that posture in which they might receive the said gift of eternal life wherefore saith the Apostle The Scriptures fore-seeing that God would justifie the Heathen through faith Preach the Gospel before unto Abraham saying In thee shall all the Nations be blessed Hence observe Observe that in the said taking hold of this Nation in Abrahams loyns or seed God not only elected that Nation to be as a part of the whole nature of man but as such to be Christs visible Church and Spouse I say the nature of man as such but not Angels nature as such nor elected he this Nation upon his fore-sight of their faith or believing operations Esa 44.1 Psal 147.20 but to be put in the said posture in which they might believe and in believing operations receive the said gift of eternal life Rom. 3.2 Hos 2.19.20 For unto them was committed the Oracles of God when denyed to all Nations wherefore saith God to this Nation I will marry thee unto me for ever and so forth Rom. 11.29.30 in pursuance of my final end for that 's imply'd and in this sense the gifts and calling of God are without repentance From this ground God did call the Gentiles to the said posture and so will the Iews that now lay in their apostacy and I say in this sense the gifts and callings of God are without repentance to mankind with respect to his said final end Observe Again observe this Election conferred upon that Nation the greatest honour that ever any Nation had Nationally considered First that of them concerning the flesh Christ came who is God over all blessed for ever The second was the aforesaid Election of humane nature as such in them to be Christs Spouse elect Rom. 9.5 The third was this as saith our Lord Salvation is of the Iews John 4.22 because the Oracles that were committed to them was from them derived being the light of eternal peace to all Nations that then sate in darkness or shades of death Observe Again observ that this election confer'd not their being nor their being so honor'd for their own sakes no more then any other people who had none of these honorsbut only for Gods own namesake in pursuance of his said final end Esa 43.25 Esa 48 9.11 Ezek. 36.29 30.31 Not for your sakes do I these things saith the Lord God be it known unto you O House of Israel So Samuel tels them saying The Lord will not forsake his people for his great names sake 1 Sam. 12. c. 22. because it hath pleased him to make you his people Again Observe Observe that the visibility of Christs Church is in the flesh or bodily part of man or in bodily operations which as saith our Lord profiteth little therefore let all men within the visible Churches of Christ Tim. 1.4.8 take heed they perish not in making the visibility of their profession their religion but to be sure to make eternal life as obtained by Christ and so Christ their Religion in their Intellectual spirit and in truth according to the Scriptures for the quintescence of true Religion is invisible because as God and Christ the object is invisible so the intellectual acts of mans belief or credit he gives to God and acts of love are invisible Rom. 2.28.29 whose praise is of God and not of men that cannot see invisibly or invisible things CHAP. VI. In which is opened the second Branch propounded That as Adams unrighteousnesse in its guilt and punishment by God imputatively in the falne Mass was extended unto all mankind even so in that falne Mass the righteousness of the seed of the woman was by God imputatively extended to all mankind to justification of life that is to put them in a posture in which they may receive his said gift of life eternal or to be either as is said FOr proof of this Point the Scripture saith Ioh 1.29 Therefore as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation Rom. 5.18 Heb. 2.9 1 Ion 2.2 2 Cor. 5.14 1 Cor. 15.22 even so the free gift of the righteousness of one came upon all men to justification of life Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world Again men from their believing operations in Scripture speaks the same for say they We see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angels for suffering of death crowned with glory and honour that he by the grace of God should taste of death for every man and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only but for the sins of the whole world and we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead And as in Adam all died even so in Christ shall all be made alive that is to the said posture in which they might receive life as well as to receive judgement according to their works good or evil Again the same men say also that all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself in Iesus Christ and hath given unto us that is Us Apostles and those that succeed us in the Ministry of Reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and not imputing their trespasses unto them And then the Apostle demonstrates a reason of this reconciliation of all mankind into the said posture namely because God hath made Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him But sin inherently was not in him nor actually committed by him for the Text saith He knew no sin and himself saith Sathan has nothing in me therefore he was only imputatively made sin for us and contrarily we were imputatively only made the righteousness of God in him to justification and acceptation into the said posture to a right reception of the said gift of eternal life in pursuance of Gods said final end Therefore as by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they namely believers which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reigne in life by one Iesus Christ Thus all mankind were put into the said posture by the imputation of Christs righteousness Again if the whole frame of nature was put into a posture by Christs righteousness imputed in opposition to the unrighteousness imputed of Adam as is proved and so travelleth untill now from the bondage of corruption to be partakers of the glorious liberty of the Sons of God then much more did the force of the imputation of that righteousness put the principal part of the frame of Nature namely man into the said posture of reception of eternal life Hence observe that the imputed guilt and punishment of Adams one offence and the imputed gift of Christs one righteousness were both of one universal extent to the whole Creation and so to all mankind the principal part thereof for even as
