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
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
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
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
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
so much as is needful to be known unto salvation this being the very end of God as appeareth Joh. 20.31 saith the Evangelist Many other things Jesus did but these are written that you might believe that Iesus Christ is the Son of God and by believing might have life i. e faith and salvation through his name so that this is undoubtedly true that the pen-men of the Scripture have thus explained it Vse 1 Wickedly then deal the Papists in that they lay a hardnesse and obscurity on the Word of God and teach that though the Scriptures be delivered in our Mother tongue yet they are so hard to be understood not onely of the ignorant and common sort of people the laity but the learned among themselves they cannot tell when they have the true sense and meaning of the Word of God no not of the things that are fundamental unlesse the Church consent with them Nay the greatest Rabbins and Doctours amongst us cannot understand the Scriptures without consent of the Church Oh consider hath God sent unto us his Word as a Letter and Epistle to testifie his mind unto us and unto his Church and hath he shut it up in such doubtful terms that a man cannot tell when he hath the understanding of it he sendeth it to testifie his mind and will unto us and hath he so shut it up that we cannot tell when we have the sense of it Oh fearful blasphemy why It were better that we had no Scripture written at all far better then to have it so doubtful But there is no jot of it but serveth for the good of his people both in this life and the life to come God hath so ordered the tongues of the holy Writers and Pen-men of Scripture his Prophets and Apostles that the meaning is easie to be understood by such as come unto it with attentive minds that do read diligently mark attentively judge humbly and pray heartily Vse 2 But to make use of this to our selves Is it so that the holy Prophets and Pen-men of Scripture do deliver plainly in one place what is hard in another upon this ground it followeth that the best way of expounding Scripture is by Scripture it self we commonly give thus much to a man that he is the best expounder of himself so then learn we to apply and compare Scripture with Scripture and in that we do not apply Scripture with Scripture it is the reason why we do let slip other places that may help us in the true Application of Scripture it is a subtilty that Satan or the Divel and our hearts are ready to joyn with him that he maketh men to hale and draw unto themselves such places of Scripture as they think do favour them in their sin by their abuse of it they lay hands upon those places that so seem willingly and purposely forgetting other places that do draw them back from such conjecturing as the Usurer wil draw such places as may countenance his sin to his seeming and neglect those that draw him to the contrary Yea many men they turn Gods grace unto wantonnesse to go on in sin with an high hand and stiffe neck adding drunkennesse to thirst they are impenitent in their sins and will not be reformed and yet for all this they perswade themselves that they shall find mercy from the Lord And why whence cometh this The Devil is ready to suggest unto them and to furnish them with remembrance of a number of comfortable places of Scripture that set forth Gods mercy as that in Psal 103.8 The Lord is full of compassion and mercy slow to anger and of great kindnesse and in Psal 145.9 The mercy of the Lord is over all his works these the devil maketh to intitle to themselves yea with a Psalm of mercy to carry them up to the highest pitch of presumption and to lay violent hands upon those places of Scripture that are full of comfort and to say certainly God is merciful and forgivenesse is with the Lord and though I go on in sin yet I shall find mercy purposely forgetting many other places of Scripture that shew God is a revenging God and a consuming fire that punishes those that go on in sin Psal 25.10 that mercy and truth go together God is merciful but he is also true true in his threatnings as well as in his promises yea forgetting to apply these places full of comfort with the consideration of that which Moses saith Deut. 29.20 If any man go on in the stubbornnesse of his own heart and adde Drunkennesse to thirst one sin unto another the Lord will not be merciful to that man They never remember this the devil teacheth them to forget that God is just and full of judgment and that his jealousie shall smoke against those that go on in their sins surely the Lord will render vengeance upon them Oh therefore in the fear of God take notice of it of this manner of expounding and applying of Scripture therefore learn we to compare Scriture with Scripture and see what qualification thou hast before thou lay hold on the promise of God and learn to compare Scripture with Scripture that we may mitigate the comfort of it and draw us back from wresting and perverting of it else we shall make that which should be our life our death and that which should administer