teach Themselves Rom. 2 from 17 ver to 21. And in Rom. 3. where they are Ranked together he proves them to be All under Sin None Righteous None that understandeth None that seeketh after God None that doth good No not One Yea This depravement of Nature was so deep and indelibly fixed That the Lord Himselfe tells them The Blackmoor might as soon change his skin as they learn to do well All which with abundantly more be speaks a condition extreamly remote from yielding a Cause of this blessed Election IV. If God's love to Men had its Rise and Beginning from their love to Him it would not have that singular eminency in it Joh. 3. 16. that is justly ascribed to it So God lâ—ved the World So as not to be exprest So as not to be paralel'd So as not to be understood until we come to that State wherein we shall know as we are known By this it is 1 Cor. 13. 12. that God's love to Men is so highly celebrated in 1 Joh. 4. 10 Herein is love Not that we loved God but that God loved us And Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed up on us 1 Joh. 3. 1. Which surely then is not after the manner of Men Matth. 6. 46. For even Publicans do so Luke 6 32 35. and Sinners love those that love them But to love Enemies and whiles Enemies as to love a Woman a Wife that is an Adulteress this is according to God's love to His Chosen But Notwithstanding these Scriptures with others seem purposely written to obviate such conceptions as would feign our loving of God to be the ground and Motive of His love to us Yet great endeavours there are to Father Election upon foreseen faith and works which That They call the Covenant of Grace has they Say qualified and capacitated all Men for and which certain more pliant ingenuous and industrious persons as they speak would attain unto by the helps they have in common with other Men But this pedigree of Election is excepted against as being not rightly deduced For 1. Men having in Adam devested themselves of all that was holy and good the Lord could not foresee in them any thing of Worth or Desirableness but what Himself should work in them Anew and that of pure Grace and favour For sin and deformity could not be motives of love And that the Elect of themselves were in no wise better than other Men is evident by the Scriptures late-quoted where the Holy Ghost asserting the universal depravement of humane nature exâ—empts not one But if such excellent and distinguishing qualifications as Faith and Holiness had been foreseen and so imputable to them the Spirit of Truth would not have Rank'd them Even with the Children of wrath as He doth Eph. 2. 3. But 2. If they were otherwise what could they add unto God Job 37. 24. Ch. 35 7. Ch. 41. 11. Or whereby could they oblige Him He respecteth not any that are wise of heart If thou be Righteous what givest thou Him And who hath prevented Me says the Lord that I should repay him i. e. Who is he that is a fore hand with God Deut. 10. 17. in doing ought that might induce His favour He regardeth not Persons nor taketh Rewards He is not propitious to any for what they can do for Him or bring to Him Take Paul for an Instance He walked up to the light he had Was blameless lived in all good Conscience knew no evil by himself a rare degree of legal Righteousness But that it was not this moved God to make him a Chosen Vessel he thankfully acknowledgeth with self-abasement upon every occasion Tit. 3. 5. Tin 1. 14. 15. 2. Tim. 1. 9. 3. Faith follows Election God respects the person before his offering you 'l say perhaps Abel was respected as a Believer and his offering for his Faith True But that Faith of his was not the primary cause of God's respecting him If Abels Person had not been respected first he had never been a Believer For Faith is the work and gift of God and according to the course of all judicious Agents he that will work must first pitch on the Subject He will work upon and he that gives on the person he will give unto Heb. 11. 6. Besides Rom. 14. 23. Abel could do nothing before he Believed that might move God to give him Faith therefore it could not be Abel's foreseen Faith that was the Cause of his Election The Scripture speaks often of iron-sinew'd-Necks and Brazen Brows and of Men's being in their blood when the Lord said They should live As also that God loved Jacob before he had done any good thing and that the Saints love God because He loved them first But no-where of Foreseen Faith and Holiness as the Cause and Ground of God's love to Men. 4. Faith and Holiness are Middle things They are neither the Foundation nor Top-stone of Election They are to Sovereign Grace as Stalks and Branches are to a Root by which the Root conveyes its virtues into its principal fruit Ephes 2. 8 By Grace ye are saved through Faith 2. Thes 2. 13 Chosen to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth They are no more the Cause of Election than the Means of an End are the first Cause of Purpose Nay no more than Tatnai's propension to build the Temple and to provide Sacrifices for the God of Heaven was the Cause of Darius his Decree that those things should be done Ezra 5. and 6. Chapters 5. If men be Predestinate to Faith and Holiness as they are according to Rom. 8. 38 â—9 and 1. Pet. 1. 2. Then they were not seen to be such before their Predestination Or if they were then their Election as to that particular would seem impertinent There can no Rational account be given why Men foreseen to be such should be so solemnly predestinate thereto So likewise If Salvation be the inseparable product of Faith and Holiness according to John 5. 24 He that believeth hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation 1. Pet. 1. 9. Receiving the End of your Faith the Salvation of your Souls Then to ordain to Salvation those foreseen to be so qualified would seem a thing both needless and insignificant It would look like the sending of Men where they would have gon of Themselves Such sapless irregular and injudicious Notions are very unworthy that Celebrious and for ever Adorable Act of Predestination And if duely weighed would set us further off from the doctrine of Self-advancement which stands in so point-blank opposition to the Doctrine of God's Grace V. Arg. 5. It could not stand with the wisdom and Goodness of God to found the Salvation of His People on a failable bottom Which it must be said to be if dependent on any thing besides His own Immutable Will For whatever it was that Election had being from
Persecutor in the Company Paul was a Chosen Vessel And this in brief was the Reason of it as you have it recorded in Acts 22. 14 The God of our Fathers hath chosen thee That thou shouldest know His will The Jews had many Means of knowing the Messiah and Inducements to believe in him which the Gentiles had not And yet These embrace the Gospel whiles the Jews Reject it Those who sought after Righteousness fell short of it Rom. 10. 20. when Those who sought it not attain'd it For the bottom-Reason of which different Dispensation We are referr'd to Election Rom. 11. 7 The Election hath obtained and the Rest were blinded How variously are several Men affected in hearing the same word The Sheep and the Rest have both the same Outward means One Neglects it attends not at all or Regards not what he hears A second quarrels it as the Jews often did A Third is perswaded almost as Agrippa was and those that would hear Paul agen of that Matter A Fourth is Pricked in the heart and called effectually It 's a stumbling-block to some Foolishness to Others And to some 't is the Power of God Acts 2. 39. And these some are such as were Elected of Those to whom the Promise was made and are therefore termed The Called according to His Purpose Rom. 8. 28. Rom. 8. And agen in 2 Tim. 1. 9 They are said to be Called according to His own Purpose and Grace which was given them in Christ before the World began They are first Chosen Ps 65. 