from some amongst men and leaveth them unto themselves in their naturall hardnesse letting them goe on in their blindness of mind and hardness of heart as a manifest sign of their reprobation from hence then I will note briefly thus much That Gods act of hardning of some is a free act Doctrine as his shewing of mercy is most free so his hardning it most free also he hardneth whom he will the Lord hardeneth whom he will he denieth saving grace and saving mercy to some amongst men and with holdeth it from them meerly out of his own good will and out of his own free and absolute good pleasure for beloved as Gods hardning which is a manifest sign of Reprobation is most free surely so it must needs follow and be a truth that Gods rejecting and reprobating of some is as free and without respect had to any thing in man or foreseen in them as a cause moving him thereunto but meerly out of his own free absolute good will and pleasure This point beloved I often have had occasion to note for the holy Ghost in this Chapter often offereth it unto us And I still note it against the Armenians and the Anabaptists those pestilentious spirits who hold and affirm that God doth then onely actually reject men for they make a double rejection purpose and act and they say God doth then actually reiect men when men reject Christ and refuse the Gospel then say they God rejecteth men yea say the Anabaptists the Apostle in this Chapter bendeth his face against those Jewes that were zealous of the Law of God and rejected Christ that sought righteousnesse in the works of the Law then God rejected them when they rejected Christ and sought salvation by the Law against those say they the Apostle bendeth his face and beateth Now this conceit of theirs cannot stand with the plain evidence of this whole Chapter and especially with the evidence of this verse the example of Pharaoh maketh directly against them for consider it was Pharaoh a a Jew can Pharaoh be so considered as one zealous of the Law of God can this possibly be see how absurd and grosse they are in their opinions they cannot observe and mark that the Apostle bringeth not onely the example of Esaw a Jew but the example of Pharaoh a Gentile thereby shewing that the Lord hath rejected some amongst men as well Jewes as Gentiles so that you see the Apostle meaneth that God freely and out of his own good will and pleasure without respect had to any thing in men hath rejected some amongst men both of Jewes and Gentiles Again in that the Apostle saith God hardneth whom he will here you see that the Apostle doth limit that Act of Gods hardning to some amongst men so that the observation is plain viz. Doctrine That Gods will is to harden some amongst the sonnes of men The Lord is pleased to deny his saving grace and mercy and to with hold it from some amongst men the places before alledged shewing that God out of his meer pleasure reached out his saving mercy not unto all but onely to some that very point doth evidence the truth of this point that God doth with hold saving grace and saving mercy from some amongst men and doth harden them but this may be further proved more particularly We finde in the Book of Exodus it is often said that the Lord did harden the heart of Pharaoh as in the 7. chapter and 3. verse saith God I will harden Pharaohs heart and in the 9. chapter and 12 verse and also in the 10. chapter and the 20. verse The Lord hardned Pharaohs heart and so in divers places and also in Deuteronomy 2.30 Moses telleth the people of God that the Lord their God hardened the heart of the King of Moab that he should not give passage to the people of Israel God made him an obstinate heart and in Joshuah 11.20 Joshuah speaketh thus That it came of the Lord to harden the hearts of the wicked enemies of the Church of God and in Psalm 81.12 the Psalmist saith That the people yielded not unto God for he hardened their hearts this may sufficiently evidence unto us that Gods will is to harden some amongst men and he is pleased to deny his saving mercy unto them How God hardeneth the heart But happily here some not so well conceiving this point how God is said to harden men it being difficult to their capacitie may desire to be further enformed touching this point And therefore for their satisfaction know beloved that God is said to harden some men not by infusing or putting of hardnesse in their hearts or making some mens hearts hard that were soft as the Papists falsly charge us to affirm no nor yet by a bare permission by a bare permitting and suffering men so to be as if the Lord were but a Spectator and a looker on in the hardening of their hearts and had no hand in it this is the dream and opinion of the Papists but it is neither of these wayes neither by infusing hardnesse nor by a bare permission But surely God hardeneth some amongst men two wayes First by a spiritual disertion by forsaking of men and not vouchsafing his softning grace unto them so that it is truely said indurit quos non emollit he hardeneth whom he softneth not Secondly by punishing men for their former sinnes by greater sinnes by punishing their former hardnesse by a further hardnesse adding one hardnesse