their interest in him I do not mean an haughty spirit swelled with pride for that is altogether unsutable to a saving interest in God who beholds the proud afar off but Psalm 138. 6. an humble spirit greatned by continual converse with the great God who by raising vp his servants hearts to the contemplation and fruition of higher objects maketh them too big for this world It is reported of Moses that when he was come to years or according to the original when he was waxed great Hebr. 11. 24 25 26 27. in spirit perhaps as well as in stature he did overlook the preferments pleasures and riches of the world which are all there intimated yea the menaces of it too for it is there also said He feared not the wrath of the king but endured as seeing him who is invisible His conversing with the great God had made all these to appear to him as petty things To a soul truly great no Animo magno nil magnum worldly matter hath any true greatness in it As if one could take a station in heaven whatsoever is here below would appear but small in his sight by reason of its distance It is accounted by some a great matter to have the frowns and ill word of a great man But St John whose conversation was in heaven made nothing of it Speaking of Diotrophes his malignancy and reproachfull speeches he phraseth it thus prating against us with malitious John 2 epistle v. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words The term properly signifieth trifling Though Diotrephes were a great prelate and his words very malitious yet the Apostles spirit was raised so far above them that with him all were but trifles and by him contemned as such APHORISME V. The Goodness and Greatness of God are both abundantly manifested by his decrees of Election and Preterition together with his works of Creation and Providence EXERCITATION 1. Exerc. 1. How predestination cometh to be treated of here Election described from the Nature Antiquity Objects Products and Cause of it Rom. 11. 33. 2 Tim. 1. 9. with Tit. 1. 2. Ephes 1. 4. with Matth. 25. 34. opened Of Acts supposing their objects Of Acception of persons what it is and that Predestination doth not import it Acts 13. 48. Expounded and vindicated Whether one Elect may become a reprobate The negative maintained and 1 Cor. 9. 24 25 26. cleared Ephes 5 and 11. enlightned Concerning the good pleasure of Gods will and the counsel thereof § 1. I Durst not wholly wave the doctrine of Predestination no not in this Treatise of Principles after I had duely Aph. 5. pondered that grave admonition of Ambrose or according to others of Prosper Quae Deus occulta esse voluit non sunt scrutanda quae autem monifesta fecit non sunt neganda ne in illis illicitè curiosi in istis damnabiliter inveniamur in grati De vocar Gent. cap. 7. Such things as God would have kept secret must not be pried into by us nor such denied as he hath openly declared lest we be found in the former attempt unlawfully curious in the latter damnably unthankfull And also laid to heart the endeavours not of foreiners onely but of certain late English writers to possess their readers with vehement and strong prejudices against the long-received truth in those points One of them telleth us It is sacrilegious to grant that God hath I. G. Red. Redeem pag. 243. lin 7. Ibid. pag. 278. lin 46. from eternity elected a certain number of men personally unto salvation whom he purposeth to bring thereunto infallibly c. Elsewhere styling it That capitall errour of personal Election and Reprobation Another speaking of preterition or negative reprobation hath these words This is T. P. Divine philanthropy defended c. 4. § 2. one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which have been infamously invented to disguise and palliate the frightfull rigidness of their doctrine Not long after he calleth it canting pretends the lamentable distinction as it is there by him styled to be no more then a trick insufficient to buoy up a sinking cause and in another book of his The dream of absolute preterition Mean Divine purity defended pag. 97. while where alas is the reverence and submission due to Scripture that onely card and compass by which we are to sail in this ocean that onely clue by the help whereof this labyrinth is to be traversed It directly opposeth Rom. 11. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Electi and Reliqui the elect and such as were passed by in that saying The election hath obtained and the rest were blinded In it we reade of a book of life containing Revel 13. 8. 21. 27. 26. 15. the names of all those whom God hath chosen and of others whose names were not written in that book Of some whom the Lord knoweth for 2 Tim. 2. 19. Maâ—th 7. 23. his and others to whom he will say I never knew you Of Christs sheep given John 10. 26 28 29. to him by the father and of such persons as were not his sheep nor accordingly so given to him This I hope is no canting there is neither Errour nor Trick in all this but to proceed § 2. Election as to our purpose which concerns the choise of men onely not of Angels is that secret unsearchable decree of God wherein he did from everlasting single out of the rest of mankinde a definite number of particular persons ordaining them infallibly unto the attainment of holiness here and happiness hereafter according to the counsel and good pleasure of his Will Which description offers to the readers consideration as things material and not unfit to be treated of provided it be soberly done the Nature Antiquity Object Products and Cause of Election First The Nature of it It is a secret unsearchable decree of God The two principall emanations of God's Will respecting intellectual creatures are his Decrees and his Commands They differ as in sundry other things so in point of perspicuitie The Commands are plain he that runs may read his duty in them the Decrees abstruse Our destinies cannot be so easily read as our duties may And whereas divers secret things may yet be discovered upon diligent search according to that Proverb of Solomon Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water Prov. 20. 5. but a man of understanding will draw it out The Decrees of God are so secret as to be withall unsearchable Whence the Apostle O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of Rom. 11. 13. God! How unsearchable are his judgements and his waies past finding out where by Judgements it is as I conceive most proper to understand the Decrees of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence cerno decerno decretum his Will by Waies the Administrations of his Providence in order to the execution of those
