holy exclamations to stirre and incite others unto it Thus doth the Prophet Psal 8. O Lord our God how excellent is thy name in all the world Hee sets downe his glorie in ordaining strength out of the mouthes of babes vers 2. In creating the Heavens deckt with Sunne Moone and Stars vers 3. In the making of man little inferiour to Angells giving him dominion over all other workes of his hands yet after all this he is faine to admire O Lord how excellent is thy name in all the world In another Psalme O Lord how glorious are thy workes and thy thoughts are verie deepe Psal 92.5 When David hath considered how the Lord redeemed his people from the hand of the oppressour gathered them out of the lands when they wandred in the wildernesse and had no Citie to dwell in hungrie and thirstie that their soule fainted in them hee breakes into this passion O that men would therefore praise the Lord c. Psal 107.8 Againe considering how often God hath satified the thirstie and filled the hungrie soule with gladnesse how he humbled their hearts with heavinesse and yet when they cried delivered them out of their distresse brought them out of darknesse and brake their bands in sunder He breaks out againe into that holy exclamation O that men would therfore praise the Lord vers 15. Againe considering how hee had broken for them the gates of brasse and smitten the barres of iron in sunder how hee sent his word and healed them and delivered them from the grave when their soule abhorred all manner of meat and they were hard at deaths doore Hee breakes out into that holy exclamation vers 21. Againe considering how they that goe to sea c. how they are mounted up to heaven and downe to the deepe againe how they reele and stagger and their skill failes yet the Lord turnes their storme into a calme and brings them to the haven Hee breakes out into that holy exclamation vers 31. Wee cannot remember how God hath called us Gentiles without God in the world Ephes 2.12 but it will cause an holy exclamation O the riches of the mercie and goodnesse of God how he hath cast off the Iew whom hee so much honoured but it should cause an holy exclamation O the unsearchable depth of the judgements of God! wee cannot looke upon the heaven beautified with starres upon the earth cloathed with flowers but it should cause an holy exclamation O the depth of his love and bountie unto us in Christ Iesus From whence wee may learne a three-fold dutie First Vse 1 to strive how we may affect and possesse mens hearts with the rarenesse and excellencie yea with an holy admiration of Gods workes and proceedings so doth David Psal 48.4 Sing unto God sing praises unto his name exalt him that rides upon the heavens in his name Iah According to thy name so thy praise shall be to the worlds end Psalm 48.10 And if wee doe remember his workes we must needs admire his workes Who can remember his worke of election and not wonder that hee should love Iacob and hate Esau His creation and not wonder how he could frame so many goodly creatures in heaven and in earth of nothing by nothing but a word His workes of redemption and not wonder at his goodnesse in sending his Sonne into the world to die for sinners His worke of vocation and not wonder how by the voice of his Gospell preached by weake men hee could subdue and convert Nations and Kingdomes Who can remember his framing in the wombe and not wonder I will praise thee for I am fearefully and wonderfully made Psal 139.14 Who can remember how God hath kept him from the wombe fed him with the lives of his creatures preserved him from dangers From the arrow that hath flowen abroad by night from the sicknesse that hath destroyed at noone day yea When thousands have fallen beside him and ten thousands at his right hand and not admire the loving kindnesse of the Lord Let our tongues sticke to the roofe of our mouths our right hands forget to play Let fathers forget their sonnes nurses their sucking babes mothers the fruit of the wombe But let us never cease to magnifie and admire the wayes and proceedings of God whose workes are unsearchable and wayes past finding out The second Vse is Vse 2 That when humane reason is offended with the deepnesse of the doctrine of predestination that wee renounce reason and give glorie unto God and with reverence admire what we cannot understand Let us beleeve that it is so Dâ—spatare vis mecum mirare mecum clama O altituao aâ—bo consenâ—iamus in pavore ne in crrore pereâ—mus Aug de â—â—rbis Apost Serm. 11. because the word hath revealed it but when by reason we cannot apprehend the manner the cause let us fall downe worship the Lord whose wisdome is deeper than the Ocean whose wayes are unsearchable and judgements past finding out It was the modestie of S. Augustine Wilt thou dispute with me wonder with me and crie O deepnesse let us both hoth agree in feare lest we perish in errour Let us learne the lesson of our Saviour I thanke thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and learned and hast revealed them unto babes Is it so O Father because thy good pleasure was such Matth. 11.26 Thirdly Vse 3 it serves to condemne such men as murmure at Gods order and course in matter of reprobation and thinke much that God should leave one in the masse of corruption rather than another that hee should reprobate them before they had done any evill and appoint them to be vessels of wrath and brands of an everlasting burning in a blacke and bottomlesse Tophet before ever their mothers conceived them whereas God is most wise and just and of absolute power and authoritie and therefore alwayes doth and cannot chuse but order rule and dispose of all things most rightly and most wisely albeit our weake and sinite apprehensions cannot see the reason of it The Conclusion Let us beleeve what we see not admire what we understand not reverence and adore that God whose councels are so deepe and wisdome so infinite that men and Angels cannot finde them out And so I come to a second point in generall Wee must in the hidden mysteries and secrecies of Almightie God Doct. not be curious to know impossibilities much lesse object and except against the manner of Gods proceedings but containe our selves within the precincts and limits of his word adore and admire his counsels without all vaine and rash attempting to search and finde them out It is Davids speech Psal 36.6 His mercie reacheth unto the heavens his faithfulnesse unto the clouds his righteousnesse is like the mightie mountaines his judgements like the great deepe And therefore can wee neither finde the reason of them nor except against them First it
At Ephesus see the storie Act. 19. In the house of Nero see their salutation Phil. 4.22 The more it is opposed the more God makes it to thrive and prosper Post Martyres floresâ—â—t Ecclesia Chrysost de patient Iob Homil 4. Cruciate damnate torquete at â—â—â—ite nos exquisitior quaeque crudelitas vestra est sectae illecebra quoties a vobis metimur totics plures essicimur nam sanguis Christiano um semâ—n Ecclesiae est Tertull. Apologet ad Calcem Hence is that of Chrysostome After the Martyrs the Church flourisheth And Tertullian Afflict condemne torment but waste us everie one of your more exquisite crueltie is an allurement of our Sect as oft as we are mowed of you so oft are wee made the more for the bloud of Christians is the seed of the Church Onely Gods hand and power is seene in the planting of it when it is planted onely his hand is seene in the preserving and delivering of it It is the Prophets speech Isa 59.16 The Lord saw that there was none to helpe therefore his arme did save it and his hand brought salvation unto it In the dayes of Elias when they brake downe the Altars killed the Prophets and Elias onely was left then did the Lord alone preserve it In the time of the Arrian heresie when there was but Athanasius against the whole world so Constantius the Emperour and Liberius the Pope Theod. Eccles hist lib. 2 ca. 16. Hee kept Ioseph in Aegypt Ionah in the belly of the whale Israel in the deepe sea and when there was none to save then the arme of the Lord brought salvation unto them Which may serve First Vse 1 to comfort us in all our distresses because our Lord and Master is sufficiently able of himselfe to defend and save us who will see his sonnes and children in the fire but would pull them out if hee were able Secondly if God be all-sufficient of himselfe then will he finde out meanes sufficient to helpe and to doe his children good though man perceive it not Thirdly if all-sufficient then God can save the lives of his people when all meanes are against it He can make the den of Lions to bee a castle and a lodge for Daniel I come to the third For him are all things Doct. God in all his workes of election reprobation creation preservation had a respect to himselfe and proposed his glorie as the end of them all God made all things for himselfe even the wicked for the day of wrath Thus the foure and twentie Elders Apoc. 