his life The unbeleeving Noble man was in the midst of plenty 2 Kin. 7.19 but did not eate thereof Men may taste and eate and put on cloathes and yet be neither warme nor satisfied Hag. 1.6 While the daintiest meate is in the mouthes of men it may be their bane and not their nourishment as it fared with the children of Israell Num. 11.23 who while the meate was betweene their teeth ere it was chewed the wrath of the Lord smote them with a very great plague Vse 1 Wee may hence safely conclude against Popish merits for if all men must receive their bread of free gift so that they cannot deserve so much as to challenge preservation of due debt then much lesse can they deserve so as to challenge salvation by their owne merits for we see that Peter himselfe was to obtaine bread by humble petition Let all men therefore take heed how they challenge any thing at Gods hand by debt of desert lest he give them nothing but what they earne Rom. 6.23 even the wages of sinne which is eternall death Vse 2 Sith all temporalties are Gods gifts and must be held of him as chiefe Lord and can doe him that holdeth them no good without Gods blessing then they deale presumptuously with God and foolishly for themselves that will lay hands upon the good creatures of God such as are food and the like necessaries of this life without as king leave of God or craving a blessing upon the use of them This sinne is common among all sort both rich and poore noble and base who if there be not a Minister present or some childe to say grace as they call it they fall to their food and depart from it as irreverently and brutishly as any swine The richer sort do many of them live as if this were onely the poore mans prayer If they have goods before hand they with the foole in the Gospell say Eat drink be merry Luk. 3â— 39.10 God is not in all their thoughts though haply hee be so neare them that they feele his just wrath with that presumptuous foolish man ere next morning For as Zophar in Iob truely spake if it had beene as wisely applied Iob 20.22.23 In the fulnesse of his sufficiencie hee shall be in straights every hand of the wicked shall come upon him When he is about to fill his belly God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him and shall raine it upon him while he is eating This Belshazzar found true in fearefull experience when being amongst his cups hee saw the handwriting on the wall which did portend the losse of his kingdome Deut. 5.5 Because men will not seeke the things of this life of God and because when they have them they will not in them see God the giver of them God doth oft cast them into want or what hee giveth them is given in his wrath and is accursed to them their food accursed their apparell their marriage their lands and all that they have because they do not sanctifie and make them good to themselves 1 Tim. 4.4.5 by prayer and thankesgiving Gods own children must be remembred of this their fault of seeking to earthly meanes and trusting to them Many of them are too like Asa if they have outward meanes they seeke to them and not to God who must give them with a blessing or they cannot profit those that have them But let Gods hand upon his servant Asa be a warning to all that feare God His disease was but in his feet yet because he sought not to the Lord 2 Chro. 16 12. but to the Physitians it was his death Considering that God is the Vse 3 giver of bread and of all other good things for this life this should move all men to get their names entred into his checkroule become servants to this great Master and being admitted to be members of his familie and houshold of faith this should cause them to approve themselves good servants by doing their Lord and masters will then may they be assured they shal want nothing that is good It is of this God and Father of whom it is said in the parable Luk 15.17 His servants have bread enough and to spare It is therefore good serving of this master who will alwaies either give much or cause the little which he giveth to be like the meale in the barrell that it shall not waste 1 King 17.14 or the oyle in the cruse that it shall not faile untill he send all plenty who can so blesse Daniels pulse and water Dan. 1.12.15 that he shall be as faire healthy wittie and every way in as good liking as those that fed upon all delicates And when this our Lord pleaseth to shew his power hee can blesse one meale that a man in the strength thereof may live forty dayes and forty nights 1 King 19.8 Whosoever are good servants and children to such a master such a Father how can they want For as he hath wherewithall to give so having commanded us to aske of him Iam. 1.5 hee will give to us liberally and never upbraid us with what hee hath given Moreover what hee giveth to his owne he giveth with a blessing which maketh rich Pro. 10 22. and he addeth no sorrow with it These things