4. and then Caused to approach unto God There is almost no end of Scriptures to this purpose I shall instance one more so close up this Particular All the blessings which the Saints are blessed with in time are all bestowed according to God's Decree of Election before time as is manifest from Eph. 1. ver 3 4 5. Where I observe 1. That Election goes afore the Actual Donation of Spiritual blessings 2 Tim. 19. For These are given in time That was afore time And That which comes After cannot be the Cause of That which went Afore it One Effect may be the Cause of another but not the Cause of That which caused it self 2. That the Actual Donation of Spiritual blessings is according to Election i. e. Election is the Rule by which the Dispensation is guided It is Adequate with Election and Answerable thereto even as the Impression is to the Printing-Types Or as the fashion of Davids body to the platform thereof in God's book and the Tabernacle to the patern shewn in the Mount According to which all things were made as well in respect of Number Weight and Measure as Form and Figure Spiritual blessings are not given to One More or Fewer or in other manner but just as Election hath laid it forth Which also is further confirm'd by Rev. 21. 27 Where we finde That None are admitted into the Holy City but whose Names were written in the book of life And Whosoever was not found written in that book was cast into the lake of fire chap. 20. 15. Which shews That at the latter day Acts 13. 48. it will be taken for granted That as many as were ordained to Eternal life believed And that all and every One without the list of Election dyed in Unbelief That the Election obtained Rom. 11. 7. and the Rest were blinded Therefore Faith and Holiness are not the Cause but the Certain effect and inseparable Consequent of Election IV. Our last Enquiry is Of the Way and Manner of God's Dispensing spiritual Blessings And that is Effectually and Freely I. Effectually The Soul is not turned to God by a Twyne-Thread Nor doth the Lord content Himself with Wishing and Woulding that it might be so after the manner of Men who either are Indifferent in the thing Or have not Wherewith to Effect their desires Nor merely by propounding Moving and striving by Moral Suasions Instructions Threatnings and the like which are of little avail with a dark Understanding and fixed enmity which every Natural Man is acted by But by the putting-forth of a Power Invincible A Power that will not be said Nay but what it Wills That it will doe What it undertakes it goesthorow with To doe a thing Effectually is to doe it Perfectly Thorowly Successfully that is So to use and apply the Means that the End designed is surely brought-to-pass And this Notwithstanding all the Weakness Aversness and Repugnancy of the Carnal Mind against it I might produce Instances not-a-few touching God's Effectual Working to bring-about things of lesser Moment How unwilling was Moses to be His Messenger to Pharaoh Exod. 3 4. So opposite to it That when he had no farther plea nor excuse to make chap. 4. v. 13. he carries it Perversly towards the Lord send by the hand of him whom thou shouldest send But having designed him for the Work He leaves him not until He had won him to it ver 18. So Pharaoh resolv'd he would not let the people goe But I will stretch out my hand saies God and he shall let you goe ver 20. Much more will He make His Arm bare for the salvation of His Chosen And it must be so done I. Because otherwise the Elect should be in no better condition than Other men For until conversion Satan hath as fast hold of them as of the Rest Adam's fall was the Devil's Master-peece To bring men into his own condemnation is the Trophee he glories in and being a Prince both proud subtile and Imperious you may not think he will be Baffled or Complimented out of his hold Intreaties Menaces and force of Arguments are of no weight with him He laughs at your strong Reasons and Counts them but rotten wood Mark 5. 4. Jesus I know and His Spirit I know but what are these No this kind goes not forth by consent Nothing will move him but that Power which Heaven and Earth do bow under He that made him and he onely can cause his sword to approach unto him and take the Prey from this Terrible One And for this it was that our Saviour tells the Apostles when he sends them to turn Men from Satan unto God That all power in Heaven and Earth was committed to him Math. 28. 18. And that in this power He will be with them to the end of the World Which was indeed but Needfull For they had surely gon on a sleeveless errand a weak and fruitless design if Christ himself thus impower'd had not gone with them And for the Elect themselves They are of themselves no better disposed to this work than those that Never shall be wrought-upon They are Enemies in their minds Darkness Dead in sins and Children of wrath even as Others And this they are by Nature Their State therefore could never be changed if a Power Invincible and Invincibly Resolved in what It undertakes were not engaged in
Chief and Eminent Elect One The First-born and Prince of the Family and all the Elect besides were given to Him as younger Brethren to be maintain'd upon His Inheritance It is plain to him that reads That the whole of Salvation was laid upon Christ That He bears up the Pillars of it and that all shoulders else had been too weak He is both the means and Center by whom and in whom God will have all things gathered together in One He was made God with us That we might be made One in God as appears by the scope of His Prayer in the 17th of John In Him the Father is well pleased and out of Him there is nothing pleasing to God or good for Men We are therefore said to be Chosen in Him a Eph 1 4. To be Called in Him b Phil. 3 14. To be Created in Him c Eph. 2. 10. To be Preserved in Him d â—ude vâ—r 2. and in Him to be blessed with all spiritual Blessings Blessings in themselves d e. Eph. I. 4. would not be so to us if not in Christ And being in Him all things are turned into blessings to us For now Nothing can come at us but as coming through Him and what ever so comes is Tiâ—ctured by His Divine Excellency and made Propitious to us And hereby it is That the Thing we were Chosen unto is effectually and unfailably Provided for There may divers good Reasons and Ends be assign â—â—d for God's Choosing the Elect in Christ As I. That by bringing in Man's Restauration this way Arg. 1. He might as it were Baffle His great Adversary and Out-shoot him in his own Bow And it well became the Wisdom and Grace of God Thus to do The devil thought by Poisoning the Root to Vitiate and Ruin the whole Stock and Progeny and he fail'd not of His Design The Lord would therefore by putting His Elect into a Head uncapable of Degeneracy Retrieve that Ruin and not only recover them but bring them into a Better Estate than that they had lost He would set up a Man that should be too hard for the Devil and be able both to Destroy Him and Dissolve his Works And He hath accordingly done it In which Method of Man's Recovery is a great Answerableness to the Method of his Ruin And it is a Thing the Lord would have us to mind Rom. 3. 12 21. as appears by the Parallel beforementioned II. That by shewing us His Righteousness in the way and manner of our Recovery Arg. 2. we might the more readily subscribe to His Righteousness in the imputation of Adam's sin For without the sight and knowledge of One we cannot with any heartiness submit to the other Hence Some in their too-bold Arguings against Election have alledged That What Adam did was without their Consent III. If the Elect had not been in Christ Arg. 3. the satisfaction He undertook for Sinners could not have availed them As Adam's sin could not have been ours if not in him So neither the Righteousness of Christ if not in Him Our sins could not have met upon Him nor we have been Iustified and Reconciled by the blood of His Cross If He had not sustain'd our persons and stood in our stead Another's Act cannot be mine either as to Profit or loss if there be not some kind of Oneness between us IV. If not in Christ Arg. 4. we could not have been Sanctified The Lump was sanctified the first fruits Rom. 11. 