ran too far into another extreme, holding that as man was born sine virtute, so also sine vitio; and they say That original sin is derived, not by propagation but imitation and example. We are by nature (not imitation) the children of wrath. Pagans and Heathens never heard of Adam, and many sins are committed that Adam never did, and they imitate not him, the first drunkard and adulterer had no example.  
The Ancient Fathers against the Pelagians, and the Orthodox against the Arminians hold, That original sin is propagated from Adam to all his posterity: 1. God chargeth this on all the sons of men, Ezek. 6. beg. Isa. 48. 4. compared with 8. therefore it comes to them by natural inclination. 2. The Saints who have studied their own spirits, have confessed this to be in them, Psal. 51. 5. Rom. 7. 18. 3. Adam in his fallen condition must communicate such a nature as he had, viz. defiled, job 14. 4. Adam infected nature, and after nature infected the person. The continual actings of the depravedness of our nature in our conversation, Psal. 58. 3. and the misery that lay on all men by nature, even infants, prove this, Rom. 5. 12. and the necessity of regeneration, john 3. 5.  
The faculties of the soul only (not the substance thereof) are corrupted, otherwise 
Qualis post lapsum▪ ●●● homo, tal●s & liberos pr●●reavit, corruptus n●mpè corruptos, Corruption ab Adamo in omnes post●ros solo Christo excepto non per imitationem (quod Pelagi●ni v●lu●runt) sed per vitiosae naturae propagationem, justo Dei judicio, deriva●a. Allae Synod. Dordrecht. in tertium & quartum Doctrinae ●aput de hominis creatione & conversione.  the soul could not be immortal, neither could Christ take our nature upon him. The substance of man abstractedly considered is God's creature since the fall and therefore good, 1 Tim. 4. 4. Regeneration restores not the substance of man but the qualities.  
Dr. Ames saith that Grevinchovius denied original sin, and Dr. Twisse 
a Contra Corvinum c. 7. Sect. 3. Peccatum originis nullum prorsus est, nec enim è Scriptura id peccatum originis doceri potest: & lapsus Adae cum unus actus fuerit, vim eam, qu● depravare ipsam naturam Adami, multo minus verò post●rorum ipsius posset, habere non potuit. Catech. Eccles. Polon. cap. 10. Vide plura ibid.  proves by this argument that the Arminians deny it. As many as teach that all the posterity of Adam have as much power to every thing that is good as Adam in innocency, they deny original sin; But the Arminians teach that all the posterity of Adam have as much power to every thing that is good as Adam had in the state of innocency, for they hold that all Adam's posterity have such power to every good work, that they want no other help but the persuasion and the concourse of God, which Adam himself needed to every good work.  
The Semipelagians also, the Socinians and Anabaptists deny this original venom or blot to be a sin; the Anabaptists that they might wholly take away Pedobaptisme denied original sin, that there might not be a cause why infants should be baptised.  
The denying of this fundamental Article of Original sin is dangerous, What need then of the Gospel, what need of Christ himself; if our nature be not guilty, depraved, corrupted? these are not things in quibus possimus dissentire salva pace ac charitate. Aug. about which we may descent without loss of peace or charity.  
The Papists say 1. Original corruption hath not rationem peccati, but is only a privation of original righteousness. The Council of Trent 
b The Council of Trent, Sess. 5. Can. 6. saith, O. i.▪ inal sin is not true sin, but only the froth and scum of sin. Est minimum omnium peccatorum & quovis veniali minus Thomas in 2. distinct. 33. q. 1. art. 2.  decreeth it not to have the nature of sin. Bellarmine saith it is a simple thing to be humbled for original sin. Pighus saith it is no sin at all. Andraedeus, it's the least of sin.  
2. That the concupiscence and lust which riseth from the corruption of our nature, the motions unto evil that we feel in ourselves, are no sins (but are called so abusively or metonymically, because they are from and incline to sin) till we consent unto them and obey them, till they reign in us. See the Rhemists in their Annotat. Rom. 7. 7. and james 1. 15. Bellarm, de statu peccati, c. 9 10.  
When our Divines urge that concupiscence is called sin several times in the sixth, seventh and eighth Chapters to the Romans, Bellarmine saith the Apostle doth not say it is peccatum propriè, De statu peccati, c. 8.  
3. That original sin after Baptism is done away. Si quis asserit non tolli in baptis●●ate totum id quod veram & propriam rationem peccati habet, anathema sit. Decret. 5. 
Hoc possum testari meo exemplo, me cum multos annos Doctor Theologiae suissem, hanc doctrinam nondum scivisse: Disputabant quidem de peccato originis, sed dicebant in Baptismo sublatum esse. Luth. l●c. 4. cont. 2. class. de peccato originali.  Sectionis Concil. Trid.  
4. That the Virgin Mary was not conceived in sin. Piè ac rectè existimatur B. virginem Mariam singulari Deo privilegio ab omni omnino peccato fuisse immunem. Bellarm. de Amiss great. & statu pecc. l. 4. c. 15.  
The Spirit of God in the holy Scripture expressly calleth the corruption of our nature sin, as Psal. 51. 5. and in the sixth, seventh and eight Chapters of the Romans fourteen times at the least, Heb. 12. 2.  
2. The Scripture saith expressly, our original corruption is the cause of all our actual sins, james 1. 14. 2 Peter 1. 4.  
3. Infants that are baptised, which have no other sin but original, and who never consented to it nor obeyed it in the lusts thereof, do die, Rom. 5. 14. therefore it must needs be sin, and may be truly and properly so called; for sin is the only cause of death, Rom. 5. 12.  
Whatever holdeth not conformity with the rule of righteousness the law of God, is sin, it hath the nature of sin in its irregularity and defect of good, and the effects of sin.  
2. The Scripture expressly teacheth us, that this concupiscence even in the 
See Mr Pemble of Justificat. Sect 3. c. 4. p. 131. & c. 1. p. 78, 79. Vide Episc. Daven. de justitia habituali. c. 4. & 15 & 18. Nomine concupiscentiae intelligimus corruptionem intelligentiae nostrae, voluntatis & affectuum, cum motibus ind● procedentibus legi divinae repugnantibus; sive consideremus radicem, five truncum, sive ramos, five fructus inde enascentes, nihil est in toto, vel in ulla parte savi. Sunt varii gradus, in unoquoque tamen est aliquid culpandum, imò peccatum propriè dictum, quod per se dignum esset morte, si Deus rigidè nobiscum ageret, & nos in nobis ipsis non in Christo, ipsiu● justitia t●ctos consideraret. Rivet. Cathol. Orthod, Tract. 4. Quaest 14. Fatemur concupiscentiam esse quandam iniquitatem & obliquitatem non solùm contra dominatum mentis, sed etiam contra legem Dei. Stapleton l. 3. de justific. c. 2.  regenerate, these evil motions that rise in us, though we consent not unto them, though we resist them, are yet a swerving from the law of God and a breach of it, Luke 10. 27. nay in the regenerate this corruption of our nature doth not only swerve from the law of God, but opposeth and resisteth the Spirit of God, Rom. 7. 23. Gal. 5. 17. therefore it must needs be sin. This argument convinced Paul's conscience, Rom. 7. 7. He means those motions unto evil which the heart doth not delight in nor consent unto.  
When the Apostle saith, Rom. 6. Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies. By sin (saith their Cardinal Bellarmine) all men understand concupiscence: and Ribera on Heb. 12. 1. saith, That by sin the Apostle understandeth concupiscence, calling it so with an article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is the sin, a note of singularity. Cajetan in Rom. 7. calleth it formally a sin. Vide Cassand. Consult. art. 2. Tit. de Concupisc. p. 4.  
The proper definition of sin being this, a transgression of God's law, therefore concupiscence is sin, see Exod. 20. 17.  

Object. Cant 4. 7. john 13. 10. Ezek. 36. 25. Ephes. 14. Therefore the regenerate have no sin left in them.  
Answer, The Church in this present world is said to be all fair, as it wholly shines▪ with its Spouses beauty which it puts on.  
Concupiscence in respect of its own nature is a sin; but in respect of the person 
B. Mortons' Appeal l. 5. c. 18. Sect. 4.  (who is a party regenerate in whom the guilt is pardoned) it is as no sin. When the Fathers say that lust is taken away in the regenerate, they understand according to the guilt, not the thing.  
3. Original sin after Baptism is not done away, children are perverse; death 
See M. Pemble of ●ustificat. Sect. 3 c. 4. p. 133.  cannot seize where there is no sin: How comes it to pass that infants baptised die before they come to actual offending, if Baptism have abolished in them their original stain?  
4. The Virgin Mary was not conceived without original sin; in her song she 
Declarat tamen haec ipsa sancta Synodus, non esse suae intentionis comprehendere in hoc Decreto, ubi de peccato originali agitur. B. & immaculatam virginem, Mariam, Dei genitricem. Vide Bellarm. de Amiss. great▪ & statu pecc. l. 4. c. 16. Agnoscit suum redemptorem, ergo & peccati statum; Christi alia prorsus est ratio, non enim descendit salvator ab Adamo genera●te actiuè sed passiuè tantum, & materialiter semen suppeditante, quod purgavit in ut●ro virginis Spiritus Sanctus, & ineffabili modo formavit. Doctor Prid. Lect. 2●. de peccato originali.  rejoiceth in God her Saviour, Luke 1. 47. & 2. 22. Christ came to save that which was lost, Matth. 18. 11. See job 14. 4 & 1 Cor. 15. 22. Rom. 5. 12, 16. & 3. 9 Gal. 3. 22.  
All the ancient Fathers, as far as we can learn out of their Writings, believed that the blessed Virgin Mary was conceived in original sin. Vide Rivet. de Patrum autoritate, c. 7. Daille Of the right use of the Fathers, l. 2. c. 6.  
The Dominicans generally hold that she was conceived in sin.  
All are infected with Adam's sin:  

1. The Heathens, Pagans, Infidels, Rom. 1. 18, 21, 24, 26, 28, to the last.  
2. The Jews, Rom. 2. latter end.  
3. Christians, Rom. 3. from 9 to 19  
4. Infants, Rom. 5. 12, 13. They are innocent in respect of actual transgression, not in respect of original pollution, are born blind, lame.  
5. Children of believing parents. 
Originale peccatum est aequaliter in omnibus.    
All men are equally guilty of original sin.  

1. In reference to Adam, Rom. 5. 12, 14.  
2. They are equally deprived of God's image, Rom. 3. 9, 11. Reprobate to every 
Psal. 51. 7. Sine hoc intelligatur de matri communi quae fuit Eva; sive de sua solùm David hoc dixcrit; significare voluit esse peccatum quasi natura & inseparabile in hac vita. Menasseth Ben Israel d● fragilitate humana. Impotentia itaque ista, ad quam sequitur obnoxietas ad iram & damnationem naturalis est & vocari debet, Ephes. 2. 3. non secundum naturam creatam à Deo, sed secundùm naturam corruptam ab homine, Psalm 51. 7. Quia itaque malum istud & à natura, scilicet corrupt● est, originaliter, & in natura tota est subjectiuè, & propagatur cum generatione carnali transitiuè, nec exui potest nisi per gratiam supernaturalem, naturam ipsam restaurantem, non minus naturalis, ista impotentia est & vocari debet, quam venenum naturale est serpenti, rapacitas l●po. Spanhem. Exercit. de Gratia universali. Annotat. in Sect. 12.  good work.  
3. Are equally depraved and corrupted, Rom. 3. 12, 13, 14.   
Reasons,  

1. All men are equally in Adam, one was not more in his loins then another, Rom. 5. 12, 19  
2. All men equally partake of the humane nature, are men as much as other men, Isa. ●8. 7. Acts 17. 28.  
3. Totall privations are equal, all men are spiritually dead.   
Though the seed of all evil be in every man's heart by nature, yet even among natural men, some are better or rather less wicked than others, as one weed is less noxious than another.  
This corruption shows itself less, because of restraining grace:  

1. In moral and civil men, whose lives are void of gross offences; as amongst the Gentiles, Cato, Aristid●s the just: among Christians, Paul unconverted, and the young man who said he had kept all the Commandments of God from his youth up.  
2. In such who reverence God and his Ministry, as Herod was better than Ahab who hated Micaiah.  
3. In such as are loving and abhor all malice and quarrelling, than the malicious who are like the devil, Matth. 9 to whom it is a torment not to vex and torture men.  
4. Such as are of a true and plain heart.  
5. Such as prefer the public good before their private.   
Yet such (though comparatively good) are not good in a saving way:  

1. Because their heart is not renewed all this while.  
2. They are not for the powerful exercise of all duties.  
3. They have not a zeal to reclaim others.  
4. They understand not the enjoying of God in all his Ordinances.   
Yet 1. Their condemnation will be less. 2. God bestows more blessings on them. 3. They have more peace.    

CHAP. III. Of the Propagation of Original sin, and Conclusions from it.  
HOw Original sin is propagated.  
Nihil est peccato originali (saith Austin) ad praedicandum notius, nihil 
Anima non est ex traduce verum à Deo, ut vulgò dicitur, creando infunditur & infundendo creature, ab origine prorsus imp●lluta, in carne autem sine semine peccatum quod est spirituale sedem non habet, & si haberet quomodo corpus spiritum inficeret? Non potest (inquit Bellarminus) intelligi, neutro verò corrupto quomodo unio labem induceret, maximè torfit haec objectio perspicacissimum Augustinum, ut patet in Epistolis ad Hieronymum & opta●●m. Anima non extra nec ex, sed in corpore satis prepara●a à Deo, sine labe ●reata contrahit labem, quae inibi seminalit●r latebat in ipsa union. Dr. Prid. Lect. 21. de Peccato Originali.  ad intelligendum secretius; that is, Nothing is more known than that original sin is traduced, and nothing more obscure than how it is traduced.  
It is propagated from the soul as well as the body, Gen. 5. 3. john 3. 6. Ezek. 18. 20.  
A spiritual substance cannot take taint from a corporal. This conceit led some 
This troubled and staggered Aug. l●pist. 28.  learned Fathers into that error, that the soul comes from the seed, they conceived not the conveyance of original sin but so. The scruple a long time stumbled S. Austen too, he knew not how else to answer the Pelagians. D. Clerk on Eccl. 12. 7. 
For if the soul be not naturally traduced, how should original sin be derived from Adam unto it. Dr. Rein. of the Pass. Quo pacto siat haec propagatio cognosc●re arduum est, & desinirc periculosum. Molinaeus. See Doctor Reinolds on the Passions, c. 32. and Master Pemble de Origine formarum: and Baronius his Philos. Theol. Ancil. Exercitat 2. Art. 6, 7, 8, 9, etc. Corpus & anima perinde ab Adamo fluunt, modo tamcu propagandi di●tari: illud quidem ex traduce est, haec verò ex infusione, quae hoc respectu à parente est, quod non animal create Deus, qua animam simpliciter, sed qua unius de Adami siltis anima est. Deus non solum ut creator considerandus est, sed ●tiam ut judex. Creator est animae quoad substantiam, cujus respectu cum creatur pura est. judex est praeterea Deu●, dùm animam create, quoad hanc circumstantiam scilicet, quod non anima simplicitèr ei sit creanda, sed unius ex Adae siliis anima. Hoc respectu justum est, animam d●s●r●re, quoad imaginem, in Adamo amissam: ex qua desertione, sequitur carentia justitiae originalis, ex qua carentia peccatum ipsum originale propaga●●r. Sandford. de Desc. Christ. ad infer. l. 3. Animae nostrae à Deo creante neque accipiunt puritatem seu justitiam & sanctit●tem, neque impurit●tem & propensionem ad malum, sed tant●m essentiam spiritualem & proprictates ab essenti● dimn●ntes. Sed animae co ipso instanti, quo creantur, sunt impurae, simul enim creantur & uniuntur substantialiter cum corporibus contagiosis, ex quibus labem contrabunt. Baron. Philos. Theol. ancil. Exercit. 2. Artic. 8. Vide etiam Molin. Enodat. gravis Quaest de Peccato Originali.   
When we say the soul by conjunction with the body is defiled with sin, we mean not that the body works upon the soul and so infects it, as pitch doth desile with the very touch: but that at the same instant at which God gives the spirit, puts it in the body, Adam's disobedience is then imputed to the whole person, and so by consequent corruption of nature and inclination unto evil, the pain of sin by God's just appointment follows.  
God is a Creator of the soul in respect of the substance, so it is pure; but he is also a Judge, and so he creates the soul not simply as a soul, but as the soul of one of the sons of Adam, in which respect he forsakes it touching his Image which was lost in Adam, and so it is deprived of original justice, whence followeth original sin.  

Corollaries from Original sin.  

We should be humble, not only for the sins of our lives, but for our original sin, so David, Psal. 51. and Paul, Rom. 7. latter end: the pollution of nature in us: All sin is in our natures virtually, though not formally.  We must make it part of our business daily to consider of this natural corruption (that we may be daily humbled in the sense of it) and to beseech God to help us against it, to keep it down, yea to bestow his grace upon us to mortify the deeds of our flesh.  
We have three great enemies, The world, That by profit, pleasure enticeth us.  
2. The devil, He makes use of the things of this world to draw us to sin; he can but solicit us to sin, cannot compel the will.  
3. Our own flesh and corrupt nature is our 
a The lusts of our own hearts are greater enemies than the world and Satan, Propter continuam, & intr●nsccam a●herentiam, Bonar. 1. Because of their multiplicity and variety. Titus 3. 3. 2. Their great activity, our thoughts are swifter than the sun. 3. Their pride and sovereignty.  worst enemy, it is an inward and constant enemy, james 1. 15. we must therefore every day give a hack at the old man, Prov. 4. 23. jer. 4. 14. use the ordinances to this purpose.  

1. Prayer, Pray in faith, out of a sense of our own misery, and a confidence that God is able and willing to help us.  
2. The Word, That is the Sceptre by which Christ rules, the sword of the Spirit, john 17. 17. There is a purging virtue in the promises, 2 Cor. 7. 1.  
3. The Sacraments: 1. Baptism, It is not only for what is past, Rom. 6. 3. we must make constant use of that to crucify sin. 2. The Lord's Supper, There Christ's death for our sins is lively represented, and it is a strengthening ordinance.   
2. Look to the outward seuses, job made a Covenant with his eyes. David saith, Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.  
3. Keep the heart with all diligence, Prov. 4. 23. jer. 4. 14. Mat. 15. 19  
Those that are regenerate should often think of their estate by nature, what they were before conversion, 1 Cor. 6. 11. Ephes. 2. 5. Titus 3. 3. Paul much presseth Christians in all his Epistles, to look backward, what they were by nature, and he himself often tells us what a great sinner he was before his conversion.  
Reasons,  

1. To prevent spiritual pride, What hast thou which thou hast not received. God hath therefore left the remainders of spiritual death in us, to keep down pride; it's one great branch of the Covenant of grace, They shall remember their evil ways, and lo●th themselves for their abominations.  
2. To exalt the doctrine of God's freegrace, The godly know by experience the corruption of nature, and therefore reject that conceit of freewill.  
3. That you may admire the love of Christ, 2 Cor. 5. 14. we need preventing as well as subsequent grace.  
4. That we may not be altogether without hope for our friends that are dead in sin, since God hath quickened us who were so.   
Secondly, Be thankful to God if he have bridled it in some good measure in ourselves and ours: Paul is often on this; and pity those that are in the state of nature.  
Thirdly, If we have run into any loathsome crimes we should repent of them, and turn to God that we perish not in them.  
Fourthly, There is no reason for any one to boast of his natural birth, though never so high, unless he partake of the new birth 
b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith Greg. Nazianzen, The new birth is the noblest birth. Some say that by the death of Christ all mankind are restored, and that infants have no need of regeneration; that men when they grow up fall from the principles which they had in their infancy, and when they return to that condition they were in in their infancy, than they are well; and urge Matth. 8. 1. to prove that infants have principles begun in them, by which they may turn to God. , Ephes. 2. 3. we all enter into the world equally naked, vile, helpless; our continuance in the world is equally uncertain, and when we die we shall carry nothing out of the world, 1 Tim. 6. 7. See Eccles. 2. 22. & 5. 16. Isa. 10. 3.  
Fifthly, It informs us of the great condescension of Christ that he would assume our nature and purge it; and of the difficulty and excellency of the work of Regeneration, the plaster of sanctification is as large as the sore of original sin, it daily eats up the proud flesh.  
From the Apostles time to Austin's for three hundred years and more (saith Moulin Enodat. Gravis. Quaest de peccato Originali) Ecclesiastical Writers wrote not so accurately of original sin, and therefore seem sometimes more prone to Pelagianism, which Austen l. 1. in julianum c. 2. excuseth, because (saith he) Tali quaestione nullus pulsabatur, & Pelagianis nondum litigantibus securius loquebantur. Austen himself (saith Moulin) at the first spoke inconsiderately of this point, but after his conflict with the Pelagians he accurately handled this question like a stout Champion for the truth, whom Prosper and Fulgentius followed.    

CHAP. IU. Of Actual Sin.  
THis distinction of sin into Original and Actual is according to Scripture, 
See of actual sins, Rom. 7. 17. Jam. 1. 15. They are called the deeds of the old man, Evil works, Dead works, The works of darkness. See Ainsw. on Deut. 17. 2. what transgression is.  Deut. 29. 18. Matth. 17. 17, 18. & 12. 34, 35. Luke 6. 43.  
It is a hard thing for any to tell exactly what sin is, 1 john 3. 4. Sin is the transgression of the law. The Greek word is a privative word, an anomy, irregularity, illegality. The Greek and Hebrew word for sin signifies a missing the mark, Peccare est quasi transilire lineam, actus indebitus contra debitum finem.  
Ambrose saith it is a prevarication of the Divine law.  
Austen 
a Contra Faustum l. 22 c. 27.  saith it is Dictum, factum, or concupitum contra aeternam legem, A saying deed or thought against the eternal law. It may be defined thus,  
▪ It is a defect, declination or aberration from the Law or Will of God, obliging to eternal death. Or thus,  
It is a transgression of the Law of God, by omitting some duty which it requireth, or doing of some act which it forbiddeth, Rom. 7. 7.  
Chemnitius hath gathered eight names of sin out of the Old Testament, and eight out of the New: Gerhard hath added eight more, twenty four in all. See Exo. 34. 7. Psa. 12. 13. it is called a turning away from God, a defection, rebellion, abomination, filthiness and lewdness, Ezek. 24. 13. stubbornness, Deut. 29. 19 perverseness, Isa. 30. 10. provocation, the metaphorical names are innumerable.  
The divers distinctions of sin.  
Many have written great Volumes about the divisions of sin, who can set: out the several kinds of it?  
They may be taken from the persons which commit it, or the object against whom 
Augustinus & Hieronymus ita ponunt, peccata cordis, cogitationum, oris, verborum, operis, membrorum.  they are committed, God immediately, as those of the first Table, irreligion, unbelief, our neighbour, injustice, oppression; and ourselves, as gluttony, intemperance; from the subject wherein they are, the outward and inward man, 2 Cor. 7. 1. Inward of the mind, will, and affections only, Eph. 2. 3. Tit. 3. 3. Heb. 3. 9 Psal. 10. 3. or outward committed by the members of the body also, Rom. 6. 19 Eph. 2. 3. Gal. 5. 16. Isa. 59 3. Psa. 36. 3, 4. and 53. 1, 2.  
From the causes that produce it ignorance or knowledge, jam. 4. ult. Sins 1. of ignorance, when a man doth evil not knowing or marking it to be evil by reason of his ignorance of the Law, or of the fact done, Leu. 5. 17. Luke 23. 34. 1 Tim. 1. 19 Psal. 29. 12. 2. Of knowledge, when a man's sins, knowing that which he doth to be evil, Rom. 7. 14, 15.  
From the acts of sin, of omission when a good prescribed is left undone in respect of substance, manner or measure: Of commission, when a thing forbidden is committed, 
Prov. 3. 28. Jer. 48. 10.  Eze. 18. 24. and both these are either against the Law, Rom. 3. 27. or Gospel, Heb. 2. 2, 3. 2 Thes. 1. 7, 8.  
From the manner of committing them out of infirmity or obstinacy, secret or open sins, 1 Tim. 5. 24.  
A sin of negligence or infirmity, when a man is overtaken or prevented with some 
That is an infirmity in the body which a man makes not choice of, takes not pleasure in, and labours to cure, and so in the soul.  sin before such time as he doth seriously consider of the fact, Gal, 6. 1. Heb. 12. 1, 2.  
Of obstinacy or purpose, when a man upon deliberate counsel and purpose of heart doth do that which he knows is offensive in the sight of God. This division is in express words laid down, Numb. 15. 12. Psa. 19 13, 14. 2 Pet. 3.  
A presumptuous sin is 1. against light. 2. It is done with deliberation usually. 3. They bear themselves upon the mercy and free grace of God.  
Some say, there are two things in sin, the blot or blemish, whereby the soul is stained. 2. The guilt of it, whereby we become actually obnoxious to the curses of the Law.  
Others say, there are four things in sin, 1. culpa the fault, 2, macula the stain. 3. reatus the guilt, 4. dominium the reign of sin.  
The fault is so essentially inseparable to a sin, that it can never be taken away but covered, the other three are taken away by Christ, Rom. 8. 2. Titus 1, 15. Heb. 12. 15. Answerable to these three powers of sin are Christ's three Offices, 1. His Kingdom takes away the reign of sin, his priesthood the guilt of sin, and his prophetical office the stain of it, Psa. 1 19 9 
It is called a spot, Deu. 32. 5. See Psa. 51. 2. Rev. 22. ●1. The stain of sin is that silthiness whereby the precious soul being tu●ned from God is defiled and become unclean, Mat. 15. 20. 2 Cor. 7. ●. Jam. 1. 26. Lyf. Princ. of Faith and good Consc.   
Secondly, the stain of sin.  
The defilement, blot, and blackness of sin is the absence and privation of that moral rectitude, the want of that whiteness and righteousness which the holy Law of the Lord requireth to be in the actions, inclinations, and powers of the soul of a reasonable 
* rutherford's Trial and Triumph of Faith, Serm. 19 Maculate (si quae sit quae in justificatione tolli dicitur) mihi ignotam esse ingenuè fateor, nec à quoquam exponi posse quae tandem sit, ●xistimo. Theologi Pontisicij, quum in hujus maculae natura investiganda quingentos propemodum annos summo study & diligentia elaboraverint, nihil reperire potuissent quod verum esse ulla ratione demonstraverint, aut demonstrare co●●ti suerint. Wotton d●● Reconcil. par. 2. l. 2. c. 27. Ne concilium quidem Tridentinum quicquam de macul●e natura d●sinitum reliquit im● eam ne no●ina●●t ' quidem, nedum explicavit, etsi tam multa sess. 6. de justific. disseruerit. Id. ib. c. 26. Macula importat quendam desec●um nitoris propter recessum à lumine rationis vel divinae legis. Aquin. 1. 2. quae. 86. art. 2.  creature. The soul is deprived of that native beauty it had in the sight of God. Sin is compared to a menstruous cloth, a plague-sore, vomit, mire, called an excrement, jam. 1. 2. it defiles the soul and the very land, Host 4. 4. the Sanctuary of God, Ezek. 44. 7. the Sabbaths of God, Exo. 20. 16. the Name of God, Exo. 20. 39 God himself in the eyes of the people, Ezek. 13. 19 facinus quos inquinat, aequat. It is compared to the leaven which hath three properties say the Fathers, ser●it, infla●, 
The guilt of sin is properly in the conscience, but every part is defiled with it, Rom. 3. 13, 14, 15.  inficit; To a leprosy which was 1 Loathsome, 2 Secret, lurking in the blood, Leu. 13. 2. 3 Spreads, 4 Infects, see 13 and 14 Chapters of Leu.  
3. The guilt. 
This is also hard to discover, some make it a middle thing betwixt culpa and poena. rutherford's trial and triumph of faith. Serm. 19 Reatus poenoe vel ad poenam is the chief thing which is commonly called guilt, and therefore guilt is obligdtio ad poenam.   
Some what which issueth from the blot and blackness of sin according to which the person is liable and obnoxious to eternal punishment.  
There is a twofold guilt, sinful and paenall, reatus culpae & poenae, the guilt of sin as sin, this is all one with sin, being the very essence, soul, and formal being of sin, and is removed in sanctification. 2. Reatus poenae, reatus formalis seu actualis, the actual guilt or obligation of the person who ●ath sinned, to punishment, this is fully removed in justification.  
There is a double guilt of sin.  

1. hereditary, this comes on all by Adam.  
2. Personal, by the actings of sin.   
This is likewise twofold,  

1. intrinsical, the merit of sin, this is inseparable from it, it deserves eternal wrath.  
2. Extrinsecall, a guilt which God hath added to it, a power which it hath to bind over the sinner to the just vengeance of God, until he hath made him an amends.   
There is a fourfold guilt of sin,  

1. Reatus culpae, which is an inseparable consequence of the offence, there is as necessary a connexion between the sin and guilt, as between the precept and the curse in the Law.  
2. Reatus poenae an obligation and ordination to punishment, this may be separated from the sin: the damned in hell blaspheme God, but are not punished for it: 2 Cor. 5. 10,  
3. Reatus personae, a guilt that comes upon the person, this is taken off by Christ the Surety, Rom. 8. 1.  
4. Reatus conscientiae, Jer. 17. 1. The whole man is the subject of the pollution of sin, conscience of the guilt, Heb. 9 14. and 10. 17.   
The properties of this guilt.  

1. It is in its own nature incurable by all the power of the creature, he that breaks the precept of the Law, can never break through the curse of it, Rom. 5. 12. jude 6.  
2. It is universal, morbus Epidemicus, Rom. 3. 19 John 13. 10.  
3. Hereditary, conveyed from parents to children, Rom. 5. 17, 18. by one man and one offence.  
4. Loathsome and stinking, Psa. 38. 5.  
5. Very troublesome, a small sin in the conscience is like a mote in the eye.  
6. Of an infectious and spreading nature, Rom. 1. ult. 3 ep. john 10.   
Christ was that true scape-goat, Leu. 16, 22. who expiated the sins of all the elect laid upon him, and carried them far from the sight of God, that they never appear, That is explained by the Prophet, Isa. 53. Isa. 11. and is confirmed by the Apostle, 2 Cor. 5. 21. if Christ had not taken our guilt upon himself, (saith Sanford de descensu Christi ad inferos, lib. 3.) We had been guilty to this day. There are 3 things (saith he) in sin, the name, the fault, the guilt which may be imputed: the fault, 
He proves it also there out of the Fathers l. 3. p. 103, 104  that is, the fact itself cannot be imputed but to us sinners, so either the guilt (saith he) is imputed to Christ, or only the empty name of our sin.  
Fourthly, The dominion of sin.  
There is  

1. a virtual dominion in sin, so original sin reigns.  
2. Actual, every man's darling and bosom sin. 
The division of sin into sin reigning or not ruling is taken out of Rome 6. 12, 14. Rom. 8. 22.  

1. The darling sin keeps Christ out of the soul.  
2. All other lusts are serviceable to it.     
These things make a reigning sin.  

1. Sovereignty in the sin.  
2. Absolute and uncontrolled subjection in the sinner.   
Sovereignty is a Throne of sin set up in the heart, three things concur to this.  

1. A conquest, yet that alone makes it not a reigning but a prevailing sin.  
2. Possession, a standing power in the heart.  
3. The exercising of that power.   
Secondly, On the sinner's side there must be a willingness, Rom. 5. his servants ye are 
The reigning powe● of sin lies mainly if not only in the will. There is a fourfold act in the will, and sin reigns by every one of them. 1. Election when one chooseth what sin commands. 2. Consent to all the laws of sin. 3. Fruition, Ephes. 4. 19 4. The imperium of it, it is the commanding faculty of the soul. 2 Sam. 22 24. Psa. 18. 23. Ezek. 7. 19 Every man's bosom sin ariseth from the inordinate love of some earthly thing, 1 Joh. 2. 15. Licitis primus omnes. See M. Burgess of Grace and Assurance, sect. 9 Ser. 76.  whom ye obey, often in that Chapter of the Romans, jude 11. there is a going on notwithstanding warning in the way, an obstinacy in sin. 2. They ran greedily or poured out themselves, there is a free giving of the will to it.  
Sins of ignorance and omission may be reigning sins, Host 4. 1. 2 Thes. 1. 8. not so much the greatness of the sin as the manner of committing it makes it a reigning sin. Secret sins may be reigning sins. In the Eastern Countries the King was seldom seen abroad, Host 7. 17. an Oven the more it is stopped the hotter it is, ignorance of the act makes it not a reigning sin, but of the right doth, if one be bound to know it. Sins of thought may be reigning sins, therein the heart is the Throne, Isa. 59 5. Pray that the thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven thee. Little sins, such as the world calls little may be committed with a high hand. Every man hath some peccatum in delicijs, as the Fathers call it, some bosom or darling sin, as Modern Divines term it, Matth. 5. 29. 2 Tim. 2. 25. A man is proner to some sins than others, in regard of his temper of body, manner of life, education, age, place of living, state, call, and the like; one man's bodily temper inclineth him to anger, another's to lust, a third to carnal sorrow, a fourth to fear, a fifth to carking and worldly cares. As envy in Saul, covetousness in judas, ambition in Absalon, uncleanness in Herod. This is called in Scripture a man's right eye, his own inquity, the stumbling block of his iniquity.  
How to know a man's darling sin.  

1. Nothing is so pleasing to the soul, nor so much engrosseth his thoughts as it, ma●k what thy soul is most prone to take pleasure in, job 20. 12. and what thou most thinkest of, Mat. 6. 21. job 17. 11. Host 14 11.  
2. What the Spirit of God in thy most secret soul-searching discovers to thee, or thy private friends most tell thee of the guilt of it, doth most affright thy conscience when it is awakened.  
3. What it is thy heart is most careful to hide, job 10. 13. men have several distinctions and excuses for it.  
4. It is the same which most interposeth in holy duties, Ezek. 31. 33.   
How to know when one's darling sin is mortified.  
Quod non placet non nocet, Rom. 7. 17. what displeaseth us shall never hurt us. Sin reigneth not,  

1. If we have purpose against it.  
2. If we have grief for it.  
3. If we seek for strength against it. Bains Spirit, Armour.   
A diligent and constant care to resist a man's own corruption is a sure proof of uprightness, and such a one shall enjoy the comfort of his sincerity in due time. This is Satan's great bait, and by this sin thou dost most dishonour God and wound conscience, because this sin sets up another God against God.   

CHAP. V. Of the Evil of Sinne.  
1. IN regard of God it strikes not only at his sovereignty, Psa. 51. 4. but his Being, Psa. 10. 4. 
God is not in all his thoughts, or, all his thoughts are, there is no God.   
It is contrary to the whole nature of God, Leu. 26. 22. Col. 1. 12. If we look on the Sovereignty of God, sin is rebellion; if on his justice, sin is iniquity; If on his goodness sin is unkindness; but it especially wrongeth the Holiness of God in respect of its defilement. Zech. 11. 8. Amos 5. 21. Hab. 1. 13. Psa. 5. 4, 5. If we consider God's Holiness as a Rule, sin is a transgression, if as an excellency, sin is a deformity.  
It is a separation or aversion of the soul from him in these respects.  

1. It is a taking off the soul from the love of God as the greatest good, and the 
In peccato duo attenduntur▪ s●ilicet conversio ad commutabile bonum, quae materialiter se habet in peccat●: & aversio à bono incommutabili, quae est formalis & completiva ratio peccati. Aqu. 2. qu. 162. art. 6.  fear of God and delight in him, ●elying on him, committing ourselves to him, ler. 2. 12, 13. jam. 4. 4.  

2. A separation from the Law of God as our rule, therefore it is a going besides, a being without the Law. john 3. 4. Mat. 15. 6.  
In the Law there is.  

1. A rectitude, I have esteemed thy Commandments in every thing to be right, sin is a croookednesse, Psal. 125. 5.  
2. A wisdom, wisdom is justified of her children, there is a folly in sin, the wicked man is called a fool often in the Proverbs, Jer. 8. 9  
3. There is a purity and holiness in the Law, Thy Commandments are very pure, therefore thy Servant loveth them, Rom. 7. 12. sin is filthiness itself.  
4. There is a harmony in the Law, sin is a disharmony.  
5. There is a liberty in the Law, jam. 2. 8. sin is a bondage, 2 Tim. 2. 26.  
6. The keeping of the Law brings a reward, but sin, shame and death, Rom. 6. 22, 23.    
3. It takes away the soul from the dominion of God, we will not have this man to rule over us, therefore it is often called rebellion.  
4. Defaceth the Image of God, it doth this not only meritoriè but physics, not only provokes God to take away his Image, but in the nature of it blots it out, Gal. 5. 17. as one contrary expels another.  
5. It severs us from communion and fellowship with God, jer. 2. 13. Psa. 10. 4. job 21. 4▪ it makes much for the eternal separation.  
6. It severs us from the conformity and likeness we had with God in our first Creation, it's a disconformity of our judgements to the judgement of God, and a disagreement of our wills from the will of God.  
7. It alienates the soul from God, and turns it against him as an enemy, Col. 1. 21. 
Two things manifest the enmity of the heart to God. 1. A man's averseness from Christ and the way of the Gospel. 2. His unwillingness to ●ely upon God alone for succour. Omne peccatum est deicidium: say the Schools. It strikes at the very essence or being of God; Every sin saith, I would have no God, Rom. 8. 7. abstractum de●●tat essentiam.  men are styled therefore haters of God, Rom. 1. 30. Evil only should be the object of thy hatred, there is no evil in God, fighters against God, Act. 5. 39 There is an infiniteness in sin objectiuè though not subjectiuè, it is committed against an infinite God, though it be in a finite creature.   
Secondly, In respect of all Creatures, all the antipathics betwixt the creatures 
Rom. 8. 23. There is a double curse come upon the creatures, not only a general curse on them all in the fall, but a particular curse, the figtree lay under a general curse, and it would have withered with that, but because of the particular curse it withered presently.  came in by man's sin, Gen. 2. 29. man had an admirable dominion over them before the fall, they took delight to obey him, now they will not be subject to him. They are all fading, deceiving, and desiling, Eccl. 1. 14. Tit. 1. 15.  
Thirdly, The Reasonable Creatures, it hath defiled the Angels job 4. 17, 18. the devil 
Vide Lombard. l. 2. Senten. dist. 25. & Aqu. 1, 2. qu. 85. art. 1. Sins proper end is the dishonour of God, and the ruin and abasement of the nature where it is, the Law hath put another end on it, the manifestation of God's justice, but Christ puts a new end on it, the Lord will exalt his grace and mercy in the pardoning of it. Sin hath defiled the soul in point of purity, and disquieted it in point of serenity. The soul of man in its creation exceeded th● Sun in glory in its greatest splendour.  is called the evil One.  
It poisoned all mankind at one draught, Rom. 8. 19, 20. who can reckon up the particular evils that befall him by reason of sin.  
The evil of sin goes through the whole man. It is expoliatio gratuitorum say the Schools, a stripping of the soul of all those supernatural excellencies that God gave unto man in his Creation. 2. Vulneratio naturalium, the wounding of the soul in things moral and natural, naturae vires non sunt ablatae sed diminutae. A man's soul is carried after truth and good, accompanied with difficulty or delight. As the soul is carried after truth, it is called the mind, as after good the will, as after good that is difficult there is facultas irascibilis, heat in the affections, as the good is accompanied with delight there is facultas concupiscibilis. The mind is now carried after error, and there is an unrighteous frame of Spirit, one can resist no temptation, there are inordinate affections.  
It brings many calamities on the outward man, many diseases, some are born blind, others dumb, some reckon up three hundred diseases of the eye; every age discovers as new corruptions in the souls of men, so new diseases in their bodies: these are not from the condition of our nature, as the Pelagians say, but the demerit of our sins, natural evils, hunger, thirst, nakedness, shortness of life, there is a certainty of dying, yet an unwillingness to die. Austin saith, after his friend was taken away, he was continually afflicted, taedio vivendi & metu moriendi. Add to this the loss of heaven, glory, and the torments of hell, that God (who is love itself) should judge his creature to eternal torments, sin meritoriously caused hell and maintains it.  
Fourthly, It appears from the names of it, it is called Evil in the abstract, Psa. 
It is called evil ●ine adjecto, Rom. 7 13. the holy Ghost could not call it by a worse name than itself. But sin that it might appear sin praedicatio identica, and after that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful hyperbolically sinful.  5. 4. and Psa. 97. 10. it is evil, the worst evil, all evil, either formaliter, efficienter, or meritoriè. There is more evil in our sin then good in all the creatures in heaven and earth, Matth. 16. 26. one sin will undo the s●ul which all creatures cannot ransom, because they cannot make God satisfaction in point of good or honour, sin is both damnum and injuria, a soul is lost and a wrong offered to God.  
Fifthly, From the nature of it. That which is only and perfectly contrary to the greatest good (God) must be the greatest evil, and that which is contrary to all good, hath all evil in it.  

1. It is contrary to God the greatest good, Col. 1. we are said to be enemies to God, and Rom. 1. 30. haters of God. It is contrary, 

1. To his glory, both essential, that which is in himself, and shines forth in Christ, Heb. 1. and manifestative, that glory which he hath manifested in all the works of creation and redemption, Prov. 16. 3. 

1. It denies the glory due to God, Rom. 1. 21. Tit. 1. 16.  
2. Despiseth his glory, Psa. 10. 13. Ezek. 13. 19  
3. Reproacheth God and all his excellencies, his justice, Rom. 3. 2. turns his mercy and grace into wantonness, abuseth his patience, all his dispensations.  
4. Misemploy●th his glory, gives it to one's self, to men, the very devil, he casts out devils by Beelzebub.    
2. It wrongs God in his nature and being, Psal. 14 1. Every sinner wisheth 
The damned in hell hate God because they are sealed up in their obstinacy against him, Isa. 51. 20. Rev. 16. 9 Aquinas brings that place to prove it, Psa. 74. ult.  there were no God, he hates God for himself, so the devil and damned.    
2. It is contrary to the Rule of goodness, the Law, it is a transgression of it, it looks upon it as a vain thing, Prov. 1. 7. as a needless thing, Heb. 2. 3. 1 Thes. 5. 20. as a burden or yoke, Psa. 2. 3. Isa. 5. 21, 24. as a hateful thing, Leu. 26. 15. as an unreasonable thing, Psa. 107. 11.   
Sixthly, It hath been always counted the greatest evil by those that are able to judge.  

1. By God he hates nothing but sin, he loves himself, his Son, his people, all his creatures: but his hatred is set on sin only, therefore he counts nothing evil but sin.  
2. Christ was content to undergo all other evils.  
3. The Saints counted nothing evil in comparison of sin, Heb. 11. 25. the Martyrs chose rather to lay down their lives, then to admit of any thing against their consciences. Mallem, ego mundus à peccato gehennam intrare quam peccatorum sordibus pollutus regnum coelorum tenere, saith Anselm. One should rather venture the salvation of all mankind, then commit one sin to save them. 
Aquin. part. 1. qu. 48. art. 6. proves, that Culpa habet plus de ratione ma●i quam poena; 1 quia ex malo culp● s●t aliquis malus, non ex malo poenae; 2 quia Deus est auctor mali poenae, non autem mali culpae. God's greatest punishment is to punish sin with sin; He that is filthy let him be filthy still, the greatest punishment in hel● is sin, as the Saints obedience in heaven is pars praemij, so the blasphemy of the wicked in hell is pars poenae, say the Schoolmen: there is more evil in the cause then the effect.    
Seventhly, There is more evil in sin then in all sufferings whatsoever, they are but the issues of sin: Moses chose rather affliction, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.  
For suffering,  

1. We have Gods warrant, are called to it, 1 Pet. 2. 13.  
2. His command to take up our Crosse.  
3. Christ's example, he hath left us a copy to write after.  
4. The end of sufferings is glory, of sin shame.  
5. By suffering we lose some outward good, by sin the soul.  
6. God hath promised to be with us in suffering, never in sinning.   
Sin made hell, Rom. 2. 5, ●1. and is worse than Hell.  

1. God is the author of all punishment and of hell itself: Tophet is prepared, but he is not the author of sin, jam. 1. 14. 
See Field on the Church, p. 418. Perk. vol. 1. p. 215. B. Bilson dislikes this in his Full redem. of mankind by the death of Christ, from p. 14. to 136. B. Bilson p. 135 saith, that hell pains were never added to Christ's cross for 1300 years since the Apostles time.   
2. Some say Christ underwent the torments of hell in the essential parts of them, the wrath of God immediately upon his soul, but would not admit of the least sin, Psa. 110. ult.  
3. In hell there is some good, the vindicative justice of God is glorified, there is no good in sin.  
4. Hell is contra bonum creatum against a created good, sin contra bonum increatum, against an uncreated good, the glory of God.   
Eighthly, Every sin is after a sort the greatest evil as God is the greatest good. After a sort (I say) non datur summum malum, quod sit causa omnis mali; say the Schools. For it would then follow, that there are two first Principles of things good and evil, which was the heresy of the Manichees.  

1. God is per se bonus, so sin is per se malum, evil in itself, and good in no respect.  
2. As God is to be loved for himself because he is the chiefest good, so sin is to he hated for itself, one should hate sin as sin, and then he will hate every sin, à quatenus ad omne valet consequentia.  
3. God is the great reward of himself, and sin the great punishment of itself, Host 8. 11. Austin speaks of a poenalis vitiositas.   
Ninthly, Every one sin doth virtually contain in it all sins, an idle word the sin against the holy Ghost, Rom. 5▪ 14. the sin of Adam is called one man's offence. See Heb. 12. 15.   

CHAP. VI Of the Degrees of Sinne.  
IT was an error of the 
a The Stoics thought all sins were of an equal nature, because to sin is transilire lineas, to pass the bounds, but some may shoot wider than others, though both miss the mark. The Scripture evidently confutes this opinion, joh. 16. 11. 1 Tim. 5. 8. Ezek. 16. 47. 2 Pet. 2. 26, 27. Some sins are compared to Camels, others to Gnats, some to beams, others to motes, some to talents, others to farthings. As there are degrees of graces and virtues, so of sins. He that commits adultery by carnal copulation is a greater sinner than he that looks upon a woman to lust after her: He that calls his brother Raca is not so great a murderer as he that takes away his life.  Stoics which Tully refuted, and of the Jovinians which Jerome refuted, that all sins were equal. Though all sins be mortal yet they are not equal. They are distinguished in name and really, there are several punishments, one sin may be heavier and greater than another in divers respects.  
In respect of the object, 1 Sam. 2. 25. Zech. 2. 8. Psal. 7. 5. Prov. 3. 29. Exod. 22. 28. Act. 23. 5. Idolatry is a greater sin than theft, the cause Leu. 4. 2. and 6. 2. the Law, quality, Prov. 6. 30, 31. the matter, the soul sinning, Mat. 5. 13. and 10. 15. Luke 12. 27. john 19 11. the sin of a professor or public person; the time, 1 Sam. 2. 17. john 9 41. the place, effects, end, and manner of sinning, as when one knows it to be a sin and commits it, when sins are lived in, one committed in the neck of another, or the same sin is often committed.  
There are Fautores, actores, and authores. Sins against the first table caeteris paribus are greater than sins against the second.  
A sin against God in that respect is greater than a sin against man.  

1. From the object who is so infinitely excellent.  
2. The graces which have reference to God, are far more than the duties to our neighbour.  
3. There is a less motive to offend God then our neighbour.  
4. It doth therefore become a sin, because God is disobeyed whose Law is to love our brother.  
5. By proportion, if a sin against our neighbour be less which is against his goods then his life, because it is a greater good, then much more concerning God: Life is a greater good than riches, God is to be more esteemed than life or goods are.  
6. That which is against a higher end, is a more heinous sin; there are sensual and 

See Shepherds Sincere Convert, c. 3.  
Peccata spiritualia sunt majoris culpae quam peccata carnalia, non quasi quodlibet peccatum spirituale sit majoris culpae quo●ibet peccato carnali, sed quia considerata hac sola differentia spiritualitatis & carnalitatis graviorae sunt, quam caetera peccata, caeteris paribus▪  
Aquinas 1. 2. qu. 73. art. 5. v. plura ibid.   spiritual lusts, Eph. 2. 3. 2 Cor. 7. 1. sins of the soul are greater than the sins of the body in that respect, though otherwise there are greater aggravations, therefore the heart is called the good or bad treasure, because it gives all the sinfulness to the action.   
Inward sins are greater than outward sins, Mat. 5. 27. Psa. 5. 9  

1. They are the causes of outward sins, Mat. 15. 18, 19 and 12. 35. john 13. 2.  
2. They are the corruption of the chief part of a man, the understanding, judgement, thoughts, Mat. 6. 22. hence the Apostle prays for sanctification in the Spirit, Eph. 4. 23.  
3. They are against the chiefest part of God's Law in regard of the obligation of it, Rom. 7. it is spiritual, his Law looks to the spirit and soul of a man.  
4. From the contrary, inward obedience is far more acceptable, that is a great complaint by the Prophets, this people draw nigh with their lips, but their heart is far from me.  
5. The sins of the Spirit do most imitate and resemble the devil, he cannot be a drunkard, an Adulterer, because he is a spiritual substance, therefore his sins are pride, malice, and envy, Rom. 2. 29. the devils are called spiritual wickednesses, Eph. 6. all sin is from Satan per modum servitutis, spiritual sins per modum imaginis.  
6. Where there is the greatest delight and union, there is the greater sinfulness, they rejoiced to do evil, Amos 3. Sins of the heart are worse than of the life. 

1. They are more abundantly in the heart then in the life, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  
2. They are continually in the heart. Rom. 2. Sin that dwells in me. Evil thoughts are 1. A transgression of the Law as well as outward acts, the Law saith, thou shalt not lust, Deut. 15. 9 some sins are perfected in the thought, as envy and malice, though they come not into act, the Devil's wrath, malice, envy, make him an unclean spirit. 2. We are called to repent of thoughts, and ask pardon of them, Act. 8. 22. See I●●. 55. 7. the heart is the seat of the thoughts, God calls for the heart. 3. Consider the multitude of our vain thoughts.    
7. They are as incompatible with grace and sanctification as outward gross sins are, for that is a holy nature, and regeneration is chiefly in the understanding and will.  
8. They do more strongly oppose the Spirit of God which works upon the soul first and the intellectual parts.  
9 The cure of these is harder, partly because they are more rooted, and partly because they are more unperceivable, and also because there are not those bridles to 

All evil is worst in the fountain, Mat. 21. 31.  
A Caution. Sensual lusts deprive us of communion with God, we can never give them content, they are disquieting and debasing lusts. Spiritual lusts usually assault the highest persons, men of greatest parts, Rom. 1. 30▪ Elymas, Achitophel, jeroboam, Machiavelli, and of high condition, the very Saints are apt to be proud of spiritual gifts, these lusts are more subtle and deceitful then sensual lusts, they are not easily discerned, and have specious pretence●, one is not soon convinced of spiritual pride. The operation of spiritual lusts is more vehement and impetuous, the body moves slowly but the thoughts swifter than the Sun. Sensual lusts make us like a beast, spiritual like the devil, judas is called Satan,   curb them which might be in outward sins: there disgrace hinders, and the Laws of men: There are peccata carnalia & majoris infamiae, & spiritualia & majoris culpa▪ Gerson. Yet outward sins in some respects are above these. 

1. Because they are more scandalous and offensive.  
2. Outward acts strengthen inward corruptions more.  
3. They sometimes argue a more senseless and cauterised conscience.  
4. There are greater means and motives against these, a man's natural conscience tells him that these outward acts are sins.     
Sins of omission are great sins, there are great threatenings against them, jer. 20. 25. they fit the heart for doing evil, Psal. 14. 4. the not doing of good is the doing of evil.  
They are the great sins of our lives, and go beyond sins of commission in these particulars.  

1. The greatness of the evil of sin is to be measured by the greatness of the Law, 

There is in Christ both active and passive obedience, his active answers the precept, his passive your transgression of the prohibition. Poena damni in hell answers to sins of omission, as sensus to those of commission.  
When Satan tempted Eve, he first turned the heart from God. Malum commissionis & omissionis in aliquibus conveniunt & in aliquibus differunt, conveniunt 1 Qund utrumque contra legem. 2 Quod utrumque etiam est privatio rectitudinis debita & per legem requisitae. Differunt tamen 1 Quia malum omissionis est contra praeceptum affirmativum: Commissionis contra praeceptum negativum. 2 Differunt ratione fundamenti; quia malum commissionis immediatè semper fundatur in actu aliquo aut habitu; malum omissionis non sed in ipsa anima, nullo actu, aut habitu ita, medio. Barlow exercit. 2.   that is the greatest Law in which the mind of the Lawgiver is most. In every commandment there is a precept and prohibition, the precept commands duty, the prohibition forbids sin, omissions are against the precept the main thing, the curse is but the accidental part. He breaks the first Commandment, hath not Jehovah for his God, who doth not love, fear, trust in him; as well as he that sets up an Idol to worship him.  
2. The first and main evil of sin was in the omission. Sin first draws away from God before it enticeth, jam. 1. 22. jer. 2. 13. To speak exactly, there is no sin but that of omission, it is a deficiency and coming short of the rule.  
3. The state of unregeneracy lies mainly in the sins of omission, there is much more evil in a state of sin then in the act of it, Eph. 2. 12. the reign of sin is more seen in omission then commission, there is a higher act of sovereignty in the negative voice, then in any positive Law.  
4. The ground of every sin of commission is a sin of omission, turning away the soul from God, Psa. 14. 1, 2. job 15. 4. jam. 1. 14. negligentiam in orando semper aliqua notabilis transgressio sequitur, john 20. 24, 25. Rom. 1. 21. compared with 24. 2 Thes. 2. 10.  
5. The greatness of sin is measured by the mischief it doth the sinner, sins against 
A sin of omission is an aversion of the heart from God and duty in some thing commanded, as that of commission is a conversion or turning to the creature an something forbidden, jud. 5. 23. jer. 10. 25. 2 Thes. 1. 7, 8. 1 Cor. 9 16. There is en aversion from God before there is a conversion to the creature, jam. 1. 14.  the Gospel are greater than those against the Law, sins of commission make the wound, sins of omission keep you from the plaster, john 3. ult.  
6. These are the sins which Christ will mainly inquire after, Mat. 25. 42, 43.   
We should loathe sins of omission which in the world are little made of, 1 Sam. 12. 23. woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel, saith Paul. Peter and john say, We cannot but speak the things which we have heard. These omissions directly oppose the will, law, and honour of God, as well as the committing of foul faults. 2. They will damn us as well as commissions. 3. They will make way for gross evil deeds.  
There are three sorts of omissions,  

1. Totall, non-performances, not praying, reading, hearing, meditating; Psal. 14 4, ●.  
2. Seldom performances, intermission or performing of duties unevenly, 1 Thes. 5. 17. Col. 4. 2.  
3. Sleighty performances, when we keep a tract of duty, but do it customarily, pray not fervently and spiritually, Rom. 12. 11.   
Sins against the Gospel are greater than sins against the Law.  


1. The more Laws are transgressed the greater the sin.  
There are three sorts of Laws.  

1. The Law of nature, which teacheth to do good to them that do good to us. Mat. 5. 43.  
2. The moral Law, which requires subjection to whatever God commands.  
3. The Law of faith, Rom. 3. 27. which requires subjection to God in his Son: all these are broken by sinning against the Gospel.    
2. The more of the mind of the Lawgiver is in the Law, the greater is the sin, Mens legis est lex: Gods mind is clearly seen in the Gospel, viz. the exalting of himself in his Son, Pro. 8. 30.  
3. The more any one sins against light, the greater the sin, there was never such a discovery of the filthiness of sin, nor of the justice of God upon sin, it could not be purged but by the blood of God, Acts 12. 28. See Ephes. 5. 26. never such a discovery of God's grace as in the New Covenant, a second Covenant was never tendered to the Devils.  
4. They are sins against higher love; God loved Adam and the Angels Amore amicitiae, they had never offended him, he loved us Amore misericordiae, Rom. 5. 8. he loved Adam and Angels in themselves, us in Christ, Eph. 1. 6.  
5. These sins make way for the sin against the holy Ghost, Matth. 12. 32. Objectum hujus peccati non est lex sed Evangelium.   
The sins of God's people are greater than others sins.  
In eadem specie peccati gravius peccat fidelis quam infidelis, Grace aggravates and heightens sin. They sin 1. Against the highest light, Ps. 51. 6. 2. The highest love, peculiar goodness, electing love.  
Of all sins to be without God, or out of Covenant with God, is the greatest sin; 
By the greatness of the precept we may judge of the greatness of the transgression, Mat. 22. 38.  it is against the great command in the Law, the first Commandment, and the great promise in the Gospel.  
Those sins wherein a man's self is the object are the worst of all sins, self-deceit is the worst of all deceits, and self-murder is the worst of all murders.  
The degrees of sin in a man's own heart, or the conception, birth and perfection of sin there.  
First, Injection or suggestion from Satan, which stirs up the lusts in the heart, 

1. Foams seu depravatio inhaerens.  
2. Suggestiones cogitationum & affectuum, id est, quando depravatio originalis movet se aliqua inclinatione.  
3. Delectatio. 4. Consensus. 5. Ipsum opus. Chemnit. loc. Commun.   1 john 5. 19  
Secondly, The soul receives the thought, there must be Partus cordis as well as seminarium hostis. Bernard. job 17. 11.  
Thirdly. Delectatio, the soul is pleased with such thoughts, so Eve.  
Fourthly, Upon this the will consenteth, than lust is conceived.  
Fifthly, There is a consultation in the soul how to bring this into act, Rom. 13. 14.   

CHAP. VII. That all Sins are Mortal.  

Lex Dei prohibet omnia etiam levissima peccati quae venialia vocabulo autiquo, sed ineptè & impiè ab adversariis usurpato, vocantur. Baronius Disput. Theol. de peccato mortali & veniali. Sectione 1. Vide plura ibid. Sectione 2. & 3.  THe Schoolmen 
a Aquinas 1a, 2ae Quaest 88 Arti●. 1, &c  and their followers the Jesuits 
b Bellarm. de Amiss. great. & statu peccati, l. 1. c. 3, etc. See Dr Halls No peace with Rome; and Dr Pri●. Serm. 2. on Mat. 5. 25. p. 42. to 47. Mr Pemble of Justification, Sect. 3. cap. 4. pag. 144, 145, 146. and Mr Burgess of Justification, pag. 206, 207. and Doctor Featleys Vertumnus Romanus, pag. 28, 29.  distinguish sins into Venial and Mortal. Some sins say they are sua natura, in their own nature venial, others mortal, of which they reckon up seven. Veniale quod est praeter, mortale quod est contra legem. As all sin except that against the holy Ghost Mark 7. 29. is venial in Christ, so without him is all mortal and deadly, Cartw, on Mat. 5. 23.  
All sin deserveth eternal death, Rom. 6. 23. as appeareth by the opposition of life everlasting, which the Apostle joineth in the same verse, Id. ibid. There is the merit of hell in every idle word, because the wages of sin as sin is death.  
Every transgression of the Law is worthy of death, Gal. 3. 10. Every sin is a transgression of the Law, 1 john 3. 4. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. Tom. 2. cap. 164. & 165. See Deut. 27. 26. & 30. 19 Ezekiel 18. 4. james 2. 10. Numbers 15▪ 22, 23, 24. 1 Cor. 15. 56.  
Bellarmine seeks to elu de these and that other place with these glosses, The soul that sinneth, that is, mortally, shall die; the wages of sin, that is, of mortal sin, 
Bellarminus distinguit i●ter peccata quae sunt contralegem, & quae sunt praeter legem, ut peccata venialia. Sed excogitatum est commentum nullius momenti & ponderis, ubi enim in tota Scriptura reperient aliquid esse peccatum quod sit praeter legem, nisi fortè opera supererogationis esse peccata venialia censeant, quae praeter legis mandata esse dicunt. Certè furari obolum (quod exemplum Bellarminus affert) directè pugnat Contra mandatum non furaberis. Mentiri vel jocosè vel officiosè est contra mandatum, non dices falsum testimonium. Johannes Fisherus▪ Roffensis Episc. planè Luthero concessit, peccatum esse veniale tantùm ex misericordia Dei. Venialia appellantur quaedam peccata ab eventu, quia condonantur, non quod per se venia digna sint. Agnoscimus Joannem, 1 Io. 5. 17. distinguere inter peccatum ad mortem, & non ad mortem, sed in hac oppositione per peccatum ad mortem, non intelligit quod mortem non meretur, sed in quo aliquis non moritur, vel quod ta●c non est, ex quo peccator non possit revocari ad meliorem mentem. Si autem intelligi hoc deberet de peccato mortali quod Pontificii à veniali distinguunt, sequeretur nullas preces fieri debere in Ecclesia nisi pro iis qui vemaliter peccaut, quod ipsi absurdum judicabunt, ut contrarium sua praxi confirmant. Riveti Cathol. Orthod. Tract. quart quaest. 13.  is death; and the sting of death is sin, that is, deadly sin; these are tautologies; as if the Prophet had said, The soul that sinneth a sin unto death shall die; and the Apostie, sin that deserveth death deserveth death; He saith they are venial ex natura sua, such as if God please to remit the temporal punishment, they are so little that he cannot inflict eternal for them, they are venial propter parvitatem materiae, & imperfectionem actus.  
Quodvis peccatum peccantem in rigore l●gis morte involveret, si persona absque misericordia Dei in Christo judicaretur. Episc. Daven.  
Sins may be termed venial or mortal: 1. Either comparatè in comparison of others; or simpliciter simply and in themselves, and that either, 1. Ex natura sua of their own nature. 2. Ex gratia by favour or indulgence. 3. Ex eventu in the issue or event; in the two last respects all the sins of the elect are venial, but no sins ex natura sua are venial, that is, such as in their own nature deserve pardon, Nullum peccatum est veniale dum placet: sicut nullum mortale si verè displicet, August. Ambrose saith, All mortal sins are made venial by repentance.  

Object. Mat. 5. 22. There are two punishments less than hell fire, Therefore all sins 
This place Bellarmine urgeth, De amiss. great. & statu peccati, l. 1. c. 9  are not mortal.  
Answ. That which our Saviour speaketh here of three several punishments, is spoken by allusion to the proceeding in the Civil Courts in judaea, and all that can be gathered from thence is but this, That as there are differences of sins, so there shall be of punishments hereafter.  
2. Maldonate the Jesuit ingeniously confesseth that by council and judgement the eternal death of the soul is understood, yet with this difference, that a less degree of torment in hell is understood by the word Judgement than Council, and a less by Council then by hell fire.   

Object. Mat. 5. 26. & 7. 5. & Luke 6. 41. 1 Cor. 3. 12. Some sins there are compared to 

Bellarmin. ubi supra.  
The Papists have devised smoky distinctions of peccatum simpliciter, and secundum quid, they say, Venial sin is not properly sin, but imperfectly and analogically, no transgression, but praetergression of the divine Law, and that it is pardoned without repentance, even by the outward sprinkling of holy water.   very light things, as hay, stubble, a mote, a farthing.  
Answ.  

1. Some sins in comparison of others may be said to be light, as a mote is little to a beam, a farthing to a pound, yet no sin committed against God may be simply termed light or little, Zech. 1. 5. being committed against an infinite God, and having cost an infinite price.  
2. A mote if it be not taken out of the eye hindereth the sight, so the least sin hindereth grace and is sufficient to damn the soul.  
3. Christ by the farthing Matth. 5. understands the last payment of debt, not 
Omnis transgressio legis est quiddam admissum contra legem, sed omne peccatum est transgressio legis divinae, 1 Joan. 3. 4. Peccatum est dictum, vel factum vel concupitum contra legem Dei. Augustinus contra Faustum, lib. 22. cap. 27. Sic Bernardus, Omne peccatum contra legem Dei praesumitur, de praecepto & dispens. cap. 14. Sic inter ipsos Pontificios Durandus, Gerson, Vega, aliique. Vide Bellarm. de justif. l. 4. c. 13. 2. Omnia peccata venialia ●ege divina prohibentur, ergò sunt contra legem. 3. Rectae rationi adversantur, recta ratio enim dictat verba ot●●sa, cogitationes inordinatas esse mala illicita & fugi●uda, ergo contrariantur legi divinae Episc. Dau. de justitia actuali, c. 48. Vide plura ibid.  sin; and the Apostle light and vain Doctrine by hay and stubble: Purgatory is to cleanse men from their lesser sins, but precious Doctrines or good works are there tried by fire.    

Object. James 1. 15. Sin When it is perfected brings forth death, therefore not every sin, not sin in every degree.  
Answ. The Apostle there sets forth the method and order how sin comes to the height; the word he useth for sin is of the feminine gender, speaking of the conception and production of sin, he saith, Sin when it is finished brings forth death actually, the least sin merits death; or the Apostle shows when death appears to us most, not in its conception and production, but when it is finished.   

Object. Mat. 12. 36. He saith not, we shall be condemned for every idle word, but only that we shall be called to answer for it.  
Answ. The same phrase is used concerning all kind of sins, yea those that are greatest and most grievous.   

Object. There is a mortal sin, 1 john 5. 16. therefore a venial sin.  
Answ. He speaks of a mortal sin, not by nature, or by merit, but by event, the event of which shall certainly be death, and the person out of all hope of pardon. Vide Bezam.  
Of all words sin hath no diminutive, not in any tongue known to us commonly only the Spaniard hath his Peccadillo, a petty sin. Dr Clark.  
Sins considered in reference to the object are all great, so Peccata sunt aequalia.  
2. The least sin that ever was committed had in it the whole nature of sin, it is tam peccatum, as truly sin as the greatest.    

CHAP. VIII. Of the Cause of Sinne.  
SIn properly is nothing formally subsisting or existing (for then God should 
Perkins Cas. of Consc. In peccato nihil positivum, say the Schoolmen Vide Calvin. Institut. l. 2. c. 4. God is not the Author of that whereof he is Ultor. Fulgentius. Actor in malo not Author mali. Vix ullus unquam extitit adeò superlatiuè impius qui asseruit Deum esse authorem peccati, se● mali moralis, ut sumitur pro malitia ipsa, nec Ethnicus quidem nedum Christianus. Barlow. Exercit. 2.  be the author of it) but it is an ataxy or absence of goodness and uprightness in the thing that subsisteth, Psal. 5. 4. 1 john 2. 16. 1 john 1. 5. Hab. 1. 13. job 34. 10.  
The Church of Rome 
* Bellar. de amiss●grat & statu peccati, lib. 2. cap. 2, 3, 4, etc. Rhem. Annot. in Mat. 6. 13. & Jam. 1. 13.  slanders the Protestants, and saith, that they maintain God to be the cause of sin, but we hold that the Devil and man's corrupt will are the cause of it. Sin in man at first came from Satan, john 3. 8. & 8. 44. john 6. 17. Matth. 16. 23. the cause of sin now man is fallen, is from ourselves, Matth. 15. 19  
God hath no hand in the acting and approving of sin, Rom. 3. 5. & 9 14. He is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity with approbation; He is the wise permitter, powerful disposer, and eternal avenger of it.  
God cannot sin, or cause others to sin:  

1. Because his will is most holy and pure, and the rule of perfection, Isa. 6. He is holy in his Nature, Actions, he hath so confirmed his Angels in holiness that they cannot sin.  
2. To sin is to turn away from the chiefest and last end, therefore he cannot sin.  
3. God threatens sinners in his word, and punisheth them, therefore he allows it not.  
4. All deservedly hate the Manichees, Marcionites and Libertines, who would make that sacred and dreadful Majesty the cause of their detestable enormities, therefore Bellarmine doth wickedly in imputing to Protestant Divines that which they detest with the greatest loathing.   
That is a great Question in Divinity, a Deus author peccati ex reformatorum placitis statuatur? 
Papistae clamitant à Catholicis sieri Deum authorem peccati maximè Calvino, Martyr, Beza: hos enim docuisse, illum authorem esse omnium scelerum, & flagitiorum. Bellarminus praesatione in controversias; & quidem ita authorem, ut cor hominis imp●llat & incitet ad malefaciendum, adeò ut incestus Absolomis verè verit illius opus. Chamier. ●om. 1 lib. 3. cap. 1. de Script. Vide Whitak. c. 1. q. 5. controv. c. 7.   
Four several kinds of power though not in, yet over sin, may be ascribed to God, a permissive, desertive, restrictive and disposing power.  
First, A permissive power, else it could not be; he may permit what he is not bound to hinder.  
Secondly, A desertive power, it would not be if he withdrew not his grace; sin needs no efficient cause no more than darkness, Causa deficiens in moralibus efficiens.  
Thirdly, A restraining power, there may be an act of restraining grace on the Devil.  
Fourthly, A disposing power, whereby he disposeth and ordereth sin to some 
Non est eadem ratio futurorum bonorum & malorum; bona enim sunt ex vir tute positiva quae semper cum suis effect is, ab efficaci Dei voluntate fluit: sed mala ex defectu sunt oriunda, atque adcò quà talia non pendent ab efficaci aliquo decreto. Quicquid ha●ent entis positivi, ab efficaci decreto pendet● quicquid purae negationis, ex ejusdem decret negatione sequi-i tur, quicquid verò pr●●ationis & pravitatis in sese continent, peccatoribus ipsis debetur in solidum. Rescrip. Ames. ad responsum Grevinchov. c. 13. Vide plura ibid. Mal●m es●e bonum est, saith Austin● And again, Non fit aliquid nisi omnipotens fieri velit, vel sinendo ut fiat, vel ipse faciendo. Peccatum sieri Deo permittente bonum est, saith Bellarmine. The Arminians have blasphemous expressions, Qui non vetat pecca●● cum potest jubet, say they, Why doth God complain of sin, he might have kept it out of the world. See M● Manton on jam. 1 13. from p. 100 to 105. God hardened Pharaohs heart, Exod. 4. 21. & 10. 1. 1. He infused no hardness, nor stirred up the inward propension in him to evil, neither did he harden him by bare prescience, or by an idle permission, it was God's will that Pharaoh should be hardened, and he disposed all his providences to that end. He withdrew his grace, and left him lose to the swinge of his own heart, Psal. 81. 1●. 1 Sam. 16. 14. He delivered him up to the power of Satan, 1 King. 22 22.  excellent and good end, his glory: When God doth dispose or order the sin of any man,  

1. He doth not infuse this evil but use it.  
2. He useth it not as an evil or sin, but as an instrument.  
3. He would not use it to such an end, but that he is able to raise more good by it, and to counterpoise all the evil in the action.  
4. God did not infuse malice into Joseph's brethren, but made use of it rather to a sale then a murder, he sent him before to save much people alive, Gen. 45. 8.   
In the beginning of sin God's will is exercised:  
First, By way of inhibition in giving a Law against it.  
Secondly, By way of permission, leaying a lawless man to a lawless way. In the progress of sin, God either hinders or overrules it, in the end, he either punisheth or pardoneth it. And all this without sin, or the least blemish of sin. For in the beginning of sin he showeth his Wisdom: In the progress he showeth his Power: In the end, he maketh manifest both his Justice and his Mercy. Mr Wischart on the Lord's Prayer, Petit. 3.  
Those places Acts 2. 23. 2 Sam. 1. 43. besides a permission do express an active providence; he is said to harden and deceive. God's permission is not otiosa but efficax permissio.  

1. God permits sin.  
2. Cooperates to the act as natural.  
3. Decreed it.  
4. As a just Judge he denieth grace.  
5. As the supreme Judge he useth all these as instruments of his glory.   
Papists and Arminians allow God no other power about sin, but what is barely permissive or desertive at most.  
There are two ordinary similitudes, one from a halting horse, the rider which makes the horse go is not the cause of his halting, but of his going only; but it is a question whether this clears the doubt, for the rider is but an outward moving cause to the other, he doth not work to the motion of the horse as immediately as the horse himself doth, therefore this simile were good and fit if that opinion were true, God doth only give being, but not immediately work to the effect itself; and if the simile were to the purpose, it would be, that the rider besides this outward motion did as immediately help to going as nature itself.  
As for the other about a dunghill, the Sunbeams that work upon any boggy places and make them smell, but yet they themselves are not defiled: this would illustrate well for all the sins men run into since the fall, but how will it answer about the first sin? for Adam's nature was not a bog.  
The best way is to hold these two truths:  

1. God doth not sin nor is not the author of it.  
2. That he hath a providence about it, and for the manner it is hard to determine.   

Object. God bid Shimei curse.  
Ans. That was an improper command, and implieth only that God used Shimei's tongue as a whip to scourge David.   

Object. Ezekiel 20. 25. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgements whereby they should not live. There God seems not only to permit, but 
Hic nodus sic solvetur, si dicamus per mala statuta, vel intelligi leges Ethnicorum, quibus Deus iratus popuiam suum subjecerat: idque videtur innuere oppositio versus vic●simi tertii, ubi Deus dicit se dedisse populo suo statuta, quae quisquis impleverit vivet per ea, opponens malas istas leges suae legi: vel si dicamus per mala statuta intelligi legem Dei moralem & caer●monialem: quae quidem mala vocari potest accipiendo malum non pro injusto, sed pro noxio & in pernici●m cessuro. Huic interpretationi adstipulatur subjecta clausula: Additur enim, Statuta per quae non pos●ent vivere. Nam per legis impletionem nemo unquam salutem adeptus est. Molin. Enodat. gravis. Quaest 1. cap. 2. de Dei Providentia. Mentem iis ademi, ita ut meis legibus contemptis, ipsi sibi leges facerent duras atque mortiferas, ita Chaldaeus hic. Grotius.  also to command sin.  
junius interprets it, Ipsis incommoda noxiaque, and mentions some particulars.  
I gave them in the wilderness decrees and ordinances, that were not good for them but hurtful; and judgements that did sentence them to death: So the great Annotations, instancing there in some of those judgements.  
Weems understands it of the ceremonial statutes, and nicely distinguisheth between not good and evil: See Psal. 5. 4, 5, 6. The ceremonial statutes were good in their kind, and in respect of the end for which God ordained them, Col. 2. 17. Some say God did deliver them over into the hands of wicked Princes, he gave them over in judgement to obey their idolatrous Laws, the statutes of Omri: Others hold the genuine meaning to be that of the Chaldee Paraphrase, They observed statutes which were not right, and customs whereby they should not live.  
Some Protestant Authors have used some incommodious and harsh phrases, yet 
Mr Archer indeed saith, That God is not only the Author of sin, but also of the sinfulness, the very Formality, the Anomy, the Ataxy, the Pravity of sin, whence his Book was burnt.  1. They do most of them use but the Scripture-phrase, and Bellarmine himself useth worse in this matter; With what face can Bellarmine lay to calvin's charge that he makes God the author of sin, when he wrote two books against the Libertines, as Bellarmine himself acknowledgeth 2. De statu peccati, c. 1. when the Protestants professedly handle the question, An Deus si● Author peccati? they determine it negatively, therefore it is not fair for their Adversaries to conclude that they hold so by some passages in their writings which may seem to sound that way.    

CHAP. IX. Of communicating with other men's sins.  
NO godly man ought to partake or communicate with other men's sins, Isa. 52. 11. Ephes. 5. 11. 2 Cor. 6. 15, 16. 1 Tim. 5. 22. Revel. 18. 11. Vitia aliorum si feras, facis tua.  
We are guilty of other men's sins, or communicate with others, First, Negatively and privatively, and that  

1. By sinful silence: the Heathen knew not the exactness of godliness, when he said, He repented him often that he spoke, but never that he held his tongue.  
2. When one omits to do his duty with that life, courage and zeal which he ought; as Eli reproved his sons, but not sharply enough, and punished them not for their sins.  
3. When one doth not pray for a reformation, Psal. 51. or humble himself for the sins of others, 1 Cor. 5. 2. 2 Cor. 12. 21.   
Secondly, More directly and positively:  

1. He who commands or persuades Isa. 10. 1. as jeroboam who made Israel to 
Numb. 31. 16. Dan. 3. 4, 5. 1 Sam. 22. 18. Act 23. 23. 1 Sam. 11. 15. 1 King. 21. 10. 1 Sam. 22. 18. Hab. 2. 15. Athaliah counselled her son to do evil.  sin was a cause of all the people's Idolatry, there was not one of the one and twenty Kings of the house of Israel that departed from the sins of jeroboam. Balaam enticed the people of Israel to fornication and idolatry; the Devil by being a tempter becomes guilty of all the sins committed by men: Eve became a tempter to Adam, 1 Tim. 5. 22.  
2. He who is a minister and servant to execute the evil commands of others, the three Worthies in Daniel refused to obey Nabuchadnezzar, and the Apostles would obey God rather than men; Doeg is cursed by God for this, Ps. 52. 2 Kin. 1. 9 jer. 7. 17, 18.  
3. He that gives consent and allowance to it, Levit. 20. 4, 5. though he do not act it, Rom. 1. ult.  
4. He who defends, praiseth and encourageth others that have sinned, He that breaks one of these least commandments, and teacheth others so to do. Cajetan holds that to drink till a man's head be giddy is no sin, or a venial one: Another holds that there is a lawful idolatry: the Papists canonize such acts, to murder and poison Princes: the Pharisees encouraged the people in sin.  
5. Those that familiarly converse with wicked men, 1 Cor. 5. 11. 2 Thess. 3. 14. our very presence in idolatrous service is evil, 1 Cor. 14. 15.  
6 Permission and connivance at evil, Levit. 20. 4, 5. Qui non vetat peccare cum potest, jubet. This concerns Magistrates and other Superiors, if they restrain not sin when they have power and authority in their hands, 1 Sam. 3. 30.  
7. Provoking to sin, 1 Kin. 21. 25. Ephes. 6. 4. Gal. 5. 26.  
8. Giving ill example, as when Magistrates and Ministers swear, jeroboam by 
Communicating in our Congregations with ignorant and profane people, makes us not partakers of their sins; Communion is a common union, their sins are not the common thing, we are united then in.  his ill example as well as precepts made Israel to sin, Mat. 23. 35. not that they killed Abel, but they went on in their predecessors steps.    

CHAP. X. Of the Punishment of sin.  
GOD punished Adam's sin with original and actual sin: See Gen. 3. 17, 18, 
Vide Bellarm. de statu peccati, l 6. c. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Poena est aliquid damnosum quod infligitur ob peccatum. Cameron. d● Eccles. ●ain is so allied to sin, that in the Hebrew Tongue one word signifies both; that in cain's speech the Translator knows not whether he shall english it, Gen. 4. 13. My sin is greater than can be forgiven, or my punishment is greater than can be born. Dr Clark. See D. Hall's Holy Panegyric, p. 484.  19, 23. The Lord sent Adam forth from the garden of Eden, there is loss of communion, and vers. 24. he drove out the man as a testimony of his wrath and displeasure.  
Before sin is committed it is Inimicus blandiens. In committing it is Dulce venenum, after committed it is Scorpio pungens. That speech of Abner is true in sin, 2 Sam. 2. 26. It will be bitterness in the later end. Ubi peccatum ibi procella, saith chrysostom, sin always brings a storm with it, Lam. 3. 38.  
Raro antecedentem scelestum 
Horace.   
Deseruit pede poena claudo.  
Sometimes sins are punished a long time after they were committed, 2 Sam. 21. 1. 
Before sin came into the world there was no evil, Gen 1. 31. but when sin came (which was the first and is the chiefest evil) it brought with it all other evils. When Adam sinned all other creatures should have been destroyed, they were all cursed for man's use. There is a curse on man's body, 1. Weating and wasting labour: 2. Mutilation: 3. Deformity, want of that beauty which God bestowed on him: 4. Sickness: 5. Old-age.  the blood of Christ was visited on jerusalem forty years after; the wickedness of Eli's sons was visited on the whole family in the days of Saul: job saith, Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth. God would show patience as well as justice, therefore he spares long to see if men will convert without blows.  
All evils of misery are but the issue of sin, first sin entered into the world, and by sin death.  
1. Temporal evils.  
All public commotions, wars, famine, pestilence, are the bitter fruits of sin, Deut. 28. there is God's curse on the creature, man's body, all his relations.  
2. Spiritual:  
Terrors of conscience, horrors of death, 1 Cor. 15. 56. are the effects of sin.  
What an evil is a condemning heart, an accusing conscience! yet this is the fruit of sin, A wounded spirit who can bear. Some will bear outward evils stoutly, nay suffer death itself boldly, but sin will not so easily be born, when the conscience itself is smitten. See this in Cain and judas, many a one maketh away himself to be rid of this vexation. This sils one with shame, john 8. 9 fear, Gen. 3. 11. and 
Bish. bilson's Redempt. of mankind by the blood of Christ in conclus. to the Reader, for the clearing of certain object. Spiritual plagues are the greatest, 1. In respect of the subject, they light on the soul; mercies to the soul are the greatest mercies. 2. They are not only judgements from God, but for sin in us, Isa. 63. 17. 3. They are the greatest evidences of eternal wrath, john 13. ult.  grief, Acts 2. 37. The greatest torment that in this life can be fall a sinner is desperation; when the soul of a man convinced in herself by the number of her heinous offences, loseth all hope of life to come, and casteth her eyes wholly on the fearful torments of hell prepared for her; the continual thought and fright whereof do so amaze and afflict the comfortless soul, that she shrinketh under the burden, and feeleth in herself the horror of hell before she come to it.  
3. Eternal:  
The everlasting absence of all good, 2 Thes. 1. 19 and the presence of all evil, 
Gregorius l. 4. Moral. It is such a stain as cannot be got out but by a remedy that is infinite, Isa. 34. 13. All the tribulation in the world cannot do it, jer. 6. latter end The blood of bul● and goats could not purge the conscience from dead works, nothing could get it off but the heart blood of Jesus Christ, jer. 28. later end. Heb. 9 13, 14. Hell fire will not do it.  Mark 9 49. are the consequents of it. justum est, quòd qui in suo aeterno peccavit contra Deum, in aeterno Dei puniatur.  
Sin is finite in the act and subject, but of infinite 
* In peccato duo sunt: Quorum unum est aversio ab incommutabili bono, quod est iusi●●●um, Unde ex ha● parte peccatum est infinitum. Aliud quod est in peccato, est inordinata conversio ad commutabile bonum: & ex hac parte peccatum e●i sinitum, non enim possunt esse actus creaturae infiniti. Exparte igitur aversionis respondet peccato poena damni, quae etiam est infinita: Est enim amissio infiniti boni, scilicei Dei: Ex parte autem inordinatae conversionis respondet ei poena sensus, qu● etiam est f●●●ta. Aquinas 1●, 2●. Quaest 87. Art 4. Peccatum non formaliter, sed materialiter, & objectiuè est infinitum, quia peccato majestas infinita violatur.  demerit, being committed, 1. Against an infinite Good, therefore it deserves infinite punishment, 2. The obligation of the Law is everlasting. This was the first Doctrine which was published to man, that eternal death is the punishment of sin, Gen. 2. 17. the Devil opposed it, Gen. 3. 4. the belief of the threatening would have hindered them from sin.  
The Socinians say, that man should have died in the state of innocency, although 
The Pelagians (whom the Socinians follow) say, Mors est conditio naturae, non peccati argumentum vel poena; Death is rather the condition of nature than the fruit of ●in.  he had not sinned, and therefore that death is not a punishment of sin, but a condition and consequent of nature. The holy Ghost assigns death to sin as the cause. See of it Rom. 5. 12. & 6. 23. Our bodies were not mortal till our souls were sinful.  
Arminians say, That there is neither election nor reprobation of Infants, and that ●o Infants can be condemned for original sin.  
jacob was in a state of election in his mother's womb, Rom. 9 11. All men in the counsel of God are either elect or reprobate, But Infants are men or part of mankind, Therefore they are either elect or reprobate.  

1. Infants are saved, therefore there is some election of Infants, for salvation is a fruit of election, and proper to the elect, Rom. 11. 7. There is a manifest difference among Infants, between those that are born in and out 
* De extraneis judicare vetat Apostolus 1 Co. 5. 12. Ideoque hos infantes libero Dei judicio relinquimus: non audemus salutem cuiquam permittere manenti extra foedus Christi. Molinaeus.  of the Church, Gen. 17. 17. Acts 2. 37. & 3 21. Children of unbelievers are unclean, 1 Cor. 7. 14. and aliens from Christ and the Covenant of promise, Ephes. 2. 11, 12.  
2. That opinion, That no Infants are condemned for original sin, seems to be 
Arminiani dicunt neminem damnari propter originale peccatum, hoc est, Turcarum, Sarac●norum, Ethnicorum liberi in infantia defuncti regnum Coelorum ingrediuntur, & consequenter meliori conditione sunt, quam sun Abrahamus, aut Moses, & Virgo Maria, dum in terris agerent. Poterant enim illi perire juxta sententiam vestram, non possunt Turcarum liberi in infantia defuncti. Et tamen omnes & singulos irae filios nasci profitetur Apostolus; & quae ratio sub imaginationem cadit, quare non moriantur ●●iam silii irae? Twiss. cont Corvinum, c. 9 sect. 3.  contrary to that place, Ephes. 2. 3. If this were true, the condition of a Turks child dying in his infancy is far better than the condition of Abraham, Isaac or jacob living, for they might fall from grace (say they) and be damned, but a Turks child dying, according to their opinion shall certainly be saved.   
The worst punishment of sin is to punish it with sin, and so God punisheth it sometimes in his own people, Isa. 63. 17. Mar. 6. 52. a judicial blindness and hardness is the worst.  
See Ezek. 24 13. Rom. 1. 26, 28. Revel. 22. 11.  

Concerning National sins.  
Sins though committed by particular persons, may be National:  
First, When they are interwoven into the policy of a State, Psa. 94. 20. when sin is established by a Law, Rev. 16. 8. & 17. 17. & 6. 12. jer. 15. 9  
Secondly, When they are universal and overspread the whole Kingdom, jer. 9 2, 3. Isa. 56. 11.  
Thirdly, When the people that profess the name of God are infected with those sins, Gen. 6. 2, 3, 4.  
Fourthly, When few or none in the Nation bewail them, jer. 5. 31.  
Fifthly, When they are openly countenanced and tolerated, 1 Kings 14. 24. when there are no masters of restraint, judg. 18. 7.  
Sixthly, When they are the predominant humour of the Nation at that time.  
The sins of God's people which commonly provoke him to break a Nation.  

1. Their omissions, that they stand not in the gap, Ezek. 22. 30, 31. improve not their interest in him.  
2. When their hearts are inordinately set upon the things of this world, 2 Chro. 36. 12. Mat. 24. 39  
3. When there is a great unfruitfulness and lukewarmness in the things of God, Host 10. 1.  
4. When divisions are still fomented amongst those that fear God, Isa. 9 21. Desolations in a State follow divisions in the Church.   
The sins which may provoke God against a Nation:  

1. Idolatry, jer. 5. 19 when the true God is worshipped in a way that he hath 
Three things fill up the measure of the sins of a Nation, Universality, Impudence, Obstinacy.  not appointed.  
2. Intestine divisions, Isa. 9 ult. compared with 10. 6.  
3. Incorrigibleness under lesser judgements, Isa. 9 11.  
4▪ Wearying of God, Isa. 7. 13, 18.  
5. Unworthy and wicked compliances, Host 5. 13.     

CHAP. XI. Signs of a Christian in regard of sin, and that great corruptions may be found in true Christians.  
OF the first.  
Signs of a Christian in regard of sin:  
First, He is convinced of sin john 16. 9 the Greek word signifies to evidence by demonstration, the Spirit so demonstrates it, that a man hath nothing to object, Psal. 51. 13.  
Secondly, He is free from its dominion, as Paul saith, Sin shall have no dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace; and after, Being freed from sin. Whosoever is born of God sinneth not, John. They do no iniquity, David. They serve not sin 
* Proinde bonus si serviat, liber est: malus autem etiam si regnet, servus est, nec unius hominis, sed quod est gravius, tet dominorum, quot vitiorum. August. de civet. Dei, l. 4. c. 3.  in the lusts thereof. He hath not an habitual resolution to continue in sin.  
Thirdly, He is troubled and wearied with the relics of it, and driven to 
M. Burgess makes the opposing of sin, and abstaining from it, one of his Signs of Grace. See his Treatise of Grace, Sect. 2. Serm. 14.  Christ for pardon and help. He is weary of sin, and every sin so far as he knoweth, specially his own sin, and that iniquity which cleaveth closest to him. His flesh is inclined to it, but his Spirit is a verse from it, and even tired and burdened with it, so that he often sighs out in himself the complaint of St Paul, O miserable man that I am. Still as he prevails more against sin the remainders of it do more afflict him: sin in itself considered is his greatest unhappiness, that he hath so vile a nature, is prone to so vile deeds, and doth in many things so foolishly offend, this troubleth and disquieteth him even then when he hath no other cross to trouble him, and many times imbitters all his prosperity. 
Christians go to God for Justification, ne peccatum damnet, that the damning power of sin may be taken away. For sanctification, ne regnet, that the reigning power of sin may be destroyed. For Glorification, ne sit, that the very being of it might be abolished.   
Fourthly, He is grieved with the sins of others, jer. 9 1. Ezek. 9 4. Ezra 9 3, 4. See 1 Cor. 5. 2. David was the great Devotionist of the Old Testament, Psal. 119. 136▪ Phil. 3. 18.  
The greatest sinners when once converted are most compassionate to others, because they have experience of the power of sin, and have most sensibly felt the goodness of God.  
God is dishonoured by the sins of others, as well as by our own sins, the godly hate sin both in themselves and others, Psal. 97. 10.  
Of the second:  
Very great corruptions in heart are yet to be found in sincere Christians, 2 Chr●. 15. 17. Very few men are recorded in Scripture, but their great sins are recorded as well as their graces, except josiah and some few 
* God hath preserved some of his people from shameful sins and stains, Enoch, Abraham, Caleb, joshua, and many others, and we are commanded to be careful to live without just reproach, 2 Pet. 1. 5 M. Rogers in his 7 Treat. c. 11. See M. Hildersham on Psal. 51. the Title.  others. David's adultery and murder, 1 King. 15. 5. Some think he was given to lying, Psal. 119. Remove from me the way of lying. Salomon's gross Idolatry, 1 King. 11. 4. Peter's shameful Apostasy, Mark 14. 71. Asa's persecution, 2 Chron. 16. 10.  
First, For inward corruptions, there is the body of all sins remaining in the soul of every gracious person, though it be mortified and broken, it doth not rule in him. Paul writeth to the Ephesians and Colossians, and wisheth them to put off the corrupt old-man.  
Secondly, For actual, we may say with james, In many things we offend all; our infirmities are mingled with our best duties, we break out many times into things we know to be evil, slagitious crimes.  
The people of God are freed,  

1. From the sin against the holy Ghost, 1 john 3. 9  
2. From sin reigning.  
3. From a total apostasy, jer. 3. 22. they cannot lose all saving grace, 1 Pet▪ 1. 13.  
4. From final impenitency, Psal. 37. 24.   
Godly men may fall into other sins:  

1. The state of grace cannot exempt them, 1 john 2. 1.  
2. The truth of grace cannot preserve them, their actions come from a mixed principle.  
3. No degrees of grace can preserve them, Phil. 1. 6. nothing will perfect our sanctification but the beatifical vision, 1 john 3. 3.   
They may fall into the grossest errors in judgement, and foulest evils of practice. In the Church of Galatia some denied Justification by the righteousness of Christ. In the Church of Corinth some denied the Resurrection, Revel. 18. 4. Tertullian fell to Montanism. Luther to Consubstantiation: David into murder and adultery: Solomon to Idolatry: Peter to deny his Master with execration▪ True believers may fall grievously and heinously:  

1. Into sins not only quotidiani incursus. August. of daily incursion: but such which do vastare Conscientiam, as the Schoolmen speak, though they do not Excutere fidem.  
2. So as to wound the consciences of their brethren, Rom. 14. 15.  
3. To wound their profession, 1 Tim. 6. beg. Rom. 2. 24.  
4. They may strengthen the hands of sinners, 2 Sam. 12. 14.  
5. They may greatly grieve the Spirit.  
6. They may contract a damnable guilt, Psal. 90. 8.  
7. They may fall so as to bring on themselves great temporal afflictions, Ezra 9 
They may lose their peace Psal. 51. 12. wound their own consciences, Prov. 6. 33. weaken their graces, be a reproach to all the Saints.  13. Psal. 99 8. jer. 2. 19  
8. They may be chastened with spiritual afflictions, Psal 51. 12.  
9 God may in them punish one sin with another. David was punished with carnal adultery for his spiritual security.  
10. They may lose, though not jus ad regnum, yet aptitudinem regnandi.   
Yet there is a great difference in their sinning between them and the wicked, their spots are not alike:  

1. They have not such a full inward principle to sin. David committed adultery not as Zimri with his whole heart, the other had a principle checking him, totus homo sins, but not totum hominis, there is a principle of grace.  
2. They do not constantly sin, they live not in gross sins; it is one thing to fall into the dirt as a sheep, another thing to wallow in it as a swine doth.  
3. These are bitter sins to them, and minister much matter of humiliation afterwards; David was a murderer and a bitter penitentiary for it, Psal. 51. Deliver me from blood guiltiness.  
4. They are in a combat and fight with their ordinary infirmities of passions, as Paul Rom. 7. & Gal. 6. it makes them often pray, it puts them into sad agonies, as Rom. 7. what they would not do they do, therefore O wretched man that I cannot pray, be humble.  
5. They do at last come out of these with the contrary graces, and delight in them, they mortify and subdue their lusts, Rom. 8. The law of the Spirit frees them from the law of sin, yea they delight in the contrary graces, His delight is in the law of the Lord.  
6. They do not only come out of them themselves but set against them in others, the woman of Samaria called her neighbours; Lydia her family; Then will I teach transgressors thy ways.   
It is a great mercy for the holiest men to be preserved from gross and scandalous sins, 2 Pet. 1. 10.  
Reasons  

1. Hereby all the actual exercises of grace are suspended, one hath no more use of grace than if he were an unregenerate man, Psal. 51. 10, 11. there is a Deliquium gratiae as well as animae.  
2. There is a suspension of all the privileges of grace when one falls into gross sins, there is an interdiction though not an intercision, a sequestration though not an ejection, Psal. 51. 7. He alludes to the purging of the Leper under the Law, he had a right and title to his house, but not an actual enjoyment of it, a man hath communion with God here by the acts of grace and consolations of the Spirit, these are suspended.  
3. Grosse falls in God's people are commonly penal, the punishment of other sins, 2 Sam. 11. 6. Matth. 26. 33, 34. as sin cannot be called by a worse name than sin, Rom. 2. 1●. so God cannot punish sin worse than by sin.  
4. It leaves a blot on a man which shall never be wiped off. Peter's denial is spoken of where ever the Gospel is published; jeroboam that made Israel to sin; This is that Ahaz; judas the Traitor.  
5. Hereby you grieve the hearts of the Saints, and strengthen the hands of the wicked.  
6. Though God pardon the sin, yet he will not take off the temporal judgement from the person and posterity.   
The execution of judgement shall begin with them, Amos 8. 1. 1 Pet. 4. 17. God 
See Jer. 13. 11, 12, 13. Deu. 32 19 Mi●a. 1. 5.  will punish his people with greater 
* 1. They are nearer unto God than other men, Mic. 2. 8. jer. 12. 8. 2. Their sins provoke him more than the sins of others, being committed, 1 Against more light, Isa. 22. 1. & 29. 1. inward light, Psal, 51. 6. 2 Against greater mercies, those of the new Covenant, the blood of a Son, the graces of the Spirit, Am. 9 3. 3. Their sins dishonour God more than the sins of others, Rom. 2. 24.  severity, Lam. 4. 6. Mat. 3. 10.  
Six sorts of godly persons are in danger:  
First, Men in the highest place, Magistrates, Ministers, David, Peter.  
Secondly, Men of great parts, Knowledge puffeth up. Augustine saith of Licinius, one of great parts but of a corrupt judgement, Cupit Diabolus à ●● ornari.  
Thirdly, Men of the greatest graces, God leaves sin in men to keep them low, therefore when men are high in grace he leaves powerful lusts to exercise them.  
Fourthly, Men that are carnally confident, as Peter, Dr Pendl●ton.  
Fifthly, Those that are censorious against the falls of others, Gal. 6. 1.  
Sixthly, Those that are used to great visions of God; Salomon's heart departed from the Lord that appeared to him twice, Eclipse lunaris nunquam contingit nisi in plenilunio.  
The Saints of God are often gainers by their sin, Rom. 8. 28. Good comes to them this way by accident, the Lord overruling it by his wisdom and grace.  
First, Hereby a man is discovered to himself, sees that in his own heart which he never saw before, 2 Chron. 32. 31.  
Secondly, The work of his humiliation and repentance is perfected; this use Paul made of his grievous sins, I was a persecutor, saith he.  
Thirdly, The work of regeneration is perfected, Luke 22. 32.  
Fourthly, He exalts the grace of God: so Paul.  
Fifthly, It makes him watch over his own heart, and shun the occasions of sin the more.  
Sixthly, It makes him the more compassionate to others when they fall, Gal. 6. 1.   

CHAP. XII. Two Questions resolved about sin.  

Quest. 1. HOw can grace and corruption stand together, so that corruption poisons not grace, nor grace works out corruption, when the admitting of one sin by Adam killed him presently?  
Answ. Perfect holiness cannot stand with any corruption, but when the first lines only of God's Image are drawn they may stand with corruption. If corruption should destroy grace, or grace corruption formally, yet they may be mixed together in gradu remisso. God hath undertaken not to withdraw himself from them. 
Prov. 20. 9 Eccles. 7. 20. 1 John 1. 8. It was much disputed whether Carthage should be destroyed in regard it had been such a great enemy to Rome, and had sent forces to the very walls. But some opposed it, because than Rome would degenerate into luxury, and there would be divisions among themselves, when they had no common enemy to encounter. Vide Livium & Aug. de civ. Dei, l. 1. c. 30.   
God (though he could take away the seeds of sins) yet suffers such remainders of corruption to abide in his people for divers good reasons:  

1. Because the Lord delights in this world rather to show grace to the persons of his servants then to their natures.  
2. Because he would humble them 
* God humbleth his people three ways, 1. By love melts them with his goodness. 2. By suffering. 3. By sinning, that is the worst way, as the other by his love is the best. God's people have principles of love to melt their souls, Ezek. 36. 31. Host 3. 15. There are two aggravations of their sins, 1. That they should sin against the sweetness of Grace, john 6. 61. 2. That they should sin against the power of Grace, Psalm 51. 6.  (as Paul when exalted above measure) and have them live on free grace, 2 Pet. 1. 9 The Devil tempted Adam (though he was created perfect) telling him he should be as God; if from a state of sin there should be such a sudden change to perfection, men would be apt to swell. The Antinomians will have nothing to do with the Law, and then (since by the Law comes the knowledge of transgression) they think they are without sin, and after, that they are perfect, like God.  
3. He delights in their fervent hearty prayers, he would have his children daily begging of him.  
4. He would have them long to be dissolved and to be at home with him.  
5. That he might magnify the power of the indwelling virtue of his Spirit, that a little grace should dwell amidst great corruptions.  
6. That we might deal gently with our brethren when they fall, Gal. 6. 1.    

Quest. 2. Wherein lies the difference between a man sanctified and unsanctified in regard of the body of corruption?  
Answ. There are these apparent differences:  

1. An unregenerate man hath a body of corruption in him and nothing else, all his thoughts in him are only evil continually, a regenerate man hath a body of grace as well as of corruption.  
2. The natural man carries the guilt of it with him, the reward of his body of sin is death and destruction, but in the regenerate man the guilt (that is, the power to bind him over to the wrath of God) is wholly done away in the blood of Christ: God's displeasure doth not redundare in personam, the person is pardoned though the sin remain.  
3. The body of corruption hath the whole rule in the unregenerate man, it 
A Swine is where he would be when he is in the mud, but so is not the Sheep.  is the active principle from which all is wrought, but in the other grace struggleth against it.   
The Papists say, 1. There is no such body of corruption left in a man when he is regenerate, in Baptism, or when Regeneration is wrought the body of corruption is taken away: 2. They say, Concupiscence never was a sin, but was in Adam in the state of Innocency: 3. That the good works of regenerate men are perfect.  
This may minister consolation to the people of God who find these relics of corruption, they are unteachable, sinful, can do nothing well.  

1. This is the condition more or less of all the servants of God.  
2. These corruptions are not imputed to thee, the Lord loves thee as well as if thou wert rid of them.  
3. Thy loathing thyself for them is as pleasing to God as if thou couldst perform perfect duties.  
4. Christ will reign in thee in the midst of these his enemies.  
5. He will deliver thee from these relics of corruption when he hath done good to thee by them.  
6. This should make thee humble and watchful.     

CHAP. XIII. Of the Saints care to preserve themselves from sin, and especially their own iniquities.  
GOD'S people must and will carefully preserve themselves from wickedness.  
2. They must bend their care most against their own sins.  
The first Proposition is proved out of 1 john 5. 18. Our Saviour saith, 
The Empress Eudoxia sent chrysostom a threatening message, to which he answered, Go tell her, Nil nisi peccatum timeo. judaeos à carne suilla abstinere Deus jussit, id potissimum voluit intelligi; ut se à peccatis at que immunditiis abstinerent. Est enim lutulentum hoc animal, & immundum; nec unquam coelum aspicit, sed in terra toto & corpore & ore projectum, ventri semper & pabulo servit. Lact. l. 4. divin. Instit. de vera saptentia. Vide plura ibid.  Take heed to yourselves of the leven of the Pharisees, and take heed of covetousness, take heed to yourselves that your hearts be not oppressed with surfeiting and drunkenness. Paul bids Timothy to keep himself pure, 2 Cor. 7. 11. Among other fruits of godly sorrow the Apostle begins with care or diligence, which is the duty we are now speaking of, viz. a care not to sin, Psal. 119. I hid thy law in my heart, that I might not sin against thee, I took pains to withdraw myself from sin, Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.  
Reasons 1. Why the people of God ought to keep themselves in this manner. 2. Why they can and will do so.  
First, They are bound to do so in divers respects:  

1. Because of the many advantages which sin hath against them, in regard of which they will be miserably overtaken with it, if they do not look to themselves: 

1. A naughty nature within them by which they are apt to all sin, as occasion, temptation, and their natural ability doth serve, which if it be not opposed will break forth very much.  
2. We have an enemy the Devil, who doth observe and watch us with all subtlety and malice, with unwearied diligence, it is his business to draw us to sin, to suggest evil fancies into us, and to work upon our corruption, we see how he empoisoned our first parents when they were not careful.  
3. The world is stored with variety of means to draw a man to every sin, objects to every sense, encouragements, provocations, examples. Great danger of sinning requires great diligence to prevent the danger.    
2. We must consider of the hurt that will befall us from sin, if through our carelessness we suffer it to get the better of us, not to speak of the mischief of eternal death, a holy man may run into great sins, and shall surely do so without great care and watchfulness, and those will be very hurtful unto him, they will break off his communion with God, interrupt the peace of his conscience, deface God's Image in him and disable him from praying or doing any good duty, and fill him full of doubts, fears and horrors, and make him grow worse and worse.  
3. With due care and diligent observing of ourselves; a godly man may much prevail to keep himself innocent from great transgressions, and unspotted of the world.   
Secondly, The Saints can and will keep themselves from sin.  
Reasons, 1. Because they have received the divine nature, by which they eat the pollutions that are in the world through lust, by which they are made sensible of the evil of sin, and framed to a loathing and hatred of sin; every true Christian hath the spirit which will make him lust against the flesh. The wisdom of the world is to keep themselves from misery, the wisdom of Saints is to keep themselves from that which is the cause of all misery, and the worst of all misery, from iniquity.  
The godly will not only be careful to abstain from evil acts, but to subdue their lusts, to crucify sin in the thoughts and desires, Rom. 7 8, 9  

1. The chief dominion of sin is in the heart, there is the evil treasure, the root.  
2. This is contrary to the chief part of the law; the letter of the law is against the acting of sin, the spirit of it is against lusting.  
3. This is the strongest part of sin and hardliest subdued, 2 Cor. 10. 5.   
The way to keep ourselves from sin, 

A Reverend and Religious man had this written before his eyes in his study, saith Mr Gataker, Noli peccare, nam Deus videt, Angeli astant, diabolus accusabit, conscientia testabitur, infernus cruciabit.  
There were five men met together that asked one another what means they used to abstain from sin. The first answered, that he continually thought upon the certainty of death, and the uncertainty of the time of it, and that made him live every day as it were his last day. The second meditated of the severe account he was to give at the day of judgement, and of the everlasting torments of hell, and this kept him from sin. The third, of the vileness and loathsomeness of sin, and of the excellency and beauty of grace, and this made him abhor sin. The fourth, of the everlasting rewards and pleasures providest for those that abstain from sin, and this prevailed with him. The fifth and last continually meditated of the Lord Jesus Christ and of his love, and this made him not to sin against God. This last is the greatest motive of all. Mr Calamy on Ezek. 36. 32. If I were to preach one Sermon in all my life for the humbling of men for sin, I would take a text that might show the great price that was paid for it, and therein open the breach that sin hath made between God and man's soul. Mr. Burroughes on Host 10. 12.    

1. Often and earnestly call upon God to keep you by his Spirit of wisdom and strength, for you are not able to keep yourselves.  
2. Often renew and settle in your own hearts a resolution of not sinning, and that upon spiritual grounds and considerations taken out of God's word, 1 Pet. 4. 11. David saith, I hid thy word in my heart that I might not sin against thee. This hiding the word is a calling to mind, and serious pondering the commandments, threats, promises, exhortations, examples and reasons of God's word against sin in the general, and against such and such sins in particular, and pressing them upon ourselves till they have wrought in us a settled and determinate resolution, I will not sin, I will not do this and this evil.  
3. It is requisite to observe and oppose the first rising of sin in the motions and desires thereof, in the thoughts of it, with a sigh, groan, ejaculation, calling to mind some text of Scripture against it, and stirring some detestation of it, and calling upon ourselves to keep our former resolutions against it: The conception of sin is by the stirring and moving of ill desires within.  
4. eat the occasions of evil, Gen. 39 10. Prov. 11. 14. all those things which 
A Christian woman was possessed at a Theatre, Satan giving this reason why at that time he entered into her, Quia invenerat eam in suo. Tertul. lib. de Spectac. Vide August. Confess. l. 6. c. 8.  ourselves have found in our experience to provoke and stir our corruptions and to give them advantage against us, Solomon saith, Look not on the wine when it is red, Prov. 23. 31.   
Secondly, Our care of avoiding sin must show itself specially against our own sins, Ezek. 18. Cast away all your transgressions by which you have transgressed, Psal. 18. 23.  
Reasons,  

1. Where the danger is greater, the care of preventing must be most used. Every man is soon and most easily overtaken with these sins.  
2. What will be a greatest proof of his truth and sincerity, and so the surest 
1 Sam. 22. 24.  foundation of his comfort, that should he be most careful to practise; this will make it appear that he strives against sin because it is sin, when he striveth against those evils that are most pleasing to him.  
3. What will most further him in the works of sanctification and amendment of life, that ought he most diligently to endeavour; now in prevailing against one's corruptions he shall most further the work of grace and holiness in himself, kill that sin, and the rest will be more easily killed.  
4. There we should bestow most pains, in which if we do not use care we lose our labour in other things.   
Means were prescribed before to be used against sin in general, you must apply these in particular against your particular sins.  
Pray often against these, meditate and resolve most against these, observe and resist most the first rising of these, eat the occasions of these first. A diligent and constant care to resist a man's own corruption, is a sure proof of uprightness, and such a one shall enjoy the comfort of his sincerity in due time.   

CHAP. XIV. Of the cause of forbearing Sin, of abhorring it, and of small Sins.  
THe main cause of our forbearing any sin should be the sinfulness of it, 
If the sinfulness of it make me forbear it, I shall refrain, 1. From secret sins which men cannot know nor see. 2. From sins to myself very pleasing and beloved. 3. From sins countenanced and favoured in the world. 4. In the days of prosperity and welfare, when the rod is not upon me. Unregenerate men may fly from sin for some evil that comes by it, Peccare non metuunt, sed ardere. Aug. Bern.  that is, because it is repugnant to Gods will, and offensive to him, Isa. 59 2. So joseph, How shall I do this great evil and sin against God. Lo what did curb him from that wickedness which in the verdict of carnal reason he had so much cause to have committed, and he might have done with so much safety and assurance, even this, It was a sin against God, jer. 44. 4. Nehem. 13. 27. Psal. 51. 3. Psal. 97. 10.  
Reasons,  

1. This is the very proper cause of all the other evil effects of sin, and herein doth the very evilness and vileness of it consist. The foul nature of sin stands in this, that it is offensive to God and opposite to the will of that excellent Majesty to whom all creatures ought to be subject.  
2. Our forbearance of sin is no otherwise a fruit and effect of love to the divine Majesty, then if we forbear it on this ground, and further than it ariseth from this ground it is nought worth to our comfort, nor shall bring us any everlasting reward, Ezra 9 14. Eadem velle & nolle, ea demum firma est amicitia.  
3. Unless this thought make us fly from sin we shall never forbear it constantly 
God hates all sin & always. See Pro. 8. 12.  nor universally, because no other motive will still and every where hold.   
We must not only avoid sin but abhor it, Psal. 97. 10. Isa. 30. 22. Rom. 12. 9 
We must hate sin odio aversationis & inimicitiae, not only with the hatred of flying from it, but of enmity, pursuing it.  David saith, I hate vain thoughts. Paul mentioning divers evils, saith, God forbid. The wicked, and much more wickedness, is an abomination to the just, 1 Sam. 26. 11. Rom. 6. 2. Sin is often expressed by abomination; 'tis so to God, it should be so to men.  
Reasons,  

1. Because our affections must be conformable to God's. Prov. 6. 16. He hateth nothing simply but sin, and sinners for sins sake.  
2. Sin in itself is most hateful, because most hurtful to man and injurious to God: The ground of hatred of any thing is the contrariety of it to our welfare; as we hate wild, fierce and raging beasts for their mischievousness; a toad and serpents for their poisonousnesse which is a strong enemy to life and health: so we hate thiefs and murderers. Sin is the most mischievous and harmful thing in the world.   
Our hatred against sin must have these properties. 
Not being is the bounds of hatred, where there is true grace it will seek the ruin of sin.   

1. It must be universal, we must hate all sins, Psal. 119. 104. james 1. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 1. our own as well as others sins, gainful and profitable sins, as well as others: Hatred is of the whole kind, See job 34. 32.  
2. Suitable to the nature of sin, hating those sins most which are most palpably sinful.  
3. Moderated with pity and compassion toward the sinners.   
There are many arguments to deter us from small sins. 
There is no sin simply little, the least offence is committed against an infinite God, and therefore deserves infinite punishment. 2. The least sin cost the shedding of Christ's blood. 3. There is great disobedience, desilement and unthankfulness in a little sin. 4. The wages of sin, as sin, is death, and therefore of every sin. Mr. Calamy on Jer. 18. 7.   

1. Quia difficilius caventur, It is a thing more difficult to avoid them then greater.  
2. Quia difficilius curantur, Because the wound given by them is the more difficultly cured, as a prick made with a bodkin or steletto, if it be deep, is more dangerous than a wound given with a greater weapon.  
3. Quia ad majora viam muniunt, Because they are a preparation and disposition to greater offences, as little thiefs which creep in at the windows and open the door to the greater.  
4. Quia parva peccata crebra ita nos praegravant ut unum grande, Small sins with their multitude as much hurt the soul as great sins with their weight, greatest rivers are filled by drops. Dr Featly. See Psal. 40. 12.   
How shall we do to get the heart affected with secret sins, affections follow knowledge.  
Four considerations may get a remorse in the soul for these things.  

1. Think of the holiness of God, job 4. 18, 19 1 Sam. 6. 20.  
2. Your own proneness to sin, Psal. 40. 12. Sins in the whole course of your conversation, sins in prayer, recreation, business.  
3. The exact purity of the law, which condemns every irregular excess and defect, 
Psal. 119. Rom. 7. 9  lust, motion.  
4. Consider the strictness of the last account, 1 Cor. 4. 6.    

CHAP. XV. Of some particular sins, and specially of Ambition, Apostasy, Backsliding, Blasphemy, Boasting, Bribery.  

AMBITION  
IS an inordinate desire of outward promotion to places of honour and wealth. 
Tripliciter appetitum hominis contingit esse inordinatum. Uno modo, per hoc quod aliquis appetit testimonium de excellentia, quam non habet, quod est appetere honorem supra suan● proportionem. Alio modo, per hoc, quod honorem sibi cupit non reserendo in Deum. Tertiò, per hoc quòd appetitus ejus in ipso bonore quiescit, non referens honorem ad utilitatem aliorum. Ambitio autem importat inordinatum appetitum honoris. Aquin. 2 1, 2ae. Quaest 131. Artic. 1.  It is inordinate,  

1. When it is carried after such honours as may not lawfully be possessed by him that desires them.  
2. When to an higher place than that one hath already; as every one must be content with his goods, so with his place.  
3. When the desire is overvehement 
a Latini ambitiosum vocant, utpote modum non tenentem in ambiendis honoribus. Steph. Thes. Graec. , such as makes him to take irregular courses to satisfy them, or to be extremely discontented, if he fail of his purposes. Absaloms' ambition made him basely to crouch to the people.  
4. When it seeks alone itself and not the glory of God and public good.   
The Pharisees were very ambitious, Matth. 6. 1, 2, 5, 16. Luke 18. 11. Matth. 23. 6, 7.  
The Jesuits have most traitorously cast the platform, and do go about so much as the wit of man can devise, to bring all Kings, Princes and States under their subjection. Pars. Quodl. of Relig. and State, Quodl. 9 Answ. to 7th Artic. See more there, and Answer to the 16th Article.  
In his Answer to the 5th Article, he saith, the Jesuits have given it out for England by name, that it should be made an Island of Jesuits.  
Tertullian calls ambitious men Animalia gloriae & famae negotiatores.  
The whole world satisfied not 
b Alexandro in reg●o Macedo●●ae nato, hoc est, Graeciae angulo, orbis hic non erat satis. Illachrymasse dicitur ad mentionem plurium mundorum, quum de hoc ipso Philosophi apud eum dispuut●rent. Lod. Viu. de verit. Fi●. Christ. l. 1. c. 10.  Alexander.  
Unus Pellaeo juveni non sufficit orbis,  
Aestuat infaelix angusto limine mundi. Juvenal. Sat.  
Yet Diogenes was more ambitious in refusing all honours, than Alexander in rejecting none.  
We must labour to mortify it,  
By telling ourselves often and seriously  

1. Of the vanity of this outward greatness which is but a bubble; those that are advanced highest for worldly greatness, are as full of discontents as any other men under heaven.  
2. By convincing ourselves that ambition is a damnable sin.  
3. Of our unworthiness of any good thing, and the danger of high places. 
There are three qualifications of a holy greatness of mind. 1. A holy independency. 2. A holy magnanimity. 3. A holy selfsufficiency  See Rom. 12. 16. Phil. 2. 3. Psal. 131. 1, 2. Qui bien se cognoit, pe● se prise.  
4. Labour to be ambitious of honour from God and our consciences, Rom. 15. 20. The Greek word signifies an high ambition to preach the Gospel. The same Greek word is used also to the like purpose, 2 Cor. 5. 9 & 1 Thes. 4. 11. There is a holy ambition, Habet & sapientia sui generis superbiam. Lactantius.   
It should be our ambition to serve God in the highest way of duty, and to obtain the highest degree of glory.   

Apostasy.  
Apostasy and Backsliding are usually confounded; Yet  
Some distinguish them, and say, Apostasy is a total and final departure from 
Ille propriè est Apostat● qui fidem veram antea professus, ab c● in totum recedit. Apostata enim idem sonat quod desertor & transfuga. Talis fuit julianus, qui cognomen habuit Apostatae: talis sunt qui ex Christianis vel Iudaei vel Mahumeta●i sunt. Ames. de Consc. l. 4. c. 5.  the faith once professed. Backsliding is a falling again into our old sins for a time, out of which we recover through God's grace, being renewed again by repentance.  
Apostasy is partial or total, particular or universal, temporal or final, of the head, heart, and life.  
The question is not Whether grace being a creature be defectibilis, in its own nature defective, whether a creature being left to himself may fall off? Grace where it was perfect, was not able to defend itself. The Angels and Adam (we know) fell.  
Bishop Carleton against Montague, ch. 2. thus states the question, Whether they that are according to Gods purpose Predestinated, Called and Justified, may lose these graces of their Predestination, Calling and Justification: This (saith he) the Orthodox Church hath always denied. The Arminians who admit no other Predestination but conditional, affirm it, and none but Pelagians and Arminians. 
The first disturbers of this uniformity in doctrine, were Barret and Baro in Cambridge, and after them Thompson. B. Carleton ch. 2. Never was there any among us, before Mr. Montague, that published this error of the Apostasy of the Saints, in Print, but only Thompson a Dutchman, Fellow of Clare-Hall in Cambridge, a man of an excellent memory, and of great learning, but of little grace, and of a deboist, loose and voluptuous life. Mr. Prinne of the Perpetuity of a Regenerate man's estate. p. 221. Petrus Bertius Cacotheologus Leydensis librum edere haud veritus est titulo certè ipso execrabilem, de Apostasia sanctorum: homo esse videtur ex Arminii Schola, Abbo●us de Perseverantia Sanctorum.   
Eminent Professors that have attained only common grace, may fall from a form of godliness, Acts 19 33. compared with 2 Tim. 4 14.  
We must distinguish betwixt gifts or common graces, and true sanctifying graces; the first may be lost, not the other.  
In sanctifying graces there may be an intermission of the act, a remission of the degree, Rev. 2. 5. & 3. 27. but not an utter and total amission of the habit.  
A godly man may fall fearfully and dangerously, when God withdraws his assistance, but not totally and finally; he may decay in the degrees of grace, that he may never recover it to his dying day, neither the strength nor comfort of grace that he formerly had: Perpaucos invenies qui redeant ad gradum pristinum, Bernard; yet it is a great sin for a godly man to fall from any pitch of grace obtained, Heb. 12. 15. Rev. 2. 5.  
Our own times afford many sad instances of Apostates, Professors turned Apostates, nay pleaders for Apostasy.  
These things premised I shall endeavour to prove That a true believer cannot fall totally and finally.  
Scripture proves it, Psal. 1. 3. 2 Cor. 4. 9 Prov. 24. 16. Not totally, 1 joh. 2. 19 1 john 3. 9 nor finally, john 10. 28, 29. 1 Pet. 1. 5. God and Christ have agreed to uphold him.  
Perseverance in grace to the end is a gift of God given to true Believers, Rom. 8. 28, 29, 30. The chain is so linked together that it cannot be separated. He whom God purposed to predestinate must needs be predestinated, he that is predestinated must needs be called, he that is called must be justified, he that is so justified must be glorified. But no man can come to glory without perseverance to the end.  
Mr. Burgess in his Treatise of Grace and Assurance, Sect. 2. Serm. 14. on 1 john 3. 9, 10. saith, This place is brought to prove perseverance in grace, and no strength of wit hath yet been able to overcome it; and he interprets it, sinneth not as one who is of the devil his father, all within him is not corrupted, so that he makes sin his trade, his custom and delight.  
He cannot fall into the service of sin totally and finally. Whether this seed of God be faith, or the Word of God, or the grace of God's calling according to his purpose, or the Spirit, or any of these, or all these, it proveth our purpose, that 
See Deodate in loc.  all is not fallen away, than the man in whom it abideth cannot fall totally. B. Carlton against Montague.  
john 5. 24. Hath everlasting life, it shall be as truly given him as if he had it already 
See Joh. 15. 16  in possession.  
St Austen hath observed out of the Exposition of the Lords Prayer made by Cyprian, that almost in every petition we pray for perseverance. So then that prayer will uphold the doctrine of Perseverance, as the articles of the Creed do generally that of Assurance.  
Objections answered.  

First, If one degree of grace may fail, why not another, and so grace wholly decay?  
Answ. Some say all the degrees of grace which a godly man obtains by trading 
So Barlow in his Discourse of Spiritual steadfastness and others. 1 Pet. ●. 23. 1 Joh. 3. 9  with grace as a talon, may be lost, but the first stock which God gave him to trade withal, called incorruptible seed, the seed remaining cannot be lost. He may be brought to the first stock that God gave him to trade withal.   

Secondly, We read many examples in Scripture of forward disciples that seemed to be sanctified, and fell, judas an Apostle, D●mas and Alexander companions of Paul, and Nicholas the Deacon.  
Answ. These were only temporary believers not true converts. Common graces may fail, but not sanctifying.   

Thirdly, The Scripture speaks of those that denied the Lord that bought them, 2 Pet. 2. 1.  
Answ. That text is the strongest for Apostasy; he means bought in respect of 
See the Annotat. on that place.  external profession and esteem: Some say their services were bought, not their persons.   

Fourthly, Others urge that place much, Ezek 8. 21, 24, 25, 26, 27.  

See B. Mount. Appeal ch. 4. Mr. Goo●w. Redemption redeemed. c. 12. Pestilentes sunt Magistri qui negant id fieri posse quòd Deus & fieri posse & realiter à s● puniri testatur, Grotius in v. 24.  This text (saith Plaifere in his Apello Evangelium, c. 16.) by no evasion can be avoided, if the comparison there between a righteous man and wicked be well observed: for deny you any wise that a righteous man can turn away from his righteousness and die, and I will deny likewise that a wicked man can turn from his wickedness and live; and so we shall solvere Scripturas, make void the holy Word of God: if a supposition putteth nothing in the one it putteth nothing in the other; if the wicked there whom the text speaks be truly and legally a wicked man, than the righteous there is truly and evangelically a righteous man: For legally righteous the Scripture knows but one. If it be ever seen that a wicked man turns from his wickedness and lives, than it may as well be seen that a righteous man may turn from his righteousness and die. 
Tanti hunc locum faciunt Bellarminus, Bertius, & alii ferè omnes qui pro apostasia fidelium pugnant, ut in prima acic, primoque locum illum semper ostentent. Ames. Antisynod. Script. de Persev. Sanct. c. 2.   
There are several Answers given to this Objection.  
The Scripture here considers a man as of himself, and what he is by his own power, not what he is by a Covenant of grace, which is only per accidens and ex hypothesi a mere extrinsecall and accidental thing to a man.  
Some say this place in Ezekiel is to be answered as Heb. 10. 38. If any man draw 
See M. Burgess of Justificat. p. 237, 238.  back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Such threatenings do not suppose that the regenerate and true believers shall ever fall away, but are means to preserve them from it, by filling their hearts with holy fear, Luke 12. 4, 5. Rom. 8. 13. Heb. 12. ult. 
Promissionum & comminationum eadem non est per omnia ratio. Comminationum ratio est in homine & ex homine ipso, & ideo proponitur maxima ex parte, ut homo mutetur ab co quod est ratio minitandi, ex qua mutatione minitatio illa suum finem habet, atque adeo cessat, eodem planè modo quo mandatum illud quod tentandi causa proponitur, mandati vim amittit post horam tentationis. Promissionis alia est ratio & alius finis. Ames. Cor●●. Artic. 5. de Pers●v. c. 2.   
God's promises do not make way to his threatenings, but his threatenings make way to his promises: God doth therefore threaten that he may not fulfil, but doth therefore promise that he may fulfil. Mr. Bridge on Rom. 4. 19  
The scope of the place (say some) is to answer a most unjust calumny that the Jews in their Captivity cast upon God, that he visited the iniquity of their fathers upon them; thence they said the ways of God were not equal: The Prophet clears the justice of God, and tells them God punisheth no man for another's sins of which he is not guilty. God may inflict a temporal death on a righteous man, and that in displeasure for falling from the degrees of his righteousness, as on Moses and josiah.  
Dr. Featly in his Pelagius redivivus gives three Answers to this place, the last 
Quaestio fuit, utrum filii justi lu●r●nt paenas peccatorum patrum suorum; id est, utrum Israelit●e qui tunc temporis vivebant morte pl●ctebantur absque suo merito. Deus hoc sensu negat se v●lle mortem peccatoris, ita scilic●t ut velit mortem cuiquam infligere propter alienam culpam. Haec est clar● & cert● explicat●o ex an●lys● contextus fluens. Ames. Antisynod. Script. de Persev. 2. Professa est Remonstrantium sententia, nullam in v●t●r● 〈…〉 to ●●aram exstare promissionem vitae aeternae, atqu● adeo nec comminationem mortis aeternae. Se● norunt remonstrantes s●r●ire ●●●n●e. Id. ibid.  is, That the Prophet speaketh here of actual righteousness which may be lost, and is lost by the committing of any wilful grievous sin against conscience, not of habitual which cannot be lost.  
Others say this place and that Ezek. 33. 11. only speak of the temporal destruction of Gods own people. I delight not in your ruin as a tyrant that delights in cruelty, or as an inexorable Judge.  
Secondly, These places only show the possibility and acceptation of repentance, not Gods inward purpose; as a holy God he delights not in sin, as a merciful God he delights not in judgement.   

Object. 5. There are exhortations and threatenings, that if you forsake God he will forsake you; so David to Solomon, and Take heed you lose not the things you have wrought; watch stand fast.  
Answ. The perseverance of God's people is certain, yet moral not physical, therefore exhortations, admonitions and threatenings may well be used to stir up God's fear in them, which is a means to make them hold out to the end.   

Object. 6. Those examples of David when he committed adultery and put Uriah to death; and Peter when he so shamefully denied his Master, are urged also to prove Apostasy.  
Ans. But I may say of David and Peter's faith, and others that fell into enormous sins, with Tertullian, Caepit arescere, sed non exaruit. Mota fuit, sed non amota; concussa, sed non excussa aut extincta. The 51. Psalms, and Christ's prayer for Peter prove the same more fully.  
See Dr. Prideaax his Ephesus Backsliding. Mr. Robbinsons' Essays, Observ. 6.  
The falls of eminent professors should make the people of God afraid, Luke 17. 32. Rom. 11. 20. 1 Cor. 10. 11. Heb. 4. 1. 1 Cor. 7. 11. 2 Tim. 2. 18, 19  
God hath recorded the falls of his people,  

1. Ut ostendat infirmitatem nostram.  
2. Ut ostendat judicium suum.   
Where there is a principle of grace a man will fear sin as the greatest evil, Eccl. 9 2. Paul's great fear was not to suffer, but sin.  
2. The Saints find by experience that there is the same corruption in themselves that in others, Prov. 27. 19 Rome 3. 12, 13, 14.  
3. Because they know themselves liable to the same temptations, Neminem prorsus Dei gratia intentabilem facit. Prosper.  
4. They are liable to the same desertions from God; the Saints of God may fall into cursed opinions and very sinful practices, 2 Sam. 24. 1.  
5. The greater the person is that falls, and the more dreadful the fall, the greater ground of fear, Neh. 13. 6. Matth. 7. 27. Rev. 9 1, 2.  
There are divers grounds and roots of Apostasy.  

1. Unbelief, Heb. 3. 12. & ult. Faith unites the soul to Christ, and preserves it in him; by it we stand.  
2. The love of the world, 1 Tim. 6. 9 1 john 2. 15.  
3. Living in the practice of a known sin, 2 Thes. 2. 10, 11.  
4. Carnal security.  
5. Needless society with wicked men, and base fear.   
Remedies against Apostasy.  

1. Labour to be well principled in the grounds of Religion. 
Fear is animae praefidium; Superbia est haereticorum mater Luther.   
2. Keep your hearts in continual fear, Blessed is he that feareth always; this will keep a man low in his own eyes: Pride of parts and gifts betrays men to error.  
3. Be sincere, live up to your knowledge, 1 Tim. 1. 19 He that begins in hypocrisy, many times ends in Apostasy.     

Blasphemy.  
According to the notation of the Greek word, it signifies to hurt one's fame or credit; yea in the Hebrew also a blasphemer of God is said to strike through the name of Jehovah, Leu. 24. 16.  
It was so detested of old, that whereas it had a name, yet they did express it by 
See Doctor Willet on Leu. 24. quaest. 11. & Ridley of the Civil law, p. 59 Foxes 3d vol. p. 222.  an Antiphrasis, and used the word blessing instead of cursing, 1 King. 21. 10.  
The Jews were wont to rend their garments at the hearing of the name of God blasphemed, Isa. 30. ult. & 37. 1. Acts 14. 14. to express the rending of their hearts with grief and indignation.  
The School Divines thus describe it, If one deny any thing concerning God which agrees to him, or affirm any thing of him which doth not agree to him; or when that is attributed to the creature which belongs to the Creator. Vide Aquin. secunda secundae Q. 13. Art. 1. 
Dr Gouge of the sin against the holy Ghost. See more there, and Alsted. Theol. Cas. c. 15. c. 5.   
The Name of God is blasphemed in regard of the matter and manner. In regard of the matter God is blasphemed two ways; either Privatively, by taking away from him that which is due unto him, and wherein his honour consisteth. Or Positively, By attributing that unto him which is unbeseeming his Majesty, dishonourable to his great Name. In regard of the manner, when any thing is spoken of God ignominiously, contemptuously, as Exodus 5. 2. 2 Kings 6. 33. Dan. 3. 15.  
I would I were able to resist God, said Francis Spira.  
Gregory the 9th reckoned three famous impostors of the world, Moses, Mahomet and Christ.  
julian blasphemed Christ living and dying.  
The Heathens would never suffer their Gods to be blasphemed, but punished such as were guilty thereof by the power of the Magistrate. Socrates was put to death for blaspheming their multiplicity of Gods. Master Burroughes Irenicum chap. 5.  
The very Turks who account of Christ but as a great Prophet and powerful in 
The Turks abhor blasphemy, not only against God and Mahomet, but also against Christ and the Virgin Mary, and other Saints, and they punish blasphemers of whatsoever Sect. Purchase his Pilgrimage, l. 3. c. 10.  word and deed, inflict death upon that man that speaketh blasphemies against Jesus Christ.  
Heretics ought to be put to death now, as well as false prophets under the law; the equity of the judicial law remains, of putting blasphemers to death, Cartw. against Whit.  
When Servetus condemned Zuinglius for his harshness, he answers, In aliis mansuetus ero, in blasphemiis in Christum non ita, In other things I will be mild, but not so in blasphemy against God.  
For immediate blasphemy against God himself, it was capital, Levit. 24. 16.  
The Civil law herein followeth the Divine law, Blasphemi ultimis suppliciis afficiantur. Others have punished this sin with cutting off, or plucking out the tongue, and that deservedly; for that tongue is unworthy ever to speak more that shall dare once to speak against its Creator.  
Lewis the 9th, King of France, styled the Saint, published an Edict for the burning of blasphemous persons in the lips; A Noble man having offended in that kind, and being brought to the King, many interceded for him, that such an infamous punishment might be changed to another. The King would not hearken to their requests, but said, he himself would take it for an honour to be marked so on his forehead, if by that means he might drive away that enormous sin out of his Kingdom.  
Helps against it.  

1. Labour for a distinct, well-grounded knowledge in the principles of Christian Religion, jude 10.  
2. Receive the love of the truth, 2 Thess. 2. 11.  
3. Walk in the truth, 2 john 4. 2 Cor. 13. 8. 2 Tim. 3. 14.  
4. Pray earnestly, jude v. 24.   
It's a Question among the Schoolmen, Utrum damnati blasphement? Aquinas 
Secunda secundae, quaest. 13. Artic. 4.  thinks it credible, that after the resurrection they shall vocally blaspheme, as the Saints shall vocally praise God: And some say Damnati dum blasphemant Deum, in hoc peccant, because they are bound to an eternal law. After this life the demerit 
Recepta sapientum opinio est, in inferno non peccari: quae & certissima ratione nititur. Etenim disertè Paulus, Qui mortuus est, à peccato liber est, Rom. 6. 7. quod Ambrosius non immeritò ad omnes naturaliter m●rtuos extendit. Nec bonis voluntas nec malis facultas peccandi esse potest. Aug. Enchir. c. 6. Anima damnati hominis ita paenis obruitur, ut ne cogitationem quidem ullam concipere possit, quae ad peccatum vergat, Apoc. 14. 11. Sanfordus de Descensu Christ● ad Inferos, lib. 3. pag. 174.  of sin ceaseth, you shall give an account for the things done in the body, 2 Cor. 5. 10. The soul sins after, but shall not be judged for those sins; as in heaven good actions Pertinent ad beatitudinis praemium; so in hell evil actions Pertinent ad damnationis paenam, saith Aquinas in the same place.   

Of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.  
It is called the great transgression, Psal. 19 12. and blasphemy against the Spirit, Matth. 12.  
Blasphemy against the Spirit is, When a man doth maliciously and proudly revile 
Non quivis homines sunt peccati illius subjectum, sed ij tantum qui illuminati sunt à Spiritu Sancto. 2. Qui ex deliberata malitia contra dictamen Spiritus, bellum indicunt veritati cognitae. 3. Qui ex odio id faciunt & blasphemiam negationi addunt. River. in Exod. 20. 7. In Spiritum Sanctum blasphemi sunt, qui agnitam per Spiritus illuminationem & in conscientia approbatam Evangelicam veritatem destinato consilio abnegant cum pertinaci impugnatione, addentes voluntariam blasphemiam, atque adeo ejusdem hostes publici sunt. Rivet. in Exod. 30. 7.  and despite the truth of the Gospel and Word of God, which he certainly knoweth.  
It is called the blasphemy against the Spirit, because it is against the knowledge wherewith a man is lightened by the Spirit of God, Cartw. on Matth. 12. 31.  
It is called the sin against the holy Ghost, not that it is only against the third Person in the Trinity, the three Persons make but one Divine Essence; but because it is a direct opposition and resistance of the light of knowledge with which the holy Ghost hath enlightened it. Non dicitur blasphemia Spiritus ratione personae illius: sed ratione propriae ipsius in hominibus energiae, quatenus Spiritus Sanctus est is, qui in veritatis lucem introducit. Rivet. in Exod. 30. Vide Thom. Aquin. 2da 2dae quaest. 14. Artic. 1, 2, 3, 4.  
It is called sin against the holy Ghost, not in respect of the Essence, but of the Office of the holy Ghost; this sin is all malice, wilful without any infirmity, he being pleased with malice for it selfs' sake. Capell of Tentat. part. 2. c. 3.  
Origen (as Bellarm. l 2. de Paenitentia c. 16. allegeth) thought that every sin committed against the law of God after Baptism, was the sin against the holy Ghost; so Novatus. Austen makes it final impenitency. The Shoolmen say any sin of malice.  
It is conceived by some that the presumptuous sin in the old Testament is the same with, or answers to the sin against the holy Ghost in the new: and that which leads to this apprehension is, because no sacrifice was appointed for that under the Law, as this is said to be unpardonable under the Gospel, Heb. 10. 20. but by Psal. 19 12. it seems to be a pitch of sinning beyond presumption.  
It is described to be a general Apostasy and revolt of a man wilfully fallen from the truth known, even to a malicious persecuting and blaspheming of it. Mr. Bedford 
It is a wilful, malicious and obstinate denying of the foundation, viz. That Jesus is the Mediator and Redeemer of the world. It is a total Apostafie from the faith, when the whole man revolteth from the whole Christian Religion wholly, with an obstinate resolution never to return to it any more. Mr. Down in a Letter.  Of the sin unto death, out of 1 john 5. 16.  
Mr. Deering on Heb. 6. 4, 5, 6. saith, It is a general Apostasy from God with wilful malice, and an unrepentant heart to persecute his truth to the end.  
Mr. White in his Treatise of this sin, thus describes it,  
It is a wilful, malicious opposing, persecuting and blaspheming the truths of God, against knowledge and conscience, without ever repenting and grieving for so doing, but rather fretting and vexing that one can do no more.  
It is a total falling away from the Gospel of Christ Jesus formerly acknowledged and professed, into a verbal calumniating and a real persecuting of that Gospel 
Dr. Donne.  with a deliberate purpose to continue so to the end, and actually to do so, to persevere till then, and so to pass away in that disposition.  
It is a spiteful rejecting of the Gospel, after that the Spirit hath supernaturally 
Dr. Gouge.  persuaded a man's heart of the truth and benefit thereof.  
It is a sin committed against clear convincing, tasting knowledge, with despite and revenge, Heb. 10. 29.  

1. It must be a clear knowledge; an ignorant man cannot commit it.  
2. Such a knowledge as le's in a taste of the goodness as well as discovers the truth of the Gospel, Heb. 6. 3. yet goes against this knowledge with despite, opposeth the motions of God's Spirit with rage, this puts a man into the devil's condition. Compare Heb. 6. 4, 5. with 10. 26, 27. It is a voluntary way of sinning after one hath received, not only the knowledge, but the acknowledgement of the truth, so much knowledge as subdues the understanding. The will is chiefly in this sin, he sins wilfully, he trampleth under his foot the blood of the Son of God, sins maliciously and with revenge. The Jews put Christ to death with the greatest malice.   
The conditions of that sin are,  
1. Hatred of the truth. 2. A settled malice. 3. An obstinate will. 4. An accusing conscience.  
Therefore this sin is distinguished from other sins by three degrees. 1. That they all fall toti. 2. à toto. 3. In totum.  

1. Toti, Because they fall from God and his gifts, not out of infirmity or ignorance, but out of knowledge, will and certain purpose.  
2. A toto, Because they cast away and oppose the whole doctrine, his authority being contemned.  
3. In totum, Because they are so obfirmed in their defection, that they voluntarily oppose and seek to reproach the Majesty of God.   
But the specifical difference of this sin is, that they reproach those things which the holy Ghost hath revealed to them for true, and of whose truth they are convinced in their mind. 
Some conceive the sin against the holy Ghost could not be committed under the law, because the Spirit was not given but under the second Covenant.   
This sin necessarily supposeth the knowledge of the Mediator: wheresoever there is any mention of it in the new Testament, there comes with it some intimation of the works of the Mediator. In Matth. 12. they opposed Christ in his miracles: in Heb. 6. Paul instanceth in their crucifying again of Christ, Heb. 10. speaks of their trampling under foot the Son of God. The devils sinned against light and with revenge, but not against the light of the second Covenant, this sin is purely against the Gospel, Heb. 4. & 10. 27, 28, 29. Objectum hujus peccati non est lex sed Evangelium.  
Matth. 12. 32. He that commits this sin shall neither be pardoned in this world, in foro conscientiae, nor in the world to come, in foro judicii, neither in this world 
Mr. Bedford.  per solutionem ministerii, by the Ministry of the word, nor in the world to come, per approbationem Christi.  
When once the means of recovery by the Gospel are neglected, contemned and 
This sin is not pardoned, 1. Because it is never repent of, Heb. 6. 4, 6. 2. The means of pardon are rejected, Heb. 10. 29. Christ Jesus offered in the Gospel. 3. God is utterly renounced.  despised, then there is no place for remission; see Heb. 1●. 26. The sacrifices in the old Law were effectual in their time to the expiation of sin, if joined with faith. The sacrifice of Christ's death was always effectual; but if this also be despised, this being the last, there is no more sacrifice for sin, and yet without sacrifice no remission.  
It is called the sin unto death, not because it may kill, for no sin but may kill if it 
1 John 5. 16.  be not repent of, but because it must kill.  
Divines observe two sorts subject to this sin. Some have both known the truth and also professed it, as Saul, judas, Alexander the Coppersmith, all these made profession of the Gospel before they fell away: Others have certain knowledge of the truth, but yet have not given their names to profess it, but do hate, persecute, and blaspheme it, such were the Pharisees, Matth. 13.  
All they who fall into this sin, first do attain unto a certain and assured knowledge 
Paul before his conversion walked on the brink of the sin against the holy Ghost, but because he sinned ignorantly, he was pardoned.  of the truth, though all do not profess it.  
Absolutely to determine of such a one is very difficult, neither is there any sufficient mark but the event, viz. final impenitency. But the grounds of suspicion are such as these.  
1. Prophannenesse. 2. Doubting of every saving truth and impugning it. 3. Envying another's grace and happiness. 4. Blasphemy. 5. Want of good affections.  
Many Christians are ready to 
a Discant nostri homines quid sit peccare in Spiritum Sanctum ne se decipiant. Cadit saepe in homines bonos metus ne hoc peccatum commiserint. Dicunt enim, Ego scivi hoc vel illud esse peccatum, & tamen feci. Ergo commisi peccatum in Spiritum Sanctum. Discite quaeso quid sit peccare in Spiritum. Non est facere quod scimus malum esse, sed est ideò aliquid facere, quia scimus malum esse, vel ideò aliquid persequi, quia scimus bonum esse. Stresom. in Act. 3. 18. Conc. 39  suspect that they have sinned against the holy Ghost. Some Divines give this as a rule, If the Lord give you a heart to fear that you have sinned against the holy Ghost, than you have not.   

Boasting.  
A man boasts when he is full of that which he thinks excellent, and to add worth and excellency to him, Psal. 34. 2. & 44. 8. & 64. 10.  
It is one of the sins of the tongue, 1 Sam. 2. 3. a high degree of pride, see Ezek. 28. 3, 4. Rom. 2. 17. there is vera and vana gloriatio, the highest act of faith is to glory in God, we make our boast of God all the day long, Psal. 44. but to boast of God when one hath no interest in him, is vain.   

Bribery.  
A bribe is a gift given from him which hath or should have a cause in the Court 
A Lacedaemonian General complained that he was driven out of Asia by a thousand Archers, he meant by the King of Persia's money, an Archer was the stamp of the Persians coin. So in the late Civil wars in France, many were said to have been pelted with Spanish Pistols, a Pistol is an indifferent word both for a certain coin and a small piece. B. Smith. See that Proverb Bos in lingua in Erasmus his Adages; And that story of Demosthenes is famous, who was Feed one way, and after receiving a Fee from the adverse part, pretended he had the Squinancy and so could not speak; but one said it was not the cold but gold which hindered him from speaking.  of justice, to them which have to intermeddle in the administration of justice.  
Bribery or taking gifts is a sin, Exod. 23. 8. the same is repeated, Deut. 16. 19 Isa. 1. 23. Prov. 17. 23. Psal. 26. 10. Host 4. 18. Amos 2. 12. Micah 3. 11.  
Reasons,  

1. From the causes of it, 1. Covetousness. samuel's sons inclined after lucre and took gifts. 2. Hollowness and guile. 3. A want of love of justice. 4. A want of hatred of sin.  
2. The effects. 1. In the party's self that offends. 2. In others. 1. In himself, The bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, 1 Sam. 12. 3. Exod. 23. 8. it makes him unable to see and find out the truth in a Cause. 2. It perverts the words of the righteous, that is, it makes them which otherwise would deal righteously, and perhaps have had an intention of dealing righteously; yet to speak otherwise then becomes, it exposeth the offender to condign punishment. Solomon saith, A gift prospers whither ever it goeth, and it makes room for a man, meaning, that otherwise deserve h no room. For the punishment of it, see job 15 34. Fire shall devour the tabernacles of bribery, meaning, that God will not fail by some or other means to bring destruction upon those families that shall thus augment their estates.   
For others, 1. It doth make all that are rich bold to sin, because they hope to bear it out. 2. It makes rich men also bold to do wrong. 3. It grieveth the heart and spirit of the innocent that is in low estate, and makes him call to God to be his avenger. 4. It overthroweth the throne, Prov. 29. 5. It brings public desolation.  
It is lawful to pacify an angry foe with a gift, so did jacob; but to hire and corrupt a Judge with a gift is unlawful. He cannot lawfully take, therefore neither thou lawfully give, seeing these two are mutual causes and effects, and therefore can hardly be separated in their guiltiness.  
Cambyses caused a bribing Judge to be flaid quick, and laid his skin in his chair of judgement, that all Judges which should give judgement afterward should sit in the same skin.    

CHAP. XVI. Of Carnal Confidence, Covetousness, Cruelty, Cursing.  

CARNAL CONFIDENCE.  
Confidence's in general is that affection of the soul whereby it rests itself in 
One trusts in that which he makes the argument of his obtaining good, or escaping evil.  the expectation of any good from any thing. Therefore carnal confidence is a vice whereby the heart of man rests itself in the looking for any good of any kind from any thing but God alone. He is carnally confident which promiseth himself any thing desirable, as health, deliverance out of trouble, long life, because he hath such or such outward means, which he thinks are able to bring forth such safety unto him.  
The Scripture calls it Making flesh our arm: A man is said to make that his arm which he thinks himself strong and safe if he have; and so he is said to make riches a strong tower in the same sense.  
Men are prone to this sin of false confidence. David trusted in his strong hill. Asa in the Physicians. The Israelites in Egypt for chariots and horses, 1 Sam. 17. 45, 46, 47. Luke 12. 19  
The grounds of it are,  

1. Ignorance of God, whose strength and greatness together with his grace and goodness the mind apprehends not, Psal. 9 10.  
2. Ignorance of these earthly things, their weakness, mutability, and disability to help and comfort, Isa. 28. 15. the Prophet brings in the lewd men of his time flattering themselves and soothing up their own hearts with fair words, and promising all safety to their own souls in derision and despite of all his threats, If a plague come through the land it should not touch them; by vanity and falsehood they meant wealthy friends and outward support, which the Prophet here calls by this name ironically.   
This is a great evil,  

1. It is a denying of God, job 3. 28. Trust is only due 
a Confidence must be withdrawn from all other things but God, in respect of the principal and full worth of it. Therefore we are forbidden to trust 1. In man, Isa. 2. 22. Jer. 17. 5. Psal. 145. 3. 2. In riches, Psal. 62. 10. Mark 10. 24. 1 Tim. 6. 17. 3. In chariots, horses, Psal. 20. 7. & 44. 6. 4. In our own wits, Prov. 3. 5. & 28. 26. 5. In our own righteousness, Ezek. 33. 13. Luke 18. 9 Phil. 3. 3, 4. We may in some sense trust in man, that is, be persuaded that he will deal honestly with us, and rely upon him for performance of his promises, and for doing what in him lieth for our good: but we may not in this sense trust in him, that is, stay upon him as a sufficient help to do us good, but only we must look to him as an instrument, and rely upon God as the chief cause, because all men are changeable, and all things weak and uncertain.  to him, such a one sets up another God, jon. 2. 8. A covetous man is therefore called an idolater, Ephes. 5. 5. and covetousness idolatry, Col. 3. 5.  
2. It is the ground of all our miscarriage in practice, 1 john 5. 3, 4, 5. The world is a great hindrance to our keeping the Commandments.  
3. It is the ground of all disquiet, if you would live a happy life seek a fit object for your trust, Psal. 30. 6, 7. & Psal. 112. 7. Expect all good things from God alone. Abraham looked for a child from God when nature failed him.   
This confidence in God is showed,  

1. By preferring his favour above all things.  
2. By making his name our refuge in all troubles.  
3. By using all good means and only good to get any good thing, and that without carking and vexation.  
4. By comforting ourselves in him when all means fail us, 1 Sam. 30. 6.   
Signs of false confidence.  

1. The inordinate desire of any earthly thing. What a man desires more than he should that he looks for some good by.  
2. Immoderate joy when he hath gotten it. He that finds great joy in any thing, doth therefore joy in it because he thinks he shall be better for it.  
3. Impatience in the absence of it, job 13. 24, 25.  
4. To grow bold to do evil and careless of doing good in respect thereof. The cure of carnal confidence.   

1. Consider how pernicious this vice is, it withdraws the heart from the Lord, jer. 17. 5. and brings his curse on the soul and body.  
2. It makes one unable to use well that which he hath.  
3. Consider the weakness and uncertainty of all outward things.  
4. Meditate on those places, Psal. 62. 10. & 146. 3. 1 Tim. 6. 17.    

Covetousness.  
Is an insatiable desire of having, or an inordinate love of money, Avarus quasi 
Philosophers make covetousness a vice in the defect not in the excess, it is the excessive carriage of the soul toward riches, but this is easily reconciled, take the excess and defect as they stand in the habit to virtue, than covetousness is a defect to liberality, but take it according to the object, so it is rather in the excess than the defect. Dr. Stoughton. See Mr. Wheatlies' Caveat for the Covetous, on Luke 12. 15. Dr. Sclater on Rom. 1. 29. p. 127, 128, etc. Ames de Conscicu. l. 5. c. 51. Capel of Tentat. part. 3. c. 3.  avidus aeris, Isidor.  
It lies in the heart, but is reckoned by the Apostle among outward gross sins, because it is consummate by outward fordidnesse.  
It is taken two ways. 1. For detaining or taking other men's goods in an unlawful way, and so it is opposed to justice. Or 2. For an inordinate desire to get and hold, though God call for it, and it opposeth liberality.  
The desire is inordinate, 1. For the measure of it, when it is vehement and strong, seeing wealth is a thing of a base and contemptible nature, not worthy any earnestness of desire. 2. For the quantity of the object, the sum of wealth desired, if he suffer his desires to be carried after more than that which is sufficient for the providing of meat drink and cloth for himself and his in a comfortable sort, affecting an overplus: The proper end of riches is comfortable maintenance. 3. For the end of one's desiring, when it is to serve and set up himself, and is not to fit himself to do God service, and to profit mankind. Laban and Nabal, whose names Anagrammatise each other, are examples of avarice.  
It is a great and dangerous sin, Isa. 57 7. Hab. 2. 9 Col. 3. 5. 1 Sam. 8. 3. Prov. 15. 27. jer. 22. 17. The same Prophet complains of the people in his time, that From the least of them to the greatest of them, they were all of them coveting covetousness, as the words are; that is, given unto it, did yield their hearts to a desire of gain; which complaint also he renews, ch. 8. 18. and in both places allegeth it as a cause of great sins, Ezek. 32. 31. The Lord so hates it that the godly should not company with such, 1 Cor. 5. 11.  
In the body when the spleen swells all other parts decay and consume; so when 
Mr. Perkins.  the heart swells with desire of riches, all the graces of God consume and fade away.  
When all other sins wax old, this waxeth young in thee. 
Greenham.   
Reasons, 1. From the causes of it, 1. Ignorance of the goodness, mercy, power 
Illa peccata dicuntur carualia quae perficiuntur in delectationibus carnalibus, illa vero dicuntur spiritualia, quae perficiuntur in spiritualibus delectationibus, & hujusmodi est avaritia, Delectatur enim avarus in hoc quòd considerat se possessorem divitiarum. Aquinas 2a 2● quaest. 118. Artic. 6.  and excellency of God, and of the faithfulness, profitableness, desirableness of things heavenly and spiritual. He knows not God nor the worth of the graces of God's Spirit, nor the excellency of his heavenly Kingdom, who is glued unto these earthly, deceitful vanities: And withal he doth not conceive of the worthlessness of these trifles, who suffers his heart to be deceived with the same. 2. Error: He is in a strong and palpable error concerning them, imagining them to be of more power and ability to profit him then in truth they be, he overprizeth earthly things, and imagineth riches to be a strong tower and castle of defence. 3. He puts his trust in riches, and dreams that he shall be so much the more happy by how much the more rich, yea that he cannot be happy without riches.  
2. The effects of it. 1. The evils of sin which slow from it generally; it is the root of all evil, it will make a Judge corrupt, as 1 Sam. 8. 3. a Prophet deal falsely with the word of God, as jeremiah complains; it will make a man to lie, deceive and cozen in his dealing; it will make a woman unchaste.  
More particularly, 1. It choketh the Word of God. 2. It causeth that a man 
Aquinas makes it a greater sin than prodigality, 2a, 2ae Q. 119. Art. 3.  cannot serve God, for it is impossible to serve God and mammon. It causeth that he cannot desire heaven nor set his heart on the things that are above; it sets a quarrel between God and man, for the love of the world is enmity to God.  
3. The evils of punishment that ensue upon it. Paul saith, It pierceth a man through with many sorrows: They fall into perdition and destruction; they 
1 Tim. 6 9, 10.  shall be damned. Covetous men are ranked in Scripture with whoremongers, drunkards.  
How shall I know that my heart is Covetous? 
Signs of it.   

1. If a man be always solicitous in caring about the things of the world; our Saviour describes covetousness by carking and divisions of heart: this is to mind 
Mat. 6. 25, 34.  earthly things.  
2. If joy and fear do depend upon the good success of these outward things, rejoice when riches increase, but are dejected otherwise.  
3. If a man be quick in these things, and dull to any good thing.  
4. If the service of God be tedious to thee because thou wouldst fain be in the world: When will the new moon be gone?  
5. If he be distracted in God's service, if their hearts run after their covetousness.  
6. If one esteem those that are rich for riches sake.  
7. Nigardise, Prov. 11. 24. Eccles. 6. 7.   
Means to mortify this sin.  

1. Be affected with your spiritual wants, Psal. 102. 2. Let the heart be deeply sensible of the want of Christ and his sanctifying power in the heart, these outward things are such great wants unto thee, because spiritual wants are not apprehended, Rom. 7. ult.  
2. Labour for spiritual delights and joy, Psal. 4. 6, 7.  
3. Consider the shortness of thy own life, james 4. 13, 14. 
Meditate of the nature of earthly things, 1. Their unprofitableness. 2. Uncertainty. 3. The dangerousness of them. Riches are but the blessing of God's left hand, Prov. 3. 16. of his footstool, earthly blessings, underground blessings, but bodily blessings; thy soul is not the richer for all thy wealth, such blessings as God gives to the worst of men, those which he hates. The Mines of gold and silver are among the Indians who worship the devil. Agur prayed against riches, Prov. 30. 8. They are called thorns and thick clay, deceitful, uncertain riches.   
4. These outward things cannot stand thee in stead at the day of judgement: Riches cannot deliver a man from death, much less from damnation.  
5. Remember that God requires the more of thee; Solomon therefore saith, he hath seen riches kept for the hurt of the owners: As you increase your revenues so you increase your account, you will have more to answer for at the day of judgement.  
6. Christ's Kingdom is not of this world, therefore he calleth upon his disciples to prepare for a Crosse.  
7. Meditate upon the word of God prohibiting covetousness, and turn the 
Psal. 119 36.  precepts thereof into confessions and prayers. To apply the reproofs, threatenings and commandments of the Word of God agrinst any sin is a common remedy against all sins, and so also against this.  
8. Seriously consider of God's gracious promises for matter of maintenance in this life, that you may trust in God, Psalm 34 10. and 84. 11. and 23. 1. Heb. 13. 5.   
Be as much for the world as thou wilt, so thou observe three rules.  

1. Let it not have thy heart. Austen speaks of some who utuntur Deo & fruuntur 
Solius temporis honesta est avaritia.  mundo, use God and enjoy the world.  
2. Do not so eagerly follow it that it should hinder thee in holy duties.  
3. Let it not hinder thee from works of charity. One compares a covetous man 
Avarus nihil rectè facit nisi cum moritur Mimus Publianus.  to a swine, he is good for nothing till he be dead.    

Cruelty.  
Cruelty is a great sin, Gen. 49. 6, 7. 1 Sam. 22. 18, 19 Psal. 124. Rom. 3. 15. The 
Vide Aquin. 2a 2ae Quaest 159. Artic. 1. & 2. 2 Sam. 21. 1, 2, 3. Isa. 1. 15.  bloodthirsty men shall not live out half their days: Blood defiles the Land. Seven things are an abomination to God, the hands which shed innocent blood is one of them.  
Halto Bishop of Mentz in a time of famine shut up a great number of poor people in a barn, promising to give them some relief: But when he had them fast, he set the barn on fire, and hearing then the most lamentable cries and screechings of the poor in the midst of the slames, he scoffingly said, Hear ye how the Mice cry in the bourn. But the Lord the just revenger of cruelty sent a whole army of Mice upon him, which followed him into a Tower which he had built for his last refuge in the midst of the river Rhine, never leaving him, till they had quite devoured him.  
The Romans were so accustomed by long use of war to behold fightings and bloodshed, that in time of peace also they would make themselves sports and pastimes therewith: for they would compel poor captives and bondslaves either to kill one another by mutual blows, or to enter combat with savage and cruel beasts, to be torn in pieces by them.  
In the punishment of certain offences among the Jews there was a number of stripes appointed, which they might not pass, Deut. 25. 23. So doth the Lord abhor cruelty under the cloak of justice and zeal against sin. This Law was so religiously observed amongst the Jews, that they would always give one stripe less unto the offender, 1 Cor. 11. 24.  
The highest degree of cruelty consists in killing the bodies of men, and taking 
God often upbraids the Israelites with this, That their City was full of blood, and that cruelty and oppression did lodge in it. It is a will to do hurt to a creature further than it deserves. There is scarce a vice but being entertained and served will end in blood. Superstition will breed such mad zeal as will account itself the more pious, the more bloody, and will think it doth God service in killing others, as Paul before his conversion. The Duke of Medina said, That his Sword could find no difference betwixt an Heretic and a Catholic, his business was to make a way for his Master which he meant to do. Ambition careth not to kill the person and all his kindred in whose stead it hopeth to be advanced, as the stories of the Kings of Israel, and Heathen stories also testify. Envy will count no drink sweeter than blood. Lust will make way for its own satisfaction by the death of a husband, wife or corrival. Covetousness and revenge will provoke a man to cruelty. Fear of shame hath made many a hatlot kill her own infant. These vices make a man the more bloody, because they extinguish the light of nature, and choke the check of conscience.  away their lives for revenge, lucre or ambition: murder and cruelty cry in God's ears, The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me, Gen. 4 10.  
Reasons.  

1. It is most directly contrary to the love and charity which God would have to abound in every man, love doth no evil to his neighbour.  
2. It is most contrary to the Law of nature which ought to rule in all men's lives, to do as they would be done to, we abhor smart, pain, grief, hurt, loss of limbs, of life.  
3. This sin is contrary to the sweetness of humane nature which God hath pleased to plant in it in the very frame of the body, in regard of which it is justly termed inhumanity and savageness, and to the graciousness and gentleness that is in God.  
4. It is a sin against the Image of God as well as against his Authority, for he hath pleased to imprint a kind of resemblance of his own excellent nature upon man more a great deal then upon any other creature of this lower world.   
A Fox is a cruel beast as well as a Lion, for though he kill not men, yet he kills Lambs and Pullen, and if he were big and strong enough he would set upon men also; yea a Weasel is a devouring beast as well as a Fox, for he kills young chickens, and the like, he is cruel according to his kind.   

Cursing.  
It is to wish evil to a thing or person, it virtually▪ 
* The Plague, Pox, Vengeance, the Devil take thee. The mention of the Devil makes it appear how devilish thou art.  contains in it all evil, as blessing 
See Dr Gouges Whole Armour.  contains in it virtually all good.  
The holy Ghost notes it of unsanctified men, Their mouths are full of cursing and 
The Sichemites Judg. 9 Goliath, 1 Sam. 17. 38. Sbimei, the mother of Micah.  bitterness, Rom. 12. 3.  
Reasons.  

1. Abundance of contempt of God and uncharitableness in the heart.  
2. The Devil stirs up cursed conceits in men's minds when they are angry: james, Their tongues are set on fire of hell, therefore with it they curse their neighbours.   
We must learn to bless and not curse, as S. Peter exhorteth, because we are heirs of blessing, as our Saviour exhorteth, Bless them which curse you; Strive to reverence God and love thy neighbour. Consider of the Commandments of God which forbid it, and his judgements, cursing shall cloth thee as thou didst love it.  
There is a double cursing, one is a warrantable, lawful, needful duty, when any 
Those rash and vulgar maledictions are very sinful, Pestis te abripiat, abi in malam rem, utinam suspensus esses. Dr Aims Cas. of Consc.  man doth in God's name, and by God's authority pronounce or denounce evil against any thing or person, withal praying that the thing may fall out accordingly; thus Christ cursed the Fig tree, and Elisha the Children. The other sinful, the vomiting out vile and disgraceful speeches, mischievous and wicked wishes.  
The Ancients observe, that when God gave the Devil leave to afflict jobs body, he spared his tongue, that feeling his pain he might easily rail and curse.    

CHAP. XVII. Of Deceit, Distrust, Divination, Division, Drunkenness.  

DECEIT.  
DEceit is when we make show of one thing and do another. 
Est propriè per dolum in verbis, per fraudem in factis.   
It is that vice by which men are apt to make show of good they intent not, and again to hide the show of that evil they do intend, or by which men cover over bad purposes with fair pretences, that they may the more 
All the Latin Lewis the eleventh would have his Son Charles the 8th to learn, was this, Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare. Fraus oritur ex similitudine. Alchemy is like gold. The Italians have a Proverb, He that deceives me once, it's his fault; but if twice, it's my fault.  easily accomplish them, as in Saul to David, whom he desired to thrust upon his own ruin in fight with the Philistims, and his pretence was to honour his valour by making him his son in law. Jacob's sons used it against the Sichemites, judas against Christ, he came with a kiss when he meant nothing but mischief.  
It is a great sin, David blameth this fault in Doeg, Psal. 52. See Psal. 5. 6. it is a sin condemned by nature, for no man can choose but complain if he meet with it in others; and by Scripture more, Mark 7. 17. Rom. 3. With their tongues they have used deceit, Rom. 1. 29. 1 Pet. 2. 1. Deceitful men shall not live out half their days, David. The bread of deceit shall be gravel in the belly, Solomon, The deceitful man shall not roast what he took in hunting. Of all vices it takes up most of the lodgings about us, 1. Our spirits, Psal. 2. 2. 2. Our thoughts, Psal. 38. 12. 3. Our hearts, Prov. 12. 20. 4. Our mouths, 1 Pet. 2. 22. 5. Our lips, Psal. 34. 12. ●6. Our tongues, Psal. 15. 3. 7. Our bellies, job 15. 35. 8. Our feet, job 31. 5. All our members, Acts 13. 10.  
There is fraud in bargaining and conversing; David's whole carriage to Achish was nothing but a pack of fraud, Abraham helped himself by deceit, saying of his wife, She is my sister. Isaac practised the same deceit with less probability or show of truth. Plain jacob was drawn by his mother to use deceit to get the blessing.  
Reasons.  

1. The causes of it are want of the fear of God, and of charity to men: a Christians faith and love must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without dissimulation, S. Paul saith it twice of both.  
2. It is an abuse of a good gift, yea one of the best natural gifts, wit, reason and understanding, Corruptio optimi pessima.  
3. It overthrows the welfare of humane societies, and is contrary to charity, equity, and all well-ordered laws.    

Distrust.  
It is a kind of shaking or looseness of the heart for want of something to stay upon for attaining of good or avoiding evil, Isa. 7. 2.  

1. We must not distrust God, as Ahaz did in Isa. 7. and Sarah when she heard of her having a son, and the Israelites when they murmured in their tents, and said, They should perish in the wilderness; and David, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul.  
2. We must not distrust men without cause, thinking they will not do such things as they have promised or undertaken, or as they seem willing to do, which was the fault of Saul, who disinherited the loyalty both of David and of the people, only because they in their Song ascribed to David ten thousand, and mistrusted jonathan also as if he had been disloyal.  
3. We must moderately distrust ourselves and our own wit and sufficiency, as Solomon did, saying, I am but a child, and I cannot go in and out before this great people: And Paul when he said, I am not sufficient to think any thing as of myself. We must not so distrust ourselves, as to be disheartened from attempting to do our duties, which was Moses his fault, that because he was not eloquent refused to go to Pharaoh, but alone in such measure, as to make us seek more earnestly to God for his help and assistance.    

Divination.  
Divination is quaedam praenunciatio futurorum, saith Aquinas. In general is a 
De divinationis nomine nolim multum contendere. Tantum dico, divinationis nomen mihi quoque videri impropriè Astrologicis praedictionibus tribui, quoniam is verè dicitur divinare, qui interno quodam impulsu, non autem ex causis aliqua praedicit. Beza Epist. 29. Augurium est divinatio quae ex avium volatu, cantu aut pastu capitur, diciturque augurium quasi avigerium, quia ex gestu avium sumebatur, inde tamen transfertur ad quamlibet divinationem▪ Cornel. a● Lap. in Num. 23. Modu● quo exequuntur has divinationes ineptus est, & meritò à maximis ingeniis etiam inter tenebras derisus: per garritus aut volatus avium, per pastum pullorum, per exta animantium, per stridorem soricum, per voces temere jactatas. Lod. Viu. de verit. Fid. Christ. l. 2. c. 13. Vid. Thom. Aquin. 2●, 2ae Quaest 95. Artic. 1, 2, 3, etc.  course, way or proceeding to effect strange and unwonted effects by means not allowed or ordained by God, either in the course of nature, or any special institution; as for example, to find out secret and hidden things, who did this or that, where such a thing is which is lost, what shall become of such a man in such a business, and to hurt a man and strike him with a disease, or to help another and cure him of a disease, or the like.  
Of these strange effects some are plainly diabolical, which are done by a manifest, direct and personal concurrence of Satan and association with him, such as all Sorcerers, Conjurers and Witches use, and those which have familiar Spirits, who raise up the Devil himself to appear in likeness to them, and answer and do things for them, and such as were used of old in Oracles, where the Devil disguised himself under the appearance of a god.  
2. mixedly natural and diabolical, when Satan is not directly consulted withal, but certain natural things are employed to the end whereto in nature they serve not to cover the Devil from men's eyes, and so to work more secretly, as in all those which are termed curious arts, Act. 19 19 such as are the use of charms, and spells, and divinations of all sorts, and the casting of figures, and observation of heavenly bodies, out of them to pick the knowledge of contingent events, which because they have no certainty in their nature, therefore cannot be collected out of these natural things, upon which alone certain and necessary things do follow. This Art of Divination and all the rest are nought, for they came from Satan and serve to set him up in men's minds, and to quench the respect and fear of God.   

Division.  
All creatures in their natural estate are severed and divided one from another. 
Primum bonum summae Trinitatis est indivisio. The Unity in the Trinity is the chiefest thing, and the Devil among the vulgar is known by his cloven foot. The Pythagoreans have set a note of infamy upon the number of two, because it was the first that durst depart from unity, Numerus binarius infamis est, quia primus ausus est discedere ab unitate, elegantly; for nothing is so diabolical as division, nothing more divine than unity. Dr Stoughto●s Happiness of peace, p. 5.   

1. They are divided from God the only and chiefest good.  
2. From the Angels, 1 Cor. 11. 10.  
3. One from another, Isa. 19 begin.  
4. From themselves. We are joined to Satan and comply with the Idols of our own hearts, Ezek. 14. begin.   
1. The nature of this division is not only local, as that of Reuben▪ Judg. 5. 15, 16. by the river jordan, or in externals, but spiritual which is the worst, as spiritual union is the best. This makes the difference in men's minds, judgements, wills, consciences, Acts 26. 9 john 16. beg. divided in the very ends they propound, and the means that lead to those ends, and the rule.  
The causes of it are sad, the lusts and sins of our own hearts, the just indignation of God.  
These sins especially,  

1. Idolatry, judg. 5. 8.  
2. Covenant-breaking, Levit. 26. 25.  
3. Pride, jer. 13. 9 compared with 14.  
4. Hypocrisy, Isa. 10. 6.  
5. Apostasy.   
Arguments against division and falling into parties:  
First, Divisions are a judgement of God upon a Nation, Zech. 13. 14.  
Secondly, Consider the several sins that falling into parties puts men upon.  

1. It puts them on great thoughts of heart, judg. 5. 15.  
2. Men break forth into bitter censuring and reviling of those which are not of their own party, Prov. 21. 24. james 4. 11. they set up their own will in opposition to God.  
3. It causeth men to be glad to hear evil one of another, and take up any report for truth, Nehem. 6. 6. and glad of any mischief that shall befall them, Ezek. 25. 6.  
4. This lays upon men a necessity of joining with any to oppose that party, though they be never so contrary in religion or affection. 
Studium partium est maxima pars studiorum.    
Thirdly, Falling into parties is a certain way of ruin.  

1. In the just judgement of God, Host 10. 2.  
2. In the nature of the thing, judg. 5. 5.   
In cause of religion every subdivision is a strong weapon in the hand of the contrary 
See Isa. 9 21. jerusalem was destroyed by division of them into parties. josephus. Dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur. Tacitus.  part, Hist. of Council of Trent. lib. 1. pag. 49.  
Two earthen pots floating with this Inscription, Si collidimur, frangimur, If we 
It was Machiavels maxim, Divide & Impera▪  knock, we crack, were long ago made the emblem of England and the Low countries; but may now be extended to all Christians.  
We shall find in our English Chronicles, that England was never destroyed but 
See Mr Calamies Sermon on Mat. 12. 25 There is no union or division like that in Religion. The breach between the ten and two Tribes began on a State-business, yet jeroboam laid the foundation in Religion.  when divided within itself, our civil divisions brought in the Romans, the Saxons, Danes and Normans.  
Though our Civil and Ecclesiastical breaches be very great, Lam. 2. 13. yet God can and will heal all the breaches of his Saints.  

1. Because he hath promised to do it, Isa. 2. 4. & 11. 6, 7, 8, 9, 13. & 30. 26. & 32. 18. & 33. 20. Ezek. 28. 24. jer. 32. 39 Zeph. 3. 9 Zech. 14. 9  
2. Christ hath prayed for it three times in john 17. viz. 21, 22, 23. verses.  
3. Christ died to make his people one, Ephes. 2. from 14. to the later end. See 1 Cor. 12. Rom. 8. to the end.   
There are some cementing or reconciling graces, faith, repentance, charity, Col. 3. 14. and humility.  
There is much talk of peace and unity, peace with truth, or peace and holiness are joined together in Scripture. 
Speciosum quidem nomen est pacis & pulchra est opinio unitatis: sed quis ambigat eam solam Ecclesiae atque Evangeliorum unitatem esse, quae Christi est? Hilarius adversus Arianos. Sect▪ in quas Iudaei divisi scindebantur, & quasi Scholae oppositae, tres olim ex●●●erant nomina●●ssimae. Nam si quae erant aliae ab istis tribus▪ Ind velut propagines effloruere. Erant autem illae tres, Phari●aeorum prima, Sadducaeorum secunda, tertia Essenorum. Montac. Analect. Exercit. 3. Sect. 1.   
We should pray to Christ to heal our divisions, that he would make us one, we should put on love which is the bond of perfectness, Col. 3. 14, 15. See Phil. 3. 14, 15.   

Drunkenness.  

Host 4. 11. Luk. 12. 45, 46. It is magna animae submersio. August. It is vitium maximae adhaerentiae, as the Schoolmen say, seldom left. Proverbium est in Sa●●edri●, in●rat vinum, exit arcanum. D●u●. Adag. 9 Decur. 2. In vino veritas. Drunkenness doth both make Imperfections and show those we have to others eyes. D▪ Halls Contempl. The Spartans' to make their children loathe it, were wont to present to their view some of their vassals when drunk, that seeing their beastly demeanour they might learn to detest it. Plutarch. Drunkards live (like fishes) in liquido, in the water, they make the Tavern their Temple, Indian smoke their Incense, Sack their Sacrifice. I never heard other commendation ascribed to a drunkard, more than the well-bearing of his drink, which is a commendation fitter for a Brewer's horse then for Gentlemen or Servingmen. L. Cecil to his Son. Germanorum bibere est vivere, in practice as well as in pronunciation. A Professor of Hebrew reproving another that was drunk, he answered to him, Ego ebrietate mea tantum meum caput turbo, tu ebrietate tua turbas Israelem. Arminius reproving Baudius a Professor of L●yden (who would be often drunk and sometimes rendered this as a reason why he could not read his Lecture that day, Proper ●●ster●am crapulam) he said thus, Baudi, tu dedecories reipublicae: & tu Ecclesiae, replied the other. Germania tota super ebrietate malè audit. Scalig. Orat. ●. cont. Erasm. 
Germani possunt cunctos tolerare labores,  
O utinam possent tam benè ferre fitim.  
Vide Lansii Orat. cont. Germaniam.   Drunkenness is a great sin, Isa. 28. 1. Deut. 32. 32. Prov. 23. 29, 30, 31.  
The Scripture condemns it, Be not drunk with wine▪ saith the Apostle; Solomon forbids to keep company with a wine bibber; the Prophet denounceth a woe to the drunkards of Ephraim. Drunkenness is one of the fruits of the flesh, and a drunkard one of those whom Paul excludes from heaven; Nature condemns it, it trampleth under▪ foot at once the whole Law and Gospel too.  
First, For the Law it violates each Commandment; The first, the drunkard makes his belly his god, he cannot exercise knowledge of God, love, fear, confidence, remembrance of sin, or any virtue. It breaks the second Commandment, it is a direct breach of our vow made in Baptism, and renewed in the Lord's Supper, for this is one of the works of the Devil which we then renounced. Again it hinders a man from praying, reading, meditating, or doing any good and religious duty. It breaketh the third Commandment, because it is an abuse of one of God's creatures, and so takes God's name in vain, it causeth that one can neither see God in his works, nor do any works to his glory, nor show forth thankfulness for benefits, nor patience in crosses, and because it fills the mouth full of foul and desperate oaths. The fourth, he is unfit to sanctify the Sabbath▪ and if one be drunk on the Lordsday, it is a great profanation of it, for it is far from a holy work. The fifth, it makes one despise Parents, Magistrates, all Governors, it makes him abuse Wife, Children, Servants, and all his Inferiors, it makes him lift up himself above his equals, and despise all in comparison of himself. The sixth, it is a hurt to his own body, and breeds vile diseases, dropsy, fever, redness of eyes, makes him rail, revile, quarrel and kill, and commit all insolent injuries, and hazards himself to untimely death, Gal. 5. 21. The seventh, for it fills heart and tongue and all full of filthiness, it inflames the body to lust, a drunken Lot will commit incest, Rom. 13. 13. The eighth, it is a wasting of time and goods, and a robbing of a man's self and family, it often enciteth to cozenage and beguiling, it is gross injustice. The ninth, it makes him full of bragging and boasting and backbiting, his tongue is as full of vanity as his head of vapours. The tenth, it fills the mind full of lewd imaginations, and exposeth him to Satan's suggestions. Perkins on Revel. 2. 14. shows that Popery breaks every Commandment.  
Mr Paget in his admonition touching Talmudique allegations, pag. 422. to 436. shows how the Jewish Rabbins break every Commandment.  
It is against the Gospel, it oppresseth the heart and takes away reason, that a man grows hardhearted, and fills men full of presumption.  
There was a street in Rome called Vicus sobrius, the sober street, but is there a village in England that may be called Villa sobria, the sober village?  
If a man (though he loathes drunkenness) should (to symbolise with wicked company) drink immoderately, yet it is drunkenness: it is true he is not ebriosus, an old soaking drunkard, yet he is ●brius, he hath committed the sin of drunkenness.  
There is a twofold privation of reason:  

1. Aptitudinal, when a man drinks so immoderately, that there is a disposition to disturb reason, yet because he is of a strong brain and constitution, he can bear it without any disturbance, and this hath a woe, Woe to those that are strong to drink, that have strong brains and bodies to carry their liquor away, and never cry out with him, Duos soles video.  
2. Actual, either total and complete, when reason is fully intercepted, and that is 
Isa. 5. 22. 1 Pet. 4. 3. See Hackwels Apol. p. 337, 339, 344. Wards Woe to drunkards. Ames. de consc. l. 3. c. 16. By Solon's Law it was punished with death in every one though he were a Magistrate or Prince. No civil State but have made severe Laws against it. If Chrysostom were now alive, the bent of all his Homilies should be spent to cry down drunkenness, as he did swearing in Antioch. Vide Aquin. 2a, 2ae Qu. 150. Artic. 1, 2, & 3. Aristotle said, Every drunkard was worthy of a double punishment, both because of his drunkenness, and the evils afterward. In the Scripture we have two notable instances of Gods loathing this s●n, in Noah and Lot, Gen. 9 21. & 19 33. though many excuses might be brought. Consider 1. that the power of wine was not so well known. 2. Noah used constantly to drink water. 3. It was but once. 4. He was aged, Old men (saith Aristotle) are sooner drunk, because of the weakness of their natural heat, which is easily overcome by that of wine. Lot being sad and solitary took wine perhaps to refresh him.  to be stark drunk, to be a vivum cadaver, as chrysostom calls it well, a breathing carcase; one calls them Ventri-d●mones, belly-devils, who like D●genes could live in a barrel all their life time.  
2. Partial, when a man's fancy is not wholly disturbed, yet he is so far tippled, that both his fancy and judgement are darkened, and the house runs round with him.   
Means to avoid it:  

1. eat the company of drunkards, and all occasions.  
2. Cry to God to help you against this vice, and consider the terrible threats against it, 1 Cor. 6. 9  
3. Get thy sensual appetite mortified.  
4. Taste of Christ's wine, the sweetness of having Communion with him, Ephes. 5. 18.     

CHAP. XVIII. Of Envy, Error, Flattery, Gluttony.  

ENVY.  
ENvy is a grief for the prosperity of others. Est 
* Tul. l. 4. Tusc. Quaest Invidia ab in particula intensiva & video, quod invidus oculos continuò fixos habeat in alienam foelicitatem. Livor ● colore livido qui plerumque in invidis cernitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 veluti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod invidus vel semet animi agritudine quodammodo interficiat, vel necem optet ejus cui invidet. Sanderson in Leo. Vide Voss. Instit. orat. lib. 2 cap. 12. Cain killed his brother, Esau threatened to kill his, and Joseph's brethren intended to kill him. Envy was the original and moving cause of it in them all. See Rom. 1. 29.  aegritudo suscepta propter alterius res secundas, quae nihil noceant invidenti.  
The first instances that we have of sin, are Adam's pride and cain's envy.  
Envy is the mother of strife, they are often coupled Rom. 1. 29. & 13. 13. 1 Cor. 3. 3. 2 Cor. 12. 20. Gal. 5. 20. jam. 3. 14. Natural corruption doth most of all bewray itself by envy. The Devil first envied us the favour of God, and ever since we have envied one another. The children of God are often surprised with it, Numb. 11. 29. john 21. 20, 21. It breaketh both Tables at once; it beginneth in discontent with God, and endeth in injury to man.  
Macrobius l. 2. Sat. c. 2. saith acutely of Mutius a malevolous man, being sadder than he was wont, Aut Mutio nescio quid incommodi accessit, aut nescio cui aliquid boni. The Heathens when they saw an envious man sad, they would demand whether harm had happened unto him, or good unto his neighbour.  
Aristotle calls it the Antagonist of the Fortunate. Parum alicui est si ipse sit foelix, nisi alter fuerit infoelix.  
Livor semper lippus est, saith Petrarch, this humour is always ill-sighted. All blear-eyed men are offended and hurt with the light, so envy is provoked at another's good and honour. The better the party envied is, the better he behaveth himself, the more bitter the envier doth grow against him, and the more his hatred increaseth. Saul had still a more violent spleen against David by how much he discovered more wisdom, courage, and the more the hearts of his servants were set upon him. Who can stand before envy? saith Solomon, Prov. 27. 4.  
It is the rottenness of the bones, Pro. 14. 3. and so the justest of all vices, because it bringeth with it its own vengeance.  
Sed videt ingratos, intabescitque videndo,  
Successus hominum, carpitque & carpitur unà,  
Suppliciumque suum est. Ovid. Met. 11. Fab. 12.  
As the rust consumes iron, so this vice the envious man. Anacharsis calls it serram animae, and Socrates, Ulcus. When Hercules had vanquished so many fierce monsters,  Comperit invidiam supremo fine domandam, 
See Dr Willet on Gen. 37. 4. & Exod. 37. 4. Par. on Rom. 13. 13. Cartw. on Prov. 27. 4. and Master Wheatleys' Prototypes on Jacob's Wives.  
He grappled at last with envy as the worst.  
Erasm. lib. 17. of his Epist. in an Epistle to Sir Thomas More, saith of Conradus Goclenius, Invidere quid sit, ne per somnium quidem unquam intellexit: tantus est ingenii candour.  
The objectum quod of it, is, Good of any kind, true, apparent, honest, profitable, pleasant, of mind, body, fortune, fame, virtue itself not excepted; the objectum cui, is generally any other man, Superior, Inferior, Equal. We envy a Superior because we are not equalled to him, an Inferior lest he should be equal to us, an Equal because he is our equal. Men of the same Trade or Profession envy each other:  Figulus figulo invidet, Faber Fabro. 
Death frees a man from it, Extra omnem invidiae aleam.  
Pascitur in vivis livor, etc.  
The chief cause of it is pride and inordinate love of a man's self: the impulsive 
The Spirit of a man lusteth after envy.  cause is manifold, as if he be an enemy, a corrival.  
Hatred (when one loathes and wisheth ill to another) agrees with envy,  
1. In the subject, always he which envies another hates him, but not on the contrary.  
Secondly, In the efficient cause, which is pride, and a blind love of a man's self.  
It differs from it:  
First, In the subject, for hatred may be in one in whom envy is not. 
See the difference between envy and hatred. D. Willet on Gen. 37. 4.   
Secondly, In the objectum quod, which in envy is only good, but in hatred it may be evil.  
Thirdly, In the objectum cui, which is larger in hatred then envy, for we envy men only, not God, nor ourselves but others, but we may hate not only other men but ourselves and other creatures, yea God himself.   

Error.  
Error is to judge otherwise then the thing is, taking truth for falsehood, or falsehood 
Error in judgement is worse than in practice, than the conscience takes part with sin, and a man thinks he ought to do what he doth.  for truth, Usquequaque fidei venena non cessant spargere, saith Augustine of his times.  
In Gregory Nazianzens days there were six hundred errors in the Church. Selat. on 1 Cor. 11. 18, 19  
The Doctrine only of the Trinity 
* Mihi quidem totam locorum Theologiae communium seriem anim● peragranti, vix ulla occurrit Theologiae particula (si ab unico S. Triados mysterio discesseris) quam Pontisici● non foedis aliquot erroribus conta●in●●unt. Down. Diat. de Antichrists part. 1. lib. 3. cap. 6. Vide ibid. cap. 7. catalogum errorum Romana Ecclesiae.  remains undefiled in Popery.  
Obstinately to defend an error in things indifferent, makes a man a Schismatic; and in points necessary and fundamental, an Heretic. It is the greatest judgement in the world to be given over to error, Revel. 13. 8. Iud● v. 4. 2 Thes. 2. 11.  
All the primitive Fathers spend most of their zeal and painful writings against heresies and errors.  
All the Primitive Churches to whom the Apostles wrote Epistles, areexpresly warned either positively to stand fast in the truth, to hold fast their profession; or negatively to beware of, and to avoid false teachers, and not to be carried about with divers and strange Doctrines. See Mr Gillesp. Misc. c. 11. & 12.  
It is not difficult to enumerate those heresies which gave occasion for the introducing of every Article in the Creed. Vide Sanfordum de Descensu Christi ad infers, l. 4. p. 29, 30.  
It was well concluded in the 39 Session of the Council of Constance, That every tenth year at the farthest, there should be a general Council held, to reform such errors in the Church as probably in that time would arise.  
Preservatives from error:  

1. Have a care to be established in the truths of God, 2 Pet. 1. 12. specially the main truths of religion; look to repentance, faith, daily examination, Matth. 13. 45. Rom. 6. 17. Corrupt teachers beguile none but unstable souls.  
2. Get experimental knowledge, Ephes. 3. 17. and mourn to see the truths of Christ corrupted, Revel. 11. 3.  
3. Love not any sin, 2 Tim. 2. 19  
4. Try the Spirits, 1 john 4. 1. Every man pretends to speak by the Spirit, bring 
Call no man Father on earth, Christ speaks it in respect of doctrine, See Revel. 2. ●. try their Doctrines by the rule of the word. Nemo se palpate de su● Satanas est; de Deo beatus est. Aug.  their Doctrine to the rule, try to what end the Doctrine tends, whether to exalt God and abase man, Matth. 7. 15, 16. or to set up the dark wisdom and proud will of man, as freewill, Universal Redemption, the denying of God's Decrees and Perseverance, Sub laudibus naturae latent inimici gratiae. Aug.  
5. Beware of communion with false teachers, Rom. 16. 17. Titus 3. 10. 2 epist. john 10.  
6. Make use of the Ministry.    

Flattery.  
Flattery is a speech fitted to the will and humours of others for our own advantage. 
See D. Hall's Holy Panegyric, pag. 480. Communiter nomen adulationis attribui solet omnibus, qui supra debitum modum virtutis volunt alios verbis vel sact is delectare in communi conversatione. Aquin. 2● 2aeae quaest. 11●. Artic 1.   
One may please others much, and yet not flatter them, when he seeks not his own advantage in it, 1 Cor. 3. ult.  
We flatter,  
First, When we ascribe to them good things which they have not. Or  
Secondly, Applaud their evils as goodness. Or  
Thirdly, amplify their good parts above their merit. Or  
Fourthly, Extenuate their evil more than is meet, Isa. 5. 10.  
Flatterers are men that dwell at Placenza, as the Italian saith, Isa. 30. 10. They may well be called Caementarii Diaboli, the Devils daubers, Ezek. 13. 10.  
Dionysius the tyrant had flatterers about him, who like dogs would lick up his spittle and commend it to him to be as sweet as nectar.  
Diogenes compared flattering language to a silken halter, which is soft because silken, but strangling because a halter; and saith, As tyrants are the worst of all wild beasts, so are flatterers of all tame.  
None can be flattered by another till he first flatter himself.  
Canutus' King of 
* Cambden in Hampshire. Nolo esse laudator, ne videar esse adulator. Tully. Pessimum inimicorum genus laudantes. Notae illorum voces sunt: Ita Domine, ita est, rectissimè factum, nec aliter debuit, jus & fas à te stant; benè, bellè, praeclarè, pulchrè & festiuè, magnifi●è, divinè, non potuit melius. Drexel. Tom. 2. de Adulat. cap. 1 Sect. 1.  England and Denmark well repressed a flatterer at Southampton, who bore the King in hand that all things in the Realm were at his will and command. He commanded that his chair should be set on the shore, when the Sea began to flow, and then in the presence of many, said to the Sea as it flowed, Thou art part of my dominion, and the ground on which I sit is mine, wherefore I charge thee that thou come not upon my Land, neither that thou wet the clothes or body of thy Lord; but the Sea according to his usual course flowing did wet his feet, than he said, None was worthy the name of a King but he to whose command the earth and sea were subject, and never after would be King.  
Chalac in Hebrew signifies either blandus smooth, or Mollis soft, because the flatterer useth smooth and soft speeches; or dividere to divide, because in flatterers the tongue is divided from the heart. See Prov. 27. 6. & 29. 5.  
Open hostility is better than secret flattery. An ungodly man's sins are acts of hostility, his duties acts of flattery, Psal. 78. 36.  
We should shut our ears to flatterer's, and rather seek to do what is commendable, then to hear our own commendation.  Plus ali●● de ●●, quam tu tibi, credere noli.  

Gluttony.  
Gluttony is a sin, Isa. 56. 12. Amos 6. it is an immoderate delight in meats and 
This sin hath been so proper to this Nation of England that one puts voraces for an Epithet of Angli; and another when he will say he is full even to the brim, expresseth it thus, Si saul comme un Anglois, He is glutted like an english man. Smindyrides, perditissimus ille junenis jactare solitus est, se à viginti annis solemn, nec orientem, nec occidentem vidisse, assiduè scilicet in lecto aut in mensa occupatus. Drexel. Aeternit. prodromus, c. 2. Sect. 8. Clemens Alexandrinus writeth of a fish which hath not a heart distinguished from the belly as other fishes have, but it hath the heart in the belly. So these gluttons which make a God of their belly have a heart in their belly.  drinks. This was Dives his sin, one of the sins of S●dom, Fullness of bread; and of the old world.  
This sin is committed five ways:  
Praeproperè, Lautè, Nimis, Ardenter, Studiosè.  
Reasons 1. From the causes of it, it ariseth from sensuality, a brutish vice where by one metamorphoseth himself into a swine in disregarding the divine, spiritual, excellent, supernatural good offered to his reason, and by that alone to be conceived, and placeth his happiness in corporal delights and pleasures that tickle his senses. Such a one that so feeds, eats not to live, but lives to eat, and in that sense is said to serve his own belly, and not the Lord.  
Secondly, The effects of this vice are very bad:  

1. It hinders Mercy and Liberality to the poor. Lazarus could not have the crumbs of the Rich man's Table, either they have no heart to give, or nothing to spare.  
2. It often overthrows Estate, He that loves Wine and Oil shall not be rich.  
3. Oppresseth the heart and burieth all good Meditations and Affections, for fat is always senseless.  
4. Draws men to the practice of Unjustice, as 1 Sam. 21. 30.   
A Christian must take heed of all excess in food, 1 Cor. 9 29.  
Reasons. First, A moderate Diet keeps the body healthful, that we may glorify God and have ability of strength to serve him.  
Secondly, Excess of Diet will breed lusts, and further the power of concupiscence 
One seeing so many young Gentlemen follow Epicurus at his first setting up, said, The cause was it was young men's Philosophy that was professed in that School.  in men.  
Thirdly, The Body is to be an Instrument of the Soul in all service to God: glorify God in Soul and Body: much eating unfits, and is sinful.  
Fourthly, We must eat to the glory of God when we are hungry, that hereby God may be glorified in our calling.  
Fifthly, It is Idolatry to mind the belly, Phil. 3. 19 Rom. 16. 16. such belly-gods were the Monks, and many of the Romans.  
Sixthly, It is a sin against the body, the Apostle aggravates fornication from this consideration.  
Seventhly, It indisposeth to any spiritual duty, Luke 21. 34. a full belly cannot study,  Impletus venter non vult studere libenter. 
In Scripture a fat heart is as much as stupid and senseless.  
First, Many like Joseph's master Potiphar take account of nothing but what they must eat and drink, that they may be sure to far well; our feasts usually are turned merely to an exercise of this vice.  
Secondly, All should exercise Temperance in Diet, let a little content thee, let the end of thy eating be strength and health, not a pleasing of thy tooth: the rich 
Nomen sobrictatis sumitur à mensura. Dicitur enim aliquis sobrius, quasi briam, id est, mensuram servans. Aquinas 2 2, 2ae. Quaest 149. Artic. 1.  must inure themselves sometimes to a hard short meal, that they may do more good to others.  
Motives.  
First, Gluttony is a beastly sin, yea it makes men worse than beasts, for they can take delight in such things, yet will not exceed.  
Secondly, It is an abuse of the creatures which are given to us for our good.  
Thirdly, Injurious to the poor.    

CHAP. XIX. Of Heresy, Hypocrisy, Idleness, Impenitence, Injustice, Intemperance.  

HERESY.  
I Dolatry was the prevailing sin of the Old Testament, and Heresy of the 

Heresy is contrary to faith, Schism to charity.  
Aquinas and others.  
Heresy opposeth the truth of a Church, Schism the peace of it.   New.  
It is a pertinacious defending of any thing which overthrows the Fundamental Doctrine of faith contained in the Word of God: An obstinate error against the foundation. Dr Halls Case of Consc. 5th Case.  
It was a wild fancy of the Weigelians, That there is a time to come (which they call Seculum Spiritus Sancti) in which God shall by his Spirit reveal much more knowledge and light than was revealed by Christ and his Apostles in Scripture. Mr Gillesp. Miscel. c. 10. 
See Mr Vines on 1 Pet. 2. 1. Concordiae sraternae vel ambitiosos decet esse Christianos, sed multo magis studios●s nos esse convenit veritatis caelestis & salutaris. Nam concordia (sicut & amicitia) colenda quidem est, sed usque ad arras, & arae colendae non sunt usque ad concordiam. Colimus itaque veritatem, quoad ejus fieri potest, citra pacis jacturam; quod si non sine dispendio pacis atque amicitiae redimi possit veritas, quovis pretio, etiam odio nostri, & salutis temporalis discrimine redimenda est. Twist. in Coru. defence. Armin. All false teachers should be discountenanced. See Zach. 13. 4, 5. Nolo in suspicion haeresios quemquam esse patientem. Hieron. ad Pammach.   
The Gnostics had their name propter excellentiam scientiae, from profound knowledge and greater light: They which pretended to know above all others, yet were but a profane sect, as the Ancient Writers tell us.  
The Socinians doctrine is, as it were, a filthy sink, into which all the Heresies of former and later ages have emptied themselves. They will receive no interpretation of Scripture nor article of faith unless it agree with reason. Scriptura est norma, recta ratio est judex, all is ultimately resolved into reason.  
Infaustus Socinus omnium Hareticorum audacissimus. Rivet.  
What doth Socinus think more highly of Christ then the Turks of Mahomet? yea what doth he think better of Christ then the Turks, which esteem Christ a holy Prophet of God who taught us his will?  
Socinianism is a complication of many ancient heresies condemned by ancient Counsels. A doctrine that undermines the merit and satisfaction of our Saviour's death. Arminlanism gratifieth the pride of will; Popery the pride of outward sense, and Socinianism the pride of carnal reason. Dr Hill on Prov. 23. 23.  
The Socinians deny the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Deity of the holy Ghost, the Trinity of Persons, they deny that Jesus Christ hath merited or satisfied for his people.  
The Papists, besides some fundamental errors, as justification by the merit of our own works, are most abominably Idolatrous in their worship.  
Of all Heretical and False Teachers this last age hath afforded, I know none more pernicious than these two, 1. Libertines, that teach to neglect obedience, as in every respect unnecessary. 2. Justiciaries, that press obedience as available to justification. Dr. Sclater on Rom. 4. 15.  
Antinomianism is the most dangerous, plausible error that almost ever invaded the Church, insinuating into well-meaning minds, under a false pretence of advancing Christ and free▪ grace. Mr Baxt. Inf. Church-Memb. part. 2. Sect. 8.  
The original of the Antinomians seems to be from the old Katharoi called Puritan, who being justified, affirmed they were perfect and free from all sin, as the glorified in heaven. M. Rutterf. Survey of the Spirit, Antich. part. 1. c. 1.  
The Antinomians say repentance, grief, sorrow for, sense or conscience of sin in a Believer, is legal, carnal, fleshly, from unbelief and the old Adam, and that it is contrary to faith and Gospel-light to confess sins, and was a work of the flesh in David. Id. ib. c. 2.  
Vossius in his Historia Pelagiana, saith, that Pelagius was humani arbitrii decomptor, 
Vide Acta Synod. nat. Dordrecht. Exam. Artic. 1. Remonst. p. 210. Pelagiorum est ●aerefis hoc tempore recentissim●, à Pelagio monacho exorta. Hi Dei gratiae in tantum inimici sunt, ut sine hac posse hominem credant sacere omnia divina mandata, etc. Aug. c. 88 de haeresibus. Vide plura ibid.  & Divinae gratiae contemptor, a trimmer of nature and ●n affronter of grace.  
The Pelagians say, that a man may by strength of nature convert himself; that Adam's sin did hurt himself alone; that no hereditary stain came to h●s posterity by it; that in infants there is nothing of sin; that men die not for the punishment of sin, but by the law of nature.  
They were so called from one Pelagius a Welshman, his name was Morgan, which signifies the sea, but he chose rather to be called Pelagius. He dwelled by the sea. Vide R. Episc. Usser. de Britan. Eccles. Primord. c 8, 9, 10.  
He seemed to some to have excelled in such great eminency of knowledge and learning, that some thought that place, Rev. 8. 10. was to be interpreted of his fall.  
Against this Heresy Austin and jerom disputed much.  
Christ doth not say, john 5. 5. without me you can do little, but without me you can do nothing. Aug. in joan. Tract. 81.  
Sententias vestras prodidisse refutasse est, patet prima fronte blasphemia, said jerom of Pelagius and his opinions. 
Pelagius was born in Britain the same day that Austin was in afric.   
Austin gives the reason why Pelagianism did spread so much, because there were Pelagiani fibrae in every man naturally.  
Austin termed the Pelagians inimicos gratiae Dei, Prosper ingratos, ungrateful and ungracious men, contra ingratos.  
The Arminians too much follow the Pelagians. Of Arminius and his opinions 
Jacobus Arminius vir doctus & acri ingenio, sed qui parum tribuebat Antiquae Ecclesiae judicio, nihil Reformatae. Episc. Dau. Diss●rtat. de Praedestinat. cap. 4. Jacobus Arminius vir ingenij excitatioris, verum cui nihil arrideret, nisi quod aliqua novitatis specie se commendaret. Praefat. ad Eccles. Act. Synod. Dordrecht.  Vide Praefat. ad Eccles. Act. Synod. Dordrecht.  
The five Articles of the Remonstrants do exalt man's freewill. In the first Article God is said to have chosen them which would believe, obey, and continue in faith and obedience. In the second it is affirmed that Christ obtained reconciliation with God and remission of sins for all and every one, if by faith they be able to receive these his benefits. In the third and fourth Article the efficacy of conversion depends upon man's will, so that it is efficacious to conversion if a man will, and inefficacious if he will not. In the fifth Article perseverance in faith is ascribed to man's will, which is to derogate from the Father's free Election, the Son's Redemption, and the holy Ghosts Conversion.   

Hypocrisy.  
Hypocrisy is that vice by which men content themselves to seem good, but are 
Hypocrisy is when a man seems outwardly to be that which he isnotinwardly. Perkins on Rev. See Dikes Deceitfulness of Heart. c. 2. p. 29 Dr Sclater on Rom. 2. 2. pag 164. Constantius the father of Constantine, to try his Courtiers, commanded all to sacrifice to Idols, pretending to discard all that refused so to do, but contrariwise those that obeyed, he put from the Court, saying, Quomodo fidem Imperat●ri praestabunt inviolatam, qui Deo sunt perfidi. Eusebius. How will they be true to their Prince who are disloyal to God?  not careful to be so in very deed; that is a good description of it, 2 Tim. 1. 3, 5. See Matth. 23. 14. & 24. 51.  
In that measure we like of sin, in that measure is hypocrisy in us. Greenham.  
There are two kinds of Hypocrites.  

1. Such as are gross and know they do dissemble.  
2. Such as have great works of God's Spirit, as knowledge, joy, sorrow, and reformation of their sins, which do take these to be true graces, because they come near them and are like them; as the foolish Virgins.   
A very hypocrite may make some account of serving God. Saul durst not fight till he had offered sacrifice, 1 Sam. 13. 11, 12. A man may hear and that with joy, and believe, and bring forth a blade of forward profession, and yet be an hypocrite. The Pharisee boasted that he paid tithe of all that he possessed, that he fasted twice a week. Paul was unrebukable according to the law, and after a sort conscionable in exercises of Religion. Psalm 50. God tells the hypocrite he will not reprove him for his sacrifices, this way he was not much behind hand.  
Reasons.  

1. A certain natural spark of the knowledge of God is left in man since the fall.  
2. It is a credit to be somewhat Religious.  
3. It is fit to feed their pride and a conceit of their own goodness.  
4. This is a means of nourishing him in his false and presumptuous hope of salvation.   
The difference between the religion of the hypocrite and truehearted:  

1. In the matter, the one meditateth in the word read and heard, applying it to himself, by turning it into matter of sorrow or joy, confession or petition; the hypocrite will never thus apply the word of God unto himself in the several parts of it.  
2. The hypocrite hath always a false or evil end in his devotion; either he aims at praise amongst men, or earning heaven to himself notwithstanding his bearing with himself in some sins, he aims not at the pleasing of God and getting grace and power to himself that he may overcome sin.  
3. They differ in the fruit and manner of performing these exercises; the hypocrite 
James 1. 26.  neither hath nor careth to have the power of these acts working mightily in his heart. The Pharisees contented themselves to wash the outside of the cup and platter, and to be zealous observers of the letter of the law, being yet within full of all wickedness. The most accomplished hypocrite cannot express 1. The life and power of a Christian, 2. Nor the joy of a Christian.   
The open profane man may be worse than the hypocrite in some respect, he dishonoureth God more, and sinneth with a higher hand, and with more contempt 
Hildersham on P●al. 51. 7. p. 718, 719.  of God, and also with more hurt to ●●en by his example, than the wicked man doth. Yet the hypocrites case in other respects is worse than the state of the profane man,  

1. In this life, he is hardlier brought to a sense of his sin, and to repentance for it, 
Quo quis sanctior est hypocrita, eo deterior est Evangelii hostis. Luther.  Matth. 21. 31.  
2. In the life to come, because they have sinned against greater means and light, they shall receive the greater damnation, Matth. 11. 24.   
Many an hypocrite will 1. Constantly hear and frequent the best Ministry, Isa. 58. 2. Ezek 33. 31, 32. 2. Will keep a constant course in prayer, and that not in ordinary prayer only, but even in extraordinary too, Luke 18. 12. compare Zach. 7. 5. & 8. 19 together. 3. Is a strict observer of the Sabbath day, Luke 13. 14, 15. john 5. 10. 4. Loveth the sincerity of Religion and hateth Popery, will-worship and idolatry, with all the relics and monuments of it, Rom. 2. 22, 23. 5. Goeth a great deal farther in the reformation of his life, than the civil man doth, 2 Pet. 2. 20. Luke 11. 42.  
We should labour for a spirit without guile, Psal.? 2. 2.  
That spirit is  

1. An humble spirit before, in, and after duty.  
2. An honest spirit, carried equally against all sin.  
3. A plain spirit.    

Idleness.  
Idleness is a vice of spending time unprofitably.  
It is vivi hominis sepultura. Solomon often condemneth sluggishness, Prov. 
See M. Wheatly of the example of the Sodomites.  6. 9, 10, 11. which saying he repeats again, Proverbs 24. see Proverbs 20. 13.  
An idle man is a burden to himself, a prey to Satan, the devil's cushion, semper aliquid age ut te diabolus inveniat occupatum. A grief to God's Spirit, Ephes. ●. 28. 30.  
Bodily sloth you cannot bear, and soul-sloth Christ cannot bear, Matthew 25. 26.  
Sins accompanying idleness. 
Magna pars vitae clabitur malè agentibus, maxima nihil agentibus, tota ferè aliud agentibus. Senec. Consol. ad Polyb. c. 23.   

1. Inordinate walking, 2 Thess. 3. 11, 12.  
2. Talebearing, 1 Tim. 5. 13. Prov. 11. 13.  
3. Theft, Ephes. 4. 28. 2 Thess. 3. 12.  
4. Drunkenness, Amos 6. 1.  
5. Filthiness, see 2 Sam. 11. Ezek. 16. 49. Idleness is the mother and nurse of lust.   
Quaeritur Aegistus quare sit factus adulter,  
In promptu causa est, desidiosus erat. 
cum ad extrema vencrimus, serò intelligemus miseri, tamdiu nos, dum nihil agimus, malè occupatos fuisse. Id. ibid. Maximae profecto laudis est, non tantùm à diabolo nunquam, sed nec à morte otiosum inveniri. Drexel. Aeternitatis Prodromus. cap. 1. sect. 45. Vita ignava & otiosa nec placita unquam nobis: & ne ejus aliquando necessitas vel voluntas adveniat, serio deprecor. Casaub. Epist. 351. Stuckio.   
Otia si tollas periere cupidinis arcus.  Ovid. 
Water standing still will putrify and breed toads and venomous things, so ease will breed diseases.  
The punishments of idleness.  

1. Diseases. Cernis at ignavum corrumpunt otia corpus?  
2. Dullness, idleness is the rust of wit.  
3. Poverty, Prov. 10. 4. & 20. 13, 19 & 6. 10, 11. & 24. 34.  
4. Shame, Prov. 10. 5. & 6. 6. & 12. 11.   
It is against the order of nature which God set in all his creatures at the first, the 
Christ spent all his days in labour. Rebeccah and Sarah were good housewives. Diogenes, that he might not seem idle in the midst of business, would needs be doing, though it were but by rolling of his Tub.  heavens stand not still but by miracle; Adam laboured in Paradise, much more since the fall; job 5. 7. The rust fretteth unused iron, and the moths eat unworn garments.  
This is the sin of great persons who ●●ve received great mercies from God, Cretians, idle, slow-bellies.  
This sin is condemned,  

1. Exceedingly in the word, by Solomon, Prov. Eccles. Isaiah, and by Paul, and in moral Philosophy.  
2. It is a mother-sin, as was showed before.  
3. Produceth many plagues, rheums, obstructions, and other inconveniences, as hath been also showed, and exposeth one to great danger.   
A good remedy against idleness is diligence in some honest calling. jacob and his sons, Moses and David were shepherds, 1 Sam. 12. 1, 2. Let him that hath an office wait upon it. This humbleth the mind, profits the estate, and makes a man able to do good to himself and others, interests a man to the things of this life; he that labours not must not eat, in all labour there is abundance. It fits him for religious duties; if it be moderate, makes the life cheerful, prevents evil fancies.   

Impenitence.  
Impenitence is a great sin under the Gospel, Acts 8. 22. The longer one lies in any sin the more is the heart hardened, jer. 16. 1. Ephes. 4. 18, 19 He which hardeneth his heart against many reproofs, shall surely perish; obstinate, impenitent sinners shall be destroyed, 1 Sam. 12. 25.  
Impenitence perfectly conforms one to Satan, who is in malo obfirmatus, and sins without remorse, In malo perseverare diabolicum.  
Reasons,  

1. Repentance is God's gift, therefore denying of it is God's curse.  
2. Hereby the highest favour of God is despised, the offering of repentance is a mercy that belongs to the second Covenant; obstinacy in sinning is a denying of God's justice, and abusing his mercy.  
3. So long as one lives in any sin without repentance, so long God looks on him as continuing in that sin, his mind is not changed.  
4. Without repentance 
a The promises of the Gospel appertain to those only who walk not after the flesh but the Spirit, who are heavy laden, and take Christ's yoke upon them, to those which confess their sins, and leave them, which mortify the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit, for with these or such like conditions they are limited.  there is no remission, Acts 5. 31. Luke 24. 47. therefore the sin against the holy Ghost is unpardonable, Heb. 6. 6. because one cannot repent.  
5. Final impenitency is a certain evidence of ones reprobation, Rom. 2. 5. Heb. 12. 17.  
6. Under the Gospel there are the greatest arguments and motives to repentance, Matth. 3. 2. Acts 17. 30. Christ himself sent john before him to preach the doctrine of repentance, and he himself did also preach it; he bad men amend their lives, because the Kingdom of God was at hand: and his Apostles also preached the same doctrine of repentance.   
He is a wilful sinner which either holds in himself a purpose that he will sin, or is irresolute and not settled in a firm purpose of not sinning, or that purposeth to mend but not till hereafter.   

Injustice.  
Injustice is a sin.  
Every man is to have his own, and to be permitted the quiet enjoyment of that wherein he hath interest.  
They execute no judgement. Solomon saith in the place of judgement there was iniquity. I looked for judgement, and behold oppression, Isaiah.  
Reasons.  

1. The excellency of the thing abused, judgement is a part of God's authority. It is God's judgement which you execute, saith jehosaphat; therefore it is a foul thing to abuse a thing so sacred and of such high respect.  
2. The causes of it are covetousness, distrust of God's providence, shaking off the fear of God, and extinguishing the light of nature, denying God's Lordship over the whole world.  
3. The effects of it are bad.   

1. It defiles a man's conscience: judas cast away the thirty pieces which he came unjustly by.  
2. It will ruinate his state and family: A man shall not roast what he caught in hunting.  
3. It blemisheth the name and stains a man's reputation: The Publicans were in such hateful esteem among the Jews, that they were ranked with the very harlots, and most notorious sinners, because they cared not what nor from whom they got.  
4. Riches deceitfully gotten is vanity tossed to and fro by them which seek death, a man shall be damned for unjust gain, unless repentance and restitution come between. The Apostle saith, God is an avenger of all which do such things; Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God?    

Intemperance.  
It is an inordinate appetite or immoderate desire and use of meat and drink, 
Democritus said that intemperate men were valetudinis suae proditores, betrayers of their own health, and killers of themselves by their pleasures, so that Sybaritica mensa and Sybaritica calamitas, are for the most part inseparable. The Philosopher could say The intemperate man is seldom a penitent man.  and this is when a due mean is exceeded, either in the costly preparation of them for ourselves or others, or in the too liberal and excessive use of them so prepared.  
Degrees of intemperance. 1. More secret.  

1. When men's thoughts run after what they shall eat or drink, Matth. 6. 25. When animus est in patinis, Rom. 12. 13.  
2. When we delight too much in it; as Philoxenus who wished he had a neck like a Crane, that he might take the longer delight in swallowing of his meat and drink.  
3. When we feed securely, jude 12. are too much taken up with the creatures.   
2. More notorious.  

1. When men eat more than their stomaches will digest, Prov. 23. 1, 2.  
When they are too dainty, nothing will down but what is delicious and costly, as the rich man in the Gospel.  
3. When they eat and drink unseasonably, as Isa. 12. 13. Amos 6. 1, 2. when they eat one meal too hastily after another, not allowing nature sufficient time for concoction, and those that will be still tippling.   
Helps against it.  

1. Read, hear and practise the word.  
2. Pray.  
3. Join fasting with prayer.  
4. Consider the bounty of the Lord in giving us good things and for what end, viz. strength.     

CHAP. XX. Of Lying, Malice, Murmuring, Oppression.  

LYING.  
LYing is a voluntary uttering of that which is false against a man's knowledge 
Mendaciam à menda. Mendacium nominatur ex co quod contra mentem dicitur. Et idco si quis salsum enunciet, credens id esse verum, est quidem falsum materialiter, sed non formaliter: quia salsitas est praeter intentionem dicentis. Aquin. 2● 2ae quaest. ●10. Artic. 1. See Elton on Col. 3. 9 When one utters a speech, reserving the other part in his mind, it is no better than lying; when that which one speaks is false, it will not be helped with that which is reserved, else no man or devil can have the lie given him. Arius subscribing to the Counsels Decrees, swore it was true as it was there written (meaning the Paper kept close in his bosom or sleeve.) Just like to the Jesuits absurd equivocating, or counterfeited perjuries and cozenage in abusing the words of St Paul, Factus sum omnia omnibus, ut omnes lucrifaciam. Wats. Quod. of Religion and State, Quodl. 2d Answ. to 5th Artic. The Papists tell us that St Francis had five wounds of Christ made in his flesh by an Angel, with the nails sticking therein and continually bleeding till his dying day. Their golden Legend was compiled by a leaden brain, and published by a brazen forehead. Neque potest esse in ullo libro accrvus mendaciorum major, quam in Legenda illa plumbea, quae de persecutione Anglicana apud vos circum fertur. Ibi legas Catholico● insus●s ferarum pellibus à rapidis canibus dilaniari; ibi glires pelvibus inclusos Catholicorum viscera exedentes; ibi Catholicos ad equorum praesepia relegatos, faeno ibi pascendos: nec legas solum, imò & vid●as, are enim ibi sculptae imagines. Falsa, sicta, fucata omnia. Episc. And. Tortura Torti. Thomas Walsingham a Monk of St Albans, saith it was a good argument in his days in every man's mouth, Hic est fraier, ergo mendax, sicut & illud: Hoc est album, ergo coloratum; Such a one is a Friar and therefore a liar, as that, This thing is white and therefore coloured.  and conscience, with an intention to deceive, see Proverbs 12. 19 22. & 13. 5.  
In respect of the end it is distinguished into perniciosum, officiosum, and jocosum, a hurtful, officious, and merry lie. August. in Enchirid. ad Laurent. Aquinas 2a 2ae quaest. 110. Art. 2. The end of a pernicious lie is to hurt, of an officious lie to profit, of a merry lie to delight.  
We must not tell a lie for God's glory, job 13. 7. much less for to help my neighbour.  
Officious lying is neither permitted nor approved in the word of God. God threatens to destroy all those that speak leasing, Psal. 5. 6. See Prov. 6. 16. Matth. 5. 37. Ephes. 4. 25. Col. 3. 9 Rev. 21. 27. & 22. 15.  
The very Heathens themselves abhorred all lying, Aristotle saith, A lie is evil in itself and to be dispraised.  
It is a great sin.  
Reasons.  

1. The Law of God is against it; the ninth Commandment, and the Gospel, Col. 3. 9  
2. It is against the nature of God, the Father is the God of truth, john 17. 3. the Son is truth, john 14. 6. the holy Ghost is the Spirit of truth, john 16. 13. and the Word of God which is the word of truth, Ephes. 1. 13. It makes us like the devil, john 8. 44.  
3. It is against natural conscience; a little child will blush at a lie.  
4. It is basely esteemed of by all generous men, they abhor above all things the imputation of lying. It was in great reproach among the Persians, saith Brissonius.  
5. It is contrary to all civil society, takes away all commerce betwixt man and man. Mendax hoc lucratar ut cum vera dixerit ei non credatur, it is the just reward of a liar not to be believed when he tells truth.  
6. Omnibus peccatis cooperatur, Aug. It hath an influence on all sins. Lying and 
Levit. 19 11.  stealing are joined together, Ephes. 4.  
7. The punishment of it is great, as we may see in Gehezi, Ananias and Saphira. Psal. 5. and often in the Proverbs 
a Prov. 6. 17. & 12. 21.  the Lord abhors it. Rev. 21. 8. & 22. 15. liars are joined with great sinners. See Isa. 63. 8. & Prov. 6. 17.   
Popery is a doctrine of lies, 1 Tim. 4. 2.  
The great honour of the Saints is to walk in the truth, 3 john 4. see Ephes. 4. 5: Buy the truth and sell it not.  
Erasmus had such an antipathy with lying, that from his youth he would usually tremble at the sight of a noted liar.   

Malice.  
It causeth a man to receive pleasure in the practice of cruelty; so the brethren of joseph, and Cain, 1 Sam. 19 13, to the 18.  
Reasons,  

1. It is most of all contrary to charity, therefore it must needs bring forth quite contrary effects to it; and as that makes a man to take pleasure in doing good, so this in doing evil, for both virtues and vices cause him in whom they rule to take content in those things wherein they are exercised, and by which they are strengthened and increased, as both charity is by well doing, and malice by doing evil.  
2. Where malice doth rule, the Spirit of God is quite gone, and the light of nature 
Well said a godly man of Cain, he had half killed and consumed himself with malice before he killed his brother. Malice is commonly hereditary, and runs in the blood, and (as we say of rennet) the elde● it is the stronger, D. Hall. The Heathen man held that between Militia and Malitia there was as little difference in sense as in sound.  extremely dimmed, and a man is given over into the power of Satan; for in giving place to wrath a man gives place to the devil.  
3. It distempers the judgement, will and affections.    

Murmuring.  
It is first, a sin reproved by God, and a provocation of him, jon. 4. 8. The Israelites 
See Dr. Willet on Exod. 15. Quaest 37, 38. Murmuring comes from pride, the devil is the proudest creature and most discontented with his condition. It is a taxing of God, it is in effect to say This is not well done. We are creatures and guilty creatures, God is too just to do us wrong.  were very guilty of it, see Numb. 17. 12. Psal. 106▪ 25.  
Secondly, It is a high degree of sin.  

1. Hereby thou exaltest thy will above Gods, and makest it the rule of goodness.  
2. You put God out of his throne, out of Government; in every murmuring against his dispensations thou deniest his Sovereignty.  
3. Hereby thou makest thyself wiser than God in divine things.  
4. This is a way to provoke God to greater displeasure, Amos 4. 12.   
Arguments against murmuring and discontent under God's administrations.  

1. It is a Christians duty to be content with the things present, Heb. 13. 1 Thess. 518. such a one can never be thankful.  
2. All your murmurings are against God, Numb. 14. 27. & Exod. 16. 8. you charge God with folly, job 1. ult.  
3. This will heighten your sin and add to your plagues, Rev. 16. 19 Isa. 51. 20.  
4. If the Lord should hearken to your murmuring, you would quickly destroy yourselves, Host 13. 11.    

Oppression.  
Oppression is a great sin, Isa. 3. 15. Psal. 14 4. & 17. 12. Amos 8. 5. Mic. 3. 3. Hab. 2. 11, 12. & 1. 14. jer. 12. 13. & 5. 27, 28.  
Pride and unjustice in the extremity meet in an oppressor. The Prophet cries out of them which grind the faces of the poor, of them which are like the wolves in the evening, of them which covet fields and take them by force, because there is might in their hands.  
Reason, It is an abuse of a special gift of God quite contrary to his appointment which gave it, God made the stronger therefore to be the stronger, that he might defend the weak, as the greater sims and bones of the body hold up the burden of it.    

CHAP. XXI. Of Perjury, Polygamy, Pride.  

PERJURY.  
PErjury is mendacium juramento firmatum, a lie confirmed with an oath; so 
See M. Calamy of Covenant-breakers, on 2 Tim. 3. 3. Cook on Littleton p. 294. B. and Knowles his Turkish History, p. 297.  Peter Lombard Distinct. 39 The same thing by the addition of an oath that a lie is in a bare promise, saith 
b De juramenti promissorii obligatione praelect. 2. Sect. 6. Est vel mendacium juramento sirmatum, vel violatio juramenti: vel dolosa jurati● cum inter jurandum cogitat se non servaturum. Chemnit. loc. commun.  Dr. Sanderson.  
It is double.  

1. When a man affirmeth or denieth upon oath that which he believeth in his own heart to be quite contrary.  
2. When he bindeth himself by oath to do or forbear that which he for the present time hath no purpose nor intention to perform.   
The old saying is, Once forsworn, ever forlorn.  
No Casuist doubts of it that a Turk may be guilty of perjury, and for it be punished by the true God, if he forswear himself, though he swear but by Mahomet a false Prophet.  
Such a one that compels a man to perjury is a murderer, saith Austin, duplex homicida, say the Schoolmen.  
A fellow hearing perjury condemned in a Pulpit by a learned Preacher, and how 
A●ii simulationem quam perjurio etiam texorat in apertum produxit Dominus. Nam cum ille suis ac gregalium suorum artibus tantum perfecisset, frustra reclamante Alexandro Constantinopolitano Episcopo, & aliis piis qui fraudem hominis intellexerant sed side●s non invenerant apud potentiores, ut sequente die cum ingenti dolore piorum in communionem Ecclesiae solemniter Constantinop●li introducendus esset: prae●●dente vesperá ante solis occasum necessitate naturae compulsus in latrinas secess●t, & ibi intestina effudit, adcoque, ut Sozomenus ●●t, & com●●unio●e Ecclesiae & vita sua confestim privatus fuit. Quod cum Constantinus inaudisset, miratus id Constantinus est, & ex eo pro certo agnovit, Arium pej●rasse. Atque ut Soc●ates refert, inort● Arii magis etiam in orthodoxi fide consirmatus suit, revera à Deo ipso testimoniam sic accepis●e sidem Nicenam dixit, ac laetatus est eo casu. Vedel de Prud. vet. l. ●. c. 6.  it never escaped unpunished, said in a bravery, I have oft forsworn myself, and yet my right hand is not a whit shorter than my left; which words he had scarce uttered, when such an inflammation arose in that hand, that he was constrained to go to the Chirurgeon and cut it off, lest it should infect his whole body; and so his right hand became shorter than his left, in recompense of his perjury, which he lightly esteemed of. The Theatre of God's judgements, c. 28. of Perjuries.  
The small success that the Emperor Sigismond had in all his affairs (after the violation 
The Doctrine of the Council of Constance is, that a man ought not to keep faith with heretics. Id. ib.  of his faith given to john Hus and Hierom of Prague at the Council of Constance, whom though with direct protestations and oaths he promised safe conduct and return, yet he adjudged to be burned) doth testify the odiousness of his sin in the sight of God.   

Polygamy.  
Lamech first brought it into the world, Abraham into the Church by Sarahs' 
Nos cum ii● sentimus qui judicant Polygamiam simultaneam semper fuisse illicitam, utpotè juri divino & naturali contrariam, & contrajura illa peccasse Lemechum primum Polygamum assercre non dubitamus. Rivet. in Gen. 4. Exercit. 45. Vide plura ibid. Ex prima illa conditione qua uni mari foeminam non nisi unam Deus attribuit, satis apparet, quid optimum fit Deoque gratissimum: & hinc sequitur semper id fuisse egregium ac laudabile: non tamen ut aliter facere nefas esset: quia ubi lex non est, ibi non est leg is transgressio, at lex de ea re nulla ill is temporibus exstabat. Grotius de jure belli ac pacis, l. 7. c. 5. Vide plura ibid. Et Cl. Seldenum de jure natural. & Gentium, l. 5. c. 6. Et Montac. Analecta Eccles. exercit. 10. Sect. 2.  means, jacob was forced to it by a kind of necessity.  
It is a sin, and is evidently blamed by Moses, Levit. 18. 18. that is, Ye shall not take more at once: that this verse is meant of Monogamy is proved by Analogy with vers. 16. and Solomon by way of recantation after his excessive faultiness therein (having had a thousand wives) saith Prov. 5. 18. Rejoice with the wife of thy youth, wife not wives, the first to whom thou didst join thyself in youth. The Scripture calls second wives in Polygamy vexers or enviers, Gen. 4. 23. 1 Sam. 1. 6. The Prophet Mal. 2. 14, 15. in the Old Testament, and Christ in the New, Mat. 19 5, 9 reproves it: if one be guilty of adultery that puts his wife from him, and marries another, than also if he keep her and takes another to him besides her, 1 Cor. 7. 2. his proper wife. It is a swerving from God's first institution.  
Secondly, The conjunction of one man and woman is sufficient for the ends for which Matrimony was first ordained, viz. mutual helpfulness and increase of mankind.  
Thirdly, It is the best way to quench lust and order the appetite.  
There are two kinds of Polygamy Simultanea and Successiva, the having of more wives successively, or at one time. The Montanists and the Novatians held, That if a man buried one wife he might not marry another, and the Church of Rome forbiddeth the blessing of second Marriages in the Church, but this Polygamy is not only allowed Rom. 7. but in a sort commanded also 1 Tim. 5. 14. and the Fathers justify it. It is only the having of many wives together that is condemned by the Old and New Testament and Fathers.  
We read not that Jacob's marriage with his two sisters, nor Lot's daughters incest 
B. Lake. Some think that the Patriarches had a special dispensation for their Polygamy, as conceiving that such as Abraham and David could not be perpetually ignorant of God's mind in a point of such concernment.  with him was condemned, yet they were sins.  
The Patriarches lived and died in the sin of Polygamy, not through any impiety, the Lord testifying their hearts were upright, but merely through the mistaking of that place, Levit. 18. 18. taking the word Sister for one so by blood, which was spoken of a Sister by Nation, as those clauses to vex her, and during her life do evince, Prov. 19 2. But no such place was extant in Abraham and Jacob's time.  
That Polygamy though so common and connived was in the Mosaical Law inhibited, Levit. 18. 18. in those words, A wife to her sister, that is, one to another, as that form is commonly taken, seems evident enough, and so junius takes it.  
That of God by Nathan to David, 2 Sam. 12. 8. seems not to be any approbation, but that all which was Saul's came by the disposal of God into David's power, though it appeareth not that David made such use of that power which yet he might have done without any such notorious wrong unto any, as he offered to Uriah. 
Mr. Huits Anatomy of consc. chap. 3. Cajetanus asserit pluralitatem uxorum nusquam à Deo prohiberi, adeóque Paulum cum Episcopum vetet habere plures uxores, reliquis concedere. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. tom. 1. praelect. 4.    

Pride.  
Pride is a great sin, Prov. 16. 5. Psal. 101. 5. 
See Cartw. on Prov. 16. 18. Mr. Whately in the Sodomites. It was one of the first sins in Heaven, 1 Tim. 3. 6. one of the first sins in Paradise, and one of the first sins that springeth up in us. A Frenchman therefore compares it to the shirt which is the first put on, and the last put off. The Schools say Humility is Vacuum spirituale, and Pride Plenitudo diabolica. Superbia in communi est, qua quis inordinatè supergreditur illud quod est. Unde etiam definiri solet, Propriae excellentiae affectatio inordinata. Ames. de consc. l. 5. c. 18. Vide plura ibid. Et Aquin. 2a, 2ae Quaest 162. Artic. 1. & 2.   
It is a vice whereby one makes a high account of himself, Isa. 2. 11, 17. it makes a man some body in his own esteem, it makes one count himself some thing, as Paul saith, He that counteth himself something when he is nothing, deceives himself, Galat. 6. 3. it is called being great or high in one's own eyes, a lifting up or exalting one's self.  
Initium omnis peccati superbia est: Quid est autem superbia, nisi perversae celsitudinis appetitus? Aug. the civet. Dei, l. 14. c. 13.  
It is Inordinatus appetitus propriae excellentiae, an overweening conceit of a man's 
The Spaniards are very proud; A cobbler there dying bid his son keep up the Majesty of his family.  own excellency, self is his God, his chiefest good and utmost end; the greater the excellency is the higher the pride, it is a greater pride to be proud of gifts and parts then to be proud of riches and honour, and to be proud of grace then of gifts, of ones own righteousness. The root of all other sins (saith 
* 1 1, 2ae Qu. 84. Art. 1.  Aquinas) ex parte aversionis is superbia, ex parte conversionis avaritia. Pride refers to self-excellency, covetousness to creature-excellency. Pride is the measure of corruption, and humility of all grace.  
What swelling and ambitious Titles are those in the styles of the Roman Emperors, Invictus, Victor, Defensor, Triumphator, and the like! Those of the Pope, as Universal Bishop, Prince of Priests, Supreme Head of the Universal Church, and Vicar of Christ here upon earth! Of the great Turk and some other mighty Princes!  
This is one of the sins which the fear of God will make a man to hate, Prov. 8. 13. one of the sins of Sodom which procured unto her that strange overthrow, Ezek. 16. 49. See Isa. 28. 1. jer. 48. 29. Rom. 1. 30. 1 Tim. 3. 2. A vice whose name is comprehended in a Monosyllable, but in its nature not circumscribed with a world.  
Reasons.  

1. It is a most absurd and unreasonable vice for such a mean creature to swell, mean in his creation, vile since his corruption.  
2. A most harmful and pernicious vice; this causeth the man in whom it is to be 
Prov 6. 16. & 11. 2. & 15. 25. & 18. 12. Psal. 138. 6. Jam. 4. 7. The first judgement was occasioned by this when the Angels entertained ambitious thoughts against God.  loathed of God, The proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord, Prov. 16. 5. and haughty eyes are one of the things which his soul hateth, He resisteth the proud, it makes men to despise him, and count him base, he is by it made uncapable of doing and receiving good.  
3. It is a great sin against the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Matth. 11. ult. Christ's whole life was a constant lecture of humility.  
4. It opposeth God as God, other sins set against God's justice, mercy, his Law; but this against God as he is God, it is to make ones own will the supreme rule of all things.  
5. It is a sin which runs out in many kinds and objects, it may arise from our very graces, so that a man will be proud, because he is not proud, it was Mr. Fox his speech, As I get good by my sins, so I get hurt by my graces, the more universal any sin the more dangerous.   
Pride hath three degrees:  

1. Close and secret pride, when though it be retired as a King into his closet, yet it rules jer. 48. 26. it bears rule in all unsanctified men, for they dare oppose God's Commandments, cross his directions for their lust's sake, murmur against him, this is to prefer themselves above him.  
2. More open, when being fed fat with wealth, learning, it makes a man plainly to count himself some worthy person, this is high-mindedness, 1 Tim. 6. 17. and being puffed up, 1 Cor. 8. 1.  
3. Most open, when it dares even contest with God, and sets light by him in plain terms, as Pharaoh Exod. 5. 2. Nabuchadnezzar, Dan. 3. 15. the King of Tyre, Ezek. 28. 26. Antichrist, 2 Thes. 2. and some Heathen Emperors would be worshipped as God.   
Amongst all vices there is none that discovers itself sooner than pride; for the speech, we read of a proud mouth, jude v. 16. for the gate, we read of a foot of 
It is commonly the sin of young men, covetousness of old folk. D. Hackwell. When Diogenes saw Plato to delight in neatness and cleanness, and to have his beds well dressed, he went and trod upon his beds, and said, Calco Platonis fastum, but Plato replied, sed maj●rifastu, with a greater pride. When Plato saw Diogenes go with an old Cloak full of holes, he said, He saw his pride through the holes of his Cloak. The Pope styles himself Servus servorum, yet takes upon him to be Lord of Lords, to depose Kings. Multo deformior est illa superbia quae sub quibusdam humilitatis signis latet. Nescio enim quomodo turpiora sunt vitia quae virtutum specie celantur. Hieron. l. 2. Epist. 22. Romanensis Ecclesiae superbia & supercilium quantum sit, test is sit doctrina suorum meritorum. Test is item sit flatus & fastus vitae. Humf. jesuit. par. 2. de ●atura Eccles. ratio tertia.  pride, Psal. 36. 11. for apparel, of a crown of pride, Isa. 28. 1. of a chain of pride, Psa. 73. 6. Many that know not the man, yet point at him as he walks in the streets, and say, There goes a proud fellow, which men usually pronounce of no vice beside but the drunkard, and therefore doth the Prophet Habakkuk 2. 5. join them both together.  
It bears rule when it is not constantly observed and resisted with sorrowful confessions and self-judging and earnest prayers to God against it.  
The effects of it in all estates:  

1. A proud man cannot brook a wrong without chafing and distemper.  
2. It breeds contentiousness, aptness to strive, to fall out, to be and continue to be at variance with other men, Only by pride cometh contention, Prov. 13. 10.  
3. Such a one worketh in proud wrath, when he is angry he carries himself haughtily, and cares not what he says, with whom he is angry, to deal in proud wrath argues a proud man.  
4. headiness and high-mindedness and self-willedness; Paul joins headiness and high-mindedness together, the better a man thinks of himself the more apt he is to be ruled by himself, and not regard the counsel of others; it is said of the proud builders of Babel, This they did and would not be stopped.   
Secondly, In prosperity he brags and boasts and sets up himself, never fears any 
It entertains crosses with anger, and blessings with disdain. Mal. 1. 2.  alteration, but is secure and saith, He shall not be moved.  
Thirdly, In adversity he whines and mutters, and is full of complaints, and is ready to use ill shifts, and cannot frame himself to a useful and patient bearing of it.  
Lastly, Consider the hurt it doth in the world.  
First, It hinders men from receiving good either from God or man.  

1. It hinders the good of illumination, God teacheth the humble: See jer. 13. 15. Prov. 26. 12. Psal. 25. 9  
2. The good of Sanctification, Except you become as little children you cannot be my Disciples.  
3. The good of comfort, To him will I look who is of a contrite spirit.  
4. It is the main impediment of conversion. See Exod. 18. 11. job 26. 12. Mal. 4. 1. Luke 1. 5.   
Secondly, It depriveth us of all the good we have received, and unfits us for doing service.  
Thirdly, It is the mother of all sins, covetousness grows on it, Hab. 2. 5. it whets revenge, Esth. 3. 16.  
Helps against it: 
The remedies of pride.   

1. Pray to God to show it and make it hateful.  
2. Meditate of your own meanness and baseness, bodily and spiritual, in this life and another. 
Why art thou proud, dust and vanity, vile earth, stinch lapped up in silk, magnified dung, gilded rottenness, golden damnation? Dr. White in a Sermon at the spital.   
3. Be diligent in some virtuous calling.  
4. Observe God's judgements on pride, either upon yourselves, or those that are near you, Dan. 5. 22. 2 Cor. 12. 7. it is the sure forerunner of ruin.  
5. Draw out the Spirit of Christ's humiliation, Phil. 2. 5, 7.  
6. Let every act of pride be accompanied with a subsequent act of humility, 2 Chron. 32. 25. 1 Chron. 21. 8.  
7. Treasure up some holy principles, and keep them always present and ready in your thoughts, Psal. 119 9 

1. The only way to exaltation is not to affect it, He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, Jam. 4. 10.  
2. The ornament of an high estate is not outward splendour, but a lowly mind, jam. 1. 10. when one can be minimus in summo.  
3. Those that are most worthy of praise do most despise it, Prov. 11. 12.    
8. Take heed of those things which nourish pride, idleness, voluptuousness, delighting in earthly vanity, looking much abroad to others faults, promising ourselves much prosperity, long-life, in the abundance of outward things.     

CHAP. XXII. Of Railing, Rebellion, Revenge, Scandal, Schism.  

RAILING.  
RAiling is a great sin.  
Our Saviour having condemned rash anger, proceedeth to blame this evil 
Matth. 5. 22.  effect of it, saying, He that saith Raka, or he that calleth his brother fool, plainly enough intimating, that commonly distempered and inordinate anger doth bring forth such language. See what companions the holy Ghost hath yoked with railers, 1 Cor. 6. 9 & 5. 11.  
Psal. 50. David saith, He heard the reproach of many. Saul railed on jonathan, and called him the Son of the perverse rebellious woman, as much as if in plain english he had called him whoreson varlet. Nabal railed on David and his servants which were sent unto him; and Rabshekeh railed on the living God; the Jews railed on Christ, saying, Thou hast a Devil. Shimei on David, 2 Sam. 16. 5, 6, 7, 8.  
Railing is the uttering of such words and terms against any man as do aim at his disgrace, to make him appear contemptible, hateful and vile.  
Not only those rail which call others vile names, as rogue, fool, ass, this is the highest degree of railing, but all vilifying terms, Thou, what art thou? a pin for thee, thou art this and that, casting in a man's teeth his faults and imperfections, yea or any words tending to reproach, is railing.  
Reason why it is so great a sin:  

1. It is contrary to equity, which requires that a man should deal no otherwise with his neighbour than he would have his neighbour to deal with him, no man can brook railing terms, but abhors them.  
2. It is against charity: 

1. It is a fruit of bitterness and wrath in him that doth it, and shows that he is provoked and inflamed; now charity is not provoked.  
2. It tends to the disgrace of another to blemish his name, and make him appear vile and contemptible to others, which is against the rules of charity, for charity covers faults, and this lays them open.  
3. In some cases it is contrary to truth and verity.     
Men are prone to this sin, because they are full of pride, passion, bitternesle, uncharitablesse, which engender it.  
A man should be able to hear himself railed at.  

1. Because we deserve greater evil at God's hand.  
2. We are never the worse for it.  
3. Because it argueth folly and pride to be troubled at another's railing on us, folly in thinking ourselves the worse for such speeches, pride in that we cannot endure to be despised.    

Rebellion.  

Rebellion is two fold  
1. Against God.  
2. Against Man.   
1. Against God.  
A wilful practising of known transgressions, or neglecting of known duties.  
It is dishonourable to God as rebellion against a Prince.  
Samuel told Saul that rebellion was as the sin of witchcraft, the witch makes the 
1 Sam. 15. 23. See Isa. 1. 2, 20 Psal. 5. 10.  devil a god, the rebel makes himself a god.  
As he that entertaineth in his mind a false conceit of things is guilty of error, but if he settle himself in this false conceit, and hold it fast, that is a prejudice, a rooted and grounded error: so he which in his will entertains a deliberate purpose of sinning against his knowledge, or the evident means, is guilty of rebellion: he that stands to his purpose still and still, and goes on in it against reproof and admonition, he adds stubborness to his rebellion.  
Three things concur to the making of rebellion:  
First, A person subject to Authority that in duty ought to be under the government of another.  
Secondly, A Governor that hath a just and lawful title to govern and rule.  
Thirdly, Acts of that inferior crossing, thwarting, opposing the commandments of that Governor.  
So it stands between God and us when we sin.  

1. We are his Subjects, persons that in duty ought to be at his command, and to order ourselves according to his will, because he made us and preserves us, and giveth us all things which we have upon condition of obedience, therefore it is equal we should be guided by him, and rebellion is unreasonable, we shall not get but lose by it.  
2. He hath absolute right over us.  
3. Sins do contradict the Commandment and Laws of God which he hath revealed and made known, thus sin is like rebellion, therefore so termed in Scripture, Psal. 51. 2. 2 Sam. 15. God saith often of Israel, They are a rebellious house. It is an actual refusing to be under the sovereign▪ Authority of God our Lord and King.   
Reasons, It is an actual denying of God's Sovereignty, and as it were a deposing of him from his Government of the world, a robbing him of the honour of his Wisdom, Justice, Power, Authority, it is an opposing of our will to Gods will, by holding in ourselves a purpose of doing what he forbids, and not doing what he commands, for our pleasure, profit or credit sake, as Saul spared the cattle for his profit which God would have killed.  
2. Against man. 
2 Sam. 18. 9 to 18. The 5th Commandment. 1 Sam. 22. 15. 1 Sam. 24. 6. & 26. 9, 11. Eccl. 10. 20   
It is a great fault for children or subjects to be disobedient to their Parents or Princes.  
Many of the Kings of Israel did fall by the treason of their subjects, as the story recordeth. Mordecai when he knew of two Eunuches which plotted against the life of Ahashuerus, was careful to reveal the matter to Esther, and she unto the King, whereby the conspirators were punished and he escaped. A wretched and 
See Pro. 17. 11 & 20. 20. & 24. 22.  untimely death befell Elies' sons for not harkening to their father's admonitions, and other sins.  
The causes of rebellions, conspiracies, treasons and insurrections are always naught and evil, they have their original from one of these three vices, ambition, discontentment or superstition, most of the conspirators which are noted in the stories of the Kings of Israel to have slain their masters, and reigned in their rooms, were ambitious: now all these three are foul faults, and therefore rebellion which flows from them. The effects also which follow upon this fault are most loathsome and evil.  

1. The practisers seldom or never fail to bring on themselves mischief and destruction, as Sheba who rebelled against David, and divers others, the Kings of Israel which came in by treason, their sons still by treason likely thrust them out, so that even jesabel could say, Had Zimri peace which slew his master?  
2. It brings misery to a whole Nation, it brings likely with it civil war, and so all manner of confusion.   
Reasons.  

1. It is plainly and often condemned in Scripture, and therefore crosseth clear and many precepts.  
2. It is a great fault in regard of the mischievousness of it, for it tends to overthrow all the comfort of men's lives, and to destroy the welfare of humane societies.  
3. It is a great sin in respect of the persons against whom it is committed, a Father is the name of the greatest sweetness and goodness, and a King of the greatest power and majesty, the one being also a common Father, and the other a domestical King; the one is a lively picture of God's goodness, the other of his greatness.  
4. In regard of the great obligations by which the persons offending stand bound to their duty; the one, the child is bound by the strongest bond of nature seeing he is as it were a piece of the Father which oweth to him his being, education, preservation and maintenance: the other the Subject is bound by the strongest civil bond, viz. an oath.   
How many malefactors when they come to be hanged, have most bitterly complained of their undutifulness and disobedience to their parents, as the cause of all their misery!  
The Pope of Rome and his Jesuited faction teach and maintain rebellion and treason 
Quid bonis in eo regno sperare jam licet, ubi optimi duo reges religionis obtentu parricidarum ficis sunt confossi? Quanquam non universa Gallia in hoc parricidium consenfit, verum oppido pauci superstitione depravati, & omnis legitimae potestatis osores acerrimi. Casaub. Epist. 397.  in Subjects against their Princes, giving to the Pope power in order to things spiritual to depose Kings, and to free their Subjects from the oath of Allegiance which they have taken.   

Revenge.  
Men for the most part are very revengeful, prone to revenge, as Cain, Joseph's 
Thankfulness is accounted a heavy burden, revenge a sweet refreshing, therefore men naturally are more prone to revenge a wrong then requite a good turn.  brethren, Esau, Absolom, Haman: The sons of jacob bitterly avenged the wrong done to their Sister. Saul 1 Sam. 15. 24. & 18. 26. The Pharisees who perverted God's Commandment; for when God said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, they added another sentence to it, as if it had necessarily followed thereupon, But shalt hate thine enemies, as if God had enjoined love only to neighbours, that is, such as did dwell quietly by us, and used us in a kind and neighbourly fashion, but that he allowed us to hate such as were our enemies and did misuse us; to this purpose they perverted another saying of the Law, A hand for a hand, as if God had there given way to revenge, and allowed every man to return evil for evil, whereas that is spoken of the Magistrates duty in punishing wrong-doers, not of every 
Proniores ad vindictam sumus quam ad gratiam Bodin. Gratia on●ri vindicta in quaestu habetur. Tacitus. Non minus mali, refer injuriam, quam infer. Lactant. lib. 6. de vero cultu. Qui enim referre injuriam nititur, eum ipsum, à quo laesus est, gestit imitari. Id. ibid. I can ho●d there is no such thing as injury, that i● there be, there is no such injury as revenge, and no such revenge as the contempt of an injury. Dr. brown's Religio Medici. Verè magni est animi quasdam injurias negligere, nec ad quorundam convicia habere v●l aures, vel linguam. Erasm. Epist. lib. 2. Aegidio.  man's own liberty as if he should do wrong.  
Reasons.  

1. Carnal reason persuades us this is a thing very equal and righteous, because it seemeth to approach somewhat near to that which is indeed a known and approved rule of equity, viz. to do as we would be done to, wherefore corrupt reason a little varieth that maxim, and alloweth us to do as we are done to, and saith Why should I not use him as he used me?  
2. Carnal reason doth also persuade it is a course of safety and security for ones self. For by this means one shall make men more afraid (thinketh that reason) to do me wrong, if I return their wrongs upon them.  
3. Pride possesseth all men naturally, this stirreth men up to revenge.  
4. Every man's heart aboundeth with self-love, and love cannot endure to see evil done to the person loved.  
5. We are all void of charity and love to our brethren, hence there is an aptness to be provoked and do them hurt if we seem to have any cause.  
6. It gives a kind of pleasure and satisfaction to hatred or envy, of which it is a kind of exercise, as scratching doth to him that hath the itch.   
Revenge is a requiting of evil for evil, a doing hurt again to them from whom one hath received hurt, and measuring ill measure for ill measure. A dog in the Law was an unclean beast because he was revengeful.  

1. Revenge transgresseth the plain light of nature which bids us do as we would be done to, and every man would be forgiven and not have revenge taken upon him.  
2. It is a manifest enemy to peace and concord which we should seek and follow after.  
3. Injurious to God, a preventing of him, as if he were not careful enough to execute justice.   
The best and wisest Heathen writer of moral virtues, hath delivered it as a general principle, that a man must not hurt any other but with this caution and limitation, unless he be first provoked by some injury.  
Photion when he had done great service for Athens, yet they ungratefully putting him to death, he charged his son at his death that he should never remember the Athenian injuries. The King of France after would not revenge the wrongs done to him before when Duke of Orleans.  
Signs of Revenge.  

1. A pitiless disposition, by which one is rather glad then sorry for another's evil.  
2. Excess in punishing.   
Some directions or means for the crucifying of this unruly affection.  

1. You must subdue pride, and labour to make yourselves base and vile in your own eyes, being worthy of all the wrongs and indignities that can be offered to us in regard of our own sinfulness.  
2. You must observe God in wrongs, as David, The Lord hath sent him to curse.  
3. You must often consider of the goodness of God in forgiving your sins many and heinous, Eph. 4. 12. and 5. 2.  
4. You must often ponder of the necessity of this duty which appears by three things.   

1. The clear and express commandments given about it, Matt. 5. 39 resisting evil, that is, by doing the like evil to him which he doth to thee, but prepare thyself to bear that and another, rather than by doing the like to repel the former, whereby he meeteth with the cavils which flesh doth enforce to justify revenge, or else I shall be perpetually obnoxious to wrongs, be it so, saith our Saviour, thou must rather bear it then resist, Rom. 12. 17. and 19 1 Thes. 5. 15. no man may render to any evil for evil, that is, evil word for evil word, evil deed for evil deed, taunt for taunt, blow for blow.  
2. The great danger if it be not mortified, our sins shall never be pardoned, we pray in the Lord's Prayer, Forgive as we forgive, he therefore which forgiveth not, can never have any true assurance of being forgiven, Mat. 6. 14, 15. ●o as manifest a promise and threat as any the Scripture containeth or can be made. Now to forgive a wrong and requite it with some evil done to the wrongdoer, are as quite contrary as any thing in the world, so that he which will do the one doth not the other, as he which sues and imprisons a man for debt doth not forgive his debt, so he that recompenseth a man evil for his evil doth not forgive his evil.  
3. The worthy examples which we have of good men that have gone before us in mortifying it, as Christ and other Saints.   
To these meditations add fervent prayers to God that he would vouchsafe to season our hearts with humility, meekness, forbearance; that he would strengthen us to pass by wrongs, injuries, indignities, that he would give us his Spirit to crucify this as well as the other lusts of the flesh.   

Scandal.  
A Scandal or offence is that which is or may be in itself an occasion of falling to 
Dictum aut factum minus rectum, praebens occasionem ruinae. Vide Aquin. 2. 2. ●. Q. 43. Art. 1. Scandalum est dictum vel factum aut exemplum quo alius fit deterior. Zanch. Scandalum est quo quis impellitur in ruinam & evertitur. Cameron praelect. in Matth. 18. 7. Vide plura ibid. Bona res neminem scandalizat nisi malam mentem. Tertul. Mat. 15. 14.  another. Any thing whereby we so offend another, as that he is hindered from good, drawn into or confirmed in evil, is a scandal: One saith it is an indiscreet or uncharitable abuse of my Christian liberty.  
There is Scandalum 1 datum, 2 acceptum, a scandal given, when a man doth that which is in itself unlawful, or else if it be lawful he doth it in an undue manner, Rom. 14. 20, 21.  
First, Scandals given,  

1. When men by corrupt doctrine endeavour to justify wicked practices, Rom. 16. 17.  
2. By sinful practices, Prov, 29. 6. and 22. 15.  
3. By giving just ground of offence in appearance of evil, 1 Thessal. 5. 22. 2 C●●. 8. 19, 20.  
4. In the abuse of lawful liberty go to the utmost bounds of it, Rom. 14. per tot.   
Secondly, A Scandal or offence taken, when men take offence at that which is good, where there is neither evil nor any appearance of it, joh. 6. 61. 1 Pet. 2. 7. men take offence at true doctrine and good actions, the Disciples at Christ's doctrine of the resurrection. 2. When their sins are reproved, Leu. 19 16, 17.   

Schism.  
Schism in the Church is much like sedition in the State: As the name of Heresy 
See D. Prid. Eph. Back s●id. Crakenthorp's Virgilius dormitan●. c. 13. The Donatists divided themselves from the than Catholic Church, because it was not pure enough for such sanctified Communicants, they cried up liberty of conscience when they were under power, but were much against it after. 〈◊〉 est ●adem opinantem & eodem ritu utentem solo congregationis delectari dissidio Aug. And again, Schismaticos facit non li●er●● fides sed ●ommu●●nis disrupta socictas. Independentes illi quos (cum nihil familiari nobis cismari●is lingua edide●●●●) usque nun● nisi de nominis infamia nosse non licuit. Blondel. de jure Plebis in Regem, Eccl. Dissert. p. 73.  though it be common to any opinion whereof one makes choice whether it be true or false (in which sense Constantine the great called the true faith Catholicam & sanctissimam haeresin) yet in the ordinary use it is now applied only to the choice of such opinions as are repugnant to the faith: so the name of Schism though it import any scissure or renting of one from another, yet now by the vulgar use of Divines it is appropriated only to such a rent or division as is made for an unjust cause, and from those to whom he or they who are separated aught to unite themselves and hold communion with them. Tota ratio Schismatis, the very essence of a Schism consists in the separating from the Church, I say, from the true and orthodoxal Church. It is a renting or dissolving of that unity which ought to be amongst Christians; See M marshal's Sermon on Rom. 12. 4, 5.  
It was a memorable speech of Calvin, who said, he would willingly travel all over the Seas and Countries in the world to put an end to the differences that were in the Reformed Churches. Cameron well distinguisheth of a double Schism, 1. Negative, which is a bare secession or subduction, and is unlawful, Non separatio sed causa facit Schismaticum, Cassand. 2. Positive, when there is a certain consociation, which useth Ecclesiastical Laws, the Word of God and administration of the Sacraments separatim, which he calleth setting up an Altar against an Altar; this is called Schism Antonomastic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith he, de Eccles.  
Different forms of Churches and Church-government in one State must needs lay a foundation of strife and division therein. It is no wisdom (saith M. Durie in a Letter) in a State, to reject an approved way of government, which all the best Reformed Churches have received all this while, and acknowledged to be God's way, and by experience found to be safe, sound; and instead of it to take up another, which it is not yet known what it is, nor was ever tried but in two or at the most three Churches, and that for the space of a few years. The slighter the cause of Separation, the greater the fault of Schism; when men hold the same Faith and Orthodox truths, yet separate for lesser matters.  
The true Saints in the 7. Churches of the Revelation were never bid go out of them though they were very corrupt, as they were out of Babylon, M. Vines. The first Separatist in the Scripture (saith one) was Cain, Gen. 4. 16. Enforcements to love are clear, 1 Cor. 13. 1. That question of Separation in Scripture is dark. See M. Gillespy miscel. c. 10. and 15. and M. Manton on Jam. 3. 17. Schisma est secessio in religionis negotio vel temeraria vel injusta, Cameron de Eocles. Schism is a causeless: separation from external communion with any true Church of Christ: M. Ball against Separation c. 8. Schism is a breach of the unity of the Church. D. Field l. 3. of the Church, c. 5.  
We do not leave communion of true Churches for corruptions and sins, but only 
Pagets Arrow against the Separate. of the Brownists, c. 2. p. 57  abstain from the practice of evil in our own persons, and witness against it in others, still holding communion with the Churches of Christ.  
You send me unto such a Book of M. Robinson as himself doth begin to revoke pubpubliquely as being unsound in divers things, whereas I refer you unto a later book of his 
* Religious communion. Paget ubi supra p. 59  made with riper deliberation, and in no part that I hear of publicly revoked. His Book which you send me unto, being his justification of Separation, is sick of King jehorams incurable disease, the guts of it fall out day by day, yea, he openly plucks out some of the bowels thereof with his own hands. This is to be observed by them especially who much follow M. Robinson. 
See more there of M. Ainsworths' unchristian error against private communion with the godly, and his harsh censuring all, and those that hold communion with the Church of England, and c. 1. p. 41. M. Paget holds them guilty of Schism that forsake communion with the Church of England.     

CHAP. XXIII. Of Sedition, Self-love, Self-seeking, Slander.  

SEDITION.  
SEdition is a sin whereto people are much inclined. 
Vide Scult. Annal. Dec. 1. p. 239, 240. Nihil unquam magis detestatus sum quam seditionem, nec adhuc ulla in re mecum pugno. Eras. epist. l. 28. Floriano Motino. See 2 Sam. 20. 1, 2.   
It is to leave our present Governors which rule us according to law, and follow other Governors who rise up of their own accord: to leave a David and follow a Sheba.  
The Israelites raised sedition against David by means of Absalon and Achitophel, and proceeded so far in their rebellion that they brought it to a pitched field, and would not give over till their Captain with twenty thousand more were slain in the battle, 2 Sam. 19 Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, stir up a great multitude against Moses and Aaron. At another time of themselves they rose against Moses, and were ready to stone him because they wanted water. At another time they cry to have a Captain and return back to Egypt.  
M. Hobbs in his Rules of government c. 12. reckons up these two (among other wild ones) as seditious opinions, that the knowledge of good and evil belongs to each single man, and saith, Legitimate Kings make the things they command just by commanding them, and those which they forbid unjust by forbidding them, This is to make Subject's beasts and the Magistrate God: 2. That faith and holiness are not acquired by study and natural reason, but are supernaturally infused and inspired unto man: which if it were true (saith he) I understand not why we should be commanded to give an account of our faith, or why any man who is truly a Christian should not be a Prophet. This opinion is so contrary to Scripture and the judgement of all sound Divines, that I need not spend time to confute it, See Phil. 1. 29. Eph. 1. 8. Heb. 12. 2. One indeed saith, the habits of Faith, Hope, and Charity, are infused after the manner of acquisite, God having ordained not to infuse them, but upon the means of hearing, praying, caring, studying, and endeavouring. Some say, there 
Plaiser's Apello Evangelium. c. 11.  are no graces wrought in us but several actings of the Spirit, as the Spirit acteth with us, where grace is wrought we need the Spirit to excite and draw it forth, but the Scripture is plain for infused habits, grace is called a good work in us Phil. 1. 6. the Law written in our hearts: God is said to shine into our hearts, 2 Cor. 4. 6. we are said to be partakers of the divine nature, 2 Pet. 1. 4. See Eph. 2. 10.  
1. It is a sin it is plain by Scripture, how severely did God punish it in Korah and his accomplices, making the earth to gape wide and swallow them up! Solomon condemns it, saying, meddle not with such as be given to change; Gal. 5. 20. yea it is a great sin, as is evident, 1. It is contrary to the light of Scripture, in the Law he that cursed, that is, railed upon, or used ill wishes against the Ruler of his people, was to be put to death, how much more than he that shall rise up against him! The Scriptures of the New Testament are full of precepts for duty and subjection, Rom. 13. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 13. 14. Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, saith our blessed Saviour, Give to every one his due▪ fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour belongeth, You must needs be subject for conscience sake; And the Apostle willeth Titus to put them in mind to obey principalities, and powers, and be subject to Magistrates, and ready to every good work; as if a man were unfit for any good work, if he be not duly subject to authority.  
The Jesuits are still tampering about Kingdoms, Monarchies, Commonwealths, and temporal States, how to bring them into mutinies, contentions, seditions, rebellions, and uproars. watson's Quodlibets of Religion and State, Quodl. 5. Answer to the fourth Article. They are like unto Aesop's Trumpeter who being taken in war made his lamentation, saying, that he never drew his sword against any, nor shot at any: but the enemy answered, Thou hast animated others, thou hast put courage, rage and fury into all the rest. Saint Peter and jude do blame them which despise government and speak evil of them in authority.  
Secondly, It is contrary to the light of nature, for even among those Nations which never had any divine revelation, yet the necessity of duty to Magistrates was always maintained as a thing which they perceived absolutely requisite for the welfare of humane societies, seeing without government the societies of men could never continue in a good estate. No man could possess his own goods, enjoy his own lands and house, live comfortably with his own wife and children, or give himself to any profitable calling and endeavour.  
Thirdly, It is contrary to those principal virtues by which all men ought to govern themselves in the course of their lives, unless they will be brutish, appetite ruleth beasts, reason ought to guide man, and a settled habit agreeable to right reason; Now the main and fundamental virtues are religion, justice, charity and prudence, against all which sedition doth evidently oppose itself.  
Religion tieth our souls to God, and commandeth us to give him his due, God is not duly feared and honoured if his Ordinance of Magistracy be despised.  
2. Justice bindeth us to men, and requireth to give every man his due, which we do not if we deny subjection to the Magistrate, by whose power all men else should be helped to the attaining of their right.  
3. Charity bids us do good to our neighbours as to ourselves, and how will he do good to other neighbours, who will not perform his duty to his Governors who are appointed for the common good?  
4. Discretion and prudence advise to take that course which is most requisite for our own and the common happiness, seeing no member can be long safe if the whole be not kept in safety. It is quite contrary to the common welfare, and consequently to a man's own at length, that the body be rend asunder with sedition.  
Fourthly, It is a great sin, since it proceedeth from bad causes and produceth ill effects; Ambition, envy, and discontent at the present estate, and foolish hopes to have all remedied by a change, are the mothers of sedition. 2. The effects of sedition are lamentable; where envying and strife i●, there is sedition and every evil work, James. Envying and strife likely bring sedition, and sedition cometh accompanied with every evil work, viz. with civil war which puts the sword into the hand of the multitude, and makes them bold to kill, spoil, bu●n all which lies in their way without difference or respect of persons, religion and justice are exiled, and fury and passion do what they please. The reason why men are so prone to this sin, is because they are naturally full of those vices which are apt to breed it, viz. ambition, envy, discontent, fond hopes.   

Self-love.  
It is a vehement and inordinate inclination to ones own content in things carnal, 
Ignorant men and those that are raised from a mean condition are apt to think too well of themselves. God and Nature teach us to love ourselves. Matth. 19 10. thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, self in subordination not in opposition to God regular self. Zanchius in Eph. 5. 28. See D. Gouge on that place.  earthly, and sensual, 2 Tim, 3 2. See 2 Cor. 12 7.  
There is  

1. a natural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or self love, by which every one from the instinct of nature loves himself, his own body, soul, life, Eph. 5. 29. the Scripture doth not condemn this.  
2. A divine self-love by which every one that is born again by the holy Ghost from the instinct of the Spirit, loves himself, as is fitting, to the glory of God and good of the Church, these two kinds of self-love were in Christ.  
3. A devilish self-love, whereby one by the instinct of corrupt nature and inflamed by Satan, so loves himself that he loves no other truly, and seeks only his own things.   
Effects of it.  

1. To praise ourselves, Prov 27. 2. and boast of ourselves as the Pharisee.  
2. To be embittered against reproofs.  
3. To attempt things above our power and place.   
Remedies against Self-love.  
We should love our best selves, Mat. 6 33. Luke 10. 42. and consider what reason we have to love God above all.  
The right knowledge of God and ourselves will cure this corrupt self-love. Consider the baseness of our original, and our evils as well as excellencies, and the purity of God, job 40. 4, 5.  
It is lawful 1. To will our temporal good with moderation.  
2. To prefer our necessities before the necessities of others, to defend our own lives rather than the lives of others, unless he be a Magistrate, Thou art better than ten thousand of us. 3. To maintain our reputation and just privileges.   

Self seeking.  
It is an evil at all times to seek great things to a man's self. 
Self is the great Idol, self-conceit, self-love, and self-seeking: Self-conceit in the understanding, self-love in the affections, and self-seeking in the whole conversation.   
Reasons.  

1. God hath written a Treatise 
* Ecclesiastes.  of purpose to take men off from the creature.  
2. There are divers commands to the contrary, Phil. 4. 5. prohibitions, Mat. 6. 21. sharp reproofs Eph. 5. ●am. 4. 4.  
3. God is much delighted with such a disposition of the soul, as it is taken off from creature-comforts. Psa. 131.   
The greatness of this evil.  

1. It is the root of all other sins, the first sin that came into the world.  
2. It is an error circa finem, nay, an error concerning the utmost end, therefore the more dangerous.  
3. Self as standing in opposition to God, is that against which all the curses of the Law are denounced, Isa. 22. 16, 17. and 23. 8.  
4. For these self-seekers only the torments of hell are prepared, Cesset propria voluntas & non erit infernus, Bern. God hath ever set himself against self-seekers to destroy them and their house, Prov. 19 21. Isa. 44. 25. Psa. 33. 10. Isa. 59 5, 6. jer. 22. 13. Hab. 2. 9   
This is especially evil in the calamities of the Church, Numb. 14. 11, 12. what is this self compared with the Churches good? this is condemned in Baruch, it is unseasonable. We read not of any Saint in the Scriptures given to covetousness. 2. Hypocrites were given to it, Saul, Demas, judas.  
God's prerogative is,  

1. To have high esteem from the creature as the chiefest good, to this self-love is opposite.  
2. To give Laws to the creature as an Absolute Sovereign, to this self-dependance is opposite.  
3. To have the trust of the creature as an Independent essence, to this self-will is opposite.  
4. To be the utmost end as the Supreme cause, to this self-seeking is opposite.   
Signs of it.  

1. When one puts himself on the profession of Religion for some worldly advantage, Gen. 34. 22, 23. john 6. 26.  
2. When men are enemies to Christ's Cross, Phil. 3. 18, 19  
3. Envy to others. Gal. 5. 26.   
Remedies against it, Consider,  

1. The greatness of the sin, God should be the chief end, to set up self in his room, no man less enjoys himself then he that seeks himself.  
2. You will have the greater judgement, Mat. 23. 14.  
3. Frequently pray against it, and cast back the praises given to thee unto God. Phil. 2. 21. May not our things and the things of Christ consist together-   

1. All men are not Christ's nor led by his Spirit.  
2. Many that profess themselves to be Christ's, are none of his, Rev. 3. 4.  
3. Those that are spiritually quickened keep not close to Christ, See Mat. 12. 30.    

Slander.  
Slander is a great sin, Psa. 52. 3. Rom. 1. 29. It was the sin of Ziba, Haman against Mordecai, Detractio est alienae famae per verba denigratio, Aquinas 2●. 2ae Quaest 68 Art. 1. the smiting of a man's good name, the Latins call it detractio, because it is a 
False accusers, 1 Tim. 4. David was slandered by Saul, Christ was called a glutton, drunkard, a companion of Publicans and sinners, yea, an Impostor and deceiver, and what not? but he bore all▪ and we never read of any complaints he made for this abuse. Regium est male audire cum bene feceris. Slandering is against the fifth Commandment, because it robs him of the honour and dignity which is due unto him: against the ninth Commandment, because it blemisheth the good name and fame of another: and the sixth, it is contrary to charity. jesabel took away Naboths life by a slander.  kind of theft, in that it stealeth from a man's good name. See Ames. de Consc. l. 5. c. 15.  
The cause of it is flattery, envy, and twattling, uncharitableness, or malice, or both is the prime cause of it, uncharitableness is the bare absence of charity, malice is a disposition quite contrary to charity, either because a man loves not or hates his neighbour. Charity doth no evil, we should do as we would be done to.  
The effects of it are bad, it sets one man against another, and so doth mischief to both, slanderous tongues that told Saul in secret David sought his hurt, made him to persecute him so vehemently. The slanders of Haman caused Ahashuerus to make a Decree for the destruction of all the Jews in his Kingdom, Joseph's Mistresses slanderous accusation brought him into much trouble.  
Principal parts of slander.  
There are four principal parts of slander.  
The 1. and worst, when a man doth purposely forge a lie against his neighbour, without any so much as show or ground, as Mephibosheth was served by his naughty servant Ziba, and as David himself was served by the bad Courtiers about Saul.  
2. When there hath been such a thing done or said, but he misreports it, adding or diminishing, wresting and perverting it, and so makes it seem evil that was not so in the intention and practice of the doer, as they wrested our Saviour's words to a blasphemous sense.  
The third kind, when one reports a false report that he hath heard and taken up upon trust, as Tobiah said it was reported, and such a one did speak it, that Nehemiah meant to rebel.  
4. When men complain of a good deed as if it were ill to them that will account it so, as the enemies of the three children accused them to Nabuchadnezzar, and those that told jesabel of Obadiahs' hiding the Prophets.  
Helps against it.  

1. Speak nothing of any man that tends to his hurt and disgrace, of which you are not certain, which you cannot prove to be true, Report is a liar, therefore trust it not.  
2. Though you do know any evil of your neighbour, yet report it not but when duty binds you, and only to such as duty binds you, I mean chiefly of private faults, or of public, if they be such as cannot be made better by speaking of, nor do good to others by being known.  
3. Be not tatlers, persons full of tongue, apt to be still speaking, he that speaketh much, will speak much evil, and among the rest, some slanders, when other talk faileth he will fall upon the faults of men.  
4. When you talk, forbear meddling with other men's matters, be not busybodies. He that 1. is of few words, 2. When he speaks meddleth as little as may be with others matters, 3. Forbears to talk of their faults, but as much as he must needs by the bond of duty, and then is sure to say nothing but what he knows and can prove, that man shall not prove a slanderer. Make not yourselves petty Devils by slandering and false accusing, many have learned that evil precept of accusing boldly because something will stick.     

CHAP. XXIV. Of Tale-bearing, Vainglory, Violence, Unbelief, unkindness, Unsettledness, Unthankefullnesse, Usury.  

Of TALE-BEARING.  
TAle-bearing, It is a sin easily to believe false tales, as Saul had an open ear 
Se accusasse sufficiat, nemo ●ri● innocens.  to those Sycophants which were ready to accuse David to him of treason and conspiracy, Ahashuerus to Haman who traduced the Jews as a people careless of the King's Laws, David to Ziba.  
Reasons.  

1. It is an encouragement and harkening unto those whose trade is to invent and believe lies.  
2. It makes a man guilty of those lies to which he hath given furtherance and countenance, and so he is partaker of another's sins.  
3. It is against the clear principle and rule of all actions, viz. to do as we would be done by, one is offended if another readily receive false tales against him.   
Men are subject to this fault, because they are not so perfect in wisdom and charity as they ought to be, uncharitableness, evil suspicions, guiltiness, willingness to have other faulty, and imprudent temerity, are the causes of this overhasty crediting tales. A good man neither taketh up nor receiveth a slander against his neighbour, Psalm 15. 2. let thy countenance be like the Northwind to backbiting tongues.   

Vain-glory.  
Vainglory is a great sin, john 7. 18. Matth. 6. beg. We are naturally prone to it 
See Joh. 8. 5. 1 Thess 2. 6. Saul saith to Samuel, Honour me before the people, see 1 Sam. 18. 8. Haman would be worshipped with religious worship. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 semper vulgatissima pestis est in mundo quod etiam gent●les poetae & historici vehementer reprehenderunt. Non est pagus, in quo non reperiatur unus atque alter, qui praealijs non velint sapere & magnifieri. Praecipuè tamen hoc vitio laborant homines ingeniosi, qui de erudition & sapientia certant. Hic nemo vult alteri cedere, juxta illud, Qui volet ingenio cedere, nullus erit. Pulchrum est enim digito monstari, & dicier hic est. Sed in privatis hominibus, imo etiam magistratum gerentibus, non tam pernic●osa est, ut in his, qui Ecclesiae praesunt. Lutherus in 6. cap. ad Galat. Potest gloria dici vana tripliciter. Uno modo ex parte rei de qua quis gloriam quaerit, put● cum quis quaerit gloriam de co quod non est, vel de eo quod non est gloria dignum, sicut de aliqua re fragili & caduca. Alio modo, ex parte ejus à quo quis gloriam quaerit, puta hominis, cujus judicium non est certum Tertio modo, ex parte ipsius qu● gloriam appetit, qui videlicet appetitum gloriae suae non refert in debitum finem, put à ad honorem Dei vel proximi salutem. Aquinas 2●, 2ae Quaest 132. Artic. 1.  Gal. 5. 26.  
It is when either by vain means which deserve not praise, or when by good duties in themselves praiseworthy, men seek the praise of men, more than the glory of God, john 12. 44. But by holy means to seek a good name amongst men, with intentional reference to the glory of God, is not to be vainglorious, see Phil. 4 7.  
It is an inordinate desire of account and esteem from men.  
The Philosophers (which Jerome was wont to call Animalia gloriae & popularis aurae mancipia) in those very Books which they wrote against vainglory, whiles they did underwrite their own names, are condemned as guilty of that vanity which they seemed to oppose.  
It is inordinate,  

1. When a man desires to be esteemed for those things which are in truth so vile, mean, base, that they do not at all commend, grace or countenance him which hath them, as riches, high place in the world, learning, wit, strength, beauty, nimbleness, eloquence.  
2. When a man desires esteem from men, with a neglect of the esteem and account which he should desire to have with God.   
As Mr. Fox was going along London streets, a woman of his acquaintance met him, and as they discoursed together, she pulled out a Bible, telling him that she was going to hear a Sermon, whereupon he said to her, If you will be advised by me, go home again; but (said she) when shall I then go? To whom he answered, When you tell no body of it.  
One must deny himself in all vainglory attributed to him, Rom. 12. 3. 2 Cor. 12. 6. 
Labour to have your names in heaven, Luk. ●0. 20. Rev. 2. 17. and be contented with the praise that comes from God only, 2 Cor. 5. 9 Joh. 5. 4. & 12. 43.  see Acts 14. 14, 15. Rev. 19 10.  
He must  

1. Be nothing in his own esteem, 1 Cor. 11. 31. he must judge aright of his estate, endowments and actions.  
2. He must be content to be nothing in the thoughts of other men, Zach. 13. 5. Motives to shun vainglory.   

1. There is no greater folly in the world than flattery, and there is no greater flattery than self▪ flattery.  
2. This disposition will betray a man to divers enemies. 

1. It will make a man exalt himself.  
2. It will strengthen a man's heart against admonition.    
3. It's easy for the vilest men to keep up a credit in the world; the Pharisees were counted the only Saints.  
4. God will be highly displeased if we take to us false honour, as he was with Herod.   
How to distinguish real glory and vainglory.  

1. All true honour is grounded on real excellency, and that which is so in God's account, 1 Pet. 3. 3, 4.  
2. True honour must be à laudato viro, from one that is praise▪ worthy.  
3. From persons that know you.    

Violence.  
Violence is a great sin.  
It is unrighteousness born forth with strong hand, with strength of body, 
2 Sam. 22. 49.  wit, or purse of friends, unjustice maintained and backed with strength.  
Two things must concur to it.  

1. An unequal and unrighteous intent and practice.  
2. A prosecuting such intent and practice with might of any kind, as in one instance the Prophet noteth, They covet fields and take them by force.   
A man of violence is he who will bear out a bad matter with money, favour, wit, strength, or any outward helps he can use for that purpose.  
That this is evil appears by that place where David affirms of God, that the man which loveth violence his soul hateth, that is, he hates him in all extremity, with an utter hatred, the reason is, because he hath sold over himself to sin; he sins of wilfulness, is an obstinate sinner, a despiser of God, he hath buried all justice and equity, love and charity, and shamefully abuseth those gifts to mischief, which God hath furnished him with for better purposes, it begins in very children, the stronger, bigger, and craftier, will wrong the weaker and sillier.  
Violence bursting forth into any extremities of dealing, was in the old law punished with the like of that that was done Leu. 24. 17.   

Unbelief.  
Infidelity was the first sin, Gen. 3. 4▪ and is the mother of all sins, Heb. 3. 12. The 

Hildersham. See Ball of faith, p. 208. There is a two fold unbelief, 1. Purae negationis, negative, as in Pagans and Turks. When one barely wants faith, having not the means of grace, Eph. 2. 20.  
2. Pravae dispositionis, positive, He that lives under the means of grace and rejects them, as Isa. 7. 9 2. Thess. 2. 12.   evil heart is called the heart of unbelief, as faith is the fountain of all graces, Act. 15. 9 Our Saviour often checks his disciples for this, Matth. 6. 30.  
It is against those most lovely and soul-ravishing Attributes of God, his mercy, goodness, freegrace, longanimity, patience, bowels of compassion.  
It is called a provocation, Psal. 78. 4. Heb. 3 8. which notes the highest act of displeasure; the unbeliever is abominable to God and good men, Psal. 15. 4.  
It is a departing from God, Heb. 3. 12. see john 3. 33. Christ marvelled at it, Mark 6. 6.  
It is hard to find out unbelief to be a sin, not that unbelief whereby we assent not to the doctrine of the Scripture, but that whereby we do not apply Christ for our only Saviour, for seeing the Law of God is partly engrafted in our nature, we easily believe that what opposeth that is a sin, but the Gospel being wholly supernatural and merely by divine revelation, therefore what opposeth that is not presently acknowledged to be a sin, the Scripture discovers this unbelief.  
The Spirit convinceth us of unbelief and the sinfulness of that state, john 16. 9  

1. It discovers the nature of it, and therein our ignorance, 2 Cor. 4. 4. 

1. In respect of the reality of the Gospel, that there is such a thing as pardon, a reconciled, justified state, faith, hope.  
2. In respect of the glory of the Gospel, 2 Cor. 4. 4. 2 Cor. 3. ult. Christ is precious to them that believe.    
2. Shows the distance that unbelief makes between God and us in our approaches to him, Heb. 3. 12.  
3. Discovers our rebellion and opposition to God and the righteousness of Christ, Rom. 10. 3. by cavilling, objecting, and hard thoughts of Christ.   
Secondly, The Spirit convinceth us of our unbelief in respect of the objects and effects of it.  

1. Its objects. 1. Christ as he hath all merit and satisfaction, in our approaches to God we cannot set that which is in Christ by way of satisfaction against our own guilt. 2. We are not able to see pardoning promises speak pardon to us through the blood of Christ; as that promise, Isa. 1. 18.  
2. We improve not the Covenant, we look not upon Christ as the Head of it. As he is the party that makes good the Covenant with God for us, though I have many miscarriages, yet he hath fully satisfied and made reconciliation with God for me, as he is the Head of the Covenant also to us, what need I doubt but I shall have strength? pardon is given into the hands of my Mediator.   
2. In reference to the effects of unbelief.  

1. The Spirit shows a man what weakness and corruption he lies under still by reason of unbelief.  
2. Le's him see how much terror and guilt he still lies under, he cannot call God father, Heb. 10. 22.  
3. Discovers the comforts and joys of believers, both from Scripture and the experiences of others of God's people, 1 john 1. 4. & 15. 11. and yet much wrath and guilt still lies upon his conscience.  
4. The Spirit convinceth of unbelief by a Saints often being at a loss in the things of the Gospel. 1. He goes a long time together, and cannot meet with one promise to suit his condition. 2. When he hath a promise he can make no use of it, cannot plead it with faith and expectation. 3. He cannot walk in the strength of a promise.   
Lastly, God's Spirit convinceth us also of the sinfulness of unbelief.  

1. By clearing up to the soul that he lies under the breach of the great Gospel-command.  
2. By showing what it is to neglect the love and grace of the Gospel, Heb. 2. 3. Matth. 24. 51.  
3. By presenting to the soul how ill God takes it when we will not believe him.   
There are divers aggravations of this sin.  

1. Other sins deserve damnation, but this formally opposeth the way of salvation. Some say only unbelief damns a man, which is not true in a rigid sense, for every sin damns a man unrepented of, but only unbelief is more opposite to the way of curing then other sins.  
2. It is opposite to the chiefest grace faith, Illud est optimum cujus privatio est pessima: The Scripture honours faith, giving remission of sins, the righteousness of Christ, and salvation itself to it.  
3. It dishonours God and Christ, and the holy Ghost; it is the glory of God's love that he becomes thy God, though he so great and thou so vile, this is the honour of Christ to thee, A Son is born, a Child is given, God shows the riches of his freegrace here, thou grudgest him the honour to be the pardoner of thy sins.  
4. It is most rooted in us; hence the Lord so often checks his disciples for their 
Omne peccatum formaliter consist it in aversione à Deo, unde tanto aliquod peccatum est gravius, quanto per ipsum homo magis à Deo separatur. Per infidelitatem autem maximè homo à Deo elongatur. Aquin. 2●, 2ae. Quaest 10. Artic. 3. Insidelium quidam sunt, qui nunquam susceperunt sidem, sicut Gentiles & judaei, & tales nullo modo sunt ad ●idem compellendi, ut ipsi credant, quia credere voluntatis est; sunt tamen compellendi à sidelibus, si adsit facultas, ut sidem non impediant, vel blasphemiis, vel malis persuasionibus, vel etiam apertis persecutionibus. Aquin ibid. Artic. 8.  unbelief; and faith is called The work of God in a special manner, because of the difficulty of it, and the contrariety of our natures. Hence Comfort you, comfort you, again and again, because the heart of man terrified for sin doth utterly refuse all true comfort in a right way.  
5. It hath more fair pretences for it, more arguments than any other sin; that is a dangerous sin which comes upon us as a duty, I am unworthy.  
6. It puts the lie upon God, john 1. 5. God saith he will be thy God, Christ saith he will put away thy sins, thou sayest he will not.  
7. The devil most tempts a godly man to this sin, as the incestuous person, the devil had almost tempted him to final despair, as he would hold the profane man in security, so the penitent sinner in irksome unbelief.  
8. It hath the most terrible and sad effects, it breeds daily unsettledness and toss of heart, therefore doubting and uncertainty is opposed to faith, at last it will breed secret impatience and grudging against God, and in the end open hatred of him.    

Unkindness.  
Unkindness is a fault.  
This is contrary to a plain precept, Put on kindness; and Be kindly affected one toward another.  
Reasons.  

