the way Rom. 1.6 turne into the right path and walke on in the gate that leadeth to glory And this effectuall calling is that that is here by the Apostle nominated whether ordinarily or extraordinarily effected that skils not for so a thing bee well done it matters not whether it bee effected by a common or more speciall manner of proceeding for that is not of the essence but an adiunct to rhe thing Hebr. 8.5 According In this word is a similitude of equall proportion To his That is Gods they that referre it to man are deceiued and corrupt the Text for God calleth not any for his foreseene faith 2. Tim 1 9. or workes but of his owne good pleasure and that when man hath no purpose to bee called at all Purpose This word seemes to haue in it two things the one a rule by which a thing is done the other a setled resolution to doe according to that rule the first hath relation to the vnderstanding the second to the will and we ascribe both to God For hee effecteth nothing without knowledge and all acts proceed from the will the one guiding and the other working perfecting Now both these without offence to his Maiesty may be ascribed vnto him And now will you heere the Metaphrase in order as it is summarily in the verse contained then thus it is briefly plainly as if the Apostle had thus more amply reasoned related I cannot denie but that afflictions and persecutions are troublesome and not easily vndergone by them that either preach or professe the Gospell yet notwithstanding this may be a meanes to strengthen the weake and feeble mindes of the faithfull for we that are the Disciples of Christ doe know by experience in respect of times past and are by faith assured for the future daies that there is nothing whatsoeuer as sinne sorrow death or what can be named or conceiued but to those that loue the Lord and are effectually called of his good pleasure it shall in the euent and finall conclusion by his wise disposing turne for the bringing of them to the truth of grace here and the eternall perfection of glory hereafter And this I conceiue to be the very true and naturall sense of the verse wee haue in hand so let vs now proceed to gather some particular Doctrines for our better and further instruction and this I take to bee one of the principall that Doct. 1 All things worke together for good vnto the children of God The Apostle in another place hath a speech something to the same purpose 1. Tim. 4.8 Bodily exercise saith he profiteth a very little yet godlinesse is profitable for all things But for the better prosecution of this point we will make a fourefold distribution All things that are for our good come either first from God secondly Satan thirdly others fourthly and lastly from our selues for in these wee may comprehend the most if not all things whereof wee haue to speake And concerning God we will consider either his attributes or his acts For his attributes though they bee many yet foure onely shall bee mentioned And because that Knowledge in God is most excellent for Satan at the first vsed it as an argument to seduce our Parents Genes 3.5 Yee shall be as gods knowing good and euill we will declare how it worketh for the good of all his children First by knowledge hee discerneth them from all reprobated bastards and is able to call them by name Exod. 33.12 And is not this good for them will it not comfort a child in that his father knoweth him By this hee also vnderstandeth not onely who we be but where we be what we be and the things that be the best for vs. Ignorance was a cause why Isaac blessed Iacob in stead of Esau for had he knowne it Genes 27.23 he would not haue done it Ignorance was the ground why some of the Princes of this world put to death the Lord of life for had they knowne him 1. Cor. 2.8 they would not haue crucified him 1. Tim. 1.13 Ignorance caused Paul to persecute the seruants of God and many more euils haue sprung from this blindnesse Wherefore God that knoweth his cannot passe by them and giue his blessings vnto others So that knowledge in God is for his childrens good Was it not good vnto Hagar Genes 16. Matth. 2. that the Lord knew her in the wildernesse for Iesus when he was in Egypt for Dauid seeing the vprightnesse of his heart and for Paul also The Lord knoweth whether I loue you or not yea 2. Cor. 11.11 by this all-sufficient and seeing eye he can collect the Elect from the foure ends of the world single them out of the deformed multitude gather together their very bones number their haires make a re-union of the same soule and body conuent them at the last day before him and reward them according to their workes Nay the discerning of our thoughts is profitable for the elect for thereby they shall not be hindred but helped And by his Omniscience hee discouereth the plots of the wicked and knoweth thereby how to frustrate and confound their close and cunning