But now the Preacher offering mercy in the Gospel to Sinners as they are Sinners here is way made for the Word to be spoke in faith because his Hearers are Sinners yea and incouragement also for the People to receive and close therewith they understanding they are Sinners Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners Luk. 24.46 47. Fourthly The Gospel must be preached to Sinners as they are Sinners without distinction of Elector Reprobate because neither the one not yet the other as considered under these simple Acts are fit subjects to embrace the Gospel for neither the one Act nor yet the other doth make either of them Sinners but the Gospel is to be tender'd to men as they are Sinners and personally under the curse of God for sin Wherefore to profer Grace to the Elect because they are Elect it is to profer Grace and Mercy to them as not considering them as Sinners And I say to deny it to the Reprobate because he is not Elected it is not only a denyal of Grace to them that have no need thereof but also before occasion is given on their part for such a Dispensation And I say again therefore to offer Christ and Grace to man Elect as simply so considered this administers to him no comfort at all he being here no Sinner and so engageth not the heart at all to Jesus Christ for that comes in and is effected on them as they are Sinners Yea to deny the Gospel also to the Reprobate because he is not Elect it will not trouble him at all for saith he So I am not a Sinner and so do not need a Saviour But now because the Elect have no need of Grace in Christ by the Gospel but as they are Sinners nor the Reprobates cause to refuse it as they are Sinners therefore Christ by the Word of the Gospel is to be profered to both without considering Elect or Reprobate even as they are Sinners The whole have no need of the Physitian but those that are sick I came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance 2 Cor. 5.14 15. Luk. 7.46 47. Mark 2.17 Thus you see the Gospel is to be tendred to all in general as well to the Reprobate as to the Elect to Sinners as Sinners and so are they to receive it and to close with the Tenders thereof CHAP. X. Seeing then that the Grace of God in the Gospel is by that to be profered to Sinners as Sinners as well to the Reprobate as the Elect Is it possible for those who indeed are not Elect to receive it and be saved TO this Question I shall answer several things But first I shall shew you what that Grace is that is tendred in the Gospel and secondly what it is to receive it and be saved First then The Grace that is offered to Sinners as Sinners without respect to this or that Person it is a sufficiency of Righteousness pardoning Grace and Life laid up in the Person of Christ held forth in the Exhortation and Word of the Gospel and promised to be theirs that receive it yea I say in so universal a Tender that not one is by it excluded or checked in the least but rather incouraged if he hath the least desire to Life yea it is held forth to beget both Desires and Longings after the Life thus laid up in Christ and held forth by the Gospel Joh. 1.16 Col. 1.19 1 John 5.11 12. Act. 13.38 39. Col. 1.23 Rom. 10.12 13 14 16.25 26. Secondly To receive this Grace thus tender'd by the Gospel it is 1. To believe it is true 2. To receive it heartily and unfeignedly through Faith And 3. To let it have its natural sway course and authority in the Soul and that in that measure as to bring forth the fruits of good living in Heart Word and Life both before God and Man Now then to the Question Is it possible that this Tender thus offered to the Reprobate should by him be thus received and embraced and he live thereby To which I answer in the Negative Nor yet for the Elect themselves I mean as considered dead in trespasses and sins which is the state of all men Elect as well as Reprobate So then though there be a sufficiencie of Life and Righteousness laid up in Christ for all men and this tender'd by the Gospel to them without exception yet sin coming in between the Soul and the Tender of this Grace it hath in truth disabled all men and so notwithstanding this Tender they continue to be dead For the Gospel I say coming in word onely saveth no man because of mans impediment wherefore those that indeed are saved by this Gospel the Word comes not to them in word onely but also in power and in the holy Ghost is mixed with Faith even with the Faith of the operation of God by whose exceeding great and mighty Power they are raised from this death of sin and inabled to embrace the Gospel Doubtless all men being dead in trespasses and sins and so captivated under the power of the Devil the Curse of the Law and shut up in unbelief it must be the Power of God yea the exceeding greatness of that Power that raiseth the Soul from this condition to receive the holy Gospel Ephes. 