1. It springs from bad causes, some habitual distempers of self-conceit, pride, malice, or ill education, and a kind of testy and pettish temper, or some present passion of anger, grief or fear, which withdraws the mind from the consideration of that which is comely and convenient.  
2. The fruits of it are evil. It discontenteth and offendeth those to whom it is showed.   
We must consider of our slips in this kind and be humbled for them.  
2. Let us learn to mend this fault, and to be plentifully constant in the practice of the contrary duty, even to be kind, affable, and gentle in our whole carriage, and at all times to all men, so far as just occasion offers itself, and not to give over ourselves so far to any passion either of grief or anger, as not to exercise this virtue.   

Unsettledness.  
See Gen. 49. 4. james 1. 8. 
Facta est sides temporum potius quam Evangeliorum, annuas atque menstruas Deo fides decernimus. Hil. ad Constantium Augustum. Ecebolius Constantij tempore prae se ferebat magnum zelum Religionis Christianae, sub Iuliano autem acrem in Paganismo. se ostendit. Mortuo Iuliano rursus sub Christiano Imperatore Christianam Religionem pro●iteri statuit: in eum que sinem ante templi portas pronura abjiciens sese & pedibus cuntium ac redeuntium sese exponens vociferatus est: Calcate me salem insipidum. Theodoricus Gotthorum Rex Arianus Diaconum quendam habebat Orthodoxum, Diaconus relicta fide Orthodoxa ad Arianismum transiit, ratus se hoc pacto Theodorico Regi gratiorem etiam fore, ac rem acceptissimam praestiturum. At Rex cognito hoc facto cum quem antea tantopere dilexerat confestim capite mulctari jussit dicens. Si Do sidem non servasti, quomodo homini since●am conscientiam servabis? Vedel. de prudentia vet. Eccles. l. 2. c. 4.   
Such Christians as are unstable are easily seduced, 2 Tim. 3. 6. 2 Pet. 2. 14.  
One Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria was nicknamed Euripus because of his ebbing and flowing.  
One sort of Sectaries there is which will not engage to hold any thing, but are known by believing nothing; these pass now under the name of Seekers.  
The usual way in these days is to play the Sceptics, and question almost every thing in Religion, and hold nothing, or else to place Religion in some new opinion.  
Unsteadfast Christians are rotten-hearted, Psal. 78. 36, 37. and will never hold out in time of danger.  
Rivet. Discus. Grot. Dialy si Sect. 8. p. 262. taxeth Grotius of great inconstancy.  
Causabone Epist. 513. to Scaliger, saith thus of Lipsius, Omnino magnam literae jacturam in eo fecerunt, majorem tamen facturae, si quam verbis docuit constantiam, vita exhibuisset.  
Such Christians should be careful to wait on the Ordinances, the Ministry, Ephes. 4. 14. Pray to God to establish them, see 1 Thess. 3. ult. & 2 Thess. 2. ult. and frequent the company of settled and established Christians, and take heed of seducers.   

Unthankfulness.  
Unthankfulness to God or man is a great sin.  
It is contrary to plain precepts, Col. 3. Be ye thankful; and in respect of God he saith, In all things give thanks.  
The nine Lepers are secretly taxed by our Saviour for not returning to give thanks unto him, when he had delivered them from that foul and infamous disease of the leprosy: The Apostle also taxeth the Gentiles for it, saying, That they glorified not God as God, neither were they thankful.  
Reasons. 1. It springeth from evil causes, either from the strength of pride and self-conceit, in that a man thinketh himself worthy of all that which is done for him and more, and conceiveth that all should serve his turn, or from notable folly and unreasonableness, that he wanteth wit to consider of his own need of benefits, or at least from some sudden and vehement passion and distemper.  
2. The effects of it are also naught, it offendeth men, it causeth them to repent of their labour, cost, love; and if it be practised toward God it offendeth him also, and hindereth him from bestowing benefits.  
Let us blame ourselves and be humbled for our unthankfulness in defrauding God or men of their due praises and acknowledgement for mercies received; unthankfulness to God shows great blindness of mind, great want of humility in the consideration of our own un worthiness and want of faith in God's providence, let us be humbled for it and crave pardon of it.  
2. Let us be careful to reform it, and be constant in the contrary duty.   

Usury.  
Usury (say some) is a lending for gain. 
See Dr Willet on Exod. 22. Quaest 44. That Usury is simply unlawful, yet all gain by the loan of money (saith he) is not unlawful, see his quaest. 47. See him also on Levit. 25. pag. 625, 626, 629. Usura dicitur, quasi usu aera, id est, usus aeris, & est commodum certum quod propter usum rei mutuatae recipitur. Cooks 5th Report, Claytons' Case.   
One describes it thus, Usury is when a man makes a gain of lending and binds the party borrowing without consideration of his gains or losses to repay the principal with advantage. It is hard to desine some vices, as Heresy, Sacrilege, and also Usury.  
It is matched with theft, Ezek. 18. 13. with adultery, vers. 10. and with violence, vers. 11. It is condemned there amongst the great transgressions of the moral Law, therefore that Law, Levit. 25. 36. is not Judicial, as some say, but Moral, see Exod. 22. 25. & Deut. 23. 19 Psal. 15. 5.  
To borrow a thing on usury is to covenant with the lender to return him not only the thing lent in the full quantity of it, but something over and above only in lieu and recompense of the lending of it; which is unlawful, saith Mr Elton on the eighth Commandment, and he proves it by jer. 15. 10. and answers there the chief objections brought for usury of any kind.  
Sir Francis Bacon 
c Henry the 7th p. 59 & 66.  calls it the bastard and barren employment of money, and the bastard use of money.  
Vel minimus fructus ex pecunia percipi non potest sine Dei offension & proximi injuria. 
Ab hoc usuram exige quem non si● crimen occidere. Ambrose.  Calvin. Epist. 226. see his Epist. 383. where he gives strict cautions to those that take use. See B. And. Theologic. determinat. de Usuris, & B. Downames Treatise on Psalm. 15. against it, and Knewstub on the eighth Command. Thom. Aquin. 2a, 2ae. quaest. 78. Artic. 1, 2, 3, 4. and Theatre of God's Judgm. part. 1. c. 42. and especially Dr. Fentons' Book.  
Rivetus in Catholico orthodoxo, Tractatu quarto, quaest. 15. Salmasius de Usury, c. 4. and Zanchy on Ephes. 4. and Mr. Perkins on 8th Cammand. and Dr. Ames on Psal. 15. and de Consc. l. 5. c. 44. and Dr. Hall in his Cases of Consc. seem to allow of it in some cases. 
A Council hath defined that to say Usury is not a sin, is no better than Heresy.   
Yet Dr. Hall in his Practical cases of Conscience saith, All usury which is an absolute contract for the mere loan of money is unlawful, both by law natural and positive, both divine and humane.  
There is not a toleration of usury by that Act Eliz. 13. c. 8. but a limitation of it; the Title of it is An Act against Usury, and it calleth it a detestable sin.    

CHAP. XXV. Of Witchcraft.  
Witchcraft is a great sin, 1 Chron. 10. 13, 14. God would not have 
See Dr Willet on Exod. 22. 18. That Witches ought to die. Never did any trust in the devil, but he deceived them, even for the base things of this life, witness all Witches (his most devoted and professed servants) if ever he made any one of them wealthy: all ages are not able to show one. Perkins on Heb. 11. The Hebrew word Exod. 22. 18. signifies a woman Witch, as Menasseh Ben Israel de creatione and others have observed: which shows 1. That women are most prone to witchcraft. 2. That though the Witch be a weak woman, yet she must die without mercy. Sennertus gives these reasons why women are more inclinable to this sin then men. 1. Because they are of weaker judgement, and therefore more easily deceived by Satan. 2. They are desirous of revenge, and therefore old women if they hate any are ready to use all means to hurt them, Practic▪ Med. l. 6. part. 9 c. 5.  Witches to live, therefore he would not have others to use their art and counsel, Deut. 18. 10, 11. he forbids all to consult with familiar Spirits, and more plainly, Levit. 19 31.  
Reasons.  

1. The cause which moveth any to seek unto them, is distrust in God, or impatience under God's hand, or some inordinate desire of knowing or doing things which the Lord allows not to know or do, things secret and strange.  
2. The persons sought to are in league with the devil, and so are an abomination to God, Deut. 18. 11.  
3. The effect of seeking unto them is dangerous, it works confidence in them, and so in Satan whose vassals they are, and withdraws the heart from God.   
Bodin lib 4. Daemon. proveth by many examples and confessions of Witches, that witchcraft hath no power upon the Regenerate, or upon Magistrates, who execute the Laws against them; which is fully confirmed by King james, Daemonol. l. 2. c. 6.  
B. Carletons' Examinat. of Sir Christ. Heyd. Book. c. 5.  
Saul was convinced of the evil of Witchcraft, his zeal ran out against Witches, yet after he himself went to a Witch.   
The End of the fourth Book.   

THE FIFTH BOOK. OF MAN'S RECOVERY BY CHRIST, Wherein are handled, His Names, Titles, Natures, Offices, and twofold Estate of Humiliation and Exaltation.  

CHAP. I. Of Man's Recovery.  
SECONDLY, Man's Restauration or Recovery from his 
When the Parson once demanded about man's misery, Since man is so miserable, What is to be done? and the answerer could not tell, He asked him again, What he would do if he were in a ditch? This familiar illustration made the answer so plain, that he was even ashamed of his ignorance, for he could not but say, he would haste out as fast as he could. Then he proceeded to ask, Whether he could get out of the ditch alone, or whether he needed a helper? and who was that helper. Master Herborts Remains, cap. 21.  miserable estate that he had plunged himself to by sin.  

1. What this Recovery is.  
2. The causes and parts of it.   
Of the first,  
It is a part of God's special Providence, whereby man is recovered out of the state of Sin, and slavery to Satan, Death and Hell, to an estate of Grace, Life and Glory. Death and sin entered by the first Adam, the second Adam brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel, Rom. 3. 24, 25. Rom. 5. 18, 19 1 Cor. 15. 22.  
God still delighted to deal with a common person in the name of all the rest, in both the Covenants there was a principal contracting party, a common representee, 
Rom. 5. 14. Who was the figure of him that was to come. Gal. 3. 16. See my Annot. on 1 Cor. 15. 47.  Adam in the Covenant of Works, Christ in the Covenant of Grace, either of these was to communicate his estate to his posterity. Both these were common parents, authors of life to their seed, 1 Cor. 15. 45, 49.  
But they differed,  

1. In the Dignity of their persons, Adam was a holy man, yet but an earthly creature, Christ is the Lord from heaven. See Rom. 5. 15, 16, 17.  
2. In the Degree of the public Office, Adam was a common person, but not 
Christ was called Adam, because he did partake of our nature, the second Adam, because he was another common Representee in whose acts we are enfolded.  a Surety for them. Christ was a Surety, Heb. 7. 22. able to give his a new heart.  
3. In the Manner of Representation, Adam took nothing from us, and conveyed nothing to us but sin. Christ took sin from us, made our transgressions to be his, and his obedience is become ours, 2 Cor. 5. 21.   
This work of man's recovery is God's Masterpiece, all other designs are subordinate to this; all his Attributes shine out in this.  
God manifested great love to man at the first, in making him happy, in stamping his Image on him, and in making himself his end, but he discovered greater love in the work of redemption, john 3. 16.  
He discovered great power in creating the world of nothing, but greater in man's recovery; it is greater power to restore a creature when fallen, then to uphold it at the first: all other acts of power were but over the creature, this was over his Son, john 10. 18. never was there such an act of grace to take the creature into personal Union with the Godhead, Zech. 13. 7.  
God discovered great wisdom in making the creatures, and in his Law; but that prescribed not a way how to satisfy God and sanctify man, and that so easily, Heb. 2. 12. See Rom. 11. 33.  
He declared also his Holiness and Justice, rather than sin should go unpunished his own Son was punished.  
2. The Cause of it:  
It comes wholly and only from the free grace and favour of God, Ephes. 2. 8. By grace you are saved, through faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.  
The ground of man's restitution was the bringing in of the second Covenant, God vouchsafing to deal with man as a rational creature, was pleased to deal with him in way of a Covenant, the Covenant of Works being broken, and it being impossible to enter into heaven that way, Rom. 8. 3. God made a new and better Covenant, called the Covenant of Grace, of which Isaiah, jeremiah and Ezekiel speak.  
This is the way of Gods bringing lost man to life and happiness by a Mediator. 
Man could not come to the favour of God again unless the justice of God were satisfied, there must therefore be a price paid for him, and he must be bought again that was fallen from his Lord and master.  The first Covenant was God's way of bringing man to life by his obedience. The righteousness required to bring a man to life in the second Covenant, is not his own righteousness, but the righteousness of a Mediator.  

1. This Covenant of Grace was ever one and the same. Christ the same yesterday, to day and for ever, all that obtain life, obtain it the self same way. The same Covenant that was revealed to Adam when he sinned, was revealed after to Abraham and Noah, the Prophets, and to us.  
2. Although for substance this Covenant be one and the same in all ages, yet the external administrations of it were different, in one manner before Christ exhibited, in another after. Then it was administered by Prophecies, Promises, Sacrifices, Tapes, Shadows: after Christ exhibited in the flesh, it was administered only in the Ordinances of preaching, and the Sacraments. Their Types, Shadows, Sacrifices, Washing, Circumcision, eating roasted Lambs, held out the same Christ that our Sacraments hold out.  
3. The Administration of the Covenant of Grace since Christ was exhibited is far more glorious; theirs was called the old Covenant, ours the new one. This lies in three things: 

1. It is more universal, a great while the other was only in Abraham's family, and after appropriated to the Nations of the Jews, and some that turned Proselytes, now the utmost isles of the world see the salvation of God.  
2. Now the Covenant of Grace is revealed more clearly, the things about Christ were then dark, babes may now understand those things that their Doctors did not.  
3. A greater measure of Grace and Holiness is now communicated.    
3. The parts of this Recovery are two, saith Mr Richardson. 

1. The work of Man's redemption.  
2. The Application of it.     
The work of Redemption is the purchasing of man from his undone condition by a Redeemer or Mediator; or the Recovery of man from his estate of sin and misery by a full price paid for him by a Redeemer.  
2. The Application of it is whereby it is made ours by imputation.  
These two are joined together, john 3. 16. Mark 16. 16. The one of these is 
The Heathens had some obscure notice of the fall, but could not dream which way the remedy should come, Ephes. 3. 12. They spoke of virtue and vice in a moral way, but not of righteousness and sin as they related to the Law. John 17. 3. Acts 4. 12. & Acts 1. 15. 1 John 5. 11, 12. O foelix culpa quae talem meruit habere redemptorem. Greg. Bern. Luk. 15. 7.  the Sufficiency of man's Recovery, the other the Efficiency; Paul and Peter speak often of a price paid for us.  
I shall therefore show,  

1. Who this Redeemer is that hath paid this price for us.  
2. What the price is that he hath paid for us.   
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Immanuel, the Word made flesh, God and man united in one Person, is the Person. The price that he hath paid was the subjecting of himself in our stead to do what we should have done, and suffer what we should else have undergone, Mat. 18. 11. Luk 19 10. Rom. 3. 24, 25. 1 Tim. 5. 15.  
All the Ceremonies and Sacrifices under the Law had relation to Christ, they 
Quae legem praecesserunt, variis modis Christum praesigurabant, ejusque actiones, vitam, mortem, regnum, Ecclesiam: ut in morto Abelis insontis, in diluvio, & reliquiis humani generis à Noë servatis: in fide Abrae, in obedientia Isaac, in simplicitate Jacob, in invidia & exaltatione Joseph, in agno Phase, in egressu Aegypti, in transitu maris rubri, in introductione ad terram promissam patribus. Quae omnia quòd umbrae essent regni Christi, idcirco tam diligenter est ea Moses persecutus. Lod. Viu. de verit. fid. Christ l. 2. c. 7. Christus est sal & vita, & lux veteris Testamenti, qui mortuis rebus vitam attulit, & sativit insipida. Id. ibid.  were but the shadow and he was the body.  
First, The Nazarite must be sanctified in his mother's womb, to signify, that Jesus the true Nazarite should be conceived without sin in the womb of the Virgin.  
Secondly, His two Natures were signified by the Goat that was killed, and the Scape-goat, and by the two Sparrows, the one killed and the other let go. His Offices of King and Priest typed by the High-priests Crown, Garments and Ornaments. His Death by the Sacrifices, and his lifting up upon the Cross by the brazen Serpent. His Burial by jonahs' lying in the Whale's belly three days. His Resurrection by the first fruits, 1 Cor. 15. 20.  
Every thing in the Temple was a Type of Christ, the Veil was a Type of his Flesh, Heb. 10. 20. the golden Altar of his Intercession, Revel. 8. 3. and the brazen Altar of his Passion, the Temple itself was a Type of Christ's body, john 2. 19  
The Tabernacle was built with three distinct rooms:  
1. The most holy place, in which were the Ark and Cherubims, the most holy place signified Heaven, the Ark Christ, as he is received up into Glory, sitting at his Father's right hand, protecting his Church, and using the Ministry of his Angels for their good and welfare.  
The second was called the holy place, and this did signify the true invisible Church of the Elect of God here militant on earth, into which none entered but the Priests, which signified the elect people of God, which are a holy and royal Priesthood unto him, here was a golden Candlestick, which having Lamps was dressed every Evening, and gave light all night, to signify the work of Christ by his Spirit affording the true light of saving knowledge of himself, and of his spiritual benefits to them, when it is dark night to all the world besides; here was the golden Table which had ever upon it Bread and Incense, signifying Christ's giving himself as spiritual Food to his people to strengthen and confirm their hearts in obedience, and also giving the pure Frankincense of his Merits unto them, by which they become acceptable unto his Father.  
The third room was the utter Court where all the people came, and it signified the Church visible, wherein are Elect and Reprobate, true and false Christians mixed, there was the Offerings of Bulls, Goats and other beasts; and sprinkling of blood in all the services to be performed, signifying the Revelation of God himself in the Ministry of his Gospel to the sons of men that they might be brought to believe in him.  
The whole Doctrine of Christ in his Person, Works, the Benefits which the 
Justification, Rom. 3. 24. Adoption, 1 joh. 12. Gal. 4. 5. Regeneration, Jam. 1. 17. 1 Cor. 4. 7. Repentance, Acts 5. 31. Faith, Ephes. 2. 8. Phil. 1. 27.  Church receives by him, are all the free gift of God, Isa. 9 6. Titus 4. 14. Rom. 5. 15, 16, 17, 18.  
Gift is a transferring of right from one to another by free will, or the free interesting of another in that which is my own: only I forego my own property when I give it another, but God hath still the same right in his Son when he gives him to us.  
First, Christ is the great gift of 
* John 4. 10. The happiness of the persons is the infinite satisfaction they take one in another.  God, the greatest that ever he gave Four things meet in him which show him to be the greatest gift.  

1. He is the dearest and most precious to him that gives him, john 3. 16. 1 john 4. 9, 10. the heart of God was infinitely set on Christ, Prov. 8. 30. a metaphor taken from two mates and companions that are born and bred together, and sport themselves in each others society.  
2. Of all things that were in the power of God to give there was nothing we so much needed, set fancy aside no man needs any thing in the earth but food and raiment, we are miserable for ever if we fail of Christ.  
3. It is the comprehension of all other gifts, if we look on the intrinsical worth of the gift itself, by him we have pardon, grace, glory, he is God-man, a Prophet, Priest and King, the true Trismegistus.  
4. This is an everlasting gift, not only the gift lasts, but the mind of the giver, he lends thee but other things.   
Secondly, Christ is the free Gift of God.  

1. There is no one particular concerning Christ and our salvation by him, but there are Scriptures to prove it, that it is the free gift of God; He gives the Spirit to unite us to him, john 7. 39 and the means, Ephes. 4. 11. and faith to lay hold on him.  
2. What ever may argue a gift to be free, meets in the Lords giving of Christ. 

1. When the giver hath no motive to stir him to it but his own will.  
2. When the party doth it out of no need, he is no whit the richer or happier.  
3. He gives him to them who have no more, why they should partake of Christ, than others on whom he doth not bestow him.  
4. When there is no condition in the receiver, but merely that he do accept it, he works in our hearts consent of his good pleasure.  
5. When he is pleased with this gift, and takes more content in giving then any soul can take in the receiving.     
There was a transcendent excellency in the love of Christ to the Saints in giving himself for them.  

1. He loved them with the love of all relations, with the love of a brother, friend, husband, father, God.  
2. He loved them above all the creatures here below, he hath made them the first fruits of all his creatures, in some sort more than the Angels.   

1. In regard of your nature which he took.  
2. In regard of the relation wherein he stands to you, the Angels are his servants but not his members.  
3. In regard of his righteousness bestowed upon you, it was not the essential righteousness of God, but such a righteousness as the Godhead gave an excellency and efficacy to.   
This love of Christ comforts the Saints under the greatest afflictions. They look on this love of his as the fountain of all blessings, it works a conformity in them to Christ.  
We may judge of the love of Christ by these marks:  
First, Suitable to the manifestation of himself is the love of Christ to thy soul, john 14. 21.  
Secondly, The more grace he bestows on a man the more he loves him.  
Thirdly, The greater Communion we have with him the more he loves us, john 14. 8.  
Fourthly, The more he keeps thee from those ordinary snares that others fall into, Eccl. 7. 26. Rev. 13. 8.  
Fifthly, The more every thing works to thy spiritual good, 3 ep. joh. 2.  
Sixthly, According to thy measure of fruitfulness, joh. 15. 16.  
Seventhly, Observe the glimpses of Christ to thy soul, Psal. 35. 3.  
Eighthly, The more powerful our prayers are with God, Dan. 10. 11, 12.  
Christ's Kingdom was set up in opposition to Satan, when he was born all the 
Ante adventum Christi victus videbatur à daemonibus Deus, occ●paverat ●n●●●ultus corun● non solum gentes, sed etiam non obstante Dei prohibitione in maxima parte judaeos; sed per Messiam salvatorem nostrum sibi tunc Deus praevaluit, cum Christus missis Apostolis, & aliis discipulis in mundum universum tot per eos miracula secit, quod omnes serè gentes ad cultum Dei convertit & idololatrium penitus extirpavit. Raymund. Pugio adversus jud. par. 3. Dist. 3. c. 23. ●ententia Amyraldi est, cognitionem Dei quae potest haberi ex creaturis & operibus providentiae esse gratiam sufficientem objectivam, per quam homines expertes cognitionem Christi pro nobis mortui, possunt servari si ●a benè utantur. Molin. de Amyr. advers. Spanh. lib. judicium. l. 2. c. 9 Vide plura ibid. etiam c. 10. & 11. Et Vedel. de Deo Synagog●, l. 1. c. 4. Et Riveti Synopsin Doctrinae de natura & gratia. c. 8. Non est coarctandus Iesus Christus, quasi non servator extitisset, quod delirant Manichaei, prius quam in jordanc baptizaretur, aut clamaret in cruse, Consummatum est. Sed erat i●●e modorum illorum multorum, temporibus & mensura diversorum, dispensator unus & Promus condus, in quo solo, ut nunc, servantur, qui servabuntur, ita quoque & olim servati sunt, quicunque sunt salutem consecuti▪ Rectè igitur Augustinus, accuratissimus in sid●● dogmatibus discernendis & in disputandis solertissimus, fieri olim potuisse pronunciavit▪ quin & revera suisse saepè sactum, ut praeter Israelitas, alii quoque interdum ad salutem pervenirent: Nullos tamen sine Christo, nullos per legem, non per Philosophiam aliquos, cum non esset aliud sub Coelo nomen praeter illud jesu Christi, in quo consequi salutem possent homines. Montac. Appar. 1. p. 33. Vide plura ibid. pag. seq.  Oracles ceased. The time was come mentioned john 12. 31. the night was past and the day was come, and therefore such birds of darkness were not to prevail, as in times past they had done. As by the rending of the vail of the Temple of Solomon, was signified the abolishment of legal worship, so by the prodigious destruction of Satan's throne or chiefest Temple at Delphos, was sealed the irrevocable overthrow of Ethnicism.  
Some say the Heathens by the light of nature, by the knowledge of the Sun, Moon and Stars, might come to a saving knowledge of God, and urge that place, Heb. 11. 16. He that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and say, that men might know Gods being and bounty by his works. Others urge Rom. 1. 19 & Act. 14. 17. The Scripture is the only means of knowing God savingly, therefore it is called salvation, Heb. 2. 3. See 2 Tim. 1. 10.  
Quid erit mundus▪ sublato verbo, quam infernus & merum Satanae imperium. Luther. loc. common. 1. Clas. cap. 23. If that were true Doctrine, than men may be saved without Christ; or they may be saved by Christ who either know him not or believe not in him, for the works of God can never reveal Christ.  
Solus Christus medium & speculum est per quod videmus Deum, hoc est, cognos●inus ejus voluntatem. Luther. loc. common. Clas. 1. c. 1. Non solum periculosum, sed etiam horribile est de Deo extra Christum cogitare. Id. ibid. No man comes to the Father but by me. See john 17. 3. Acts 4. 12. Col. 2. Ephes. 2. 12. saith. That the Gentiles were without hope, and without God in the world, therefore they could not conceive hope of remission of sins from the creatures, Rom. 1. 20. The invisible things of God, viz. his Power and Godhead may be known by the contemplation of the creatures, but not his mercy in pardoning sins, and the hope of salvation by redemption. For that power and Godhead strikes a fear into a man, and requires perfect obedience, but doth not promise remission of sins.  
It is true that God instructed the Heathens by his works of Creation and Providence. But never any yet could instance in one of them, and say assuredly, that by using well their naturals, he came to eternal life.  
Zuinglius said, That God did extraordinarily work grace and faith in the Heathens, which opinion of his is much exagitated by the Lutherans, and he is justly forsaken by the Orthodox in this point.  
The Papists and Arminians say▪ That God gives an universal sufficient grace to all men, even to Pagans. Paul Rom. 1. speaking of them all, saith, They became vain in their imaginations. That is an excellent speech of Augustine's, Qui dicit hominem servari posse sine Christo, dubito an ipse per Christum servari possit. See Mr Burgess of Grace, Sect. 12. Serm. 120.  
It were a worthy work for one to collect the several places in Scripture, where the relations of Christ to his Church are mentioned, his various denominations also and representations are expressed, they being all great props of faith.   

CHAP. II. Of CHRIST. I. His Person.  
IN Christ we must consider two things:  

1. His 
a John 1. 14. & 3. 33.  Person.  
2. His 
b Isa. 61. 1, 2. Luk. 4. 18. There is not so full a description of Christ in so few words in any place of the Bible, as in Isa. 9 6, 7. 1. His Person is described in which are two Natures, 1. Humane, A child is born. 2. Divine, A Son is given. 2. His Offices: 1. Kingly, The Government shall be upon his shoulders. 2. Prophetical, The Counsellor. 3. Priestly, The Prince of peace.  Offices.   
In his Person also we must consider two things:  
His Natures and the Union of them.  
His Natures are two:  
The Godhead, and the Manhood.  
The Union of them is such as is called Personal, which is a concurrence of two Natures to make one Person, that is, an individual subsistence, as the soul and body in one man.  
I shall therefore treat of these three things:  
The Godhead of Christ.  
The Manhood of Christ.  
The uniting of these two in one Person.  
Concerning the Godhead, having showed that Christ is God, even the second Person in Trinity, I now will show how he is God, and why he was to be God. 
He is called the only begotten Son, john 3. 10. & 1 john 4. 9 & john 1. 14. God's own Son, Rom. 8. 32. God's only Son two ways: 1. In time, no Son was ever before him. 2. In Dignity no Son was ever like him. Angels and Adam were God's Sons by Creation, job 1. Luk. 3. 38. we by adoption, Rom. 8. 14. Christ by eternal generation of the substance of his Father. There was no priority inequality or division in this begetting, the Father was not before the Son, better than the Son, or another besides the Son. Vide Scultet. Delit. Evang. c. 22.   
He is God the Son, the Son of God, he calleth himself the Son, and is so called of his Church. Not the Father nor the holy Ghost, but the Son took our nature upon him, for we are admitted into the Church with this faith, being baptised Into the Name of the Father▪ Son and holy Ghost. He became our Saviour, that he might make us sons unto his Father. But consider how he is God, not by Office, nor by Favour, nor by Similitude, nor in a Figure, as sometimes Angels and Magistrates are gods, but by Nature, he is Equal and Coessential with his Father, there is one Godhead common to all the three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Spirit, and therefore it is said, That he was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God, Phil. 2. 6. Lo an equality to God the Father is ascribed to him, he is not God in any secondary or inferior manner, but is in the very form of God equal to him, the Godhead of all the three Persons being one and the same.  
In the next place I shall show why he must be God.  
There are four Reasons of it:  

1. That he might be able to suffer.  
2. To merit.  
3. To do those things which must be done after suffering and meriting. And  
4. For the further manifestation of God's love to man.   
First, I say, that he might be of power to suffer what was to be suffered by our Redeemer, that is, the punishment due to our sins. For our Redeemer must no otherwise redeem us then by being our Surety, standing in our very stead, supplying our room, and sustaining in his own person that punishment which all our sins had deserved at the hands of God's Justice. He must be a propitiatory Sacrifice for sin, he must be made sin for us, our iniquity must be laid upon him, and he must bear our sins in his body upon the Tree. Christ must suffer for sin. Now the punishment due to our sins was the horrible wrath of God, a burden so heavy as no shoulder of any mere creature could bear it, for there is no proportion betwixt the weakness of man, and the anger of God. Wherefore he was to be God, that the omnipotent power of the Godhead might uphold the frailty of the manhood, to the end that it might not be oppressed with the weight, and sink down in despair, discouragement, impatiency, dejectedness, or the like inconveniences, which had he been driven unto he had sinned, and so should have lost himself in stead of redeeming us. This seems to be meant by the brazen Altar upon which the Sacrifice must be burnt, and which was made with wood but covered with brass; so Christ was man, but the weakness of the humane nature was covered with the power of the Deity, that it might not be consumed. Wood would have been burnt with fire, brass would not, man would have been swallowed up with those sufferings, had not the Divine Power upheld the same.  
Secondly, He must be God, that the Godhead might give worth, value, meritoriousness unto the sufferings and obedience, both which the humane nature performed: To the end that one man might stand in the stead of all men, and that God might account himself as much satisfied in his Justice by his sole and short sufferings, as if all men had suffered everlastingly, and as much honoured by his obedience, as if all men had obeyed, it was requisite that that one man should be made more excellent than all men put together, and so he was made by being God and man. For the humane nature of Christ in that it is personally united unto God, and hath the Godhead dwelling in it bodily, so that the body is the body of God, and more worth than all the race of men besides, and so God is satisfied by his sufferings and obedience, so that he may be and is in justice ready to forgive the sins of men for his sake. Hence we are said to be the righteousness of God, not of man or Angels, because it is such a righteousness as God accepts of as equivalent to that dishonour offered him by sin. This may seem to have been signified by the fabric of the Ark, Table, Incense, Altar, all which signified Christ, for they were all made of Wood, even Shittim-wood, a Wood not subject to corruption, but this Wood was overlaid with gold, to express that the meanness of the humanity was hidden out of God's sight, and the excellency of the Deity causeth the Church to be so acceptable to the Father, and to come so near unto him. Therefore the Apostle saith, That God redeemed us with his own blood, had it not been God's blood, we should not have been washed from our sins by it. So the Scape-goat carried away all the sins into the wilderness, the Goat that was slain did it not. This Scape-goat signified the Godhead, which though itself did not suffer, yet made the sufferings of the humanity available to wash away our sins, as one man of great quality and place is sit to be set in balance with ten thousand common soldiers, and his life alone fit to be a ransom for them all, so it is in this case, else we could never have been redeemed.  
Thirdly, Christ must do some things after his Redemption, which cannot be done but by God, he must pour forth the gift of his Spirit upon us, baptising us with the holy Ghost, as john Baptist taught, and none can send the Spirit of God into the hearts of whom he will, but he that is God. Again, He must overcome sin in us, and Satan for us, and guide and govern his Church to eternal life through all the multitude of those enemies which lie in wait to hinder their salvation, which no less power and wisdom could do then the power and wisdom of God, even infinite wisdom and infinite power. He must vanquish principalities and powers that must save us, so could none but God himself.  
Lastly, It made most for the commendation and honour of God's infinite grace, 
This is Ultimus conatus divini amoris, He could do no more than lay aside the glory of the Deity for our sakes.  that he would employ so eminent a person in the business of our Redemption, being a work of so iufinite abasement and difficulty. Suppose that some Angel had been able to do this work, and to do it perfectly, yet it more exalts the excellency of God's love to mankind, which he intended to show in this work, that he might convince Satan of lying when he chargeth him with not loving men, that he would seek no meaner person but his own and only Son. Herein is the love of God made manifest, that he sent his Son into the world; and herein is love, that he loved us and gave his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. As a King might 
Christi servatoris mors refertur ad ineffabilem ipsius erga nos charitatem, Joh. 14. 13. Gal. 2. 24. Ephes. 5. 2. & 25. Nam quae fuit illa charitas, si (quod Socinus eavillatur) non mori non potuit Christus quia homo fuit? Anon potius quam dilectionem suam demonstraverit Christus infirmitatem, si non ben●volentiae affectus, sed naturae fuit conditio quod moriebatur. Rivet. Disput. 12. de satisfactione Christi. Quoad substantiam poenae nihil plus perpessus est Christus, quam quod per legem debebatur: neque enim vel amor Patris, vel etiam justitia permittere potuit, plura Filio▪ ut impo●erentur quam quae illi necessariò, tanquam sponsori, ferenda erant. Quoad circumstantias autem, patientis personam, patiendi causau●, passionis efficaciam; plusquam sufficiens satisfactio Christi & à nobis dicitur. Neque enim requirebat lex ut De●s moreretur, neque ut sine peccato proprio quis moreretur, neque requirebat denique mortem talem, tantae efficaciae quae esset, ut non mortem aboleret solùm, sed etiam vitam introduceret, eamque illâ, quam Adamus terr●strem p●rdiderat, multis gradibus praecellentiorem. Sanford. de Descensu Christi ad inseros, l. 3. p. 67.  equally dispatch a business for the ransoming of his servant by a meaner Person if he would, but to grace him the more, and to show greater respect to him, he effecteth that treaty by the most honourable personage of the Court.  
We give the best gift we have to them we love most, though another might serve the turn, so God gave the best thing he had or could give to redeem us, his only Son. So much of this that Christ is God, and how and why he must be God.   

CHAP. III. Of CHRIST'S being Man.  
NOw I am to show in the next place that he was man.  
Christ is set forth three ways in the Scripture:  

1. Christus in promisso, so the Patriarches and Saints beheld him under the old Covenant, he was set forth unto Adam in the seed of the woman, Gen. 3. 15. to Abraham as the seed in whom all Nations are blessed, to jacob as S●iloh, to job as Goel, to David as the Messiah, to Zachary, as the man whose name is the Branch, to Malachi as the Sun of Righteousness with healing in his wings.  
2. Christus in carne, 1 Joh. 14. 2 Tim. 3. 16.  
3. Christus in Evangelio, Christ as he is discovered and set forth in the Gospel, that is the glass wherein we behold the glory and excellency of Christ, 2 Cor. 3. 18. But I am now to speak of his Incarnation, or his being a true man.   

1. He had the name of a man.  
2. He came of the race of mankind. 
Hominem factum fuisse Christum, docent Scripturae, dum primò eae ipsi tribuunt nomina quae naturam humanam designant, hominis Rom. 5. 15. 1 Cor. 15. 21. 1 Tim. 2. 5. seminis mulieris, Gen. 3. 15. Filii hominis, Dan. 7. 13. Mat. 9 6. filii Abrahae, Matth. 1. 1. Davidis ibid. & Mariae Virgins, Isa. 7. 14. Matth. 1. 25. & cam deinde nobis per omnia similem factum fuisse, Heb. 2. 17. & 1. 15. Carni & sanguini communicasse, omnesque veri hominis proprietates habuisse praedicant Rivet. Disput. 13. de satisfactione Christi. Vide Matth 11. 19 & 12. 8. & 25. 31. & 34. 27, 30, 37, 44. & 26. 24. Fuit eisdem temporibus jesus, sapiens vir, si tamen virum cum nomin●re fas est, erat enim mirabilium operum ●ffector, & doctor hominum corum qui libenter quae vera sunt audiunt. Et mul●os quidom judaeorum, multos etiam ex gentibus sibi adjunxit. Christus hic erat. Hunc accusatione primorum nostrae gentis viroru●, quum ●ila●us incrucem agendum esse decrevisset, non deserucrunt high, qui ab initio cum dilexerunt. Apparuit enim ●is tertia die iterum vivus, secundum quod divinitus inspirati Prophetae vel haec, vel alia de eo innumera miracula futura esse pradixerunt. Sed & in hodiernum diem, Christianorum, qui ab ipso nuncupati sunt, & nomen persevera● & genus. Josephus in Antiq. Non venit qui aberat, sed apparuit qui latchat. Venit universitatis Creator & Dominus: venit ad homines: venit propter homines: venit homo. Bern. Serm. 3. de adventu Domini.    
He is called Man, 1 Tim 2. 5. Luk. 23. 47. The Son of man, Dan. 7. 13. Matth. 8. 20. & 16. 13. Mark 10. 45. Apoc. 1. 13. This the Scripture foretold before, in saying, That the seed of the woman should crush the Serpent's head, and that in the seed of Abraham all Nations should be blessed; and that a branch should spring out of the root of I●sse: Therefore the Apostle saith, He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. And he that confesseth not that jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God. More particularly Christ is called The Son of Mary, Luke 1. 31, 44. the holy Ghost goes further and shows of what Tribe he was, Heb. 7. 14. nay of what family, Rom. 1. 3.  
2. He had the birth and growth of a man, he was conceived in the womb of his mother as a man, Luke 1. 31. He was born in the usual time as a man, Luk. 2. 7. swaddled like a man, Luk. 2. 12. He grew up as a man both in respect of body and mind 
* The Papists say, Christ's soul was presently replenished with all knowledge, as the Academics hold, That the soul came from Heaven where it knew all things, and Discere is Reminisci.  Luk. 2. 40, 52. and therefore he was a true man.  
3. The same thing is proved evidently by the story of the Gospel, which ascribes 
Mat. 26. 26. Mark 14. 8. John 2. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 24.  to him the parts, the sufferings, the actions and affections that are peculiar to man. He had the essential parts of a man, a body, as it was written, A body thou hast given me, and they took his body from the cross and laid it in a sepulchre, a soul Matth. 20. 28. & 26. 35, 38. Luke 23. 46. john 10. 15. & 5. 21. Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom and Will which are proper to the reasonable soul are given unto him. He did dispute and reason. He had the integral parts of a man, as 
Isa. 7. 15. Luk. 2. 40. Luk. 24. 39  bones, flesh, hands and feet, They pierced his hands and his feet, A Spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. They crowned his head with a crown of thorns, and one of the soldiers thrust a spear into his side, and forthwith came out water and blood, he lift up his eyes to Heaven, he kneeled on his knees and prayed, sure he was very man that had all the parts of a man. 
Heb. 4. 15. The general not personal infirmities, not madness, blindness, lameness. Phil. 2. 7. He was found in shape, that is, in carriage and behaviour as a man, john 1. 14. He dwelled amongst us, pitched a Tent amongst us. Mark 13 5. He was heard concerning his fear. Joh. 4. 6.   
4. He had the infirmities which accompany the whole nature of mankind. He was Hungry, Matth. 4. 2. Thirsty, john 4. 7. Wept, john 11. 35. was Weary, he died, as other men do, giving up the Ghost, john 19 30.  
5. He had the actions of a man, he sat down to meat, he drank of the fruit of the Vine, he sat upon the Well, he went from jericho toward jerusalem. He opened his mouth and taught them, he touched the Leper, saying, I will be thou clean, he did sleep, He cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. So he took upon him the very nature of man, and was made in all things like unto us, but without sin.  
6. He had likewise the affections of a man, His soul was heavy to death, he sighed in his Spirit, he was straitened in his Spirit, and testified that one of them should betray him, he mourned and wept for Lazarus, he looked upon them angrily, he cried out, I thirst. Joy, Luk. 10. 21. Anger, Mark 10. 14. Grief, Mat. 26. 38. Love, Mark 10. 21. joh. 11. 5, 13. Zeal, joh. 2. 17. Fear, Heb. 5. 7. as in a man were found in him.  
Now there are divers good Reasons why Christ was to be Man.  
First, He was to be a Mediator, a middle person betwixt God and Man, and therefore was to take upon him man's nature, that he might familiarly converse with man, and acquaint them with the whole counsel of his Father, and therefore the Apostle saith, There is one Mediator betwixt God and man, the man Christ I●sus. 
1 John 14. 1 John 1. 1.  And St john, That which we have heard, and have seen, and have looked upon with our eyes, of the word of life. He must be man that he might converse with men and be subject unto their senses, and so was a fit person to interpose himself, and make concord betwixt God and man.  
Secondly, He was to be man, 1. That he might satisfy God's justice in suffering 
Valde inconveniens erat ut una nobilissimarum creaturarum à fine suo totaliter frustaretur: sed humana natura est una de nobilissimis creaturis: cum igitur tota corrupta fuerit per peccatum priorum parentum, & sic beatitudine privata, & indigna facta, ad quam possidendam fuerat instituta, conveniens ●uit ipsam reparari. Reparatio verò ●on poterat fieri nisi peccatum dimitteretur: non erat autem justum hoc fieri sine satisfactione. Quare oportuit pro peccato totius naturae ●umanae satisfieri. Sed satisfactio decenter ●ieri non poterat nisi ab ●o qui debebat satisfacere & poterat; non debebat autem nisi homo qui peccaverat, nec poterat nisi Deus. Quaelibet creatura ●●●●▪ totum suum esse debet D●o: nedum ut prae al●o satis facere possit, ac sic nulla creatura poterat pro homine satis f●cere; n●● ipse per se, cum per peccatum redderetur indignus, sordes quippe tergere non valet manus quae lutum tenet. Quia ergo Deus summe ●onus, & sum misericors est, Psal. 103. 8. decuit ut nulli negaret bonum misericordiae, cujus capax ●ra●. Unde ●●m humana natura cecidisset, & tamen casus ejus reparabilis esset, decuit ut eam repararet Quia verò justitia ejus immutabilis est, Psal. 119. 142. cujus decretum est ut nunquam peccatum sine competenti satisfactione dimittatur, proculdubio decens fuit ut in humana natura institueret ●um qui satisfacere sufficeret, quia hoc purus homo nequibat. Raim. Pug. Fid. parte tertia Dist. 3. cap. 5.  for man the things which man's sins did deserve, and which were to be in●●●cted upon man according as it was threatened, In the day thou sinnest, thou shal● die. Man's nature had sinned, man's nature must suffer for sin, that as by a man came sin, and so death, so by a man might come righteousness and the resurrection from the dead.  
The Godhead was too strong to suffer, for it is not possible that the excellent Essence of God should endure or bear any punishment, any evil, any misery, without which yet man's sins could not be expiated; therefore did the Godhead clothe itself with flesh, that he might suffer in the humane nature, that which it was impossible it should suffer in that high and superexcellent nature.  
The Manhood was too weak to bear and overcome in suffering, and to deserve by suffering. The Godhead was too strong to bear or suffer, wherefore the Godhead was to borrow weakness, as I may so say, of the manhood, and to lend power to it, that that great work might be done which could not be effected without a wonderful concurrence of exceeding great weakness and exceeding great power.  
The Justice of God required that the same nature should be punished that had offended, Rom. 8. 3. He could not else have suffered the penalty, Gen. ●. 24. See Heb. 7. 27. & 9 22. Without shedding of blood there could be no expiation of s●●; there must be active obedience performed in our stead to the Law, Gal. 4. 4, 5. else he could not have communicated to us. Union is the ground of Communion, Ephes. 1. 21. Titus 3. 4.  
2. That he might honour and dignify the nature of man, by advancing it far above all Principalities and Powers, yea above every name that is named, and so God might declare his infinite and unsearchable grace to that frail and feeble nature which came of the dust, by making it the chief of all his workmanship and head over all: Therefore hath he attained by inheritance a more excellent name then Angels, being called the Son of God, in carrying, as I may term it, the humane nature to the Divine, that nature was exalted above all other natures. A woman of some place is dignified by matrimony with a King above all those that were her superiors before; so that now of all natures next to the Divine nature, the humane nature by being so nearly united to it, is become the most excellent and glorious nature. So God willing to show the height and length, the breadth and depth of his love which passeth all understanding, hath thus glorified the seed of Abraham, even above the nature of Angels, for he took not the nature of Angels, but took the seed of Abraham.  
Thirdly, This was done to foil, crush and confound Satan so much the more, 
It was foretold that he should be man, Gen. 3. 15. The seed of Abraham.  in causing that nature which he envied, supplanted and polluted, to become so pure, perfect and glorious, and to triumph over him and lead him captive▪ and tread him under foot and make a show of him openly. The Lord would punish Satan in his envy, and make him feel the effect of his power and goodness, in doing so very much against him by a man, to fulfil that, that The seed of the woman should crush the serpent's head, and to cause him to fall from heaven like lightning before the second Adam, how much soever he gloried, as it were, in his conquest over the first Adam.  
Last of all, The Lord pleased to do this for our greater consolation and assurance, 
Hebr. 2. 17, 18.  that we might know without all doubt we should find him a faithful and a merciful high-Priest. For in that he suffered temptation, he knows how to succour them that are tempted. Christ was to be a man of sorrow, and to have experience of infirmities, 
Christ took not the nature of man as in the state of inno▪ cency, or as glorified, but abased and compassed with infirmities, Isa. 53. 2. Rom. 8. 3. Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco, said Dido in Virgil. None but a brother had right to redeem, Ruth 2. 20. see job 19 25. By this means he was qualified, 1. To be a Priest, Heb. 5. 1. 2. A Prophet, Deut. 18. 15. 3. A King, Deut. 17. 15.  that by bearing our sorrows he might be fitted to relieve and succour us in all our sorrows; for he that hath endured any misery himself, is made more tender in compassion, and more able in knowledge to afford comfort unto them that must after taste of the same afflictions. He knows the weight of sin, the intolerableness of God's wrath, the violence of Satan's temptations, and the trouble of being wronged and abused by men. We can bring no misery to him but what himself bore or the like, so now we are assured to find him most pitiful to us, that for our sakes was content in our nature to be most afflicted. You see now that Christ was man, and why he was to be so.  
Consider how he was made man, and that was wonderfully miraculous above 
This was foretold, Isa. 7. 14. and fulfilled, Matth. 1. 22, 23.  the course of nature and beyond the common custom, that he might be wonderful in his entrance into the world, who was to be wonderful in the course of his life. For he was not made of the seed of man by copulation as other persons are, but a Virgin did conceive and bring forth a Son. Mary descended by direct line 
Christ is said to be a stone cut out without hands, Dan. 4. 34, 35. See Heb. 8. 2. & 9 11.  from David and Abraham, a mean and contemptible maiden whom no man regarded, because she was poor, she was a chosen vessel to be the Mother of our Saviour, and the holy Ghost did overshadow her, and the power of the most High come on her to frame a man in her womb of her substance, as you have the Angel telling joseph in the first of Matthew, and Mary in Luke 1. 35. This was so done, 
There is a twofold nativity of Christ, one eternal and incomprehensible, as he is the Son of God: The other temporal and miraculous, as he is the son of man; both are contained, Gal. 4. 4. Caeterum ex matre sine patre nas●i, grandi hoc mysterio non carebat. Alioqui cur fuisset turpius patrem habere quam matrem, cum praestantior sit vir quam faemina? Sed nefas erat, ut homo quisquam diceretur ejus pater, qui patrem baberet Deum. Lod. Viu. de Veritate Fidei Christianae, l. 2. c. 10. The holy Ghost did as it were cast a cloud over her, to teach us that we should not search overmuch into the mystery of the Incarnation. Mr Perkins on the Creed. Christ was not begotten speru●atically nor of the substance of the holy Ghost, but operatively, by the power of the holy Ghost: He was the activum principium, as the Virgin Mary was the passivum principium. Descendens itaque de caelo sanctus ille Spiritus Dei, sanctam Virginem, cujus utero se insinuaret, elegit. At illa divino Spiritu bausto repleta concepit, & ●ine ullo attactu viri repente virginalis uterus intumuit. Quod si animalia quaedam vento ●●● aura concipere solere omnibus notum est, cur quisquam mirum putet, cum Spiritu Dei, ●u● facile est quicquid velit; gravatam esse Virginem dicimus? Lact. Divin. Institut. l. 4. de vera Sapientia. Men have been generated four ways, saith Austin. 1. Without either man or woman, as Adam was. 2. Without woman, as Eve was. 3. Without man, as Christ was. 4. With man and woman, as all other men were.   

1. (Say some of our Divines) To free the manhood from the stain of sin wherewith those are polluted which are begotten by carnal generation, though the holy Ghost could as easily have sanctified the substance of a man as of a woman, to frame of it the humane nature of Christ.  
2. To show the greatness of his love to man by transcending the course of nature for his restitution, and that the making of the second Adam might no less commend the power of God than the making of the first, for it is no more beyond the power of nature to produce a man of a Virgin, then to frame a man of the dust of the earth. This is a great mystery, God manifested in the flesh, 1 Tim. 3. 16. The second person did assume humane nature to it, so as these two make one person, john 1. 14. Rom. 1. 3. The second person (I say) for it is not proper to say that the Divine nature was made flesh, but the second person, though the second person have the Divine nature in him and is God. For though God was made flesh, yet it was not the Divine nature in all the persons that was incarnated, but the very person of the Son subsisting in the Godhead.   
The Schoolmen have divers curious questions,  

1. Whether it was convenient for God to be incarnate.  
2. Whether it was necessary for the repairing of mankind, that the Word should be Incarnate.  
3. Whether God should have been Incarnate, if man had not sinned. Aquinas part. 3. quaest. 1. Artic. 1, 2, 3.   
That Christ should have come although man had not sinned, will scarce be made good. The Scripture acknowledgeth no other cause of Christ's coming in the flesh but to save sinners, and redeem them who are under the Law, and so subject to the curse, Matth. 1. 21. & 9 13. & 18. 11. Gal. 4. 5.  
Christ was born of a Virgin, but such a one as was espoused to a man, Luke 1. 27. and that for these reasons.  

1. To avoid the infamy and suspicion of immodesty.  
2. That her Virginity might be the better evidenced, viz. He bearing witness to whom it specially belonged to understand how things were, and who was most worthy to be believed in that matter.  
3. That she might have a most intimate helper in bearing all other cares and troubles.  
4. To represent our spiritual conjunction with Christ, for we are espoused to him, and yet we ought to be virgins, cleansed from all pollution both of flesh and spirit, 2 Cor. 7. 1. see 2 Cor. 11. 2. Rev. 14. 4.   
The place where Christ was born was Bethlehem, which signifies a house of bread, the best place for the Bread of life; and in Ephratah a most fruitful 
Matth. 2. 1. Vide Scultet. Delit. Evang. cap. 10. Certè de vero natali Christi anno tot ●●rè sunt sententiae, quot Chronologi. Scultet. Delit. Evang. cap. 14. Vide plura ibid. In the year of the world (as among twenty eight differences we pitch upon with Luther and Lucidus) 3960. Dr. Prid. History.  place.  
In the year 3967. say some, others say it is uncertain in what year. In the 42 year of Augustus his reign.  
For the month there is great difference also.  
Epiphanius thinketh he was born in the 6th of january. Beroldus at the middle of September. Clemens Alexandrinus at the Springtime. Others at the 25th of December.  
Scaliger objects that the winter time was not fit for a Master of a Family to undertake so long a journey with his wife to be taxed; also that Shepherds are not wont in the night time to watch their flocks at that time of the year. Vossius de Natali jesu Christi.  
Dr Drake in his Chronology gives probable grounds why Christ was not born in December, but rather about August or September. God of purpose concealed the time of Christ's birth, as he did the body of Moses, as well foreseeing how it would have been abused to superstition, had it been exactly known.  
Interpreters indeed render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vigilare or excubare, but it may 
Vide Grotium in Luc. 2. 8. & Montacut. Orig. Eccles. partem pr●orem p. 47, 48. & Appar. XI. Mr. Bryan on 1 Sam. 12. 16, 17.  be better translated sub dio agere: It properly notes to live in the fields, as the original of the word shows, which agrees to the daytime, as well as to the night. In England (saith Vossius) we have traveled both before and after the Nativity of Christ.  
For the day of our Saviour's Nativity, it is not certain this was the day which we celebrate. Some learned Divines gather from the computation of the time when the Angel saluted our Lord's Mother (being the sixth month, Luke 1. 26.) that this cannot be the day, though 'tis true the tradition is ancient. 
See Master Mo●k●ts Christmas The Christians grand Feast. pag. 10, 11, 12.   
Scultetus thus concludes the fourteenth Chapter of his Delit. Evang. Tac●nte Scriptura taccamus & nos, & Christum servatorem in tempore natum adoremus, et si, in quo temporis puncto natus sit ignoramus.  
A late Writer 
a Wilhelmi Lan●i de Ann. Christ. l. 2. c. 2.  saith that opinion of the Romans is true, which held that Christ was born on the 25 day of December, and undertakes to demonstrate it. As for the day, saith scaliger, Unius Dei est, non hominis de●inire.  
This Jesus of Nazareth perfect God and man, is that Messiah promised of old. What ever was said of the Messiah was accomplished by him and him alone.  
The first Christians believed in him, Luke 1. 68 Christ much instructed his Disciples in this great truth, Luke 24. 25, 26, 27, 44, verses. The Apostles proved this great doctrine, Acts 18. 24, 27. & 26. 22▪ 23. & 28. 23.  
Arguments that prove this Jesus to be the Messiah.  
All the times of exhibiting the Messiah delivered in the old Testament are expired, Acts 13. 32. See 1 Pet. 1. 10. The old Testament speaks of a twofold coming of Christ, in a state of humility, and glory: The Jewish Rabbins could not reconcile these two; the Talmudists distinguished of a twofold Messiah, Ben-Israel or Ben-Ephraim, and Ben-David. The Prophets speak not of several persons but of several states of one person. See Ezck. 37. 24.  
Gen 49. 10. The power of ruling and authority of judging is departed from judah 
Sceptre Regia potestas, Merc. Majestas Imper●●● Cun●us. They had no Kings in many years afore Christ.  and hath been a long time, Therefore Shiloh (the Messiah) is come.  
Hag. 26, 7. 9 The outward glory of the first Temple was greater, all the vessels of the first Temple were beaten gold, Dan. 5. 2, 3. of the second brass; but Christ honoured the second Temple by his own Presence, Doctrine and Mira●les.  
〈…〉 Jew's confess that there were five things in which the latter Temple was endeavour to the former, 
After the captivity it was turned into a Commonwealth, Ephes. 2. 12. Whilst it was governed by their own Laws the Sceptre continued. Shiloh, Christ, pacis & f●licitatis author, Mic. 5. 5. Ephes. 2. 14. Vide Raimundi pugionem, c. 4. p. 12.   
First, Heavenly fire came down visibly on their Sacrifices. They had the Ark of the Covenant: The Cloud, a witness of the Divine presence. Urim and 
b Non dubium est epithetou Messias, attestant●bus & Chaldaeis Paraphrastis ambobus, Mercetus in loc. Vide Paul. Fag. ●unotat. in Paraphras. Chald. Rivetum, Ainsw. & Cattw. in loc. Montac. Apparat. 2.  Thummim: And lastly a succession of Prophets, which the latter Temple wanted. Rain. in loc. & de lib. Apoc. tom. 2. Praelect. 134, 135.  
Dan. 9 24, 26. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy City, to finish the transgression. That is, The time that the Jews were to live in their own land, and enjoy their own worship after their return out of Captivity.  
We are wont to apply the seventh number to days, that a perfect week should comprehend seven full days. So Dan. 10. 2. Levit. 23. 15. The Prophecy cannot ●e understood in this common and usual manner, so Seventy weeks rise but to Four hundred and ninety days, within which space of time none of those things were consummated of which the Angel so specially prophesieth.  
Weeks are also taken in Scripture for years not days, so that every week makes seven ordinary years; so that phrase is used, Gen. 29. 47. Levit. 25. 8. So it is here taken by Interpreters generally, and they fill up the sum of Four hundred and fifteen years, in the space of which the God of heaven would work wonderful things which the Angel Gabriel recites here particularly. Montac. Appar. 2.  
By this the times of the Messiah are past, for when the Messiah came the Sacrifice was to cease, and there was a sealing up of the vision and Prophets, this is ceased; there is now no Vision nor Prophecy among the Jews.  
Here only in Hebrew and twice here 25. & 26. verses, Messias cometh, a mere proper name, hence made famous, john 1. 41. & 4. 25. Broughton on Dan. 9 25.  
Some Heretics opposed Christ's Deity. 
The highest Heresies have risen from misguided zeal. Arius upon detestation of Gentilism, lest he should seem to acknowledge more Gods then one, by confessing a coequality of Christ's Divinity with his Father, denied the Deity, and Sabellius in detestation of Arius, fell into the other extreme, and denied the distinction of Persons▪ Symmons.   
Arius said Christ was an excellent creature, but not of the same substance with the Father.  
Paulus Samosatenus, more fitly Semisathanas, held Christ was but a mere man; so did Ebion.  
He was homo verus, but not homo merus, Augustine on 1 john 1. A true man, but not a mere man: He was truly God, equal to the Father; and truly man, like to us in all things, sin only excepted.  
Servetus a Spaniard burnt at Geneva in calvin's time, denied that Christ was God's Son till Mary bore him. He said, Christ was not the eternal Son of God, but the Son of the eternal God.  
If this be truly believed that Christ is the Son of God and Saviour of the world, it will work a resolution to cleave to Christ, though all the world forsake him, nothing will make us shrink from Christ though it cost us our lives, and all our comforts.  
2. If we believe this because it is written in the Bible, in the Old and New Testament 
Quemadmodum jesu Christo, orbi revelato, & Gentibus exhibito secundum promissiones Patribus factas, exorti sunt statim Antichristi multi, qui se opponerent Dei excelso brachio, ac titulum & nomen sibi illud usurparent, quod Dei unigenito debebatur, ita etiam cum recens adhuc nasceretur, aut etiam paulò antequam de Virgine carnem sumpsisset, multi in judaea oriebantur, qui & novas religionum sectas instituerent, & se etiam pro Messia venditarent. Inter caeteros haeretici quidam, quod Baronius observat, regnanto Herode Idumaeo prodierunt, qui ipsum pro Messià in Scriptures praedicto, reputabant, cui regnum Israelis in aetenitatem promissum olim fuerat, eo quod secundum vaticinium Jacob, regnum in eo recesserat de Ju. a. Montac. Anal. Exercit. 3. Sect. 4.  the word of truth, than we must forbear what the Word forbids, and give ourselves to be ruled by him, and expect salvation from him according to the direction of that Word, than we will believe the whole Word, if we believe this which of all other parts of it hath least of sense and humane reason.  
Some Heretics opposed Christ's manhood.  
1. The Marcionites which held that Christ had not the true substance, but only 
Some held that the God head was converted into the humane nature. The Marcionites thought that Christ took only a fantastical not a true body, God manifest in the flesh. 1 Tim. 3. 16.  the semblance or show of a man, alleging Phil. 2. 7. but there a true not counterfeit likeness is understood, even as one man is like another, and Rom. 8. 3. similitude is not referred to flesh, but to sinful flesh, john 1. The Word was made flesh, not by mutation, as the water was turned into wine, john 2. 19 nor by confusion, by mingling the Godhead and manhood together, but the second Person of the Trinity took a humane body and soul into his Divine Nature.  
Secondly, The Manichees, which said, He had the true substance of man, but that he brought his body from heaven, alleging 1 Cor. 15. 47. and had it not by birth of the Virgin Mary, but that is spoken of the Person of Christ not of his manhood itself.  
Thirdly, The Valentinians who held that Christ had an aerial body, and assumed nothing of Mary but only passed as thorough a channel.  
Fourthly, Apollinaris confessed the flesh of a man in him, but not the soul, but 
Vide Spanhem. Dub. Evangel. part. 1. Dub. 30. Manichaeus Christum veram habuisse carnem negavit. Photinus purum fuisse hominem asseruit. Arius quoad divinam naturam Patri consubstantialem & aequalem non credidit. Sabellius Personam à Patre distinctam negavit. Apollinarius animam rationalem ei ademit. Nestorius' Deum & hominem duplicem personam constituit. Eutyches divinam humanamque naturam confudit. Valentinianus non fatetur Christi corpus ex Virgine substantialiter sumptum, sed fingit de Coelo depositum. Fulgentius ad Transim. lib. 1.  that this Deity was in staed of his soul. See Matth. 26. 39 The whole man must be redeemed, and in its own nature, the soul is the principal part of man, sin specially adheres to it, and it is a true rule, What Christ did not assume he did not redeem.  
Fifthly, The Ubiquitaries will have his manhood every where, and so they destroy the very being of his manhood. Each Nature retains their several essential Properties, and it is the property of the humanity to be contained in one place at once. The Papists also offer indignity to Christ's manhood, in that they would have his body to be in divers places at once.  
6. Others held his body impassable. His body was not immediately created by God, nor did he bring it from Heaven, but he was a man of our stock and nature, Heb. 2. 11, 16, 17. he is often called the Son of man.  
7. The Jews look for a Messiah to come in outward pomp, yet some of their 
See of the Jews conversion. Mercer on Amos 9 9 & 14. & on v. 20. of Obadiah. Capel. Spicil. ad Matth. 17. 3. & Joh. 3. 14. Drus. ad difficil. loca. Gen. 8. 1.  Rabbins say In regio Messiae nihil mundanum aut carnale. By those Arguments, john 5. 30. Acts 17. 2, 3. & 18. 28. Rom. 16. 26. one saith, many Jews have been convinced.  
So you see what the Scripture tells of the Incarnation of Christ, and how he was 
Unio importat conjunctionem aliquorum in aliquo uno.  made of the seed of David according to the Prophecy that went before. Now we are to speak something of the Union of these two Natures.  
They are united in a personal Union, such I mean, as that both Natures concur 
Aquinas par. 3. quaest. 2. art. 9 Places of Scripture which speak of the Union of both Natures. John 1. 14. Col. 2. 9 1 Tim. 3. 16. Heb. 2. 14, 16. Uniri hypostaticè Deum & hominem nihil est aliud, quam naturam humanam non habere propriam subsistentiam, sed assumptam esse à verbo aeterno ad ipsam verbi subsistentiam. Bellar. de Christo lib. 3. cap. 8.  to the constituting of one individual Subsistence, as it is evident by this, that the works and sufferings proper to one of the Natures are ascribed unto the whole Person, which could not be truly affirmed, if both of these Natures were not conjoined in one Person.  
The Actions or Properties of the Godhead and Manhood both could not be given to whole Christ, if the Godhead and Manhood both do not constitute one Person of Christ.  
For the second Person in Trinity did assume to itself that frail Nature so soon as ever it had a being, but had no personal Subsistence in itself, so that it personally subsists by virtue of its so close and near an Union with the Person of the Son, and so whole Christ might be the Son of God, and the God of Glory might be crucified, and the blood of God might redeem us, and so whatsoever was done or suffered might be attributed to the whole Christ, the Godhead being interessed into that which the Humanity did and suffered, because of this unspeakable Union betwixt them.  
Union ordinarily and in things natural is the joining together of two things by one common bond, but this Union is not so effected, but it is performed by the voluntary and powerful Act of the one of the things to be united, assuming and taking to itself the other after a manner incommunicable. 
Unionis istius modus talis est, ut ●acta sit (quemadmodum habetur in acts Synodi Chalcedonensis) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, id est sine mutatione verbi, item 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, id est, sine naturarum confusione, divisione & separatione, est enim arctissima ac prorsus indissolubilis. Ravan. Bibliotheca sacra ad verbum unio. From this Union of two Natures in one Person ariseth a kind of speech or phrase peculiar to the Scriptures, called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the communication of properties, when the property of one Nature is attributed to the whole Person denominated by the other Nature, as when Paul saith, Act. 20. 28. That God shed his blood 1 Cor. 2. 8. That the Lord of Glory was crucified. And when Christ saith joh. 3. 15. that he talking with Nicodemus was then in Heaven. Communicatio idiomatum ex unione orta non est alternata idiomatum infusio, aut permixtio in Naturis: Sed est modus alternationis idiomatum, naturarum propria alternatim tribuens, humana Deo, & divina homini Christo, non juxta utramvis, sed juxta illam naturam, cujus sunt propria. Sic Filius Dei factus est Davide ad Rom. 1. 3, Sed non secundùm utramvis naturam promiscuè: sed ut sequitur ibidem, secundùm carnem, Nempè secundum istius attributi capacem, sic pari passu Christus est immensus, insinitus, aeternus, at secundùm naturam perfectionis istius modi capacem, Deitatem scilicet. Barlow Excrcitat. 6. Vide plura ibid. Communicatio proprietatum à Scholasticis appellatur, non quòd unius naturae proprietas cum altera natura, sed potius utriusque naturae proprictates cum ipsa Persona communicentur: hoc est, de ipsa Persona tam unius quam alterius naturae Proprietates enuntientur. Sadeel de veritate humanae Naturae. There is also a communication of gifts, by reason of this personal union the humane Nature of Christ becomes enriched with excellent gifts and endowments, as Wisdom, Knowledge, Holiness, yet finite, and of Dignity, the Manhood is exalted above all creatures whatsoever.   
There have been many similitudes to make us conceive how God should become 
Vide Thess. Theol. Salmur. part. 2. De duarum Christi naturarum Hypostat. union.  man, from iron thoroughly fired, there is iron and fire too, of the soul and body which make one Person, of the Scion ingraffed in the Tree, of the Jewel in a Ring, of a Planet in its Orb, all which may something illustrate; but there is as much dissimilitude as similitude in them. Only there are these rules which are good to observe.  
First, There are two Natures but not two Persons, Aliud & aliud, but not Alius 
Nestorius' said Christ had two Persons. Eutiches makes the natures not to be two existing in one Person, but the manhood deified.  & alius, as there are in the Trinity, it is a Union of Natures 
* A personal union, but not a union of persons. A Doctor in Divinity and a Frenchman, having read very learnedly concerning the Trinity, being much admired, and desired by his Auditors to publish the same for the common good, he was exceedingly puffed up thereby, and used this speech, O jesule, jesule, quantum hac quaestione confirmavi legem tuam & exaltavi: profectò si malignando & adversando vellem, fortioribus rationibus & argumentis s●irem illam infirmare & deprimendo improbare. Lord Jesus, how art thou beholding to me? if I had turned my wit against thee, how much hurt could I have done thee? and hereupon God struck him, and so took away his understanding that he could scarce learn the Lord's Prayer and Creed of his own child. Matth. Paris. Angl. Johan. 1201. , yet not a natural but a supernatural and mystical Union.  
Secondly, The Scripture expresseth it, 1 john 14. The Word was made flesh, it was not turned into flesh as the water was made wine, not by any confusion, as if the Divine Nature were made the Humane, or the Humane the Divine. When we say the Divine Nature took our Humane Nature upon him, we must not think that that humane Nature consisting of a soul and body was one entire person, as it is in us, for though it was particular, yet it did not subsist of itself before the Union of the Godhead to it.  
Thirdly, This personal Union is inseparable, for when Christ appeared 
So the holy Ghost appeared in a Dove.  like man in the Old Testament that was n●● an Incarnation, because separable.  
Fourthly, By this means the Virgin Mary is truly called 
* See M. Downs Treatise. The blessed Virgin Mary is truly Deipara, the mother of God.  Deipara the mother of God, so in Scripture she is expressly called The mother of the Lord, for she brought him who was God and Man, though she did not bring forth his Deity, the whole Person of Christ was the subject of conception and nativity, though not all that was in that Person. 
Sanctissimam Mariam Deiparam, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Genetricem Dei profitemur contra Nestorium. Et ut●unque verum sit quod nonnulli observant, Leonem 1. Romanae urbis Episcopum, omnium principem, desertis verbis Deiparam, vel Dei matrem appellasse eam, rem tamen ipsam summâ cum veritate conjunctam agnoscentes eadem metipsa appellatione libenter utimur: non ta●tum quia Leo sic locutus est, sed quia diu ante Leonem Elizabeth eam ita compellabat. Montac. Apparat. 9   
Consider lastly, The end of this Incarnation, which is this, God and man became 
Est incarnatio inchoatiuè & effectiuè totius Trinitatis, sed appropriatiuè & terminatiuè solius Filii, ut si tres simul consuant vestem, ab uno tamen ex illis induendam. Mares. Colleg. Theol. loc. In qua ut sidentius ambularet ad veritatem, ipsa veritas Deus Dei Filius homine assumpto, non Deo consumpto, ●andem constituit atque fundavit fidem, ut ad Deum iter esset homini per hominem Deum. Hic est enim Mediator Dei & hominum homo Christus jesus. Sola est autem adversus omnes errores via munitissima, ut idem ipse sit Deus & homo, quo itur Deus, quâ itur homo. Aug. de civ. Dei, l. 10. c. 11.  one in Person, that God and man might become one in the Covenant of Grace, Gal. 4. 4, 5. Before this, man was at as great a distance with God, as the apostate Angels, but now by this means as he is made sin for us, so are we made righteousness by him, not that this benefit extends to all, but only to those men who are under the Covenant; and therefore Gal. 3. all the mercies which Abraham had are limited to a spiritual seed; therefore as the mystery is great for the truth, so for the comfort of it, and why should faith think it such an unlikely matter to adopt for his children when God hath united our nature to him?   

CHAP. IU. Of Christ's Offices.  
SO much may serve concerning Christ's Natures, both what they be, Manhood and Godhead. And  
Secondly, How they are united into one Person by a personal Union. Christ's Offices in the next place are to be treated of. Wherein consider,  

1. His calling to his Office.  
2. The Office to which he was called, or which is all one. The efficient cause of these Offices, and the matter or parts of them.   
For the cause of the Lords undertaking these Offices, it was the will and calling of his Father who is said to anoint him 
* Anointing signified three things, 1. A solemn separation of one to a work or employment, Thou shalt anoint jehu to be King over Israel, and Thou shalt anoint Elisha in thy room. 2. It signifies the Lords gifting and fitting the person for that work, Psa. 45. Oil is an instrument of activity and nimbleness. You shall be anointed with the holy Ghost. Saul had another heart after he was anointed by Samuel. 3. Acceptation with God, Cant. 1. 5. when the Lord had separated Christ to this work, he proclaims he was well pleased with him. Christ's anointing differs from other men's, 1. His was only spiritual. 2. Above measure and overflowing, whereas others were anointed with material oil, and they received the Spirit but in measure. There were many glorious appearances and representations of Christ in Scripture both before and since his coming in the flesh, those before were Incarnationis praeludia, those since his▪ A scension were Officii insignia. Before his coming in the flesh he appeared to Abraham and others. See Ezek. 9 2, 4. & 40. 3. Since his Ascension there were divers visions and representations of him in the Revelation, ch. 1. 13. & 4. 3. & 5. 6. and 19 13, 14. which show that Christ glorified hath not laid down any of his Offices. , that is to say, to appoint him to them, and sit him for them, and himself saith, Him hath God the Father sealed, that is to say, ratified and set apart to that work, as a Prince by his Seal doth give Commission to any of his Subjects to undertake such and such a work, furnishing him with Authority to fulfil the same. And therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews saith particularly concerning his Priesthood, that he did not make himself a Priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee; and this calling was ratified with an Oath, saying, That the Lord hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a Priest for ever, to let us know the certainty and immutability thereof. Now this observation makes to the exceeding great commendation of the goodness of God, that he himself would take care to provide for us a perfect and sufficient helper against this our misery. If we had bethought ourselves of a remedy, and procured it for ourselves, so much less had been the glory of his grace. But when he to whom it little pertained in regard of any good he should get by it, but that he counts it a benefit to manifest his grace by doing good to us; when he (I say) bethought himself of a way to effect this work, and took order to send a Person that was perfectly sufficient to work it out: Now this honour is enlarged exceedingly, and the glory of the work redoundeth wholly to him, and then it must be confessed to be altogether of his grace. It is true indeed that Justice and Mercy do meet together in this work, and each show itself in perfection, for that he pardoneth our sins and saveth us. Now that Jesus Christ hath deserved pardon of sin and salvation for us, it is a part of righteousness. For he is righteous (saith the Scripture) to forgive us; but in that he himself found out a means to satisfy his Justice, and after a sort to tie his righteousness to do this for us, this is of mere mercy and grace, for mercy is the beginning and first cause of our deliverance, but yet mercy sees justice satisfied, and so accomplisheth the whole work, not with any wrong, injury or offence to justice, and with the help of it. So we see our Lord Jesus Christ came to undertake this work, the manhood of his own accord did not put himself to do it, the Angels did not persuade him, we did not entreat him or hire him. Nay we nor any other creature had an hand in assigning him to it, but the Father being offended with us, and finding the way of his justice shut against us by our sins, made a Covenant with the Son that he should undertake it, and appointed it to be done by the way of taking our felsh, resolving that that Person should be the raiser up of lost and fallen man to happiness and felicity.  
Now for the Offices themselves which Christ undertook, we must learn them 
Christ is a King, a Father, a Husband, a Friend, a Redeemer, Shepherd, and many such Titles are given to him, to be props of our faith, no one relation answers all our necessities. 2. That every thing may lead us to him. All the Promises of the Gospel have their efficacy in the relations of Christ, Rom. 9 5. Look upon them as the ground of your greatest comfort and honour. 2. The knowledge of Christ's relations is the only way to make your prayers effectual. 3. All your relations to God are grounded only on your relation to Christ.  by the Titles which the Scripture giveth unto him. These Titles are a Saviour, a Redeemer, a Mediator, a Surety, a Christ, a Lord, and in explicating these six Titles, I shall sufficiently declare the Offices of our Lord.  
First, I say he was a Saviour, A Saviour is a Person that undertaketh to free any 
Ishmael, Isaac, Josias, & servator noster ante suam nat●vitatem à Deo vel Angelo propriis nominibus vocati sunt. Wakfeldi orat. de laudibus & utilitate trium linguarum Arab. Chald. & Hebraic. Jesus servator est, vel potius salus, id quod & Christus, ipse innuere videtur, Joh. 4. 22. quum ait, Salus ex Judaeis, & ex Iudaea nato, alludensque proculdubio ad nomen suum. Id. ibid. Nomen Jesu salutis beneficium quod ab illo expectandum denotat; Cognomen Christi, Officium per q●od illud nobis a●quirit & confert. Illud Hebraicum est, hoc Graecum, (ut Deus vocatur Abba Pater, Rom. 8. ●5▪) quia judaeorum & Graecorum indiscriminatim Redemptor est. Maresii Colleg. Theol loc. 9  that are in distress through the want of good things, and the presence of evil, from that misery under which they lie, by taking away those evils from them, and conferting those good things upon them. Now he is therefore called by the name of jesus 
* The Angel gives this reason of his Name, Matth. 1. 21.  which signifies a Saviour, because he was to deliver his people from that misery whereinto Adam and themselves had plunged themselves, removing those extreme evils which lay on them, and bringing unto them those great benefits whereof they were deprived. Even among us when any City or Commonwealth is oppressed 
Jesus, Joshua, Jeshuah, Jehoshuah eadem nomina sunt Hebraeis & commemorantur passim in scriptis Rabbinorum. Rainold. de lib. Apoc.  by a Tyrant who spoileth them of their Liberty and Lands, and holds them in slavery and beggary; if any person arise and put down that Tyrant, and restore every man his Goods and Liberty, free them from their miseries, and restore them the free use of their Country and Laws, this man is a Saviour of such a City: so is the Lord Jesus to us. Therefore is he frequently entitled, The salvation of God: Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God, and our God the God of our salvation. So was he figured by all the Judges whom God raised up to help his people, for it is said, God raised them 
Non solùm dicitur salvator, sed etiam empbaticè salus, quia scilicet est fo●s salutis nostrae unicus, extra & praeter quem non est salus, Gen. 49. 18. Isa. 62. 11. Joh. 4. 23. Act. 28. 28. Gerard h. in loc. common. Pulchrè & suaviter Bernardus, si scribas; non sapit mihi, nisi legero ibi Jesum, si disputes aut couferas, non sapit mihi nisi sonnerit ibi Jesus. Jesus mel in o'er, melos in aure, jubilus in cord.  up Saviour's which saved them out of the hands of their enemies, and God raised them up a Saviour, even such and such a one, they were Types of Christ the great Saviour, That saveth us out of the hands of our enemies, as that holy man telleth in this Song. This is the first Title Jesus, and the reason of it, and it was his Name by which he was commonly known and called, and now known and called, a name of infinite sweetness to us, of infinite honour and praise to him; For how much comfort did oppressed Nations receive at the hearing of such a Deliverer? How much honour did they show unto him? And therefore when the Apostle telleth us of our subjection unto Christ's Authority, he ascribeth it unto this Name, as showing us, that this is the foundation of his requiring, and our yielding all honour and obedience to him. He takes not upon him to be honoured only, because he will be honoured, or because he is in himself worthy of it in regard of Excellency, but because he hath deserved it at our hands, and is perfectly worthy of it in regard of the things he hath done for us. Baptism saves representatively, joshua temporally, Ministers instrumentally, Jesus principally.  
Christ delivers his people from their spiritual slavery, the bondage of sin, Satan, 
To be slaves to sin, 1. A base bondage, to be at the command of every unclean motion, Gal. 5. 19, 22. They are called works of the flesh, fruits of the Spirit. 2. A dreadful bondage, other masters are content to have their slave's obedience, but the more we do work the more we smart.  the Law, Death, Hell.  
The slavery of sin and Satan is all one, the Devil hath dominion over the soul only by sin, our lusts are his strong holds, Satan is cast out when sin is broken, 2 Tim. 2. 26. See 1 joh. 3. 8.  
Where he comes to be a Saviour  
First, He breaks all the yokes of sin, Rom. 7. 14, 17. & 8. 2. He delivers his servants,  

1. From the guilt of sin, whereby the sinner is bound over to punishment, Christ hath discharged the debt for us, Rom. 8. 1. Gal. 3. 13.  
2. From the stain and defilement of sin, 1 Cor. 6. 11. and that partly by repairing the image of God in the soul which sin had defaced, and by imputing all his righteousness to them, so that the soul stands covered over before God with the beauty of Christ Jesus, Revel. 1. 5.  
3. From the reigning power of sin by his Spirit, Rom. 6. Acts 3. 26. Titus 2. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 18.   
Secondly, Christ delivers his people from the yoke of the Law both Ceremonial and Moral.  

1. He hath totally delivered his people from the ceremonial Law, those ceremonies that concerned the public external Worship of God, and their private conversation, multitude of observations, and some costly. 
Galat. Colo●. Heb.   
2. He hath freed them from the burden of the Moral Law, 

1. From it as a Covenant of life, they have life by Christ.  
2. From the curses of it, Gal. 3. 13.  
3. The rigour of it.  
4. As it brings wrath and the Spirit of bondage, 2 Tim. 1. 7.  
5. From the irritation of it, for by accident it provokes a man's corruption, Rom. 7. 8.  
6. As it increaseth the guilt of sin, Christ hath taken all the guilt upon his own shoulders.     
Thirdly, Christ sets all his servants free from the yoke of Death and Hell, the first and second death; this is proved out of 1 Cor. 15. 25, 26, 54. joh. 11. 26. Revel. 
In their death, 1. There is an end of all their misery both of sin and punishment. 2. A completing of the graces begun in them. 3. A passage from this vale of misery to heavenly glory.  2. 10. & 20. 6. 1 Thes. 1. ult. Christ delivers his people from the curse of Death.  

1. Meritoriously by undergoing death, Heb. 2. 14, 15. In morte Christi obiit mors, he endured the wrath of God due to all God's people.  
2. He effectually applies this to his people in the administration of the Covenant of Grace.   
The Papists abuse the name of Jesus four ways:  

1. In making it a name of wonder, using it idly and foolishly in their talk, O 
Qui●imò repetant ad nauseam usque sanctissimum nomen; dicant, se de nomine Jesus Jesuitas; festum nominis Jesu devotissimè concelebrent, revolvant Psalterium Jesus, & stult● sibi placeant Ethnico battalogismo quòd in eo nomen Jesu ad quadringentas usque & quinquaginta vices iteretur; non nisi proditores in illum sunt, juda ipso f●re d●teriores, qui gloriam salutis nostrae nulli alteri nomini communicandam, ab illo cripiunt, & sibi ipsis & sanctis, & stultissimis devotionum suarum sigmentis impertiuntur. Abbot. Antich. Demonst. ●. 12.  jesus!  
2. In a superstitious worshipping of the letters and syllables, bowing at the sound of the word, Vox jesus, vel audita, vel visa, is worshipped by them. They say this is the name which God gave his Son after he had submitted to death for us. This name Jesus was given to Christ long before his exaltation. It is common to others, jesus the son of Syrach, and joshua Heb. 4. 8. They do not bow at the Name of Christ or Immanuel, or at the mention of any other Person in the Trinity.  
3. In making it a name of a Sect, the Jesuits are so termed from it. Vide Bezam in 1 Cor. 2. 21. They should rather be called Ignatians of Ignatius the first author of their Society and Order.  
4. In abusing it for a charm to cast out Devils. The Scripture indeed saith, By thy Name, but the meaning is by thy power have we cast out Devils.   
They abuse that place, Acts 3. 16. His Name hath made this man strong, that is, say they, the Apostles pronounced the Name Jesus, and the pronunciation of this name hath a force of driving away Devils, or doing other miracles, the Name of Christ there is Christ himself or his power.  
The Jews out of the word jesus make the number of ●16. by the Letters, and there they have curses and blasphemies scarce to be named. Calverts Annot. on the blessed Jew of Morocco.  
The Arminians say, Salvation may be had without knowledge of, or faith in 
Mr owen's Display of Armin. c. 11. Condo●andus hic error veterum nonnullorum charitati, etiam ex Philosophis nonnullos per legem naturae salutem consecutos esse pro●itentium. Twiss. contra Corvinum, c. 11. Sect. 5. S●erravit Zuinglius, non in eo hallucinatus est quod dixerit, Quenquam salvum fuisse factum sive side in Christum; sed quod exist●ma●it, donatos tali side fuisse, de q●ibus neque verbo Dei, neque ex historiis side dignis id probari potest, Joh. 17. 3. Rivet. Disput. 7. de Gratia universali.  Christ Jesus. Vide Musaeum contra Vedel. c. 9 Act. 4. 12. Some of the ancient Fathers before the rising of the Pelagian Heresy, who had so put on Christ, as Lipsius speaks, that they had not fully put off Plato, have unadvisedly dropped some speeches, seeming to grant, that divers men before the Incarnation, living according to the dictates of right reason, might be saved without faith in Christ. The Quession is not, Whether a Gentile believing in Christ may be saved? But, Whether a man by the conduct of Nature without the knowledge of Christ, may come to heaven? The assertion whereof we condemn as wicked Pelagian Socinian Heresy: and think that it was well said of Bernard, That many labouring to make Plato a Christian, do prove themselves to be Heathens. The Patriarches and Jews believed in Christum exhibendum & moriturum, as we in him Exhibitum & mortuum. Gen. 12. 3. & 49. 10. Psal. 27. 8. & 110.  
Bowing at the name of Jesus is defended by Montague, Orig. Eccles. part. 1. pag. 123. And Parr on the Romans seems from Zanchy and Paraeus to justify it, but it is generally disliked by the soundest Divines.  
The second Title by which he is termed, is a Redeemer, by which is expressed in 
Goel Redempter Job 19 25. Isa. 59 20. 1 Cor. 1. 30. 1 Potestate, quia est verus Deus ad redimendum genus humanum sufficientibus viribus instructus, Psal. 49. 8 Isa. 35. 5. 2. Affectu, quia est verus homo propinquitate carnis nobis conjunctus. 3. Effectu, quia interposito sanguinis sui precio nos redemit à potestate Satanae ac mortis, à peccatis, ab ira Dei, ab aeterna damnatione. Redemption which in the Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes, but most frequently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is the delivery of any one from captivity or misery by the intervention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a price or ransom: that this ransom or price of our deliverance was the blood of Christ, is evident, he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 20. 28. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 2. 6. M. Owen of Redemption l. 3. c. 5.  part the manner how he saved us, even by buying us out of the hands of our enemies. For to save signifieth to deliver without intimating the means of delivering, but to redeem noteth also the way how the deliverance was accomplished, even by paying a price, a valuable consideration, in regard of which the party captived, and forfeited to death or bonds should be restored to his liberty and good estate again. And this kind of deliverance is the fairest deliverance, & the only way of procuring deliverance, when a person is made miserable by his own default, and fallen into the hands of Justice joined with perfect strength, so that there is neither reason to use violence against him, nor possibility to proceed by violence. It was so with us, our misery came in regard of God from our own default, so that he was tied by the rules of his own justice to cast us off from himself, and from the enjoyment of those benefits that he had once bestowed upon us. And such is the weighty power and omnipotent arm of the most high, that it was impossible to pull us from out of the hands of his justice, whether he would or no. Wherefore then remained alone this way of buying us out of his hands, by laying down a sufficient ransom for us, and so did Jesus, he laid down his life as a ransom for many.  
One was made free among the Romans, Vi, precio, manumissione. Christ by force hath delivered us from sin and Satan, Col. 2. 13, 14. paid the price to his Father, 1 Tim. 2. 6. a price every way equivalent to the debt, and hath manumitted us also from the justice of God.  
The price which he paid to redeem us was no less than that of his own most 
To redeem signifies the fetching back of a thing by price or force. Christ is a redeemer in both senses. 1 Cor. 6. 20. Col. 2. 15. Redemption is Nom●n apud latinos propriè significare, vel iteratam emptionem, vel simpliciter emptionem exposito pretio & sumpta emere, notius est quam ut probari debeat. Rivetus Disputat. 6.  precious blood, as Peter tells us, by which it came to pass that Justice being satisfied, the Lord God of heaven willingly released us from his curse and wrath, and the punishment due to our sins. Indeed in regard of Satan and the flesh we are to them in unjust captivity, as I may speak, as was Israel in Egypt to Pharaoh. The Devil had by fraud, craft, subtlety, guile, made us his slaves, and by force kept us under his servitude, wherefore God dealeth not with him by way of composition but compulsion, drawing us out of his power in spite of his heart, but with his Father he effecteth our deliverance another way, even by compounding and paying for our deliverance. You see why and how he is a Redeemer, and therefore this Title is often given him, The Lordthy Redeemer, and thy Redeemer the holy One of Israel.  
All that is in God is offended by sin, and all in sin, yet two Attributes of his are especially offended by it:  

1. His Justice, that whereby he cannot but punish sin where ever he finds it under the guilt of it.  
2. His holiness, whereby he cannot but hate sin where ever he finds it in competition with him.   
There are two things in sin, the commanding and condemning power of it, Vis dominandi & vis damnandi, Rom. 8. 2. In Christ's death there are two things;  

1. The price or value of it.  
2. The power and efficacy of it. The price of Christ's death takes away the condemning power of sin, and so God's Justice is satisfied, the power of Christ's death takes away the commanding power of sin, and so his holiness is appeased. Faith lays hold on the price of Christ's death which takes away the condemning power of sin, by new obedience we partake of the virtue and efficacy of Christ's death whereby the commanding power of sin is taken away.   
Christ is a Saviour by his merit and power. He doth conquer for us by his merit, and in us by the efficacy of his Spirit. Christ's merit is necessary:  
1. In regard of the difference of the enemies, God and the Law are our enemies by right, the Devil and the World out of malice. God could not be overcome, therefore he must be reconciled; the Law could not be disannulled, therefore it must be satisfied. In regard also of the Devil that fights against us as a tempter, so Christ was to overcome him by his power, and as an Accuser, so Christ was to overcome him by his merit, Rom. 8. 34.  
Secondly, Because of the different quality and respect in which Satan is an enemy.  

1. He had a legal right as God's executioner, Ephes. 2. 14.  
2. He had an usurped power, john 2. 32. the Lord made him an executioner, we made him a Prince, by the merit of Christ Satan is put out of office.   
Secondly, Christ is a Saviour by power, and the efficacy of his Spirit, 1 Cor. 15. 57 Rom. 16. 20. john 10. 24.  

1. It is bestowed upon us by virtue of Christ's intercession, Heb. 7. 25. Rom. 5. 10. Zech. 3. 2.  
2. It is sued out by prayer, Rom. 1. 27.  
3. It is conveyed to us in the Ministry of the Word, Psal. 8▪ 2. Isa. 53. 1. Rom. 1. 16. 2 Cor. 10. 5.  
4. This power is received and given by faith, 1 Pet. 5. 10.   
But the third Title followeth, He is called a Mediator betwixt God and man, and 
Mediator vocatur 1 Tim. 2. 5. Heb. 8. 6. cap. 9 15. cap. 12. 24. ratione Personae & Officii, est enim media, id est, secunda Persona inter Patrem & Sp●ritum sanctum. Est Mediator inter Deum & homines dev●nitus ab aeterno constitutus. Geth. loc. common. Mediator est, qui se medium interponit inter partes dissidentes, & alios aliis reconciliat. Sohnii expos. August. confess. Vocamus Mediatorem eum, qui inter aliquos dissidentes, aut certè non conjunctos medium se interponit, ut eos redigat ad concordiam vel ●ovo foedere conjungat. Bellarm. l. 5. de Christo, c. 1.  a Mediator of the New Covenant. A Mediator is a Person that laboureth to set at agreement two or more parties that be at variance, and therefore it is required that he be interessed into both parties, and have such a right in both, that in reason both should and so far as they are good and wise both will hearken and consent unto him. So Christ is a middle Person betwixt God and man, that he might fitly discharge the great work of making a peace betwixt God and man whom sin had set at odds, and of reconciling the one to the other that were grown to be at enmity one with another. The first Covenant the Covenant of works was such as needed no Mediator, and therefore it was made without a Mediator by the Persons covenanting alone without any coming betwixt, for there was perfect amity betwixt them, and that Covenant gave Laws for the continuing and perfecting of that amity. For the Creator loved the creature as he needs must, because there was nothing in the creature that came not from his own work, and so must needs be pleasing to him, for it is impossible that the Creator should hate the creature so long as nothing is found in it, but that which he puts in him: and the creature also loved the Creator, perceiving in him nothing but love and favour, by which he had done much good for him already, and was willing to do more, and not willing to do him any evil except himself should pull it upon himself by sinning, which he had not yet done, and which he knew himself able to forbear doing. So this first Covenant needed no Mediator, the persons being perfectly united in good accord and love. But the second Covenant was to be made betwixt parties mortally offended, and exceedingly fallen out one with another. For God the Creator was justly become an enemy to man, that is, incensed against him, and fully resolved to punish him with great and heavy punishments, and man the creature was unjustly become an enemy to God the Judge, hating him and muttering against him, because of the just punishment which he was to feel from him for his sins. Wherefore this Covenant must be made by a 
* God would have the work of our salvation effected by a Mediator, 1. Because of the vast distance between, 1. Man's universal original pollution, and Gods infinite essential holiness, Gen. 6. 5. Hab. 1. 13. 2. Man's universal continual guilt, Prov. 24. 16. & 15. 16. and Gods essential justice and jealousy against sin, Exod. 34. 7. Isa. 33. 14. 3. Because of the Lords demand for satisfaction and man's utter inability to satisfy and obey, 2 Cor. 3. 6. Job 9 2. 2. Because of the extraordinary suitableness and sweetness of this way, it sets forth all God's Attributes, and satisfieth all men's scruples. Mediatorem Dei & b●minum, medium inter Deum & homines non officio modo, sed etiam natura (quae muneris & officii fundamentum est) d●cebat esse, & medium quidem non negatione (qui neque Deus, neque homo esset) à tali e●im Mediatore satisfactio percipi●m poterat, sed participatione, qui simul & Deus & homo, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in una eademque Persona esset. Thes. Theol. Salmur. part. 1. de Christo Mediatore.  Mediator, a person that could and would as it were go between these two, offer to either reasonable conditions of agreement and labour to win them to accept of these conditions, that so enmity might cease and peace be settled between them. So did Christ, he came betwixt his Father and us, offered to his Father the condition of satisfying his Justice, and to us the condition of being accepted into favour notwithstanding our sin, upon our conversion to him. The Lord most good is exceeding willing to embrace the condition, yea he did offer it to Christ upon that condition, that his justice might be duly satisfied some other way without man's ruin, he would save him, only man stands off and is not willing to return to God again, and Christ hath more to do to persuade us to accept of favour on his terms, then to persuade him as it were to accept us on those terms: yet he doth persuade, win and draw all those to it to whom the benefit of this Covenant redoundeth, therefore is he a Mediator of the New Covenant.  
Christ is the treasury of all that riches of grace which God in his eternal pleasure intended to bestow on his elect, 1 john 5. 11. Ephes. 1. 22. Acts 3. 15. It was Gods great plot to make Christ Canalis grati● to all the reasonable creatures, to the creature fallen the channel of the grace of Reconciliation, to the Angels the channel of the grace of confirmation.  
Reason's why God would have all deposited in the hand of a Mediator,  

1. Man fallen could receive no good thing from God immediately, the change of the Covenant brought in a change of the government, joh. 5. 22. All must come to us by virtue of a Covenant, God dealt with man at first in a Covenant-way, Adam and Christ were both heads of the Covenant, 1 Cor. 15. 47. God appointed them.  
2. Nothing can be conveyed to us without a payment in reference to the old debt, and a purchase in reference to the new benefit, only a Mediator could do this. There is more righteousness required to justify man fallen then Adam had in innocency, or the Angels have in heaven: that answered but the precept of the Law, yours must answer the curse; you are bound to the precept as a creature, to the curse as a transgressor, and there is more holiness required to your sanctification, not only a conformity to God in his Law, but a destroying of the old Image. All the holiness of the Angels could not mortify one sin.   
Christ had an instrumental fitness for the Office of a Mediator, to answer all God's ends, which were either,  
I. Principal which respect God,  
First, The manifestation of his own excellencies to the creature,  

1. His manifold Wisdom is declared in the Gospel.  
2. His Love to take a humane Nature to an actual Union with the Godhead.  
3. The Mercy of God was never before discovered.  
4. His Justice in bruising his own Son.  
5. Sovereignty, for Christ to be his servant.   
Secondly, The Communication of his Goodness to the creature, the ground of communication is union, there is the fullest union betwixt God and Christ.  
II. Less principal.  
In reference to man, so God hath two ends, Reconciliation and Communion, Luk 2. 14.  

1. Reconciliation, 1 Tim. 2. 6. a price every way answerable to the wrong God hath sustained by sin.  
2. Communion, Christ in his bosom the seat of love and secrecy, by Christ we have a manuduction to God.   
He was near to God whom he would accept, and near to us whom we may trust, he pleads with God for us, and treats with us for God, he was faithful to him and merciful to us, tender of his honour and our salvation.  
There is a controversy between the Papists and us, An Christus sit Mediator secundum utramque naturam? Bellarm. Tom. 1. de Christo Mediatore, c. 1, 3, 4. & 5, 6, 7, 8. Aquinas part. 3. Quaest 26. Art. 2. say, Christ is Mediator only as man, not as God, they urge that Text 1 Tim. 2. 5. we say, Christ as God-man is Mediator, 
Christ is sometimes called the Son of man, and sometimes the Son of God, because he is both in one Person. See Master Perkins Tom 1. Chap. 18. Of the Order of Causes of Salvation.  Christ calls himself the Son of man, is he not therefore the Son of God? In Christo solus Deus non est Mediator, nec solus homo, sed Deus homo, saith à Lapide in 1 Tim. 2. 5. The Godhead concurred with the manhood in all the acts of Mediatorship, and that place 1 Tim. 2. 9 proves that Christ qui fuit homo which was a man is our Mediator, but not qua homo as a man.  
The Papists say that Saints are Mediators to God, see 1 Tim. 2. 5. There is one 
Costerus saith, Christ is Mediator excellentiori ratione, homines verò participatione. Has distinctiones Scriptura nescit & diversos Mediatores nunquam nominat, imò contra unum esse asserit. At in unitate nihil distinguendum sciunt omnes. Chamierus tom. 2. lib. 8. cap. 7. Omnis Mediator est medius, at nullus Angelus, nullus sauctus est medius inter Deum & homines. Qui pro omnibus interpellat, & pro quo nemo is unus utriusque Mediator. Id. ibid.  Mediator (say they) of Redemption, but of Intercession there are many. The Papists make the Saints Mediators of Satisfaction, Redemption is nothing else but the payment of a price of Satisfaction. See john 14. 6. Ephes. 2. 18. & 3. 12. why may not the Manichees so defend their two principles? although it be said there is one God, they may elude it by saying there is but one good God, and the Scriptures are to be understood of him, but there is another evil God. No man (saith Sadeel against the Papists) must expect integram salutem à Christo diviso.  
We are to understand that place 1 Tim. 2. 5. exclusively, one, and but one, as in the former part of the verse, there is one God, one and but one. Vide Estium ad loc.  
You may as well say an intercessor of mediation, as a Mediator of Intercession: 
Ne dites pas. que nous y avons adiousté de mo● de seul. Consu●tez le text Grec, & la version Latin. Consultes les Dictionaires, Grecs, Latins, & Francois, & vous en apprendrez, que la mot, dont l'Apostre se sert, signify un seul & qu'il faut tourn●r ces parales, & un seul Mediateur. De Croi. d● v●ritè de la Religion Reformee. Vide plura ibid.  for Intercessor and Mediator are both one. The Papists received this from the Gentiles, the devils (their gods) which were reputed of the lower sort, were made as means to come unto the higher, whence they were called also Dii medi●ximi, that is, Gods only for Intercession, as if Neptune would speak to jupiter, he made Mercury his means and intercessor. Mr Deering upon the 4th Chapter to the Heb. v. 14, 15, 16.  
Christ is also called a Surety of the new Covenant. Now a Surety 
a A Surety is one that stands engaged for another, Christ is therefore called our high-Priest who was to stand betwixt God and the people and our Sacrifice, the beast died not for its own fault.  is a person that undertaketh some thing, therefore it is used of a person that undertaketh to see another man's debt satisfied, and it is applied to those which present a child to be baptised, because they undertake to do that for the child which is specified in the charge, to use the means there mentioned of bringing them to believe and repent. I say a Surety undertaketh some things. He that is a surety in case of debt 
b In a debt there are two things: 1. The principal, the debt of obedience, Christ might have paid the debt though he had never entered into the bond, Col. ●. 15. 2. The accessary, the forfeiture, Nomine poenae, the curse. Christ that he might be a Surety for us, not only paid the debt, but entered his name into our Covenant, Christ himself was made under the Law as a Covenant of works, and by coming under it himself he abolished it, Gal. 4. 4. He took away the curse by being made a curse for us. If we render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Covenant, he is a Surety, if a Testament he is the heir of it. See B. ●shers Mystery of the Incarnate. of Christ, p. 9, 10, 11. We owe perfect obedience to God by virtue of our Creation, performance of the Law is a debt, Gal. 5. 3. Christ was to perform for him and all his the duties we were bound to perform, he made payment for our obedience by his active obedience, 2 Cor. 5. and amends for our sin by his passive obedience, his blood, Rom. 5. 9 Active obedience answered the precept, passive our transgression of the prohibition.  undertaketh the debt, he that is a surety of any covenant undertaketh to see the covenant performed, and undertaketh to and for both parties, that one may not doubt of the other in regard of any insufficiency or other hindrance. So Christ is a Surety in his Father's behalf to us that he should undoubtedly pardon us if we turn, let us not be farther careful about that, but only strive to believe, and he will deserve remission of sins, and do that for us which shall without fail procure his Father to accept and pardon us. Again he undertaketh for us too that we shall repent and turn to him, and he will cause us to come to him, and will make a sufficient Atonement. He undertaketh, I say, that there shall be a sufficient Atonement made, and that we shall turn to him, and for him that he shall accept the atonement; so that all the labour and pains for the effecting of the agreement lieth upon Christ, and he hath done it all, God would not trust us, for he knows that we cannot satisfy his Justice, nor would ever turn to him. Christ saith well, I will cause them to turn. We would never trust God through the conscience of our sins which knowing him to be angry doth bitterly accuse, but Christ undertaketh, let us not fear he will pacify him and free us, only let us turn. So you see the reason of this Title, a Surety of the new Covenant. For Christ could not be a Mediator by any other means but by being a Surety, seeing without him neither could God in Justice accept us, nor would, nor could we yield him satisfaction, or turn to him.  
It is a Question between the Papists and us, An Christus aliquid sibi morte meruerit?  
The Papists say Christ merited something for himself, viz. Corporis gloriam & 
Bellarm. de Christo lib. 4. c. 9 & 10. Those Texts which the Papists allege for proof, show rather ordinem then meritum, Phillip 2. 8, 9 Heb 2. 9 Luke 24. 46. Quoties Spiritus sanctus agit de fructibus incarnationis, eos omnes ad nos refert. Chamierus tem. 2. l. 2. c. 8. Vide Calvin. Institut. l. 2. c. 17. sect. 6. The Socinians from this of Christ's meriting for himself, inferred, that his merit was not satisfactory.  nominis exaltationem, the exaltation of the Name Jesus, wherein he was despised, that men should bow to it, and all the good things he was possessed of after death.  
The Scripture seems to oppose this Isa. 9 6. Zech. 9 9 john 17. 19 1 Cor. 1. 30. He suffered for our sins, and rose again for our justification. He went to the Father to prepare a place for us, to intercede for us, and that we might sit together with him in heavenly places. The Surety quà Surety cannot do or suffer any thing for himself but for those for whom he is a Surety. All that Christ did was for us, he was a Prophet and Priest for us. The humane nature when it is united to the Godhead is worthy of all the glory.  
Bellarmine urgeth that place, Ephes. 2. 8, 9, 10. His humiliation is not held to be the meritorious cause of his exaltation, but his exaltation is described as a following reward of his humiliation. By the name Jesus Christ is meant Jesus himself, as Estius confesseth, see Act. 3. 16.  
5. Now follows the Title Christ to be considered, the word signifies 
* Salvator noster vocatur Masiach, Dan. 9 25, 26. & cum adjectione Meshiach Jehovah, unctus Domini, Dan. 2. 2. cui Luc. 2. 26. respondet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est que haec appellatio in N. T. libris tritissima. Aaron and his sons were anointed, and the high-Priests in succession ever after, but the inferior Priests only at the first time. The high-Priest was anointed always with sacred oil, the confection of which the Lord himself appointed in the Law. One Prophet may seem to have been anointed, but there seems not to be any certain proof of anointing any Prophet. Whether the Kings had the holy oil poured upon them or no, it is doubtful, yet it seems rather it was, by 1 Kings 1. 39 This outward Ceremony or Type expressed two things: 1. That God did of his good pleasure assign and depute that person to that Office. 2. That God would certainly assist him with gifts fit for his place, if he were careful to seek the same at God's hands. Unctio antiquitus in V. T. oleo fiebat, quod quia secundum naturalem efficientiam tum fragrantia reddebat corpora tum agilia, accomodum erat duabus rebus naturalibus significandi, quarum una est, personae ad munus aliquod divinum obeundum sanctificatio & consecratio, alterum adaptatio, seu donorum ad illud necessariorum collatio. Armin. Thes. Pub. decim● quarta.  Anointed, John 1. 41. & 4. 25. Quis nescit Christum ab Unctione appellari? August. Anointing is pouring oil upon a thing or person; this oil was used to Kings, as Saul, David, Solomon, jehu, joash; and to Priests, as to the Highpriest at the time of his admission to succeed in his Father's room, and to all the Priests when they were first admitted unto their function for them and theirs; and it was also used to Prophets sometimes, and to holy things that were to be consecrated to God. Thus the Tabernacle and other instruments were anointed.  
It served to set these things apart to cause God to accept them for his own use, and so to design those persons to those offices, assuring themselves and others, that God would accept and assist them in their places, that he did give them Authority and would give them gifts fit for that place. Now therefore our Lord Jesus is called Christ, because he was anointed with the Spirit, The oil of gladness, above his fellows, as the Apostle speaketh, in which Title are comprehended three special offices of his, a Priest, Prophet and King.  
Christ had the wisdom of a Prophet, the holiness of a Priest, and the power of a King. He was a King to take away our Rebellion, a Prophet to take away our ignorance, a Priest to take away our guilt. Some were Priests and Prophets, so was Samuel: Some a Priest and a King, so was M●lchisedech: some a Prophet and a King, so was David: none but Christ was a Priest, a Prophet and a King, Trismegistus, a great King, a great Priest, and a great Prophet.  
There is a difference between the anointing of the Kings, Priests and Prophets of 
Christ as man first received Gratiam habitualem, which did perfect his humane nature in itself. These personal excellencies in Christ were Dona & virtutes, qualifying gifts for his office and sanctifying graces▪ 2. Gratiam capitis, as the Church's head John 1. 14.  the Old Testament, and the anointing of Christ.  

1. In the efficient cause, they were anointed mediately by other Prophets and Priests, Christ immediately by God himself.  
2. In respect of the matter, they were anointed with external oil, he with internal, that is, invisible of the Spirit.  
3. In respect of the end, they were anointed for an earthly and worldly Kingdom, he for an heavenly and eternal.  
4. In respect of the effect, Christ's anointing profits us, the anointing of the Spirit descends from him as the Head upon us his members, joh. 1. 16. He was anointed, 1. Extensiuè, so as King, Priest and Prophet. 2. Intensiuè, others were but sprinkled, Psal. 133.   
Now for his priestly function, it is the first in order of nature, though in time of executing it be not first. For God must be first reconciled unto the creature by the taking away of sin, afore any good thing can be done to him, or for him.  
He is called our Priest, Psal. 110. 4. A great high Priest in the house of God. Heb. 2. 17. & 3. 1. A faithful high-Priest. Heb. 2. 17. A high-Priest of good things to come, Heb. 9 11. Our Advocate, 1 John 2. 2. A Ransom, 1 Tim. 2. 6. The Lamb of God, John 1. 29. The Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, Revel. 13. 8. A Propitiation, Rom. 3. 25. Our Peace, Ephes. 2. 14.  
The Kingly and Prophetical Office are both grounded on his Priestly Office, the end of this was to apply the fruit and benefit of all, though Christ entered upon all his three Offices at once.  
This Priesthood must be considered in its properties and parts. The properties of Christ's Priesthood are these:  

1. It is not a Typical but a Real Priesthood, in which not the shadows of things which cannot take away sin are offered, but the thing which itself was the compliment of all the shadows, so it differs from the Aaronical Priesthood, for it was but a type for the time being.  
2. This is an eternal Priesthood not to be determined sooner than this whole 
Not as if that of the Papists were true, it is therefore perpetual, because continued by the Priest still, who (they say) offers up the body of Christ in the Mass as a Sacrifice to God, but, 1. Because by his once offering he did fully accomplish that which was needful for his Church, so that he needs not to be offered again. 2. Because the fruit is eternal, thy pardon shall be for ever, thy grace for ever: Christ's priestly actions were transient, but the benefit endureth for ever. 3. He continually exerciseth his intercession. 4. He admitteth of no successor, and this is one main reason why the Apostle maketh him a Priest for ever, because there is no Successor as there was in Aaron's order: therefore to hold Priests, Sacrifices and Altars, is to make void the office of Christ, and to deny his Priesthood. The great relief the Jews had against sin committed was in the priestly Office. The high-Priests great work was to make Atonement for the sins of the people, for reconciliation, Levit, 16. 14, 21. Heb. 2. 18. when Christ died upon the cross he then offered up himself a Sacrifice, and made atonement to God the Father, all our sins were laid upon him. But Christ did all in a more transcendent and eminent way then any high-Priest did before, the high-Priest though he offered up a Sacrifice to God, yet himself was not made a Sacrifice.  world must determine; Christ is called A Priest for ever. See Heb. 7. 24. & 8. 6. The virtue of this Priesthood began with the first sinner that was pardoned, and continues to the last, by him are all accepted that are accepted, and without him none were nor can be accepted. The Fathers that lived before he was offered enjoyed the benefit of his offering as well as we that live after, neither was the fruit any other, or less to them then to us, because that blood was reputed by God as shed from the beginning, and the Priesthood a Priesthood that hath no end in regard of the efficacy of the Sacrifice.  
3. It is a holy Priesthood, Heb. 7. 26. & 9 14. It behoveth us to have an holy Priest separate from sinners; the high-Priest offered for his own and the people's sins, but Christ was stricken for our iniquities. He was holy in his Nature, harmless in his Life, undefiled in both. All the Sacrifices of the Law were to be without blemish, the Priests were to be without corporal blemishes, a type of Christ's moral holiness, 2 Cor. 5. ult.  
4. It is an unchangeable Priesthood, because it was made not after the Law of a carnal Commandment, but according to the power of an indissoluble life. This Priesthood receiveth not any alteration in regard of the person sustaining it, not in regard of itself, for as there is one Priesthood so one Priest. The Levitical Priests died, and the son succeeded the Father, so that though the Priesthood continued and was of long continuance, yet the Priest did not continue, but our Priest continues one as well as the Priesthood, so it is an unchangeable Priesthood, and therefore compared also to Melchisedech, of whom we hear once for all and no more, a shadow of the unchangeableness of the Priesthood of Christ, who therefore is called of that order, for Melchisedeches Priesthood was never derived, but Christ was likened to it, and he resembled Christ in it.   
You have the Properties of the Priesthood, consider its parts. The Acts to be done by the Priest are parts of the Priesthood. The parts of the Priesthood of Christ are two,  
1. To expiate or make propitiation for sin, or to perform the work of our Redemption, 
The parts of Christ's priestly function are two, Satisfaction and Intercession, the former whereof giveth contentment to God's justice, the later soliciteth his mercy for the application of this benefit to the children of God in particular. B. Usher of Christ's Incarnation. Some say there were three things in the priestly Office, 1. Ostensio, a representation of ones person, Exod. 28. 12, 29. The high-Priest did bear the names of the children of Israel on his shoulders, to show that Christ represents you to his Father every day, and on his heart to show Christ's tender affection to you, Heb. 9 24. 1 joh. 2. 21. 2. Oblatio, an offering of a Sacrifice, the Priests offered Sacrifices, Christ in a way of obedience voluntarily laid down his body and soul, which was equivalent to all the persons in the world, Heb. 9 14. 3. Intercessio, Heb. 7. 29. the Priests burned Incense. Those things which God hath promised and Christ purchased, shall be bestowed by the Intercession of Christ. When the Priest went into the holy place he sprinkled it with blood, Christ's Intercession is his most gracious will fervently and unmovably desiring, that all his members for the perpetual virtue of his Sacrifice may be accepted of the Father, Rom. 8. 34. Heb. 7. 25. Vide Aquin. part. 3. Quaest 22. Art. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Always when the Scripture speaks of the redemption of Christ, it calls him God, Acts 20. 28. because therein the efficacy of his redemption lay, but when that speaks of Christ's intercession it calls him Son, Heb. 4. 14. & 7. ult. because Christ's interest and favour with God was the great ground of his acceptance with him.  and to apply it, for thus he doth expiate. He performeth it by two things, the offering of his own self once for all to his Father, as in all the sufferings of his life, so in the last and worst of all in the Garden and on the tree, whereon he bore our sins, and was made a curse for us according as it is written. His Person was the Priest God and man. The Sacrifice was the humanity, the Lamb of God that sin-offering, trespasse-offering, burnt-offering of a sweet savour, acceptable unto God, and the Altar which consecrated the Sacrifice was the Godhead, by virtue of which merit was added to the sufferings of the humanity, so he purged our sins by himself, and made his soul, that is, himself a Sacrifice for sin. And besides this Offering of himself, he first took upon him the form of a servant, that is, was made obedient to his Father's will to keep the Law in all things as one of us should have done, and that in our stead. He was made under the Law for us, and hath brought in eternal righteousness. For we must not alone satisfy God for our unrighteousness, but also perform perfect righteousness, else we could not be admitted into his favour; wherefore the Sacrifice of the Law was first washed, and then the parts laid on the Altar in the burnt offering. And though Christ considered as a creature, his humanity must needs be subject to his Father, yet in such sort and manner by being made under the Law given to Adam, as the Prince must be subject to his Father, but not in the quality of Groom or Squire, that were an abasement to him, and more than could be required of him, but for some offence.  
Now this work of Christ whereby he offered himself to his Father, 
A complete Priest must have, 1. Fullness of righteousness, so had Christ habitual righteousness, active and passive righteousness. 2. Fullness of interest in God, so had Christ, Matth. 3. ult. therefore he was able to reconcile us unto God. 3. Fullness of compassion, must be a pitiful high-Priest. 4. Fullness of merit in his Sacrifice.   

1. Is perfect and exact obedience to the Law, as if he had been a son of Adam alone, not God and man.  
2. In suffering of his wrath and curse and just punishment, as if he had not fully 
The obedience of Christ did in a far higher degree please God the Father, than the rebellion of Adam did displease him For there the vassal rebelled, here the equal obeyed. B. Bills. Full Redemption of mankind by the death of Christ.  kept, nay as if he had fully broken the Law. I say this offering did satisfy his Justice, and make as it were perfect recompense and amends for the sins of mankind. God was as much honoured, and his Law as much magnified in that it was so performed, and he so obeyed by this one Person so great and worthy, as if all men had perfectly obeyed that Law in their kind, and the Justice of God in hating sin, and perfection of his authority in binding to punishment those that would not obey, was as abundantly demonstrated in that so admirable a Person suffered for it, as if all mankind had suffered to all eternity.   
Socinus saith, The dignity of the Person makes nothing to the value of the suffering. Grotius replies, Poenam hanc inde fuisse aestimandam, quod is qui poenam ferebat erat Deus, etsi eam non ferebat qua Deus, & citat Act. 20. 28. 1 Cor. 2. 8. The dignity of the whole Person, saith he, contributes much to this estimation, therefore it is emphatically called in Scripture, The blood of the Lord, 1 Cor. 11. 27. The blood of Christ, Heb. 9 14. The blood of jesus Christ the Son of God, 1 John 1. 7. 
His death was an act of obedience, he died in obedience unto his Father's will, or to the agreement between his Father and him, Matth. 26 54. joh. 10. 18. & 17. 4. Phil. 2. 8. As there is a Covenant of grace between God and us, so there was a Covenant of redemption between God and Christ. Non intercedit per humilem deprecationem, & ut vulgò loquuntur per modum suffragii; sed potius per modum jurisdictionis, atque per efficacissimam perfectissimi sui meriti repraesentationem. Maresii Hydra Socin expugnata. lib. 1. cap. 17. Joh. 17. 24. Christ doth not in Heaven kneel upon his knees, utter words, or put up a supplication unto his Father for us, that is not agreeable to the glory to which he is exalted, but appearing in the sight of God for us, as a public person, he willeth and desireth that the Father would accept his satisfaction in the behalf of all that are given unto him.  Grot. de Satisf. Christi. c. 8.  
Now after the making of this satisfaction follows the application of it. For the sin-offering was not alone killed, but also the blood of it sprinkled upon the offerer, and no man was esteemed purged from his sin, till the blood of the Sacrifice was sprinkled upon him. Therefore David saith, Wash me with hyssop and I shall be cleaner than snow, and we are said to be chosen to life through the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, that is to say, the giving of the virtue and merit of Christ's death unto us, signified by that sprinkling. Now this application of the sufferings and obedience of our Saviour to us is done in time, and severally and particularly to and for each when he pleaseth to bestow himself upon him, and it is inseparably and immediately joined in time and nature with justifying faith, which at what time he workethin us, at that time he maketh all he hath ours, and in present possession giveth us his flesh and blood, that is to say, the merit of his Passion and the work of our Redemption which in that flesh and blood he accomplished.  
This is the first part of his Priesthood, Redemption: the second is Intercession whereby he pleadeth our cause in the presence of his Father, partly having done it already, in the day of his flesh he offered up prayers for us, and partly for ever, when sitting at God's right hand he intercedeth for us, that is, presents himself with the merit of his life and obedience as ours, done in our behalf, and imputed unto us to take away the stain of our sins, and to cause the Lord to accept us, and our prayers and services, and pass by all our sins and offences.  
Christ appeareth in Heaven for his people:  

1. As an agent, a Lieger Ambassador, so Paraeus interprets Heb. 9 24. Christ's agency in Heaven is a continual Intercession; which should it cease but for a moment, what should become of his people here upon Earth? Should Christ cease to appear in Heaven for us (as he must do, if he should come and abide here upon earth a thousand years together; for he cannot in his Humane Nature appear both in Heaven and Earth at the same time) all that time Heaven must be without an Agent, an Intercessor.  
2. As an Advocate, 1 joh. 2. 1. appears for us.  
3. As an Attorney, Revel. 3.  
4. As a Solicitor. M. Brinsleys Christ's Mediatorship.   
Christ's Intercession consists in these particulars:  

1. Christ represents our Persons to God the Father before the throne of grace, Heb. 9 24. He appears as an Attorney for his Client, Exod. 28. 12, 29. He tenders all his sufferings to God in our behalf. Christ prayers ex vi pretii, we ex vi promissi. He tenders to God all his promises, and the ancient decrees and purposes, john 7. 13.  
2. He adds his own desires that they may be accomplished, john 17. 24.  
3. He makes answer to any thing which is objected against any of these: as the devil is an Accuser, so he is an Advocate, 1 john 1. 2.  
4. Christ doth this constantly and earnestly, Rev. 8. 21.  
5. He tenders also your desires, mixeth his incense with your odours, and he tenders them as his own, as truly as he bears your sins he prays your prayers.   
Christ's Intercession:  

1. Began immediately upon the fall, he began to be Intercessor when he began to be a Priest, this was part of his Priestly Office, Revel. 13. 8. Heb. 3. 4. Before he came in the flesh he interceded vi pretii praestandi, since he ascended into heaven, he intercedes vi pretii praestiti.  
2. His Intercession was effectual in all ages of the world, ever since there was a golden Altar, and an Altar of Incense, one referred to Christ's oblation, the other to his Intercession, Heb. 7. 25. Rev. 8. 2.  
3. His Intercession is of as great extent as all God's promises and Christ's purchase, Leu. 16. 12, 13. joh. 16. 24.  
4. All the long prayers Christ hath made for the accomplishment of the promises and necessities of the Church God hath heard, Zech. 1. 12, 13. & 3. 23. joh. 1. 41. see 22.   
Because  

1. Christ hath with God the Father one and the same will, joh. 10. 30.  
2. Because of the acceptation of his Person, Ephes. 1. 6. Cant. 5. 6.  
3. They are all offered on the Altar of his Godhead, Heb. 9, 14.   
So Christ's Priesthood hath two parts:  

1. The work of our Redemption.  
2. The applying of it,   
By Intercession forus, and then by bestowing his blood upon us to purge our consciences, and actually to justify us, for these two go still together, that the whole work may be Christ's.  
The Effects of this Priestly Office:  

1. Satisfaction, This is implied in all those places where Christ is said to lay down his life as a price for sin, and to become an Atonement for our iniquities. Justice is satisfied by declaring a due measure of hatred against sin, and a due respect of his honour who is wronged by it.  
2. Reconciliation with God, God is reconciled with us in Christ.  
3. Obtaining of Remission of sins.  
4. Communication of his Spirit and Graces, By his stripes we are healed.   
The Priestly Office of Jesus Christ is the greatest Magazine and Storehouse of comfort and grace on this side Heaven to all Christians. Paul opens and presseth it on the Hebrews labouring with unbelief the Priestly Office of Jesus Christ. Both the Kingly and Prophetical Offices of Jesus Christ are principiated in this, Revel. 1. 16, 18. See vers. 13. Antichristianism is an invasion on the Priestly Office of Christ, the Mass (that Incruentum Sacificium) is a derogation to the Sacrifice of Christ, their prayers to Saints to his Intercession, their satisfaction to his Satisfaction. The Pope is styled Pontifex maximus, Christ did by one Sacrifice perfect for ever those that are sanctified.  
This Office of Christ is set up out of mere love and compassion for the relief of distressed souls. Christ's princely Office is for terror, Psal. 2. there is a mixture of terror in his prophetical Office, The light shined in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.  
The Covenant of Grace is laid upon the satisfaction of Christ, Heb. 9 14, 15. He made full satisfaction to Divine Justice for all our sins, else the Lord might come on the Debtor if the Surety had not made full satisfaction to the Creditor, Ephes. 5. 2. Christ did more fully satisfy God and Divine Justice then if all we had gone to hell, and been damned to all eternity, the debt was now paid all at once, not by a little weekly, the Divine Justice would have been satisfying, not satisfied by us.  
We are not able to make any Atonement for sin, Micah 6. 6, 7. Psal. 49. 7, 8. The Jews to this day believe, that God is atoned by Sacrifices; the Papists, that he is pacified by penance, and works of Supererogation: But God now rejects all those things of his own appointment, Heb. 10. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. and Christ is set forth as a propitiation for sin through faith in his blood.  
The Arminians although in words for show they profess the satisfaction of Christ, yet indeed they (no less than the Socinians) deny and overthrow the satisfaction 
Vedel. de Deo Synagog● l. 2. cap. 11. Vide plura ibid.  of Christ, and the efficacy of his merit. They place not the nature of Christ's satisfaction in that he on the Cross sustained the person of the elect (for this they deny) and so satisfied God the Father for them, as if they had satisfied him in their own person; But in that, that he got the Father a right and will of entering into a New Covenant with men, which he might make with them upon any condition as well of works as faith. Also they deny that the end of the satisfaction or merit and death of Christ is the application of the reconciliation and remission of sins.  
Sacrifices of the old Testament were,  

1. Living things.  
2. Not living, but solid, as bread.  
3. Not living, and liquid, as wine and oil.   
There was always Destructio rei oblatae, if it was a living thing it was slain, answerable to which Christ is said to be a Lamb slain, Heb. 9 22. if it were not living and solid it was bruised, so Christ was bruised for our iniquities, if it was not living and liquid it was poured out, so Christ.  
Some object against the equity of this, How could God punish an innocent person 
Quid potuit cogitari convenientius, quam ut imago Patris increata, creatam reparare● imaginem; & Filius naturalis Patri accerseret Filios adoptivos. Rivet▪ Disp. 13. de satisf. Christi. Vide Grotium de satisfactione Christi, c. 4.  for the nocent?  
This was equal since all parties were agreed,  

1. God the Father, Matth. 3. 17.  
2. Christ, Heb. 10. 7. There was the ordination of the Father and free submission in Christ. It is no injury to require the debt of the Surety.   
Again, Some object this, How could Christ being one Person expiate the offences of so many thousands?  
Adam by virtue of his public capacity could ruin all, Rom. 5. 15. to the end, therefore Christ might much more expiate the offences of many, because of the dignity of his Person. And for this reason his sufferings though but temporary might compensate Justice for the eternal torments of sinners, sith sufferings are not finite in their merit and efficacy though discharged in a short time, Act. 20. 28. God was more pleased with his sufferings then displeased with Adam's sin.  
The Socinians make this the only cause of Christ's suffering to be an example to 
Mors peccati poena est, Rom. 5. 12. & 6. 2. quam nemini infligit Deus nisi aut peccatotori, aut peccatoris Personam referenti. Rivet. Disput. 13. de satisfactione Christi. Ex 1 Pet. 2. 21. i●eprè Sociniani colligu●t Christum exemplarem saltem servatorem esse, qu● doctrinam amm●tiatam mortalibus non actionibus solum, sed & passionibus, & sanguinis sui effusione obsignaurrit, adcóque in utroque genere exemplo praeiverit: Quasi verò alli fines passionis, & potiores quidem non incul●cutur alib●, ab quos passus legitur, Rom. 3. 25. Ephes. 1. 16. Col. 1. 20. 1 Tim. 2. 6. 1 Joh. 2. 2. Spannem. Dub. Evang. part. 1. Dub. 33.  us, this is the less principal. They say, God may have that liberty which man hath, a man may forgive his neighbour offending without satisfaction, and so may God.  
God could have pardoned sin without satisfaction, Quid omnipotente potentius? saith Austin. But this way of Christ's suffering was expedient  
First, In reference to God:  
1. That God might manifest,  

1. His hatred of the corruptions of his elect.  
2. The truth of his threatenings, In the day that thou eatest thou shalt die the death.  
3. The exactness of his Justice, both in punishing those that are out of Christ (when Christ himself suffered so much from his Father) and in pardoning his people, Rom. 3. 25, 26. give Christ unto us, but of Justice to pardon those that were in Christ.  
4. His mercy mixed with justice to all men that are saved, now justice is satisfied, and mercy magnified, that which is done by our Surety is counted as done by our own persons.   
Secondly, In reference to Christ:  

1. To declare the transcendency of his love, rather than we should be forsaken for ever he would undergo for a while the loss of his Father's love, Mat. 27. 46. in his apprehension.  
2. To show the reality of his Incarnation, he had not only the excellency of our nature, but all the common infirmities.  
3. To show his great condescension, he denied himself in all his glory for a time.  
4. To declare the completeness of his satisfection, he had all manner of calamities in sense, and the loss of his Father's love, the Divine Vision was suspended.  
5. That he might by all this declare himself to be a perfect Mediator.   
Thirdly, In reference to Satan:  
That he might answer all his objections, he desired nothing more than the death of Christ, he had his desire and his Kingdom was overthrown by it.  
Fourthly, In reference to his Children:  
That they might have encouragement to come to God by him, that they might have strong consolation our remission is more honourable, to be forgiven on satisfaction, sets the person offended in the same state of Innocency that before: our happiness is more sure, being by the blood of the Son of God. 
One saith, It is the nature of God to hate sin, but to punish it is from his will. God had been merciful if he had saved none, and just if he had punished none.   
Christ's death is not only to merit but also to satisfy, for there is a difference between merit and satisfaction merit properly respects the good to be obtained, satisfaction the evil that is to be removed. As a man merits a reward which is good, but satisfieth for that fault which is committed.  
2. Merit properly respects the good of him that meriteth, or him for whom he meriteth, satisfaction respects the good of him for whom the satisfaction is made. Three things make up satisfaction.  

1. Ordination of the Judge.  
2. Submission of the Surety. 
Object. Doctrina de satisfactione spoliat Deum omnipotentia, quia non potest liberè condonare peccatum, quod vilissimo cuique homuncioni conceditur. Resp. Nec homo potest liberè condonare ut judex, tametsi potest & debet ut conservus: Deus autem hic consideratur ut judex & Dominus qui legem tulit à servis suis immutabiliter exequendam. Dr Prid. Lect. 19 de Christi satisfactione. Ego unus sum inter alios qui Piscatorem revercor, & tanquam Theologum n●● modò in plurimis orthodexum, & singulari eruditione textuali ferè omnia confirmantem suspicor: Cujus tamen illam de absoluta satisfactionis Christi necessitate sententiam comprobare nunquam potui. Twiss. contra Corvinum, c. 1. sect. 7. See Mr Owe● of Redemption, l. 2. c. 2.   
3. Acceptation of the sinner.   
Satisfaction is nothing but that quo alicui plenè satissit. This the Scripture expresseth by Redemption, Expiation, Reconciliation.  
Satisfactionis vocabulum in hoc negotio Scriptura non usurpavit, rem tamen ipsam 
That is a poor shift of the Socinians, when we urge, That Christ died for us out of 1 Pet. 2. 21. & 3. 18. Ro. 5. 8. that is (say they) propter nos, or nostro bono for our benefit, not loco vel vice nostri in our room or stead. See John 11. 50. For a man to do or suffer aught for another is as much asto do it in his stead: Christ died not only for our benefit, but in our stead as our Surety, Heb. 7. 22. Christ gave his life a ransom for many, Mat. 20. 28. 2. He died as a Sacrifice, Ephes. 5. 2. that died in stead of the worshipper, job 33. 24. 3. He took our Person, therefore was called the second Adam, Rom. 5. and burden, 1. Our guilt, 2 Cor. 5. 2●. 2. Our curse upon him, Gal. 5. 13. Vide Grot. de satiss. Christi, c. 9 Vide Cammyroth Evang. ad Heb. 8. 4.  docuit manifestissimé Rivet. Disp. 13. the Satisf. Christi. The word satisfaction is not found in the Latin or English Bibles applied to the death of Christ: In the New Testament it is not at all, in the Old but twice, Numb. 35. 31, 32. But the thing it itself intended by that word, is every where ascribed to the death of our Saviour, there being also other words in the original Languages, equivalent to that, whereby we express the thing in hand. It is a term borrowed from the Law, applied properly to things, thence translated unto persons, and it is a full compensation of the Creditor from the Debtor. Hence from things real it was, and is translated to things personal, Isa. 53. 12. The word Nasa argueth a taking of the punishment of sin from us, and translating it to himself, and so signifieth satisfaction, so doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by Peter, 1 Pet. 2. 24. in the room thereof. Mr. Owen of Redemption, l. 3. c. 7.  
Of Christ's Priesthood you have heard, now you shall hear of his Prophecy, a work annexed to Priesthood, for the same persons were to teach the people that were to offer up Sacrifice for them, although some did teach that might not offer up Sacrifices.  
These Titles are given to Christ in respect of this Office. He is called, Dan. 8. 13. 
Christus dicitur Nabi Propheta Deut. 18. 15, 18. uti constat ex explicatione N. T. Act. 3. 22, 23. & cap. 7. 37. Est autem Nabi usu Scripturae is, qui profundiora de Deo deque rebus divinis disserit, qui mentem divinam hominibus aperit: saepius etiam de iis usurpatur, qui futura praedicunt. Glass. Onomat.  Palmoni, The revealer of secrets. The Doctor, Matth. 23. 28. Lawgiver, Jam. 4. 12. Counsellor, Isa. 9 6. Revel. 3. 18. Chief Prophet of his Church, Act. 3. 22. & 3. 37. that Prophet, by an excellency, Mark 2. 6. John 1. 18. & 15. 15. & 3. 32. & 14. 25. The Angel of the Covenant, Mal. 3. 1. The Apostle of our profession, Heb. 3. 1. A faithful witness. Apoc. 1. 5. A witness, Isa. 55. 4. The light of the Church, and of the world, Isa. 60. 1. Luk. 2. 32. and The author and finisher of our faith, Heb. 12. 2. He is the great Prophet like unto Moses, yea far above Moses, whom God hath raised up in his Church to teach them all truth. The Prophet's Office was to teach the people the things which pertained to their duty, that they might please God and attain his promises.  
Now Christ is also the teacher of the Church which taught the will and whole 
Two things make a complete Prophet, 1 A fullness of knowledge of all the secret counsel of God Prov. 8. 23, 30. Col. 2▪ 3. 2. An ability to communicate this knowledge unto men, Isa. 50. 4. He revealed those counsels himself when he was on earth, and reveals them by his Spirit now in heaven.  counsel of God concerning our salvation, that Prophet whom Moses did foretell, and whom the people expected for this end in that time that he lived, as the words of the Samaritan woman show. See Deut. 18. 8. john 15. 15. & 17. 8.  
The matter or parts of this prophetical Office was teaching or revealing the will of God: This teaching of Christ is double, External and Internal; externally he taught,  

1. By the Ministry of his Prophets in the times that went before his coming into the world, whom he raised u● for that end, that they might reveal so much of his will as was necessary for them to know. Peter telleth us that he spoke to the Spirits that were then in prison, and that the Gospel was preached to them that were dead, meaning his Prophets in former time, whom Christ by his Spirit stirred up for that end.  
2. He taught himself in person when he had taken our flesh upon him for the space of three years and a half, or as some think of four years, going up and down and teaching the Doctrine of the Kingdom, saying, Repent and believe the Gospel, and confirming his Doctrine with miracles and signs of all sorts to the astonishment of all that heard the report of them, as the Story of the Gospel written by the four Evangelists doth plainly show.  
3. He taught by his Apostles, Evangelists and Prophets, men which he stirred up with extraordinary gifts and power to preach every where, sending them out first whilst himself lived, into all the Country of judaea, and then after into the whole world, and not only so, but moving some of them to write in books, and leave to the Churches use those holy Scriptures which are the perfect rule of our Faith and Obedience, and do sufficiently, plainly and perfectly instruct the whole Church and each member of it to the saving knowledge of God and Christ, so that if there were never another book extant in the world, yet if a man had these writings for all substantial points truly translated into a tongue understood by him, and had no other helps to make him understand the same but his own reason and understanding according to the true principles of it, by reading only and barely those writings he should come and that certainly and infallibly to the knowledge of all things necessary for his salvation. Neither is any thing requisite to the right understanding of the Scriptures in points of necessity to life and salvation, but alone the diligent perusing and meek receiving of the same.   
And yet Christ performeth this outward teaching in a fourth degree by the Ministry of his servants from time to time, the Pastors and Teachers of all ages, whom he raiseth up and instructeth in the knowledge of his truth that they may instruct the people. And this is the outward teaching, the inward is noted where he saith, You shall be all taught of God, it is the work of his Spirit putting into the mind a light to conceive the things taught, and inclining it to hearken and consent to them; of which there are two degrees, the first fainter and lesser, breeding a kind of belief or opinion; the second is more deep and stable by which men are rooted and grounded in faith, and do firmly believe the known truth, and are guided and ruled by it.  
The Properties of Christ's Prophetical Office are two:  

1. He is a great Prophet, as the people say Luk. 7. 16. indeed the greatest of all 
John 1. 18.  the Prophets, that reveals all things, as the woman of Samaria could say, He shall show us all things. 
Heb. 3 2.   
2. He is a faithful Prophet in all his house, as Moses also was faithful, and his faithfulness stands in this, that he did acquaint his Church with the whole will of God without adding and diminishing, as Moses did, and that he did as fully accomplish all the things typified, as Moses did declare and set them down; but it stands not in this, that he gave a particular direction for all external things about his worship and government, as Moses did, for that we are sure he hath not done in his Gospel, neither indeed was to do.   
The Pope opposeth Christ in his Prophetical Office, in making himself infallible, he brings in new Sacraments unknown to Christ and his Apostles, Christ is the only absolute Doctor of his Church, Matth. 23. 8. See Matth. 17. 5. Revel. 5. 7, 8. The Church of Rome hath added Traditions, Will-worship; humane Inventions to the Scripture.  
Mahomet is extolled by many as the great Prophet of the world.  
So you have the Prophetical Office of Christ, now follows the third, viz. He 
There is, say some, a twofold Kingdom of God, 1. Regnum essentiale, which belongs to all the Persons in the Trinity, and was before the fall. 2. Regnum viearium, an oeconomical Mediatory Kingdom committed to Christ as Mediator, joh. 5. 22. & 18. 36. The Covenant was changed and made with Christ, therefore the Government is put into his hand. This Kingdom (say some) is threefold, 1. Regnum universale, a providential Kingdom or Kingdom of power, so Christ is King over all creatures, Psal. 8. 4. compared with Heb. 7. Christ is made Caput rerum omnium ad finem supernaturalem, Ephes. 4. 22. 2. Spiritual, Luk. 17. 21. whereby God rules over men and Angels. 3. Regnum Davidicum, whereby God shall in a peculiar manner rule over the Jews, Dan. 7. 14. Host 3. lat. end.  is King, to which we may add that of Lord, because his Kingdom and Lordship signify in a manner the same thing, both serving to express the power and authority which he hath, and exerciseth in and over his Church, Psal. 72. per tot. Isa. 9 6. Micah 5. 2. 1 Tim. 6. 14.  
There is a threefold Kingdom of Christ mentioned in the holy Scripture:  

The first is his Kingdom of power or excellency, whereby he being God is the supreme Lord of all things, Psal. 24. 1.  
2. The Kingdom of his grace, whereby he rules in the hearts of all his elect ever since the world began, Psal. 2. 6. Zech. 9 9 jer. 23. 5. Ezek. 37. 22. Luk. 11. 20. & 17. 21.  
3. Of glory, whereby he himself is now in endless and perfect felicity, and of which happiness his Saints shall one day partake, Luk. 23. 42. & 12. 32. Luk. 13. 29. 1 Cor. 6. 9 2 Pet. 2. 11. Crakanth. of the Pipes Tempor. Monarc. cap. 2. See more there.   
This Government is a right of immediate executing the sovereign authority of God over all creatures, in ordine ad salutem, in order to the salvation of his elect, joh. 3. 34, 35. Christ was born a King, but he entered not into his Kingly Office till after his resurrection, Psal. 2. 6, 7. He was a Priest and Prophet on earth. Yet this is that which brings in the benefit of all the other Offices, and makes us partakers of all the good in Christ.  
Of which the means are outwardly his Word and the Ministry thereof, and inwardly his holy Spirit worketh in and by the Word.  
The parts of it are,  
First, Governing and guiding his Subjects in the ways which he hath appointed them to walk in, and subduing the temptations of Satan, and the world, and lusts of the flesh to them, and rewarding them at the last with eternal glory.  
Secondly, Confounding and destroying all his enemies, and treading them under his feet.  
The properties of it are,  

1. It is not a civil or earthly, but a spiritual Kingdom, john 18. 36. 1 Cor. 15. 47. Rom. 14. 1. which doth look to the Spirit, reacheth to the conscience and spiritual things, it is not carnal nor of this world, nor looketh to the outward man alone. The King is spiritual, viz. the Lord from Heaven, the Subjects are spiritual, 
2 Cor. 10. 5, 6.  viz. the Church regenerate, the Law whereby the Church is governed is spiritual, viz. the Gospel, the goods bestowed upon the Church are spiritual, as remission of sins, the Spirit of grace, and the manner of government is spiritual.  
2. Universal, and that in four respects, 

1. In respect of all ages and times, other Kings have the time of their rise and 
Dan. 2. 44 & 7. 14. Luk. 1. 33. The Apostle useth the most extensive expressions when he speaks of the Dominion of Christ, Ephes. 1. 21, 22. Phil. 2. 9, 10, 11. Revel. 5. 13.  fall, this dominion is eternal, it shall have no end.  
2. In respect of all places, Rev. 5. 9 to the end.  
3. In respect of all creatures, Rev. 5.  
4. In respect of all things and actions. For him hath God the Father made Lord 
That place 1 Cor. 15. 24. is understood by some of Christ's outward visible government in his Church, then shall all preaching and Church-administrations cease.  and King, and he doth powerfully administer his Church to the sanctification, preservation and salvation of those which refuse not to submit. Christ doth one thing more than all Kings for their Subjects, for he maketh his Subjects, seeing all by nature are his enemies, but by his Word and Spirit he subdueth them to the obedience of his will, 1 Cor. 14. 25. that he may glorify himself and his Father in their salvation.    
3. Absolute, Rev. 19 Christ is Lord Paramount, 1 Tim. 6. 14.   
He is a King by a threefold right:  

1. Of birth, Gal. 4. 1.  
2. Of donation, Psal. 2. 8. joh. 17. 2.  

3. Conquest, Rev. 1. 18.  
He is King in Heaven in respect of his glory, in Earth in respect of his grace, in hell in respect of his justice.    
Christ as Mediator is the Church's 
a Vide Aquin. part. 3. Quaest 7 Artic. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.  head, 1 Cor. 11. 32. Ephes. 1. 22. & 4. 15. & 5. 28. Col. 1. 1. & 2. 18, 19  
He is their head 
b The head is the highest part in a man, so he the highest in his Church; the head giveth sense and moving unto all the body, so he quickeneth the Church. As in a natural body all the members how remote soever from the head, have a real union and conjunction with it, which is the foundation of the influences from the head unto them, so every Christian hath a union with Christ, and thereby communion and influence from him. 2. All the members are so joined one with another by certain ways of communication, that they all serve for the use of the whole; so in the Church of Christ, all his people have not only an union with Christ the head, but a conjunction one with another, and are useful to the good of the whole body, Rom. 12. 5. 1 Cor. 12. from vers. 8. to the end, Ephes. 4. from vers. 12. to 17. They are all possessed with the same spirit, Isa. 11. 11. that is the principal band, the secondary bond is Christian love, 1 Cor. 13. Eph. 4. 16. Col. 3. 14. , Ratione Unionis, Ratione Regiminis, Ratione Influentiae, 1. In respect of Union. 2. In respect of Guidance. 3. In respect of Influence. The Government of the Church is upon his shoulders, Isa. 9 6. & 22. 21, 22. Matth. 28. 19, 20. Ephes. 1. 20, 21. Psal. 68 18. He is the only head and King of his Church, the Government of the Church is part of his Kingly Office. He as Mediator hath the Government of the Church committed to him.  

1. The Church Mystical, the number of all the Saints of God whether Militant 
Psa. 2. 6. Luke 1. 33. The Spirit is the bond of a higher union to the Saints than Angels, Christ is to the Angels Caput dignitatis, to the Saints Caput unionis, He communicates to the Angels as servants, to the Saints as members.  or Triumphant.  
2. The Church Political, particular Churches gathered with their Officers, as the seven Churches in Asia. Christ is the head of both.   
The original and fountain of all Government is God the Father, Son and holy Ghost, he hath a primitive and absolute Sovereignty over all men.  

1. As he gives them what being he will.  
2. As he appoints them what end he will.  
3. As he gives them what Law he will, this is Regnum essentiale, Thine is the 
Isa. 33. 22.  Kingdom.   
Secondly, All the Persons of the Trinity have committed or delegated this power 
John 5. 20, 21, 22, 23.  into the hands of Christ as he is Mediator, both God and Man, Mat. 12. 18, 19 Dan. 7. 13, 14.  
Four things qualified Christ for this: He hath  

1. A Spirit of wisdom and counsel, Isa. 11. 2. 
Keys are Authoritatis symbolum, a token of power, authority and government, Revel. 1. 18. & 3. 7. A metaphor taken from Stewards in houses who have the Keys given them. Christ performs all promises, executes all threatenings, and exerciseth all the Attributes, Col. 1. 15. joh. 5. 22. 1 Tim. 6. 15.   
2. Of courage there to, and Isa. 31. 4.  
3. Of meekness and moderation.  
4. Is faithful, Isa. 9 6.   
Thirdly, Christ delegates this power (as he hath the government of the Church) three ways:  

1. To the Angels, they are principalities and powers.  
2. To the Magistrates, By him Kings reign.  
3. To Church-officers, Ephes. 4. 11, 12. These are to continue so long as his Mediatory Kingdom shall last.   
It is fit that Christ and he alone should govern the Church.  
First, Because the Church is his own, his own body and house, Rom. 12. 5. 1 Cor. 12. 12. Ephes. 4. 16. Heb. 3. 6.  
It is his,  

1. By purchase, He hath purchased to himself a peculiar people.  
2. By Covenant, I entered into Covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine.  
3. By Regeneration, They are one Spirit.   
Secondly, The Church is his great Depositum, and Praemium.  

1. The great pledge God hath committed to his trust, john 17. 2.  
2. The great reward of all his services, Eph. 1. 21, 22.  
3. There is none qualified for the Church's government but he.   
This Sovereignty of Christ as Mediator is twofold:  
First, In the spiritual Kingdom, by which he rules in the hearts of all, especially his Saints, Luk. 17. 21. Rom. 14. 17.  
This consists in six things:  

1. He sets up a throne in the souls of his people, that they look on him as a King, Rev. 4. 3.  
2. As a spiritual King he gives Laws to the soul, Rom. 13. 5.  
3. He will punish their enemies, 1 joh. 3. 18.  
4. He bestows both gifts and graces, Rev. 4. 5.  
5. He rules in their hearts and ways, joh. 16. 14.  
6. He hath the key of heaven and hell, Rev. 11. 17.   
Secondly, He hath a Sovereignty committed to him as Mediator God-man, i● the providential Kingdom, Psal. 8. 4, 5. compared with Heb. 2. 5. Ephes. 1. 21. Pro. 8. 15. 21, 22.  
2. All the great things in providence are ascribed to Christ Mediator; he brought the flood, Gen. 6. 3. compared with 1 Pet. 3. 18, 19 he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he gave the Law, Heb. 26, 27.  
3. He shall accomplish all the Prophecies, Rev. 19 13. He shall judge the world, Act. 17. 30, 31. therefore he rules it, else he could not proportion to men rewards and punishments, if he did not employ them.  
4. He shall give up his Kingdom to his Father, 1 Cor. 15. 34. the Lord Jesus hath all this Sovereignty for the Saints sake, that they might have interest in it, joh. 17. 2. & 3. 35.  
We should take heed of doting on an earthly Christ, Kingdom, Inheritance, or Preferment by Christ; the Apostles expected earthly preferment; the Millenaries say, Christ shall destroy all Monarchies, and be Monarch alone, and his Saints shall be great persons here.  
The Jews deny Christ's Kingly Office, they say, he shall be an earthly King, and shall 
Sane nihil in Veteris Testamenti scriptis uspiam exstat, ex quo accuratius ac firmius demonstrari possit, Messiam iis temporibus Iudaeis datum fuisse, quo noster servator dulcissimus Iesus Christus, verus ille Messias ac Dei & hominum Mediator in judaea visibiliter conversabatur, quam ex Prophetiae Danielis cap. 9 Caetera quidem omnia variis modis eludere, & ad suam Messiam, quem adhuc exspectant, applicare possunt: hoc verò unicum testimonium os ipsis obturat, ut planè conticescant & obmutescant. Wilhelmi Langi de annis Christi, l. 2. c. 1. judaei summi hostes Dei sunt, quit jesum Christum pro Messiâ & Deo non habent, sed cum rejiciunt cum tot á sacra-sancta Trinitate; & quia Christum accrbè oderunt, etiam infensissini hostes sunt Christiant nominis, prae omnibus aliis Gentibus & sect is, quae Religionem Christianam aversantur. Vedel. de Deo Syutag. l. 1. c. 2.  conquer all Nations, and bring them into the Land of Canaan, and there shall bless them with abundance of all things. The Papists speak of a carnal presence of Christ in the Sacrament.  
The Pope hath invaded Christ's Kingly Office by making laws which shall immediately 
James 4. 12. John 5. 22, 27. This Title was given to Christ, Ephes. 1. 21. Col. 1. 18 to lift him above all powers, Rules and Dominions; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a demonstrative Article, he and no other is the head.  bind the consciences of men. He saith he is Christ's Vicar, and the Head of the Church. They say, there is a twofold head of the Church, 1. Imperial, Principal, Invisible: so Christ. 2. Ministerial, Secondary, Visible: so the Pope: This is a mere contradiction. To be head argueth pre-eminence, to be ministerial argueth subjection and inferiority.  
Most in the world oppose the Kingly Office of Christ, his Laws, Psal. 2. 4. See Phil. 2. 10. There are three Kingdoms contrary to the Kingdom of Christ, that of sin, Satan, and Antichrist.  
Christ is our Lord: This name is often given to Christ, Psal. 110. 1. Mat. 22. 44. 
Lord is taken three ways: 1. Essentially, so God the Father. 2. Civilly, so men, Act. 16. 30. 3. Possessively, so a Master over his servant, the husband over his wife.  john 13. 13. Act. 2. 36. 1 Cor. 2. 8. & 8▪ 5, 6. The Apostle takes delight still to mention this title The Lord, Col. 1. 19 1 Cor. 10, 21. & 11. 20. jude v. 3. It is called The table of the Lord, and the body and bread of the Lord, because we are so ready to forget Christ's authority, therefore he is very often called Lord in the New Testament, Rev. 1. 5. Phil. 2. 10.  
Christ is Lord:  

1. As God, joh. 20. 28.  
2. As man both in respect of the hypostatical Union, and by the merit of his passion, by which he hath gained a dominion to himself over men redeemed by him, Luk. 2. 18.  
3. From God's Ordination, Act. 2. 36. Phil. 2. 9, 10, 11.   
He is Lord by right,  

1. Of Creation, joh. 1. 3.  
2. Of Redemption, 1 Cor. 6. 20. 1 Pet. 1. 18.  
3. Preservation and Government, Ephes. 5. 23.   
He is Lord two ways:  

1. In general, as over all creatures, King of Nations, jer. 10. 7.  
2. In special, as head of his Church, King of Saints, Rev. 15. 3.   
The King is Lord over all the Subjects, but in special manner over the Queen, by a double right, as King and Husband, Ephes. 1. penult.  
There are three privileges of his Lordship. 
When this Lord of lords, Lord Paramount came into the world, Augustas Caesar by a strict Edict commanded that no man should give or receive the title of Lord.   

1. He is Lord alone, he hath no copartner, Ephes. 4, 5.  
2. Is Lord over all creatures inwardly and outwardly, the good to defend them, the wicked to offend them.  
3. Is Lord for ever,   
This Attribute when given to God the Father or Christ, usually signifieth his Sovereignty and Dominion, Thus saith the Lord God, that is, he that hath Sovereign power over you. When this Title is given to Christ in the New Testament as a distinctin between God and the Lord, 1 Cor. 8. 6. Ephes. 4. 5, 6. Phil. 2. 11. it signifieth that Christ is he through whom all good from God is derived to us, and through whom all our services are offered to God, that he is our Mediator.  
We should pray, Let thy Kingdom come, labour for a true personal reign of Christ, that Christ and he only may be Lord of our souls, we should be glad to have him reign in our Families, public Assemblies, his Truths, Ordinances and Government.  
If we receive Christ into our hearts, we must receive him only and absolutely upon his own terms, and in all his Offices, and into every room of our hearts, and that for ever.  
We become the servants of God four ways:  

1. By an act of Election in God, Act. 9 15.  
2. By Purchase, 1 Cor. 6. 21. & 7. 23.  
3. By Conquest, Servus quasi servatus in bello, Luke 1. 74, 75.  
4. By mutual Covenant, we at last choose God for our Lord and Master.   
To be a servant hath two things in it:  
First, Inward reverend affection.  
Secondly, Ready outward subjection.  
We must first do the work of God, Christ did his Father's work, john 9 4●. Psal. 40. 7, 8.  
Secondly, Do his work only, we cannot serve two contrary Masters.   

CHAP. V. Of CHRIST'S double state of Humiliation and Exaltation.  
HItherto of our Lords Natures and Offices, now of his acts by which in 

Ps. 110. ult. Lu. 24. 26 He is called Enosh, calamitous man, Ps. 8. 5. the Apostle expounds it of him, Heb. 2. 5. See Psal. 22. 6. & 69. 1. 2. Christ speaks that there of himself (say some.)  
He did this as our Surety, as our Sacrifice, so he bore our sins, Psal. 40. 12. & 69. 5. compared with v. 9 & was liable to our debt, Gal. 4. 4. & 3. 13 Dan. 9 26. there was a commutation of the person, not the debt, Isa. 53. 6. He had a negative ignorance though not a privative in his understanding, Isa. 7. 15. on this ground he is said to grow in knowledge, Luke 2. 52. was troubled in Spirit, John 11. 33. His Spirit was spent after labour, his strength weakened, Psal. 22. 14. all the creatures were against him, the good Augels withdrew themselves from him in the three hours of darkness and approved of the judgement, the evil Angels set on him, John ●4. 30. He was whipped and buffeted as a slave. The chief Magistrates in Church and State condemned him, the soldiers mocked and pierced him. God himself had a great hand in Christ's sufferings, Isa. 53. 16. The same Greek word translated Deliver and Betray is used of God Rom. 8. 32. Judas ver. 26. Matth. 16. 21, 23. The Priests Mat. 27. 2. and Pilate. Matth. 27. 26. and of the people, John 19 11. Acts 3. 13. God ordained Christ's death, Acts 2. 23. & 4. 27, 28. 1 Pet. 2. 20. Some say God foreknows but doth not by a certain and immutable Decree predetermine. The Apostle Acts 2. mentions his determinate counsel in the first place, and in Acts 4. his hand to note his concurring power, and his counsel to note his pre-ordaining will. 2. A great part of Christ's sufferings was immediately inflicted by God, Mat. 27. 46. Gal. 3. 13. 3. Christ ascribes the cup to God, John 18. 11.   those Natures he fulfilled those Offices. They are all brought to a Dichotomy by our Lord himself, when he saith, Ought not Christ to have suffered and to enter into his glory? and by the Apostle St Paul, saying, He humbled himself, and God hath greatly exalted him.  
First then for his Humiliation, it was of necessity for our Redemption, because he that is to satisfy for sin must bear punishment. The bearing of punishment, as being a suffering of some evil and undesirable thing, cannot be but an abasement.  
This abasement was twofold:  
1. In submitting himself to obey the whole Law in our behalf in the form and quality of a servant, even as if he had been no other than a bare man, so that he was found in fashion as a man, and made in the likeness of men, that is, was put to serve and obey as mere men are. To be subject to God and obedient to the author of being, is no abasement at all, but to be in such sort and degree subject, as if he were a mere son of Adam, of no more excellency than a man, this was an abasement. That the heir of some nobleman or great person be inferior to his Father, and do whatsoever he shall employ him in suitable to his quality and condition, is no abasement; nay it is an honour to him, but if some slave whom the son did please to affect should play the thief and runagate, and the son requesting his father's favour in his behalf, should be answered, I am content to pardon him for your sake son, upon condition that you will be scullion in his room this seven years, and hereupon should serve his Father in that homely office of the kitchen for the term appointed, this now were a great abasement for the son. So for our Lord Jesus Christ in his Humanity to be subject and serviceable to his heavenly Father in an obedience suitable to his worth and dignity, had been no humiliation; but to be subject in the quality of a mere man, nay a sinful man, and be put to obey the Law, and such a Law, and so to obey it as if he had been of no higher offspring than the loins of his mother, this was a great abasing. He submitted himself to be under the authority of his mother, as another child, and to live as a Apprentice to Joseph's Trade, as another child to go up to the Feasts to be circumcised, to bear injuries, to pray with weeping tears for sins, but our sins, and so in the rest; Here was a great and chief part of his humiliation, so our Apostle witnesseth; God sent his Son made of a woman, made under the Law, that he might redeem 
Gal. 4. 4, 5. Rom. 5. 19 He was obedient in the humane Nature alone, not in the divine. Dr Hampton.  them that were under the Law, and as by the disobedience of one many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Psal. 40. 6. He alludeth to the civil Ordinance, Exod. 21. 5, 6. both his ears were bored thorough, his obedience was double to that of others. Dr Hampton on Rom. 5. 19  
But this obedience was not so great a Humiliation as was requisite, a more difficult burden was required at his hands and a labour more tedious, he must suffer also those evils of all kinds which we should have 
* Amari●●i●a● mortem dulcem, nitidam, candidam, acceptabilem reddit, dum audis jesum Christum Filium Dei suo sanctissimo contactu omnes passiones, ipsam adeò mortem consecrasse ac sanctificasse, maledi●●ionem benidixisse, ig●ominiam gl●rificasse, paupertatem ditasse, ita ut mors vitae janua, maledictio benedictionis origo, ignominia gloriae parens esse coga●tur. Luther. loc. come. primae Class. c. 6. We should look unto Christ whom we have pierced, and on all his sufferings as brought upon him by us, nothing will make sin so hateful nor Christ so dear, Vulnera Christi rutilantia sunt Biblia practica, these lead us to all duties of holiness. The proper object of faith in justification is Christ crucified. The Angel's love Christ because of the excellency and glory of his person, but not as made sin for them. Dignites Person● primò conducit ad acceptationem. Unde enim fit quod Persona jesu Christi, in nostram omnium vicem admittitur, nisi quod Persona jam multò dignior paenam luit, atque si omnes in mundo homines plecterentur? Secundò ad meritum. Tertiò ad compensationem. Sanford. de Descensu Christi ad inferos l. 3. p. 108.  suffered, as if the forementioned Son of some noble Personage for the winning of his Father's favour to a runaway servant, should not be put alone to serve an apprenticeship in the scullery, but also to be grievously whipped with rods, as the slave himself should have been for his offence.  
The sufferings therefore of our Lord Jesus come to be considered of, which O that we could seriously consider. It were impossible for any man not to repent, not to believe, not to obey that would address himself to the frequent and serious meditation of these sufferings, if withal he were informed of the motive, end, and fruit of the same.  
Now all of the things endured by Christ may be referred to those of his Infancy and Elder time.  
First, To be born of a poor and mean parent, void of all earthly honour and 
Et in ●ascendi s●rte, & in vivendi instituto, & in mortis genere nihil nisi humile & abjectum & sordidum infimumque spectavit & cogitavit, Quid Deo immortali minus conveniens aut decorum quam è Caelo in terram descendere? Hoc paru●. Immò in ventrem Virginis mortalis se insinuare, ibique naturam humanam mortalem, & omnibus hominis infirmitatibus obnoxiam assumere? Hoc ille fecit. Quid vero honesto homini magis probr●sum contumeliosum, indignum, quam servili supplicio, que & latrones tum puniri solebant, animam quafi criminosam per vim exbalares? Hanc ille etiam sustinere infim● abjectionis & ignominy extrema notam voluit. Salmas. Epist. 2. ad Bartholinum de cruse.  state, although she were the Heir of the greatest family and noblest blood in the world, and had as due right as was possible to a rich and honourable Kingdom. The Virgin Mary and joseph both were of the famous lineage of David, he the next Heir male, she the next Heir female to the crown of Israel and judah, but usurpers had laid violent hands upon that Principality, and the whole Tribe of judah, specially the lineage of David was so far depressed and obscured, that now the Heir to the Crown was unknown and neglected, and the family of such honour even raked up in the dunghill of meanness and contempt, glad to apply themselves to base and carnal occupations, as the Carpenter or the like. This was an abasement to Christ that he was not born of David's posterity all the while it was of esteem, note and honour in the world, but now that the Sceptre was quite departed from the Tribe, now that it was even cast down to the dust, and no man of note or power in it; now must he be born of that Family, now must he take flesh of that lineage.  
Secondly, The manner of his birth also was very base and beggarly, for his Father 
Sugit ubera qui regit fidera. August.  and Mother coming to Bethlehem upon occasion of taxing (when there was à great concourse of people to that little Town) were so coarsely entertained, that 
Vagit infans, sed in coelo est; puer crescit, sed plenitudinis Deus permanet. Hilar. ●. 10. de Trinit.  her time of Travel being come perhaps a little before she looked for it, she was thrust into an outhouse, an odd corner, a poor stable, there to cry out and be delivered without any attendance or regard. What could be more ignoble and contemptuous? The Son of God was born in a stable and laid in a manger, as if he had been worthy of no better esteem than a very vagrant. Thus was he born and in this simple fashion did he enter into the stage of the world, as if he had been a person of no esteem or reputation.  
And thirdly, no sooner was he born, and the thing made known to the world, but that his life was sought for by the malice and craft of Herod, who had usurped that Kingdom which was due unto him. For he having notice that the King of Israel was born (as is the manner of Tyrants to seek the destruction of the right Inheritor) dissembled with the Wisemen, pretending that his purpose was to come and worship him, and learning by them what he could for that purpose, intended in very deed to have made him away, by which means he was compelled for the saving of his life to take a long and tedious journey down into Egypt, no Question with great labour and weariness to himself as well as to his Parents.  
Thus you have the sufferings of our Saviour's Infancy; next consider his whole life, and what was it but a suffering of all misery, both in the whole course of it, and in the conclusion of all at his death.  
For the course of his life it was private and public. For his private life until 
Mark 6. 3.  his thirty years he lived a Carpenter 
* Baronius thinks he made yokes, alluding thereto, in that he professeth my yoke is easy, Mat. 11. 30 Dr Prid. Introduct. for reading all sorts of Histories, c. 7. p. 51.  He that was sufficient to have governed all the Monarchies under the Sun, to have ruled the whole world, to have led mighty Armies, and to have read a Lecture of Wisdom to Angels and Archangels, he was servant to his Father, a Carpenter, and spent his time obscurely in a manual occupation, handling the Mallet and Chezil, and doing the work of a mean labourer, burying as it were all his Divine Excellencies under the thick and dark cloud of a poor Trade, and not showing forth so much as a glimpse of his heavenly glory, but that at one time at the age of twelve years he peeped a little out of the Cloud, when at a feast in jerusalem he disputed with Doctors to the astonishment of all the hearers and beholders. He was cast down from all honour and made to inherit contempt and baseness.  
But come we to his public life, where he was to take upon him a glorious function fit for himself, even to be the Minister of the Circumcision, a Prophet to the people Israel.  
First, He entered into this function with a great toil and labour, for by and by after his Baptism and Calling to public view, he was thrust forth into the wilderness there to be tempted of the Devil, not for a few hours or days, but for full forty days together. There he did challenge all the powers of darkness, and hand to hand did enter the lists to fight a combat with all the Devils of hell. There was he singled forth, and they let loose to try the utmost of their mighty and subtle temptations, three principal ones are mentioned, but no question he stood not against so little as three thousand, for what would not Satan assay to do him mischief? What evils did he not by word or suggestion labour to draw him to? when he had him for so long a space of time at so great a disadvantage all alone in the wilderness and fasting, he would strain himself to the utmost of his wicked wit to have poisoned him with some taint of wickedness, that he might have killed the whole body of his Church in him the Head thereof, as he destroyed all mankind in the first Adam the common root of it. It is certain that our Lord was armed with power and wisdom to discover and resist his temptations, and knew he should, could and would be victorious, but no doubt the combat was troublesome and tedious, and filled his righteous soul with unspeakable dolour and anguish. Let a virtuous and honourable Matron be shut up so many days together in one room with a base and loathsome adulterer, there to suffer all his impure solicitations, will not her misery be so much the greater in sense by how much herself is more shamefaced and honest, and more abhorrent from all such impurity? so it was with the soul of our blessed Saviour. That great and foul polluter of himself and mankind the Devil, had liberty given him to try what ever he could do with all his crafty and abominable temptations to draw our Lord Jesus from his God, and to make him as all other men were, a sinner. The most valiant person in the world armed with the best weapons for defence, and furnished with so much prowess and skill that he knew he should be conqueror and unwounded, would yet find it unspeakably troublesome to ward oft the multitude of blows of ten thousand at once, assailing him with such fiery darts and poisoned weapons, that each of them had they but fastened to draw blood would have been mortal unto him. Had any of Satan's temptations fastened on the soul of Christ, he had been made a sinner, and so separated from the Union with the second Person, and so himself with all his members that depended upon him had perished eternally. Doubtless though he knew he should overcome, yet the bearing off, putting by and resisting so many mighty blows and subtle thrusts must needs be extremely tedious and bitter unto him, by how much he was more perfectly holy, and did more detest all such manner of temptations.  
Thus his sufferings from Satan were horrible, though in the issue harmless, yea and glorious, but now think what he bore in his whole life after.  
Five things are most intolerable to the nature of man in passing of his life, Poverty, Reproach, Labour, Danger and Sorrows, he was laden with all these in all extremity.  
First for Poverty, Though he were very rich (saith St Paul) yet he became poor for 
2 Cor. 8. 9  our sakes; he had been no slothful nor prodigal Person in his private life, but he was a Servant to his father in law, and the calling was poor, so that he could get nothing but from hand to mouth, and therefore being to leave his Trade, and become a Minister and Preacher of the Gospel, he had no house nor home of his own to dwell in, no stock nor revenues to live upon, but was fain to live of pure alms, and though he was no beggar 
a Pope Nicolas the third and others maintained that our Saviour Christ was a very beggar and lived here in the lowest degree of beggary that can be, which Pope john the 22. condemneth for an heresy. Mr Gatakers answer to Mr Walkers vindic. p. 40, 41. , yet as if he had been a beggar, to maintain himself altogether by the kindness of others. 
b Mat. 8. 20.  The Foxes have holes, the Fowls nests, but the Son of man hath not whereon to rest his head. We read of a bag he had, but it was not filled with the fruits of his own hand or stock, but with the gifts and alms of others. He had it, but he had it of alms: it was enough, but at other men's voluntary cost. What ingenuous spirit doth not feel it an abasement to be so maintained? You see his Poverty, he was of so low estate that indeed he had nothing at all, but what good people would bestow upon him.  
Again, for Reproach, How insufferable a thing is that to worthy natures to be slandered, reviled, ill-spoken of, and laden with false accusations and calumniations? Doth it not seem unto us a heavier thing than death? Who is not so tender of his good name that the least blemish and aspersion cast upon him, seemeth more smarting than the cutting of a sword? But our Saviour had all manner of disgraces cast upon him, not by mean, base, beggarly and despised companions; but by the Scribes, Pharisees, Elders, High-Priests and Rulers of the City, men of most fame and reputation not for command and wealth alone, but also for learning and piety. These did seek to discredit him out of their repining envy, these vilified his Person, depraved his best actions, and did cast the worst imputation they could upon him. They vilified our Saviour's person by the baseness of his parents, his kindred and profession, Is not this Joseph's son, is not Mary his mother, and his brethren james and joses, Simon and jude? Is not he the Carpenter? They gave it forth that he was a drunkard, a glutton, a rioter, a companion with the basest fellows, even Publicans and sinners, they depraved his actions:  
1. His Doctrine as heretical crossing Moses his Law, and treasonous that he forbade to pay tribute unto Caesar.  
2. His miracles as magical, they reported that he did all those miracles for which the people did so much honour him, not by the power and singer of God, but by the black Art of hellish conjuration, even by the aid and working of Beelzebub the chief of Devils. These said he was a wicked and profane fellow, a man that did not regard the Sabbath of the Lord. These were bold to lay to his charge that horrible and sacrilegious crime of blasphemy, saying, Why doth this man blaspheme? and for thy blasphemy we seek to stone thee. Lo! to be traduced of men famous for knowledge and religion, and for honour and wealth, as a boon companion, as a wine bibber, a fellow for harlots, a profane polluter of the Sabbath, an horrible blasphemer of God; this was the bitter cup which our Lord Jesus was fain to drink. Could he suffer greater and more intolerable ignominy? Nay at one time they were so audacious as to tell him to his face, Thou art mad and hast a Devil?  
Now consider thirdly his Labour, his travel on foot, many a weary step and long journey from Galilee to jerusalem, from jerusalem to Galilee, and from quarter to quarter, and Country to Country, sometimes on foot with sweat and toil till he was even weary and tired again, glad to sit down and rest him, as once at the Well of jacob, sometimes by Sea in a Ship when the furious winds conspired against him, and raised such a storm, as if the ship must have been swallowed up in the vast belly of the waves, and as if the Devil would have watched his opportunity to have drowned him sleeping; for as for riding upon a beast he never took that ease unto himself except alone one time, and that the last of all that he went to jerusalem, and then poorly mounted upon the bare back of a silly foal of an Ass that was never accustomed to the saddle before, with a jerkin or a coat or two cast on him in stead of better furniture. A toilsome life indeed to do nothing else but go afoot from City to City, and sometimes also to be ready to be pressed to death with the throng of a rude and unmannerly multitude. You have his Labours, now consider  
Fourthly, His Dangers. He lived in quietness and safety enough during his Carpenter's employment, but when he came to be a Minister he was still persecuted. At Nazareth his own City where he was not born but bred up, the first Sermon 
Luke 4. 29.  (as I think) that ever he preached there, because he was somewhat plain in telling them of their faults, they laid violent hands upon him, and would have broke his neck down a steep hill on which the Town was built. After as he grew more famous for wonders, so he was more hated and maligned by the Rulers, many times they conspired to take and entrap him, sent Officers to apprehend him, 
Mark 3. 6, 7. John 8. 59  took up stones to dash out his brains, and commanded that whosoever knew where he was should make it known that they might apprehend him, and that he which would confess him to be the Christ should be excommunicated, insomuch that he was called A stone of offence, and a sign to be spoken against; and he saith, The world hateth me, yea they have hated me without a cause; Insomuch that he could not walk openly amongst them, but was fain to hide himself after a sort, and to fly for his life, for they were scarce ever without some or other device to take him and put him to death. You have heard of his Perils, let us speak  
Fifthly of his Sorrows, He was a man of Sorrows, full of grief and tears, for he was not a stone or a piece of iron that all these things did not touch him, but he was sensible of these evils, and felt the heat of his Father's displeasure against him for our sins, for which he had undertaken to answer in all these things, and especially the memorial of his last passion did wonderfully grieve and trouble him, Luk. 12. 50. How am I straitened or pained till it be accomplished? not with such a grief as made him unwilling to come to it, but with such as made him desire that it were once over. He often set his thoughts a work upon his last sufferings, he foretold his Disciples of it some four or five times, no question but he considered of it himself many hundred times, and not one of them without a vehement working of sorrow, as if one of us should know that some two or three year hence he must be put to the rack, or burned at a stake, he could not but bestow full many a heavy thought upon that hour; so did our Lord, without all controversy, with many frequent requests, and humble, tearful, mournful prayers, supplicating to God for aid and help against that hour, according as the many complaints and prayers made by David his Type in the Psalms, do manifestly evince.  
Now come we to the last scene of this Tragedy, his end: The conclusion of his 
The Psalmist expresseth Christ's trouble by roaring, Psal. 22. 1. The Apostle Heb. 5. 7. by strong crying and tears. Those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Matth. 26. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Mark 14. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪ are emphatical, see them opened in my Greek Critica. Tanta sudoris copia ut non corpus humectaret solum, sed etiam in terram caderet. Non sudor aqueus sed sanguineus, nec guttae sed grumi, cui exemplo quod unquam auditum simile, nedum aequale? Chamierus Tom. 2. l. 5▪ c. 13 Vide Sandfordum de Descensu Christi ad Inferos, l. 3. p. 203. ad finem.  life (just like a Tragedy) was most distressed and lamentable of all the other parts, whether you consider the things he suffered from God immediately; or the things he endured before, in, and after his death.  
The first and great work of his Passion was the agony and bloody sweat, grief, astonishment and extreme heaviness which he sustained in the garden. He began to be heavy and greatly grieved, saith one Evangelist: and To be astonished, saith another: and He was in an agony, saith the third; in so much that great drops of blood trickled from him to the ground. The two tormentingst passions that man doth wrestle withal in this life, more insufferable than any rack or disease of the body are sorrow and fear, which if they be in the greatest extremity that can be are the greatest miseries that can be. Now so they were in him, for the word saith, he complained thus, My soul is sorrowful round about even to death; so much as was enough to have killed him, not with the suddenness of it, for that kills easily and quickly, but with the extreme inwardness and weight of it, and his fear is called astonishment and amazement.  
There is 1. An amazement of wonder in regard of the strangeness of some accident beheld, as the people were amazed at Christ's miracles and doctrine.  
2. An amazement of horror, when a man stands aghast and astonished at the greatness of some evil befalling him or like to befall him, and so was our Saviour taken with the highest degree of fear, even amazement, Mark 14. 33. It was not such a fear as did drive him out of his wits, or take away from him the use of reason, but such as did even surcharge his soul and so afflict him, (that as we use to say) he knew not what to do nor how to bear it, these two passions put him in an 
a An agony is the perplexed fear of one who is entering into a great and grievous conflict, Timor quo corripitur is qui in certamen descendit. Arist. Irenaeus saith the year of his age wherein he suffered, was about the Fiftieth, which he voucheth to be an Apostolical tradition. The ground of his opinion was, john 8. 57 The common received opinion is, That he suffered being thirty three complete, and in the beginning of his thirty four. Scaliger addeth one year more, and placeth his Passion in the beginning of his thirty five. Non timeretur ille qui potest nocere, nisi haberet quandam eminentiam potestatis, cui de facili resisti non possit: ea enim quae in promptu habemus repellere, non timemus. In Christo fuit timor Dei: non quidem secundum quod respicit malum separationis à Deo per culpam, neque etiam secundum quod respicit malum punitionis pro culpa, sed secundum quod respicit ipsam Divinam eminentiam: prout scilicet anima Christi quodam affectu reverentiae movebatur in Deum, à Spiritu sancto acta. Aquin. part. 3. Q. 16. Art. 6.  agony, that is to say an extraordinary great strife or wrestling. The infinite wrath of God due to him for our sins, as much as if he had committed them (for the surety is as much liable to the payment of the debt, as if he had in person borrowed the money himself for himself) did discover itself to him in all extremity, procuring to him the extremest sorrow that might be, because he felt the tediousness of it for the present, and the extremest fear that might be, because he feared the continuance of it for the future, not with a fear of reason that did doubt of the event of his sufferings, but with a passion of fear, which the beholding of a terrible thing, so terrible as God's infinite anger will stir up in a creature, though he be never so sure to escape it, and hence came that extreme conflict which dissolved his flesh and made him sweat 
b That is not ●ound, that one drop of Christ's blood was enough to redeem the world. Pope Clement the sixth first used that speech, That one drop of Christ's blood was enough to save men, and the rest was laid up in the Treasury of the Church▪ Luk. 22. 44. Divine justice would not let go the sinner without a ransom, nor the Redeemer without full satisfaction. I am loath to believe that either the Father was so prodigal of his Son's life, or that the Son was so careless of his own blood, that he would have poured out all, if one drop would have served the 〈…〉 n. D. Hampton on Rom. 10. 4. See M. Pinchins Meritorious price of Redempt. part 2. p. 88, 89, 90, 91.  bloody drops, whilst his faith and obedience strove against his fear and sorrow to keep him from murmuring or impatient fits, from all repenting of his having undertaken the work, from all doubting or despairing of God's love or unwillingness to go through with the work, but to hold his heart still in the highest pitch of obedience, which he showed, saying, Matth. 26. 39 Not my will, that is, natural desire, not resolute purpose be fulfilled, but thine.  
Hence the Schools distinguish of a double will in Christ: 1. His Divine will, so as God he desired the same thing with his Father. 2. Humane, and that is either Voluntas desiderii naturalis, the bent of nature to its own conveniency; or Veluntas desiderii rationalis & deliberati, his sanctified judgement submitted the desires of humane nature to the will of God. Here is no repugnancy but a diversity of wills. Christ is to be considered under a different relation, in the first part of the prayer he speaks as man; in the second as Mediator, see Matth. 26. 42. Heb. 4. 16. 2. If we consider Christ as man, there is no repugnancy of wills; we must distinguish between the innocent vellieties of humane nature, and the resolutions of reason.  
This prayer was conceived, 1. With submission, If it be possible, not my will.  
2. Drawn forth upon convenient reason.  
If it be objected, How could this stand with Christ's holiness, the Law requires a conformity in the first motions and the very inclinations of the heart?  
It may be answered, 1. That Christ's sufferings were rather appointed by God's Decree then his Law.  
2. Suppose God's Decrees were a Law to Christ, as they were to him being a Mediator, yet positive Laws blot not out natural affections: Though Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son, yet he was to have a natural affection to save his life. Christ was indeed obliged to this, and it was a duty in him to declare  
1. His bitter sense of God's wrath, Psal. 90. 11.  
2. The reality of his humane nature, by abhorring what was destructive to it.  
3. To show his esteem of Divine consolation.  
Now God's Justice was satisfied, now his Name was honoured with an obedience as honourable to him as all the service of all the men in the world could have been. Thus did our blessed Saviour suffer in the garden from God alone.  
Then follows from the Jews, his Apostles and friends, and his enemies, and the common people.  
His Apostles, one betrays him, sells him for ready money, and for a little too, 
See Exod. 21. 32. Matth. 26. 15. Rectè hic ex More N●bo●him observavit Cl. Drusius in Praeter. pretium servi fuisse triginta siclos arg●●tcos, liberi verò sexaginta. Servator ergo non liberi, sed servi pretio ●stimatus est. De Dieu in loc. judas for love of money was content to sell his Master, it may be he thought not to death, but that his Master might shift away and deliver himself by miracle, and he get the money; for when he ●aw that the Lord must die, he was grieved. M. Richardson in his Manuscript.  the price of a slave, thirty silverlings, so many half crowns, in all three pound fifteen shillings. Lo the goodly price at which the Pharisees and this judas valued him, O infinite indignity! But what did the other disciples, Most of them left him and fled: The Shepherd was smitten and the flock was scattered; they afforded him no more assistance than a company of sheep would to him that tended them, if thiefs come to murder him; but run one this way, another that, and left their Saviour all alone; in the same sort did all his friends that had received so many and great benefits from him by his miraculous cures of themselves or their friends, they all disappeared, not one would open his lips to defend and justify him against the lewd aspersions that were cast upon him; but one of his disciples among all the rest denies him, forswears, abjures him.  
Now for his enemies the Pharisees, first they send their ministers and servants with the Traitor to take him, who coming to the place laid violent hands upon him, and binding his hands behind him, like a thief they carry him away to them that had appointed them that service. Secondly, Themselves hire false and perjured wretches to bear witness against him of many things, and when that course would not take effect, at last upon his own most true, holy and constant confession, that he was (as indeed he was) the Son of God; in solemn manner, with pretended gravity and grief, and with rend garments, the high Priest stands up and condemns him of blasphemy and unto death, to which sentence each of the Elders gave his suffrage. Then the servants buffet him with their graceless hands, spit on him 
They accuse him of blasphemy the highest sin against the first Table, and sedition the highest sin against the second.  with their slovenly mouths, and mock and jest at him with their petulant tongues▪ and thus they pass away the time abusing him all night, till in the morning early the high Priests (quickly up for a bad business) bring him to the Civil Governor, and there accuse him of the falsest crimes that might be, Sedition and Treason, as if he forbade to pay Tribute, moved the people, and sought to make himself a King; besides his blasphemy in counterfeiting (as they interpreted it) to be the Son of God.  
Now see what he suffers from the Gentiles and Jews both together. Pilate 
c Pilate was his proper name, and he was called Pontius of Pontia an Island the place where he was born that lay near to Italy. Ille Pilatus, qui tempore Christi praefidem egerat, sub Caio, in tantas incidisse calamitates fertur, ut necessitate compulsus, ultro sibi manum intulerit, suique ipsius interemptor, divina illa ultrone, ut par erat, non diu parcente factus est. Eus. Hist. Eccles. l. 2. c. 7.  to rid his hands of him sends him to Herod, Herod intertains him with mocks and taunts, and sends him away scoffingly arrayed in purple. Pilate dares not lose him, but to please the people and assuage their rage by a little yielding causeth him to be sorely scourged 
d Christ's blood was shed seven times, Circumcisione, horto, corona, flagellatione, manibus, pedious, cord. Numb. 19 4. Levit. 8. 11. Isaiah calleth the torments preceding his death with an elegant word ●a●urah, Isa. 53. 5. and Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 1 Pet. 2. 24. Christ's body was beat with scourges, soedum supplicium, as a Schoolman calls it, a pain so base as might not be inflicted on a Burgess of Rome. He was whipped twice as is thought and that cruelly, after the manner of the Romans, to move the people to compassion; by four, as is gathered by the parting of his robes into four parts, and those four all soldiers. A Spanish Postiller writes, that the Jews fearing Pilate would discharge him after stripes, gave money to the Officers to scourge him to death. D. Clerk. Christ was twice whipped with rods: 1. Before the sentence of condemnation given, for that end that he might have been set free; and after condemnation, ex instituto capitali. He was whipped most grievously, for so Psal. 128. 3. shows. Montac. Orig. Eccles. Tom. prior. Part. post. In crowning him with thorns, the soldiers did not only wreathe him a thick crown of thorns, to stick his head full of them, but after the putting it on, to fasten it, they did strike him on the head with their canes, as Matth. 27. & Mark 15. do plainly testify. So big were the nails with which they nailed him to the Cross (as the Ecclesiastical History reporteth) that Constantine made of them a bridle and helmet for his own use. B Bills. Full Redempt. of mankind by the death of Christ. pag. 5, 6. Mortuus est in juventae vigore, hoc est annos tres & triginta natus, ut magis charitatem erga nos ostenderet, & paternis jussibus obsequentiam, tum enim posuit vitam, quum erat vivere jucundissimum. Lod. Viu. de verit. Fid. Christ. l. 2. c. 15.  with rods, according to the manner of the Romans, till his back was all gore blood, and his skin and flesh torn with wounds and wails, and then clapping a Crown of piercing thorns upon his head, he brings him forth in this fashion to be gazed upon by the people, who all shouting and hooting at him out of disdain, as accounting him undoubtedly a blasphemous impostor, because pretending to be the Messiah, from whom they looked for the restitution of their earthly Kingdom; he was so far from doing that, as now he could not (so they thought) deliver himself from the hands of men. Then Pilate sets him in balance with a seditious murderer, and they require the murderer to be saved and him to be crucified; renouncing him and denying him before Pilate, as not the lawful King of the Jews, but a grand Impostor, and will have no nay, but with importunate clamours enforce the timorous Judge to condemn him. Now is sentence solemnly pronounced upon him, That for as much as he was a Seditious person, a Traitor, and one that went about to usurp the Kingdom against the Royal dignity of C●sars Imperial Majesty, therefore he should be taken by the Roman Officers and led to a place without the City, where malefactors▪ used according to the fashion of the Romans, with their basest slaves to be nailed to a Cross, and so hang till they were dead. No sooner was the sentence passed but that it began to be executed. The soldiers seize upon him, and having gotten him as a Dove among Kites, a Sheep among Lions, they sport themselves with mocking, deriding and abusing him by words and gestures of counterfeit honour, which are the greatest dishonours, thereby upbraiding him with folly that would needs make a King of himself.  
To the place of crucifying they lead him bearing his own Cross, till he being spent with watching, bleeding, weariness and grief, was no longer able to bear it; then they compelled another whom they met to bear one end of it after him. So being arrived at the dismal place of dead men's skulls, they offer him the potion of malefactors, wine mingled with myrrh, as it is thought to intoxicate his brain, which he refusing, they stretch his hands and legs till all his bones might be told, and so nailing one hand to one horn of the Cross, the other to the other, and his feet to the stump at the bottom, they leave him hanging, and that also betwixt two thiefs, with a scornful superscription of his fault, I. N. R. I.  
jerusalem was chosen for the place of his suffering, Ibi peractum est verum hoc & summum sacrificium, ubi reliqua legis sacrificia umbrae istius. Ludovic. Viu. de verit. Fid. Christ. l. 2. c. 15.  
His soul 
The great misery that Christ underwent was in his soul, when the Lord poured on him pure wrath, Matth. 26. 38. The redemption of mankind is called The travel of his soul, Isa. 53. 10. Papists and Socinians say Christ suffered only in his body, that his soul suffered but sympatheticè and secondarily; but bodily sufferings could not make satisfaction for the sins of the soul: lusts fight against the soul; where the greatest debt was there must be the chiefest satisfaction. Christ as our Surety must pay our whole debt; the whole man is bound to the Law, but principally the soul, sin is primarily against that: they sinned against their own souls, Numb 16. See Micah 6. 9 The sufferings of the body will never make a man perfectly miserable; It is not pure darkness till the inward man be dark. 2. The whole man was under the curse, Gal. 3. 13. The body is but one part of the man, therefore that could never pay the whole debt of the curse. 3. Christ took soul and body and the infirmities of both, that in them both he might make a sacrifice, Isa. 53. 10. 4. Else many Martyrs suffered more than Christ, for they suffered greater bodily torments; some were cut in pieces, some sawn as under, yet they suffered with rejoicing, because their spirits were filled with the consolations of God; but the Lord withdrew the light of his countenance from Christ. 5. Christ's sufferings in soul began before his bodily sufferings, in the garden when he was in an agony. Some say Christ was not silius irae, because he was the Son of God, but filius sub ira, as a Surety. Vide Grot. de satis. Christ. c. 1. p. 11. & Sandford. de Descent. Christ. ad Inferos, p. 130, ad 152. & Rivet. Disput. 13. desatisf. Christ.  was filled with unspeakable grief in the sense of the curse of the Law which there he bore, and so vehement was his anguish that he cried out for thirst, when they gave him the cold comfort of a little vinegar and gall, with a scoff to make it relish the bitterer, Let us see if Elias will come. All the people wag their heads at him; the Pharisees they insult over him, with Oh thou that didst destroy the Temple. His poor mother and some friends stood by and lamented him, till at the end of three full hours, he mightily crying did give up the ghost into his Father's hands. So he died a most vile and shameful death, a most hard and painful, a most execrable and cursed death, the death of the Crosse.  
The death of the Cross was 1. A shameful 
f It was usual with Pagans (as Chrysostom writes) to upbraid Christians with tu adoras crucifixum. Heading, stoning or burning is not so odious among any people as hanging is, among us it is called in special reproach A dog's death, Abeat in malam crucem.  death, Heb. 12. 2. & 13. 13. Isa. 53. 12. A filthy death, Alexander ab Alexandro so termeth it, Mors turpissima, Bernard. Therefore julian called Christ the crucified or staked God: And the Jews continue still in railing on Christ and cursing him, and ignominiously call him Talui, him that was hanged, in which the Christians glory, Gal. 6. 14. They teach their children to curse Christ. The Turks mock us at this day with our crucified God. He died In medio latronum tanquam latronum maximus. He was counted a malefactor by wicked men, Matth. 26. 65. Good men looked on him as an Impostor, Luk. 24. 21. God looked on him as a malefactor, Heb. 9 28.  
Tully 
Orat. ad Verrem tertia.  saith, Facinus est vincire civem Romanum, scelus verberare, quid dicam in crucem tollere? It is a great offence to bind a Citizen of Rome, a greater to beat him, the greatest to set him on the Crosse.  
2. It is a painful death, He endured the cross, Heb. 12. 2. Christ's strong cries like 
Mor● cousixorum in cruse est acerbissima; quia configuntur in locis nervosis & maximè sensibilibus, scilicet in manibus & pedibus, & ipsum pondus corporis pendentis continuè a●get dolorem, & cum hoc etiam est doleris diut●rnitas; quia non statim in oriuntur, sicut hi qui gladio interficiuntur. Magnitudo doloris Christi potest considerari ex preceptibilitate patientis, & secundum animam & secundum corpus. Name & secundum corpus erat optimè complexionatus, cum corpus ejus fuerit formatum miraculosè operatione Spiritus sancti: sicut & alia, quae per miracula facta sunt, fuerint aliis potiora, & ideo in eo maximè viguit sensus tactus, ex cujus preceptione sequitur dolour. Anima etiam secundum vires interiores, efficacissimè apprehendit omnes causas tristitiae. Aquin. part. 3. Quaest 46. Artic. 6. Vide Lactant. Diu. Instit l. 4. p. 288, 289, 250. Quatuor causae sunt cur Christus crucis mortem sustinere voluerit. Prima, Quia accrbissima. Secunda, Quia ignominiosissima. Tertia, Quia gentilis non Iudaica erat. Quarta, Quia significabatur eam fieri pro salute omnium credentium ubicunque illi terrarum essent, quod etiam representabatur expansione manuum. Quo nimirum & Christus allusit, Joh. 12. 32. Mors & crucifixio Christi in lege quoque adumbrata est, sacrificio ventilationis quae sursum ac deorsum, dextrorsum ac sinestrorsum agitabatur. Paul. Fag. Annotat. in Deut. 21. 22. In ligno moritur Dominus, hoc est mysterium peregit salutis, quoniam & lignum perniciem ac mortem attulerat. Genus est mor●is non solum ignominiosum, sed durissimum, & prope intolerabile. Lod. Vir. de ver. Fid. Christ. l. 2. c. 15.  women's in their travel, argued strong pain, Acts 2. 24. see Lament. ●. 24. Bruising hath pain, Gen. 3. 15. Isa. 53. 10. He was nailed in the hands and feet the most sinewy and sensitive parts, Psal. 22. 16.  
3. It was a cursed death, Gal. 3. 13. that is, yielded himself to a cursed death for us; so the Father's gloss it. It was a cursed death by the decree and appointment of God, Deut. 21. 23. Christ's hanging on the Cross seems to be prefigured by the Heave offering, of which the Law makes mention: and the brazen Serpent, Numb▪ 21. 1. was a Type of Christ crucified, john 3. 14, 15. & 12. 32, 33. The reason was, That he might free us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us, Gal. 3. 13. The Prince of darkness would not let so great an advantage pass without proving once more whether in this last hideous pang of death he might not prevail to have fastened some stain of sin upon the pure soul of that immaculate and now dying Lamb of God. He could not have fitly been said to have triumphed over them on the Cross, if he had not properly grappled and fought with them there, wherefore assuredly the whole band of that hellish kingdom of darkness was let loose upon our Saviour, he having at once the Creator and the creatures, men and devils against him, and yet maintaining himself in perfect faith and patience, might indeed make a full satisfaction to the Divine justice for the miserable disobedience of man.  
Christ died for the reprobate five ways.  

1. By way of proclamation, Remission of sins is proclaimed to thee if thou wilt believe, Luke 24. 47. Act. 13. 38. & 10. 43.  
2. By way of obligation, Thou art bound to believe that thy sins may be forgiven thee in Christ, Mark 1. 15. Rom. 7. 2.  
3. By way of obsignation.  
4. By way of general merit, john 3. 16.  
5. By way of special intention too, for all that thou knowest, Act. 8. 22. M. Fenners Hidden Manna.   
That is an Argument of great fame but little credit used by the Arminians 
h Hoc argumentum Hofmannun▪ Theologum quendam Augustanae confessionis Auctorem habuit, qui id primus extrusit. Avidè id exceptum fuit ab Arminio & ejus sequacibus, qui illi obstetricati sunt cum cur â. Spanhem. de Grat. Univers. part. 3. p. 1558, etc. Vide plura ibid. , Quod unusquisque tenetur credere, hoc verum, etc. That which every one is bound to believe, is true: But every one is bound to believe that Jesus Christ died for him, Therefore it is true that Jesus Christ died for every one.  
The first object of faith is not to believe that Christ died for us, but that there is 
They are grossly mistaken that will make Jesus Christ to die for all, so as to make them salvabiles if they will, and yet cannot say that either God hath given Christ to all, or given all to Christ, or that the Spirit of God will apply that redemption to all. There is an adequation or commensuration betwixt the three Persons in the Trinity and their workings for the salvation of Saints. 1 Pet. 1. 2. Dr. Hill on Ephes. 4. 15. See Mr. Gillesp. Miscel, c. 22.  salvation in no other, Act. 4. 12. To believe that Christ died for me is one of the heights of Religion, Rom. 8. 33. Gal. 2. 20. Faith is grounded on the word, assurance on experience. A wicked man going on in sin is not bound to believe that Christ died for him. Adam's disobedience is general and universal, not in power alone, but in act too, it maketh all sinners. The obedience of Christ hath a potential universality, and is sufficient to make all righteous, but actually it justifies the faithful only, Dr Hampton on Rom. 5. 19  
Every man is bound upon pain of damnation to believe in Christ according to the first degree of faith, john 3. 18. that is, by a true and lively assent to believe, That Jesus is the Saviour of all that truly believe in him, and having this faith thou art bound to believe that he is thy Saviour, that he died for thy sins, and rose again for thy justification; but every individual person is not bound to believe that Christ died for him, for then the greater part of men should be bound to believe untruths, so some answer it.  
Others say that all generally have the offer of Christ to whom the Gospel is preached, Act. 13. 38, 39 yet Christ died not alike for all as the Arminians hold, but for the Elect more especially, so as not only to save them if they believe, but also that they may believe and so be saved, john 17. 2, 6, 9 Acts 13. 48. Phil. 1. 29. Vide Davenant. Dissertat. de morte Christi. Mori pro aliquo, propriè est, morte sua aliquem à morte liberare, seu mori alicujus loco, ut ipse vivat. 2 Sam. 18. 33. Rom. 5. 6, 8. 2 Cor. 5. 15. 1 Joh. 3. 16. & 4. 9 Act. Synod. nation. Dordrecht. Artic. 2. exam. Vide plura ibid.  
Testatur Scriptura Christum pro omnibus mortuum, nusquam autem pro singulis, nec disertis nec aequivalentibus verbis. Quamobrem Omnes in hac propositione, aut not at gentes pariter & judaeos, Rom. 3. 9 aut not at varia hominum genera, ut 1 Tim. 2. 5. aut denique omnes & singulos fideles, ut 2 Cor. 5. 14, 15. Id. ib. p. 133. Vide plura ibid. Ponit enim aliquando Scriptura pro omnibus multos. Gen. 17. 4. & 22. 18. Aug. de Civit. Dei. l. 20. c. 23.  
Now after his death follow two things more for his further humbling, viz. his burial and his descending into hell.  
For his burial, the Scripture is plain in it, Matth. 27. 59, 60. Luke 23. 53. and 
This was so clear, as that there was an order of Knighthood of the Sepulchre; so at this day the Turk maketh a great commodity for letting travellers to go in and see the Sepulchre, Estey. A West-Indian King having been well wrought upon for his conversion to the Christian Religion, and having digested the former Articles, when he came to that, He was crucified, dead and buried, had no longer patience, but said, If your God be dead and buried, leave me to my old God the Sun, for the Sun will not die.  there are good reasons for it.  
1. To fulfil the Scripture, Isa. 53. 9  
2. To show that he was truly dead, for none but those that are dead use to be buried; and Pilate would not grant that he should be buried, until by diligent search he found that Christ was dead.  
3. To bury sin, Rom. 6. 4.  
4. That his resurrection might be the more evident, to which the manner of his burial belonged; for therefore was he laid in a new sepulchre, in which none yet ever lay, lest they should say that he rose again not by his own virtue, but by the touch of some other there buried, 2 King. 13. 21.  
5. To sanctify our burial, and sweeten the grave to us.  
6. That he might conquer death in his strongest hold, job 17. 13.  
It was an honour to be buried of so worthy a man and with such store of ointment, 
Mark 15. 46. John 19 38.  but to be put prisoner into the dungeon of death the 
i Isa. 53. 8. He was taken from prison and from judgement. His prison was the grave, and he died under a judgement, that is, a sentence of condemnation. The Angel was sent as a public Minister of justice to roll away the stone, and let the prisoner go, when the debt was paid.  grave, and to seem to be swallowed up of death by giving so far way unto it, that it might also bear him as it were captive into its strongest hold, this was an abasement. Had our Saviour rose again so soon as the soldier had run him through the midriff with a spear; or so soon as joseph had taken him down from the Cross, and then showed himself in glory in an instant, all his enemies would have been dismayed, and he should have put them to confusion; but in tarrying so long afore he rose till he might be laid in a Tomb as other dead men are, he even yielded himself, as it were, for a space to the flouts of his enemies, this was to abase him yet lower than dying.  
Now for Christ's descending into hell there is a deal of quarrelling about it 
k Hunc Articulum Theologorum crucem non immeritò nuncupare possumus, adeo illos torquet & vexat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descendit ad inferos vel ad infernum. This is the only Article (say some) which proves the immortality of the soul. The question amongst us is, Whether Christ descended locally in soul into the hell of the damned, or virtually by the power of his Godhead. , in so much that one saith, It is a kind of descent into hell to read the Controversies about it. This Article is grounded on most evident words of Scripture, Psal. 16. 10. Acts 2. 25. St Austin might justly say, Quis ergo nisi infidelis negaverit fuisse apud Inferos Christum? And all men agree in this (as Bellarmine de Christo l. 4. c. 6. hath well observed) that Christ some way descended into hell, but the question (saith he) is altogether about the exposition of this Article, for the whole difficulty lieth in the word Hell.  
The Word Scheol is taken four ways in Scripture.  

1. For the grave, Psal. 16. 10.  
2. For the place of the damned, Luke 16. 23.  
3. For the torments of hell, 1 Sam. 2. 6.  
4. For extreme humiliation or abasement, Isa. 14. 15.   
In like manner (saith 
l Tom. 2. part. 1.  Altingius) to descend into hell is taken four ways.  

1. To be buried, Gen. 42. 38. 
Mr. Perkins following Solinius on the Augustane Confession in this Article (as he doth much on the whole Creed) mentions four several expositions, but in stead of this last, he hath another, that Christ was held captive in the grave, and lay in bondage under death for the space of three days. Altingius Problem. Theol. part. 1. prob 44. much magnifies this Interpretation, as true, pious and agreeable to the Creed▪ and approved of by great Divines, Calvin, Beza, Danaeus, Ursin, Paraeus, and by public Confessions of the Church.   
2. To come into the place of the damned, Numb. 16. 33.  
3. To feel the torments of hell, 1 Sam. 2. 6.  
4. Extremely to be abased, Matth. 11. 23.   
I shall rehearse four several expositions of this Article, and deliver my judgement at last.  
First, Some Interpret it of the inward sorrows of Christ's soul, which were very great, as the Scripture testifieth, Mark 14. 33, 34. and as appears by Christ's prayer thrice repeated to his Father that the cup might pass from him, by his agony and bloody sweat, Luke 22. 24. By his words uttered upon the Cross; and lastly by that testimony of the Apostle, Heb. 5. 7. The word Hell is often put Metaphorically for great and grievous troubles here suffered, Psal. 18. 5. & 116. 3. Psal. 86. 13. jonah 2. 2. But this exposition can in no wise stand with the order and series of the Creed, for since there is mention made of Christ's descent into hell after his death and burial, it cannot be understood of that which happened before his death.  
They which expound this Article thus, give this reason thereof. The former 
Vide Sandford● de Descensu Christi ad Inferos, l. 4.  words, Was crucified, dead and buried, do contain (say they) the outward sufferings of Christ. Now because he suffered not only outwardly in body, but also inwardly in soul, therefore these words may be so interpreted. But this reason is invalid, for neither is it true, that by the first words only bodily torments are expressed, but those of the soul also are meant; for Christ was wounded for our transgressions, bore our iniquities, and made his soul an offering for sin: And by the words of David and Peter (whence this Article hath its foundation and original) it is most evident that these words ought to be understood of that which Christ suffered after death: For the word Hell is not to be taken otherwise in the Creed then in those places of Scripture whence the Creed is taken; but it is manifest to any one that is not altogether blind, that David and Peter speak of that which happened to Christ after his death.  
Secondly, Others say that Christ after his Passion upon the Cross, did really and locally descend into the place of the damned. 
Vide Bellarm. de Christ. l. 4. c. 8, 12.   
Many of the Ancient Fathers, the Papists, some Lutherans and Protestants follow this Exposition. One Reverend Divine, now with God, held that Christ descended locally into hell to suffer in his soul the miseries of the damned, and urged 
Some hold that Christ went to the place of the damned, and there preached, and that as many as believed in him and were converted were thence delivered.  for his opinion Ephes. 4. 9 where the Apostle (saith he) makes Christ's descending into the lowest parts of the earth in such a kind of suffering in the local hell, opposite to his ascending far above all heaven, as the highest degree of advancement and lowest degree of abasement that could befall a creature. And Acts 2. 24. 31. to take soul (said he) there for the dead corpse is so hard a kind of phrase, that howsoever it must be yielded to in some places where the circumstances of the place and the thing spoken of compelleth, yet so to take it in a place where there is no such necessity, seemeth unreasonable. The literal text therefore here (saith he) is agreeable to those texts which speak of Christ's sufferings, He made his soul 
Bellarm. de Christ. l. 3. c. 16.  a sacrifice for sin, which could not be so well done any way, as by giving it to suffer the fullness of God's wrath in the place of extremest torment, which might 
Some say he descended into hell that there he might show himself a conqueror, and might triumph over the devil, as it were, in his own Kingdom. See B. Bills. Redempt. of Mankind. Dr Prid. Serm. Moutac. Orig Eccles. Tom-prior part. posteriore, p. 442, 443, 444. But the descent into hell which the Creed expresseth, and the Scripture intimates did belong to his humiliation, Phil. 2. 8. but his triumphal descent would rather have been an exaltation.  seem to be signifed by burning the sin-offering after it was killed 
* The Paschal Lamb was to be not alone killed but roasted after. , to show that not alone death was suffered by our Saviour, but also the torments of hell; and the words of 
m Psal. 16. 10. Christus secundum animam post ejus emigrationem, verè & localiter detrusus est in carcerem infernalem; ut execratio pro nobis factus, per i●enarrabiles inferorum animae suae cruciatus, nostras anim as liberatas ab aeternis angoribus & cruciatibus inferui, immunes praestaret. Lavater. de Descensu. Sandford de Descensu Christ. ad Infer. l. 4. Hoc idem censet & Latimerus noster in concione quadam quae inter alias ejusdem extat. Some Papists say that Christ went not down to hell but to the upper skirts and brims of it, where the Fathers were floating, to fetch them thence: but the Fathers were not there, but were saved by the same faith we are, Acts 15. 11. Vide Sandford. de Descensu Christi ad Inferos, l. 2. p. 16. usque ad 36. & l. 4. p. 83, 84, etc.  David (saith he) Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, may very fitly import so much, when he speaks of it as of a strange thing that a soul should be in hell and not left there. And Peter, Acts 2. 24. telling us, that God did lose the pains of death, might seem to import so much, seeing the pains of death may well be interpreted, those pains which follow after death, and in regard of which to those that know what death is, death is only painful; otherwise from the pains of natural death, Christ was no more freed, neither were they more loosed from him then from every other man, seeing every man sees an end of his outward torments by dying. Paul also might mean this in mentioning of a cursed death, and 
Gal. 3. 13.  saying, He did bear the curse for us: The greatest part of the curse of the Law is, To be cast into the place of the damned, and into their torments, though not into the sinful things that accompany their torments. David as a figure of Christ 
Psal. 86. 13.  saith in one Psalm, Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell: Now the lowest hell is not the grave, but the infernal pit which is far lower than the grave: This (saith the same worthy Divine) commends God's justice and mercy, and 
See Ps. 99 1, 2.  Christ's love, and shows the abominableness and vileness of our sins, more than any thing else could do. All this notwithstanding, others hold that Christ's local descent into hell is an unwarrantable conceit, and contrary to the word of truth and sound reason. Vide Sandford. de Descensu Christi ad Inferos, l. 3. p. 36, etc. 
If Christ went to hell to endure those torments that we might not endure them, than he ought to have descended thither, both in soul and body, since both our bodies and souls must have suffered those torments but for Christ.   
Neither in the Creed nor Scriptures, where mention is made of hell with relation to Christ, is the word gehenna used, which is always restrained to the hell of the damned; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word designs the state of the dead in general, and is used of all with no difference.  
In all the New Testament it occurs but once, Luke 16. 23. where necessarily it 
For that place Eph. 4. 9 By the lower parts of the earth Grotius understands the earth in which men live, where Christ exercised his divine power. See Tim. 3. 16 Others interpret it of the grave, which is called the heart of the earth, Matth. 12. 20. See my Annotat. Acts 2. 27. Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, id est, me, frequens Hebraismus, non relinques me diu sub regno mortis Grotius. The soul is used by a Synecdoche often in the Psalms, (whence this place is taken) for me, Psal. 7. 2, 4. & 3. 2. & 11. 1. & 17. 3. See vers. 11. of this Chapter. By hell is signified the state of the dead, though they were godly and in joy. See Gen. 37. 35. Psal. 6. 5. The same is said twice in Acts 2. after the Prophet's manner, and the latter words expound the former. Christ suffered not the pains of hell in specie or loco, that is, either in kind or place; but some think that he suffered pains and punishments conformable and answerable to them in extremity, that only excepted which is sin, or consequent upon the inherence and eternity of the sin of such as are punished it hell. Dr. Field of the Church, l. 5. c. 17. Some say the torments of hell are 1. Essential, the wrath of God upon the soul, and that Christ underwent this. 2. Accidental, as despair, blasphemy, these he suffered not. The suffering of God's wrath includeth two things. 1. A privation in regard of sense of all the favour of God. 2. An enduring in regard of sense of all the anger of God: These two things did Christ endure. He lost the apprehension of God's favour, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 2. He suffered the full sense of the wrath of God. Whatsoever believers should have suffered for their sins, whether it be in the loss of the sense of God's love, or in the sensible feeling of the wrath and Divine displeasure of Almighty God; all that Christ suffered, so far as can be suffered without sin, Zach. 13. 7. Mr. hooker's Gift of gifts on Titus 2. 14. There are eight things in hell pains which by no means Christ's soul might suffer, Darkness, destruction, death, and fire of hell, remorse, rejection, malediction, and desperation of the damned. B. bilson's Redempt. of Mankind by the death and blood of Christ. p. 49, 50, 51, 52, 53. Vide Sandfordum de Descensu Christi ad Inferos, l. 3. p. 152, ad 179. Bilson saith the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which Saint Luke, Act 2. expresseth david's meaning, doth always note hell in the new Testament, p. 170, 171. But Sandford. opposeth this, de Descensu Christi ad Inferos, p. 40, etc.  signifies the hell of the damned; and yet not there from the force and propriety of the word (for it is of larger extent) but from the circumstances which are there used. For as Bucer learnedly notes, the rich man is not simply said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, in inferno, seu in gehennâ, because in torments and in flame.  
2. The Evangelists have professedly delivered to us the History of our Saviour even to his ascension, neither yet have they made even the least mention of this his descent into hell, which they would never surely have omitted, if they had judged it a thing necessary to salvation. Moreover, blessed Luke in the Preface of his Gospel, tells Theophilus, That he having had perfect understanding of all things from the first, would write to him in order, that he might know the certainty of those things wherein he had been instructed, ad verbum, in which he had been catechised, but of descent ne gry quidem, whence it appears that it was no part of the Catechism which Theophilus learned and certainly knew.  
3. Blessed Paul, 1 Cor. 15. 1, 2, 3, 4. where he rehearseth certain chief heads of the Gospel, which he had preached to the Corinthians, rehearseth the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, but not this descent into hell, yet that was a fit place to have rehearsed it in if he had preached any such thing. Therefore it is manifest enough that he preached it not nor is it necessary to be known; he affirmeth to the Corinthians that which he preached would suffice them to salvation, if they were not wanting to themselves.  
4. If Christ did go into the place of the damned, then either in soul or in body, or in his Godhead. But his Godhead could not descend, because it is every where; and his body was in the grave till the third day; and as for his soul it went not to hell, but presently after his death it went to Paradise, that is, the third heaven, a place of joy and happiness, Luke 23. 
Nec valce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Smalcii à priscis emendicatum. Ego dico tibi hodie (ubi ponatur distinctio) & cris mecum in Paradiso, nempe post diem Judicii. Nam evertit hoc, 1. Lectio Syriaca. Ego dico tibi, quia hodie cris mecum in Paradiso. Et 2. Hodie, illud salvatoris respondet, quando latronis. Dr Prid. Fascic. Controvers. Theol. cap. 4. de Eccles. Haec elusio & (inquit Suarez) non interpretatio, cum dicat Christus, petitionem latronis implendam esse, eo ipso die. Sandford. de Descensu Christi ad Inferos.  43. which words of Christ must be understood of his manhood, or soul; and not of his Godhead.  
Some think by Paradise no certain place is designed, but that is Paradise wherever Christ is, and wheresoever God may be seen; because therefore the soul of the thief was to follow Christ and to see God, it is said to be with him in Paradise.  
Many modern Interpreters (saith Sandford de Descensu Christi ad Inferos, l. 3. p. 39) much favour this opinion, and cite Austin and Beda as Authors of it, quam verè ipsi viderint. He saith he cannot approve this interpretation whosoever is the Author of it; for Christ spoke of that Paradise where then he was not. But if Paradise be nothing but the place whence God was seen, when the thief hung on the Cross he was in Paradise. Paradise is put often for heaven in the new Testament, Rev. 2. 7. 2 Cor. 2. 4.  
There is an analogy between the first and second Adam. The first Adam was cast out of Paradise the same day he sinned, therefore the second Adam did enter into heaven the same day he made satisfaction.  
Some say that to descend into hell is a popular kind of speech which sprung 
Bishop Usher of Limb. Patrun. Loquendum ut vulgus, sentiendum ut sapientes. Aristot. in Top.  from the opinion that was vulgarly conceived of the receptacle of the souls under the earth. As we use to say commonly, that the sun is under a cloud, because it is a vulgar form of speech, and yet it is far enough from our meaning for all that, to imagine the cloud to be indeed higher than the sun.  
Thirdly, Some almost confound this Article with Christ's burial, and make one sense of both, because those words Sheol, Hades, Infernus, often in Scripture note the grave.  
Both many Ancient and Modern Divines have taken Christ's descent into hell in that sense. This seems to some to be the reason wherefore the Nicene Creed mentions only Christ's burial and no descent into hell; and Athanasius his Creed, his descending into hell without speaking a word of his burial: Neither Irenaeus, Augustine, Tertullian nor Origen, when they recite the rule of faith, mention Christ's descent into hell. Vide Rivet. Cathol. Orthodox.  
But this seems not so probable an interpretation,  
1. Because He was buried goes next before these words, neither can these be added exegetically because they are obscurer than the former.  
2. It is not likely that in so succinct and short a Creed the same Article should be twice put, or the same thing twice said by changing the words. Vide Chamier. contract. â Spanh. Tom. 2. lib. 5. c. 3. & Calvin. Institut. l. 2. c. 16. Sect. 8, 9, 10. & Bellarm. de Christo, l. 4. c. 14.  
Fourthly, Some interpret this article of Christ's descending into hell, by his going to the dead, and for a time (viz. even to the resurrection) continuing in the state and under the dominion of death; and this seems to be the most genuine exposition of all, for it keeps both the propriety of the words and the distinction of the Articles, and it is drawn from Peter's words, nor is this opinion urged with any great difficulty. Hell signifieth the state of the dead, the condition of those that are departed this life, common to good and bad, the being out of this land of the living, when the soul and body are separated and do no more walk upon the earth to be seen of men and converse with them.  
The Hebrew, Greek and Latin words for hell, both in the Scripture and other 
Of the Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. See my Hebrew & Greek Critica. Infernus ab inferendo deducitur, eò quod mortui efferantur domo & humo inferantur. Sanfordus de Descensu Christi ad inferos, p. 68 Vide plura ibid. The Vulgar renders it Abire, Act. 13. 4. Venire, Act. 18. 5. & 27. 5. Devenire, Act. 9 32. Supervenire, Act. 11. 27. & 27. 10.  sit Authors are used for the state of the dead, Psal. 89. 47, 48. Psal. 30. 3. Isa. 38. 18, 19 1 Cor. 15. 55. Peter's words, Acts 2: 24. sufficiently confirm this exposition. The whole state of the dead is called a descent, because although some of the dead ascend into Heaven, yet all which are buried descend into the earth, whence from the first condition of the descent of carcases the whole other state of the dead is called a descent. To descend often in the Acts of the Apostles noteth not a descent from a higher place into a lower, but only a deporture from one place into another. Sometimes it signifieth to pass from a lower place to a higher. See jud. 11. 37. & 15. 11. So juvenal,  
— Praecordia pressit.  
Ille senis, tremulúmque caput descendere jussit  
In Coelum.   

CHAP. VI Of CHRIST'S Exaltation.  
HItherto of Christ's humiliation. The first of these kind of actions he 
Quem admodum victoris triumphus duplex esse solet, unus quidem in ipso campo, quo hostes prosternit, alter in civitate regia, quo de victoria ante parta, amplissimam gloriae; affluentiae, dominationisque mercedem capit: ita & Christus triumphavit dupliciter, primò quidem in ipsa cruce ubi hostes devicit, deinde verò in resurrectione ascensioneque: ubi hujuscè victoriae suae luculentum fructum ad●ptus est. Sanfordus de Descensu Christi ad inferos lib. 4. The Exaltation of Christ is that glorious or happy estate into which Christ entered after he had wrought the work of our Redemption upon the cross. Mr. Perkins on the Creed. Phil. 2. 4. Heb. 2. 7. 1 Pet. 1. 11.  did to fulfil his great Offices in his Person consisting of two Nature● Godhead and manhood.  
I proceed to the second kind of actions needful to the same purpose. For if Christ had not overcome his humiliation, but had been overcome of it, than had he not been a perfect Saviour, than had he not been the Son of God, nor the King of Israel, for a King, Lord and God must conquer. Now this Glorification is the raising of himself to a most high and honourable estate, for so it is said, He was to suffer and to enter into his glory, that is, that glory which God had appointed for him, and he by submitting himself to such meanness for God's honour sake, fully deserved for himself and all his members with him. Therefore the Apostle saith, God hath greatly exalted him, for this is the mighty one upon whom God had laid strength, and he was to divide the spoil with the mighty according to Isaiahs' Prophecy. Now this Glorification of our Saviour (say some) hath three 
a Exaltationis gradu● tres fuere, totidem gradibus extremae humiliationis oppositi: scilicet resurrectio à mortuis, opposita morti, ascensio in Coelos Desconsui in Sepulchrum & ad inferos; & Sessio ad dextram Dei, permansioni in Scpulchro & in statu mortis vel apud inseros. Ames. Medul. Theol. l. 1. c. 23.  degrees, Resurrection, Ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father. Four degrees, say Estey and others, of which two are past, viz. his Resurrection and Ascension, one is present, viz. his sitting at God's right hand, the last is to come, viz. his judging of all the world.  
For his Resurrection, that is the first degree of his Glory, death had separated his soul from his body, and carried his body for a time prisoner into the Sepulchre, but it was impossible he should be held of it, saith the Apostle; and therefore God having loosed the sorrows of death did raise him up again no more to return to corruption.  
Of this Resurrection we have large proof in the Scriptures.  
First, Each of the Evangelists insisteth upon the narration of it, and the Apostles in their Epistles do frequently mention and affirm it, and in their several Sermons declare and publish it unto all the people. Matth. 28. 1. describes it thus, In the end of the Sabbath, that is, the Jewish Sabbath which was Saturday, as it began towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalen, and the other Marry to see the Sepulchre, and behold there was a great earthquake: and Mark thus Chap. 16. 2. Early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the Sepulchre at the rising of the Sun: And Luke thus, Chap. 24. 1. Now upon the first day of the week very early in the morning they came unto the Sepulchre bringing the spices which they had prepared. john thus, Chap. 26. 1. And the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalen early when it was yet dark unto the Sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the Sepulchre The women when it was very early upon our Lord's day in the morning came out of the City, and by that time the Sun was rising they came to the very Sepulchre and found Christ risen before: For so soon as the morning did peep, and the first day of the week began to show itself, he reduced his soul unto his body, and raised it up, the Angel at the same time rolling away the stone, and astonishing the keepers, and before the women could come into the Sepulchre he was departed thence. So he was part of three nights and three days in the grave, 
Rose] that is, his body rose, the Godhead could not, the soul did not. From the dead] that is, out of the grave. Estey.  and rose the third day according to that he had foretold. He died upon Friday about three of the clock, and was buried that even, and lay in the grave that part of Friday, taking the day for the natural day. All Saturday he lay in the grave the night and the day. The first day of the week in the morning he lay but a very short space, and in the very beginning of it rose, that it might appear he lay there not out of necessity, but because he thought it fit to stay so long there to make it appear that he was truly dead. The women came and sought him but were informed by the Angels that he was risen, yet could not make the Apostles believe it. This Peter did preach Acts 2. this Paul preached Acts 13. this Paul inculcateth 1 Cor. 15. and Peter in his Epistle also. It is so necessary a point of our Christian Faith, that without it all our Faith is vain and falleth to the ground. David foretell it 
Resurrectio Christi fuit totius humanae naturae, quae antea per mortem ceciderat. Respectu animae fuit ab inferis, vel à statu & Dominio mortis, cui anima, prout pars erat humanae naturae, fuit subjecta. Respectu corporis fuit à mortuis, & sepulchro▪ Ames. Medul. Theol. l. 1. c. 23. It was the custom of the primitive Christians when they met one another, to utter these words, Christus resurrexit, Christ is risen. Matth. 16. 21. & 20. 19 See Luk. 24. 21 1 Cor. 15. 4. There be at this day who affirm, That Christ's body is in the Sun, an old heresy of the Manichees, who affirmed, That Christ in his Ascension left his body in the Sun, taking their ground for it from Psal. 19 5. He set his tabernacle in the Sun.  in all the parts of it, as Peter interprets him, Acts 2. His soul was not left in hell, nor did his body see corruption, that is, putrify at all. A man consists of two parts a soul and a body, there can be no resurrection after the separating of these two, unless the soul be reunited to the body again, and both lifted up out of the state of death, therefore did the Godhead to whom both soul and body were united, restore the soul to the body again, preserving it from putrefaction, that it might be a fit dwelling place for the soul, and so having joined them together, the body rose and went abroad and showed itself to the Apostles, no longer a weak, feeble, mortal and corruptible body, but a glorious, impassable, incorruptible and most beautiful body, for it lost all its imperfections in the grave. And this Resurrection fell upon the third day after his death, as himself said, john 2. 18. the third day he should rise. The day began as we ordinarily account, howsoever perhaps by special institution the Sabbaths may be accounted to have begun otherwise, at the peep of the morning when men begin to stir about business than did Christ stir also, he was to lie no longer than the first day of the week, because he intended to challenge that day to himself to be the Lords day, and the Christian Sabbath, whence it came in process of time to have that name; before the third day he was not to rise, that he might show himself truly dead, and stay a sufficient while under the arrest of death for the accomplishment of our satisfaction. Now this Resurrection was performed by the power of his Deity, for all the while that he continued dead, his soul and body were both united to the Godhead, as it were a sword pulled out of the scabbard, which the man holdeth still one in one hand the other in the other, and so can easily put the same together again. For the Apostle saith, Rom. 1. 4. He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of sanctification by the resurrection of the dead, that is, by that his resurrection which is virtually the resurrection of all, seeing by virtue thereof all his people rise to glory. Therefore is he termed The first fruits of them that die, 1 Cor. 5.  
16. And the first begotten from the dead, Col. 1. 18. because by virtue of his Resurrection 
That is a poor shift of the Polonians in their Catechism to avoid that Text John 2. 19 for Christ's raising himself from the dead, they say, Graeca vox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae est reddita Latinò excitabo, potest reddi erigam; Unde sensus erit, Christum à Deo excitatum ex mortuis, suum corpus erexisse. Beza doth render it erigam, as the Vulgar excitabo, but the sense is the same.  the Saints rise to glory and enjoy from him this prerogative of overcoming death, as the first fruits sanctify the lump, and as the firstborn hath the privilege above all the children. In time some rose before him, but in virtue none, for all that rose did rise by the efficacy and merit of him, and his rising again. And this Resurrection was necessary for divers purposes:  
1. To make way for his farther Glorification, that he might reign as Lord of Lords, and King of Kings, for he could not have possessed fullness of Glory had he not been still in the Sepulchre. The soul indeed might have been perfectly glorified, but whole Christ could not have been fully glorified, if the body had not risen to partake of the glory of heaven with the soul. Now seeing the body was helpful to and in the performance of the work of Redemption, suffering great abasement, it was not equal that it should be any longer deprived of the reward when once Justice was fully satisfied upon it.  
It was necessary also to fulfil the Prophecies and Types that went before: David's Prophecy Peter presseth, Thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption: the type of jonah our Saviour telleth of, Matth. 12. 40. and both were to be accomplished.  
Lastly, It was necessary for the confirmation of our Faith, that we might be assured he was the Son of God and had perfectly accomplished this great work he undertook, therefore Paul saith, That he rose again for our justification, that is, to declare and prove that he had perfectly fulfilled all that was necessary to satisfy for our sins, and to procure for us, as the Apostle calleth it everlasting righteousness. When the Surety is apprehended for the Debtor, there is no getting out of the Creditors hand till he have discharged the whole debt, therefore when the Surety gets out of prison and is at large, the debt is fully satisfied▪ so it is in this case, so that we could not have rested upon him as a full and perfect Saviour, if he had not risen; but now our Faith doth evidently acknowledge him to be a perfect Saviour, and hath full assurance to ground upon since in him salvation is to be had. And for the end and use of this Resurrection, it was to quicken our soul, first that we might rise to newness of life, as the Apostle St Peter saith, and at length to quicken our mortal bodies too, 1 Pet. 4. 5. that the Head being risen the members might rise with him.  
The Resurrection of Christ should work on us so that we should live to him, 2 Cor. 5. 15. Ephes. 1. 19, 20. and that four ways. From the knowledge of his Resurrection we should be assured:  
1. That the Lord will raise the Church or us out of our lowest afflictions, Host 6▪ 2, 3. Isa. 26. 19 Ezek 37. 3, 4. and that should engage us to improve all our power for him.  
2. That Christ hath likewise power to raise up our souls to spiritual life, as our first rising is by the life of Christ as he recovered his life, so the increase of it is by the improvement of his Resurrection by Faith, Phil. 3. 11. Rom. 6. 4, 5.  
3. It assures us of the Resurrection of our bodies, Rom. 8. 11. 1 Cor. 15. joh. 11. 24.  
4. Of an inheritance and glorious estate, 1 Pet. 1. 3, 4.  
Now you have the Doctrine of the Resurrection as the Scriptures deliver the same.  
The second Degree of Christ's Glorification is his Ascension, which was a change of place, a transferring of his glorified body and soul into the upper Region of the world out of this lower room thereof. A body cannot be in more places than 
Christ ascended, 1. To prepare a place for us, Joh. 14. 4. 2. to send down the Holy Ghost into the hearts of his servants, John 16. 7.▪ 3. To triumph over Sin, Death, Hell, the Devil, Ephes. 4. 8. 4. To make Intercession for us, Rom. 8. 34. But the principal cause of his lifting up was the power of the Deity, Acts 2. 33. and 5. 31.  one, because it is circumscriptible, and our Saviour's body though glorified retaineth yet still the nature of a body, though it have laid aside all the natural imperfections of a body, and therefore our Saviour's body could of itself move upward, because it was rid of that gross weightiness which doth always accompany a natural compound body. Now this Ascension of our Saviour is in Scripture often related, two of the Evangelists tell of it, and St Luke again in the Acts of the Apostles. Mark hath it thus, Chap. 16. 19 He was received up into Heaven. Luk. thus Chap. 24. 51. He was parted from them and caught up into Heaven. Again in 
Why was he taken up in a cloud? the Law was given in a cloud, there was a cloud in the Tabernacle and Temple, and so Christ was taken up in a cloud, to show that we should not be inquisitive into that which God would have kept secret.  Acts 1. 9, 10, 11. While he spoke thus he was taken up, and a Cloud received him up out of their sight. Now this Ascension be fell forty days after his Resurrection, Act. 1▪ 3. when he had conversed with them and informed them of all things necessary for their Apostolical function, both that he might thus confer with them of all such necessary things, and that by often showing himself he might give sufficient and undeniable proof of his Resurrection. And after this was done Luke telleth how an Angel spoke to them about it, and told them of his returning again, and that the Heavens should contain him till the time appointed.  
Thus did he fulfil the Prophecy that went before concerning this matter, for David had said long before, Psal. 68 18. Thou hast ascended up on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast given gifts unto men. This was also typed by the High-Priests entering into the most holy place upon atonement day after the Sacrifice of expiation offered, therefore Christ the true Highpriest entered into the holy place not made with hands, even into very Heaven, there to appear before God for us, Heb. 6. 20. & 7. 26. & 84. The cause of his ascending was, because the earth was 
Aquinas saith, that as he was forty hours in the grave to show the truth of his passion, so he ascended forty days after his resurrection, to show the truth of his Resurrection.  no fit place for a person so glorious to abide in, for either he must show forth that glory of his, and then men could not have endured to converse with him: or else he must not show it forth, and then he had deprived himself of his deserved glory. Wherefore it was necessary that he should betake himself to a place and company capable of that glory, even into the highest Heavens, where he might enjoy and declare that infinite great glory which his Father was to bestow upon him for a reward of his sufferings. And this his Ascension was even a taking possession of that glorious estate for us, that we might be fully assured of his drawing us his members after him, that at last in due time we might be where he is to behold his glory, and therefore he told his Disciples, That he went to prepare a place for them, and that in the fit season he would return again to take them with him that head, and 
He ascended from the mount of Olives, Act. 1. 12. near which he had his bitter Agony in the Garden, Luk. 22. 39 that thence he might also take the rise of his Exaltation. But that the print of his feet should be there seen to this day whence he ascended, we leave that to the Papists to believe if they be so sotish. See Lithgows nineteen years Trau. part. 6. pag. 283.  body might be both together. And in the mean space this his Ascension is become a means of drawing our hearts after him to a longing desire of being with him, that we might set our affections on things above where Christ our Head is. For seeing Christ our Lord did leave earth to go into Heaven, it is evident that Earth is a far meaner place, and Heaven a far more excellent. Wherefore it is necessary for us to raise up our hearts to that which is the most happy place and state.  
Now the third Degree of his Glorification follows, that is, His sitting down at 
Sedere ad dextram Dei, phrasis non est propria, sed metaphorica, Christi tum summum honorem, tum summii imperium designat. Metaphora desumpta est à consuetudi-Regum & Princip●m, qui eos ad dextram suam collocare solent, quibus proximum à se tum honoris, tum potentiae gradum in gubernation concedunt, 1 Reg. 2. 19 Matth. 20. 21. Utraque pars sessionis evidens est ex Scriptura. Prior d● gloria Ephes. 1. 20. Altera de Imperio & R●gni administratione▪ Psal. 110. 1. & Ephes. 2. 21, 22. Altingius.  the right hand of his Father, whereof many Scriptures also make mention, Heb. 10. 12. & 1. 3▪ & 12. 2. & 8. 1. Ephes. 1. 20. Now this is a figurative kind of speech, and denoteth the high advancement of his humanity next to the Divinity above all other creatures, both in respect of admirable gifts and boundless authority. For to be at God's right hand signifieth a state of excellent glory, as he that is next the King in honour standeth or sitteth at his right hand, Gen. 48. 18. 1 King. 2. 19 Psal. 45. 9 Matth. 20. 20, 21. This is called a sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high, it is the dwelling of the fullness of the Godhead in him bodily, in that very body of Christ the Godhead hath poured forth all sorts of excellencies as much as a creature is possibly capable of, and he is actually invested with all power in Heaven and Earth. Christ hath a Name above all names far above all Principalities and Powers, and Thrones, and Dominions. Where he must abide till he make all his enemies his footstool. Our Lord Jesus Christ is adorned with more abundance of Wisdom, Power, Goodness, Love, Joy, Mercy, Holiness, and whatsoever qualities tend to make him in whom they are excellent, glorious and happy, than all the creatures of God laid together, so that all the heavenly Army worship and adore him, and cast themselves down at his feet, and are most ready to yield him absolute and perfect obedience, knowing him to be preferred by his Father to that Dignity. That so he might receive a most ample reward for that 
The sitting of Christ at the right hand of the Father is the highest and supreme degree of his Exaltation, wherein he hath received of the Father excellent Glory, Dignity, Power and Rule, and is actually made the Head of his Church, and Lord, and Ruler of all things both in Heaven and Earth.  exceeding great abasement to the lower parts of the earth, to which he did voluntary submit himself for his Father's glory sake, and that he might become a fit Head and King to his Church, able to guide and rule them at all times, and to sub due all their and his enemies under him and them, Dan. 2. 44. & 7. 14, 27. Mar. 14. 62. Rom. 8. 3. Ephes. 1. 21, 22.  
I should now speak of Christ's judging the quick and dead at his second coming, which some Divines make the last degree of his glory, but there will be a fitter place to handle that elsewhere. I shall therefore in the next place draw some useful Corollaries from the Glorification of our blessed Saviour.  
FIRST, We must labour so seriously to contemplate this unutterable glory of 
If we have so much benefit by Christ's acting and suffering for us on earth, by Christ humbled, what have we by Christ exalted, joh. 16. 7. He is present spiritually still with us here, and acts in Heaven also for us.  our Head Christ Jesus, till we be translated into the same image from glory to glory, endeavouring to show forth the power of his Resurrection and Ascension in rising to newness of life, and in ascending up on high in our desires and affections▪ We must be raised up together with him, and with him sit together in heavenly places. If the Resurrection of Christ have not a powerful impression on our souls, to make us rise out of the filthy grave and rotten Sepulchre of a wicked life to a holy and godly conversation; If his Ascension and sitting at his Father's right hand, have not a like powerful impression upon our souls to raise us up to all heavenliness of mind, making us in desire and will even as it were to ascend after him, and sit there with him, the bare saying that we believe these Articles, shall little avail to our happiness; I beseech you therefore, let us all endeavour to make a practical use of these heavenly and supernatural truths which are revealed to us. Christ is risen, say to thyself, why do not I rise with him from all looseness, vanity, wickedness, uncleanness, injustice and abominable lusts? Christ is ascended and hath taken his place in Heaven, Why do not I cast off all earthly base affections? and lift up my soul and aspire to that high-place. We say we love Christ, and that we are his members, let us show our love to him, and union with him by being thus made conformable to his Resurrection and Ascension. Yea let us long for his appearance, and thirst after the great Day when he shall come to judge the quick and dead. What good wife would not▪ often long for the coming of her absent husband, and for her going to partake with him in his state of glory? This world is a dunghill, and all the things in it are base, compared to that estate of Christ, than dirt and dung compared to gold. O let us show that we know and believe these things by filling our souls with holy and heavenly desires and affections! Contemplate our Lord Jesus Christ rising out of the grave, contemplate his ascending up to his Father, contemplate him sitting at the right hand of his Father, contemplate him coming to Judgement, till these things have banished all love of sin in thee, all earthliness of Spirit, and made thee in some measure like unto him in these things. If the Spirit of grace and glory rest upon us, it will thus glorify us and raise us up. A Christian man is not glorious, because he hath obtained more outward preferment or wealth, but because he hath obtained a more effectual and working knowledge of Christ his Head, and is made more and more suitable to the spiritual glory of such a Mediator. Hitherto should our chief desires and endeavours run. What do we musing, tiring and tormenting ourselves in studying earthly things, nay evil and sinful things? Do these studies and cogitations accord with the heavenly nature, which our blessed Saviour maketh them partakers of, that are ingraffed into him by Faith, and enlivened by the mighty work of his Spirit. In vain do we call ourselves Christians, and look to be brought to that glorious estate, whereto he hath already assigned all true Christians, if we do not show ourselves thus in our measure for the present glorified with Christ.  
But secondly, let this thought make us to loathe our sins, and heartily to lament them when we consider of them, because they offend so great and wonderful a person that is so highly advanced over all and withal so good and glorious, and one that hath done so much for us, and doth so particularly know and observe us and all our actions. That Lord of Lords, and King of Kings, that only blessed Potentate who inhabiteth eternity, who dwelleth in that light which is inaccessible, whom no creature saw nor can see; this eminent person he seeth us at all times, in all places and companies, he is a witnnesse of all our actions that shall be the Judge, he taketh particular and precise notice of our whole carriage. O shall we dare to offend his pure and glorious eyes with things so abominable to him, as those must needs be, for which himself was put to suffer, such things as he did suffer before he entered into his glory! Do we not think that Christ hateth sin with a most perfect hatred, and shall not we strive to conform ourselves to him, and to please him that is so incomparably much greater than all other creatures? Do but think what an one our Lord is, and how displeasing sin is in his sight, and then it is not possible for us to love it if we either love ourselves or him. And it is a sure truth, that God will sanctify these Meditations to such, as will exercise themselves therein to beat down sin in them, and to work an hatred of it in their souls; Oh rhat each of us could retire ourselves often from the world, and put himself in mind of Christ's glory, and say to himself, if I follow voluptuousness, and give myself to wantonness, drunkenness, gaming, idleness, riot or unthriftiness, these are the things that glorious Saviour of mankind abh orreth, and shall I dare to provoke him against me? We are careful to shun those things which we know will offend great men in the world, not alone Kings and Princes, but men of inferior rank, that are of place in the Countries where we dwell, and shall we not avoid that which will displease him, whose greatness is so great that all height set in balance with his is mere meanness, baseness and contemptibleness? Admonish thyself often of this point, beseech him that knows how loathsome sin is to himself, to make it abominable to thee for his sake and this will cause thee to loathe it. The true knowledge of Christ to conceive him to be so exceeding excellent as he is, will force any reasonable creature to study to please him, and to cast away far from him all that will provoke him, and that is all sin and wickedness, for that his soul hateth, and then is our leaving of sin and casting away evil deeds truly acceptable to him, when it hath its original in this knowledge of him, and love to him.  
Thirdly, This glory of Christ following his sufferings must become a pillar to our Faith, and a sure Argument to make us trust perfectly upon him and him alone. For is he not able to the utmost to save those which come unto God by him, hath he not made it more than manifest, that he hath fully satisfied his Father's justice, and answered for our sins. He bore the sins of mankind even of the world, as the Scripture speaketh indefinitely, that no man should through unbelief exclude himself. I say he bore all the sins of men upon his body on the Tree, there he undertook to offer up a perpetual Sacrifice, and to make an atonement to his Father for us.  
Now you see him no more in an Agony, no more Crucified, no longer lying in 
He received a personal glory at his Ascension, his body is calleed a glorified body, Phil▪ 3. 21. See Psal. 110▪ ult. Phil. 2▪ 8, 9 1 Pet. 1. 11. Isa. 53. ult.  the Grave, but entered into his Glory. O rest upon him, rest upon him, rest upon him perfectly! How many, how great soever those sins be that you have committed, for his entering into Glory maketh it manifest, that he hath satisfied for them all to the full, and if you renounce yourselves and all other merits, he can and will cause them all to be pardoned and blotted out of the Debt-book of his heavenly Father. If we can go to Christ for pardon of sin, he is so glorified that his intercession applying his Redemption to us shall surely make us safe. To him therefore run, on him cast thyself, on him rely for the plenary and certain remission of all thy sins, all aggravations of them notwithstanding, yea go to him and rest upon him for power against them all, and for strength to overcome them, and to vanquish all Satan's temptations, and to make thee a perfect conqueror; for this glory hath he received as the Head of the Church for the use and benefit of his Church, and of all and each of those in his Church that shall seek to him and believe in him. He will justify, he will sanctify, he will save. He can do it perfecty, he will do it certainly, only so that we rest upon him for it, and seek to and call upon him for it. All that call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved, all that long and desire to be saved and do trust in him, and cry to him to be saved from the guilt, power, punishment of their sins, shall be saved, for therefore hath he ascended and is glorified that he might become a perfect Saviour to his Church. If he had not entered into Glory by sufferings we should have had no benefit by his Glorification, but because he did in this manner convey himself to Glory, therefore is he become a Captain of our Salvation, as the Author to the Hebrews speaketh. Let us run to him in all our fears, doubts, temptations, weaknesses, for doth not the Scripture tell that he hath received gifts for men? even gifts to bestow upon men, not to keep to himself alone, but with a liberal hand to distribute unto men, yea even to the rebellious that God might dwell among them. Cleave to Christ, rest on him, stay upon him, he should lose the glory of his glory, the subordinate use of his glory, if he did not save them from whom he did both so suffer, and so enter into his glory.  
Again, Let all the Saints learn to adore, admire, honour, love, serve, obey this 
We should love Christ not amore concupiscentiae but amicitiae, not for some good we hope to get by him, but for the good that is in him, Cant. 1. 7. & 5. 16. Phil. 3. 8. Meretricius am●r est plus annulum amare quam sponsum. August. Motives. 1. God loves him above all, Isa. 42. 1. He loves his creatures with a common love, his Saints with a peculiar love, some of them above others, Christ above all. 2. Else we shall come under that dreadful curse, 1 Cor. 16. 22. 3. The greatest act of God's love to you was in giving Christ, john 3. 16. 4. All the excellencies of his benefits do flow from him, satisfaction was given to God in his sufferings, because of the excellency of his Person, Acts 20. 28. and all his prayers are effectual, because of that also Heb. 7. 25, 26. 5. All your benefits which you have by Christ depend upon your interest in his Person, 1 joh. 5. 12. 6. Christ loves your Persons, he loved you when enemies. We should love him with all kinds of love, of desire, complacency, benevolence, and with the highest degree of it, above all things. Christ makes variety of applications to the souls of sinners, Cupit amari, saith one.  glorious person, this surpassing excellent person, the Mediator God and Man, even the man whom God hath so exalted, let us see him by Faith as they by sight see him in Heaven, that we may honour, praise, magnify and exalt him as they do, and obey him, submit ourselves to him in our measure as they. Faith, Faith must be our guide, we see not Christ with this mortal eye, we must see him by the eye of Faith. I mean by a lively and full apprehension and persuasion of this his glorious being which the Scripture doth set forth before our eyes, and if we unfeignedly and undoubtedly believe that he is such a one, the great glory whereunto he is entered will make us to glorify him, highly to esteem of him, devoutly to worship, to bow the knees of our soul always, and of our body on fit seasons to him, and to count it out happiness to be subject unto a person so highly advanced by God. This is the whole work of those immortal and blessed Spirits which are nigh unto him, because their knowledge is more full and perfect too, but the more we inform ourselves of the excellency of Christ, the more shall our souls stoop to him, and the more shall we esteem it not our duty alone, but our felicity to be at his command. God is ascended, our Lord Jesus is ascended with the joyful voice of all Saints and Angels, which with a divine and heavenly music entertain him there, they sing All honour be unto the Lamb; let our souls sing for ever, let us cast ourselves down before him, let us exalt his great and glorious Name, let our hearts, tongues and lives confess to him, that he is the Lord of glory to whom all glory is to be given, that by glorifying him we may glorify the Father that sent him, for He that honours not the Son, doth not neither honour the Father.  
Christ glorified hath not laid down any of his Offices: 
Christians in the Gospel should look on Christ as ascended.   
First, Because certain acts of Office are to be performed in Heaven, john 14. 2.  
Secondly, Christ hath not yet given up his Kingdom to his Father, 1 Cor. 15. 24.  
Thirdly, It appears by enumeration of the several acts that Christ performs as Mediator in Heaven in reference to each of his Offices:  
I. To his Prophetical, so  
1. He gives gifts to men, furnisheth them with abilities for the Church's service, Ephes. 4. 11, 12.  
2. He sends them forth, and will uphold them, Rev. 1. 16. the Witnesses shall prophesy till they have finished their Testimony.  
3. He takes the measure of the truths taught, Ezek 40. 3. his business is to resine doctrines.  
4. He concurs with his Messengers in their Ministry, 2 Cor. 5. 12. & 31. 2. Isa. 57 18. Heb. 12. 24, 25.  
5. When ungodly men prevail against any the Lord raiseth up others in their spirit and power.  
II. To his Priestly Office, so  
1. As a public person he represents your persons, Heb. 9 24. See Exod. 28. 12, 29. by this means you are made accepted, Ephes. 1. 6. 2. You have a memorial, Psal. 112. 6. God is always mindful of you.  
2. The Highpriest was to sprinkle the blood before the Mercy-seat, Levit. 16. 15. Christ offers there the price of his own blood, whereby you obtain Mercy, and have it continued, for the blood was carried into the holy place to abide always before the Lord.  
3. He hath taken possession for you as your Priest, this gives actual right, as the price paid a meritorious right.  
4. He is careful to receive your services, Levit. 1. 1, 2. to sanctify them, Exod. 28. 3. Revel. 8. 3, 4. and to offer them to his Father, the smoke of the incense comes up out of the Angel's hand.  
III. To his Kingly Office, Mat. 28. 18. Eph. 1. 21, 22.  
1. In his present dispensations:  
1. In protecting his people from danger, Isa. 4. 5. Mic. 5. 5.  
2. In preserving his Truths and Ordinances, Rev. 14. 1, 2.  
3. By confounding his enemies.  
2. In his preparations for the time to come:  
1. He prepares Grace for his people, Col. 3. 3. 1 joh. 5. 11.  
2. Prepares Prayers for them, Luk. 21. 31, 32.  
3. Prepares Glory for them, 1 Cor. 2. 9 joh. 14. 2.  
God's people should exercise Faith on Christ as glorified, and in Office in Heaven:  
1. An act of persuasion, that he takes care of them still.  
2. Of reliance for thyself and the Church, 1 joh. 2. 1. Psal. 55. 22.  
3. Look upon none but Christ, Prov. 3. 5.  
4. Quiet thy soul in trouble, Psal. 127. 2.  
5. Triumph over dangers.   
The End of the fifth Book.   

THE six BOOK. OF THE CHURCH The SPOUSE of CHRIST, And Antichrist The great Enemy of CHRIST.  
HAving handled the Work of Redemption in the Nature and Person of it, I should now speak of the Application of it by the holy Ghost. But because many Divines do treat of the Church after Christ, I shall follow that Method, and likewise speak somewhat of that great Adversary of Christ before I come to the Doctrine of the Application of Christ.  

CHAP. I. Of the Church of CHRIST.  
THe principal matter required of our parts in the Apostles Creed, is, to believe things concerning God and the Church. God is the first object of our Faith, we must know and believe in him so far as he is revealed in his Nature, Properties and Works. Malè vivitur, si de Deo non benè creditur. August. de civet. Dei lib. 5. cap. 10. After Articles concerning the several Persons in the Trinity, followeth this, I believe the holy Catholic Church. This was added to the former (saith August. Enchirid. cap. 56.) upon special consideration. For the right order of a confession did require, that after the Trinity the Church should be mentioned, as the house after the owner, the Temple after God, and the City after the builder. And he cannot have God for his Father, which hath not the Church for his Mother.  
1. The Act of Faith, in these words (tacitly implied) I believe.  
2. The Object of this Faith, the Church, described by two Properties, vi●.  
1. Sanctity, in that it is called Holy.  
2. Universality, in that it is styled Catholic.  
Concerning the act of this Faith [I believe] though it be not prefixed to the beginning of this Article, as neither to the rest which follow it; yet it is to be understood; the former [I believe] which precedes the Article of the holy Ghost, communicating itself to this and the subsequent, and that chiefly for two Reasons:  
The one to teach us, that the principal object of our Faith is God himself, considered in Unity of Essence, and Trinity of Persons, and therefore to each of the Persons, there is either a [Believe] prefixed, or the particle (in) set before, to show that on them we are to build the certainty and assurance of our hope; but as for these Articles of the Church, The forgiveness of sins, The Resurrection of the 
Dr Chaloner. Credo Ecclesiam Catholicam, Sect. 2.  body, and the like, they being creatures are but the secondary objects of our Faith, not to be trusted upon immediately in themselves, and therefore have not a Credo, a [Believe] apart to themselves, but prefixed to one of the Persons, I believe in the holy Ghost.  
The other, to set out and divide by this means unto every of the Persons a special work, Creation to the Father, Redemption to the Son, Sanctification to the holy Ghost.  
Question is made, What the words are which are to be supplied in this Article, The holy Catholic Church, whether I believe, or I believe in? I believe, as is generally 
The Papists say, we must believe in the Church, and the Rhemish Testament is for it upon 1 Tim. 3. after a sort we are to believe in the Church, saith Bellarmine. Sciendum (inquit Augustinus Serm. 131. de tempore) quod Ecclesiam credere, non in Ecclesiam credere debemus: quia Ecclesia non est Deus, sed domus Dei.  determined by the Orthodox.  
Kahal in Hebrew ordinarily translated Ecclesia, sometimes Synagoga, is taken for an Assembly or Congregation, and that sometimes in the evil part for an Assembly of wicked men, as Gen. 49. 6. Psal. 2●. 5. sometimes in the good sense for an Assembly of men gathered together for a holy or civil use or end, Nehem. 5. 13. 1 Sam. 17. 47. 1 Chron. 13. 2. Deut. 23. 1, 2, 3. Psal. 8. 22, 23. Gnedah or Hedah ordinarily translated Synagoga, doth also signify an Assembly or Congregation gathered at set hours and places appointed. Sometimes it notes a rebellious, tumultuous and evil Assembly, Psal. 106. 17, 18. Numb. 16. 48. and sometimes an orderly and lawful Congregation, as Psal. 1. 5. jer. 30. 20. Exod. 12. 19, 47. Gnedah signifieth something more noble than Kahal, as being the special. Ecclesia in profane Authors signifieth an Assembly of Citizens, which by the voice of the Crier was called from their domestic affairs, and the rest of the multitude to hear the sentence of the Senate: so it is all one with Concio which is derived 
* Gell l. 18. c. 7. Syriack, Turbae admodum commotae sunt. See Mr. Hudsons' Vindication, cap. 1. Vide Mestrezat de L'eglise. cap. 2.  à Ciendo, because all were called by public Edict into the Assembly. In the New Testament it is once taken for a disorderly and confused Assembly, Act. 19 32, 39, 40. But that one place excepted, it is ever taken for a multitude or society with a disposition or relation to Religion. And so it notes,  
1. The company of all the faithful, Mat. 16. 18. Ephes. 1. 21, 22. & 4. 16. & 
Si dicatur in sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam, sides nostra refertur ad Spiritum sanctum qui sanctificat Ecclesiam, ne sit sensus, Credo in Spiritum sanctum sanctificantem Ecclesiam: sed melius est, ut non ponatur ibi In, sed simpliciter dicatur sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam, sicut etiam Leo Papa dicit. Aquin. 2a, 2●. Quaest 1. Artic. 9 Vide Calvin. Institut. l. 4. c 1. Et Gatakeri Cinnum, l 2. c. 20. Vide Seldenum de Synod. vet. Ebr. c. 9▪ p. 275, 276. Et Whitakeri controvers. 2. de Eccles. Quaest 6. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dictam esse, uti concionem, à concio, hoc est, convoco, usque adeò notum est, ut vix commemorari debeat. Nimirum is mos crat olim in civitatibus, in quibus summa potestas penes populum erat, ut vel jussu Magistratuum, vel also instituto publico, non optimates tantùm, sed etiam plebs è privatis aedibus evocaretur, atque conveniret, seu in plateam publicam, seu in Templum aliquod, aut in alium quemvis locum, ut de iis deliberaret quae ad R●mpublicam pertinerent. Id factitatum olim Athenis & Romae, & ubicunque sui juris populus de legibus vel figendis, vel resigendis, de pace constituenda, de bello decernendo, deque tribuendis vel poenis vel praemiis pro imperio statu●●e potuit: universus enim po●ulus, eo modo, ●●mque in sinem convocatus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Graecos, Concio verò apud Romanos appellabatur. Atque ex iis conventibus Reipublicae causa constitutis, vox manavit ad omnes alios coetus, quacunque de causa fierent, sacra scilicet, vel profana. Thes. Theol. Salmur. parte tertia de Ecclesia.  5. 25, 26. Col. 1. 18, 24. Ephes. 5. 27, 32. it is also taken indefinitely for every multitude and society of believers in Christ, Act. 2. 47. Gal. 1. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 9 & 12. 20. Act. 5. 11. & 8. 1.  
2. More particularly it signifieth any Assembly gathered together for the worship of God, Act. 9 31. & 14. 23. 1 Cor. 11. 16.  
The Church in its primary signification may be defined, A multitude or society of 
Ecclesia Christi est coetus hominum Evangelium Christi profitentium, in qu● per Ministros ad hoc vocatos, Evangelii doctrina purè traditur, & Sacramenta ex Dei verbo administrantur. Beza epist. 24. Vide Bellarm. de Eccles. milit. cap. 11. Ecclesia prout dicta est ab evocando, conventum & concionem e●●c●t●m denotat: Unde Christi Ecclesia coetus est hominum è turba reliquorum mortalium evocatus ad vitam aeternam.  faithful men called out of all mankind corrupted by the Ministry of the Word according to the good pleasure of God, united as living members to Christ their Head, and in him partaking of grace in this life, and glory in the life to come, to the praise of God's wisdom, power, and riches of his mercy.  
1. It is a multitude, 1 Cor. 10. 17. and that out of every Nation, Language, Tribe and People, Apoc. 5. 9  
2. It is a society of men not of Angels, Heb. 12. 22. See Ephes. 3. 10.  
L'Empereur in his Theses saith, If the word Church be generally taken, it is certain that the Angels also belong to it, for the Church is the body of Christ, Ephes. 1. 23. but Christ is the Head not only of men, but also of Angels, Col. 2. 10, 18, 19 They are our fellow-servants, Revel. 19 10. and fellow-brethrens, job 1. 6. by Christ Ephes. 3. 15.  
3. A society of the faithful called effectually and savingly out of the world or mankind corrupted, by the Gospel.  
The Church is either Jewish or Christian, the Christian either Primitive or Successive, and they again in respect of Manners are Pure or Impure, in respect of Worship, Sound or Idololatrical; in respect of Doctrine, Orthodox or Heretical; in respect of mutual Communion, Catholic or Schismatical.  
There are divers and glorious Eulogies of this Church visible in the Scriptures, it 
Titulus iste Domus Dei, Ecclesia Dei vivi, & si ea conjungere libet, Columna & stabilimentum veritatis, magnificentior esse videtur, quam ut in Ecclesiam particularem competat. Haud sane Timotheus in Ecclesia universali visibiliter conversari potuit. Thes. theol. Salmur. part. 3. Ecclesiam sanctam Catholicam partiuntur, in militantem, triumphantem, & patientem. Quis unquam ante natos jesuitas a●divit hanc Ecclesiae partitionem in militantem, triumphantem & patientem, militantem in terris, triumphantem in▪ coelis, patientem in purgatorio? Scripture duas tantum partes constituit, unam in coelis, alteram in terris: sicut ex Apostoli verbis apparet Ephes. 1. 10. & 3. 15. Coloss. 1. 20. Scripturae, Patres, Scholastici, Tridentini proceres duas esse tantùm Ecclesiae partes statuunt. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. praelect. 2.  is called, The City of God, Heb. 12. 22. The heavenly jerusalem, there also. jerusalem which is from above, Gal. 4. 26. The house of God, the pillar and ground of truth, 1 Tim. 3. 15. Christ's sheepfold, John 10. 16. The Spouse of Christ, Cant. 4. 8. 2 Cor. 11. 2. Revel. 21. 9 The body of Christ, Eph. 1. 22, 23. Col. 1. 18.  
The Church is Triumphant or Comprehensorum, and Militant or Viatorum.  
1. Triumphant, viz. that part of men who having overcome the flesh, the world and the Devil, now reign with God and Christ gloriously in Heaven.  
2. Militant, viz. that part of men which yet conflict with those aduersaries. That distinction relies on the words of the Apostle, Ephes. 3. 15. The Apostle speaks of the Triumphant Church, 2 Tim. 4. ●6, 7. Heb. 12. 23. Revel. 7. 9 Hence their error is refuted who think, that the souls of the dead do sleep even to the Resurrection, or who think that the souls of the godly and faithful till that time are excluded from the vision of God and heavenly glory. See 2 Cor. 5. 6, 7, 8. Phil. 1. 23. Revel. 14. 13. the Apostle speaks of the Militant Church, 1 Tim. 6. 12. That which is spoken to one is understood of all, Gal. 5. 17. 1 Pet. 2. 11. 1 john 5. 4. Ephes. 6. 11, 12.  
The Church is Militant either in deed or in show only and profession, those indeed belong to the Militant Church which are called according to purpose, viz. the truly faithful and elect. Those are the true members of the body of Christ, who by faith are united to Christ and ingraffed in him, who are partakers of the holy Ghost, who draw grace and spiritual life from Christ, Rom. 8. 9 Col. 2. 19 Ephes. 5. 25, 26, 27. but the wicked and hypocrites only in name and profession belong to the Church, for they have no true Communion with Christ, they no more belong to the mystical body of Christ, than a wooden thigh or dry arm to the body of a natural man. For they want life, sense and motion, and receive no influence from the Head, they are (as is commonly said) in the Church not of the Church, 1 john 2. 19 Hence arose the distinction of the Church into Visible and 
* Distinctio ista non generis fuit in species, vel integri in sua membra, quae res multiplicet, sed tantum quoad diversos modos & status. Dr Prid. Ecclesia visibilis est propter homines qui sunt membra & cives Ecclesiae, qui nobiscum agunt & degunt, quos aspi●imus, alloquimur & salutamus. Visibilis est propter exercitia pietatis, quae videntur ab omnibus in Ecclesiae. Visibilis est, quia notae sunt insignes & conspicuae, quibus ab omni infidelium contubernio distinguitur, viz. verbi divini praedicatio syncera, rectus usus Sacramentorum, fidelis & simplex in Christo obedientia. Humour. jesuit. pars 2. de natura Eccles. Ratio 3. Quemadmodum non negamus Ecclesiam universalem esse nonnunquam conspicuam, non absolutè quidem, sed respectu multarum sui partium, & in pluribus atque ingentibus Ecclesiis particularibus, sic ex eo sequi id esse perpetuum vehementer inficiamur. Thes. Theol. Salm. par. 3. These two terms Visible and Invisible are not divers disterences of the Church, as if they constituted two contradistinct or opposite Churches, for it is plain that they are for the most part subordinate and coincident. Pura puta distinctio est respectu duplicis illius quae in ipsa consideretur, formae: & r●m non variat, verum varios illius considerandae modos innuit. To be Visible and Invisible are denominations merely accidental no true differences of the Church. Ecclesia Catholica est objectum Fidel, non sensus, ut verò invenitur in coetibus particularibus, duplicem sortitur formam, internam & externam: Interna constat duplici union, Christo, per fidem, fratribus per charitatem: Externa elucet in publica verbi professione, & Sacramentorum participatione. A prima habet Ecclesia, ut sit, à secunda solummodò ut sit conspicua. Dr Prid. Lect. 9 de visibilitate Ecclesiae.  Invisible. The Invisible Church consists only of those who are endued with true faith and holiness, but these are known to God and Christ alone, 2 Tim. 2. 19 john. 10. 14. therefore in respect of us that Church (which alone truly and properly is the Church on earth) is called Invisible.  
The Church is a society of men, not as men (for so a number of Turks, or a nest of Arians might be the body of Christ) but as believers: and therefore the Church as the Church cannot be seen, but believed. Bellarmine himself saith, Videmus coetum hominum qui est Ecclesia, sed quod ille coetus sit vera Christi Ecclesia, non videmus, sed credimus; and what say we more?  
That is the visible Church which consists of men professing the true Faith and Religion any way, whether in truth or counterfeitly and falsely, of good and evil, of elect and reprobate. This Church is mixed, whence it is compared to a great house in which there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also wood and clay, some for honour, some for reproach, 2 Tim. 2. 20. To a field in which there are Tares as well as wheat, Matth. 13. to a net in which fishes of all kind, good and bad are gathered. See Dr Featley against Fisher about the visibility of the Church. jackson's raging Tempest on Matth. 8. 23. p. 25. Dr Tailor on Rev. 12. p. 294. Mr Baxters Infants Church-membership, pag. 176. Par. on Rom. 11. vers. 4. pag. 160, 161.  
Again, The Church is either Particular, viz. a company of the faithful which 
The Church is called Catholic, quia universaliter perfecta est, & in nullo claudicat, & per totum ●rbem diffusa est. Aug. de Gen. ad lit. ●. 1. See Mr. Hudsons' Vindicat. c. 1. sect. 3. And Dr. Hampton on 1 joh. 2. 19  is contained in some particular place, 2 Cor. 1. 1. & 1 Cor. 16. 19 Col. 4. 15. Or Universal (Catholic) which consists of all that every where call upon the name of God, 1 Cor. 1. 2. The Apostle calls it, The general Assembly, Heb. 12. 23. It is General  
1. In respect of time 
* This acception of the word Catholic can hardly be proved out of ancient Writers. Ecclesia Catholica vocatur, 1. Respectu Ecclesiae Veteris Testamenti. 2. Respectu particularium Ecclesiaru●. 2. Respectu Catholic● Fidei. Gerh. loc. common. , it had a being in all times and ages ever since the giving of the promise to our first parents in Paradise.  
2. In respect of the Persons of men, it consists of all sorts and degrees of men, Act. 16. 34.  
3. In respect of place, because it hath been gathered from all parts of the earth, specially now in time of the New Testament, Revel. 5. 9  
4. In respect of Doctrine therein professed.  
This name Catholic is not given to the Church in Scripture, but was imposed by men, yet consonant to the Scripture.  
The Church was first entitled Catholic in opposition to the visible Church of 
This word Catholic is not found in all the Bible, yet the sense being there it may be retained, the word is the same both in Latin and Greek, and signifies General. It is used, 1. Unproperly, and so it signifies as much as Orthodox, in which sense sometimes the Fathers use it, this is the Catholic Faith. 2. Properly, so it signifies universal, and so it is here taken. Putant multi Catholicam dictam Ecclesiam, ut distingueretur ab Iudaeorum Synagogis terrae Canaan limitibus circumscriptis: Sed parum id verisimile fit, cum Apostolorum aetate non in Palaestina modò, sed etiam extra illam religione fuerint judaei; quin plures, quam in Palaestina. Eoque magis sit verisimile, Catholicae nomen opponi coepisse, ut Ecclesia quae toto orbe obtineret, distingueretur à conventiculis haereticorum & s●h●smaticorum, quales Novationarum, & postea Donatistarum. Vossius de tribus Symbolis.  the Jews, Act. 10. 15, 34. the full importance of this term Catholic is set down, Revel. 5. 8, 9  
This Catholic Church is called Holy, 1 Cor. 14. 33. & Revel. 11. 2. because 
The Church is called Holy in three respects: 1. In respect of the Righteousness and Holiness of Christ imputed, which may be termed Sanctitas imputata 2. In respect of those degrees of sanctification, wherewith it is endowed in this life, which may be termed Sanctitas inchoata. 3. In respect of the Rule and Law by which it is directed to serve God in Holiness and Righteousness, which therefore may be termed Sanctitas imperata. Dr. Chaloners Credo Ecclesiam sanctam Catholicam, part. 2. sect. 1.  Christ the Head of it is holy, Heb. 7. 26. and he makes the Church partaker of his holiness, john 17. 19 because it is called with a holy calling, and is separated from the world, 2 Tim. 1. 9 because the holy Word of God is committed to it, Rom. 3. 2.  

Object. But the Church doth not only contain in it those that are holy, but also hypocrites and such as are openly wicked, How therefore is it holy?  
Answ. Hypocrites and profane persons are but in name and outward profession of the Church, indeed and in truth they are not, those which are truly of the Church are holy, and therefore the Church is rightly called, and is holy.  
2. Although the visible hath good mingled with evil, yea almost overwhelmed with their multitude, yet it is deservedly denominated from the better part. As we call that a heap of corn where there is more chaff than corn.  
It is the privilege as well as duty of God's people to be holy, Deut. 26. 18. & 28. 9 it comes in by way of Promise, Reward, Privilege, Revel. 20. 6.  
The Reasons of this are taken from the Cause, the Nature and Effects of Holiness.  
First, From the cause of it, it flows from Union with God, john 17. 17, 21. 2 Pet. 1. 4. & 4. 14.  
Secondly, The Nature of Holiness consists in a likeness and conformity to God, Be ye holy as I am holy, Levit. 26. 44, 45. There is a fourfold Holiness:  

1. Of Dedication, so the vessels of the Temple and Tabernacle were holy.  
2. Of Exemplification, so the Law being the Epistle or exemplification of God's will was holy, Rom. 7. 12.  
3. By Profession, as 1 Cor. 7. 14.  
4. By Participation or Communion.   
The people of God are holy all these ways:  

1. They are dedicated to God, Rom. 1. 1.  
2. By Exemplification, They are the Epistle of the Lord Jesus Christ.  
3. By Profession.  
4. By Participation.   
Thirdly, If we consider the Effects of Holiness:  
1. Upon ourselves, it is the end of our Election, Ephes. 1. 14. of our Vocation, 1 Thess. 4. 17. Redemption, Luke 1. 74.  
2. Upon others, even the Enemies of it, wicked men, 1. Affectation, the hypocrite affects it, that there are so many pretenders to it though but in show, discovers the dignity of it. 2. That awfulness which it strikes in the hearts of wicked men. Saul stood in awe of Samuel. Herod of john Baptist, Mark 6. 20. 3. Envy, it works this in the worst, 1 john 3. 17.   

Quest. Whether every one which sincerely professeth the belief of this Article of the holy Catholic Church be bound to believe, that he himself is a true lively member of the same Church?  
Answ. No, all men are not bound to believe that they are actual or real members of the Catholic Church, for none can truly believe thus much of himself, but he that hath made his election sure, and is certain that his name is written in the book of life.  
A note, mark or character, is that whereby one thing may be known and differenced from another: That which is proper to a thing, and peculiarly found in it, may serve as a note or mark of distinction.  
The marks of the Church are  
An entire profession of the Gospel and saving truth of God, the right use of 
Ubicunque Dei verbum syncere praedicari atque audiri, ubi Sacramonta ex Christi instituto administrari videmus, illic aliquam esse Dei Ecclesiam nullo modo ambigendum est: quando ejus promissio fallere non potest Mat. 18. 10. Calvin. Instit. lib. 4. c. 1. Symbola Ecclesiae dignoscendae, verbi praedicationem, Sacramentorumque observationem posuimus. Nam haec nusquam esse possunt quin fructificent, & Dei benedictione prosperentur. Non dico, ubicunque praedicatur verbum illic fructum mox exoriri: sed nullibi recipt & statam habere sedem, nisi ut suam efficaciam proferat. Id. ibid. Si solus essem in toto orbe terrarum, qui reti●erem verbum, solus essem Ecclesia, & rectè judicarem de reliquo toto mundo, quod non esset Ecclesia. Luth. Loc. Commun. Class. 1 cap. 37. de Ecclesia.  the Sacraments, Holiness of conversation, the sound preaching of the Word of life, servant and pure calling upon God's Name, subjection to their spiritual guides, mutual communion in the Ordinances of Worship, Christian Fellowship with all Saints and true visible Churches of Jesus Christ.  
All these are proper to the Church but not perpetually to be found in it, no● alike pure in all ages.  
Where all these notes are to be found purely, the Church is excellent, for degree pure and famous, where any of these are wanting or impure, the Church is so much defective or impure, though it may be pure in comparison of others. But all these things be not of equal necessity to the being of a true Church. The profession of the Word, and so the preaching of it in some sense or other is simply necessary, that wheresoever it is, it maketh the Church in which it is a Church.  
To them who demand where our Church and Faith was before Luther, we answer, 
Luther's holy pains, preaching and writing was not a Novation, but a Renovation; not a planting of a new Religion, but a renewing and replanting of the ancient Religion; not an Institution but a Restitution of the truth of God; not an Introduction, but Reduction of the true and holy Religion. Dr Tailor on Rom. 1. 18. Rev. 2. 3. Epistola Pauli ad Romanos est epistola Pauli in Romanos. Faius. Vide Poly. Vir. hist. A●g. l. 6.  it was in the same place then wherein now it is. Our Church was in the present Romish Church obscurely, indistinctly, confusedly in it, not as an entire visible Church distinct from it, nor as any natural or integral member of it, in it as good corn in a field of tares; Luther did not erect a new Church, but refine a corrupt Church, nor preach a new Faith or Doctrine never preached before, but purge the old Faith once delivered to the Saints from all new inventions and errors. Rome hath departed from the Churches of God, we have not first and willingly separated from the Church of Rome, it hath apostatised from the true Faith she did once profess.  
The Question may fitly be retorted on themselves, Where was your Church? 
Show me that man, who before the Council of Trent held all the points of your Faith, as they are now taught and received in your Church. Dr Featleys Case for the Spectacles, c. 4. See more there. Bishop jewel in a Sermon at Paul's Cross made a public challenge to all the Papists in the world, to produce but one clear and evident Testimony out of Scripture, or any Father, or other famous Writers within six hundred years after Christ, for any one of the many Articles which the Romanists at this day maintain against us, and upon good proof of any such allegation, he promised to reconcile himself to Rome.  Where was your Trent Doctrine, and Articles of the Roman Creed, received de fide before Luther?  
First, In regard of true Doctrine; What heresies doth she hold about the Scripture, 
Papists call themselves Catholics but falsely, being both heretical in Doctrine, and Idolatrous in worship; a Catholic is a right believer: all true believers in the world make but one Catholic Church. Lyford. Papists call themselves Roman Catholics. Catholic is universal, Roman particular, that is, of the whole world, this of one City. So the Roman Catholic is as much as to ●ay Particular universal, that is, no● Catholic, Catholic. Downs Defence of former Answers against the Reply of N. N. See more there. The Mahometists at this day assume the name of Saracens (as your men do the name of Catholics) as if they came from Sarah the free woman Abraham's true and lawful wife, when in truth they took their first beginning fram Agar the bond woman. Dr Featleys Case for the Spectacles Chap. 6. Ecclesia Catholica universalis est, tota est, per orbem diffusa ac dissem●nata est, Rome ana pars solum est, particularis est & Romae Pomaeriis circumscripta. Extra Catholicam salus omnino nulla, extra Romanam, & servati multi & servan●●. Crakanth. Defence. Eccles. Anglic. Ut Donatistae nullam Ecclesiam praeter Africanam▪; ita Papistae nullam agnoscant Ecclesiam Catholicam praeter Romanam; quam absurdè Catholicam Romanam, quasi dicas universalem particul●rem vocitant. Down. Diatrib. de Antichristo part. 1. l. 3. c. 6.  about the Church, about Grace, freewill, Justification?  
Secondly, In regard of Worship, which is the Apostasy or falling away spoken of by Paul to Timothy, an admitting of Angel-worship.  
Thirdly, In regard of Government or Discipline.  
Her errors are now so fundamental that we are commanded to come out of her, and not to partake of her sins; and we depart no farther from her than she hath done from God.  
Their Apostasy 
* See Rev. 18. 4. 2 Chro. 11. 14. Host 4. 15. 1 Cor. 10. 14. 2 Cor. 6. 17▪ 1 Tim 6. 3. 1 John 5. 21. Vide Stresonem in Act. 14. 48. Conc. 162. pag. 528, 529.  is incurable, in that they hold,  
1. That their Church cannot err, as Laodicea.  
2. That there is no visible Judge to correct errors but the Pope. Therefore the Reformed Churches in England, Scotland, France, Germany did justly separate from the Church of Rome.  
The Church of Rome casts off all Christians and Churches from all hope of salvation who subject not themselves to their way, therefore they are most schismatical.  
Causa non secessio facit schismaticum. The cause (say the Canonists) not the separation 
If any man fall away from that Church, which is not Christ his Spouse, he cannot be charged justly with Apostasy. Nullus pudor est ad meliora transire. It is no shame to change for the better, we left not Bethel the house of God, until it became Bethaven, the house of iniquity. Dr. Hampton on 1 John 2. 19 See more there. Vire●us ●oc suasit, & suadeo etiam ut ab illa Ecclesia non solum abstineamus quae haeresibus & idololatria polluta est, & conventus habeamus, ubi possum●s, in quibus duo aut tres congregentur in nomine Christi, si plures non possint. Novam tum Ecclesiam non colligimus sed veteri nos adjungimus. Rivet. Grotianae Discus. Dialysis. Sect. 5. Certè praecipuum communionis vinculum missa est, quam nos ut maximum sacrilegium abominamur. Calv. Instit. l. 4. c. 2.  makes a schismatic. They who have given just and lawful occasion to others to separate themselves from their corruptions are the schismatics, and not they that took the occasion.  
He is well no schismatic though in schism, that is willing to join in communion with the true Church, when it appears to be so to him, as he is no Heretic, though he holds heretical opinions, who holds them not obstinately, that is (I suppose) with desire to be informed if he be in the wrong. My Lord falkland's Discourse of Infallibility.  
For the Papists several Marks of a Church, our Writers that oppose Bellarmine, do answer him so fully, and Dr Hampton so solidly in a Sermon of his on 1 john 2. 19 treateth of this Argument that I shall say nothing of it. See Dr Tailor on Rev. 12. p. 99 to 110.  
Those notes of Succession, Continuance, Visibility, Unity are not proper, agreeing only and always to the Church, therefore they are not certain and infallible. Bellarmin. de notis Ecclesiae, cap. 3. maketh them in themselves to be but probable.  
It is a Question, An Ecclesia visibilis possit errare, Whether the visible Church 
Nos dicimus Ecclesiam bano aut illam posse errare, ut Ecclesiam Corinthiorum, Galatarum, Ephesiorum, & reliquas hujusmodi, nec errare modò, verumetiam obrui tandem erroribus, & desicere, quod ipsa experientia in multis demonstravit. Dicimus autem veram Christi Ecclesiam Catholicam (quae est electorum tantùm) errare non posse, si errores mortiseros & insanabiles intelligamus, at in levioribus rebus posse errare, ●empe qua non simpliciter & absolutè ad Ecclesiam necessariae, quaeque fundamentum non evertunt. Whitak. controvers. 2. de Ecclesia quaest. 4. cap. 1.  may err. The Papists deny it, and urge Matth. 18. 17. & Matth. 16. 18. & 1 Ti●: 3. 15. See the Rhemists on that place.  
The Invisible Church (which consists only of the elect and true believers) cannot err damnably, Matth. 16. 16.  
The Visible Church whether virtual the Pope, or Representative, a general Council may err damnably. See Revel. 2. and 3. chap.  
If particular men may err, than also the Church which consists of such, but the first is true 1 Cor. 13. 9 Psal. 25. 7. Heb. 5. ●. Rom. 3. 4.  
Secondly, This is the difference between the Militant and Triumphant Church, that this is freed from sin and error, but that is not, for it prayeth continually, Forgive us our trespasses.  
The Church of Rome is incurable:  

1. Because she holds she cannot err.  
2. If she should, only herself and the Pope must reform her.     

CHAP. II. Of Pastors.  
1. THeir Names,  
In the Old and New Testament he is called a man of God, he is 
1 Tim. 6. 12. 2 Tim. 3. 17. Gen. 20. 1 Sam. 9 9 Ezek. 3. 1. Ezek. 34. 2. 1 Pet. 5. 1. Luk. 12. 24. 1 Cor. 4. 1. 1 Cor. 11. 10. Revel. 1. 20.  called in the Old Testament also, A Servant of the Lord, a Seer, a Prophet, a Priest, a Watchman, and a Shepherd.  
In the New Testament they are called Prophets, Ministers of God, Pastors, Teachers, Elders, God's Stewards. Titus 1. 7. God's Ambassadors. Rev. 1. 13. Angels, Revel. 1. 2, 3. Apostles, Evangelists, that men might regard them, and they be put in mind of their duty.  
He was to be of some years before he entered into that Function:  
Our Saviour was thirty years before he entered into the Ministry, Luk. 3. 23. See Numb. 4. 3. 
Quid magis Ecclesiae curandum, quam ut idoneus praesit Episcopus. At in Ambrosio obstare visum, quod B. Paulus vetet, ne Episcopus creetur neophytus nihilominus electus est Episcopus Ambrose, licet Neophytus: quia & ab Ariana haeresi constaret esse immunem; & summae esset auctoritatis; quod illa tempora requirerent. Vost. Instit. orat. l. 1. c. 10. Sect. 3.   
Basil and Gregory (saith Russinus Hist. l. 2. c. 9) spent thirteen years in searching forth the hidden sense of Scripture barely, before they would make show of their Profession.  
There is an Office of the Ministry instituted by Christ in the Churches of the 
How frequently do we read of the distinction of Pastors & flocks, we find rules for the qualification of Ministers, 1 Tim. 3. Titus 1. we find that the Primitive Church had their Pastors and Teachers, we find that some had the charge of this work upon them, Acts 20. 28. Col. 4. 17. 1 Pet. 5. 2. Here an instituted Ministry is clearly proved. M. symmond's Christian Plea for Scripture Ordinances. See more there. And M. Gillesp. Miscel. cap. 14. That the Ministry is a perpetual Ordinance of Christ. About the calling of a Minister and Ordination. See M. Vines on 1 Pet. 2. 1. pag. 11. to 23. Ephes. 4. 11. He gave not only Apostolical, Evangelical, Pastoral gifts, but Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors, as a fruit of his Ascension; Ministers both ordinary and extraordinary. These Ministers are not for a time but to continue, vers. 13. till all come to the unity of the Faith. That is therefore a prodigious opinion, That there is no Ministry. There is not only an essential and integral state of the Church, but organical Ministers. D. Hill. God hath designed Parsons to teach the people, charged them with the cure of souls, given them commission to go into all the world, given them gifts accordingly, charged the people to attend and obey, hath provided them maintenance and support, and separated them to Reading, to Exhortation and Doctrine, from the affairs of this world, that they may attend to these by the care of the whole man. D. Taylor Divine Institut. of the Office Ministerial, Sect. 3. A true Church cannot be without a true Ministry, the Reformed Churches are true Churches. Sadeel. de legitima vocatione Ministrorum.  New Testament.  
First, The Lord hath expressly instituted such an Office, 1 Cor. 12. 28. Ephes. 4. 11. This was one of his royal gifts in the day of his inauguration.  
The Socinians say, Cum adhuc nova & inaudita esset Evangelii Doctrina, etc. The Apostles had a Call when the Gospel was newly published; there needs not a Ministry now that the Gospel is generally taught, and it is promised we shall be all taught of God, if we should look for a Ministry where shall we find it? our Ministers were ordained by Bishops, they by the Pope, therefore their Calling is Antichristian.  
That there is such an Institution of Christ, and this to continue till the world's end may be thus proved, 
That there is such an Office. judaei à nobis interrogati, si illis data esset facultas ins●aurandi Sanctuari in monte moria, ut antea, an victima immolaturi fuerint, respondebant frustra hoc fore, quia inquiebant, non est Sacerdotium hodiè in Israel. Jos. Scalig. à Diatb. de decim.   
First, There are some to whom the word of Reconciliation is committed, and not to others, 1 Cor. 5. 18. Ram. 10. 15. there is a peculiar Mission, men cannot preach as the Ambassadors of Christ unless sent, joh. 20. 21. Gal. 1. 1.  
Secondly, Because a special Authority is committed to such by virtue of their Office, they have the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, Isa. 22. 22. Matth. 16. 19 There is a double power,  

1. Supreme which belongs to Christ only, Revel. 3. 7.  
2. Subordinate and delegated. Ministers are the Ambassadors of Christ, and so are to be received as Christ himself, We beseech you in Christ's stead, and He that despiseth you despiseth me.   
Thirdly, There is a special trial that in order to such an employment they are to undergo, 1 Tim. 3. 10. there is a trial required to the exercise of the meanest Office, the Deacon.  
Fourthly, The Lord hath appointed them a reward for the performance of such in Office. He hath ordained that those which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel, See Act. 6. 24. 1 Tim. 4. 15.  
Fifthly, They are to give a special account for the souls of all that are under their charge.  
Secondly, This Office is to continue till the end of the world.  
1. From the Institution of Christ appointing this Office, 1 Cor. 12. 28. in the last and purest times, Revel. 21. 14. the twelve foundations are the twelve Apostles.  
2. From the promise made to it, which supposeth that the subject of the power shall remain, Mat. 28. ult. See jer. 3. 15. & Isa. 66. 2.  
3. The necessity of this Office is as great now as ever. The ends of it are two, 
While there i● a Church there will be a Ministry, 2 Chron. 17. 9 & 3. 32.  The gathering and perfecting of the Saints, Ephes. 4. 11, 12. So long as one Saint is to be converted, and one grace to be completed there needs a Ministry.  
For that part of the Objection, That their Calling is Antichristian.  
In these licentious days several truths in Pamphlets are called Antichristian, Baptising 
There is an institution of Officers as well as Ordinances, Heb. 13. 24.  children, frequenting Ordinances, the Ministry, the Doctrine of the Trinity, that Magistrates should meddle with matters of Religion, that we prove our Justification by our Sanctification, Meeting-places or Churches for the people of God to assemble publicly in.  
The Papists say, We have no true Ministry, because at the Reformation we received 
In Philippi there were brethred, Bishops and Deacons, Revel. 4. 14. some now grant members yet deny Officers.  it not from Rome.  
The Brownists say, Our Ministers are not rightly called into their Offices, because we received it from Rome.  
Not every thing ordained by Antichrist is forthwith to be rejected, but only that which he doth quà Antichristus, as he is Antichrist. But Bishops were before ever Antichrist appeared in the world.  
Hilary against the Arians saith. Quisquis Christum, qualis ab Apostolis est praedicatus negavit, Antichristus est. Nominis Antichristi proprietas est, Christo esse contrarium.  
That Church, Ministry and Sacraments where Christ's holy Spirit is graciously, effectually and savingly present, can no more be denied the name of a true Church than that man can be denied the name of a true man, who eateth, drinketh, walketh, speaketh, reasoneth and performeth all the operations of sense, motion and understanding; we may feel in ourselves the power and efficacy of our Ministry and Sacraments.  
Brown the Father of the Brownists was the first of note that did separate himself from the Church of England, and said, that we had not a Church, he meant a true Church. But after he went into France, and being at Geneva, he saw the Sabbath much profaned, and the wafer-cake given in the Sacrament in stead of bread, whereupon he began to think better of the Church of England, and returning home he became Pastor of a Church in Northamptonshire, called Achurch.  
The Church of Rome was a true Church, the Reformed Churches separated from it becoming a false Church. Though Ministers were ordained in the most corrupt estate of the Church of Rome, yet if they forsake the corruptions of the Church of Rome they are true Ministers, as the Church of Rome itself if it would cast off its corruptions, should be a true Church.  
It is a necessary act of a Ministers Call to be ordained by other Ministers, not necessarily a Bishop, the Reformed Churches beyond Seas used not that, but the Imposition of Presbyters: and in England no Bishop could ordain alone, but Presbyters besides him were to lay hands on the man ordained.  

