464 ..Chapri4. ,Of Ottetheirceiwtd thecontraries thereto, Coml. conditions : thevfore there mutt bebetween God and us reciprocally, idem velle, Tdeno ;loge toWirränd nul the fame. And this is trueobedience when our will is moved by his , and when welyleltto his Will, as theprincipal mover ; foewhere there are two wills,the inferiour muffbe proportioned to the fuperiour , or both to ,rithirf3,:. now thierecisaw. reaSoMitilit Gods Willifhould be proportioned to ours. or to any,others (behavinghone above him) andlartitait Line muff not be fubjeded to :a Crookedpiece of Timber ; now our,wills are abated ,but Gods isftrait. Now the excellency, and neceffity ofobedience is Peen by this. That whereasGod had ordained Sacrifice asan efpecialpart ofReligion, yet he prefers obedience before Sam. s 5.2 2. it. 3.n4ey is betterAlan Sacrifice,, faith Samuel to Saul, and thatin thefe refpeds. a. He that defires to offer an acceptable thing, muft offer that which is,his own rather than anothers, becaufe it is dearer tohim. And in obedience we offer propriam voluntatem, our own will, and in facrifice earnem alienam, the flefh ofBeafts, nothing ofour own. ,,z; Again; the better the thing is whiCh is offered; thebetter it is accepted ; but that which is offered in 'obedience,is better than that in facrifice; becaufe in the firft a living thing is offered , and the Beat" cannot be offered till it be dead ; betides in facrifice it P.:.1,1. is but a bruteBeaft which itoffered , but in obedience a reafonable Soul , and there- fore the more acceptable. 5. The more we offer, the more acceptable is the offering ; and nothing canbe added to the offering of obedience. In facrifice part ofour Fruit is offered but by obedience we offer both Fruit andTree and all, we give our felves. Onewell faith, Obediencia non pateft plus dare quamdedit deditmintfe; obedience can give nomore than it hath given, for it hath given a Mans felf. 4. Laftly, the longer of continuance that which is offered is, the.better it is ; but a sacrifice is but an hours work, while the fire is kindled, and the Beat}confumed aifirea; now when by .obedienceweoffer our felves untoGod, it is acontinual facri- fice, a perpetual mortifyingof our will, our reafon,and all our members.. Obedientia eft jugefaerificiurn, obedience is a,continual facrifice. Therefore it is plain, that obe- dience is better than facrifice; not that facrifice thould be negleded or contemned, for contemned it is notwhen a better is preferred. God faith to the Prophet, I fluke not to your Fathers , nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of vEgypt concerning burnt-offerings, or facrifices. But this thing I commanded them, .2',2"3: laying, Gary my voice. That is, I denied not the one, but preferred the other, be- caufc it was better. The excellency of obedience appeareth farther in this : that whereas things iii thernfelves may be neither good not bad, yet obedience hath power tomake evil good, sod good evil, either by obfervation, orcontempt. For had not God forbid.. den Adam toeat the Fruit, the eating of it in it fell had been neither good nor badr but we fee his difobedience made it evil. Another example we have in Scripture. AProphet comes to his Neighbour in the Word ofthe Lord, and laid, Smite me, and 6. the Man refufed to finite him , klowing it was unlawful. I hen laid theProphet to him Becaufe thou haft not-obeyed the voice of the Lord, Behold, affoon as thou art departed fromme, aLyon fhall flay thee; and afroon as he was departed fromhim, a-Lyon' found him, and flew him for his difobedience. The great neceffityofobedience is in the example of -our Saviour , in his dilemma, Mat. 26 39. O my'Father, if it be potfible [let me not obey] but let.this Cuppals from me, [if it be not poffibk] nevetthelefs, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And one of thefemuff needs bedone, eithermori or non obedire, to dyeor not to obey, and elegit noori Vtam non obedire, he thole rather to dye than not to obey, whereby he intimated that obedience is more neceffary than life ir felf; and this his obedience recovered the World frinn eternal &thud:ion, as the obedience of the Saints preferves it from tem- poral; for it is the fmall number ofobedient Perfonithat are columns mundi, the Pil- lars of the World, which otherwife would not ftand. And hcie then by the fecond rule, obedience is commanded in general, not as it is the execution of every -particular Command, but as it refpeCts the intent ofthe Com- mander : all theCommandments are the materiak, ()matter ofour obedience, but intuitucvolcintatiedivine, the looking up to Gods will as the motive, is theformale , or form of thisvenue which diffinguifhes it from other vernies and duties com- manded,
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