upon it that it is sure to have Oh that Unbelief and distrust should ever overwhelm any Godly soul Doth not the Apostle triumph and say Who can lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect Rom. 2. It 's Christ that died Though the divine nature could not suffer yet he that suffered was God as well as man and so it is to be accounted of infinite worth This is more then the Obedience of Men and Angels put together 2. It is of infinite worth in respect of the gracious readinesse and willingnesse of him who did utter it Christ received grace into his humane nature without measure and so this being the gracious offering of him who was God and man it must have necessary acceptance 3. It had infinite worth in respect of the thing uttered which was no lesse then the precious body and bloud of Christ himself he thought not those preparatory sufferings and agonies enough but he consummates all by his Death Oh then let not the trembling sinner fear the insufficiency of the ransome doubt not whether every farthing be paid Say not though such sins may be discharged yet can this that I have committed Can the bloud of Christ cover this sinne as well as others Secondly Consider that though Christ offered up himself as a Sacrifice yet the application of it must be in such a way that God hath appointed It 's not enough that there is a potion which will cure all diseases but it must be taken in that way which the Physician doth prescribe and thus though Christ offered up himself to reconcile God to man yet this is not done till by faith it be received As the bloud of thâ— Sacrifice was to be sprinkled with hysop Thus the bloud of Christ ere it doth wash away our sins must by Faith be sprinkled upon the soul and therefore it 's not altogether here as it is when a man is indebted and lying in prison one comes and paieth the debt for him This man is released without any more a do There is no further thing required but the setting of him at lâ—berty for though Christ hath thus offerrd up himself for the pardon of sinnes yet the Father hath made such an appointment that this price should reach to none but those that beleeve and therefore this Doctrine doth not give the least security to any man to sinne for though Christ died yet his bloud may do thee no good Thou maist lie roaring in hell to all Eternity for all this because thou art not one who doth partake of this death Know the godly themselves while unconverted and abiding in their sinnes have not that actuall benefit of Justification which cometh effectually by Christs Death Thirdly Hence Christs bloud is not only cleansing and washing away the guilt of sinne but the filth of it The Apostle Tit. 3. said that he died to redeem us a peculiar people to himself zealous of good works So that there is none can pleade the justifying efficacy of Christs Death that have not also the sanctifying efficacy of it as it followeth in the Text That they might be sanctified and this will pull up by the very roots all that carnal confidence that most have That come to Christs Death as unto a common Sanctuary It 's true I am a grievous sinner but Christ died Christ was made a Sacrifice but what is this to thee who wallowest in thy filthy lusts Thou art full of thy noisome sinnes and if Christs Death did belong to thee it would wash thee it would purifie thee Do not think Christs bloud can be sprinkled on thee for the pardon of sinne and not for the washing away the filth of it This is the ruine of thousands they divide Christ and separate one effect of his death from another Fourthly Though Christ did but once offer up himself yet the vertue and power of it doth abide for ever It 's not necessary that Christ should be alwaies dying therefore he is said to be a Priest for ever yea this Death of Christ did extend to all the Godly that lived before his Sufferings Abel Abraham and all in the Old Testament had no other Sacrifice to please God with but this It is noted by a Learned man that therefore Cains Sacrifice was not accepted because he did not as Abel offer such a propitiatory Sacrifice as was a Type of Christ but rested in his own duties and works yea it 's thought God by covering Adams nakednesse with skins of Beasts did thereby teach Christs Righteousnesse Look then upon the bloud of Christ as powerfully working as if to day he had been crucified It works as a morall Cause by Covenant and agreement with the Father and therefore it doth as strongly work as ever Fifthly It 's continually useful and necessary seeing we renew sinnes daily and therefore run into new infirmities constantly therefore it behoveth us to apply this medicine continually If a man had been a hundred times stung by Serpents he was as often to look upon the exalted Serpent to be healed if therefore we fall into the mire daily we need washing as often if we get noisomenesse upon us this bloud must daily clense us and certainly we may all say with Peter Not my feet but my whole body also Let that be washed Doth not every part of us get some new pollution Are not hearts affections and mindes constantly polluted If so we cannot be a moment without the application of it as often as we breathe we need the Sprinkling of Christs bloud Sixthly We are to Consider the certain successe and prevalency of it No sooner did the Messengers say Vriah was dead but Davids anger was removed When the destroying Angel seeth this bloud he will passe by if Moses his praier could so much prevail with God that he saith Let me alone and Lot was so accepted that the Angel cannot destroy Sodom till he be removed Then how powerful and prevalent must Christs bloud be Seventhly This Sacrifice is that which Christ presents to his Father The Socinians wold have Christ performing his Priestly Office only in Heaven but it 's plain he did it on earth only what he once did he constantly presents to his Father and the minding of God with this is a farre more efficacious thing then that of the Rainbow God when he beholds this will not again drown the world and when he looketh on Christ will not condemn the humbled sinner Therefore Christ is described Rev. 10. with a Rainbow upon his head to signifie as some think the pacificatory vertue that is in Christ Eighthly The purity of the Sacrifice is not to be forgotten He is called the pure and spotlesse Lamb 1 Pet. 1.19 As it behoved us to have a Priest without sinne So a Sacrifice without any defect otherwise that Sacrifice would have needed another and so there would have been no end Therefore though all we can offer which is ours
Justification with whom Vorstius and Grotius in this Opinion associate themselves as also one or two late English Writers Doctor Hammond Pract. Catech. lib. â— Sect. 3. Now when I had endeavoured to state the Question in a most candid and fair way between those that deny Works to be a Condition sine quâ non of our Justification and those who affirme A Reverend and Learned Brother judging himself to be concerned in this Opinion likewise doth complain of the want of candor and truth Confess Preface in my stating of the Question wherein I rather expected thanks for my ingenuity For first I said All Merit and Efficiency was with great distaste removed from these works of Grace in our Justification Therefore the Question was Upon what account these are required in Justified persons Whether in some Causality or Concurrence as Faith is onely not with such a Degree of Excellency Now let any Judicious Reader that is acquainted with this Controversie decide wherein any candour or truth may be desired herein For I say Causality which is a general word not Efficiencie or Merit Againe I say Some Causalitie Causalitas quaedam which is Terminus diminuens Yea I added the word Concurrence which might easily satisfie any how low I brought the Question Yea as if this had not been enough I propounded it in other termes Whether good Workes be required as well as Faith Yet when I had done all this he complaineth as if wrong were done I am still more confirmed and that by this instance in what I delivered in that Preface That it is not a compendious or proper way to finde out truth and discover an Errour by dealing with persons according to their particular expressions or to attend to personall reflexions but to abstract the Question and to handle it in Thesi For how many words upon words may be multiplied in this very particular My Reverend Brother saith He vehemently disclaimeth all Causality of Workes in Justification Surely his meaning is all Proper Causall Efficiency and so did I in the stating of it but to deny Causality in a large sense is plainly to contradict himself For in his Aphorisme 74 Thesis They both viz. Faith and Works justifie in the same kinde of Causality viz. as Causae siâ—e qâ—ibus non or mâ—dâ—ate and improper Causes Or as Doctor Twiss Causae diâ—positivae but with this difference Faith as the principall part Obedience as the lesse princâ—pall Here is Causality though improper Here is a Causa dispositiva and yet shall I be blamed after I had removed Efficiency and Merit to staâ—e it with a Causalitas quaedam some Causality or Concurrence And therefore all the Arguments I produce are not against any supposed Causality but that Faith onely is that which justifieth and that good Works quâ Workes let them be Meritorious Efficient or Conditions onely are excluded as to the Act of Justification Grotius in cap. 2. Jacobi who maketh this Promise of Justification and Salvation Ad donationem sub conditione quam ad proprie dictam locuâ—ionem conductionem propius accedere happily this may occasion such great recourse to the Lawyers about the Nature of Conditions doth yet notwithstanding on the 2â—th verse of the 2d Chapter of James from that expression of the Apostle Faith did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inferre Docemur non male fidem opera fidei posse dici causam Justificationis modo non intelligamus cauâ—am primariam sed conditiones quae saepe cauâ—ae sine quibus non aut sui generis causae dicuâ—tur But I need not runne to this for my Arguments militate against Workes as Workes justifying under any pretended Notion whatsoever And this maketh me admire how my Learned Brother could let â—f all one Passage wherein he may be so pâ—lpâ—bly and ocularly convinced to the contrary by the first looking upon my Arguments That which he saith is The strength of my Arguments lieth upon a supposition That Conditions have a moral Efficiency not to examine how freely he manageth his Answer to such a supposition Now this is that which I affâ—rme That there is not one oâ— these ten Arguments brought against Justification by Workes as a Conditio sine quâ non that is built upon this suâ—position or hath any dependance on it onely in the fourth Argument after the full strength thereof is delivered then I do ex abunâ—anti and by way of amplification shew that a Condition in a Covenant strictly taken I put in that limitation hath a moral Efficiencie and is a causa cum quâ not a causa sine quâ non But this is onely by way of addition The Argument did not depend on this Assertion And my Learned Brother saith Some conditions and most among men are Morall Impulsive causes I finde another thing urged likewise as not fair dealing and that is To fasten upon his Opinion that we may say a Justifying Repentance as well as Justifying Faith and also Justifying Love Indeed in my Book it is Law and that was the Printers fault which I am sorry for because I see my