and the glory of thy truth in performing what thou hast promised though thus I have not deserved XCV All the afflictions of Gods people are either punishments chastisements or probations punishments for sins past chastisements to prevent sinnes to come probations to make triall of our Christian vertues and though Christ was punished for our sinnes to free us from eternall torments yet we are not thereby exempted from temporarie punishments he died to save us from death eternall not from death temporall he both suffered and satisfied we suffer though we cannot satisfie our sufferings are to shew our conformitie with Christ but not to shew any insufficiencie in the death of Christ Thou O Lord hast paid a plenarie ransome for sin and thou that knewest no sin becamest sinne and didst suffer death as a punishment for us that we who are born in sin might be free from sin that death might not be a punishment but a chastisement to us XCVI As by one simple act God knowes his own Essence so by one simple act he wils his own goodnesse which will whether we take it for an act or for an habit is eternally in God and differs but in some respects from his essence and therefore is immutable infinite and holy as his Essence and though many things are willed by him yet there is but one will in him which cannot be moved by any efficient end or object different from himself Lord though my will cannot attain that simplicitie infinitenesse and immutabilitie that is in thee yet let it obtain some measure of holinesse that in desiring of that only which is good it may in some measure resemble thine XCVII All have not had the happinesse to heare of Christ and yet there is no happinesse without Christ in this God is not unjust for they who either in themselves or in their parents have rejected him are not worthy of him besides God hath not left himself without a witnesse for he hath left a law written in all mens hearts and so much light of his goodnesse and justice as may make all men excuselesse If therefore they shall be rejected that had not that light of knowledge which we have how can we think we are elected who have even spurned at the knowledge of that light which they have not XCVIII Regeneration which is the killing of the old man and quickning of the new hath for her ushers Sorrow and Contrition for her Attendants Faith and Hope for her followers the works of Charitie if any of these be defective Generation will be little effective neither is this the work of nature but of grace for nature by generation can give us a mortall essence but grace by regeneration gives us an immortall existence in our first birth we had a new nature from our corporall parents in our second birth nature is renewed by our spirituall parents So easie is the work of physicall generation that it 's performed in the instant of our conception so difficult is the work of hyperphysicall regeneration that we cannot be consummately reformed till the instant of our dissolution Lord the great world was with greater facilitie by thee created then the little world of man could by thee be re-created that was done only by uttering thy externall word this could not be done but by the suffering of thy internall Word therefore as I am bound to thee for the tempor all life which in my generation by thy spirit thou breathedst in me much more am I bound for that eternall life which in my regeneration by thy Sonnes death thou hast purchased for me XCIX In thy sight O Lord no flesh can be justified if we consider the puritie of thy nature the rigour of thy justice the infirmities of our flesh and the imperfections of our righteousnesse For the first the Angels are not pure in thy sight much lesse we who dwell in houses of clay For the second if thou shouldst marke Lord what is done amisse who could abide it For the third there is no man that doth good no not one we are all gone out of the way For the fourth the justest man falleth seven times a day and our righteousness is like a menstruous cloath Therefore we acknowledge Lord there is no righteousnesse inherent in us by which we can be saved but that righteousnesse which is inherent in thee and imputed to us and by that we are justified and there is in thee exuberance of mercies by which we may be pardoned C. We are justified by grace formally by faith instrumentally by the word ministerially by good works demonstratively by sorrow and repentance preparatively by Christs death and obedience meritoriously and by God himself principally if then God be the efficient cause if Christs active and passive obedience be the materiall if grace be the formall if Gods glory be the finall cause of our justification how can we claime any share in it We are only subjects and patients no wayes agents our good works are but fruits and effects no wayes causes our sorrow and repentance are effects of preventing grace not of free-will our faith is from above not from our selves Therefore O Lord I disclaime all merit of congruitie and condignitie all efficacie