16. The Wilde-Olive-Nature could not be supprest and changed but by grafting into the True As a Man cannot be Naturally born Without relation to Adam as his Natural head so 't is impossible to be born again or Regenerated without the like relation of Union to Christ as his Spiritual Head There is no being a New Creature without being in Christ 2 Cor. 5. 17. They that are joyned unto the Lord and they only are one Spirit with Him The branch must be in the Vine before its sap can be derived into it He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified must be One There must be a Contact a touching of Him before this virtue can come from Him V. They were Chosen into Christ Arg. 5. That the Salvation they were Chosen unto might be invincibly secured of which this putting them into Christ is a pledge irrevocable Their Vnion with Him is their stability It is That makes them hold out as He Himself did till all is finished Isa 42. 4. He did not fail nor was discouraged so neither shall they and this because he is their Head This makes them victorious over all the power of the enemy Election indeed makes their Salvation sure but it is by this way of Putting them into Christ In whom the heirs of the World to come are preserv'd whiles the World of ungodly are deluged in Perdition Gen. 6. 18. Adam therefore whiles a Common Person and as such could not be said to be in Christ If he had he could not have fallen For Joh. 5. 26. the Father hath given the Son to have life in Himself i. e. to have it as a Root That all in Him might still be supplied from an increated Grace and Power which holds them fast to Himself and so from Withering and falling off It is not Grace received by us that keeps us But that Grace which received us to the Glory of God the Father Rom. 15. 7. which still Communicates a fresh supply Through Jesus Christ Having gone these few steps towards the Compass and extent of Election It concerns us also to know where this broad River hath its Head What Rock it is That this Immense Fabrick is built upon That we may not give the honour of it to another nor indanger our selves by settling on a wrong foundation To shew which is the Scope and Subject of the Sixth particular under this General Head viz. VI. That Election is founded upon Grace Or The good pleasure of God's will is the only Original Cause and Motive of Election As in Men's Genealogies there is no stop until you come up to God the Father of all Luke 3. 23. 38. So is it in the order of Causes relating to Men's Salvation The efficiency of all things that are mediate and subordinate depending on God as First and Sovereign His Willing the futurition of them is the cause of their being and We shall never judge Rightly unless we come up to the Will and Good Pleasure of God as the Sovereign Rule and Law of His Works And this I term The onely Original Cause of Election to shut out Faith foreseen with all the works and worthyness of Men from being any way Causal Influential or Motive thereto and so from sharing in the Glory of God's Grace which He is very jealous of and will not impart to any The Ground or Moving Cause of God's Election is quite different from the manner
does He does it Freely without respect to Mens desert Nay their Vndesert rather is an expedient Consideration in this Act of Grace By Works I understand All that Self-Righteousness Goodness Conformity to the Law Or what ever else is performable by Men. These viz Grace and Works he proves as inconsistent as Contraries can be and that the least Mixture would vary the kind If but a sâ—ruple of Works be taken in Grace is no more Grace For to him that worketh is the Reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt Rom. 4. 4. Grace and Faith are well agreed These both have the same scope and end But Rom. 4. 4. Grace and Works have always Clash'd The setting up of the One is the deposing of the other Either the Ark must Out or Dagon down One Temple cannot hold them both Rom. 3. 28. To the same effect is the drift of that discourse in Gal. 5. It appears from Acts 15. 1. That some there were who taught a Necessity of Circumcision as without which they could not be saved Pretty willing they were to admit of Christ so they might joyn Circumcision with Him and keeping the Law of Moses But this dangerous daubing with things unmixable our holy Apostle could not brook both as reflecting on the honour of his Master and undermining their onely Foundation And therefore to keep them from or bring them off that perillous Quick-sand he tells them expresly These two cannot stand together in that matter For if they be Circumcised they are Debtors to the whole Law and Christ is become of none effect to them because they are fallen from Grace It is as if he had said If you take in any part though never so little of Legal Observances as Necessary to your being Justified ye forfeit the whole benefit of Gospel-Grace The Grace of Christ is sufficient for you He is a Saviour Compleat in Himself and if you look though but a squint at any thing else it is a Renouncing of Him He will be Saviour altogether or not at all And therefore he tells them again and that with a kind of vehemency Gall. 5. 2. That if they be Circumcised Christ shall profit them Nothing And as a Man may not put in his Claim for Justification on accompt of his Works so neither of his Faith as if That were Mâ—terially or Influentially Causal of Justification For Faith it self as it is the Believers Act comes under the Notion of a Work Let us therefore Consider What part it is that Faith holds in this Matter least whiles we cast out Works as not standing with Grace we make a Work of Faith It is Faith's Office to make the Soul live wholly on Another and to Renounce Self ability as much as Self desert To apprehend that Righteousness by which Grace Justifies Not onely to be Justified thereby upon your Believing but to work in you even that Faith by which you apprehend it Isa 45. 24. answerable to that of the Prophet In the Lord have I Righteousness and Strength He that will be Saved must come as an ungodly Person to be justified freely by the Grace of God He must reckon himself an Vngodly Man to the very instant of his Justification True it is The Just shall live by Faith but 't is also true That it is not their own Faith or act of believing that they live by though not without it Which also seems the Apostle's meaning where he sayes The life which I now live I live by the Faith of the Son of God Where note That as Faith is the life of a Believer so Christ is the life of his Faith I live saith he yet not I but Christ liveth in Me Christ was his life and he lived on Christ by virtue of Christ's living in him Notwithstanding all which it is evidently true and must constantly be affirm'd That Grace and Works will still be together in the way of Salvation the one doth not extinguish or exclude the other Only not as Collegues or Joint-Causers thereof But rather as a Workman and his Tooles which himself first makes and then workes with them By Grace ye are saved through Faith Eph. 2. 8. and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Even this believing or Acting faculty is a Creature of Grace's raising up and therefore in the Throne 't is meet that Grace should be above it Works therefore how good soever are not the Cause of Salvation and if so then not the cause of Election for This indeed is the Cause of them both And Works if right and truly Good will alwayes be ready to own their Original and to keep in their own place Where also they will be most considerable and do the best service III. Arg. 3. That the good pleasure of God's Will gives Rise and Foundation to Election is further argued from Men's Incapacity to afford any ground or Motive to God for such a Gift Adam stood not so long as to beget a Son in his first Image It is sâ—en by his first-born Cain what all his natural Sâ—ed would naturally be And though there be some that do Magnifie Man and presume to speak of him at another rate yet evident it is by Scripture-light and experience of those Renewed That Man fallen is poâ—r blind Naked and at enmity with all that is truly good and that he is never more Remote and farr off from God than whiles in high thoughts of himselfe Glorying in his own Understanding Strength Worthyness Freedom of Will Improvement of Common Grace and the like For These make him proud and presumptuous and to have slight thoughts of that special and peculiar Grace by which he must if ever be Renewed and Saved But the Lord Himself who best knows him reports the matter quite otherwise and we know that His witness is true viz. That all the imaginations of their heart are onely evil continually Gen. 6 5. That their inward part is very wickedness Ps 53. 