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glorie and honour for thou hast created all things for thy wills sake When God chuseth a people hee respects his owne glorie The Lord set them up to be a pretious people unto himselfe and made them higher than all the Nations whom he made in praise in name and in glorie Deut. 26.18 19. In the discomfiting of enemies hee proposeth his owne glorie For this cause have I appointed thee that I might shew my power in thee and declare my name thorowout all the world Exod. 9.16 If he raise Lazarus the end is his glorie Said not I unto thee that if thou didst beleeve thou shouldest see the glorie of God Ioh. 11.40 He did intend his glorie in everie thing that hee did and hath glorie from everie thing that he made even by that which is evill for he turnes evill to good and brings good out of it as out of the evill of sinne a five-fold good out of the evill of punishment a manifold good So that both in good and evill he intends and from both good and evill he gets honour and glorie to himselfe I shall make the use when I come to the dutie of returning thankes and to the person to whom glorie is due To him be glorie for evermore Amen This is the Doxologie describing to whom the glorie of creation preservation election doth belong It containes first the Quid what is to be returned Secondly the Cui to whom it must be returned to him Thirdly the Quamdiù for evermore Fourthly the seale set to this acknowledgement and recognition Amen I begin with the Quid what is to be returned glorie my purpose is not to speake of an acknowledgement of the glorious nature and attributes in God but of mans study to get glorie unto God here among men onely this Conclusion I cannot passe That God lookes to receive glorie from everie thing that he hath made Doct. Thus the Prophet Isa 43.7 Everie one of them shall bee called by name for I created them for my glorie And hee hath chosen his elect to the praise of his glorie Ephes 1.12 The heavens must declare his glorie Psal 19.1 The creation of the world must set out his glorie Rom. 1.20 All the creatures must set forth his glorie because he made them Gen. 1. Preserves their being Act. 17.28 Feeds them Psal 147.9 But man especially is bound to this dutie of glorifying God because he not onely made him preserves seeds him but being dead quickened him being lost sought him being Satans prisoner ransomed him not with bloud of buls and and goats but of Christ And what use makes the Apostle Therefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your soules 1 Cor. 6.20 I come to a second viz. Man should never doe any thing Doct. whereby hee may not gaine some glorie unto God Thus the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.31 Amongst many hee is principally to aime at Gods glorie in these three 1. His actions 2. His speeches 3. His calling His actions are of three kindes naturall civill religious The naturall are such as are common to men with beast as eating drinking sleeping recreation yet in man all these must be moderated by reason that wee erre not in excesse or defect or manner of using them The Apostle hath mentioned two whereof we should be most carefull that wee dishonour not God to wit eating and drinking Here I must quarrell with two sorts of people who dishonour God so much in these two First they dishonour him in eating so did the people of Israel when they required meat for their lust Psal 78.19 And therefore while the flesh was yet betweene their teeth before it was chewed Gods wrath was kindled against them as Numb 11.33 Secondly they dishonour him in drinking as those Isa 5.11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drinke that continue untill night till the wine inflame them I come to the third which is our calling We must make choyce of such callings whereby we may gaine glorie unto God Doct. For a calling is a particular kinde of life imposed upon man by God for the common good and in everie calling two things must be considered the Author and the end The Author of everie honest and lawfull calling is God So the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.17 As God hath called everie man so let him walke The end of every
Lectures Vpon The Eleventh Chapter To The ROMANS Preached by that learned and Godly Divine of famous memorie Dr. SUTTON in St. Marie Overies in Southwarke Published for the good of all Gods Church generally and especially of those that were then his Hearers APOC. 14 1â— Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they rest from their labors and their works doe follow them LONDON Printed by I. H. for Nicolas Bourne and are to be sold at his shop at the South Entrance of the Royall Exchange 1632. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE ROBERT Lord BROOKE Baron of Beauchamp-Court I. D. Wisheth all increase of saving graces with true honour and prosperitie in this life and eternall happinesse in the life to come I Shall not need Right Honourable to spend much time and many words in commending this Booke to your Lordship and all sincere Lovers of Gods truth seeing the name of the Author surmounting my best praises can much better grace it to them and many were they that knew him and the worke it selfe may worthily commend the Author to them that knew him not Jt presenteth unto your Lordship the labours and Lectures of that faithfull Servant of God and famous Preacher of the Gospell Doctor Sutton in his weekly exercise at S. Marie Overies in Southwarke which when they were delivered were received with the generall applause and approbation of all his Hearers that were godly and judicious A man furnished with many rich endowments and entrusted by our great Lord and Master with not a few of his choycest talents which whilest he lived hee employed faithfully and fruitfully to the glorie of God and the edification of his people in his painfull Ministerie But alas too little a while did this burning and shining light appeare unto the world setting in our Horizon and without any Poeticall fiction dying in the Ocean by an unnaturall motion before he had attained unto the high noone of his perfection that he might shine much more cleerely among those bright Stars who with him have been the meanes upon earth of enlightning and converting many others Some little glympse hath hee left behind him of his greater light like the rayes in the skie after the Sun setting in these his labours penned by his owne hand for his owne use which wanting the gracefulnesse of his elocution and powerfull spirit to enlive them in which he excelled are but like a naked body stripped of its ornaments or a dead picture compared to a living body and this picture as farre short in beautie and likenesse of that it would have beene if himselfe had lived to perfect it with his owne pensill as a picture taken of a dead man in comparison of one which is drawen to the life But yet I supposed that this dimmer candle-light of his fruitfull labours was too usefull and profitable to lye any longer hid under a bushell and that it was in me a kinde of sacrilege to rob the Church of the use of his talents after hee had done trading with them and to hide them in a manuscript as it were in a napkin which being published might become profitable for the inriching of many And therefore that God might be yet more glorified by these fruitfull labours of his faithfull servant and the Church thereby might be also further edified J have caused them by being imprinted to be laid out in common for the benefit of many especially those who having beene his ordinarie hearers were much addicted to his Ministerie and will highly esteem the worke for the Authors sake The which I humbly present and dedicate to your Honors Patronage being emboldened hereunto by your fervent love to Gods truth and your zealous profession of it in these cold and declining times as also for that honourable respect which I have observed in your Lordship to Gods poore Ministers and your cheerefull receiving of them and their message for their Masters sake and finally that I might take occasion hereby of preserving and continuing your Honourable acquaintance with me the least of Gods Servants which J highly esteeme not for any worldly respects but that J may be still honoured by your Noble and Christian love and bee alwayes ready by my best services to honour you in it The Lord more and more multiply all his graces in you that you may long remaine as a Noble Peere