all his goodnesse Quest If sin comes to passe by the will and providence of God how is God excused from being the author of sin Answ. Very well For the bare willing and permitting of a thing makes not him who willingly permits it the author and cause thereof To make God the author of sin or any way guilty of it there are three things required First that God do command counsell or perswade men to commit sin Or secondly that he move incline or stir them up to it Or thirdly that when he willingly permits and suffers it and is able to hindeâ— it he be bound by some Law and bond of duty as men are to hinder it to the utmost of his power and in no case to will it But Gods Will hath no Law besides it selfe as he is supreme Lord of all so he may will or not will where hee pleaseth Hee is bound by no Law to restraine men from sin Hee may have mercy on whom he will and whom he will he may leave to be hardened Neither doth God command counsell or perswade any man to sin by his Word but hath given a Law to the contrary by which he forbids sin under paine of death And never did hee tempt move incline or stir up any to sinne Therefore he can neither bee the cause or author of sinne nor any way partaker in the staine and guilt of it Quest But doth not Gods Providence meddle any more with sinne but only to permit it willingly and wittingly Answ. Yes certeinly God by his providence doth hinder and limit sin that it doth not break forth in all wicked men nor prevaile to the utmost extremity He doth also order and dispose the sins of the wicked to his own glory and the good of his elect He made the fiercenesse of Pharaoh and Senacherib turne to his honor fame and praise and the trechery of Judas in betraying and the cruelty and malice of the Jewes in murthering Christ he turned to the redemption of the world and the salvation of his elect in Christ by his overruling power and goodnesse Quest You have fully justified God from being the Authour of sin Now tell me how man being made in Gods image perfectly upright and good could bee drawne to disobey his Commandement which was so just equall and easie to bee observed Answ. By the power malice and subtlety of the Devill For every creature is in it selfe mutable and may decline and bee corrupted unlesse it bee brought by Covenant into Communion with God who onely hath immortality and is of himselfe unchangeable Man though made perfect with all naturall perfection was Mutable in innocency and therefore God made a Covenant of life with him upon condition of his obedience hee gave him the Tree of life to bee a seale of this Covenant and to confirme it and to settle man so steadfastly in that naturall estate that hee could not have beene seduced by any power or subtlety of the Devill if hee had received the seale by eating of the Tree of life But the Devill prevented our first parents before they had time to eat of that Tree and subtlety by the Serpent insinuated himselfe into the woman and by her into the man before they were setled and established by the sealing of the covenant breathed into them infidelity and ambition and by his lyes brought them into an evill opinion of God and so drew them into disobedience and transgression of Gods Commandement and made both Adam and all mankind who were then in his loyns guilty before God worthy of death and subject to all the evils and curses which follow sin and disobedience For Adam the root and stock being corrupted and stained with sin all the branches which spring from him must needs bee partakers of the same corruption and of the malice enmity against God which the Devill breathed into him Thus the Devil was the first author of mans sin and fall and the Serpent was his instrument Quest If this be so why do not the Devill the author and the Serpent his instrument beare the punishment but man and his posterity suffer for it Answ The Devill and the Serpent are cursed for this sinne with an eternall curse from which there is no redemption And Adam because by infidelity pride ambition and an ill and false opinion of God which Satan suggested into his heart did willingly yeeld to the temptation and transgressed Gods Commandement and as a voluntary agent did work with the Devill in that act of disobedience therefore hee is guilty yet so as that his sin is pardonable and both he himselfe and all his Elect and Faithfull posterity are redeemed from it by Christ Quest How comes it to passe that so small a thing as that wherein Adam transgressed to wit eating of a forbidden fruit is counted so great a sin before God and brings on all man-kind so many evils and curses Answ. The smaller the thing was in which God required obedience of Adam the greater was his sin and the more blame he deserved in that having received so many gifts from God and such large dominion over all earthly creatures by the free gift of God he would not upon Gods just Command which was so easie to bee observed obey his Creator in absteining but onely from one Tree Besides hee disobeyed God out of infidelity pride ambition a false opinion of God and enmity against his Majesty For hee beleeved the Devils words who said hee should not dye and not Gods Word who had said that in the day hee did eate hee should surely dye Hee in pride and ambition sought by eating to become as God and imagined wickedly that God out of envie did forbid him to eate of purpose that hee might not become wise as himselfe So that this disobedience