Learned Brother so much moved at that as if he were charged to hold a justifying Law it should have been Love But why doth this offend my Reverend Brother He doth not say It is not true to say justifying Repentance or justifying Love but it is not fit to say Confess in the Pref. Why is it not fit if it be true It may be such an expression would be offensive to godly eares and therefore not fit Can Love be a Condition of Justification and yet not Justifying Love as a Condition This seemeth very strange But it 's said Faith hath a peculiar fitnesse and aptnesse to receive Christ which Love hath not It is true and therefore Faith onely Justifieth and not Love Thus it maketh against him and not for him Besides with him Faith justifieth as a Condition not from its peculiar aptnesse and therefore Love and Repentance being Conditions must justifie aequè with Faith though not aequaliter Faiths aptnesse is the remote reason as it is a Condition that is the proxime and formall reason Now Repentance and Love have this formall reason for they are Conditions Certainly if Brutum were Animal rationale he would be Homo as well as man is Some other minute and inconsiderable Objections are also brought in but they are not worthy of a contest I therefore return again from this Digression to the Subject in hand which is to take notice of the great Usefulness and Excellency of the matter contained in this Prayer of Christs Luther did justly call John the Evangelist for this Book Malleus Pelagianorum the hammer of Pelagians we may adde also of Socinians and Arians Hence Sixtus Senensis speaketh of some Heretiques called Alogi a name that Epiphanius did justly put upon them because they rejected this Gospel of John and could not endure this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word so often mentioned by
death truly to say Lord I have glorified thee in my life I have finished all the work I was to do This Subject will be very profitable and necessary you cannot expect health and life alwaies in this world your time is running your daies are decaying you are hasting to the grave who knoweth how soon God will put a period to thy life in this world What then should be more in your hearts and thoughts then this Whether have I lived to Gods glory whether have I faithfully discharged the work put upon me It 's not riches wealth greatnesse or any earthly advantages will then do you good This or nothing will then be a reviving to you We have two pregnant examples for this 2 Kin. 20.3 When that sad message was brought to Hezekiah that he must set his house in order for he must die and not live What is a comfort and a cordial to him under this bitter news Remember O Lord that I have walked before thee With an upright heart and done what was good in thy sight Hezekiah had great outward prosperity he had many earthly delights as a King but see how every earthly comfort vanisheth away That he had served God in the uprightnesse of his heart comforted him more then all earthly honour or greatnesse The other Instance is in Paul 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course a Crown of glory is laid up for me If all the glory of the world had been given Paul would it have comforted him like this Testimony of a godly conversation Oh how many dying men may say I have served the devil I have fullfilled his lusts and now I goe to my everlasting torments To quicken and affect you in this Point take notice of these Introductory particulars First That there is a day of Judgement when God will call every man to account We are not to live here as we list and to do all things without controul No God hath appointed a time when every man shall appear before him and he must give an account of all his time all his Talents all his actions all his thoughts of all things in this world that have been his The Scripture is very clear in this formidable Truth 2 Cor. 5. We must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ to give an account for what hath been done in the flesh Mat. 12.36 yea of every idle word we must give an account yea of every secret thing Eccl. 12.16 The Parable of the Talents Mat. 25.15 where the man with ten with five with two are called to give an account of their improvement doth evidently shew that there is no good thing we have let it be health wealth riches but we as Stewards must be reckoned with concerning the good improvement of them Oh beloved what an overwhelming consideration is this to think the time is coming when every thought every word every hour every day every opportunity every penny every thing I have had will be called for who can hear these things and not tremble Never think all thy sins are forgotten no the Scripture attributes a Book to God God writeth down every thing and those Books will be opened what manner of persons should we be who beleeve these things Rev. 20.11 Is it for you to live riotously to follow all vain pleasures and delights or not rather to pray and mourn and bethink your selves what is to be done at this time 2. Take notice That there is no man or woman though never so inconsiderable but they have their severall Talents They have their peculiar work to doe and their proper relations to serve God in There is none but they have their course to finish they have the work of God to do and therefore let no man think it may be for Magistrates for Ministers for great men for rich men to look to those things but not such inferiour persons as they No he that had but one Talent that is the least ability and opportunity to glorifie God yet because he was negligent he is called an unprofitable servant and is cast out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth So then barrennesse and unprofitablenesse in our places and relations will be a damning sinne yet who considers this Do I promote the glory of God Is God honoured by me in my place and calling Do not I hide my talent in a Napkin Am I able to answer for my great neglect For thy health who can speak for that For time and many daies given to repent who can speak for that These things will be fire in your bones They will be thunder in your ears and arrows in your heart though for the present thou dost not matter them Thirdly Though it be the duty upon all thus to glorifie God and do our work commanded yet none is able to be perfect in this None ever lived that could challenge a Crown of glory for his perfect service Indeed Christ he being God and man did all these things without sinne therefore he was a full Mediatour for us God had nothing the Law had nothing to object against him but every meer man hath a woe belonging to his best life to his best duties if God judge him in strict justice· Hence David praieth that God would not enter into judgement with him that he would not mark every thing done amisse Why because in thy sight no flesh shall be justified Psa 143.2 So David doth not only exclude himself for he had murther and adultery and many other things amisse in his life but no flesh shall be justified None though preserved from such fals And Paul whom you have heard acknowledging the good fight he had fought and looking for a Crown of glory yet doth not challenge any perfection for at another time he accounts all things dung and drosse and would be found in Christ Phil. 3. having the righteousnesse by faith so that all doctrines of perfection and a possibility to be without sinne in this life are but the proud dreams of carnal men Therefore Fourthly No service or works that we have done are any waies meritorious or have any causal influence upon our Salvation It 's very hard to preach the necessity of all holy and good works and not presently to look on them as merits and causes of Salvation but we see the Scripture doth both and therefore we are to reconcile them in our practise To be zealous of good works yet to rely only on Christs merits It 's not my purpose here to give you several grounds why the best holy action we do comes short of all kinde of merit It 's enough to inform you Rom. 4. that beleeving and working are opposed and so works and grace and indeed to hold the fulnesse of Christs merits and yet to pleade our own is to think that the light of the Sun is not able to make perfect day unlesse we light a candle
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quiet easie death without pangs and torment but this is the easiest the comfortablest the best dying Oh that we should preferre any thing before that Oh that thou shouldst not cry out of every sin This will trouble me when I am dying 4. It 's a blessed thing to go out of the world having done Gods work because we are immediatly to appear before him No sooner is thy soul gone out of the body but it appeareth before God he either for thy sinne adjudgeth it to hell or because thou art a member of Christ appoints thee to eternall glory oh then when there is but such distance between God and thy soul how comfortable is it to have been all thy life time glorifying God Thou hast been glorifying God and God comes now to glorifie thee Thou hast been doing his work and now he is giving thee the good things promised Oh Beloved how should this prevail with you there is but a step between my soul and God how will God look on me who can endure his frowns and displeasures Doth not the Apostle say It 's a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.3 And now I am falling into Gods hands either the hands of a merciful Father or provoked enemy Well then while thou art in these conflicts and agonies what support is it to have this sure evidence O Lord in my life time I lived for thee and to thee now I come to live with thee O Lord In my life time I knew thee I did thy work but I was at a vast distance now I come to the immediate injoying of thee Reas 5 5. It s a blessed thing to have this evidence because it 's of that good which will be eternall Canst thou truly say thus then it 's an immortall Crown of Glory that is laid up for thee no more deaths no more changes no more fears or tears thou art made for ever But of this heretofore Vse of Admonition Let every one attend and give all diligence to get this evidence Oh the terrour and horrour that must take hold on thee if thou hast been dishonouring of God all thy life long if thou hast been doing the work that sinne and Satan tempted thee to why art thou so devoid of all understanding will thy health and strength alwaies hold Art thou exempted from the stroke of death Is not thy time running on sit down then and consider what thoughts will at thy death possesse thee What testimony have I that I have done the work of the Lord Oh doth not thy life accuse thee Is it not all over bloody Canst thou think of what thou hast been with any content Is thy life at present such that thou canst say O Lord I am doing thy work Oh the amazement and astonishment that should take hold on such men SERMON XX. Sheweth who they are that cannot at the close of their daies take comfort in this That they have finished the work God gave them to do As also what things if not avoided will much diminish the comfort of the Godly ones at that day JOH 17.4 I have glorified thee on earth c. THe Doctrine observed was That it is a most blessed and happy thing in the close of our daies to be able to say upon good grounds We have finished the work God gave us to do You have heard particulars illustrating it and the grounds of the point I shall now amplifie this and in the first place shew Who they are that