2.1 2 3. 1 Thess. 1.5 6. Col. 2.12 Heb. 4.1 2. Ephes. 1.18 19 c. For man by nature consider him at best can see no more nor do no more then what the Principles of Nature understands and helps to do which Nature being below the discerning of things truly spiritually and savingly good it must needs fall short of receiving loving and delighting in them The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Now I say If the natural man at best for the Elect before Conversion are no more if quite so much cannot do this how shall they attain thereto being now not onely corrupted and infected but depraved bewitched and dead swallowed up of unbelief ignorance confusion hardness of heart hatred of God and the like When a Thorn by nature beareth Grapes and a Thistle beareth Figs then may this thing be To lay hold of and receive the Gospel by a true and saving Faith it is an Act of the Soul as made a New Creature which is the workmanship of God Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God For a corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good fruit Can the Ethiopian change his skin 1 Cor. 2.11 14. Mat. 7.16 17 18. Luk. 6.43 44 45. Jer. 13.23 But yet the Cause of this impossibility 1. Lieth not in Reprobation the Elect themselves being as much unable to receive it as the other 2. Neither is it because the Reprobate is excluded in the Tender for that is universal 3. Neither is it because there wanteth Arguments in the Tenders of the Gospel
Condemnation are two distinct things properly relating to two distinct Attributes arising from two distinct Causes First They are two distinct things Reprobation a simple leaving of the Creature out of the bounds of Gods Election but to appoint to Condemnation is to bind them over to everlasting punishment Now there is a great difference between my refusing to make of such a Tree a Pillar in my House and of condemning it unto the fire to be burned Secondly As to the Attributes Reprobation respects Gods Soveraignty but to appoint to Condemnation his Justice Rom. 9.18 Gen. 18.25 Thirdly As to the Causes Soveraignty being according to the Will of God but Justice according to the Sin of Man For God though he be the onely Sovereign Lord and that to the height of perfection yet he appointeth no man to the pains of everlasting fire meerly from Soveraignty but by the Rule of Justice God damneth not the man because he is a man but a Sinner and fore-appoints him to that place and state by fore-seeing of him wicked Rom. 1.18 19. Col. 3.6 Again As Reprobation is not the same with fore-appointing to eternal Condemnation so neither is it the Cause thereof If it be the Cause then it must either 1. Leave him infirm Or 2. Infuse sin into him Or 3. Take from him something that otherwise would keep him upright 4. Or both license Satan to tempt and the Reprobate to close in with the temptation But it doth none of these therefore it is not the Cause of the Condemnation of the Creature That it is not the Cause of Sin it is evident 1. Because the Elect are as much involved therein as those that are passed by 2. It leaveth him not infirm for he is by an after-Act to wit of Creation formed perfectly upright 3. That Reprobation infuseth no sin appeareth because it is the Act of God 4. That it taketh nothing that good is from him is also manifest it being onely a leaving of him 5. And that it is not by this Act that Satan is permitted to tempt or the Reprobate to sin is manifest because as Christ was tempted so the Elect fall as much into the temptation at least many of them as many of those that are Reprobate Whereas if these things came by Reprobation then the Reprobate would be onely concerned therein All which will be further handled in these questions yet behind Object From what hath been said there is concluded this at least That God hath infallibly determined and that before the World the infallible damnation of some of his Creatures for if God hath before the World bound some over to eternal punishment and that as you say for sin then this determination must either be fallible or infallible not fallible for then your other position of the certainty of the number of Gods Elect is shaken unless you hold that there may be a number that shall neither go to Heaven nor Hell Well then if God hath indeed determined fore-determined that some must infallibly perish doth not this his Determination lay a necessity on the Reprobate to sin that he may be damned for No sin no damnation that is your own Argument Answ. That God hath ordained the damnation of some of his Creatures it is evident but whether this his Determination be positive and absolute there is the question For the better understanding whereof I shall open unto you the variety of Gods Determinations and their nature as also rise The Determinations of God touching the destruction