Two Treatises, Title page 1 – Treatise 1
TWO TREATISES CONCERNING I. GOD's All-Sufficiency, AND II. CHRIST's Preciouſneſs.
BEING The Subſtance of ſome SERMONS long ſince Preached in the Univerſity of Oxford.
By Henry Wilkinſon, D. D. Then Principal of Magdalen-Hall, Oxon.
ECCLES. ix. ver. x. Whatſoever thy Hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no Work, nor Device, nor Knowledge, nor Wiſdom in the Grave, whither thou goest.
2 COR. v. ver. xiv. The Love of Chriſt Conſtraineth us.
Domine Jeſu, Te plus diligo, quam mea, meos, Me. Bern.
LONDON Printed by Thomas Milbourn, for John Kidgel, at the Atlas in Cornhil, near the Royal-Exchange, 1681.
The Epiſtle Dedicatory.
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL, HIS MUCH Honoured Friend, Iohn Clarke, OF St. Edmund-Bury, Eſquire.
Sir,
THat I may not Live and Dye Ʋngrateful, I preſume to prefix Your Name to theſe Enſuing Treatiſes, as a Teſtimony of my Grateful Acknowledgment of thoſe many Signal Favours, which you have conferr'd upon Mee.
The Firſt Treatiſe opens and applyes the Doctrine of God's All-Sufficiency. The deliberate Meditation and Application thereof, amidſt various Diſpenſations, and Viciſſitudes of Providence, will be a Divine Cordial to Relieve a fainting Spirit; and will ſwallow up, and overcome all Outward Troubles, as Aaron's Rod ſwallow'd up all the Rods of the Aegyptian Magicians.
That Pious Aphoriſme, which the Noble, and truly religious Lady Vere, choſe for her Motto, namely, GOD WILL PROVIDE, doth the Faith of every true Believer fully aſſent unto; by which he is enabled to Rely upon the All-Sufficiency of a Faithful God, both for a Supply of whatever he wants, and for a Sanctifyed Improvement of all that he enjoys.
The other Treatiſe endeavoureth to unfold the Precious Excellency of Chriſt, in order to the rendring of him the most Deſirable Object to the Believers Faith.
As all Light at God's Command, in the Firſt Creation, did fix, and terminate in the Body of the Sun; ſo it hath pleaſed the Father, that there Col. 1. 19.ſhould be a Perfect and Compleat Fullneſs of all Divine and Heavenly Graces, dwelling in the Perſon, as well as in the Doctrine of the Bleſſed Jeſus; and He it is, in whom all Excellencies do Concenter: In Him, there is a Fulneſs of Merit to Juſtify and Save us, a Fulneſs of Grace to Sanctify and Cleanſe us, a Fulneſs of Wiſdom to Guide and Direct us, a Fulneſs of Power to Suſtain and Ʋphold us; and, in a word, a Fulneſs of Mercy, Pity, and Compaſſion to Relieve and Succour us. How truly then did the Spouſe call her Beloved, The Chiefeſt among Cant. 5. 10.Ten Thouſand?
I have taken Liberty to become Your Remembrancer of theſe Things, though You know them already, and have been fully Inſtructed in them.
My daily Prayer to God for You is, and ſhall be, That Your Last Dayes may be Your Beſt Dayes; Your Last Fruit, Your Fullest and Faireſt Fruit: That, as a Plant of Righteouſneſs in God's Garden, (which hath no Withered Trees, Over-grown, andPſal. 92. 13. 4. past Bearing) You may bring forth more Fruit in Old Age; and, like the Almond-Tree, Tree, be even Bloſſoming, and always Flouriſhing. So prayeth,
Cornard-Magna, near Sudbury in Suffolk, Nov. 2. 1680. Honoured Sir, Your moſt Obliged, & Humble Servant, Henry Wilkinſon.
GOD's All-Sufficiency Plainly Opened, and practically Applyed, in a Treatiſe upon
2 CHRON. Cap. XXV. Ver. ix. And Amaziah ſaid to the Man of God, Treatiſe 1. of God's All-Sufficiency.But, What ſhall we do for the Hundred Talents, which I have given to the Army of Iſrael? And the Man of God anſwered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.