to another for it is a just thing with God to inflict sinne for sinne And God doth this either by leaving men to the power of the Devil as Gods executioner and tormenter or the Lord leaveth them over to the lusts of their own hearts and to their own corruptions and so the point is thus to be conceived That Gods will is to harden some amongst the sonnes of men by forsaking of them and not vouchsafing his softning grace and that by spiritual disertion and as a just Judge either giving them over to the power of the Devil to be wrought upon by him as Gods executioner or giving them over to the lusts of their owne hearts Object I but may some say obduratenesse and hardnesse in man is a sinne and an evil thing how then can God be said to harden men Answ It is true indeed hardnesse in men is an evil and sinne and a fearful sinne but hardning is not so hardnesse is a sinne but to harden is not the one is a qualitie and the other an act hardnesse is an evil qualitie in mens hearts but hardning is an act of the just judgement of God infflicted upon the souls of men and so it is a good thing and no sin in him First of all this being duly considered that Gods will is to harden Vse 1 some amongst men this in the first place may keep us from wondering and thinking it strange that when the meanes of grace the means that serve to
either flye in your face and blot or blemish you and say you will not swear but you will do worse I warrant you or else they will say I swear nothing but the truth and men will never believe me unlesse I swear Oh in the fear of God consider it that it is credit dearly bought that is got with the pawning of thy soul to the devill for so thou doest in rapping out thy rash oathes and though thou swear nothing but the truth yet every truth is not to be confirmed by an oath no it must be a truth of speciall weight and consequence the preservation of thy life or such like great and weighty cause and then it must be with a good conscience and therefore thy swearing in thy buying and selling as to swear by God it cost me so much thou sinnest against God fearfully and thou takest the name of God in vain and this thy ordinary swearing is a sign of a gracelesse wretch that thou hast no dram of grace in thy heart that thy tongue is set on fire of hell James 3.6 And know withal that as thy ordinary swearing hath the devil for the Father of it so without repentance hell shall be the end of it and of thee also thou shalt be plunged body and soul into hell In matters of great weight and consequence we may take an oath for the glory of God the salvation of a mans soul the reducing of men from Popery all other Oathes as to swear rashly that is a fearfull provoking of God against thy soul and remember that connexion of the Lord which he hath put to the Commandement that the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his Name in vain And therefore in the name of God let us make conscience of swearing and flie from an Oath as from a Serpent For thy tongue is set on fire of the Devil if thou swearest ordinarily in thy common conference and those that use it labour to repent of that sin for it is a fearful impiety and a declaration that thou hast no grace in thy heart but art a very Miscreant and therefore in the fear of God let thy communication in thy usual speech be yea yea or nay nay for whatsoever is more Matth. 5.34 35. cometh of evil of the Devil I say the truth in Christ I lye not my Conscience bearing me witnesse in the Holy Ghost In that the Apostle calleth Christ to witnesse and sweareth by his name it is a sufficient evidence and proof of the God-head of Christ And hence I might stand to prove the God-head of Christ that none can know the heart but God but we shall have more cause to speak of this in the last verse of the context Doctr. But from hence we may learn that such as are lawfully called to swear they must swear onely by the name of God when a necessary and a weighty truth is to be confirmed by an oath and that men and women are called to swear they knowing it to be a truth they must call God to witnesse that truth and must only swear by the holy Name of God so the Lord himself hath commanded Deut. 6.13 Thou shalt swear by the name of the Lord thy God and he repeateth the same again Deut. 10.20 Thou shalt swear by the name of the Lord thy God and in Esay 45.23 every tongue shall swear by me saith the Lord. Howsoever swearing there may be taken for the whole worship of God yet it may be applyed to this that every one that sweareth must swear by the holy Name of God And indeed an oath lawfully taken is a part of Gods worship as appeareth in the two places in Deuteronomy before alledged it is a part of Gods Worship thou shalt fear the Lord thy God thou shalt serve him and swear by his name yea swearing upon a lawful calling and lawfully in truth in righteousnesse and in Judgment it is a reverent use of the holy Name of God it is so far from dishonouring God that it is a reverent use and a glorifying of God For it is an acknowledgment of God to be the Searcher and Knower of the hearts of men and of their secret thoughts and that God is a witnesse even unto those that swear falsly and