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
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
that this Power belongs to God no other Reason needs be assign'd but that He is God and there is nâ—ne besides him There can be no more because 1 There can be but one Infinite for such a being fils Heaven and Earth and so no place or room for another 2 There can be but one Omnipotent For He that is such hath all others under his feet Besides where One can do all more would be impertinent 3 There can be but one Supream Supream power may reside in Many as in mixt Monarchies and Common-wealths but as Law-makers and Supream they are but One. 4 There can be but one first Cause from which all being else derive their Original and that is this blessed One we are speaking of Of whom and for whom are all things 1 Cor. 8. 6. And if he be the Author of all he needs must have a Sovereign Right and Power to determine all as to their being so also to their Order Efficacy and End It is a Truth so natural and obvious to Reason it self that other proof seems as needless as that the Sun is the fountain of light Nor shall I suppose that any who will read this discourse can so far forget themselves to be Creatures as to seek a proof of their Creators Sovereignty The things that are seen so loudly proclaiming his Eternal power and Godhead But since with our easy admitting the Notion it is none of the smallest difficulties to own it in our practise and bear our selves answerably towards him Since also so huge a weight is born on the shoulders of this Supream Attribute and our souls are so highly concern'd in the interest and influences of it it needs must be our duty and well worthy our time to look or the Instances of it and to mark and consider them well as things greatly importing our Instruction whereby we may know something of the Greatness of that God in whose hands our souls are as also of our infinite distance from him and nothingness to him and so with the more humbleness of mind and self-abasement as also with the more Faith and Creature-like affiance submit unto him and bear our selves upon him To this end the Scriptures have inrolled divers Ensignes of Sovereignty by which as by so many footsteps we are led to the Absolute Will and Power of God as the Cause and Ruler of all The Great Act of Sovereignty was Gods Decree for making the World and of doing or permitting to be done what ever should be in it to the folding of it up The Heavens and the Earth and all the hosts of them as yet had no being It was at his pleasure whether he would make them or not And if he would what being he would give them to what End and how that end should be accomplished And that these were all ascertain'd by the Decree is evident For known unto God were all his works which he would do in time from the beginning of the World Acts 15. 18. The scheme and substance whereof and I hope without intrusion may be drawn to this effect That the Great God being infinitely good and blessed in himself was also infinitely prompt and well-pleased to Communicate of that his blessedness To which end he designed to raise up Creatures Angels and Men That for the manifestation of his Sovereignty He would confirm a certain number of those Angels in their primitive state leaving the rest to themselves Who falling from that state should be cast down and reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day That in this lower World he would set up the first Man to be the head and Representative of all that should come of him That this single person should be created in the Image of God fit to enjoy Communion with him and endued with power to abide therein That to manifest the weakness of Creatures and their perpetual dependence upon God he would thus leave him to his first stock and being so left the fallen Angeâ— tempting him to disobedience and also prevailing both himself and all his posterity by this Revolt should fall under the curse That for the declaration of his Sovereign Grace He would and accordingly did choose a certain number of Adam's posterity and ordain them to eternal life And to make known the power of his wrath and his just displeasure against sin he would leave the Rest in that state of perdition they would bring themselves into That of these Vessels of wrath Satan himself whom they chose to follow should be the Head and Ruler as also over them that were Elected for a time viz. until the Messiah their true and proper Head and into whom he had chosen them should rescue them out of his power That to this end and that he might also be known to be just as well as Merciful in justifying of them the Son of God should take on him the place of a second Adam and come into the world with an humane body In which he should fullfil all Righteousness and by the infinite virtue and merit of his death should satisfy the Law in all its demands destroy the Devil dissolve his works and Reconcile the Elect unto God That he should be raised again from the dead and invested with all power befitting the Captain of their Salvation and so might effectually minister to them whatever should be requisite for bringing those his Sons to glory This I take to be the sum of God's Decree the Great Ensigne or Standard Royal of Sovereignty whereof all the other Ensigns are Effects or consequents and subordinate thereto The first visible Ensign of Sovereignty was Creation or God's giving the World an actual existence in time according to his Decree from everlasting Bringing that huge yet void and formless Mass at first out of Nothing and then this glorious fabrick out of that Confusion His hanging the Earth upon nothing His assigning to every sort of Creatures Job 26. 