comfort and sweetnesse unto us to be a means to encourage us to sinne and to adde sinne to sinne and so to rush upon our own ruine and destruction In the fear of God therefore consider it and the Lord give you all understanding That is they that are the children of the flesh are not the children of God but the children of the Promise are accounted for the seed TOuching the Apostles Denyal that they that came of Abraham according to the flesh are not the true seed these words being an Exposition of the words foregoing the point hence offered is the same which hath been stood upon before which I think needlesse to stand upon the Doctrine being That the coming or descending of good and godly parents is not sufficient to intitle us to be heires of the promise and Gods children I say the point hence arising being the same therefore I will not here meddle with it But come to the Apostles affirmation leaving his negation That they onely are accounted the true seed of Abraham who are the children of the promise that is as we shewed you in opening the Text they only that are after the manner of Isaac children of the promise belonging unto Gods election by the special grace of God and made Gods children hy the vertue of Gods promise they onely are reckoned and accounted for the true seed of Abraham to whom grace and salvation belongeth Now from these words thus understood two things are offered unto our consideration to be stood upon in particular the first is the efficacy and force of the words of Gods promise
persons and not of all generally Reason And the ground of it is only the good will and pleasure of God it hath so pleased him to make this difference to chuse some and to refuse others Ephes 1.5 who hath predestinated us to be adopted through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the riches of the glory of his grace Vse This serveth to shew unto us the errour of such Divines and their opinion to be false that do hold that God for his part hath elected all men to salvation and so the Arminians say also and that man is reprobated is from himself for when we do ask them if God hath elected all for his part why are not all saved they answer because they will not it is their own default man is the cause of his reprobation but this is erroneous and false and contrary to the truth yea this opinion of theirs maketh mans will to over-rule Gods eternal counsel and the purpose of God to depend upon the will of man if man will he may be saved if not he may be damned this is like bills of the Chancery but there is no unablenesse in God for the will and counsel of God is the chiefest cause of all causes and we may certainly conclude that because all men are not saved therefore God doth not appoint all men to salvation And upon this ground learn to renounce this also as erroneous that Christ dyed for all universally effectually as some Divines teach universal redemption for Gods eternal election being not universal Christs redemption is not universal for Christ dyed only for the chosen of God only for the elect and he is the Saviour of his body Ephes 5.23 This is a common thing when men are convinced of their sins to say we are sinners but Christ dyed for all this is a staffe of rest to rest upon and will fail in time of tryal thou must have a better ground if thou wilt look for salvation how is that Thus thou must not only find thy self freed by Christ from deserved condemnation but also from thy vain conversation for certainly whomsoever Christ is a Saviour to by the merit of death to them he is also a Saviour by the power of his death and by the works of his Spirit turning them from sin to God Titus 2.14 Christ gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity that he might purge us to be a peculiar people to himself therefore if thou findest not thy self purged from sin from the rottennesse of thy heart thou art not wrought upon by the Spirit of God Therefore rest not upon that ground that Christ dyed for all For the Children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of works but of him that calleth It was said unto her The elder shall serve the younger COme we now to stand upon these two Verses more particularly and in that the Apostle here saith Before the children were born when they had neither done good nor evil it was said unto Rebekah by God himself that cannot lye from his Oracle it was said the elder shall serve the younger thereby implying the words having respect to spiritual things that the one of the children of Rebekah which she had in her womb was elected to life and salvation and the other rejected and refused this being the implication of that speech the Apostle pointeth out unto us thus much That Gods fore-appointing of some particular persons amongst men to life and salvation from everlasting Doctrine and his refusing and rejecting of others it is most free most absolute it dependeth not upon any thing in man or done by man but onely upon the good pleasure of God it dependeth upon nothing out of God himself but upon God merely and onely the Lord from everlasting appointing some to life and salvation and refusing others did it out of the good pleasure of his will merely without respect had to any thing in men themselves any quality good or