in so small a matter did include in it all kindes of sinnes whereby the whole Law of God is transgressed Quest You have well shewed that this act of disobedience was an heinous sin Now tell me what evils it brought upon man-kind Answ. First it stript man naked of all those perfections of Nature and all that uprightnesse and image of God in which hee was created so that his person which before for the beauty majesty and comelinesse of it was reverenced loved and served of all creatures came to be feared and abhorred of them as an enemy his nakednesse made him ashamed and his paines and sorrows made his life a burden to him Secondly mans nature and frame was so stained and corrupted by this sin that neither he nor any of his posterity can understand things aright nor will nor do any good but are altogether perverse froward prone to all wickednesse very slaves of sinne and Satan and by Nature children of wrath Thirdly it brought a curse upon the ground for mans sake so that without his hard labour and sweet it yeelds no good fruit but only thornes thistles other
the holy one of God and so was God and man in one person Quest How could hee bee borne a pure holy man without sinne of a woman a daughter of Evah and of the same nature with the rest of man-kind who are all corrupted in Adam Answ. God Almighty who alone is able to bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane did by his power over-shadow the Virgin his mother and the holy Ghost came upon her and framed out of her seed and substance an holy seed and so hee was conceived and borne without sinne perfectly holy both in soule and body and filled with the holy Ghost Quest How could he being so perfectly holy be subject to infirmities and to death and other punishments due to sin Answ Though he knew no sin yet he was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5. 21. and being most holy and righteous in himselfe he tooke all our sins upon him and bare all our sorrows and infirmities that he might thereby satisfie Gods infinit justice pay our ransome and redeeme and reconcile us unto God Isa. 53. 4 6. Quest How and by what meanes hath Christ redeemed us from wrath and wrought our salvation Answ. By executing and performing the office of a Mediator between God and men Quest How is he a Mediator Answ. As he is God the Son equall with the Father so he is a person of infinite value and worthy to be accepted and able to make a full satisfaction for all sin to Gods Iustice and to pay a ransome of infinit value And as hee is man of the same nature and substance with all man-kind and the first fruits of the whole lumpe so hee is fit to make satisfaction in the same nature which sinned and is our brother and friend and one who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities and is compassionate towards us and deales faithfully for us As he is God so he is too high to be a Mediator for man and as he is man so hee is too low to mediate and plead to God for us sinners But as he is God and man in one person so he is most fit to come as a Mediatour betweene God and men Quest Wherein doth Christs Mediation consist Answ. In the faithful execution of a threefold office The first of a Prophet The second of a Priest The third of a King Quest How did he execute the office of a Prophet Answ. By Prophecying Preaching and Revealing the Will of God from the beginning both in his own person and also by his Prophets Apostles and Ministers of the Word and Gospell In the old world he went forth in the Spirit and soake to the godly Fathers Enoch Methushelah Noah and others and by them preached to the wicked especially while the Arke was a preparing as the Apostle testifieth 1 Pet. 3. 19. He in the forme of man and sometimes of an Angell spake to Abraham Isaac and Jacob Gen. 18. 26. 32 24. Hee was the Angell of the Covenant which appeared to Moses in the bush and said I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Exod. 3. Hee spake also at sundry times and in divers manners as apparitions dreames and visions to the Fathers in times past and by his Spirit inspiring and moving the Prophets Heb. 1. 1. And in the dayes of his flesh he preached the Gospell with his own mouth And as after his Ascension he sent down the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles and gave them the gifts of Tongues and of Knowledge to Prophecy and Preach the Gospell to all Nations Act. 2. So he is with them in their true successors the Ministers of the Gospell to the end of the world Mat. 28. 20. And by his Spirit gives them knowledge and utterance to teach and expound the Scriptures and to bring men to the saving knowledge of the truth And in a word he is the great Prophet whom God promised to raise up to his people like unto Moses whom all ought to heare and obey in all things Deut. 18. 15. And no other Prophets or Preachers are to be heard but those which Preach in his Name truly according to his Word conteined in the holy Scriptures Quest Wherein doth the office of his Priesthood consist Answ. In making attonement betweene God and men both by offering up himselfe and all sufficient Sacrifice for all our sins in his obedience unto death and in suffering all punishments due to sin and by bringing in eternall righteousnes which is his perfect fulfilling of the Law in the obedience of his whole life Dan. 9. 24. Rom. 8. 3 4. 1 Cor. 5. 