7. such Form and Station Order Use and Efficacy and impressing on them such Laws and Instincts of nature as seemed him good which also was effected by his word what he would was done with that immediate suddenness as if the things themselves had proceeded with his breath Ps 33. 9. Gen. 1. 3. v. 9. Ps 104. 3. The instant production of light The waters seperating from the other Elements and gathering into a body and their going up and down to the place He had sounded for them with many others of which ye have an Index in the first of Genesis are witnesses of it as also His so fixing this ' stablishment that they continue this day according to his Ordinance Ps 119. 91. Consequent to this as a second Ensign of Sovereignty is that universal Providence by which the Creation is sustained and all inferiour Causes guided to their designed End and this notwithstanding all supposeable accidents which might possibly come between to obstruct or divert them And that
and supernaturall there 's a great pronenesse in creatures to Revolt from it like a Rolling stone on the steep of a hill The Remains of old nature would torrent-like bear down all if Sovereign Power did not barr up the One and sustain the Other For a spark of Divine nature to live in the brest of a lapsed Creature is as great a miracle and as high an effect of Sovereign Power as all the Instances before enumerated and More Lastly The Sovereignty of God is most glorious and adorable in Ordaining His own son who was holy harmless undefiled and seperate from sinners and was also United to the Second Person to be the Mediator and to make His soul an offering for sin And then in His Eternal disposing of Mens everlasting condition To shew or not to shew Mercy unto Men equally dignified or rather Indignified in themselves To make of the same lump one Vessel to honour and another to dishonour is the highest act and demonstration of Sovereign power concerning Men Which thing when ever we hear of or think upon we should put our mouths in the dust Before I come to the Inferences I would add a Caution or two to prevent those sinister deductious which our deceitfull hearts may be apt to draw from this Sovereign Truth First Caution 1. See that you make not God the Author of sin by charging His sacred Decrees with Men's Miscarriages as if they were the Cause or Occasion of them which we are sure they are not nor can be any more than the Sun is the cause of darkness Be it alwaies remembred That the Lord's Rejecting of Men puts nothing of evil into them Nor necessitates the will It only leaves them to their own wayes which they freely choose yet Banking them in and stopping them up as He did the Fountains of the Great Deep lest they Deluge the World with sin Secondly Go not about to palliate Nor think to extenuate your sin by Arguments fetcht from those Decrees That sin of the Iews in Crucifying Christ was in no wise lessened because the Councel of God had determin'd the thing to be done For they perpetrated it with wicked hands Nor is any Man's Unbelief e'r the less culpable from God's Eternal disposement of Mens conditions For it is not upon that consideration that they stumble at the Word or turn the deaf ear to it or resist it but from their own natural blindness and enmity against it And so I come to the Inferences And First Infer 1. From the Scriptures so copiously holding it forth I infer That the Doctrine of God's Sovereignty is a very teaching Doctrine and full of instruction and consequently that it is both a Duty and much for our Profit to be well acquainted with it And great confidence I have That the farther ye go in an humble fiducial disquisition and contemplation of it the clearer will be the Reason thereof and the more usefulness will still appear to be in it Let Reason but keep its own place that is let it work by the Rules of Right Reason and nothing will be more consonant thereto than that the Most High should bear rule over all and Do according to his Will and that Men who are Atoms of Clay animated by his breath should own Him for their Sovereign Lord and accordingly submit to Him yea though so it were that our own personal welfare were not concerned in it It will be of singular Use and Moment to us in the whole of our lives Nothing like this will allay those carnal Reasonings which are so unreasonably prone to put in their Verdict of spiritual things which yet Carnal Reason hath no cognisance of and will indeed be silenced by nothing else The Apostle therefore in Rom. 9. ver 19 20 21. thinks them not worthy a further Reply whose captious Enquiries the Sovereignty of God will not satisfy A second Inscrence Infer 2. which naturally flowes from this Doctrine is that of the Psalmist Oh come let us Worship and bow down Ps 95. 