love of Benevolence but a so with a love of Complacence and liking For this ia the voyc of the Father from heaven This my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 3.17 Here is a revelation of the love of liking I am well pleased The Father is well pleased in his Son With whom Surely with those unto whom hee had given his Sonne that is all his elect Againe this answer if it were beyond all exceptions yet it is very impertinent to the obiection For the Text doth not onely say that God loveth them not with such or such a love but in plaine terms it saith that the Lord hateth them that work iniquity Now what shall we say that God loves a person with infinit a love beyond expression or conceit and yet at the same time hateth the same person with that perfect hatred wherewith hee hateth all the workers of iniquitie Let us take heed that we draw not a vaile before the face of God and delude our selves and others with such frothy and impertinent distinctions But I have by this time bred a kinde of wonder in you what I shall speak seeing that which other men have said thus far liketh me not I answer therefore that this clause God hateth all the workers of iniquity and God loveth the ungodly are both in Scripture and therefore both true yet in a different sense The first The Lord hateth all the workers of iniquity is the voyce of the Law the other the Lord loves sinners is the voyce of the Gospel Now the Law and the Gospel speak divers things the one being the manifestation of Gods iustice tells us what we are by nature the other being the manifestation of Gods mercie tells us what wee are by grace in Iesus Christ The Law saith that every sinner shal be accursed The Gospel saith Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners The Law saith God will by no meanes cleare the guilty Exod. 34.7 The Gospel saith God justifieth the ungodly The Law declareth wrath without forgivenesse The Gospel Mercy grace and peace in Iesus Christ Thus farre is the obiection answered but yet all difficulty and scruple is not removed For the Law you will say is an eternall veritie whatsoever it saith is true I confesse it so and one iot or tittle thereof cannot faile But I say with the Apostle that whatsoever the Law saith it saith to them only who are under the Law and to none other I say again that the righteousnesse of the Law is fulfilled by Christ for us all yea in all that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.4 So that although the elect of God are sinners in the iudgement of the Law Sense Reason yea and oftentimes Conscience yet having their sinnes translated unto the Sonne of God in whom they were elected they have the righteousnesse of the Law fulfilled in the Mediatour and so become to be accounted righteous in his sight that as God on the one side delivered the innocent to death as though hee had been a sinner being made countable for our sinnes So on the other side God loveth justifieth cleareth the guilty and sinners as if they had been holy righteous and blamelesse The summe is this that as Christ was no sinner indeed and yet a sinner by imputation so they that are Chrisis are no sinners by imputation and yet sinners indeed Thus much for the first Obiection The second followes Objection 2. If God be reconciled unto us before all condtions c. How is it that our Saviour saith Matth. 6.15 If you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses Vnto which may be ioined that which we have Matth. 18.35 So likewise shall my heavenly doe also unto you if yee from your heart forgive not every on his brother their trespasses In which place we see first that unlesse we forgive God will not forgive us Nay more that God will reverse the act of his mercy if after hee hath forgiven us 10000. talents wee shall not forgive 100. pence wee shall bee delivered to the tormentors until we pay the whole due For answer to this Obiection we must lay down two grounds the first That God rever reverseth the acts of his mercy communicated to his Elect. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance Rom. 112.9 God is not a man that he should lie neither the sonne of man that he should repent 1 Sam. 23.19 The second ground that Gods forgiveness of us is a fore-runner of our forgivenes of our brethren And we cannot truly forgive our brethren untill wee doe apprehend Gods forgivenesse of us Shouldest not thou have had compassion on thy fellow-servant even as I had pitie on thee Matth. 18.33 And upon this ground the Apostle presseth the Ephesians unto kindnesse and tendernesse of heart forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Eph. 4.3 But then if this be so what meane the foresaid places which strengthen the objection I answer That forgivenesse is there to bee taken for the manifestation of forgivenesse Except ye forgive men neither will your heavenly Father so fully declare and manifest himselfe unto your consciences and so this place pertaineth properly to our reconciliation with God not unto Gods reconciliation with us That this is not a subtile evasion but the truth appeares first by a place of Scripture secondly by the judgement of Interpreters upon a like place The place of Scripture is found Luke 7.47 Her sinnes which are many are forgiven her for shee loved much What have wee here that this womans great love was the cause of remission or that it went before her obtaining of remission