Of the Ministers Calling.  
Some say the inward Calling of a Minister is a work of God's Spirit, inwardly inclining 
See Par. on Rom. 10. 4. pag. 137. and Elton on Col. 4. 17. p. 717. A Minister can have no good assurance that God ever called him, or will work with him, unless he can find that thing which moved him to enter into this calling was an earnest desire to do good in it, 1 Tim. 3. 1. Hildersham. Some say two things are required to his inward Calling, 1. Ability, sufficiency of gifts: No man is called by God to the Ministry that hath not either learning attained by study, or else Inspirations, Visions and special Revelations. 2. A desire to glorify God in that work, 1 Tim. 3. 1, 2.  a man to embrace this Function for the right ends, God's glory and Man's salvation. See Act. 8. 21. Simon Magus refused, his heart was not right or strait before God. Not sufficient inward gifts of mind, of knowledge, learning, and virtue, is the inward Calling to the Ministry, because all these things may befall such an one as aught not to undertake the Ministry at all (as a King) but should sin grievously against God, if he undertake that Function, yea all these may befall a woman who may not be a Minister, I permit not a woman to exercise authority, or to speak in the Church.  
For the outward Calling, there is no particular manner or kind of Calling binding the conscience to that and no other, because bare example without a precept doth not bind. He hath the outward Calling to the Ministry, who is appointed to this by such who are entrusted with this care. Paul left Titus in Crect to ordain Elders, that is, Ministers.  
There is a double Calling necessary to a Dispenser of the Mysteries of Salvation, Inward and Outward. The Inward enableth them, the Outward authorizeth them to discharge their sacred Function. Where there are gifts, if God incline the heart of the party to enter into the Ministry, there is an inward Calling; yet this alone sufficeth not without an outward Calling, either Ordinary or Extraordinary; we are not now to expect extraordinary Callings since miracles are ceased. The ordinary Calling is by the imposition of the hands of the Presbytery, jer. 14. 14. & 27. 15. Rom. 10. 5. No other Ordination was heard of for fifteen hundred years, or at least approved of. Doctor Featleys' distinction of Clergy and Laity.  
The Calling of men to the Ministry, is either  
Immediate and Extraordinary, such as the Prophets had in the Old Testament, 
Vide Crocii Antiwegel part. 2. c. 2. quaest. 1. & Masonum de ministerio Anglicano l. 1. c. 2, 3, 7. & l. 2. c. 1. & l. 5. c. 14.  and the Apostles had by Christ himself mediate and ordinary, such as is now a days of Pastors, both are divine, every Minister is as truly called, though not as immediately as in the Primitive times, Matth. 9 38. Act. 20. 28.  
Munus Apostolicum, the Apostolical Function is ceased, because the Apostolical gifts are ceased, speaking by an infallible spirit, speaking all languages, having care and rule of all Nations.  
Ordinary Presbyters are appointed by the holy Ghost, Ephes. 4. 11. Pastors who have an ordinary mediate Call, are made the gift of God, as well as the extraordinary Offices, they are both equally divine, but they differ in three things:  
1. Those which are immediately called have God only for the Author, as Paul saith, called by God and not by men.  
2. Those which are immediately called, are for the most part endowed with a singular privilege of not erring, and gifts of miracles, though sometimes it be otherwise.  
3. They are not tied to one particular Church, but are sent to all indefinitely: an immediate Call is not now to be expected.  
The nature of a Ministers Call consisteth in two main things, Election and Ordination. 
Some allege that place Act. 14. 23. for popular elections.   
In the Reformed Churches of France and Geneva, the people give no voices in the Election of Ministers, but are only permitted if they have any causes of dislike or exception, to make them known to the Pastors and Guides of the Church, and the power of judging such exceptions resteth wholly in them. When one Morelius a fantastical companion sought to bring the elections of Bishops and Ministers to be popular, and swayed by the most voices of the people, he was condemned by all the Synods in France, as Beza showeth, Epist. 83.  
Some say the original power is in the Church, Acts 1. & 14. the formal in the Ministers; as to see is originally in the whole body, but formally in the eye.  
Others say, The Ministers originally receive their Church-offices, not from the people but Christ himself, who is the fountain, there being not the same reason of a natural and voluntary action. 
Mr Hudsons' Vindicat. c. 6. Quaestio oriri potest, si Ecclesia particularis non habeat pastors, nec Presbyteros, ut aliquo casu interdum potest contingere, cum plebi haec potestas data non sit, pastors sibi eligendi & ordinandi, an necessariò ad vicinarum Ecclesiarum Presbyterium recurrere debeat, ut per impositionem manuum Presbyterii illius ipsa Pastorem à se electum per illos ordinatum queat accipere! Nec dubium est ita fieri debere. In casu tamen necessitatis, si nulla sit haec in proximis, nec in longinquis partibus Ecclesia, ut si Christiani aliquot in novum orbem delati, Pastoribus destituantur, certum est posse eos sibi Presbyterium cum pastoribus constituere à quibus gubernentur & doceantur, verbum Dei & Sacramenta percipiant. Salmas. apparat. ad primatum Papae. Id. Vindicat. of Quaest 2. p. 233. Ordinary Ministers are Ministers of the Church Catholic, though not Catholic Ministers actually. If Ministers be Mysteries only in their particular Congregations where they are fixed, and to which they are called by the Congregation, I marvel that our Brethren of the congregational way here in England are so desirous to have itinerant Ministers to be sent into all parts of the Land, and shall be fastened to no particular Congregation; yea, and also to have gifted men not ordained at all, to be suffered to preach publicly and constantly in Congregations. Id. Vindicat. Chap. 6.   
There is a Question, Whether the Church or the Ministers be first, because the Ministers are the instrumental cause of the conversion of the Church, and the Church of the choice of their Ministers, which is something like the Philosopher's Question, Whether the Egg or the Hen were first, for as the Egg comes of a Hen, so the Hen comes of an Egg. And as that is resolved by the consideration of the Creation, than God made the Hen first, so is this question by consideration of the first institution and setting up of the Evangelical Catholic Church, than we find that Christ set up the Officers first to convert men to be believers, and they being converted to the faith of Christ are bound to submit themselves to Christ's Ministers in the Lord.  
If a Minister of this or that Congregation be not a Member of the Church Catholic visible, than he is no Minister out of his own Congregation, and therefore cannot preach or administer any Sacrament as a Minister out of his own Congregation. Yea if any members of another Congregation should come and hear a Minister preach in his own Congregation, he could not preach to them, nor they hear him as a Minister, but only as a gifted Brother.  
They of the Separation, and if not all, yet sure some Independents place the 
Vocationis essentia est in electione Ecclesiae & acceptione electi. Ames. Medul. Th. lib. 1. cap. 39 Adjunctum consequens & consummant est Ordinatio, quae nihil aliud est, quam solennis quaedam introductio Ministri jam electi in ipsius functionis liberam executionem, undè factum est, ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud veteres idem saepè sonent. Ames. ibid. Mr Gillesp. Miscel. cap. 2. See more there.  whole essentiality of a Ministers calling in election, accounting Ordination to be no more but the solemnisation of the Calling. We say, Permissio potestativa, or the Power and Commission given to a man by which he is made of no Minister to be a Minister, is not from the Church electing him, but from the lawful ordaining him. Election doth but design such a person to the Ministry of such a Church.  
In Scripture we find Election and Ordination frequently distinguished, not only 
Mr. Gillesp. Miscel. c. 4. See more there, and chap. 3.  as distinct acts, but oft times in distinct hands, Deut. 1. 13. The people choose them who shall be Rulers, but Moses makes them Rulers, Act. 6. 3. the people choose, the Apostles appoint the Deacons. The choosing of a person to an office, is not the authorising of the person elected, but the designation of the person to be authorized.  
Ordination is to be distinguished from Election, for the whole Church may choose but not ordain. Ordination is an Ecclesiastical act of Government, but Election is not so.  
Some say, The Bishop only is to ordain, Heb. 7. 7. 1 Tim. 5. 22. Tit. 1. 5. jerom saith, Excepta ordinatione, what is it that a Bishop doth which a Presbyter may not d●? or at lest no Ordination should be without a Bishop.  
Others say, it is to be done by Presbyters. It is in the Directory described to be 
Ordinatio autem Pastorum & Presbyterorum Ecclesiae, partim internae potestastatis est, partim externae, ex utroque enim mixta est. Duabus quippe partibus constat, electione & manuum impositione, quae benedictio vel consecratio est. Haec internae est potestatis & à solis Ministris confertur. Salmas. A● parat●●d librum de primatu. Traditionem vetustam in ordinandis Ministris libenter amplecti, & usurpare velim, quam in veris & indubitatis Apostoli Pauli canonibus habemus, in epist. 1. ad Tim. c. 3. & ad Titum c. 1. Illud jus pertinet in Ecclesia Christiana ad uniuscujusque Ecclesiae constitutae Presbyterium. Rivetus. Pontificii bodiè nos hoc nomine condemnant, quod ab iis manuum impositionem non accepimus, acsi ad illos solos Spiritus S. transisset, satis est ab illis explorari Episcopatum obituros, qui eorum in rebus sacris tractandis peritiam pertenta●e norint, 1 Tim. 3. neque enim Deus successionis seriem respicit, neque uspiam Ecclesia existit, quae creandi Ministri qui ei inserviat potestatem non habeat. Cartw. in Harm. Evang.  an outward solemn setting apart of persons for the Office of the Ministry in the Church by preaching Presbyters, Numb. 8. 10, 11, 14, 19, 22. Act. 6. 3, 5, 6.  
It is the setting of men apart to the work of the Ministry, the commending of them with Fasting and Prayer to the grace of God, and the authorising of them 
Act. 13. 13. Dr. Field of the Church, l. 5. c. 55. Examination is as requisite in the Calling of a Minister, as is ordination, and doth as much belong to the power of the Church, as Ordination: yet experience shows, that many godly and simple Christians are not able to perform this work, considering the subtlety of many deceitful and learned heretics which creep into Churches. Pag. Arrow against the Separate. of Brown. c. 5. p. 102.  to perform things pertaining to God; which others neither may nor can do: wherein the ceremony of Imposition of hands is used,  
1. To express the setting of them apart for sacred employment.  
2. To let them know that the hand of God is with them in all that they do in his Name, and by his Authority▪ to guide, strengthen and protect them.  
3. To note out the person upon whom the Church by her prayers desireth the blessings of Almighty God to be poured in more plentiful sort then upon others, as being to take charge of others.  
The Socinians acknowledge it is fit for Order and Decency to retain Ordination in the Church. Peradventure many of the Sectaries of this time will hardly acknowledge thus much.  
The Papists Ordination faileth divers ways:  
1. In the end, for the Bishop bids them take power to offer up Christ's body as a Sacrifice to God.  
2. They want the Institution, for Christ hath appointed no Priests in his Church to sacrifice.  
3. They fail in the outward form, for they have many foolish ceremonies added to their consecration.  
The Brownists 
* See D. Halls Apol, against them, p. 579.  fail in the main, which is the Imposition of hands by the Presbytery.  
Some think that the ceremony of laying on of hands may be omitted. Sometimes 
M. Lyfords Apol. for our public. Min. and Infant Bapt. Concl. 2.  we must be tied to example in the least gesture, though not prescribed, & yet men presume to dispense in a circumstance expressly prescribed Tit. 1. 5. Timothy was ordained by laying on of hands: & enjoined to lay hands on others in their Ordination 1 Tim. 5. 22 Thus were the Deacons ordained Act. 6. 6. and thus were Paul and Barnabas set apart for the execution of their calling, Act. 13. 3.  
Their Duty:  
It is laid forth,  
1. By Titles, as Watchmen, Ezek. 3. 17. & 33. 7. Labourers. Matth. 9 37. Light and Salt, Matth. 5. 13, 14. Shepherds, john 21. 15. Good Scribes, Matth. 13. Stewards, 1 Cor. 4. 1. Nurses, 1 Thess. 2. 7.  
2. In Commandments Act. 20. 28. 2 Tim. 4. 1, 2.  
He must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 2 Tim. 2. 15. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Gal. 2. 14. He must teach and tread the way to Heaven.  
He must feed the flock, 1 Tim. 5. 17. 1 Pet. 5. 2. in the Ministry of the Word 
Woe to those Pastors qui non pascunt, sed depascunt gregem, Ezek. 34. 2  and Sacraments, and by praying for them both publicly 
* 1 Sam. 12. 23.  and privately.  
Ministers must teach sound and true Doctrine, 1 Tim. 3. 9 & 4. 6, 7.  
They must preach,  
1. Zealously, john 5. 35.  
2. Compassionately, Matth. 9 36. & 23. 27.  
3. Convincingly, Col. 2. 2.  
4. Feelingly, according to the nature of the Doctrine. The best way to speak to the heart is to speak from the heart, 2 Cor. 2. 4.  
5. Frequently, 
* Augustine and Chrysostom preached every day in the week and year at lest once or twice without fail, Ye heard yesterday, ye shall hear to morrow, is common in their Tractates and Homilies. M. Balls trial of Separate. pag. 81. The Papists by way of scoff called the Evangelical Ministers Praedicantici. Whereas Paul judged preaching his chief Office, and would not baptise lest it should be an impediment. Bellarmine and the Council of Trent style preaching Praecipuum Episcopi Officium.  in season and out of season, Luk. 21. 37▪ Act. 5. 42.  
6. Gravely, 2 Cor. 5. Tit. 2. 8.  
Homilies were first allowed in the Church, not to uphold or maintain an ignorant Ministry, or to supply his defect that should take pains but would not, much less to shut out preaching, but to supply the casual defect of preaching through the weakness and infirmity of the Minister.  
Bishop Andrews caused to be engraven about the Seal of his Bishopric those words of S. Paul, And who is sufficient for these things?  
Bishop jewel being very weak, as he was going to preach at Lacock in Wiltshire, 
1 Tim. 3. 1. Exponere voluit quid sit Episcopatus: quia nomen est operis non honoris. Aug. de civet. Dei, l. 19 c. 19  a Gentleman meeting him, friendly admonished him to return home for his health's sake, telling him, That it was better that the people should want one Sermon, than be altogether deprived of such a preacher: to which he replied, Oportet Episcopum concionantem mori, a Bishop should die preaching in a Pulpit, that being the last Sermon he preached.  
It is one part of a Ministers Duty to pray for his people, 1 Sam. 12. 23. Moses prayed for Israel. He and Aaron more than once stood in the gap. jeremiah prayed so much and earnestly for the people, till God was even fain to discharge him. Paul almost in every Epistle tells them to whom he writeth, That he maketh mention of them in his prayers: and the Apostle tells the Colossians that Epaphras a Minister of theirs did labour for them fervently in his prayers.  
Reasons. 1. It is one of the most excellent means to make their other labours prosperous by procuring a blessing upon them from God.  
2. This is the next way to provoke in his heart a holy, Christian and spiritual love of them. Let any man accustom to pray to God fervently for any person, and it will increase an holy and heavenly affection to them, as much as any one thing in 
The Jewish Ministers were not separated by Christ himself, nor by others at his command, Matth. 21. 45, 46. Mat. 23. 1, 2, 3. Luk. 17. 19 & 11. 52.  the world, graces grow and increase by exercise, prayer is an exercise of love and charity.  
3. This is the best way to prevent discouragement in ones labours.  
We may communicate with evil Ministers, See 1 Sam. 3. 12, 25. & 30.  
1. Our Saviour hath taught us to hold communion with wicked men for the godly's sake that were among them; Yea with such as were tied in the cords of sin, with such as did manifestly live and die in their sins without repentance, john 8. 21, 59 with Luk. 22. 7, 8.  
Of the Brownists Mr Paget in his Arrow against the Separatists Chap. 8. shows, That both Ainsworth and Barrow hold that Baptism administered by Papists is to be retained.  
Ministers must be faithful in their Calling:  
Christ was a merciful and faithful high-Priest.  
His faithfulness consists in these things:  
First, In revealing the whole counsel of God, Acts 20. 27. and only the counsel of God. 
The Pastor which hath care of souls, and is nonresident, Non est dispensator, sed dissipator, non speculator, sed spiculator. The most learned Divines in the Council of Trent did generally protest against it, as appears by their several Tractates. See Ezek 44. 8. He whom thou substitutest, is either more deserving then thyself, and then it is fit he should have more means, or else he is equal; than it is fit he should have as much; or he is inferior, and then he is not fit to represent thy person. See Doctor Chalo●ers Sermon on Matth. 20. 6. entitled, The Ministers Charge and Mission.   
Secondly, In dwelling among their people, and using their best endeavour to know them well, Prov. 27. 23. john 10. 14. Acts 20. 20, 28. Phil. 2. 19 1 Thess. 3. 5. Col. 4. 8. Heb. 13. 17.  
One saith, It is but the least part of a Ministers work which is done in the Pulpit. Paul taught them from house to house, day and night with tears, Act. 20. 29, 31. To go daily from house to house to see how they live.  
Ministers must be themselves of an unblameable life, Matth. 5. 13. Act. 20. 28. 
Tit. 2. 7. 1 Pet. 5 3. As the measures of the Sanctuary were double, so their sins were double. Greenham. It is Onus Angelorum humeris formidandum. Chrysost. 2 Cor. 2. 10. Melch. Adam. Exod. 28. 39 Omnes disputando, pauci bene vivendo vincere adversarios studemus. Casaub. Epist. 123. Heinsio.  & 4. 12. & 5. 22. They must frame their lives answerable to their Doctrine This was typed by Aaron's Urim and Thummim, which he was to carry in the Breastplate upon his heart: for the one betokened Light and Verity of Doctrine, the other Uprightness and Integrity of life. The same was also signified by the golden Bells and Pomegranates hanging round about upon the hem of his priestly vestment: for the Bells are no other than the sound of wholesome preaching; and the Pomegranates, than the fruits of good living. Peaceable, not given to suits and contentions with the people, 1 Tim. 3. 3. They should be courageous and bold, as Luther. Painful. Their Calling is a labour, 1 Thess. 2. 9 and a travel, 2 Thes. 3. 8. Those that labour in the Word and Doctrine. I laboured more abundantly than they all. Send forth labourers into thy harvest. Verbi Minister es, hoc age, was Mr Perkins Motto. See 2 Tim. 4. 1. He must be diligent and painful both in Study and Preaching.  
Melancthon said there were three hard labours, Regentis, Docentis, Parturientis.  
I have heard it as a certain truth concerning Reverend Mr Bains, that every 
D. Hill on Ephes 4. 15.  Sermon cost him as much in his sense (as he thought) as it did ordinarily cost a woman to bring a child into the world, I travel in birth till I see jesus Christ form in you.  
chrysostom saith, The work of a Minister is more laborious than that of a Carpenter. When he hath wrought hard all day he goes home and comes again in the 
M. Burrh. on Host 6. 5.  morning, and finds his work as he left it; but we hue and take pains, and leave our people and come again, and find them worse than before.  
The Honour and Dignity of this Function.  
Although the Ministry above all Callings be most subject to the contempt and 
Constantine when he entered into the Synod of Nice, bowed himself very low unto the Bishops there assembled, and sat not down until they desired him. josephus' Antiq. jud. l. 1. c. 8. records, that Alexander the Great coming with his Army against jerusalem, the high-Priest did meet him arrayed with his sacred and magnificent attire: Alexander dismounted himself, and in the high-Priest worshipped God, who, as he said, had in a dream appeared unto him in that habit. Vide Mont. Appar. 6. p. 224. The Ministry of the Gospel is much more excellent & glorious then that of the Law, 2 Cor. 3. 7, 8, 9  disgrace of profane men, yet the Function is a worthy and excellent work, and as God himself hath greatly honoured them, so can they not but be honoured of all those, who are the children of God.  
1. The subject of this Office is the souls of men, their far better and more worthy part, the spiritual, immortal and most heavenly part of man; other functions are conversant about the body or estate.  
2. The proper end of this is to procure God's greatest glory in subduing souls to him, and in bringing men to the greatest happiness whereof they are capable, even to grace here and glory hereafter.  
This is to establish the spiritual Kingdom of grace in the hearts of men, to convert them to God, and make them heirs of everlasting happiness.  
At the last day shall Andrew come in with Achaia by him converted to the saving knowledge of the truth, john with Asia, Thomas with India, Peter with the Jews, and Paul with the Gentiles. See 1 Thes. 2. 19  
A Minister is called a man of God, 1 Sam. 9 5. 1 Tim. 5. 1. & 2. 3, 17. His chief business is to deal with God, and to be his Messenger unto men, the man of his counsel who was admitted to be familiarly with him, yea whose whole life was to be consecrated to a specia●●ttendance upon God and his special service of making his ways known unto the sons of men.  
They are called Messengers of the Lord of Hosts, Mal. 2. 7. Ambassadors of Christ, 2 Cor. 5. 10. Angels of the Churches, Fathers of their people, 2 Cor. 5. 19, 20. God tells Levi he will be his inheritance, Deut. 10. 8, 9 God protects them, Revel. 2. Christ holds the Stars in his hand.  
We are commanded to receive them in the Lord, to hold them in reputation, to 
Phil. 2. 29. 1 Thess. 5. 12, 13. 1 Tim. 5. 17. Heb. 4. 13, 17, See Act. 10. 25. Gal. 4. 15.  esteem them very highly for their works sake, to hold them worthy double honour, and to obey them.  
Good men have loved faithful Ministers, 2 Chron. 30. 22. & 31. 4. & 35. 2. Mat. 10. 11. Act. 16. 15.  
Aquila and Priscilla preferred Paul's safety before their own. Obadiah hid the Prophets with the hazard of his life, 1 King. 18. 4. See against the contempt of 
Stupor mundi ●lerus Britamnicus  them as Ministers, 2 Chron. 36. 16. Luk. 10. 16.   

Of their Maintenance.  
A sufficient maintenance is due to the Minister, 1 Cor. 9 9, 10, 14, 15. 
See B. Down. on 1 Tim. 3. 1, 2. p. 73. almost to the end. The devil laboured to suppress the Gospel Mendaciis & inopia Luther Roberts Epist. to the revenue of the Gospel. See more there Some say they will preach and take no tithes. 2 Cor. 11. 12, Vid. Aquin. 2a, 2ae. quaest. 87. Art. 1. & 3.   
The stipend of Ministers must be sufficient, honourable and stable, but the quota pars is not determined.  
1 Tim. 5. 17. Honour there, is maintenance, the Elder is the Minister. If they be worthy to receive, than it is not in the pleasure of man to pay as he list. If the maintenance must be honourable, than it must not be of benevolence: for that is commonly both scant and uncertain, which is a thing miserable not honourable. Tenuitatem beneficiorum sequitur ignorantia Sacerdotum.  
It is a great Question, An decimae Ministris jure divino sint solvendae?  
The Schoolmen are generally for the negative, and so are many able Protestant Divines, Rivet. in Gen. 28. Exercit. 125. and in his jesuita vapulans. Capel. in Thes. Theol. Salmur. Mr Cartw. against the Rhemists on Heb. 7. 4. and in his necessity of Discipline. Mr Dod. Bishop Carleton, Dr Prideaux, Dr Sclater and Mr. Whateley, were for the affirmative.  
The Question (saith Mr. Mede on Act. 5. 3, 4, 5.) should not be, Whether Tithes are due to the Ministers of the Gospel, meaning as a duty of the people unto them, but rather Whether they be not due unto God; for so is the style of the Scripture, All the tithes are mine; these I give to Levi, and not you. There are many other uses for the employment of Bona Sacra, if they be more than is competent for them and theirs.   

Of Preaching.  
It is in a settled state of things, the public interpretation and application of 
See M. Hildershams' two last Lectures on Psal. 51. It is a giving of the sense of the Scripture, and a more large opening of points of Doctrine to men, joined with Reproofs, Exhortations, Comforts, and a right applying it to the hearers. Praedicatio verbi est medium gratiae divinitùs institutum quo res regni Dei publicè & explicantur & applicantur populo ad salutem & adificationem. Bowls de Pastore. Vide plura ibid.  Scripture by a Minister assigned to the Office to a Congregation assembled for that purpose.  
Or it may be defined, A sound explicating of God's Word with application of it in the way of Power and Office by him who is thereunto called,  

1. An Explication of God's Word, Nehem. 8. 8. The Levites when they read the Law of God, or gave the distinct sense and meaning of the words: So must the Minister, he is commanded to divide the Word aright. See Luke 24. 27, 32.  
2. Sound or right Explication, for there is a depraving of the Scripture.  
3. With Application, Reprove, Rebuke, Exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine, See 1 Cor. 14. 3. 2 Tim. 4. 2.  
4. By Office and Power in him that is called. So the general duty which lies on every Christian may be distinguished from the peculiar Office ●● a Minister, private Christians are to teach and admonish one another, there is an Exhortation Charitative and Potestative which belongs to him that is called.   
One saith, It is an Ordinance of Christ, whereby persons have received Gifts from Heaven, and are separated to that Office to make known the will of God for the perfecting of the Saints.  
The efficient cause is,  

1. Supreme and principal, Jesus Christ.  
2. Instrumental, persons which have received Gifts from heaven, are called and set a part to the Ministry.   
Secondly, The material cause of it, the Doctrine of Salvation.  
Thirdly, The formal, making it known and applying it.  
Fourthly, The final, for the perfecting of the Saints.  
By the Word preached:  

1. Light shines in unto men, Psal. 19 7. to the end.  
2. It helps the Saints to mortify their corruption, Psal. 119. 9  
3. By it we conquer the devil, Ephes. 6.  
4. We overcome the World, john.  
5. It enableth us to perform the duties of our relations, Col. 3. 16. to bear all crosses, Rom. 5. 4.  
6. Fills us with consolation, and keep us from being Apostates.   
The word is interpreted aright, by declaring  

1. The order.  
2. The Sum or Scope.  
3. The Sense of the words, which is done by framing a Rhetorical and Logical Analysis of the Text.   
Preaching consists of these Ingredients:  

1. Right Understanding.  
2. True dividing.  
3. Faithful interpreting.  
4. Zealous uttering.  
5. Powerful applying.   
It is not, I suppose, simply necessary one should take a set Text.  
Christ when he executed the Office of a Minister here on earth, and taught the people, sometimes interpreted a place which he took out of the Scripture, as Lu●. 
Rainold. de lib. Apoc. Tom. 10. praelect. 2.  4. 17. out of Isaiah, sometime without any set Text he spoke those things which were most apt for the edifying of the Church.  
For the most part Christ preached sitting, as Matth. 5. 1. Matth. 26. 55. Luk. 4. 16. john 8. 2. so did others who came to great place and dignity in the Church ordinarily 
Doctor Donne on Matth. 5.  preach sitting too, and therefore their Churches were called Cathedral, because they preached sitting in chairs.  
The Apostles were wont more often to stand, as is manifest from Act. 13. and other places. Christ sat to show his great and eminent authority. The Apostles stood to show their respect to God's people, Raynold. de lib. Apoc. 
Apage vesanam illam prophetandi liberta●ē, imò licentiam blasphemandi: ut liceat malè seriato cuique tyroni, prodigiofissima cerebri sui phantasmata in apricum producere, & populo commendare & praelo. Concio D. Hal. ad Synod. Nation. Dordrecht. Neither do the Independents only, but the Socinians and Arminians also cry up Libertas prophetandi. Mr Gillesp. Miscel. cap. 10. For a public formal Ministerial teaching two things are required in the Teachers: 1. Gifts from God. 2. Authority from the Church, he that wants either is no true Pastor. For the second, such as want Authority from the Church are 1. None of Christ's Officers, Ephes. 4. 11. 2. They are expressly forbidden it, jer. 23. 21. 3. The blessing on the Word is promised only to sent Teachers, Rom. 10. 15. Mr Owen's Duty of Pastors and people distinguished, pag. 46, 47. Inprimis displicet mihi illa quam tuentur libertas prophetandi, certissima pernicies religiovis nisi certis sinibus acriter coerceatur Casaub. Epist. 320. Joanni Lydio. That sending Rom. 10. 15. must needs import an authoritative Mission according to the clear etymology of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which manifestly alludes to the name of an Apostle, a name given by Christ himself to them who were first by his command to preach the Gospel, Luke 6. 13. It signifies one that is sent as the Ambassadors of Princes use to be sent with their Master's Mandates. Church-member set in joint by Filodexter Transylvanus.   
Whether private persons not in office may preach?  
If they have a Calling, either it is Ordinary or Extraordinary; if ordinary than they are not only gifted, but tried and separated to it.  
That men though gifted without being called to the Ministry, and by Ordination set apart for it, should take upon them the Office or ordinary exercise of preaching, seems repugnant to those Scriptures, Rom. 10. 15. Heb. 5. 4. 1 Tim. 5. 22.  
Christ therefore frequently urgeth this, That he was sent from his Father. Punishments have been inflicted on those that have meddled beyond their Call, as Uzziah.  
Three places are alleged for laymen's preaching, Rom. 12. 6. 1 Cor. 14. 31. Act. 8. 14. for their venting their experiences, as they call it.  
For the first place he means those that are by Office Prophets and Ministers or Deacons, they must preach, not those that have abilities only, for than it will follow those that have ability may baptise and rule too. The word Gift is used in Scripture for the Office itself, or gifted calling, Ephes. 4. 8, 11. Two things are required to a calling, Gifts and Authority, john 20. 21, 22.  
For 1 Cor. 14. some think Paul speaks in that place, not of ordinary preaching, but of prophesying by the Spirit, that is, by Revelation.  
Mr Cotton tells us, these were not ordinary, private men, but such as had extraordinary 
See Deodat. in loc. Mr. Cottons Keys of the Kingd.  Gifts, the Gift of Tongues, and the like liberty of preaching is not allowed them that want the like Gifts. See 1 Cor. 12. 28, 29, 30.  
That place Act. 8. may receive answer from my Annotations on Acts. 11. 20. a like place.  
Some learned Divines, though they hold none may enter into the Ministry 
In Ecclesia primitiva juit exercitium quoddam propheticum à concionibus distinctum 1 Cor. 14. 31, 32. Ad hoc exercitium habondum, admit. tebantur non tantum ministri, s●d et ex fratribus prim arii, vel maximè approbati, pro donis illis, quae habuerunt sibi collata. Ames. l. 4. de consc. c. 26.  without a peculiar Call, yet do say, that a private man sufficiently gifted (if he have the approbation of the Church) may teach publicly, they build it on that place 1 Cor. 14. where when the believers did meet together, they are allowed to prophesy. Mr Lyford in his Apology for our public Ministry and Infant-Baptism, Conclus. 2. pag. 27, 28. proves by three Reasons that the prophesying 1 Cor. 14. was extraordinary, and not a standing ordinary Gift in the Church, and others are of his judgement, as Mr. Norton in his answer to Apollo●ius, Chap. 11. and vers. 30. of this Chapter proves as much.  
The Scriptures lay down these Rules,  
First, No man must preach except he be sent, take any office upon him unless he be approved; a Gospel-order is to be preserved, the Deacon; the meanest order is to be approved. A man is not to call himself, nor to be a Judge of his own sufficiency.  
Secondly, People are admonished to take heed what they hear, Mark 4. 24. and whom they hear, 2 John 10, 11.  
Thirdly, Some will undertake to be teachers though they be never so ignorant of the things they teach, 1 Tim. 1. 7.  
Fourthly, Under this pretence false Prophets go forth into the world to corrupt the truths of God, and poison the souls of men, 2 Cor. 11. 3.  
Ministers must preach often, especially on the Sabbath.  
Our Saviour preached every Sabbath day, Luk. 4. 21. So did Paul, Act. 17 2. See 
See Mr. Wards Coal from the Al●ar.  2 Tim. 4. 2. The Fathers preached twice every Lordsday, and almost every weekday.  
Paul bids the Minister preach in season and out of season, the Sabbath by reason of the public meeting is a season of preaching, it is requisite therefore for him to preach every Sabbath.  
Again, Christ's custom was to go into the Synagogue every Sabbath-day, and so the Apostles. 
Most of the writings of Cypri●, Athanasius, Bafil, Nazianzen, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Cyril, Augustine, Leo, Gregory, were nothing else but Sermons preached unto the people. 1 Cor. 15. ult. In the consecration of Bishops a Bible is put into their hands, and these words used, Accipe Evangelium, vade, praedica populo tibi commisso. The Ministers words must be like goads to prick men to the heart, and when they are soundest asleep they must be like Cocks that cry loudest in the deadest time of the night. King james said well of a Reverend Prelate of this Land, Me thinks this man preacheth of Death, as if Death were at my back. Master Fenner ●n 1 John 2. 6.   
3. The sanctifying of the Sabbath must be done in the best manner that may be, both by Minister and people, the Minister must be helpful to the people in the sanctifying of it, he may then preach if he will give himself to reading and study, as he is commanded.  
4. His duty is to labour in the Word and Doctrine, that is, to take great pains in it, therefore he must preach Sabbath after Sabbath.  
5. Every one is required to be plentiful in the work of the Lord, therefore the Minister in his special work of preaching must be plentiful, and this he is not unless he preach at least every Sabbath, and if his strength will serve him twice, both morning and evening.  
Ministers must in their preaching denounce God's wrath against sinners, 1 Sam. 12. 25. How comminatory are our Saviour's words, O generation of vipers, how can you escape the condemnation of hell? And, Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites: And, Woe unto the world, because of offences: And, Woe be unto you that are rich, and that laugh, There shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Paul is sharp, 1 Cor. 6. 9, 10. For such things sake the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. Tribulation and anguish shall be upon every soul that doth evil. Moses dischargeth many volleys of curses upon those which break the Law of the Lord.  
Reasons. 1. Because there is in every man an old man to be beaten down, the threats of the Word are a necessary instrument for working in a man a hatred of sin.  
2. There remaineth in the best of God's servants much presumption, whereby they are apt to embolden themselves in sinning, the Law must make way for the Gospel, the threats of the Word are a most needful means of humiliation. This is the most fruitful and profitable teaching. It is good for the impenitent to make him repent, and for the penitent to make him repent more, if they wisely limit the threats they utter.  
There is a friarly kind of preaching to press resemblances and similitudes too far, and a Jesuitical 
* Et hac vimirum expedita concionandi methodus jesuitica, quam mihi etiam Spirae & Wormatiae, & Moguntiae aliquando observasse visus sum: alta voce, sed frivolis rationibus, cont ra haereticos clamitare, & moralia in quibus Christum jesum, & fidem justificantem omnium bonorum operum fontem semper desideres identidem suis inculcare, quae ipsa tamen melius forsan ex Seneca & Plutarcho, quam ex concionibus illorum didiceris. Scultet. de curriculo vita, pag. 18.  preaching to declaim much against Heretics, and urge some things of Morality. But the best preaching is to convince men of their misery by sin, and to show them the way to avoid it.  
Plain preaching is most profitable for a mixed Auditory. 
Verba volvere, & celeritate dicendi apud imperitum vulgus admirationem sui facere, indoctorum hominum est: Hieron. Epist. ad Neporian. Ab allegationibus & authoritate Patrum veterumque Ecclesiae doctorum abstinebit Pastor Ecclesiasticus Zepperi lib. 2. de habendis concionibus Ecclesiast. c. 6. Vide plura ibid. Vide Ames. de cons. l. 4. 6. 26.   
He is the best Scholar that can teach Christ plainliest: and for my part if I would set myself to be idle, I would choose that kind of preaching which is counted so laborious. Dr Tailor on Tit. 9  
Paul (saith he there) being the greatest Scholar of all the Apostles, was the most fearful to make the least show of it.  
Doctor Preston being asked, Why he preached so plainly, and dilated so much in his Sermons: answered, He was a Fisherman: Now Fishermen, said he, if they should wind up the Net, and so cast it into the Sea, they should catch nothing, but when they spread the Net than they catch the Fish; I spread my Net (said he) because I would catch the Fish, that is, I preach so plainly and dilate so much in my Sermons, that I may win souls to Christ.  
Ministers must preach in the evidence and demonstration, not so much of Art or Nature, as of the Spirit and Grace. Many turn sound preaching into a sound of preaching, tickling men's ears like a tinkling cymbal.  
King james 
* In the Preface to his Remonst.  resembled the unprofitable pomp of such self-seeking discourse, stuffed with a vainglorious variety of humane allegations, to the red and blue flowers that pester the corn when it stands in the field, where they are more noisome to the growing crop, then beautiful to the beholding eyes.  
There is a kind of fine, neat, dainty preaching, consisting in well-sounding words, and of strains of humane wit and learning, to set out the skill and art of the speaker, and make the hearer applaud and commend him; which a man may 
M. Wheatleys' New-birth. See M. Wards Coal from the Altar.  well doubt, whether ever God will bless to the winning of souls. These self-preaching men that make preaching little else but an ostentation of wit and reading, do put the sword of the Spirit into a velvet scabbard that it cannot prick and wound the heart.  
The word of God seems to be most conveniently applied by handling it after the manner of Doctrine and Use; this course is of all other the fittest for the memory of speaker and hearer, for the capacity of the simple, and for the profitable making use of all learning and reading. It giveth least scope to wander from the Text, and holdeth a man most closely to the revealed will of God. It hath the clear example of Christ, who Luk. 4. having read his Text, first interpreted it, than observed the points of Doctrine, saying, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. Then he began to apply it by way of reproof, which he illustrated with ●it examples out of Scripture, and so would have proceeded, but his hearers moved with rage interrupted him.  
The Doctrine must be sound deduced out of the Text, and then substantially 
Doctrina est axioma Theologicum, vel in Scripturae verbis positum express, vel ex illis per immediatam consequentiam fluens. Ames. Medul. Theol. lib. 1. cap. 35.  handled.  
It is a proposition either expressed in the Text, or else concluded from it. It must 
Christ and his Apostles who were infallible confirmed all by Scripture Usus est axioma Theologicum ex Doctrina deductum, utilitatem, bonitatem, vel sinem ejus ostendens. Amesius ubi supra.  be proved by a Text or two of Scripture, and confirmed by reason taken from the causes or effects, or some other logical argument.  
The Use is a Proposition syllogistically inferred from the Doctrine, as the Doctrine is from the Text. The chief kinds of Uses are  

1. Confirmation of truth. 
1 Cor. 14. 3. 2 Tim. 4. 2.   
2. Refutation of error.  
3. Reproof of sin mixed with terror and dehortation.  
4. Instruction mixed with exhortation to do well.  
5. Consolation or strengthening for and in well-doing.   
All Doctrines will not yield all these Uses, but some one, some another, wherefore those must be taken that are fittest for time, place or matter.  
The preaching of all Doctrines is to end in Use and Application. When Christ 
Oportet ut eo fine praedicetur Christus quo ●ides in cum promoveatur, ut non tantum sit Christus, sed tibi & mihi sit Christus. Luther. loc. common. Class. 1. cap. 4. Quod Philosophi dicere solent, Omuis actio sit per contactum, id in sacra praedicandi actione vel maxime locum habet. Davenant. in Colos. 1. 21.  had laid down all the speculative considerations about the day of Judgement, he bids them make use of it, Matth. 24. ●2. Exhortation is so necessary that all the ministerial work is called by this name, Act. 2. 40. & 13. 15. See 1 Tim. 4. 13. & 6. 2. In all the Epistles after the doctrinal part followeth the hortatory, Tit. 1. 9 See john 4. 9 We have divers examples of such as applied the word particularly to the hearers, 1 King. 18. 18. Host 5. 1. Mal. 2. 1. Luk. 3. 19 This preaching is enjoined to Ministers under the Gospel, Isa. 58. 1. Tit. 2. 5. God doth work most mightily with such preaching, joh. 4. 18, 19 Act. 2. 36, 37.  
Reasons. 1. Every man (through the self-love and hypocrisy that is in his heart) is apt to put from himself to others general Doctrines and Reproofs, Matth. 21. 41. see 45, 46. verses.  
2. Till men's sins be effectually discovered to them, they can never attain to any saving grace, john 16. 8. Tit. 1. 13.  
3. Practice is the end of knowledge, and nothing is perfect till it attain its end, If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Truth's are never fully and exactly known, but in the experience and practice of them, hence that expression, Taste and see.    

CHAP. III. Of Ecclesiastical jurisdiction and Government.  
THat there is an Ecclesiastical Government distinct from the Civil, it is apparent, 
See M. Gillespies Aaron's Rod blossoming, l. 1. c. 1, 2, 3. & his Misc. c. 19 And the London Ministers Ius Drvinum of Church-Government. Potestas Ecclesiastica à pelitica realiter distincta est, 2 Paral. 1 1. 19 Joh. 18. 36. 2 Cor. 10. 3. 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 3. Luc. 22. 25. 1 Cor. 3. 5. Col. cum Rom. 13. 14. Voetius.  seeing the Church and the State are distinct, their Governments must be also distinct. Yea the Church may be not only distinct but separate from the State, neither the supreme nor subordinate powers being incorporate in the Church, but mere aliens from it, and perhaps enemies to it.  
God hath established two distinct powers on earth, 
* Bishop Ushers Speech in the Castle-chamber at Dublin concerning the Oath of Supremacy. The Keys are an Ensign of power and authority in some Corporations, as in others the Mace and Sword.  the one of the Keys committed to the Church, the other of the Sword committed to the Civil Magistrate. That of the Keys is ordained to work on the inward man, having immediate relation to the remitting or retaining of sins. That of the Sword is appointed to work upon the outward man, yielding protection to the obedient, and inflicting external punishment upon the rebellious and disobedient.  
Some call it the power of the Keys, others Ecclesiastical Discipline, others Church-government.  
That there is a Church-power appeareth plainly by Christ's giving them the Keys, Matth. 16. 18, 19 john 20. 23. and also in the titles of Shepherds, Governors, Rulers and Guides, Heb. 13. 7, 17. 1 Cor. 12. 28. God hath set in the Church, the other things there reckoned are all peculiar to the Church.  
There is a twofold Ministerial power, 1. Potestas ordinis, which consists merely 
M. Udall told them in the days of Queen Elizabeth, that if they would not set up the Discipline of Christ in the Church, Christ would set it up himself in a way that would make their hearts to ache. Discipline is used sometimes largely, so as it extendeth to all Rule and Order, appointed or left for the right managing of the things of God, or strictly for the Censures of the Church. So there may be a true Church without Discipline. The Helvetians and those of Switzerland have no suspension at all, but what offences other Churches suspend for the Civil Magistrate punisheth other way.  in preaching the Word and administering the Sacraments. 2. jurisdictionis, whereby they govern in the Church, by binding the Impenitent, and losing the Penitent.  
The Object of this spiritual power are religious things in a religious consideration, 
The Papists turn all Ecclesiastical power into a mere civil and worldly power.  but it is not an absolute supreme power.  
The Ministerial power manifests itself:  

1. In doctrinal decisions of matters of faith.  
2. In making wholesome ecclesiastical Laws.  
3. In executing Church-censures.   
But though they have power of declaring Gods will concerning matters of faith and worship to the people, yet they cannot make any new Article of faith, nor propound any thing as necessary to be believed to salvation.  
It is a great Question, Penes quos sit potestas Ecclesiastica? Who are the subject 
Vide Spanhem. Epist. ad Buchanan. q. 2. M. Balls Trial of the ground of Separation. See M. Cawdries Review of M. hooker's Survey, c. 11.  of this Ecclesiastical power?  
The Community of the faithful (much less two or three separated from the world, and gathered together into the name of Christ by a Covenant) are not the proper and immediate subject of power ecclesiastical, Matth. 28. 19, 20. john 20. 21, 22. & 21. 15, 16. were spoken to special persons, not the whole community. The Apostle Act. 20. 28 speaks unto the Presbyters of Ephesus, and saith, That they were appointed Overseers by the holy Ghost, that they might govern the Church of God. M. Rutherford saith, The Keys were given for the Church, but not to the Church.  
Mr. Norton 
* Adversus Apollon. c. 4. Ius excommunicandi ante Papisticam illam tyrannidem nunquam penes unum fuisse comperietur, sed penes presbyterium, & quidem non excluso penitus populo. Bern. Epist.  urgeth Act. 14. 23. to prove the power to be in the fraternity, it is said there, That Presbyters were ordained by Paul and Barnabas in every Church. They were ordained in the Churches, but not by them. He urgeth also Act. 6. that proves nothing but that the election of Officers doth some way belong to the people, but that their Authority depends on the people cannot be thence collected.  
Mr. Norton, Chap. 5. of that Book, saith, Quod exercetur nomine Christi, recipitur immediatè à Christo. At officium Rectorum exercetur nomine Christi, 2 Cor. 5. 20. Here he not only grants but also proves Rectores Ecclesiae esse immediatum subjectum potestatis, against which he asserted and argued in his fourth Chapter. And after in the same fifth Chapter, he saith, Multitudo non committit potestatem Ecclesiae Rectoribus, tantum designat personas, therefore it is not the first and immediate subject of ecclesiastical power, which he endeavoured to prove Chap. 4.  
Excommunication is the greatest and last censure of the Church, judicium maximum 
Summum futuri judicii praejudicium est, si quis ita deliquerit, ut à communicatione orationis & conventus & omni sancti commercii relegetur. Tertul. in Apol.  & tremendum. See Mat. 16. 18. Mat. 17. & 18. 1 Cor. 5.  
This Ordinance is useful:  

1. To the whole Church, hereby the honour and beauty of the Church of 
It is that sentence of the Church whereby she ejecteth wicked sinners out of her Communion. D. Field. See M. Gillesp. Aaron's Rod bloss. lib. 2. cap. 10. The Schoolmen say, Excommunication is Purgativa respectu Ecclesiae, praeservativa respectu sidelium, Sanativa respectu delinquentis. Vide Aquin. partem tertiam, Qu●st. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.  Christ is preserved from the defilement and scandal which such an offence would bring upon it, otherwise the evil example would infect, 1 Cor. 5. 4. this was typified by the Leper whom God would have shut up in his Tent, lest the rest of the Congregation should be infected.  
2. God's people are hereby made more watchful.  
3. It is useful to the offender himself, for the saving of his soul is the end of it, 1 Cor. 5. 3. and that he may not commit the like fault again, 1 Tim. 1. 20. The power of Excommunication Formaliter & executiuè is proper to the company or assembly of Governors and Rulers in the Church derived from Christ, to be exercised as Christ shall go before them, but with notice to, and due regard had of the whole society.   
The Parts of Excommunication, are  
First, Admonition, 1 Thess. 5. 14.  

1. This must be for a sin reprovable.  
2. For scandalous matters, not infirmities which are mourned for.  
3. Managed with wisdom, zeal and love, Gal. 6. 1.   
Secondly, Excommunication, which is to be executed on men, for corrupt opinions, Titus 3. 9, 10. Revelat. 2. 15. 2. Sinful practices, 2 Thess. 3. 6. 1 Cor. 5. 11.  
It is a Question, An Episcopus prasit Presbytero jure divino?  
A Bishop is a man chosen out among the Ministers to have chief Authority in the ordaining of Ministers in a certain Circuit, and overseeing them with their flocks.  
The Christian world saw no other Government for fourteen hundred years after 
D. White in a Sermon at Paul's Crosse. Apostoli hoc Ecclesiae regimen instituerunt, ut unus aliquis non solum populo sed etiam presbyteris & diaconis praesiciatur, penes quem sit, & manuum impositio sive ordinatio, & consiliorum Ecclesiasticorum directio. Scultet. in subscriptionem Titi. Presbyteri ex suo numero in singulis civitatibus unum eligebant, evi specialiter dabant titulum Episcopi, ne ex aequalitate, ut fieri solet, dissi●ia nascerentur. Calvin. Instit. lib. 4. cap. 4.  Christ.  
Some urge this for the lawfulness of their Office by God's Word.  
By proportion of the chief Priests under the Law, and of the Apostles under the Gospel. The high Priest was set over the other Priests, and over the Levites, Numb. 3. & 4. Chapter. The twelve Apostles were more eminent than the seventy Disciples, and not only exceeded in excellency of Gifts, but in amplitude of Authority and power. Now (say they) it is the constant Doctrine of all the Fathers, that the Bishops succeeded the Apostles in the ordinary Government of the Church, as also the Presbyters succeeded the Seventy Disciples. Episc. Dau. Determinat. 42. See B. Barlow Antiq and Superiority of Bishops.  
jerom saith, The order of Bishops came in by mere custom of the Church, 
M. Thorndike of Primitive Government of Churches, cap. 6.  to avoid Schisms which arose for want of Heads, but how can that be when it was practised at Alexandria by Mark the Evangelist? Christ's meaning is not Luk. 22. 25, 26. to make an equality among Ministers, but to set a difference between Kings and the Ministers of the Word, that none should invade the right of Princes under the pretence of their Ministry. Doctor Hampton on that place. See more there.  
We confess, saith Bishop Davenant, Determinat. 42. that according to Christ's appointment all the Apostles were equal in degree and power, but we deny that that parity among the Ministers of the Gospel is here or any where established, which they maintain who oppose the Episcopal Dignity. For notwithstanding this command of Christ, the twelve Apostles were superior in Dignity and greater in Power then the twelve Disciples, and the chief Pastors were appointed by the Apostles in the Church of Ephesus and Crete, which had power of jurisdiction over the Presbyters of those Churches. 
● Tim. 5. 22. Tit. ●. 5.   
The Apostles had no superiority over the Disciples either of Ordination or Jurisdiction.  
2. The Question is concerning Officers of the same kind, and the instance is of Officers of different kinds, amongst whom there may be superiority and inferiority, as there is amongst us between Presbyters and Deacons. The Apostles were superior to Evangelists and Pastors, but one Apostle had not superiority over another, or one Evangelist over another. Smectymn. Answer to an Humble Remonstrance, Sect. 13. Add to this, Armachanus, Bishop jewel, Dr Whitaker and Saravia with others, make Bishops and Presbyters the same order though different degrees.  
Learned Divines both Protestants and Papists hold, That Bishops and Presbyters 
Ex usu Scripturarum nihil differt Presbyter ab Episcopo, ne in Ecclesia quidem, ulla saltem essentiali differentia, sed tantùm accidentali. Chamier. Vide Collationem Rainoldi cum Harto, cap. 8. pag. 461. & 541. Danaeum in 1 Tim. 3. 1. Non est alius ordo Episcopi ab ordine presbyteri sed unus & idem, hoc tantum differunt, quod ex Presbyter●rum consensu & electione, unus presbyter in altiori gradu collocaretur. Qua de re videri possunt qui hanc materiam nuper accuratissimè tractarunt. Illustris Salmasius & clarissimus David Blondellus. Rivet. Grot. Discus. Dialys. Sect. 11. Nos putamus parum differre utrum Episcopis an à presbyteris gubernetur Ecclesia, modo graviter & fideliter obeant munus suum quiqui tandem ad clavum sedeant. Si de antiquitater●s est cum Hieronymo planè sentio, Apostolorum aetate inter Episcopos & presbyteros nihil fuisse discriminis, Et communi presbyterorum consilio Ecclesias fuisle administratas. Itaque Presbyteri Episcopis omninò sunt antiquiores. Interim Episcopale regimen est antiquissimum, & paulò post Apostolos per universam Ecclesiam magno cum fructu obtinuisse, est mihi compertissimum. Bocharti Epistola ad Quastionem de Presbyterate & Episcopati.  differ rather in execution of some acts of their order appropriated to Bishops only, then in their essential order. A Bishop hath an eminency of degree in the same order, but his ecclesiastical order is the same with the Presbyters or Priests. D. Featley in a conference with Everard a Popish Priest.  
There is (saith Beza) Episcopus Divinus, Humanus, & Diabolicus; by the divine Bishop he means the Bishop as he is taken in Scripture, which is one and the same with a Presbyter. By the humane Bishop he means the Bishop chosen by the Presbyters to be Precedent over them, and to rule with them by fixed Laws and Canons. By the Diabolical Bishop he means a Bishop with sole power of Ordination and Jurisdiction, lording it over God's Heritage, and governing by his own will and authority. Smectymn. Answ. to Humble Remonst. Quer. about Episc. See M. Bains Dioc. Trial, and Cartw. against Whitg. M. Gillesp. Aaron's Rod Blossom. l. 2. cap. 11. and 3. and Gers. Bu●. and Mr Seld. E●tych.  
The Pope would be ecumenical Bishop, and pleads that Monarchy is the best Government. But Chamier. Tom. 2. de Romano Pontifice, lib. 9 cap. 8. though he acknowledge that Monarchy simply excels all other kinds of Government, because all things created are governed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, viz. by God alone, and so that they cannot be more wisely, powerfully and profitably administered, yet (saith he) this makes nothing for the Pope's cause, for in that (saith he) we do not consider Monarchy simply, but described with its certain circumstances, viz. of the Persons which rule or are ruled, and the Government itself, so that is to be judged the best kind of Government which is most profitable to those who are governed.  
There can be conceived but three forms of Government, Episcopal most conformable to Monarchy, Presbyterial to Aristocracy, and Independent, as they term it, to Democracy. Presbyterial is no elder than the Reformation in Geneva, and Independent than New-England. Episcopacy was either planted by the Apostles or their immediate Successors in the first and best ages of the Church. D. Featleys Sac. nem.  
It is a Question, An Ecclesiae regimen sit Monarchicum aut Aristocraticum, Whether 
Initio & in remotissima Ecclesiae autiquitate non erat Ecclesiae regimen Monarchicum, sed quasi ex Aristocratica & Democratica mixtum, quamvis propriè & sanè loquendo eavoces in Ecclesia usurpari non debeant. Vedel. Exercit. in Epist. Ignat. ad Mariam. Vide plura ibid. In co nobis imponunt quod vocant eum in Ecclesia Iudaica Pontificem maximum. Nam Scriptura eum vocat summum Pontificem, cujus in consacerdotes, ut ita loquar, nullum suit imperium, tantum iis omnibus praeibat, itaque regimen illud non erat Monarchi●um, sed Aristocraticum, quale regimen est Venetae Reipublicae in qua tamen Dux est & Princeps. Cameron. de Eccles.  the Government of the Church be Monarchical or Aristrocratical? The Government of the Church in respect of its Head, Christ, is a Monarchy; in respect of the Pastors that govern in common, and with like authority amongst themselves, it is an Aristocracy, or the rule of the best men, in respect that the people are not secluded, but have their interest in Church-matters, it is a Democracy or popular estate. Cartw. Reply in Defence of the Admonit. p. 35. He saith the same on Ephes. 4. 5. Whitaker hath the like cont. 4. de Rom. Pontif. q. 1. c. 1.  

Of Counsels or Synods.  
The name of Synod doth in in his primary and large acception agree to every 
Idem est Graecis Synodus quod Latinis concilium per C, à conciendo, Synodus est legitimus Christianorum hominum coetus & sacer, ex diversis Ecclesiis ac regionibus coiens, & quidem de rebus sacris babetur, non autem de rebus profanis, aut merè politicis, & à personis propter vocationem sacris, Danaeus Isag. Christ. part. 4. de potestate Ecclesiae, c. 35. Vide plura ibid.  Assembly, so doth the name of Council to every Assembly of consultation. The former being derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is all one with coetus, and imports the Assembly of any multitude which meeteth and cometh together. The later being derived of Cilia 
* Concilium dictum à communi intention, eo quod in unum omnes dirigant mentis obtutum: cilia enim ●culorum sunt, Isidore. Concilium dicitur, non à consulendo aut consentiendo, ut vul● Festus, sed à concalando, ho est, convocando, sive congregando, quod reivim naturamque declarat. Concilium enim est hominum coetus, aut concio, aut convocatio, aut conventus, aut multitudo collecta ac convocata ab aliquo ad consultandum, an't dijudicandum de rebus communibus. Whitakerus de conciliis Quaest 1. c. 2.  (whence also Supercilium) imports the common or joint intending or bending their eyes both of body and mind to the investigation of truth in that matter, which is proposed in the Assembly. But both these words being now drawn from those their large and primitive significations, are by ecclesiastical Writers and use of speech restrained and appropriated to those Assemblies of ecclesiastical persons wherein they come together to consult of such matters as concern either the Faith or Discipline of the Church. Dr Crakanth. Vigilius Dormitans, cap. 19  
Coetus qui Ecclesia nomine ad decidendas controversias convocatur, Synodus seu Concilium appellatur. Wendelinus.  
A Synod is an ecclesiastical meeting consisting of fit persons called by the Churches, and sent as their Messengers, to discover and determine of doubtful cases, either in Doctrine or Practice according to the truth. hooker's Survey of Church-Discipline, part. 4. c. 3.  
If Counsels had been simply necessary, Christ or his Apostles at least would somewhere have commanded them to be celebrated: which yet we read no where done by them. Besides the Church and Faith remained safe for three hundred years without a general Council from the time of the Apostles even to the Synod of Nice. For this is the difference between a Church and Commonwealth, that a Commonwealth stands in need of humane Council, and cannot stand without it, but the Church is governed and preserved by God, and though a Council conduce to its external State, yet the life and satiety of the Church doth not consist in it.  
A Council which represents the Universal Church, as it is compounded of particular Churches, is called Universal or Ecumenical. The Council which represents a particular Church (as it consists in one Assembly) is called a Presbytery or Ecclesiastical Senate. When it represents a particular Church, as it is constituted out of the consociation of many Assemblies, it is called either a National Council, if Ambassadors come from all Provinces into which the Nation is dispersed to that Ecclesiastical meeting; or a Provincial Council if the Churches send only from one Province Deputies to the same Assembly.  
The most famous, lawful and Ecumenical Counsels were those four:  
The first Nicene Council called by the Emperor Constantine the Great against 
Sic priscas illas Synods, ut Nicenam, Constantinopolitanam, Ephesinam primam, Chalcedonensem ac similes, quae confutandis erroribus habitae sunt, libenter amplectimur, reveremurque ut sacro sanctas, quantum attinet ad fidei dogmata: nihil enim continent quam puram & nativam Scripturae interpretationem, quam sancti Patres spirituali prudentia, ad frangendos religionis hostes qui tunc emerserant, accommodarunt. Calvin. Instit. l. 4. c. 9 Sect. 8. Concilium universale cum non ex una gente, sed ex toto ●rbe Christiano Episcopi ac Presbyteri propter maximas causas publica authoritate congregantur, ut olim à piis Imperatoribus sapè, ad quae ex singulis ferè Provinciis Africa, Asiae, Europae aliqui convenerunt. Hae vocantur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, vel quia ex omni parte orbis ad eas convenitur, vel quia ut quidant volunt, ab Imperatore congregabantur, qui olim totius orbis Christiani Imperium ba●uit. Whitakerus de Concil. Quaest 4. cap. 2.  Arius, who denied the Deity of Christ.  
The first Constantinopolitan Council called by the Emperor Theodosius the elder against Macedonius who denied the Deity of the holy Ghost.  
The first Ephesine Council called by the Emperor Theodosius the younger against Nestorius who held that there were two Persons in Christ.  
Fourthly, The Chalcedonian called by the Emperor Martian against Eutyches, who held that the one Nature in Christ consisted of the Divine and Humane.  
These Counsels were celebrated within five hundred years after Christ's 
That famous Council of Nice was the first and best general Assembly after the Apostles time that was summoned in the Christian world, it had in it 318 Bishops, Totius orbis terrarum lumina Dr Featl●ys Case for the Spectacles.  birth.  
Counsels there have been called Ancient, because less Modern; and General, because less Particular: for the first was not till more than three hundred years after Christ, nor to the largest appears it, that ever any were summoned beyond the bounds of the ancient Roman Empire, though Christianity were much far extended. Rainold. part. 2.  
Plenariis Conciliis quorum est in Ecclesia saluberrima Authoritas. Augustin. epist. 118. cap. 3.  
That a Synod be general and lawful three things are necessarily and essentially required.  
1. The first which concerns the generality of it, is, That the Calling and Summons to the Council be general and Ecumenical. Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbari debet. The lawfulness of Synods consists partly, in their orderly assembling by lawful authority, and partly in their orderly Government and proceedings when they are assembled. Crakanth. Vigil Dormit. c. 19  
The nature of Synods is all one, when they be Provincial, National or ecumenical, and they only differ as greater or lesser. Their power is not merely consultatory and swasive, but authoritative, and to be submitted unto by those for whom their delegation is, so far as their acts are according to the Word of God. In Synodo est authoritatis apex, totius Ecclesiae unitas, ordinis firmamentum. Leyd. profess. de council. A few private men, yea one man or woman may counsel, advise 
Vide Bellarm. de Concil. l. 1. c. 15, 16, 17. See Dr Rainolds his conference with Hart, cap. 9 p. 58. That not only Bishops but Presbyters have a right of suffrage in Counsels. Homines rerum divinarum & ecclesiasticarum experti, solertes, docti, pii, diserti, graves, cordati mittendi sunt ad concilia, hic par● debent authoritatem habere in suffragiis ferendis. Whitak. con. de council. c. 1. Whitak. Quaes'. 2. de council. c. 1. vide etiam c. 3. Vide Epis. Dau. de judice controvers. c 23. See B. Mortons' Appeal l. 4. c. 2. Sect. 2. Dr Featleys Vertumnus Rom. Preface to the Reader. See Mr Gillesp. Aaron's Rod blo●. l. 1. c. 3. p. 27. Doctissimus Tridentinae fidei patronus Andradius affirmat in compluribus hallucinari posse concilia generalia, exempli causa Chalcedonensem Synodum, unam è quatuor illis celeberrimis, quas Pontificum maximus maximo applausu Professus est se venerari sicut quatuor libros sancti Evangelii. Rainol. Thes. 3.  or persuade. M. Hudsons' Vindicat. c. 7.  
It is a Question between us and the Papists, Cujus sit congregare Concilia? Who hath the power of calling a Council?  
The Papists generally say the Pope. Vide Bellarm. de Concil. lib. 1. cap. 12, 13. We the Emperor and other Christian Princes. The four first general Counsels were called by four Emperors, as was before mentioned. The Pope of Rome out of his own Province hath no right nor authority of calling a Council.  
The true cause (saith Doctor Ames) why general Counsels were called by the authority of the Emperor, was because the Emperor alone, not the Pope, had universal power.  
It is a Question between us and the Papists, Quinam sunt ad concilium convocandi? Who are to be called to a Council?  
The Papists hold only the Clergy may be of the Council, and of the Clergy only Bishops as Judges.  
Men that are famous for wisdom, holiness of life, and experience of things, men that are inflamed with a zeal to God, and to the salvation of men, with the love of the truth and peace.  
From Acts 15. 6. & 23. it is manifest that not only the Apostles, but also the Elders, and the people likewise, and the whole Church were present, and had their voices in this Council, See Acts 16. 4. That famous Paphnutius was a Layman.  
A general Council represents the Universal, therefore there ought to be present there some of all kinds and orders of men.  
An Concilia possint errare? Whether general Counsels may err?  
Every Assembly which consists of members subject to error may be seduced: But General Counsels are Assemblies consisting of members subject to error, for all men are so, Rom. 3. 4.  
Secondly, If the determination of General Counsels were infallible, all Christians were necessarily bound to stand unto them, and to submit to their authority.  
Thirdly, If General Counsels may contradict the one the other, they may certainly err. The General Council held at Lateran under Leo the tenth contradicteth the Council of Constance in the point of the Counsels superiority above the Pope.  
Fourthly, That which hath befallen some General Counsels may befall any other, unless they can allege some special privileges to the contrary. See 1 Kin. 22. 12. Mat. 26. 65. joh. 11. 52. & Mark 14. 64.  
Bellarmine saith they cannot err if confirmed by the Pope. De council. lib. 2. cap. 2, 3, 4, 5.  
That General Counsels though gathered and confirmed by the Pope may err, not only in fact, as the Papists confess, but also in faith and manners. Vide Whitaker. controv. 3. the Concil. Quaest 6.  
In eo Pontificii se praebent ridendos, nam Papae confirmatio sequitur Concilii decreta non praecedit. Cameron.  
The Rhemists bring john 16. 13. & Luk. 1. 3. Some urge Matth. 18. 20. for this purpose. None amongst them is like to Luke, nay all of them gathered together are not like him, he was an extraordinary instrument of the holy Ghost. john 16. 13. speaks not of the Church, but of the Apostles, but if it be applicable to the Church, yet it belongs only to the Spouse of Christ, not that she doth not sometimes err also even in Doctrine, but not deadly, she shall not err in things which are necessary to salvation. See Cameron. Miroth. in lo●.  
If from this promise an infallibility of judging might be gathered, it would agree not only to Bishops gathered together, but severed, neither only to the Pope of Rome, as the Jesuits would have it; but also to the Successors of the 
Quis nesciat ipsa Concilia quae per singulas regiones vel provincias siunt, plenariorum Conciliorum authoritati, quae siunt ex universo orbe Christiano. sine ullis ambagibus cedere; ipsaque plenarta sapeprio●a posterioribus emendari, cum aliquo experimento rerum aperitur quod clausum erat. Aug. de bapt. cont Donat. l. 5. cap. 3.  rest of the Apostles, saith B. Davenant. That place Mat. 18. 20. means any particular Assembly of the Saints. Vide Calv. in loc.  
Act. 15. 22. is also brought. This Council consisted of Apostles which had an extraordinary assistance and illumination of God's Spirit, there is not the like authority of other Counsels. Panormitan the great Popish Canonist and Lawyer saith, Plus credendum est simplici Laico Scripturam proferenti, quam toti simul Concilio.  
There is another great controversy, not so much (as Whitaker 
* Quaest 5. de council. c. 1. Gerso●. indig●um & monstrosum ratus, ut concilium ab uno vim omnem atque dignitatem obtineat, censuitque eos qui rogant utrum Papa major sit an Ecclesia, perinde facere ac si quaerant utrum parte majus sit totum. Humfr. jesuit. part. 2. p, 302. Honours mutant mores. Nos defendimus (saith Bellarm. de council. auth. c. 17 in prinicipio) summum Pontificem simpliciter & absolutè esse supra con●ilium generale: ita ut nullum supra se judicem agnoscat. Vide c. 13, 14, 15, 16. Of which opinion also are Stapleton and Gregory de valentia.  hath well observed) between us and the Papists, as between the Papists themselves, a Concilia sint supra Papam? Whether Counsels be above the Pope?  
Many amongst them, and those of great note prefer a General Council before the Pope, but others a Pope before the Council.  
If Peter himself (saith Whitaker in the place before-quoted) be sent to the Church, as to a certain superior judgement and tribunal, and be commanded to bring the faults and offences of others to it, than it follows that the Church is greater and superior to Peter, or any other in authority. The Assumption (saith he) relies in express words of Scripture, The consequence of the major is evident from the confession of the Adversaries. For they say, That a Church is represented in a Council.  
Secondly, The Universal Church is called the mother of all the faithful, and Christians, Gal. 4. 26. The Pope is the Church's son if he be faithful, But the son is not above his mother, only God and his word is above the Church of God.  
Pius Secundus when as before he preferred General Counsels before the Pope, now being Pope, he did decree, That no man should appeal from the high Bishop of Rome to any General Council.  
The Council of Constance (in which were Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals) did hold it necessary for the Pope to submit himself unto a Council. B. Mort. Appeal l. 4. c. 2. Sect. 8.  
The Council also of Basil condemneth the advancing of a Pope above the Authority of a Council for a pernicious heresy. Veritas est Catholicae ●idei, sacrum generale Concilium supra Papam & alium quemvis potestatem habere. Concil. Basil. Conclus. 1.  
Whether a combination of many Churches under the Government of Classes and Synods be to be approved of? Or whether every Church hath an independent power?  
So Spanheme in his Epistle to Buchanan propounds the Question so, and saith, That as there were particular Synagogues in all Cities, so they did appeal to a higher Tribunal erected at jerusalem, Deut. 17. 8. 2 Chron. 19 8, 11. Psal. 1 22. 4, 5. and that hereby the power and authority of particular Churches is not destroyed, but other preserved and strengthened, since every particular Church appears in a Synodical Assembly, and there hath his suffrage, neither doth the power of particular Churches more cease herein (saith he) than the power of Cities, when there is a Parliament called, and each City sending its delegates to it, and from it proceed obligatory and decisive decrees. Spanheme concludes, Miror viris piis non displicere vel solum independentis 
* The word in its fair and inoffensive sense imports thus much, every particular congregation rightly constituted & completed, hath sufficiency in itself to exercise all the Ordinances of Christ. M. Hooker Survey of Church Discipline. par. 2. chap. 3. See Mr Calamies Epistle to the Reader before Mr hudson's Vindication, That all Church-power is not solely and particularly in an Independent Congregation.  Ecclesiae nomen, quod à modestia Christiana mihi per quam alienum videtur.  
A ground and pattern of a Synod is laid down Act. 15. & 16. which is acknowledged to be a Synod and warrant for it by M. Cotton of the Keys, chap. 6. and is called an Ecumenical Council by Chamier. in Postrat. Tom. 2. lib. 10. cap. 8. Sect. 2 And Whitak. controvers. Quaest 6. and generally by our Protestant Divines, and is abundantly proved by the London Ministers in their Ius Divinum, part. 2. cap. 14. & 15.  
We have one instance of excommunicating in the Church of Corinth, and one here of a Synod, why should not this be as sufficient as the other?  
Yet some take away all Jurisdiction and judicial power from Synods. Quod non est Ecclesia, non potest exercere jurisdictionem Ecclesiasticam, saith Norton Respons. ad Apol. c. 10.  
But that may be thus answered, That which is not a Church may exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction, not formally but eminently; as the Parliament contains in it eminently the jurisdiction of every inferior Court. Besides that Proposition may be denied, if by the Church the whole multitude of the faithful be understood, for ecclesiastical jurisdiction is not in the whole multitude, but in the Presbytery.  
A non-communion he allows, but what if another Church shall nothing regard 
How one sister Church by its single power can non-communion another, that is of equal power with it, I know not, for it is a censure and no lesser than a virtual Excommunication. M. Hudsons' Vindicat. cap. 7.  that punishment of non-communion, or non-communion that also? However, that punishment is no greater than what may be inflicted by any private person. For every one may, and also if there be just cause, aught to deny his Communion to another, 2 Thes. 3. 9, 14.   

Of ANTICHRIST.  

Antichrist may signify either in stead of Christ, or contrary to Christ. 
Antichristum ipsa nominis originatione significare aliquem Christo oppositum sciunt vel pueri. Sed nominatur tamen aliàs generaliter aliàs propriè. Non●unquam enim tribuitur cuilibet Christum oppugnanti 1 Joan. 2. 2. magis propriè usurpatur pro insigniter notabili Antichristo, 1 Joan. 2. ille Antichristus. Chamie●. Tom. 2. l. 16. c. 1. Quisquis enim Christum, qualis ab Apostolis est praedicatus, negavit, Antichristus est: Nominis Antichristi proprietas est Christo esse contrarium. Hilarius adversus Arianos. Antichristus, si vim vocis spectemus significare potest eum, qui vel opponit se Christo ut adversarium, vel se aequat Christo ut aemulum, vel se Christi locum tenere in terris profitetur, ut Christi Vicarium: talem planè insignem illum Antichristum Scriptura describit ut adversarium quidem 2 Thes. 2. 4. ut aemulum, esserentem se super omnem, qui dicitur Deus, etc. ut Vicarium, cum bina illi cornua agni similia affingit. Down. Diatrib. de Antich. l. 1. c. 1. Vide etiam l. 3. c. 1. & 4.   
That the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek signifieth both contrari●tatem & vicem, is sufficiently proved by many of our learned Writers, so that Antichrist from the force of the word is such an one who in the place and name of Christ doth oppose Christ.  
It means any one that is an enemy to Christ, either open and professed, as the Jews, Turks, Infidels (in which sense the word is not used in the Scripture) or else covert, professing themselves Christians, and under the name and profession of Christ, oppugning Christ and his truth. B. Down. of Antich. l. 1. c. 1.  
He is called, The man of sin, That wicked man, Merum scelus, saith Beza, from the force of the Hebrew phrase, The son of perdition. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The lawless one, one that will not be subject to the Law of God, but doth what he list, Dan. 11. 36. john calls him the Whore for his most wicked life, but especially for his false religion. He makes himself equal with Christ. Stapleton calls Gregory the 13th Supremum interris numen. He is especially described in three places, viz. in 2 Thes. 2. in Revel. 13. from vers. 11. to the end, and in Revel. 17.  
He usurps Christ's Offices:  

1. Prophetical, dispensing with the Law of God, they make the Pope an infallible teacher.  
2. Kingly, he is the Head of the Church, and can make Laws to bind the conscience.  
3. Priestly, they take away Christ's priestly Office by their merits, satisfactions, and especially that abominable Mass.   
The constant opinion of the learned is this: That of the revealing or manifest appearing of Antichrist there were two principal degrees, 
Introduxit titulum Monarchae Sylvester secundus, jurisdictionem, Gregorius septimus, canon's add ista defendenda, Innocentius tertius; praxin sive insignia utriusque gladij, Bonifacius octavus.   
The first about the year 607, when Boniface the third obtained the Supremacy over the Universal Church.  
The second after the year 1000, when he claimed and usurped both swords, that is, a Sovereign and Universal Authority, not only Ecclesiastical over the Clergy, but also Temporal over Kings and Emperors. Down. of Antichrist, lib. 2. cap. 3.  
It is a Question between us and the Papists, An Petrus primatum Romae exercuerit? 
Non propter Petrum de Petri honor● disputatur holiè; sed propt●r Pap●m: cui sui adulatores potius persuaderent, ut verarum Petri virtutum, quam falsorum titulorum haeres esse mallet. Casaub. exercit. 13. ad annal. Eccles. Nos autem fa●emur, tum ex Scriptures, tum ex patribus multa afferri posse, quae Petro quandam honoris praerogativam adscribere videantur. Primus maximam ob partem inter Apostolos recensetur▪ solus ferè respondit nomine omnium Apostolorum, quando aliquid ●● commune ab illis quaeritur: à patribus Dux, Princeps, caput Apostolorum subinde appellatur: Sed exhisce aliisve quibuscunque titulis, & praerogativis quae Petro tribuantur, nihil aliud colligi posse affirmam●s, quam obtinuisse illum praesidentiam sive primatum quendam, quoad ordinem, inter alios Apostolos, non potestatem sive jurisdictionem, quoad Imperium super omnes Apostolos. Hic ordinis primatus (absque quo in nullo coetu negotia rectè expediri possunt) Petro delatus fuit, non juro divino, sed vel ratione aetatis, ut putabat Hieronymus, vel (quod potius arbitror) ratione indolis; quia fuit acerrimus & fortissimus Apostolorum, atque ad propuls●●da pericula & negotia expedienda paratissimus. Episc. Dau. Determ. Quaest 47. Primatus est vel temporis, vel ordinis, vel dignitatis, & non duntaxat potestatis Petrus, etsi non fuerit primus tempore, potuit tamen esse primus ordine, primus etiam dignitate, n●● tamen primus potestate, Cham. Tom. 2. l. 11. c. 15. Tanta diligentia omnia coacervantur etiam minima quae sive in Scriptures, sive apud Fatres de Petro sola dicta leguntur. Cham. de Occumen. Pontif. l. 3. c. 3.  Whether Peter exercised a primacy at Rome?  
There is a primacy, 1. Of order and degree. 2. Of authority and jurisdiction, the first with St Hierom. Protestants will easily ascribe unto St Peter, but not the other. B. Mort. Appeal l. 2. c. 17. Sect. 2.  
Those words Matth. 16. 18. Luke 22. 23. & john 21. 15. were not meant or intended to Peter alone, but to the rest of the Disciples with him.  
For the first place, the Rock and Keys signify the same thing, but the Keys and all the power thereof was given to all alike, to all the Apostles, viz. remitting and retaining, Mat. 18. 18. john 20. 21. is given to them all, what Matth. 18. was promised.  
Cyprian, jerom, Theophylact, Anselm, Augustine, Cyril, Hilary expound the Rock either of Christ himself, or the faith and confession which Peter held.  
That Luke 22. 23. was spoken to Peter in regard of the sin whereunto he fell shortly after, yet it containeth nothing which our Saviour meant not to the rest, he prayed for them all, that their faith should not fail, John 17. 11, 15, 17, 20. and their very Office of Apostleship bound them to strengthen their Brethren, Matth. 28. 19  
The third Text john 21. 15. belongeth likewise to all the Apostles; to feed is to preach the Gospel, see Ephes. 4. 11. Sheep and Lambs are the people, and not the Apostles properly. Dr White.  
Matth. 10. 2. If Peter were the first, than he had the primacy. For although the reason be not so plain in English, because we have not so fit a word derived from our English (First) as primatus primacy from primus in Latin, but he that is first hath the firstship (if I may so speak) that is to say, the primacy. This is such a primacy as a foreman of the Quest is wont to have in Juries: not a primacy of power, as over inferiors: but a primacy of order, as amongst equals. Dr Rainol. against Hart c. 5. p. 174, 175.  
The Pope succeeds Peter as night doth the day, a tempest a calm, sickness health.  
He succeedeth Peter only in denial of Christ. M. Perk. on jude.  
The Painter pictured Peter with a red face, as blushing at his Successors vices.  
An Pontifex Romanus sit Antichristus? Whether the Pope of Rome be Antichrist?  
Papa or Papas among the Greeks signifieth a Father, and is the appellative that 
Memini me olim puero, in ●epicta quadem tabula, ad nomen (Papa) hunc A●rost●●um legisse (P) Pastorum (A) Ambitio (P) P●perit (A) Antichristum. D ● Prid. Epist. Dedicat. ad Fasc. Controu. Theol. Papa tanquam patrum pater. Bollarm. l. 2. de pontiff. c. 31. & Salmeron. prol●g. in epist. ad Rom. Disp. 15. The Romanists glory to be called Papists from the Pope. A Papa Papistas dici nec ●●●●●ur, nec erubescimus. Lorin. jes. Comment. in Act. 20. 30.  little children beginning to speak are wont to give to their Parents, and in like sort among the Latins, noteth a Father or Grandfather, hence the Christians in ancient times did use to call their spiritual Fathers and Bishops Papes or Popes. So that the name of Pape or Pope was common to all Bishops. Jerome writing to Angustin calleth him Pope, and writeth to the most honourable Pope who yet was Bishop of little Hippo only, therefore that name of Pope doth no way prove every one that is so called to be Universal Bishop. D. Field of the Church, l. 5. c. 41. Vide Cham. de Oecum. Pontif. l. 5. c. 2.  
The Pope hath appropriated to himself the very name of Papa, that is, Pope, which formerly (saith their Jesuit Azorius) was common unto other Bishops, B. Morton Protest. Appeal l. 4. c. 19 Sect. 1.  
We stand not upon this word Pope, it is but Father, it was given to Pastors, to those that were worthy Pastors, ascribed to Fathers in Epistles and superscriptions, 
Vide Cham. de Occ. Pontif. l. 5. cap. 2.  as to Augustine a poor Bishop, and to Paulinus a poor Deacon. A name of reverence now grown odious. D. Fentons' Treatise against reconciliat. to the Church of Rome.  
Every Pope at his entrance doth change his name: which custom began An. Dom. 687. when he whose Christian name was Os porci, forsook it to be called Sergius. B. Mort. ubi supra.  
I will not conclude it as an Article of Faith, that the Pope is Antichrist. I am 
Deum sanctè testor, Christiane lector, me tam certò scire Pontificem Romanum esse magnum illum Antichristum, & Pontificiam Ecclesiam Antichristi Synagogam, quam Deum ipsum esse in coelis creatorem visibilium & invisibilium, & jesum Christum verum illum Messiam, patribus olim promissum. Povelus de Antichristo.  not of his mind that said, It was as clear that the Pope was Antichrist as that Christ was the Messiah.  
Learned Chamier saith, Quicunque homo omnes capit notas Antichristi quas Scriptura delineavit, is est Antichristus: At Episcopus Oecumenicus capit eas omnes notas. He to whom all the notes given (by the Scripture) of Antichrist, jointly agree, he is Antichrist: But to the Pope all the notes given of Antichrist jointly agree.  
Others go this way also, they say, It is not enough to prove that Christ was the Messiah, because he was born at Bethlehem, but because what ever was spoken of the Messiah agrees to him; so likewise it is not enough to prove the Pope to be Antichrist, because one of the notes given about Antichrist belongs to him, but because all.  
But I suppose that those two main circumstances of the time and place of Antichrist agreeing to the Pope, it is a weighty argument to prove that the Pope is Antichrist, 1. The place, the seat of Antichrist is described Revel. 17. ult. which is Rome, and the time when he that letteth was taken away, which was the Emperor. In these two things the ancient Fathers agree.  
Antichrist as God, sitteth in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is 
Quanquam Ecclesia Romana in qua unicè Pontisex sedet, Templum Dei non est, si verè loqui volumus, tamen Dei templum meritò appellatur, & quia suit olim reverà templi●n Dei, & quia munc in Romana Ecclesia reliquiae sunt hujus templi; & quia se pro templo Dei jactat, illudque nomen ad se unum, suosque alumnos pertinere contendit. Whitak. ad Sanderi Demon. 17. de Antich Resp. Vide Aug. de civet. Dei. l. 20. c. 19  God, 2 Thess. 2. 4 that is, he shall rule and tyrannize over the Church of God, making himself Head of the Church. Nero was cruel against believers, but he ●ate not in the Church. To sit here is to take and exercise judiciary authority in the Church of God. Vide Grotium in Luc. 20. See Mat. 19 28. The Pope's authority is called Sancta sedes.  
The Apostasy of Antichrist is described 2 Thess. 2. 3. there shall be an ecclesiastical 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illa defectio. See Chamiers Tom. 2. l. 10. c 5 Of Antichrists errors in matter of Doctrine concerning the Scripture, God, man, the Sacraments and Church.  falling away from the true worship of God to idolatry, 1 Tim. 4. 1. This Apostasy doth imply their former embracing of the truth, their faith was formerly known to all the world, as now their heresy and idolatry is, therefore in this respect no Heathen Emperor, nor the Turk can be Antichrist. He shall not only apostatise, but shall seduce many, and make them drunk with that deadly poison. See M. Medes Apostasy of the later times.  
The Miracles of Antichrist are set forth 2 Thes. 2. 9, 11. their end is to confirm a false Doctrine. In Transubstantiation there is miracle upon miracle. The Priest if he please can turn all the wine in the Town into Christ's blood. How often have the people seen blood in the bread?  
The Vices of Antichrist might also be urged: 
Popes in our days are praised for their goodness, when they surpass not the wickedness of other men. Gui●ch. Hist. lib. 16. Pius Quintus Pontifex sanctus dicere solebat, cum essem religiosus sperabam benè de salute animae meae; Cardinalis factus extim●i; nunc Pontifex creatus, penè despero. Idem sensit Clemens Octavis. Cornelius a Lapid. in Num. 11.   

1. His pride, he shall exalt himself above all that is called God, that is, Princes: so the Pope. He takes the titles of Universal Bishop, Head of the Church, and Vicar of Christ. Bellarmine is not ashamed to apply that in Isaiah to the Pope, Behold I lay in Zion a foundation stone, Isa. 28. 16.  
2. His cruelty, the Whore is said to be drunk with the blood of the Saints: So the Pope. And Rev. 13. it was given him to kill whoever would not adore the image of the Beast.  
3. Covetousness, he shall with feigned words make merchandise of many: So the Pope.   
Add to this the opinion of the Reformed Churches generally, of B. jewel, of Whitaker, Downam, Perkins, Fox, Abbot, Brightman, Rainolds, Powel, and Dr Sclater on 2 Thes. with divers others.  
For the judgement of the Fathers 
* Depatrum seutentiis non laboro, qui cum ante tempora Antichristi viverent, & talem Antichristum, qualis erat futurus, ne somniarent, multa de Antichristo scripsisse aliena, & veri quidem duntaxat imagine ductos fuisse minimè mirum est. Whitak. ad Sand. Demonst. de Antich. respons.  herein it is not much to be valued, because they lived before the times of Antichrist, and did not dream of such an Antichrist as afterwards rose up.  
It is a Question between us and the Papists, An Antichristus sit singularis homo? 
cum Papam dicimus esse Antichristum, non intell●gamus quemvis unum de Antichristorum turba, Antichristulum, sed magnum illum, & insignem Antichristum, qui non modo adversatur Christo, sed ut aemulum etiam se ci opponit, utcunque se interim Vicarium Christi mentiatur. Papam verò cum dicimus, non hunc aut illum volumes, puta Paulum quintum, vel Clementem octavum: sed ipsam pontificum Romavorum seriem, à Bonifacio usque tertio & deinceps. Downam. Diat. de Antich. l. 1. c. 1.  Whether Antichrist be one person?  
Bellarmine saith he is.  
The Pope is one person not in number and nature, as one certain and singular man, one at once by Law and Institution, though successively so many as have enjoyed the Papacy. The Papists when they say, that the Pope hath been the Head of the Church, and Vicar of Christ this 1500 years, do not mean any one Pope, but the whole rabble of them since the year 607. So Antichrist is one person, not at once ordinarily, but continued in a Succession of many. When we say the Pope, the Emperor, the King, the Priest, the Minister, the Eye, the Hand, we mean not one particular, but the whole kind.  
It cannot be an individual man, in that it is said, 2 Thes. 2. the mystery of Antichrist did then begin to work, and yet it should hold till the very coming of Christ, where is the man that lived so long?  
It is a Question, An Papa sit Christi Vicarius? Whether the Pope be Christ's Vicar?  
Innocent the third said, I am the Bridegroom, because I have a Noble, a 
Christus cum patris legatus & Vicarius sit in salutis humanae negotio neminem sibi legatum Vicariumve asciscit, multorum tamen utitur Ministerio. Camer. praelect. in Mat. 16. 18.  Rich, a Gracious Spouse, viz. the Church of Rome, which is the Mother of all believers.  
It is a Question, An Papa praesit aliis Episcopis? Whether the Pope be above all other Bishops?  
The Title of Universal Bishop of the Church, which Bellarmine calleth notable and proper to the Bishop of Rome. St Gregory sometime Bishop of Rome did renounce in himself, and detest in all others, call it a title of novelty, error, impiety, blasphemy, pronouncing any one that shall presume to challenge it, to be the forerunner of Antichrist. B. Mort. Appeal l. 1. c. 2. Sect. 29.  
The Universal Bishop of the Church necessarily betokens an absolute monarchical Jurisdiction of some one over all other Bishops of the Church, but Bishop of the Universal Church signifies the care and study any Bishop hath for the universal good of the Church, as 2 Cor. 11. 28. so the King of Spain is styled The most Catholic King, or King of the Catholic Church, not Universal King and Sovereign over all other Kings in the Church.  
There is another Question, An Papa possit conferre Bullas & Indulgentias? Whether the Pope can confer Bulls and Indulgences?  
Their own learned Authors plainly confess, That there is not found any one express testimony for proof hereof, either in Scriptures, or in the writings of. ancient Fathers.  
2. That there was no use of Indulgences in the primitive Church: but that afterwards the fear of Purgatory hatched Indulgences.  
3. That the first who extended Indulgences unto Purgatory, was Pope Boniface 
B. Mort. Appeal l. 1. c. 2. Sect. 20 See also c. 15. Sect. 6.  the 8th, more than a thousand years after Christ.  
Luther began his opposition unto Rome in reprehending their Article of 
* Bellar. l. 1. d● Indul. c. 1. Vide Estium ad 2 Cor. 2. 11. Dr Featleys Stricturae in Lyndo▪ mastigem Ch. concerning Indulgen.  Indulgences.  
He would have set down at the first, if the matter of Indulgences had been granted, but God led him on to declare against the whole Doctrine of Popery.  
The Indulgences whereof we read in the ancient Fathers were mitigations of some Censures of the Church before inflicted on the living for their amendment. These now granted by the Pope are relaxations from satisfactory pains in Purgatory flames after this life.  
It is a Question, An Papa possit leges condere quae obligent Conscientias? Whether the Pope can make Laws to bind the Conscience?  
Conscience is said to be bound, when it is charged by him who hath Power and Authority over it to perform its duty, to bear witness to all our actions unto God, and according to the quality of them to accuse or excuse us, Rom. 2. 15. God is the only binder of conscience, jam. 4. 12. he is greater than the Conscience, Rom. 13. 5. affirms only that Conscience is bound, but determines not that man's Laws bind it. 
Downs Subject to the higher powers on Rome 13. 5.   
Bellarmine saith, Mens Laws bind, Non minus quam Lex divina. We deny not rem, but only differ from them in modo, they bind not immediately but mediately, not primarily but secondarily, not in them, and of their own power, but in the force and virtue of divine Law.  
They say, If the Pope determine vice to be virtue, they are bound to believe it, yea Tolet saith, a man should merit of God in so believing.  
There be these Questions,  
An Papa sit supra Reges? Whether the Pope be above Kings? An possit Reges excommunicare? 
Vide Polyd. Vir. l. 4. Invent. c. 13. p. 290. Rescripsit Philippus pulcher Bonifacio octavo Pontifici non esse penes illum potestatem ullum in Reges Galliae, & si qui contra affirmarunt eos stultos & dementes esse oratio Arnaldi. Rivet. jesuit. vapulans. Imperatores, Reges sunt Papae vasalli. jidem debent Papam ●lorare flexo genu in terram usque: debent ejus pedes osculo venerari. Debent ei poculum porrigere & quidem de geniculis, debent aquam fundere lavandis manibus. Chamierus. Papa sedens in pontificali cathedra tenet coronam imperialem inter pedes suos: eaque ab Imperatore inclinato capite de pedibus ejus suscipitur: tum Papa pede cam coronam percutit, projicitque in terram, in signum, quod habet potestatem cum, si merita sua exigant, deponendi. Chamier. Tom. 2. d● Antich. l. 16. c. 21.  Whether he can excommunicate Kings?  
He hath sovereign Dominion (say they) over all Princes in temporal cases indirectly. But Espencaetis ad Titum cap. 3. pag. 513. confesseth from that Scripture, Rom. 13. 1. that chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, and all the Greek Doctors, and in the Latin Church Gregory and Bernard do from thence teach, that every Apostle, and Prophet and Priest, was commanded to acknowledge a subjection unto Emperors.  
The Pope Hadrian the 4th was not only angry with Frederick the Emperor, but for a while denied him the Imperial Crown, because he held his right stirrup when he should have held his left, which error he excused, because he was unaccustomed to such services.  
Bellarmine saith the Pope hath power in temporal things indirectly only, but his book should have been burned for it.  

Object. Christ had a natural Dominion over all Kingdoms, Therefore the Pope his Vicar hath also.  
Answ. Tertullian calls the holy Ghost the Vicar of Christ upon earth. See john 14.    

There is another Question, An Papae solius sit statuere de controversiis fidei? Whether 
Vide Bellarm. de Rom. Pont. l. 4. c. 1. Inter ipsos Romanae religionis Ecclesias versatur & vexatur una controversia majoris momenti quam sunt omnes, si in unum conglobentur, de quibus litigant inter se Protestants: Illam volo de infallibili judico in omnibus Christianae fidei quaestionibus, Hispanicae & Italicae Ecclesiae tuentur Papam esse hunc supremum Judicem, at Gallicanae è contra eundem deprimunt, de Cathedra sua infallibili deturbant & Concilio universali inferior●m stat●●nt. Epis▪ Dau. de pace Ecclesiast.  it belongs to the Pope alone to determine controversies of faith?  
We deny not but a Judge and a Law might well stand together, but we deny that there is any such Judge of God's appointment. Had he intended any such Judge he would have named him, lest otherwise (as now it is) our Judge of controversies should be our greatest controversy. Chillingworth part. 1. cap. 2. Sect. 10. pag. 57  
It is a Question, An Papa possit remittere peccata? Whether the Pope can pardon sins?  
Trecelius affirmed, That if a man had lain with our Lady the mother of Christ, and had gotten her with child, yet the Pope's pardon was able to set him free. The Pharisee said true though he misapplied it, Luk. 5. 21. Who can forgive sins but God alone.  
There is another Question, An Papa possit errare? Whether the Pope may 
Hoc argumento petitur principium quia supponttur aliquem esse Christianum summum Pontificem, ut Aaronicum quod falsum, atque adco id ipsum de quo nunc disputatur. Secundò probatur obscurum per obscurius, Quid enim sit Urim & Thummim, nemo adhuc certò definivit, ne ipsi quidem Hebraei. Cham. de Occ. Pontif. l 2.  err?  
The Pope (say they) as a private person or Doctor may err, but not as the Vicar of Christ, and the Successor of Peter in the Chair, yea judging from the Chair he may err in questions of fact, but not in questions of faith; nay he may err in discussing questions of faith, in respect of the premises, not in respect of the conclusions. E Cathedra docens (hoc est, ex tripode oracula fundens) nullo modo errare potest. Summus Pontifex (saith Bellarmine de Rom. Pont. lib. 4. cap. 3) cum totam Ecclesiam docet, in his quae ad fidem pertinent, nullo casu errare potest. See our Rhemists on Luk. 22. 31. The high-Priest of the Old Testament (saith Bellarmine de Pontifice l. 4 c. 3.) had on his Breastplate Doctrine and Truth according to the vulgar version, therefore the high-Priest of the New Testament the Pope, when he teacheth the whole Church in these things which belong to faith, cannot err in any case; How well that argumentation proceeds from the high-Priest of the Old Testament to the high-Priest of the New, let the learned judge. Nescio cur non possit dici, quòd Gregorius Papa, cum homo fuerit & non Deus, potuerit errare. Durand. l. 4. distinct. Quaest 4.    

Of the Jesuits and Monks.  
Of the Jesuits.  
The Pope in divers Bulls calls them Beloved sons, in which title they much glory.  
The Jesuits (above all other Regulars) make to the Pope a vow of present and 
In prima regula tradunt, Pap●e Romani vocem no● aliter ac Christi sermonem audiendam esse. Epist. jesuit. 4. Mr Crashaws' Epistle to his Jesuits Gospel. See Wats. Quodlib. 3. Quodlib. Answ. to Art. 2. and the Council of Trent, lib. 5. cap. 7. & lib. 6. cap. 1. Vide Whitakeri Epist. ad Tractatum de Scriptures. jesuitae quidem obstringunt se voto caelibatus & obedientiae caecae, at votum paupertatis respuerunt. Molin. Hyperapistes.  absolute obedience, to do whatsoever he shall command them, to go whithersoever he shall send them, to Turks, Infidels, Heretics, without excuse, denial or delay.  
They are to the Pope what the Janissaries are to the Turk, and uphold him chiefly.  
Their Order was erected in the year 1540 Hospin. de orig. jesuit. l. 1 c. 1.  
They are the frogs spoken of in the Revelation that croak in King's Chambers to provoke them to war. As in ancient time there was no play without a Devil in it; so in these later days there is scarce a Treason, but a Jesuit is an Actor in it.  
In my Preface to my Saint's Encouragement and the first Chapter, I have spoken 
They put to death by the help of the Castilians two hundred hundred thousand of innocent Indians. Orat. Arnaldi.  of the Cruelty of the Papists and Jesuits. Beckman in his Orations saith, From the time that the Sect of the Jesuits arose even to the year 1580, that is, in little more than thirty years, nine hundred thousand Christians were killed in the Low-Countries, France, England, Italy, Spain, and amongst them there were two hundred thirty five Barons, a hundred forty eight Earls, and thirty nine Princes.  
They do not so much stand upon their devotion, and therefore saith Ignatius Loiola in his Constitutions, that they should make no matter if other Orders did exceed them in zeal.  
jesuitae sunt omnium ordinum praeter suum maximi contemptores. Chamierus. They are contemners of all orders but their own.  
There have been but twoof that order Cardinals, Bellarmine and Tolet.  
The Jesuits say, it is a great miracle that Ignatius Loyola an illiterate soldier could institute such a Society as the world never saw before. They think their Society 
Epist. jesuit. Epist. 6.  miraculous, because in sixty years they were dispersed through all the coasts of the world.  
Their principal vow is, Per omnia & in omnibus, to obey their General (as they 
Oratio Antonini Arnaldi turned out of French into Latin by junius. Bona profecto & commoda immensa quae Rex Philippus●rga ●rga jesuitas confert, satis manifestè docent eos pro bo●is subditis & instrumentis commodis dominatus sui semper habitos. Arnald. jesuita est omnium horarum homo cum fuerit occasio, ut Vertumnus aut Proteus alter fermas se ver●it in omnes, lapidem gestat & pa●em in eadem manu, calidum & frigidum sufflat ex codem ore, & quantus quantus est, ex fraud, sallaciis & mendac●is totus consutus est. D. Prid. cont. Eudaem.  call him) and Superior, and this is always a Spaniard. Loyola who was the first General amongst them was a Spaniard. Leynes the second also a Spaniard. Everard the third of the Low-countrieses, heretofore subject to the Spaniard Borgia the fourth General was also a Spaniard. Aqua viva the fifth General of that order a Neapolitan.  
They pray daily for the King of Spain, and their great design is to make him Monarch of all the Christian world, it is their usual speech, Unus Deus, unus Papa, & Rex unus Christianitatis, magnus Rex Catholicus & Universalis. One God, one Pope, and one King of Christians, the great Catholic and Universal King.  
Ad excogitandum acutissimi, Ad audiendum impudentissimi, Ad efficiendum acerrimi, saith Arnaldus in that excellent Oration against the Jesuits.  
Dr Prideaux 
* On Ps. 9 16.  saith, None can be an absolute Papist, but if he thoroughly understand himself, and live under a Christian Prince, that hath renounced the Pope's 
Two in bonis subditis, imò ne in subditis quidem sunt numerandi, qui pertendunt se ● jugo secularis potestatis adeò liberos, ut leges principum vim coactivam in eos non obtineant; quinimo si contigerit eos in leges civiles peccare, asserunt se non posse à civili magistratu puniri, imò ne trahi quidem ad tribunal ejus. Episc. Daven. Determ. Quaest 17. Loiola de suae societatis nomine consultus, socios jesu suos dici voluit. Me● socii (inquit) nequaquam à meo nomine vel Ignatiani aut Loiolitae dicantur: sed titulus illorum sit, Societas jesu. Nam cum Romam pergerem, in via mihi apparuit Iesus cum beata matre sua, mihique dixit, ut sodales sibi conscriberem, quia paucos haberet inter clericos, fideles servos, velle igitur se, ut hic meus ordo dicatur, societas jesu. Bariaci Epist. jesuit. Epist. 2.  Authority, must needs being put unto it, be an absolute Traitor.  
B. Davenant in his Determ. of his 17 Quest. proves that jesuitae Pontificii non possunt esse boni subditi, that Jesuits cannot be good Subjects. See Rom. 13. 1. and 4. verses.  
They may be more fitly called jesuvitae then jesuitae.  Haud cum jesu itis, qui itis cum jesuitis.  

The Monks.  
They are so called, because they chose a solitary life, who purposed to live in this way.  
They called themselves Religious, as if they only were so, and the rest of the people God were irreligious.  
There was no man among the Papists though an Emperor, that died, but he desired 
Si curreri●t tibi Pater & Maier ingressuro Monasterium, & monstraverint ubera & lacrymis suis te voluerint retrahere, contemn lacrymas, & conculca pedibus parents, nudusque fuge ad crucem Christi; Vox Hieronimi: impiahae● & Diabolica vox Lutherus.  to be buried in a Monk's coul, as hoping to be saved thereby.  
They compare it to Baptism, and say, That a Monk newly entered into his Profession is absolved from all his sins formerly committed, and if he die presently he shall certainly go to Heaven.  
They attribute perfection unto that State, because of the vow of poverty, grounded as they say upon that saying of Christ unto the young man, Mat. 19 21. which if it be applied unto us doth not require always an actual but an habitual relinquishing of worldly wealth, signifying a Christian resolution in every one which shall hope for life, to be prepared always rather to lose all worldly wealth, then to forsake the profession of Christ. Bishop Mortons' Appeal l. 1. c. 2. Sect. 38.  
Bellarmine 
a Lib. 2. de Monach. cap. 5. Ante revelatam Evangelii lucem putabatur sanctissimum vitae genus esse Monachum fieri, sed profectò perdite viximus, quotquot in monasteriis viximus; jam lucente verbo, una hora plus boni facimus, quam toto umpore vitae●in Caenobiis. Luth. in Gen. 19  to dignify the state monastical, entitles the Apostles the first Monks in Christianity, but their Bishop Espencaeus in Tim. disliketh the orders of begging Monks, as repugnant to the example of the Apostles, for the Apostle 2 Thes. 3. 10. pronounceth all such disordered who will beg and not work.  
There is a double kind of monastical poverty, one consisting in the renouncing of the Dominion, Possession and Property of their goods; yet in a community enjoying the use of them: as the common sorts of Monks. The second is a forsaking of the property, and of all use of riches, these are called the Mendicants or begging Friars. B. Mort. Appeal.  
Bellarmine brags that Luther, Bucer, Pelican, Munster, Musculus, Oecolampadius, Martyr, and others were Monks; but this makes no more for the Papists, than it doth for the Manichees, that Augustine (who after was a great enemy to them) was first himself a Manichee.  
Bellarmine and Maldonate triumph in john the Baptist. Joannem Baptistam Monachorum, & Eremitarum Principem fuisse, scribunt ferè omnes Patr●s, saith Bellarmine ᵇ, they prove by his Diet, Garments, by the place where he was, the Wilderness, 
* Lib. 2. de Monachis c. 5.  that he was a Monk.  
Locusts was the usual meat of the Inhabitants in the East, his Garments and Diet were mystical, he came not eating or drinking. There were Towns in that Wilderness, 1 Chron. 6. 7, 8. Isa. 42. 11. joh. 1. 28. We grant john's austere life, but here was an extraordinary Call, and it is one thing by the Call of God to live 
The famous Armachanus wrote seven Books De paupertate salvatoris, yet proves that he was not a beggar. He wrote also Contra fratres mendicantes, and should have been canoni●ed but for the Friars.  a poor life for the discharging of his Office, and another thing voluntarily to do so.  
They say, Christ had not where to lay his head, so that he had nothing but by begging. This is false, for although Christ had nothing, yet he did not beg, but those that were devout did give him something. judas had a bag wherein the treasure was gathered. Christ did eat and drink, and frequent public places.  
The Eremitical life is contrary to the nature of man when it was uncorrupt, for whom it was not judged good to be alone, Gen. 2. Eccles. 4. 9 as this solitary life is an enemy to mankind, so is it to the Communion of Saints in the Church of God, Matth. 5. 15. The example of the primitive Church is against it, Act. 2. 44. the uncleannest and most hateful birds covet desolate places. Cartw. on Mat. 3. 1.  
They may rather be called Fratres manducantes, then mendicantes, we use proverbially those speeches, Tun-bellied Monk, An Abbot's face, As fat as an Abbot, An Abby-lubber.  
The mother of Dominick the Monk (saith their Martyrology) before he was 
Dr Fcatl●ys Case for the Spectacles, c. 8. From that time forward the Monks of this order have been always employed in the inquisition.  yet born, dreamt that she was delivered of a whelp with a firebrand in his mouth, with which he set the whole world on fire, and their learned Doctors have interpreted this dream, that Dominick should be that dog that should vomit out a fire which should consume the heretics. He was a great persecutor of the Waldenses and their Doctrine.  
The Order of Benedict hath been so fruitful, that they say of it, That all the new Orders, which in later times have broken out, are but little springs or drops, and that Order the Ocean, which hath sent out fifty two Popes, two hundred Cardinals, sixteen hundred Archbishops, four thousand Bishops, and five thousand Saints approved by the Church, yet if they be compared to the Jesuits, or to the weak and unperfect types of them, the Franciscans, it is no great matter that they have done. Dr. Donnes Ignatius his Conclave.  
A rich Merchant in Paris in merriment told the Friars of Saint Francis, that they wore a Rope about their bodies, but Saint Francis should once have been hanged, but was redeemed by the Pope on this condition, that all his life after he should wear a Rope, but they in earnest got judgement against him that he should be hanged for it. Doctor Tailor's Romish Furnace.  
The Monks and Friars are no where mentioned in Scripture, unless Apoc. 9 3. Locusts issued out of the bottomless pit, they by their smoky Tradiditions obscure the light of the Gospel.  
To prove their Cardinals a Divine Ordinance, they urge that place, 1 Kings 2. Domini erunt Cardines terrae. See Polyd. Virg. de Invent. rerum, lib. 4. cap. 9 pag. 270.  
They consist for most part of personages nobly descended, they are admitted to kiss the Pope's mouth, they only elect the Pope, and from them only the Pope elected must be selected. Saint Peter had no Cardinals about him.  
A certain Friar wittily preached to the people at Lions in France, when he said, That the Hogonots (so the Protestants are called in France) did agree with the Church of Rome in all the Articles of Faith, but that there was one wicked word Solùm, Only, at the noise of which the war was kindled, for they Only believed what the Rule of Faith hath from the holy Scriptures, but the Roman Church required something more to be believed then what is contained in the Rule of Faith or holy Scriptures, because the Authority of of the Church will have it so. Junius de Eccles. cap. 17. de Eccles. Roman.   

Corollaries from the Church and Antichrist.  
First, From the Church.  
Christ's great interest here below is the Church, it is his Hephzibah, his delight 
Phil. 2. 20, 21. Next to the title of God, Christ values that title of being head of the Church. Rom. 4. 13.  is in her; it is as Shewbread continually before him; the people of God are his Segullah, his peculiar treasure, his jewels Mal. 3. 17. all the rest of the world being but as lumber in comparison, for them the world stands; The Church is the fullness of Christ, Ephes. 1. 22. The great blessings are out of Zion.  
The interest of Christ extends to all Churches, where a people love the Lord Jesus in sincerity. The Donatists would include the Church in their parts of afric, the Papists say they only are the Church▪ Christ's interest is not limited to any forms, 2 Cor. 11. 28.  
None are true members of the invisible Church of Christ, but only those which have the Spirit of Jesus Christ in them, really holy, and united to Christ the Head.  
There is a great controversy about qualification of Church-members, therefore Apollonius and Spanhemius have begun their Dispute with this Question.  
Some say, The members of every particular Church are obliged at their first admission to show to the whole Congregation convincing signs of their Regeneration and true Grace.  
Some urge that the Scripture in the description of a godly man rests not in the negative Rom. 8. 1. and that a bare profession is not enough, or to say, I know no evil by him, or that he is not scandalous, they urge 1 Thes. 1. 1. and 2 Thes. 1. 1. they say the Church is not only termed holy from the better part, but the particular members are commended for holiness, 2 Thes. 1. 3. Phil. 1. 7. We are strict (say they) in taking a wife or servant, inquire after them, and are not 
See M. Lockyers' Church-Order from p. 29. to 62.  satisfied that we hear no ill: so a judgement of severity is to be used in admitting Church-members, and because we may be deceived therein, the more care is to be used.  
Others say, If they be willing to give up their names to Christ it is enough, because the Church is a School, there they are admitted, Non quia docti, but ut sint docti, not because they are learned, but because they are willing to learn.  
Would you have Church-members real Saints, cross to the Texts, the Floor and Drag-net, or such as by the exactest scrutiny that can be made, we may judge 
Mr Firmine last Book, pag. 82, 83.  to be Saints really? I desire your Texts for this. D. Ames saith, Falsum est internas virtutes à nobis requiri, ut aliquis sit in Ecclesia quoad visibilem ejus statum. Bellarm. Eneru. Tom. 2. l. 2. c. 1. Sect. 5. 
The Apostles could not at that time go by this rule, upon the hearing of a Sermon a thousand perhaps professed to be satisfied in that Doctrine, and that they would live and die in it.   
The Apostles at the first gathering of the Church of the New Testament never required any more than the profession of the faith of Christ in fundamentals, and that they were willing for the time to come to walk in Gospel-rules. john Baptist received Publicans and sinners, soldiers, Scribes, Pharisees, when they confessed their sins, and desired to be admitted into the faith of him whom john preached. See Act. 2. 41, 47. Vide Calvin ad Mat. 3.  
Many a one that may have real grace, yet out of bashfulness, and because he hath but weak parts may not be able to evidence it to others, and others (who have greater gifts) may carry it away when they are not inwardly wrought upon.  
I suppose therefore, those are to be received into Church communion which 
I am verily persuaded, that were the union and communion of the people of God rightly known, there is no Saint in any part of the world, but where ever he comes, might demand upon the profession of his faith, and his voluntary subjection to the Gospel, his right in the Ordinances, hear the Word with them, pray with them, receive the Sacrament with them. Mr. Martial on Rom. 12. 4, 5. See more there. See Mr. Hilders. on John 4. 22. We know what we worship, and Mr. Balls Trial of the Churchway.  profess the faith of Christ, and subject to the rules of the Gospel, if they be freed from damnable errors and scandalous conversation.  
Some conceive the gathering of Churches out of Churches to be unwarrantable, and think it is confusion, 1 Cor. 14. 33. Where is there (say they) any warrant from Moses and the Prophets, or from Christ and his Apostles for any such thing, though yet in their times many Church-members were as ignorant and profane as now?  
To be a member of the Church of Christ is a great privilege, the Communion of Saints is the only good fellowship.  
The Communion of the Saints consists in three things: 
Haec communio est inter Deum & hominem, inter sanctos Angelos & homines electos, inter sanctos homines in Coelis, & sanctos homines in terris, seu inter Ecclesiam trium hantem & militantem, denique inter omnes cives Ecclesiae militantis. Alsted. Theol. Cas. c 8. See Dike on Philemon. Our Communion is with the Saints as with Christ the Head in two things, we receive the same Spirit, and walk in the same way. Ephes. 4. 4. 1 Cor. 12. 12. Communio sanctorum in co est fita, quod singuli electi capiti suo per fidem sunt insiti, caeterisqu● corporis illius membris arctissimè per Spiritum uniti. Alsted. Theol. casuum.   
First, In the Communion of their Graces; what Graces they have they have not only for their Salvation, but in trust for the good of the body, the members of the body should be helpful to one another.  
Secondly, In the use of God's Ordinances, this was the beauty of the primitive times, Act. 2. 42. there was no such separation then.  
Thirdly, In the performance of all mutual Offices of love, Serve one another in love.  
Our Union with Christ is the ground of this Communion.  
As all men are one in the first Adam, so all the Saints are one in the second Adam.  
This Union is wrought on God's part outwardly by the Word, and inwardly by the Spirit: on man's part, Outwardly by our profession, Inwardly by faith, Rom. 11. 20. By Communion of Saints is meant their common partaking in Christ their Head, and all his Benefits, and their mutual interest one into another.  
There is no such good fellowship in the world as in the Church of Christ.  
Secondly, From Antichrist:  
That the Popish Doctrine tends to the extreme dishonour of God's Word, I have showed in my first Book of the Scriptures.  
Secondly, It tends to the extreme dishonour of Christ,  

1. In making other Intercessors.  
2. In making each man his own Saviour by his own works.  
3. In feigning a Purgatory.   
Thirdly, It tends to the damnation of men's souls.  

1. In drawing them to put confidence in their own works.  
2. In making them content with lip-labour in stead of prayer.  
3. In mocking them with counterfeit confession. 
The Papists make the Pope a god in divers particulars: 1. In that they make the Scriptures subject to him in that no man is bound to believe the Scriptures, unless he determine that they be so. 2. In that they make him able to dispense with the oaths and vows, which no Scripture dispenseth withal. 3. In that they make his Decrees to bind the conscience with the same necessity that the Scripture doth. 4. In that they give to him the Keys of Purgatory.   
4. In teaching them to commit Idolatry.  
5. In teaching them the doctrine of venial sins, and that these may be pardoned without either confession or contrition.   
There is a double way of advancing Antichrist:  
First, In way of Worship and Superstition; Some conceive that course was taken here formerly when there was so much cringing and bowing toward the Altar.  
Secondly, By publishing and maintaining the Doctrines of Popery, the most refined Doctrines, conditional Decrees, freewill, Auxilium sufficiens omnibus ad salutem, media scientia in God, and Universal Redemption in Christ's intention, final Apostasy: These are the Jesuits Doctrines, Arminius had it from them.  
Christians that have cast off Popery should be so far from returning again to Babylon, that they should pray for the destruction and utter ruin of that man of sin, and with confidence expect the accomplishment of the Prophecies in that kind.    
The End of the sixth Book.   

THE SEVENTH BOOK. OF OUR UNION And Communion WITH CHRIST, And our Spiritual Benefits by him, and some special Graces.  

CHAP. I. Of our Union with Christ.  

HAving handled the work of Redemption in the Nature and Person of it,  
Now I shall speak of the Application of it by the holy Ghost.  
That is a special part of God's Providence whereby those things which Jesus Christ hath purchased are by the operation of the holy Ghost made effectual to all those for whom they were appointed.  
Four things are considerable in it:  

1. The foundation of it.  
2. The efficient cause or worker of it.  
3. The persons who shall be made partakers of it.  
4. The parts of this work: 

1. Union and conjunction with Christ.  
2. Communion with him.     
The ground work of it lies in three things:  
1. The donation of God the Father, john 6. 39 All that my Father hath given me shall come to me.  
2. The intendment of Christ in all the work he wrought, john 17. 19 For their sakes do I sanctify myself, that is, separate myself to the work I undertook.  
3. The Father's accepting it done for them as heartily as if they had done it in their own persons, 2 Cor. 5. 19  
2. The efficient cause of it the holy Ghost, that is, the third Person in the Trinity, who is equal to the Father and the Son. The making of man was in some respect appropriated to the Father, redeeming him to the Son, the making it effectual and applying it was the work of the holy Ghost, 14, 15, and 16. Chapters of john. I will send the holy Ghost, The Comforter, he shall lead you into all truth, Convince you of sin, righteousness and judgement. There is no one branch of our partaking of Christ, but what is totally ascribed to the holy Ghost. The sending of the Gospel is by the holy Ghost, they are the gifts and graces of the holy Ghost, Faith, Union with Christ, and Communion with him in all his Offices are from the holy Ghost, the Spirit teacheth, governeth, comforteth.  
Reason, Because no inferior person could effect it, Ephes. 1. 19, 20.  
Thirdly, The Persons to whom this work of application belongs, or who shall be made partakers of Christ, but the Decree of Election and Reprobation have been handled already. There are a certain number whom God hath appointed to come to life by Christ, the Spirit of God will make the means effectual to all his.  
Fourthly, The parts of this work:  

1. Union and conjunction with Christ.  
2. Communion with him, 1 joh. 5. 12.   
I shall first speak of our Union with Christ.  
Christ is said to dwell and abide in us, and we are said to be Christ's, to be partakers of Christ, to be clothed with Christ, and abide in him.  
The Spirit of God sets it out in five similitudes:  

1. Of food made one with the body, joh. 6. 5, 6.  
2. Of Head and Members, Ephes. 1. 22, 23.  
3. Of the foundation and building, Ephes. 2. 20, 21, 22. 1 Pet. 2. 4, 5, 6.  
4. Of the stock and branches, joh. 15. 4, 5, 6, 7.  
5. Of the Husband and Wife, Ephes. 5. 31, 32.   
We must be one with Christ as we were one with the first Adam (say some) two ways:  
1. Naturally, as we bore his image.  
2. Voluntarily, as we consented to his Covenant; so with the second Adam,  
1. Naturally by receiving of his Spirit.  
2. Voluntarily consenting to his Covenant; Though it is not easy to conceive, how we can be said to have consented to his Covenant, but as being in him, and so his consent did include ours.  
The Union begins on Christ's part, he lays hold on me by his Spirit, Rom. 8. 9 Phil. 3. 12. Gal. 4. 5, 6. 1 john 4. 13. This Spirit works a principle of faith in us that lays hold on Christ, and accepts him for our Head and Husband for ever, john 1. 12. Ephes. 3. 17. He will take Christ:  

1. With all his Offices, for a Lord as well as a Saviour.  
2. With all his graces.  
3. With all his inconveniences, Christ with poverty, with disgrace, with the stake.   
There is a threefold Union between Christ and a Believer:  

1. Mystical with Christ as a Head, the fruit of that is intimacy.  
2. Moral with Christ as a pattern or example.  
3. Judicial with Christ as a Surety, whereby we are concerned in every act of Christ's mediation, the fruit of this is interest.   
This Union between Christ and us is wrought by the Spirit, Ephes. 4. 4. He unites God and us, and us one with another. He works it by the Ministry of the Word, 1 Cor. 1. 9 john 6. 44, 45. and a religious use of the Seals, 1 Cor. 12. 13. Rom. 6. 3, 5. 1 Cor. 10. 16.  
Some make our Union with Christ to be only a relative Union, others an essential 
The Father's hyperboles this way, followed by Luther, gave occasion to this.  personal Union, as if we were Godded with God, and Christed with Christ.  
I 
a Dr. Hill on Ephes. 4. 15.  would not be too bold with those expressions of Nazianzen, because I see they are abused, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
First, There is more than a relative Union, as that place 1 Cor. 6. 
b That is, partaker of one and the same Spirit, and so united by the Spirit. There is a union between Christ and his people, 1. In reference to imputation, so that what Christ did is accounted theirs. 2. In reference to inspiration, they have the Spirit dwelling in them. 3. In reference to compassion. 4. In reference to vindication, what injury is done to them is looked on as done to him.  17. forcibly proves. 2. These Reasons.  

1. This Union is set forth by similitudes which show a real Union, john 15. 1. 1 Cor. 12. Head and Body.  
2. Because our Union with Christ is compared to the Mystery of the Trinity, and is like to the Union of the Persons in the Divine Nature, joh. 6. 57 & 14. 20. & 17. 21, 22, 23. We are one not in the same kind or degree of Union, nor in so high and glorious a manner.  
3. Because it is not a Union founded only in terms of Scripture, but really wrought by the Spirit of God, 1 Cor. 12. 13.  
4. Because there are real effectual comforts and graces derived to us from hence, Rom. 6. 4. Phil. 3. 10.   
Secondly, It is not an essential Union:  

1. Because the Union is mystical not personal; the two Natures in Christ are essentially united, because they are made one person, it is a Union of persons, our persons are united to Christ, yet not a personal Union, we make not one person, but one body with Christ, and not one body natural but mystical, 1 Cor. 6. 17.  
2. Those that mingle and confound the persons make the mystical Union higher than the personal, the personal Union did not confound the Natures, make the man God.   

Object. The whole Church is called Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. and we are made partakers of the Divine Nature.  
Answ. We must not apply that to Union which is proper to Communion, Communion is the common union of all the members with Christ. It is folly to apply that to one part which is proper to the whole body, Head and Members is Christ 
Some say, the actions of the Saints are of infinite value, as the obedience of Christ's humane nature, because of the hypostatical Union, and that they are so one with Christ that they can sin no more than Christ can sin.  mystical, the parts are of the body, but not the body. There is a great deal of difference between the Divine Nature, as it was in Christ, and as it is in us, Col. 2. 6. compared with that of 2 Pet. 1. 4. He had the fullness of the Godhead, we are only partakers of the Divine Nature, the Godhead dwells in him personally, in us spiritually, 1 john 4. 16. there is a likeness wrought in us to the Divine Nature.    

This Union between Christ and us, is 
Not imaginary, Ephes. 5. 30. We read of Christ's being in us, & our being in him, 1 Co. 1. 13. Col. 1. 27. Rom. 8. 10. of Christ's dwelling in us, and our dwelling in him, 1 joh. 3. 24. of Christ's abiding in us, joh. 15. 17. and our abiding in him. Christ's living in us, and we in him, Gal. 2. 20.   

1. Real, though he be in Heaven we on earth, because the same Spirit that dwells in him dwells in us; it is not only notional nor moral as betwixt friends.  
2. Mutual, I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine: and total, whole Christ God and man is ours, and the whole man soul and body must be his, Psal. 45. 10. therefore we are said To eat his flesh, Drink his blood.  
3. Spiritual, Christ's Spirit is communicated to us, and abides in us.  
4. Operative, where Christ dwells by his Spirit he casts out Satan, and takes possession of the soul, and furnisheth it with his graces, repairs his Image in us, communicates his life to us, gives us strength to bear crosses.  
5. Intimate, john 17. 21. Cant. 8. 12. it was not enough to say, My vineyard, but my vineyard which is mine.  
6. Strong and inseparable. Death dissolves marriage, not this Union, Rom. 8. 34, 35, 36, 37, 38. It brings us nearer Christ, by virtue of this mystical Union with Christ the dead bodies of the Saints are raised up at the last day.   
This Union with Christ is one of the deep things of God, one of the great mysteries of the Gospel, Ephes. 5. 30, 32. Our Saviour in his preaching began with the Doctrine of Repentance. Mat. 4. 17. then went to that of Sanctification in general in the fifth, sixth and seventh Chapters of Matth, than he proceeds to the Doctrine of Faith, sixth, seventh and eighth Chapters of john, and lastly to his Union with the Saints, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth Chapters of john.  
There are three mystical Unions not to be understood by a creature;  

1. The Mystery of the Trinity, wherein three distinct Persons make but one 

The hypastatical union. A spiritual or mystical union This union non mutat naturas nec miscet personas, sed confoederat mentes & consociat voluntates. I may know that I am one with Christ also by my faith, Ephes. 3 17. I may know I have that by two principal effects of it, 1. It purifieth the heart, Act. 15. 9 not only the ways and outward man. 2. It is an operative virtue, Gal. 5 6. sets all graces a-work. From our union with Christ flows,  

1. Spiritual life.  
2. Spiritual acting.  
3. Spiritual growth.  
4. Spiritual duty, joh. 15. 5. Col. 2. 19 Eph. 4. 15, 16.    God, Deut. 6. 4.  
2. Wherein two distinct Natures make one particular person, so there is one Christ, 1 Cor. 8. 6.  
3. When two distinct Natures and Persons are united by one Spirit; so there is one Church, Cant. 6. 8.   
How to know whether I am united to Christ.  
I have then received the Spirit of Christ, 1 john 3. 24. Rom. 8. 26. He walks in the Spirit, lives by the Spirit, is led by the Spirit.  
Two Rules to know that:  
Christ is then, first, A Spirit of Mortification, he  

1. Helps thee to subdue thy darling sins, 1 john 3. 8.  
2. Helps thee to overcome thy secret spiritual sins, the power of natural conscience may keep under gross sins, but what power have you to subdue contempt of God, impenitency, hardness of heart, pride, envy?   
Secondly, Christ is also a Spirit of Sanctification, 1 Pet. 1. 2.  

1. In renewing the inward man, That which is of the Spirit is Spirit.  
2. In transforming the outward man: 

1. He is willingly ignorant of no truth.  
2. He lets it break forth into practice.  
3. Lays out whatever is dear to him for Christ, as Nehemiah, Esther.     
Benefits which flow from our Union with Christ:  

1. Reconciliation, God looks not upon us as enemies, Luk. 2. 14.  
2. Union with the holy Trinity, God the Father, Christ dwells in God, and God in him, 1 Thes. 1. 1, 2. The Spirit, he is said to abide in them, and they in him.  
3. He hath an interest in all Christ's relations, john 17. I go to my Father and your Father, my God and your God, this gives boldness and access to the throne of Grace.  
4. The Promises come to be yours by your union with Christ, 2 Cor. 1. 20. they are made with Christ and with you in him: he is Primus foederatus, say some; yet others say, Christ is Mediator of the Covenant, but not a party with whom the Covenant is made, I will forgive their iniquities, etc. this they say is not made with Christ who knew no sin. Besides they urge that it is expressly said, I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel, etc. And all spiritual privileges, 1 joh. 5. 12. this is the ground of all imputation of righteousness.  
5. We are presented to the Father through Christ, he not only presents your services, but persons, Exod. 12. 29. Heb. 7. 24, 28. Eph. 1. 6. Phil. 3. 9   
The end or intendment of this Union.  

1. To be the highest exaltation to his people that their persons are capable of, the Angels are not so united to Christ as the Saints, they are his servants not his members.  
2. That this might be the foundation of all Communion betwixt Christ and the 
Omnis communio fundatur in union. Christ will do nothing unless we be united to him, whatever he doth he doth as a head, a root, joh. 15. 4. As by the personal union he meriteu all things for us, so by this union of persons he dispen●eth all to us. We should labour, 1. To get into Christ. 2. To grow up into him. That consists, 1. In being emptied more and more of our own righteousness, and going to Christ for acceptation of our persons. 2. In going to him for strength in duty, and acceptation of our services. 3. In doing all for Christ and his glory. 4. In going to Christ for a rule in all our actions. 5. In doing all out of a principle of love to Christ, 2 Cor. 5. 14. 6. In making Christ the reward of our services, to serve Christ for Christ.  soul; he is the head we the members, by virtue of the hands union with the head are all living operations.   
He is the foundation, we the building; He the stock, we the branches; He the Husband, we the Spouse; by virtue of this conjunction he looks for duties from us; there is a living in him, a bearing fruit in him; and we for privileges from him, we partake with him in his Righteousness, Victories, Graces, Inheritance.  
Directions to preserve our Union or Conjunction with Christ:  
He is united to us by the indwelling virtue of his Spirit, 1 Cor. 12. 13. 1 john 3. 24. & 4 13. and by faith, john 1. 12.  

1. Do not grieve God's Spirit, Ephes. 4 23. Delicatares est Spiritus sanctus. Tert. if he counsel, rebel not.  
2. Maintain thy faith, believe strongly against all doubts and apprehensions of thy own unworthiness, the Spirit comes by faith, Gal. 3. and it is kept by it; faith is the bond of union on our part, as the Spirit on Gods.  
3. Use the Ordinances, job 22. 21. in every duty and act of worship look to enjoy God. Get some excitements to grace, resolutions of obedience, displeasure against sin, use a holy boldness in thy address to God, Heb. 10. 9 Ephes. 3. 12. we come not to a tribunal of Justice as malefactors, but as friends and favourites to a throne of grace, job 22. 26. Use 

1. Prayer, Psal. 86. 11.  
2. Attend on the Gospel, read it, meditate on it daily.  
3. The Sacraments, make use of thy Baptism, we were baptised into Christ, and frequently use the Lords-Supper. We should praise God when he meets with us in duties, and repent his withdrawing himself, Lam. 3. 44.  
4. We should be one with all believers, because we are one with Christ. Christ seldom speaks of his people's union with him, but he speaks of their conjunction one with another, and seldom presseth them to brotherly love, but from this union with Christ, 1 Cor. 12. per tot. & 1. 10. Ephes. 4.       

CHAP. II. Of Effectual Vocation.  
OUr union with Christ by the Spirit is wrought in our Effectual Calling. 
See Mr Pembles Vindiciae Gratiae, pag. 42, 43. Vocatio alta & secreta. Aug. Efficax vocatio, Rom. 8. 30. Solenne vobis est profitert facultatem credendi & resipiscendi ex mera Dei gratia dari. Sic olim Epicurus verbis Deos posuit, resustulit 〈…〉ed & Pelagius post Ecclesioe censuras, professus est Dei gratiam; quo artificio propemodum imposuerat Augustine, adeò ut ipse Augustinus professus fit se gavisum esse quod dogmata ejus aut recta essent, aut correcta. Quibus tamen diligenter expensis advertit tandem haec ab eo ita disserta esse, tantum, ut frangeret invidiam, affectionesque declinaret. Nam sola suafione & hortatione gratiam Dei circumscripsit. Twis. contra Corvin. c. 9 Sect. 7. Vide plura ibid.   
This is the first work which God works upon the soul, it is Temporalis Electio, 1 John 5. 19 it is the act of God the Father, joh. 6. 44, 45. 2 Cor. 4. 6. Ephes. 1. 17, 19 He hath called us with an holy Calling.  
It is the act of Gods free grace and almighty power, whereby souls are gathered out of the world into the kingdom of Christ to be made one with him, and holy and happy by him.  
It is an act  

1. Of God's free grace, called according to God's free purpose, Rom. 8. 28. See 30, 31. verses.  
2. Of his almighty power, a moral persuasion will not do it, Ephes. 1. 19 joh. 6. 
Isa. 53. 1. Trahit Deus & volentes.  44. This grace works powerfully, therefore God is said to draw, yet sweetly and secretly, therefore man is said to come. This power of God is put forth on the understanding by enlightening it, jer. 37. 33. john 6. 45. it apprehends the guilt of sin, the horror of God's wrath, sweetness of Communion with him. 2. On the will, effectually inclining it, jer. 31. 33. Psal. 110. 3. to embrace and follow those 
Praebet vires efficacissimas voluntati. The Arminians say, Effectual Calling is nothing but holding out an object, and using arguments Those are special places against them, Rom. 9 15, 16. Jam. 1. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 3. In praeparationibus tam regenerationi quam generationi propriis, agnosco successionem; at ipsam regenerationem instantaneam esse judicant Theologi, sicut & generationem instantaneam esse tradunt Philosophi. Twis. contra Coru. Tam essicax, tam potens Dei operatio optimo jure dici potest irresistibilis, si terminum barbarum nuper malis avibus excogitatum liceat aut lubeat usurpare, & irresistibilis quidem est, 1. Ex parte gratiae Rom. 9 19 Luc. 2. 15. Act. 11 17. 2. Ex parte voluntatis, Jon. 6. 37. Acta Synod. Dord. Art. 13. propos. 3. Nos per vim, suavissimam Dei motionem atque in voluntatem humanam influentiam designamus; quam irresistibilem esse dicimus, non tam respectu voluntatis conversae (neque enim illa omnino vult resistere, dum eam omnipotenti facilitate uti loquitur Augustinus convertit Deus & ex nolenti volentem sacit) quam respectu Diaboli, qui gratiae Dei resistere vel maximè cupit, ne scilicet miserae hominum animae laqueis ipsius quibus implicatae tenentur exercentur. Hortationi unumquemque resistere posse dicimus, sed regenerationi suae hominem non magis resistere posse dicimus, quam potest cadaver Deo resistere si modò libitum fuerit Deo ipsum resuscitare. Twis. contra Corvinum cap. 8. object. 16. N●hil in hac tota causa, quod adversariis est magis in ore, quam conversionis gratiam esse resistibilem. Rescriptio Ames. ad responsum Grevinch c. 8. Vox ista irresistibilis à nostris usurpatur duntaxat ad operationem graetiae explicandam in oppositione positam sententiae ipsorum qui volunt gratiam Dei in operatione sua pendere ex nutu voluntatis nostrae, & libero hominis arbitrio subjici. Interea minimè negamus libere credere, libere resipiscere, libere bonum opus quodcunque operari, quotquot per Dei gratiam credunt, resipiscunt, quodlibet bowm opus operantur. Twis. contr. Coru. c. 6. Digress. 2. Vide illum ibid. Sect. 1. Aphoris. 10. & Acta Synod. Dordrecht. exam. Act. 4.  glorious objects the understanding represents.  

3. Whereby souls are gathered out of the world into the Kingdom of Christ.  
All mankind are brought into two ranks, either they are men of the world, or called out of it, john 15. 19 The Elect themselves while they are in their natural condition are men of the world, Ephes. 3. 5. Fiunt non nascuntur Christiani. Col. 1. 13.  
The Scripture expressly witnesseth that God works in us both to will and to do, Phil. 2. 13. That Faith and Repentance are the gift of God, Ephes. 2. 8. 2 Tim. 2. ult.   
4. The end of Vocation is to be made one with Christ, john 16. 44. and holy and happy by him, 2 Pet. 1. 3. 1 Thes. 4. Rom. 8. 30. Regeneration (saith Dr Twisse) is to be preferred before salvation, the one a translation from the state of nature into the state of grace, the other is only a translation from the state of grace into the state of glory. By the one we are made the sons of God, by the other we only obtain the inheritance of the sons of God.   
First, The Causes of Vocation:  

1. The principal efficient cause is the holy Ghost; man is not the author of his own conversion.  
2. Instrumental, the Ministry of the Word.   
Secondly, The Subjects or Persons on whom it is wrought, all the elect, joh. 10, Other sheep have I that shall hear my voice.  
Thirdly, The manner how this Vocation is wrought.  
The Spirit of God works after such a mighty manner that it is irresistible (though the word be grounded on Acts 7. 51. yet some dislike it) but the Lord brings them not in violently against their wills, he takes away prevailing obstinacy. He never made any creature too hard for himself. He calls them once for all. There is more in it then a moral suasion, john 6. 44. a real efficacy. God circumciseth our hearts, quickens us, raiseth us from the dead, gives a new heart.  
Fourthly, The parts of this work of Vocation wherein it stands, In two things, 
Vocationis partes duae sunt: oblatio Christi, & ejusdem receptio, Joh. 1. 11 Ames. Medul. Theol lib. 1. cap. 26. Vocatio externa nihil aliud est praeter suasionem aut hortationem ad credendum nomine Dei mandantis ut credamus medò salvi esse velimus. Vocatio interna est ipsius sidei sive conversionis nostrae ad Deum effectio. Twis. contra Corvin. c. 4. Sect. 1. Vide plura ibid.   

1. The Lord makes a gracious offer of Christ to the soul.  
2. The soul accepts of Christ when and as he is tendered.   
Christ is offered in the Gospel,  
First, Externally, Matth. 20. 16. This is a Declaration or Publication of the great goodness of God to a poor lost sinner, willing to be reconciled to him in Christ.  
It stands in four particulars:  

1. God hath sent his Son Christ, who by his own obedience hath paid a sufficient ransom for the most miserable wretches.  
2. God is willing to make this good to all poor sinners who will take him on the terms he is offered.  
3. The terms on which Christ is offered in the Gospel are most free, and nothing required but only freely to receive him.  
4. Because the humble and broken sinner is most ready to be discouraged, 
This distinction of calling into outward and inward, is opposed by Mr. Plaifore in his Apello Evangelium, c. 7. We should try whether God hath called us not only with an external call by way of proposal and command, but by an internal influence of his Spirit, he hath then conveyed a quickening principle into us, than the soul will be enabled to give up itself to God, to choose him for its portion.  therefore he declares that those which are vilest in their own eyes are most welcome to him.   
Secondly, Internally, Rom. 8. 30. which is the work only of the Spirit of God, Act. 10. 44.  
Marks of an effectual Calling:  
First, God breaks the heart by some preparatory conviction to make the soul fit to receive the grace of God, the proper Call is by the Gospel, 1 Thess. 2. 14. but the previous work of the Law is conviction of sin, and the evil of it, Host 2. 14. Gal. 3. 1. See john 16. 8. This conviction hath not the like effects in all, in some anxiousnesse, in others horror, all see themselves in a wretched condition.  
The second note may be taken from the instrument or means of conversion, 2 Thess. 2. 14. most usually it is by the Word preached, though it may not work always in the time of hearing, Cant. 5. 3, 6. Mat. 26. 8. joh. 10. 3.  
Thirdly, When the heart is overpowered and prevailed with to obey the Call, when we answer his Call, john 20. 16. Gods Call is the offer of grace, our answer is the receiving of it, john 12. 3. jer. 22. the direct answer to a Call is the consent and full purpose of heart to take Christ upon his own terms.  
Fourthly, The disposition of the soul in making this return, and in answering this Call of God, godly sorrow, jer. 31. 18. holy wonders, 1 Pet. 2. 9 free resolution and confidence, come what will come they will obey God, Luke 5. 5.  
Fifthly, The fruits and effects of a Call, it infers a change from the former state in heart, the whole heart; it now finds comfort and satisfaction in God, and hates sin, Host 4. 8. Ephes. 4. 12.  
I know there is little difference between effectual Calling, Conversion, and Regeneration, yet because some of our Divines handle the work of Grace under the notion of Conversion and effectual Calling too, I shall speak of Conversion in the next place.   

CHAP. III. Of Conversion and freewill. I. Of Conversion.  
COnversion is a coming back again to God from whom one departed by 
Some describe it to be a turning from all sin as sin, and to all righteousness for the love of righteousness.  sin, Host 14. 1.  
Turning is a word borrowed from Travellers, who being out of the way get into it again by turning, that is, by leaving the way in which they did walk, and taking another different way from it, contrary to it, if one have gone the quite contrary way.  
There is, first, Habitual Conversion, the first infusion of life and habits of grace, conversion from a state of sin, Act. 3. 19  
Secondly, Actual, the souls beginning to act from that life and those habits, a conversion from some particular gross acts of sin, Luke 22. 32. It is so called because of the great breach gross sins make on ones Justification, 1. Puts a damp on all his graces, Psal. 51. 10. 2. There is a suspension of all the comforts of grace. vers. 12. so that one may be said Quodammodo excidere, in respect of the use and comfort, Isa. 63. 10, 17.  
Man's aversion from God by sin, and conversion to God by grace, is the sum of all Divinity.  
A sinner departs from God two ways:  

1. As the chief good.  
2. As the utmost end, therefore conversion is a change of these two, when one makes God his chiefest good, and his glory his utmost end.   
A man in turning to God,  
First, Makes God the chief good:  

1. If he make him the chief object of his contemplation, Psal. 139. 17. Where our treasure is there will our hearts be also.  
2. If he choose him as his portion, josh. 24. 22. Psal. 119▪ 57  
3. If he desire all things else in subordination to him, Prov. 30. 8. sine summo bono nil bonum.  
4. Judgeth of all times or persons according as they have this good or are serviceable for it.  
5. Fears sin above all things which will separate between God and him.   
Secondly, He makes God's glory his chiefest end; this is God's end, Prov. 16. He makes God the utmost end of his being, Rom. 14. 8. and acting, 1 Cor. 10. 31. Rom. 11. 30. From him] as the first cause, To him] as the last end. God is our chiefest good, therefore must be our utmost end. See Psal. 73. 25, 26. It is the first Question in the Assemblies Catechism, What ought to be the chiefest and 
Finis specificat inpracticis. Quod sorma est i● naturalibus finis est in moralib●●, 1 Cor. 10. 3 ●. Finis ultimus perfi●●●●am agentem quam ●ctionem.  highest end of every man in this life?  
The Properties and Qualities which ought to be found in true Conversion.  
It must be  

1. Present and seasonable, While it is called to day, call upon the Lord while he is near, and seek him while he may be found. The present time is the only time of converting, not the future, now at this instant time God offers mercy, exhorts, calls, To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts, the future time is uncertain, we cannot assure ourselves of another hour. We have many examples daily of the falsehood of late repentance. The longer we defer it the more difficult it will be, as a sore without a plaster the more hardly it is healed.  
2. Universal or General; we must turn from all sin without exception or reservation 
Entire, there must be all the parts of conversion, one as well as another.  of any, and chiefly from our own sins, Grace is called Light, Leaven. The Law of God forbiddeth all sin, God hateth all sin, Christ died for all sin, the conscience condemneth all sin, and in our Covenant with God we renounced all sin, Cast away all your transgressions, hate every false way.  
3. It must be hearty, sincere, unfeigned; God complains of some that turned unto him feignedly.  
4. Constant, persevering to the end, a continuing still more and more to convert, a daily renewing these acts, and reforming our faults, we must cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart.   
The order and manner of this work, how and in what measure it is wrought in 
We may consider the sweetness and power of grace in this wo●k. 1. The sweetness of grace, Ezek. 16. 6. 2. The power of God's grace, joh. 7. 44. when you had such a corrupt nature, and could not think a good thought, that God should then change you.  the Saints.  
First, The Doctrine of the Gospel is propounded and made known in both the parts of it, viz. that which concerns man's misery in himself, and the perfect and only remedy in Christ to all penitent sinners.  
Secondly, The soul is enlightened and enabled to assent unto this Doctrine.  
Thirdly, It is yet further stirred up to consider of this Doctrine so believed, and to give heed to it, as Lydias mind was wrought upon when Paul preached.  
Fourthly, It begins to apply that Doctrine to itself so far as to be affected with the sense of its misery, but so as there is wrought also a hope of getting out of this misery, and a persuasion that he shall be accepted, and hereupon follows conversion. For he that sees himself in an ill state, and sees also a certain way out of it, being persuaded that he may by such and such means escape and avoid, will undoubtedly apply himself to seek his own good, and the Spirit of God by working this persuasion converts the soul: We may plainly see this order in David's renewing of his conversion after his sin, and in the hearers of Peter's Sermon, Act. 2. where first they heard and marked Peter, than were pricked in heart, then asked, What they must do to be saved? and being instructed by Peter to convert, did so, and were saved.  
Marks or Signs of Conversion:  

1. Such a one hath had experience of the discovery of sin as the greatest evil, 
God must be be exalted as the highest good and utmost end. Live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit.  and of misery to himself by sin, Sin revived and I died.  
2. The Lord hath wrought in him a glorious discovery of Christ, and an instinct after union with him which is faith, Phillip 3. 10.  
3. He is brought under the guidance and power of the Spirit, joh. 3. 6. 1 Cor. 6. 11. Mat. 11. 5. Gospellized, brought under the power of it, hath a spiritual bent in his soul, a new principle, new ends, 2 Cor. 5. 17. He sees things with another eye. He hath a new law planted within him which will make all duties easy and sweet to him, jer. 31. 33.  
4. He is made like to God, every Saint is a living Image of God. He will love persons the more he seeth of God in them, and Ordinances the more pure they are.  
5. Where there is life there will be growth, 1 Pet. 2. 3. they will grow up as willows, as calves of the stall, Mal. 4.   
True Conversion differs from false:  

1. In the efficient cause, for first the true spring comes from the Spirit of God by means of faith in the Gospel, stirring up a desire of God's favour, and freedom from sin for attaining that favour: the false from a natural desire of ones welfare, that he may escape the punishment of sin.  
2. In the formal, or manner of doing; true Conversion is a willing and deliberate act out of choice, false a forcible act done out of compulsion.  
3. Final, the true seeks to please God, the false to ease itself.   
Motives to, and Means of Conversion:  
By Motives, I mean certain considerations and arguments that in all reason should prevail to make men resolve upon the work.  
By Means, some things tending to enable men the better to do it, when they have resolved upon it.  
1. Motives to Conversion:  
They may be taken from every place, Heaven, Earth, and Hell.  
From Heaven, look to God, his Angels and Saints.  
From Earth, look to yourselves, the godly and ungodly, nay the beasts.  
From Hell, look to the Devils and damned ghosts.  
From Heaven:  
First, Look to God, the Father, Son, and holy Ghost. 
Luke 15. God the Father, 1. Requesteth and commandeth conversion, and saith, He doth delight in it. 2. He giveth us time and leisure to convert, and doth not cut us off. 3. He vouchsafeth us means to convert, the light of nature, the Doctrine of the Word. 4. He will afford help to us in converting. 5. He will accept us, and therefore gave Christ that converts might be saved. Secondly, His holy Attributes make him a fit person to turn to. 1. He is just and cannot abide sin. 2. Mighty and can punish sin. 3. Gracious to pardon sin.   
Is it not a most desirable thing to turn to him, seeing he is so rightful a Lord, so great a Prince, and so gracious a Father, so willing to accept us, and hath given us means, time and commandments, and encouraged us with promises of acceptance, and threatened us if we do not, and complains that they have not turned to him who smote them. God hath sent his Son into the world that converts might be graciously received.  
Secondly, Christ himself is a weighty argument of conversion, for if we refuse to turn then we do what in us lies to frustrate his death, and to make him shed his blood in vain, seeing it is intended for the benefit only of such as turn. In Christ you may see the hatefulness of sin from which you are to turn, and the graciousness of God to whom.  
Thirdly, The holy Ghost striveth to bring you to this turning in his Ordinances, Gen. 6. 3. and will you suffer him to prevail?  
Secondly, The blessed Angels will rejoice at the conversion of a sinner. All the Saints in Heaven have given you examples of converting, and are now glad of their pains bestowed that way.  
Secondly, Look to the Earth, and there to yourselves first, consider  

1. That you are out of the way, Psal. 14. & 53. & 119. ult, and know that you are so.  
2. That you have bound yourselves by Covenant to convert when you were baptised, and as often as you come to the Supper.  
3. You have and do daily make profession of converting.  
4. You can by no means save yourselves out of the hands of God's justice, if you do not submit and convert to him.   
Secondly, The Duty itself is,  

1. Most reasonable and equal, because the ways are evil from which, and good to which we are wished to turn.  
2. Most needful, without it we cannot escape the greatest misery.  
3. Most profitable, Turn and live; by continuing in our evil ways we may get a little perishing profit, vanishing pleasure and bewitching credit, by turning from them we shall gain pardon of sins past, peace and joy of soul for the present, and eternal life hereafter. When the sinner turneth, I will blot out all his sins out of my remembrance.  
4. Likely to succeed if we set to it in earnest, Prov. 1. 24. Let us labour to grieve for our sins by a serious applying of the threats of God, humbly confess them, and resolve by God's help to leave them. You will not come to me that you may have life. 
Let thy dislike of that which is but an image of obstinacy in the creatures, make thee ashamed to be obstinate thyself.    
Secondly, Look to the godly in the world, They pray for it, they will further it, rejoice in our conversion, they will love and esteem us when converted. To the ungodly, by this means we may perhaps win them, or shall leave them without excuse. Yea look to other creatures, in the bad we hate incorrigibleness in evil, we dislike the creatures which have gotten an evil quality and will not leave it. We like and praise obedience in the good.  
Thirdly, Look upon Hell:  
1. On the Devil, he seeks to hinder thy conversion, will be vexed at it, he is most loathsome, because obstinate in evil. The Devil's worst property is, that he is now so hardened in evil, that there is no possibility of change in him: Wilt thou be like the Devil in that which is the worst thing in him? Besides thou abusest and neglectest grace offered, and so doth not he.  
2. The damned Ghosts, who because they did not convert are damned, and blame themselves for not turning when they had time, and now it is too late.  
2. Means of Conversion.  
First, Take notice of your own strayings and unconvertednesse, and your peril thereby.  
Secondly, Acknowledge your utter inability to convert yourselves, and therefore cry earnestly to God to convert you, as the Church doth, Turn me and I shall 
As the Prodigal saith, I will go to my Father.  be turned. Turn presently, and begin with that sin which hath most drawn thee away from God.  
3. Remove Hindrances:  
1. Outward, 1. Ill company. 2. The occasions of sin; Solomon adviseth the young man not to come near the corner of the Harlot's house, and the drunkard not 
Vide Augustini confess. l. ●. c 5. & 7▪ What hindered his conversion and the means of it, c. 12.  to look on the wine.  
2. Inward, 1. Love of earthly things: 2. Presumptuous and despairful fancies: 3. Hardness of heart and wilfulness in sinning.  
4. Use all Helps and Furtherances:  
1. Outward, good company, attend on all God's Ordinances, hearing, reading, Psal. 19 conference.  
2. Inward, Cherish and practise good motions, ponder on the Law and Gospel, think often and seriously on those quatuor novissima, Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell.  

Of freewill.  

The word itself is Terminus Ecclesiasticus, not Biblicus, not a Scripture-term, 

Liberi arbitri● phrasis quae apud Latinos scriptores in usu est, & jam olim usurpata fuit, non legitur in vulgata interpretatione Latina veteris & Novi Testamenti; vox Graeca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, quam usurparunt Scriptores Ecclesiastici Graeci, & quae à Classicis etiam autoribus accepta fuit, pro eo qui sui juris est & liber, neque apud LXX. neque apud autores librorum Apocryphorum qui Graecè scripserunt, usquam comparet. Rivet. Disput. 8. Thes. 1.  
Nominatur arbitrium respectu mentis monstrantis voluntati objectum, liberum respectu voluntatis ultrò sequent●s indicium intellectus aut repudiantis. Id. ib.  
Arbitrii vox propriè significat mentis sive intellectus, tum facultatem, qua mens de aliqua re sibi proposita judicare potest: tum ipsum judicium à ment secundum istam facultatem peractum Transfertur autem à me●●e ad voluntatem propter arctissimam quae inter illos est, unionem. Libertas arbitrio tributa propriè affectus est voluntatis, quanquam radicem suam habeat in intellectu & ratione. Armin. Thes. Publ. 11. Si quis vo●is hujus usum non prava intelligentia sibi permittat, per me quidem non vexabitur ob eam rem: sed quia sine ingenti periculo non posse retineri cens●o, magno contrà Ecclesiae bono futurum si aboleatur, neque ipse usurpare velim, & alios, si me consulant, abstinere optarim, Calvin. Institut. lib. 2. cap. 2. Vide Bellarm. de Gratia & Libero Arbitrio, lib 3. cap. 2. & lib. 4. cap. 6.   but such a one as godly men in the Church took up for more convenient expression, as they have done the name Trinity and Sacrament.  
To render Liberum arbitrium into English is not proper, for arbitrari and arbitrium is an act of the understanding, but use hath applied it to the will.  
A mixed power of understanding and will, saith Mr Perkins. It can be only in an intelligent nature, as Bellarmine proves, lib. 3. de Grat. & Lib. Arb. c. 15. and the understanding though it be not formally free, yet it is radically, and the liberty of the will ariseth from the indifferency of the judgement. The liberty of the will properly consists in choosing that which the understanding judgeth best. Radix libertatis constituta est in libero rationis judicio. Aquin.  
There is in the will a double freedom:  

1. Natural, a power that a man hath to choose or refuse as it seemeth good to himself, and this is so annexed to, or dependant on his reasonableness, that they cannot be separated, and this he hath not nor could lose by corruption.  
2. Sanctified, an inclination to use the former liberty well by choosing that he ought to choose, and this he hath lost, when now he will choose and refuse what he ought not.   
Or thus,  
freewill may be considered either in the essence and being of it as it is an immediate faculty of the soul, and the same with the will: we have this freewill, for Adam by his fall hath no more lost this than he hath lost his very nature; it is therefore a great calumny of the Papists, when they say, That we deny freewill, and make man no better than a beast; for take freewill thus, as it is a natural power in a man, so it remaineth still.  
The freewill of man after the fall is not so corrupted, that it is not capable of the grace of Regeneration. Tolle liberum arbitrium, non erit quod salvetur; tolle gratiam non erit unde salvetur. Bern.  
There is a threefold power,  

1. Activa, an ability to concur to the operation of the Spirit in a man's self: so those that are for freewill, Agimus nos, sed acti; volumus, sed ipse facit ut velimus.  
2. Passiva, able to receive, man in conversion is merely passive to grace, but hath in him a principle of resistance.  
3. Obedieneialis, as in the unreasonable creature.   
Secondly, freewill may be considered in its operation and working about some objects, than we distinguish about the objects which it may will: For  
First, They are either such as belong to our animal life, as to walk, eat, shut or 
Non controvertitur, an homo ratione utens sit liberi arbitrii, quatews liberum arbitrium in genere intelligitur: Ergò non quaeritur an sit in homine talis facultas, quam liberum arbitrium appeliant, etsi propter ambiguitat●m locutionis disputatum sit an ita appellari debere●, vel servum potius dici quam liberum: Verum quoniam eidem facultat● servit●s & libert as tribui potest diversa consideratione, cum agitur de natura liberi arbitrii in se, non de viribus ejusdem objectorum variorum ratione, non existimamus rejic●. endam esse liberi arbitrii receptam appellationem, etsi in Scriptura totidem verbis non reperiatur. Rivet. Cath. Orth. Tract. 4. Qu. ●. Vide Qu. 3. A man dead cannot enliven himself: Lazarus being dead is an instance of man's natural condition, not the man half wounded. When we deny that a natural man hath any freewill unto good, by a natural man we understand one that is without Christ and destitute of his renewing grace, by a freewill a thing that is in our own power to do, and by good a Theological not a Philosophical good, Bonum verè spirituale & salutare, a spiritual good and tending to salvation. An unregenerate man is a stranger from the life of God, Ephes. 4. 18. Dead in sins, Ephes. 2. 1, 5. and so no more able to lead a holy life acceptable to God, than a dead man is to perform the actions of him which is alive. B. Ushers Answer to the Jesuits charge.  open our eyes, and here we have the exercise of freewill.  
Secondly, Our outward civil conversation and obedience to the Laws required by a Magistrate, here again we have freewill.  
Thirdly, They are holy actions, and they again are either  
1. Externally holy, which concern the outward exercise of Religion, as to come to Church, to hear and read, and here still a man hath freewill. Or,  
2. Internally and spiritually, as to know God, to believe in him and love him, and so we must distinguish the states of men. Man in the state of innocency had an excellent power and strength of freewill to serve God and love him, but in the state of corruption, though his liberty not only in the nature but use of it remaineth about natural, civil and external religious actions; yet for internal and spiritual actions, he hath wholly lost his freewill, john 15. 5. Matth. 7. 18. john 8. 36. therefore Augustine lib. 2. contra Julianum, calls it Servum arbitrium. And Luther called it not a free but enthralled and enslaved will to sin, and wrote a book De serum Arbitrio, Homo libero arbitrio malè utens, & se perdidit & ipsum. August. ad Laurent.  
Thirdly, Man in his estate of Renovation hath again some power and free will, being first freed by the grace of God from the power of sin, john 8. 13. Volunt as in tantum est libera in quantum est liberata. August. in Joh. Tract. 53. yet this freedom is not perfect, but wonderfully opposed and hindered, Gal. 5. 17.  
The freewill must be as the understanding and will are, saith Chamier, but that 
See D ● Field of the Church, l. 3. c. 15. Est in Deo optimo maximo, est in bonis Angelis, est in Daemonibus omnibus liberum arbitrium. Arbitrii libertas à coactione in omnibus om ni●o est quibus voluntas est. Nulliusvoluntas cogi potest. Si cogitur non voluntas est, sed nolunt as. Est quoque in his omnibus libertas contradictionis, ut hoc velle possint aut non velle: Etsi libertas contrarietatis, ut liberè velint vel bonum vel malum, nec in Deo sit, nec in Angelis confirmatis in gr●●●s, nec in animabus beatis. Name high omnes sic liberè volunt bonum, ut malum nec volint, nec jam velle possint. Daemons quoque & homines non renati, quamdiu renati non sunt, ita liberè malum volunt, ut bonum nec velint, nec in eo statu velle possint. Crakanth. Defence. Eccles. Anglic. contra Archiepisc. Spalat. c. 35.  the understanding and will are both corrupted in a natural man. Vide Chamierum contractum per Spanhem. Tom. 3. l. 4. c. 3. & 4.  
There are several kinds of freedom or liberty:  

1. From compulsion, when no external principle can compel to work, but there must be an inward inclination to work, from such coaction, not only men but beasts are free.  
2. From obligation or debt to another, and so no creature can be free, because all that we have is Gods.  
3. From sin, when the flesh is subdued so that the Spirit can and doth prevail over it.  
4. From misery, which the Apostle speaketh of Rom. 8.  
5. From necessity, when the Agent is determined from an inward principle of nature to one object, as the fire to burn. Immutability and liberty may stand together, as God doth most freely will the creation of the world, yet unchangeably, the Angels and Saints in Heaven are so confirmed in good, that what they will they will unchangeably but freely. Every man naturally cannot but sin, yet he sins freely in regard of freedom from coaction and natural necessity, though not in regard of freedom from immutability, and as for the other liberties from obedience, sin, and misery; he is obedient to God, and under sin and misery. The will hath no freedom to spiritual things.   
The Papists though they say that the grace of God is requisite, yet as a partial 
The Pelagians say, God goes along with him that prepares himself for conversion, and that this is the reason why some are converted, and some not. Vide Bellarm. de Gratia & libero arbitrio, lib. 5. c. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, etc. & lib. 6. cap. 10, 11, 12, 13.  cause, and that we are workers with the grace of God in our conversion, as appears by their similitudes of two men carrying a great burden, and the man half wounded. Against which opinion these arguments may be alleged:  

1. The slavery and servitude of our wills to any thing that is good, those who 
Mihi haec sententia altius animo insedit, excidisse Christo qui vol●●tati humanae & viribus liberi arbitrii vel minimun in negotio salutis tribuunt, qui Spiritui Dei solus suadendi partes reliquunt, nec aliter cum in suis quam in hypocritis agere contendunt. Cameron▪ de gratia & libero arbitrio See M. Pemb. Vindic. gratiae. pag. 133, 134, etc. All men naturally mind the outward act more than the inward frame of the heart, Rom. 2. 15. the work of the Law, avoid gross acts of sin and perform outward duties, they seek not to order the frame of their spirits, and to avoid lusts as well as sins. 2. The reason and aim upon which they do any thing is not spiritual. Their aim is according to their principles, which are but carnal, civil or legal at the best, to satisfy natural conscience, Mic. 6. 6. 1 Tim. ●. 5. The power of nature is more seen in things moral then religious: the Heathens were famous for temperance, justice, but brutish in worship.  are so defiled that they are nothing but flesh, they cannot possibly have any power to what is good, but so are all by nature Gen. 6. 5. john 3. 6. Rom. 8. 6. To will is of nature, to will ill is of corrupted nature, but to will well is of sanctified nature. Bernard.  
2. Those which can do nothing but sin have no freedom to what is good, every unregenerate man doth nothing but sin, Matth. 7. 17. An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil; Without faith it is impossible to please God, To the unclean all things are defiled. A man by nature non potest non peccare etiam damnabiliter. Pet. Lombar.  
3. A man cannot turn himself to God, joh. 6. 44. 1 Cor. 12. 3. therefore nature hath no power to dispose and prepare itself for grace, nor can there be merits of congruity or condignity.  
4. Regeneration and conversion is attributed only to God, as Ezek. 36. 26. jer. 32. 39 See Ezek. 11. 19 Ephes. 2. 10. & 1. 19 a stone cannot soften itself, no more can our nature. See Deut. 29. 4.  
5. A man hath not the least thing to glory in 1 Cor. 1, that place 1 Cor. 4. 7. moved Augustine much, but if I had power of my own to do that which is good, or to receive grace when it is offered, than I might glory in my own strength.  
6. Conversion and power to do good is prayed for, Turn us, O Lord, therefore not in our own power, it were vain to pray to God, to convert or change me if I will, if I have this of my own, what need I go and pray for it, or pray for others conversion? they might convert themselves, Psal. 80. 3.   
Before Pelagius his time the Fathers spoke too liberally of man's freewill. Nondum nato Pelagio securius loquebantur Patres. August. Epist. 103. which after upon his heresy they reform, and by Scripture abundantly confuted the Pelagians, and especially 
* Divinae gratiae adversus utrosque, & Pelagianos & Semi-Pelagiag●anos, assertor ille invict us, beatissimus. Augustinus. R. Usser. de Britan. Eccles. Primor. l. Plus uni Augustino jam veterano, & in ista causa versatissimo tribuendum est, quam centum Corvinis, Grotiis, Bertiis, Brentiis, Tilenis, & id genus recentioribus dogmatistis. D. Ward in Phil. 2. 12.  Augustine, Jerome, Prosper, Fulgentius, Hilary, and others.  
The first presumptuous advancer of freewill contrary to the Doctrine anciently 
Vincentius Lyrinens adversus haereses commonitor, l. 1. c. 34.  received in the Church, is by Vincentius Lyrinensis noted to be Pelagius the heretic.  
In the ancient Church there were two sorts of heretics concerning the point of freewill. The Manichees denied freewill: the Pelagian heretics affirmed it, 
Doctor Abbot against Bishop in his answer to the Epistle to the King.  and both were condemned by the Catholic Church. The Manichees denied freewill in sin, and in the committing of evil. The Pelagians affirmed a power and ableness of freewill for the performance of righteousness and doing of good.  
In the meaning wherein the Manichees denied freewill, we affirm and teach it, and in that meaning did St Augustine write his books of freewill purposely against the Manichees; we deny freewill only in that meaning wherein first the Pelagians and since the Papists have affirmed it, in which meaning St Augustine notably 
Id. ibid.  wrote against it.  
The sum of the Controversy is, Whether the grace which first moveth and exciteth the will unto good motions, doth work the consent alone, or whether the 
B. Mortons Appeal, l. 2. c. 10. Sect. 5.  will have in itself any power freely to consent and resist every such motion. The Romanists plead for the power of man's will, but Protestants for the efficacy of God's grace.  
If the Question be moved, Whether freewill may resist grace? It is apparent naturally in the unregenerate it may resist, according to that Acts 7. 51. But if the 
〈◊〉  Question be moved of them that are called according to God's purpose, Whether they resist the grace of their calling, then removing the humour of contention the truth will easily appear. The Question is, Whether nature in this case doth resist 
B. Carl. against Montague. c. 3. Aug. de corrept. & gratia cap. 14.  the omnipotent power of God? Deo volenti salvum facere, nullum resistit hominis arbitrium.  
There is a twofold resistance of the will, say the Schoolmen.  

1. Connata, born with it, there is possibility to sin in the best creatures, as creatures.  
2. Actualis, The Spirit of God by an Almighty Power overcomes this, Psal. 110. 3. 
See Rom. 9 18.    
The Arminians have revived the old Pelagian heresy, they say they magnify Gods free grace 
* Ubi eminus de gratia loquuntur speciosa aspergunt elogia, ubi vero cominus ac punctim de gratiae ipsius conflictu agitur, nervos ipsos succidunt, & vim gratiae victricem tollunt. D. Ward in Phil. 2. 12. Vide plura ibid. , and it was free grace for God to give Christ to be a Saviour, and to send the Gospel to a place, but then ask them about Gratia discriminans, why Simon Peter receives the Gospel rather than Simon Magus, they say God determines no man's will, but because Peter receives it, and the other rejects it, it ariseth wholly from his determining himself, than Christ should do no more in his own and Father's intention for a saved then a damned person. No man hath power to receive Christ when he is offered unless it be given him from above.  

Object. Why then doth the Lord exhort us to receive him, or complain of us, and threaten damnation if we receive him not?  
Answ. The Lord useth these reproofs and exhortations as a means to work upon them whom he purposeth to save.    

2. To show that some work is to be done on our part, though not by our own strength, it must be done à nobis, though not ex nobis.  
So the Papists argue from God's commands; God would not command us to do good works, if we had not power to do them. When our Saviour saith, Make 
Precepts to duty are no measure of strength 2. To the elect they convey grace, jer. 31. 18.  the tree good, and then the fruit will be good; He doth not imply that it is in our power to do so, but only showeth what our duty and obligation is. See Rom. 7. 15. Gal. 5. 17.  
God gave the Law for these ends:  

1. To show man his duty, the obligation that lies on him, I may put my debtor in mind of his debt though he be turned bankrupt.  
2. To show him his disability.  
3. To show him the misery he should be in if God would urge this debt on him to discharge it himself.  
4. To show the riches of his grace in providing a means to satisfy his justice, and also the exceeding love of Christ in fulfilling the Law for him.   

Object. The Arminians say, How can the will be free, when it is determined? How can omnipotent grace and freewill stand together? and some talk of a Libertas contrarietatis, when one can will good or evil. This is a great controversy as between the Jesuits and Dominicans, so between us and the Arminians.  
Answ. The freedom of the will doth not consist in this, that it is free and indifferent 
Gratia non aufert libertatem arbitrii licet vera & physica operatione determinet arbitrium, sed potius libertatem illi ad bonum restituit & confirmat. Dicimus enim determinari voluntatem ad benè agendum liberè. Twis. contra Corvinum cap. 4. Sect. 1. Arbitrium igitur voluntatis tunc est verè liberum, cum vitiis peccatisque non servit. Tale datum est à Deo, quod amissum proprio vitio, nisi à quo dari potuit reddi non potest. Joan. 8. 36. Id ipsum est ac si diccret: Sivos silius salvos fecerit, tunc verè salvi eritis. Ind quip liberator, unde salvator. Aug. de civitate Dei, lib. 14. cap. 10.  to choose either good or evil: For so God and the good Angels should not be free, seeing they cannot will any thing but that which is good. There is no true liberty but unto that which is good, because it is a perfection, to be able to sin is an imperfection, 2 Cor. 3. 11. Ubi non est Spiritus Domini non est libertas arbitrii. August. A power to stand or fall was not a part of Adam's liberty, his power to fall came from his mutability not liberty.    

It is a Question, An faci●nti totum quod in se est ex naturae viribus, dentur insallibiliter 
Facienti quod in se est, Deus faciet quod in s●. Pelag. Arminians say, That they can repent, that they can be converted, it is from God, but that they do believe, that they do repent, that they are converted, is from the liberty of their own wills. See John 6. 44 45. 1 Cor. 4. 7. Semen naturae non consurg●● in fructum gratiae Aug. Simo in op●re conversionis Deus operatur tantum pos●e conver●ere, & sola voluntas det ipsum velle convertere, tum in operanda conversione & salute potiores partes erunt voluntatis, quam gratiae: hominis, quam Dei: siquidem potiores partes ejus sunt qui dat operari, quam ●jus, qui solum dat posse operari; cum operari sit actus atque adeo prior & per●ectior potentia, & operatio sit complementum & per●ectio opera●tis. Dr Ward on Phil. 2. 12. Si ex r●rum naturalium usu concedenda est gratia Evangelica, certè ex non recto naturalium usu privandi erunt homines gratia Evangelica. At universe rerum experienti● nititur in adversum. Twis. contra Corvinum cap. 11 Sect. 2. Dicit Arminius Deum hoc ●popondiss● isto Christi dicto, Habenti dabitur, Matth. 25. 29. Apostolus Pau●us dispensationem gratiae supernaturalis procedere docet, non secundum usum & opera voluntatis humanae, sed secundum propositum & consilium voluntatis divinae. Ephes. 1. 11. Dent nobis adversarii vel unum hominem ab orbe condito, qui bono usu naturae pertraxit ad se donum gratiae. Episc. Davenant. Quaest 4. Determ. & Tiss●rtat de morte Christi, cap. 6. Vide plura ibid. Et Twis●um contra Corvinum, cap. 6. Sect. 2.  auxilia ad salutem supernaturalia? Whether God will give supernatural grace to him that useth well his natural abilities?  
Let any man use the power that God gives him, and he shall have more. There is not such an infallibilis n●xus, that God hath bound himself in the use of our natural abilities to add supernatural graces. Mr F●nn●r on Ez●k. 18. 31, 32.  
A man in his natural condition can do nothing but what is offensive to God.  
No man ever yet by the right use of naturals obtained Evangelical grace, that is a vain power which is never reduced into act.  
It is a Question, An naturae viribus possit aliqua vera tentatio superari? Whether 
Vide Bellarm. de gratia & libero arbitrio, l. 5 c. 7.  a man by strength of nature be able to conquer corruption or resist temptation?  
Before Conversion we cannot resist sin as sin, but exchange one sin with another. We cannot discern good from evil, sin is connatural to us, jer. 8. 6. No more are we able to resist temptation without grace. All temptations are to draw us to the enjoyment of some temporal good, or to the declining some temporal evil by leaving God. Till a man be persuaded that God promiseth a greater good, and threateneth a greater evil than the world can do, he cannot resist such temptations, we are saved by faith, and stand by faith. We had need all to pray, Lord lead us not into temptation, and keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins. See Ephes. 6. 10.  
Some speak of reconciling freewill with God's Decree, Grace and sin.  
Others of the Concord of it, and God's Prescience and Providence.  
Tully thought Prescience and freewill could not stand together, and therefore that he might assert the freedom of man's will, he denied the Prescience of 
Aug. de civitate Dei. l. 5. c. 9  future things, Atque ita dum vult facere liberos, facit sacrilegos.     

CHAP. IU. Of Saving Faith.  
FAith in the New Testament is taken.  

1. For the Doctrine of faith, jude vers. 3. Such are sound in the faith, that are Orthodox. This is the Catholic faith.  
2. For the habit or grace of faith whereby we receive Christ and accept him for our Saviour, so it is often used in the Scripture.   
Faith in its general nature is any assent unto some truth upon the 
Fidem Ebra● Emunah veritatem, à commani objecto, commodè appellarunt, quod enim verum est, id credendum. Graecis est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persuadcor, latinis sides à sido, q●ia in genere qualitas ea est qua quis fidit, cum actiuè sumitur; ut passiuè, ob quam alicui sides ●thib●atur. Hic de side actiuè sumpta quaestio est: nec de humana, pro assensu quo sibi mutuo homines sidem adhibent, sed de ea quam deserimus Deo, revelanti nobis veritatem ali●ujus rei, cut firmiter assentimur propter asseverationem ipsius, quae propterea divina vocatur ab objecto, veritate nempè divinitus patefacta Rivet. Disp. 10. de side justif.  authority of him that speaks it, and the general nature of divine faith is to assent to the truth because God says it.  
Our assent and persuasion of the truth in matters of Religion may be either huma●e merely because of custom, education, and the authority of the Church: or divine, being inclined and moved thereunto, because of divine authority. Many Protestants have no more than a humane faith. It is the Religion of their Fathers, and of the place where they live.  
In the grace of Faith there are three things:  

1. An act of the understanding, an assent to the truths of Christ, that he is such a one in respect of his Natures, Offices, Works, as the Scripture reveals him.  
2. An act of the will, consenting that Christ should do for me what the Lord sent him to do for poor sinners.  
3. A siducial assiance and dependence on him.   
The Soc man by faith in Christ understand nothing but an acknowledgement of the veracity of the sayings and the promises of Christ which ought to be given 
Rivet. Grot. Discus. Dialys. Sect. 3.  them, not because Christ is true God with the Father, but because God after his death raised him from the dead, which he also foretold before, and for this reason he was worthy to be believed in what he commanded or promised. This is their Doctrine of justifying faith and justification, as if Christ had come into the world and suffered such things for no other cause, but that he might persuade us that an eternal reward is propounded to the obedient, that being alured with the hope of reward we might obey him.  
Bellarmine 
* 〈◊〉. l. 1. ●. 7, 8▪ 9, 10, 11.  saith, Justifying faith is not so much knowledge as assent, and it is not a confidence of God's mercy, but an assent to all things which are contained in the Word of God.  
Faith is more than a bare assent to the truth, there is in it a fiducial acquiescence and a resting upon Jehovah, as it is expressed in the Hebrew; he rolled himself upon God, as a man being weary of a burden casts himself and that upon something that sustains him, Prov. 3. 5. Isa. 10. 20. & 28. 16. & 50. 10.  
The chief act of the soul in true faith, wherein the essence of it mainly consists, is a resting and relying upon Christ and him alone for the obtaining of favour and eternal life. In respect of this property faith is oft called a believing in or on Christ, and his name, john 3. 16, 18, 36. john 6. 1. & 5. 10. a trusting in Christ, Ephes. 1. 12. a resting upon God, 2 Chron. 14. 11. a resting upon his promise, 2 Chron. 32. 8. a relying upon God, 2 Chron. 16. 8. a cleaving and sticking close unto him, Act. 11. 23. Mr Hilders. on Psal. 51. 6. Lect. 83.  
There is in Faith:  
First, An act of acceptation, one is willing to receive Christ on his own terms.  
Secondly, Of resignation, it gives up the whole man unto Christ.  
The proper object of justifying faith (saith Dr. 
* Rescript▪ ad ●●spons. G●e●inch. c. 1●.  Ames) is not some axiom, viz. God is favourable to me, or my sins are pardoned; but Ens incomplexum, as they speak, viz. Christ, or the mercy of God in Christ, and so the proper act of justifying faith is incumber● or acquiescere Christo.  
Not barely the promises but the person of Christ is the object of faith, we are not to rest in the promises alone, but to close with Christ in those promises, 

Ut mea non placent nisi m●cum, sic tua non satiant nisi ●ecum. Bern.  
The promises are Objectum q●o, Christ Objectum quod, that which faith ultimately closeth with, and is terminated.   Acts 6. 31. The Saints take comfort in Christ and prise his person above all his benefits.  
First, Because that is the greatest gift in which God shows most love, joh. 4. 10.  
Secondly, He is the person in whom all good things are deposited, Cant. 4. 10. 1 john 5. 10.  
Thirdly, The great thing the soul falls in love with, is the person of Christ, Cant. 5. Phil. 1. 23.  
It is a great dispute among Divines, What is the proper object of saving faith? 

God's word is the objectum adaequatum of our faith; but we are justified and saved by believing in Christ, therefore in the Scripture justifying faith is ordinarily called faith in Christ.  
Act. 20. 12. 21. & 26. 18. Gal. 3. 26. and sometimes the faith of Christ, Rom. 3. 22. Gal. 2. 16, 20. & 3. 22. Phil. 3. 9 and sometimes his knowledge. B. Down. of Justification, l. 6. c. 4. See also c. 6. The proper object of justifying faith is God in Christ, 2 Cor. 5. 19 or the promise of God's mercy to us in Christ Jesus. This faith is therefore expressed to be faith in Christ's name, Act. 2. 16. Faith in his blood, Rom. 3. 25. Abbot against Bishop. Fidei objectum primarum omnes divinae veritates revelatae. 2. Mediatum, Christus ut Mediator▪ 3. Ultimatum, ens incomplexum, inquiunt ●cholastici.   Some say the Evangelical promise which holds out Christ, others Christ himself; in a strict sense only Christ himself is the object of saving faith, john 7. 37. No proposition nor promise saves me, only Christ.  
The common object of faith is every revealed truth, but of justifying faith, as it justifies, that is, in the act of Justification, Reconciliation in Christ, with a certain confidence.  
There is Fides quae, faith which saves the soul, this closeth with every divine revelation, promise, threatening, story, sides qua as it saves me, closeth only with Christ. Faith which saves the soul hath for its object the whole word of God, but as it saves the soul it closeth only with Christ.  
There is nothing in Scripture but it hath relation to Christ, the types and old Sacrifices were shadows of him, the moral Law is preparative for Christ, yea there is something of him in every story and miracle.  
Faith is an instinct after union with Christ, john 5. 12. He lives in me by faith, john 11. 26. Gal. 2. 20. This receives Christ, john 1. 11. it is the condition of the Covenant, and so the qualification of them which shall have interest in Christ and his benefits, john 3. 16. Acts 8. 37. & 16. 31. Faith carries the consent of the whole man, a Chron. 30. 8. Quid est credere nisi consentire?  
He that would receive Christ, must  

1. Know that Christ is designed by God, and tendered as a Saviour to him in the Gospel.  
2. Must consider the reality and fullness of the promise, and give consent to this prose; this is the very act of faith.  
3. None can thus receive Christ, but those whose hearts the Lord hath opened to close with Christ, john 6. 36, 37. Acts 16. 

1. Man sell by self-exalting, and ariseth in a self-abasing, which is by believing.  
2. Faith is the only way to dissolve the plots of the devil, we fell by believing the devil rather than God, and rise by renouncing him, and by believing in the grace of God in Christ.     
What is the act the soul doth when it believes?  
There are three acts of faith, Notitia, Assensus, Fiducia.  
Mr. Hildersham 
* On Psal. 51. 6. Lect. 83.  saith, The essence and being of justifying faith consisteth in four acts of the soul, whereof the former two are acts of the understanding, the other two of the will.  
First, I must know Christ aright, and that which the Gospel revealeth to us concerning him.  
Secondly, The assent of the mind to this, 1 Tim. 1. 15. Heb. 11. 13.  
Thirdly, The consent of the will, john 1. 12.  
Fourthly, A resting and relying upon Christ and him alone for the favour of God and eternal life.  
Knowledge comes three ways:  

1. By sense.  
2. Reason, as that the part is less than the whole.  
3. From testimony which is faith, and relies wholly on witness, faith is weak when it relates to humane testimony, yet there is no such knowledge as that of faith when it relates to the testimony of God, that is more sure than sense or reason. God is so wise as he cannot be deceived himself, and so good as he will not deceive others. 
Knowledge and belief are often joined. Job 19 25. John 17. 8. 2 Cor 5. 2 Tim. 1. 12. 1 John 4. 16.    
Knowledge and faith are ordinarily all one in Scripture, and joined together as things inseparable, Isa. 53. 11. john 10. 38. john 6. 69. john 17. 3. 1 john 3. 2. 4. & 5. 13, 19 A believer is set forth by the terms of an enlightened man and wise man, Ephes. 1. 18, 19 I know whom I have believed. Bellarmine saith 
* De justif. cap. 7. Pontisicii per sidem implicitam intelligunt cam sidem quâ Laici ignota & nondum intellecta sidei dogmata credunt implicitè in illo general●, quòd vera sint omnia quae Romana Ecclesia credit & pro veris amplectitur, quae quidem sides non est divina sed humana, id est, non nititur Dei, sed hominum testimonio. Baron. Philos. Thcol. Ancil. exercit. 3. Art. 5. Vide plura ibid. In which sense implicit faith cannot be defended, although B. Montague Appar. 1. saith, that is a profitable as well as vulgar distinction of Fides explicita and implicita, and that it is not always a servile opinion or Babylonish bondage, because there are in faith and things belonging to saith, as in other Sciences, certain things more abstruse. Quandoque sides vocatur implicita ab imperfecta apprehensione rerum quasi implicitarum. Nam quem admodum quod complicatum ac con●elutum est, ex toto nec conspicitur nec attingitur: sic mysteria pleraque sidei Christianae. 2. Vocatur quandoque impropriè implicita sides, ipsa promptitudo, seu generalis animi praeparatio ad sidem adhibendam verbo Dei, simul ac dogma quodeunque sub formali rationc nobis innot●scet. Atque hoc sensu quilibet Christianus implicitè dicitur credere quicquid in Scriptures Deus revelavit. 3. Illa sides à Papist i● implicita vocari solet, & Laicis summo opere commendari, quae in cognition Praelatorum involvitur, populo interim▪ dogmata illa quae sic credi dicuntur omnino neseientc. Episc. Dau. Determ. 1. Quaest 29.  faith is better defined by ignorance then knowledge, Fides melius per ignorantiam quam per notitiam desinitur. It captivates reason unto the word of God; that is, carnal and rebellious reason, but the true light of reason is increased and augmented by it. This knowledge which faith works in the heart is distinct and certain.  
2. Assent, they believed God and the Prophets, that is, they gave assent and 
The lowest act of faith is an assent, a yielding in thy soul to the word of God, an agreement to the truth of it, Exod. 14. 31. Some say the resolution of an humbled sinner to cast himself on Christ, is the lowest degree of saith, which is discovered by desires, pursuit, and rejoicing in future hope.  credit to it, because of the authority of God who is most true and cannot deceive, not for humane motives. This assent is  
1. Firm, therefore called the riches of assurance of understanding, and so opposite to doubting.  
2. Absolute and illimited, believes precepts, promises and threats.  
Some expressions of Scripture seem to lay much upon assent, as 1 john 4. 2. & 5. 1. 1 Cor. 12. 3. Matth. 16. 17. The truths of God at first suffering under so many prejudices, the Gospel was a novel Doctrine, contrary to the ordinary and received principles of reason, persecuted in the world, no friend to natural and carnal affections, and therefore apt to be suspected. Assent now is nothing so much as it was then.  
3. There is a consent to the goodness as well as an assent to the truth, the one 
It is a Question among Divines, Wh●● is the subject of saith? By the heart a man believeth, Act. 8. 37. See 12. 13. there saith is seated where the acts of it are exercised, therefore the whole soul is the subject of it, but chiefly the will. It is seated both in the understanding and the will, because it is a voluntary assent. To believe is an act of the understanding as it is an assent, of the will as it is voluntary. Down. of Justificat. l. 6. c. 5. Vide Baron. Philos. Theol. Ancil exercit. 3. Art. 21. Icy done nous remarquons cn la soy, deux principales parties, dont la premicre, est la cognoissan●c, & l'autre l'apprehension, l'application particuliere, ou la siance, qui tesmoignent assez que ceste excellente vertu a son siege, & c● l'entendement & en la volontè, en tout l'homme nouveau, regenere & sanctify par une grace speciale, & sur nature elle de l'●sprit de Dieu, qui tout entier recoit l'abondance des benefices offers, & desployez en jesus Christ. Mais premicrement en son entendement pour les cognoistre comme veritables, & puis en sa volontè pour se les appliquer comme salutaires, & bons, Motmet Sermon 2. sur 19 job 25. Vide Examen epist. expostulat. Amyrald. ad Rivet. per Spanhem. Est sides habitus quidam mixtus, neque omninò intellectu, neque omninò voluntate, sed cord, id est, utroque defini●nd●s. Et certè quem ad modum corde ad justitiam creditur, Rom. 10. 10. ita quoque intellectus ipse sidei corde consistit, Matth. 13, 15. Cordis illuminatione persicitur. 2 Cor. 4. 6. Cordis plerophoria s●ncitur, Col. 2. 2. Abbot ●n Thom●. Diat. de Incis. Just if & Grat. cap. 25. Fidei subjectum duplex est, in quo & cui subjectum sidei in quo, est anima humana, ac in ca principales facultates, intellectus ac voluntas subjectam cui est Homo, Homo solus: Mali Angeli illius non sunt rapaces, Jud. 6. Sancti ea non egent, Matth. 18. 10. Dr Benefield de side salvisica.  is the act of the understanding, the other of the will. The soul upon the information that God's Spirit gives me of the excellency of Christ, and his suitableness to me, assents to the truth of it, and consents to the goodness of it, and makes choice of him for its portion. Faith is the consent of the whole soul to receive and accept of Christ as God the Father hath offered him in the Gospel.  
4. A resting and relying upon Christ alone for grace and salvation, Psal. 23. 1, 2, 6. Psal. 27. 1. job 19 25, 27. Rom. 8. 31. The soul leans on Christ as a feeble man on a staff, 2 Chron. 16. 7, 8. Prov. 3. 5. Psal. 22. 8. What the Old Testament calls trusting, the New calls believing.  
This confidence of special mercy is the form and essence of faith, without which 
Fiducia est particularis quidem & applicativus assensus, pro objecto habens primò Evangelicas' promissiones. Secundò, Internum testimonium sancti Spiritus: Nam per siduciam & assentimur Doctrinae Evangelij, & testimonio Spiritus Dei, unà testantis cum nostro Spiritu, nos esse filios Dei; atque ita nobis ipsis applicamus Evangelicas promissiones certò statuentes & judicantes nos esse filios Dei, & proinde illas promissiones non solùm aliis credentibus, sed nobis etiam in particulari esse factas. Baron. Philos. Theol. Ancil. exercit. 3. Art. 19  faith is not faith, nor justifies the sinner. The Papists and Arminians cannot endure this that faith should be such a special confidence of the remission of sins. They say it is a confidence that God may remit, and a good hope that he will, or it is a conditional confidence that God will remit if we shall be constant in piety to the end of our life.  
The Doctrine of Faith is in three things:  

1. There is a necessity of relying on Christ alone.  
2. There is an all-sufficiency of ability in him being God and man to be an high-Priest, to make intercession for us.  
3. Of his willingness that we should have pardon, grace, comfort and salvation by him.   
There are promises▪  

1. Of freegrace, that God will justify the ungodly and pardon sin for his own names sake.  
2. Of grace, that God will give Faith, Repentance, Love and a new heart.  
3. Unto grace, that if we believe and repent we shall be saved. These promises are all we have to build our faith on for our eternal salvation.   
In all recumbency it is not enough to regard the strength of the act and rightness of the object; carnal men will say, I place my hope in Jesus Christ for salvation, Micah 3. 11. but there are other circumstances to be observed:  
First, The method and order of this recumbency, the resolution of an humbled sinner to cast himself upon Christ, the main end and use of faith is to comfort those that are cast down. Faith is expressed by taking hold of Christ or the Covenant Isa. 56. 4. by staying ourselves upon, or leaning upon God, which supposeth a sense of misery.  
Secondly, The warrant and ground of it, we must go to work considerately, understand what we do, 2 Tim. 1. 12. Psal. 119. 49. natural conscience may pretend fairly to trust in Christ, but have no ground for it, jer. 7. 4.  
Thirdly, The effects and fruits, it cannot stand with a purpose to sin, joh. 13. 10. Heb. 10. 23.  
We are said to be justified by faith, to live by it, to be saved by it, to have it imputed unto us for righteousness: all which is to be understood not principally, 
Mr Gatak against Saltmarsh Shadows without substance, p. 56.  immediately, meritoriously in regard of any worth or dignity of it; or efficaciously in regard of any power or efficacy in itself, but mediately, subserviently, organically, as it is a means to apprehend Christ his satisfaction and sufferings, by the price and merit whereof we are justified and saved, and stand as righteous in God's sight, and as it hath a special respect and relation thereunto.  
There are divers degrees of faith, Little faith, Mat. 8. 26. Great faith, Mat. 15. 28. Full assurance of faith, Rom. 4. 21.  
First, There is some unbelief in all the servants of God, because there is not in any man in this world a perfection of faith, faith is mixed with unbelief.  
Secondly, Many have a true faith, yet a very weak faith. Christ will not break 
The truth of any thing doth not depend on the greatness but quality of it, a child though never so weak hath the true nature of a man, one drop of water is true water. 2. If faith be weak it will bring forth weak effects, little comfort, yet Christ will have regard to it.  the bruised reed, Christ chides his Disciples for their weak faith, and Peter, Mat. 13. O you of little faith: And how is it that you have not faith? Luk. 4. See john 4. and Matth. 9 Moses, David, Abraham, Isaac were subject to great weakness of faith.  
Reasons. 1. Sense and reason do in many things contradict the conclusions of faith, to believe in the mercy of God when we have so much sin.  
2. The knowledge of God in the best of God's people (which is the pillar and foundation of their faith) is but imperfect.  
3. Satan above all things most opposeth the faith of God's Saints, because he knows that in this their very strength lies, Ephes. 6. 14. 1 Tim. 6. 12. and they resist him by their faith, 1 Pet. 5. 9 1 john 5. 4.  
In two things the weakness of faith most discovers itself:  
First, In thinking that we shall not find the good things which God promiseth to give.  
Secondly, That we shall not be delivered from the evil things which he hath undertaken to deliver us from. Faith in God's threats must be confirmed as a principal means of beating back sinful temptations, faith in God's promises must be confirmed as a principal means of keeping us in comfort and obedience.  
All holy exercises serve to strengthen faith, especially two,  
First, Prayer with the Apostles to the Lord to increase our faith, and to fill us with joy and peace through believing.  
2. Meditations specially directed to that end, of the omnipotency of God, his perfect truth, and his accomplishment of his Word formerly to ourselves and others.  
There is a twofold state of faith, a state of Adherence, and a state of Assurance. 
That faith is not assurance, see M. Downs Treat. of the true nature and definite. of just. faith, p. 5. to 8.   
First, A state of Adherence, Affiance and Recumbence, the act of the soul accepting Christ, and giving itself to him, Isa. 50. 10. Luk. 18. 13.  
There is a great peace in a faith of Adherence, Heb. 4. 3.  

1. In respect of the guilt of sin, it shows the Lord Jesus as a Sacrifice for sin.  
2. In reference to God, I have heard (saith such a one) that the Lord is a God pardoning iniquity, transgression and sin; there is tranquillity when one casts his sin on Christ, and ventures his soul on the freegrace of God, Isa. 50. 10.   
Secondly, Of Assurance, 1 john 4. 16. when one hath obtained the witness and sealing of the Spirit.  

1. One may have the faith of adherence (roll his soul on Christ, and be willing to accept him) that hath not the faith of evidence, as Heman Psal. 88 The fearing of God and obeying his voice cannot be without faith, yet he may walk in darkness, as in that place of Isaiah before quoted.  
2. The soul which hath the faith of adherence, and wants that of evidence, is in a justified condition; many things have a real being that have no visible appearing to us. If one could not be justified but by faith of assurance, then if one lose his assurance he loseth his justification.  
3. When faith of adherence hath attained to faith of assurance, yet many times 
In a state of adherence the motive which acts the soul is obedience to God (Isa. 50 10.) in a state of assurance a sense of the love of God, 1 Cor. 5. 12. 2. In a state of adherence one doth all to obtain mercy, but in a state of assurance from thankfulness, because one hath obtained mercy. 3. In a state of adherence the motive is to obtain grace and communion with God therein, of assurance further and constant communion, John 14. 21. 1 John 4. 16. 4. In a state of adherence one doth perform the commands of God as a duty, in assurance as a privilege; jacob prayed and as a Prince prevailed.  the assurance is lost, Psal. 32. beg. Psal. 51. 12. Christ on the Cross had faith of adherence, My God, my God, not clearness of evidence.  
4. When the soul hath lost the faith of evidence it cannot lose the faith of adherence, the fire may be so smothered in ashes that there is no light, yet it always hath heat if there be fire, job 15. 30. Psal. 44. 17.  
5. The faith of adherence always abiding and bringing the soul to heaven, that soul (though it want assurance) is bound to praise God, if thou wouldst be more thankful for the faith of adherence, the Lord would bring in strong consolation.  
6. Faith of adherence will certainly end in faith of evidence, if thy soul have chosen Christ, and thou wait for him, thou shalt at last meet with him.   
Faith layeth hold on the promise as being true, affiance or hope expects the thing promised as being good. B. Down. of Justif. l. 6. c. 4.  
We believe things past, present and to come: but hope for things to come only. We believe both promises and threatenings, both rewards and punishments, in the order set by God: but hope only for things desirable. Robin's. Ess. Observ. 10.  
The end and great privilege of faith is to bring us to everlasting life, Heb. 11. 6. 1 Pet. 1. 9 john 20. 31.  
Reasons. 1. By faith we are made Sons, Children, 1 john 3. 2. and so may expect a child's portion; Faith makes us sons,  

1. In a juridical sense, john 1. 12.  
2. In a moral and real sense, 1 Pet. 1. 3.   
Secondly, These are the terms of the eternal Covenant between God and Christ, john 3. 16. & 6. 40. Heb. 9 15.  
Thirdly, It is the mother of obedience, the way to be made happy is to be made holy.  
Fourthly, Faith begins the life which is perfected in glory, 1 john 5. 12. it anticipates heaven, Rom. 5. 2. & 8. 11.  
We should act faith in order to everlasting life:  
First, Accept Christ in the offers of the Gospel, Acts 16. 32. Mark 16. 16. Col. 1. 21.  
Secondly, Believe the great promises of heaven, Heb. 11. 6. Consider  

1. The riches of God's mercy, he will give like himself, an infinite and eternal reward, 2 Cor. 4. 17.  
2. The sufficient merits of Christ, Rom. 8. 32.   
Thirdly, Get your own title confirmed, 1 Tim. 6. 20.  
Fourthly, Often renew your hope by serious and distinct thoughts, Heb. 11. 1. Col. 3. 1. Phil. 3. 20.  
Fifthly, Earnestly desire and long after a full accomplishment, Rom. 8. 23.  
Faith is wrought by the Word, Rom. 10. 14, 15, 17. Ephes. 1. 13. Acts 2. 41, 47. & 
The Word preached is the most powerful but not the only ordinary means to beget faith, as Mr Down proves in a Treatise concerning the force and efficacy of reading. The Spirit of God commonly and primarily is conveyed by the Word preached, Act. 10. 44. & 13. 48. The Manna came with the Dew, unbelief came by hea●ing; God would beat Satan by his own weapon, sin entered by the ear. 2. God doth this to humble us, that we may not ascribe any thing to ourselves, we are beholding to others for what we hear. Gillesp. Aaron's Rod blossoming, lib. 3. cap. 14.  15. 7. 1 Pet. 1. 23. but besides the outward preaching there must be the Spirit within, Intimus magister, as Augustine calls him.  
The word is but a moral cause or instrumenr, whereby the Spirit worketh not necessarily but at pleasure, 1 Cor. 3. 5. Faith is called the gift of God, Ephes. 2. 8. Phil. 1. 29. the work of God, john 6. 29. See john 6. 44. Ephes. 1. 19, 20. The Word can do nothing without the Spirit, the Spirit can work without means, as in children and those that cannot hear.  
God convinceth a man of his sin and misery, and need of mercy, john 16. 9, 10, 11. Rom. 3. 20. and then shows him that there is mercy and salvation to be had in Christ, that he is a mighty Saviour, able to free him from all evil, and that he is tendered to him in the Gospel, Isa. 55. 1, 2. Matth. 11. 28. john 6. 37. john 7. 37. Act. 3. 26, 38, 39 discovers the infinite love of Christ, his excellencies and the benefits we shall enjoy by him.  
The Anabaptists say, That faith is given not by means of the Word, but by illumination and immediate working of the Spirit.  
The Arminians say, that preaching of the Word is able to beget faith in a man, and to turn him unto God without the inward working and teaching of the holy Ghost, usually the Word and Spirit go together, 2 Cor. 6. 1. The preaching of the Gospel is called the rod of his power, Psal. 110. 2. Some pretend above others to magnify the Spirit, and to be all for the Spirit, yet vilify the Word which is the means whereby to obtain the Spirit; Cornelius and them that were with him received the Spirit by the Word, Acts 10. 44. 1 Thess. 5. 19, 20. Gal. 3. 2. The Ministry of the Gospel is called the ministration of the Spirit. Manasseh his conversion, 2 Chron 33. 11, 12. was wrought by means of affliction setting home upon his conscience that word of God mentioned in the verse immediately preceding. Affliction doth not convert without the Word either going before or accompanying it, Psal. 94 12, 36. job 9 10, 11.  
Faith is an excellent grace, 2 Pet. 1. 1. It is a fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5. 22. The gift of God, the work of God by an excellency, john 6. 29. an effect of God's almighty power, Ephes. 1. 19 A sign of God's electing love, Acts 13. 48. called the faith of Gods elect, Tit. 1. 1. Justifying, saving faith.  
First, It is the only condition of the Covenant of grace and life, Believe and thou 
Christ hath revealed in the Gospel that accepting of him for a Saviour to believe in, is an acceptable service. 2. God rejects all works which are not accompanied with faith. Heb. 11. 6. 3. This is the great command in the Gospel, this is the will of him that sent me, that you believe in him. 4. The Lord hath made great promises to faith, and admired it in the woman of Canaan, the Centurion. 5. It was Christ's great design to work faith, John 20. two last verses. As this grace honours God most, Rom. 4. 20. so God honours it most. All actions of all virtues regularly performed slow from faith. See Heb. 11. per totum. Therefore the Schoolmen say, Faith is not only itself a virtue, but mat●r, radix, auriga omnium virtutum.  shalt be saved.  
Secondly, The grace that matcheth us to Christ, Ephes. 3. 17. Christ is the great remedium, and faith the great medium.  
Thirdly, It brings us to near relation with God, john 1. 12.  
Fourthly, It is the instrument of Justification, Rom. 3. 22, 25, 26, 28. & Rom. 5. 1. by it the righteousness of Christ is imputed, Rom. 4. 3, 4, 5, 16, 22, 24. and our sins discharged, Acts 13. 38.  
Fifthly, It is the grace which pleadeth with God, and challengeth him of his word, Gen. 32. 12. in which thou hast caused me to trust, and gives God in Christ all the glory in the great work of salvation by a Mediator.  

1. Faith quickens the soul, Gal. 2. 20.  
2. Sanctifies it, Acts 15. 9 by it we conquer sin, Rom. 8. 17. & 15. 1. the devil, Eph. 6. 16. the world, 1 john 5. 4.  
3. By it we obtain what ever good we stand in need of, and God hath promised, Be it unto thee according to thy faith.  
4. It carries away the good of all Ordinances, in the Supper, by it we have communion with God: the Word profited not, because not mixed with faith.  
5. It comforts in all troubles, Hab. 2. 4. in desertions, when God hides his face, Isa. 8. 15. job 13. 13.   
By faith we stand, by faith we live, by faith we walk, by faith we die, by faith we are saved.  
Faith is an infused not an acquired habit.  
Grevinchovius saith, That habitual faith is begot in us by frequent acts of faith proceeding from the special grace of God, as by often acts of justice and liberality the acts of justice and liberality are produced in us.  
This opinion of his is not only contrary to the Doctrine of the Schoolmen and Modern Divines both Papists and Protestants, which with unanimous consent call Theological Virtues infused habits, but also is subject to divers inconveniencies; that place Heb. 11. 6, must needs be understood of the habit of faith; for if it be to be understood of the act of faith, it will follow that the regenerate when they 
Vide Ames. in Rescript. ad Grevinchov. cap 10. Arminiani interrogati an credant fidem esse donum Dei, rotundo ore pronuntiant, & plenis buccis intonant se credere Deum dare sidem. Sed homines vasri haec verba non accipiunt ●● sensu quem sonant. Nam corum mens est, Deum dare omnibus vires credendi, si velint, & per Deum non stare qui● credant: At censent Deum non dare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere, ipsumque actum credendi; ne vis inferatur libero arbitrio. Cui impuro dogmati opponimus vorba illa Apostoli Phil. 1. 29. & Cap. 2. 13. Quibus verbis ipse actus credendi designatur non vero vir●s ●redendi. Molinaeus contra Amyraldum.  sleep, and do not actually believe, do displease God, and are not in a state of Grace.  
That faith is the gift of God, the Apostle teacheth, Ephes. 2. 8. Phil. 1. 29. & 2. 13. See john 6. 44. To come to Christ is to believe in Christ, witness Christ himself, ver. 35.  
Whether actual or habitual faith be in Infants?  
Some call it efficacious faith, some a principle, others an inclination. Some dislike the word habit, that is more proper to faith grown and ripe, the word seed or principle is better, 1 john 4. 9 
Per sidem in infantibus intelligimus principium sive semen sidei: non habitum sidei a●● actualem sidem: quae infantes habere non possunt, quit gratia praesupponat naturam: in infantibus autem nondum ea naturae est perfectio, ut in iis ratio se exerere possit; ne lum habitus supernaturalis, actusve ex co ort●s, esse possit. Vossius de Sacramentorum vi & efficacia. De fide habitualtres est manifesta: nam infants, in statu integritatis nati, fuissent habitibus originalis justitiae ornati, ut docent non solum Sententiarii, lib. 2. Sent. Dist. 20. Verùm etiam Evang●lici ● hcologi, cum differunt de primo hominis statu, qu●m integritatis vocant: unde patet manifestè, habitus sidei, spei & cheritatis, etiam nune 'tis inesse posse: quia quicq●id olim possibile suit, etiam nunc esse potest, modò respiciamus potentiam Dei absolutam. Fidem etiam actualem, seu actum credendi, ●is posse inesse, facilè probatur exemplo Joannis Baptistae, qui L●cae 1. 24. dicitur exultasse in utero matris in gaudio. Ergo cognovit Domini sui praesentiam, & proinde infans potest intelligere, & per consequens actu credere. Baron. Philos. Theol. Ancil. Exercit. 3. Art. 10. Vide plura ibid.   
Some think the Question about Infants believing is unnecessary and curious, and that they must be left to the freegrace of God, Mark 16. 16. Such places do not only concern grown persons. The Lord promiseth grace to Infants, Isa. 44. 3. and glory, Matth. 19 14. & 18. 6. compared with Mark 9 36. See 1 Cor. 7. 14.  
Pelagians say, Infants are saved by God's foresight of those good works which they should have done if they had lived; Augustine refutes this opinion, 2 Cor. 5. 10. every one is to be saved according to what he hath done.  
The Lutherans would have them saved by an actual faith though it be unexpressible.  
Beza saith, The faith of the parents is imputed to them by virtue of the Covenant of grace.  
Mr. Down hath a Treatise of the faith of Infants, and how they are justified and saved, and goes much that way, but denies that they have habitual or actual Faith.  
Whether Faith be in the Saints when they are translated into Heaven, and see God face to face?  
Some say, there is a kind of faith in the blessed Saints, since they both believe things past, all things which Christ hath done for our sake, and things to come, 
Vide Baron. Philos Theol. ancil. Exercit. 3. Art. 13.  viz. the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the flesh, the last judgement, and the perfection of the Church, and this knowledge of things past and to come, depends upon the authority of God.  
The office and employment of faith shall cease, though the nature of it do not.  
It is a great Question, An sides justisicans in decalogo praecipiatur? Whether justifying 
See M. Pemb. Vindis. great. p. 110, 111, 245, 246. and of Justificat. p. 38 c. 2. Sect. 2. L'homme n'est point obligè à croire en jesus Christ, que quand il luy est annoncé. Adam n'y estoit pas obligé avant qu'il pechast. ●l a commence à y estre oblige, & luy a promis la semence, qui briseroit la teste du Scrpent. Esclaircissement Des controverses Salmuriennes, par Pierre du M●ulin.  faith be commanded in the Decalogue?  
Adam had a power to believe what God propounded as an object of faith, the righteousness of Christ was not propounded to him, it is commanded there therefore not directè, because not revealed to Adam, but redisctiué.  
It stood not with Adam's Covenant, he was to be righteous himself, not to look for the righteousness of another. Adam in the state of innocency had a power of many things, which in that state could not be reduced to act, he had the affection of sorrow, but could not mourn for want of an object: so the Angels had a power to believe in Christ for their confirmation, though Christ was not made known till the second Covenant. There was a power then given not only to obey God in the duties of the first Covenant, but to submit to God for the change of the Covenant when the will of the Lord should be: not to submit to the change of the Covenant in man fallen, is a sin, Gal. 4. 21. therefore Adam had a power to submit to it.  
Whether Faith or Repentance precede? To repent is prefixed before believe, Mark 1. 15. In the order of things repentance must needs be first in respect of the act of contrition, acknowledgemement and grief for sin, the Law precedes the Gospel, and one is not to be raised before he knows himself to be cast down. And although saving Repentance considered completely according to all its acts be not without faith, yet it precedes it according to some act.  
Christian's should endeavour to live the life of Faith:  
First, The necessity of it.  
It is a Question, An sine speciali Revelatione possumus credere mysteria fidei? 
See M. Pemb. Vindic. great. p. 100, 101. Vide Bellarm. de gratia & lib. arbit. l. 6. c. 1, 2, 3.  Whether without a special Revelation we can believe the mysteries of faith?  
The Arminians cry down faith, and call it Scripturarum tyrannidem, & Theologorum ludibrium, and cry down all infused habits, would have none but acquired.  
There is a necessity of faith in respect of divers truths of Scripture that are to be believed.  
1. The resurrection of the body, none of the Heathens believed this. See Act. 23. 8. Matth. 22. 23, 29. Some that professed the Christian Religion perverted this Doctrine of the Resurrection, 2 Tim. 2. 18. the Disciples themselves were long in believing it, Luk. 24. 11. joh. 20. 25.  
2. The depravedness of the soul, and the enmity of natural reason to the things of God. The Philosophers saw clearly the common principles of justice and injustice, but not the corruption of nature, Rom. 7. 7. The Wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God.  
3. The necessity of renovation of the soul and body, the great Doctrine of Regeneration, john 3. 3. When our Saviour had brought Arguments to prove this Doctrine, and answered Objections against it, how blind still is Nicodemus? v. 9 of that Chapter.  
4. The necessity of a Mediator, and that Christ is this Mediator, 1 Tim. 3. 16.  
The Devils and damned believe these truths with a common faith. But we need faith to believe these truths savingly.  
2. We need faith also to bring us unto God, Rom. 5. 3. we cannot come to God but by Christ, nor to Christ but by faith.  
3. To conform us to God's Image, Acts 15. 9  
4. Without the life of faith we cannot abide with God, Matth. 11. 6. Heb. 3. 12. 13.  
5. We cannot take fullness of delight and complacency in God but by faith, Heb. 11. 6. we cannot please God, nor he us, till we believe. The life of a Christian is to please God, and to be well pleased with him.  
Secondly, What it is to live by faith.  


1. It is to believe the goodness of all that which God commands, as well as that which he promiseth, and the real evil of all that evil he forbids as well as threatens.  
The precepts of God are good and for our good as well as his promises, Deut. 10. 12. Psal. 73. ult. The Devils tremble at God's threatenings, but they believe not the evil of sin which he forbids, for than they would not rebel against God.   
2. To look after those things principally that are future rather then the things that are present, Luke 15. 12. & 6. 24. Psal. 17. ult. An unbeliever will venture upon future evils to be freed from evils present. A godly man fears two things chiefly, sin in this world, and wrath in another, 2 Cor. 5. 10.  
3. To live more to things invisible then visible, Heb. 11. 1. 2 Cor. 4. ult. Heb. 11. 7. The invisible things are the great things, Angels, men's souls; the great glory God promiseth his people is invisible, 1 Cor. 2. 9  
4. To believe those things to be certain which are incredible to nature, Rom. 4. 18. Psal. 73. begin. that the Saints are happy in all their miseries, and the wicked miserable in all their happiness.  
5. To keep to the word of faith in all our conversation, Isa. 8. 20. Gal. 6. 16. Psal. 119. 92, 93. Psal. 17. 4.  
6. To believe that all the providences of God are subservient to his promises, even when they seem to be against them, Heb. 11. 13.  
7. To believe so the fulfilling of God's promises, that we make not haste, but wait God's time for the fulfilling of them, Isa. 28. 6. Since God will 

1. Certainly perform what ever he hath promised.  
2. He will fulfil it in his own season, Luke 1. 20.  
3. His season is the fittest. Therefore it is most reasonable we should wait God's time and not make haste.     
Two things make faith strong, Knowledge and Affiauce, when these are strong faith is strong, though there be not assurance.  
By the woman of Canaan, Mat. 15. 25. and the Centurion, Mat. 8. 10. it appears that four things show what a strong faith is:  

1. The more it relies on a naked word, the less it hath of sense, Heb. 11. 13.  
2. When it bears up the soul against great opposition, Rom. 4. 21. The woman of Canaan would take no denial, still she cries Lord help me; Though he kill me (saith job) I will trust in him.  
3. When it finds out arguments to support the soul. The Son of David (saith the woman of Canaan) is sent to Gentiles as well as jews, and the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the master's table.  
4. When it draws out the heart to earnest and incessant prayers, and perseveres therein, Psal. 88 13. Gen. 49. 24. It is a common mistake, that where there is no joy of the holy Ghost▪ no assurance, there can be no strong faith. God usually proportions men's afflictions according to the greatness of their faith: afflictions are therefore called the trial of faith, 1 Pet. 1. 7. See Isa. 27. 8. jer. 30. 11. Spiritual desertion is the greatest affliction that can befall a godly man, it befell Christ when he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? therefore they have the greatest strength that are most exercised with afflictions. 2. This is the way the Lord takes with his people many times, to try them after assurance, by hiding his face from them. men's graces are ripened not only by communion but by desertion. Therefore there may be strong faith and more grace where there is no assurance.   
Motives to get Faith:  
First, This grace brings God most glory: It doth that to God in a way of duty, which God doth to the creature in a way of grace. God justifies, sanctifies, glorifies.  
Faith first justifies God, Isa. 18. 13. Luke 7. 29. against the accusations of the world, and fond surmises of our own hearts, Heb. 10. 29.  
2. It sanctifies him.  
3. It glorifies God, Rom. 4. 20.  
Secondly, It doth us most good:  

1. Our life stands upon it, Gal. 2. 20.  
2. Brings peace, Rom. 5. 1.  
3. Glory, 1 Pet. 1. 9   
Helps to Faith:  
Consider thy condition, while an unbeliever thou liest under the guilt of all thy 
The general means are the word & prayer, we must ask for it in prayer, and wait for it in the answer of the Word.  sins, and the wrath of God, what ever thou dost is displeasing to him.  
Secondly, Labour to lay hold on the promise of God, john 3. 16. Be convinced  

1. Of the truth.  
2. Of the goodness of it.  
3. Seek earnestly to God to work this grace in thee.    

CHAP. V. Of the Communion and Fellowship Believers have with Christ, and their Benefits by him, and specially of Adoption.  
THis is the highest intimacy between Christ and his people, A Fellowship, 
I will come to you and manifest myself to you. Christ imparts his graces and communicates his counsels to them. Unregenerate men have many communications from Christ, no communion, that is founded in union.  1 john 1. 3. A Friendship, john 15. 15. The Church is called, the Lamb's Bride, Husband and Wife make but one flesh, Christ and a believer make one Spirit, 1 Cor. 6. 17.  
Communion with God through Christ by the Spirit is the great duty and privilege of the Gospel, 2 Cor. 16. 13. 1 john 1. 3. It is begun by faith, carried on by fear and love, perfected in heaven. Consider  
First, The honour of this Communion: Christ hath our nature, our sins, our wrath and shame, thou hast his Titles, Nature, Spirit, Privileges. He is one with God, thou art one with him. He is God's fellow, Zech. 13. 7. thou his fellow, Psalm. 45. 7. God is Christ's God and our God, his Father and our Father.  
Secondly, The comfort of it, john 15. 12. This joy differs from the joys in heaven, not in kind but in measure, Psal. 16. ult. 2 Cor. 1. 5. Host 2. 11, 12.  
Thirdly, The Privileges you enjoy by this Communion:  

1. Liberty of access to God, Rom. 8. 15. Heb. 4. 6. they come to him sitting on a throne of grace, Heb. 4. 16.  
2. An interest in Gods particular providence, and a sanctified use of the creatures, 1 Cor. 3. 21.  
3. The influences of grace, 1 Cor. 1. 30. john 14 6.   
Evidences of this Communion:  

1. Holiness, 1 john 1. 6, 7. & 4. 13. john 14. 17. Rom. 8. 9  
2. heavenliness, Phil. 3. 20. Col. 3. 1.  
3. Delight in God, Deut. 4. 7. Psal. 84. 12.  
4. Reverence toward God and humility toward men.  
5. A constant dependence on God for Direction, Comfort and Strength, john 15. 5.  
6. Living to his Glory, and consecrating all we have to him. Whole Christ is ours, and we are all his, Cant. 2. 14. He is ours by his own grant, and we his by our consent.   
The Benefits which Believers partake of through Christ, are either in this life or in the life to come.  
In this life, 1. Relative, which make a change of our state. 2. Moral, which concern the change of our persons.  
First, Relative, which concern the change of our state and condition.  

1. Adoption.  
2. Justification.   
Secondly, Moral, which concern the change of our persons, Sanctification.  
Some say Adoption is the first of all the privileges communicated to us; Others say Justification.  
Of Adoption.  
As soon as a soul is by faith united to Christ, he is made the child of God in the 
See M ● H●rris of the Beatitudes▪ p. ●5. and Pa● on Rom. 8. p. 33.  Sonship of Christ, 1 john 3. 1.  
God is said to have three sorts of Sons:  

1. By Nature or Generation, so Christ.  
2. By Creation, the Angels.  
3. Voluntarily, made his Son, his adopted child.   
It is little mentioned in the Old Testament, in the New frequently, because the 
The Civilians thus define it, Est gratuita assumptio personae non habentio jus in haereditate ad participationem haereditatis Adoptio imitatur naturam▪  Romans who had then the Empire of the world had subdued the Jews to them, and communicated their customs to them, it was an ordinary custom among the Romans.  
It is a gracious sentence of God the Father on a believer, whereby for Christ's sake he calls believers his children, and really admits them into the state and condition of children.  
He calls us sons Gal. 3. 26. & 4. 4, 5. and admits us into the state and condition of sons, I will be their Father, and they shall be my children.  
It is amongst men a remedy found out for the solace of a father which hath no child, by taking one to the right of an inheritance who by nature hath no claim to it. 
Adoptio nuptiarum subsidium, fortunae remedium, supplet sterilitati, vel orbitati. Juris●.   

1. There is the election of him that would have him.  
2. The consent of the adopted.  
3. He called him Son in the Court; when the Lord makes believers his children he thus adopts them.   
There is a difference yet between divine and humane adoption:  

1. Man puts not a new nature into the party adopted; God when he adopts he makes them new creatures.  
2. Man is moved to this many times by some perfection or apprehended excellency in the party; so Pharaohs Daughter because she saw Moses a fair child took him for hers; but it is not so with God, there is no good but what he works, Ezek. 16. 6.  
3. They adopted for their comfort, and because they had no sons on whom to 
Profectò haec est indulgentia non indigentia, Ber.  bestow their inheritance; but God infinitely delighted in his own natural Son, and he needed not us, he hath his Angels to glorify him.   
How this Adoption is wrought:  
It is done by applying of Christ's Sonship to them. The applying of Christ's righteousness to us makes us righteous, and the applying of his Sonship to us makes us the sons and daughters of God. Christ being the firstborn is heir, and all God's people coheirs with him, Rom. 8. 16, 17, 18.  
What Benefits have we by it?  
All the whole work of our Redemption is sometimes expressed by it, john 1. 11. The glory of heaven is laid down in this one word Rom. 8. 15. We groan that we might receive the adoption of Sons.  
The Benefits thereof are brought to two heads:  

1. We are really cut off from the family from which we sprung, old Adam, sin, 
Ephes. 2. 18. There are three great fruits of our Adoption, 

1. Dignity▪ 1 Joh. 1 2.  
2. Liberty, Rom. 8. 21.  
3. Inheritance▪ If sons then heirs.    hell, we are now no more in a sinful condition.  
2. We are ingraffed into God's family, and have all the privileges of a natural son. By the Law of the Romans one might do nothing to his adopted child, but what he might do to his own begotten Son.   
By this means, 1. They receive the Spirit of Sanctification, Rom. 8. 15.  
2. They have the honour of sons, john 8. 35.  
3. They have the boldness and access of sons, May cry Abba Father; they may come to God with open face, as men freed from condemnation, Ephes. 3. 12.  
4. They have the inheritance of sons, Rom. 8. 27. they have a double right to heaven Titulo Redemptionis & Adoptionis.  
Three things will show our Adoption:  

1. Likeness to the Spirit of Christ, thou wilt be holy as he is.  
2. Thou wilt bear an awful respect to God, the child honours the Father.  
3. There is the Spirit of prayer, the child comes to the Father to supply his wants.    

CHAP. VI Of justification.  
THis word is used in Scripture sometimes to celebrate with praise, Luke 7. 
Certum est tam in Veteri quam in Novo Testamento verbum justificandi & nomen justificationis (intelligo autem aequivalentia in linguis originalibus) Hebraicum Hist●ik & Graecum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum nominibus derivatis) communiter accipi significatione forensi, pro justum habere, censere, pronunciare, maximè ubi agitur de eo qui accusatur tanquam injustus Prov. 17. 15. Ubi evidens est, verbum justificandi, per oppositum verbum intelligi debere, quod cum non possit de real infusione iniquitatis & injustitiae intelligi, quasi ejus aliquis habitus in cord justi generaretur à judice iniquo: sic neque intelligi potest, ab codem aliter justificari impium, quam justum pronunciando non efficiendo. Non potest aliter hoc verbum intelligi, quam per justum agnoscere aut declarare Matth. 1●. 19 Luc. 7. 35. & 39 v. Communiter haec vox opponitur accusationi & condemnationi Isa 50. 8. Rom. 8. 33, 34. Rivet. Cathol. orthodox Tract. 41. Qu. 1. Vide Pemb. de justificat. lib. 1. Sect. 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 Est vocabulum sorense, à foro soliad forum poli, sive à judiciis humanis ad judicium Deitranslatum: qui non imputans peccata, sed peccatorem à re●tu exgratia absolvens, cum justificare dicitur, Rom. 3. 4, 5. Capp. Alting. Exeg. Aug. Confess. Art. 4.  When they heard this they justified God.  
2. To commend one's self, being puffed up with the thoughts of our righteousness; so the Lawyer willing to justify himself.  
3. To be freed, as he that is dead is justified from sin.  
4. It is taken for the declaration of our Justification, as some expound that, Was not Abraham justified by works?  
Justification or to justify in Scripture is not to infuse in a man righteousness, by which God will pronounce him righteous, but is taken for Gods absolving of him in the Court of freegrace, not laying his sins to his charge, and withal giving him the right to eternal life, because of the obedience of Christ made his.  
It is a judicial act, Psal. 143. 2. 2. It is opposed to condemnation, a Law term, Prov. 17. 15. Rom. 8. 33, 34. taken from the Courts of Judicature, when the party accused and impleaded by such adversaries is acquitted.  
There is a great difference between Vocation and Justification, Vocation precedes, 
Camer. collat. cum Tilen.  Justification follows. Justification praesupponit aliquid, viz. Faith and Repentance; Effectual Calling ponit haec, non autem praesupponit.  
The Doctrine of Predestination is handled in the ninth Chapter of the Romans, and the first of the Ephesians; of Justification in the third and fourth Chapter of the Romans; of the first sin of Adam in the third of Genesis, and fifth of the 
The Papists confound Justification and Sanctification, they say to justify signifies to make righteous by infusion of grace Remission of sins (saith Bellarmine) is extinctio peccati in subjecto, The extinguishing of sin in the subject. justificatio & Sanctificatio peccatoris sunt duo beneficia, à se invicem valde diversa & distincta, sed minimè separata. In Papatu non distinguuntur, à multis Protestantibus separantur. Nos non quaerimus justificationem in Sanctificatione nostra, nec quaerimus justificationem nostram sine Sanctificatione, 1 Joh. 5. 6. Streso in Act. Ap. c. 13, 38, 39 Conc. 157. Amisso articulo justificationis amissa est simul tota Doctrina Christiana. Lutherus. Stante articulo gratuitae justificationis, stabi● Ecclesia. Id. Praecipuus est sustinendae religionis cardo. Calv. Instit. l. 3. c. 1. Sect. 6. Inter orthodexa Religionis Christianae capita, nullum (post illustrem illam, de Deo & Christo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doctrinam) magis necessarium, quam de hominis coram Deo Iustificatione dogma. Gomar. Disput. elenctica de justificationis materia & forma. Est re●●ra d●gma illud, de justificatione, è primariis maximeque cognitu necessariis religionis Christianae capitibus; quodque distinctam intelligi multum condu●at, cum ad pietatem, consolationemque itidem seriam solidamque promovendam, tum & ad controversi is alias haud incelebres (de quibus plurimum disceptatur) explicand●s ac dirimendas. Cl. Gataker. Gomar, Disputat. Elenct. De justif. Elench.  Romans; of the Lords Supper in 1 Cor. 11. of the Office of Ministers, 1 Tim. 3. of Excommunication, 1 Cor. 5. of Assurance ● ep. john.  
Some say Justification hath a twofold notion: Sometimes to justify us, to make us just, thus God did make Adam just, and justified him by making him a perfect, holy, good creature; this is called the Justification of infusion. But properly it is a Law term, and to justify is to declare one just and righteous. Thus we are said to justify God, that thou mayst be justified when thou judgest, we do not make but pronounce him just.  
Justification is a judicial Act of God the Father upon a believing sinner, whereby his sins being imputed to Christ, and Christ's righteousness to him, he is acquitted from sin and death, and accepted righteous to eternal life.  
In which description there are four things:  

1. The Author, who it is that justifieth, God the Father Rom. 3. 29, 30. & 18. 33. it is God that justifieth, and it is done by God as a Judge of the quick and dead.  
2. The object of it, who it is that is justified, a believing sinner, Rom. 3. 16, 17. john 8. 21.  
3. The matter of it, the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, the righteousness of Immanuel, of God made man, 1 Cor. 1. 30. He is the Lord our righteousness.  
4. The form, it is a sentence pronouncing or declaring us free from sin and death, and accepted of God.   
There is an imputation which ariseth from inherent guilt; so our sins were not imputed to Christ, 2 Cor. 5. 21.  
2. Which is founded in a natural Union; so Adam's sin is imputed to us: but neither the filth nor guilt of Adam's sin were conveyed to Christ, he came of Adam in a singular dispensation by virtue of that promise, The seed of the woman shall break the Serpent's head.  
3. By way of voluntary susception, Christ submitted to our punishment, he was made sin by Covenant, by treating with his Father.  
The debt of a believing sinner is reckoned to Christ, and the obedience of Jesus 
Though God punisheth believers for their sin, yet there is no believer that hath the punishment of sin, the punishment of sin beginneth in the wrath of God, and endeth in eternal damnation. M. Hook●r on Tit. ●. 14.  Christ is really reckoned to a believing sinner. The result of which exchange is the acquitting of a sinner from sin and death. All the punishments due to us for our sins are reckoned to Christ by virtue of those transactions between God and him. Christ became our Surety, God laid on him the iniquity of us all, 2 Cor. 5. He became sin for us, and his righteousness is imputed to us; that phrase is repeated eleven times of Gods imputing Christ's righteousness to us.  
Faith is said to be imputed for righteousness, but not as a grace or quality in us, for that faith is but one grace, but the Law requires an universal righteousness, even an entire conformity to the Law of God, by faith in Christ's blood we obtain Justification.  
2. To justify is to absolve or pronounce righteous, we cannot be so from our own righteousness which is imperfect, the Scripture calls Christ our righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 30. Rom. 5. 18. as Adam's sin was made ours by imputation we being in his loins, so Christ's righteousness is made ours we being in him the second Adam.  
* Piscator and Mr Wotton make Justification to be nothing but the Remission of 
M. Burgess of Justificat. pag. 216. Some urge Rom. 4. 7. & Rom. 8. 33, 34 Acts 13. 38, 39 to prove Remission of sins to be Justification. justificatio & Remissio plauè non sunt idem, quae enim subjecto differunt & inter se differunt, at subjecto ista haud rarò differunt, potest enim justificari, cui nihil remissum sit, cum falsò delatus fuerit; potest remitti peccatum, ubi nulla justificatio fuerit, cum & peccatum in confess sit▪ nec intervenerit satisfactio. Nec satis fuerit objicere, Deum nulli remittere quem non justificet, nullum justificare cui non remiserit, de quo tamen quaeri potest; vide Psal. 78. 36, 38. neque enim sequitur, ista eadem planè, quia simul sunt▪ Gatak. Animadv. in Piscat. & Lucii Scripta part. 1. Sect. 3. Ista duo revera, eadem prorsus non sunt: nec tamen, qui idem esse utrumque censet, aut unum ex altero consequi necessario, is, aut veram Christi justitiae imputationem, qualem sacrae liter● docent, aut salutem inde pendeutem è medio tollit. Gatak. Elench. Gom, Disp. Elentic. de justif.  sins, and imputation of Righteousness and the Remission of sins the same thing; a man being therefore accounted righteous, because his sins are not imputed to him, and they deny that the Scripture ever saith Christ's righteousness is imputed to us.  
Mr. Baxter in his Aphoris. p. 186. confesseth that the difference between Justification and Remission of sins is very small.  
Mr. Gataker in Mr. Wotton's Defence, pag. 58. and also in his Animadversions upon the Disputes between Piscator and Lucius, and in his Answer to Gomarus, seems to distinguish between Justification largely taken, and Remission of sins.  
The righteousness by which we are justified and stand righteous before God, is not our own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ, Phil. 3. 8, 9 2 Cor. 5. 21. not the righteousness of Christ as God the second Person in Trinity, but as Mediator, God-man. In which there are two things:  

1. The perfect holiness of his humane nature, Heb. 7. 26.  
2. The perfect righteousness which he performed in doing and suffering according to the Law, this is imputed to us.   
Christ's active obedience, his good works and holy life could never have been meritorious for us, nor brought us to heaven, if he had not died for us, therefore our Justification and obtaining of heaven is ascribed to his blood, as if that alone had done both, Rom. 5. 9 Heb. 10. 19 Revel. 5. 6, 9, 11. his intercession and prayers had not been meritorious for us, if he had not died for us.  
The parts of Justification: 
Imputandi verbum aut reputandi veteri Scripturarum Interpreti respondet Graeco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; quibus utitur Paulus, exempla sunt Rom. 4 4. & Cap. 8. 13. 2 Tim. 4. 16. ad Philem. v. 18. Usurpatur autem negatiuè & affirmatiué. Primò modo, cum dicitur non imputare peccatum, nempe ad poenam, quia est remissum. Altero, Imputari justitiam, sine operibus, id est, justum aliquem haberi apud Deum, & ut justum tractari, qui in se consideratus justus non est, sed acceptation● Dei gra●●ata, qu● tamen non fit sine fundamento. Rivet. Grot. Discus. Dalys. Sect. 3. Albertus' Pighius ex Institutionis Calvini lectione (quam tamen refellendi studio evolvebas) adductus est ad ejus doctrinam de justitia credentibus in Christum imputata, secundum Apostolum Rom. 3. 24. & 4. 5. probandam tuendamque. Rainold de Roman. Eccles. Idolat. Christiano Lectori. Vide Episc. Ca●l. Consens. Eccles. Cathol. contra Trid. de Gratia c. 3.   
First, Imputation of Christ's righteousness, that is, God accounting his righteousness ours, as if we had in our own persons performed it, Rom. 4. 6, 9, 23. as there is a true and real union between us and Christ; so there is a real imputation of Christ's righteousness to us, Cant. 6. 10. Revel. 12. 1. a soul triumphs more in the righteousness of Christ imputed, then if he could have stood in the righteousness in which he was created. The imputation of Christ's righteousness was first rejected by the Jesuits. Carl. Consens. Eccles. Cathol. contra Trid. de gratia c. 5.  
Secondly, From thence there follows a forgiveness of sins, 2 Cor. 5. 19 Psal. 32. This is called hiding ones sins, Blotting them out, Burying them in the Sea, Dan. 9 24.  
Some say not imputing of sin and imputing righteousness are not two parts, 
Justification (say they) is one act respecting two terms, the term from which, & so it is called Remission of sins, and the term to which, and so it is called the imputation of righteousness. By the same act of Justification a sinner is absolved from the guilt, and pronounced righteous, as by the same act of clothing a man there is the putting on of the garment and the covering.  but one single act, there is the term from which and to which. There are two sorts of contraries, such which have both a real being, as white and black in colours.  
2. Privatively, as light and darkness; darkness hath no being but the absence of light, so sin and righteousness are two contraries, but sin hath no being, for then God should be the author of it, introduction of light is the expulsion of darkness, not imputing sin, and imputing righteousness is one thing, else the Apostles Argument (say they) would not hold Rom. 4. 6. where he allegeth Psal. 32. He brings that place which speaks of not imputing sin to prove that we are justified by Christ's righteousness imputed.  
This they esteem their Argumentum palmarium, saith Gomarus 
* Disput. Ele●ct. de justif. ●nateria & forma. . Thus they argue, Paul here proves by the testimony of David, that Justification is an imputation of righteousness, either by his words, or by words that are equipollent: not by his own words, therefore he proves it per verbornm aequipollentiam, and consequently those speeches, to impute righteousness, and forgive sins are equipollent, but a thing may be proved also, saith Gomarus, by force of consequence, and M. G●taker saith the Argument is weak.  
Christ dying is the deserving and satisfactory cause to God's Justice, whereby we obtain Justification and Remission of sins.  
Some Heretics hold God was never angry with man, only men were made enemies by their own sins, and do therefore conclude that satisfaction by Christ's blood, as by way of a price is a falsehood, and all that Christ did by dying and suffering, was only as an example to teach us in what way we are to obtain remission of sins, and therefore according to them Justification is a pardoning of sin without Christ as a Mediator.  
Arguments to the contrary:  

1. Christ is called a Redeemer, Rom. 3. 14. 1 Cor. 1. 30. and job, I know that my Redeemer liveth. He is a Redeemer, and we obtain our Justification by this Redemption, therefore he is the meritorious and deserving cause of it, he hath redeemed us by his blood, and we are bought with a price.  
2. He is a Mediator 1 Tim. 2. and he is the Mediator of the New Testament. These things are implied in that 

1. That God and men were equally disagreeing, God was alienated from men, and men from God.  
2. Christ came that he might pacify God angry with us, and convert our hearts who were rebels against him.  
3. The means by which this was done, the death of this Mediator, as appeareth Heb. 9 15, 16.    
3. From those places where Christ is called a Propitiation, 1 john 2. 1. in allusion to the Mercy-seat, Exod. 25. 17. & Numb. 7. 89. Two things are implied here, 1. That God was exceeding angry with us for our sins. 2. That Christ did pacify him by his blood. The Mercy-seat was called also the Oracle, because God answered by it; and the covering, because it covered the Ark, in which were laid up the Tables. Christ is compared to this both in regard of his Prophetical Office, because God doth by him declare his will, as also in regard of his Priestly Office, because by this God is pleased.  
4. From the places where Christ is said to be a Sacrifice, Ephes. He gave himself an Offering and a Sacrifice; and in the Hebrews, Christ was once offered; whence note, 1. That Christ's death is a true Offering and Sacrifice. 2. It was done in the days of his flesh for the destruction of sin.  
5. All those places must needs prove Christ to be the meritorious cause where Christ is said to take away our sins, and the punishment from us, Isa. 53. He bore our iniquities, 2 Cor. 5. 21.   
When were we justified, seeing Justification is a change not of our quality but 
We are justified in God's Decree, in esse cognito & in esse volito, before we believe, not actually. We must distinguish between the Decree and execution of it, we may as well say we are glorified ab aeterno, as that we are actually justified.  state?  
Some say it was an eternal transaction before all time, only manifested to us by the Spirit.  
There are four set periods of Justification:  

First, In God's purpose, which reacheth as far as the eternal transactions between God and Christ, such as were set down in the Lamb's book.  
Secondly, When Christ did in the name and stead of sinners perform that which was the matter of their justification, but in neither of these periods was the soul translated out of the state of nature into the state of grace.  
Thirdly, Actually, at that moment when we come to own Christ as a Saviour by believing.  
Fourthly, When the Spirit which translates the soul out of the state of nature into the state of grace, makes it known to the soul.   
Others say there are five (as it were) periods or degrees of Justification:  

1. When the Lord passeth a sentence of Absolution on men at their first Conversion, immediately upon their Union with Christ, Act. 13. 38, 39  
2. He that is justified falls into daily transgressions, therefore there must be a daily imputation and application of the death of Christ, john 13. 10.  
3. There is a high act of justification after great and eminent falls, though there 
A Leper could not make use of his house, though he had a right to it.  be not an intercision, yet there is a sequestration, such cannot then plead their right. David's sin of adultery and murder made a great breach upon his justification, therefore he prays God Psal. 51. To purge him with hyssop, to apply anew the blood of Christ.  
4. There follows a certification, a sentence passed in the soul concerning man's estate, 1 john 5. 9 Rom. 8. 33, 34. 
There is justificatio vi● & patriae. Si quis dixerit opera omnia quae ante Iustificationē●iunt, quacunque ratione facta sunt, verè esse peccata, vel odium Dei mereri, Anathema sit. Concil. Trid. Decret. 15. Can. 7.   
5. Justification is never perfected till the day of judgement, Act. 3. 19 then sentence is passed in open Court before men and Angels.   
Of preparatory Works to Justification;  
The 13th Article of the Church of England saith, Works done before the grace of Christ or Justification, because they are not done as God hath commanded them, we doubt not but they are sins. Matth. 7. A corrupt tree brings forth corrupt fruit. Heb. 11. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Tit. 2. 9 To the defiled all things are defiled.  
Whether these Works without faith merit ex congruo?  
Potest homo nondum reconciliatus per opera poenitentiae impetrare & mereri ex congruo 
Aquinas fundamenta jecit meriti, tam de congruo quam de condig no. Scotus autem, quod attinet ad meritum de condigno, dissentit a Thoma; Sed Doctrinam meriti de congruo, vel ad insaniam usque ex●ulit. Episc. Carl. consens. Eccles. Cathol. contra Trid. De Fid. Iust. c. 8.  gratiam justificationis. Bellarm. l. 5. the great. & lib. arbit. c. 22.  
The Papists say, one must dispose and sit himself by Alms and Repentance to partake of Christ, this they call Meritum ex congruo, and then (say they) one receives primam gratiam.  
See 2 Cor. 3. 5. Rom. 9 15, 16. We confess that God is not wont to infuse saving grace, but into hearts fitted and prepared, but he works these preparations by his own Spirit. See B. Dau. Determ. of Quaest 34.  
Whether Works with faith deserve grace ex condigno?  
We say not (as Bellarmine 
* Lib. 4. de justif. c. 10. Bona renatorum opera habent omnia, quamvis non perfectè & in summo gradu, quae ad moralem actionis bonitatem essentialiter requiruntur. Sunt enim bona 1. Quoad objectum, quia versantur circa rem licitam & lege divina praeceptam. 2. Quoad principium, quia fiunt ex side, & vero Dei amore. 3. Quoad sinem, quia ad Dei gloriam referuntur. Et 4. Quoad circumsta●tias, quia debitae circumstantiae in iis faciendis observantur. Dicuntur tamen mala & peccati labe aspersa secundum quid, & quodam respectu, quia quaedam ex his requisitis, non iis insunt eo perfectionis gradu quo secundum rigorem legis inesse debent: Baron. de possibilitate implendi legem. Sect. 2. Vae etiam la●dabili hominum vitae si remota misericordia discut●at eam Deus. August. Confes. lib. 9 cap. 13.  chargeth us) that the Works of the regenerate are simply sins, but in a certain respect.  
The Papists say, after one is made a new-creature he can perform such Works as have an intrinsical merit in them, and then by their good Works they can satisfy for their smaller offences.  
Secondly, They have such a worth that God is tied (say some of them) by the debt of justice: Others say, by the debt of gratitude to bestow upon them everlasting glory. Some say, they deserve this ex natura operis: Others say, Tincta sanguine Christi, being died with the blood of Christ This is a damnable doctrine, throws us off from the Head to hold justification by works.  
Our good Works as they flow from the grace of God's Spirit in us, do not yet merit Heaven.  
1. From the condition of the Worker, though we be never so much enabled, yet we are in such a state and condition that we are bound to do more than we do or can do, Luk. 17. 7. We cannot enter into Heaven unless we be made sons, Come ye blessed of my Father; and the more we have the Spirit enabling us to good, the more we are bound to be thankful rather then to glory in ourselves; Again, we are sinners, the worker being a servant, son, sinner, cannot merit.  
2. From the condition of the work, those works that merit Heaven must have an equality and commensuration as a just price to the thing bought, but our works are not so, Rom. 8. 18. those sufferings were the most glorious of all▪ when Paul was whipped, imprisoned, ventured his life, he doth not account these things considerable in respect of Heaven. See Rom. 8. 18. jam. 3. 2. 1 joh. 1. 8. Rom. 7. 24. & 11. 35, 36. Ephes. 2. 8. and D. S●lat. on Rom. 2. p. 118. to 185.  
They say, The Protestants so cry up Justification by grace that they cry down all 
Deus coronat dona sua non meritatua. Aug. in Psal. ●02. Merita mea miseratio Domini. Bern. in Cant. Scrm. 16.  good works, at least the reward of them; we say, there is a reward of mercy Psa. 62. lat. end. Bona opera non praecedunt justificandum, sed sequuntur justificatum. Aug. Bona opera suxt occultae praedestinationis indicia, futurae foelicitatis praesagia. Bernard. de gratia & libero arbitrio.  
Extra statum justificationis nemo potest verè bona opena satis magnificè commendare. Luther.  
More hath been given in this Land within these threescore years to the 
M. Hildersham on Psal. 51. 6. Lect. 96.  building and increase of Hospitals, of Colleges and other Schools of good learning, and to such like works as are truly charitable, then were in any one hundred years, during all the time and reign of Popery.  
Dr. Willet confutes the calumny of the Romanists, charging our Doctrine of justification 
See D. Willet fully to this purpose in the end of his Synopsis Papismi. 5. Edit. pag. 22. See M. Hilders. on Psal. 54. 7. Lect. 130. and M. Pembl. of Justisic. Sect. 3. c. 1.  by faith only, as a great adversary to good Works. For he proves that in the space of sixty years since the times of the Gospel 200000 lb hath been bestowed in the acts of piety and charity.  
Whether we be justified by inherent or imputed righteousness?  
We do not deny (as the Papists falsely slander us) all inherent righteousness, 
Si re ipsa injusti & solum putatiuè justi sumus, magis diaboli quam Christi imaginem g●r●mus. Rectius enim denominamur ab eo quod sumus, quam ab eo quòd esse putamur. Bellarm. de justif. l. 2. c. 3. Si per justitiam Christi, nobis imputatam, verè dici possumus justi & Filii Dei, ergo poterit etiam Christus, per injustitiam nostram sibi imputatam dici verè peccator, & quod horret animus cogitare, silius diaboli. Id. ibid. cap. 6.  2 Cor. 5. 17. nor all justification before God by inherent righteousness, 1 Kings 8. 32. But this we teach, That this inherent righteousness is not that righteousness whereby any poor sinner in this life can be justified before God's Tribunal, for which he is pronounced to be innocent, absolved from death and condemnation, and adjudged unto eternal life.  
The Church of Rome holdeth not this foundation, viz. the Doctrine of Justification by Christ, 1 Cor. 3. 11.  

1. They deny justification by the imputation of Christ's righteousness, yea they scorn it, and call it a putative righteousness.  
2. They hold justification by inherent righteousness, that is, by the works of the Law, Gal. 5. 4.   
The Papists 
* Vide Bellar. de justificat▪ l. 2. c. 2, 3. Mr Goodw. of Justificat. part. 2. cap. 4.  place the formal cause of justification in the insusion of inherent righteousness. The opinion is built upon another opinion as rotten as it, viz. perfection of inherent righteousness; for if this be found to be imperfect (as it will be always in this life) the credit of the other opinion is lost, and that by consent of their own principles, who teach that in justification men are made completely righteous.  
2 Cor. 5. 21. Our sin was in Christ not inherently but by way of imputation, therefore his righteousness is so in us. See Act. 13. 38, 39 Phil. 3. 9  
The Papists acknowledge all to be by grace as well as we, but when we come to 
Arminius asserit in hominis co●am Deo Iustificatione justitiam Christi non imputari in justitiam, verum ipsam fidem seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere, per gratiosam Dei acceptationem, esse justitiam illam nostram qua coram Deo justificamut. Twiss contra Corvinum cap. 14. Sect. 6.  the particular explication there is a vast difference, they mean grace inherent in us, and we grace without us, that is, the love and favour of God.  
Arguments against them: 
There is a threefold righteousness, 1. A perfect righteousness, but not inherent, 2 Cor. 5. 21. 2. Inherent, but not perfect, Luke 1. 75. & Revel. 22. 11. 3. Perfect and inherent, Heb. 12. 23. The first is the righteousness by which we are justified. The second by which we are sanctified. The third by which we are glorified. D ● Featleys' Speech before the Assembly of Divines.   
1. That grace by which we are justified is called the love of God, Rom. 5. 8. not love active whereby we love God, but love passive, that is, that whereby we are loved of him, Rom. 9 15. All our salvation is ascribed to the mercy of God, which is not something in us, but we are the objects of it, Titus 3 4. Those words imply some acts of God to us which we are only the objects of. To be justified or saved by the grace of God is no more than to be saved by the love, the mercy, the philanthropy of God, all which do evidently note that it is not any thing in us, but all in God.  
2. Grace cannot be explained to be a gracious habit or work, because it is opposed to these Rom. 11. 4. Titus 3. 5. Ephes. 2. 8. by grace is as much as not by works, not of ourselves.  
3. It appears by the condition we are described to be in when justified, which is set down Rom. 4. a not imputing sin, a justifying the ungodly; the Apostle there instanceth in Abraham who had so much inward grace in him, yet was considered in Justification as unholy, and he was justified in this, that God imputed not to him the imperfections he was guilty of.  
For the imputation of Christ's righteousness there is justitia mediatoris that is 
Socinus putat, à Iustificatione tantum excludi opera perfecta sine interruptione praestita, non verò quae ex side cum magna imperfectione siunt: q●um tamen sub Evangelio verum sit, si quis perfectè Deo obediat, eum ex operibus justificari, Rom. 2. 13. & ●ic vitam adipisci Luc. 10. 28. ut taceam ridiculum esse imperfectam justitiam nos justificare posse, non verò perfectam. L'Empereur. Thes. Artic. 1.  imputed, not justitia mediatoria, as they say in Logic, Natura generis communicatur, non natura generica.  
The righteousness by which the just are justified before God is justitia legis, though not legalis, Isa. 53. He bore our sins in his body on the tree; He was made sin for us. See Rom. 3. 25.  
To speak properly, the will or grace of God is the efficient cause of Justification, the material is Christ's righteousness, the formal is the imputing of this righteousness unto us, and the final is the praise and glory of God; so that there is no formal cause to be sought for in us.  
Some say, but falsely, the righteousness by which we are formally justified before God is not the righteousness of Christ, but of faith, that being accepted in the righteousness of the Law, Fides tincta sanguine Christi.  
Whether inherent justice be actual or habitual?  
Bishop Davenant cap. 3. de habituali justitia, saith, a certain habitual or inherent 
Per inhaerentem justitiam intelligimus supernaturale donum gratiae sanctificantis, oppositum originali peccato, & in singu●is animae facultatibus reparans & renovans illam Dei imaginem quae per peceatum originale foedata ac dissipata fuit. Davenant. cap. 3. de Habituali justiti●. Vide Bellarm. lib. 2. de justificatione, cap. 15. & 16.  justice is infused into all that are justified, john 1. 13. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Gal. 6. 15. 1 Cor. 6. 11, 19 2 Pet. 1. 4.  
All those that are justified do supernatural works, Ergò, It is certain that they are endued with supernatural grace and holiness. We are said to be righteous, from this inherent justice we are said to be just, and that by God himself, Gen. 6. 9 Heb. 11. 4. Luk 1. 61. & 2. 25. 1 Pet. 4. 18.  
Bellarmine, lib. 5. the justificatione, cap. 7. prop. 3. saith, Propter incertitudine●● 
Quod perinde est, ac si diceret, Quanquam ego ad scribendum à Romano Pontifice conductus, haec contra solius fidei justificationem, & solius misericordiae fiduciam scripserim, Profiteor tamen ha●e Doctrinam, quam oppugnavi, tutissimam esse. Et quia nulla sententia de fide tutissima esse potest, nisi quia est verissima, eandem profiteri cogor verissimam esse: ac proinde contrariam seuteutiam, quam de operum meritis ex congruo hominum nondum revatorum consirmare volui, esse falsissimam. Episc. Carl. Consens. Eccles. Cathol. contra Trident. de Fide justificante, cap. 6.  propriae justitiae, & periculum inanis gloriae, tutissimum est fiduciam in sola Dei misericordia & benignitate reponere; By which saying he overthrows all his former Dispute about inherent righteousness.  
Whether we be justified by the passive obedience of Christ alone, or also by his 
B. Carlton Consens. Eccles. Cathol. contr. Trid. de Fide justif. cap. 3. D. Featley in his Sacra nemesis, p. 24, 29, 30. 36, 37, 38. L'Emper. in his Thes. Artic. 1. and many others are for both Christ's active and passir● obedience. Etsi autem in negotio justificationis magno periculo erratur, prout ea de re controversia procedit inter nos & P●●tificios, utrum scilicet gratiá Dei Iustificatto nobis contingat, an meritis nostris: Attamen prout inter nos & Piscatorem●ontroversia ●ontroversia instituitur, passiuáne tantum, an etiam activa Christi obedientia justificemur coram Deo, nullo prorsus erratur periculo. Utrobique enim justificationis causae gratiae & Christi meritis adscribuntur, non autem operibus nostris. Twiss. i● Coru. Defence. Arm. contra Tilenum Animadversio. Scriptura Christi passioni justificationem passim adscribit; idque eu i● locis, in quibus exprofesso argumentum istud pertractat: nulla tamen justitiae, quae in obedientia legi exhibita consistat, facti mentione vel levissima Rom. 3. 24, 25. & 4. 24, 25. & 5. 9, 10. Gal. 3. 11. 13. Gatak. Ammadv. in Piscat. & Lucii Scripta Adversaria, p. 2. Sect. 10. Vide plura in cjus Gom. disput. Elentic. de justif. Elench.  active?  
In this Controversy many learned Divines of our own differ among themselves, and it doth not seem to be of that importance that some others are about Justification.  
We are justified in part by Christ's active obedience, for by it we obtain the imputation of that perfect righteousness which giveth us title to the Kingdom of Heaven. Seeing it was not possible for us to enter into life, till we had kept the 
M. Hilders. on Psal. 51. 7. Lecture 119.  Commandments of God, Mat. 19 17. and we were not able to keep them ourselves, it was necessary our Surety should keep them for us, Dan. 9 24. Rom. 10. 4. Rom. 3. 21.  
The Scripture seemeth to ascribe our Redemption wholly to Christ's bodily death, and the blood that he shed for us, Eph. 1. 7. Rev. 5. 9 but in these places the holy Ghost useth a Synecdoche, it putteth one part of Christ's passion for the whole:  

1. Because the shedding of his blood was a sensible sign and evidence that he died for us.  
2. This declared him to be the true propitiatory Sacrifice that was figured by all the Sacrifices under the Law. 
Id. ibid.    
Some urge this Argument, By Christ's active Obedience imputed to them, the 
See M. Bradshaw of Justificat.  faithful be made perfectly righteous, what need is there then of his passive righteousness? need there any more than to be made righteous?  
Christ fulfilled the duty of the Law, and did undergo the penalty, that last was a satisfaction for the trespass which was as it were the forfeiture, and the fulfilling the Law was the principal, Psal. 40. 4. jor. 31. 3. Gal. 4. 4.  
Some to avoid Christ's active Obedience, question, Whether Christ as man was not bound to fulfil the Law for himself? All creatures are subject to God's authority. Yet this detracts not from his active Obedience, partly from his own free condescension, and partly because his whole person God and man obeyed.   

CHAP. VII. Of the Parts and Terms of justification, Remission of sins, and Imputation of Christ's Righteousness.  
JUstification is used so largely in the Scripture, as to comprehend under it Remission 
Peccati remissionem & justitiae imputationem non esse eadem planè, certissimum est, potest enim justitia alicui imputari; cui non remittitur peccatum, Psal, 106. 31. potest & peccatum alicui condonari, evi justitia tamen non imputatur, 2 Cor. 2. 7. Gatakerus Animadvers. in Piscat. & Luc. Scripta de causa meritoria nostri coram Deo justificationis, partis primae Sect. 8.  of sins; but if we will speak accurately there is a difference between Remission of sin, and the justification of the sinner.  
The justification of a sinner properly and strictly is the cleansing and purging of a sinner from the guilt of his sins by the gift and imputation of the righteousness of his Surety Jesus Christ, for which his sins are pardoned, and the sinner freed from the punishment of sin, and received into the favour of God.  
Remission or forgiveness of sins may be thus described. It is a blessing of God upon his Church procured by the death and passion of Christ, whereby God esteems of sin as no sin, or as not committed. Or thus, It is an act of grace acquitting the sinner from the guilt and whole punishment of sin.  
Every subject of Christ's Kingdom hath his sins pardoned, Isa. 33. ult. This is one of the privileges of the Church in the Apostles Creed, Acts 2. 38, 39 and all his sins totally pardoned, Exod. 34. 6, 7. Micah 7. 18, 19 This is a great privilege, Psal. 32. 1. Exod. 31. 34. It is no where to be had but in the Church, because it is purchased by Christ's blood, and is a fruit of God's eternal love. Remission of sins is the principal part of Redemption, Col. 1. 14. Ephes. 1. 7. one of the chief things in the Covenant, jer. 31. Heb. 8. The holy Ghost seldom names it without some high expression, Psal. 51. Ephes. 1.  
Remission of sins, and of which.  
This Remission is both free and full, Isa. 1. 43. Ezek. 25. 18, 22. Heb. 8. 12.  
Manasseh, Solomon, Paul, Mary Magdalen were great sinners, yet pardoned. God doth of his own free grace and mercy forgive us our sins, Psal. 51. 1. Rom. 3. 24. Eph. 1. 7. 1 joh. 2. 12.  
The word remitting or forgiving implies that sin is a debt or offence, as Christ calls it in his form of Prayer. God is said to forgive when he takes away the guilt, and frees us from condemnation, Isa. 44. 22.  
Secondly, The inward cause in God which moves him to it is his grace, for God might have left all mankind under the power of their sins, as he hath done the Devils.  
Thirdly, The outward meritorious cause is the blood of Christ. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews largely shows, that it was the blood of Christ typified by the Sacrifices that purgeth us from our sins, by Christ's merits God's grace is obtained.  
Fourthly, The instrumental cause is faith, Rom. 3. 25. & 5. 1. not considered as a work, but as an act of the soul receiving and applying Christ to us, not going out to him as love doth, for than it were a work.  
Fifthly, The immediate effect of it is Sanctification, and the healing of our nature, Rom. 8. 1. to be cleansed or washed from sin implies both the taking away the guilt of it, and giving power against our corruptions.  
For these six thousand years God hath been multiplying pardons, and yet free 
Isa. 55. 7. Rom. 5. 16.  grace is not tired and grown weary.  
Our sins are covered, Psal. 32. 1. as a loathsome sore, cast into the Sea, Micah 7. 19 as Pharaoh and the Egyptians, blotted out as a debt in a book, Isa. 44. 22. Psal. 55. 1.  

Object. We have forgiveness of sins upon a price, therefore we are not freely forgiven.  
Answ. Forgiveness of sins and Christ's Satisfaction may well consist, whatsoever it cost Christ it costs us nothing.  

1. It was infinite grace that God should ever intend to pardon a wretched sinner, Ephes. 1. 6.  
2. That he should give his Son for this, and that this sinner should be pardoned, and not another.    

Object. God will not forgive except we repent and believe, Acts 2. 19 & 10. 42.  
Answ. God promiseth forgiveness to such only as repent and believe, but they have forgiveness merely from the grace of God, not from the worthiness of their believing or repenting, Host 14. 4  
2. These graces are freely given them, To you it is given to believe, and God hath given repentance to the Gentiles.  
To whom it appertains to remit sins.  
The power of remitting sins belongs only to God, I, even I blot out thy transgressions, Isa. 43. 25. that is true in the Gospel, though not well applied, Who can forgive sins but God only? because it is an offence against him, that you may know 
Mark 2. 7.  who hath power (saith Christ) to forgive sins, I say unto thee, Walk; he only by his own power can forgive it, who by his own power can remove any judgement the effect of sin. Ministers are said to remit sins, john 21. 23. but that is because 
See M. Cartw. rejoined. to the Marques●e of Worcest. p. 159, 160.  they have a special Office to apply the promises of pardon to broken hearts. See Luk 24 47. Acts 13. 38. The Ministry of Reconciliation is committed to them as to the Ambassadors of Christ, 2 Cor. 5. 18, 19, 20.  
An confessio auricularis sit necessaria ad remissionem peccatorum? Whether auricular 
See M Hilders on Psal. 51. 3. Lict. 32. M Man●on on Jam. 5. 15. M. Cartw. Rejo●nd. p. 162, 163, 164.  confession be necessary to the remission of sins?  
The Church of Rome 
a Concil. Trid. Sess. 14. c. 5.  will have it necessary for every one to confess unto a Priest all his deadly sins (And such indeed are all whatsoever without the mercy of God in Christ, Rom. 6. ult. Gal. 3. 10.) which by diligent examination he can find out, together with the several circumstances whereby they are aggravated.  
Nothing will suffice to procure one that is baptised remission of sins without this Confession, either in re, or in voto, as Bellarmine 
b De poen●tentia, lib. 3. c. 20. Ibid. c. 12.  doth expound it. This is no small task which they impose upon the people of Christ, Quid molestius, quid onerosius? saith Bellarmine; therefore sure they had need to have good warrant for it, especially being so peremptory as to Anathematise all which shall refuse to subscribe unto them.  
No general Council until that of Lateran under Innocent the third (about twelve hundred years after Christ) decreed a necessity of auricular confession. Erasmus ad Act. 19 affirmeth, that it was not ordained by God, nor yet practised 
Papists speak much of confession of sins in all their Cat●chi●ns, which they urge as a matter of so great necessity, which they call a Sacrament, and make one of the essential parts of true repentance without which they say no man can receive absolution and remission of his sins, nor entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, but they ascribe all this not to the confession of sins that is made unto God, but that which is made in the ears of a Priest. Quis ad●ò unquam Catholicus tam fuit indoctus, ut ex hoc loco confessionis probaret Sacramentum. Maldonatus in Matth. 3.  in the ancient Church after Christ.  
The hinge of the Question is not concerning confession of sins in general unto a Minister, but of particular sins; neither whether we may, but whether we ought necessarily purpose a manifestation of every known mortal sin, and the grievous circumstances thereof, or otherwise stand hopeless of all remission of our sins. B. Mort. Appeal, l 13. c. 12. S. 1.  
There is no ground in Scripture for it, but much against it, in that the Scripture in many places showeth it sufficient, except in some cases, to confess unto God only. Besides such Confession as Papists require, viz. a particular enumeration of all mortal sins with their several aggravating circumstances, is not possible, and therefore not of divine Institution.  
Cardinal Cajetane on jam. 5. acknowledgeth, Non agi de Sacramentali confession.  
That confession Matth. 3. 6.  

1. Was not made of every one apart, of every particular fault they had committed, and secretly in St john's ear.  
2. The Greek word signifieth confession of known faults, and overthroweth the recital of secret sins which ear-confession requireth.  
3. It is contrary to the nature of the meeting, which was public.  
4. To the nature of a Sacrament administered, which being public required a public confession of man's corruption.  
5. This was but once, and before baptism, and not as the Papists have it here, and before the Lords Supper. Cartw. in loc.   
The apprehension of the pardon of sin will sweeten every condition:  

1. Sickness, Mat. 9 2. 
The first Covenant required perfection, but promised no remission, therefore unregenerate men can never be saved till their Covenant be changed, Heb. 8. 8, 12.   
2. Reproach, 2 Cor. 1. 12.  
3. Imprisonment, Rom. 8. 34.  
4. It will comfort one in the remainders of corruption, Rom. 8. 1.  
5. Deadly dangers, The Angel of God (saith Paul) stood by me this night, whose I am, and whom I serve.  
6. It will support us at the day of Judgement, Act. 3. 19   
Reasons. 1. Because sin in the guilt of it doth embitter every condition, even death itself, 1 Cor. 15. 26. then one looks upon every cross coming from God as an avenger, jerem. 30. 14. and upon mercies as given him to fat him to destruction.  
Secondly, This makes a man look upon every affliction as coming from a Father's hand, when he can look on sin as pardoned, Heb. 12. 9 there is an ira paterna.  
Thirdly, Remission of sins gives him boldness at the throne of grace, Ephes. 3. 12. 1 john 3. 21.  
How to know whether our sins be pardoned:  

1. Did you ever repent for sin, that is a necessary condition (though not a cause) of the forgiveness of it, Act. 3. 19  
2. Examine your faith in Christ, Rom. 4. 3. Being justified by faith we have peace with God.  
3. Remission and Sanctification go together, Heb. 9 14.  
4. There is a witness of blood, 1 john 5. 8. the Spirit of God gives testimony of 
justificati hominis in Christo longe alia conditio est, quam Adami fuit Fuit ibi quidem posse non peccare, sed in Christo consecuti sumus non posse peccare, quodae●si in vita hac mortali nondum absolutè perfectum sit, hic tamen certo aliquo modo inchoatum esse testatur Joannes Apostolus, 1 Joan. 3. 9 Abbot. in Thomps. Diatribam.  our Justification as well as Sanctification.   
Whether peccata remissa redeant?  
Whom God justifieth, Rom. 8. 30. that is, forgiveth their sins, them he glorifieth.  
The Remission of sins is perfect, it makes as if the sin had never been, it is called blotting out and throwing into the bottom of the Sea, taking of them away; there is much difference between taking away the guilt and power of sin, the later is taken away by degrees and in part, but the guilt of sin is quite discharged, He will remember them no more; the godly who have their sins fully remitted, do feel the sting and terror of it in their consciences, as David Psal. 51. yet it is not because it is not forgiven, but to make us humble and taste of the bitterness of sin, thou mayst yet take as much comfort in the pardon of all thy offences as if they had never been acted by thee.  
When God hath pardoned the fault all punishment is not necessarily taken away, but only punishment which is satisfactory to God's justice. Remissa culpa remittitur 
See M. Hilders. on Psal. 51. 7.  & poena, Isa. 53. 5. How are we healed, if notwithstanding Christ's passion and satisfaction, we are to be tormented for our sins with most bitter torments?  
God is fully reconciled by Christ's satisfaction with the truly penitent, Rom. 5. 1, 10. The chastisements of God's people come from a loving Father, and are medicinal not penal.  
This overthrows, 1. Popish Indulgences, viz. relaxations from satisfactory 
Heb. 12. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9  pains in Purgatory flames after this life, which Rivet fitly terms Emulgences.  
2. Prayers for the dead.  
Where sins are forgiven, whether only in this world?  
That Parable Matth. 18. is brought by some to prove that they are not only forgiven here; This man who was forgiven (say they) because he did not do as he should, therefore had he all his former debts laid to his charge: nothing is argumentative from a Parable, but what is from the scope and intention of it.  
This is the time only wherein a sin may be forgiven; the foolish Virgins would have got oil when it was too late, but then they ran up and down to no purpose; thus it is with all after death, then comes judgement, to day is the time of repentance, reconciliation, it is too late to cry out in hell, thou wilt be drunk, unclean no more.    

CHAP. VIII. II. Imputation of Christ's Righteousness.  
TO impute in the general is to acknowledge that to be another's which is not indeed his, and it is used either in a good or bad sense; so that it is no 
The Gospel brings in commutationem personae, but not justitiae.  more than to account or reckon. It is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and accepted for us by which we are judged righteous. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth right co●snesse without works, and again, that justifieth the ungodly.  
There is no appearing before God without the righteousness of Christ, Revel. 19 8.  
If we be sinners by the imputation of Adam's sin, then are we also righteous by the imputation of Christ's righteousness, Rom. 5. 12, 19 because his disobedience is 

Bellarm de amiss. great. & statu peccati. l. 4. c. 10.  
How can it stand with reason that they by the Pope's indulgences should be made partakers of the merits and good works one of another, and it be against reason, that we by the Ordinance of God should be made partakers of the merits and righteousness of Jesus Christ? Abbot against Bishop.   imputed to us. Peccatum Adami ita posteris omnibus imputatur, ac si omnes idem peccatum patravissent.  
There is some difference between the imputation of our sins to Christ, and his righteousness to us, for though our sin was by imputation his, as his righteousness by imputation ours; yet the manner of this imputation is not to be urged, as Bellarmine would stretch it by our tenets, as by Christ's righteousness imputed to us, we are righteous truly though not inherently, yet Christ by our sins cannot be called a sinner truly, he was reckoned among sinners, and God laid our sins upon him, yet he cannot be called a sinner, because he took our sins upon him not to abide but vanquish them, he so took them on him that he took them away, but his righteousness is so made ours as that it is to abide in us.  

Object. The righteousness of Christ as it flows from him being God and man is infinite, but we need no infinite righteousness, for we are not bound to do any more than Adam was, he was not bound to be infinitely righteous.  
Answ. Christ must needs have infinite righteousness to be a Mediator, and to satisfy the justice of God, but for that righteousness which is communicated to us, it is so far given as we need it, therefore some partake of it more, some less. 
Marks to try whether we have Christ's righteousness. See M. Cotton on 1 Joh. 5. 12. Serm. 7. p. 101, 102, 103.   
Three things will help us to judge whether we have Christ's righteousness:  

1. If thou layst hold upon Christ by faith, and choosest him to be thy Lord, and adherest to him with all thy heart.  
2. If thou loathe thyself in thy approaches to God, as the Publican, Luke 18.  
3. Where ever Christ puts on the soul imputed righteousness, he fails not to give inherent, 1 Cor. 5. 11. Tit. 3. 5, 6.   
Means to get the righteousness of Christ:  

1. Labour to be thoroughly convinced of thy own miserable condition, what a vile sinner thou art, Rev. 3. lat. end.  
2. Study much the holiness and purity of God's nature, job 42.  
3. Study much Christ's righteousness. See Mr Burr. on Matth 5. 6. 1. How beautiful a garment is the righteousness of God. 2. Christ's willingness to have thee put it on by faith.  
4. Put it on by faith, rely on Christ, venture thy soul on him.   
Whether God sees sin in justified persons. 
But the thing that David did displeased the Lord.   
God is not so affected with the sins of his people (to whom he is reconciled) as to be an enemy to them for them, but he is angry with them for their sins, Exod. 4. 14. Deut 9 20. reproves them, Numb. 12. 8. and often punisheth them for them, 2 Kings 12. 10, 11, 14. 1 Cor. 11. 30, 32. they are said to be committed in his sight, Psal. 51. 4.  
That Text Numb. 23. 21. is sufficiently vindicated from the Antinomians by M. Gataker in his Treatise on the Text, and 
* Vide ejus Cinnum l. 2. c. 4. Tenenda est justificatio duplex, personae altera, altera sacti. justificatio personae est qua acceptum habet Deus hominem ad vitam aeternam, quae revocari aut rescindi nunquam potest. Qua certè manente, damnat tamen Deus justificatorum & siliorum suorum facta malè, & usque adeo non justificat ut gravissimè nonnunquam puniat, & punienda praecipiat, iisque mortem aliquando infligat, 1 Cor. 11. 30. Serva●a interim misericordia illa aeterna, quae in justificatione per Spiritum Sanctum consignata est. Abbot. in Thomps. Diat. etc. cap. 16.  elsewhere. That place Hab. 1. 3. & 13. agrees with that in Numbers, Videt visione contemplationis, non visione comprobationis, He sees it because he beholds it, but not without displeasure and detestation, although he bear for a time.  
God could bestow such a measure of grace on his people, and so guide them with his Spirit that they should not sin, but he doth not dispense his grace and Spirit in such a measure as to keep his people free from sin, for than they should have no use of the Lords Prayer to beg remission of sins. The Priests in the Old Testament offered first for their own sins, and then for the sins of others; and Christ taught the Apostles in the New Testament to pray, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.    

CHAP. IX. Whether one may be certain of his justification.  
THe Scripture holds out assurance in reference, 1. To Faith, Heb. 10. 22. 
Concil. Trident. Sess. 6. c. 9 Vocat certitudinem remissionis peccatorum vanam & ab omni pietate remotam fiduciam. See M. Hilders. on Psal. 51. 7. Lect. 121, 122 123, 124, 125, 126, 127. and on v. 6. from Lect. 86. to 87 M. Cartw. rejoinder to the marquis of Worcester, pag. 139. to 251. M. Burgess of Grace and Assurance, Sect. ●. Serm. 5, 6, 7, 8.  2. Hope, Heb. 6. 11. 3. Love, 1 john 4. 17, 18.  
Our knowing our Justification is called the first fruits of the Spirit, Rom. 8. 23. The witness of the Spirit, Rom. 8. 16. The sealing of the Spirit, Ephes. 1. 14. The earnest of the Spirit, 2 Cor. 5. 5.  
One may be certain  

1. Of his Justification, Isa. 45. 24.  
2. Of his Adoption, Isa. 63. 16.  
3. Of his Perseverance in God's favour unto the end, Psal. 23. 6.  
4. That after this life he shall inherit eternal glory, 2 Cor. 5. 10. 1 john 3. 14.   
There is a threefold certainty,  

1. Moral, this consists in opinion and probability, and admits of fear.  
2. Of evidence, either external of things particular and obvious which comes by the senses, or internal, by the understanding and energy of principles.  
3. Of Faith, this certainty is the greatest and exceeds the evidence of the outward senses, or the knowledge and understanding of all principles, because that full assurance of faith relies on the Divine Promises. Faith is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Heb. 11. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Ephes. 3. 12. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, plena certioratio, Heb. 10. 24. words that signify a sure and certain establishment.   
Assurance of God's grace and favour to save a man's self in particular is wrought in the hearts of those that have it in truth, in three degrees.  
First, They apprehend a possibility of it, when the heart is convinced of sin, and wounded with sin, when the Law cometh in such power, the sin reviveth and a man dieth, that is, findeth himself dead or in a damnable estate, even than the promises of the Gospel being believed and acknowledged for first true, do cause the dejected Spirit to support itself with this thought, The Lord can forgive, can accept me, be a Saviour to me. There are mercies enough in him, merits enough in Christ, it is not impossible but that I even I also may be taken into grace. So the Leper came to our Saviour, saying, Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean; and the blind men being asked by Christ, Believe you that I can do this for you? said, Yea Lord; To which he replied, Be it unto you according to your faith.  
Secondly, They apprehend a probability of it, not alone God can save me, but it may be also that he will, Who can tell but God will have mercy upon us that we perish not? as did the Ninevites; and Hezekiah did wish that Isaiah should cry mightily, if so be that the Lord of Heaven would hearken to the words of Senacherib and deliver them. When Bartimeus the blind man came crying after Christ, at first he was persuaded that Christ could cure him, but then when he called him, and the people told him so much, he cast off his cloak and came running with more life, he began to be persuaded then that like enough Christ meant him some good, and would restore him his sight.  
Thirdly, They apprehend a Certainty, a man's soul concludeth, The Lord will pardon, will save, is reconciled, will deliver: God is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Thus doth Assurance grow in the Saints from weak beginnings; first, he saith, I am sure God can save, and therefore I will run to him, then hopes God will help, and therefore I will continue seeking; lastly, I am sure God will save, therefore I will most confidently rely upon him.  
There is a threefold Assurance:  

1. Of Evidence, it is the duty of every Christian to attain this.  
2. Of Affiance which God doth accept of.  
3. Of Obsignation, which God vouchsafes to some in bounty, whereby God doth so firmly seal the faith of some, as if he had told them that he did die in particular for them, this Assurance really excludes doubtings, and is given to men 
Habakkuk 3. ult. had assur nce in the height, so had many of God's worthies, Heb. 11. 13, 15. Psal. 48. This God is our God.  after long and fiery trials, when they have stood in an eminent way for Christ, as did the Apostles and Martyrs. Some have been so swallowed up with joy, that they have cried out, Lord humble me; one to whom God revealed his Election could neither eat, drink nor sleep for three day's space, but cried out, Laudetur Dominus, laudetur Dominus.   
God's people may have an infallible and settled Assurance of their being in the state of grace, and their continuance therein. This may be proved,  
1. From Scripture.  
There is an express promise to this purpose, Isa. 60. 16. See 2 Cor. 13. 5. Heb. 8. 11. 1 john 3. 2. to 15. & 2. 3. & 5. 13. 2 Ep. 14.  
2. Reason, 1. From the nature of this estate The state of grace is called life, 
Sententia communis est ferè omnibus ● heologis, non posse homines in hac vita habere certitudinem fidei de sua justitia, iis exceptis, quibus Deus speciali revelatione hoc indicare dignatur. Bellarm. lib. 3. the justificatione cap. 3. Sensum electionis nullum in hâc vitâ Remonstrantes agnoscunt. Et qui agnoscunt: Qui non vivos, sed mortuos eligi statuunt, ij non vivis sed mortuis ejus fructum tribuant oportet Scultet. Orat. de certitudine & sensu electionis. Vide plura ibid. The Remonstrants hold, 1. That none truly regenerate can in this life be certain of his salvation without a special revelation. 2. That doubting of our salvation is laudable and profitable. The Scripture teacheth: 1. That all the faithful may and aught to be certain of their salvation, and without a peculiar Revelation, 1 john 2. 5 Rom. 8. 16, 17. 2. That doubting is contrary to faith, and pernicious to man, Luke 24. 18. Jam. 1. 6, 7, 8. The Papists grant an assurance of hope but not of faith. There can be no assurance of hope till there be an assurance of Faith, Hope works after Faith, we hope for those things which faith believes, and proportionably to the measure of our Faith.  Translated from death to life, and light, life and light cannot be long hidden. Again, a man is brought into this condition by a great change and alteration, and many times also sudden, great changes chiefly being sudden will be easily perceived. It is a passing from death to life, a translating from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son. The state of grace doth always bring with it an earnest combat and conflict between two things extremely contrary one to the other, flesh and Spirit, this battle cannot be fought in the heart, but the man will feel it. In the state of grace Christ dwelleth in the heart by faith, and by his Spirit, and the Word dwelleth there, the inhabiting of such guests is evident, a King goes not in secret with his train, nor the King of glory.  
2. The Lord hath afforded such helps to his servants, as may bring them to 
There is not an Article of the Faith which doth not necessarily carry with it a special faith, I believe that God is my Creator and Christ my Redeemer. We receive the Sacraments that we may be assured of God's love and goodness to us, Rom. 4. 11. Bellarmine saith, Sacraments are seals on God's part of our justification, and of his love to us; but all the Question is, Whether we have done our duties? for a man may think he putteth no impediment to sacramental grace, and yet do it, the Apostle bids us examine ourselves. There are rich and precious promises concerning assurance of God's favour, Psal. 50. 23. Mal. 4. 2. Psal. 85. 8, 9 & 97. 11. Joh. 14. 15. God's people, 1. Give thanks for faith and an inward Call, Psal. 10 3. 2, 3. Rom. 7. ult. & 8. lat. end. Gal. 2. 20. 1 Pet. 1. 3, 8. 2. They rejoice with joy unspeakable, boldness ariseth in the heart from the assurance of God's love, Ephes. 2. 3. Rom. 5. 1. The Papists ever run to the deceit fullness of man's heart, yet the Spirit of God searcheth our hearts, and makes us see what things are wrought in us, the heart of a godly man is in part sincere as well as deceitful. They say Paul and Peter, and some special Saints might have it by immediate revelation, but Paul concludeth it Rom. 8. 28. 39 upon such arguments as are general to all the godly.  the knowledge of their own estate and their certain continuance therein. The word of God lays down the general Proposition, All that turn shall live, all that believe shall be saved, the Sacraments bring the general promises home to each particular soul, being a particular Word, as much as if God should come and sayto the child, If thou be not careless to seek Regeneration, and to come to me for it, I will surely regenerate and wash thee. The Lord's Supper is an actual word too, as if God had said, If thou hast confessed thy sins with sorrow and dost labour to be persuaded of my will to pardon them in Christ, Be they pardoned, be they healed. The Spirit of God worketh with the Word and Sacraments to make both effectual, and to establish, strengthen and settle the soul that it shall not be moved. It sealeth them up to the day of Redemption, that is, not only marks them for Gods own, but as an earnest of their inheritance assures them, that by the power of the Spirit they shall continue so.  
Thirdly, God requireth of them such duties as it were in vain or impossible to do if they might not be assured of their estate and the perpetuity thereof, 2 Cor. 13. 5. 2 Pet. 1. 10. To what purpose were proving or trying, if the matter by no means could be brought to any infallible evidence? How can our Calling and Election be made sure, unless a man may be assured that he is in the state of grace, and shall continue therein for ever? We are bound to love and desire the last coming of Christ, which we cannot do until we be certified of his love.  
Lastly, We are bound to rejoice in God and that always, and that in tribulation, Rom. 14. 17. 1 Pet. 1. 8. and when we are persecuted for well-doing, which no understanding can conceive to be possible, unless the soul be assured of life eternal, that is to say, that he both is and shall continue a true Christian. Can one be glad to suffer the hardest things for Christ, if he know not whether he intent to save or destroy him.  
We should have confidence in prayer, 1 joh. 5. 14. Cry Abba Father, Rom. 8. 15. that is, speak it with confidence and courage, there should be perfect love to God, 1 joh. 4. 17, 18. The triumph of faith, Rom. 8 35.  
It is the proper work of the Spirit to settle the heart of a believer in the assurance of eternal happiness, 2 Cor. 1. 22. Rom. 8. 16. 1 Cor. 2. 12. There is a threefold work of the Spirit:  

1. To reveal unto us the things of Christ, to enlighten the mind in the knowledge of them, john 16. 15.  
2. The Spirit draws the image of these upon the soul, conforms our hearts to the whole tenor of the Gospel, in the work of Regeneration and progress of Sanctification.  
3. It brings in evidence to our souls of our interest in these things, Gal. 1. 15, 16. Rom. 8. 18.   
It is difficult to attain Assurance:  

1. From our own corrupt nature which inclines us to both extremes contrary to this, to presume or despair, Prov. 30. 12. Ps. 36. 2. Rev. 3. 17.  
2. From the world, our friends flatter us, and others load us with slanders and discourage us, as jobs friends did him.  
3. From Satan whose chief engine next to hinder our conversion, is to keep us from Assurance, and to delude us with false assurance, and he joins with our unbelief to make us despair. See Ephes. 6. 16.  
4. The nature of the thing itself is very difficult, because it is a matter of great largeness, one must forsake all sins and creatures, true and false graces are very like, lukewarmness and the smoky flax; there is a variableness of mind even in the converted, Gal. 5. 17.   
There are three means of difference, whereby presumption and the true sense of God's love are distinguished:  

First, Presumption grows from a carelessness of ones estate in that he examines it not by the Word; True Assurance follows the most serious examination of ones estate.  
Secondly, Presumption goes without book; True Assurance rests itself upon the evidence of God's Word.  
Thirdly, Presumption emboldens to sin, and makes careless of good duties; True Assurance encourageth to all goodness and withdraws the heart from sin.   
The proper and natural fruits of Assurance:  

1. An undervaluing of all things here below, Psal. 16. 6, 7. it is spoken of Christ 
1 John 4. 6. Psal. 89. 15. Such go about duties with comfort, resist sin, bear crosses patiently, Heb. 11. 17. He whom God loves, though he know it not is an happy man: He that knows it, knows himself to be happy.  who lived on the alms of his servants.  
2. This will comfort us under all afflictions, Psal. 46. 4.  
3. Our love will be the more abundant to God, Cant. 6. 3.  
4. It will make a man to prepare for glory, 1 john 3. 3.  
5. One will desire daily to be dissolved that he may be with Christ.   
Motives to get Assurance:  

First, Every wise man will labour to get a good thing as sure as he can. Many will question our title to eternal life; Satan follows believers with many objections and temptations, our hearts will join with him.  
Secondly, When this is once got, the soul is possessed of the most invaluable treasure of this world. To walk in the light of God's countenance is a privilege, 1. Of Honour. 2. Comfort, 1 john 3. 20. Assurance is useful in life and death, for doing and suffering.  
Thirdly, The Devil most opposeth it and labours to keep men in the dark, that is an uncomfortable doubtful condition, Isa 50. 11.  
Fourthly, It may be attained in God's ordinary dispensation, under the Gospel the whole Church had it, 1 Cor. 2. 12.   
Means to get and keep it:  
I. To get it:  

First, As doubts arise get them satisfied, and as soon as sins are committed get 
In times of desertion keep up faith, in times of communion keep up fear. Though we blame Papists for teaching to doubt, and making doubting a duty, yet we press for an holy search, and a godly fear and trembling in the trying of our hearts, lest we be deceived.  them pardoned, 1 john 2. 1. be frequent in proving thyself, the Word is the rule of this trial and examination, proving is a comparing ourselves with the rule, the precepts and promises of God's Word, to see whether we be such as they require or not; David saith, Commune with your own hearts upon your beds. 1 Cor. 11. 28. The necessity and utility of it will prove it sit to be done 

1. The necessity of it, because of our exceeding aptness to deceive ourselves and mistake, and Satan's diligence to beguile us. Else if we be false we shall slatter ourselves in vain, if true we shall want the comfort of it. But often proving will chase out hypocrisy.  
2. An humble, patient, self-renouncing heart is that frame of Spirit from which this Assurance will never long be absent; never did God reveal himself more to any then Paul, who was vile in his own eyes, the least of sinners and greatest of Saints.  
3. Labour to get a high esteem of this privilege, think how happy thou shouldst be if God were thine in Christ, Mat. 6. 21. Psal. 4. 6. & 63. 3. & 80. 3. and beg this Assurance at God's hands.  
4. Labour to know faith above all other graces, all Assurance comes into the soul by faith; know the nature and object of faith, the promises the Lord hath made to embolden thee; say with Paul, I know whom I have believed; renew acts of faith, and treasure up experiences. Frequently meditate on God's Commandments to believe, and on his faithfulness.     
II. To keep it:  
By what means Assurance may be held fast and confirmed more and more.  

