Favour with God nevertheless by their wilful Disobedience and repeated Provocations fell under God's great Displeasure and Rejection 3. Shewing from thence the Nullity of their or any others Election when falling short of Honouring God and Performing Covenant with Him HAving spoken of Israel in general that Elect People whom the Apostle Paul differs from other People in his Comparisons as the true Olive-Tree from the wild Olive-Tree and as the Natural Branches to them that are not Natural Branches of the true Olive-Tree but in a way above Nature might be grafted in I shall now say something of the Two Principal Tribes amongst them and the most Select Families amongst those Tribes because if ever any were saved without any respect to their Walking with God c. they would be found here we should meet with them among these Beloved and Honoured People And 1. First of Levi that Priestly Tribe in that same Night in which God slew all the First Born of Egypt he sanctified to himself all the First Born of Israel and he made choice of and accepted this Tribe in lieu of them and separated them unto the Priests Office and none were to bear the Tabernacle or Ark or come near to touch the holy things but them and their incampment was round about the Tabernacle c. And of this Tribe the Dignity and first Honour fell upon Aaron and his Sons Eleazer and Ithamar and they were distinguished in their Consecration with Water Oil Hysop and Blood in their Offerings made for them in their Vestments Food Services their Incamping next the Tabernacle Eastward where if any Stranger came he was to be put to Death Now Aaron the first High Priest confirmed in his holy Office against the Contenders for that Dignity by a great Miracle the Budding of his Rod in one Night its Blossoming and bringing forth Almonds he died in Mount Hor. And Moses put his Robes upon Eleazer his Son and Successor in the Honour of the high Priesthood which was confirmed to him and Phineas his Son when he slew Zimri and Cosbi by way of the Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood yet a period was put to the descent of this Honour in Eleazer's Line at the Death of the Fourth High Priest after him and it appears it had been of more duration by the Promises made unto the next Family had they kept God's Covenant For the fourth High Priest from Eleazer being dead that Dignity devolved upon Eli the first High Priest of the Line of Ithamar whose Sons were Sons of Belial and knew not the Lord but committed great Wickedness and their Father restrained them not And there came a Man of God unto Eli and said unto him Thus saith the Lord Did I plainly appear unto the House of thy Father when they were in Egypt 1 Sam. 2.33 c. And did choose him out of all the Tribes of Israel to be my Priest c. Wherefore kick ye at my Sacrifices c. And honourest thy Sons above me c. Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith I said indeed that thy House and the House of thy Father should walk before me for ever but now the Lord saith Be it far from me For them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Behold the days come that I will cut off thine Arm and the Arm of thy Father's House c. And the Man of thine whom I shall not cut off from mine Altar shall be to consume thine Eyes and to grieve thine Heart c. Soon after this Israel was smitten by the Philistines the Ark of God taken the two wicked Priests the Sons of Eli Hophni and Phinehas slain in one day and Eli upon the News thereof falling from his Seat broke his Neck and died c. Hence it is plain the exceeding Love of God to this Family and how perpetually Happy they might have been if they had Honour'd God and how Wretched and Miserable they made themselves by provoking him with their Wickedness and Abominations So as this high Honour was quite remov'd out of their Line in the time of King Solomon when he expell'd Abiather from the Priesthood 1 Kings 2.26 who was the last of the high Priests of the House of Ithamar in whose place he constituted Zadock and in him was again restored the Line of Eleazer to the possession of that Dignity to which as that Prophecy here fulfilled teacheth they now ascended by the steps of the Trespass of the other From whence 't is clear that Sin is Sin in the most Beloved People and that God may be provoked by it to forsake 'em and instead of the purposed Blessing to bring a Curse upon them So there is no continuing Sanctuary in Election if we make it not sure after the above-mentioned Gospel-manner but in Vertue and keeping the Covenant there is Sanctuary in Faith and Holiness is an Invincible Shield To which agreeth the Prophecy of Malachy who in his day told the Priests on this manner If you will not hear if you will not lay it to heart Mal. 2.1 2. to give Glory to my Name saith the Lord of Hosts I will even send a Curse upon you and I will curse your Blessings