of our Common-wealth so a firme Pillar of our Church adorning your religion which as your best ornament chiefly adorneth you and gracing that truth by your holy profession and practice which above all other titles will most enoble you and make you truly honoured in this world in the sight of God and all good men and eternize your glorie in the life to come The which shall bee the heartie prayer of me a poore Minister of Jesus Christ who shall ever remaine much devoted to your Lordship in all Christian dutie and service Iohn Downame To the Christian Reader IT is no small part of mans miserie that being created by God in a state of happinesse and immortalitie hee hath made himselfe mortall by his sinne and fall And it is an evidence of Gods infinite and never sufficiently admired mercie that hee hath not onely by the death of his best beloved Sonne restored all his elect to a state of incorruption and eternall life and blessednesse in the world to come but also in this world hath provided certaine meanes and medicines for the curing in some sort even of death and mortalitie it selfe which in their owne nature are apt to burie us all in perpetuall oblivion Namely that whereas by Gods just unchangeable sentence we must all dye yet by generation we propagate our kinde and so though mortall in our selves wee are immortalized in our posteritie Besides which benefit common to all mankinde God vouchsafeth a more peculiar blessing unto those whom he calleth to be spirituall Fathers in the Church begetting children unto God by the seed of the Word and preserving them in this life of grace by their fruitfull and powerfull preaching of the Gospell Especially if hee also enableth them to leave unto their children the riches of their holy writings for their instruction and increasing of their spirituall growth in all grace and goodnesse as it were holy legacies bequeathed by their last will and testament For those spirituall births of the braine are herein much to bee preferred before the fruit of the wombe in that they continue an honourable memorie of their Father after his death whereas the other often degenerating from the vertues of their Ancestours doe staine their names with their vices and dishonourable actions But much more doth God honour those who thus honour him in giving them power to speake unto his people even when their bodies rot in the grave and making them instruments of his glorie and of much good vnto his children even for a long time after death So that as wicked men doe
the Arke of the Covenant and the Temple which Salomon built Quis cladem illius urbis quis sunera sando Explicat aut possit lachrymis c. Virgil. 2.1 Aeneid Babylon who could say of herselfe as Isay 47.8 I am and none else beside mee I shall not sit as a widdow c. Yet now she is laid waste Ostriches cry there and the Satyres dance there Isay 13.21 Few places had such prerogatives as Nineveh so much state that Volateran reports that it was eight yeeres a building and all that time no lesse than ten thousand worke-men and Diodorus Slculus that the height of the wals were an hundred foot the breadth able to receive three carts on arow it had fifteene hundred turrets and yet none of these have sence but paper-wals to preserve their memoriâ—â— So the seven Churches of Asia I am seges est ubi Troja fuit Ovid. Epist 1. Nice Ephesus and Chalcedon famous for generall Councels and now the ruines and rubbish of them cannot bee found they are turned into pastures for oxen and sheepe 2. Outward privilege is no proofe of election for then all the Iewes enjoying the same privileges should bee saved aswell as any one of them Beware then you deceive not your hearts Vse that you trust not to these broken reeds that have no strength that you judge not of your estate by these outward marks It is not your hearing nor your maintaining of the Gospell but it is your sanctified holines in the heart Follow holines for without that no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 not Herods holines nor Pharisaicall holines not Popish holines in rites and ceremonies will you know that are of the Church I know you desire it for alas what good will it doe a man to have Princes to bow unto him doubt what shall become of his soule That saying of Trajan the Emperor will be but cold coÌ„fort at the day of death though my words perish in the aire yet When that day shall come that Christ shall set some on his right hand and others on his left you will have no comfort but in this that you led good lives kept cleere consciences served God in singlenesse of spirit for then hee will take you by the hands and bring you into his Palace admit you into his Court make you Inheritors of his Kingdome invest you into his glorie where I hope we all long to be and where I hope we shall all meet to praise the blessed Trinitie the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost to whom be glorie So I come to Pauls answer in the next words God forbid for I also am an Israelite Answ This answer consists of two branches The one Pauls reply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forbid The other the strength of his reply in three Arguments 1. From the person Paul 2. From the fore-knowledge of God 3. From the state of the Church in the time of Elias I begin with the reply God forbid It seemes to bee a bare negation but is indeed in sence Bipartita propositio Ad Rom. 1. a two-fold proposition saith P. Martyr 1. God hath cast away none that are within the Covenant God forbid that 2. Which followes by way of corollarie All that are Iewes are not within the Covenant Doct. and from these two propositions follow two conclusions They that are within the Covenant of grace cannot finally be cast away 1. They that are within the Covenant of grace cannot finally bee cast away 2. All men are not within the Covenant of election and grace I beginne with the former and lay downe these grounds Reason 1 whereon it being built will stand like the house upon a rocke against the wind of Popish opposition The 1. God who elected them is unchangeable I am 1.17 I am God and change not Mal. 3.8 a Sine mutatione facit mutabilia moderatur mobiiased sine motu Aug de Trinit lib. 1. cap. 1. He being without change doth make things changeable and governeth things moveable but without motion saith Augustine b Et qui mutat opera non mutat concilium consess lib. 1. cap. 4. And hee who changeth his works changeth not his counsell c Et quodsemel habet nunquam admittit What he once hath he never loseth d Tempus ab aevo esse jubes stabilisque manous das cuncta manert Boet deconsol philos lib. 3. From all eternitie thou commandest time to bee and remaining stable thou causest all things to abide saith Boetius They that would see more may finde it in e De Ecclesiast Hierarch cap. 3. Dionysius the supposed Areopagite that though a man would fall yet God will bee sure in his Covenant The 2. Reason 2 Institut lib. 3. cap. 24. second given by Calvin All the elect are committed by God the Father to the keeping and protection of God the Sonne All that the Father giveth mee shall come to mee Ioh. 6.37 and in Ioh. 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them to me and therefore Christ cals himselfe the true Shepherd in Ioh. 10. and knowes everie one that God puts into his keeping vers 14. If a Shepherd then he is to tend and keepe all that is committed to his trust and if you will know how faithfully Christ doth keep them see Ioh. 17.12 All that thou hast given me I have kept and not one of them is lost save the sonne of perdition c. And Ioh. 6.37 Him that commeth to me from the Father I put not away nay there is not one that God hath commended to my keeping but I will shew him to my Father and bee accountable for their soules at the day of judgement For I will raise him up at the last day saith the Shepherd of Israel vers 39. The 3. Reason 3 If any thing should cut them off who are once in the Covenant it must needs be their owne sinne or the stratagem of an enemie Sin cannot because if any of them sinne they have an advocate with the father Iesus Christ 1 Ioh. 2.1 Hee will present them blamelesse and without spot and in the meane time keepe them that they shall not fall Iude 24. nor can the stratagems of Satan prevaile for I give unto them eternall life and none take them out of my hands and they shall never perish Ioh. 10.28 If the elect could be deceived it should bee by false Christs and false Prophets Matth. 24.24 they would deceive if it were possible the verie elect The 4. The assurance of salvation is sealed the covenant is not onely made as Gen. 17.7 but it is also sealed Reason 4 for God hath sealed us and hath given us an carnest-penny for hee hath sealed us and hath given us the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts 2 Cor. 1.22 So Ephes 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God by whom you are sealed c. So 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God remaineth sure