bad or any thing done by them good or bad as a cause moving him hereunto Indeed to prevent an Objection in the beginning I deny not but I may safely speak it and hold it that there was reason and cause in the general why God would appoint some to life and salvation and why he would refuse and reject others why God would have some to be saved and others to be cast off and refused never to attain salvation I grant that why Because both the mercy of God in pardoning sin and the Justice of God in punishing sin might appear and be glorified God is a just God and a merciful God that these two might be manifested and declared for if all had been saved there is no place for his Justice but that his mercy and justice might appear the one is saved and the other rejected this is the reason in the general but why this or that particular man or woman was appointed to life and salvation and not the other man or woman why Peter and not Judas the onely reason of this is the good will and pleasure of God Gods fore-appointing of some amongst men to life and and salvation it did wholly and onely depend upon the good will and pleasure of God it had respect to nothing in man no difference between man and man arising from men themselves that the one was of a better nature and temper or thus and thus qualified or any thing done by them good or evil but onely in God himself Ephes 1.4 saith the Apostle God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundations of the world was what for any goodnesse or holinesse that was in us or he foresaw would be in us no but that we should be holy and without blame He hath chosen us not for foreseen holinesse but that we should be holy this is the language of Canaan then he subjoyneth in the fifth verse who hath predestinated us to be adopted through Iesus Christ himself according to the good pleasure of his will without respect had to any thing in us or any thing done by us so also in 2 Tim. 1.9 the Apostle speaking of God saith thus he hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works still he renounces that but according to his own promise and grace which was shewed unto us through Iesus Christ when before the world was before Jesus Christ was incarnate yea before there was a world and before we had a being And in Jude 4. verse we read that the Apostle speaking of some which were ordained of old when was that surely from everlasting before the world was or they had a being they were ordained of God to this condemnation these places doth sufficiently evidence unto us the truth of the point that God from everlasting foreappointed some particulars amongst men to life and salvation and refused and
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
neither the Word of God which is as a piercing fire and as a sword to divide between the joynts and the marrow Jer. 23.29 cannot humble them Nor the exhortations of the Word of God which are as soft rain and dewe Esay 55.10 11. cannot mollifie them nor afflictions can better them surely then the Lord hath a purpose to destroy and root them out and they are near unto utter destruction when the Lord withdraweth the grace of repentance and of amendment that they are not humbled by the denunciation of the Word of God nor mollified by the exhortations nor bettered by afflictions nor by any means the Lord vouchsafeth unto them surely the Lord maketh it apparant that their destruction is present and at hand and this is to be considered by every one of us It is a point that we have stood upon formerly for the matter and substance of it that those whom God doth harden it is a sign of their reprobation and therefore I passe by it onely upon occasion of this truth some Objections are to be answered Object As happily some may say why the Lord doth not will the death of a sinner he doth so make it manifest by his Prophet Ezechiel in the 18. chapter and the 23. verse Have I any desire that the wicked should die no He rather willeth that they should live if he return from his wickednesse And so in the last verse Have I any delight in the death of the wicked saith the Lord God no cause him to return and live I have no delight nor desire in his death And again the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is given in Scripture to God it sounds forth nothing but Essence and being yea and everlasting being He is called Jehovah because he hath his being of himself and the Nature of God is Essence and being and he giveth Essence and being to all things Now death and destruction make things cease to be that already are death in man utterly overthrowes destroyes and ruinates life how can it then be that God doth purpose to destroy and extirpate any man seeing death and destruction come not from God Answ To answer this first we must know that the Prophet Ezechiel in the place alledged speaketh of penitent sinners mark what is precedent and in the sequel verses and you shall easily see it and then death and destruction God willeth it not neither shall they die eternally And again we must distinguish between the absolute will of God and Gods recompencing will simply God doth not will death for death came by sinne as Rom. 5.12 But God doth will death as a Just judgement for sinne As a Judge simply willeth not the death of