against all that live after the Flesh 4. But even Perseverance it self is a Term Indefinite and illimited it admits though not altogether so many determinate degrees or portions as Mortification doth for there must be some set degrees of Mortification before there can be any Perseverance in Mortification yet a great many Degrees or parts And all the degrees of Perseverance are measurable by Continuance of Time Some there be who require a Perseverance in Mortification unto the hour of death before a man can be Infallible Heir of the blessing here promised They say of This the like blessings or Prerogatives or promised as Solon did of Happines or Feliâ—ity Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremáque funera debet No man can be said to be Thus Happy as to be in the assured state of Life untill he hath Persevered in this Duty of Mortification unto death And in this Tenour many of Gods Promises seem to run As when it is said He that continues unto the End he shall be saved c. This Limitation though true is not satisfactory to the Point in Question This Negative is true He that doth not Persevere in this duty of Mortification unto the End of his Life can have no Interest in this promised Life But this being granted it may be further Questioned Whether a man may not have the Gift of Final Perseverance Infallibly collated upon him by the Vertue of this Promise before he come neer to the End of his mortal life Whether some may not have it collated a longer time before some a shorter time some not untill the last day of their life or hour of death 5. A double Inquirie about Perseverance This Point again admits of a Double Inquisition The one De Certitudine Objecti The other De Certitudine Subjecti The One Concerns the Certainty of the Object or Gift of Perseverance it self as whether this Gift be immutably bestowed upon any man before his death The Other concerns the Certainty of our Apprehensions or perswasions that this Gift of Perseverance is or may be bestowed upon us in Particular Or if any man in this life can be thus Certainly perswaded the last Querie is By what Degree or kind of Certainty he can be assured that he shall finally Persevere in this Duty of Mortification or that he shall so Persevere in it as he shall not finally fall from Grace To begin with the First Branch of this Inquiry to wit Whether the Gift of perseverance or Certain Estate in Grace may be infallible or Immutable in this life Our First Proposition shall be this There is a Degree or measure of Mortification best known unto God which may be obtained before the hour of death by some later by others sooner unto which whosoever doth attain he is not only actually instated in this Promise of life but confirmed in Grace and endued with the Gift of Perseverance The Measure is not the same to all Some may be Confirmed in Grace before they attain unto the same height of Mortification which others must Exceed To whom much is given of them much shall be required The second Proposition is This There is a Degree or Measure of living after the Flesh best known unto God which may be made up in this Life by some sooner by others later which measure whosoever doth make up or go beyond it doth hereby become lyable to the Sentence of death hereby denounced and falls into the state of Reprobation The truth of both Propositions may be inferred from the Analogie of Faith or points of Doctrine heretofore delivered concerning the Certainty or continuance of Publick-Weal or Prosperity See his Sermons upon 2 Chr. 6. 39. And upon Jer. 26. 19. preach't before the King and the Certainty or Infallibility of Ruine and Destruction to States and Kingdomes Sauls Kingdome was upon the point of being perpetually Confirmed unto him 1 Sam. 13. 14. but by his Folly and disobedience his own Ruine and utter Deposition of his Line became inevitable and irrevocable The Rule often mentioned in other Treatises was Gener all That Blessings promised to any Nation whilest they were only promised not confirmed by Oath were but Mutable and Conditional and the Promise revocable That Cursings likewise only denounc'd by way of Threat Promises or threats without Oath Revocable under Oath irrevocable not ratified by Oath were but Conditional were Evitable and the Sentence revocable That Plagues or Blessings denounc'd by Oath were Inevitable unpreventable Instances were then given in Saul and in the Children of Israel which were cut off by Oath from entring into the Land of Promise as others were assured by Oath that they should enter into it 6. Now albeit the Interposition of Gods Oath was alwayes an Infallible Argument that The Thing which he did sweare were that matter of Promise or of Threat blessing or cursing was Immutable yet the Interposition of the Oath did not first make mens Estates whether in his Promises or in his Threates to be Immutable but rather declare them to be such Their Estates were the one way or the other Immutable before the Lord did so declave them and Immutable their Estates alwayes became not by any Specifical Qualities of the Duties performed or of the Iniquities committed by them but by the Just measure or full Degrees whether of dutiful Obedience or of disobedience and Transgression The best Argument in this Case we can use must be drawn from the Type unto the Antitype from the Legal Shadow unto the Evangelical Body This kind of Argument our Apostle hath warranted and in a manner fully drawn unto our hands Heb. 3. 7. Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith to day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts ver 13. but exhort one another dayly whilst it is called to day i. e. whilst there is time left for repentance lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin for we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the End 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what End doth he mean the End or utmost Period of Life This End may be comprehended under this Phrase which notwithstanding is not necessary to be restrayned unto this End For so the Instances alledged by the Apostle would not Conclude his main Allegation yea they include the Contradictory to this restraint thus much at the least that some of whom he speaks were confirmed in the promise and declared to be so confirmed by Oath others of them were sentenced by Oath unto death without revocation or appeal long before the End of life or approach of death Some when they had heard saith the Apostle did provoke howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses ver 16. Not all that were above twenty years old for Caleb and Joshua being at that time 40 years of Age did enter into the Land of Promise after all the rest which were above twenty
justly be allowed in any Academicall Act or Commencement albeit the Answerer or Defendant were furnished with no other grounds or occasions of his Theses besides that usually avouched Distinction between the Act and Obliquitie of the Act specially if the Distinction were applyed unto the First Sin of our First Parents In that sin whether we refer it to our Father Adam or to our Mother Eve the Act and the Obliquitie are altogether as unseparably annexed as Rotunditie or roundnes is with a Sphere or moulded Bullet And to imagine there should be one Cause of the Act and another of the Obliquitie or sinfulness of the Act would be as gross a Soloecisme as to assigne or seek after any other Cause of the Rotunditie or roundnesse of a Sphere or Bullet besides him that frames the one or moulds the other or as it would be to enquire any other Cause of the equality between two bodies before unequall besides him that makes the quantity to be of one and the same-size or scantling or of the similitude between the Fleece of a black sheepe and of a white sheep perfectly dyed black besides the Dyer Now the similitude betwixt that which is perfectly dyed black and that which is black by nature doth inevitably result from the Dyer without the intervention of any other Cause imaginable Easie it were to produce a volume of like instances in the workes of nature or of mens works and practises upon them all of them concludently enforcing the resolution of the former Probleme to be allowable in Schooles by most perfect and absolute Induction if Arts or Sciences were once so happy as to have none but true and accurate Artists to be their Judges As indeed they are the sole competent Judges in like Cases and Judges they are within these precincts as Competent as the Reverend Judges of this or any other Land are in Causes Civil Municipal or Criminal 2. Admit then a man were found guilty of murther by a Jury of his honest Neighbours upon the Authentick Testimonies of two or three witnesses which had seen him run his Neighbour through the body in some vitall part or to cleave his head in two and a Philosopher or Physitian should undertake to arrest the Judgement or make Remonstrance to the Judge that the Delinquent arraigned and convicted by the Jurie was not the true or immediate Cause of the others death upon these or the like allegations out of his own facultie That death properly consists in the dissolution of naturall heate and moysture whereas the party arraigned did never intend to make any such dissolution or to terminate his Action to the point of death but onely to thrust his sword through him or to knock him in the head which Actions can have no direct Terme besides the Vbi or Terme of locall motion Can we imagine that any Judge could be so milde as not to censure such an Apologizer for a saucy Artificiall Foole or a Crack'd-brained Sophister And yet this Apologie is not cannot be in vulgar judgments so Censurable of Artificiall folly as the former Apologie for salving the Escapes Errors or ill Expressions of some Learned and Pious Men by nice distinctions betwixt the Act and the Sinfulnesse of it in our First Parents Case was For there is not so immediate or so absolute or necessary connexion between death and the deadliest wound that can be given to any man as there is between Acts peremptorily forbidden by the Law of God and the Obliquitie or sinfulnesse of them For there is not neither is it possible there should be any minute of time or which is less then the least part of a minute any moment of time betwixt such Acts and the Obliquitie resulting from them Both of them come together both in respect of order of time and of nature by absolute indispensable Necessity Whereas between death and wounds given meritorious of Capital punishment there usually is a distance of time and oftentimes no absolute or unpreventable necessity that the one should follow within a year and a day of the other 3. But the best Method to convince such as Invented or used the former Distinction of gross error and somewhat more then so will be to retort their own Illustrations or justifications of it upon themselves as I have learned by successefull Experience upon some learned Ingenuous students which have revoked their own opinions and reclaimed others upon the reading of my meditations upon this argument in another Dialect In solenni Lectione One of the most usuall Illustrations or intended corroborations of the former distinction is borrowed from a Man that rides a Lame or halting horse Such a rider say they especially if he ride with switch and spur is the Cause why the horse goes or runs as fast as he can but not the Cause of his lamenesse or of his halting Of his lamenesse supposed he was lam'd before the Rider I confess is no Cause yet of his actuall halting down-right or of the increase of the lameness which will follow