elsewhere We are bound to give thanks alwaies to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God 2 Thes 2. 13. hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth Here we finde not onely Sanctification in general but faith which is the flower of holiness derived from Election The same Apostle stiles it The faith of Gods elect Tit. 1. 1. And St. Luke in the Acts speaking of the success which St. Pauls preaching had among the Gentiles saith expresly As many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved Acts 13. 48. A Text which the soundest divines look at as a most pregnant place to prove a causal influence of Divine Predestination upon the work of saving faith Others I know there are and they not a few nor inconsiderable who have strongly endeavoured to turn the edge and strength of this place another way by rendering the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as we do Ordained but Disposed or well-affected to eternal life Unto whose corrupt Gloss I oppose the following considerations First If it were to be so read then all that heard the Apostles Sermon there recorded even all and every one without exception should have beleeved seeing there is not a man in the world and therefore none in that congregation who was not disposed and well-affected to the reward of eternal life the will of man being necessarily carried to the desire of blessedness which none are so bruitish as not to affect for that unto which these are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not conversion but life eternal Secondly Disposedness in their sense doth not alwaies precede faith nor faith alwaies follow it When Saul was in the full career of his persecuting madness against the Saints what disposedness was there in him unto conversion unless fury be a disposition to faith yet then did he first believe In that young man who came to our Saviour of whom it is testified That he was not far from the kingdome of God which of their dispositions was wanting yet he went away sorrowfull and believed not Thirdly Faith it self is the first saving disposition that any man hath because it first laies hold upon Christ and of life by him in so much as none is formally disposed to eternal life till he have believed Fourthly St. Luke doth no where use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either in his Gospel or in the Acts for disposedness but for ordination and constitution divers times therefore our reading here As many as were ordained to eternal life is to be retained § 8. But learned Grotius will by no means allow of this interpretation They saith he who apply this Text to Predestination Nihil vident see nothing at all Yet by his favour a man that saw as far into the Mysteries of Divinity as also into the idioms of the Greek tongue as Grotius himself be it spoken without disparagement to his great learning Chrysostom I mean applys it so in his Commentary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Hom. 30. in Act. Apost upon the place And his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is expounded Erasmus translates Praefiniti à Deo Predestinated of God Three things are alleadged by Grotius for overthrowing of this sense but all in vain His first plea is that 't is not usual for all of a city a congregation that are predestinated to believe at one and the same time therefore that which we assert is not like to be the meaning here For answer I acknowledge it is not usual no more is it to have three thousand inhabitants of one city brought in to God on one day But what if God willing to glorifie his Gospel and the power of converting Grace as he called three thousand Jews in one day by Peters Ministry Acts the second so here by St. Pauls at his first solemn undertaking to preach unto the Gentiles Acts the 13. were pleased to work upon as many in that congregation as did belong to the election of grace shall any man dare to prescribe and plead custome to the contrary His second Argument runs thus All that truely believe are not Predestinated unto life Therefore that for which we contend is not to be thought a proper sense Answer This reason is founded upon a grand mistake viz. That faith is common to all whether elect or non-elect although Paul stile it the Faith of Gods elect as before and Christ tels the Jews Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep John 10. 26. He argues in the third place from St. Lukes unacquaintedness with the secrets of God It was not in his power to tell who of that company were elected who not therefore by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he must not be conceived to have understood such as were in that sense ordained to eternal life I answer Although the pen-man did not the inditer viz. the Holy Ghost did exactly know whose names were written in the book of life and whose were not Now he it was that in the history of the Acts suggested and dedicated to his secretary both matter and words § 9. The second product of election is happiness hereafter Accordingly the objects of this Decree are those whom God hath not appointed unto wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus 1 Thes 5. 9. Christ Salvation is that which they are said to be chosen to and that wherein their names are written called The 2 Thes 2. 13. book of life For as in military affairs Phil. 4. 3. Commanders have their Muster-rolls wherein are contained the names of all the souldiers whom they have listed whence the phrase of Conscribere milites and in Common-wealths there are Registries kept wherein are recorded the names of such as are chosen to offices of trust and other preferments whence the title of Patres conscripti ascribed to the Senators of Rome So the Scripture condescending to our capacities and speaking of God after the manner of men attributeth to him a book of life wherein it supposeth a legible writing and Registring the names of all those persons whom he hath irreversibly predestinated to life everlasting I say irreversibly for if that of Stoicks be true In sapientum decretis nulla est litura In the decrees of wise men there will be no blotting and blurring how much more may it be asserted concerning those eternal Decrees of the onely wise God If it became Pilate to say What I have written I have written it would certainly mis-become the great John 19. 22. God to blot so much as one name out of the Lambs book of life written by himself before the world was We may take it for granted that this book will not admit of any Deleatur or of any See my Tactica Sacra lib. 3. cap. 2. §. 9 10 11. sequent Expurgatorie Index whatever
servants He would have such a person a despiser 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and contemner of others which is plainly Pharisaical thinks all that savoureth of humility unworthy of his magnanimous man whereas Solomon telleth us It is better to be of an humble Prov. 16. 19. spirit with the lowly then to divide the spoil with the proud Yea he alloweth him in case of contumely to speak evil of his adversaries whereas our Saviours rule is Bless them that curse you pray for them Matth. 5. 44. that despitefully use you EXERCITATION 3. Oracles of God vocal or written Books of Scripture so called in five respects viz In regard of their declaring and foretelling their being consulted prized and preserved § 1. IN the epistle to the Hebrews these two phrases The first principles Hebr. 5. 12. and 6. 1. of the oracles of God And the principles of the doctrine of Christ import one and the same thing implying also that Scripture Records are the onely Store-house and Conservatory of Christian Religion I shall therefore from hence take occasion to shew That books of Scripture are oracles of God why they are so called and wherein they excell other oracles For the first There were two sorts of Oracles belonging to God vocal and written The vocal were those answers he gave from between the Cherubims on the top of 1 Kings 6. often and Chapt. 8. 6. the Mercy-seat which covered the Ark by reason whereof the Holy of Holies where that Ark stood was styled the Oracle The written are the two tables Exerc. 3. of the Law called by Stephen the lively Acts 7. 37. oracles and the Canonical books of Scripture as well those of the old Testament of which Paul speaketh when he declareth it as the great priviledge of the Jews that to them were committed the Rom. 3. 2. oracles of God as those of the New to which Peter is like to have had a peculiar respect in that saying of his If 1 Pet. 4. 