an offender as he is a a man but as he hath committed the fault and the offence so God in his just Judgement doth will the death of a sinner as a recompence for their sinne Again it is true that the Name of the Lord doth send forth nothing but essence and being and an absolute subsistence The Lord is life and being of himself and from him every thing hath life and being yet notwithstanding the Lord can withdraw and withhold life and being at his own good will and pleasure Psalm 104.28 29. saith David If thou take away their breath they perish and die life is in thy hand and man returneth to dust again but to passe from that Again For this purpose have I stirred thee up that my name might be declared throughout all the earth That is that the praise and the glory of my Justice appearing in the ruine and Destruction of so mighty a King rebelling against me might be propagated and spread abroad throughout all the Corners of the world and every where spoken of getting my self a name in thy destruction the point hence is this That God will have glory in the confusion of wicked hard hearted Doctrine and impenitent sinners they that live in their blindnesse of mind hard heartednesse and impenitency the Lord will have glory and glorifie himself by them such as go and walk on stifly stubbornly and rebelliously in their sins God will have glory in their everlasting confusion and utter destruction Psal 50.17 Consider this you that hate to be reformed so he describeth them for saith he in the 22. verse he will tear you in pieces he giveth it them as a Caveat and forewarning Consider this you that forget God for he will tear you all to pieces Again in Rom. 2.5 Thou saith the Apostle after thy hardnesse and heart that cannot repent heapeth unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and the indignation of the just Judgment of God As if the Apostle had said Thou hard-hearted wretch that goest on and continueth in thy sins thou dost but heap up wrath against the day of wrath when the Lord will revenge himself upon thee and execute his wrath and vengeance to the full thou whose heart is as it is said in Jer. 5. as hard as a stone and as Adament the Lord will get himself glory by thee and in Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for his own glory sake yea even the wicked for the day of evil as if he had said howsoever hard-hearted and impenitent sinners do contemptuously rebel and refuse to yeeld glory to the Lord yet even those wicked reprobates are made for the glory of God as well as others and they are appointed to the day of vengeance the Lord will have his glory in their Destruction they will not glorifie God in their lives he will have glory in their confusion and destruction and good reason there is for it Because the good which God aymeth at in the doing of all his actions Reason intentions and purposes is the advancement of his own glory and the Lord doth delight in that as in his chiefest glory yea the Lord can bring good out of evil glory out of shame he can bring glory in the confusion of the wicked and assuredly the Lord will not lose his glory by them he will not lose his chiefest happinesse but he will be glorified one way or other Oh then consider it you that dare go on in your sins and do continue Vse 1 and daily increase in your grosse evils and fearful sins that live in most unnatural and wicked evils as in pride and in swearing their mouthes are full of oathes and of unclean and debauched evil speeches and in their drunkennesse and Sabbath-breaking and usury and the like though they do not say with Pharaoh VVho is the Lord yet they kick against the holy Word of God and they set light by the threatenings of it when they are denounced against their particular evils they make put a pish and a tush of it and so they live in open contempt of the great honour and glory of God and this is the lives of many amongst our selves they hate to be reformed though they hear their sins beaten against and they told of them
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
and the reason why the Lord is thus pleased so to do is this Because that so they might have both space and time of repentance given vnto them Reason and that they might hereby be stripped of all excuse and may have nothing to plead for themselves they shall have their mouthes stopped in the day of the Lords visitation Therefore the Lord is pleased to vouchsafe the means of mercy of grace and of repentance that they might have nothing to plead for themselves and they still despising the riches of Gods mercy of his patience and of his bountifulnesse Romans 2.4 which is manifested in the means of grace that leadeth unto repentance which is still sounding in their ears and still goe on in sinne so that when they come before the Judge of the World they can have nothing to say they cannot say if we had had such and such means and such time we would have amended but they have all means and they despising the bountifulnesse of God are left without excuse Object But happily some may say it seemeth it is but in vain that God giveth wicked men a time and space of repentance and sendeth his Gospel unto them and invites and cals them to amendment because the Lord having decreed their everlasting destruction