A25294:477
The substance of Christian religion, or, A plain and easy draught of the Christian…The substance of Christian religion, or, A plain and easie draught of the Christian…
The substance of Christian religion, or, A plain and easy draught of the Christian catechism in LII lectures on chosen texts of Scripture, for each Lords-day of the year, learnedly and perspicuously illustrated with doctrines, reasons, and uses / by that reverend and worthy labourer in the Lord's vineyard, William Ames ...The substance of Christian religion, or, A plain and easie draught of the Christian catechisme in LII lectures on chosen texts of Scripture, for each Lords-day of the year, learnedly and perspicuously illustrated with doctrines, reasons, and uses / by that reverend and worthy laborer in the Lord's vineyard, William Ames ...
London: printed by T. Mabb for Thomas Davies, 1659
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The sixteenth Lords day.
Joh. 10. 17, 18. Therefore the Father loveth me, because I lay down my life▪ that I may take it up again: None taketh it from me; but I lay it down of my self. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. This commandment received I from my Father.
Christ in these words expounds what he had said before of the duty, effect, and sign of a good Shepherd; to wit, that he lays down his life for his sheep. This he had applied to himself, verse 15. where two things were propounded; 1. The Object, to which this laying down of the life is referred, or which be those sheep of Christ? 2. The manner of this laying down the life. This is explained in the 16, and these two following verses. The death of Christ, or laying down of his soul or life, is explicated from the efficient cause; which is Christ himself. I lay down my life. 2. From the manner of doing of it, that Christ is a cause voluntary, and doing it from a counsel and deliberation, not of coaction. None taketh it from me, but I lay it down. 3. From the adjunct of this efficiency; that he did it not of weakness, but from power. I have authority to lay it down. This is shown from another effect that follows this; to wit, from his resuming it again, or his resurrection. I have authority to take it up again; as if he would say, he that so lays down his life,