11. any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Especially if his meaning be to admonish such as speak in congregations publick teachers or as another Apostle styleth them Ministers 2 Cor. 3. 6. of the new Testament that they be carefull to deliver Scripture-truths in Scripture-words New-Testamentmatter in New-Testament-language taking the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that text for a note not of similitude but of identity as when it is said We beheld his John 1. 14. glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father it is not meant of a glory like his but the very same So let him speak as the Oracles of God that is the self-same things which Vid. Gerhard Coment in 1 Pet. 4. pag. 631 634. God hath spoken in his word § 2. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby heathen writers had been wont to express their oracles chiefly such are were uttered in prose while such as were delivered in verse went under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was enfranchised by the holy Ghost and applied to the books of Scripture to intimate as I conceive that these books were to be of like use to Christians as those oracles had been to Infidels whereof take a five-fold account I. Those declared to heathen men the will of their Idols whence also they had their names of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and oracula from orare quod inerat illis Deorum oratio as Tully giveth the etymologie because they contained what the Gods spake and delivered to be their minde The Scriptures in like manner contain the minde of Jehovah Somewhat of his nature we may learn from the creatures but should have known little or nothing of his will had not canonical Scripture revealed it We use to call a mans Testament his last will because in it he makes a final declaration of what he would have his executours do He that would exactly know the will of God must look into his two Testaments there he shall finde it fully expressed and no where else § 3. II. Those foretold future events which made them to be so much frequented by such as thirsted after knowledge of things to come These reade every one his destiny and acquaint him aforehand with what he may or may not infallibly expect according to his present and future qualifications Not to mention prophesies in the New testament whereof the principal magazine is the Apocalypse the old contains very many predictions beyond the activity of humane foresight For although such effects as depend upon natural causes which are uniform in their workings may be foretold by a skilfull naturalist and a wise Statesman observing the present constitution of a government may prognosticate what events are like to ensue upon those counsels and courses which he sees taken yet the quickest eye upon earth cannot foresee such future contingents as have their dependance upon the mere free-will of persons yet unborn and whereunto when they are born not common principles but heroick impulses must incline them Whereas in the Scriptures we meet with the names of Josiah and Cyrus and with their performances long before they had a being We finde old Jacob foretelling the respective fates of all his children and of their posterity Isaiah speaking of Jesus Christ as if he had written an history rather then a prophesie And Daniel who lived under the fitst describing the severall revolutions under all the other Monarchies as if he had seen them with his eyes § 4. III. Those gave advice in doubtfull cases and were in all undertakings of moment consulted with by devout Heathens who as Strabo testifies Lib. 16. in descript Judaeae in their chief affairs of state relied more upon the answers of their oracles then upon humane pollicies These were Davids delight and his counsellours Psal 119. 24. as we use to advise with those friends whom we take most pleasure in He had many wise men about him but in all their meetings for advice the word of God was still of the Quorum and nothing to be concluded of in the result without its consent Scripture must not onely be heard in all our debates but when any thing comes to be voted always have a negative voice Concerning Achitophels advice it was said what he counselled in those days was as if a man had enquired at the Oracle of God 2 Sam. 16. last which words being as it is well said by Peter Martyr Comparatio non aequiparatio a comparison onely not a parallel sufficiently intimate that all the Oracles of God are to be consulted and also that their counsel is to be rested in I shall therefore be bold to say to him that reads whoever he be as Jehoshaphat once did to Ahab Enquire I pray thee 2 Chron. 18. 4. of the word of the Lord to day As Paul to his Colossians Let the
in the mines of learning Sharp wits like sharp knives do often cut their owners fingers The deep reach of a prudent man makes him aggravate such evils as are already come upon him by considering every circumstance so as to accent every sad consideration and anticipate such as are yet to come by galloping in his thoughts to meet them Had not Achitophel been so wise as to foresee his inevitable ruine in the remote causes of it when Hushai's counsel was embraced he would never have made so much hast as he did to hang himself § 11. Lastly Insufficiency to render men either holy or happy For when the worldly-wise have dived into the bottome of Natures sea they are able to bring up from thence in stead of these pearls of price nothing but hands full of shels and gravell Knowledge indeed and good parts managed by grace are like the rod in Moses his hand wonder-workers but turn to serpents when they are cast upon the ground and employed in promoting earthly designes Learning in religious hearts like that gold in the Israelites ear-rings is a most pretious ornament But if men pervert it to base wicked ends or begin to make an idol of it as they did a golden calf of their ear-rings it then becomes an abomination Doubtles these later times wherein so many knowing men are of a filthy conversation and have joyned feet of clay to their heads of gold would have afforded good store of additional observations to him that wrote the famous book concerning the vanity of Sciences which appeareth Corn. Agrippa in nothing more then their inability to produce sutable deportment in such as enjoy them without which there can be no solid foundation laid for true happiness § 12. Wherefore bething thy self at length O deluded world and write over all thy school-doors Let not the Jerem. 9. 23. wise man glory in his wisdome Over all thy court-gates Let not the mighty man glory in his might Over all thy Exchanges and Banks Let not the rich man glory in his riches Write upon thy looking-glasses that of Bathsheba Favour is Prov. 30. 31. deceitfull and beauty is vain Upon thy Mewes and Artillery-yards that of the Psalmist God delighteth not in the strength Psal 147. 10. of an horse he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man Upon thy Taverns Innes and Alehouses that of Solomon Wine is a mocker strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise Upon Prov. 20. 1. thy Magazines and Wardrobes that of our Saviour Lay not up for your selves Matth. 6. 19. treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt where theeves break through and steal Write upon thy Counting-houses that of Habakkuk Wo to him Habak 2. 