comfort both in life and in death Let us then never rest untill we be grieved for the miseries that lye on the bodies of others but especially for the evils on the souls of others and such as do appertain unto us that we be not like stocks nor stones but that we mourn for the sinnes on the soules of others Now from these words the Apostle where he saith he grieveth for the rejection of the Jewes some move this question Whether the Apostle might lawfully be grieved for the rejection of the Jews it being according to the appointment of the Lord. But the question Quest arising from hence concerning our selves is this seeing we are to be grieved for the known miseries of others the question may be Whether we may be grieved for such persons as suffer just punishments for their evil deeds brought to the place of execution when the hand of God is in punishing of them for their evil doings or no Now to this I answer Answ That we are to put on tender bowels of pity commiseration and compassion towards all that be in any distresse and under the punishing hand of God in any thing whatsoever they be though never so vile and sinful though they be monsters in regard of the outrage of sin yet as they be the creatures of God as they bear the Image of God and be reasonable creatures and are partakers of the same nature with us so we are to put on tender bowels of pity and commiseration towards them though they be never so vile or wicked Thus we find Samuel mourned for Saul Samuel as a Prophet foreseeing the evil that was like to fall upon Saul both in the losse of his Kingdom and the losse of his life in so desperate a manner he grieved for him as we may read in the 1 Sam. 16.1 The Lord biddeth him no longer to mourn for him yet he did in regard of the miseries that he saw lye upon him thus we are to mourn for all be they never so vile as they bear the image of God and are men and women like unto us but as wicked persons undergo just and deserved punishment for their offences either against God the good estate of the Church or the good estate of Religion we may in that respect be so far from grieving mourning and pitying of them that we may rejoyce and joy in it yet not pleasing our selves in the smart or pains of others be they never so vile but for the manifestation of Gods Justice because we love God and the glory of God is dear unto us therefore we may and ought to magnifie and justifie the Name of God in cuting off of such men as be Jesuites and Seminary Priests we may be so far from sorrowing for them as that we may rejoyce in it and glorifie God in cutting off of such wicked Imps as in Psal 58.10 11. The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the revenging hand of God upon such and men shall say Verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtlesse there is a God that judgeth on the earth God himself desireth not the death of any so he saith I delight not in the death of a sinner yet God was pleased with the punishment of the wicked according to the rule and course of his Justice so we must not delight in the punishment of any as he is a creature of God and beareth the Image of God like unto us but we are to look upon the glory of Gods Justice and to magnifie and to glorifie him in such persons being destroyed that seek the hurt of Gods glory Gods Church or Gods Religion For then we are to rejoyce but not in their punishment as they are men of the like nature with us In the next place we are to mark that the Apostle saith not nakedly and barely that he was grieved and sorrowed for the rejection of the Jewes but doth affirm and say that he had great heavinesse and continual sorrow for the rejection of the Jews his heavinesse and sorrow was not small nor vanishing but it was great and heavy such as is a womans travelling with child for so the word sorrow signifieth a vehement great and heavy sorrow for their rejection Now what was the cause the Apostle grieved for the rejection of the Jews because he loved them for this was a manifestation of his love his sorrow and love held sympathy and proportion hence the observation is thus That true love unto any person Doctr. or thing causeth heavinesse sorrow and grief in the heart upon any known just occasion of grief given from that person or thing so loved and according to the measure of love to any person or thing so is the measure of grief or sorrow upon any known just occasion of grief from that person or thing so loved our grief is answerable and proportionable to our love the more we grieve for any person or thing the more we love them this we see is clear from the example of the Apostle that was grieved for the rejection of the Jews out of his love to them and this is manifest by other places as in Gen. 37.34 we read when good Jacob that holy and just man had just occasion given unto him for sorrow and heavinesse as he thought for his son Joseph he thinking verily his son was devoured by wild beasts as they did give him intelligence though false it is said that he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth and sorrowed for him exceedingly yea the Text saith that when his children came about him to comfort him he would not be comforted in regard of the evil he thought had befallen his son Joseph he grieved a long season and would not be comforted so also in 1 Sam. 20.34 Jonathan was very sorrowful and exceeding heavy for David because his Father Saul had reviled him such was his love to David so also we find that the good man Nehemiah had a heart full of sorrow and grief and humbled himself in weeping and fasting when he heard of the evil that was upon the Church and the people of God it made him break out into weeping and humbling his soul Nehem. 1.6 yea his sorrow and heavinesse was so great that he could not dissemble it he could not keep it in his bosome it appeared in his very countenance yea and that so apparantly that the King said What is the matter Nehemiah why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick Sure I perceive that this is nothing else but sorrow of heart Nehem. 2.2 In John 11.36 the Jews said when they saw Jesus weeping for Lazarus Behold how he loved him they could thereby conjecture his love to him so 2 Cor. 2.4 The Apostle saith in great anguish of spirit he wrote to them and in many tears that they might perceive his love unto them his true and hearty love and anguish of his soul went together so that the point is clear That true love unto
vouchsafed unto them as the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants the giving of the Law and the service of God c. that they were the seed of the Patriarks and which is yet more that Christ himself as touching his humane nature was descended from them doubtlesse a matter of great honour Vse Which should teach us Not to hate the Jewes as many do onely because they are Jewes merely for the very name and title of being Iewes which name is amongst many so odious that they think they cannot call a man worse then to call him a Jew but beloved this ought not to be so for we are bound to love and honour the Jews as being the ancient people of God to wish them well and to be earnest in prayer to God for their conversion we are indeed to hate their obstinacy in rejecting of Christ and his faith but ought to love them in respect of their ancient and honourable priviledges especially that they were once the people of God that Christ himself came of their race and line and if we hear of the conversion of any of them we are bound to love them so much the more if they once come to receive and heartily to imbrace the Gospel of Christ for though believing Jews and Gentiles are one body in Christ yet are the Jewes our elder brethren and the Gospel was first offered and preached unto them Go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not saith our Saviour in his first Commission granted to his Disciples Matth. 