upon the unseasonable riding or over-riding he is the only Cause For if the poor Beast might have rested his bones when he was enforced to trot or gallop he would not have halted at all at that time nor would he have been so grievously lame as by such unseasonable usage he is But this instance or Illustration suppose it were not much amisse in respect of men now living can no way sute or fit the Question concerning the sin of our First Parents For Adam at his creation was no way lame or defective either in soul or body before he tasted of the forbidden Fruit. Now if the Almighty Creator had been the cause of this Act he had been as true a Cause of the First sin or of Adams halting in his service as he that bestrides a sound and lusty horse and runs him upon the spur in a rugged and stony ground or in a deep way is of the lamenesse of the death or any disease which ensues such desperate riding 4. Many commit more gross Idolatry with their own fancies then the Heathen did with their Idols To imagin that God should deal so hardly with the First Adam as to give him a Law which he intended to make him break and yet to punish him with death for the breach of it Or that the Second Adam the wisdom of God should send wise men and Prophets to Jerusalem to the intent or End that She should stone or put them to death or for this purpose that their bloud should in later dayes be required of Her as some in our times have publickly taught is an Imagination in it self much worse and more dangerous then the erection of Images though Roman-wise in Reformed Churches A greater Abomination then any Idol of the Heathens For Images or Idols are but the External Objects of or enticements unto grosse Idolatry Nor was it the Carpenter or Statuary that did make the Heathen gods
Apprehensions or Boastings and that is given us by our Saviour himself in this Gospel Chap. 14. vers 15 23 24. If ye love me keep my Commandments And again Chap. 15. vers 10. If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love How many may we find who in distresse or danger whether by Sea or Land specially in grievous stormes or sicknesse will seriously purpose and Resume that Branch of their Vow in Baptism ☜ To for sake the Devil and all his works the Lusts of the Flesh the Pomps and vanities of this wicked world And yet the Same Men being restored to health and probable safety will of Late zealous Professors and solemn votaries turn Gaderenes or Gergesites ready upon new Opportunities or Provocations of untame Desires to wish Christ to depart out of their Coasts rather then His Residence in their Hearts or Brains should give a continual check to their swinish appetites or Brutish Fancies And thus to do is not to keep but to violate Christs Commandments which whosoever doth not keep as well in This Particular of mortifying the works or Lusts of the Flesh as in other Duties doth not truly Believe in him shall not without hearty Repentance or new Purification of the heart and spirit either see God or be partaker of Christs Kingdom 11. Another Precept of Christ there is more General then the Former Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you even so do unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets So far is the whole Christian world as we call it from keeping this Commandment that the Practises most Contrary to it are so Vniversal and so violent as that both the Casuists and professed Interpreters of Scriptures have almost lost the true meaning of it at least have utterly neglected the extending or branching of it into useful Rules of Good life or for bringing forth the Fruits of the Spirit And which is worse such learned and pious men as have undertaken the Cure of souls and have been solemnly sworn to the faithful Execution of Pastoral Charge dare not press the Observance of this Great Commandment upon their Flock which daily and hourly most shamefully transgresse it partly by the uncontroled Practises of stubborn people partly by Authorized Rules in Courts of Justice No Prophet of the Lord dare speak his mind or interpreter of the Gospel or spiritual Governour dare put his Commission from Christ in Execution unlesse such as are resolved to suffer a Martyrdom from their flock or from the Professors of the one or other Law established throughout this Kingdom Without Reference to any particular Cause or Person I dare boldly pronounce in the General That not the Twentieth Part of Tedious Suits or Vexations in Law or other Grievances or oppressions would either be set on foot by the People or suffered to be prosecuted by Men in Authority if the Fear of God Belief in Christ Loyalty to their Soveraign Lord or Good Affection to their Country were planted in Either of them truly or indeed 12. The General Neglect of this Great Commandment of doing as we would be done unto in former times of our security and Peace hath been alwayes Dangerous But the Violation of it in these Times of Mortality of Calamity and more then wonted danger of worse to ensue is Prodigious For preventing the Execution of Gods Judgements threatned for our Violation of This and other Commandments of Christ I must entreat all Sorts of men that hear me this day in the same words for sense and meaning which a Zealous and Learned Father sometimes used in like case Parcite Regi Parcite Regno parcite Populo Anglicano parcite Animabus Vestris If there be any true Love and Loyalty in us towards our Gratious Soveraign Lord and his Royal Issue any good Affection towards our Native Country or to our souls Let us abate our wonted Pride and Luxury our wonted Covetousnesse Let us not think it sufficient to abstain from Unjust Unchristian Vexation and Oppression of our Neighbours unlesse we seriously account that measure of Contentment of our desires of what kind soever which heretofore hath been Lawful to be in these times more then most Vnexpedient To use that Plenty of Diet or measure of Recreation but especially that Benefit or Advantage of Laws for advancing our selves or increasing our Fortune which heretofore we have done perhaps without sin Let This also in these times be esteemed Impious or a sin not to be Expiated without hearty Repentance and extraordinary Performance of works of Mercy Dan. 4. 