yea I have cursed them already because you do not lay it to heart I will corrupt your Seed and spread dung upon your Faces c. So here God will be Glorify'd in the House of Eleazer For want of this we see Ithamar's House long since rejected and cursed and now the Curse entering upon the House of Eleazer for the same cause of not giving Glory to the mighty Name of God And they were a select People and had great Promises concerning the first God had said indeed Thy House and the House of thy Father shall walk before me for ever and to the latter he had long since given his Covenant of Life and Peace even the Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood but is now beginning to corrupt his Seed and to spread Dung on his Face and what 's become of their Priesthood their Tabernacle their Temple their Mercy-Seat Ark Altar Sacrifices and all their holy things How is Levi this day cast off scattered rejected c And as it is Glorious on the one hand to consider their high Dignity and Honour so is' t on the other hand Astonishing to consider their Privation of it their Debasedness and Misery 2. I come next to speak of Judah the most Enobled and Royal Tribe of the whole Earth if distinction is to be made of Blood it 's to be found here the most Royal Blood that ever run in Humane Veins if of Lineage and Families the World affords us instance of none so Great so Renowned as this Honoured with the Birth of Christ his Name imports Praises and his Excellency was held forth in his Blessing Judah thou art He whom thy Brethren shall Praise thy Hand shall be on the Neck of thine Enemies
Relation who careth for the Life of his Children nourisheth and provides all things necessary for them and if they be wicked and go from him Luke 15. and abuse his kindness and spend their substance upon Harlots as the Prodigal Son if they do but consider and return he seeing them afar off hath Compassion and runs to meet them and kisseth them and brings forth the best Robe and kills the fatted Calf and feeds and clothes them and rejoyceth over them c. Now if our natural Fathers know how to give good Gifts unto their Children how much more shall our Father which is in Heaven give good Gifts to them that ask him Mat. 7. A natural Father declining from this Rule comes under the Reproach of being Unnatural Careless Senceless c. But should he not only omit the Fatherly Love Care and Provision becoming him but also inhumanely Slay the most of his Children how odious a thing would this be amongst Men He would incur the Infliction of Death And yet the Tenents I 'm opposing lay even harder things than these at the door of the Almighty and most Merciful Father the Slaying his Children not only with Temporal but Eternal Death for the Praise of the Power of his Wrath. § 3. Jesus Christ is our High Priest and as such it is his Office to Bless us to offer up our Sacrifices to Attone and Intercede for and in our Behalf Heb. 5.1 2. Every High Priest taken from among Men is ordained for Men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both Gifts and Sacrifices for Sins who can have compassion on the igrant and on them that are out of the way c. And if Men had such great Benefit and Blessing by the High Priests after the order of Aaron how great Blessing and Benefit then have we by our High Priest after the order of Melchizedec who was before Aaron and is greater than Aaron c. Great was the Love of God unto us in giving his Son to be our High Priest to have the oversight and cure of our Souls and ineffable the Benefits Mankind receive by him who being exalted by the right Hand of God and having received from the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost hath shed forth this in some measure upon all O how wonderfully did he when he took our Nature upon him shew how great was his Goodness to the Sons of Men So if under the Cure of such an High Priest we come to any miscarriage it must be through our selves But what for a Priest do the Priests of these times make him with their Reprobate Doctrine which renders him shutting the Gates of Heaven against the greatest part of the Flock committed to his Cure and instead of interceding to God for them delivering them over to Satan and to Eternal Ruine and this not because of their Wickedness and that they will not be Reclaimed but for the Pleasure of his Father's Will even because God hath Will'd and Decreed it as they say See here how injurious is this Doctrine of Reprobation unto God and Christ in those general Relations of King Father and Priest c. CHAP. III. Reassuming the Substance of those Scriptures and Inferences mention'd in the Introduction most usually Vrged in pleading for Personal Reprobation with particular Answers and Explications to each according to their true and genuine Sense in which is clearly Refuted those false Senses and Meanings which the Predestinarians commonly