10.5 6. but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel so that the Gospel was first preached to the Jews as the Apostle speakes Act. 13.46 and from them it proceeded and descended unto us Gentiles so that all believing Jews are to be honoured and beloved of us as being our elder brethren and the people of God yea we are to wish them well that are yet uncalled and unconverted and earnestly and heartily to pray for their conversion Again In that the Apostle addeth this limitation concerning the flesh or according to the flesh Hence we are plainly taught the truth of Christs Humanity which is an article of our faith and a fundamental truth of God which we are to imbrace upon pain of damnation and from hence the observation is this Doctrine That Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God was truly incarnate and truly became man consisting of a body and a reasonable soul in all things like unto us onely without sin The holy Son of God did assume and take upon him the nature of man became true man consisting of a true body and reasonable soul and not imaginary onely yea that he had the properties of a true body as longitude latitude altitude visibility and circumscription as also the properties of a reasonable soul as understanding will and affections Yea further Jesus Christ took upon him the common infirmities of the body and soul of man such infirmities as appertain to the whole nature of man as hunger thirst yea he was subject to be sorrowful angry c. Joh. 1.14 the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us that is the eternal Word of the Father the second person in the Trinity even he was made flesh which plainly sheweth the truth of his humane nature So again Rom. 1.3 where the Apostle speaking of Christ the Son of God saith that he was made of the seed of David concerning the flesh or according to the flesh And in Gal. 4.4 saith the Apostle When the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his son and that son that is made of a woman even that eternal son of God made of a woman a plain demonstration of Christs humanity so in Phil. 2.7 The Apostle saith that Christ was made like unto man and found in shape as man Now indeed some in ancient time perverted this Scripture and abused it to say that Christ had a heavenly body and imaginary body like unto man he had a body of an imaginary substance but this is contrary to the meaning of the Text as you may gather by the context for the meaning is that Christ Jesus had the same properties of a body and soul as other men as seeing smelling tasting feeling hearing and the like and subject to the like properties and infirmities as we are as to hunger thirst anger yea to death it self as we may see in Philip. 2.8 he became obedient to the death even to the death of the Crosse he did eat and drink and sleep and was subject unto sorrow and heavinesse yea even unto the death so that that place rightly understood is a strong argument to prove the truth of Christs humanity that he was like unto us sin excepted It was needful that Christ Jesus the Son of God should take flesh upon Reason 1 him consisting of a true body and soul like unto us First of all to accomplish the promise of God which he had made in Gen. 3.15 the seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head here is a Promise made and for the accomplishment of this promise it was needful that the Son of God should take flesh upon him Secondly it is needful that he might suffer for sinne in his body and Reason 2 soul that which the whole Church of God had deserved by their sinnes so saith the Holy Ghost Heb. 2.9 that he might suffer death which he could not have done had he been onely God and so that he might appease the wrath of God in that same Nature wherein God was offended man had sinned and man must suffer for sinne either by himself or in Christ and therefore needful it was that the eternal Son of God the Mediatour of the Covenant that he should be not onely God but Man also consisting of a true body and soul like unto us excepting sin onely First this being a truth it serveth to discover unto us an errour Vse it serveth for the confutation of some erroneous opinions that are contrary to the truth of Christs humanity for it is an Article of our Faith and must be defended namely that of the Manichees and likewise of the Anabaptists for they affirm that Christ Jesus took his body from heaven and passed through the womb of the Virgin as through a Conduit or Pipe and took not her Nature upon him Beloved this must teach us to renounce this opinion and not onely this which hath been confuted by our Ancient Divines long agone but also the opinion of our adversaries the Papists For howsoever they grant unto Christ a true Natural body they dare not deny that but that he was born of the Virgin Mary yet in truth they overthrow the truth of his body how in that they give unto the body of Christ such properties as cannot agree to a true body what are those why they give to the body of Christ to be invisible to be uncircumscribed to be
nature and by carnal generation we are not to take it in a Metaphorical sense but in the very literal sense of it For to confirm the Exposition it is most evident and clear that the thing which made the Jews to stand upon and to think themselves that they were within the Covenant and had right and title to it which is made to Abraham the very cause they so thought what was it the seeking of righteousnesse by the Law no such matter that he beateth against in the next Chapter But because they were the Israelites because they were of Abraham in regard of carnal generation and were Abrahams seed according to the flesh this they vaunted and stood upon what may we think to be meant by Abrahams seed which the Apostle speaketh of in the verse foregoing and here doth explain that term but such as came of the seed of Abraham and that by nature not such as sought righteousnesse by the Law no his meaning is no such matter because the matter they stood upon as a priviledge and prerogative belonging unto them are not the children of God That is they are not such children as God bound himself unto by a special promise to do good unto in a special manner as he said unto Abraham I will be thy God and the God of thy seed such as he had bound himself unto in a Covenant but the children of the promise For the understanding of this phrase and form of speech we must know that Isaac Abrahams son was a child of the promise what is that why surely such a child as the promise gave birth unto Abraham begot Isaac of his wife Sarah indeed according to the course of Nature but not by the force strength and vertue of nature he was born merely by a special promise made unto Abraham and by vertue and strength of that special promise cited by the Apostle made in Gen. 18.9 Sarah thy wife shall have a son and so though he was begotten by Abraham according to the course of Nature but not by the force of Nature For when this promise was made unto Abraham Sarah thy wife shall have a son Abraham and Sarah were old and both strucken in years and not of ability by nature to have a child so that in regard of the force of nature it was as impossible for Abraham to beget or Sarah to bear a Child as for a stone to flye upward so that he was begotten by vertue of the Promise for she was past childbearing and Abraham very old so that the force and strength of Nature in Abraham and Sarah was not the cause of Isaac's birth but by vertue of the promise so that we are to understand by children of the promise such as after the manner of Isaac are children of the promise Gal. 4.28 Now we brethren as Isaac was are the children of the Promise That is all such as by vertue of the promise of grace of life and salvation are adopted and made the children of the Promise by the vertue and force of the promise the Gospel being a quickening Gospel it being published and they believing in it they come to be the children of the promise and born anew not by nature but by the Promise The meaning of the Apostle is this That is or my meaning is that not they that are descended from Abraham onely by the course of Nature and according to the flesh and by carnal generation they are not such children as God hath bound himself unto by promise in a special manner that is to do good unto by a special promise according to the speech unto Abraham I will be thy God and the God of thy seed But all such that belong unto Gods election in time to be called to be the sons and daughters of God the promise being published unto them and are wrought upon by vertue of the Spirit and the Promise They onely and none but they are accounted and reputed for the true seed and children of Abraham to whom the promise of mercy grace righteousnesse and salvation belongeth Come we now to the Doctrines And here observe That the Apostle doth expound himself touching that which is put down in the verse foregoing and delivereth his mind more plainly then in the seventh verse the conclusion is this That the holy Prophets and the holy Apostles of God Doctrine the Pen-men of Scripture they do explain the things that are needful for the Church and people of God and make them more easie that are hard to be understood expressing them more plainly in one place then in another an usual thing in the Book of God for the Pen-men of Scripture to explain such things as is necessary for the people of God to expresse things that seem to be doubtful obscure and ambiguous more in one place then in another and not to leave it obscure and ambiguous For the further manifestation of it I might insist on divers places of Scripture but take these few in Gen. 17.10 we read that circumcision is called the Covenant and in the 11. verse he explaineth it and saith it is the sign of the Covenant so in Exod. 12.11 The Paschal Lamb is called the Lords Passeover that should be eaten in destroying the Egyptians then