6. that increaseth that which is not his how long and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay Thy Play-houses that of Paul Lovers of pleasure more then lovers 2 Tim. 3 4. of God Thy banquetting houses that of the same holy Apostle Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall 1 Cor. 6. 13. destroy both them and it Yea upon all thine Accommodations that of the Preacher All is vanity and vexation of Eccles. 1. 14. spirit EXERCITATION 2. A gloss upon Psalme 36. 8. God in Christ a soul-satisfying object The circular motion of humane souls and their onely rest A threefold fulness of God and Christ opposite to the threefold vanity of the creatures § 1. VVHat shall we then say Are the sons of men in whom such strong desires and longings after blessedness are implanted left without all possible means of attaining that in which rationall appetites may acquiesce God forbid They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness Psal 36. 7 8. of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures so David to God concerning such as put their trust under the shadow of his wings Creature-comforts are but lean blessings in comparison there is a fatness in Gods house such as satisfies and that abundantly They afford but drops Christ a river of pleasures Look as when an Army of men comes to drink at a mighty river a Jordan a Thames Exerc. 2. they all go satisfied away none complaining of want none envying another because there was water enough for them all whereas had they come to a little brook there would not have been found enough to quench the thirst of every one So here The creatures are small brooks that have but a little water in them yea broken cisterns that hold Jerem. 2. 13. no water No wonder if souls return empty from them But Christ hath a river for his followers able to give them all satisfaction We must not expect more from a thing then the Creatour hath put into it He never intended to put the virtue of soul-satisfying into any mear creature but hath reserved to himself Son and Spirit the contenting of spirits as a principall part of divine prerogative To such as expect it elsewhere that person or thing they rely upon may say as Jacob did to Rachel Am I in Gods stead Gen. 30 2. § 2. Certain it is that none can make our souls happy but God who made them nor any give satisfaction Neque enim facit beatum hominem nisi qui sent hominem Deus Aug. epist 52. to them but Christ who gave satisfaction for them They were fashioned at first according to the image of God and nothing short of him who is stiled the brightness of his Fathers glory and Heb. 1. 3. the express image of his person can replenish Ad imaginem Dei facta anima rationalis caeteris omnibus occupari potest repleri non potest Bernard Serm. de bonis deserend them As when there is a curious impression left upon wax nothing can adequately fill the dimensions and lineaments of it but the seal that stamped it Other things may cumber the minde but not content it As soon may a trunck be filled with wisdome as a soul with wealth and bodily substances nourished with shadows as rationall spirits fed with bodies Whatsoever goodness creatures have is derivative whatsoever happiness they enjoy stands in reduction to the Originall of their being The motion of immortall souls is like that of celestiall bodies purely circular They rest not without returning back to the same point from whence they issued which is the bosome of God himself Fishes are said to visit the place of their spawning yearly as finding it most commodious for them and sick patients are usually sent by physicians to their native soil for the sucking in of that air from which their first breath was received Heaven is the place where souls were produced the spirit of man was at first breathed in by the Father of spirits and cannot acquiesce till he be enjoyed and heaven in him § 3. Witness was born to this truth by the Amen the
oracles for their use then that they have God for their authour Many large volumes have been written for to make good this assertion It is a thing wherein the Spirit of God who indited the Scripture gives such abundant satisfaction to the spirits of godly men as to make other arguments though not useless yet to them of less necessity He alone bearing witness to the divinity of holy writ and to the truth of his own testimony so putting a final issue to that controversie But because there is need of other reasons for the conviction of other men I have produced certain arguments Tâ—ctica Sacra lib. 2. cap. ult elsewhere and shall here make an addition of two more which are not mentioned in that discourse one from consent another from continuance § 6. From consent thus Writings of men differ exceedingly one from another which made Seneca say Philosophers Tunc inter Thilosophos conveniet quando inter Horologia would then be all of one minde when all clocks were brought to strike at one and the same time Yea it is hard finding an authour that doth not differ from himself more or less if he write much and at various seasons But here is a most harmonious consent The word since written fully agrees with that which in former times was delivered to the Patriarchs and transmitted by word of mouth As the word God is the same to day yesterday and for ever although not incarnate till the fulness of time came and then made flesh So the word of God although till Moses received a command to put it in writing there wanted that kinde of incarnation was for substance the same before and after And as the written word agreed with the unwritten so doth one part of that which is written harmonize with another The two Testaments Old and New like the two breasts of the same person give the same milk As if one draw water out of a deep well with vessels of different mettal one of brass another of tin a third of earth the water may seem at first to be of a different colour but when the vessels are brought near to the eye this diversity of colours vanisheth and the waters tasted of have the same relish So here the different style of the historiographers from Prophets of the Prophets from Evangelists of the Evangelist from Apostles may make the truths of Scripture seem of different complexions till one look narrowly into them and taste them advisedly then will the identity both of colour and relish manifest it self § 7. From continuance thus Notwithstanding all the confusions that have happened in the world all the fires that have been kindled the massacres that have been executed and the battels that have been fought against the true Christian Religion the store-house thereof hath continued to this day and these Oracles of God been preserved in spite of hell Solomons philosophical treatises which the world had no spleen against but a liking of are long since lost whereas his Canonical writings are extant still When the earth clave asunder to swallow up Korah his company there are that think some of his children were taken up by the hand of God into the air till the earth closed again then set down without having received any harm because in the titles of sundry Psalms mention is made of the sons of Korah whom Tirinus in Numer 16. notâ ultimâ they suppose then preserved to propagate these whose service the Lord had a purpose to use so long after How often hath persecution opened her mouth from age to age and swallowed up millions both of men and books Yet the bible hath been continued still by the over-ruling hand of heaven yea which maketh it more remarkable God hath so befooled the devil herein as to preserve his own Book many times by the hands of his and its enemies It is too well known how small friends the Jews are and have heretofore been to the truth contained in the old Testament yet of them did the Lord make use to keep it and they proved carefull feoffes in trust for making over the assurances of life to us Gentiles Concerning one book of the New Testament viz. the Apocalypse it is very observable that when the authority thereof was questioned of old the Church of Rome struck in with her testimony and was a special means to have it kept in the number of Canonical books not without a special providence God who made Pharaohs daughter a second mother to Moses whom he had appointed to bring destruction afterwards upon her fathers house and kingdome did then make the Romish Church a drie nurse to preserve this Book whose meaning she knew not that it might bring desolation upon her self and her children afterwards Well may we therefore conclude and say of the holy Bible as Gamaliel once did of the Apostles Acts 5. 