the great Lord and King of heaven and earth and God hath promised to do good to them and to their posterity for many generations Exod. 20.6 To shew mercy unto thousands to them that love him Psal 112.2 The generation of the righteous shall be blessed yea they are his Jewels Mal. 3.16 Vse 1 See then for the Use of this in the first place see I say and take we notice of the great force of true piety of what account it is with the Lord it 's sufficient to get honour not onely to those that have it with all that are able to judge aright but also to their kindred and to their posterity and such as be of kindred or any way allied unto good and godly men may rejoyce in it and after an holy manner boast of it that they are the kinsmen of such worthy servants of God or that they are the children of such godly parents yet so as that by the example of their kindred they be stirred up to tread in their steps and to become holy and religious themselves otherwise that honour will turn to their shame as Solomon saith Prov. 16.31 Age is a crown of glory when it is found in the way of righteousnesse so to be descended of good and godly parents is a crown of glory if it be set on the head of such as are godly and religious otherwise it is a dishonour to them and without Gods mercy shall encrease their condemnation and on this ground let parents learn how they may estate their children in that which may be for their honour and best good namely thus they are to labour to bring themselves within the Covenant of grace and to become holy and religious themselves and then though they cannot derive their holinesse to their children because they beget them not as they be holy men but as men simply by the power and strength of nature yet by vertue of the Covenant God will be good to their children Gen. 26. we read of many blessings promised to Isaac and why because saith the text vers 5. Abraham his father obeyed the voyce of the Lord. Holinesse in the Parents seales up Gods favour not onely to themselves but to their children also This cannot raking and scraping together of wealth do it is a common saying but a wicked and cursed saying Happy is the child whose father goes to the Devil It is rather a comfort to the children when they can remember that their parents are or have been godly and in the favour of God they may then say as Jacob said Gen. 32.9 Lord thou hast been or thou art the God of my father good and gracious to him shew thou mercy to me his child according to thine own sweet promise Last of all Is it an honour and dignity to be of the race or kindred of Vse 2 such as have been holy servants of God and to be the children of good and godly Parents what an honour then is it to be the children of God and to be born of God and to be the adopted sons and daughters of God without question that is the highest degree of honour that can be vouchsafed to any worldly men esteem it a great honour to be of the race or kindred of Noble men and great men in the world but alas it is but a shadow or rather not so much as a shadow compared to the true honour of the least or meanest of Gods Saints They are the adopted sonnes and daughters of God the great Lord and King of heaven and earth they are brethren to Christ heires to the Kingdom of heaven they have Angels for their guard all things for their good and the whole world is theirs and this honour ought to affect our hearts and we are to be ambitious in seeking this honour above all things in the world Now further it is not to be passed by without noting that the Apostle here saith the Jewes who lived in his time at the time when he writ this Epistle were the posterity of the holy Patriarks and no doubt they were then able to fetch their pedegree from those holy Fathers and to prove themselves to be the seed and children of Abraham and to come of his line as they alledge for themselves and brag of it to Christ Joh. 8.33 VVe be Abrahams seed and verse 39. Abraham is our father yea doubtlesse they could then shew a perpetuall succession of their high Priests from Aaron to the time of Christ yet for all this they were rejected and were not the true Church of God the Jewes now rejecting Christ and refusing to imbrace the faith and doctrine of the Gospel are not the true Church of God though they be descended from Abraham and from the holy Patriarks and though they can derive their pedegree from them See then I note it to this purpose the vanity and weaknesse of that argument that is used by our adversaries the Papists that forsooth the continual succession of Bishops is an evident argument of the true visible Church and they will needs have their Romish Synagogue to be the onely true Church because as they say their Pope is the successour of Peter and they have had a continual ordinary succession of Bishops Pastours and Doctors from the time of the Apostles which indeed is a vain brag and can never be proved it is questionable whether Peter ever sate as Bishop at Rome And the Popish Church hath no succession from the Apostles for many hundred yeares after Christ at the least for five or six hundred years And admit they could shew a continued succession of their Bishops from the time of the Apostles without interruption yet that is but a sandy and a weak ground to build the truth of their Church on unlesse they can also shew a continual succession of true doctrine and that their Church hath succeeded the Apostles in truth of doctrine for indeed they cannot be said to succeed them whose doctrine they renounce An outward succession of persons in any place without succession of true doctrine from the Apostles which the Papists cannot shew is nothing worth It helpeth not the Bishop of Rome to have as they say Peter for their predecessour and that they are his successours so long as they swerve from the true Doctrine of Peter and are become such grosse Idolaters that personal succession if they could prove it can nothing avail them It followeth verse 5. and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came that is of which Jews Christ also descended concerning the flesh as touching his humane nature This is also added as further matter of honour and dignity to the Jewes that Christ came of them concerning the flesh as touching his humane nature that he that was the Sonne of God and that from all eternity should have the same Ancestors and Progenitors with them Whence we see then Doctr. That the Jewes are a very Honourable people having many excellent priviledges and prerogatives
