74
on
the Excellency
of
Chrift.
what the meaning
is,
when
wee
fay, that
Chrift only can
make Lawes
for his
Church, and
Officers
for
his
Church.
Why
?
becaufe whatfoever
is
fpiritual,
it
mull bee
only
by
the Authority
of
Jefus Chrift,
this
great
King
of
his
Church.
6
And
then
Sixthly,
Chrift
is a
wonderful King
in this,
that
his Soveraignty
is
abfolute,
which
no
Kings
power
is;
though
they
have great power in
the world,
yet
they have
not
an
abfolute power to doe what they lift
;
and
certainly,
no
Sub;e6ts are
bound
fo
farre to the
humours
of men,
that
they
fhall
doe what they
lift
, there
is
no abfolute power
that
one
man
bath
over
another
;
but
the
power
that
Jefus
Chrift
bath
is
abfolute,
an
abfolute
Kingly power, his
Will it
is
the
Law;
no
mans
will in
the
World
is
fufficient to
be
a
law,
but the will of
this
King
it
is
fuflïcient.
7
And
then in the
Seventh
place,
bee
hath power
to bind
Confcience,
his
Laws are
fuch
as
lay
obligations and bonds
upon
the Confciences
of men;no Law that
would
be
made by
all
the
Angels
in
heaven could lay
bonds upon confcience,but
the
Law
only
of
Jefus
Chrift;
all
the
Lawes
that men can
make,
mu&
receive
their
power
and
authority efpecially from
the
end
of
them,
and therefore
if
they
fhould not conduce
unto that
end
for
which God
fets
up Magiftracy over
men,
that
is, for the
good
of the place, then
the rule vvill hold,
that if
there be
not
fcandal
or
contempt,
there
is
no obligati-
on upon
a
mans confcience, meerly
becaufe
it
is
the vvill of
man. But
now
the
Lawes of
Chrift,
vvhatfoever they are,
they lay bonds
upon
confciences,
and
if
I
doe offend
them
never
fo
fecretly,
I
fiand
as
guilty
before
the great God
;
and
that
is the feventh thing..
8
And then
in
the
Eighth
place,
Chrifts Kingly power
it
reaches
to
mens
hearts,
(I
muff
not
as
I
goe
along
enter into
the large
opening of any
thing
chat
may be controverfal, but
meerlyprefent vvhat
at large might be opened to
you
about
the
i(ingly
power
of
Chrift)
I
fay, Chrifts
Kingly
povver
is
vvonderful in this,
in
that
it
rules over the hearts
of men
as
well
as
their confciences
;
Chrift
by his
povver
is
able to
fubdue