38 39. preaching Had this work been of men it would have come to nought longere this but being it is of God the devil and his complices have not been able to overthrow it § 8. Learn we also from that hath been said to magnifie the grace of God who in order to the promoting of our blessedness hath brought us of this nation to the knowledge of Christian Religion for want whereof many millions in other parts still sit in darkness and the shadow of death It was a memorable act of Witekindus Sr H. Spelman in Aspilogia p. 71. one of the Dukes of Saxony who flourished about the nine hundredth year of Christ after his renouncing paganisme and receiving the faith of the gospel he caused the black horse which he had formerly born in his military colours to be laid aside and in stead thereof a white horse to be born in testimony of his triumphant joy for that great change perhaps because among Qui candore cum nive certabant Pompon Laetus the Romanes the manner was to make use of such coloured steeds in their triumphs It put me in minde of what we reade in the sixth of the Revelation verse the second where Christ is described as going out in the ministery of the Gospel which was then newly embraced by that Prince Behold a white horse and he that sat on him had a bowe and a crown was givne unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer Yea whereas there are sundry modes of the Christian Religion we are therefore to have our hearts and mouths filled with the highest praises of God because we have it in the purest that is the Protestant way which allows the people in general a free use of Bibles in their native language In In Hispania in Indice librorum prohibitorum Regulae sexta sic habet Prohibentur Biblia in vulgari lingua cum omnibus suis partibus Azor. Instit moral Tom. 1. lib. 8. cap. 26. pag. 714. Anglia mons pons sons Ecclesia foemina lana sundry parts even of Europe
Micah 7. 18. mercy mercy pleaseth him as much as ever any sin did thee What though thy rebellion hath been long continued The Psalm 103. 17. mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him Yea what though to former guilt thou hast added back-sliding and relapses to rebellion yet remember that in Jeremiah Return Jerem. 〈◊〉 22. ye back-sliding children and I will heal your back-slidings together with that in the last of Hosea where Israel had no sooner said In thee the fatherless findeth mercy but it followeth immediately I will heal Hos 14. 3 4. their back-slidings I will love them freely But lest any should surfet on these sweet meats take we heed § 5. Secondly Of abusing mercy by presumption Mercie improved openeth to us the surest refuge Mercy abused brings upon us the sorest vengeance It would be considered that there is one kinde of presumers whom mercy it self is resolved to have no mercy on so long as they continue such to wit those that dare expect it notwithstanding their resolution to go on in their impenitence and ignorance of God For thus saith the God of heaven concerning him Who blesseth himself in his heart saying I Deut. 29. 19 20 21. shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst The Lord will not spare him but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man and the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven and shall separate him unto evil And again It is a people of no Isa 27. 11. understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour Such shall at length finde to their costs that the Justice of God as well as his Mercy endures for ever And that as nothing is more calm then a smooth more raging then a tempestuous sea nothing more cold then lead when it is taken out of the mine nor more scalding when it is heated nothing blunter then iron yet when it is whetted nothing more sharp So none more mercifull then God but if his patience be turned to fury by our provocations none more terrible Because I have purged thee saith the Lord and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee I the Lord have spoken Ezâ—k 24. 13 14. it and I will do it I will not go back neither will I spare neither will I repent c. Wo and again wo to them all against whom mercy it self shall rise up in judgement Look as the power of God though infinite receives limitations from his will He could have made millions of worlds would make but one In like manner his infinite mercy is also limited by his will and his word the interpreter of his will plainly telleth us that as Physicians begin with preparatives so he begets fear in their hearts whom he intendeth mercy to Look as a father pittieth his his children so the Lord pittieth them that Psal 103. 13 17 18. fear him The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him to such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them Not they that presume but that fear not such as break but as keep his Covenant not those that forget but that remember his Commandments to do them or at least whose earnest desires and endeavours are that way bent may expect and shall Exerc. 2. receive mercy from him They shall finde by sweet experience the infallible truth of what Mr Peacock once said Mr R. Boltons Instructions pag. 87. upon his recovery out of a deep and long desertion viz. That the sea is not more full of water nor the sun of light then the Lord is of mercy EXERCITATION 2. Grace what From it spring Election Redemption Vocation Sanctification and Salvation A Caveat not to receive it in vain It purgeth and cheereth Glosses upon Titus 2. 11 12. and 2 Thess 2. 26 17. The exaltation of free grace exhorted to Long-suffering not exercised towards evil Angels but towards men of all sorts It leadeth to repentance is valued by God and must not be sleighted by us A dreadfull example of goodness despised § 1. A Second branch of Gods goodness is Grace which relates to unworthiness as the former did to misery God is mercifull to the ill-deserving Gratious to the undeserving So far are we from being able to merit so much as the crumbs which fall from his table that even temporal favours are all from grace Noah was preserved in the deluge Why because He found Gen. 6. 8. grace in the eyes of the Lord. Jacob was enriched and had enough How came it to pass Because God said he to Esau Gen. 33. 11. hath dealt graciously with me But beside that common favour which all share in more or less there is a more special grace which the Psalmist prayeth for Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with Psal 106. 5. thy salvation § 2. This third is drawn throughout the whole web of salvation and there is not a round in the ladder to heaven which doth not give every one that steppeth upon it just occasion of crying Grace Grace Did the Lord elect thee to life and glory when so many were passed by What reason can be given of this but free grace Paul styleth it the election of grace in his Rom. 11. 