27. The End of the Second Sermon 13. * The Authors Connexion of the 21 Chapter to the 4 Section as it was before These two Sermons were inserted But the more we labour further to unfold this Argument of our Natural Servitude unto sin the faster we shall draw another Knot or the more we presse the several Branches of this Servitude upon the Conscience of the Untegenerate or not well sanctified man the greater Perplexity we shall Create unto him in another part of Theology whose Knowledge is altogether as Necessary and as useful as our Experience of Natural Servitude unto sin is The Knot or perplexed Difficulty is What Kind or what portion of Freedom of Will is or can be Compossible with Absolute Servitude unto sin in the Vnregenerate or Vnsanctified man SECT IV. Of that Faculty of the Reasonable Soul which we commonly call Free-will Of the Root and several Branches of it in the Generality What Branches or Portion of this Free-will is in the Man altogether Vnregenerate or in debauched or heinous Sinners CHAP. XXIV Of the Difficulties of the Controversies Concerning Free-Will with the Reasons why They have troubled the Church so long 1. IF we should abstract this Problem from the Difficulties wherewith it may seem to be intangled by the former discourses Concerning our Servitude to Sin and consider it only in its own Nature and Essence this Question alone hath ministred more matter of intricate Disputes The main Point about Free-Will scarce well stated in any Age since the Apostles times then any other Controverted Point in Theologie He that hath leasure skill and opportunity to take an accurate Historical Survey of the the true State or rather of the Instability or ill stated Tenour of this Point since the death of our Saviours Apostles or other Canonical Writers of the New Testament will easily discover that the Disputes about it Pro and Con have been like to a Pair of Scales which never came to any Permanent Stay or constant Settling upon the right Center but have one while wagled this way another while that way The Orthodoxal Truth Concerning this Point as it was taught by our Saviour himself and by his Apostles and maintained by those who did immediately succeed them is That there was no other State or Fatality in Humane Affairs or Events save only This That such as sought after Glory and Immortality by
being his Souldiers It is The Spirit of God which works in us The Will and the Deed yet this doth not Licence us to be Idle Fight we must not with our own shadows but Every man with his own Body not with a Body already dead or Mortified but a living Active Body that may be Mortified And this disadvantage we have that our Adversaries are got within us before we are aware of them so that we cannot fetch such fierce blows at them as may kill them at once or as we say out of hand Sometimes our Adversarie lies so close that we can hardly hurt him without danger of hurting our selves As some by offering too much violence to their bodies have ensnared their own souls But this is no Vsual Fault of this Age or of this Nation 7. Howbeit for the Reasons specified and the like It is not so in this Combate which Every man must entertain between himself and his own Flesh or between his Spirit and his Body as it is in Duels or single Combates In quibus aut cita mors venit aut victoria laeta in which one half hour brings forth either certain death or certain victory to the Combatant Nor as it is in pitch'd Battels in which one day is the making or marring of whole Nations or mighty Kingdoms which have been many years in growing This our Warfare is like unto a strait and Lingring Siege in which Patience and perpetual Vigilancy are no lesse requisite then present Valour or strength of Arms especially on the behalf of the party besieged Animus uniuscujusque est unusquisque Every mans Soul is Himself And every mans Soul is more strictly begirt and environed by his Body then any City can be by any Army The Gates of his Senses are alwayes open to let in such Objects or Temptations as take part with the Flesh Herein This warr with our souls is unlike unto Ordinary Sieges in that the party besieged may sooner starve or bring under the Party besieging then be starved or brought under by him so the besieged will be watchful Let us take into our Consideration what One of the most Expert Souldiers in this kind which ever fought under Christs Banner one that had a long time served in both Camps first fighting stoutly for the Body or Flesh and afterwards more victoriously for the Spirit hath left registred for our Instruction So fight I not as one that beateth the air But I keep under my Body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have Preached to others I my self should be a Cast-away 1 Cor. 9. 