21. For in these two consists the whole work of mans redemption and the full ransome and sacrifice of attonement which is needfull to reconcile men unto God Quest How can the sufferings of one man satisfie for all men and the righteousnesse of one be able to justifie all that are to bee justified Answ. The man Christ as hee fulfilled the Law and suffered in our nature so his righteousnesse and satisfaction is humane and is proper only to mankind for as man sinned so man satisfied But as this man Christ is also God in the same person So his righteousnes and satisfaction is Divine of infinite value and worth even the righteousnesse and suffering of God and that is more than if all men had suffered eternall death and fulfilled in their own persons every jot and title of the Law and all the righteousnesse thereof Quest If Christs infinite Godhead doth adde so much to his obedience performed in our Nature and makes his sufferings of infinite worth and value What need was there of shedding his bloud unto death and of suffering all the stormes of Gods wrath was not as some say one drop of his bloud sufficient to redeeme the world Answ. Though Christ is a person of infinite value because he is God yet as he could not be a compleat and perfect Mediator if hee had taken into his person the body only of a man and not a complete Manhood consisting both of soule and body So suffering in part and obeying the Law in part could not bee made a complete satisfaction for justice requires a full suffering of all kinds of punishment due to man for sin even of death it selfe and a perfect fulfilling of the whole Law otherwise there is no righteousnesse If one drop of Christs bloud shed for sin had beene a sufficient price of redemption than it had been injustice in God to exact more and undiscreet and vaine prodigality in Christ to poure out all his bloud and his soule to death when one drop was enough Quest Is this all that Christ doth as a Priest Answ. This is all that Christ did in paying mans ransome and price of attonement but to make men partakers of it and of the benefit thereof he doth make intercession to God for them as appeares Rom. 8. 34. and Heb. 7. 25. Quest How doth
in their infancy are saved by the free Grace of God who worketh all things after the counsell of his own will Quest How doth the Word preached worke saving grace in men Answ. Not barely by it selfe nor by any divine vertue inherent in it but by the free grace of God and the inward operation of the Spirit working with it when and where and in whom he will For the Word preached doth not profit when it s notmingled with Faith in them that heare it Heb. 4. 2. as we see in the Iewes to whom Christ himselfe preached and yet they were not turned to God but the Word by him spoken through their infidelity turned to their hurt wrought to the hardening of them in their sins and left them without all excuse or any cloak for their wickednesse Iohn 15. 22. Quest What are those necessary works and saving graces which God by his Word and Spirit worketh in men to bring them to salvation in Christ Answ. They are works and graces which flow from Gods eternall election and are only wrought in the elect They are necessary because without them none can be saved and they are called saving works and graces because the persons in whom they are once wrought can never fall away and perish but shall certeinely persevere in them and be saved And they all may be brought under two heads The first are the works which God alone by his Word and Spirit worketh in his Elect. The second sort are the works which God so worketh that they also do cooperat with him and work together with his Spirit Quest Which are the works which God alone by his Spirit worketh in the Elect Answ. The first is regeneration from which all the rest do flow to wit renovation which is called renuing of the holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. Effectuall calling union with Christ adoption and Communion of all Christs benefits as of his ransome satisfaction righteousnesse and intercession for redemption remission of sins justification and perfect reconciliation Quest Which is the first saving grace Answ. The first which is the ground of al the rest is Regeneration Quest What is Regeneration Answ. It is that worke of God by which he sheds the Holy Ghost on his Elect through Iesus Christ of which Spirit given to dwell in them as his immortall seed they are borne again and become new creatures and spirituall members of Christ and children of God by a new birth and Generation Quest What is Renovation Answ. It is the work of God which he by his Spirit shed on them and dwelling in them doth work in them renuing them after the image of Christ and making them conformable to him both in his death by mortification and in his life by vivification Quest What is Mortification Answ. It is that work of Gods Spirit wherein hee deriveth the vertue of Christs death unto them and worketh in them such a sense of their misery sin and corruption and such a godly griefe sorrow contrition of heart loathing and abhorring of themselvs as doth tame their rebellious lusts and gives a deadly blow to the old man of sinfull corruption in them so that sinne can no more reigne in their mortall bodies but by grace they prevaile more and more over their corruption and do mortifie it continually Quest What is Vivification Answ. It is that worke of the Spirit by which he derives the vertue of Christs holy life unto them to quicken them and sanctifie