as Bellarmine contendeth Verily no but it is plaine that her remission obtained was the cause of her love Simon saith our Saviour A certaine creditor forgave two debtors frankly whereof the one ought five hundred pence the other fifty which of the twain wil love him most Simon answereth well He to whom he forgave most Our Saviour maketh the application Seest thou this woman Thou lovest me a little Thou hast bidden me to dinner But when I came into thy house thou gavest me no mater for my feet but shee hath washed my feet with her teares and wiped them with the haires of her head My head with oyle thou diddest not anoint but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment Thou seest that I have forgiven thee a few sinnes and thou lovest mee a little but this woman hath much forgiven her Therefore she loved much whereby we understand two things first that her love was not the cause of forgivenes but forgivenesse a cause of her love Secondly That forgivenesse in this place includeth the manifestation of forgivenesse many sinnes are forgiven her the sense is this it appeareth unto this woman that I have pardoned a multitude of sinnes for her This is the Scripture The judgement of
Christ in the second I say he speaketh of our Actuall reconciliation wherein our consciences become reconciled to God through the apprehension of the reconciliation which Christ hath wrought for us First of all I must speak of our Originall reconciliation And there I lay downe this proposition that we were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne without any previous conditions in us or performed by us You see it is the act of Christ upon the Crosse it was done by his death The Lord Christ being a common person taking our nature upon him we are said to doe that which he did and to have that done upon us which was done upon him As in the first Adam we all sinned before we were or bad committed any Actuall transgression so in the second Adam we were reconciled As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Rom. 5.19 I say we are said to doe that which he did as to be buried with Christ by baptisme into death Rom. 6.4 We are said to be crucified with Christ as our old man is crucified with him Rom. 6.6 to be dead and alive with him Reckon yee also your selves to be dead indeed unto sinne but alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.11 We are said to be risen with him Coloss 3.1 which is elegantly set forth by the Prophet Hosea speaking of the resurrection of Christ He speaketh on this wise After two dayes he will revive us and the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Hose 6.2 Yet more we are said to be placed together in heavenly places with him Eph. 2.5.6 This is that which I call Originall reconciliation Whereby we see that not onely God was reconciled unto us but also that our nature was reconciled unto God by the death of his Sonne without any condition or qualification wrought in us Thus much for our Originall reconciliation Now followes our Actuall reconciliation to wit the manifestation of Gods reconciliation to us and of the reconciliation of our nature to God in Jesus Christ Here I lay downe this proposition Mans Actuall reconciliation to God requireth previous conditions and qualifications to be wrought in man by the spirit of God before man can be Actually reconciled to God or Gods reconciliation manifested unto him Althogh this proposition need no proofe in regard that the world so far doteth on conditions that they will hardly admit God to be reconciled to man without performances in man Surely much lesse will they thinke it possible that Man should be reconciled unto God without something wrought in man yet for our better understanding I will shew you the proofe of this by certaine texts As Except a man be borne of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God Iohn 3.5 Except a man be borne againe he cannot see the kingdome of God vers 3. To enter into and to see the kingdome of God is that which I call reconciliation to God to know the favour and love of God towards us in Christ requires you see the condition of being borne againe of water and of the spirit which is not to be baptized as the Papists would have it but to have such fruits and effects of Gods spirit wrought in us as purifie the heart as water doth the body Secondly except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud you have no life in you Iohn 6.53 Marke I pray you he doth not say that except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee have no life in God or in Christ but yee have no life in you Now you see we must eat the flesh of Christ and drinke his bloud or else we can have no life in us To eate his flesh and to drink his bloud is to beleeve in him to have life in you is to know Gods favour in Iesus Christ as much as if he should say except yee beleeve yee cannot know Gods favour to you in Iesus Christ Vnto this we may adde in the third place Except yee repent yee shall all likewise perish Luke 13.3 And to this place we may also referre that place of which we had occasion to speake somewhat before without holinesse no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 not onely that holinesse is concomitant or companion of our seeing of God but that faith being a part of yea the first fruits of holines is that whereby the soule is brought to the sight of God in