1. For the Judgement.  
2. For Practice.   
The Judgement must be rectified in some things:  

First, It must be concluded as a truth, that a man may be the true child of God, and have true faith and holiness in him, and yet not enjoy this Assurance, 1 john 5. 13. to believe in the name of the Son of God, and to know one hath life, are not one and the same thing.  
Secondly, One must know that such doubts and objections which are raised up against his being the child of God without ground out of the Word, are to be rejected and slighted.  
Thirdly, One must be rightly informed of the difference betwixt the obedience which the Law and the Gospel require, for both require obedience (faith establisheth the Law and makes a man become a servant of righteousness) but the difference is exceeding great, the Law exacteth complete obedience, the Gospel expecteth upright obedience.   
2. For Practise: 
Fear the withdrawing of the light of God's countenance, Hide not thy face from me. We should be tender of God's honour. Christ abode in his Father's love by being zealous of his glory, The zeal of thy house hath consumed me, Josh. 7. 9 Stand for his truths, 2 Tim. 2. 12, 13. Prise every manifestation of the love of God, Lift up the light of thy countenance upon me, Luke 17. 5. Take heed of nourishing jealousy and suspicions of God in your hearts, jer. 29. 11. Take heed of sinning presumptuously. Be constant with God, 1 Chron. 28. 17.   

First, Renew Repentance often, God often clotheth such with Garments of joy as tumble themselves in ashes, Blessed are the Mourners, for they shall be comforted.  
Secondly, Study Sanctification, he must follow after holiness that will see God, Psal. 50. 23. Constantly exercise Grace, 1 john 4. 16.  
Thirdly, Renounce all confidence in your own Righteousness, and labour to be found in Christ, having his Righteousness, Rom. 4. 5.  
Fourthly, Often and earnestly beg for the Spirit of Adoption to seal thee up to the day of Redemption, and to reveal unto thee the things that are freely given thee of God.  
Fifthly, Communicate thy fears and doubts to thy Brethren which be of understanding, and can consider and observe the consolations of God given them.    

CHAP. X. Whether Faith alone doth justify.  
GOD justifies judicially, Christ's blood meritoriously, Faith instrumentally, Works declaratively, Rom. 3. 24, 28. Rom. 4. 5. Mar. 5. 36. Luke 8. 
Vide D. Carlet. Consens. Eccles. Cathel contra Trident. de fide justif. l. 1. c. 1, 2 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. See M. Pembl. of Justif. Sect. 2. c. 3. p. 42, 43, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55. Satis constat omnem religionem à vera religione alienam, juxta statuere justificationem hominis coram Deo fieri secundum opera. Hinc videre mihi videor mysterium doctrinae Arminianae in negotio justificationis. Nam licet fortè dixerint nos justificari fide, non autem ex operibus, tamen fidem istam non accipiunt relatiuè ut solent nostri sed formaliter ut qualitas est sive ut opus est. Nostra sententia est, cum dicimus fide justificari hominem, sola Dei gratia & propter obedientiam Christi justificari hominem. Per fidem enim intelligimus obedientiam Christi fide apprehensam. Sed quia dicimus justificationem istam nemini contingere nisi credat; Ideo dicimus hominem justificari fide sin● operibus: Hoc est justificari hominem justitia imputata, non inhaerente. A●●●r●inia● nostri sicut Sociniam atque etiam Pontificit hactenus concordant justificari hominem fide, tanquam sanctuate homini inhaerente. Twiss. contra Corvin. cap. 9 Sect. 1.  50. Act. 13. 39  
The Papists, Socinians and Remonstrants all acknowledge Faith to justify, but by it they mean Obedience to God's Commandments, and so make it a Work, and not consider it as an instrument receiving Christ and his promise.  
A Papist, a Socinian, a Protestant saith, We are justified by faith, but dispositive, saith the Papist, conditionaliter, saith the Socinian, applicatiuè, saith the Protestant.  
Faith justifieth not as a quality 
* Fides salutaris pro qualitate sumpta non justificat nos, nempè propria dignitate sua & merito, sed tanquam instrumentum recipiens & applicans nobis imputatam Christ● justitiam. Rive●. Cathol. orthod. Down of Justif. l. 1. c. 2.  or habit in us, as the Papists teach, Ipsa fides censetur esse justitia, for so it is a part of Sanctification, but as it is the instrument and hand to receive Christ who is our righteousness, much less as it is an act, as Socinus and his followers teach, as though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsum credere, did properly justify, if we should be justified by it as it is an act, than we should be justified by our works, and we should be no longer justified actually then we do actually believe, and so there should be an intercision of Justification so oft as there is an intermission of the act of faith, but Justification is a continued act.  
We are justified only by faith, for what else in Scripture mean those many negatives, not by works, Rom. 9 11. Gal. 2. 16. Titus 3. 5. not of works, Rom. 11. 6. Ephes. 2. 9 not according to works, 2 Tim. 1. 19 without works, Rom. 4. 6. not through the Law, Rom. 4. 13. not by the works of the Law, Rom. 3. 20▪ without the Law, Rom. 3. 27. not but by faith, Gal. 2. 16.  
How can a man be justified by his works when he himself must be just before the works can be, Gen. 4. 4. Good works make not a man good, but a good man makes a work good, and shall that work which a man made good return again and make 
Perkins on Heb. 11.  the man good?  
When we say, Faith alone doth justify, we do not mean fidem solitariam, that 
Nihil est in Scriptura frequentius, quam nos justificari fide, gratis, sine lege, non ex operibus, non ex propria justitia. Rivetus ubi supra. Bishop Down of Justification, lib. 6. cap. 6. See more there.  saith which is alone; neither do we in construction join sola with fides the subject, but with Justification the predicate, meaning that true faith though it be not alone, yet it doth justify alone, even as the eye, though in respect of being it is not alone, yet in respect of seeing, unto which no other member doth concur with it, it being the only instrument of that faculty, it is truly said to see alone, so faith though in respect of the being thereof it is not alone, yet in respect of justifying, unto which act no other grace doth concur with it, it being the only instrument of apprehending and receiving Christ, is truly said to justify alone.  
When we say by faith only, this opposeth all other graces of the same order, 
Scripsit librum de justificatione Gaspar Conta renus, Cardinalis vir doctus, & pius, postquam jam Lutherus, alliqu● suam sententian de hac re declarassent. Quo libro testatur Protestants & Catholicos in hac re convenire. Rectè Contarenus, qui, quum ex industria Protestantium doctrinam examinasset, nihil in ea invenire se prositetur, quod à Catholicorum sententia dissentires At in sententia de justificatione non convenit Protestantibus cum Concilio Tridentino, non igitur erat illud Concilium conventus Catholicorum. D. Carl. Cons. Eccles. Cathol. cont. Trid. de sid. justif. c. 6.  but not the merits of Christ, or the efficacy of God's grace, the Apostle Rom. 4. makes it all one, to prove a man justified by Grace, Christ, and by faith. It is to be considered as alone in the act of Justification, but not in the subject justified, therefore that is a reproach cast on Protestants to call them Solifidians. What the judgement of the Catholics before the Council of Trent was in this matter of Justification, B. Carlton proves out of Contarenus.  
We are said to be justified by faith, to live by it, to be saved by it, to have it imputed unto us for righteousness: all which is to be understood not principally, immediately, meritoriously in regard of any worth or dignity of it, or efficaciously in regard of any power or efficacy in itself, but mediately, subserviently, organically, as it is a means to apprehend Christ his satisfaction and his sufferings, by the price and merit whereof we are justified, saved, and stand as righteous in God's sight, and as it hath a special respect and relation thereto. Mr. Gataker against Saltmarsh, Shadows without Substance, pag. 56.  
In the Covenant of Works, Works are considered as in themselves performed 
Id. ibid.  by the parties to be justified and in reference unto aught done, or to be done for them by any other; whereas in the Covenant of grace, Faith is required and considered, not as a work barely done by us, but as an instrument or mean whereby Christ is apprehended and received, in whom is found, and by whom that is done, whereby God's Justice is satisfied, and life eternal meritoriously procured for us, that which carrieth the power and efficacy of all home to Christ.  

Object. Faith is a Work, therefore if we be justified by Faith, then by Works.  

Occurrendum Pontificiis, qui hinc nos operibus justificari tradunt, quod fide quae opus est justificamur. Nam primum, est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adjunctae fidei, pro subjecto Christo: ut si manum camque mancam & ineptam ad operis aliquid faciendum dicamus, Nos ditasse, quod infiniti pretii Margaritam acceperit. Deinde fides est ita Dei opus ut nostrum non sit, utpote in quo Deo non cooperamur, sed merè Deum operantem patimur; cum in aliis bonis operibus Deus ita operetur, ut nostrae animae sacultates ab operatione non excludantur. Cart w. in Harmon. Evang. Faith justifies instrumentally, correlatively, not because of any worth in it, but because of the excellency of Christ, not dispositively by being the root of other graces, so the Papists affirm, but than it would still be in the way of a work.  Answ. With Faith we must join the object of it, viz. Christ, Fides justificat non absolutè, sed relatiuè sc. cum objecto, non efficiendo sed afficiendo & applicando. The Scripture saith, We are justified by faith, and through faith, but never for faith, or because of our faith, per fidem, ex fide, non propter fidem. We can only be justified by that righteousness which is universal and complete, faith is a partial righteousness, Phil. 3. 9 and as imperfect as other graces.   

Object. Gal. 2. 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of jesus Christ.  
Answ. But is adversative, that is, by faith alone. 2. Only faith receives Christ and a promise.  
Faith justifies by the mere ordination of God, that on the receiving of Christ, or resting on him we shall be justified. The proper act of faith which justifieth, is, the relying on Christ for pardon of sin.  
To justify doth not flow from any act of grace, because of the Dignity and Excellency of that act, But because of the peculiar nature, that it doth receive and apply, Therefore to receive Christ and to believe in him is all one, and faith is always opposed to works.  
Bellarmine objects, That to apply is a work or action; It is true, it is a Grammatical action, but a predicamental passion. But saith Bellarmine, Love layeth hold on Christ, and by love we are made one, but yet there is a difference, love makes us one with Christ extramittendo, faith intramittendo, and besides love joineth us to Christ after we are made one by faith, so that it cannot justify us.  
Paul and james do not contradict one another; Paul showeth what is that which 
See M. Down of Reconcil. of Paul and james. M. Manton on Jam. 2. 24. There is a justification: 1. Ad Regnum, which brings one into the state of Grace, of which Paul speaks. 2. In Regno, Abraham was justified by works, and he was called the friend of God, of that james speaks.  justifieth, and james showeth what kind of faith justifieth, viz. a lively effectual faith. james showeth that faith justifieth Quae viva, Paul showeth that it doth not justify Qua viva, which is a great difference though the Remonstrants' scoff at such a nicety, Who would give a Lemmon-paring for the difference?  
Whether Sanctification precede Justification. 
Sanctification is of the same time with Justification, but Justification doth in order of nature go before it, for all the graces of Sanctification are bestowed on a man as in Christ, Ephes. 1. 3. so one.   
Bishop Downame in his Appendix to the Covenant of Grace, doth oppose my worthy Tutor M. Pemble for holding this opinion, but perhaps a distinction may solve all.  
As Sanctification is taken for the act of the holy Ghost working holiness into us, so it goes before Faith and Justification, so the Apostle puts it before justifying, saying 1 Cor. 16. 21. But ye are sanctified, justified; but as it is taken for the exercise of holiness in regard of amendment of heart and life, so it follows Justification in nature, but it is joined with it in time. The Apostle Rom. 8. 30. placeth Vocation before Justification, which Vocation is the same thing with the first Sanctification or Regeneration. See Act. 26. 18.    

CHAP. XI. Of Sanctification.  
HAving spoken of the relative Change, or of our State in Adoption, Justification, I shall now speak of the moral Change of our Persons and Qualities in Sanctification.  
Although we distinguish between Justification and Sanctification, yet we acknowledge that they are inseparable, and that one doth necessarily follow the other.  
To sanctify sometimes signifies  

First, To acknowledge the holiness of a thing, so God is said to sanctify himself, and his own name, or to use it according to its holiness: so we are said to sanctify the Lord and the Sabbath-day, that is; use it holily.  
Secondly, To make holy, so a person or thing may be said to be made holy three 
God made man a holy creature, he was peculiarly devoted to God's service; when man fell the devil defiled this Temple, God departed from us, he a●ain cleanseth away this filth and repaireth his image in us  ways: 

1. When it is separated from a common use.  
2. When it is devoted to God, made peculiar to him, so one might sanctify a house or beast.  
3. When it is cleansed and purged from all filthiness and naughtiness.     
In the two first senses it is opposed to common and profane, in the last to unclean in Scripture, such are goods, houses, the Temple.  
What Sanctification is.  
Some describe it thus:  
It is the Grace of God dwelling in us, by which we are enabled to live a holy life.  
It is a supernatural work of God's Spirit, whereby the soul and body of a believer are turned to God, devoted to him, and the image of God repaired in all the powers and faculties of the soul.  
It is a resolution of will and endeavour of life to please God in all things, springing from the consideration of God's love in Christ to mankind revealed in the Gospel.  
Sanctification is a continued work of the Spirit flowing from Christ as the Head, purging a man from the image of Adam, and by degrees conforming us to the image of Christ.  
1. It is an act of the Spirit. The special work of the Father is Creation, of the Son Redemption, of the holy Ghost Sanctification. The Father proposed and plotted the work of Reconciliation. Christ undertook the service, but the Spirit is the Unction that takes away all enmity that is within us. The Spirit dwells in the Saints virtually and operatively by his Gifts, Graces, Comforts, and by exciting them. Some dislike that passage of Luther 
* Loc. Commun. Class. 1. c. 11. , Habitat ergo verus Spiritus in credentibus non tantum per dona, sed quoad substantiam, though others of our Divines follow him. The Spirit of God is the efficient cause of Sanctification. The sanctified are called such as are in the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, If we mortify the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit we shall live. If any be led by the Spirit he is the Son of God; and if any▪ have not the spirit he is none of his, Eze. 36. 27. The holy Ghost useth the Word of God, the doctrine of the Gospel as its immediate instrument to work this holiness of heart and life. Christ sends his Spirit that by the Word works faith and all Graces. An act of the Spirit flowing from Christ as the Head, common works of the Spirit flow not from Christ as the Head, john 1. 16. Col. 1. 19 Christ is the common treasury of all that Grace God ever intended to bestow, 1 john 2. 20. the intendment of union is communication.  
2. A continued work of the Spirit to distinguish it from Vocation, Conversion, Regeneration, it is styled Vocation, because it is wrought by a heavenly Call, Conversion, because it is the change of a man's utmost end, Regeneration because one receives a new Nature and new Principles of action. The carrying on of this work in blotting out the image of old Adam, and by degrees introducing the image of Christ is Sanctification, 2 Cor. 7. 1. therefore we must have supplies of the Spirit, Psal. 92. 10.  
Sanctification is answerable to original corruption, and intended by the Lord 
There is a total change of the whole man, the Mind, Rom. 12. 2. Spirit, Ezek. 36. 26. Heart, Deut. 10. 26. Conscience Heb. 9 14. Will, Phil. 2. 13 Affections, Gal. 5. 24. The body itself, Col. 2. 11. Rom. 6. 12. Christ is our Sanctification three several ways: 1. Meritoriously, he hath purchased it from God by his being an offering for all our defilement. 2. As he is the exemplar or copy of it. 3. He is by his Spirit the efficient cause, that brings into the soul the virtue of his Death to kill sin, and of his Resurrection whereby his life is communicated to us.  to be a Plaster as broad as the sore. That was not one sin, but a sin that had all sin: so this is not one distinct Grace, but a Grace that comprehends all Grace.  
It is called the new man in opposition to the old man, because it makes us new, changing from the natural filthiness of sin to the righteousness and holiness whereof we were deprived by the fall of Adam, and to note the author of it, which is the Spirit of God working it in us, called the holy Spirit, because he is so in himself, and works holiness in us, the Divine Nature, because it is a resemblance of that perfection which is in God, and the image of God for the same cause, because it maketh us in some degree like unto him.  
The moving cause is the consideration of the love of Christ to mankind revealed in the Gospel, the matter of it, a resolution and constant endeavour to know and do the whole will of God revealed in his Word, Psal. 119. 30. & 73. 10. the form▪ a conformity to God's Law or whole will so revealed, Psal. 119. the end principal to glorify and please God, secondary to attain his favour and eternal happiness. The extent must be in all things, the subject of it is the whole man, the whole soul and body. Sanctification reacheth to the frame of his heart. David hid the Law of God in his heart, the inward man, therefore called a New-Creature; and outward Conversation, therefore called a living to God, 1 Thess. 5. 23.  
The Parts of it are two, Mortifying and Crucifying the old man with its lusts and affections, quickening the new man, bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit.  
The Properties of it:  

1. It is sincere.  
2. Constant, therefore it is called a walking in the way of the Lord.  
3. Imperfect here.  
4. Grows and proceeds toward perfection.   
A godly life is distinguished,  

1. From the false goodness of the Hypocrite, for that is willing sometimes to do Gods will, not with such a settled will as to endeavour it, and willing in some things, not in all things to do Gods will. The motive to that is only love of himself, or some outward thing.  
2. From the perfect goodness which was required in Adam in the Covenant of works, for that was not only a will and endeavour to Know and Do, but an actual Knowing and Doing. They differ as much as shooting at the Mark and hitting it.   
Purity consists in freedom from mixture with that which is of a base nature, as 
See Dr Willet on Exod. 30. 34.  when silver is mixed with lead or dross it is impure.  
All godly men must be pure, Titus 1. 15. The Apostle Paul describes godly men by this Epithet; Our Saviour telleth his Apostles, Now are you clean, or pure (all 
Impuritas uniuscujusque rei consistit in hoc, quòd rebus vilioribus immiscetur. Non enim dicitur argentum esse impurum ex permixtione auri, per quam melius redditur, sed ex permixtione plumbi, vel stanni. Aquinas 2a, 2ae, Quaest 7. Artic. 2.  is one) by the word which I have spoken unto you, Joh. 15. 3. Mat. 5. 8. Ps. 24. 4. 2 Cor. 7. 1. He that hath this hope purisieth himself as he is pure.  
Reasons. 1. Because he hath to do with a God of pure eyes which can abide no iniquity nor unclean thing, and therefore one must be pure, else he cannot possibly be accepted with him, nor have any of his services favourably entertained.  
2. The Lord Jesus by his Spirit and Word, and by faith doth dwell in the heart of his people; now Faith, the Word and Spirit, will purify, all these are clean and pure things, of a cleansing and purging nature, therefore he in whom they be must be pure. Purity or being purged is opposed to foulness and uncleanness. Uncleanness is a deformity cast upon a thing through the cleaving to it of some thing worse and base than itself. Sin is the uncleanness of the soul which defiles it, and makes it deformed and unpleasing to God, so that he can take no delight in it, not admit it into any society and familiarity with himself; Purity is a freedom from sin, because that is the only thing which can pollute the soul.  
There is a double freedom from sin, one when it is not at all in the soul, nor no spots or slain of it, and so no man is pure; another when no uncleanness is suffered to remain, but is washed off and purged away by the application of the blood of Christ, and the water of true repentance, so that no stain of sin is there allowed 
Puritan in the mouth of a Drunkard doth mean a sober man, in the mouth of an Arminian it means an Orthodox man, in the mouth of a Papist it is a Protestant, and so it is spoken to shame a man out of all Religion. It hath been an old custom of the world to hate and malign the righteous, to reproach them, to call them Puritan, though very Heathens have acknowledged that there is no Religion without purity. Cicero, Horace and others describing a man that is religious, say, that he is an entire man, a man pure from sin. Mr Fenner on John 3. 20. See Mr Burrh. on Host 2. 5. pag. 307.  or suffered to rest upon the soul, and this is the purity meant, 2 Sam. 22. 27. when a man is careful to observe, lament, confess, resist, crave pardon of, and strive against all the sinful and corrupt fruits of his evil and naughty nature which cannot be altogether repressed.  
How far this purity must extend:  

1. To the heart, which Solomon wisheth a man to keep with all diligence, and of which the Apostle saith, That faith purifieth the heart, because God searcheth the heart, and his pure eyes do principally look unto the inside.  
2. To the Tongue likewise; Solomon saith of the pure, His words are pure.  
3. To the Actions, Psal. 24. 4.   
He than is a pure man which doth with such due care oppose and resist the sinfulness of his nature, that either it doth not break forth into sinful thoughts, words and deeds, or if it do, he labours presently to purge himself by confessing and bewailing the same before God, by humble begging of pardon, by renewing his purposes and resolutions of amendment, and by labouring to rest upon the blood and merits of Christ for pardon. He that doth this is altogether as free from sin in God's account, as if he had not sinned, God esteeming him as he is in Christ.  
The Excellency of the work of Sanctification:  
Christians look on the grace of Adoption, Justification and spiritual Wisdom, 
There is, 1. A beauty in holiness, 1. Every grace is an ornament 1 Pet. 5 5. See Psal. 45. 1●, 14, 16. Ezek. 8. 14. 2. Holiness is called a new Creation, Eph. 2. 10. A Resurrection, Ephes. 4. 5. 3. Sin is a deformity, 2 Pet. 3. 14 filthiness itself, 2 Cor. 7. 1. Ephes. 5. 27. Corruptio optimi pessima, sin is not only malum triste, but turpe. 2. This beauty of holiness consists in four things: 1. It is a conformity to the image of God, 2 Cor. 3. 18. 2. Beauty consists in indeficiency when no part is wanting, 1 Thess. 5. 23. 2 Tim. 3. 17. they are in parts perfect as children, though not in degree. 3. Beauty consists in a symmetry, a due proportion of parts, the understanding guides the man, the will submits to the dictates of an enlightened understanding, the affections are subject to the command of reason, John 11. 33. 4. There is a lustre in beauty, the Spirit of grace is called the oil of gladness, Psal. 45. 7. because it makes the face to shine. Sincerity is the harmony, and zeal the lustre or varnish of all graces, Psal. 42. 11. 3. There is that beauty in holiness which is not to be found in any thing here below, 1. It is in the inward man, 1 Pet. 3. 3. Absolom though outwardly beautiful was inwardly deformed. 2. This commends a man to God, 1 Pet. 3. 3, 4. 3. All other beauty will decay by sickness or old-age, not this, Prov. 31. 30. 4. This prepares you for the wedding; the time of this life is the time of Espousals, the Marriage shall be in the life to come, Revel. 19 7.  as high Privileges, but through the Devil's policy they look on this as a drudgery, whereas there is not a greater privilege or higher favour; all the subjects of Christ's Kingdom are holy, Isa. 4. 3. & Chap. 35. They have God's Image repaired in them, which consists in righteousness and true holiness. Holiness is a conformity of the frame of the heart to the will of God. Christ's life is communicated to them, whereby they die to their corruptions, and labour to live according to the rules of the Gospel. This is a great privilege to be a Saint.  
Reasons, 1. Because holiness is the Lords own excellency, it is his great Attribute, He is glorious in holiness; The Cherubims (Isa. 6.) sing holy; and the Church sings so in the Revelation.  
2. It is the Image of God wherein he created man, when he intended to make him a beautiful creature. See Ephes. 4. 24.  
3. It is a great part of the happiness which the people of God shall enjoy in heaven to all eternity, Ephes. 5. 27.  
4. A soul that is empty of it is abominable in God's sight, Psal. 5. 5. Hab. 1. 13. there are but two sorts of creatures capable of holiness, Angels and Men, the Angels as soon as they were sinned▪ for ever thrust out of heaven, as soon as man sinned, God cast him out of Paradise, and God left the greatest number of men to perish.  
5. God every where pronounceth such blessed, and makes great Promises to them. This Privilege is communicated to every one under the Dominion of Christ's grace, Isa. 11. from vers. 1. to 12. 1 Pet. 2. 8, 9 and to none else, the world is Satan's Kingdom.  
This serves to comfort and cheer the soul, what ever God doth for any he never gives a greater pledge of his love then to sanctify them. God gives holiness for the only great standing Evidence of his Favour; Holiness is the Evidence of thy Election, Calling, Justification, Adoption: Justification and Adoption have Comforts which Sanctification hath not, yet this clears them to me.  
The work of Sanctification is imperfect in all the servants of God, while they are in this world, Rom. 6. per totum, the seventh and eighth Chapters. 2 Cor. 5. 11. Ephes. 4. 18. to the end.  

First, Those gracious Qualities which the Spirit of God hath wrought in the soul, are but feeble and initial, 1 Cor. 13. We know, love, and believe but in part.  
Secondly, There remains still a body of corruption, a depravation of all the faculties of the soul, which consists in averseness from that which is good, and proneness to all evil, therefore Sanctification consists in mortifying those relics of corruption, Col. 3. 5. Rom. 7. lat. end. 1 john 1. lat. end.  
Thirdly, While God's people are in this world no good things they do are perfect, yea they are all tainted with corruption, Isa 64. 10.   
The Lord could as easily make Sanctification perfect, as Justification. He hates the stain of sin as well as the guilt, and the Law requires a pure nature as well as pure life, but God suffers the work of Sanctification to be imperfect, and these reliquiae vetustatis (as Augustine calls them) remain.  

1. Because he would have his people fetch their life from the intercourse they have with Christ, the exercise of faith, and delights that his people should stand in need of Christ, if Sanctification were perfect, Christ should have nothing to give.  
2. He would exercise his people in prayer and confessions. His people ask for themselves in prayer the destroying of corruption and perfecting of grace.  
3. God loves to have his people nothing in themselves; all Christ's course on earth was an abased condition, God would have his people like Christ low and base.  
4. The Lord hath appointed that this life should be to his people a warfare. job 14. 14. Their great conflict is with their own lusts.  
5. Because he would have his people long to be in heaven, 2 Cor. 5. 2.  
6. That he might thereby magnify the grace of the new Covenant above all that he gave in the old; God gave perfect grace to Angels and to Adam and his posterity; but that vanished away, yet now a spark of grace's lives in a Sea of corption.  
7. Hereby God's patience and forbearance is much exalted to his own people, Numb. 14. 17, 18.   
Therefore it is hard to discern whether the work of Sanctification be wrought in us or no, because of the relics of corruption.  
Evidences of Sanctification:  

1. A heart truly sanctified stands in awe of the Word; Sanctification is the Law 
Holiness is the image of Christ.  written in the heart, a principle put into the soul answerable to the duty the Law requires, john 14. 22, 23.  
2. The remainders of corruption and the imperfection of grace will be his continual burden, Rom. 7. 24. 2 Cor. 11. 23.  
3. There is a continual combat maintained betwixt sin and grace.  
4. Where there is true Sanctification it is of a growing nature; living things will grow, 2 Pet. 3. 18. Mal. 3. 3, 4.  
5. Where there is true grace you shall especially see it when God calls you to great trials, Natura vexata seipsum prodit, Gen. 22. 20.   
Means to get holiness.  
Only the Spirit of Christ bestowed upon thee by faith, joh. 7. 38. the Apostles arguments to holiness are taken from their interest in Christ. Titus, The grace of God that brings Salvation. Faith in the blood of Christ, Heb. 9 14. See Act. 15. 9 The Word, John 17. 17. 1 Pet. 1. 22. The Word read, heard, meditated in, transformeth the soul into its likeness. The Sacrament is a sanctifying Ordinance, the death and merits of Christ set before us, prayer, pray more for God's sanctifying Spirit, 1 Thess. 5. 23.   

CHAP. XII. The Parts of Sanctification are two, Mortification and Vivification.  

I. Mortification.  
Where Grace is truly wrought it will be the daily study and practise of those that are sanctified, to subdue the body of corruption. This is called a dying to sin, putting off the old man, crucifying the flesh, most usually the mortifying of it.  
There is a twofold Mortification, and so Vivification, say the Schoolmen,  

1. Habitual and more Internal, the work of God's Spirit in our first Regeneration, Gal. 5. 24. whereby the Dominion of sin is subdued and brought under the power of God's Spirit, this and internal Vivification are the two parts of our Conversion.  
2. Actual, Practical and External, our own work, the daily practice of a child 
Sin is wounded at our first conversion, Rom. 6. 13, 14. but this work is carried on by degrees till it be utterly extinct, Rom. 6. sin is called the the old man for its weakness and decay. See 1 Thess. 5. 22, 23.  of God, while he lives on earth, this flows from the other.   
Every godly man walking according to Christianity, doth daily in his ordinary course mortify the body of corruption that dwells in him, Rom. 4. 8, 9 Ephes. 4. 20, 21, 22. Col. 3. 5. Gal. 5. 24. Rom. 6. 6. Mortify (or make dead) is a Metaphor taken from Chiturgeons whose practice is when they would cut off a member to apply such things as will eat out the life of it, so our care must be to make the living body of corruption instar cadaveris.  
Practical Mortification, is the faithful endeavour of the soul to subdue all the lusts and motions which are prone to spring from our sinful flesh.  
It stands in three things:  

1. A full purpose or bend of the heart (the mind and will) against sin, when my will doth nolle peccatum, though it may be active.  
2. In shunning all the occasions that serve as fuel to it.  
3. In applying all such means as may subdue his corruptions.   
The Practice of Mortification is  

1. A necessary duty.  
2. One of the most spiritual duties in all Christianity.  
3. The hardest duty.   
The Popish exercises of Mortification consisting in their kind of Fasting, Whipping, 
Anno Christ● 1262. exorta est secta Flagellantium, qui ingenti turba obe●ntes pagos & oppida, nudi umbilico tenus, fancy tect a sese flagellis cruentabant: manfit hic mos Romae, ubi septimana quae diom Paschatis proximè antecedit, poenitentes longo ordine, nudis seapulis, larvata facie publicè se diverberant flagellis: Quem morem ipsi vidimus Lutetiae sub Henrico tertio. Homines ad furorem usque superstitiosi, nesciunt Deum amare immutationem cordium non verò dilaniationem corporum. Molinaei Hyperaspistes, lib. 1. cap. 29. Vide Novar. Schediasm. Sac. profane. lib. 1. cap. 22. They are hosts naturae not peccati.  Pilgrimage and wearing of Haircloth next their skin, will never work true Mortification in the heart, yet Baal's Priests exceeded them in cruelty to themselves, 1 King. 18. 28. See Rom. 8. 13. Col. 2. 23, 1 Tim. 4. 8.  
In these cases one doth not mortify his corruptions:  

1. Such a one as lives in the voluntary practice of his sins, Rom. 6.  
2. The body of corruption may be wholly unmortified though it break not out in the ordinary and constant practice of any gross sin, the seat and throne of sin is in the soul, the slavish fear of shame and punishment from men, or eternal damnation from God may keep a man from gross sins.   
I shall lay down  

1. Motives or several Meditations to quicken us to the study of this work every day.  
2. Means which God will bless to one that is willing to have his lusts subdued.   
I. Motives.  
Consider  

1. This is the great thing God requires at our hands as our gratitude for all the goodness he bestows on us, that for his sake we should leave those ways that are abominable in his sight, Rom. 12. 1. Ephes. 4. 21, 22. 1 Peter 2. begin. Deut. 32. 6.  
Secondly, How deeply we have obliged our hearts to it by Vow, Oath, Covenant in Baptism, we have there covenanted to die to sin, put off the old man, and so in the Lord's Supper we show forth the Lords death, and when we have been in danger.  

Thirdly, The manifold evils of unmortified lusts abiding in the heart. 
Sin 1. abuseth us, Man being in honour continued not, a wicked man is called a vile person, Psa. 15. 2. It defiles us, and stains all our actions, Tit. 1. 15. 3. Deceives us, Heb. 3. 12. Ephes. 4. 22. 4. It keeps away all good, Isa. 9 2. 5. It lets in all evil, Jer. 2. 19   
What makes thy soul loathsome and unclean in the eyes of God and Angels but sin: What grieves God, pierceth his Son, fights against him but this: What brings any evil upon thee but this: What is the sting of any affliction but only thy sins: What strengthens death but it? it is only thy sins that keep good things from thee, thy unmortified sins.   
Fourthly, The absolute necessity of this work, if we mean to escape hell and everlasting damnation, De necessariis non est deliberandum, Rom. 8. 13. 1 Cor. 6. 9 Grave Maurice at Newport battle, sent away the boats, and said to his men, Either drink up this Sea or eat the Spaniards.  
Fifthly, The wonderful gain that will come to thy soul if the Lord teach thee this duty.   

1. In mortifying and destroying thy beloved lusts thou destroyest all other enemies with them, they all receive their weapons from thy sins.  
2. All other mercies flow in a constant current, if thou mortify thy corruptions, God's favour, the whole stream of the Covenant of Grace.   
II. Means of Mortification.  
Some use moral motives, from the inconvenience of sin, death, the fear of hell 

The death of Christ is useful for mortifying of sin.  
1. By way of representation, it shows us the hatefulness of sin, Isa. 53. 10. Consider his agony and sorrow on the Cross though sin was but imputed to him, 1 Cor. 5. 21. 2. By way of irritation, it stirs up in the soul a displicency against sin, Isa. 43. 24. shall sin live that made Christ die? 3. By way of pattern and example, therefore the Scripture often expresseth our Mortification by our crucifying, Gal. 2. 20. & 5. 24. & 6. 14. Of all death's crucifying is the most painful and shameful, it notes that sorrow and shame which Christians feel in the remembrance of sin, that which was done really in Christ must be done in us by analogy, Phil. 3. 10. 4. By way of merit, Christ shed his blood to redeem u●: 1. From the world, Gal. 1. 4. that it might not be so pleasing an object. 2. From our vain conversation, 1 Pet. 2. 24. Grace is a part of Christ's purchase as well as pardon. 5. By way of stipulation and engagement. Christ ●●ood as a Surety before God's Tribunal. He was God's Surety and ours; on God's part he undertook to bestow on us not only remission of sins, but the Spirit of God to become a principle of life to us, and of death to our corruptions, Rom. 8. 13. 1 John 3. 19 on our part he undertook that we should no longer serve sin, Rom. 6. 13.   and judgement, some carnal motives as esteem and advantage in the world; others natural, moderate in things indifferent, and shunning the occasions of sin, the meditating on the death of Christ is the purest and most effectual way of mortifying sin, 1 Pet. 4. 1. Look upon Christ's death not only as a pattern but cause of Mortification, john 3. 14. Heb. 12. 2.  

1. Look upon sin as the causes of Christ's sufferings, Zech. 12. 10. Act. 2. 37.  
2. Consider the greatness and dreadfulness of his sufferings, Rom. 8. 32.  
3. The fruit of his sufferings, Col. 2. 15.  

4. Reason must argue from the end of Christ's sufferings which was Mortification as well as comfort and pardon, 1 john 3. 6. Ephes. 5. 27.  
Improve the death of Christ:  

1. By faith, Rom. 6. 6. & 7. 25.  
2. By Prayer, Heb. 10. 19    
5. A preparation to this duty. Labour daily to find out thy sins; we are naturally very prone to entertain a good opinion of ourselves and discern not many evils in us.   

1. Study the Law, Rom. 7. I was alive without the Law, but when I saw the inward motions of sin were abominable to God, I died; compare thy own soul with it.  
2. Study thy own ways, When thou art crossed, how art thou troubled? say, Is not this anger, when others reproach thee, how art thou troubled? say, Is not this pride and self-love?  
3. Have an ear open to the admonition of faithful friends, leave not thy heart till it plead guilty.  
4. Make use of Ordinances, the Word read and heard, Prayer, the Sacrament: after he had commanded them to put off the old man, Colos. 3. he saith, Let the Word dwell plentifully in you. David begs of God to strengthen him.  
5. Take heed and shun all the occasions that foment and cherish thy corruptions, 
About means of mortification of sin▪ See Mr Hilders. on Psal. 51. 5. Lect. 64, 65, 66, 67.  1. Inward, thy own thoughts; we cure the itch by cleansing the blood. job 31. 1. Why should I think on a maid? 2. Outward, there are two of all sins, 1. Idleness the devil's cushion. 2. Evil company.  
6. Upon special seasons there must be the solemn exercise of fasting and humiliation, because we must mortify the inclinations of sin, jam. 4. 9     

CHAP. XIII.  

II. Of Vivification.  
THere are two parts of a Christians duty, Dying to sin and Living to 

Spiritual life is that supernatural grace by which the whole man is disposed to live to God.  
1. A supernatural grace, because it comes from our union with Christ Joh. 6. 57  
2. By which one is disposed to live to God, Gal. 2. 20.  
The supreme or fundamental principle of spiritual life is the indwelling virtue of the Spirit, Gal. 4. ul●. Rom. 8. the Apostle speaks of being led by the Spirit, living by the Spirit, walking by the Spirit, and following the guidance of the Spirit.   God.  
It is called living to God, Rom. 14. 8. Gal. 2. 19 to holiness, the life of righteousness, rising to Christ.  
It is first Habitual, when the Spirit of God infuseth such principles, where by we are able to live unto God.  
Secondly, Practical Vivification is the constant endeavour of a believer to exercise all those Graces which the Spirit of God hath planted in him. The life of a thing is the acting according to the principle of it, so something daily draws out the exercise of those holy Graces the Spirit of God hath wrought in him, Prov. 4. 23.  
Practical Vivification reacheth to all things which concern Christianity, but consists in two things:  

1. The active bent and propenseness of the inward man to the things of God's Kingdom.  
2. Strength and ability to act according to the rule.   
The School-Divines make this spiritual bent to stand in five things:  

1. In oppugnatione vitiorum, the same with practical Mortification.  
2. In contemptu terrenorum.  
3. In repulsione tentationum.  
4. In tolerantia afflictionum.  
5. In aggressione bonorum operum quamvis arduorum.   
This strength comes  

1. From the principle within, the life of the habits.  
2. The Spirit of God dwells in them, and stirs them up to act. This new life is Christ's rather then our own. He is the root and author of the life of Grace, john 8. 12. The Gospel is the ministration of life, Col. 3. 4. 1 john 5. 11, 12. 2 Tim. 1. 10.   
There is a threefold life:  

1. Natural or personal.  
2. Politic.  
3. Divine or Spiritual. 
Life in the creature is an ability to perform the acts proper to that life, the ability sentive is the life of a beast, to discourse the life of reason. Spiritual life is the ability which God hath given to the soul to act unto God as his portion and utmost end.    

1. The natural life flows from the Union of soul and body.  
2. The politic life comprehends all those things which people perform one to another by virtue of their Relations and Associations of people together by Laws.  
Thirdly, Spiritual life which ariseth from the intercourse between God and the soul.   
There is a great similitude and dissimilitude between also the natural and spiritual life.  
They agree in these things,  

1. Natural life supposeth some generation, so doth spiritual life, therefore it is called Regeneration, 1 john 2. 27.  
2. What the soul is to the body in the natural life, that is God to the soul in a spiritual life. As the soul is the principle of all the actions and operations in the body, so in the spiritual life Christ works all but by the man.  
3. So long as the soul is in the body, one is an amiable creature, when that is gone he is but a carcase; so, so long as God is with the soul it is in good plight.  
4. Where there is life there is sense and feeling; spiritual life is seen by the tenderness of the heart, Ephes. 4. 18, 19 it is sensible of injuries done to it by sin, Rom. 7. 24. or the decays of it by God's absence.  
5. Where there is life there is a nutritive appetite, an instinct to preserve life, 1 Pet. 2. 2. This life is nourished by the Ordinances and constant influences of the Spirit.  
6. Where there is life there will be growth; God's people grow more wise, solid.   
They differ thus  

1. The Union between the soul and body is natural, between God and the soul from free grace.  
2. In the natural life there is an indigence till the soul and body be joined, but there is no want on God's part though he be not united to the soul.  
3. The soul and man united make one person, so do not God and the soul.  
4. The natural life comes wholly from corrupt principles, and it is a fading life, jam. 4. 14. but he that lives this one life once, lives it for ever, joh. 6. 5.   
This divine spiritual life stands in two things:  

First. We by our Apostasy are fallen off from God, when God restores us to 
There is 1. A spiritual life imputed when the guilt of sin is removed by the imputation of Christ's righteousness. 2. Inherent, whereby the soul is enabled to live unto God. Christ is the treasury of the life of the Saints, as life is taken for righteousness, holiness, comfort or glory.  life, he restores us to his favour, Ephes. 2. from v. 11. to the end, and so sin and the curse is removed.  
Secondly, There is wrought in the soul a suitable frame of Spirit to do the things agreeable to the will of God, an inward principle of holiness, the repairing of God's Image in us, Ephes. 1. 2 ch. quickened by him.   
Christ is our life, and the fountain of this spiritual life three ways:  

1. He is the meritorious cause of it, he hath purchased all this for us by his blood, he bore the wrath of God for us by his active and passive obedience. He hath merited that all this life should be communicated to us.  
2. He is the efficient cause of it, works all this in and to us; he sends his holy Spirit into the souls of all those whom he means to save, applieth to them their peace and pardon, and quickens them.  
3. As he is the exemplar, rule and copy how our life should be led.   
The preaching of the Gospel is the ministration of this life thus:  
1. In the letter of it, though delivered by never so faithful Ministers it is able to do nothing, therefore these things are often preached and men not bettered; when the Spirit accompanies it, it is efficacious: See Rom. 1. 16. Phil. 2. 15.  
The preaching of the Gospel is,  

1. The only means of the revelation of this life, 2 Tim. 1. 10.  
2. It is the divine seed, whereby the Lord conveys this life, and begets it in the soul, 1 Pet. 1. 23, 25.   
This work of the Gospel consists in five things;  

1. The preaching of the Gospel opens the understanding, makes us see the misery of sin, and the excellency of Christ, and the things of God, Ephes. 1. 2 Cor. 5.  
2. It makes the will and affections to relish Christ's sweetness, persuades the heart to choose him, and consent that God and they may be united in a league of friendship, this is the work of faith.  
3. Turns the heart from all evil ways it walked in; men are said to be pulled out of the power of Satan.  
4. Creates in the soul, and stamps in it all the Graces wherein God's Image stands.  
5. By administration of the promise and instruction fortifieth the soul, and makes one do all things belonging to this life.   
Arminians give too much to man, and too little to Christ. Antinomians and Familists give too much to Christ, and too little to man. They give so much to Christ that they abolish the nature and act of the creature, they say, Christ must do all, and we can do nothing. They dream of an insensible motion without us, place Grace in a naked apprehension, there must be not only a work for us, but in and by us. The work of the Father is in heaven, of Christ on the Cross, of the Spirit within us, Col. 1. 29. They deny not only man's work, but the Spirits work in us, Rom. 16. 20.  
Secondly, They say, Christ must do all, and we after we have received Grace, nothing, there is not a coordination but subordination of our wills to his grace, though at our first conversion we were merely passive, yet when Grace is received we may act, motion follows life. Col. 2. 4.  
The Familists deny all inherent graces in the Saints, because it is said we do not live, but Christ, he (they say) believes, reputes, as if we lived not at all, and he is formally all habits and graces; but the Scripture grants habits and graces to be in a man, john 19 28. Matth. 12. 33. 1 john 3. 9  
2. The sins of our actions then could not be charged on ourselves, but on the faint operations of his grace.  
Marks and Evidences of spiritual life:  

First, Every creature which lives values life, A living dog is better than a dead Lion. If one values his life he will prise, 

1. Pabulum vitae, Attend on the Ordinances, the Word, Sacrament, Prayer, Communion of Saints. 1 Peter 2. As new born Babes. Cantic. 4. latter end.  
2. He will avoid what is destructive to life; Beware of grieving and quenching the Spirit, Ephes. 4. 30. 1 Thess. 5. 19 by neglecting the motions of it, or noisome lusts.  
3. He will endure any evil and part with any good rather than part with life.    
Secondly, This new life brings always a great change along with it: when a child quickens in the mother's womb she finds a great change, so when Paul and Manass●h and the blind man, joh. 9 were converted, unless they were religiously trained up, as Timothy from their youth.  
Thirdly, Sense, a spiritual sense in the soul, senses exercised, savour the things of God, Rom. 8.  
Fourthly, Every life hath some kind of motions and actions that are suitable to it, as in this spiritual life. 

1. That inward work of adhering to Christ as their chief portion, the fountain of all their good, a true faith.  
2. Repentance, labouring to cast out corruption, and to turn to God.  
3. The Spirit of Prayer, You have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby you cry Abba Father. Our Law judgeth a child alive that was heard to cry.  
4. The minding of heavenly things, Col. 3. 1, 2.  
5. Life hath a sympathy, a fellowship with those that are members of the body, the same quickening Spirit lives in all Christians, weep with them that weep, and rejoice with them that rejoice.  
6. If we be regenerated we do that to God which children do to their Father. 

1. Honour him and stand in awe of him.  
2. Rely on him as the fountain of all our good, as children do on their parent● for a supply of all their wants.  
3. Are obedient to him.       
Motives to live to God:  

1. It is a dishonour to God when the creature seeks to exalt self, that which I 
To live to God is, 1. To exalt him in our hearts as the chiefest good, whom if we obtain we are happy, Psal. 27. 40. 2. To own God and appear for him here, and at such times, and in such places as it will be prejudicial to us so to do: Noah was righteous when all flesh had corrupted his ways, when Christ is made a reproach. 3. When we prefer his interest before our own, stand for the truths and ordinances of Christ, Psal. 1●9. 36. 4. When we can be meek and patient in our cause, and zealous in God's cause, Numb. 12. 3. 5. When we rejoice that others act for God, though we have no part in it, Jam. 4. 6. 6. When we desire to live to glorify God, Joh. 12 27, 28. 1 Cor. 10. 31.  make my utmost end I make my God, Phil. 3. 10.  
2. Consider the self-denial of Christ, he came from heaven to do the will of him that sent him, Rom. 15. 3.   
Means of spiritual life:  

1. Labour to get thy miserable condition by nature set close upon thy spirit, how thou art dead in sin.  
2. Study to get into Christ, 1 john 5. 12. only he can quicken, he is never got but by Faith, Luke 15. the Prodigal is the pattern of a converted soul. See vers. 31.     

CHAP. XIV. The Sanctification of the whole Man Soul and Body.  
WE should live more to the soul than body, Psal. 119. 175. & 141. 8. & 142. 7. & 143. 11.  

1. The soul is distinct from the body, as the operations of it show.  
2. It lives when the body dies, Eccles. 12. 7. Mat. 10. 28.  
3. It is far better than the body.  
4. The concernments of the soul are higher than those of the body, 1 Pet. 3. beginning.  
5. The sickness and death of the soul is worse than that of the body, 1 King. 8. 38. joh. 8. 21, 23.  
6. We never live to any purpose but when the soul lives.   
1. Of the faculties of the soul. Grace spreads itself through all the faculties.  
A faculty is an ability of producing some effect or operation agreeable to our nature and for our good, implanted in man by nature.  
There are three reasonable faculties proper to men alone:  

1. The Understanding, by which we know truth.  
2. The Will, by which we desire good.  
3. Conscience, a power of ordering ourselves to and with God.   
I. Of the Understanding.  
It is that power which God hath given a man to acquaint himself with the Being, Properties and Differences of all things by discourse.  
Or, it is that faculty by which we are able to inform ourselves of the general natures of things. Sense alone perceives particulars, the understanding abstracts things and forms in itself the general natures of things. I see this or that man, but understand the nature of man.  
The Object of it is omne intelligibile. 
See M. Pembl. Vindiciae great. 200, 201, 202.   
Truth in general in the utmost latitude and universality of it is the object of the Understanding, good in the general in the universality of its nature is the object of the Will, therefore till it come to enjoy God, which doth eminently contain all good in him, it can never come to have full satisfaction.  
Light was the first thing in the Creation, and so in the new Creature, Eph. 4. 23. he 
Sicut olim Deus in●hoa●it opus creationis à lumine corpor●o & sensibili, ita etiam opera regenerationis & glorificationis nostrae à lumine spirituali orditur: cum enim Deus ●ssi●●iter electos vocat ad salutem per Spiritum Sanctum; Primò, corum intellectum illuminat lumine fidei & collustrat. Secundò, voluntatem emollit & sanctificat. Similiter in opere glorificationis ordine naturae praecedit illuminatio intellectus nostri, per lumen gloriae, ad Dei essentiam clarè & perspicuè videndam; deinde sequitur voluntatis inflammatio & in●ensio per ardorem charitatis. Ratio hujus ordinis est, quia cognitio praecedit amorem, atque adeo clara cognitio seu visio praecedere debet ardentem & perfectum a●orem. Baron. Philos. Theol. ancil. exercit. 3. Art. 6.  hath a new judgement speculative and practical.  

1. Speculative, he apprehends and discerns those Reasons and Arguments against sin and for grace, more than ever he did, he is amazed to consider what darkness and folly he lived in before, 1 Cor. 2. 15.  
2. Practical, He applies the things he knows for his humiliation and exercise, he so knoweth truths that he loves them and delights in them, he knows them experimentally.   
Conversion of a man is a Divine teaching of him, Isa. 54. 13. jerem. 31. 44. john 6. 45.  
The Properties of this teaching:  

1. It is necessary, without this all other teaching is in vain; David often prays that God would teach him his statutes, open his eyes; the Ministers teach the ear, God the heart.  
2. Efficacious, job 36. 22.  
3. Clear and distinct, hence God's Word is called a Light, and it is called the riches of the assurance of understanding.  
4. Practical, it is an acknowledgement after godliness, Verba Scripturae non sunt verba legenda, sed vivenda, said Luther.  
5. Abundant under the Gospel, All shall know me from the greatest to the least. Knowledge shall cover the earth as the waters do the Sea.   
A great part of Conversion lieth in the renewing of the mind, Rom. 12. 2. Ephes. 1. 17, 18. Phil. 1. 4. 
There is a difference between common illumination which may carry men far, Heb. 6. and special illumination, Heb. 10. 32. To be rightly illuminated or spiritually minded, Rom. 8. 6. is 1. To mind the things of heaven rather than the things of earth, ● Cor. 15. 48. 1 John 2. 15. 2. To be more mindful of the good of the soul then of the body, Mat. 16. lat. end. 3. To regard the things of eternity beyond things of time, 2 Cor. 4. ult. 4. To judge of things as the Scripture judgeth them, what that commends we commend and judge worthy of commendation; what that condemns we condemn and judge it worthy of condemnation; we will then judge of things by the end. Such will mind spiritual Ordinances, so as to prepare for and profit by them; Spiritual gifts and graces so as to choose and use them; Spiritual privileges, so as to make sure of them, and glory in them; Spiritual persons, so as to pray for and sympathise with them.   
This renewing consists  

First, In Knowledge, and that 1. Doctrinally, of the truths to be believed, this is the very foundation, and that which is called historical faith, that is, a knowledge with an Assent to those truths which are recorded in Scripture; many may have this and more which yet are not converted; but yet where Conversion is, this must necessarily precede, 1 Cor. 2. 2. Whom God converts he enlightens, john 6. 45. 1 Cor. 8. 2. man's whole Conversion is called a teaching.  
2. Practically, partly of our own filthiness, john 3. it was necessary for Nicodemus to know his natural filthiness, partly of Christ, sin will overwhelm the soul without this, Rom. 7. 24, 25. Ephes. 1. 19, 20. one must know his own poverty and Christ's riches, his own guilt and his satisfaction.  
3. It makes the heart believe and assent to these truths, the understanding doth not only need converting grace to turn, but to assent and firmly to adhere to the truths revealed, to the promises manifested, for the heart doth not turn to God by knowing the promises, but by firm relying on them, and this is that which is called trusting so much in the Psalms.  
4. The judgement is induced to approve of God's Word, his precepts and promises a● the best. He accounts those things best and worst which the Word doth. The converted man esteems of God's favour and freedom from corruption more than all the glory and riches of the world.  
5. The mind is in part sanctified in regard of the thoughts, they were roving, distracted, impertinent and very frothy; now the mind is renewed about them, so that it hath more holy thoughts, more composed, more profitable and united in all duties and performances, more low thoughts of ourselves, and high thoughts of Christ.  
6. It looketh then only to God's Word, My sheep hear my voice; To the Law and the Testimony.  
7. Their mind is renewed in respect of consultations. Paul consulted not with flesh and blood, he subjects all to the glory of God and this Word.  
8. He invents holy purposes, means and ways to propagate God's glory.  
9 He discerns things that differ, Rom. 12. 7.    

CHAP. XV. Of the Sanctification of the Will.  
GOD'S great work in Conversion is in the Will, Isa. 1. 19 Revel. 22. 17. Ps. 
Voluntas est appetitus rationalis per quem homo sponte sua, & cum cognitione se movet ad bonum ass●quendum, sive illud sit verè bonum sive apparens. Molin Enodat. gravis. Quaest de Lib. Arbitrio. Ezek. 38. 26. Deut. 30. 6. It is willing to be convinced, Psal 141. 5. Prov. 15. 31. The offers of Christ & grace are mainly made to the will, Rev. 22. 17. The complaints also of rejecting grace are of it, ● would and you would not, Israel would none of me. Josh. 24. 22. Isa. 44. 5. Psal. 119. 30. Exod. 33. 5. Judg. 5. ●. Psal. 57 8.  110. 3. Ephes. 1. 19 when ever he converts the soul he subdues the Will, 1 Chron. 28. 9 Phil. 2. 13. Grace is a resignation of ourselves to the will of God, Rom. 6. 17. 2 Cor. 8. 10. Though the will of man be subdued in conversion, and made free, yet it is not perfectly made free, as a degree of blindness that remains in the Understanding, so a degree of bondage in the Will. The work of Conversion is never perfected till the will be gained, it begins in the mind, Ephes. 4. 23. but ends in the will, Deut. ●0. 6. All liberty must proceed from Liberum judicium, a judgement of the understanding not misled by sensitive objects. Aquinas.  
The Will is renewed in a godly man in these particulars:  

1. It is made flexible, so Paul when he was converted, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Psal. 40. 8. & 143. 10. This Will is broken which before was contumacious and stubborn, Isa. 11. 6.  
2. Tender, it was hardened before, this is implied in that, a fat heart, that hath no sense or feeling, either of God's displeasure or the fearful e●●a●e it is in; the man converted hath a heart of flesh, Ezek. 36. 26. which is opposed there to a stony heart that is, senseless and stupid.  
3. It is moved upon pure motives for the holiness of the precepts. David prizeth God's Word above thousands of Gold and Silver; for the spiritual profit of it, it would quicken and enlarge his heart, support him in afflictions.  
4. It is established and settled in a good way, the honest heart holds fast the Word of God, cleaves to the Lord with full purpose of heart.  
5. It is made efficacious and fervent in holy things, their services are freewill offerings, 1 Chron. 29. 14. Rom. 7. 18.  
6. In regard of its acts, 1. In its election and choice it is sanctified, preferring holy and eternal things before sin and temporal, Heb. 11. Moses chose the reproaches of Christ before the treasures of Egypt: Election is an act of the Will about the means, and answereth to consultation in the Understanding. 2. In its consent, it consents to God and Christ, Isa. 1. 19 2 Cor. 11. 2. Rom. 7. 16. 3. In regard of the power it hath over the other faculties, for it commands the other powers of the soul, as on the understanding, to make it think and reason about this or that, 2 Pet. 3. 5. it sets the understanding on searching the truth and finding it out, and the Will delights itself in good things.  
7. It is adorned with those habitual graces which are necessary for it.   

1. Fiducial recumbency and trusting in God, the Will renewed rol● itself upon Jesus Christ, and hath confidence and boldness.  
2. Love to God above all other things, therefore he saith, I will circumcise you, that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.  
3. A divine hope which keepeth up the soul in all difficulties, Lam. 3. 13.   
Obedience is the virtue of the will by which it is flexible to Gods will in all things, and for his sake. Here Coeca obedientia, blind absolute obedience is as necessary and commendable, as in Friars to their Superiors it is foolish and unreasonable▪ Vide Daven. Determ. Quaest 6.  
There is a twofold Obedience:  

1. Legal, so to keep God's ways as to do all which the ten Commandments require at all times, in all fullness, without any the least failing in matter or manner which was the bargain made with our first Parents Adam and Eve, and which by nature lies on us, Do this and live; such a keeping of the Law is utterly impossible, for Paul saith, That which the Law could not do in as much as it was weak through the flesh. The Law cannot bring us to heaven, because our flesh in breaking it disableth it from giving us the reward which is promised to absolute perfection, and by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified; if we could perform such an Obedience, we needed not any Mediator.  
2. Evangelical, a true striving to perform the former Obedience, it is an upright and hearty endeavour after the forenamed perfect Obedience. For the Gospel doth not abolish the Law from being the rule of our life, but alone from being the means of our Justification, and so from bringing the malediction of the Law upon us, but it establisheth the Law as a rule of good life, tying and enabling us to labour with uprightness and sincerity to perform all things written in the Law in all perfection. The Obedience of the Law excludes all defects, that of the Gospel all wilful defects and allowed sins.   
This Obedience is twofold:  

1. Counterseit, false and feigned, when the will in some things yields to Gods will, not because it is his will, but because his will doth not much cross the motions of theirs, this is the obedience of hypocrites.  
2. True and hearty, when for Gods own sake principally the will frames itself in all things to stoop unto him.   
Of this there are two degrees, one perfect when the will is wholly carried after Gods will without any gainsaying, with the full sway and whole swinge of it, this was only in Adam.  
2. Imperfect, when the will opposeth itself to its own disobedient inclinations, and doth consent to obey, and is displeased with its own disobedience.  
We must all set ourselves to yield true obedience to God, How often and earnestly 
Joh. 14. 15, 20, 21, 23, 31. 1 Joh. 2. 5. & 5. 3. There is a threefold obedience, 1. Voti, of a man's desires, but comes short in his actions. 2. Of conformity▪ when in some measure my actions answer. 3. Of resignation, when one's will is given up to God, and that with delight.  doth Moses inculcate this, Deut. 4. 1. & 5. 1. If ye love me, keep my Commandments, saith Christ. Peter saith, We must yield ourselves to God as those that are risen from the dead, meaning quickened in soul by virtue of Christ's Resurrection, 1 King. 2. 3, 4.  
Reasons. First, From God.  
1. In regard of his right to rule, he is the author of our being and continuance, he hath also redeemed us, wherefore it is pressed on the people of Israel, that they ought to obey God above all people, because he redeemed them out of the hand of Pharaoh.  
Secondly, His fitness to rule:  

1. He is most wise and just to make good, righteous and equal Laws.  
2. Most careful to observe the carriage of men.  
3. Most bountiful to reward obedience.  
4. Most severe to punish disobedience.   
Thirdly, He hath done us already so much good, and laden us with so many benefits that we are engaged.  
Fourthly, To this add the excellency of his holy Nature for wisdom and goodness.  
Secondly, From ourselves: Who are  

1. Subject to him, as being his Children, Servants, Subjects.  
2. Foolish and weak in ourselves, subject to many enemies, dangers.   
Thirdly, From the Commandments which we must obey:  

1. They are most just, as holding perfect agreement with right reason and equity, teaching us to give God and man his own.  
2. They are fitted to our good as well as to God's glory, confusion would follow if every one might hate and kill whom he would.  
3. Obedience is most necessary, acceptable, profitable and possible, praying, 
Psal. 40. 8. Rom. 12. 2. Ephes. 5. 17.  hearing, knowledge of God, faith.   
The rule of it must be the Word of God, the extent, the whole Law in every point, Deut. 28. 58. Levit. 19 ult. Psal. 119. 6. Act. 13. 22. Col. 4. 12. the whole will of God, the form of it is conformity to the Word and will of God. The end, principal, that we may honour and please God, Mat. 5. 16. As you have received of us how you ought to walk and please God, saith Paul.  
The Properties of it:  

1. Generality or Universality, it must be entire, Luk. 1. 6.  
2. Constancy, I will incline my heart to thy testimonies always to the end.  
3. Sincerity, it must be grounded on God's authority and aim at his glory.   
Motives to Obedience:  
Consider, 1. The Majesty and Excellency of him whose servants you are, He is the King of Kings. Constantinus, Valentinianus, Theodosius three Emperors, called themselves Vasallos Christi. Moses My servant, Peter, Paul a servant of Christ.  
2. The honourableness of the work, His service is perfect freedom.  
3. The great privileges and reward of this service.  
II. Means:  

1. Take notice of and be abased in the sense of our own disobedience.  
2. Pray to God to give his Spirit to incline our hearts to his testimonies.  
3. Consider the necessity, fruit, excellency and equity of Obedience.    

CHAP. XVI. Of the Sanctification of the Conscience.  
COnscience is taken 1. More strictly and properly when it is joined with other 
Conscience is the faculty or power of the practical understanding in man, whereby he is privy to all his actions, whether they be immanent and conceived within, as thoughts, or emanant and issuing ●orth, as his words and works. M. Down Subject. to higher powers. Conscientia est cordis scientia. Bern. Scientia cum alio. Aquinas. Cum ●lia s●it ammus scientia dicitur, cum seipsum conscientia  faculties of the soul, as Titus 1. 15. 1 Tim. 1. 5. In the first it is differenced from the mind, in the later from the will.  
2. More largely, when 'tis put alone, and so it stands for the whole heart, soul and spirit, working inwardly upon itself by way of reflex. So Acts 24. 16.  
It is a distinct faculty, the Apostle seemeth to make it so, when he saith of unbelievers, That their minds and their consciences are defiled, and because it hath the name of the whole heart given unto it, 1 Sam. 24. 5. 1 john 3. 10. and because in the working of it, it hath a certain general and universal command over all the other faculties. It's proper work is to dispose a man aright to God's word, and to set a work all the rest of his powers for that purpose.  
Conscience is an ability in a man to judge of his estate and actions according to a rule prescribed by God; it is no further therefore Liberty of Conscience (but licentiousness) than it is regulated by the Word, for the Conscience is Regula regulata.  
Est liber animae ad quem emendandum scripti sunt omnes libri. Bern. What Conscience is it is hard to find, as in men's dealings the use of it, some making it a distinct faculty from the understanding, some an habit, some an act; it is the understanding reflecting upon its self in its acts in regard of the goodness or badness of them. Or, the judgement that a man gives of himself in reference to the judgement of God. There is a kind of syllogism, He that believes in Christ shall be saved: But I believe in Christ. He that loves the Brethren is passed from death to life: But I love the Brethren.  
Converting Grace reneweth a man's conscience: 
Jer. 8. 12. Ephes 4. 19   

1. Whereas it is naturally cauterised, 1 Tim. 4. 2. it puts feeling and apprehension into us, this is the first work of Grace converting upon the soul when it begins to be tender, Act. 24. 16. and is not able to endure those heavy burdens of sin, which before; though mountains, it never felt, is also now active that was silent, Dan. 9 8. Ezra 9 6.  
2. Whereas naturally it is self-flattering, it will accuse when it ought, naturally 
Conscience is the greatest comforter or terror, 2 Cor. 1. 12. Rom. 8. 1. if we suffer it to be our councillor and commander, it will be our comforter. A good conscience is 1. An enlightened conscience Prov. 19 2. 1. An awakened conscience, 2 Tim. 2. ult. I sleep but my heart wakes. 3. A working active conscience, Act. 24. 16.  it stirreth in a false way, promising heaven and salvation when there is no such matter, Deut. 29. 19 David's heart soon smote him, and Psal. 51. he acknowledged his sin and bewailed it; and again, I and my house have sinned. Conscience speaketh the truth, Thus often thou hast profaned the Sabbath, abused thyself, and that in all the aggravations, this makes the godly lie so low in their humiliation.  
3. The erroneousness of it is taken away, the mischief of an erroneous conscience is seen in Popery and other heresies, how they make conscience of worshipping that which is an Idol, if they should eat meat on a fasting-day, not odour the Sacrament, how much would their hearts be wounded; this erroneous conscience brought in all the superstition in the world, but the godly obtain a sound judgement, conscience is to be a guide.  
4. The partial working of it about some works but not others, is taken away, as Herod. Psal. 50. those that abhorred Idols did yet commit sacrilege; they neglect the duties of one of the tables, as the civil man's conscience is very defective, he will not be drunk, unjust, yet regards not his duty to God, is ignorant, seldom prayeth in his Family, the hypocritical Jews and Pharisees would have Sacrifice but not Mercy.   
Secondly, Inward motions and thoughts of sin as well as outward acts, his conscience now deeply smites and humbleth him for those things which only God knoweth, and which no civil or worldly man ever taketh notice of: So Paul Rom. 7. How tender is Paul's conscience! Every motion of sin is a greater trouble and burden to him, than any gross sin to the worldling. Hezekiah humbleth himself for his pride of heart. Matth. 5. the Word condemneth all those inward lusts and sins which are in the fountain of the heart, though they never empty themselves into the actions of men, the conscience of a godly man condemneth as far as the Word, it is not thus with the natural man's conscience, nor with the refined Moralist, he condemneth not himself in secret, he takes not notice of such proud earthly motions, they are not a pressure to him.  
Thirdly, In doing of duties to take notice of all the imperfections and defects of them, as well as the total omission of them, his unbelief, laziness, rovings in the duty. I believe, Lord, help my unbelief: All our righteousness is a menstruous rag. A godly man riseth from his duties bewailing himself.  
Fourthly, To witness the good things of God in us as well as the evil that is of ourselves, it is broken and humbled for sin, yet this very mourning is from God.  
Fifthly, About sins of omission as well as commission, whereas the wicked if they be drunk, steal, have no rest in their consciences, but if they omit Christian duties they are not troubled, Mat. 25. 36.  
Sixthly, In the extremity of it, being rectified from one extreme, falls into another, from the neglect of the Sacrament they fall to adoring of it; this is rectified by grace, it will so incline him to repent as that he shall be disposed to believe, so to be humble as that he shall be courageous.  
Seventhly, Converting grace also removes,  

1. The slavishness and security of conscience, and puts in us a spirit of Adoption, Rom. 8. All the men in the world could not persuade Cain but that his sins were greater than could be pardoned.  
2. That natural proneness to find something in ourselves for comfort, men think if they be not their own saviours they cannot be saved at all, Phil. 3. I desire to know nothing but Christ and him crucified, and count all things dung for his righteousness.  
3. The unsubduednesse and contumacy in it to the Scripture. Conscience is wonderfully repugnant to the precepts and holiness of God's Law, in the troubles of it contradicts the Scripture way of Justification.    

CHAP. XVII. Sanctification of the Memory.  
MEmory is a faculty of the mind whereby it preserves the species of what 
See Hackwels Apol l. 3. c. 6. Sect. 1. p. 211, 212.  it once knew, 1 Chron. 16. 15.  
Memory is the great keeper or master of the rolls of the soul, ●rari●m animae, the souls Exchequer.  
Sense and understanding is of things present, hope of things to come, Memoria rerum praeteritarum, memory of things past.  
It is one part of the sanctity of the memory, when it can steadfastly retain and seasonably recall the works of the living God.  
A sanctified memory consists in three things:  

First, In laying up good things concerning God, Christ, God's word, his Works, experiments. Marry laid up these things in her heart.  
Secondly, For a good end, sin to be sorry and ashamed of it, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee; Remember the Sabbath to sanctify it.  
Thirdly, In seasonably recalling them, thy personal sins on a day of humiliation, 
Lam. 3. 19, 20. John 14. 26. There is a double act of a good memory, saith the Philosopher, 1. Ut fideliter conservet. 2. Ut promptè reddat.  God's mercies on a day of thanksgiving, good instructions where there is occasion to practise them.   
A sanctified memory is a practical memory, as the Lord says, Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Psal. 109. 16. A Countrywoman after the hearing of a Sermon, met as she was going home, with the Minister, he asked her, where she had been, she told him at a good Sermon, he asked her the Ministers name and Text: she answered, she knew not him nor remembered the Text, her memory was so bad, but she would go home and mend her life. Another complained that for the expressions, and other things delivered in a Sermon he could remember but little, but he had learned by it to hate sin, and love Christ more.   

CHAP. XVIII. Sanctification of the Affections.  
THe affections were called by Tully perturbations, by some Affectiones, or 
August. de civ. Dei, l 9 c. 4. Vide Crakan. Log. p. 163. Non Ciceroni assentio, qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perturbationes vertit. Nam perturbatio nomine ipso declarari vitiosa videtur: ut ipse fatetur, lib. 3. de Fin. Requiritur vox, quae locum etiam habeat, quaudo metus consistunt intra modum. Quare place● affectuum nomen, quo usus Ovid, Livius, Valerius, Seneca, Plinius, alii: five affectiones, quod est apud Cic. 1. de Invent. l. 1. Gell. l. 1. c. ult. Quanquam nec improbem commotiones animorum, vel simpliciter permotiones. Vos. Rhet. l. 2. c. 1. Affections are the motions of the will, as carried out to the prosecution of good or avoiding of evil: they are as the Philosopher speaks, Exitus animae, the out-going of the Soul, like Wheels to the Cart, sinews to the Body, Wings to the Bird, Wind to the Sails spread.  affectus, by others passions.  
The affections are different from the virtues which are called by their names. They are certain powers of the soul by which it worketh and moveth itself with the body to good and from evil.  
Or, They are powers of the soul subordinate to the will, by which they are carried to pursue and follow after that which is good, and to shun and avoid that which is evil.  
They are the forcible and sensible motions of the will according as an object is 
Mr. Fenner on Col. 3. 2. Ser. 1.  presented to them to be good or evil.  

1. Motions Rom. 7. 5. Anger, Love, Joy are the putting forth of the will this or that way. The Scripture calls them the feet of the soul, Psal. 119. 59, 101. Eccles. 5. 1.  
2. Motions of the will. Some Philosopher's place them in the sensitive soul, but Angels and the souls of men separate from the body, have these affections, 1 Pet. 1. 12. jam. 2. 19  
3. Sensible, 1. Because they have their operation chiefly on the sensitive part of man, manifest themselves there, and forcible, because they move with force, 1 Chron. 29. 3.  
4. According to the object propounded: Affections are but the shaping or forming of the will in several motions according to the object presented.   
Their use is to shun evil and pursue good. The manner of doing is by certain stir, motions, workings of the blood and spirit about the heart.  
They are commonly called passions, jam. 5. 17. because they imprint some passion on the body by working. In the infancy they are affections, in the youth and age passions, when they overrule reason perturbations.  
Passions abstractively considered, are neither good nor bad morally, but as 
The Epicures allow of immoderate passions, and would have a man wholly swayed by his affections. The Stoics utterly extinguish all passions. Gratia non tollit, sed attollit naturam, hos affectus Stoici amputandos, peripatetici temperandos putant, Lactant. Diu. Instit. Epit.  they are determined to this or that object, as they are in man the subject who is wholly flesh and dead in sin, his affections and passions are defiled with sin, as well as the understanding and the will. The Papists, though they say, the superior faculties of the soul like the upper region are altogether clear and undefiled, yet the inferior faculty, viz. the sensitive appetite in which are lodged the affections (they say) is vitiated with sin.  
Their sinfulness appears:  

1. In that they are not carried to the right object, the object of love was God and 
There are three kinds of faults found in the passions of men's minds 1. That▪ they arise before reason be consulted, or give direction. 2. That they proceed further than they should, and stay not when they are required. 3. That they transport reason and judgement itself. Christ had these passions, but in a sort free from all these evils. For neither did they rise in him before reason gave direction, J●hn 11. 33. neither did they proceed any further, if once reason and judgement commanded a stay and retreat, whence they are called Propassions rather than passions, because they are beginnings of passions to be stayed at full and perfect leisure, and therefore much less had they any power to transport judgement and reason itself. Dr Field of the Church, l. 5. c. 18.  his Law, of hatred sin, now these passions are clean contrary.  
2. If to the right object, then inordinately: they cannot joy but overjoy, love but overlove, Ephes. 4. 26.  
3. There is a contrariety in them, this is implied in that Phil. 4. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Be careful for nothing; the word implies a tearing and torturing of the heart.  
4. In their distraction; this differeth from contrariety, that is, when one passion sets against another, this when one passion is too inordinately set upon his object, than the other cannot do his proper office, because the heart is finite, the Apostle would have us hear and pray without wrath, since the heart hereby is so distracted that it cannot attend.  
5. The importunity of passion, Ahab fell sick because of Naboths vineyard, Quicquid volunt valde volunt.  
6. Their tyranny over the will and understanding, jam. 1. 14.  
7. Their incertainty and inconstancy, as Ammon loathed Tamar after he had his desire more than he liked her before.   
To be above passions will be our happiness in heaven, rightly to order them should be our great care here.  

First, The Scripture bids us not cast off but rectify our affections, Colos. 3. 1. 1 john 2. 15.  
Secondly, They are natural faculties planted in the soul by God himself, and so in themselves good, Christ which was free from all sin was not without affections. He was angry, did grieve, rejoice. Now we must not dare to abuse any power which he did sanctify.  
Thirdly, Affections rightly ordered much further and help our course in godliness. If we joy not in prayer, delight not in obedience, the work is tedious; but good affections make the work delightsom, they are spurs in our sides, which whosoever wanteth goes on but in a dull and slow pace.  
Fourthly, Manifold are the evils which come from disordered passions.   


1. They blind the judgement. Perit omne judicium cum res transit ad affectum, 
jure pruientissimus Deus animis nostris indidit affectus, ut sint quasi adminicula ad praeclaras actiones. Quod enim ventus navigio, ●d nobis affectus: in quorum temperic animi nostri tranquillitas, imò vitae hujus soelicitas consistit. Ves. Instit. orat. l. 2. cap. 1. Sect. 2. Tres affectus, vel ut ita dicam tres furiae sunt, quae in animis hominum tantas perturbationes ciunt & interdum cogunt ita delinquere, ut nec famae nec periculi sui respectum habere permittant; Ira quae vindictam cupit. Avaritia quae desiderat op●s, Libido quae appetit voluptates. Lact. Divin. Inslit. Epit. lib. & de vero cultu, l. 6.   Impedit ira animum ne possit cernere verum. 
If the Spectacles be of green or red glass, all things through them seem to be of the same colour.   
2. They seduce the will, for the will sometimes is guided by reason, it is often also carried away by passion.  
3. They fill the heart with inward unquietness; they interrupt prayers, 1 Pet. 5. 7. and hinder the working of the Word, 1 Pet. 2. 1. They disturb reason and hinder a man in Meditation, whereby his heart is quieted. When fear, anger, jealousy begin to stir, then is judgement disturbed and hindered. Again, these passions fight one with another, fear with anger, and anger with fear, joy with sadness and sadness with joy, one passion carries a man one way and another another way. Passion can never be satisfied.  
4. They often (when they are excessive) hurt the body, some by immoderate joy have ended their days, because the spirits sly out too suddenly to the object, and so leave the heart destitute of them; more by grief and fear, because the blood and spirits so hastily sly to the heart that they choke it; anger hath stopped many a man's breath, envy is the rottenness of the bones.   
The regenerate man is renewed in all his passions, as we may see in David's love, 
Gal 6. 14. Vide Dudleii Fenneri Sac. Theolog. l. 2. c. 2.  Psal. 119. 9 in his hatred, Psal. 130. 22. in his desire, Psal. 35. 9 in his fear, Psal. 119. 120. in his delight, Psal. 119. 6. & Psal. 16. 2. in his sorrow, Psal. 119. 138.  
Some make zeal to be sanctified anger. There are in repentance, melting affections, sorrow for sin, Zech. 12. 10, 11, 12. shame before God, Ezra 9 6. Lam. 3. 29. 3. sear of offending him, Prov. 28. 14.  
Marks of sanctified affections,  

1. They must be universal, carried to all good and against all evil. Some love 
The affections are specificated per actus & objecta, say the Schoolmen. Two things perfect every faculty and grace, when they take in the whole object and exercise perfect acts upon it, Jam. 1. 4. Spiritual and eternal objects are of great compass. 2. When they act freely and fully on these objects, answerable to the nature of them, love God with all the heart, soul, strength, it notes not only all the faculties, but the intention of them, Psal. 119. 20. The affections are, 1. Disengaged from lusts and creatures to which they were wholly enthralled. 2. Set upon God and the things that are above, Lphes. 2. 6. Col. 3. 3. 3. Grace composeth the affections that could never agree one with another, before conversion, hope and fear, joy and grief, humility and resolution were repugnant one to another, but after conversion when the soul is most full of hope of heaven, one is most afraid to displease God, spiritual joy and grief sweetly agree, Psal. 2. 11. Moderation and zeal, Numb 12. 3. yet Moses was all on fi●e when God was dishonoured, humility and resolution also accord, none more humble, nor yet more resolute than Paul after his conversion. 4. The desires are satisfied, yet exceedingly enlarged.  to hear the Word, some to read, some to pray, but they are not as careful to subdue passion, they will be angry, pettish, discontented, they will give way to doubting. The affections are regular when they are set on their right objects, enlarged when they take in the whole object. He that loves God, loves whole God, loves him not only as gracious, merciful, but as just, holy, faithful; he that hates sin, hates all the evil of it, Ephes. 3. 18.  
2. They are subjected to grace in the rise, measure and continuance of them, they must rise and fall, ebb and slow at the command of faith, according to the nature of the thing presented. Faith will make us affect things according as the Lord doth, in cases which concern his glory affections must be raised up to the highest pitch. Adam's passions were subject to reason, 1. In their rise, they were commanded by him. 2. In their measure. 3. In their continuance.  
3. Sanctified affections do constantly and most immediately discover themselves in Meditations, projects, inward desires and endeavours of the soul, if thy thoughts of sin be pleasant, thou hatest it not.  
4. The true metal of Sanctification is sincerity, and the edge of it zeal in every 
Iehu's zeal, and ahab's mourning had not a holy motive. Almost all the signs of a good man in Scripture are taken from the affections, they love the Lord, hate evil, desire that which is good, hunger and thirst after righteousness. Christ takes content in the affections of his people, Simon Peter, lovest thou me? See how she loves me, much was forgiven Mary Magdalen, because she loved much.  faculty.   
Motives to get the affections sanctified:  

1. All Christians are really as their affections are, and God judgeth of them by their affections. A man that is carnal in his affections, is judged a carnal man, and one who hath his affection set on heavenly things is judged a spiritual man, I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine; he doth not say, I am Christ's and Christ is mine.  
2. Without sanctified affections one is no Christian at all, Deut. 5. 29.  
3. Most of the Gospel promises are made to the affections, Mat. 4. 6. and so to love, fear, delight and confidence in God.  
4. Holy and enlarged affections from God are one of the greatest means to keep one from backsliding: Ephesus did bear with the bad, and had lost her first love.   
The right Means to sanctify the affections:  

1. Sanctified affections are not to be found in any unregenerate man, Deut. 5. 29. pray therefore much for a new nature.  
2, Conversing much with Christ and pondering of him will keep thy affections right.  
3. Let not out thy affections much on any thing in the world, Col. 3. 3.  
4. Affections are not only ordered but much quickened by knowledge, john 4. 10. Psal. 9 9 Ignoti nulla cupido. 
Psal. 86. 11. See Jer. 32. 39▪   
5. Pray constantly to God, say, Lord unite my heart to thee that I may fear thy name, love thee.    

CHAP. XIX. Of the Particular Affections.  
SOme affections are cheering and comforting, as Love, Joy, Hope; some disquieting, 
Affectus, u● optimè Thomas Aquinas disserit, vel locum habent in facultate concupiscibili, vel irasctbili. In concupiscibili sedem obtinent sex affectus; nam si offerat se res bona, oritur ejus amor: ac si absens sit, desiderium cjus existit: ubi verò iliud consecuti sumus; gaudium exsurgit, seu delectatio. It idem si quid se obtulerit sub specie mali, ejus nascitur odium, quod amori opponitur: si malum absit, fuga seu aversatio ejus erit, quae repugnat desiderio: sin malum praes●ns erit, exoritur dolour since tristitia, quae gaudio adversatur. At affectus, qui in irascibili sedem habeant, quinque numero sunt: duo ratione boni, tres ratione mali. Nam bonum arduum (quod irascibilis facultas respicit) vel ejusmodi est, ut aliquis se credat illud consequi posse; atque exoritur spes: vel tale est, ut credat aliquis, se id non valere adipisci, ac nascitur desperatio. Ratione verò boni ardui praesentis, nulius in irascibili est motus, quia, quod quis jam obtinet ardui habere rationem defiit. Ratione autem mali ardui, tres exsurgunt affectus: quia autem malum arduum est absens, aut praesens. Si absens, vel refugimus, & est metas sive formido: vel obviam ei imus, & est audacia. Sin praesens sit, fuerit ira, qua exardescimus ad malum depellendum. Voss. Institut. orat. l. 2 c. 1, Sect. 3.  afflicting, as Anger, Sorrow, Fear, Despair: to afflict the soul at a Fast is to awaken some or all of these afflicting passions, the soul is only afflicted by itself; in heaven all afflicting affections cease in their acting, in hell they are all exercised.  
According to their subject they are divided into those of the concupiscible and 
Vide Aquin. 1a 2ae Quaest 23. Art. 1, 2. Objecta passionum appetitus concupiscibilis sunt bonum & malum absolutè, objecta autem passionum appetitus irascibilis sunt bonum & malum cum quadam elevatione & arduitate. Aquin. 1a, 2ae, Quaest 46. Artic. 3.  irascible appetite.  
Concupiscible, whereby the soul is carried to that which is good.  
When the object is good, the desiring faculty draws the heart toward it: if it be present good it is joy, if the present good be near at hand it is called love, if easy to be obtained desire, if difficult hope, if impossible despair.  
Irascible or shunning faculty from evil, if the evil be present it is grief, if it make an attempt on the heart, if it be vincible it is courage, if invincible horror.  
Man's affections are linked together in their working. Love is the chiefest, next is desire of attaining the thing loved, after comes joy if one have it, grief if he have it not, anger against those that cross us of it, kindness toward those which further us in it, fear to lose it, and courage to keep it, shame if he have it not, boldness if he have it.  
The chief of the Affections are of two sorts:  

1. Some simple, which are exercised upon Good or Evil itself, viz. 

I. On Good, considered 

1. Simply in itself, Love, a motion of being united to it, of complacency and liking.  
2. Respectively to its 

1. Presence, Joy a motion of enjoying it, an enlargement of the heart to receive good.  
2. Absence, both in regard of 

1. The good itself, Desire, a stirring of the heart to use means to get it.  
2. The likelihood of attaining or not attaining it, which are 

1. Hope, a moving and lifting up of the mind toward it.  
2. Despair, a falling from the future good.          
II. On Evil, considered 

1. Simply, Hatred a motion of separating from that which is counted evil, as when we see a Toad.  
2. Respectively, to its 

1. Presence, Sadness, a pulling together of the heart in the sense of a present evil.  
2. Absence, considered 
The simple affections are 

1. Love, Hatred.  
2. Joy, Sorrow.  
3. Desire, Flight.  
4. Hope, Despair.  
5. Fear, Courage.    

1. In itself, Flight, Detestation if it come, a motion of flying from it.  
2. In its likelihood of being shunned or suffered. 

1. If we conceive it avoidable, Courage, a motion of rising against it, and making resistance.  
2. As it is likely not to be escaped but suffered, fear, a kind of perplexedness or shrinking from it.            
2. Some compound, being the divers workings of two or more of these together, and they respect other things for good or evil, viz. 

1. The possessors thereof, whether 

1 Ourselves, 

1. Shame for evil or turpitude, in regard of evil working by motions of Fear, Hatred, Grief.  
2. Boldness for good we have done or got in regard of the good esteem of it, motions of the contrary affections.    
II. Others, 

1. For Good we think we see in them, reverence differing from simple fear, looking to a thing conceived as excellent, a joint working of Fear, Love, Desire, Joy.  
2. For Evil, contempt, a motion of vilifying and abasing, disdaining one by joint working of contrary passions to those forenamed.      
2. The furtherances or hindrances thereof, viz. 

I. The things which further Good hinder Evil, viz. 

1. Kindness, well-pleasedness, a melting of the heart toward the thing or person which hath done us good, or kept us from evil by the joint motions of Love, Desire, Joy.  
2. Confidence, staying of the heart upon any thing or person for good, or deliverance from evil, by a mixed work of Love, Courage, and Desire supporting Hope.    
II. The things which further Evil and hinder Good from us, viz. 

1. Anger, a motion of punishing or hurting that thing so to remove it, or put it away in Hatred, Grief, Desire.  
2. Diffidence, a shaking and wavering of the soul from any thing which should but cannot help him to Good or against Evil, and is mixed of Fear, Abomination and Hatred, overthrowing Hope and pulling away the heart from them.         
All these affections which respect good, and the furtherances to it, and possessors of it, should be exercised on God, and one also which doth look to evil, because God considered as angry, is the creatures greatest evil of misery.  
I shall handle them thus, among the simple Affections I shall rank three pairs under the concupiscible Appetite:  

1. Love and Hatred.  
2. Desire and Flight.  
3. Joy and Sorrow.    

CHAP. XX. I. Of the Simple Affections.  

Pretium hominis amor.  THe two first and fundamental Passions of all the rest are Love and Hatred. 
Nerembergius A man is worth no more than his love.   
1. Love, This is the master Be which carries all the swarm with it, a cardinal affection, john 11. 35, 36.  
It is the opening or letting out of the heart after some Good proportionable to itself.  
Or, It is an affection by which the soul settleth itself in the liking of what is esteemed good, as it is good. The Schoolmen say, It is not only vinculum ligans, but pondus inclinans, quod pondus in corporibus id amor in spiritibus. Amor meus pondus meum. Aug. in confess. It should be an equal weight, greatest to the greatest 
Si terram amas terra es, si Deum amas quid●i dicerem Deus es. Aug.  good; our love to all other things should be subordinate to that. Fecerunt itaque civitates duas amores duo, terrenam scilicet amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei, coelestem vero amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui. Augustin. de civitate Dei, lib. 14. cap. 28.  
The Image of God in this affection was the placing of it on its proper object for 
To love God is to become godly, and to have the mind after a sort deified, 2 Pet. 1. 4. To love the world is to become a worldling. The Schools mention three kinds of love, which indeed are rather three effects of love, 1. Love of benevolence, whereby one wisheth, and so far as he can procureth the welfare of the thing loved. 2. Love of concupiscence by which it is carried with a longing to be united to the thing loved, or to enjoy it. 3. Love of complacency by which the soul is satisfied, contented and made to rest in the thing loved when it doth enjoy it. So when our hearts so cleave to God as the chief Good, that we wish all Glory, Honour, Felicity to him, and long to enjoy him, and be satisfied so far as we have power or hope of enjoying him.  Measure, Weight, Intention, Order, Degree.  
God is the great and proper object of it, from the knowledge of his excellencies, and the sense of his ravishing goodness. Adam's heart was wholly carried to him as his chief good.  

1. The love of concupiscence or desire made out to the possession of God.  
2. The love of complacency took wonderful pleasure in him.  
3. The love of friendship was willing to do what God would have him.  
4. The love of dependence expected good from no other.   
The soul did this, 1. Freely without violence. 2. Superlatively.  
The second object of man's love in his pure condition was himself, all his love to himself was to take delight in that in himself which was most lovely, God's Image in himself.  
Thirdly, All the rest of the creatures save the Devil, as any creatures did set out God's glory, or was a means to bring him to the fruition of the chief good, all creatures were loved in a sweet order and subordination to God.  
2. The Image of the Devil in our love.  
First, This love of God is wholly rooted out of the heart, naturally men are haters of God.  

1. We have no desire to enjoy him, we like not to walk in the ways that may bring us near God.  
2. For complacency, we would not have God to be such a one as he is.  
3. For friendship, a natural man abhors to do what should please God.  
4. For dependence, though we are upheld by him, yet we will rather trust to any thing then God.   
Secondly, We are fallen from that love God would have us bear to ourselves for our being like him.  
Thirdly, We hate the creatures as they are like God, the Saints, God's Ordinances. Our depraved love is beastly or devilish, it is bestowed on things which we and the beasts love alike, sensual delights or spiritual wickednesses.  
The work of God's grace in sanctifying this affection, consists 
Two things draw out our affections towards good things, 1. The good that comes by them. 2. The good that is in them, a wicked man may love good things for the good that comes by them, a godly man for the good that is in them. Two things draw out our affections against evil things, 1. The evil that comes by them, so a wicked man may be affected with the evil that comes by them, Exod. 10. 17. Act. 8. 24. a godly man is affected with the evil that is in them, he loves God and hates sin for itself, Host 14. 1, 2. 2 Sam. 24. 25. Luk. 15. 18. Zech. 12. 10. Jer. 31. 19   
1. In turning the bent of the affection toward those things which God at first made its proper object.  
2. In guiding and directing it proportionably to every object, to God, the creatures, and self, in due measure, method, order and degree.  
It carries the affection of love to God in the first place,  

1. In a love of Union.  
2. In a love of Complacency.  
3. In a love of Friendship.  
4. In a love of Dependence.   
Secondly, It carries it next to God to love ourselves, and to love that in ourselves which God would have us love, the regenerate part.  
Thirdly, The creature, those to which we have any relation, so much as is of God in them.  
How to know whether our love be sanctified so as to be carried unto God as it ought. 
The love we owe to God is settling our hearts in the liking of him as the chief, and in a manner the only good, Deut. 6. 5. Matth. 22. 37. the main intent of that precept is to show what love is appropriated to God, we must not love any person or thing with all our hearts, this is proper only to God. There are two things in the precept, 1. The extension of parts, the heart, soul, mind, strength. 2. The intention of degrees, our understanding must think of God, our will cleave to him, our love, fear, confidence, delight must be carried out to him without division or derivation to other things. We must love God in his creatures, Christ in his members, love other things in subordination to him, Luk. 14. 26. Dupliciter contingit ex toto corde Deum diligere. Uno quidem modo in actu, id est, ut totum cor hominis semper actualiter in Deum feratur: Et ista est perfectio patriae. Alio modo, ut habitualiter totum cor hominis in Deum feratur: ita scilicet quod nihil contra Dei dilectionem c●r hominis recipiat: Et haec est perfectio viae. Aquin. 2a, 2ae Quaest 44. Art. 4. Praecipitur nobis, ut tota nostra intentio feratur in Deum, quod est ex toto cord: Et quod intellectus noster subdatur Deo, quod est ex tota ment: Et quod appetitus noster reguletur secundum Deum, quod est ex tota anima: Et quod exterior actus noster obediat Deo, quod est totis viribus Deum diligere. Aquinas ibid. Art. 5.   
All men will profess they love God. It is the first and great Commandment to love God above all, the first in order of time and eminency of nature, it comprehends in it all the other Commandments, Rom. 13. 10.  
Marks of this love:  
1. When we love him with all the heart, soul and strength, a superlative love, such a love that in comparison of it all other love is hatred, when a thing is less loved it is said to be hated in Scripture, jacob hated Leah. We love not God perfectly, We know and believe but i● part. A true child of God loves him with a fervent and unfeigned love, though perhaps he find not this in time of temptation.  
2. Then the soul loves him with all those kinds of love he is capable of,  
First, With a love of Union, Phil. 3. 8. in other objects called the love of desire or concupiscence.  
Four things are to be found in such a one:  

1. His soul is carried with earnest desire after all the means that would bring God and him nearer, and he declines all those things that would separate between God and him, the ways of sin.  
2. He is troubled for ●●●● of him.  
3. The soul longs after the full fruition of him in Heaven, Heb. 9 lat. end.  
4. A love of union and desire of nearest conjunction with the people of God, 1 john 3. 14.   
Secondly, With a love of complacency and delight. We may know whether we make God our chief delight and love him with a love of content and sweetness.  

1. If we desire to be presently possessed of him, his presence is life, and his absence death.  
2. Next to God himself we will take delight in those things which are Love-tokens 
The Schoolmen say, we first love God with a love of concupiscence, after with a love of complacence. Comparing our affection to God with our affection to other matters is the best way to show the temper of our love, 2 Tim. 1. 4. Luke 12. 21. 2. This love is not to be measured so much by the lively acts of love, as by the solid esteem. 3. It is not altogether to be judged by our time and care, bodily necessities are more pressing. God hath given us six days for our worldly employments, and reserved but one day for himself.  from him, Cant. 1. 2. and those thing: that are most like him, nearest to him, his Saints, Psal. 16. 3.  
3. The tongue will delight to be talking of him, and telling of all his wondrous works.   
Thirdly, With a love of friendship. The whole Covenant of Grace betwixt God and us, is but a league of friendship. All that God doth for us from his Election to Glorification are fruits of his love, and what we do to God after we know him is from the law of love.  
Six things will discover whether we love the Lord with a love of friendship:  

1. Friends take great delight in being together, they have two souls as it were in one body, there is none then so constantly in thy tongue and thoughts as God.  
2. This love will make thee suffer and endure great matters for friendship▪ sake, 2 Cor. 5. 14.  
3. The love of friendship is a most bountiful affection. David called all to contribute toward the Temple, and himself gave three hundred cartload of silver, and yet said he did it of his poverty.  
4. This makes a man sympathise with his friend in his condition. Moses was much provoked when God was dishonoured, Rivers of tears run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy Law.  
5. This is the fountain of all Obedience to God, one will then be careful to please God, and fearful to offend him, If you love me keep my Commandments.  
6. It can be satisfied with no recompense but love for love, Cant. 1. Thy love is better than wine. Psal 63. 3. Thy loving kindness is better than life.   
Fourthly, With a love of dependency. Every creature capable of an affection of love is carried to that from whom it receives its good; so is the heart carried with delight to God from whom it expects all good, this is the sweetness of faith. We shall know this love by these signs,  

1. All other creatures are not able to give any subsistence or satisfaction to us. In our fall we lost God and closed with the creature, and we never think of returning to God till he have taught us the vanity of all other things, there must be satisfaction in the judgement, that there is in the Lord Christ what ever will serve my turn, and fully content all my faculties.  
2. The heart hath sweetness, joy and comfort in its portion, God is All-sufficient.  
3. It is taken off from depending on any thing else.   
Next to God (though he be to be loved transcendently, supereminently) there is a holy self-love. No man ever hated his own flesh; our love to ourselves is the rule and measure of our love to our neighbour, I must love him as myself. Inordinate self-love is a great part of our original corruption; Men shall be lovers of themselves; If any one will be my Disciple, he must hate and reject himself. All the arguments God useth to win men to love and fear God and walk with him, are drawn from love of ourselves, that it may be well with thee.  
How to know whether the love wherewith I love myself be a sanctified self-love.  

1. Who ever loves himself aright, it is the regenerate self which he accounts himself. Adam while he stood had but one self, so all unregenerate men. In one renewed by grace there is a double self, flesh and Spirit, the corrupt self is looked on as an enemy, Rom. 7. lat end. I delight in the Law of God in the inward man, and concludes, but I myself (that is, his sanctified self) serve the Lord. Mark what it is that thou esteemest in thyself: Is it Grace, God's Image? and what thou dislikest and strivest to destroy, is it the body of sin?  
2. Then that love is subordinate to the love of God. God to every sanctified man is the Summum bonum & ultimus sinis, therefore all other things are but media subordinata, none of us must live to himself.  
3. Such a one loves himself for those ends God allows him.   

1. That he may be happy for ever. God presseth us to duty by this argument, 
Our love is many ways inordinate, 1. We love sin which we should hate. 2. We hate good which we should love. 3. We love that much we should love little. 4. We love that little which we should love much. 5. We love a private good more than the public, the body above the soul, the creature more than the Creator, prefer things of time before those of eternity.  that we may have eternal life.  
2. He would have thee get more knowledge, grace, experience, that thou mayst be more serviceable here.   
The third object of our love is our neighbour.  
Marks to know whether my love to my neighbour be a sanctified love:  
First, When it is subordinate to the love of God, when I love him under God, we must love our neighbour in God and for God.  
Secondly, I must love there specially where God loves, those that have most of God in them, All my delight is in the Saints; Christ calls this a new Commandment.  
Thirdly, There will be a performing of all second Table duties, Love is the fulfilling of the Law. I will give him that respect which is due unto his place, I will strive to preserve his life, chastity, estate, good name. I shall be content with my own and rejoice in his welfare. It is the nature of love to seek the preservation of the thing beloved.  
The fourth object of our love is the rest of God's creatures which he hath given to us.  
Marks to know whether our love to the creature be right or no:  

1. When the beholding God in the creature draws the heart out, the delighting to behold the wisdom and power of God in the creature.  
2. Mark for what end thou lovest the creature. Every creature must be delighted in as it brings us nearer to God, or serves as an instrument to honour him, thou lovest the creatures because they are a means to keep thee in a better frame for duty.    

CHAP. XXI. II. Of Hatred.  
THe affection opposite to love is Hatred. 
Amor est conscnantia quaedam appetitus ad id, quod apprehenditur ut conveniens: odium verò est dissonantia quaedam appetitus ad id, quo● apprehenditur ut repugnans & nocivum: sicut autem omne conveniens in quantum hujusmodi habet rationem boni, ita omne repugnans in quantum hujusmod: habet rationem mali, & ideo sicut bonum est objectum amoris, ita malum est objectum odii. Aquinas 1a, 2ae. Quaest 29. Artic. 1. Love is the affection and p●●pension of the mind toward some thing as good, hatred is an alienation of the mind from some thing as evil, to stand so affected to it, as those words, far be it, far be it from me, set forth, when the soul riseth against it.   

1. The nature of hatred.  
2. The image of God in it▪  
3. The extreme depravation of it by sin.  
4. The work of grace sanctifying it.   
Of the first.  
Hatred in a reasonable soul is a motion of the will whereby it flies from that which it apprehends to be evil, and opposeth it, endeavouring to hurt it.  
It ariseth from a discord and disconformity of the object.  
There is a twofold hatred:  

1. Odium abominationis, a stying only from a thing.  
2. Odium inimicitiae. whereby ● pursue what is evil.   
There was little use of this affection in our primitive pure estate, there was nothing evil to man or in himself, a concord in all.  
There are dive●s causes of this hatred, 1. Antipathy. 2. What hinders us from attaining good, envy, jealousy, there was nothing then to work this but the sin of the devil only, which whether man knew it or no is uncertain, yet this affection was in him and sanctified.  
First, He was prone in his spirit to shun a real evil, sin in that degree it was evil.  
Secondly, The depravation of this affection, the image of the devil.  
As much of our original corruption is found in this affection as any. The greatness of the depravation of this affection, appears in three things.  

1. The object of it.  
2. The Quality of it.  
3. The fruits.   
Only sin is the proper object of it, but now our hatred is wholly taken from sin, it abhors nothing that is evil. 
Every man by nature is full of wrath against God, Ephes. 2. 3. Some interpret that actively, Psal. 68 ●. There is an enmity in man, 1. Against the very being of God, Psal. 14. 2. His Attributes, would not have him to be so just and jealous, Psal. 50. 21. so pure and emniscient, Isa. 29. 5. 3. Against the counsels of God, Isa. 66. 3. Ezek. 14. 3, 7. 4. Against the precepts and prohibitions of God, Rom. 7. 5, 8. 5. The worship of God, Deut. 32. 17. Psal. 1●6. 37. 6. The threats and promises of God, Job 15. 7. His administrations, Rom. 3. 4.   
The second object of it now is that which is truly and properly good,  

1. God himself primarily, all wicked men hate him, Psalm. 81. 15. Rom. 1. 30. in all his glorious perfections, Justice, Holiness.  
2. Christ, john 7. 7. & 15. ●h.  
3. All good men, You shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.  
4. All Gods ways and Ordinances, Fools hate instruction, Prov. 1.   
Secondly, The Quality of this affection. It is  

1. A causeless hatred, Christ saith, They hate me without a cause, and so the Saints may say.  
2. Perfect, entire without any mixture of any love.  
3. Violent, Psal 55. 3.  
4. Cruel, Psal. 25. 9  
5. Durable, irreconcilable.   
Thirdly, The effects of it:  

1. All sins of omission.  
2. Abundance of actual wickedness, contempt and distrust of God, his ways and children.   
Fourthly, The Sanctification of this affection of hatred.  
The work of grace in every faculty is destroying the power of corruption, and creating in it those principles of grace that turn it again into the right way.  

1. It is taken off from those objects to which it was undeservedly carried afore.  
2. It is ordered aright for measure.  
3. It brings forth that fruit which God requires.   
First, What the work of God's grace carries the affection of hatred 
* Our hatred must be withdrawn from such things and persons as are not to be hated. First, Things. 1. Goodness, virtue, piety, because it is the image of God, and is in itself most beneficial, Prov. 1. 22, 29. 2. The means of goodness, as Instruction, Reproof, Correction, Prov. 9 8. & 12. 1. John 3. 20. Secondly, Persons. 1. The Church in general. 2. Any good man, 2 Tim. 3. 3. Psal. 34. 21. 3. He which admonisheth or correcteth, Prov. 9 4. an enemy, Matth. 5.  to.  

1. It makes all our opposition to God and his Ordinances cease, it ceaseth to hate good, and hates that which is evil.  
2. It is carried to the right object, which is every thing that is really evil to us, the will shuns and opposeth it.   
Two sorts of things are really evil:  

1. What ever is opposite to our natural being, our life, peace, wealth, name, as sickness, affliction, death.  
2. What is contrary to our spiritual being, as sin.   
All evils of the first nature come from God. God's will is the rule of all holiness, therefore we should submit,  

1. Our will to God to do what he pleaseth. That is the greatest evil which is against the greatest good, God: sin and wicked men oppose him, the greatest evil must have the greatest opposition, I hate every fal●e way, sin strikes at the being and excellency of God, we must dislike wicked men for sins sake.  
2. The work of grace appears in the degree and measure of working when it sanctifieth any affection. It is according as the light of understanding guided by God's counsel order the Spirit, of evils sin is to be more hated than punishment, and the greater the sin, the greater should be the opposition.  
3. The work of God's grace in sanctifying this affection is much seen in the fruits of hatred.   
This stands in two things:  

1. Hatred is a Sentinel to the soul to keep out evil, it makes the soul warily shun and avoid those things which are really evil to me, it is a deep and severe passion, not sudden as 
* Hatred differs from anger in three things, 1. Anger is with a particular, Hatred against universals, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the whole kind, I hate every false way. 2. Anger may be cured by time, but no● hatred. 3. Anger is content to render like for like, hatred aims at the destruction of things. Among the Egyptians a Fish was the Hieroglyphic of hatred, because of all creatures they do most devour one another.  anger.  
2. It quickens the soul to the destruction of the thing hated, it maketh it endeavour its ruin.   
Signs.  
I. Of Hatred. 
We must hate sin as sin, for itself, else our hatred is not from a principle of love to God, as sin is a transgression of his Law, Psal. 97. 10. If we hate sin for itself we will 1. Hate all sin, à quatenus ad omne valet consequentia, as he that loves a Saint for himself, loves every Saint. 2. We will dislike sin under what shape soever it comes. 3. We will dislike it in all sorts of persons, those that are near us, Psal. 139. 20, 21. 4. We will hate sin in the being as well as acting of it, the Law requires a holy nature as well as life. 5. We will set no bounds to ou● hatred, Isa. 33. 15. 6. Will dislike all occasions and means that tend to it.   
Speaking against a thing still, and disgracing, it is displeased at its company, and cannot endure its presence.  
II. Of Sanctified Hatred:  

1. If it be sanctified, thou ceasest to be a hater of God. This makes a creature so like the devil that no man will believe he hates God. Hatred is an opposition to love, love of God makes us endeavour an union with him, thou carest not for a knowledge of God or being nigh him.  
2. A desire that another may not be so excellent as he is, wicked men would not have God have a being or so excellent a being, would not have him be so holy, pure, just.  
3. A great sign of hatred is contrariety or opposition of wills. God's will is revealed in his Word, when there is an opposition to it, we sin against him, Exod. 20. 2d Commandment, Those that love me and keep my Commandments, those hate God that do not keep his Commandments. God chooseth holiness, you filthiness, if thy will be contrary to the choice he makes, thou hatest him.  
4. That which is feared, unless it be with a reverential fear, is hated. To stand in awe of God a● the Indians of the Devil, who dare not but offer Sacrifices lest the Devil should hurt them.   
Secondly, For the evil of punishment, how far sanctified hatred may be carried against crosses.  
We may use all lawful means to have the crosses removed, but with a quiet resignation to the will of God, if he will have it so. 
Every Christian should have his heart possessed with a l●●●hing detestation & hatred of sin, that being indeed the first and principal, and most immediate object of hatred. Hatred of sin will bewray itself, 1. In a constant jealousy and watchfulness over the soul and over every small rising of corruption. 2. By a serious resistance in the temptation Rom. 7. 15. 3. By bitter grief after the transgression, Jer. 8. 6. Rom. 7. 23.   
If our hatred be sanctified, than it is carried against sin primarily and properly, because it is Gods great enemy and ours, and the great evil in itself.  
How to know whether our heart be rightly carried against sin.  
This is a great part of Repentance. Repentance is the turning of the affections, especially those two great affections of love and hatred in our lost condition. Our hatred was against God, and our love set on sin, now contrarily,  

1. Where ever this affection of hatred is carried aright against sin, the mind judgeth of sin as God's Wotd doth, counteth it the greatest abomination, and dislikes it not only because it brings damnation, but because of the nature of it. The Scripture calls it our deformity, uncleanness, nakedness, a running issue.  
2. Here sin is grieved for as the greatest evil, if one have an antipathy against a creature, yet if that be far enough there is no great trouble, Rom. 7. Wretched man that I am. It is the greatest spiritual, though not sensitive grief; we are most troubled at those evils which most affect the body, have the greatest sense of grief for them, as the ●amp, gont, stone, but here the intellectual nature is most offended with sin, chooseth more to be rid of it then trouble, and judgeth himself more abominable for it.  
3. A constant hatred of sin.  
4. It endeavours to ●uine and destroy it, the Scripture often expresseth it by killing of sin, Mor●isi. ●our members.  
5. It hates it upon those grounds that God hates it, because it is a rebellion against God, crucifieth Christ, grieves the Spirit, is at enmity to the grace of God in me, I hate it upon such spiritual grounds.  
6. Where ever sin is truly hated, there we hate it most in those that are nearest to ourselves. Hatred of sin is one half of repentance, sin is a hatred of God, and a loving of sin; in Repentance our love is turned to God, and hatred set on sin.   
Means to get our hatred of sin sanctified:  
First, Study to get a right information of sin, what ever can be the object of hatred meets in sin in the highest degree, in crosses there is something evil, but in sin there is nothing good, it is not only evil, but hath in it all kind of evil.  

1. A defiling evil.  
2. Deprives us of all other good, robs us of God, peace, comfort.   
Secondly, Principally get thy heart filled with the love of God and his ways, you that love God hate that which is evil, Psal. 119. I love all thy Commandments▪ therefore I hate every evil way, love the holy Spirit, and thou wilt hate filthiness.   

CHAP. XXII. II. Desire and Flight.  
THe next affection is that of Desire. 
See M. Pembl. Vindic. great. p. 129, 130.   
It differs no more from love then the Act from the Habit, it being the exercise of love.  
The surest Character you can make of a man is by his desires 
a 
In these hungrings & thirstings of the soul there is as it were the spawn of faith, Semen sidei, there is aliquid sidei in them. Psal. 10. 17. & 145. 19 Isa. 55 1. & 44. 3. & Luk. 1. 52. Revel. 22. 17. Bolton on Mar. 5. 6.  
It is the reaching of the soul after that which likes us, because it is like us.  
It is an assection of pursuing or following after the absent good. It is that by which the mind stirs up in itself longing and wishing, and quickens itself to seek and attain that good which it loveth, and yet is not present with it, Phil. 3. 14. Prov. 18. 1. Bonum delect abil● non est absolutè objectum concupiscentiae, sed sub ratione absentis: sicut & sensibile sub ratione praeteriti est objectum memoriae. Aqu●n 1a, 2ae Quaest 30. Art. 1.  , as much as the Physician can judge of his patient's condition by his appetite.  
In this affection four things are considerable:  

1. The Nature of it.  
2. The Image of God in it before the fall.  
3. How extremely depraved our desires are in their natural condition.  
4. The work of grace in sanctifying of it.   
Desire is the going out of the will endeavouring after that we love, a good thing not yet enjoyed or not perfectly, the making out of the soul for the fruition of that good.  
There are three affections conversant about good, say some, Love about good in general, present or absent, Desire about good absent, Joy about good present. Des Cartes saith, not only the presence of good absent, but also the conservation of a good present is desired.  
God gave to the soul of man when he created it a twofold appetite:  

1. Sensitive or natural, whereby the desires are carried violently after their own preservation.  
2. Rational, or the will, these rational desires are exercised about spiritural things in the fruition of which one placeth his happiness.   
Of the Image of God in our desires in our innocent condition.  
The understanding than looked on God as his only absolute Good, and the will of man did adhere to him, and acquiesce in him.  
He desired, 1. A more perfect fruition of God, and that he might lay out himself more for him. Natural desires were few, moderate, subordinate to this, to be helps and furtherances of the perfect enjoying of God.  
2. The depravation of this affection.  
A great deal of our original corruption is vented out this way, the corruption of the understanding, will, love, hatred, thoughts, fall in here.  

1. The object of the desire, whereas God should be only desired, in our sinful condition we have no desire after him, only vellieties, faint wish and woulding. Though the soul be full of desires, they are taken off from God and wholly carried to some poor empty creature.  
2. The Qualities or Properties of these sinful desires.  
3. The woeful fruits of them.   
The qualities of our corrupt and carnal desires.  

1. The vanity of them, which appears in three particulars, 

1. There is no reason to be given of our corrupt desires, as Samson, Give me her, she likes me.  
2. The things that we desire appear to be toys.  
3. The innumerableness of them.    
2. They be intense and violent, the soul pursues such things.  
3. They are insatiable.   
3. The woeful effects and fruits of them.  
1. These corrupt desires have got the regiment of the soul, they enslave reason the most noble faculty of it.  
2. Destroy all hope of profiting, they take up our time and study, the soul is ever employed about some of these unworthy desires.  
3. They make the soul extremely unthankful for the mercies already received, they make the Soul and Spirit of a man base.  
4. The work of God's grace in renewing or sanctifying our desires.  
The activity of grace appears chiefly in our love and desire, for the good things of Christians are not yet enjoyed, and therefore is this affection so much exercised.  
1. In general, the work of grace is to renew that which our original corruption spoiled in the affections, or to repair the image of God once stamped there. It takes off the desire from the creature and turns it to the proper object of it in a due order, method and measure.  
2. Particularly.  
1. The true object of a sanctified desire, primary and ultimate, is God, Christ, 
Christ brings the heart to heaven first, and then the person: His own mouth spoke it, Mat. 6 21. He that had truly rather have the enjoyment of God in Christ, than any thing in the world, shall have it. Baxter's Saints everlasting Rest, par. 1. c. 3.  and all the graces of his Spirit, and the means of Grace, the Ordinances, and in a due place moderately the creature, and what ever is helpful to me.  
We ought to desire,  
1. For ourselves only good things, Prov. 11. 23. God chiefly, Psal. 42. 2. & Revel. 3.  
2. Christ's righteousness and the virtues of the Spirit, the means and helps to grace, as the sincere milk of the Word, and the company of the Saints, and the like helps, as Paul desired to see Timothy, places and occasions of doing good if we find ourselves furnished for them, 1 Tim. 3. 1. Natural benefits and good things, health, liberty. We ought to desire for others, their conversion, Rom. 10. 1. and growth in grace and salvation, the welfare of the Church.  
Secondly, The act or measure of it carried to its proper object, God and Christ, with greatest intenseness, called hungering and thirsting, As the Hart pants after the water brook, and moderately carried to the things of this world, grace is a spur to our desires for spiritual things, and a bridle to them for earthly.  
We must 1. Desire spiritual things more than temporal, Mat. 5. 6.  
2. Among spiritual things those most which may do us most good, as Paul bids us covet spiritual gifts, chiefly that we may prophesy.  
3. The public good more than our own.  
There is no evidence of grace so constantly to be found in a gracious heart, as the holiness of their desires, Nehem. 1. 11. The desire of our hearts is toward thee, Rom. 7. Cant. 1. Draw me, and we will run after thee.  
Reasons. 1. Because their good is absent from them, the heart which cannot say, I pray and believe, can say, I desire to pray and believe. The true desire of grace is grace itself in a degree.  
2. The Saints of God have ever pleaded their desires as an evidence of their interest in God, when they could plead nothing else, My soul longeth for thy salvation.  
Marks to try whether our desires after these things be sanctified:  
First, Then thou desirest all that is good, Christ, Grace, the Ordinances; the Gospel holds out Christ to be good to me, therefore one may somewhat desire this, and not be sanctified. I must desire him to be my King and Lord as well as my Saviour.  
Secondly, It hath five Properties:  

1. It is the greatest and strongest the soul hath of rational not sensitive desires, therefore set out by hunger and thirst, panting after God, Whom have I in heaven but thee, and in the whole earth in comparison of thee? Desires put out on Election and counsel are put out most on these things.  
2. It is accompanied with sadness and languishing if it attain not the thing desired, Hope deferred makes the heart sick.  
3. They would enjoy the object presently. Balaam could desire it at later end; If I desire a thing as an end, I cannot but desire it presently.  
4. These desires are constant till the thing be fully enjoyed, joh. 4. 14.  
5. Such desires are operative, otherwise if they put us not on the use of means, they are not right. Such an one will be at any cost for exalting, adorning that thing. What is a man's happiness, end, glory, he desires to make as excellent as may be. Who ever truly desires spiritual things, desires them as their glory, they will give all for the glory of Christ, and the beauty of the Gospel.   
How to know whether our desires after the things of this life be sanctified, try that by two things:  

1. In the point of subordination, as they may stand with subordination to the great things he desires. As far as these outward things may be useful and helpful to the things of God's Kingdom. One thing have I desired, saith David, as an end. Ze●h. 7. 5, 6. Whether you eat or drink, or what ever you do, and so desire, do all to the glory of God.  

2. You shall try it by the moderation of your spirit, If you desire these things as inferior goods, 1 Cor. 7. 27.  
Means or Directions to keep your desires strong and vigorous after spiritual things, and to moderate your desires after earthly things.    
Of the first,  

1. Labour for a thorough knowledge and acquaintance with these spiritual things, knowledge of a thing stirs up the appetite. Two men did vehemently desire a spiritual communion with God, Moses and Paul, and none knew more of Christ then these. Study the things of God, of Christ, and God's Kingdom, not only a speculative knowledge but a practical taste of God, rest not till thou hast some experience of this supernatural object. Other truths quickly ●loy, when one understands an Art or Tongue, the knowledge of spiritual things quickens the appetite and enlargeth the soul.  
2. Labour to be acquainted with thine own emptiness, how empty of all grace, and full of corruptions thou art, Tecum habita, labour to get a sense of these things, what a great evil an hard heart is, and what it is to be deprived of God, so the Lord counsels the Angel of Laodicea.  
3. Hope of attaining is the whetstone of desiring, study those promises, He will satisfy the hungry soul, and those that thirst after the Well of life, and open thy mouth and he will fill it.   
Directions how our desires after the things of this life may be sanctified.  
In general. The sanctification of these desires stands in their moderation we must have a care that they be not inordinate.  
First, Labour in general for a contented mind, Heb. 13. Be without covetousness, Get a contented spirit which may stand in an indifferency to these things.  
3. Rules: 1. Let thy desires be fully let out after the things of heaven, this will moderate them to all other things, because they will satisfy them.  
2. Labour to be rightly informed what all these worldly things are, and thy soul will be moderate toward them, know six things of them.  

1. None of all the things of this life have any good in them to us further than they are useful. There is a necessity of food and raiment to uphold our natural being, but otherwise all these things are but useful in a subordinate way, not good further than of good use.  
2. They are of no use at all to the saving of thy soul; I am going to a place, said the Martyr, where money is nothing worth, the thing I am to look after is the saving of my soul.  
3. They are all by Gods own appointment most inconstant and fading things; Riches take themselves to their wings, they are but flowers, these three considerations limit the good in them.  
4. They are all vain, empty not simply, but entitatis debitae, a Well is empty, though it be full of Air, if it have no water in it Solomon challenged all the world to find more in learning, pleasures, than he did, What can the man do after the King?  
5. They are vexation of spirit, either in getting, keeping, fear of losing or real parting.  
6. They beguile, bewitch and make us worse, 

1. Blind the judgement with erroneous principles, that they are prone to think amiss of God and his ways.  
2. Draw the heart from God, he (who is the great disposer of all earthly blessings) out of his fatherly love will measure out of all these mercies the best portion unto thee, therefore be careful for nothing, but let your request be made known to God.     
The affection opposite to Desire is 
* Some call it Abomination. Scio equidem vulgò in Scholis opponi Passionem quae tendit in bonum, & quae sola nominatur cupiditas vel desiderium, ei quae tendit in fugam mali, qu● vocatur Aversio. Sed cum nullum detur bonum cujus privatio malum non sit, nec ullum malum, cujus privatio non sit bonum; Et cum quaerendo, exempli gratiâ, divitias, necessariò fugiatur Paupertas, ac fugiendo morb●s, quaeratur sanitas, & sic de aliis; mihi videtur eundem semper esse motum, qui simul fert ad prosecutionem boni, & ad fugam mali quod ipsi contrarium est. Des Cartes de Passion. Animae part. 2. Artic. 87.  Flight. This was Moses his fault, Exod. 4. 13.  
It is a stirring of the soul to get away from the evil before it come too near, and have surprised a man.  
We have an example of it in him that owing a man money, knowing or thinking that he will come to such a place, finds a kind of loathness to meet with him, and is moved to go out of the way, or absent himself that he may not meet with him.  
It must be exercised on such things as are fit to be loathed and shunned. 
We must not shun good things, as Christ shunned not his sufferings, Act. 21. 13.   
1. Such things as may be hurtful to us:  

1. All manner of sinful actions, Luk. 12. 1, 15. 2 Tim. 2. 22, 23. & 1 Pet. 3. 11. 1 Cor. 10. 14. & 6. 18.  
2. All manner of occasions and solicitations to sin, 1 joh. 5. Babes keep yourselves from Idols. Prov. 5. 8. joseph ●●ed from his mistress.  
3. The familiarity and friendly society of sinners, chiefly such as would and do solicit us to sin, Prov. 1. 15. & 4. 14. Away from me you wicked, saith David, 2 Tim. 3. 5. 2 Thess. 3. 6. Rom. 16. 17.  
4. Natural evils, when we are not put upon them by necessity of our calling; as poverty, disgrace, danger of limb or life, liberty and the like, and such things as may be hurtful to others.  
5. Things unprofitable, vain and useless, Tit. 3. 9   
For measure of working  
We ought  

1. To loathe and shun spiritual evils more than temporal, sin then danger.  
2. To loathe public evils and shun them more than private, the hurt of the Commonwealth or Church more than our own loss or danger, as David did when he went against Goliath.  
3. To shun those natural evils most which most hinder goodness, virtue and the discharge of the duties of our place, as the loss of life more than of goods, of good name more than of liberty.    

CHAP. XXIII. III. joy and Sorrow.  
THe next pair of affections are Joy and Sorrow. The Philosophers make these two the ground of all our virtues and endeavours.  
Of Joy.  
Four things are to be considered in Joy:  

1. The nature of the affection.  
2. What the Image of God was in this in our primitive condition.  
3. The corruption of it in our Apostate condition.  
4. What the Spirit of God doth to the repairing of this in our conversion.   
1. What the nature of Joy is,  
Joy is acquiescentia cordis in bono sibi congruenti, the acquiescence of the will in the 
It is an opening and dilatation of the heart upon the appearance of some present good, whence it hath the name of Laetitià, as it were a broad and spreading passion. Laetitia à mentis latitudin●.  presence of a suitable good.  
It is either  

1. Bodily, than the content the soul takes in it is called voluptas pleasure.  
2. Spiritual, than the content the soul takes in it is called gaudium joy.   
These things are required to make up this affection.  

1. It must be a suitable good which gives satisfaction.  
2. Proper, one must have an interest in and a title to it.  
3. Present, the desire accomplished is the joy of the soul.   
Secondly, Man's joy in his primitive condition.  
Then it was our happiness, because in that pure estate man was not only freed from all evils which might molest him, but was compassed about with all good suitable to him. He enjoyed God himself and all things which might conduce to his happiness.  
2. The holiness of this Joy.  
The Image of God in this affection stood in the suitableness and proportionableness which was betwixt all the good which man enjoyed and this affection. The rectitude of any faculty is when the faculty and the object meet: God is the only absolute, adequate and supreme good, therefore the greatest joy of the soul of man was placed in the enjoying of God, he found a suitable joy in all other good things, yet so that he did above them all prize God, and by them all did rise up more and more to the service of God.  
3. Man's joy in his fallen condition.  
The Object of it  

1. Privatively, is not in God.  
2. Positively.   
It is much placed,  

1. In the deeds of darkness, Rom. 1. 32. They take pleasure in unrighteousness.  
2. In all things wherein bruit beasts and man do agree.  
3. In mere fictions, Chymaeraes, fancies and imaginations.  
4. The comforts that the rest of the creatures may give the soul, it is irregular in all.   
The properties of sinful joy:  

1. It is unlimited, we place all our happiness in these things, Psal. 49. 18. The rich glutton, Soul, take thy ease.  
2. Vain, an immortal soul cannot find real satisfaction in an imaginary object.  
3. Various, the soul rests not in any one of these comforts, but slits from one thing to another.   
Thirdly, The woeful effects of these depraved joys.  

1. They wholly keep the soul from seeking or accepting the only good which may give rest to it, all Ordinances, the motions of the Spirit, the thoughts of God and goodness are in vain proposed to the soul, Eccles. 11. 9 Like the Ivy that seems to adorn the tree, but eats away all the sap of it.  
2. They leave a sting and venom of sorrow after, Prov. 14. 43. job 20. 5. the end of that joy is sorrow.   
Fourthly, What is the work of Grace in sanctifying this affection?  
Although God's people actually enjoy not the benefits of this affection, as of some others, because of the weakness of Grace, yet a great part of our happiness lies in this. The Spirit of God turns it from the corrupt to the right object, and helps the affection to act in the measure and order upon that object as it deserves. He turns the stream from rejoicing in those sensual and imaginary things, 1 Cor. 1. 13. it rejoiceth not in iniquity, 2. Is turned to God in Christ, hath interest and communion with Christ. We are the circumcision who rejoice in Christ jesus. I will go to God (saith David) who is my exceeding joy. See Psal. 104. lat. end. He is the full object of a regenerate soul. God in Christ is not here to be enjoyed immediately, but in and by the Ordinances, the more of God is in them, the more joy doth the soul take. There are divers Commandments to rejoice in God, Psal. 68 3. & 105. 3, 4. Phil. 4. 2. it is for the honour of God that his servants rejoice. It was 
To joy in God is to joy, 1. That there is a God who could hang the earth on nothing, balance the clouds, make such a glorious world but he? 2. That he is such a God, a living God, one that reigns and rules immutably, Psal. 18. 46. 3. To joy in the ways of his communicating himself to us, his Word and Ordinances, Jer. 15. 16. Ps. 40. 6. Rom. 7. 14. to delight in his Sabbaths in his Commandments and counsels, Psal. 110. 3. to rejoice in those graces whereby we are made conformable to him, when we rejoice not only in the profession of his name, but in persecution for his truth, Act. 5. 41. Heb. 10. 34. rejoice in communion with him, in hope of his appearance.  not lawful to be sad before the Persian Kings, they thought it to be a disparagement to their graciousness and honour. See Col. 1. 10, 11. Phil. 3. 3. Gal. 5. 22. Rom. 14. 17. We are as much bound to make God our joy as sin our grief. We cannot love God with all our strength, unless we rejoice in him. It is not only a duty but a privilege to joy in God: What is your happiness in Heaven but joy in God which is begun on earth?  
2. It is a privilege peculiar to justified persons, Rom. 5. 5. Adam after he fell, saith, He heard the voice of God and was afraid. See Psal. 106. 4, 5.  
3. It is the highest privilege that Saints can enjoy on this side heaven, God is the chiefest object for this joy to be placed upon, and joy in God is the chiefest of all joys, Psal 4. 6.  
Secondly, The Spirit of God makes the soul close with the object in that measure and proportion that the object deserves, therefore joy in God and Christ are the most transcendent; it is called joy unspeakable and glorious; Rejoice exceedingly you righteous, Ephes. 5. 18.  
This is often called The joy of the holy Ghost, Rom. 14. that is, not only joy which is suitable to the Spirit of God, but that joy which the holy Spirit works in us.  
There are seven things which every child of God hath received from God, that give him occasion to rejoice abundantly though he be in tribulation.  

1. All their sins are pardoned and freely done away in the blood of Christ, Isa. 40. begin. Christ said to the man sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee.  
2. They are covered with the perfect robes of Christ's righteousness before the Lord, Isa. 61. 7, 8. they may rejoice in their inherent righteousness, their sorrow for sin, love to the Lord and his people, much more in the imputed righteousness of Christ, Revel. 17. the guests were to rejoice at the Bride's marriage, much more the Bride.  
3. Because they are reconciled to the Lord, and all their services accepted notwithstanding their mixture of corruption.  
4. All evil is removed from them; Sorrow is the apprehension of the heart, because of some evil object, Psal. 9 No evil shall come nigh his dwelling that is under the protection of the Almighty.  
5. The Lord hath undertaken in his Covenant to supply them with all good, and to provide him whatsoever shall be needful for him, whilst he lives in this world.  
6. When this life is ended there is provided for them a glorious condition in heaven, the Angels will carry thee thither, and Christ receive thee, Mat. 5. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.  
7. All these things are kept for them by Christ, thou art therefore more happy than Adam in Paradise, or the Angels before they fell, they had the image of God's grace, yet in their own power to lose, and they did lose it,   
The Properties of this joy:  

1. It is spiritual, its working is in the inward and most spiritual faculty of the soul, the intellectual nature, of the same nature that the joy of God and Christ is.  
2. It is given for the time of afflictions and trial especially, Rejoice in tribulation, 2 Cor. 7. exceedingly rejoice in all our troubles.  
3. It is built on such things as will never fail, on pardon, free favour, unchangeable promises.  
4. Everlasting, Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.   
Motives to sanctified joy:  

1. The Lord calls for the exercise of this affection as frequently and earnestly as any; we are not more frequently exhorted to fear God, to love him, to desire and seek after him, then to rejoice in him.  
2. God is offended if his people rejoice not in his service, Deut. 28. 47.  
3. Joy breeds thankfulness, the Psalmist often joins these two together, joyfulness and singing of Psalms.  
4. It breeds spiritual strength, The joy of the Lord is your strength, Neb. 8. 10.  
5. This is a great honour to the profession of Religion, and glory to Christianity, it will satisfy others that there is some secret excellency in that way.  
6. The example of other men who rejoice in vanity, and wilt not thou rejoice in Christ?   
Marks and Evidences of spiritual and sanctified Joy:  
First, By the Antecedents of it.  

1. It is promised to the mourners in Zion, Isa. 61. 1. Matth. 5. 4. till sin be our sorrow we shall never have this joy, john 16. 9 The first work of the comforter is to convince the soul of sin, and so of sorrow.  
2. To believing in Christ, one is not capable of Gospel-joy till he believe in Christ, Rom. 15. 13. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Phil. 1. 25.   
Secondly, By the object of it, it is Christ and the things he brings with him, the suitableness betwixt these and our souls is the joy. In what proportion any creature brings Christ with it, in that proportion we rejoice, as David, jeremiah, job; in the word, because there is abundance of Christ in preaching, the Sabbath is Christ's visiting-day, therefore their delight; prayer because there is an intercourse betwixt God and the soul, Communion of Saints.  
Thirdly, By the Companions of it, the rest of the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. 5 22, 23. they come by clusters, love, meekness, patience, temperance. 2. It is jealous and fearful lest it should be mistaken, the two Disciples believed not for joy.  
Fourthly, By the fruits of it.  

1. Hereby we are fortified against sinning.  
2. It will make one readily part with any thing for Christ's sake, Endured with joy the spoiling of their goods, Heb. 11. Psal. 51. 12. Ignatius said, Bring the Lions, I shall make brave bread when I am ground.   
Means to get our joy sanctified and to keep it.  
It is gotten in the new-birth, all affections are sanctified at once.  
How we may come to make God in Christ our supreme joy.  

1. Thou must labour to know God and Jesus Christ, Mat. 13. 44. when he found the treasure and saw the worth of it, he rejoiced, know how good, merciful and gracious the Lord is.  
2. Faith will produce joy, strengthen faith and strengthen joy, 1 Pet. 1. 6, 7. Rom. 13. 15. and hope likewise, Rom. 12. Rejoicing in hope.  
3. Beg it much at God's hand, pray him that thou mayst rejoice, john 16. 31. say, Lord in mercy fill my soul with the light of thy countenance.  
4. Meditate of the things thou hast heard and learned concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, ponder on the good things given thee of God in Christ, ponder how excellent it is to be a pardoned man, to be accepted of God's Son, to have the promises of the Gospel belonging to thee.  
5. Labour to preserve uprightness of Spirit in thee, no man can rejoice in God that doth not walk with him, true righteousness may be without joy, but true joy cannot be without righteousness.  
6. Frequently renew godly sorrow, carnal mirth ends in sorrow, godly sorrow ends in joy, this will keep thee low in thine own eyes.  
7. For maintaining of your joy, be careful of your bodies, next to sin nothing is more to be shunned then to be under the power of melancholy.   
How our joy may be sanctified in respect of the outward mercies and good things of this life.  
God allows his children to take joy and comfort in all the things of this life, in wine, music, Live joyfully with the wife of thy youth.  
This Joy is sanctified:  

1. When we take joy in every creature, so as we find God in it, see his love to us.  
2. As any creature bears God's Image. David loved Solomon because he was a jedidiah.  
3. Be as if not in all the joy that thou takest in them, 1 Cor. 7. be moderate.  
4. Let not thy heart draw thee from God.  
5. All the joy thou takest in the creatures must be in due season as well as in due degree, not in time of mourning, Rejoicing always in the Lord.   
See Mr Wheatleys Oil of Gladness.   

CHAP. XXIV. Of Sorrow.  
THe opposite passion to Joy or Delight, is Grief and Sorrow.  
It is a passion which doth tie up, bind and straighten the heart through 
It is a passion whereby the appetite doth abhor with perturbation evil present, whether so in deed or in apprehension. Par. on Rom.  the apprehension of evil present.  
Grief in itself is a good affection planted by God in man's nature at the first to be a means of causing him to avoid things that were evil for him, and would procure his hurt.  
It is procured by the gathering of the worst and grossest blood about the heart, which causeth a dulness in the Spirits, and consequently unlivelinesse in all the other parts, for the blood and spirits are the instruments of all affections.  
To grieve is natural, to grieve for sin is a strain above nature, Grace doth not destroy but correct nature.  
Contrition of spirit is called the Sacrifice of God, Psal. 51. 17. he will not despise 
Terror of conscience apprehends wrath, fury, vengeance & damnation, and is thereby perplexed for a time. Contrition looks chiefly to a ●ault, and a contrite person is troubled, because he hath deserved damnation. Terrors of conscience drive men (in whom there is no contrition) to vain & idle helps, sports, company, and leave a man desperate. Contrition is joined always with an humble boldness to live to the mercy of God in Christ.  it, that is, will most favourably accept it. See Isa. 57 17. This was signified by the Meat-offering of fine flower mixed with oil which was to be joined with their burnt offerings. That fine flower did type forth this contrition, by which the heart is as it were ground to powder that it may by the holy Ghost be offered up unto God, Levit. 2. 1. Isaiah speaks of this Chap. 66. 2. Contrition of heart is that grace whereby a man's soul is truly humbled in the sight of his sins, Matth. 5. 4. It differs somewhat from the grace of humility. For humility was in Adam during his innocency, and should have been in all of us if we had never sinned, and (as some think) is in the Angels, for all creatures that are truly good, do cast down themselves before God, and make no account of themselves in regard of him, which to do is to be humble: but contrition of spirit doth necessarily presuppose sin, and when the soul doth so apprehend the nature of sin, and its own sinfulness, that it is thereby cast down, abased, afflicted, this is brokenness of heart. It differs also from terror of conscience, styled attrition by the Schoolmen, that looks to the punishment of sin, this chiefly to the evil of sin as it is sin, and to the very fountain of all sin, the corruption of nature from which all actual sins arise.  
Few affections or graces contribute more to a Christians welfare then this; a great part of God's image and the practice of holiness lies in it.  
There is a twofold sorrow:  

1. Sensitive, expressed in a sensible manner.  
2. Intellectual. The sorrow of the will or rational sorrow is a being displeased with a thing as having the heart distasted and disliked with it, a feeling of sin as evil with an averseness of the will. Passionate sensible sorrow is such a stirring of the heart as brings forth tears, this follows the bodily temper. Not so much the greatness of the sorrow as the efficacy of it must be looked unto, and the motive of it that it be the consideration of the spiritual mischief of sin in provoking God and causing his displeasure, the smallest measure of sorrow thus grounded and working is repentant.   
The work of God's grace in sanctifying it:  

1. The Author of it.  
2. The true Object.  
3. The gracious Effects.   
First, Of the Author of it.  
It is the holy Spirit that is the worker of all godly sorrow. It infuseth such a principle that it turns it from all evil objects, and sets it on the right objects in that measure and proportion that the thing requires.  
Secondly, The true Object of it.  
We must grieve,  
First, For the sins of others, even of particular men, and the public sins, Psa. 
See Mark 3. 5. & Luk. 19 4●.  119. 136. David saith in another place, He beheld the transgressors and was sorrowful; and jeremiah saith, He would weep in secret for their pride, Jerem. 13. 17. 2 Pet. 2. 7.  
Secondly, For the miseries and calamities of others, which is pity, chiefly public calamities of the Church and State, as Nehemiah and Mordecai.  
Thirdly, Our own crosses and afflictions which befall us in ourselves and others, as job did mourn when the evils befell him, and David when he was threatened his child should die, and Paul was sorry for the sickness of Epaphroditus.  
Fourthly, Our own sins and offences for which we are called to afflict ourselves and mourn, and to turn unto the Lord with tears and lamentations.  
2. The measure of our sorrow.  

1. Simply all our sorrows must be proportionable to their cause.  
2. Moderate, not as men without hope neither for friends nor crosses, nor continue overlong.  
3. Comparatively, we ought to grieve more for our sins then crosses, for the faults of others than their afflictions. We should grieve most for sin appretiatiuè, if not intensiuè. It should be a Christians best sorrow for quality, if not his greatest for quantity; Sorrow for sin is more intellectual and durable, Semper dolet & de dolore gaudet, the matter of this sorrow still continues, yet a Christian is to testify his godly sorrow, sometimes more than another, 1 Sam. 7. 6. Zechary●2 ●2. 10, 11.   
The Objects of it, are  
Such things as are principally and properly matter of grief to him, either the absence of that wherein their real goodness lies, or the presence of a real evil.  

1. The want of God's presence in his favour and grace, the want of his Image and Ordinances.  
2. The presence of that which is really evil, God's wrath and displeasure. David and Heman could have no peace, because God was angry. To lie under the guilt of sin, Psal. 51. to be under the power of corruption, Rom. 7. when Gods name is dishonoured. Psalm. 119. Rivers of tears run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy Law, Rom. 9 I have great heaviness of heart, because my brethren are cast off.   
The gracious Effects or Fruits of godly sorrow.  
Eccles. 7. 3. that is, by the sadness of the heart expressed in the countenance, the heart is made better, 2 Cor. 7. 10, 11.  

1. In general, it is a marvellous help to Repentance, it brings forth Repentance never to be repent of. There are two comprehensive duties Faith and Repentance, Repentance is the turning of the soul from evil unto good, it stands chiefly in our affections, and consists in turning them from evil, godly sorrow and hatred do this.  
2. More particularly, it worketh great care and fear of being overtaken with sin, indignation and zeal, it makes the soul very humble.  
3. It is an excellent help to patience and meek subjection to the hand of God, I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.   
Some think it is a crime to mourn for their own sins, and those that would be counted Christians of the higher form, they say▪ Ministers which press this duty are legal, the Gospel taketh not away the conscience of sin, though it doth the fear of damnation. To scoff at mourning and humiliation was once a badge of profaneness; Those that say justified persons must not mourn for sins, may as well say they must not have an heart of flesh.  
Marks of godly Sorrow:  
Consider, 1. When we mourn, whether we grieve for sin when we are quiet from crosses, and when our sin is kept from the world, and when we have no terrors of conscience, than our sorrow for sin is because we have offended God. Sin is made grievous indeed by the other effects, and when they come the sorrow is made more and more troublesome.  
2. For what sins we mourn, If for such sin as will not bring discredit in the world, yet if they offend God more we grieve more, this is a good sign.  
3. In what sort we behave ourselves in mourning, if we go to God, complain against ourselves to him, confess to him, lament before him, seek to reconcile ourselves to him. judas ran crying to the high-Priest; Peter wept to God in secret.  
Motives to godly Sorrow:  
First, It is a great evidence of thy love to God, Ezekiel 16. later end, the Church mourns when he was pacified to her, to think how she had grieved him.  
Secondly, Often meditate of the wonderful fruit godly sorrow brings forth in the soul of man, the mournful Christians which grieve when God calls for sorrow, are the most fruitful in afflictions.  
Means or Helps to godly Sorrow:  
1. Meditation, 1. Of the necessity and profit of it, if we bewail not our sins 
Int●eamur quemadmodum ubi Deum dixit nolle sacrificium, ibi Deum ostendit velle sacrificium. Non vult ergo sacrificium trucidati pecoris, sed vult sacrificium contriti cordis. Aug. de civ. Dei, lib. 10. c. 5.  we cannot attain pardon of them, for Christ is sent to bind up the broken in heart, to comfort mourners, to refresh and give rest unto the weary soul, Zech. 12. 10, 12. & 13. james 4. 8, 9 Voluntary sorrow or remorse of heart whereto the soul doth of it own accord strive to work itself by taking pains with itself, is exceeding medicinable, it hath a purging power, a healing virtue, God's Spirit doth work with and by it, to the making clean of the heart and hand; Godly sorrow breedeth Repentance, that is, Reformation of heart and life. Only the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ can cleanse from the guilt of sin, and deserve by way of merit the remission of the punishment thereof, but the tears of penitent sorrow will help to wash away the stain and filth of sin, and to break the dominion of it from off the soul, and to confirm the heart against it, a man must grieve for his sins here, or 
Meditate what mourning and sorrow sin hath cost thy Saviour  howl for them hereafter, and by this he shall prevent many chastisements, and be armed against carnal sorrow, and be made capable of sound consolation.  
2. Prayer to God that he would perform his promise of taking away the stony heart, and giving a fleshy heart in stead of it.  
3. A good man must represent his sins unto his own soul, as exceeding grievous 
Often remember and read over the evils that thy soul is guilty of.  and dangerous and loathsome. He must aggravate sin to himself, and cause his understanding to apprehend it a very vile thing, worthy to be lamented and wept for more than any thing in all the world besides, and to that end he must consider,  

1. How exceeding many and innumerable his sins are?  
2. The greatness of some of them in regard of aggravating circumstances, most gross and palpable for matter, presumptuous for manner, against plain and evident light, conscience, reproofs, purposes, vows and all helps, made even a trade of them. I know your great sins, saith the Prophet; And this people hath committed a great sin, saith Moses; and so David, Forgive mine iniquity for it is great.  
3. The hatefulness of sin in regard of the vile effects thereof.   
First, It doth wrong and offend God in his Sovereign Authority and greatness, and in his wisdom, and in his right to the creatures who is so excellent and great.  
Secondly, It hath brought much misery upon all the creatures, the earth is barren, the Sea troubled, the air infected, and every thing out of order, because of sin. We have lost the state of innocency, are cast out of Paradise, deprived of God's favour, his Image, the dominion over the creatures that we had, forfeited our right to heavenly glory, lost our knowledge of God, and of all his excellent creatures. The soul of man is dead in sins by reason of sin, and his body mortal, and both subject to eternal death. We are cursed in all that we put our hands to, because we have transgressed the Law of God.  
Thirdly, Consider Christ's sufferings, in which we may see the odiousness of sin.  
Fourthly, The torments of hell which the damned do suffer, because they did not in time bewail their transgressions, and we shall endure if we grieve not.  
Fifthly, Call to mind the examples of those which have mourned for sins, David, Peter, Mary Magdalen.  
The affections of the irascible appetite follow, viz. those which respect their object with difficulty of attaining or avoiding of it.   

CHAP. XXV. Hope and Fear. I. Of Hope.  
1. THe Nature of this Affection. 
Hope, trust and confidence are all one.   
Philosophers call it Extentionem appetitus naturalis.  
It is an earnest and strong inclination and expectation of some great good apprehended as possible to be obtained, though not without difficulty. 
Spei objectum est bonum futurum, arduum, possibile adipisci, saith Aquinas. We may and must hope, 1. in regard of ourselves, for all good things both spiritual and temporal, both for this and a better life: As 1. For salvation and remission of sins. 2. For maintenance in this world, and all other needful comforts. 3. Deliverance out of crosses so far as shall be good for us. 2. In regard of others, we must hope for the welfare of the Church, and the ruin of the enemies thereof.   
It is a great Question, Whether it be more difficult to trust in God for spiritual or temporal blessings? The promises for temporal things are not so express, and they are not fulfilled in the letter. On the other side, there are more natural prejudices against pardon of sin then daily bread. We do not so easily believe Gods supply of temporal blessings, because bodily wants are more urgent. He that will not trust in Christ for provision for his body, will not trust in him for salvation of his soul.  
First, The object about which it deals is some great and suitable good, especially salvation, Gal. 5. 5. Col. 1. 3.  
The good is thus qualified:  

1. It is Futurum, Hope is of good things to come. Joy is in a good present, fear is of evils to come.  
2. Possibile, else we never expect it, herein it differs from despair.  
3. Difficile, because it ever looks on the good it waits for, as not to be obtained by its own strength.   
Secondly, The act of what the soul doth in reference to this object, an expectation, this the Scripture expresseth by waiting, patient abiding.  
All hope is either Humane, the expectation which the rational creature hath from some second cause, this the Scripture calls A vain hope, A Spiders-web, A lie. Divine, the expectation of the will to receive good from the hand of God. The ground of such a hope must be the Word of God, by which alone his power and truth stand engaged to us, and to hope for any thing but from them, is vain. So we must either have a general or particular promise 
* Act. 26. 6, 7. Ephes. 2. 12. Heb. 6. 18. Col. 1. ●3.  of the thing hoped for, or else it is idle to expect it. Therefore David repeateth it more than once, that he hoped in God's Word, Psal. 130. 5. & Psal. 119. 49, 81. So Abraham had God's promise for a son in his old-age before he expected one.  
The measure of Hope.  
It must be strong and firm without wavering, so as to hold out even against hope, all likelihood.  
The continuance of it. It must hold out against all delaying and procrastination, 1 Pet. 1. 13. this is waiting on God, which is commanded.  
2. The Image of God in this affection. There will be no use of hope at all in glory, there was little use of it in the primitive condition of man. The object of his happiness was present and enjoyed, God, his favour and communion, and all things in him, but this did not continue.  
3. The corruption of this affection.  
1. The corrupt object of our hope when we are depraved.  
2. The woeful effects and cursed fruits it brings forth.  
First, The object, that which is the only excellent object of it a wicked man hath wholly lost, God, his Image, favour, grace, Ephes. 2. 14. & 1. 11. That object though suitable is not looked on by him under that notion.  
2. There is no declaration of the will of God to reach out this unto him. Although there be no real hope, yet there is a bastardly hope which the Scripture calls presumption, the hope and vain expectation of the wicked will be cut off, it is an ungrounded confidence whereby a sinner without warrant will promise himself all good.  
Secondly, The woeful effects which this false hope produceth in the soul of man. 
juvenes multum habent de futuro & parum de praeterito, & ideo quia memoria est praeteriti, spes autem futuri, parum habent de memoria, sed mul●um vivunt in spe. Aquin. 1 a, 2ae Quaest 40. Art. 6.   

1. It is a great means to draw them violently into the ways of sin. Young men are therefore easily beguiled, because they are full of hope.  
2. This corrupt hope wraps up the soul in a cursed carnal security, job 18. 13, 14.  
3. When this is cut down it usually ends in bitter despair, because the confidence it had to uphold itself was a mere sigment.  

4. The Sanctification of this affection:  
Because the greatest part of a Christians good is unseen and unenjoyed in this world, therefore hope must have a great influence on a believers life to comfort, stay and refresh him, Rom. 8. 24, 25.    
The work of God's Spirit in sanctifying this affection:  

1. In turning it to its right object, and upon a right ground.  
2. In producing the right, proper, and natural effects of it; hope thus rectified is the establishing of the soul in all storms. It looks at two things▪ the good to be enjoyed, and the means whereby it is to be enjoyed.   
God in Christ, and the Spirit, is the principal object that hope closeth with, 
The Covenant is rather the ground then the object of Hope.  jer. 14. 8. Rom. 15. 13. Col. 1. 27. 1 Pet. 1. 21.  
2. The less principal are the promises concerning this and a better life, Heb. 11. or rather the things promised.  
Secondly, The means, the good will of God, the Intercession of Christ, the Ordinances.  
The ground of hope is faith in the Word; the act of hope is expectation, the putting out of the rational appetite in the expectation of a future good which is 
Falsum non potest subesse fidei.  difficult, not a vain uncertain expectation, but a sure expectation of it, the object is sure, if I believe it, this makes the soul possess itself in patience, Rom. 8. 24, 25. Heb. 11. 1. Faith looks at the truth as present, Hope closeth with it as future.  
There is a Certainty▪  

1. Of the object, when the thing I believe or hope for is infallible.  
2. Of the subject, when the thing is made sure to my soul.   
Two things are contrary to Hope, Despair and Presumption:  
Despair is a falling of the heart from the future good conceived, as inattainable at least to the party's self. It is a soul racking itself with what is, and what will be. See job 13. 14.  
We must despair of attaining any good thing by our own industry without God's special help. We must not despair of attaining any good thing by God's gracious blessing, favour and mercy, viz. power against sin, pardon of it, deliverance out of crosses and life eternal. It is not a bare absence or privation of hope, but a passion contrary to hope, as love to hatred. Francis Spira in the despair of his soul, cried out, Verily desperation is hell itself, he said, My sin is greater than God's mercy.  
Presumption, which is the excess of hope; the Papists expect heaven as a reward of their obedience. It is a taking of things asore-hand, or a looking for that God hath not promised.  
What the proper use of this holy affection is to God's people whilst they live in this world.  

1. To be a stay and safeguard to their souls in all times of difficulty, Heb. 6. The Anchor of the soul.  
2. It is while we are in this world all the possession we have of the other world, Rom. 6. We are saved by hope.   
Marks of a sanctified Hope:  

1. The holy Scripture breeds it, Rom. 15. 4. Col. 1. 23. it discovers thy desperate 
It closeth with the good things the Gospel holds out, and in the way that it holds them out.  condition in thyself, Lam. 3. 24, 25.  
2. It is grounded upon true faith in Christ, Rom. 15. 13. Col. 1. 27.  
3. Such a one minds heavenly things more than earthly, Heb. 11. 15, 16.  
4. He that hath true hope to go to heaven will be careful to prepare and fit himself for it, 2 Cor. 5. 9 1 joh. 3. 3. Psal. 37. 3. because the soul expects good from God, it labours to walk acceptably with him.  
5. It carries the soul cheerfully on in the use of all those means which the Lord hath appointed for attaining that end, Heb. 10. 23.  
6. The use of it principally appears when storms and difficulties arise, the real use 
It is compared to an Anchor, and an Helmet, Ephes. 6. 17. compared with 1 Thess. 5. 8.  of it is to stay the soul; when troubles come, it quiets the soul and makes it patient and content under pressures, 1 Tim. 4. 10.   
Motives to Hope:  
First, There is a necessity of it, we cannot live without it; it is an expectation of an absent good, we shall be dashed on the rocks continually if we have not this Anchor of our lives, Prov. 10. 28. 1 Pet. 1. 13.  
Secondly, When this grace is wrought in the soul it will keep it in a quiet calm condition.  
Thirdly, It will be a great help to Holiness. He that hath this hope will puririsie himself as he is pure. One cannot have a Gospel-hope, and lead a wicked life.  
Fourthly, This hope will never deceive you, or make the soul ashamed, Rom. 5. 5. The hope of the wicked is like a Spiders-web, and the giving up of the ghost.  
Means to get a sanctified Hope:  
In general you must labour to be new-creatures, the Spirit of God must work it.  

1. Let thy hope never rest on any thing but a word of God, Rom. 15. 4. there is no bottom for this Anchor but that.  
2. Meditate on the All-sufficiency of God who hath given thee that word, Rom. 4. 18, 19 Psal. 9 10. 

1. On God's Almighty power, how infinitely able he is to help.  
2. On his free grace, on his own accord he makes and keeps the promise.  
3. His mercy, goodness and faithfulness.    
3. Experience of God's dealings with others, jam. 5. 11. and ourselves, Psalm 42. 8. Rachel when she had one son, she called him joseph, saith she, God will add 
Rom. 5. 7.  another. Psal. 77. 10, 11. The servants of God of old did write some special name on their deliverance, or named the place so as to remember it, to help them both to praise God for mercies received, and to strengthen them to hope in God for time to come, as Eben-ezer, The stone of help, jehovah-jireh, The valley of Berach●, Psal. 78. 9, 10.  
4. The examples of his mercy and favour to others, Psal. 22. 4. & 44. 1, 2.  
5. Such a one must be careful to walk in holiness and righteousness before God, 1 joh. 3. 3, 29. job 31. 24.    

CHAP. XXVI. II. Fear.  
IT is that passion which makes the heart to shrink and withdraw itself from an 
Objectum timoris est malum futurum dissicile, cui resisti non potest. Aquinas 1a, 2ae. Quaest 41. Art. 2. Vox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à militia sumpta est, propriéque dicitur, cum quis se in fugam conjicit. Est enim à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, quod est fugere Timor appellatur, quia propriè sit expectatio ●orum censurae, qui in dignitate sunt constituti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 censero. Plus autem est timere aut metuere, quam vereri: unde illud: Malo vereri, quam timeri me à meis. Metus est dolor quidam, ac perturbatio, ex opinione impendentis mali, quod vel perniciem, vel molestiam afferre possit. Arist. Vos. Instit. orat. l. 2. c. 6 Sect. 1. & 2.  imminent evil which it conceiveth itself now unable to escape or suffer.  
First, It must be exercised alone upon fit objects. The things we may and must fear are real evils.  
1. Natural, as poverty, shame, danger, death, when God or our lawful Governor threaten them against us, for we must fear God's threats and tremble at his Word, or when God or the Magistrate executes them, therefore when we hear of the punishment of sinners, also it must make us fear. jacob feared Esau, and David saith, He feared reproach, that is, due and just reproach.  
2. Spiritual, at all times, viz. sin, God's anger and eternal damnation, we must fear to sin, to incur God's anger, and bring ourselves to death, as joseph feared, How shall I do this great evil? and Paul saith, Having this terror, we persuade men; and job feared the judgement of God, and durst not wrong his servant. So long must we fear eternal punishment of sin till we be freed from it by Christ, and then we must fear it no more.  
Secondly, The measure of our fear in two things.  
1. All our fears of what things soever ought to be moderate, so far as to awaken wit, courage and care to avoid peril, and no farther. For all the affections of man were planted in him to further his welfare, and they must be fitted to that end in the measure of their working. As we see in Jacob's fear of Esau, and in Christ's fear in the Garden; yea our fear of God's anger and eternal death should be so moderate as only to move us to use the right means of escape, even of submitting ourselves too God. Only in one case excessive fear is no sin, but alone a fruit of weakness, viz. when God shows himself extraordinarily in terrible signs, or when an Angel shows himself.  
2. We must fear spiritual evils more than natural, sin more than man's displeasure or any loss, and damnation above all other evils whatsoever, as the Saints of God and Martyrs in former times have done. David saith, I will not fear what man can do unto me; And I will not fear though I walk in the valley of death.  
We must not fear  

1. The causeless anger or reproach of men, nor imaginary evils, The wicked sty when none pursueth. The noise of a leaf shall chase them, Levit. The shadows of the mountains seem men to them, judg. 4.  
2. More real evils when they oppose us in a way of our duty, Fear not them that kill the body; fear not any of these things that thou shalt suffer.  
3. The evils against which God hath secured us by his gracious promise, as the Lord bids joshua not to fear, and the people are commanded not to fear when they shall see a great army. David said, God is my light and shield, I will not fear what man can do unto me. A Christian reconciled to God should not fear any outward danger, for he hath God engaged to him to save and deliver him in all extremity. The fearful must to hell, those which fear when and what they should not.   
The way to rectify this passion is to get faith in God, true fear of God and a good conscience toward God; pray to him to sanctify it.  
The affection of fear must be distinguished from the grace and virtue of fear. Though where ever this virtue is there the affection by power of the virtue will be ordered also aright, yet they must be distinguished, for the affection of fear is in all men naturally, yea in the very Devils, but the grace of the fear of God is a part of sanctification, and cannot be found but in the elect child of God.  
The fear of God may be thus defined.  
It is a grace whereby a man is so overawed with the apprehension of God's greatness 
joseph feared to sin against God. Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. See Dr Gouge on Eph. 5. 2●. Mr Wheatley on Noah's example.  and presence, that he dare not offend him, Deut. 23. 12, 13, 14. Eccles. 8. 12. Prov. 23. 17.  
The fear of God is an excellent grace, 1 Sam. 12. 14, 15. Mal. 1. 6. jer. 5. 22. I will show you whom you shall fear, him that can cast soul and body into hell fire, saith Christ.  
There is not any one virtue more frequently commanded nor abundantly commended in Scripture. It is the first and chiefest point of wisdom, Prov. 1. 7. & 9 10. Psal. 111. 10.  
Fear of the Lord is taken  

1. Generally for all graces and gracious dispositions, Eccles. 12. 13. as faith in the New Testament carries all graces with it, so fear in the Old: compare those two Proverbs, Prov. 13. 14. with 14. 27.  
2. For that affection whereby the soul in a filial manner is overawed with the greatness and goodness of God, Host 3. 4.   
Reasons. 1. From God, he is in himself every way surpassing excellent, having in him a perfect mixture of greatness and goodness, able to destroy, and yet willing to save and help, and in respect of us he hath an infinite and unlimited Sovereignty, as being a Creator who hath full and absolute power to dispose of the creature which he hath made of nothing, he can save and destroy, he hath authority to command, and reason to be displeased, if any thing be done by us otherwise then becometh us.  
Secondly, From ourselves, we are mean and vile in comparison of God, no way 
There is a natural distance between him and us, he being the Creator we the creature, dust and ashes. 2. A moral distance, he is infinitely pure, we unholy and sinful.  able to resist him or fly from him, or to deliver ourselves out of his hand, and worthy to be subject to him in the lowest degree.  
Thirdly, The effects of this fear are most excellent.  
1. It interests him in whom it is to all the gracious promises of God for this and a better life, it plainly proves a man to be regenerate and sanctified, and to be Gods true child and faithful servant.  
2. It worketh a great tranquillity of mind, and a most settled quietness of heart, it armeth the heart against all carnal and inordinate 
* This fear was a stain in the face of all Melancthons' excellencies, Nemo modestior quidem sed nemo timidior, saith Zanchy of him, in an Epistle to Bulling. Pessimus in dubiis augur timor metus pessimus tyrannas.  fear of other things, Exod. 1. 17. Isa. 8. 12, 13. Luk. 12. 4, 5. and strengthens against all temptations.  
There is a double fear:  

1. Of Reverence, a reverend respect to God, this is kept up by considering Gods Attributes discovered in the Word, Psal. 16. 8. job 31. begin. Isa. 6. 3. Exod. 23. 11. Hab. 3. 16.  
2. Of caution or circumspection in our conversation. This is stirred up by considering, 

1. The strictness of the Law, Psal. 19 9 it condemns not only acts but sinful lusts and motions, Psal. 119. 96. 1 Cor. 2. 3.  
2. The sad falls of the Saints when they have laid aside the fear of God. Peter fell by a damsels question.     
There is a servile fear of God as a Judge, and a filial fear of him as a Father, the one is ne puniat, the other ne deserat. Aug.  
Courage or Boldness:  
It is a passion quite contrary to fear, which stirreth up and quickeneth the mind against evil to repel or bear the same without dejectedness.  
Saul, David, and David's worthies, jonathan, Caleb and joshua were courageous. A godly man is bold as a young Lion. Be of good courage, Be strong, saith God to joshua. Caleb and joshua would have gone up to possess the Land notwithstanding the strength of the Canaanites.  
There is a double Resolution:  

1. In sin and iniquity, jer. 18. 12. The devils are confirmed in wickedness.  
2. In the truths and ways of God, Dan. 3. 18. This is an almighty work of God's Spirit, whereby a Christian is able to do and suffer glorious things for God and his cause, Dan. 1. 8. Act. 21. Nehemiah, Esther, Athanasius, Luther and others were thus courageous.   
There is boldness with God that flows from innocency, job 11. 15. and that flows from slattery, a boldness that ariseth from a seared conscience, Deut. 29. 19 and from a reprobate conscience, Heb. 6. 1. john 14. 17.  
It must be well ordered:  
First, For the Object of it, it must be exercised against all sorts of evils, Natural, which may come upon us in the way of our calling and duty, as David used courage against Goliath, 1 Sam. 17. 34. jonathan against the Philistims, and Esther against the danger of death; the Judges of Israel were courageous; and Paul in his sufferings, and chiefly Christ Jesus, when he set himself to go up to jerusalem and to bear the curse of the Law. It must be withdrawn from unfit objects, we must not be courageous against God's threats, nor great works, as thunder, nor against our betters, nor against the evil of sin and damnation. To be bold to do evil, and to despise God's threats is hardness of heart. This was the sin of the old world, and the Philistims when the Ark came against them, and of Pharaoh.  
Secondly, For the measure of our courage, it must be always moderate, so as to resist and bear such evils as do necessarily offer themselves to be resisted and born, not to provoke danger.  
2. It must be used more against public enemies and evils then private, and against spiritual evils then natural; we must resist Satan, strong in the faith.  
Motives to true Christian Courage:  

1. It is both munimentum, the armour of a Christian, and ornamentum the honour of a Christian.  
2. Consider what examples we have in Scripture of this virtue, Moses, Exod. 10. 26. joshua, Daniel, Esther, Peter, Paul.   
Means of getting Courage.  

1. See your fearfulness with grief and shame, and confess it to God with sorrow, for in the acknowledgement of the want of Grace begins the supply thereof.  
2. Consider of the needfulness, worth and excellency of this Grace.  
3. Beg of God the Spirit of Courage.  
4. Take heed of self-confidence, Heb. 11. 34. Frustra nititur qui non innititur. Bern. Remember Peter and Dr Pendleton.   
In the last place I shall handle some compound affections, Anger, Reverence, Zeal. It suits well with God's Attributes and his Dispensations, that we should Love, Joy, and be confident, and yet fear, Psal. 11. Matth. 8. 8. God discovers different Attributes of Mercy and Justice, on which we are to exercise different affections. His Dispensations also are various, as there is a fatherly love, so there is ira paterna, Deut. 26. 11. Judas 11. See Phil. 2. 13. 
There is the passion or affection of anger, which is a good thing, as all natural affections are, & the vice of anger which is sinful and wicked. It is the offence of the will upon the apprehension of an injury done to it. Ira & iracundia differunt, ut iratus, & iracundus. Ira de causa est, iracundia de vitio multum irascentis, Donatus. Adel. Act. 4. Sc. 7.   

Of Anger.  
Anger is a most powerful passion, and hath by an excellency engrossed the general name of passion to itself.  
The most usual name used by the Hebrews to signify Anger is Aph, which signifies also the nose, and by a Synecdoche the whole face, either because in a man's anger the breath doth more vehemently and often issue out of the nose, which is as it were the smoke issuing from the flame kindled about the heart, or else because in the face anger is soon discerned. The Grecians used two names to express this affection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the Latin it is called ira, because it maketh a man quasi ex seire, as it were to go out of himself; Ira furor brevis, It is the rising of a man's heart against one that behaveth himself amiss, to punish him.  
It is a mixed affection compounded of these three affections, Hatred, Desire, Grief.  
1. There is hatred in pure just and innocent anger, of the sin and fault principally, and a little for the present, of the faulty person: but in corrupt anger of the fault little or nothing, of the person most of all.  
2. There is Grief in pure anger at the dishonour done to God, in corrupt anger at the wrong done to ones self or his friend.  
3. There is desire in pure anger of using means according to our vocation of 
Romani non habent vocabula quibus irae gradus distinguant. Nisi quod gravior ira 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocatur furor. Vos. Instit orat. l. 2. ●. 2. Sect. 1.  bringing the party to repentance, and hindering the infection of the sin: in unjust anger of revenging ourselves upon the party, and delighting in his smart, therefore it is so violent a passion, because it is composed of those three, all which affections are fiery. It is easy to perceive all these three concurring in every angry person. Therefore such as are in love or in pain, or in sorrow or hungry, in deep studies, are very teachy and soon moved to anger, for in all these there is an excessiveness of some one or two of these passions, whereof anger is made, and therefore anger is soon provoked, seeing that these will soon breed a third, as wood and fire will cause a flame with a little blowing.  
The formal cause of it, is when any thing is highly esteemed by us, and that is 
Ca●sa ob quam alii irascimur, est contemptus, five negligentia Vos. Rh●t. l. 2. c. 2.  contemned by another.  
I. The rectitude of it.  
In the state of Innocency there was little use of it, while man did not offend God, nothing offended him. Christ was perfectly holy and yet angry at the hardness of men's hearts, and the pollution of the Temple; so man might have been angry at the sin of the devils when he knew it. Then it would have been no perturbation to his spirit nor blinding of his mind.  
II. The corruption of it.  
Wherein observe  

1. The Object this corrupt anger is conversant about, and the measure of it.  
2. The Causes which produce it.  
3. The many cursed Effects it produceth in men's lives.   
Of the first.  
There are many Objects of anger. The right object is dishonour done to God's 
The object of it is our corrupt self, any injury offered to our name, ease. There is a disorder of anger in regard of the motive. Four kinds of things should not provoke anger in a man 1. Needful duties which God hath enjoined unto a man, so Nabuchadnezzar was angry with the three children for not worshipping the Images which he set up, and judas with the woman for anointing Christ's feet. 2. Things lawful and indifferent, which neither God nor man forbid, but are left to my choice and liberty, ought not to be a motive to anger, as Eliah was angry with David for enquiring about the reward which should be given to him that did kill Goliath, he might do it the better to whet his own courage and the courage of others. 3. Natural imperfections are not to move anger but pity, as to be angry with one because he stammers, because he speaks over-fast, is slow of wit, dull of capacity. Lastly, sins of mere infirmity and frailty, Gal. 6. 1. so the anger of Paul and Barnabas one against the other in the case of taking Mark with them to visit the Churches, was sinful.  name, sin, that only displeaseth God.  
The object of it is mistaken,  

1. When I am angry with God, he is exempted in regard of his excellency and spotless holiness. jonah was faulty this way, and Solomon notes it of men who have perverted their ways, that they fret against God.  
2. When I am angry with my Superiors, it being the passion of correcting, punishing, the faults of such should grieve us not anger us, therefore jonathan was not altogether blameless for being angry against his father Saul in the behalf of David.  
3. When I am angry with an innocent party, where there is no fault there should be no displeasure.   
Lastly, In most cases to be angry with unreasonable or senseless creatures which are too mean to be the objects of anger, as Balaam was wroth with his Ass; so to be angry with a horse for stumbling or starting, unless when they be exorbitant from their natural goodness, as when the Lion and Bear would worry a sheep.  
Secondly, One offends in the measure or quantity of anger, when he is angry more then enough. The proper end of anger is to awaken courage and set it a work to chastise evil, or to resist and beat it down that the mind may not be surprised with it; such a moderate stirring of this passion as doth serve thus to set the mind a work to resist and oppose a fault or evil thing, is allowable, but if it come to a greater heat or flame then so, than it exceeds and is naught. If it be more vehement where the offence is less, than it is excessive. There may be a fault in the defect, when we are not moved, a just occasion of anger being offered, as in admonishing, reproving or correcting.  
Secondly, The Causes which produce it.  
Since the fall the natural humours of the body. The immediate cause of it is pride and arrogancy the fruit of self-love, Proud and haughty scorner is his name that deals in fierce wrath, Should such a one as I be thus dealt with?  
2. Our low esteem of others in comparison of ourselves.  
3. Those things which should cause us to be meek and quiet, as learning, wisdom, any affront done to that excellency which God hath given us, whereas these should cause us to be meek, our weakness (which should also make us meek) puts us into passion, simple and sick folks are most passionate.  
Thirdly, The cursed Effects and fruits of this passion of anger.  

1. It produceth a great deal of sorrow and woe in this world, The angry man never wants woe; who hath reproaches, enemies?  
2. It disarms the soul of its own force, and lays it open to be invaded by an enemy, In patience possess your souls. Prov. 25. ult.  

3. Puts out the eye of our reason, Ira furor brevis, Eccles. 7. 9  Impedit ira animum, ne possit cernere verum. 
jonah said to God, I do well to be angry to death.   
4. It hurries all the other passions of the soul it's own way.  
5. It is destructive to one of the principal ends of man's being, to humane society, Prov. 22. 24.  
6. It sets the tongue on fire, whence comes reviling, raging, Moses when he was angry spoke unadvisedly with his lips.  
7. It produceth abundance of wicked actions, swearing, cursing, quarrelling, hurting and rude carriage, crying, stamping, staring.  
8. It hinders a man from any communion with God: 

1. From hearing, Receive the ingrasfed word with meekness.  
2. Prayer, 1 Tim. 2. 8. Unbelief and anger hinder our prayers.  
3. The Sacrament, that is a feast of love.    
9 It quencheth all the motions of God's Spirit and closeth with the devil, he by it possesseth the very soul, Ephes. 4. 26, 27.   
Man's nature is inclined to causeless, ungrounded and excessive anger, 1 Sam. 20. 30, 31. Eliab was angry with David, when he spoke valiantly. Nabuchadnezzar raged against the three children for not worshipping his golden Image, and against the Wisemen of Babel for not being able to declare his dream. Herod also was wroth against the Wisemen, because they returned another way, and brought him not word back again concerning the child Jesus whom they came to inquire of and worship. A godly man may fall into passionate fits, be over-cholerick, as David and jonah.  
Reason's why man is so prone to this unreasonable distemper.  

1. The abundance of those vices in every one which concur to the working of unjust anger. 

1. Self-love which makes one prone to anger, because it is so wakeful, jealous, observative.  
2. Folly, Anger rests in the bosom of fools; A fool in the day of his wrath is known: An angry man exalteth folly, gives it a high room in his heart, makes it a great ruler and commander within him, now all men are in the corruption of nature fools, and have that title given them by the holy Ghost.  
3. Pride, By pride alone cometh contention, saith Solomon.    
2. Anger is a common fault, therefore Solomon saith, Make no friendship with an angry man, lest thou learn his ways.  
3. Men make small account of it, a little passion, choler, they say.  
4. The bodily temper in the far greater number furthers it, the fiery choler which is in a man's body is the instrument of this hot vice.   
So having a soul defiled with those vices which beget anger, a body consisting of such humours as will set anger on work, finding many examples of it, and making little account of it, no wonder if a man do prove a wrathful creature.  
This anger is greatly disgraced in Scripture, Prov. 12. 16. & 14. 17, 29. & 21. 24. & 19 19 & 22. 24. & 29. 22. it is a fruit of the flesh.  
Lastly, The work of grace in sanctifying anger. 
The well ordering of this passion.   

1. The efficient cause of holy anger. The principal cause is the Spirit of God in planting a new nature in the soul, and so in this affection. Moral Philosophy may go a great way in moderating anger, but the Spirit of God only makes it holy.  
2. Sanctified reason is the immediate caller of it out and orderer of it: if it be 
Sanctified anger is zeal, and sanctified restraint of anger is meekness and forbearing, a meek spirit is a thing much set by of God.  holy anger it is a grace, and therefore must be called out by reason.   
Secondly, The motive or occasion of it, we are angry for what we should  

1. Gross and presumptuous sins done wilfully, openly, as Christ was angry with the Pharisees and Peter. Sins gross for matter, presumptuous for manner, and mischievous in effect, not common imperfections, weaknesses.  
2. Insolences against the Church and Commonweal.  
3. For wrongs offered to us in a public place, a place of Authority, as Moses.   
Thirdly, The object about which it is conversant, only sin, the persons with whom we may be angry, are  
Our Inferiors, or near Equals, not our eminent Superiors, though they do us some wrong, Eccles 8. 3. It is an affection of punishing, and we may punish no others, lest of all must we be angry with God, Prov. 19 3.  
Fourthly, For the quickness of it, we must be slow to anger, Eccles. 7. 9 Pro. 14. 17▪ 29. Mat. 5. 22. not without a cause or unadvisedly.  
Fifthly, The measure of it. 
Passio appetitus sensitivi in tantum est bona, in quantum ratione regulatur. Si autem ordinem rationis excludat, est mala. Ordo autem rationis in ira potest attendi, quantum ad duo. Primò quidem, quantum ad appetibile in quod tendit, quod est vindicta. Alio modo attenditur ordo rationis circa iram, quantum ad modum irascendi: Ut scilicet motus irae non immoderatè senescat, nec interius, nec exterius. Aquin. 2a, 2ae, Quaest 158. Art. 2. Vide Art. 1.   

1. It must be always temperate, so much as to quicken spirits, not darken reason.  
2. It must not exceed the proportion of the evil, when God is much dishonoured it must be more, as in Moses.   
Sixthly, For continuance.  
It never must be long, The Sun must not go down upon our wrath, it must not be a bedfellow. There must not be more anger than is requisite for the true and proper end of anger. The corrupt end of corrupt anger is revenge. But the true and proper end for which God did plant it in the heart was twofold.  

1. That it might serve as a means to enable the body and mind more to procure its just defence against any evil or hurt that should be offered it, especially against any sinful temptation: Christ was angry with the Devil when he tempted him to worship him; jacob with Rachel, Gen. 30. 2.  
2. To stir us up when need is to use earnestness for the reforming of sin in others which have committed it, so Christ was angry against them that did buy and sell in the Temple, and often against the hypocritical Pharisees, which made him so sharp with them oftentimes.   
Marks of sanctified anger:  

1. What is the thing which stirs this passion? Is it because God is dishonoured? Moses his spirit was never stirred above twice in his own cause, but he was impatient when the Israelites worshipped the golden Calf. The zeal of God's house consumed Christ.  
2. Such a one is most of all angry with himself, because he knows no man commits more injuries against that which is dear to himself, God's glory, his own peace, against his own wander, failings.  
3. He observes that rule, Be angry and sin not, because it is against sin.  
4. Holy anger will provoke him to his duty, Nehemiah was troubled when the Sabbath was profaned.  
5. It doth not exceed for measure.   
Means. 1. To provoke this affection against sin, 2. To bridle our inordinate passion about things for which we should not be angry.  
Of the first. 
Love God and hate sin.   
Consider first how amiable a thing it is for a man to be impatient for God, a great part of our holy zeal (which is the edge of the soul) is anger against sin. It is intensus gradus purae affectionis, zeal is a composition of love and anger.  
Secondly, God himself is extremely angry with sin, and the workers of iniquity. He is jealous, wrathful, he drowned all the world, burned five Cities, made his Son drink of the cup of his wrath, was never angry for any thing but sin.  
Thirdly, Rightly understand the nature of sin, what ever may call out anger meets only in sin, it is an injury against God, a contempt, an ingratitude against him, who is the holiest, wisest, excellentest in heaven and earth: who are they that do this, base creatures, worms, potsherds, that receive every thing which is good from him?  
Secondly, How to bridle our inordinate passions:  

1. Take heed of pride and overweening thyself, Pro. 11. 2. & 21. 24. David was much provoked at Nabal, but suffered Shimei to rail at him, there is nothing to be esteemed but the glory of God, his favour, communion with him.  
2. Avoid suspicion, love which is opposite to anger, is said not to be suspicious.  
3. Abstain from all occasions of anger, take heed of tale-bearers, resist it in the beginning.  
4. Consider the excellency of meekness and long-suffering, rightly understand the hand from which every injury comes, real or supposed: Shimei cannot curse David, but God bids him, he order it.  
5. Look to thy own thoughts, pass the thing over, do not think of it, Matth. 15. 19  
6. Consider the glorious examples of Moses, David, Christ himself.  
7. Often disgrace this vice unto yourselves, call to mind how earnestly God hath condemned it, how he hath vilified it, and those that give themselves unto it. Anger rests in the bosom of fools; the holy Ghost bids us put away anger and wrath, bitterness, crying and evil speaking; he bids us, Walk not with an angry man, nor have fellowship with a furious man; he saith, An angry man aboundeth in transgression, it is opposite to Love, the best of virtues, a very drunkenness, and disgrace thyself to thyself.    

Reverence.  
It is an affection by which the soul is stirred to entertain the good which appeareth 
It may be f●lt working when a man approacheth a Prince or some eminent superior, he finds a kind of motion carrying him to give all due respect to him. It seemeth to stand in the joynt-working of love, fear, desire, love towards the person or thing, fear to offend, lose or abuse the person or thing, desire to win it, and to be the better for it.  to be of some worth or excellency according to its worth.  
It must be exercised upon fit objects, things and persons reverend.  
The holy things of God, his Sanctuary, Sabbath, Word, Sacraments and other Ordinances in which men draw near unto him, Levit. 26. 2.  
The Image of God consisting in righteousness and holiness. Solomon saith, that wisdom shall give a comely ornament.  
The Persons to be honoured, are  

1. The godly and virtuous, whom we must respect for the image sake of God that is in them.  
2. Governors and rulers of all sorts, Commandment 5th.  
3. The Ministers of the Gospel.  
4. Aged persons having a stamp of God's eternity.   
Reverence is properly exercised upon a person esteemed excellent and eminent in grace and virtue, especially if it be also joined with Sovereign Authority. If Authority be separated from Virtue, yet in well considering men it will beget Reverence, for the place will be loved, though not the party. If Virtue be separated from Authority, that will beget a great measure of Reverence in a well-judging soul.  
Secondly, For the measure, we must honour and reverence things and persons more or less, as they are more or less reverend, every person and thing according to its degree.  
We must not reverence:  

1. Idols and false gods, I mean the image of any Godhead set up to worship or any conceited imaginary God. To kiss the Calves (a sign of Reverence) was a sin.  
2. Vile and base men of sinful and wicked carriage, in regard of wealth, wit, beauty and other paintings. Masters, Parents, Kings must be reverenced for their Authority, but not for other vain things.    

Zeal.  
Zeal is by some defined the heat and intention of all the affections, as varnish is 
See Elton on Col. 4. 13. and Mr Wards Coal from the Altar.  no one colour but that which gives gloss and lustre to all, Act. 26. 7.  
It is a holy warmth wrought by the Spirit of God, whereby all the affections are drawn out unto the utmost for the Lord and his glory.  
It is nothing but heat or warmth, whence zealous men in Scripture are said to burn in the Spirit, but it is a spiritual heat wrought in the heart of man by the holy Ghost, improving the good affections of Love, Joy, Hope, for the best furtherance of God's glory; using the contrary affections of hatred, anger, grief against God's enemies.  
Dr Holland when he went any journey was used to say to the Fellows, Commendo vos dilectioni Dei & odio Papatus.  
All the servants of God should be zealous for the Lord, Revel. 3. 19 This is required in the Minister, Act. 18. 25. the hearer, Luke 24. 32. of them that would pray with comfort, jam. 5. 16. in every part of the service that we do unto God, Rom. 12. 11. it is in general required of us in our whole profession and practice of Religion, Tit. 2. 14. jehosaphat is praised for it, 2 Chron. 17. 6. See Chap. 31. 25. 2 King. 23. 25.  
Reasons. God is a Spirit, a pure act with whom we have to do, therefore we must be spiritual: he would not accept the firstborn of an Ass, because it is a dull slothful creature.  
Secondly, It is conversant in matters of Religion which are of highest concernment in the world, all the heart, soul and strength, are to be laid out about them.  
Thirdly, This is an excellent grace,  

1. Because it is the best evidence of a Christian, the Spirit of God works like fire.  
2. The greatest means to draw out the soul to service for Christ, Isa. 6. when he was touched with a coal from the Altar, than he cries, Send me.  
3. It will save a sinking Church, Numb. 25. 10. jer. 5. 1.  
4. It is the glory and beauty of all our services, as varnish adds a lustre to all other colours, makes them amiable.   
Two Cautions.  

1. It must be guided by knowledge, Rom. 10. 2. Zeal without knowledge is like mettle in a blind horse; Knowledge without zeal is like a precious stone in an old Toads head.  
2. Managed by wisdom, we must not go beyond our calling.   
Signs of holy Zeal:  

1. One is impatient for injuries done against God, so Moses, Exod. 32.  
2. It is ready to be employed in any service which may advance God, as Isa. 6.  
3. It makes a man do it courageously; a zealous man is bold for God, Shall such a man as I flee, said Nehemiah.  
4. He will spare no cost in the cause of God, Cant. 8. 7.  
5. What ever it hath done for God it never thinks it hath done enough, Phil. 3. 12, 13.  
6. This heavenly fire shines abroad, but burns most within.  
7. Makes one take pleasure in the zeal and forwardness of others, I would all the Lords people were Prophets.     

CHAP. XXVII. Of the Sensitive Appetite.  
THus I have done with sanctifying the intellectual Nature, the Understanding, Will, Conscience, Memory and the Affections. Now I come to Appet●tus Sensitivus, The Sensitive Appetite.  
It is an inclination of the soul to embrace those things which are good or 
It is a desire of food for the preservation of the individuum, and of generation for the maintaining of the kind.  evil according to the judgement of the sense.  
There are five external Senses, Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Touching and Tasting; and three internal, the Memory, Fancy, Common Sense. In these men and bruit beasts are alike.  
In man this sensitive appetite differs from that in a bruit beast in three things:  

1. That in a bruit beast is all the soul which he hath, but in man it is not a distinct soul, but an inferior faculty of the reasonable soul.  
2. The motions of a bruit beast according to sense, are not guided by reason.  
3. In a bruit beast his sense is all the guide he hath by which he is to make his judgement: man's rule is reason guided by God.   
All the motions of the will which the soul takes upon the representation of the senses, is the bruit part.  
1. The rectitude of it before the fall or the image of God in it.  
It was wholly at the command of reason, is was to be a servant to the soul, only to bring intelligence and represent all the things which were done abroad. A man in his pure condition had not a desire to a thing till reason had judged of it.  
Since man's fall, much of our depravation lies in this low brutish faculty, the Scripture saith, Every man is a beast. The Apostle ten times in the sixth, seventh and vl of the Romans, calls concupiscence sin. Some think it is but the depravation of this he there means.  
Man falling off from God and making him his portion, turns to the creature, and makes it his portion.  

1. The power which this brutish part hath over reason.  
2. Over the will and affections.  
3. The abominable fruits which slow from both these.   
Of the first.  
Whereas reason should impartially take all things without prejudice, and weigh them in the right balance; it puts out the eye or deludes it.  
2. It takes up the will before any thing be propounded to reason, it often ravisheth the will, which the Scripture expresseth by madness.  
3. The woeful fruits of this.  
Hereupon man who was made after God's Image, and most like him, becomes a carnal, earthly, brutish man, the spiritual part is drowned, jude v. 10. His joy is in his music, wine, horse, garden, clothes. Though he have an intellectual nature, yet his reason invents ways and means to follow some sensual good, and to avoid some sensual eull, and in this case are all natural men. Corruption first came into the soul by the sensual appetite: Eve by seeing the fruit, hearing the Serpent, touching and tasting the fruit, and by imagining what good might come to her by it, was deceived. Scholars and wise men when corrupt are often taken up more with the things which work upon the senses, then with what works upon reason. Many among the Arabians are learned in the Tongues and Mathematics, yet their happiness and all their Religion from Mahomet is what pleaseth the sense. Popery is a mere pompous sensual Religion. Men often do virtuous things that they may have the reward of virtue, and hate punishments because they are sensual.  
The work of God's grace in sanctifying this part.  
The proper office of it was to present the intellectual nature with what of God may be found in the creature.  
The Sanctification of it stands in two things:  

1. God by his grace spoils the relish of that good which is presented to us by the senses, it discovers to the soul better good to feed upon, the taste of spiritual things, the consolations of Christ.  
2. The soul is not much troubled at the evil which the senses present, sickness, reproach. Though grace do not so far subdue the appetite that it shall not be meddling, yet it stays the will. In a gracious man the dictates of reason and conscience conclude the business, as in Samsons love of an uncircumcised Philistim, if grace had prevailed that had soon ceased.   
There is a great deal of wickedness in the sensual appetite, it is impetuous since 
Phil. 3. 18, 19  the fall.  
2. It is a great debasement for a man to be under that which should be his slave.  
Directions how to get this faculty sanctified:  

1. We shall never get it under the yoke until we can get the soul to find satisfaction in better things, Communion with God. Paul could abound and want. All the Philosophy in the world cannot take thy soul off till grace do, their own rules took not their hearts off, because they had not better things to satisfy it.  
2. Watch diligently over thy senses, Satan's Cinque-ports, what undid Achan? I saw a fine garment, and then I coveted. The Whore in the Proverbs alured the young man by inveigling most of his senses. I made a Covenant with my eyes, saith job.  
3. We must be careful of our inward senses, our thoughts of earthly things.  
4. Pray much to the Lord that he would keep us in his holy fear.   
The vegetative soul is a power of attracting, concocting and expelling what is superfluous, it was not gracious in innocency, nor sinful by the fall, the perverseness of it was brought in by sin, but sub ratione poenae.   

CHAP. XXVIII. Of the Sanctification of Man's Body, and all the External Actions.  
THe body as well as the soul was redeemed by the price of Christ's blood, taken into union with him, and shall be glorious to all eternity.  
I shall here handle four things:  

1. The Nature of the Body. 
The work of God's grace in sanctifying the body.   
2. The Image of God in it before the fall.  
3. It's Corruption.  
4. It's sanctifying by the Spirit.   
Of the first.  
It is one of the most curious pieces of all God's workmanship, Psal. 139. 14, 15.  
The operation of the soul much depends on the temper or distemper of the body.  
2. What the Image of God was in man's body before the fall.  
God is a Spirit, how can the body be his Image?  
The Schoolmen say it stood in three things:  

1. In the admirable frame and composure of it, this is not probable.  
2. In its Majesty which carried a beam of God in it, bruit beasts did stoop to him as their Lord.  
3. It bore God's Image significatiuè, it was the vessel wherein the soul did act that holiness which was God's Image. The comeliness of any man's body depends not on outward decking, but when it is employed in the works of holiness.   
3. The depravation of the body since man's fall.  
It is a great Question, Wherein the sinfulness of the body lies, because there is no sin in it till the soul comes, nor when it is gone: Yet that there is sin in it appears by 1 Thess. 5. 23.  
It's sinfulness consists in three things:  

1. In its fitness to sin, Rom. 6. 13.  
2. In its readiness to sin; there is not only a passive fitness, but an active readiness in the members to sin, Act. 13. 10. The feet are swift to shed blood.  
3. In its greediness to the service of sin, Deut. 29. 19   
The whole body of original corruption dwells in our bodies, Rom. 6. Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies. This corruption desiles the body within, and issues out likewise, sometimes it will inwardly burn with lust and anger.  
The members of our bodies are the instruments of sin: 
Psal. 30. 12. & 57 9 james. When the Apostle giveth up the Anatomy of a natural man in all the members of the body, he stayeth longest on the organs of speech. Rom. 3. 13, 14. Capel of tentat. part. 3. cap. 4. Sect. 3.   
The Tongue was given man to be an instrument of God's glory, therefore David calleth it his Glory; since our fall the Spirit of God saith, It is a world of wickedness. One hath written a large Treatise of the sins of the Tongue, with that we curse God and rail on men, much uncleanness is acted by it. One reckoneth up four and twenty several sins of the Tongue, lying, swearing, ribaldry, scoffing, flattering, quarrelling, deceiving, boasting, tattling, etc. It is compared to a sharp two-edged sword, to a razor, to sharp arrows, to an Adder's sting, to the poison of an Asp, to fiery coals, to the fire of hell.  
Eyes] Eyes full of adultery, 1 Pet. 2. an evil eye, a covetous eye.  
Ears] A deaf ear to that which is good, itching ears.  
Hands] Full of violence, oppressing.  
Feet] Swift to shed blood.  
4. The work of Grace in sanctifying man's body.  
When the whole work of Sanctification is intended; God sometimes names only the sanctifying of man's body, Rom. 12. 1 Thess. 4. 3, 4. Rom. 6. 12, 13. 1 Cor. 6. 13, 19  
The work of Grace in sanctifying the body, stands not in making it the immediate and proper subject of Grace, that being spiritual cannot have its seat in mole corporea, but in these particulars.  

1. It shall be no longer at the command of the devil or a lust, 1 Cor. 6. 15. job 31. 1. Psal. 141. 3. 
The members are become fit and ready for good. Ps. 45. 1   
2. It is consecrated to the Lord, Rom. 12. 1. 1 Cor. 6. 19, 20. It is made the Temple of the holy Ghost; where the holy Ghost resides he will spiritually adorn it that it shall be no more enthralled to sin.  
3. It is taken into a real and indissoluble union with God himself, 1 Cor. 6. Your bodies are the members of Christ. 
The eye and ear are helps also to the soul. Job 31. 1. Marry Magdalen wipes our Saviour's feet with those locks of hers which before she had been so proud of and inveigled others with. The body which heretofore hath burned with lusts, is now ready to burn at the stake for Christ   
4. Our bodies are the instruments by which the Spirit of God and our souls work Sanctification, Rom. 6. Give up your members as instruments of righteousness, 1 Cor. 6. 20. David often calleth on his tongue to bless God, naming it his glory; it exalts Gods praises, ministers grace to the hearers. Psal. 141. 3.   
The bridling of the tongue standeth,  
1. In forbearing words,  

1. Sinful simply, whether 

1. Impious against Gods 

1. Being, Authority and Greatness.  
2. Worship and Word.  
3. Name and Honour.  
4. Sabbath and Rest.    
2. Injurious against 

1. Those that we have relation to 

1. Betters, irreverent.  
2. Equals, comparing and disgracing.  
3. Inferiors, vilifying, contemning.    
2. All men, viz. 

1. Unkind, passionate, provoking and bitter words against the sixth Commandment.  
2. Impure, unclean against the seventh.  
3. Fraudulent and deceitful against the eighth Commandment.  
4. Whispering, slandering, flattering, bragging, backbiting against the ninth Commandment.      
2. Superfluous, too many Prov. 10. 8, 10. 1 Tim. 5. 11.  
3. Impertinent, not to the purpose, not concerning one's self, Psal. 73. 9  
4. Idle, to no purpose, Matth. 13. 36.  
5. Unseasonable, uttered out of time and place, as to apply the comforts of the Gospel to him which is not at all humbled, or denounce the terrors of the Law against one who is too much already pressed with the sense of his sins.    
2. In using speech, which is 

1. Always gracious, viz. 

1. Discreet.  
2. Gentle.  
3. Lowly.  
4. True.    
2. Often religious. 
Thess. 4. 4.      
Motives to preserve our bodies in purity.  
Consider  
First, What an excellent piece the body of man is in the Lord's Creation of it, wherein the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God appears.  
Secondly, Rather than it should be lost, Christ hath bought it with his precious blood, 1 Cor. 6.  
Thirdly, Thy body is joined to Christ, and all the members are made members of his body.  
Fourthly, The holy Ghost dwells in it. God hath two thrones the highest heavens and the body and soul of a believer, God would not let any natural filthiness be amongst them while he was present with them.  
Fifthly, Thy body shall be raised out of the dust and made like the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ.  
Sixthly, Look upon thy body in the relation it stands to thy soul, it is to be the vessel thy soul should use, by defiling it and regarding it more then enough, you make the soul a slave to it.  
Seventhly, Consider that our bodies without a great deal of looking to and watching over will never be kept clean; original sin hath overspread them.  
Eighthly, A small temptation prevails over our bodies, they are more subject to spiritual then bodily evils.  
Ninthly, Satan well knows, that although God most looks at the grace and corruption which acts in the inward man, for judging of the inward goodness or badness, yet when grace breaks out in the body it is majoris gloriae, and when corruption appears there it is majoris infamiae & turpitudinis.  
Tenthly, In the judgement of God the greatest beauty and comeliness to be found in our bodies is to have them thus devoted and consecrated to God, and thus employed. The bravery of our clothes, washing, and trimming, is to set out our bodies, because we would not appear deformed in the eyes of others, Prov. 3. 22, 23.  
Means to possess our bodies in purity:  

1. Take heed of overloving or over-valuing the body, than I shall not put my body on any duty of mortification, the body is but a Scabbard, the soul is the Tool.  
2. Above all look to thy heart within, keep that in a right frame, and the body will easily be kept. jerom saith, I left the City and went into the wilderness, but I took my wicked heart thither.  
3. Look to the senses, sin came into the world by our senses, the devil spoke slattering words to the ear, showed the fruit to the eye, she touched it and tasted of it, and perhaps smelled to it, Prov. 7. The harlot kissed him for his touch, she had the attire of an harlot for his eye, perfumed her bed for his smell, her words dropped as the honey comb for his ear.  
4. Keep the body as well as the soul in frequent Communion with God, exercise thy hands, eyes and ears in prayer.  
5. Because our bodies being filthy vessels ever since our fall, and prone to be defiled, our care must be to wash them in clean water, 2 Cor. 7. 1. Heb. 10. 22, 23. We must daily renew our faith and repentance, Psal. 51. Besprinkle we with hyssop and wash me.   
For our external actions, they are  

1. Sinful, and here is all new, the gross sinful actions are removed, Old things are passed away: Ye were sometimes thus, but ye are washed, cleansed. Hence they are called Saints, and called from the world, Let him that stole steal no more.  
2. Common infirmities are much subdued, and what is yet remaining is much bewailed, Gal 6. 24. You shall not see the same anger and love as before. He that was a very Nabal before is turned to a meek Moses, and he that was a Tiger before is changed into a Lamb.   
2. Natural and civil actions, they are altered  

1. They are put upon a right end, Whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God; so that as God made all things for himself, so we desire to live to him; whereas naturally a man doth all these actions for himself, as the utmost end; we eat, drink, and do every thing to the glory of God, either immediately when we give him the glory and acknowledge him the author of these mercies we partake of, or else mediately, when we do employ and lay out the strength, comfort and profit we have, in the way which God hath required at our hands.  
2. They are made but the accessary, and heavenly things the principal, Matth. 6. Seek first the kingdom of Heaven, John 6. Labour not for the meat which perisheth: And what will it profit a man to gain the whole world? Naturally a m●● i● so ●●t on the world that he is taken up with it; if there were no heaven, no soul, no better things to be looked after it were another matter, but the conversation of the godly is in heaven, and their affections are set upon things above.  
3. In the use of all these they live by faith, Hab. 3. The just shall live by faith, it is thrice repeated in the New Testament, a man depends upon God's promise in the most trouble some straits, believeth in God as a Father, Matth. 6. who will provide for him; Care and distractions what thou shalt do, how thou shalt live, oppose the work of converting grace. Paul knew how to abound, and how to want; he saith, he had all things, because he that by faith hath God as his, hath all things of God, his wisdom, power.   
3. Their religious actions, they are altered  
For, 1. These are done with the inward man, with inward sorrow and delight; people think that praying and doing other duties is godliness itself, but here if any where grace makes a great change; for whereas before these duties were done out of custom and more verbally, now he performs them with more sense of his unworthiness, the Spirit making groans unutterable, and taking away the s●onin●s of our hearts, now they are earnest and ●ervent in prayer, and hear the Word diligently.  
2. They are effects of faith reconciling us to God, whereas before his conversion all his duties were abominable things, yet he had high conceits of them, now they are accepted, converting grace working faith in them, which laying hold upon Christ, doth cover them all with his worth and excellency: before they were but the mere desires of nature, such as any Heathen would make, and they did no more prevail, and if God did hear them it was in a common way of providence, such as he shows to the Ravens when they cry to him, but now they are the prayers and duties of those which are in Christ in whom God is well-pleased. There is as much difference between a believers prayer and a natural man's prayer, as between Lazarus dead, and him risen again.  
3. They are done efficaciously to make us grow more, and to get more strength, that is the end of prayer, of hearing the Word, of the Sacraments, partly to cleanse us, and partly to further us in the way of salvation; the godly man faithfully using these Ordinances, findeth them such bread, that in the strength of them he liveth and groweth: but the natural man is never reform by these though he live under the Minstry, he retains the same old lusts and sins.  
4. They are so done as that we go out of them and rely on Christ only. This is a wonderful change wrought on the godly man's heart, that he goeth out of all his prayers, All our righteousness is as a menstruous cloth; naturally a man relieth on these, and till God make us see the spiritual purity of his Law, and all the inward filth of our hearts, it spoils all our duties, and it is impossible that we should depend upon Christ and go out of all.  
General Rules for the sanctifying of Meats and Drink, Apparel, Sports and Labour.  

1. All these being in themselves neither morally good nor evil, but indifferent, we may use and desire them too much or too little, therefore we should be moderate in the use of them.  
2. They should be sanctified by the Word and Prayer, 1 Tim. 4. The Word shows us the warrantable use of them, and teacheth how to use them, prayer obtains a blessing upon them, 1 Cor. 10. 31.  
3. Our liberty in the use of them must not be a scandal to our brethren.    

CHAP. XXIX. Some special Graces Deciphered, I. Bounty.  
BOunty or Liberality is the virtue of spending riches well.  
It is an aptness to give good things abundantly and freely. The object of it is riches, the proper act of it is to spend them well.  
It is a very commendable thing, He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, saith Solomon, See 1 Chro. 22. 14. & 29. 13, 17. Mat. 26. 7, 9 Paul commends the Church of Macedonia for it in the Thessalonians and Philippians.  
Reasons. 1. It shows that a man rightly understands the nature and end of wealth, viz that it is but an instrument of well-doing, and all the good of it stands in using it well.  
2. It is a useful virtue amongst men, therefore praiseworthy, it brings forth many good effects, it feeds and clothes men.  
The occasions of this Bounty are these,  

1. To a Superior in times of some solemnities, or when we have occasion to deal with them to show our subjection to them. Thus the people gave presents to Saul, those which came to Solomon brought gifts 
* The Queen of Sheba gave precious things to Solomon. , and those which came to David.  
2. To an enraged enemy to pacify him, as jacob to Esau, for a gift in secret doth pacify great wrath.  
3. To a wronged friend or neighbour, to make satisfaction, as Abimelech restored Abraham's wife with gifts.  
4. To an acquaintance to nourish love and kindness, especially in times of solemnity, as they sent gifts to each other in celebrating the days of Purim.  
5. To any one which hath showed himself careful of us, and done us much good to requite him, as Saul brought a present to Samuel.  
6. To such as we have occasion any way to use or employ for our good, that they may more willingly help us, as 1 Sam. 17. 16.   
The goods of this world are well spent and bestowed:  

1. When the object is good, in good works, chiefly Mercy and Religion. Not to spend much is to be bountiful, but to spend upon things that are good, useful and profitable: we must learn to maintain good works, 1 Tim. 6. 17, 18.  
2. The quantity or measure of it, so much as the nature of the thing, and the ability of the person doth bear.  
3. The manner of giving must be free and willing, prompt and ready, Rom. 12. 8.   
Cautions.  

1. A gift must not be a bribe to pervert Justice.  
2. One must not rob the poor to give to the rich, refuse to pay debts that he 
Gift is a transferring of right from one to another by free will.  may have to give, this is not liberality but robbery. The matter of bounty must be goods honestly and justly gotten.  
3. A man must not overcharge himself with gifts.  
4. The motive and end must not be vainglory, applause and conceit of merit, Matth. 6.   
The offering of our hands, a giving part of our goods to God to maintain his worship and service is required, for he will not be served alone with the tongue and ear, but hand also. We must as well give to him as receive from him, that we may declare our homage unto God, Prov. 3. 9 The chief of all thy increase shows it undeniably that he means it not of common honouring him by a right employing of them in thrift and liberality, but by a special honouring him in devotion, for the chief of ones increase denotes a gift to the God of his life, the chief Lord of all, Psal. 76. 11. Bringing of gifts is required to a true real testification of our fear of God as well as vowing and performing our vows. We have also clear examples of it. The Princes and people offered to the building of the Tabernacle, and at the Dedication of it. David and his Princes and people offered to the building of the Temple. Also the Wise men Matth. 2. 11. offered to Christ gifts and presents, as a real acknowledgement of their faith in him. Act. 24. 17. Paul thought that something was to be offered to God as well as given to the poor. It is not meant of his offering for his vow, for he came not to jerusalem for that purpose, but agreed to do it by advice of the Apostles after he was come, the end of his coming is by him named to be bringing of Alms and Offerings, it is meant therefore of such things as divers among the Gentiles had given to maintain the worship of God at jerusalem, as well as Alms to maintain the poor. A voluntary occasional offering and giving what we see good of that God hath blessed us withal, either upon special occasion of using cost for God's service to maintain it, as David to the building of the Temple, or for acknowledgement of some special blessing, as we see they did after great victories.  
Rich men must chiefly be bountiful but not only, A cup of cold water from him that hath no greater a gift, hath promise of a very great reward, the widow's mite outweighed all the rich gifts of the wealthier persons.  
Motives to Bounty:  

1. From God who hath commanded it and promised to reward it, and punish the contrary.  
2. All creatures invite us to it, the Sun, the Sea, the earth, the flowers, all creatures, and especially the Creator who gives us all things abundantly to enjoy. Christ poured out his heartblood for thee.  
3. From wealth, which is fickle and uncertain, and which we must all part with and which will give no comfort nor bring no credit itself, there is no comfort in having but in well bestowing a large estate.  
4. From ourselves which must part with all at last, and why should not we use our goods well, we are but Stewards and must give an account of the using of them and all that we have of Gods, of thine own have we given thee.  
5. What cost have we been at for our lusts?  
6. We expect that Christ should be every day at cost with us; we look for a full Table, a great deal of God's Spirit and love.  
7. Consider the cost that the Jews were at in all their services, and that many Papists and mahometans are at.   
Means to get this virtue:  

1. Chase away the hindrances of it, covetousness, love of money, such a one will be unwilling to part with it for good purposes; frugality cuts off sinful and superfluous expenses in clothes, fare.  
2. Fall to prayer and practice, lay out on Christ, his Saints, ordinances, truths, relieve the poor.   
It is a Question amongst learned men, Whether of the two extremes of liberality, prodigality in the excess, or covetousness in the defect be worse? Covetousness is the worse, because  

1. It is the root of all evil, judas sold Christ for it. 
Quo minus viae restat, eo plus viatici quaerit. See Dr Prid. on 1 Pet. 5. 6. Elton on Col. 3. 12.   
2. The covetous doth good to none, nor to himself neither, the prodigal doth good to many.  
3. Age is some remedy as against other vices, so against prodigality, covetousness then grows young.   

II. Humility.  
It is that grace whereby a man doth make little or no account of himself, job 42. 
That properly is said to be humble which is even with the ground. Humility is well called by one a friendly enemy to ones self. Humilitas est animi demissio orta ex vera status & conditionis suae agnitione. Cameron Praelect. in Mat. 18. 2.  6. Ezek. 20. 43.  
Or, It is a grace of the Spirit of God, whereby a man out of true knowledge of himself, his state and condition, accounts himself vile and walks accordingly before God and man.  
Every good man is humble, Prov. 30. 2. Luke 18. 13.  
Poverty of spirit is the first step to heaven, Matth. 5. 3. High in worth and humble in heart, saith Nazianzen of Athanasius. All the Stars the higher they are the lesser they appear, so must all the Saints.  
Humilitas virtus Christianorum, prima, secunda, tertia. Aug.  
Augustin being asked, What virtue was most to be desired? he answered, Humility: being asked, What was the second? he answered Humility: Which was the next, he said still Humility.  
Primislaus the first King of Bohemia kept his shoes by him to put him in mind from whence he rose.  
We read of Agathocles that King which was at first but a Potter's son, and after advanced to the Kingdom of Sicily, that he would, together with his plate of 
Plutarch.  gold and silver have earthen vessels on his cupboard, to put him in mind of that condition he was in before. jacob saith, I am less than the least of all thy mercies. Abraham calls himself dust and ashes. David terms himself a dead dog, 1 Sam. 2. 4. a flea, that is, a poor, mean, base, worthless person. Paul terms himself, The 
Psal. 22. I am a worm and no man. Peccator omnium notarum cum sim. Tert. Before honour humility. There is a double lowliness of mind, the one a moral virtue found in some natural men, whereby they do out of their own discretion & observation of their own defects account themselves very imperfect, insufficient and unworthy of any thing, this was in Saul, he is said to have been little in his own eyes, 1 Sam. 15. 17, 18, 19 that is, meanly conceited of himself, as of a man insufficient for the weighty employment of a Kingdom. The other a Christian virtue, whereby men perceive their vileness in respect of sin, and their baseness in comparison with God.  least of all Sainis, and the chiefest of sinners, 1 Tim. 1. 15. Though I be nothing (saith he) and I am the least of all the Apostles, not worthy to be called an Apostle.  
God often calls for this grace, Ephes. 4. 2. Col. 3. 12. Phil. 2. 3.  
God teacheth the humble, exalts the humble. He hath two thrones, one in the highest heavens and the other in the lowest heart.  
Humility hath the promise both of temporal benefits, Prov. 22. 4. and Spiritual, Prov. 3. 34. Grace, Prov. 11. 4. Wisdom, Prov. 22. 4. the fear of God, and finally Blessedness, Matth. 5. 3.  
Reasons. 1. Because a godly man knows God's excellency, the foulness of sin, and his own littleness and sinfulness, therefore must needs be mean in his own eyes. job 42. 6. Isa. 6. 6.  
Secondly, There is no way to exalt mercy but by abasing self, it will not be prized unless self be abased, Deut. 26. 5. The whole have no need of the Physician, but the sick.  
Marks of this excellent grace:  

1. We may judge of it by the efficient cause, the Spirit of God must be the worker 
Multi humiliantur nec sunt humiles. Bern. A man may be much humbled by crosses and miseries, yet not truly humble.  of it. God when he converts a man shows him his own misery and the excellency of Christ.  
2. The effects of humility. It discovers itself in its carriage to God upon his dispensations toward us, if his ways be ways of mercy and enlargement, it admires freegrace in them all, 1 Chron. 29. lat. end. that I should enjoy such blessings, if God send afflictions he acquits his severity, and saith, The Lord is righteous, and submits to him.  
3. Such a one rejects himself as vile and abominable in the sight of God. Paul 
The soul apprehends itself empty of all good, Rom. 7. 8 and full of all evil, Rom. 1. 29 Unworthy of the least favour, the meanest service, to come into God's presence.  after his conversion saith, I know that in me dwells no good.  
4. Such a one willingly embraceth every service belonging to his relation. Christ washed his Disciples feet. Queen Bathsheba taught Solomon her son.  
5. He is far from censuring and undervaluing of others. Be not many masters, jam. 3. 1.   
The whole design of the Gospel lies in two things:  

1. To make the creature nothing.  
2. To make the grace of God in Christ all things.   
Quickening Motives to provoke us to get Humility.  
Meditate on three things:  

1. The absolute necessity of it.  
2. The difficulty of it.  
3. The excellency of it. 


1. The necessity of it.  
God takes no pleasure in men, till he hath brought them into such a frame. Humility is necessary also for every condition of life, if God send crosses thou wilt never bear them till he have humbled thy spirit.   

2. The difficulty of it.  
It is hard to get the heart into such a temper, all that is in thee is against thee; The Grecians and Philosophers thought humility was not a virtue but a despondency of Spirit, all thy corruptions are against it, thy excellencies, wit, authority, thy graces against it, grace will be against grace, thou wilt be proud because thou art humble.   

3. The excellency of it.  
Thy heart shall be God's Temple, a broken Spirit is in stead of all Sacrifices, it will nourish all graces in thee, a humble man seems to creep, but he flies to heaven, saith Parisiensis, not one administration of God will pass without doing thee good if thou hast an humble spirit.      
Means to get it:  
First, See thy pride, all sin is resolved into pride, jer. 13. 17.  
Secondly, Meditate, 1. Of the baseness of thy beginning and original, thou comest 
The consideration of our natural littleness, that we are indeed little, our bodies but a handful of earth, not three yards long, and of little continuance, our souls but little things, as being included for being and working within the narrow compass of the body, we understand, know, remember not the thousandth part of things which are to be understood, known and remembered, Jer. 10. 14. cannot do the thousandth part of things which are to be done, will breed that natural lowliness which was in Saul, but the consideration of our spiritual baseness in regard of sin will breed spiritual humility.  immediately from the slime of thy parents loins, and mediately from the dust of the earth, and just nothing.  
2. Consider thy extreme sinfulness. How little do we know in comparison of what we should know, how little do we love, serve and obey God in comparison of that our duty bindeth us? What a deal of atheism, blindness, vanity is in our minds? How forgetful are we of God and our later end, how foolish and sensual.  
3. We must put ourselves in mind of our death and later end, we must shortly rot, putrify, stink and crawl with worms, we must return to the dust, lie down in the grave, must be without wealth, honour, beauty, strength, wit, learning, knowledge, celebrate thy own funerals.  
4. Consider of the torments and woeful condition which we have deserved, to which we must go, if we be not humbled in the sense of our having deserved it we cannot escape.  
Thirdly, Add to these meditations hearty prayers to God to humble you, to convinte you of sin, to open your eyes to know yourselves and him. The knowledge of God's holiness, excellency, majesty, glory, will also abase us, Isa. 6. 5. job 42. 5, 6.  
The worst pride is an overweening of ourselves because of our graces. Consider,  

1. That this holiness is received from God, 1 Cor. 4. 17.  
2. It is imperfect.  
3. It is in its own nature defective, being a creature: Grace is depositum as well as donum, a talon or pledge that the Lord hath left with you, as well as a gift.    

justice..  
justinian defines it thus, Est constans & perpetua voluntas suum cuique tribuendi, he begins his Institutions so. D. Ames de consc. lib. 5. cap. 2. saith, it is a virtue by 
Remota itaque justitia, quid sunt regna, nifi magna latrocinia? Quia & ipsa latrocinia quid sunt, nisi parva regna? Aug. de civet. Dei l. 4. c. 4. Eleganter & veraciter Alexandro illi magno quidam comprehensus pirata respondit; Nam quum idem Rex hominem interrogasset, Quid ei videretur, ut mare haberet infestum? ille libera contumacia, Quid tibi, inquit, ut orbem terrarum? Sed quia id ego exiguo navigio facio latro vocor: quia tu magna class, Imperator. Id. ibid.  which we are inclined to perform all due offices to our neighbour.  
D. Hall 
* True Peacemaker. See more there p. 539, 540, 541. and Weems his Christ. Synagog. p. 187. Fiat justitia & pereat mundus. Ferunt Imperatorem Maximilianum quotiescunquc praetcriret locum supplicii publici, aperto capite cum salutasse his verbis, Salve sancta justitia. Luth. in Gen.  saith, Justice compriseth all virtue, as peace all blessings.  
Antiochus of Asia sent his letters and missives to his Provinces, that if they received any dispatch in his name not agreeable to justice, Ignoto se has esse scriptas, ideóque eis non parerent. See Speed in the Reign of Henry the 5th concrning his Justice, p. 625.  
Sceptres born by Kings and the Maces of all Magistrates, are strait, emblems of Justice. D. Clerk.  
The Rules which must be observed in executing of Justice:  

1. The doer must have a calling and authority to it; Peter had none when the High-priests servants came to lay hold on Christ, and he cut off the ear of Malchus.  
2. He must indifferently hear both parties. Philip kept an ear always for the Defendant, therefore Suetonius justly chargeth Claudius with injustice for precipitating his sentence before he had given a full hearing to both parties, nay sometimes to either, Pronunciabat saepe altera parte audita, saepe neutra.  
3. He must lay all he hears in an even balance, and poise them together: Res cum re, causa cum causa, ratio cum ratione concertet.  
4. He must maturely advise and seriously consider of the matter before he pass sentence, judg. 19 30.  
5. The person punished must be indeed an offender or guilty person, not made so to appear by forged cavillation, as Naboth; nor so reputed out of the rage of the punisher, as the Priests of Nob in Saul's conceit, but having indeed done some, and being duly convicted to have done some thing worthy of stripes, bonds, imprisonment; for else to strike the innocent is abominable to God.  
6. The punishment must be proportioned to the sin, as a plaster to the sore, a less punishment must be inflicted on a less sin, and a greater on a greater, with this proviso, that the greatness of the sin be not measured alone by the matter of the thing done, but also by other circumstances considered together with that, and chiefly by the mischiefs which will ensue upon the doing thereof, and so those faults must be punished with capital punishments, which are either in themselves very enormous, or in their consequents and effects very mischievous.  
7. The motive and end in punishing must be a single eye to the stopping and preventing of sin, that God may not thereby be dishonoured, not any self-regard.   
Severity is the executing of punishment fully without sparing in any part of the punishment, and speedily without too long deferring and putting it off, Deut. 13. 8. & 19 21. Ezek. 8. 18. Solomon tells us, That a wise King 
* Comparing him to a thresher, for in those days the greater grain had a wheel turned over it to pres●e it out of the husk, that being the manner of their threshing, it is as if he had said in our phrase, he thresheth the wicked.  turneth the wheel over the wicked, that is, is severe to them: See Psal. 101. 8. a parent must correct his son, and not spare for his much crying. God therefore often saith, I will not spare, nor mine eyes shall not pity: we must be just as our heavenly Father is, as well as merciful as he is.  
Reasons. 1. In respect of God we ought to show a love to him and conformity to his judgement, and a detestation of that which he detests, and a care to please him in doing what he commands.  
2. In respect of the sin, it is a thing wholesome and profitable for their souls, the welfare of which is to be preferred before ease. Punishment to a fault is like a medicine to a disease, or a plaster to a ●ore.  
3. This is requisite for the good of others, as the Scripture expressly noteth, that others may hear and fear, and do no more so wickedly.  
4. It is requisite for the public safety, for what sins are not duly punished, will grow frequent, ordinary, general.  
5. For the honour and credit of the Laws and Lawmakers, if they did well in appointing such a correction for a fault, why is not their order observed and put 
He shows not due hatred against the sin, nor due zeal to God's glory.  in practice? If ill, why did they make the Law?  
6. The Governor is guilty of the sin if he forbear to punish when there is no just and due cause of sparing. David and Eli were sharply punished for failing herein.   

Knowledge or Wisdom.  
Wisdom is, 1. Intellectual, which consists in the knowledge of the languages, 
See Mr Hilders. on Psal. 5●. 6. Lect. 95. to Lect. 101. Concerning the several acceptions of the word Wisdom. See D. Prideaux on Luk. 7. 35. Job 28. 16. Prov. 6. 4, 7. & 8. 11. & 16. 9 Eccles. 9 16. 18  and the liberal Arts and Sciences.  
2. Moral, which consists in a graceful, comely and discreet carriage of ourselves, Ephes. 5. 15. Col. 4. 5.  
3. Civil, which consists in an orderly Government of Corporations and Societies committed to our charge.  
4. Spiritual, which consists in the knowledge of the true God, and in the serving of him in a true manner, Prov. 1. 7. 1 Chron. 28. 9  
The knowledge of God and Christ is the ground of all our good, 2 Pet. 1. 3. Col. 2. 2. Conversion itself is wrought in a way of conviction and illumination, john 16. 8, 9, 10. therefore it is called Illumination, Heb. 10. 32. Vocation comes in by knowledge, Ephes. 1. 8, 9 Justification, Isa. 53. 11. Glorification, john 17 3.  
There is a twofold Knowledge:  

1. Speculative, whereby we assent to the truth revealed, this is found in the devils in as large and ample measure as in the Saints, they being knowing Spirits, know and assent to the truth of every proposition that a child of God knows.  
2. Experimental, whereby we do not only know that it is so, but taste and see it to be so, Heb. 5. 14. Phil. 1. 9 where this is there must needs be faith.   
We should labour not only to know God as God in the creatures by the light of nature and reason, but to know him in the Gospel by the light of revelation, and Christ in the excellency of his person, as God-man, and the sufficiency that is in him, the riches of his grace and satisfaction, and our communion with him, Matth. 16. 16, 17. to know God and Christ, as calling and converting us, Ephes. 1. 17, 18, 19 Col. 1. 27.  
Such a knowledge of God and Christ will fill us with high thoughts of them, and high apprehensions will breed strong affections to them, and increase all graces, Exod. 33. 19 Isa. 6. 5, 8. Col. 3. 16.  
The devil much opposeth this knowledge, 2 Cor. 4. 4. Eph. 6. 12. whenever God intends good to any soul, he brings it to the means.  
Wisdom is an excellent endowment, a principal, and one of the cardinal Virtues, much to be desired and esteemed. Wisdom is the chiefest, saith Solomon, he speaketh of spiritual wisdom, but the proportion holdeth fitly; as spiritual wisdom is the principal among spiritual graces, so natural wisdom among natural. The excellency of a thing, saith Solomon in another place, is wisdom, and who is as the wise man? and also, Wisdom maketh the face to shine; As light is better than darkness, so is wisdom than folly. A poor wise child is preferred before an old foolish King. Wisdom is one of the principal Attributes of God for which he is most exalted by his Saints, To the only wise God be glory for ever and ever. To the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty, dominion and power for ever.  
Wisdom is one principal part of the excellency of the holy Angels, as they excel in power so in wisdom, so saith the woman to David, My Lord is wise as an Angel of God, intimating that wisdom is an angelical thing. Solomon being put to his choice, asked wisdom at God's hands, and God himself approved and commended 
David was commended to Saul for being a wise man.  his choice, and rewarded it also with an addition of other things, as it were advantages and appendices to it, giving him, as a wise heart, so likewise store of riches and honour.  
Reasons. 1, It perfecteth the best faculty of the best part of the best creature, of all that God hath made in this inferior world; Wisdom is a gift peculiar to men, beasts have strength, swiftness, beauty; Wisdom also is a quality that pertaineth to the best part of man, his soul, it perfecteth reason, the understanding, and the will too, making the one to judge and discern rightly, and the other to choose rightly; the one to see the best things, the other to take the best and leave the worst, and to persist in using the best means for attaining the best things; for wisdom standeth in these two things, in ability to discern what is most beneficial and good, and what helps do most conduce to the getting of it, and to sway the soul to a ready choosing of those means, and right using them for the gaining of those benefits.  
By wisdom the holy Ghost meaneth not so much the speculative wisdom, which 
Ephes. 1. 8. By wisdom he means in speculatives, and prudence, that is, in practicals.  is called learning, the universal knowledge of all things humane and divine, the understanding of great and wonderful things, as one defines it, but that which is termed Prudence, the ability of managing affairs discreetly, the virtue of getting things necessary for our welfare.  
The Scripture telleth us of two sorts of wisdom, a good wisdom and a bad, the good properly so called, because it is worthy that name, the bad improperly, because of some resemblance it hath in some respects unto the good.  
The good wisdom is first and chiefly spiritual, by which the mind is enabled to see and attain its chiefest, highest, most noble end, its fellowship with God, its eternal welfare and happiness, called, A being wise to salvation.  
2. Natural, which is an ability to see and obtain the natural good, even those benefits which God hath provided for men to enjoy in this world.  
Secondly, Evil wisdom, called by St james, Earthly, sensual and devilish; termed so from the objects of it, the things about which it worketh, even about earthly, sensual and devilish things.  
Wisdom is an excellent gift for these reasons also; three things commend a thing and make it appear most excellent.  

1. Rarity.  
2. Difficulty.  
3. Usefulnesse and profit.   
First, It is a rare thing, Eccles. 8. 1.  
Secondly, It is a most difficult thing to get, therefore the holy Ghost bids us Dig for it, cry for it, search for it as for hid treasure.  
Thirdly, It is most useful and beneficial in regard of himself that hath it, and others too.  

1. He that hath it gets by it comfort, good success and constant prosperity.  
2. It is an honour to him before all men, The wise shall inherit glory; it will make the face to shine like an ointment; Solomon's wisdom commended him to all the world. Dr. Hall calls him the Oracle, the Miracle of wisdom. Where shall we find a wise man like this? said Pharaoh of joseph.  
3. It makes him very beneficial to others; A poor wise man delivered a City that 
It hath two parts, a right understanding, and an aptness to use understanding.  was besieged by a mighty man. A skill to perform things well and fitly, that is meant by the word wisdom in Scripture; Bezaleel was filled with wisdom: A wise master-builder, saith Paul. It is such a knowledge of things as enableth a man to order his actions and whole life aright.   
Wisdom, whether natural or spiritual, all good wisdom is God's gift, the inspiration of the most high giveth wisdom, out of his mouth cometh understanding.  
The chief ground, The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. A good understanding and obedience have all they which do his precepts. This is the foundation of spiritual and true natural wisdom, without which a man may have wit and craft, but wisdom he cannot have, except such wicked wisdom as St james describes.  
These virtues of fearing God and obeying him, are both main parts of wisdom, and the foundation of it.  
Some common means for attaining both these kinds of wisdom.  
First, See our own want of wisdom, together with the worth of it, that we may 
A man knows nothing to speak of, and of what he knows most he knows but the bark and outside, the inside and the most excellent things he knows not nor can know, so that there are a world of secrets in a little grass, a worm, which all the deepest Philosophers on earth cannot search into.  earnestly desire it; for spiritual wisdom, Paul saith, If any would be wise, he must become a fool that he may be wise, his meaning is, he must take notice of his own folly, 1 King. 3. 9  
Secondly, We must pray for it earnestly, jam. 1. 5. Spiritual wisdom was never obtained without it, and the other is not else sanctified to a man.  
Thirdly, Converse with the wise, Prov. 13. 20.  
Fourthly, Oppose those things which are contrary to it,  

1. Strong passions, especially wrath and anger; this dwells in the bosom of fools and exalts folly.  
2. conceitedness of ones self, There is more hope of a fool than one that is wise in his own conceit.  
3. Rashness, in doing things hastily and on a sudden, and of his own head, without deliberating with himself, and consulting with others.  
4. Voluptuousness, He that follows the idle is destitute of heart.   
The special means of getting spiritual wisdom:  
1. To be constant and diligent in reading and pondering on the Scriptures, Gods oracles, Prov. 1. 4. Psal. 119. 98, 99, 100 These writings will make us wise to salvation, and teach us also how to be wise in the world, and to order all our affairs with judgement. To which add prayer and practice.  
Manifest Signs and fruits of wisdom:  
The Scripture gives some general rules of discretion,  
First, To take the due time and fit season of things, As the Ant labours in Summer against Winter, so Solomon saith, the wise man will labour in harvest.  
Secondly, To be wary and deliberate, walking by advice and counsel, and not follow his own head, A wise man is of a cool spirit. In the multitude of counsellors is peace.  
Thirdly, To use due secrecy, to know how to keep such things to one's self as should 
Wisdom is meek, quiet, gentle. Wisdom is an ability to see and attain welfare and happiness, an angry man cannot be happy, because he cannot be quiet, therefore neither can he be wise. Christ the wisest of men was the meekest also. It is also humble, lowly, well acquainted with its own manifold defects. A sool is wiser in his own eyes then seven men that can render a reason.  be reserved.  
Fourthly, To be somewhat hard of belief, A fool believes every thing, but a wise man will inquire into matters.  
Fifthly, To know and prefer the most needful things in the first place.  
Sixthly, Will take reproof well, Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee.  
Great natural wisdom separated from holiness makes a man the more wicked 
Aristotle and the Schools say Sapientia est altissimas causa contemplari. The foolish sinner is carried in all things, as if there were no God, no heaven, God is not in all his thoughts. Prudence is recta ratio agibilium, it is practical and applies generals to particulars. The Schools make this difference between wisdom and prudence, the one is in contemplation, the other in ordering of that contemplation to practice. The godly man doth not only know things but doth them.  and mischievous, as Ahitophels' wisdom, 2 Sam. 16. 22, 23. enabled him to do more mischief. The Apostle saith, The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; And St james tells us, That this wisdom is earthly, sensual and devilish. We may see it evident in the Devil, who is of great understanding, but utterly unholy, and therefore the worst of all God's creatures.  
Reasons. 1. This wisdom looks only to the things that are inferior, and false goods, and so carry a man further from God the chiefest good.  
2. Such wisdom enableth a man better to devise and contrive sinful erterprises, so that he can find out means fit and apt to bring to pass any evil design or intention which is within him.  
3. It knows, how if need be, to hide and conceal sin and cover it with fair pretences and shifts, and to excuse and defend it.  
4. It causeth him in whom it is to be more regarded by others, they listen to his counsel, and are ready to take and follow it.  
The understanding of divine truths revealed in Scripture may be found in a greater measure in some hypocrites than some true Saints, because of their greater natural abilities, more ample instruction and better education. We know▪ saith Paul, that all men have knowledge. He that knows his masters will and doth it not, saith our Saviour. To him that knows how to do well, and doth it not, saith james. Thus the Pharisees bragged of the knowledge of the Law, upbraiding the people with ignorance. Those that shall allege prophesying in the name of Christ, had a large measure of knowledge. St Paul yieldeth to the Jews, that they had a form of knowledge out of the Law. But the difference between the knowledge of a godly and wicked man stands chiefly in these things.  

1. In the matter of this knowledge: the true Christian is ready to know all truths that God doth offer to his knowledge, submitting his reason and understanding wholly to God, and not detaining any part of the truth in unrighteousness, not willingly winking or refusing to know, but the hypocrite refuseth knowledge in some things, and will wink with his eyes, as the Pharisees would not understand that Christ was the Messiah, and of the mockers Peter saith, Of this they are willingly ignorant.  
2. The hypocrite is most studious and inquisitive into the niceties of the Scripture and of Religion, as I may term them, matters of doubtful disputation, speculative points. But the true Christian is solid in his knowledge, cares to know nothing but Christ and him crucified, the substantial and essential points of Christian Religion, concerning Faith, Love and a good Conscience, which tend to practise.   
Secondly, In the manner, the knowledge of the hypocrite is confused, of the 
1 Cor. 2. 15. 1 Joh. 2. 27.  true Christian is distinct. The knowledge of the one is only literal, the others is a spiritual knowledge. A wicked man may have apprehensions of the truths of the Gospel, as great and good: the other hath an application of them as good to him.  
Thirdly, In the Effects of it.  

1. The Christian applies his knowledge to himself, to discover his own ways and 
Job 5. ult.  to rectifice and teach himself, but the hypocrite only to teach and instruct others, and to censure, or only to talk and discourse with applause.  
2. The Christian man falls to practise his knowledge, he hears and does, the hypocrite only talketh, and though he know how to do well doth it not, building 
Pro. 2. 9, 10.  upon the sand.   
Lastly, The hypocrites knowledge puffs him up, 1 Cor. 8. 2. and makes him despise those which do know less than himself. These people which know not the Law are accursed, thou art altogether born in sin, and dost thou teach us? but the true knowledge of the sanctified man humbleth him. 
Prov. 30. 2.   
Motives to Gospel-knowledge:  
Consider first the necessity of it, no knowledge no grace, john 6. 44, 45. Ephes. 4. 24. Col. 3. 12.  

1. Humility comes by it, Isa. 31. 18.  
2. Strength to bear afflictions, Heb. 10. 36. No knowledge no duty, our service must be reasonable, God regards not blind obedience, 1 Chron. 8. 9 joh. 4. 22. without knowledge the heart is not good.   
Secondly, The possibility of it, God hath appointed the Ministry for this very end, Acts 26. 18. Observe how the promises run, Psal. 19 7. jer. 31. 34. Isa. 35. 18.  
Thirdly, The dignity of it, it is a noble study, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, it is the highest wisdom to know God in Christ, 1 Cor. 1. 20.  

1. In the matter of it, only the Bible teacheth this knowledge.  
2. The way God alone must teach you, you must see God by his own light. The Jews were honoured above all other Nations for their knowledge of the true God. 
See Jer. 9 23, 24.   
3. It is very profitable: 

1. It hath a healing virtue, heals the understanding.  
2. Makes every one spiritually wise that hath it.  
3. Will keep the man's soul from every evil way, Prov. 2.  
4. The Devil much opposeth it, he would have the Bible burnt or corrupted.      

Mercy.  
A godly man must be a merciful man, 2 Sam. 22. 25, 26. Our Saviour imitating 
See Par. on Rom. 12. 7. Mercy is either moral or Christian, there is a natural mercifulness found in Heathens, when out of natural motives and inclination they are ready to succour the miserable. Christian, when out of a Christian inclination men are ready to help such. The one flows from faith and love to God, the other not, the one looks to spiritual miseries, the other only to temporal, the one is ready to show itself to enemies, the other not, the one aimeth at God and intendeth to please him, the other at credit, or at best at pleasing itself.  or alluding to these words of David, saith, Matth. 5. Blessed are the merciful. St Paul bids the Colossians, As the elect of God holy and beloved, to put on humbleness of mind and bowels of mercy. You see what apparel we must wear, if we will approve ourselves to be chosen and beloved of God, that is, what virtues we must get and practise as constantly as we put on our clothes to keep our bodies warm and decent, one is bowels of mercy, tender mercies, Mioah 6. 8. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. God prefers it before all Sacrifices Isa. 32. 8. See 2 Cor. 8. 2. 3. 7.  
Queen Anne of Bullen, besides the ordinary of a hundred Crowns, and other 
The alms which she gave in three quarters of a year in distribution, is summed to the number of fourteen or fifteen thousand pounds. Fox's Book of Mart. vol. 2. p. 332. See 2 Cor. 8. 2, 3. M. Fenner of the Affect. M. Stock in his Funeral Sermon of him.  apparel which she gave weekly a year before she was crowned, both to men and women, gave also wonderful much prime alms to widows and other poor householders continually till she was apprehended, and she sent her Subalmner to the Towns about where she lay, that the Parishioners should make a Bill of all the poor householders in the Parish, and some Towns received seven, eight or ten pound to buy Kine withal, according as the number of the poor in the Towns were. She also maintained many learned men in Cambridge. She carried ever about her a certain little purse, out of the which she was wont daily to scatter abroad some alms to the needy, thinking no day well spent, wherein some man had not fared the better by some benefit at her hands.  
Mr Fox himself was so zealous in his love to the poor, that he was in a holy manner cruel to himself, to give the very clothes off his back, rather than the naked should not be clothed.  
My Lord Harrington gave the tenth of his allowance to the poor, and other good uses, his allowance being 2000 lb per annum.  
Master Whateley did the like, as Master Schudder relates in his life, he was both very bountiful himself, and did much stir up others to that duty in his preaching.  
The like did Mr. john Underwood of All-Hallows in Bread street. Every year 
M. Hughes in his Preface to the embalming of dead Saints. john the Patriarch of Constantinople, was called the Almoner, Eleemosynarius, because he had a great revenue, but laid it out all on the poor, and at years' end would say, I have nothing left me but my Lord jesus Christ.  when he made up his Books, and had summed up his debts and gains, he would constantly reserve the tenths, and write himself, So much debtor to God. The better tenth of his estate he gave to God also in his last Will.  
Reasons. First, This is to be like God who is good in himself, and does good to others.  
Secondly, God hath therefore given to us, that like good Stewards we may give to others.  
Thirdly, Faith if it produce not charity is a dead and counterfeit faith, it works by love; this grace is a most necessary, proper and inseparable fruit of true Christian charity.  
Fourthly, All Devotion and religious Worship of God is feigned and hypocritical, if destitute of mercy, jam. 1. 27. Religion must be tried by mercy, our worshipping of God by our mercifulness to our neighbour. Fasting is no otherwise acceptable to God then as it is joined with mercy, Isa▪ 58. 7, 8, 9, 10. as Christ hath joined Alms, Prayer and Fasting together, Matth. 6. so must we, Acts 10. 30, 35.  
Fifthly, Without it we cannot attain mercy from God, his mercy is limited to merciful men, 2 Sam. 22 25. He shall never find mercy with God that shows 
Mat. 5. 7. Isa. 58. 9 Prov. 21. 13.  not mercy to men; judgement without mercy shall be to them that show no mercy, jam. 2. 13.  
We should be merciful,  

1. In all our relations, Christ was a merciful and faithful highpriest.  
2. To the poor and needy, Heb. 13. 2. to our enemies, Mat. 5▪ 44, 45.  
3. To the dumb creatures, Exod. 23. 5. Prov. 12. 16.  
4. To ourselves, to our own souls, and next, to the people of God, Gal. 6. 10. to their names, states, lives, liberties, bodies, souls.   
We should show mercy,  

1. In giving that which is good, ministering to the necessities of the Saints.  
2. In forbearing one another, Ephes. 4. begin.  
3. In forgiving one another, Eph. 4. la●▪ end.  
4. In forgetting injuries, as God doth our offences.  
5. In pitying and praying one for another, Heb. 13. 3. 2 Cor. 1. 29. See 1 Cor. 5. 14. Heb. 12, 15.   
Mercy is a virtue by which men order themselves rightly to the miserable for 
Alms in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mercy or compassion, because it is a gift given to the poor out of commiseration or pity, whence the French Aulmos●e. Est opus quo datur aliquid in. digenti ex misericordia. Bellarm. lib. 3. de bon. oper. de Eleemos. cap. 1. In the Hebrew and Syriack it is called, Righteousness or justice, as if it were by right due to the poor, Prov. 11. 18. Alms and relief of poor people being a work of charity, is accounted in Law divine service, for what herein is done to the poor for God's sake, is done to God himself. Sr Ed. Cook on Lit. Vide Aquin. 2a, 2ae. q. 32. Art. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.  their help and comfort. The object of mercy is a person miserable, the end of mercy is the help and comfort of such a person; the proper act of mercy is to cause a man to order himself aright for that end. Misery is the being obnoxious to some evil of pain, at least to some evil that makes him unhappy. A man is miserable either in deserving or in act; in deserving, when he hath done something that makes him obnoxious to misery, subject to it, that binds him to it, for it is a misery to lie open to punishment, to be in such a case that he may and must suffer it. In act a man is miserable when he doth now suffer evil of any kind. Mercy takes order either to prevent this misery that it come not in some cases, so far as is agreeable with justice and equity, or to mitigate and ease it when it lies on, or to remove it so soon as is fit.  
There are two verses, one for outward, and the other for spiritual alms. The first is, 
Mr Lapthorn hath written a good Treatise of spiritual alms, and Mr Whately of corporal, called The poor Man's Advocate, set forth by me in his life time. Eleemosynae spirituales praeeminent triplici ratione. Primò quidem quia id quod exhibetur nobilius est, scilicet donum spirituale quod praeeminet corporali. Secundò, Ratione ejus, cui subvenitur, quia Spiritus nobilior est corpore. Tertiò, Quantum ad ipsos actus, quibus subvenitur proximo: quia spirit●●▪ les actus sunt nobiliores corporalibus qui sunt quodammodo serviles. Aquin. 2a, 2ae q. 32. Art 3.   1 Visito, 2 Poto, 3 Cibo, 4 Redimo, 5 Tego, 6 Colligo, 7 Condo. 
The other is,  Consul, Castiga, Solare, Remit, Fer, Ora. 
There are seven works of corporal Alms, and six of spiritual.  
The Fathers and Schoolmen hold that spiritual Alms Coeteris paribus are more excellent and acceptable then corporal, because  

1. The Gift is more noble in its own nature.  
2. The Object more illustrious, man's immortal soul.  
3. The Charity more heavenly, which aims at our Brother's endless Salvation.   
The poor is he who hath not enough of his own to maintain life, or to maintain it with any cheerfulness and plenty.  
There are three sorts of poor,  

1. The Devils poor.  
2. The World's poor.  
3. Christ's poor.   
And there are three Degrees of Necessity,  

1. Extreme, when there is nothing left, but they will starve if they be not supplied: in such a case the most wicked should be helped.  
2. Grievous, when something is left, but they are in great want: in this necessity the world's poor should be relieved.  
3. Common and ordinary, Christ's poor should then be relieved.   
Aquinas hath this Question, Utrum ille qui est in potestate alicujus constitutus, 
2a, 2ae Quaest 32. Art. 8. Qui proprietatem & dominium non habent, ut uxores quae sunt in potestate virorum, filii qui sunt in potestate parentum, servi qui sunt in potestate Domi●●um. non debent, nec possunt Eleemosynas facere, nisi vel in extrema pauperum necessitate, vel ex consensu tacito, vel expresso s●periorum. Bellarm. lib. 3. de bonis operibus, c. 12.  possit eleemosynam facere? Whether he which is under power may give alms? and resolves it negatively, because Inferiors must be regulated by their Superiors. But saith, If a wife hath any thing besides her Dowry, or gains any thing herself, or gets it any other lawful way, she may give moderate alms of that, without requiring her husband's consent, otherwise she ought not to give alms without her husband's consent, either express or presumed, unless in case of necessity.  
Dr. Gouge in his Domestic Duties resolves this Question much after the same manner.  
Motives to Mercy:  
First, Consider the exceeding plainness and frequency of the Commandments 
We should labour to be rich in grace seeing other riches are so vain. See Eccles. 5. 10. to the end. 1. These are the true riches, Luk. 16. 9 other riches are deceiving. 2. These are our own riches, Luk. 16. ●2. 3. Unsearchable riches, Ephes. 3. 18. 4. Spiritual riches, Matth. 6. 25. 5. Heavenly riches, Matth. 6. 29. 1 Cor. 15. 44. 6. Eternal, Luk. 16. 9 We should strive to be rich, 1. In knowledge, 1 Cor. 1. 5. 2. In faith, Jam. 2. 5. but especially in mercy, otherwise we cannot make it appear either to ourselves or others, that we are rich in faith, Jam. 2. 18.  which cut off all excuse of ignorance, the exercise of this grace is so commanded that other commandments must give place to it, Mat. 12. 7.  
Secondly, We can do no service that the Spirit of God more delights in next to the snatching of souls out of hell than this, Isaiah chap. 1. & 58. Micah 6. 7, 8. Heb. 13. This shows love to Christ to relieve his members. It discovers and adorns all our graces, Col. 3. 12. Isa. 28. 4. & 62. begin.  
Thirdly, God rewards no work more than this when done in a spiritual manner, and to a right end, Psal. 18. 25. Matth. 5. 7. He that gives to the poor lends unto the Lord.  

I. In this world. 

1. To their own persons whilst they live, Eccles. 11. Psal. 41. 1.  
2. To their posterity, Psal. 112. 1. Isa. 58. 12.    
II. At the last day we shall meet with all in heaven what ever we do in this kind, I was naked and ye clothed me. See Luk 14. 13, 14, 15. & 16. 8, 9   
Fourthly, They are commended often in Scripture who abounded in alms, as Tabytha, Act. 9 36. and Cornelius, Act 10.  
Fifthly, God hath threatened judgement without mercy to the unmerciful, jam. 2. 13.  
Sixthly, Thou desirest to find mercy both with God and man when thou art in any distress; we should do as we would be done unto, Matth. 7. 12. We ourselves may be as miserable and afflicted as any. God promiseth to forgive us as we forgive others.  
Means to make one merciful:  
First, Meditate and ponder upon the motives, till they have brought you to sorrow and repentance for not having been merciful. The plaster must be applied that it may cure the sore. The Word must be pondered upon, that the soul may receive the impression of it, and be made obedient to it. Take some time to call to mind God's Commandments, promises, and threats.  
Secondly, You must add Prayer to Meditation, and confess to God your unmercifulness, beseech him to pardon the fault for Christ's sake, and to make you merciful like himself hereafter. To beg pardon of a fault and help against it from God is the way to mend it.  
Thirdly, We must add thereto resolutions and purposes of our own, saying, By Gods help I will be more merciful, I will even stir up myself to show mercy, Is it not my duty? Will it not be my profit? Shall I not have the benefit of it? Must I not obey God's Commandments? Away objections, away fleshly reason, I must be merciful, and by God's help I will be merciful, I can no further be a true Christian than I am merciful.  
Lastly, Must follow practice, a man must consider of some present occasion, that requireth the exercise of mercy, or if he find none he must open his purse and lay aside some pence, or shillings, or pounds, as his estate will afford, and say, This I will sequester from myself, and lay aside for the performance of the next work of mercy I meet with occasion of performing: if one have not done so already, he must begin now, and put aside some such sum as his present abundance may well spare, and say, This shall be by me till the next opportunity of a merciful deed, and then will I bestow some or all of it as need requireth.  
This is the way to make you merciful, Meditate, Pray, Resolve, Practice, these four things will work any grace and increase it.  
The chiefest impediments to mercy removed,  

1. Taken from ourselves.  
2. From those we should show mercy to.  
3. From others.   
First, From ourselves, one is, I have little enough for myself and mine own, I have such a charge, and but such an estate, and what would you have me do? if I should give still I might soon give all away.  
To which I answer. First, Dost thou think thou shalt have the more for thyself and thine, because of pinching from works of mercy? Hath not God said in his word, He that saveth more than enough it is only for poverty? Nay thy saving from works of mercy will cause God to cross thee in other things with sickness, ill debtors, loss of cattle, unfaithful servants, riotous children, with some or other loss in thy body or state, but if thou wouldst give to the poor, thou shalt be blessed and have abundance.  
2. This is a self-loving heart, thou mayst have for thyself and thine; Hast not thou some overplus too, if thou wouldst think any thing enough for thyself and thine?  
Secondly, Some object they have not wherewithal to be merciful in so great quantity.  
Answ. He that hath wherewithal to far well and go well himself, and to dispatch any other thing that he desireth, hath wherewithal to show mercy too if he want not will; when thou wantest any thing for thyself, thou canst find wherewithal to supply thee, but when God calls for it in works of mercy, thou hast it not, this is to add lying to unmercifulness, and to go about to mock God as well as disobey him.  
2. From others.  
I am as merciful as such and such.  
I answer, 1. Thou canst not tell what another doth in secret. But  
2. Suppose thou art so. God hath not given the liberality or mercy of men to thee for a pattern and precedent of mercy, but his own, Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.  
3. What harm is it if thou shouldst outstrip others in mercy, and gain a greater blessing to thyself than they do seek after.  
Objection 3. From the persons to whom. 
Proinde verum Sacrificium est omne opus quod agitur, ut sancta societate inhaereamus Deo, relatum scilicet ad illum finem boni, quo veraciter beati esse possimus. Undo & ipsa misericordia, qua bomini subvenitur, si propter Deum non fit, non est Sacrificium. Etsi enim ab homine sit vel offertur, tamen Sacrificium res divina est: ita ut hoc quoque vocabulo id Latini veteres appellaverint Aug. le civ. Dei l. 1. c 6. Hic divitiarum maximus ac verissimus fructus est, non uti opibus ad propriam unius voluptatem, sed admultorum salutem; non ad praesentem suum fructum, sed ad justitiam, quae sola non interit. Tenendum est igitur omnino, ut ab officio misericordiae spes recipiendi absit omnino. Hujus enim operis, & officii merces à Deo est expetenda solo: nam si ab homine expectes, jam non humanitas erit illa, sed benefici● foeneratio; nec potest videri benè meruisse, qui quod fecit, non alteri, sed sibi praestat; & tamen res eo redit, ut quod alteri quisque praestiterit, nihil ab eo commodi sperans, verè sibi praestet; quia mercedem capiet à Deo. Lactant. de vero cultu, lib. 6. Vide plura ibid. To good men we must do good, because they do deserve it: to strangers, because they may deserve it, and do stand in need of it; to all men, because God deserves it at our hands for them: to our friends, because we owe it them: and to our enemies to heap coals of fire upon their heads: The coals of charity to thaw and soften their hardness, if it may be, and at which we must aim: or else the coals of anger from God for their unplacablenesse towards us. Robinson's Essays, cap. 5.   
Their faultiness and unworthiness in regard of ill carriage in general or to one's self.  
First, They are idle, unthrifty, careless.  
I answer, Art thou sure of it, or dost thou think so, or hast heard so? Take heed of following thy own conceit, and receiving others slanders, for than thou wilt add slandering to thy unmercifulness: Hast thou ever admonished them heretofore, and laboured to amend them? if not, it is not hatred of sin that makes thee withdraw from showing mercy, but unwillingness to show mercy that makes thee pretend hatred of sin, and so here is hypocrisy as well as unmercifulness, but if thou hast told them, and they would not amend, then admonish and help too, for so doth God to thee, or else thou must perish. And if thou allege particular injuries against thyself, or unthankfulness, know that of all persons to whom one should show a work of mercy, none should be preferred before such a one, for this is most nearly to resemble God in mercy who doth good to those that rebel against him. And his mercy is not spiritual that cannot hold out to be merciful to his enemies. Here is the perfection of a Christian man's goodness, he will do good to them that do evil to him.   

Patience.  
Patientia est malorum, quae aut inferuntur aut accidunt, cum aequanimitate perlatio▪ 
See D. Gouge● Whole Armour, pag. 80. and so forward. Doctor Tailor's Parable of the Sour, pag. 404. M. Manton on Jam. 5. 7. It is a holy disposition, whereby the heart looking at God's will in the disposing of all, things, doth sustain any adversity for the Lords sake, Job 1. 21. Virtus aut cerni non potest, nisi habeat vitia contraria, aut non est perfecta, nisi exerceatur adversis, Hanc enim Deus bonorum ac malorum voluit esse distantiam, ut qualitatem boni ex malo sci●mus, item mali ex bono, nec alterius ratio intelligi, sublato altero potest. Deus ergo non exclusit malum; ut ratio virtutis constare posset. Quomodo enim patientia vim suam, nomenque retineret, si nihil esset quod pati cogeremur? Quomodo laudem mercretur devota Deo suo fides; nisi esset aliquis, qui à Deo vellet avertere Lactantius lib. 5. de justitia.  Lactan. l. 5▪ de justitia.  
It is a grace of the sanctifying Spirit of God, whereby the soul doth silently and freely submit to the will of God in bearing its own burden without inordinate sorrow or fretting discontent.  

1. A grace of the sanctifying Spirit, not a natural or moral patience, but wrought by God's Spirit, Gal. 5. 22. the foundation of it is laid in regeneration.  
2. It is a silent submission to the will of God. David had a great trial by his Son's treason and Subjects rebellion, yet he submits to God's appointment, 2 Sam. 15. 26. Levit. 10. 3.  
3. It is a free submission, Act. 21. 13. Paul looked on his sufferings as a Sacrifice▪ Phil. 1. 27. therefore it was to be voluntary.  
4. Must submit to God in bearing his own burden, the object of it is malum triste, a man must take up his cross, Ezek. 24. 16. Lam. 1. 10.  
5. He must bear it without inordinate sorrow or anger.   
Marks of Patience:  

1. Such a one will find matter to bless God in the greatest evils he lies under. 
We suffer with Christ, 1. When the cause is Christ's for which we suffer. 2. When the graces are Christ's by which we suffer.  Nemini mirum debet videri, si pro nostris saepè delictis castigamur à Deo. Immo vero, cum vexamur ac premimur, tum maximè gratias agimus indulgentissimo Patri, quod corruptelam nostram non patitur longius procedere; sed plagis ac verberibus emendat. Ex quo intelligimus esse nos Deo curae; quibus quoniam peccamus, irascitur. Lactant. l. 5. de justitia.  
2. Such a one more desires the right use of the cross he lies under, then to be freed from it.  
3. Such a one will not give over serving God, loving and fearing him for any evil he lies under.  
4. He will seek deliverance only in God's way, Heb. 11. 35. If God will not help Saul he will seek to a Witch. Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.  
5. A patient heart will wait God's time as well as go his way, Hab. 2. Psal. 27. lat. end.  
6. Till deliverance do come, he can find matter of joy and comfort in God in the midst of all pressures, Hab. 2. 17. Paul and Sylas sang in the stocks.   
Motives or Arguments to persuade the heart to patient bearing of Afflictions:  

I. From God, consider 

1. His absolute Sovereignty over us and all creatures, he may throw thy soul and body into hell if he will, Psal. 39  
2. His infinite wisdom, he doth nothing rashly, but knows how to order all things for the best, his will is a wise and holy will, the rule itself, Good is the word of the Lord, said Hezekiah, when ill tidings came.  
3. His will is good to thee, All the ways of God are mercy and truth, he aims at the good of his even when he corrects them.  
4. Consider that this God which hath laid this upon thee affords thee all the good things thou enjoyest, thou hast one cross, and perhaps ten thousand mercies, all these come from the same hand, job 2. 10.  
5. This God bears with thee every day, else what will become of thee?    

II. From ourselves:  
We have reason to stoop to Gods will even when he pleaseth to correct us, 
We have cause of patience, 1. If we look upon ourselves as creatures. 2. As sinners, Lam. 3. 29, 39 Non tam miseri qaam mali. 3. As Christians, Col. 1. 24. Defendenda religio est nam occidendo, sed moriendo, non saevitia sed patientia; non scelere, sed fide. Lactantius lib. 5. de justitia.  because  

1. We have provoked him by our sins to strike us, and have deserved far more evil than we suffer.  
2. We cannot ease or any way deliver ourselves from misery by murmuring.     
This is, 1. A worthy service, a child that quietly bears the stripes which his Father sometimes lays upon him, pleaseth his Father as much as he that readily goes about the things he is bidden. Christ himself learned obedience by sufferings. The principal part of his merit stood in that he submitted himself to be made of no reputation, and became obedient even to the death of the Crosse.  
2. It is a most profitable duty, turning evil into good, and making evils easy to 
Act. 5. 41. Hab. 3. 18.  bear, and procuring a safe and speedy issue out of evil.  
3. From the grace of patience itself.  

1. The necessity of it, thou canst not live without it, we cannot perform a 
Cum videat vulgus dilacerari homines variis tormentorum generibus, & inter satigatos carmsices invictam tenere patientiam; existimant, id quod res est, nec confensum tam maltorum, nec perseverantiam morientium vanam esse; nec ipsam patientiam sine Deo cruciatus tantos posse superare, latrones & robusti corporis viri ejusmodi lacerationes perferre nequeant. Exclamant & gemitus edunt, vincuntur enim dolore; quia deest illis inspirata patientia. Lactant. de justitia l. 5. Vide plura ibid.  duty▪ mortify a lust, bring forth fruit, without patience; the good ground brings forth fruit with patience.  
2. The excellency of this grace, it makes thee most like to God, it is a great part of his Image, to Christ: he was patient to death, 1▪ Pet. 3. 3, 4. it will make one enjoy himself in the worst times, Luk. 21. 19 it will be helpful to all graces and duties, make thee an amiable Christian, it will strengthen thy faith, subdue thy flesh in thee, bridle thy tongue. Magna & praecipua virtus est patientia, quam pariter & vulgi voces publicae, & Philosophi, & oratores summis laudibus celebrant. Lactant. l. 5. de justitia.   
4. From the things we suffer, the right consideration of the nature of Afflictions.  

1. Afflictions, whether upon the Soul, State, Friends, Name, are no evidences at all of God's displeasure, for they are the lot of all God's people, his dearest servants, Prov. 3. 12. job 7. 17, 18. Heb. 8. 6, 7. 8.  
2. God really intends his people's good, and doth them a great deal of good by afflictions, Heb. 12. 6, 7. 

1. Hereby Christ makes all his people conformable to himself, Rom. 8. 28.  
2. He purgeth out the relics of corruption, takes down our pride, self-love, love of the world.  
3. He exerciseth abundance of grace in his people, 1 Pet. 1. 7.  
4. Makes them grow in grace, more heavenly-minded.    
3. God will uphold thee in afflictions, 1 Cor. 10. 13.  
4. We shall have a most seasonable and merciful deliverance out of afflictions, Psal. 34. 19 and God will do his people good according to their afflictions, leave in them an excellent frame of spirit. job and David were rare men after afflictions; God makes the hearts of his people more holy and cheerful after, most of all do they find the fruit of their afflictions when they come to heaven, for though that be given of freegrace, yet God rewards them proportionably to their good services and afflictions, 2 Cor. 4. 17. If we suffer with Christ▪ we shall reign with him.   
Means to get patience:  
First, The frequent Meditation of the former Motives, study those Arguments.  
Secondly, Get faith, study to know thy interest in Christ:  

1. Know the nature of the Covenant, how fully and freely Christ offers grace to thee.  
2. Give thy consent that Christ should be a Saviour to thee, that he should sanctify thee as well as pardon thy sin; Faith is an assent to the truth and consent to the goodness of it, that Christ should be my Saviour, Psal. 112. 7.    

Peace.  

Pax itaque corporis, est ordinata temperatura partium. Pax animae irrationalis, ordinata requies appetitionum. Pax animae rationalis ordinata cognitionis actionisque consensio Pax corporis & animae ordinata vita & salus animantis. Pax hominis mortalis, est Dei immortalis ordinata in fide sub aeterna lege obedientia. Pax hominum, ordinata concordia. Pax domus, ordinata imperandi atque obediendi concordia cohabitantium. Pax civitatis, ordinata imperandi atque obediendi concordia civium. Pax coelestis civitatis, ordinatissima & concordissima societas ●ruendi Deo, & invicem in Deo. Pax omnium rerum, tranquillitas ordinis. August de civet. Dei lib. 19 cap. 13.  Peace in the general notion and nature of it, is the correspondency or harmony of one thing to another, working in its proper place to the common end, the good of the whole.  
It is a kind of sweet, divine and heavenly consent, harmony or beauty of things subordinate one to another. D. Gauden.  
If the world be a Ring, peace is the Diamond of it. The Hebrews use it often for all prosperity of soul and body, they use Shalom in their letters, and say ordinarily, Peace be to this house, that is, All happiness attend you. It was Henry the 7th usual Preface in his Treaties, That when Christ came into the world Peace was sung, and when he went out of the world Peace was bequeathed. Sir Francis Bacon. The Apostolical Benediction is Grace and Peace. More properly it signifies Concord, Unity and Reconciliation.  
Firm and stable peace is and must be the fruit of righteousness, Heb. 7. 1, 2. first King of Righteousness, then of Peace, Isa. 48. 18. Jam. 3. 18. Righteousness is the qualification of the person to whom God will grant peace, it takes away all the matter which provokes God to wrath. No peace is to be had without Christ, Isa. 48. ult. all peace by him.  

1. With God, Rom. 5. 1.  
2. In our own consciences.  
3. With all the cereatures, Ezek. 34. 25. Host 2.    

Perseverance.  
All agree that perseverance is necessary to the end that one may be saved, Mat. 
Vide Thes. Theol. Salmur. part. 1. De perseverantia fidei.  10. 22. The negative may be gathered from the affirmative, That no man therefore shall be saved which shall not continue to the end, Heb. 3. 14. But all do not agree what is the ground of perseverance, and to whom it belongs.  
Reasons and Grounds of the Perseverance of God's people:  

1. The eternal love of God, Psal. 103. 17. john 13. 1. he loves his people with an everlasting love, Rom. 8. 38, 39 See john 10. 28, 29, 30. & 11. 29. 
The sure mercies of David, Isa. 55. 7.   
2. The Covenant that is betwixt God and them, is a stable and everlasting Covenant, jer. 31. 31. & 32. 
* Quae promissi● non potest esse conditio nata ut quidam excipiunt, quia cond●tio esset nugatoria, quasi diceret Dabo ut non recedatis, si non recedatis, ut perseveretis, si perseveretis. Rivet. Disp. 11. de persev. sanct. Vide Croc. in Aug. confess. Quaest 4. c. 67.  40. Hosea 2. 19 2 Samuel 23. 5. the Covenant made at first with the Angels and Adam might be broken, but this cannot, Christ is the Surety of it.  
3. The Union between Christ and the faithful is indissoluble, john 14. 19 1 john 5. 11.  
4. The Intercession of Christ for them, Heb. 7. 25. Luke 22. 31. john 17. 11, 20. God the Father hears him always, john 11. 42.   

Object. Though Christ have purchased the Spirit, and bestowed it upon us, yet we may cast off the Spirit.  
Answ. We have the witness of the Father, Isa. 59 21. and of Christ, joh. 14. 16. that the holy Ghost shall never depart from us.    

St Augustine hath observed out of the Exposition of the Lords Prayer made by Cyprian, that almost in every Petition we pray for perseverance. B. Carlet. against Mount. c. 7. See more there.  
5. The perpetual inhabitation of the Spirit of God, john 14. 16. He is Christ's Deputy.  

Object. Christ prayed conditionally, keeps them if they will, if they be not wanting to themselves, and he prays for the Apostles.  
Answ. There is no condition, and he prays for all those which his Father had given him, john 17. 20.    

6. The Lord hath engaged his omnipotency to uphold them against all difficulties, john 10. 28, 29. That is a fond exception, that none can take them away whilst they remain sheep, but they may cease to be sheep, for that cannot be done except they be snatched out of Christ's hand, whose sheep they are. See 1 Pet. 1. 5.   

Self-denial.  
All Christ's Disciples must deny themselves, Matth. 16. 24. and Mark 8. 34. Luke 18. 26.  
There is a threefold self:  

1. Natural self, a man's being and well-being, life, learning, parts, riches, 
2 Cor. 5. 14.  possessions, relations, these must be denied upon supposition, if the glory of God, and the good of the Church call for it, Acts 21. 13.  
2. Sinful self, all sinful desires, temptations, jam. 1. 14. these must be bsolutely and utterly denied without any reservation or limitation, and above all a man's da●ling sin, Host 14. 8. Rom. 6. 2, 6. & 8. 10, 13.  

3. Renewed self, which consists in habits infused by God, Faith, Hope, Love, or in the acting and improving of these, all these must be denied when they 
Phil. 3. 7.  come in competition with the righteousness of Christ, either that I should expect acceptation of my own righteousness, or look upon myself as the spring of life.  
The extent of this Duty: 
We must deny our own natural wisdom in the things of God.   
1. In regard of the object and thing to be denied. We must especially deny ourselves where the wisdom of the flesh works.  

I. In our understandings or wits, in three several things: 

1. In the Mysteries of Salvation which are above our reason. 
Prov. 3. 5.   
2. In the Means of Grace which are against them, The foolishness of preaching.  
3. In the Dispensations of Providence which are beyond them.    
II. In our Wills: 

1. In what we do by self-resignation, as Abraham.  
2. In what we suffer, jam. 5. 11.  
3. In what we have and are, Paul a pattern of contentment, Phil. 4. 12.    
III. In our Affections: 

1. In principling them.  
2. In right ordering them.      
4. Our excellencies of parts and outward privileges.  
5. Our own comforts and carnal interest.   
Secondly, In regard of the Subject.  
All Callings, Sexes, Ages, Degrees.  

1. Magistrates; joseph had no great possessions in Egypt; joshua in dividing the Land of Canaan took his own lot last, josh. 19 49.  
2. Ministers of all men must deny their own ends, in their learning, parts.  
3. Private men must be content to suffer loss for public and pious reasons, Luk. 19 8. Acts 19 24.  
4. Women must deny themselves in the delicacies of life, that they may not wax wanton against Christ.   
God will try every Christian some time or other in this duty, Genesis 22. 1. 
Christianity is a school & sect of men that deny themselves on religious reason  Matth. 19 22.  
Prayer and praise is a practice of self-denial, prayer an humble appeal to mercy, praise a setting the Crown on Christ's head.  
This is a difficult work, its hard to conquer the World and Satan, more to resist and conquer a man's self; self-love is natural, Proximus egomet mihi.  
2. This self-love is universal, all men agree in seeking themselves.  
3. Self is subtle and deceitful, gets into Religion, Gen. 34. 23. Acts 9 9, 13, 21, 22. & 20. 29. Mat. 6. beginning.  
Reasons. 1. No man can be a Disciple of Christ, but he that enters in at the strait gate, which is conversion; the great thing God hath to deal with in Regeneration is self.  
2. Whosoever will be a Disciple of Christ must close with him in a work of faith, 
See Luk. 24. 27, 28, 29. We should not only look to the settling of our particular assurance, but also cast up our reckoning what religion may cost us, Matth. 19 21. Psal. 45. 10. Rom. 8. 3. 29. & 15. 2 Cor. 8. 9 He denied himself for us in the joys of heaven, and in the glory of his Father.  there is no benefit by Christ unless we be united to him, 1 john 5. 12. Faith is the great instrument of union, it receives all from another, therefore supposeth an emptiness in ones self, Isa. 55. 1. one goes out of himself for righteousness, Cant. 4. 15. Phil. 3. 8, 9 to deny self-righteousness is to deny the highest part of self, Rom. 10.  
3. Therefore it is so hard to convert hypocrites and temporary believers, because they look on themselves as such who need no repentance, Phil. 3. 9  
Secondly, Faith returns all to another, upon him is all our fruit found, he works all our works for us.  
Thirdly, He that will be Christ's Disciple must follow him, 1 john 2. 6. all that he did in a way of moral obedience was for our example, 1 Pet. 2. 21. what ever he did he did in a way of self-denial, so must we, Phil. 2. 7. he was obedient to his Parents, subjected himself to the creatures, denied his own glory, john 1. 14. and ease.  
Fourthly, All the Saints went to heaven by self-denial, Abraham, Isaac and jacob that lived in Tents. See Numb. 32. 32. Rom. 9 3.  
Fifthly, Christ's Disciples are not their own men, Rom. 14. 6, 7. We are servants, such are not sui juris; children, such are under government; the Spouse of Christ, 1 Tim. 2. 12.  
Rules to know whether we deny ourselves:  

1. Such a one is carried purely with respect to God and community though there be nothing for self.  
2. He shuts out private interests if the good of community come in the way.  
3. He is content to be nothing in service, 1 Kings 3. 17.  
4. Is contented that others be exalted, though he be abased, 1 Sam. 23. 17.  
5. He is meek towards all men, Rom. 12. 16.  
6. He is willing to his utmost to do that service which others refuse, Phil. 2. 30.   
Motives to Self-denial:  
First, Your condition both as creatures and Saints calls for it.  

1. As creatures, God hath absolute Sovereignty over you; he is the first cause therefore should be the last end, Rom. 11. 26.  
2. As Saints, you were created for him, Psal. 102. 18.   
Secondly, Self-opposition to God makes us like the devil, 1 Tim. 3. 6. Pride is an overweening of a man's self, 2 Thess. 2. 4.  
Thirdly, Self supports Satan's Kingdom, Revel. 12. 9 cast down self and you cast out Satan.  
Fourthly, The spirituality of religion chiefly consists in self-denial, Abraham and john Baptist denied themselves and Christ himself for you.  
Fifthly, This is a general or universal grace, not a particular grace, as Faith, Love, Hope, Joy. There are three universal or general graces which have an influence upon all the rest, Sincerity, Zeal, Self-denial. It fits a man to do or bear any thing from God; God only honours such as deny themselves, Luke 12. 34, 35.   

Sincerity.  
It is the grace of the will, whereby it refuseth evil and chooseth good for God's 
See M. Hilders. on Ps. 51. Lect. 74. M. Ball of the Cou. ch. 11. D. Gouge on Ephes. 6. 14. One is said to please one when the chief cause which sways him to a thing is the consideration of his will made known unto him that he would have it so. It respects three several things, 1. In reference to the act of any grace, it implies truth opposite to hypocrisy, prayer which proceeds not out of feigned lips, truth in the inward parts, Heb. 10. 22. Repentance, Faith, Love must be unfeigned. 2. In reference to the object, it takes it entirely, thoroughly, without reservation, loves God, all in God, his holiness as well as his mercy, hates all sin, and all in sin, Psal. 119. 6. & 12. 7. 12. 8. 3. In respect of the motive or end, singleness, oneness of heart, Isa. 44. 20. Jam. 4.  sake, when one laboureth to walk well out of this intention and purpose to please God, 1 Thess. 4. 1. When the thing moving us to be good is God's command, and the end whereat we aim is the glorifying and pleasing of God, than we serve him in truth.  
josiah pulled down the Images of Baal and broke his Altar, so did jehu too, but alone for his own sake, to establish his Kingdom by pulling down the Religion which Ahab had set up, but josiah was upright, because he did it to please God and for God's sake. This grace is much commended, Psal. 51. 6. & 45. 18. john 1. 47. Isa. 38. 3. 1 Cor. 5. 8. Ephes. 6. 14.  
David being an upright man is entitled, A man after Gods own heart, 1 Sam. 13. 
The comfort of all the Scriptures, right to all the creatures, benefit of all the Ordinances belongeth to the upright, M. Harris The same boldness that innocency gives us before men, sincerity will give us at the judgement of God.  14. such a one as God would have him to be, all the promises are made to such, Blessed are the upright in heart, Lord, do good to those which are upright in heart, it becometh upright men to rejoice, No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.  
It is a defence,  

1. At time of death, so to Hezekiah, Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart. See job 33. 6. The devil will tell thee all thy holy duties were done in hypocrisy, the devil laboured to persuade job all was false.  
2. In calumnies and reproaches of men, so Paul was slandered by false Apostles, but saith he, We have the testimony of a good conscience that we did it in sincerity.   
Signs of it:  

1. He is fearful of himself, fulfilling his salvation with fear and trembling.  
2. Such a one will press God's Commandments and threatenings upon himself in secret, and laments before God, and confesseth, and resists the secret evils of his heart and life.  
3. Extends his desire and endeavour of doing good and shunning evil, to all kinds and degrees of evil and good, to all times 
* He is the same at all times, when goodness is persecuted he is good, when evil is in credit he is against it, in all companies & places he is the same, in secret and public, because God is always present and the same, and so apprehended by the true hearted.  and places, Psal. 18. 22. desiring in all things to live honestly.  
4. Is still humbled for his imperfections and failings.  
5. Gives the praise of goodness he hath attained to God alone.  
6. It makes him easy to see and confess a fault in himself.  
7. Rejoiceth to see others exceeding him in good, and pities those that are bad.  
8. Loves him that plainly admonisheth him, and is thankful for the admonition.  
9 Is at peace with those that differ from him in judgement.  
10. Suffers wrongs patiently.   
There are three main signs of it:  

1. Such a one is set against every known sin, especially his darling sin, Psal. 18. 23.  
2. Hath universal respect to all the Commandments, Psal. 119. 6.  
3. He is much in examination of himself, and jealous of his own heart, Ps. 26. 2.   
The right Causes of it:  
The Spirit, the Word, Faith, Love.  
The right ends, the pleasing and glorifying of God and obtaining his favour.  
The right Subject, both the inward and outward man too, the will is chiefly the seat of it. We are persuaded (saith the Apostle) that we have a good conscience (which is never separated from this uprightness) willing in all things to live honestly.  
It is a firm purpose of the will, not a slight, weak and sudden qualm or motion, as was sometimes in Saul to leave persecuting David, and in Pharaoh to let Israel go, but a well-grounded, stable, settled, lasting, durable purpose, which holds out constantly, and is rooted in the heart, such as David noteth in himself, saying, I have sworn and will perform it, to keep thy righteous judgements.  
Motives to it:  

1. The Lord hath pleasure in uprightness, 1 Chron. 26. 2. job 14. 15. Isa. 26. 3, 4, Psal. 147. 10.  
2. God will be upright with thee, if thou wilt be upright with him, Psal. 18. 25. if you be upright in the ways of obedience, he will be upright in his rewards, Psal. 11. 7.   
Means to get Truth or Sincerity:  

1. See ones want of it.  
2. To see the great danger of wanting it.  
3. To desire it, and to pray to God for it.  
4. To muse and meditate much of the goodness of God in his great worthiness in himself, and to accustom ourselves to direct our thoughts and intentions actually to him in the particular deeds we do.     
The End of the seventh Book.   

THE EIGHTH BOOK. OF Ordinances, OR Religious Duties.  

CHAP. I. Something general of the Ordinances.  
HOw a Christian stands affected to the Ordinances of divine worship, the exercises of Religion in general.  

1. He makes great account of them, and finds more good, benefit and comfort by them, then by any other thing, as David saith, He loves the place where God's honour dwelleth; and when he could not enjoy his Ordinances, his life was no life, he envied the Swallows. One thing have I desired, that I may live in the house of God all the days of my life, and inquire in his Temple, he loves them as the Babe the breast.  
2. He finds God and the power of God in them, else he is not satisfied, he 
Revel. 21. 3.  rests not in a bare outward performance of them, but looks for the efficacy of them to unite him to God, and to strengthen and confirm his soul, and to make him grow by them in godliness. David saith, That he may inquire in his Temple; and Peter, That he may grow thereby. His life is sweet and joyful when he feels the Ordinances of God in power, that they work on his heart to humble, reform him, beat down his flesh, edify him in grace, than he is like a healthy man with a good stomach at a good meal.  
3. This respect to God's Ordinances is joined with a care of Righteousness, Mercy and Charity to men also, and the more forward he is in Religion, the more he abounds in all other parts of good conversation, jam. 1. ult.   
Christ is present in his Ordinances:  

1. In Majesty, Revel. 4. 2, 3.  
2. In Beauty, Revel. 4. 6. David calls it the beauty of God's house.  
3. In Communion, Exod. 20. 24.  
4. In ways of Bounty and Communication, God's people are transformed into his Image, that place in Exodus proves this also. 
See Mr Bridges Sermon entitled, A vindication of Ordinances on Deut. 18. 15. D Hill on Eph. 4. 15. p. 18, 19 M. Manton on Jam. 1. 19 pag. 153, 154. M. Symonds Christian plea at the end of sight & faith. The Familists talk of living in God and upon God immediately, they call Ordinances by way of scorn forms, they are so if they be rested in, but otherwise they are means of serving, pleasing and obeying God.    
Ordinances shall continue in the most flourishing times and most glorious estate of the Church, Matth. 20. 18, 19 I am with you,] not your persons but successors, with you] preaching and baptising, Ephes. 4. 9, 10, 11. The Ministry is to continue till all the Saints be perfected, therefore till Christ's second coming, 1 Cor. 11. 27. You show the Lords death till he come, viz. to judgement, therefore the Ordinance of the Lords Supper must continue till Christ's coming to judgement.  
Some in these days cry down all Ordinances, as things carnal and unbecoming a spiritual and raised estate, they call them low administrations, and our walking by them to be a walking by Moon light. They say, these had their time, and may be of some use to some low sort of people, but it is but an abasement for seraphical and spiritual men to use them.  
The Papists deny the prohibition of the second Commandment, they set up Image and Angel-worship; these the precept of it, it enjoins instituted worship. Christ and the Apostles made use of the Ordinances, and pressed them upon the Churches. See Mat. 5. 19 Acts 2. and 3. ch.  
They urge Isa. 60. 19 which speaks not of the Scripture but prosperity. See jer. 15. 9 Amos 8. 9  
They also urge that place Rev. 21. 22. Brightman understands it not of the Church militant, but of the Jewish Synagogues, They shall not worship God after their own manner and worship, when the Jews are converted.  

1. God hath chosen these to be Canales gratiae, the Conduit-pipes whereby he derives himself and his graces to his people, 1 Cor. 1. 24.  
2. He hath commanded us to wait upon them, attend to reading, search the Scriptures, joh. 5. 39 be baptised for remission of sins, do this in remembrance of me, pray continually, Despise not prophesying, 1 Thess. 5. 19 Paul there intimates an aptness in men under the notion of magnifying and advancing of the Spirit to despi●e prophesying, and showeth also that the means to quench and extinguish the illuminations of the Spirit is to have low and unworthy thoughts of the word of God, and 
M. Laurence his vindication of the Scriptures and Christian Ordinances. See his Plea for the use of Gospel-ordinances.  of prophesying according to the Analogy and proportion of that Word. We use the Ordinances not only for the enjoyment of God in them, but as a testimony of our obedience. God gave not the Spirit for this end to be the only rule for man to live by, but to help him to understand the rule, and enable him to keep it.  
3. God hath limited us so to them, that we have no warrant to expect the communication of grace but by the Ordinances.  
4. He hath threatened a curse to those that reject them, Heb. 10. 25, 39   
Observe the punishment both of Jews and Gentiles which slighted the Ordinances, 1 Cor. 1. 22, 23 compared with v. 24.  
If these therefore be children which set so light by the Ordinances, they will not live long without bread. God hath given up the leaders of this error to borrid blasphemous opinions, they think they have no need of Christ: Some think that they are Christ: Others that they are God, and that they are glorified, and cry down Sanctification as an Idol.  
This may suffice for the Ordinances in general, of the Ministry and preaching of the Word I have spoken already, the other particular Ordinances I shall handle and defend afterwards.  
Others run into another extreme, and make Idols of the Ordinances.  

1. By resting in a bare formal attendance upon them, as the Harlot in the Proverbs, I have had my peace-offerings to day. We must remember they are but means, the end is communion with God and Christ, and therefore we should not rest in the work done.  
2. By leaning too much upon them, they are means to which we are limited, but we should not limit the Lord, when thou hast done all loathe thyself and all that thou hast done, and rest on freegrace. We should be careful of duty as if there were no grace to justify us, and so rest upon grace as if no work were to be done ●y us.   
The Ordinances are either  

1. Ordinary, as Hearing the Word, Singing of Psalms, Prayer, Receiving the sacraments.  
2. Extraordinary, Fasting, Feasting, Vows.    

CHAP. II. Of Ordinary Religious Duties, and first of Hearing the Word.  

I. That we must hear the Word.  
HEaring of the Word preached is a duty that lies upon all Saints, Ephes. 2. 
In my first Book I have spoken of reading and meditating in the Word.  17. Heb. 12. 25. 1 Pet. 1. 11. & 3. 18, 19  
It is a necessary and beneficial duty:  

1. Necessary, It is seed to beget and meat to nourish, 1 Pet. 2. 2. It is ●eedful in respect of our ignorance, Ephes. 4. 18. Forgetfulness, Heb. 2. 2, 3. Isa. 62. 6. 2 Pet. 1. 12. This is the word by which we are to examine our estates, and by which God will judge us at the last day, 2 Cor. 5. 15, 16. All the Persons of the Trinity speak to you in every truth discovered. The Father, john 6. 45. the Son, Heb. 12. 25. the Spirit, Hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches.  
2. Beneficial: 

1. Souls are converted unto God, as death comes by hearing so life, Rom. 10. 17. Revel. 6. 1.  
2. It is a great means of salvation, Rom. 1. 16. it is called salvation itself, the one thing necessary, jam. 1. 21.  
3. The Spirit is conveyed by it both in the gifts and graces, 2 Cor. 3. 8. Rom. 1. 12.  
4. Growth in grace comes by it.  
5. Satan's Kingdom is overthrown by it, he falls from heaven like lightning.     

Object. I can read the Word at home which is more truly the Word then what others preach. If he were a man of an infallible spirit it were something, but they may err as well as we, some therefore will hear none, but look for Apostles.  
Answ. If they were men of an infallible spirit thou must try their Doctrines by the Word. If God should send you Prophets and Apostles you must take nothing upon trust from them, Gal. 1. 8. 1 john 4. 1.    

II. How we must hear the Word.  
SOme things must be done, 1. Afore hearing. 2. In hearing. 3. After hearing.  


I. Afore hearing.  
Thou must pray for thy teacher that he may so speak as he ought to speak, Ephes. 6. 19 Col. 4. 3, 4. and for thyself, that thou mayst hear profitably and be blessed in hearing, Prov. 2. 3, 5. Psal. 25. 4. & 119. 10, 18, 27.   
II. In hearing. 

1. One must set himself as in God's presence, when he is hearing of the Word, Deut. 32. 2. so Luk. 10. 16. 1 Thess. 2. 13. so did Cornelius Acts 10. 33.  
2. Attend diligently to what he heareth, Luke 19 48. God's people are oft called 
See Isa. 55. 20. Prov. 22. 17. Nehem. 8 3. We must hear the Word with faith, Heb. 4. 2. that brings every truth to the soul with divine authority, 1 Thes. 2. 13. Heb. 12. 25. and causeth the soul thence to receive it with assurance, 1 Thess. 1. 5. and to submit to it. See Job 5. ult.  upon to attend, Mark 4. 9, 23. & 7. 14. It is seven times repeated, Revel. 2. He that hath an ear to hear let him hear, so did Lydia Acts 16. 14. attentiveness implies, 1. Earnestness and greediness of soul, Bibulae aures, James 1. 19 1 Pet. 2. 2. so the people that slockt after Christ. 2. The union of the thoughts, and all other faculties of the soul, it is called attending upon the Lord without distraction, 1 Cor. 7. 35.  
3. Hear the Word with understanding and judgement, Matth. 15. 10. Psal. 45. 10. 2 Tim. 2. 7.  
4. He should hear with affection and delight, Deut. 32. 46, 47. Mark 13. 37. Acts 2. 4.  
5. He must take every thing as spoken to himself, Matth. 19 25, 27. & 26. 22. john 5. 27.    
III. After hearing. 