6. and kneel before the Lord our Maker Let us give Him the glory of this great Attribute by a Real and Practical Owning that indispensible bond of obedience which it layes upon every Creature We are highly obliged by it both in point of subjection and in point of faith 1. In point of subjection to His Laws Ordinances Providences First For the Lawes of God and His Appointments These we are to attend Job 22. 3. 35. 7. observe obey I cannot say For the Lord hath need of them For neither can our Righteousness profit Him nor our wickedness impair Him He that is Wise is wise for himself but do it because the Lord hath commanded Ps 9. 1â— He is the Lord thy God and worship thou Him Pro. 45 11. This is that strong Reason by which He hath backed both Commands and Prohibitions Exod. 20. 2. I am the Lord thy God Thou shalt doe thus And thus thou shalt not doe I am the Lord This he sets in the front of All and with this He closeth the Râ—re and Guards them on every side Moses brings it in as a convincing Reason why we should love God with our whole heart and keep his Commandments namely because he is the Lord and He onely Deut. 6. 4. No One therefore may pretend to a right of giving Laws to Men or to an interest in their love and obedience save with respect to God and the authority they have from Him And though He is sometimes pleased and it is a great condescention in the great God by arguments taken from our own Good to draw us to obedience Do it for it is your life Deut. 32. 47. yet in our spirits That of His Sovereignty and Glory ought to have the preference To cast out Ishmael was a thing grievous to Abraham but being Commanded of God he debates it Not Nor delayes to do it Therefore hold on your way though never so great Obscurity be upon it at present Minde your duty in the midst of discouragements Do as Peter who though he had labour'd all night and caught Nothing yet Master At thy command I will let down the Net again 2 Be subject to His Ordinances If He please to Command the using such Meanes Lâ—ke 5. 5. as have no Natural virtue towards such an effect as in Moses stretching his hand over the Sea and smiteing the Rock with his Rod so Water in baptism Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper Presume not to say What is there in these Godliness is a Mystery which onely faith can understand There is no Divine Institution but hath Meat in it that you know not of which if rightly used will speak for it self If He please to make Clay of Dust and spittle Contemn it not but submit to His Will and way and be thankfull for thy Cure Iudges 12 â— with Ch. 16. 1â— Sampsons hair was an Ordinance to him
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
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
by what Title The Answer is They all do belong to Elect Persons and That in right of their Election To put Effects in the place of Causes and Causes of Effects is a great absurdity in Natural things and yet how prone are we to it in Matters of Divine Concernment which chiefly comes from the pride of our Spirits who fain would be Some-body in procuring our own happiness and do therefore ascribe it to any Cause rather than That which is proper to it This is a Great Evil and the more perilous and catching because espoused by Some of no-common-profession and That with great pretences of Reason for it To Refute which your most rational course will be To search and consult the Scriptures whose testimony and right Reason do always sort-together And if by this Ascent you follow Salvation and all the Conducements thereto up to their Head you shall find them all to be intirely and absolutely of God and contained in the same Decree And consequently That Faith and Holiness are the Effect and certain Consequent of Election The genuine Import of Scripture-Salvation is broad and comprehensive extending to all manner of Requisites which any way conduce to the perfect accomplishment of the thing it self Outward Salvation what ever belongs to the Outward Man's preservation As Water Bread Walls Bulwarks c. Isa 26. 1. Salvation will appoint Walls and Bulwarks i. e. The promise of Salvation implies and carries in it all things pertaining to Safety So Spiritual Salvation what ever pertains to Blessedness and Glory as Redemption Faith Holiness and Holding-out to the End Any of which being absent would invalidate all the rest As one Round of a Ladder pluck'd-out hinders your ascent to the Top. If One gives me a piece of Land that is round-inclosed the Law gives me a Way to it though no express mention thereof in my Deed so as to take the profits Otherwise litle would his Gift signifie to Me Salvation is That the Elect are endowed with Faith and Holiness the necessary Way to their actual possession And therefore These they must be ordained unto and are as well as to Salvation it self For being Predestinate to the Adoption of Sons Rom. 8. 28. Eph. 1 5. 1 Joh. 3. 2. and to be conformed to the Image of Christ which is not perfectly accomplished till His appearing in Glory they must be Predestinate also to all those intermediate Dispensations and Graces which are requisite thereto For Right to the End gives Right to the Means They are therefore said to be Chosen to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thes 2 13. and belief of the Truth In order of Intention God wills the End first and then the Means In order of Execution the Means first as directive to That End Ro. 8. 