them by inherit holines and to make them in the whole course of their life conformable to the holy and upright life of Christ Quest What gifts and graces are wrought in the Elect by Renovation Answ. The first which is as it were the root of the rest is Faith For as the Devill did first breath into Adam an unbeleefe and distrust of God and his truth so that hee beleeved not the Word and threatning of God but gave credit to Satans lyes and relyed on them and by his false beliefe Satan drew him on to a false opinion of God and a conceipt that God envyed his greater good whereupon hee began proudly to imagine that he might by eating of the forbidden tree become wise as God and did conceive enmity in his mind against God ambitious lusts and evill affections So God in renuing man doth first worke Faith in him which is the gift of beleeving in God and relying on his Word and Promises And by his Word beleeved he gives light of undeâ—standing and knowledge which drives out errors and false opinions and enables man to see his owne vilenesse and Gods goodnesse towards him whence ariseth the grace of humility and repentance also a sincere holy love of God feare and reverence of his Majesty joy rejoycing hope and delight in God and a will and desire to obey him in all things and in a word all Christian vertues by which a man becomes conformable to Christ Quest What is Effectuall Calling Answ. It is the work of the Spirit of Regeneration who by giving to the elect a new heart and spirit doth incline and enable them to follow the outward calling of the Word and to turne from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God Act. 26. 18. Quest What is the Vnion of the Elect with Christ Answ. It is not a making of their severall persons one undivided Essence and Substance with the person of Christ For that unity is only in God and in the three persons of the blessed Trinity Neither is it a making of them one person with Christ by such a personal union as is between his Godhead and Manhood and betweene the soule and body of every man Neither is it a bodily uniting of them with Christ by a bodily mixture and composition of the substance of their soules and bodyes with the substance of the soule and body of Christ as wine and water are mingled together For such an union makes the things united inseparable in place one from another so that wheresoever Christs body is there they must needs be and can be in no other proper place who are thus united Neither is this union only in heart and affection But this is a spirituall mysticall and substantiall union in which Christ sitting at Gods right hand above the Heavens and they dispersed over all the Earth are made one spirituall and mysticall body whereof Christ is the head and they members by meanes of the same Spirit dwelling and working in them after the same maner as he dwelleth and worketh in the humane nature of Christ from his first conception and framing in the wombe For by one Spirit they are all Baptized into one body whereof Christ is the head and being many members they make up one body even as all members in naturall body though they be many make up but one body because they all have but one soule and life the holy Spirit of which they are regenerate borne againe and made new creatures is
noysom weeds plants Lastly it brought all mankind in bondage to death both temporal wch is such a corruption of the body as doth separat the soule frō it make it utterly unfit for the soule to lodge in and also eternall which is the punishment of him with eternall destruction from the presence of God and from the glory of his power Quest Is there any hope of deliverance from this foule staine guilt of sins and from death and all evill of wrath which are the fruits and effects of it Answ. There is no hope of deliverance in any thing which mans wit and reason can devise or man by his art skil and power can performe All creatures in the world can yield him no help God only of his infinit mercy free grace love and kindnesse to man-kind hath from all eternity ordeined an all-sufficient Saviour and Redeemer even his only begotten son who immediatly after mans sin and fall did undertake for man staid the execution of the sentence and punishment of death and was promised to become the seed of the woman and by suffering death and all the punishments due to sin in our nature to redeeme man-kind from sin and death and to destroy the Devill who had the power of death and to dissolve all his workes Quest Who is this Son of God which did undertake to redeeme man Answ. It is the Lord Iesus Christ who was first promised under the name of the seed of the woman Gen. 3. 