the love of God Wee know that we are translated c. 1 Ioh. 3.14 By this are wee knowen to be Christs Disciples Ioh. 13.35 and the triall of this must be first if it make thee bountifull 1 Cor. 13.4 especially to the houshold of faith Gal. 6.10 For he that seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his compassion how dwelleth the love of God in him 1 Ioh. 3.17 We adde that of our Saviour Matth. 25.34 Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome for I was hungrie and yee fed me and surely they are highly in Gods love for God loveth a cheerefull giver 2 Cor. 9.7 so that is the first of your love Secondly if you be ready to forgive wrongs for love is not provoked to anger 1 Cor. 13.5 7. If wee observe the Apostles rule Rom. 12.14 Blesse them which persecute you c. If any man forgive not his brother he is without hope of being the childe of God Which makes mee to wonder at the cutting Gallants of our dayes who will not put up the smallest wrongs done to them nay nothing shall wash it away but the hearts bloud it is a dishonour to mee and a discredit to all my kinred I end with that of the Apostle Ephes 4.32 Be courteous one to another and tender-hearted forgiving one another and with the same Apostle Coloss 3.12 13. Put yee on the bowels of compassion tender mercie kindnesse long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake forgave you 8. Love to Gods Ministers The eighth signe as a good childe loves those that tell him of his father and brings him home for they that love them doe shew that they have gained peace with God by their labors which makes them thinke that all their temporall goods will not be sufficient to requite them for those spirituall graces which by their meanes and ministerie they have reaped This kinde affection was in the Galatians I beare you witnes you would have pluckt out your owne eyes have given them unto mee Gal. 4.15 They will bee had in singular honour 1 Thess 5.12 in double honour 1 Tim. 5.17 If their hearers have profited by them Everie man loves them by whom hee gaines and there is nothing under Heaven whereby you can so much as by your Minister You may gaine knowledge Eccles 12.9 You may learne the truth for they preach the word of truth Ephes 1.13 You may be sure of reconciliation with God for they preach the word of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.19 You may obtaine peace for the Word is preached that yee might have peace Ioh. 6.33 You may gaine life for they preach the Word of life Acts 5.20 inestimable is that gaine and treasure which you reape from them they plow and sow you reape the benefit they cast in the seed and manure the ground and you carrie away the harvest they toyle like oxen in the plow you sit still and have all the profit no marvell then if Paul cry out O how beautifull are the feet of those that preach glad tidings of peace and bring glad tidings of good things Rom. 10.15 which makes mee to thinke that there are but few that have benesited by the Word few that reaped comfort because there be so few that reverence and love the Ministers as they ought For great men few of them doe love Ministers Quianullo discrimine agendum Tros Tyriusie fuit That must in their Ministeries have no respect of persons nor make any difference between Trojan and Tyrian Because they must speake against their ambition their atheisme therefore they love them not for Patrons the most part of them like a Minister so farre as his money goes but if there be no other mettall than schollership and learning they will rather salute Philips Asse than a learned Divine They that professe most love to Ministers are some forward Citizens and they love no longer than hee pleaseth their ill and predominant humour Some must bee pleased onely by length some by lowdnesse some by squeazing of zeale some by pushing at a Father some by declaiming against a Lutine sentence others by betraying their sillinesse in squibbing authoritie If he doe none of these hee shall finde the love of many burning Professors as cold as snow water They wil many times reward the Prophets but not in the name of a Prophet but because they are built up in their itching qualitie If a man would have any thing of them hee must declaime against other mens sins and not theirs and it is a wonder but some or other will shew his impatience against me even for this I will not speake of those that thinke all too much with a Dicite Pontifices in templo or with a Ne capiat Christus capit rapit omnia sisous My conclusion is If you love the Ministers truly blessed are yee for then you love Christ that sends them then you have surely got some wisdome by them then you take pleasure and joy in hearing them then you esteeme them as men set over you by God to doe you good It is a good signe that you either have beene built and grounded or strengthened and confirmed in your holy faith by their paines and preaching and I pray God that they may build you and you may love them everie day more and more The last evident token The last signe of our election that a man is sure of salvation is an earnest longing for Christs comming to judgement when a man cries with the Spouse Apoc. 20.22 Come Lord Iesus come quickly and with the soules that lye under the Altar How long Lord how long Apoc. 6.10 It is a peremptorie signe that a man is certaine of the crowne of salvation as 2 Tim. 4.8 From henceforth there is laid up for me a crowne of glorie and not for mee onely but for all such as love his appearing And the Apostle Rom. 8.23 They that have the first fruits of the Spirit doe sigh in themselves waiting for the redemption of our bodies Whereas on the other side reprobates and they that are without hope cannot endure to heare of the day of his comming They shall say unto the mountaines and rocks fall upon us and hide us from the presence of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe for the day of wrath is come and who can stand Apoc. 6.16 Prisoners that have no hope doe quake and tremble at the name of Iudge but a prisoner that hath his pardon sealed that hath no Iudge but his Father that knowes the Iudge to bee his Saviour that knowes the Iudge hath ransomed his life with his owne life and bloud thinkes everie houre a yeere till the Iudge come that he may be free When we are the Spouse of Christ then we long for the comming of the Bridegroome if we be ingrafted and incoporate into Christ then wee long to be dissolved and to
be with Christ Excellent is that meditation of Augustine Inquictū est cor nostrum O Domine dones in te requiescat Aug. Confess l. b. 1. cap. 1. Our heart is restlesse O Lord till what time it resteth in thee So that all that long for his comming are sure of a crowne The Vse is Vse 1 First to refute the Papist who teacheth that Paul had this assurance by revelation for so both Pighius and Andradius out of the Trent Councell for if you looke Rom. 8.32 33 34. you shall see that Paul grounds this certaintie not on revelation but upon a ground common to all beleevers as first on Christs death vers 32. Secondly on Christs free justification vers 33. Thirdly on Christs intercession vers 34. As before hath beene shewed But the principall use is to note the happinesse of all true beleevers and of all that feare God Whatsoever griefe and sorrow meannesse and want they endure here they know they shall have honour in stead of it hereafter They may be like Lazarus in Fulgentius without a garment but if not without faith without a house but if they be not without a Lord without meat but if they be not without Christ in the world here know that they shall not be without glorie without a Kingdome in the world to come When men suppose them to bee quite forsaken then can they looke with joy up to Heaven where they shall dwell and they can see though not the roomes and seats yet the glorious house and mansion which is theirs by inheritance and this point will lighten all our burthens mitigate all our sorrowes ease all our griefes that though here our heads be covered with ashes we know that there they shall bee crowned with glorie though here we be esteemed base we know that there wee shall be happy though wee be here as yet but servants wee know that there wee shall reigne as Kings though we be yet as strangers we know we shall be received as sonnes though here wee have a fit of mourning wee know wee shall rejoyce for ever though we labour hard for the six dayes we shall come to keepe a Sabbath that will last