cannot with any comfort or very little be able to say thus For although this truth in the general be very terrible yet in the particular it loseth its edge because every man is a self-flatterer Every one is apt to think I have done Gods work and therefore it will be well with me If therefore it be possible my endeavour shall be that this arrow of Gods truth may enter in at the joynts of thy armour seeing it cannot any where else Consider then who they are that may say they are dogs and not children so that this bread doth not belong to them And first All those who daily and constantly are doing the clean contrary work to what God requireth such whose conversation is a perpetuall reproach and dishonour to God these do not at all glorifie God These have cause to tremble and quake when death approaches and their accounts must be made and is not this the condition of most Look generally upon mens lives are they not doing the devils works are they not dishonouring God all the day long by their ungodly conversation If there be any that are tender and consciencious are they not like gleanings after a Vintage here a man and there a woman otherwise for most men you would think they thought hell and the day of judgement to be but fables and such a truth as this to be a meer bugbear But God will not be mocked neither can mans greatnesse or atheism or prophane scoffings put off these things Oh then be at last perswaded that that life thou livest will be little comfort to thee one day Oh how speechlesse and confounded wilt thou be when God shall enquire into all thy words into all thy actions and there is nothing but sinne appeareth when every thing will be turned into blood as the Egyptian punishment was into the bloud of thy soul When God looked over all his works he had done he saw them exceeding good and so blessed the seventh day but thou wilt look over all thou hast done and finde it exceeding evil and curse both the day of thy birth and the day of thy death Oh that men would be wise that they would consider their later end What wilt thou do when God when thy conscience when the law when devils will accuse thee Where wilt thou hide thy self Remember Jacob Gen. 32.13 when his brother Esau was to meet him who was enraged and provoked against him how carefull he was by Presents and humble deprecations to mitigate his anger Remember the unjust Steward Luke 16.8 who knowing he must be called to account taketh all the subtill waies he can to make himself friends when he shall be cast out of his office our Saviour speaks that parable to this purpose That when God shall say to every one of us Thou shalt be no long or steward in this relation in that condition I will have an account of all that then we manage all things so that we may be able to have some comfortable refuge 2. Those have nothing of this texts comfort who though they do not contrary work yet do different non-required work It 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though they do not male yet they do aliud agere a servant though he do not contrary to his Masters work yet if he do not the same he is commanded he is obnoxious to his Masters wrath And this is
neither of these were to bow their souls down with what joy and gladnesse could they live and die Now Christs works have a two fold remedy to this twofold grievance His works have a satisfaction in them and therefore whatsoever failings and corruptions there are if humbled for and endeavouring to be reformed they are sufficiently conquered and his works have a meriting nature in them and therefore though thy work be weak his work was perfect and compleat say not then who shall go up to heaven this is to bring Christ back It is an excellent place Rom. 10.7 where the beleever is forbid to doubt or say in his heart Is Christ ascended or was he made a curse for us or how shall we be able to ascend to heaven or to be delivered from hell Vse 3. Did Christ perfect and finish his work Do thou imitate and follow him Christs working excludes ours for justification but not for a duty and way to heaven None but doers and workers shall have heaven though not for their works Now thy work is first as a Christian so the Law of God in the purity and exactnesse of it is a rule of all thy works What the Law bids thee do doe though not to have life by it 2. The work of thy relation as a Magistrate Minister Husband or Wife finish this work It 's not enough to be good in the general unless good in relation 3. The work of thy condition as a rich man as a poor man when the Master gave talents to all this was his command Work ye trade ye be in constant improvement SERMON XXIII Of a Holy Working Life the Excellency Equity and Necessity thereof in order to Glory JOH 17.5 And now O Father glorifie me with thy own self c. THis fifth Verse containeth a repetition of the matter praied for v. 1. and enforced by divers arguments in the former Verses wherin observe 1. The object matter of Christs Petition Glorifie thou me I shall not consider that because spoken to before Only in that we see our Saviour twice within so little a space praying for this glory though appointed and promised to him We may observe two particulars 1. That all repetition and ingemination of the same matter in praier is not unlawful but sometimes is useful and necessary 2. That even those things that God hath appointed and promised to his people must yet be obtained by praier In the next place we have the description of this glory 1. It must be an heavenly glory such as God approveth of Glorifie thou me with thy own self This may be spoken exclusively to all humane glory which he regarded not or else in opposition to his work he had done I have finished thy work on earth and now let me have my reward in heaven 3. From an external adjunct It 's the glory which he had before the world was That admits of some difficulty to be dispatched in its proper place Lastly There is the causall inference from what was said before and now Father glorifie me this is a causall conclusion from the work finished by Christ and of this because first in order at this time And now glorifie me as if he had said Hitherto I have been finishing my work all the while I was doing that I looked for no reward I expected no glory but now all is completed I pray for and expect the glory due unto me From whence observe That as Christ so all the people of God when they have finished their work and not till then may look for and desire the glory prepared for them 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Glory Henceforth he expects now his fight is over but not before Let us consider this briefly in Christ and then in our selves First Concerning Christ God had so ordained and appointed That he should first be eminent in doing and suffering and then should have a reward It behoved him first to suffer and so to enter into glory Luk. 24.26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things There was a debt and duty upon Christ to wear the Crown of thorns before he put on the Crown of glory To be debased more then all before he was exalted above all so that the stipulation and agreement which the Father made with the Sonne contained in it both duty to be done by Christ and a reward to be vouchsafed to him He was to drink of the brook and so to lift up his head Psa 110.7 This was the order that God had indispensably commanded and nothing could hinder it though all this was supposing Christs willingnesse to undergo the office of a Mediatour for otherwise though he had become man yet he might alwaies have kept up the manifestation of his divine glory and hence it is that the Scripture saith he ought to have suffered There was a necessity from the justice of God which will punish sinne in the offender or in the Surety and he ought to do it because of his own faithfulnesse and trust he should not discharge that which had undertaken unlesse he became thus obedient 2. The order that is between Christs work and reward is far different from ours and of another nature for that is an order of merit and causality but ours only of antecedency and by a promise Therefore when Christ looks for his glory it 's upon farre other grounds then when Paul expects his Crown of glory for Christ looks for his glory upon his work as a cause and a merit it being fully perfect and more then he was bound unto if absolutely considered though when once he became our Surety it behoved him to perform all so that Christ had his glory by the Title of justice and desert though in respect of the personal Union he had alwaies a right to all glory But Paul and all the godly have it by meer grace and favour for when the Children of God have done all they can yet such is their imperfection that they need a pardon and so their salvation and glory is of meer grace Therefore though there be a similitude between Christs work and his glory and ours yet there is not an equality The one is of justice and merit the other of grace and favour The more inexcusable then are all these Popish doctrines that would puff up a man to such a conceit of himself and Christ together of his free-will and grace together not Christ and grace alone that hence they will pleade their Title to heaven Christs merits and their own In the next place let us consider this doctrine as true in our selves for hereby our security and carelesnesse especially our prophanesse shall be greatly confounded when we shall know that without our working there cannot be glory we must look to labour in the Vineyard before we come to have our wages And 1. God the Father who appointed such an order for Christ hath also decreed
be so kept that none should perish Such must infallibly be preserved but all the Godly are comprehended in this Prayer for their Preservation You see in these Verses it is Christs whole drift and scope to obtain this for them that though they must be in the world yet that they might be kept from the evil and wickednesse of the world and lest this should be thought for his Apostles onely or such as did already beleeve in him He addeth verse 20. that he praieth for all such as shall beleeve in him Here you see all that do or shall beleeve in Christ they are comprehended in this Praier that none may perish Now it 's plain that the Father heard Christ in all that he desired and there was alwaies an Agreement or Correspondency between his will and the Fathers Now what Christ did for all we see more pregnantly in Peter Luke 22.23 I have praied saith he that thy Faith fail not This is done for every godly Person as well as Peter and therefore upon this Occasion said in the generall to all the Apostles Satan had desired to winnow them if it were possible to have cast them out as Chaff And this Mediatory Prayer continueth still in some sence For Hebr. 5.26 He ever-liveth to make Intercession for us This certainly must necessarily be effectual to our preservation Argum. 5 5. A Fifth Argument is The Godly mans divine protection to Everlasting Happinesse is confirmed by assertory places as well as promissory There are severall Texts of Scripture that doe plainly and clearly declare as much Therefore let that be beleeved before mens Opinions John 6.39 It is the Fathers Will that of those who are given me I should lose none of them To this purpose also is that in John 10.28 Yea that we may firmly be established herein Matth. 