26. If so stout a Champion after so many years Service in the Camp of Christ was not secure of the Adversary which he carried about with him how dare some Fresh-water-souldiers say or what truth is there in their sayings That they have made full Conquest of their Adversarie It will be useful for the Reader to Know that if he please he may read more about This Subject of Mortification either now immediately before he proceed to the 30 Chapter or after the reading of the 35 Chapter or of this whole 5 Section in the Appendix at the end of this Book In which The Third General Enquirie Proposed Chap. 28. § 2. Touching the Limitation of the Two Propositions If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die If ye mortifie ye shall live And promised Chap. 35. § 10. is handled and are most most certain of their own Salvation before they know what Certainty means Or which be the Several Branches of it But of this Point if God permit elsewhere CHAP. XXX Containing the true Rule for examining our Perswasions concerning our Estate in Grace 1. Our Progresse in Mortifying Our Selves the best Rule for knowing our Estate IN the mean time it will not be amisse for every man to Examin himself by This Rule of our Apostle concerning the First Branch of Certainty that is a Moral Certainty or strong Probability that he is in the State of Grace or Regeneration If ye live after the flesh ye shall die This is the Rule Doth any man amongst us Spend most of his time in revelling or drinking in strife or variance or in jest or merriment If such a man have any seeds of Faith though Moral it will assure him for the Present that he cannot be so much as Morally Certain of his Regeneration The best Advice which for the time being can be given him is so to mingle his Hope with Fear as that Fear be Predominant If otherwise his Hope in this case shall bear down Fear or be not born down by it there is no other likely hood but that his Hope will grow into stiff Presumption and stiff Presumption will exclude Repentance on which Hope if it be sure must alwayes be grounded 2. But most mens Consciences perhaps can truly tell themselves that they do Mortifie the Deeds of the Body Here is Just ground of Hope and Moral Certainty if this Testimony of the Conscience be sincere Howbeit even here again is place for Advice And the best Advice that I can give to any in this Case is that he do not seek to Buy with one Weight and Sell with another but plant his Hopes and displant his Fear by One and the same Rule or Line The Rule for the planting Hope and preventing Despair is this When our Apostle saith Gal. 5. 21. He that doth such things any works of the Flesh by him there mentioned shall not inherit the Kingdom of God we are to take the Value or weight of This Word DOTH not by the present Acts or Operations but from the Vsuall Practise Habit or Custome of doing them Continual approved Practise of the least sins there named by him excludes from Grace This is the Weight or Scale by which men are willing to sell or to put off Fear or Despair But they must remember withall to be as ready to Buy with the same Weight that is as ready to measure their Hopes or entertain the Certainty of their Estate in Grace by the same Scale The Apostle saith If ye mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live From This General Proposition Most Hearers of the Word will be ready to Assume But I God be thanked do mortifie the Deeds of the Body by diligent hearing the word Preached by frequent receiving of the Sacrament Ergo I shall live But here we are to consider that as other words implying Action so this word I do Mortifie in the Language of the Holy Ghost specially in those places whereto Gods promises are annexed is not to be restrained to the Interposed Acts or interrupted Operations of the Spirit but directly imports the Habit the Custome or assiduous Practise of Mortification If in This Sense we Do mortifie the Deeds of the Body that is if we make This Work the Chief of our Doings if most of our Care and Industry be addressed to the perfecting of this
Salvation as God is readie to work in them and for them And because God never failes to work salvation in them and for them that are diligent in seeking it or affraid to neglect it therefore they are said to Work out their own Salvation not properly or Formally but Consecutivè that is Salvation is the Necessary Consequent of their working or doth necessarily follow upon their work Not by any force or Efficacie of their Work or by any natural Connexion but meerely by Gods Appointment or Decree The very same phrase in the Original our Saviour useth unto the people John 6. 27. Which words can beare no other Construction then that which we have made of St. Pauls words Philip. 2. 12. no other Interpretation then our English hath already made Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life And so the Vulgar Latin doth not render them verbatim Operamini Cibum but Operamini Cibo Not Work that meat but work for that meat For if That Meat which endureth to eternal Life must be given them by the Son of God if This Meat be the very Bodie and Blood of the Son of God it cannot be the proper Effect of any mans work or any Merit of man but the End or consequent of our Labours or endeavours and yet we are said to work This Meat in the same sense that we are said to work our Salvation viz. Consecutivè because God doth infallibly make us partakers of it if we diligently seek after it or labour for it 7. By the right Use of this Distinction we may reconcile many places of Holy Scripture which seem repugnant one to another as Likewise qualifie many Speeches whether of the Fathers or some Good Modern Writers which otherwise would seem harsh and offensive Who can say saith Solomon Prov. 20. 9. I have made my heart clean This Interrogation is in all mens judgement Equivalent to this Universal Negative No man can say I have made my heart clean Howbeit the Psalmist Psal 73. 13. saith Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain There is no Contradiction between this Psalmists Particular Affirmative I have cleansed my heart and Solomons Universal Negative No man can say I have cleansed my heart Solomon speakes of the Internal Purification which is the proper Effect and sole work of Gods Spirit The Psalmist speakes of his own Labours or Endeavours that his heart might be thus purified by the spirit of God He then did cleanse his heart Consecutivè non Formaliter Every one Saith St. John that hath this hope in him purifies himself as he is pure 1. Joh. 3. 