1. That every Man is brutish in his knowledge Jer 10 14 ver 8 21. Altogether brutish and foolish yea even their Pastours that is the very best and most intelligent amongst them Ch 4. 22. Eccles. 91 3. They are wise to do evil but to do good have no understanding And their hearts are full of madness And it was not thus only with the Gentile Nations who were left to walk in their own way but even with the Jews Isa 5. 4. who had all the means of becoming better that could be devised Excepting that of special Electing Grace which took-in but a Remnant They were called Jews Rested in the Law Made their boast of God Knew His Will Approved the things that were excellent Were confident that they were a Guide of the blind and a light to them that were in darkness Instructors of the foolish Teachers of Babes And yet all this while and in the midst of all these high attainments did not
be That for which He would not Pray For the Priest was bound to pray for Those for whom he offered It must then be Another And so it seems there be two Worlds 1 A lesser World which consists of Elect Persons and was taken out of the World Vniversallâ— As the Israelitish Nation was out of the Egyptian Deut. 4. 34. Or as the Christian Church at first was out of the Jewish These our Saviour stiles Joh. 17. 6. v. 9. The Men which His Father gave Him out of the World For These it was that He sanctified Himself And for these He prayed And of These consisteth that World whose Sin He taketh away and for whose Sins even of the whole of it He is the Propitiation These are the Men that shall be counted worthy of the World to come And they are as properly termed a World as that blessed Place and State they shall be in Luke 20. 35. Or as the Dwellers upon earth are denominated a World from the Place of their habitation Ps 9. 8. 2 There is also a World of Vngodly Joh. 15. 19. ch 17. 6. 2 Cor. 4. 4. Rev. 13. 3 4 with v. 8. 1 Joh. 5. 19. from among whom that lesser World are taken and seperated Of whom it is said The Devil is their God And that their Names are not in the Lambs book of life But the whole of it lies in wickedness And This is the World for whom Christ would not vouchsafe to pray Then surely He would not make His Soul an offering for their sins The Reason why all Men are not Saved is not because Christ did not die for all but because they will not Believe Men's Not believing in Christ is not the Onely or first procuring Cause of their Condemnation but their Rebellion and Apostacy from God Albeit the Condemnation of those who reject Christ is greatly aggravated by their Not-receiving Him As One Condemned or Condemnable for an Act of Treason refusing a Pardon His Refusal is indeed the next and immediate cause of his execution and perhaps shall heighten the Rigour of it But his treasonable practise was the first procuring cause of his death which also he should have suffered for if no such pardon had been tendred to him It must always be granted and Maintained That Faith is the one thing necessary on our part in order to our being Saved And as true it is That this Faith adds nothing of virtue or Merit to the Cross of Christ Where Men are said to be Justified or Saved by Faith it is meant of the Object of Faith and not of the Act For the Righteousness of Christ alone is the Matter of our Justification which this Objection seems to deny 2 Christ's Redemption extends to Unbelief For this Purpose was the Son of God Manifested 1 Joh. 3. 8. to destroy the works of the devil Of which Vnbelief is the Chief And He gave Himself to Redeem from all iniquity Tit. 2. 14. And if from All then Unbelief which is the Sum and Sâ—um of all cannot be exempted For Otherwise scil If He had Redeemed from all but this that Redemption would litle avail us It would be as if One should purchase your pardon for pilfering felonies but let the Guilt of your Treasons lye still upon you Or undertake to Cure a Man of his phrensie upon condition he will be Sober What will they do who content themselves with such a Redemption as this 3 Faith it self is a Grace of Christ's own Working It flows from His Fulness Joh. 1. 16. He apprehends us before we do or can apprehend Him The People's Sins under the Law had not been expiated by the Sacrifice without sprinkling the blood And it was not themselves who sprinkled it but the Priest And can we think that Christ shed His Blood for those on whom He will not sprinkle it That He died for Those to whom He will not give a little faith when as without that all that He doth besides will not profit them If any say He would but they will not I ananswer This Will not is their Unbelief which He is to take away by making them Willing A Will to believe is Believing Ps 110 And in the day of His Power they find it And for any to say That a Will to believe is not purchased by Christ Heb. 9. 12. 14. is a great derogation from the virtue and Merit of His sufferings This is further Argued where the Office of Christ in order to Effectual Calling is treated of Inferences From what hath been proved in behalf of Redemption as peculiar to the Elect I infer I. The important necessity of Trying the Spirits Infer 1. and the Doctrines they bring whether they be of God A plaâ—sible outside and fair shew in the flesh are no Argument of Truth in the bottom Takingness with Nature should Render things suspitious to us rather than approved Our best rule of Judgement in this case is that of our Saviour The Tree is known by its fruits And if by this we measure the general point it will be found wanting in what it pretends to and not-a-little Reprovable 1. In stead of Magnifying the Grace of Christ and Merit of His sufferings it does in effect Nullifie both It makes Redemption general as to Persons but not as to Things That is it Redeems the whole of Mankind from part of their bondage but no part of them from the whole of it Or upon such a Condition as no Man in nature is able to perform which sure is too defective to be the Devise of Sovereign Wisdome and Grace That cannot be call'd An Universal Remedy that suffers it self to be Worsted by the disease I doubt not at all That the blood of the Son of God in our Nature is of infinite Merit but withall that is of like Infinite Virtue and Efficacy and will for ever operate accordingly But if the success and saving effects thereof should depend upon something to be done by Men which Redemption it self doth not Invest them with then will Men come in for a share with Christ in the glory of their Salvation yea in this case any addition of humane ability annihilates the Grace of Christ Gal. 5. 2. Whereas to depend upon Christ for Sanctifiction as well as Righteousness To expect from Him a Power to Repent and Believe as well as Acceptance upon your believing gives Him His true honour as intit'ling Him to the whole of your Salvation which is indeed His proper Due and due to Him alone And this may be a main Reason why Men professing the Name of Christ are so generally strangers to Faith and Holiness They do not seek it at the hands of Christ as a part of His purchase according to John 5. 40. 2. In stead of laying a foundation for Faith and an help to believing the General Doctrine nuzzles the Soul in its unbelief upon a presumption of Power in himself to believe