16.18 Our Saviour tels us That he will build his Church upon a Rock that the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it Some would limit the Gates of Hell to Death as it were an Hebraisme but it is plain our Saviour meaneth every thing that shall oppose and hinder him in the Building of his Church and thus not onely Death but Sinne and Hell are great Adversaries otherwise it might so fall out that God should have no Church here upon the Earth which would be a horrible Derogation to Christ as if he might be a Head without Members Another pregnant place affirming this is in 1 John 2.19 If they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us No doubt See how the Apostle puts it out of all Question There is a Disciple indeed and a Disciple in Appearance and Profession onely The Disciple indeed is a Pillar that shall never be removed out of the House but shall abide for ever But the Disciple in Appearance and Shew onely he is not a fixed Starre but a Meteor For all his light and blaze is compounded of terrestriall matter and so will quickly perish and vanish away We may say Dust he is and unto Dust he will return Of such our Saviour speaketh John 10. Every Branch in me that bringeth not forth Fruit he cutteth off and casteth away It is a Branch in him not by lively Insition but externall Profession Another place to bring up the Rear of these Assertory Texts of Scripture is 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is born of God there is the Universality he sinneth not neither can he viz. not as a Cain as a wicked one he doth not sinne he cannot give up himself wholly unto sinne and the Reason is because the Seed of God abideth in him Argum. 6 6. A sixth Argument is The Comparisons and Similitudes the Scripture useth doe inferre the Godly mans Continuance And although Similitudes doe not prove in every particular yet they doe for that end they are brought Now the Scripture excellently illustrates the stability of the Godly by enduring things Psal 1. To a Tree planted by the Waters Side Also to Mount Zion that can never be removed Psalm 125.1 Especially John 4.14 where Regenerating Grace is called a Well of water springing up to Eternall Life and is differenced from materiall water in this respect A man drinketh of that and is thirsty again but whosoever drinketh of this shall never thirst again He shall not goe back into Egypt again desiring his former Onyons and Garlick Argum. 7 7. All those places which admonish the Godly to take heed and to walk humbly do prove their standing Indeed the Arminian inferreth the clean contrary but the Truth is By these Admonitions Exhortations and other means of Grace they are enabled to continue As man by his Food is preserved alive for God useth all these Ordinances as practicall Mediums by which he stirreth them up when secure quickens them when decaying and recovers them when fallen To these we may adde the Afflictions which the Godly are sure to have when they goe astray Therefore whereas Solomon is thought by all to be the hardest Instance of any that had true Grace and apostatized so fouly yet that he died not out of Grace appeareth not onely by the Book of Ecclesiastes which he made at his latter end as a plain Testimony of his Repentance and Turning to God but also fully by 2 Sam 1.14 If he commit Iniquity I will chasten him but my Mercy I will not utterly take away So that these Afflictions being sanctified will be effectuall to awaken them and bring them home with the Prodigall at last to their Fathers House Lastly If God did not vouchsafe Perseverance in Grace as well as Grace he had not done the best for us To keep Grace is far better then to have Grace It 's perseverance that crowneth all Holding out to the end is that which blesseth all Therefore the Scripture describeth God by this That he is able to keep them unspotted and blamelesse till the Coming of Christ It would redound to Gods dishonour as it did to that foolish Builder if God should begin and not finish his work Vse of Encouragement to the Godly in all their Conflicts and Difficulties in the way to Heaven you have need of this Consolation You had need have your Eyes open to see what is for you as well as what is against you This Assurance will not breed Despair but quicken you up to a lively working Though thou art not certain of Life and Wealth yet of Gods assisting Grace to the last SERMON LXVIII Of the Sonne of Perdition Shewing That some Persons are wilfully set to Damn themselves though they have never so many Excellent Remedies and Means to the contrary And what are the Causes that move them thereunto and Characters of such Persons JOHN 17.12 None is perished but the sonne of Perdition THe next thing to be treated of is the implyed Answer to an Objection that might easily be made If Christ had so faithfully kept them all How comes Judas to perish Now our Saviour answereth this two
till at last they put him to death in the most scornfull and reproachfull manner Consid I To open this consider That God out of his great love to mens souls hath appointed a Ministry and Officers in his Church that should be as Embassadours to intreat Reconciliation with God But because there could not be any commerce or communion between God absolutely considered and man fallen therefore the Lord Christ interposed and made peace but that what he had merited and purchased might effectually be applied to such as shall be saved among other instruments he set up Officers in his Church whose whole study and care should be to informe and reforme men So that people do enjoy the Ministers of God upon a two-fold special account First Gods great and special love to them That God hath taken care to send such is more then the creating of a world for you or vouchsafing all the temporal mercies you enjoy Hence it 's so often spoken of 2 Chron. ult and in other places that God sent his Prophets rising up early This is spoken as the great love of God to them And then Consid II The second Foundation of the Ministry is Christs Death and Resurrection his Ascending into Heaven as Ephes 4.11 He gave some Apostles some Pastours and Teachers Oh then how ingratefull and wicked is the world which doth no more regard this love of God and purchase of Christ in the Ministry Hence by the Prophet God promiseth That he would give them Pastours after his own heart Jer. 3.4 Though he feed them with the bread of adversity and drave them into corners Isai 30.20 Hence when God threatens a people with his uttermost wrath it is to remove the Candlestick and to make the Vision cease and to make no Clouds to rain upon them How much would people complain under a drought and want of Rain if for many years together there should not be so much as a Cloud seen But the gracious heart would think the removing of Christs Ministers not onely the taking away of Clouds but of the Sun and Stars in Heaven Secondly God and Christ who are thus the cause of their Office hath appointed them their worke and endowed them with abilities thereunto Their imployment is to publish the Word of God which is two-fold 1. The Word of the Law to convince men of sinne to inform of duty to make them sensible of their undone and damnable estate they are in Thus they are first to be wise Phisicians to detect and discover the disease the danger and cause of it Then secondly There is the Word of the Gospel which are the glad tidings of Gods favour and Reconciliation with those that are humble and contrite before him This is to publish the acceptable year of Jubilee to such as were spiritually indebted and under the thraldome of Gods wrath This is a work in it self absolutely necessary for what doth a sinner more want then these two things the Law in it's use and the Gospel in it's use Men in their temporal necessities respect the Physicians the Lawyers but soul necessities are not apprehended And as the necessity of it is so cogent so the dignity and excellency is admirable As the Soul and Heaven do farre exceed all earthly things so doth this subject all other Consid III Therefore in the third place God and Christ do justly expect that the world should with all gladnesse and obedience receive these his Messengers For shall God purpose so great love and Christ at so dear a rate purchase such Officers and must not the world set open the doors to receive them Shall not they cry Blessed are the feet of such as bring the glad tidings of the Gospel Are they not to be affected as the Galatians once to Paul To pull out their very eyes to serve him Certainly if David did so celebrate Gods goodnesse in creating Heaven and Earth and appointing the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field for mans use much more ought we in this great matter of the Church Consid IV Yet in the fourth place Though so much love be in this Institution and God expects so much thankefulnesse and obedience because of it it may make us tremble to see how little entertainment their Office and work hath in the world We speak not in regard of their outward honour and esteem For as Paul saith so ought we pray men might do no evil though we be accounted as reprebates 2 Cor. ult but we complain of the unsuccessefulnesse of it in respect of the divine operations of it We take up our Saviours complaint That light is come into the world and men love darknesse rather then light John 3. Oh this is that which the Scripture doth so bitterly complain of Who hath believed our report and I told them the wonderfull or great and honourable things of my Law and they accounted them a strange thing Psal 119. This sad usage in the world made Paul cry out That they were the off-scouring of the world worse then the dust of the feet and were made a spectacle to the world and Angels 1 Cor. 4.9 Consid V Fifthly The Devil knowing the excellent end and use of this Office and worke doth by himself and all his instruments oppose it He rageth and the world rageth when this work is set up So that as when Christ sent his Disciples to preach he saw Satan fall like lightning Thus if it were in his power he would have Christ and his Officers be thrown down As they are to destroy his works and dispossess him so he labours to do to them It being thus thou that in the Ministry we may see Gods great love and mans great wickednesse Let us consider the cause why it should thus stirre up the wrath of men that they should be moved like so many hornets And First This work of the Ministry is contrary to the Nature and inclination of the world That as the Sunne is burdensome to the Owl and other night-birds and sweet smels to swinish creatures Thus is the glorious Gospel and the precious favour thereof abominable to corrupt men They can no more love godly and holy preaching then fire and water can agree therefore the more thy heart and tongue is set against it the more thou discoverest that hell which is in the bottome of thy heart Now the true preaching of the Word of God is contrary unto the world in these respects 1. The very nature and frame of their hearts admits not of Christs word till regenerated The old house must be pulled down even with the very foundation of it Thus Jam. 1. God is said to beget by his Word and our Saviour here Sanctifie them by thy truth Now this is directly contrary to mans nature to account all that he is and all that he doth damnable to judge every thing he hath done fit fuell for hell so as to have no comfort in any thing he hath