15. which should break the serpents head and afterward was promised to Abraham Isaac and Jacob under the name of the blessed seed in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed And to David and by the Prophets by the name of Messiah that is the annoynted Saviour of the seed of David And at last in the fulnesse of the time when hee was made flesh tooke our nature upon him and was borne of a Virgin did beare the name of Iesus and is now preached and made knowne to the world under the name of the Lord Iesus Christ Quest Why did not Christ come in the flesh in the beginning or first age of the world and worke mans redemption that the Fathers who lived under the old Testament might bee redeemed and saved by him as we now are under the Gospell Answ. The Incarnation of Christ and all things which he did and suffered for our redemption in the dayes of his flesh were present with God from all eternity as all times and all things which come to passe in all times past present and to come are continually present with him and were as effectuall to satisfie his justice appease his wrath and to purchase and procure perfect salvation to men at his hands as they are now ever since they were actually performed And through Christ promised God did shed his Spirit on the Fathers of old as hee now doth on us through Christ given and exhibited and by the Spirit united them to him in one spirituall body and wrought in them Faith by which they did as it said of Abraham see the day of Christ beleeve in him were partakers of all his benefits and were made conformable to him both in his death and life by mortification and sanctification Quest Why did Christ come and satisfie for sinfull men in the mids of yeares between the times of the Old and New Testament Answ. Because that was the most fit and seasonable of all times for man-kind for divers reasons First if he had appeared in the first ages of the world the memory of him would have been worne out For as the people of the Gentiles within a few ages forgot the promises of Christ made to Adam Noah and Sem and lost the knowledge of them so men would have forgotten Christ and all his doings and sufferings long ago for the world loveth changes and loathing old things seeketh after novelties Secondly the deferring of Christs comming held the world in suspence and expectation with promises from age to age still more plainely renued that after much longing his comming might be so much more welcome and men might with greater joy receive him Thirdly the world increasing in sin and corruption and being growne so hard that weaker meanes and obscurer revelation could worke litle upon men it was Gods Wisdome to reserve the appearance of Christ and the publishing of the powerfull Gospell for these latter evill days as being the fittest meanes for these harder times Fourthly if Christ in our nature had made satisfaction in the first ages of the world and had paid our ransome so many ages before wee were borne or had our being it had not been so equall and proportionable to justice as now it is by reason of his comming in the midst of yeares between the Old and the New Testament For by this meanes Gods forbearance of the ransome and satisfaction for the sinnes of the Fathers before Christs death is recompensed with payment of our debt and making a full satisfaction for our sinnes as much before hand even many ages before our committing of sinne or running in debt to his Majesty in our own persons Lastly it was necessary that many of the members of his elect and faithfull Church should by the Spirit bee united to him and by Faith have Communion with him before and at his comming appearing in the flesh that being the head of the Church actually through them He might by Cōmunion and imputation of the sins of so great a body multitude justly suffer the punishments due to the sins of his people even of them who were in after ages to grow up into the same mystical body by the same Spirit If he had beene borne in the beginning of the world before the Church of the Old Testament had any actuall being he could not have been the actuall head of the body nor united to the Church which as yet was not in being and so could not have borne the sins of his Church nor justly suffered the punishment of them Therefore the Apostle very fitly cals the time of Christs comming in the flesh the fulnesse of time that is the time most seasonable Gal. 4 4. Quest What have you learned concerning Christs person needfull to be knowne and beleeved Answ. I have learned That as he was the eternall Son of God one and the same God and of the same nature and substance with the Father and the Spirit hee did undertake according to Gods eternall Counsell to bee the Mediator between God and man and to mediate for man from the day of his fall and as hee was promised to bee the Seed of the woman so hee did in fulnesse of time assume and take into personall union with himselfe the whole nature and substance of a man and was made of the seed of Abraham and David in the womb of a Virgin of their seed a man like unto us in all things but without sin even
Christ make intercession Answ. First by praying for his Elect and Faithfull whom the Father had given him out of the world this he did in the dayes of his humiliation Secondly by sitting at Gods right hand hee presents continually before God his perfect satisfaction and righteousnesse in the behalf of all his Faithfull members and with his Sacrifice and Intercession doth as it were perfume all their Prayers and make them acceptable in the sight of God Quest Doth not Christ as well make Intercession for all as hee dyed for all man-kind Answ. Though Christ dyed and fulfilled the Law for a common benefit to all man-kind and his ransome is sufficient to save all yet he never purposed to redeeme all men by his death For hee knew that many were already damned and past all hope of redemption before he dyed and that Iudas was a son of perdition and therefore hee did not purpose to give himselfe a ransome for them Besides he himself testifieth that hee did not pray for the world but only for his Elect given to him by his father out of the world Ioh. 17 9. Therefore he did much lesse dye with an intent