enterprises The sicke patient is comforted when as the Phisitian vnderstandeth the nature and danger of his disease and the best way and meanes that can cure him It cannot but be a vexation of spirit to be in calamitie and his best friends ignorant of his perplexitie Hence haue these sorrowfull speeches sprung Little doth my father and friends vnderstand where I am and my wofull condition would to God they did for then they would vse meanes to free mee comfort me Wherefore when men are imprisoned vnder the Turke or any Enemie the first thing they doe is to let their friends by letters or other waies to haue knowledge of it Truly Gods knowledge is the very first ground of comfort to all the faithfull for it maketh way that euill may be remoued from them and all that is good conferred vpon them and the more wee thinke vpon Gods Omniscience the more will it yeeld vs matter of mirth and great reioycing Dauid when he would encourage his sonne Salomon to serue God 1. Chron. 28.9 vseth it for a strong inducement for the Lord knoweth all hearts Christ pricketh his people for to pray on the same ground Matth 6.6 Your heauenly Father knoweth the things whereof ye stand in need Paul thereby strengtheneth the feeble minded in the apostacy of such as had made great profession 2. Tim. 2.19 The Lord knoweth who are his Peter and others perswadeth the children of God to doe good and suffer affliction producing it as a reason for the eye of the Lord is ouer the righteous He knoweth their works 1. Pet. 3.12 Reuel 2.19 and their dwelling place So that we see the Omniscience of God in all respects may and shall worke for his childrens good And from Gods
fall from the certaintie of perfect blessednesse Againe the worke of creation and mans generation is good for his people for that is the beginning of their actuall well-being and a step to blessing howbeit it had been good for Iudas Mat. 26.24 and the vnbeleeuers they had neuer been borne And mans effectual Vocation is good too whether it be sooner or latter if the Lord call a man in his youth why is not this a rare priuiledge and shall he not be better enabled to resist all euill in the time of age Suppose the Lord single a man out in his more ancient yeeres yet it shall bee good for him also for hee shall discerne more clearely and that with admiration the patience and long suffering of the Lord perceiue his power the more in turning him from that long and strong habit of wickednes he will make the more haste to heauen as the shaft to the marke that hath been long held in the bowe worke the more willingly in the Lords vineyard so short a time and he thereby will be the more hopefull of old sinners lesse proane finally to censure any And is not this also good for him Besides let one depth of afflictions like the waues of water slow after another yet shall they leade him from sinne and draw him more close to the Law of God make him more pitifull to his sick brother and weane him from the loue of this world exercise all grace in him to the vttermost and seale to his soule the more certaintie of his saluation 2. King 22.20 What if death destroy his daies in youth is he not tooke from the euill to come and shall not a well-led life yeeld comfort at the day of death doth he not the sooner take possession of his fathers inheritance and rest from his labours Reuel 14.13 yea and is not then the day of a good mans death better then the day of his birth And if his life and daies be prolonged why Prou. 16 31. is not gray haires a crowne of glorie being found in the way of righteousnesse Now from God and his acts come wee to Satan and wee shall easily discerne that his plots and malice shall worke for good He caused man to fall from his integritie at the first but what lost he first is he not a member now of a more glorious head Christ the Lord Secondly is not his standing more certaine and he not subiect to change and fall for euer and this is the reason why Adam had a Sacrament in the Garden of good and euill to seale life or death but we in Christ haue none but such as seale vp our saluation Thirdly shall not our estate be more glorious in respect of the place of our habitation For if Adam had stood probably as some thinke we had neuer been translated from earth to heauen for euery creature say they was to be blessed in that state and place where the Lord at the first put them as Angels in heauen Fishes in the sea and consequently Man and Beast on the earth and our ascension comes by Christ for from the Deitie hauing more power to carry the humanitie to heauen then the humanitie any waies to moue the Deitie springs our so great exaltation And Paul seemes to confirme this proposition 1. Cor. 15.47 when he saith that The first man was of the earth earthly the second from heauen heauenly endeauouring not only to proue the resurrection but the ascension of the body also by