ever What comfort like this to be men and yet to know that God our God what comfort like this to be the meanest of men and yet to know that Christ is ours what comfort like this to dwell on earth and yet be sure aforehand that Heaven is ours what comfort like this to be here verie emblemes of basenesse and and yet bee sure that glorie is ours to dwell in a base cottage and yet bee sure that wee are borne to an immortall inheritance So that my conclusion is that of David Psal 37.37 Marke the upright man and behold him for the end of that man is peace Peace with Angels peace with his owne conscience peace with God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost Lord bring us to that glorie invest us to that Kingdome give us that peace for thy Sonnes sake So I come to the second part of this description Of the seed of Abraham Of the seed of Abraham The seed of Abraham not onely a Convert or a Proselyte but deseended from Abrahams loynes and it seemes to be thus in sense that though some of Abrahams seed be cast off yet some are not and it will easily carrie this Doctrine That parentage can neither hinder a mans salvation Doct. nor further it One Abraham hath Isaac and Ishmael one called to an inheritance the other not One Isaac may have an Esau and a Iacob one loved and the other hated of God Mal. 1.2 3. A man may bee borne of a wicked father and yet bee deare unto God Amon a wicked King one that did much evill in the sight of the Lord as his father Manasses had done 2 Kings 21.20 yet he hath a sonne that doth uprightly and walkes in all the wayes of God as David had done 2 King 22.2 So that the Spirit of God gave him this testimony that like unto him was no King before him that turned not aside c. nor any like to him that came after him 2 Kings 23.25 and he may be a godly father of a wicked sonne as Isaac of Esau and Abraham of Ishmael One man may bee the sonne of a Patriarch and himselfe damned another the sonne of some poore Carpenter and be saved one may creepe in purple as Quintilian Lib 1. de Instit another hath not a rag to cover it the father and mother forsake it and yet the Lord takes him up and sets him neare to himselfe and in the end crownes it The Vse is To teach us first Vse That parents greatnesse and vertue cannot procure acceptance of their sonnes before God if a childe be good it is no disparagement that his father is not good Malo pater tibi sit Thersites dummodo tu sis Alacidae similis Vulcamiaque arma capessas quà mte Thersitae similem producat Achilles If thou be not good thy selfe it is not thy fathers vertues that can commend thee unto God Let everie man adorne and trim up his owne heart that it may be a sweet lodging for Christ to dwell in Though Christ should lodge in thy fathers house thou mayest be a cast away if he reside not in thee also Trust not then in parents and friends for there is no helpe in them If good doubt not of happinesse thou shalt fare no worse for them Thus it is no privilege to be great Secondly that it is no prejudice to be meanly borne for be a man never so poore if hee worke righteousnesse he is accepted Acts 10.35 bee he never so meane to him shall be glorie and honour and peace Rom. 2.10 She that grindes at the mill is as neere Heaven as he that sits on the throne what if thy father have nothing yet the earth is the Lords what if parents forsake thee the Lord will take thee up what if without food the Lord will send thee the bread of life what if without cloathes hee will cloath thee with the righteousnesse of Christ if thou belong unto him Thus parentage can neither helpe nor hinder us from God Before I proceed observe that Paul speakes not onely of his carnall descent from Abram but of the spirituall privilege that hee was one of his faithfull seed for in Gods account they onely that have the promises are counted for the seed Rom. 9.8 The one saith Augustine will doe a man honour the other none from whence I build a second Theoreme Doct. It is more honour to be faithfull than to be Abrahams seed It is more honour to bee a faithfull childe of God than the sonne of the greatest Prince Moses Heb. 11.24 counts it greater honour to bee amongst the children of God than to live in Pharaohs Court and be called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter David takes more honour to dwell one day in Gods Court than a thousand elsewhere
and had rather be a doore-keeper in Gods house that is have the meanest place than to dwell in the Tabernacles of ungodly men Psal 84.10 Salomon accounts it happinesse enough to stand at wisdomes gates and give attendance at the posts of thy doores Prov. 8.33 Si iste versus esset in hominum cordibus currerent ad convallem plorationis If that verse were in mens hearts they would run into the valley of teares or bewailing Aug. in Psal 84. When the Apostles seemed to grow proud that they could subdue the Devils our Saviour bid them rather rejoyce in this that their names are written in Heaven Luk. 10.18 19. There bee two things that make holinesse above greatnesse 1. The worke of holinesse 2. The reward of holinesse The worke is to heare the Lord sometimes threatning in the Law sometimes wooing and perswading in the Gospell sometimes to be praying unto him sometimes to be praising him sometimes to bee feeding him in his servants sometimes cloathing him in his members to have our whole conversation with him It is the repairing of Gods image in us and the quieting of those clamorous consciences that will never be friends with us till we be friends with God 2. The reward is blessing Blessing shall cover the head of the righteous Prov. 10.6 Blessed in the things of the earth Psal 37.20 For the righteous shall inherit the earth Blessed in his name for the memoriall of the just is blessed Pro. 10.7 yet if hee should have none of these the glorie hereafter would recompence all for if either life or glorie or kingdome or inheritance will doe it they shall have it in abundance What so much to be desired as life What life so much as the life of glorie The faithfull behold the image of the Lord with open face as in a myrrour and are changed into the same image from glorie to glorie from this to eternall glorie 2 Cor. 3.18 So that when you have named the highest titles of honour and majesty you may say with David Psal 149.9 Such honour have all his Saints Or as Haman said of Mordecai when hee had upon him the royall apparrell Esth 6.9 I adde but one word more God is so strong with them that hee will have great ones to esteeme them above their greatest favourites as Zeresh told Haman If Mordecai be of the seed of the Iewes before whom thou hast begun to fall thou shalt not prevaile but shalt surely fall before him Esth 6.13 To bee the sonnes of Nobles is nothing to the sonnes of God to bee borne of Princes is but basenesse in comparison of this to be borne of God Moab is but a washpot Edom but a wiper of shooes Psal 108.9 Let this pull downe the pride of wicked men Vse Be they never so high and honourable never so great and powerfull yet they are indeed base and worthlesse if they bee not children of faithfull Abraham for howsoever they may spit at the name of slave yet such they are See the Apostle Rom. 6.16 See August de Civit. Dei lib. 4. cap. 3. An evill man although he reigne he is a servant a good man although he serve hee is free c. And this sinne hath such a command in them as the Devill had in the man possessed sometimes it casts them into the fire where they burne in lust sometimes into the water where they swim and are drowned in vaine delights sometimes it blowes them into the aire with a giddy desire to hunt after preferment and sometimes casts them on the ground and weds them to the world and what basenesse was ever like unto this It was Plato's judgement Neminem regem non esse ex servis oriundum neminem non servum ex Regibus Seneca Epist 44. askes the question who is honorable and answers it thus Non facit nobilem atrium plenum fumosis imagâ—ibus an mus sacit nobilem A Court full of smoakie images maketh not noble but the minde maketh noble Quis fructus generis tabula jactare capaci Corvinum posthac multa deducere virga Fumosos equitum cum dictatore magistros Si coram lepidis malè vivitur c. Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus Lâ—â— enâ—l Sat. 8. I conclude this point with that 1 Sam. 2.30 Them that honour mee will I honour Thinke not to get you honour at the Court that honour is but glasse not by policie Achitophel had as much as any and yet died basely 2 Sam. 17.23 nor by great buildings they will fall downe againe on heapes if the foundation be not laid in holinesse nor by your eloquence Herod could not perswade the silly wormes Acts 12.23 But bee once the children of God Et nil poterunt regales addere manus All the Kingdomes of the earth cannot make thee so honourable I come to the last of the tribe of Benjamin The tribe of Benjamin The Tribe of Benjamin When Moses blessed all the Tribes Deut. 33 1â— he blessed Benjamin thus The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safetie by him the Lord shall cover him all the day long and dwell betweene his shoulders that was because the Temple should be built in Sion which was in the tribe of Benjamin and in the Temple the Lord would dwell and yet for all this privilege that Tribe was destroyed as well as any others and though destroyed for their sinnes yet some of them saved from whence come two conclusions The one Doct. There is no people so graced with privileges so crowned with blessings so beloved of God but sinne will bring ruine and destruction upon them as it did upon Benjamin That Common weales and Kingdomes have their fals and periods Let Athens Sparta Babylon Nineve and Carthage be witnesses who have at this day no other fences but paper-wals to keepe their memories But what have beene the causes of these subversions most men have beene verie ignorant The Epicure ascribes it to Fortune the Stoicke to Destiny Plato and Pythagoras and Bodin Method 6. to number Aristotle Booke 5. of Polit. Chap. 12. to an asymmetrie and disproportion in the members Copernicus to the motion of the center of excentricke circle Cardanus and the most part of Astrologians to starres and planets But all these have groped in the darknes for if we consult with the Oracles of God we shall finde that sinne is the onely cause why God falls out with his dearest children turnes Cities into ashes ruinates Kingdomes makes States but Ludibria fortunae The mocking stocks of fortune Everlasting monuments of desolation aske of Ierusalem she will tell you that this Doctrine is too true she will not sticke to tell you what she was and whither she is fallen c. So I come to the second argument from fore-knowledge VERS 2. God hath not cast away his people Vers 2 which he knew before Wote yee not what the Scripture saith of Elias how hee maketh intercession to God against Israel
changeth not his counsell 4. I adde they whom hee loved in Christ for whatsoever good the Lord promiseth as wee receive it it is per propter Christum through and for Christ He hath predestinated us to be adopted through Iesus Christ Ephes 1.5 yea no man is predestinate but for this purpose that hee may be a member of Christ for he predestinated us to be adopted through Christ into himselfe viz. into Christ 5. That they should bee justified and glorified So Paul Rom. 8.30 Whom hee predestinated them he will call whom he called them hee will justifie whom he justifieth them hee will glorisie 6. That he passed by others So Malac. 1.2 I loved Iacob and hated Esau Lastly to manifest his glorie in mercie and justice that hee might declare the riches of his glorie upon the vessells of mercie Rom. 9.23 But of this definition thus made and proved may arise these comfortable observations 1. Observ 1 God predestinated us because hee looked favourable on us in Iesus Christ both to holinesse and happinesse So the Scripture everie where attributes all the good that we have from God to bee through Christ Hee hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in heavenly places in Christ Ephes 1.2 Hee hath chosen us in Christ Ephes 1.4 Hee hath predestinate us to bee adopted through Christ Ephes 1.5 Hee accepted us in his beloved viz. in Christ Vers 6. He redeemed us by the bloud of his sonne Christ Vers 7. Hee hath gathered together reconciled all things both in heaven in earth by one that is Christ ver 10. And therfore when we beg any thing of God we are taught to beg it in the name of Christ So Christ himselfe Iohn 14.13 Whatsoever yee aske the Father in my name that will I doe for you that the Father may be glorified in the Sonne So Ioh. 16.23 Whatsoever yee aske the Father in my name hee will give it you Whence we learne to disclaime our worthinesse and our owne workes from being meritorious causes of Gods blessings Excellently Moses Deut. 7.7 8. The Lord did not set his love upon you because yee were moe in number for yee were the fewest of all people but because he loved you O then let us feed Christ if we cannot in himselfe Vse yet in his members and cloath him though not in himselfe yet in his servants let us entertaine and lodge Christ in our hearts and soules that procures thus many blessings of his Father for us our free election our powerfull calling our free justification and assurance of glorie wee have by him Let us say with Paul 2 Thess 2.16 17. The same Iesus Christ our Lord and our God which hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation must also comfort and stablish our hearts c. 2. Observ 2 In that he predestinated us that we should be holy Note That whom God hath praedestinated to the end which is glorie them also he predestinated to use the meanes which is holinesse See Eph. 1.4 Hee hath chosen us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and as the Apostle speakes of spirituall creation that we are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good workes that we should walke in them Ephes 2.10 So of election and We are redeemed to be a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 3.7 8. I adde no more but that of Peter 1 Pet. 1.2 Wee are elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father to sanctification of the Spirit and to obedience Acts 13.48 As many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved Whence they are most justly to bee blamed who make predestination a libertie to their sinfull lives and use sinfully to reason after this manner If I bee predestinate unto glorie then I shall bee sure of it howsoever I live for Gods decrees bee immutable If I bee in Gods decree and purpose a reprobate then if I should strive never so much I shall be no better I cannot alter it Contra Colsum lib. 2. Vide P. Martyr Com. lec p. 447. like those in Origen Whereas thou shouldest rather reason thus If I belong to Gods election then shall I use the meanes to come unto glorie I will therefore use all holy and godly courses that I may get my election sure and sealed as Peter wils us a Pet. 1.10 when Paul had that promise I haue given unto thee the life of all that saile with thee Acts 27.24 Yet except they use the meanes to come to land the helpe of their ship if they shall now leape into the water they cannot be saved vers 31. So when Iacob feared his brother Esau and yet had that assurance from God that hee should prevaile with men Genes 32.28 Yet see how carefull he is of all meanes to pacifie him he will doe it with gifts Munera crede mihi placant hominesque Deosque and sends one drove before another Genes 33. And so I come from the definition to the order observed in it God hee conceives all things at once with one act of his understanding 2. Of the order of predestination to which all things both past and to come are present and as hee conceived so hee decreed all things at once but the reasonable creature being finite conceives one thing after another Therefore for our understandings wee may distinguish the counsell of God concerning man into two acts or two degrees 1. The purpose of God in himselfe in which he determines what hee will doe and the end of all his doings and that is to create all things specially man for his owne glorie as Isa 43.7 partly by shewing mercie on some and partly by shewing of his justice upon others 2. Is another purpose whereby hee decrees the execution of the former and laves downe meanes to accomplish the end thereof which two acts of the counsell of God are not to be severed nor yet confounded but distinctly considered with some difference for in the first God decrees some men to honour by shewing mercie and some to dishonour by shewing his justice upon them and this man more than that out of his will and pleasure and that is the onely cause that we can give even his will In the second are set downe the causes of the execution of the former decree and these are knowen and manifest for no man though left out of clection is condemned but for sinne no man though elected is yet saved but by the merits of Christ But I passe over this and come to the parts of predestination which are two The parts of Gods predestination are two 3. The parts of predestination The first the decree of election The second the decree of reprobation A diftinction plaine out of Rom. 9. and may be thus confirmed of some it is faid The Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 And of others Christ shall say in judgement Depart from mee yee wicked I know you not Matth.