of Sacraments all suffrages of Saints all power of Romane Prelates all absolution of Priests all observation of humane tradition and all will-worship from my justification I acknowledge no other merits but thy mercies by thy grace thou preventedst my merits my merits are thy suffrings my holinesse is thy goodnesse my righteousnesse is but a sparkle of thy brightnesse a drop of that Ocean a grain of that heap a stone of that immense mountain of thy incomprehensible goodnesse for which I am indebted to thee not thou to me Therefore not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name we glve the glory DIVINE MEDITATIONS UPON Gods Justice I. GOD will not pardon any sin except we repent of every sin for as he that breaks one command is guiltie of the breach of all so he that faileth in repenting of one sin repenteth of never a sin God loves not to doe things by halves he will pardon all or none and he will have us repent of all or none for as it stands not with his goodnesse and perfection to give an imperfect pardon so it consisteth not with the sinceritie of repentance to conceale any sin not repented as he ejected seven divels out of one and a legion out of another without leaving any behinde in the possessed so he will have us cast out all our sinnes without hiding of any unrepented What availes it to be freed from Satans power in casting us into the water of drunkennesse if he can when he pleaseth fling us into the fire of concupiscence O thou that art the great Physician of my soul to thee I open all my wounds and disclose all my maladies make me by the vomit of confession to cast up all my sinfull humours before
holinesse the subject continued though this forme perished therefore for the soul renovation is sufficient but for those graces in the soul a new creation is required Lord by thy Image I excell the beasts by it I match the Angels by it I resemble thy self but the subject of this image is by sin decayed and by sin the forme is quite abolished O thou that in my Creation didst grace me with the breath of life now in my Regeneration breathe in me the life of grace the temple of God is decayed in me and the God of this temple is banished from me repaire this temple that thy image again may stand in it and renew thy image that this temple may be sanctified by it XLI Adams sin was committed after Predestination if we consider Adams actuall existence but it was before Predestination in respect of Gods prescience What madnesse is it to think that God sees not our sinnes which we commit secretly whereas he did foresee our sins before they were committed and that from all eternitie XLII In Predestination the preterition of some men was the punishment of those men and the deniall of felicitie was their miserie but punishment presupposeth sin and preterition as a punishment must come after the prevision of sinne If this doctrine be true that the prevision of sin was the cause of preterition sure it is most true that the commission of sin is the cause of condemnation XLIII Passive excaecation or the wilfull ignorance and spirituall blindnesse in man is both a sin and the cause of sin active excaecation as it is from man it is a sin as from God it is the punishment of sin It stands with thy justice O God to punish them with blindnesse who have with delight blinded themselves and to deprive those of light who love to walke in darknesse Why shouldest thou hold out the lamp of thy Word to those that despise it and cause thy sun to shine on them who wilfully shut their eyes against it Lord deale with me as thou didst with Saul I am blinded spiritually make me blinde corporally that by losing the sight of my body I may regain the sight of my soul I will gladly lose the light of the sun moon and other planets so I may behold the light of the Son of righteousnesse XLIIII Some say that the hearts induration is not the cause of Gods indignation but that God is first angry then hardneth I am sure God hath just cause to be angry with those who will be hardned and therefore in his just anger hardneth them I confesse Lord that I have hardned my own heart therefore thou mayest justly be angry with me and because my voluntary hardnesse hath provoked thy anger therefore may thy anger effect in me and that most justly a further degree of hardnesse XLV God who by his irresistible will decreeth the hardning of a sinner yet actually by his resistible will useth to harden that sinner Though none can resist the will of his decrees yet he permits us sometimes to oppose the actions of his will in the one he shewes himself the God of power in the other he shewes his mercy in suffring man to resist the power of God O thou that diddest wrestle with Jacob and gavest him strength both to resist and conquer thee when thou wrestlest with me by tentations give me so much strength as by mortification to subdue my self and then give me leave by faith and teares to vanquish thee XLVI There is in God a two-fold negative act the one of Providence the other