Jesus Christ But I am not willing to spend time in larger proofe though you cannot but perceive I might be very large herein but I will for your better understanding confine my selfe and goe on to shew you in particular what Conditions are required in us before we can be reconciled to God And here I have occasion for the better explaining of this to commend unto you three sorts of conditions 1. Antecedent 2. Present 3. Consequent Antecedent Conditions I call those which are necessarily presupposed in us before we can submit unto God or be reconciled unto him They are such conditions as may be seperated from reconciliation in time yea they are such conditions as are and may be in them which are not reconciled nor yet ever shall be so that they are proper Omnibus sed non solis electis to all the elect but not onely to the elect 2. Present conditions I call them that goe before reconciliation as the cause before the effect yet are never seperated from reconciliation in time but are indeed the very thing whereby the holy spirit of God doth reconcile man to God 3. Consequent conditions I call them which doe alwayes follow reconciliation as the effect the cause although they are inseperable in respect of time And I therefore undertake to speake of these although the curious may thinke me blame-worthy for transgressing the rules of method that we might be warned of a rock and shelfe namely that we doe not confound these conditions together and to take those for antecedent which are onely consequent which to my knowledge hath made some souls to make shipwrack for a time when as they would have in them before they beleeve such conditions as are onely consequents and not antecedents of faith First to speake of Antecedent conditions which necessarily goe before our reconciliation to God They shall be referred unto two heads the first is the knowledge of sinne with whatsoever is requisite unto the knoweledge of sinne The second is the knowledge of the depth of misery by sinne to be such as we can neither help our selves neither is it in the power of any other creature for to helpe us but that we are undone for ever in respect of whatsoever we can doe or any other for us for untill the soule be brought to this there is no hope of reconciling it unto God for you
grace Lord increase my faith and make my love and obedience my joy and peace to abound more and more through the spirit of our God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ And thus have I now done with the Antecedent the present and consequent conditions of our reconciliation to God The next thing that I intend is to make Application It hath been hitherto mine endeavour to declare unto you the misterie of salvation and to imitate the skilfull Limbner to give unto every Limbe and part not onely his due proportion but also his due place and not to set the head where the foot should be or the foot where the head I may peradventure to many seem guilty of that crime which was laid against the Apostle to turne the world upside downe and to place that in the bottome which others make the top of the building and to set that upon the roofe which others lay for a foundation But I submit my selfe to the judgement of the word Consider we what hath been spoken of Gods reconciliation to us without all conditions of our reconciliation to God originall and actuall and now let us see if these dstinctions be founded as it is before proved upon the holy Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles whether they bee not blame-worthy that make no difference at all between these two but confounding heaven and earth together the Creature with the Creator doe most absurdly apply those things which are antecedents or causes of our reconciliation unto God to be causes of Gods reconciliation unto us drawing a vaile before the free grace of God and keeping the soule from setling upon a sure foundation The Lord complained of the Prophets of old the false Prophets that they pudled the waters with their feet When water is pudled it is not water but water and dirt mingled together In a puddle no man can discern whether it be deep or shallow water is Doctrine pudling is confounding of things together without division or separation O that our dayes were free from this complaint O yee Pastours of the Lords flock that feed his heritage Be you contented to beare the word of admonition from the meanest of the servants of God Look back upon the waters that yee have made the heritage of the Lord to drink Consider the pastures which you have set before them have you not made the LORDS sheep become a prey sometimes to presumption sometimes to despaire by your Doctrine Have you not made the soules of the righteous sad and the soule of the wicked to rejoyce Consider your wayes I pray you Have you not many a time confounded the conditions of our reconciliation to God making that to be the case which is the effect and that to be the effect which is the cause Let me beseech you to weigh these things and to endeavour that your Doctrine may be the light of the World that it may be cleare as the Christall proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb Rev. 22.1 You sheep of the pasture of the Lord the God of his inheritance know it your duty aptly to distinguish these things in your owne Consciences that you may enjoy the brightnesse of the glory of the grace of God set up in your soules if you search into the reason of your many years bondage of your miserable doubting you shall finde your disease in that which hath been spoken and I hope the remedy also The Lord give you understanding The second Application may shew unto us the difference between the reconciled and the not reconciled Although both may bee objects of the grace of God both beloved of the everlasting Father yet shall you finde a vast difference if you look either upon their Conversations or their Consciences The difference of Conscience is the not reconciled have a defiled and polluted Conscience A Conscience that is either seared and fitted with Atheisticall carelesnesse or at the best sitting in darknesse and the shadow of death seeing no light Matth. 