perjuriously and a revenger on those that forswear themselves and that he testifieth to the things that lye hid and dark in our secrets from men and therefore God must be called to witnesse the truth when any truth is witnessed by an oath As for the formes of speeches used in the Scripture viz. As thy soul liveth 2 King 2.4 and Verily Verily used by Christ in John 3.5 they be earnest asseverations and they do strongly and vehemently affirm truth and an oath or oathes taken and used as it ought to be in a right manner in truth in righteousnesse and in Judgment before a Magistrate or in private with reverence it is a worshipping of God Hereby we are to take notice Vse of a foul sin that many of us are guilty of and make light reckoning and account of For what is more usuall with many amongst us then to swear even in their ordinary speech by the Blood and Wounds of his blessed body namely by all the parts of the blessed body of Jesus Christ yea some by the bread the drink the light the fire the money the Crosse of the coyn and to swear by their faith and troth and they that so swear think they swear no great oathes and some swear superstitious oathes by St. Mary by S. Anne and by the abominable Idol the Masse and some that swear by mincing detracting oathes as by Masse by Making and by Laking gods so and good lack is not this common amongst us yea too too common in your mouthes Now by swearing thus what do you but sin fearfully that which ought to be highly honoured in the matter of an oath you dishonour God exceedingly yea take notice of it you abuse the things you swear by and put them into the place and room of God and give unto these things what is to be attributed unto God as infinite Justice infinite Knowledge infinite Power as if they were able and of power and knowledge to know the thing we call them to witnesse and as if so be they were able to punish if you swear falsly a fearful height of sin will the Lord suffer such a foul sin to escape his punishing hand Will the Lord suffer you to place your Faith and Troth in his room to thrust him out of his Throne and Seat of Majestie and shall not his hand of vengeance light upon you for so great a sin yes surely without repentance the hand of the Lord will light fearfully both upon body and soul Jer. 5.7 saith the Lord How shall I spare thee for this as if he had said I cannot spare thee for this for what thy children have forsaken me How they have sworn by things that
witnesse of the Conscience Many there be that think of their consciences witnessing holily and truly of the good things said or done by them when indeed and in truth there is no such matter when their Consciences telleth them that they pray and hear Sermons as the consciences of all erring spirits Papists and Anabaptists Familists and others their consciences cannot witnesse truly with them and holily they fail in their Judgment and their consciences must needs be erroneous and so cannot possibly afford them any true comfort surely they think they do exceeding great service to God but they are deceived and their Judgment is erroneous But to draw near unto our selves Thus standeth the case with all unregenerate persons and such as be in their natural estate the consciences of unregenerate persons do many times witnesse much good in respect of the good things said or done by them Their conscience telleth them oh they have much good and great comfort in hearing the Word especially if they live a civil honest life and be free from grosse sins and deal justly and truly with men their consciences telleth them that they are in a marvellous good case and you cannot drive them from it for why their Conscience telleth them so that they are no Drunkards no Theeves no Swearers and God is well pleased with them and they have much good and comfort by the testimony of their consciences But their Conscience doth witnesse falsly so as the Prophet saith a deceitful heart hath cousened them Esay 44. and their Conscience cannot possibly truly witnesse any comfort to them For the good things they have done be they the best works or words or deeds done that possibly can be spoken or done their conscience cannot truly witnesse so long as they be unregenerate and therefore to conclude this point If thou wouldst have thy conscience to witnesse holily and truly and to thy comfort never rest untill thou find that thy conscience is sprinkled with the blessed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 9.14 which is able to purge thy conscience and that thy heart is purified by faith and sanctified by grace and then thy Conscience will witnesse with thee in the Holy Ghost otherwise it is but a deceitful conscience that maketh men soothe up themselves and esteem themselves in a holy and good estate without cause VERSE 2. That I have great heavinesse and continual sorrow in my heart NOw from hence in that the Apostle doth set down his grief and sorrow for the rejection of the Jewes I might stand to shew that Gods Children are not stocks nor stones free from natural affections Gods Children have humane affections of joy and sorrow and love which is common to the nature of man but those are rectified and by