retain the wicked inclination of the world minding only worldly things Now though the world be many times and it may be here taken for that Society of men that is Heathenish and doth not beleeve in Christ thus the Church and the world are opposed 1 Cor. 5.10 yet we may extend it further even to such as do outwardly professe Christ but in works do deny him as is more to be shewed 2. There is the act it self hate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word is in the preterperfect tense It hath hated them already though they had not much tormented it by their preaching but it would more hate them when Christ was removed and their preaching more universall It comprehends all times it hath it doth and it will hate them and hatred you heard was worse then anger being more fixed and permanent The cause of this is because They are not of the world for as love is to its like so hatred is to that which is unlike and contrary In the Scripture some Learned men say to hate is sometimes taken to love lesse not an absolute hatred but a respective love Mat. 6.24 He will love one and hate the other i. e. lesse love And for this end they bring that place Rom. 9.3 Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated where they would expound hate of a lesse love but whatever may be said of the former place this latter will admit of no such Exposition as the Context will easily evidence 3. The Scripture speaks of a good hatred Rom. 7.15 That which I hate I do So we are commanded to hate our Father and Mother to hate our own lives Luk. 14.26 Joh. 12.25 for Christs sake David also said He hated them which hated God with a perfect hatred i. e. a full complete hatred he had no love at all to them that is in respect of their wickednesse and their incurable enmity against God though in other respects he pitied and loved them Lastly There is a wicked and evil hatred of which the Text speaks Obs That the wicked men of the world have and will alwaies hate those that are godly It hath been so of old and will be so to the last wicked man that breatheth No sooner were there a wicked man and a godly but this hatred broke out into all cruelty Cain hated Abel and why because his own works were nought and his brothers good 1 Joh. 3.12 No lesse will serve then the bloud of Sheep such cruell Wolves To open this Doctrine Consider these things First That there is a twofold hatred with the Schoolmen One is called Odium inimicitiae an hatred of enmity whereby a man wils evil to him because it 's his evil Even as amor amicitiae a will of friendship wils the good to a person loved because it is his good 2. There is another kinde of hatred which the ancient Schoolmen had no Name for it but afterwards it was called Odium abominationis or offensionis When a man is offended at and hateth such an object that is evil but not the person yea we may love him dearly Thus the Childe hateth the death of his Father Odio abominationis but loveth his Father yea because he loveth him therefore he hateth his death Now that hatred whereby the world hateth godly men is Odium inimicitiae it comes from an inward irreconcilable displacency to the godly it 's terminated upon their persons because they are such and therefore they are said to be of the devil representing his nature and are the Seed of the Serpent which hath an imbred enmity against man so that though never so much evil should befall the Godly Their goods spoiled their Names blasted yet as long as they live and because they still are alive the world will hate them Secondly The cause of their hatred may be reduced to two Heads 1. The contrariety that is between the nature and actions of the Godly So that they do not love any godly man no nor such as never had any commerce with them or medling with them There is an Odium naturale which ariseth from the nature of things Such an antipathy is often mentioned by Writers the Serpent that is young though never hurt by any man yet because they know them of such a stamp they cannot love them It being natural they cannot give any Reason Hoc tantum possum dicere non amo te You do not love him why did he ever weary you Did he ever speak to you No but yet he cannot love him so that as love consists in the consonancy and conveniency of the good thing loved Thus hatred is in the dissonancy and contrariety of that to us which we hate The 2d cause of hatred is Ignorance when men know not that Excellency and worth which is in such persons and the just cause of love which if we did we should quickly lay aside our hatred and truly in a great measure the world hateth because of their ignorance They know not what Godlinesse is nor what godly men are They know not their lives their aims their ends but judge of them as hypocrites proud and minding only self-ends and therefore their hatred encreaseth Thus the Apostle saith If they had known what Christ was they would never have crucified him 1 Cor. 2.8 and so they are said to speak evil of the things they know not Jude 10. Dost thou then rail and deride at godly men It 's thy blindenesse and folly Thou knowest not their close walking with God Thou understandest not the heavenly priviledges they enjoy Thou dost not conceive of their humiliation for their infirmities judging themselves before God worse then thou canst judge them Oh if thy eyes were open thou wouldst say these are the Servants of the most high God Oh that my latter end might be like one of theirs and of such men the world is not worthy Thirdly Consider the effects of this hatred and that is in three steps and degrees 1. An inward willing of all evil that may hurt them and that because it is evil To will a man some evil for his good may be lawfull as when David praieth Put them in fear O Lord that they may know themselves to be men Psa 9.20 Thus the Church of God may pray for afflictions upon those Enemies that are curable That by their afflictions they may repent and be humbled before God but hatred hath not this goodnesse It wils evil because it is evil and for evils sake It rejoyceth in the evil that befalleth a godly man as part of its own good and happinesse Thus it is with all wicked men they rejoyce as if some great good had befallen them when some great evil hath come upon the godly 2. Their hatred breaks out into all all hard censorious and uncharitable speeches all slanders and contumelies into cruell mockings as the Apostle cals them Heb. 11.36 The hatred in the heart will soon be seen in the
Christs Prayer even in respect of those who shall beleeve is because They were given to him by the Father as appeareth vers 9. I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me Seeing therefore the Foundation of Christs Intercession is because they were given by Election to Christ as a people to be saved through him it 's plain that Christ praied not because he foresaw that they would beleeve but because they were Elected It 's true the Arminians do in a most violent and strange manner wrest that phrase of being given to Christ They understand it not of an action of the Father but of the disposition of the Subject Hence it is they speak so much of a probum ingenium or a docilis indoles as if it were some towardly disposition in man that fitted him for grace but thus it would be rather who have given themselves to Christ rather then that the Father had given them and indeed this is such a thorn in their sides that they cannot pull out if by such who shall beleeve were to be understood those that upon Gods foresight were known to improve the means of Faith better then others then all the difference from others and the utmost resolution of salvation yea and Election would be unto a mans self when yet the Apostle doth expresly stop such mouths What hast thou that thou hast not received and who made thee to differ from another 1 Cor. 4.7 The Text thus vindicated and explained I gather this Observation That Christ died not and so we were not Elected because we will beleeve but our beleef is the effect and fruit of Christs death and our Election Our Faith is not a condition upon which our Election or Christs Death stands suspended and indeterminate but these do make us infallibly and effectually to beleeve in time There are two common Opinions The one holding That God from all Eternity knew who would beleeve in time and persevere therein and thereupon they were Elected and Christ died for us This way go Arminians and others But 2. The Orthodox they affirm that God did from all Eternity choose some out of the corrupt masse to Eternall glory and for this end to give them Faith and holinesse as the means thereunto So that God did not elect us because we did or would beleeve but that we might beleeve we beleeve because we are Elected not Elected because we beleeve This Doctrine is very useful because it tends to humble and debase man and wholly to exalt the grace of God and therefore the more diligently to be confirmed because of late so greatly opposed And before we bring Scripture-Arguments Let us Consider some few things that will clear the state of the Question As 1. There is a difference of those who hold our Election and so Christs Death to be upon the foresight of something in us Some are more grosse then others For there are some that hold a man is Elected to glory upon the foresight of his cooperation with the grace of God as a true merit deserving this Election so that with them God did behold who by his free will would improve the offer of grace and for this as a meritorious cause they say God did Elect them unto Eternal Glory But this is so highly injurious to the Grace of God that though some Papists have maintained it yet Bellarmine Valentia and other Jesuites wholly disclaim it at least in words making no other cause of predestination in respect of all the effects of it but the sole and meer good pleasure of God 2. There are others and they say the foresight of the good or better use of our free-will then others is not a meritorious but a moving cause with God of our Election to Happinesse So that our Faith and Holinesse though they were not a meriting Cause yet were a moving Cause of our predestination but this is also too grosly repugnant and contradictory to Scripture 3. There are those who refine it more subtlely and that is That God did foresee who would beleeve and persevere therein to Death and such are peremptorily chosen to Eternall Life not that their Faith or Perseverance is any merit or moving Cause but a Conditio sine quâ non without which God would not choose such to happinesse so that say they it 's not for any intrinsecall Dignity or excellent worth in Faith but because of the many possible waies and means to Salvation God appoints this way of beleeving rather then another and thus the Arminians Only they acknowledge Holinesse of Life and Obedience to God to be thus a Condition foreseen as well as Faith though they would seem utterly to deny it 4. There are the Lutherans and they indeed hold Faith fore-seen as a Condition in our Election Only they say It 's not considered as a merit or a Cause no nor as a work but as an Instrument apprehending Christs merits and therefore make Election to be by Faith in the same sence as we are justified by Faith Hence they deny Holinesse or Obedience to be a condition ingredient to Election because Christ is not laid hold upon by that as by Faith although herein they contradict themselves because they acknowledge not Faith singly as so but Perseverance in Faith to be the Condition and that must be necessarily looked upon as a work not as an Instrument receiving Christ But the Orthodox they affirm consonantly to Scripture and sutably to the Glory of Gods Grace That God did from all Eternity choose some men out of that corrupt masse in which all were to Eternall Glory and by the same Act did prepare and appoint all those means which would effectually produce the same So that this Election is the Originall and Fountain of all Spirituall mercies because Elected Christ is appointed a Mediatour Because Elected they are called and enabled to beleeve in time So that we deny there are two Elections One to Glory another to Grace But God by the same single Act doth will both and therefore that there is not the same Reason of Election and of Justification or Salvation for these being Acts done in time do require Faith and Holinesse as antecedent but Election being an Act of God from all Eternity cannot presuppose any thing in us Now the Arguments to confirm us in this Truth they are these following First Because the Scripture when it speaketh of this great and wonderfull work of Election it doth still resolve all into the Counsell of his will not into any thing fore seen in a man Ephes 8. Roman 8. Roman 9. and in many other places it is still said He hath chosen us according to his Will according to his purpose Now if so be it were for any thing foreseen in us it would be rather according to the Counsell of our will and according to our purpose There cannot any rationall Answer be given unto this Argument for according to the Adversaries