considered who would not serve and waite continually before this God who is a Lord so al-sufficient so bountifull Whosoever would have Vse 4 health peace and all other good things needfull for the body must be exhorted and perswaded hereby to aske them of God in whose gift they are and when they have received and doe injoy any thing they must acknowledge this as Gods gift with all thankfulnesse If a friend give us our board but a moneth or two we think our selves much beholding to him How much then are wee beholding to God at whose table we live of free cost all our life time Let us seek our maintenance of God 2 Kin. 6.27 for if the Lord doe not helpe as the King of Israel could say when there was nothing to be had either out of the barne floore or out of the winepresse we cannot have maintenance by any meanes Prayer is a speciall meanes to obtain good things with a blessing which if they be received with thanksgiving they are good indeed 1 Tim 4 8 Let us not therefore forget the Lord our Lord for it is he that giveth us power to get substance Deut. 8.18 What though we were borne to the things we doe possesse or they were given us or we bought them or did attaine them by hard labour and industry yet it must be acknowledged that Gods gift was in all these For who made our Ancestors who gaue them lands or livings to leave us who did put it into the hands and hearts of our friends to bestow any thing upon us did not the Lord
in their mindes hee will write them that is hâ—e will give them faith repentance and their sinnes and iniquities hee will remember no more Here we see that God promiseth to give knowledge of him and faith in him as well as to forgive their sinnes nay therefore hee giveth faith and the knowledge and feare of him that in a way of mercy mixed with justice he may forgive that so as he saith 〈◊〉 righteousnesse being ou◠〈◊〉 faith Rom. 3.26 God might be just 〈◊〉 justifier of him which beleeveth in Iesus Christ elsewhere is said to have given himselfe for us Tit. 2.14 that hee might redeeme us from all iniquity which cannot be meant by satisfying Gods justice onely that so God if hee pleased might forgive iniquity and that man if hee pleased might beleeve as the diefiers of mans free will would have it but that he might purifie us to himselfe which he worketh by his spirit in the exercise of our * Act. 15.9 faith to be a people zealous of good workes This is the very end why God raised Christ and exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour namely to give repentance as well as forgivenesse of sinnes He doth not say Act. 5.32.32 to give forgivenesse of sinnes to the Israell of God if they will beleeve and repent but he saith absolutely to give repentance that is faith and amendment of life that their sinnes past might actually be forgiven Though faith be not in the text named yet it is understood in the word repentance faith being the first part of repentance whereby an unbeleever turneth from his unbeliefe and becommeth a beleever from whence followeth the whole change of a man by repentance to new obedience In this sense repentance is also taken Acts 2.28 as will appeare if we compare Saint Pauls answer to the Iaylours question Acts 16.31 with that of Saint Peters both answering to one and the same question in effect Peter saith Repent and be baptized Paul saith Beleeve and be baptized So that if Christ dyed and rose againe to give repentance and remission of sinnes he dyed and rose againe and was exalted to give faith and forgivenesse of sinnes Faith considerable in and about forgivenesse of sinnes is either primary or secondary The first is a beleeving in Christ that through him our sinnes may be forgiven and that we through him may bee saved The second is a beleeving that our sinnes are forgiven and that by Christ we shall be saved The first is a single and direct act of the soule Ioh. 1.12 receiving Christ and relying upon Christ and upon the promise of forgivenesse and salvation by him by vertue whereof a man is united to Christ and is ingrafted into him and before God is justified The second is a reflect act of the soule whereby in a mans conscience he hath some spirituall sense that he doth beleeve in Christ and that God hath forgiven him his sinnes and hath justified him through Christ by which act God doth by his spirit speake peace and comfort to a mans soule which is not that faith whereby wee stand just before God but that whereby we are assured our sinnes are forgiven and that we are in state of grace through Christ The primarie faith is that which is to bee chiefly prayed for in the behalfe of our selves and others before conversion The secondary faith is chiefly to be prayed for in the behalfe of our selves and others after we beleeve and are in state of grace and salvation Christs righteousnesse wherby a man is justified before God in that it was