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
A CENTURIE OF Divine Meditations UPON PREDESTINATION and its Adjuncts Wherein are shewed the comfortable uses of this Doctrine To which are annexed sixteen Meditations upon Gods Justice and Mercy By ALEXANDER ROSS LONDON Printed by Iames Young 1646. TO The Right Honourable and Vertuous Lady FRANCES Countess of Rutland wife to the Right Honorable JOHN Earle of Rutland Noble Lady AS you have been pleased to make me happy by permitting me to gaze with admiration upon the rare structure and goodly fabrick of that beautifull temple of your Vertues so give me leave to passe through this into your temple of Honor and there at the shrine of your perfections to lay this Centurie of Divine Meditations a sacrifice I know more acceptable to you then whole Hecatombes of fat beasts or the smoake of Sabean incense Your noble Progenitors have devolved upon you many naturall endowments whereby you out-strip most of your own sex but grace hath gifted you with cleernesse and perspicuitie of judgement in the mysteries of speculative Divinitie even beyond many who think themselves learned Clerks of our sex Madam though you are every way honourable yet nothing doth so much enoble you as your zeale to Religion and love to learned men When your beautie wealth outward honours and pleasures shall determine in death even then Religion and Learning will beautifie and inrich your soul and immortalize your name The highest pitch of my ambition in this and the former Dedication is only to shew my gratitude to your honourable Husband and your Self though in small mites compared to your noble favours and withall to set forth the lustre of your own knowledge in these points which still perplex the mindes of many Christians The Father of Mercies crowne you both and your hopefull Issue with the blessings of both hands here and of Eternitie hereafter This is and still shall be the prayer of Your Honours devoted Servant Alexander Ross I Have perused these divine and learned Meditations on Gods Predestination Iustice and Mercie and judging them to be pious and profitable I allow them to be printed and published JOHN DOWNAME January the 7. 1645. DIVINE MEDITATIONS UPON PREDESTINATION and its Adjuncts I. I Finde that God by his absolute power can do that which in justice he may not He can torment the good Angels that sinned not but he will not if he could not doe so he were not omnipotent if he should he were not just I will therefore reverence that power which can doe what he wills but will not doe all that he can II. God may justly annihilate the good Angels though justly he cannot punish them He could not be unjust in taking that nature from them which he freely bestowed and he could not be just in inflicting a punishment which they had not deserved But I that am a sinfull man must acknowledge it goodnesse in him to annihilate me I must reverence his Iustice if he punish me but will admire and extoll his mercy if he save me III. God is a most free Agent being subject neither to a commanding law nor to a constraining power yet hath he necessitated some of his externall actions partly by his goodnesse partly by his Promise He must do what he promiseth because he is true he must doe what is just because he is good I will claime Heaven as my due not because I merit it but because he promised it his own goodnesse hath tied him to give it though my sinnes may deterre me from begging it IIII. If my Adoption be the end of Predestination by which Grace and Glorie are prepared for me then shall the end be first in my intention but the meanes shall be first in execution I will strive and beg for faith in Gods naturall Son that in him I may become Gods adopted sonne V. The good Angels were made happie by the grace of Confirmation Adam by the grace of Restauration the Angels fell not therefore needed not this grace Adam stood not therefore wanted that grace He that is confirmed falls not he that falls is not confirmed God shewed his love to the Angels in confirming them but his mercy to Adam in restoring him Lord shew thy mercy to me when I fall in restoring me shew thy love to me when I am raised in confirming me make me happy with Adam in the one happy with Angels in the other VI Gods Prescience is of a larger extent then his Predestination for he foreknew or foresaw both good and evil but he predestinated good only he foresaw good and evill because he is omniscient he predestinated only good because in him there is none and from him there comes none evill O that we could be like him to foresee evil and hate it to resolve only upon good and doe it VII Gods decrees are in our power and our power is in his decrees they are in us as causes in their effect we are in him as effects in their cause It 's by his decree that we have power 't is not by our power that he decrees ' Its in our power to performe his decrees but this power we have by his decree Lord if thou hast decreed