impose upon them The whole comprised in Ten Objections and their respective Answers HAving thus far gone upon General Reasons I shall now come to a Particular Examen of sundry Scriptures most used in pleading for Personal Reprobation which I shall put as Objections not that they are really so to the Argument I 'm Advancing but the Misunderstanding or that false Sense put upon them So what I put down under the Head of Answer is the Explication of their true genuine Sense and Refutation of those false and foreign Senses and Meanings impos'd on them Which having for avoiding of Cavils premised I proceed Object 1. Though God be Love Good Gracious Merciful c. yet is he Excellent in Power and in Judgment and in plenty of Justice and the Scripture tells us of the Fierceness of his Anger and of his Indignation and of his Wrath and Vengeance c. Deut. 9.7 22. and 13.17 Josh 7.26 Job 37.23 Jer. 50.7 Mic. 7.9 Rom. 12.19 Answ All such places in which God's Anger and Wrath c. are spoken of have respect to Provocation and Offence given and not otherwise for all his Attributes are resolvable into Goodness and Love Mercy and Truth meet together or are united in him and Justice and Peace kiss each other or agree in one in him so speaking of God simply as what he is in himself or what is Primary and Spontaneous in him and he is all Goodness and Love Deus est primario bonus atque ex indole Naturae secundario ex accidente severus idem est ex populi peccato God is primarily good out of the inclination of his Nature but secondarily and accidentally he is severe by reason of People's sins So Anger Wrath Fury and Vengeance the executive part of Justice are consequential from God and not primarily in his Being but stirred up by the Devil and wicked Men proceeding according to his Lusts and the Inclination of their depraved Nature it is the Fruit of their Doings but the Fruit of the Spirit is Love Gal. 5.22 and God is Love God is slow to Anger it is not kindled in him nor repays he Vengeance or Wrath without great Provocation and cause given on our part take away this and Justice is our Friend and Advocate and is as sweet as Mercy It 's Transgression puts the Rod into the Hand of Justice or she Chastizeth not She never smites the Innocent or wounds the Mind that is Guiltless if so it would cease to be it would be no more Justice but it 's the Wicked that are slain at her feet and Transgressors are wounded by her And as Anger Wrath c. are not primary or voluntary in God but as effects of Provocation and Offence so neither is he inclin'd or prone thereto which is an ill Character in a Man and denominates him crabbed peevish angry implacable c. which by no means may be spoken of God Thus the Race of Mankind could not offend their Maker before they were made neither could it be consistent with him to make such a number of Living Souls so Good so Honourable and Resembling Himself to an End so Miserable as the Torments of Hell Object 2. The Scripture mentions Vessels of Wrath fitted for Destruction and also Vessels of Mercy and it is plain some Men are intended by Vessels of Wrath and some Men by Vessels of Mercy Now there is a vast difference betwixt Wrath and Mercy and the Scripture speaking of Mankind under the terms
thy Father's Children shall bow down before thee c. Gen. 49.48 Whence and from several other Scriptures may appear That Judah had the first place in the Love of God before any other Tribe or Family then upon Earth yet God would not bear their Wickedness but was provoked by it so as he slew Er the First Born Son of this great Father of the Tribe and from whom it took its Denomination And in After-time when their Kings did wickedly God was provoked with it as appears particularly in the Instance of Manasseh who did evil above all that the Amorites did which were before him for which cause God said He would bring such Evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever should hear of it both his Ears should tingle And further I will forsake the Remnant of mine Inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their Enemies and they shall become a Prey and a Spoil unto all their Enemies because they have done that which is Evil in my sight and provoked me to Anger c. And notwithstanding the great Reformation soon wrought in Judah by that good King Josiah who was this wicked King's Grand-Child of whom 't is Recorded That like unto him was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his Heart neither after him arose there any like him Yet so far was the Lord provoked upon so great a defection of the People that he turned not from the Fierceness of his Wrath wherewith his Anger was kindled c. but said I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I have removed Israel and I will cast off this City Jerusalem which I have chosen and the House of which I said My Name shall be there c. § 3. So 't is clear People in great Favour with God could forsake him by Disobedience and forfeit their share in his Love and instead thereof draw down his Displeasure and Wrath upon them For no Man shall please the Lord or continue long in his Favour who does not Love Honour and Serve him and it hath been in many Instances observable That the nearer God takes any People unto himself the more need they have to be humble reverent and holy as they are nearer the Divine Presence For the Lord hath said He will be sanctified in them that come nigh him which when Moses expounded of the sudden and miraculous Death of Nadab and Abihu Aaron held his Peace this high Priest could not deny the Exposition Levit. 