we labour to understand it aright and to make a right application of it and we are to take heed how we wrest the word of God by wronging and perverting of it to make the Word of God to serve our fantasies as the Usurer will seek out a place of Scripture to defend his Usury a foul and a fearful sin to make the word of God to speak according to our fantasies and conceits for this is the seed of all heresies whatsoever and therefore we must labour to understand the word aright But here may some object Object and say What would you have me to do that am a poor and unlearned man alas how should I come to a right understanding of the word of God and come to make a right application of it Many Scholers and many Divines are not able to reach into the Depth of it can I then that am a simple and unlettered man or woman To this I answer Answ Be thou careful thou that thus pleadest for thy self to use the means that God hath set up in his Church for the opening and unfolding of his Word and for thy guidance and direction in the way of truth and of love both towards God and man be careful in these means that is be careful in frequenting and using the ordinary meanes of the word the Ministery that God hath set up in his Church for thy direction Prov. 8.33 be thou careful to attend at the gates of wisdome be frequent in hearing the VVord of God opened and expounded and be sure to come to the hearing and reading of the Word of God with an humble heart that thy heart be not lift up with a conceit of thy own understanding but be emptied of all self-conceit and pride in respect of the pregnancy of thy own wit and to this joyn earnest and hearty prayer unto the Lord be attentive to the means that serve to open the word come to the hearing and reading of it with an humble heart and also be instant in invocation and calling upon the name of the Lord that the Lord would open thine eyes and ears and give thee the Spirit of Revelation of understanding do as David did Psal 119.18 Lord open mine eyes that I may behold the wonders of thy Law It is a worthy saying of an Ancient Divine saith he though there be many things in the Scripture hard to be understood difficult to reach into the depth of them yet whatsoever is necessary and needful to be known to salvation it is plainly set forth in the Scripture and easie to be understood to them that will read diligently mark attentively pray heartily and judge humbly come without any self-conceit of thine own wit come even as a fool to the Word of God in comparison of the wisdom of God revealed in it and then by this meanes we shall come to a right application of the Word of God and effectually understand and apply it Come we now to the Apostles reason all they are not Israel that are of Israel that is all they are not the true Israelites and elect and chosen seed of Abraham that are descended of Israel according to the flesh hence we are plainly taught thus much Doctrine That indeed all are not true Israelites that bear the name of Israelites or thus all they are not true Christians that have taken upon them the name of Christ and bear the name of Christians or thus all they that are in the visible Church and are of the visible Church yet they are not members of the true Church of God And for the further manifestation of this if we look in the Book of God we shall find that in all ages from the beginning there hath been some in the visible Church and of the visible Church that were not true members of the Church of God Thus it was in the dayes of Moses in the dayes of Christ and of the Apostles yea when the Church of God was in one Family in Abraham in Isaac and in Jacobs Family in Abrahams Family was an Ishmael as well as an Isaac in Isaac's Family an Esau as well as a Jacob and so in all ages and hence it is that Christ compareth the Church to a field that hath not onely good wheat but tares Matth. 13.26 and in the 47. and 48. verses Christ speaketh of some that said they were Jewes and were not they were Jewes by birth and nation but they were the Synagogue of Satan and in Revel 3.9 he saith some called themselves Jews and were not they were in the visible Church and yet they were not the true Church of Christ Reason Because all they that live in the bosome of the visible Church and make open profession of it they are not all such as God hath set apart to life and salvation though they be in the visible Church and of the visible Church and make the same profession yet indeed they are not true members of the Church 1 Joh. 2.19 where John saith they went out from us because they were not of us they did not truly believe in Christ and if they had been of us they would have continued with us but by this it appeareth that they were not of us because they have made a disjunction from us now to apply this Vse First of all this truth now delivered beareth witnesse strongly against the foolish conceit of the Separatists and what is their opinion They hold and teach That the visible Church is the body of Christ Jesus and all the members of the visible Church they are members of the mystical body of Christ they are partakers of the Spirit of Christ of the life of Christ and the grace of Christ Surely then it must needs follow that all the members of the visible Church are Gods children and heires of salvation yea then Cain and Ishmael and Esau and Saul and Judas they were the children of God and have obtained salvation If this were true that all that are partakers of the visible Church are members of Christ and heires of salvation it were easie to prove that these men were in the visible Church and of the visible Church and therefore by this reason are saved but how false it is to think that these men have obtained salvation any man that hath been exercised in the truth may easily see it they are mistaken in the Tenent and the ground of their error is this Whatsoever they find in Scripture spoken of the invisible Church the Catholike Church seen by the eye of faith they apply to the visible Church as it is said that the Church of God is a holy Nation a peculiar Priesthood they apply it to the visible Church and their definition is a hoch poch a mingling of the properties of the invisible Church and the visible Church together and an appropriating of them to the visible Church this is common both in their Writings and Conferences But come we now to lay the truth delivered a