in the 27 verse it is said to be the sacrifice of the Lords passeover more plainly expounding it so in 1 Cor. 10.4 Christ is called a rock and by and by he subjoyneth unto it a spiritual rock so that phrase used by Christ which the Papists so much abuse as the ground of their transubstantiation and would prove it that the Body and Blood of Christ are really and corporally in the Sacrament under the form of Bread and Wine it is expounded by the Holy Ghost and by the Apostle in 1 Cor. 11.26 For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this Cup ye do shew the Lords death untill he come doth not this set out the meaning of that speech abused by the Papists Take eat this is my body For these are memorials and visible signs and representations of the Body and Blood of Christ I might further instance in divers passages of the Scripture to shew that this is usual in the Scripture to explain in one place what is difficult in another the Reason is Reason Because it is Gods purpose the very purpose of the Lord in his revealed Will to make his will known unto man by Scripture so much as he would have man to know necessary to salvation And in the Scripture to give man a perfect rule of holinesse of righteousnesse of faith and of good life of all things to be known or believed and to be practised and therefore he maketh known in one place what is difficult in another to make man wise unto salvation as in 2 Tim. 3.15 thou hast known the Scriptures of a child which are able to make thee wise unto salvation to make thee to come to the understanding of it at least
blamed Now to answer this question that men are excusable Answ mans reason will yeeld unto and that they are to be freed from blame because Gods will is so and Gods will is irresistible But the true Answer is that men are not free from blame but they are justly to be taxed and God doth justly punish men for their hardness sins and for their evil doings they are blame-worthy And why because though Gods will and work be in mens hardening and in the sinnes that come from the hardening of their hearts yet doth not Gods will enforce hardnesse upon them making their hearts hard that were before soft neither doth Gods will compel men to the committing of those sins which they run into there is no such matter Gods will doth neither harden being soft nor thrust their sins out from them But for the understanding of this we must know that our first parents they broke the Commandement of God in eating the forbidden fruit willingly being not forced thereunto by Gods Decree as the Arminians and Anabaptists hold but they fell willingly they had free will to stand or to fall And Adam and Eve of their own accord put out their hands and did eat of the forbidden fruit And thereupon having broken Gods Commandement they brought upon themselves and upon all their posterity sin and hardnesse of heart all that come from them by natural generation have sucked the same milk and have natural hardnesse of heart and now men being in their natural hardnesse the Lord is pleased to withhold his softening grace from some amongst men and to leave them in their natural hardnesse the Lord in his just Judgment doth inflict farther hardnesse upon the hearts of men as a just Judgment of their hardnesse before they themselves by nature being willing to continue in their hardnesse so that God doth not thrust further hardnesse upon the hearts of men unwillingly whether they will be hardened or no. And again those sinnes that follow upon the hardnesse of their hearts are not drawn from men against their will whether they will or no but they doe freely and willingly consent unto sinne they give their free voluntarie consent unto sinne they sinne with a delight they doe according to their own will and according to the natural inclination thereof the Lords will moving their will as he moveth the Heavens in a round Circle according to the motion of it so he doth move and order mans will according to the motion of it being evil and so they freely and voluntarily commit sinne and so they sinne of necessitie but how not of necessitie of coaction or compulsion as if they were inforced to sinne but by the very necessitie of mans nature they are naturally inclined to evil and readie to commit evil Gods will bending them to their own proper motion and so they choose sinne and sinne of necessitie of nature and that will not excuse them they have brought the necessitie upon themselves and that will not free them from blame As for example was Judas compelled to that sinne for betraying his Master No his will was inclined unto it and the will of God together with his will in that act inclined it as it were to betray the Lord Jesus so that this will not excuse men that they doe sinne of necessitie As for example the Devil himself can doe nothing but evil necessarily he doth evil yet therefore he is not excusable because he doth evil necessarily by the strength of his corrupt nature that will not excuse him So then thus conceive we concerning this matter that men are not excusable nor free from blame but the Lord may justly punish and plague them for their hardnesse and sins proceeding from their hardnesse though it be so that Gods will is that they are hardened and Gods will is irresistible because though Gods will be in their hardening and hath a stroake in it yet Gods will doth neither force hardnesse upon their hearts nor cause them to sin but the Lord finding them naturally inclined to hardnesse and that they are hardened by nature they being willing to continue in it neither doth the Lord force out those sins that come from the hardnesse of mens hearts but they do it freely out of their own free consent for the Lord doth neither take away the will of man nor the power of mans will but the Lord doth onely order govern and dispose their wills and move it according to their own inclinations they freely consenting being not thereunto forced and therefore are justly to be blamed And for the application of it Vse let no man think out of the hardnesse of his heart to go on in a course of evil and sin and to excuse himself in this that the will of God hath a stroake in his sin It is true the will of God hath a stroake in thy hardnesse and thou sinnest of necessity and nature yet this will not excuse thee to say it is my nature and I cannot do otherwise no beloved though we are tainted by nature and prone to sin by nature yet never did any of Gods children hereupon excuse themselves but rather judge and condemn themselves in regard of the accursed corruption of their hearts Psal 51. David confesseth his sins of Adultery and Murther yet he saith not it was my nature but he condemns himself saying O Lord I lay the fault upon my self it was my own wicked heart I was born in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me And so the Apostle Paul feeling there was a law in his members resisting the law in his mind Rom. 7.24 layeth not the fault upon any thing else but himself saying O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death And thus those that will find mercy must lay the fault and blame upon themselves and give glory to God that is the onely and right way to find mercy go unto God lay open thy hard-heartednesse crying for mercy as a prisoner ready to go to execution and thou shalt find mercy with God Thou wilt say then unto me Why doth he yet complain for who hath resisted his will HEre is further matter offered unto us from this verse In that the Carnal Reasoner backeth his Argument thus That if the will of God be so that men shall be hardened then who hath resisted his will none can resist the will of God and this he doth to strengthen his Cavil that the will of God cannot be hindered from taking effect thus he laboureth to fortifie his conclusion Now this being a truth which the Carnal Reasoner putteth down the Apostle doth not confute him by gainsaying or denying this that Gods will is irresistible but he doth answer the Caviller another way as appeareth plainly in the verses following therefore hence this ground of truth lyeth plain before us That the will of God is irresistible and cannot be withstood Doctrine neither men nor devils nor all the