performed by Christ for man unto God is virtually and in way of right mans righteousnesse even before he doth actually beleeve and that because by the decree of God the Father and in the purpose of Christ it was performed for all that should through him beleeve But this righteousnesse of Christ is not accounted to a man nor yet is his in possession and use untill he doe indeede beleeve I speake of men of yeeres by that primary faith before spoken of nor yet is Christs righteousnesse ours in any comfortable sense of it to our selves untill we beleeve by that secondary faith before mentioned Now secondly I am to shew what it is to have sinnes to be forgiven Forgivenesse in proper speech is an act of Gods mercy in not imputing or accounting to a man his sinnes and thereupon in not punishing him for sinne Which act is called also in Scripture a taking away sinne A covering of sinne a blotting out of sinne a casting it behind his backe and the like To forgive sinne not to impute sinne and to be justified and discharged from the guilt and punishment of sinne is all one Act. 13 38.39 Here the sense of forgivenesse of sinne is to be inlarged and taken synechdocically for our whole justification and salvation that is not onely for freedome from guilt and punishment of sinne unto eternall death but also for acceptation unto favour by the imputation of Christs righteousnesse unto eternall life In this justification these two things are to be considered First the very act of forgivenesse of mans person in respect of Gods not accounting him a sinner Secondly the application and manifestation thereof unto a mans selfe wherby a man hath assurance that his sinnes are pardoned and doth actually injoy the benefits that follow forgivenesse Forgivenesse in both these respects are here meant That this may bee fully and plainely understood consider the whole order of justification It is first in the gracious purpose of the Father to forgive and justifie a sinner wherefore with the Sonne and holy Ghost he did fore-appoint him thereunto Secondly it is in the Sonne who being God and man did actually by his death and resurrection purchase this forgivenesse Thirdly it is in the holy Ghost who doth actually apply the grace and merit of Christ and so maketh a sinner capable of the favour and mercy of the Father through the merit of the Son When this application is made Christ actually by way of intercession presenteth the sinner unto his Father who thereupon doth actually receive him into favour Now after this act of acceptance of a man into favour is passed with GOD through Christ then the holy Ghost doth make application of it unto the conscience of him that is accepted In the justification of a sinner there is a blessed concurrence of the speciall acts of the three Persons in the blessed Trinity God the Sonne having made satisfaction doth also make intercession for him God the Father having imputed his sinnes to his surety Christ ceaseth to account them unto him and accounting Christs righteousnesse to him hee accepteth of him as most righteous The holy Ghost having made an inseparable union betweene Christ and the sinner he doth seale and ratifie this his justification unto him It must be diligently observed that though justification be but one individuall
except against any thing herein whether we respect Gods negative acts in not willing to hinder sinne but to permit it as also in his not giving grace to some men to rise out of it or whether wee respect his affirmative acts thereabouts as his concurrence to the substance of the act or his determination of the meanes whcreby sin should be committed and of the ends to which sinne should serue after it should bee committed Which I will make to appeare thus as followeth God intending to glorifie himselfe in the manifestation of his manifold excellencies in the attributes of his goodnes wisedome power mercie and justice he decreed and determined with himself to create man and to make him good even after his owne image and withall to give him power to persevere in that goodnesse if hee would Moreover hee decreed to leave him to himselfe even to the liberty of his will and to permit him to fall into sinne decreeing withall to raise some of mankinde out of their fall and sinfull condition through Christ by giving them faith repentance and grace to persevere in the way of holinesse and in the end to give them everlasting life notwithstanding that by sinne they had deserved everlasting death and that for the manifestation of his glory in the way of mercie mixed with remunerative justice likewise hee together decreed to leave the other some of mankinde fallen into sinne and not to vouchsafe them the grace of faith and repentance and withall hee decreed that for their sinne hee would punish them with eternall death and this for the manifestation of his glory in the way of justice