the merits of Christ Iesus So that Satan did not hurt but helpe vs though not willingly yet through the mercy of God on his part freely but on Satans by necessitie And what though he tempt vs still why we may learne wisdome of him as for to get power against the day of euill and it will assure a man that he is Christs sheepe and in the path to heauen when hee finds Satan so to tempt him and resist him for thus he disputeth If I were not at liberty why should the diuell thus trouble me tempt me Luther saith that he learned much good meaning in these former respects from the aduersary of mankind though the Papists blind guides scandalize him for it and accuse him to haue been familiar with the diuell And no doubt but as a man learnes wit by going to Law with a cunning aduersarie so the sonnes of God in our daies haue good by his tentations in finding out his depths and feeling Gods strong arme to plucke them out of his mouth and he that neuer learned wisdome from Satan though he intend not to teach him any may be iustly suspected not to be in the way to heauen 2. Cor. 2.11 Thus from him let vs step to mankind the which bee our brethren in the flesh or spirit and we will begin with the wicked ones What if the Canaanites be still among the Israelites is it not good for them for first if the sonne runne from his father why let him fall into the hand of an vncircumcised Philistim he will whip him home againe Secondly the prouidence of God ouer his will the more appeare in their preseruation Thirdly it will make the faithfull to looke better to their footing that they haue not cause to blaspheme the name of the Lord or speake euill of his lawes wee see Lot liued better in Sodom amongst sinners then when hee came to Zoar from out of them Fourthly they preuent much sinne that the righteous are subiect vnto for suppose that a man would wrong the King of his impost and custome sell away as wee haue heard some doe their powder shot and the like prouision why an honest man cannot if hee would haue way for the wicked for they lie at euery aduantage and like dogs deuoure that carrion that might choake and poison the godly And doe we not see that a flower growing amongst Onyons and Garlicke is sweeter then if it were among more pleasant herbes for the sower roote suckes the bad iuice and leaues the better for the other And it is out of all question that one good man hath benefit by another For first they are partakers of one anothers prayers and is not this a good thing Secondly they haue a fellow-feeling of one anothers miseries and is not this to be eased of part of their burthē Thirdly they will comfort thē if they be feeble minded and relieue them in necessity and what better for such as bee in that condition Fourthly they all concurre to make vp one compleat and perfect Temple for Gods Spirit to dwell in and by this relation haue they not good one by and from another what if they iarre now and then as Paul and Marke were sometimes stirred amongst themselues yet shall not the falling out of friends bee a meanes to renew more firmely their former affection like a bone being knit that hath been broken is the firmer afterwards yea such shall be reconciled in due season for
we reade 2. Tim. 4.11 that Paul willed Timothy to bring Marke with him for he was profitable to minister A rare spirit was this in Paul and hard to bee found in these dayes that would send from Rome to Troas for an assistant Finally let vs now come to our selues and if wee bee effectually called all that is within vs or that proceedeth from vs shall turne to our benefit not onely the good graces of Gods spirit and all outward fauours with our holy actions but our Originall sinne and actuall transgressions For first this inbred corruption will humble vs to the earth and make vs vile in our owne eyes Secondly cause vs to pray earnestly and often and thirdly will we nill we to denie our owne power and free-will and fourthly to seeke to God for mercy in Christ his Sonne And our actuall sinnes will worke the same effects also And is not he that is burthened wounded humbled in the way to be eased healed exalted I could instance in particulars Sampson some thinke sinned in matching with the Philistim Iudg. 14. yet thereby God brought a great destruction vpon the Churches enemies and made him a liuely type of our Lord. Isaac mist it through circumstance Gen. 26.8.9 insporting with Rebeccah notwithstanding it was a meanes of his safe deliuery out of the Kings hands Iacob may steale his brothers blessing but cannot the Lord sanctifie it vnto him 1. Sam. 21. vlt. Dauids faining of himselfe madde cannot well bee excused what of that God can so worke that thereby he shall escape death and danger And let this be obserued that as a man hauing tumbled in the mire and mudde by occasion whereof washeth off his clothes many lesser spots then which hee before