grace guided to right objects and that by due measure and moderation according to the nature of the object to which they are moved The Apostle maketh this a note of such that are given over to unnatural sences Rom. 1.30 that they want natural affections and doubtlesse the more true and sincere grace is in the heart of Gods children certainly the more tender are the affections of that heart and soul and the more effectual apprehension of any true cause of matter of sorrow or grief but to passe by that And to come to the main point In that the Apostle doth manifest that he had great heavinesse and sorrow and that for the rejection of the Jews that was the object of his sorrow because the Jewes were left in the blindnesse of mind and hardnesse of heart and did not imbrace the Gospel this was matter of great heavinesse to the heart of the blessed Apostle in the first place the observation is this That we are to be grieved for the known miseries of others Doctr. and especially for the known miseries of the soules of others we are to grieve and to mourn for others that we know do lye under any heavy trouble or affliction or distresse in respect of any outward calamity but beloved our hearts must bleed and be broken for the evils that we know do lye upon the soules of others we are exceedingly to be grieved for the blindnesse of the mind and hardnesse of their heart that they go on in sin without repentance with an high hand that they are led by the lusts of their own hearts and according to the lust of their vile hearts in security and brutish lusts this is that which must stick close and wound us especially Besides this evidence in the example of the Apostle we have testimony in other places of Scripture in Ezek. 9.4 we read of the godly who should be marked and have a mark set on their forehead that they should not be destroyed in the common overthrow of Hierusalem they were such as cryed and mourned for the abominations that were committed by others in that City their hearts bled not so much for the overthrow of the City as for the hardnesse of the hearts of men such as did abominably and in Jer. 13.17 saith the Prophet when the people would not hear him and yeeld obedience to the voyce of God in his Ministery My eyes shall weep in secret and why for the hardnesse of the hearts of the people that they would not take notice of the Word of God and the Judgments of God denounced against them for their sins Oh saith the Prophet I must needs grieve for your obstinacy and Psal 119.136 saith David my eyes gush out with rivers of water thereby expressing the grief of his heart why because they were under any calamity no because men keep not the Law of God even for the sins that lye upon the soules of men and the hardnesse of their hearts And the Apostle witnesseth of that holy man just Lot that his soul was vexed with the filthy lusts and unclean conversation of the filthy Sodomites 1 Pet. 2.7 they vexed just Lot from day to day with their filthy abominations and it is witnessed of Christ himself in Mark 3.5 that he mourned for the hardnesse of the hearts of the Pharisees even the blessed soul and heart of the Lord Jesus mourned for the hardnesse of their hearts that they would not be humbled for their sins and in Luke 19.41.42 The Lord Jesus wept for what because Hierusalem should be ruinated not so simply but also especially for the hardnesse of their hearts and that they would not take notice of those things that did belong to their peace the Lord had sent his Prophets and his own Son and yet they would not hearken so that we see it is a clear truth that we are especially to be grieved for the miseries and the known evils of the soules of others those that continue in their sins and will go on with perseverance in swearing Sabbath-breaking Drunkennesse and the like for these we are especially to mourn and to be grieved The Reason Reason is because the evils that be upon the soul of
his mercy and Justice In massa pura non corrupta we are then to be thankful unto God even when we are plunged into the deepest Afflictions we can think of we are though it seem harsh and hard to blesse God and to consider in the time of our afflictions O Lord if thou shouldest deal with us as we have deserved we had been long since in hell now if the Lord do mitigate our Judgments and hath appointed us to salvation we are to magnifie his mercy considering his lawful authority over us to do what he will with us Again we considering that the lump of clay is here to be considered untainted free from tincture and pollution so we are to conceive of mankind in the making of him free from corruption That Gods will in appointing men to their several and final ends is absolute Gods will is dependent on nothing out of God Doct. 3 and independent it dependeth upon nothing in man good or evil God had not respect to man at all either to sin original or actual neither to his fall nor to his works good or evil but as the Potter maketh of the same lump being not tainted with any tincture so the Lord in appointing men to their final ends and everlasting estate did it out of his free will depending upon nothing in man it was absolute And hence it is