vindicative This I conceive to be but one formall decree of meanes not subordinate one to another but ordained together tending to one maine end namely to the end of all ends even to the glory of God though in different wayes to wit in the way of mercy in the way of justice namely Rom. 9.22.23 to the making knowne of the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared to glory and also to the shewing of his wrath and making of his power knowne on the vessels of wrath fitted or made up to destruction For God made therefore it must needs be that he decreed to make all things for himselfe Pro. 16.4 not onely the godly who are the vessels of his mercy for the day of salvation but also the wicked who are the vessels of his wrath for the day of evill even for the day of destruction God decreed that sin should be by his permission through Adams fall God did not leave it to be as a fortuitous or casuall thing which perhaps might come to passe perhaps might not come to passe but fore-saw it as a thing certaine that sinne would bee through Adams transgression of his Law in as much as he determined to permit him so to do Vpon this permission it did infallibly follow that Adam would sinne For this permission being granted the thing permitted must needs follow because Gods will can neither be changed nor resisted And without Gods will nothing can be The event also and mans woful experience doth too wel prove that sin is in the world God likewise decreed to leave some men in state of sin not giving them of his saving grace and also determined for sinne to condemne them as appeareth clearely by the Scriptures For Saint Peter saith that some stumbled at Christ the corner-stone and at the Word 1. Pet. 2.8 being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed 2. Pet. 2.9 And hee saith also that God knoweth how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to be punished The Apostle Paul saith We are not ordained to wrath 1. Thes 5.9 implying that God hath ordained some namely the wicked unto wrath Saint Jude saith of certaine men that were ordained to this condemnation Iude 4 13. to wit to bee left to their owne hearts lusts turning the grace of God into wantonnesse and also for that their wickednesse to have the blacknesse of darknesse reserved for them Thus we see what it is which God hath decreed touching sinne Now lest God should have any the least imputation of unjustice or cruelty cast upon him or of being the author of sinne which were blasphemous to conceive I will therefore in the second place shew how and in what manner hee hath decreed sinne to be and to be punished whereby it shall appeare that God is holy and blamelesse even in this as well as in all other his wayes and will bee every way justified when he is judged It is most true that God decreed that sixe should bee but how He did not decree that sinne should be as he decreed that all good things should be namely by his operation hee producing them but he decreed that sinne should be onely by his permission It must also be considered how sinne came to have a being by Gods permission Permission either is a midle thing betweene command and prohibition and in that sense it imports a kinde of allowance in this sense God never did nor will permit sinne for he hath most straightly forbid iâ— or else permission is taken for a middle thing betweene furthering the being of a thing and impedition or hindering of the being of the said thing in this sense it is taken in Gods decree of sinne he willed it to be but so as he did not further the being of it as it is sinne nor yet did he hinder the being of it onely hee did permit it Great difference must be put berweene Gods decreeing the things that be good and the things that be morally evill For the decree that good things shall be is accompanied alwaies with an effectuall operation of God which causeth them to be but the decree that evill shall be by Gods permission is not accompanied with any effectuall furtherance or operation of God in the way of a cause to effect it God is truly the cause of every thing that is good but he is not at all truly the efficient cause of the evill of sinne yet there was good cause why God might decree to permit man for to sinne For he knew it could be no wrong done to the reasonable creature if he should leave him to his owne nature to do according to the nature and freedome of his will especially he having made it onely disposed to good and able to hold it selfe onely to that which was good if he would Besides he knew that to leave the creature made in such perfection to its owne nature was in it selfe not against but according to the common good of the creature Wherfore sith God knew how sinne might be without his causing of it to be and knew also that for the manifestation of his further glory it did belong to his omnipotent wisedome and goodnesse rather to draw good out of evill then not to permit it why might not he