5. epistle to the Romanes and telleth his Ephesians that God had chosen them in Ephes 1. 4 5 6. Christ before the foundation of the world according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glorie of his Ibid. vers 7. grace Hast thou obtained redemption through the bloud of Jesus That also saith he there flows from the riches of his grace Hath the Lord effectually called thee Bow down thine head and adore free grace as the cause thereof For he saveth and calleth us 2 Tim. 1. 9. saith the same holy Apostle with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace So in the Acts when a great number beleeved and were turned to Christianity Barnabas saw the grace of Act. 11. 21. 23. God shining forth in their conversion Hast thou received any abilities tending either to thine own sanctification or to the edification of others Do the like upon this occasion too as Paul did saying By the grace of God I am what 1 Cor. 15. 10 I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly then they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me In a word dost
common souldier The vast Ocean overfloweth both the lowest sands and the highest rocks that of Gods pardoning grace removeth both the smaller prevarications and the grosser abominations of all such as are truly penitent beleevers VI. Blotting them out as in Davids petition Have mercy upon me O God according Psal 5. 1. to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Wherein he alludeth to the custome of Creditours who use to set down what every one oweth and when debts are either forgiven or paid to blot them out Our sins are called debts in the Lords Prayer Christ as our surety hath given satisfaction to divine Justice for them When this is once apprehended and applied by a lively faith God issueth out a pardon drawing as it were the lines of Christs Cross over the lines of his debt-debt-book so as he may still see the sum we were indebted in but sees it cancelled never to be exacted more § 5. Be we then advertised from hence in the first place to acknowledge the singular goodness of God to us in this particular of forgiving our iniquity transgression and sin David in the place last cited speaketh of it as a special evidence of loving kindness and tender mercies The Apostles Creed having premised the articles concerning Christ by whom all blessings were procured for the Catholick Church when it comes to recite them nameth forgiveness of sins in the first place as the choisest priviledge on this side heaven And in that compendious prayer which our Saviour taught us there is a remarkable connexion of two petitions by a conjunctive particle not to be found in any of the former Give us this day our dayly bread And forgive us our trespasses To shew that as our dayly sins make us unworthy of dayly bread so there is no sweetness in them till the other be pardoned Bread and all other outward mercies a man may receive from an angry God pardon of sin never cometh but from favour and special love yea riches of grace as Paul expresseth it speaking of Christ In whom we have redemption Ephes 1. 7. through his bloud the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace § 6. In the second to beleeve and repent that we may be found in the number of those to whom this choice blessing is imparted Scripture telleth us men must be turned from darkness to Acts 26. 18. light from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Christ Also that God hath exalted him with his right hand to be a Acts 5. 31. Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins Observe the method Repentance first and then forgiveness God doth not bestow his distinguishing favours upon all men promiscuously Pardoning mercy doth indeed come from him with ease he is called a God ready to pardon but Nehem. 9. 17. droppeth not from him at unawares that I may allude to what Seneca said Sinum habet facilem sed non perforatum de benefic of his liberal man He will know whom he bestoweth his forgiveness upon Unbeleeving unrepenting sinners never obtained it faithfull penitents never yet went without it They may perhaps not be so sensible of it in times of temptation and of desertion but to make use of a known distinction whereas there is a double forgiveness one in the high Court of heaven of which the Lord speaketh in his answer to Solomons prayer Then will 1 Chron. 7. 14. I hear from heaven and forgive their sins all authentical pardons are coined there the stamping of them is a part of prerogative royal and it is no less then high treason in the Pope to have his mint of Indulgences going at Rome Another in the Court of conscience spoken of in the epistle to the Hebrews The worshippers once purged should have had no Hebr. 10. 2. more conscience of sins it may safely be asserted that forgiveness is certainly passed in the Court of heaven whensoever Christ is received by faith according to that Be it known unto you that through this man meaning Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that beleeve are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Yet may there for some space of time after this not determinable by any man be wanting a seal upon earth to this pardon and the beleever continue not so fully acquitted in the court of his own conscience as to be assured of forgiveness till the Lord hath taught him by experience to see and acknowledge that assurance of pardon is a free gift of his as well as faith or pardon it self § 7. In the third place To be followers Ephes 5. 1. and 4. 32. of God as dear children tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us We should First Forgive one another The equity and necessity whereof are both exceedingly pressed by our Saviour to the end we might not look at it either as unreasonable or as arbitrary The former by his parable in the eighteenth of Matthew The wrongs we suffer compared to the sins we commit are Matth. 18. from verse 23. to the end but as an hundred pence to ten thousand talents great odds both in number and weight for number ten thousand to one hundred and for weight the one sort are talents the other pence What more equal then that we who have so many talents forgiven us should be ready to forgive so few pence The latter in an express declaration annexed to the Lords prayer If ye forgive men their trespasses your Matth. 6. 14 15. heavenly Father will also forgive you But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses Whence it followeth that persons addicted to revenge so oft as they repeat that petition Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us do in effect make a dreadfull imprecation against themselves and fetch down a curse from heaven in stead of a blessing For he that saith with his tongue Lord I pray thee forgive me as I forgive others but meanwhile saith in his heart I cannot I will not forgive such an one doth he not by consequence say to God Forgive not me doth he not pronounce himself unworthy of pardon and in effect subscribe to the sentence of his own condemnation Yet alas how common a sin is revenge As the heart in the natural body is the first member that liveth and the last that dies so revenge in the heart is a lust that soonest appeareth in children and is often longest ere it be healed in the regenerate Molanus telleth us that the Christians Augustiâ—i seculo ad vocem Nobis quilibet Christianus pectus suum tundebat Jo.
thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and unto thy seed after thee Why may not this God be trusted with thy children too Sure I am he should Tell me Who provided for them before they were born Who put care and tender affections into their mothers heart milk into their nurses breasts Did not God Is not he that made provision for them all before they came into this world and hath comfortably maintained them ever since fit to be trusted with them still though thou beest gathered to thy fathers and seest Corruption Doubtless he is § 7. The better to help us in the performance of so important a duty as this take along with us the following directions I. Get and keep assurance of a peculiar interest in the love and favour of God in Christ We neither trust known enemies nor doubtfull friends with what we account pretious They that know God to be their enemy they that doubt whether he be their friend or no cannot with confidence cast their whole care upon him But he that can groundedly say with David I am thine may go on as he doth Lord save me He that Psal 119. 94. can say with assurance of faith The Lord is my shephard may confidently Psal 23. 1. add I shall not want The spouse may go leaning upon her beloved with all her Cant. 6. 3. 7. 10. 8. 5. weight when she hath first been enabled to say My beloved is mine and I am his I am my beloveds and his desire is towards me II. Continue in well-doing Let them that suffer according to the will of God saith S. Peter commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithfull Creatour Look how much care a man hath to please God so much confidence may he have to cast all his care upon him Whilest the people of Israel went up to the place of Gods publick worship all the males that were of age thrice in a year leaving none but women and children at home so giving the enemy fair oportunity for invasion God undertakes they shall not so much as desire or think of such a thing Neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before Exod. 34. 23 24. the Lord thy God thrice in the year III. Treasure up the promises chiefly such as are made on purpose to assure us of Gods caring for us that in particular Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with Heb. 13. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Where there is in the Original an accumulation of many negatives to make the assertion as strong as may be it is as much as if he had said I will never in no wise in no case forsake thee We are wont to call the bils and bonds of able men good security The promises of God all-sufficient are certainly so IV. Reflect upon former experiments and let them be encouragements for time to come The Psalmist did so when he said I have considered Psal 77. 5 10. the days of old the years of ancient times I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old Some enquire why David when he asked for a sword and Abimelech told him there was none at hand but that of Goliah called for it and said There is none like to that it is 1 Sam. 21. 9. probable he might have found some of better mettal or as good and some perhaps fitter for his strength but yet prefers this above all because of his experiment God had formerly blest him in the use of that § 8. Against the fourth and last proposition of Providence her activity even in sin it may be objected and usually is that this tenet cannot be maintained without making God the Authour of sin which opinion is an abhorrencie to the mindes of all sound Divines I answer so it is and ought to be neither doth that assertion want the attestation of this State Witness a modern but pregnant occurrence yet not generally known and therefore inserted here in perpetuam rei memoriam In the year of our Lord 1645. there was published in London an English book wherein God was expresly made the Author of his peoples sins though not without some limitations The Assembly of Divines then sitting at Westminster took offence at this though some of them being acquainted with the man whose name it bore were ready to say of him as Bucholcerus Habuit cor bonum sed non caput regulatum Sculter Annal. Dâ—c did of Swenckfeldius He had a good heart yet without a well regulated head made complaint of it to both houses of Parliament They both censured the said book to be burnt by the hand of the common hangman and the Assembly of Divines agreed upon a short Declaration Nemine contradicente by way of detestation of that abominable and blasphemous opinion which was also published under that Title July 17. 1645. and in which we meet with these among other expressions That the most vile and blasphemous Assertion whereby God is avowed to be the Authour of sin hath hitherto by the general consent of Christian Teachers and Writers both ancient and modern and those as well Papists as Protestants been not disclaimed onely but even detested and abhorred Our Common adversaries the Papists have hitherto onely calumniously charged the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches with so odious a crime in the mean time confessing that we do in words deny it as well as they themselves now should this book be tolerated might insult over us and publish to the world that in the Church of England it was openly and impudently maintained That God is the Authour of sin then which there is not any one point whereby they labour in their Sermons and popular Orations to cast a greater Odium though most injuriously upon the Reformed Churches We are not for the Reverence or estimation of any mans person to entertain any such opinions as do in the very words of them asperse the honour and holiness of God and are by all the Churches of Christ rejected This premised I now assert positively and considerately yet without obliging my self to make good every phrase that hath fallen unadvisedly from the pen of every wâ—ter that what Protestant Churches say in their publick Confessions and allowed Protestant writers in their books concerning Gods having a natural influence into the sinfull acts of creatures but without a moral influence into the sinfulness of their acts his inflicting hardness of heart as a punishment to former sins his directing and ordering great sins to great good as Joseph's vendition to the Churches preservation yea the crucifixion of Christ to the salvation of the Elect do neither really nor in due construction amount to the making of God the Author of sin To what hath been elsewhere further said of this copious argument I refer the capable reader to my Tactica Sacra Lib. 1. Cap. 1. § 5. ibidem cap. 6. § 4. FINIS