faith implicite as most weak to faith more strong and expressive as formerly is proved His third Reason is Because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all unrighteousness of men which withhold the truth in unrighteousness for as much as that which may be known of God is manifest in them for saith he God hath shewed it unto them namely by the Creation and the Gospel Rom. 1.19 as aforesaid for that is here implyed The first Reason why the Spirit of God thus strives with the spirits of these Heathens and all men else may be this although it be all alike unto God in respect of his final end whether the most or least number of men be made vessels of honour or dishonour unto eternity so all be either one or the other because by his mercifull and just proceedings in the suitable rule his glory in a most sweet righteousness shineth forth eternally in either to his praise and yet nevertheless in respect to man it being his Creature Acts 17. from 25. to 29. his offsprings and generation which as saith the Text he hath made of one blood and under the aforesaid universal election yet in this respect God would rather man would as he should and might according to this rule and Christs Spirit striving with his spirit return by his operation into the said posture to receive the said gift of life and be blessed for ever As I live saith the Lord God Ezek. 18.27 I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his waies and live when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed Ezek. 33.11 and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall save his soul alive The second Reason why the Spirit of Christ thus strives with the spirits of these Heathens and all men is because the Apostate Angels do universally indeavour by their temptations lies and delusions to keep all mankind from receiving the said gift of life and therefore do endeavour not only to extinguish the Preaching of the Gospel but also to extinguish and turn the internal light of Christ in all men into darkness and if they could possible draw all men into eternal darkness and their main end in all this is that God might not have any glory in mans felicity to eternity and therefore to repel this their designe in that particular branch it is that the Spirit of Christ thus strives with all men and for this end we see the seed of the woman was elected to be Christ the Lord and second Adam and for this end God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever by believing operations will receive the said gift of life shall not perish but have everlasting life for therefore we see God elected the falne Mass of mankind out of that despicable estate into the said posture as is proved and also therefore we see that God elected one Nation to be and to be in the said posture to carry on his said final end as it respected this particular branch not for their sakes but for his own names sake and likewise we see to carry on this said final end in this particular branch He hath mercy upon whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth when by their acquired habits in sin against the said posture they are all alike dead in sin and trespasses I say not in love or hatred to any of these men personally considered but only in love to himself in the prosecution of this branch of his said final end as is proved that he called the Gentiles to this posture but denied it at that time to the Iews and so on this sixteen hundred years and that in pursuance of the said branch will call them to this posture again by which they may receive the said gift of life and this is the ground why he precedently made so many glorious promises of calling the Gentiles and also of the Iews according to his Covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and from this cause only they are beloved for their Fathers sakes as is proved and therefore it is that the Spirit of Christ thus strived with the spirits of these Heathens and all men else as is proved The third Reason may be this Because the more men are brought by the striving of Christs Spirit with their spirits to believing operations in this posture by the reception of this gift of life in point of justification the more fruit of righteousness abounds also in their sanctification in a redundancy to Gods glory against the Apostate Angels said designe and therefore it is that the Spirit of Christ thus strives as with these Heathens so with all men The first Use is for Information That if the Spirit of Christ thus strives with the spirits of all mankind to bring them to and to keep them in this posture Hence we learn two things First That the striving of this Spirit to all mankind as is proved is the universal favour of God in Iesus Christ to all men in the world The second is this That those amongst men which by believing operations rightly receive the said gift of righteousness shall muchmore receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness and shall reigne in life by one namely Iesus Christ that as sin had reigned unto death even so might grace reigne through righteousnesse Rom. 5.19 unto eternal life by Iesus Christ The second use is this That God will never revoke that pardon of the guilt and punishment namely eternal death due to all mankind for Adams one offence First because of his said gift of life which came upon all men unto justification in the imputative righteousness of Christ as is proved for for this end he gave the Spirit of Christ thus to strive with the spirits of all men from the beginning of the world to the end thereof that they might receive the said gift of life therefore the pardon of the said guilt and punishment due to all mankind for Adams one offence stands irrevocable to eternity for ever since the fall this is the condemnation now this light of life is come into the world because men love darkness rather then light The third Use God is irrevocable in this Point also namely To give to any man the possession of eternal life in this world by belief and the fruition in the next world which is constant in his believing operations in the said posture according to the striving of Christs Spirit with his spirit for saith our Lord He that endureth to the end shall be saved In the fourth place this informs us also That if any man be by God dispossest of his eternal life in this world and so in the next it must needs follow he quencheth this Spirit of Christ which thus by belief gave him possession of it here and so would have done there had he not