that hee may embrace us let us welcome Christ into our hearts that hee may welcome us into his Fathers kingdome let us serve him that hee may preserve us goe to him that goes to the Father for us rejoyce in Christ that when we doe well rejoyceth over us weepe for grieving him who for our doing ill hath wept for us and bled for us and died for us let us glorifie him with our hearts and tongues that must glorifie us in our soules and I pray God that he may bee with us here and we may be with him for ever I come to the second Of the second effect of our election 2. Vocation justification glorification and a conformitie to the image of the Sonne of God So Paul Rom. 8.29 30. The first conformitie whom he fore-knew them he made like to the image of his Sonne vers 29. The image of his Sonne is holinesse and holines is a fruit of predestination See Ephes 1.4 He hath chosen us from the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him The same are we taught by Peter 1 Pet. 1.2 We are elected according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father to sanctification of the spirit and unto obedience From whence it followes that if a man be once appointed to holinesse he shall be sure of glorie because God doth never predestinate a man to the meanes but hee hath predestinated him also to glorie wherefore comfort your selves you that thirst after holinesse as the Hart after the rivers of water for whatsoever your troubles be your end is glorie So David Psal 37.37 Marke the upright man c. Behold the just man for the end of that man is peace If a man can finde that engraven in his heart which was written upon the Priests miter Exod. 28.36 Holinesse to the Lord. Hee may bee sure of glorie and happinesse with the Lord. Three Conclusions From all of these I inferre that no man can be partaker of life that is not called justisied sanctified for so the place affords it Secondly that all our hope of glorie depends upon Gods eternall election which hee made of us in Christ Thirdly that all the meanes whereby wee can have this glorie made sure to our soules are by obeying when God calls by our justification by faith in Christ by true holinesse whereby we are made like to the image of his Sonne But I come to the last fruit The third effect of election are good works Of the third effect of our election So Paul Ephes 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good workes which God hath ordained that wee should walke in them by these must we studie to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 from whence followes another that is certaintie of our salvation for good workes are fruits of election and by these must we make election sure Doct. From whence it followes That all that doe good workes are certainly elected and shall certainly be saved for none can doe a good worke in respect of the ground and forme and end but he that hath true and justifying faith Rom. 14.23 for Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne The best sacrifice of the wicked is abhomination Prov. 15.8 Though a man could prophesie and worke miracles and cast out Devils and have not true faith the Lord will say unto him Depart from me Matth. 7.23 See Isai 66.3 He that killeth a bullocke is as if hee slue a man hee that sacrificeth as if hee cut off a dogs necke he that offereth an oblation as if hee offered swines bloud he that burneth incense as if hee blessed an I doll Onely hee can doe good workes that is in Christ by faith and he that is in Christ by faith is sure of salvation though hee have no extraordinarie revelation a damnable presumption saith the Rhemists in their Annotat. on Rom. 8. vers 16. The Spirit witnesseth with ours that we are the sonnes of God And in 1 Cor. 9.27 They say it is a faithlesse perswasion it is the faith of Devills not of the Apostles So the Councell of Trent Sess 6. chap. 9. But alas alas these bee but paper-bullets we are defended against them with a wall of brasse First 2 Pet. 1.10 Wee must studie to make it sure therefore it may bee made sure Secondly Paul Rom. 8.38 I am perswaded which was not by revelation but upon Christs death vers 32. Christs justification vers 33. intercession vers 34. Hoâ— non sit nisi revelante spiritu sed ea râ—velaâ—â—o nou est aliud quim insusio sâ—iâ—tualu gratie per quam caruis opera mortisicantur Bernard Epist 108. This is not done but by the spirit revealing it but that revelation is not any other thing than the infusion of spirituall grace by which the deeds of the flesh are mortified saith Bernard It was an excellent saying of M. Tyndall as it is remembred by M. Fox Christ is thine and all his deeds are thine neither if thou bee faithfull canst thou be damned except Christ be damned with thee We know we are translated from death to life because wee love the brethren 1 Ioh. 3.14 Wee know it by our hungring Matth. 5.6 By our desiring to meet Christ with joy and comfort 2 Tim. 4.8 And seeing wee know it so wâ—ll no Popish squibs can beat us off it I come to make some use of it Are good workes fruits of election Vse 1 and seales of our certaine salvation then let us labour to abound in good workes let us set our hearts to doe good and strive amongst our selves who may doe the most good For first wee shall honour God by our obedience Secondly wee shall helpe our brethren who are partakers of the good we doe Thirdly we shall finde assurance in our hearts that then we are Gods Fourthly we shall be in Heaven rewarded for them for there is nothing that God would have done but there is a reward to the doer of it if he bid run it is that men may obtaine 1 Cor. 9.24 If to fight there is a crowne 2 Tim. 4.8 If to labour there is a penny Matth. 20.7 8. If obedience Thou shalt eat the good things of the land Deut. 28.2 If hee command to be righteous then blessings shall be upon thy head Prov. 10.6 Excellently Augustine True honour shall be denied to none deserving Verus â—â—nor nulli digno negabitur praeâ—â—ium pietatis crit iâ—se Deus qui pietatem dedit Aug. Civit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 30. the reward of godlinesse is God himselfe who gave godlinesse I am thy buckler and thy reward Gen. 15.1 From whence we all may have a wonderfull encouragement to bestow our time in doing of good workes It remaines that I now descend from the explication of this terme to the pith of Pauls argument which is comprized in this conclusion Men once elect can never bee finally cast off Doct. A
the weapons which they use viz. complaints requests teares from whence I observe this conclusion Prayers and complaints unto God are the Churches best weapons against enemies Doct. For Elias that was skilfull in the Christian warre makes choyce of this See when Israel warred with Amalek in Exod. 17.11 While Moses held up his hands Israel prevailed but when hee let his hands goe downe then Amalek prevailed You shall finde in 1 Chron. 5.20 when some of Israel warred with the Hagarims the sonnes of Ishmael that in the midst of the battell they cried unto God and hee heard them and gave their enemies over into their hands This was it that Salomon desired of God after the building of the Temple When thy people shall goe out to bettell and shall pray unto the Lord toward the house that I have built heare thou in heaven their prayers and judge their cause 1 Kin. 8.44 45. a O admirabilem pâ—arum precum â—â—m quibus coeâ—â—stiacedant â—ostes 〈◊〉 mâ—â—us illa quae victoriae suae â—â—ophaea in ipsis coeâ—â— or bibuâ— sigit O the admirable power of godly prayers to which heavenly things give place that hand terrifieth the enemies which fasteneth the tokens of its victorie in the celestiall orbes saith Bucholcerus S. Augustine giving the reason why David put off Sauls armour when hee went to fight with the Philistim b My 〈◊〉 ratioâ—◠〈…〉 sed spirituaâ—â—a 〈◊〉 st 〈◊〉 31. By a mysticall reason signisiâ— the Churches weapons not to bee carnall but spirituall He was c 〈◊〉 non â—â—rro sed side votis armed not with iron but with faith and prayers saith Bernard Plâ—tarch in the life of Pyrrhus saith of Gyneas a Thessâ—â—ian Orator that hee overcame moc by words and spâ—eâ—hes than Pyrrhus by the sword so in this ease And therefore Paul describing the Christian armour having mentioned the girdle of veritie the brest-plate of righteousnesse the shield of faith the helmet of salvation the sword of the spirit in the last place saith that wee must pray alwayes with all manner of prayers and supplications c. Ephes 6.18 So that wee must use for our weapons prayers and teares wherewith the Christians in the Emperour Antoninus his Armie procured victorie over the Quades as Dion in the life of Antoninus And with which Ambrose opposed Valentinian In Theod Hist Eccles lib. 4. cap. 12. when he would have excluded him out of his Church It was well said of Gregorie Nyssen of prayer Optimus dâ— mientrum cusâ—â—s certâ—ssi anaviganâ—â— msalâ—s tâ—tissiâ—â—um viatoribus scutum that it is