in particular Ministers in preaching of the Word must bring similitudes of things known to their hearers not of strange uncouth and far fetcht it may be of such things as never were in the world or at the least never knowâ— to their hearers and first of all in regard of the comparison which is brought from a thing that is easie and ordinarie obvious things the potter and the pots before a mans eyes ordinarily And this we shall find hath been usual with the holy Messengers and Ministers of God in preaching and publishing the word they have brought examples and similitudes not rare and far fetched but things that are known to the people Thus did the Lord Jesus in Matth. 13. He compared the Kingdome of Heaven to many obvious things well knowne To seed sown in the ground to a grain of Mustardseed to a Leaven hid in three pecks of meal which every common huswife knowes And this therefore may bee reprofe to such Preachers that doe in preaching to a common populous Auditorie they fetch comparisons from things beyond the Moon from Celestial bodies and orbes Centrivals and Concentrivals I know not what and also from things beyond sea from Histories out of Plinie beasts aad creatures that vulgar people know not Vse and so they make the poore people who understand them not to gaze and and wonder at them and in stead of explaining they make things more hard and difficult Again We see man is compared to an earthen vessel and a pot of clay here we are put in mind of our framing and making and what we are in respect of our matter and substance and hence the observation is this That man is as an earthen vessel as a pot of clay Doctrine the best and the strongest man in the world in respect of his body is but a vessel of earth a compound of clay made of the dust of the earth this speaketh the Holy Ghost in Gen. 2.7 Man was made of the dust of the ground and in Gen. 3.19 The Lord saith unto man after his fall Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne Thou art immortal in respect of thy first making but now thou art but dust Gen. 18.27 Abraham acknowledgeth himself to be but dust and ashes A man of excellent parts and endowments And in the 2 Cor. 5.1 The Apostle calleth our bodies Earthly houses tents and tabernacles made of earth and clay The Scripture is plain and plentiful in expressing this to be a Truth that man yea the strongest man is but an earthen vessel and a compound of clay and we may see this to be a truth in common experience the soul being removed from the body by death the body falleth flat upon the ground it rots putrifies and is soon dissolved to the Elements and materials of which it was made and lieth like a stinking carrion if not buried and turns to the earth of which it was Eccle. 12.7 Dust returneth to the earth as it was For the Application the consideration of this truth that our bodies are Vse 1 but clay serveth as a notable means to work in us humilitie and to frame in every one of us an humble conceit of our selves why should dust and clay be proud and lifted up in conceit of its own worthinesse in decking and garnishing the body What art thou A lump of earth a clod of clay and if this were truely considered it would abate the pride of these proud Peacocks that spend almost a whole day in tricking and trimming themselves nay in setting of a band they would then say what do I in tricking and trimming up a pot of clay an earthen vessel But grant this to be true that thou excellest others in beautie and in comely proportion yet remember thy making thy mettal whereof thou art made of the same earth with others and for all thy beautie and comely proportion a little cold a little sicknesse a fit of an ague or feaver will shake thee and make the shrink and goe shaking and quaking and as David saith Psalme 39.11 When God rebuketh and chasticeth man for his sinne his beautie consumeth and turneth to nothing the red cheeks beauty and comely propotion at one blast of sicknesse commeth to nothing And consider we are but potsheards and a potsheard is but a potsheard overlaid with silver clay is but clay gilded with gold and if thou hast these endowments of thy body above others it commeth not from thy bodie which is but clay but it is put upon thy body by the good hand of thy God and therefore be not proud of it but learn we to be humble and to walke humbly before the Lord of Heaven and Earth we are but earthen vessels before the Lord he may even quash us and beat us in pieces yea as the Psalmist saith in Psalme 2.9 The Lord hath a rod of Iron and we know the stroake of an Iron rod upon an earthen pot shattereth it all to pieces The Lord hath an Iron rod to smite the men of the world that goe on in their sinnes of riot and excesse especially now at this time of the yeare If they did but consider that the Lord hath an Iron rod and can breake them in pieces in the very middest of their mirth we see it sometimes in many merrie meetings the body is thrown on the ground and the breath taken from it for can the earthen pot indure the stroke of the Iron rod no it dasheth it all to pieces not so much as a sheard left to take fire out of the earth and can many a poore silly earthen vessel endure the stroke of the Iron rod of God therefore learne we to walke humbly before the sight of the great and glorious God remember thy making whereof thou art made Vse 2 This being so that man is an earthen vessel and a pot of Clay upon this ground all Gods Children are to know to their comfort that the Lord doth tender them as earthen vessels as weak frail and brittle vessels according to their weaknesse and tendernesse and according to their infirmities As we know the Potter he knoweth that his pot of earth cannot endure a hard knocke and stroake and therefore he handleth them very nicely and gently and according to the tendernesse of it so dealeth the gracious God of Heaven and Earth with his own Children he knowes whereof they are made he knowes they are but dust Psalme 103.13 14. He is a pittifull Father and hath compassion of his Children because he knoweth whereof they are made and that they are but dust and ashes as the Prophet Esay saith Esay 27.16 of the Lord I will not be alwayes angry with my People for then the Spirit would fail before me I will not alwayes strive and contend with them lest they should be destroyed so that this may be a comfort to Gods Children that the Lord esteemeth of them as they are dust and ashes and so pittieth them Hath not the
much as they can the very Conscience that is placed in the heart of man it is a plain evidence that there is a God and so let this suffice to stop their mouthes Is this so that the conscience is thus placed in the soul of man as a Vse 2 witnesse to whatsoever it is that man doth will or think or speak or affect or do surely then it must follow that it cannot possibly be that any man or woman should sin without witnesse though they sin never so secretly though it be in the very secrets and inwards of their own hearts that none can discern but God alone the Conscience discerneth it and seeth it and taketh notice of it and will manifest it in time if they have but an evil thought against God his Church or Children the conscience is a witnesse to that very thought indeed men presume upon it and do account it no sin if they can do it in a secret corner and have a dark place to act it in from the sight of men as Job 24.15 The eye of the Adulterer waiteth for the twilight and then disguiseth himself and saith none eye shall see him Alas though thou couldest hide thy sin from all men and Devils yet thou canst not hide it from God nor from thine own conscience that will one day come in as a witnesse against thee and lay thee open to the sight of men and Angels unlesse God give thee repentance The Conscience of man is a tell-tale it will lay it open and witnesse against thee Indeed I confesse that the mouth of the conscience may be muzzeled and sometimes be choaked and fail in doing the office of it to bear witnesse or a man may lay violent hands upon his own conscience and as it were cut the throat of it for a time his conscience being asleep or benummed for custome in sin taketh away the feeling of the conscience for a time and as One saith well The light of the Conscience may be shadowed because it is not good but quite extinguished it cannot be because it cometh from God and is of him in the heart by the hand of God it may be asleep and benummed but it will awake either in the day of affliction or in the hour of death when the Conscience will be raised and awakened and will then not spare to witnesse against thee or if it be so that thou dost dye without any sense or feeling of sin thou dyest like a senselesse stone as it is said of Nabal his heart dyed within him so it may be thy heart may be so hardened as that in the hour of death it hath no touch of conscience at all yet know this though thou dyest so yet thy conscience dyeth not it is a natural faculty of thy soul it cannot dye and though it touch thee not in the hour of death yet the day will come when the Judgment of the Lord cometh it will come and appear before thee and then it will speak and not spare it will witnesse against thee the sins that thou hast done in hugger-mugger and in secret and thy dissembling and close dealing either with God or man thy Conscience will not then spare to speak against thee And therefore in the fear of God take notice of it and let this ground of truth teach us to take heed of presuming to sin because we are in the dark whether Usurers or those that travel up and down from Ale-houses to Taverns in the night to commit