of Preterition by the former God denyed to Adam the gift of Perseverance and so suffered him to fall by the other he denyeth to some men the gift of Faith and Repentance and so suffers them to remain in their fall God was not bound to give Adam perseverance seeing otherwise he furnished him with grace sufficiently nor is he bound to give to those faith and repentance who fell from their former grace willingly and oppose his Word and Spirit obstinately Lord I confesse that as thou wast not in Adams debt for perseverance so neither art thou in mine for any grace but if thou wilt be pleased to bestow on me so much grace as to attaine true happinesse I will impute it not to my deserts but to thy favour and goodnesse XLVII Some say that those whom God hath decreed for Salvation may be damned but that they shall not be damned that his decree hindreth the act but not the possibilitie I leave this nicetie for the Schooles But this use I will make of it that if I may be damned I will work out my salvation with fear and trembling if I shall not be damned I will not fear though I walk through the valley of death if I may be damned I acknowledge Lord it is through my own wickednesse if I shall not be damned it is out of thy unspeakable goodnesse XLVIII It is the doctrine of many in these dayes that as God by his revealed will saves none but such as beleeve in him so he decreed by his secret will to save none but such as he foresaw would beleeve in him I am confident God could foresee nothing thing in me but what he was pleased to bestow upon me if he foresaw my faith he foresaw the fruit of his preventing grace if he foresaw my perseverance he foresaw the effect of his subsequent grace XLIX Election say some is Gods decree to justifie the faithfull others say 't is Gods decree to save man as he is man and to that end to make him faithfull In the one opinion I finde faith the meanes of Justification in the other of Salvation meanes I say but not the cause Lord the cause of my happinesse is in thee the meanes in me but the efficacie of this meanes both in my justification and salvation is only from thee L. If the decree of preterition went before the act of sin but not before the prevision of that sin I am confident the act of preterition cannot much lesse can the act of condemnation precede the act of sin Therefore how injurious are some to the God of mercy in daring to accuse him of crueltie who is so far from condemning any man but for sin committed that he would not decree mans condemnation but for sin foreseen LI. There was injoyned to Adam the law of abstinence from the forbidden fruit and the law of obedience the former was particular to Adam the other was common to him and his posteritie it was not for the breach of the former which was personall but for the breach of the other which was universall that we are condemned not Adams act of eating but his disobedience was our bane for we sinned in him sin is a transgression of the law but the law could not have been transgressed by us had it not been in him given to us Lord we have great cause to admire and respect thy mercy in saving us
sin by the punishing of thy Son VI As Christs active and passive obedience is the meritorious cause so is Gods free mercy and grace the impulsive cause of our Justification and Salvation And although God was bound in justice to pardon our transgressions having received full satisfaction by his Sonnes death and mediation yet was he not bound in justice to send his Son into the world or to make him an attonement for our prevarications to send a Mediatour who by his obedience might make satisfaction and consequently save us was an act of his free grace and mercie to which he was not tied but having sent a Mediatour who by his obedience hath made satisfaction it is an act of justice now to save us and to this he is necessarily tied O my God how much am I bound to love and honour thee who hast bound thy selfe to justifie and save me I pray thee as thou hast divested thy self of thine own libertie in condemning me and hast freely subjected thy self to necessity that thou mightest save me so debarre me from all libertie in offending thee and impose on me this necessitie that all my dayes I may love and serve thee VII To shew mercy and to pardon sin are not of equall extent for God shewes mercy to all that are in miserie but he only pardons their sinnes whom he meanes to glorifie he is mercifull to the wicked in causing his sun to shine and his rain to fall and in bestowing of many outward blessings on them but he pardoneth only the sins of them who by repentance turn from sinne to him and by faith lay hold on Christ that died for them And although God be mercy it self or mercifull in the highest degree yet without satisfaction he will not pardon iniquitie because pardoning is an act rather of his free will then of his mercy neither is it essentiall to his mercy to pardon for so he should pardon all to whom he is mercifull which is not true and though he is