absurd thing for men to quarrel with God as for example it is as if a piece of clay in the hand of the Potter should rise up and find fault with the potter for making one vessel to a better use and another to a baser use why because the Potter hath full power and authority over the clay to make what he will Now the particular implication of this verse that which is herein implyed is thus God is the Potter and man is the clay and as it is lawful for the Potter to make of the clay one vessel for service at the Table and another for baser service in the kitchin or Chamber so much more is it lawful for God to make of man one for honour and another for dishonour the Apostles reasoning is à minore ad majus from the lesser to the greater and if the Potter who is but a creature hath power over the clay which is a creature also to make one vessel to an excellent use and the other to a baser use surely then the authority of God over all and every creature is far greater the Lord hath absolute power to dispose of all as it pleaseth him this way or that way that is the general drift and purpose of the Apostle Now the words of this verse being taken as the first part of the Comparison of the Potter the clay there is no hardnesse in them for the sense and meaning of them Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An non habet potestatem figulus Luti Explication of the words of verse 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syriac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ex eadem massa Divers opinions concerning the sence and meaning of these words onely they are put down by way of interrogation which is of greater force and not by way of position and the affirmation of this Interrogation is thus much That the Potter hath power and lawfull authoritie over the clay for so the word in the Original signifieth But being taken in the Application as that which they doe imply as namely implying God to be the Potter and man to be the Clay then there is something in them very needful to be explained and there is difficultie in them Hath not the Potter power over the Clay That is in the implication of them Hath not God power and lawful authoritie over Man as the Potter hath over his Clay Yea much more hath the Lord power over Man to make to ordain and to appoint of the same lump Some doe understand of the same lump to be meant the sinne of Idolatrie in which the Children of Israel were in Egypt That the Lord out of that same lump of Idolatrie in which the Children of Israel were with the Egyptians saved the Israelites and destroyed the Egyptians but this is too scantie too narrow and not large enough for to expresse the Apostles meaning for the Apostles drift is not here of inflicting of punishment for that man can give a reason of but the Apostle speaketh of Gods ordaining and appointing And again some Divines doe by this word lump understand the masse of corruption mans fall mans corrupting by Adams transgression Adam being wrapped in sinne Alludens inquit ad Adami creationem humanum genus umdum conditum nisi in opificis mente comparat massae Luti ex qua Deus postea prout ab aeterno decreverat condiderit quotidie condat tum eligendos tum reprobandos qui etiam declarat verbum faciendi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Objection of the Anabaptiste propounded and answered But though this be the opinion of many reverent Divines yet it cannot be the Apostles meaning because as saith Reverend Beza in this sence the Lord cannot be said to make men vessels of dishonour but to finde men alreadie in their estate vessels of dishonour Again the comparison it self seems to exclude and shut out all respect to corruption that there is no respect had to the corruption of man from everlasting for you see here God is compared to a Potter that taketh a piece of clay not stained with any pollution corruption spot or tincture for then the Potter might have some excuse to make a base vessel of it because it was a spotted and tainted piece of Clay so God taketh man as in himself not corrupted for then there was some cause why the Lord should cast away this man and not that man therefore we are here to understand not man corrupted but mankind generally taken One vessel to honour and another to dishonour that is to make one vessel to his Glory to honour everlasting and another to be vessels of wrath to shame and confusion I know what the Anabaptists object against this for they say it is very impious grosse and absurd thus to expound this comparison this maketh God to have no wisdome For what Potter is so foolish to make his pots to break them and to throw them away purposely shall we say then God made man to destroy him to throw him to utter confusion so that say they this is a very impious Exposition of the comparisons But herein they shew their foolishness and weakness I answer we affirme no such matter either of the Potter or of God that God makes man to destroy him for what is it for God to destroy a man It is when he confounds and turneth man to nothing when he doth annihilate and dissolve him to nothing but for God to finde a man in his corruption to throw him into Reprobation this is no destroying of a man Again beloved the Potter is a Creature and hath received a Law from God his Creatour that he must carrie himself toward his workmanship according to his Law that he may prove profitable either to the Church or to the Common-wealth Now this he doth not if he make his Pots with a purpose to break them then he liveth idlely and is a vain foolish fellow But God the great Lord of Heaven and Earth who hath made the world he is not bound to any such law will the Anabaptists in their foolerie bring God under a Law he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and he hath the Prerogative Royal and he is bound to no Law no more to preserve them being made then to make them of nothing when they were not will they bring God under their girdle and under their law therefore notwithstanding their cavil the meaning remaineth a truth and it is as if the Apostle had said Sence and meaning of the words Hath not God power and absolute lawful authoritie over man and as the Potter hath over the Clay even out of the same lump and mass of mankind taken generally to appoint and to ordain one man to be his vessel of mercy in life and glory in Heaven and to another to be a vessel of his wrath in the destruction of hell And thus much for the Apostles meaning Come we now to stand upon the words