20.1 2 3. So for People to take a greater liberty in their Words Actions and Conversation because of an Opinion of their being more Beloved of God and his People in a more peculiar manner than others is exceeding foolish and erroneous this hath introduc'd that evil Licenciousness with some People that they could think those things tolerable in themselves which they condemn in others and hath found out that hurtful distinction between the Sins of the Saints and the Sins of the Wicked and hath brought a strange Species of Sin for they 'll not allow it to be of the common fort into the Prayers and best Duties of the Saints which many will plead for as though it were either necessary or unavoidable Whereas the Man that is thus stated with respect to the Divine Favour should rather shew it forth out of a good Conversation with Holiness of Truth Next Amos the Prophet saith in God's Name unto this Select People Amos 3.2 You only have I known of all the Fumilies of the Earth therefore I will punish you for all your Iniquities which hath come to pass on this once Honourable Tribe as well as on the rest of the Jews whose Government is overturn'd their Country inhabited by another People and they under a more visible Dispersion into other Lands than any other People or Nation under Heaven and remain to this day as a sort of Vagabonds and Fugitives scattered up and down upon the face of the Earth having neither King or Nation of their their own for as Levi hath lost his Dedicate things so hath Judah his Regalia the Scepter is departed from him the Lawgiver from between his knees CHAP. V. Being 1. An Inquiry into the Infamous Race and Posterity of wicked Ham whom their Father Noah Cursed with great Bondage and Servitude notwithstanding which Curse and Rejection many good People were found amongst them 2. That their General Restoration is held forth in Scripture § 1. HAving taken a view of the two most honoured and beloved Families upon Earth let us next take a view of the most Accursed and Infamous Family upon Earth that of Ham's not Excluding even those that wear the black Badge of Darkness in the surface of their Skin the Posterity of him who blush'd not at his Father's Nakedness became as it were uncapable of a Blush Our Saviour himself speaks of this People in comparison of the aforementioned as Dogs to Children Mat. 15. So that if there had been such a special Election according to which some had been sav'd without any respect to their Faith Obedience c. it would have been found among those or if there had been such an absolute Reprobation according to which some had been cast headlong into Perdition without any respect to their good or evil Deeds we should find it among these But in the trace of the former it 's shewed how that notwithstanding their special Election many of them were rejected and fell away So it may appear concerning these that such of them as walked according to the Grace given them were received and accepted for good For Instance 1. Vriah the Hittite one of David's Worthies a Man of great Zeal and Vertue who was with Israel in their Wars against Ammon and his Zeal for God was such as coming on an Errand from the Army he refused the King's Order to go home unto his Wife saying The Ark and Israel and Judah abide in Tents 2 Sam. 11.11 and my lord Joab and the Servants of my lord are incamped in the open Field shall I then go into mine House to eat and to drink and to lie with my Wife As thou livest and as thy Soul liveth I will not do this thing 2. The Widow of Zarepha or Sarepta to whom Elijah the Prophet was sent after he had prophecy'd against Ahab King of Israel and she was a Woman of great Faith as the following Passages shew At that time there was a sore Famine in the Land and she was run to the last extremity having left her but an handful of Meal in a Barrel and a little Oil in a Cruise and she was gathering Sticks to bake it for her and her Son being resign'd unto Death after that their last Cake was eaten And yet even in this extremity she was perswaded to feed the Prophet with this her Food and to believe him contrary to the common course of things that her Barrel of Meal should not waste nor