Two Treatises, Title page 2 – Dedication 2
Myſtical Implantation: OR, The great Goſpel Myſtery of the Chriſtian's UNION, and COMMUNION with, and CONFORMITY TO JESUS CHRIST, Both In His DEATH And RESURRECTION, Opened and Applyed. As it was lately delivered to the Church of God at great Yarmouth, By JOHN BRINSLEY, Miniſter of the Goſpel, and Preacher to that Incorporation.
1 COR. 2.2. I determined not to know any thing among you, ſave Jeſus Chriſt, and him crucified.
PHIL. 3.10. That I may know him, and the vertue of his Reſurrection, &c.
LONDON, Printed by T. Maxey for Ralph Smith, at the Bible in Cornhil, neer the Royal Exchange. 1652.
To all that love the Lord Jeſus Chriſt in ſincerity: Specially, THOSE in the Town of Great YARMOUTH, GRACE and PEACE.
(Much eſteemed in the Lord,)
I Have heretofore put into Your Hands ſome few and ſmall Treatiſes, the leaves whereof were of like uſe with thoſe of the Tree of Life in the midſt of the New Jeruſalem, Revel. 22.2. ſerving to heale the Nations, to cure ſome of thoſe ſpirituall Distempers, which in theſe times of common contagion, have broke in upon the Body of this Church in many parts of it, both infecting and indangering of it. Here I preſent you with a taſte of ſome of the Fruits of the ſame Tree, ſome of the Benefits iſſuing to the Beleever from Jeſus Christ; A Subject which my own ſoul hath fed upon not without inward Complacencie and contentment. My hopes are, you ſhall finde the like in the peruſall of this Tractate; which is now made publick, as for the furtherance of the work of Grace in you, ſo to let the World know, that in the courſe of my Miniſtry I have not made Controverſie my Work. OnelyOnly I have now and then dealt with it, as the Phyſician doth with his Medicines, and God with his Tryals, which they make uſe of, foreign,1 Pet. 1.6. when and where need is. Well had it been for the Church of God in this Nation, had there never been occaſion for me or any other to have entred thoſe liſts. But there is a fatal (yet Providential) neceſsitie in it: There muſt be Hereſies: 1 Cor. 11.16.ſuch is Satan's malice, and Man's corruption, that in an ordinary way it cannot be expected that God's Field ſhould be free from theſe tares. And ſuch is Gods just and wiſe diſpenſation, to permit it to be ſo, knowing how to extract good out of evill. And ſeeing it muſt be ſo, there is a like neceſsity incumbent upon the Ministers of God, (ſervants of that great Huſbandman) that they ſhould haveJohn 15.1. 1 Cor. 3.9. an eye to them, that they do not over-grow the good corn. Upon this account it is, that I have, as occaſion hath been offered, underta-that work, which our great Apostle, the Dr. of the Gentiles reckons amongſt thoſe foreign, thoſe good works, 2 Tim. 3.17.unto which the man of God ſhould be throughly furniſhed: Applying my ſelf ſometimes foreign, to Reproof, Engl. new Annot. ver. 16.viz. of Errors and falſe Doctrines; which the Verſe foregoing reckoneth as one of thoſe four Cardinal uſes for which the Scripture is profitable: yet ſo as I have ever mainly intended thoſe other Miniſteriall ſervices there mentioned, of Doctrine, Correction, Instruction in Righteouſneſſe. And to that end, I have made choice of ſuch portions of Scripture as I apprehended properly uſefull for thoſe purpoſes. Among other, I have ſingled out, and now, through a divine manuduction, almoſt paſſed thorow this Chapter, wherof the Text is a part, with that fore-going:Rom. 5. & 6. The one of which profeſſedly handles the Doctrine of Justification, the other of Sanctification; two main Pillars in the Houſe of the Lord (not unlike thoſe in the Temple of Dagon, Judg. 19.26.) whereon the whole building ſtands. The ſum of the later of theſe you meet with in the Text, held forth under a familiar, but apt and elegant Metaphor, ſerving as a vehiculum to convey this divine Myſtery into the ſoul with greater both facility, & perſpicuity. In proſecuting of this Allegory, I have endeavoured to follow it home to the head; yet ſo, as not willing to do, what in like caſes too often done, viz. to overdo; by extorting that from the Metaphor, which it would not genuinely and naturally yeeld. My ſervice which I have herein deſired to do to God and his Church, as I wiſh it may, ſo I hope it ſhall be accepted of the Saints, and of You in ſpeciall, over whom God hath made me (though moſt unworthy) an Overſeeer. To his grace and bleſsing I cōmend it and you, reſting
Yours, in the ſervice of Christ deſirous to be found faithful, JOHN BRINSLEY. Yarmouth, Sept. 8. 1651.