Jesus Christ the Great Wonder Discovered, Title page – Dedication
Jeſus Chriſt THE Great VVonder. DISCOVERED FOR THE Amazement of SAINTS. IN A SERMON Preached before the Right Honorable the Lord Major of London, and the Honorable Court of Aldermen, at Pauls.
By MATTHEW BARKER, Preacher of the Goſpel at Leonards Eaſt-Cheap. LONDON.
O the depth of the Riches both of the wiſdom and knowledge of God! how unſearchable are his judgements, and his wayes paſt finding out! Rom. 11. 33.
Quando mens ſe ad deum cum am…re integrè convertit, incomprehenſibili luce in ſundum ejus effulgente, rationis & intellectus oculus, reverberatus caligat. Iſagog. Corderii ad myſt. Theol cap. 7.
foreign. Dionyſ. Areop. de divin. nomin. Cap. 7.
LONDON, Printed by R. W. for Rapha Harford, at the Bible and States-Arms in Little Brittain. 1651.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE, Thomas Andrews, LORD MAIOR, AND The HONORABLE COURT of ALDERMEN.
YOu were pleaſed to Order this Sermon to the Preſs; but I hope it hath already had one Impreſsion upon your hearts, and I intended it for no other, and is the moſt noble and excellent kind of Printing; when the heart comes to be foreign as a Book ingraven with the ingravings of God, & the Epiſtle of Jeſus Chriſt, written not with ink, but the Spirit of the living God. What I before2. Cor. 3. 3. preſented to your ears, I now again preſent to your eyes (foreign) and if by either or both it ſhall reach your hearts, I have my reward; You ſhould have had it ſooner, but ſome troubles in my ſpirit, and ſome affairs in my hand have retarded it: But now you have it, and neither in matter or form much different from what it was. And the bleſsing of heaven attend it, that it may either make or renew ſome heavenly impreſsions upon your ſouls; for though it is true what the Apoſtle ſaith, Rom. 10. That Faith cometh by hearing, yet it is alſo as true what the Church ſaith, Lam. 3. 51. Mine eye affecteth my heart. Then are the ſenſes of the body in their higheſt and propereſt operations, when they let in upon the ſoul thoſe Idea's which will indeed raiſe, refreſh, and nouriſh it.
My great plot was, in this Diſcourſe, (pardon this plot) to make you all Captives; not to my ſelf, but to TRƲTH and JESƲS CHRIST; and I knew not how to do it by a more probable ſtratagem, then to ſet up this Jeſus in his WONDERFƲLNES before you, as conceiving, that to men truly rational he cannot be preſented under a more powerful and perſwaſive Notion. And ſo I thought it might be very ſutable to men in Power and place; for the heart that is moſt effectually caught and captivated of Jeſus Chriſt, is beſt accompliſht for the ſincere and vigorous proſecution of publique affairs: Never doth the ſoul move aright in any ſervice, if it be not originally drawn of him, and ultimately carried forth unto him. And O that your choiſeſt affections might centre in his perſon, and your chiefeſt endeavours in his glory: We read in Rev. 19. 1. of a great voyce of much people in heaven, ſaying, Allelujah, ſalvation and glory, and honour, and power to the Lord our God. What ſalvation, what glory, what honour, and power the Lord hath given to his people in theſe dayes, he expects they ſhould give them back again to him; that as they are his by their coming from him, ſo they may again be made his by returning them back unto him; and then ſhall we approve our ſelves to be of thoſe people in heaven. Apelles when he had drawn ſome curious piece, would ſet it in publique view, and place himſelf behind the curtain to hearken what would be ſaid of it by the people paſſing by: Jeſus Chriſt hath ſet before us in his great works among us a fair draught, a lively repreſentation of his glorious power, wiſdom, juſtice, and mercy; and doth he not now ſtand ſtill, and liſten what the hearts, tongues, and actings of his people ſpeak concerning it?
Our great tranſactions were lately in our VVars abroad; they are now likely to be in our Counſels at home: Much of God hath been ſeen in thoſe; and O that nothing of ſelf might be ſeen in theſe: I hope at laſt God will direct us to find out one Common Centre of Truth and Righteouſneſs wherein all honeſt hearts will meet.
The Lord give your Lordſhip, and all others that ſit with you at the Stern of this City, wiſdom to ſayl between the two rocks of ANARCHY and TYRANNY, and then I hope you will arrive ſafe at the much longed for Haven of common righteouſneſs, and peace. It is not for me to preſcribe any thing in this nature. Only I ſhall pray, that the two Staves of BANDS and BEAUTY, may alwayes ſtand at the gates of this City, by our ſweet enjoyment of Jeſus Chriſt in his Ordinances, and of one another in unity and love.
Our firſt degree of happineſs would be, not to differ; but the ſecond is, to mannage our differences with humility and wiſdom, and to take them up before they prove like a breach of the Sea.
We ought to mark thoſe that cauſe diviſions, much more thoſe that delight in them. I ſhall no longer detain you from the peruſal of thoſe poor and broken meditations that follow; though they came from me in weakneſs, yet I hope, they will riſe up in you with power, which will be a CROWN of Glory, and rejoycing to him, who deſires to his utmoſt to be ſerviceable to the great Intereſt of your ſpiritual Eſtate,
Matthew Barker.