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could fee eternal things in temporal, and measure Chap. 7. Heaven by an Aftrolabe of Earth. In their Ikkarim, in the Articles of their Creed, there is one touching the Refurrection of the dead. Thofe Ancients had fome obfcure knowledg of life eternal : but in and by Christ it is fet forth plainly and clearly, in lively and orient colours. Heaven, as it were, opens it felf, and in pure discoveries comes down and approaches near unto our faith. It is now plain that the true worshippers fhall ever be with the Lord, fhall fee him and be like him; shall enter into his joy, and be fwallowed up there; fhall have a Crown of life, a weight of glory, and that to all eternity. All this is as clear as if it were writ with a Sun-beam: Hence the Apostle faith, That Chrift brought life and immortality to light, 2 Tim. 1. 10: and again, That before, the way into the holiest of all was not made manifeft, Heb. 9. 8; that is, That light or manifestation of this Reward which was under the Law, was as none at all in comparison of the pure and great discovery of it which is under the Gofpel. The fervants of God need not fay, What fhall we have? The Reward is before them, the Celestial Paradife is in plain view, to attract their hearts into the holy ways which lead thither.

In this difplay of Truth, we have a notable proof of the truth of our Religion. Admirable are the harmonies and compliances between the two Teftaments; the Substance, though but one,correfponds to the Types and Shadows, though very many. The Meffiah in the flesh, notwithstanding the vast distance in time, fully answers to the Meffiah in Promises and Predictions. All things concur and conspire together

Chap. 7. to evidence the truth of our Religion. It was the obfervation of fome of the ancient Fathers, That there is umbra in lege, imago in Evangelio, veritas in calo, a fhadow in the Law, an image in the Gospel, the Truth in Heaven. Hence we may thus conclude,. That Religion, which was in the Law in fhadow, in a darker representation; which is in the Gospel in the image, in a more lively reprefentation; and which leads to Heaven, where is perfection of light, and eternal life in the thing it felf; That Religion muft needs be true. Or we may go higher than the Mofaical Law, and conclude thus: That Religion which in the morning of the World, immediately after the fall of man, appeared in the first Promise of the Meffiah; which afterwards appeared in types and more Promifes; which after thefe, fhone out illuftriously in Jefus Chrift; which at last introduces into the perfect day in Heaven; That must needs be true. The fucceffion and harmony which is in these things, tell us, that infinite wisdom did order and difpofe the fame. Now after the Evangelical light is clearly re-vealed to us, what manner of perfons ought we to be? How thankful fhould we be that we live in the fhining days of the Son of man? The Pagans are in grofs darkness, but we have the Divine light fhining round about us. The Jews had fome dawnings and ftrictures of light; but we have the Sun, the full Globe of light: We need not now grope in the dark after happiness, Chrift the true light is come, the glory of the Lord is rifen upon us in the pure light of the Gospel. How fhould we believe and adhere to the Promises! God hath performed the great Promife of the Meffiah, and it is not imaginable that he

fhould

fhould fail in the other, which are but appendants to Chap. 7. that great Promife. The Promifes now have a double feal, Gods Veracity, and Christs Blood; and in all reason we should feal them up by our faith; not to do so, is practically to say, that God may lye, or Christs Merits fail. In what truth and obedience should we walk! No luft fhould now be indulged, no duty should now be baulked. Every holy beam must be welcome, as coming from Heaven to guide us thither. Every Command of God must be precious, as being the Counterpane of his heart, and proved to be fuch by the obedience of his own Son in the flesh. Now to walk in darkness, is to reproach the holy light which fhines round about us. To be falfe to God who is fo true to us, is no less than horrible ingratitude to him, and in the end will prove utter ruine to our fouls; it being utterly impoffible for us, while we are falfe to him, to be true to our selves or our own happiness. How fpiritual should we be in worship! With what holy fear, faith, zeal, devotion, fhould we ferve him! Our fpirits fhould be confecrated and offered up to God; our duties should have warmth and life from the inward parts; the infinite Spirit must not be mocked with a fhell, a meer body of Worship. Jefus Chrift the Subftance being come, we must not reft in the fhadows and rituals of Religion. God is real in promifes, and we should be fo in fervices. He will give us the beft Reward, even Heaven it self; and we fhould give him the best we have, even our hearts, that he may dwell there till he take us up into the bleffed Region, to dwell with him in glory; in fo doing we fhall at once be true to him, and to our own happiness. CHAP.

X 2

156 Chap. 8.

CHAP. VIIL

Gods Providence afferted from Scripture, Philofophy, and Reafon. It hath a double act, Confervative, and Ordinative; both are manifefted in Chrift. It was over Chrift, over his Genealogy, Birth, Life, Death. Over the fruit of his Satisfaction, in raising up a Church. It aimed at a Church; directed the means, and added the bleffing. That Opinion, That Chrift might have died, and yet there might have been no Church, is falfe. All other Providences reduced to thofe over Chrift and the Church. Epicurus's Objedion against Providence answered. Providence over free acts of men afferted, and yet Liberty not deStroyed. The Objections touching the Afflictions of good men, and the event of Sin, folved. "The Entity in finful actions diftinct from the Anomy: the Order from the Ataxy.

H

AVING fpoken of the Divine Attributes, I now proceed to speak of Providence, which in a fpecial manner directed this great Difpenfation, God manifeft in the flesh; in which, as we have feen, the Attributes of God do eminently appear. Providence is more than Previdence; pérola is not nude Prescience; it is, as a learned man fpeaks, Pracognitio cum curâ, a Precognition with care. It is the Divine Reason of the Supreme Lord, which difpofes of all things; it is that act of God whereby he doth in eternity pre-ordain, and in time direct every thing to the great end of all, his own glory. The Scripture doth very fully fet forth this: Of him, and

through.

.

through him, and to him are all things, Rom. 11. 36: Chap. 8. Of him as the Author, through him as the Confervator and Director, and to him as the ultimate End, are all things. He giveth life, and breath, and all things, Acts 17. 25. In him we live, and move, and have our being, ver. 28. The original, the continuance, the guidance of all is from him. As a mighty Monarch he doth whatsoever he pleaseth in heaven and in earth. Pfal. 135. 6, He doth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. None can stay his hand, or fay unto him, What doft thou? Dan.4. 35. All places are within his dominion, all creatures are under his government : Known unto him are all his works, draivos, frometernity, Acts 15. 18. He worketh all things after the counThat the things in fel of his own will, Eph. 1. 11.

time may answer and go true to the counfels in eternity, Providence works and watches over every thing; Angels are not above, nor Worms below the care of it. It reaches to the great Image of Earthly Monarchy, Dan. 2. It humbles it felf to hairs and fparrows, Mat. 10:29, 30. Natural Agents, though determined ad unum, cannot act without the concurrence of it. Free Agents, though upon the wings of liberty, cannot flye out of its dominions. Meer Contingents, as the Lot, are afcertain'd by it. In every thing it fits at the ftern, and moderates the event..

The Philofophers do, at least in some fort, own a Providence. Thus Theophraft, ona yds wártwv åçxù; Si ñé âxarla yise » Sure, There is a Divine Principle, by which all things both are, and continue to be. Thus Ariftotle, What the Governour is in the Ship, the Driver in the Chariot, the Mafter in the Dance,the Law

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