1. We must meditate of what we have heard, Acts 17. 11.  
2. Apply it to ourselves. To apply the Word is to take it as that wherein I have an interest, Psal. 119. 111. every precept, promise and privilege. The life of preaching and hearing both is application. If one could repeat the Bible from one end to another it would not make him a knowing Christian. When our Saviour told his Disciples, One of them should betray him, they all ask, Is it I? A good hearer, Isa. 55. 2. is said to eat, which notes an intimate application, the stomach distributes to every part what nourishment is suitable to it.  
3. Confer of it with others, jer. 33. 25. See john 16. 17, 19 Mark 4. 10. & 
Luk. 24. 15, 30  7. 17. & 10. 10, 11. Conference is that whereby we communicate to others what we have learned, or learn of others what we are ignorant of, or strengthen one another in that which already hath been taught us, Prov. 1. 5. & 13. 20. 2 Pet. 1. 12.  
4. Practise it in our conversation, Psal. 103. 18. Matth. 7. 24. Luke 11. 28. Rev. 1. 3. If you know these things happy are you if you do them. Habits are perfected by action. Knowledge, a good understanding have all they that do thereafter. Faith and love are perfected by works, this glorifies God, Galat. 5. Matth. 16. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 9     
Motives to diligent attention in hearing:  

1. It is God's Word, Thus saith the Lord, and The word of the Lord.  
2. It is of special concernment, the matter of it requireth attention, it is the word of life, of righteousness, it will sanctify us and make us grow in grace.  
3. It is the introduction, 1. To Understanding, Mat. 15. 10. Act. 28. 27. 2. To Obedience and Reformation, therefore hear is often in Scripture put for obey. 
Obedient hearing is made a sign of grace, John 10. ●●. See Joh. 8. 27.  3. To Memory, jam. 1. 23, 24.  
4. It is necessary to bring in and build up God's people, jam. 1. 21. Mark 4. 24.  
5. There are particular Promises to it, 1. God will give them strength to overcome their greatest corruptions, Psal. 119. 9 2. God will work peace in their consciences, Isa. 57 19     

CHAP. III. Of Singing Psalms.  
A Psalm is a strict composition of words in measure and number fit to be sung 
A Song or Psalm is a composition of words in strict numbers fit to be uttered in a tuneable voice, or with an instrument, David made many of these. The word Psalm is usually limited to signify a holy Song. Fuisse in usua apud Christianos ab ipso exordio nascentis E●clefiae, ut in conventibus Ecclesiasticis Psalmodia primum locum haberet, cognosci potest ex loco illo Apostoli 1 Cor. 14. 26. Item ex Tertulliano in libro de velandis virginibus extremo. Bellarm. de bonis operibus, lib. 1. cap. 14. That singing of Psalms is a duty of the Gospel, see Mr Cotton of Singing of Psalms, cap. 4. and M. Manton on Jam. 5. 13. and M. Fords, Singing of Psalms a Christian Duty.  to some tune.  
Singing of Psalms hath been of ancient and commendable use in God's public worship. It was used in Moses his time, Exod. 15. 1. and in the times of the Judges, judg. 5. 1. and in the days of Samuel, 1 Sam. 18. 6, 7. in David's and Salomon's time, 1 Chron. 6. 32. in the days of jehosaphat, 2 Chron. 20. 21, 22. and of Hezekiah, 2 Chron. 29. 28, 30. and after the Captivity in Nehemiahs' time, Nehem. 12. 42. Yea in the New Testament our Saviour himself and his Apostles used it, Matth. 26. 30. and prescribed it to God's people, Col. 3. 16. See 1 Cor. 14. 15. & 26. Ephes. 5. 19  
Yea it was the exercise of the holy Angels themselves, Luke 2. 13, 14. The people of God in the Psalms are provoked, quickened and stirred up to this duty, Psal. 95. 1. and the Psalm specially destinated for the Sabbath.  
It was used at God's public worship, 1 Chron. 23. 30. and at their private prayer, Acts 16. 25. Most usually they did sing David's Psalms in the worship of God and those that are accounted his, 2 Chron. 29. 30. Ezra 3. 10, 11. Nehem. 12. 46. The Psalms of David were in such continual use with the people of Israel, that the boys learned their Hosannah from that, with which they cried to Christ in the Temple, which is a familiar acclamation with the Hebrews, as Io triumph with the Romans, for the Jews on the Feast of the Tabernacles carrying leaves and boughs according to God's Commandment, did continually sing Hosannah.  
The Psalms of David contain the very spirits, as it were, and are an abstract of all the whole word of God, the choicest works of God, the choicest promises, threats, instructions, comforts. Some have the inscription, and that worthily, of Jewels or golden Psalms, because they comprehend most precious matter.  
Reasons. 1. God hath often showed himself to take great delight in this part of 
All the while the burnt-offering was in offering they bestowed themselves in singing▪ and gladness, as we sing a Psalm in the celebration of our Sacrament, warrantably by this.  his worship, 2 Chron. 5. 13. & 20. 22.  
2. It is a singular help and means to stir up in us holy affections in God's service, Eph. 5. 18, 19 Acts 16. 25.  
Reformed Churches use to begin and end with a Psalm, and to sing David's Psalms in order, that the people of God might be acquainted with them all, and professors used to sing Psalms in their families, Psal. 118. 15.  
The Protestants in Mountaban in France, when they (being besieged) were compelled to fight in their own defence, they always went out to fight singing of Psalms, and grew so terrible to the besiegers, that in the end, as soon as they heard their singing voice lifted up within the Town; before the Portcullis was drawn up, or the Gates were opened, their hearts would fail them, and they used to cry out, They come, they come, and even fled away for fear. M. Martial on Psal. 8. 2.  
The Church of Rome have abandoned this point of Christian devotion from all both public and private use, because they sing not in a known tongue.  
Some think we ought to use as much or rather more devotion, attention and reverence in singing of Psalms, as in making of prayers or hearing, and that to sing a Psalm well and as we ought, is one of the hardest exercises of Christian Religion, because it requireth most attention and most affection.  
We should sing in a right manner:  

1. With understanding, Psal. 47. 7. 1 Cor. 14. 15. which condemns Latin chanting in the Popish service.  
2. With feeling, Col. 3. 16. 
Mr Hildersham Heron.   
3. To the Lord, lifting up our hearts to him in this service, Psal. 101. 2.  
4. To edify ourselves by it, Ephes. 5. 19  
5. In a decent manner, observing the tune, that the whole Congregation may be as one man in this service.   
It were good to learn by heart some choice Psalms of most use and plainness, that if we should be cast into dungeons and dark places, and could not enjoy a book or light, yet we might be able to edify or solace ourselves in such extremities, as divers of God's people have done.  
As we may lawfully sing Scripture psalms, so also Songs and Psalms of our own 
Singing of Hymns is by some counted an Ordinance, that is, any person of the Congregation exercising their own gifts, should bring an Hymn and sing it in the Congregation, all the rest being silent and giving audience. M. Edw.  inditing (say some) agreeable to Scripture, Sing unto the Lord a new Song, framed on a fresh occasion, therefore 1 Cor. 14. 26. a Psalm is named among those things which they had for the use of the Church. For seeing a Psalm is but a musical prayer for the most part, therefore we may make Songs for ourselves agreeable to the Word of God as well as prayers, and God knowing the efficacy of Poetry and Music, to help memory and stir up affection doth allow his people to use it for their spiritual comfort as well as natural. The Apostle speaketh of Psalms, Hymns and spiritual Songs, Ephes. 5. 19 & Col. 3. 16. Who can show any reason to limit his speech to Scripture-psalms? Why may not one praise God in a Song for our deliverance in 88, or the Gun powder treason?  
Whether instrumental Music be lawful in the Church of God?  
Bellarmine pleads for it, lib. de bonis operibus c. 16, 17.  
D Burgess who wrote in defence of the ceremonies, and some other of our Divines defend it. They say Music used in the Old Testament was no figure, type or ceremony, but a real thing for elevation of the soul, types had their principal use in signifying 
See Dr Willet on Exod. 15. pag. 192. See 1 Chron. 15. 27, 28. & 17. 4, 5. Baptisteria multae Ecclesiae retinent, quaedam tollunt; Organis p●eumaticis quaedam utuntur aliae non utuntur. Nullae, quod sciam, ut Antichristianas Ceremonias damnant. Crocius in August. Confes. Quaest 2. cap. 29.  something to come, but the first time we hear of a Psalm we hear of Tymbrel too, therefore they were used to it before, else they could not have played presently, therefore that precept, Psal. 150. Praise God with Flute and Harp, they think is moral and binds in respect of the thing itself, and warrants in respect of the manner. Music (say they) is a natural help to devotion, which doth not further it by any mystical signification but by a proper and natural operation, and therefore is not a typical Ceremony. Nature itself and God have fitted it to accompany a holy Song. Paul bids us edify ourselves in Psalms, and a Psalm is a Song upon an instrument.  
Not only Dr Ames opposeth it, but Aquinas, Rivet, Zanchius, Zepperus, Altingius 
Hinc fracta illa Musica, quae intelligentiam excludit, abesse debet à sacris exercitiis pictatis, saltem quae cum aliis habemus. Ames. Medul. Theol. l. 2. c. 9 Hujusmodi Musica instrumenta magis animum movent ad delectationem, quam per ea formetur interius bona dispositio. In veteri autem Testamento usus erat talium instrumentorum, tum quia populus erat magis durus & carnalis. Unde erat per hujusmodi instrumenta provocandus: sicut & per promissiones terrenas: tum etiam quia hujusmodi instrumenta corporalia aliquid figurabant. Aquin. 2a, 2ae. q 91. Art. 2. ad 4 tum. Musicae Organicae aec instrumentalis usus ita est permissus, ac privatim inter Christianos indifferens, ut multo satius sit publicè ●● eo abstinere, quam eam introducere aut continuare, quia majus subest periculum quam aedificatio. Rivet. in Cathol. Orthodox. Talis debet esse Cantus qui intelligentiam verborum non impediat, sed potius juvet. Proinde quo modo probari potest illa fracta, clamosa & fragesa Musica in Templis, qua ita canitur, ut nihil penitus intelligas aut percipias, praet●r harmoniam Musicam. Zanchius in Ephes. 5. 19 Minimè omnium tolerabitur in Ecclesia Musica instrumentalis, & Organa illa Musica confragosa quae varium vocum garritum efficiunt & Templa lituis, tubis & ●is●ulis personare faciunt. Quorum Ditalianum Pontificem primum auctorem fuisse Platina affirmat. Zepperus. in Polit. Eccles.  and others, dislike of Organs and such like Music in Churches, and they do generally rather hinder edification.   

CHAP. IU. Of Prayer.  
IT is a calling upon God in the name of Christ with the heart, and sometimes 
Mr Ball in his Catechism, and in his first Chapter of the trial of the grounds of Separation.  with the voice according to his will for ourselves and others.  
Or, It is a calling upon God in the name of Christ with Petitions and Thanksgivings, joined with confessions of sin, and deprecations of punishment 
* Mr. Wheatley on the second Command. True Christian prayer is a right opening of the desire of the heart to God. D. Goug. Whole Armour. It is an acting and moving of the soul of man toward God, that we may affect him with his own praises, or the merciful consideration of our suits. Oratio est voluntatis nostrae religiosa repraesentatio coram Deo, ut ill● Deus quasi afficiatur. Ames. Medul. Theol. l. 2. c. 9 Because religious speech is the chief speech which we can use, therefore as preaching is called Sermo, so prayer is of the Latins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called Oratio. B. Down. of prayer, ch. 1. Prayer is called a religious expressing of the will: 1. Religious, because it proceeds from religious virtues, faith, hope and love to God. 2. Because it is to be offered to God only. 2. Of the will, the regenerate part of it. One saith, Prayer is an expression of the desires of the regenerate part, Revel. 5. 9 .  
Or thus:  
Prayer is a lifting up of the heart to God our Father in the name and mediation of Christ through the Spirit, whereby we desire the good things he hath promised in his Word, and according to his will.  
First, It is a lifting up of the heart to God by way of desire, and this is represented by those natural gestures of lifting up the hands and eyes to heaven. See Lam. 3. 41. Psal. 25. 1. To thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Which phrase implieth, 1. That the soul is sluggish and pressing downward for sensible helps. 2. It denotes confidence, a heavenly temper. It is not your eyes, voice or bodies lifted up, but your hearts and spirits; thy heart in prayer must be with God in heaven, thy heart must believe, lay hold on the promise. To pray then is a difficult duty, how hard is it to call off the heart from other things, to get it united in prayer, to seek the Lord with our whole hearts? if there be distraction, laziness or deadness, we cannot say, With my whole heart have I sought thee.  
Secondly, The object of prayer is only God, Rom. 10. 14. faith and calling upon 
By this argument the Fathers prove that Christ is God, and that the holy Ghost is God, because he is prayed to. See D. Gouges Whole Armour, part. 1. Salmeron saith, It is more pious to pray to God and the Saints together then to God only. Aquinas 2a, 2ae. Quaest 83. Art. 4. thus distinguisheth, Oratio porrigitur alicui dupliciter; Uno modo quasi per ipsum implenda, Alio modo sicut per ipsum impetranda. In the first way we must pray to God only, in the second (saith he) we may pray to the Saints and Angels. A sancta Trinitate petimus ut nostri misereatur; ab aliis autem sanctis quibuscunque, petimus ut orent pro nobis. Aquin. ubi supra. See Down on John 17. 1. and B. Daven. Determinat. of 44. Question, ch. 10. that God alone is to be called upon, and ch. 11. that we ought not to invocate any creature. Vide Mornay. de s●r● Eucharistia, l. 3. c. 12. 13, 14. The Church knew not what praying to Saints meant four hundred years after the death of our Saviour Christ: there cannot be found one word in all the ancient Writers but what makes for the condemning of those that prayed to Saints, therein imitating the example of the Paynims towards their gods. Phil. Mornay of the Church, c. 5. Sacrifices are to be offered to God alone, Exod. 22. 20. Invocation whether by prayer or by thanksgiving is a Sacrifice more excellent than all other, Psal. 50. 8. 13, 14, 15. Heb. 13. 15.  God are linked together, as none but God is the object of faith, so neither of prayer; as it is the property of God to hear our prayers, Psal. 65. 1, 2. so invocation is a worship proper to him alone, therefore the Papists prayers to Saints, Angels and the Virgin Mary, are sinful, since prayer is a divine religious worship, and so may be given to none but God himself.  
All worship is prerogative, and a flower  
Of his rich Crown, from whom lies no appeal  
At the last hour.  
Therefore we dare not from his Garland steal,  
To make a Posy for inferior power.  
Herbert's Poems, the Church.  
To pray to one supposeth in him two things, 1. Omniscience, knowledge of all hearts, of all our wants, desires and groan. 2. Omnipotence, power in his own hand to help, and these are peculiar to God alone, Psal. 65. 2. 1 Kings 8. 39 M. Lyf. Princip. of faith and a good consc. c. 42. Therefore our Saviour when he informs us how we should pray, he bids us say, Our Father, Luk. 11. 2. Rom. 8. We cry Abba Father; it is a familiar intercourse between God and the soul.  
Thirdly, All our prayers must be made in the name of Christ, john 14. 13. & 16. 23, 24.  
Themistocles when the King was displeased brought his Son in his arms: there is no immediate fellowship with God. As God and man are at variance, Christ is Medium reconciliationis: as reconciled, he is Medium communionis, Ephes. 3. 12. The Father is the ultimate object of our faith and hope, Christ the intermediate by whom we come to God, john 15. 16. The Priest only in the Law burned incense to God, Exod. 30. Revel. 5. 3. See chap. 8. 3. by the incense our prayers are shadowed out and figured, Psal. 141. 2. the Sacrifice was to be brought to the Priest, and to be offered by his hands, Levit. 17. 3, 4. We must pray to the Father through the Son, by the holy Ghost, Deus oratur à nobis, Deus orat in nobis, Deus orat pro nobis.  
Some say, the prayers of God's people are not only to be directed unto God, 
He that is Mediator must be worshipped, because he is God, Christ God-man is the object of divine adoration; but whether he be to be worshipped, because he is Mediator, or under this formal consideration of Mediator. See M. Gillesp. Aaron's Rod bloss. l. 2. c. 6. p. 230. against it.  but Christ as Mediator, Luke 11. 5. Mat. 15. jesus thou Son of David, not Son of God, afterwards she cries, Lord help me; all the Petitions in the Canticles they say are directed to Christ as the Church's husband. They give these reasons for their opinion, 1. We ought to believe in Christ as Mediator, joh. 14. 1. See Rom. 3. 25. therefore we ought to pray unto him as Mediator.  
The worship of all the reasonable creatures is appointed to him, Heb. 1. 6. 8. The 
Vide Ames. Assert. Theol. de Adoratione Christi. Vide Voetii Theses, & Hornbeck. Apparatum ad controversias Socinianas', p. 36, 37 38, 39, 40, etc. Christus vel ut Deus, vel ut Mediator consideratur. Sicut Deus, dirigimus precet nostras ad cum. Adoramus enim Deum Patrem, Filium & Spiritum Sanctum; sic ut Mediator p●eces nostras facimus per & propter Christum. Stres. in Act. 12. 20. Lipsius when he was a dying, thus prays, O Mater Dei, ad●is famulo tuo cum tota aeternitate decerta●ti, & non me deseras in hac hora, à qua pendet animae meae salus aeterna. Drexel. de Aeternitate considerate. Sect. 3. 1 Tim. 2. 5. To call upon God in the name of Christ imports two things, 1. To desire that for Christ's sake we may be heard. 2. To believe that for Christ's sake we shall be heard. B. Down. of prayer, cap. 18. It imports, 1. That we look up to Christ as obtaining this privilege that we may ask. 2. That the things we ask have been purchased by him. 3. To ask in his strength. 4. That he intercedes now in Heaven for us.  Saints have directed their prayers to him,  

1. Before his Incarnation, Abraham, Gen. 18. jacob, Gen. 32. 24.  
2. In the days of his flesh, the woman of Canaan, Matth. 15. 22. the thief on the Crosse.  
3. Since his Ascension into heaven, Acts 7. 51.   
There is a double Object of worship:  

1. Materiale, whole Christ, God man in one Person, Heb. 1. 6.  
2. Formale, the God▪ head of Christ, when we pray to him we pray to his Person, but the ultimate and proper object of our prayers is the Divine Nature. 

1. In all our duties we are to take in the whole object of faith, john 14. 1.  
2. This is the right way of honouring the Father according to the plot of the Gospel, john 14. 13. & 5. 23.  
3. This is the only way to come to the Father to obtain any mercy of him, john 14. 6. & 6. 57  
4. This answers the grand design of the Gospel, that each Person of the Trinity may be glorified with a distinct glory.     
In him only we are accepted, 1 Pet. 2. 5. We need no other Mediators nor Intercessors. They who pray to God without a Mediator, as Pagans, or in the name of any other Mediator but Christ, as Papists, pray not aright.  
We bear a natural reverence to God, we must honour Christ also, john 5. 23. put up our requests into Christ's hand, that he may commend them to his Father, and look for all supplies of grace to be dispensed in and through him, Ephes. 2. 18. and 3. 12. Rom. 5. 2. In which three places the word rendered Access is one and the same, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, It properly signifies a manuduction, or leading by the hand.  
The Israelites under the Law were tied to pray either in the Tabernacle and Temple, Deut. 12. 5, 14. Psal. 99 6. or else towards the same, 2 Chron. 7. 38. 1 Kings 8. 44, 48. Psal. 138. 2. Dan. 6. 10. yet now, all such distinction and difference of place being but ceremonial is abolished. For that one place of prayer and Sacrifice was a type of Christ Jesus the alone Altar; and the praying in or towards the same did figure out thus much, that only in the mediation of Jesus Christ we are to call upon the Lord. B. Down. of Prayer, ch. 28.  
There is a twofold form of prayer:  

1. Accidental, a form of words, this may be various.  
2. Essential, in the name of Christ, john 16. 23. Col. 3. 17.   
Fourthly, By the Spirit of God, Rom. 8. 15. 26. he helps us to call Abba Father, Ephes 6. 18. jude v. 20. See Zech. 12. 10. 1 Cor. 14. 15.  

1. In regard of our natural estate we have no ability to pray, 2 Cor. 3. 5.  
2. In our regenerate estate, we are no longer able to do any good thing then the Spirit helpeth and assisteth us, Phil. 1. 6.  
3. Our prayer will not be acceptable to God except it come from his Spirit, Rom. 8. 27.   
Fifthly, Whereby we desire those good things he hath promised in his Word.  
Some things we are specially to pray for, for things of our souls, Matth. 6. 33. that we may be more holy and heavenly, and enjoy more communion with God.  
For the Church, Pray for the peace of jerusalem, Psal. 51. 18. For the propagation of the Gospel; this is one main thing in that Petition, Thy Kingdom come. Col. 4. 3.  
Sixthly, According to his 
* God hath set special bounds, 1. To our faith, he teacheth us what to believe. 2. To our actions, he teacheth us what to do. 3. To our prayers, he teacheth us what to desire. The matter of prayer in general must be things lawful and good. D. Go●ges Whole Armour, part. 1. The properties of prayer. I must pray, 1. With understanding, 1 Cor. 14. 15. 2. Give up all the faculties of the soul in it, 2 Chron. 20. 3. 3. There must be breathe of the Spirit of God, Rom. 8. 28. 4. Come with a holy freedom with the Spirit of adoption.  will, 1 john 5. 14. The Incense was made exactly according to Gods will, Exod. 30. 34, 35.  
The matter of our prayers or things asked must be according to Gods will, for the glory of God, Mat. 6. 9, 10. for the good of ourselves and others. One must ask things Temporal alone conditionally, as our Saviour, If it be possible, yet not my will: and things Spiritual simply, but in both one must refer himself to the wisdom of God, for the time, means, and measure of granting his desires.  
Secondly, For the manner and end of one's ask; one must ask,  

1. Faithfully, striving to bring his soul to a certain and firm persuasion that he shall be heard in due time, jam. 1▪ 6. Let him ask in faith: and whensoever you pray believe; think on that place Psal. 65. 2, 3. hence an Infidel cannot pray because he hath no faith; as this is strong or weak, so prayer is more or less successful. We must acknowledge, 1. That God is, and that he is a rewarder of those which seek him. 2. That he will grant our requests notwithstanding our sins, and this is the faith chiefly meant, as appears in that St james says, He upbraids not, and so in the woman of Canaan.  
2. Fervently, jam. 5. 16. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man prevaileth 
See Exod. 32. 10. & 14. 15, 22. 2 King. 19 4. Psal. 2. 15. Mat. 15. 22. to 28. Heb. 5. 7. 1 Cor. 12. 8. See these Parables, Luk. 11. ch & ●8. ch. to this purpose. Qui timide r●gat negare docet.  much: It is called a pouring out of the heart 
* Psal. 62. 8. 1 Sam. 1. 15. This was shadowed out in the Levitical Incense, and the whole burnt-offerings which could not be offered without fire, nor might with any but that which came from heaven; the fervency of Gods own Spirit in us. The efficacy of prayer lies in the fervency of the affections, and the arguments of faith drawn from the promises of God or relations of Christ. A fervent prayer consists in three things, 1. When we lay out much of our spirits and hearts in prayer. 2. When it is performed with a great deal of delight. 3. When it is continued in. Be sensible of your own unworthiness. , as if the whole soul were breathed out in desire to God, and a crying, Exod. 8. 12. 1 Sam. 7. 9 Job▪ 30. 28. Matth. 15. 22. Psal. 22. 2. & 18. 6. & 28. 1. & 55. 17. & 8▪ 8, 13. & 130. 1. Jon. 2. 2. Wrestling with God, Gen. 32. 24. Striving, Rom. 15. 30. Renting the heart, Joel 2. 13. A groaning in Spirit, Rom. 2. 6.  
3. Constantly and continually, Ephes. 6. Pray always, 1 Thess. 5. 17. Pray continually, when occasion and duty requires, as that was called a continual Sacrifice which was twice a day.  
4. Purely, 1 Pet. 1. 22. The prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. He hears not sinners, Heb. 10. 22. Revel. 5. 8. Pure heart and hand, job 22. 26. 
John 9  1 Tim. 2. 8.  
5. Sincerely, with respect more of God's glory then a man's own satisfaction, Psal. 145. 18. & 17. 1.  
6. With an united heart, 1 Cor. 7. We must attend upon the Lord without distraction, and we must be sober and watch unto prayer, intimating that there are many enemies against it.  
7. With a quiet submissive spirit, as our Saviour, Not my will, but thy will, you must not prescribe God what and when he shall do, but pray, and then resign up yourselves to be guided and governed by him.  
8. Reverently and humbly 
* See B. Down of prayer, c. 19 , Psal. 2. 11. & 5. 7. & 9 12. & 10. 17. & 34. 18. & 51. 17. 2 Chron. 7. 14. so did David, 2 Sam. 7. 18. Dan. 9 8. Abraham, Gen. 18. 27. jacob, Gen. 32. 10. Paul, 1 Tim. 1. 15. the Publican. Luke 15.   
We may from hence observe the imperfections and defects that are to be found in our prayers, all which may be brought to two heads: 
1 King. 8. 30.   

1. Omission of the Duty.  
2. Failing in performance.   
Of the first.  
Not only a total omission, when one doth not pray at all for a long time together, is a fault, but the not being so frequent in it as we ought to be, and as leisure 
Men neglect prayer, 1. Out of Atheism. 2. Hypocrisy, Job 27. 10. 3. Carnal delight, 2 Tim. 3. 4. 4. For want of peace or spiritual strength.  and occasion doth require, job 15. 4. Isa. 43. 22. We should pray continually, we should be ever ready for this work upon every opportunity, but we many times neglect it, when we have time enough, and cause enough, and helps enough, yet out of a mere indisposition to so gracious a work we let it pass and slip it over, even because we want will.  
Secondly, The faults in performing this duty are of two kinds:  
1. Some such as do so totally blemish and corrupt our prayers, as to make them loathsome to God, and these are in respect  

1. Of the persons which have an interest in prayer.  
2. Of the prayer itself.   
There are three persons interessed in this duty:  

1. He to whom prayer is made.  
2. He in whose name it is made.  
3. He by whom it is made.   
Failing in these mar the prayers quite.  
First, If one pray to any other but the true God his prayer is sin, he gives 
Cajetane saith, for prayer to any but God we have no warrant in all the Scripture. Vide Riveti Grot. Discus. Dalys. Sect. 9 The Papists acknowledge Invocation of Saints not used in the Old Testament, and give us reason for it, because the souls of the Patriarches were not then in heaven, and so not to be invocated; yet do they allege very many places for it out of the Old Testament to make a show of Scripture. So for the New Testament, They acknowledge invocation of Saints departed was not commanded or taught by the Apostles, or in their time; yea and give us reasons why it was not published at first, because it had been unseasonable and dangerous for Jew and Gentile at first to have heard it, lest they might think the Christians set forth and worshipped many gods; or that the Apostles were ambitious of having such honour done them after their death. Yet they bring many places of the New Testament for a seeming proof of it. D. Ferns Divis. between the Engl. and Rom. Ch. upon the Reform. Sect. 21. Patriarchae in veteri Testamento non dum era●t beati, ideo nihil de hac re habetur expressum, Salmer. Comment. in 1 Tim. 2. disp. 2.  God's glory to another thing, and is a grievous Idolater, because as Paul saith, Gal. 4. 8. He doth service to that thing which by nature is not God. prayer is a service which God calls for to himself, if we leave him the fountain of living water, and go to cisterns that can hold no water, we displease him exceedingly. Thou art a God that hearest prayers, to thee shall all flesh come, so that if we go to any other we do manifestly break his Commandment, and dishonour him. It is to no purpose how we mince the matter with distinctions, and say, We pray to other things, not as the chief authors of the good we ask, but as intercessors for it to him. For if we go to them so in way of praying, we doubt of his goodness and mercy, give them his honour to be a hearer of prayers. Indeed we may request one another's prayers, God allows us that, but we may not pray to them, the Church of Rome, therefore offends against the object of worship in praying 
* It can not be proved that any of the Fathers for three hundred years after Christ, did make their prayers to any but only to God by Jesus Christ. But in them of later time, there is some mention of praying unto them. But where is either Commandment, example or allowance of such prayers out of the Scriptures. Dr Fulk on the Rhem. Test. 2 Pet. 1. 15. Heb. 13. 18. Orate pro nobis. Insaniunt haeretici dum clamitant injuriam nos facere Christo Mediatori, quoties vicissim Paulum & c●●●ros sanctos rogamus, dicentes, Orate pro nobis. Estius ad locum. Vide Estium ad Rom. 15. 31. ad 1 Thess. 2. 20. ● 2 Cor. 1. 11. & ad Ephes. 3. 12. ad Heb. 7. 25. The Protestants confess an honouring of the Saints in divers respects, as 1. Giving thanks to God for his graces multiplied upon them. 2. The honourable commemoration of their faith and virtues. 3. A desire and profession of imitating their godly examples. 4. That the holy Saints ●ow triumphing in heaven do pray for the state of the militant Church at the least in their general supplications. But we deny that Saints departed may be invocated or properly prayed unto. B. Mortons' Appeal, lib. 2. cap. 12. Sect. 1. Si invoceutur vivi à viventibus, multo (inferunt) consultius invocentur Sancti defuncti, cum majori flagrent charitate, & f●licioris sint ad auxiliandum conditionis. Atque hoc argumentum (addit Bellarminus) adversarii nunquam solvere potue●●nt, sed Bellarminus ipse illud solvit. Praefatur enim Cardinalis nos legere in utroque Testamento viventes à viventibus in●●catos. At defunctos esse invocatos aut invocandos à viventibus, in neutro Testamento legimus, & nun haec sufficiens solutio? hoc facimus quia legimus, illud non facimus quia non legimus. D. Pride Lect. 15 de sanctorum Invocatione. Bellarminus ●●riens inter Virginem Matrem & Filium divisibilem dimidiat animam. Id. ibid. Vide plura ibid.  to Saints and Angels.  
Secondly, If we pray in any other name but Christ's, our prayer is loathsome. There must be but one Mediator as there is but one God. If men make distinctions of Mediators, saying, some be of Expiation, some of Intercession, yet the Scripture makes no such distinction, one Mediator as one God. Expiation and Intercession are not distinct offices, making two kinds of Intercessors, but distinct parts of one Mediatorship. A Mediator must make Expiation and Intercession after, and he that cannot do both must do neither. Christ saith, No man can come to the Father but by him; and saith, If you ask any thing in my name you shall have it, he never sendeth to any other name, nor maketh any such promise, and the Apostle saith, By him let us offer to God the Sacrifice of praise, and therefore also of prayer, therefore the prayers of all Romanists which do offer up their services in another name, are altogether abominable to God.  
Thirdly, If the person praying be an impenitent sinner, a man that hath not turned to God by repentance, but doth proceed to allow and serve sin in himself, his prayer is abominable to God, for it is plainly said, The prayer of the wicked is an abomination to God; and what hast thou to do to take my name into thy lips, and hatest to be reform? All that an impenitent man doth is loathsome, if he pray not he sins because he omits a duty, if he pray he sins, his prayer is defiled with his sins, so that till a man truly repent he cannot pray acceptably. These are faults in respect of the three Persons interessed in prayer, which do abolish prayer and turn it into sin. Some other there be in respect of the frame of the prayer itself.  

1. For Matter.  
2. For Manner.  
3. For End of praying.   
First, For Matter, if one either ask or give thanks for things simply sinful and unlawful, as if a thief pray to God to speed him in his theft, or give thanks for the success he hath had in it, or the like, this is manifestly to offer a dead polluted and defiled thing upon God's Altar. Such prayers must needs be abominable to God, and they seek to make him partake with men's sins.  
Secondly, For Manner, when one asketh merely with the lip and tongue, for they worship God in vain that draw near to him with the lip, and the heart is far from him, as the Prophet chargeth the people. To tender to God a mere sound of words, as if he were pleased with breath, when one taketh no care to understand the words, and to have his heart affected with them, this is to mock God not to serve him. We are commanded to draw near to the throne of grace with a true heart, Heb. 10. 22. He saith, My son, give me thy heart, that being not offered to him all is loathsome, wherefore mumbling over of words not at all understood, and to which the heart cannot be joined (such as are the common Devotions of the Church of Rome) is a sinning against God, not a serving of him.  
Lastly, Prayers made to wrong Ends are odious, Acts 8. 19 james 4. 3. For example, he that prays only to be seen of men, and hath none other drift in his prayer but to win applause and commendation of men, he hath his reward, God 
The great end of all our requests should not be our own interest and concernment, but God's glory, Psal. 115. 1. Reasons. 1. Else they will not be successful. 2. Because otherwise our prayers are not prayers, the end shows the quality of the action. We must not only serve God but seek him. How to know that God's glory is the great end of our requests. 1. By the working of our thoughts, the heart worketh upon the end. 2. By the manner of praying, we must pray absolutely for God's glory, and submit to his will for other things, John 12. 27, 28. 3. By the dispo sition of our hearts when our prayers are accomplished. God hath appointed prayer for other ends also. 1. To be a profession of our dependence upon him, that we might daily acknowledge Gods right and property in all we possess, we thereby disclaim merit in the highest mercy, pardon of sin, Jer. 3. 12, 13. We profess our dependence for common mercies when we ask our daily bread. 2. To nourish communion and familiarity between God and us, Job 22. 21. Isa. 26. 16. 3. To keep the heart in a holy frame, 1 Pet. 3. 7. 4. To quicken our affections to good things. 5. To be a means of comfort and spiritual refreshing, Job 16 20. Phil. 4. 6.  loathes him. The end of prayer is not to win praise of men, but to humble ourselves before God. When we pray for spiritual blessings to be eased, our desires in ask should suit with God's ends in giving, Ephes. 1. 6. We should desire these things, viz. pardon of sin, grace and salvation, that God may be glorified by them. When we desire outward protection and provision merely that we may live more comfortably. Agur had an eye to God's glory still in his requests, Prov. 30. 8, 9  
Another ill end is to satisfy God's justice or to deserve heaven, or the like, this is like them that said, Shall I give my seed for my sin? this is to put Christ out of office and offer strange incense to God. If all must be put up in the name of Christ, then sure we must not dream of satisfying or meriting by prayers. Prayers must be humble, but they are proud when we dare conceit such worth in them as to satisfy God's justice for sin, or to deserve heaven. Whosoever prays so his prayer must needs be abominable to God.  
These be the things which utterly spoil prayer; there are some other things which do somewhat blemish and fully this duty, as it were, but make it not wholly displeasing, if they be observed with humiliation and trusting upon the intercession of Christ for acceptance. These are brought to three heads.  

1. In respect of entrance into prayer.  
2. In respect of continuance in it.  
3. In respect of the frame of the prayer itself.   
First, There are two faults in regard of the entrance into prayer. The one, backwardness, dulness, averseness, when one hath no inclination to it, doth it against the hair, and puts it off still, and is manifestly unwilling to it. If God loves a cheerful giver, surely then a man that comes to prayer willingly. This likely ariseth from some guiltiness or unbelief, or estrangement from God, he draws not near with confidence that is so backward and loath to come to it.  
Another fault in entering is to come rashly before God, forbidden by Solomon, Be not rash with thy mouth, neither let thine heart be hasty to utter a thing before God, Eccles. 5. 2. when men rush into God's presence without any consideration of God's greatness and their own baseness, without any endeavour before, at least with some few short thoughts, such as the time and occasion will permit, than he doth not declare a due esteem of God, as if a man would break into the chamber of his Prince without knocking or using some means to make a fit entrance, for though God be ever equally at leisure, yet we cannot be fit without some preparing of our hearts by some preconsideration of him.  
For continuance of prayer there are two faults:  
First, When one is even weary of prayer, tired with it, and is even at a nonplus, knows not how to go forward, nor what to say next to God, no not so much as to sigh, groan and cry to God, sometime abundance of desire hinders the orderly placing of words, this is no sin in solitary devotions, sometimes a kind of negligence and indisposition causeth that a man is at an end before he begin, and hath no heart to proceed, this comes from deadness of spirit, and shows senselessness of our state, hardness of heart and unbelief, and customariness, and cannot but be a great fault.  
Another fault is chiefly in public prayer, when a man goes beyond the limits of time, and by an unseasonable length of prayer, thrusts out other occasions to the hindrance of himself or others, overlong praying specially with others, and with ourselves out of season when other occasions require us, is a fault, and this is often but a spirit of carnal devotion, by which the Devil seeketh to bring prayer in disgrace. Indeed when a man hath fitted his occasions, then if with our Saviour he spend the night in prayer, he doth well, but all unseasonable length is blame-worthy. Now for the frame of the prayer itself, one may offend in the matter and manner.  
There are four faults for matter of prayer:  
1. When one is very much still in petitions, and hath but few and short thanks, we should pour forth supplications with thanksgiving, and in all things give thanks, when the parts of prayer have not some proportion, it is like an ill spun thread, too great in one place, too little in another, it shows too much seeking ourselves in prayer.  
The second fault is, when our prayers be almost altogether for temporal things, Corn, wine, forgetting the more excellent, grace, holiness, yea much more for pardon of sin then grace to mend, a plain fruit of carnal love to ourselves, and carnal seeking of ourselves.  
The third, when one asketh things without due warrant, prays God to kill him, to end his days, it differs from ask things simply sinful. Some things are not so fit for us when we beg them, as that I may be speedily delivered out of this cross, or the like, a weakness no doubt arising from want of due stooping to God.  
4. Ask we know not what, begging what we ourselves do not well understand, as the sons of Zebedee did. These are great blots to prayer.  
For manner there are also four faults: 
Si orationem Dominicam nullis aliis cogitationibus incidentibus pronunciare noveris, tum eximium magistrum te esse judicabo. Luther. in Joan. 17.   
First, Inattentivenesse, when a man's heart is through carelessness and want of bending his mind to the work in hand carried away to other things.  
Orantis, quasi non orantis, inania vota;  
Sic audit, quasi non audiat illa, Deus.  Owenus in Epig. 
There is a double distraction, one forced and compelled either by outward occasions of noises, or the like; or by inward oppositions through terrible and violent suggestions of Satan: these are not sins if resisted, there are some distractions that have a kind of voluntariness in them, when a man suffers his thoughts to wander from the thing in hand out of a kind of negligence, and not striving to bend his mind to the work, and so perhaps even drops asleep, as Peter did when Christ bid him Watch. This is a great weakness, and he calls on God but with half a heart that prays so.  
Another fault in prayer is coldness, heaviness, dulness, customariness, when one prayeth indeed, and useth good words, but without any power of affection, he is not warm nor zealous, he prays not fervently; this causeth suits to be denied, and if one stir not up himself will end in prayerlesnesse, and often makes one ready to fall asleep, yea the mind may be thus i'll when in public prayer a man may seem zealous, here is a Sacrifice without fire.  
A third fault is doubting in our ask, when we ask but hold not fast a desire to be persuaded of God's gracious acceptance, and his will to hear us. Such a ●easure of doubting as makes a man give over praying and be very inconstant in it, doth cause prayers to do no good, but doubting resisted so that a man continues to pray still, though it cut not off the fruit of our prayers, yet it is a weakness. We ought to lift up pure hands to God without wrath and doubting, as St Paul tells us, 1 Tim. without giving our hearts leave to be carried away with contrary discourses.  
Lastly, Irreverent behaviour of body or mind is a great fault, when the heart hath lost the apprehension of God's greatness and excellency, and the body is loose and unmannerly, wand'ring eyes, gazing hither or thither, leaning this way, if the mind forget God the body will too, this is a very slighting of God; Christ praying fell on his knees, and lift up his eyes to heaven. The heart should be kept in such an apprehension of God, as even to have a fear in it, lest it should offend him any way, and that will keep every part of the body in tune, but when the heart hath let the consideration of his presence go, than the body is straight out of frame.  
There are some more failings in regard of our carriage after prayer. A man hath not done all his business about praying when he hath said Amen. Some thing more is to be done, which so much as he faileth of, so many faults there be that need pardon.  
The first fault after prayer is, neglecting to wait, and to mark the speed which we have in praying, as if prayer were alone a duty, and not a means of attaining things from God, as if we had alone a commandment to pray, and not a promise to be heard. This not waiting on God and observing how we speed, whether we be heard or not, hinders us much of the success of our prayers, shows much formality in our prayers and little fervency. David prayed and looked up, and the Church harkened what God would say to his people. As David saith, He lifted up his eyes to God, as the hand-maiden to her mistress. We do not so idly present our petitions unto Governors and Rulers.  
2. conceitedness of our prayers, if we think we have done them in any thing a good manner. This is a fault common to prayer with other holy duties, we are apt to think highly of ourselves, but as that knowledge which puffeth up proveth that a man knows nothing as he ought to know; so that prayer which puffeth up, proveth that he hath not prayed as he ought to pray. Prayer should be an humbling of ourselves before God, if it make us lift up ourselves specially with thoughts of comparing ourselves with others by which we depress them, than we do not pray so well as we should have done.  
Another fault is to be discouraged in respect of our wants in praying, and for want of success to our prayers. When we conclude as good not pray at all as in this poor weak manner that we do, and we have so long and so long prayed, and therefore not having been heard for such a space, we lose our labour in praying, and shall not be heard. This is because we consider not of God's wisdom and mercy, nor of the intercession of Christ. We should be humbled, but not made heartless by our own weaknesses or by Gods deferring. It was the Church's fault to think God had cast her off, because she was not heard so soon as she would.  
Another fault is forgetting to return thanks at least often and earnestly enough for those special benefits which have been granted unto our prayers. The fault noted in the ten Lepers, of whom our Saviour speaketh, Ten are made whole, but where are the nine? none is returned to glorify God but this stranger. What we have earnestly and often asked, if we do but seldom and slightly give thanks for, we show that we seek ourselves too much in praying, and the glory of God too little; this is a failing in our prayers, and may be an hindrance at least to our speedy attaining of our suits afterwards.  
Three Corollaries from the defects of our prayers:  
1. To teach us the vanity of the Popish Church which put prayers and such a multitude and number of them upon men by way of a penance, by which they must satisfy God's justice for their sins, and by which they must deserve and merit grace and salvation. How can our prayers satisfy for others faults, seeing themselves are defective and faulty many ways? and how can that deserve heaven which when God heareth he must forgive, or else it will be hard with him that makes it? What a madness is this, that when we have the satisfaction and merits of Christ, we should not be satisfied therewithal, but should thrust our own most imperfect services into that room? Let us pray, let us fast, let us give alms, let us do good works in obedience to God, in assured faith of obtaining his promises, and being more than abundantly requited for our service. But what should this proud fancy of merit and satisfaction be added to our prayers? Why will we not suffer ourselves to be made to see the weakness and frailties of our best services, why should we stand upon such terms with God as to think rather to satisfy him and earn of him, then to receive things that be good of his free favour in Christ, and to attain pardon of things that be sinful for his mere mercy sake in the mediation of his Son, and for his satisfaction sake which he hath made? Woe unto them that seek to draw God's people from resting wholly upon Christ's merits and satisfaction, to rest in part upon their own poor, weak, and many ways defective services, which further than they be washed with the blood of Christ must needs be unacceptable, much more than when they are offered to such an intent as would utterly mar them were they otherwise never so perfect. What is if this be not to bring strange incense, strange fire, strange beasts and strange Sacrifices unto the Altar of God. But thanks be to God that hath freed us from this amongst other errors of that Church by which they do cut off all possibility of salvation from those that continue to believe their lies. For if any trust to the goodness of his own prayers, or other services by them to satisfy God's justice, and to deserve heaven, Lucifer himself shall as soon sinde favour as he continuing thus, because he doth not seek to be found in Christ but in himself, and because as yet he is not poor in spirit, nor broken, nor contrite, nor heavy laden, and so not capable of Christ.  
But secondly, let God's people learn to apply themselves to the work of praying 
Triplex est attene●o quae orationi vocali potest adhiberi: una quidem, qua attenditur ad ver ba, ne aliquis in eyes erret: secunda qua attenditur ad sensum verborum: tertia qua attenditur ad finem orationis, scilicet Deum, & ad rem qua oratur, quae quidem est maximè necessaria. Aquin. 2a, 2ae Qu. 83. Art. 13  with very great diligence and careful observing of themselves, to prevent as much ●s may be those many defects whereto they are subject, and those many faults which they are apt to commit. If we set ourselves with the best diligence we can to call on the name of God, we shall not escape some, nay many faults, but if we fall to make roving prayers, as it were, looking to nothing, but the bare deed done, and thinking all is well if a few words be said over, and if so much time be spent in uttering some good speeches, O how much sin will this ill carriage bring upon us! Let us therefore in praying pray, that is pray with all earnest and heedful observation of ourselves, yea let us not think ourselves sufficient to make our own prayers, but let us humbly beseech the Lord to assist us with his Spirit of prayer, without which we cannot pray as we ought in any sort. To pray as one ought to pray is a difficult, a hard, a painful work. It requireth the whole man and the greatest labour, and even more than a man. No wit, no learning, no good parts will suffice to make a good prayer, unless we have the Spirit of prayer poured upon us from above. If prayer were only a framing and composing of words handsomely together and pronouncing them distinctly and fully, it were an easy matter to pray, but the affections of the soul must be set in a good frame as well as the words. The eye must see God, the heart must stoop to him, the whole man must be made sensible of his presence, a man must confer with his maker, lift up his soul to God, pour forth his heart before him, and he knows not himself that knows not this to be more than he can do of himself. Wherefore we must not only take great heed to ourselves when we come to pray, but we must even trust upon God, and call upon him for the assistance of his Spirit to help our infirmities, or else our prayers will not be such as may give us comfort.  
Thirdly, This should teach poor Saints not to be discouraged at the manifold 
Evagatio montis quae fit praeter propofitum, orationis fructum non tollit. Id. ib.  failings of their prayers, but alone to be humbled. It is one of the faults accompanying prayers to be made heartless thereby, 1 King. 8. 30. Solomon requests of God not alone to hear, but when he heareth to pardon. God will pardon and pass by all those weaknesses of our prayers which we labour to see and are careful to resist and bewail, and cast ourselves upon Christ for acceptation of. If we should find ourselves never so much assisted in praying, so that we could scarce say what it were that we ought to blame, yet if we do trust to our prayers and their worth, God cannot be well-pleased with them, for he is not well-pleased but in Christ. On the other side, if we can renounce ourselves, though our prayers have many weaknesses, those prayers shall be heard, because those faults in Christ shall be forgiven. Christ is our Mediator and Intercessor, and he sits at his Father's right-hand, by the sweet Incense of his merits, as a thing most acceptable to God to do away the rank smell of our carnalness, which shows itself in praying. We are therefore to trust on him, stay in him, rest in his supplications and intercessions. This thing which Solomon prayed for, he the true Solomon hath prayed for, and will procure. Wherefore be not heartless, and make not any such perverse conclusion, Surely these Petitions cannot be heard, cannot be regarded. Consider them in themselves they cannot, consider them as they are perfumed with the incense of Christ's intercession they cannot but prevail. Christ's intercession doth not make our services meritorious, that were to put them into the room of his own righteousness, which he never intended to do, but he makes them as effectual and available, even as if they were meritorious, because in him all their faults are pardoned Therefore do not suffer thy soul to give itself a denial, and to pronounce against itself a rejection of thy suits, but flee to Christ's intercession, than thou shalt be heard and forgiven. But especially take heed your discouragement go not to such an extremity as to make you resolve not to pray, because you cannot pray well. There be some things sinful for matter, these we must not do for fea● of sinning against God; there be some things sinful in regard of manner, and other circumstances, those we must do as well as we can, and not omit altogether for fear of doing them amiss. Better a great deal offend through failing in good things, then by a total omission of them: There may be upright obedience showed in doing them as well as we can, there is nothing but disobedience showed in omitting them. It is a carnal sense of weakness, and comes from the devil and the flesh that drives from the duty, that alone is a spiritual sight and sense of weakness that drives to more care in the duty, and more humility after, and more earnest longing after Christ, and high prising of him.  
Oh but I shall get nothing by these prayers!  
First, Say thou shouldst get nothing, yet thou shalt do a thing that God bids thee, and so obey him, and we must obey God though we get nothing by it. But  
Secondly, If thou dost not pray surely thou canst get as little by not praying as by praying weakly and distractedly. And  
Lastly, If thou prayest thou shalt be heard and pardoned, and that is to get something. Wherefore ascribe so much to the infinite and fatherly goodness of God, and to the perfect and constant intercession of Christ, as to come with confidence to the throne of grace, even with those prayers which are full of faults. The Father loves to see his children's letters though they cannot yet write a fair hand.  
Motives to prayer:  
First, The Lord will take it kindly. Christ is the Church's Advocate, the Saints 

Prayer is one of the noblest exercises of Christian Religion; or rather that duty in which all graces are concentred.  
D. Tailor on Rom. 8.  
There is no duty hath more commands and promises to it, and threatenings against those that omit it; there is no one duty honours God more, and is more honoured by him then prayer; there is no one duty that a Christian hath more need of, no one duty that hath been more practised than this. God hath made many promises to prayer; 1. General, that he will hear and answer us, Isa. 30. 19 John 16. 23. 2. Particular: ●. Deliverance from any trouble and affliction, Psal. 50. 15. o● strength and patience to bear it, Jam. 1 5. 2. Whatsoever spiritual grace we stand in need of, Luke 11. 13. 3. Inward joy and peace of conscience. Job 33. 26. John 16. 24. Hildersham on Psalm 51. 7.   are the Church's Solicitors, Isa. 62. 1. 7. Psal. 122 6.  
Secondly, Prayer is the most principal part of God's worship, Let us worship and fall down; it is sometime in Scripture put for the whole worship of God, being a principal part of it, jer. 10 25.  
There is a visible advantage due to prayer above preaching in the public Assemblies, because it is a means nearer the end of both. It cannot be denied that all preaching is to the purpose of informing the mind, or moving the heart to desire that which is good indeed: but prayer being the actual desire of it, is the exercise of the means which God ordaineth to procure it. M. Thorndikes Service of God at Religious Assemblies, c. 6.  
The word of God is the great instrument in the hand of the Spirit by which all things are managed in the world, prayer is the great instrument in the hand of faith by which all things are managed in the new man. When the Spirit comes in, it is a Spirit of Sanctification, and makes way for the Spirit of Supplication, and that for the Spirit of Illumination, Psalm 43. 3. Psal. 139. ult. jer. 31. 9  
Thirdly, It is honourable, 1. To God, acknowledgeth the Soul's dependence on him, his Omniscience, Bounty, Goodness, Omnipresence, Faithfulness in performing his Promises. 2. To us, to have the Prince's ear still open to our petitions.  
Fourthly, Necessary. The necessity of it appears,  

1. In that hereby we are trained up in the conviction of our unworthiness; prayer is a discovery of our beggary, thou hast not grace nor strength if it come not from heaven; God would have this seen not only in those great precious privileges, but likewise in our daily bread, thy prayers ought to make thee humble, if thou hast grace of thy own, why dost thou pray for it? it is daily pardon and favour, and these must be sought for.  
2. All the best grace and strength we have is imperfect, 2 Cor. 9 Perfecting holiness, our faith and righteousness hath much corruption mingled with it, we had need to pray that God would defend us against temptations, the Christian praying and always seeking to God is seldom overcome.  
3. Every thing becomes sanctified by prayer, 1 Tim. 4. 5. all Sermons, Sacraments, 
A Saint of God had rather go without the mercy that he begs by prayer, then have a mercy without prayer.  Mercies, Afflictions become hereby sanctified, it makes the Word lively, the Sacraments efficacious.  
4. It keeps off many blows, Phil. 4. 22. therefore Paul a stout Christian was much in prayer, and desired philemon's and others prayers.  
5. It is gainful, a key that opens all the treasures of God, 1 King. 8. 33, 35. jam. 5. 17, 18. Matth. 7. 7. jam. 4. 7. joh. 16. 23. Revel. 11 6. The light as well as life of a Christian is laid up in another. Omnia in Christo sunt capitalia, say the Schoolmen. 

See Promises, 1. To prayer in general.  
2. To the several parts of prayer.  
Clarks Holy Incense, p. 1. to 9   Whatever is in Christ is in him as a Head with reference to the body, Cant. 4. 15. Ephes. 6. 10.  
6. It is very powerful, it prevaileth over all creatures, yea with the Creator himself. God never left granting till Abraham left ask. Gen. 18. Ps. 145. 19 & 18. 6. Psal. 50. 15. joh. 14. 14. & 15. 7. 1 joh. 3. 22. & 5. 14. Vinculum invincibilis. Bern. Vis Diograta. Tertul. Apol.   
Prayer not only obtains the thing, but brings a sanctified use of it, it turns it to 
Gen. 32. 26, 28 Some say, that prayer commandeth God, Isa. 45. 11.  the good of those that receive it, it gives efficacy to other means, or if they fail, it doth it itself, it hath not this efficacy from any intrinsical virtue or merit to be found in it, the efficacy is wholly from God.  
Prayer is available three ways: 
Deo sacrificium, diabolo flagellum, homini subsidium. Aug.   

1. As it is a petition put up to God, and so it avails Via impetrationis.  
2. As it is an exercise of the soul, and of the graces in it, and so it avails Via causationis.  
3. As it is a commanded duty and a principal part of God's service, wherein we give him the glory of his Omniscience, Mercie, Power and Wisdom, and so it avails Via retributionis. M. Carter on Exod. 32. 9, 10.   
The efficacy of prayer comes  

1. From God the Father, he is infinite in goodness, and of his own Nature much more prone to give good things than we to beg them, as appear by his daily lading us with such comforts as we never so much as craved at his hands, yea by casting of innumerable benefits upon his enemies.  
2. Christ, he hath deserved all good things by the infinite and invaluable merit of his most precious life and death, yea he hath commended us to his Father's love and care by many fervent prayers made for us in the days of his flesh, and now he ceaseth not to make perpetual intercession for us at his Father's right-hand, by presenting his own merits to the eyes of his Father, that they may actually speak in our behalf, and do away all the defects of our prayers.  
3. The holy Ghost stirreth up in us earnest desires and groans, and doth as it were dictate our prayers for us.  
4. From ourselves, the people of God by praying are fitted to receive those benefits which they pray for, in the exercise of prayer increasing in themselves, faith, humbleness of mind, an aptness to be thankful for them, and an ability to use them well to God's glory and their own good.   
Helps and Means:  
One must prepare his heart, that being naturally unfit for communion with God, which lieth  
First, In removing impediments, hardness of heart, want of sense and feeling of the woeful estate we are in, the command to pray always, implies that the soul should be always in a praying frame. 2. Impatience, fretting, Pray without wrath.  
Secondly, In bringing the positive furtherances, 
Prepare for prayer, 1. By getting powerful apprehensions of the glory of God before whom you go. 2. By getting your hearts sensible of what you pray for, as pardon of sin, power against it, assurance of his love. 3. Get your hearts separated from the world, and all things here below. M. Burr. of Gospel-wor▪ Isa. 1. 13.   

1. heavenly-mindedness, If God be in Heaven there must our hearts be. Prayer being an humble discourse of the soul with God, Which art in Heaven. The natural gesture of lifting up our eyes and hands to Heaven, implieth this; this is opposed to worldly cares and earthliness, these are clogs; this made David say, It is better to be one day in thy house then a thousand elsewhere. Call in the help of the Spirit, Rom. 8. 27.  
2. Consideration of God's benefits, it is good to have a Catalogue of them.  
3. Study much the fullness and all sufficiency of God, and his making over himself to you in his all-sufficiency, Gen. 17. 1.  
4. Acquaint yourselves with your own necessities, Let the word of God dwell richly in you, Col. 3. 16. The ground of prayer is God's will, acquaint yourselves with the precepts, promises.  
5. Give yourselves to prayer, Psal. 109. 4. but I prayer, so the Hebrew; Oratio ego, so Montanus.   
Helps against wand'ring and vain thoughts in holy duties, and especially in prayer:  

1. Set a high price upon it, as a great Ordinance of God, wherein there is a Communion with him to be enjoyed, and the influence of the grace of God to be conveyed thorough it.  
2. Every time thou goest to prayer, renew thy resolutions against them, till thou comest to a habit of keeping thy heart close to the duty.  
3. Set the presence of God before you in prayer, his glory, and consider that he converseth with thy thoughts, as man with thy words.  
4. Be not deceived with this, that the thoughts are not very sinful; whatsoever thoughts concern not the present duty, are sinful.  
5. Bless God for that help if thine heart hath been kept close to a duty, and ou haste had communion with God.   
The godly must pray, by this title the Scripture describes true Christians, Acts 2. 41. and Paul saluteth All the faithful that call upon the name of the Lord, 1 Cor. 1. 2. a heart full of grace is also full of holy desires and requests, Cant. 1. 2, 4, 7. It is called the Spirit of Supplications, Zech. 12. 10. suitable to the Spirit of grace is the Spirit of Supplication.  
They must pray daily, Psal. 55. 17. & 147. 2. Dan. 6. 10. Luk. 2. 47. 1 Thess. 3. 10. 2 Tim. 1. 3.  
Reasons.  

1. It is equal that part of every day be given and consecrated to him who is the Lord of the day, and of all our time; they had a morning and evening 
Every morning and evening the Sacrifice, Exod. 29. 38. and Incense, Exod. 30. 7, 8. were to be offered up unto the Lord. These were ceremonial Laws, but there is a moral equity of them which is perpetual, and these Laws concerned the people as well as the Priests, as appear, Luke 1. 10. Hilders.  Sacrifice in the time of the Law.  
2. Prayer is a singular means of near and heavenly Communion with God, therein the godly enjoy the face of God, talk familiarly with him.  
3. Prayer sanctifieth to us (that is, obtaineth of God for us a lawful and comfortable use of) all the things and affairs of the day.  
4. Every day we stand in need of many things belonging both to temporal and spiritual life.  
5. We are every day subject to many dangers.   
A gracious heart is full of holy requests to God, Psal. 8. 10. Revel. 5. 8. Rom. 5. 5. 
A readiness to pray earnestly to God for good things, and the same improved accordingly, is a kind of pawn from heaven to him that hath it, that he shall receive the good things prayed for. Robin's. Ess. Obser. 48.  Ezek. 16. 15. john 16. 24. jude v. 11.  
Reasons.  

1. Prayer is an act of religious worship, Dan. 4. 17.  
2. Because of the great things spoken of prayer, Isa. 46. 11. Rev. 16. 1. Deut. 4. 7. Isa. 37. 3.  
3. The Saints have received the Spirit of Supplication, Zech. 12. 10.   
Every godly man must be constant and assiduous in prayer, persevere in it, Psal. 
james the brother of our Lord by oft kneeling his knees were benumbed and hardened like the knees of a Camel. Fox. See D. Gouges Whole Armour, part. 2. Treat. 3. Isa. 62. 6. Ephes. 6. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is attributed to hunting dogs which will not cease following the game till they have got it.  5. 23. Psal. 55. 16, 17. Psal. 118. 12, 13. Will the hypocrite always call upon God? saith job: Daniel would not forbear the daily exercise of this service, although it were with the hazard of his life, Dan. 6. 10.  
Aquinas 2a, 2ae Quaest 83. Artic. 4. determines this Question, Utrum oratio debet esse diuturna?  
Reasons. 1. From God, who hath signified approbation of this service by commanding it expressly, saying, Pray continually; and Christ spoke a Parable, That we should be constant in prayer and not faint, Luk. 18. 1.  
2. This hath been the practice of all the Saints of God. jacob wrestled with God 
It was a profane speech of that atheistical wretch, that told God, He was no common beggar, he never troubled him before with prayer, and if he would hear him that time he would never trouble him again.  and prayed all night. The Canaanitish woman had several repulses, yet persevered in prayer. Moses held up his hands, which implies the continuance of his prayer, Isa. 62. 1. Christ prayed thrice, and yet more earnestly, Luk. 22. 44.  
2. From ourselves:  
First, We have great need, for we absolutely depend upon God, and he hath tied himself no further to do us good than we shall seek it in his Ordinance at his hands.  
Secondly, We have great helps, even such as may enable us to perform the duty notwithstanding any weakness that is in ourselves, for we have God's Word and Spirit. If a man doubt to whom to direct his prayers, the Scripture calls him to God, To thee shall all flesh come, Psal. 65. 2. If in whose name, it leads him to Christ, Whatsoever you shall ask in my Name. If for what to pray, for wisdom, for the Spirit, for patience, for daily bread, for remission of sins, for deliverance 
If we persevere not, either God will not give us what we pray for, or if he do we shall have it as a curse, because it is not the fruit of prayer. Four things will drive the Saints to God. 1. The remainders of sin. 2. The defect of graces. 3. The Devils temptations. 4. Outward affliction.  from evil, for the honouring of God's name, in a word for all good things: If for whom, for Kings, for Rulers, for ourselves, for others, for all men, except him whom we see to have sinned a sin unto death; If where, every where lifting up pure hands: If when, at all times, continually: If how oft, why, morning, noon, night: If on what occasion, in all things by prayer and supplications: If in what manner, why, fervently with an inward working of the heart in prayer, with understanding, in truth and in faith, and without fainting.  
2. God will assist us with his Spirit, all those which address themselves to perform this work according to the direction of his Word, and beg the Spirit of prayer, to help them in praying, The Spirit maketh intercession, Rome 8. Judas v. 20. Praying in the holy Ghost.  
Thirdly, Constant supplicating to God doth honour him, and actually confess him to be the universal Lord, the Ruler and disposer of all; yea to be liberal in giving, to be omnipotent in power, to be present in all places, to see and hear all persons and actions, to search our hearts, and to sit at the stern of the whole world, so that he observeth also each particular creatures need and wants.  
Fourthly, It is exceeding advantageous to ourselves, seeing it acquaints us with God, and breeds a kind of holy familiarity and boldness in us toward him. 2. It exerciseth, reneweth and reviveth all graces in us: in drawing near to God, and calling upon him, we grow like to him, this sets a work and increaseth knowledge of God, humility, faith, obedience, and love to him.  
Fifthly, Because prayer itself is not only a duty but a privilege, the chief purchase of Christ's blood. 
Matth. 14.   
Sixthly, Because if we persevere and faint not, God will come in at last with mercy, in the fourth watch of the night Christ came, in the morning watch, the night was divided into four watches. jacob wrestled all night with God, but in the morning he prevailed.  
Both the wicked and godly are weary of prayer and fasting.  

1. The wicked are weary of prayer and fasting: 

1. Because they want the principle of grace to carry them thorough.  
2. They want the Spirit of Adoption.  
3. They have no love to these duties.  
4. They relish not the sweetness in prayer and fasting.  
5. They have a mean esteem of these duties.  
6. They want grace to wait.     
The godly also are quickly weary of these duties:  

1. From the abundance of corruption in the best Christians, Exod. 17. Moses his hands were heavy.  
2. From the misapprehension of prayer and fasting, they look upon them as legal duties, but they are chief Gospel-duties, Matth. 9 13. 2 Cor. 11. 27. they call them beggarly forms; Christians (they say) must be above forms, the Ordinances are vehicula Christi, canales Coeli.  
3. From the often and long continuance and easiness of obtaining these fasting days.   
Motives to persevere in prayer and fasting:  

1. Have a high and honourable esteem of these duties.  
2. Let not the frequency of them take away the reverence and powerfulness of them.   

Persevere, 1. In private prayer, Psal. 80. 4. Cant. 3. 4. 
To be weary of prayer is to sin contra medicinam unicam, & contra misericordiam maximam.   
2. In public, 1. God commands it, Ephes. 6. 17, 18. The Saints have practised it, Lam. 3. 22, 23, 24. Psal. 69. 13.  
3. There are many Promises, Mat. 18. 7. Luk. 11. 10.   
It is a good and commendable thing in the Saints of God to be able to hold out long in their private prayers, 1 Sam. 15. 11. In public prayer with others, respect must be had as well to others as to one's self, and here we must conform ourselves to their ability, that we tyre not their devotion: but in our private and secret prayers betwixt God and our own souls, it is good to be large, 1 Sam. 1. 12. Daniel continued his solemn fast (not in abstaining simply from all food, but from all pleasant and delicious fare) for 21 days together, and therefore it is sure he spent a great deal of time in praying. David Psal. 22. prayed day and night. Christ spent a whole night in prayer.  

Object. Long prayers are condemned in the Pharifees.  
Answ. Not the length but the hollowness of their prayers is blamed, because under show of long prayers they devoured widows houses, seeking to gain the reputation of men extraordinary devout, by drawing out their prayers, and they were public not private prayers.   

Object. Eccles. 1. 3. Solomon bids that in consideration of God's greatness and our baseness our words should be few.  
Answ. Not all length in prayer, but hastiness and tediousness without affection is there condemned; he saith, Be not hasty nor rash, but let thy words be few, requiring that the words have their ground in a well advised judgement, and then they are few in his sense though they be otherwise many. Luke 18. 1. Paul wisheth to persevere in prayer, watching thereunto, meaning it not alone of constancy in prayer and spiritual watching, but of the holding out in prayer.  
Reason's may be added to what have been formerly delivered:  

1. In regard of ourselves: we have much matter for prayer, many sins to confess and lament, many graces to ask, many wants to be supplied.  
2. Many reasons to enforce, and many objections to answer, and therefore ought sometimes to enlarge ourselves.   
Secondly, In regard of God, by this means we shall declare a great love to God, and to this exercise, when we carry ourselves to him as to a Friend, with whom we are not willing to leave conferring, but take delight to confer much with him.  
The way to continue in this duty is much to muse of our wants and sins, and Gods promises, and labour to have our hearts earnestly affected with these things, and to take advantages of such occasions as the Lord affords ●s for this purpose, and let us propound the example of Christ and Samuel, and other godly persons, and strive to follow their precedent when time doth serve.  
Four Cautions must be observed in long prayers:  

1. That in our meetings with Christians we affect not to be long to get applause thereby, and to show how far we excel others in this gift, Mat. 23. 14.  
2. That we be enabled by God with understanding, and use not vain repetitions, 
Mr Hildersham on Psal. 51. 5.  Matth. 6. 7.  
3. That our hearts be able to hold out as long as our tongues do, jam. 5. 16.  
4. That we have respect to them that join with us, 1 Cor. 14. 19   
In prayer, Particular confession of our sins (so far as we can come to the knowledge of them) is requisite, and for unknown sins a general confession will serve, Psa. 19 13. See Gen. 18. 27. Dan. 9 4, 5. Ezra 9 6, 7, 9 Psal. 51. 4, 5. josh. 7. 19 confession is put for prayer.  
The acknowledgement of our own unworthiness becomes the presence of God, 1 King. 19 11. job 42. 5, 6. & 25. 5, 6, 22.  
2. Confession is a solid disclaiming of the first Covenant, when we make grace our claim we must disclaim works, Psal. 115. 1.  
In every part of prayer some affection should be exercised, in confession, shame. Micha 2. 6. Grief, Luk. 18. 13. in requests, hope and desire, in giving thanks, joy and love.  
Confession is but an act of the sanctified will displeased with the remembrance of sin.   

Objections of Libertines and others against prayer. 1. They think it needless, they cannot alter God.  
Answ. We should obey God's command. By prayer there may be a change in ourselves, it betters our hearts, makes us trust in God.  
2. God hath inseparably linked the means and the end. We pray not that Gods will may be altered but accomplished in his own way, his judicial sentence may be altered though not his counsel.  
2. Others think they are above prayer, this is an inferior duty for men of their rank.  
Have neither they nor the Church any necessities? Christ who had fullness of Grace, often prayed, Matth. 14. 23, 24. See Revel. 4. 10, 11. God's people are called his Suppliants, Zech. 3. 10. a generation of them that seek him, Psal. 24. 6.  
3. Others will not pray but when the Spirit moves them.  
This is not to come till God send for us. God withholds grace because we seek it not in his own way.  
4. Others think they need not be so frequent in prayer, they say, the hours of duty are not determined.  
The expressions for prayer are comprehensive, Pray continually, 1 Tim. 5. 17.    

CHAP. V. The Sorts or Kind's of Prayer.  
PRayer may be distinguished according to the matter and manner thereof.  
In regard of the matter, the Apostle 1 Tim. 2. 1. maketh four several heads:  

1. Supplications or deprecations, which are for the removal of evil. 
Dr Gouges Whole Armour. Treat. 3▪ Part. 2.   
2. Prayers, which are for the obtaining of good.  
3. Intercessions, which are in the behalf of others.  
4. Thanksgivings, which are for benefits received.   
These four he referreth in another place to two heads▪  

1. Requests.  
2. Thanksgiving.   
The most general and usual distinction is grounded on 1 Thess. 5. 17, 18.  
Petition, Phil. 4. 6. 1 Tim. 2. 1.  
Thanksgiving, Phil. 4. 6. 1 Tim. 2. 1.  
Petition may be divided according to the things or persons in respect whereof it is made.  
The things which it respecteth, are either good to obtain them, which is most 
Petitio duplex est secundum rationem objecti vel rei quae petitur: est enim vel apprecatio, vel deprecatio. Apprecatio est Petitio de rebus bonis communicandis. Deprecatio est Petitio de rebus malis amovendis. Ames. Medul. Th. lib. 2. c. 9  properly prayer or apprecation: or evil, to remove them, which is deprecation.  
The Persons are ourselves or others.  
Prayer will bring in all the good things God's people stand in need of, john 16. 24, 27. The Jews have a Proverb, Sine stationibus non star●t mundus, without standing before God in prayer, the world would not stand; light and direction comes in by prayer, Prov. 2. 2, 3.  
The godly man hath his daily bread as the fruit of the promise, and that leads him to his union with Christ, the fountain of all promises.  

Object. The matter or object of our prayer must be good, how then can it admit a distinction in respect of good or evil.  
Answ. Amotio mali habet rationem boni, Removal of evil hath the reason of good: therefore the benefits of God are either Positive or Privative. B. Down. of prayer, chap. 33.  
Prayer is the great instrument of removing all evil from soul and body, Psalm. 107. often.  
2. Thanksgiving, which is a grateful acknowledgement of a kindness received.  
There are other distinctions of prayer in regard of the manner:  

1. Mental, Vocal.  
2. Sudden, Composed.  
3. Conceived, Prescribed.  
4. Public, Private.  
5. Ordinary, Extraordinary.   
In this distinction of prayer according to the matter  
I shall first speak of Petition for good things, and deprecation against evil, Intercession for, and imprecation against others, and then of Thanksgiving.  
For Petition, which is the most principal kind of prayer, there are two things considerable in it,  

1. What things we are to crave.  
2. After what manner we are to crave them.   
These have been handled partly in the matter and manner of prayer, therefore I shall but touch them.  
The things which may be asked, must be lawful and good, Matth. 7. 11. Those 
Temporalia licet desiderare: non quidem principaliter, ut in eyes sinem constituamus, sed sicut quaedam adminicula quibus adjuvamur ad tendendum in beatitudinem: in quantum scilicet per ea vita corporalis sustentatur: & in quantum nobis organicè deserviunt ad actus virtutum. Aquin. 2a, 2ae. q. 83. Art. 6.  things are so which are agreeable to the will of God, a thing is therefore good because it is willed of God, Heb. 13. 21. 1 john 5. 14. God's glory is first and most of all to be desired, 1 Cor. 10. 31. Petit. 1. of the Lords Prayer, and the means whereby it may be effected in the 2d Petition, and the manifestation of it in the 3d. Our own good in the next place is to be looked after, in regard of which we may ask all needful things, temporal concerning these frail bodies of ours while we live here in the 4th Petition, or spiritual, and that either respecting our Justification, the principal part whereof is a discharge of that debt, wherein, through sin, we are bound unto God, in the 5th Petition; or our Sanctification in keeping us from the pollution of sin, and preserving us safe from all evil unto Salvation, in the 6th Petition.  
2. In what manner we are to crave good things.  
Things must be begged as they are promised, Faith hath an eye to God's promises, and resteth thereon: as God hath promised any thing, so the faithful ask it in prayer. Things absolutely promised may be absolutely asked; things not absolutely promised, we must pray for with subjection to Gods will and wisdom.  
So much for Petition for good things, for Deprecation against evil things we have express warrant in the 5th and 6th Petitions of the Lords Prayer: and also in the example of Christ, Heb. 5. 7. and in the many promises which God hath made 
See 1 King. 8. 33. and so in other verses there, of Sa●●mons prayer, 2 Chron. 7. 1●  to deliver us from evil.  
Evil to be prayed against, is either of fault or punishment.  
The evil which we do deprecari, that is, desire to be delivered from, whether in whole, ut avertatur, that it may be averted; or in part, ut mitigetur, that it may be mitigated if it be upon us; or to be kept and preserved therefrom if we be in any danger thereof, ut antevertatur, that it may be prevented, it is either the evil of sin or the evil of punishment. B. Down▪ of prater, c. 34.  
Evil of fault is sin, the first and greatest of all evils, in regard of this evil.  
Three things are to be prayed against:  

1. The guilt of sin, in the 5th Petition.  
2. The power of it.  
3. Temptations thereunto, in the 6th Petition.   
Against the guilt and power of sin, we must simply, absolutely and instantly pray, and never cease till God hear us. Against temptations we are to pray especially, that we be not given over unto them, and overcome by them.  
Evil of punishment is threefold:  

1. Temporal.  
2. Spiritual.  
3. Eternal.   
Temporal punishments are all outward judgements, miseries and plagues in this 
Gen. 2. 17.  world, the effects of sin; Absolutely they are not to be prayed against, but we are to pray either to have them removed, or else sanctified unto us.  
One may not pray for afflictions as they are a fruit of the curse, but as they are 
Domine hi● urc, hic s●ca & ●● ae●ernum parce. Aug.  part of the inheritance of the Saints under the second Covenant, Matth. 10. 13. and in reference to the sweet effects that slow from them, jer. 10. 24. so some hold they may be prayed for.  
Spiritual punishments are, slavery under Satan, the world and the flesh, a feared and ● dead conscience, hardness of heart, blindness of mind, c●rn●ll security, impenitency, infidelity, and such like, these are to be prayed against as hell itself.  
Eternal damnation is absolutely to be prayed against.  
Intercession or praying for others, in the next place, is warranted from those Petitions in the Lord's Prayer, which are set down in the plural number, Give us, 
〈…〉  Forgive us, Deliver us. The Apostle also expressly commandeth us to pray one for another.  

1. It amplifieth God's glory, in that we call upon him for others as well as for ourselves; we acknowledge him to be not only our own Father, but also the commem Father of others, therefore Christ hath taught us to say, Our Father.  
2. This is a principal duty of love, Matth. 5. 44.  
3. It is very profitable, we cannot be more beneficial to any ●●●● in an● by p●●●er. Austin saith to Ambrose, Frater, si pro to solum, o●us 〈…〉 bus eras, omnes pro te orant.   
Motives to pray for others:  

1. It is a character of the Saints; Paul prayed much for others, 〈…〉 Phil. 2. 9, 10. Col. 1. 9, 10. and almost in every Epistle ●e begs the prayers of others for himself, Rom. 15. 30. Phil. 1. 19 Heb. 13. 18.  
2. This is the condition of God's promises, 〈…〉 Gods performances. When he delivered his 〈…〉 mightily to him, and he stirred up a spirit of 〈…〉vered them out of Babylon, Dan. 9 2▪ 21. Jer. 29 〈…〉.  
3. It is the Armoury of Saints, 〈…〉 2. 20. & 13. ●4.   
Who those be that are to be praye● for, all of all ●o●ts.  
All in general are to be pr●●ed 〈…〉.   

Object. The Pope of Rome is Antichrist, and he is that man of sin which is the son of 
2 Thess. 2. 3.  perdition.  
Answ. We may not conceive any particular man to be Antichrist, but rather that Seat and State where the Pope sitteth, or the Hierarchy, the Head whereof the Pope is, or the succession of Pope's one after another.  

The first in order to be prayed for are Saints, the whole community of them, Ephes. 6. 18. joh. 17. 9 Col. 2. 1, 2.  
2. Public persons. 1. Magistrates, 1 Tim. 2. 12. Psal. 72. 1. 2. Ministers, Eph. 6. 19 Act. 12. 5. & 15. 40. Mat. 9 38.  
3. Those to whom we are more nearly related, Rom. 9 3. Philem. v. 16. Friends, Husbands for Wives, Parents for Children, Masters for Servants, the Minister for his people, Ephes. 3. 14, 16.  
4. Strangers, Gen. 18. 24.  
5. Enemies, Mat. 5. 44. Luke 23. 34. 
Rom. 12. 14.    
Now I shall show who are not to be prayed for.  
1. All such as are dead Matth. 5. 35. 2 Sam. 12. 23. such prayers are vain and fruitless, for God's determinate judgement passeth on every one so soon as they die. 
Vide Rainold. de lib. Apoc. Praelect. 163.   
Bellarm. de Purgatorio lib. 2. cap. 18. saith, It can neither add any thing to the bliss of them that are in heaven, nor take away any part of punishment from them that are in hell.  
Moses in the Law prescribed no prayers, no Sacrifices for the dead.  
The Papists practise praying for the dead. They pretend for this the fairest precedents 
Orate pro anima  of the Church, and of the whole world. The Heathens they say did it; and the Jews did it, and the Christians did it. The Heathens prayed for an easy grave and a perpetual spring. The Jews prayed that the soul of their dead might be in the garden of Eden, that they might have their part in Paradise, and in the 
D. Tayl. Epist. Dedicat. to the Rule and exercises of holy dying.  world to come. The Christians prayed for a joyful Resurrection, for mercy at the day of Judgement, for the hastening of the coming of Christ, and the Kingdom of God: but yet, the prayers for the dead used in the Church of Rome are most plainly condemned, because they are against the Doctrine and practices of all the world.  
Ignorant and superstitious persons likewise among us, if mention be made of any of their friends departed, use presently to say, The Lord be with his soul, God's peace be with him, with the like. If any reprove them for it, they say, What hurt is it? It is hurt enough that there is no good in it, it is vain and idle, Mat. 12. 36. There is no commandment, example of any good man, or promise in all the Scripture to prayer for the dead.  
2. They which sin against the holy Ghost, 1 joh. 5. 16.  
The fourth and last branch of prayer is imprecation against others, which is a kind of prayer whereby judgement and vengeance is desired.  
Expostulation may be used in prayer, where there is no imprecation as well as when there is, jer. 14 8, 9  
Expostulation with God is a reasoning the case with him, it is usual in the Psalms, 
The faithful sometimes in their mourning proceed to expostulations which are vehement interrogations expressed from them by their grief, whereby they do expostulate with the Lord concerning the greatness or continuance of their afflictions, as Moses, Exod. 5. 22. Josh. 7. 6, 7, 8, 9 the Church afflicted, Lam. 5. 20. and our Saviour, Matth. 27. 46. But we are to take heed that it be a holy fruit of a lively faith, lest it proceed from want of patience, and degenerate to murmuring against God. B. Down. Christian exercise of Fasting.  Psal. 6. 3. & 22. 1, 2. & 75. 5. Psal. 79. 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14. Psal. 90. 13, 14, 16, 17. & 37. 9, 12. Psal. 44. 10, 12, 13, 14, 23. Psal. 77. 1, 9, 10.  
Reasons. 1. Venting of ourselves to God giveth ease, Psal. 39 2, 3.  
2. Complaints move both God and man.  
3. By using strength we get strength, by discussing Gods ways our faith is confirmed, Psal. 138. 3.  
God's people differ from the wicked:  

1. In the rise of their expostulatiosn they are bottomed on faith, they reserve to God all his glory. The wicked question God's providence.  
2. In their progress, the godly proceed in humble prayer, self-abasing, the wicked are not sorrowful nor humbled in their hearts.  
3. In the success, they are confirmed in their principles of God's excellency, are comforted, the wicked are steeled in their Atheism and seared in their wickedness.   
No man must imprecate or pray against himself, we have no warrant for it, and it is against nature itself, Ephes. 5. 29. Peter offended in this, Matth. 26. 74. See Matth. 27. 25. The Jews were so fearful of uttering imprecations, that when in their oaths they had occasion to use them, they would either express them in general terms, God do so to me and more also, 2 Sam. 3. 35. or else, leave them clean out, 
See Psal. 132. 2, 3, 4.  and make the sentence imperfect, as, If I do this, or, If I do not that, or, If this be so, and there stay.  
Quest. Whether is it lawful, and how far to pray against others? There are divers 
Mat. 5. 44.  Imprecations, 69. & 55. & 109. Psal.  
1. The Psalmist was not only a servant of God, but a Prophet, he did not with 
It was not so much votum as vaticinium.  a private spirit foretell their destruction.  
2. He wished that their evils might be destroyed, not their persons, Psal. 59 11, 13. & 83. 15.  
We may rejoice in vengeance upon the wicked (Psal. 58. 11.) as it is an act of God's justice; this is the proper and direct answer to all the imprecations of David, O God to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself; the Israelites praised God for the overthrow of the wicked, Revel. 18. 20. & 19 10.  
We must 1. Pray for our enemies, but against God's enemies, Psal. 35. 23. compared with 83. 12. See Numb. 10. 35. Psal. 68 1.  
2. We may lawfully pray against their designs, though not against their persons, 2 Sam. 15. 31. that their secret counsels and plots may be frustrated.  
3. We may pray against their persons indefinitely, though not particularly, as 
D. Hackwell on Judg. 5. 31. See D. Gouges Whole Armour, part. 2. p. 192, 193. Vide Balduinum de cas. ●nsc. lib. 2. cap. 7. 8. We may wish them temporal evil, that so they may be converted, Fill them with shame, put them in fear. Psal. 59 11, 12.  Psal. 129. 5.  
4. We may pray against their persons in particular conditionally though not absolutely, 1. We are to pray for their conversion: and then if maliciously and wilfully they persist in their obstinacy, in the second place for their confusion, Psal. 83. 16, 17.  
Hitherto of those several kinds of prayer which are comprised under request. The next kind is Thanksgiving.  
We ought to render to the Lord the calves of our lips, speaking good of his name, 
As in confessing of sin we should chiefly ●eep over the Attribute which in committing sin we have chiefly wronged. So in confession of mercy we should magnify that Attribute chiefly which God in giving that mercy hath honoured.  Psal. 95. 1, 2. Eph. 5. 20. 1 Tim. 2. 1. 1 Thess. 1. 18.  
Reasons. 1. From God, to whom thanks must be given, he is the Author of benefits 
See D. Gouges Whole Armour, part. 2. Treat. 3. God is to be praised, Isa. 43. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 9 He is fearful in praises, Thou that inheritest the praises of Israel, Psal. 22. 3. in another Psalm, Praise waiteth for thee, and in another, He is greatly to be praised above all gods. See Psal. 33. 11. & 10. 7, 8. Nehem. 9 5. David earnestly calls upon all creatures to praise God, in Psal. 148. Heavens, Earth, Sea, Angels, Men, Beasts, Birds, Fishes, Trees, all things, because in and from all we are to fetch matter of praising him.  to us, 1. Many. 2. Great. 3. Constant. 4. Free.  
1. Many.  
So many limbs as we have about our bodies, so many joints as are in a limb, so many veins, sinews, gristles and muscles as are requisite to the moving and using of every joint, so many benefits, so many faculties as our souls are endued with of reason, sense and vegetation, so many benefits. How many night's rest, days quiet? How many journeys safety? How many dangers escaped, contents enjoyed?  
2. Great, because we stand in great need of them, and attain much good by them, and can by no means attain them without God.  
3. Constant, from the beginning to the end of our lives.  
4. Free, 1. He gives merely of his own accord to exercise his goodness without respect to any thing that we had done before to deserve, or could do after to requite.  
2. All that God doth for and to us, is that he may be glorified, Psal. 50. 15. ult. it is Gods due, he is the great Landlord of the world.  
Secondly, From man, by whom thanks must be given.  

1. In that we stand in continual need of God's new favours, and are totally dependant upon him, and unable to recompense the old. 
It is the constant exercise of the blessed Saints and Angels in heaven. Love is the grace of heaven, and praise the duty of heaven.   
2. From the duty itself, it is to God very acceptable, Psal. 69. 31. & 50. 8, 9 this is all he expects for his benefits, to us very profitable 
* Thanksgiving doth continue, increase, and sweeten and sanctify benefits. As the Husbandman will continue to manure that ground which fails not to yield him a harvest; so the Lord will continue to bestow blessings on them that are thankful to him for them, yea he will add● new mercies to the old, and give more and more, greater and greater still, increasing his bounty as they increase their thanksgiving for what they have received. It sweetens the mercies, causeth them to be more delightful and comfortable, in that it causeth the s●ul to taste God's goodness in them, by which a man receives more comfort from these terrene things, than a beast. Lastly, these benefits are sanctified to us thereby, made holy in the use, so that we have God's allowance to use them, and shall be bettered by them. It is a comfortable and pleasant duty, we again enjoy the sweetness of those benefits which we give thanks for, to be telling and thinking of the good I have received, and of the excellencies of him from whom I have received it: and most needful, because it is so often, earnestly required, and in regard of the great danger which follows if we do it not. , and in itself needful, excellent, pleasant and possible, a man hath understanding and speech, and a Christian hath the Scriptures to direct him.   
True thankfulness doth import two things: An acknowledgement of the benefit, and one's engagement for it, and then a ready willing mind if occasion serveth to requite it.  
Paul scarce ever gives a precept concerning prayer (though he give many) but he is careful to join thanksgiving with it, Phil. 4. 8. Colos. 4. 2. 1 Tim. 2. 1. 1 Thess. 5. 17.  
Examples of thankfulness we have,  
Noah, Gen. 8. lat. end. Moses and Miriam, Exod. 15. & 17. Judg. 5. Esth. 5. David, 2 Sam. 22. 4.  
There is this distinction between the Papists and Protestants in France, the Huguenots are called the singing or praising people.  
It is an excellent and transcendent duty, a most honourable service. See Psal. 50. vers. 14. 23. a most immediate conversing with God; when we praise God we ascribe something to him.  
In thanksgiving a man separates himself from himself, and all things to God, and so he doth draw nearest to God in this duty. It is a comprehensive duty, all duties run into it; we pray that God may deliver us, and we may glorify him, Psal. 50. 14. therefore it is called the Sacrifice of praise, Psal. 107. 22. as if it were instar omnium. We read, confer and hear that we may praise God, Heb. 13. 15. it is the end of all our duties, and of all God's works and counsels, Prov. 16. 4.  
It hath the largest object of any duty; Faith hath for its object Promises and experiences, fear, threatenings and judgements; Love what is lovely, Praise every good thing, 1 Thess. 5. 18. Col. 2. 7. Ephes. 1. 4. 1 Tim. 4. 3, 4.  
It doth exercise and increase the principal graces of God's Spirit in us, knowledge of God, love to God, faith in him, for all virtues are augmented by practice and exercise.  
It must be 1. To God alone, for there is the same object of petition and thanksgiving, Psal. 50. 23. Host 14. 2. Therefore it so falls out, that those who have divided their prayers between God and others, do also share their praises between God and others, as in Popery 
* The Papists join God and the Saints together, they say, Praise to God and the Virgin Mary. Omnibus propemodum libris Gregorii de Valentia subjecta est haec clausula, quasi succentivum carmen, Laus Deo & beatissimae Virgini, & jesus Christo. Et sic saepe Baronius claudit Tomos Annalium; censent enim Matrem Filio debere praeponi. An poterit in tota Italia dari Templum Christo consecratum quod sit tam multis donariis opulentum, & quod tanta devotione frequentetur, quam Templum Mari● Lauretanae? Nec puduit Baronium sic claudere secundum volumen Annalium, ut Mariae solius intercessioni acceptum referat successum laboris sui & omnia bona quae à Deo accepit, nulla facta Christi mentione. Molinaei Hyperaspistes, l▪ 1. c. 5.  they do as often praise the Saints as pray to them.  
2. In the name of Christ, In every thing give thanks through jesus Christ, for without his mediation and atonement our very prayers and praises will become most loathsome unto God.  
3. By the help of the holy Ghost, for as we cannot pray so neither praise God, but by his enabling of us. Open my mouth, O Lord, and my lips shall show forth thy praise.  
4. For good and lawful things, as we are to pray for nothing but what is according to Gods will, so neither to praise God for any thing that is evil, for that were to make God the author of sin.  
The manner in general, It must be  

1. With grace in the heart, Psal. 103. 1.  
2. With understanding in the mind, Psal. 47. 7.  
3. With faith in the will, David was most thankful when he believed God to be his, and to have heard his prayer.  
4. With joy and thankfulness, Is any man merry? let him sing Psalms.  
5. With holiness of life, a real praising of God.  
6. By preferring spiritual mercies before temporal.  
7. With engaging ourselves to God to walk more to his praise, 2 Chron. 15. 11.  
8. With humility and self-abasement, Psal. 2. Rejoice with fear and trembling.   
We should praise God, 1. Intensiuè, with the greatest ardour and intention, Psal. 103. 1. & 36. 10.  
2. Extensiuè, with all praise, Psal. 9 14. and for all mercies, Psal. 71. 7, 8.  
We must be thankful, 1. In our hearts, Psal. 103. 1, 2. there must be a consideration of the benefits we have received, Psal. 139. 14. Col. 4. 2.  
2. We should value and truly esteem of them, 1 Cor. 9 15. 1 Thess. 3. 2. Ezra 9 13. Psal. 40. 5. & 71. 15.  
3. Have a sense of God's love in our hearts, Col. 2. 7.  
4. Joy in the goodness of God to us in the mercies he vouchsafeth, 1 Sam. 2. 1. 1 Chron. 29. 7.  
Motives to praise God:  

1. The freeness of God's love to us either in personal or public mercies.  
2. Our desert of the contrary.  
3. The glory of God is all he looks for, and therefore he commands this.  
4. It is a practical duty.  
5. It breeds in the heart love to God.  
6. It is a duty which contains all excellencies in it, Psal. 147. 1. 1. Good. 2. Profitable to us, the way to get more blessings▪ Phil. 4. 6, 7. Ingratitude forfeits blessings, Deut. 28. 47, 48. 1 Tim. 4. 4. 3. Pleasant, 1. To God, Psal. 69, 30, 31. Ephes. 5. 18, 20. 2. To us, 1. Joy is the ground of it, we never thank God till our hearts be warmed, Luke 1. 46, 47. 2. True joy is the consequent of it, Phil. 4. 6, 7. 4. Comely, a debt. 1. It is all we can do to God, 2 Sam. 7. 19, 20. 2. It is all God requires, 1 Thess. 5. 8.   
Hitherto of the distinct kinds of prayer in regard of the matter.  
Now follow the distinctions of prayer in regard of the manner.  
First, It is either mental or vocal.  
Mental prayer is an inward opening of the desire of a man's heart to God, without 
1 Sam. 1. 13.  any outward manifestation of the same by word, as Gen. 24. 45. Exod. 14. 15. 2 Sam. 1. 13. Nehem. 2. 4. This may be as fervent as if it were uttered.  
Vocal prayer is that which is uttered with words, as 1 Kings 8. 23. See Psal. 71. 23, 24. & 119. 17.  
Words are used, 1. That men might know the desires of one another's heart, and 
Vide Aquin. 2a 2ae. q. 83. art. 1●  so partake of the mutual prayers one of another.  
2. Because they not only declare, but also stir up and increase the affection of the heart.  
3. They are a special means to keep the mind from wandering, and to hold it close to the matter.  
4. Because God is to be glorified not only by our minds, but also by our bodies, and so with our voice, 1 Cor. 6. 20. Our tongue is called our glory, Psal. 16. 7. & 10. 8. because it is that instrument by which we are to set forth God's glory.  
Secondly, It is sudden or composed:  
Sudden prayer is when upon some present occasion the heart is instantly lift up unto God, whether it be only by some sighs in the heart, or by some few words uttered, Neh. 2. 4. These sudden prayers are called ejaculations, upon all occasions we must lift up our hearts unto God.  
Composed prayer is when a Christian setteth himself to make some solemn prayer unto God, whether it be in Church, Family, Closet, Field, or any other place, Dan. 6. 10.  
Thirdly, Prayer is conceived or prescribed:  
Conceived prayer is that which he who uttereth the prayer inventeth and conceiveth himself, as are most of the prayers recorded in Scripture.  
Prescribed prayer is when a set constant form is laid down beforehand, and 
Vide Robins. Apol. Brownist. cap. 3.  either conned by heart or read out of a book or paper by him that uttereth it, and that whether he be alone, or in company. 
Et Ames. de consc. l. 4. c. 17. Quaest 5. & Perkin sum lib. 2. de cas. consc. c. 7. q. 3.   
A set and prescribed form of prayer is lawful:  

1. Because God prescribed a set form of blessing for the Priests constantly to use, Num. 6. 23, 24. See Deut. 26. 13. Christ himself prescribed his Disciples an excellent form of prayer which hath been used in all ages of the Church since his time, Luke 11. 2. that is, do it in haec verba. St Paul observes a set form of blessing in the beginning 
There were set forms of confession, of prayer and praising God. See 92. & 102. & 136. Psalms. 2 Chron. 20. 21. & 29. 30. Constantine the great prescribed a set form of prayer to his soldiers, which is set down in Eusebius his fourth book.  and end of his Epistles.  
2. Many weak ones who have good affections, but want invention and utterance, are much helped by prescribed forms.  
3. Prescribed forms of prayer in the public worship is a good means to maintain uniformity in several Churches. See calvin's Epist. Protectori Angliae, and Cartw. Catech.   
All the Reformed Churches use to sing the same Psalms, not only as set forms, but set in Metre, that is, after a humane composure.  
Beza ordinarily before his Sermon used an entire prayer out of the Geneva Liturgy. See his Lectures on the Cantic.  
The Spirit of God is no more restrained by using a set form of prayer, then by singing set Hymns or Psalms in metre. See Mr Hildersham on Psal. 51. 1, 2. Lect. 12. That a set form of prayer is lawful. Doctor Preston of Prayer. Master Ball of this subject.  
The Spirit of God assists us in prayer, not by immediate inspiration, as he guided 
In origen's time there were set forms of prayer used in the Church. D. Preston. The Book of Psalms was the Jewish Liturgy, or the chief part of their vocal service wherewith they worshipped God in the Temple, 1 Chron. 16. 7. See Ezra 3. 11. Mr. Mede on Matth. 6. 9 Habent Ecclesiae Reformatae passim ad Bibliorum aut Psalteriorum suorum calcem communes suas Liturgias & confessiones, quo suam in Fide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & in cultu communionem ac unitatem publice contestantur. Mares. Quaest Theol. Quaest 11. Fuisse Liturgias & formulas ordinarias precum in Ecclesia primitiva statim à temporibus Apostolorum, colligi potest ex justino Martyr & Tertulliano, V. S. Id. ibid. Vide Balduinum de cas. consc. l. 2. c. 7. cas 13.  the words and matter of Prophets and Apostles, but by sanctifying our abilities, for otherwise every man's prayer should be like that of the Prophets and Apostles.  
M. Norton in his Answer to Apollonius, cap. 13. saith, The use of forms prescribed lawful in themselves, may be unlawful from unlawful circumstances, as the tyrannical manner of imposing them repugnant to Christian liberty. He doth not disallow the imposing of them simply, but only the tyrannical manner of imposing them, as repugnant to Christian liberty. And after he saith, Formula praescripta potest adeo componi, ut adsint omnia in precatione legitima requisita, & absint omnia repugnantia. Therefore this very thing, that it is a prescribed form, is not repugnant to a lawful prayer. He saith, There is not an approved example of set forms in Scripture. Nor is there an example of the contrary practice, viz. that in the ordinary meetings of the Church prayers were then conceived. He saith, Formula praescriptae patrocinantur Ministerio inidoneo. Not the prescribed forms, but a Church's contentedness in such a state, in which it is not lawful to use other then prescribed forms, gives occasion to that inconvenience. He adds, Si sufficiat ex libro precari, Quid non & ex libro concionari sufficiat? It is one thing for a prescribed form of prayer to be lawful, another to be sufficient.  
Fourthly, Prayer is either public or private:  
Public invocation is the prayer of a Congregation, as of a College, or the like. 
Vides Ecclesiam incoepisse statim ab orbe condito, semperque fuisse celebres ac solennes conventus hominum piorum quos quicunque negligunt & contemnunt, non erunt participes promissionum Dei, quae tantum in Ecclesia valent & efficaces ' sunt, non extra Ecclesiam. Quod certè & veteres Hebraeorum tenuerunt, hinc dixerunt, qui contemnit solennes Ecclesiae coetus, non habebit partem futuri seculi: haec notent sectarii. Paul. Fag. in Gen. 4. 3. Deus pluris facit preces in Ecclesia quam domi factas, non ob locum sed ob considerationem multitudinis fidelium Deum communi consensu invocantium. Rivet. in Cathol. orthod. Coimus in coetum & congregationem, ut ad Deum quasi man●s facta precationibus ambiamus orantes, h●c vis Deo grata est. Tertullian. Apol. cap. 39  The children of Israel three times a year publicly worshipped at jerusalem, beside their Synagogue-meetings, Christ and the Apostles went frequently to their public Assemblies. See Heb. 2. 12. & 10. 25. Act. 3. 1.  
We should make special account of public prayer.  

1. The more public prayer is, the more honourable and acceptable it is to God, Mat. 18. 20. David saith, I will praise thee in the great Assembly.  
2. It is more powerful: See joel 2. 16, 17. jonah 3. 8. Vis unita fortior, there is a double promise to public Ordinances, Exodus 20. 24. of Communion and Benediction.  
3. It is an especial means of mutual edification, for thereby we stir up the zeal and inflame the affection of one another, the Saints enjoy a great part of their holy communion one with another.   
Amyraut in Apol. pour ceux de la Relig. Sect. 7. saith, There aught to be public Assemblies where the whole world may be instructed in common by those to whom God hath committed the charge, and that those which separate from these Assemblies cross the Ordinance of God and break the unity of his Church. And this was judged so necessary by the Apostles and ancient Christians, that they always practised it notwithstanding the Edicts of Emperors, and all the persecutions they made to hinder them: Deserere conventus est initium quoddam defectionis, contra in Ecclesiis Deus auget sua dona. Grot. in Heb. 10. 25.  
The Turks and Mahometans have their Stata tempora, set times of worshipping God. The Papists their canonical hours, so called because they are appointed by their Canons, which are therefore to be condemned, because they place Religion in them, as though those hours were more holy than others.  
Divine service in public aught only to be celebrated in the vulgar tongue. See 
See B. Down. of prayer, ch. 17. Vide Balduin. de cas consc. lib. 2 c. 7. cas. 10 Est dogma Papistis, ne liceat i● officiis sacris uti, nisi linguis sacratis tribus in titulo ●rucis Domini, credunt Apostolos sic locutos aliquando, ut nec eorum verba perciperentur nisi ab his, qui munere interpretum fungebantur in Ecclesia. Persuasum habent, peregrinarum vocum recitatione animos non intelligentium inflammari magis. Haec commenta vanissima sunt. Quis non riserit Baldum, qui docet, judicem posse sententiam ferre Hebraicè, Graecè, Latinè? quoniam sic in passione Domini fuit. Aberic. Gentil. de Ling. mixed. Disput.  1 Cor. 14.  
The Patriarches and Prophets under the Law, the Apostles and primitive Church did always pray in a known tongue. Neither can any sound testimony or approved example be produced to the contrary for six hundred years after Christ.  
Private prayer is that, which is made by some few together, 2 Kings 4. 33. 
Reasons for prayer in a Family.  Luke 9 28. Acts 10. 30. or by one alone, which may be called secret prayer, Matth. 6. 6.  
I will here give reasons both for prayer in a Family, and also for secret prayer. 
There are Family-sins and Family-wants. See 1 Sam. 20. 29.   
I. For prayer in a Family:  

1. There is a need of it. The Family hath need of peculiar blessings which are to be sought by prayer, and it receiveth many blessings, for which peculiar thanks are to be given in the house.  
2. There is profit and honour in it, it bringeth God's blessing into his house, 
Families are the foundation of cities and Churches, if they be good, Congregations, Cities will be good. Reformation must begin here.  2 Sam. 6. 11. a Christians house is hereby made God's Church, Rom. 16. 5. Philem. v. 2. The Apostle there calls the Families of certain godly people Churches, because they had this domestical service of God, as well as the Church their Ecclesiastical. See 1 Cor. 16.   
It is said jer. 10. 26. Cursed be the families which will not call upon thy name, as well as the Kingdoms. And again, They shall mourn over him every family apart. Our Saviour went about with his Apostles (which was his Family) to pray.  
This is made one of the Reasons why husbands should dwell with their wives, that their domestical prayers be not hindered, 1 Pet. 3. 7.  
It is requisite also to add secret prayer both to public prayer in the Church, and 
Reasons for secret prayer. What advantages secret and also public prayer have. See Robins. Essays. Observ. 48. Prayer should be clavis diei & sera noctis, the key to open with in the morning, and the bar to shut with in the evening. God is little beholding to him that will not bid him good morrow and good even. We must seek for direction in the morning and protection at night.  private prayer in the Family.  
First, Prayer is a part of God's worship; The Scripture bids us, Pray continually, manifestly alluding to the continual burnt Sacrifice which was twice each day offered. See Exod. 29. 38, 39 & 30. 7, 8. therefore every man should pray by himself twice a day; Christ teacheth us in the 4th Petit. to pray every day, that is, every day of our life.  
Secondly, Every morning we have received Gods special blessing, and every evening we have need of it, therefore are so oft at least to address ourselves to solemn prayer.  
Thirdly, All things must be sanctified by prayer and thanksgiving, therefore the common labours of the day and rest must be so sanctified.  
Fourthly, We may so more freely pour out our whole hearts unto God: Every one hath particular sins to acknowledge, and particular wants to be supplied.  
Fifthly, This both gives the best evidence of the uprightness of a man's heart, and argueth a great familiarity with God, and is most comfortable.  
It is not meet to utter secret prayer so loud, as any other should hear it.  
Fifthly, Prayer is ordinary or extraordinary:  
Extraordinary prayer is that, which after an extraordinary manner, even above our usual custom, is poured out before God.  
This consisteth partly in ardency of affection, and partly in continuance of time.  

1. Ardency of affection, jon. 3. 8. Exod. 32. 32. Luke 22. 44. compared with Heb. 5. 7.  
2. Continuance of time, when prayer is held out longer than at usual and accustomed times, Gen. 32. 24. 2 Sam. 12. 16. Luke 6. 12. josh. 7. 6. continuance in time must not be severed from fervency in affection. For though prayer may be extraordinarily fervent, when it is not long continued, as Christ's prayer, Luke 22. 14. yet ought not prayer long to continue, except it be hearty and fervent; for than it will be no better than much babbling, Mat. 6. 7.   
Extraordinary prayer is extraordinarily powerful and effectual, either for preventing and removing great judgements, or for obtaining singular blessings.  
Another thing considerable in prayer is the gesture: 
Precari manibus junctis ritus est eorum, qui se demittunt & bumiliaut, quasi ligatis manibus sisterent se captivos coram majestate divina. Rivetus.   
Gestures have the force as it were of speech in prayer; kneeling or prostrating the body speaks humility: Beating the breast, Smiting upon the thigh, are significations of sorrow; Lifting up the eyes and hands to heaven argue a fervent and attentive Spirit.  
We have the examples of God's servants, Dan. 6. 10. Ezra 9 5. Acts 7. 60. & 9 40. & 20. 36. and our Saviour Christ himself for kneeling in prayer on the bare ground, Luk. 22. 41. and Paul also Acts 21. 5. the holy Ghost expresseth the duty of prayer in this phrase of kneeling unto God, Isa. 2. 14. & 45. 23. M. Hildersham on Psal. 51. 7. Lect. 115. 
Levatio manuum habitus & gestus fuit orantium, Exod. 9 29. Isa. 1. 15. 2 Tim. 2. 8. Psalm 141. 2. Hac manuum ad Deum Coelum versus elevations   
We should (if conveniently we may) kneel at prayer because we have no gesture in use amongst us so fit to express our humility by, there is a plain Commandment 
Voluerunt orantes indicare, unde expectarem auxilium, fideles autem testari fidem suam, quod accepturi essent à Deo necessaria, & se quasi m●ndicos coram Deo si stere manum elevantes, ut aliquid acciperent. Rivet. in Exod. 9 29.  for it, Psal. 95. 6.  
2. They that cannot kneel should stand or show as much reverence with some other gesture and posture of their bodies as they can: for standing there are directions, Nehem. 9 25. Mark 11. 25. and for the bodily reverence that they should strive to show which can neither kneel nor stand up, we have old and weak Jacob's example, Gen. 47. 31. M. Hildersham.  
Sitting, though among us it do not seem a fit gesture in public prayer, yet privately it hath been and may be used, 2 Sam. 7. 18. 1 Kings 19 4. B. Downame of prayer, ch. 21.  
Our gesture in prayer must be reverend and humble, Psal. 95. 2. Ezra 9 5, 6.  
Kneeling is the fittest gesture to express both these, and most proper to prayer. If conveniently we cannot kneel, then stand. This gesture Christ warranteth, Mark 11. 25. Luke 18. 13. the poor humble Publican stood when he prayed. To pray 
Ardentius oraturi in genua solent procumbere, ut ipse Christus, Mat. 26. 29. Marc. 14. 35. Luc. 22. 21. magi, Mat. 2. 11. jairus Mat. 9 18. Haemorrhous●. Mar. 5. 35. Stephanus, Act. 7. 60. Non Christianis solum sed & Ethnicis hoc usitatum, utrisque signum est humilitatis, verum Ethnici ultra quid indig●tant, cum ingenua prosternuntur. Misericordiam enim impetraturis in genua putant esse procumbendum; quod genua sint misericordiae sacrata, ea supplices attingunt. Dilherri Electa l. 2. c. 23. Quod ad procubitum in terram attinet, non minus Graecis, quam Romanis, Hebraeis, atque omnibus ferè Geutibus common, cum aut supplicarent, aut se victos alicui traderent. Supplicare enim perinde est, atque plicare sub, vel flectere se sub alicujus aspectum, aut genua: quod ij faciunt, qui demisse, ac reverenter precantur. Psal. 72. 9 Isa. 49. 23. Thren. 3. 29. Id' est, procumbent & humum front serient, ut se victos, & dedititios ostendant, & eum, cuise dedant, Regem, & Dominum communi gentium ritu fateantur. Martinius de Roa. vol. 1. Singular. l. 4. c. 1. & 2.  sitting, leaning, with hat on head, or any such like gesture, when no necessity requireth, argueth little reverence and humility. Doctor Gouges Whole Armour, Part 1. Sect. 11.  
The Jews did pray with bended knees, especially in the act of adoration or repentance, when they begged pardon of sins from God, 1 Kings 8. 54. Notent hoc ●ulici delicatuli qui cum Iudaeis unum genu Christo flectunt. Cornel, à Lapid. in Matth. 6. 5.  
We must use that gesture which may best set forth and declaae our humble heart and holy affection unto God. M. Perkins.  
Our Saviour Christ prayed kneeling, Luke 22. 41. sometimes grovelling, Mat. 
Gestus (in genere) tales debent esse, ut sanctè exprimant internos animi motus. Quia autem in omni oratione requiritur humilitas singularis, idcirco communis gestus solennis orationis, debet esse huic dimissioni consentaneus, qualis est detectio capitis, & maxima ex parte, genuflexio, corporis incurvatio aut erectio. Sessio per se non est gestus orandi: quia nullam exprimit reverentiam, neque in Scriptures approbatur. Ames. Cas. Consc. lib. 4. cap. 18.  26. 39 sometimes standing, john 11. 41. Luke 18. 13.  
The praying towards the East was ancient, but afterward changed, because of the abuse of the Manichees, who superstitiously worshipped the Sun rising in the East, yet was it afterward revived again by Pope Vigilius about the year 537. B. Morton. Protest. Appeal, lib. 4. cap. 28. Sect. 1. Vide Voss. de Orig. & Progress. Idol. lib. 2. c. 3.  
The Jews prayed toward the West, Ezek. 8. 16. the gate of the Tabernacle looked toward the Sun. The Holy of Holies opposite to it was turned toward the West. Whence they necessarily adored the West, which Moses did for that cause, lest if they had turned toward the Sun, they should have adored the Sun itself rather then God. But Christians ne viderentur judaizare, prayed toward the Sun rising, neither only for that cause, but because Christ was called by the Prophets, the East, Luke 1. 78. so the LXX. translated the Hebrew word, jer. 23. 5. Zech. 3. 8. & 6. 12. Scaliger. Elench. TRIHAERES. Serar. c. 20. Tertullian in his Apology writes, that the Heathens thought that the Sun was adored by Christians, because they prayed turning toward the Sun. Vide Seldenum de Dis Syris, Syntag. 2. c. 8.  
For the place of prayer, we must know that the prayer sanctifies the place, and not the place the prayer. We read of the Saints prayers made in the Temple, 1 Kings 8. 23. in their own houses, Acts 10. 30. on the house top, Acts 10. 9 in the open field, Gen. 24. 63. in a mountain, Luke 6. 12. in a ship, jonah 1. 6. in the midst of the Sea, vers. 22. in a fishes belly, jonah 2. 1. in a journey, Gen. 24. 12. in a battle, 2. Chron. 14. 11. That promise, Matth. 15. 19 is not made to the place, but to the persons gathered together by common consent in Christ's Name.  
For the Time. It was an ancient custom (saith Drusius de Tribus Sectis judaeorum, lib. 2.) to pray thrice a day, Psal. 55. 18. which hours they define, the third, the sixth, and the ninth. The third answers to nine before noon. The sixth is our twelfth, the ninth the third after noon.  
The Papists place Religion in their canonical hours, as though God were more ready to hear one time of the day than another. B. Down. of prayer, c. 27. Vide Bellar. de bonis operibus in partic. l. 1. c. 11, 12, 13.  
After prayer there must be a waiting upon God, and we must observe whether he grants or denies our requests, that we may accordingly either be thankful or humble, Psal. 5. 38. & 85. 8. & 102. 1, 2. & 104. 27, 28. Hab. 1.  
Christ saith, john 17. Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me.  
Reason's why the people of God should specially observe the returns of their prayers.  
First, Prayers are the chief actions of our life, the first fruits of our Regeneration, Acts 11. 15. Paul being a Pharisee prayed before, that was no prayer to this.  
Secondly, The greatest works of God are done in answer to prayer; all the promises and threats are fulfilled by it, Revel. 8. 5, 6. & 16. 1.  
Thirdly, Whatsoever is given to a man in mercy is in the return of prayer, 1 john 5. 14, 15.  
Fourthly, Every return is a special evidence of our interest in Christ, and of the sincerity of our hearts.  
God answers his people's prayers sometimes in kind, he gives the very things they ask, as to Hannah, 1 Sam. 1. 20, 27.  
Sometimes he denies the thing, yet grants the prayer.  
First, When he manifests the acceptation of the Person and Petition, Gen. 17. 8, 9  
Secondly, When he gives something equivalent or more excellent, as strength to bear the cross, Heb. 5. 7. a heart to be content without the thing, Phil. 4. 5. 1 Sam. 1. 18.  
Thirdly, When he upholds the heart to pray again, Psal. 86. 4. Lam. 3. 44.  
Fourthly, When thy heart is kept humble, Psal. 44. 17.  
Fifthly, When he answers Cardinem desiderii, the ground of our prayers, 2 Cor. 12. 8.  
When God hath heard our prayers, we should return to him:  

1. A great measure of love, Psal. 116. 1.  
2. Praise, What shall I return to the Lord, I will take the cup of salvation.  
3. We should fear to displease him, Psal. 6. 8.  
4. We should be careful to pay our vows, 1 Sam. 2. 27, 28.  
5. We should pray much to him, Psal. 116. 2.     

CHAP. VI Of the Lord's Prayer.  

CHRIST delivered the Lord's prayer at two several times, and upon several 
Matth. 6. 9 Ut decem praecepta veluti pugnus contractus sunt persequendorum & fugiendorum▪ sic haec oratio compendium est omnium quae à Deo comprecanda aut deprecanda sunt.  occasions; in the former he commands it as a pattern and rule of all prayer, saying, Pray after this manner, but in the later (say some) he enjoineth it to be used as a prayer, When ye pray, say, Our Father,  
If so, then would it not follow, that whensoever we pray, we should necessarily (necessitate praecepti) use that form?  
Robinson in his Treatise of public Communion, and his Apologia Brownistarum cap. 3. saith, Neither do the two Evangelists use the very same words, neither if that were Christ's meaning (to bind men to these very words) were it lawful to use any other form of words. For he saith, When you pray, that is, Whensoever you pray, say, Our Father, yet he adds, Though I doubt not but these words 
Quamobrem ad formam etiam Decalogi constructa est haec cratio. Sicut enim Decalogus duabus tabulis discluditur, sic haec oratio in duas petitionum veluti tabulas distribuitur. Quarum tres primae Deum; posteriores tres, nos & proximum respiciunt. Sicut igitur & in ordine mandatorum, sic & petitionum ●●cemur majorem rationem corum quae Dei sunt habere quam proximi, seu nostrim●t, seu aliorum. Cartwr. in Harmon. Evangel.  also, being applied to present occasions, and without opinion of necessity, may be used.  
What is objected against using this as a prayer, may be said of using the precise 
Pagets Arrow against the Separate. of the Brownists, chap. 3. Dr. Gouge on the Lord's Prayer, and others have the like resemblance, comparing it to the King's Standard, that is an exact measure itself, and the rule of other measures.  words of our Saviour in Baptism and the Eucharist.  
As a just weight or balance serves both for our present use to weigh withal, and also for a pattern to make another like the same by it. So the Lords Prayer serves for a pattern of true prayer, and also for our present use at any time to call upon the name of the Lord with those words.  
The Reformed Churches (saith D. Featley) generally conclude their prayers 
Luke 11. 2. Oractonem Dominicam adbibitam suisse plerumque à veteribus pro claus●●● suarum precationum, certius est quam ut multis sit demonstrandum. Matth. 6. 9 id est, in hunc sensum, non enim praeci●it Christus verba recitari, quod nec legimus Apostolos fecisse, quanquam id quoque fieri cum fructu potest, sed materiam pre●●● hinc promere. Grotius in loc. Christus illam orationem docens, non voivit nobis praescribere formulam verborum constanter observandam: sed exemplar, vel ideam, secundum quam orationes nostras dirigere debemus. Hoc inde satis apparet, quod non legamus Apostolos illam formulam unquam usurpasse. Ames. de consc. l. 4. c. 17.  before Sermon with the Lords Prayer, partly in opposition to the Papists who close up their devotions with an Ave Maria, partly to supply all the defects and imperfections of their own.  

Object. We never read, that the Apostles used this prescript form of words in prayer.  
Answ. It is absurd negatively to prove from examples of men, against that which God in his Word so expressly either commanded or permitted; for we may as well reason thus, We do not read that the Apostles or the Church in their times did baptise Infants, Ergò, They were not then baptised. Or thus, We do not read that the Apostles did pray either before or after they preached, Ergò, They did it not.  
Though the Apostles did not bind themselves to these words, yet this doth not prove, that they never used the same as their prayer: they might pray according to their several occasions, according to this rule, and yet with the words of the rule, so Paget.  
Here two extremities are to be avoided: The first of the Brownists, who think it unlawful to use the prescript form of these words. The second of the Papists, who superstitiously insist in the very words and syllables themselves. Unless it be unlawful to obey the express Commandment of our Saviour Christ, Luke 11. 2. it is lawful to use these words, yet when Christ Matth. 6. commandeth to pray thus, he doth not tie us to the words but to the things. We must pray for such things as herein summarily are contained, with such affections as are herein prescribed. B. Downam on the Lords Prayer.   

Object. 2. This prayer (say some) is found written in two books of the New Testament, (
Evangelistae duo Matthaeus & Lucas quorum neuter non optime & callebat, & exprim●▪ bat Christi ment●m, non eisdem per omnia, verbis, in eadem explicanda, usi sunt. Robin's. Apol. Brown. c. 3.  (viz. Matth. 6. Luke 11.) but with diversity of terms, and the one of these Evangelists omits that which the other hath written. How then ought we to pronounce it? Either by that which is expressed in S. Matthew, or that which is couched by S. Luke.  
Answ. If this Argument might take place, when we celebrate the Lords Supper, we must never pronounce the words which Jesus Christ spoke in that action; for they are related diversely in four divers books of the Scripture. When one of the Evangelists says, Remit us our debts, the other expounds it by saying, Forgive us our trespasses. It is indifferent to take either of these two expressions: both of them were dictated by Jesus Christ.  
Our Saviour Christ propoundeth this Prayer as a brief sum of all those things which we are to ask. For as the Creed is Summa credendorum, the sum of things 
We hold it is lawful to use the same words as our prayer, either with or without such changes as are to be noted in the Evangelists recording them. If we precisely follow Matthew it is no offence to Luke: If we use the words as they are in Luke, it is no offence against Matthew. If we vary in phrase from both of them, it may be without offence to either: Our tenet is, that either the same words, or to the same purpose, may lawfully be used of us. Pagets Arrow against the Separate. of the Brownists, chap. 3. Omnino credibile est in Graecis codicibus adject● ex Matthaeo quae Lucas omiserat, cum non exstet in Latinis antiquis illud, Qui es in coelis, item fiat voluntas tua ut in coelo ita in terra, quod & Grae●i codices quidam omittunt, itemque sed libera nos à malo. Grotius.  to be believed; the Decalogue, Summa agendorum, the sum of things to be done: So the Lords Prayer is Summa petendorum; the sum of things to be desired. Tertullian calls it, Breviarium totius Evangelii. Cyprian, Coelestis Doctrine compendium.  
If a man peruse all the Scripture which hath frequently divers forms of prayer, he shall find nothing which may not be referred to some part of the Lords Prayer. Luther 
Oratio haec quantum substringitur verbis, tantum diffunditur sensibus. Tertul. de oratione. Quotidiè adhuc orationem hanc Dominicam quodammodo sugo, ut infantulus, bibo & mando uti adultus, nec tamen ca satiari possum. Atque etiam dulcior & gratior mihi est ipsis Psalmis, quibus tamen mirisicè & unicè delector, quos & maximi facio. Luther. Tom. 7. Oratio Dominica caeteris precandi formulis antecellit in quatuor, 1. Autoris dignitas. 2. Biblica a●tiquitas. 3. Artificiosa brevitas. 4. Admirabilis foecunditas. For steri Thes. Catech.  was wont to call it Orationem orationum, the prayer of prayers.  
In this form are comprised all the distinct kinds of prayer: as Request for good things, Deprecation against evil, Intercession for others, and Thanksgiving.  
These Rules are to be observed in the exposition of the Lords Prayer.  

1. Each Petition doth imply some acknowledgement or confession in respect of ourselves.  
2. Where we pray for any good, there we pray against the contrary evil, and give thanks for the things bestowed, evils removed, bewailing our defects with grief.  
3. If one kind or part of a thing be expressed in any petition, all kinds and parts of the same are understood, Petit. 4.  
4. Where any good thing is prayed for in any Petition, the causes and effects thereof, and whatsoever properly belongs to the said thing, is understood to be prayed for in that Petition, and so when evils are prayed against, their causes, occasions and events are prayed against.  
5. What we pray for, we ask not for ourselves alone, but for others, specially our brethren in the faith.   
There be three parts (say some 
a Elt●● and Dod, and Ball on the Lords Pray●●. Tres parts orationis Dominicae, Exordium, Propositio. Epilogus. Egardus. ) of the Lords Prayer, the Preface, the Prayer itself, and the Conclusion.  
Others 
b B. Doronam.  say two, the Preface, and the Prayer itself, consisting of Petitions and the conclusion, containing a confirmation of our faith joined with the praising of God, and also a testification both of our faith and the truth of our desire, in the word Amen.  
The Preface is laid down in these words, Our Father which art in heaven.  
The Petitions are six in number, all which may be reduced unto two heads, 1. God's glory. 2. Man's good.  
The three first Petitions aim at God's glory: as this Particle Thy, having relation 
D. Go●ges Guide to go to God.  to God, showeth.  
The three last Petitions aim at man's good: as these Particles, Our, Us, having 
In petitionibus quae Deum recta respiciunt, Prima Dei gloriam apprecatur: Reliquae duae, rationem Dei glorificandi indicant. Cartw. in Har. Evang.  relation to man, imply.  
Of those Petitions which aim at God's glory: The first desireth the thing itself, Hallowed be thy name: The second, the means of effecting it, Thy Kingdom come: The third, the manifestation of it, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven: Of those that aim at man's good, the first desireth his temporal good, Give us this day our daily bread. The two last his spiritual good, and that in his Justification, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. 2. In his Sanctification, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  
In the Conclusion or form of praise three things are acknowledged:  

1. God's Sovereignty, Thine is the Kingdom.  
2. God's Omnipotency, And the Power.  
3. God's Excellency, And the Glory.   
All these are amplified by the perpetuity of them, For ever, which noteth out God's Eternity.  
The entrance or preparation to the prayer contains such a description of God as is meet for us whensoever we address ourselves to prayer, to have him in our hearts.  
Christ leads us here to direct our Petitions in the terms of affection, faith and fear: in the terms of affection while we call God Father: in the terms of faith whilst we call him our Father, and by faith make him to be ours in Christ Jesus: and in the terms of fear, whilst we acknowledge his power in heaven and earth. M. Wischart on the L. P.  
The Preface containeth a description of God to whom we pray, taken, 1. From 
Appellatio ista & pi●tatis & potestatis est. Tert●l. de orat. Jupiter optimus maximus.  his relation to us, that he is Our Father. 2. From the place where his Majesty principally appears, that he is in heaven: The former signifying especially his love; the other, his power, the one his goodness, the other his greatness, therefore he is both able and willing to grant our requests. A due consideration of 
cum Deum Patrem vocamus, Christi nomen praetendimus. Calvin.  these both together is a special means to preserve in us both confidence and reverence.  
Our Father] Father is taken, 1. Personally, My Father is greater than I 2. Essentially, so here.  
God is a Father to us only in Christ, and in him only w● are adopted and born again, Ephes. 1. 5. john 1. 12. Gal. 4. 4, 5. Adoption is an act of the free grace▪ of God the Father upon a believer accounting him a Son through the Sonship of Christ.  
All by nature are strangers and enemies to God, have lost their Sonship; Adoption is to take a stranger and make him his Son, Extranei in locum liberorum samuntur, saith the civil Law.  
2. It is an act of the free grace of God the Father, none but he hath power to adopt, Ephes. 1. 5. 1 john 3. 1. Men adopt because they want a posterity. God had a natural Son, and the Angels which never sinned were his Sons by Creation.  
3. An act of God upon a believer, none are adopted but believers, john 1. 12. Gal. 3. 26. till then we are enemies to God.  
4. The nature of Adoption lies in accounting a man Son, and that by God, 1 john 3. 10.  
5. Through the Sonship of Christ, imputing Christ's righteousness to us makes us righteous, God accounts you also sons through Christ, he gives you the privilege of sons, john 1. 12.  
It is lawful and sometime profitable for a child of God to say in his prayer, My Father, to declare his particular confidence not his singular filiation, yet it never ought to be so used exclusively in respect of charity, but we ought usually to call upon God as our Father in common.  
In secret prayer which a man makes by himself alone, he may say, My Father, or my God, but not in public, or with others: yet in secret prayer there must 
Habet oratio Dominica Rhetoricam suam. Nomen ipsum Patris pro nobis orat, quia Patris est Filiis necessaria providere Patris est, Filiis ignoscere. Maldonat. Pater quid negabit Filiis, qui jam dedit quòd Pater est? See Rom. 8. 32.  be that love and affection toward others, which must be expressed in public, and with others.  
If God be your Father, know your privileges, and know your duty.  

1. Know your privileges, a Father is full of pity and compassion, Psal. 103. 13. a Father is apt to forgive and pass by offences, Father forgive them, said Christ, Matth. 6. 14. a Father is kind and tender, good and helpful, you may then expect provision, protection, Matth. 6. 32. an inheritance from him, Luke 12. 32. As he gave his Son in pretium, for a price, so he reserveth himself in praemium, for a reward. Tam Pater nemo, tam pius nemo, saith Tertullian 
* Lib. de poenit. cap. 8. Ps. 22. 1. Mat. 26. 39 Joh. 20. 28. Rom. 1. 8. . God's love towards us is so much greater than the love of earthly parents, as his goodness and mercy is greater, Isa. 49. 15. & 63. 15. Psal. 27. 10. Luke 11. 13.  
2. Know your duty, Where is the filial disposition you express towards him? do nothing but what becomes a child of such a Father.   
Rules to know whether I am the child of God, or have received the Spirit of Adoption:  

First, Where ever the spirit of Adoption is, he is the spirit of Sanctification, 1 john 3. 8, 9, 10.  
Secondly, Where the spirit of Adoption is, there is liberty, 2 Corinth. 3. 17. Psal. 51. 12.  
Thirdly, The same Spirit that is a Spirit of Adoption, is a Spirit of Supplication, Rom. 8. 15.  
Fourthly, This works in that man's soul a childlike disposition, makes one tender of his Father's honour, willing to love and obey him.  
Fifthly, It raiseth up a man's heart to expect the full accomplishment of his Adoption, Acts 3. 19 1 john 3. 16. Rom. 8. 32. He desires to partake of the inheritance to which he is adopted. Heaven is a purchase in reference to the price Christ hath paid, an inheritance in reference to his Sonship, Isa. 63. 15.   
Which art in Heaven] In Heaven sets forth his Greatness, Psal. 12. 4. God's Being, Majesty, Glory, joh 4. 19  
Heaven is all that space which is above the earth: of which there are three parts, Coelum Aëreum, Gen. 1. 8. Aethereum, Gen. 1. 14. Empyreum, Acts 3. 21. The first, Air, in which are the Birds, Fowls of Heaven. The second is that Heaven wherein the Stars are, which are called the host of Heaven. The third is the seat of the blessed, and throne of God, called Coelum Empyreum, because of the light, 1 Tim. 6. 16. and the third Heaven, 2 Cor. 12. 2. in respect of the two lower, and the Heaven of Heavens, Psal. 115. 16. 1 King. 8. 27. But this place is especially to be 
See Isa. 61. 1. Psal. 68 6.  understood of the third Heaven, which is the place of the Lords habitation, 1 Kin. 8. 30. His Throne, Mat. 5. 34.  
God is every where repletiuè, filling all places, jer. 23. 23. but yet so every where 
1 Cor. 13. 12. 1 John 3. 2.  totus, wholly. Yet after a more special manner, he is said to be in Heaven, Psal. 20. 4. & 123. 1. because there he manifesteth his glory, thence he sendeth down his blessings and judgements, Rom. 1. 18. From Heaven, especially the glory of his Power, Providence, Justice, Mercy, and other Attributes, is declared, Psal. 
In the third Heaven especially God declared his chiefest Majesty as in his Kingly Throne. The Heathens have this notion by nature, that God is in Heaven, therefore in distress they lift up their hands and eyes thitherward. Some say, that Heaven is every where, and every place is Heaven▪ why did Christ then ascend? why was he carried up when he went to Heaven? Luke 24. 51. If Heaven be every where there is no need of ascending to get into Heaven. In my Father's house there are many mansiens. Vide Zanchium de operibus Dei part. 1. l. 1. c. 4. q. 1.  19 1. & 76. 8. Psal. 102. 19, 20. jam. 1. 17.  
The Reason of Gods dwelling in Heaven is double:  

1. Because he hath fitted that place for this purpose.  
2. Because he hath fitted those persons which are there for the beholding and enjoying of his glory, for here we cannot see God and live, but there it shall be our life to see and behold him.   
What an excellent place is Heaven then! how blessed, glorious! That must needs be the best place in which the most excellent persons do inhabit, now God dwelleth there, that therefore is the best and most desirable place. There nothing is wanting that may set forth the glory of his Majesty, and may conduce to the complete blissfulness of those that are admitted thither. The felicity of Heaven is known and apprehended under this notion, that it is Gods dwelling place, and that his glory shineth there more clearly than the light of the Sun shineth here.  
We should therefore labour,  
First, To get Heaven assured to ourselves, that we may know certainly that we shall have an inheritance there, and our habitation with God. We must not live ever in this lower world, of necessity we must depart out of this place, and be translated into another. Wherefore our care should be, that when we depart hence, we may be received into those everlasting mansions. Nature teacheth every thing to labour after its own perfection, and to strive after that which is the best thing whereof it is capable, for when it hath once obtained that, then doth it find itself fully satisfied and contented, and not till then. Now the being with God and beholding his glory in Heaven, is the best thing whereof a reasonable creature is capable. Wherefore we must put forth our desires and endeavours to 
Matth. 6. 33. 1 Pet. 1. 3, 4.  get this most perfect and absolute estate, than which there cannot be a better thing bestowed upon us, Our life is hid with Christ in God; This is the inheritance of the Saints in light, and of those that are sanctified by faith in Christ's blood; We must therefore seek to get such a faith in Christ as shall sanctify us, and then it will also save us. We are said to be made meet for this inheritance; we are not made meet for Heaven but by being made holy. Holiness is a being separated to God, when the mind is wholly given up and set upon God▪ so that it endeavoureth to know, love, fear and delight in him above all things, than it is holy, and faith in Christ, if it be true, will work this sanctity, and draw up the soul thus to God, and knit it to him.  
Secondly, When we have gotten assurance of it, we must take comfort in it, rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God, as those do which are justified by faith. We must enjoy Heaven by hope before we come unto it, we must fill ourselves with a certain expectation of coming in due time into the glorious Palace, and this expectation must enlarge our hearts with consolation, so that we may always, and in all estates account ourselves happy, and be satisfied in the certain looking for of our admission in due time into this blessed place of glory, where we shall see God face to face.  
Thirdly, We must learn also most earnestly to desire to be in Heaven: whosoever hath hopes of any good thing, he cannot but long for the satisfying of his hopes. If Heaven be God's dwelling-place, sure all that love him must desire to be where he is, that they may see his glory, and be happy in seeing it. We must long to be unclothed of this flesh, and to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven. Yea we must sigh and groan earnestly after the revelation of this glory and participation of this bliss. Paul longed to depart, or to lose and to be with Christ, he compareth himself to Sailors, or men that in a Ship lie waiting for a fit wind to carry them unto that place for which they are bound. Heaven is our Country, our Inheritance, there is our Father, our eldest Brother, there be all our Brethren and Sisters, there is our Head, and ought we not long to be there? Thus we must be heavenly-minded, 
Phil. 3. 19, 20.  because God is in Heaven, whom to enjoy is better than to enjoy all that is besides in earth and in Heaven. A bad man when he cannot tarry any longer here, out of a confused conceit, that Heaven is a good place, would fain go thither, but a good man out of the apprehension of the presence of God there, must even wish to leave earth at the best, and to be with God in Heaven. Indeed this desire must not nor will not be an impatient desire that cannot brook delays, but a stayed desire, that is willing above all things to be there, but contented to be here so long as God will, out of the assurance that he shall come thither at last, and in due time.  
Now the Petitions follow, which are six 
* Some divide the Lords Prayer into seven Petitions, so Augustine in Enchir. and some other ancient writers, Luther and the Lutherans, and most of the Papists. Vide Aquin. sum. 2a, 2● Quaest 83. Art. 9 and some of our later Divines, but the usual division into six is the most natural, and observed by divers of the ancient Fathers, and many modern Divines.  in number. They are all most brief, yet so that in their manner they comprehend all things to be desired, and that in a most fit order. Either they concern more properly and immediately the glory of God, without respect of our own profit: or else our own good, and mediately the glory of God.  
In the three former we say, Thy Name, Thy Kingdom, Thy Will; in the three later, Us and Our. Those which immediately concern the glory of God, are set down in the first place, and without a copulative, the three later which concern our good are tied together with conjunctions.  
This order teacheth us, that the main end of all our desires and actions should 
Prov. 16. 4. 1 Cor. 10. 31.  be the glory of God.  
Petition 1. Hallowed be thy Name.  
The Name of God is that whereby God is made known. For that is the end and use of a name, to make known and distinguish that person whose name 
Gen. 2. 19, 20.  it is. By the Name of God all those things are meant whereby he is made known to us.  

1. His Titles, Exod. 3. 14, 15. & 6. 3. These two Lord, God, are most usual in 
The Name of God is put for God himself, Joel 2. 23. Deut. 28. 58. Hereupon the Hebrews use to say, His Name is himself, and he i● his Name. Summa est, ut optemus suum haberi Deo honorem quo dignus est, ut nunquam de ipso loquantur vel cogitent bomines fine summa veneratione. Calvin. Instit. lib. 3. cap. 20. Sanctificare nomen Dei, est, sanctum agnoscere, separare ab omni contemptu & prophanatione, praedicare, illustrare & glorificare. Finis & scopus hujus petitionis est serium promovendi gloriam Dei studium & defiderium. Commentarii hujus petitionis sunt Psalmus 67. & oratio Christi pro se, pro Discipulis & tota Ecclesia. Egard. Medulla S. S. Theol. To sanctify God is to acknowledge him, to look upon him, and honour him as a holy God. To know God in his glory is to glorify him, to know him in his holiness is to sanctify him.  our tongue.  
2. His Attributes, Exod. 34. 5, 6, 7.  
3. His holy Ordinances, Psal. 38. 2. 1 Tim. 6. 1. his Word doth most clearly, distinctly and fully make him known to us, john 5. 37. See Acts 9 15. and 21. 13.  
4. His Works, Rom. 1. 29. of Judgement, Psal. 9 16. Isa. 30. 27. of Mercy, Isa. 48. 9, 10, 11.  
5. God's Name is his Glory, Exod. 9 16. Psal. 8. 1. so Name is taken, Gen. 11. 4. & 12. 2.   
To hollow or sanctify signifies either to make holy, or to acknowledge and declare holy, the later is here meant. That which is holy in itself is said to be hallowed by esteeming, acknowledging and declaring it to be as it is, this is all the hallowing or sanctifying that can be done to the Creator. We sanctify the Name of God, when in our hearts, words and deeds we do use it holily and reverently.  
To sanctify God is  

1. To know him to be a holy God, Prov. 9 10. and to keep this knowledge always active in us. Out of him no evil can arise, he can take no pleasure in sin, he favours it in none, he loves all holy persons and things▪ is the fountain and rule of holiness in the creature. We should keep this knowledge always active in us, it should be the matter of our meditation day by day▪ the Angels continually give God the praise of his holiness.  
2. To observe and admire his Holiness in all his ways and works, Levit. 10. 3. Exod. 15. 3.  
3. To come into the presence of God in all services with a holy heart, Heb. 9 14. 
God looks at the principle from which all your services flow. Sensus hujus Petitionis est, ut quaecunque in mundo gerantur ad Dei gloriam cedant, & quidem ut pii omnes hoc sponte & study agant: impiorum verò facta, tametsi ex se gloriae divinae obsunt, tamen omnipotenti Dei sapientia ad ipsius gloriam, ipsis autem nolentibus aut non cogitantibus, contorqueantur. Car●w. in Harmon. Evang.  The acceptation of the person is before acceptation of the service in the second Covenant.  
4. In our coming into God's presence to look on God's holiness as the fountain of holiness to us, Exod. 29. 43.  
5. To strive to be spiritually pure in the inward man, Isa. 8. 13. 1 Pet. 3. 5.  
6. To eye the rule of holiness in every thing we do, Levit. 10. 3.  
7. To be humble and abased before God in all our holy duties, because of their imperfections, Act. 3. 12. Semper peccamus etiam dum benefacimus.  
8. To bring the Lord Jesus Christ with us still into God's presence, 1 Peter 2. 5.   
Petition 2. Thy Kingdom come.  
In this second Petition we have the primary means by which the name of God is sanctified among men, viz. by the coming of his Kingdom.  
This word Come is diversely to be expounded according to the divers significations of the Kingdom of God. The universal Kingdom, or Kingdom of power is said to come, when it is manifested and made apparent that all things are guided by the power and providence of God. The Kingdom of grace is said to come unto us, when it is either begun and erected in us, or continued and increased amongst us. The Kingdom of Glory, when the number of the Elect is accomplished, and all God's enemies subdued, and all the Saints possessed of that glorious place.  
Kingdom in general is a government or state of men, wherein one ruleth, and others are subject to him for their good. The Kingdom of God is a state in which God hath supreme power, and men are so subject to him that they partake of eternal happiness by it.  
To Come properly notes a motion, whereby a man goeth from one place to another.  
Five things are meant in this Petition:  

1. Let the Gospel, the Sceptre of this Kingdom be published and propagated.  
2. Let the Subjects of this Kingdom be converted.  
3. Let the graces of this Kingdom be increased.  
4. Let the enemies of this Kingdom be subdued.  
5. Let the glory of this Kingdom be hastened.   
Christ's Kingdom is twofold: 
Triplex regnum Christo competit. Primò, Regnum illud naturale, quo quà Deus, in omnes creaturas absolutum habet & exercet imperium. Deinde, Regum oeconomicum, quo ●●●●m Mediator & bellator, seu quâ Deus Zebaoth, fungitur. Tertium est, Regnum triumphans, que, officio refignato, i● aternum potietur. Primum illud & tertium ipsi est cum Patre & Spiritu Sancto commune: secundum ipsius est proprium. ●●●● autem aliquis haec tria regna, sive triplicem unius, ejusdemque regni exerendi ac exercendi modum vocet, nemini ob voces ●●●● movebimu●. Bisterf. contra Crellium. lib. 1. Sect. 2. cap. 26. Regnum essentiale, as God, Psal. 99 1, 2. and 1●5. 13. and 103. 19 Regnum oeconomicum. See about this distinction, Master Gillespies, Aaron's Rod blossoming, lib. 2. cap. 5.   

1. His Universal Kingdom by which he ruleth over all creatures, even the Devils themselves, called the Kingdom of power and providence, so he is called King of Nations, jer. 10. 7.  
2. Peculiar, his Mediatory Kingdom, which he exerciseth over his Church as King of Saints, Revel. 5. 3. which is such an order, wherein Christ doth rule, and the faithful obey to their special good and benefit, or that government in which God most graciously ruleth, and we most willingly obey to our everlasting good.   
This is twofold, 1. Of grace, in the Church militant. 2. Of glory, in the 
In the former grace reigneth, the other is called the kingdom of glory both in respect of the place and persons. Col. 1. 13.  Church triumphant.  
The former is the way to the later.  
The Kingdom of grace is that government whereby the Lord doth effectually rule in our hearts by his Word and Spirit. The Kingdom of glory is the blessed estate of the godly in heaven.  
The particular things which we desire are these:  

1. That God would cast down the Kingdom of Satan, all men by nature are his subjects until they be brought out of his Kingdom into the Kingdom of God, and then God's Kingdom is said to come to them.  
2. That God would plant both outwardly and inwardly the external face and inward substance of his Kingdom where it is not yet, Cant. 8. 8.  
3. For them that are planted we pray that God would supply to them what is wanting, and continue and increase what good they enjoy.  
4. For the Church in persecution, that the Ministers of the Gospel may be enabled to preach and profess the truth with all courage, be faithful unto death.   
The Gospel is called,  

1. The Word of the Kingdom, Mat. 13. 19 
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Mark 1. 14.   
2. The Keys of the Kingdom.  
3. The entrance into the Kingdom.   
4. The means whereby men are set in it, therefore we pray that it may run swiftly, 2 Thess. 3. 1. and be a light to the world, and that God would by his Spirit (2 Cor. 10. 4, 5.) make it efficacious, that men may see their misery, the glory of the Kingdom, and give themselves wholly to God, that God would make Magistrates nursing Fathers and Mothers, Isa. 49. 23. that the Seminaries of learning may be pure and religious, rightly ordered, religiously governed, and well seasoned with truth: for Ministers, that the Lord would send forth labourers into his 
Matth. 9 38. Ephes. 6. 19  harvest, and give them utterance, that they may open their mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel.  
Christ's Kingdom is carried on by degrees, Psal. 110. 1. 1 Cor. 11. 21. it is a growing Kingdom, Isa. 39 6, 7. The Scripture seems to intimate, that in the later days there shall be a greater enlargement of Christ's Kingdom, Rev. 11. 15. and that it shall begin with the calling of the Jews, Micah 4▪ 7, 8 But Christ's great imperial day when all creatures shall be brought into a subjection to him, is at the day of judgement, Isa. 45. 23. Phil. 2. 10. 
In earth as it is in heaven, Which words are an appendix to the three first Petitions, for though it be added to the third which concerneth the doing of Gods will, yet the ancient Fathers refer it also to the two former. So that we are to pray no less, that God's Name may be sanctified in earth as it is in heaven, and that his Kingdom may b● consummate in earth as it is in heaven then his will be accomplished in earth as it is in heaven. Bishop Andrews●● ●● the Lord's Prayer.   
Petition 3. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.  
The will of God though but one, is considered several ways:  
First, As secret. This will of God is ever just although the reason of it be incomprehensible to us. But the Petition is not meant of this,  

1. Because no man can know it till it come to pass, whereas knowledge is necessary to the doing of this will.  
2. Because it is irresistible and cannot be withstood by any man, Prov. 19 21. Rom. 9 19  
3. There are no promises for the performing of that, seeing a man may do the secret will of God and perish, as judas.  
4. A man may do the secret will of God, and yet sin, and desire 
* 2 Sam. 3. 3. compared with 1 King. 8. 18.  what is disagreeable to the secret will of God, and not sin, Deut. 29. 29. Vide Scultet. Exercit. Evang. l. 2. c. 33.   
Secondly, As revealed. The will of God setting down what we ought to do, believe, and leave undone.  
That very same will of God, which being hidden from us is called the secret will of God, being manifested to us is called his revealed will.  
There is, 1. The will of God's Purpose, called Voluntas beneplaciti, this is to be 
The will of God as manifested is, ●. The rule of all Christ's obedience, Psa. 4●. 8. of the Saints obedience in heaven as in this 3d Petition, and of the Saints obedience on earth, Rom. 12. ●.  admired and adored. There is no reason of this but his own pleasure. This is infallible, Rom. 11. 33. called the counsel of his will, Acts 4. 28. Immutable and effectual, shall take place in all ages, 2 Tim. 1. 9  
2. Of his Word, called Voluntas signi, what ever it is by which he hath declared his purpose, his counsel, commands, prohibitions, threatenings, promises; ●●s Commandments are to be obeyed, his counsels to be followed, his threatenings ●● be feared, and his promises believed.  
3. Of his providence; this consists in his permission of evil and oper 〈…〉 good; the one is to be submitted to, the other to be acknowledged, Heb. 1 〈…〉 life is worthy the name of life till we be subject to God, than we live the 〈…〉 f grace and comfort. He is better and wiser than our natural parents, and our 〈…〉 on to him stronger.  
Be done] It is set down impersonally to show the extent of our desire.  
In Earth] That is, by men dwelling upon Earth 
* A double trope, 1. The place put for them that are therein. 2. A general is put for a particular, in the same manner, though not in so complete a measure. .  
As it is in Heaven] By the creatures in Heaven, the Angels, their habitation being put for them, Psal. 103. 20, 21. as here is not a note of equality, but of quality and likeness, as 1 john 3. 3. Forgive us as we forgive them that trespass against us, not that our forgiving is a pattern for God.  
The Angels, 1. In all their worship have high and glorious apprehensions of Christ, Isa. 6. 1. & Ezek. 1. 26. especially of his holiness, Isa. 6. 26. Revel. 4. See 1 Chron. 29. 1. 1 Cor. 14. 25.  
2. They are not acted by their own spirits in their services, Ezek. 1. 19, 20. See Cant. 4. 16. Rom. 8. 14.  
3. They are abundant and constant in duty, Psal. 103. 20, 21. they cry day and night.  
4. They are harmonious in their worship, Ezek. 1. 6. the Curtains in the Tabernacle had their hooks and t●ches, See Zech. 14. 9  
5. They are zealous in all their services, therefore they are called Seraphim, they go and come as lightning, Ezek. 1. 14. See Rom. 12. 11.  
6. After all their services they give an account to God, Ezek. 9 11.  
Here we pray for grace and strength to obey God's will in all things.  
This Petition depends on the first as it is a means tending to that end which is there proposed, on the second because it is an effect and compliment also of that Kingdom.  
God's will is  

1. Really good, Deut 3●. 16.  
2. Essentially, originally, the measure and rule of goodness, Omnis boni bonum.  
3. Perfectly good without any mixture of evil, Rom. 12. 2.  
4. Immutably and infinitely good, job 23. 13.  
5. Effectually, he brings good to pass, Psal. 135. 6.  
6. Supremely and ultimately.   
Petition 4th. Give us this day our daily bread. 
Panis nomine comprehenditur omne genus alimenti & quicquid praeter ea ad necessariam hujus vitae sustentationem requi ritur, Gen. 3. 20. Prov. 27. 30. Luc. 14. 9 Nostrum, hoc est proprium, ille autem noster qui ad nos à bonitate divi●a per legitima media redit: quotidianum tantum vult nos Christus petere, quantum quot idie ad necessariam vitae sustentatioum sufficit nobis, qui sumus filii Dei & fratres in Christo, quousque? tantum hodiè. Egardi Medulla S. S. Theol. Panis ●●mine intelliguntur quaecunque ad hanc vitam spectant, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graecis propriè significat, quod nobis sustentandis aptum & accommodatum est. Ex quo liquet, peti hoc nomine ut quaecunque ad hanc vitam opportuna & idonea sunt, nobis suo quaeque tempore à Deo misericordissimo concedantur. Cartw. in Harm. Evang.   
Our Saviour according to the use of the Scripture (which commonly handleth the shortest first) dispatcheth this Petition that concerneth the preservation and maintenance of this present life.  
A man must live before he can live virtuously, therefore we pray for the maintenance of this present life.  
We are first taught to ask temporal things:  

1. Because it is an easier matter to depend upon the providence of God for the maintenance of this life, then to rely on his mercy for the salvation of our souls: and therefore the Lord would have faith trained up by the easier, that we may learn to repose our trust in him for the greater.  
2. Because the things of this life are amongst those things which we ask of the 
B. Down.  least value, therefore they are cast into the middle rank, this order is inverted, Prov. 30. 7, 8.   
This is an express Petition for good, as the three former are: but the two last 
Dr Gouges Guide to go to God.  are deprecations from evil. It was therefore requisite that all the good things to be craved should be mentioned before the evils against which we pray. The things craved in the two last Petitions are to be obtained in this life. In this life if pardon of sin and freedom from Satan's power be not had, they can never be had, it is meet therefore that life be first prayed for, and such things as are requisite for the preservation thereof. The Lord by placing temporal blessings, whereof we are more sensible, before spiritual, doth endeavour by degrees to raise up in us a desire of spiritual blessings, which though they be more needful, are less sensible. The Ruler whose son Christ healed, was thereby brought to believe in 
John 4. 53.  Christ.  
To give is freely to bestow, and so it implies two things:  

1. That the thing given be good, for a giftlesse gift is no gift.  
2. That it be bestowed freely.   
By Us is meant every one, here we beg for ourselves and others.  
This day] That is, as Luke expounds it, for a day: Quantum huic diei sufficit, so much as sufficeth for this day, or as others expound it, According to the day: that is, Give unto us that which is fit and convenient for us in this our present estate.  
Our daily bread] Bread is said to be ours, 1. When we are in Christ 
* Wicked men have a civil right and title to the things of this life, so that men cannot take them from them, not a divine, as gifts of bounty and common favour, not as gifts of the Covenant, 1 Cor. 3. 22, 23. Bread by a Synecdoche signifieth not only food (in which sense it is often used, Gen. 31. 54. Exod. 18. 12.) but also all other commodities of this life, serving either for necessity or Christian delight, Prov. 30. 8.  and have title to it in him. God put all things in subjection under him, Heb. 2.  
2. When it is gotten by good means in a lawful calling, Ephes. 4. 28.  
3. When it is lawfully left or given us, or we are born to it.  
4. That which we lawfully possess and use to the praise of God, that is not ours which we should give to the poor.  
By bread some understand Christ, because this is set before the two other Petitions. So Mr Finch in his sacred Doctrine of Diu. on the L. P. and gives divers reasons for it.  
Others expound it of the Sacrament, 1 Cor. 10. but this being a platform of prayer, earthly blessings must necessarily be here expressed, otherwise there should be no Petition for earthly blessings.  
Daily] That is, that bread which is fit and meet for our substance, and our condition and state of life, answerable to that Prov. 30. 8.  
Some expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supersubstantial, or above substance, that is, that bread which 
It signifies that portion of temporal things which thou hast assigned as most fit and convenient for us, so Beza interprets it, Panem cibarium, vel panem nobis sustentandis idoneum, Bread fit for meals, or convenient to sustain us. This Exposition is the safest, because it is made by the Greek writers, and also because it agreeth with the Syriack interpretation, Da nobis panem necessitatis nostrae. B. Downam. See Dr Gouges Guide to go to God.  is above substance, and better than all wealth and riches, meaning thereby our Saviour Christ, john 6. 33. But the word itself, if we derive it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, signifieth rather agreeing to our substance, then exceeding above substance, as the Greek Authors.  
As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word like unto this, was first devised by the Septuagint, so was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this prayer made by the Evangelists in imitation thereof; neither of both being any where to be found but in Scripture only. The prayer of Agur Prov. 30. 8, 9 Lechem Chukki the bread of my competent allowance, is the same with this here, which Tremellius well observing in his most elegant Hebrew Catechism, renders this Petition in those very words of Agur, as though our Saviour had reference to them. M. Medes Diat. par. 4. on Prov. 30. 8, 9  
Some say that both this place and that Pro. 30. 8, 9 are taken from that place, Exo. 16. 16, 17, 18.  
We pray in General, That the outward blessings and comforts which we do possess may be given us of God's free love and favour, that they may be gifts of the Covenant, Hosea 7. 18. and that we may taste his love in them.  
Particularly, 1. We beg contentation.  
2. Love of Justice and Righteousness.  
3. Sanctification of whatsoever we enjoy.  
Consider ones self as one man, so we pray for  
First, Life and the continuance of it, life makes us possess the other comforts, and length of days is a gift of wisdom, Prov. 3. 16.  
Secondly, For food the prop of life without which it cannot stand. The utter 
Under this title Bread are comprised meat and drink; yea food, raiment, sleep, physic, and other things needful for our bodies, even for preserving or recovering the health and strength of them, and such a competent estate also as is meet for the place wherein God hath set us, for the charge of children and others which he hath committed to us, and for that function and work which he hath appointed for us: together with peace and all manner of prosperity. Doctor Gouges Guide to go to God.  want of food subjects us to temptations, that the mind cannot think of any thing else, Matth. 4. 1.  
Thirdly, Raiment, clothes to cover our nakedness, they are necessary, 1. To keep us from cold. 2. To hide our uncomely parts, to make us comely.  
Fourthly, Fitting sleep, which is necessary, because 1. It much refresheth the mind. 2. Cheereth the body. 3. Preserveth health. 4. Is the most natural recreation.  
Fifthly, Health, strength of body and vigour of mind.  
Sixthly, God's blessing on our food, apparel, sleep, physic, labours.  
As we are members of a Family, we pray for these blessings:  

1. Peace and quietness in the family.  
2. Good and comely order.  
3. Blessing on the Governors, good servants that are faithful, diligent, trusty, laborious, wise.  
4. Governors are to beg faithful servants, Inferiors that they may be lawfully protected, rewarded and respected according to their pains.   
As members of a Commonwealth we pray for 1. Protection by the Magistrate from all wrongs.  

1. That we may possess our own with quietness.  
2. That we may quietly reap what we have sowed.   
Petition 5th. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass 
Oratio verè quotidiana●, quam docuit ipse Dominus, unde & Dominica nuncupatur, delet quidem quotidiana peccata, cum quotidie dicitur, Dimitte nobis debita nostra, quando id quod sequitur non solum dicitur, sed etiam fit, ●icut & nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Sed quia fiunt peccata, ideo dicitur, non ut ideo fiant, quia dicitur. Per hanc enim nobis voluit salvator ostendere, quantumlibet juste in hujus vi●● caligine atque infirmitate vivamus, non nobis deesse peccata pro quibus dimittendis debeamus orare, & cis qui in nos pec●●●●, ut & nobis ignoscatur ignoscere. Aug. de civ. Dei, l. 21. c. 27.  against us.  
In the former Petition we are taught to ask temporal blessings for the maintenance of this present life. Now in this Petition and in the last our Saviour teacheth us to ask spiritual blessings for the obtaining of a better life. Of spiritual blessings in this life, there be two chief heads whereunto all the rest may be referred: viz. our Justification and Sanctification. For in these two, the Covenant of grace, and the benefits which in this life we receive by Christ do consist, Heb. 10. 16, 17. See Luke 1. 13.  
To forgive is so to pass by an offence, as neither to exact nor to expect 
Forgiveness of sin is a free and full discharge of a sinner from guilt and punishment, whereby he is received into favour with God. Justification is actus individuus, in reference to ones state wrought simul & semel, it is one continued act from vocation to glorification.  any thing either in way of recompense or punishment for it. Both recompense and punishment are counted a kind of satisfaction, which is directly contrary to remission.  
God doth freely and fully discharge us from all our sins. Forgiveness being an act of God, it must needs be both free and full. For whatsoever God doth he doth freely for himself, without any former desert, without expectation of any future recompense.  
In this prayer we do not only get further assurance of the pardon of our sins (as some conceive) but a real forgiveness of our daily sins, that saying, Our sins past, present and to come are all forgiven at once, is true 
* Mr Lyford on Tit. 3. 5. Though the fins of justified persons be not actually remitted, yet they are virtually and in respect of their state. .  

1. In respect of God's purpose.  
2. In respect of the price of our redemption.  
3. In Christ our Head, yet sins to come cannot actually be forgiven to the person before they be committed.   
Pardon supposeth always an offence past, Rom. 3. 25. jer. 33. 8. remembrance is of that which is past.  
2. Confession and repentance is constantly joined with pardon of sin in Scripture, Acts 3. 19 1 john 1. 9 therefore remission of sin is of sins past, one cannot repent of that which is to come.  
3. To the pardon of sin the Lord requires faith in a Mediator. In the Law they confessed their sins on the Sacrifice, put the sins on the escape Goat.  
4. Remission of sin is a judicial act, Justification respects God as a Judge, he cannot pardon sin before it is committed.  
5. This Doctrine that all sins to come are pardoned, lays the foundation of two corrupt principles, 1. That justified persons need not confess sins. 2. That they may take as much comfort in the grace of God in all their sinful courses, as if they walked never so holily.  
In respect of sins past and formerly pardoned, we pray for greater assurance of that pardon, or rather for the continuance of assurance we have received, because this daily Petition is a means appointed by God to work that assurance, but for the sins that daily are committed, it is the direct pardon of them which we desire of God in this Petition. And if these words Forgive us do signify, Make us to know 
Mr Bedford's Examination of the chief points of Antinomianism, chap. 4. See Mr Burgess of Justification, from Lecture 14. to 25. Vide Baldunum de Cas. Consc. lib. 2. cap. 2. Cas. 6.  that thou hast long since forgiven us, as the Antinomians say, then why shall not the next words, As we forgive, receive the same interpretation? and why should it not also hold in the 4th and 6th Petition?  
This Doctrine overthroweth the heresy of the Novatians, who do deny the forgiveness of sins after Baptism.  
The original word which we translate Trespasses, properly signifies Debts. 
Matth. 6. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. See 14. & 15. v. Salvator peccata appellat debita idiotismo linguae Syriacae. Forsterus Miscel. Sac. l. 4. c. 1. Duplex est debitum, 1. Officii, quod quis expraecepto juris tenetur facere▪ ●ic mutua charitatis offitia sunt debita; quia lex Dei illa pr●cipit, Rom. 13. 8. 2. Supplicii, quod quis ex sanctione juris tenetur pati, si officium suum neglexerit, ●ic peccata sunt debita, ut in oratione Dominica, Matth. 6. 12. Et mor●●terna est debita Rom. 6. 23. debitum posterius contrahitur ex insoluto priori: ita ut si quis debitum officii plenariè dissolveret, faciendo id quod lex imperat, non teneretur aliquo debito supplicii ad patiendum id quod lex minatur. Sanders. de I●ramenti promissorii obligatione, Praelect. 1. Sect. 12.  St Luke setting down this form of prayer, thus expresseth this Petition, Forgive us our sins: for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us, that is, which hath offended us. Sins are called Debts, because for them we owe punishment. For as in the Law there are two things: 1. Praeceptum, commanding or forbidding, and 2. Sanctio, threatening punishment against the transgression of the precept: so in every sin there are two things answerable, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the fault transgressing the Law, and the reatus binding over the transgressor to the punishment. In respect of which punishment every offendor of the Law is a Debtor, until either the Debt be remitted him, or else he hath born the punishment, which is without end. When we pray therefore that the Lord would forgive us our debts, we do not only desire that the Lord would forget the fault, but also that he would remit the punishment unto which the guilt of our fault doth bind us over. The Papists hold that the Lord many times forgiveth the fault and retaineth the punishment. But sin is called a debt in respect of the punishment which we owe for it: and therefore this debt is not remitted if the punishment be retained. Again, the mercy of the Lord pardoneth no sin for which his justice is not satisfied.  
Sin is like a debt:  
First, In the nature of the thing. A debt is the not paying of some thing which is due and reason a man should pay and perform. So sin is the not tendering unto God the due service and homage which we are bound in reason and conscience to perform unto him, since we are his creatures, and have received all from his bounty, and that upon condition of obeying him, we are bound to obey and serve him in and with all, seeing the same goodness which gave them doth also continue them to us.  
Secondly, In the effects of it, which are principally two:  

1. A man is still liable to actions and suits for it in the Courts of humane Justice, and to Writs and Arrests for that purpose, and therefore he cannot be in quiet and freedom if his Creditors will still stand upon their right: So are we by sin made liable to the bitter and terrible accusations of our consciences, and to divers punishments and miseries as it were arrests or writs, summoning us to appear before God's Tribunal, whither at length also death will drag us in spite of our hearts there to answer for our sins, but with this difference, that there is no shifting or escaping these arrests.  

2. A man not having to pay, forfeits his body to imprisonment by the just sentence of the Judge. So we have forfeited our souls to the suffering of Gods most ●itter wrath and displeasure, and to the suffering of eternal torments in hell.  
Thirdly, In the discharge. A debt is discharged upon two considerations, either payment and satisfaction or free pardon. And payment is either made by the party's self, or by some other in his behalf with the consent and acceptation of the Creditor. We ourselves can make no satisfaction nor payment to God's justice, but Christ our Surety hath made satisfaction to his Father's justice, and he was accepted for us.    
As we, or, For we forgive.  
This noteth not any deserving, to have our sins forgiven by reason of our forgiving 
Luke 1. Knewstub, Lect. on l. 6. 12. There is a reason given in this Petition more than in any other, because when the soul is once awakened with the apprehension of sin; we have more need to have our faith confirmed in this then any other Petition. Matth. 18. 35. Not that we or any creature can forgive sins, because no man can satisfy for sin which is directly against God, and a breach of his righteous Law: therefore we can never satisfy Gods infinite justice. The meaning therefore is, that we put away malice and all desire of revenge against them that have wronged us. M. Dod.  them that offend us. But it is added for our instruction, to teach us that the Lord requireth this at our hands to be merciful, because he is merciful; and for our comfort to assure us, that if we pardon others, God will pardon us.  
Equality is not here to be understood, but likeness, for although we cannot be equal with the Lord, yet we must be like him, although we cannot forgive and love in the like measure, yet we must in like quality, we must forgive truly as God doth perfectly. So that the meaning is, we desire the Lord to forgive us; for even we also unfeignedly forgive our brethren.  
Our forgiveness of others cannot be a Sampler by which the Lord should pardon us, for we desire better pardon than we can show to others.  
2. Our brother cannot offend so much against us, as we do against God, therefore we beg a greater pardon. It is to be understood, but 1. As an argument to press the Lord to pardon us. 2. As a qualification of one that would be pardoned, if we would be pardoned we must pardon. 3. It is a sign whereby we may conclude that we are pardoned.  
In trespass there are two things, Damnum & injuria. A damage, this may be so great as we may seek satisfaction, but we must pass by the wrong.  
There are divers Reasons why we should forgive our brethren the injuries they offer to us.  
First, From God, who not only commands it, but hath given us an example to imitate, for he is plentiful in forgiveness, Exod. 34. 7. He so great and infinitely excellent above us, pardons us far greater indignities than the injuries offered to us.  
Secondly, From ourselves. We have more grievously offended God then any can us, and some other men perhaps as much.  
Thirdly, From our Brethren which have offended us; they are our brethren, men and women as we are, have one Religion, serve one God, and trust in one Saviour. Forgive we pray thee (said Joseph's brethren to him) the trespass of the servants of the God of thy Father. Those which offend us are the servants of the God of our Fathers, even of the same God whom we and our forefathers have worshipped.  
Fourthly, From the duty itself.  
1. In regard of the danger that will follow if we do it not, being excommunicated, as it were, from God's house and all his Ordinances, Forgive us as we forgive others, but we forgive not others.  

1. Our prayers are turned into sin, for we lift not up hands without wrath.  
2. We hear in vain, having not put off the superfluity of naughtiness.  
3. We come to the Sacrament to no purpose, for we have not purged out the old leaven, Mat. 5. 24.   
2. We are uncapable of any comfortable assurance of the remission of our sins, Matth. 6. 15. and consequently of life everlasting.  
2. In regard of the good we shall obtain if we do it.  
1. We may know by this that God hath forgiven us, We love, because he first loved us, 1 John 4. 19 and we forgive because he first forgave us.  
2. We may hereby comfort our souls in the day of temptation, when the conscience is perplexed with doubting of pardon.  
We shall be forgiven, we have Gods promise for it, Matth. 6. 14. our forgiveness doth not deserve forgiveness, but it is only a sign and assurance of it, our services are acceptable, and our souls capable of eternal felicity, it brings a great deal of ease and quietness to the mind. For so far as any man can forgive a wrong, so far it ceaseth to vex him, not the injuries we receive disquiet our hearts, and interrupt our peace, but the frowardness of our spirits which cannot pardon and pass by these wrongs.  
Petition 6th. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  
In the former Petition we begged the grace of justification, in this we crave the grace of Sanctification. In the former we asked freedom from the guilt of sin: In this we crave deliverance from the evil and corruption of sin, and strength against tentations alluring us thereunto.  
This Petition well followeth the former. For when it pleaseth the Lord to forgive sin, he delivereth them from being hardened therein. Knewstub on the Lords Prayer.  
Lead us not into, or rather bring or carry us not into.  
It is one thing to tempt, and another thing to lead into tentation. We do not 
Induci in tentationem est superari à tentatione, non itaque petimus ut ab omni tentatione simus liberi, sed ne ab ea vincamur. Egardi Medulla S. S. Theol. Tentatio sumitur pro periculum & experimentum capere vel fidei, vel patientiae, etc. ut in Abrahamo. Deinde Deus hominem tentat cum hominem in suas cupiditates tradit, aut occasionem peccandi offered, non adigit quempiam, ut hoc faciat, sed cum summa oblectatione quisque peccatum patrat. Non facit illud tanquam approbator mali quod fit, sed tanquam justus judex qui gravissime peccantes gravissimis suppliciis iniquitatem coercet. Cartw. in Harmon. Evangel.  desire not to be tempted, but when we are tempted to be delivered from evil, that we quail not in the tentation. And so our Saviour prayeth, john 17. 15. Therefore these two branches are not to be distinguished into two Petitions, as the adversative particle But showeth. As if we should say, O Lord, do not thou give us over to the tempter, nor leave us to ourselves; but with tentation give an issue, that we be not overcome in the tentation, but preserved and delivered from evil.  
Temptation is that whereby we take knowledge or proof of any thing, Deut. 4. 37.  
Temptation unto sin is here meant, whether it arise from Satan, ourselves, or other men. The principal thing against which we are here taught to pray is the power of temptation, as is evident by this particle Into.  
In that God permitteth and instigateth tempters to tempt men, and withdrawing his grace which is sufficient for them, leaveth them who are not able to stand of themselves, he is said to lead them into temptation.  
God tempts us:  

1. To prove us, Deut. 8. 3. that we may know ourselves.  
2. To humble us.  
3. To do us good in the end.  
4. By leaving us to ourselves, that we may know how weak we are, 2 Chron. 32. 31.  
5. By extraordinary Commandments, Gen. 22. 1.  
6. By outward prosperity, Prov. 30. 8.   
God leads us into temptation:  

1. By withdrawing his grace and holy Spirit.  
2. By offering occasions.  
3. By letting Satan and our own corruptions lose.   
The Devil moveth, allureth and provoketh man to sin, Exod. 17. 2. Deut. 6. 16. 
Though Satan doth tempt us, yet he cannot prevail over us, but by ourselves, John 14. 31. so he found nothing in Adam, but he yielded to him. job stood under greater temptations than Adam fell. It's no sin to be tempted of the world and Satan▪ 1. Every sin is actus proprius, the soul that sinneth it shall die. 2. Actus deordinatus, a declining from that integrity God bestowed on us. We have no power over the world and Satan.  Psal. 78. 18, 19 hence he is called the tempter, Matth. 4. 3.  
He tempts,  

1. By inward suggestions, john 13. 2. being a Spirit he hath communion with our souls, and can dart thoughts into us, so he filled the heart of judas.  
2. By outward objects, Matth. 4. 3, 4, 8. he sits his baits to our constitutions, the tree of knowledge was present to the eye, pleasant and good for food, there was an outward occasion.   
The world tempts by persons in it, or things of it. The flesh tempteth, when we are enticed by our own corruption, jam. 1. 14.  
Temptation hath five degrees:  

1. Suggestion.  
2. Delight.  
3. Consent.  
4. Practice.  
5. Perseverance or constancy in sinning.   
God preserves his people from Satan's temptations six ways:  

1. By laying a restraint on Satan, that he cannot tempt them. See job 2. 3. and Luk. 22. 31. God will not give Satan a commission to tempt them.  
2. When he preserves them from occasions of evil without. Satan doth not only stir up lust within, but lay a bait without, jam. 1. 14. God will not suffer Satan to lay a bait for them, Psal. 96. 3. Eccles. 7. 26.  
3. When he so strengthens their graces that a temptation shall not take, Gal. 5. 27. Col. 2. 15.  
4. When he lays affliction upon them, as preventing physic, job 33. 16, 17. the Cross keeps them from sin, Host 2. 5, 6.  
5. He shows them the beauty of holiness, by which the glory and sweetness of sin vanisheth, Psal. 110. 3.  
6. By casting into the soul quenching considerations.   
But deliver us from evil, or, out of evil.  
By evil we are to understand all the enemies of our salvation, the flesh, world, 
B. Downam. See Elio●.  and the devil, sin and hell, and all punishments of sin, but especially the devil, who in the Scriptures is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the evil one, though not only him, as Scultetus seems to interpret it, Exercit. Evang. l. 2. c. 33.  
Under evil is comprised,  

1. Satan the principal author of evil.  
2. All other kinds of evil.   
Satan in other places is styled the evil one, 1 john 2. 13, 14. and this word Evil is 
Dr Gouges Guide to go to God. The Article doth not necessarily imply that the devil only should be here meant, yet he may be included among other evils. The word is of all genders, and may comprise all evils under it. It is best (where there is no circumstance of restraint; as here is none) to expound the Scripture in the largest extent, especially in such a summary as this, where so much matter is comprised under these words. D. Gouge.  oft put for every thing that is contrary to good, and that with the Article prefixed before it, Matth. 5. 39 Rom. 12. 9 2 Thess. 3. 3. 1 john 5. 19 Now as this title good is of a large extent, so on the contrary is evil, Gen. 48. 16. The greatest evil of all is sin, Mark 7. 23. Judgement also for sin both temporal Zeph. 3. 15. and eternal Luke 15. 25. are styled evil. In this large extent is the word here to be taken. And because it compriseth under it all manner of evils, it is fitly set in the last place.  
Evil in Scripture hath three significations:  

1. Afflictions and crosses, so the time of old-age is an evil time, Eccles. 12. 1.  
2. By evil is meant the devil, Matth. 5. 37.  
3. By evil is meant sin especially the power of it, and so it is taken here not excluding the devil.   
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deliver signifieth two things:  

1. To keep and preserve, to protect and defend from evil, that we fall not into 
See Joh. 17. 13 ● Cor. 1. 10.  it, as 1 Thess. 1. 10.  
2. To deliver, and as it were to pull us out of the hands, that is, power of our spiritual enemies: as the word is used, Luke 1. 74. Matth. 27. 43. Romans 7. 24 2 Tim. 4. 17, 18.   
This deliverance which we orave is either inchoate in this life, or perfect in the life to come, both by Christ, Luke 1. 74.  
But deliver] These words are a limitation or explication. But couples like things together.  
We desire in this Petition,  
That we may not be exercised with trial in our estate, good name or body, if God so please, or that he would support us if we be tried.  
The deliverance which we crave is either inchoate in this life, or perfect in the life to come: both by Christ, Luke 1. 74.  
Some from these words, Deliver us from evil, hold that one may pray for perfection of holiness, to be freed from the very being of sin, the words mean (say they) to be delivered from all sin, and all degrees of it. They allege also other places to prove this, viz. 2 Cor. 13. 7, 9 Col 4. 12. Heb. 13. 21. 1 Thess. 5. 23. Though these prayers (say they) be not fulfilled in this life, yet one should say up prayers for absolute perfection.  

1. Because thereby the manifests his perfect displeasure against sin, and perfect love to the Commandment of God.  
2. Hereby he manifests the truth and sincerity of his heart, he would not only not have sin reign, but he would have it not to be in him.  
3. Hereby he doth his duty in striving after perfection, Phil. 3. 12. herein he makes his heart and the Law even though his life and it be not.  
4. His prayer shall be answered in degrees, though not in perfection: as there are several degrees of accomplishing Prophecies, so of answering Prayers.  
5. Your prayers are of an everlasting efficacy, because they are offered to God by the eternal Spirit, Heb. 9 14. upon the same Altar that Christ's Sacrifice was offered, therefore Christ's righteousness is everlasting because it was offered to God by the eternal Spirit.   
Others say, such perfection may be desired, and were to be wished, if it might be had, yea must be set before us as an exact copy to write after, white to aim at, with endeavour to come as near it as we can, but they see no ground to pray for it, since they cannot pray in faith, because they have no promise; nay it is not a state compatible with this life since the fall, and they think it is too great a presumption to pray for that which they have no promise for, and ambition to affect such a prerogative as no child of God ever since the fall here enjoyed, or is like to do.  
Hitherto of the Petitions: Now followeth the Conclusion of the Lords Prayer in these words, For thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen.  
For howsoever this clause is omitted of the Latin Interpreters, and is rejected by 
B. Down.  Erasmus 
* 
Vide Scult. Exercit. Evang. l. 2. c. 33.  
These words are not found in the Evangelist Luke, but in Mat. 6. 3. they are expressed, and it is sufficient that one Evangelist hath recorded them. Elton.  , yet was it added by our Saviour, and registered by Matthew. For  

1. The Greek Copies have it.  
2. The Syriack Paraphrast translateth it.  
3. The Greek Writers expound it, as Chrysostom and Theophylact. And  
4. It is not only consovant with the rest of the Scriptures, but also in this prayer hath a necessary use. For praise is to be joined with prayer, the Petitions contained a specification of our desires, this conclusion partly a confirmation of our faith joined with praising God, in these words, For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for ever and ever: and partly a testification both of our faith, and of the truth of our desires in all the former Petitions, in the word Amen.   
It appeareth manifestly that this sentence was borrowed from the Prophet David, 1 Chron. 29. 11. with some abridgement of the Prophet's words.  
2. Without this we should not have had a perfect form of prayer; it consisteth 
Cartw. on the Rhem. Test. Some say from Dan. 7. 14.  of Thanksgiving as well as Petitions.  
It is both a Doxology, a giving praise, and an aetiology, a rendering a reason, therefore our confidence is in thee, and thou wilt do for us according to our requests.  
God in this reason is set out by his Attributes, for these words, Kingdom, 
Haec verba adjecta sunt ut siduciam nostram firment & stabiliant. Quemadmodum ergo pleni fiducia in Dei bonitatem & potentiam ●xor●i dicentes: Pater noster qui es in Coelis: ita tandem finimus dicentes, Quia tuum est Regnum, Potentia & Gloria in aeternum. Discrimen inter Regnum, Potentiam & Gloriam hominum & Dei; Homines habent Regnum, Potentiam & Gloriam, sed 1. Non habent à seipsis sed à Deo. 2. Non habent sibi sed Deo cujus sunt loco. 3. Habent ad breve tempus. Egardi Medulla S. S. Theol.  Power, Glory, For ever, do point out four distinct Attributes of God, which are,  

1. Sovereignty, Psal. 22. 8. Kingdom.  
2. Omnipotency, jer. 32. 17. 2 Chron. 20. 6. Power.  
3. Excellency, Psal. 113. 4. and Isa. 6. 3. Glory.  
4. Eternity, Psal. 90. 2. Isa. 57 15. For ever.   
These Attributes are applied to God by a special property and excellency. So much doth that Particle Thine, and the Article The import. As if he had said, 

This prepositive Article importeth two things,  
1. A generality, God is King over all the earth.  
2. Superiority, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Bishop Andrews. The end of our Petitions why we should have them granted, is, that God's Kingdom, Power and Glory may be advanced. By this also our faith is strengthened in the hope to obtain our requests.   Thine and thine only are these. Thine they are originally of thyself, and that in an infinite measure and degree. Though the Particle Thine be but once expressed, yet by virtue of the copulative Particle And, it is particularly to every of the other properties.  
As for the 4th Attribute Eternity, intimated in this clause, For ever, it is so expressed, as appertaining to all and every of the other three. For God's Kingdom is for ever: his Power for ever: his Glory for ever: and whatsoever else is in God, is, as God himself, for ever.  
There is a twofold Kingdom of God:  

1. Universal, which some call the Kingdom of his Power, whereby he ruleth and governeth all things, Psal. 103. 19 2 Chron. 20. 6.  
2. Special, the Kingdom of Grace in this life, and of Glory in the life to come. In the former he communicateth Grace to his servants, ruling in them by his Word and Spirit. In the later he communicateth Glory to his Saints, vouchsafing unto them the fruition of himself, who shall be to them all in all.   
Gods only is truly and properly power, his is the power, see Psal. 62. 11.  
God's power is his ability to do any thing, it extendeth itself to every thing that by power may be done, Gen. 18. 14. jer. 32. 27. See Luk. 1. 37. Mar. 10. 27. In this respect he is styled God Almighty, Gen. 17. 1.  
And the Glory] Whereby is meant that excellency which is in God. For the excellency of a thing, that which causeth it to be in high esteem, and procureth a name, fame, and renown unto it, is the glory of it. Cabod the Hebrew word signifieth also weightiness. The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Fama, Gloria, both Fame and Glory, for Glory causeth Fame.  
For ever.  
The Kingdom, Power, and Glory of God are amplified by their unchangeable continuance. This phrase [For ever] implieth both Eternity and Immutability.  
The phrase in the original, to translate it word for word, is for ages. The original 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in secula. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Arist. lib. 1. de Coelo. Saculum Latinis spatium est centum annorum. Itaque multitudine saeculorum aeternitas intelligitur. Rami Comment. de Religione Christiana, lib. 3. cap. 10.  root (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) doth properly signify that which is for ever. Now because an age is the longest usual distinction of time, the same word that signifieth eternity is put for an age. And when there is no end of that which is spoken of, the plural number indefinitely without any limitation thus for ages, is used to set out the everlastingness of it.  
Amen. 
It is a witnessing of our faith, and of our desire of the things prayed for, it is as much as So it is, or, So be it; This we have prayed for, and this we heartily desire, and most assuredly look for, 1 King. 1. 36. Mr Dod. Amen in the Creed is not only to assent to the truth of the Articles, that Christ was crucified, died, but to assure ourselves by faith that all those benefits are ours, and so in the Lord's Prayer. Dike. Amen imports, 1. An assent to all that hath been before mentioned, Deut. 27. 15, etc. 2. An earnest desire thereof, Jer. 28. 6, 7. 3. Faith in obtaining our desire, 1 Cor. 14. 16. D. Gouge in his Catechism.   
jerom calls it fitly, Signaculum orationis.  
It is the ratification of all, the testification both of our faith and of the truth of our desire. It signifieth two things, a 
a Jer. 11. 5.  wish of the heart to obtain what hath been uttered, or else a persuasion of heart 
b Rom. 1. 25. Liber quisque Psalmorum terminatur Amen, ut Psal. 41. & alibi, hoc verbo crebrò in Evangelio utitur Christus: quandoque in Ecclesia primitiva populus respondebat Amen post recitatas preces; ut videre est 1 Cor. 14. idem valet ac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ut LXX reddunt: vel, ut alii, firmetur, stabiliatur: ab radice aman, id est, verax ac fidelis fuit. Voss. de Orig & Progres. Idol l. 1. parte altera. c. 8. Haec vocula Hebraica est, & est vel ass●verantis, significantis firmum est, vel optantis significans firmum esto, ut Psal. 41. ult. Piscat. Optimè vim ejus explicat, Jer. 28. 6. Amen, sic saciat Dominus. De Dieu in 1 Cor. 15. 14 Est adverbium affirmandi & jurandiper ipsam veritatem, & videtur inde suam traxisse originem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, id est, juro, Joh. 16. 23. O ●eatos nos quorum causa Deus jurat! O miscrrimos, si nec juranti Domino credimus! Tertul. li. de poenit.  that the thing shall be obtained, both here.  
The meaning of it is thus much: as if we should say, As I have made these requests unto thee, O Lord, so do I both unfeignedly desire the performance of them, and also truly believe that thou in thy good time wilt grant my desires so far forth as they stand with thy glory and my good: and in this persuasion I rest, attending thy good pleasure.  
It is an Hebrew word signifying truly, even so, or, so be it, and yet continued in all languages, and by the use of it as well known as any other English word.  
Some good Divines have held it to be an Oath, it is an asseveration, and seems to be the same with Yea, Yea. Vide Fulleri Miscell. Sac. lib. 1. cap. 2. Et Dilherri Electa l. 2. c. 20.  
Since our Saviour teacheth us to end our prayers with Amen, it is our duty to say Amen, Nehem. 8. 6. 1 Cor. 14. 16. Vide Bezam in loc. See Deut. 27. 15. 1 Chron. 16. 36 Psal. 106. 48. It is a common subscribing as it were unto the Petitions and Thanksgivings which are offered unto God.  
2. Hence it followeth that prayer should be made in a known tongue, else how should we consent or say Amen? See. 1 Cor. 14. 9, 11, 16, 19  
Chrysostom celebrated the Eucharist among the Grecians, in Greek, and Ambrose amongst the Latins, in Latin; The same may be said of Basil, Nazianzen, ierom and other Fathers. In Italy, Greece, Asia and Egypt, the Liturgy is celebrated in the same tongue in which the Sermons were preached. The Armenia●s, Ethiopick and Muscovite Churches now perform their Divine Service in the vulgar tongue. See B. Daven. Deter. of Quest. 41.  
3. Men should be attentive when they pray with others, how canst thou otherways say Amen, and assent to the prayer?  
4. We should wait upon God for the accomplishment of our desires.  
Mr Perkins on the Lord's Prayer, saith, It is of more value than all the prayer besides. His reason is, because it is a testification of our faith, whereas all the Petitions beside are testifications of our desires.     

CHAP. VII. Of the Sacraments.  

I. The Name.  
THe word Sacrament (being Latin) is not found in the Scripture, but the 
Notat haec vo●● solenne illud juramentum quo milites certo ritu & praescriptis verbis astringebantur Reipublicae & Magistratui, se omnia quae Imperator praeceperat, strenuè facturos, nec signa militaria deserturos. Hinc phrasis, obligare Sacramento. Gerrh. loc. common. Specialissimè & maximè propriè accipitur pro solenni actione divinitus instituta, in qua per externum & visibile signum applicatur & obsignatur promissio Evangelii propria, quo sensu duo tantùm N. T. numerantur Sacramenta, Baptismus & Coena Domini. Id. ibid. Est Sacramentum sacrum & visibile signum invisibilis gratiae Dei, ad eam in nobis obsignandam, à Deo institutum. Maccov. loc. common. c. 77. Est divinae in nos gratiae testimonium externo signo consirmatum, cum mutua nostra erga ipsum pietatis testificatione. Calvin. Institut. l. 4. c. 14. Est sa●●rritus à Deo institutus, promissioni gratiae in Christo factae adjunctus, quo tanquam arrhabone & testimonio, fidelis quisque certus fit, promissionem illam gratiae, quae in verbo divino explicatur, sibi particulatim ad salutem exhiberi, ratificari, applicari. Mornayus de sacra Eucharistia l. 4. c. 1. Vox Sacramentum non occurrit in Scriptura quia est Latina: Prophetae verò, Apostoli & Evangelistae scripserunt Hebraicè & Graecè; occurrunt tamen quaedam vocabula in duabus his linguis, quae Latin●● voce Sacramenti translat● fuerunt, quae saepius in version vulgata generalissimè pro Graeco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accipitur, vox autem Graca generaliter pro omni secreto minus generaliter pro secreto divino, & specialiori significatum, pro secreto divino symbolis, signis, figurisque externis proposito ac repraesentato. In hac significatione respondet ei vox latina Sacramentum, quae deducta est à verbo sacrare, & à scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis Latinis à militia desumpt● suit, in qua juramentum quo milites duci obstringebantur, vocabatur Sacramentum, Riveti Cathol. Orthod. Tractat. 3. Quaest 2.  thing is there.  
Divines agree not what it properly signifies, and how it came to be applied to this Ordinance.  
The Oath that the old Roman Soldiers took to their General to live and die with him, was called Sacramentum. See Moulin. of the Eucharist. Some think it is so called, because it is to be received Sacrament. Tertullian was the first that used this word, the Church hath used it a long time, it being above fourteen hundred years since he wrote.  
Some think the names of Gods appointing are better than what are given by Ecclesiastical custom.   

II. The Proper Nature of a Sacrament.  
It is an applying of the Covenant of Grace to God's people for their good by visible Signs.  
Signum est, quod praeter speciem, quam ingerit sensibus, aliud quidpiam in cognitionem inducit. A sign is that which represents one thing to the eye and outward senses, and another to the mind.  
Circumcision is called a sign and a seal, Rom. 4. 11. See Gen. 17. 11.  
Some signs are only significant, as the ivy of wine, some obsignative, as the seal, the thing contained in the Writ, some exhibitive, as anointing the Prophetical, Kingly or Priestly Office: The Sacraments do not only signify the promise of Grace in Christ, but also seal and exhibit the thing promised. Vossius de Sacramentorum vi & efficacia.  
The Sacraments are signs to represent, Instruments to convey, Seals to confirm the Covenant. 
There are three sorts of signs: 1. Of God's wrath, such are prodigious events. 2. Of his power, such are miracles. 3. Of his grace, such are Sacraments. D. Featleys Grand Sacril. of Ch. of R. In what sense the Protestants hold the Sacraments to be exhibitive signs, see M. Gillesp. Aar. Rod blos. l. 3 c. 12. p. 496.   
Others thus distinguish of Signs:  
First, Some only serve to signify and call to remembrance, as the Picture of a man is such a sign as calls him to remembrance.  
Secondly, A ratifying sign, as a Seal, if one conveys Lands or Goods to another, and sets his Seal to it, this further clears his Title.  
Thirdly, Which exhibit, the putting on a Cap or Ring makes him a Master or Doctor, the delivering of one a Staff is the making▪ of him a Lord Chamberlain, the Sacrament is all these. Christ calls to thy remembrance, and sets before thy eyes all the benefits that come by him, and shows thee all thy duties thou owest him.  
2. It is a sealing sign, so circumcision is called; Christ, Grace, the Promises, Heaven are thine.  
3. It is an exhibiting sign, brings Christ to the believer, communicates him more to him.  
What ever other Ordinance the Church hath wanted, ever since the Lord had a Church on earth, it hath had this.  
When man was perfect, God gave him Sacraments even in Paradise, the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  
Some Sacraments God gave unto man, 
Veteres de Sacramentis ●loquuti sunt maxima cum reverentia, eaque appellarunt horrenda & tremenda mysteria. River. Instruct. Praepar. ad coenam Domini, ●. ●.   

1. In his innocent estate, which were two, 

1. The Tree of Life.  
2. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.    
2. In his corrupt estate: 

1. Either before Christ, prefiguring him▪  
2. Or after Christ, as memorials of him.     
The Sacraments before Christ were  

1. Either such as did belong to all sorts of people, 

1. The Flood and Noah's preservation in it.  
2. The Rainbow.    
2. Such as were peculiarly appointed to the Jews: 

1. Extraordinary, during but for once, or a short time, and answering either to Baptism, as 1 Cor. 10. 1. The Red Sea. 2. The Cloud. or to the Lords Supper, 1. Manna. 2. The Water flowing out of the Rock.  
2. Ordinary, as 1. Circumcision answering to our Baptism, Col. 1. 2. 2. The Passeover answering to the Lords Supper.     
The Sacraments after Christ's coming to continue till the end of the world were.  

1. Baptism.  
2. The Lord's Supper.   
III. What is the use of the Sacraments in the Church, and what benefit the people of God receive from them.  
They convey the mercies of the whole Covenant of Grace, therefore Circumcision is called the Covenant, Gen. 17.  
All the benefits of Christ are applied in the Sacraments, the water out of the Rock is called Christ, 1 Cor. 10.  
God doth nothing by the Word or Prayer, but this Ordinance doth the same thing, the one of the Sacraments is for begetting of life, the other for confirming it.  
It is an application of the whole Covenant of grace in a sign.  
IV. The Parts of a Sacrament. 
Conditiones Sacramenti sunt tres, 1. Ut fit signum institutum. 2. Ut fit institutum ad signandum & obfignandum gratiam. 3. Ut habeat mandatum & promissionem in sacris literis, unde institutiones Apostolicae non sunt Sacramenta, quia Sacramenta sunt ex institutione solius Dei, ut apparet ex institutione Baptismi & Coenae Domini.   
A Sacrament taken in its full extent comprehendeth two things in it:  

1. Rem terrenam, That which is outward and visible, which the Schools call properly Sacramentum. And  
2. Rem coelestem, That which is inward and invisible, which they term Rem Sacramenti, the principal thing exhibited in the Sacrament.  
3. This sign must have the express Commandment of Christ, for none can institute a Sacrament but he that can give the inward grace.  
4. There must be a promise of divine grace, else it is no seal, and it must be annexed to the Sacrament by God. The command is for our warrant, the promise for our encouragement.   
In Baptism 1. the signum is washing with water; 2. the signatum, the blood of Christ applied by the Spirit, john 3. 5. Tit. 3. 5. This was represented by the vision at our Saviour's Baptism of the holy Ghost descending upon him in the similitude of a Dove. As in our natural birth the body is washed with water from the pollution it brings with it into the world, so in our regeneration or second birth the soul is purified by the Spirit from the guilt and pollution of sin. See Ezek. 16. 4, 5. and john 15. 5. 3. Christ's command is Matth. 28. 19 Go and baptise. 4. His promise is, He that believes and is baptised, shall be saved.  
So in the Eucharist 
* The Institution of it, Luke 22. 19  the outward and visible sign is the Bread and Wine.  
2. There is an Analogy between Bread and Wine which nourisheth the body, and Christ's body and blood which nourisheth the soul.  
3. A promise of saving grace to all that use the outward rites according to Christ's institution, Matth. 26. 28.  
V. The Necessity of the Sacraments. 
Non minus fine Sacramentis salvatus est latro, quam cum Sacramentis damnatus est Judas. Notum illud Augustini & Bernardi non privationem Sacramenti damnare sed contemptum. Vossius in Thesibus. Sacramenta simpliciter & absolutè non sunt necessaria ad salutem, tamen ratione infirmitatis nostrae, fidei & divinae institutionis, quia Deus baptismum & coe●●●● tanquam certa media & instrumenta obsignandae suae gratiae, & admonendi nostri officii, instituit, necessarius est ●orunde● usus. Snecanus loc. common. de Sacramentalibus signis.   
They are necessary only Necessitate Praecepti not medii; men may be saved without them. That is necessary to the salvation of man without which he cannot possibly be saved. These things are either 1. Simply necessary on man's part, acknowledgement of sin, faith in Christ Jesus and repentance.  
2. So far necessary, as that the contempt or neglect of them bars a man of salvation. Such are the Sacraments and outward profession. The neglect of Circumcision and of the Passeover, and the abuse of the Sacrifice of Peace-offerings by eating the same in uncleanness wittingly, was to be punished with cutting off. No man was circumcised in those forty years in which the Israelites were in the wilderness, but many were born and died in that time.  
Mark 16. 16. he saith, He that believes not shall be condemned, not he that believes not and is not baptised shall be condemned.  
See that place, john 3. 5. answered in my Annotations.  
VI The Efficacy of the Sacraments:  
The Papists say the Sacraments confer grace by the work wrought, as the pen 
Qui semel à gratiae cognitione exciderunt, praecipites ruunt, nec ubi sistere possint, inveniunt. Atque hinc est, quod Pontificii gratiam Sacra mentis & aliis institutionibus alligatam somniant, ita, ut nec fide, nec bono aliquo motu opus fit, quandoquidem ex ipso, ut loquuntur, opere operato, gratiam consequi possint. Haec est gratia Pontificia. Episc. Carlet. consens Eccles. Cathol. contra Trident. de gratia c. 4. Per barbarum hoc opus▪ operatum (merito illud sic voco, quod vocem passiuè accipiant, quae apud illius linguae autores actiuè tantum sumitur) intelligunt, quod novae legis, ut vocant Sacramenta, in debita materia ac forma administrata, produca●t gratiam in iis, quibus administrantur, tanquam ver● causae: Non quemadmodum vetera quae non justificarunt hominem ex eorum opinion, nifi quatenus causae morales & meritoriae, sicut jam credunt opera justificare, haec vocant opus operantis. Rivet. in Catholico orthodoxo Tractat. ●. Quest. 1. Tritum est inter Pontificio●, Sacramenta veteris legis contulisse gratiam ex opere operantis, hoc est, ex fide, devotione, & bono motu utentis: nostra autem conferre gratiam ex opere operato, id est, ex ipsa Sacramentali actione, quamvis fides nihil agate, modò obex non ponatur. Episc. Davenant. Determinat. Quaest 23. Hoc figmentum de gratia ex opere operato collata fidem suo munere spoliat, & illis beneficium largitur quibus Deus supplicium minitatur. Marc. 16. 16 1 Cor. 11. 29. Id. ibid.  of itself writeth the hand of the writer moving it: so the Sacraments of themselves sanctify being administered by the Minister.  
They hold the efficacy of the Sacraments to be so great, that there needeth no preparation or qualification of the receiver. The Reformed Churches maintain, That except the receiver be thus and thus qualified, he loseth the benefit of the Sacraments. See Acts 10. 47.  
Sacraments do not confer grace by the actual doing and exercising of them, the elements are changed relatively in respect of their use and end, though not substantially, they are not mere signs, but such as besides their signification seal unto us our remission or sins and God's favour.  
But, 1. The Word itself doth not profit without faith, much less the seals of it. 
See Dr Sclat. on Rom. 2. p. 235. to 241.   
2. People are exhorted to examine themselves before they come to the Sacrament, 1 Cor. 11. therefore the very use of the Sacraments confers not grace, 
M. Burgess of Grace & Assu. §. 3. Ser. 19 p. 105.  though the heart of man put forth no good motion at that time, we should not there rely upon the external acts of receiving, there is panis Domini and panis Dominus.  

Object. Act. 2. 38. Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the Name of jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.  
Answ. They are said to be baptised for the remission of sins, not that Baptism, ex opere operato doth remit sins, but because it is a sign and seal of the pardon of them.  
The Sacraments receive their power from the Lords own institution. 
Tam verbi quam & Sacramentorum efficacia illa, quâ gratiae sunt exhibitiva, pendet primariò quidem & principaliter ab institutione divin●, absque qua nihil aut ●fficere aut obsignare sunt nata: secundariò tamen ab usu morali ill●, quo tanquam medio necessario adhibito, ad gratiam tam ingenerandam, quam & fovendam & promovendam sunt actu efficacia. Cl. Gatak. De Baptism. Infant. vi & efficacia Disceptat. Sect. 7. Signa sunt, 1. Naturalia, quae à seipsis suaque natura habent vim significandi aliquid, ut fumus indicium est ignis latentis, & pallor morbi: & lachrymae doloris. 2. Instituta, quae significandi vim habent praeter suam naturam ex peculiari institutione, ut haedera suspensa vinum venale portendit: & annulus hodiè matrimonio dicatus est. Sic iridem Deus instituit, certam tesseram nunquam redituri diluvii. Chamier. de sacr. l. 1. c. 11.   
Some signs signify by nature, as smoke is a sign of fire, the picture of my friend makes me remember him.  
2. Other signs come wholly from institution, as the heap of stones called Galead between jacob and Laban, there is a kind of resemblance and aptness in the things which God hath chosen to signify, but the efficacy of them depends on the institution of Christ, which contains two things,  

1. A word of command to do such a thing for such an end.  
2. A word of promise that it shall be effectual for such an end.   
A piece of wax annexed as a Seal to the Prince's Patent of pardon, or other like deed, is of far other use and greater efficacy and excellency than any ordinary wax is, though it be the same still in nature and substance with it. So the bread in the Lord's Supper being a seal of God's Covenant, and of Christ's last Will and Testament is of far other use, and of far greater efficacy and excellency than any ordinary bread is, though it be the same still in nature and substance with it. Relationes non faciunt realem mutationem in subjecto, sed tantum in usu.  
VII. Why hath the Lord made choice of such an applying the Covenant of 
Verbum non tantum offert sed etiam consert gratiam; etsi minus clarè, & s●usibus accommodatè: & Sacramenta quidem gratiam conferunt, sed (ut ex Scholasticis etiam sensit Paludanus) virtute quidem signi dispositiuè: at immediata Spiritus Sancti virtute effectiué. Vossius de Sacramentoru● vi & efficaeia.  Grace by signs, and vouchsafed such an Ordinance as this in the Church, seeing the same things are done by preaching of the Word and prayer?  
There are excellent Reasons of it:  

1. It is a great part of Christ's Sovereignty to make any thing though never so contemptible a part of homage to him; no reason can be given of it, but only his will, as a Lord will have Land pass by delivering a wand or twig.  
2. It is a glory to his power that he can make a little water or wine, sign and seal the conquering of my sins, and salvation of my soul.  
3. Christ hath herein exceedingly condescended to his people's weakness in applying 
The Sacraments are the Gospel abridged, signs and seals of our interest in the Covenant of Grace.  the Covenant of Grace by signs, while we are in the flesh to have sensitive things to represent spiritual, these signs inform the judgement, work on the affections, help the memory wonderfully, recall the Covenant of Grace, act faith and other graces, a naked word is enough to a strong faith, but these are great props of our faith in our weakness, so Gideon was confirmed, Thomas when he put his hand into Christ's side. He acts the things before our eyes that he saith in his Word.   
VIII. Since God hath had a constituted Church in a visible body segregated from all mankind, he hath had some standing Sacraments, even since Abraham's time.  
The Sacraments of the Jewish Church and ours agree in these things: 
Sacramenta novi & veteris Testamenti, 1. Ab uno eodemque Deo instituta fucrunt. 2. In utrisque duae generales partes distingui ●●ben●, signum & res significata. 3. Res significata in utrisque est eadem. 4. Idem est utrorumque finis, vimirum ut invisibilem gratiam, 〈…〉 ra●que cum Christo communionem visibiliter obsignent, utque nostram erga Deum pietatem, nostram erga proximum chari●nem, & publicam nostram professionem, quâ ab iis, qui à foedere Dei alieni sunt, distinguimur, testentur. Rivet. in Ca●●el. orthod. Tractat. 3. Quaest 1. Vide Gerh. loc. common. Insignes quaedam quoad accidentia & circumstantias sunt doctrinae 1. Quod signa sunt diversa & faciliora. 2. Nostrorum Sacramentorum claritas longè est major. 3. Eorum numerus mi●●r. 4▪ Efficacia eorum amplior, seque ad plures extendit foederatos. 5. Eorum duratio Ecclesiae militanti duratione aequal●● est, ita ut nullis al●is unquamsint cessura. 6. Eorum effectus est major, ob gratiae à Christo allatae, ●ostrisque temporibus 〈…〉 i mensura effusae, abundantiam. Rivetus ubi supra. Sacramenta nostra sunt pauca pro multis, eademque factu facile 〈…〉, & intellectu augustissima, & observatione castissima. August. de Doctrina Christ. lib. 3. cap. 9 Vide illius Epist. 118. ad januar. c. 1.   

1. They have the same Author.  
2. Serve for the same spiritual ends.   
They had two, so have we, Circumcision was for Infants, so is Baptism, the Passeover for men grown, so the Lords Supper. Circumcision was once administered, the Passeover often, so Baptism once, and the Lords Supper often. M. Bedf. Treat. of the Sac. par. 2. c. 106.  
They differ thus,  
Theirs were praenuntiatiuè of Christ to come. Ours annunciatiuè of Christ exhibited, so Austin. Theirs were given to the Jews, ours not to one but to all people.  
The matter of both theirs and our Sacraments is one, they ate and drank the 
1 Cor. 10.  same spiritual meat and drink, that we do, that is Christ. The effects also are the same in kind and nature, which is a partaking of Christ, they differ in the manner. Christ is more plentifully partaked in ours, more sparingly in theirs. Cartw. on Rhem. Test.  
Circumcision is the same with Baptism for the spiritual part, it was the seal of the new-birth, Deut. 30. 6. so Baptism, Tit. 3. 5. Col. 2.  
2. Circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of faith, Rom. 11. 11. so Baptism, Acts 8. it was the seal of the Covenant of Grace, so Baptism, it was the way of admittance and entrance into the Church, so Baptism, Matth. 28. Acts 2. 
M. Marshal's Defence of Infant-bapt. p. 165, 166.  it was the distinguishing badge between them who were God's people and the rest of the world, so Baptism, 1 Cor. 5. 12. it was but once administered, so Baptism. None might eat the Passeover till they were circumcised, Exod. 12. nor are any to be admitted to the Lords Supper till they be baptised, Acts 2. 41, 42.  
Circumcision was a seal of the Covenant, Gen. 17. 10, 11. so Baptism: that being the nature of a Sacrament, it was a seal of the righteousness of faith, so Baptism, Acts 8. 37, 38. 
Ger●es Vindic. Poedo-baptismi. Tanta est convenientia Circumcisionis & Paschae cum nostris Sacramentis, ut res in nostrii significata, illorum nomen in Sancti Pauli 〈…〉 ptis accipiat. De Baptismo ait Coloss. 2. v. 11, 12. Alibi quoque Christo, 1 Cor. 5. v. 7, 8. Quatenus se nobis spirituali●●●anducandum praebet, Paschae nomen attribuit. Unde inferimus Circumcisionem fidelibus sub veteri Testamento id fuisse, q●●d nobis est Baptismus; & Pascha, quod nobis est sacra coena. Rivet. in Cathol. orthod. Tract. 3. Quaest 1.   
2. It was the Sacrament of initiation under the Law, so is Baptism now under the Gospel, Mat. 28. 19  
3. It was a distinguishing badge under the Law, so is Baptism under the Gospel.  
4. It was the Sacrament of Regeneration, Deut. 30. 6. so is Baptism, Titus 3. 5. Col. 2. 11, 12.  
5. It was partaked of but once, so Baptism.  
Our Sacraments differ from the Sacraments of the Jews accidentally only, in 
Mr Owen's larger Catech. c. 22.  things concerning the outward matter and form, as their number, quality, clearness of signification, and the like; not essentially in the thing signified, or grace confirmed, 1 Cor. 10. 1, 2, 3. joh. 6. 35. 1 Cor. 5. 7. Phil. 3. 3. Col. 2. 11.  
IX. The Sacraments of the New Testament are only two.  

* 
Siquis dixerit aut plura esse Sacramenta aut pauciora quam septem▪ viz. Baptismus, confirmatio, Eucharistia, Poenitentia, Extrema Unctio, Ordines, Matrimonium, aut aliquid horum non esse verè & propriè Sacramentum, Anathema sit. Concil. Trid. Sess. 7. Canon 1.  
In Sacramentis propriè dictis requiruntur certae conditiones, absque quibus talia juxta Dei verbum esse nequeunt, si vel unica eorum desideretur, exempli gratia▪ ut sit signum visibile & significet, non ex natura sed instituto, eoque non humano sed divino. Ut sit Analogia & correspondentia quaedam inter fignum & rem significatam, ut signum hoc repraesentet rem sacram, ut ea res sacra sit Christi Persona, meritum & beneficia quae à veteribus Theologis appellabantur gratia invisibilis, sicuti signum, forma vel figura visibilis, quae vocabula retenta fuerunt. Scholasticis denique requiritur ut haec actio mandatum habeat in Novo Testamento ad publicum Ecclesiae usum, cum salutari promissione Christi immediatè ejusmodi Caeremonias instituc●tis. Omnes hae conditiones reperiuntur in duobus nostris Sacramentis, Baptismo solum & Sacra Coena. River. in Cathol. Orthod Tractat. 3. Quaest 2. Vide Doctoris Prid. Fascic. controversiarum Theol. Vide Salmas. Apparat ad primatum Papae, pag. 182. ad 190.   All Christians agree that Christ hath established Baptism and the Lords Supper.  
All the Reformed Churches concur in this, that there are but two only to which properly the definition of a Sacrament doth belong, though there may be many in a metaphorical sense. The Papists say they are seven, adding Orders, Matrimony, Confirmation, Penance, Extreme Unction.  
The Fathers do commonly use the word Sacrament for a mystery or sign of a holy thing, so there may be many Sacraments.  
But as the word (Sacrament) is taken in a straighter signification to note the visible signs instituted by Christ for the assurance and increase of Grace in the faithful, so there are but two. The Schoolmen themselves who were the first authors that raised them up to the precise number of seven (for we find it not in any of the Fathers or other Writers whatsoever before a thousand years after Christ) have showed that the seven are not all Sacraments, if the name of Sacrament be taken properly and straight. Rainolds against Hart.  
The number of seven Sacraments was not determined until the days of Peter 

B. Mortons' Appeal, l. 4. c. 2●.  
Septem Sacramenta Papistae omnes numerant. Eum numerum habent à Lombardo omnium primo. Chamier desacr. l. 4. c. 1. See Dr Tailors Epist. Dedic. to his Rule and Exercises of holy dying against extreme Unction   Lombard, which lived 1151 years after Christ. None but Christ only can institute a Sacrament. Their Schoolmen Alensis and Holcot have denied confirmation to be from Christ his Institution; their Hugo, Lombard, Bonaventure, Alensis, Altisiodorus have affirmed the same of extreme Unction: which in the primitive Church (by the judgement of their Cassander) was not so extreme. Matrimony and Confirmation were held by the Schoolmen to be no Sacrament.  
john the Evangelist notes that out of the side of Christ, being dead, there came blood and water, hence arose the Sacraments of the Church. Paul twice joins them both together, 1 Cor. 10. 1. & 12. 12, 13.  
The Father's entreating precisely of the Sacraments of the New Testament, do only express two, Baptism and the Eucharist, so Ambrose in his Treatise properly written of the Sacraments; and Cyril in his Book entitled a Catechism: Only Baptism and the Lords Supper in the New Testament were instituted by Christ, Matth. 28. 24. therefore they only are Sacraments of the New Testament. Christ did only partake in these two. Paul acknowledgeth but these two, 1 Cor. 10. 2, 3, 4.  
Matrimony 1. being ordained before the fall, can be no Sacrament, which is 

Cart. on Mat. 1. See M. Cartw. rejoined. part. 1. p. 297.  
Roger's of the Sacrament.   a seal of the Promise and Covenant of Grace after, and by reason of the fall.  
2. It is not proper to the Church as Sacraments are, but common to Jews, Turks and Infidels.  
3. Every Sacrament belongs to every member of the Church, but this belongs not to their Priests and Votaries. See M. Cartw. rejoined. par. 2. p. 82, 83.  
Cajetane denies that the Text of john 20. 23. and Ephes. 5. 32. and jam. 5. 4. (being the sole grounds of Scripture which Papists have for three of their Sacraments, Auricular Confession, Matrimony and Extreme Unction) do teach any such thing.  
It came not from the Lord to ordain one Sacrament for the Clergy, as Orders; a second for the Laity alone, as Marriage; a third for catechised ones, as Confirmation; a fourth for sick ones, as Unction; a fifth for lapsed ones, as Penance. These are no Scripture but tradition Sacraments.  
The Council of Trent thus argues, There are seven defects of a man, seven degrees 
Bellarmine saith there are only two more principal ones: And Gregory and Valentia saith, the number of seven arose not from the Scripture.  of the body, seven Egyptian plagues, seven planets, seven days in the week (they should add also seven heads of the Beast) Therefore there are seven Sacraments. Vide Aquin. part. 3. Quaest 65. Art. 1.  
X. The use of the Sacraments of the New Testament.  

1. To quicken our dulness and stir up our care in performing the duties whereto the Gospel bindeth us, viz. to endeavour and labour to repent and believe and obey out of an assured confidence that God will accept and help our endeavours.  
2. To confirm and establish our hearts in faith, that we may setledly believe, that God hath and will perform the good things sealed up, viz. Remission of sins, sanctification and salvation, all the spiritual blessings of the new Covenant.   
The uses or ends of the Sacraments are especially three:  

1. To strengthen faith.  
2. To seal the Covenant between God and us.  
3. To be a badge of our profession. Atters. of the Sac. l. 1. c. 3.   
XI. Whether any other but a Minister. lawfully called and ordained, may administer 
Augustana confessio sic loquitur, De ordine Ecclesiastico docent Ecclesiae nostrae, quod nemo in Ecclesia debeat publicè docere, aut Sacramenta administrare, nisi ritè vocatus, quae confessionis verba opposita sunt calumniis Pontificiorum, qui dic●t omnia in Ecclesiis nostris confusè & sine ordine geri & cuivis in Ecclesia docendi potestatem apud nos concedi. Gerrh. loc. come. de Minister●o Ecclesiastico, c. 3. Sect. 1. Res inter se perpetuo nexu conjunctae, pascere Ecclesiam salutis Doctrina, & Sacramenta administraro. Calvin. Catech. Relig. Christ. See Master Baxter's Infant Church-membership, part 2. Error 2. and 3.  the Sacraments, Baptism and the Lords Supper?  
It is held by the Reformed Churches, and by the soundest Protestant Writers, That neither of these Sacraments may be dispensed by any, but by a Minister of the Word, lawfully ordained.  

1. God hath appointed the Ministers of the Word lawfully called and ordained, and no other to be stewards and dispensers of the mysteries of Christ, 1 Cor. 4. 1. Tit. 1. 5, 7.  
2. He hath appointed them to be Pastor's or Shepherd's, To feed the stock of God, jer. 3. 15. Ephes. 4. 11. Acts 20. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 2. much of this feeding consists in the dispensation of the Sacraments.  
3. Christ gives a Commission to the Apostles to teach and baptise, and extends the same Commission to all teaching Ministers to the end of the world, Matth. 28. 19 20. Ephes. 4. 11, 12, 13.   
Neither of the Sacraments have efficacy, unless they be administered by him that is lawfully called thereunto, or a person made public and clothed with Authority by Ordination. This error in the matter of Baptism is begot by another error of the absolute necessity of Baptism. Mr. henderson's second Paper to the King.  
The Scripture joineth together the preaching of the Word and dispensations of the seals, both belonging to the Officers who have received Commission from Jesus Christ, Mat. 28. 19 1 Cor. 1. M. Ball.  
Heb. 5. 4. No man takes this honour but he which is called, as was Aaron; which sentence doth manifestly shut out all private persons from administration of Baptism, seeing it is a singular honour in the Church of God. Cartw. 2d Reply, 11th Tractate.  
The example of Zipporah either was rash or singular, and also no way like women's baptising, Circumcision was then commanded the Head of the Family, Baptism belongs only to Ministers, Matth. 28. she circumcised her son when he was not in danger of death, as these baptise.     

CHAP. VIII. Of Baptism.  
BAptism is taken sometimes for the superstitious Jewish ablutions and legal 
Dicitur Latinè Baptismus in genere masculino, in neutro quoque Baptisma indiscriminatim apud omnes veteres Ecclesiasticos Scriptores. Hebraei habent duo vocabula quae idem significant, quorum unum proprium est & speciale, alterum verò generale. Proprium est Rachatz quod est lavare, & mundare quippiam à sordibus.  purifications, as certain representations of our Baptism, as Mark 7. 3, 4. and Heb. 9 10. Sometimes by a Synecdoche for the Ministry of the Doctrine and Baptism of john, Mat. 21. 25. Acts 1. 5. Sometimes for the miraculous and extraordinary gifts of the holy Ghost, Acts 1. 5. Sometimes by a Metaphor for the cross and afflictions, Matth. 20. 22. Luke 12. 50. Lastly, for the sign of the Covenant of Grace, Mat. 28. 19, 20. Mar. 16. 15, 15.  
Our Lord took Baptism (as some have observed) from the Jews baptising of Proselytes, and washing of themselves from uncleanness, which was known and usual among them. And he chose the Lords Supper likewise from a custom observed among the Jews at the Passeover: at the end of the celebration whereof the Fathers of Families were wont to take a Cake of bread, and after the blessing thereof, to break and distribute it to the Communicants: As also after that a Cup of wine in the like sort: Whereunto that may have reference, Ps. 116. 12, 13. john's. Pref. to his Christian Plea.  
This custom Nestrezat Tableandu Sacrament de la Saint Cene also mentions, and saith, The Master of the Family in giving the bread to every one of his domestics set at a Table, used these words, Hold, Eat, This is the bread of the misery which our Parents did eat in Egypt, and he quotes Deut. 16. 3.  
Baptism is the Sacrament of our initiation or engraffing into Christ, of our entrance 
See D. Gouge on Eph. 5. 26. Baptismus signum est initiationis quo in Ecclesiae cooptamur societatem, ut Christo insiti, inter filios Dei censeamur. Cal. Instit. l. 4. c. 15.  into the Covenant and admission into the Church, Rom. 6. 3. our insition and incorporation into Christ is signified and sealed up by Baptism: and hence it is once administered, and never again to be repeated because of the stability of the Covenant of Grace.  
Baptism is a Sacrament of Regeneration, wherein by outward washing of the body with water In the Name of the Father, the Son and the holy Ghost, the inward cleansing of our souls by the blood of Christ is represented and sealed up unto us, Tit. 3. 5. Mat. 28. 19 Ephes. 5. 2. D. Gouges Catechism.  
It may be thus briefly described:  
It is the first Sacrament of the New Testament, wherein every one that is admitted 
Baptismus est Sacramentum, quo aqua in nomine Patris, Filii & Spiritus sancti semel abluti Christo initiamur ad profitendum sanguine Christi nos à peccatis ablui. Rami Come. de relig. Christ. 4. c. 4.  into the Covenant of Grace being by Christ's Minister washed in water, In the Name of the Father, Son and holy Ghost, is thereby publicly declared to belong to Christ's Family, and to partake of all the benefits that belong to a Christian.  
First Sacrament, because first instituted and by the Lord's order first to be administered, being a Sacrament of our new birth.  
2. Of the New Testament, because the old Sacraments ended with the old administration of the Covenant, wherein the way to the Kingdom of heaven is more clearly revealed.  
3. Instituted by Christ himself the author of it.  
4. The subject, it belongs to all persons who can lay claim to the Covenant.  
5. To be administered by one of Christ's Ministers, Matth. 28. 19 He never gave commission to any to administer this Sacrament to whom he gave not authority to preach.  
6. The form, to wash with water In the Name of the Father, Son and holy Ghost. See Aquin. partem tertiam Quaest 66. Artic. 6. Utrum in nomine Christi possit dari Baptismus. See also the 〈…〉 e there.  
7. The use and end of it is to be a public declaration from God, that one belongs to Christ's family, and partakes of all the benefits that concern a Christian. See of the uses of Baptism Perk. Cas. of Cons. l. 2. p. 130. to 135.  
A converted Pagan which makes profession of his faith, and a child not baptised may have right, but this is a solemn declaration of it.  
This washing with water In the Name of the Father, Son and holy Ghost, properly and by the Lord's appointment notes the washing with the holy Ghost. john 3. 5. Tit. 3. 5. Mat. 3. 16. The Spirit descended like a Dove, not only to confirm the Godhead of Christ, but to show the fruit of Baptism, Heaven is opened and the Spirit poured out abundantly. The Lutherans and Papists say we make it Signum mutile, it is not a naked and bare sign.  
The great Gospel promise was the pouring out of the holy Ghost, and the sign water, Isa. 44. 3. Zech. 13. 1. The Analogy lies in this, the first office done to a newborn child is the washing of it from the pollution of the flesh which it brings from the mother's womb; so the first office God's Spirit doth is to purge us from our filthiness. In the Eastern Countries when they would show no pity to their child, they threw it out unwashed, Ezek. 16. 15.  
Baptism is a public tessera or seal of the Covenant:  
First, The Privileges of the children of God by Baptism are many.  

1. I am united to Christ and ingraffed into that stock, his Spirit poured out on the soul is the bond of union between Christ and the soul, therefore we are often said to be baptised into Christ, Rom. 6. 3. Gal. 3. 27.  
2. Hereby we are declared to be the sons of God, we are said to be regenerate by him, that is sacramentally; Baptism is a public standing pledge of our Adoption.  
3. It is a constant visible pledge that all our sins are done away in the blood of Jesus Christ, therefore these are joined together in Scripture, Mark 1. Act. 2. 38. See Act. 22. 16. Rom. 6. 18. Ephes. 5. 26.  
4. It seals to us a partaking of the life of Christ, our Regeneration and Sanctification. See Acts 19 beginning; It is called the Laver of our Regeneration, Titus.  
5. It seals to us the mortifying of all the relics of corruption, and that 
Baptism is not thus effectual to all but only to the elect, Mark 16. 16. These great benefits of union with Christ, regeneration & pardon of sin are not always bestowed at Baptism, Act▪ 19 3, 4.  we shall rise out of our graves to enjoy that eternal life purchased by Christ's blood.  
6. It gives us a right to all God's Ordinances.   
Secondly, The Duties Baptism doth engage us unto.  
All that Christ requires of his people either in faithfulness to him or love and unity to his Saints, Rom. 6. We are buried with Christ in Baptism, therefore are obliged to walk holily, Ephes. 4. When the Apostle presseth the people of God to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, he saith, There is one Baptism.  
Baptism serveth for two uses:  

1. To teach us our filthiness that have need of washing, and to bind us to seek to God for the spiritual washing.  
2. To assure us by pawning the truth and fidelity of God unto us for that end, that upon our so doing we shall be washed with the blood and Spirit of christ.   
We should make use of our Baptism:  

1. To resist actual temptations, I have given up all to Christ, 1 Cor. 6. 15.  
2. As a cordial in all dejections of spirit, Shall I doubt of the love of God and pardon of my siu sealed to me in Baptism?  
3. In our prayers to God, he hath given us his hand and seal, 2 Sam. 7. 27.   
In Baptism we devote ourselves to God: it's an Oath of fealty to Christ's Laws: As therefore Baptism is a pledge to us of what we may look for from God, so it is likewise a pledge of what he may expect from us, it will be a witness against us if we make not right use of it, Psal. 87. 6. See jer. 9 26. and Act. 7. 51.  
The Turks say, what, a Mussel man, one that is a professed servant of Mahomet (as we say baptised) to do this! See Rom. 6. 2.  
Luther tells a story of a pious Gentlewoman, that when the devil tempted her to sin, she answered Satan still, Baptizata sum, I am baptised.  
Ex veteri Ecclesiae consuetudine in Baptismo renunciatur Satanae & pompis ejus. Vossius de orig. & progress. Idol. We cannot serve both God and the Devil, such contrary Lords, Mat. 6. 24. See 1 Cor. 10. 21.  
Baptism is administered but once, the use of it continueth as long as we live. We should make use of it:  

1. To quicken our repentance, Have I so long ago promised to renounce all sin, and yet am I hard hearted and impenitent? The Scripture calls it the Baptism of Repentance for remission of sins, because it serveth not alone as a bond to tie us to seek to God for repentance, and to set upon that work, but also to tie the Lord God unto us to give us the grace of repentance when we seek it at his hands, and endeavour to practise it, and whereby we are said to put on Christ, and to be baptised into Christ and his death, because the Lord will as assuredly engraff us into Christ and clothe us with his righteousness, as we have the outward washing, if we deprive not ourselves thereof by our own carelessness.  
2. We should stir up ourselves to walk cheerfully in God's Commandments: Hath he promised to sanctify me, and shall I live as the men of the world?   
The Parts of Baptism:  
The essential Parts of Baptism, are the Matter and the Form.  
That the Matter of Baptism is water it appears from the word baptising, which signifies washing, the Ministry of john and the Apostles of Christ, Matth. 3. 
The Papists grossly abuse the Sacrament of Baptism by their own devices, they add divers Ceremonies to Baptism, they have their oil, cream, their lights, tapers, etc. That which Christ did to one man, they will do to all, yea to young children, whom they hold not to be of the Church before they be baptised: That he did extraordinarily they make ordinary, that he did in healing the body, they will do in healing the soul, preferring their filthy spittle (which they make the means of curing the soul) unto our Saviour's spittle, who applied his only to the cure of the body. Cartw. on Mark 7. 34. See Dr Hampton on 1 John 2. 19 pag. 16. Materia Baptismi olim alia veteribus quam novis Romanist nunc benedicta aqua in●unditur capiti baptizandi, antiquitus pura aqua aut etiam perennis, ac fluminea. Salmas. Apparat ad primate. Pap.  john 1. 31, 33. that answers to the flood, the Red Sea, and divers purifications of the Law, 1 Cor. 10. 1 Pet. 3. Heb. 9 it also well agrees with the thing signified, viz. with the blood of Christ, and the washing away of sins by his blood.  
The first Baptism in the New Testament was in the River water, and at the River jordan, Mat. 3. 6. afterward some were baptised in fountains, as the Eunuch, Acts 8. 38. Some in Rivers as Lydia, Acts 16. 15. some in particular houses as the Gaoler in the prison, vers. 33. of the same Chapter. Vide Voss. in Thes. See M. Bedf. on the Sac. par. 1. c. 2.  
Some object Acts 2. 38. & 19 5. as if it were enough to baptise only in the Name of Christ. Part there by a Synecdoche is put for the whole, it being a form of Baptism known in those times. Id est (saith Grotius in Act. 19 5.) in nomen Patris & Filii & Spiritus Sancti.  
Baptism borrowing a Ceremony from exorcising, which in those days was a gift in the Church of casting out devils by adjuration, it signified thereby not that men before Baptism are possessed with the Devil, but first what they are by nature, that is, children of wrath and servants of the Devil; and secondly, what they are by Grace (whereof Baptism is a Sacrament) that is, freed from the bondage of Satan, and made coheirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. D. Chalon.  
In the West (or Latin) Church, the Minister speaketh thus to him that is baptised, Ego baptizo te, etc. In the East or Greek Church, Baptizetur iste, etc. but it is no material difference. Beza likes that form of the Latines best.  
The Rites or Ceremonies of Baptism.  
In the beginning Christians had no churches nor Fonts in them, and there being 
D. Featleys' animadv. upon the Anabapt. Confess.  many hundreds, nay thousands to be baptised together, there was a necessity that this Sacrament should be administered in Rivers, or such places where was store of waters, john 3. 22.  
The Rites of Baptism in the Primitive times were performed in Rivers and Fountains, whence the person to be baptised stood up and received the Sacrament. This manner of baptising the ancient Church entertained from the example of our Saviour who baptised john in jordan, this was convenient for that time, because their converts were many and men of years. Hence it is that we call our vessels which contain the water of Baptism Fonts or Fountains. Ridley of the Civil Law.  
Zanchius and Mr Perkins prefer (in persons of age and hot Countries where 
After Baptism they had their kiss of peace and white garment. See Par. on Rom. 13. 14. of the white vestment then worn, and the signification of it, p. 42, 43. Whence the persons were called candidati and albati, and the day Dominica in albis. Mergaturne totus qui tingitur, idque ter a semel, an infusa tantum aqua aspergatur, minimum refert: sed id pro regionum diversitate Ecclesiae liberum esse debet. Calv. Instit. lib. 4. c. 15. See Mr Baxters Infants Church▪ membership, par. 2. cap. 12. & 13. M. Bedford on the Sacram. par. 1. chap. 2. For the number of dippings, whether it should be done once or thrice, is held indifferent and in the power of the Church. The efficacy of the Sacrament doth not stand in the quantity of the element, but in the nature and true use thereof. M. Bedford ubi supra. Vide Aquin. part. 3. Quaest 66. Artic. 7. & 8. If any shall contend that the native signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i● mergo or tingo, I neither think it can be convincingly proved, nor that it maketh against sprinkling, though it were proved. This I hope cannot be denied that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth also signify abluo, lavo, and is so used for any manner of washing by water, which whosoever will deny shall contradict H●sechius, Budaeus, Stephanus, Scapula, Artas Montanus, Pasor in their Lexicons, and the holy Ghost himself, Luke 11. 38. Mark 7. 3, 4. 1 Cor. 10. 2. Heb. 9 10. M. Gillesp. Miscell. cap. 17. Serius aliquando invaluisse videtur mos profundendi sive aspergendi, in eorum gratiam qui in gravi morbo cubantes nomen dare Christo expete●ent, quos caeteri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocabant. Grotius in Matth. 3. 5. Dubium non est quin Johannes Baptista, & Apostoli im●erserint Matth. 3. 6. & v. 16. item Joh. 3. 23. & Act 8. 38. Horum exemplum Ecclesiam veterem secutam esse innumeris Patrum testimoniis clarissimè evincitur. Tamen, ut in purificationibus legalibus sufficiebat adspersio, itidem in Ecclesi● adspersionem pro Baptismo sufficere existimamus, manet enim essentia Sacramenti. Ut nuda corpora, praesertim infanth●● (quales ferè sunt, qui nunc baptizantur) aeri frigido exponantur, & aquis tota immergantur, in hisce ad septentrionem sitis regionibus, praesertim hiberno tempore, sine valetudinis periculo fieri non potest. Thomae Aquinati verisimile est, Apostolos interdum aqua persudisse ob baptizan lorum multitudinem, uti Act. 2. & 4. ubi una die ter mille, altera verò qu●nquies mille baptizati fuisse dicuntur. Vossius in Thesibus. Vox baptizandi non minus de aspersione sumitur in sacris literis quam de immersione Marc. 7. 14. Unde cam vocabulo tingendi saepè exprimit Tertullianus, quod non magis immersionem importat quam quamlibet levem madefactionem, uti ipsimet Apostoli etiam aspersione non rarò baptizarint, quod non solum conjic●re est de Baptismo celebrato privatis in aedibus & quasi ex inopinato qualis fuit, Cornelii, Pauli, Commentariensis Philippensium, sed vix aliter concipi potest de Baptismo trium illorum millium quorum fit mentio Act. 11. 41. cum tantus numerus privatisi● aedibus & post prolixum Catechismum intra unius dici spatium a duodecim Apostolis per immersionem baptizari non potueri●▪ Quaest aliquot Theol. Decisio Authore Maresio Quaest 6.  it may be safe) the Ceremony of immersion under the water, before that of sprinkling or laying on the water, as holding more Analogy to that of Paul, Rom. 6. 4. That we are buried with Christ in Baptism. D. Burges of the Cerem.  
Sprinkling of water is no instituted Ceremony distinct from that washing which Christ's Apostles used. It is very probable also that the Apostles going into the colder part of the world did use sprinkling. Dr. Ames against Dr. Burges, par. 2. pag. 140.  
The allusion of burying with Christ in Baptism is for us rather, we lay men in the grave with their faces upwards, and do not plunge them into the dust and earth, but pour and sprinkle dust and broken earth upon them. Cobbet of Baptism par. 2. c. 3. Sect. 16.  
Those expressions which the Anabaptists so much insist upon, being born of water, john 3. 5. Buried by Baptism, Rom. 6. 4. And buried through Baptism, Col. 2. 12. are merely figurative and do not bind us to any literal observance.  
It is the received Doctrine of all the Protestant Churches now (as their practice, together with their Catechisms, and divers of their Liturgies, sufficiently demonstrateth) that it is a thing indifferent whether Baptism be performed by immersion, a total washing of the body, or by sprinkling the head or face only.  
The Ceremony used in Baptism is either dipping or sprinkling, dipping is the more ancient, at first they went down into the Rivers, afterwards they were dipped in the Fonts. In colder climates, and in case of weakness, the custom of the Church hath been to pour water on the face. The substance is washing, hence Baptism is termed washing, Ephes. 5. 26. Tit. 3. 5. to wash the body either in whole or part, and so that this be done the manner is dispensable by the Church.  
Dipping over head and ears is hurtful to the life and chastity of man, many in hotter climates at some times of the year cannot be plunged over the head in cold water without hazard of life or health.  
2. Sacraments are to be celebrated in the face of the Congregation, it is a scandal for naked men to go into the water with women. Master Baileys second Book, Chap. 7.  
The Necessity of Baptism:  
This grows from God's command and our weakness: not the compelled want, but the careless neglect and wilful contempt of it doth damn. 

Ambrose de vita Valentiniani Imperatoris ait Illum gratia Baptismi non caruisse licet non baptizatus, quum ejus desiderio flagrasset: necessitate prement adulti vot● saepè & voluntate solum fuere baptizati.  
Lombardus locum Joh. 3. 5. l. 1. distinct. 4. sic interpretatur. Intelligendum est de illis qui possunt & contemnunt baptizari. Cardinalis Cajetanus in Commentariis in summam Thomae part. 3. Art. 1. & 2. dicit, In casu necessitatis, ad salutem puerorum sufficit Baptismus invoto parentum. Idem repetit in Artic. 11.  
Sed nostri temporis falsarii, hos in tres Articulos Commentarios in ultimis editionibus expunxerunt.  
Rivet. Cathol. Orthod. Tractat. 3. Quaest 3. Baptismus necessarius est si haberi possit Gen. 17. 24. in circumcisionis locum successit Col. 2. 11. Non tamen ita externo se symbolo alligat Deus, ut non possit aut nolit absque eo hominem salvare. Locus iste Joh. 3. 5. de interna regeneratione intelligi debet, cum aqua & Spiritus ponatur pro aqua spirituali: vel si cum antiquis de aqua oxterna agi malis, locus de illis intelligendus est, qui possunt & contem nunt baptizari, ut interpretatur Lombardus. Vossius in Thes. Alienum est planè a misericordia Dei, ut omnes libert fidelium, qui sine Baptismo moriuntur, in aeternum perirent. Hoc est argumentum Gabrielis, Gersonis, Cajetani, cum multis aliis. Ames. Bellarm. Eneru. Tom. 3.    
Some who are baptised are nevertheless condemned, because they believe not: and some who believe are saved though they be not baptised.  
Augustine held that children dying unbaptised are necessarily damned, and in that regard was styled Durus Pater infantum.  
It was the opinion of Pelagius (saith Austin. de Haeret. c. 88) That children dying unbaptised do enjoy a certain blessed life out of the Kingdom of God. Augustine in that Doctrine in which he dealt with the Pelagians (saith Rivet) bended the Tree too much the other way, that he might make it strait.  
The Papists make Baptism absolutely necessary. Vide Bellarm. de Statu peccati, l. 6. cap. 2. but Circumcision (being the same in use and signification with Baptism) was omitted in the Wilderness forty years. David doubted not of his uncircumcised child's salvation, and children are holy in the root through their believing parents, 1 Cor. 7. 14.  

1. Grace is not tied to the Word, therefore not to the Sacraments.  
2. They were separate in the first and greatest Minister of Baptism, john himself, who confessed that he could not baptise but with water.  
3. Then every baptised party should be truly regenerate, but the contrary appears in Simon Magus, Ananias and Sapphira, and others.  
4. Some are justified before Baptism, as Abraham was, Rom. 4. 10. Cornelius, Act. 10. 47. the Eunuch, v. 37. 38. some after Baptism, as many who are daily converted, some out of Popery, some out of profaneness.   
The opinion of tying grace to the Sacraments, overthroweth  

1. The highest and most proper cause of our salvation, which is God's free election to which only grace is tied.  
2. The only meritorious cause of our Regeneration, which is the blood of Christ properly purging us from all sin.  
3. The most powerful, next and applying efficient, which is the holy Ghost, Titus 3. 5.   
The Papists thrust the souls of such babes as die without Baptism into a Limbus puerorum, a place very near hell, and their bodies out of Christian burial (as they call it) into an unhallowed place. The Thief on the Cross wanted the outward Baptism, yet was saved, Luke 23. 43. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved. See M. Perk. Cas. of Consc. l. 2. p. 108. to 115.  
Baptism is necessary not only as a thing commanded, but as an ordinary means of Salvation, yet that necessity is not so absolute, that the denial of Baptism even to Infants should be a certain argument of perdition.  
The Persons who must baptise: 
Nulla subest ratio quare laicis & foeminis hoc potius quam Eucharistiae administratio permitti debeat: quam tamen, si quis alius quam Sacerdos consecret, juxta Papistas ejus consecratio nulla est. Idem pronunciant de ordine & conse●ratione, nisi Episcopus ea peregerit. S. Hieron. Tom 2. contra Lucifer. oftendit, eum qui Eucharistiam administrare nequit, neque posse conferre Baptismum▪ In sacra Scriptura nulla extat, vel autoritas, vel exemplum, quod al●● praeter Ecclesiae Ministros baptizare potuerint, vel a●si sunt. Tertu●. de velandis virginibus, ait, non permittitur mulieri in Ecclesia loqui, sed nec dollar, nec tingere, nec asserre, etc. Rivet. Cathol. orthod. Tract. 3. Quaest 7. Nullus designatus fuerit proprius Minister Cir●um●●sionis, & fa●rit operatic manualis, ad quam aptissimi potuerunt esse qui ad Ministerii functionem suissent ineptissimi. Baptizandi potestas cujus●i●et non est, sed eorum qui à Deo ad id vocati erant. Secundò, Ex facto singulari in talibus circumstantiis que nusquam occurrunt, ●ui simile nullum in Scriptura reperitur, non est trahendum exemplum. Rivet. in Exod. 9 24. Infants à mulieribus baptizari ex pessimo errore natum est, quod de eorum salute actum putant, si defuisset Baptismus Itaque in Scholis definierunt, de necessitate salutis esse hoc Sacramentum. Calvin. Epist. Baptismus obst●iricum, impia est v●ri ac legitimi profanatio. Matth. 28. 19 hic nexus absque sacrilegio solvi non pocest, Adulterinum ergo Baptismum censemus, qui administratus est à privato homine. Id. alibi in Epist. Perperam sit si privati homines Baptismi administrationem sibi usurpent: Est enim pars Ecclesiastici Ministerii, tam hujus quam coenae dispensatio. Calvin Instit l. 4. c. 15. Vide plura ibid. Vide Zepperum de ●ur●. Et Cameron. Myroth ad 1 Cor. 1. 17. Vide Bellarm. Tom. 3. de Sacr. l. 1. c. 7.   
The Papists say, Those that are not ordained, and women in case of necessity may baptise.  
No woman is a fit Minister of Baptism. For  

1. The Minister in his ministerial actions sustaineth the person of Christ, which a woman cannot do.  
2. Those which are called to baptise are called also to preach, for the Sacrament without the Word is a dumb Ceremony, and as a Seal to a blank; and Paul who would not permit a woman to teach ministerially, would much less suffer her to baptise. If any man should set the King's broad Seal to any instrument but the Lord Keeper, his fact were high treason, And is there less danger in counterfeiting the great Seals 
a D. Tailor on Titus. See D. S●later on Rom. 1. 8. and Attersol of the Sacram. l. 1. c. 4. & l. 2. c. 3.  of God's Covenant?   
Aquinas parte tertia Quest. 67. Artic. 3. saith, Lai●us potest baptizare, and Art. 4. mulier potest baptizare.  
That place Matth. 28. is as strong against women's baptising, as it is against their preaching. For the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament cannot be pulled asunder which the Lord hath joined together from time to time. The Priests and Levites which were appointed to teach the people, were also appointed to sacrifice and minister 
b Cartw. Reply to Whitgift in defence of the admonit. p. 110. See more there.  other Sacraments in the Church.  
Cartwright denieth Women and Laics power. Whitgift and Hooker plead for it, but K. james would have it appropriated to the 
c Bedford of the Sacraments par. 1. ch. 2.  Minister.  
The ordinary Minister of Baptism is a person consecrated; Baptism being the solemn Rite of initiating Disciples, and making the first public profession of the institution, it is in reason and analogy of the Mystery to be ministered by those who were appointed to collect the Church, and make Disciples. D. Tailors Divine Instit▪ of the offices Ministerial. Sect. 4.  
Zippora circumcised her son before her husband Moses, which was a Prophet of the Lord, and to whom the office of Circumcision did appertain. 2. She did it in choler.  
If the essentials of Baptism be observed, viz. washing In the Name of the Father, Son and holy Ghost, it is Baptism.  
The Baptism of Heretics is Baptism, and therefore it is imputed to Cyprian for 
Lutherus Calv●nus, Beza, De Ecclesiae Romanae baptismo verè sentiunt, Etsi enim ille baptismus infinitis nugis, & corruptelis contaminatus est, & quasi morbis innumeris laboravit, ipsam tamen animam Sacramenti non a●●isit, quia in nomen Patris, & Filli & Spiritus sancti, quae hujus forma est, datum susceptumque esse constat. Quanquam, id non dicunt, satis legitimè administratum esse in medio Papatu baptismum Aliud est non aboleri baptismum, aliud legitimè administrari. Adeo enim non legitimè apud vos administratur, ut quanquam susceptus valet, sanctius tamen sit, infants nostros non baptizari, quam vobis vestro ritu baptizandos offerri. Whitak. ad Saunder. Demonst. de Antich. Respons. Demonstr. 35. Eorum baptismus adhuc pro baptismo habetur, qui retinent doctrinae sacrae principia, & utcunque baptismi formam essentialem, & nativam sententiam. Talis censetur Pontificiorum baptismus, quat●nus est Ecclesiae in Papatu delitescentis: cui similis suit Circumcisio inter impios Iudae●s. L'Empereur Theses.  an error, that he affirmed, Baptizatos ab Haereticis esse rebaptizandos; and the Donatists are esteemed Heretics for that reason.  
No man may baptise himself, Smith was a Se-baptist, he baptised himself, which neither john Baptist nor any did before him.  
How Christ's Baptism and john's differ:  
There was the same Doctrine, the same Rite, the same Oblation of Grace, in the Baptism of john and Christ, Therefore it was the same Baptism for Substance, and of the same efficacy. Vide Scultet. Exercit. Evangel. lib. 1. cap. 35.  
The Persons who are to be baptised: 
Perpetua & constans est Dei voluntas, ut ne foederatis negetur foederis signum Gen. 18. 13, 14. Matth. 28. 19 At infants etiam sunt in numero foederatorum, Gen. 17. 7. illi non minus quam adulti cir cumcidebantur. In veteri Testamento foedus se extendebat ad infants, ergo in Novo per Messiae adventum non minuitur, Infants salvantur ergo sunt Ecclesiae membra Eph. 5. 26. Quatuor ista Ecclesiae privilegia in Symbolo commemorata infantibus etiam conveniunt. Sunt ergo membra Ecclesiae sanctae Catholicae. 2. Mandatum Christi Matth. 28. 19 3. Act. 11. 39 40. Quibus facta est promissio gratie, illi debent baptizari in remissionem peccatorum ut accipiant Spiritum sanctum. At vobis & liberis vestris facta est promissio, fit mentio liberorum simpliciter sine discretione aetatis. 4. In iis regeneratio locum habet in hac vita, ergo baptismate regenerationis sign● & sigillo fraudari non debent▪ 5. Factum dictumque Christi Matth. 19 13. quae etiam repetuntur Marc. 9 14. & Luc. 18. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc. ●8. quae vox Act. 7 19 tribuitur infanti in cunis vagienti, & 1 Pet. 2. 2. dicitur de infantibus Israeliticis recens editis, imò Luc. 1. 41, 42. dicitur de foetu qui utero conclusus 1 Cor. 7. 14. sancti dicuntur ab ipsi ortu, quia è foederatis nascentes etiam in foedere sunt. 7. Fidelium infantes non minus in Novo quam Veteri Testamento Ecclesiae inseri, & ab infidelium liberis discerni debent. Atqui per baptismum inserimur Ecclesiae Dei Act. 11. 41. 8. Baptismus successerit circumcisioni Col. 2. 2. Vost. Disp. 13. de baptismo. Vide Calvin. Instit. l 4. c. 16. Et Snecanum de baptismo. Infants baptizari ex institutione Apostolica docent Irenaeus, Tertullianus, Origenes, & Patres ab Apostolis longa serie & successione plurimi. Rami Comment. de Religione Christiana. l. 4. c. 6. See Atters. of the Sacram. l. 2. c. 7. M. Pembl. Vindic. great. 479, 484. And Perk. Cas. of Consc. M. Hilders. on Psal 51. 5.   
Infidels converted to the faith, and the Infants of one or both Christian Parents.  
Some deny Baptism, they acknowledge not the baptising of Infants or others, but only the inward Baptism 
d See M. Laurence against M. Dell.  of the Spirit. See Matthew 28. 19, 20▪ Mark 16. 26.  
The Scriptures teach that this Sacrament is necessary for Infants, john 3. The Scriptures show that Infants are in Covenant, Ezek. 6. 20. that is, at the birth his by virtue of the Covenant, and were in times passed sealed with the seal of the Covenant; They witness that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to Infants, Matth. 19 By Baptism Christians are admitted into the Society 
c Episc. Dau. de judice controv. c. 6. See M. Cooks thirteen Arguments in his defence of Infant-baptism, p. 26. to 44.  of this Kingdom. Antipoedobaptists acknowledge from Matth. 9 14. Rom. 9 11. that Infants are saved. See Psal. 103. 17.  
Christ commands all Nations to be baptised, Infants are part of a Nation, Mat. 28. 11. I think the Apostle doth plainly hold, Col. 2. that Baptism hath succeeded in the room of Circumcision, which is also the common and received opinion of Divines. Gillesp. Miscel. c. 18.  
Infants of Christian Parents ought to be baptised, because the children of the Jews in Covenant were circumcised, for let the particular differences between Circumcision and Baptism be never so many, yet in this they agree, that they are both Sacraments of initiation, and so belong to them that be in Covenant, the faithful and their seed. M. Ball. Vide Rivet. in Gen. 17.  
That which confirms me 
f G●rces Vindic. Poedobaptist▪ cap. 3. The most ancient credible Writers refer the original of Baptism of Infants to the Apostles times. Church's Divine warrant of Infant-Baptism. Argu. 4th. I am verily persuaded with Augustine, that there hath been a continued series of the Baptism of Infants from the utmost Antiquity, from the Apostles age to this very day. M. Stephens of the Baptism of Infants. See M. Baxters' Infant Church-membership, part 2. c. 15.  in the belief that the Apostles did baptise Infants where they baptised households, where fathers and children were together, is, because of the continued practice of it in the Church of God ever since, of which we have as good evidence as of any controverted point in Ecclesiastical History.  
Supposing Infant-baptism a nullity, I cannot understand how any in the world should this day be lawfully baptised, unless it can be made good that a person unbaptised himself may be a lawful Minister of Baptism to others; for certainly until the Anabaptists arose in Germany, all the baptised world were baptised while they were Infants, and consequently the first Anabaptist was baptised by an unbaptized person, and so in conclusion we must all turn Seekers, and be content without Baptism till Christ give some extraordinary commission from Heaven unto some men to be Apostles in this business. M. Marshals Def. of Infant-bap. p. 245.  
A man by embracing one error undertakes for all of the same cognation and 
M. goodwin's Preface to his Redemption Redeemed. He reckons up eight errors there. God always made provision for Infants, under the Law by Circumcision, than there was a promise suitable to it, Deut. 30. 6. and there is a promise suitable to Baptism, Isa. 44. 3.  line; as for example, He that is entangled with the error of those who deny the lawfulness of Infant-baptism, stands obliged, through his engagement to this one error, to maintain many erroneous and Anti-Evangelical opinions.  
Where ever God takes parents into Covenant, he takes their children also. See 
Gen. 17. 7, 12, 13, 14. Exod. 12. 48, 49. compared with Act. 2. 38, 39 & 3. 25. & 16. 15. Col. 2. 10, 11, 12. Act. 2. 38, 39 There is mention of children in the reason, therefore the precept of baptising there spoken of implieth them also, otherwise how will the Anabaptists prove, by the institution, or first celebration of the Lords Supper, that women should be partakers thereof? Seeing that neither there, nor elsewhere in the New Testament there is mention of any women by name, that were present and did partake thereof. And yet seeing the reasons that are annexed to the precepts thereof, do necessarily imply women as well as men, and there is no where any special prohibition to the contrary, who can deny it unto them without great sin and impiety? Mat. 26. 17. & 20. 26, 27, 28. Luk. 22. 14, 19, 20. 1 Cor. 11. 23, 24, 25. john's. Christian's Plea. Treat. 1. p. 6.  Deut. 27. 14, 15.  
2. Infants are as capable of the benefits of Baptism as men, there is no benefit of Baptism, but the party that receiveth it is passive, we are said to be baptised into Christ, to be made one with him, the union begins on his part, so to receive remission of sin.  
3. Infants while they are so, may be truly members of a visible Church, Luke 18. 16.  
One hath better ground to go by to administer Baptism to a child of believing Parents, then to men of years; a man's profession may be unsound and hypocritical, for the other I have God's promise, I will be thy God, and the God of thy Seed.  
The Anabaptists, 1. Frame a Covenant that God never made, with Parents 
Though the other errors of Anabaptists he ancient, a thousand years old, yet the denying of Baptism to children was never heard of till within a hundred years and less. D. Donne. The Anabaptists bid us prove that children are of the Church, and to be baptised: But we require of them proof, how they are cast out of the Church, and Baptism thereof; And how the grace of God is so shortened by Christ's coming in the flesh, as to cast out of the Church the greatest part of the Church before the Infants of believers:  without their seed: the Covenant of Grace always was with parents and their seed, in the first discovery of it, Gen. 3. 15. therefore Eve is called the mother of us all: So before the Flood, Gen. 6. 18. and after 9 9  
2. By this means there is great injury done to Infants, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven 
* Neque hoc leviter praetereund●● est, quod infantes sibi offerri Christus jubet, addita ratione, Quoniam talium sit regnum Coelorum. Si corum est regnum coelorum, cur signum negabitur. Calvin. justit. l. 4. c. 16. ; it is a great evil to seclude any from the Ordinances that have a right, Gal. 3. 15. the Covenant of grace is also a Testament, there is no child so young but he may have his name put in his father's will, 1 Cor. 10. 23.  
3. Hereby the practice and prayers of the Church are slighted, Consuetud▪ matris Ecclesiae in baptizandis parvulis nequaquam spernenda est, neque ullo modo supers●ua deputanda. August. de Genes. ad literam c. 22. The Pelagians of old and Anabaptists of late are to be condemned therefore, who deny Baptism to be administered to children.  
The main Arguments to disprove baptising of Infants, answered. 
See M. Baxter's Infants Church-membership, part 2 c. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.   

Object. Every one that is baptised is first to be made a Disciple by teaching, because Christ saith plainly Matth. 28. 19 Go teach all Nations and baptise them, thereby intimating that they should not baptise those who were not made Disciples by teaching. Infant's cannot be made Disciples by teaching, Ergò, Infants may not be baptised.  
Answ. The major is false, and the proof brought for it doth not confirm it. 
Distinguere oporte● inter Ecclesiam constituendam & constitutam: in illa adulti prius docendi, & ubi crediderint, tum ipsi, tum ipsorum liberi sunt baptizandi: in hac vero infantes prius baptizandi ac postea sunt docendi. Vide Gen. 17. 10. & 21. 4. Vossius in Thes. & Disputat▪ 13. de baptismo.  For Christ doth not here prescribe a course to his Apostles to be observed toward all, but alone toward those Nations which were to be newly converted unto Christ, and there is a great difference betwixt these, and the Infants of believing Parents.  
To the minor, I answer, by distinguishing; there are Disciples made actually and virtually. Infant's cannot be made Disciples by teaching actually, but they are made such virtually by their Parents accepting of the Doctrine of the Gospel.   

Object. All that are to be baptised have actual faith and repentance. See Mar. 1. 4. Acts 2. 37. only such were baptised by the Apostles, as appears in divers places, Whosoever believeth and is baptised, etc. Now Infants have not actual faith, but only an external profession of faith, Therefore they must not be baptised.  
Answ. All that are to be baptised have not an actual faith, but only an external 
Per fidem in infantibus intelligimus principium sive semen fidei, non habitum fidei aut actualem fidem. Potentia respondet semini, habitus arbori, actus fructui. Semen fidei etiam in infantibus esse potest. Habitus non est, nisi corum qui operantur ex habitu. Vost. in Thesibus. Sunt increduli infantes negatiuè salutari fidei habitu destituuntur, non positiuè, contrario habitu non sunt polluti. Id. ibid. & Disputat. de Baptismo. Poenitentia exigitur ab iis qui poenitenda egerunt, Rom. 9 2. Voss. Disputat. 15. de Baptismo. Children that were to be circumcised the eighth day, could neither believe nor make a profession of their faith. See M. Brlusleys Doctrine and Practice of Poedo-bapt. p. 86, 87, 88, 89. Quae igitur haec qua nos impetunt argumentationis erit formula? Qùi adulta sunt aetate, antè instituendi sunt, ut credant, quam bazandi● Baptismum ergo infantibus communem facere nefas est. Calv. Instit. l. 4 c. ●6.  profession of faith, as appeareth, because even hypocrites are baptised that only make a show to believe and repent. Infants have an outward profession of faith in their Parents which bring them to Baptism, and desire Baptism for them, for the profession of faith made by the Parents is to be taken also for the child. The places which show how the Apostles baptised believers, do not prove that all must in their own persons make actual profession of faith, but only that such aught as are there spoken of, viz. men of years, to be converted from another Religion to Christianity. For in all places where mention is made of the Apostles baptising believers, they have to do with persons converted from some other Religion to the Religion of Christ. Therefore those places prove only that all such aught to make profession of actual faith in their own persons, but they prove not that this is absolutely required of all to be baptised.   

Object. Christ was not baptised till he came to years, Therefore we should defer it till then.  
Answ. He was circumcised in his Infancy, and so did partake of all Ordinances, (Luke 2. 21.) in the Jewish Church, as a member of the same, therefore he could not be then baptised, because the time of bringing in Gospel-administrations was not yet come.  
2. There is not the same reason for us; this Ordinance was commanded by Christ's institution, and commended by his example.   

Object. What hath neither example nor precept, nor just consequence out of the Word to warrant it, that is evil, God's Word is generally a lantern to our feet, and a light to our paths.  
Answ. Baptising of Infants hath a general and implicit precept for it, though not express and direct in so many words, Matth. 28. 19 Baptising them; By Them 
See Brinsleys Doctrine and Practice of Poedobaptism, pag. 70. 71, 72, 73, 74. This divine Evangelicall Institution, was consigned by three Evangelists, Matth. 28. 19 Mark 16. 16. John 3. 5. agreeable to the decretory words of God by Abraham in the Circumcision, to which Baptism doth succeed in the consignation of the same Covenant and the same spiritual promises, Gen. 17. 14. The words are so plain that they need no exposition, and yet if they had been obscure, the universal practice of the Apostles and the Church for ever, is a sufficient declaration of the Commandment. No Tradition is more universal, no not of Scripture itself, no words are plainer, no not the ten Commandments. Doctor Tailor's Discourse of Baptism. Anabaptists say, Where have we taught that Infants should be baptised in all the Scripture? Not in express terms, but by just consequence we have it: From the General, Matth. 28. 19 From Parity, Gen. 17. 14. From Principles, Acts 2. 39 Where find we (saith Bellarmine de justice. lib. 2. & lib. 1. cap. 16.) that Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us for Justification? In express terms we have it not, but virtually and by just consequence we have it, 2 Cor. 5. 21. In the equivalent we have it, Rom. 5. 17, 18, 19 We find no where those words, James 4. 5. in all the Scripture in express terms. By deduction we have them, Numb. 11. 29. Doctor Sclater on Rom. 4. 6.  our Saviour doth not mean only the persons themselves that are made Disciples, but them and theirs considered as a whole body, and a Nation to be made a Church to him. The believing Gentiles are graffed into the good Olive, in stead of the unbelieving Jews cut off, therefore in what sort those Jews stood in that Olive before their cutting off, in the same state stand these Gentiles since their graffing, seeing they are equally made partakers of the root and fatness of the Olive, Rom. 11. 17. Now the believing Jews stood so in the Olive, that every one did bring his seed into the same participation of the Olive with himself, so the whole body was counted to be in that alone, as well Infants as others. For the Apostle saith, The Promises are made to you and to your children; And Moses saith, That the little ones did enter into a Covenant with God, that he should establish them for a people to himself, and that he might be unto them a God, Deut. 29. 11. & 26. 16, 17. wherein Infants as parts of the whole body must be conceived. Therefore it will follow that when a Nation or people by believing and being baptised do avouch God for their God, and are avouched by God for his people, than the whole body of the people so doing, their Infants and all comprehended are to be accounted so to avouch him, and are avouched of him, which being proved, we have here a precept to baptise such, because they also are part of the Nations made Disciples, not actually but virtually, as the Israelitish Infants could not actually make a Covenant with God, but virtually in their Parents.  
Secondly, We have most probable examples, for we read of households baptised, 
It can be no good argument to say, the Apostles are not read to have baptised Infants, Therefore Infants are not to be baptised: but thus, We do not find that Infants are excluded from the Sacraments and Ceremonies of Christ's institution, Therefore we may not presume to exclude them. For although the negative of a fact is no good Argument, yet the negative of a Law is a very good one. We may not say, the Apostles did not, Therefore we may not: But thus, they were not forbidden to do it, there is no Law against it, Therefore it may be done. Doctor Tailor's Discourse of Baptism, part 2.  and therefore also children which were a part of the household, yea Act. 16. 33. it is said the Gaoler and all his were baptised, not all that believed, but all his, whereby it is most probable that he had Infants which were baptised, for else why is it said all his, not all those that believed or received his Word; or if he had no such Infants it is all one: For had there been Infants, this shows they should have been baptised seeing they were some of his. Indeed it is said, He did preach the Word to all in the house, but they were not all his, and perhaps not all baptised, for it is not said, they did believe; but whether they did or no, he did, and whether they were baptised all of them or no, yet all his were. For it is no news for a Gaoler to have more in his house then be his, even strangers from his Family.  
Acts 16. 15. 1 Cor. 1. 16. the Apostles baptised whole houses without any exception and distinction of person and age, that Infants are comprehended under houses and families, it is evident by the use of the whole Scripture, Gen. 14. 16. & 18. 19 Prov. 31. 15. Luke 19 9 Acts 11. 16. & 16. 31.  
Parents must bring their children therefore to Baptism with an high esteem of that Ordinance, and with fervent prayers to God for his blessing upon it, that it may be effectual for their regeneration. Set a day (at least some good time) apart 
Mr. Whateley at the end of new-birth.  to seek the face of God, to confess thy sins, chiefly the original sin which thou hast derived to thine Infant, lament it in thyself, and lament it in and for him, Baptism cannot be reiterated as the Lords Supper, therefore what thou canst do but once for thy child, be careful to do it in the best manner.  
Parents should offer their children to God in Baptism:  

1. With earnest prayers to God for a blessing on his Ordinance.  
2. In faith, plead your right with God, he hath promised to be the God of his people and of their seed, there are promises which suit with the Ordinance, Deut. 13. 6. Isa. 44. 3.  
3. With reverence, Gen. 17. 2, 3. 2 Sam. 7. 18, 19 their hearts should be affected with that great privilege, that God should take themselves and their seed into the Covenant.   
The Baptism of Infants without a weighty cause, and in a sort compelling, is not to be deferred: 
Vide Vossii Disputat. de baptismo. Disput. 1. 6. Et Zepperum de Sacramentis. Et Balduinum de Cas. Consc. lib. 4. c. 5. & 6. Cas. 8. Alii in multos annos & suum & liberorum suorum Baptismum differre soli●i fuerunt: Constantinus siquidem magnus, quòd profectionem in People suscipere, & in jordane baptizari, non fine superstitiosa quadam opinion, quòd nimirum in illo Christus quoque baptizatus fuerit, constituisset, in senectutem usque Baptismum distulit, quemadmodum lib. 4. c. 62. De vita Constantini. Author est Eusebius. Vide Evag. Hist. Eccles. l. 3. c. 41.   
First, Because the equity of the eighth day appointed for Circumcision hinders the procrastination of it.  
Secondly, Because this delaying of it shows a kind of contempt of the Ordinance.  
It was a common but an erroneous practice even in the Primitive Church, to defer their Baptism till they were old, so some of the Christian Emperors, because an opinion prevailed upon them that Baptism discharged them of all sins.  
I think that the delay of Baptism which Constantine and some others were guilty of, did creep in among other corruptions, and was grounded on the false doctrines of those heretics that denied forgiveness of sin to those that fell after Baptism, which affrighted poor people from that speedy use of it which the Scripture prescribeth. Mr Baxt. Inf. Church-memb. par. 2. c. 15.  
Constantine much esteemed and favoured Eusebius who was a very subtle and malicious Arian, and yet Constantine even to his death extremely hated and detested Arianism, one token of which love was his receiving the Sacrament of Baptism at his hands, when he was extremely sick, and near his death. Crakanth Defence of Constant. c. 6. See p. 80. to 86. & 92, 93.  
But Constantine received Baptism at Eusebius his hands, when he was a Catholic Professor, and earnest in that profession. The Apostles and Christ himself held communion, and received the Sacrament with judas, Matth. 26. 23. etc. so long as he kept the outward and catholic profession, though in his heart he was an Apostata, yea Devil, Id. ib. p. 96, 97.  
Chrysostom and Gregory Nazianzen (saith Grotius) were not baptised till they were twenty years old at least.  
Plerosque Baptismum suum distulisse in articulum mortis, res est notissima ex Historia Ecclesiastica; unde Clinicorum nomen. Maresius de precibus pro mortuis.  
Augustine, Jerome and Ambrose, were baptised when grown up men, yea, but when they better understood the point, they disallow neglect of children's Baptism, as the Parent's sin, as jerom in his Epistle to Laeta, and Augustine frequently, and so Ambrose, all one for Poedobaptisme, as an Ordinance of God, and so as counting it sin to neglect it. Cobbet of Baptism, part. 2. Sect. 5.  
Some hold that only Infants of Church-members are to be baptised.  
But although the Parents of those Infants be not members of any particular 
See M. Blake of the Coven. c. 46, 47, 48. that children of all that are Christians in profession are to be baptised.  Church, yet if they be members of the universal Church, as they are certainly if they be baptised and profess the Catholic Faith, that is enough for the administering of Baptism to their Infants, otherwise there will be no difference between their Infants and the Infants of Turks, which is not to be admitted.  
We admit children to Baptism:  

1. By virtue of their remote Parents, who may be good though their immediate Parents be bad, Act. 2. 39  
2. They may be admitted by stipulation of others to see them educated in the faith into which they are baptised, be the Parents themselves never so wicked, Vide 
Vide Thomae part. 3. Quaest 67. Artic. 7. Quo tempore primum incepit usus susceptorum, in incerto est. Alii Hygino Papae hanc institutionem attribuunt, alii aliter. Probabilissimum nobis videtur eo tempore illud observari coepisse, quo certatim ex Gentilibus plurimi ad Christianam fidem adducerentur, atque baptizarentur. Quare magis patet, nulla necessitate & satis temere hodiè illos susceptores vel sponsores in baptismo communiter adhiberi, cum non sit jam illa ratio accedentium ex Paganismo, quae olim & huic instituto causam dedit. Baptizatus tradebatur suis susceptoribus, inde & nomen susceptorum venit, quod suscipiant alios ex baptismo. Disput. Theol. de baptismo veterum part. 5. Thes. 1. Usus fidei jussorum, qui infantes è sacro lavacro suscipiunt, quos vulgò compatres & comm●tres appellant, rem esse per se indifferentum contendimus, Hanc consuetudinem retinemus quia nemini nocet, sed potius utilis est infantibus, & inter Christianos mutuas firmat amicitias, & officia charitatis. Rivet. in Cath. Orthod. Vide Balduin. de cas. consc. l. 2. p. 11. cas. 8. Quinam interrogationes de articulis fidei ante baptismum usurpatas referunt inter Ceremonias antichristianas? Ad pueros dirigi, minus convenit: Non enim intelligunt. Ad susceptores commodius diriguntur. Olim adulti interrogabantur ante baptismum; hoc sequioribus seculis ad ipsos tralatum est infants. Crocius in August. Confess. Quaest 2. c 29. Illud durum fuerit, quod hujusmodi sponsiones sic essent, quasi in scoena ludus sieret, non in Ecclesia Sacramentum celebraretur. Nam profecto mimicum suit, sic interrogari insantem quasi virum: sic respondere virum quasi infantem: & quidem hanc de aliena conscientia tam considenter. Chamier. de Sac. l. 5. c. 15.  Ames. Cas. Consc. l. 4. c. 27.   
Whether the use of Witnesses be necessary.  
Peter Martyr in loc. Commun. calls it utile institutum, a profitable constitution.  
In ancient time the Parents of children which were Heathen and newly converted to Christian Religion, were either ignorant and could not, or careless and would not bring up their children agreeably to the Word of God, and the Religion which they newly professed. Hence it was thought meet, that some persons of good knowledge and life should be called to witness the Baptism, and promise their care for the children's education.  
It is an ancient commendable practice continued in the Church of God above the space of twelve hundred years. M. Perk. Cas. of Consc.  
It was but a bare prudential thing in the Church, whether it were Hyginus of Rome, that first brought in Godfathers and Godmothers about the year of Christ, 140. as Platina and others write, or some other, it is not greatly material. Ford of the Covenant between God and man. Vide Zepperum de Sac. Some urge Isa. 8. 1, 2, 3. for it.  
Because from the beginning those that were of years when they were to be baptised were asked divers Questions, Whether they believed? Whether they renounced the Devil? The same custom also remained even then when Infants alone were offered: and the Papists cannot be moved from thence, Chamier. de Canone lib. 11. c. 9  
The Churches by an unadvised imitation drew the interrogatories ministered in the Primitive Church to those which were of years to profess their faith in Baptism unto young children. Cartw. on Mat. 3.  
Whether the immediate or remote parents give the children a right to Baptism?  
Some 
* hooker's Survey of the Sum of Church-Discipline, part. 3. chap. 2. Mr Cottons way of the Churches of Christ in New-Engl. S. 6 cap. 4. Zanchius on Ephes. 5. and M. Blake in his Birth-privil. are for remote Parents. See M. Cawdr. Diatribe conc. Inf. Bap. ch. 3. Per baptismum non tam inserimur huic, vel illi, vel isti. Ecclesiae, quam Ecclesiae Catholicae, quam in symbolo profitemur. Vos. Disp. 15. the bap. Spect and a hic non est proximorum Parentum impietas, sed pietas Ecclesiae in qua nati sunt ce●● eorum mater: Item majores ipsorum qui piè & sanct è vixerunt. Zanch. in c. 5. Ephes. Attersol of the Sac. l. 2. c. 6. Zanchius also interprets that place of the remote Parents▪  say immediate Parents only can give the children a right.  
Because if we go higher to remote Parents, Where shall we then stop? May we go to Noah or Adam (say they?) Where shall we stay? Why may not the children of Jews and Turks than be admitted into the Church, since they formerly descended from believers? This Objection carries some force with it, and there is a very strong Objection likewise against this opinion, since those for the most part that maintain this, say, the Parents that give the federal right to their children must be visible Saints or Church-members, as they phrase it. The Argument than is this, The wickedness of a Jew could not prejudice the child's right that was to be circumcised, therefore neither the wickedness of a Christian a child's right that is to be baptised. And whether their Baptism be not null which had no right, and so they ought to be rebaptised, should be seriously considered by them that hold that tenet.   

Quest. What if the immediate Parents be believers only in show?  
Answ. 1. The profession of the faith is sufficient: 2. Children have right to Baptism by virtue of the first Covenant with Abraham, in whom we have as true an interest as the Jews ever had, Act. 8. 12, 13, 38. with 10. 47. Gal. 3. 29. Rom. 11. 17. So that the wickedness of the immediate Parent doth not prejudice the right of the child: for then Hezekiah should not have been circumcised, because he had a wicked father. Master Lyfords Principles of Faith and good Conscience, Chap. 49.   

Object. The children of the faithful only are to be baptised, because only those Infants are judged to be in the Covenant, and only holy.  
Answ. 1. We are not to regard the ungodliness of such as are their natural Parents of whom they were begotten, but the godliness of the Church, in which and of whom they were born: for the Church is as it were their mother.  
2. We must consider not only their immediate Parents but their forefathers and ancestors which have led a godly life, Rom. 11. 16. By the name of root in that Nation of the Jews, he doth not understand the next Parents who peradventure were profane and ungodly, but those first Parents of that people, viz. Abraham, Isaac and jacob, to whom the promise was made, and the Covenant confirmed.  
They are to be baptised who in charity may be thought to be in the Covenant. Such are all that profess them to be of the Christian faith, and also their children Act. 10. 45. 1 Cor. 7. 14. D. Gouge his Catechism.  
Parents being in the Church by the profession of Christian Religion, their children are within the Covenant, Ezek. 18. 20. So that the impiety of the Parents prejudiceth not the child that is born in the Church.  
2. By Parents are to be understood not those alone of whom children are immediately begotten and born, but their Progenitors and Ancestors also who feared God and lived in the Church, though many generations before. For God made not his Covenant with Abraham and his immediate seed only, but with all his seed after them in their generations, Gen. 17. 7.  
Lastly, Be the next Parents whosoever they will be, yet their children being born in the Church, the Church is their mother, and the faith and piety of the Church investeth such as are born in her unto the Covenant. Down of the faith of Infants.  
Either by Baptism men are admitted into the particular Church, or the whole Church, or no Church: but not into the particular Congregation, no man is baptised into the particular Congregation, it is not the seal of the particular Covenant: therefore it is into the whole or none: If a Heathen be converted in a Congregation, first he receives Baptism, afterward is admitted a member of the particular Congregation. M. Huds. Vindicat. c. 5. See him c. 6. p. 134, 142.  
A baptised person is baptised not to that particular Church only, but to all Churches, and in every particular Church where he cometh he hath all the privileges of a baptised person. All circumcised persons had right thereby to eat the Passeover in any society, Exod. 12. 4, 48. Deut. 16. 1, 2. In the place where 
Neque frustra Baptismus datur infantibus, quiae fides, & stimulatio apud Deum necessario, secundum Scripturas, requiritur in Baptismo: nam infantes baptizantur in fide Parentum; Quia promissio datur fidelibus & ipsorum liberis, Act. 2. 38. & Genes. 17. sicut & circumcidebantur infants. Episc. Carlet. cons. Eccles. Cathol. contra Trid. De Grat. c. 4.  God should choose to put his name there: so all baptised persons have right to the Lords Supper, in every Church where God hath set his name. M. Ainsworth to M. Paget.  
Sealing the promise by an initial Sacrament, is not only in reference to a particular Church, either National or Congregational, but principally in reference to the Catholic Church. Church's Divine Warrant of Inf. Bapt.  
M. Ball in his Catechism hath this passage. Baptism is a Sacrament of our engraffing into Christ, Communion with him, and entrance into the Church, for which he citeth Matth. 28. 19 Acts 8. 38. And afterwards explains himself; It doth (saith he) solemnly signify and seal their engraffing into Christ, and confirm that they are acknowledged members of the Church, and entered into it. And that we are thereby admitted members, not of a particular Congregation, but the Catholic Church, appears, because we are baptised into one body, 1 Cor. 12. 13. See M. Huds. ib. Quaest 2. p. 239. See p. 238.  
Whether the children of Infidels (viz. Jews, Turks and Pagans) may be baptised?  
Baldwin a Luther an Cas. cons. l. 4. c. 8. cas. 8▪ maintains it lawful to baptise the children of professed Infidels, if jure belli, 
* The like holds Crocius in his Antiweigelius, part▪ posteriori, c. 7. Qu. 1. and saith, they come lawfully into the power of Christians, which are bought, or taken in a just war, or adopted The children of Jews and Turks may be baptised if their Parents be content and desirous. Such Parents give some hope that in time themselves will profess the faith. Atters. of the Sac. l. 2. c. 6. Vide Aquin. par. 3. qu. 65. Art. 1. M. Cottons way of the Churches of Christ in New-Engl. S. 6. cap. 4.  or the like way they come to be under the power of Christians, but he saith, Si Infans valetudinis sit satis firmae, utile est, ut prius in principiis doctrinae Christianae instituatur, quam ad Baptismum afferatur.  
Rivet on Gen. 17. allows the baptising of the children of mere Pagans, if they be in the power of Christians to dispose of them as their own, in that Abraham's servants bought with money, or born in his house were to be circumcised.  
There is a large promise to Abraham, stretching Covenant to his seed, not only to the children of his own body, and to his proselyte servants, but also to all them that were born in his house, or bought with money, Gen. 17. 12, 13. which happily may grant so much liberty to a Christian Sponsor, that if a stranger or wicked man should give him his child from his infancy to be brought up as his own, it may be baptised as his own.  
Whether the children of Papists may be baptised. 
Non inficior de ●o olim dubitasse viros magnos, Farellum in Epist. ad Cal. vinum inter hujus Epist. 147. & Calvinum ipsum ad Farellum Epist. 149. Sed Calvinus postea 185. quae est ad Knoxum, vergit in nostram sententiam, & statuit ex sua & collegarum suorum sententia, praesertim tempore renascentis Ecclesiae, Pontificiorum & Excommunicatorum liberos, si de corum institutione caveatur, à Baptismo non esse arcendos. Mares. quaest. aliquot Theol Decis. Quaest 14. Infants Pontificiorum & similium, qui sunt semi-Christiani, si idoneum sponso●em inventant, in cujus potestate sita est eorum educatio● possunt baptizari. Quia non sunt planè alieni à foederis professione, & ad puriorem foederis observationem hac ratione deducuntur. Ames. de conscientia lib 4. cap. 27. Liberi Papistarum bapti●●ndi, si quis de recta ipsorum educatione spondeat, 1. Quia in Papatu Ecclesia latet, 2 Thess. 2. 4. cum 2 Cor. 6. 16. 2. Ibique manet residuum foedus Dei ex parte. 3. judaica Ecclesia retinens circumcisionem Deo liberos gignere dicebatur, Ezech. 16. 20. Amplexa tamen variorum Deorum idololatricos cultus, v. 36. L'Empereur Theses. Ad Baptismum admitte●di infantes exposititii, illegitimè nati, Excommunicatorum & Pontificiorum, sed cum hac cautione, si idoneos habeant sponsores; vel alios, qui piam corum educationem in se recipiant. Wendelin. Christian. Theol l. 1. c. 22. Dominus Baptismum, il est, Ecclesiae suae initiationem in medio illo Papatus gurgite servavit, quamvis Papatus Ecclesia non sit, tamen in Papatu ●●it & est velut immersa Ecclesia, quod de Turcis dici nullo pacto potest, qui Christo nunquam nomen dederunt. Postremò q●●m Dei beneficentia ad mille usque generationes, id est, veluti in infinitum protendatur, durum sanè fuerit ex proximorum Parentum professione de liberis ad foedus Dei pertineant necne, judicare. Beza Epist. 10.   
Many hold that the children of Papists being either offered by them, or in the tuition of others, are not to be excluded from Baptism, since the Papists (though grossly erroneous) do profess the substance of Christian Religion.  
Baptism celebrated in the Church of Rome is true Baptism, because albeit the Papacy be not the true Church, yet the true Church is in the Papacy, God preserving the remnants of it in the midst of the bowels of Antichrist. Attersol of the Sacrament, lib. 2. cap. 3. See cap. 6. Vide Balduinum de Cas. Consc. lib. 4. cap. 8. Cas. 7.  
I dare not wholly take away the name of a Church from Rome. I know that Antichrist shall sit in the Temple of God: That Baptism cannot be administered out of the Church: And when the entire form of Baptism is observed, St Augustine is resolved, Non haereticus, sed haeretici manu Christus baptizat. Therefore the Council of Nice determined very gravely, That there should be no rebaptisation of such as were baptised by heretics. Doctor Hampton in his Sermon on 1 john 2. 19  
Although there be many devises of men sinfully annexed to Baptism in the Church of Rome, and some wicked opinions erroneously held concerning it among them: yet Baptism both was there, Rom. 6. 34. & 1. 7. as God's Ordinance, before these corruptions and errors, and so hath been continued in that Church to this day; and ought also still to be retained: the corruptions only and the errors being renounced and rejected. johnsons' Christian Plea, ch. 3. p. 53.  
There is one Baptism, as there was one Circumcision. And Baptism had in the Apostate Churches of Christians, is answerable to Circumcision retained in Israel's Apostasy. Now Circumcision being once received in the Apostasy of Israel, was not repeated again at their returning to the Lord, and leaving of their idolatrous ways to serve him according to his Word: but they that were so circumcised were (without any new Circumcision of the flesh) accepted at jerusalem, and admitted to the Passeover, of which none might eat that was uncircumcised. In like manner also, Baptism being once received in the Apostatical Churches of Christians, is not to be repeated again, when any so baptised return unto the Lord, and forsake their Idolatries, submitting themselves to the truth of the Gospel, john's. ibid. c. 3. p. 27.  
Whether the children of such as are excommunicated, may be baptised? 
The way of the Churches in New-England, chap. 4. Sect. 6. hooker's Survey of Church-Discipline, part 3. ch. 2. See johnsons' Christian plea, chap. 9 Whether the Sacraments should be ministered to such as stand obstinate in known iniquity, until they repent. August. Epist. 75. ad Auxilium Si quis nascatur ex parentibus excommunicatis, ille tamen hujusmodi Excommunicationis particeps esse non potest, cum neque sit criminis; proinde non est à Baptismo excludendus. Vide Bezae Epist. 10. & Bucan. ●oc. come. loc. 47. Liberi eorum qui vitam ducunt impiam, etiam Excommunicatorum, baptizandi: Quia 1. Tales circumcisi olim, 2. Aliorum majorum pietas consideranda, 3. Denique mater censetur Ecclesia, in qua baptizandi nati sunt. L'Emp. Thes.   
M. Cotton and M. Hooker oppose this, The Sacraments (saith he) are given to the visible particular Churches of Christ Jesus, and to the members thereof; such therefore as are cut off from their member-like Communion with the visible Church, are cut off also from the Seals of that Communion, Baptism and the Lords Supper. As therefore we do not receive an Heathen to the fellowship of the Supper, nor their seed to Baptism, so neither dare we receive an excommunicate person (who is to us as an Heathen) unto the Lord's Supper, nor his children to Baptism.  
M. Perkins in his Cases of Conscience, lib. 2. cap. 9 gives several reasons to prove that children of Parents which are professed members of Christ (though cut off for a time upon some offence committed) have right to Baptism.  
Attersol of the Sacraments, l. 2. c. 6. saith, The children of excommunicate persons may be baptised.  
Repetition of Baptism, or Rebaptising. 
Vera ratio, cur Baptismus non sit ●cr●n●us, est voluntas divina, ut rectè doc●● Scotus & Gabriel Biel, esse verò hanc Dei voluntatem quadruplic● indicio cognos●imus. Primum, quia nec in loco proprio ubi Baptismus in●t●t●●ur à Christo▪ n●c 〈…〉, it●r●r● Baptism●●●●●●m●r; Quod de Coena dici non potest, 1 Cor. 11. 25. Idem inde cognoscimus, quòd cum tot baptizatorum exempla in 〈…〉 is leg●mus (ut Act. 2. 38. 8. 12, 13. 38. 9 18. 10. 48. 16. 15. & 18 8. & 1 Cor. 1. 14, 15, 16. tamen nullum r 〈…〉 m fuisse legimus. Praeterca argumento est, quod Circumcisio non repetebatur sed Pascha, Circumcisioni aut●m success●● Baptismus. Uti Paschalis agni ●sui sacra Coena? Denique idem ostendit Historia Ecclesiae, nullus Doctor Catholi●●● hact●●us ●u●t, qui dixerit Baptismum ritè baptizati repeti debere. Vos● Disputat. 17 de Baptismo. Vide Aquin. partem ter●●●●▪ Qu●st. 66. ●irtic 9 Pat●t Catabaptistas' eos Sectarios vocari, eò quod invehantur i● Poedobaptismum, eumque non sol●m ut mutilem, sed ●t●●m ut illicitum ex Dei Ecclesiâ praescriptum velint: Anabaptistas' verò, quod Baptismum vel infantibus ●● 〈…〉 r●aetate, vel adulto extra coetus suos c●ll●tum, repetitum velint, & actu in illis repetant, qui se ●orum sect is addic 〈…〉 D●at. d● orig. regress. Sect. & nomin▪ ●nabapt. Origo sanaticae Anabaptistarum sectae huic anno debetur. Cum intr 〈…〉 teras Martini Luth●●i Theses liber de libertate Christiana in lucem editus toto orb● sparg●r●tur, mox Germani●● ling●●●act●r● omnium manibus coeptus, incredibile dictu est quos plausus apud homines literarum ignaros excitaret. Is cert● lib●r mat●riam vulgo a● m●m●rabil●m rusticorum seditionem, sed non benè intellectus praebere visus fuit. Scultet. Annal. De●●● prim● pag. 76. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Symbol. Nicen.   
There is but one Baptism, as there is but one body, Ephes. 4. 5.  
Reasons against Rebaptisation of such as are rightly baptised:  

1. Baptism is primarily and properly the Sacrament of our new-birth, Tit. 3. 5. of our insition into Christ which is done but once 
* Ut semel nascimur, ita sem●l re●ascimur. .  
2. In no place where the institution of it is named, is there any mention directly or by consequence of any rebaptising of it, nor any order taken about it, whereas in the other Sacrament we have a Quotiescunque in the very Institution.  
3. Baptism succeeds Circumcision, which was but once administered, nor to be administered any more, as is clear from the total silence of the Scripture, and ●osh 5. 4.  
4. It is numbered among Heresies in the ancient Church to reiterate a Baptism, which was acknowledged to be valid. M. Marshals Def. of Infant-Bap. p. 68   
The Error of Rebaptising arose upon a corrupt understanding and interpretation of that place, Act. 19 5. They are not the words of Luke the writer, but of 
Attersol of the Sac. l 2▪ c 1, 2. See I●●●sons Chri●●●●n Plea, chap. 3.  Paul the speaker, continuing his speech of john's Disciples and hearers, and are not to be understood of the twelve Disciples.  
Some prove from that place that john's Baptism and Christ's do differ, but few urge it ●or the reiterating of Christ's Baptism.  
Baptisma est irreiterabile Sacramentum. Galatinus de Ar●an. Cathol. verit. lib. 10. cap. 3.  
The Anabaptists (or Antipoedobaptists) themselves will rather deny our Baptism to be a Sacrament, then grant a necessity of rebaptising.   