inwardly hee was more disposed and better accommodated to obedience then to disobedience being made of an holy disposition within and having the commandement of God from without yea an easie commandment given to Adam for his greatest good and that from that God who had newly made him after his owne likenesse and had made all the world for him Wherein now was God wanting in any thing towards Adam which hee ought to have done for him Man now being fallen not through any fault in God for God made him good but they sought out many inventions Eccl. 7.29 which caused their fall that God should elect whom he will in Christ to give them grace and according to their grace to give them eternall glory and on the other side that God shall reprobate others whom he will and leave them in their sinnes and for their sinnes to punish them with eternall death who can justly complaine or except against it If any man cannot fully comprehend these things and satisfie his owne reason herein yet he is to beleeve that it is so For this is an object of our faith rather then of dispute how it can be It is sufficient that the Scriptures say it is so That saying of the Apostle O man that art a man of a shallow reach and apprehension that art a creature and now art a sinfull creature who art thou that repliest against God Hath not the Potter power over the clay to make of the same lumpe one vessell to honour another unto dishonour Rom. 9.20.21 This should satisfie every Christian in this point Secondly that God by an act of his providence and power upholdeth the tempters and tempted giving them life and strength for action this is not subject to exception for herein man is much beholding unto God for that in and by him Act. 17.28 he doth live move and hath a being Thirdly hee by an act of his soveraignty doth let loose Satan and doth not hinder the tempter from tempting Qui cum possit non prohibâ—t â—ubet Indeed amongst men hee that doth not hinder evill when he may hinder it becommeth accessarie and is saâ—â—tie but this is because the law of nature and the law of God requireth that no man shall suffer his neighbour to be hurt or indamaged if hee can hinder in but the absolute Lord God is not tyed in any such bond unto his creature no not before Adams fall much lesse sineâ— Fourthly God doth sometimâ—â— by an act of his wisedome propose some object whereby oâ—casion of sinne may be taken 〈◊〉 Bathsheba's washing her seâ—â—e was ministred unto Davids sight and the wedge of gold Babilonish garment by Gods providence was presented to the covetous eye of Achan and this he doth to discover what is in mans heart and why may he not We think we may laysome siluer or sweetmeats in fit places here there to try our servants or childrens fidelity may not God doe the like much rather Fiftly he forbeareth to give saving grace but whom doth he wrong herein sith hee is not bound to give grace to any man Sixtly God doth by an act of his justice giving up a sinner to a further degree of sinne doth withdraw those gifts of the minde which once he gave which thing hee hath just cause to do if he please for what man hath not by his sinne deserved this punishment If a man abuse his hand why may not God wither it 1 Kin. 13.4 as he did Jeroboam's We hold this to bee good justice and is it not as good justice that those that have abused their powers of imagination of understanding and of discerning things that differ should bee punished by being deprived of the right use of them There is no lesse holy justice in this latter than in the former Lastly that God doth limit sinne for time and measure as he did the sinnes of the Romans for the elects sake Mat. 24.22 and that hee doth direct them to good ends as hee did the sinne of Ioseph's brethen in selling their brother Gen. 50.20 and sending him into Egypt for the good of Iacob and all his family here is matter of praise and glory to God no matter of exception against God If God act no further in sinne than hath beenâ— said I hope it is manifest that hee may act thus farre and 〈◊〉 bee innocent Now God haâ—â— no further act in sinne Iam. 1.13 he tempteth no man Hee is no agent in sinne as it is a sinfull act for he doth not entice or solicite unto sinne he doth not incline mans will unto sinne by infusing or putting into it any evill which was not there before but only leaveth man to the temptations of his owne lusts the lusts of the world and of the devill The third thing considerable is what acts come betweene Gods act and the act of sinne or who are the immediate and proper actors of sinne as it is sin These agents and acts are either externall or internall the externall are the suggestions of Satan and the evill motions of men which propose entice and perswade unto evill the internall is a mans owne evill heart upon which the most