be under a Covenant of works properly so called the Lord Christ only excepted therefore it is a mistake to affirm that all men which are not true believers are under a Covenant of works and wrath of God and out of the grace and favour of God in Christ For we see proved at large that the favour of God in Christ pardoned to all mankind eternal death due to them for Adams one offence and that every man is born with the internal light of Christ in him and hath reduced the total nature of sin to a seed and also God hath given the Spirit of Christ to strive with the spirits of all men to keep that seed of original sin from the acquired habits if men will be faithfull in their little and to increase the internal light of Christ in them and to bring them to and to keep them into the said posture that they may receive his gift of life in Christ therefore it must needs follow that the former Doctrine is a great mistake Secondly Is it so That this Rule the Gospel Tenor is the only and alone suitable rule for all men to work in reference to their eternal happiness Then hence observe If any man desires or expects union with God in point of blessedness it must only be by his works in the said posture because only by the reception of the said gift of life wrapt up in Christs righteousness imputed man comes to God the fountain of life for so Christ is only the way the truth and the life therefore those fantastick men which dream of an union with the Divine Essence have an union indeed but not in their sense for only this union they have namely That they live and move and have their being in God as have all creatures as such and so have the Apostate Angels and the damned in hell but not that union which they dream of namely an Union in the Divine Essence essencially the same nature and therefore as they reject all Ordinances so their operations in this posture according to the said suitable rule and yet the Text which affirms we are partakers of the Divine Nature shews wherein it consists namely by operations and workings according to this rule to suppress the effects of the seed of original sin for saith the Text We are partakers of the Divine Nature in that we fly the corruptions that are in the world through lusts and this sin and lusts we came to know by the Law that is the Gospel which was once under a vail for saith the Apostle I had not not known sin except the Law had said thou shalt not lust Now the ground of this blasphemous error is this These men fancie to themselves that the Creation is eternal that is without beginning or end and themselves being a part thereof are therefore eternal yea God himself all which is contrary to the testimonies of the sacred Oracles of God for it positively affirms the world had a beginning it shall have an end and God will according to his sacred Oracles as he shaketh the wicked out of the corners of the earth as Iobe speaks so will he shake and make these men vessels of dishonour in torments to eternity according to the justice of this rule of mercy which they now despise and he will laugh when their fear cometh to their destruction if they return not in to the work of the said posture in time therefore let all men beware of these mens fancies and what God saies in his word we must believe it or else do worse for the Scripture speaks in this tone to man from God Thus saith the Lord as did the Prophets in old time implying what God saies in his word we must believe it and so rest and if we believe the Lord and his Prophets we shall surely prosper Again thirdly Is it so That this is the only rule suitable to all men as is proved hence observe This Rule points us unto a twofold righteousness The first is the rectitude of mans internal intentions and external operations by the force of which man rightly receives the said gift of life and this righteousness is called in Scripeure Sanctification The second righteousness is this When man by the said rectitude hath believingly received Gods gifts of Christs righteousness imputed and because in that righteousness is included life eternal Rom. 4. and acceptance with God therefore this righteousness so received is called our justification Therefore let no man presume to be acceptable with God for his own operations in the said posture that is for works as works as did the Jews before mentioned for if we do it is true we may rejoyce in our selves but not in God no more then could Abraham if he had been of this opinion as the Apostle affirms Fourthly Is it so That God makes all men good or bad according to their works vessels of honour or dishonour as is proved and as will more appear in the next Chapter Then hence observe That the absolute power and soveraign pleasure of the infinite God in reducing the reasonable creature to its final end to eternity as the Potter makes one vessel to honour and another to dishonour of the same lump he doth it only and alone by this rule so suitable to all man kind according to their works and not by a decree of reprobation personally considered upon man as is rendred by reverend Calvin in these words Not mans undeservings is the cause of mans reprobations but the will of God to reprobate the which Point the Scripture speaks not and we see it proved that thus to shape men as is thus described is Gods final end beyond which there is none for Calvins instications in the Margent p. 462. for this end he made all things for his glory as we see proved he made the whole world and all its parts for this and he ordained and elected the Lord Christ the seed of the woman to carry on and accomplish this his final end as is proved CHAP. XII In which is handled the sixth Branch of the manifold wisdom of God formerly propounded in the fifth Chapter namely the Executiou of Gods final End upon all men some to honour and some to dishonour by the said Tenor of the Gospel according to their works good or bad to men without the Church and to men within the Church visible yea and the invisible members of Christ ANd first Cain was the first man without the Church from the time he departed from Adams Family the first visible Family-Church of Christ in the world and in reference to this Point Gen. 4.14.16 the Text saith Cain went forth from the presence of Jehovah and saith Cain to him From thy face shall I be hid and saith the Text Cain was of that wicked one and slew his brother and wherefore slew he him The Text answers Because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous wherefore the Spirit of