Private Baptism.  
From St john's preaching and baptising in open meetings, we conclude that both 
Cartwrights Reply to Whitgist in Defence of the Admonit. p. 112. Hence Augu stine concluded, that all not baptised were condemned, as he doth from John 6. 53. that whosoever received not the Sacrament of the Supper is damned.  preaching and baptising aught to be in public Assemblies.  
The Baptism of Midwives and in private houses, rose upon a false interpretation of john 3. 5. where some do interpret the word rather of the material water wherewith men are washed, whenas Christ takes it there by a borrowed speech, for the Spirit of God, the effect whereof it shadoweth out, cleansing the filth of sin, and cooling the great heat of an unquiet conscience, as water washeth the thing which is foul 
* Cartw●ib. p. 113. The same hath Calvin Epist. 244. Non est privatae familiae alicujus actio, sed merè Ecclesiastica. Beza.  and quencheth the heat of the fire.  
It is not a private action of faith, but public, and of the whole Congregation, whereby another member is received into the visible Church, and as it were incorporated into the body, all aught to have their part in it, as they are members of the same Church, and so it ought to be then done when all may best t●ke 
M Ball. Par●atio est membr●m Ecclesiae a●●ungendi ac abs●mdendi, at non nisi conv●ca●● Ecclesiae coe●● membrum r●sc●andum. Privatas domos sibyl mor●r, si Ecclesia, id est, communis coetus in iis conveniat, ut & veteribus illis temporibus necesse fuit sub omanorum ●yra●●ide, & nostris temporibus nimium multis locis adhuc necesse est. An quo tempore coena Domini in Ecclesia administratur, expedit apud aegrotos ceiebrari, de hoc valde ambigo. Bezae Quaest & Respons. Quinetiam, non erit pl●nè nul●us ●aptismus qui quasi privatim fuerit administratus, licet decentius & purius administretur publicè, quod etiam col●●gere est ex Ca●vino I●stitut. l. 4. c. 15. S. 16. Dico quasi privatim, nam absolutè privatim absque ulla Congregationis forma, qualis saepè in Papatu, 〈…〉 n probamus. Mares. Quaest▪ aliquot. Theol D●cis. Quaest 3. Vide plura ibid.  knowledge of it. As in Corporations both of the Universities and also of the Cities and Towns, none are admitted in them but in a full Congregation, or in a public Assembly where all may be present, and give their consent: So in the visible Church by Baptism they ought then to be incorporated when the Assemblies are greatest, and when all may most conveniently be present, which is the Lords Day.  
There was no public Assembly when the Eunuch Acts 8. and the Gaoler, Acts 16. were baptised.  
Whether wanting Water, we may baptise with Sand, or Water distilled and 
Vide Aquin. part. 3. quaest. 66 Artic. 3. & 4. Attersol of the Sacraments, l. 2. c. 5. Balduinus the Lutheran in his Cases of Conscience, l. 4. c. 8. Case 4. propounding this Case, Num minister Ecclesiae ditioribus parentibus gratisicari saluâ conscientia potest, si fortè liberos suos vino generoso, aut aquâ rosatâ baptizari p●tant? Answers, Parts substantiales hujus acramenti nequaquam sunt mutandae: non enim oportet nos sapientiores esse Christo, qui regenerationis Sacramentum aqua sieri voluit, Johan. 3 5. neque meliores, quia ipse etiam aqu● jordanis, aequè ac all 〈…〉 baptizari voluit, Matth. 3. 16. jam verò constat, aquam esse partem alteram substantialem Baptismi, & quidem aquam fontanam aut sluvialem, prout eam Deus condidit, absque mixtur● herbarum aut aliorum liquorum Many reasons he there al●o allegeth against changing water in Baptism. Quasi res esset contemptibilis ex ●hristi praecepto, aqua baptizari, inventa est benedictio, vel potius in cantatio quae veram aquae consecrationem pollueret. Ca●v. Instit. l. 4. c. 15.  compounded?  
This came at first from that opinion, That they are damned which die unbaptised.  
The Minister may not baptise with any other liquor and element, then with natural, common and ordinary water.  
We may allow mixture of water with wine in the Lord's Supper, as well as the mixture of compound water with common in the Sacrament of Baptism.  
If no composition may be used, then much less may any other sign be used, and so the element clean changed, and the Ordinance of God altered: for the Church of God hath no liberty to bring in any other sign in place of water. See Levit. 10. 2.  
Whether it be lawful to use the sign of the Cross in Baptism?  
In St Augustine's time, yea before it, the Christians as they used to sign their 
Scimus veterem Ecclesiam (●c. Primitivam) & in vitae communis usu, & i● ritibus sacris, multum usam esse venerabili signocrucis, sed ut pia ceremonia, quae orationi adjecta, animos sidelium ad Christi crucem eveheret; non materiae alicui terrenae, aut ●igurae, aut gestui a●figeret. Hoc sensu sanct●ssimi prudentissimique illi Antistites, qui Ecclesiae in Anglia reformandae negotio praefucrunt; & in publicis locis cruces passi sunt reman●re, & in nonnullis etiam ritibus sacris retinuerunt, ut in Baptismo. Casaub. exercit. 13. ad annals B.  fore head with ●he Cross in token that they were not ashamed of Christ crucified, (whom the Jews and Gentiles reproached for the death which he suffered on the Cross▪) so they brought thereof into the Sacraments, and used both the figure of the Cross, and crossing in other things of God also. Doctor Rainolds against Hart, p. 504.  
In the Revelation the worshippers of the Beast receive his mark, and the worshippers of the Lamb carry his mark, and his Fathers in their foreheads. Hence came the first use of the Cross in Baptism, as the mark of Christ, into whom we are initia●ed, and the same afterwards used in all Benedictions, Prayers and Thanksgivings, in token they were done in the name and merit of Christ crucified. Mede on Ezek. 20. 20.  
Had not the Popish abuse and superstitions about the Cross made us jealous of all use of it, who would not have thought this a decent ceremony at the administration of Baptism, to remind all the Congregation of their Christian profession and warfare to which the Sacrament itself doth oblige them? D. Burgess. See Weemses Christian Synagogue, p. 208. and Boys his Remains, p. 166. and Masons Sermon on 1 Cor. 14. 10.  
The unconformists dispute against the Surplice and Cross, not only as monuments 
Traditiones rituales quae ad ordinem & ritus cultus divini pertinent, are to be received upon this condition only, modo ne veritati, pietati, simplicitati & libertati Christianae adversentur.  of Idolatry, but as signs analogical of mystical or sacramental signification, in nature and use, one with the Jewish Ceremonies, a will-worship, having no ground nor warrant from the Scripture, and against the second Commandment. M. Ball.  
The Heathens did object to the Christians in time passed in reproach, That the God which they believed in was hanged upon a Crosse. They thought good to testify therefore that they were not ashamed of the Son of God by the often using of the sign of the Crosse. But we now live not among Turks that contemn the Cross of Christ, but Papists which esteem more of a wooden Cross then of the true Cross of Christ, that is, his suffering. We ought therefore to take away the use of it, to take away the superstitious estimation of it. Cartwrights Reply to D. Whitgift in Defence of the Admonit. pag. 136. See Parker of the Cross per totum, and part. 1. cap. 3. pag. 106. against symbolical, sacramental, signifying signs in the worship of God, he urgeth that of the Civil Law, Nemo est signandus in front, quia non debet facies hominis ad similitudinem Dei formata foedari.    

CHAP. IX. The Lord's Supper.  
THere are divers names and appellations of it, of which Casaubone speaks Ex. 
E nominibus Sacramenti Eucharistiae, quaedam sunt in sacris literis diserte usurpata, quaedam è verbis in Scriptura positis deducta: plurima Patrum pi●tas adinvenit, & usus Ecclesiae comprobavit. Casaub. exercit. 16. ad Annal.  16. ad Annal. Eccles. Baron.  
This Sacrament is called The 
a Ca●●a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Communione ves●●●tium. Nos quidem satis t●t● sumus, sive à Scriptura, sive à ratione, sive à traditione in usurpando coenae nomine. Chamier. de Sacramentis, lib. 5. c. 2.  Supper, from the time of its institution, because it was instituted by Christ after a common Supper, and the eating of the Paschal Lamb, in the night in which he was betrayed, 1 Cor. 11. 23.  
This word Coena is not liked of the Roman Church, because it signifies a common Supper, and by consequent cannot be applied to private Masses, nay nor to public Masses neither, in which oftentimes the Priest eats all alone. Scena est planè, non Coena Dominici corporis & sanguinis id quod agitur. Sacerdos ad altare assistit, theatrali veste magnificè indutus. Post multas gesticulationes manuum, multas corporis gyrationes, tandem crustulum manibus supra caput elatis, elatum à populo aversus ostendunt. Audiunt qui ad sunt quod non intelligunt, vident quae non percip●unt, adorant quod nesciunt. Simplicii Varini. Epist. de libro postumo Grot. p. 263.  
The Lord's Supper, 1 Cor. 11. 20. 
b Cum scopus Apostoli fuerit 1 Cor. 11. 20. (ut ex sequentibus apparet) redarguere abusus qui invaluerant apud Corinthios in hujus Sacramenti celebratione, dubium non est quin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellet, id quod postea v. 22. dicit se accepisse à Domino & eye tradidisse. Id tamen praefractè negant quidem Pontificii in primis Maldonatus jesuita in Matth. 26. 26. petulanter, suo more, nobis insulat, ins●itiam & ●●●●tatem nobis obj●cit, quia coenae Domini nomen Sacramento Eucharisti● tribuimus. Negat ullum in sacris Scripturis locum in quo ita appelletur Sacramentum. Maldonatum pro merito excepit doctissimus Casaubonus Exercit. 16. Sect. 23. Et ejus pervicaciam ita detexit, ut non opus sit actum agere. Riveti Cathol. Orthod. Tract. 3. quaest. 21. Vide Maldonat. etiam ad Joh. 13. 2. & Estium ad 1▪ Cor. 11. 20. Apostolus dicit convenientibus vobis in unum, non est Dominicam coenam manducare, hanc ipsam acceptionem Eucharistiae caenam Dominicam vocamus. Aug. Epist. 118. ad Jon. 5.  because instituted by Christ our Lord. The Fathers often call it so. Cyprian hath written a Tractate, De Coena Domini.  
The breaking of Bread, Acts 2. 42. & 20. 7. The breaking of the Eucharist, so the Syriack in both places. Vide De Dieu, because it representeth the crucifying of Christ.  
The Eucharist, so it was called not long after the Apostles, because the Evangelist Luke and the Apostle rehearsing the institution of this Sacrament, do write that Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did give thanks, Luke 22. 19 1 Cor. 11. 24. and it is also still celebrated in the Church with thanksgiving. This title is used by the Fathers and Reformed Churches.  
The Table of the Lord, 1 Cor. 10. 21. because our Lord Christ instituted this Sacrament, and celebrated it at a Table, and the Apostles received it there. See Mat. 26. 20. Mark 14. 18. Luke 22. 14. john 13. 12.  
A Communion, 1 Cor. 10. 16. because it is a bond of that mutual charity and symbol of the brotherly unity which is among all the faithful, 1 Cor. 10. 17.  
The Papists acknowledge no Communion in participating of this Sacrament, no marvel therefore if they dislike the name.  
It is called by the Ancients Syn●xis, which is a Greek word, and signifies the same with Congregation, or a meeting together, 1 Cor. 11. 20. it is a collection, gathering together, or assembling of the faithful.  
The Papists call it A Mass, The Sacrament of the Altar, and The Sacrifice.  
Some things are necessary in their nature, as love and fear of God; Some only 
Three Evangelists have mentioned Christ's last Supper, Matth. 26. Mark 14. Luke 22. and Paul 1 Cor. 10. 4 and more fully 1 Cor. 11. 26.  by a Law are necessary to our life, so all institutions of Christ. Paul calls it the Lords Supper, which imports Christ the Author, as indeed he was, as the Evangelists do witness. See 1 Cor. 11. 23. It is a standing Ordinance, he enjoins the use of it, Till the Lord come, ver. 26. which cannot be meant of coming in the Spirit, for so he was already come according to his promise made before he departed from the world.  
The Lord's Supper is thus described by one:  
It is an Institution of Christ or second Sacrament of the New Testament, consisting of bread and wine, wherein by performance of divers acts about it the Covenant of Grace is confirmed to every worthy receiver. This is too obscure and confused.  
Others thus:  
It is the second Sacrament of the New Testament instituted by Christ himself, wherein by taking and eating of bread, and by taking and drinking of wine, the Covenant of Grace is confirmed to every worthy receiver.  
It is the eating and drinking of consecrated bread and wine given to seal up our feeding and nourishment in Christ Jesus.  
Doctor Featley in his Grand Sacrilege of the Church of Rome, c. 15. thus defines it, It is a Sacrament of the New Testament, sealing unto us the perfect nourishment of our souls, by the participation of the sacred elements of bread and wine.  
Doctor Go●ge in his Catechism thus defines it, It is a Sacrament of our spiritual nourishment, wherein by receiving of bread and wine according to Christ's institution, our Communion with Christ is represented and sealed up unto us.  
It is a Sacrament of our nourishment and our growing up in the Lord Jesus, and 
Coena Domini est Sacramentum nutritio●s & auctionis fidelium in Christo. Ames. Medul. Theol. l 1. c. 40. Coena est Sacramentum, quo actis Deo gratiis pane & vino utimur ad profitendum nos Christi corpore crucifixo, sanguineque fuso, in aeternam vitam sustentari: ut enim à Baptismo primum est Christianismi initium, sic à Coena perpetuum deinceps est alimentum. Rami Comment. de Religione Christiana l. 4. c. 8.  therefore it is appointed by him to be frequently used, as being one of the standing dishes which the Lord Christ hath provided for the daily diet, and the household provision of his faithful ones who are of his family, 1 Cor. 11. 26, 34. Bread sustains the hungry, Wine refreshes the thirsty, both satisfy to the full: Christ saves perfectly all that come unto him. hooker's Survey of the Sum of Church-Discipline, part 3. c. 2.  
Here we have more immediately to do with the person of Christ: we draw high to God in prayer, but we become one with him in the Supper, 1 Cor. 10. 16. here are the sweetest refresh that ever we receive, other duties seem rather to be our work, this is our meal: all other duties are to fit us for the Supper, Examination, the Word, Prayer. This is a duty of the highest and most mysterious signification, Epitome Evangelii: here are the benefits of the Covenant in one rite, 1 Cor. 11. 25. the whole contrivance of salvation is represented in a bit of bread and drop of wine, it is a duty wherein God seals up to his people the assurance o● his love and special favour, john 6. 33.  
The Lord's Supper is,  

1. A spiritual medicine to cure the remainder of corruption.  
2. Spiritual food to strengthen our weak graces.  
3. A spiritual cordial to comfort our distressed consciences.  
4. A strong obligation to all acts of thankfulness and obedience unto Jesus Christ.   
What are the special and spiritual ends for which the body and blood of Christ is exhibited and applied in the Lord's Supper?  
1. In the transacting of the services there done the whole Covenant of grace is sealed and personally applied, the body and blood of Christ may be held forth in a Sermon, God renews unto them all that he hath promised, Matth. 26. 22▪ This Cup is the New Testament in my blood, as the New Testament is founded in the blood of Christ, so it is exhibited and sealed therein.  
2. It serves for the nourishing and building up of his people in all graces, it is called eating and drinking, He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood.  
Two things are comprehended under nourishment:  

1. The maintenance and preservation of the stock of spiritual life which we have got already, as by our meat and drink we are preserved and continued in our life.  
2. In children it serves to augment their parts, make them larger, stronger, the Lord's Supper was appointed by Christ to be one of the great means of our spiritual augmentation. 
See Mr Gillesp. Aaron's Rod Blossoming, l. 3. c. 12, 13, 14. The Word makes bad ground good, the Sacrament only makes good ground better. The Word doth both convert and edify, the Sacrament only edifies. We have no promise or precedent in Scripture for the conversion of any by receiving the Lords Supper. It is not set forth under the notion of immortal feed, but under the notion of food and nourishment. D. Drakes answer to Suspen. suspended. M. Burrh. Gospel-worship.    
The Sacraments are not properly Seals unto our faith, but of the Covenant. They may be said to be seals of our faith consecutiuè, by a consequence of speech, because as seals confirm a thing, so faith is confirmed and strengthened by receiving; but they are not formaliter, in a true proper sense, seals unto any thing but the Covenant.  
All graces are nourished and increased by the Lord's Supper, because the new Covenant is sealed, but three cardinal Graces especially, as in the body: nourish the stomach, liver, brain, heart, lungs, nourish them and you nourish all the rest.  

1. The indwelling virtue of the Spirit of God, they receive an increase of the Spirit.  
2. Faith, nourish that and you nourish all, it is called the life of faith. Faith is the condition of the Covenant, and we seal to our condition.  
3. Love to God and his people, it doth inflame thy love to God and his people, it is a communion, we are all made one Spirit.   
This Sacrament doth not beget but increase and strengthen Grace where it is already wrought.  
Christ is conveyed in this Sacrament by way of food. The Word was appointed to work conversion, Faith cometh by hearing; This ordinance is not appointed for conversion, but it supposeth conversion, it seals men's conversion; therefore in the Primitive times they let all come to the hearing of the Word, and then when the Sermon was done, there was an Officer stepped up and cried, Sancta Sanctis, Holy things for holy men, and then all others were to go out, and therefore it was called missa (though the Papists did corrupt it, and so called it the Mass afterwards, by mixing their own inventions in stead of the Supper of the Lord, but it had that name at first) because all others were sent away; and only such as were of the Church and accounted godly stayed.  
Reasons. 1. The nature of it, being the seal of the Covenant of Grace requires it, it must be supposed that all which come hither must be in Covenant with God. The condition of the Covenant of Grace, is, Believe and be saved, therefore it is appointed for believers.  
Secondly, It is the Ordinance of spiritual nourishment, there must be first life before there can be any nourishment received in. If it be appointed to nourish and increase grace, then surely there must be grace before. 
Paraeus saith, Sacramenta sunt instituta non in fidelibus▪ sed conversis.   
Thirdly, We are required to examine ourselves, 1 Cor. 11. and of our godliness, examine what work of God hath been upon the soul.  
Fourthly, It is a Sacrament of Communion with God and with the Saints, and What Communion hath light with darkness? Or, What fellowship hath Christ with Belial?  
All ignorant profane scandalous persons, and such as are merely civil are hence excluded.  
Conversion is sometimes (and that improperly in Scripture, as Matth. 18. 3.) taken for the renewed exercise of faith and repentance in one that is already converted, but the Question is, Whether the first work of Regeneration, the infusing of the first habits, principles and seed of grace, be effected by the Lord's Supper received?  
It is one thing to be converted at a Sacrament, another to be converted by the Sacrament; There is some expounding, praying. It is one thing intentionally to convert as an Institution, and another accidentally to convert as an occasion. Philip goodwin's Evangelical Communicant.  
The Assembly upon these grounds thought it fit that scandalous sinners (though not yet cast out of the Church) should be suspended from the Sacrament.  

1. Because the Ordinance itself must not be profaned.  
2. Because we are charged to withdraw from those who walk disorderly. 
Haeretici & scelerati, si accedat pertinacia, à coena Domini sunt arcendi Zanch. de Eccles.   
3. Because of the great sin and danger both to him that comes unworthily, and also to the whole Church. The Scriptures from which they did prove all this were Matth. 7. 6. 2 Thess. 3. 6, 14, 15. 1 Cor. 11. 27. to the end of the Chapter, compared with jude v. 23. 1 Tim. 5. 22.   
Another proof added by the Assembly, was this, There was power and authority under the Old Testament to keep unclean persons from holy things, Levit. 13. 5. Numb. 9 7. 2 Chron. 23. 19 And the like power and authority by way of Analogy continues under the New Testament, for the authoritative Suspension from the Lords Table, of a person not yet cast out of the Church.  
Wicked men (saith Master Hildersham) should not be admitted to the Table of the Lord, Ezra 6. 21. holy things are profaned thereby, Ezek. 22. 26. 1 Cor. 5. 6.  
There should be a public confession for scandalous sins. David was more honoured for this, Psal. 51. then dishonoured for his sin. Solomon left his Ecclesiastes as a monument of his Repentance. Paul frequently mentions his faults, Tertul. de poenit. and others speak of it. 
Vide Balduin: de cas. consc. l. 4. c. 9 cas. 1.   
Ebrius, infants, erroneus, atque furentes,  
Cum pueris, Domini non debent sumere corpus.  
It was their great sin in the Church of Corinth, that they did not cast out the 
Why should any that are not Saints be admitted to one of the highest privileges of Saints, Church communion in the highest? The Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a distinguishing Ordinance, they who have no union with Christ, can have no communion with him. M. Cheyne● on Zech. 2. 7.  incestuous person, and it was a commendation to that Church, Revel. 2. that they could not endure the Nicolaitans.  
A profane person in Augustine's, Chrysostoms' time, Tertullias and Cyprians time, in Paul's, in john's time, could not come to the Sacrament. They are called Tremenda mysteria, mysteries which the soul is to tremble at, the Fathers call it the most terrible day and hour, as if it were a day of Judgement.  
This Suspension is called by the Schoolmen, Excommunicatio minor.  
The power of suspending one from the Sacrament, is given not uni, but unitati, to the Eldership, not to any one either Minister or Elder. M. Gillesp. Aaron's Rod bloss. l. 3. c. 1.  
Church-officers should not admit all promiscuously, but be careful whom they admit to the Supper.  
That they be not cruel to the souls of them they admit, and to the Nation, and their own souls, by being guilty of other men's sins. Pareus said to those of Heidelberg, When I see your Sacrament profanation, I wonder not at the war.  

Of receiving with the wicked.  

It is lawful to join with a known unsanctified man in the service of God, 1 Sam. 
Non propter malos qui videntur esse intus, deserendi sunt boni qui verè sunt intus. August. contra Crescon. l. 2. c. 33. Fugio paleam ne hoc sim, non autem aream, ne nihil sim. Ib. l. 3. c. 25. Solebant (Donatistae) in o'er habere, videbas surem & concu●rebas cum eo, & ne communicaberis peccatis alienis: Et recedite & exite inde: Et immundum ne tetigeritis, & qui tetigerit pollutum pollutus est, & modicum sermentum totam massam corrumpit, & hujusmodi— Haec fiunt consensione peccatorum, non communione Sacramentorum, in qua condiscipulus Judas mundos immundus contaminare non potuit. Aug de unico baptismo contra Petil. c. 14. Non enim propter malos boni deserendi, sed propter bonos mali tolerandi sunt: sicut toleraverunt Prophetae contra quos tanta dicebant, nec communionem Sacramentorum illius populi relinquebant. Aug. Ep. 48. Manifestum est non con●aminari justos alienis peccatis, quando cum eis Sacramenta communicant. Aug epist. 50. Nec malos à mensa Domini arcemus, quia bonis illam polluant, quum ex Apostolo didicerimus, omnia esse munda mundis: sed quia sibi illam polluunt. Beza de Presbyterio & excommunicatione. Quum scribat Joannes Joan. 13. 30. judam ante absolutum ●pulum discessisse, ass●ntior iis qui ante 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 institutionem Judam discessisse sentiunt. Ista separatio qua nonnulli à sacris catibus & recto Sacramentorum usu propter aliquorum vitia ultrò abstinent, id est, scipsos excommunicant, magnam reprehensionem meretur. Id. ib. Mali non polluunt coenam bonis etiamsi malis sunt permixti, coena tamen pura est. Beza de Presb. c. 6. Vide Ca●vin Instit l. 4. de externis mediis ad salutem. c. 1 Sect. 15. & Instruct. adversus Anabapt.  15. 30, 31, Christ knew judas to be an hypocrite, a devil, a traitor, yet admitted him to be at the last Passeover which ever he received, though not to the Supper▪ for that was not administered till his departure, not because it had been unlawful to have received with him.  
Because the Lord who commandeth his worship, never puts in any such limitations and exceptions, unless a wicked man be present.  

Object. Christ was the Son of God, and as so knew the theft and hollowness of judas, and therefore his example in this case cannot be our warrant.  
Answ. Though he did know as God his wickedness, yet he did receive the Passeover with him as man, and how he came by the knowledge of his faultiness it matters not, since he knew him faulty. Therefore our Saviour also went up to the usual feast, and to the Temple, when he was sure to meet there with the most abominable Scribes and Pharisees, 1 Sam. 2. 2. Hannah and Elkanah went up to the house of God to Shiloh to worship there with the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, there not alone with wicked people but Priests they did partake in divine service.  
Some endeavour to prove out of 1 Sam. 2. 17. that wicked men by coming to the Sacrament do pollute it, because the sinful carriage of Eli's sons, caused men 
Husseys' Plea for Christian Magistracy.  to abhor the offering of the Lord: but note the reason why the offering became abominable, because they offered not the Sacrifice according to the Commandment of God, they would not have sodden flesh but raw: If the doctrine of the Sacrament be corrupted, if it be celebrated under one kind, if water be mingled with wine, this is to pollute the Ordinance.   

Object. We are commanded to separate ourselves from the wicked, and to come out from amongst them. 2 Cor. 6. 17.  
Answ. We must indeed come out from amongst those which do serve false gods, and separate ourselves from the familiar society of wicked persons, but other separation was never practised by any Prophet or Apostle, or ever meant. Immediately there it follows, Touch not the unclean thing, that is, do not join with others in their pollutions, Ephes. 5. 6, 7, 11.  
Some say he speaks to professors of Christian Religion concerning Heathens, to leave familiar fellowship with them, as joining in marriage, and the like, which is the thing he had spoken of immediately before.  
To have none good is the property of a Church malignant, to have all good and none bad is the property of the Church triumphant, to have some good and some bad is the property of the Church militant.  
Men openly wicked and scandalous should be cast out of the Congregation of Saints, but it follows not that because such should be cast out and be not, therefore others should abstain from the Assemblies of the Saints.  
The Brownists abstain from coming to the Word and Sacrament amongst us, because many openly profane and known wicked men are admitted to our Assemblies, therefore they think they cannot with good conscience serve God with such persons, but no good man in the Scripture did therefore withdraw himself from the Temple or their Synagogues. See M. Hilders. on john 4. 22.  
This Ordinance (saith M. Burroughes 
a Gospel-worship. See D. Homes his mischief of mixed Communions. ) must be received in a holy Communion, or in a Communion of Saints, 1 Cor. 10. 16, 17. therefore all that come to receive the Sacrament, must so come as they must be one body, one spiritual corporation.  
This Sacrament (saith he 
b On Host 5. 3. Cant. 7. 2. The navel and belly are both hidden parts, and therefore set forth the mysteries or Sacraments of the Church, Baptism and the Lords Supper. The navel serving for the nourishing of the Infant in the womb, resembleth Baptism nourishing Infants, it wanteth not liquor, 1. Of the blood of Christ to justify us from sin. 2. Of the Spirit of Christ to sanctify and cleanse us from sin. The Belly, viz. The Lord's Supper is an heap of wheat, for store of ●x●●l●●n●, ●wee● and fine nourishment set about with Lilies, because only the faithful pure Christians shall be admitted to partake in the Sacrament. M. Cotton in loc. The corruptions of the Church of England are such, that a man in abstaining from the pollutions thereof, ought not to lever himself from those open Assemblies wherein the eternal word of the Lord God is preached, and the Sacraments administered, although not in that pu●i●y which they ought to be. Cartw. second Reply against Whitgise second Answer, 38. ) is not defiled to the right receivers of it, merely because wicked men are present there, but because the Congregation neglects their duty of casting out the wicked from thence, when they discover themselves. The example of the incestuous Corinthian, 1 Cor. 5. (saith he) is a plain place for it, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. The Lump there is the Church communion, and the Leaven the incestuous person; while this leaven continues, if you do not your duty to cast out this scandalous person, your whole lump, your whole communion will come to be defiled. Particular persons and communicants come to be defiled in this, if they neglect the duty that belongs unto them as Christians, Matth. 18. 15, 16, 17. if thou ●ast done this duty to all scandalous persons in the Congregation, than the sin be upon the Church, thou mayst receive the Sacrament with comfort, though wicked men be admitted there.  
As I never found one word in Scripture where either Christ or his Apostles denied admittance to any man that desired to be a member of the Church, though but only professing to repent and believe; So neither did I ever there find that any but convicted Heretics, or scandalous ones (and that for the most part after due admonition) were to be avoided or debarred our fellowship M. Baxters' Saints everlasting Rest, c. 4. Sect. 3. See more there.  
The rest of the Congregation is not polluted by the mixture of unworthy persons with them, unless they be consenting to their wickedness, no more then in the duties of hearing and prayer with the wicked in a mixed Congregation. M. L●fo. Princip▪ of Faith and a good Consc. c. 52.  
For that Objection, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 
1 Cor. 5. 6. Tame●si impiorum causa▪ qui se acramentis admiscent, Sacramentum non est de●linandum; tamen quoad datum, & nostra in potestate est, omnis conatus & diligentia adhibenda est, ut nos cum piis aggregantes, ●●probos à Sacramentorum communione procul abigamus: quod ut omnibus promiscuè incumbit, ita singulari cura & industria ab Ecclesiae moderatoribus procurari debet. Cartw. in Harm. Evang.   
Answ. This is a Metaphorical speech, the meaning of it is not, that one or two sinners cause the whole Congregation to be so corrupt and unpleasing to God, that whosoever joineth with them is polluted, but alone this, One sinner suffered and not punished, the infection spreads farther and farther.   

Objection. We are commanded not to eat with a brother, if he be so and so.  
Answ. It signifieth to have familiar civil society with them, in inviting them 
1 Sam. 2. 17. The Priests were unsanctified men, therefore no doubt many more.  or feasting them. But if one may not have familiar civil conversation with such, much less may he eat with them at the Sacrament. It follows not, for in withdrawing ourselves from them we punish them, and show our dislike of them, but in withdrawing ourselves from the Sacrament, because of them we punish ourselves. The Church of Israel in the time of Hophni and Phineas was a mixed multitude. In the time of Christ the Church of jerusalem, for they plotted Christ's death, and had decreed to cast out of the Synagogue every one that should confess him.  
Mr Downame 
* On 1 Cor. 11. 28. Zanchy taxeth such as will abstain from the Lords Supper, and those also who will say, Manebimus quidem in Ecclesia, veniemus ad audiendum verbum & ad preces, sed quî possumus in coena communionem vobiscum habere, cum ad eam admittantur multi impuri, ●●rii, etc. He saith, Non aut obtalem abusum Ecclesia definit esse Ecclesia Christi, aut pij impiorum in sacris communione possunt contaminari.  saith, None ought to refrain coming to the Lords Table, because they see scandalous sinners and unworthy guests admitted. For  

1. The Apostle, 1 Cor. 11. 28. doth not enjoin us to examine others but ourselves.  
2. Because the Apostles, yea even Christ himself did join with those Assemblies in the service of God, and particularly in the use of the Sacraments which were full of corruptions, both in respect of doctrine and manners, as viz. this Church of Corinth itself. See 1 Cor. 11. 21. The word usually signifies to be drunk, and here they are sharply reproved for a great fault.  
3. Because one man's sin cannot defile another, nor make the seals of the Covenant uneffectual to him who cometh in faith and repentance, and even hateth that sin which he seeth committed, especially when he hath no power committed unto him by God and the Church, of repelling the wicked from this holy Communion.  
4. Because the punishment denounced against unworthy receivers is appropriated to them who thus offend, and reacheth not to the innocent because they are in their company, 1 Cor. 11. 29.   
It were much to be desired (saith M. Downame) that all wicked persons were excluded from this outward Communion with the Saints (for what have dogs to do with holy things, or swine with pearls?) and it were a great comfort to the godly if none but such as are like unto themselves, had fellowship with them at this feast; our Love, Zeal, and Devotion is more enlivened in this action by our mutual prayers, when with one mind and heart we join together, yet it should not wholly discourage us from coming to this sacred Feast (though wicked persons be there present) if we ourselves be duly prepared. For though we would not willingly eat with slovenly persons, nor permit them to put their unclean hands into our dish, yet if we have a good appetite and cannot help it, we will rather admit such inconvenience then for want of food pine with hunger.  
Theodosius the Emperor being a man guilty of rash effusion of blood, coming 
Animam prius tradam meam (inquit Chrys. in Matth. Hom. 83.) quam Dominicum alicui corpus indigno: Sanguinemque meum effundi potiva patiar, quam sacratissimum illum sanguinë praeterquam digno concedam.  upon a Sabbath-day to the place of public worship, would have received the Sacrament: Ambrose seeing him coming, goes and meets him at the door, and speaks thus to him, How dare those bloody hands of yours lay hold on the body and blood of Christ, who have been the shedders of so much innocent blood? Which speech did so startle him that he went away and was humbled for his sin, and afterwards came and made his public confession, and then was received in. Whence we may see that Kings, yea Emperors have been kept back from the Sacrament. 
* M. Burrh. on Host 6. 4. Etiamsi suis oculis minister quispiam viderit aliquid agentem, quod coenae exclusionem mereatur, jure tamen, nec debeat, nec possit, nisi vocatum, convictum legitimè, denique secundum constitutum in Ecclesia ordinem damnatum à mensa Domini cum auctoritate prohibere. Beza de Presbyt. p. 28.   
The Canons of our Church (Can. 26.) straight charge every Minister, That he shall not in any wise admit to the Communion any of his flock which are openly known to live in notorious sin without repentance.    

Whether judas received the Sacrament of the Lords Supper?  
M. Gillespie in his Aaron's Rod blos●oming, chap. 8. holds he did not, and chap. 9 
St Augustine and others think, judas was admitted to the Lords Supper▪ and M. Cartwright also so judgeth from that connexion, Luk. 22. 19, 20, 21. Si p●i communione in sacris cum impiis pollui possunt: cur ergò Christus à Coeva non arcet judam, quem optimè norat esse impuriss 〈…〉 m nebulonem, ne ●●●●ri Apostoli ejus cons●rtio pollu●rentur? Zanch. de Eccles c. 7. Yet afterward he saith, ●onstat Dominum jesum non prius suam instituisse c 〈…〉 m, quam legalem de Paschate absolvisset, Joan. autem. c. 13. ait, ●udam posteaquam à Domino jesu offulam, intinctam (in catino, ubi agnus, erat) accepisset, hoc est, statim exivisse. Si statim ex●vit, nondum absolute l●gali coen●: quomodo intersuit coenae Dominicae, quae illam consecuta est?  questions, Whether he received the Sacrament of the Passeover that night in which our Lord was betrayed: and chap. 10. saith, If it could be proved that judas received the Lord's Supper, it maketh nothing against the Suspension of known wicked persons from the Sacrament.  
One saith, The evidence of this fact hath ever appeared so fully to the Church, that this alone hath been ground sufficient to deduce their right of free admission. 
M. Humfreys Vindication of a free Admission to the L. S.  D. Drake in his Bar to free Admission to the Sacrament, pag. 5, 6. urgeth reasons that judas did not receive the Sacrament, and saith, that it makes nothing for free Admission if he did.  
M. Selden De Synedriis veterum Ebraeorum cap. 8. saith, Seriò perpendatur, Judam ipsum, Furem, Proditorem, Scelestissimum, hisque nominibus satis notum & publicè 
Vide Aquin. Sum. partem tertiam Quaest 87. Art. 2.  peccantem in ipsa institutione cum reliquis undecim, Sacramenti Eucharistiae, juxta plerosque & Veterum & Recentiorum, participem fuisse, nec omninò ea interdictum. He hath much more there out of divers ancient and modern Writers to confirm that opinion.  
At what time the Lords Supper was instituted:  
Christ instituted it at night, because occasion so required: we have not the like occasion, therefore are not bound unto it. In Trajan's and Tertullia's time Christians 
It followed the celebration of the Passeover which was kept at even, Act. 20. 7. Tempus vespertinum propriè spectabat ad Pascha vetus, ex loge Quia vero Christus Paschati Coenam substituere volebat, utrumque Sacramentum eâdem vesperâ, unum post aliud celebravit, & vetus per novum abrogavit. Ita per accidens factum est, ut novum Sacramentum tempore Vespertino sit institutum: Unde & coenae nomen accepit, & in hodiernum usque diem retinuit. Neque Apostoli ad tempus Vespertinum se astrinxerunt, sed pro occasione Coenam administrarunt, alias diurno tempore, ut legere est Act. 2. 46 alias intempesta nocte, ut Act. 20. Quo facto satis ostenderunt, tempus coenae per se esse indifferens. Paraeus De Ritu Fractionis in S. Eucharistia. c. 5.  did celebrate the Sacrament before day, 
* Plin Epist. 97. ad Trajanum. Eucharistiae Sacramentum antelucanis coetibus sumimus. Tertullian. de Corona militis.  Tempore antelucano, because of persecution they durst not receive it in the day time; in St Augustine's time, Tempore Antemeridiano, so now. It behoved that Christ should suffer at the time of the Passeover, to show himself the true Passeover, 1 Cor. 5. 7. and immediately after the eating of the last Passeover should institute this Sacrament, to show that now he abrogated the Jewish Ordinance, and did appoint this in stead of it. A fair intimation that Baptism follows in the room of Circumcision, as the Lords Supper doth the Passeover.  
The consideration of this circumstance should be of great force to make us respect and reverence the Sacrament, seeing Christ instituted it then when he was about to depart out of this life, and to suffer death for us: we usually remember the words of a dying friend.  
The Elements of the Eucharist:  
They are two, not only differing in number, but also in their kind, Bread and 
It is a great condescension for God to give us any outward signs and pledges of his faithfulfulnesse, we are bound to believe in his Word. Panis & vinum quum prae caetoris cibis sint alendis corporibus nostris accomodatae, commodissimè nobis illum designant, in quo uno vita aeterna residet. Bezae Quaest & Resp. Paulus non praeceptum vocat, sed institutum 1 Cor. 11. 23. jam verò est eaque fuit semper, sub lege etiam rigida symbolorum natura, ut facile ex causa probabili omitti se ferant. Sic panes sacros, quos lex solis sacerdotibus a●●●xerat, in suos usus vertit David. Sic & Circumcisio tam severè praecepta, & Paschalis Ceremonia omissa totis annis 40 quibus Hebraei per desertas Arabiae terras ambularunt, nempè quod inter itinera parum commodè interventuri fuerant tot dies aut otio tribuenda aut medicando corpori. Grotius, an semper communicandum per symbola, cap. 5.  Wine, the first of which is solid and belongs to meat, the later liquid and serves for drink. The body is sufficiently nourished if it have bread and drink. Christ calls himself both, john 6. 58.  
Bread because it strengtheneth the body is therefore called Christ's body, and wine because it turneth into blood, is therefore called Christ's blood. Isidor.  
These two creatures are, 1. Of ordinary use, not rare, gotten in every Country.  
2. Such creatures as God of old made representations of his grace, Isa. 25. 6. and 55. 3.  
3. They are creatures best in their kind, of all things we eat, bread is most nourishing and universally necessary for all kind of bodies, Panis à pascendo, and wine of all drinks.  
1 Cor. 10. 17. We are all one body, in as much as we are partakers of one bread. The Analogy standeth thus, as many grains of Corn make one loaf of bread, and many Grapes make one measure of wine in the Cup: So, many Christians partaking faithfully of this Sacrament become one mystical body of Christ by the union of faith and love.  
The Lord hath appointed those Elements to show that men should come with an appetite and thirsting, to receive the Sacrament in ancient times was as much as desiderare, è cujus manu desideravit.  
In Baptism we have one sign as the material part, in the Supper we have two signs, partly to note out our whole, full, and perfect nourishment in Christ, having whatsoever is requisite for our salvation; and partly to show a fuller remembrance of his death, for the wine which is a figure of his blood, doth as it were represent it before our eyes. Attersol of the Sacr. l. 3 c. 5. Vide Aquin. Sum part 3. Quaest 74. Art. 1.  
There are two representing signs in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper:  

1. That we might know tha●●● Christ w● have whole and perfect spiritual nourishment, 
Ephes. 5. 26. Act. 8. 36. Matth. 28. 19 Act. 2. 16. M. elton's Catech.  and whatsoever is ●●q●isite to ●al●●●ion.  
2. For a more ●●vely representation of Christ his death and passion, in which his blood was separated from his body.   
These elements are to be administered in both kinds severally; Christ at his last Supper delivered first bread by itself, and then wine, and not bread and wine together in a sop, or bread dipped in wine. In the sop the wine is not d●un● but eaten.    

Of receiving the Sacrament in both kinds, Bread and Wine.  
The Communion was instituted by Christ in both kinds, as three Evangelists 
Constat Eucharistiae Sacramentum duabus externis partibus, id est, duplici materia, pane & poculo. Neque quenquam contradicentem pati potest discritissima relatio institutionis apud Matthaeum, Marcum, Lucam, Paulum, neque perpetua Ecclesiae traditio, Chamierus de Sac. l. 8. See jansen. Concord. on Luk. 22. p. 155. the danger of communicating in both kinds. The Church of Rome hath decreed, Conc. Trident Sess. 21. c. 2. That it is not necessary for the people to communicate in both kinds, and holdeth them accursed that hold it necessary for the people to receive the Cup consecrated by the Priest. Vide Cassand. consult. See D. Featleys' Grand Sacrilege of the Church of Rome, chap. 1, 2, etc. to the 16. Chapter, And Bishop Davenants L. Quest. in his Determinat. And Master Cartwrights rejoinder, pag. 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287.  show Mark 14. 23. & Luke 22. 20. Matth. 26. 27. It was administered by the Apostles in both kinds, 1 Cor. 11. 26, 28. & 10. 16. It was received in the ancient Church for the space of fourteen hundred years in both kinds, as it is confessed by their own Council of Constance, and that of Trent also. This was constantly practised in the Church for divers hundred years, until the Council of Constance in the year of the Lord 1414.  
Some Northern Counsels there are (saith Bellarmine Tom. 3. de Sacr. Eccles. l. 4. c. 28.) where wine is not to be had, therefore for uniformity sake the Church thought fit that every where the Sacrament should be administered but in one kind.  
Although there be not wine or wheat in some Country's, yet it may easily be carried to all, as much as sufficeth for the use of this Sacrament. Aquinas part. 3. Quaest 74. Art. 1.  

Object. Some (saith Bellarmine) are abstemious and abhor wine, they cannot endure it, and it may offend sickly persons.  
Answ. Extraordinary cases must not justle out ordinary laws and custom, Vinum in modica quantitate sumptum non potest multum aegrotanti nocere. Wine moderately taken cannot much hurt the sick. Aquin ubi supra.   

Object. Whosoever shall eat this bread or drink this Cup unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of Christ, the conjunction Or (say they) doth so disjoin both kinds, that it is free to take one without the other.  
Answ. If this be true, than it shall be lawful also to take the Cup without the Bread, that disjunctive is put not for that it is lawful to take one kind and omit the other, but that greater caution may be used, and he spoke of both severally, because irreverence may be used in both signs, and to show that it sufficieth not to carry ourselves holily in part, unless we finish the whole action holily, otherwise in the same place Bread and Wine are joined together eight times.   

Object. Act. 2. 42. & 20. 7.  
Answ. Suppose the bread of the Lords Table be there meant, yet it is a Synecdoche 
The Apostle sometimes putteth the other part, viz. drinking of the Cup, for the whole celebration of the Supper, 1 Cor. 12. 13. The Heathens ●alled a feast symposium, yet they had meat at their feasts. Admiranda hic est d●orum E▪ vangelist are 〈…〉 dilig●●●ia & harmonia, ●●us refert de Po●●lo Christ●● disertè & expressè ma●dass●, ut omnes ●x ●o bibant; Alter Discipulos omnes, ex eo bibisse, Quis igitur conformi●●●em eum coena Christi agnoscet illic, ubi dispensans, vel solus. Quos Christus ●uss●rat manducare, eos bibere omnes jussit: Bibite, ait, ex hoc omnes. Sed illud omnes (inquiunt Pontificii) restringi debet ad Apostolos, quos alloquitur solos. Quod sanè non dicerent, si cogitarent, Apostolos istic Ecclesiam totam repraesentare. Nulli dubium esse debet, quin quamvis soli essent praesentes Apostoli, tamen finis fuerit Christi pr●scribere Ecclesiae rationem administrandi coenam quam servari vellet, usque dum venerit ad judicandum. Vossius in Thesibus. Edit & bibit, omnibus caeteris praesentibus auditoribus & discipulis neglectis, vel panem quidem sed solum, illis participate & exbibet. Buxtorf▪ de primae coenae ritibus & forma. Quod omnes tunc spectabat Apostolos; quibus Christus Sacramentum tra●ebat usurpandum, omnes quoque spectat fideles in Ecclesia, qui Sacramentum idem sunt recepturi à suis pastoribus. Nec ulla ratio potest fingi cum illud Bibite ad solos consecrantes debeat restringi, cum Apostoli in prima coena non consecrantium, sed communicantum sustinucrint personas, & tam latè d●beat patere illud bibite, quam illud comedite, quo omnes adulti fidele●●bligantur. Mares. de chalice Eucharist. Vide Calv. Instit. l. 4. c. 17. Sect. 47, 48, 49.  whereby the part is put for the whole, otherwise you may as well say they had no thanksgiving, because Luke maketh only mention of prayers, as to say they had not the Cup, because mention is made only of bread, vers. 46▪ speaking of the common Table (from the similitude whereof the Lords Table is taken) he useth the same phrase of breaking of bread without making mention of any drink, he saith breaking bread they took bread, which can hardly be said of the Lords Supper.  
Christ as foreseeing the sacrilege of the Papists commandeth all, not to eat of the bread, but to drink of the Cup, Matth. 26. 27. Mark 14. 23. 1 Cor. 12. 13. and Mark saith, They all drank of it.  
Certainly I persuade myself, that our Saviour expressed the note of universality, viz. in delivering the Cup to all, saying, Drink you all of this: and not so in giving the bread, of set purpose, to prevent that abuse which the Romish Church of late hath brought, by taking away the Cup. As in like manner the Apostle saith of marriage, It is honourable in, or amongst all men, Heb. 13. 4. and he saith not so of Virginity or single life, although it be honourable, because the holy Ghost foresaw, that some heretics would deny marriage to be honourable amongst all, and prohibit it to some, viz▪ the Clergy. Which two Texts of Scripture the Romanists lewdly pervert, and ridiculously contradict themselves in the interpretation of them, extending all to the Laity in the one, and excluding the Clergy; and extending all to the Clergy in the other, and excluding the ●aity: Marriage is honourable among all, say they, that is, all, save Priests. Drink you all of this, that is, all, save the people. Doctor Featleys' Grand Sacrilege of the Church of Rome, ch. 2.  
Drink you all of this, saith the Author of the Sacrament: he saith not expressly, Eat you all of this; as foreseeing that impiety, which in time humane presumption should bring in upon and against his own institution, fulfilled in the Church of Rome at this day. B. Mountag. Answ. to the Gagger of Protest. Sect. 36.  
The Papists say, That the universal particle All belongs to the twelve Apostles, who were Priests, say they, and alone present at the institution of this first Supper, and therefore it belongs only to Priests, not Laymen, and they receive the blood with the body ratione concomitantiae. By this reason they may as well take away the bread from the people.  
The Apostles in the first Supper did not represent the order of Priests, but the whole Church of Communicants, and Christ administered the Sacrament to them not as Apostles, but as Disciples, therefore Paul extends this particle All, to all the Christians in the Church of Corinth, and to men of all order, condition, state and sex, 1 Cor. 11. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29. The Sacrament represents Christ's death and his blood shed out of his veins, Matth. 26. 27, 28. That Helena of concomitancy, which the Lutherans also admit, (as we may see in 
* Loco de coen●▪ Ubi stabilita fuit Transubstantiationis prodigiosa doctrina in concill● Lateran●ns● per Innocentium tertium anno 1215. haec concomitantiam statim peperit & concomitantia mutilationem Sacramenti. Maresius de Calais Benedicto▪ Ut Baptisma regenerationis, ita sacra caena est Sacramentum nutritionis nostrae spiritualis, quae perfestè non potest adumbrari nisi potu & cibo. Ex Historiis res est clara, & fatetur Gregorius de Valentia apud Humf. Lynd. Equitem Anglum in via certa S. 6. Non nisi paulo ante concilium Constantinense hanc mutilationem universaliter receptam fuisse. Id. ib. Periculo effusionis & irreverentiae satis cavebatur in veteri Ecclesia etiam admissa integra communione; nihil ●un● vel à barbis prolixioribus Laicorum, vel ab eorum manibus paralyticis metuebatur; multo minùs placebat Gersonis ratio imparem esse dignitatem ●acerdotis & Laicorum. Abstemios non magis obligat hoc praeceptum de sumendo chalice, quam s●rdos de audiendo prae●onio Evangelii. Necessitas legem non habet. Id. ibid. Vide Episc. Daven. Quaest L. Quaere ab illis, cur ●iccam Eucharistiam populo Christiano porrigant? Cur illis in caena mystica chalice Dominico interdicant? Scilicet reverenti● causa faciunt, & propter honorem Sacramenti, quia periculum est ne in prolixis barbis Christi sanguis inhaereat, ne quo casu dum circumfertur in terram fundatur, ne vasa sacra populi contactu ●ordidentur, ne alii alii● bibentibus fastidium calicis concipiant, etc. At o infipien●em Christum, o fatuos Apostolos & Patres sexcentorum & suprà seculorum, quibus rationes illae gravissimae & doctissimae nunquam in animum venerunt, ut tantoru●m scandalorum pericula vitarent, & reverentiam atque honorem sacramenti sanguinis Christi populo calicem prohibendo procurarent. Abb. Antich. Demonstrat. c. 10. Vide Phil. Morn. de sacra Eucharistia. l. 1. c. 10, 11, 12.  Gerhard) doth abound with so many absurdities, and was so unknown to antiquity, that it is a wonder that judicious men will defend it, only that they may maintain their figments of Consubstantiation and Transubstantiation.  
This Argument from Concomitancy proveth as well that they may drink the wine only, and not receive the bread.  
2. Though Christ wholly be sealed to us in the use of the bread really, yet not wholly sacramentally. Vide P●cher. de missa cap. 4.   

Object. Bellarmine de Eucharist l. 4. c. 25. saith, There is a plain difference between the Bread and Cup, for 1 Cor. 11. he saith of the Bread absolutely Do this, but of the Cup conditionally, As oft as ye do it, therefore those words do not signify that the Cup should always be given when the Sacrament is administered, but they only prescribe the manner, that if it be so, than it should be done in memory of Christ's passion.  
Answ. But this is a most frivolous cavil, for the words do both command the thing, and also show the end of doing it. In the verse immediately following the Apostle hath those words, speaking as well of the Bread as Cup. As often as ye eat of this bread and drink of this Cup. Therefore there is one and the same reason of both, the Bread and the Cup. We must take and eat the one, and take and drink the other, and whensoever we do so we must do it in remembrance of Christ's death.   

Object. More irreverence will be showed to the Sacrament by spilling of it, to which in a great multitude of Communicants the wine must needs be subject to.  
Answ. Reverence due to the Sacrament consists in a religious partaking of it, not in a necessary abstinence from one of the Elements.  
The Papists have cut out their Sacrament according to the measure of their doctrine, for as they teach Christ to be but half a Saviour, by making their works joynt-purchases of their salvation with him, so they minister half a Sacrament of salvation. Cartw. against the Rhem. on john 6.  
Our practice and profession is the receiving the Communion in both kinds: for which I join issue with all Papists living; that it is the prime, original institution of our Saviour, which giveth birth and being to a Sacrament; that it is sacrilege to alter it therefrom; that it was never otherwise used in the Church of God, for above two thousand years after Christ. Let all the Papists living prove the contrary, and I will subscribe to all Popery. B. Mountag. Answer to the Gagger of Protest. Sect. 36.  
This was the custom in all the Father's times, as I could deduce almost out of every one. This is every where the custom in all the world unto this day, but in the Roman exorbitant Church, as Cassander saith; and was not quite abolished in that Church till about thirteen hundred years after Christ, and by much art, colluding and fine forgery, was retained from being cast out of that Church in the late Conventicle of Trent, only kept in for a faction, but mightily opposed by learned, honest and conscionable Catholics. Id. ibid.  
First, If none may drink of the consecrate wine but the Priests, than none should eat of the bread but Priests, for to whom Christ said, Take and eat, to those he gave 
Matth. 26. 26, 27.  the Cup, and said, Drink ye: The signs being both equal, all Communicants must drink of the one, as well as eat of the other, there being the same warrant for the one that there is for the other.  
Secondly, The Cup is a part of Christ's Will and Testament, Galat. 3. 15. 
Attersol of the Sacr. l. 3. c. 5.  Hebr. 9 16, 17. the dead man's Will may not be changed. The Lord's Supper is a Sacrament proper to the New Testament, Luke 22. 20.  
Thirdly, The blood of Christ shed upon the Cross belongeth not only to 
See B. of Landaff▪ on the Sacrament from pag. 171. to 182. 1 Cor. 11. 26.  the Pastors and Teachers, but to all the faithful that come to the Table of the Lord, Matth. 26. 28. Luke 22. 20. why then should the Cup of the Lord be barred from them?  
Fourthly, All the faithful that come to the Lords Table must show forth his death until be come, and this is done by them as well by drinking of the Cup as by eating of the bread, therefore all the Communicants must receive the Sacrament under both kinds.  
To which these reasons may be added:  

1. From the institution, for Christ commanded them to drink the wine as well as to eat the bread, therefore this is a violation of God's command.  
2. The Apostle bids every one to try themselves, and so to eat of that bread and drink of that wine, so they did not only eat and drink then, but they were commanded so to do.  
3. To celebrate the Sacrament otherwise, is to make void Christ's two main ends in appointing the Sacrament, 

1. To represent his death and blood shed out of the veins.  
2. To show that Christ is full nourishment to the soul, as bread and drink to the body.     
The bread and wine being the matter of the Sacrament may not be changed in the 
Rogatus pi● memoriae vir D. Calvinus à Fratribus, qui tum in America erant, ubi nullus est vini usus, ●●cerentne pro vino uti in coena Domini vel aqua simplici qua plerumque illic utuntur, vel alio illic non inu●itato potionis genere. Nihil (aiebat) à Christi confilio ac voluntate alienum f●ere videri, qui non contemptu neque temeritate, sed ipsa necessitate adacti, pro vino aliud in iis regionibus usitatae potionis genus usurparent. In hac quaestione ●andem valere rationem arbitramur, si modo is de quo agitur, vel minimam vini degustationem ferre nequit, ut potius quam integram coenam non per●gat, vel aqua vel alia sibi familiari potione utatur. Beza Epist. 25. Quod Beza censuit in regionibus in quibus non est usus panis & vini nostri, ex Analogia institutionis Domini, qui usuati● pane & potu usus est, posse Eucharistiam celebrari in usuario pane & potu regionis illius; id non caret sua probalitate: de quo t●men, quia non est necessarium, contendere nolim: nec etiam id in me suscipere. Sed ubi vel neutrum ●ignorum à Christo instituto●um reperitur, vel alterutrum tantum, malim planè abstinere quam vel ●igna mutare, vel Sacramentum mutilare; quod postremum fieri non potest sine grandi sacrilegio. Rive●i jesuita vapulans. 6. 7. Vide ejus Grot. Discus. Dialys Sect. 10. Necessitas legem non habet ●ubi Sacramentorum materia non habetur, à Sacramentis ●bstinendum, & spiritualiter Christo communicandum. Rivet. Exem. Animad. Hug. Grot. pag. 80. Vide Balduin. de cas▪ consc l 2. c. 12. cas. 8.  Lord's Supper.  
Reasons.  

1. The institution of the Supper, and the example of Christ himself, whom the Church is to imitate and follow, 1 Cor. 11. 25.  
2. No other signs are so significant and effectual as these are for this purpose, to strengthen and comfort them that are in trouble and almost in the present estate of death, Psal. 104. 14, 15. Prov. 31. 6.  
3. The matter and form of every thing do constitute its essence: So it is in the 
Attersol of the Sacraments, l. 3. c. 5.  Sacraments, where the signs are the matter, and the words of institution the form.  
4. If the bread and wine might be changed in the Supper, and yet the Sacrament in substance remain: then in like manner, water in Baptism might be changed, and yet be true Baptism: but the Minister cannot baptise with any other liquor or element, then with water, as the matter of that Sacrament.  
5. If we grant a change in the signs at the pleasure of men, why may we not also change other parts of the Sacrament? why may we not in stead of the Minister appointed o● God and called by the Church, admit private persons, and receive other alterations enforced upon the Church by the Papists?   
Bucan institut. loc. 48. Beza Epist. 2. think, that where there is no store of bread and plenty of wine sufficient for this purpose, some other thing may be taken in stead of them.  
Thus it may come to pass (saith Attersol) that we shall have nothing which Christ commanded and sanctified by his example, and yet boast that we have his Supper, and do that which he appointed. For whereas we make four outward parts of this Sacrament, the Minister, the Word, the Signs and the Receiver: There are which hold there is no necessity of the Minister: Others, that there is no necessity of the words of Institution: Others, that there is no necessity of the Signs: Others, that there is no necessity of the Receiver: So if we once admit any alteration in any of the parts, we open a gap to all innovation, and being in great uncertainty in the Sacraments.  
Whether the breaking of the bread be an indifferent Ceremony. 
Christus disertè dicitur fregisse panem. Fractio panis non est accidentalis Sacramento Eucharistiae, sed ex institutione, ac proinde haud a●iter necessaria, quam acceptio in manus, quam traditio, quam communio. Etsi nolimus enim tam severè de ●a contendere, ut nulla societas retineri possit cum iis qui omittunt; tamen defectum rei non exiguae dissimulandum non putamus, imò nec tolerandum, si tolli queat. Enimvero tam diserta fractio est in institutione quam quicquam al●u●, & ●am cu●●osè repetita ●b omnibus quibus recitata institutio est, Evangelistis, inquam, Paulo, Liturgi●s cunctis. Chami●r▪ de Sacramentis l. 7. c. 11. Fractio panis non est ritus adiaphorus humanitus institutus, sed caer●monia necessaria, ad ipso Christo tum observ●ta, tum ●●i●m mandata, Mat. 26. 26. 1 Cor. 11. 23. A●ting. Ex●g. Aug Confess. Art. 15.   
Some make the breaking of the bread to be simply necessary, and an essential part of the Supper, so that without it there can be no Sacrament.  

1. Because the Sacrament is called the breaking of bread, and this breaking of bread is said to be the Communion of the body of Christ, ● Cor 10. 16.  
2. Others make this breaking to be merely indifferent and not necessary▪ accidental, and not of the substance.  
3. Others 
* Paraeus on 1 Cor. 11. where he handleth▪ this Question largely, & de ritu fractionis. c. 5. Vossius in Thesibus. Attersol of the Sacraments, l 3. c. 3. See Mr Hilders. little Tract of the Sacraments. Pa●is fractio manifestè ●●titur exemplo Christi, Apostolorum & universae Ecclesiae ultra mille annos continuato exemplo. Nec obscurè mandatum verba institutionis praeferunt. Unde omnes haud dissi●ulter intelligunt, ejus omissionem de justa integritate actionis non nihil d●libare. Non urgebimus, ut partem essentialem agnoscant. Crocius in August confess. Quaest 2. cap. 29. Unusne an plures adhibendi sint panes, digitisne frangendi, an cultro s●ind●ndi, nulla est inter nostros contentio. Id. ibid. Nostri non destruunt, non discerpunt, non frangunt Ecclesiam propter panis fractionem. Quod vel inde patet, quod fra●res nostri per Poloniam panem non frangunt, nec Basilienses multis annis f●eg●runt. Non damnant Ecclesias, quae care●● hi● Ceremonia. Zanch. id. ib. Quaest 2. cap. 12.  hold a middle way between both extremes, that it is necessary, yet not as an essential but an integral part.   
The Ceremony of breaking bread was continually observed by Christ's first institution, by the practice of the Apostles, by the ancient and universal custom of the whole Church of Christ, as well Greek as Latin.  
This act of breaking of bread is such a principal act, that the whole celebration of this Sacrament hath had from thence this appellation given to it by the Apostles 
Act. 2. 42. & 20. 7. Lorinus in Act. 2. 42. B. Morton of the Mass, l. 1. c. 2. Sect. 4. Ecce in coena Christus fregit panem, & tamen Ecclesia Catholica hodiè non frangit, sed integrum dat. Salmeron.  to be called breaking of bread; it is also a Symbolical Ceremony betokening the crucifying of Christ's body upon the Cross, 1 Corinth. 11. 24. But the Papists yet do not break it but g●ve it whole, and this they pretend to do for reverence sake, lest some crumbs of bread should fall to the ground.  
Three Evangelists mention the breaking of the bread.  
It is not material whether the bread be broken or cut, but it is more probable that Christ broke it from the custom of the Jews, saith Vossius: but Balduinus the Lutheran 
a De Case Consc. lib. 2. cap. 12. Cas. 10.  saith, they receive a perfect Sacrament who intermit this fraction in the use of the Supper, because Christ broke the bread that he might distribute it, therefore say Gerhard 
b Christus usus est fractione panis vel propter significationem quandam Sacramentalem, puta repraesentationem ●assionis, vel propter distributionem, tantum propter distributionem Christ●s usus est fractione, neque qui●quam interest, sive fractio illa panis ante admissionem coenae sive in ipsa admissione adhibeatur. Gerh. loc. common. de sacra caena.  and he, Perinde est, sive in ipsa actione coenae, sive antea ●rangatur. Balduin quotes Beza, Aretius, Zanchius to that purpose, to show that ●raction may be omitted in the very act of the Supper.  
But Zanchy in an Epistle to a noble man hath this passage. The bread is to be broken before the people after the example of Christ, the Apostles and all the ancient Church, and also to express the mystery of the passion and death of Christ which are lively represented by that action.  
The breaking of the bread signifies:  

1. How we should be broken in humiliation for our sins, and the pouring out of the wine, how our blood and life should be shed and poured out for our sins, if we had that we deserve.  
2. They represent unto us how the body of Christ was broken, and his blood poured out for our sins. M. Perkins.   
Not the Palatine, the French or English Churches have lately invented or brought in the breaking of the bread, but the whole Apostolical, ancient Church above 1500 years ago, and since that time have used it according to Christ's command, Do this. Paraeus de Ritu fractionis in S▪ Eucharistia. c. 5. See his 6th Chapter, where he shows how frivolous that argument is, Frangere, Hebraica phrasi nihil aliud est, quam distribuere, and gives this rule, Where ever in Scripture the word Break concerning bread is put alone, it is an Hebraism, and signifies to distribute, because the Hebrews above other nations used not to cut bread with a knife, but to break it with their hands, when they took it themselves, or gave it to others to take, but when the word ●ive is expressly added to it, it signifieth the true breaking or dividing of the whole bread into parts, as Matth. 14. 19 Mark 6. 41. Luke 9 26. Matth. 15. 36. Mark 8. 6. and in the institution of the Supper, Mat. 26. 26. Mark 14. 22. Luk. 22. 19  
It is not necessarily required, that the Lords Supper be administered in unleavened 
Necessarium est ut sit panis triticeus sine quo non perficitur Sacramentum. Non est autem de necessitate Sacramenti, quòd sit azymus vel ●ermentatus, quia in unoquoque consici potest. Conveniens autem est, ut unusquisque servet ritum suae Ecclesiae in Sacramenti celebratione. T. Aquin. par. 3 q. 74. Art. 4. Graeci olim pro fermentato pane litagabant cum Latinis, & ●i pro pane azymo contra Graecos tanta contentione, ut Latim Graecos appellarent sermentarios, Graeci Latinos azymitas Ponti●icij quoque pro usu pan●s azymi, tanquam pro aris & focis pugnant. Bellarm. l. 4. de Euch. c. 7. An panis ex hordeo vel tritico pistus sit, an azymus vel f●rmentatus sit, nihil re●ert: hoc enim substantiae panis nihil addit, aut adimit. In Ecclesiis nostris azymus adhibentur, ex nulla necessitate, sed liberè, quia Christus eo usus fuit in institutione coenae, & panis Eucharistici typus fuit panis azymus, qui in es● agni Paschalis usurpabatur, Exod. 12. 8. Si autem Ecclesia aliqua fermentato pane uteretur, non est cur quis sibi co romine scrupulum faciat. Nullum enim Christi mandatum habemus, i●t vel azymo vel fermentato utamur, res ●aec merè est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Et fermentato aequè ac azymo fieri potest communicatio corporis Christi. Pro●t ergo fert unius●●jusque. Ecclesiae consuetudo, ita faciendum, nec una Ecclesia aliam propter dissensum condemnare, nec communicantes hoc in genere nimis ●●riosi esse debent. Balduin. de cas consc. l. 2. c. 12 cas. 9 Vide Gerh. loc common. Naevus est duplexin iis Ecclesiis quae azymo potius quam fermentato pane utuntur. Hoc enim & judaismum sapit & minus est quotidiani cibi analogiae accomodatum. Beza Quaest Panis autem, azymu●●e sit an ●ermentatus, non magnopere putamus laborandum, quamvis communem panem sentiam●s ordinationi Christi multo esse convenientiorem. Cur enim azymo pane usus est Dominus, nisi quia per id tempus quo sacram illam coenam ipsi visum est instituere, nullus in judaea alio pan● uteb●tur? Aut igitur azymorum festum simul restituatur ●portet, aut fatendum est communem & omnibus usitatum panem exemplo Domini rectius usurpari, quamvis azymum panem Dominus adhibuerit: de veteris purioris Ecclesiae more taceam, quem adhuc Graeca Ecclesia retinet. Beza Ep. 12.  bread. For bread is often times named and repeated: but the word (unleavened) is never added. Wherefore as it is in itself indifferent whether the wine be red or white, and whatsoever the kind or colour be (if it be wine:) so it is not greatly material whether the bread be leavened or unleavened, so it be bread. Attersol of the Sac. l. 3. c. 5.  
The Papists pretend the institution of Christ, who (say they) made the Sacrament of unleavened bread, instituting it after he had eaten the Passeover, which 
Exod. 12. 8, 18.  was to be eaten with unleavened bread, according to the Law of Moses, neither was there any leaven to be found in Israel seven days together. We deny not (saith Attersol 
a Some think no other than unleavened bread could be used without a manifest transgression of the Law which did forbid that any leaven should be so much as used among them at that time. Yet the necessity of using unleavened bread in the Eucharist, doth no more follow from thence, then that we must celebrate the Sacrament at Even, because Christ did then institute it. ) but Christ m●ght use unleavened bread at his last Supper, having immediately before eaten the Paschal Lamb, yet no such thing is expressed in the Gospel. The Evangelists teach, He took bread: but make no mention or distinction what bread ᵇ he took, nor determine what bread we should take, no more than limit what wine we shall use, but leave it at liberty to take leavened bread or unleavened, as occasion of time, place, persons, and other circumstances serve, so we take bread. If Christ on this occasion used unleavened bread: it was because it was usual, common and ordinary bread at that time, as we also should use that bread which is common. It is therefore no breach of Christ's Ordinance, nor a transgression of the first original institution of the Lords Supper, to eat either the one or the other.  
The Papists give a mystical reason why the bread must be unleavened, because 
Pareus on 1 Cor. 11. handleth this Question, and makes it indifferent, he saith, we should rather look that the heart be free from leaven then the bread. 1 Cor. 5 7. and De Sym. Eucharist. c. 3. he saith with the Schoolmen, Conveniens est, ut in hoc casu cujusque Ecclesiae observetur consuetudo, modò vitetur necessitatis opinio ac superstitio, & spectctur communis aedificatio.  hereby is signified our sincerity, but this is ridiculous, for if unleavened bread because it is unmixed must signify my sincerity, than the wine because it is mingled with water must signify my duplicity and hypocrisy.  
Whether it be leavened or unleavened bread, we will not strive, but take that which the Church shall according to the circumstance of the times and persons ordain, Yet this we dare boldly say, That in the use of leavened bread we come nearer to the imitation of Christ's action then those which take unleavened. For our Saviour took the bread that was usual and at hand, there being only unleavened bread at the Feast of the Passeover, and no other to be gotten. We therefore taking the bread which is in ordinary use, and causing no extraordinary bread to be made for the nonce, are found to tread more nearly in the steps of our Saviour Christ. Therefore (unless you will renew the Jewish Passeover of banishing all leaven at the time of the holy Communion) your precise imitation of unleavened bread is but apish 
a Cart. on Rbem. Test. on 1 Cor. 11. 22. .  
Although Azymes were used by Christ, it being then the Paschal Feast, yet was this occasioned also by reason of the same Feast which was prescribed to the Jews: Protestants and Papists both grant it not to be of the essence of the Sacrament that it be unleavened, but in its own nature indifferent 
b B. Morton of the Mass, l. 1. c. 1. Sect. 4. De panis qualitate nos contendimus, si modo verus sit & solidus panis, quod de hostia Papistarum vix potest affirmari. Ames. Bellarm. Eneru. Tom. 3. c. 5. Farinacea folia (Wafer-cake) neque panis formam habent; neque pro pane unquam usquam gentium fuers usitata. Chamier. de Sacramentis l. 1. c. 4. Hostiae neque ab Hebraeis, neque Graecis, neque Latinis vocantur panis, sed distinctis appellantur nominibus, à probatis autoribus ad nullum genus panum referuntur, non sunt communissimum & nobilissimum nutrimentum, non roborant corpus humanum, ergo non sunt verus Cibarius, & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sic dictus panis. Sylloge A. Frat. Roseae-crucis donata. Panis azymus glutinosus erat, & frangebatur fine manu fine coulter. Lorinus in Act. 2. 42. Nos sentimus pane azymo & fermentato confici Sacramentum posse, & retinendum cuique esse suae Ecclesiae morem. Verum addim us primò optimum esse omnes Ecclesias etiam hac parte conformes esse tum testandae unionis gratia, tum ut infirmiorum conscientiae consulatur. Deinde optimum videri & proximum instituto Sacramenti panem usurpari fermentatum, itaque hac potius utimur, paucis Ecclesiis exceptis, quibuscum non est propterea nobis unanimis consensus. Chamier. de Sacr. l. 5. c. 4. Cum nusquam nisi panis mentio sit, nulla addita circumstantia, panis intelligitur usitatus & communis. Constat panem azymum fuisse extraordinarium, nec vulgo usitatum. Id. ib. .  
When the Ebionites taught unleavened bread to be necessary, the Church commanded consecration to be made in leavened bread.  
The Grecians use leavened bread, the Papists unleavened, and that made up in such wafercakes that it cannot represent spiritual nourishment.  
We hold either indifferent, because in the institution we read of bread without commanding leavened or unleavened. De panis qualitate nos non contendimus, si modo verus sit & solidus panis; quod de hostia Papistarum, vix potest affirmari. Ames. Bell. Eneru. Tom. 3. Disp. 32.  
Cassander himself complaineth that the Papists bread is of such extreme thinness and lightness, that it may seem unworthy the name of bread. Whereas Christ used solid and tough bread which was to be broken with the hands, or cut with the knife.  
The custom of the Christian Church by the space of above a thousand years, was to put upon the sacred Table, after Christ's and the Apostles example, a solid loaf which was broken into pieces among the Communicants: for all the people did communicate. Now this quantity of bread is reduced into round and light wafers, in the form of a penny, whereof they give this mystical reason, because that Christ was sold for thirty pence, and because that a penny is given for a hire unto those that have wrought in the Vineyard, Matth. 20. 10. Upon these Hosts they have put the Image of a Crucifix. Pet. du Moulin of the Mass, lib. 1. cap. 7. & lib. 3. cap. 3.  
The use of the Wafer-cake is defended by the Papists and some Lutherans, as Gerh. loc. common. Tom. 5. de Sacra Coena, c. 7. but Christ used it not whose action is our instruction, and also there is no Analogy, or a very obscure one between the sign and thing signified.  
Whether it be necessary to mingle water with the Eucharistical wine.  
Aquinas 
* Parte tertia Quaest 74. Art. 6, 7.  saith, Water ought to be mingled with wine, but it is not the necessitate hujus Sacramenti.  
Some Papists for mingling water with wine pretend the Antiquity of Counsels 
Est ritus à veteribus nonnullis olim observatus; sed nec dogma fidei nec essentialis pars Sacramenti. Quia vinum forte fuit in illis regionibus calidis, paululum aquae admiscebant. Epis. Daven. de jud. controvers. c. 8. Apol. 2. In regionibus orientalibus ubi fortia vina sunt, usitatum fuit non merum sed vinum aqua temperatum bihere. Unde Chemnitius verisimile judicat, Christum vinum non merum sed temperatum bibisse. Mixtio aquae potius aliquid addit institutioni, quia Evangelistae solius merique vini mentionem faciant, Matth. 25. 29. Ma●c. 14. 25. Luc. 22. 18. Gerh. loc. common. Verisimile est Christum miscuisse vinum, cum orientis vina generosa sint & calida. Illud etiam non diffitemur, Ecclesiam veterem usam esse vino mixto. Nempe quia post coenam eodem vino celebrarent Agapas suas, ansam dare gentibus noluerunt quasi mero ad ebrietatem uterentur. Vossius in Thesibus. Papistae vino consecrando admiscent aquam, quanquam exigua quantitate. Nos sentimus, rem esse merè indifferentem, ideóque liberè usurpandam, omittendamve; dum ne turbetur ordo Ecclesiae. Tantum ergo reprehendimus in Papistis, quod nullo praeeunte verbo Dei, peccata & quidem mortalia fingant. Chamierus de Sacramentis lib. 5. cap. 3.  and Fathers: But we say,  

1. There is no such thing in the Institution.  
2. The authority of these is not divine but merely humane.  
3. It was an ancient custom in Tertullia's time to give milk and honey in Baptism to the Infant, yet the Papists themselves do not keep it: So that unless we had Christ's institution we cannot do it, especially knowing that it is dangerous to add to any essential part of the Sacrament such as the wine is. But then they are most ridiculous, when they will make a mystical signification in this, that the union of the water with the wine must signify the union of the people (which is denoted by waters, Revel. 17.) with Christ; Thus Bellarmine. But it signifies not this union either naturally, for than it would signify so in common feasts: nor by divine institution, for then then the Scripture would have delivered it. Besides Rev. 17. Great waters (not a few drops) signify the people, and that not of believers, but Heathens, and if it signify the communion of the people with Christ, why do they deny it them?   
The drink then used being called the fruit of the vine, Matth. 26. 29. it is evident that there was no mixture of water, for than it had not been the fruit of the vine, but another drink compounded of water and wine.  
Some say this reason is not of force, for he that drinks vinum dilutum; drinks the fruit of the grape as well as he that drinks merum. And therefore that our Saviour Christ and his Apostles ever mingled water with wine in the sacramental Cup, cannot be showed by any testimony out of the word of God.  
As for the water gushing forth with the blood out of our Saviour Christ, it is 
Cartw. on Mat. 26.  frivolous: the wine in the Cup is not a Sacrament of the blood of Christ which was shed after that he was slain, but of the blood which he shed before his death.  
This was an ancient custom, justin Martyr makes mention of it, and Cyprian 
The Fathers used wine tempered with water, because in the place where they lived the wine was so strong. Matth. 26. 29. Mark 14. 24.  pleads for it, yet jansenius doth ingeniously confess that there are evident testimonies of Scripture for wine, but none for water, though Bellarmine 
* De Eucharist. l. 4. c. 10, 11.  impudently affirm, That there is as much proof for the one as the other, viz. Tradition for both, Scriptures for neither, and labours violently to wrest the plain places another way, yet at length he doth not deny, but it is Calix Domini, though there be no water in it, and he tells us that the greater part of Divines hold, that water is not the necessitate Sacramenti. jansenius saith, it appears by Scripture, though not expressly, yet implicitly, that there was water in the Cup which Christ consecrated, because there was wine in it, and in those hot Countries they used not to drink mere wine, but allayed with water, this is an uncertain conjecture.  
The beginning of it was lawful, because there were in the Church that could not 
Cartw.  beat the strength of the wines, especially in the East and South Countries where the wines are strong.  
The Christians in the Primitive Church had a custom of mixing water with the 
D. Reynolds Meditat. on the Lord's Supper, Chap. 14.  wine (as there came water and blood out of Christ's side) which how ever it might have a natural reason because of the heat of the Country to correct the heat of the wine with water, yet it was by them used for a mystical sense to express the mixture (whereof this Sacrament is an effectual instrument) of all the people who have faith to receive it with Christ's blood, water being by the holy Ghost interpreted for people and Nations.  
The Aquarii used only water in the Eucharist in pretence of Sobriety which 
Eucratitae & Aquarii temperantiae praetextu vinum refugiebant, ac loco ejus aquam solam in hoc Sacramento usurpabant. Vossius in Thesibus. Aquarii ex hoc appellati sunt, quòd aquam offerunt in poculo Sacramenti, non illud quod omnis Ecclesia. August. cap. 64. de Haeresibus.  Cyprian confuted only upon this ground, viz. That this practice was not warranted by the Institution of Christ, wherein Christ ordained wine and not water only.  
In the Scripture we find the fruit of the vine, but not water, therefore we account not that to be of any necessity in the celebration of the Lords Supper. In the Primitive Church water was used first of Sobriety, then of Ceremony, at length it grew to be counted of necessity. Dr Fulk against Martin.    

Of the Consecration of the Elements.  
Christ's actions in the administration of the Sacrament were four:  
First, He took bread into his hand, and so likewise wine, which signifies the 
Matth. 26 26.  purpose of God decreeing to give Jesus Christ in the flesh to work out our Redemption.  
Secondly, Christ blessed it, and gave thanks, and sanctified it to that use by his own prayer to God, which as it is effective to make the elements now fit for a spiritual use, so it is significative representing the action of God, wherein he fitted Christ's manhood in the fullness of his Spirit and power, to work out our Redemption.  
Thirdly, He broke the bread, which signifies the action of God satisfying his justice in Christ's manhood for the sins of all the Elect by breaking him in the Garden, and on the Cross especially, besides other sufferings throughout his life, and by rending his soul and body asunder. 
Consecratio vocabulum est solenne significans id quod fit, ut haec signa visibilia quae per se profana sunt, & aliena à mysteriis religiosis, sint Sacramenta corporis & sanguinis Christi, sive sint corpus & sanguis Christi. Consecrationem distinguimus à forma Sacramenti, ut totum à parte, consecrationem dicimus esse in tota Christi institutione. Ut quicquid ille fecerit ad eum pertinens, nosque jusserit facere, eo ipso consecrari credamus Sacramentum, ne exclusis quidem Ecclesiae precibus, quibus id ipsum à Deo postulatur fieri, quod ea institutione continetur. Chamier. de Sac. l. 1. c. 5.   
Fourthly, Christ gave it to every one, signifying that God doth offer particularly to every one, and give to the Elect the body and blood of Christ, with the merit of. it, and power of the same to blot out their sins, and free them more and more from the same.  
The Text saith of the Bread, He blessed it, and of the Cup, When he had given thanks. By the which word Blessing he implieth a consecration of this Sacrament. The Papists attribute it to the repetition of these words, Hoc est enim corpus meum, For this is my body, For this is my blood. Hence they call them Verba operatoria, and say, there is such a power and operation in them, that by them the bread is turned into the body of Christ. The Elements of which the Sacrament is composed are natural, the things having nothing of themselves whereby they may be Sacraments, and therefore an institution is necessary, whereby they may be made what they are not. Now we say this is done by reciting the institution of Christ, and by prayer.  
The Papists order that the Priest should read all the other words with a loud voice, yet when he comes to this, For this is my body, he speaks it secretly, so that none can hear him, and this is one of their reasons, because Christ prayed alone, what is this to the consecration? did he so at the Sacrament time?  
2. The Minister or Priest speaks it secretly, because if he speak aloud, he cannot be so intent to what is said; why then do they command such loud noise by their Organs in singing? How can they be attentive then?  
3. Lest that form of words should be vilified, Why not then in Baptism?  
It is most expedient,  

1. For the receiver to receive the Bread and Cup into his hand: This custom (saith Vossius) was long in the ancient Church. It is unseemly to have the Bread put, or the Wine poured into the mouth by the Minister; this custom came from a superstitious worshipping of the signs.  
2. The receiver must eat the Bread and drink the wine, which signifies the particular applying of Jesus Christ with all the benefits of his mediation to ones own soul.   
Whether Christ be corporally present with the symbols in the Eucharist?  
Corpore de Christi lis est, de sanguine lis est. 
Si quis negaverit in sanctissima Eucharistia contineri verè, realiter, substantialiter corpus & sanguinem Christi Anathema sit. Concil. Trid. Sess. 23. Can. 1. Nos dicimus Dominura Christum corporaliter sub specie p●nis contineri. Greg. de Valent. Tom. 4. Disput. 6. Quaest 3.   
Lis est de modo, non habitura modum.  
Christ is ascended into heaven, and he is contained there, Acts 3. 21. till he come to Judgement, therefore he is not there under the shape of bread and wine. See Matth. 26. 11. john 16. 7. Acts 3. 21.  
2. All the circumstances about the first Institution of the Sacrament do declare that Christ was not bodily there, especially Christ eating and drinking of it himself, which Cloppenburg 
a Compend. Socin. confutat. cap. 10. Vide plura ibid. , Peter du Moulin 
b Of the Eucharist, chap. 6. pag. 68, 260. and chap. 11. pag. 141.  and D. Featley 
c Stricturae in Lyndomastygem concerning the seven Sacraments.  hold, urging Matth. 26. 29. & Mark 14. 25. for that purpose. Those words (say they) necessarily imply, that before he uttered them he had drunk of the Cup which he gave to them. Aquinas 
d Parte tertia Quaest 81. Art. 1.  also holds this, and the Fathers likewise, saith Peter du Moulin.  
The nature of the action (saith Peter du Moulin in the place last quoted) required that Christ should communicate to show the Communion he had with us, as also he did partake of our Baptism, Matth. 3. 16. from whence cometh the custom of the Church, that the Pastor first communicates, and the people afterwards.  
When the public Authority of this Land were for the Papists, subscription was not urged upon such violent and bloody terms unto any Articles of their Religion, as unto that of the real presence. D. jack. Epist. to the Read.  
For the same Christ was not visibly at the Table and spoke, and yet invisibly under the bread and wine, he did not eat and drink himself.  
The end of the Sacrament is a remembrance of Christ's death, Do this in remembrance of me, and You show forth his death till he come. Now how can there be any remembering of him when he is present.  
His corporal presence and eating is made unprofitable, john▪ 6. though Christ said, his flesh was meat indeed, yet he did not mean that it should be eaten and and drunk corporally: the flesh profiteth nothing, but his words are Spirit and Life.  
Our Union and Conjunction with Christ is inward and spiritual, which consists in Faith and Love; it is true we are united to his body, but not after a bodily manner.  
It is against reason and sense:  
We believe Christ to be present spiritually in the hearts of the Communicants, 
Qui transubstantiationem damnavit Lutherus optimè, tamen induxit consubstantiationem non benè, & ab hoc non laudabili initio, Brentius ejus Discipulus ad ubiquitatem delatus est, pessimè. Anabaptistae in oppositum lapsi extremum, signa sunt imaginati vacua & inania, quasi nudas professionis tesseras Christianis & Infidelibus distinguen●is. Chamierus lib. 10. de Eucharistiae c. 7.  sacramentally in the Elements, but not corporally.  
Real is,  

1. Opposed to that which is imaginary, and importeth as much as truly.  
2. To that which is merely figurative and barely representative, and importeth as much as effectually.  
3. To that which is spiritual, and importeth as much as corporally or materially.   
The presence of Christ in the Sacrament is real in the two former acceptions of real, but not in the last, for he is truly there present and effectually, though not carnally or locally. Doctor Featleys' Transubstantiation Exploded.  
Really and corporally are not all one, that which is spiritually present is really present, unless we will say that a Spirit is nothing. The blood of Christ is really present in Baptism to the washing away of sin. Christ is really present to the faith of every true believer, even out of the Sacrament. Downs Defence against the Reply of M. N.  
We deny that Christ is so present in the Sacrament under the forms of bread and wine, as that whosoever receive the Sacrament, do truly receive Christ himself.  
The Papists say, Christ's natural body is present; we, that the merit and virtue of his 
Hyperbolicum praesentiae modum exigunt curiosi homines, quem Scriptura misquam ostendit. Calvin. Instit l 4▪ c. 17. Corpus unum non potest esse in pluribus locis simul, non enim repletiuè, at is modus proprius est Deitati quae omnia cum replete, tamen neque spatium occupat, cum sit Spiritus: neque terminis ullis definitur, cum sit infinita: nec definitiuè, quia quaecunque sic sunt in uno loco non possunt esse alibi. Nec tertiò occupatiuè, quia quicquid ita est in loco est etiam definitiuè, ac proinde non potest esse alibi. Chamierus Tom. 2. l. 6 c. 11. Scholastici tametsi contendunt ineptissimè, idem corpus posse esse in uno loco modo suo naturali seu circumscriptivo, & in multis aliis modo sacramentali: negant tamen posse esse modo naturali vel per divinam potentiam absolutam simul in pluribus locis. Ames. Bellarm. Eneru. Tom 3. c. 12,  body broken upon the Cross and of his blood shed upon the Cross is present to the believing soul in the Sacrament. The body of the Sun is in heaven in its sphere locally and circumscriptively, but the beams are on the earth. And when the Sun beams shine into our house, we say, here's the Sun, though it be the beams not the body of the Sun. So the Scripture saith of the Sacrament, This is my body, Christ ascended up into Heaven: as for that exception, he is visibly in heaven, but invisibly here, it answereth not those testimonies which prove he is so there that he is not here, Mat. 28. 6. q. d. he could not be in both places at once, an angelical argument. Aquinas saith, It is not possible by any miracle, that the body of Christ should be locally in many places at once, because it includeth a contradiction by making it not one, for one is that which is not divided from itself. It is impossible (say the Papists) according to the course of nature, but not absolutely impossible, by divine miracle it may be.  
Consubstantiation overthroweth the grounds, 
Lutherus principio ad Sacramenta conversus, videbat non esse septem, putabat tamen adhuc plura esse quam duo; post in catechismo majore, re diligentius expensa, duo tantum statuit. In negotio coenae primo videbatur illi, licet panis inesset, tamen corpus Domini una etiam per Consubstantiationem adesse; sed paulò ante mortem agens cum Philippo Melancthone, fatetur in negotio coenae nimium esse factum. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. Tom. 10. Pralect. 4. Nobis unicum solatium in co Sacramento est praesentia corporis Christi in sacrâ Coenâ. Sed negamus esse id, in, cum, sub pane; nisi ille modus loquendi sic accipiatur, quòd sit in, cum, sub pane ut signo corporis in Coena praesentis: ita enim unionis & pacis studio haud difficulter etiam in cum modum loquendi porrò condescendemus. Vedel. Rationale Theologicum, l. 3. c. 20.   

1. Of reason, the body of one and the same man cannot be present in many places all together, but must needs remain in some definite and certain place.  
2. Religion, because Christ was taken up into heaven, there to abide till the end of the world.   
It was above a hundred years before Transubstantiation.  
They did adore Christ as co-existent with the bread which perhaps gave occasion to Averro to say, That Christians did adore their God and then eat him. Averro his resolution was, Quandoquidem Christiani adorant quod comedunt, sit anima mea cum Philosophis.  
The quarrel between Luther and Zuinglius was about Christ's presence in the Sacrament, which Luther held to be by way of Consubstantiation, which how it could be unless the body of Christ were every where, Zuinglius and others could not conceive. Luther being pressed therewith, he and his followers not being able▪ 
Proper subsistence of its own, and in itself it hath none, only the subsistence of the Son of God is communicated unto it, which is infinite and unlimited.  to avoid it, maintained that also. But how? By reason of the hypostatical Union and Conjunction thereof with the word. For the word being every where, and the humane nature being no where severed from it, How can it be, say they, but every where? The humanity of Christ according to its Essence or natural Being is contained in one place, but according to its subsistence or personal being may rightly be said to be every where. Zanch. Misc. jud. de Dissid. Coen. Dom. and D. Field, lib. 3. c 35. of the Church.  
The Papists constant Doctrine is, That in worshipping the Sacrament they should give unto it, Latriae cultum qui vero Deo debetur, as the Council of Trent hath determined, that kind of service which is due to the true God, determining 
Ex hoc loco Cinglio-Calviniani, canes impurissimi, blaspheme argumentantur, Corpus Christi in S. Coena ore corporis non accipi, nisi (inquiunt) s●atucre velimus & illud in alvum abire, & (increpet te Dominus Satan) per secessum ejici. Bertram. in Mat. 15.  their worship in that very thing which the Priest doth hold betwixt his hands.  
This is artolatry, an idolatrous worship of the bread, because they ado●e the host even as the very person of the Son of God. It is true, they conceive it not bread, but the body of Christ, yet that doth not free them from bread-worship, for than if the Heathen did take his stone to be a God it did free him from idolatry. Hence, saith a 
* Coster. Dr Burgess of kneeling. pag. 113.  Jesuit, If the bread be not turned into the body of Christ, we are the greatest and worst idolaters that ever were, as upon my soul, saith he, it is not.  
Adoration is not commanded in the institution of it. 
Deux non jussit vel adorari Sacramentum, vel etiam nos adorare coram Sacramento, vel in Sacramento. Nolumus tamen atro carbone notare eos, qui nobiscum alias se●●i●●●es, & eandem fidem profitentes, neque Sacramentis divinos honores deferre intendentes, ea flexis genibus accipiu●t, adorati●ne ad institutorem directa, & ad eum qui se nobis communicate. Quia tamen mos ille ab iis profluxit, qui ex Sacramento Deum fecerunt, quod direct adorant, multo magis nobis consuetudo probatur corum, qui quantum possunt abstinent ab ●●s ex quibus vel suspicio, vel occasio idololariae, vel superstitioni, oriri posset. Riveti Instruct. Praepar. ad coenam Domini, c. 13. Vide plura ibid.   
2. Nothing is to be worshipped with Divine Worship but God.   

Of Transubstantiation.  
The word Transubstantiation (as the Papists grant) was not used of any ancient Fathers, and it was not so named among them before the Council of Lateran, which 
Transubstantiation is commentum▪ quo nihil vidi● orbis absurdius. Chamierus. B. Morton of the Mass, lib. 3. cap. 1. Sect. 3. Si quis negaverit mirabilem & Angelicam conversionem totius substantiae panis & vini in corpus & sanguinem, Anathema fit. Concil. Trident. Can. 3. Nullum exemplum dari potest, vel ordinarium, vel extra ordinem per miraculum, totalis conversionis alicu●us substantiae individualis, in aliam substantiam individualem praeexistentem & manentem. Haec igitur transubstantiatio (quae res est ordinariae procur●tionis secundum Pontificios) tale quid est, quale simile nihil Deus unquam per hominem aut Angelum effecit, id est, commentum sine exemplo. Ames. Bellarmin. Enervat. Tomo tertio cap. 3.  was 1215 years after. Vocabulum ante Concilium Lateranense inauditum.  
The Jesuits (which call Protestant's in scorn Tropists, because they defend a tropical and figurative sense in that speech of Christ, This is my body) are yet themselves constrained to acknowledge six tropes in the other words of Christ's institution of this Sacrament, a figure in the word Bread, another in Eat, a third in Given, a fourth in Shed, a fifth in Cup, a sixth in Testament. B. Morton of the Mass, lib. 6. cap. 2. Sect. 4.  
The Papists to avoid one sign run into many strange ones; by the demonstrative 
See M. Cartw. Answ. to the Marquis of Worc. Reply, from p. 122. to 140. and Gauges new Survey of the West Indies, c. 21.  Hoc, they understand they know not what, neither this Body nor this Bread, but an individuum vagum, something contained under the accidents of Bread, which when the Priest saith Hoc, it is Bread, but when he hath muttered out Meum, it is Christ's body. By the copulative Est, is, they understand either shall be as soon as the words are spoken, or is converted unto, or by Body, they understand such a Body as indeed is no body, without extension of place, without faculty, sense or motion.  
The very term Matth. 26. 26. manifestly evinceth the truth. This, What? That which he took, viz. Bread, therefore it must needs be a figurative speech, 1 Cor. 10. 4.  
The Apostle speaking of the Bread being consecrated, still calleth it 
* 1 Cor. 10. 16. & 11. 26, 27.  Bread, six times at least. He calleth it indeed the Bread, and this Bread, to show the difference of it from other Bread, and the excellency of it above other bread, but yet 
Fictitia illa transubstantiatio pro qua hodiè acrius depugnant quam qro omnibus aliis fidei suae capitibus. Calv. Inst. l. 4. c. 17. Vide plura ibid.  bread. Therefore it is still bread of the same substance as other bread is, though in respect of use incomparably better. And so for the wine Matth. 26. 29. after consecration, he saith, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the Vine. He doth not say in general, Of the fruit of the Vine, but particularly with a demonstrative pronoun, Of this fruit of the Vine, viz. that which he had blest and delivered to the Apostles.  
Transubstantiation was first occasioned by the unwary speeches 
* D. Fulk on 1 Cor. 11. 24.  of Damascene and Theophylact, they were hyperbolical in their expressions about the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament.  
Some of the ancient Fathers speaking of the sacramental Elements after consecration, being then set apart from common use, called it a mutation, saying that the Elements were changed into another nature, but withal they express their meaning to be, not the changing of their substance, but their use, from being common bread and wine to become sacramental or sacred. 1 Cor. 11. 27. The Apostle distinguisheth these four things, Bread, Body, Cup and Blood, the Bread and Wine therefore receive no other change, but that of use, signification and relation, 
Attersol hath twenty six reasons against Transubstantiation, l. 3. of the Sacrament, cap. 5.  1 Cor. 10. 16. He distinguisheth also Bread from the Body, Bread is the subject of the proposition, and the Communion of his Body the predicate.  
Reasons against Transubstantiation:  
First, Then Christ must hold himself in his own hands, eat and drink his own flesh and blood, for the Papists say, He did eat the Sacrament with his Disciples. 
See D. Primrose on the Sacram. p. 127. to 158. and D. Hall● No peace with Rome, p. 656. D. Featl●ys Vertum. Rom. p. 63.   
Secondly, Christ must needs have two Bodies, the one broken and having the blood separated from it in the Cup, the other whole and having the blood in it which holds the Cup.  
Thirdly, Christ's blood than should be shed before his crucifying, and so a propitiatory Sacrifice offered to God before the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Crosse.  
Fourthly, One body should be now in a thousand places at a time. 
D. Chaloner on Matth. 13. 2●. p. 279. to 283. To make bread to be flesh while it is bread, is a contradiction in itself, and as much as to say, Bread is no bread, and therefore impossible. D. Morton. The pretence of God's omnipotency hath been anciently Asylum haereticorum, the Sanctuary of heretics. C●saub. exercit. 3. Vide Amyraut▪ de l'elevation de la Foy & de l'abaisement de la raison, Ch. 3, 4, 8 9, 10. & Thess Theol. Sa●mur. part. 3. de Transub. Vobis (ut multi seutiunt) praestitisset, vertiginosam hanc de Transubstantiatione opinionem non attigisse. Name, ex quo Helenam hanc vestram i● Christianismum advexistis, tot vos, tot Scholam vestram quotidiè exerce●t, tam ●●inosae, tam nodosae quaestiones (tam id autem tristi successu:) De quantitate Christi sub pane, An sit ibi Christus sub sua, an sub panis quantitate? Et si sub suâ, an sub quantitate sine modo quantitativo? An sit ibi Christi substantia sub accedentibus, remotâ tamen inhaerentia? contra Logicam. In iis verbis, Quod pro vobis frangitur, cum frangi jam corpus non possit, quip nec pati: an frangi non sit ibi verbum passivum, contra Grammaticam? An ex accidentibus mures nutriantur, an ex iis vermes generentu●? contra Physicam? Episc. Andr. ad Bellarm. Apolog. ●esp cap. 1. Vide plura ibid. Nullum exemplum dari potest, ubi omnes sensus omnium hominum (organo, medio, objecto benè disposito) adh●bitis omnibus mediis explorandi veritatem, circa objectum sensibile fallatur. 2. Nullum Sacramentum institu●t ita Deus ut fundamentum suam habeat in sensuum delusione. Ames. Bellarm. Eneru. Tom. 3. de Transub.   
Fifthly, A true body should be without bigness, void of all dimensions. Corpus non quantum.  
Sixthly, Accidents should be without a subject, but Aristotle saith, Accidents are entis rather then entia. Accident is esse est inesse, the very essence of an Accident as it is an Accident, is to be in some subject. Vide Aquin. 1a; 1ae. Quaest 90. Artic. 2.  
Seventhly, The same thing should be and not be at the same time, or should be before it was.  
Eightly, This is an inhuman thing, none eat man's flesh but Cannibals.  
Ninthly, Then the senses should be deceived, we see bread, we smell bread, we touch bread, and taste bread.  
Tenthly, There is no alteration in the sign of Baptism, and there is the same use of the sign of the Lords Supper.  
Matth. 26 26. jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to his Disciples, and said, Take, Eat, This is my Body. What our Saviour took, that he blessed; what he blessed that he broke; what he broke, he delivered to the Disciples; what he delivered to them, of that he said, This is my Body. But it was Bread that he took, the Evangelist so saith, and Bread therefore that he blessed, Bread that he broke, Bread that he delivered, and Bread consequently of which he said, This is my Body.  
The universal custom of the Scripture in all places where like kind of speaking 
In illis orationibus Petra erat Christus, Semen erat verbum Dei, ego sum ostium, Verbum substantivum▪ est interpretandum pro significat aut sigurat. Salmeron. Tom. 9 Tract. 10. Rogant Dominum qu● esset Parabola jam dicta, boc est, quia illa significaret. Est enim hic ponitur pro significat, quemadmodum & ibi, Petra autem erat Christus. Jansen, concord c. 51. Reprobata Cornel●o à Lapide fuisset audacia Maldonati, negantis verbum substantivum aut Latinè, aut Graecè, aut Ebraicè, a●t t●lla prosus in lingua aut apud ull●m au●●●●● pro verbo significat ●ccip● solor●, ●●t etiam posse, hominesque imperitissimos qui id dicunt, esse affirmantis. Sic insolentissi●●us, Hispanus in Mat. 26 26▪ Rive●. i●●. 46. Manifestium est, est accipi ordinarie pro signifi●a●: ●● amare est diligere, id est, significat. Petra erat Christus, id est, in Petra erat significans Christum. Septem boves sunt septem anni, Gen. 41. Semen est verbum Dei, Mat. 13. Hoc est foedus meum, id est, significat Chamier. de Euchar. l. 10▪ c. 7. Vide Mo●nayum de▪ sac Euch▪ l. 4. c. 3. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9▪ La veritè de la Religion Reformee. Par. de Croi. p. 543, 544, 545, etc. Nullus Patrum affirmat substantiam panis, ●ffi●● substantiam corporis Christi, pro●er vel unum, & monstrum illud admittam & amplectar Transubstantiationis. Loquuntur scio Autres eo modo, ut dicant tran●mutari, transire, transelementari, in aliam naturam cedere, & quae sunt alia ejus generis. Montac. Orig. Eccles. Tom. prior. part▪ poster. p. 264.  is used, plainly leads us to a figure, see 1 Cor. 10. 4. The Hebrews wanting a proper word to set forth that which we mean by signifying, do ever in stead of that use the word is. When joseph had heard Pharaohs dream, he saith, The seven years of good corn are seven years of plenty, and the seven thin ears seven years of dearth, Gen. 41. 26, 27. so the seven fat kine are seven years, that is, by way of signification and representation. So Ezek. 37. 11. & Dan. 2. 38. & 7. 17. whence it comes that in the New Testament where the manner of speaking by the Hebrews is imitated, the word is in matter of signs, is used for the word signify. So in the Parable, That which is sowed upon stony ground is he that heareth, and after. The seed is the Word, Luk. 8. 11. the Reapers, the Angels, so, I am the Vine, Revel. 17. 12. The ten Kings are ten horns. Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia. 2. The Apostle Paul clearly goes before us in this interpretation, for he saith, the bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ, because it was appointed for a certain means of making us partakers of his body.  
Our Saviour said long before, viz. John 6. 63. that the flesh profiteth nothing, that is, the flesh by eating of it profits nothing, for in no other sense can it be said to profit nothing. See 2 Cor. 5. 16, 17.  
Their Legend tells us, that some Boys getting by heart, and pronouncing the words of Consecration, Hoc est Corpus meum, turned all the Baker's bread in the street into flesh.  
In the Book of the Conformities of St Francis there is a miracle recorded for Transubstantiation; that on a time Prior Francis saying Mass, did find a Spider in the Chalice, which he would not cast out, but drink it up with the blood. Afterward rubbing his thigh and scratching where it itched, the Spider came whole out of his thigh without any harm to either.  
It is a spiritual eating because it is wrought by the aid of the holy Ghost, and this mystery is perceived by faith, which the Spirit of God works in our minds, and this excellent nourishment belongs to a spiritual and eternal life. Sadeel de spirit, manducat. corporis Christi. c. 1.  
A conjunction includes a presence, and as the conjunction between Christ and us is spiritual, so also is his presence.   

Of the keeping of the Eucharist.  
We grant that in antiquity there was a custom of breaking of some pieces of 
In Ecclesia veteri rese●vabatur Eucharistia & ad aegrotum deserebatur: sed utrumque ●iebat, ut sumer●tur & manducaretur. At in Romana Ecclesia circumgestatio fit ad ostentationem & pompam▪ au● ad incendia, tempestates, aliaque, mala averruncanda▪ etiam in adoratione ejus peculiaris cultus est institutus: quae commenta veteris Ecclesiae sapientiam fugerunt. Voss. in Thesibus. Sacramentum non est, nisi quatenus institutio Domini in co observatur, sed Dominus instituit usum praesentem Eucharisti●, non Hostiam in pixide conservandam: Ergo Hostia in pixide conservata, non est Sacramentum. jussit Dominus Discipulos suo● facere quod fecerunt. jussit nos etiam facere quod prima coeha factum est. jussit manducationem conjungi cum benedictione, fractione, & acceptione. Nihil de reservatione jussit, aut judicavit. Ames. Bellarm. Enervat. T●m● tertio cap. 14.  Bread which was blest, and sending of it home to some that were sick, or to other Parishes as a testimony of Communion, but this is nothing to that reservation of it in the pix, and to carry it up and down for Adoration. Now we say contrary, that the Sacraments are no longer than the mere use of them, that they are not absolute and permanent things, but relative and transient. Now that all such reservation is unlawful, appeareth  

1. By the express precept even for the eating as well as the taking of it, so that if it be not taken it is no Sacrament.  
2. A promise is not to be separated from the precept, now the Sacramental promise is only to the Bread in the use of it, Take, Eat, This is my Body, that is, this Bread so blest, so distributed, so eaten.  
3. The Bread is called a Body in reference to us, now as a stone which is a Bound-mark, removed remaineth a stone, but ceaseth to be a Bound-mark: So here.  
4. As the water in Baptism is not an actual Sacrament till sprinkled; so neither Bread and Wine unless used.   
The reserving of the Eucharist which the primitive Christians used for the benefit 
D. Reynolds medit. on the L. Supper, c. 12.  of those who either by sickness or persecutions were withheld from the meetings of the Christians (as in those days saith justin Martyr many were) is by the Papists now turned into an idolatrous circumgestation, that at the sight of the Bread the people might direct unto it the worship that is due only to the person whose passion it represents.   

Of the Circumgestation of the Sacrament, and the Popish Processions.  
For the solemn Circumgestation of this Sacrament, Cassander hath confessed, 
An nov● negabunt Romani in Eucharistiae Sacramento, elevationem, ostensionem, adorationem, circumgestationem, detractionem calicis? Quam aliena haec omnia ab ipsa Christi institutione & primaevae Ecclesiae praxi? Recentissima quidem ista, & ab his quinque aut sex saeculis introducta. Salmas. Apparat. ad Primatum Papae. p. 190.  that seeing it is but a late invention, it may well be omitted without any detriment unto the Church, yea with emolument.  
Some among our Adversaries have noted these pompous processions to have proceeded 
Polyd. Virgil. de Invent, l. 6. c. 11.  from an imitation of heathenish Rites and Ceremonies, and to be most ridiculous and sotish as they use them.  
The ancient Fathers concealed heretofore, as carefully as they could, the matter and the rites used in the celebration of the holy Sacrament, the Papists show it now openly, and carry it publicly abroad every day through the streets, and sometimes also go in solemn Procession with it: which custom of theirs is of very late standing among Christians, and heretofore would have been accounted rather profane and unlawful. Daille of the right use of the Fathers, l. 2. c. 6.    

CHAP. X. Of the Mass.  
THe Papists call the Lords Supper by this name, which implies horrible Idolatry. The Father's using of the word was the occasion of that dangerous error, if we would keep out the error we must likewise keep out 
See Book of Martyrs, vol. 3. pag. 1. about the word Mass, and Mayerus in Philol. Sacr. and Drus. ad difficiliora loea Deut. 42. Vide Casaub. Exercit. 6. Sect. 58. & Martynii Etymol. in voce missa. & Picherelli Dissertat. de missa. cap. 1. Maldonat. apud Mat. de miss. l. 1. c. 1. Sect. 2. It was called missa a Mass or sending (say the Papists) because an offering is sent to God by the Priest, or from sending of gifts to the Deacons for the public use, rather from the dismissing of the people, either of the Catechumeni and Poenitentes before the Sacrament, or after that was done, of the whole people and Congregation in these words, Ite, missa est. The phrase missam facere (used in some of the Fathers) doth not signify to say the Popish Mass, but to dismiss some out of the Assembly. Ad missam venio, quod nomen tantum non adoratur à Papistis, à nobis non lubenter usurpatur, cum quia non à Scriptura, ne quidem à prima antiquitate, tum quia nihil habeat, quo pars ulla aut efficacia Sacramenti deli●cetur: ac ne apud Papistas quidem Sacramento proprium sit. Missam Latinum nomen Latina Etymologia dictum à mittendo nemo dubitat, origo nominis est à dimittendo populo; quod ●is fiebat, primùm enim dimittebantur Catechumeni, & quibuscunque non liceret interesse sacris mysteriis: postea iterum universus populus omnibus perfectis. Chamier. de Sac. l. 5. c. 2.  the name.  
The very name of Mass is against private Mass, and quite overthrows it. For missa is as much as missio, or dimissio, à dimittendis Catechumenis antequam Sacrificium inchoaretur. It signifies as much as dimission or sending away of such out of the Church, as were not prepared and fit to receive, before the Sacrament began to be celebrated. Probabilissima est Bellarmino eorum sententia qui missam dici volunt à missione seu dimissione populi. D. Prid. de missae Sacrificio. Rhenanus in Tertul. l. 4. advers. Martion.  
Picherellus and Sadeel think it is a Latin word, which signifies as much as missio, so remissa is used for remission both by Tertullian and Cyprian.  
Chemnitius in part secunda Exam. derives it from the Chaldaical signification of the word missa, for the sufficiency of the Papists is from the Mass. Una & potissima quaestura regni Pontificii est cauponatio & nundinatio privatarum missarum. Chemnit. ubi supra, Vide Drus. in Deut. 6. 16. Some dispute hard to derive the word Mass from an Hebrew root, either Gnasah to do, and sometimes to sacrifice, or from Misbeach an Altar▪ others fetch it from Mas a Tribute. But the learned Papists, as Bellarmine and others, do wholly reject this, for this reason, if it had been an Hebrew word, the Apostles and Grecians afterward would have retained it, as they have done Amen, Hallelujah, and Hosanna, but they did not.  
Dr Tailor saith, The word is neither Hebrew, Greek nor Latin, nor taken from any other language of any Nation, but raked out of the bottomless pit without all signification, unless it agree with our English word (Mass) that is, an heap, a lump, a chaos of blasphemies and abominations.  
The Mass is like a beggar's cloak patched up with many pieces, whereof some were put in an one time, some at another: one Pope puts in one patch, another another: and it was not fully patched up as now it is, till twelve hundred years after Christ. Acts and Monum. p. 1274.  
Christ hath ordained the holy Communion in remembrance of himself. Men do neither retain any remembrance of Christ nor yet Communion, but have changed all the whole matter into a gay show, and almost a stage-play. Paul saith, That Christ hath once entered into the holy place, and hath with one only Sacrifice, and with one oblation made perfect all things: Men say, that they can sacrifice Christ himself again every day in very deed, and that in infinite places. B. jewel on 1 Pet. 4. 11.  
For the thing itself.  
It is a work in which the Priest in whispering over those five words, Hoc est enim 
See M. Cartw. Rejoin. p. 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296.  Corpus meum, makes Christ of the Bread (as the Papists suppose) and offers him to the Father, as a Sacrifice for the expiating of the sins of the living and the dead. First, As soon as he hath rehearsed the words of consecration, and by the uttering of them made his Maker, as they conceive, he presently bowing his knees adores the host consecrated by him, and likewise the Cup. After he hath worshipped it he riseth up, and turning from the people with great reverence, lifts up the Host with both his hands over his head, and shows it to the people's view, that they may worship it as Christ himself, and in the like manner after also the Cup. While the Sacrament is elevated a little Bell rings, by which as by a sign given, the people with great veneration worships the Sacrament as Christ himself.  
We acknowledge that in the Sacrament there is a solemn praising of God which 
Down. Diatrib. de Antichristo, lib 5. c. 3. Genebrardus celeberrimus. ille Ebraicarum literarum apud Parifienses Doctor primam missam ab Apostolo Jacobo ipso die Pentecostes cantatam asserit. Amama Antibarb. Bibl. Patres Eucharistiam Sacrificii nomine appellarunt, Primò, Quia Eucharistia est gratiarum actio quae Sacrificium est Deo gratissimum. Secundò, Quoniam qui ad Eucharistiam rèctè accedunt se tot●s Deo in Sacrificium offerunt. Tertiò, Quia memoriam illius summi & divinissimi Sacrificii recolit, quod Christus in cruse fecit. Whitak. ad Sanderi. Demonst. resp. In such sort as the ancient Fathers did call this action a Sacrifice by a Metonymy, because it is a remembrance of the only Sacrifice of Christ's death, and by a Synecdoche, because the Sacrifice of praise is offered to God for the redemption of the world in the celebration of this action, in this sort we do not deny the term of Sacrifice. Fulk on Mat. 26. 6.  sometimes is called a Sacrifice, as likewise that the believers did offer up charitable alms which sometimes is called a Sacrifice, as likewise that there is a representation and commemoration of Christ who was our Sacrifice: But to hold that here by the Priest is offered up again the body and blood of Christ though after an unbloudy manner, is a falsehood, and many that swear by the Mass know not the horrible impiety of it. They hold that the offering up of this to God is efficacious for the quick and dead, and those in Purgatory.  
The Fathers oft term the Lords Supper a Sacrifice, partly in regard of the spiritual Sacrifice therein offered; and partly because it is a lively representation and commemoration of Christ's Sacrifice once offered on the Cross; and partly also because it succeedeth in the room of the Passeover, and those other Sacrifices that in the Old Testament were offered. But that they ever dreamt of any other Sacrifice distinct from the Sacrament, no Papist shall ever be able to prove. M. Gatak. of Transub. p. 113.  
In Sacrificiis offerimus, in Sacramentis accipimus. Beza.  
A Sacrifice and a Sacrament cannot stand together, for by a Sacrifice something is offered to God, but by a Sacrament something is received from God. Therefore the Paschal Lamb was not a Sacrifice, as the offering up of Bullocks and Lambs, but only a Sacrament and sign of our redemption by Christ, Heb. 7. 10. there needs no other expiatory oblation, Why should I offer then to expiate sin when it is expiated already?  
The Papists say, It is a Sacrifice properly so called. The whole essence of a Sacrifice 
Si quis dixerit non offerri verum & proprium sacrificium, aut non esse propitiatorium, Anathema fit. Concil. Trident. Sess. 33. Can. 1. & 3.  depends upon the institution of Christ, say Suarez and Salmeron, if any Sacrifice had been instituted, it must have appeared by some word or act of Christ, neither of which can be found, 1 Cor. 11. after the words, Do this. Paul, ver. 25. immediately expounds what was meant by doing, expressing the acts of doing, As often as you shall eat, which was spoken generally to all the faithful in Corinth, not to the sacrificing Priests. They prove it from Virgil's Calf,  Cum faciam vitulâ pro frugibus ipse venito. 

Neque enim Patres Eucharistiam cum sacrificium appellant, real ac verum proprieque sic dictum sacrificium propitiatorium intelligunt, sed ob alias causas victimam, sacrificium oblationem, appellant. Vede●. exercit. in Ignat. Epist. ad Smyrnenfes, c. 4. Ibi etiam septem causas assignat, ob quas Eucharistiae sacrificium vocatur à Patribus.  See jansen Concord. c. 13. p. 904. & Rhemists on Luke 22. 20.  
Object. Almost all things are by the Law purged with blood: and without 
Vide Cameron. Myroth. ad Heb. 9 16.  shedding of blood is no remission, Heb. 9 22. But in the Sacrifice of the Mass there is no effusion of blood, therefore there is no remission made for sins, and by consequent it is not a propitiatory Sacrifice.  

1. Nothing therein is properly sacrified, not the Bread and Wine, for they are transubstantiated (say they) before the Sacrifice; not Christ's body, for no living thing can properly be sacrificed unless it be slain, but Christ being once dead dieth no more.  
2. The Papists say, it is an external Sacrament, yet Christ there appears to no sense, but is concealed under the accidents of Bread and Wine. 
D. Featley. Si occisio sit de ratione sacrificii, illud quod appellant incruenentum sacrificium, nihil aliud erit quam repraesentatio veri & realis sacrificii; ac proinde haud reale sacrificium. Nam si saepè offerat seipsum Christus, oportet cum saepè pati, cum ●blatio Christi à passione ejus fi●c. morte distincta, fit figmentum sibi ipsi contradictorium. Episc. Daven. Determ. Quaest 13. Hoc & postrema sua ●voce, & inter ultimos Spiritus edita Christus significavit, quum dixit, Consummatum est. Sol●mus extremas morientium voces pro oraculo observare. Christus moriens testatur uno suo sacrificio perfectum esse & impletum quicquid in salutem nostram er●t. Calvin. Instit. lib. 4. cap. 18.   
3. They say it is Sacrificium incruentum, an unbloudy Sacrifice, yet Christ's blood is there truly and really shed and drunk by the Communicants with the mouth.  
4. It is a perfect and all-sufficient Sacrifice, yet they repeat it daily.   
Propitiatory is either that which pacifieth the wrath of God, and pleaseth him by its own virtue and efficacy, which is only the Sacrifice of Christ in his own self, or else by God's gracious acceptance and indulgence, Rom. 12. 1. Heb. 13. 16. Phil. 4. 18. Heb. 9 & 10. the Apostle from the iteration of Sacrifices doth conclude the insufficiency of them, for if Christ be offered again and again, he is an imperfect Sacrifice, and we need something else. The Apostle also in those Chapters doth often inculcate the once offering and once oblation, by Christ offering up of himself once, we are free from the guilt of our sins, Heb. 3. 9 The entrance of Christ into the heavens is compared with the old High-priests entrance into the holiest of holies, and therefore as none but the High priest might go in there, so none could offer this Sacrifice but Christ himself, and withal it implieth that to the perfection of Christ's Sacrifice is required his continual appearing in heaven for us.  
Malachy 1. 11. useth the word offering, which was properly a part of the service 
L● Foy fondee sur l●s saints Escritures. P●r Daille 3 party. Vide plura ibid. Cum in Scriptura sacra preces & elecmosyne, & aerumnae piorum, & quaelibet sanctae actiones sacrificia appellentur, facilè patimur sacram coenam vocari sacrificium: Nec imus inficias quin hoc sensu sit sacrificium. Quo sensu veteres eam vocaverint sacrificium, hinc liquet, quod passim sacram coenam vocant Eucharistiam & Sacrificium Eucharisticum, id est actionis gratiarum, seu sacrificium landis, ut habetur in C●none Missae. Molinaei Hyperaspist. lib. 2. c. 5.  used in the Church in his time to signify the Gospel-service which succeeds in the New Testament, and to express it more particularly, he calls it a pure offering, no longer carnal and gross, but wholly spiritual.  
Irenaeus by the pure offering in Mal. 1. 11. understandeth the Eucharist now in use, and many of the Ancients suppose it resembled in that action of Melchisedech, Gen. 14. 18. And they call it the Christians Sacrifice succeeding in the room of the Jewish Sacrifices; the Sacrifice, I say, of the Eucharist, not their Sacrifice of the Mass. M. Gatak. of Transub.  
The pure prayers and worship of God that should be in all Churches under the Gospel, as Tertullian, Eusebius, jerom and Augustine expound it. M. Sh●p. Reply to M. Ball. Vide Grot. in loc.  
There was a Controversy of late years fomented by some through Popish compliances, That the Lords Supper might be styled a Sacrifice, the Table an Altar, 
M. T goodwin's Christ the universal Peacemaker. p●r. 2. Sect. 2.  which produced in the discussion of it (as all controversies do in the issue some further truth) the discovery of this true decision of it: That it was not a Sacrifice, but a feast after and upon Christ's sacrificing of himself. Participatio Sacrificii, as Tertullian calls it, a sacrificial fe●st commemorating and confirming all those ends for which the only true and proper Sacrifice of Christ was offered up.  
Private massing, or the alone communicating of the Priest, is not according  

1. To the institution of Christ, saying in the plural to them, Drink ye all 
Tolle traditiones incertas, & Apocryphas, actum erit de missis solitariis & angularibus: de sacris ignotis, precibus exoticis & ignoratis, corporali praesentia, manducatione orali in Eucharistia: & illa monstrorum hydra, puncto nimirum cum omnibus dimensionibus, Transubstantiatione. Montac. Antidiat. Certissimum est sacram coenam non nisi in Communi aliquo fidelium & communicantium coetu ess● usurpandum: quò spectant varia nomina quibus designatur tum in Scriptures, tum in Patribus. Appell. tur evim Synaxis, Coena Domini, Communicatio. Vide 1 Cor. 10. 17. & 11. 18, 20, 22. Hinc jure merito improbatae nobis missae privatae & absque Communicantibus, quae sunt in usu apud Pontificios Quaest aliquot Theol Decisio Authore Maresio, q. 3.  of this.  
2. To the practice of the Apostles, Act. 2. 46.   
The Council of Trent saith, We commend the Priests communicating alone, which is as good as conferring or covenanting alone.  
The Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 28. requires that every man first examine himself, and then eat, and he testifies vers. 23. That what he delivered he received also of the Lord. And so we know that the Lord himself gave unto all which were present with him, and suffered none only to be by and look on.  
2. It is against the nature of the Sacrament, for it is a spiritual Feast.  
3. It is against the name of the Sacrament, for it is commonly called a Communion, which name seems to be fetched from 1 Cor. 10. 16, 17. but what Communion is there when one alone receiveth and not them which are present with him.  
4. Against the Canon of the Mass, the Priest ever speaks in the Plural number.  
The words of our Saviour, Take, Eat, this is my Body, Mat. 26. 26. were spoken 
D. Featleys Stricturae in Lyndomastigem, p. 43.  to all future Communicants, as well as to the Apostles then present, for they contain in them an institution of a Sacrament to be celebrated in all Christian Churches, till the end of the world, as the Apostle teacheth us from 1 Cor. 11. from vers. 23. to 28. especially at the 26. verse. as often as ye eat this Bread and drink 
See D. Willet on Exo. 29. 24▪ controvers.  this Cup. ye show the Lords death till he come. This the Apostles in their persons could not fulfil, for they lived not till Christ's second coming: they must of necessity therefore be extended to all that in succeeding ages should be present at the Lords Supper, who are as much bound by this precept of Christ to communicate with the Priest, or dispenser of the Sacrament, as the Apostles were to communicate with Christ himself, when he first in his own person administered it; otherwise if the precepts, Tak●, Fat. Do this in remembrance of me▪ appertained to the Apostles only, What warrant hath any Priest now to consecrate the elements or administer the Sacrament? Nay, what command have any faithful at all to receive the Communion?  
The Sacrifice of the Mass being idolatrous, it is not lawful to be present at it. 
See D▪ Halls no peace with Rome, p. 658. In Ecclesia Romana communi proverbio dicitur, Campana bene pulsata dimidium missae esse peractum. Domitius Calderinus ne missam quidem volebat audire, & quum ab amicis eò duceretur, dixisse fertur, camus ad communem errorem. Lodou. Viu. de veritate fidei Christianae, l. 2 c 7. Nobilissimus Cunradus à Rechenberg, superstitionum osor, & missatici sacrificii non obscurus hostis, qui aliquando visitatoribus, ut missam celebraret, hortantibus, respondit: Si vere Christus est in hostia, indignus sum qui illum intuear, indignior qui Patri offeram. Si non est in hostia, vae mihi, si panem pro Deo populo adorandum propono. Scultet A●nal. Decas 1. p. 76.  1 Cor. 10. 20. In their Masse-book they call the Cross itself, our only hope.  
Those Texts are against going to Mass, Psal. 26. 4. 1 Cor. 10. 7, 14. 2 Cor. 6. 14, 16, 17. 1 joh 5. 21.  
Many will say, They keep their hearts to God though they be present at a Mass. This is as if a man should catch his wife in the act of adultery, and she apologise, that the other had her body, but he her heart, 1 Cor. 6. 27. Rom. 11. 4. God's people have their knees for God as well as their hearts, 1 Kings 19 Origen said, he could not bend the knees of his body to God, and the knees of his heart to Satan. See B. Daven. Determ. 7. Revel. 7. 3. They have a mark in the forehead, because they must not be ashamed of their profession, that mark is obvious to all the world. Our Saviour by this policy might have overreached the devil himself, who required only external bowing, keeping his heart still unto God, Matth. 4. 10.  
In some case a man may be present at Mass and not sin: As  

1. When he is there by violent compulsion, this is not his sin but theirs.  
2. If in travel a man be in a fit place to see and observe their folly, so as he shows no reverence at all or approbation by bending his knee, uncovering his head, or otherwise. 
Aderant sed non ●dorarunt. Pet. Mart. D. Featleys Vertumnus Romanus, p. 18. Vide Grot. in Lu●. 4. 27. See Down. Sum of Diu. on the 1. Com.    
King Edward the 6th would not suffer the Lady Mary to have Mass in her house. Fox's vol. 2. p. 653.  
The bowing of Naaman spoken of in 2 King. 5. 8. was genuflexio obsequii, not imitativa, a bowing to the King, not to the Idol.  
2. Elisha's words do not necessarily import an approbation or permission of that which was propounded, but a mere form of valediction, as if he had said in our language, Adieu or Farewell, or there may be an Enallage temporis very usual in the Hebrew, and have relation to the time past.  

Of private Receiving of the Lords Supper.  
The Passeover was to be eaten in such a Family, Exod. 12. 46. to signify that the Church was then but a handful or household, in respect of the fullness of the Gentiles which were to follow: but the Lord's Supper was not to be eaten in a private separated Family, but the Church was to come together, and to 
M. Reynolds Meditat. on the Lord's Supper.  stay one for another, 1 Cor. 11. 33. that in the confluence of the people and publicness of the action the increase and multitude of the Church might be expressed.  
1 Cor. 11. 22. Paul opposeth the Congregation wherein the Lords Supper should be taken, unto a private house, where men satisfy their hunger.  
It is noted of a Christian Jew, desperately sick of the Palsy, that he was 
Cartw. Rest of the 2d Reply against B. Whit. gift, p. 116, 119 He quotes there also P. Mart. on Rom. 6. Beza in his Questions of the Sac. 151.  with his bed carried to the place of Baptism.  
The purest and best reformed Churches this day, in Savoy, Germany, France, and divers others, administer the Sacraments only in the ordinary meetings.  
In my judgement (saith Master Cartwright) it is unmeet to administer either of the Sacraments in private houses, and it is less tolerable in the holy Supper, which hath a special mark and representation of brotherly Communion, more than Baptism.   

The Necessity of the Eucharist.  
The administering of the Communion to Infants is a Rite as ancient as Cyprians 
Augustinus de peccat. merit. & remis l. ●. c 24. & 26. defendit, infants non posse vitam ac salutem aeternam consequi, nisi Eucharistiam participent, putans aequè obligari istis verbis Joh. 6. 35. ac istis, nisi quis natus fuerit. Augustini & Innocentii primi sententia sexcentos circiter annos viguit in Eccle●●●, Eucharistiam etiam infantibus esse necessariam. Nunc apu● omnes qui Christianum nomen profitentur is mos obsolevit, q●i ob●in●erat tempore Cyprian●, Augustini & Innocentii primi Romani Episcopi, ut Euchar●●●icum panem in●●nctum ●●●berent infantibus, ut ex eorum scriptis apparet. Rivet. Instruct. Praepar. ad coenam Dom. c. 6.  time, and a Rite that did continue in the Church above 600 years.  
Innocentius the first and Augustine concluded a necessity of children's receiving this Sacrament from john 6. 53. it may well conclude for those which are of years, and capable of that mystery, for though it speaketh rather of a spiritual eating and drinking, yet because the sacramental is a sign and pledge of that, and whosoever doth indeed spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood, cannot choose but also be willing and forward to do it sacramentally when opportunity is offered, and there is no impediment to hinder.  
Christ requireth in all persons about to communicate three principal acts of reason, one is before, and two are at the time of receiving; The first is 1 Cor. 11. Let 
B. Morton of the Mass, lib. 1. cap. 2. Sect. 11.  ● man examine himself; The second, to discern the Lords body; The third is, to remember the Lords death until his coming again. All which three being acts of judgement cannot agree unto Infants, being persons void of judgement. 
Si quis dixerit parvulis antequam ad ann●s discretionis pervenerint necessariam esse Eucharistiae Communionem, Anathema fit. Concil. Trident▪ Sess. 3. Canon. 4.    

The Ends for which God hath instituted the Sacrament of the Lords Supper.  
They are four:  
First, The remembrance of the death of Christ, Luke 22. 19 This do in remembrance of me.  

1. Christ's person, Phil. 3. 8, 9 we can have no interest in his benefits till we be united to him, Cant. 5. 10. to the end.  
2. His actions and sufferings, 1 Cor. 11. 24, 26.  
3. The benefits that flow from these all that Christ did and suffered was not only satisfactory but meritorious, Luke 22 20.  
4. With what affection Christ instituted this Sacrament, his bowels were then full of compassion to his people, it was the last solemn act of his life.   
Secondly, It is a strengthening Ordinance, the Lord hath appointed it only for those that are newborn, the elements there are our greatest matter of nourishment.  
Thirdly, It is a sealing Ordinance, The New Testament in my blood.  
Fourthly, An Ordinance of the Communion of Saints whereby that should be renewed, all are one bread and one body, john 6. 54. 1 Cor. 10. 16, 17.  
The Lord's Supper is  

1. A badge of a Christians profession.  
2. A seal of the Covenant of grace.  
3. A map of heaven.  
4. A means and pledge of our Communion with Christ, 1 Cor. 10. 16.   
The Supper promotes this Communion:  

1. Because it is a visible profession of our union with Christ.  
2. A lively resemblance of it, meat and drink are converted into our substance, made a part of us, there are significant rites invested with a promise, and the assurance of a blessing.  
3. It is a pledge and seal, Christ is there conveyed over to a believers use, This is my Body, a pledge whereby whole Christ with all his merits, and all that he is, is made over to a believer.  
4. A means of exhibiting Christ to the soul. The Sacraments are Instrumenta quadantenus moralia, they are accompanied with the power and virtue of the holy Ghost.   
We must therefore receive the Sacrament:  
To confirm our faith, Communion with Christ, and all saving graces in us, to keep in 
* 
It must be a remembrance, 1. Of Faith, 1. In reference to remission of sins, Mat. 26. 22. 2. To sanctification, there is bread to strengthen the heart, and wine to make it cheerful, Isa. 25. 6.  
2 Of Love, Cant. 1. 4. His love appeared in all his doings, sufferings. 3 Of Desire, Psal. 6. 8.  
4. Of Mourning, Ps. 42. 4. We should consider we had a hand in Christ's death. 5 Of Thankfulness, 1 Cor. 10. 16. it is called the Cup of blessing, and by the Ancients the Eucharist. 6. Of Resolution to abhor those sins that formerly provoked God, Host 14. 3.   remembrance the Lords death until he come again, and to testify our love one towards another.  

1. Our Faith. God is able and willing to save us: 

1. Able to save to the utmost, look upon him 1. In his Natures, God-man, Man that he might suffer, God that he might satisfy. 2. In his Offices, he is a Prophet, Priest and King, Mat. 8. 2.  
2. Willing, he died to save humble and penitent sinners, Rom. 8. 34. & Rom. 4. ult. if he spared not his life for us, he will spare nothing else. There is merit and grace enough in him (what ever my sins are or have been) for pardon of them and salvation.    
2. Communion with Christ and all saving graces in us. God's end in instituting of Ordinances is that we might meet him there, and have Communion with him, Exod 20. 24. it should be our end in frequenting Ordinances. God's eye is specially on our end in all religious duties, Matth. 11. 7, 8. Host 7. 14. Zech. 7. 5. 

1. He pondereth the heart.  
2. He judgeth of our actions by the end.  
3. The answer will be suitable to our end. The Sacrament is the nearest and visiblest Communion with Christ on earth. We come to God by Christ in prayer, as our Intercessor, in the Word as our Teacher, in the Supper as the Master of the Feast, Rom. 6. 11.    
3. To keep in remembrance the Lords death until he come again, 1 Cor. 11. 26. that is, 

1. The Doctrine of it; the bread represents his body, the wine his blood, we show our belief of this Doctrine.  
2. The Necessity of his death, we hereby testify to God our consciences, fellow-Christians, the world, our need of Christ, as bread is necessary for our bodies.  
3. The Sufficiency of Christ's death, no two creatures are more universally sufficient for all sorts of men than bread and wine, therefore God made choice of them for this purpose.  
4. The Application of Christ's death; it is the receiving of bread and wine into our stomaches that nourisheth us, when the conscience beginneth to be oppressed with the heinousness of sin, and the fear of God's vengeance, we should consider Christ bore the curse for our sins upon his body, that we might be delivered from them, and made perfect satisfaction to his Father's justice, that we might be received into favour, Rom. 8. 34, 35.    
4. To testify our love one toward another, that I shall speak of afterward.    

Of du● Preparation for the Sacrament.  
We must labour to perform all holy duties in a right manner. God requires preparation to every service, to the Sabbath, Sacrament.  
Some say the scope of the first Commandment is, that jehovah alone must be our God whom we must worship; of the second, that he must be worshipped alone with his own worship; of the third, that he must be worshipped after his own manner.  
God is more delighted with Adverbs than Nouns. None might approach to the 
Ps●●. 26. 6. I will wash my hands in innoc●●. y, and so will I compass thine Al●●r. 1 Cor. 11. 28 The bread must be eaten and the Cup drunk so.  holy things of God having his uncleanness upon him. Nadab and Abihu through carelessness, or hast brought common kitchen fire, whereas it should have been heavenly fire, therefore God punished them.  
God makes admirable promises to prayer, yet if we perform it not in that manner which God requires, he abhors it, Psal. 109. 8. The word is the power of God to convert and strengthen us, 2 Cor. 2. 16. The Sacrament is a seal of the Covenant, yet if it be received unworthily it is a seal to a blank. judas took the Passeover at least, and the devil entered into him. See 1 Cor. 11. 18, 20. so the great duty of fasting if not rightly performed is unacceptable, Isa. 14. 12. See 2 Chro. 25. 2. and prayer Prov. 15. 8.  
Reasons. 1. Because the Lord requires and order the manner as well as the 
Bonum ex causa integra, malum ex quolibet defectu.  matter, our obedience must have Gospel-perfection, sincerity and integrity. In the Passeover the Lamb must be perfect, of the first year, the man and the Lamb prepared, and it offered in the appointed time. See Exod. 12. 9 2 Chron. 30. 18, 19 
Exod. 12. 3, 6. Joh. 19 14. 31. & 11. 55.  There were four day's preparation for the Passeover, the Lords Supper both succeeds and exceeds it.  
The Ark was to be carried on the Priest's shoulders, 1 Chron. 15. 13. God made a breach on them because they sought him not after the due order.  
2. The manner of performing the duty is the most spiritual part of it, Non tantum considerandum est id quod agimus, sed etiam quibus 
* That which is good per se groweth evil per accidens, if it be not duly circumstantionatum. Cajet. in Thom. 1. 2. Quaest 9 An alms, though good in itself, ye● groweth to be evil, if it be faulty in the circumstances of due time, measure, manner, and of fit persons upon whom it is bestowed.  circumstantiis.  
This shows the true cause why our attending upon God proves so unprofitable and uncomfortable to us, because we rest in the work done.  
Secondly, We should labour to perform the Ordinances aright, and that we may do so  

1. The person must be accepted, God had regard to Abel and his offering. cain's 
The second Covenant begins with acceptation of persons and then of services. There must be an acceptation of the person in reference to his service as well as state. The service must 1. Flow from a regenerate nature and act, John 3. 6. 2. Must be agreeable to a rule prescribed. 3. The matter of it must be good: to give alms is good, but they must be of our own, Ephes. 4. 28. 4. The means must be good, it was ill done of jacob to get the blessing by a lie. 5. The ground of undertaking it must be good, Jer. 23. 21.  Sacrifice for the matter was as good as Abel's, the person is only accepted in Christ, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased, in him with us.  
2. Ever bring God the best thou hast, in thy approaches to God bring the best devotion, affection, Cursed is the deceiver that hath a whole one, and brings a blemished one, Mal. be troubled thou canst bring no better.  
3. Come in faith, rest upon the promise of Christ that thy services shall be accepted, mingle faith with hearing, prayer.  
4. Bring an humble Spirit. Let thy soul be rightly possessed with the majesty and holiness of that God to whom the duty is tendered, Revel. 4. 3. The Lord is to be looked on as a King in his Glory, in his Throne, we have a principle of envy in us, whom we envy we undervalue.  
5. Bring a right estimation of the excellency and ends 
* The holy ends of service are mainly three, 1. To please God, Col. 1. 5. 2. To glorify him, Joh. 17. 4. 3. To enjoy Communion with him, Heb. 10. 22.  of the Ordinance, Isa. 2. 3. Hear and thy soul shall live: Take heed how you hear, with what measure you meet it shall be measured to you again, according to your diligence in the duty will God measure out his blessing.  
6. There must be a serious meditation beforehand of the spiritual manner of performing the duty, Heb. 12. 28. Do not utter indigested prayers, a Minister should speak as the Oracles of God.  
7. One should labour to stir up the grace's suitable to the duty, and keep down the sins opposite thereto, 1 Pet. 2. 1, 2. jam. 1. 18, 19   
It is the duty of Christians in a special manner to examine themselves, that they may come prepared to the Lords Supper. 
One should be equally prepared for the Lords Supper as for death. Sacramentum & articulus mortis aequiparantur, say the Casuists.   
1 Cor. 11. 20. to the end, the Apostle proves the necessity of preparation, both from the nature of the Ordinance, or the institution of it, the benefit that we reap by coming prepared, and the mischief that befalls those that come unworthily, and the scandal given to others. Our hearts are deceitful, jer. 17. 9 sin is deceitful. Satan is full of stratagems. The holy Ghost often warns us, Be not deceived, Let no man deceive you, James 1. 26. Of all deceit self-deceit is the worst.  
Vers. 28. Examine himself] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is borrowed from civil affairs. For among 
Downam. in loc.  the Athenians before any were admitted to any office or place of Magistracy, they 
Try how thou standest in the grace of God. Calvin. Judge thy life exactly. Theod. Bring all things to the rule Morton. Hoc dicit quia per schismata prostrata ●ra● Ecclesiae disciplina. Ne credit, inquit, etiamsi Ecclesiae judicia essent, impune vos laturos contemptum mysteriorum. Grot. Examination is necessary, 1. That we may know our estate. 2 Our interest in Christ, Job 8. 20. We must try whether we have spiritual life before we look after spiritual nourishment.  were examined whether they were fit or no.  
And so let him, etc.] Do it in Christ's manner, and to his end, Eccl. 5. 1. 1 Sam. 16. 5. 2 Chron. 35. 6.  
The Church of Christ in all ages have required solemn preparation for the Sacrament, as the Liturgies and Directories of Reformed Churches show.  
In the Primitive Church there was rather an excess than defect. Zanchy observes that it was the occasion of instituting of Lent, because of their coming to the Sacrament at Easter.  
The ancient Fathers and primitive Christians the night before they received sat up and prayed, which they called their vigiliae.  
Reasons. First, Because of God the Lord and Master of the Feast, job 13. 11. Prov. 23. 1.  
Observe five things in that Parable, Matth. 22.  

1. The King comes to see his guests, God observes what hearts we come with into his presence.  
2. He makes diligent enquiry, takes notice of every one personally, there was but one without the wedding garment, and he could not lie hid.  
3. Mark his impartiality, as soon as he espies him, he saith, Friend, how ca●●est thou in hither?  
4. How inexcusable those are that abuse the Ordinance: when he was charged that had not the wedding garment, he was silent.  
5. The rigour and indispensablenesse of the sentence, v. 13.   
Secondly, Because of the Feast itself, being heavenly and for the soul. At this Ordinance we have the highest and most solemn intercourse with God that we have in any Ordinance, we renew not the Covenant in prayer and reading the Word.  
Thirdly, Christ's practice before his institution doth teach as much, in that he washed his Disciples feet, john 13.  
Fourthly, Our hearts are naturally profane and wicked and indisposed to this 
Isa. 1. 16. Jer. 17. 9 No man can come so worthily as he ought, nor so fit as he ought, 2 Chron. 30. 18, 19, 20, 21. The benefit of the Sacrament is pro ratione fidei communicantium. Origen.  duty, if we were so perfectly holy as we should be, we should be ever ready for holy performances, but our hearts gather soil exceedingly. Purge out the old leaven before you come to eat Christ our Passeover that was sacrificed for us, 1 Cor. 5. 7. What he meaneth by the old leaven he telleth you in the next verse, it is the leaven of malice especially that we must be careful to purge out. According to our preparation will our profit be, if one come fitly it is a means of a great deal of good, Communion with God, sealing the Covenant, the Lord and we are made friends under seal, partaking the body and blood of Christ. It is like our evidences in the time of trial, when our Land is questioned 2 Chron. 30. 3. our hope in the Resurrection lies in this, john 6. 54. it seals our initiation and exhibits our growth in Christ. A Sermon will confirm but one particular grace, as patience or the like, but the Sacrament confirms the body of graces, and a man receives an influence of grace into his whole soul.  
The Apostle in the Conclusion of the 1 Cor. 11. appoints this as a great remedy to prevent the judgement of God for their abuses about the Sacrament, to judge ourselves,  

1. Self-abasing will follow self-judging.  
2. Justifying God, Rom. 3. 4.  
3. Sin will be bitter to such an one.  
4. He will not judge others, Rom. 14. 3, 4.   
A child of God may receive unworthily:  

1. By coming carelessly and negligently to the Sacrament.  
2. By coming in the guilt of any one sin unrepented of.   
Fifthly, Because of the danger of coming unprepared, Matth. 22. the Devil 
Qui●quid 〈◊〉 〈…〉 ad 〈…〉.  will enter into ●s as into judas, Luk. 22. 3. compared with john 13. 27. If we receive not Christ we receive Satan. Cyprian saith of the Lords Supper, P●tro remedium, judae venenum, 1 Cor. 11. 17. 27, 29, 36. 
Corruptio op●imi p●ssim●● m●rs ●●● malis, vita bonis▪ Aq●●n.   
The staying away will not prevent the danger, Matth. 22. those that would not come to the Supper when invited, were destroyed as well as those that came without the wedding garment. Not to come is to starve our souls, to come unworthily is to poison them.  
One is said to be guilty of the blood of Christ, 1 Cor. 11. 27. that is, a murderer of Christ, divers ways.  

1. Christ is really present, though not corporally and locally, he looks upon the 
●eus erit corporis & s●nguinis Christi violati. Jerom.  injury done to the Elements as done to himself, if one wrong insignia majestatis, the King's coin, or the like, it is treason.  
2. The same bent and disposition of heart that carries a man to profane the 
Par fecit quasi Christum trucidaret. Heb. 6. 6, 10, ●9. Grotius. Dici●●r teneri reus corporis Domini, qui illud est aspernatus, ut Apo●●olus ipse explicat, versu 29. Beza. Be●●ay Christ as judas. Theodoret.  Elements, would carry him to crucify Christ: Christ is sacramentally united to the bread and wine.  
3. In the Sacrament Christ is set forth as crucified, Gal. 3. 1. Isa. 53. 6. our sins crucified him; he whose heart is not affected with such an object allows the deed of the Jews, is an accessary post factum▪  
4. There is a great resemblance between judas his act and yours. 

1. He was a Disciple, so thou a Christian.  
2. He did betray Christ for a small matter, Zech. 11. 10, 11. so thou preferrest a base lust before him.  
3. He betrayed him with a kiss, thou at the Sacrament.    
5. Thou wouldst make Christ die in vain, Christ's death is useful for satisfaction and sanctification; satisfaction of God's wrath and sanctification of our hearts, we 
Guilty of murdering him as the Jews. Aquinas. judas betrayed, and the Jews murdered Christ's body when he was abased, we abuse it now he is glorified. 2. They did it ignorantly, we wilfully. This sin of unworthy receiving is Peccatum contra remedium universale, contra medicinam unicam, contra consolationem & vitam animarum.  trample his blood under our feet as unholy, that is, common.   
Vers. 29. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation, 
Id est, edendo ac bibendo damnationem in se a●●ersit Quod per se salutare est in v●nenum ip●i vertitur. Grot. Mat. 3. 8. Mat. 10. 11. & 22. 8. Ephes. 4. 1.  or judgement to himself. Damnation if he be a reprobate and impenitent hypocrite, judgement though he be regenerate and a true believer. M. Hilders.  
God punisheth this sin in his children with inward and outward chastisements. The Lord abhors the like offence in the Sacrifices, Mal. 1. 7.  
This worthy receiving is not a legal worthiness, Secundum absolutam dignitatem, wherein one can plead that the thing he doth deserves the thing he would have, but an Evangelical worthiness, Secundum divinam acceptationem The original of all our worthiness is the change of the Covenant, Exod. 12. 43. Every man by nature is under the Covenant of works, he that was uncircumcised might 
Indignè, id est, aliter quam dignum est tanta mysteria tractari. Beza. Certain Donatists (saith Optatus, lib. 2.) casting the holy Sacrament to dogs, were themselves devoured as dogs. A Bachelor of Arts being Popishly affected at the time of the Communion took the consecrated bread, and forbearing to eat it, conveyed and kept it closely for a time; and afterwards threw it over the wall of the College, but a short time after, not enduring the torment of his guilty conscience, he threw himself headlong over the battlements of the Chapel, and some few hours after ended his life. B. Morton l. 5. of the Mass, c. 3. Sect. 6. He saith there he saw it, it was one Sir Booth of St john College in Cambridge. Cyprian Serm. 5. de lapsis, hath two Stories of some that came to the Sacrament, and did latenter accipere, secretly receive, to one the Minister gave the bread, he took it, but it stuck in his throat, Gladium sibi samens non cibum The other took it, but when he came to eat it, he had ashes in his hand, Alius qui & ipse maculatus, sacrificio a sacerdote celebrato, partem cum caeteris ausus est latenter accipere, sanctum Domini edere, & contrectare non potuit, cinerem ferre se apertis manibus invenit.  not partake of the Jewish Passeover. Circumcision notes two things, 1. A change of the Covenant. 2. Sanctification of a man's nature, Col. 2. 11. He that was uncircumcised was out ●of Abraham's Covenant and unregenerate. This change of the Covenant comes by the change of your Head, your union with Christ, Gal. 3. ult. Corpus Christi non edunt qui de corpore Christi non sunt.  
We must seriously examine our state, whether we be in the state of grace, 2 Cor. 12. 5. The children of God mistrust their own searching, and desire God to search them, Psal. 139. lat. end. Thou must be a new creature cut off from the old stock, and ingraffed into a new, thou must close with Christ and accept of him, and then virtue will come from him, Gal. 2. 20. Bread and Wine are turned into the substance.  
When the Sacrament is received without due and diligent preparation, it is received unworthily, vers. 28. The Apostle prescribes this remedy against unworthy receiving; we should diligently prepare for every religious duty. We should be much in examination, the strongest acts of grace are reflex acts, this is a Gospel command, therefore carries with it a Gospel-promise, it is a duty at all times. Our examination is a setting ourselves in the presence of God, and passing sentence on our ways, as God would have us.  
There is a twofold preparation required,  

1. Habitual, standing in the having of all such dispositions and graces as qualify a man for the work of receiving, knowledge, faith and repentance, love, obedience, this is at our first conversion, Ephes. 2. 10. & 6. 14.  
2. Actual, which stands in the exciting and awakening of those graces and dispositions, and renewing of them when one is to receive. Both these must be in him that will receive in due order.   
Actual preparation consists  

1. In the solemn sequestration of a man's self.  
2. In examination of our sins and graces.  
3. In being humbled for our sins, and in renewing and quickening the former graces.  
4. In raising and stirring up in ourselves strong desires after Christ.  
5. In stirring up in ourselves a strong expectation of the benefit of the Sacrament.  
6. In seeking God in special, and more than ordinary manner by prayer.   
1. A solemn sequestration of the soul from all other avocations whatsoever. There must be some sitting of a man's self for the duty, from the time that a man hath notice of the Sacrament to be administered. But at the day before, a man should at the least toward the end of the day separate himself from all other thoughts and occasions, and mind wholly the work of preparation to the Sacrament.  
This sequestration of a man's self stands in two things,  

1. In setting aside all lawful thoughts, occasions and businesses of our 
Gen. 22. 4, 5. Num. 9 10, 13 Psal. 103. 1.  callings.  
2. In summoning, calling and collecting together all the powers and faculties of the soul to attend upon the business now in hand.   
Examination of our sins and graces, of the multitude and heinousness of our sins, of the truth of our graces, the growth of them, and our wants.  
I shall lay down the rules of examination, and the things to be examined:  
1. The Rules whereby we are to examine ourselves are the Law and Gospel. 
See in M. Dod on the Sacrament a Catalogue of the sins against every Commandment, and D. Wilkins his Discourse concerning the gift of prayer, ch. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, & 13.   

1. For finding out the number of our sins.  
2. The uses of them for finding out the measure of them.   
The things to be examined, are our sins and graces.  
I. Of the Rules.  
The Law.  
The Sum of the Law is set down in the ten Commandments, and they are divided into two Tables.  
The Commandments of the first Table are the four first, and they teach us our duty which we owe unto God immediately. The Commandments of the second Table are the six last, and they teach us our duty which we owe unto our Neighbour.  
Our duty to God is to love him with all our hearts, with all our strength, with all our might, with all our thoughts. Our duty to our Neighbour is to love him as ourselves both in soul and body, goods, good name, person, chastity.  
The first Commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods but me, or, before me.  
The general duty of it is to make God my God, by yielding unto him all such respect as appertaineth to him in regard of his being our Creator, and the first fountain of all being. This is a total and general subjection of the whole man unto him.  
Duties required herein, are  

1. Of Dependence, whereby we make God the chief and principal object of 
The soul and all the powers of it must be given to God, and that with pre-eminence, above all other things, and in all fulnnesse of perfection. So far as he may be their object, God is not to be hated  all the powers of our whole man, so far as they are capable of him.  
2. Of Conformity, whereby we order all our powers toward other things in that manner and measure that he doth require, and so become subject to that authority, power and command that he hath over us as a Creator.   
1. Duties of Dependence.  
We must set all the powers of the soul principally upon him.  

1. The Understanding, 

1. To know him as he hath revealed himself in his Word and Works.  
2. Faith to believe him, that is, to think things true, because he saith them.  
3. Humility, acknowledge him to be the first and best Essence, rightly discern the infinite distance and difference between him and us, and confess his unspeakable excellencies above us, and our most vile baseness in comparison of him.    
2. The will, willing his glory above all things, and then choosing his favour and grace.  
3. The imagination or thinking power, to be thinking of God more plentifully, largely, constantly, then of all other things.  
4. Memory, perpetually to remember him, and to set him at my right hand, as David saith.  
5. The affections of Love, Fear, Joy, Confidence, must be set upon him with all their strength.   
We should also speak more abundantly of God and his Excellencies, then of all things else besides.  
2. Duties of Conformity.  
All the powers of man are to be set on other things according to his direction and appointment.  

1. The Understanding, 

1. To know his will.  
2. To believe his promises and threats.  
3. To make use of the things we know.  
4. To esteem of heavenly things above earthly.    
2. Conscience, or a knowing with God, in which 1. The acts it is to perform. 2. The rule which it must follow in performing those acts.   
The acts it is to perform are twofold:  

1. In regard of our estate to acquit and condemn.  
2. In regard of our actions. 

I. Before the doing, if need be to admonish me to them. 

2. If sinful, to restrain me from them.  
3. If indifferent, to leave them to our wills.    
II. After the doing. 

1. To comfort in them if commanded.  

2. To check for them if forbidden.  
The Rule which it must follow in performing these acts is the revealed will of God.     
III. In the manner of doing. 

1. Sincerely in checking for one sin as well as another.  
2. Tenderly, for a little thing.  
3. Effectually, so as not to suffer corruption to gainsay▪  
4. Peaceably, to drive to God not from him.    
3. The will to be flexible to Gods will. 

1. Obedience, a full purpose to do all that God requires, and leave all that he forbiddeth for his sake.  
2. For good things received, thankfulness, for evil, patience.    
4. The thinking power, Memory, Speech, Senses and Affections to be exercised more abundantly on heavenly things then earthly.   
The general Duty of the second Commandment is to perform such solemn worship to God as he requires in his Word, to worship him in spirit and truth.  
Divine Service must be according to God's command:  

1. For Matter of it, in regard 

1. Of the Person worshipped, the living God alone, conceived of in the pure apprehension of the mind, without any sensible representation.  
2. The parts or kinds of worship, that they be by him appointed, which are 

1. Ordinary, such as are to be done constantly, and in a settled course, which are threefold, 

1. Public.  
2. Private.  
3. Indifferent. 

1. Public 

1. Preaching of the Word.  
2. The administration of the Sacraments, Baptism and the Lords Supper.    
2. Private 

1. Conference.  
2. Meditation.    
3. Indifferent 

1. Prayer.  
2. Reading the Scriptures or other good 〈…〉.  
3. Catechising.  
4. Singing of Psalms.        
2. Extraordinary, such services as are t● be ●●ne now and then upon special occasions. 

1. Fasting.  
2. Feasting.  
3. Vows.        
2. The Manner of the performance of Divine Service is threefold, 

1. A due preparation before.  
2. A right carriage in them, doing them 

1. Truly and sincerely upon the right Motives, Causes, God's Commandment and Will, and our own Duty and need, and for the right ends, viz. the pleasing of God, and procuring of Grace and increase of virtue in our souls.  
2. Reverently, with a special apprehension of God's presence and greatness.  
3. Faithfully, with a believing of God's truth therein, and promising to ourselves the blessing he hath promised.  
4. Devoutly, that is, with a diligent attention of the mind to the words and matter, and whole work in hand.    
3. A right making Use thereof after.     
The third Commandment enjoins the common worship of God, that is, the right carriage of ourselves to his honour in all our common affairs, so far forth as we have any thing to do with him therein.  
The general duty of it is to live holily.  
To sanctify God,  

1. Inwardly, by seeing him in his works, 

1. Of chastisement, to be patient, penitent.  
2. Of Mercy, to be thankful and obedient.    
2. Outwardly, 

1. In word, by the lawful use of an Oath, by a reverend mention of God's Titles and Attributes upon any occasion, by good conference, and making confession of his truth.  
2. In our Deeds and Actions, 

1. In General, to aim at his glory in all our works, and live to him and not to ourselves.  
2. More Particularly, in two things, 

1. In suffering Persecution cheerfully for Righteousness sake.  
2. By a sanctified use of God's creatures, of any thing whatsoever we do, whereto four things are required, 

1. Knowledge out of the word of God concerning the lawfulness of our doing such things.  
2. Craving Gods blessing in the use of Meat, Drink, Marriage.  
3. Returning Thanks to God for his goodness.  
4. Moderation in the use of them.           
The fourth Commandment appoints the consecrating of a special time, viz. every seventh day after six of labour to holy and religious exercises.  
The full Sum of it, is, After thou hast bestowed six days in ordinary and common businesses, thou shalt bestow the seventh day in exercises of piety and religion.  
The things commanded in this precept are two  

1. Preparation to the Sabbath, in the word Remember, which is done two ways, 

1. All the week long by diligence, foresight, moderation in the labours of our calling.  
2. On the sixth day towards the end of it by a seasonable breaking off our labours, and making all things ready for the Sabbath.    
2. Celebration of the Sabbath, not only observing and keeping it ourselves, but preserving it, and looking that our Inferiors and others under us at the least outwardly keep it.   
We must  

1. Rest from thoughts, words and deeds that concern worldly things, but only for necessity and mercy.  
2. Sanctify it by bestowing it in the exercises of Religion, which for the manner are to be done cheerfully, consecrating the Sabbath unto the Lord as a delight.   
The fifth Commandment enjoins the performance of all such duties as appertain to men in regard of their place, that we show due respect to our Superiors, Equals and Inferiors.  
Our Duty to our Governors is to honour and reverence their persons willingly, to obey all their lawful commandments, to bear their reproofs and chastisements submissively, patiently, and fruitfully.  
The particular Duty of Children to their Parents, besides these common duties, is  
1. To love them very much, to maintain them if need be in sickness and age, and to be guided by them in marriage.  
The particular Duty of Servants is to be trusty and painful in the busisinesse committed to them by their Governors, as well in their absence as presence.  
The particular Duty of Subjects to their Kings and inferior Magistrates, is to defend their persons against all violence offered to them by any according to their places, and to render them willingly all due services and payments.  
The Duty of People to their Teachers and spiritual Pastors, is to submit to their Ministry, and to reward them with plentiful maintenance.  
The Duty of the younger to their betters in age, is to behave themselves toward them reverently, and to take their good advice.  
Our Duty towards our betters in gifts, is to take notice of their gifts and to respect them accordingly.  
The common duty of all Governors towards those that are under them, is to rule them wisely, mildly, and equally, taking care by their authority to plant true Religion among them.  
The particular Duty of Parents toward their children, is to give them fit instruction and correction, to help them to some honest Calling, to dispose of them fitly in marriage, and to lay up for them according to their means.  
The particular Duty of Masters toward their servants, is to use them justly and mildly for work, diet, reward and chastisement.  
The Duties of man and wife each towards other, are these  
Both must love each other above all other persons; he must cherish her as his own body, and she must be an helper to him, and yield to him as her Head.  
The particular Duty of Kings and other Magistrates, is to make fit Laws, and to see them duly executed for the maintaining of peace, honesty and godliness.  
The Duty of Ministers toward their people, is to guide them in the right way by life and doctrine, to oversee their carriage, and to administer the Sacraments duly to them.  
The Duty of the ancienter toward their younger, is to further them in goodness, by grave carriage and good counsel.  
Their Duty that have better gifts than others, is to use the same readily and humbly for the help of such as want them.  
The Duty of Equals is  

1. To think better of their Equals then themselves, and to esteem of them above themselves.  
2. In giving honour to go one before another.  
3. To be glad and well-satisfied at the raising and advancement of their equals to places above themselves.   
The sixth Commandment enjoins all due care of our own and neighbour's safety, Temporal and Spiritual.  
For our own temporal safety we must shun all distempered passions and needless perils, using food, rest, and other means of health and strength, cheerfully and moderately.  
For our spiritual safety, we must carefully ●lee all sins, and the occasions of them, and use all means of getting grace and salvation.  
For our neighbours natural safety, we must keep wrath, malice and hatred out of our hearts, heartily loving all men, even our enemies. We must also pity and help the distressed, show kindness and meekness to all, even those that hurt us, not revenging ourselves, nor hurting or grieving any by evil deeds or speeches.  
For our neighbours spiritual safety, we must exhort, comfort and admonish one another with all meekness, and must pray one for another.  
The seventh Commandment requires all care to preserve our own and our neighbour's chastity.  
To preserve our own chastity we must abhor all impure desires, behaviours, speeches and deeds with all occasions provoking thereto, and must use temperance and sobriety with fasting and praying at fit times, and diligence in our calling.  
We must preserve our neighbour's chastity by modesty and shamefac'dnesse in attire, words, countenance and gesture.  
The eighth Commandment requires a right carriage of ourselves in regard of our own and our neighbour's goods.  
In respect of our own goods, we must get them justly, and keep them thriftily from evil and idle expenses, use them liberally for good purposes, and not set our hearts upon them.  
For our neighbour's goods, we must neither take nor keep any thing from any man (whose own it is) by force, fraud or unequal bargains, we must seek the profit of our neighbours as our own profit.  
2. We must do to them as we would have them do to us, and not corrupt justice and equity by partiality and self-love.  
The ninth Commandment requires all due care of maintaining our own and our neighbours good name and credit:  

1. Our own by lowliness and esteeming meanly of ourselves, accounting others better than ourselves, by being true, sparing and holy in our speeches, innocent and humble in our carriage, flying ill company and all appearances of wickedness, and abounding in good works.  
2. Our neighbours by judging and speaking the best of them, their words and deeds, praising their virtues and defending their innocency.   
The tenth Commandment requires that we be fully contented with our own condition, and keep out all inclinations and motions after the things that pertain to others.  
II. The Gospel.  
The Law holds forth the holiness and purity of God, the Gospel holds forth the grace and favour of God, Rom. 2. 4.  
There are two great ends of the Gospel and the Ministry of it:  

1. Union with Christ, 2 Cor. 11. 2.  
2. Reconciliation with God, 2 Cor. 5. 20. The Angels sang (when Christ was born) on earth peace, and goodwill toward men.   
The Gospel hath two parts, as some say.  

1. All are cursed and damnable sinners. This must be believed so firmly, as that we assent to the particular, comprehended under the general, bringing it home to myself, and saying to myself, I am a cursed and damnable sinner.  
2. Jesus Christ is a perfect and all-sufficient Saviour, he can and will save all penitent sinners, and me also among the rest upon my turning to him. He hath sealed this to me in Baptism, which is the Baptism of repentance for remission of sins, which doth assure me, that upon repentance shall by the blood of Christ attain full remission of all my sins, this is ●● believe the Gospel.   
We have gone asiray like lost sheep, but he hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all.  
Rom. 3. 23, 24. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in jesus Christ.  
The terms of the Gospel are three:  

1. To choose Christ as he is there offered, john 6. 40.  
2. To receive the Gospel with readiness, Act. 17. 17. Mat. 13. 44.  
3. That we should give up all for Christ, and to him. Rom. 12. 1.   
It requires three things especially of us: 
Episc. Daven. de justitia actuali.   

1. True Repentance for sins committed.  
2. True Faith in the Mediator, which expiates sins.  
3. A sincere desire to obey God which hath pardoned us our sins.   
Impenitency, unbelief and disobedience then are sins against the Gospel.  
Sins against the Gospel are greater than sins against the Law, Heb. 2. 3. because committed against greater light and greater love, the love of the Father in sending of Christ, of Christ in coming, of the Spirit in manifesting, therefore the curses and punishment of the Gospel are grievous, Mat. 3. 10. Mark 16. 16. He that loveth 
Luk. 13. 3, 5. John 3. 36.  not the Lord jesus, let him be Anathema Maranatha.  
Psal. 2. 12. Christ is the best friend and worst enemy. His wrath is  

1. The wrath of a Mediator and Deliverer, who then shall speak a good word for you? Psal. 50. 22.  
2. He is able to execute his wrath, he hath all power in his hand as well as all love in his heart.   
Two sorts of sins ripen men for wrath:  

1. Sinning against Ordinances, Ezek. 10. 2. Amos 8. 1.  
2. Sinning against the Gospel, Matth. 3. 10.   
Having laid down the rule, viz. the Law and Gospel for the finding out the number of our sins, I shall now show the uses of them for finding out the measure of them.  
First, For the Law, we must not be content to rip up our sins by the Law, but aggravate them.  

1. By the greatness of the Commander, the great God of all the world that gave the Law with thunder and lightning is offended. He is glorious in his Essence, Subsistence, working sin provokes the eyes of his glory, Isa 3. 8.  
2. By the latitude and extent of every Commandment, Psal. 119. 96. it binds the conscience and commands the heart, forbids all sins at all times, together with their causes, occasions, provocations, signs.  
3. Consider the filthiness and sinfulness of sin 
* Rom. 7. 13. It comes from the Devil, it is called his work, and wicked men are termed the children of Belial, See John 6. 44. , it is called filthiness itself, and is worse than hell, for that is of Gods ordaining. Persons and things are termed evil from it, evil Angels, men, times.  
4. Consider the price of the blood of Christ, and the greatness of his punishment, sin was such a heinous and notorious thing that nothing else could satisfy God, all the Angels in heaven could not expiate one sin.  
5. Aggravate sin by the person sinning, from the evil circumstances and unprofitable ends, by the effects, giving scandal, 2 Sam. 12. 14. by the manner of committing it, wilfully and with a high hand▪   
Secondly, We should labour especially to mourn for Gospel-sins.  

1. Because the sins of the Gospel carry the greatest guilt. 

1. They are against the second Covenant, the Heathens perish under the guilt and curse of the first Covenant, the second Covenant was never offered to the Devils, when they fell from God they had never a second offer of mercy.  
2. They are against the blood of the Son of God, Heb. 6. 6. & 10. 29. To sin against God in his Son, is a greater sin than to sin against the Law, the Law is subservient to Christ in the Gospel.    
2. No man lies under such fierce wrath, 2 Cor. 2. 15, 16. no condemnation is confirmed by an oath but theirs, Heb. 3. 11, 12.  
3. That which should have been for your welfare becomes your snare, Acts 26. 18. Heb. 6. 10. Isa. 28. 13. The Gospel is like Paracelsian Physic, if it do not cure it will kill.  
4. None do lose such high services, Matth. 7. 22, 23. they do not the work of the Gospel with a Gospel-spirit, and out of a Gospel▪ principle.  
5. Satan will insult and triumph over none so much as Gospel-sinners, Matth. 12. 43, 44.  
6. The worm of conscience will not feed so fiercely on any, Mar. 9 43. when he compares his former hopes with his present irrecoverable condition, because no sinners had those helps, nor were raised to those hopes.   
Ponder on your own sins what they are and what they have deserved. Look on 
We should be especially humbled for original corruption, Psal. 51. 5. Jam. 1. 14. All humiliation ariseth out of a sense of our own vileness and God's displeasure; the Law discovers that as well as actual sin. Consider, 1 The greatness of the sin, Ratione quidditatis & formalitatis, ratione causalitatis, it is the cause of all actual sins, Ratione virtualitatis & potentialitatis, ratione eminentiae, it is the first of that kind. 2. Think of David and Paul how they were troubled with it, we have as great cause to be humbled as they. 3. Think of the holiness of God, he is essentially holy as we are naturally sinful. 4. Take some time to view thyself in the glass of the Law, Rom. ●. 20. that is a copy of God's holiness, go from Commandment to Commandment.  original corruption, the foul sea of all wickedness, which is called a body of sin, Rom. 6. 6. A Law in our members, Rom. 7. 23. Consider that thou hast a naughty nature, whereby thou art averse from God and goodness, and extremely prone to all sin, Psal. 51. 5. Isa. 48. 8. all men in every part are under the guilt and power of it, Rom. 3. 16, 23.  
2. Humble thyself; Labour to be base for this, though thou hast not committed such foul sins as others, yet if God should leave thee to thyself and thine own evil heart thou wouldst soon be as bad as the worst.  
3. Call to mind likewise the gross actual sins thou hast committed before or since thy calling: Wast not thou given to all manner of pollution before the Lord gave thee knowledge of him, and since thy calling?  
4. Consider thy continual daily slips and infirmities, thy sins of omission and commission; how apt thou art to be angry, impatient, thy carnalness in good duties, and distraction in the performance of them, thy forgetfulness of God, and thy later end.  
5. Consider also whether there be not some unknown secret fault that thou hast not yet repent of, and pray to God to discover it to thee.  
Lastly, Call to mind what sins thou hast committed since the last Sacrament, and bewail them.  
Meditate also on the sufferings of Christ for these gross sins and daily 
The end of the Sacrament is to keep in memory the great things Christ hath suffered for us. 1 Cor. 11 24. See Exod. 12. 17, 26.  iniquities. His great abasement, Psal. 22. 6, 7, 14. to 19 v. Isa. 53. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. to the 11. v. He was born like a beggar, lived like a beggar, the Devil tempted him, he was falsely accused, betrayed by one of his Disciples, denied by another, forsaken by the rest. He was amazed with fear, and encompassed with sorrow, Mark 14. 34. Two of the most tormentful passions, was in an agony, and did sweat drops of cloddy blood in such abundance as it fell to the ground, was condemned, mocked, spit upon, whipped with rods after the manner of the Romans 
* Licet plagarum numerum in Christi flagellatione excesserint ministri, quem Hebraei ex lege servabant, ut ob id non Hebraeorum more, sed Romanorum flagellatum Christum plerique dixerint; quod tamen columnae fuerit alligatus, etiam Hebraeorum morem consuetudinemque redolet, quod miror posse in dubium revocari. Novar. Sched. Sac profane. l. 1. c. 21. , crowned with thorns, laden with the Cross, nailed on it, stretched and wretched in all his joints. 
Not barely to go over the history of his passion, but to get our hearts affected with his sufferings, Lam. 1. 12. Zech. 12. 10. We must not leave meditating on Christ's love till he be Totus fixus in cord qui totus fixus fuit in cruse. Bern. There is 1. An historical remembrance of Christ, when we look upon the death of Christ as of an innocent person, and not on God's design in it, Luk. 23. 28. 2. Doctrinal or dogmatical, this only rests in generals. 3. Applicative, Phil. 3. 8, 10. not only look on Christ crucified, but find ourselves crucified with him. The historical remembrance is an act of fancy, the doctrinal of reason, this of faith. 1. We should remember what Christ endured we deserved, Isa. 53. 5. 2. There is no sin light that was so heavy on Christ, Matth. 27. 46. he mourned for our sins, and shall not we ourselves mourn, and throw away those sins that stabbed him to the heart? Certè patientem Christum nemo luget veriùs, quam qui ea, ob quae passus est Christus, odisse incipit. Drexel. Aetern. prod. c. 2. Sect. 23. 3. It is a great matter to recover a lost sinner. 4, We should love our own souls, and the souls of others, since Christ manifested such love to our souls. 5. We should not cross the ends of Christ's suffering: 1. He died to redeem you from this present evil world. 2. To destroy the works of Satan. We should live to him.   
He suffered much in his body, but his chief sufferings were in his soul, Isa. 53. 10, 11, 12. He took our soul as well as body, and came to redeem it, that being the chief part, Quicquid induit Christus, obtulit. He suffered  

1. As a public person, as the second Adam, Rom. 5. 14.  
2. For our sakes and benefit, Isa. 53. he is said six times to bear our iniquities.  
3. Not only for our good, but in our room, Heb. 7. 22. not only nostro bono, but nostro loco, 1 Tim. 2. 6. Mat. 20. 28. for otherwise he should have suffered no more than other men; the Martyrs suffered for the good of the Church, Col. 1. 24. 2 Tim. 2. 10.  
4. He took upon him the burden of our sins by way of imputation, 1 Pet. 2. 24. 2 Cor. 5. 21.   
Smite on your breasts, and say, For my worldliness, anger, all these evils befell my Saviour: Lord, for thy mercy sake in Christ pardon and heal me, Shall I pollute my body with uncleanness, when Christ suffered so bitter things? Shall I ever be angry again? O Lord by thy grace I will not: Let me have thy power to kill these sins.  
See the strictness of divine justice, and the dreadfulness of God's wrath, God spared not his own Son, and when his Father's wrath lighted on his soul, he was much troubled, and the great evil of sin, it caused Christ's humane nature to be ●●raid, Matth. 26. 38.  
The desert of sin is seen in Christ's suffering,  

1. In respect of the person who suffered for it, Gods only Son who never provoked him. john 3. 16. Rom. 8. 31.  
2. In respect of the penalties he underwent for sin, it made him to cry, sweat and pour out strong supplications, Isa. 53. 10.   
The Law showed the filthiness and evil of sin by the many Sacrifices and aspersions of blood which it required, but they were of beasts and their blood; but the Gospel shows the demerit of sin more fully, and how odious it is to God, since Christ must die to expiate it, and also the abundant love both of the Father in delivering his own Son to death for the salvation of sinners, john 3. 16. 1 john 4. 9, 10. Rom. 8 32. and of Christ in taking upon him our nature, and in exposing himself to so much misery here on earth, and at last to an accursed death for us, Phil. 2. 7, 8.  
We are to remember Christ in the Sacrament:  

1. Because the Lord will have in the Sacrament of the New Testament, the great end of the Passeover to be accomplished, Exod. 12. 14.  
2. That we may answer the goodness of Christ to us, he hath us always actually in remembrance, Exod. 28. 21, 29.  
3. Because if we have any benefit by this Sacrament God must remember Christ for us.  
4. Upon our actual and affectionate remembrance of Christ depends all our benefit by this Sacrament.   
We have dispatched the examination of our sins, in the next place our graces are to be examined.  
The graces that must be tried 
* 〈…〉 are some particular cases, wherein it is not safe for some particular persons at that time, ●●● in 〈…〉 to p●t them to try themselves by signs. But for the general it is necessary, and the duty of all people to ●●ok to signs, and to try themselves by them. M. Hooker on Rom. 8. 10.  and examined, are our Knowledge, Faith, Re 〈…〉, Love, and hungering after Christ, the truth, growth or wants of them, 〈…〉 examined.  
The truth of them.  
1. Knowledge. The words, examine, show forth, discern and judge, all betoken 
A twosold knowledge is required of every receiver, 1. A di●cernning of the body and blood of Christ, he must be able in some competent measure to understand the Doctrine, Nature, Use and End of a Sacrament, by whom it was instituted, and why and for what end, 1 Cor. 11. 29. they were to instruct their children what this and that action signified in the Passeover. 2. Of himself, implied in the duty commanded of examining ourselves.  knowledge.  
We must get Knowledge:  

1. Of the Law of God.  
2. Of the Doctrine of Redemption by Jesus Christ.  
3. Of the Nature, Necessity and Use of the Lords Supper.   
We must know our estate by nature and by grace:  

1. Because otherwise we cannot be thankful to God for his benefits as we ought.  
2. In the Sacrament Christ is offered, and the Covenant sealed. By nature we are dead in sin and bondslaves of Satan, by grace we come to be children of God, and heirs of salvation.   
We must know what the elements and actions in the Sacrament signify. That the bread signifies the body of Christ, and the wine his blood, that the breaking of bread betokens the crucifying of Christ, that the giving of the bread and wine notes the action of God the Father offering Christ to all and bestowing him effectually upon every worthy receiver, the receiving of the bread and wine signifies our receiving and feeding upon Christ by faith.  
2. Faith is required in those that come worthily to the Supper of the Lord.  
There must be an active and lively faith in the Sacrament to take Christ by an a of confidence, and give up ourselves by an act of resignation.  
The great spiritual graces of the Gospel are Faith and Love:  

1. Faith is the great command of the Gospel, Believe in the Lord jesus.  
2. It is the great promise of the Gospel, Ephes. 2. 8.  
3. It is the great condition on which all the promises hang, Isa. 79. Heb. 11. 6.   
Faith empties the soul more of itself then all other graces, it gives all the glory to God, Rom. 4. 20. and often besides in that Chapter. It is the eye of the soul whereby we discern Christ, Heb. 11. 1. 2 Cor. 4. ●lt. it is the stomach of the soul. Christ describes believing by hungering and thirsting, it is the foot of the soul whereby we approach unto Christ, Heb. 10. 22. He that comes unto me shall never hunger, and he that believes in me shall never thirst. It is our hand to embrace the promises, Heb. 11. 30. therefore believing is often called eating and drinking, john 6. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood hath eternal life. Gal. 2. 30.  
Faith makes Christ precious, 1 Pet. 2. 7. and the soul also to Christ, 2 Pet. 1. 2. Faith is an assent to all truths revealed, yet the special act of justifying faith is our closing with Christ, our rolling ourselves on him. It is a cleaving to the whole word of God, and an obediential resting upon Christ alone for salvation. This is the only grace that jus●ifieth, Whom he hath set forth for our propitiation through faith in his blood. No grace brings so much comfort to the soul, The just shall live by his faith.  
Reason's why we must bring faith to the Sacrament: 
Edere Christum est credere in Christum. Qu●d paras dentem & ventrem? Crede tantùm & manducasti. August.   
1. It is the Table of the Lord, therefore none must be admitted, but those which are of his family, Gal. 6. 16. Christ hath instituted it that he might give himself by it, he gives himself only to his members, true believers.  
2. It is a seal of the Covenant of grace, therefore belongs to none but such as are in Covenant, none are in Covenant with God and Christ but believers, 1 john 3. 24.  
3. Because the Sacrament was instituted for the confirming and further strengthening of our faith, it begets not faith but presupposeth it, Rom. 10. 14, 
He that comes without faith, receives Sacramentum, not●em ●em Sacramenti. jesus Christus, isque crucifixus, debet esse proprium sidei nostrae objectum. Rivetus Instruct. Praepar. ad Coenam Domini, cap 10.  17. & 4. 11.  
4. The word profits not without faith in them that hear it, Heb. 4. 2. the same 
Prayer profits not without faith, Rom. 10, 13, 14. Mark 11. 24. Luk. 18 lat. end. Mark 9 23.  thing is held forth in both. Christ is held forth in the Word sounding to the ear, and offered in the Sacrament by the promise, there he is visible to the eye of faith, john 3. 14, 15. and is offered for spiritual nourishment. Faith is the hand and mouth of the soul, whereby we receive and feed on Christ, john 1. 12. john 6. 19  
In bodily feeding there is, 1. Sense of want, so in spiritual of the want of Christ. 2. Apprehension of the suitableness of the food to ones condition, so 
Faith only makes up the union between Christ and us, John 6. 56. The people of God have a fourfold glorious sight in this life, John 14. 20. 2 Cor. 5. 19 1. They see God in Christ. 2. They see Christ in God. 3. They see Christ in themselves. 4. They see themselves in Christ. See Rom. 8. 9, 10.  here. 3. Appetite, earnest desire in the soul after Christ. 4. Taking of food, so the soul of Christ. 5. Eating. 6. Digesting. 7. Distribution of the nourishment.  
5. No benefit is to be expected from any Ordinance but by faith, Christ himself profits not unbelievers, Tit. 1. 15. we cannot receive the Sacrament to our comfort without it.  
2 Cor. 13. 5. Of all Texts in the Scripture there is none so full for the trial of this grace as this, here are three several words to press this duty. Interpreters generally say, the meaning is, whether you have faith or not, but this is a higher expression, Acts 8. 33. Rom. 8. 8, 9 We say of a very malicious man, such a one is in malice; and of one that is drunk, such a one is in drink.  
1 Pet. 1. 7. The trial of Faith is precious,  

1. By this trial we attain to a certainty.  
2. By this it attains purity: God tries it by affliction, men by examination, by both it is refined.  
3. The trial of gold is but for a little time, By faith you lay hold on eternal life; the purer the faith, the surer the hold.  
4. By trying it hath a higher esteem, Revel. 3. 18. The trial of gold makes it the more precious in your esteem, and the trial of Faith makes it more precious in God's esteem.   
Marks of Faith.  
First, Know whence we had Faith, God gives it, and whether we have received 
Common people say, they have believed as long as they can remember, and they thank God they never doubted. While men are in their natural condition they think it is nothing to believe in Christ, though they walk contrary to him, but when sin is fully discovered, and one sees the severity of God's justice, it is then hard to believe.  it in the ordinary way by which God▪ works it, the Word, jam. 1. 18. Faith comes by hearing, and it is increased by the same means by which it is begotten, Dost thou highly prise the Word? Hath it wrought Faith in thee?  
Secondly, Try by what steps and degrees faith hath been wrought in thee.  

1. Such see their misery by sin, and their inability to help themselves, Acts 2. 37.  
2. God reveals to such the excellency of Christ. He is held forth to us as every way able to do us good, Isa. 55. 1. hereby one is brought to deny himself and his duties, and to have recourse to him, and rest on him for comfort.   
Thirdly, From the effects, where Faith is it will show itself.  

1. It purifieth the heart, he is clean in heart and life, 2 Cor. 7. 1. Acts 26. 9 & 18.  
2. Overcomes our spiritual enemies, the world, This is the victory whereby we overcome the world, viz our Faith, John 5. 4. Satan, 1 john 2. 18. & 5. 18. Gal. 5. 6.  
3. It works by love, Ephes. 1. 15.   
Fourthly, True faith is ever growing, a true faith may be weak, but all living 
Rom. 1. 17. 2 Thess. 1. 3.  things grow though one do not perceive it. Do you trust God now the better for the many experiences you have of him? Art thou sensible of thy doubting and unbelief?  
Motives to persuade men to believe:  
Consider,  

1. Who offers Christ, God, how will he take it if he be refused? 
Consider 1. Thy natural estate is a state of death & damnation, John 3. 18. Gal. 3. 23. 2. So long as thou abidest out of Christ thou abidest in death, John 3. 36. 1 Joh. 3. 14. All sins de merito, are damnable, they deserve death, but not the facto, no sin necessarily brings death but unbelief, because it keeps a man off from Christ the fountain of life, John 6. 5, 7. 3. Thou canst not be the fountain of thine own life. 4. Life is to be had in no other but Christ, John 5. 40. 5. There is no way of having life from him, but by union with him, 1 John 5. 12. the first thing that grace puts forth in the soul, is an instinct after union. Faith is an instinct put in by the teaching of the Father after union with Christ.   
2. The gift, the greatness of the good offered in the Gospel, Heb. 2. 2, 3. 1 Tim. 1. 13.  
3. The excellencies of faith, but that I have showed before.  
4. The heinousness of infidelity, 1 john 5. 10. a sin both against the Law and Gospel. The first Commandment commands us to believe what ever God shall reveal, it is the condemnation, with a witness, john 3. 2. it exposeth us to the temptations of Satan, Heb. 3. 12. 2. To the fearful judgements of God, john 3. ul●. to his displeasure, Prov. 15. 8. Heb. 11. 7. to eternal wrath, john 3. 17. Mark 16. 16. 3. It makes all the Ordinances of God ineffectual, the Word, Heb. 3. 2. afflictions, the Sacrament, 1 Cor. 11. 29.  
5. The willingness of God to receive a poor sinner. 

1. God alone provided the medicine that should cure us, Rom. 3. 24.  
2. He wrote it in the Gospel, this is a true saying.  
3. Propounds Christ, hath set him forth.  
4. Invites sinners, Matth. 11. 1 Cor. 5. 20. He commands you to believe, 1 joh. 3. 23. threatens if you refuse, john 3. ult.    
6. Christ consented to all this, he voluntarily came into the world to save sinners, 
The sole way to get this supernatural grace is with hearty lamenting of its absence and weakness to beg it of him who is able to work it in the heart, and to feed and nourish it by a continual meditation of his greatness and great works which he hath formerly wrought for our confirmation.  he hath paid the ransom, hath promised that those which come to him he will in no wise cast away.   
Means to get and improve or strengthen faith:  

1. To get it.  
1. Labour to see yourselves in a lost condition.  
2. Know that there is no way in the world to save you but by Christ.  
3. Bewail your condition to God, tell him that you are a lost creature, and say, Lord, help me to believe.  
4. Plead the promises, there are promises of grace as well as to grace; say, Lord, thou hast said thou wilt be merciful, and why not to me?  
5. Wait upon God in the use of the means, hearing and the like, Rom. 10. Acts 10. 44.    
2. To improve and strengthen it.   
You that have faith, labour to improve it, 2 Thess. 1. 3, 4.  
I shall premise four Cautions:  

1. There is a common, dead faith, an ungrounded presumption gotten by the devil and men's false hearts, which is rather to be destroyed then increased. When men put all their confidence in Christ, and yet can live in all kind of ungodliness, whereas true faith is wrought by the Spirit of God, and brings forth a holy life.  
2. Among true believers there are several sizes as it were of faith, some are strong and some weak in the faith.  
3. The weakest faith, if true, will certainly save the soul, the weakest believer is united to Christ, adopted, reconciled, justified, hath the Spirit, all promises belong to him, and shall partake of glory.  
4. There is none of God's servants in this world do attain so much faith as they might, the Apostles Luke 17. 5. make this their joint Petition, Lord increase our faith.   

1. It increaseth in the use of it, To him that hath shall be given. Spiritual things increase by exercise.  
2. Diligently attend on all the Ordinances, and treasure up experiences.  
3. Study thyself daily, see what a wretched, worthless creature thou art, what a dead barren heart thou hast, real self-abhorring makes a man to hang on Christ.  
4. The more thou knowest Christ, the more thou wilt believe in him, Psal. 9 9 study to know Christ's person, Offices, the tenor and indulgence of the Covenant of Grace.  
5. Labour to get some evidence of the work of faith in thee, that thou art in a league of love with Christ: if the ways of Christ be suitable to thy Spirit, and the bent of thy heart be against all sins, and especially thy bosom sin, it is a good sign.  
6. Remove all impediments.   
II. Repentance.  
It is taken sometimes largely, and so it comprehends all the three parts of Conversion, Contrition, Faith and new Obedience.  
2. Strictly for contrition alone, Act. 13. 24. 
Poenitentia est dolour de peccato cum adjunct● proposito melioris vitae. Luth. in loc. common. de poenitentia. All the Sermons of the Prophets and Apostles run on this, Christ commanded his Disciples to preach it. It is one of the two parts of the Gospel, the sum of the Gospel is Faith & Repentance.   
In General, it is a turning from sin to God: Or thus,  
It is a supernatural work of God's Spirit, whereby the humbled converted sinner doth turn from all sin with grief and detestation of it, because thereby God is offended, and to the ways of God, loving and embracing them, and resolving to walk in them for the time to come.  

1. The efficient cause or author of repentance is God's Spirit, Acts 1. 51. & 11. 18. 2 Tim. 2. 18. it is a supernatural work, such a work as never is nor can be wrought in any but by the almighty work of God's Spirit in a way above corrupt nature, jer. 31. 18, 19 A man can do something toward legal duties, but one hath no principle for evangelical duties, but something against them.  
2. The Subject in whom this grace of repentance is found (say some) is an humbled and converted sinner, 1. Humbled, that is, legally sensible of the misery it is brought to by sin. 2. Converted, that is, by God, one whose inward man is changed, Ezek. 25. 26. Repentance seems rather to precede conversion, Act. 3. 19 though full Repentance be Conversion.  
3. The general nature of it, a turning with the terms from which and to which, an aversion from sin, and a conversion to God, joel 2. 12. Ezek. 16▪ lat. end.  
4. The manner of it, with detestation of sin with delight in Gods will and 
It is Praeterita peccata plangere, & plangenda non committere. Aug.  ways, Host 14. 8▪ Surely, shall one say, in the Lord I shall find righteousness and peace. It is a mourning for sin as sin, as it is offensivum Dei, aversivum à Deo, as it is an act of disobedience, an act of unkindness.   
There are several kinds of Repentance: 
It's secunda ta bula post naufragium▪ medicina est spiritualis animi vitiorum, say others. See Mr Calamy on Act. 17. 30. and Cameron on Mark 1. 15.   

1. Antecedent, which goes before Remission and Justification, Acts 2. 38. & 3. 19 & 8. 22.  
2. Consequent, Repentance, melting of the heart toward God after assurance of pardon, Luke 7. 47. 1 Tim▪ 1. 12, 13, 14. Ezek. 16. ult.   
Initial Repentance when one is converted, Act. 8. 22.  
2. Continual, Rom. 7. 24. john 13. 10.  
3. Personal or Ecclesiastical.  
Some say the parts o● Repentance are to eschew evil and do good, Psal. 34. 15. Isa. 1▪ 15, 16. & 55. 7. Amos 5. 15. Rom. 12. 9  
In sin there is an aversion from God, and a conversion to the creature.  
2. In repentance there must be an aversion from the pleasures of sin, and a returning to Communion with God. The virtue and grace of Christ is not only to mortify but vivify, Rom. 6. 11. Sin must be mortified before the image of God can be superinduced into the soul, Col. 1. 13. In renouncing of sin four affections are to be exercised, true humiliation is begun in fear, continued in shame, carried on in sorrow, and ends in indignation.  
1. Fear ariseth from application of the curse to the provocation, we compare the sins we have committed with the threatenings of the Word, job 22. 23. Heb. 12. 28. Shame ariseth from comparing filthiness, Psal. 73. 22. Ezra 9 6. Rom. 6. 21. Sorrow ariseth from thoughts of God's goodness and our own unkindness, Zach. 12. 10. Ezek. 36. 31. Luke 7. 47. Indignation (the highest act of hatred) ariseth from the unsuitableness of it to our interest in Christ, Isa. 30. 22. Host 14. 8. Rom. 6. 2. Fear looks on sin as damning, shame looks on it as defiling, sorrow looks on it as offensive to God, indignation looks on it as misbecoming our profession.  
In turning to the Lord:  

1. There is a serious and solemn consideration of our state and danger out of Christ, Psal. 22. 27. & 119. 59 Hab. 1. 5.  
2. A firm resolution, Luk. 15. 18. Psal. 32. 5. & 119. 106.  
3. A mutual exercise of holy affections, desire, hope and delight, Psalm. 119. 49.  
4. A consecration or resignation of ourselves to God, Rom. 12. 1. 2 Cor. 5. 16.  
5. A constant care of making good our engagement, Prov. 23. 26. Host 5. 4.   
Dr Twisse against Corvinus saith, there are three parts of Repentance, The Confession of the mouth, Contrition of the heart, and Amendment of life.  
M. Calamy on Acts 17. 3. p. 37. saith, it consists in five things:  

1. There must be a true and right sense of sin, as to Gospel-faith there must be a true sight of Christ, john 6. 36. so to Gospel-repentance there must be a right sense of sin.  
2. Sorrow for sin, a spirit of mourning goes along with Gospel-repentance, Zec. 12. 10. Ezek. 7. 16. Host 11. 12. a sorrow according to God, 2 Cor. 7. 10. 
Our sorrow for sin should be our▪ chiefest sorrow, because sin is the greatest evil; and it is so in respect of the intellectual part, and in respect of the displicency of the will, wherein the strength of repentance lieth.   
3. A self-judging, Psal. 51. 4. condemning his acts, and judging himself worthy of all the curses of the Law.  
4. A turning from sin to the Lord, Host 14. 8. Dan. 4. 27.  
5. It must be grounded upon the apprehension and hope of mercy, Isa. 55. 7. Poenitentia non est sola contritio, sed sides, Luther. Therefore the Lutherans commonly make faith a part of repentance, it is the foundation of it, Non pars sed principium. P. Martyr.   
One saith, True repentance consists in four things:  

1. In a humble lamenting and bewailing of our sins, our sinful nature and wicked lives, whereby we are subject to God's wrath and eternal death, even a giving ourselves so to consider and feel the cursed effects of sin, in that it angers God, and enforceth his justice to punish us, till it makes our hearts to ache and be troubled, perplexed and disquieted, 1 Sam. 7. 6. Psal. 38. 18. joel 2. 12. jam. 4. 9 so David and Peter wept for their sins.  
2. A confessing the same to God particularly, Prov. 28. 13. Psal. 32. 3, 5. judging ourselves worthy to be destroyed therefore, and to perish eternally. David saith, I will confess mine iniquity, and be sorry for my sin: And john, If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.  
3. An earnest crying to God for pardon of sin, and for power against it in the 
According to the multitude of thy mercies blot out all my offences, and create in me a new heart and a right spirit. Lord do away the sin of thy servant, Petit. 5.  name of Christ. David, Psal. 51. saith, Sprinkle me with hyssop, that is, forgive me for his blood sake whom that hyssop represented. We must take words, and beseech the Lord to receive us graciously.  
4. A hearty and sincere purpose to reform our heart and life, to cast away all our transgressions, to resist and forbear the practice of sin in all things, and to exercise ourselves in all righteousness, i. e. A firm purpose to leave all the evil that I know condemned, and to do all the good that I know required, a fixed resolution of heart so to do in consideration of God's goodness and grace that hath sent Christ to save the penitent.   
The Antinomians say, The Saints of God once justified and in Christ, need not repentance, they cry down this as an un▪ Gospel-like practice, and dislike mourning for sin, they would have nothing but faith in Christ, and rejoicing in him.  
To be troubled for sin (they say) is a dishonour to the grace of God and satisfaction of Christ, our repentance and humiliation indeed cannot satisfy God, Christ hath done that, laid down a price answerable to the debt, but the Lord hath inseparably annexed repentance and remission. Act. 2. 38. & 3. 19 & 8. 22. and he requires not only an initial repentance in reference to a man's state, but a daily repentance in reference to the acts of sin, he must daily wash his feet. See Gal. 5. 31. The sin against the holy Ghost is therefore unpardonable, because the Lord will not give repentance, Heb. 6.  
Repentance is Evangelical, and a Duty in regenerate persons:  
First, Because it is a fruit of the holy Ghost, Act. 11. 18. 
It is not only among the precepts but promises and privileges of the Gospel, Act. 9 18. Da pr●●s poenitentiam postea indulgentiam. Fulgentius. They are therefore Ministers of the Gospel not legal preachers which preach repentance.   
Secondly, Because none but regenerate persons can perform it, to bewail sin, and aggravate it, justifying God, condemning themselves, and laying hold on Christ.  
Thirdly, The Gospel enjoins it, and threatens the neglect of it. Some places join Repentance and pardon together, Act. 5. 31. Luke 24. 47. Some it and faith, Mar. 1. 15. Act. 20. 21.  
Fourthly, Christ, john Baptist and all the Apostles preached repentance, Mat. 3. 2. & 4. 17. Mark 6. 12.  
Fifthly, Because it may and doth work most kindly in and with faith, when they look upon Christ whom they have pierced, and consider that they have crucified him.  
Sixthly, Because it conforms us to God and Christ, in hating and subduing sin in us, it breedeth in us a loathing of sin, and gives us a victory over it. What the Pump is to the Ship, Repentance is to the soul, it keeps it clean.  
Seventhly, Because we have still flesh in us to be awed, as well as the Spirit in us to be cherished. 
There is one act of faith to be done once for all, to lay hold on Christ, and be united to him, and justified by him, yet I must live by it, and do every duty by it, so for repentance.   
Object. Justification is but one indivisible act of grace pardoning all sins past, present and to come.  
There is a twofold forgiveness:  

1. In foro poli, in the Court of God, so all sins past, present and to come are actually pardoned at the first act of believing and repenting.  
2. In foro soli, in the Court of Conscience, so they are not pardoned, we shall have no comfort or assurance of their pardon till we actually repent of them.   
Repentance is a part of the exercise of our whole Christian conversation, and a work to be ordinarily practised, though there be one great and universal repentance for the change of our state. In Revel. 2. & 3. chap. among the duties God requires of the seven Churches which were all converted, of four of them he requires the exercise of repentance, Revel. 2. 5. & 3. 13, 19  
But there are some special seasons wherein God in a more special manner calls his people to repent, when he would have the practice of it more full and extraordinary, 2 Cor. 7. 11. when we should more strictly examine ourselves, and our sorrow should be much enlarged, 1 Sam. 7. 6. judg. 2.  
There are five special times for renewing of Repentance:  
First, The time when God's hand is upon us in any special correction.  

1. God expects and requires it then, Isa. 22. the first 15 verses. Zeph. 2. begin. 
Isa. 27. 9 Jer. 2 19 Heb. 12. 11   
2. The servants of God have ordinarily practised it then, jeremiah, job, David, Lam. 3. 39, 40.  
3. God hath severely threatened them when they have not repent at such times, 2 Chron. 28▪ 22. jer. 5. 3. Amos 4. The reason is, because the Lord hath appointed this exercise of repentance as the only means to remove the rod, or turn it to a blessing.   
Secondly, Another special time when God would have his servants to renew their repentance, is upon their fall, when they have committed any gross sin, as David after defiling Urijahs wife, Psal. 51. and when he had fallen into the sin of numbering the people, 2 Sam. 24. So Ezra 9 when the people had married with strange wives, they wept exceedingly. So when the Church of Corinth had wrapped themselves in the guilt of the incestuous persons sin, 2 Cor. 7. Peter when he had denied his Master. Our sorrow doth not make God amends, or pacify his wrath when it is kindled; it is only a condition of the Covenant of Grace; the exercise of repentance, it satisfieth not God but the Church, it is a help to our own souls whereby our sins are subdued.  
Thirdly, When the Lord calls any of his people to any special service that he would have them do for him and the Church, than they ought to renew their repentance: When God called his people to renew their Covenant, there was a special humiliation before, Ezra 8. 21. Isa. 6. When joshua was called to build the 
Before the Supper and the offering of a child in Baptism, than Christ's death is represented. Rom. 6. 4. Gal. 3. 1.  Temple, and be an high-Priest to God, Zech. 3. When they were to come to the Sacrament they were to examine themselves thoroughly and judge themselves, so Exod. 19 14. Else our unworthiness may stand as a bar that we shall not comfortably go on in the work of the Lord, Gen. 35. begin.  
Fourthly, When we look to receive any special mercy, when we either need or expect by virtue of a promise, that God will do some great thing for us, as Isaac when he looked for his Father's servant to return with a wife. Dan. 9 The whole Chapter is the humblest exercise of repentance that we read of, the occasion was, he expected that the Lord would now break the Babylonian yoke. Moses called the people to deep humiliation and repentance when they were to possess the Land of Canaan.  
Fifthly, The time of death, when we expect our change, then is a special time for the exercise of the duty of repentance, that is a fitter time to finish then begin repentance 
a On a man's deathbed the day of repentance is past: for repentance being the renewing of a holy life, the living the life of grace, it is a contradiction to say, that a man can live a holy life upon his deathbed. D. Tailor's Rule of holy living, chap. 4. Sect. 4. That place Ezek. 33. 14. is it which is so often mistaken for that common saying, At what time soever a sinner reputes him of his sins from the bottom of his heart, I will put all his wickedness out of my remembrance, saith the Lord. Let not that be made a colour to countenance a deathbed penitent. D. Tailor on Jer. 13. 16. Serm. 2. One may repent on his deathbed as well as the thief on the Cross, but it is dangerous to put off repentance till then, it will be harder to come in. It's a rare sight (saith one) to find a young man godly, and an old man penitent. We acknowledge that as God calls some at the first hour, so may some be called at the last hour of the day, yea inter pontem & fontem. D. jackson indeed hath an opinion, that a man may proceed so far in sin in this life that the door of repentance may be th●t upon him, none of our Divines deny the possibility of any man's Salvation while he lives in this world. D. Twiss ag. Hord. p. 45. , than we should specially look to our hearts and examine our ways. It was the commendation of the Church of Thyatira, that their last works were best; and it is the last time that we shall have to do with repentance; we carry love and joy to Heaven, and most of the Graces except Faith and Hope, there shall be no use of them; when we go hence we go to the greatest Communion with God that the creature is capable of. Esther the night or two before she went to lie with Ahashuerus, was most careful to have her body perfumed and oiled.  
Motives to provoke us to the practice of Repentance, two especially, which are 
There is a Gospel-command to repent Mat 9 13. Act. 17. 30. 2. The very space of repentance is a mercy and given you that you may repent, Revel. 2. 21. 3. It is the natural fruit of a regenerate heart, Ezek. 11. 19 4. It is repentance to salvation, 1 Cor. 7. 10.  the great Motives to any duty.  
1. The necessity of it: 2. The Utility of it.  
I. The Necessity of it.  
Repentance is necessary to remission,  

1. Necessitate praecepti, Ezek. 18. 30.  
2. Necessitate medii, one must condemn his sin, and loathe himself, and prise a pardon afore he obtain it, Ezek. 20. 43. Luke 7. 47.   
The Schoolmen demand, why repentance should not make God satisfaction, because it hath God for its object as well as sin, 2 Cor. 7. 10. The offence takes it measure from the object, the good duty from the subject, therefore Christ only could make satisfaction.  
It is necessary, because every man must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, and receive an everlasting doom, and our plea must then be either that we have not sinned, or else that we have repent, Except ye repent ye shall all perish, while one remains impenitent, his person and services are abominable in the sight of God, Isa. 1. & Isa. 66. liable to all the curses written in the book of God. The Jews have a Proverb (saith Drusius) Uno die ante mortem poenitentiam agas, Repent one day before death, that is, every day, because thou mayst die tomorrow.  
There is an absolute necessity of Repentance for a fruitful and worthy receiving of the Sacrament.  
First, Without this there can be no true desire to come to this Supper; Faith is the hand, Repentance the stomach; by a sight of sin we see our want and need of Christ.  
Secondly, Without it there can be no fitness to receive Christ. We must eat this Passeover with bitter herbs.  
Thirdly, All should labour to have assurance of the pardon of their sins, This Cup is the New Testament in my blood for the remission of sins, without repentance there is no remission, Act. 5. 31.  
Fourthly, Because sin is of a soiling nature, and doth de●ile God's Ordinance to a man's soul, and if we come in sin, we cannot profit by the Lord's Ordinance.  
II. The Utility of it. The Necessity of it should work on our fear, the Utility of it on our love, the two great passions of the soul.  
First, It is infinitely pleasing to Almighty God, Luke 15. per totum. the intent 
There is more joy in heaven for one sinner that reputes then for ninty nine that need no repentance, as if he had aimed at the Antinomians.  of three Parables there is to show what content it is to God to see a sinner to turn from his evil ways, him that had lost his Groat, his Sheep, and the Prodigal Son.  
Secondly, The benefit of it is unspeakable to thine own soul.  

1. It will remove all evil: 

1. Spiritual, all the guilt of sin, and the defilement of it, 1 john 1. lat. end. Isa. 1. 16, 17, 18. no more prejudice lies against thee than if thou hadst never sinned against him. Marry Magdalen was infamous for her uncleanness, yet Christ first appeared to her after he rose from the dead, all the curses due to sin are laid on Christ.  
2. Outward Evil, When I speak concerning a Nation, if they repent I will repent of all the evil I thought to do. See joel 2.    
2. B●ing all Good, it brings God's favour, that flows on the soul, God hath promised grace and means of grace to such, jer. 3. 13, 14, 15. Prov. 1. 23. temporal blessing, job 22. Everlasting life is their portion, it is called Repentance unto life, Act. 11. 18. Unto Salvation, 2 Cor. ●1. 10. it is a means conducing to that end.   
Means of Repentance:  

1. Diligently study to know how miserable your state is without it, read over thy doings that have not been good every day. See the evil and danger of sin, Acts 2. 21. & 3. 17, 18. & 26. 18. jer. 31. 18. 2 Tim. 2. 25.  
2. Repentance is the gift of God 
* Act. 5. 31. & 11. 18. 2 Tim. 2. 12. , he granted also repentance to the Gentiles, beg earnestly at God's hand that he would make sin bitter to thee, and cause thee to hate it, Zech. 12. they mourned apart, then God poured on the house of David the Spirit of supplication, jer. 3. 18. Turn me Lord, and I shall be turned.  
3. Attend upon the Ministry of the Word, the preaching of the Word is called the word of Repentance, the preaching of the Law, God's word is a hammer to break the hard heart, especially the preaching of the Gospel, the discovery of Christ, They shall look on him whom they have pierced. Rom. 2. The goodness of God should lead thee to repentance.  
4. Faith in the blood of Christ; when thou seest thyself lost and undone, venture thyself upon the free grace of God revealed in the Gospel, faith in Christ will purify the heart, Acts 15. that is, instrumentally, the holy Ghost is the principal agent, You have received the Spirit by the preaching of faith.   
Three things are required in Repentance:  

1. The sight of sin by the Law.  
2. Hearty and continual sorrow for sin by considering the filthiness and desert of it, Gods judgements due for sin, his mercies bestowed on us, Christ's suffering for our sins, our own unthankfulness notwithstanding God's benefits.  
3. Amendment, an utter and well-advised forsaking of all sin in affection, and of gross sin in life and conversation.   
Renewing of Repentance, lies  

1. In renewing a man's humiliation and godly sorrow.  
2. In renewing his obligation to duty.   
The consideration of our Saviour's death for our sins should be unto us a most powerful motive to repentance. Two things are necessary in the point of repentance, for sins past to confess and lament them before God, humbly craving pardon, and for the time to come to reform and amend our lives, casting away all our transgressions, and applying ourselves to all holiness and righteousness.  
Now to the performance of this duty the death of Christ must needs be to him that considers of it, the most effectual argument and mighty motive in the world. Do we not here see that the sins we have lived in are most loathsome to God, for had he not hated them with infinite hatred, would he have inflicted such horrible punishments upon our Saviour his only Son by them? Do we not see that they are most dangerous to ourselves, exposing us to the suffering of intolerable evils, unless by virtue of Christ's death we be freed from them, which can never be but upon our Repentance. God hath in the death of Christ discovered such infinite abomination of sin, and withal such infinite grace to the sinner, that this should prevail with us. Paul saith, All we which are baptised into Christ are baptised into his death, and we are buried with him by baptism into his death, and we are crucified together with him, that the body of sin may be abolished. We must be made partakers of the death of Christ, if ever we will be made partakers of his resurrection; we must be made conformable to his death, if ever we will live and reign with him.  
Marks to know whether our repentance be right:  

1. If it be speedy and without delay, Satan always saith, it is either too soon 
Whosoever hath truly repent is, 1. Low in his own eyes, so Paul. 2. Fears sin ever after, Eccl. 9 2. 3. Is pitiful to others in their falls, Gal. 6. 1. 4. There will be a growth in the contrary with grace, Jer. 4. 14. Dan. 4. 27. Mat. 3. 9  to repent, as in youth; or too late as in old-age.  
2. Constant, not cast it aside, because we repented at our first conversion.  
3. Voluntary, and so a filial not a forced repentance, voluntary repentance speaks love to God, forced love to ourselves.  
4. It must be deep and thorough repentance suitable to our sins: the greatest sinners if gracious, have the greatest sorrow, and their joy is the more full after, Psa. 22. 4. 2 Sam. 14. 14.   
III. Love.  
This is a special grace of the Gospel, it is a longing desire for the good of our brethren, or a willing that good to one which is proper to him.  
There is a double Union:  
First, Mystical with Christ the Head by faith, and with one another by love.  
Secondly, Moral, an agreement in judgement and affection, joh. 17. 11. See 21, 22, 23. v. Act. 4. 32.  
Christ was,  

1. Incarnate for this end, that his people might be one, Ephes. 1. 10.  
2. This is often inculcated in Christ's Sermons, john 15. 17. He came from heaven on purpose to propound to us a pattern of charity, Ephes. 5. 2. Unity is the beauty, strength and safety of the Church, Act. 1. 14. See Isa. 11. 6.  
3. Christ died for this end, Isa. 2 15, 16.  
4. Christ aimed at this in his Ascension and pouring out of his Spirit, Ephes. 4. 5.  
5. It is the end of Christ's Ordinances in the Church, of Baptism, 1 Cor. 12. 13. and of the Lords Supper, 1 Cor. 10. 17.   
Every one is bound to love four things, saith Augustine.  
First, God who is the chiefest good, and therefore deserves the chiefest love.  
Secondly, Himself, God gives no commandment for one to love himself, because he commands one to love God as the chiefest good, and so to love him as to enjoy him, which one cannot do without love of himself.  
Thirdly, To love man as man, 1 Thess. 3. 12.  
Fourthly, To love all the 
* 1 Thess. 4. 10 1 John 3. 14.  Saints, the brotherhood, 1 Pet. 3. 17. those which love Saints as Saints, or because Saints, must needs love them all, Ephes. 1. 15. Col. 1. 4. Philem. 5. Our love must be,  

1. Sincere or without hypocrisy, Rom. 12. 9 it is so when we cleave to what ever is good in him, and abhor what is evil in him.  
2. Fervent, 1 Pet. 1. 22.  
3. Constant, a friend loveth at all times.   
We must also love our enemies, Matth. 5. 44, 45.  
It is reported of john, that in his old-age being unable by weakness to speak 
Mandatum novum dicitur, quia excellentissimum, & quod nunquam antiquari debet. Rivet.  long unto the Congregation, he would stand up, and ●n stead of a long Sermon ingeminate this precept, Diligite filioli, diligite, Little children love, love one another. The subject of his Epistle is love, 1 john 3. 18. He is called the beloved Disciple, because he was so full of it himself.  
Christ calls it the new Commandment, because excellent, or because solemnly 
Rom. 13. 10. See 1 John 4. 20. & 3 17. Mat. 7. 12.  renewed by him, john 13. 34. These are my Commandments that you love one another, This is the great grace which distinguisheth the children of light from the children of darkness, john 13. 35. He that loves not is not of God.  
There are high Eulogies of it, 1 Cor. 17.  
We must love our neighbour as ourselves, jam. 2. 8. We must neither wish nor do them any more hurt than we would wish or do to ourselves.  
2. We should really promote his good as our own, 1 Cor. 10 24. We are, 1. To pray for them, Heb. 13. 3. 2. Counsel them, Heb. 3. 13. 3. Relieve them in their wants, Mat. 25. lat. end.  
The Sacrament is a Seal of our Communion, that we are all one bread and one body.  
It is evident that Christ upon his death instituted that Supper; As, to be a seal 
Non est aliud peccatum aequè buic Sacramento adversum, atque discordia. Contrarium est enim & nomini, & rei hujus Sacramenti, nomen est communio, res unitas cordium. Luther. de praeparatione cordis pro susciptenda sacra Eucharistia. Ex convi●andi ritu in locis sacris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christianorum traxerunt originem: quarum non apud Apostolos solos, sed patrum etiam cruditissimos crebra sit mentio. Coena nostra de nomine rationem sui ostendit▪ Vocatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, id quod dilectio penes Graecos est. Tertul. Apolog. Dilher. Elect lib. 1. cap. 12. cum ex charitate diligatur proximus propter Deum, quanto aliquis magis diligat Deum, tanto etiam magis ad proximum dilectionem ostendit, nulla inimicitia impediente. Sicut si aliquis multum diligeret aliquem hominem, amore ipsius, silios ejus amaret, etiam inimicos sibi. Aquin. 2a, 2ae. Q. 25. Art. 8.  of that Covenant of grace between God and us, ratified thereby; So also to be a communion, the highest outward pledge, ratification and testimony of love and amity among his members themselves. M. Thomas goodwin's, Christ the universal Peacemaker. part. 2. Sect. 2.  
Yet the great wall of separation between the Papists and us, is the Sacrament of the Altar, and those that are called Lutherans and Calvinists the Lord's Supper.  
And this is a grace pressed with the like necessity toward man, that saith is toward God.  
The Christians in the Primitive Church did kiss each other at the Sacrament; this was called Osculum pacis, the kiss of peace in sign of love. D. Clerk.  
Some keep themselves from the Sacrament, because they are not in charity.  
These men show manifest contempt to Christ and his blessed Ordinance, that rather than they will forsake their malice they will want it.  
2. Such profess they will live still in malice, and have no desire to be reconciled, for if they had they need not refuse to receive, 2 Cor. 8. 12.  
The Love-feasts were appointed to signify their mutual love one to another, they were immediately before the receiving of the Sacrament, 1 Cor. 11. 21. St chrysostom makes the love-feasts to be after the taking of the Eucharist. They were used to have a great Feast, to which all the poor people were invited on the charges of the rich. This they did partly in imitation of our Saviour, who instituted 
Fuller.  the Sacrament after a full Supper, and partly in expression of their perfect love towards all men.  
These Agapae, or Love feasts of the ancient Christians, were so called of their end and purpose, or effect. Albeit they had divine Toleration, yet they had not divine Institution and Introduction. For it is not showed out of holy Writ, or consent of Antiquity, that they were commanded by Christ or his Apostles warrant. We may well say they had: for without check or controlment of their use, without alteration for their being, they were in the Apostles times, and there 
Mountag. Def. of tithes ag. M. Selden, c. 2.  is mention of them in Scripture; only they are taxed that did abuse them, and made themselves unworthy of such holy meetings. St Paul is commonly understood of these Feasts, 1 Cor. 11. 18. which were concomitant unto the holy Sacrament then, but St jude in express words doth name them, vers. 12. Maculae in Agapis vestris. Both prove but a practice abused, and reform again by St Paul, not an Ordination from God or the Apostles. These Love-feasts were general meetings of the whole Church, at least representative of as many as did communicate, unless some great occasion did with hold them.  
IV. Hungering after Christ, and desire of God's favour.  
We must come poor and hungry to the Lords Table, Psal. 132. 15. Luke 14. 13. Revel. 3. 17, 18. The promises are made to the hungry. Isa. 55. 1. & 45. 19 Prov. 21. 21. Luke 1. 50. Mat. 5. 3. jer. 31. 25. john 6. 44. Heb. 7. 25.  
Luther's paradox is, None come worthy, but those that come unworthy, that is, 
Lutherus quadam concione ait Eum ad coenam Domini optimè dispositum venire, qui pessimè fuerit dispositus, eum dignè manducare, qui indignitatem suam agnoverit.  in their own sense and feeling.  
Hunger and thirst imply,  

1. A want of those things which should support our bodily life.  
2. An afflicting sense of the want.  
3. An eager desire of the supply of it.   
So we must apprehend:  

1. Our own emptiness, our lost condition.  
2. We must be sensible of the wrath of God due to us for our sins.  
3. We must earnestly desire God's favour, to be reconciled to him.   
Hunger and thirst are both expressed, john 6. 44. to show the thorownesse of the apprehension and supply.  
Reasons.  

1. These only can relish Christ, he is sweet to hungry souls, Matth. 11. 28. Those that are affected with the sense of their sins can best taste of God's mercy.  
2. These only suit with Christ, Follow me for I am lowly and meek.  
3. This will awake desires, the hunger-bitten beggar will be importunate with God.  
4. This will make you welcome to God, He fills the hungry with good things. Open thy mouth wide and he will fill it, Isa. 44. 3. Psal. 145. 15. compared with the 19   
We must desire God's favour heartily and continually, because  

1. It is necessary, for it were better for one not to be, then to be out of God's favour.  
2. Because it is excellent, for God's favour and the light of his countenance is better than life itself.   
That we may stir up this desire in us, we must consider  

1. Our need of Christ his fullness and perfection.  
2. The necessity and excellency of the Sacrament.  
3. The benefits we have therein, and the helps thereby to quicken and confirm our faith.   
Having dispatched the consideration of the truth of certain graces we are to examine before we come to the Lords Table; I shall in the next place speak of the growth or wants of our graces.   

I. Of the growth of our Graces.  
As we ought to examine ourselves of the truth of our graces when we go to the Lords Supper, so likewise of their growth and strength: true grace will grow.  
The Lord's Supper is a sealing and strengthening Ordinance, therefore presupposeth 
2 Tim. 2. 1.  life, we should then know the degree and strength of our graces.  
Grace is a supernatural and peculiar quality wrought in the people of God by 
Grace is an instinct put into the soul after union with Christ, and with God by him.  his Spirit, whereby they are enabled to please God in all things.  

1. A quality in us, sometimes it signifieth grace in God, Being justified freely by his grace.  
2. Supernatural, enableth us to do things above nature.  
3. Peculiar, to distinguish it from common graces in reprobates which are supernatural, as the grace of God working miracles. 
The Familists say, Grace is Christ himself working in us, that there are no habits of grace, we do not believe and repent, but Christ in us, there is a seed in a man, 1 John 3. 9 Grace is called the new-creature, the inward man, the Spirit and grace are distinguished, Gal. 5. 22. 2 Pet. 3, 18. This duty suits with our present state, we are in a state of progress and edifying, 1 Thess. 4. 1. Prov. 4. 18   
4. Wrought in us by the Spirit, it is not in us by nature or education, it is the grace of God, he is the God of all grace.  
5. To please God in all things, we must have respect to all his Commandments.   
The Scripture speaks much of abounding and growing in grace, Psal. 92. 12. 1 Cor. 15. 58.  
The word abounding is taken from rivers, the other from all sorts of vitals or plants. The Apostle calls upon the Corinthians to be strong, and upon Timothy to be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, and upon the Ephesians, to be strong in Christ, and in the power of his might. Paul prays for the Ephesians, that according to the riches of his grace the Lord would strengthen them by his Spirit with all might in the inward man. Bodily strength is a natural gift common to man with beast, yet many brag of it, spiritual strength is far more excellent. See Heb. 10. 29. Ephes. 4. 15.  
There is always a furthermore in Christianity, 1 Thess. 4. 1. Ubi incipis nolle fieri melior, ibi etiam de sinis esse bonus. Bern. Epist. 91.  
Reason's why Christians should strive to grow in grace.  
First, God commands it, Phil. 1. 12. Ephes. 3. 19 Colos. 2. 19 2 Pet. 1. 10. Heb. 6. 1.  
Secondly, God commends it, O woman great is thy faith. Stephen was full of the holy Ghost, Acts 9 36.  
Thirdly, The Saints of God have practised it, 1. Prayed for the increase of grace, Phil. 3. 11. 2. Laboured for the increase of it.  
Fourthly, From the similitudes to which a child of God is compared in Scripture, to trees, Psal. 1. 2. & 91. 12. Isa. 61. 3. Host 14. 5. Plants grow till they die, whence they are called vegetables.  
Fifthly, From the nature of grace, where there is truth of grace it will grow, Matth. 13. 8. because it puts a man into Christ, whosoever is in him must needs be fruitful, john 15. 5. if the body of Christ did not grow as well as the head it would be a monstrous body, Col. 2. 19 Ephes. 2. 10.  
Sixthly, According to the measure of your grace shall be the degree of your glory, 2 Pet. 1. 10. He that soweth liberally shall reap liberally.  
Motives to get strength and grow in grace:  

1. We need more strength, Revel. 3. 9 Grace is the elevation of the soul.  
2. It is more honourable to have a great measure of grace, Revel. 2. 19 Christ checks his Disciples for their little faith.  
3. If we grow not in grace we decrease, Heb. 6. 1. compared with v. 4. All Christians (saith Jerome) are like the Angels in Jacob's ladder, they all ascended or descended, Qui dixit sufficit deficit. 1 John 3. 3.  
4. Fruitful Christians are in a happy condition, Heb. 6. 7. God is much honoured by them, john 15. 5, 8. Phil. 1. 11. he will delight to dwell with them, at the day of judgement they shall receive public approbation and remuneration, Matth. 25. 23.   
Marks of the growth of grace:  

1. It is a proportionable growth, a growth in all the parts, our faith is suitable to our knowledge, our love to our faith, and practice to both.  
2. Constant, at least in our desires and endeavours.  
3. It will grow against all hindrances.   
The infallible Signs of growth in grace, are these  

1. When we grow more spiritual: 

1. In our aims, when we have pure intentions in every action.  
2. In our duties, when the mind is more enlightened to mind spiritual duties, and to resist spiritual temptations, when we oppose thoughts and lusts, not only morally but spiritually evil, and when we relish the more spiritual part of the Word, 1 Cor. 10. 6.  
3. In our motives, when we resist sin, not because it will damn us, but because it is against God's law, purity, and defiles us.    
2. When we grow more solid and judicious, 1 Cor. 13. 11. Phil. 1. 9 Growth is not to be measured by the intenseness and vigour of the affections, that is more in young Christians.  
3. When we grow more humble, by long experience reflexive light is increased, one is more able to look into conscience, and see his own defects, Prov. 30. 2.   
The lowest degree of growth in grace may be discerned by two Marks:  

1. By longing for food, 1 Pet. 2. 2.  
2. By being humbled for want of growth, Mark 9 24. It is a good degree of our growth in grace to see how much we want.   
There is difference between growth in gifts and graces, 1 Cor. 1. 5, 7. Many in these days grow in gifts: gifts are for others, and but for this life: growth in gifts often puffeth up, but growth in grace humbleth.  
A Christian may grow either quoad amplitudinem scientiae, or efficaciam scientiae, the enlargement of his knowledge may be both in respect of the matter, he may know more things than he did, as also in the manner, more clearly, evidently and firmly than he did, or else in the efficacy of his knowledge, he knoweth them more practically.  
2. Means of our spiritual Growth:  
1. General, the Word, 1 Pet. 2. 2. it is compared to rain, Deut. 32. 2. and such things as will further growth, Isa. 55. 5, 11. milk; Children never grow so much in so short a time, as when they are said with milk, sincere milk, not mixed with error, 2 Cor. 2. ult.  
2. Particular Helps:  

1. We should labour to live under the means of growth and prize them, Zech. 4. 12. the 
* There are four helps to grow in grace by coming to the Sacrament. 1. Be sure you bring truth of grace with you. God will spy you out if you want the wedding garment. 2. Act your graces, your faith, repentance, love to God, thankfulness. 3. Look upon Christ sacramentally, ●ye him in the elements, see him there crucified before thee, that thoumaist receive out of his fullness. 4. Urge God with that promise, Host 4. 5. pray him to let the dew of his grace fall on thy heart.  Sacrament is a strengthening Ordinance.  
2. We should overcome our lusts, jam. 1. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 2, 3. The good ground hears the Word with a good and honest heart.  
3. We should be daily questioning ourselves how we do grow, 1 Cor. 12. ult. Heb. 6. 1.  
4. Be often in the use and exercise of that grace wherein we desire to grow, 1 Tim. 4. 14, 15. the right hand and foot are stronger, because they are more used, improve thy knowledge by teaching others, and zeal when the name of God is dishonoured, and faith by depending on God in all occurrences, by applying the promises, exercise repentance, 2 Cor. 7. 7. humility, God gives grace to the humble, self-denial, love, that sets obedience on work, 2 Cor. 5.  
5. Constant prayer for God's blessing on the Word, and all other means, jude v. 20. The Disciples said, Lord, increase our faith, Luk. 17. 5. Praying Christians will certainly be growing Christians.   
Strength of grace is discovered by two things:  

1. When duties are easy, Rom. 15. 20.  
2. When crosses are light, Bonds and afflictions abide me where ever I come, saith Paul, yet none of these move me.   
Strength is an ability of working powerfully, we must have it from Christ, Isa. 45. 24. Col. 1. ult.  
All graces show their virtue and efficacy two ways:  

1. When they strongly and lively produce their own acts, as a strong assent, and most firm and fixed acknowledgement of any truth shows a strong faith.  
2. By a laborious and earnest resisting their contrary, as a strong casting away, and loathing, and abhorring doubting conceits, shows faith also to be strong.   
Christ by his Spirit,  

1. Increaseth graces in us, faith, love, humility, self denial.  
2. Acts the graces received, Cant. 4. 16. Rom. 7. 18.  
3. Brings to our minds the truths of God and former works of God, Heb. 12. 5.  
4. Renews our comforts, and freshly imprints the love of God upon the soul, Rom. 5. 5. 1 john 2 6. Obedience flows from love, so he strengthens us.   
We should labour to grow,  
First, In knowledge, Host 6. 3. Grace increaseth by the knowledge of God, Isa. 11. 18. 2 Pet. 1. 2. & 2 Pet. 3. 10. our fairest portion in heaven is the satisfaction of our understanding in the knowledge of God, Psal. 17. 15 Knowledge is the great promise of the New Covenant, jer. 31. 34. We should grow in the knowledge of the truths of Christian Religion, of God, Christ, the Sacraments, Justification, Sanctification, and labour to get a powerful, practical, experimental knowledge of these truths, know the power of Christ's death and resurrection, Phil. 3. 10. Knowledge is the first and chief part of God's Image, Col. 3. 10. See Chap. 1. 10. Growth in knowledge is rather to be reckoned by the degrees of knowledge then by the objects and matters known, Prov. 4. 18. I know God and Christ more practically, savingly, the Covenant more distinctly, Heb. 6. 14. We must not from an expectation of new light be hindered from being established in the present principles.  
Secondly, In faith, Matth. 9 24. Luk. 17. 5. Rom. 1. 17. because faith of all graces is most defective (things in Religion are so rare and excellent) and most assaulted by Satan, and growth in all other graces depends on the increase of faith. See Luke 17. 5. We should labour to grow in the assurance of faith, Heb. 6. 14. in the exercise of it, Heb, 10. 38. Gal. 2 20.  

1. The people of God here must live a life of holiness, as our faith is so is our conversation  
2. Must bear Christ's Cross, as our faith is so will our carriage be under the Cross, john 11. 14.  
3. They should be full of peace and joy, this will be according to our faith.   
Lastly, We should search and find out what our wants are that we would fain have supplied there, what we stand in need of, we partake of the body and blood of Christ for the supply and augmentation of those graces we stand in need of, Luke 18. 40. The Sacrament is a Grace-increasing Ordinance, consider what graces therefore are most defective in you, and come to Christ for a supply of them. 
Aquinas part. 3 Qu. 80. Art. 8. resolves this Question. Utrum cibus vel potus praeassumptus impediat sumptionem hu jus Sacramenti?   

Quest. Whether the Communicants ought to come fasting?  
It is superstitious to think it irreverent receiving if a man have eaten any thing before, Christ instituted it after Supper.  
The Papists take it in the morning and fasting, it cannot then be called the Lords Supper, since it is rather a breakfast.    

II. Directions for our carriage in the Duty.  
By faith we come to see that the Sacraments are the Lords Ordinances, and that those things which he promiseth in the Covenant of Grace, and sealeth in the Sacrament, are far better than all profits and pleasures in this world. By it we come to be stirred up to desire and long after these benefits, and so to covet them, that nothing in this world will satisfy us without them.  
We should exercise faith at the Lords Table, view the arguments the Ordinance itself affords.  

1. Here is Christ crucified before thine eyes, and he clearly offers it to thy soul 
Here is a real though a spiritual presence of Christ.  in particular, he applies it to thee, This is my body which was broken for thee, and my blood which was shed for thee. Run over the sad story of Christ's agony, and say, This was done by my Lord for my poor soul.  
2. The Lord calls thee hither on purpose, because thou art weak. He will cherish weak beginnings, Mat. 12. 20.   
For our affections we must behave ourselves with joy, comfort and reverence. 
Sacramental, 1. Love, Cant. 1. 4. call to mind the highest act of Christ's love in dying for us when enemies. 2. Sorrow in considering how our sins wound Christ. Hope, long for sweet communion with Christ in heaven, the Supper doth not only sea● comfort but glory. There is a union of mysteries.  See 2 Chron. 30. 21. & Mat. 26. 30.  
Thy heart should be cheerful in God and thankful, praise him. Thankfulness and joy are the effects of faith; the Ordinances are often compared to feasts and banquets, because of the spiritual delight and rejoicing which the soul ought to take in them. Hence the very Sacrament is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, because of the giving thanks unto God for his mercies. The outward duty is comfortable, Circumcision was a bloody rite, yet this is nothing to the inward sweetness, john 4. 32. In one of the Evangelists it is said, Christ blest the bread, in another it is said, Christ gave thanks, Christ when he instituted this Sacrament gave thanks to God the Father that he was pleased to send him into the world to die for poor souls.  
Fear is proper to the duty of the Supper, because of those excellent mysteries. Chrysostom calls this Table, Horribilis mystica mensa, Psal. 68 35. mixed affections do best in a mixed state in the whole worship of God, Psal. 2. 11. Host 3. 7.  
For our thoughts:  
We must meditate,  

1. On the outward signs, and what they signify.  
2. On the dainties prepared.  
3. The love of him that prepared them.  
4. On our communion with Christ, his Graces and faithful people.   
The effect of these affections and thoughts will be stirring up the heart to thanksgiving.  
When we taste the wine we should consider its properties, Psal. 104. 15. judg. 9 13. so there is satisfaction to God and comfort to the creature in the blood of Christ, wine engenders new spirits, warms and refines them, the blood of Christ infuseth a new vigour into the soul.  
Our Communion with Christ in the Supper is not only with his gifts and graces, 
The Elements specially represent his humane nature, but the Sacrament gives us a right to his whole person, Act. 20. 28. Look on him as a complete Saviour, Isa. 44. 24. Col. ● 9 and come with your whole hearts to whole Christ, Act. 8. 47. Jam. ●. 9 There is a desertion in point of sanctification as well as consolation, when God leaves us in the duties we perform Vide Ames de consc. l. 4. c. 28. Post Scrmonem celebrandae S. C●nae locus, pr●●ser●im dum servebat primus ille Christianorum zelus, singulis heb lomadis, interdum etiam diebus communicantium: nec enim unquam explicabantur sacramenta super mensam Dominicam, quin multi ad eam accederent. Mo●nayus de sacra Eucharistia l. 1 c. 4. Nunquam in Primitiva Ecclesia Eucharistiae Sacramentum celebrabatur▪ qum omnes qut adessent eidem communicarent. Si qui, nollet communicare eo die quo conventus fidelium agebatur, quod propri● conscientia non● 'em satis examinata & probata cum à communione prohiberet, aut quod sibi od●i aut simultatis adversus fratrem conscius esset, si aliara quamcunque causam non communicandi haberet, non solebat cum aliis ad Synaxim convenire, Simpl. Verin. Epist. de libro postumo Grot. p. 108.  but with his Person, whole Christ. There are two Elements to signify this, Bread his Body, and Wine his Blood. Our Communion is with his whole Person, with Christ invested with all kind of Offices to do us good, and furnished with rich graces and comforts, 1 john 5. 16. We partake of his wisdom as a Prophet, righteousness as a Priest, grace and glory as a King.  
What must be done after the Sacrament?  
We must endeavour to find an increase of faith, love, and all saving graces in us, abounding more and more in well-doing.  
We should speak of the sweetness of Christ to others, Psal. 34. 8.  
Some Disciples have gone from this Supper triumphing, and trampling upon Satan as Lions breathing fire (saith chrysostom) terrible to the Devils themselves.  
If we find not the fruit of this Ordinance presently, either it may come from want of preparation, or from trusting in our own preparation, 2 Chron. 26. 15, 16. or want of thankfulness for our preparation, 1 Chron. 29. 14. or from want of stirring up the graces we have received in that duty, Isa. 57 8. 2 Tim. 1. 6. Or, Because we were not humbled for former neglects, Psal. 32. 4, 5.  
God may deny us the present sense of our benefit:  

1. To train us up to live by faith, 2 Cor. 5. 7.  
2. To try our graces.  
3. That we may more diligently search into our own souls, Psal. 77. 6.   
How oft ought the Sacrament to be received?  
Amongst the Papists the people communicate only once a year, viz. at Easter, which superstitious custom many of our ignorant people follow.  
Calvin 4. Institut. 43. & 46. roundly professeth, that it behoveth that the Eucharist be celebrated at least once a week.  
The Christians in some parts of the Primitive 
* In Primitiva Ecclesiae Apostolicae vicina, flagrame persecutionum incendio fingulis diebus Christiani communicabant. Gerh. loc. commun de sacra ●oena c. 24. Tempus communicandi esse debet frequentissimum & plane quotidianum. Baptismus autem non iteratur, quia generationi quae unica est respondet. Eucharistia urò saepius iteranda est; quia cibo & alimontae (cujus frequens usus reperitur) respondet. Maldonati Summula Quaest 24. Artic. 1. Constat ipsos Apostolos & Christianos quotidiè communicasse, Act. 2. quotidiè communicabant sicut orabant p●ulò post ubi crevit Christianorum negligentia coeptum est solis diebus Dominicis communicare. Id. ibid. Art. 2.  Church took the Sacrament every day, because they did look to die every day. Now in many places it is administered every month.  

Object. The Passeover unto which the Lord's Supper succeedeth was celebrated once a year, and therefore once only for this Sacrament is sufficient.  
Answ. God ordained that the Passeover should be celebrated but once only in the year, and on a certain month and day, the Jews had many other visible signs to represent Christ and his benefits, they had Sacrifices every day, and legal washings, but he hath appointed that this Feast of the Lords Supper should be often solemnised, and that we should come often unto it, 1 Cor. 11. 25, 26. That the frequent celebration of the Sacrament is a duty, is inferred from this Text by Peter Martyr, Calvin, Musculus, Aretius, Hyperius, Toss●nus, Pareus, Piscator, Dickson and Mr Pemble. See johnsons' Christian Plea, Chap. 14.  
In the time of the Apostles the purest age of the Church, they solemnised it every Lord's day, Acts 20. 7. yea it was their daily exercise, as often almost as they had any public meeting for the service of God, Acts 2. 42. And this custom long continued in the Primitive Church after the Apostles times, not only in the days of justin Martyr and Tertullian, but also of Chrysostom and Augastine, as appeareth by their writings: until by man's corruption and Satan's malice, the commonness of the action exposed it to contempt. 
Cur vetus Ecclesia credidit omnem sidelem omni die communicare debere, quod ultra decimum saeculum videmus durasse, bodierna autem ac Romana putat sufficere, si semel in anno communicatum fuerit? Quta nimirum illa nullum usum, nec ullum fructum Sacramentorum constituit in videnda & audienda eorum actione, sed totum posuit in participatione vera corporis & sanguinis, haec ver● contrarium sumit. Simplicii Verini Epist. de libro Postumo Grotii.   
We should come often to the Sacrament, there is no exception, but want of occasion or some just impediment.  
There was in old time a custom, there should be a Communion every Lord's 
Parker of the Crosle, part. 1. chap. 3.  day, every one not receiving without lawful excuse, being excommunicated, which Charles the Great in some sort renewed, and which Bucer advised K. Edward in this Land to restore again.  
Whether if an Ordinance, and namely the Sacrament of the Lords Supper (though there seems to be the like reason in other Ordinances) cannot be so administered, but that by some which partake of it, it will notoriously be profaned, that be a sufficient reason for the non-administration of it? Or, Whether for want of order and government to keep off such as are notoriously unworthy, the administration of the Sacrament may and aught to be suspended?  
Again, Whether a Minister may lawfully and with a good conscience continue there in the exercise of his Ministry (having a Pastoral charge) where he hath not power to administer the Sacrament of the Lords Supper?  
There is a Treatise lately published by one Master jeanes, entitled, The want of Church-Government no warrant for a total omission of the Lords Supper.  
He saith there Pag. 18. Next unto God and Christ's glory, the good of the Saints was the main end of this Sacrament: it was principally intended for the godly, for their use, comfort and edification, and therefore they are not to be deprived, although it is much against their wills; accidentally prejudicial unto wilful and presumptuous intruders.  
Pag, 35. That which gives a right in foro Dei, is faith, but in foro Ecclesiastico, profession of the faith. Now where Church-Government is not settled, there are many who are Believers and Professors of the Faith, Ergò, Many that have right unto the Lord's Supper. And we may argue from the right to the administration.  
Pag. 48, 49. Some think that the supposed sin of giving the Lords Supper unto 
Gillesp. in his Aaron's Rod Bloss. Book 3. c. 8. p. 437, 438 M. Bowles de Pastore Evangelico, l. 4. c. 5. Burrh. in his Gospel-worsh. p. 264, 265.  unworthy persons, is easily avoided, if the Minister give not the Sacramental Elements to each Communicant out of his own hand; but the Communicants divide the Elements among themselves.  
There is not in either the Evangelists, or the 1 Cor. 11. any the least mention of our Saviour's distributing the Sacramental Elements particularly and severally out of his own hand to each Communicant: Nay, the contrary rather is probable, because he speaks unto these whom he gave the Supper unto, only jointly and in general, Take, Eat, Drink.  
Pag. 51. Only such Dogs and Swine are to be denied the Lords Supper who are such juridically. For though (saith M. Ball) in course of life they may be Dogs, yet in public esteem they are not to be reputed Dogs, nor used as Dogs till the Church have so pronounced of them.  
Page. 61. Breaches of the Command and Rule of Christ in the administration of the Lords Supper are of two sorts, Material or Personal.  

1. Material, when the worship itself is corrupted, as in the Popish Mass, where there is but one Element.  
2. Personal, when the worship itself is in every respect pure, but the Persons communicating▪ wa●●●ing in requisite qualifications; the former are chargeable upon the Minister administering the Lords Supper, not the later, so he prevent them so far as in him lieth.   
Pag. 67. He quotes this passage out of M. Ball, In coming to God's Ordinance we have Communion with Christ principally who hath called us thither, is there present by his grace and spirit to bless his Ordinance; and with the faithful, who are there met together at God's Commandment, in the Name and by the Authority of Jesus Christ: with the wicked we have no Communion, unless it be External and by Accident, because they are not, or cannot be cast out. Internal and Essential Communion we have with Christ and the faithful only; External, with the wicked. Our Communion with Christ and his faithful people is not free and voluntary, but necessary, enjoined by God, not left to our will or pleasure. Our Communion with the wicked in the Ordinances is unwilling on our part, suffered not affected, if we knew how to hinder it lawfully.  
Whether it be meet upon one and the same day to have a solemn Fast, together with the celebration of the Lords Supper?  
No, since the nature of them is so different one from the other. The one is a Fast, the other a Feast. The one is a sign of solemn testification of sorrow, the other of joy, jud. 20. 26. Esth. 4. 16. compared with Mat. 26. 26, 29. Luk. 22. 17, 20. 1 Cor. 5. 6, 7, 8.  
They were wont in the Primitive Churches to have Love-feasts with the Lords Supper, as may appear 1 Cor. 11. 20, 34. & jude v. 12. Tertul. Apol. c. 39    

Of the Gesture at the Sacrament.  
Some have written Books for 
a B. Buckeridge. M. Paibody.  kneeling at the Sacrament, others against 
b Sir William Temple.  it.  
Calvinc speaking of the reverence of kneeling, saith it is lawful if it be directed not to the sign▪ but to Christ himself in heaven, which was the resolute profession of our English Church in the use of this gesture. 
● Institut. l. 4. Sect 37. D. Burgess saith, the gesture of kneeling in the act of receiving was never any instituted Ceremony of the Church of Rome, nor is it at this day. Bellar. l. 2. de missa, c. 14, 15. saith, it was only for the conveniency of putting the Host into the mouth of the receiver, and not for adoration of the Eucharist.   
Some much urge our Saviour Christ's example, and a Table-gesture for sitting.  
Christ's example hath not the force of a Commandment: For  

1. It is not certainly expressed what gesture he used in the act of receiving.  
2. It hath not the force of a Commandment in any other part of his service, as preaching, praying, therefore neither in this.  
3. It hath not the force of a Commandment in other circumstances of this action, therefore neither in this.  
4. It is apparent that the gesture was taken up occasionally, therefore the example of Christ therein doth not tie us.   
We receive not the Sacrament with our meals, as Christ and the Apostles at first 
Vide Dilher. Elect● 2. c. 4. M. Down of sitting or kneeling at the Communion. Respond●o nos Dei gratia melius ac sanctius in Christi schola fuisse institutos, quam ut putemus aliquam esse religionem Eucharistiam de geniculis sumere. Ita sumunt vicini in Anglia fratres; neque nos, si quando cum iis communicamus, eodem ritu samere ●●get; totaque res apud nos ita libera censetur, ut quanquam stantes sacro ●pulo vescamur ipsi. pro fratribus tamen & habeamus & colamus etiam qui vel sedentes, vel ingeniculati Eucharistiam accip●●cut. Itaque si nihil à nobis aliud Latini post●lassent, quam ut Sacramentum de geniculis simpliciter sumeremus; fateor nullam nobis ab ●is discedendi futuram fuisse causam satis idoneam; quando quod postularent, id hujusmodi est quod à nobis integra atque illaef● conscientia fieri posset. Dal●aei Apologia pro Eccles. Reform. cap. 12.  did, therefore we are not tied to the gesture of meals.  
It was the manner of those times and long before at meals to lie on their beds, leaning on their elbows, and supporting themselves with pillows, so the Evangelists words signify.    

CHAP. XI. Of Extraordinary Religious Duties, Fasting, Feasting and Vows. I. Of Fasting.  
SInce God in the Old Testament by Moses commanded the Jews a solemn and anniversary Fast in the tenth day of the seventh month, Numb. 24. 7. Leu. 16. 31. & 22. 27, 29. since there are examples of many pious persons fasting in the Scripture, and since in the New Testament there is a frequent commendation of fasting, Matth. 9 14. & 6. 16. & 17. 21. 1 Cor. 7. 5. & 2 Cor. 6. 5. 
See Act 13. 3.  Act. 9 9 & 13. 2. & 14. 23. it is plain that the Doctrine of Fasting doth belong to Religion and Piety, and the worship of God.  
In itself it is not any worship of God, but only as it tends to some holy end, 
Ieju●ium propriè dictum Graecis ●. Testamenti scriptoribus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocatur, & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jejuna●e, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à non comedendo dicitur, est enim quedam à cibo abstinentia. Hebraeis afflictio dicitur, Esdr. 9 5. quia ex Scripturae phrasi affli●ere animam est jejunare, Num. 29▪ 7. & Levit. 16. 3. & 22. 27. Eò nempèipertinet & spectat jejunium ut corporis afflictione anima ●●●ilictur ac dejic iatur. Thes. Salm. pars ultima Religiosum jejunium à naturali & civili, in ●o differt, quòd à religione imperatur: id est, directè & immediatè, ad ●ulium & bonorem Dei refertur. 2. Non tamen ita refertur ad Dei honorem ut p●rs ●u●tus, sed tantum ut medium, quo verus cultus promovetur. 3. In Testamento Novo, non est propriè medium cul●us, vel qua e●●●cit aliquid, vel ex institutione significat, vel coram Deo, vel coram hominibus, sed quatenus disponit ad extraordinarium ex●r●●●ium cul●us. 4. Disponit aui●m praecipuè impedimenta illa removendo, quae extraordinariae Dei invocationi repugnant. Ames. Cas. consc. lib. 4. c▪ 21.  to pray the better, to humble our souls the better, for though it pleaseth God, yet every thing that pleaseth him is not presently worship.  
The phrase which St Luke useth, chap. 2. 37. doth no more urge us to make Fasting worship, than St Paul's phrase Act. 20. 19 doth make temptations a special kind of worship. Fasting may be called worship by a trope, as being a special adjunct of some extraordinary worship. Doctor Ames against D. Burgess. part 1. pag. 145.  
Bellarmine lib. 2. cap. 1. defines fasting to be Cibi abstinentiam secundum Ecclesiae regulam assumptam, making no mention of the end of Fasting, though it be especially to be judged of by the end, and it is mere hypocrisy if it be only undertaken to satisfy the commandment of the Church, as it is usual among the Papists, who think they have fasted well when they have abstained from meat or flesh on such days as it is forbidden without any consideration of a just end.  
There are several sorts of Fasts, Natural, Civil and Metaphorical. But a holy or religious Fast is a voluntary abstinence from all our lawful refreshments to some religious end.  
M. Fenner and M. Ball thus define it.  
A holy Fast is a religious abstinence from all the labours of our calling, and comforts 
jejunium est abstinentia ad tempus, ab omnibus vitae adiumentis, quoad naturae imbecillitas & vitae decus sive honestas fert, ad preces efficaciores reddendas & humilitatem testandam. Dudlei Fenneri Theol. Sac. l. 5. c. 10. jejunium religiosum est voluntaria abstinentia à cibo & potu religionis causa, Hommius Disput. ●9. Fasting is an abstinence commanded of the Lord thereby to make solemn profession of our repentance. Cartw. descript. of true Fast. Bellarmine saith, jejunium pars est cultus divini, non id●o quod referatur ad cultum divinum ut finem, sed quod in se fit ipse cultus divinus. Potest quidem jejunium nos aptiores reddere ad Deum colendum, sed non potest esse pars cultus illius, non magis quam lachrymae & fletus. Cameron Myroth. ad Matth. 17. 21.  of this life, so far as comeliness and necessity will permit, that we may be more seriously humbled before God, and more fervent in prayer, 1 Cor. 7. 5. joel 2. 14, 15, 16. Dan. 9 1, 2, 3. & 10. 1, 2, 3. Ezra 8. 21.  
It hath the name of Fasting from one most sensible part, viz. the abstinence from food denominating the whole exercise.  
We must abstain,  

1. From bodily labours and worldly business. For the time of the Fast hath the nature of a Sabbath. It is called by the Prophet joel, a solemnity or day of prohibition joel 1. 4. & 2. 15. wherein men are forbidden to do any work, as the Lord expoundeth that word, Leu. 23. 36. Deut. 16. 8.  
2. Food, there must be a total abstinence from meat and drink, so far as our health will permit, 2 Sam. 3. 35. Ezra 9 6. Esth. 4. 16. jon. 3. 7. Act. 9 9  
3. From sleep in part. David lay upon the ground all night, 2 Sam. 12. 26. See Esth. 4. 3. joel 1. 13.  
4. From costly attire, Exod. 33. 5, 6. heretofore they wore sackcloth and lay in ashes, and used all those actions which might humble them in God's presence.  
5. Carnal delights, joel 2. 16. 1 Cor. 7. 5.  
6. The end must be religious, to be better fitted for prayer and seeking of God. 
Causae finales jejuniorum, 1. Ut per substractionem cibi & potus caro spiritui sujiciatur. 2. Ut animus ad serium poenitentiae exercitium excitetur. 3. Ut in lucta ac calamitatibus admoneamur de peccato, quod est causa omnium malorum. 4. Ut preces solennes eo ardentius à nobis peragantur. 5. Ut publici conventus Ecclesiastui majori cum animi devotione peragantur. Chemnit. in Harm. Evang. Sanctum ac legitimum jejunium tres habet fines. E● enim utimur ad macerandam ac subigendam carnem, ne lasciviat, vel ut ad pr●ces ac sanctas meditationes melius simus comparati, vel ut testimonium sit nostrae coram Deo humiliationis, dum volumus reatum nostrum coram ipso confiteri. Calvin. Instit. l. 4. De extern. med ad salutem. c. 12. De hominis jejuni saliva ita scribit. Plin. l. 28. c. 4. Hominum verò in primis jejunam salivam contra serpentes praesidio esse docuimus. Etiam Satanico serpenti jejunium displicet, & ●ontra ejus arts, a● vires praesidio est. Novar. Schedias. sac. proph. l. 11. c. 15.    
The ends of a Fast are two, humiliation and reconciliation, as appeareth, Levit. 23. 26. to 33. The things in which the Fast must be spent are exercises fitting these ends.  
The means, 1. of Humiliation, are Natural or Spiritual. 
Daniel & others when they fasted some days together, took but little refreshment, the Disciples of Christ are accused that they did eat and drink.   
The Natural are forbearance of food both meat and drink, so far as it may stand with our ability, and not hinder ut from praying and good meditations, as also of work and labour, wherefore it is called sanctifying a Fast, Levit. 23. 28. joel 1. 14. and all natural delights otherwise lawful, joel 2. 16. 1 Cor. 7. 5. and lastly of costly attire, jonah 3. 8. To appear in a mean habit is a natural help of abasing ourselves, but in private Fasting we are bid to anoint ourselves, Matth. 6. that we may not appear to fast.  
The Spiritual helps are chiefly four:  

1. Examining our hearts and lives that we may find out our manifold sins, 
Such an usual companion of Fasting is the humiliation of the soul, that not only the faithful in Scripture are said to humble their soul by Fasting, but sometimes also the outward Fasting is called the humbling of the soul, Psal. 35. 13. Isa. 58. 5. Levit. 23. 27, 32. 1 King. 21. 29.  Lam. 3. 40.  
2. The aggravation of our sins by considering their heinousness in regard of the ill effects, and the like.  
3. Confessing them, and judging ourselves for them.  
4. Praying for the Spirit to humble us, bemoaning our own hardness.   
These are Means for humiliation.  
The Means secondly of Reconciliation are two,  
First, To plant in ourselves a firm purpose of leaving sin, Isa. 1. 16, 18. by considering the necessity, profit and difficulty of leaving sin; and God's promises to help us, and by fervent prayers to him to incline our hearts to his testimonies, and to strengthen us that sin may not overcome us.  
Secondly, To settle our hearts in a steadfast confidence of his mercy in Christ, pardoning and accepting us. This may be wrought by considering the multitude of God's mercies, the infiniteness of Christ's merits, the largeness of God's promises, and the examples of those whom he hath pardoned, and then by crying earnestly to him to strengthen our faith, and seal up our adoption to us by his Spirit.  
The usual time of a Fast is a natural day from Even to Even, or from Supper to 
An artificial day is the least space of time to be so bestowed, from morning till night, till six of the clock in the afternoon, or Sunsetting. See Mason of Fasting.  Supper, judg. 20. 26. 2 Sam. 1. 12. & 3. 35. Iosh 7. 6.  
We read of a three days Fast in Nineveh, ●onah 3. 7. and in Esther and her Maids, and in Paul, Acts 9 9 and of seven days Fast, 1 Sam. 12. 16, 17, 18. and of daniel's Fast (abstaining from all pleasant bread and drink, and giving himself to prayer and humiliation) for three whole weeks, Daniel 10. 1, 2. And we read of Fasting alone till Even, judges 20. 23, 26. & 21. 2. 2 Samuel 1. 12. & 3. 36.  
Such a Fast may either be kept of many together, a whole Congregation publicly, or by a few, that is a Family or two privately, or else by one alone secretly, as we may perceive in the former examples. In private and solitary Fasting we should carry the matter so, that it may be private, and we may not appear to Fast. Some think it not therefore convenient for so many to meet in a private Fast, as may make the face of a Congregation, and that go beyond the number of a usual family or two, for this (say they) is to turn a private duty into a public.  
The times for Fasting are  
First, When God's judgements are ready to fall upon us, either personal or public judgements, than there is reason for a private or public Fast, so Ezra's Fast was because of the great desolations upon the Church, and esther's because of the bloody Proclamation to kill all the Jews.  
Secondly, When we desire to obtain any public or particular good, so Act. 13. when they desired public good on the Ministry, they fasted and prayed. So Hannah for her particular, she fasted and prayed for a child. When we undertake any great and dangerous business for which we need Gods help. See Matth. 4. 2. & 17. 21. Act. 13. 24. & 14. 23.  
Thirdly, When we are pressed with some special sin, 1 Corinth. 9 27. 2 Cor. 12. 8.  
A man is not bound to an acknowledgement of all his particular sins, when he comes solemnly to humble himself before God. He hath not such clear light to discern sin, not so faithful a memory to retain it, nor is not so watchful to consider his ways, Psal. 19 12. & 40. 12. Eccles. 1. 15. A general repentance sufficeth, because he that truly reputes of all known sins reputes of all sins. After some scandalous falls we must be more particular, Psal. 51. David chiefly spends his sorrow on that great sin. In deep distress we must search diligently to find out the sin that provokes God, Psal. 32.  
We should rise early on a Fast, 2 Sam. 12. 16. joel 1. 13. It is probable that for this cause some lay on the ground, others in sackcloth in the night of their Fasts, not only to express, but further their humiliation by keeping them from sleeping overmuch or oversweetly.  
Preaching was used by God's people at their solemn Fasts, to quicken them to 
M. Hilders. on Psal. 51. 7.  prayer, Nehem. 9 3. compared with 8. 8. Ier, 36. 5, 6.  
It is not unlawful to fast privately on the Lordsday, the service of the ordinary Sabbath is not contrary but helpful to the exercise of mourning and godly sorrow; and when we conceive greatest sorrow for sin, it is not unlawful to rejoice in our redemption by Jesus Christ: Christ forbade it not on that day, it 
M. Ball.  not convenient for a public Fast since it should be consecrated unto God only for that purpose.  
We should remember the poor on that day, Isa. 58. 17. Quod ventri subtrahitur illud pauperi detur.  
The Popish Fast is a mock Fast, worse than the Pharisaical, which yet is condemned by Christ.  
First, Fasting is made in the Church of Rome a worship of God, and a work of righteousness. junius had much a do to keep a poor woman from despair, because she did eat flesh on some Fastday, it lay upon her as if she had committed some grievous and unpardonable sin.  
Secondly, It is religiously tied to fixed and certain times and days, whereas true Fasting is pro temporibus & causis. Tertul. de jejun.  
Thirdly, They think to perform it by forbearing only flesh, when wine and other delicates are not forbidden, which jerom justly calleth a superstitious Fast. 
B. Down. Christian exercise of Fasting. The three who fasted 40 days apiece, were Moses the giver of the Law, Elias the restorer of the Law, and Christ the fulfiller of i●. Broughton.   
The forty days Fast, which Moses, Elias and our Saviour Christ did fast, were miraculous, and therefore not to be imitated. Neither did they fast forty days every year, but once only in all their life.  
Augustine doth sometimes write of the forty days Fast, that it hath a Divine Authority, but meaneth not an authority of precept, but of example, as Elias, Moses and Christ.  
We observe Fasting-days, as we call them, by abstinence from flesh (indeed not Fasting-days but Fish-days, as the Law doth rather call them) not with any opinion either for the day, or for the abstinence of any holiness therein, or Religion toward God, but only by way of obedience to politic Laws and duty to our Prince, the Law itself professing itself to be politicly intended. Abbot against Bishop.  
In stead of mondays and Thursdays used in the Synagogue, the Church appointed Wednesdays and Fridays for that purpose, holding in them a convenient distance from the Lordsday as these other did from the Sabbath. M. Thornd. Service of God at Religious Assem. c. 8.  
The Papists allow a Breakfast, and they are allowed to eat all variety of roots, fruits, fishes, and whatsoever-junkets which have not any affinity with flesh. They are licenced to drink wine without exception, so that they eat and drink without intemperate excess. Yet Bellarmine (l. 2. de bonis operibus c. 5.) saith, Vinum cal●faciendo corpus incitat in libidinem, Prov. 20. 1. Wine is luxurious, and in that respect it was called by the very Heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the milk of Venus.  
A child partaking once of their delicate fast, not many days after longing for the former kind of dainties, cried to his mother, saying, Good Mother when shall we fast again? B. Mort. Appeal l. 2. c. 24. See D. Fulk on Rhem. Test. Col. 2. 23.  
Bellarmine reports a story which makes much against him, of Spiridion a godly man, who had a guest come to him on a Fastingday, and he set flesh before him having nothing else, I will not eat, saith the guest, because I am a Christian; Nay therefore (said he) eat, and make no difference, because thou art a Christian.   

CHAP. XII. II. Holy Feasting or Religious Thanksgiving.  
AN holy Feast is an extraordinary Thanksgiving for some notable deliverance 
Hilaris sol●nnitas, est sol●nnitas, qua Dei benesicia cum ga●dio & laetitia coram Deo, & nobis sumentes, & al●is tribuentes, Dei laudes praedicamus. Zech. 8 19 Psal. 116, 23. Fenneri Sacra Theol. l. 5. c. 2.  out of some desperate danger, testified with feasting before God, with joy and gladness, sending Presents to our friends, and Portions to the needy.  
Or thus:  
It is the bestowing of an artificial day in the exercise of rejoicing, for the testifying and increasing of thankfulness for some special benefit.  
There were three Feasts every year, and at least two of them to continue seven days apiece; but only one time of Fasting, and that but for one day. God would have us to abound more in joy then sorrow, therefore he saith, Rejoice always, Phil. 4, 4. but not so of mourning. This our Saviour may seem to mean in Luke, when he saith, No man when he hath drunk old wine presently drinks new, for the old is better. Fasting is new wine, not so good, nor comfortable, nor wholesome, as old. Godly joy is good of itself, and the end whereat godly sorrow aimeth; godly sorrow is good alone by accident, as it prepares the way and fits the soul for godly joy. Godly sorrow is the medicine of a Christian soul, godly joy the food, and food is better than physic.  
A day of Fasting and Prayer is a sweet day: A Thanksgiving day sweeter: For in a day of Fasting and Prayer we deal with the anger, wrath and displeasure of God. In a day of Thanksgiving with the love and mercy of God. In a day of Fasting and Prayer we exercise grief: but in a day of Thanksgiving we exercise love and joy. In a day of Fasting and Prayer our eye is upon our sins, in a day of Thanksgiving upon our graces, to be thankful for them. M. Bridge on 1 Thess. 5. 18.  
Not only public Feasts of the Church, but private feasts of some Family were in use in the Church of Israel, and are very lawful, 1 Sam. 20. 29.  
The Exercises which must help our Thanksgiving on such days, are partly Natural, partly Spiritual.  
The Natural are,  

1. To eat the fat and drink the sweet, that is, to far of the best, and that liberally, as Nehem. 8. 10. at which time the rest should be sent to the poor.  
2. To have helps to mirth and cheerfulness.   
The Spiritual, are singing of Psalms, meditating and talking of God's benefits, and prayers to God, consisting most of praises, and the like.  
As no abuse of Idolaters can make it unlawful to fast, even in those times when they did fast superstitiously: So neither can any abuse of Idolaters make it unlawful to use such Feasts; only provided that we take heed of surfeiting, drunkenness and superstition.   

CHAP. XIII. III. Of a Religious Vow.  
THe word Vow is used ambiguously, sometimes for the Matter vowed; and sometimes formally, for the Promise itself; and sometimes again for Prayers which did accompany their Vow.  
A Vow made to God is either General, and common to all, as that in Baptism; or Special and Singular, proper to this or that man; by which he alone is bound which hath made the Vow.  
The Matter of a Vow, or the thing vowed, ought not to be evil 
* As that Act. 23. 12, 13. That some Vows are unlawful, and bind not conscience. See Mr. Fenner of conscience, p. 315, 316. See Dr. Gouges Saints Sacred. p. 181. to 199. & p. 248. And Mr. Wheatlies' Prototypes on Jacob's Vow. Dr. Sclater on Psal. 116. 114. Mr. Down of Vows.  and unlawful; but either good, just, and holy, or at least indifferent, which is not repugnant to the Law of God, in our power.  
The Papists hold that nothing can be matter of a Vow, which was due before the Vow was made; but that is false. Genesis 28. 20. jacob was bound to have God for his God before; our Baptism is a Vow, though the Matter contained in it be a Duty before. Some say, such things as come sub praecepto, are not to be vowed: but such only as are left to our choice, to do or not to do them, as we will. Gregory Nazianzen made a vow unto God, That he would never swear all his life long; which Vow he kept all his days, as writeth Gregory Presbyter in his life. Augustine in Psalm 75. saith we may vow moral eternal Duties.  
Vowing is an extraordinary part of God's Worship, whereby a man doth firmly and solemnly bind his conscience unto God, to the performing or not performing of something otherwise indifferent, for his help and furtherance in Godliness.  
It is a promise made unto God of things lawful, by such as have power so to do, and thereby to testify their affection and duty towards him. Master Down of 
Vota sunt promissiones sole●nes Deo factae de iis quae in nostra sunt potestate, & Deo gratae ad fidem in precibus confirmandam, Dud. Fen. Theol. Sac. l. 15. c. 9 Per hoc distinguitur juramentum à voto. In voto tranfigitur cum Deo ips●, ut cum parte cui votum immediatè nuncupatur: hast in juramento tranfigitur cum homine. Deus autem adducitur non ut pars, sed ut testis. Sandersonus de juramenti promissori obligatione. Praelect. 1. Sect. 3.  Vows.  
A binding of one's self to God by a solemn Promise, or rather Oath, to do or not to do something lawful, possible, and useful for our increase in godliness.  
To vow, swear, and to covenant, say some, are in Scripture equivalent, importing the same thing, Numb. 30. 2. 1 Sam. 22. 16, 17.  
It is called a Covenant, 2 King. 23. 2. an Oath, Numb. 30. 2. though there be 
Vota fiunt Deo, juramenta hominibus per Deum, Bellarm. l. 2. de Monachis c. 14.  some difference between a Vow and an Oath, an Oath is properly by God to men, for it is to end a controversy among men: but a Vow is a promise immediately to God.  
A Vow is more than a single purpose: For in it there is, 1. A purpose to do a thing. 2. A binding ourselves to do that we purpose, and to the Lord, 
Mr. Perkins Case of Consc.  Deut. 23. 21.  
It is a part of God's Worship, because it immediately and directly tends to express our homage unto God, even as the Word and Sacraments, as being a means effectual to further, help, strengthen, confirm, and increase our inward conformity with his will, specially in the matter of thankfulness, and Nature itself dictates it for that purpose; for Heathen men would use this as a means of showing their thankfulness and confidence in their God.  
Some make it not a part of God's Worship, but a help to the parts of God's Worship; but these things may be called helps and furtherances to Worship, which tend to the same end that worship doth, but indirectly, as the circumstances of the action adjoined and annexed to them, but a Vow tends in the same manner; that is, directly; and to the same end; that is, the increase of virtue in our hearts, that the Word and Sacraments do; only it is an extraordinary part of God's Worship, as Fasting, Feasting.  
2. It is a firm binding of the conscience unto God, Numb. 30. 3, It is a swearing by God unto God, and so contains implicitly a prayer unto God, to punish us severely and sharply if we fail to perform it, Deut. 23. 23. There are affirmative and negative Vows. Abraham lifted up his hand unto God, that is, vowed and swore unto him by himself, That he would not take so much as a shooe-latchet of the Sodomites goods; and jacob vowed to offer the tenth at Bethel, and there solemnly and publicly to serve God. But evermore the thing must be in itself indiferent; therefore the Lord commanded that none should by vow dedicate the firstborn, because it was Gods before.  
The end of a vow must be furtherance in godliness. It must be made to the Lord, he is the Object of it, judg. 11. 30, 31. Abraham lifted up his hand to him, David vowed and performed to him, Deut. 23. 21. Psal. 50. 14.  
Where the Scripture speaks of Vows it mentions Him.  
Reasons,  

1. It is an act of Religious Worship; therefore God only must be the immediate Object.  
2. There is no example in Scripture of any that vowed to Saints.   
Bellarmine therefore might well say, there is no doubt but the Heretics (by 
Cum scribereutur Scripturae sacrae nondum caeperat usus vov●ndi Sanct is. Bellarm. de cultu Sanctorum, c. 9  which he means Protestants) do judge us Idolatrous, because we make solemn Vows to the Saints; and indeed, acknowledging Vows to be religious Worship, they are much troubled to free their actions from Idolatry. At last they pitch on this, That since Saints are gods by participation, and have his image, therefore we may vow to them: But then we might vow to Magistrates, for they are gods so; and then we might also sacrifice to the Saints, which yet they allow not.  
A Vow hath these special Uses:  

1. To be a confirmation of our faith and confidence in God in the time of need, chiefly in afflictions and temptations.  
2. To restrain corruption of nature, by avoiding things lawful, if enticements to sin.  
3. To provoke ourselves to the performance of such Duties as we find ourselves naturally slack unto.   
Rules to be observed in making a Vow:  

1. For the Matter of the Vow, That we vow nothing but things lawful in themselves, and to us in respect of our condition. 
S. Francis vowed to gather all the Pismires in the way, that Travellers might not tread them to death.   
2. A thing of some weight and moment, either in itself or at least to the party vowing; therefore the Lord forbade the price of a dog, because it is a vile and base creature; it had also a mystery, for he was a type of a backslider, from which God will accept of nothing.  
3. It must be a thing possible, and in our power to do or not to do.   
The manner of vowing:  

1. It must be done with understanding and advisedly, which was Iephtha's failing: 
Eccles. 5. 6.   
2. With Humiliation, th●t we have so often dealt perfidiously with God; and with joy also, that God will take us to him again, though we have denied him, Neh. 9 10. 2 Chron. 29. 36.  
3. With full purpose of heart to perform, Psal. 76. 11. The very end of Vows and Promises, is to bind our unstable hearts, and to knit our souls more closely to God.  
4. ●n Faith, being reconciled with God. The Vows of Poverty and Continency in the Popish Church are to be condemned, because they are not done in faith, but to the overthrow of it, for hereby they think they do a more meritorious act, and that by these Vows as they please God the more, so God is more obliged to bestow Heaven upon them.  
5. We must not be over often in vowing, it is an extraordinary Duty.  
6. We must not make perpetual Vows; therefore in the Vow of the Nazariteship God would not have them make a perpetual Vow, but rather for a time. Certain Ceremonies were appointed to be accomplished by those that were ordinary at the end of their Vow, by which he doth not only presuppose, but enjoin a set time. We read of no perpetual Nazarites, but extraordinary two, Sampson and Samuel.   
Popish Votaries in all respects abuse this Sacred Ordinance; they vow to Saints, vow things unlawful and trivial, to go in grey, things not in the compass of men's power, to be perpetually continent, hope to merit by vowing, and imagine a perfection 
That the vows of the Monks concerning poverty and perpetual continency are unlawful, see Dr. Willet on Gen. 20. 20. Sumptum est vocabulum consilii ex 1 Cor. 7. 4, 25. vocabulum supererogationis ex allegoria Samaritani Luc. 10. 15. Chemnit. They urge Matth. 19 21. to prove these Counsels. Consilium persectionis vocamus opus bonum à Christo nobis non imperatum, sed demonstratum; non mandatum, sed commendatum. Bellarm. de Monachis, l. 2. c. 7. These are called Monastical Vows, because they are common to all that profess a Monastical life. Ipsum vocabulum du● haec includit, unum, ut qui supererogare statuatur, totum legis sensum absolvat, ne minimo quidem apic● praetermisso: Alterum, ut legem transvolet & transcendat, faciendo actiones non solum indebitas & minimè imperatas (quod quivis facere potest) sed faciendo actiones meliores, perfectiores, Deo gratiores, quam sunt istae quae in lege praecipiuntur. Episc. Dau. de justitia actuali, c. 42▪ Lex Dei ●●tem perata est ultimis viribus naturae integrae & primitus institutae: non igitur hanc legem transcendere potest, natura corrupt, & nondumplene renovata. Apostolus hoc indi●avit ad Rom. 7. 14. quando legem Dei agnoscit spiritualem, & se carnalem etc. 8. 3. Est itaque insinitae superbiae simul & stultitiae, putare se posse facere opera supererogationis, hoc est (ipsis papistis authoribus) opera quaedam indebita, meliora, & sanctiora operibus legis. ●n ●laustrum se compingere, à carnium esu abstinere, prec●s ad certum numerum & certas horas indies demurmurare, non u●i conjugio, regulae humanitus inventae se subijcere, pro●ri●tati bonorum suorum renuntiare, sunt opera supererogationis solummodo sensu prophetico, Isa. 1. 12. non sensu papistico, quia opera à Deo in lege requisita vincunt & perfectione transcendunt. Id. ib. vide plura ibid.  to themselves from it. They make children to vow which cannot deliberate, and bind them to keep it whether their parents will or no.  
It is a question between us and the Papists, An dentur consilia Evangelica à praeceptis distincta? Whether there be Evangelical Counsels, or Counsels of perfection distinct from Precepts?  
The Papists say, That in God's Word there are Commands which belong to all, and Counsels which do teach some excellent heroical actions, which if a man do not he sins not, but yet if he do he shall have a greater reward in Heaven.  
They call them one while Evangelical Counsels, because they are not commanded in the Law of Moses, but only commended in the Gospel of Christ; another while Counsels of Perfection, because they place a most perfect state and degree of Christian life in the observation of them; Superogatory works are good works done over and above enjoined duty.  
They mention three principal and substantial Counsels, Continence or single life, voluntary Poverty, and blind Obedience. Now they say, God doth not command these things at all, but he counsels them as the best. Hence those only that do thus are called religious men, spiritual men, and perfect men; and those that do these things, they say do better and more things than God doth command. This Doctrine is suitable to flesh and blood, which would have God to be a debtor to it.  
A thing may be indifferent as a Counsel in the general nature of it, yet in particular 
Appellant Pontificij opera ista indebita qu● quis sponte, sine mandato ex talibus, ut vocant, consilijs praestat, nova ac van● voce. Opera Supererogationis (rectiûs Superarrogantiae appellarent) & docent ea coram Deo excellenter esse meritoria, non tantum pro ipsis qui ea praestant, sed etiam pro aliis, quibus per Indulgentias Papales, aut alia ratione applicantur, Hommii Disputat. Theol. adversus Pontificios. Disp. 29. Ipsum vocabulum duo haec includit; unum, ut qui supererogare statuatur, totum legis p●nsum absolvat, ne minimo quidem apice praetermisso: Alterum, ut legem transvolet & transcendat, faciendo actiones non solùm indebitas & minimè imperatas (quod quivis facere potest) sed faciendo actiones, meliores, perfectiores, Deo gratiores, quam sunt quae in lege praecipiuntur. Episc. Daven. de justitia habituali, cap. 42. Vide plura Ibid.  to this or that man, it is a precept: as Marriage is not a command to all, yet in particular to him that thinks the not marrying is a greater advancement to God's glory, and he hath the gift to do it, than it is a command to him, so Paul though he took nothing for the preaching of the Gospel as yet he might have done, yet because of that particular case he was in he was bound to do it.  
2. When God hath appointed one end, he hath left divers ways or instrumenss to attain that end, it is left then to a man's choice to take which he will, only he is bound to strive to attain the end.  
3. In good actions there is the inward work of the heart, and the outward circumstances, which being singular are not commanded, we cannot do more than the Word of God requireth for the inward, and for the outward the number i● not determined, as to pray three or four times, to give so much or so much.  
These Vows are not lawful, because they are not in our power, and because they are repugnant to Christian Liberty and the common vocation of all Christians. Continence is not in our power, but is a singular gift of God: To submit one's self to any mortal man by a certain blind obedience, as the Monks do, is repugnant to Christian liberty. To live by begging and the labours of others, doing nothing, is repugnant to the common vocation of men, to whom this aught to be a certain rule, He that doth not labour, let him not eat. Therefore it is not lawful to vow such things!  
2. They are not profitable, much less necessary (as they are used by the Papists) but pernicious to the Christian Church. From the Vow of Continence arose abominable filthinesses of all kinds in the Monk's Cloisters. From the Vow of feigned Poverty arose so many kinds of unprofitable drones, which devour the honey of the sedulous Bees. From the Vow of blind and absolute Obedience, flow such execrable insolences against the lives of Princes, and such horrible treasons as have frequently been perpetrated by the Jesuits.  

Of the Vow of Continence.  
The Papists much prefer a single life before a wedded estate, holding that the 
Jerome doth immoderately commend Virginity.  very indifferent actions of a Votary, viz. to eat or drink, are to be preferred before the best actions of the conjugal estate, as to pray, hear, or receive Sacraments, and that the entering into this estate is as good as Baptism; so that whosoever should 
Nup●iae terram replent, virgi●nitas paradisum, l. 1. contra Jovin.  die immediately after that Vow, should certainly be saved.  
The vowed single life among the Papists, is so far from being a state of perfection or supererogation, as that it is for the most part a sinful estate in respect of making the Vow. For it is a sin to vow that which a man doth not know to be lawful, 
And he reasons thus from those words of the Apostle, It is good for a man not to touch a woman; if it be good not to touch, therefore it is evil to touch. The Papists urge 2 Tim. 2. 3, 4. for the single life of Priests, and we allege 1 Tim. 3. 24. & Heb. 13. 4. for the lawfulness of Minister's Marriage. Doctrina quae in concili● Tridentino obtinuit, in quo matrimonia parentibus invitis à filiis famili i● contracta, fuerunt validata, non minus est Doctrina D●moniorum; quam alia, qua prohibent matrimonium personis Ecclesiastics. Rivetus in c. 24. Gen. 57 Exercit. 111.  or not in his own power, Matth. 19 11.  
The Vow of Continence, whereby a man promiseth to God to keep chastity always in single life; that is, out of our state of wedlock. Against this Vow makes 
Abbot against Bishop.  that 1 Cor. 7. 9 Cardinal Campegius doubted not to say, That it is a greater sin for Priests to be married, then to keep many Harlots at home.  
Abraham was twice married, the rest of the Patriarches were married men, and so the Priests, the Prophets and Apostles, and almost all the Scripture setteth before 
Id. Ib.  us, as examples of perfection.  
Religious single life is Angelical, Rhem. on Matth. 22. 30. It is a slender praise to be like unto the Angels in that they neither marry nor are married. For since the Angels have no aptness nor ability unto the company of women, as those which have no bodies, it can be small praise unto them to abstain. Married persons have not been inferior unto Virgins in their prompt obedience unto God's will, wherein the Angels are set up for patterns unto us, as Abraham, Isaac, jacob, Moses, David, Hezekiah, Peter. Cartwright on Rhem. Test. Vide Spanhem. de Dub. Evang. Dub. 28.  
The Papists hold marriage an unclean thing, and yet make it a Sacrament. 
Dr. Clark.  If marriage be unclean, Adam sinned in his perfect esta●●, he sinned before the f●ll, he sinned before he sinned.  
The Pope and Priests in detestation of the marriage of Ministers, do for this cause brand Protestants with the terms of carnal, fleshly, and beastly Ministers.  
john Haymond our Epigrammatist told Queen Mary her Clergy was saucy, if 
In a Synod at London Anselm forbade Priests marriage in England, and in the next year were discovered a great company of Sodomites among them.  they had not their wives they would have Lemen,  
The Popish Votaries, according to the French Proverb, have a Law not to marry, 
Veteres Patres Cyprianus, Epiphanius, Hieronymus, si quis fortè voverit se velle vivere vitam caelibem, & postea vivat impurè, nec possit incondia cupiditatum cohibere, satius esse dicunt, ut ducat uxorem, & sese castè gerat in matrimonio, at que illud ipsum matrimonium, vetus pater Augustinus, ratum & firmum esse judicat, nec oportere revocari: Isti, eum qui se voto semel obstrinxerit, quantumvis uratur postea, quantumvis scortetur, quantumvis flagitiosè, & perditè contaminetur, tam●u illura non sixunt uxorem ducere: aut si fortè duxerit, tamen negant illud esse matrimonium: & satius multo & sanctius esse do●●nt, cono●binam aut scortum alere, quam ita vivere. Mocket. Apol. Eccles. Anglic.  and a Custom not to live chaste. Dr. Tailor, that courageous Martyr, said at his parting, Blessed be God for holy Matrimony. That Proverb, Si non caste saltem caute, came first from the Papists.  
The Greek Church saith, He cannot be in Holy Orders that is married: The Reformed Church saith, He may be in holy Orders that is married, and convertibly.   

II. Of the Vow of Poverty.  
It is a blessing of God to be in a state to give rather than to receive, Psal. 109. 10. Therefore to renounce that state wherein God hath made one able to give, is wilfully to renounce the blessing of God. That place is unanswerable, Eccles. 7. 11. because hereby more good may be done.  
The person vowing poverty is either rich or poor; if poor, he voweth to leave all, when he hath nothing at all to leave; if rich, and voweth to give away all for merits sake, he sins against faith, because he sets up his own merits as if Christ's were not fully enough.  
2. Poverty is in itself an evil, therefore Agur prays against it, Prov. 31. because of the temptations that are in it. It is unlawful for a man to put himself willingly into that condition in which there are many dangers of sinning.  
3. This hinders a greater Good, as the Offices of Charity and Liberality, and therefore may not be vowed.  
For the blind obedience of Superiors, I have touched upon that before, and the mentioning of it is a sufficient confutation. The Jesuits vow to their Generals and their Superiors, not only an obedience of will, but also of judgement, which they call a blind obedience.  
They are a kind of Regulars professing obedience to the Pope and their General, 
I find the Polander had reason when he said that the Society of the Jesuits was a Sword, whose Scabbard was in France, but the handle of it in Spain, or at Rome, where the General of the Jesuits abides; for the first motion to draw this Sword comes from thence. A Refut. of C●tto●'s Letter to the Queen Regent.  at whose sending they must of free cost preach wheresoever they be sent. They may rather be called Jebusites.  
Mr. Ball in his larger Catechism, after the handling of the Ordinances, before he treats of the Commandments, speaks of the spiritual Combat, and two other fruits of Faith; which Method I shall here the rather follow, because I have not yet discussed that Subject.  
The first Question then to be resolved, is, What follows the purifying of the heart by faith?  
Ans. A fight and combating against sin and corruption, Rom. 7. ult. Gal. 5. 17. a Law in the Flesh and in the Spirit; there is always bellum, though not always praelium betwixt the Flesh and the Spirit.  
In the state of Nature men are wholly in the Flesh, and not in the Spirit; in the state of Glory they are wholly in the Spirit, and not in the Flesh; in the state of Grace there is both Flesh and Spirit.  
As long as there is a mixture of Principles, there will be a mixture of our actions, a Christians life is nothing but a checker-work of light and darkness.  
The Flesh resists Divine Admonition before, and in, and after conversion; but though it may resist God exhorting, yet it cannot resist God regenerating, as dead flesh cannot resist God raising it from the dead. In the first moment of conversion the Flesh cannot lust against the Spirit, since that is filled up by introducing the Spirit and regenerating the man.  
The nature of this Fight,  
First, It is the contrary renitency between the Flesh and the Spirit, in the whole course of a man's life.  