my obedience give me power of performance and so thy decree shall be in my power not that thou didst decree because thou knewest I would obey but I will obey because I know thou hast decreed VIII God hath decreed to give us faith and he hath decreed to justifie us by that faith by the former decree he makes us his sonnes by the other he acquits us of our sinnes Lord if thou hast decreed to make me thy son bestow faith on me if thou hast decreed to blot away my sin by that same faith justifie me IX God first loved us and then he decreed to bestow Grace and Glory on us his love to us is the cause of our happinesse so our love to him must be the cause of our obedience Lord make me to love thee and then I know I shall obey thee X. Faith and Holinesse are graces by which we attain to happinesse but Gods love is that grace by which we obtaine faith and holinesse As the action followes the qualitie so Gods decree followes this first grace but other graces come after his decree it was by his decree that we have any grace it was by his grace that he was pleased to decree Lord as the grace of thy love made thee to decree my happinesse so make the love of thy grace in me increase that I may enjoy this happinesse XI God doth so determine the actions of the Will that sometime he bends it to what he pleaseth and so it works necessarily not freely if we consider the act or use of working sometime he determines it so that he leaves it to its own inclination and then it workes freely Gods Providence doth not thwart his Creation if he sometimes suspends hinders determines the properties and motions of his creatures in the creation he
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
gave them that in his providence he might use them Lord if thou shouldest leave my Will to it self in this corrupted estate I now am in what fruit can it produce but sowre grapes and wilde olives for the fruit cannot be better then the tree and men gather not grapes of thistles nor figs of thornes I had rather have a necessitie laid on me to doe good then be left at libertie to doe evil I had rather my Will should be a servant to thy commands then be master over its own actions XII If Adam had not sinned he had been saved and being a sinner yet he is saved grace had saved him then and grace saves him now the grace of Gods love had saved him then the grace of Gods mercy saves him now Gods love then had been grounded upon the first Adams perseverance it is now grounded on the second Adams death and obedience I had been happie in Adam had he not been a sinner but I am now much more happie in Christ by being my Saviour I lost Paradise by the first Adam I have gained Heaven by the second the first Adam being man would needs be God and so made us equall to the beasts the second Adam being God would needs be man and so hath made us equall to the Angels XIII Some †say that God in predestinating man looked on him as he was to be created others * that he considered him as already created and lapsed because we are predestinated in Christ but Christ is a Saviour and a Saviour presupposeth a sinner I will not dispute the question but this I know that my miserie occasioned his mercy and had I not been a sinner he had not been a Saviour XIIII I am elected in Christ who is my Mediator not only by his merit of impetration of pardon for me but also by the efficacie of application of that pardon to me Not only by his bloud hath he made a purchase of Heaven for sinners but also by that same bloud he hath delivered the possession of Heaven to sinners XV There is a Promise of Heaven made to us and there is a law of obedience and faith imposed on us Heaven is promised upon condition of faith and obedience and these are promised upon condition of divine assistance Lord if thou assist I will obey if I obey thou wilt reward but here are the odds that my obedience is the effect and fruit of thy grace and assistance but not the cause of thy remuneration and benevolence XVI God being the supreme cause can have no superiour cause of his actions yet some say he may produce an effect which may occasion him to work further thus the foresight of mans sin gave him occasion to precondemne him This well is too deep and I have no bucket to draw with I will not soare with the waxen wings of humane reason too nigh this inaccessible light nor will I prie into the sacred Arke of Gods secret decrees only this I can say that whatever his decrees were before time I am sure his proceeding to judgement is just in time He is so just that he never condemned any man but for sin and he is so mercifull that he will not condemne every man that doth sin XVII Justice and Mercy were still in God actually from all eternitie in respect of the first act to wit of existence though they were not alwayes in respect of the second act to wit of operation God could not alwayes exercise Justice and Mercy on sinners because there have not been alwayes sinners as soone as man sinned