4.16 when as the consciences of the reconciled doe enjoy the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Secondly the conversation of the people not reconciled is either a conversation polluted with Pharisaicall righteousnesse and blind zeale for all zealous persons are not reconciled to God seeking to establish its owne righteousnesse in the sight of God or else a conversation according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the ayre the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience A conversation in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind Eph. 2.2 3. The third Application sheweth us an open doore for the easie understanding and plaine reconciliation of many places of Scripture which seem so exceeding different as if no way of reconciling could be found Let us learne to distinguish when God speaketh of his reconciliation to us and when hee speaketh of our reconciliation to him Let us learn to distinguish between the thing and the manifestation of the thing the want of which distinction breedeth an horrible confusion in the interpretation of holy Scripture To give an instance it is written Galat. 3.26 Yee are all the Children of God by faith in Jesus Christ It is written again Gal. 4.6 Because yee are sonnes God hath sent forth the spirit of his sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father In this last place the Holy ghost declares son-ship to be the cause of giving the Spirit as also he declareth it to bee an eternall grace of God communicated unto his people Having predestinated us unto the Adoption of sonnes by Iesus Christ Eph. 1.5 But then if this be so how are we said to be sons of God by faith c I answer the one speaketh of the thing it selfe or of Gods reconciliation to us The other of the manifestation of the thing or our reconciliation to God Againe if the grace of adoption be an eternall grace how is it said wee are borne againe by the Word 1 Pet. 1.23 and begotten by the Word Iames 1.18 I answer these places are to be understood of the manifestation of Adoption not of the act of Adoption it selfe And that this is so is plaine God hath begotten us againe unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 1.3 A lively hope is the thing unto which we are begotten And that it is ordinary in Scripture to call the manifestation of things by the names of the things themselves will be plaine by two places I might bring two hundred the first is Ierem. 1.10 I have this day set thee over the nations and over the Kingdomes to root out to put downe and to destroy and to throw downe and to build and to plant How doth poore Jeremy destroy Nations Even by declaring the judgements of God in the overthrow of Nations And thus doth he plant by declaring the mercifull promises of God in the restauration of Nations The second place is Ioh. 20.23 Whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retaine they are retained How do the Apostles remit and retaine sinnes but by declaring Gods gracious remission to every one that beleeveth c. But some may object and say why doth not the Lord speak in plain terms I answer who art thou that wilt correct the Lord and teach him to speak I answer againe in our Saviours words when his Disciples ask the question Why speakest thou unto them in Parables Mat. 13.10 His answer is Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdome of God but to them it is not given As if he should have said in respect of you that are my people I need not to speak more plaine for you being taught of God are able to understand the misteries of the kingdom In respect of others I will not speak more plaine because to them it is not given to understand the mysteries of the kingdome Thus far for the application I now draw to an end only I will give you the Skeleto or Map of that which hath beene delivered in a few words Consider we the causes of Gods reconciliation as it stands manifested to us in Christ Secondly the causes of our reconciliation to God Gods reconciliation to us 1 Efficient Gods love 2 Materiall Christs righteousnesse 3 Formall Imputation of righteousnesse 4 Finall Gods glory mans salvation Our recodciliation to God Efficient Principall H. Ghost instrumen tall faith Materiall Christs righteousnesse Formal Apprehension of Christs righteousness by faith Finall Gods glory mans consolation Consider we the difference of these two in their causes The finall cause of Gods reconciliation to us is salvation the finall cause of our reconciliation to God is consolation The Lord fill you with his Spirit that the apprehension of Gods salvation may fill you with eternall consolation Amen FINIS