blame doth lie For then a man is tempted saith Iames Iam. 1.14 when hee is drawne away by his owne lusts and is enticed Wherefore in those sinnes in which God is said to have most to do the fault was laid upon the person that wrought himselfe unto evill as upon the proper cause when still God is cleered As where God is said to harden Pharaoh's heart Exod. 7.3 the true and proper hardner was Pharaoh himselfe for so saith Moses When Pharaoh saw that there was respite he that is Pharaoh harned his heart Exod. 8.15 And whereas it is said God gave the Romans up to uncleannesse their acts of uncleannesse did not follow as properly caused by any act of God but from a cause in themselves for so hee saith Rom. 1.24 the dishonoring their owne bodies was through the lusts of their owne hearts Sinne is a concrete compounded of two things of the fact and of the obliquity of the fact wee 〈◊〉 distinguish betweene the â—â—stance of the act and the forâ—â— thereof wherein the sinfulnesse of the act doth lie God hee is a cause concurring to the substance of the act he concurreth not to the sinfulnesse of the act but onely denieth his grace which if he would have vouchsafed to bestow it would have hindered it which grace hee is not bound to give to any It was enough that hee gave a sufficient grace to Adam to stand if hee would So that wee may truly avouch that the devill or man that enticeth another or a mans owne selfe that enticeth himselfe Deus est ordinator uon author peccati are the true causes and authors of sinne but not the Lord who hath only a permitting an overruling and disposing hand in sinne as is is sin The
Lord and thou art exalted as head above all 1 Chron. 29.10.11 David calleth upon his soule and all that is within him to praise his holy Name Ps 103.1.2 The Apostle requireth that in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving we should make our requests knowne unto God Philip. 4.6 Also he saith Let us by Christ offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thankes unto his Name Heb. 10.13 Reas 1 Praise and thankes are 〈◊〉 unto God for hee himselfe do most excellent being infinite in all holinesse of wisedome power mercy and all the rest of his divine attributes If there be any excellency in any creatures the praise belongeth unto God because hee made it excellent and if any good thing be bestowed upon any man whatsoever was the secondary meanes God was the first cause and 〈◊〉 the true giver thereof Of him are all things therefore to him be glory for ever Rom. 11.36 Reas 2 It is good pleasant and comely to praise the Lord Psal 147.1 It is good because it is the will of God being a part of his worship It is the best meanes to continue and make good unto us the good things we have 1 Tim. 4.4 It is the best meanes to procure those good things which wee yet have not It is well pleasing unto God for he saith He that offereth praise glorifieth mee Psal 50.23 It doth become the upright to bee thankfull Psal 33.1 for it doth shew their humility and dependance on God acknowledgment that they in all things are beholding unto God This reproveth all those who Vse 1 notwithstanding they have the great booke of the creation and frame of the world to looke upon and the booke of the Scriptures to looke into both which doe set forth the unspeakeable excellencies of God yet never admire him nor speake of him to his praise whereas if a mortall man shall doe some curious piece of worke shewing therein some rare skill and invention his worke shall be gazed on and admired and the workman praised of every one and hee shall be halfe deified And if a friend shall save their lives or deliver them out of prison or doe any other such speciall kindnesse unto them they thanke him and acknowledge themselves beholding unto him as long as they live whereas God which gave power and will to the same friend to doe thee good and doth give them all other good things who would also deliver them from the bondage of sinne and Satan aâ—â— from eternall death he is forgotten and is never thanked by them yea many of those who in their distresse doe seeke unto him and are holpen even they like the nine Lepers never returne to give thanks Luk 17.17 It is ten to one as we say if any give glory to God Most men ascribe the praise of all good things which they have unto nature fortune lucke or chance unto their wit or to their hands or to their friends to any person or thing rather then unto God without whom they could have had nothing These men are wilfully blinde if they doe not see that Gods hand doth all things But if they see that all things are of God and yet will not give him the praise and thankes they doe much wrong God in depriving him of his honour and doe manifest themselves to be utterly unworthy of all good There is no sinne can bee more hatefull then ingratitude There is no sinne can bee more hurtfull to the