these attributes in God appeared which were eternally existent in him but not eternally exercised by him Lord thou hast exercised the eternitie of thy Iustice in punishing for me thy naturall Son exercise I pray the eternitie of thy Mercie for him in saving the soule of me thy adopted sonne XVIII God by his antecedent will decreed to bestow Faith and Grace on us which by his consequent will he resolved to deny us his former will was moved by his own goodnesse but his latter will was provoked by our wickednesse if we have unjustly rejected the grace which by his former will he resolved to give us may not he justly by his latter will deny that grace which was rejected so perversly by us Lord if thou art resolved by thy first will to bestow grace on me let me not by my disobedience provoke thy second will to deny that grace unto me XIX Our wickednesse is the cause that moveth God to exercise his acts of Justice but his own bountie is the cause and our miserie the occasion why he exerciseth his acts of Mercy When I am punished I will accuse my own wickednesse which provoked against me divine Iustice and when I am saved I will extoll and reverence that bountie which took occasion by my miserie to make me an object of his Mercy XX I finde a two-fold decree the one of Providence the other of Predestination by that God resolved to give us as much grace as might suffice to save us by this he appointed to give us effectuall grace that we might be powerfully saved by the former we may beleeve if we will by this we doe actually beleeve They are inexcusable that have sufficient grace though it be not effectuall for God hath dealt graciously with us in affording sufficient helps of our salvation and we have dealt wickedly with our selves in hindring the efficacie of these helps No man then hath cause to complaine of Gods crueltie seeing he hath bestowed on all men sufficient grace of Providence whereby they may be saved but many men have cause to admire Gods mercie who hath bestowed on some the effectuall grace of Predestination whereby they shall be saved XXI God will have all men to be saved and he will have wicked men to be damned that is his antecedent will this his consequent that is sometimes frustrated of its end this never and its fitting that seeing his will cannot be fulfilled by us it should be fulfilled upon us They that will not satisfie his will by their obedience shall satisfie his will in suffering just vengeance XXII God loves himself and so he doth man the one love is internall the other externall the one is eternall the other temporarie the one necessarie the other voluntarie for Gods internall actions if the object be internall naturally are absolutely necessarie as when he loves himself the agent the object the action are all internall and all necessarie in respect of existence but if the object be internall voluntarily as when God decreeth and understandeth externall objects which he makes internall by uniting them to his understanding then all these actions are voluntarie and free even his very decrees which proceed from his free will It was in his choice whether he would decree any thing concerning man or not whether he would bestow grace and glorie on him The eternall generation indeed of his
soul the cockatrice of Adams sin was first hatched I will not now dispute whether it was in the understanding being first blinded or in the will being first perverted this I know that the will is apt to be seduced by a blinde understanding and the understanding as apt to be clouded by a perverse will The understanding * moves the will by proposing the object which the will cannot affect except the understanding knowes it the will †moves the understanding to judge and consider the object which the understanding cannot consider except the will command it Lord illuminate my understanding that it may direct my will to affect the things that thou commandest and rectifie my will that it may command the understanding to exercise its act in meditating on the things which thou commandest LXIIII. If Christs obedience had been necessarie or naturall and not voluntarie he had not been like to us in all things except sin neither had he been subject to the tentation of disobedience nor had his obedience been meritorious nor had it been more excellent then the obedience of Angels but in this was his obedience more noble then theirs in that he yeelded that obedience willingly which they doe necessarily I will strive whilst I am here to obey willingly that hereafter I may obey necessarily for though voluntary obedience be the nobler yet necessarie obedience is the surer for I may disobey in the one I cannot but obey in the other LXV Though the sufficiencie of Christs death be extended to all yet the efficacie thereof is not applied to all nor did he pray and make intercession for all By his death he procured pardon for us and by his intercession he applies that pardon to us Lord in thy birth thou