30. Eph. â— 4 8 10 The End is the cause of the Means and Election the Cause of them both The Promise of Canaan to Abraham's Seed did virtually contain what ever must come between the making of the Promise and the final performance of it As 1 To multiply his Seed into a Nation 2 To keep Esau Laban and Others from hurting them 3 To provide for them in time of famine 4 To preserve and increase them in Egypt notwithstanding the Egyptians craft and cruelty to suppress them 5 To bring them forth with an high hand in contempt of Pharaoh's Resolvedness against it and his Potency to withstand it 6 To divide the Sea before them and provide them a Table in the Wilderness 7 To cause their Enemies hearts to faint and become as Water 8 To send the Hornet before them and to fight for them c. For Otherwise the Lord 's giving them Canaan had been but as the Pope's giving England to the Spaniard that is If he could get it And lastly To pardon their manifold great and high provocations by which they exposed themselves to wrath and extirpation daily So is it in the Case of Election It draws with it even All that is tendent to the Saints actual Investiture with Glory The Apostle therefore linketh Eternity past with Eternity to come He makes Election and Glorification the two extream points of the Compass Calling and Justification which are parts intermediate he founds upon the First in order to the Last and gives you their Set-course in Rom. 8. 38. Whom He did Foreknow Then also He did Predestinate To what to be conformed to the Image of His Son And whom He did Predestinate them also He Called And what did He Call them to He Called them to Holiness to Glory and Virtue 2 Pet. 1. 3. And whom He Called them also He Justified and Glorified These All do belong to One and the same persons and that by virtue of the Decree and no one of them did ever go alone The like Succession of Causes and Effects ye have in the 16th of Ezekiel Ezek. 16. 6-12 The Lord finds them in their blood that is in their natural condition He enters into Covenant with them and makes them His Own there 's Election Then He Washes them and that throughly there 's their Justification And then Adorns them there 's their Sanctification which always is Consummated in Glory In the 17th of the Acts Acts 17. 1-5 ye have Paul preaching at Thessalonica The same Doctrine was propounded to all indefinitely and it must be so for the Minister knows not the Elect from other Men But the Holy Ghost who searcheth the deep things of God and hath the Management of this Work committed to him Joh. 10. 3. Isa 27. 12. He knew the Elect by Name and accordingly took them Gather'd them One by One each One in his proper time and open'd their Ear to discipline Making them That they were Chosen unto And the same Apostle in his Epistle to the Thessalonians where he Celebrates the effects of this Sermon brings in their Election as the Cause of their Conversion Knowing Brethren beloved 1 Thes 1. 4 5. your Election of God For our Gospel came not to you in Word only as it did to others but in power So in the Acts Acts 13. 48. ch 2 47. As many as were Ordained to Eternal life believed And the Lord added to the Church daily whom diâ— He add such as should be Saved Effectual Calling is a sure Demonstration of Election and the first Effect by which it can be known That precious Faith through which we are Saved is obtained through the Righteousness of God 2 Pet. 1. 7. and our Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 7. 1 It is given through the Righteousness of God the Father and so it either respects His Ordaining us to Eternal life In which Act He did implicitely engage Himself to give us Faith which may therefore be called The Faith of God's Elect T it 1. 1. Or else it respects His promise made to Christ Isa 53. 10. Tit. 1. 2. with 2 Tim. 1. 9. That setting
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
and Prun'd-off Joh. 15. 2. the true Branches are preserved and Cherished They shall bring-forth fruit in their old age Pâ— 92. 14. 1 Joh. 3. 2 9. chap. 2. 27. 2 ep Joh. v. 2. They that are Now i. e. Once They that are Once the Children of God shall never be Otherwise save only in a greater likeness to their Father And tho' their living on Him and their likeness to Him be very weakly especially at times as the Natural life of Infants is yet being born they must be kept And the Will and Care of their Father is Eph. 4. 13. To Nurse them up to a Perfect Man You ' I say perhaps That never had any such cause of Complaint as you and possibly it may be so To be sure you know not that They had And those you compare your self with have said as much of themselves and they had the like Cause for our hearts are fashion'd alike Onely each one best knows the plague of his own Agur a Man of great Wisdom and Holiness says of himself That he was more brutish than any Man Prov. 30. 