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A57648 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 / Alexander Ross. Ross, Alexander, 1591-1654. 1646 (1646) Wing R1948; ESTC R1065 34,757 168

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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
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
own Son is an action of necessitie but the regeneration of his adopted sonnes is a work altogether voluntarie So much the more then will I admire and praise that goodnesse which elected and saved me by how much the more I see it was free and voluntarie but no wayes in respect of his perfection necessarie XXIII There is in man a two-fold judgement to wit an antecedent which is that of the affections and senses and a consequent which is that of reason so there is a two-fold volition the one followes the judgement of sense and it is rather an imperfect desire then a perfect volition the other followes the judgement of reason both these volitions were in Christ more eminently then in us because in him were two Wils and these by reason of his two natures were distinct in him though his person was but one therefore he desired the cup might passe from him but willed it not or he willed it by his antecedent not by his consequent will O thou that madest in thy selfe the judgement of affection stoope to the judgement of reason and madest thy desire subservient to thy will and causedst thy antecedent will to give place to thy consequent produce in me the same effect that these sinfull delights which my affections so earnestly run after and thy gentle corrections which they so earnestly run from may be so ordered that the one by me may be courageously subdued the other patiently indured that my affections may submit to my will my will to reason and reason to thy Spirit XXIIII God worketh not immediately by his decree but by his power his decree is but a remote cause his power immediate his decree is an internall action the actions of his power are externall the actions of his decrees depend on his wisedome the actions of his power are subservient to his decrees Lord if in thy wisedome thou thoughtest it good that my soul should be saved and if thou hast decreed it then let thy power be seen in effecting it XXV The necessitie and contingencie of things is not to be attributed to Gods decree but to the working of his power contingencie is when he useth his resistible power if he works irresistibly then followes necessitie what is contingent to the second cause is infallible to Gods prescience but necessarie to the work of his omnipotencie his decree is a remote cause which without his power worketh not Christs death was contingent to the Jewes that crucified him infallible to Gods prescience who foresaw that the Jewes would kill him but necessarie in regard of his decree working by his power in presenting that bitter cup unto him Why then shall afflictions dismay mee which though they be contingent in respect of the second agent yet they are infallible to that all-seeing eye of Heaven that foresaw them and necessarie if we regard that powerfull hand which inflicted them XXVI God ordereth sin though he ordained it not he ordereth it that it may be subservient to his glory he ordained it not because he sinneth not He could not ordain it seeing he hates it forbids it and punishes it Lord I ascribe to thy glorie both my salvation and my sin my salvation thou hast ordained my sin thou hast ordered that by the one I may love thy mercie and by the other I may feare thy Iustice Who but Goodnesse it selfe would ordaine the salvation of a sinner and who but Wisdome it self would order the prevarications of a sinner What is more offensive to thy nature then sin What is more destructive of thy feature in me then sin yet out of sin thou hast drawn the meanes to manifest the goodnesse of thy nature in my salvation and out of the same sin thou hast drawn a meanes to repaire in me thy decayed feature by my repentance and conversion XXVII God gave to Adam sufficient grace to stand but not to persist he permitted him to fall who by the grace he received might have stood he gave him sufficiencie of grace not permanencie in grace by the one God is cleared from iniquitie and by the other he manifests his justice and mercie if man had not been a sinner God had not been a Saviour we had not known Emanuel God with us if Adam by sin had not separated God from us we had known him as Jehova but not as Jesus O my God if thou give me sufficiencie of grace I may fall but if thou give me permanencie in grace I shall not fall give me Adams happinesse in Paradise that I may sufficiently love and know thee give me the Angels happinesse in Heaven that I may constantly love and know and eternally abide in thee XXVIII God delivered his Son to death so did Satan by Iudas God had power to doe so Satan had none God did this in love to the sonnes of men Satan did it in malice to the Son of God by an affirmative act God was willing to permit Satan to exercise his malice by a negative act he hindered him not in all this God sinned not if we consider the authoritie of the agent the forme of the action and the justice and goodnesse of his intention Though God acts not sin nor is willing it should be acted by man yet he is willing to permit it Not sin but permission is the object of his will he could not will sin because he is not sinfull he permits it because he can draw good out of it XXIX God permits not punishment but inflicts it he permits not good but commands it he wills not sin but permits it not as it is good but as out of it he drawes good O thou that drewest light out of darknesse and meat out of the eater draw good out of my evils and comforts out of my afflictions Thou canst draw honey out of the rock and turne water into wine and make bitter Meribah potable we pray thee turn the bitter waters of our Meribah our strife and contention into the pure and sweet streames of Peace and Union XXX What God cannot doe he cannot will what he cannot will he cannot decree and although affirmatively his power be of a larger extent then his will for he can doe that which he will not doe yet negatively he cannot will what he cannot doe nor doe what he cannot will he cannot doe evil therefore he cannot will it he cannot will it therefore he can neither doe it by an externall nor decree it by any internall act O that my will and actions Lord were conformable to thine for oftentimes I doe the evil which I will not and I will the good which I doe not Lord make my will conformable to thine that my actions may be conformable to my will XXXI Gods grace reacheth further then his mercy his grace is extended to all his mercy only to those that are in miserie by grace the Angels were confirmed by grace the world is preserved but by mercie man is redeemed he is gracious then to