God doth not Elect or choose any untill he foresee what every man will do and if he do well and persevere in this then he is predestinated but this doth at once dash out all the Prepositions Prae and turn them into Post it is not prae-destination but post-destination not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this administers a second Argument Secondly If so be that God did Elect and choose to Eternall Life because he did fore-see our Faith then the whole difference of one Beleever from another would be attributed solely to mans Power For to say That this is Gods Decree and his Appointment that whosoever shall beleeve shall be saved doth not in the least work upon any person no more then that Decree of God Whosoever shall do this shall live doth suppose any that will exactly keep the Law so that no man in the world may beleeve for all this Decree And thus when Christ prayed for those who shall beleeve he might have praied for a Non ens a thing which might never have been Therefore all the Question is How come some to beleeve and not others How is it that of many who live under the same means of Grace some are called effectually and others grow more wicked and sinnefull Certainly the Scripture doth not give this unto mans Will but to Gods free-grace and Love as Matthew 13. To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God and unto others not Thus Christ also Matthew 11. solemnly blessed and thanked God That he had hid these things of Heaven from the wise and prudent ones of the world and that he had revealed them unto Babes And the Apostle expresly Who hath made thee to differ from another 1 Corinth 4.7 Therefore it 's horribly injurious unto the Grace and goodnesse of God to say That under the same Means of Grace I made my Self to beleeve to repent rather than another Certainly such an Opinion as this is so grosse and absurd that well may Arminianism be said not only to be repugnant to many places of Scripture but even to the common sence and experience of all beleevers They have a witnesse within their own breasts That they were as unwilling as froward as opposite to the work of Grace as any That it was God that made them of unwilling willing Even as there were many others that heard Paul yet God is said to open the heart of Lydia rather then others Thirdly Faith and all holinesse is the Effect and Fruit of our Election and also of the Death of Christ and therefore it cannot be an antecedent Condition That is plain that the same thing cannot be an Effect and Consequent of Election and yet an antecedent Condition at least in the same Respects for then it should be considered as before and after at the same time which is a plain Contradiction Now that Faith is a Consequent and an Effect of Election and that we are Elected to Faith and Holinesse not because we have Faith and Holinesse is clear by severall Texts of Scripture as Act. 13.48 They beleeved as many as were ordained to Eternall Life Here is plainly set down the Effect and the Cause They beleeved and why Because ordained to Eternall Life As for that Cavill to understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intransitively as if it were no more than dispositi and so did imply some inherent probity that is not worth the answering For how were the Gentiles disposed to beleeve who were said to be dead in sinnes and plunged into all manner of impiety untill Grace had converted them Besides this disposednesse to beleeve whence doth it arise Either from our selves and so all Glory is due to us or from the Grace of God And if so How cometh it to passe that some have it and not others but because of Election And it is further to be added That it is not said in the Text They beleeved that were ordained Or as they say disposed to beleeve but to Eternall Life which doth necessarily suppose an Action of God in whose power alone it is to dispose of Eternall Life Thus also Ephes 1. There are very emphaticall Expressions to shew that we are Elected to be holy and unblameable in the sight and presence of God And whereas they would referre this to our glorious Estate in Heaven that cannot be because unblameable doth properly relate to our being here upon the Earth It is true we will readily grant That both Faith and Holinesse they doe enter into the Decree of Election taken terminatively as it ends in Everlasting Happinesse Therefore it is a meer Calumny to say We hold such an absolute Election to Glory and Happinesse as hath no respect to Christ or to Faith For although we deny that Christ was the meritorious Cause of our Election yet it 's plain by Scripture we are chosen in him as the Head and so the Cause of all the Benefits that come by Election And God had respect unto Faith He chose Beleevers to Salvation onely this Faith was not looked upon as an antecedent Condition in us but as a qualification which God by Election doth work in the hearts of those that shall be saved We say God hath Elected such to Salvation whom in time he will by that Decree make Beleevers For he that wils an end doth thereby will the means that tendeth thereunto only we deny they were supposed Beleevers first and then God Elected them Fourthly God doth not Elect upon the fore-sight of Perseverance in Faith Because the Scripture every where makes Election to be the Originaâ—l and Causall Fountain or Womb of all other Benefits That Ninth Chapter to the Romanes is pregnant to this purpose where Election is made to be that which bringeth about all blessed Effâ—cts in time Election hath obtained and it is not of him that willeth or runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Whereas Austin of old urged by the Adversaries Opinion replied We might as well say according to them it is not of him that calleth but of him that willeth And Rom. 8. The Apostle maketh predestination the cause of Vocation Justification and Glorification not Vocation the Cause of Predestination Fifthly If the humane Nature of Christ was not chosen to the personall Union for any fore-seen merit much lesse may any meer man be Elected to Glory because of any supposed worth This was an Argument urged of old by Austin and is very strong By what Grace that particular man was made Christ by that we are made Christians Now the Apostle saith expresly that Christ 1 Peter 1.20 he was fore-ordained and appointed before the Foundation of the world and all will readily grant that this was not for any fore-seen worth and Excellency in the Humane Nature of Christ Lastly Not to mention all that may be brought If we are Elected upon Faith fore-seen and Perseverance therein then none are Elected until they come to die and
after that heavenly unity to have it with the Church here in grace as it shall be with the Church hereafter in glory And certainly if this were not accomplished in Heaven then there would not be all tears wiped away nor would the reproach of Jerusalem cease Thus you have heard what it is that makes this unity of believers consummate and perfect Now let us consider What is the cause of this and that we shall finde to be no humane strength or outward wisdome and policy but the lively communication of grace inabling thereunto by Christ himself Though the Papist pleades That the acknowledgement of one visible Head in the Church is the onely means to preserve unity yet experience sheweth the falsenesse of it The divisions and breaches of the godly like those of Reuben have made sad workings of heart and many have come running in with their water to quench this fire Several Antidotes have been prescribed against this corruption but yet when all is done It 's the onely power of Jesus Christ as Head of his Church that workes this sweet Harmony It 's true indeed many rules and pacificall means are commended by wise and godly men to make an unity but these work onely morally and swasorily that which doth as it were physically and really worke it is the Lord Christ himselfe as the fountain of this unity And the reason is because this unity among believers is not onely externall but internall and spirituall Now no man can worke this unity in the hearts of the godly any more then he can worke purity and holinesse Therefore we see in the Text That because Christ is in us and the Father in Christ therefore are the godly perfected in one so that it requireth a Divine Supernaturall power to make the godly at heavenly accord even as it doth to make them godly Hence it is that in this prayer Christ commendeth it to God to work it as being beyond all humane power to effect it Now Christs being in a believer is a cause of these things in reference to their unity First He is thereby a cause of the Vnity it self For we told you This unity though externall yet is chiefly spirituall and internall viz. The harmonious knitting and joyning of all the Members of Christ together in him their Head Now this being wholly spirituall none can effect it but God alone for naturally we are dis-joyned from God and full of contrariety to him Therefore to be made a member of Christ and implanted into him cannot be by any other but the Spirit of God As those dry bones in Ezekiel could not of themselves gather together nor can a Cyen graft it self into a stock Thus it is here till the Spirit of God joyne us to Christ we are enemies and adversaries unto him That power therefore which gives grace that onely unites As in the naturall body the same cause which makes a member makes it also a united member Insomuch that in all the fractions and divisions we see amongst the godly we ought to have our eyes up more to God to consider that power which makes them holy must unite them and indeed to make them gracious and holy is the greater work yea unity would flow by a necessary resultancy from our membership in Christ but that still our corruptions are too strong and apt to disturb all Secondly Christs being in us is not onely the cause of our Vnity but also of the harmonious sutable proportion to each other We have an admirable description of this harmonious sutablenesse in