sin their consciences go with them And in this respect take we heed of dissembling of hypocrisie of double dealing in the sight and presence of the Lord thou mayst blear the eyes of men and deceive them but thy own conscience will not be blinded it will bear witnesse even of thy bosome sins and although it may be mute for a time yet it will speak and that aloud too before the Judge of all the world Let this therefore work inward soundnesse and truth in the heart that our Consciences may witnesse good before God of us who knoweth the inwards of thy heart and soul The Apostle addeth further That the Holy Ghost did testifie with his Conscience My Conscience witnesseth with me in the holy Ghost that is as it is rectified and guided by the holy Spirit of God to witnesse with me holily and truly as it is ordered by grace and sanctified to that end and purpose so then the Conclusion is this Doctrine That the Conscience of man doth then onely witnesse with him holily and truly and to his comfort touching the things that is said or done by him when it is rectified and guided by the holy Ghost it is the conscience and the conscience sanctified that is a true a holy and a comfortable witnesse to man when I say with the Apostle the Conscience beareth witnesse in the Holy Ghost it is that conscience that is a true and a holy witnesse touching good thoughts words or actions the Conscience regenerate holy and sanctified is only a conscience that is a comfortable witnesse Reason For why such as the Conscience is such is the witnesse and testimony of it now a natural conscience is impure polluted and defiled Titus 1.15 to the unbelieving and defiled is nothing pure but the mind and conscience is defiled even the conscience of a natural man witnesseth impurely unsound and uncomfortable onely the conscience regenerate and sanctified that is purged and purified by faith Act. 15.9 faith purifieth the heart and that conscience so purged and purified is only a true and a holy witnesse and that Conscience that is so regenerate and sanctified by grace it giveth witnesse and testimony of that righteousnesse which is called the righteousnesse of the conscience and is ever joyned unto it namely it giveth witnesse of a true and sound and constant purpose in the heart seconded with a holy endeavour and careful use of all good means not wittingly nor willingly to sin against God in any thing but to labour to please God in all things whatsoever this is the witnesse of a pure conscience Heb. 13.18 We are assured that we have a good conscience in all things desiring to live honestly and this was the witnesse of the Conscience of the good King Hezekiah that he was able his conscience being regenerate even upon his death-bed to say Now Lord remember how I have walked before thee-with an honest and a good heart Esay 38.3 he had walked before God with a perfect heart in the truth of his soul here was a regenerate heart that thus testified how he endeavoured not to sin against God but to please him in every thing so that by this it appeareth to be a truth that the Conscience of man then doth only witnesse holily and truly when it is rectified by grace then is it a holy witnesse of our thoughts words and actions Vse This serveth to discover unto us that many deceive themselves even touching this witnesse the
cannot be that they should be drawn aside finally into any fundamental errour or wicked life and so go on and perish everlastingly and come short of life and salvation though they come with great force as the Imps of Satan and followers of Antichrist do bear down weak ones yea if it were possible to deceive the very elect yet they cannot in the 2 Tim. 2.19 The Apostle speaketh expresly that the foundation of God standeth sure and hath this seal the Lord knoweth who are his that is Gods eternal decree in saving his chosen upon which their election is built as upon a foundation remaineth sure and certain and unchangeable for ever And there is good Reason for it Because God is almighty he is of infinite power and he having from Reason 1 everlasting willed and decreed the salvation of some he is able to bring them into the possession of it in despight of Satan and all the power of hell opposite unto it for he is a God of infinite power and can bring them into possession none can frustrate and make void and disappoint what God hath decreed Again God is in his own nature unchangeable yea and in his love which is essential unchangeable and therefore that purpose and decree in saving some must needs be suitable to his nature and answerable to his love which are essential in his holy Majestie and therefore his decree is immutable and unchangeable Reason 2 Take the sufferings of Jesus Christ the bitter passion of the Lord Jesus and they are a sufficient evidence and proof that God is unchangeable in his decree touching the salvation of some did the Lord Jesus descend down from the highest glory in heaven it self so low as to take upon himself the form of a servant and humble himself to the cursed and shameful death of the Crosse and felt such agony and pains as his sweat was drops of blood Luke 22.44 did he in his very soul indure the wrath of his Father that made him cry out under the weight and burden of it My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27.46 Did he thus suffer the wrath of his Father for the sins of Gods chosen And yet did not the Lord for all this determine that any should be saved infallibly but left that at randome to depend upon the will of man that if man would imbrace Christ and believe in him thus suffering he should be saved if not be damned Can we with reason judge this or imagine this that Christ should thus shed his blood upon such uncertainty that the whole fruit and benefit of his suffering should depend upon the frail will of man that if man would imbrace it he should be saved if not he should be damned no the bitter sufferings of Christ do strongly evince this and do clearly manifest that God hath certainly concluded the salvation of some and the damnation of others so that we may conclude upon this as a certain truth that God having fore-appointed some particular persons among men to life and salvation they cannot misse of it but God will certainly and infallibly bring them to the possession of it Object But it may be some will object and say unto me If Gods decree and his eternal purpose be as you say thus certain and unchangeable and cannot be disanulled then you bind God by his decree to do that which he hath decreed of necessity yea so as that God cannot do otherwise whereas God is a free worker will you bind the hands of God that he cannot chuse but do it and not do otherwise To this I answer Answ If so be God be bound by his decree who bound him but his own blessed Majestie Again more fully what absurdity is there in it to say that God cannot deny himself and that he cannot lye they are the words of the Apostle Titus 1.2 That which God hath purposed and decreed to be done he doth it of necessity of infallibility not of constraint or compulsion but of necessity of certainty why God is good he is onely good and cannot be evil he is good of necessity necessarily good he cannot be evil yet he is not constrained to be good no he is a voluntary and a free worker and no inconveniency or absurdity will follow upon this to say that God doth that upon necessity of infallibility which he hath decreed and purposed to be done Nay rather if we should say as some do that the purpose of God were alterable and changeable we should derogate from the wisdom of God and impeach it as if so be God by some after wisdom did see something whereof he before was ignorant which caused him to alter his mind and change his purpose and decree this were monstrous horrible and fearful blasphemy Object Again some will say If so be this be true that Gods eternal purpose and decree be thus unchangeable then those that God hath appointed to life and salvation must needs be saved this will follow then they must needs believe and if they must needs be saved they must needs believe and so they are forced to believe they believe of necessity they cannot otherwise choose and faith is forced upon them Answ I answer Gods elect they shall believe in time and that certainly and infallibly but not whether they will or no not by any inforcing of their wills not by any violence offered unto them the will of man is free no violence can force it but the Lord by the secret working of his holy Spirit doth cause it to be willing Ex nolentibus facit Deus volentes and doth alter and change the course and motion and work of the wills of men and makes them fit to receive grace and this is that Christ speaketh of Joh. 6.44 None can come to me except God the Father draw him what drawn by force no there is an alteration wrought by the inward work of the Spirit of God altering the motions of the will making the will willing to receive grace and faith and so when Gods elect do receive faith they receive it willingly when they come actually to believe the motion of their will is turned another way by nature they cannot but will and choose evil but the motions of their will is turned another way by the secret working of the holy Spirit of God and made willing so that we may resolve upon this that God hath from everlasting foreappointed some particular persons amongst men certainly and infallibly and so as that they cannot misse of coming to life and glory in heaven First of all let this teach us to savour this truth aright and to receive Vse 1 it into honest and good hearts take heed of abusing of it that we rightly conceive it and rightly apply it for many there be that do pervert and wrong this holy truth of God and grosly abuse it and like the spider suck poyson from sweet flowers many in the world do thus