3. This place perhaps Some will say is meant of men Regenerate only seeing they only have that hope whereof the Apostle here speakes Many other such places of scripture there be in which we are said and sometime Commanded to Purifie our Selves as Jam. 4. 8. Cleanse your hands ye Sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded This place cannot be meant of men truely regenerate For even Sinners and double minded men such as men regenerate are not are commanded to cleanse their hands and to purifie their hearts Many other places likewise there be wherein this purifying of the heart is wholly ascribed unto God God saith St. Paul Act. 15. 9. put no difference betwixt us and them purifying their hearts by Faith Not this Purification only But all other Good Works are said to be wrought by God as Esay 26. 12. Lord thou wilt ordaine peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our workes in us or for us And our Saviour saith John 15. ver 5. Without me ye can do nothing Both parts of our former Distinction are included in that of St. Paul 2. Tim. 2. 21. If any man purge himself from these he shall be a Vessel unto honour Sanctified and meet for the Masters Vse and prepared unto every good work His speech is if we mark it He shall be made a Vessell unto honour if he purge himself He doth not say He shall be enabled to make himself a Vessell of Honour Nor doth he in proprietie of speech or as we say Formally or Efficiently purge himself But in that he doth those things whereupon this Purification by Gods Spirit doth immediately follow Man is said to purge himself And so are we in this place of St. Paul Rom 8. said to mortifie the deeds of the bodie by the Spirit when we do those things whereupon this Mortification doth immediately insue not by any Merit or Causalitie of our works but by Gods meere Grace by the Councel of his Holy irresistible Will by the Determination of his Eternal Decree by which it hath pleased him to apoint The One as a Necessarie Consequent of The Other to witt Spiritual Mortification or life it self as the Issue of our endeavours to Mortifie the Flesh This kind of Speech is usual not in Scripture only but in other Good Writers and in our Common Dialect So Tully tells us of a Romane Orator who for want of skill in Civill Law Petijt revera ut causa caderet made a Motion that he might Loose his Cause This Motion he did not make directly or Formally His meaning is that if his Motion had been granted he must by Necessary Consequent have lost his Cause Thus when we see a man Look Old whom we know to be much younger then our selves we usually say You make me an Old Man Not hereby meaning that he hath brought Old-Age or Gray Haires upon us by any trouble or vexation but that he who is much younger then we being apparently Old we must by Consequence be Old So that he makes us Old not Efficiently but only by Consequent truely argues us to be Old According to this Analogie of Speech by which He is said to make us Old whose Age doth truely argue us to be Old is that Prophesie litterally mean◠of Jeremiah which was punctually or formally fulfilled in God or his Christ Jer. 1. 10. See I have this day set thee over the Nations and over the Kingdomes to root out and to Pull down and to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant Jeremiah did never Levie an Armie or incite any people to take Armes for the Deposition of their present Governour or for the Alteration of any state yet in as much as He foretold the Extirpation of Some Kingdomes and the Erection or Plantation of Others And in as much as what he foretold did certainly come to passe he is said to have Done that which did Follow upon his Predictions though many yeares after his death And in the same Sense we are said to Mortifie the Flesh to cleanse our Hearts to work out our Salvation yea to make our Election sure when we do those things whereupon our Purification or Mortification shall be wrought though many yeares hence and alwaies wrought by the Omnipotent Power of that Decree by which those Kingdomes
had perished in the wildernesse But the Apostle further demands with whom was he grieved forty years Was it not with them which had sinned whose carcases fell in the wildernesse And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his Rest but to them that believed not so we see what they could not enter in because of unbeliefe He saith not they did not enter in because of unbelief but they could not enter in because of Unbelief This argues that the Possibility of entring in was utterly cut off and we know it was so cut off because the Lord had sworn they should not enter in But what was the true or adequate Cause why they could not enter in or why their former Possibility of entring in was utterly cut off The Apostle mentioned only Two Vnbelief and Sinne. But are his words only to be understood of ordinary Sinne or Simple unbelief or was there any Sin or Vnbelief for Specifical Quality so deadly as could utterly exclude them from all Possibility of entring in or do these Termes though Indefinite in themselves necessarily Include a certain Measure or high Degree of Vnbelief or Sinne. This Point may best be resolved by the Historicall Relations of Moses whereunto our Apostles discourse throughout the whole 3. Chapter to the Hebrews hath speciall Reference and on which his Exhortation or main Argument is wholly grounded This Story is set down at large Numbers the 14. 21. Of Promises or threats without or under Oath See his 7. Book Ch. 13. 