of thy self in carrying-on the work afterwards All our Sufficiency is of God Even all the Strivings of the Saints are according to the Workings of God in them Gal. 2. 8. Col. 1. 29. 'T is true indeed That a good Tree will bring-forth good fruit but not without Sun Ayr Dew and other Heavenly influences For if separate from these the Tree it self will dye So without a continual Communication of virtue from Above Cant. 4. 16. the New Creature can neither Act nor live Depend therefore on that Radical Grace i. e. On the God of all Grace for Preserving and Actuating the Grace He hath given you Gal. 4. 9. Rest not in this That you know God but rather That you are known of God I shall close this head as John the Apostle doth his first Epistle where having asserted the Divinity of Christ he presently subjoyns Little Children keep your selves from Idols So say we 1 Joh. 5. 21. of Electing love which was indeed the Root and Cause of Christ Himself as a Mediatour What-ever you lean-upon besides and without respect to That you make an Idol of it OF Perseverance OR The certain and effectual Progress of Election FOR the firmer support and comfort of Believers notwithstanding the present weakness of their Faith As also to allure and bring-in Others who are hankering about the door or yet in the high-wayes and hedges It hath pleased the Holy and only Wise God to indulge us with plain and positive assurance of the certain continuance and going-on of All who have once believed and received the Grace of God in truth Albeit that many concern'd in this assurance attain not to it That Faith and Holiness do inseperably follow Election is shewn afore Our business now is to shew that Faith and Holiness are of an abiding nature and shall never be lost And this is that we call PERSEVERANCE Which being the Crown and Glory of all the former Points and that as secures to us the comforts arising thence being also as much impugned as any of Those the proof and confirmation thereof is apparently necessary and tending to profit And I trust it shall not onely appear that the Doctrine is True but also replete with Arguments promotive of Holiness by which the contrary opinion will best be contradicted For so it is in the Wisdom of God that every Truth has that in it as properly tends to its own defense and establishment It 's the property of Men truly wise to enterprise onely attainable things and things worthy their wisdom as also so to frame and module the means as not to miss their intent Much more must it become and be incumbent upon Him who is Wisdom it self so to do If then the Ultimate End of all things be the Glory of God and the second great End the Salvation of His Chosen It may well be concluded that the properest means for attainment are pitched upon and those such as will compass his End Hence also we may be satisfied that all intermediate Occurrences However improper in their own nature and casual to us were all fore-appointed of God and that by a Decree most wise and fixed and consequently are and shall be so dispensed as not to hinder but help-on and bring-about the thing principally design'd which therefore shall not cannot miscarry nor be finally disturbed However therefore 2 Cor. 2. 17. Men of corrupt minds may stumble at the Word Change the Truth of God into a lye and turn his Grace into lasciviousness and some others not of design but by mistake and unacquaintedness with the true state of the Question may disapprove and object against it Yet may not the Truth be discarded nor its friends be shy to Own it But strive the more industriously by their Sobriety Meekness Holiness and all good fruits to make the World know that To the Pure all things are pure whiles to other Men through the impurity of their own spirits all things are defiled and turned into sin And in particular that the Doctrine of God's unchangeable love to his Chosen and their Endless abiding therein is no way an inleâ—â— or Encouragement to sin or Remissness in Duty but is indeed the powerfullest strengthner against Apostacy and most effectual quickner to Gospel obedience As touching this Doctrine the substance of what I intend is reduced into this Proposition viz. That all and every one of God's Elect Prop. being once Regenerate and Believing are and shall invincibly be carried on to the perfect obtainment of Blessedness and Glory Towards the Evidenceing of this Truth 1. let us take-in things of a lower consideration than that of Eternal Salvation and see how those persons formerly instanced being destined of God to eminent service in the World were carried thorow and that completely to the end of their work Notwithstanding the greatest difficulties and natural impossibilities that stood in their way to impede it By which will appear the sure effect of God's Purposes even in the midst of all intervenient Obstructions and will contribute not a little to illustrate the Truth in hand 1. I begin with Abraham's seed In Gen. 12. 7. The land of Canaan is given them by Promise Isaac in whom this Seed should be called was not yet born Nor yet untill both his Parents were past age Gen. 18. 11. To help this the Lord bringsback the Sun many degrees makes it a new spring-time with them and gives them Isaac When Isaac was Married his wife proves barren chap. 25. 21. verse 23. After twenty years waiting the Lord in answer to prayer gives her Conception Now two Children they had the Elder of which the Lord rejects and the other to whom the Promise belong'd in danger every day to be killed by his Brother and so the line of the Promise in danger of failing chap. 27. 41. chap. 28. 2. chap. 31. 41. v. 23. and 24. Jacob to save his life flies to Padan-Aram there Laban deals hardly with him and when he made homewards follows him with evil intent But the Lord in a dream takes him off No sooner is he escap'd from him chap. 32. 6. but Esau comes against him with four hundred Men full bent to revenge the old grudge The Lord turns his heart in a moment chap. 33. 4. v. 12. and melts him into brotherly affection that instead of destroying Jacob he proffers himself to be his Guard and Convoy When Simeon and Levi had so highly provoked the Canaanites chap. 34. 25. chap. 35. 5. that it was a Thousand to One but they would come and cut off Jacob's family at once the Lord causes a terrour to fall upon them that they do not so much as look after them When a seven years Famine was coming on the land ch 37. 28. with chap. 41. 54. likely enough to eat up poor Jacob and his house the Lord by a strange Providence sends an Harbinger to make provision for
His Soul an Offering for sin He should see His seed Or it may be intended of both 2 The Righteousness of Christ is concerned in it two ways 1 As the Meriting or procuring Cause thereof and so this Faith belongs of Right to every one He died for according to Phil. 1. 29. Or 2 As He is that faithful Servant who gives to every One according as He hath received of the Father for them In all which respects it evidently flows from Election To confirm which he says expresly in his former Epistle That they were Elected unto Obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 2. So in the 1 to the Ephes The Mystery of His Will is said to be Made known to them Eph. 1. 9. According to His good pleasure which He had purposed in Himself The same Intendment we have in the Corinths The preaching of the Gospel is to them that perish 1 Cor. 1. 18. foolishness but to Vs who are Saved it is the Power of God And in Timothy Who hath Saved us and Called us with an Holy Calling In both places Saving is put afore Calling and then it must be afore Faith And how Men are Saved before they Believe unless by Election or Redemption which is commensurate with Election doth not appear to us To this purpose 't is further Observable that in Rom. 8. the Apostle sets Predestination afore Calling as in Timothy and the Corinths he doth Saving And in Rom. 9. He puts Calling in a tense subsequent to Election or Preparing unto Glory Ro. 9. 23 24. The Apostle Jude his sentence also accords with it He directs his Epistle To them that are Sanctified by God the Father Jude 1. And Preserved in Jesus Christ and Called Where by Sanctified he means Elected separated or set apart In this sense the word is used elsewhere where it will not admit of any other Exod. 31. 