committer of it for it doth provoke God and cause him in wisedome and justice to take away from them those good gifts which once hee gave unto them As he did with his daughter Israel of whom he saith Hos 2.8.9 Because she did not know that I did give her corne c. Therfore will I returne and take away my corne in the time thereof And for this cause God giveth men over unto reprobate mindes because they having meanes to know God and cause to be thankeful Yet they doe not glorifie God neither are thankefull Rom. 1.21.28 Vse 2 Let all that professe the name of God learne hereby to bee alwaies as readie to speake of God and to God in praises and thanksgiving as to aske and receive any thing from him by petition For which cause we must consider the workes and word of God for they testifie of him Gods infinite wisedome power mercy and goodnesse and all other his excellencies are seene in the creation preservation and redemption of man and are all clearely revealed in his word In so much that when David did consider the heavens and the worke of his fingers hee breaketh forth into an holy admiration of God saying O Lord our Lord Psal 8.1.9 how excellent is thy name in all the earth And the Apostle could not speake of the worke of redemption by Christ but he saith concerning God To whom be glory for ever Amen Gal. 1.5 Eph. 3.21 If wee would but consider how little good and how much evill wee deserve at Gods hands how that it is his mercy wee are not consumed and if wee would consider how little evill Lam. how much good wee receive every day of his meere goodnesse we could not chuse but be thankefull Wherefore wee must bewaile our barrennesse of heart and with David call upon our soules and all that is within us to blesse and praise his holy name Psal 103.1 We must call his benefits to remembrance and tell our soules what great things the LORD hath done for us recounting one benefit after another untill we have convinced our hearts of our dutie and have enforced our selves unto thankfulnesse But our thanks must not be verball onely like that of the proud Pharisie saying Lord I thanke thee Luk. 18.11 they must be heartie and reall which is then then wee shew that wee do indeed acknowledge our selves bound and beholding to God for those things for which we say we give him thanks namely when we use his gifts as he hath appointed to his glory and when we give our selves both in soule and body to his service thus let us give thanks it is good it is pleasant it will become us Then this nothing more pleasing unto God nothing more profitable unto us for everie heartie thanks is a reall effectuall begging of continuance and blessing upon what we have and of new supplies unto what wee have not such shall never want good gifts because God knoweth he shall never want hearty thanks Thine is kingdome He saith not thou hast a kingdome but which is more thine is kingdome that is all kingdome and soveraigntie is thine in originall right and is not a derived soveraigntie as all other governments are Whence we learne Absolutenesse of authoritie Doct. 3 and Soveraigntie is properly and onely in God The Lord made that great Monarch and earthly king of kings Nebuchadnezzar to acknowledge and proclaime
to his justice he knowing that no person in the Godhead was capable as God onely to performe any act of satisfaction to God knowing likewise that no meere creature could be of all-sufficient power and worthinesse to satisfie his justice or to stand as a Mediator betweene God and man they being at enmitie by reason of sinne He therefore in his infinite wisedome and of his rich and free grace did ordaine his onely begotten Sonne the second person in Trinity now Iesus Christ our Lord by whom he made man and all things else and in whom all things consist that he should become man by assuming into the person of his dietie the very nature of man consisting of bodie and soule to subsist in the dietie by a personall union being to be verie God and very man in one person who being thus qualified to be a Mediatour Rom. 5.17 18 19. 1. Cor. 15.45 he ordained him to be a second Adam as a common root and to stand as a suerty in the stead of all those whom he co-ordained should be ingrafted into him and which should be made members of him and be saved by him Wherefore he together ordained that with mans nature he should assume the guilt of sinne Isa 53.4 2. Cor. 5.21 Rom. 8.3 and to be accounted as a sinner and by God himself to be proceeded against as against a notorious sinner For which cause hee was to be accursed not only by being made subject to humane infirmities but to be arraigned condemned and withall to have the fiercenesse of the wrath of God due to sinners poured out and executed upon him And that hee should dye the accursed death that by death he might expiate sinne and through death hee might overcome death and destroy him that had the power of death Heb. 2.14 even mans greatest enemie which is the devill All this our Saviour took upon him and perfectly fulfilled Philip. 