acceptedst my nature in thy death thou representedst my person by thy intercession put away my sins and pardon my offences that the mediation which thou begannest in thy birth and didst accomplish in thy sacrifice and passion may be fully made effectuall to me by thy prayers and intercession LXVI Action followes the affection therefore we love and hate actually because these affections are in us radically Though hatred be no affection in God yet we conceive it as an affection God therefore rejected Esau because he hated him but he did not hate him because he rejected him Lord I know thou maist justly reject me because in me there is that pravitie for which thou maist justly hate me repaire therefore in me the lost image of thy Son and so I shall escape thy just wrath and indignation LXVII The acts of Christs righteousnesse are ours not as they are performed by him but as they are imputed to us imputed I say by his merit and goodnesse and apprehended by our faith though in much weaknesse Then I see Lord that without faith thy righteousnesse will not availe me and without thy merit and goodnesse my faith cannot prevaile with thee give me then the hand of faith that with the Hemorroisse I may touch thee and by thy merit strengthen that hand that with Jacob I may hold thee LXVIII Christ first suffered before we could be redeemed and we are redeemed before it is applyed or can receive benefit by it then are we fully redeemed when we are from Satan and sin delivered Though Christ in suffering hath sufficiently paid the ransome yet whilst we are here subject to sin and Satan we are not fully partakers of redemption Heaven not earth is the place where that shall be perfected I will therefore lift up my head with joy because by death the day of my redemption draweth nigh LXIX A double benefit we have by Christ one that he hath purchased Redemption for us by his bloud the other that he hath applyed that Redemption to us by his Spirit if he had not died I could not have beleeved if I had not beleeved he had not applyed his death and merits to me Redemption is the cause of Faith and Faith the cause of Application Lord produce Faith in me by the vertue of thy passion that by Faith I may injoy thee in a true and spirituall Application LXX That the Church injoyes life eternall she is bound to Gods dilection but that she injoyes that life alone she is bound to his election because he loved her he hath bestowed this happinesse upon her because he chose her he hath appropriated this happinesse unto her Lord I will praise thy love by which I was elected and I will praise that election by which I am separated from the reprobate LXXI Gods will is the cause of preterition his justice is the cause of predemnation he was not bound to give grace to all therefore he passed by some without prejudice to his goodnesse he was bound to punish sin in all therefore he preordaines the death of his own Son and eternall paines for reprobates that he might not suffer prejudice in his justice Lord if thou hadst passed by me I could not have blamed thy goodnesse if thou shouldst punish me eternally I cannot blame thy justice for if thou givest grace to all where is thy libertie if thou forgivest all where is thy justice and equitie LXXII God is a most free Agent because he can doe what he pleaseth not because he can doe every thing his will is the supreme cause of all externall things but not of his justice which is internall as he cannot doe that which is evil so he cannot will that which is unjust as goodnesse is the object of his actions so justice is the rule of his will Lord make my actions subordinate to thy will as thy wil is subordinate to thy justice that as thou canst not will that which in justice thou maist not so I may not doe that which in wisedome thou wilst not LXXIII Though God foresaw sin in all yet he rejected not all sin was the occasion why he rejected some his will was the cause why he rejected but some his will was the cause of discrimination but sin of reprobation Lord I confesse it was not for want of sin in me that thou didst not reject me but because there was no want of goodnesse in thee therefore thou didst elect me my sin was the cause why I might have been rejected but thy mercie is the cause why I was not rejected LXXIIII God hindred Adams sin morally by his law not physically by his power he gave a law to guide him threatnings to affright him promises to induce him sufficient grace to strengthen him but used no violence or force to restraine him he would not thwart or destroy by any violent restriction that libertie which he gave him by Creation Thus we see his prudence in not restraining sin physically and withall his goodnesse in curbing it morally LXXV God willeth the death of a sinner because he foresaw the impenitencie of the sinner this is his consequent not his antecedent will in this his will depends not on the creatures
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}