1. There is an habitual enmity of one against the other in the bent of ones spirit, he is disposed both ways all the days of his life, the Will doth will and nill sin, and Grace, loveth God and sin, there is a proneness to both sides.  
2. An actual Opposition, when the faculties of the soul are to act on any thing that falls under a Rule, they both close with it in all holy actions or sins. Both these have their seconds to join with them, Grace hath its second, and Corruption its second, the Devil and World side with the one, and the Spirit of God and holy Angel's side with the other. The Devil by suggesting to the Flesh sinful thoughts, presenting objects and taking all advantages. The world joins with it, 1. All wicked men. 2. Things and state of the world, prosperity and adversity, 1 john 2. 15, 16. they feed these Lusts, Riches, Honours, Pleasures. The Power of God, the Intercession of Christ, the indwelling virtue of the Holy Ghost join with Grace, the Holy Ghost by his exciting and assisting grace, by chase the Devil away.   
A natural conscience may fight against sin as well as a renewed, when a man's conscience is tempted to sin often, and Satan and corruption will take no denial (when conscience yet resists) this is properly a fight, this may be in natural conscience, Numb. 22. 13. Dau. Psal. 73. 13.  
The difference between the fight of the natural conscience, and of the renewed conscience with sin:  

1. The conflict in a natural man is between Conscience and the Will and Affections, the Will carries the Soul one way, Conscience another, 2 Pet. 2. 15. In a regenerate man the fight is in the same faculty between Conscience and Conscience, there is Sin and Grace in every faculty, a party in the Will for Grace, and another for Sin, this is properly the fight between the Flesh and Spirit in the regenerate, id patiebar invitus quod faciebam volens Ang. The Angels and Saints in Heaven are all for good, the Devils and damned all for evil. One saith it is an apparent error to affirm, that a godly man cannot sin with a full consent of will, Gal. 5. 17. Sanctification is in every faculty, 1 Thess. 5. 23. 1 john 5. 4. Two things will make it plain, 1. An antecedent and concommitant willingness and unwillingness; 
Vide Am●s. l. 2. de ●onsc. c. 1●. de lacta Spiritus & carnis. See also Mr. M●nton on Jam. 4. 7. p. 419. & 426.  before the sin one may seem very unwilling while the lust and objects are kept asunder, but bring them together, the natural conscience presently sins. 2. There is a willingness pierce, and per accidens, a wicked man loves sin but for Hell.  
2. The fight in a natural conscience never puts sin out of dominion, Rom. 6. 12, 14. There may be in natural man an opposition of flesh against flesh, corruption against corruption; he may strive against all sin from the dictates of his understanding and his conscience, but his will is never troubled at it. This opposition is but weak and treacherous, he hath no will to any good, but a kind of woulding that is but now and then; the opposition of the Spirit to the flesh is everlasting and irreconcilable.   
Why doth not the prevailing party keep the other under when it hath gotten the victory?  
A good man hath a twofold strength:  

1. Habitual, a readiness to that which is good and against evil, by the work of Regeneration which gives him a Will.  
2. Actual strength, the assisting power of the Holy Ghost, which calleth out the graces that are in us, strengthens them; God is a free Agent, when his assistance is withdrawn sin prevaileth.   
Nature opposeth sin with worldly weapons, carnal considerations, I shall lose my credit; the Spirit with heavenly weapons, the Word of God, I shall offend God, grieve the Spirit.  
The Flesh gets the better of nature, and at last prevails; the Flesh is worsted by the Spirit.  
Sanctification is an imperfect work in this world, we are adopted, reconciled, justified, as much at first as ever, but sanctified by degrees. The imperfection of Sanctification stands in three things, 1. All the habits of Grace are weak. 2. There remaineth still a whole body of corruption. 3. All the acts which they perform here are mixed.  
A wicked man may have fight about corruption, as Pilate had a conslict with his own soul before he gave sentence against Christ. There is a fivefold difference (say some) between the war in the godly and this in the wicked: In the regenerate man there is the flesh against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; in the unregenerate there is only flesh contending with itself on several considerations, on the one side flesh lusting after a present content, and at the same time flesh fearing an after reckoning. 2. In the unregenerate the strife is betwixt Reason and Conscience enlightened, and the inordinate affection; but in the regenerate man faculty against faculty in the whole man, in the will somewhat which closeth with sin, and somewhat which abominates it. 3. In the Matter, in the unregenerate the contest is only about gross sins; the gracious heart is against sin, as sin, and consequently against every sin. 4. In the end they propound, the unregenerate man to stop the clamours of his conscience, and secure his soul from the danger of Hell; the godly man, to destroy the body of sin, and please God in all things. 5. In the effects, the unregenerate man is given up to walk in the ways of sin; but in God's servants, the longer the war is continued, the more corruption is mortified, and Grace grows in him.  
It seems their estate then in the second Adam is not better than it was in the first Adam, where there was no such mixture; Adam's happiness consisted in the perfection of his Sanctification, theirs in the perfection of their Justification, Ephes. 5. 27. 2. His happiness continued but a while, theirs shall last for ever. 3. This state conduceth much to God's glory and their own spiritual good. 1. They live in a continual dependence, sly to God still, and rely on him. 2. They are kept humble, and long for a full fruition of Christ, Rom. 18. 23. & 7. 24. 2 Cor. 5. 2. Those actions they perform are in some respect more acceptable than that of Adam in innocency, or the Angels in Heaven, because done with conflict and self-denial.  
The other fruits of Faith are:  
1. A renouncing of all evil in affection, and of gross sin in life and conversation, 1 john 2. 1. Then in a Gospel-sense we are said not to sin when we cast off, and are free from all gross and scandalous sins, and do carefully avoid and make conscience of the least and most secret sin, 1 Sam. 12. 3, 4, 5. Luke 1. 16.  
The Schoolmen and Casuists agree with the Protestants in this, That converting Grace cannot stand with the voluntary practice of any one sin. Every Saint lives in the practice of sin through ignorance, and is often overtaken with known sin: through the strength of temptation; as David did often lie, some think it was the sin of his nature, Remove from me the way of lying, but he makes not choice of a way of sin. No godly man allows himself in the practice of any known sin, 1 john 1. 6. Sinneth not] he means it not of acting sin, see 1. 8. but alloweth not himself in the practice of known sins; see chap. 3. 7, 8, & 9 verses, & 2. 4. 1 Cor. 6. 9, 10. Gal. 5. 19, 21. Ephes. 5. 5, 6. 1 Thess. 4. 6, Rev. 2. 8. ul●. & 22. 15. Mark 8. 43. to the end of 48.  
Reasons,  

1. Whoever is effectually called, is called to turn from all sin, Ezek. 18. 30, 31.  
2. He is called to turn to God, jer. 4. 1.  
3. The Authority of God is violated as well by the allowance and willing committing of one sin as by all, jam. 2. 10, 11. He that gave one command gave the rest, Quod propter Deum fit aequaliter fit.  
4. Christ denies salvation to those that do not repent, and it is no repentance except we turn from all sin, Rom. 11. 26. Tit. 2. 14.   
2. There are many helps against outward gross sins, 2 Tim. 3. 5. God is much dishonoured by such sins; men generally condemn such as wicked, they say such a man is a drunkard, a whoremaster. Some Christians have attained to that perfection, that after their repentance they have not deliberately committed any gross sin, as Paul, Zachary, and Elizabeth, Luke 1. 6. job, and they may attain to it, yet it is not so necessary to repentance as it must be in all, than we shall shut our David, Noah, jonah, and Lot, because God is pleased to show the variety of his Grace.  
II. A love and delight in that which is good, joined with a sincere desire, purpose and endeavour, daily to amend whatsoever is amiss, and to lead a life according to the Law of God, Thy testimonies are my delight, Psal. 40. 8. Isa. 58. 13, 14. Cant. 1. 4. & 2. 4. Isa. 26. 6, 9 Psal. 73. 25.  
Obedience to Christ flows from Faith. Rom. 1. it is called the obedience of Faith, it flows from Faith three ways:  

1. Because Faith joins the soul to Christ, from whom alone we receive strength for every good.  
2. Because it teacheth the soul to acquiesce and rest constant with those Arguments that the Lord useth to persuade us.  
3. Faith commands all other Graces, I believed, therefore I spoke, and so, I believe, therefore I hear and meditate, Christ is my husband, therefore I must obey him. David a man after my own heart, he will fulfil all my will, Heb. 10. 7. God's will should not only be the rule, but reason of our actions. We may do the will of God, and yet not do it because he wils it.   
1. The people of God are redeemed wholly from the Ceremonial Law, Col. 2. 14. When Christ the substance was come, these shadows ceased; it is a great mercy to be delivered from these Rites, burdensome to the Jews, and impossible to the Gentiles, Acts 15. 18.  
They are not delivered from the Law as a Rule, than  

1. There would be no sin or duty, but men might live as they list, Rome 4. 17.  
2. If the Law were blotted out, the Image of God might be blotted out, which consists in holiness and righteousness, it is Gods immutable Image, Heb. 8. 10.  
3. Christ died that we might have Grace to fulfil the Law, Rom. 8. 3, 4. Phil. 1. 21.   
We are (notwithstanding our defects) bound to strive after perfection, the endeavour is required, Phil. 2. 11, 12. that is, our state after the resurrection. 2. We are obliged to bemoan every defect and failing, 3. These weaknesses thus bewailed (where there is sincerity) shall not hurt us. God speaks of such as are upright and sincere, as if they had satisfied the Law, 1 King. 4. 18. 2 Kings 23. 20. 4. Then are we sincere, when we have constant care to love and please God, and our weaknesses not allowed but resisted, and bewailed if we fall, jer. 8. 4.  
Faith doth not single out its Object, nor Obedience its Command, Psal. 119. 6. Faith believes all promises, all truths, and obedience respects every precept.    
The End of the eighth Book.   

THE NINTH BOOK OF THE Moral Law.  

CHAP. I. Some things of the Commandments in general.  
THe Law was delivered with thunder and lightning, Exod. 
cum Deus in monte Sinai legem populo exhiberet, de medio ignis illam exhibuit. Cur ita? ut statim legis violatores deterreret, scirentque acriter pun●endos, qui Dei legem reciperent, ●ec observarent. Novar. Sched. Sac. profane. lib. 10. c. 30.  19 18. Heb. 12. 18, 19, 20, 21. so that the mountain quaked, and Moses also trembled, to show that those which break it should be terribly punished, whether it was delivered by God immediately or by the Ministry of Angels. Vide Grotium in Exod. 20. See also L' Estrange of the Sabbath, pag. 35, etc.  
The Latin word for Law is Lex, so called, either à Legendo, because the Laws were wont publicly to be read, or à Ligando, because the Law binds all those to obedience to whom it is delivered, or à deligendo, because it makes a choice of things to be done and omitted, to be sought and avoided.  
The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Torah comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jarah, which signifieth First to teach, the Law is a Doctrine. Secondly, jaculari, to cast a Dart, to signify, that the Law ought to be as a mark to all, to which we should aim in all our 
The Moral Law is set down in Exo. 20. from the beginning of vers 1. to the end of the 17. Gerh. loc. commun Tom. 3. M●res●i Collegium Theolog. Sc●tum illud Rabbinorum▪ Non est jota in Thorah, â quo non pendeant mille montes doctrinarum. Diet. Antiq. Bibl. part. ●. Lex est sanctio sancta jubens honesta & prohibens contraria. The moral Law is, 1. A good and a holy Law, Psal. 119. 39 Rom. 12. 22. 2. A perfect Law, Jam. 1. 25. commanding all good and forbidding all evil. 3. An eternal Law.  actions.  
The Law in the largest signification is nothing but the rule of man's obedience.  
A Law is a certain rule of life prescribed by a supreme Governor to those which are under him for the well-ordering of their actions to their own, and the public welfare.  
By reason of the efficient or the Author some Laws are called Divine, some Humane; Divine, those which were established by God; Humane, those which were established by men.  
Secondly, By reason of the matter, Divine Laws are divided into Moral, Ceremonial and Judicial, Deut. 4. 13, 14.  
Mr Hudson in his Divine Right of Government, l. 1. c. 2. (if he were the Author 
Praecepta moralia sunt de dictamine legis naturae, Ceremonia sunt determinationes cultus divini, judicialia sunt determinationes justitiae inter homines observandae, unde cum Apostolus, Rom. 7. 12. dixisset, quod lex est sancta; subjungit quòd mandatum est ●ustum & bonum, & sanctum, justum quidem quantum ad judicialia; sanctum quantum ad ceremonialia (nam sanctum dicitur quod Deo dicatum) bonum, id est, honestum quantum ad moralia. Aquin. 1●, 2ae Quaest 99 Art. 4. c. 9 See D. Willet on Exod. 20. 2. Quaest 2. & 3. Ideo moralis lex vocatur; quia de moribus, est omni hominum generi & semper communis. Zanch.  thereof) saith, the Ceremonial and Judicial Laws of Moses are but Commentaries on that part of the first and second Table of the ten Commandments, which relates to outward actions, setting down more ample and particular rules of instruction, whereby to order and regulate the outward actions of public Societies in matters concerning worship and policy, according as the Moral Law had done in brief and general terms, for regulating the external actions of every private man in particular in relation to the same end.  
The Law of God is that rule of life which he hath enjoined to man his reasonable creature for the ordering of his actions to his own and the common good, and the glory of the maker of all.  
It is called the Moral Law, because it setteth down all duties for manners of mankind.  
The ten Commandments are a perfect platform of obedience summarily delivering in ten words, the whole substance of all that duty to which the sons of men stand bound in conscience before God, if they be out of Christ, to do it without fail or else to be damned; if in Christ, to strive with all their main to perform it perfectly.  
The Law is the whole will of God, and the whole duty of man. It was written by God upon 
a Materia tabularum in genere fuit lapidea. Hinc vocantur tabulae lapidis, Exod. 24▪ 12. & ter tabulae lapidum, Deut. 9 9, 10, 11. & Deut. 10. 1.  Tables of stone, to show the perpetuity and stability of it, hereby also was signified, the hardness of the Jews heart which could not easily receive that impression of the Law. It was after delivered to Moses to be kept in the Ark of testimony, as a figure of Christ's accomplishing them for us.  
The sum of the Moral Law is extant in the Decalogue 
b Decalogus Graeca vox est, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Graecis & Latinis scriptoribus usitata, genere tùm masculino, tùm foeminino. Buxtorfius de Decalogo. , as the tenth humber is most perfect and capacious, so also the moral Law comprehended in ten words by the most wise God is most perfect. Some say, they were so many according to the number of our fingers the most familiar instrument of numbering, Peter Martyr well resembled the Decalogue to the ten Predicaments, because as there is nothing hath a being in nature, but what may be reduced to one of those ten; so neither is there any Christian Duty, but what is comprehended in one of these.  
There is a twofold division of the Decalogue laid down in Scripture. First, Into 
The respect betwixt the preceptsof both Tables is this, that out of love to God in Christ we perform love, and the duties of love toward our neighbour. The love of God is the ground of love to our neighbour, 1 Joh. 4. 20. & 5. 1, 2. and love to our neighbour is a testimony of our love to God, Rom. 13 8, 9, 10.  two Tables. Secondly, Into ten words or precepts, Deut. 4. 13. Matth. 22. 37.  
First, The Decalogue is divided into two Tables, Exod. 32. 12. & 34. 1, 4. Deut. 5. 22. & 10. 14. Eph. 6. 1, 2. The first Table declareth our duty to God immediately, the second declareth our duty to our neighbour for God's sake. The first Table prescribes offices of piety toward God, the second offices of charity toward our neighbour. Christ himself teacheth this, Matth. 22. 37, 38, 39, 40. Holiness and righteousness are often joined together, Luke 1. 73, 74. Eph. 4. 24. In the former Table are the four first Commandments, in the later the six last.  
It is confessed by all that there are ten Commandments, and they divided into Tables 
c S●tis constat inter omnes Decalogi duas tabulas esse: quarum prior ad Deum referatur, altera ad proximum. Sed de praeceptis, quae iis in tabulis c●●tinentur, alia atque alia sententia est. Ego in Ebraeorum Commentariis reperio primae tabulae praecepta quatuor; secund● s●●▪ viz. quae ad Deum pertinent; Non habebis: Non facies. Non assumes. Memento, etc. quae ad proximum, Honora▪ Non occides. Non M●●haberis: Non testaberis falsum. Non concupisces. Aliter tamen haec ab aliis distingauntar. Sunt enim qui prioris tabulae tantùm tria agnoscunt. Non ●●abebis. Non aslumes. Memento. Et secundae septem; separantes ultimum, non concupisces. Ut aliud prae●●ptum sit, non desiderabis, quae tamen apud Mosen omnino confunduntur. Nam pro eo quod in Exodo, non concupisces domum, etc. Non desiderabis uxorem in De●●●● onomio legitur, non desiderabis uxorem &c▪ Non concupisces domum, Quare si v●ra ●a distinctio, qu●● re ●●t, nisi ●● n●●●m praeceptum si●●●●●mum, & contra, decimum vonum? Drus. Miscel. centuria 1. c 1. . But it is a Question between us and the Papists, How many Precepts are to be assigned to each Table? We assign four Precepts to the first Table, six to the second, they three to the first Table and seven to the second. Vide Aquin. 1●, 2● Quaest 100 Art. 4. See B. And. large exposit. of the Command.  
The Lutherans follow them, they join together the Precept of not having other gods with that of not making graven Images, & they divide the last Commandment into two, so that one forbids the lusting after another man's wife, the other lusting after other things. Of this opinion was Austin, whom many others followed, but especially the Papists, almost all, and those which some call Lutherans. Vide Maresii Colleg. Theol. Both thought that conjunction to be fit, that they might excuse their sacrilege by which they are wont to raze out of their books that Commandment of not making nor worshipping religious Images, that so also the number of the ten Precepts may be manifest, even that Appendix, as they call it, being also taken away. Others would have four Commandments in the first Table, six in the second, therefore they say those two Commandments are different, that of not having other gods, and this of not making graven Images, and that the forbidding of the lusting after both wife and house is but one Commandment, which opinion our Churches commonly embrace and confirm by reasons drawn out of Scripture, and by the authority of many of the Ancients. The first Reason is taken out of the collation of those places of Exod. 20. 17. & Deut. 5. 21. where the Commandment of not lusting is repeated; for when it is so uttered in the first place, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou sh●lt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant. In the second the words are so inverted that the wife is put in the first place to whom the house, field, servant are added, by which translation of the words about coveting another's wife and house, they rightly infer the precepts were not distinct. The second reason is derived from that, that these things are different, who is to be worshipped, and how he is to be worshipped, therefore there is a double precept, one concerning the●rue object of worship, the other concerning the manner and reason how he ought or ought not to be worshipped, therefore distinct kinds of Idolatry are forbidden, one more gross by which we err in the object, when the true God either is not worshipped, or not alone worshipped; the other, when he is not worshipped in Spirit and truth, or in that manner which he hath prescribed in his Law, which make distinct prohibitions. St Ierom and generally all the Ancients, as well Jews as Christians before Augustine were of that opinion. Vide Musc. los. commun in prael. 1. Zanch. Decalog. l. 1. c. 11. Thes. 4. Those which think otherwise here urge the word which is repeated, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife; whence they infer that they are two distinct Precepts. But the Law concerning concupiscence is one, which forbids thoughts and desires contrary to sound contentment: for the object of this Commandment is one, and the clause is general in these words, Nor any thing that is his. If for the variety of things falling under desire we shall make divers precepts, two will not suffice: The Apostle Rom. 7. 7. citing 
Vide Buxto. f. de Decalog. Primum praeceptum substantiam & objectum divini cultus imperat, Deum solum: secundùm verò praeceptum imperat cultus divini modum spiritualem solum. Jun. The first Table containeth four Commandments, the which division doth josephus Antiqu. lib. 6. cap. 3. Origen. Homil. in Exod. 8. Ambrose in Chap. 6. Epist. ad Ephes. approve: The tenth Commandment, Thou shalt not covet, is but one Commandment, as I have diligently searched all the Editions that we have in the Hebrew Tongue. With one point, period and sentence he concludeth the whole tenth Commandment. In Deut. 5. certain late Edition make the division of the Text, but that is nothing to the purpose, there Moses repeateth the words unto them that knew before the division of the Tables, in the eldest Edition and print that I have seen, the tenth Commandment in Deuteronomy is not divided, the which Edition Venice gave unto us. Onkelos the Chaldee Interpreter on Deuteronomy maketh but one Commandment of the tenth. Bishop Hooper of the Commandments.  the last Commandment, calls it the Commandment not Commandments. Augustine Quaest 71. in Exod. fancied a mystery, that the number of three Commandments touching Godmight betoken the Trinity.  
There is a great Question about the Moral Law, which was first written in man's 
This is not a new question, it was in calvin's days, and in the days of some of the ancient Fathers Augustine wrote two Books, Contra adversarios legis. Calvin wrote against the pestilent Sect of Libertines.  heart in the time of his Creation, the Law that was proclaimed by Gods own mouth upon Mount Sinai, which we call the ten Commandments, whether it be in force in the Christian Church?  
First, Take the true state of the Question betwixt us and the Antinomians that deny the Law to be in force, in these distinctions:  

1. You must distinguish betwixt the Law given to Adam in Paradise, as a Covenant of life and death, and as it is given in the hand of a Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ.  
2. You must distinguish betwixt the things that are contained in the Law, and the binding power of the Law.  
3. You must distinguish betwixt the principal Lawgiver, and the ministerial Lawgiver.  
4. You must distinguish betwixt the Law given by God, even by the hand of 
The Papists calumniate us, as if we taught that men are freed from the Decalogue. Vide Bellarm. de justificat. l. 4. c. 5. David. à Mauden. Discurs. moral. in decem Decalogi Praecepta. Discursum primum Decal. praevium. But that we urge the obedience of the Moral Law as well as they do, and upon better Arguments and reasons than they do. See B. Down. of the Coven. of Grace, c. 7. He shows also there, chap. 5. how our Saviour hath delivered us, 1. From the curse of the moral Law. 2. The rigour and exaction. 3. The terror and coaction of it. And, 4. From the irritation of it. See M. Burgess his Vindiciae Legis, Lect. 17. & 22. It is a Question diversely disputed by Divines both Popish and Protestant (Bellarm. de Iust. l. 4. c. 6. Zanch. the redemp. l. 1. c. 11. Thes. 1.) Whether the moral Law bind Christians, as it was delivered by Moses and the Prophets, or only as it was engraven in the hearts of all men by nature, and as it is renewed in the Gospel by Christ and his Apostles. That opinion, that the Law as it was given by Moses and the Prophets, and written in the Old Testament, doth bind Christians, is better and more safe. The moral Law of the Old Testament is pronounced spiritual, holy, good, just and eternal, Psal. 10. 8, 9 Rom. 7. 10.  Moses in the true intent and meaning of it, and between the interpretation that the Jewish Doctors could make of it.  
5. You must distinguish betwixt the Law itself, and the sanction of it.   
The only Question is about the binding power of the Law, that is, Whether the things contained in the ten Commandments are by the Lord (the great Lawgiver) commanded now to Christians?  
The Antinomians hold the contrary, quid nobis cum Mose? the only rule (say they) they are under, is the free Spirit of God, inclining them by a holy renewed nature to do that which is good in his sight, they are acted by a Law of love, and they do the things of the Law, but not because commanded in the Law, they urge Rom. 6. 14. 1 Tim. 1. 9 But on the other side, the Orthodox Divines say, That it is true, our light is only from Christ, and the Spirit of God dwelling in us is the fountain of all the good we do; but yet, say they, the Lord hath commanded his holy Law to be our Rule, which we must look to, which if we transgress we sin, and are to account every transgression of it a sin, and so are to be humbled for it, and to walk as those which have offended a gracious God.  
Reasons to prove the moral Law still in force to believers:  
First, Some places of Scripture prove it, as Mal. 4. 12. Eccles. 13. 4. Matth. 5. 17. Think not (saith Christ) that I am come to destroy the Law, I am not come to destroy 
d The Antinomists interpret those words of Christ in this sense, He came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it: that is, he came not to destroy it with out fulfilling it in his own person, he hath destroyed it unto the person of every believer, Rom. 10. 4. One distinction well heeded and rightly applied, will clear the whole point concerning the abrogation and obligation of the moral Law under the New Testament. The Law may be considered either as a rule, or as a Covenant. Christ hath freed all believers from the curse and rigour of the Law, considered as a Covenant, Rom. 10. 4. ●ut he hath not freed them from obedience to the Law, considered as a Rule. D. Sanders. on 1 Pet. 2. 16.  but to fulfil it. So Matth. 22. 37. Rom. 3. 31. Rom. 7. 22. Rom. 13. 9 jam. 2. 8, 10, 11. Ephes. 6. 2. Revel. 22. 14. which Scriptures make it clear that believers are under the moral Law.  
Secondly, If believers be not under the Law, than they do not sin if they do contrary to the Law, or neglect the things commanded in the Law, For where there is no Law there is no transgression.  
Thirdly, Because the Lord when he doth promise in the Old Testament the new Covenant, he doth in that Covenant promise to write his Law in their hearts, there should be such a suitableness between their spirits and the Law of God that they should carry the counterpane of it in their hearts.  
It is a presumptuous speech to say, Be in Christ and sin if thou canst, for David's murder after he was in Christ was a sin, 2 Sam. 12. 13. In many things we offend all, Jam. 3. 2. 1 Joh. 1. 8.  
Some object and say that this is an argument we are freed from it, Because their heart is so willing to conform to Gods will, that they shall need no other rule to walk by but their own Spirit.  
Answ. If there be that conformity in them, yet the readiness of the child to obey his Father's will doth not take off the command of the Father.  
Fourthly, The moral Law is in effect nothing but the Law of nature, we owe it to God as our Creator.  
Believers are freed from the Law:  

1. As a Covenant of life, Do this and live, they have no need to look for life 
Believers are freed from whatsoever in the Law is hurtful, unprofitable, burdensome.  that way, they have it at a better hand and a cheaper rate, for eternal life to them is the gift of God, and the purchase of Jesus Christ.  
2. From the rigour of the Law.  
3. The irritation and coaction of it.  
4. From the condemning power, and the curses of it.   
The Law is:  

1. A glass to reveal and make known unto us the holiness of God, and the will of God; and secondly, to make ourselves known to ourselves, by the Law comes the knowledge of sin, Rom. 3. 20.  
2. It is a Foil to set off Christ, it drives them out of their own righteousness, and makes them highly prise Christ and the benefits by him, Rom. 7. 24, 25.  
3. It is a perfect Rule 
e Christ as Mediator was subject to the moral Law. Rom. 8. 13. Gal. 2. 11. & 4. 4. The Law requires as perfect obedience of us as of Adam in innocency under the danger of contracting guilt, though not of incurring death.  of all our obedience.  
4. The meditation of the terrors of the Law, and the threatenings and curses which the Lord hath denounced against them that break it are one of the sanctified means of grace for the subduing and beating down of corruption, Luk. 12. 5. 1 Cor. 9 29.   
The Antinomians cry Away with the Law, and what hath the Law to do with a 
This opinion carries Libertinism and Familism in the womb of it, if the Law have nothing to do with me, what ever I do, I do not sin, Jam. 1. 23, 24.  Christian? and they say, that such a one who preacheth things out of the moral Law is a legal Preacher; they say, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, and the free Spirit is our rule.  
None ought to be legal Preachers, that is, to preach salvation by keeping of the Law, only the Papists are such. See Rom. 6. 14. Col. 2. 24. But the Law must be preached as a rule of obedience, and as a means to discover sin and convince men of their misery out of Christ, Gal. 3. 23.  
The Law habet rationem speculi, fraeni, regulae. The moral Law is a glass to reveal sin, and the danger of it, a glass to discover it, and a Judge to condemn it.  

1. A Glass to reveal sin.  
2. A Bridle to restrain it.  
3. A Rule both within and without.   
First, A Glass to reveal sin. It discovers  

1. Original sin, I had not known lust but by the Law. 

1. It sets before us the Primitive righteousness wherein we were created▪  
2. That there is something in us perfectly contrary to all this, Colos. 1. 21. Acts 13. 10.  
3. It discovers to us the dominion that this sin hath over us, Rom. 6. 12, 14. & 7. begin.  
4. Shows a man the filthiness of this sin, 2 Corinth. 7. 1. james 1. 21. Titus 1. 15.  
5. Shows that this sin hath seminally all sins in it, jam. 1. 14. 1 john 2. 15.  
6. It discovers the deceitfulness of this sin, jer. 17. 19 jam. 3. 15. Act. 13. 10. jude v. 11.  
7. Shows a man the demerit and miserable effect of this sin, Rom. 8. 12.    
2. Actual sin, it shows 

1. Every sin dishonours God, his glory is denied, debased.  
2. The perfection of the Rule, Rom. 7. 12.  
3. The harmony of the rule, jam. 2. 10.  
4. It's spirituality, it discovers the thoughts and intents of the heart.  
5. The infection of sin to a man's self if it be inward, to others if outward, it is called rottenness, plague, leprosy.  
6. That one act of sin will destroy the whole world, as in the Angels, Adam, all sin is virtually in every sin.     
It is also a Judge condemning sin, john 5. 41. Ezek. 22. 2. it passeth sentence on 
The Law is a Judge by 1. Condemning the sinner, passeth the sentence of death upon a man, Rom. 7. 9 2 Cor. 3. 8, 9 Host 6. 5. 2. By holding a man under this conviction and self-condemnation, Gal. 5. 22, 23. Lex est career spiritualis & verè inferuus. See Rom. 8. 15. & 2 Tim. 1. 2. Job 13. 26.  men's estates and actions, 1 Cor. 14. 24, 25. Heb. 4. 12, 13. & 10. 27▪ mortifies their corruptions. Tit. 2, 13. 2 Cor. 7. 1. The Spirit mortifies sin not only by infusing a new principle of grace, but by restraining the old principle of sin, Rom. 6. 12. Psal. 19 13.  
Secondly, The Law Habet rationem fraeni, hath the nature of a bridle to check and restrain sin.  

1. By setting before men its perfection, Psal. 19 7, 13. jam. 1. 25.  
2. By exalting in a man's heart its authority, jam. 2. 8.  
3. By showing the danger of the curses in it, job 31. 23.  
4. By setting before men its preciousness, Psal. 119. 103, 104.  
5. By showing us that God observes what respect we bear to his Law, Isa. 66. 2, 3.   
Thirdly, The Law is arule to direct in the way of duty.  
It is, 1. A rule within, ordering a man's inward disposition. The Spirit of God in the work of Regeneration stamps the Law of God in the heart, and makes use of it to change the inward disposition, Rom. 7. 9 Psal. 19 7. See jer. 31. 32. Act. 17. 38. Grace is given by the Gospel, but it makes use of the Law, Fides impetrat quod lex imperat. Aug.  
2. It is a rule without to guide a man's way, a rule of all Gospel-obedience,  

1. Because the Gospel sends us to it for a rule, Luke 16. 29. james 1. 25. and 2. 8.  
2. Christ hath left us an example of all obedience, Matth. 11. 29. john 13. 15.  
3. So far as the best men come short of the Law they sin, 1 joh. 4. 3.  
4. It hath all the properties of a rule, it is, 1. Recta. Psal. 19 7. 2▪ Promulgata, published, Host 8. 12. 3. Adaequata, Psal. 119. 9 shall be our Judge hereafter, Rom. 2. 14, 15.   
God requires not only abstinence from evil, but the doing of the contrary good, Isa. 1. 16, 17. Psal. 34. 14. Rom. 12. 9  
Reasons.  

1. In regard of God, 

1. He hates evil and delights in good.  
2. The divine mercies are privative and positive, Psal. 84. 11.    
2. In regard of the principles of spiritual life, we must have communion with Christ both in his death and resurrection, Rom. 6. 11.   
The Law as a Covenant of works is in all these respects a servant to the Gospel and Gospel-ends.  
I. As a Glass and a Judge:  

1. By exalting free grace, Paul and Luther being cast down with their sins exalted free grace, 1 Tim. 1. 13, 14.  
2. By exalting the blood of Christ, the more one apprehends his sin, the more orient will the blood of Christ be to the soul, Philip. 3. 8, 9 Rom. 7. 24, 25.  
3. By qualifying the soul and preparing it for Christ, Luke 3. 5. Matth. 11. 28.  
4. By making a man pliable to God ever after the discovery of our sin and misery by the Law, and of free grace, works a childlike obedience, Isa. 11. 6.  
5. By making a man fear sin ever after he hath been under the hammering of the Law, Psal. 85. 8. Host 3. 5.  
6. By making one set a high price on the Spirit of Adoption, Res delicata Spiritus Christi. Tert.   
II. As a bridle, the Law is the Gospel's servant in restraining sin, the Gospel can use the Law above its nature, and contrary to the use that sin makes of it. The Law cannot give grace to assist in duty, and to restrain in sin.  
Restraining grace serves the ends of the Gospel:  

1. In respect of wicked men, though the Law restraining kills not sin in the ungodly, yet the very restraint of the action is a great mercy. 

1. It makes a man less wicked.  
2. Keeps men from corrupting others.  
3. Lessens their torments, the common graces of the Gospel making use of the restraints of the Law, keep some wicked men from those gross enormities that others run into.    
2. In respect of the godly▪ 

1. Preserves them from sin before their conversion.  
2. It restrains their lusts, Act. 23. 1. and after their conversion keeps them from sin, Psal. 19 13. by the restraints of the Law and the Gospel.     
I shall in the next place lay down certain general rules, which may direct us in the right interpretation of the ten Commandments.  
1. Because the Law doth comprehend all our duties to be performed both to God and man, Luk. 10. 26. therefore the interpretation of it must be sought and fetched out of the Sermons of the Prophets and Apostles, and the Doctrine of our Saviour.  
2. Whereas some Laws are laid down in the form of a command, and most of them (viz. eight) in the form of a prohibition, we must conceive that under every command there is implied a prohibition of whatsoever is contrary to what is commanded, and in every prohibition a command of all duties opposite to that which is forbidden. For example; in the second Commandment, which under the name of Images forbids the inventing or using of any form of worship of man's devising, there is withal commanded the worship of God according to his own will in the use of the Ordinances prescribed, and warranted by his Word, as prayer and hearing of the Word, receiving the Sacraments. And in the third Commandment, under the prohibition of taking God's name in vain, is commanded the taking up of it with all holy reverence and fear. Thou shalt have no other gods▪ that is, thou shalt have me for thy God. Keep holy the Sabbath, that is, do not break it.  
3. Every Commandment of God is spiritual 
f The Lord for brevity and our infirmity sake nameth only in every Commandment, either the most horrible sin, forbidding it, or else the most singular vertuo commanding it. Rom. 6. 17. & 7. 14. Psal. 119. 167. 1 Chron. 29. 14. , and doth bind the inward man as well as the outward, Humana lex ligat manum & linguam, divina verò ligat animam. Original sin is condemned in the whole Law, but it seemeth to be directly 
g M. Perkins on Judas v. 1. He that keeps one Commandment because God enjoins it, will keep all the rest, because the same authority enjoins all, Psal. 119. 6. Integrity and sincerity is the scope of the Law, Deut. 5. 27. The substantial duties of the first Table are greater than the substantial duties of the second Table, as love of God then love of my neighbour and my father, but the substantial duties of the second Table are greater than the ceremonial duties of the first, it is better to save the life of a beast then hear a Sermon.  condemned in the first and last Commandment; for these two concern properly the heart of man, the first respecting it so far as it concerneth God, the last so far as it concerns man, whether himself or others.  
4. In respect of the authority that commands, all the precepts are equal, james 2. 11.  
In respect of the objects of the duties commanded, the Commandments of the first Table are of greatest importance, Matth. 22. 38. if equal proportion be observed and comparison made, because the services therein required are more immediately directed unto God, and consequently he is more immediately concerned in them then in the duties of the second Table, 1 Sam. 2. 25. Isa. 7. 13.  
The negative Commandments 
h Praecepta affirmativa obligant semper sed non a● semper, negativa semper & ad semper, say the Schoolmen.  bind us more strongly than the affirmative, for they oblige us always and to all times; the affirmative although they bind us always, yet they bind us not to all times. A man is not bound always to worship God, but he is bound never to exhibit divine worship to a creature. He is not bound at all times and in all places to profess his faith, but he is always bound not to deny his faith and religion either by word or deed. A man is no● bound always to speak the truth, but he is bound never to lie, seign or play the hypocrite. All the Commandments are delivered negatively save the fourth and the fifth.  
5. The Lord that gave us his Law made none for himself, and being the Lawgiver, 
Josh. 6. 4. Gen. 22. 1, 2. 1 King. 20. 27, 35. 1 King. 11. 30. Judg. 3. 20, 21. & 11. 1, 2. Isa. 20. 2. Fines mandatorum sunt diligenter observandi, ex causis dicendi habenda est intelligentia dictorum. Hilary. Matth. 5. 33, 34, 35, 36. The end of every Commandment, saith the Apostle, is love out of a pure heart, the immediate end of the Commandments of the first Table love to God, of the second love to my neighbour, 1 Cor. 13. per tot.  he is above his own Law, and may dispense with it upon his own will and pleasure; as he did to Abraham, commanding him to offer up his only Son in Sacrifice, which being commanded was to him just and honest by special prerogative, which in another had been dishonest and unjust.  
6. The meaning of every precept must be taken from the main scope and end for which it was given, and all those things to be included without which the precept cannot be performed, therefore one and the same work may be referred to divers precepts, as it pertaineth to divers ends.  
7. Under one vice expressly forbidden all of the same kind, and that necessarily 
The Law by some one particular or part, meaneth the general and whole, as an Idol is put for any means of false worship, Parents for all betters, Killing, for any hindering of life, Thou, for every one or none. Estey upon the Command. Josh. 6. 18. & 7. 1. & 22. 13, 14, 17, 18. Psal. 34 3. Levit. 19 17 1 Sam. 15. 28. 1 Sam. 3. 13. 2 Sam. 13. 28. 1 King. 21. 19 Exod. 19 6, 7, 8. & 20. 1. Mat. 19 17, 18 19 1 Tim. 4. 7, 8. & 2. 2. 2 Pet. 3. 11. Matth. 22. 37. Jansen. Harm. Evang. c. 81. Chemnit. Har. Evang. c. 105.  depend thereon, as also the least cause, occasion or incitement thereunto, are likewise forbidden, Mat. 5. 21, 22, 27, 28, 29. 1 Thess. 5. 22.  
Under one duty expressed all of like nature are comprehended, as all means, effects, and whatsoever is necessarily required for the performance of that duty. The cause is commanded or forbidden in the effect, and the effect in the cause.  
8. Where the more honourable person is expressed as the man, let the woman understand that the precept concerns her, where the duty of one man standing in relation to another is taught, there are taught the duties of all that stand in like relation one to another, as when the duty of one Inferior toward his Superior is taught, there is taught the general duty which all Superiors owe to those that be under them, which Inferiors owe to those that are over them, and which Equals owe one to another.  
9 The Law forbids the doing of evil in our own persons, and the helping or furtherance of others in evil, though but by silence, connivance, or slight reproof, and it commands not only that we observe it ourselves, but that we preserve it, and what lieth in us, cause others to keep it. Thou, thy Son and thy Daughter, must go over all the rest of the Commandments as well as the fourth.  
10. The Law is set forth as a rule of life to them that be in Covenant with God in Jesus Christ: God in Christ is the object of Christian religion, and of that obedience which is prescribed in that Covenant.  
That immediate worship and service which we owe to God, and must perform according to his prescription, which is usually called Piety or Godliness, is taught in the Commandments of the first Table. Our Saviour reduceth the sum of these Commandments to this one Head, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, strength and thought, that is, whatsoever is within thee, or without thee, even to the loss of thy life, goods and good name, all must yield to the Lords calling, whensoever he will make trial of thy love towards him. This particular duty may well comprehend all the rest: for, as is our love, so is our faith and obedience. God is loved above all things when in all that he promiseth he is believed, and in all that he commandeth he is obeyed.  
The general sins against the Commandments of the first Table, are  

1. Impiety, which is a neglect or contempt of God's true worship and service inward and outward, Isa. 43. 22, 23.  
2. Idolatry, which is the worship of false gods, or of the true God after a devised manner of our own, Amos 5. 26.   
That duty which we owe unto men by the Lord's Commandment and for his glory, which is usually called honesty or righteousness is taught in the Commandments of the second Table. Our Saviour bringeth them to one head, Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thyself; that is, without fainting, coldness, delay, or feigning from the heart, fervently, when and so long as occasion is given. By Neighbour is meant not only our Friend or Kinsman, but whosoever, and 
Luk. 10. 29. Gal. 6. 10.  of what Country soever that wanteth our help, especially he that is of the household of faith.  
The general sins against the Commandments of the second Table, are  

1. Inhumanity and injustice, when we disregard our neighbour, or deal injuriously 
Mic. 2. 10. Rom. 1. 29.  with him.  
2. Partiality in affection, when we love our friends but hate our enemies; favour 
Mat. 5. 45, 46.  some for carnal respects, contemn others that are to be respected.   
Six Commandments are set down in many words, and four nakedly in hare words, as the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, because men will easily be brought to yield to them.  
The Scripture shows to man two ways of attaining happiness, one by his own 
Greenham. For the order of the Commandments, it we account from the fi●st to the last, they are of greatest perfection which are last described, and he who is arrived to that severity and dominion of himself, as not to desire his neighbour's goods, is free from actual injury; but vices are to take their estimate in the contrary order, he that prevaricates the first Commandment is the greatest sinner in the world, and the least is he that only cove●s without any actual injustice. D. Tailor of the life and death of Christ, part 2. Discourse 9 The sixth and seventh Commandment are otherwise in the Hebrew Bibles then ours, and in the Greek otherwise in Exodus then in Deuteronomy. Id. ibid.  works called the Law, the other by faith in Christ called the Gospel. The Law driveth us to Christ, and faith doth establish the Law, Rome 3. 31.  
The Sum of the Law is abridged in the ten Commandments which God delivered on Mount Sinai, and after wrote in two Tables.  
This declareth our whole Duty,  

1. To God immediately, which is in the first Table, 

1. Principal, to make him our God, Command. 1.  
2. Less principal, in regard of 

1. Sorts of worship to be performed unto him, which are two 

1. Solemn, Command 2.  
2. Common, Command. 3.    
2. The giving of a set time to him, Common. 4.      
2. To God mediately and immediately to man for God's sake in the second Table, here his duty is showed. 

1. Severally to 

1. Some kind of persons specially, Command 5.  
2. To all generally, in regard of 

1. Their Persons, for 

1. Life, Command 6.  
2. Chastity, Command. 7.    
2. The things of their Persons, both 

Goods, Command. 8.  
Good Name, Command. 9        
2. Jointly to all these in regard of the first motions of the mind and will, in Command. 10.      

CHAP. II. Of the first Commandment.  THou shalt have no other Gods before me. 
Exod. 20. 3.  
SOme Divines 
* Musc. loc. come. Ford on the Covenant. Master Ball Deut. 4. 35. & 6. 4. Isa. 43. 11. Vide●aronem ●aronem de praesta●tie & dignitate divinae legis, l. 1. c. 30. & Cartw. in Exod. 20. Matth. 12. 29. Peter Martyr handling the division of the ten Commandments, how the number should be made up, makes that which is commonly called the Preface, (I am the Lord thy God, which are words of a Covenant) to be the first Commandment; and if so, then must justifying saith be enjoined there. And thus did some of the Fathers, though those words are only enunciative, and not preceptive. Master Burgesses Vindication of the Moral Law Lecture first. Verba ista Ego sum Dominus Deus tuus, sunt generalis praefatio, aliis tamen litem non movemus qui statuunt haec verba esse partem primi praecepti, quod Bifariam proponatur, primum quidem affirmatiuè, quis sit pro vero Deo à nobis agnoscend●● ac colendus, deinde negatiuè, quod nulli alij extra & praeter hunc verum Deum divinus honor ac cultus sit tribuendus. Gerh. loc. common. tom. tertio. Exod. 20. 3. The matter of the Commandment is delivered in negative terms, by way of forbidding, under which the Precept enjoining the contrary is commanded.  judge, that those words, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, do contain the affirmative part of the first precept, and the latter, Thou shalt have no other Gods before my face, the negative. For these two sentences are elsewhere often joined together as they be here; and our Saviour citing the first Commandment, rehearseth it thus, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Besides (say they) if the words be not conceived as a form of commandment, yet it must necessarily be understood to command the Worship of the true God, and it so pertains to the understanding of the Precept, that it cannot be separated from it.  
Other Divines hold the first words to be a Preface to all the Commandments, Buxtorf de Decalogo saith these words contain an Enunciative not an Imperative speech, therefore they are not a Precept, but rather a general Preface to the whole Decalogue, in which reasons are brought why we are bound to obey him that commands. Wherefore (saith he) they may be added to the first Precept, yet so as they are not to be excluded from the other Precepts, but by an Ellipsis to be understood in every one of them. Other Divines say these words are a persuasion to the keeping of the first Commandment, and that threefold, the first taken from the Name and Sovereignty of God, He is jehovah, an eternal being in and of himself, who giveth being and continuance to all things, and mightily performeth whatsoever he hath promised. The second, From the right of Federation and Covenant, thy God, He is in special manner the God of his Church, which he hath chosen to be his peculiar Treasure in regard of the Covenant of Grace made with them, Isa. 43. 10. 11. jer. 12. 31, 33. Isa. 43. 13. The third from a notable particular benefit lately conferred; which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, which he mentions (saith Zanchi●) 1. For the freshness of the mercy. 2. For the greatness of it. 3. Because that Egyptian bondage was a type and figure of our spiritual bondage.  
This that is here spoken (saith Grotius on the Decalogue) is not the Law, but the Preface of the Law. Seneca approves not of a Law with a Preface, because it should command, not persuade; the Philosophers (Plato, Philo,) thought otherwise. Media via optima est (saith Grotius) ut breve sit quod praemittitur, auctoritatem non disputationem praeferens.  
The two first grounds of obedience are common to us with them, God is now as much the Lord as ever, and hath pleased to accept us into the same (or a better) Covenant with himself then once he admitted them; and for the last, although in the thing itself it touch us not, yet in the spiritual meaning of it it concerns us as well as them. Magna beneficia auctoritatem conciliare debent praecipienti, Grotius in c. 20. Exod. See Deut. 6. 20, 24.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lo jihieh leka Elohim acharim gual panai 

Non erit tibi dii alij super facies meas. Ad verb. non erit; q. d. ne unus quidem Deus alius▪ etc. Cartwr. in loc. Shall not be, for, it ought not to be, or may not be. Jos. 24. 20. Dan. 11. 39 See 1 Sam. 8. 8. Exod. 34. 14. Isa. 42. 8. 1 King. 4. 9 Vox Acherim significat & alios & alienos. Et aliquis potest esse alius, sed non alienus: omnis autem alienus, alius etiam est. Zanchius de primo praecepto. Homo verus, alius est ab alio homine vero, sed non alienus, hoc est, alien●s & diversae naturae. Alienus autem, qui non ejusdem est naturae aut patriae: ut homo depictus, aut ment conceptus, & alienus est à vero homine, & etiam alius. Alienos Deos habere coram Deo à Theologis dupliciter explicatur, ut nimirum vel significet alienos Deos quasi in Dei conspectum producere, inque illius oculis, ut illi aegrè à nobis fiat, colere: vel ita ut intelligatur praeter me; sensusque sit, extra unum illum summum Deum, nulli alij divinitatem, quam ipse Deus ei non concesserit, tribuendam, divinumque bonorem deferendum esse; statuaturque, hoc Deum voluisse dicere: Ita me colas ut omnes alios Deos valere jubeas. Wolkelius de vera religione, l. 4. c. 8. Vide Cartw. in Exod. 20. 3. By having of gods here he means, Thou shalt worship no other gods but me. [Other gods] that is, besides, or with the true Jehovah. [God] viz. Idols, to whom the opinion of Idolaters doth falsely attribute some Divinity, 1 Cor. 41. 5. Deodate on Exod. 20. 3.  There shall not be to thee other gods, or strange gods before my face. 1. The person spoken to, Thou. Every particular person for himself, be he of what state or condition soever.  
The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acher signifieth another God, rather than a strange God, or the God of a strange people, which are thought and called gods, when they are not. In truth there is but one true God; but in the opinion of men that err and be deceived, there be many gods. 1 Cor. 8. 6. Psal. 81. 9, 10. Exod. 34. 14. 1 Cor. 10. 20. Deut. 32. 17. Leu. 17. 7. Men may in conceit and imagination account something a god which is not, and carry themselves in such sort toward that which is not God, as if it were so.  
To have another God, is to have any thing in opinion or affection for God that is 
Psal. 81. 8, 9 2 John 9 1 John 2. 23. Habere est in●us cum agnos●ere in ment, cique corde adhaerere amando, timendo, etc. & externè colere & venerari, sensus igitur est, cave ne quicquam vel ment agnoscas vel corde amplectaris, vel corpore colas ut Deum, praeter me jehovam Deum tuum, etc. Calv. Inslit. Gen. 6. 11. & 13. 13. 1 Sam. 2. 17. Neh. 9 28.  not God, and to worship it as God, either alone or with the true God. For this is a work of the mind, to have or esteem any for God, sensus est: non modo non pro vero Deo substituendos alios, sed nec assumendos ad eum alios, quod multi faciebant, ut 2 Reg. 17. 33. Grotius.  
Before my face] It is as much as against, before, or besides me, coram me, id est, praeter me, Grotius; as Moses saith after, with me. The LXX render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praeter me; Cyprian, absque me. See Deut. 4. 35. It implieth all time and place: As, before the Sun, Psal. 72. 17, is so long as the Sun endureth: so here, before me, is so long as I am, for ever and ever. So that first the Lord signifieth, that he would have no companion to be thrust upon him, or to be placed in his sight, who should be worshipped with him, Deut. 6. 4. Again, that in thought or secret affection we must not admit any strange God, Psal. 44. 20, 21. Lastly, a thing is said to be done in the sight of God, which is done openly with contempt of God, and so here it seems to import the indignity 
* Particula coram facie mea, indignitatem auget: quod Deus ad Zelotypiam provocatur quoties sigmenta nostra substituimus in ejus locum: quemadmodum si impudica mulier, producto palàm ante oculos mariti adultero, ejus animum magis ureret. Calv. Instit. l. 2 c. 8.  of the thing, and the peril adjoined. We cannot have another God, but we provoke the true God to his face; as if a woman should join herself to another man in love, her husband looking on, which should be most impudent and dangerous.  
Our principal duty to God is enjoined in the first Commandment, in which all the rest of the Commandments are virtually contained, in so much that no man can transgress any one of them, but withal he transgresseth that, neither can any of them be broken, if that be observed.  
The meaning then of this Commandment is: 
Ford of the Covenant. Leu. 18. 21. 1 Kings 11 5. 2 King. 23. 15. Judg. 2. 13. & 16. 23. 1 Sam. 5. 2. Num. 21. 29. 2 Kin. 5. 18. & 19 37. 2 Kin. 1. 2. Isa. 37. 38. & 46.   
That whereas other people and Nations frame and take to themselves innumerable ᵃ gods, as the Ammonites chose Molek, or Melcom, to be their god; the Zidonians, Ashteroth; the Philistims, Dagon; the Moabites, Chemosh; the Syrians, Rimmon; the Assyrians, Nisroch; the Ekronites, Baalzebub; the Babylonians, Bell; the Persians, the Fire; the barbarous Masagete, the Sun; the Egyptians, almost all kind of Beasts and Birds; the Grecians, dead men; the Romans, whom it pleased the Senate to consecrate of ancient times, and of late whom it pleased the the Pope to canonize. Wherefore though other Nations had other * gods, the true Israelites chosen out of the world to be the Lords people, should acknowledge no Idol of any Nation to be their God, nor frame to themselves any Idol of their 
The sum of the first Commandment is, That we have God to be our God. Down. sum of Divin. 2 Kin. 17. 30, 31. 2 Chr. 25. 14▪ Deu. 7. 16. & 32. 17. 1 Sam. 26. 19 1 Kin. 11. 4, 5 Cultus naturalis est qui ex ipsa natura Dei pendet, ita ut quamvis nullam legem haberemus divinitus revelatam & praescriptam, si tamen Dei naturam rectè haberemus perspectam ac notam, ex illius idone● contemplatione, omnia illa percipere possemus, Dei gratia auxiliante, quae hac in parte ad officium nostrum spectant. Hic cultus hoc mandato praecipitur. Ames.  own devising, or any other thing to be their helper and redeemer, their stay and buckler, which they profess to be no God; but that they cleave to the Lord their God, who is the only Lord that hath created all things, and adopted them to be his Sons, Deut. 6. 4. Our carriage to God-ward is in one word expressed, when we are commanded to give ourselves unto God, Rom. 6. 13. & 12. 1. It standeth in a total and perfect subjecting of our whole souls and bodies to him.  
The general duty of this Commandment is, That in mind, will, affections, and 
2 Chr. 28. 9 Deut. 4. 4. & 10. 12. 21. & 30. 20. Deut. 11. 22. Jos. 22. 5. Job. 19 25. Exod. 15. 11. Psal. 86. 10. Job 9 4, 5. Psal. 77. 13. Isa. 57 15. Job 37. 23. Joel 2. 17. & 3. 16, 17. Zach. 8. 8. & 10. 6. Isa. 41. 10 13, 14. & 43. 37. Psal. 48. 14.  the effects of all or any of them, we take the true God in Christ to be our God▪ Sovereign, Helper, Portion, and Redeemer, Almighty, most Wife, Righteous, Just, True, Holy, Good, Gracious, Merciful, Long-suffering, and Patient. For God must be known, acknowledged and worshipped, according as he hath revealed himself in the Covenant of Grace, but he is our God in Jesus Christ. Also the formal consideration of the Object, to wit, Why such acts of Worship are and aught to be performed unto God; are the Wisdom, Goodness, Justice, Grace, Mercy and Power of God, specially in the face of Jesus Christ, and acts performed of him by them, and according to them.  
The Promise implied in this Precept is, That God will be our God, King, Protector and Father; That he will use his Power, Wisdom, Goodness, and Mercy, for the effecting of our salvation, the supply of our wants, the pardon of our sins, the defeating of our enemies, the perfecting of his graces in us, and the full accomplishment of happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven.  
One Reverend Divine (now with God) saith, The duties required more particularly, may be referred to two heads: Some respect the Essence and Nature of God, some the Authority and Dominion of God, even as Subjects owe some things to their Prince in regard of his Person, some things in regard of his Power of Government; so do we the Creatures to our King and Creator.  
The former may fitly be termed duties of dependence, because they do naturally flow from that total dependence upon God the first being, which must needs be found in all secondary beings, and because they be certain necessary acknowledgements of our such dependence. The latter may be termed Duties of Conformity, because in and by them we do conform ourselves unto the Will and Authority of God, and by both become perfectly subject unto him. Duties of dependence in general, are those by which we exercise all the powers of our souls upon God, principally and above all other things, (so far as his excellent Nature is fit to be their object) for seeing He is the most excellent of all things, and doth please to make known unto us his excellencies, we should labour to be wholly united to him that is so excellent. Duties of Conformity in general, are all those by which we order the powers of our souls toward other things, according to his good will and pleasure made manifest unto us. Our duty concerning God, is to know him and his will, to believe in him according to his Promises, to remember him always, and to esteem him above all things, to trust wholly upon him, to love, desire, fear, and delight in him above all other things, and with all our hearts. Our duty in respect of good things Spiritual and Temporal, is to exercise our wills, affections, thoughts, speeches, much more on Spiritual good things then Temporal, and to keep them very moderate towards earthly benefits. Our duty concerning sin, is to hate it, fly from it, grieve for it, be ashamed of it, and angry with it more than any natural evil thing.  
The particular duties here required are:  
1. Perfect knowledge of God in Christ, which is a conceiving and apprehending 
Isa. 19 21. Job 22. 21. Joh. 17. 3. 1 Tim. 2. 4. Host 6. 6. 1 Chro. 28. 9 Jer. 9 23. Host 4. 1, 2, 3. Rom. 10. 14. Deu. 6. 1. Psal. 9 10, 11. jam. 3. 17.  of him to be such a one as he hath revealed himself in his Word and Works, specially in the Covenant of Grace, and that for measure and degree fully. We cannot comprehend God as he is in himself, but as he hath manifested himself we ought to know him, for knowledge is the guide of the affections, the beginning of grace, the ground of Worship. When we know God as he hath manifested himself, then do we come to believe, desire, fear and love him, and trust in him, as he requireth. We cannot have God our God till we come to know him in Christ, therefore it is promised to all the godly in the new Covenant, they shall 
Jer. 31. 33. Deum colit qui novit. Seneca. Deut. 32. 31. Psal. 87. 4. & 89. 6, 7. Col. 1. 9, 10. 1 Tim. 2. 4. 2 Tim. 4. 25. Deut. 4. 35, 39 Isa. 43. 10. Host 6. 3. Tit. 1. 1. 2 Pet. 3. 8. Ephes. 4. 13. 1 John 5. 20.  all know me.  
2. Acknowledgement, which is an effectual and affectionate persuasion of the heart, not only that God is, but that he is the only Lord, Eternal and Almighty, most Wise, most Holy, most Righteous, most Gracious and Merciful, most Faithful and True; the Creator, Governor, and Preserver of all things, the Supreme Sovereign Judge of all the world, and peculiarly the God and Saviour of his people that he hath chosen unto himself, and with whom he hath entered Covenant of his free mercy in Jesus Christ.  
3. Estimation, which is a most high prising of God according to his Worth 
Psal. 73. 25. Psal. 4. 6. Mat. 13. 43. Phi. 3. 6. Cant. 1. 2. & 8. 7. Job 28. 15, 16. Psal. 63. 3. 1 John 5. 10. Deut. 13. 4. Acts 11. 23. 1 Cor. 7. 35. Josh. 23. 8. Numb. 14. 11.  and Dignity, as the chief Good, and our only all-sufficient portion: The estimation we have of any thing must be correspondent to the goodness of it. But God is good above measure, and our estimation of him should know no measure.  
4. Faith, which is a lively motion of the heart, whereby the soul doth invincibly cleave and stick unto God in Christ, and unto the word of his Covenant, as containing the chief good of man. To believe is not barely to assent to the thing which is propounded, to be believed for the authority of the speakers, who cannot lie, as the assenter is persuaded: but to adhere to the Word of Truth as certain, good, and sweet, both simply and in comparison. Two things are required in Faith: Something true and good to be believed; and a firm certain assent and adherence to it. Thus we are commanded to believe in God through Jesus Christ; 
John 14. 1. 1 Pet. 1. 21. 1 Joh. 5. 10, 11. Acts 16. 31. Isa. 28. 16. Rom. 9 33. 1 Pet. 2. 6. Psal. 4. 5. &. 22. 4. & 25. 2. Psal. 16. 1. & 118. 9 1 Pet. 3. 5. Eph. 3. 12. 1 Tim. 6. 17. Zanch. the redempt. l. 1. c. 13. Jer. 17. 5. Confidence is the virtue of resting upon God wholly for the attaining of all good things according to his Word. Psal. 9 10. 2 Chr. 20. 20. Psal. 4. 5. 1 Pet. 4. 19 & 5. 7. Psal. 37. 5. & 81. 4. & 62. 8. & 71. 5. Psal. 11. 1. & 135. Job 13. 15. Psal. 56. 3. & 57 1. Psal. 16. 1. & 25. 1, 2. Isa. 50. 10. Psal. 20. 7. 1 Sam. 30. 6.  neither doth Faith respect the Promises, Narrations and Prophecies of the Word only, but the Commandments and threatenings also, Psal. 119. 66. 2 Chron. 34. 19, 21, 27. joh. 3. 5. By Faith we possess the Lord as our own, and hold fast unto him in whom all help and comfort is to be found.  
5. Confidence, or Affiance, whereby we trust, lean, rely, or stay upon the Grace of God in Christ Jesus, with assured security in the way of his Commandments for pardon of sin, deliverance from all evil, and the supply of all good Temporal and Spiritual, according to his faithful and neverfailing promise. This is ever joined with the true knowledge of God, and in nature is of great affinity, or rather all one with justifying Faith. Who so reposeth all his confidence in God, he taketh him in so doing for his God. We are to trust in God for the giving and maintaining of all our good both temporal and eternal, leaning on him for all defence and deliverance from evils spiritual, yea and corporal; casting all our care on him, having no confidence in the flesh; no duty is more frequently pressed in Scripture, than this of confidence in God.  
Hope in God is an inseparable companion of Trust, which is an assured quiet expectation of what good promised is not yet accomplished, grounded upon the free and undeserved kindness and grace of the Lord in Christ Jesus, Psal. 119. 166. Heb. 11. 1. Lam. 3. 24. Rom. 15. 4. Hope is commanded in many passages of Scripture, commended by many promises, Psal. 27. 14. & 31. 14. & 34. 8. Lam. 3. 26. Psal. 37. 7. & 131. 3. & 130. 5. Mic. 7. 7. Isa. 8. 17. Psal. 119. 43. Isa. 30. 18. Psal. 146. 5. & 40. 4. & 84. 12. Isa. 6. 8. Psal. 147. 11. Psal. 33. 18, 19 Psal. 31. 24. & 33. 20. Psal. 35. 21. & 37. 9 34. Psal. 9 18. Isa. 49. 23. & 40. 31.  
6. Love of God in Christ, which is a spiritual motion in the reasonable part, 
John 15. 9 1 Tim. 1. 5. Gal. 5. 6. Deut. 4. 4. Joh. 5. 42. John. 2. 15. & 3. 17. Amor est unio amantis cum re amata.  presupposing Knowledge and Affiance, whereby the soul goeth forth to embrace and possess God as the chief Good, and with most pure, earnest, and constant affection to maintain communion with him. Love is an affection of union, it knits to the thing beloved, and would not want the possession of it. Love (we see) makes man and woman one, and so doth couple us to God. The body is carried by weight into his proper place, so is the soul by love, which is the weight of the soul, 
* Amor meus pondus meum. Aug. Psal. 31. 23. Deut. 10. 12. & 11. 1. & 30. 16. Josh. 23. 11. & 22. 5. Causa diligendi Deum, Deus est. Modus, sine modo diligere. Bern. de diligendo Deo. Multum quippe meruit de nobis qui & immeritis dedit scipsum nobis. abide. Nimis durus est animus qui dilectionem etsi non vult impendere, nolit rependere.  unto its proper object. Many promises are made to them that love the Lord, Psal. 91. 14. & 145. 20. Psal, 63. 8. 1 john 4. 7. john 16. 27. 1 john 4. 16. john 14. 23. & 16. 27. Rom. 8. 28. Psal. 145. 20. Deut. 30. 19, 20. 1 Corin. 2. 9 2 Tim. 4. 8. james 1. 12. & 2. 5. God is the proper Object of Love, He is the chief good, absolute, all-sufficient, the rest and stay of the mind, beyond which nothing can be desired, in whom incredible joy and comfort is to be found and possessed for evermore. God by Covenant is our God, our Father, our Husband; He hath loved us, and we ought to love him again. His love to us is free and of mere grace; our love to him is debt, many wa●es due from us, and deserved by him. Adam was to love God his Creator and happiness: but Christians must love God as he is become their God in Christ, in whom they are knit unto him. The object of Charity is God in Christ, God is to be loved in Christ, in whom he is well pleased, and greatly delighted in us. Love of God must be most fervent, and abundant more for degree and measure then to ourselves or all creatures; yea it must be with the whole power of our souls, it is the sum of the Law, Matth. 10▪ 37. 
John 14. 21. & 8. 4●. & 15. 9 & 16. 27. 1 Cor. 16. 22. Deu. 6. 5 Deu. 10. 12, 20▪ 1 Per. 2. 17. Levit. 19 14. Hag. 1. 2. Jon. 1. 9 Mal. 2. 5. Deut. 28. 58. Prov. 1. 7. Timor cultus & timor culpae. It is the grace of not daring to offend God. Mal. 1. 6. Deut. 10. 17. Psal. 76. 7, 8. & 66. 4●5. 2 Chr. 19 7. Jos. 4. 24. Dan. 6. 26, 27. Deut. 13. 4. Prov. 3. 7. Psal. 5. 7. & 2. 11. & 33. 8. & 76. 11. Eccles. 12. 13. Hab. 3. 16. Mat. 10. 28. Jer. 10. 7. & 5. 22. Psal. 130. 4. Psal. 119. 120. Job 31. 23.  Luke 14. 26.  
7. Fear, which is a retiring or flying back from a thing, if good, because it is too high and excellent, above the reach and without the extent of our power and condition; if evil, because it is hard to be escaped. The fear of God is an affection of heart, arising from the apprehension of God's infinite Majesty and absolute Sovereignty, both by Creation and Covenant, whereby we are drawn to behave ourselves more reverently, dutifully, uprightly, respectively, before him, then before the greatest Monarch in the world, and stand prepared to walk before him in holy manner, shunning his displeasure, and avoiding whatsoever might procure it. God is to be feared in respect of his incomprehensible greatness, absolute Sovereignty as Lord and Father; and exact righteousness, whereby he judgeth every man without respect of persons; great Power and tender Mercies, whereby he is ready to pardon them that humble themselves, and entreat his favour. God is absolutely called Fear, Isa, 8. 12, 13. as unto whom all fear and dread is due. Thus jacob swore by the fear of his Father Isaac, Gen. 32. 42, 53.  
Reverence differs from simple fear, which respecteth a thing as evil, and so we are not bound to have it working, but when we have occasion to conceive of God as angry, and doth look to things as excellent, and therefore must move so often as we have occasion to conceive of his Excellency, Heb. 12. 28.  
8. Humility, when rightly discerning the infinite distance and difference that 
Isa. 40. 15, 16, 17. Humilitas propriè respicit subjectionem hominis ad Deum. T. Aqu. 2. 2. q. 162. art. 5. & 161. art. 1. ad arg. 5. 2 Sam. 7. 18. 1 Chron. 29. 14▪ 15, 16. Gen. 22. 10. See Gen. 18. 27. 1 Cor. 12. 11.  is betwixt God and us, acknowledging his unspeakable Excellency, and our most vile baseness in comparison of him; his riches of Grace, and our poverty; his Power, and our weakness; his free undeserved Mercy, and our misery; we submit ourselves to the good pleasure of his will, wholly depend upon his Grace, and ascribe every blessing we receive to his mere favour, every good thing in us, or that is done by us, to his free goodness.  
9 Patience, which is a full purpose of heart, arising from the acknowledgement 
Rom. 12. 12. 1 Thess. 1. 3. Heb. 12. 1. Jam. 1. 2. & 5. 8. Rom. 5. 4. Psal. 38. 13, 14. & 39 9 Jer. 14. 22. Matth. 11. 29. Joy is pu● for Hope, Isa. 8▪ 6. Spes enim bono gaudium parit. Deut. 12. 12. & 16▪ 14. Psal. 32. 11. john 3. 1. Phil. 4. 4. 1 Thess. 5. 16. Psal. 97. 12. jer. 9 23. 1 Cor. 1. 31. 2 Cor. 10. 17. Psal. 48. 11. joy in God is that Grace whereby the soul doth rest itself contented and satisfied in God, as in its sole and perfect happiness. Psal. 4▪ 6, 7.  of God's Wisdom, Majesty, Power, Goodness, Providence and Mercy, with all quietness, and without any pining, reluctation or fainting, revolting or tempting of God, though the senses and appetite cannot but feel a repugnancy, to sustain any evil that He will inflict upon us.  
10. Joy, whereby the soul doth receive comfort and content in a good thing, and is moved to embrace and possess the same. And because God is the chief good, therefore ought the soul to be moved with more vehement and fervent motions of gladness, for his Love, Favour, Good Will, and excellent Glory, then for any or all other things whatsoever. What we make our chiefest Joy, that is our God: for the heart resteth principally in that with which it is most delighted, job 31. 25. It appears evidently by God's Word, that as a Father would have his children to live cheerfully, so would God, and therefore doth he so much call upon them to rejoice, Psal. 60. 19 & 68 3. Psal. 33. 1. & 149. 1, 2.  
11. Zeal, or fervour of will, whereby the soul is moved and carried towards 
Psal. 69. 9 & 119. 139. G 〈…〉 4. 8. Exod. 32. 19 Num. 15. 9 2 Pe●. 2. 8. 1 Kings 19 10. Psal. 119. 136▪ Matth. 4. ●4. I●h. 2. 14. 5, 16. jer. 23. 9, 10, 11. Act. 17. 16, 17.  God with the strongest, hottest, and most fiery inclinations, willing his Grace, Favour and Glory, infinitely above all things, because it is the highest of all things that are to be loved, willed, desired, or cared for; and detesting, loathing, abhorring, whatsoever tendeth to his dishonour. Examples of thi● zeal we have in Moses, Phineas, Lot, Elias, David, john the Baptist, and Christ himself. In jeremy, Paul, Peter, and many others.  
12. An earnest and constant desire of God's presence in Heaven, Cant. 8 14. Phil. 1. 23. Rev. 22. 20. Each thing by nature doth covet perfection in its kind; and what nature hath taught every thing in its proper kind, that Grace hath taught Christians in the best kind, viz. to desire perfect communion with God, in whose presence is fullness of joy for evermore, It cannot be that God should be known to be good, clearly, distinctly, certainly, and not be desired. And if we know God to be the chiefest of all good things, we cannot but set our affections upon him, and covet above all things in the world to dwell in his presence.  
Hitherto of those particular duties whereby we take God to be our God in mind, will and affections: now let us hear what be the effects of these.  

1. Meditation, which is a staying of the mind in the serious thought and consideration 
Man's imagination or thinking power is to be set upon God with most life, earnestness, and constancy, he is to frame in his soul thoughts of his excellency continually. Psal. 139. 17, 18. Psal. 63. 6. Psal. 119. 44▪ 97. Mat 6. 21. Mal. 3. 16.  of God's Power, Goodness, Grace, Mercy, Love and Wisdom, shining in the Word and Works of God, specially in Jesus Christ the brightness of his glory, with an holy delight and admiration at that most perfect and Divine Excellency which casteth forth the comfortable beams thereof, upon the soul of him that so thinketh upon them. Each particular duty before mentioned calleth for meditation, knowledge is not gotten without meditation, meditation kindleth love, and love carrieth the thoughts after it. Reverence is not raised without meditation, and being raised keepeth the heart within compass, that it doth not straggle up and down. The glory of God as it shineth in Jesus Christ is most amiable and delightsome, that if once it be truly discerned, we shall take great pleasure to behold and view it. What actual sight is to the eye, that thought is to the mind: Glorious pleasant objects draw the eye after them, and what is apprehended to be Divine, Excellent, Pleasant, Beautiful and Comfortable, that will take up the mind. If all thoughts affect and profit according to the nature of the object about which they are exercised, then seeing God is the best, most excellent, most glorious object, the mind that is most serious in the meditation of his Grace, Power and 
Psal. 104. 34.  Love in Jesus Christ, is best refreshed and most perfected. We should think upon God in most serious manner, constantly upon all occasions and opportunities with 
Psal. 143. 5. & 105. 2. P●. 63 6.  livelihood and power, being most affected and taken up with the thought of God in Jesus Christ.  
2. Perpetual and continual remembrance of God, whereby we call back to 
We must remember nothing so firmly nor so often as God. Psal. 22. 27. Eccles. 12. 1. Prov. 2. 1. Psal. 77. 3. Psal. 42. 6. & 78. 34, 35. Psal. 63. 6. & 119. 55. Isa. 63. 7. & 64. 5. Psal. 20. 7. Num. 15. 39 40.  mind what we know and have learned of God, his Power, Mercy, Love, Long-suffering, and represent him as present to the soul. The Name of the Lord is most sweet, the remembrance of his Holiness, the prop of confidence, the solace of the heart in time of distress. See 1 Sam. 30. 6.  
3. Reverend and faithful Invocation, wherein we request of God in the Name of Christ all good things whereof we stand in need, and that both in prosperity, 
1 Thess. 5. 13. Psal. 147. 2. Psal. 33. 1. Psal. 145. 5. Psal. 147. 13. & 979. 1 Chr. 29. 12. 1●. Psal. 148. 1  and adversity, 1 Thess. 5. 17. Ephes. 6. 16. james 5. 16. Psal. 50. 15. & 38. 10 Matth. 7. 7.  
4. Thanksgiving or celebration of God's Name, whereby we magnify his Power, Goodness, Wisdom, Grace and Mercy, freely acknowledging every good and perfect gift to come from above. God is the highest Majesty, who oweth nothing to any man, from whom we receive body, soul, life, and whatsoever we enjoy, unto whom we are unable to requite the least kindness vouchsafed. 
He calls upon all creatures to praise God; meaning, men should take occasion from all these to praise him. Deut. 6. 13. & 10. 20. Isa. 19 18. Isa. 65. 16. & 45. 23. jer. 12. 16. Psal. 63. 11. Gen. 14. 22. Rev. 10. 5, 6.  Our tongues should be more plentifully busied in speaking of God's Excellencies to his honour, then of any or of all other things. Man's speech should more readily, constantly, largely be set on work in talking of God to his glory, then of the whole world besides,  
5. Holy and religious swearing, which is a calling of God to witness that we speak as our mind conceiveth.  
6. Religious and Divine Adoration, Psal. 95. 6. The Greek word notes as much as to fall upon the knees, or to worship by falling down at the knees of another, 
Matth. 8. 2. Mark 1. 40. Luke 5. 12. Exod. 34 8. 2 Chro. 20. 18. Exod. 4. 31. 1 Kin. 19 18.  Matth. 2. 11. Adoration is implied in this. One Evangelist saith, that the Leper worshipped Christ; another reciting the same History, That he kneeled down unto him; and a third, That he fell upon his face. In Hebrew there be divers words to express it, which signify to bow the whole body, to kiss the mouth, to bend the knee, to fall prostrate on the face. But in all three 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat sese instar humilis catelli ad pedes alicujus sui domini provol●cre atque prosternere, honoris ac reverentiae causa, quasi illius pedes deosculaturum. Valla deducit Adoro ab ad & oro. Orare autem est ore precari: sicut supplico est plicando caput aut genu aliquid petere, Zanch. de religione, Vide plura ibid. Vide Jun. Thes. Theol. de Adoratione.  Languages it noteth an outward reverence, shadowing the internal affection of the heart, Adoration implieth in it three Acts: First, An apprehension of the excellency of that which is adored. Secondly, An Act of the Will, desiring to do something to testify our acknowledgement of this greatness, and our subjection and inferiority. Thirdly, An outward expressing of the same.  
7. Seeking the Lord and his favour, specially if we have turned away from 
2 Chron. 17. 3. Act. 15. 17. Isa. 55. 6. Isa. 31. 1. Psal. 27. 8. Zeph. 2. 3. Psal. 83. 16. & 78. 34. Psal. 10. 4. & 14. 2. & 69. 6. 1 Pet. 3. 15. Mat. 10. 32, 33. 2 Chron. 25. 3. jam. 4. 12. Mat. 23. 9  him. To seek the Lord, is to bend all our senses and strength to know God aright, have communion with him, enjoy his favour, and worship him purely according to his Ordinance, 2 Chron. 31. 21. job 8. 5. Ezra. 6. 21.  
8. Offering and making Vows unto the Lord alone, Isa. 19 21. Psal. 116. 14. & 76. 11. Gen. 28. 20. Deut. 23. 21,  
9 Profession of God's Name, Deut. 26. 17. Isa. 44. 5. & 43. 7. Psal. 22. 23. & 119. 46.  
10. Free and voluntary submission of mind and conscience to the Lord alone, as the only Law▪ giver, King and Saviour of his people.   
This Commandment is broken two ways:  

1. By failing to give God that honour which is due unto him, and that either for substance or degree, matter or measure, in whole or in part.  
2. By giving his Divine Honour unto any other in whole or part, absolutely or in degree, in profession or truth.   
The special sins condemned are:  

1. Atheism, when the heart denieth God in his Deity or Divine Attributes, as Wisdom, Justice, Mercy, Omnipresence. And this is secret or open: Open, when a man maintaineth that conceit expressly in his mind: Secret and in the bud, when he is overruled with this vice, though he form not such a proposition in his 
Psal. 10. 4. 11. & 14. 1. Mal. 3. 14. Psal. 94. 7. Ephes. 2. 12.  mind. Atheism is an high transgression of this Commandment, for he that denieth the Godhead, cannot glorify God in spirit and truth. Besides, every Atheist maketh himself God, in that he thinketh he is of and by himself, and not of and for the Lord that made Heaven and Earth.  
2. Ignorance of God in Christ, under which dulness to conceive of him, and carelessness to seek after the knowledge of him, are comprehended. Ignorance of 
Psal. 14 2. 3. ● Thess. 4. 13.  God, so far as He hath obscured himself from us, is no sin, Prov. 30. 1, 2. Rom. 11. 34. Ignorance of the secrets of God is a holy ignorance, Deut. 29. 29. We must know all that we need, and all that we may, but must not presume above that which is 
Rom. 12. 3. 2▪ Cor. 12. 4.  meet to understand. That ignorance of God, so far as he hath most clearly and carefully revealed himself in his Works and Word, is that which is here condemned. This ignorance is privative or corruptive: both sinful in nature, though not equal in guilt or danger. Privative ignorance is the simple want of that knowledge of God and Christ that should be had: Corruptive is joined with a perverse disposition, whereby the mind is not only blinded, but become grossly careless of the knowledge of God and godliness, if not perverted with false and sinful opinions.  
3. Curiosity, when men busy themselves in prying into the secrets of God's nature and works, or turn their search after him into mere disputes and idle speculations. This perverse desire of knowing the truth is a disease that hath endangered 
Deut. 29. 29. Act. 1. 7. Luk. 13. 24.  many. Our first Parents were bewitched with a desire of more knowledge than the Lord knew to be good for them, and so attempting to do what was forbidden, they fell from that good estate in which they were created. The Lord hath fully manifested himself in the face of Jesus Christ, so far as it is needful or profitable for us to know him: and it is our duty to contain ourselves within the bounds and 
John 21. 22.  limits prescribed of the Lord.  
4. Error or heresy concerning God and Christ, as when we conceive amiss 
1 John 2. 22. & 5 10. Gal. 5. 20. Col. 2. 18. 1 Tim. 6. 4, 5. 2 Tim. 3. 8.  of the Properties of God, his Covenant, the unity of Essence and Trinity of Persons; the Person and Office of Christ. Heresy is Idolatry, for it transformeth the Majesty of God, the Person or Office of Christ: Every lie of God is a kind of Idolatry, but heresy ascribeth unto God devised Properties, turneth his glorious Essence into a lie.  
5. Want of acknowledgement, when God is known in a sort, but not with affection 
Isa. 1. 3. Jer. 2. 8. & 8. 7. 1 Sam. 2. 12. 2 Pet. 3. 5 Psal. 28. 5. Ps. 106. 7. Deu. 29. 4. Isa. 5. 13. Psal. 92. 6.  and effect, as he ought to be, and that either for substance or degree. The sons of Eli were sons of Belial, they knew not the Lord; we cannot think them to be utterly destitute of all knowledge of God: but they did not acknowledge his power, love and Sovereignty as they professed. It is noted as the sin of Israel, that they understood not the wonders of the Lord, that is, they did not wisely consider or acknowledge them.  
6. Disesteem or contempt of God in Christ, when his favour is not esteemed 
Isa. 53. 3. & 5. 12. Mat. 22. 5. Heb. 2. 3. Luk. 14. 18. Heb. 12. 25.  or not according to the worth and excellency. Contempt of God is discovered by contempt of his Word, Luk. 16. 16. & 10. 16. job 21. 14. & 22. 17. Psal. 50. 17. Prov. 1. 25. If we regard not instruction, cast behind our backs, despise his threatenings, neglect his promises.  
7. Incredulity, when the heart is disjoined from God by unbelief▪ Of this 
Jam. 1. 8. John 20. 27. Luk. 24. 25. Mark 9 24.  there be divers degrees. The first is, doubting through weakness, a disease which the weak Christian laments and would fain have amended in himself. The second, when explicitly and in act those things be not firmly, distinctly manifested. The third is flat infidelity with misbelief, when the corrupt mind of man denying to yield assent to the truth of God, doth foster false or presumptuous conceits of God's Majesty contrary to that he hath revealed.  
8. Distrust, wavering or shaking out of fear of not obtaining what the Lord 
Zeph. 3. 2.  hath promised, whether it concern this life or the life to come, and that either for want of the things themselves, or of the causes which we judge necessary for the obtaining of what is promised.  
9 Desperation of God's Power, Mercy or both. 
Gen. 4. 13. 1 Thess. 4. 13. Isa. 28. 15, 17. Mat. 24. 37. Ps. 30. 6. Num. 30 31. Isa. 32. 9 11.   
10. Presumption and carnal security, when men rashly hope that they shall obtain their desire of God, but not according to his promise.  
11. Defect or want of love, whether in respect of quantity, quality, act or continuance, 1 Cor. 16. 22.  
12. Want of fear or reverence, when men live without reverence, care or fear of God and his judgements against sin, whether for substance or 
Deut. 17. 13. & 13. 11. Jer. 5. 22. Zech. 1. 11. Deut. 28. 58, 59 Eccles. 8. 13.  degree.  
13. Pride, being a lifting up of ourselves above and against God, over-valuing 
Superbia est perversae celfitisdinis appetitus. Isa. 2. 11, 12. & 9 8, 9 Eze. 2. 10 Ex. 5. 21. & 14 11. & 17. 2, 3. Job 33. 13.  ourselves, and undervaluing him, 1 Timothy. 3. 2. Psalm 101. 5. Isaiah 16. 6.  
14. Impatience, when we will not rest in the will of God nor expect his aid, and the accomplishment of his promises, but mislike the Lords doings, grudge under his crosses, blame his government, and faint under the burden.  
15. Carnal Joy, when men take more pleasure in sin, wealth, friends, 
1 Cor. 3. 2. Amos 6▪ 3, 4, 5. Ho●. 9 1. Isa. 22. 13. John 16. 20.  lands, wife, children, wit, and such like, then in the favour of God, or at least joy so in these things, as that their joy is in whole or part with-drawn from God.  
16. lukewarmness, when men receive and profess the truth, but want the heat of love and zeal, Revel. 3. 15.  
17. Sensuality, when men eagerly pursue their contentment in earthly things, but regard not the love or favour of God, or at least are willing to be strangers from him for ever, so they may enjoy the desires of their souls here below.  
18. Looseness, when the mind is carried from God, and doth range abroad in idle thoughts, or abundantly pursue, and follow thoughts of earthly and transitory things.  
19 Forgetfulness, when men put God out of mind and carelessly cast away 
Deut. 6. 12. & 8. 11. & 32. 18. 2 King. 17. 38. Psal. 144. 53. Isa. 62. 7.  all remembrance of him, when it should do us good, or we should give him glory.  
20. Neglect of prayer, he robs God of his glory that runs not unto him in all necessities by hearty supplication.  
21. Invocation of false gods, Wood, Stone, or Saints departed. Herein the 
Psal. 42. 20, 21. Ezek. 18. 12, 13.  Papists teach the breach of this Commandment, in that they persuade and commend the Invocation of Saints departed, as Intercessors to God by their prayers 
They call the Virgin Mary, the mother of mercy and compassion, the hope of our salvation. They pray unto the Cross, O Crux, ave spes unica, hoc passionis tempore, A●ge piis justitiam, Reisque dona veniam.  and merits. And not only so, but they pray to them that are no Saints, but rather hypocrites, to them that never were, and to the cross, saying to the dumb stock, Arise, it shall teach me.  
22. Dullness or hardness of heart, when the soul is so stupid and senseless, fast 
Mark 16. 14. & 10. 5. Mat. 19 8. Job 17. 7. Mark 3. 5.  locked up, that the mercies of God, and his sweet promises do little or nothing effect. It is a spiritual sottishness or distemper, that neither the word nor works of God c●n kindly work upon us.  
23. Unthankfulness, when men devour the blessings of God, and return no 
Rom. 1. 21.  praise unto him for them.  
24. Idolatrous swearing by Idols or false gods, by the Saints departed or any 
Exod. 23. 13. Jer. 5. 7. Zeph. 1. 5. Deut. 6. 13  mere creature.  
25. Divine Adoration of that which is no god. The Papists adore, 1. The Pope, to whom they attribute divine honour. 2. Images, with the same adoration with the sampler, appointing only a respective difference, viz. that the principal is worshipped simply and for itself; but the Image in regard of the similitude and reference to the principal. 3. The Bread and Cup of the Eucharist. 4. The Saints departed. 
Zeph. 1. 6. Amos 4. 10. jer. 4. 1. Dan. 9 13. 2 Chr. 16. 12. Deut. 12. 30. & 11. 16   
26. Neglect to seek God, or return unto him when we have gone astray, or be warned by his Prophets or corrections. And enquiring after or seeking unto strange gods.    

CHAP. III. The second Commandment.  THou shalt not make to thyself any graven Image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above, or in the Earth beneath, or in the waters under the Earth, thou shalt not bow down to them nor serve them. For I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the sins of the Fathers upon the Children to the third and fourth generation, of them that hate me, and showing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandments. 
MOses himself explains this precept, Deut. 4. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 
Herein it differeth from the first Commandment, that commanded the worship of God which is natural, this the worship which is by divine institution. Downams' Sum of Divin. Cultus naturalis is that which nature directeth all people to, or which ariseth from the nature of God. This belongs to all reasonable creatures. He that acknowledgeth the●e is a God, will acknowledge that he is to be be believed, feared, trusted, loved and prayed to: this was performed by Adam in Paradise and by the Angels in Heaven, Isa. 6. 3. Heb. 1. 6. Cultus institutus, instituted worship ●●p●nd● on the revelation of the will of God, this was commanded Adam in his innocency, as the Tree of Knowledge of G●od and Evil, and the Tree of Life show. Natural worship is the chief, instituted worship may be interrupted. A time of worship is juris naturalis, the seventh day juris positivi. Some in these days say all institutions are mere forms, and men may use or not use them at their pleasure according to their light, Qui non est religiosus non est Christianus. Cultus institutus est medium ex Dei voluntate ordinatum, ad cultum naturalem exercendum & pro nov●ndum. indica●tur hujusmodi media omnia à Deo instituta, in secundò praecepto per prohibitionem oppositorum mediorum omnium cultus ab hominibus excogitatorum, sub titulo sculptilis & imaginis, que cum praecipua fuerunt olim▪ hominum inventa, cultum Dei depravantia, aptissimè proponuntur (per Syn●●dochen in Decalogo praecipuam) loco omnium humani ingenii commentorum ad cu●●um spectantium. Ames. Medul Theol. l. 2. c. 13.  This Commandment hath two parts, a Prohibition and a Confirmation. The Prohibition hath two parts, forbidding two things. The first is propounded, Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven Image, nor the likeness of any thing.  
Where is,  

1. The person prohibited, Thou] any man whatsoever.  
2. The thing forbidden, Making a graven Image] that is, an Image artificially carved with any tool. An Image is the picture or representation of some other thing artificially made of any matter in any form. Likeness of any thing] is more general, for though every Image be a likeness, yet not contrarily, and the Lord doth deliver this Commandment so generally to prevent all mistaking. No Image or picture nor any manner of likeness must be made. Whether it be an Idol or Image, if it be a likeness, it is forbidden here.  
3. Here is the end, For thyself, or to thyself, that is, to the use of any man, it must be understood of religious use for the service of a God, either true or imaginary, or to thyself] that is, of thine own head 
a Non facias tibi, intellige, ex tuo capite sine meo expresso verbo ac jussu. Ergò non praescribit sibi legem Deus, quin possit jubere fieri imagines prout ipsi visum fuerit, sicut postea jussit fieri Cberubinos & alias imagines in Templo: sed nobis praescribit legem generalem quam nunquam licet transgredi, nisi peculiare accedat verbum Dei: ex Levit. 26. interpretatio colligitur hujus proecepti, ubi non simpliciter ait non sacies tibi sculptile, sed addit ad adorandum ea. Ergo non simpliciter damnantur sculpturae aut imagines quaevis, sed tantum quae ad cultum solitae sunt proponi. Zanch. de Decalogo, c. 14. Non facies tibi, id est, ex tuo proprio cerebro vel judicio: quamvis enim particula illa tibi alias nonnunquam vel redundat, vel aliam vim habet: hic tamen & redundantiam excludit accuratissimam borum praeceptorum breviloquium, & vanitatem humanarum cogitationum excludi manifestum est ex aliis Scripturae locis eodem spectantibus, ut Amos 5. 26. Num. 15. 39 Ames. ubi supra. Certè Deus leges suas promulgans, nullius violatori tam gravem decrevit poenam, atque secundae; nullius observatori tam ampla proposuit praemia, atque secundae: siquidem praecepti de fugiendis Idolis transgressorum poenam, in tertiam & quartam generationem, ejusdem verò observatorum praemium, in multa posterorum millia derivavit. Nulla etiam Lex est, quam toties Deus repetiverit, atque haec ipsa de Idolis: de quibus cum Exod. 20. commate quinto mentem suam explicuisset, mox versu 22 sensum praecepti iterans, vos, inquit, vidistis, quòd de coelo locutus sum vobis. Non facietis Deos argenteos, nec Deos aureos facietis vobis. Nec aliud praeceptum Moses moriturus tam altè populi animo impressit, ac hoc de exe●randis Idolis Deut. 4. 15, 16. & 23. v. Sculcet. Serm. de Idol. Vide plura ibid. Vid● Picherel. Dissert. de Imag. babi●a ad fanum Germani, coram Regina matre. .   
Thus this part is propounded, it is enlarged by a distribution of things whereof Images or likenesses are to be made.  
Of things in Heaven above] meaning the highest heavens, called the heaven of the blessed, and so the Images of God the Father, or God the Son, or God the holy Ghost, and of our Lord Jesus God and man are excluded, as also of holy Angels and Saints, for all these are in heaven.  
2. The heavens of the Stars, and so the Image of the Sun, Moon, Planets, or any Constellation or Star is condemned. Vide Voss. de Orig. & Progress. Idol. l. 2. c. 4.  
3. The inferior heavens called the Air or place where the Fowls of the heaven fly, so as pictures of feathered Fowls are condemned.  
Again he saith, Of things on Earth] here are all men and fourfooted beasts living and walking, and all kind of creeping things together, with Herbs, Plants, Trees, and so all Images of them are blamed.  
3. The Waters under the Earth are named, and thereby are signified all manner of Fishes. The waters are said to be under the earth, because God made the earth hollow, that there the waters might be contained, Psal. 104. 6.  
And God particularly nameth all these places, besides which there is no other place, that we might fully conceive, that his meaning is to forbid all manner of Images of all things whatsoever, whether of God, of creatures, of what sort and kind soever. The Gentiles abused the Images of most of all these, Rom. 1. 23.  
This is the first part of the Prohibition, the second is, Thou shalt not bow down nor serve them, that is, to any such Image. Quibus verbis omnem omnino cultum, quocunque modo Idolis tribuatur, prohibet. Scultet.  
To bow down notes the outward gesture of the body used of men to show reverence, and is used to denote all manner of reverend behaviours, which either nature hath ordained, or custom of Country's authorized to express respect and regard of things, as worthy of honour and account. Vox Hebraea gestum honoris indicem significat. Grot. in Exod. 20.  
To do service noteth all manner of actions to be accompanied with such reverend gestures, the former is a circumstance of service, the later the substance of it. 
Neque coles victimis, libamine, incenso. Grot. in Exod. 20.  So no manner of account is to be showed to pictures, neither by any outward gesture of body, nor by any kind of service at all. Zanchy de Decalogoc. 14. doth otherwise distinguish between these two words.  
Hitherto the Prohibition, the confirmation is taken from the Lords interest, I 
jealous signifieth as much as zealous, or to be moved with a very ardent affection and fervent desire, proceeding either out of love to save the thing untouched which is loved, Zech. 1. 14. & 8. 2. or else of indignation against that thing which deserveth punishment, Exod. 34. 14. Nahum 1. 2. Ezek. 38. 19 and here it is used in both those two senses or significations. Ford on the Corenant See Estey on the Command.  am the Lord thy God.  
2. From one Attribute of his jealousy. See Exod. 34. 14. Jealousy is that property of a husband or wife whereby they cannot endure that the yoke-fellow should give either their affections or body to others beside themselves, Consortis impatiens, ut mariti, Grotius. It noteth the holiness of God's nature that cannot away to have that service which is due to him communicated to Images, or to any other thing with or besides himself, it is love joined with anger, sith God cannot away with this, we should not practise it.  
3. There is an argument from God's effects of visiting the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation, of them that hate him. Visiting is twofold, 1. In love and favour, Luke 1. 58. 2. In displeasure to punish, as here. Punishing 
b Verbum vi●itandi alias est mediae significationis, hic in malum ponitur, pro eo effectu qui consequitur irati judicis visitationem, id est, pro punitione, LXX. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, reddens iniquitatem, hoc est p●nam iniquitatis Patrum in filios, etc. Rivet. i● Exod. 20. See Estey.  is the laying of misery upon any one that hath done a fault, proportionable unto his fault. The object of this punishment are the children of them that hate God even to the third and fourth generation, as in the Babylonish transportation.  Et nati natorum, & qui nascentur ab illis. 
For a man may live to see his posterity to the fourth generation, job 42. 16. and so see himself punished in them.  
So Aquinas 1a, 2ae Quaest 87. Artic. 8. Kellet. Miscel. lib. 1. cap. 7. and others. 
Some urge, that if it be righteous with God to leave the world liable to death for Adam's sin, than children may suffer temporal afflictions for their Parents sins. Parents may convey an estate to them with a curse. But Pet. du Moulin and Knewstub are of another judgement, alleging Ezek. 28. 20. and so are divers others. Deus pumt peccatum Patrum in filiis non semper, sed tunc solùm, cum filii imit antur peccata patrum, ut docent S. Patres (Hieron. Chrysost. August.) & Thom. 1, 2. Quaest 87. Quos sequuntur ferè omnes recentiores, & hoc ipsum indicat Scriptura, cum ait: His qui oderunt me: Non evim simpliciter Deus dicit, se pun●turum peccata patrum in filiis, sed in 'tis qui eum oderunt. Bellarm. de Amiss great. & stat● peccat. lib. 4. ca 7.  Some say the wrath of God descends from fathers to children only in case the children imitate, and write after their father's copy; supposing these words [In them that hate me] to relate to the children. But this is expressly against the words of the text, and the examples of the thing: God afflicts good children of evil parents for their father's sins, and the words are plain and determinate: God visits the sins of the fathers, in tertiam & quartam generationem eorum qui oderunt me, of them, of those fathers that hate me. Doctor Tailor on Exod. 20. 5. par. 1.  
The cause moving to punish is the sins of the Fathers. Now God punisheth the sins of the Fathers on the children, by giving up the children to follow or exceed their Parents in sinning, that so he may bring upon them a more full vengeance, to show his detestation of his Father's sins. Seeing no man would have his posterity to be plagued, himself must not sin in breaking the former prohibition.  
They hate the Lord which do not worship him as he hath commanded them, but 
Ford of the Covenant.  after their own fantasies, and after the traditions of men.  
God in no other Commandment but the second threatens to punish the sins of Fathers upon the children, because superstitious worshippers of all men are strengthened by the tradition of their Fathers, O our Fathers did thus and thus, Shall we be wiser than our forefathers? M. Burrh. on Host  
A second effect of God is showing mercy, that is, doing good and helping out of evil, and the object of this to thousands; the promise is opposed to the commination, but is of larger extent. Rabbi Solomon hence observes that the goodness of God doth as much exceed his severity, as fifty exceed one, viz. because his severity is restrained to four generations, but his goodness is extended to thousands, two thousands at the least. Non mille, sed multa millia: ita ostenditur, quanto largior sit Deus in benefaciendo, quam in puniendo. Grot. in Exod. 20.  
Of them that love him and keep his Commandments] Not that pretend to love 
Joh. 14. 15, 21. 1 John 5. 3. M. Dod.  him indeed and show their love by obedience to his revealed will.  
There is a great difference between keeping Gods Commandments and fulfilling his Commandment. Keeping noteth a truth, fulfilling a perfection: This Christ only had; but the truth every Christian must have.  
The scope, end and sum of this Commandment is to order us in the solemn 
It commands us to worship God by such means, and after such a manner as he hath prescribed in his Word, and is agreeable to his nature, Deut. 12. 30, 31, 32. B. Down. Abstract. D. Wilkins of the gift of Prayer, chap. 19  worship of God, called Heb. 9 1. Ordinances of divine service, and usually termed religious exercises. For the constituting of a solemn worship of God three things are required:  

1. That it be done with immediate reference to God, and that himself or something 
This people draw near to me, saith jeremy speaking of such exercises.  in his stead be made the object thereof, and so therein we draw near to him, and he to us.  
2. That it tend in the doers intention directly and of itself to the honouring of God and pleasing him, and getting of grace from him, by exercising of some or all the virtues required in the first Commandment. 
Cultum generaliter appellar● consu●tudo est omnem honorem ab inferiori persona debitum, praestitumve superiori. Chamierus Tomo secundo, lib. 18▪ cap. 1.   
3. That there be a separating of ourselves from all other businesses to be wholly and altogether employed about such acts in which the difference between common and solemn worship doth seem to stand.   
Worship consists in three things:  

1. There must be a right knowledge and high apprehension of God, the person to be worshipped.  
2. A reflection of this knowledge.  
3. An abasement of the creature under the reflection of this knowledge, Revel. 5. Christ is represented as sitting on a Throne. The people of God are there brought in as compassing him about, they have high apprehensions of the person of Christ, his glory and holiness. 2. They reflect these excellencies. 3. They abase themselves, fall on their faces, vers. ult.   
Every religious exercise or ordinance of divine service hath usually divers particular acts, that be as parts of the whole, and in the orderly uniting of which the whole is accomplished. And whatsoever is done in any such exercise of religion, for the end and purpose of pleasing God, and getting grace from him with respect of conscience to him (as esteeming that he must and will have it so, or else the service shall not be wellpleasing and acceptable to him) this is a part of worship, or of divine Service. For example, a man brought an Ox or a Ram, a Lamb or such like thing, and presented it to the Priest, he did offer it unto God, and that directly with intention of exercising obedience and faith to God. Likewise this Offering was to be made by a certain person in a certain place, at a certain time, with certain Garments and Rites: So all those observations became parts of this worship; for in these also the intention of the doer was directly carried to God, hoping and purposing by them to please God and exercise faith and obedience, and other graces, as well and as much as by the very offering itself, and accounting the service not to be acceptable to God without them.  
The things commanded here are of two sorts:  

1. For the performance of divine service.  
2. For the preservation and continuance thereof.   
For the right performance of divine worship, some things are to be looked unto for the substance and circumstances of it.  
For the substance of worship also, some things are required for the  

Matter of it.  
Manner of it.   
For the Matter, some things are required, for 
The grounds of worship are these, 1. God will be honoured by all the creatures, he expects honour from them suitable to their nature. 2. The creature in all its worship must have a rule, their service must be reasonable, Rom. 12. 2. Gal. 6. 16. therefore the Lord hath manifested his will to them, Dan. 9 23. 3. The conscience of the creature must receive this rule, and submit to it.   

1. The Object of the service.  
2. The Subject of it, that is, the kinds and parts of it.   
For the Object, two things are required,  

1. That it be to the true God alone.  
2. For the parts that they be such as are prescribe and appointed by the true God.   
For the Object, it must be only the true God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the maker of Heaven and Earth, the Son of God our blessed Saviour and Mediator, the blessed Spirit our sanctifier, which God hath manifested himself to us in the Scriptures, to him and him only must we tender our worship, which is so essential to worship, that it cannot be true unless it be appropriated unto him, according to the words of the Law repeated by our Saviour, saying, Thou shalt bown down to the Lord thy God, and him (alone) that exclusive and confining particle our Saviour addeth by way of interpretation, Shalt thou serve or worship, for so that word which in the original is, Thou shalt serve, Christ rendereth, Thou shalt worship. And great cause that he alone should be worshipped who alone is worthy of worship. Seeing this worship is a solemn acknowledgement of his Deity we testify that we esteem him the only true God upon whom we depend, and to whom we give ourselves as servants.  
Secondly, This true God must be the object of our worship purely, and by a 
It is one of the hardest things in religion to conceive aright of God. Every Nation suited the picture of their gods according to their own genius.  clear work of the understanding conceived of in his Attributes and Properties, not represented to the eye, or any way pictured forth or imagined under any visible or sensible form or representation, because there is no possibility of resembling him to the life by any similitude that any man or creature can invent or frame, yea all resemblances fall so far short of his perfection that it will prove an embasing of our conceits concerning him to attempt any such resemblance, and therefore Deut. 4. 2. is express, telling Israel, that they heard a voice alone in the time that God came amongst them to deliver the Law, and saw no manner of Image or likeness, and therefore they ought not to corrupt themselves by making any Image or Representation. 
The Spartaus being a warlike people, painted god in armour. The Ethiopians painted him black. The Heathens misrepresented God, Rom. 1. 23. The Jews likewise, and those in the Reformed Churches misfigure the Divine Essence Idolatry is not only in Images, but in false imaginations of God, men●al Idolatry, unseemly conceits of God are as bad as Atheism, Rom. 1. 25.  God is not a body but a Spirit and Essence, a Spirit whose being is every way above all that all creatures can attain and reach to proportionably to the excellency thereof by the most deep contemplation of their mind. And therefore also the Prophets do cry out against the picturing of God or worshipping him under any such form or picture, saying, Whereunto will ye liken me? What similitude will ye make of me? Isa. 48. 18.  
The way to cure this evil:  

1. Purge your hearts more and more from carnal affections, Psalm. 17. 15. Matth. 5. 8.  
2. Beg the assistance of the holy Ghost to raise your apprehensions of the Divine▪ Essence, 2 Cor. 3. 14, 15, 16. The Spirit gives us light, and makes it powerful to change the heart.  
3. Be much in the study of the Scriptures, they are the image of Christ, and he is the image of God, 2 Cor. 3. 18. & 4. 4.  
4. Be obedient to divine institutions; God knows what worship is best for himself, Col. 2. 23 Obedience to Gods will keeps up the repute of his Essence. See 2 Sam. 6. 6. Nihil adeo offendit hominum mentes ac simplicitas Divinorum operum. Tertul.  
5. Consider your experiences of grace, Exod. 15. 11. Mic. 7. 17. Luk. 1. 46.  
6. Often view God in his stupendious works, Psal. 104▪ observe the bounding of the Sea, the hanging of the earth upon nothing, job 26. 7. the beauty and motion of the heavens, the order of all the creatures, Hosea 2. latter end. See Psal. 40. 18.  
7. When you make use of sensitive things to increase your knowledge of God, you must proceed by way of negation and argument, and not by representation. See Isa. 45. 15.  
8. Labour to get a more perfect and clear notion of God, follow on to know the Lord, Host 6. 3. Heaven consists much in the vision of God.   
For the parts of worship, it is required that they be all prescribed unto us by the written word of God, that he may not have cause to except against us, saying, Who required these things at your hands? For seeing we do them to him, we must from him know whether they will be acceptable unto him, yea or no. His 
Rom. 6. 17. Dum obtempeperant non obsequuntur: Deo serviendum est non ex arbitrio sed ex imperio. Te●●ul.  own will is the right rule of his own worship, what is not conformable to the rule cannot be true worship. Wherefore the Lord chargeth Israel that they should not add any thing to the thing by him prescribed, but keep themselves strictly to his appointment, doing alone that very thing which he required without swerving to the right hand or to the left, Deut. 4. 2. josh. 1. 7. Prov. 30. 2.  
If God had left us without a pattern in the ways of his worship we should have wandered in incertainties; the Heathens by the light of nature knew that there was a God, and that he was to be worshipped, yet they did but grope after him because they wanted a rule of worship.  
Humane inventions in matters of worship have been brought in 
Ezek. 20. 30. Deut. 12. 2. 2 King. 12. 3.   

1. By Satan, he knows 

1. That they take away the glory of worship, that only is excellent which it plenum sui.  
2. That they take away the Majesty and Authority of it; God shows no such Majesty any where as in his Ordinances but in heaven, Revel. 4. 2.  
3. That they take away the power of Ordinances, Matth. 15. 6. all the power of Ordinances consists in God's presence in them.  
4. That it hinders their acceptation, Revel. 9 20.    
2. By the Minister 

1. A spirit of uncleanness works in the Prophets, Zech. 13. 2.  
2. A great deal of pride, Col. 2. 18.  
3. A vehement desire of drawing proselytes after them, Gal. 6. 13.  
4. Horrible hypocrisy, Matth. 23. 13, 14.  
5. Worldly wisdom and fleshly ends, 2 King. 16. 11.  
6. A constant ignorance and idleness in them, While they slept the envious man sowed tares.  
7. Cowardice, Gal. 6. 12.    
3. By the people, 2 Thess. 2. 10, 11. Host 5. 11. Amos 4. 5.   
Three things about the worship of God are to be considered:  

1. The kinds of it, that is (as was before said) certain orders of actions to be performed.  
2. The parts of it, that is, each action of each kind, so receiving the Lords Supper is a kind of worship, the action of giving, taking, eating, drinking, with the things hereby represented, are parts.  
3. There are certain circumstances and solemnities for the manner of celebrating 
Helps and furtherances in God's worship are, 1. Necessary and in nature and use the same with the true worship of God instituted by himself particularly, these are unlawful if devised by men, because devised, for the substantial things of God's worship are to be determined and instituted by him. 2. Mere circumstances and matters of order concerning the method, phrase, external celebration which are not determined by God, therefore no particular is unlawful which is according to the general rules in Scripture. Balls Trial of grounds of Separate. chap. 3.  those parts and kinds: Now the two former must be expressly commanded. The later must not be forbidden nor condemned, only a thing of solemnity is changed into a part when a religious necessity is imposed upon it, and a spiritual efficacy conceived to be annexed unto it, as appears in the Priest's garments in the Law. Thus for example: Prayer is a kind of God's worship, the confession of sins, Petition and Thanksgiving for benefits be parts of this kind of worship, and so are the person to whom, and the person in whose name necessary things for the matter of the worship. But now, whether I pray in such or such a place, whether with eyes lift up or cast down, whether kneeling or standing, whether with mine head covered or uncovered, these are certain points of solemnity▪ as it were adjuncts of the exercise. And here it is sufficient, that I use no such circumstance as is condemned, nor neglect any that is commanded, but if I do esteem it a matter of religious necessity to God-ward, to pray in such a place rather than such, and conceive that my prayers shall be more effectual for my good there rather than elsewhere, not having any such warrant from God, I do now turn the circumstance into a part of worship, and seeing it is not from God, of false worship.   
The several kinds and parts of God's worship, are either Ordinary or Extraordinary.  
I. Ordinary,  
1. Public. 2. Private. 3. Indifferent.  
First, Public, such as ought to be usually and only performed in public Assemblies of whole Congregations in one known appointed place, as being open and public professions of our allegiance to God. Such are two alone.  

1. Preaching of the Word, which hath two main parts: 

1. The Explication and Declaration of any part of holy Writ, or any point of Doctrine contained in holy Writ.  
2. The Application of that part of holy Writ or point of Doctrine so contained in Scripture to teach, admonish, exhort, correct, comfort, for which things it is most fit and convenient.    
The second public worship is administration of the Sacraments, that is, of the seals of the new Covenant of Grace, which are two alone, 

1. The seal of engraffing into Christ's body, called Baptism, where the parts are▪ outward, washing with water, inward, bestowing the blood of Christ to wash and purge the soul.  
2. The seal of our nourishment in Christ, whereof the parts are, outward, on the Ministers part taking, blessing, breaking, distributing bread and wine: on the receivers, taking, eating and drinking bread and wine: inward, certain works of God in giving his Son, and of the receiver in receiving him. This is public worship.     
Secondly, Private, two  

1. Meditation by ones self alone of the Word of God, or the parts of it in 
Isaac went out into the field to meditate.  any particular matter; the parts of which are, consideration of the truth thereof, and application of the same to ones self.  
2. Conference with a few others, which is a mutual propounding of 
These things meditate and be in them, said Paul to Timothy.  men's judgements of any part of Scripture or point of Religion for their mutual edifying, as Paul went up to confer with Peter and with the chief Apostles.   
Thirdly, Indifferent, which may be done both publicly and privately, yea which must be done both in private by each person and family, and also may be done, and most of them must be done by the whole Assemblies of men professing true religion. These are ordinary which must be of constant and continual practice day by day as occasion serveth, which are four,  

1. Reading the Scriptures and good Books, or hearing them read, which is an intentive observing of the things contained in the Word, or such godly Books as tend to make the points of doctrine in the Scripture contained, more plain and useful unto us.  
2. Catechising, which is a particular teaching the principles of Religion by Question and Answer, necessarily required of all Householders and Ministers to the young or ignorant people of the Parish. For the Householders it is apparent 
Deut. 6. 7.  in that Commandment, that they should whet these things upon their children; for Ministers, Let him that is catechised in the Word make him 
Gal. 6▪ 6.  that catechizeth him partakers of all good things: Where catechising is made a part of the ministerial function of a Pastor in regard of which maintenance is due unto him.  
3. Prayer, Pray continually, saith the Apostle; for private prayer, Enter into 
1 Thess. 5. 17. Matth. 6.  thy closet and pray, saith our Saviour Christ; and Mine house shall be called a house of prayer, saith the Lord himself for public worship.  
4. Singing of Psalms, whether Scriptures, or other conformable unto Scripture made by godly men, ones self or others, it is not material, as some think, for so saith 
Col. 3. 16.  David, Sing unto the Lord a new song; and so saith the Apostle, Edify yourselves with Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs; the word translated Hymns signifieth such a Song as is uttered with voice alone, but Spiritual Songs and Psalms are such as are sung to the tune of any well tuned Instrument of music, but must be so performed as may be for edification.   
And these are ordinary services.  
The extraordinary services are such as are to be performed upon particular and special occasions, either public or private, such are  

1. Fasting, which is the setting of an artificial day at least apart to the work of humiliation and reconciliation.  
2. Feasting, which is the setting of so much time apart to the work of rejoicing.  
3. Vowing, which is a tying of one's soul by God's name unto God's self to do, or not to do a thing lawful for his furtherance in godliness.   
These be all the kinds of worship which God in his Word requireth, and the performance of them each in their place and order is required at the hands of all God's people by virtue of this Commandment, so that each man and woman stands bound in conscience constantly to perform the public and private, as God gives ability, and the extraordinary upon such extraordinary occasions as fall out to require the performance of them.  
And so much for the Matter of true Worship. The Manner followeth; which is as carefully to be looked unto as the Matter; neither shall any service we perform be acceptable unto God, further than the manner of performing the ●an●● is agreeable to his will. Know, four things are required to the right performing of God's Services in this kind: 1. Sincerity. 2. Diligence. 3. Faith. 4. Reverence. And when we do worship truly, diligently, faithfully, reverently, than we also worship him acceptably and fruitfully.  
For sincere worshipping of God we may learn it by the Apostles denying it of 
The more one fetcheth duties from God immediately, and the more he draws the motives from God immediately, and the more he placeth his comforts in God immediately, the more spiritual and happy he is.  some that preached Christ of contention: what we do for a right end, attaining of grace, and for the right motives, God's Commandment and Honour, that is done truly; for truth in this case is the agreement betwixt the shows we make and meaning we have.  
To the sincere performing of the acts of Worship, three things are requisite: 
I must not only perform service to God, but for God, Host 7. 14. 1. That which sets you a-work is your end, Finis movet efficientem ad agendum. 2. The end sweetens, the service finis dat amabilitatem medi●s. 3. One rests satisfied when he hath attained his end▪ in ●ine terminatur appetitus efficientis, do you perform duties that you may honour God, john 17. 4. please him, Col. 1. 5. enjoy him, Heb. 10. 22. and add to your own everlasting account. If God be no● your utmost end, he will not be your chiefest good. Hoc desideri● c●lendus est Deus ut sui cultus ipsi ●it merces. Augustine.   

1. That we do it upon a right motive, which must be God's Commandment, because he requireth us so to serve him, not pray to be seen of men.  
2. For a right end, which must be the showing of our obedience to God, and winning of grace from him according to his promise.  
3. With the joining together of the inward and outward man, the Soul and Body.   
The Scripture requireth this in prayer by special name, saying, that God is near to all those that call upon him in truth; that is, with a true intention to please him, and a true desire to get grace from him. The thing which ought to make a Preacher preach, is, that he may be God's Instrument in converting and edifying souls, seeing God hath appointed to do this work by the Ministry of men. The thing which should make the people come to Church, is, that by hearing their souls may live, seeing God hath appointed preaching to save men.  
When we do in our souls aim at the right end of the several kinds of Worship we perform, seeking to approve ourselves to God so in them, that by them we may profit according to his institution, this is Truth.  
The second thing is Diligence, which will follow upon Truth, and is joined with it, for always they go together as the contrary vices, and therefore in the Hebrew one word signifies both negligently and guilefully, in that speech, Cursed be he that doth God's work negligently.  
He that would serve God acceptably, must serve him heedfully, Eccles. 5. 1, 2. 
See 2 Kings 10. 31. A constant heedlessness in duties is a great sign of an hypocrite.  Mark▪ 4. 23, 24. Heb. 2. 1, 2.  
Reasons.  

1. Because of God's peculiar presence in his Ordinances, Ezek ult. ult. Revel. 21. 3. he is there present, 1. In Majesty, Exod. 40. 34. 2 Chron 5. 14. Isa. 6. 7. the Ordinances of the Gospel are compared to a wedding Feast, Matth. 22. where the King comes in, therefore we are said to come to a throne of grace. 2, In holiness, Isa. 6. 3. Psal. 48. 1. Ezek 45. latter end, Rev. 4. 8. 3. As a Judge, Ezek. 22. 2. Rom. 2. 14. job 9 15, 4. In jealousy, as in the second Commandment, which is quicksighted, josh. 24. 19  
2. Look to the rule of all your converses with God, Rom. 12. 1. word-service it 
It is not enough to worship God, but we must seek him in worship, Ps. 22. 26. which notes an exact care in serving him.  may be rendered, as 1 Pet. 2. 2. It is 1. A strait rule, Psal. 19 7. one may quickly go awry. 2. A spiritual rule, Rom. 7. 12. 3. An harmonious rule, jam. 2. 10.  
3. Consider the evil frame of your spirits that are to walk with God in this rule, 1. There is much enmity in them to every duty. 2. Much inadvertency in the things of God. 3. Looseness and vanity in the thoughts, jer. 4. 14.  
4. God is more honoured or dishonoured in your religious duties, then in all the actions of your lives, there they actively, intentionally, and solely intent his glory, therefore more of their spirits should be laid out in these duties then in all their other actions, Psal. 103. 5.  
5. The Devil is there present, Matth. 13. 19 1. As an accuser, as of job. 2. As an Opposer, Zach. 1. 2. 3. As an Executioner, Isa. 29. 13, 14.   
This diligence is a setting one's self to procure to ones self the benefit of the exercise, an endeavour and striving in good earnest to have the graces wrought in us which these exercises are to work.  
This Diligence consists in three things:  

1. A taking pains to fit and prepare ourselves for these Exercises before hand.  
2. A due carriage of ourselves in them.  
3. A due usemaking afterwards.   
For the first, we must all know that there is a very great natural unfitness in our hearts to perform any religious work, any good work at all; that which is of itself unfit to effect any thing, must be fitted for the work before it be employed in the same. The heart of the best man is very apt to be out of tune as it were for 
See M. Mauto● on Jam. 1. 21. Doct, 1. & 2.  Prayer, Meditation, hearing; when it is exercised about worldly matters, it is made very unapt to matters of godliness, because it cannot converse in the world in that holy and discreet manner it ought, wherefore it must be new tuned, and that is to be the first pains of a good man, without which his following labour is lost.  
This preparation is double:  

1. Common to all Exercises of Religion.  
2. Proper to some special Exercises.   
The common Preparation stands in four things:  

1. In knowledge of the Exercise to be performed, both that it is by God required, 
Examination of our estate is as necessary as our pu●ging from sin, and the excitation of our affections, 2 Cor. 13. 5. In the Priesthood under the Law there was to be a consecration as well as an offering, Mal. 3. 3, 4. Heb. 9 14. The main care must be to get the person reconciled to God. Those that discern not their interest in Christ if they had it, and have lost it by returning to folly, 1 Pet. 3. 7. are not to come reeking from their sins, and so rush into God's presence, Isa. 1. 15. Neither are they wholly to decline Worship, and restrain Prayer. 1. There must be a serious acknowledgement of their sins with shame and sorrow. Psal. 51. 3. Numb. 2. 14. John 1. 2. 2. They must earnestly sue out the former grace and pardon, Psal. 25. 6. & 51. 12. Those who never had assurance must know, 1. That it is comfortable in our approaches to God, the Apostle hath taught us to begin our supplications with our Father, Heb. ●0. 21, 22. 1 Tim. 2. 10. 2. Some believers have less peace, that they may have more grace. 3. When we cannot reflect upon our actual interest, the direct and du●●ful acts of Faith must be more solemnly put forth. 1. Disclaim more earnestly your own personal righteousness, Dan. 9 18. 2. You must adhere to God in Christ, more closely cast yourselves upon God with hope, Psal. 22. 18. 3. It is safe to say I am my beloved's, though we cannot apply Christ to ourselves, Psal. 119. 94.  and what good he intends by, and how he would have u● perform it. For it is impossible that any man should well worship God in anything, who hath not received convenient information of the nature and use of that thing. No man can pray except he know what it is, to whom to be made, in whose Name, and what good he shall attain by it: Nor read, nor hear, unless he know the needfulness and nature of these Ordinances. For it is the Word of God by which all things are sanctified, in that our minds are thence instructed of the lawfulness and manner of performing them. This is the foundation which must be first laid to all that follows, to be made acquainted what the exercise is, what good it will bring, how necessarily required, that so a man may do what he does out of this knowledge, and not serve God he knows not with what.  
2. A man before he comes into God's presence about such works must repent of his sins, yea renew his repentance, bethinking himself of the several things which he latest committed, to work a fresh measure of grief in his soul, with a full determination of heart to strive more against them; for God cannot endure to be served with a foul hand. The sprinkling water must be sprinkled upon us, and we must purge ourselves from all uncleanness if we draw near to him. So in the old Law they were to wash their clothes after some pollution, and when God came to them to put off their shoes. And that is it which David saith, I will wash mine hands in innocency and compass thine Altar. A man must bring an undefiled spirit; if he will pray, he must work his heart to sorrow, and resolution to amend his late sins, for he cannot be welcome into God's presence, that is not cleansed from his wickedness, or hateth to be reform, we must be pure if we will come into God's presence.  
3. Prayer to God for his blessing must be prefixed to all religious services, for our better enabling thereto, for of ourselves we can do nothing, all our sufficiency comes from him who hath promised to hear us when we pray, and to grant our petitions▪ so that without seeking a blessing we cannot expect to find it; and therefore the Apostlen saith that all things are sanctified unto us by prayer, even exercises of Religion, the Word, the Sacraments, and the like, yea and Prayer too, by praying God first for his Spirit of Prayer. Therefore he that will serve God aright, must first crave his help and grace to serve him.  
The fourth and last part of common preparation is by a preconsideration of the exceeding greatness of the Lord before whom we come, and of our vileness, baseness, 
Have high thoughts of the work aforehand, 1 Chron. 29. 2. take the fittest opportunity of doing duties, Christ is present in the Ordinances, Rev. 1. 18. 1. As a Speaker, Heb. 12. 25. 2. That he may delight himself in the graces of his people Cant. 8. 1. 3. To execute judgement as well as show mercy. 2. The Angels are there present, 1 Cor. 11. 10. as your Guardians, Dan. 4. 13. and to delight in your graces, Cant. 5. 2. 3. The Devil is present, Matth. 13. 1. To draw you to evil, 1 Sam. 2. 22. 2. To hinder you in whatever is good, Zach. 3. 1. 3. Comes to steal away the Word out of your hearts, Matth. 13. 19 4. To aceuse you, Rev. 12. 12. Zach. 3. 1, 2. 5. As an Executioner, expecting a commission from Christ to lay hold on thee, John 13. 27.  unworthiness to come before him, that so we may be rightly affected with the regard of him, Levit. 26. 2. So Cornelius saith, that he and the rest were all there before God to hear what Peter should say unto them, they had considered with themselves that God came to speak unto them, and that they came to hear him; for in what service we do not make account that we have to deal with the Lord our God and Maker, and do not put ourselves in mind what a one he is, we shall not carry ourselves aright towards him. Abraham said he was dust and ashes when he prayed to God, therefore the Lord hath set down a Preface before the Lords Prayer, acquainting us what a one God is, because by the thinking of him, and striving to bring our hearts to conceive of him as such a one, we should be better fitted to make the requests and supplications following, the heart than must put itself in mind what it goes about, and to whom it tenders a service. I come before the Lord Almighty that hath my soul in his hand, to hear him speak to me, or to speak to him. I draw near to the King of Heaven and Earth, I present myself before his face, let me frame myself so as befits his holy and all-searching eyes. And this is the common preparation for our religious duties. Now special preparation for special services follows to be spoken of; that is, to the Word, to Prayer, to the Sacraments, and to a Vow.   
For the Word. The heart is to be framed to a resolution of obeying it in all things, this is the honest and good heart whereof our Saviour makes mention in describing the good ground, concerning this it is that our Lord saith again, If you will do my will, you shall know it. This will give a man a good memory and a good judgement, and the Lord to recompense this obedient resolution will become as he hath promised, a Teacher to the humble; so shall he be taught of God that comes with a firm purpose to be guided by God, and that in all things. Before you come to Church you should spend some time with your hearts, to incline them and bow them to the testimonies of God, and to say unto yourselves, I am going to hear what the Lord will say unto me, seeing he is my Maker I will not harden my heart against him, but I will be ready to know what he teacheth, and not gainsay any thing that shall to my conscience appear truth, and I will undoubtedly yield to that I know in practice, for it is the word of him that is Lord of the spirits of all flesh; then will the Word be powerful to make us able, when we resolve before whatever it be to be willing.  
2. Before Prayer a threefold consideration is necessary, of our special wants, and sins, and benefits, that we may accordingly mention them in our Prayers, The Lord hath promised he will grant us whatsoever we shall ask, we must bethink ourselves therefore what be those things that for our present estate we do stand in need of. What sins had need to be pardoned and healed, what benefits continued, or new given, and what we have already to give thanks for, that we may with more earnestness pray when we know for what we will pray. In the next place we must consider of God's gracious promises that he hath made unto us to help, and of his exceeding mercy, goodness, and power, by which we are sure he is able and willing to help, even of those Excellencies of God which the title, Our Father which art in Heaven doth offer unto our consideration, but principally Gods promise to hear and accept is to fill our minds when we come before him as suppliants.  
Thirdly, For the Sacraments, the special preparation is,  

1. By examining and judging ourselves, as the Apostle speaks, that is, a more narrow and diligent search for our estate, and for our particular offences if we have forgotten any, if through carelessness or guile we have let pass the sight and acknowledgement of any, that now the old leaven may be cast out. So saith the Apostle, Examine yourselves, and again, If we would judge ourselves God would not judge us.  
2. We must labour to get a good appetite to this spiritual food, to stir up in ourselves an earnest hungering and thirsting after Christ and his benefits there. God calls all that thirst to come and eat. As a good stomach is a necessary preparation to our natural meals, so to these spiritual meals is a good desire and longing for the grace there offered, remission of sins past, and power to live more blamelessly and holily hereafter. Then when a man hath by special examination and judging himself found out his faults and humbled himself for them, and also hath brought his heart to long for Christ Jesus to be his Saviour, and to save him from the punishment and power of them by his body and blood, he is now fit to come to the Lords Table.  
3 He must meditate on Christ's sufferings.   
Lastly, For a vow, because this is a very solemn bond betwixt God and us (I speak it not of imposed vows, but assumed) wherein we enter, it behoves us very carefully to weigh the nature of the thing, and our sufficiency for the same, that we may not be rash with our lips to speak before our Maker, which is principally spoken of vowing by Solomon; for better not vow then not perform, for want of which care many men have so entangled themselves, as their vows have been occasion of exceeding much misery unto them, as we have one fearful example for all in jephta who though he did not so bad as is vulgarly thought (for can any man 
jephta must not offer her himself but some Priest to whom he must bring her, and he not in any place, but upon the Altar of God.  imagine that the newly reformed Church of Israel at that time after so special a blessing could have endured to see Gods holy Altar by any of his Priests polluted with so fearful an abomination, and so expressly forbidden) yet he procured himself and his daughter great reproach in that he was fain to consecrate his only daughter to God as a perpetual Nazaritesse. Whence followed at least in the opinion of those times a necessity of remaining a Virgin and child less, so that his example must warn us before vowing to consider distinctly and seriously what we vow. 
In vovendo suit stultus, in reddendo impius. Hieron.   
Thus we have showed you what diligence is required before the worship. In the worship is 
* Take a great deal of heed to your own hearts in the duty lest your thoughts vanish, Eccles. 5. 3. Solomon compares the vanity of men's thoughts in services to dreams, where the thoughts are incoherent. 2. Observe in duties the approaches or withdrawings of God from your souls.  required as great diligence, Rom. 12. 11.  
First, With our understanding and thoughts to make them attentive, that we may heed what we do, and apply our thoughts and conceits alone that way, that so there may be an agreement betwixt body and mind. Thus in praying we must mark what it is that we ask, confess or give thanks for, so that we understand ourselves, and be able to approve that we have asked nothing but what we might. In hearing we must listen and attend that we may carry away the Word, and let it 
See Matth. 15. 10. & 24. 15. 2. & 3. chapter of Revel.  not leak, we must bind our minds to give heedful attention, according to that, Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith. Hear, O Israel, saith Moses often. Hear, O children, saith David. So in the Sacraments we must mark each action, and busy our minds in observing the thing signified as well at our eyes in the thing that is outward. When we see the bread, consider of Christ's presence and power to nourish; when we see the wine, of his presence and power to comfort; so in the other actions, when we see the breaking of the bread think of his death; when we see the giving, consider of Gods offering him, and so in every action we must serve the Lord with our whole heart, whereof one part is this, observing, attending, marking the action.  
Secondly, We must bring our affections to be so moved as the nature of the exercises requireth, which is that which is commended in the good josiah, his heart melted in hearing threatenings, and the Thessalonians received the Gospel with joy▪ in prayer we must be fervent, and in the Sacrament we must bring our hearts to a 
We must 1. Practise the good resolutions taken up in the service, keep it evermore in the hearts of thy servants. 2. After every duty we must be humbled for our rashness before God, as jacob, Gen. 28. 16.  feeling sorrow for Christ's death and our sins, and to a joyful remembrance of the great work of our redemption; so it must be a sweet mixture of joy and sorrow, so must we worship God with our whole heart, for than we worship him with our whole heart when our mind and affections are taken up with the matter of his worship, as hath been said, so in prayer, David cried unto God, was earnest about his requests. This earnestness of affection is a very necessary thing to make the worship of God we perform acceptable, and this is diligence in the worship. There must also be diligence after the worship in a care to make good use of it, and to observe our growth by it, and to perceive what proceedings we make in godliness by all the services we perform, seeing all that we do tends to this end, the Sacrament, Word, Prayer should nourish grace, all to confirm and strengthen the grace of the inward man.  
All duties to God must be done with all the faculties of the inward man.  
2. With the intention of all the faculties.  
The demeanour of the body lies in this, that it is a fit instrument to serve the soul. The Turks worship Mahomet more reverently than Christians the true God, a vain carriage of the body is an evident argument of a vain mind.  
2. The soul should be active, the whole inward man, the understanding should be ready to apprehend truth, the will to choose it, the memory to retain it, the conscience to submit unto it, Isa. 58. 5. 1 Cor. 14. 15.  
Reason's why the inward man must be active in worship:  

1. God will be worshipped according to his nature, john 4. 24.  
2. The soul is the man, the main of sin lies in the soul, Mic. 6. 7.  
3. The soul only is the seat of grace, Ephes. 3. 17.  
4. The end of all Christian duty is communion with God, he can have no communion with the body.  
5. In this doth the glory of all a Christians duties consist, Mark 13. 33. Revel. 5. 8.  
6. This only makes the duty fruitful, the fruit of the duty lies in the activity of it.   
After the duties done there should be  

1. An impression of God's holiness upon us, Exod. 34. 29. Acts 4. 13. a savour of the duties we have done.  
2. When we have found out God in a duty, we should engage our hearts to that duty ever after, Psal. 116. 2. and it should encourage us in all the services God requires, Gen. 29. 1.  
3. We should be very thankful to God for every good motion, thought, new discovery, 1 Chron. 29. 13.   
The special duties after the Word, Prayer, and a Vow, are these.  
After the Word to call ourselves to account what we remember, and so to search if it be true, and ponder upon it ourselves with a chewing of the cud, and the life of hearing depends on it. This is digesting the Word, this is causing it to take root, this is engraffing it in the heart, and if we have convenient means of company we ought to confer of it, and advise together about it, that one may help another, so did the Bereans searching the Scriptures after Paul's speaking the Gospel to them. The next for prayer is as David saith, to wait on God, to look for and continue though we be deferred, to look for what we have begged, and to observe how it is granted, that accordingly we may be thankful or humbled, and increase our earnestness. When a man prefers a Petition to the King he gives his attendance to see what success, so must we to God. Our eyes must behold him as the eyes of the handmaids the Mistress, so that we may be able to see, whether he be angry against our prayers, or condescend to them, and if he do seem angry, yet we may not faint but follow him still: if we have prayed against a temptation, we must look for power against it; and if we feel power, rejoice in God that gave it, if not pray again, and still wait renewing our supplication: so if we have desired any grace or benefit either temporal or spiritual according to God's Word, we must not make haste or be heedless, but even wait and attend his leisure, as one that is infinitely better and wiser than ourselves.  
Next for vows, the uses must be, a special care of our vow to fulfil it, for the word is express, Thou shalt pay thy vows, and thou shalt not go back if the vow be of things lawful, else we must not stand to it, but with great repentance for the vow perform God's Commandment rather than our vow.  
Thus you have heard of truth and diligence: there are required two things more, Faith, 
* There must be a faith, 1. That his duties shall be accepted, Gen. 4. 7. 2. In the general rewards of religion, Gen. 4. 8. 3. In the Messiah to come. Reasons. 1. Because faith discerns by a clear light and apprehension, keeps God in the eye. Faith is conversant about God the object of worship, Heb. 11. 6, 27. and discerns the worth of his service, and represents more of privilege then burden, Psal. 19 10. & 73. 28. 2. It receives a mighty aid and supply from the Spirit of God, Rom. 8. 26. 3. It works by a mighty principle, love, Gal. 5. 4. It fills the soul with a sweet apprehension of God's love, love will carry one to a duty that is against the bent of nature, Gen. 34. 19 2 Cor. 5. 14. 4. Faith discourseth and pleads in the soul with strong reasonings, 1. From the mercies of God, 1. Special, Gal. 2 20. 2. Common, 1 Tim. 1. 16, 17. 2. From the Promises, 1. Of assistance, 2 Cor. 12. 10. Phil. 4. 10. 2. Acceptance, 2 Cor. 8. 11. faith shows the Mediator, Ephes. 3. 1, 2. Revel. 8. 3▪ 4. 3. O● reward, 2 Cor. 7. 1. & 2 Cor. 1. 4. It sees assistance in the power of God, acceptance in the grace of God, reward in the bounty of God.  which is a believing of God's truth showed in the exercise we perform according to the nature of it, Heb. 11. 4. In praying we must believe that God can and will grant our requests, ask with boldness and assurance, When you pray believe, saith our Saviour. When we read the Word and hear it we must believe that each thing is true, and shall accordingly be performed, both predictions, promises, threats, in the like manner we must believe that God will bless those his Ordinances to our spiritual good, and in general we must assure ourselves that God will accept us in his Ordinances, and bless them to us for our good. Truth aims at the right end, diligence labours so to do them that we may not miss that end, Faith assures us that our diligence shall be prosperous, and so these three things hang together, and fitly, one for the help of another. If the Word be not mixed with Faith, if Prayer, Sacraments, every worship be not so mixed, than it will not be profitable unto us, for the wavering minded shall receive no good.  
The last point is reverence, Levit. 26. 2. & 10. 3. which will follow doubtless upon the former, indeed this should have been named first. We must worship the 
Psal. 2. 11.  Lord with reverence, saith David in Psal. 2. and he calls even upon Kings and Princes to have this affection, saying, Serve the Lord with fear. A true apprehension of God's greatness and our own baseness will work fear.  
This Reverence is double:  
First, Inward of the heart which is a framing ourselves to a special apprehension 
Worship is therefore called fear, as we may see by comparing, Deut. 6. 13. Isa. 29. 13. with Matth. 4. 11. & 15. 9 God hath his name in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from fear, and the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both fear and religion, Heb. 5. 7. See Chap. 12. 28, 29. Abraham, Gen. 18. 27. Elijah, 1 King. 18. 42. the four and twenty Elders, Revel. 4. 16. Christ himself, Matth. 26. 33. were reverend in their acts of worship. For public prayer, kneeling and standing are mentioned, 1 King. 8. 54. The Publican stood, Luk. 18. 13. in preaching the eyes of the hearers should be fastened on the Preacher, Luk. 4. 20. See Neh. 8. 3. at the Sacrament our eyes should observe the Elements as visible Sermons, Exod. 23. 8. Christ read the Scripture standing, Luk. 4. 16. by that he taught how he honoured the Word of God, the same thing is affirmed of the people, Nehem. 8. 5. For that cause that we may show our respect to the Word of God, we are bare, (saith M. Cartw in his Harmon.) when the Scripture Text is read. Master Hildersham hath the like on Joh. 4. Constantine the Great used to show much reverence and attention to the word of God preached, so that many times he would stand up all the Sermon while, and when some of his Courtiers told him that it would tend to his disparagement: he answered, that it was in the service of the great God, who is no respecter of persons. See Crak. Epist. Dedic. to his Defence of Constantine.  of God's goodness and greatness over us, Host 3. 5. Deut. 7. 21. Isa. 40. 17. a mixed working of love and fear, love to God and desire to please him, fear lest we should displease. For so reverence seems to be a compound affection of these three. We are still in God's presence, and therefore should walk in fear of him continually, but we come near unto him even before him, if we address ourselves to religious services, Psal. 100 2. wherefore there ought to be a fresh renewing and augmenting of our reverence in such cases.  
Secondly, The body must also be reverend before God, and therefore come and worship before the Lord, and bow down and kneel; all worship is termed bowing. In all services the outward man must be composed in a more stayed, quiet and still manner then in any other exercise, if we kneel it must be reverend, if we stand that must be reverend, if we sit that must be reverend, and what usual outward testifications of submission we would practise before our betters in worldly respects, we must much more practice before God when we draw near to worship him. Thus much for the performing of true worship for matter in regard of object, parts, for manner also in practising diligence, sincerity, faith and reverence.  
Concerning performance of God's solemn worship we have spoken. Now God would that his worship should also be preserved and upheld for continuance of time generation after generation, and that in purity and credit. To this purpose two things are necessary, Church-maintenance and Church government. For without these two things, allowance of means for their livelihood that attend any work, and a due observation of good order by them that are employed any way in that work, no work or service can have an honourable and respective continuance in the world.  
For the first, viz. maintenance, the Apostle saith, Let him that is taught make him that teacheth him partaker of all his goods; and it is God's will that those should live of the Gospel which preach the Gospel. The Minister's maintenance should be competent, honourable, certain.  
For the second, Discipline or Government it concerns 1. The Ministers. 2. The People.  
For the Ministers, the Government is to provide fit men for fit offices. 2. To censure those which be disordered in the Ministry. 3. To depose those which be of scandalous life and erroneous doctrine.  
For the People, the Discipline is either private or public. The private consists in 1. Admonition. 2. Complaint. 3. Withdrawing themselves. 4. Acknowledging their offences. Public, it is 1. Admonition. 2. Excommunication. 3. Receiving in again the penitent.  
So much for those duties which are commanded in this second Commandment. 
Profaneness is the sin of despising and contemning the true worship of God, setting light by it, accounting it as a thing not at all profitable, and therefore not at all doing it. They call not on the name of God saith the Psalmist. This was the sin of the Priests themselves, Mal. 1. 7, 12. There is, 1. A virtual or habitual intention, when one keeps a purpose to intend. 2. Actual. The causes of actual roving, and the distractions of the thoughts in service, are, 1. Want of love to God and holy things, affection and attention go together, Psal. 1. 2. & 119. 97. 2. A natural weakness incident to all God's children. 3. Want of meditation, their knowledge lies idle and unactive. 4. The curiosities of the senses, Prov. 17. 21. 5. Multiplicity of worldly business, Ezek. 33. 1. 6. The devil is most busy than when we are best employed. 7. God's withdrawing of his grace, Psal. 86. 11. We should therefore pray to God to unite our hearts to him, and set the heart to seek the Lord, Psal. 57 7. and watch against the first division, and labour for quick spiritual affections. Consider with whom we have to do, Heb. 4. 13. the weightiness of the duty, Deu. 32. 46. and the strict account that we must give for all religious services, Mal. 3. 16. We should keep our hearts from wandering in every duty: 1. In hearing, Jer. 15. 19 Act. 16. ●4. ●. In Prayer, Matth. 15. 7, 8. Ephes. 6. 18. 3. In the Supper, here the work is only dispatched by the thoughts. 4. Upon the Lord's day, Isa. 58. 13.  Now we will speak of the things forbidden therein, which are of two sorts, Sins of Omission and sins of Commission.  
The sins of Omission are in regard of the performance of God's worship, and in regard of preserving and continuing it, for performing either in regard of the matter o● manner, and for both either total or partial. The total omission for matter is when we do even altogether neglect the services commanded of God in his Word, or at least the most of them, and that with a kind of contemning them as fruitless and unnecessary, as when men absent themselves from the Congregation, and care not at all, or not usually to come to the hearing of the Word or receiving of the Sacraments, or when they never read, pray, meditate or use any good conference, thinking these things needless, which is the sin of profaneness condemned by the Apostle, when he saith, Heb. 12. 6. Let there be no profane person amongst you as Esau. Partial omission for the matter, is when one doth these sometimes and sometimes omits them, by starts and sits performing Gods worship, and then leaving them again, either all of them or some of them, which is a degree and disposition toward profaneness, as those who would fast for a day, and then after cared no more for God's service. Total omission for the manner is, when men do wholly neglect that sincerity, faith, reverence and diligence which is required, making no preparation at all, giving no attention, nor caring at all to have their affections moved, nor at all observing the fruit and benefit they reap by God's Ordinances, so that they perform the thing itself, they little or nothing regard in what fashion, and so become hypocritical or formal servants of God, either wholly moved by custom and example; or at least by a kind of superstitious inclination, and so either aiming at credit, and pleasing of men only, or else misaiming at better things, hoping by the thing done in some form though without all power and zeal to please God, this formal, hypocritical and irreverent worship is to be taxed, when men do the things but alone in outward fashion and carelessly, and for custom and man's sake, not aiming at the true end● which God hath appointed. These are omissions for the performance of God's worship, there is a fault also in omitting the preservation thereof.  
First, By niggardice in not cheerfully allowing of things necessary to uphold the worship of God and his Ministers, tendering such allowance pinchingly and grudgingly if at all.  
Secondly, By carelessness in Church-Discipline, when there is not due care for the choosing of good Ministers, or rejecting of evil, viz. when offenders are winked at, not admonished, not excommunicated; or in private, when men do not admonish, complain of, or withdraw themselves from scandalous offenders. In a word, when many of these things are either in whole or in part omitted that are appointed, then is this Commandment broken. So that according to the number of duties commanded, so must the breaches of this Commandment be numbered in case any of them be wholly or in part neglected.  
Now I come to show the sins of Commission, that is, the doing of things contrary to the duties commanded, even things that are forbidden.  
Sins of Commission are here of two sorts, 1. Direct. 2. Indirect. The former being simply and of themselves sins, the other sins by a consequent, and in some respect annexed to them.  
Direct breaches of this Commandment are in regard of performing these Ordinances, and in regard of preserving and continuing them.  
For performance here are two things forbidden. The tendering of a false worship, or abasing of the true. False worship is a worship not enjoined by God, for the measure of God's worship is the manifestation of his will, wherefore what agrees not with that as being inconformable to the right rule of worship, is worship alone in show and appearance, that is feigned and counterfeit, like bad coin not true and right.  
Now worship is false in regard of the Object and Parts of it. For the Object 
The Lord here forbiddeth them to make any graven or molten Image to represent him, and so thereby to worship him. Ford on the Covenant. Therefore those are but poor shifts that Aquinas hath part. 1. Quaest 25. Art. 3. quòd non prohibetur illo praecepto facere quamcunque sculpturam vel similitudinem, sed facere ad adorandum; unde subdit, non adorabis ea, neque coals. Ibi intelligitur prohiberi adoratio imaginum, quas Gentiles faciebant in venerationem Deorum suorum, id est▪ dam●num. Et ideo praemittitur, non habebis Deos alienos coram me. Images or similitudes are forbidden in the second Commandment, not as objects of worship, wherein the objects of worship are terminated, for all false objects of worship are forbidden in the first Commandment, but as false means of worshipping the true God devised by man, and a false manner of worship also, 2 King. 17. 26, 28, 41. Origenes ad Decalogum distinguit inter imaginem & idolum. Illud ait esse essigiem rei verae, hoc sictae. Sed magis placet distinctio hebraeorum, qui idolum ab imagine solo fine distinguunt: ut cultus idolum faciat. Itaque merito idolanuncupant tam ea, quibus res verae, quam quibus falsae repraesentantur. Alioqui quis non videat simulachra avium, serpentium, quadrupedum, quae Gentiles colebant, ●equire idola voeari? quod absurdissimum est. Sapientes pro Deorum symbolis habuerint, at animae plebeae & pro ipsis numinibus coluere▪ Vos●. in Maimon. de Idol.  it is false▪  
First, When the true God himself is intended to be worshipped but under some visible or sensible representation, when I say God set forth by any Picture or Image is worshipped, or when any such Image is used as a means to derive and convey honour unto him by. This was the sin of the Israelites in the wilderness 
* Exod. 32. 4, 5. These be thy gods, O Israel, that is, pictures of that God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt. Chamier sent to Co●on the Jesuit these Theses de Idololatria Epist. jesuit. 1. Religio est cultus debitus uni Deo. 2. Qui eum cultum creaturis tribuunt, eos Ecclesia solet vocare Idololatras. 3. Proinde Papistae sunt Idololatrae qui religiosè colunt Virginem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Angelos, Sanctos, reliquias Sanctorum, item Imagin●● Dei, Christi, Sanctorum: & crucis lignum & signum. , for they purposed in their intention to serve that God which brought them out of 
Cultus divini prophanatio extabat olim multiplex apud judaeos, & in pietatem patriam praevaricatio. Ante illam Babylonicam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ab ipso Exodo & egressu ab Aegypto, quemadmodum testantur historiae sacrae, propensi ad Gentilismum, & mor●s vicinarum nationum imitandos, ferebantur. Idola ad insaniam usque, sectabantur: vitulos, Baalim, Astaroth, caetera numinum portenta colebant & purgamenta. Montac. Anal. Exercit. 3. Sect. 1. Vide plura ibid. Cultus nil aliud est, quam obsequium alicui praestitum juxta ejus excellentiam. Cult●● religiosus est obsequium supremum, illi soli debitum, qui est principium & Author tam creationis quam beatificationis nostrae Passim in templis Romanis Deus Pater senis cani portat effigiem, Filius agni, Spiritus columbae: & haec non solum ping●●tur ad historiae alicujus significationem, sed ad cultum atque adorationem. Episc. Daven. Determ. Quaest 18. Religiosores Iudaei ne characteres quidem Planetarum tolerant in suis Calendariis, aut Astronomorum libris, neque c●ras quovis annulo signant. Skikardi Tarich. p. 34. Idololatriam à Chami posteris Ortam dubitandum non est; unde omnes uno ore Scriptores tradunt, primos Deorum cultum Aegyptios esse adeptos. Voss. in Maimon. de Idolol. c. 1. Plutarch a Heathen writer relates that Numa forbade the Romans to make any Image, whereby to represent God; and that for an hundred and seventy years the Romans had no Images of a religious nature. Plutar. in Num●. The wiser sort both of Pagans and Papists worshipped God under the Image, so only faulty in symbolical Idolatry, and breach of the second Commandment, serving the true Deity in a false and forbidden manner, yet the ignorant people amongst them both, were directly guilty of dull downright Idolatry, breaking both first and second Commandment, adoring a false god with a false service. M. Fuller's Descript. of Palest. l. 4. What a number of distinctions have the Papists devised for the worshipping of Images. Propriè & impropiiè; principaliter & reductiuè; primariò & secundariò; largè & strictè; per se, per accidens; simpliciter & secundum quid; absolutè & quodam modo; merè & non merè▪ mediatè & immediatè, per se & propter se. So Bellarmine. Quo sanctior & spiritualior est in spe●●em idololatria, hoc nocentior est. Luther. in cap. 4 ad Galat. Ut Pontificii nunquam sa●is solidè contra Socinianos Divinitatem Christi adstruent ab ipsius cultu religioso, quamdiu ejus tam prodigi erunt in meras creaturas & suos sanctos in Divos & Deos transformabunt, quibus etiam vota nuncupare liceat, quod Dii sint per participationem, ut loquitur Bellarminus l. 3. de Sanct. c. 9 Ita nunquam Sociniani solidè convincent Pontificios Idololatriae & illiciti cultus, in religioso cultu, adoratione & invocatione B. Mariae & Sanctorum demortuorum, quamdiu statuent possibilem esse communicationem illius cultus & potestatis verè Divinoe, alicui merae creaturae, cujusmodi ipsis Christus est. Maresii Hydra Socinianismi expugnata l. 1. c. 17. Vide Lactant. Dau. Instit. lib. 2. de orig. erroris. Estis idololatrae, quotquot estis Papistae: Novo quodam monstrosae superstitionis genere, qui ne● Ethnicisitis, quia Christum profitemini: nec Christiani quia idola colitis. Crede mihi non excusabunt vos in ultimo illo & tremendo examimine, vestrarum distinctionum strophae judicabit Deus non ex placitis Scholasticorum Sophistarum, sed secundum illud illius eujus hoc est praeceptum, Filioli cavete ab idolis. Chamier. Epist. jesuit. Pet. Cotton.  Egypt, but for the better helping of them in this worship, and to stir up their devotion, they would set up the image of an Ox (a most beneficial creature, whose labour did yield them through God's blessing the best means of maintenance and living) somewhat to represent God unto them, and to bring his benefits unto their minds. So Aaron professeth, when he saith, To morrow shall be an holy day to the Lord. This was likewise the sin of Micah the Ephraimite, he made a Teraphim, and had an house of Images. Teraphim was the Image of a man, ●e made this to worship God in and by, for he saith, Now I know jehovah will bless me, it must needs be that he purposed to worship that God, of whom he did expect a blessing for his worship, and his mother had vowed the silver to jehovah to make a graven and molten Image, wherefore this Image vowed to jehovah must needs be intended to serve jehovah by. This was the sin of jeroboam, who said of the Calves, These are thy gods that did bring thee out of the Land 
* 1 King. 12. 28. See Ainsw. Arrow against Idol. chap. 3. & 4. Vide Voss. de Orig & Progres. Idol. l. 1. c. 3. Psal. 106. 20. See Act. 7. 4. Rom. 1. 23. This very thing the Lord hath condemned, Exod. 20. 23. With me, that is, beside me, God, etc. that is, golden and silver Images or pictures of God. Quod si quaeras, cur illud facietis, repetatur, dicam, voluisse Deum inculcare maximè, ut sibi ab eo delicto caverent, ad quod maximè proni erant. Voss. in Maim. de Idol. c. 3. Pontificii totum secundum praeceptum de imaginibus non colendis omittunt in recitatione Decalogi, ut patet, tum ex officio B. Mariae autoritate Pii 5. reformato, tum ex Catechismo Ledesmae, quasi d● ea re nullum omnino praeceptum dedisset Deus. Rivet. Tract. de Patrum Autoritate c. 5. Vide Pontificiorum crassa & prodigiosa dogmata contra singula Decalogi praecepta. Mort. Apol. Cath l. 2. c. 13, 14, 15. Idolatry is a Greek word compounded of an Idol, which signifieth any similitude, image, likeness, form, shape, or representation, exhibited either to the body or mind, and Latry, which signifieth service. Ainsw. Arrow against Idol. c. 1. The first Commandment bindeth us to have jehovah the living and true God for our God, and none other, and forbiddeth generally these four things, 1. The having of strange gods, and not the true, as had the Heathens, Act. 14. 11, 12, 15. 2. The having of strange gods with the true, as had the Samaritans, 2 King. 17. 32. 3. The having of no God at all, as foolish Atheists, Psal. 14. 1. 4. The not having of the true God aright, but in hypocrisy only, Isa. 29. 13. Tit. 1. 16. The second Commandment bindeth to the true worship of the true God, which is only as himself commandeth, and by the means, rites and services that he ordaineth, John 4. 20. to 24. Deut. 12. 32. & 4. 1, 2, 5, 6. Ainsw. ibid. See more there, and Chap. 2. how fast the sin of Idolatry cleaveth to all, and Chap. 5. of the Idolatry of these times far exceeding jeroboams, and Chap. 6. a dehortation from this sin. ; as if he had proclaimed that he intended to do service to the God of their Fathers, but he thought it convenient to have him represented to them by these figures, and under these Images to have service tendered unto him. And therefore David chargeth the Israelites to have changed their glory, meaning God (who was indeed their glory) into a similitude of a Calf, that is, to have set up an image of a Calf to represent him by; and Paul saith the same of the wiser Heathen, that they did worship God but not as God, but changed the glory of that incorruptible God into the similitude of a corruptible man, that is, they went about to set out and represent to themselves the glorious maker of all things by sueh base and inglorious pictures, as if there could be any proportion betwixt God and a dead Image, the workmanship of man's hands, which is indeed a great embasing of their apprehension of his Majesty, causing them at last to think as meanly of God as of a thing that could be so set forth, yea this is the sin the Prophet so finds fault with in 
Isa. 40. 18. & 25. verse.  God's Name, saying, What similitude will you set up to me? and whereunto will you liken me? And this is the sin of the Popish Church which they continually commit and maintain, and by which they have so corrupted themselves that they even cease to be the true Church of God, and are turned into a company of spiritual adulterers, for that Church with the wine of her fornications hath made almost all Nations drunken, to whom hath she not conveyed the infection of this foul Idolatry? God must be worshipped under the picture of an aged man, the holy Ghost under the similitude of a Dove, the Son of God under the similitude of a man hanging on the Cross, all foul Idolatries, for seeing that Christ is God as well as man, he is no more to have an Image set up to him then the Father or holy Ghost, seeing the Divinity is not representable, and the humanity without the Deity is not Christ, so that it is nothing but a strong fancy makes men take any picture for Christ's picture; for seeing his natural physiognomy is wholly concealed in Scripture, and no approved story hath acquainted us with it, and seeing his Deity is wholly irrepresentible, why should any picture drawn by man be called a picture of Christ rather than of the thief that hanged by him? It must needs be a very dead devotion that a dead picture can provoke.  
This is the first falsehood of worship for the Object, when the true God is intended as the Object, but under some picture or representation, for God represented by an Image is now become an Idol, seeing the true God hath disavowed all such representing. This is the first kind of Idolatry.  
Another is, When a creature hath these kinds of worship performed to him 
Gal. 4. 8. Idolatry (saith Tertullian) is principal crimen & summus hujus saeculi reatus. It is called abomination, Deut. 27. 15. 1 Pet. 4. 3. Aquin. 2a, 2ae. Quaest 94 Art. 3. shows, That Idolatry is gravissimum peccatum. St Hierom affirmeth, that when Jesus being a child was carried into Egypt for fear of Herod, all the Idols of Egypt fell down, and all their miracles became mute, which the Prophet Isaiah foresaw, Chap. 19 1. The general silence of the Devil in his Oracles throughout the world presently upon Christ's incarnation is a thing known and confessed by all men. He performed the part of a good Bishop, that finding a vail spread in the entrance of a Church door, wherein the Image of Christ or of some other Saint was pictured, rend it in pieces with these words, That it was against the authority of the sacred Scriptures, to have any Image of Christ set up in the Church. The Theatre of God's judgements. ch. 25. Idols in Churches are a scandal to ●ews, Turks: Idolatry either makes that to be God which is not; or God to be that which he is not. Robin's. Ess. observ. 11. Rabbi Moses Ben Nachman, whom they call Ramban, or Gerundensis, saith, Non est tibi, Israel, ultio, in qua non sit uncia de iniquitate vituli, There is no vengeance taken on thee, Israel, wherein there is not an ounce of the iniquity of the Calf. God neither will, nor can, nor aught to be expressed by any Image. He will not Exod. 20. 4. neither can he be represented by any Image, Deut. 4. 15. Isa. 40. 12. Neither ought any Image to be made of him. His Majesty and glory cannot be represented by any visible form, Rom. 1. 22, 23. Quin audeam dicere, eos, qui olim cum cultu Dei idololatriam miscebant, ut disertè extat in posterioris Regum capite 17. 29, 30, 31, 32. eos, inquam, hodie adeo ab omni Idololatria abhorrere, ut in hac parte judaeos ipsos superare videantur. Scaliger. de Samaritis, l. 7. De emendat. Temp.  (or any like them) which God hath appointed to himself, and so becomes the object of worship: so Paul to the Galatians defines Idolatry to be a serving of the creature, or of those things which by nature are not Gods. He useth the word serving which utterly overturns that fond distinction of worship and service mentioned by Papists to shift off the blame of this sin; to serve that which by nature is not God, is flat Idolatry. Now there are divers creatures which have been and are worshipped with the worship due to God or something like it, and coined in imitation of it.  
First, Angels, which thing began in the time of the Apostles and is by Paul 
Col. 2. 18.  writing to the Colossians condemned as a base will-worship.  
Secondly, Saints departed, which grew into the Church long after by degrees, 
See Ainsw. Arrow against Idol. ch. 5. p. 27 30, 31.  and was rife since four hundred years after Christ amongst many (though not allowed by the authority of the Church-governors, as after it was) by building Churches, dedicating Altars and days, and offering Incense and the like to these, all which are still in use and practice among the Popish Churches, yea are by them maintained as very devout and profitable exercises, for what more common than Invocation of Saints with them, pretending that they may so honour them as God's friends? whereas God's worship is to be given alone to God, if Christ might be heard above the Pope.  
Thirdly, The Sun, Moon and Stars have been worshipped by Heathen men, under a conceit that there were certain spirits rulers of the world under God assistant 
Deut. 4.  to them, whereas they are created by God for the use of mankind, and do move by their own natural inclination as other things, not by any such external mover.  
Fourthly, The pictures of God, Christ, Saints (so supposed to be I mean) have been and are still worshipped, which is the very particular made choice of in this Commandment, to include all other spiritual uncleanness, as the sin of adultery in the seventh to include all other bodily filthiness; for indeed this is the very grostest of all to worship a dead stock, whatsoever shifts men have, as if they did purpose not to worship the thing for its own sake, but for the thing represented by it. Such things Jews and Gentiles did allege for their excuse, but God rejects their counsels, and saith, in spite of all their denials, that their Idols were gold, meaning and nothing else but gold, and that they worshipped the work of their own fingers, he counted alone the wood or stone served, what ever they dreamt of a further Deity represented. And this Idolatry also the Church of Rome maintaineth, and hath by her tyranny thrust upon all these quarters of the world at such times as she had somewhat established her usurped Supremacy.  
Lastly, The Devil personally hath been and is worshipped by services invented by himself of Witches and Sorcerers, to whom he did appear in bodily shapes, which is of all Idolatries the most fearful and heinous, because here God's professed enemy is openly set in his place and room.  
And thus much for the falseness of worship in regard of the object; now it may be also for the kinds and parts, that is, when any action or actions are performed to the pleasing of God and working of spiritual grace in ourselves, that God hath not assigned in his word for that end, which is to worship God after the commandments of men, which the Apostle forbids, Tit. 1. saying, That men must not give heed to the commandments of men which do subvert the truth. The same thing is by him condemned under the name of will-worship 
* Col. 2. 18. Voluntary religion. Superstitio à superstando, non quasi Deus verus vero cultu nimium coli possit: sed quia ad materiem cultus accedat, quod eum corrumpat. Voss. de Orig. & Progres. Idol. l. 1. c. 3. Superstitio est cultus indebitus praeter verbum Dei. Zan●h. Superstitiosi vocantur non qui filios suos superstites optant (omnes enim optamus) sed aut two qui superstitem memoriam desunctorum colant, aut qui parentibus suis superstites, colebant imagines corum domi tanquam Deos penates. Lactant. Diu. Instit. l. 4. de vera sapientia. Vide plura ibid. See how great a sin superstition is in Mr Cawdreys Preface to his Superstitio superstes, and in the book itself. The Pharisees in Christ's days were great pretenders to holiness, but they corrupted the worship of God. Corruption in worship provokes God, 1. To depart from a people, Ezek. 8. 3. 2. To destroy them, 2 Chron. 7. 20. The divine worship of the Heathens and Papists in the Temples is of so near affinity that Ludovicus Vives confesseth there cannot any difference be shown unless the Papists have changed the names and titles. The Popish Purgatory agreeth with the Heathen Purgatory mentioned in Plato and Virgil. The papistical manner of consecrating Churches and Churchyards fully imitateth the Ceremonies of the Pagans when they consecrated their Temples and Temple-courts or yards, described by Alexander ab Alexandro. Their sprinkling of holy water is mentioned in the sixth Satire of juvenal, and Sozomen calleth it a Heathenish Ceremony. The whole swarm of Friars or Monks first began among the Heathen, as at large appeareth by learned Hospinian. , for what I do out of a religious conscience to God, with an intention I mean to please and honour him thereby, and hoping to win grace to my soul, by that I in my mind intent to worship him, and if there be no other warrant for this but my own will, this is now to serve God after the precepts of men which he cannot endure. And with such will-worship the Church of Rome abounds, they have their vows of canonical Obedience, Chastity, Poverty, and a number more; it is our great happiness that we are delivered from the bondage and slavery of them.  
Thus you see the false worship forbidden; now follows the second branch of things forbidden in regard of the performance of God's solemn worship, which is the abuse of the true worship, and that worship of God is abused both in the matter and manner of it.  
First, For the matter, by taking away any of those parts from any kind of worship which God hath commanded to be performed; as for example, the Church of Rome hath taken away the Cup from the Sacrament, and so maimed the Seal of God's Covenant, yea they have taken away the reading of the Scripture in private altogether, and will not suffer men to exercise themselves therein; and they have taken away the whole power of the Scripture, in subjecting it to the Church, and not the Church to it, and in causing it to be read in an unknown tongue.  
Secondly, by adding any part of worship unto those which God hath appointed; as for example, to the Sacrament of Baptism they add oil and spital, and the sign of the Cross 
* Papists give a stone or wooden cross the right hand as they go or ride by, some also put off their hats: the Cross is not medium cultus. The Papists invocate this sign, Per crueis signum fugiat hinc omne malignum; per idem signum salvetur quodque benignum. Bellarm. do imag. c. 19 & 20. calleth it, Signum sacrum & venerabile, & signum crucis adoramus. Vide Aquin. part. 3. Quaest 25. Art. 4. See Parker of the Cross, chap. 1. Sect. 10. and elsewhere. They account it among the most precious relics, and not only the whole, but every piece thereof, they adore it, salute it, pray unto it, and trust therein for salvation crying, O Crux, ave spes unica, hoc passionis tempore, auge ptis justitiam, reisque dona veniam. Hail, O Cross our only hope in this time of passion, increase thou to the godly righteousness, and unto sinners give pardon. Yea the very sign of this Idol made in the air, upon the forehead, or over any other thing, is sacred and venerable, hath force to drive away Deviis, and do many like feats. Ainsw. Arrow against Idol. ch. 5. , I say, added these things, because they have not appointed them as matters of mere Solemnity or Order, but as matters of Religion, profitable to the Soul and needful in conscience to God.  
So much for the abuse of God's worship in the matter thereof: it is abused for the manner,  
First, When it is performed hypocritically, merely out of fashion, and out of a desire of winning credit and good estimation from men; yea, or out of a conceit of meriting and deserving at God's hand, for this last conceit is as false an end of worship as the former, and the aiming at it no less hypocritical, because I neither intent to show subjection unto God, nor to gain grace, but in the one to win credit, in the other to bind God to men, and make him as it were in my debt. So the Pharisees were hypocritical both ways, for they did all their things to be seen of men, and yet withal they hoped to get salvation as by desert for the work sake done, as it appeareth in the proud Pharisees prayer: and Paul confesseth as much of himself, when he saith, that the things which before were gain to him, meaning in his conceit such as would bring him to heaven, now he renounceth, to rely wholly upon Christ, and to be found in him.  
Secondly, When it is performed in formality, the outward thing done without any care of preparation, attention or affection, only with some outward gestures and behaviours, carrying a show of these things, such as was the service of the Jews in their sacrificing, I mean the hypocrites among them, and such is all the religion of the Popish Church in public, where all is done in an unknown tongue, and such is the worship of our dissembling time serving Protestants, which care for nothing but the very outward act, look to nothing else, and have an hope that that shall serve their turn to bring them to heaven.  
Lastly, When it is performed rudely, irreverently, carelessly, with an open manifestation of contempt and neglect, which is one of the worst abuses for the manner of all other.  
These be sins in regard of performing God's worship, when it is ill performed for matter and manner. Now those things follow which are forbidden in regard of the preserving of it, which are  
First, Sacrilege, that is the turning of holy substance and wealth to common 
Rom. ●.  and profane uses. There must be some things holy, else there can be no sacrilege.  
Next follows the abuse of Church-Discipline, and that is in regard of the Ministers and people. In regard of the Ministers fourfold.  
First, When a false Ministry is erected and set up in the Church of God. A Ministry is nothing else but a relation to certain spiritual actions tending to the souls good directly (for we speak of Ecclesiastical Ministry) binding some man upon whom that relation is put to the constant attendance upon those actions: Now when men are appointed to such actions which have no warrant out of God's word, neither are indeed profitable for the soul, this is a false Ministry. Such is the Ministry of the Church of Rome, where men are appointed to say and sing the Word, Psalms and Prayers in an unknown tongue, a service unhallowed not ordained of God; so when men are appointed and assigned to offer a propitiatory Sacrifice for quick and dead, that is, as they call it, to celebrate Mass, for Christ never appointed a sacrificing Ministry in the New Testament, nor any other Sacrifice but the Sacrifice of prayers, thanksgivings, alms, and of ourselves: And this is the first abuse of Church-Discipline.  
The second is, When those that are not Ministers are allowed to intermeddle in ministerial functions, and actions proper to the Ministers, that is, to men set apart by a known and public order to give attendance unto some Ecclesiastical function: As for example amongst us, once women were admitted to baptise, and so if any do take upon him to preach or administer the Sacrament that is not admitted to the order of the Ministry: This is a great abuse of Church-Discipline, and to join with such, knowing them to be such, is a sin.  
A third fault in the Church-Discipline for the Ministry is, when wicked, erroneous, scandalous men are let in, and suffered to abide in, yea or any without due care of trying them, for Timothy was to lay hands upon none rashly.  
A fourth fault is, when good and able men are either kept out or thrust out for things of no moment.  
And these be the abuses of Church-Discipline in regard of the Ministry: The abuses of it in regard of the people follow, as  
First, In the Governors publicly, when either Excommunication is abused, or when too much rigour is used toward the penitent. Now Excommunication is abused three ways, 1. When it is put into the hands of too few, especially such as have nothing to do with it, which was the fault amongst us formerly, for the Chancellor or Official, or his Deputy, as the Deputy of the Bishop, took all the matter upon him, some Ministers names (though not the Pastor to the offender) being set to alone as a cipher for fashion sake. This being a chief part of governing the Church, belongs to the Pastors of the Church. Paul did not himself excommunicate, but appointed that the Corinthians should excommunicate the incestuous person. Indeed he did deliver Hymeneus and Alexander to Satan, as it seemeth himself, but this was because they themselves were Pastors, and so would not excommunicate themselves, or taking upon them to be teachers of the Church at large, were not to be meddled with by any particular Governors of any particular Church. But if the Apostles did alone do this in regard of their supereminent Authority, it follows not that others may do it now; for in this unlimited and supereminent power the Apostles were not to find any Successors, because they had no Successors in the eminency of Gifts, without which such Authority must needs prove mischievous in any one man's hands.  
Secondly, Excommunication is abused when it is pronounced against men for small and trivial offences, to pronounce a man a child of the devil, and out of the state of grace, because he will not pay a small sum of money for a fee, or because he forgets to appear at the Court-day, or for such toys; but most of all it is abused, when it is pronounced against men for well-doing, as it was against the blind man, and as Diotrephes abused it against those that would receive john the Apostle 
John 9  and his Epistles; as often heretofore amongst us it was abused against those that refused rashly and unadvisedly to swear, when they were willed so to do, and against those that went to hear the Word preached abroad, when they had it not at home, and the like.  
The last abuse of Excommunication is, when it is done privately before one or two, before the Judge and his man, or his man's Deputy: so the most solemn Censure of the Church is denounced against a man, no man knowing of it.  
So much for the abuse of Church-Discipline in regard of Excommunication; now it is also abused in regard of too much rigour to the offendor, when upon his repentance he is denied to be received in again to the Church; which was the fault of some few men in austerer times, or when too much bodily exercise of humillation was cast upon them, as a penance to last seven years, and the like; this was to turn sound repentance into an outward form, for so soon as ever the penitent did show sound humiliation, and sound purpose of amendment, after some convenient time of his trial, lest he should be swallowed up of grief, he should be taken into the Church again, as a member of it.  
Now the private Discipline pertaining to every man is abused,  
1. By contemning and setting light by the Censures and Admonitions of the Church, which if they be rightly passed they are terrible, and should not be despised.  
2. A free conversing with offenders and sinners that are scandalous, and having familiarity with them. Indeed the natural bonds betwixt Father and Mother, Master and Servant, Prince and Subject, cannot be dissolved by any wickedness, no nor by Excommunication, but the bonds of familiarity are so far as may be without neglect of duty in regard of these places. A Father must keep his child though excommunicated, and not suffer him to perish, a child his father, and so in the rest; but familiarity, loving and kind society, even in such cases is to be denied, and where these bonds are not, so much as may be all society, but to converse with them, be merry with them, play, eat and drink with them that are notorious offenders, chiefly excommunicate, is a great offence against God, and endangering of one's self to infection by them.  
Lastly, Obstinacy against Church-Discipline and public or private admonition, viz. a refusing to confess one's fault, and to show public repentance for public sins, private for private, is a great disorder, which was the offence of the incestuous 
2 Cor. 12. 21.  person at the first, for he stood in his sin, and cared for no reproof. And Paul blames those of the Corinthians that being admonished by his betters, had not repent of their fornication, drunkenness, he must needs mean of public repentance for their known offences in this kind, because if they had been private, he could not have told of them, and whether they had in private repent or no how could he tell; but yet it is sure there is no true private repentance when men are not willing to show it publicly in such case. On the other side he greatly praiseth them, because they had received Titus sent by him for this purpose, with much fear and trembling, and so consequently with all obedience had submitted themselves to his admonition, to do any thing he required for the giving of the Church satisfaction in regard of their offences, 2 Cor. 7. 15. These be the sins condemned in this second Commandment directly, now indirectly some things are forbidden also not for their own sakes, but for some evil consequent that may follow upon them. As 1. All occasions of Idolatry and Superstition to ourselves and others, for what is of that nature will in likelihood draw both ourselves or others to great sin, though it be not simply a sin, yet it is in that respect sinful, and therefore cannot be done without sin, unless some other greater respect countervailing that evil consequent, come betwixt to take away the sinfulness of it. 
Imagines primò inter privatos parietes usurpatae gratitudinis ergo, teste Eusebio, postea in templa etiam introductae memoriae causa, tandem degenerarunt in adorationis objectum. Chamierus. See Dr Hill on Prov. 23. 23.   
Now such occasions of Idolatry are these principally:  
1. Keeping of Idols, that is to say, of Images and Pictures which have formerly been worshipped, or at least have been by superstitious persons made for that end and purpose, this is bad if it be in private places, because a man doth not know who may come thither hereafter, and so what mischief may be done; but worst of all when these are suffered to stand in public or religious places, though the purpose of those which suffer them to stand there, be not, that they should serve for worship, but only for historical and memorative use. For the nature chiefly of the common sort of people being strongly inclined to Idolatry, and we so much desiring to have our senses pleased in the Worship of God, it shall be very hard and almost impossible that such things should stand long without being worshipped 
Vetus concilium Elibertinum decrevit, ne quid, quod colitur à populo, pingeretur in templis. Vetus pater Epiphanius ait esse horreudum nefas, & non ferendum flagitium, si quis vel pictam, quamvis Christi ipsius imaginem, excitat in Templis Christianorum: isti imaginibus & statuis, quasi sine ●llis religio nulla sit, omnia templa sua, atque omnes a●gulos comple●●runt▪ Mocket. Apol. Eccles. 4. Altingius in his Exegesis of Anglic. The Augustane Confession, p. 94. saith Images are by no means to be tolerated in Temples. Vide etiam controv. de caeremon. tertiam. Iud●i hodie à Christiana religione al●●nores sunt quod vident in Templis Papisticis ad cultum prostare sculp●●lia. Hu●t jesuit▪ pars secunda de natura Eccles. rat. ●er●●a. Imagines Pontificiorum, quibus exprimere voluit S. Tr●nitatem, cum pingunt vel unum virum cum tribus vultibus, vel virum bicipit●m, au● bifrontem, addlié columbá, vel Patrem depingunt effigie viri senis, Filium invenis, vel agni, & Spiritum Sanctum columba▪ non tantum incptae & monstro●ae, sed etiam Deo ignominiosae sunt & contra expressum Dei mandatum efformantur, atque haben●ur. Hominius Disputat. 37. De imaginibus. Deut. 4. 15. As if he should have told them, that he on purpose did not appear to them under any visible form or similitude, lest they should represent him by that form, and under it worship him, which he so much warneth them of in that place. Mr. Shermanes Greek in the Temple. Vide Grotium in loc.  of some at least, without being made instruments of worshipping God or Christ in or by them. Wherefore S. john wisheth, as babes beware of Idols, not alone of Idolatry, but of Idols, because from having Idols, to worship them, or God by them, it is a very easy step; wherefore the godly jews did demolish Idols, and were commanded to do so, and so I suppose aught all Magistrates and Governors to do in the place where they have power.  
A second means of occasioning Idolatry, is familiar society, leagues of amity and friendship, and mutual help, (for leagues of peace with such are lawful) especially joining with them in Matrimony, which was the fault of the jews in the time of Neh●miah, and which was the beginning of Solomon's great 
* Aaron errantipopulo ad Idolum fabricandum non consensit inductus, sed cessit obstrictus: ●ec Solomonem credibile est errore putas●e idolis esse serviendum, sed blanditiis foemineis ad illa sacrilegia fuisse compulsum. Aug. de civet▪ Dei. l. 14. c. 11.  fall, for though the commandment of not marrying with the people round about, were in that respect Jewish, as it did make a nullity of the marriage, yet now also to be unequally yoked with Idolaters as well as any other Infidels, cannot be warrantable neither for man nor woman.  
A third occasion of Idolatry, is furnishing Idolaters with means of their false worship, as making Idols for them, printing their idolatrous books, or any thing like to this, by which they are furthered in their abominations. These are occasions of Idolatry.  
Now appearances are chiefly two:  

1. To be silent and hold ones peace, and not manifest a dislike of their deeds when occasion serves, for hereby he strengthens the hands of the offenders, as if he did not dislike his ill practice.  
2. To join with them outwardly for fear or the like respects, though inwardly a man dislike of their wickedness and folly, as it seems Solomon did alone go with his wives for fashion sake to their Idol-Temples, though after he might in likelihood have been drawn further. And such was the offence of those that would in Corinth go to the Idols Temples and sit among their old acquaintance in their idolatrous Feast, eating and drinking with them, trusting that this was no fault because they knew an Idol was nothing in the world, which yet Paul doth blame in them, as having communion with Devils in so doing. And such is the case of those that will needs go see Mass, and there carry themselves in all reverend so●t as if they liked all, when inwardly they condemned them.    

CHAP. IU. Of the third Commandment.  THou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain. 
THe Lord having enjoined to mankind that principal service which He 
Non Assumes] nompe in os tuum. Id autem fit non tantum proprio Dei nomine expresso, sed etiam quovis vocabulo qu● Deus intelligitur. Grotius in Exod. 20. In vanum] id est, non pejerabis, Grotius in loc. also, sic Wolkelius, & alij. Sed latiùs patet hoc pr●ceptum quam ut ad juramentum restringi debeat. Cartw. in loc. Vide plura ibid. Lo tissa ad verbum, non feres, verbum Nasa valde latè patet, & varios habet significationes, quae tamen omnes videntur deduct● à significatione ●●vandi, tollendi, seu elevandi. Quia non ca quae tollimus aut levamus i● altum, prius sunt assumenda aut capienda, hinc etiam in significatione assumendi, aut usurpandi accipitur, qu● significatione in sermone, prophetia & jurejurando accipi solet, imò aliquando sine ulla adjectione sumitur hoc verbum pro jurare, u● Isa. 3. 7. jissa bajom hahu, ad verbum, assumet in die illo, id est, jurabit, ubi supplent manum, attollet manum, quod in juramento siebat. Gen. 14. 12. Hic assumere nomen, est usurpare nomen Dei jurando. Deus enim vult ut in juramento in nomen ipsius, invocetur, unde illud tam saepè repetitum, jurabis per nomen meum, Deut. 6. 13. & 10. 20. Isa. 48. 1. Rivetus in Decalogum. Schem Jehovae, nomen Domini, accipitur in Scriptura pro Deo ipso, & pro notitia ejus, qua inter homines celebratur, ac pro omni eo quod de Deo dici potest. Equivalent autem ista, invocare nomen Dei, & Deum invocare, jurar● per nomen Dei, & per Deum jurare, quod tamen fieri non potest, nisi usurpato alique nomine quo Deum significa●●us, aut sign● aliquo, quod vicem nominis gerit. Id. ibid.  most delighteth in, and which for itself he doth approve and require, commands also the less principal both for the kinds and sorts of it, and for a special time to be dedicated thereunto.  
The sorts of this Worship are twofold.  

1. Solemn.  
2. Common.   
The solemn Worship is that whereto men do wholly give themselves, setting themselves apart from all other things to attend it wholly.  
The Common is that which is to be performed to God jointly in and with our other affairs, so far forth as in them we have any thing to do with him or any thing of his. It sufficeth not to honour God in the orderly performance of all religious services commanded by him, but even then also when we are busied in our common affairs, it is our duty to carry ourselves so respectively to himward, that we may make it appear that we do indeed make him our God; and that due carriage is prescribed in this Commandment, by forbidding one thing contrary thereto. For the explication of the words, we are to know, that by the [Name of God] is meant himself, so far forth as he hath made himself known to us, and all those things by which (as men are known by their names) he hath pleased to manifest himself unto us. These are all referable to two heads, his Word, and his Works; his Works are of two sorts, common to all his Creatures, as Creation, Providence, and special to his Church, as Election, Calling, Justification, Sanctification, Adoption, Glorification, and in a word the whole world of our Redemption. Under the title of his Word are comprehended the holy Scriptures themselves, the true Religion therein contained, and his holy Titles and Attributes; see 1 Tim. 6. 1. All of these are meant by the Name of God. To take up this Name of God, is to meddle with them, or have any thing any way to do with any of them. In the solemn Worship of God we are as it were taken up of God and of his Name, but in common life we have occasion in divers respects to make use of the Name of God, either in word, deed, or thought, and so to make use of them, is to take them up. To take this Name in vain, or for vanity, is so to use them, as the use of them serveth not for any spiritual good to our souls, or any special honour to him. For all things are idl● and fruitless which serve not for these purposes. That is, (saith Deodate on Exod. 20. 7.) thou shalt not make use of it in Oaths, and other kind of frivolous, unprofitable, rash, false and impious speeches. So then as the substance of the first Commandment was to require piety, and of the second true religiousness, so the scope of this is to require a godly or holy conversation; that is, behaving of ourselves holily and godly in the course of our lives, even then when we are not busied in performing any duty of Religion. That in our common and usual speech and actions, we declare what a worthy and reverend estimation we have of the Lord; as by speaking all good of his Name, Word, and Works; and in our lawful callings, by ordering and behaving ourselves wisely and graciously. Roger's seventh Treatise of the Commandments, c. 15.  
Thus B. Downame and Wollebius also interprets this Commandment. The gracious heart sees God in every thing, Exod. 15. 1, 2, 3. Deut. 33. ult. judg. 5. 3, 4. 1 Sam. 2. 2, 3. In afflictions I held my peace, because it was thy doing, saith David, in mercies, Gen. 33. 10. See ver. 4. & Psal. 44. 3.  
Reasons.  

1. The Lord promiseth this as a great mercy, Matth. 5. 8. See God in all his dispensations here, and beatifically in Heaven.  
2. This will set one in Heaven, Matth. 18. 20. the Saints in Heaven enjoy God in all.  
3. The Lord requireth this of us, he alone should be exalted, Isa. 2. 17. Rev. 21. 22, 23.   
Now we will proceed to 
Lascavi, in vanum, vel frustra sic vulgata ut LXX. Schave, apud Ebraeos sumitur pro re vana aut nihili, pro eo quod est gratis, aut frustra. Saepe non pro mendacio. Hic retinemus significationem generalem. Non jurandum aut usurpaudum nomen Domini, ubi necesse non est; minus includit majus, si frustra non ●it usurpandum nomen Domini, multo minus falsó. Eadem enim est vis vocis quae apud Latinos vocabuli vani, quod tam pro mendacio, quam pro re levicula accipi solet. Sequitur comminatio prohibitioni addita, lo jenakeh, non absolvet, non innocentem judicabit, ad verbum, non mundificabit, eum qui nomen ejus in vanum usurpaverit, non sinet impunitum, quo verbo, plus significatur quam prima facie videtur, est enim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ebraeis familiaris qua plus intelligitur quam dicitur. LXX. vocem Ebraicam expresserunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, id est, non mundabit, seu non habebit pro mundo, neque impunem dimittet, sic Deut. 5. 11. hoc est, gravissime punies, 2 Reg. 2. 21. Rivet. ubi supra.  show what things are  

1. Required in this Commandment.  
2. Forbidden in this Commandment.   
The things required may fitly be drawn to these two head.  

1. A due and right use of such holy actions as fall out to be performed in and with our common affairs, by which we do call God himself as it were to intermeddle with our businesses and affairs.  
2. A right and due behaviour in our common affairs, so far as they may any way touch God, or concern him.   
For the first, there are (say some, though this be controverted) two holy actions, whereof we have many occasions to make use of in our ordinary dealings;  
these are  

An Oath,  
A Lot.   
An holy action is that which hath God for the next and immediate object, and which is done for the exercising of holiness either in whole or in part, as for the next immediate end thereof; which description doth sufficiently distinguish the thing described from all other things, and agrees to all such things which are of that kind; and this description doth equally agree to these two forenamed things, viz. a Lot and an Oath, both of which are holy.  
1. For an Oath, I will declare 1. The nature. 2. The use of it.  
For the nature of an Oath, there are the essential or proper parts of it, and the next and proper end whereto those parts are to be applied in the taking of an Oath.  
The parts of an Oath I term those several and distinct acts which are included in it, and each of which must be conceived to be done at least implicitly when we take an Oath. There are four in all.  

1. An Affirmation or Negation either narrative or obligatory; that is, either barely declaring what is or is not, or else binding one to or from some thing, and this it hath common with common speech.  
2. A confession of God's Omniscience, Omnipotence, Justice, Authority, and other like holy Attributes, all included in the mention of his holy life in that usual form of swearing, The Lord liveth.  
3. Invocation of God's Name, or a calling upon him to show these holy Attributes of his in bearing witness to the truth of that which we do swear. Assumere Deum in testem dicitur jurare, quia quasi pro jure introductum est, ut quod sub invocatione divini testimonii dicitur, pro vero habeatur. Aquin. secunda secundae, q. 8. art. 1.  
4. Imprecation against ourselves, or a putting over ourselves into his hands, to be by him punished according to his power and justice, if the thing we affirm be not true, or if we do any way falsify our Oath. Wherefore these two parts are frequently expressed in an Oath, though they be most times omitted, and the bare Name of God mentioned, saying, The Lord liveth. The Apostle saith, God is my 
Rom. 1. 9 2 Cor. 1. 23. Chap. 1. juramentum est Dei attestatio ad veritatem sermonis nostri confirmandam. Calv. Instit. l. 2. c. 8. 1 Kings 2. 23. juramentum est asseveratio religiosa de re possibili & licita, cum veri Dei invocatione facta, quâ petimus, ut sit testis dictorum; & fallentes puniat: D. Prid. conc. 5. de Religione juramenti. juramentum est duplex 1. Asse●torium, quod praecipuè fidem facit de re praeterita aut praesenti, ut aliquid credatur 2 Cor. 1. 23. 2. Promissorium quod prospicit futura, ubi ad faciendum vel ●mittendum aliquid nosmet ipsos astringimus, 1 Sam. 14. 44. Id. ib. Usitatissima ceremonia est, ut quis jurando manum in coelum tollat. Dubium non est, quin hoc ritu protestetur, se jurare per eum qui in coelis regnat, quique è coelis potest se, si men●iatur, graviter punire. Zanch. de Decal●go. Ritue à judaeis observatus ille est, ut juraturi super librum legis, aut tale aliquid quod sacrum erat, manum ponere tenerentur: at hunc librum non nisi dignum, idoncum, hoc est, summa religione scriptum & paratum, non vitiatum proponunt, & quo in suis Synagogis utantur omne aliud juramentum qualecunque sit & quavis forma expressum, rident, ac pro nihilo ducunt; unicum hoc legitimum agnoscunt & venerantur. Filesac. Select. l. 2. c. 4.  witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son. And, I call God to record against my soul. And Ruth takes her Oath in these terms, The Lord do so to me, and more also, if any thing but death shall separate betwixt thee and me. So Solomon, God do so to me and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life. These are the parts of an Oath.   
The end or purpose to which these all must be applied, is the ending of some doubt or controversy, and so settling of peace and quietness, for so saith the Apostle, Heb. 6. 6. An oath for confirmation is to them an end of all controversies. For God is so great a lover of peace and concord amongst men, that he is well pleased that they make use of his Name for the preventing of dissension and establishing of peace. To these two things must be added, a third, that we may fully know the nature of an Oath, and that is the object of it, or the person to be sworn by, which should have been named in the first place, and that is God himself, as witnesseth the Prophet, Jer. 4 2. Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth. So Deut. 6. 11. Thou shalt fear the Lord and serve him, and swear by his Name, & 10. 20 Thou shalt cleave to the Lord, and swear by his Name. These things now laid all together, give us to understand the true nature of an Oath, viz. That it is an holy action, wherein we refer ourselves unto God as a competent witness and Judge, for the confirmation of the truth of our speeches, to make all doubts and controversies cease. See Robinson's Essays, Observ. 49.  
Hitherto we have seen the nature of an Oath; let us search into the use of an Oath,  
and show  

1. Upon what occasions it is to be used.  
2. In what manner it is to be used.   
The occasions of using an Oath are for the satisfying of one that requireth or will accept it in a thing of some weight, either for itself or for the consequents, whether it be before a Magistrate judicially, or in private speech, as also for the tying and binding one's self to do or not to do a thing of some moment, which I might else by some occasion be altered in. In all these cases we have examples of good men that have used swearing, and therefore we may also lawfully swear. To satisfy another that requires it, Abraham's servant took an Oath about the taking of a wife for Isaac, and joseph about burying his father in Canaan, and the Israelites about burying Joseph's bones. To satisfy another that would accept the same, Paul swore to the Romans and Corinthians of his good affection to the one, and the cause of his not coming to the other. To bind himself, Solomon swore to put Adonijah to death; and Ruth, to go with her mother; and the Prophet Elisha, not to leave Eliah. So when it falleth out, that in a matter of some moment there is cause of satisfying another, in giving him assurance that I speak truth, or of binding myself to speak truth, and accomplish the truth of my words, than it is an honour to God that we interpose his Name to assure others and tie ourselves to speak the truth.  
These are the occasions of swearing, the rules of swearing upon these occasions are three, as the Prophet jeremiah hath set them down, ch. 4. 2.  

1. Truth.  
2. judgement.  
3. Righteousness.   
Truth is opposed to falsehood or perjury: Judgement to rash and common swearing; Righteousness to unjust and unlawful Oaths.  

1. Truth, that is, when the words of the mouth agree with the meaning of the heart, and both with the thing itself whereof the speech is, and that without 
In judgement discreetly, when the cause is found weighty, the doubt difficult, and an Oath necessary, that belongs to the Person. In truth sincerely, when the matter is well known to be so, that belongs to the Matter. In righteousness honestly, that justice may be fulfilled, that belongs to the End.  all doubting, halting, equivocating, shifting, according to the meaning that we would seem to have to him which giveth or requireth the Oath of us. He that indeed intendeth what he pretendeth in the words of his Oath, sweareth truly in a promissive Oath; and in an assertive Oath, he that sweareth what he knoweth to be or not to be.  
2. judgement is a serious consideration of the nature of an Oath, and of the 
Ad bonum usum juramenti duo requiruntur. Primò quidem, quod aliquis non leviter, sed ex necessaria causa, & discretè juret. Et quantum ad hoc requiritur judicium scilicet discretionis, ex parte jurantis. Secundò, quantum ad id quod per juramentum confirmatur, ut scilicet neque sit falsum, neque sit aliquid illicitum, & quantum ad hoc requiritur veritas, per quam aliquis juramento confirmatquod verum est, & justitia per quam confirmat quod licitum est. Aquinas, secunda secundae, Qu. 89. Art. 3.  thing which we do swear about, and it is opposed to rashness, headdiness, and unadvisedness, that we may swear with due respect to the great Name of God, which we do take into our mouths when we swear.  
3. Righteousness is when we do swear so as to give God and man his due in our Oath, having due reverence to God, and swearing about things good, honest, and lawful, that we may settle peace betwixt ourselves and others, and so may declare our honourable account of God's Name; but the principal point of righteousness in swearing, is, when we swear only to good and honest things, for good and honest purposes, and accordingly stand to our Oaths; and the Prophet pu●s judgement in the midst betwixt these two, because it is an help to both, seeing he that sweareth rashly cannot tell but he may soon stumble upon falsehood and unrighteousness, so that judgement respecteth the manner of swearing chiefly, and truth and righteousness the matter.   
Thus you see the nature and use of an Oath, and to swear thus is a most worthy service of God.  
We must speak now of a Lot, and show also the nature and use thereof, 
Sors est petitio divini testimonii per determinationem eventus in mera contingentia manifestandi, ad controversiam aliquam dirimendam. Ames. Medul. Theol. l. 2. c. 11. Sors est actio humana in hunc finem instituta, ut ex ejus eventu rem nobis incognitam divinitus agnoscere possimus. Zanchius in Miscell. Sors est res in dubitatione humana divinam judicans voluntatem. Aug. in Psal. 30. A Lot is nothing else but a casualty, or casual event purposely applied to the determination of some doubtful thing. Of Lots, some are mere, some mixed. Mere Lots are those wherein there is nothing else but a Lot, or wherein there is nothing applied to determine the doubt but only mere casualty. Mixed Lots are those wherein something else besides casualty is applied to determine the doubt; as namely, wit, skill, industry, and the like▪ Lots are, 1. Extraordinary, those wherein God and his immediate and special Providence inevitably conducteth the Lot to that end whereunto it was intended. 2. Ordinary, those wherein God by his general Providence supporting the natural abilities of the Creatures, suffereth it to work according to that power wherewith it is enabled. Mr. Down in his defence of the lawfulness of Lots in gaming.   
To the constituting of a Lot three things must concur:  

1. Some controversy or matter in doubt not agreed upon.  
2. A casual act, that is, such an act as in regard of the event, dependeth not upon the will, or wit, or activity of any man or creature, but upon the secret disposing of God's providence, which men do fond thrust out of sight by the name of luck or chance.  
3. A referring of the determination of that controversy to the event of that 
Quod Latini sortem id Graeci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant. Neque mag●i faci●, quod ad meum institutum, quae alij de originatione utriusque asserunt, esse nempe fortem, à serie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dictam, quod minime seriem, id est, ordinem servet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vero à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 factum quod frangit, hoc est, dirimit lights & controversias. Medi problema, An alea sit s●rtitio. Sorts Deus regit speciali manu, & virtute extraordinaria, alioquin quid novi aut proprij dixerat Solomon, Prov. 16. ult. cum nihil in toto mund●●it quod non ● Dei providentia gubernetur, sed communi & ordinaria, non verò speciali ista. Idem ibid.?  casual act, whether by the mutual consent of parties, or appointment of some superior. And in this reference there are contained and implied the same things that before were contained in an Oath, viz. 

1. A secret acknowledgement of God's infinite Wisdom and Authority over us, viz. that he knoweth how to dispose of all things in the best manner, and that all men ought to be content without any more ado to stand to his determination.  
2. An Invocation, or calling upon him to exercise his Authority and Wisdom in the disposing of the casual event so as shall seem best to him for the determining of the present controversy according to his mind.  
3. A binding or tying of the parties to stand to his determination, a profession that he will be satisfied with such determination as he shall please to make by disposing of the Lot. So the casting of a Lot is none other thing in effect, but an actual expressing of such a form of words as these: Lord, thou knowest in all cases what is best and fittest to be done, and we here are all equally subject unto thee, wherefore there being a thing in controversy betwixt us, which we cannot so well agree upon ourselves, but that there will be some discontent betwixt us, we are willing to stand to thy determination, and as thou shalt show thy own pleasure to be by ordering this casual event (which nothing but thy secret providence can order) so shall we rest satisfied; and we beseech thee now to declare thy mind herein accordingly.     
The casting of a Lot is but a compendium, or abridgement, or actual expressing of such a prayer, wherefore also the Apostles to the casting of a Lot for the choice of an Apostle, did add such a prayer, Acts 1. Show whether of these two thou hast chosen.  
By this which hath been said it is evident, that a Lot and an Oath are both of the same nature, and that the due use of them is a special honour to God in the exercising of humble submission to him, and faith in his Providence, Truth and Goodness.  
This is the nature of a Lot, it follows to declare the use both in regard of  

1. The occasions of using.  
2. The manner of using.   
1. The occasions of using a Lot can be none other than to determine something in controversy.  
All controversies must needs be about matters  

Past  
Present  
To come   
As who is to do or have such or such a thing, who hath done, or who doth it.  
Now for the determining of things past and present, a Lot doth not serve at all, once or twice it was used for that extraordinarily, but it is not ordinary for that purpose.  
But doubts about things to come are of two sorts:  

1. Contingent, doubtful, and uncertain events and accidents, as Haman by lot would foreknow how his device against the jews should speed; and for these a lot is not ordained.  
2. Dispositions or distributions of labours, offices, rewards, punishments, possessions, or the like, and for these purposes was a lot appointed, as Solomon noteth, saying, Prov. 18. 18. The lot parteth, or maketh division among the mighty. But we must put ourselves in mind, that doubts and controversies about such things are of two sorts: some made by men of their own will, and not existent in nature of themselves; some existent in nature, and not only made by men.   
Now if men will needs make a doubt for satisfying of their own fancies, where none is or need to be, the thing being already by other means put out of doubt, it is a presumptuous boldness to put such a doubt to God to umpire, seeing no wise Superior would take it well to be so employed by his inferior, but would utterly refuse to intermeddle in such decisions. For example, A man gave unto his four servants 10 l a piece, or so many pence, and they will needs make such a bargain among themselves of this 40 l, One of us shall have twenty marks, the other 12 l, and the other 12 l, and the other just nothing, and the remainder shall be to relieve the poor, wherefore they come to their Master to tell who of the four shall have the forenamed sums, and who just nothing, would he not be discontented with them and reprove them, and not have any hand in such a division, as being foolish and unequal? and so stands the case in all Lotteries, and yet they are bold to use a lot to determine the matter; that is, to refer themselves to God's providence in this case, and to make him their umpire; is not this an abuse of him? Wherefore in such coined doubts God must not be made a determiner, unless we will be bold to draw him into the participation of our folly.  
But of true and real doubts existent in nature there are also two kinds; for  

1. Some are trivial and of no weight.  
2. Some are of weight and moment. 
There is a great controversy between Gataker, Dr. Ames, and Voetius about this point. This is a special Ordinance of God to decide a controversy from Heaven by God himself, when all means on earth fail, therefore Lots must not be used without great reverence and prayer, because the disposition of them comes immediately from the Lord, Prov. 16. 33. and not but in great matters, not for recreation: for it is said to cause contentions to cease among the mighty, Prov. 18. 18. Neither do we read it was ever used, but in very great things, as the dividing of the Land of Canaan, the election of high Priests and Kings, and the surrogation of Mathias into the place of judas. Dr. Tailor on Christ's Temptation. The gain that comes that way is worse than usury, yea it is flat theft, for by the law we may recover things stolen, but there is no law to recover things worn. And yet if play be but for a small matter, the loss whereof is no hurt to him that loseth it, and it be applied to a common good, it is lawful, otherwise not. Mr. Perk. case of consc. 390. Things sanctified to some especial and holy use, must not be made a recreation; therefore I think with divers godly and learned men, that the use of a Lot for recreation is unlawful, because a Lot is an especial means, whereby God hath ordained by himself from Heaven, to end such controversies, as otherwise cannot conveniently▪ be ended. 2. The Scripture maketh a Lot, so the sentence of God, as in the most weighty matters of God and man, of life and death, it is the very Oracle and Declaration of God his will, wherein man must rest without any contradiction or motion to the contrary. So Act. 1. 24, 26. Numb. 26. 55. Levit. 16. 8. for matters of God; and Josh. 14. for matters of life; yea the Gentiles themselves knew it to be the very Oracle of God, Jon. 1. 7. Such Oracles of God must not be used for recreation, seeing they are his Name, and must not be vainly used. Therefore Dice, dealing of Cards, where the matter is laid on hazard (as they call it) or rather Gods providence, without using any cunning of ours to dispose it, is upon the same reason of a Lot unlawful. A Lot is abused in those games of Dice and Cards, etc. which wholly consist in chance: for in toys and sports we are not to appeal to the immediate judgement of God, Prov. 6. 33. B. Down. Abstract on the third Precept. To make a gain of play is a theft, and against the eighth Commandment and Precept of the Law, Ephes. 4. 28. Their course is an unjust taking into their possession that which no law of Christ or man doth warrant them by any manner of lawful contract; the Civil Law and Augustine condemn that gain which is gotten by play. Dr. Taylor. Prov. ●6. 3. & 18. 18. Vide Fabritium in octavum praeceptum Decalogi. p. 450, 451. Dudley Fenners Treatise of recreate▪ see more there. See Rivetus. Mr. Dod on the eighth Commandment, p. 275, 276. and Mr. Elton on the eighth Commandment, p. 311. the Theatre of God's Judgem. part 1. c. 43. A Lot must be in weighty matters; if in vain things, it is a breach of this Commandment; therefore Dice, Cards, and Tables are unlawful, for we may not use a Lot in so light a matter, as we may not swear lightly, these things must not be used at our pleasure. Mr. Richardson in his Manuscript. See Mr. Clarks second part of the life of john Bruen, l. 18. c. 3.    
I shall propound the opinion of a reverend Divine seeing the thing is much controverted, and leave it to the wise to judge.  
To put trifling and toyish differences, sportful and ludicrous controversies unto God's determination (saith he) is surely to abase and abuse him, seeing a lot is an implicit invocation, as I said, where a man would abhor it to profaneness; to make such a prayer in word as any heart would in a trifling thing, there it were also profaneness to make it an act, or by signs to signify it, as it is done in a lot. But in differences that either of themselves, or in regard of the consequents of them, be of moment and weight, there a lot may and must be used, that peace may be settled amongst men, none having to find fault with the division, unless he will be so bold and wicked as to find fault with God. So in the division of the Land of Canaan, of the Priests Offices, of the work of fight and victualling the Camp a lot was used, as also in the choice of an Apostle in judas room, and of the tithe Lamb in the fold. For because infinite heart-burnings and quarrels might have grown betwixt the Priest and people for Tithe▪ Lambs, if either the one should have taken, or the other have given which he would, and that the order of their yeaning could not certainly be known, therefore that also was a matter of great weight, in regard of the consequents thereof for the constant and universal order and course of tithing, though for the particular difference betwixt some one or other Lamb, the matter was not great. So the due occasion of using a lot, is a real difference of some moment about the divisions of something to be divided betwixt such or such that may seem to have reason to challenge each what would best content and satisfy himself.  
The manner of using a lot upon such occasions follows, and that must be thus:  

1. With a reverend careful observation of God's providence in the event of the thing, and disposing of the controversy so, as a man's heart may say within itself, Thou Lord hast done this, or that not by the wit and skill, or will of any man, but the hidden work of thine own providence without any such thing coming betwixt, and thou hast manifested to me thy good pleasure, that things should be distributed thus or thus.  
2. It must be used with a quiet submission of our will to Gods will so manifested, giving up ourselves to be ruled by that hand and providence without murmuring. For seeing the disposition of a lot is of God, therefore we cannot grudge at the falling of it out so or so, but that we shall seem to pick a quarrel with God.   
Hitherto of the right use of such holy actions as come to be used in and with our common affairs.  
It follows to show how we must order ourselves in our common affairs, so far forth as in them we have to do with God, or any of those things by which he makes himself known to us.  
This is double.  

1. Inward.  
2. Outward.   
The inward also is double in regard of  

1. God's Actions.  
2. Our Actions.   
That which respecteth Gods Actions is also double,  

1. To see him in them.  
2. To make a good use of them.   
The first thing we are bound unto for the sanctifying of God's Name, is to see 
A gracious heart sees God in every thing. God would have his people find all in him, Gen. 15. 1. Zach. 2. 5. and the Saints have always resolved all into God, Psal. 18. 1. & 27. 1. & 84. 11. & 90. 1. & 16. 5. & 43. 11. See 1 John 4. 16. He that expects not all from God as the chiefest good, and resolves not all into him as the utmost end, is an Atheist, Ephes. 2. 12. To see God in every thing, is 1. Continually to see all good things to be eminently in God, Rev. 21. 7. Psal. 73. 25. 2. To see all things come from God, causatiuè or permissiuè, as the efficient cause, if good; as the permitting cause, if evil. 3. To observe in all things what of God is to be seen, 1 Pet. 1. 12. 4. To hope only in him, and to fear none but him; He is called the fear of Isaac, and the hope of Israel. See Jer. 17. 17. Qui nil sperant nisi à Domino, nil metuunt praeter Dominum. B●rn. 5. To love God for himself, and all things else for him, Zach. 8. ult. 6. To observe God's departings, and to be afflicted with nothing so much. Numb. 14. 9 Deut. 22. 30. The main of godliness is in making God your All, therefore the lusts of our hearts are called ungodly lusts. The more one can see and taste God in every thing, the more he thrives in gruce. See Psal. 104. 34. Hereby the soul sees the All-sufficiency of God to satisfy him, Prov. 14. 14. This is the only ground of the triumph of Faith, I will make my boast in God. See Hab. 3. 17, 18. and is the beginning of eternal life, Matth. 18. 14.  him in all his actions, that is, to take notice of him as the Author of them, informing ourselves that he hath wrought them, as David doth Psal. 8. 3. & 118. 23. & Psal. 44. 1, 2, 3. Psal. 18. 47, 48. job 1. 21. joseph, Gen. 45. 7, 8. Psal. 46. 8. All things that are done in all the world, natural, supernatural, common, special, of mercy, of justice, good, bad, of what kind soever, must in some sense (even the bad so far as they be actions and means of good) be ascribed to God, and man must speedily take notice of God's providence and working in them, and say, The Lord hath done this or that, be it never so small or trifling, for his providence extendeth to every motion of every creature, seeing in him we live, move, and have our being.  
2. The second thing we are bound to in regard of God's Actions, is to make a good use of them, by building up ourselves thereby in the knowledge of God, and in all holy affections of love, fear, confidence toward him, and of hatred of sin, love of righteousness, and the like▪ as when the people saw that great miracle wrought by the Lord by the hand of Eliah, they cried out, The Lord is God, the Lord is God, 1 King. 18. 39 So David saith, Psal. 116. 1. I love the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplication. So David having said, Psal. 33. 6, 7. that God hath made all things, addeth, Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him, for he spoke and they were created. So the Lord himself saith▪ Jer. 5. 22. Fear ye not me, saith the Lord, will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea? When we see Gods Works, we must see in them the clear demonstration of his Wisdom, Power, Justice, Mercy, and other holy Attributes, that we may grow in knowledge of him, and love, and fear, and other virtues.  
Now this is a general use to be made of all, but there are two special works which he useth to do to mankind, works of Mercy and Justice, which require two special uses.  

1. A thankful receiving of the works of mercy.  
2. A patient and penitent bearing of corrections.   
Thankful receiving of mercies is, so to taste and feel the goodness of God in them, that we provoke ourselves by them to serve and obey him with more cheerfulness, willingness, and readiness. Each benefit and blessing we enjoy, must cause us to be more careful of pleasing him that gave us all those benefits, and should make us renew in our minds such thoughts as these; It is God which feedeth me, preserveth me, O why should not I respect, honour, love, serve him; Lord, I will give myself to thee, I will obey thee, thou deservest it. The duty of thankfulness is required in the first Commandment, the improving of all good things to the increase of this thankfulness is a special sanctifying of Gods Name required in this Commandment. Psal. 116. 12. & Psal. 118. 19 He meaneth there that he will apply himself to the practice of all righteousness because of God's graciousness in delivering him out of affliction. The want of this God blameth, Deut. 28. 47. and so are good things to be used.  
2. The patient and penitent bearing of afflictions, is a framing of ourselves willingly and without grudging to undergo the same because God hath done them, yea to humble ourselves before him, and turn unto him with repentance. So David did, Psal. 39 9 & 38. 13, 17. So james wisheth, ch. 4. v. 10. and Peter, 1 Pet. 5. 6. So doth Eliphaz advise, job 5. 8.  
When we meet with any evil from God, if we consider, God hath sent this upon me, and therefore frame to be well pleased with it, and to humble ourselves and renew our repentance before him, confessing our sins, and supplicating to him for favour, and resolving to cast away our sins and amend our lives, this is an excellent use of his chastisements, and happy is he whom God so chastiseth and teacheth his way,  
So much for our right carriage in regard of God's works, whereby we sanctify his Name. Now  
We must also sanctify him in regard of our works, by referring them all to his glory, as the main end of them, intending in the doing of them to show our obedience to him, and faith in him; for this end, and in this consideration doing them, because he either commands or allows them; and with this purpose and intention of heart, that we may witness our due regard of him. This is to live to God, and not to ourselves, which that we may do, Christ died for us, 2 Cor. 5. 15. and this the Apostle plainly requireth, 1 Cor. 10. 31. So our Saviour saith of himself, john 17. 4. I have glorified thee, I have done the work thou hast given me to do. When in each action of ours we consider God would have us do it, therefore we will do it that we may please him, and declare our duty to him, this is to glorify him, else we do not honour him by our actions, as by eating, drinking, labouring in our callings, and the like.  
So much for the right carriage of ourselves to God inwardly. We must behave ourselves aright also outwardly, and that both in  

1. Words.  
2. Deeds.   
The right ordering of our speech standeth principally in four things:  

1. By uttering good wishes sincerely and heartily.  
2. By a reverend mention of his Titles and Attributes.  
3. By good communication of his Word and Works.  
4. By bold confession of his Truth.   
First then we must utter, as occasion serves, good wishes and desires, whereby we may show the moving of our will to Godward, to do some good or remove some evil that is to be done or removed.  
These good wishes are of two sorts, for they respect either  

1. Ourselves.  
2. Others.   
Whether  

1. Our Brethren.  
2. Other Creatures.   
For ourselves, if any sudden peril threaten us, and we do suddenly dart out, as it were, the desires of our souls servently and faithfully, saying, Lord help me, or the like, this is a due honouring of God's name, it is not a solemn prayer, but a sanctified use of God's name. So jehosaphat being in great danger by the Aramites who furiously assailed him, mistaking him for the King of Israel, could not in that case frame to any set form of solemn prayer, yet he cried unto the Lord, that is, sent up these fervent desires in words to this purpose, Lord help me, Lord deliver me, 1 King. 22. 32. 2 Chron. 18. 31. So our Saviour being in extremity of torment on the Cross, could not make a set solemn prayer, but he uttered such a short complaint as contained a submissive request to his Father, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is an allowable taking of God's name into our mouths, so it be done heartily and respectively.  
Secondly, Now for others also, even our brethren, if upon occasion of meeting them we open our mouths with good salutations, wishing a good day, or the like prosperity to them, so that it be done sincerely and with the motions of our minds, looking to God-ward, it is a good service of God, as Boaz saluted his reapers, saying, The Lord be with you, Ruth 2. 4. and they returned him alike good wishes, saying, The Lord bless thee: If such salutations be heartily uttered it is a right exercise of our faith in God's providence and goodness. And not only so, but if we bless other things, as corn, grass, cattle or the like with the like blessing, so that we have our hearts only carried to God, it is a good and acceptable using of his name, as appear in Psal. 129. 8. where he saith of the corn growing on the housetops, that those which pass by do not say, We bless you in the name of the Lord, showing evidently, that it was a good and commendable custom of the people of God then, to crave God's blessing on the corn, grass or other fruits which they saw upon the earth in these or the like words, God bless it, or God save it. These wishes if they proceed from the heart duly apprehending the nature of God, whom they mention, are evident declarations of our faith in God, and of our depending upon him for all good things. So much for good wishes.  
Secondly, We must mention the Titles and Attributes of God with all due respect and reverence, when we have any occasion at all to mention them. If it fall out that we use this word, God, Lord, Christ, jesus, or the like, we are to have our hearts affected with some reverend regard of those divine persons that are so termed, our hearts must entertain honourable conceits of them, and must submissively be carried towards them; this is that which Moses meaneth in part, saying, Deut. 28. 58. Fear this glorious and fearful Name, the Lord thy God. The name of God must be with fear and reverence taken into our mouths, and we should not once speak of him, but with due apprehension of his gloriousness. This is an excellent exercising of that worthy virtue of the fear of God, when we do so regard him that at any occasional mentioning of him our hearts do homage unto him.  
Thirdly, We must use good communication as we go about our other affairs, employing our tongues as occasion may offer itself to talk of his word or works, Deut. 6. 7. & 11. 19 judg. 5. 11. therefore we are commanded that our communication be always gracious, Col. 4. 6. & Ephes. 4. 29. Such communication must pass out of our mouths as is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers. See Prov. 10. 22. Psal. 37. 30. A good man is to be ready upon all occasions to speak of good things, the works of God, the commandments of God, his promises, his threats, and all such things as may help to increase grace in himself or others. When his hand is on earth as his heart, so if he have a companion, his tongue must be in heaven.  
Fourthly, We ought boldly to make confession of the truth of God in whole 
The Centurists observe four kinds of confession in the New Testament. 1. A confession of sin to God alone, 1 John 1. 9 2. A confession coram Ecclesia, before the Church, when men acknowledge publicly their wicked and scandalous deeds, and do profess their repenting and loathing of the same, Act. 19 18. 3. Confession one to another of particular private injuries and offences, Jam. 5. 16. 4. The confession or profession of the true faith, 1 Joh. 4. 2. M. Gillesp. Aar. Rod bloss. l. 2. ●. 2.  or in part, as any occasion shall be offered; So saith St Peter, 1 Pet. 3. 15. Be ready always to give an answer to every one that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and with fear. And this is a thing of so great necessity that no appearance of danger, no terror, no threatening must affright us from it, if we have 
Truth's to be confessed, are 1. Truths of faith, 1 Pet. 3. 15. 2. Truths of fact, Joshua 7. 14. The just occasions of confessing, 1. Our faith are, 1. When the true faith is opposed, Act. 24. 14. 2. When we are questioned about it by Magistrates, Dan. 3. 3. When others go aside from the true faith, Act. 17. 23. 4. When it tends to the edification of the Church and State where we live, 1 Cor. 14. 4, 5, 12, 19 2. Matters of fact, 1. When there are evidences that such a fact is committed, as in Achans case. 2. When others are in danger in respect of such a fact I have committed, Judg. 17. 2, 3. 3. When prejudice else may come to the Church or State where I live. 4. When by due course of the Law one is found guilty, and sentence pronounced against him, in such a case he is bound to make confession (so the penitent thief) else he shall end his days in sin. 5. For the case of a man's conscience, when his sins are secret he may disclose them▪ confession must be 1. Voluntary, not forced. 2. Prudently ordered.  a due calling thereunto; wherefore our Saviour requireth, that we should confess him before an adulterous and crooked generation, saying, Matth. 10. 32. Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in Heaven; And St Paul commendeth Timothy, 1 Tim. 6. 20. because he had professed a good profession before many witnesses, and setteth before us in the next verse, the example of Christ who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, boldly averring that he was the Son of God, and saying, That he was sent to bear witness to the truth, John 18. 37. and the Lord saith of St Paul, That he had called him to bear his name before the Gentiles and Kings, and before the people of Israel.  
And so must we order ourselves in regard of our words. It follows to show what our carriage must be in regard of our deeds, and that both  

1. Generally.  
2. Particularly.   
In General there are also required two things:  

1. To walk worthy the Gospel.  
2. To suffer for righteousness sake, and for the name of Christ.   
First then every one which is called by the name of Christ must walk as becometh the Gospel of Christ, urging himself to such behaviour of life in all things that religion may be well spoken of by means of his good carriage. This is to have our life shine forth so before men that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven, Mat. 5. 16. See 1 Pet. 2. 15. & 3. 1. Phil. 1. 27. Ephes. 5. 8. 1 Thess. 2. 11, 12. A man professing to be of the Christian religion, is to honour that name by a special care of all his ways, that he may show forth such goodness as all men may be alured to love and like religion for his sake, and is to deny himself some lawful things, that he may not open the mouths of those which are willing to speak evil; and when out of a desire to make religion well thought and spoken of, we do thus look to ourselves, we honour the name of God exceeding much.  
Secondly, Every man is bound resolutely and cheerfully to suffer for well doing and for defence of the truth, as Christ saith, Matth. 5. 10. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness sake; and after, Rejoice and be glad when all men speak all manner of evil of you, for great is your reward. See Phil. 1. 29. 2 Tim. 2. 3. & 1. 12. Heb. 10. 32. Matth. 10. 38. Our Saviour saith, that his Disciples must take up their cross and follow him, that is, must resolutely make account with themselves to bear tribulation for his sake, and all that will live godly in Christ jesus must suffer persecution, 2 Tim. 3. 12. and Paul saith of himself, to them which by weeping sought to withdraw him from going up to jerusalem (where it was foretell that bonds and imprisonment did abide him) that he was ready not alone to be bound at jerusalem, but also to die for the name of the Lord jesus, Act. 21. 13. according as in the former Chapter, Acts 20. 24. That he counted not his life dear so that he might finish his course with joy. Now this suffering if it be to blood, is called Martyrdom, which is one of the most glorious services that a man can do for God, and shall be most plentifully rewarded, in which cup Stephen had 
Stephen the Protomartyr.  the honour to be the first that ever pledged our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is recorded Act. 7. 60.  
And thus must we order our lives in general by being careful to excel in doing good, and yet cheerfully to suffer as if we did evil.  
Now more particularly we must use sanctifiedly all the creatures of God, and do in a sanctified manner all that ever we do, and this sanctified use of the creatures stands in four things,  
First, In doing all things out of a well informed conscience, having knowledge out of God's word concerning the lawfulness of our doing or enjoying this or that. This is to have things sanctified to us by the word of God, as the Apostle speaketh, 1 Tim. 4. 5. viz. to have our hearts grounded upon the Word concerning the lawfulness of them, and this well-grounded persuasion of the warrantableness of our actions is the faith, without which he that doth any deed sinneth, as we learn Rom. 14. ult. and therefore the Apostle saith in the case of meats, and the like Rom. 14. 5. Let every man be thoroughly persuaded in his own mind. For as a child or servant doth greatly dishonour his Parent or Master, if he will adventure to do any thing that pleaseth himself, never regarding whether his Governor like or dislike it: but it is a sign of good respect if he dare not adventure upon a thing unless he have some good reason to make him conceive, that his Master or Parent will approve thereof; so standeth the matter betwixt God and us; wherefore it is an honouring of God thus to take his warrant with us in all things.  
Secondly, We must crave God's leave for, and blessing upon the use of good things in particular, when we know in general that we may lawfully use them. So Paul tells us, that meat, drink, marriage and all things else are sanctified by prayer, 1 Tim. 4. 5. that is, by calling upon God for his licence to use such benefits or to do such things and to have his blessing upon them. Thus we do sanctifiedly use them when we thus ask leave of God and help from him to do them. Men look that he which would use any of their goods should crave their good will, and that those which would enjoy their help in any thing should request it; for it is a poor thing that is not worth ask, and leave is light; so doth God look that we should carry ourselves toward him, and by using all things in such sort we do acknowledge our dependence upon him, confess his Providence, Sovereignty and Power over ourselves and all things, and so worthily exercise the principal graces of God in our souls, for he that will not dare to meddle with any thing in the house till he have requested the good will of such a one, doth by this deed confess him to be the Lord of the house, and of all things in it.  
Thirdly, We are to return thanks to God for his goodness, when we have enjoyed any good thing from him, for so also the Apostle tells, that things are sanctified to us by thanksgiving, 1 Tim. 4. 6. when we have lent one any of our goods, we look that he should bring them home again with thanks; so must we give back to God thanks for the use of his creatures, though the things themselves are allowed us still to retain them. And this also is a notable acknowledgement of his Sovereign Lordship over all creatures, and our absolute dependence upon him. So when the Disciples returned reporting what great things they had wrought, our Saviour gave thanks to his Father, saying, Luke 10. 21. I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. So when Abraham's servant had found great success in his journey, he bows himself, worshipping the Lord and saying, Blessed be the Lord God of my master, Gen. 24. 27. and after also v. 52.  
Lastly, It is required that we use all the creatures of God moderately, proportioning the measure of our use of them to the true ends for which God in nature hath ordained them. If a man give his Servant leave to take his key and fetch so much money out of his coffer as will serve to buy such and such things which his Master would have bought, he is bound to take just so much and no more to a farthing if he know the Sum, if he do not particularly know the Sum, as near as he can guess thereabout, and in keeping himself to his Master's direction here, he shows that he accounts not himself but his Master the owner of these goods. So when the Lord hath appointed meat and drink to strengthen and refresh nature, attire to keep the body warm, and to adorn men, according to the distinction of their places, and other like things for like purposes, he that is careful as near as he can to keep himself so within compass, as to use no more of these things than are requisite for these ends, so near I say as he can guess, doth behave himself like a servant in the use of these things, and by so using them doth give to God the honour of being the Lord and Master of them: so temperance in meat and drink, and all such things is a needful duty for the sanctifying of God's name in the use of his creatures.  
And so much of the things commanded in this third Commandment; Now of the things forbidden herein which all come to two heads:  

1. The abuse of those holy actions which are sometimes mingled with our common affairs, viz. 

An Oath.  
A Lot.    
2. Disordered carriage of ourselves in our common affairs.   
Of the abuse of an Oath we must speak first.  
It is abused two ways, in regard of the  

1. Taking, for the 

1. Matter of it, in the 

1. Object or thing sworn by.  
2. Subject or thing sworn to.    
2. Manner, contrary to 

1. Truth by a false Oath.  
2. Judgement by swearing. 

1. Ignorantly.  
2. Rashly or causelessly.  
3. Irreverently.  
4. Ragingly.        
2. Keeping By not performing a lawful Oath.  
2. Keeping By performing an unlawful.   
The first abuse of an Oath is in regard of the thing sworn by, and that is double, swearing  

1. By an Idol.  
2. By a mere creature.   
To swear by an Idol is a great abuse of an Oath, wherein God's honour is given 
They transgress this Commandment, 1. Who swear commonly. 2. Who swear to do things unlawful, as 1 Sam. 28. 10. & 14. 39, 44. 3. Who swear falsely or fraudulently, or what they mind not to perform, Matth. 26. 72. 1 Sam. 19 6. Ezek. 17. 16, 18, 19 4. Who use to swear indirectly, as meaning to swear by God, name the creatures. 5. Who swear by God and by Idols, Gen. 31. 53. Ford. Those that swear by the name of God, and likewise by the name of Saints, offend this Commandment. As when the form of their Oath is thus, As help me God and all Saints, for the Oath must be only in the name of God. B. Hooper of the Command.  to his utter enemy, which the Prophet condemns in the Jews, jer. 5. 7. Thy children have sworn by them that are no gods, that is, by false and feigned gods, and jer. 12. 16. he condemneth the Jews for having learned of the Gentiles to swear by Baal, and the Prophet Zeph. 1. 5. saith, That God will visit, that is (punish) them which swear by the Lord, and by Malcham. For seeing an oath is a due and true worship of God, how should he endure to have it translated to a false god? Surely those which swear by them do bear some respect to them in their hearts, and make honourable mention of them with their lips, which is condemned, Exod. 23. 13.  
Also to swear by a creature, is to do more honour unto it then ought to be done 
Aquin. 2a, 2ae Quaest 89. Art. 6. docet, licere per ipsas quoque creaturas jurare, ut per Sanctos, per Angeios, per sacra Dei Evangelia. Quod alicubi etiam in Ecclesiis reformatis illa adhuc consuetudo retineatur, ut cum quis jurat manu tangat Evangelia sacra, atque etiam addat haec verba; Ad haec sacra Dei Evangelia juro, etc. illud excusari utcunque potest. Non enim propriè juratur per Evangelium: sed est obtestatio, qualis est illa, Vivit Deus: ut sit sensus, Sicut verba Evangelii, & sacrorum Bibliorum verissima sunt: sic etiam quod dico, verum est. Zanch. Tom. 4. l. 1. de Decal. in Precept. 3. jurare per creaturam absolutè ultimatè & terminatiuè, ita ut constituatur in aliqua creatura finis & vis juramenti sine relatione ad Deum, simpliciter illicitum est. Secundò, jurare per creaturas relatiuè & quasi transitiuè, ita ut per B. Virginem & alios (anctos sanctorumve reliquias pertranseat, & per ipsos deferatur finaliter ad Deum, hoc est superstitiosum. Sanders. de juram. prom. oblige. prael. 5.  to it, for seeing an oath is to be taken by the greater, as the Apostle saith, that is, one which hath authority over men to punish them if they swear amiss, and that no creature is so much greater than man, that he can discern to punish the disorders of his heart in swearing, it is a wrong to God to set them in his room when we swear, yea when God doth plainly say, The Lord liveth, Jer. 4. 2. and saith, Thou shalt swear by his name, Deut. 10. 20. & 6. 13. it seemeth to me that this bidding to swear by him, forbiddeth to swear by any thing besides him.  
Here two things may be objected, First, That usual form of swearing which was accustomed by the people of God when they swore, to say, The Lord liveth, and Thy soul liveth, 1 Sam. 20. 3.  
To which we answer, That in mentioning this living of the soul they do not swear by it, but alone wish well unto it, swearing by God, and yet mentioning the soul of that party sworn unto, for proof of their love and good desires of its welfare, is as much as if they had said, I swear by God, whom I desire also to preserve thy soul.  
Further the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 31. may seem to swear by his rejoicing in Christ, when he saith, By our rejoicing which we have in Christ jesus our Lord, we die daily.  
To this I answer, That this is as much as if he had said, By Jesus Christ in whom I rejoice, so that Christ is here the sole object of the Oath, and his rejoicing is mentioned as an effect of Christ's power, the more honourably to convey the Oath unto him. See Mr Manton on jam. 5. 12. and M. Lyfords Princip. of Faith and good Consc. p. 148.  
So this is the first abuse of an Oath to swear by a creature, or an Idol, or false god. An earnest protestation may, it seems, be made by a creature, as to say, as sure as I live, or the like; but this must not be conceived as a swearing by them, or calling them to bear witness to the truth of our speeches.  
There is one main difference between a Protestation and an Oath, that we may lawfully protest by a creature, but without sin we cannot swear by a creature, Gen. 42. 15. compared with Chap. 43. 3. seems to show that those words By the life of Pharaoh, were but a Protestation. Capel of Tent. part. 3. c. 5.  
The second abuse of an Oath is in regard of the thing sworn to, and that is double.  

1. In an assertive Oath.  
2. In a promissive Oath.   
It is in an assertive Oath when it is trivial of a small light matter of no worth and value, neither in itself nor in the consequents of it. For seeing an Oath is a calling God to be witness and judge of our speech, he must not be called to witness for mere trifles and toys, and he that so sweareth doth not swear in judgement, but rashly and inconsiderately, for what is, if this be not to take the name of God in vain, when the matter is light and vain which occasioneth us to take it up.  
Also in a promissive Oath there is an abuse if one swear to do that which is sinful and wicked, or not to do that which is commanded and required at his hand by God, for this is not to swear in righteousness, but unjustly. Therefore David in swearing to kill Nabal did greatly offend, and so did Herod in swearing to do for Herodias whatsoever she should ask, not excepting unless it were sinful and wicked that she should ask. And such also it may seem was the Oath of the other 
Judg. 21. 1.  Tribes, when they swore not to give any of their daughters to wife to Benjamin, for this was to cut off one Tribe from Israel which they ought not to have done, and therefore afterwards they were compelled to use tricks to break that Oath, giving the Benjamites authority to steal wives that so they might have them, and yet the Parents not seem guilty of this Oath, because they did not give them with their consent and good liking.  
And thus much for the abuse of an Oath in regard of the matter. Now the abuses in regard of the manner of swearing follow.  
The first abuse in the manner of swearing is against truth, when men do swear 
Nor sworn deceitfully. Nihil aliud est perjurium, quam mendacium juramento firmatum. Ita ut omnino idem fit accedente juramento Perjurium, quod est in nuda pollicitatione mendacium. Sanderson. de juramenti promissorii obligatione, praelect. 2. Sect. 6.  falsely or deceitfully. This is condemned Psal. 24. and by Zechary chap. 8. 17. Love no false Oath, for these are things which I hate, saith the Lord. So a false Oath we see is abominable to God. This is to defile the name of God, and to draw him into fellowship with our lying so far as may be. Now falsehood is when a man's words do not agree with the conceits of his mind, or his conceits with the things which he speaketh of. So there is a double falsehood, one witting, the other unwitting.  
The witting falsehood is, when a man utters things contrary to his own thought and meaning. And this is also double,  

1. Plain, and palpable, and flat falsehood.  
2. Cloaked, coloured and painted falsehood.   
Palpable falsehood is when a man doth not so much as labour to cast any colour of truth upon his Oath, but swears that which is evidently false, and this is in an assertive Oath, when a man swears a thing to be or not to be, which he either knows or thinks to be otherwise. This was the fault of Peter when he denied his Master with an Oath. This was done by him in a passion of fear, yet did it not wholly excuse his sin, but it is worse when it is done premeditately and upon deliberation, as the false witnesses did which jezabel appointed to swear against Naboth, and this is so grievous a sin, that it doth plainly prove a man to be an Atheist in heart, for who that acknowledgeth God would call him to witness a lie? and it is all one in this case whether a man think the thing only to be false, or it be so indeed, for if his words disagree with his thoughts, though his thoughts agree with the thing accidentally and by chance, there is the most blame-worthy and condemnable falsehood.  
Also there is palpable falsehood in an assertive Oath, when a man sweareth to do that which he hath no mind, purpose nor meaning to do, nay nor perhaps doth not know what it is that he swears to, but takes the Oath for example or custom, for no man can have a true meaning to do he knows not what. And if any man should know another's meaning not to be such as his words pretend, he would surely condemn him of perjury, therefore in the like case he must needs also condemn himself.  
This is open and palpable falsehood; coloured falsehood is when a man makes a show of truth, but hides his meaning with craft, as in equivocations, reservations, and the like: for example, when a man intends his Oath in another meaning then that which is expressed to him by the persons which cause him to take the Oath, and which he knows they do take him to mean, and which he would have them to take his meaning in. For a good man must speak the truth in his heart, and therefore also must swear it. Now he doth not so when he sweareth thus deceitfully, so deceit is not a remedy against falsehood, but alone a cloak for falsehood, which maketh it less seen, but not less sinful. And the grossest kind of deceit this way I think is that of equivocations and reservations, when a man of purpose takes the words of his Oath in another sense than they are intended, as, Are you a Priest? I swear No, meaning a Priest of Venus, though I be a Popish Priest: or when he reserves something in his mind, which being added to the words of his mouth make up a truth, but being taken by themselves contain a falsehood, as, Are you a Priest? No, meaning not to tell you. Surely the words of Ananias and Saphirah were no lie if this kind of juggling were good, yea Peter was unjustly charged to have sworn falsely, if this were a just defence, for he might easily mean, I know not the man, meaning to tell you of it at this time. But only Popish persons which are willing to strive for their safety will maintain this falsehood, wherefore we take it for granted to be naught and wicked, what is if this be not to swear deceitfully which is blamed Psal. 24?  
Now there is also an unwitting falsehood more pardonable of the twain, and yet bad enough, when a man swears that which he thinks is true, but indeed is not true, he being deceived in his opinion. And this kind of falsehood is often brought into an Oath by reason of rashness, when men take not their Oath in judgement they often offend against truth. The conceits of things going alone are not the measure of words, but the things themselves also, and if the words agree not to both, there is not perfect truth in them but some admixture of falsehood.  
This is the first abuse of an Oath, for the manner against the Truth.  
Other abuses there are contrary to judgement.  
And first, When a man swears ignorantly, not knowing the nature of an Oath, 
It was the ordinary Oath of the Romans, Medius fidius, as with us was, By the Mass, or By our Lady: and so much used, That Tertullian complaineth, that the Christians through custom had made it so familiar, that in ordinary speech they used Medius fidius, and Mehercules, not remembering, nor yet understanding what they said, Consuetudinis vitium est dicere mehercules, dicere & Medius fidius, accedente ignorantiam quorundam, qui ignorant jusjurandum esse per Herculem. Tertul. the Idolat. Students will not swear in English, yet in Latin they make no bones of it, saying, Mehercule; medius fidius, aedipol, per Deos immortales. Mr. Perkins in his Government of the tongue. God's me is swearing by a figure; 'slid is an Oath by way of abbreviation; and As I am a Gentleman, is little better. Capel of Tentat. part 3. c. 5. There are, 1. Ridiculous Oaths, as By Lakin. 2. Pharisaical, by Creatures, as Light, Fire. 3. Popish, by Saints, as Mary, john; Idols, as Mass, Rood, Amos 8. 14. 4. Heathenish, by the gods of the Gentiles, 1 King. 19 2. Mehercule, Medius fidius, etc. 5. Blasphemous, as by all the parts and members of Christ. B. Down. Abstract 3. prec.  and must of necessity abuse it, in that he cannot have the regard of it which he should, if he know not the nature of it.  
Secondly, when he swears rashly and causelessly in his common speech and talk, the things being such as require no oath; which is plainly condemned by our Saviour, Zach. 5. 2. Matth. 5. 34. and by his Apostles, jam. 5. 12. counterfeit oaths and vehement affirmations, as being more than yea and nay, are naught and blame-worthy.  
Thirdly, When a man swears ragingly in his choler and passion, which is to pierce through the Name of God, as the wicked wretch did in the Camp of Israel, for which he was stoned, Levit. 24. 10.  
Fourthly, when he swears irreverently, without any due regard of God when he hath just cause of swearing, for this is contrary to fearing of an oath, commended, Eccles. 9 2.  
So much for the abuse by taking an Oath. It is also abused in regard of keeping.  
First, When men break lawful Oaths, as Zedekiah did, for which he was punished, Ezek. 17. 16. and so did the Princes and people, jer. 34. 18 and Saul sinned in breaking the Oath of joshua made long before, seeking to slay the Gibeonites, 2 Sam. 21. 1, 2. for the Oath of a man in such case is not performed, but binds him and all that do succeed him in that place.  
Secondly, in regard of keeping it is abused, when men do keep a wicked Oath, 
An Oath must not be vinculum iniquitatis. Acts 23. 12.  as Herod did in beheading john Baptist, whereas such an Oath is a nullity, and therefore David kept not his Oath to kill Naball; yea, if one under Government have sworn to do a thing without the consent and privity of his Governor, and after the Governor knowing it, refuse to give way unto it, he or she under gevernment is not to keep the Oath, as appears Numb. 30. and therefore also in such case to stand upon terms of an Oath to disobey a Governor, is a sin.  
And so much for the abuse of an Oath. Now follows the abuse of a Lot, and that is two ways, either for the Matter about which it is used, or the manner of using.  
For the Matter: First, When it is used in mere sport and pastime, in matters 
Where we have examples of using any thing to serious and weighty purposes, and never to ludicrous and sportful; there it is far safer for us so to use the same, that we may be assured we follow Gods warrant; for God by leaving divers such examples to us, may seem to intend our direction in the use of that thing; we have divers examples for using Lots in weighty matters, none in sports. 2. A Lot is a sacred thing, the casting of a Lot a sacred action, because in using it we do especially and immediately refer ourselves unto God's providence, for the whole disposing of it is from him. Here the old saying is true, non est bonum ludere cum sanctis. Dr. Taylor calls Cards and Dice the Devils books and bones. See him on Temptat. Dr. Ames cases of cons. l. 5. c. 45. Cartwright on Prov. 16. ult. and Dr. Willet on Leu. 16. 12. p. 375, 376▪ of unlawfulness of games going wholly by Lot.  trivial and idle, Nec Deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus, God's holy Providence must not be called to determine toys; his Providence rules the least things, but we must not put a trifle to the determining of his Providence, for than God's Name is taken up idly and to no purpose, because no use can be made of the falling out of such trifles. So when men cast Lots who shall be together in play, who shall begin first; yea when they use games consisting of lottery, as are Cards and Dice, Games, if we consider of them aright, as unlawful (say some) as it is unlawful to swear in jest, or in common talk, for there is a manifest Lot in every game of these: In the Cards, the shuffling and dealing is an apparent Lot, for here are all the three things which are named in the affirmative part; first, A controversy or doubt who shall begin, this man or that. 2. A casual act, shuffling and dealing, which, unless there be foul play, is so ordered, that no wit, skill, nor activity of men, but 
Alearum ludus, & id genus alij, ob sortem aut fortunam in eyes omninò dominantem, ob turpe lucrum, ob in●amiam, nec non propter blasphemiarum & perjuriorum pericula, honestae ac sanctae vitae adversantia, atque obhorrendissimos eventus, & ob certa denique damna quae inde proveniunt, tam civilibus quam canonicis legibus, non solum apud Christicolas Anglic. verum etiam apud Ethnicos veti●i undequaque inveniuntur. Commentarius contra ludum Alearum A Fr. Angelo Roccha Episcopo.  mere chance; that is, God's secret Providence, can dispose of it. 3. The appointing and using of this casual act to end that controversy, or the putting of it to God to determine. So likewise in Tables, the cast of the die is a mere casual act, and this casual act is appointed to determine a controversy, viz. either what kind of remove, or what particular remove each man shall make, for they will not let each other choose their removes; so that there being all the things which constitute a Lot, to deny it the name is fond and absurd. Indeed the main controversy is determined in part also by skill, but as the mixing of Gold and Led together, cannot cause but that Gold is Gold: so the mixing of a Lot and skill together, cannot cause but that a Lot is a Lot, and therefore here a Lot is abused to a matter of pastime; that is to say, men play with holy things, which cannot be denied to be a sin. This is the first abuse of a Lot. Secondly, A Lot is abused when it is used to end a counterfeit controversy which is made by men's pleasure for sinister respects, and is not at all in nature, as in all gaming by Lot, where two men lay the money in common that before was proper, and then will needs cast a die (that is, a Lot) who shall have both; so in Lotteries of all sorts, where many men put that money which of right appertained to each of them severally, in one purse as it were, and then a Lot must be cast who shall have of that sum a little, who much, who nothing, when God had before by the disposition of his Providence given each his portion: Now for men unnecessarily to make a controversy, that some may get by the loss of others, surely this is a dallying with God, and an abusing of his Name. No wise father would suffer himself to be made Umpire so betwixt his children, therefore will not God take it well that himself should be made a Determiner of such lust-coined doubts. If it be said, that the end is good, viz. the bestowing of the overplus of the money to some good use, as relief of the poor, or the like: I answer, the Lot is abused for all that, because it is used to a wrong end; for the end to which God appointed a Lot, was not to 
Cohilonem (aium) quendam Lacedaem. cum faderis feriendi causa missus esset legatus ad Regem Persarum, & Aulicos fortè invenisset ludentes alea, statim re infecta rediisse domùm: rogatum cur negloxisset ea facere quae publicè acceperat in mandatis, respondisse, Quod ignominiosum existimasset, id fore Reipublicae si foedus percussisset cum aleatoribus. Mocket Apol. Orat. A game or play may thus fitly be described, viz. A contention betwixt two or more, who shall do best in an exercise of wit or activity, or both, about some indifferent and trifling subject. Every lawful means of getting is sanctifiable by prayer, as being that which God alloweth and blesseth. Playing for price is not sanctifiable by prayer, so that we may pray to God to bless us in that means of getting, Therefore playing for price is no lawful means of getting. The Scripture saith plainly, Thou shalt not cover any thing that is thy neighbours. When conscience doubteth on the one part, and is resolved on the other, we must refuse the doubting part, and take that wherein we are certain and sure. As for example, When one doubteth of the lawfulness of playing at Cards and Dice, he is sure it is no sin not to play; but whether he may lawfully play he doubteth, in this case he is bound not to play. Mr. Fenner of conscience.  get money out of men's purses, for the doing of some charitable action, but for the keeping of unity and concord among them in doubts not so well otherwise determinable. For why? it is an high honour to him in such case to be made as it were the chief Judge of all matters; so that these Lotteries be flat sins (as some conceive) and the using of them as bad as common swearing, because they are the abusing of a thing which is holy, as an Oath is holy.  
And thus a Lot is abused for the Matter about which it is used. Now for Manner likewise it is abused,  
First by collusion and deceit, when men seem to use a Lot, yet by some close and underhand-dealing dispose of the act themselves, as in cogging a die in false Dice, in all those tricks of oiled Cards, and overlong and over-broad Cards, and the like, where there is a manifest mocking of God, by dissembling to make him determine of what we purpose not to intrust him withal; where a Lot is also abused doubly, because here is both collusion and trifling. But if in a matter of weight a man will seem to cast Lots, and yet have some secret trick to turn the Lot as he list, not committing the disposition thereof to God, he doth grievously offend God.  
Secondly, a careless using of a Lot, imputing to I know not what chance and luck, without any heeding of God in it, is an abusing of it, so when men do make an excuse of their sin in sporting with Lots, it becomes an aggravation of it, for they say that they never intent to put God's Providence to trouble, but mark the falling of the die, and there is an end. Whereto is answered, that they ought not to let slip God's Providence so negligently, but seeing he takes the whole disposing to himself, they should see his care in it; and if the matter be so trifling, that they fear to mark God's Providence in it, than it is too base to have a Lot employed about it.  
Thirdly, A chase and fretting at the falling out of a Lot, is a gross abuse of it, as if one should charge God with want of wisdom, or tell him that he had done wrong; for God is so absolute a Sovereign, that when he hath manifested his good pleasure all should be hushed and ended, and therefore after that he which will fume and take on, doth offer indignity to God, and neglect his due subjection to that Sovereign Prince of his life, whom he ought above all things to regard.  
And so much for the abuse of those holy things which are intermingled with our common affairs. Now it follows to speak of the dishonour done to God in disordering of our common actions so far as they touch himself, and the things by which he hath manifested himself to us.  
Now these are:  

1. Inward.  
2. Outward.   
Inward, in regard of God's Works or our own.  
In regard of God's works first, by ascribing them wholly and principally to other causes, without taking any notice of him, at least any diligent notice. As for example:  
First, To Fortune or Chance, good or bad; if a man go and find a thing of price to his enriching, or so have any other sudden and unexpected benefit coming unto him, this he doth in his mind ascribe to good luck, and saith that he had great good fortune. Contrarily, if he go on the way, and there lose something of value and price, he storms and saith he had bad luck; or if any occurrent falls out that disappoints his present hopes, he in his mind looks no higher, but thinks it ill luck; as the Priests of the Philistines told the Princes, that if the Kine did not carry the Ark directly towards the way of Bethshemesh, than all the misery which had befallen them by Mice and Emerods', was but some chance that had befallen them.  
Again, men impute Gods works sometimes to the course of nature, so as to thrust out him the Author of Nature, or else to tie him to any inferior cause in nature. Thus the Atheist says it comes by nature, that some years are unseasonable, and some again seasonable. Nature is God's instrument, being nothing else 
There is natura naturans, and natura naturata  but that common course which he hath established in things, if men therefore would from nature ascend higher to the Author, Maker, Ordainer of nature, which hath by his great wisdom established that course herein, they would not sin, for God doth work things according to his own determination by usual and natural means most commonly; but to be so intentive to nature, as to have no thought, or but weak, few, and slender thoughts of God, this is a grievous profaning of his Name.  
A third thing which men do impute God's works to, to his dishonour, is their friends and foes, their benefactors out of good will, and their malicious adversaries out of their uncharitableness, as the Israelites looked to Assur, not to God, in whose hand Assur was as a rod, and contrarily being succoured by their well-willers, they ascribed all to their policy, wisdom, and friendship.  
Lastly, Men ascribe things to their own wisdom, care, industry, pains, courage, thinking within themselves, that their hand hath gotten much, that their sword hath saved them, as the King of Assur boasted what great matters he had done, and Nabuchadnezzar boasted that it was great Babel which he had built.  
Now when any of these things, fortune, nature, our friends, our foes, ourselves, are so thrust betwixt God and us, that we see not God because of our fond doting on these either feigned or subordinate causes, here God is exceedingly dishonoured.  
Another way of dishonouring God in his works, is by perverting them to evil and vile purposes and ends,  

1. By hardening ourselves in our sins from his long-suffering, patience and forbearance, as Solomon saith most men do, because sentence against sinners is not speedily executed, therefore are they fully bend upon mischief, and as the Apostle chargeth them, Rom. 2. to heap up wrath to themselves against the day of wrath, by turning God's grace thus into wantonness.  
2. When men charge Gods actions with unjustice, and so either deny or blemish his providence, especially in case of crosses befalling them, so taking occasion to murmur and be impatient, as job was by fits, and as it is often seen in good men▪ but most of all in bad, as they said, Where is the God of judgement? When men 
Mal. 2. ult.  take occasion from any of God's works to repine against, or entertain hard conceits of him, this is a grievous sin, and a dishonouring of him in his works.  
3. When men grow proud of his benefits, thinking highly of themselves because of those good things he hath undeservedly bestowed upon them, and are lifted up as if they had not received them, for God gives his mercies to better purposes then to swell the heart: as some man because he hath wealth, thinks himself better than all that have less, thinks that he may be dispensed with in sins, that he should not be called upon to such and such duties, and contemns others in comparison of himself. So did Nabuchadnezzar abuse God's advancement of him to be lifted up; yea david's heart was somewhat lifted up, and be grew secure, and therefore proud, and Uzziah also; for this is a disease marvellous hard to escape, which is the true cause why the Lord is fain to be narrow-handed toward his servants in regard of these things, because he would not have this pernicious disease to grow upon them, and sees that out of abundance it would come forth, such is their weakness.   
The last abuse of God's works is by hardening our hearts against them, and a wilful refusing to be brought unto that amendment, which we might, if we would see plainly that he intends, as Pharaoh hardened his heart against the wonderful works done by Moses, and the wicked Pharisees hardened their hearts against all Christ's miracles, than which what greater despite can we offer to God, to resolve we will not go though he lead, and though he drive us, or that we will go on though he hold us back with a kind of violence? And these be the principal waie● of dishonouring God in his works.  
2. We dishonour him in our works by mis-intending them, either to ends lawful in excessiveness, or to unlawful ends; as for example, when men labour in their calling only, or chiefly, to be rich; when men do eat only to fill the belly▪ most of all if men do these for wrong ends, as to do a work in ones calling to anger another, or the like; for herein we do sinfully pervert the order that should be observed, and cast our eyes from him upon whom they should always be fixed▪ as jehu in exalting of justice in ahab's family aimed at nothing but the lifting up of himself, and establishing the Kingdom to his own house. This is a living to one's self, and a serving of one's self, whereas we ought no longer to live to ourselves▪ but to him which hath redeemed us. The common sin of mankind, and that which doth stain and defile all the Moralities of unsanctified men, causing that those things of theirs are abominable before God, which to men carry the most glorious appearances that may be. And thus God is dishonoured in heart. Now he is dishonoured outwardly, and that 1. In tongue. 2. In action. In word, by all such kind of speeches as are contrary to those four kinds (wherein our words touch Good any way) that were named in the affirmative part.  
As first, contrary to good and charitable wishes, there are  

1. Formal wishes, as when men in a form say, God bless you, God save all; much more when it is in falsehood, the tongue speaking peace when the heart wisheth mischief, as David complains of his enemies that came to visit him, and then wished him all welfare in tongue, but were so contrary minded, that after they wished he might never recover, and so were bold to utter their malicious conceits when they came forth.  
2. Contrary to these good wishes are curses, imprecations, and execrations against one's self or others, especially such as wherein the Devil hath his name honoured, as the Devil take thee, the Devil go with thee: or though God be wished to be the author of the evil, as God confound thee, or the like. It is a token of an evil heart to be apt to curse, they which love cursing shall have enough of it, these bad wishes will fly back to the nest where they were hatched. The Apostle delivers it as a token of an unregenerate man, that the gall of asps is under his lips, and that his mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; it is a proof of a soul very much void of the fear of God, when a man dareth to speak to God to become his hangman or executioner, and a most horrible boldness when a man dare invocate the Devil for revenge. S. james speaks of it as a woeful and grievous crime, that a man should with the same mouth bless God and curse man, who was made after the image of God; yea not alone to curse men, but to curse any creature, wishing pox or plague upon it, or murrain, or the like, is a fearful abusing of God from whom we dare ask such things, unless we curse in God's Name, being armed by his authority and warrant, for if God bid his servants curse they must curse, I mean by pronouncing a curse; yea by praying God according to his truth to fulfil his curses. But of wicked and unwarrantable cursing we have an example in the proud Goliath, who cursed David by his gods, and of Shimei who cursed David with a horrible and bitter curse. And these be against good wishes.   
2. Against respective mentioning of God's Titles and Attributes there are two faults, the one is a light and foolish speaking of them by way of wonderment or otherwise, as O Lord God, Good God, when a man thinks no more of God nor his goodness, than he thinks of the Devil or Pope; so in other like occasions. 2. There is a mentioning of God's Titles by way of vilifying and abusing him, as Who is God, that I should let Israel go? and, What God can deliver out of my hands? and a mentioning of him by way of blaspheming, speaking evil of him in such fearful accusations as are not to be named, as raging against his justice, truth, and wisdom, and charging him with the contrary imperfections, as some in their distemper have done, a most hideous and fearful sin!  
Contrary unto good conference of God's Word and Works, there are four faults.  

1. Vain jangling, a discoursing of God's Word or Works only to show wit, and win applause, or to dispute of them only to try masteries and get victory, especially if a man choose out nice points, or genealogies and idle needless questions. If a man do jangle and wrangle about the most useful points, it is a great fault; but if he fill the world with controversies about trifles, this is a greater abuse, and more dangerous, because these matters will most easily breed doubt upon doubt.  
2. When men make jests of God's Word, alleging any place of Scripture in merriment to procure laughter, or make a mock of any of God's special Works, as the people did of the Apostles, speaking in strange tongues, as if it had been nothing but the vent of new wine overabundantly swallowed.  
3. When men misapply God's Word and Works, as by mis-alleadging them to countenance sin and maintain wickedness; or contrarily, putting off Gods testimonies, and misinterpreting Scripture, as that wicked Syricius would have no Ministers marry, because those that were in the flesh could not please God, and as the Popish Cardinal would have the Pope take upon him to punish, because it was said to Peter, Slay and eat, and such like. But especially the making spells of verses of Scripture by the words written, spoken or hanged upon one's neck, to cure agues or the like; and so by misapplying Gods works to any wicked conclusion, as if he did not hate sin, because he is patient in not punishing of it. Any wrongful wresting of the Scriptures or any of God's works, is a shameful abusing it to God's dishonour. Cavilling and despiteful objecting against God's Word, as if it were false and repugnant to itself, or a mere invention of men; and against his works, as if they were not righteous and just; picking a quarrel with God in either of these two, is an high dishonouring of him, and very displeasing to his Majesty. And all these are directly contrary to the holy and good conference which we ought to have together of God's Word and Works.   
Now some other things are contrary to the confessing of the true Religion, and these are:  

1. Denying and disavowing the same, principally if it be against the light of a man's own conscience, and after some professing and maintaining of it before, for Christ saith, that if any man deny him before men, him will he also deny before his heavenly Father. So Peter denied that he knew Christ, but we know how dear it cost him afterwards.  
2. There is opposing the truth of God, setting ones self by shifts and devices to impute falsehood unto it, and to pull down the pillars of it, as the wicked jews opposed themselves to the faithful and sincere preaching of Paul, and did dispute against those things which he spoke, labouring to make it appear that all he spoke was but a mere lie and falsehood, which is therefore a very wicked thing, because it tends to make others also hang back from believing the truth, and most wicked, when it is done contrary to a man's own knowledge or conscience, and so that he himself knows it is truth which he opposeth; but most of all abominable, when it is as it was in the forenamed jews, joined with actual persecuting of them which do stand for the truth, and labour to uphold the same.   
Lastly, when men strive to maintain falsehood, or false Religion and false Faith, endeavouring by coloured and cloaked reasons to get unto it the colour of truth, which is heresy when it is joined with obstinacy; and then a most damnable thing, when a man is condemned of his own conscience, and yet will persist in the maintaining of his lying imaginations, not suffering his mouth to be stopped, though his own heart sees and knows that he is answered, and that it is but a lie which he stands for with so much earnestness.  
And these be the most heinous disorders of the speech whereby God is dishonoured. Now follows to speak of actual dishonours, and these are twofold,  
1. General. Then special.  
Generally to live a scandalous and offensive life, in the profession of true Religion to make a show of fearing; yea to fear God in truth, and yet so little to regard the Name and Honour of God, as to give occasion to those which desire matter of obloquy and reproach, which is charged upon the wicked jews, that by their means the Name of God was evil spoken of among the Gentiles. Their lewd and ungodly, and unrighteous life, made that truth and sound Religion which they did profess, to become a byword, and to be contumeliously spoken of by all those which knew them; and so the wickedness of David in that foul sin of his, opened the mouths of the enemies, and gave them matter to speak evil of. He that being of God's House, causeth it by his ungodly demeanour to have an ill name brought up upon it, as if his Religion would no more sanctify men then if they had it not, he doth exceedingly dishonour God, as a bad servant discrediteth his Master's house; for it gives suspicion of ill government, when the people are of a disordered conversation. Yea, and those which do hinder others also from embracing the true Religion, and cause them which are godly to receive some blemish and aspersion, as if they were equally wicked, though they be more wary and crafty to keep it in.  
And that is in general. Now in special it is done two ways.  
1. By persecuting any for righteousness sake, seeking to hurt them in body, goods, or name, because of their good life, because of their refusing to join in sinful actions or the like, as the Pharisees did persecute the Apostles, and as Paul was persecuted by the jews, himself having first been a persecutor, and as Herod took and slew james, and would have slain Peter also, here God's Name, his Truth, is with great violence as it were defaced and made hateful amongst men, and therefore this of all sins is counted most grievous, and likely doth bring with it a severe and speedy judgement. This is to fight against God with drawn sword, as it were, to come into the field with weapon in hand against him.  
2. Sin is committed to the dishonour of God, when his natural benefits and Ordinances are abused; and this is done four ways,  
1. When a man enjoys them with a doubting conscience, or against his conscience, then and in that manner doing or using them upon the example of others or the like, when he in his own heart, though erring through misinformation of judgement, doth suppose them to be unlawful; to offend against the conscience, is to set light by God. I mean when the conscience seems supported by some place of Scripture, that it cannot well answer, otherwise if an idle scruple be objected through Satan's temptation without any ground from God's word, or when a man perceives it sufficiently answered and cleared, than it must not be taken as the voice of conscience, but as the voice of Satan by his crafty temptations troubling and molesting conscience, and then a man is not to heed it, but to break through it, so to win his own liberty and dash those needless fears out of countenance. But when a man grounding himself upon any place of Scripture, doth esteem any thing unlawful, because he thinks so, and cannot see the matter yet in his judgement cleared from that appearance, but thinks still that the Scripture condemneth it, then to do it is to sin against God, and so the Apostle Paul, saith, I am persuaded that nothing (meaning no indifferent thing either in regard of Levitical Ordinance, as Hoggs-flesh and blood, or of Idolatrous abuse, as meat offered to Idols) is unclean, but to him (saith he) that esteems any thing sinful to him, it is unclean. And it may fall out in this case that a man shall be so perplexed that in doing the thing he shall sin, because he goes against his conscience, in not doing it he shall sin, because he may by some other bond be bound unto it, it being a duty commanded which he takes to be a sin forbidden. And so much for offending through an ill informed conscience.  
Secondly, The creatures of God are abused profanely when a man rusheth upon them with brutish boldness, not caring to crave licence from the God of heaven, nor regarding to give him thanks for them, having taken the benefit and comfort thereof. If a man eat and drink, sport himself, use marriage or the like, and do not entreat of God a liberty to use these things, and having enjoyed them goes away and never opens his mouth or lifts up his heart to render praises unto God, this is as it were a challenging of a kind of property and interest in these things, as if they were our own, this is a denying of God's Sovereignty and peculiar right over them, an intruding and encroaching upon them, and no better than a stealing of them from the Lord. Beasts which have no manner of reason to discern of their Creator, which never conceived of a supreme and infinite Ruler of all things, they do thus fall upon all they meet, and take it at all adventures. And thiefs deal so with men, all is their own they lay hands on whether they have the good will of the owner yea or no, and he that so doth plays the thief and the beast with God, not acknowledging his title, and pre-eminence in and over all things.  
Thirdly, These creatures of God are abused superstitiously, and that two ways:  
1. By placing Religion in them, doing them as things which will of themselves specially please and honour God, and profit our souls, or abstaining from them as from things which will defile our souls and offend God, as those in the Colossians which laded themselves with observations, Touch not, Taste not. And so those which after the abrogating of the Ceremonial Law would not eat the meats formerly forbidden. If a man do abstain from a thing for some civil respect or end, or do a thing for the like, knowing also that it pleaseth God, it is all one which way so ever he do it; in regard of the thing itself he offends not, but if it be out of a conscience to God-ward to eat or not to eat, placing Religion in using or abstaining from any of these common things, meat, drink, apparel, or the like, then is he very fond, foolish and superstitious.  
2. By applying them to certain supernatural effects and purposes to which God hath no way fitted nor assigned them, as to divine of things to come, to find out hidden secrets, and here comes in all manner of Divination, Fortune-telling, and the like, by certain odd and idle Observations from the stars, from the Aspects of the heavenly bodies. Natural effects which are grounded upon certain causes may be foretell by the knowledge of these bodies, but contingent effects depending upon the will of men as their cause cannot so be foretell, or those which depend upon other as uncertain causes, as man's will. Here comes in also all observing of the flying of Birds, and of such like things as are taken fond for ominous presages of good or evil, for God hath forbidden these kinds of foolish observations to his people. Also there was other supernatural effects which men may misapply things to, as to drive away devils by holy water, imagined to be holy by the sign of the Cross, or the like, and to cure diseases in a supernatural way, as to cure an Ague by some baubling toys which some have invented, of paring ones nails, and putting the parings in a dunghill, and let them rot, and so shall the disease go away. All which be but Sacraments of the Devil, either no effect can follow upon them, or if any do it is from the operation and work of the Devil which blinds men's eyes from seeing himself by these trisling observations. But most of all, if a man deem to merit remission of sins by these natural actions of casting holy water, of crossing himself, of abstaining from food, of whipping himself, or of going in course attire, or the like; this is the most superstitious and fond abusing of them that can be, for than they become as it were Competitors with the blood of Christ, which is the only Sacrifice for sin, by offering of which he hath made perfect for ever them that do obey.  
And this is the superstitious abuse of these things. Now follows the last, and that is excessive, prodigal and licentious abusing of them; The chief things abused by intemperateness, are meat by surfeiting, drink by drunkenness, sports by voluptuousness, attire by sumptuousness: When a man contents not himself to take such a quantity of any of these as agree to the end which God hath in nature appointed them for, viz. meat to feed and refresh his body, drink to quench thirst and comfort his body, apparel to cover his nakedness and adorn the body according to the difference of degrees amongst men, and shelter from the cold, and sports to fit the tired mind for the calling and exercise of the body, that diseases may be prevented, but seeks to content his own inordinate appetite, or follows the fond custom and example of others, or the like, then doth a man shamefully abuse one of God's works which is his name, for he serves the Devil and the flesh with those things which God hath made, and hinders himself from being able to do good by that which should further him, and doth expose himself to many evils by that which should not be a snare unto him. Here the riotous, voluptuous, prodigal liver, specially the drunkard, which must drink healths till he have no consideration of health, and pledge as much as any man will drink to him▪ till he have inflamed himself, and be unable with discretion to consider any thing, is a gross abuser of the name of God, for he takes no notice of God in his creatures, nor doth serve him in using them as he ought, for in the end and measure of using Gods creatures, whose directions should we follow but Gods?   

CHAP. V. The fourth Commandment.  REmember the Sabbath-day, or the day of Rest, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God, in it thou shalt do no manner of work, Thou, nor thy Son, nor thy Daughter, nor thy Manservant, nor thy Maid servant, nor thy Cattle, nor the Stranger which is within thy Gates: For in six days the LORD made Heaven and Earth, the Sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it. 
THese words contain the fourth Commandment of the Decalogue, being 
Exod. 16. 29. It was but the breach of this one Commandment, and yet God chargeth them with the breach of his Laws in general, because he that is a wilful transgressor of this makes little conscience of any of the rest. This Commandment concerning the keeping of the Sabbath day to sanctify it, is placed in the midst between the two Tables, of purpose to show that the keeping of the Sabbath is a singular help to all piety and righteousness. Mr Bifield Hoc Praeceptum de Sabbatho apertè affirmativum est & negativum, This Commandment of the Sabbath is expressly affirmative and negative above all the rest. Zanch. in Praec. 4.  the last of the first Table concerning our duty to God immediately. The Sum of it is to appoint unto men a set and solemn time wherein they should wholly give themselves to the study of holiness, and to the performance of holy exercises necessary for that purpose.  
The Sanctity of the whole man required in the first Commandment, is the chief thing which God looketh for, to the attaining and increasing whereof the Lord saw good to require some special kinds of services, viz. solemn in the second Commandment, and common in the third, and the addicting and bestowing of a special time, viz. every seventh day. The end therefore of this Commandment is the maintaining and increasing of sanctity in men, the Sum, that every seventh day must be specially set apart to this purpose.  
Let us proceed to handle this Commandment, and to that end,  

1. Explicate the words of the Commandment.  
2. Speak something of the perpetuity of the Commandment.  
3. Show the duties herein required, and the sins forbidden. 
Memento seu Recordare, im● vero recorda●do recordare, ut ●otat modus loquendi apud Mosen. Id est omnino ac sollicitè recordare, nec unquam obliviscere. Fabricius. The Lord saith only Remember in this Commandment for three reasons, 1. Because though the Law was given from the beginning, yet this fourth Commandment was better kept in memory and in practice then any of the rest, and was but a little before repeated, Exod. 16. 22. 23, 25, 26. 2. To show what reckoning he maketh of the Sabbath, as men giving their sons or servants divers things in charge, say of some principal matter, Remember this. 3. To show how apt we are to forget it. Ford of the Coven▪ between God and man. Quia aequum non erat, ut res tanti momenti niteretur auctoritate, fide ac testimonio unius hominis; idcirco Deus secundo apparuit Mosi, & omni populo in monte Sinai luculentam hujusce rei fidem facit, praecipiendo illis cultum Sabbati, ut constaret certa memoria, mundum sex diebus, à Deo creatum esse, & septimo die Deum quievisse: ideo dicit, Memor esto diei Sabbati: Quast diceret, Quando & quotiescunque Saebbatum observatis, memoriam creationis fideliter, ac constanter colit●te. Menasseh Ben-Israel Probl. de create. 6. Vide ibid. prob 8. Sabbatum non solum Quietem, seu a laboribus cessationem, quae pars Festi semper fingularis habita, atque vocabuli ipsissima est significatio, denotat, verùm etiam diem seu annum septimum, quoniam in ●● quiescendum, uti Lustrum & Olympias quinqu●●nium. Seld. de jur. natural. & Gent. l. 3. c. 17.    
For the first, the Commandment hath two parts, as the words themselves do plainly show to each attentive reader.  
First, The Precept is briefly propounded.  
Secondly, It is somewhat enlarged.  
It is propounded in these words, Remember the Sabbath-day to sanctify it. Remembrance is properly of things past, but here according to the usual acceptation of the word, it signifies a diligent consideration of the thing before hand, as where the young man is commanded, Eccles. 12. 1. To remember his Creator in the days of his youth, that is, seriously to consider of him. It is all one as if he should say, diligently observe, for so he interprets himself Deut. 5. 12. Think upon and accordingly provide for the observation of this holy rest, by dispatching all the works of thy calling, that nothing might be undone which providence and diligence might prevent, that might hinder thy rest on the seventh day. Men are apt to forget the Creation of the world, therefore the Lord appointed the fourth Commandment; and to forget Christ, therefore he appointed the standing Ordinance of the Lords Supper, Luk. 22. 19  
The Sabbath-day] or the day of rest, and ceasing from labour, as the word 
The Ancients do usually speak of the Lords day in distinction from the Sabbath, because that denomination (Dies Sabbati in Latin) doth denote the Saturday, but our Saviour calls it the Sabbath-day, Matth. 24. 20. and it is called so three times in the fourth Commandment. The word was used by the Ancients, Russinus, Origen, Grogory Nazianzen. To sanctify a Sabbath is to call ourselves, not from our own sinful ways, which we must do every day, but from our honest and lawful callings, that giving ourselves to godly and christian exercises of our faith, we may be strengthened in the ways of God, and so in thought, word and deed, consecreate a glorious Sabbath unto the Lord. Therefore it is called the Sabbath of God, Exod. 20. 10. Levit. 23. 3. He calleth it a holy convocation, that is, dedicated to holy meetings. So Isa. 50. 13. Hereby is confuted their opinion, that take it a Sabbath kept, if they rest from their labours, so in the mean time they labour in plays, dance, vain songs, as though the Lord had called us from our profitable labour commanded, to displease him in these vanities. Fenners Table of the princip. of Relig.  properly signifieth, which is repeated again in the conclusion of the Commandment. It must not be bestowed as other days, but then they ought conscionably to forbear those things which on other days they might lawfully perform, for rest is a cessation from doing things.  
To sanctify it] or keep it holy, that is, to employ the day in holy duties of Gods immediate worship, to sanctify it, to set it a part to holy uses and purposes. So two things are required, 1. The remembrance of the time, which is a serious preconsideration to prepare for it. 2. A careful celebration, consisting in resting and sanctifying it, for a bare rest is not enough, but such a rest as tendeth to and endeth in the sanctifying of it.  
Thus the duty is briefly propounded, it is further enlarged, and that two ways:  

1. By an explication of some things which might seem doubtful.  
2. By an argument of confirmation or reason to ratify the precept.   
The Explication shows two things answering unto two Questions, which upon hearing of the precept so briefly delivered, must needs arise in the mind of the hearer, needing therein to be satisfied. The one, Which is the day of rest? The other, What must be rested from; and who must rest?  
To the former the Lord makes a full answer, by showing the time as distinctly as might be, saying, Six days thou shalt 
a Quod verbum non significat hoc loco praeceptum, sed operandi permissionem & libertatem, non necessitatem: alioqui nunquam liceret sex illis dicbus otiari, aut ab operibus nostris abstinere. Rivet Shalt] is as much as mayest, a word rather of permission then command. M. White on Command. 4. When the Commandment saith, Six days thou shalt labour, the meaning is, six days thou mayst labour: thou art licenced and not forbidden to do thy daily work on them by this Commandment. So it is translated in our last English translation, Exod. 31. 15. Six days may work be done. And in the Hebrew the same word standeth for both senses. M. Thorn. Seru. of God at rel. Ass. c. 8.  (that is, thou mayst, I warrant thee, and give thee good allowance for it) labour and do all thy businesses, that is, all the works of thy particular calling for thy profit, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, that is, which the Lord thy God requireth thee to rest in. So the matter is defined particularly, after six days bestowed in labour, and the works of thy calling of all sorts, followeth the seventh day, and that is the day of rest, which I appoint thee to observe. Here you have the matter of the Commandment explicated, every seventh day succeeding six of labour in a constant course of reckoning must be given to God for a day of rest. The seventh day 
b Seventh here is taken indefinitely not particularly, that is, for seventh in proportion one day in seven, not for seven in order, the last in seven. If the proportion of time be all that God respects in the six days of labour, than the proportion of time must needs be all which God can intend in the seventh day, which he sets apart for a day of rest. M. White ubi supra. This Commandment doth not directly require the seventh day from the Creation, but the 7th day in general. Cartw. Catech. Omnia illa opera prohibentur quae propriè vocantur nostra, quamvis non si●t strictè loquendo servilia aut mechanica. Illa autem sunt opera nostra quae pertinent ad hujus vitae usus, id est, in rebus naturalibus & civilibus versantur, & propriè ad lucrum & commodum nostrum spectant. Ames. Med. Theol. l. 2. c. 15.  following six of labour and still coming between six of labour, must in a settled and constant course be yielded unto God for an holy rest, the time being particularly determined.  
Seneca saith, the jews were a foolish people, because they lost the seventh part of their lives.  
Another question remains, What must be rested from, and who must rest? To which the Lord also makes answer, saying, In it thou shalt do no work; that is, none of thy works or businesses, none of the labours of thy calling wherein thou dost warrantably bestow thy time upon the six days, and the rest must be celebrated by the master of the family and his wife, comprehended both under the name [thou:] 
He names son and daughter first, because parents through natural affection are ready to wink at them. Mr. Dod. Filius tuus & filia tua] Intelligit eos qui ob aetatem legis intellectum nondum habent, quos arcere ab operis debent parents. Grotius. Man and maid-servant, because commonly some lucre is gotten by their labour. jumentorum à laboribus cessatio ideo praecipitur, 1. Ut ita assuesierent miscricordiae, Dum enim jubebantur ipsis jumentis quietem concedere, discebant erga homines mitius agere, Prov. 12. 10. 2. Et maximè ut ipsi Israelitae Sabbatho quicsc repossint, non cuim potuissent à laboribus cessare, occupati regendis jumentis, Exod. 23 12. Rivetus.  nay the King, Magistrate, Father, or any Superior, is meant by sons and daughters, by man-servants and maidservants, yea and by the cattle too, because their labour will require the labour of men attending them; and by all strangers within thy gates, whose labour will induce thee to labour, and be an occasion of thy labouring also. Turbasset ordinem civilem, & damnum attulisset Israelitis, si alii inter ipsos viventes permissi essent opus facere. Grotius in Exod. 20. So have we the Commandment explicated; now it is confirmed by a reason taken from God's institution, and of this institution we have the ground and parts, the ground from God's behaviour in the beginning, who in six days did make heaven and earth, this Universe, as in Gen. 1. the seas and all things in them, and upon the seventh day did rest from creating any more things; and out of a will to have the Creation kept in a perpetual memory to the world's end, did institute a day of rest, which institution standeth in blessing the day of rest and sanctifying it. The Holy Ghost saith that twice of the Sabbath, Gen. 2. 3. & Exod. 20. 11. that he never said of any other day, that the Lord blessed that day. To bless is to appoint and make it effectual for a means of blessing; see Isa. 65. 6, 7. & 58. 13, 14. and to sanctify is to sequester or set apart for holy purposes. So the whole argument stands thus, If God having himself made all things in six days, and rested from making on the seventh, did hereupon appoint the day of rest 
* This reason drawn from Gods resting upon the seventh day, must be deduced, not from God's act in resting upon that day, but from the consequent of that rest, the honouring of that day by his resting therein Mr. White on the fourth Commandment.  by blessing and sanctifying it, then must thou remember the day of rest to sanctify it, as I said at first; but so hath the Lord done, therefore must thou remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.  
Now having expounded the words of the Commandment, let us come briefly to handle the question, Whether this Commandment be perpetual, binding all men in all ages, or whether temporary binding only the men which lived before the resurrection of Christ, and no further? It is manifest that the Laws given in 
There are ten words or sentences, of which if we take away this, there will be but nine, Exod. 34. 18, 20. 2. Adam in innocency kept a Sabbath, Gen. 2. 3, 15. therefore much more should we the Apostles in taking this day and giving it the name of the Lords day, Apoc. 1. 10. as before it was called the Lords Sabbath, and ordaining public exercises, Act. 10. 7. and private, 1 Cor. 4. 2. 3. As they did show that in the particular seventh day, it was ceremonial: so in the common necessity it was perpetual, according to equity. 4. As Calvin saith unto the Papists, of the second Commandment, who also said that was ceremonial and abolished. As long as we feel the grossness of our nature to invent false worship, framing images of God, so long that must remain to humble us: even so, as long as we do feel our corruption, in accounting the Sabbath impossible, and so omitting and profaning it, so long we will hold it to be perpetual. Fenners Table of the Princip. of Religion.  the old Testament are to be distinguished in regard of their continuance into these two kinds. For the will of the Lawgiver (from which the force, extent, and continuance of the Law hath its original) was that some of them should be observed but till the resurrection of Christ and no longer, and again that some should continue in force from the time of their making to the world's end.  
Now concerning this fourth Commandment, it is apparent that the Lawgiver did intend that it should bind all men for ever from the time that he gave it. For how could he declare his mind in this behalf more plainly then by equalling it in all things with those precepts which are known to be of everlasting continuance, and by separating it from, and exalting it above all those other which are known to have been but Temporary. It was promulgated in the same majestic manner with the same voice, at the same time, and in the same place that the other nine. It was delivered to the same person to be laid up together in the same Ark, and so is a part of the same Covenant, whence those Tables are called the Tables of the Covenant, and that Ark the Ark of the Covenant. What Commandment, therefore is a part of the eternal Covenant, and is by God graced and commended with all those signs of commendation wherewith all the rest are graced, cannot, I think, be made of less continuance than the rest; for what did their writing in Tables of stone, and laying up in the Ark signify, but their durableness and eternal continuance, and full accomplishment for us in Christ. The Lord hath separated this precept from all temporary precepts, by giving it those privileges, as it were, and notes of honour, which all of them wanted, and God hath equalled it with the perpetual and everlasting precepts, by communicating to it all those testimonies of force and continuance which they had, therefore we are bound to believe that he would have this to continue in force as much and as long as the rest, even to all men in all ages, so long as this world shall last. There is one argument that carries some show of force for the overthrowing of this Doctrine of the perpetuity of the fourth Commandment, viz. That we are not now bound to do the thing it requireth, 
The Sabbath includes two respects of time: First the quotum, one day of seven, or the seventh day after six day's labour. Secondly, The designation or pitching that seventh day upon the day we call Saturday. Whether this day was in order the seventh from the Creation or not, the Scripture is silent; for where it is called in the Commandment the seventh day, that is, in respect of the six days of labour and not otherwise; and therefore whensoever it is so called, those six days of labour are mentioned with it. The example of the Creation f● brought for the quotum one day of seven, and not for the designation of any certain day for that seventh. Mr. Mede on Ezek. 20. 20. Seneca inter alias civilis Theologia superstitiones reprehendit etiam sacramenta judaeorum: & maxim sabbata, inutiliter eos facere affirmans, quod per illos singulos septem interpofitos dies, septimam ferè partem aetatis sua perdant vacando, & multa in tempore vergentia non agend● laedantur. August. de civet. Dei, l. 6. c. 11.  nay we are bound not to do it. For our Sabbath is not the seventh but the eighth from the Creation. To which I answer, That this fourth Commandment doth not require to rest and sanctify the seventh from the creation, nor from any other period or date of time, but alone the seventh after six of labour, or coming betwixt six of labour, in a settled course of numbering from any period that God should appoint; and so in the meaning of the Commandment we do now and ever must rest the seventh day, for the seventh is that part in order of numbering which doth still come betwixt six, having six before it and six after continually, and so our day of rest hath, and therefore we also rest the seventh day. Indeed the period from which we take the beginning of our account, is not the same but another, for they did reckon from the beginning of the Creation and so forward, we from the Resurrection and so forward; but ours is as truly and surely the seventh as theirs, though reckoned from another period; and for the period from whence the count must be made, we have no word at all in this precept. He saith not six days from the creation thou shalt labour, and the seventh from the creation is the Sabbath of the Lord, in it thou shalt do no work, but six days shalt thou labour; and he saith not after, the Lord blessed and sanctified the seventh day from the creation, but the Sabbath day; that is, the seventh after six of labour. Indeed the Lord by a special institution given to Adam, Gen. 2. 1. had for the times before Christ appointed that they should reckon from the creation, which was the cause of that special institution; but this is no part of the Commandment; and in that institution God did two things:  
1. He appointed the period from whence the seventh should be accounted, which else Adam according to the Law infused into him would have taken otherwise, for those ten were written in Adam's heart, as is signified by the writing them in Tables of Stone, and calling them the Tables of the Covenant, for God did not make one Covenant with Israel another with Adam but one and the same with both. Indeed the Covenant made with Israel was put in the Ark, to show Christ to be the end of the Law, but yet it was the same Covenant for matter, and so all the parts of it were written in Adam's heart. But Adam looking to the Law of his heart, and finding it written there (as some hold) I must labour six days and rest the seventh, would have begun his life with six day's labour, and then in course have consecrated the seventh, but the Lord by a special institution prevented him, requiring him to begin his life with an holy rest, and to sanctify that seventh day from the Creation, and so forward. This was of special institution, the assigning of that special date or period. And in this another thing was done, viz. the establishing also of the Law of sanctifying the seventh after six of labour; wherefore in the reason confirming the Commandment God seemeth to have reference to this institution, but so that he maketh it manifest he looked not to that period, but to the number and order of the day; and so saith, He blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day (which he had before determined to be the seventh after six of labour) not the seventh day, as it is said in the words of that institution. And the Lords reason is not this, What day I rested that thou must rest, but I rested the seventh from the Creation, therefore so must thou; but thus, What day I upon occasion of my labouring six and resting the seventh did bless and sanctify, that day thou must rest: But I upon occasion of my so labouring and resting, did bless and sanctify the Sabbath day, that is, the seventh after six of labour indefinitely, as the words before express, not from the creation only, Therefore thou must remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. So then this reason I take to be fully answered. And for our better satisfaction we must know, that we keep the Sabbath just according to this Commandment word for word, in that we labour six and rest the seventh, and so must do to the world's end, but that we have taken up a new reckoning from a new period, even the resurrection; we have it from Christ's appointment, as is plainly showed us, because this day is called the Lords day, that is, the day which he appointed to be kept constantly. This name 
Dies Dominica dicitur eadem ratione, qua Sacra Eucharistiae caena vocatur caena Dominica 1 Cor. 11. 20. quia scilicet & à Domino nostro jesu Christo suit instituta, & ad eundem etiam Dominum in sine & usu debet referri. Ames. medul. Theol. l. 2. c. 15. It was a usual question put to Christians, Dominicam servastis? and their answer was, Christianus sum, intermittere non possum. Est observationis Apostolicae & verè divinae. Beza in Apoc. 1.  of the day shows the Author of the day the Lord, and the end the remembrance of him our Lord, as the Lords Supper by that name is signified to be also from him and to him. And so by the wisdom of God it cometh to pass, that because men do labour six and rest the seventh, we do eternize the memorial of the Creation according to this fourth Commandment; and because we reckon from the resurrection, we do also eternize the memorial of that work, which is greater than the creation. We must not think any thing more to be commanded then what the words do set down expressly or intimate. Now neither expressly, nor by any necessary consequence or intimation are we pointed to a set period of numbering, or to a seventh from this or that date, but alone to the seventh after six of labour. As for the period, it being established by the institution mentioned Gen. 3. no question needed to arise about that▪ If any still argue, That day which God did rest, bless, and sanctify, is here commanded: But God did rest, bless, sanctify the seventh day from the Creation, ergo, that is here ratified: We answer, That the Proposition is to be understood with limitation, The same day which God did rest, bless, and sanctify, the same for order and number, not the same for the period or point from whence the number is beginning. For so himself doth show his meaning to be, in that he insists upon this order and number, saying, Six days shalt thou labour, the seventh shalt thou do no work, and doth not once mention the period from the Creation, as he could and would have done had that been his intention. Now the same point concerning the perpetuity of this Law is confirmed plainly by S. james jam. 2 9 where he saith, He that keepeth the whole Law, and faileth in one point, is guilty of all. Whence I reason, the whole Law and every point of it was of force when S. james wrote this Epistle, for how can a man break a Law that is abrogated, or be guilty of all by breaking any one point, if the whole be not, and each part equally in force. Now this Epistle was written by S. james to those which lived under the Gospel, wherefore at that time, and to those persons the whole Law and each part of it was in force. And if any doubt grow what S. james meaneth by the Law; it is plain, he meaneth the Decalogue or ten Commandments, thus; He that speaketh of a whole Law, and after instanceth in particular members of the Law, must needs mean the whole number of Precepts, whereof those two brought in for instance are members and parts. Now for instance, S. james brings in two members of the Decalogue; ergo, by the whole Law and each point, he must needs mean the Decalogue and every precept thereof, as will appear further by his manner of speaking and reasoning after, for he saith thus, He that said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, said also, Thou shalt not kill; if then thou commit not adultery, but killest, thou art a transgressor of the Law. Here we have a plain Enthymeme, and a proposition must needs be understood to make up the argument, and having one proposition and the conclusion, no man which hath reason can choose but add the proposition understood, viz. To this effect, What things were spoken by the same Lawgiver, do bind so equally, that though a man keep one of them, and yet break another, he is a transgressor of that Law given by that Lawgiver. Now these two, Thou shalt not commit adultery, and Thou shalt not kill, were so spoken. May not one add to the same proposition, But this, Thou shalt sanctify the Sabbath, was so spoken, and so conclude, Therefore if thou keep all the rest, and break this, thou art a transgressor. It is therefore I think manifest by this place, that the fourth Commandment as well as any other point of the Law is now in force. I confess that all the Jewish Sabbaths are abrogated according to the speech of Paul elsewhere, but not the Sabbath in general. The Jewish weekly 
Coloss. 2.  Sabbath is abrogated, viz. the seventh from the Creation, but the Sabbath in general, that is, the seventh after six of labour, is not abrogated. If the Sabbath in general were abrogated, viz. the resting and sanctifying of the seventh day after six of labour, than neither the Apostles nor the Church could have appointed the Lords day, nay nor Christ himself, unless he would be contrary to himself. Indeed he might have appointed a day of public service, but he must have altered the number and order, and not have taken the seventh in constant course after six of labour for a new date, for this would have been still to have appointed a Sabbath, but to appoint a Sabbath and abrogate all Sabbaths, are contradictory.  
And so much for the clearing of the perpetuity of this precept. Now I come to handle the things therein commanded and forbidden.  
The things required in this Commandment are of two sorts:  

1. Preparation to it.  
2. Celebration of it.   
The preparation to it is required in the Word Remember, for such is the nature of this Commandment, that it cannot be well kept unless ca●e be had of it before hand.  
Now this preparation is twofold,  

General.  
Special.   
The general standeth in a due ordering of our businesses, that we may not bring 
In the reign of Henry the third a Jew fell into a Jakes at Tewksbury, to whom it being offered to draw him out, it being Saturday (the Jews Sabbath) he refused, lest he should pollute the holiness of the day. Sabbata sancta colo, de Stercore surgere nolo. The thing coming to the chief Lord of the Country, he commanded they should let him lie the next day too, for the honour of the Lords day, the Christians Sabbath, lest he should profane it: so by abiding in it that day also, he perished. Sabbata nostra quidem Salomon celebrabit ibidem. In Constantinople, and all other places of Turquis, I ever saw three Sabbaths together in one week: the Friday for the Turks, the Saturday for the Jews, and the Sunday for Christians: but the Turks Sabbath is worst kept of all, for they will not spare to do any labour on their Holiday. Lithgows nineteen year's Travels, part 4.  upon ourselves any occasion of interruption and disturbance in the sanctifying of the Sabbath, by moderating ourselves in our businesses, not clogging ourselves with so much as we cannot dispatch without encroaching upon the Sabbath; for seeing God hath said, Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy business, it is requisite, and we are hereby tied to frame and order our affairs so, what in us lieth, that they may be dispatched in the compass of six days, which will not be so if we overfill our hands with work.  
2. That business we have we must with diligence and foresight dispatch in the compass of six days, for so we are wished, six days shalt thou do all thy businesses, which doth so serve to limit out the day of rest, that it doth also direct us to preparation for this rest, for seeing God hath allowed us to labour six days, it follows that we must wisely and diligently follow our businesses therein, that (as far as may be attained by our care) all may fitly fall within that compass of time, and nothing may remain to disquiet, clog and disturb us in the day of rest.  
The more special preparation is on the end of the Saturday, by making all things ready for that day, and so a seasonable betaking ourselves to rest, that we may be fitter for the sanctifying of it. What ordinary businesses may be dispatched before all the week we must do, what special things are to be made ready against the Sabbath, that so much as may be no labour may be put upon us on that day, must also be done. And so it appeareth that the Church of the jews did understand this precept, and had on the day before the Sabbath a time of preparation for the Sabbath 
* The godly Jews had their preparation for the Sabbath, that nothing might disturb the holy rest ensuing, Mat. 27. 62. Mark 15. 42. We must prepare for the Sabbath before it comes, 1. By preventing all lets and encumbrances which on that day might hinder us in God's service public or private. 2. We must in a godly manner prepare and fit ourselves in soul and body, so as on that day we may give most glory to God, and receive most good and comfort to our souls. Ad hujus diei rectam observationem duo sunt necessaria, quies, & quietis illius sanctificatio. Quies qua requiritur, est cessatio ab omni opere, quod exercitiis cultus divini poneret impedimentum. Sanctificatio hujus quietis ac diei, est applicatio nostrum ipsorum singularis ad Deum illa die colendum: quod innuitur illis ipsis phrasi●us, Sanctificavit illum diem, & Sabbathum est Jehovae Deo tuo. Ames. Medul. Theol. l. 2. c. 15. , Luke 23. 54. That day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. We ought to be as careful of preparing for our Sabbath called the Lords day, as they for theirs surely; and this we are not, if we do not take care the evening before to set all things in a readiness for the preventing of occasions of labour that day, as by fitting our houses, our attire, our food, so far as may be conveniently, so as little or no more than needs may, remain to be done about them, for our comfortable use of them on the Lord's day, and fitting our bodies with convenient sleep for the whole work then to be done. All this is enjoined in the word Remember, for it must not be a careless remembrance, but remembrance joined with a care of doing the thing to be remembered, and therefore also with all needful preparation to it.  
Hitherto of preparation. The celebration of the Sabbath stands in two things:  

Rest.  
Sanctification.   
The Rest of the day is appointed in regard of the Sanctification chiefly, being of itself nothing acceptable to God; for a mere rest, that is, a cessation from doing work if it be not referred to an holy end, and joined with a holy use, is idleness, and so rather a sin then a duty, and therefore he saith, Remember the day of rest to sanctify it, Exod. 20. 8. see Deut. 5. 12. Ezek. 28. 12. showing that the rest must have reference to the sanctification.  
About which rest it will be needful to show,  

1. Who must rest, and these are the Governors and all under their government, both public and private; and not only so, but even also the Beasts, and consequently all other things of the like nature, which must be attended and followed by the labour of man, such as are Mills, Fireworks, and the like, in which God aimed less principally at the benefit of the Creatures, but chiefly at man's good, by following these things he must not be hindered from the sanctifying of this day.  
2. From what they must rest, and that is 

1. From labours.  
2. From sports.     
From labours first.  
All labours or works are of two sorts, some religious, tending to the service of God, these are not understood here, as not being our works 
* Opus nostrum vocat, quod facimus nostri causa, hoc est, propter nostrum lucrum, mercedem & Commodum: hoc autem proprium est servorum, servilia ergo haec opera, quae scilicet lucri nostri causa fiunt, & ad seculum hoc pertinent, eoque verè nostra, concedit fieri intra sex dies, cavet verò ne fiant die septimo. Zanchius in quartum praeceptum.  but Gods, and therefore they are not forbidden. Some are civil or natural, tending to the commodity of this present life, such as are specially the labours of our ordinary callings, buying, selling, travelling, pleading, making any handiwork, or the like. Now all these are here forbidden, yet not simply but with limitation. For  

1. Works of mercy may be done on the Lord's day without sin, and might ever, for mercy must take the upper hand of all external acts of Religion, as being more essentially and intrinsically good than any of them, hence Christ saith, It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day, meaning by good works works of mercy, and so 
Mat. 12. 10. 12. Luke 13. 12. John 5. 8, 9 & 9 14.  he justifieth the pulling of an Ox or an Ass out of a ditch upon the Sabbath day, and himself did cure those diseased people which came unto him on the Sabbath day; so that if either man or beast be in distress, it is lawful to work, labour, and take pains for their help, succour and relief; and this prohibition must be understood not to reach to such things, and therefore the lawfulness of doing them cannot impeach the perpetuity of this Commandment.  
2. Works of necessity may be done, such I mean as are requisite for the preventing 
The Apostles constrained with hunger plucked the ears of corn, rubbed them in their hands, and did eat the corn upon the day of rest, and yet polluted not the Sabbath: for Christ defendeth their doing to be lawful, Matth. 12. 3. Mark 2. 27.  of imminent danger, as Elijah did fly for his life divers days, whereof some must needs fall out on the Sabbath; and in the time of war men may fight on the Sabbath-day, and so they may quench a fire if it happen, or the like, or stop an inundation of the Sea, or prevent any other like imminent peril which cannot be prevented without labouring presently.  
3. Works needful for the comfortable passing of the Sabbath, as dressing of moderate food, and the like, may be done on the Sabbath-day; for seeing Christ allows us to lead the Ox to the water, and requireth not to fetch in water for him over night, he alloweth us to dress meat, and requireth not to dress it over night. For the order in the Law of not kindling a fire pertained alone to the business of the Tabernacle, and that order of dressing what they would dress on the sixth day, pertained alone to the matter of Manna. And for this we have Christ's clear example, who being invited went to a feast on the Sabbath-day, which he might not have done if it had been unlawful to dress meat and drink on the Lord's day, for a feast sure was not kept without some preparation of warm 
a Yet some think it might be a feast without warm meat in that hot country where they usually did drink water.  meat. This example of Christ we have Luke 14. 1, 8, 12. which verses compared make it apparent that it was a feast whereto he was bidden amongst divers others. So then all labours and businesses except in these three cases are unlawful, for mercy, necessity, and present needful comfort. And not alone the labour of the hand about these things, but also the labour of the tongue and of the heart, in speaking and thinking of these businesses out of the cases excepted, is condemned, as the Prophet Isaiah doth plainly show 
b Isa. 58. ult. , commanding to sanctify the Sabbath to the Lord, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; our own words must be forborn, and our own pleasure, and consequently our own thoughts, for indeed words and thoughts of worldly businesses are as opposite to the sanctifying of the Sabbath as works, seeing the soul can no better be employed in holy exercises if it give itself to them, then if the whole body were so bestowed. So the true keeping of the Sabbath requireth the turning of hand, tongue and heart from our own ways, and thoughts, and words, that is, such as concern our own worldly matters and affairs.   
Secondly, Sports and pastimes, and natural wont recreations, such as may be used on the week day are also forbidden, and therefore in the place alleged before, it is forbidden to seek ones own pleasure 
c Isa. 58. 13. in one verse he nameth and forbiddeth twice the following of our pleasures as the chief profanation of the Sabbath-day. Some, and they no small ones profess, that recreations and sports are no otherwise then to be allowed then as they may be used to the praise and glory of God, which calls to my remembrance what a Scotchman sometimes said, as he was going in one of London streets, spying one of his acquaintance on the other side; for calling him aloud by his name. Sir, saith he, when shall we meet at a Tavern to give God thanks for our deliverance out of the Isle of Ree? D. Twisse of the Sabbath.  or will, and sure he that taketh leave to use pastimes seeks his own pleasure as he that followeth his business. Indeed when work is forbidden, sports can hardly be allowed which are never lawful, but as sauce for work, only the spiritual pastimes of singing holy Psalms and Songs as a spiritual recreation is allowed to prevent all weariness. Indeed the exercises of the day are of such divers kinds, that nothing but mere fleshliness can cause a man to be weary.  
But it must be showed thirdly, how long this rest must continue, to which the answer is For a whole natural day 
d The Sabbath contains four & twenty hours as well as any other natural day, Psalm 92. being a Psalm of the Sabbath, v. 2. David saith, He will declare the loving kindness of the Lord in the morning, and his truth in the night, making the night a part of the Sabbath. It begins at midnight on the Saturday, and ends at midnight next following, Matth. 28. 1. Mark 16. 1, 2. John 20. 1. compared together, it appears that the Jews Sabbath ended at the dawning of the first day of the week, and then the Lords day or Sabbath day began, Act. 20. 7. Elson on the 4th Command. , for of what quantity the foregoing six are, of that must the seventh be which cometh betwixt six in numbering, even four and twenty hours. If it be demanded at what time the day must begin and end: it is answered, when the first of the six following beginneth, and seeing God's intention was not to bind all Nations to begin and end their days at one period, and that we cannot tie the seventh day, but we must in like manner tie the days before, and after, to a set period of beginning and ending; it is apparent that by this Commandment we are not tied to any set beginning or ending, but must follow the common computation and reckoning of other days which is amongst us, from twelve of the clock at night to twelve the next night, for we say twelve at night, and one a clock in the morning. Neither is it any inconvenience that in some Country's the Sabbath shall be in being before and after the being of it in others, for the same inconvenience must needs follow upon any kind of beginning or ending either by Sunset or Sunrising (unless God had named a special hour which he hath not) for the Sun riseth and setteth in some places three or four, five or six hours sooner than in others, for a good space of the year at least. Yea in some Countries they have but two Sun-rising and Sun-settings in one year, that is, one half-year day, the other night. See Cartw. Catechism.  
And so have we one part of the celebration of the Sabbath-day concerning resting, the next follows concerning the sanctification of it. Time is sanctified by bestowing it in holy exercises tending to work, increase, and exercise sanctity in man. So this day is sanctified when the time wherein men surcease the labour of their callings (which they followed all the six days before) is employed in exercises of holiness.  
These exercises are of two sorts:  

1. Public.  
2. Private. 
Act. 2. 42. The Jews were 1. Assembled. 2. Had the Apostles doctrine, that is, the Old and New Testament read and expounded. 3. They had fellowship, that is, they did communicate these earthly things as every one had need. 4. They had breaking of bread, that is, the administration of the Lords Supper. 5. They had prayers. Ford on the 4th Commandment. For public prayer, see Act. 16. 13. and receiving the Sacraments at the times appointed, Act. 20. 7.    
For the public they are the hearing and reading of the Word, praying, partaking of the Sacraments and all such like services of God, for the reverend and orderly performing of which men are bound on this day as God giveth opportunity to assemble together, and each man is to appear before God in the Land of the living, as David saith. It is manifest that our Saviour Christ's custom was still to go into the Synagogues, and teach them on the Sabbath-days, as appears Luke 4. 16. And it is apparent that Moses was read and preached in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day, Act. 15. 21. See Act. 15. 14, 15. and that the custom of the ancient Church was on their Sabbaths to meet as we now do twice a day, it is to be seen in the Ordinance of the morning and evening Sacrifices which were appointed to be as many more for the Sabbath as for the other days. Upon the Lordsday God is to be publicly served of the whole Church in their several Congregations, and all the particular members of each Church are bound, unless they have some very just cause to come in due season to the Congregations, and attentively and reverently to join with them, and continue so doing till the end, and that not only in the Morning but also in the Evening.  
Secondly, The Churches are then to make collections for the use and behalf of the poor and other acts of mercy, as the Apostle appointed them to do in Corinth, 1 Cor. 16. 1, 2, 3. and as he saith, He had ordained in all Churches.  
These are public duties. The private are some with reference to the public to 
Both the Family-duties and secret duties which we are bound to perform every day, are (by the equity of that Law, Numb. 28. 9, 10.) to be doubled upon the Sabbath-day. Hilders. on Psal. 51. ●. Lect. 135.  prepare for it, and make use of it before and after, fitting our hearts to hear by prayer and meditation, and the like, and by praying and meditation applying that to ourselves which we have heard, as the Bereans examined the Doctrine of Paul; some again without such reference, as all holy exercises of singing of Psalms▪ prayer, meditation, reading, together with actions of mercy, in laying aside as God hath blessed us for the use of the poor, and in visiting and relieving the sick, comfortless, needy, and the like; all which are acts as well of holiness toward God, as of mercy toward men. Especially we must know that it is our duty to meditate upon the great works of our Creation and Redemption, and our eternal rest in heaven, seeing the Sabbath is given us as a memorial of the two former, and an assurance of the later, that being the excellent rest, our entering into which this holy rest doth point at and help unto.  
We must not only keep the Sabbath in the Church-meetings and solemn Assemblies (though it be specially appointed for the public worship) but at home in our houses, Levit. 23. 3. We must awake with God in the morning, begin with him, rise early, spend not much time in dressing of ourselves that day, it is the Sabbath of the Lord, have holy thoughts while we are dressing ourselves, pray to the Lord to pardon all our sins, and to put us into a holy frame, and yet finish all this so soon that we may be with the first in the public Assembly. We may after the first Sermon eat and drink, but for spiritual ends and purposes, that our bodies being refreshed we may be the fitter to serve God, but must take heed of spending too much time, or feeding too liberally, which may cause drowsiness. We must then season all with heavenly discourse, Luke 4. from v. 1. to 25. We must not speak our own words. After the public worship is ended we must 
The Sabbath must last as long as other days, that is, the full space of 24 hours.  call our Families together and repeat what we have heard, and catechise them in the principles of Religion, Heb. 2. 1, 3. the fourth Commandment, sing Psalms and pray. At night we should bless God for the mercies of the day, lie down with a great deal of soul-refreshment, sleeping in the bosom of Jesus Christ.  
And this is the matter of the duties to be performed, the manner is to consecrate the same as a delight 
f Isa. 58. 13. Call it a delight to consecrate it to the Lord, that is, take you as much delight in doing the exercises of religion, as many do in the works of their callings or recreations, and also much more: for they are far more easy, comfortable and profitable. M. Dod on the Com. 4. See M. Hilders. on Psal. 51. 7. Lect. 135. Mal. 1. 14, 15. What shall one do in heaven if the Sabbath be wearisome to him, there we shall keep an eternal Sabbath.  unto God, with comfort and joy serving him on that day, as we do with comfort and cheerfulness follow our common business on the week days, as the Prophet Isaiah chap. 58. 13. expressly requireth. And call the Sabbath a delight] Call, that is, make or count, an Hebrew phrase often used in Isaiah: Sabbath; Some by it understand the extraordinary Sabbath or day of Fast, because in the beginning of the Chapter there is an expostulation about it, Levit. 16. 31. but the Lord is now speaking of an entire reformation; My holy day, the Sabbath, agree not so properly to an arbitrary Sabbath: A delight] LXX thy delicate things, i one of the choicest privileges God hath given thee.  
These are common duties. The duty of Superiors specially is to look to their Inferiors, and at least to keep them from profanation of the Sabbath, and so far as their authority will bear, to drive them at least to the outward celebration of it, by resting and by joining in the public exercises of religion, as the good Nehemiah did cause the people to sanctify the Sabbath in his time, and forbade Merchants to bring wares to jerusalem on that day, and as we see in the very words of the Commandment, the Governor is appointed to rest, and not himself alone, but his whole Family.  
There is 1. No liberty granted more to the Superior then to the Inferior, but all of what state or condition soever must sanctify the Lords day.  
2. Every Superior standeth charged before God, not only for himself, but for all those which the Lord hath put under his government, that both he and all they sanctify the Lords Sabbath or day of rest. Ford on Command. 4.  
This delight is spiritual in God as the proper object, and in the Ordinances, as the only means to lead us unto God, job 27. 10. Psalm. 43. 4. Cantic. 2. 3. Isa. 56. 7.  
Reasons. 1. Because the duties of that day are higher, we have then all the means of Communion with God:  

1. We have them in a more raised solemn way without any interruption, there is then a double Institution, not only of the worship but the time.  
2. It's a spiritual Feast, a day of God's appointment, our recompense as well as our duty, Neh. 2. 26. Ordinances are fodinae gratiae, Isa. 12. 3.  
3. This day we come to remember the highest favours of God to the creature, to contemplate the works of Creation, God's rest, and of Redemption, Christ's rest, 1 Pet. 4. 1. and our own eternal rest, Heb. 4. 9 the Sabbaths of the faithful are the suburbs of heaven, Heb. 12. 23. the Lords Supper is heaven in a map, Luke 14. 15. Mat. 26. 29.  
4. Many of the duties of the day are but spiritual recreations; meditation is the solace of the mind in the contemplation of God's works, Psa. 104. 34. Singing of Psalms is a vent for spiritual mirth, jam. 5. Eph. 5. 18, 19 then God should be solemnly praised, Ps. 92. 1, 2.  
5. It is the temper of the people of God to delight in his solemn worship, Psa. 2. 1 Cor. 2. 12. Male concordat canticum novum & vetus homo. Aug. Psal. 84. 1, 10. Psal. 122. 1.  
6. Delight in the Sabbath is the best way to discharge the duties, 1. With comfort, delight sweetens all, how will men toil at their sport? Neh. 11. 8. 2. With profit, Isa. 64. 5. God will not send them away sad which come into his presence with joy.   
Means to delight in the Sabbath:  

1. Labour after the assurance of the pardon of your sins. 
Labour to get a spiritual and heavenly frame of heart, so much of heaven as is in you so much you will count these duties a delight. Some have found a beginning of the taste of heaven on the Sabbath.   
2. Solemnly prepare for the duties of the Sabbath.  
3. Wean the heart from temporal pleasures, Psal. 26. 8. & 119. 37.  
4. Esteem the Sabbath a privilege, that after six days of labour, God should appoint us a day of rest, he might have taken all our time.  
5. Treasure up the experience of former Sabbaths, Psal. 63. begin.  
6. In case of deadness plead with your souls, as David doth Psal. 42. Shall I go with grudging in the highest Communion that a creature is capable of.   
The fourth Commandment than requireth,  

1. Preparation. 

1. General, 

1. Diligence in our business all the week.  
2. Discretion in our business all the week.  
3. Moderation in our business all the week.    
2. Special, by fitting all things for the Sabbath on the end of the day precedent.    
2. Celebration of it, which is both 

1. Common to all, for 

1. Matter, both to 

1. Rest 

1 From what 

1 Labours.  
2 Sports.    
2 Who, all.  
3 How long, one whole day.    
2. Sanctification, to do all with delight 

Publicly.  
Privately.      
2. Manner.    
2. Special, to Superiors, to look to Inferiors.     
Six Arguments prove the Commandment of the Sabbath to be moral:  

1. It was delivered to Adam before the fall, when there was no Ceremony, Gen. 2. 2. which is not spoken by anticipation, but the context showeth it was then sanctified to him, v. 3.  
2. Moses takes it for granted, it was known to be moral, and known before the Law was given, Exod. 16. 25.  
3. Unless this be moral there cannot be ten Commandments, Deut. 10. 4.  
4. God would not put a Ceremonial Law in the midst of the Morals, and urge it with more words, reasons, repetitions, and particulars, than any of the Morals, as he doth the Sabbath, Exod. 20. 8, 9, 10, 11.  
5. Christ speaking of those days when all the ceremonial Law was dead and buried, showeth the Sabbath stands still, Matth. 24. 20.  
6. The Prophet prophesying of the days of the Gospel when Christ should be revealed, Isa. 56. 1. pronounceth a blessing on them in those times that keep the Sabbath from polluting it, vers. 2. and putteth the keeping of the Sabbath for the whole obedience of the Covenant, vers. 6. which he would not do if it were ceremonial, 1 Sam. 15. 22. M. Fenner on the Command.   
There is one general way of breaking this Commandment by denying the morality of this Law, and cashiering it among other Levitical Ceremonies. Indeed the Sabbath is in part ceremonial, figuring both our rest of Sanctification here, and glory hereafter, but that contradicts not the perpetuity of it, for it is not a Ceremony leading to Christ, and at his coming to determine, as appears Matth. 15. 17. I came not to dissolve the Law, vers. 19 He that shall break the least of these Commandments, where each of the ten Commandments is ratified, and consequently this fourth: Luke 23. 56. They rested according to the Commandment; and Luke writ that divers years after the Resurrection of Christ, the things were done after his death when all Levitical institutions lost their power of binding, james 2. 10. Therefore the whole Law and each principle thereof doth bind us under the Gospel, as the time of instituting a particular date of time for the beginning of the Sabbath of the old Law, viz. in innocency. 2. The writing of it in Tables of stone. 3. Putting of it into the Ark prove it moral.  
That term is not given to any other thing in the New Testament, but to the Supper, and the day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 1 Cor. 11. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Revel. 1. 10. This day was so sacred among Christians, that it was made the Question of inquisitors of Christianity, Dominicum servasti? Hast thou kept the Lordsday? To which was answered, Christianus sum, intermittere non possum. I am a Christian, I cannot intermit it. See Act. 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16. 1.  
So much of the Commandments of the first Table enjoining our duty to God; 
Yet this is to be observed, when the duty is performed to man, the obedience is given to God who commandeth us to perform these duties to our neighbours. Ford.  now follow the precepts of the second Table concerning our duty to ourselves and our neighbours.   