9. Book Ch. 18. As truly as I live saith God to Moses all the earth shall be filled with the Glory of the Lord. This is the Express form of the Oath The Contents of the same Oath or the Articles unto which God Swears are set down at large in the words following in which likewise the Measure and Quantity as well of their Positive Sin as of their Vnbelief is Emphatically expressed All those men which have seen my Glory and my Miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wildernesse and have temptea me these ten times and have not hearkened unto my voyce surely they shall not see the Land which I sware unto their Fathers neither shall any of them that provoked me see it They had seen or known by certain Relation Ten several Mighty Wonders which God had wrought in Egypt upon Pharaoh upon his Land and People Now the contempt and neglect of so many Wonders besides the Miracles which he had wrought for them in the wildernesse argue a great Measure of Disobedience or Vnbelief a great Measure of Omission or neglect of this Duty of Mortification which is Necessary to All a great Measure of Life stubbornly led after the Flesh Howbeit Their Sins were most grievous which had seen the Good Land which God had promised by Oath unto their Fathers as is clear from Numb 14. 36 37. The men which Moses sent to search the Land who returned and made all the Congregation to murmur against him by bringing up a slander upon the Land Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the Land dyed by the plague before the Lord and so they dyed before their brethren which had given credit unto their report and out of their Vnbelief did murmur against their God Howbeit even these with all the rest above twenty years old Except Caleb and Joshua were utterly cut off from all Possibility of entring in before the time or hour of their death yea they dyed before their Ordinary Times for this their Provocation as is Emphatically exprest ver 34. Ye shall bear your Iniquities forty years And you shall know my breach of promise that is the Revocation of the Blessing promised 7. That Caleb and Joshua had their Estate or Interest in the same promise irrevocably confirmed unto them long before their time of their entring into the promised Land may be gathered from the Exception interserted in the Oath for the Lord had sworn that none of the rest should enter in besides Caleb and Joshua Num. 14. 30. This Exception in Ordinary Construction seems to include that the Lord did Positively swear That These Two should enter into his Rest Howbeit this Exception alone is but a Presumption or a proof not Concludent without Favourable Construction and as Lawyers say Favorabiliora sunt amplianda Favourable promises are to be taken in the ampler Sense But thus we may not interpret Gods Promises without warrant from Him That Gods meaning in the former Clause or Exception concerning Caleb and Joshua was to be taken in this Favourable and ample Sense we have a further Positive and Concludent Proof from the Petition which Caleb exhibited unto Joshua and Joshua granted Josh 14. 6 9 10 11 12 13. Thou knowest saith Caleb unto Joshua the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Cadesh Barnea Moses sware in that day saying surely the Land whereon thy feet have troden shall be thine inheritance and thy Childrens for ever because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God And now behold the Lord hath kept me alive as he said these fortie and five years even since the Lord spake this Word unto Moses whilest the Children of Israel wandred in the Wildernesse and now lo I am this day fourfcore and five years old As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day when Moses sent me as my strength was then even so is my strength now for warre both to go out and come in And Ioshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Iephunneh Hebron for an inheritance Such is the Force and Efficacy of Gods Promise confirmed by Oath that it not only kept Caleb alive but in the same strength and Activity of body till 85. years in which he was at 40. years It was as Remarkable in preserving his life and strength as it was in bringing mortality upon others Yet was not his Promise so confirmed by Oath unto all that were excepted from the Plague denounct by Oath as it was unto Caleb and Ioshua For all that were under twenty years old were excepted from the plague denounced by Oath yet were they not all assured by Oath that they should enter into the Land of Promise The Exception of Them in the Oath only reserves that Possibility or that Interest which their Fathers had in the Promise as Entire to them as it was at the first Their Estate was but Conditional and held as it were the Mean between the Estate of Caleb and Ioshua which was Confirmed by Oath and the Estate of their Forefathers which were Excluded by Oath For so Moses saith unto the Tribe of Reuben and God whose disobedience and backsliding he feared Numb 32. 14 15. Behold ye are risen up in your Fathers stead an increase of sinful men to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord towards Israel For if ye turn away from after him he