word of Christ Coloss 3. 16. dwell in you richly in all wisdome yea as Christ to his hearers Search the Scriptures Joh. 5. 39. Other books may render men learned to ostentation none but these can make them really wise to salvation Philosophical speculations quaint notions and strains of wit if compared w th these oracles are but as so many spiders webs to catch flies fitter for the taking of phansies then the saving of souls § 5. IV. Those were exceedingly prized by such as enjoyed them as the great advantage of their States and the great donative of their Gods who were thought to gratifie their worshippers by nothing more then by oracular discoveries These are certainly the highest priviledges wherewith a people can be gratified witness that discourse of Paul in the beginning of his third chapter to the Romanes where he handles and decides the controversie between Religionum vincula sunt arctissima Religionum odia sunt acerbissima Reddimus obstoenae convitia debita genli Quae genitale caput propudiosa metit Septima quaeque dies turpi damnata veterno Tanquam lassati mollis imago Dei Rutil Itiner lib. 1. Jew and Gentile about precedencie Consent in Religion is wont to tie the fastest knots of mutual accord but there are no greater animosities then those that arise from diversity of professions The Jews of old abhorred the Gentiles as uncircumcised ignorant Idolaters the Gentiles on the other side derided the Jews for their circumcision as savouring of obscenity for their sabbaths as favouring idleness Paul who was by birth a Jew by office a teacher of the Gentiles well knew what fewds and also what odds there were between them yet equally involves them in the guilt of original sin throughout the whole second chapter And because the Jew who stood upon his points esteeming himself every way the better man would be ready to take offence at this and to say as it is in the first verse of the third chapter What advantage then hath the Jews or what profit is there of circumcision The Apostle answereth by way of concession and though he hold his conclusion firm which is that both Jews and Gentiles considered in their naturals are all under sin and that in this Rom. 3. 9. 22. respect there is no difference yet he readily granteth that in some regards the Jews far excelled the rest of the world Divers of their priviledges are insinuated in the former part of the second verse Much every way in the latter one instanced in as most considerable Chiefly because unto them were committed the Oracles of God § 6. V. Those were preserved with much solicitude History telleth us how great care the Romanes took for Vid. Molinaei Vates lib. 3. cap. 12. the safe custody of the Sibylline oracles in their Capitol after Tarquin had bought them when the Capitol was burnt and those books in it what means were used to get other copies out of Greece and how a Colledge of Priests was appointed to keep them safe These do surely deserve as much and more care in every suitable possible way The antient Jews preserved the letter of Scripture entire but lost the sense as the Papists now keep the text but let go the truth A good Christian will not be backward in giving all diligence to hold-fast both by laying the Scripture up in his judgement conscience and memory We are all desirous to have fair and well-printed Bibles Beleeve it the fairest impression of the Bible is to have it well printed on the readers Acts Monum vol. 3. edition last p. 705. heart Mr Fox telleth us of one Crow a sea-man who being shipwrackt lost all his wares and also cast five pounds in money into the sea but kept his New Testament hanging still about his neck so swimming upon a broken mast till after four days all the rest of his company being drowned he was discovered and taken up in that posture alive The onely way of preserving souls from being drowned in eternal perdition is having the grace and truth of Scripture so bound upon the heart as to be willing to part with money or any thing else for the safety of them It is well worthy of our best consideration how much and how often Solomon in the proverbs presseth this It is known how carefull the most are to get and keep silver and gold but Receive Prov. 8. 10. my instruction saith Wisdome there and not silver and knowledge rather then choice gold Yet as well as men love money they will rather let go that then lose their members whereof none are more dear then the apple of the eye My son saith Chap. 7. 1 2. he keep my words and lay up my commandments with thee keep my commandements and live and my law as the apple of thine eye Yet skin for skin and all a man hath will he give for his life if the loss of a member or two will save that they shall go His advice to his son is Take fast hold of Chap. 4. 13. instruction let her not go keep her for she is thy life Yet the martyrs parted even with their lives to save their souls our keeping of these is really as of great concernment as the keeping of our very souls for so saith Solomon He that Chap. 19. 16 keepeth the cōmandment keepeth his own soul EXERCITATION 4. How Scripture-Oracles far excell those of the heathen in point of perspicuity of piety of veracity of duration and of authority The divine authority of Scripture asserted by two arguments An inference from the whole Aphorisme § 1. HAving shewed wherein they Exerc. 4. agree I am now to make known wherein these Scripture-Oracles differ from and excell those other viz. I. In point of perspicuity Apollo's oracles were delivered in so dark and ambiguous terms as gave the Grecians though they were his chief worshippers occasion to style him by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he seldome answered directly in doubtfull cases but Euseb praeparat Evangelic lib. 4. used such a form of words as might be diversly interpreted to the end his credit might be salved whatever event the business had about which he was consulted with Whereas Scripture is so framed as to deliver all things necessary to salvation in a clear and perspicuous way There are indeed some Pascimur apertis exercemur obscuris illic fames pellitur hic fastidium August obscure passages in it to exercise our understandings and prevent our lothing of overmuch plainness and simplicity yet whatsoever is needfull for us to satisfie hunger and nourish our souls to life eternal is so exprest I do not say that it may be understood but so as men that do not wilfully shut their eyes against the light cannot possibly but understand it § 2. II. In point of piety The heathen were put upon many ungodly practises Plutarch in Publicols Livius lib.