of the Creature they are either ordinary or extraordinary Those I count ordinary that were commonly pronounced by the Prophets and Apostles c. in their ordinary way of preaching to the end men might be affected with the love of their own Salvation now these either bound or loosed but as the condition or qualification was answered by the Creature under Sentence and no otherwise 1 Sam. 12.25 Isa. 1.20 Mat. 18.3 Luk. 13.1 2 3. Rom. 2.8 9. Rom. 8.13 Rom. 11.13 1 Cor. 6.9 Again Those extraordinary though they respect the same conditions yet they are not grounded immediately upon them but upon the infallible fore-knowledge and fore-sight of God and are thus distinguished First the ordinary determination it stands but at best upon a supposition that the Creature may continue in Sin and admits of a possibility that it may not but the extraordinary stands upon an infallible fore-sight that the Creature will continue in sin wherefore this must needs be positive and as infallible as God himself Again These two Determinations are also distinguished thus The ordinary is applicable to the Elect as well as to the Reprobate but the other to the Reprobate only It is proper to say even to the Elect themselves He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned but not to say to them These are appointed to UTTER destruction or that they shall UTTERLY perish in their own Corruptions or that for them is RESERVED the blackness of darkness FOR EVER 1 King 20.42 2 Pet. 2.12 Jude 13. So then though God by these determinations doth not lay some under irrecoverable condemnation yet by one of them he doth as is further made out thus 1. God most perfectly fore-seeth the final impenitency of those that so die from the beginning to the end of the World Prov. 15.11 Psal. 139.2 Isa. 46.10 2. Now from this infallible fore sight it is most easie and rational to conclude and that positively the infallible overthrow of every such creature Did I infallibly fore-see that this or that man would cut cut his heart in the morning I might infallibly determine his death before night Object But still the Question is Whether God by this his determination doth not lay a necessity on the Creature to sin For No Sin no Condemnation This is true by your own Assertion Answ. No by no means For 1. Though it be true that Sin must of absolute necessity go before the infallible condemnation and overthrow of the Sinner and that it must also be pre-considered by God yet it needs not lay a necessity upon him to sin for let him but alone to do what he will and the Determination cannot be more infallible then the Sin which is the cause of its Execution 2. As it needs not so it doth not for this positive Determination is not grounded upon what God will effect but on what the Creature will and that not thorow the instigaâ—ion of God but the instigation of the Devil What might not I if I most undoubtedly foresaw that such a Tree in my Garden would onely cumber the ground notwithstanding reasonable means might not I I say from hence determine seven years before to cut it down and burn it in the fire but I must by so determining necessitate this Tree to be fruitless The case in hand is the very same God therefore may most positively determine the infallible damnation of his Creature and yet
not at all necessitate the Creature to sin that he might be damned Object But how is this similitude pertinent For God did not onely fore-see sin would be the destruction of the Creature but let it come into the world and so destroy the Creature If you as you fore-see the fruitlesness of your Tree should withal see that which makes it so and that too before it makes it so and yet let the impâ—diment come and make it so are not you now the cause of the unfruitfulness of that Tree which you have before condemned to the sue to be burned For God might have chose whether he would have let Adam sin and so sin to have got into the world by him Answ. Similitudes never answer every way if they be pertinent to that for which they are intended 't is enough and to that it answereth well being brought to prove no more but the natural consequence of a true and infallible fore-sight And now as to what is objected further As that God might have chose whether Sin should have come into the World by Adam to the destruction of so many To that I shall answer 1. That Sin could not have come into the World without Gods permission it is evident both from the perfection of his fore-sight power 2. Therefore all the means motives and inducements thereunto must also by him be not onely fore-seen but permitted 3. Yet so that God will have the timing proceeding bounding and ordering thereof at his dispose Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain 1 Kings 22.20 21 22. John 8.20 Luk. 22.51 52. Psal. 76.10 4. Therefore it must needs come into the world not