is alledged though the Book the Chapter or Verse be not cited we should be able to know it was Scripture and not to think as some ignorant persons do that when a Poet is cited that it is Scripture but this was handled in the eighth Chapter vers 36. But onely one thing further You see the Apostle here whose Authority was Divine Apostolical and infallibly guided by the Holy Spirit of God who could not erre in what he taught and delivered to the Church and people of God yet for all this Divine and Apostolical and infallible assistance he followeth the rule of the written Word of God and bringeth testimony of Scripture to prove his Doctrine this was an usual thing with the blessed Apostle in other places of Scripture read Acts 26.22 23. the Apostle there saith that he witnessed to small and great saying no other things then those that Moses and the Prophets did say should come to passe That Christ should suffer death and be the first that should rise again from the dead and shew light to the Gentiles Rom. 1.2 the Apostle affirmeth that the Gospel which he preached was grounded upon the written Word of God and not to amplifie the point the Scripture is of sacred and divine authority as it containeth in it a Divine and heavenly Doctrine yea such a Doctrine that is not subject to the Church or any other thing in heaven or earth but only unto God whose Will and Counsel it is touching things that concern the good of his Church and chosen This for the use of it serveth to discover unto us the shamelesse impudence Vse 1 of that shamelesse strumpet the Antichristian Synagogue of Rome in that that Synagogue taketh upon it an absolute power to judge in all matters of Faith and of Religion and to define of it and that without and besides Scripture yea it taketh upon it a power to judge of Scripture it self and of the sense of Scripture and that without the help of Scripture to fasten a sense upon the written Word of God and to say this is the sense though they have no ground nor warrant for it in all the Book of God besides and that forsooth upon a supposition of the infallible assistance of the Spirit Oh say the Papists our Church and our Teachers are infallibly assisted by the Spirit of God and would ground themselves upon that Text in John 16.13 where Christ saith unto his Disciples when the Spirit of truth should come which he would send it should lead them into all truth Oh say they see Christ promiseth his Spirit to lead them into all truth so that they cannot erre in that which they teach But the Papists are mistaken if so be we consider the place duly and look upon it and examine it we shall find it will bear no such conclusion that the Church and the Teachers of the Church are so led that they cannot erre in whatsoever they teach and that the Church hath power and the teachers of the Church power to judge of the Scripture and the sense of Scripture without the help of it for that place in John it must of necessity be understood with a restraint when he saith it shall lead you into all truth it hath a limitation and restraint to that subject of which it is spoken of all that truth For why I hope the Papists will not deny but easily confesse and yeeld unto it that the time of Christ his second coming to Judgment is a certain truth of God God hath appointed and set it down in Act. 17.31 a day wherein he will judge the whole world in righteousnesse by Jesus Christ yet the time of his coming unto Judgment is not revealed by the Spirit of God to the Church or Teachers of it nay we are not to enquire into the time of his coming Christ forbiddeth it so that speech of truth must admit of a limitation not of all truth for here is a particular truth not revealed but it is to be understood of all truths contained in the will of God in the Scripture that the holy Spirit of God shall lead them into all that truth how may it appear why read the place it self John 16.13 14. Howbeit when he is come which is the Spirit of truth he will lead you into all truth there they stay but mark what followes He shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear shall he speak and he will shew unto you the things to come and shall glorifie me Now a special part of the glory of God and Christ what is it but this that the Holy Ghost revealeth unto the people of God the secrets of the Gospel the things that eye of man cannot see nor heart conceive doth the Spirit of God reveal to Gods children and doth teach what Christ is in himself in his nature in his offices and in his person onely these things he shall reveal no new coyned doctrine or new devices of mens brrains not contained in the holy Scripture but such as Christ and the Prophets and Apostles have taught these things shall be brought to the minds of Gods chosen therefore it is monstrous and shamelesse impudencie for the Papists thus to affirm that they have power without and besides Scripture But we are not to believe any without they can say Scriptum est it is written it is the infallible truth of God grounded on Divine authority thus must all Ministers do ground their doctrine on the truth of God As it is written I have loved Jacob and hated Esau COme we now to the testimony of the Apostle it self I have loved Iacob and hated Esau These words we find in Malachy Mal. 1.2 3. And they are here brought to manifest and to shew the reason of the difference that it pleased God to put between the two brethren Jacob and Esau Jacob advanced over Esau because God loved Jacob Esau brought in subjection unto Jacob because God hated Esau Now that we may come to the handling of this testimony Some there be that say this testimony of the Prophet I have loved Iacob and hated Esau concerned onely things appertaining to this life things outward and temporal and not things eternal the Prophet say they shewing wherein Gods love did consist unto Jacob and wherein his hatred unto Esau did consist he saith Gods love did consist in this in giving unto Jacob a fruitful Land flowing with milk and honey and his hatred unto Esau in making Esaus Mountain waste and in giving unto Esau's posterity the Idumeans a barren and a dry Country and a Wildernesse for Dragons as the Prophet speaketh therefore say they the Prophet thus speaking of things appertaining to this life outward and temporal it cannot hence be concluded that our blessed Apostle treateth of eternal election and reprobation as you would make it that this whole Chapter concerneth Predestination Now to this we answer easily 't is true indeed the Prophet in the place alledged
issued and sprung from that ever springing fountain of the free love of God Exod. 19.4 he carried his people upon Eagles wings he did favour and do them good from time to time and so in Deut. 30.10 he chose Jacob and the seed of Jacob and brought his seed out of Egypt by a mighty power and Deut. 4.37 he turned the curse of Balaam to a blessing Numb 23.5 when Balaam thought to curse the people of God God turned it to a blessing so I might instance in many particulars how the Lord manifested his love unto his people one for all Joh. 3.16 where Christ saith God so loved the world or his chosen in the world that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life the free love of God was it that moved God to send his Son to be a Saviour unto them Indeed I grant that Gods chosen now believing in Christ they have the pardon of their sins and they have all good things vouchsafed unto them for Christ his sake even for Christ his sake God is pleased to vouchsafe unto them pardon of sin and all other dependents thereon for we must know that though God out of his free love decreed to make Christ a means and a Saviour by whom and through whom men should have pardon of their sins conveyed unto them that he should be the conduit and person that they should receive it by yet the fountain and chief ground is Gods eternal love so that the first cause the first ground of all good things that come unto Gods chosen here and hereafter in heaven it