that the Apostle determineth Gods predestination his choosing of some to life and reprobating of others in the good will and pleasure of God in Ephes 1.5 and in the 11. verse he saith God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will not unadvisedly but with counsel Because the Will of the Lord is the highest cause of all things and when we are come to that we are not to search any further nor to reason Reason about it but to rest in the will of God Gods will being the Supream cause of all things This being a truth Vse it beareth strongly against the opinion of some erring spirits as namely those that say that God in appointing men to their final ends had respect to something in man as either to their faith and good works or to their unbelief and obstinacy in sin Now this doth not onely make the will of the Lord dependent upon mans will that if men will be saved they shall if not damned but this opinion of theirs if we mark and observe it it maketh a dissimilitude between God and the Potter which are here put together in affinity and agreement But this doth overturn and contradict it And if this be true then this text is not true for if God had respect to something in man surely then God need not appoint any person definitively nor certainly to be a vessel of honour but conditionally if they did believe And so they make God to frame divers persons diversly qualified to divers ends and that with respect had to their qualification all men if they believe shall be saved if not none And so this disannulleth and overthroweth this similitude of the Apostle of the Potter who maketh of the same lump vessels to honour and vessels to dishonour so God out of the general lump of mankind not corrupted maketh some men to honour and some to dishonour I but may some say the Apostle saith Object in 2 Tim. 2.21 if any man purge himself from evil he shall be made a vessel of honour so that it dependeth not upon Gods will but upon our purging of our selves and our purifying of our hearts and lives To this I answer The Apostle in that place alledged Answ he speaketh not either of the decree of election and fore-appointing of some men to life and salvation nor yet of his effectual vocation and effectual calling But in this place the Apostle speaketh of the office and duty of Christians and he sheweth how a Christian must carry himself different from a Reprobate and answerable that he may be a vessel of honour sanctified and purged from the drosse of Corruption and from the sin and sinful courses of the world And this is the duty of every believing and elect Child of God thus they ought to demean and purge themselves and to carry themselves even as sanctified vessels fitted and prepared for glory so that this still remaineth a truth that Gods will in appointing men to their final ends it is absolute And we are to hold this as a certain truth for if we be in the number of Gods chosen we are built upon a sure foundation namely the absolute will of the Lord and that standeth more firm and stable and immoveable then the frame of heaven and earth the very frame of heaven and earth shall be turned upside down before this shall be shaken Oh what an excellent ground of comfort is this to as many as know themselves to be in the number of Gods chosen that they shall never lose it it being built upon so sure a foundation as Gods most absolute will which can never be moved VERSE 22. What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction IN these two Verses our Apostle he maketh a real Answer to the Caviller and Carnal Reasoner the Caviller reasoneth thus from the words of the Apostle that some men are hardened it is the will of God so saith the Apostle he hardeneth whom he will what reason is there then that God should complain of such men that are hatdened the will of God is irresistible it cannot be withstood and you teach us God hardeneth whom he will what then saith the Caviller hath God to complain of Now herein first our Apostle doth check the Cavillers saucinesse and malapertnesse in the 20. verse Who art thou O man shewing the absurdity of the reasoning against God and it is as if the formed thing should say to the former why hast thou made me thus amplifying that by a similitude of the Potter whereby the Apostle implyeth that as the Potter may lawfully do with his clay what he will and frame out of it several vessels to several uses so may the Lord ordain some men to life and glory and some to shame and confusion Now the Apostle having thus made way to the Real Answer now he cometh to it and sheweth that God may lawfully punish Reprobates for their hardnesse And that God is just in threatening and punishing men for their hardnesse of heart this he proveth by the Lords manner of dealing with Reprobates because saith he the Lord suffereth them with long patience as if he had said though the Lord had decreed their rejection and casting off for ever yet before the Lord hath executed any degree of his punishment he suffereth them with long patience to continue that he may the better declare his just wrath and Judgment upon them and his power in them and may make known the riches of his mercy toward his chosen