the unity of Christs body Colos 2.19 Ephes 4.15 16. For the first It 's a Text full of rich and glorious matter and to understand it consider What it is that the Apostle makes the cause why those false Teachers did advance the worship of Angels introduce humane traditions and all to set up other means and wayes of Justification then the Scripture hath appointed It is saith he because they hold not the Head So that every Christian in the matter of all spirituall concernments is still to look up to Christ as the Head and not to let him goe and this he amplifieth from a two-fold precious effect of this Head The first respects the union of beleevers to Christ and so the body is said by joynts to receive nourishment that as the body hath it's nourishment suppeditated by those natural helpes so hath every Christian from Christ Now the joynt that suppeditates these spirituall helps is chiefly the Spirit of God So Romans 8.9 If any man have net the Spirit of Christ he is none of his So that as that is not a member truely united to the Head which is not informed with the same forme the Head is so neither is that Christian really united to Christ which wants the Spirit of Christ Now the Spirit of Christ is here said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To administer nourishment The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth properly signifie to supply all those ornaments which were necessary to such as kept their sacred dancings and festivities but here it signifieth the supply of those things that are necessary for our spirituall end and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 added amplifieth it denoting the full plentifull and abundant supply it giveth So that you see it 's Christs Spirit not ours which doth thus inable us The second benefit flowing from Christ our Head is of the Members themselves They by bands are knit together Now the band here is chiefly also the Spirit of God though gifts and graces doe ordinarily unite So the Apostle 1 Cor. 12.13 For we all by one Spirit are baptized into one body So that the Spirit of God which is in Christ doth also work in all beleevers inflaming and exciting to such graces whereby they have intimate communion one with another Now from these two benefits conjoyned we have the admirable fruit thereof that the body groweth with the increase of God The spirituall growth of Christians as in the body is called The increase of God partly because God onely is the efficient and cause of it partly formally because the nature of this increase is divine and heavenly partly finally because it is to the glory and honour of God So that by all this we see Every true member of Christ is a thriving and growing member and that harmoniously according to it's respective nature and all this comes wholly by the Spirit of Christ so that an unity in the harmonious increase of it depends solely upon him By this Explication the other fore-mentioned Text may also be discovered Lastly Christs being in us is the cause of the perpetuity and constancy of that Vnity the godly have This Union in Christs body can never be dissolved As the Personall Union of Christ could never be divided so neither the mysticall Therefore our sound Divines doe well from Christs in-dwelling in us propugne and assert the perseverance of the Saints Vse of Instruction
A second real effect of the Fathers love is Glorification of Christ The glory that Christ was to have after his sufferings is often mentioned in the Scripture In this Chapter we see our Saviour earnestly praying for it and after his Resurrection we reade how highly he was exalted and what glory he was lifted up into now the Father loveth all believers with the same efficacy as they suffer with Christ so they shall reign with him here they are said not only to be sons but heirs and co-heirs with Christ they shall sit on thrones of glory with Christ Thus Gods love runs in the same effects to Christ and us SERMON CXXXII Sheweth of what high concernment it is to the men of the world to know how greatly Believers whom they hate and persecute are beloved of God JOH 17.23 That thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me THe glorious priviledge of a believer hath been considered from this priviledge viz. that they and Christ are imbraced with the same love and are made co-heirs with Christ Now before we conclude this an Objection doth present it self to this purpose It may seem that the Father loveth us more then Christ for he giveth him to be a ransom and price for us Christ is made a curse dieth an ignominious and a painfull death not for himself but for us by which it may appear that the Fathers love is more to us then to him for he delivers him to death that we might live he is made a man of sorrows and full of grief to provide consolation for us so that Christ seemeth to be but the means and we the end and the end hath more amability and appetibility in it then the means But to this these things may be returned by way of answer First That Christ when he died for us and procured our salvation he did it as an efficient cause by his own inward worth and power So that our spiritual mercies are not so much to be considered the end of Christs death as the effects of it So that we may truly say what the people did to David in an higher manner to Christ Thou art worth ten thousand of us yea then all believers So that Christ died not for us in such a way as when a Martyr dieth for the truth or a private person for the Common-wealth for these die to preferre a greater good above the less The truth of God is more worth then any mans life The publique good is more precious then the temporal advantage of any one man and in these instances the lesser good is lost for the greater but when Christ was thus afflicted by the Father for us this was that a greater good might obtain a lesser for in Christs blood there was plenty and all fulness to redeem his people so that we are not to look on Christ dying as a meer passive means ordained for us but as an active means by the causality and vertue whereof our eternal good is accomplished Secondly The Father doth not love us more then Christ though for a while he was made miserable for us for Christs willing offering up of himself to this Sacrifice did infinitely draw out the love of God to him So that the Father loved him the more because he would out himself from the exercise and actual enjoyment of his Fathers love for a season that he was contented for a time to be in those agonies and conflicts grapling with the sense of his Fathers displeasure for this very reason his Father did infinitely love him so Christ himself witnesseth Job 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life for my sheep and herein was the Fathers love and acceptance seen that upon his sufferings the Father exalted him to such transcendent glory exalting him above every name that is named So that although many Divines say Christ merited nothing for himself yet others say with great confidence That the Covenant which was made with Christ as our Mediatour did promise him all that mediatorial honour and glory which he enjoyed upon the discharge of his Suretiship and this they make to be the principal and great thing intended by God viz. the exaltation of Christ and giving of him such transcendent glory onely they confesse this glory of Christ doth redound for our good but that which was principally aimed at in the Fathers agreement with Christ was the glorious rewarding of him Thirdly Though Christ was given for us yet this doth not follow that we were loved more then Christ Because the Father laid no more upon him then he was willing and able to bear So that Christ conquered all his enemies neither sinne nor death were able to over-master him and therefore he was for a season under these sufferings that we might be made happy to all eternity If indeed the Father had left him in a perpetual desertion and suffered his body to see corruption for ever to procure our peace then it would have followed that he preferred us before his Sonne but that could not be What was ordered to befall him was no more then he could bear and quickly remove and therefore Christ lost nothing by becoming our Saviour and yet we also are made happy thereby Fourthly Therefore Christ was loved more then us though he died for us Because the ultimate end of his death was that we being redeemed by his death might acknowledge him our Lord and for ever live to his praise and glory So that the salvation of believers is but a proxim and immediate end of Christs death that which is ultimate that which was principally intended was that we being thus ransomed might to all eternity set forth the praises and glory of him who thus loved us to death Vse of Exhortation To behold and admire the unspeakable love of the Father to all believers That he joyneth Christ and them in the same love the same heaven the same glory for kinde that Christ hath all believers likewise shall partake of Even as for wicked men the same hell the same damnation and torments which are prepared for the devil and his Angels are also appointed for the ungodly If Dâ—vid said Seemeth it a light matter to be made a son-in-law to the King then yet Sauls purpose was not to make him like Jonathan and co-heir with him of that temporal Kingdom How much more should this affect us which the Father doth for us Oh say and often say Blessed Father is this a little matter for such a poor weak sinner to be taken into the same chariot of glory with Christ to have love like his glory to his as Abigail said to David when he sent for her to make her his wife she acknowledged her unworthiness Make me one of thy hand-maids said she So O Lord if I have a drop of water a morsel of bread this is enough for me but to be taken into fellowship with Christ and co-heir with him This