is Gods free love and his free good will and pleasure though Christ be the means of conveyance Because God being most free as he is liberrimum agens he will not have Reason 1 any good thing come from any thing out of himself Because no good can be given above the good will and pleasure of God Reason 2 Christ himself saith so that we have nothing but the free and eternal pleasure of God so that this plainly sheweth Gods free love is the ground of all good things First of all this Doctrine doth put down a main difference plain and Vse 1 manifest between Gods love unto us and our love unto others we love others in respect of some good some worth we see some good quality some excellent and worthy thing in them which doth attract and draw our love unto them we see some beauty some wit some learning some strength or the like that draweth our love unto them and knitteth our hearts unto them and indeed we are bound so to do to love others in respect of their beauty wit learning and the Image of God in them in any manner Now with God there is no such matter our love is bounded and grounded and set upon some excellency or worth in the creature even our very enemies but with God there is no such matter his love is not stirred up nor caused by any good worth or excellency in us or any goodnesse in us no not by any thing out of himself Indeed I grant God loveth his own Image being renued in us and the more we are renued of God the more holy the more religious the more pleasing to God and the more dear and pretious to him God loveth his own Image in us actually but the cause of that is his eternal free love so that though the Lord love us we being renued and holy and righteous yet the cause is his eternal free love which proceedeth not from any thing out of himself but onely his free good will and pleasure Is this so that all good things in this life and the life to come do proceed Vse 2 from the good will and pleasure of God Upon this ground we must learn then to indeavour in every good thing we enjoy yea in the good things of this life that we have and possesse to see Gods love unto us in them to see in the bread we eat the apparel we clothe our selves withal and the good things we enjoy to see Gods love unto us It is not sufficient for us to know that the outward good things of this life are good things in themselves blessings of God a man may go so far by the very light of nature to know that meat and drink and maintenance is a blessing of God and there is no comfort in this knowledge no we must be able to know that these good things come out of Gods free and eternal love and to be blessings unto us in particular and that they flow out from Gods free and eternal favour wherewith he had loved us before the world was and that they coming thus we may use the Apostles form of thanksgiving Ephes 1.3 blessed be God our heavenly Father who hath blessed us with all heavenly and with all temporal good things with this health with this wealth this apparel but some may say how is that to be done I answer Labour thou in the first place to get thy part in the blood of Jesus Christ labour thou to apprehend and apply the merits of Christ his death and obedience to thine own soul by a true saving faith and never rest untill thou hast a true and a saving faith to apply and to apprehend the merits of Christ to thy soul for in Christ alone is the spiritual right and title of all good things applyed to Gods chosen Secondly having gotten this labour thou to find that the outward good things of this life they do stirre thee up and provoke thee forward to love God to fear God to walk humbly before the Lord and to be thankful unto his holy Majesty the outward good things of this life thou hast a true right and title unto them and are means to help thee forward in the wayes of God and to walk humbly before the Lord thy meat thy drink thy apparel are means to help thee forward to thy salvation and to further thee in the way of salvation And it is not with thee after the manner of the men of the world to abuse the good things of this life to vanity and pride to set out their hearts in pride of apparel garishnesse of attire riot and excesse as some do that a man may say and easily discern there is a proud person however you will say under a russet coat may be a proud heart yet a man may say where there is smoke there is fire It breaketh out in their foreheads and foretops and in their long shag'd ruffian-like hair and in their exteriour parts a man may say they are clothed with cruelty and pride hangeth as a chain about their necks Psal 73.6 and their houses and lands are priviledged places for all manner of abomination impiety and ungodlinesse and no man may speak against them especially being men of place and authority great men their greatnesse doth priviledge their places and houses for all manner of impious and abominable courses
of Justice and of mercy it is as possible that God should be merciful to a man that he sendeth to hell as to be just to a man that he giveth salvation unto these two can never stand together revenging Justice and saving mercy for the Lord vouchsafeth salvation that his mercy may be glorified and not his justice so that mercy cometh not from the hand of Justice but of mercy Again in that the Apostle saith that God declareth the riches of his mercy to the Elect hence I might note That Gods grace and mercy vouchsafed unto his chosen it is full and perfect fulnesse of mercy and perfect mercy when God forgiveth the sins of his chosen he forgiveth them not in part or by the halves as the Papists teach that God forgiveth the sinnes of his chosen in respect of the eternal punishment but he leaveth the Temporal punishment for them to do penance for in the time of Lent whereas God doth give unto his children full and perfect remission full and perfect Justification full and perfect glorification Heb. 7.25 He is able perfectly to save all that come unto him saith the Author to the Hebrewes not to give a half salvation but a full salvation but to passe from that And in the last place observe we that the Apostle affirmeth it of Gods chosen that they are vessels of mercy prepared unto glory that is God in his eternal decree hath ordained them to everlasting glory so that hence I might shew that some particular persons amongst men are appointed of God to salvation in heaven but that I have often met withal and therefore passe by it but hence we may truly take up this Observation That life and glory and happinesse in heaven it cometh unto Gods chosen in time Doctrine most freely from the free grace and mercy of God without any merit or desert of theirs at all it was prepared for them and they for it before they had a being and before the world was Matth. 25.34 Come you blessed inherit a Kingdome prepared for you before the world was or from the beginning of the world saith our Saviour and this truth the Scripture saith in Ephes 2.8 by grace yau are saved and that not of your selves it is the gift of God and in Titus 3.5 Not according to the works of righteousnesse that we have done but according to his mercy he hath saved us still running upon the free grace and mercy of God in Luke 12.32 Fear not little flock saith Christ it is your Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdome it is the free gift of your Father without any of your deserts And also in Rom. 6.23 the Apostle having said the wages of sin is death then presently he subjoyneth unto it not as the sequel of the Text doth require as the Remists themselves do confesse in their Annotations he saith not the wages of sin is death and the wages of holinesse is salvation but he changeth the term saith he the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life thereby evidencing that the eternal life and salvation of the godly in heaven it cometh freely without any merit or deserts of theirs at all and hence it is that eternal life in heaven it is called in Scripture an inheritance in Coloss 1.12 giving thanks that he hath provided for us an inheritance 1 Pet. 1.4 an inheritance immortal and undefiled Now who knoweth not this that an inheritance cometh to a child from the father out of the mere love of the father when the child it may be is not born and cannot do any thing to merit it so the inheritance of heaven being prepared for the godly and they for it it must needs come from the grace of God And the Reason Reason and ground of this is because that the whole glory of this may be unto the Lord the Lord will have the glory in the salvation of his chosen in Ephes 2.9 you are saved by grace through faith not of works lest any man should boast and brag of it that he brought something to his salvation Now this being so it meeteth directly with the opinion of our adversaries the Papists Vse those of the Antichristian Synagogue of Rome it quite over turneth their opinion in that they hold teach that life and glory