' 86 Book Ill. JLoolitng unto 'jjcfu.s. Chap. I .Secr.6. Cum tmbo in infernofacile etlviverc. Luth. 4 tom, oper.lot. would not livt iu Paradife if hemuji live withom the Word; bm with thd¥ord (faid he) 1 co11ld live in hell. When Chnfl: put hts hand by the hole of the door to teach the hean her bowels were moved, andthe~ her fingers drop upon theh~ndles of the L•clz. fivm fmel/in' myrrhe, Cant. 5· 5. The teachmgs of Chnfl: left fuch a bleffing upon the firll motions t the Spoufe> heart, that with the very touch of them fhe is refrefhed, her fiHgersdr: myrrht, and her bowels are moved as the very monuments of his gracious teachings~ Cant. 1.3. So in Cant. r. 3. Becaufc of the favour of thy Oyntment, thy Name i; M an Oyntrnentp ~ edforth, therefore do the_virgins love thee.. . Chrill: in Ordinances doth as Mary, op:~ra Box of oy_n~mems, w~tch dtffufeth a fpmtual favour in Church-AITemblies, and thi~ only the fptntual Chnlltan feels. Hence the Church is compared to aGarden jhm up.· Cunt. 4. a. a Fountain feal:d; wicked men are not able to drink of her delicacies, or fmell of he~ fweernefs; _a fptntual Sermon is a Foumainfealed up, the fpiritual admini!lration of 1 . Sacrament IS a _Garden enclofed·:. Sometimes, 0 Lord, thougivrjf me a };range motion, ~~~je/c:6· o. or ajfeElwn (fatd .Augujime). wh~eh if .•t were but perfeEied m. rr;e, I could not imagine 4 whattt jhottl4 be bnteternallife. Chnfhans! thefe are theteaclungs of God, and in re– ference to thts, wejhall no more teach every man hi; nei,ghbour, and eve>y mAn !JI'o brother faying, k!;1ow tht Lord. Gods teaching is another kind of teaching than we can havefro~ the hand~ of men, there is no man in rheworld can reach thus; and therefore they whom God teacheth, need not any other kind of teaching refpeetively or comparatively. 6. What is the univerfalityof this knowledge; They j!Jallalllz_now me from tht leaf/ lll ')oh. 1.12. of themtothegre.-trjlof them,faiththeLord? The meaning is, that all thatarein the Covenant of grace, lhaU be fo taught of God, as that in fome meafure or othertheyDull every one know God inwardly, clearly, experimentally, [weedy and favingly. 1know there are feveral degrees of this knowledge; God bath feveral Forms in his School: there are fathers for experience, young men for thength , and babes for the truth and being of Grace: as one Star differethftom another in glory, fo alfo is the School ofChrift: But here I am befet on both fides. I . Many are apt to complain, alas they eyo>v little of God: fweet babes, confider, I. It is free grace you are liars; though you are not liars of the firll: or fecond magnitude: it is of the Covenant of grace, that God bath let into C•fo Correc. your fouls a little glimmering,though not fo much light as others poffibly may have in rnjlrull. point of holy emulation (as one notes well) we lhould leok at degrees of grace, but in JJ point of thankfulnefs and comfort, we fhould look at the truth and being of grace. If 2. If you know but a little, you may in time know more: God c!oth not teach all his Pfai."9·J3o. Jeiions at firll entrance ; it is true, the entrance of thy Word givtth light; but this is as true, that God lets in hislight by degrees; it is not to be defpifed if God do but engage the bean in holy defires and longings after knowledge, fo that it can fay in finceriry, my Pfal,t t9·'o· {out break,tthfor thelonging that it bath unto thy judgments at all times. Others on the contrary, ground themfelves fo learned from this very promife, thu they exclude all teachings of men. The anointing (fay they) teachethm all things, ..nd we need not that any man teach m: and theyjhall teach no more every man his neighbour,and 1 Joh. 2 • , 7 . every man hisbrcther, faying, kpow the Lord, for they jhall all, &c. I anfwer, the words Jcr. 3 ,. 34 • either relate to the grounds of Religion, and fo in Gofrel-times Cbntbans need not to be taught in thefefundamental points; for now aU know the L?rd from the leall to rhe Ha. 35· 8. greatell:; or elfe thefe words are an Hebraifme, 'Yhich deny pohnvely, when they tntenq it only comparatively, orfccundum quid, as when God and me~ are compared together, man is vanity, lighter than vanity, and a very nothing_: hereJsacomp~rtfon of know– ledge in Gofpel-times with the knowledge of Ifrael m thofe dark ttmes whm God brought them out of the Land of Egypt; then all was da~k, and they were fain to teach one anotherthe very Principles, the Rudiments of Reltgt?n, there was very lmle effufi– on of Gods Spirit in thofe times; but in GofJel-times (faith the Prophet) the Spmt of grace and k?Jowledge p,.ll be fo abundant, that rather God himfelf jiHil be the teacher, thtm one man jhall teAch another.There fhall be fuch exul;>erancy and feas of knowledge under the new Covenant above the Covenant made with his people when he brought rhemout of Egypt, that m~nD1all not need to teach one another comparatively; for all fl1all know the Lord, who are taught 'Qf God from the leall to the gr:atel\: an b.gh way fhaU be there, an~ it jhall be called the way of holinefs--the wayfartng mw, tho~tgh fools, Jha/1 not err therein. 7· How is God faid toforgi'lle iniq~tity, and never mo;e to reme'!'bcr fin? . d £. Forthe firfl, God isfaid to forgive iniquityw,hen gmlt of fin IS taken away; an ~r the fecond God is faid never more to r(merr:ber fin , in that the !inner, afrer pardon, ts ' · -: · never
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