could have had none in respect of Gods Decree or Ordination if it were true that God had ordained him to eat the Forbidden fruit For the Rule is most certain That God is the Cause and Author of whatsoever he Ordains men to do and hence we read that God hath Ordained us to good works to newness of Life to the performance of all those duties which are commanded But we never read in Scripture and let it never be read in any other Book but with indignation let it never be spoken or thought upon by any Christian but with detestation that God should ordain men to walk in the ways of Cain or to tread in the pathes of ungodliness The Conclusion then is firm and sound That these men here mentioned in St. Jude The conclusion of the first point were not ordained to trouble the Church but ordained and that of old unto that Condemnation which is due to such as trouble the Church or to ungodliness And that is a fearfull condemnation as St. Jude expresseth it ver 13. For to them saith he is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever And if this were reserved unto them or for them they were first ordained unto it the Sentence was already past upon them albeit the Execution be deferred untill the Judgment of the great day But unto this condemnation they were ordained because they had followed the ways of Cain and run greedily after the error of Balaam as St. Iude tels us ver 11. But farre be it from us to think that they were ordained to follow the ways of Cain who was the first troubler of the Church that they might be condemned And thus much of the First point what Condemnation is here meant or unto what they were ordained That was not to trouble the Church but to everlasting torments for troubling the Church by wicked Lives and Lewd Opinions 5. The second Point The Second Generall was What Ordination is here meant or in what manner these men are said to be ordained to this Condemnation Many take it as granted that Ordination to everlasting death is the very same that Reprobation is Yet if this were a time or this a place fitting for discussion of this point it might be easily made to appear that although Reprobation include surely an Ordination to death yet every ordination to death doth not include Reprobation For Ordination to life and Predestination and Ordination to death and Reprobation differ as much as Genus and Species as a Reasonable Creature doth differ from a Sensitive Creature But to let this pass This place of St. Iude is in the opinion of many good Writers Equivalent to that of St. Peter 1. Ep. 2. Cap. 8. ver They stumble at the word being disobedient whereunto also they were Appointed But for that place I suppose he means Mr. Byfield who is far from the Rigidness of some in that point it is ingenuously and discreetly expounded by a late English Writer in his Comments upon that Epistle And it were to be wished that his Exposition were sincerely imbraced by such as had the man in esteem while he lived and are much beholding to his writings especially upon this Epistle since he dyed I shall only now give you notice that the Originall word in this place of S. Jude rendred by ordained is not the same with that in St. Peter That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is well rendred Appointed Nor is it the same with that of St. Paul Act. 13. 48. As many as were ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto eternal Life believed S. Judes word here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as some render it Praescripti prescribed Of whom it was forewritten to this condemnation But as Beza descripti that is as men designed taxed or proscribed to this condemnation It includes then an Ordinance or somewhat more to witt an Ordinance upon Record but in what Record In Gods everlasting Book of death or may we say that he hath such a Book It is evident that there be more Books then One out of which men shall be Judged at the last day according to their works The 2. General subdivided as St. Iohn tells us Rev. 20. 12. The Points then Remaining to be discussed are Two First In what Sense these men are said to be fore-ordained to everlasting death or in what Sense men are said to be Reprobated from everlasting or from Eternity The Second Whether our Apostle in this place did expresly and punctually mean Gods eternal Decree of reprobation or some other ordination to death 6. In handling the first Point I shall only explicate that which I haue elsewhere delivered See the 37. Chap. to wit That albeit whosoever is reprobated is reprobated from eternity yet no man at the time of his Baptism is a Reprobate Numb 16. and Pharaohs hardning few or none are born in that estate or condition but such as finally perish do fall into it The Case may be made clear by divers Instances wherein men even by humane Lawes may be sentenced to death or other punishment before they be born and yet at the time of their birth or within some few days before their death or punishment be no more lyable to the Sentence of the Law then other men are For unto death or other grievous punishment there is required for the most part as well the Sentence of the Judge as the Sentence of the Rule or Law And yet in some peculiar Cases no more is required then the Sentence of the Law or Rule Sententia Judicis Sententia Juris which was made and given many hundreds of years before the Party was born which is sentenced by it Every one that committeth murther is lyable to death by the Law But besides the Sentence of the Law or the Rule which is Generall to all there is required the Sentence of the Judge to apply the Law to this Particular and before he give sentence there is further required a Formal Processe not only for proof of the Fact it self but of the Quality of it And untill this Processe be observed the Judge himself may not give Sentence although he himself saw the the Fact committed Nor may the Party be executed or put to death by any untill the Judge have given Sentence He is condemnable before the Jurie passe upon him but not condemned when the Jury finds him guilty untill the Judge passe sentence upon him But if a private man shall take up Arms against his Soveraign Lord or the state wherein he lives he is rebellious Ipso Iure he is a Rebell by Law there needs no other Tryall or Formal Processe besides the Evidence of the Fact The Martial or General is only to put the Law in Execution and the Party thus rebelling is sentenced to death by the Law which was in force many hundreds of years before the party offending was born who not withstanding is not lyable to