in heaven belong to such as are first of all justified by Christ as admitted for the merit and desert of their own good works and it belongeth to them for the merit of their own good workes Now this errour besides the errour in the ground of it supposing a two-fold Justification in the sight of God which can never be proved in the Book of God when God justifieth he justifieth once for all besides this errour in the ground it cannot stand with the truth of God now delivered for if so be life and glory come unto Gods chosen in time most freely then not for their deserts for free gift and due debt cannot stand together with relation to the same subject But say the Papists life and glory in heaven it is called a reward therefore merited To this I answer The Holy Ghost hath taught us to distinguish of reward as two-fold in Rom. 4.4 and that is either of favour or of debt now eternal life is a reward indeed not of debt but of favour But whereas the Papists further reply Christ hath merited that the good works of his Chosen should be meritorious to life and salvation A mere idle shift we find in the Book of God that Christ hath merited for his chosen and died for their sins but we never find he died for their good works to make them meritorious no it is a thing altogether impossible that the best works of Gods chosen should have in them the true and whole nature of merit because they be imperfect and they are stained with sin the best work that a man can do when he hath striven to do his best he must go to God to crave pardon for his imbecility now these two cannot possibly stand together to stand in need of mercy and yet be meritorious Yea let me tell you we must take heed we do not abuse this Doctrine of Vse 2 God and savour it to our destruction and hereupon do as many do cast off all care of good works because they do not merit yet it is our duty to shew unto God our thankfulnesse for his mercy unto us in giving us right and title to heaven and to expresse our thankfulnesse unto him in all holy obedience yea without question we are bound to thankfulnesse for external and temporal good things because we find that the use and comfort of it cometh from God Oh much more are we then to be thankful unto God for heaven and in giving us hope of inheritance in heaven And now because every one will be ready to sooth up himself and to say I hope I shall come to heaven and I am thankful for it
him He appointeth the drops of rain to fall in this place and not in that so he doth cause the dew of his Word to fall upon the clay the Gentiles in Matth. 10.6 into the Cities of the Samaritans enter not and in Acts 16.6 7 we find that Paul and Timothy they were forbidden of the holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia Yea when they had a mind to goe to Bythinia the Spirit of God would not suffer them but sent them to Macedonia Acts 16.9 Come over into Macedonia and help us so that the outward preaching of the Word it is vouchsafed to some and not to others as when Christ lived upon the face of the earth the bodily eyes of all men were not opened but onely some and others remaine blind some blind persons were left in their blindness And the dead bodies of all were not raised though some were at the death of Christ so dealeth the Lord with the minds and souls of men he onely out of his gracious pleasure doth open the minds of some men and make them to see know and understand and believe by the preaching of the Word according to his gracious pleasure therefore we may resolve upon it as a certain truth that God doth call men out of the estate of nature into the estate of grace effectually out of his free grace and mercy Vse 1 If this be so it is not then upon foreseen merit that God doth call men effectually and doth work upon them powerfully by his Spirit that is the error of the Papists they hold indeed that the election of God and consequently the revelation of the truth of God it is upon their merit foreseen because God doth foresee some worthiness in them we are to renounce this as a gross Popish errour yea the truth now made known unto us being duely considered and thought upon it beareth strongly against that position that is held by some that redemption wrought by Christ is universal that Christ died for all men universally without any exception of any Now not to stand upon this erroneous position which is a dangerous errour in the ground of it it making the sin of men the sins of the world death and hell to be stronger then Christ that Christ should die for all men and yet some of those men goe to hell a fowl and a gross errour besides this it cannot stand with the truth now delivered that Christ died effectually for all men without exception of any for if so be Christ did die for all men generally and universally then doubtless all are acquainted with it savingly as a benefit belonging to themselves such as are redeemed assuredly God doth bring them to the saving knowledge of their redemption Now this is not so the preaching of the Word and plain experience doth tell the contrarie for God out of his mere good will and pleasure doth call none effectually but such as are redeemed by Christ and so all men are not for then they should savingly be brought to the knowledge of their redemption but all are not so for as in the time of Christ all men that were blinde had not their eyes opened so all have not their minds enlightned and therefore universal redemption wrought by Christ is a meer fancie of the brain of man forged in hell and there is no truth in it to say that Christ died for all and if we rest upon this we shall finde a deceiving ground of comfort Howsoever some will say how shall we comfort a poor soul a prisoner that is to be executed but by telling him Christ died for all upon what ground No Christ died not for all Again is it so that God worketh freely upon the minds and souls of men out of his free grace and mercy Oh then such as find themselves to be in Vse 2 the number of the called of God and throughly wrought upon by the power of the preaching of the Word that are brought to the saving knowledge of God in Christ they are bound to acknowledge the riches of his free grace and mercy and be thankful unto God for the same Consider it thou that hast good evidence of thy effectual calling that art transformed and changed and brought into a new mold and fashion consider with thy self that many are left in their natural ignorance and unbelief yea many are given over to Popish superstitions many living in the same place frequenting the same means hearing the same sermons sitting in the same seat with thee they remain ignorant in their blindnesse of minde and hardnesse of heart but God hath given thee not onely his Word and Gospel preached but a heart enlightned to receive it therefore thou hast cause to magnifie the mercy of God for this blessing of all blessings And learn thou to break out and say Lord what am I that thou shouldest vouchsafe unto me such a mercie I see thousands in their natural estate and ignorance I was born and brought forth in sinne like other men and have increased and multiplied my sinnes exceedingly my unthankefulnesse is great and my unworthinesse greater and yet thou hast vouchsafed mercy unto me above many thousands Lord thou art gracious and merciful unto me Thus we ought to be stirred up our selves to magnifie the mercie of God in that many thousands are given to Popish superstition and God hath given thee a flexible heart to his Word Oh thou canst not be sufficiently thankful for so great a favour As he saith also in Hosea I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not beloved COme we now to the very words of the text to enter into the bowels of it In these words as I have shewed you we have a double description of the Gentiles First of their estate before their calling when they were not the people of God by nature Secondly of their condition after their Calling that they were now become the people of God and beloved of the Lord hence then first of all appeareth the estate of man by nature as yet unconverted and not wrought upon by the Spirit of God through the preaching of the Word and Gospel hence the Doctrine is this Doctrine That men who are in their natural estate as yet not effectually called and as yet not wrought upon by the Spirit of grace by the preaching of the Word and Gospel are in a miserable estate and condition they are not the people of God nor beloved of God so saith the Text and we find that that the Scripture setteth out the miserable estate and condition of men in their natural estate by many notable speeches in Rom. 5.6.8 it is said that they were sinners in a high degree ungodly yea enemies unto God and unto Christ such as are in their natural estate they are enemies unto God and there is open defiance between God and them and they may look that the Lord shall deal with them as a professed