that fall neglected so the faithfull through the commission of some great and fowle offence be brought by repentance to cleanse themselues of smaller sinnes then which had not yet been reformed except the other had befallen them And these may serue to manifest the truth of the thing that actuall sinne shall as it hath worke by the good hand of God for his childrens benefit and great commodity And now I come to render some generall reasons of the generall Proposition Reason 1 And first of all who can hinder the Lord from this action Prou. 21.30 Is there any wisedome counsell or vnderstanding against him cannot he tell that made all things of nothing brought light out of darknesse how to turne all for the good of the godly Who or what is able to preuent it no policy or inuention of man or Angell Reason 2 Againe his power is proportionable to his vnderstanding â—ob 9.4 for as he is wise in heart so is hee mighty in strength He can confound the policy of Achitophel breake the arme of Satan and turne the fierie bullets of his foes bark into their faces to fight for him and his and destroy the aduersaries he can cause all the crooked wheeles of the wicked to runne straight for the execution of his good pleasure This he hath done and this he can and will effect hereafter Reason 3 Moreouer as he knoweth how to doe it and hath power to effect it so hath he a will to execute it and who is able to hinder that irresistable motion â—om 9.19.22 will chaffe cast on the violent streame stay the current thereof from running shall a feather hinder the turbulent wind from blowing or the pismire moue the earth out of the worlds center why then may his will be preuented frustrated Reason 4 And is it not for his owne glory to effect this for the seed of the woman and for the shame of the wicked to bruise the head of that subtill Serpent Yes doubtlesse for if all his plots were not ouerthrowne then Satan and his brood should haue somewhat to glory in God to bee humbled for but they shall neuer effect their willes or the Lord be preuented of his Isa 59.5.6 They may weaue the webbe of the Spider but a winde shall huffe it away sit and hatch the Cockatrice egges but they shall breake forth into a Serpent that shall eate out her owne and their bowels And thus we come to make vse of the doctrine which is profitable euery manner of way Vse 1 First for confutation of the Papists who maintaine that A man effectually called iustified and in some measure sanctified may fall totally and for euer If the Popes position be a truth then the Apostles is a falshood for if one may fall from sauing grace and vtterly perish how can all things be said to worke together for good to such a person And in my opinion no one Text though there bee many for that purpose doth more make against our Aduersaries then this we haue in hand And what a comfortlesse doctrine is that which they defend Vse 2 The next is for reprehension of those which say It is in vaine to be religious Iob 21.15 What profit is there in seruing the Almighty What profit why all profit for all things shall worke together for their good sinne Satan death iudgement and hell Yea the worst thing that befalleth any of his children shall doe them more good then the best shall that can befall the wicked Heb. 11.25.26 It was better for Moses to suffer affliction with the faithfull then to haue been called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter and enioyed the pleasures of sinne for a season Oh that the men of our age did consider but this one thing then doubtlesse they would alter their minds and speedily change their manners For many fall into vtter desolation because they doe not deepely ponder this in their hearts Vse 3 And here it may teach the enemies of Gods children to learne a point of wisedome and if they will not shew themselues mad men to amend Psal 2.2 Psal 11.2 The Papist and Atheist may band themselues against the Lords annointed shoot at the vpright in heart and make hast to the spoyle But the righteous God shall cut their cords asunder Why then doe the Heathen rage Psal 94.8 and the people murmure a vaine thing O yee fooles when will ye be wise I haue often wondred why they still perseuere in their mischiefe But either they beleeue not the truth Psal 14.1 for the foole hath said in his heart there is no God or else with some of the former Pharisies and Alexander they haue sinned vnto death and that is a wickednesse implacable and if not so yet like Elymas the Sorcerer Act. 5.3 and 13.10 they are full of the diuell and pursue them of enuie or for lucre's sake and haue their hearts so set vpon malice Rom. 1.32 that though they are conuinced in iudgement and know that they doe euill and that God will reuenge yet will they persist in their wicked practises Doe wee not see some wrangling Clyants that though their learned Counsell tell them that their case