purpose and desire to redeeme and save them Quest How doth Christ execute his Kingly office Answ. By ruling spiritually in his Church and giving his Spirit and all spirituall gifts to men by which they are fitted and furnished with severall gifts for severall offices and functions in that his mysticall body The distribution of all honors offices and dignities as of some to be Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists others Pastors and Teachers is in his hand No man is capable of such honours and dignities nor fit for such offices but by his gifts and qualifications Whosoever thrusts himselfe into the office of a Bishop Elder Pastor or publike Preacher without such gifts and calling as hee hath in his Word prescribed hee is a thiefe and an usurper as our Saviour himselfe testifieth who is the onely doore by which men must enter into his sheep-fold Iohn 10. Hee ruleth also in the hearts of all Faithfull people by his Word and Spirit as by a Law and that Law is the rule of their life and of all their actions Hee also by his power defends his Church from all enemies and takes just revenge on their persecutors and oppressors for all power is given him in Heaven and Earth Matth. 28. 18. and hee hath all judgment committed to him Iohn 5. 27. All the Saints fight under his Royall Standard against the Devill the World the Flesh Sinne and Antichrist being armed by him with the whole armour of God Eph. 6 11. He will treade down Satan under their feet Rom. 16. 20. and by the spirit of his lips will destroy the wicked one 2 Thes. 2. And by his iron rod break in pieces all his enemies like a Potters vessell Psal. 2. So that whatsoever can be required in a King for the well ordering and ruling of his Kingdome by judgement and righteousnesse for the mercifull relieving and he ping of them in their need For the powerfull defending of them from all dangers and for the execution of just revenge on their enemies all this is abundantly found in Christ as he is the Lord and King of his Church Quest You have well shewed that Christ both in respect of his Person and Offices is an all-sufficient Redeemer and Saviour and is able by the infinite worth of his Mediation to save all men Now then tell me why all men are not saved Answ. Though Christ his ransome and satisfaction is able to save and redeeme all that are partakers thereof even all mankind if they had grace to receive and apply him and all his merits by Faith Yet because none have spirituall communion with him but only they whom God hath chosen to eternall life in him and predestinated to be effectually called according to his purpose to the state of grace and to be made conformable to his image Therfore many who are not elect follow their own evil ways and have no will nor care to repent of their sins and beleeve in Christ but run wilfully into destruction and perish Quest Hath God then chosen from all eternity a certeine number only of man-kind to salvation in Christ Answ. Yea verily For the Scriptures plainly testifie First that God hath a certain number of particular persons whom hee hath from all eternity predestinated both to eternall life in Christ and also to the meanes which lead unto life to wit redemption effectuall calling adoption faith and the like Ephes. 1. 4. 5 11. Rom. 11. 5 7. Act. 13. 48. Secondly that the persons elected are they only who are called in time according to his purpose iustified made conformable to the image of his Son and at length glorified Rom. 8 28 29 30. Thirdly that they are chosen not for any work which God foresaw in them but meerely according to the good pleasure of his own Will Rom. 9. 11. 15. Eph. 1. 5. And fourthly that all they who continue in obstinacy and impenitency unto the end and are damned were of old ordeined to that damnation destructiō 1 Thes. 5. 9. 1 Pet. 2. 8. Jud. 4. Quest If God hath not ordeined men to Faith in Christ repentance and good works but hath willingly rejected them as he did Esau before he had done any evill and given them up to hardnesse and impenitency as he did Pharaoh Why is he angry with them for none can resist his Will Answ. It is too much presumption in men to dispute against God and to judge of his actions by their owne shallow reason For he is not to give account of any of his matters nor to answer for his doings Iob 33. 13. Rom. 9. 19. And yet it is reason that every absolute Lord should do what he list with his own that as the potter hath power over the clay to make of the same lump one vessell unto honour and another unto dishonor so God much more should have power over his creatures to ordaine and make some vessels of honor and leave others to follow their own evil ways which they have found out to themselves and are not lead into by him and so to perish seeing their evill and destruction by his over-ruling wisdome and power doth turne to the greater good of his Elect and makes the glory of his holinesse Iustice Power and Mercy shine forth more clearely to them Quest Doth the benefit of Christ the Mediator and Redeemer reach only to the Elect Answ. Though the saving vertue of Christ belongeth only to the elect yet there is a common benefit of Christ wherof reprobates are partakers which reacheth also to all the world For hee is said to preserve man and beasts that is to keep them in life and being Psal. 36 6. and to be the Saviour of all especially of them that beleeve 1 Tim. 4. 10. and to give himselfe a ransome for all