my self that doth not solely relate to his humane nature but even his divine also because the second person was in a peculiar manner sent into the world and to become man for us 2. The Fathers love was more remarkably seen towards that particular humane nature which the second person assumed in the sanctifying and glorifying of that with all sutablenesse and thus the love of God was to the humane nature of Christ before the Foundation of the world by way of purpose and decree in God even as it is to all the Elect Children of God for Christ attributeth iâ— to God the Father that he had so fitted his humane nature Therefore he saith a body thou hast prepared me Heb. 10.5 Now severall waies did the Fathers love appear herein as 1. to ordain and appoint him to be a Mediatour to make him man for this purpose This is attributed wholly to God the Father hence 1 Pet. 1.20 Christ is said to be fore-ordained before the foundation of the world Christ coming into the world was not of meer necessity There was no compulsion to this but the Father out of his meer good pleasure did thus ordain him Hence it is that our Saviour doth constantly make the Fathers mission or sending of him to be the cause of being our Mediatour 2. This love of the Fathers to him was seen in taking that particular humane nature rather then any other into an hypostaticall Vnion Though Christ did not take an individuall humane personalized as men are yet he took a particular nature into a personal Union with the God-head which is the greatest exaltation of mans nature that can possibly be imagined It 's that great mystery which Angels are continually searching into but if you ask why the second Person did take this particular nature rather then another that the holy Ghost might have sanctified here Gods meer love made the difference for as it was an high act of grace and favour to the Virgin Mary that she rather then any other woman should be appointed to be the mother of Christ so it was much more a great honour and expression of love that this humane nature rather then another was assumed into personal Union and for this cause it is that Austin did so invincibly presse the Pelagians with this argument from Christ as man for saith he if Christ as man was chosen not for any foreseen merit or worth which might be in him but it was solely by the love and goodnesse of God then much more will it follow that no meer man especially corrupted and defiled can be elected to Eternal Life upon the supposition or prescience of any good thing in man So that Christ as man was so meerly from the favour and love of the Father This is that gratia singularis to Christ as man de quâ fas est praedicare sed nefas adjudicare as Austin 3. The love of the Father to Christ in preparing him for Mediatour is seen in the sanctifying and endowing of him with all holinesse that so he might be a compleat Saviour for seeing it behoved us to have such an high-Priest as was holy and separate from sin therefore it was that he was made man in such an extraordinary manner for he was conceived by the holy Ghost The holy Ghost sanctified that corpulent substance of Christs body wherby there was not any form of or inclination to sin abiding in him and therefore he is called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he wrs habitually and originally holy Now this was wholly of the love of God that his humane nature was thus anointed with all holinesse and that he received the Spirit of God without measure and therefore the humane nature of Christ was infinitely obliged to bless and praise God who had powred more holinesse into it then in all Angels and men Thus the Fathers love was seen in preparing him to be Mediatour and when he was thus appointed and in the discharge of his Office The love of the Father was exceeding great to him For 1. you have the Father in a most glorious manner from heaven owning of him and giving of that solemn approbation This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased what a glorious manifestation was here of the Fathers love to him his love did rest on him yet so as thereby he makes others beloved Sonnes in whom also he is well-pleased even those that do believe in him This glorious Testimony then given to Christ by the Father is made by some Learned men part of that glory which is spoken of in v. 22. 2. The Fathers love is wonderfully discovered to him as Mediatour in that he was willing to lay down his life for those who were appointed to salvation Insomuch that although the world thought him forsaken of God and smitten for his own sins yea though Christ himself in respect of his sence and feeling expostulated with his Father why he had forsaken him yet even then was the Fathers love most of all towards him Joh. 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life for my sheep Here you see that although there were many other Reasons of the Fathers love to him yet he instanceth in this wherein we would think Gods anger was for the present most displaied It 's true this is urged by sâ—me that therefore Christ could not suffer the anger of God in his soul neither could the Father afflict him as for our sins for how could this be say they that at the same time the Father should love him and yet be angry wâ—th him as punishing the sins of all the Elect upon him But as Gods love towards Christ could consist with that leaving of him to the hands of his Enemies So also could the love of the Father towards the person of Christ well consist with that anger of his towards him as our Surety and certainly this very particular may much encourage the people of God for when they are sollicitous about their acceptance with the Father whether he will receive them into grace or no what a ready answer is this the Father loveth Christ because he would die for us because he would be crucified for us 3. The Fathers love towards him is especially seen in exalting of him to all that honour and Majesty the Scripture so often mentioneth that is the sitting at the right hand of God the Father It is true as God he had a right to all this glory before but then there was a manifestation of it and not only so but a reall communication of such glory to his humane nature which it had not before and his person was not admitted into a more plenary and consummate possession of that glory of which there was but beginnings before Even as it was with David first he had a right given him to the Kingdom but for the present he was in constant oppressions and miseries Thus Christ while having a right to
all its idolatry impiety and that it is indeed wholly at the will of the devil And this suggests a 2d Demonstration that the world doth not know God because the devil is the immediate Prince of it He that is called the Prince of darknesse is likewise said to be the god of this world This is fully expressed 2 Cor. 2.4 where the god of this world is said to blinde the mindes of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine into them Therefore you have a notable description of the devils from the Soveraignty and power they have Eph 6.12 where they are called principalities and powers and rulers of the darknesse of this world how wofull then is the condition of the world of ungodly men who are thus made captive to the devils and are ensnared at their will That as they themselves are reserved in chains of darknesse so do they keep all their vassals they are chains of darknesse such as those who are in a dark dungeon and such as they cannot break neither have the wicked any desire to do it and therefore they never say to the devils chains as the ungodly do to Christs dominion Let us break his bonds asunder and cast his yoke away Psal 2. As long then as this strong one keeps the house for the whole world is his house no wonder if he make it like hell it self yea he makes the world by his ruling in it worse then hell in some sence for in hell he is tied up in some degree of torments but in the world he is let loose to infect and damn others though not without his torments 3. The world must needs be without all saving knowledge of God from the defect or absence of those causes which do alone cause saving knowledge So that as the world at first when it was a confused Chaos without form and void could not make a glorious light to appear upon it but that was Gods work whom the Apostle doth therefore describe as him that worketh darknesse out of light 2 Cor. 4 6. alluding to the work of grace which is now upon the world So neither is the world wallowing in its filth and thick darkness able to create the least light of saving knowledge but must for ever perish if God vouchsafe not his grace Now these causes are wanting which necessarily infer ignorance in the world Even as the absence of the Sun makes night 1. There is not the external Revelation and propounding of the doctrine to be believed unless God in much mercy send it Hence you may see that once in Judea only was the true knowledge of God and the whole world besides groped in more then Egyptian darkness and now though God hath commanded this light to shine over the whole world So that it is not limited to any one Nation yet a great part of the world still is heathenish So that they are darkned and become foolish in all their imaginations The denying of the Gospel is a greater misery then if the Sun should be denied to shine to such a people Now it 's God only that makes this light to shine in one place leaving the other in its darkness Even the Pelagians of old did acknowledge this grace of God necessary viz. a revelation and proposition of the object 2. Besides this external light the world wants that internal light of illumination without which the Gospel though never so gloriously preached is but like the Sun shining at noon day to a blinde man for this is made the work of Gods Spirit only Joh. 16.8 to reprove the world of sin and of righteousnesse Till the Spirit of God doth illuminate in both these the world doth not understand the horrible guilt and aggravation of sin the damnable estate and condition it is in thereby Neither doth it know what is that righteousnesse which only can justifie and where it is to be had so that the world even the wisest and most learned thereof are but like so many blinde moles digging constantly in the earth Neither affected with their disease or with the remedy till Gods Spirit doth wonderfully convince them and this is evidently seen in the Christian world For doth not the glorious light of the Gospel compasse men about yet they are like owles the blinder because of this light Insomuch that such blindenesse of minde is not amongst heathens as amongst impenitent and hardened Christians for besides the natural blindeness which they have common with heathens there is a judicial blindenesse that God smiteth them with for unfruitfullnesse and contempt of the Gospel Thus they are twice blinde as some are said to be twice dead Is it not matter of astonishment that a people living many years under constant and powerful preaching should yet he as brute beasts and understand nothing of their misery and the remedy Surely all this is because that judgement is come upon Israel even blindeness of minde and a veil upon their hearts 3. The world knoweth not God because it hath not that ultimate and compleat cause of all saving knowledge which is the spirit of regeneration and the work of a new creature upon their souls for till God give this heart of flesh and remove an heart of stone all the illumination and strongest convictions which men have upon them is not enough to make them know as they ought to know The Apostle Tit. 1.1 speaks of an acknowledgement of truth after godlines now that is only when a mans heart is mollified as well as his minde is enlightned It 's true the Scripture speaks of some 2 Pet. 2.20 who by the knowledge of God did escape the pollutions of the world but that was only in respect of external conversation for they were in their natures Swine still and not sheep It cannot then be that the world should know God and Christ as long as there is that corrupt enmity and spirit of rebellion and contrariety in it to what is holy Christ told Peter that it was not flesh and bloud which had revealed Mat 16.17 that glorious Confession of faith unto him If then the world be thus without the spirit of God enlightening and converting how then can it in any saving way acknowledge God Vse of Instruction Concerning the terrible condition of the perishing world whether within or without the Church yea it is most terrible to those who are the world really but the Church nominally You are shut out from the face of God and Christ You are without hope in the world Oh your greatnesse your pleasures will not avail to keep you from destruction This is Eternall life to know God and Jesus Christ This then is eternal death not to know him 2. That no knowledge of God or Christ which is not practical and saving deserveth the name of Christian knowledge The world though both by nature and supernatural revelation may know much of God yet because lying and living in