CHAP. VI The fifth Commandment.  HOnour thy Father and thy Mother, that thy days may be long upon the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, Exod. 20. 12. 
THere are three things to be considered in it: 
This is the first Commandment of the second Table, upon which all the rest do depend. As in the first Table the keeping of all the Commandments following dependeth on the keeping of the first: so here, if this Commandment were well observed, both of Superiors, Inferiors and Equals, there could be no disorder against any of the Commandments following. M. Dod. Of all the Commandments of the second Table this first only is affirmative, the other are all negatives. This Commandment is the first of the second Table, because there can be no order or state that can stand without this Commandment, nor could the other Commandments be kept without this. Richardson Philol. makes it one of the first Table, so doth Hudson in his Divine Right of Government, l. 2. c. 11. but our orthodox Divines generally do upon good grounds make it the first of the second Table. Honoris interesse majus est omni interest & jam vel vita ipsius; & generosae indoli, em●ri sic satius est per honorem, quam per dedecus vivere. Episc. Andr. Tortura Torti. Vult Deus hoc Praecepto sancire ac stabilire tres illos praeclaros in genere humano ordines ac status: O●conomicum videlicet, Ecclesiasticum & Politicum: omnesque in his ordinibus comprehensos sui officii admonere, & ad illud praestandum obstringere. Fabric. in Decalog.   

1. The Subject, Father and Mother.  
2. The Attribute, Honour.  
3. The reason of the Precept with a promise, That thy days may be long, etc.   
By the name of Father and Mother, first and principally those are understood of whom we are begotten, Heb. 12. 9 Not only Father but also Mother is expressed, lest any should think that for the weakness of her Sex, and the subjection of the woman, the Father only were to be honoured, and not the Mother. The 
Prov. 23. 22. & 15. 20.  Precept is repeated, Deut. 5. 16. & Levit. 19 3. where the Mother is put first, because the child begins to know her first.  
All Superiors also are comprehended under this Title, Magistrates, Gen. 41. 8, 43. Ministers, 2 King. 2. 12. & 13. 14. 1 Cor. 4. 15. Masters of Families, 1 Kings 5. 13. Elders in years, Act. 7. 2. 1 Tim. 5. 1, 2. Yet God makes mention of Parents:  

1. That he might propound that Superiority for an example which seems most 
Gratius nomen est pictatis quam potestatis, etiam familiae magis patres quam Domini vocantur. Pater in hoc mandato naturalis est, spiritualis est, & politicus: omnibus aequaliter & sine discrimine dicitur: Honorate Parents: & omnes Parents honorate, Honora Patrem & Matrem, honore reverentiae, fidelitatis & tolerantiae.  amiable and least envious. For as in the negative precepts he useth odious words to deter men from sin, so in the affirmative he chooseth words full of love, by which we are to be alured to obedience.  
2. The same at the first in the beginning of the world were both Parents, Magistrates, Masters and Schoolmasters.  
3. He names Parents, because their power and government which was the first is as it were the rule by which all others ought to be framed. Hence all Superiors are taught to carry themselves as Parents, and all Inferiors as children.   
He saith, Father and Mother, disjoining them, to show that there is a duty peculiar to both these persons.  
He saith not simply Father and Mother, but thy Father and Mother, therefore 
Sub nominibus Patris & Matris intelliguntur etiam avus, avia, aliique majores, qui in lineâ, quam vocant ascendentem, numerantur, quemadmodum sub filiorum nomine nepotes, & omnes qui ab aliquo originem ducunt, significantur, Maccov. loc. common. c. 9  thou shalt honour the Father, because he is thy Father of whom thou art begotten and bred, therefore thou shalt honour the Mother, because by her not without sorrow and pain thou wast brought into this life. Whatsoever they be they are therefore to be honoured, because they are thy Parents.  
The Lawgiver sets down the duty of the child toward the Father, and not the duty of the Father toward the child, because the affection of a Father toward the child is naturally greater, and hath less need of incitements then that of a child toward the Father, Amor descendit non ascendit. It is proper to love, to descend not ascend, the reason is, because love began in heaven, God was the first that loved. Charity, I say, begins in heaven, and descends on the earth; and in this it differs from faith, which begins on earth and ends in heaven. The Inferior is commanded rather than the Superior, because the Inferior hath more cause to neglect his duty then the other, it is easier to be honoured then to give honour.  
2. The Attribute Honour. The Hebrew word in Kal signifieth to be heavy, in 
Honour est agnitio dignitatis, vel excellentiae illius quae est in alio, cum ejusdem debita testificatione. Agnitio fimul dicitur & testificatio, quia neque in externa observantia sola, neque in interna consistit, sed in utroque. Ames. Medul. Theol.  Piel to honour, because we do not esteem them as light or vile whom we honour. It signifies not only a right esteem of the excellency and prerogative of Parents, and a right judgement of their person and office manifested also by outward signs of reverence, but love and obedience, and a readiness to relieve them in their necessity.  
We honour men, when taking knowledge of that excellency which is in them, we bear ourselves accordingly towards them.  
In as much as the unreasonable creatures also love their little ones, and are loved 
Honora] Tum aliis reverontiae signis, tum ad vitam necessaria illis exhibendo, quod sub voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comprehenditur, ut 1 Tim. 5. 3, 17. Aiunt Hebraei vel in pistrino laborare filium debere, ut subveniat parentibus. Patrem tuum & Matrem tuam] Ut terrestres Deos, à quibus originem trahitis. Grotius in cap. Exod. xx.  of them, the Lawgiver would have this natural affection (which ought to be in a man) of a more noble quality then that which is found among the very beasts. The beasts are capable of natural affections, but only man is capable of honour.  
2. In some respect a man owes more affection to his wife and his children then o his Father or Mother, but in honour the Father and Mother have always the pre-eminence.  
The honour due unto Superiors of all sorts, is reverence of mind, declared by some civil submission, as of rising before them, and giving them the honour of speaking first.  
3. The Reason of the Precept, That thy days may be long▪  
Which promise if we respect the words in the Hebrew, may be read two ways: either so That thy days may be long upon the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, 
Notat hic Aben Esdras solere Deum, ubi quid vetat, poenam addere ut modò bis, ubi quid imperat praemium, ut hoc loco. Quidam Hebraea verba exponunt, Ut prolongent dies tuos, Scilicet Parentes ipsi suo favore & ad Deum precibus. Sed vereor ne id nimis subtile sit, & rectius Graeci aliique interpretes vocem quanquam sormae activae, sumant in sensu passivo aut reciproco, nimirum ut prolongentur, aut prolongent se dies tui. Absolomo hoc praeceptum violanti curtati sunt dies. Grot. explicat. Decal. Ut prolongent dies tuos] Scilicet Parents, est enim prolongandi verbum hic activae significationis. Sed quo modo parentibus triluitur quod solius Dei? Propterea quod Parentes sunt quodammodo medium & causa instrumentalis per quos Deus filiis aliquando vitam prolongat, exaudit enim Deus saepè preces & benedictiones, quibus filiis suis obedientibus ac morigeris benedicunt ac bene precantur. R. Aben Ezra haec verba ita explicat, Ut prolongent dies tuos, scilicet mandata Dei, sed prior lectio simpli●●or est Paul. Fag. Annotat. in Chald. Paraph. Vide Cartw. in loc.  for than he did as it were give it to them after he had delivered them out of Egyptian bondage: or word for word, That they may prolong thy days, viz. Thy Parents, both readings have the same meaning, but this later hath a special emphasis, for it showeth that with our Parents after a sort is the prolonging of our life, that we may be the more incited to love and honour them.  
Day's] signifies time, because a day was the first sensible distinction of time.  
God promised life in this Commandment rather than any other kind of blessing, because we received life from our Parents, therefore life is promised to him which honours those from whom he hath received it.  
This Commandment enjoins the performance of all such duties as appertain to men in regard of their place, that is, which respect a special relation which passeth betwixt some men more than others in some special and particular bond, binding them mutually one to another.  
The Sum of the Commandment is to show, what duties we owe one to another, in respect of their and our place, gifts and call.  
This is made the sum of all the duties the child oweth to his Parents, Honour thy Father and Mother, because this is the chief duty of all others, yea this is the fountain of all other duties a child can perform, Malachy 1. 6. Deut. 27. 16.  
The duties required of the natural child are comprehended under these three heads, Reverence 
* Calv. Instit. l. 2. c. 8. Sir Thomas Moor being Lord Chancellor in his time, and having his own Father then living, and at that time a Judge (for he was one of the Judges of the Kings-bench) never went to Westminster-Hall to sit in the Chancery there, but first he would up to the Kings-bench where his Father then sat, and there on his knees would ask him blessing before a world of lookers on. How respective was joseph to his Father, and Solomon to his Mother, 1 King. 2. 19, 20. , Obedience and Thankfulness.  
1. Reverence.  
This reverence must be both inward and outward, in the heart and in the behaviour.  
The inward reverence is commanded Levit. 19 2. Ye shall fear every man his mother and father. God begins there where obedience is best tried.  
Secondly, Reverence in outward behaviour, as bowing to them, in standing bare, and putting off before them, in an humble and lowly countenance and behaviour, when the Parents speak to them, or they unto their Parents.  
2. They must obey their Parents, Col. 3. 20. Ephes. 6. 1.  

1. In doing the things which they command if they be lawful. 
Luk. 2. 51.   
2. In quiet and patient bearing their admonitions and corrections, Prov. 13. 1. & 15. 5.   
3. They must be thankful to their Parents, which thankfulness consisteth in two things:  

1. In relieving their Parents when they be in want, Gen. 47. 12.  
2. In praying for their Parents, 1 Tim. 1. 2.   
Children must be obedient to their Parents, so was David, 1 Sam. 17. 20. Christ went down with his Parents and was subject to them.  
Reasons. First, It is a Duty most 
* Ephes. 6. 1. Right implieth three things: 1. That it is agreeable to the Law, the Law of God, of Nature, of Nations. 2. That the place of Parents requireth as much, for right requireth that every one have his own, that which is his due. 3. That Parents deserve as much, for right presupposeth desert. D. Gouges Domest. Dut.  equal that they should be obsequious to them, by whose means they are, they were the instruments of thy being.  
Secondly, It is a profitable duty, that is the promise, That it may be ●well with them, and their days may be long on the earth, a prosperous and long continuance upon the earth is the reward of dutifulness; the Rechabites were highly commended of God for their obedience to their Parents, and received this Promise from him as a recompense of their obedience, That jonathan the son of Rechab should not want a man to stand before him for ever.  
Thirdly, It is well pleasing to God, Col. 3. 20.  
The bounds and limits of it.  
It must be a very large obedience, extending itself to all those things which 
Coloss. 3. 20. compared with Ephes. 6. 1. so far forth as children transgress not any of God's commandments in obeying their parents, they ought to obey. Rom. 1. 30. 2 Tim. 3. 2. Titus 1. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Deut. 13. 13. Ever the blessing or curse of the parents, hath a prophetic power joined with it, Flores Regij by King james, Deut. 27. 16. The punishment which by the Law was appointed to disobedient and rebellious children, was a public shameful death, Deut. 21. 18. to 22. Parentis effigiem filo corporis exprimere hoc omnibus cum aliis commune est: virtutes patrum tam rarum natis est exprimere, quam patribus virtutum suarum ac morum exempla suis relinquere posse. Jos. Scalig. Epist. Christoph. & Augustino Puteanis.  God or some Superior jointly over father and child hath not forbidden.  
Stubbornness and disobedience to Parents much displeaseth God. When the Apostle would▪ reckon up the foul sins of the Heathen, for which the wrath of God was manifested against them from heaven, he reckons among the rest disobedience to Parents; and when he would describe the ill qualities of those which should live in the later perilous times, he saith, Disobedient to Parents. The Apostle also setteth forth children's disobedience by a Metaphor taken from untamed, headstrong Beasts, that will not be brought under the yoke. The word therefore is not unfitly translated unruly: and it is somewhat answerable to an Hebrew phrase given to disobedient children, viz. Sons of Belial, which is according to the notation as much as sons without profit; or, as some will have it, Sons without yoke; that is, such children as refusing to be in subjection unto Parents, are no way profitable, but work much mischief, and cause great grief. Cursed be he that despiseth Father or Mother, and let all the people say Amen.  
They must not so much as attempt to bestow themselves in marriage without the consent of their Parents, Gen. 21. 21. & 24. 4. Exod. 34 16. Deut. 7. 3. Wives were given by their Parents to all the Patriarches in the old Testament.  
Erasmus in one of his Epistles speaking of Levinus that got a wife, neglecting the counsel of his friends about it, and so proving unhappy, he saith, Res calidè peracta est magis, quam callide, They should imitate what is good in their parents, Ephes. 5. 1.  
Though the consent of Parents in second marriages be not absolutely necessary, 
Postquam ex parentum consensu vel expresso, vel tacito, in sua potestate sunt constituti, tum patria potestas propriè sic dicta cessat, quamvis nunquam cessare possit debitum gratitudinis, observantiae, & pietatis filialis. Ames. de consc. lib. 5. c. 22.  yet it is to be thought fit and convenient, because children in some regard exempted from parent's authority, do notwithstanding owe duty to them, and they are to testify it by being advised by them in some sort in their after bestowing of themselves in marriage. Elton on the fifth Commandment.  
The duties of parents to their children are either in their tender years or riper 
The four Cardinal duties of a parent are prayer, admonition, example, correction.  age, common to both, or special.  
The fountain of parent's duty is love. This is expressly enjoined to them. Many approved examples are recorded thereof, as 
a Gen. 22. 2.  abraham's and 
b Gen. 25. 28. Ibid.  Isaacs, Rebecca's, and others.  
Reasons.  
Great is that pain, cost, and care, which parents must undergo for their children; if love be in them, no pains, cost or care, will seem too much. Contrary to love in the defect, is want of natural affection, which is reckoned in the catalogue of notorious sins, Rom. 1. 30. Tit. 3. 3. in the excess is too much doting upon children. Parents are apt to exceed in their love to their children, and be extreme fond in their affection; so Eli, Isaac to Esau, jacob to joseph and Benjamin, David to Absalon and Adonijah.  
Reasons.  

1. Affection is natural and grows in the heart itself, and so grows the bigger and stronger; natural affections can hardly be moderated.  
2. It is ancient, it comes into the world with the child, nay begins when the child is in the womb.  
3. It is much nourished, for it is the property of all, both affections and habits to grow very strong by exercise, and to wax mighty by frequent acts.   
But yet this fond affection is evil,  

1. Because it is an undecent thing for a man to suffer his reason to be blinded by his affection.  
2. It is dangerous and hurtful, 1. To parents, in hindering them from doing that which is good for their children's souls, and so causing them to neglect the best and most necessary offices of a parent, viz. To watch over them, to observe their faults and reprove them, and to beat down the corruptions that will be growing in them: it endangers the parents to sin against God, and honour their 
The child set at liberty makes the mother ashamed, Prov. 29. 15.  children above him, and to be too worldly for them. 2. To the children, they will grow bold on their parent's love, and so much more careless of them.   
The parents common duty to their children in their tender years and childhood, is,  

1. To instruct them in Religion so soon as they are able to speak and have the 
See Dr. Gouges Domest. duties on Ephes. 6. 4. Deut. 6. 7.  least use of understanding, Prov. 22. 6. Ephes. 6. 4. God hath commanded parents to have a care of the souls of their children, Deut. 6. 7. Abraham had so, Gen. 8. 19 
See 2 Tim. 3. 15. and Master baxter's Saints Rest. part 3.   
2. To give them correction, Prov. 23. 13. & 29. 27. & 13. 20. & 22. 15.  
3. To bless them, so Abraham did Isaac, and Isaac jacob, and he his children.   
The especial duty of the father is to give the name unto the child; of the mother, 
See Dr. Gouge, ibid. sect. 46, 47. Discant hic matres se debere per se suas proles nutrire & lactare: natura enim hoc illis onus imposuit. Hinc Mammillas & ubera veluti lag●nulas quasdam ad proles nutriendas aptas, illis largita est. Plin. l. 28. c. 9 scribit lac Maternum esse utilissimum & naturae prolis convenientissimum. Vide Aul. Gell. l. 12. noct. Attic. c. 1. Scribit Lampridius Titum filium Vespasiani Imperatoris toto vitae tempore adversa valetudine laborasse, eò quòd à nutrice infirma lactatus esset, de Tiberio quoque Caesare fertur quòd fuerit magnus potator, quia nutrix ipsius talis erat, secundò ex eo quòd filius non lactetur à propria matre sit ut mater filium & filius matrem minus amet. Vnde naturalem parentum ac filiorum amorem majorem videmus in communi plebe, quam in familiis nobilium, quoniam ferè nobiles foeminae infantes suos per nutrices lactari curant, à Lapide in Gen. 21. 7.  is to nurse up her own child, if God hath given her ability thereunto, Gen. 21. 7. 1 Sam. 1. 29. Luke 2. 12. Sarah nursed Isaac, Rebecca jacob, Anna Samuel. Else the mother will not so ardently love the child, nor the child the mother, for her love increaseth by kissing it often at her breast. Her milk (which is but white blood) of which the child consists, and with which it was nourished nine months in the womb, is more familiar and natural to the child, then that of another woman. He resembleth his nurse often in manners, mores animi sequuntur temperamentum corporis. Plato gives this as a reason why Alcibiades was so stout though he was an Athenian (which naturally are fearful) because a woman of Sparta, a courageous and valiant Nation, was his nurse. Tacitus writes that the Germans are among all Nations great and valiant, because their own mothers, which are of great stature, do nourish them.  
A Lamb sucking a Goat, or a Kid sucking of an Ewe, change their fleece and hair respectively, say Naturalists. See Dr. Willet on Gen. 21. 7. and Dr. Gonge of Domestical duties, on Ephes. 6. 4. Sect. 12. to 16.  
So much for the duties which parents must perform to their children in their tender years. Now those follow which they must perform to them when they grow to riper age.  

1. To bring them up in some profitable and lawful Calling, by which they may live honestly and Christianly; so Adam brought up one of his children in Husbandry and the other in keeping Sheep, both profitable and lawful Vocations. Adam in Paradise is appointed to dress the Garden. See Dr. Gouge's Domestic Duties, Ephes. 6. 4. §. 31. to 34. A Vocation or Calling is a certain condition, or kind of life ordained and imposed on man by God for the common good.  
2. To provide for the disposing of them in marriage, and that in seasonable and due time.  
3. To lay up something for their children, 2 Cor. 12. 14.   
Now follows the duties of Servants and Masters. First of Servants.  
Servitude came in by sin. Conditio servitutis jure intelligitur imposita peccatori, nomen 
Origo vocabuli servorum in Latina lingua inde creditur ducta, quod hi qui jure belli possent occidi, à victoribus cum servabantur, servi fiebant, à servando appellati, quod etiam ipsum sine peccati merito non est. Aug. de civet. Dei. l. 19 c. 15.  istud culpa meruit non natura. Aug. the civet. Dei. l. 19 c. 15. Vide plura ibid.  
There are two kinds of servants:  

1. Such as were absolute, those that were conquered in war, the Conqueror had an absolute power over their lives; the Apostle speaks of these Col. 4. 1. and bids give to them that which is equal.  
2. By compact and agreement, such as our servants are now. 
Servitus conditionalis & usualis.    
Servants are with care and faithfulness, as in the presence of God, to bestow themselves wholly on the times appointed, in their Master's business, Coloss. 3. 27. 2, 3, 24.  
Three things exceedingly commend a servant:  

1. Diligence.  
2. Obedience.  
3. Prudence and Discretion.   
The former two belonging especially to a man's place as an inferior, the third indifferently agreeing to every place, I shall handle the two first.  
First, A servant must be diligent in his business. Seest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before Princes, not before men of lower rank. Solomon speaks this principally of one in the place of a servant, if he be diligent he shall find good contentment with men of best note, 1 Sam. 18. 2. to 6. Such a one was the servant of Abraham, which showed so much care, painfulness, constancy, discretion, fidelity, in that great business of choosing his Master's sons wife, as nothing could be more. Such a one was jacob to Laban, whom he served with all his might, joseph to Potiphar. 
See Ephes. 6. 5. Coloss. 4. 22. 1 Tim. 6. 2. Tit. 2. 15.   
Reas.  

1. Because in so doing they will please God himself who is the Author of this subordination of men in the family, that some should be Masters, some servants, therefore Paul saith they must do it as to the Lord, not to men; and saith, Of God they shall receive the recompense of inheritance.  
2. For the quiet sake of the family, else he shall become like vinegar to the teeth 
Prov. 10. 26.  and smoke to the eyes.  
3. They must do it for their own sakes, because they shall live with most comfort, cheer and content themselves, as having the good will first of God, then of their Governors, and the good esteem of all which do know them. He that is slothful walks on a thorn hedge and pricks himself. A slothful servant is 1. A thief, he steals from his Master wages, meat and drink, which he receiveth, but dischargeth not his work painfully. 2. A dissembler, an hypocrite; if he allow this idleness 
See Dr. Willet on Exod. 21. Quest. 8. & 9 Dr. Gouges Domestical duties on Ephes. 6. 5, 6, 7, 8. Servants must obey their Masters, but in the Lord, and therefore the Apostle ever joineth some clause of restraint, Col. 3. 22. Ephes. 6. 6. 1 Cor. 7. 15. A servant is not sui juris, must do his Master's work, is a living instrument in the hand of another, 1 Pet. 2. 18. Servus non est persona sed res, saith the Civil Law, one describes him thus, A servant is a person that yields himself to the command of a master, and submits to his authority to do his will, Rom. 6. 16. So the Centurion describes a servant, Matth. 8. 9  he cannot be a faithful servant to God whom he never saw, who is not faithful to his Master whom he sees daily.   
Secondly, A servant should be obedient and dutiful, doing the things which his Master appoints him, as the places before quoted in the Colossians and Ephesians show. Paul wished Timothy to tell the servants that are under the yoke, that they must do service to their believing Masters; and he willeth Titus to exhort servants to be obedient to their Masters in all things, to please them well; and Peter commandeth servants to be subject to their Masters with all fear, and that not alone to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.  
Reas.  

1. God hath communicated a great part of his Authority unto Masters, for the good of that little society and all which flow thence.  
2. Servants are placed in a lower room, in a place of inferiority and subjection, and so are bound to perform obedience, seeing in all places the Superior must rule, and the inferior be ruled, or else neither Superior nor inferior shall with any comfort enjoy the places allotted unto them by God.  
3. Servants do receive meat and drink, and as the case goes with us, also wages, at the hands of their Masters, and these are badges of obedience, tying them necessarily to do service to them from whom they receive these recompenses of their service.   
When Servants are stubborn, unruly, masterful, this sin hath its original in pride and self-conceitedness, they tread God's Power and Authority under feet in treading their Master's.  
The Master's duty consists in two things chiefly.  
First, In choosing good servants, such as be godly and of an honest and blameless conversation.  
Reasons.  

1. If the servants be not faithful to God, they will never be faithful to their 
Psal. 101. 6, 7.  Master.  
2. A wicked person is very contagious, and will infect the family with his lewdness.  
3. He brings God's curse upon his Master's state and family.   
Secondly, in using his servants well. 
1 Tim. 3, 4. See Dr. Gouges Domest. duties on Ephes. 6. 9   
His chief duties are:  

1. To use his authority and interest that he hath in the hearts of his children and servants, to draw them to go with him to the Ministry of the Word, 1 Sam. 1. 21. 2 King. 5. 15.  
2. He must use his skill and endeavour to make the Ministry of the Word profitable to his family by examining them, making things plainer to them, and applying them more particularly, Matth. 13. 51. Mark 4. 34. Deut. 6. 7.   
A Master was called by the ancient Romans, Pater-familias, the Father of the family, 
Naaman's servants called him Father.  because he was to look over all those of the household with a fatherly tenderness, as being committed to his trust and custody.  
A Master should reward a good servant.  
So Ioseph's Master set him over the whole family. A wise servant shall rule over a foolish son, and as he that dresseth the figtree shall eat of the figs, so he which attendeth on his Master (saith Solomon) shall come to honour.  
Reasons.  

1. This will encourage others to virtuous behaviour, when they see it so rewarded.  
2. Equity requires it, the equity of the Judicial Law binds us, the faithful servant 
Deut. 15. 13, 14.  must not go away empty; all men will complain of a bad servant, few will requite a good one.   
So much for their duties that be further off from equality in the family, as Parents and Children, Masters and Servants. Now those that are more equal are 
See Dr. Gouges Domest. duties part 2.  Husband and Wife, whose duties are either common to both, or more particular to either of them.  
The common duties are of two sorts:  

1. In respect of themselves.  
2. In respect of their families.   
For themselves, they owe to each other love, trustiness, and helpfulness.  
1. Yoakfellows must love each other, the wife the husband and he her. The 
Without their union of hearts their uniting of bodies and states will be a death, Ephes. 5. 25. Love is such a natural property, of that relation, that God to show his affections to his Church when he would comfort her, saith that he is her husband, See a rare example of wively affection Speed in Edw. the first, p. 542.  Apostle commands husbands to love their wives and not be bitter to them, Col. 3. 19 The Heathens in their Sacrifices to juno the maker of Marriages, took all the gall out of the Beast, to show that all bitterness must be absent from that condition. A husband in that he is a man should be far from all bitterness; hence humane and humanity, the cords of a man, all these imply sweetness and facility. It is noted of Elkanah, that he loved Hannah, and Isaac that he loved Rebeccah, Gen. 24. 6. and the Apostle requires of women that they be lovers of their husbands and children, Tit. 2. 4.  
Reasons.  

1. God hath joined man and wife in many and near bonds, they have one name, house, offspring, one bed, one body, and should they not have one heart?  
2. This is necessary, 1. To make all the duties of marriage easy. 2. To make all the cumbers of marriage tolerable, such shall have trouble in the flesh, in regard 
1 Cor. 7.  of many domestical grievances, troubles from each other, children, servants. What a deal of misery had jacob in his married estate, and so David, therefore an happy condition in Heaven is described to be that wherein they neither marry nor are given to marriage.   
I will in the next place show, 1. What properties their love must have. 2. By what means it must be gotten and increased.  
Their love must have three properties.  

1. It must be spiritual, their affection must be grounded on spiritual respects, and show itself in spiritual effects, it must be a love founded on God's Will and 
Not beauty, wit, wealth, kindness received, these things may alter.  Commandment, which requireth them to love one another, that so it may be a sound and durable love, being grounded upon a lasting and durable foundation, and may be able to prevail against all difficulties and impediments. Secondly, It must show itself in all spiritual effects, of seeking the good of each others souls, and if they love one another because God commands it, they will love one another so as God commands; that is, so as to respect the eternal good of themselves.  
2. It must be plentiful, that is to say, for the measure exceeding all other loves, 
Matrimonial love, that is, such as beseemeth that near knot and conjunction. Where the bond is closest, the love must be strongest. His soul must rest itself in her as the only woman under Heaven for him; and hers upon him, as the only man under Heaven for her.  the husband must love the wife and she him, more than father, mother, children, brethren, friends, there being most near bonds of union betwixt them, they are one flesh. Let the husband so love his wife, even as himself, not meaning it as the phrase is used, when it is spoken of the love we bear to our neighbour, that he must love her with a love which hath the same properties that our love to ourselves, for then there were no special matter in it, but they must love their wives (saith a Reverend Divine) even as themselves for measure, as much as themselves, as Christ loved his Church.  
3. This love must be a binding love, limiting and tying their Matrimonial affections and desires solely to each other. Err in her love continually, and let her 
Prov. 5. 19, 20. As if he had said, If thou do not love thy wife, thou wilt look after Harlots, or at least art in danger so to do.  breasts satisfy thee; And, Why shouldst thou, my son, embrace the bosom of a stranger? Desire not the beauty of a stranger in thy heart. Means of attaining this love are of two sorts, natural and spiritual: The natural are, sociableness and familiar conversing together in the same house, at the same table, in the same bed; therefore God appointed that a new married man for the first year should not be sent abroad to warfare, or to any other public service, but should remain at home with his wife, that so through the constant society of one whole year their souls might be inseparably united in affection. Therefore those take a very bad course that dwell asunder, and fare asunder, and lie asunder, as for state and pomp is the custom of the greater sort of people.   
2. Spiritual means must be added to the natural, or else little good will be done, and these are two:  

1. Let them pray often to God to link their hearts together.  
2. Let them be frequent in performing all holy exercises one with another, and specially in praying one with and for another. Spiritual exercises breed spiritual affection, and nothing is more binding then 
* Religio à religando.  Religion. Religious duties do both express and increase the image of God, and that is amiable.   
So much for love. Now follow trustiness and helpfulness, both which we will 
Gen. 2. 18. It is not said a help only, for so are the living creatures, and therefore called, jumenta à juvando, but a fit or meet help. In the Original it is, before him, and with a note of similitude, as before him, that is, answering to him.  put together, as Solomon doth, saying of a good wife, Prov. 31. 11, 12. That the heart of her husband doth trust in her. And again, She will do him good and not evil all the days of his life. God did make man and woman for the good each of other, her to be his helper, and him to be her guide. This trusty helpfulness must be to each others bodies, souls, names, and states. Bodies, in the careful avoiding of all things whereby they may bring sicknesses or diseases each on other, and the willing and ready providing of all things that may continue health and recover it, as attendance, physic, and the like. Souls, in shunning all such carriages as may provoke each others passions or other infirmities, and using all good means of loving advice and admonition to help each other out of the same. Namely, in concealing each others infirmities, and keeping each others secrets. States, in joining together in diligent labour, wise forecast, and virtuous thriftiness. Thus for themselves.  
Now in regard of their families they must join together in the planting of Religion amongst them, by instructing and teaching them, and by reading and praying with them, the man as chief, the wife as his deputy in his absence; also they must oversee the ways of their family, by looking what is done by them, and seeking to redress by admonishing and correcting what is amiss.  
In regard of children they are  

1. To bear moderate affections toward them, Rachel and Hannah immoderately desired them, others mutter because they have so many.  
2. To train them up in the fear of God; Solomon, who was the tender beloved, the darling of his parents, makes this the instance of their love, in that they 
Prov. 31. 1.  taught him wisdom, and acquainted him with the Laws of God. It was said of Herod, that it was better to be his hog then his son.  
3. To reprove and chasten them for their iniquities; Ely, a good man, came to a fearful end for neglecting this.   
So much for their joint duties. Now the several duties of each come to be handled; and first we begin with the wife, and then proceed to the husband.  
The wife owes in one word subjection, and this twofold, to the husband's Person, 
The wife's relation-grace is subjection in the Lord, the Apostle twice or thrice calls for this subjection and obedience, 1 Pet. 3. 5, 6. 1. This is there made the great ornament. 2. The Apostle shows there the benefit of this subjection. The titles and names whereby an husband is set forth, do imply a superiority and authority in him, as Lord, 1 Pet. 3. 6. Master, Esth. 1. 17. Guide, Prov. 2. 15. Head, 1 Cor. 11. 3. 1 Pet. 3. 2.  and to his Authority.  
To his person.  

1. By acknowledging herself to be his inferior; God saith to Eve, Her desire shall be subject to her husband, and he shall rule over her. The female sex is inferior to the male, and every woman, as a woman, is lower and meaner than a man, as the Apostle proves, because the woman was after the man, and for the man, and she was first in the transgression, therefore she may not use Ecclesiastical Authority, not speak in the Church as a Minister: But to her husband, not as a woman only, but as a wife, she is inferior, and bound in conscience to be subject to his power and jurisdiction, for this is a word of eternal and constant truth, He shall rule over thee; which she that will not yield to, is an enemy to God and nature, and cannot be a good wife.  
2. She is to reverence her husband's person, both inwardly in heart, and outwardly. Inwardly, Ephes. 5. ult. she must fear him, not with a flavish but awful fear; that is, she must have her soul so disposed to him, as to be afraid to offend or displease him. She must show outward reverence also in her gesture, behaviour and 
Sarah called Abraham Lord.  speech.   
This is subjection to the husband's person. Now to his Authority.  
She owes  

1. Cheerful obedience to all his lawful commands, as the Church obeys Christ.  
2. A quiet and fruitful receiving of his reprehensions, as the Church also is patient 
Ephes. 5. 24.  toward Christ.   
Thus we have heard the wife's duty.  
The husband's duties are:  

1, Wisely to maintain his authority, not so much by force as by virtuous behaviour, 
1 Cor. 11. 7.  avoiding especially bitterness and unthriftiness.  
2. He must wisely manage his authority: The end of using his authority must be the good, benefit, and comfort of his wife and family, for all government is by God ordained for the good of the whole, not the pleasure of the Governor. The husband must use his authority to edification, and hearken to her when she speaks the Word of God, as Abraham to Sarah, Isa. 11. 6. 

2. The things in which he is to use his authority, he is to command what is to be done, and forbid what is not to be done, and reprehend where she offends.    
3. The manner of using his authority is with three virtues, Wisdom, Mildness, Justice. 

1. Wisdom, in commanding nothing but what is useful and weighty, and grounded upon good and due reason. 2. In his reproofs he must choose fit time when he and she are calm; and fit place, when none is present.  
2. Mildness or gentleness, rather persuade then command, if he chide her, let it be with compassion and without bitterness.  
3. Justice, in willing allowing of maintenance to her according to his place and means; in cherishing what is good, and seeking to reform what is evil. He must walk in all wisdom and knowledge, 1 Pet. 3. 7. he should be an example of judgement, 
1 Cor. 14. 25.  gravity, holiness, and wisely pass by many imperfections, because they are fellow-heires of grace: if there be not this wise carriage their prayers will be hindered, contentions hinder such duties.     
Thus much for private persons, viz. Parents and Children, Masters and Servants, Husband and Wife. Now follow the duties belonging to public persons, which are either in Church or Commonwealth.  
In Church, as  

Minister.  
People.   
In Commonwealth, as  

Magistrate.  
Subject.   

Of Ministers and People.  

Men are commanded to receive them in the Lord, to hold them in reputation, to know them as over them in the Lord, to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake, to hold them worthy double honour, and to obey them, Phil. 2. 29. Ministers must be faithful in their Calling. Faithfulness is a constant and diligent performing of all the parts of the duty of a Minister from the right grounds and for the right ends sincerely, because God requireth, and for his glory and the salvation of the people. It was a wonderful thing in Paul, 1 Cor. 4. 4. that he knew nothing by himself, that is, no notorious defect in regard of his Ministry.  The duty of the people.  

1. They ought to reverence their Ministers for the place in which God hath set them, Isa. 52. 7. Rom. 20. 15.  
2. They ought exceedingly to love them, Gal. 4. 14, 15. 1 Thess. 5. 12, 13.  
3. They must obey their Doctrine taught truly out of the word of God, Heb 13. 17.  
4. They must yield sufficient maintenance unto them, 1 Cor. 9 11. Rom. 15. 27. Gal. 6. 6. 1 Tim. 5. 17, 18. The Anabaptists deny that Ministers may receive a stipend, so doth Weigelius, he calls them, Stipendiarios praecones. Vide Crocij Ante-Weigel. part. 2. cap. quaest. 2.  
5. They must defend them against the wrongs of bad men, Rom. 16. 4.   
The duty of Ministers to their people.  
Their duty is laid forth  

1. By Titles, as Watchmen, Ezek. 3. 1. Labourers, Matth. 9 37. Light and Salt, Matth. 5. 13, 14. Shepherds, Joh. 21. 15. Good Scribes, Matth. 13. Stewards, 1 Cor. 4. 1. Nurses, 1 Thess. 2. 7.  
2. In Commandments, Act. 20. 28. 2 Tim. 4. 1, 2.   

1. He is to be a good example and pattern unto his people, in love, faith, patience, 
He should have Thummim integrity of life, as well as Urim, light of learning. It was said heretofore, Stupor mundi Clerus Britannicus, The wonder of the world is the Clergy of Britain. 1 Tim. 4. 13. jeroboam made the basest of the people to be Priests, 1 Kin. 12. 31. & 13. 33. and some would make the Priests to be the basest of the people.  and in every good work, 1 Tim. 4. 12. 1 Pet. 5. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walk aright, Gal. 2. 14.  
2. He is to feed the flock diligently and faithfully, to divide the Word of truth aright, 2 Tim. 2. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 talk aright. Matth. 28. 19 Woe to me if I preach not the Gospel. Popish Writers call our Ministers in disdain, Praedicantici.  
3. To dispense the Sacraments, Go teach and baptise.  
4. To go before them, and take heed to the flock.   
One saith, A good Minister should have five properties: 1. Be sound in the faith. 2. Of an unblameable conversation, 1 Tim. 3. 2. Acts 20. 28. 3. Of competent abilities. 4. Diligent and painful, Verbi Minister es, hoc age, was Mr. Perkins' Motto. 5. Not usurp the Office, but be called in an orderly way, joh. 3. 27. Rom. 10. 14. jer. 14. 14. Heb. 5. 4.  
Papists say our Ministry is a nullity, the Separatists say it is of the Devil and Antichrist.  
There is first the inward calling of a Minister, a work of God's Spirit inwardly inclining a man to embrace this Function for the right ends, God's glory and man's salvation. Not sufficient inward gifts of mind, of knowledge, learning and virtue, is the inward calling to the Ministry, because all these things may befall such a one as aught not to undertake the Ministry at all, as a King, but should sin grievously against God if he undertake that Function; yea all these may befall a woman, who may not be a Minister; I permit not a woman to exercise authority, or to speak in the Church.  
2. Outward, to be appointed to this Office by such who are entrusted with this care. Paul left Titus in Crete to ordain Elders; that is, Ministers. The nature of this Call consists in two main things, Election and Ordination.  
Thus much for those Superiors which have authority in the Church, and their inferiors. The superiors and inferiors in Commonwealth follow; and those are Magistrates and Subjects.  
The chief duties of the Subject are honour and submission, Command. 5. & Rom. 
Prov. 24. 2●. 1 Pet. 2. 17. See Tit. 3. 1. Rom. 13. 5. What one doth for conscience sake, he should do willingly. A great burden lies on the Magistrate. Unicus tantum est subjectus in civitate Magistratus, Luth. Psal. 82. 5, 10. Zach. 7. 4. Acts 4. 19, 20. julianus Imperator, quamvis esset apostata, habuit tamen sub se Christianos milites, quibus cum dicebat, Producite aciem pro defensione Ecclesiae, obediebant ei; cum autem diceret eyes, Producite arma in Christianos, tunc agnoscebant Imperatorem coeli. Grotius de jure Belli ac pacis. l. 1. c. 2. ex Ambrosio. Omni lege, divinà, naturali, nationali, licitè semper Reges & Principes, suis subditis tributa & imposuerunt, & licitè quoque exegerunt, cum ad patriae & reipublicae defensionem, tum ad ipsorum & familiae honestam procurationem. Montac. orig. Eccles. parte priore.  13. 1. In heart to reverence, and outwardly to obey the Magistrate.  
This honour and reverence includes within it a triple act.  

1. Of the mind, in a due estimation and valuing of their place and dignity.  
2. Of the will, in an humble inclination thereof unto them because of their excellency.  
3. Of the body, in outward behaviour and carriage towards them.   
Good Subjects must willingly obey the Supreme and lawful Magistrate.  
Reas.  

1. From the Authority put upon him by God, he hath entrusted them with a portion of his own Authority, and made him Commander in his own stead; in obeying him we obey God, if he abuse not his authority against him, and contrary to his will and the trust reposed in him.  
2. From the end of Government, the common good and the preservation of the welfare and society of the good. But 1. This obedience must not be absolute and illimited, God only hath an authority over us, it is better to obey God then man. 2. So far must obedience be yielded to their commands, as they do not evidently tend to the overthrow and ruin of the common society.   
Subjects are willingly to pay Tribute to a Prince or State. David had Tribute. Rom. 13. 6, 7. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.  
Reasons.  

1. The state of Princes needs such support and supply.  
2. The fruit, profit, and benefit of his labours redoundeth to his Subjects. 

2. The duty of Magistrates.     

1. That there should be Magistrates.  
2. What is their duty.   
It is the will of God that some men should rule over others, 2 Sam. 23. 3, 4. Civil 
It is a Divine Institution, that there should be regimen politicum, a rule and government among men.  Magistracy is a Divine Institution, Dan. 4. lat. end, Prov. 8. 16. Rom. 13. 1, 2.  
Reasons.  

1. God hath given some more eminent Titles than others, they are called, The foundations of the Earth, Psal. 82. 5. the pillars and shields of the Earth, Pastors, Shepherds, Saviour's, the Stay of our Tribes, Cyrus my Shepherd, Fathers; job saith, I was a Father to the poor.  
2. God's appointment, By me King's reign, God led Israel by Moses, ruled them by Judges and Kings.  
3. He hath given them authority, The judgement is not yours but Gods. 
All civil subjection of man to man came in by sin. God subjected other creatures to man, but not one man to another; there should have been a natural subjection of the Son to the Father, but not civil, nomen istud culpa meruit non natura. Aug. cited before in servants. It is an Ordinance under Christ as Mediator, yet (though civil Government came in by sin) it is God's Ordinance, Omnis potestas est à summa potestate.   
4. He gives them ability to rule.   
In the Heavens there are two great lights, and they not equal; in the Earth there is the Lion among Beasts, in the Sea the Leviathan among fishes, in the air the Eagle among the Fowls.  
God hath not equalled men in their naturals, stature, senses, in their intellectuals nor graces.  
Government was necessary.  

1. In innocency; God appointed order among Angels.  
2. In the corrupt estate, Societies need it for restraining evil, Hab. 1. 14, 15. supporting good, else shame and fear, the curbs of sin, will be taken away. Man is a sociable creature.  
3. In the state of grace, Tit. 3. 1.   

Object. The Apostle Peter, 1 Pet. 2. 13. calls Magistracy a humane Ordinance or Creature.  
Sol. It is Ordinatio Divina secundum substantiam, humana secundum modum & sinem, 
See Bis●●ld in lot.  It is Divine in regard of the chief Author, but humane subjectively or objectively, because it is about the society of men, and finally because it was instituted for the good of men. Magistracy in general is appointed by God, but the particular form (whether Monarchy, Aristocracy, or Democracy) is a humane Institution.  
Crocius in his Antiweigelius, part 2. c. 9 quaest. 1. proves that, Verè fidelis Magistratum potest gerere, and answers the Arguments against Magistrates.  
Evil Magistrates are a scourge to a people. A certain holy man, they say, expostulated 
Government often falls into the hands of evil men, Dan. 4. 17. Ps. 12. 8. Job 34. 30.  on a time with God, why he had permitted Phocas, being so cruel a man, to be Emperor? To whom a voice answered, That if a worse man could have been found, he should have been set over them, the wickedness of the world requiring it.  
2. The duties of the Magistrate.  
Zanchius saith there are three Offices of a Magistrate: 
Zanchius de Magistratu.   

1. To ordain both those things which belong to Religion and the Worship of God, and to public peace, honesty, and justice.  
2. To judge impartially, or (as the Prophets speak) to do justice and judgement. 
It is observable in all the Kings of Israel and judah, in the Kings and Chronicles, that their stories begin with this observation, as with a thing first worthy to be chronicled, how they dealt in matters of Religion; such a King did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and such a King did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of jeroboam the son of Nebat that made Israel to sin. See 2 Chr. 30. 22. It was an ancient ceremony in the Church of Israel, that at the King's Coronation the Book of God should be given into his hand, 2 Kin. 11, 12. Deut. 17, 18. to show that God committed the care of Religion principally to the King, that by the uttermost of his power and authority it might be established in his Dominions. The Nicene Counsel was called to convince the Arrians, the Synod of Dort to convince the Arminians. They should 1. Provide just Laws, not rule by their will. 2. Observe them themselves, and see they be observed by others. 3. Rule by love, and seek the welfare of the people, Psal. 78. 71. Esth. 10. 2. 1 Tim. 2. 2. Esth. 10. ult.  Magistrates of all men should be just, 2 Sam. 23. 3. in regard of their eminent place, justice will secure them.  
3. To punish evil doers with the Sword, Rom. 13. 4.   
Casaubon in his Commentaries upon Polybius, reports of one Hiero King of Syracuse, 
Sub Alexandro militabant plurimi. Sub Augusto nemo non cudebat carmen. Neronis tempore multi por urbem cantores, histri●nes, phonasci, multi Magi. Adrianus omnes faciebat observatores veterum Scriptorum. Lud. Viu. de caus●●orrupt. art. l. 1.  that he obtained that large Empire not by right of succession (although in times past obtained by his Ancestors) nor by violence, but from the admiration of his virtue; and that he administered that Kingdom after he had got it, always with clemency, dexterity, and faith, and lived about 90. years integris omnibus sensibus.  
It may be questioned how far the Magistrate may use compulsory power for suppressing of Heresies and gross errors.  

1. He must use no violent course till care be had of an information, Tit. 3. 10. 
Prima Magistratus cura debet esso, religionem veram promovere, & impietatem prohibere, Isa. 49. 23. Isa. 2. 11. Exempla hujus curae laudantur in Davide, Solomone, Josaphat, Hezekia, Josia, etc. Ames. de consc. l. 5. c. 25. Vide Ames. de consc. l. 4. c. 3. quaest. 3. Dr. Hill on Jer. 6. 16. See 2 Chron. 34. 33.   
2. In things indifferent, and matters of less moment, Christian toleration takes place, Rom. 15. 14. Ephes. 4. 2. so far as it may stand with faith (salva fidei compage, Aug.)  
3. A gross error kept secret comes not under the Magistrate's cognizance, Cogitationis poenam nemo patitur, saith the Civil Law, while it is kept in.  
4. Errors according to their different nature and degree, meet with different punishments, Ezra 7. 26.  
5. Blasphemies, Idolatry, and gross Heresies, are to be put in the same rank with gross breaches of the second Table, because it is to be supposed, they sin against the light of their consciences, Tit. 3. 9, 11. that therefore they are not punished for their consciences, but for going against their consciences. Baal's Prophets were slain, 1 King. 18. 18. See Exod. 21. 20. Levit. 24. 10.   
Magistrates ought not to plant or propagate Religion by Arms. The cruelty of 
Gerh. loc. common. Crocii Anti-Weigel. art. 2. l. 9 c. 7. Crocius in his Anti-weigel. p. 552. hath this question, An Magistraetui Christiano liceat haereticos coercere, and holds the affirmative in some cases, part 2. cap. 9 quaest. 8. sect. 1. and answers the contrary Argum. sect. 2.  the Spaniards upon the Indians is abhorred by all. True Religion should be planted by true Doctrine, Instruction, Example, but it may be defended by Arms.  
Mariana the Jesuit saith, Princeps nihil statuat de Religione. But the public Magistrates chief care should be concerning God and the things of God, job 31. 26, 27, 28. Ezra 7. 25, 26, 27. It is prophesied of the New Testament, Isa. 44. 28. & Isa. 49. 23. that Magistrates shall be nursing Fathers to the Church. God promiseth Zac. 13. 2. to cause the Prophets, and the unclean spirit to pass out of the Land. See ver. 3, 4. They are Shepherds, Isa. 44. 29. Fathers of their Country, the Lords Servants, Rom. 13. 3. Pollutions in Doctrine and Worship make way for the destruction of a State, and the ruin of the Governors thereof, Ezra 7. 23. Magistrates are Officers under Christ the Mediator, therefore as Christ's Officers they must not only do his work, but aim at his end. They must serve God not only as men, but as Magistrates. The connivance and toleration of Magistrates in things of Religion, hath brought in the greatest judgements and cruelest persecutions. The Christian Emperors connived at the Arrian Heresy, and when they got 
Object. The Kings of judah had the Prophets of God with them, who had an infallible Spirit. Ans. The Kings of judah had infallible Prophets among them, but they did not believe them. We have as infallible a rule as they had, Gal. 6. 16. That principle of infallibility of some external visible Judge, brought Popery into the world, and brings in Scepticism and practical Atheism.  head, they more cruelly persecuted the Orthodox Christians, than the Pagans or Turks. julianus haereticis libertatem perditionis permisit. Aug. in Epist. That is now styled liberty of conscience. The insurrection of the Arminians in the Netherlands, and of the Anabaptists in Germany, is sufficiently known.   

Object. This is to make the Magistrates judgement a rule in matters of Religion, and will subject us to a continual change.  
Answ. There is a threefold judgement in matters of Religion, 1. Propheticum. 2. Politicum, a Magistrate must know how God will be worshipped. 3. Privatae discretionis, as a man must believe for himself, so he must know for himself.   

Object. 2. This is to teach men to persecute the Saints.  
Answ. Persecution is suffering for righteousness sake, not for poisoning men's souls.  
The Magistrate is not to determine matters of faith, there is one rule for him and the people, To the Law and to the Testimony, Isa. 8. 20. But he ought to see that the rules of the Gospel be observed, 1. None are to preach but Prophets. 2. The spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets, 1 Cor. 14. 32.  
So much for Superiors authority. The Superiors without Authority follow, and their inferiors:  
Which are either in  

Gifts.  
Age.   
Duties of Inferiors are:  

1. To acknowledge their gift and reverence them for the same.  
2. To imitate them.   
Duties of Superiors.  
They must use their gifts for the good of others, Rom. 15. 1.  
Thus much for Superiors and Inferiors in Gifts, those in Age follow.  
Duties of younger persons to those that are ancient.  
1. To conceive reverently of them, and to carry ourselves respectively toward them, Levit. 19 32.  
Duties of elder persons are:  
To give a good example, Tit. 2. 2. and by a wise and grave carriage to procure reverence to themselves.  
The duty of Equals,  
Is to live together sociably and comfortably, not to exalt themselves above their fellows, but in giving honour to go one before another, Rom. 12. 10.     

CHAP. VII. The sixth Commandment.  THou shalt not kill, or, Thou shalt do no murder. 
THis Commandment respects the person of our neighbour, requiring us to procure his welfare and safety both in soul and body, and to avoid all kind 
a M. Do●.  of cruelty 
b Murder is the unjust taking away of the life of a man. It is unjust when it is without due ground and warrant from God. Ford of the Covenant between God and man. Violentia omnis & injuria, ac omnino quaevis noxa, qua proximi corpus laedatur, interdicitur. Calv. Instit. l. 2. c. 8. Homicidium est injusta hominis occisio. Illa autem occi●io, atque etiam laesio est injusta, quae vel non fit auctoritate justa, id est, publica vel publicae aequipollente, vel non ex justa causa, vel non ordine justo, vel ex intentione non justa. Ames. Medul. Theol. l. 2. c. 18. Non actus omnis sed illicitus hic significatur, qui solet esse significatus vocis Hebraeae Ratsach, Grotius. , and unmercifulness.  
We are forbidden to do any violence, injury or wrong to the body and life of our neighbour, and commanded to defend, maintain and cherish the same. Knewstubs Lect. 6. on Exod. 20. See more there.  
It enjoins all such common duties as appertain to ourselves and our neighbours, 
M. Whateley of the Com.  in regard of their and our person. The substance is, Thou shalt by all good means procure, and by no ill means hinder thine own or thy neighbours personal safety.  
There is no lawful taking away of life but in these three cases:  

1. Of enemies to one's Country in a just war by soldiers appointed to 
See Elton on this Common. p. 208, 209.  that end.  
2. By the Magistrate.  
3. By a private man in his own true and just defence.   
This Commandment is set next to the former for two reasons:  

1. Because the Lord having in that established degrees amongst men and humane 
Elton.  societies, nothing is more necessary for the continuance and safeguard of humane societies, then that the life of man be preserved.  
2. Because murder commonly comes from the breach of the fifth Commandment. 
Gen. 4. 5. Gen. 27. 41. & 37. 4, 5, 8, 20. Quia in quinto Praecepto Deus praemiiloco inferioribus promittit longaevā vitam, tanquam praeclarum suum donum, & inter omnia, quae nobis divino munere veniunt, vita sit charissima: ideo nunc sapien●issimo ordine divino subjicitur sextum praeceptum, de conservanda vita, tum proximi, tum nostra.  cain's murder came from a desire of superiority, because he thought himself not so greatly favoured of God as Abel, so Esau, so Joseph's brethren.   
And it is set before the other four because the greatest hurt and wrong that can be done to a man is touching his life, job 2. 4. death taking away a man's being simply which other wrongs do not.  
This Commandment and the rest following are all negatives, and the Lord beginning here with the greatest trespass that one man can possibly commit against another, even murder, proceedeth by degrees downward, from a great offence to a lesser, till he come to the least desire that is in man's heart to covet any thing that belongs to our neighbour, and forbiddeth them all.  
He forbids here the kill of a man not of a beast or plant, as the Manichees understood it (Vide August. de civet. Dei, l. 1. c. 20. & 21.) and that appears from the Hebrew word, for Ratsach agrees to man alone, whereas Charag is used generally. Our neighbour is the object of the second Table whose life is provided for, all the interpretations of this Law are referred to man only, yea it seems to be a repetition of the Law given, Gen. 9 6.  
This word sometimes comprehends all the causes and occasions of murder, and all ill will conceived against the life and health of my neighbour. Therefore in this he treats of all those things which are called manslaughter in the Scripture. Christ in Matth. 5, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. shows, that this precept is violated not by outward works only, but also by the inward motions of the heart, by words and gestures, anger, malice, envy and desire of revenge are the inward things that hurt and hinder the life of man. 
Matrimonium totius civilis societatis fundamentum est. Buxtorf. de Decal. Vide Grot. in explicat. Decal.   
Mark 10. 19 Luke 18. 20. & Rom. 13. 9 the sixth and seventh precepts are brought in, in an inverted order, Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill.  
In the Hebrew books they are constantly rehearsed in this order that they are placed in the Decalogue, as Matthew hath disposed them, Chap. 19 18. The transposition of them is free out of the Tables of the Law, where the things themselves only are considered, and many precepts heaped together in one verse.  

1. We are forbid to kill without any specifical determination either of persons, manner, number or instrument: for the Law giver doth not say, Let not the man kill; or, Let not the woman kill; or, Kill not thy Father, kill not a Citizen. Thou shalt not kill publicly, thou shalt not kill with a Sword or Club; or, thou 
Gerh. loc. come. Tom. 3. & Fabricius.  shalt not kill many, but in general, thou shalt not kill, that killing in general may be understood to be forbidden.  
2. The Commandment being negative accuseth the corruption of our nature, by which we are prone to kill. The affirmative meaning of this precept is propounded in that Epitome of the whole second Table, To love my neighbour as myself.   

Object. God commands Abraham to kill his son Isaac, Gen. 22. 2.  
Answ. God is an absolute Sovereign over all the creatures, his Law is grounded in his Sovereignty, to give a Law is an act of Sovereignty, his Sovereignty is not bound by the Laws he gives, as he works miracles sometimes, and goes beyond the rule in natural things, the fire burns not, the Sun stands still, nay goes backward, so in moral things.  
2. The will of God is the rule of goodness, 1 john 3. 4. In actionibus divinis nihil est justum nisi quia volitum, therefore that may be a duty to one which is a 
Voluntas divina est naturae primalex. Gerson.  sin to another, and a duty at one time, but a sin at another, as in circumcision.  
3. Divers acts in Scripture declare that what is by a general rule a duty, may be sometimes a sin, and so on the contrary, God's immediate discovery was loco specialis mandati, as in that of ehud's stabbing Eglon, Moses killing the Egyptian, Samsons kill himself, Eliahs' calling for fire from heaven, Luke 9 53. yet Gods will is not changed though he change his commands.  
4. This crosseth not the sixth Commandment which forbids me to take away the life of my neighbour unjustly.  
5. God had most holy ends in this Commandment,  

1. To show that his Sovereignty over the creature is not bound by the Laws he gives, God's Laws set bounds to us, not to him.  
2. He did it to try the faith and obedience of Abraham, Heb. 11. 17. Gen. 22.  
3. That he might give to the world example of an experiment of the power of grace, it will obey not only in ordinary but in extraordinary cases, as God dealt not with job in his afflictions according to a ruled case, job 5. 1. to give the world an experiment of his patience.   
Murder is a grievous sin, and will lie upon a man's conscience, as may be seen in the example of Cain, Abimelech, Saul, Absolom, and specially of judas.  
Clamitat in Coelum vox sanguinis, & Sodomorum  
Vox oppressorum: merces retenta laborum.  
Genesis 4. 10. & 18. 21. Exodus 2. 23. james 5. 4.  
There lived in the East a kind of men called Assassins', dwelling upon certain woody mountains under the subjection of a Lord, that had no other name but the Old or Great of the Mountain. This Lord (by the skilful making of a fools-paradise of carnal delights and pleasures wherewith he held his Subjects bewitched) had gotten such a hand of them, being very many in number, that they made him a solemn promise to kill all the Princes that were adversaries to their religion: many of the Christian Princes in their voyage for the winning of jerusalem and the holy Land, were much annoyed by them. Therefore the Italians and French have ever since (for their sakes) called all those that wilfully attempt or execute any murder, Assassins'. Camerar. Historio. Medit. l. 2. c. 10.  
Reasons. First, It is a most manifest sin evidently discovered to the conscience of every man not alone by the clear prohibitions of it in Scripture, but also by the very light of nature, as appears by the Laws made against it in all Commonwealths, and because it manifestly contradicts the most undeniable principle of practice, which is engraven in every man's heart, Do as you would be done to. Now it is certain every man's soul tells him that he would not have his blood causelessly shed by another.  
Secondly, The effects of murder are exceeding bad, the chief of them may be referred to two heads, injuriousness to many, mischievousness to the committer.  
First, It is extreme injurious to God and also to men, to God in three respects:  

1. It transgresseth his Law and violateth his authority by doing that which he hath absolutely forbidden to be done.  
2. In that it defaceth his Image, for man was made after God's image, and doth yet retain some lineaments thereof (as I may call them) though very much blotted and blurred by his fall, yet such as should make every man to show more respect unto them) then in a rage or otherwise to cancel and demolish it quite, that which is yet in some degree a representation of the glory of God.  
3. It usurps upon God's royal and divine Prerogative, for as he alone can make a man, so hath he assumed to himself the privilege or power of unmaking men, no man should adventure to do it without his special warrant and appointment.   
Secondly, It is injurious also to men as well as to God, both to private persons, and also to public.  
Of private persons:  
First, The person murdered is wronged with a great wrong, and that which goes beyond all satisfaction, in that he is at once robbed of friends, and goods, and honours, and all the benefits of this life, which in the taking away of life are taken away from him, and he from them; and also for that his soul is either deprived of that increase of glory which he might have had in heaven by the continuance of his life, if being godly he had lived, or else deprived of that possibility which during life remained to him if he were not yet godly.  
Next the friends and well willers, brethren, kindred, wife, children of the murdered are greatly wronged, in that both their hearts are filled full of grief and heaviness, for the untimely and violent death of one that was near unto them, and also deprived of all that good they had by him, or of all that they might have hoped to have enjoyed by his means if he had lived.  
Furthermore public persons are injured, both the Magistrate, in that the Laws and orders by him justly made are like mounds by an unruly beast trodden down and broken; and the whole Common-weal, in that both the peace and quietness thereof is disturbed, and seeds of discord and enmity sown among the members thereof, for most times the murder of one breeds a quarrel amongst many that survive, and also a member thereof is cut away to the hindering it of that service which his sufficiencies either for the present did, or for the future might have afforded it.  
And lastly, A stain and blot is cast upon the face thereof, and that such a stain as cannot be washed away but by the blood of him that did cast it on.  
It is also mischievous to the committer, exposing him either to a violent death 
Numb. 35. 31, 33  by the hand of the Magistrate, or to fearful punishments 
* Non desunt teste R. S. qui putant terram quocunque locorum venerit Cain, sub ●o tremuisse, quo conspecto homines dixere, fugite, is est crud●lis ille homicida qui sratrem suum occidit. P. Fag. in Gen. 4. 16. Neque enim frustra in sanctis Canonicisque libris nusquam nobis divinitus praeceptum permissumve reperiri potest: ut vel ipsius ad●piscendae immortalitis, vel ullius carendi cavendive mali causa, nobismetipsis necem inseramus. August. de civitate Dei, lib. 1. cap. 20. Vide plura ibid. c. 19, 21, 22, 23.  by God's hand, For the bloodthirsty man shall not live out half his days, and to everlasting damnation at last, for murderers must be without unless repentance come betwixt. Murder hath often been strangely discovered, by Dogs, Cranes, Crows. See the Theatre of God's Judgement, Chap. 11. Psal. 9 12. Habakkuk 2. 11. and Camera. Histor. Meditat. l. 2. c. 6.  
Luther reciteth a story of a certain Almaigne, who in travelling fell among thiefs, which being about to cut his throat, the poor man espied a flight of Crows, and said, O Crows, I take you for witnesses and revengers of my death. About two or three days after, these murdering thiefs drinking in an ●nne, a company of Crows came and lighted upon the top of the house, whereupon the thiefs began to laugh, and say one to another, Look yonder are they which must revenge his death, whom we dispatched the other day. The Tapster overhearing them told it to the Magistrate; who presently caused them to be apprehended, and upon their disagreeing in speeches and contrary answers, urged them so far, that they confessed the truth, and received their deserved punishment. See Goularts memorable Histories, p. 415, 416. to 429.  
Self-murder is a great sin, and a manifest breaking of this Commandment. 
Occide●e sem●tipsum ex intentione directa est inter gravissima homicidii peccata. Quia sic faciens, 1. Graviter peccat adversus authoritatem Dei, qui solus est Dominus vitae. 2. Adversus bonitatem Dei, cujus tantum beneficium contemnit. 3. Adversus providentiam Dei, cujus ordinem turbare conatur. 4. Adversus charitatem, qua non minus tenetur se quam proximum in vita conservare. 5. Adversus justitiam, quae non patitur quenquam rempublicam & alias societates humanas, quarum pars est quisque membro aliquo ex arbitrio privato spoliare. 6. Adversus communem naturae inclinationem, atque adeo legem naturae. Ames. l. 5. de consc. c. 31. Vide Aquin. 2a, 2ae. Qu. 64. Art. 5. Lactant. Divin. Instit. lib. 3. de falsa Sapientia, p. 193.  For as in all the other Commandments the Lord doth forbid men to wrong themselves as well as their Brethren, so likewise in this, no man may sin against his own honour and dignity, no more then against the honour and dignity of another. No man may defile his own body, nor waste his own goods, nor blemish his own name more than his neighbours, therefore neither may he kill himself.  
The kill of one's self is the highest degree of violating this Commandment, because it crosseth the nearest of all bonds, and observes not the rule of charity there where most charity is due, for love should always begin at home.  
2. This fact crosseth the strongest inclination of nature and clearest principles of reason, for nature makes a man desirous of his own being, and studious of his own preservation. This is then contrary to the two strongest laws and rules of life, the Law of God and nature.  
3. The causes of doing it are very naught.  
First, It comes from extremity of pride and impatiency. He will not be at God's command, nor at his direction, nor be at all unless he may be as he will himself, and so it ariseth from an untoward mixture of high-mindedness and base-mindedness. base-mindedness because he hath not strength enough of resolution to bear some evil which he feels or foresees: high-mindedness, because he will not stoop unto the ruler of all things, to bear the burden which he lays upon him.  
2. Another cause of this sin is horrible despair, infidelity.  
A third cause of it is an enraged conscience, as in Saul, judas, Achitophel.  
4. The vehement temptation of Satan taking advantage either of a melancholic constitution of body, or of the affrightments of conscience.  
Thirdly, The effects of it are bad, for by this means a man wrongs God, himself and the world.  
He wrongs God first by breaking his Commandment.  
2. By defacing his Image.  
3. By leaving his standing wherein he was placed by him without and against his will.  
Secondly, He wrongs himself, for he extremely hazards himself to damnation, if not certainly casts himself into hell, for he runs upon a most palpable and fearful crime, and leaves himself no leisure at all to repent of it. It is a hard thing to hope that he should be pardoned who willingly thrusts himself out of the way of repentance, and doth commit such a fault that we never read of any in Scripture 
* Saul is the first man whom the Scripture sets forth to us for an example of this worse than beastly rage and unnaturalness. He by his example drew his Armour-bearer to it, these two with Achitophel and judas are all which the Scripture mentions to have murdered themselves; these were all evil men except the Armour-bearer in whom was little good as is likely. Self-murder in some cases was held commendable and honourable by the Romans. See D. Hackw. Apol. of Gods provide. in the govern. of the world, l. 4. c. 3. Sect. 11.  that did commit it but damned reprobates.  
Lastly, He doth great wrong to others also, his friends and well-willers, to whom he gives occasion of the greatest grief that can possibly befall them about the death of their friend, in that the manner of dying is so uncomfortably wretched.  
Besides to all the world it leaves a miserable scandal, seeing all think and speak hardly of him that hath so done, and it leaves a bad example to others. Saul's murdering of himself made his own armour-bearer do it.  
judg. 16. 30. Samson by public calling as a Judge, and singular divine calling, 
Nec Samson aliter excusatur, quod seipsum cum hostibus ruina domus oppressit, nisi quia Spiritus latenter hoc jusserat, qui per illum miracula facicbat. Aug. de civet. Dei, l. 1. c. 21. Quaeritur, an Samson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & ejus factum excusari queat. August. l. 1. de civet. Dei. c. 21. Hoc sic interpretatur, ut dicat eum semetipsum, una cum Philistaeis ruina domus oppressisse Spiritu latenter hoc jubente, qui per eum miracula faciebat. Nec fas esse nobis aliter credere. Nam ad id faciendum divinitus ●i redditam fuisse fortitudinem. Hanc responsionem plerique etiam alii sequuntur. Nec obstat quod dicit, ut ul●iscar me de hostibus meis, quasi privatam injuriam ulciscendi cupidus. Nam injuria Samsonis injuria publica crat, ut qui judex esset populi. Irrisio quoque ejus irrisio Dei Israel erat, in cujus contumeliam, Philistaei pro capto Samsone Diis suis solennius in templo gra●ias agebant. Estius. Vide Grot. Samson (ex singulari instinctu) directè intendebat Philistaeos occidere, non semetipsum, quamvis praeviderit suam mortem inde secuturam, Jud. 16. 30. Similis ferè est ratio ●orum qui pulvere tormentario accendunt ●avom qua feruntur, ●e perveniat in hostis possessionem. Ames. de consc. l. 5. c. 31.  as a Type of Christ and deliverer of the Church, did pull the house down on himself and the Philistims, that by his death he might deliver unto death the public enemies of the Church, Heb. 11. 32. Besides, It cannot be said that Samson killed himself, indeed he died with them, but the end he propounded, was not that he might die, but he sought revenge upon the enemies of God, which was the work of his calling, and that which was like to bring and procure it. As a zealous and diligent Preacher, who by his pains and study in his Ministry impaireth and spendeth his health and strength, cannot be said to be the procurer of his own untimely death, for he hath spent his strength in his calling to which end God gave it him. See Elton on this Command. and M. Baxters' Saints everl. Rest, par. 1. Sect. 6.  
The Heathen Philosophers have adorned this fact, as Cato is extolled for it, see 
Judge Hales drowned himself. See Foxes third volume, pag. 146. Whereupon Bishop Gardner called the Gospel, the Doctrine of Desperation.  therein the vanity of man's reason and wit that can fall in love and liking, yea admiration with such a monstrous wickedness. Amongst the Donatists there were the Circumcelliones 
* Chemnit. loc. common.  who gloried in casting themselves down from rocks, into the fire, or by yielding themselves to death other ways, because it is written that the flesh is to be mortified, and he that hates his life shall find it.  
With us the self-murderers are accustomed to be cast out in highways, or else in places where none else are usually buried, and to have a stake knocked into them for the great horror of the fact, and to warn others.  
Helps against this sin:  

1. Maintain the peaceable and pure estate of your consciences, this will make life sweet to him that hath it:  
2. Endeavour to confirm your faith in Gods gracious promises both for pardon of sin and deliverance out of all afflictions, for this faith will hold up the cheerfulness of the Spirit, and so make it able to sustain itself in all hard times.  
3. Labour for an humble and patient heart, be willing to bear any cross.  
4. Take heed of carnal sorrow and discontent.  
5. If this temptation begin to seize upon you, speedily reveal it, and carefully resist it by opposing the sixth Commandment, and by hearty requests to God to keep you from murder. Luther saith, he was so tempted to self-murder that he repeated this Commandment three hours together.   
It is a Question worth resolving, Whether a Duel or single Combat be lawful?  
By a Duel in this Question every single combat, or monomachy, or fight betwixt 
Ames. l. 5. de consc. c. 32. See Elton on this Commandment, p. 210. to 213. Whereas there are two acts, as introductions into the field, a challenge and an acceptation; both of them have their guilt, but the former so much the more, as it hath in it more provocation to evil. D. Halls cas. of consc. resolved Case 2. There were but two practices of this in Scripture, 1. That famous challenge of Goliath, which that proud Philistim had not made, if he had not presumed of his giantly strength and stature, so utterly unmatchable by all Israel, that the whole host was ready to give back upon his appearance, 1 Sam. 17. 24. The other was in that mortal quarrel betwixt joab and Abner, on the behalf of their two Masters, David and Ishbosheth, 2 Sam. 2. 14. wherein Abner invites his rival in honour, to a tragical play (as he terms it) a monomachy of twelve single combatants on either part, which was so acted, that no man went victor away from that bloody Theatre; only it is observable, that in both these conflicts still the challengers had the worst. D. Hall ubi supra.  two is not to be understood (for so the necessary defence of ones own life against the invader of it should be called into question) but only that single combat which is directly and voluntarily undertaken upon compact, with the danger of killing or laming. That kind of Duel is simply to be condemned, both in the accepter and challenger, although the fault of the challenger be the greater.  
There are  

1. Public combats undertaken in public quarrels, as to finish a battle by Duels, and so save blood, there is no example found of this in all the holy wars of good men, therefore not safe.  
2. It may seem to be a weakness in men to refuse the battle, for why should not every man be courageous as well as one? But if the Armies cannot agree to fight other ways, they shall not offend in using such duels, and he of the combatants which hath right on his side sinneth not that killeth the other, for he goeth armed with public authority to do what he doth.   
Secondly, Private, undertaken in private quarrels, which is twofold:  
1. Legal, such as the Laws of Country's allow, as ours doth in some cases, when a man according to the Law doth challenge his adversary in case of trial of right or of appeal.  
This legal trial by combat seems unlawful:  

1. Because in them the Magistrate resigneth over his right to the Subject, who is thereby made malicious and revengeful.  
2. The Scripture doth not at all lead us to any such trial, yea it forbids private men to meddle with the sword in their own causes, therefore the Magistrate may not bid them kill one another if they can.  
3. In cases of division a Lot would do better than the sword, and would more easily and safely determine the business.   
2. Irregular and lawless, when one man of his own head for a particular wrong challengeth another, such challenges are sinful, against the Law of God, being mere acts of vainglory and revenge, the Laws of the 
* See Cook on Lit. p. 294. B. Sir Wal. Raleigh's hist. Sir Fr. Bacon.  Country which punish the doers of such deeds.  
3. The Law of Nature, because they attempt to punish a little wrong with the greatest of all punishments, Ubi morim●r homicidae, as St Bernard expresseth it, Occisor laeth●liter peccat, occisus aeternaliter perit. He that lives lives a murderer, he that is murdered dies a murderer, because he would have been one.  
Two entirely loving brothers in Italy walking one Evening, and beholding the sky full of Stars, one of them jesting said, Utinam mihi tantum esset bovum, quantum in Coelo stellarum, I would I had as many oxen as there are stars in the firmament: the other merrily answered; Utinam verò mihi pratum esset Coeli amplitudine, I would I had a pasture as large as the Element; and then turning to his brother, saith he, Ubi tuis bobus sis inventurus pascua? Where will you find pasture for your oxen? In tuo prato, said the other, in thy meadow. His brother replied, Quid si nollem? What if I will not? Etiam te invito pascerem, said the 
Lansii orat. contra Italiam ex Camerar. & aliis.  other, I would have pasture there whether thou wouldst or no. And so differing, they grew to that passion at last, that they drew out their weapons and became each others murderer.   

Object. A man is utterly disgraced if he decline the combat when he is challenged.  
Answ. To a Christian this should be enough, Prov. 19 11. & 16. 32. sin against God is more to be feared then shame amongst men, and true Christianity is to be preferred before idle manhood.    

CHAP. VIII. The seventh Commandment.  Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
THese two Commandments the sixth and seventh are immediate to each 
Ut Sexto praecepto Deus prosp exit vitae tum proximi, tum nostrae, ne quo vis pacto loedatur, sed omnibus modis conservetur●●ita septimo conjugium, tanquam medium generis humani propagandi & conservandi, sanxit. Adeoque omnia prohibet quae hui● sanctoe justae & legitimae mari & faeminae conjunctioni adversantur: vult enim generic humani honestissimam ac sanctissimam propagationem. Fabric. D. Tayl. Life and Death of Christ. Lo tineaph ad verbum, non adulterabis. Brevissimum verbum (inquit Lutherus) sed latissima sententia, Psa. 119. 96. Naaph propriè est adulterare. Aliud enim habent verbum Hebraei, quo scortationem in genere significent. Nempe Zanah, quod discrimen notatur, Host 4. 14. Peccatum quod prohibetur est alieni thori violatio. Latini utuntur voce maechari & maechissare, à nomine maechus, quod Graecum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Adulterium quasi ad alterius torum. Triplici modo fit adulterium, 1. Quando conjugatus rem habet cum soluta. 2. Solutus cum conjugata. 3. Conjugatus cum conjugata. Postremum gravius est, quod nonnulli etiam duplex adulterium appellant: secundum etiam est gravius primo, propter suppositionem alieni foetus. Rivet. in Exod. 20. 9 Vide Cartw. in loc. Castitas à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●rn● quia praecipuum est hominis ornamentum. Rivet. Chastity is a virtue of ordering one's self aright in regard of the faculty of generation. It is twofold, 1. In a single life, which is the abstaining from the inordinate desire of exercising that faculty commonly called virginity. 2. In the married estate, a keeping one's self entirely to his yoke-fellow.  other, and of the greatest cognation, for anger and lust work upon one subject, and the same fervour of blood which makes men revengeful will also make them unchaste.  
This Commandment enjoins the right ordering of ourselves in regard of the power of propagation. Some things it requireth directly, some indirectly. Directly it commands some things inward, and some things outward. Inward, it enjoineth an ability to restrain that desire even in the very heart and the thoughts of it, that it be not excessive and vehement and inordinate, carried toward any whom God hath not granted particular leave and licence to desire or to enjoy. The Lord would have man's desires of this kind cool and moderate, and so well ordered that they might be under the command of his own will, and subject to the power of his reason, arising no further, nor to none other than the Lord shall give allowance: for seeing by his gracious gift mankind is increased, and the increase of mankind is the end of this action, and it is not fit that mankind should increase, but according to his pleasure, therefore he would have the heart carried even in this matter, and able to hold its thoughts and inclinations in due compass for object and measure. This grace is called continency in Scripture, a power of keeping our thoughts from unlawful ranging in this kind, and this is the grace which the Apostle commends, saying, We should be able to possess our vessel, that is, our body, in holiness and honour, and not in the lust of uncleanness or passion of lust, as the Gentiles. And this is the virtue of the heart: that of the outward man is double.  

1. Out of Marriage.  
2. In Marriage.   
Out of Marriage, something is required in regard of the means inducing to this act, something in regard of the act itself.  
In regard of the things inducing to it in word and in deed. In word, modesty of speech, that is, an abstinence from all gross and broad words and phrases either in speaking or writing, which have an aptness in them to provoke or satisfy this desire in ourselves or others, and a care of using such phrases when we have need to express this action as may be far from stirring up evil desires in us, even an affected purity of phrase, whereof we have clear example in the Scripture.  
Also in deed there is required a careful holding of the whole body and all the members of it from all gestures and motions that may stir up, provoke and incite this desire in ourselves or others.  
Secondly, In regard of the act itself there is required an utter abstinence from using that power so long as a man continues in single life, and a preserving ourselves pure and untouched, as it is spoken of the virginity of Rebekah, that she had not known man. And these be the duties out of marriage, now in marriage there are required,  
1. A right contracting of it. 2. A right use of it.  
First, I say, a right contracting of it▪ for it is not in the power of a man or woman whether they will marry or no, but if they cannot contain let them marry, for it is better to marry then to burn. If any man or woman find themselves unable to hold their desires in due measure and compass, they are then bound in conscience to pray to God, and use means to attain the help of a lawful yoke-fellow. If God have called any man to a single life in regard that he cannot attain an help this way, doubtless he will help and assist him in a single life, but when God leaves it at his choice, and gives him not the gift of continency, then doth he call him to another estate, and he must know that he shall sin, if upon unbelief or worldly considerations he refrain from following God's Ordinance. In contracting matrimony, he must proceed according to God's direction, in making a right choice of a yoke-fellow, and in making a right proceeding in it, not marry another of a contrary religion, nor within degrees of the consanguinity or affinity forbidden, or without consent of Parents.  
Some things are necessary for the proceeding, the agreement of the parties, and a contract (as some hold) which is a passing of the right of two fit persons either to other by a serious promise of marriage. 
Duke Robert passing thorough Felaise in France, and seeing Arlete a Skinner's daughter, he took such notice of her (as he beheld her in a dance among other Damsels) that he sent for her to accompany him that night in bed, and begot on her William the bastard Duke of Normandy, and King of England. Her immodesty that night is said to be so great, that either in regard thereof, or in spite to her Son, the English called all Strumpets by the name of Harlots, the word continuing to this day. Hoc est quod pudct, hoc est quod intuentium oculos ●rub●scedo devitat: magisque fert homo spectantium multitudinem, quando injustè ●rascitur homini, quam vel unjus aspectum, quando justè miscetur uxori. August. de civet. Dei, lib. 14. cap. 19   
There is likewise required a right use of matrimony, which consists in a communicating of themselves to each other in the Marriagebed, and a mutual dwelling and abiding together for that purpose; and a total abstinence from all dallying behaviour toward any other whatsoever.  
This is the chastity of the married estate, and these things are directly commanded.  
Indirectly there are commanded in regard of ourselves:  

1. shamefacedness.  
2. Temperance.  
3. Painfulness.  
4. Shunning occasion▪ of time, place and company that may solicit. In regard of others, sober and modest carriage and attire.   
First, shamefacedness is a disposition whereby a man's heart irks and refuseth to give him leave for blushing to do any act that may savour of uncleanness, chiefly in the presence and sight of others, a great curb to restrain lust, and must be maintained, the contrary being condemned in the lewd woman, that she had an impudent countenance, and shamed not to utter her evil passions.  
Secondly, Painfulness is a constant attendance upon the works of a man's calling, whereby one is so employed that he hath no leisure to be inordinate this way.  
Thirdly, Temperance is moderation in meats and drinks, framing ourselves to 
1 Cor. 6. 6. Since Cerere & Baccho friget Venus. Prov. 23. 33. See Gen. 19 32, 39 It is called Temperance, because it restraineth a man of his liberty. Moderation and Temperance is the health and soundness of the mind. In Greek the word hath its name from its effect, the preservation and safety of the mind.  such a measure and quality or way, as may be most fit to give strength to the body without increasing evil desires; and for shunning evil company, places, times, who cannot tell what it is, and how needful, that hears Solomon giving warning of the corner of her house?  
The last thing is a soberness and modesty of carriage and attire, such as may express gravity, and a disposition far from willingness to be that way either assaulted or overcome.  
These be the Duties which this Commandment requires, it forbids many sins.  
Some things it forbiddeth directly, some things indirectly.  
Directly it forbids some things inwardly, some things outwardly:  
Inwardly it condemns inordinate lust. Lust is inordinate in three respects:  

1. For the Degree of it.  
2. For the Object.  
3. For the End.   
For the Degree, when it comes to be burning, that is, a desire so sharp and eager, that it is not under the power of will and reason, yea that it detains the soul under its tyranny, and makes the will to run along with it so vehemently that all other thoughts and desires are almost devoured by it. For seeing the action is a mean action and shameful, and a mere bodily action, and doth not essentially pertain to the felicity of man, therefore the desire of it should be moderate, and give place to other more necessary desires; but when it wastes the soul, takes up all the room to itself, consumes all holy inclinations and desires, and carries away the soul with a kind of irresistible violence, this is sinful and displeasing to God, though it be not directed to any particular person, but much more when it is to a particular person, which is that thing men usually call being in love with some body, as Amnon and Joseph's Mistress were sick with their lust after others. When lust grows so violent that a man cannot repress it without distemperature and unquietness of mind, when it wins the consent of his will to evil, and carries his desire headlong, than it is sinful, and this is that the Apostle means by the passion of lust.  
Secondly, This inclination is inordinate for the object, when it tends to one whom God hath not authorized a man to desire, viz. any but that woman who is at least in the mutual purpose of both sides with the allowance of Superiors assigned to be his wife, for God hath limited the desires of a man to one woman alone, and of a woman to one man alone, and he that is destitute of a yoke-fellow may lawfully wish that he had such a single woman to his wife, and having hers and her friend's consent may lawfully desire in due time to enjoy her, neither are those inclinations which he shall find toward her in the interim betwixt the motioning and consummating sinful, but all desires assented to that one would put in practice if he had means towards any other, but a party to whom he is thus interessed, are sinful and wicked; For he that looks upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.  
Thirdly, There is an inordinateness in lust in regard of the end, when a man's desires of that way tend not to the lawful ends of procreation, and of preventing fornication, but alone to the pleasure of the action, and satisfying the voluptuous motions of his heart without any more ado. For this is to be brutish, the unreasonable creatures that have not capacity to conceive of the end of their actions, are carried to them by a kind of violence, a strong motion in which the pleasure of their senses overrules them, but man should not be so sensual, yea his desires should be ordered by his reason, and he should know and consider why he desireth any thing, and be carried in his desires by right motives and inducements.  
These be the disorders of lust, or desire of generation, in regard of the Measure, Object, and End thereof. Now follow the outward disorders, in Word and Deed.  
In a word, all wanton and uncleanly speeches, phrases, songs, that may be and 
Cor & oculi duo sunt proxenetae transgressionis, Num. 15. 39 Primi capiuntur oculi: inde in cord exoritur appetitus sive concupiscentia: juxta illud Poetae,— Oculi sunt in amore deuces. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ut est in veteri verbo. Vossius in Maimon. de Idolol. cap. 2.  is called wanton, which tends to satisfy unlawful lust in ones self, and to provoke it in another. Words that may enkindle and inflame, gross words, tales of unclean acts, and sonnets that have such a kind of description of those actions as tend to set the mind on fire with them. This is that which the Apostle calls rotten communication, when he saith, Let no corrupt or rotten communication come out of your mouths; and again, It is a shame to name the things that are done of them in secret. When a man talks of any impure action with delight, when he maketh mention of any impure part or deed with intent to stir up others, especially when he doth solicit another unto this deed by such speeches or means; this is an horrible sin, for nothing then stands betwixt words and deeds, but want of opportunity.  
This is the breach of this Commandment in Word. Now follows the breach of it in Act or in Deed. And that is in regard of things leading to the action, or the action itself.  

1. In regard of things leading to the action there is wantonness or lasciviousness, 
Quid ego de cynicis loquar, quibus in propatulo coire cum conjugibus mos fuit? Quid mirum, si a canibus, quorum vitam imitantur; etiam vocabulum nomenque traxerunt? Lactant. Diu. Instit. l. 3. de falsa sapientia. August. de civet. Dei.  so the Scripture calls it, in the several parts of the body, the eye, the ear, the foot, the hand. And  
2. In the whole body, as all impure embrace and kiss, which is called by the Apostle dalliance or chambering, and mixed dancing 
* Gulielmus Parisiensis dixit choream esse circulum, cujus centrum sit diabolus. Urbs est in Brabant●a Buscunducis, in qua ut in aliis ejusdem terrae stato anno di●, quo serunt, Maximum urbis Templum dedicatum, publice supplicatur, ludique variis divis exhib●ntur. Sunt qui tunc personas divorum induant: sunt qui damonum. Ex his unum quum visa puella ex●rsisset, domum saltitando se subduxisse, & correptam ut erat personatus uxorem suam in lectum conjecit, se ex ●a daemonium velle gignere dicen●, concubuit. Concepit mulier, & infans quem peperit, simul primum aeditus est, saltitare coepit, forma quali daemones pinguntur. Haec Margareta Augusta Maximiliani ●ilia, hujus Caroli amita narravit Joanni Lanucae, homini prudentia incredibili, qui tum erat hic legatus à Ferdinando rege. Nunc est bujus Caesaris praefectus in Arragonia, vir qui non modo praefecti nomen & personam, sed regis quoque posset sustinere. Ludovic. Viu. in lib. 12. c. 25. August. de civet. Dei.  of men and women, especially if it be a wanton dance with a wanton ditty.   
Thus is this Commandment broken by actions leading to the lewd deed. Now by the deed itself, either out of Matrimony or in Matrimony.  
Out of Matrimony by two sins:  

1. Uncleanness.  
2. Fornication.   
Uncleanness is all strange kind of pleasure by this act where it is done otherwise then according to the rule of nature, this is either with others, or with one's self.  
There is a self-pollution:  

1. Speculative, in wicked and unclean thoughts, therefore God is said to be The searcher of the heart and reins, which are the centre of those lusts, Matth. 5. 28.  
2. Practical, in unclean acts. Some Divines say, polluting of one's self is a greater sin than the polluting of others, because it is against a greater relation, but in polluting others they pollute themselves, therefore that is the greatest sin.   
Fornication is, when two single persons that have not entered into a Covenant 
Simple fornication is soluti cum soluta.  of Marriage do abuse each others bodies. It is called Fornication 
* Beza in Mat. 19 9  à fornicibus in quibus Romae solebant meretrices prostrare, from the vaulted houses where such strumpets used to prostitute themselves.  
1 Cor. 6. The Apostle hath several arguments there to prove fornication to be a great sin, vers. 13. 1. It crosseth the end of God's Creation, The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord. A third Argument is drawn from the glorious resurrection, vers. 14. glory and immortality shall be put on the body, therefore it should not be polluted here. A fourth Argument is drawn from the spiritual relation between the body and Jesus Christ, it is a member of his mystical body, ver. 15. A fifth from the spiritual Union between the body and the Lord, vers. 16, 17. A sixth from the intrinsical pollution that is in the sin of fornication above other sins, vers. 18. No sins are more against ones own body. A seventh Argument is taken from the inhabitation of the Spirit in them, vers. 19 They are dedicated to the Lord, no unclean thing might come into the Temple when it was dedicated to the Lord, 1 Cor. 3. 17. The eighth is drawn from the voluntary resignation that the people of God have made of themselves, soul and body unto God, Ye are not your own, vers. 19 therefore Gods, it is an act of justice suum cuique tribuere. The ninth is drawn from the act of redemption, v. 20. You are bought with a price. Christ hath purchased the body as well as the soul, therefore you should gratify God with both.  
It is a fearful sin, No fornicator shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, 1 Cor. 
See Rom. 29. & D. Sclater upon it, Ephes. 5. 3, 4. If both be single it is Fornication, if one be married it is Adultery, when with many Whoredom, if with a Virgin Stuprum, if with a near kinswoman Incest, if there be force a Rape.  5. 11. & 6. 9  
Reasons.  

1. It is a cause of many other sins, Prov. 23. 28.  
2. A punishment of other sin▪, Eccles. 7. 26. Prov. 22. 14. Rom. 1. 24, 26, 28.  
3. It is directly opposite to sanctification, 1 Thess. 4. 3, 4, 5, 7.  
4. No sin is committed with such delight and pleasure as this is, and therefore 
Non est flagitium (mibi crede) adolescentulum scortari. Terent. Brevis est voluptas fornicationis, aeterna poena fornicationis. Purchase his Pilgr. l. 3. c. 10.  it must bring in the end more bitterness to the soul, therefore the Scripture speaks so often of the bitterness of this sin, Heb. 12. 15, 16. job 13. 26. These tricks of youth will be bitter to men one day, Prov. 5. 3, 4. Eccles. 7. 27, 28. See job 3. 12. Prov. 6. 30, 31. Heb. 13. 4. Rev. 21. 8.   
The Turks thus punish whoredom, they take the pa●ch of a bea●● new killed, and cutting a hole thorough, thrust the adulterer's head in this dung-wallet, and so carry him in pomp thorough the streets.  
Some Country's punish it with whipping, others with death.  
The punishment which in the Old Testament was appointed to be executed against it by the Civil Magistrate, was death, Levit. 20. 10.  
Thus is this Commandment broken out of marriage; in marriage it is broken by the married in regard of others or themselves. In regard of others by the sin of 
Jer. 5. 6, 7, 8.  adultery, which is coming near another man's husband or wife; For whoremongers and adulterers God will judge; and those that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of Heaven.  
He that committeth this sin doth his neighbour greater wrong then if he had 
M. Hildersham on Psal. 51. 4. See Willet on Levit. 20. 10. p. 492. & Burr. on Host 2. 5. p. 294.  robbed and spoiled him of all other his goods and possessions whatsoever. Therefore the Lord in the Decalogue hath placed that Commandment as a greater before that of theft, and Solomon Prov. 6. 30, 35. maketh the Adulterer far worse than a thief, because he may make satisfaction to a man for the wrong he hath done him, so cannot the Adulterer. That is a dreadful Text, Prov. 2. 19  
The mother of Peter Lombard the Master of the Sentences, and Gratian the Collector of the Decrees, and Peter Comestor an Author of School-Divinity, was but a whore, and she being near unto death confessed her sin, and her Confessor reproving the crime of her adultery committed, and exhorting her to serious repentance; she answered, she confessed adultery was a great sin; but 
Rivet. in Gen. 30. Exercit. 13.  when she considered how great a good followed thence, since those her sons were great lights in the Church, she could not repent of it.  
A Papist in Queen Mary's time taken in adultery in Red-Crosse-street, said, Yet I thank God I am a good Catholic.  
Sylla surnamed Faustus, hearing that his Sister had entertained two adulterers into her service at once, which were Fulvius Fullo and Pomponius, whose surname was Macula, he put it off with a jest upon their names, Miror (inquit) sororem meam Maculam habere cum Fullonem habet.  
Of this sin there are two kinds:  
First, Single adultery, when one alone, either man or woman is married, and the other not married, as if joseph had abused his Mistress, here if the woman were either married or contracted, both were to die: if the woman be single we 
Levit. 20. 10. Deu. 22. 22, 23  read no Law of death: there is also a double adultery, when both the man and woman are married, as David and Bathsheba which deserves death also by the Law, so married folks do break this Law in regard of others.  
Also secondly, in regard of themselves, both for the entrance into matrimony and use of it, for entrance by a sinful choice, and a sinful proceeding. Choice, if one choose one within degrees prohibited, as he in Corinth his father's wife, his stepmother; or one formerly contracted, and not justly severed from another. Also for manner of proceeding, when it is without consent of parents, such a marriage is unlawful.  
And so much for the breach in the entrance, in the use it is by averseness to each other, and by abuse.  
These are the things directly forbidden in this Commandment, indirectly there are forbidden all occasions of filthiness, and all appearances of it: occasions to one's self and others. To others by garish and overcostly attire, especially the 
Isa. 3. 16.  manner of the attire when it is light and fantastical, also by impudent and immodest carriage.  
Occasions of lusts to one's self are chiefly three:  
1. Idleness and sloth, when men do give themselves leave to neglect their calling; this we have examples of in Sodom, David, and this the Heathens by light of nature have discovered,  
Quaeritur, Aegystus quare sit factus adulter: 
Ovid.   
In promptu causa est, desidiosus erat.  
Secondly, Intemperance provokes and nourisheth lust, whether it be in meat or 
Jer. 7. 6, 7. See Pro. 23. 31 & Judas 8. to 13.  drink, the Sodomites after fullness of bread fell to strange flesh, especially drinking wine and strong drink to the inflaming of the body. Drunkenness and uncleanness commonly go together, Hosea 4. 11. Ephesians 5. 18. james 5. 5. 
Venture mero aestuans facilè despumat in libidinem. Hieron. Lot's daughters had no other way to overcome the chastity of their aged Father but by making him drink wine.  1 Pet. 4. 4.  
Reasons. 1. The body is inflamed, and the mind than made uncapable of those wise and holy considerations which should resist Satan's temptations; wine takes away the heart, the reason, turns a man into a Swine, and then into a Goat or Horse.  
2. Intemperance banisheth modesty which is the keeper of chastity, Prov. 47, 8, 13. Tit. 2. 3.  
Thirdly, Another occasion of lust to ones self is indiscreet venturing upon solitary places, chiefly in the dark, and conversing with such persons as a man finds himself inclined unto in this affection, for than is a man out of God's protection, than the Angels cease to guard him, and the Spirit to confirm him.  
These be occasions of evil, appearances also are light behaviour, light attire, suspected company.  
Lust is, 1. Unseemly for man, it makes us unlike God and the holy Angels. Alexander 
Theoninus insanus & uxorius homo de quo Ambrose, cum gravi oculorum incommodo laboraret, & amaret uxorem, interdict a sibi à medico facultate coeundi, cupiditatis impatiens sibi moderari non potuit, oculos amittere, quam aestum & impetum suae libidinis reprimere maluit, Vale, inquit, amicum lumen. Humfr. de jesuit. part. 2. rat. 4. de Patribus. joan à Casu Florentinus Sodomiae laudes rythmis Italicis celebravit, divinum opus appellans, nec aliam se ven●rem experium ait. Ad. Hamiton. Apostate. Smetonii Orthod. Resp. Sixtus quartus Cardinalis, cuidam, sanctae Luciae, nisi fallor, indulgentiam fecit clausulam illam, fiat ut petitur, praepostera venere per tres aestivos anni menses. Montac. Antidiat.  knew by two things that he was not God, by his lust and sleep.  
2. It makes us unlike Christians and like Heathens, 1 Thess. 4. 5. The Turks keep their Festival-day on Venus-day, and the happiness they did look for is a Paradise of bodily pleasures, nay this makes you like the beasts.  
2. Full of vanity, it doth not satisfy, Ezek. 16. 18, 29, 30. Messalina was tired but not satisfied with her lust.  
3. Full of vexation, how many are the fears, jealousies and quarrels, in the pleasures of lust!   

CHAP. IX. The eighth Commandment.  THou shalt not steal. 
THe sixth Commandment gave charge for preservation of man's life, the seventh 
Hinc constat omnia non debere esse communia. Ratio est, quia nullum furtum committi posset, nec opus esset praecepto de furto prohibendo. Macrov. loc. common. c. 9 Ford of the Covenant between God and man. Vetatur hic omnes illicita usurpatio rei alienae. August. Vide August. confess. l. 2. c. 4. & 6. Furtum est ablatio injusta rei alienae invito Domino. Ephes. 4. 28. Ames. Medul. lib. 2. cap. 20. Gnanab propriè est clam surripere, vel occultè subducere. Unde & ad alias dolosas & clandestinas actiones transfertur, ut 1 Sam. 1. 6. & 2 Sam. 19 3. Rivetus in Exod. 2. Varro l. 14. rerum divinarum, furem ex eo dictum ait, quod furvum atrum appellaverint, & fures per obscuras noctes atque atras facilius furentur. Quidam tamen à fer● dictum volunt, quod ferat, id est, auferat res alienas. Furari igitur tam apud Hebraeos & Graecos quam apud Latino's, propriè est, res alienas clanculum auserre. Zanch. Miscel. De furto. Furtum propriè est actio adversans legi Dei. quà res aliena inscio & invito Domino clanculum aufertur. Ubi vox, inscio Domino & clanculum discriminat furtum à rapina. Rapina enim est actio, qua res aliena, invito Domino, apertâ vi aufertur. Id. ibid. See Dr. Willet on Exod. 32. 1. and on Exod. 22. quest. 3. and Estius on Gen. 31. 32. & on Exod. 22.  for the honesty and chastity of the body, to keep it holy and undefiled; now the Lord cometh a degree lower, and sheweth, that he doth not only care for our lives and for our bodies that they may be kept holy, but also for our goods and cattle, our corn, our wares, our gold and silver, and whatsoever they have, that they may be in safety.  
This Commandment enjoineth men a due carriage in regard of worldly goods. This carriage is 1. Inward, in judgement, will, thought, affections. 2. Outward, which concerns the goods of every man's self and of others. For our own goods, in regard of getting, keeping, using. For getting, here is required the having of a lawful Calling, and using it lawfully, with diligence, discretion, cheerfulness and moderation. For keeping, is required thrift; for using, liberality. Now for the goods of others, there is required justice; that is, the virtue of giving every one his own. The common rules of which are, Do as you would be done to, and, Serve each other in love; and the parts are, truth and fidelity, plainness and equity.  
There are several kinds of justice..  

1. Commutative, consisting in a right exchange of one thing for another; the principal sorts of which are, 1. Buying and selling. 2. Setting and letting, with taking. 3. Borrowing and lending. 4. Hiring, and labouring for hire. 5. Partnership.  
2. Distributive justice stands in a right division and parting of things; all things 
Latrocinium est quando aliquis domino praesente & manifesta vi rapit alienum, si sit in rebus privatorum est furtum simplex, si in rebus sacris sacrilegium, si in re publica, peculatus; si in ablatione jumentorum & pecorum, abigeatus; si in ablatione hominum Plagiarius. Lutherus in octavum praeceptum. Robbery is derived de la Robe, because in ancient times they bereft the true man of some of his robes, or garments, or money and goods, out of some part of his garment or robe about his person. Sir Edward Cook.  civil, in four chief things, Matter of Law about meum and tuum, public Lands and Stocks, public Payments and forfeitures, and in things sacred. Things profane and common, wherein we have to deal with man, must be rightly distributed; and so must things sacred, wherein the Lord of Heaven is interessed. But one 
* Master Mede on Acts 5. 3, 4, 5.  observes, that it is an error to be noted among the Expositors of the Decalogue, that they rank Sacrilege as a sin of the eighth Commandment, when it is a sin of the first Table and not of the second; a breach of the loyalty we immediately owe to God, and not of the duty we owe to our neighbour. To steal or alienate that which is sacred, is to rob God not man, for he is the proprietary of things sacred, Mal. 3. 8, 9 He that commits this sin, indirectly and by consequent robbeth men too, viz. those who live of God's provision.   
julian the Apostate rob the Church of the Revenues thereof, and took away all contributions to Schools of learning, that children might not be instructed in the liberal Arts, nor in any other good literature. He exaggerated also his Sacrilege with scornful jests, saying, that he did further their salvation by making them poor; seeing it was written in their own Bibles, Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.  
All manner of stealing is expressly forbidden, jer. 7. 9 Ephes. 4. 28. Theft is a taking away secretly of another man's goods, the owner not knowing of it. One is guilty by consenting and agreeing with a thief, Rom. 2. or giving him counsel, or hiding his fact.  
This is so peculiar a sin in servants, as the Latin words which now signify thiefs, did at first signify servants only, as fur was, a servant.  Quid facient Domini audent cum talia fures? 

The Greek proverb is, quot servi tot sures.  So latrones, robbers, were first those which did à latere stipari.  

Object. God commands the Israelites to borrow of the Egyptians, Exod. 3. 22. to borrow and not to pay is a sin against this Commandment, Psal. 37. 21.  
Answ.  

1. The use only of things is in us, the propriety is still in God, 1 Sam. 2. 7. Host 2. 9 therefore God may take away one man's Estate, and give it to another.  
2. The Egyptians had forfeited what God had given them, therefore it was just with the Lord to take it away.  
3. He might do it not only as an act of vindicative justice to the Egyptians but as an act of remunerating justice to the Israelites, there being no Magistrates to do them justice, and reward them for their service, Gen. 31. 9▪ 16.  
4. The Hebrew word there used, signifies to ask or desire, and junius and Ainsw. on 12. 36. render it not to borrow. 
A lewd Priest, when he was caught stealing contrary to his own Doctrine, could presently tell the reprover, the eighth Commandment doth not say, I shall not steal, but, Thou shalt not steal    
It may be questioned whether it be just to punish thiefs with hanging, when the Law of God hath not appointed this punishment, Exod. 22. Some therefore think our Law hath been too severe that way, and too remiss in case of Adultery. chrysostom saith, Ubi damnum resarciri potest non est homini adimenda vita, yet by the Law of Moses, he that stole a man, though he could restore him, was punished with death.  
But there is no comparison (say some) between goods and the life of a man: yet those thiefs that either assault a man's person on the highway, or break open a man's house to rob him, are great 
* Vide Chemnit. & Gerh. loc. common. Demosthenes' said to him that objected that his speeches smelled of a candle, I know my candle stands in your light, the man being suspected for a thief. Varro said that fur was derived, à furvo (that is, dark) because thiefs do willingly work by night, Ut jugulent homines surgunt de nocte latrones.  offenders.  
Draco the Lawgiver of Athens appointed death to be the punishment of theft. Solon mitigated that rigour, and punished it with double restitution. The Locrians 
The Theatre of God's judgements, part 1. cap. 38.  put out his eyes that had stolen aught from his neighbour. The Etrurians stoned them to death. There was no Commonwealth where this sin was not highly detested, and sharply punished, except the Lacedæmonians, where it was permitted and tolerated for their exercise of warlike Discipline.  
Mr. Gage in his Survey of the West-Indies c. 12. saith, in Nicaragua they adjudged not a thief to death, but to be a slave to that man whom he had robbed, till by his service he had made satisfaction: A course (saith he) truly more merciful, and not less just, than the loss of life.  
men's excuses for it.  
First, It is but a small matter.  

1. Thou art the more to be condemned; is it but a little matter, and wilt thou venture that which is more worth than all the world, thine own soul for it?  
2. Thou then mayst the better forbear it.  
3. Hadst thou a tender conscience it would much trouble thee; Austin was troubled for his stealing of apples when he was a boy, and this he records in his Confessions too, he thought it so much.  
4. By this little the Devil will carry thee to greater, it may be in consequence great, a great tree groweth from a little Mustardseed.   
Secondly, They do it for necessity.  
Solomon saith, If a man steal for necessity, men will not much condemn him; but he speaks it comparatively with the sin of adultery; there can be no necessity to sin, though when a man steals that hath enough, it is a greater offence.  
Thirdly, They have enough from whom they steal.  
This doth not therefore warrant them to pervert all right and justice, as if they were Magistrates, or God himself, to appoint how much every one should have.  
Fourthly, They do it secretly, they shall not be known nor discovered.  
God and thy own conscience are enough to manifest it to all.    

CHAP. X. The ninth Commandment.  THou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour. Hebr. word ●or word, Thou shalt not answer about thy neighbour a testimony of falsehood. That is, thou shalt not answer in judgement ei●her for or against thy Neighbour falsely. 
THe word [answer] is sometimes in Scripture taken more generally for 
Gnanah respondere significat, nominatim igitur de ea testimonii specie agitur, quod in judici●s de causa aliqua interrogati proferim●. Gerh. loc. common. Quia adjurati & interrogati per●ibebant testimonium Grotius in Exod. c. 20. Synecdochice sub una falsi testimonij forensis specie (quod reliquis pestilentiu●) continetur in genere detestatio omnis mendacii, Leu. 19 11. Matth. 19 18. Marc. 10. 19 Rom. 3. 19 Chaldaeus' vertit non testaberis, Gr●ci uno verbo dixerunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non falsò testaberis. Testes falsi sunt, qui non tantùm falsa fingunt, verum etiam qui vera depravant, Matth. 26. 61. vel affirmant incomperta, vel qui veritatem malitiosè occultant, ita 3 Reg. 21. 11. Mat. 27. 13. Act. 7. 6. Dan. 6. 13. & 13. 36. Prov. 25. 18. Chemnit. loc. common.  [speak] as Prov. 15. 1. Matth. 11. 25. and so it is here to be taken; as if it had been said, Thou shalt not speak any thing whereby thou mayst hurt the good name and credit of thy neighbour.  
The former Commandment was concerning our own and our neighbour's goods: this requireth, that we hurt not our neighbours nor our own good name, but (as occasion shall be given) maintain and increase it.  
By neighbour he understands any man, for every man is near to thee by nature, of the same blood and flesh, Act. 17. 26. Isa. 58. 7.  
The secret and inward breach of this Commandment consisteth in ungrounded suspicion, and unjust judging and condemning of our neighbours, contrary to the express commandment of our Saviour, Matth. 7. 1.  
The outward breach of it is either without speech or with speech.  
Without speech, either by gesture or silence.  
By gesture, when one useth such a kind of behaviour as tends to vilify, mock and disgrace his brother, Psal. 22. 7.  
By silence, when one holds his peace, though he heareth his neighbour slandered, and he can testify of his own knowledge, that the things spoken are false and injurious.  
By speech this Commandment is broken, either by giving or receiving.  
By giving out speech either true or false. One may slander another by reporting the truth, if one speak it unseasonably, and his end be evil and malicious; this was Doegs fault, 1 Sam. 22. 21. In speaking that which is false, either concerning ones own self or another.  
Concerning himself.  

1. In boasting and bragging, Rom. 1. 30.  
2. By excusing those faults we are charged with, or are guilty of.  
3. By 
* The godly in time of tentation think themselves to be but hypocrites, and that they have no true grace in them at all, and so they bear false witness against themselves. Elton on this Commandment.  accusing, as when men in a kind of proud humility will deny their gifts, with an intent to get more credit.   
So much for breaking this Commandment, by speaking that which is false concerning themselves.  
Now it follows concerning others, and that is either public or private. 
Isa. 5. 20.   
Public, when the Magistrate or Judge passeth false sentence, in any cause that comes to be heard before him. Herein also may Counsellors offend, when they uphold and maintain an evil Cause for their fee. Witnesses also do offend this way, when they come before the Judges, and give a false and lying testimony. This is a 
Prov. 19 5, 9 & 6. 19 & 21. 28. Goods are necessary for life, truth and good name for comfortable life, therefore is this Commandment set after the former. Esty. Of tame beasts (saith Diogeves) a flatterer is worst, and of wild beasts a backbiter or slanderer. See Dr. Sclater on Rom. 1. 29. Hebraei vocant linguam sycophantae linguam tertiam: Linguam tertiam memorat aut●r translationis Chaldaicae, Psal. 10. 15. & 140. 12. Vir qu● loquitur lingua tertia, id est, delator, quod tribus noceat, deferenti, accipienti, & ei de quo. Drus. quaest. Ebraic. l. 1. quaest. 4. The Chaldee Paraphrast calleth a backbiter a man with a threefold tongue, or a tongue which hath three strings. The Jews give an example of it in Doeg, who killed three at once with his evil report; Saul, to whom he made the evil report, the Priests of whom he made it, himself who made it. Weemes.  heinous sin, as appears by the punishment, Deut. 19 18, 19  
2. Private, either in unjust accusing, or unjust defending.  
That unjust accusing privately is called slandering and backbiting; when one will speak ill of his neighbour, and falsely behind his back.  
The causes of detracting or backbiting are:  

1. Want of consideration of ourselves, Gal. 6. 1. We are not humbled for the world of corruption that is inbred in us.  
2. Uncharitableness and malice, jam. 3. a malicious heart and reviling tongue go together.  
3. Pride and envy, the Pharisees could not give our Saviour one good word, because of their en●ie against him, whose way, Doctrine, and conversation, did contradict and obscure theirs.  
4. An hypocritical affectation of holiness above others, Ex hoc uno pij sumus, quod alios impietatis damnamus, so the Pharisee dealt with the Publican, so the Papists traduce us as vile, they are the only Saints.   
There are divers ways of backbiting or detracting.  

1. To impose falsely a fault upon the innocent party, as when the Pharisees charged Christ, that he was an Impostor and wine-bibber; so when Potiphar's wife forged that tale against joseph, that he would have been naught with her. Psal. 35. 11, 12.  
2. When it is a true fault, but secret, and they divulge it, Matth. 18. 15. they should first inform the party, to see whether he will be humbled or no, Publish it not in Ashkelon, nor tell it in Gath.  
3. When they augment their faults, and make them worse, Leu. 19 16.  
4. When they deny their good actions to be done well.  
5. When they interpret doubtful things in the worst part; charity is not suspicious, jer. 40. 16.  
6. When they acknowledge their good things, yet not heartily; to praise coldly is as bad as a vehement dispraise.   
It is hard to tell (saith Bernard) whether the detractor or he that hears him willingly shall burn hotter in hell, the one hath the Devil in his tongue, and the other in his ear, Prov. 17. 4. Psal. 15. 3.  
Thus this Law is broken by unjust accusing. 2. It is broken also by unjust defending of wicked men and bad causes, when one will use his wit, credit, and testimony, to grace evil men and dishonest causes, Prov. 17. 15. & 14. 24.   

CHAP. XI. The tenth Commandment.  THou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's House, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's Wife, nor his Manservant, nor his Maid servant, nor his Ox, nor his Ass, nor any thing that is thy Neighbours. 
THou shalt not covet; that is, thou shalt not inwardly think on, and withal have thine heart inclined to with pleasure and delight, and long after▪ that which belongs to another or others, one or more, to his or their loss or hindrance, or misliking, though they will give no assent to get it or to 
Significat ea vox & act●● dol●sos quib●● alienum invertitu● & sonsu● sublimiore, appetitus etiam. Huno sensum quia fermè ●egligebant Hebr●i, ided Christus ostendit talem appe●itum non modò Deo displicere, sed & si fov●a●●● gehennae obnoxium. Grotius in Exod. c. 20. Elton. Master Dod, God repeating this Commandment, Deut. 5. 21. and setting down all things according to their due estimation, puts the wife in the first place. Barker▪ Prov. 16. 14. Exod. 21. 19 Chamad in genere est desiderare, concupiscere, optare, quod jucundum est, gratum, utile & voluptuosum, quae actio per se non est mala, sed tantum propter inordinationem, qua naturae rectè à Deo positae constitutio turbatur & violatur, unde Ebraei dicere solent, hoc verbum concupiscere ●dificasse inferos: objecta concupiscentiae hic exprimuntur nonnulla exempli gratia, sed quia plura sunt, tandem sub universali regula continentur, & omne quod est proximi tui. Scopus ergo praecepti est prohibere omnem rei malae contra nos & proximum appetitionem; atque etiam rei bonae malant cupiditatem, cum scilicet à debito fine & bono disceditur. Itaque non absolutè dicitur non concupisces, sed non concupisces domum, uxorem, etc. Rivetus in Exod. Hoc praecepto Deus duorum peccatorum supra prohibitorum, nimirum surti & adulterii sontem atque originem extirpare instituit. Interdicit enim hoc loco cupiditatem nefariam, ex qua utrumque flagitium nascitur. Concupiscere quippe alteri●s uxorem atque bona aliena, hoc loco, est id animo agitare, deliberataque voluntate in id incumbere, ut quocunque tandem pacto illis per●rui possis. Volkelius de vera religione. l. 4. c. 8.  seek after it.  
The word neighbour is here to be taken as in the ninth Commandment; for any one of the same flesh, and of the same nature, which is any man or woman whatsoever.  
House] This is put in the first place, not because it is more dear and near then the wife, but because this injury in desiring the house, extendeth itself to the husband, to the wife, to the children and servants; yea to the Beast also and cattle. The hurt thereof is more general then of the rest, therefore it is placed in the first place.  
Nor his wife] This is added as the next chief thing, in desiring whereof our neighbour is grievously wronged,  
Nor his manservant, nor his maid-servant] God sets down the Servants before the cattle or any other wealth, because they are more to be accounted of then Riches.  
Nor any thing that is his] The Lord comprehends in these words every thing, how small soever in our account, that belongs to our neighbour.  
This Commandment is no where repeated in the Gospel by our blessed Saviour, but it is inserted in the repetition of the second Table, which S. Paul mentioned to the Romans.  
The thing here forbidden (saith Dr. Abbot against Bishop) is lust and concupiscence, as the root and fountain of all sin and wickedness▪ and therefore the Apostle setteth down for the whole effect of this Commandment, Thou shalt not lust, Rom. 7. 7. and calleth it often, the Commandment, ver. 8, 9, 10. to note that it is but one Commandment, which saith, Thou shalt not lust. He exemplifieth lust in the Commandment by some objects, leaving the rest to be understood; but if we will divide the Commandment of lusting, because the things are divers which are lusted after, there must be a necessity of making more Commandments, because as there are lusts tending to covetousness and lechery, so there are also which tend to disobedience, to lying, and slandering, and such like.  
Whereas the Papists make the ninth Commandment, Thou shalt not covet thy 
Abbot against Bishop.  neighbour's wife, and the tenth, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, which order may not be broken according to their division; yet Moses himself altars it Exod. 20. 17. though Deut. 5. 27. it be so; which indifferent placing of those two 
●am differunt non concupisces uxorem proximi, & non concupisces bona proximi, quam differunt non maechaberis, & non facies furtum. Cornel. à Lap. in Deut. 5. 7. Vide Ames. Medulla. Theol. l. 2. c. 22. See Elton also on this Commandment. In all the former Commandments, some outward act or deed was commanded or forbidden; but in this last the Lord forbiddeth only the desire of the heart. Ford of the Covenant between God and man. The thing forbidden here is a roving and ranging lust, with a general consent of the heart to wish it, yet so that a man would check and reprove his own heart rather than his desire should be accomplished. Id. ib. This last Commandment pierceth deeper than the former; before the deed was condemned that was hurtful to our neighbour, and the settled will also and resolved determinations; these were forbidden in the other Commandments: but now the Holy Ghost reproveth the desire and lust toward any thing of our neighbours, notwithstanding there be no full resolution not settled consent given thereunto. Knewstubs Lecture on Exod. 20. 17. In the former Commandments is forbidden both the evil act, and also the evil thought settled, and with full and deliberate consent of will; but in the tenth Commandment is forbidden the evil thought, and every motion and stirring in the soul, that is contrary to charity and love of others, though no liking or consent of will be given to it. Elton on the Commandm. It forbids all inward lust, Rom. 7. 7. and all first motions of sin, ver. 5. even before the consent and allowance of the evil, verse 15. and all lustings after evil, 1 Cor. 10. 6. or after the good creatures of God in a carnal manner. Master Fenner on the Commandments.  branches, infallibly prove that they are not two Commandments, but one only.  
Although Thou shalt not covet, be repeated, yet Lyra witnesseth, that according to the Hebrew, one Commandment only is contained.  
This last Commandment (saith Mr. Dod) forbids the least thoughts and motions of the heart against our neighbour, though there be neither consent nor yielding of the will. And requireth such a contentedness with our estate, as that we never have the smallest motion tending to the hurt of our neighbour in any sort. Yea, that we have such a love of our neighbour, as never to think of him, or any thing belonging to him, but with desire of his good every way. To covet (saith he) in this place signifies, to have a motion of the heart without any settled consent of will.  
The first motions unto sin are here forbidden, though we never purpose or consent unto them. Mr. Lyf. Principles of Faith and good conscience.  
The sum of the tenth Commandment (saith Master Downame) is, that every one rest fully pleased with that portion which God seeth good to bestow upon him, rejoicing and taking comfort in it whether it be great or small, Heb. 13. 5. 1 Tim. 6. 8. Phil. 4. 11. The contrary whereof is covetousness, longing after that 
Downames sum of Divinity, l. 1. Contentatio est virtus, qua animus acquiescit in sort à Deo concessa, 1 Tim. 6. 6. Heb. 13. 5. Phil. 4. 11. Praecipitur haec contentatio in decimo mandato, ut ex verbis ipsis apparet, neque ullo modo consentaneum est, mandatum istud immediatè referri ad puritatem istam justitiae internam & originalem, quae fons ●st omnis obedientiae; illa enim non generaliter praecipitur in uno aliqu● mandato, sed in omnibus. Contentationi opponitur concupiscentia, Heb. 13. 5. ●on tota inclinatio naturae nostrae, quae est corrupta; quae nullo uno pr●cepto singulariter damnatur, sed tota lege; neque omnes actuales illae cupiditates primae, quae sunt inordinate, sed illa cupiditas, qua animus primo instigatur ac titillatur desiderio bonorum quae sunt proximi, quamvis eadem illicitis mediis acquirere nondum in animum induxerit. 1 Reg. 21. 2. Marc. 10. 19 Ames. Medul. Theol. l. 2. c. 22. Vide plura ibid. Praecipua hujus praecepti virtus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, quam contentationem nonnulli appellant, qua animus sort sua à Deo data acquiescit, & plura vel aliena injustè non expetit. Wendelinus' Christ. Theol. l. 2. c. 4. Id quod prohibetur, est concupiscentia alieni, seu ejus quod est proximi nostri, quodque alienare vel non vult, vel per legem non potest. Id. ib. The duties required in the tenth Commandment are, such a full contentment with our own condition, and such a charitable frame of the whole soul toward our neighbour, as that all our inward motions and affections touching him, tend unto and further all that good which is his. The Assembly of Divines in their larger Catechism. The general duty required in this tenth Commandment is, that we be truly contented with our own outward condition, and heartily desire the good of our neighbour in all things belonging unto him. Mr. Ball in his Catechism. We are here commanded contentation in our present estate, and are forbidden desiring of, or envying the good of our neighbour. Mr. Nortons' Doctrine of godliness.  which is our neighbours, or none of ours, though it be without seeking of any unlawful means to come by it, as Ahab did, 1 King. 21. 2▪  
This Commandment (saith he) hath commonly another sense of forbidding only the first lusts and motions of sin, but the words are evident. The rest of the Commandments of the second Table have all of them a common and familiar understanding, such as every man at the first hearing doth conceive. This therefore must have the like. The Law (say the Talmudists) speaketh according to common use. Let any man endued only with reason and understanding be asked what this should mean, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house: he will certainly answer, We must be content with our own.  
2. The Hebrew word that Moses hath Deut. 5. 27. signifies to long after a thing, and to have one's teeth water at it, so it is used Micah 7. 1. and in many other places.  
3. The particular instances, Thy neighbours house, wife, manservant, maid, ox, ass, or any thing that is his, declare manifestly, that goods and possessions are the proper subject of this Commandment, for which cause, Exod. 20. 17. the wife of our neighbour (his most precious possession, Prov. 19 4.) cometh not in the first place, but is set in the midst of other possessions, that by the very marshalling of the words it might appear that this Commandment reacheth not to the desiring of one's wife for filthiness and uncleanness sake.  
4. The order of the Commandments going by degrees from the greater to the less, and so continually falling, till you come to this sin of coveting, which is the first step and beginning of all wrong and deceit, and yet differeth in nature from them both.  
5. The corruption both of nature and desire is forbidden in every one, so as this cannot be restrained to a several degree of sin, but a differing and distinct kind of sin from those that went before.  
6. Our Saviour Christ, the best Interpreter of the Law, doth so expound it, 
Downame ubi supra. And Finches little book of Diu. c. 12▪  Mark 10. 9 when reckoning up all the Commandments of the second Table, in stead of Thou shalt not covet, he saith, Thou shalt not deprive (or, bereave a man of aught he hath) that is, covet or desire to have any thing that is his, though it be neither by wrong nor fraud, which two are forbidden in the words next before, but rest in that which God hath given thee. Mr. Lyford therefore adds, the particular coveting here forbidden is discontentedness with that we have, wishing and longing after that which is another's. 
Mr. Burroughs' on Phil. 4. 11. Serm. 2. Si ●d naturam vives nunquam cris pauper, si ad opinionem nunquam dives. Exiguum natura desiderat, opinio immensum. Seneca Epist. 16.   
Christian contentation is the inward quiet, gracious frame of spirit, freely submitting to, and taking complacency in God's dispose in every condition.  
It is said of Socrates (though he were but a Heathen) that whatever befell him, he would never so much as change his countenance; he got this power over his spirit merely by strength of reason and morality. All contentment ariseth from conjunction of suitables. This is the difference between contentment and satisfaction, contentment is when my mind is framed according to my condition; satisfaction is of a higher nature, when a man's condition is fitted to his mind.  
Motives to contentedness▪  

1. From God.  
2. From ourselves.   
First, From God.  
Consider,  

1. Whatsoever we have more or less, is the portion which God hath allotted us; and whatever portion he allots any, it is from his free grace.  
2. He is infinitely wise, and regards not one man alone, but his purpose which he hath to all men, 1 Cor. 1. 25.  
3. He hath just reason to give us no more, because we provoke him.  
4. God hath given to every Christian such things as they are bound to be content withal. He hath freely pardoned them, He hath given them the promise of eternal life, and He doth all this in a continual exercise of free and rich grace.   
Secondly, In respect of ourselves, we have reason to be contented. Consider,  

1. The good we have had from God already.  
2. Remember the submission we made to God in the day of our conversion▪ Levit. 26. 41, 42, 43. Luke 19 23. & 14. 33.  
3. It is our wisdom to be contented, because it is to make a virtue of necessity.  
4. There is nothing so unhappy, as for a man to have his portion in this life, Psal. 17. lat. end.  
5. We are freed from many and the worst temptations if God keep us low, a full body is subject to diseases.  
6. We shall use the good things God gives us the better, Phil▪ 4▪ 11.  
7. We need not much, Give us this day our daily bread, nature is content with little, grace with less.   
The way to get contentedness.  

1. Aim at a right end in thy life, viz. The glory of God, this cannot be crossed.  
2. Get humility, think yourselves worthy of no good, all evil.  
3. Use discretion in considering indifferently both what good thou hast as thou art, and what evil thou shouldst have if thou hadst thy deserving, and weigh thy comforts and crosses together.   
Every Christian is to make conscience of his thoughts, Isa. 55. 7.  
Reasons.  

1. They fall under the notice and judgement of God, Psal. 139. 2. Amos 4. 13. Matth. 9 4.  
2. Most of God's displeasure hath been declared on men for their evil thoughts, Gen. 6. 5. jer. 6. 19 Luk. 1. 51.  
3. One of the chief things taken notice of in the day of judgement is, men's thoughts, 1 Cor. 4. 5.  
4. Because of all sins thoughts are most considerable.   
First, For the danger of them.  

1. They beget carnal affections, first we think and then we love, they blow up the sparks of lust.  
2. They are the ground of actions, Isa. 59 4.   
Secondly, In regard of their number, Isa▪ 57 20.  
5. Because one is best known by his thoughts, Prov. 12. 5. They are the most native offspring of the mind, and freest from constraint, Isa. 32. 8. The principal lust engrosseth the thoughts.  
6. It is a great note of sincerity to make conscience of our thoughts, Phil. 2. 10. Prov. 6. 18. & 15. 20. Psal. 119. 113.  
7. God's eye is especially on them.  
The cure of evil thoughts.  

1. Pray for a new heart, a principle of regeneration, Ephes. 4. 23. 
We should be troubled for our evil thoughts, though we do not approve of them, Prov. 30. 32.   
2. Get those sins mortified which specially engross the thoughts, pride, envy, covetousness, uncleanness, revenge, Prov. 6. 14.  
3. Get a stock or treasure of sound knowledge, the mind of man is always working, My reins instruct me in the night season, Prov. 6. 22. Deuter. 6. 6, 7. Matth. 13. 52.  
4. Inure yourselves to holy meditation, Psal. 119. 59, 99  
5. Be diligent and industrious in some lawful employment, a soft and easy life is full of vanity and temptation; too much employment hinders duty, and too little furthers sin.  
6. Constantly▪ watch over the heart for suppressing evil thoughts, Prov. 4. 23. and over the senses for preventing of them, job 31. 1.  
7. Be much humbled for evil thoughts, they grieve the Spirit, his residence is in the mind, Acts 8. 32. we should labour to approve our thoughts to God, as well as our actions to men, Psal. 139. 23.   
The Law of God cannot be perfectly fulfilled in this life. 
Vide Bellarm. de justificat. l. 4. c. 11, 12, 13, 14.   
The Papists say a man may fulfil the Law.  
We say the perfect fulfilling of the Law to man fallen is impossible; originally it was not so, but accidentally it is. See Down. of Justification, l. 7. c. 6.  
There is a difference between the keeping or observing of the Law, and the 
See Mr. Pemble of justificat. Sect. 3. cap. 1. p. 70, 71. etc. 2. p. 83. etc. See Finches Sacred Doctrine of Divinity, cap. 12. Sclater on Rom. 3. pag. 289.  fulfilling of it, which the Papists seem to confound. All the faithful by their new obedience keep the Law according to the measure of Grace received, Ephes. 4. 7. but none fulfil it, john 1. 2, 3, 4, 5. & 3. 22, 24. They have received a 
Their new obedience consists in study pietatis & justitiae, in the study of piety and righteousness, whereby they are careful to perform good works. This study stands in a sincere desire, an unfeigned purpose, an upright endeavour, to walk in the obedience of all God's Commandments. The Law is kept with the heart, Psal. 119. 34, 69, 129. bu● not fulfilled but by the whole man performing the whole Law always. Down. of Justificat. l. 7. c. 6. Cartw. on Matth. 11. 30. See Mr. Cartw. rejoined. p. 196.  new and Divine Nature, by which they are made like unto God and Christ; God puts his Spirit within them, and enableth them to keep his Commandments, and to walk in his Judgements and to do them.  
The Law is spiritual.  

1. It requires a holy nature, Luke 10. 27. with all thy strength that God gave thee, and the Law requires.  
2. It requires holy inward dispositions, Deut. 6. 5.  
3. Holy actions, Gal. 3. 10, 11, 12.   
There is more required of an unregenerate man, then of Adam in his innocency, as the righteousness which will justify an Angel will not justify a sinner.  
The Precept of the first Covenant is not abolished by the Law, but the Lord requires of every man out of Christ perfect, personal and perpetual obedience, as he did of Adam in the state of innocency.  

1. Because the Sovereignty of God is still the same: when he gave Adam a Law, it was an act of Sovereignty.  
2. The Law is the same it was before the fall, just, holy, and good.  
3. Man's obligation to God under the Law is the same.  
4. God ever intended to keep up the Authority of the Law.    
The End of the ninth Book.   

THE TENTH BOOK. OF Glorification, OF THE General RESURRECTION, THE LAST JUDGEMENT, AND Everlasting Misery of the wicked, and Happiness of the Godly.  

CHAP. I. Of the General Resurrection.  
REsurrection from the dead and eternal judgement, are two of 
See Dr Prid. Sermon on 1 Cor. 15. 20. Resurrectionem mortuorum futuram esse in carne, quando Christus venturus est vivos judicaturus, & mortuos: oportet si Christiani esse volumus ut credamus. Sed non ideo de hac re inanis est fides nostra, si quemadmodum futura sit, perfectè comprehendere non valemus. August. de civet▪ Dei, l. 20. c. 20.  the principles of the Apostles Catechism, Heb. 6. 1.  
There shall be a Resurrection of the body. In the New Testament the thing is so perspicuous and obvious, that it would be too long to rehearse the several places. Matth. 22. 32. john 5. 28, 29. Acts 17. 31. & 24. 16. Revel. 20. 12, 13. Paul proves it by divers Arguments, 1 Cor. 15.  
Tertullian hath written a famous book of this subject, and begins his Book thus, Fiducia Christianorum resurrectio mortuorum. The confidence of Christians is the resurrection of the dead.  
2. Of the selfsame body, the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 53. speaks by way of demonstration, and as it were pointing at his own body, This corruption must put on incorruption.  
Credo resurrectionem hujus carnis, said the old Christians, job 19 25. Non enim resurrectio dici potest, nisi anima ad idem corpus redeat, quia resurrectio est iterata surrectio: ejusdem autem est surgere & cadere. Aquinas Supplem. 3. part. Quaest 78. Artic. 1.  
3. It shall be genoral, of the good and bad, Matth. 22. 31, 33. Dan. 12. 2. john 5. 28, 29. The wicked rise in virtute Christi judicis, the godly in virtute Christi capitis, the wicked shall arise to death and shame; the resurrection of the Saints shall be glorious, they shall rise first, 1 Cor. 15▪ 2. Every one of them shall have a 
Articulus intelligi debet de resurrectione gloriosa quae est ad vitam. Nam solius Ecclesiae privilegia commemorantur▪ Unde nec mortis aeternae mentio fit, quia reprobos ea manet, non electos Dei. Vossius Disputat. 13. de Baptismo.  perfect body without defect or deformity, they shall arise in perfect beauty. 3. Their body shall be immortal. 4. Spiritual and glorious, like Christ's body, Phil. 4. ult.  
Aquinas shows that Subtilitas est proprietas corporis gloriosi, Supplem. 3. part. Quaest 83. Art. 1. and that it is ratione subtilitatis impalpabile, Ib. Art. 6. Vide ibid. Qu. 84. Art. 1. & Qu. 85. Art. 1, 2.  
The Resurrection may be proved by reason: 
Et utique idoneus est reficere, qui fecit: quantò plus est fecisse, quam refecisse: initium dedisse quam reddidisse. Ita restitutionem carnis, faciliorem credas institutione. Aspici● nunc ad ipsa quoque exempla divinae potestatis. Dies moritur in noctem & tenebris usque quaque s●pelitur. Fun●statur mundi honour, omnis substantia denigratur. Tertul. de resurrect. carnis. This Article is most difficult to be believed, and most scoffed at by the Heathen, therefore most defended by justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Lactantius, Tertullian.   

1. From the power of God, he made us of nothing, therefore he can raise us out of the dust. Facilius est restituere quam constituere. Qui potest facere potest reficere, saith Tertullian, Mat. 22. 29▪ Phil. 3. 21.  
2. His justice, the body is partner with the soul in sin or holiness.  
3. Christ rose again, and he rose as the public head of the Church, Luke 24. 46, 47. He rose as the first-fruits, 1 Cor. 15. 21. He bought soul and body, 1 Cor. 6. 20. He is united to a whole believer, john 6. 40.  
4. That the glory of God, and Christ, and the Saints may be manifested.   
The world derides the resurrection of the body, the Philosophers could not attain to it, but it is the Christians chief consolation, job 19 27. Hope and resurrection of the dead are joined together, Act. 23. 6. & 24. 14.  
There are as great things past as to come, our bodies may as well be in heaven, as Christ's body be in the grave, Rom. 8. 32.  
Although the Resurrection shall be by the power of the whole Trinity, yet it shall be peculiarly by the voice of Christ, the dead shall hear the voice of God and live, by an Archangel ministerially.  
The end why Christ shall raise them all, is to bring them to judgement.  
The Schoolmen say, Omnes resurgent in eadem aetate, and urge Ephes. 4. 13. but Christ rose (say they) in his youthful age about thirty three years; but the Fathers interpret that place otherwise.  
The godly then need not fear persecution, it toucheth but the body, Matth. 10. 28. nor death itself: It is but a sleep, Act. 7. 
* See M. Calamy on that Text. Dormientes videntur mortui apud homines, quemadmodum apud Deum mortui dormientes. Vita Bernardi▪  60. 2 Thess▪ 4 13. the grave a bed of rest, Isa. 57 2. Those that sleep likely rise, so shall thy body be raised up at the last day.   

CHAP. II. Of the Last judgement.  
BErnard 
* De Adventu Domini Serm. 3.  distinguisheth of a threefold coming of Christ:  

1. Ad Homines, John 1. 11.  
2. In Homines, Matth. 28. ult.  
3. Contra Homines, Revel. 1. 7.   
The usual distinction is of his first coming in great humility, when he was incarnate, 
Christ's first and second coming agree in some things and differ in others. They agree in these: 1. At his first coming he came personally and visibly, and so shall at the last. 2. He came then, and so also the second time to advance his Church, and overthrow his enemies. They differ in four things: 1. His first coming (in respect of outward glory) was in a poor abased condition, Phil. 2. 7. The second in great glory, Matth. 24. 30. He shall be attended with innumerable Angels. He shall come in all the glory of the Father, Matth. 25. 31. & 16. 27. 2. His second coming will bring great joy to all his subjects, and terror to all his enemies, 2 Thess. 1. 8, 9, 30, 11. 3. The good he did for his people at his first coming was but inchoate, at the last perfect. 4. Their communion with God was by Ordinances, which shall then be abolished. When Christ came in the flesh, he came to be judged and condemned, therefore he came in a mean and contemptible way, but he shall come the second time to judge the world, John 5. 27. Hic ostendit, quod in ea carne veniet judicaturus, in qua venerat judicandus. Aug. the civ. Dei, l. 20. c. 6.  and his second coming in Majesty, when he shall openly manifest and declare his excellent glory in the sight of all his reasonable creatures, Angels and men, good and bad.  
The knowledge of the time is reserved to God alone, Acts 1. 7. The day is appointed by God the Father, and not revealed to any creature saving the humanity of Christ, and was not revealed to that it seemeth while he lived in the earth in baseness. Christ shall suddenly descend from heaven with the voice of an Archangel, with a mighty shout, and with the trump of God, and then shall he cause all the Saints to rise, and with the living Saints shall cause them to meet him in the clouds, and after he shall cause all the sinners to arise also, and there publicly shall adjudge all his Saints to his heavenly Kingdom, making known and rewarding all their good deeds, but shall adjudge all the wicked to eternal damnation, making known to all the world all their wicked and ungodly deeds, words and thoughts, even those which before were most secret, which having done he shall then yield up the Kingdom to God his Father, not ceasing to be less glorious himself, because he hath showed the infinite glory of God, to which all things are to be referred as their proper end, but perpetually enjoying glory and bliss with him in another manner, and in no less full measure, even as a mighty man under some great Prince, having conquered some Kingdom against whom his Prince did send him, then resigneth the office of Lord General, because there is no farther use of it, but yet liveth in as much honour in the King's Court, as that military title and function would afford him. So our Lord and all his members with him after the last day shall remain for all eternity unspeakably glorious, though the manner of administration of things which is now in use by God's appointment shall be finished and determined, that God may be all in all.  
Two things are to be considered:  

1. That all universally are to be judged.  
2. That Christ shall be Judge of all.   
For the former, there is a twofold Judgement:  

1. Particular and private, which is given concerning every one immediately after death.  
2. Universal and public, when all men shall be judged together, called the day of Revelation, Rom. 2. 5. and of this judgement the Creed speaks, when it saith, From thence he shall come to judge the quick and dead: From thence, viz. Heaven, He, that is, Christ Jesus the second person in Trinity, Shall come to judge the quick and dead, that is, all men that ever were or shall be.   
That in the end of the world there shall be a day of Judgement, and that all men shall then be judged, it appears,  
First, From Scripture, Eccles. 12. 14. Matth. 10. 15. & 12. 36. & 25. 32. Acts 17. 30, 31. Apocal. 20. 12. Isaiah and Daniel write of it; Christ in his Sermons speaks of it. See Matth. 11. 21, 22. Matth. 12. 41, 
a Duas hoc loco res discimus, & venturum esse judicium, & cum mortuorum resurrectione venturum. De Ninevitis enim & regina Austri quando haec dicebat, de mortuis sine dubio loquebatur, quos tamen in die judicii resurrecturos esse praedixit. Nec ideo dixit condemnabunt, quia & ipsi judicabunt, sed quia ex ipsorum comparatione isti meritò dam●abuntur August de civet Dei, l. 20. c. 5.  42. Matth. 13. The Parable of the tares, Matth. 19 28. 
b Quod autem ait, in regeneratione, proculdubio mortuorum resurrectionem nomine voluit regenerationis intelligi. Sic enim caro nostra regenerabitur per incorruptionem, quemadmodum est anima nostra regenerata per fidem. Aug. de civet. Dei, l. 20. c. 5.  he calls it regeneration, not that men shall be then converted, but because all things than shall appear new. Enoch taught this doctrine before the flood, jude v. 14. It is called that day, 2 Cor. 3. 4. Rom. 2. 4, 5. Paul saith of Onesiphorus, God grant him mercy on that day, God's day, 2 Pet. 3. 12. The day of the Lord, vers. 15. The day of Christ, Phil. 1. 6, 10. It is called absolutely and simply Judgement, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, because it is that universal, final and ultimate Judgement, which God shall exercise in the end of the world, whose object shall be not some men only, but all men altogether, Ps. 9 8. Eccl. 12. 14. 2 Pet. 2. 9 and with an addition, the last Judgement, because it shall be that last and immutable Judgement of God, in which those which are acquitted shall be for ever acquitted, and those which are condemned, shall be for ever condemned. It is called the last Judgement also, because it shall be exercised in the last day.  
Secondly, The very conscience of man which reproves the evildoer, proves a judgement, Rom. 2. 15. Neither are those infernal furies celebrated by the Poets any other thing then the terrors of conscience. Some deny the General Judgement, and say, there is no other judgement but what passeth in our own consciences.  
A third Reason is taken from God, the Saints, and the wicked. 
God shall then have the glory of all his Attributes, and Christ of all his offices. Christ hath fulfilled all the other Articles in the Creed that concern him, therefore he will not fail also to accomplish this, being the last act of his Kingly office. All the creatures call for a day of judgement, Rom. 8. 19, 20.   
First, From God, that his Decree may be fulfilled, Act. 17. 31.  
2. That his honour may be vindicated, Eccles. 3. 16.  
3. His justice cleared, Rom. 2. 15. Isa. 30. 33. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Eccles. 9 1, 2. therefore God takes such exact notice of all the ways of men, job 31. 11. Deut. 32. 34. because he will call them to an account for all.  
Secondly, In respect of the Saints, that their innocency here traduced may be made manifest.  
2. That their works may be rewarded, therefore it is called a day of restoring all things, all things shall then be set strait.  
Thirdly, In respect of the wicked, that their unrighteousness may be fully punished, 1 Cor. 4. 9, 13. and that as the body did partake with the soul in sinning, so it may also share with it in punishment, 2 Cor. 5. 10. Nature had some blind knowledge of a day of recompense, the course of providence shows it; Virtue hath not yet a full reward, nor vice a full punishment. Sin is sometimes punished, to show that there is a providence, and sometimes let alone, to show that there is a Judgement to come. The course of God's justice, and the wisdom of his counsels must be solidly applauded. The Judgement to come will work on shame, hell on fear.  
The day of Judgement will be terrible to the wicked, it is called the terror of the Lord, 2 Cor. 5. 11. and by the ancient Fathers, Tremendum judicium Dei.  

1. In respect of the manner of the Judges coming, with many thousands of Angels, Matth. 16. 27. & 25. 31. jude v. 14.  
2. In respect of the Judge himself who hath infinite anger.  
3. Both in the intention, extension, and protention of the punishment.   

1. In the intention of it, it is without any stop or measure.  
2. The extension of it, to all the soul and body.  
3. In the protention of it, to all eternity.   
The suddenness also of it strikes the greater fear and terror into ungodly men, it is resembled to three things, the first deluge, a thief, and a snare laid by the 
2 Pet. 3. 10. Luke 21. 35.  Fowler, all which come unexpectedly, and when there is greatest indisposition and security. It is comfortable to the godly, the Scripture seldom speaks of the day of Judgement, but it calls on them to rejoice, Lift up your heads, Luke 21. 28. it is a phrase implying the comfort, hope and boldness that the people of God have, or aught to have: comfort yourselves with these words. It is compared to a day of refreshing, to the meeting of the Bridegroom, all which imply, that that time is matter of joy and consolation to the godly, it is their marriage and coronation day.  
All the reasonable creatures shall then be judged, Angels and men, Do not ye know that we shall judge the Angels? we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ.  
The things for which they are to be judged, all actions any way liable to a Law, 
Mat. 12 36. Eccles. 12. 14. 1 Cor. 4. 5.  all moral actions, for what ever they have done in the flesh, whether it was good or evil, every secret thing,  Cunctaque cunctorum cunctis arcana patebunt. 

Cum ergo locus determinatus & tempus d●sinitum sapientiae divinae thesauris absconditum lateat, temeraria esset de iis inquisitio. Synops. Purior. Theol. Disputat. 5●.  No man knows the precise time of the day of Judgement, Matth. 24. 36. Mark 10. 32. yet God hath appointed the set time, Act. 17. 30.  
Concerning the place, the Air, say most; the Rabbins generally say in the valley 
1 Thes. 4. 7.  of jehoshaphat. So Aquinas 
c Supplem. 3. part. Qu. 88 Art. 4.  seems to hold, though there be little ground for it. joel 2. 12. is urged, and because Christ ascended from Mount Olivet, Act. 1. Christ's great Throne shall be fixed in the Clouds, and the Judgement shall be in the air.  
Some speak of fifteen signs before the day of Judgement.  
Others say, these great things are to be accomplished before the day of Judgement.  
1. The Gospel is to be preached more generally to all the world, not only as the world is taken in opposition to the Jewish Nation, but as it signifies the several Nations, the utmost parts of the earth must be given to Christ. 
Vide Mercer. in Amos 9 9 & 14. & a● Obad. 20. Capel. Spicileg. Matth. 17. 3. 4. ad Joan. 3. 4. & Drus▪ a● difficiliora l●●●, Gen. c. 81.   
2. A national conversion of the Jews, Rom. 11. 25, 26. 2 Cor. 3. 15, 16.  
Some 
d Mr Meder answer to D. Twiss first letter.  say they shall be called by vision and voice from heaven, as Paul was, and that those places Zech. 12. 10. Matth. 23. 39 seem to imply it. See Daniel 7. 13, 14.  
3. The falling of Antichrist, the ten Kings that gave their power to him shall withdraw it from him, Revelat. 17. 11. & 14. 16. & 18. 20. See Romans 9 13. and 16. 12.  
4. More pure and glorious times in the Church, Isa. 30. 26. Revel. 11. 15. when the Jews and Gentiles shall be one flock, and more outward peace, Isa. 11. 6. & 32. 18. & 33. 20, 28. Ezek. 12. 14.  
Some distinguish of two sorts of signs before Christ's coming:  

1. Some are more remote and transient, the man of sin to be revealed, that is past, 
See his answer also to the second.  false prophets shall arise, and say, I am Christ; wars and rumours of wars, Matth. 24. 5, 6, 7, 24. great divisions in matters of Religion; Men shall say, Lo here is Christ, and lo there is Christ, Mat. 24. 12.  
2. Some more immediate and near at hand, the general resurrection, the conflagration of the whole frame of nature.   
Some say, God hath promised to accomplish six things in the latter end of the world.  

1. He is pouring out his vials upon the Sun, Revel. 16. 1.  
2. Is breaking the horn that pushed jerusalem, Zech. 1. 21.  
3. Is taking away the Images of jealousy, Ezek. 8. that is, some abuse in the public worship of God.  
4. He will build Ezekiel's Temple, a glorious Temple in the latter end of Ezekiel, never yet seen in the world, it is spiritually to be understood, it shall be said, The Tabernacle of the Lord is with men.  
5. God is reforming of Government all the world over, Ezek. 46. 18. The Princes shall oppress the people no more.  
6. The Lord is making way for that glorious promise, Dan. 7. 18.   
The solemn preparation to this judgement stands in  

1. The solemn coming of the Judge to the Assizes; immediately before his coming shall be the sign of the Son of man, which what it is, is uncertain; whether some mighty brightness to irradiate all the world, or what else, is a great Controversy.  
2. Christ shall come clothed with all the glory and majesty of Jehovah, Matth. 16. 27. besides the glory of his Person, he shall come accompanied with a most glorious train of millions of Angels, which shall come visibly, and all the Saints departed: All the rest alive shall likewise be caught up to come along with him; then he shall pitch his Throne in the clouds. Daniel saith a fiery stream issued from it, Dan. 7. 10. See Rev. 20. 11.   
The only Judge at the great day is Jesus Christ, the second Person in the sacred 
Solus meritò constitutus est judex viv●rum & mortuorum, qui finxi●●igillatim corda universorum, & intelligit omnia opera corum. Solum attendo Iudic●●, quem & solura justificatorem agnosco. Bern. Epist. 42. Compare 2 Phil. 9 10, ●1. with Rom. 14. 10, 11.  Trinity, made man, the head and spouse of the Church: Daniel saith, the Son of man, the ancient of days: Christ saith often, ●he shall come to judge the quick and dead, Matth. 25. Acts 17. 31. & 10. 42. It is called the judgement seat of Christ, 2 Cor. 5. 10.  
It is part of his Kingly Office as he is the Fathers Prorex and rules for him: He that hath performed all the acts of Ministry, will not be wanting in that of Majesty.  
2. It is an Honour fit for none else, to be Judge of the whole world; as he is the King and Lawgiver, so judgement belongs to him.  
3. The Lord hath great ends in it.  

1. That he may Honour the Son, joh. 5. 23. He was abased and judged in the world, God will justify him before all his enemies.  
2. That God's justice thereby may be made glorious, joh. 5. 27. and the judicial process might appear in its visible form, Rev. 1. 7.  
3. That so destruction may be more terrible to the wicked, who have abu●●● Christ's patience, and despised his mercies, Luk. 19 27.  
4. For the greater comfort and honour of the Saints, their Husband is their Judge: Christ upon this ground presseth men to the greatest services, Mat. 19 28. & 24. 22. & 25. 31. 2 Cor. 5. 11.   
There are four things to be considered in Judgement. 
There are three properties especially required to the office of a Judge. 1. Knowledge to discern. 2. Power to determine. 3. Justice to execute, all which are in Christ.   

1. Judiciary power.  
2. The internal approbation of good, and detestation of evil.  
3. The retribution of reward, all these agree to all and every person in the Trinity.  
4. external sitting upon the tribunal, and publishing of sentence; and in this respect the Father judgeth no man, but committeth all judgement to the Son, Joh. 5. 23.   
Christ shall judge the world as God-man.  

1. As God, else he could not know the decrees of God, Rev. 20. 12. nor the secrets of men, Rom. 2. 16.  
2. He judgeth as man too, joh. 5. 27.   
God, Christ, and the Saints, are said to judge the world. God judgeth in respect of the authority of jurisdiction, Christ in respect of the promulgation of sentence, Saints in respect of approbation. The authority is Gods, the execution Christ's, the approbation the Saints.  
One may judge comparatively, see Matth. 12. 41. after this manner even the 
1 Cor. 6. 2. Aquinas.  wicked shall be able to judge, viz. others worse than themselves, ver. 27. 2. Interpretatiuè, or by approbation. 3. Assessoriè, see Matth. 19 28. 4. Authoritatively, So Christ alone shall judge.  
The manner how this great judgement shall be carried on.  
1. The Saints are to be judged, as they shall arise first, so they shall be first judged; the good and bad shall be all gathered and brought into one place, but yet separated before the judgement begin, the godly shall be set all together, and the wicked all together.  
The judgement of the godly, shall be an acknowledgement and rewarding of all the good that ever God wrought by them, every prayer, endeavour, shall be discovered, acknowledged, justified, rewarded, Matth. 25. 34, 35, 36, 37. then being acquittéd, they shall sit down with Christ, and as assessors own and approve of his righteous judgement.  
All the sins which the wicked are guilty of, all the sins that ever they committed, with their aggravations, shall be brought to light, Eccles. 11. 9 jude vers. 15. God will have all witnesses heard against any wicked man, and they shall receive a just punishment according to the several degrees of their sins, Mat. 25. 41, 42, 43.  
There are two books wherein all is recorded:  

1. Every man's conscience, it records all the actions that ever they did.  
2. God's omniscience, These things thou hast done.   
It is a great Question, Whether the sins of God's people shall be manifested at 
The Leyden Divines in Synops. Pur. The●l. seem to incline to the affirmative, and so do others of our Divines, they say, it shall be as a bond canceled. Others rather approve of the negative opinion. See Mr Burgess of Justification, Lect. 29. pag. 264. Nam per quot dies hoc judicium tendatur, incertum est▪ sed Scripturarum morè sanctarum diem poni solcre pro tempore; nemo qui illas literas quamlibet negligenter logerit, nescit. August. de civet. Dei. l. 20 c. 1.  the day of Judgement?  
Some think that all their secret sins shall then be opened and brought to light, yet without the least reproach, because the Scripture speaks of all giving an account, and for every secret thing, Eccl. 12. 14. 2 Cor. 5. 10.  
Thin●● shall not be suddenly up, as carnal thoughts imagine, viz. at this day first Christ shall raise the dead, and then the separation shall be made, and then the sentence past, and then suddenly the Judgement day is done: No, no, it must take up some large quantity of time, that all in the world may see the secret sins of wi●●●d men, the Kingly Office of Christ in judging the world may probably last longer than his private administration now in governing the world. Mr Steph. Sinc. Convert. c. 3.  
When the Judgement is past, the godly shall go with Christ to heaven, and the wicked be thrust from him to hell, never till then shall that Text, Phil. 2. 9, 10. be fulfilled.  
Corollaries from the last Judgement: 
We should walk with a continual awe of it in our souls, job 31. 13, 14. Luk. 21. 24. Quoties diem illum co●s●dero, toto corpore contremisco, sive enim comedo, fine bibo, sine all▪ quid aliud facio, semper videtur illa tuba terribilis sonare auribus meis, surgite mortui, venite ad judicium. Hieron.   
We should not only habitually yield to the truth of this opinion (that there is such a dreadful day of Judgement) but believe it so as to carry the thought of it in our minds, and walk as those that do believe and expect a judgement to come.  
Tertullian (one of the ancientest of the Fathers) observed of all those that professed Christianity in his time, none lived loosely, but those who either firmly believed not the day of Judgement, or put the thought of it out of their minds.  
It is reported of a certain King of Hungary, who had a brother that was a gallant: the King being careful about his soul, and sad when he thought of the day of Judgement, his brother told him, These were but melancholy thoughts, and bade him be merry. The manner of that Country was, when the King sent his Trumpeter to sound at another's door, he was presently to be led to execution; that night the King caused his Trumpeter to sound at his brother's door, whereat he was exceedingly astonished, and presently went to the King, and casting himself at his feet, asked him, What offence he had committed that he should deal so with him, and humbly beseech him to spare him. The King told him he had committed no offence against him, but always carried himself as a kind brother, but if he were so afraid of his Trumpet, why should not he much more fear when he thought of the day of God's judgement?  
Secondly, We should judge ourselves, our estates and ways, 1 Corinth. 
If thou be'st godly the thought of the day of judgement will sweeten all reproaches and false censures here, Job 16. 19 2 Thess. 1. 6, 7, 8. and make thee more holy as well as more comfortable. A wicked Pope in the midst of all his jollity heard a voice in his Palace of Naples, saying, Ven● miser in judicium Dei, and that night he was found dead.  11. 31.  
Thirdly, Strive to get an interest in the Judge, and to evidence the same to ourselves.  
Fourthly, Lay up prayers for it, that we may find mercy by Christ's means at that day, 2 Tim. 1. 18.  
Fifthly, We should be industrious by employing the talon the Lord hath given us, Matth. 25.  
Sixthly, We should look for, wait and long for that day, Phil. 3. 30. Rev. 22. 29. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Tit. 2. 13. Thy Kingdom come.   

CHAP. III. Of Hell or Damnation.  


1. THere is a hell or state of misery to come after this life.  
This is proved,  

1. By Scripture; our Saviour teacheth it in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus, and in that of the last judgement, Matth. 13. 30. and often in Revelations.  
2. By the Conscience; wicked men find in themselves an apprehension of immortality, and a fear of some punishment after death.  
3. The Heathens though they have corrupted this truth with innumerable follies, yet held that there was a hell, a being and place of misery to wicked men after this present life.  
4. Clear reason proveth it; since God is just, therefore many abominable sinners enjoying more prosperity in this life, than those which live far more innocently, must be punished hereafter according to the multitude and heinousness of their sins, Psal. 73. 17.    
2. The nature of the misery there suffered in regard of the matter or parts, properties and circumstances.   
The parts are two, privative and positive: 
In sin there is an aversion from the Creator, and a conversion to the creature. To the aversion, the poena damui answers, to the conversion poena sensus. Mark 9 48. God thus punisheth the conscience in hell. 1. Because that faculty is the strength of a man, a man will bear his infirmities, but a wounded Spirit who can bear? 2. Because it is the tenderest part in a man. 3. It is the most active in sinning, shall purge their consciences from dead works, Heb. 4. Because it hath the greatest office and honour p●● upon it here. Optimum est tunc sentiri vermem cum possit etiam suffocari. Itaque mordeat nunc ut meriatur, & paulatim desinat mordere. Bern.   

1. Privative, Matth. 25. 41. Poena damni, the absence of all manner of comfort, here they drink the pure and unmixed cup of vengeance, it is a darkness without any light, called outer darkness, not a drop of cold water there to cool Dives his tongue. Divines unanimously concur, that this is the worse part of hell, to be for ever totally separated from all gracious communion with God, 2 Thess. 1. Their being is upheld by God's power, his wrath and vindictive justice are present with them, but they have no comfortable communion with him. Whence follows, 

1. An everlasting hardening in sin, because they are separated from him which should soften them.  
2. Everlasting despair, they shall have an apprehension of their loss, which shall be more than the sense of pain.    
2. Positive, the presence of all manner of torments, which may be referred to two heads, the sense of God's anger, and the miserable effects thereof, Isa. 30. 33. for these things sake the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. Tribulation and wrath, indignation and anguish shall be upon the soul of man that doth evil. Three drops of brimstone if it light upon any part of the flesh, will make one so full of torment that he cannot forbear roaring out for pain, How extremely troublesome will it be then, when the whole man is drowned in a lake or river of brimstone? The wrath of God is insupportable, and is therefore compared to fire which is more hard to bear then any rack.   
2. The effects of this anger on the soul and body of the sinner, the soul is affected with the horror of its own conscience which takes God's part against the sinner, and in a most rageful manner accuseth him.  
The worm of conscience in hell is the furious reflection of the soul upon itself for its former offers, misspent time, bypast joys, and now miserable, hopeless condition.  
From the sense of God's anger, and this rage of conscience, follow extremity of grief, fear and despair, than which the soul cannot meet with greater torments. The spirits grieve with the anguish of what they do feel, and fear and tremble at the apprehension of what they shall feel, and are in utter despair of escaping or well bearing, they cannot be hardhearted there if they would. But when the soul and body shall be joined, then shall the body bear a part in the torment, which flows from the sense of God's anger, and shall feel as much pain as any rack or fire could put it to, and both soul and body covered up with horrible shame and confusion, in that it shall be made manifest to all creatures, how wicked they have been, and for what sins the Lord doth so avenge himself upon them.  
Secondly, The Properties of this misery are chiefly two, Extremity and Eternity. 
Primam mors animam dolentem pellit de corpore, secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore. Aug. the civet. Dei, l. 21. c. 32. Mat. 25. 41. & ult. 2 Thess. 1. 10. Prov. 11. 7. Hell is called a bottomless pit, Luk. 8. 31. Revel. 20. 3. The great gulf shows the eternity of that condition, they shall not come out till they have paid the utmost farthing. Ubi mors semper vivit, finis semper incipit, spe sublata sola manet oeterna desperatio. Drexel. Some say, Hell is on high before the Throne of the Lamb, and within the view of the glorified Saints, Revel. 14. 10. Isa. 66. ●4. B. Bilson, Bellarm. Aquinas, with Mr Wheatley and others, say, it is below.   

1. Extremity. The torments are great, as falling upon the whole soul and body without any mitigation or comfort, the length of time makes not these pains seem less, but still they continue as extreme as at the first to the sense of the feeler, because they do so far exceed his strength, and the power of God's anger doth so continually renew itself against them.  
2. Eternity. This misery continues for ever in all extremity, the things that are not seen are eternal, these shall go into everlasting punishment, their fire never goeth out, their worm never dieth, this is the hell of hell, endless misery must needs be hopeless, and so comfortless: it is just that he should suffer for ever, who would have sinned for ever, if he had not been cut off by punishment. See jer. 15. 1. they wilfully refused happiness; if Heathens, they have wilfully transgressed the light of nature; if Christians, they have carelessly neglected the offers of grace, jer. 3. 5. their desires are infinite.   
Socinians say, there will come a time when Angels and the wickedest men shall be freed. Augustine speaks of some such merciful men in his time. God's intention from everlasting was to glorify his justice as well as his mercy, Rom. 9 22, 23. The Covenant under which unregenerate men stand, and by which they are bound over to this wrath is everlasting. All a man's sufferings are but against the good of the creature, every sin is against the glory of the Creator. They will never repent of what they have done, Voluntas morientis confirmatur in eo statu in quo moritur.  
Thirdly, The circumstances of these torments, are a miserable place, and miserable company, a pit, a dungeon, a lake, a pit of darkness, and no light, which is below, as far removed from God, and good men as can be; the Scripture speaks of hell as a low place, 2 Pet. 2. 4. most remote from Heaven.  
2. Not one person there free from the like torment, all wail, and weep, and gnash their teeth, they curse and accuse one another, this company adds to their misery.  

Of Purgatory, Limbus Infantium & Patrum.  

Constituunt enim Scholastici communi consensu intra terram quatuor sinus ●ive unum in quatuor partes divisum, unum pro damnatis, alterum pro purgatorio, tertium pro infantibus sive baptismo abe untibus, quartum pro justis, qui morichantur ante Christi passionem, qui nunc vacuus remanet: quorum sufficientia sumitur penes genera poenarum, sunt enim haec omnia loca poenalia; omnis autem poena, aut est tantùm damni, aut etiam sensus; & rursus aut aeterna, aut temporalis: pro poena ergo solius damni aeterna, est limbus puerorum; pro poena solius damni temporali, erat limbus Patrum; pro poena damni & sensus aterna, est infernus; pro poena damni & sensus temporali, est Purgatorium. Bellarm. Tom. 2. controvers. 3. lib. 2. c. 6. De loco Purgatorii. Incentro collocant inferuum damnatorum: circa ●anc Purgatorium, tum limbum puerorum: ad extremum limbum Patrum. Chamier. tom. 2. l. 5. c. 8. Proxima pars gehennae est Purgatorium, Purgatorio proximus limbus puerorum, puerorum limbo proximus Patrum limbus. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. tom. 1. praelect. 79.  Because the Papists divide hell into four regions.  

1. The hell of the damned, the place of eternal torment  
2. Purgatory, where (they say) the souls of such are as were not sufficiently purged from their sins, while they were upon earth, and therefore for the thorough purging of them are there in torment, equal for the time to that of the damned.  
3. Limbus Infantium, where they place such Infants as die without Baptism, whom they make to suffer the loss of heaven and heavenly happiness, and no pain or torment.  
4. Limbus Patrum, where in like manner the Fathers before Christ (as they hold) were, suffering no pain, but only wanting the joys of heaven; and because I have not yet spoke of these, I shall handle them here, being willing to discuss most of the main controversies betwixt us and the Papists.    

Of Purgatory.  
Bellarmine saith, there are three things to which the purging of sins is attributed, 
Tom. 2. controv. lib. 1. de purgat. c. 1.  and which may therefore be called Purgatories.  

1. Christ himself, Heb. 1. 3.  
2. The tribulations of this life, Mal. 3. 3. john 15. 2.  
3. A certain place, in which as in a prison souls are purged after this life, which were not fully purged in this life, that so they being cleansed may be able to enter heaven, into which no unclean thing shall enter; about this (saith he) is all the controversy.   
Therefore whereas we distinguish the Church into militant here on earth, and triumphant in heaven, he adds, and labouring in Purgatory.  
We believe no other purgation for sin, but only by the blood of Jesus Christ, 
Abbot against Bishop.  1 john 1. 7. through the sanctification of the holy Ghost, Tit. 3. 5.  
The Papists charged Luther that he spoke of Purgatory, such a Purgatory, there is, said he, meaning temptation, Hoc Purgatorium non est fictum.  
If there be a Purgatory, it should be as well for the body as the soul, because it 
Clamandum, ergo non modò vocis, sed gutturis ac laterum contentione, Purgatorium exitiale Satanae esse commentum, quod Christi crucem evacuat, quod contumeliam Dei misericordiae non ferendam irrogat, quod fidem nostram labefa●it & evertit. Calv. Instit. l. 3. c. 5. Sect. 16. Duo sunt habitacula, unum in igne aeterno, alterum in regno aeterno. August. in lib. suo de verbis Apost. 18. Serm. Nec est illi ullus medius locus ut possit esse nisi cum diabolo qui non est cum Christo l. 1. de peccat▪ meritis & remissione cont. Pelag. c. 28.  hath been partaker of those pleasures and delights for which the souls pay dear in Purgatory fire, but they deny any Purgatory for the body. Epiphanius saith, Thus shall the judgement of God be just, while both participate either punishment for sin, or reward for virtue.  
Origen excepted, all the expressions of the Fathers this way, appear clearly to have been understood, not of a Purgatory, but only of a Probatory fire; whether they meant that of affliction, or of the day of Judgement. My L. Digby in his answ. to Sir Ken. Digb.  
We say with Augustine, We believe according to the authority of God, that the kingdom of heaven is in the first place appointed for Gods elect, and that hell is the second place where all the reprobate shall suffer eternal punishment. Tertium locum penitus ignoramus, imò nec esse in Scriptures sanctis invenimus. The third place we are utterly ignorant of, and that it is not we find in the holy Scriptures.  
It is not yet agreed among the Papists, either for the fire or the place, or the time of it, only thus far they seem at length to concur, that souls do therein satisfy both for venial sins, and for the guilt of punishment due unto mortal sins, when the guilt of the sin itself is forgiven. Dr. Chaloner on Matth. 13. 27. See Dr. Prid. Serm. 2. on Matth. 5. 25. pag. 58. to the end. Mr. Cartwrights rejoined. pag. 34●, & c.  
Ezek. 18. 22. Micah 7. 18. 1 john 1. 2. Rom. 8. 1. If our sins shall not be so much as mentioned, surely they shall not be sentenced to be punished with fire, jer. 50. 20. From which Text we thus argue, All their sins 
* Dr Fcatleys Stricturae in Lindomastig. Chap. of Ind●●●. Bellarm. lib. 2. de Pu●●●. 14. ait poenas in Purgatorio esse atro●●●mas, & cum i●cis m●llas poenas hujus vitae comparandas esse docere constanter Patres, & ex Thoma minimam poenam purgatorii esse majorem maxima poena hujus vitae.  whom God pardoneth shall be found no more, then to be purged no more, especially after this life.  
The learned Romanists generally accord, That Purgatory fire differeth little from hell but in time, that the one is eternal, the other temporal, they believe it to equalise, or rather exceed any fiery torment on earth.  
The Apostle calleth the Church the whole family in heaven and earth, whence we reason thus, All the family whereof Christ is head, is either in heaven or upon earth. Now Purgatory is neither in heaven nor upon the earth, but in hell, wherefore no part of the Family of Christ is there.  
Papists will not grant that God imputeth to us the merits and sufferings of his Son, although the Scripture is express for it, and yet they teach that merits and satisfaction by the Pope may be applied to us, and that they satisfy for our temporal punishments.  
Purgatory is described by Gregory de Valentia, and Bellarm. l. 2. de Purgat. cap. 10, 11. & 14. to be a fire of hell adjoining to the place of the damned, wherein the souls of the faithful departing in the guilt of venial sins (or for the more full satisfaction of mortal sins which have been remitted) are tormented, which torment is nothing differing from the punishment of the damned, in respect of the extremity of pain, but only in respect of continuance of time, which may be ten or a hundred, or three hundred years, or longer, except they be delivered by the prayers, Sacrifices or alms of the living. And the confession of this Purgatory (saith Bellarmine lib. 1. de Purgat. cap. 11.) is a part of the Catholic Faith.  
The principal places of Canonical Scripture which they urge for it are these. In the Old Testament, Psal. 66. 12. Isa. 9 18. Micah 7. 8. Zech. 9 11. 
Vide Bellarm. l. 2. de purgat. c. 3.  Mal. 3. 2.  
In the New, Matth. 5. 25, 26. Luk. 16. 6. Acts 2. 24. 1 Cor. 3. 11, 13. 1 Cor. 15. 29. 1 Pet. 3. 19 
Vide Bellar. ●ib. c. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.   
All which places have been taken off by learned Papists. And also by Calvin in his Institut. lib. 3. cap. 5. and Chemnit. in his Examinat. Concil. Trident. and others.  
If the Scriptures before urged had been so evident for Purgatory, Father Cotton 
Petrus Cottonus jesuita in Christianissimi Regis aula Patrum nostrorum memoria nobilissimus, cum in quandam en●rgumenam incidisset, neque tam opportunam occasionem negligendam putaret homo discendi cupidissimus, inter caetera, quae à malo quidem, sed tamen calido, & docto daemone sciscitanda in chartula quaedam annotaverat, etiam disertè praescripserit, Quis evidentissimus Scripturae locus ad probandum purgatorium, & invocationem Sanctorum; ut est ab amplissimo viro Jacobo Augusto Thuano in historiarum libris proditum. Dallaeus de poenis & satisfact. l. 1. c. 18. Vide defence de la Fidelite de traductions de la S. Bible Faites à Geneve par Turretin Preface an Lecteur, & verification. 43. Touchant le Purgatoire.  the Jesuit needed not to have enquired of the devil a plain place to prove Purgatory, as some of the learned Protestant Divines in France affirm.  
I shall conclude therefore with that saying of Bishop jewel in his Defence of the Apology of the Church of England, part 2. cap. 16. The fantasy of Purgatory sprang first from the Heathens, and was received amongst them in that time of darkness, long before the coming of Christ, as it may plainly appear by Plato and Virgil, in whom ye shall find described at large the whole Commonweal, and all the orders and degrees of Purgatory.   

Of Limbus Infantium & Patrum.  
Limbus signifies a border or edge, and is not used in the Scripture, nor any approved 
Limbus accipitur propriè pro parte insi●●a vestis muliebris imos pedes contingeute, vel pro fascia extremitatem vestium circumquaque ambiente. Si pro alterius cujus dam rei margine accipiatur, id ●it metaphora quadam, in qua aliqua ●it analogia necesse est. Limbus verò Papisticus cum juxta autores suos ●it part inferni, ac secundum Bellarminum pa●s superior, saltem ille qui patribus assignatur, debebant prius doccre qualis fit inferni figura, ut sciri possit, num Limbus fit superior vel inserior, item an sint duo, cum infantum Limbus habeatur pro inferiori. Rive●▪ in Cathol▪ Orthod.  Author in their sense.  
Limbus Infantium is a peaceable receptacle for all Infants dying before Baptism. This is so groundless a conceit, that the very rehearsal of it is a sufficient refutation.  
Limbus Patrum is a place where the Papists say the souls of the godly that died before Christ were. But Col. 1. 20. God could reconcile none to him in heaven but the faithful which died before Christ's ascension. Revel. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth, presently, from the time of death.  

1. Christ's death was efficacious to believers before his coming as well as since, 
See D. willet's Limob-mastix. De fin● Abrahae & Limbo Patrum. Vide Cam. myroth. & Capel. Spicileg. ad Luc. 16. 22. & Chamier. ad Heb. 11. 39, 40  Heb. 13. 8.  
2. The faithful before Christ expected heaven when this life was ended, Heb. 11. 11, 14, 15, 16.  
3. The believing thief was with Christ in Paradise that day, Luk. 23. 43. which Bellarmine de Beatitud. Sanctorum, l. 1. c. 3. interprets to be heaven; this was before Christ's Ascension, Luke 16. 23, 26. Abraham's bosom is a place of comfort, for Abraham was there comforted.   
2. There is a great Chaos, which signifies an infinite distance between Abraham and the rich glutton, which utterly overthrows the dream of Limbus, which signifies a border or edge, and supposeth that place to be hard adjoining to that of torment.    

CHAP. IU. Of Everlasting Life.  
THe last prerogative of the Church, is Life Everlasting, which being the sum of all desires is fitly placed in the last place.  
Here are two things:  

1. Life itself.  
2. The continuance of life, noted in the word Everlasting. See Acts 13. 48.   
Eternal life is three ways promised:  

1. As the free gift of God, without any respect of any worthiness in us, Rom. 6. ult. jam. 1. 12.  
2. As our inheritance purchased by Christ, Ephes. 1. 14.  
3. As a free reward promised and given to obedience, Rom. 6. 22.   
In the first respect our salvation and all the degrees is wholly to be ascribed to the gracious favour of God in Christ. In the second to the mercy of God and merit of Christ. In the third to the mercies of God redoubled and multiplied upon us, and not to any desert of ours. B. Down. of Justification, lib. 2. cap. 4. 
Vocatur futura piorum gloria, 1. Vita ut distinguatur ab infoelicissimo & miserrimo damnatorum statu, qui mortis nomine exprimitur. Intelligitur autem vitae nomine non nuda viventis existentia, ab animae & corporis unione dependens, ea enim & piis in coelo & damnatis in inferno crit communis, sed beatissima & foelicissima viventis conditio, quae à beatifica Dei viventis visione, & corporis & animae glorificatione dependet, per quam pii à damnatis vel maximè distinguuntur. Gerrh. loc. common.   
Life is that whereby any thing acteth, liveth and moveth. It is either natural or spiritual, and that last hath two degrees, the life of grace and glory.  
First, That there is everlasting life is proved,  

1. From the love of God to his servants, that is everlasting.  
2. Because God will be eternally glorified.  
3. It is the aim of the Saints, 1 Cor. 1. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 9   
It is,  

1. A transcendent or surpassing life, it exceedeth natural and spiritual life.  
2. A satisfying life, Psal. 17. 15. there shall be all good, and perfect good, and perfectly enjoyed. God shall be all in all, he is a satisfaction to himself, much more to us.  
3. A glorious life, there is a glorious God, a glorious Christ, there are the glorified Saints and Angels.  
4. A most joyful life, Enter thou into thy master's joy, we shall delight in God, and he in us.  
5. Eternal life, eternity heightens either happiness or misery.   
It is called eternal life not properly but by a Catachresis, it hath a beginning but no end, it is not temporary, defined by any certain term, obnoxious to any change, it shall continue for ever without end.  
Some question, Whether one may propound eternal life as an end to aim at?  
It is lawful for christian's (that most deny themselves) to make eternal life the great scope they aim at; nay it is needful for them so to do. 
All amor mercedis is not amor▪ mercenarius.   

1. From the glorious precepts of God obliging the soul to propound such an end, 1 Tim 6. 12, 19 Phil. 2. 12. 2 Pet. 1. 10. 1 Cor. 9 24.  
2. The promises of God encouraging, Matthew 5. 11, 12. 1 Timothy 4. 8. Matth. 19 28.  
3. We have the precedents of believers that denied themselves in this world, Heb. 11. 24, 25, 26. & v. 35, 36. jude v. 21.  
4. Eternal life was God's end, Heb. 2. 10. 1 Pet. 3. 8. It was the end of Christ's incarnation, suffering, ascension, intercession, john 10. 10. & 17. 24. we should aim at God's end.  
5. It was God's design from all eternity to bring men to eternal life, 1 Cor. 2. 7.  
6. The great condition on which God promiseth eternal life, is that we might seek and endeavour after it, Rom. 2. 7.  
7. We are much concerned in it, What proportion is there between time and eternity?   
How to know whether we make eternal life the end of this life.  

1. Then we will have high thoughts of eternity, the comforts that are eternal are worth regarding, and the miseries that are eternal should chiefly be avoided.  
2. We will then seriously inquire after the way to heaven, jer. 50. 5. Ps. 16. ult. David often begs of God to teach him his ways.  
3. We will then make it our main work to come to heaven, Phil. 3. 11, 13, 14. one thing is necessary.  
4. We will be content with no reward on this side eternal life, Psal. 17. lat. end, & 41. 4.  
5. We will rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, 2 Tim. 4. 8. Titus 2. 13. jude v. 21.  
6. It will be our aim then to overcome the fear of death.  
7. We will often review our evidences for heaven, Heb. 2. 11. and desire God to search and try us, Psal. 139. ult. 
Vide Montac. Apparat. 1. pag. 50, 5●, 52, 53, etc. Antiqui certè patres unanimi concentu & consensu docent, antiquos sanctos aut in loco aliquo subterraneo & secreto fuisse repositorio: aut alibi dispositos ubi Deo visum: non autem in coelo summo beato, & glorioso, quem appellant Paradisum. Montac. orig. Eccles. Tom. prior. parte posteriore p. 418. See Heb. 11. 39 opened in my Annotat.    
It is a Question, An sancti fruantur beatitudine ante ultimum judicium?  
It was a current opinion among most of the Fathers, if not all.  
That the souls of men after their death do not go immediately to heaven, but are in a receptacle or mansion-place till the day of Judgement, and some of late have followed it, especially the Anabaptists.  
The souls immediately departed have not the complete fullness of that happiness which they shall have, yet they are not excluded from the enjoying of God, Luk. 23. 43. 2 Cor. 5. 1. Phil. 1. 23.  
Some say there is a difference of those that are raised again, as Lazarus and some others; for it is likely (say they) that their souls went not into heaven, but were detained by God, who would unite them again to show forth his glory.  
The accidental joy of the Saints (say the Schoolmen) shall be greater, both extensively, because it shall be in soul and body, and intensively, because the soul shall rejoice to see the body glorified.  
2. The essential glory shall increase extensively, because it shall redound unto the body.  
The souls of the godly immediately after their departure hence from the body, are said to be in rest, Heb. 4. 11. in consolation, Luke 16. 25. in security, john 11. 15, 18. therefore they presently go to heaven, to God and Christ.  
Consider the names given to the state of glory: it is called Life, These shall enter into life; Rest, find rest, go to rest; our home, our Father's house; a purchased and glorious inheritance; A Kingdom, the Kingdom of heaven; joy, our Master's joy, everlasting joy; Glory, weight of glory, eternal weight of glory; The City of our God.  
The Scripture calls it Paradise, a place of all delight and pleasure, alluding to that Paradise planted by Gods own hand, to make it a delight for the innocent state of man, and Abraham's bosom, wherein the Saints receive refreshing, which is a borrowed speech taken from Father's carrying and cherishing their little one, in their bosom, so the elect are cherished in the bosom of the Father of all the faithful.  
There is perfection, perpetuity, immutability, there is Foelix securitas, secura foelicitas. Bernard.  
Blessedness is the fruition of the essential, absolutely chief, first, eternal, independent, 
The end of our faith is sight, of our hope possession, of our love enjoying. Ubi est summum bonum, ibi est summa foelicitas, summa jucunditas, vera libertas, perfecta charitas, aeterna securitas, & secura aeternitas. Bern. meditat. cap. 4.  perfect, only sufficient good, and chiefly to be desired. The object of this blessedness is God himself, Psal. 50. 23. & 33. 1 john 2. 3. for all these properties agree to him and none other, Gen. 15. 1. Psal. 16. 5. and he being the first cause of all things, must needs be the chief good and last end.  
Blessedness is twofold:  

1. Incomplete (Beatitudo viae) as jam. 1. 12. 
Three things will be perfected at once, a man's sanctification, communion and comfort. We shall be made like unto God, 1 Joh. 3. 2. We shall be assured that our happiness shall continue for ever, as the misery of the damned is to be without hope, so they shall be without fear.   
2. Perfect (Beatitudo Patriae, as the Schools call it) which consists in the enjoyment of a good commensurate to all our desires.   
Nothing but the Divine Essence can make us happy in the life to come:  

1. Not the glorious place of heaven. Paul was taken up thither, yet after had a messenger of Satan to buffet him.  
2. Not the company of Saints and Angels.  
3. Not the perfection of grace, 1 Cor. 13. 12. perfection of grace is rather a consequent of felicity, 2 Cor. 5. 17.  
4. Not a perfect enjoying of Christ the Mediator, because he as Mediator hath his happiness in another, Psal. 16. ult. it is spoken of Christ. The highest object of faith must be to the soul the highest ground of joy, the essence of God is the ultimate object of faith, 1 Pet. 1. 21. This only perfects the graces, 1 john 3. 3. Matth. 18. 10. gives rest and satisfaction to the soul, Psal. 17. ult. In beatitudine complebitur omne desiderium beatorum. Aquinas. The essence of God cannot be seen by creatures glorified with bodily eyes, 1 Tim. 6. 16. though the body then be spiritual it shall not lose its essential properties, we shall see Christ then, job 19 26. it is an intellectual vision, yet this is Cognitio apprehensiva not comprehensiva, as the Schoolmen speak, job 11. 2. There shall be fullness of fruition, Frui est cum gaudio uti, to requiesce with delight in the thing obtained, therefore mediis uti, fine frui dicimur, Psal. 16. ult. Vide Aquin. Sum. part. 1. 2. Quaest 11. Art. 3, 4.   
But though their solemn and substantial happiness lies in God, Psal. 17. 15. & Psal. 73. 25, 26. 1 Cor. 15. 28. yet it is an additional comfort to enjoy the company of the Saints, all the Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs, Matth. 8. 11. Heb. 12. 22. We love to be in the Assemblies of the Saints on earth, to pray, fast and receive with them, than we shall more delight in them, when we shall converse with none but real Saints, (here the sheep and goats are mingled together) and they perfect, we shall all agree in the same work and aim, communion with them will be constant.  
The Communion between the blessed spirits will not be mental only but vocal, 2 Cor. 12. 3. Paul speaks not so much of what he saw as what he heard, whether every man shall be understood by others in his own tongue, or whether they shall speak Hebrew, as Act. 26. 14. is uncertain.  
The place of this happiness is the highest heavens, far above all heavens, a 
The matter of the Saints communion in heaven shall be the redemption of Christ, the praising of ●his wisdom and justice, Luke 9 31. God's providence concerning them, God's righteous judgements, Revel. 5. 9 See Dr Prid. on 2 Pet. 3. 16. Death puts an end to fin, the beatifical vision perfects our sanctification, and makes the soul impeccable, say the Schoolmen. Many of the Fathers believed, that the just were not admitted to the beatifical vision before the day of Judgement, but kept in secret receptacles.  place that no Philosopher ever wrote of, a place which God from all eternity appointed to be his throne, where he would show all his glory, and for a receptacle of his Saints. The society the Saints shall there have, are innumerable multitude of elect Angels, and all the glorified Saints which God hath called out of the world. All their knowledge shall be by vision, sight, not by faith, discourse, the will perfectly conformable to God, the affections which have any perturbation shall cease, as hope, desire, care, grief: love and joy shall continue, the whole Church shall then see and enjoy God immediately, and this vision and fruition of God is properly heaven.  
First, Vision, they shall see his face, Mat. 5. 8.  
The happiness of heaven is often expressed by knowledge, they shall see God, it is called the beatifical vision.  

1. All the faculties shall be glorified, the mind is the most noble faculty, the soul enjoys pure content in the contemplation of any truth, Psal. 19 10.  
2. Our fruition increaseth by light, as our light is, so is our love, john 4. 10. God presents himself immediately to the understanding, 1 Cor. 13. 9 1 john 3. 2.   
Secondly, Fruition, they shall enjoy God, possess him, he shall be all in all. They shall not see him with bodily eyes (so the Deity cannot be seen) but with the soul so far as the understanding can be enlarged, it doth simul & semel behold all the glorious perfections of God, Christ and the Trinity, knows him as he knows us for the kind, 1 Cor. 13. 12.  
The true Christian is thus disposed toward heaven, he prizeth it above all 
There is, 1. Plena adeptio. 2. Summa delectatio, Psal. 16. 11. 3. Perfecta quietatio.  things, it is his inheritance▪ portion, he conceives of it as a place where God doth give himself to him fully.  
2. He would willingly be there, it is the end of his race and hope, 2 Cor. 5. 1. if he might enjoy all the benefits of this world for ever according to his desire, he would willingly leave all to be with Christ.  
3. He hath his conversation in heaven, travels the way that leads to it.  
The way to obtain eternal life:  

1. We must seek it of God in an earnest and serious way, Matth. 11. 12. Luke 16. 16. 2 Pet. 1. 10. it is called striving, 1 Cor. 9 24, 25. We strive for an incorruptible crown, saith Paul. See Phil. 2.  
2. We must take great care lest in this we come short, 1 Cor. 9 ult.  
3. We should take heed of our darling sin, 1 Cor. 9 26, 27.  
4. We must be guided in this life by the counsel of God, Psal. 73. 24.  
5. We should have our conversation in heaven before hand.  
6. We should keep our spirits in a continual readiness, Luke 12. 36, 37. Col. 1. 12.   
Because all that handle the Commonplace of the glory of heaven, handle that 
That there shall be different degrees of glory in heaven, It hath been the ancient and constant tradition of the Church, testified by the unanimous consent of all the Fathers, was never questioned by any, until that Peter Martyr in this last age first began to doubt thereof, and others since more boldly adventured to contradict it. M. Mede on Mat. 10. 41. See more there.  Question, Whether the Saints there shall have the like degree of happiness, therefore I shall speak something of it.  
The generality of the Fathers, Schoolmen, and modern Divines, are for diversity of degrees. The Papists lay the degrees of glory on the several merits of men, and tell us of seven Crowns.  
This pre-eminence of glory the Schoolmen term Aureola, that is, an Additament 
Aureolae deferuntur, 1. Martyribus propter victoriam de mundo. 2. Virginibus ob subjugatam carnem. 3. Praedicantibus propter profligatum diabolum. D. Prid. Scholast. Theol. Syntag. Mnemon cap. 7.  of felicity to that essential glory in the vision of God, which they term Aurea: This Aureola or Coronet to be added to the Crown of glory, they ascribe to three sorts of persons; to Virgins, to Martyrs, and to Doctors or Prophets. Vide Aquin. Supplem. 3. Part. Quaest 96. Artic. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.  
God rewards a man not propter, but secundum opera, according to the matter of his work, so shall be the substance of his reward, according to the manner of his work the kind of his reward, and according to the measure of his work the degree of his reward. As a man soweth, so shall he reap, that's for the kind, and he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly, he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully, that's for the degree. Doctor Hackwell on Dan. 12. 3.  
Those Arguments that are usually brought out of Scripture do not necessarily 
Dau. de justitia actuali, c. 60.  infer it, the places brought to prove it, are Daniel 12. 2. 1 Cor. 15. 42. Matth. 19 28. john 15. 3. Some think that no place carries it more fully than that 2 Corinth. 9 6. Every man (they say) shall receive a reward, not only according to the quality of his works, but according to the measure and degree of them, which that place seems to intimate, therefore there shall be different degrees of glory according to their different degrees of grace.  
Peter Martyr on 1 Cor. 15. 41. is against it, and a worthy Divine of our 
Dicimus cum Calvino, quod pro gratiae mensura in hac vita suis concessa Deus quoque gloriae gradus in futura distribuat. Vide Calvinum in Institut. l. 3. c. 25. Sect. 10. & in Matth. 13. 43. & Matth. 20. Scio alios doctos & pios viros in contrariam sententiam concessisse, inter quos agmen ducit Petrus Martyr quem alij etiam hoc tempore sequuntur. Talemque esse controversiam judico de qua salvo fidei fundamento, in utramque partem disputari possit● Quia neutrae parti desunt suae rationes, quae probabilltate suae non carent. Rivet. in Cath. orthod.  own follows him. Cameron disputes this Question at large. Tomo 2 do praelect. in Matth. 18. 2. and holds that there shall not be different degrees of glory. Spanhem. Dub. Evang. part. 3. Dub. 135. handleth the Question learnedly and largely, and is for the negative.  
Altingius in his 2d Tom, part. 1. Probl. 64. disputes this Question, and holds the affirmative.  
Davenant, Rivet, B. Hall, D. Hackwell and divers others for the affirmative. As in heaven there is gradus foelicitatis, so cognitionis, Paraeus.  
It is such a controversy (as Rivet well observeth) in which men may hold either way, Salvo fidei fundamento, because both sides allege probable reasons.  
Henry the 7th (as Sir Francis Bacon shows) had a threefold right to his Crown, By Birth, Victory, and Marriage. A Christian hath a fourfold right to eternal life: 1. By Gift. 2. By Birth. 3. By Marriage. 4. By Victory.  
Aquinas hath this Question, 
Supplem. 3. part. q. 94. Art. 1. Isa. 66. 24.   
Utrum beati qui erunt in Patria, videbunt poenas damnatorum? and resolves they shall, because it makes to the perfection of their blessedness, Opposita juxta se posita magis elucescunt. They shall perfectly see the punishment of the wicked, that their blessedness may the more content them, and they may give more abundant thanks to God.  
The Schoolmen say at the day of Judgement the damned shall see the glory of the Saints partly propter invidiam, because they shall envy at their prosperity, and partly propter privationem. 
That place, 1 Joh. 3. 15. to some seems unanswerable, to prove that eternal life is begun here, but perfected hereafter, therefore glory, wherein doth consist the perfection of eternal life, doth but gradually differ from grace, wherein the inchoation of that life doth consist.   
It is usually said, that grace and glory differ not specifically but gradually, that grace is glory begun, and glory grace perfected: therefore grace is called glory, 2 Cor. 3. lat. end. But say there was perfect grace in Adam and Christ, though they were not received into glory, and that perfect grace is not glory, though it can be in none but such as are glorified. Christ in respect of his soul was Comprehensor, though Viator in respect of his body. Vide Aquin. par. 3. Qu. 19 Art. 10. Adam's grace was perfect in suo genere, but not simpliciter, the same also may be said of that grace, wherein the apostate Angels were created.  
Whether the blessed Saints after the end of this world shall inhabit this earth, or at least often visit it, Curiosè quaeritur & doctè ignoratur. Voet. Biblioth. Studi●s. Theol. l. 1. c. 9  
D. Willet upon the Romans holds the affirmative (as I remember) and grounds it on that place of Mat. 5. 5. Some urge that place in Peter, A new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, that is, righteous persons.    
FINIS.  

This about Shame should have come in among the compound Affections after Zeal, BOOK VI Pag. 578. and was sent heretofore, but came too late.  
That I may not emit any main Affection (though I mentioned before but three compound Affections) I shall add something of Shame.  

Of Shame.  
IT is sometimes a virtuous habit and disposition in the mind, consisting in a mediocrity 
There is, 1. A holy shame, which is aningredient into true repentance, the object of this is sin, Eze. 16. 61 2. Sinful shame, when we are ashamed of Christ and his word, and people, Mark 16. ult. 2 Tim. 1. 8. Pudor à rebus putidis. Scal. It is the blushing of the face upon the apprehension of doing something unseemly.  between two extremes, Impudence, jer. 8. 12. and Bashfulness or Cowardice, Luke 9 26. so men are said to be modest or shamefaced, Ephes. 5. 12.  
2. A perturbation of the mind, when our hearts smite us for some grievous sin, Ezra. 9 6.  
3. It is taken for infamy and public disgrace, when a man is made a spectacle of shame and derision to others, Zeph. 3. 11. so men are ashamed, put to shame, Hab. 2. 10, 11.  
Shame is a mere confusion, as the Hebrew word signifies, a jumbling together of passions. It is a stirring of grief, fear, hatred, distrust, anger, against some reproachful thing in regard of ourselves or others, therefore shows itself by blushing, weeping. It makes a man hide himself, and he dare not look upon another.  
We must be ashamed of,  

1. Foul, sinful and unclean deeds.  
2. The company and fellowship of sinners.  
3. The deserved punishment of sin.  
4. The shows and appearances of sin.   
We must not be ashamed:  

1. Of good deeds, as Paul was not of the Gospel.  
2. Of reproaches for well-doing, we should contemn such contempt.  
3. Of good men suffering such punishments and reproaches▪ as O●esip●●rus was 
Shame is defined by Aristotle, a grief and trouble of mind arising from such evils as tend to our disgrace▪ l. 2. Rhet. c. 9 Pudor est metus quida● infamiae. Arist. ethic. 4. ●. 15.  not of Paul, Phil. 4.  
4. Of poverty or affliction.     

AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE.  

A  


ABarbanel commended, l. 1. p. 112  
Aben Ezra commended, ib.    


Actions.  
How we dishonour God in our common Actions, l. 9 p. 805, 806    


Acts.  
Acts of the Apostles, why so called, l. 1. p. 45 

Who are the best Expositors of it, l. 1. p. 46.      


Adam.  
Adam, his first sin was a great sin, l. 4. p. 304, 305, 306 

The time of his fall uncertain, l. 4. 304  
The evil consequents of that first sin, l. 4. p. 306    
Adoption, l. 7. p. 510, 511  
Adultery, what, l. 9 p. 841, 842    


Affections:  
Affections, how they are called, and what they are, l. 7. p. 546, 547 

God doth his people good by them, l. 7. p. 599, & 654  
Their sinfulness, l. 7. p. 547, 548  
Marks of sanctified affections, and means to sanctify them, l. 7. p. 548, 549  
Particular affections, l. 7. p. 540, 550, 551  
The simple affections, l. 7. p. 551, 552  
The compound, l. 7. p. 573. to 579    
Affections in God, l. 2. p. 167  
Agony, what, l. 5. p. 429  
Air divided into three regions, and the use of it, l. 3. p. 239, 240  
All-heal, an herb very medicinal, l. 3. p. 255. m.    


All sufficient.  
God is All sufficient, l. 2. p. 143, 144  
Amazement double, l. 5. p. 429  
Ambition, l. 4. p. 339, 340  
Amos, when he wrote, who best interpret him, l. 1. p. 39  
Auabaptists confuted, l. 3. p. 295. l. 8. p. 668, 669, 670, 671, 672  
Amen, an Hebrew word, and what it signifies, l. 8. 654  
We should say Amen to others prayers, ibid.    


Angels.  
Angels, why not spoken of in the Creation, and when made, l. 3. p. 236 

Their Names, Nature, and divers Questions about them, l. 3. p. 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 278, 279  
Do not move the Heavens, l. 3. p. 235    
Angelici a sect of heretics, l. 3. p. 275    


Anger.  
Anger, what in God, l. 2. p. 170, 171 

What in us, the several names of it, its rectitude, corruption, sanctification, l. 7. p. 573. to 578    
Anointing, what it signifies, l. 5. p. 404, 505. m. 412, 413    


Antichrist.  
Antichrist, what it signifies, l. 6. p. 473 

He usurps Christ's Offices, ib.  
Several degrees of his discovery, ib.  
Not one person, l. 6. p. 476  
Corrollaries from Antichrist, l. 6. p. 482    
Anthropomorphites, what, l. 2. p. 136    


Antinomians.  
Antinomians, what they are, and who write best against them. l. 1. p. 26 

Confuted, l. 9 p. 753 See p. 335    
Antinomianism a most dangerous error, l. 4. p. 361  
Appetite, its rectitude, corruption, and sanctification, l. 7. p. 579, 580    


Apocalypse.  
Apocalyps, why so called, l. 1. p. 52 

Questioned by some, but is canonical, l. 1. p. 52, 53      


Apocrypha.  
Apocrypha, which books are so called, l. 1. p. 54. and why, ibid. 

Reason's why those books are not divinely inspired, nor canonical, l. 1. p. 55, 56, 57, 58     

Apostasy.  
Man's Apostasy what, l. 3. p. 300  
Apostasy a sin, l. 4. p. 340, 341, 342, 343  
Apostle, what it signifies, l. 1. p. 44. See m.  
Aqua, whence derived, l. 2. p. 239  
Aquarii, why so called, l. 8. p. 694  
Aquinas commended, l. 1. p. 116    


Arabic.  
The Arabic Trannslation, l. 1. p. 65  
Arians confuted, l. 3. p. 211  
Arius his perjury, l. 4. p. 368. m.    


Ariminans.  
Arminians confuted, l. 2 p. 174, 176, 177. m. and text, p. 182, 183, 306. 331  
Arminianism what, l. 4. p. 362. l. 5. p. 417  
Arts, all Arts come from God, l. 2. p. 129  
Ascend, Christ ascended, and why, l. 5. p. 440. to 443    


Assurance.  
Assurance of salvation, l. 3 p. 224 

One may be certain of his justification, l. 7. p. 524, 525, 526  
Of Election and Salvation, l. 3 p. 224  
The kinds and degrees of Assurance, l. 7. p. 524  
It is difficult to attain Assurance, l. 7. p. 526  
The means to get and keep it, l. 7. p. 527    
Astrology and Astronomy what, l. 2. p. 126    


Atheists.  
Several sorts of Atheists, l. 2. p. 129, 130, 131 

Have come to some evil end, l. 2. p. 130, 131  
Their Objections, that there is no God answered, l. 2. p. 128, 129      


Attributes.  
Attributes of God, why so called, l. 2. p. 133 

How distinguished from Properties, l. 2. p. 133, 134  
What rules are to be observed about them, ibid.  
How divided, and how they differ from those Properties that are in men and Angels, l. 2. p. 135    
Augustine commended, l. 1. p. 114, 117. l. 3. p. 210    


Authentical.  
Authentical, what it is, l. 1. p. 17  
Authentical Edition of Scripture, l. 1. p. 58. to 64 

The Hebrew for the Old Testament, and the Greek for the New Testament, l. 1. p. 65, 66, 67  
Not the Translation of the Septuagint, l. 1. p. 75, 76  
Nor the Vulgar Latin, l. 1. p. 76, 77, 78      


Authority.  
The greatness of God's Authority wherein it consists, l. 1. p. 154 

The difference between power and Authority, l. 2. p. 193, 194      


B  


Baptism.  
BAptism, what it signifies, and how it may be described, l. 8. p. 662 

The privileges of God's children by Baptism, l. 8. p. 663  
The duties Baptism engageth us to, l. 8. p. 663, 664  
The essential parts of Baptism, l. 8. p. 664  
Whether dipping or sprinkling be to be used in Baptism, l. 8. p. 665  
The necessity of Baptism, l. 8. p. 666  
Whether women and Laics may baptise, l. 8. p. 666, 667  
How Christ's Baptism and john's differ, l. 8. p. 667, 668  
Who are to be baptised, ibid.  
The baptising of Infants proved, and the objections against it answered, l. 8. p. 669, 670, 671  
It was a common practice in the Primitive Church to defer their Baptism till they were old, and why, l. 8. p. 671, 672  
Baptism celebrated in the Church of Rome, true Baptism, l. 8. p. 675  
Whether immediate or remote parents give children right to Baptism, l. 8. p. 673, 674  
Whether the children of Infidels and Papists may be baptised, l. 8. p. 674, 675  
Whether the use of witnesses be necessary in Baptism, l. 8. p. 673      


Beasts.  
Beasts, their usefulness, l. 3. p. 265, 266 

In the outward senses excel man, ib.    
Bees for what they are notable, l. 3. p. 264, 265  
Bernard a devout man, and good for that corrupt age wherein he lived, l. 1. p. 115  
Beza commended, l. 1. p. 116    


Bible.  
Bible, why so called, l. 1. p. 5. m. 

Who first distinguished the Bible into Chapters and verses, l. 1. p 30    
Bishop what he is, and whether above a Presbyter, l. 6. p. 467, 468, 469  
Blasphemy against the holy Ghost, l. 4. p. 344, 345 346    


Bless, etc.  
Bless, what it signifies, l. 2. p. 202 

God is most blessed, l. 2 p. 200  
Blessedness what, l. 2. p. 201, 202, 203    
Blindness spiritual the worst, l. 3. p. 242  
Boasting, l. 4. p. 347  
Bounty, l. 7. 584, 585, 586    


Bread.  
What meant by daily Bread in the fourth Petition of the Lords Prayer, l. 8. p. 645, 646, 647  
Bribery, l. 4. p. 347  
Bucer commended, l. 1. p. 116  
Buried, Christ was buried, and why, l. 5. p. 434      


C  


CAjetane commended, l. 1. p. 117    


Calling.  
Effectual Calling stands in four things, l. 7. p. 491 

Marks of it, ibid.    
Calvin commended, l. 1. p. 115    


Canon.  
Why the Scripture is called a Canon or canonical, l. 1. p. 28. & 82 

The conditions of a Canon, l. 1. p. 28. 82, 83  
A threefold Canon in the Church, l. 1. p. 28  
Some abolish, some add to the Canon, l. 1. p. 54  
The Canonical Books of the New Testament how divided, l. 1. p. 43, 44  
Why seven Epistles are called sometimes Canonical, and sometimes Catholic, l. 1. p. 50      


Canticles.  
Canticles, how called in Hebrew and Latin, l. 1. p. 36, 37 

Who the author of it, and who the best Interpreters of it, ib.    
Cardinals of Rome, what they are, l. 6. p. 481  
Carual-confidence condemned, l. 4. p. 348, 349  
Catholics, the Papists falsely so called, l. 6. p. 452, 453. m.  
Ceremonies under the Law had relation to Christ, l. 5. p. 391, 392    


Chaldee Paraphrase.  
The Chaldee Paraphrase of the Old Testament, why so called, of great esteem with the Jews, l. 1. p. 61, 62 

When written, l. 1. p. 60, 61  
Some part of the old Testament written in Chaldee; l. 1. p. 29. m. & 60. m.      


Change.  
A reasonable creature may be Changed many ways, l. 2. p. 150 

God is unchangeable every way, ibid.    
Chiliasts condemned, l. 1. p. 53    


Christ.  
Christ is the great and free gift of God, l. 5. p: 392, 393 

Is God, l. 2. p. 208. to 213  
Why, and how he is God, l. 5. p. 394, 395, 396  
Was Man, why and how he was Man, l. 5. p. 397, 398, 399  
Why born of a Virgin, l. 5. p. 399, 400  
When and where he was born, l. 5. p. 400  
He was the Messiah promised of old, l. 5. p. 401  
God and man in one Person, l. 5. p. 403, 404  
He was a Saviour, Redeemer, Mediator, Surety, Christ, a Lord, l. 5. p. 405. to 424  
He merited nothing by his death for himself, l. 5. p. 402  
A Priest, l. 5. p. 413, 414, 415  
A Prophet. l. 5. p. 419, 420  
A King, l. 5. p. 420. to 424    
Christ's double State of Humiliation and Exaltation, l. 5. p. 420. to 446 

He died not for all, l. 5. p. 433  
He died in our stead, l. 5. p. 418. m.  
How he is begotten of the Father, l. 5. p. 210    
Chronicles, who the authors of them, and the best Expositors of them, l. 1. p. 33  
Chrysostom commended, l. 1. p. 114    


Church.  
Church, What it signifieth, l. 6. p. 448 

Why Catholic and holy, l. 6. p. 450, 451    
The true Church hath given testimony to the Scripture in all ages, l. 1. p. 14, 15  
We are first moved to hearken to the Scriptures, because of the Church's testimony, l. 1. p. 18 

It hath a four fold office in respect of the Scripture, l. 1. p. 19    
The Church of Rome will not suffer the Scripture to be read in a known tongue without special leave, l. 1. p. 20  
The Marks of the Church, l. 5. p. 452 

Whether it may err, l. 6. p. 453, 454    
The Church of Rome Apostatical, l. 6. p. 452, 453  
There is a Church government, and who have the power, l. 6. p. 465, 467, 469  
How Church-members are to be qualified, l. 6. p. 481, 482  
Circumcision, two things considered in it, l. 1. p. 99  
Clemency, what in God, l. 2. p. 171, 172  
Clouds, a great work of God, l. 3. p. 245, 246  
Colosse the chief City of Phrygia, l. 1. p. 48  
Colossians, who best expound it, ibid.    


Combat.  
The spiritual Combat between the flesh and Spirit, l. 8. p. 744, 745, 746    


Coming.  
Christ's several Comings, l. 10. p. 859  
How his first and second Coming agreed and differ, ibid.    


Commandments.  
Commandments, General rules for interpreting them, l. 9 p. 755, 756  
The general sins against the Commandments of each Table, l. 9 p. 756, 757  
The division of the Commandments, l. 9 p. 757  
The first Commandment interpreted and handled, l. 9 p. 758. to 767  
The second Commandment interpreted and handled, l. 9 p. 767. to 789  
The third Commandment interpreted and handled, l. 9 p. 789. to 811  
The fourth Commandment interpreted and handled, l. 9 p. 811. to 822  
The fifth Commandment interpreted and handled, l. 9 p. 822. to 835  
The sixth Commandment interpreted and handled, l. 9 p. 835. to 841  
The seventh Commandment interpreted and handled, l. 9 p. 841. to 843  
The eighth Commandment interpreted and handled, l. 9 p. 843. to 845  
The ninth Commandment interpreted and handled l. 9 p. 845. to 847  
The tenth Commandment interpreted and handled, l. 9 p. 847. to 851    


Communion.  
Communion with Christ, l. 7. p. 510  
Communion of the Saints, wherein it consists, l. 6. p. 482  
Concordances, which the best, l. 1. p. 111  
Concupiscence a sin, l. 4. p. 311, 314    


Confession.  
Auricular Confession not necessary to the pardon of sin, l. 7. p 520, 521  
We must make a Confession or profession of the truth, l. 9 p. 797, 798  
Confidence, l. 4. p. 348, 349    


Conscience.  
Conscience, what it is, l. 2. p. 224 

And the force of it to prove that there is a God, ibid.      


Contentedness.  
Contentedness required in the last Commandment and described, l. 9 p. 848 

Motives and means, l. 9 p. 849, 850      


Conversion.  
Conversion, what it is, l. 7. 401 

Wherein it differs from false Conversion, l. 7. p. 402  
The properties of it, l. 7. p. 492, 493    
Motives to and means of Conversion, l. 7. p. 493, 494  
Corinth, the metropolis in Achaia, l. 1. p. 47  
Corinthians, the best Expositors of both Epistles, l. 1. p. 47, 48    


Counsels.  
The Florentine and Trent Council censured, l. 1. p. 57, 58  
The true interpretation of Scripture not to be sought from General Counsels, l. 1. p. 219  
Who hath the power of calling Counsels, and who are to be called to them, l. 6. p. 471  
Whether General Counsels may err, and whether they be above the Pope, l. 6. p. 471, 472    


Courage.  
Courage, what it is, its kinds, l. 7. p. 752 

It must be well ordered, l. 7. p. 753    
Motives to, and Means of Christian Courage, ibid.  
Covetousness, l. 4. p. 349, 350    


Creation.  
Creation taken two ways, l. 3. p. 225 

Described, and the description explained, ibid.    
Consectaries from the Creation, l. 3. p. 23●. to 233    


Creature.  
Every Creature is limited, l. 2. p. 143  
Crocodile, its huge bigness, l. 3. p. 262  
The meaning of that Proverb, Crocodili lacrymae, ibid.  
Cruelty a great sin, l. 4. p. 351  
Crystal and Crystal-glasses, l. 3. p. 248  
Cursing, l. 4. p. 352  
Cyprian commended, l. 1. p. 115      


D  


DAnger, Christ's Danger, l. 5. p. 428    


Daniel.  
Daniel, when he wrote his Prophecy, l. 1. p. 38 

Wrote much of it in Chaldee, ibid. & p. 59  
The best Expositors of him, ibid.    
Dates, why so called, l. 3. p. 257    


Day.  
Day, what it is, l. 3. p. 241 

Its Creation a great work and useful, ibid. & p. 242  
Its names in Greek and Latin, l. 3. p. 241. m.    
Debts, Why sins are called Debts, l. 8. p. 648, 649  
Deceit, l. 4. p. 352, 353    


Decrce.  
Decrce, what it is, l. 3. p. 216, 217  
Gods Decree described, ibid. 

The Properties of it, ibid.  
It is two fold, l. 3. p. 218  
Consectaries from it, l. 3. p. 223      


Deity.  
Heretics that opposed Christ's Deity, and the holy Ghosts, l. 2. p. 211, 212. & l. 5. p. 401, 402    


Demonstration.  
Two kinds of Demonstrations, l. 2. p. 123. m.    


Descend.  
Descend into hell, what that Article in the Creed means, l, 5. p. 434. to 439  
Desire, the nature of it, God's image in it, its corruption and sanctification, l. 7. p. 558. to 562  
Despair, what it is, l. 7. p. 567.    


Devils.  
Devils, their names and nature, l. 3. p. 279, 280 

Their sin, and why they fell irrecoverably with the time of their fall, l. 3. p. 280, 281  
They are malicious, subtle, powerful, l. 3. p. 282, 283  
Questions about them resolved, l. 3. p. 283. to 287      


Deuteronomy.  
Why the fifth Book of Moses is so called, l. 1. p. 32 

The best Expositors of it, ib    
Dew what, l. 3. p. 247  
How we Dishonour God inwardly and outwardly, l. 9 p. 805. to 811  
Discipline, wherein it consists, l. 9 p. 780 

Wherein abused, l. 9 p. 786, 787, 788    
Distrust, l. 4. p. 353  
Divination, l. 4. p. 353, 354    


Divinity.  
Divinity that it is, l. 1. p. 1 

What it is, l. 1. p. 1, 2  
Its definition and several kinds, l. 3. p. 2  
How it is to be taught, l. 1. p. 3  
How to be learned, ibid.  
The opposites of it, l. 1 p. 4  
Its excellency, ibid.  
The rule and matter of it, l. 1. p. 5    
Division, l. 4, p. 354, 355  
Dogs faithful to men, l. 3. p. 266  
Dolphin very swift, l. 3. p. 262 

A great lover of man, ib.      


Dominion.  
Dominion, What it is, l. 2. p. 151  
God hath supreme Dominion over all creatures, l. 2. p. 154  
Drunkenness, l. 4. p. 355, 356  
Du●l unlawful, l. 9 p. 840, 841      


E  


EAgle flies high, sees acutely, and is tender of her young, l. 3. p. 264    


Earth.  
Earth, whence that word is derived, l. 3. p. 237 

The Creation of it a special work of God, l. 3. p. 237, 238.    
It's circular motion refuted, l. 3. p. 237. m. & l. 3. p. 241. m    


Earthquake.  
Earthquake, the cause of it▪ l. 3. p. 236. m. 

It is general or particular, ibid.      


Ecclesiastes.  
Ecclesiastes, why so called, its Author, l. ●. p. 36 

The sum of it, and the best Interpreters of it, ibid.      


Election.  
Election, what the word signifies, l. 3. p. 219 

It is described, ibid.  
And the description explained, l. 3. p. 219, 220  
What the object of it, l. 3. p. 220  
Neither foreseen faith, nor foreseen works the cause of it, l. 3. p. 221    
All are not Elected, l. 3. p. 121, 122, 123 

There is an Election of persons, l. 3. p. 222    
Element what, and the number of the Elements, l. 3 p. 237, 238  
Elephant, his magnitude and understanding, l. 3. p. 266  
Empty, no vacuum or mere empty place, l. 3. p. 253▪ l. 4. p. 357  
Epicure confuted, l. 3. p. 296, 300    


Epistles.  
Epistles, why so called, l. 1. p. 43 

How they are divided, and who best expounds them, l. 1. p. 44, 46  
In what order they were written, l. 1. p. 46, 47    
Ephesians, who best expound it, l. 1. p. 48  
Erasmus commended, l. 1. p. 113. & m. & 116. m  
Error, l. 4. p. 358, 359    


Esther.  
Esther, why so called, and by whom written, l. 1. p. 34  
Who are the best Expositors of it, ibid.    


Eternity.  
The world not Eternal, l. 2. p. 226, 227. & l. 3. p. 225  
God is Eternal, l. 2. p. 147, 148, 149  
What Eternity is, l. 2. p. 147    


Evangelists.  
Evangelists, who, l. 1. p 44 

The harmony and difference between them, l. 2 p. 4●      


Evil.  
Evil, what it is, l. 8. p. 651 

What deliverance from Evil means, l. 8. p. 652    
Excommunication, what it is and its parts, l. 6. p. 467    


Exodus.  
Exodus, why the second Book of Moses is so called, l. 1. p. 31 

Contains a history of above a hundred years, l. 1. p. 31  
The best Expositors of it, ibid.    
Expositors of Scripture, who are the best among the Jews, Fathers, Papists, Protestants, l. 1. p. 112, 113    


Ezekiel.  
Ezekiel, what it signifies, l. 1. p. 38 

When he prophesied, ibid.  
The best Expositors of it, ibid.      


Ezra.  
Ezra, who the Author of it, l. 1. p. 33 

The best Expositor of it, l. 1. p. 3●        


F  


Faculty.  
FAculty what, l. 7. p. 540 

Three reasonable Faculties in man, ibid.     

Faith.  
Faith, what it is, l. 7. p. 502, 503 

How taken in the New Testament, l. 7. p. 499, 500  
Three things in it, l. 7. p. 500  
Its object and acts, ibid.  
It's subject, l. 7. p. 501, 502  
The degrees of faith, l. 7. p. 503    
Faith of Adherence and Assurance, l. 7. p. 504, 505 

Its end is everlasting life, l. 7. p. 505  
How it is wrought, ibid.  
How it differs from hope, ibid.  
It is an excellent grace, l. 7. p. 506    
Whether Infants have Faith, and whether it be in the glorified Saints, l. 7. p. 506, 507  
Whether justifying Faith be commanded in the Decalogue, whether it or repentance precede, l. 7. p. 507  
Christians should endeavour to live by faith, and what it is to live by it, l. 7. p. 507, 508  
Motives to get Faith, and helps to it, l. 7. p. 509  
Whether Faith alone doth justify, l. 7. p. 503, 528, 529  
Fruits of Faith, l. 8. p. 744, 745, 746, 747    


Faithful.  
God is Faithful, l. 2. p. 184, 185  
What Faithfulness is, l. 2. p. 185, 186  
Ministers must be Faithful in their calling, l. 6. p. 460  
Fall of man, l. 4. p. 303, 304    


Familists.  
Familists rest wholly in an immediate private spirit, l. 1. p. 16 

Confuted, l. 7. p. 539      


Fasting.  
What religious Fasting is, l. 8. p. 735, 736 

What we must abstain from, l. 8. p. 73    
The ends and means of a religious Fast, l. 8. p. 736, 737  
The usual time of a Fast and for Fasting, l. 8. p. 737  
The Popish Fasting condemned, l. 8. p. 738    


Fathers.  
Fathers, what they were, l. 1. p. 112, 113 

Some of them commended, l. 1. p. 112. to 116      


Fear.  
Fear, what it is, the kinds of Fear, the measure of it, l. 7. p. 571 

How it is taken, its object and effects, l. 7. p. 571, 572    
Christ's great Fear, l. 5. p. 429    


Feasting.  
Holy Feasting, the nature of it, and helps to it, l. 8. p. 739  
Fire, l. 3. p. 240  
Fishe●▪ a great work of God, l. 3. p. 261, 262    


Flattery.  
Flattery, l. 4. p. 359  
Flight, what it is, l. 7. p. 561    


Forgiveness.  
Forgiveness of sins what, l. 7. p. 519  
Every one of Christ's subjects hath his sins forgiven, l. 7. p. 519  
The Forgiveness of sins is free and full, l. 7. p. 519, 520  
God only forgives sins, l. 7. p. 520 

What is the meaning of the fifth Petition of the Lords Prayer, l. 8. p. 647, 648, 649, 650    
Auricular confession not necessary to Forgiveness of sins, l. 7. p. 520, 521  
Fowls, their nature and use, l. 3. p. 263. 264  
freewill, l. 7. p. 495. to 500  
Frost, what it is, l. 3. p. 247      


G  


GAlatians, who best expound it, l. 1. p. 48    


Genesis  
Why the first Book of Moses is so called, l. 1. p. 31 

Contains a History of above two thousand years, ibid.  
The best Expositors of it, ib.    
Why the Jews might not read in the beginning of Genesis, the beginning and end of Ezekiel, nor in Canticles, ibid.  
The first Chapter of it divided, l. 3. p. 231, 232, 233    


Gentiles.  
Gentiles, many predictions of their conversion, l. 1. p. 10 

Some of them give testimony to sundry passages in the Scripture, l. 1. p. 15      


Ghost.  
The holy Ghost is God, l. 2. p. 21●    


Glory.  
Glory, what it is in God, and its several acceptions, l. 2. p. 194, 195  
The difference between praise, honour and glory, l. 2. p. 195  
Gloria, whence derived, ibid.  
How Gods Glory is manifested, l. 2. p. 196  
A double Glory in things, l. 2. p. 197  
Consectaries from God's Glory, l. 2. p. 198, 199    


Glorious.  
God is Glorious, l. 2. p. 194, 195, 196, 197, 198  
Gluttony, l. 4. p. 359, 360    


God.  
How he is called in several languages, l. 2. p. 121  
That there is a God, l. 2. p. 121. to 128  
The knowledge of God is necessary, profitable, difficult, l. 2. p. 121, 122  
We know God three ways, l. 2. p. 122  
There is a threefold knowledge of God, ibid.  
What God is, l. 2. p. 132, 133  
How the word God is taken in Scripture, l. 2. p. 133  
The several name of God, l. 2. p. 133 

His Attributes, wh●● they be, ibid.    
How they di●●●● from Properties, and what rules are to be observed in attributing them to God, l. 2. p. 134 

How his Attributes are divided, l. 2. p. 135      


Good.  
God is Good, the chiefest good, l. 2. p. 172, 173    


Goodness.  
Goodnesso, what it is, and what in God, l. 2. p. 172  
The Properties of his Goodness, and the difference between his Goodness and that in the creature, l. 2. p. 173, 174    


Gospel.  
Gospel was written by many, and why, l. 1. p. 42  
Why they are called Gospels, l. 1. p. 43 

Its ends and parts, the terms of it, l. 8. p. 715, 716    
Sins against the Gospel greater than against the Law, l. 1. p. 716  
Government Ecclesiastical in whom, l. 6. p. 466, 467  
Gracious, God is Gracious, l. 2. p. 175, 176  
Grass, a great work of God, l. 3. p. 256    


Great.  
God is exceeding Great in nature, works and authority, l. 2. p. 153. to 156    


Greek.  
The Greek Translation of the Old Testament is not Authentical, l. 1. p. 62, 63  
The Greek Text of the New Testament is not corrupted, l. 1. p. 71, 72  
Growth of grace, l. 8. p. 729, 730, 731  
Gild of sin, what. l. 4. p. 317      


H  


HAbakkuk, when he wrote, and who best interpret him, l. 1. p. 40  
Haggai, when he wrote, and who best interpret him, ibid.  
Hail, what, l. 3. p. 247, 248    


Hatred.  
Hatred in God what, l. 2. p. 169, 170 

What in us, and upon what it should be exercised, l. 2. p. 169, 170  
The Nature, Kind's and Causes of it, l. 7. p. 555  
The object, quality and fruits of it, l. 7. p. 555, 556  
The sanctification of it, ibid.      


Hearing.  
Hearing the Word a duty, l. 8. p. 607  
How we must hear, l. 8. p. 607, 608    


Heathens.  
Heathens might by the light of nature know that there was a God, and that he was to be worshipped, but could not know him savingly, l. 2. p. 122 

Nor be saved by the light of nature, l. 5. p. 393, 394. & p. 407      


Heaven.  
The Creation of the Heavens is a wonderful work of God, l. 3. p. 233. to 236  
How the Heaven's work upon inferior ●●●●●s, l. 3. p. 235. m  
The Philosophers divide Heaven into divers orbs, the Scripture mentions only three Heavens, l. 3. p. 235, 236  
We see not God in that great work of the Heavens l. 3. p. 236  
Heaven is an excellent place, l. 8. p. 641, 642    


Hebrew.  
Hebrew, why so called, l. 1. p. 29 

The first tongue and a holy tongue, ibid.    
Most of the Books of the Old Testament were written in Hebrew, ibid.  
The Jews corrupted not the Hebrew text, l. 1. p. 66 to 73  
The Hebrew text in the old Testament Authentical, l. 1. p. 58, 59  
Whether the Hebrew text had vowels or pricks from the beginning, l. 1. p. 73, 74    


Hebrews.  
Hebrews▪ That Epistle is Canonical though rejected 〈…〉 some Heretics, and Paul's, l. 1. p. 48, 49, 50 

And written in Greek, l. 1. p. 50  
Who best expound it, ib.    
Hell, the torments and place, l. 10. p. 864, 865  
Herbs, their variety and use, l. 3. p. 255, 256  
Heresy, l. 4. p. 361, 362    


Heretics.  
Heretics, wrest the Scripture, l. 1. p. 15  
Heretics which opposed Christ's Godhead and manhood, l. 5. p. 401, 402    


History.  
History p'easant, l. 1. p. 11 

None comparable to that of the Scripture, ibid.    
What Books are called Historical in the New Testament, and why, l. 1. p. 43    


Holy.  
The Scripture is Holy, l. 2. p. 188, 189, 190  
The general nature of Holiness, l. 2. p. 188  
What in man, what in God, l. 2. p. 190, 191   

Hope.  
Hope, What it is, the object, act and measure of it, l. 7. p. 569 

The Image of God in it, its corruption, sanctification, ibid.    
Marks of a sanctifiea Hope, Motives to, and means of it, l. 7. p. 570    


Horse.  
Horse, an elegant description of him, l. 3. p. 267  
Bucephalus, Alexander's and Banks his Horse, ibid.    


Hosea.  
Hosea, what it signifies, and when he prophesied, l. 1. p. 39 

The best Expositors of it, ib.    
Humility what, an excellent grace, l. 7. p. 586, 587  
Husband and wife, their mutual duties, l. 9 p. 828, to 832  
hypocrisy, l. 4. p. 362, 363      


ay  


james.  
IAmes, this Epistle was doubted of in ancient times, and why, l. 1. p. 50 

What Luther's opinion was of it, l. 1. p. 51  
Who best expound it, ib.    
jansenius commended, l. 1. p. 113  
jerom commended, l. 5. p. 117  
Idleness, l. 4. p. 363    


Idolatry.  
Idolatry, what it is, l. 9 p. 783 

A great sin, l. 9 p. 784      


jeremy.  
jeremy, when he prophesied, and who best expounds him, l. 1. p. 38    


jesus.  
jesus, what it signifies, l. 5. p. 405, 406 

The Papists abuse that name four ways, l. 5. p. 407, 783    
Jesuits, the Pope's great pillars, but traitorous subjects, l. 6. p. 478, 479    


jews.  
jews corrupted not the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, l. 1. p. 66. to 72 

Their enmity to the Gospel, l. 1. p. 27  
Who were the best Interpreters among them, l. 1. p. 111, 112      


Image.  
Image and fimilitude the same, l. 3. p. 288  
A fourfold Image or likeness, and wherein the Image of God consisted, l. 3. p. 289. to 292    


Immortal.  
God is Immortal, l. 2. p. 141, 142  
A thing is Immortal two ways, ibid.  
The soul of man Immortal, and the reasons of it, l. 3. p. 289. to 293    


Immutable.  
God Immutable, l. 2. p. 150. to 153  
Impenitence, l. 4. p. 364, 365    


Imperfection.  
Six Imperfections in all creatures, l. 2. p. 154  
Imposition of hands why used, l. 6. p. 458    


Imputation.  
Imputation what, l. 7. p. 522 

Of Adam's sin, l. 4 p. 306, 307  
Of Christ's righteousness, l. 7. p. 522, 523      


Incest.  
Incest, a strange example of a horse about it, l. 3 p. 267    


Independent.  
God is Independent, l. 2. p. 157    


Infinite.  
God is Infinitt, l. 2. p. 142, 143  
Injustice, l. 5. p. 365  
Intemperance, l. 4. p. 365, 366    


Inspiration.  
Inspiration, what it is, l. 1. p. 9  
Every part of Scripture is divinely inspired, l. 1. p. 17    


Intercession.  
Christ's Intercession what, l. 5. p. 414. to 417    


Interpretation.  
Interpretation of Scripture, l. 1. p. 105. to 120  
Who the best Interpreters, l. 1. p. 112. to 117 

Means to be used for understanding the Scripture, l. 1. p. 117. to 120      


Invisible.  
A thing is two ways Invisible, l. 2. p. 138. m    


job.  
job, who the Author of it, l. 1. p. 34 

Very ancient, ibid.  
How divided, and who the best Expositors of it, l. 1. p. 35      


joel.  
joel, when he prophesied, and who best expound him, l. 1. p. 39    


john.  
john called the Divine by an excellency, l. 1. p. 45 

Describes our Saviour's Divinity more expressly than any of the rest, ibid.  
Who best expound the Gospel, ibid.  
Who best interpret the Epistles, l. 1. p. 51  
They are canonical, l. 1. p. 51     

jonah.  
jonah, when he prophesied, and who best interpret him, l. 1. p. 39    


joshua.  
joshua, why so called, l. 1. p. 32 

The best Expositors of it, ib.      


joy..  
joy, the nature of the affection, God's Image in it, its corruption and sanctification, l. 7. p. 562, 563  
The properties of sanctified joy, Motives, Marks and Means of it, l. 7. p. 563, 564  
Irenaeus commended, l. 1. p. 114    


Isaiah.  
Isaiah elegant, oftener cited in the New Testament than any of the Prophets, l. 1. p. 37 

The best Expositors of him, l. 1. p. 38  
Of the bloud-royal, ibid.      


jude.  
jude, that Epistle is Apostolical, l. 1. p 52 

Who best expound it, ib.      


judges.  
judges, why so called, and who its Author, ibid. 

The best Expositors of it, ibid.      


judgement.  
The last judgement, l. 10. p. 859  
All are to be judged, and by Christ, l. 10. p. 859. to 862  
The day of judgement terrible to the wicked, but comfortable to the godly, l. 10. p. 860, 861 

The time uncertain, the place and signs of it, l. 10. p. 861, 862  
The preparation and performance of it, and Corollaries from it, l. 10. p. 862, 863    
junius commended, l. 1. p. 116  
jurisdiction Ecclesiastical, l. 6. p. 466, 467    


justice..  
Whether inherent justice be actual or habitual, l. 7. p. 518  
justice, what it is, l. 7. p. 588, 589    


Iust.  
God is Just, l. 2. p. 181. to 184  
Whether God see sin in the Just, l. 7. p. 523    


justification.  
How the word is used in Scripture, and what justification is, l. 7. p. 512 

The difference between it and vocation, ibid.  
Whether all one with remission of sins, l. 7. p. 513    
The parts of justification, l. 7. p. 514. to 521  
One may be certain of his justification, l. 7. p. 524, 525  
The several periods of justification, l. 7. p. 515    


justified.  
Whether we be justified by inherent or imputed righteousness, l. 7. p. 517, 518  
Whether we be justified by Christ's active and passive obedience, l. 7. p. 518, 519  
Whether faith alone justifies, l. 7. p. 528, 529      


K  


KImchi commended, l. 1. p. 112    


Kind.  
God is Kind, l. 2. p. 191    


Kingdom.  
Kingdom of God twofold, l. 8. p. 643  
The meaning of that Petition, Thy Kingdom come, l. 8. p. 643, 644    


Kings.  
Kings, why they are so called, the Authors of those two Books, and best Expositors of them, l. 1. p. 33  
Knowledge, l. 7. p. 589. to 593      


L  


LAbour, Christ underwent hard Labours for us▪ l. 5. p. 428  
Lactautius commended, l. 1. p. 115    


Lamentations.  
Lamentations, why so called, l. 1. p. 38 

Where and how long jeremy prophesied, ibid.    
Fit to write Lamentations, and why, ib.  
The best Expositors of it, ib.    


Latin.  
The Vulgar Latin Translation, why so called, l. 1. p. 64  
Which are the best Latin Translations of the New Testament, ib.    


Law.  
Law, what it is, l. 9 p. 751  
The Moral Law, l. 9 p. 751. to 756 

There are four precepts in the first Table, and six in the second, l. 9 p. 751    
The Moral Law is in force in the Christian Church, l. 9 p. 751, 752, 753 

It is a glass, bridle, rule, ib.    
The Law cannot be perfectly fulfilled in this life, l. 9 p. 850, 831  
Legends, why so called, l. 1. p. 24   

Leviticus.  
Why the third Book of Moses is so called, l. 1. p. 31, 32 

The best Expositors of it, ibid.      


Lexicon.  
Which are the best Lexicous for understanding the Hebrew and Greek text, l. 1. p. 111    


Liberty.  
The willing good necessarily hinders not Liberty, l. 3. p. 272. & 278. m.    


Life.  
Several kinds of Life, l. 2. p▪ 139, 140. & l. 7. p. 537. 538  
How Gods Life differs from the life of the creatures, l. 2. p. 140, 141  
What spiritual Life is, ibid.  
Wherein natural Life and it agree and differ, ibid.  
Evidences of spiritual Life, Motives to it, and Means of it, l. 7. p. 539, 540  
Life everlasting, l. 10. p. 568. to 571    


Light.  
Light, an excellent work of God, l. 3. p. 240, 241 

Its abstruse nature and excellent use, ibid.    
Limbus Insantum, l. 10. p. 862    


Lion.  
A strange story of a Lion, l. 3. p. 267    


Living.  
God is Living, l. 2. p. 139. to 142    


Long-suffering.  
God is Long-suffering, l. 2. p. 187    


Lot.  
The nature and use of Lots, l 9 p. 792, 793 

When abused, l. 9 p. 803. to 806      


Love.  
Love, what in God, l. 2. p. 167, 168 

The Properties of it, l. 2. p. 168    
Our Love to him, ibid.  
The affection of Love in us what, l. 7. p. 551 

Gods Image in it, ib.  
It's corruption and sanctification, l. 7. p. 551. to 554      


Luke.  
Luke only makes a Preface before his Gospel, and who best interpret him, l. 1. p. 15  
The difference between Lumen and Lux, l. 3. p. 240  
The Lutherans confuted about the ubiquity of Christ's body, l. 2. p. 147  
Lying, l. 4. p. 366, 367  
Lyranus commended, l. 1. p. 116      


M  


MAimonides commended, l. 1. p. 112  
Malachy, when he wrote, and who best expound him, l. 1. p. 40  
Maldonate commended, l. 4. p. 367  
Malice, ibid.  
Man made after God's Image, l. 3. p. 288    


Mark.  
Mark wrote in Greek, l. 1. p. 41, 42, 45 

When he wrote, and who best expound him, l. 1. p. 45      


Martyrs.  
Divers suffered for the truth, l. 1. p. 14, 15  
How true Martyrs differ from false, l. 1. p. 15  
Masius commended, l. 1. p. 117    


Mass.  
Mass, why so called, the evil of it, l. 8. p. 700. to 703  
Private Mass unlawful, l. 8. p. 703, 704  
It is not lawful to be present at the Mass, l. 8. p. 704  
Massorites their exact diligence in numbering the words, and letters, and points of Scripture, l. 1 p. 66, 67  
Masters their duty, l. 9 p. 828    


Matthew.  
Matthew wrote in Greek, l. 1. p. 〈…〉  
Never any doubted of the authority of 〈…〉 〈…〉  
When he wrote, and who best expound 〈…〉 〈…〉    


Mediator.  
Mediator who, and how Christ is our Mediator, l 9 p. 4●●, 450  
Whether Christ was a Mediator according to both his Natures, l. 5. p. 410, 411    


Meditation.  
Meditation, what it is, l. 1. p. 24  
When it is fit to Meditate of the creatures, l. 3. p. 230, 231  
Marks to try when we Meditate fruitfully of the creatures, ibid.    


Meek.  
How God is Meek, l. 2. p. 171  
Memory, what it is, its sanctification, l. 7. p. 546    


Mercy.  
Mercy, what in God, l. 2. p. 177. to 181  
How his Mercy differs from mercy in us, l. 2. p. 177  
On what terms and to whom he will show Mercy, l. 2. p. 179 

What in us, l. 7. p. 593. to 596     

Metals.  
Metals what, l. 3. p. 249 

Which most precious, ib. m.    
Meteors what they are, their several kinds and matter, l. 3. p. 243, 244    


Micah.  
Micah, when he prophesied, and who expound him well, l. 1. p. 39, 40    


Minister.  
Minister his calling, l. 6 p. 456. to 459  
The Minister afore the Church, l. 6. p. 457 

His duty, l. 9 p. 831, 832  
The honour of that function, and their maintenance, l. 6. p. 460, 461      


Miracles.  
Miracles of Confirmation and Preservation, l. 1. p. 12, 13  
How true and false Miracles differ, l. 1. p. 13, 14 

What they are, l. 2. p. 127, 128      


Monks.  
Monks, why so called, they are highly honoured by Papists, l. 6▪ p. 479, 480    


Moon.  
Moon, how called in Latin and Hebrew, l. 3. p. 260 

It is the cause of the Seas ebbing and flowing, ibid.    
Mortification▪ l. 7. p. 535. to 538  
Mountains a great work of God, l. 3. p. 250    


Murder.  
Murder, what it is, l. 9 p. 835 

A crying sin, l. 9 p. 837, 838    
Self-murder a great sin, l. 9 p. 838, 839  
Murmuring, l. 4. p. 367, 368    


Mystery.  
Mystery of the Trinity a great Mystery, l. 2. p. 215      


N  


Nahum.  
NAhum, when he wrote, and who expound him best, l. 1. p. 40    


Name.  
What is meant by God's Name, l. 9 p. 789  
What it is to take God's Name in vain, ibid.    


Navigation.  
The art of Navigation a great work, l. 3. p. 252, 253 

Useful, l. 3. p. 254    
Nazianzen commended, l. 1. p. 114    


Necessary.  
The Scripture is Necessary, l. 1. p. 84, 85  
God is a Necessary Essence, l. 2. p. 157    


Nehemiah.  
Nehemiah, why so called, l. 1. p. 34 

The best Expositors of it, ibid.      


Night.  
Night, what, l. 3 p. 241 

Its usefulness, l. 3. p. 242      


Numbers.  
Numbers, why the fourth Book of Moses is so called, l. 1. p. 32 

The best Expositors of it, ibid.        


O  


Oath.  
OAth, the nature and use of it, l. 9 p. 790. to 793 

The abuses of it, l. 9 p. 800. to 804      


Obadiah.  
Obadiah, when he prophesied, l. 1. p. 39 

Dt Rainolds expounds him well, ibid.      


Obedience.  
Obedience, what it is, l. 7. p. 543 

Its kinds, ibid.      


Obey.  
We should Obey God, and why, l. 2. p. 166. & l. 7. p. 543, 544    


Obscure.  
Many things in the Scripture Obscure and difficult l. 1. p. 101. to 103 

And why, l. 1. p. 102    
The difference between Mare and Oceanus, l. 3. p. 252    


Omnipotent.  
God is Omnipotent, l. 2. p. 191. to 194    


Omnipresent.  
God is Omnipresent, l. 2. p. 144 

Christ's body is not, l. 1. p. 104      


Omniscient.  
God is Omniscient, l. 2 p. 160. to 163    


One.  
God is wholly One, l. 2. p. 157. to 160 

Oppression, l. 4. p. 368      


Ordination.  
Ordination of Minister●, l. 6. p. 457, 458 

Distinguished from election, l. 6. p. 458     

Origen.  
Origen commended for his diligence, l. 1. p. 113 114 

Censured, l. 1. p. 113        


P  


Palmtree what, l. 3▪ p. 257  
Papists confuted, l. 2. p. 177. & l. 4. p. 311, 321, 358    


Paradise.  
Paradise, where, l. 3. p. 293 

Whether destroyed by the flood, ibid.      


Paraphrase.  
The use of the Chaldee Paraphrases is very great, l. 1. p. 61  
Parents duties to their children, l. 9: p. 825, 826, 827    


Pastors.  
Pastors their names, they were of years before they entered into that function, l. 6. p. 454 

Their Office vindicated, l. 6. p. 454. to 457      


Patient.  
God is Patient, l. 2. p. 186  
What Patience is in us, ib.  
Paul a great Champion of grace, l. 2. p. 177  
Peace, l. 7. p. 597, 600  
Pearls which best, and why they are called uniones in Latin, l. 3. p. 249    


Perfect.  
The Scripture is Perfect, l. 1. p. 85. to 92  
God is Perfect, l. 2. p. 153, 154    


Person.  
Person in the Trinity, the word used in Scripture, l. 2. p. 204 

The word may well be used, ibid.    
What a Person is, l. 2. p. 207  
Several things required to a Person, l. 2. p. 207  
The communion and distinction of the Persons in the Trinity, l. 2. p. 213, 214    


Pelagius.  
Pelagius mentions grace often but hides his meaning, l. 2. p. 177 

He saith, grace is given for our merits, l. 2. p. 175    
Pelagians confuted, l. 4. p. 316    


Pentateuch.  
Pentateuch, why so called, l. 1. p. 30 

Contains a History from the beginning of the world to the death of Moses, ibid.  
Who have written well on it, l. 1. p. 31. See l. 1. p, 21    
People, the duty of People to their Ministers, l. 9 p. 831, 832  
Perjury, l. 4. p. 368  
Perseverance, l. 4. p. 369, 600    


Peter.  
Whether he exercised a primacy at Rome, l. 6. p. 474  
Peter, who best expound both those Epistles, l. 1 p. 51.  
Philemon, who best interpret him, l. 1. p. 48  
Philippians, who best interpret it, ibid.  
Piscator commended, l. 1. p. 115, 116    


Plain.  
The Scripture is Plain in fundamentals, l. 1. p. 99, 100 to 105  
Polygamy, l. 4. p. 369    


Poor.  
Christ was Poor for our sakes, l. 5. p. 425, 427    


Postils.  
Postils, what they are, l. 1. p. 11. m. 

Censured, l. 1. p. 117      


Prayer.  
Prayer must be to God alone, not Saints, l. 8. p. 614, 615 

And in Christ's name, ibid.    
Kinds of Prayer, l. 8. p. 625  
Mental and vocal Prayer, l. 8. p. 631, 632  
Sudden and composed Prayer, l. 8. p. 632  
Set and prescribed Prayer, ibid.  
What gesture we should use in Prayer, l. 8. p. 635  
The place and time of Prayer, l. 8. p. 635, 636 

What we must do after, ibid.    
The Lord's Prayer opened, l. 8. p. 637. to 655  
Corollaries from the defects of our Prayers, l. 8. p. 618, 619, 620  
Motives and Means to Prayer, l. 8. p. 62●, 621  
The efficacy of Prayer, l. 8. p. 621, 622  
The godly must pray and persevere in Prayer, l. 8. p. 622, 623  
Objections against Prayer answered, l. 8. p. 625  
Who not to be prayed for, l. 8. p. 628    


Preaching.  
Preaching, what it is, l. 6. p. 461, 462  
Whether private persons not in office may preach▪ l. 6. p. 462, 463  
Ministers must preach often, and denounce Gods judgements against sinners, l. 6. p. 463, 464    


Predestination.  
Predestination what, l. 2. p. 218 

How it differs from Election and Providence, ib.  
The parts of it, l. 3. p. 219    
The error of the Predestinatis. l. 3 p. 223    


Prescience.  
God's Prescience or foreknowledge, l. 2. p. 164 

Distinguished, l. 3. p. 121      


Pope.  
Pope, what the word signifies, l. 6. p. 484  
Whether the Pope of Rome be Antichrist, l. 6. p. 474, 475 

Whether he be Christ's Vicar, above all other Bishops, above Kings, can make Laws to bind the conscience, determine controversies of faith, l. 6. p. 476, 477, 478  
Whether he can pardon sins, l. 6. p. 478    
The Papists make the Pope a god in divers particulars, l. 6. p. 483    


Present.  
God is every where Present, l. 2. p. 144, 145, 146 147  
Presumption, what, l. 7 p. 570    


Pride.  
Pride a great sin, l. 4. p. 370, 371, 372    


Principle.  
A double Principle in Divinity, l. 1. p. 5  
How Principles may be demonstrated, l. 2. p. 123  
Profaneness what, l. 9 p. 780    


Prophets.  
How the Prophetical Books are divided, l. 1. p. 39  
Why twelve Prophets are called the lesser, ibid.  
Who expound the lesser Prophets, ibid.    


Proverbs.  
Proverbs, by whom written, their excellency, l. 1. p. 36 

The best Expositors of it, ibid.      


Providence.  
Providence, whence, l. 3. p. 295. m. 

That it is, and what it is, l. 3. p. 295, 296  
The object of it, l. 3. p. 296, 297  
The kinds of it, l. 3. p. 298. to 302      


Psalms.  
Psalms, how called in Hebrew, l. 1. p. 35 

Often quoted in the New Testament, ibid.  
Who the Author of them, ibid.  
And how divided, ibid.  
The best Expositors of it, ibid.  
A choice Book, ib. & p. 36    
The Turks swear solemnly by David's Psalms, l. 1 p. 36    


Pure.  
The Scripture is Pure, l. 1. p. 85  
Purgatory confuted, l. 10. p. 866, 867      


R  


RAbbins, some censured, others commended, l. 1. p. 112    


Rain.  
Rain a great work of God, l. 3. p. 246, 247  
Rainbow, the cause of it, l. 3. p. 247 

It's several colours, ib.    
Railing, l. 4. p. 372    


Reading.  
Who are commanded to read the Scripture, l. 1. p. 21  
The Scripture is to be read publicly and privately, l. 1. p. 23  
What Reading the Scripture is, ibid.  
The Scripture read may be the instrument of Regeneration, ibid.  
How the Scripture is to be read, l. 1. p. 23, 24    


Reason.  
Reason, the uses of it in matters of Religion, l. 9 p. 87  
Rebaptising condemned, l. 8. p. 676  
Rebellion against God and man, l. 4. p. 373, 374    


Recovery.  
What man's Recovery is, l. 5. p. 389. to 392    


Redeemer.  
Redeemer, Christ how, l. 5. p. 408, 409  
Redemption, what, l. 5. p. 414    


Religion.  
Three characters of the true Religion, l. 7. p. 5  
Remora, able to stay the greatest Ship under sail, l. 3. p. 262    


Repent.  
How God is said to Repent, and how not, l. 2. p. 151  
Repentance, what in us, l. 8. p. 649, 650    


Reproach.  
Christ reproached for our sakes, l. 5. p. 427, 428    


Reprobation.  
Reprobation, what it signifies, and what it is, l. 2. p. 222 

The word taken three ways, and five evil consequences of it, ibid.      


Resurrection.  
Christ Rose from the dead, and why, l. 5. p. 438 to 441  
Our Resurrection, l. 10. p. 857, 858    


Revelation.  
The manner of Gods Revealing his will threefold, l. 1. p. 5  
The Book of Revelation, why so called, l. 1. p. 52 

It is canonical, l. 1. p. 51, 52  
Difficult, ibid.  
The best Interpreters of it, l. 1. p. 53    
Revenge, l. 4. p. 374, 375, 376   

Reverence.  
Reverenco, l. 7. p. 577; 578 

In worship, l. 9 p, 779, 780      


Righteousness.  
Whether original Righteousness was natural to Adam, l. 3. p. 291  
The Properties of original Righteousness, l. 2. p. 292  
Christ's Righteousness is ours, l. 7. p. 522, 523 

Marks to try whether we have it, and means to get it, ibid.      


Rivers.  
Rivers, Their original use and motion, l. 3. p. 251, 252  
The River Nilus, l. 3. p. 246. & 252    


Romans.  
Romans an excellent Epistle, l. 1. p. 47 

Who best expound it, ib.      


Rule.  
The properties of a Rule, l. 1 p. 82, 83  
The Scripture is the Rule of faith and life, ibid. & 84    


Ruth.  
Ruth by whom written, l. 1. p. 32 

The best Expositors of it, ibid.        


S  


Sacraments.  
SAcraments, their name and nature, l. 8. p. 655, 656  
The Church hath ever had Sacraments, l. 8. p. 656▪  
The use of Sacraments, and their parts, l. 8. p. 656, 657  
The necessity and efficacy of the Sacraments, l. 8. p. 657, 658  
How the Sacraments of the Jewish Church and ours agree, and how they differ, l. 8. p. 659, 660  
The Sacraments of the New Testament only two l. 8. p. 660  
Sacraments are to be dispensed only by a Minister, l. 8. p. 661  
The use of the Sacraments of the New Testament ibid.  
Sadduce● confuted, l. 3. p. 279. & 289    


Samuel.  
The Authors of the two books of Samuel, and the best Expositors of them. l. 1. p. 33    


Sanctification.  
Sanctification, what, l. 7. p. 530, 53● 

Its parts and properties, l. 7. p. 532  
Why all godly men must be pure and holy, l. 7. p. 532    
The excellency of Sanctification, l. 7. p. 533 

It is imperfect here, and why, l. 7. p. 533, 534    
Evidences of Sanctification, and means to get it, l. 7. p. 534  
The Sanctification of the whole man soul and body, l. 7. p. 540, 541 

Of the mind, l. 7. p. 541  
Of the will, l. 7. p. 542, 543  
Of the conscience, l. 7. p. 544, 545  
Of the memory, l. 7. p. 546  
Of the affections, l. 7. p. 546, to 579  
Of the sensitive appetite, l. 7 p. 579, 580  
Of man's body, and all the external actions, l. 7. p. 580▪ to 584      


Satisfaction.  
Christ satisfied for us, l. 5. p. 416▪ 417  
It was convenient Christ should satisfy for us, l. 5. p. 417, 418  
The difference between merit and Satisfaction, ibid.    


Saviour.  
Christ is our Saviour and how, l. 5. p. 405▪ 406  
Scandal, l. 4. p. 376  
Schism, l. 4. p. 376, 377  
Schoolmen taxed, l. 1. p. 25  
Scientia media, an error, l. 3 p. 120. m    


Scripture.  
It is the rule of Divinity, l. 1. p. 5 

Three general characters to know any word to be the word of God, ibid.  
God revealed himself divers ways to the Fathers, ibid.    
The divers Epithets of the Scripture, l. 1. p. 5, 6  
Why called the word of God, l. 1. p. 5. m  
Why the Scripture, ib.  
The Divine Authority of the Scriptures proved by many reasons, l. 1. p, 6. to 16  
A description of the Scripture, l. 1. p. 7  
The Scripture is not repugnant to humane reason and policy, l. 1. p. 17 

It is for itself worthy to be believed and known to be of God, by itself, ib.  
It hath its Authority from itself, not the Church, l. 1. p. 17, 18  
It is to be read by the common people, l. 1. p. 20, 21  
How it is to be read, l. 1. p. 22, 23, 24    
Many contemn and unreverently handle the Scripture, l. 1. p. 25, 26, 27  
The Canonical Books of Scripture, l. 1. p. 28 

Of the Old and New Testament, l. 1. p. 30. to 54    
What parts of Scripture have been questioned, l. 1. p. 43  
The Authentical Edition of Scripture, l. 1. p. 58. to 61  
Whether any books of the Scripture be lost, l. 1. p. 72, 73  
Whether the Scriptures of the Old Testament had points from the beginning, l. 1. p. 73, 74  
The end of the Scripture, l. 1. p. 80  
The Properties of the Scripture, its Divine Authority, truth, it is the rule of faith and life, necessity, purity, perfection, perspicuity, l. 1. p. 81 to 105  
The interpretation of the Scripture. 

1. It's divers senses.  
2. To whom belongs the chief authority to expound Scripture▪  
3. The means which must be used in the Interpretation of it, l. 1. p. 105. to 121      


Sea.  
Sea, a great work of God, the making of it, l. 3. p. 249, 252, 253 

Why called more, ib. m.  
Divers Questions about it answered, l. 3. p. 249, 250, 251    
Sedition, l. 4. p. 377, 378, 379  
Self love, l. 4. p. 379  
Self-denial, l. 7. p. 600  
Self seeking, l. 4. p. 379, 380    


Septuagint.  
Septuagint, The Greek Translation of the Old Testament, l. 1. p. 62  
Is not authentical, l. 1. p. 75, 76    


Serpents.  
Serpents, a threefold profit redounds to us from them, l. 3. p. 267, 268  
Why Satan is called the old Serpent, l. 4. p. 304    


Servants.  
Two kinds of them, three things commend a Servant, l. 9 p. 843, 844  
Severity, l. 7. p. 588, 589  
Ship, the materials of it wonderful, l. 3. p. 254, 255  
Signs, several sorts of them, l. 8. p. 655, 656    


Simple.  
God is most Simple, l. 2. p. 138, 139  
Sincerity, l. 7. p. 602  
Singing of Psalms a duty, and how to be performed, l. 8. p. 609, 610    


Sinne.  
Sin, what it is, l. 4. p. 307 

Divided into original and actual, ibid. & l. 4. p. 315    
That there is original sin, its names, and what it is, l. 4. p. 308, 309, 310 

The subject of it, l. 4. p. 310  
It is not the substance of a man, l. 4. p. 310, 311  
Many heretics extenuate it, ib.    
All equally guilty of original sin, l. 4. p. 312, 313 

How it is propagated, l. 4▪ p. 313, 314    
We are all guilty of Adam's sin, l. 4. p. 306, 307  
What actual sin is, l. 4▪ p. 315 

Distinguished, l. 4. p. 316    
Four things in sin, ibid.  
A reigning sin what, and how known, l. 4. p. 317  
The evil of sin, l. 4▪ 318. to 320  
The degrees of sin, l. 4. 321, 322  
Sins of omission worse than sins of commission in some respects, l. 4. p. 323  
What sins make us like the devil, ●. 3. p. 287  
Sins against the Gospel greater than against the Law, l. 4. p. 323, 324  
All sins are mortal, l. 4. p. 324 to 327  
God not the cause of sin, l. 4. p. 326. to 329  
How we communicate with other men's sins, l. 4▪ p. 328, 329  
The punishments of sin, l. 4. p. 329. to 331  
National sins what, l. 4. p. 331  
Signs of a Christian in regard of sin, l. 4. p. ● 332 

He may have great corruptions, ibid. & 333    
Two Questions about sin resolved, l. 4. p. 335, 336  
The Saints are careful to preserve themselves from sin, and especially their own iniquities, l. 4. p. 336. to 339  
The sinfulness of ●●n should chiefly cause us to forbear it, l. 4 p. 338  
We must not only avoid but abhor sin, l. 4. p 338 339  
We must take heed of little sins and secret sins, l. 4. p. 339  
How God punisheth the sins of parents in their children, l. 9 p. 769    


Sitting.  
What Christ's Sitting at the right hand of his Father means, l. 5. p. 441, 442  
Of Sitting at the Sacrament of the Lords Supper l. 8. p. 735    


Socinians.  
Socinians reject all things in Religion which they cannot comprehend by reason, l. 1. p. 9 

Confuted, l. 4. p. 330      


Sorrow.  
Christ's Sorrow godly, l. 5. p. 428, 429  
Sorrow in us what, and its sanctification, l. 7. p. 565, 566  
Spectrum unde, l. 3. p. 285. m    


Spirit.  
Spirit what, l. 2. p. 136, 138  
God is a Spirit, ibid. & 137  
Angels are Spirits, l. 3. p. 270  
Stars how distinguished, l. 3. p. 260    


Steal.  
Steal, What it is, l. 9 p. 827 

It is forbidden, ibid.      


Stork.  
Stork, why so called, l. 3▪ p. 263 

Her love to her young ones, and theirs likewise to her, l. 3. p. 263, 265    


Subjects.  
Subjects, their duty, l. 9 p. 832, 833    


Sufferings.  
Christ's great Sufferings, l. 5. p. 425. to 438  
S●n, the making of it a great work, l. 3. p. 258, 259   

Superstition.  
Superstitian whence, and what, a great sin, l. 9 p. 784    


Supper.  
The divers names of the Lords Supper, l. 8. p. 878, 879 

How described, l. 8. p. 879  
The ends of it, l. 8. p. 688  
It is to be taken in both kinds, l. 8. p. 687, 688  
Scandalous persons are to be kept from it, l. 8. p. 682  
Yet one may receive with the wicked, l. 8. p. 683 684    
Whether judas received the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, l 8. p. 684, 685  
At what time the Lords Supper was instituted, and its elements, l. 8. p. 685, 686 

The elements may not be changed, l. 8. p. 689, 690    
The breaking of the bread in the Supper, not an indifferent Ceremony, l. 8. p. 690, 69● 

It is not material whether the bread be leavened or unleavened, l. 8. p. 691, 692  
Whether it be necessary to mingle water with the eucharistical wine, l 8. p. 692, 693, 694  
The consecration of the elements, l. 8. 694, 695  
The elements must not be adored, l. 8. p. 696, 697  
The Sacrament is not to be carried up and down l. 8. p. 700    
The necessity of the Lords Supper, l. 8. p. 705 

And why we must receive it, l. 8. p. 706  
Of preparation for it, l. 8. p. 706. to 721  
There must be due carriage at it, l. 8. p. 731, 732  
And after, l. 8. p. 722  
How oft it ought to be received, and the gesture at it, l. 8. p. 732. to 736      


Surety.  
Surety what, l. 5. p. 451, 452  
Christ is our Surety, ibid.  
Sibyls were counterfeit pieces, l. 1. p. 15    


Synods.  
Synods, what they are, and their kinds, l. 6. p. 469 470 

What required to them who are to be called to them, and whether General Counsels may er●e l. 6. p. 470, 471    
Whether Counsels or Synods be above the Pope, l. 6. p. 472    


Syriack.  
Syriack▪ it was spoken in our Saviour's time, l. 1. p. 42  
The Syriack translation of the New Testament, l. 1. p. 62, 63      


T  


Tale-hearing.  
TAle-hearing, Harkening to Tale-hearers is ●●in l. 4. p. 381, 382  
Targum why so called, l. 1. p. 60    


Tempter.  
Tempter, the devil so called, and why, l. 3. p. 282  
His ways of Tempting, ibid.  
How to know his Temptations, l. 3. p. 284, 285  
Christ was Tempted by him, l. 5. p. 426, 427  
How the devil and world Tempt, and how God preserves his people, l. 8. p. 650, 651  
Theology, what it is, and its several kinds, l. 1. p. 2  
Thessalonica, a chief City in Macedonia, l. 1. p. 48  
Thessalonians, who do best on both, ib.    


Testament.  
The Scripture is distinguished into the Books of the Old and New Testament, l. 1, p. 28, 29  
Why the Scripture is called a Testament, l. 1. p. 29  
The Books of the Old Testament for the most part were written in Hebrew, l. 1. p. 29 

And how divided, ibid.    
Of the New in Greek, l. 1. p. 41  
And why, ibid.  
How divided, l. 1. p. 40▪ to 44   

Thanksgiving. See Feasting.    


Thought.  
A Christian is to make conscience of his Thoughts l. 9 p. 850  
The cure of evil Thoughts, l. 9 p. 8●0  
Thunder, what it is, and its use, l. 3. p. 243, 244  
Timothy, who do best on both Books, l. 1. p. 48    


Titles.  
Titles of Books not used heretofore, l. 1. p. 30, 31  
Whence the Hebrews take the Titles of their Books, l. 1. p. 31  
Titus, who best expounds him, l. 1. p. 48  
Torpedo hath a benumbing quality, l. 3. p. 262  
Tostatus commended, l. 1. p. 117    


Traditions.  
Traditions what they signify, l. 1. p. 92, 93  
Reasons against the Popish Traditions, l. 1. p. 94. to 99  
The several kinds of them, l. 1. p. 95, 96    


Translate.  
The Scriptures ought to be Translated into vulgar Tongues, l. 1. p. 21, 22  
The several Translations of Scripture, l. 1. p. 60, to 65  
Transubstantiation refuted, l. 8. p. 697, to 700    


Trees.  
Trees, their nature and use, l. 3. p. 256, to 259  
The Tree of Life and Knowledge of good and evil in Paradise, why so called, l. 3. p. 294  
Whether the Tree of Life was a Sacrament, ib.    


Trinity.  
Trinity, the word hath sufficient ground in Scripture, l. 2. p. 204  
The mystery of the Trinity cannot be known by the light of nature, l. 2. p. 204 

Yet it is necessary to be known by them that will be saved, l. 2. p. 205    
A difference between Trinity and Triplicity, ibid.  
The Doctrine of the Trinity explained and applied, p. 204. to 216    


True.  
The word of God is True and certain, l. 1. p. 82  
God is True, l. 2. p. 183, 184  
Truth, what it is, and the several kinds of it, l. 2. p. 183      


V  


VAin glory, l. 4. p. 382  
Vatablus commended, l. 1. p. 116    


Versions.  
The several Versions of Scripture, l. 1. p. 60, to 64 

What authority they have, l. 1. p. 60    
Virtue, what in God, what in men, l. 2. p. 172  
Violence, l. 4. p. 382    


Virgin.  
The Virgin Mary why called Deipara, the mother of God, l. 5. p. 404  
Visiting twofold, l. 9 p. 768  
Unbelief, l. 4. p. 383, 384  
Vivification, l. 7. p. 537. to 540    


Understanding.  
What Gods Understanding is, l. 2. p. 160, 161 

Differs from ours many ways, l. 2. p. 161    
What our Understanding is, and its sanctification, l. 7. p. 540, 541    


Union.  
Union of two natures in Christ described, l. 5. p. 403 〈…〉 04  
Our Union with Christ, l. 7. p. 486, 487 

Not only relative, nor essential or personal, l. 7. p. 487, 488    
Three mystical Unions, l. 7. p. 488  
Marks of our Union with Christ, and Means to preserve it, l. 7. p. 488, 489  
Unkindeness, l. 4. p. 385  
Unsetledness, ibid.  
Unthankfulness, ibid.  
Vocation or effectual calling, l. 7. p. 489. to 492    


Vow.  
What a religious Vow is, l. 8. p. 740  
How it is distinguished from an Oath, ibid.  
Its ends and uses, l. 8. p. 741  
Rules to be observed in Vowing, and the manner of it, l. 8. p. 740  
The Popish Vows of perfection, continence, and poverty condemned, l. 8. p. 742. to 745  
Uranoscope, what, l. 3. p. 262  
Usury, l. 4. p. 386  
Vulgar, The Vulgar Latin Edition not authentical, l. 1. p. 76. to 80      


W  


WAter a necessary element, its nature and use, l. 3. p. 239  
Whales a great work of God, l. 3. p. 252. & 262    


Will.  
What it is, l. 2. p. 164 

Its properties, and how distinguished, l. 2. p. 165    
The meaning of that Petition in the Lord▪ Prayer, thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven, l. 8. p. 644 645  
The Will of man is desperately evil, l. 4 p. 309, 310  
A double Will in Christ, l. 5. p. 430  
The sanctification of the Will, l. 7. p. 542, 543  
Willet commended, l. ●. p. 116  
Winds a great work of God, l. 3. p. 248    


Wisdom.  
Wisdom what, l. 2. p. 〈…〉: 

Wherein seen, 〈…〉    
Godliness is true Wisdom, l. 2. p. 163, 164  
The grace of Wisdom, l. 7. p. 589, 590  
Witchcraft a great sin, l. 4. p. 387    


Witness-bearing.  
false-witness against ones self or other evil, l. 7. p. 845, 846  
Whether the use of Witnesses be necessary in Baptism, l. 8. p. 672, 673    


Word.  
Why the Scripture is called the Word, and why the 

Word of God, l. 1. p. 5    
Why the Word of God was written, l. 1. p. 84    


Works.  
Works of God distinguished, l. 3. p. 216  
Whether Works without faith merit grace ex congruo, and with faith ex condigno, l. 7. p. 516  
Good Works flowing from the grace of God's Spirit in us, do not merit heaven, l. 7. p. 516, 517  
Protestants no enemies to good Works, ibid.  
World how divided by Philosophers, and how by the Scriptures, l. 3. p. 235    


Worship.  
Worship, what is required to it, l. 9 p. 769  
What to the matter and manner, l. 9 p. 770. to 773  
We must not Worship God under any form or picture, l. 9 p. 771  
How humane inventions in Worship have been brought in, l. 9 p. 771, 772  
The several kinds and parts of Worship, l. 6. p. 573  
The manner of Worship, l. 9 p. 774. to 780  
Preparation to Worship, wherein it consists, l. 9 p. 775, 776  
To the Word, Prayer, Sacraments, Vows, ibid.  
False Worship, what, l. 9 p. 781, 782  
True Worship abused, l. 9 p. 785, 786  
Worship solemn and common, l. 9 p. 789      


Z  
ZEchary, when he wrote, and who best interpret him, l. 1. p. 40  
Zephany, when he wrote, and who best interpret him, ibid.        

ERRATA.  

REader, I suppose (if thou hast published any thing thyself) thou art not ignorant, that it is almost impossible (though one be never so careful and diligent) to free a Book wholly from errors: in a large Treatise, consisting of many Marginal Quotations, it is more difficult to avoid them. I might apologise likewise for myself, my absence twice while the Book was printing, my reading much of it by Candle-light, and my having but one Copy, the making use of divers Books besides my own for the composing of it, must needs render it a harder province also to observe those faults that have passed. I do not approve of all those things I allege, as viz. p. 731. It cannot then be called the Lords Supper, since it is rather a Breakfast. By this reason it should be necessary to eat before we receive the Sacrament, yea to receive it in the evening. Nor that p. 757. in. the sixth and seventh Commandment, are otherwise, etc. Nor that p. 861. of the Jews being called by Vision. I mention not false Interpunctions, figures, misplacing of things, or the omission or change of a letter. Some things are twice in the same page. p. 124. à Jove principium. p. 482.   

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