13 I am the Lord that doth Sanctifie you And more plainly in Numb 8. 17 All the First-born of the Children of Israel are Mine On the day that I smote every First-born in the Land of Egypt I Sanctified them for my self Here no other thing but Choosing Selecting or Setting apart can be intended And I see no Reason why it should not be so understood in that of Jude And it is termed an Holy Calling Not only as it Calleth us to Holiness but as it is Sacred Peculiar Set apart and appropriated to an Holy People viz. Those whom the Lord hath set apart for Himself Whose Eternal Sanctifying them in His Decree was the Original Cause of their being Sanctified Actually He loved them with an Everlasting love and therefore with loving kindness doth He draw them Jer. 31. 3. And this their Actual Sanctification is so indubitable a Consequent of the Decretive and so Appropriate to the same persons that the same word is used for both as it is also for Redemption For their sakes says Christ I Sanctify my Self Joh. 17. 19. A lightsom Instance of this we have in Numb 11. 26. Eldad and Medad though they came not up to the Tabernacle with their Brethren yet being of them that were Written the Spirit came-upon them and they Propheâ—ied in the Camp Election finds out Men when they think not of it So the Lord first Determines Jeremy to his Office Jer. 1. 9â— Then puts-forth His hand and fits him for his Work Even Christ Himself was first appointed to His Mediatory Office Isa 61. 1. And then the Spirit came upon Him because so appointed Quer. In the 1 John 16. it is said That to them which Received Him He gave power to bâ—come the Sons of God which seems to put their believing before their Sonship Sol. Albeit that Faith goes afore the Manifestation of our Sonship yet not afore our Sonship it self The Adoption of Sons is That we were Predestinated-to before the foundation of the World Eph. 1. 4 and 5. That therefore in John must be understood with that of Moses when he pleads with God for His presence with His People So shall we be separated from all the People that are on the face of the Earth Not Exod. 33. 13. that this Separation was Now to be made It was done afore Deut. 7. 6. Levit. 20. 24. But his meaning is That by the Lord 's going with them this their Separation should be Manifested The same sense of the word ye have in Matthew 5 Matth. 5. 44. Love your Enemies Bless them that Curse you That ye may be that is that ye may appear to be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven v. 45. In like Manner We become the Sons of God by Faith Gall. 3. 26. The budding of Aaron's Rod was not the Cause of God's Choosing him to the Priesthood Numb 17. 5. Acts 1. 24 26. Nor the falling of the Lot upon Saul and afterwards upon Matthias the Reason Why God designed them the One to the Kingdom and the other to the Apostleship They were both appointed before and those Events were but the Effects of that their fore-appointment and Evidences of it So the Giving of the Spirit is that which follows Election Because Sons Gall. 4. 6. God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts Although the Manifestation of our Adoption and our actual enjoyment of its privileges Eph. 1. 4 5 9 11 are in time yet the Thing it self is from Everlasting Pursuant to this our Saviour manifests the Father's name to the Men He had given Him out of the World Joh. 17. 6 8. ch 10. 26 27. And These receive it The Sheep hear his voice and follow Him Of others he saith expresly Ye believe not because ye are not of my Sheep ch 8. 47. He that is of God heareth God's word ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God The same Reason He gives for His different Ministration towards His own Mat. 13. 11. and Others To the One it was given to know the Mysteries of the kingdome of God To the other it was not given And therefore having ended His parables He dismisses the Multitude as having noe more for them but to His Disciples He expoundeth every thing in private and ye see He puts it upon Election as that which had invested them with this prerogative above the Rest To you it is given i. e. It belong'd to them by God's Donation and appointment They are first Saints by Election Then Saints by Calling When Christ appeared to Paul going to Damascus they that were with Him were all in a Maze A voyce they heard but knew not what it spake Why so since they were as likely to yield as he Truly it was not intended for them and therefore their Ears were not boared Nor the speech directed to them but to Paul and to Paul by Name But why to Paul above the Rest since he was the Ringleader and Chief
And therefore as sayes the Apostle We are alwaies confident That when absent from the Body we shall be present with the Lord ver 6 8. This is also further confirm'd by that compendious Promise Jer. 31. 33. I will be their God and they shall be my People Every word here hath a peculiar emphasis 1. That He will be a God to them 2. Their God and 3. for ever This I will imports both a fix'd Resolution Time without limit It is as if He had said Though other lords have had the Rule over you and you have still a Proneness to Revolt to them It shall not be I will not be Outed any more I 'l heal your backslidings and be your God still I 'l carry it towards you and for you as becomes a God to doe and I will make you such a People as becometh God to own I will not be ashamed to be called your God Heb. 11. 16. It would indeed be both a disparagement and dissatisfaction to God if His People should fail of that He made them for which certainly cannot be because God is theirs and if God be theirs all things are theirs both this World and that to come 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Lastly Arg. VII For the final Perseverance of Believers a Principal Argument is fetch'd from the Sovereign Decree of Election I call it Sovereign partly Because it is the highest Manifestation of God's absolute Dominion over His Creatures in Choosing whom He would and passing-by the Rest Partly also because all sorts of things what soever are subjected to it and made subservient to its final accompliâ—hment And this I take for a principal Reason why Election is so frequently placed in Eternity or before the Foundation of the World viz To shew That the very Fabrick of the World and all Occurrences therein were so contrived and framed in God's Decree as having Election for their primary scope and End That this first Cause is the Supream Moderator of all intermediate Causes and is it self subject to None It was not any loveliness in Elect persons which moved God to love them at first so neither shall their unlovely backslidings deprive them of it though it may be eclips'd by their own default to the breaking of their bones The Lord Chose them for that blessed Image of His Own which He would afterwards imprint upon them and this He still prosecutes through all dispensations That Elect Nation the Jews They apostatized from God and did worse than any Other yet the Lord would not utterly cast them off In Samuel's time their wickedness was very great yet saith he to stay them from total apostacy The Lord will not forsake you But what is the ground of that his great confidence and grand Warranty The very same that now we are upon The Lord will not forsake you because It hath pleased the Lord to make you His People Not because they remembred their duty and returned to God but because He remembred for them His Covenant In pursuance whereof He long maintained their title Notwithstanding their often-repeated forfeitures and when in Captivity brought them home again And indeed Ezek. 16. 62 63. Nothing so melts the hearts of Those in Covenant with God as the the Lord should be pacified towards them after all their abominations The manner of God's dealings with this people is especially Instructive to help the faith of the spiritual Election upon all occasions as holding-forth the special Regard the Lord hath for them because of His Covenant That tho' He may and will punish their iniquities yet His loving kindnefs He will not take from them Ezek. 36. 