2. But suppose it be true That Others corruptions have not broke-out as yours have done yet May not this put your faith to a â—tand Much less Make you weary Recoil or to faint in your Minds For the same Grace that prevented them can pardon you and will if you cast your self upon it Ye may indeed be allow'd to complain of your sins for Nothing els have ye to complain of Therfore Complain and Cry-out as loud as you will Rom. 7. 24. Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death But withall Betake you to the same Refuge that he did ver 25. abide by it I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Here you may triumph over all both Complaints and the Causes of them It must always be granted That to Overcome Sin Combin'd Intrench'd and fortifi'd as it is is a great Undertaking and must be gon-through with There is no Retreit to be sounded Nor Armour provided for your back Every Mother's son must either kill or be kill'd in this Combate There 's no Compounding the Difference Nor discharge in this Warfare till the day be perfectly Won But What a Recruit is there levied and always stands ready as a sure Reserve viz. That though the Conflict be sharp the success is sure In order whereto amongâ—t other Rules and Articles of War bear in mind these few following 1. Intangle not your self but shun and avoid whatever may prove a clog or unfit you for duty 2. Exercise yourself in things that will teach you to handle your Arms and tending to Nourish your faith 3. Stand on your Guard watchfully that ye be not surprised by sudden excursions or under pretence of friendship 4. Arm your self with the same Mind that was in Christ set your face as a flint and conclude That ye shall not be confounded 5. Submit to the place your General hath set you in It must have been some bodie 's lot and why not yours and the hotter it is the more honourable 6. Look that ye fight with proper weapons which are onely to be had at the Covenant of Grace and the Cross of Christ And There they are never wanting And be sure ye go not down to the Philistines either to forge or sharpen 7. Fight not as one that beats the ayr but as having indeed a sturdy adversary to deal-with whom yet you are sure to Overcome 8. Look still on your Captain to observe what He says and Does and do likewise To take-up your Cross and endure hardship are necessary accoutrements to a Soldier of Christ 9. Wait on the Lord to Renew your Strength who then bestirrs Himself most when your strength is gon Then He lays hold upon Shield and Buckler Ps 35. 2. and stands-up for your help 10. Lastly and to Influence all Mind the Lord of his Covenant even Then when it may be your self think on it with trouble as doubting your interest in it Pray Him to remember it for you and with the same Good-will wherewith He made it Beseech Him to look-on His Bow in the Cloud which Himself hath set there as a sure sign between God and you That tho' the skies be Red and lowring The Clouds return after the Rain and the Billows go-over your head you shall not be deluged by them By this it is that ye are hedged-about and walled-up to Heaven Therefore Stand not like Men in suspense as unresolved to fall-on or doubtful how to come-off But On On the day 's your Own The Lord of Hosts pursues them And let all the Sons of God shout for joy Sixthly Infer VI. since Believers onely are interessed in the Covenant and that Faith is a Necessary Instrument which the Covenant wil not work without without which you cannot work with it Nor see your Interest in it Look-well to your Faith first That it be of the right kind viz. such as Renounces Self lives upon Grace And then having found it such Be sure ye keep it well and improve it to the utmost Two uses especially are to be made of it 1 As your Shield to supply the place of all other peeces of your Armour when broken or loose as well as to safeguard them when they are whole and Tite about you If your helmet be out of the way and fiery darts come pouring down Hold up your Faith between your head and them Faith is the truest quench-coal to the fire of hell If your Sword be forgot or laid-aside or wants an edge c. your Shield if well applyed will Retort your enemies weapons on his own Pate 2 Faith is your spiritual Optick which shews you things of Greatest Moment and Not Otherwise Visible Even Chariots and horsmen of Fire are not discernible without it If temptations from the World do indanger you Turn your Faith that way and through it view and consider how Shallow and short-liv'd the pleasures of it are and how Momentany your sufferings Then look-at the World to come The Glory of it and your interest in it And how much your Crown will be Brightened by the scowrings you have pass'd-under here and dwell on the contemplation of it Bend not your eye so much on the peril or length of your passage as on the long'd-for shore that lies beyond it And reckon the Surges of that dreadfull gulph which is yet betwixt you and It but as so many strokes to waft you Thither Heb. 11. 26. This was the course that Moses took and Christ Himself Nothing so blunts the edge of Satan's temptations Chap. 12. 2. or the World's as this Faith of God's Elect. Therefore see that you hold-fast your Faith Keep it as your life keep That and it will keep you and let it not go until ye die Then indeed it will leave you because then it will have done
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