These points are very useful, being the main grounds of religion ; having an influence into our lives and conversation above all others. Other points have their life and vigour and quickening from these grand mysteries, which are the food of the soul. Therefore let us oft feed our thoughts with these things, of Christ's abasement and glory, considering him in both as a pubHc person, ' the second Adam,' and our surety ; and then see our- selves in him, and labour to have virtue from him, fitting us in body and soul for such a condition. The very serious meditation of these things, will put a glory upon our souls ; and the believing of them will transform us ' from glory to glory,' 2 Cor. ix. 18.
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NOTES.
(a) P. 465. — ' Proml cste profani,^ &c. Tho reference is probably to the famous 'Procul o, procul este, profani ' of Virgil (iEn. vi. 258). Of course the thought is contained in the word ' profanus ' itself, pro-fanum = before or outside of the temple — not sacred or dedicated to a divinity.
(6) P. 465. — ' What is the reason that there is one word in the Greek and in other languages to signify both common and profane ? ' Query p'iprfkog ? = accessible, open to all, and hence common. But while what is profane is common, it is not true that what is common must be profane.
(c) P. 466. — ' What kind of nation were we in Julius Csesar's time ? ' &c. Cajsar's famous description contained in lib. v. De Bell. Gall, is too long for insertion here.
((/) P. 472.— ' It was literally performed in Julius the Second ; for in his papal crown there was written " Mysterium,'' &c., till at last it was blotted out, and in- stead thereof was written, " Julius secundus Papa." ' Scaliger on the authority of an informant of the Duke of Montmorency, whilst at Eome, affirms this. So again, Francis Le Moyne and Brocardus, on ocular evidence, saying that Julius III. re- moved it. Consult Daubuz, Vitringa, Bishop Newton, earlier, and Elliott's Uoroe Apocahjpticce on Rev. xvii. 5.
(e) P. 476. — ' As lightsome and clear as if the gospel were written with a sun- beam, as one saith.' A common saying since Sibbes's day ; but it seems to be im- possible to trace it to its original author.
fT") P. 477. — ' I will only ma,ke that use of it that a great scholar in his time once did upon the point, a noble earl of Mirandula.' This is John Picus of Mirandula, a pre-eminent scholar in his age. Died 1494. His Works have been repeatedly published in collective editions.
{g) P. 477. — ' Men live ... as if they made no question but they are false.' It is striking to find Bishop Butler, a century later, taking up the same lamentation in nearly the same words ; e.g., ' It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry, but that it is now at length discovered to be fictitious, and, accordingly, they treat it as if, in the present age, this were an agreed point among all people of discernment,' (Pre- face to ' The Analogy ').
(A) P. 488. — ' The whole world was darkened,' This remains matter of debate. The original in Mat. xxvii. 45, is r'/^f yy\'i the Land, = The Holy Land ?
ii) P. 488. — ' He was sold for thirty pence.' Query ? The ' j^rice ' can hardly be thus definitely fixed. Cf. Mat. xxvii. 9, and Jer. xviii. 1, 2 ; xxxii. 6, 12.
(y) P. 496. — ' The word is not altogether so fitly translated.' The original is ij^pOri = viewed with wonder, Cf. 1 Pet. i. 12.
{k) P. 511. — ' That proud historian Tacitus, how scornfully doth he speak of Chris- tians.' The famous ' quatuor millia libertini generis ea supterstitione infectd' (Annals, ii. 85), and the like phrases, warrant Sibbes's reference. Cf. also Annals, xii. 23 ; XV. 44 ; Hist. i. 10 ; ii, 4 ; ii, 79 ; v, 1, 2, et alibi.
[l) P. 511. — ' Saith Austin, " We must be very reverent in these matters [election, &c.] ; it is most safe to commit all to God, and usurp no judgment here,'' ' This Father, like Calvin, abounds in modest statements concerning the becoming attitude toward the ' secret things ' of God,
(m) P. 514. — ' In Rom. x. 14, seq . you have the Scala Coeli, as a good old martyr called it,' I have failed to trace this saying, but Scala Coeli is a trite designation of this and other portions of Scripture. The sermons on the Lord's Prayer by Bishop Andrewes were originally published (1611, 12mo), under the title of ' Scala Ca3li.'
(n) P. 51 6 . — ' There is a world in the world, as one saith well in unfolding this point,' [' believed on in the world ']. Cf. Pearson and John Smith in he.
(o) P. 518. — ' Divers of the Fathers were philosophers before.' It will be remem- bered how Augiistine in his ' Confessions ' self- accusingly expatiates upon this. The observation holds equally of Athanasius, Bernard, and other Fathers, Greek and Latin ; but most particularly of Justin Martyr, — a providential arrangement, as it enabled them the more efl'ectively to combat ' the philosophers ' with their own weapons.