without but by the knowledge of God not in despite of him but by his suffering of it Object But how then is he clear from having a hand in the death of him that perisheth Answ. Nothing is more sure then that God could have kept Sin out of the world if it had been his will and this is also as true that it never came into the world with his liking and compliance And for this you must consider that Sin came into the world by two steps 1. By being offered 2. By prevailing Touching the first of these God without the least injury to any Creature in Heaven or Earth might not onely suffer it but so far countenance the same that is so far forth as for trial onely As it is said of Abraham God tempted Abraham to slay his onely Son and led Christ by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil This is done without any harm at all nay it rather produceth good for it tends to discover Sincerity to exercise Faith in and Love to his Creator also to put him in mind of the continual need he hath of depending on his God for the continuation of help and strength and to provoke to Prayers to God when ever so engaged Gen. 22.1 2. Mark 1.12 Luke 4.1 Deut. 8.1 2 3. 1 Pet. 1.7 8. Heb. 5.7 Matth. 26.41 Object But God did not onely admit that Sin should be offered for trial and there to stay but did suffer it to prevail and overcome the World Answ. Well this is granted But yet consider 1. God did neither suffer it nor yet consent it should but under this consideration If Adam upright Adam gave way thereto by forsaking his Command In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Which Adam did not because God did compel him or perswade him to it but voluntarily of his own mind contrary to his God's Command So then God by suffering sin to break into the World did it rather in Judgement as disliking Adam's Act and as a punishment to man for listening to the Tempter and as a discovery of his anger at mans disobedience then to prove that he is guilty of the misery of his Creature Gen. 2.17 3.3 2. Consider also that when God permitted Sin for trial it was when offered first to them onely who were upright and had sufficient strength to resist it 3. They were by Gods Command to the contrary driven to no strait to tempt them to encline to Satan Of every Tree of the Garden thou mayst freely eat saith God onely let this alone 4. As touching the beauty and goodness that was in the Object unto which they were allured What was it Was it better then God Yea was it better then the Tree of Life for from that they were not exempted till after they had sinned Did not God know best what was best to do them good 5. Touching him that perswaded them to do this wicked Act Was his word more to be valued for truth more to be ventured on for safety or more to be honoured for the worthiness of him that spake then was his that had forbad it The one being the Devil with a Lie and to kill them the other being God with his Truth and to preserve them safe Quest. But was not Adam unexpectedly suprized Had he notice before-hand and warning of the danger for God foresaw the business Answ. Doubtless God was fair and faithful to his Creature in this thing also as clearly doth appear from these considerations 1. The very Commandment that God gave him fore-bespake him well to look about him and did indeed insinuate that he was likely to be tempted 2. It is yet more evident because God doth even tell him of the danger In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die 3. Nay God by speaking to him of the very Tree that was to be forborn telling him also where it stood that he might the better know it did in effect expresly say unto him Adam If thou be tempted it will be about that Tree and the fruit thereof wherefore if thou findest the Tempter there then beware thy life To conclude then Though Sin did not come into the World without Gods sufferance yet it did without his liking God suffered also Cain to kill his Brother and Ishmael to mock at Isaac but he did not like the same Gen. 4.9 10 11. Gal. 4.30 Secondly Therefore though God was first in concluding Sin should be offered to the World yet man was the first that consented to a being overcome thereby Thirdly then Though God did fore-determine that Sin should enter yet it was not but with respect to certain terms and conditions which yet was not to be enforced by vertue of the determination but permitted to be compleated by the voluntary inclination of a perfect and upright man And in that the determination was most perfectly infallible it was thorow the foresight of the undoubted inclination of this good and Upright Person Quest. But might not God have kept Adam from inclining if he would Answ. What more certain But yet consider 1. Adam being now an upright man he was able to have kept himself had he but looked to it as he should and might 2. This being so if