11. And He puts it still upon His having once Chosen them as you have it in Jeremy ch 41. 9 I have chosen thee and not cast thee away This later Clause And not cast thee away seems added to shew That His Choosing them was an Act unrepealable q. d. I knew aforehand What thou wouldst Doe and how thou wouldst prove and if I had meant Ever to Cast thee off yea if I had not Resolved against it I would not have Chosen thee at all But since I have Be sure I 'l stand by thee I will strengthen thee I will help thee I will uphold thee with the Right hand of my righteousness It is true The body of that Nation for their unbelief are now broken off There is a suspenfion of the outward part of the Covenant Not that God inteds an Utter Rejection of them Rom. 11. 7. For such as have part in the special Election are alwaies saved And the time will come when All Israel shall be saved Rom. 11. 24. For as touching the Election They are beloved still tho' yet unborn For their sakes it was That the dayes of tribulation were shortened Matth. 24. 22. Which answers to Isa 65. 8. Destroy it not there is a blessing in it The Lord will not so much respect What they have deserved as what His own Covenant is concerning Abraham's Seed Which Minding of His Covenant is from the Vnchange ableness of His Purpose And therefore he saith Rom. 11. 24. They shall be grafted in agen Yea though they be driven into all lands Scattered into Corners Mingled with the Heathen and become so like them as Not to be known asunder yet being His Chosen Ones and within His Covenant He will bring them out of their holes Isa 27. 12. and Gather them One by One i. e. He will do it accurately exactly punctually So as none shall be Wanting Though Sifted among all Nations Amos 9. 9. Not One Grain shall fall to the Earth The Reservation mentioned in Rom. 11. is God's Omnipotent Safe-garding His Elect when the Generality of the Nation fell to Idolatry They would have gon All as well as Some 2 Thes 2. 11 12 13. had not Election held them back as appears by comparing the 4 and 5 verses It is therefore said to be According to the Election of Grace Which intimates That Election was the Patern or Original and Reservation the Copy of it And That this was not a single Case or Restrained to the time that then was is evident from Math. 24 Where our Saviour foretells That the Subtilty of Deceivers and temptations of the time should be such and the Torrent rise to that height and strength That it will be a thing next to Impossible Not to be Carried away by it But for the Elect They are safeguarded from it How By the coming-in of the First and Sovereign Cause By the virtue of which the force and influence of all those second Causes shall either be prevented or Romoved Mitigated Inverted Ezek. 9. 6. shortened or Over-ruled and the faith of his Sealed Ones so Confirmed Rev. 7. 3. that they shall not be hurt by them Yea and which is more Those very things which are destructive to Others shall work life in Them Deut. 23. 5. This turn'd
blessing you most desire for them But be not Over-solicitous and east down because you see not yet the Marks of Election upon them The Lord doth not indeed bind himself to take all a Believers Children Nor doth He limit Himself from taking any others There is Nothing declared â—ouching His Purpose to Take All the One â—â—est they should from thence take occasion to be Remiss in their Duty which still Conversion is very natural to us nor doth He exclude the Children of others For that â—ight discourage and weaken their hands to that as is good In this various dispensing of His everlasting love He is pleased 〈…〉 His liberty and sovereign Prerogative That 〈◊〉 greatly manifests his love to Believers in so frequent 〈◊〉 Choosing of their Seed And the Freeness of His Grace in Not-rejecting altogether the Seed of Others Inference 3. Thirdly How happy and sovereignly blessed are Those who have an Interest in this Great and Sovereign Lord Which Every One is blessed with that has in truth taken hold of His Covenant For That takes in all between the Two Eternities and Eternity it self withall And the spirits or strength of the Whole lies in those few but very Compendious Words I will be your God When the Lord would comfort His People to purpose and pâ—t on their Eagles wings What a glorious Narrative doth he make of His Power and Sovereign Greatness in Isa 40. from v. 12. to v. 26. And then tells them That all this is Theirs v. 27. And if God be yours All things are yours Who and where is he that can supplant you of His blessing yâ—u may rejoyce in His Highness the thoughts whereof are Matter of terroâ—r to other Men. After the rehearsal of all the happiness and Glory that Men or Angels are capable of it shall all be comprised in this as the Original thereof and summ of the whole Blessed are they whise God the Lord is Psa 144. 15. Inference 4. Fourthly We may see here the Reason Why God doth sometimes defer to Answer the Doubts and Querie's we stick at and most desire to be Resolv'd about It is not only to shew His Sovereignty But to bring our hearts to a submiss and practical acknowledgment of it Moses was very unwilling to go on his Message to Bharaoh Many pretences he had to put it by when as the danger he might be in for killing the Aegyptian was the bottom-Objection though he speaks it not Out Indeed the men who sought his life were now dead Which if the Lord had told him of at first all those excuses had probably been spared But He was pleased to conceal it from him until He had brought him to a full compliance with His Will Exod. 3. 11. with Ch 4. 10 13 19 and then reveals it to Him Vnask'd So likewise He would not take off His hand from Iob until He had well learn'd him this lesson Job 42. 2 6 7. Say not therefore because you hear not from God so soon as you would The Lord hath â—orsaken me My Lord hath forgotten Me But follow that good Resolution recorded in Isaiah I will wait upon the Lord who hâ—deth his face for the present from the House of Jacob Isa 49. 14. and I will look for Him v. 17. Inference 5. Fifthly Let no Man then who will Say The Lord He is God presume to intrench on His Sacred Royalty by seeking a Reason of His Decrees beyond or besides the Good pleasure of His Will Even Sovereigns of dust will not admit it in Subjects though of the same Mould with themselves It is an Imperial Secret The Chief of the wayes of God It belongs to himself alone to know it and the knowledg thereof would not profit us Now. Besides There is enough revealed of great importance to us at present On which to imploy the utmost of our time and strength By Over-grasping we may sprain our hands and unfit them for service which lies within their Compass But we gain Nothing Therefore go not about to fathom this Great Deep Who but one of shallow understanding would think to measure the Sea by handfulls or to give a Demonstrative Reason of its various and convertible Courses Remember That you Magnifie His Work Job 36. 24. but lessen it Not by pretending to Comprehend it Eccles 8. 