they can never come to repentance therefore it seemeth a vain and an idle thing in God may some say to give unto them time and space of repentance and to crie out unto them come out of your sins turn to God repent of your sins and here is mercy for you God having decreed their destruction they can never come to repentance Answ It is true indeed God having decreed the everlasting destruction of reprobates they can never come to repentance and yet it is not in vain that God is pleased to give them space and time of repentance and to invite and call them and crie unto them Oh sonnes of Men when will you turne unto God For though the Lord is not bound together with the means of grace to give grace and to make the means effectual for the conversion of Reprobates yet thereby the Lord doth manifest and make it to appeare that he doth approve of the worke of Conversion and of Repentance in all men yea the Lord doth approve of the work of Conversion in Reprobates as a good thing in it selfe and hence it is in 2 Peter 3.9 it is said God will have all men to come to repentance Hath God decreed some to destruction and yet will have all men to come to repentance in his will approving and it is not in vaine that God calleth for it thereby approving of the work of Conversion in Reprobates as a good thing in it self and thereby he leaveth them without excuse Object But if any plead and say alasse they cannot doe otherwise God denying his grace unto them what can any man doe They cannot but continue hard hearted and obstinate If God denie his grace they cannot doe otherwise but continue hard hearted and obstinate To this I answer Answer it is true indeed that God denying his grace men cannot possibly come out of their sinnes to Repentance and amendment of their lives yet for all this God doth reprobates no manner of wrong at all in calling upon them and approving of that work in them he is not to be taxed because in the beginning before man was created God was not bound to create man in holinesse in the estate of Innocencie which he made them and much lesse is the Lord bound to restore these things unto them they having lost them they having forfeited the bond they having wilfully and rebelliously deprived themselves of these things having wilfully broke the Covenant and made a defection and a falling away from God so that God is still cleare and doth them no wrong at all Vse Is it so that God is so patient toward wicked sinners and such as are appointed to everlasting destruction that he forbears them and of a long time they provoking him to anger everie minute of an houre when he might throw them down to Hell Oh then let men and women whosoever they be that go on in their sins let them not thinke that they are in no danger of the wrath of God and punishing hand of God because God beareth with them and doth not speedily execute his vengeance upon them and cast down his thunderbolt upon them Oh let them not think that therefore they are free from the wrath of God though beloved it is a common Conceit of wicked and ungodly persons even of such as goe on in the practise of known sinnes of drunkennesse of uncleannesse to imagine within themselves that they are in no such danger as the Preacher will make them believe no saith a wicked and gracelesse wretch let the Preacher speake his pleasure and threaten me with the curse and the vengeance of God to light upon my soul and bodie and threaten me with damnation What need I fear Why for all this I am sure I thrive I goe on and I prosper I have good successe in the world he telleth me of the curse of God because I break the Sabbath yet I thrive I goe forward I have good successe in my businesse Oh let them take heed you are onely under Gods long patience and Gods long suffering and there is but a step between thee and Hell if death come you must to hell without repentance there is but a hairs breadth between you and hell It is a common saying forbearance is no acquittance you are but spared as the Amorites Genesis 15.16 Vntill your sinnes be at the full and you fil up the daily measure of your sinnes and then commeth the hand of God down upon you in a fearful manner and the longer that God is a striking the more fearful is his blow and the more deadly after long forbearance as Solomon saith Eccles 8.12 13. Though a sinner doe evil an hundred times many times together yet it shall not be well with him in the end howsoever he may thrive and grow great and prosper in the world and have blessings powred upon him abundantly yet it will not goe well with him in the end Nay I beseech you remember Gods patience abused it turneth into fury and into rage and Gods mercie despised and neglected Patientia lasa fit furor not leading to repentance becommeth judgement mercilesse Now is the day of grace and mercie is offered unto thee while the Lord giveth thee means of grace and of mercie but there will come a day of wrath and of vengeance upon thee it will come certainly and without mercie and without pittie now is the time of patience and of long forbearing Now is his voice calling upon you if you make a pish and a tush at it the time will come when the Lord will rise up in wrath and vengeance and bring woe unto your soules Again for a second use this being so that God