2.8 being obedient even to the death of the crosse upon which he made that one oblation by the merit and efficacie whereof Ephes 2 15 hee slew the enmity and made the attonement between God and us having obtained eternall redemption for us Heb. 9.12 and became the author of eternall salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 perfecting for ever them that are sanctified in that by the power of his dietie he conquered and rose from the death Act. 2.24 it being unpossible that he should be holden of it Heb. 8.1 and is set downe on the right hand of the throne of majestie in the heavens Heb. 7.25 ever living to make intercession for them Thus you see the first of those requisites which go before remission of sinnes namely satisfaction of Gods justice by the merit of those things which Christ Iesus did and suffered in mans stead Hee sheading his bloud as he himselfe saith for many for the remission of sinnes Mat. 2◠28 The worth and efficacie of this satisfaction made and redemption purchase◠by the precious bloud of Christ was greater than onely to merit at Gods hands that now his justice being satisfied he might forgive sinnes and save men if he would upon any such possible condition as hee should please to appoint and accept for Christ by his death resurrection and intercession deserved and procured that God should actually forgive Iob. 17.19 1. Thes 5.9 10. and also give grace and eternall life to all those to whom Christ was ordained to bee an head and a Saviour Act 3.31 even to all those whō from before the beginning of the world Ioh. 17 2. God gave unto Christ and were ordained to beleeve in Christ and that should be united to him by his Spirit A second thing required before that a mans sinnes shall be forgiven Rom. 10. ◠10. is beleefe and faith in Christ Iesus For faith is the condition of the new Covenant published in the Gospell Ioh. 6.29 and i◠is the bond of our spirituall union with Christ on our part and is the meane and instrument whereby wee receive Christ and do relie upon him Ioh. 1.12 and whereby we do apply him with all his merits and benefits unto our selves unto our salvation Ioh. 6.35 This the Scriptures do hold so usefull and necessarie that they ascribe our justification by forgivenesse of our sinnes unto it Rom 5.1 God accounting our faith as he did Abrahams Ro 4.3 5. unto righteousnesse But how is our faith accounted for righteousnesse not as it is a gracious qualitie inherent in us and a part of our sanctification but as it hath relation to Christ who is our righteousnesse and is the sole object of our faith unto justification for which cause we hold against the Papists that we are justified by faith onely Of this it is that all both Prophets Christ himselfe Ioh. 3 16. Act. 10.43 and all the Apostles have witnessed namely that through Christs name whosoever beleeveth in him shall receive forgivenesse of sinnes By faith in Christ I meane such a faith as is a sound a lively and an effectuall faith such a faith as hath faith in the Law unto conviction of sinne and unto penitence for sinne going before it and a faith in the precepts both of the Gospell and of the Law unto repentance of sinne and holinesse of life concurring with and following after it This condition of beleeving which doth qualifie a man for and which doth interest a man into the benefit of Christs redemption is not left as Adams standing or falling was in the hands of a mans free will for so there might have beene a possibilitie that all Christs sufferings might have been in vaine and none might have beene saved namely if none would beleeve But Christ dyed and rose againe not onely to satisfie Gods justice in the behalfe of all which were to be saved but also to give them faith that they might indeed be saved For it is apparant by the Scripture that the end why Christ dyed and gave himselfe a ransome for many was not Mat. 10.28 that onely hee might satisfie Gods justice in which satisfaction mans redemption doth virtually consist but that also God by him might give faith unto all which were ordained to eternall life Act. 13.47.48 by which their redemption and salvation purchased with Christs bloud might actually in the time appointed by God exist and take effect in them For faith is one of those blessings wherewith God blesseth Eph. 1.3.4.15 in and through Christ all whom he chose in him before the foundation of the world It was not enough for mans redemption and salvation Heb. 10.14.15.16.17 that Christ by his once offering of himselfe should onely beginne to save man but by the same he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Wherefore the promise of the new covenant is as the holy Ghost witnesseth that hee will put his lawes in their hearts and