A51839:537
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing…
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostasy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostacy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...
London: printed by J.D. for J. Robinson, 1679
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.
2. The outward Means, by our Gospel. Where, 1. Consider the Means it self, The Gospel. 2. The Interest which the Apostle challengeth in it, our Gospel.
1. The Means it self, the Gospel. This God useth,
(1.) Because if God will Call, and invite the Creature by his Duty, to his Happiness: It is necessary that his Call should be evident to the Creature, by some visible Sign. Now the natural Duty of Man, is much seen by the Creation. Rom. 1.19. Because that which may be known of God, is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. Psal. 19.1, 2. The Heavens declare the Glory of God▪ and the Firmament showeth his Handy-Work▪ Day unto ⟨p. 291⟩Day uttereth Speech, and Night unto Nigh• showeth Knowledge. But this Call is made to Man fallen, as a Remedy to his lapsed Estate, which depending on the Free-Grace of God, and can only be known by his Revelation, conveyed to us by extraordinary Messengers, such as Christ, who was the principal Revealer of the Doctrine of God for the saving of the World: And him God authorized and sealed to this end. John 6.27. Labour not for the Meat which perisheth, but for that Meat which endureth unto everlasting Life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you; for him hath God the Father sealed. And then by the Apostles, who were instituted by Christ, and sent forth to proselyte the World to the Obedience of God; and they were also authorized from Heaven by divers Signs and Wonders, as long as it was necessary to use that Dispensation, for the confirmation of their Message, and to show how dangerous it was to neglect a Doctrine so useful to Mankind, and suitable to their great Necessities, and so owned by God,