mercifull to all those whom he pardoneth yet the act of pardoning is not mercy but the effect of mercy for his mercie is essentiall immutable necessarie but to pardon is a free and mutable act therefore as Gods justice is not prejudiced by punishing one for the sinnes of another seeing that other undertook voluntarily to suffer punishment so neither is Gods mercy wronged by pardoning that sin for which satisfaction is made because the satisfaction was not made by the party that offended it was justice then in God to punish Christ for our sinnes because voluntarily he took upon him our sinnes so it was mercy in God to pardon that sinne for which Christ had fully satisfied It was justice in God the Son having become our surety to satisfie for us so it was mercy in God the Father to apply and impute his Sonnes satisfaction to us I confesse Lord that though thou art bound in justice to pardon my sinne for which thou art fully satisfied yet thou art not bound in justice to impute that satisfaction or to account it mine seeing by my personall righteousnesse thou hast not been satisfied I will admire thy justice in punishing thy Sonne for the sins which by him were not committed and I will magnifie thy mercie in forgiving my sinnes for which I have no wayes satisfied VIII The highest degree of Gods mercy was in sending of his only begotten Sonne into the world to be our Jesus to procure Salvation for us which he did not by shewing us the way of Salvation onely or by declaring his Fathers will unto us or by shewing us the example of his life and death but by paying the price of our Redemption for we are reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 10. we are redeemed by the precious bloud of that immaculate Lamb 1 Pet. 1. 18. his bloud was given for the remission of sins Matth. 26. 28. we are justified by his bloud Rom. 5. 8. he was made a curse to free us from the curse of the law Gal. 3. 13. by his death he hath abolished death c. Heb. 2. 14. the Son of man came to give his life for the Redemption of many Mat. 20. 28. his bloud cleanseth us from all sin 1 Ioh. 1. 7. by his stripes we are healed Isai. 53. 5. he made himselfe a sacrifice for sin Isai. 53. 10. therefore it is by his bloud by his sacrifice by his death by his stripes that we are saved expiated justified redeemed cleansed healed and it was for our sinnes that he suffered Rom. 4. 25. for our iniquities that he was bruised Isai. 53. 5. our transgressions he bore in his body on the tree and upon him was laid the iniquitie of us all Isai. 53. 7. neither did he undertake this wretched condition for us forcedly but freely nor was the death temporall but eternall in the intention and greatnesse of the torments neither was Christs death a bare manifestation but a just price of our Redemption for in him we have Redemption by his bloud remission of sins c. Eph. 1. 5. we are redeemed by the precious bloud of that immaculate Lamb Christ Jesus 1 Pet. 1. 18. which was represented by the Leviticall sacrifices save onely that the Leviticall Priest offered for his own sinnes and for the sinnes of the people but Christ had no sins of his own for which he should offer And as the Priests office was to offer sacrifice and to make intercession Christ performed the one upon the Crosse when by his death he made satisfaction and blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances but the other Christ performes in Heaven interceding for us and applying his death unto us for we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 Ioh. 2. 1. whose Intercession must not be confounded with his oblation because this was once performed and cannot be iterated for he cannot die often Heb. 9. 25. and with one oblation he hath consecrated for ever those that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. but his Intercession is performed daily for he is entered into Heaven that he might appeare in the sight of God for us Heb. 9. 24. by vertue of whose propitiatorie sacrifice we are not taught the way to offer and reconcile our selves to God but by him we are reconciled redeemed justified saved O my God who is able to comprehend the height depth breadth and length of thy unspeakable mercy In height it reacheth to the heavens in confirming the Angels in depth it reacheth to hell for thou deliveredst David from the nethermost hell in breadth it extends from East to West over all the world even over all thy works and the length thereof is from generation to generation Therefore there is none of thy Attributes so gracious and admirable as thy mercy for as there is nothing greater in thee then that thou canst so there is nothing better then that thou wilt have mercy on those that are in misery FINIS †Supralapsarians * Sublapsarians * Consequentiae * Consequentis * Quoad speciem actus †Quoad exercitium actus * Voluntas placiti †Voluntas signi †Amor benevolentiae * Amor amicitiae * {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} †{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}