17. Sanctifie the Lord in your heart and fear before Him Inference 6. Sixthly This gives a Reason why Men of the largest Capacity for Learning and Natural understanding are so mightily Puzzelled and Labyrinth'd in Spiritual Matters particularly The Doctrine of Election Why they do so strongly oppose it and are so hardly Reconcil'd with it They are not in truth subdued to the Doctrine of God's Sovereignty And therefore whiles in discussing those points of Faith they judge as their Natural Optick represents them they lose both themselves and the Truth Which yet in some degree is made known unto Babes Men of low stature to them whose spirits the Lord hath subdued to rest contented with what their Father is pleased to tell them And for the Rest as namely the Manner and Reason of God's Disposements and Dispensations they live by Faith in His Righteousness Waiting for the day that shall Reveal all things when the Tabernacle of God which yet is in Heaven shall be let down among Men or They taken up into it and these hidden things of Sovereignty shall be more openly known amongst them Inference 7. Lastly This Doctrine of God's Absolute Dominion Clears away all that Made-ground and Rubbish which the Principles of Free-Will-Grace do found their Election upon and shews us the only true and Proper foundation of Scripture Election with those other Important Truths which hold upon it or are Consequents of it All which have their Head in the Sovereignty of God and Derived thence as Rivers are from the Sea As through his blessing and Grace may appear afterwards And so I shall close up this first particular with that holy Rapture of the Psalmist Be thou Exalted Lord in thy own strength so will we sing and praise thy Power The Lord hath prepared His Throne in the Heavens and His Kingdom ruleth over all Bless the Lord ye His Angels that Excel in strength Bless the Lord all ye His Hosts ye Ministers of His that do His pleasure Bless the Lord all His works in all places of his Dominion Bless the Lord ô my Soul OF THE RIGHTEOVSNESS of GOD. HAving founded this Discourse on the Sovereignty of God as the best and most natural ground of Satisfaction or captivation to Reason touching Election So now as a means to qualifie our Spirits and Reconcile them with the Doctrine of Sovereignty it seemeth expedient to annex that of His Righteousness and I think there is not a more evident Proposition than That there is no Vnrighteousness with God Prop. This as we are indispensably bound to believe So to be well grounded in the faith of it
will be of exceeding great Usefulness to us in every Condition especially under those darker Administrations which we do not see the Cause and Reason of When Matters of great Import seem to be Confused or Neglected When all things in view fall out alike to All and you cannot know either Good or Evil by all that is afore you I shall therefore Collect some of those Considerations from which you may find light and influence in the dark and cloudy day and by which as a Means I my self was drawn in and guided to this Determination before I had searched the Scriptures expresly concerning this Subject And they may serve both as Arguments to Demonstrate the Proposition and as Antidotes against those poysonous Contradictions which carnal Reason and unbelief will be too often forging and flinging in upon us And The First is founded on that Infinite Blessedness which the Most High God was possessed of in Himself Arg. I. before the World or any Creature was made He did not make them for any Need He had of them Rev. 4. 11. but for His Pleasure And if He needed them not there could be no Need or Reason Why He should make them such Or to such an End as not to be Meetly Over-ruled and their End attained without doing wrong to any The Motives by which Men are induced and swayed to do Wrong are chiefly Two 1. To attain something they have not Ahab slew Naboth for his vinyeard 1 Kings 21. And Athaliah all the seed Royal to get the Throne 2 Kings 11. Or 2. To Secure What they have Pharaoh oppressed the People lest growing Mighty they should shake off his yoke and get them out of his Service Exodus 1. 10. Jeroboam set up his Calves to keep the people at home and firm to himself 1 K. 12. 27 28. And the Jews they put Christ to death lest the Romanes should come and take away their Place and Nation John 11. 48. These two have shar'd the parentage of all the Oppression and Wrong-doing that have been in the World Neither of which is Compatible with our Great and Blessed God For all things are His already He posseffeth the Heavens and the Earth and all the hosts of them with an Absolute Power and Right to dispose them And what can be added to That which is Infinite And as for Securing what He hath Of whom should he be afraid For 1. There is no God Besides him Isa 44. 6. The Lord Himself who needs must know it if there were Another professeth Solemnly That He knows not any verse 8. And 2 As for Creatures They are all more absolutely under His subjection than the smallest dust under our feet is to us Ch 40. 17. The Nations are to Him less than nothing and vanity He need not so much as Touch them to bring them down 't is but Gathering to himself Job 34. 14 15. His spirit and His breath and they perish together Let the Lord but With-hold His sustaining Influence and they fall of themselves But He remains the same to all generations Secondly Arg. II. Consider the Infinite perfection of His Nature Holy Holy Holy Isa 6. 3. i. e. Perfectly Holy He is Glorious in Holiness Exod. 15. 11. Now In Holiness is not the least tincture of its Contrary 1 John 3. 5. God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all He is Good and doth Good Ps 119. Is Righteous Joh. 3. 7. and doth Righteousness All His works praise Him The Righteous Lord will do no iniquity It is an high demonstration of His Excellency 2 Tim. 2. 13. That He cannot deny Himself that is He cannot do any thing that is in the least degree contrary to His Holy Nature Nothing that needs to be Retracted or to alter His mind about it His Will is the Rule of Righteousness and Righteousness the Rule of His Will The Saints of old were perfectly of this minde Shall not the Judg of all the Earth do Right Gen 18. 25. Rom. 3. 6. And the Apostle Puts it as a Question not to be answered That if God were Unrighteous How then shall He Judge the World Thirdly Arg. III. Consider Further The constant Rule and Measure of God's Dispensments which is not done Fortuitously nor Rashly Isa 28. 17. but with Deliberation and Exactness He Layes Judgment to the Rule and Righteousness to the Plummet He will not punish without a Cause nor more than is deserved Touching the sins of Sodom Gen. 18 21. I will go down sayes God and see whether they have done altogether according to the Cry of it Renders to every one according to their Deeds Rom. 2. 6. and Gives them a just recompense of Reward Heb. 2. 2. He will not Cast away the perfect Man Job 8. 20. Nor help the wicked Eliphaz puts the question with great confidence as well he might Who ever perished being Innocent Job 47. His Righteousness is such that it even holds his hands until the Innocent be out of danger The Angels were straitly commanded Not to begin the execution of God's wrath on the wicked world until His Servants were Marked out Rev 73. And when the Lord came to destroy Sâ—dom He hastens Righteous Lot to Zoar with this onely Argument Gen 19. 22. I cannot do any thing until thou be come thi her Fourthly Arg. IV. It is further evidenced by the Lawes He hath given unto Men The sum of which is To do Righteously And the End of them the good and welfare of the Creature After a thousand years experience of These compared with the issue of Mens Inventions Nehe. 9. 13. They are acknowledged to be Right Judgments Good statues and lawes of Truth What an admirable Catalogue have we in Rom. 12. 1 Of such as concern our duty towards Himself immediately this is the Sum Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and Him onely shall thou serve There is Nothing more equal and just than to Worship and serve Him Whose we are To love and live to Him from whom we have our life and breath 2 Such as refer more immediately to Our selves As Temperance Chastity Moderation Sobriety c. These as is evident to all do greatly conduce to our outward welfare both in point of health estate Posterity c. And what evil Consequents do attend the Contraries of those Virtues might be every day's observation More especially such as relate to our spiritual state and Welfare of which more particularly under the Next Argument 3 Such Commands also as respect our duty towards Men As to do justly To shew Mercy To follow peace with all Men Every One to Mind his own business And not intermeddle with Others so To be subject to the Powers that be and To pray for those in authority The Neglect of which duty may be a Cause of our disquietment from them at least it may prove an ecclipse of our Joyfulness in