The sleepers best keeper the Sâ—ylers surest safetie the Travellers safest shield Surely one prayer is more powerfull to procure a victorie than ten swords wherefore when wee begin to fight for the Church let us take the same weapon as David did in Psal 3. Lord how many are mine enemies how many are they that rise against me c. thorow the whole Psalme Which shewes Vse 1 1. That the Defender of the Church is God who saveth not with sword nor with speare as David said to Goliah 1 Sam. 17.47 that salvation is of the Lord Psal 3.8 that the horse is but vaine Psal 33.17 That so wee may give all the honour of our victories and the glorie of our deliverance onely unto God 2. Vse 2 That if wee be in feare that the enemies of the truth and Abettors of superstition and idolatrie should come to have power and authoritie in our land wee see what weapons wee have to withstand them viz. prayers and teares and complaints unto our God Wee must pray that our King and Queene may be nursing fathers c. Isai 49.23 not like Ahab and Iezabel to devoure the people of God If you feare that a barbarous nation should possesse our Land pray against it if you feare that wee may live miserably in our Land you have teares and sighes and groanes and complaints and prayers poure out these to withstand and when this people prayeth then Lord heare thou in Heaven and judge their cause And so I come to the complaint it selfe VERS 3. Lord they have killed thy Prophets Vers 3 and digged downe thine altars and I am left alone and they seeke my life WHerein I note first to whom it is made to the Lord not Elohim nor Adonai nor lah. but Iâ—hovah a name of foure letters and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unspeakable as Hierome speakes in an Epistle to Marcella not onely for reverence of the Deitie Lib. de Trinitate as Tertullian but also because it can be affirmed of none but God The word signifies the eternall simple perfect being of God the Creator Author Preserver of all things which were are or shall be And one that is most true and faithfull in his promises Of the first the Apostle speakes Apoâ— 1.4 Christ yesterday to day and the same for ever Of the second Rom. 11.36 Of him and by him and through him c. Of the third Exod 6.2 3. I appeared unto them by the name of Almightie but by my name Iehovah was I not knowen hee was knowen by his name Almightie in creating the world and destroying it by water but not by Iehovah because hee had not yet performed the promise of bringing his people out of Aegypt All of these are noted in Isa 43. I am the Lord there is the first at vers 11. Secondly None can deliver out of my hand there is the second at vers 13. Thirdly I will doe it and none shall let it ibid. vers 13. there is the last From these doe arise three conclusions 1. That he alone is God and none other hee only is Iehovah as Deut. 4.35 Vnto thee it was shewed that thou mightest know that the Lord is God and that there is none but he alone 2. That God alone rules commands and governes all things gives life and being unto all things 3. There is not a word gone out of his mouth that shall not most certainely come to passe The Vse of the first is Vse 1 to confute the grosse opinion of the Manichees who made two Gods the one good the other evill the one the worker of good Lib. de Heres cap. 46. the other of evill as Augustine taxeth them which the Marcionites first learned out of Plato his first Booke of Lawes Stromat lib. 5. as both Clemens Alexandrinus and Danaeus upon Augustine shew The Vse of the second is a wonderfull comfort to the hearts of Gods servants Vse 2 for if God rule and command all then the wicked be they never so powerfull and bloudy cannot touch or hurt the weakest childe of God except the Lord give allowance to doe it Therefore make God our friend and who can be against us Rom. 8.31 We may say with David Psal 56.4 I have put my trust in God and will not feare what flesh can doe against me And most excellently in Psal 27.1 The Lord is my
any other thing beside him not any other thing after him as Bernard speaketh 2. In time and season For they that seeke mee early shall finde me Pro. 7.17 3. Sincerely for they that seeke him with all their heart shall finde him Deut. 4.29 4. In the time of grace Whilst hee may bee found Isa 55.6 5. In faithfulnes without Hypocrisie for Hypocrites shall come with their sheepe and oxen to seeke the Lord but shall not finde him for hee hath withdrawen himselfe from them Hos 5.6 And besides the manner we must seeke him for a rightend viz. not our owne praise and glory but Gods Christ for himselfe In which point they offend who seeke Christ because they gaine by him as they in Iohn 6.26 You seeke me not because you saw the miracles but because you eat of the loaves Vt vix quaeritur Iesus propter Iesum Trect 25. in Iâ—hanem he so he thus That Iesus is scarcely sought for Iesus saith Augustine and therfore no marvell if they that deferre their repentance doe seeke and not finde for they seeke not early if Hypocrites seek and not finde for they seeke not sincerely if proud justiciaries seek and not finde for they seeke not in faith But if a man seeke him early as Elkanah and his wife 1 Sam. 1.19 if sincerely with all our heart and soule as Iosiah did Adsiar 〈◊〉 Erâ—â—no sert 2. 2 King 23.25 then that of Bernard will be most true It is more easie for Heaven and earth to passe away than that hee that so seeketh should not finde Facdues est transire calum terram quam lit sic quaerens non inveniat sic petens non accâ—piat sic pulsantium aperiatur In Cant. 3.1 that so asketh should not receive to him that so knocketh should not be opened for this is his word and though earth and heaven should passe yet not an Iota of my word should passe Math 5.18 I conclude the point with that of Bernard in Cant. 3.1 I sought him whom my foule loved but found him not There be three causes that hinders a man from finding God 1. When they seeke not in time he is departed without doubt when he cannot bee found this earlie is the acceptable time 2. If negligently 3. Because not as she ought shee sought him in her bed but hee is risen he is not here Doe you seeke the valiant one in a bed Quaeris in licto fortem in lectulo maâ—nuâ— in stabulo gloâ—â—ficatls Aug Conf. lib. 4. chap. 12. Quaerite quod quaeritâ— sed non ubi quaeritu luce intenebris vitam inregione mortis non est illic him that is great in a little bed him that is glorified in the stable no no saith Augustine Seeke what you seeke but not where you seeke light in darknesse and life in the region of death it is not there So I come to the second part of the proposition The election hath obtained it But the election hath obtained it It is a Metalepsis the abstract for the concrete as if he should say though such as seeke for life in their owne righteousnesse cannot finde it yet they that seeke it in faith cannot misse of it and who are these all that were eternally elected and he saith that the elect have obtained it already to note that it is as sure as if they were in full possession I will take the verie purpose of the Apostle for my conclusion A man once elected shall certainely be saved Doct. A point which I use to build upon these foure props against all the contrary windes of Popish opposition as above and so I come to the third clause in the proposition The rest have beene hardned And the rest have beene hardned I meet with it againe in the next verse where I shall shew you in what sence and how farre God is said to harden and to will sinne and yet be farre from being author of it In the meane time see the meaning of the word and one doctrine In the greeke it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the vulgar and Erasmus translate they are blinded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is asmuch as to change into a stony hardnesse and amongst Physicians is asmuch as to harden with an overgrowne-thicke skin as much as the brawne or hardnesse of a mans hands or feet by much labour And in the Hebrew the word sometimes signifies to harden that it cannot bee bent and notes 1. a naturall malice and hardnesse 2. a contracted hardnes under this understand both that hardnes when of soft a thing is made hard when of hard is made harder as iron hard of it selfe yet softned with fire and then put in cold water is harder than before Sometimes it signifies to aggravate as if the heart were then hindred with some great weight that it could not lift up it selfe to contemplate the workes of God and embrace grace when it is offered In Isay 6.10 It is applied to the eares of men when the hearing facultie is hindred by the accesse of some vitious humour either within or without it that it can either not at all or hardly perceive any sound what kinde of hardnesse this is viz. that it is not of the hands or fingers but of the eyes the eares the heart will appeare in the two next verses out of Isay and David So I come to Doctrine Induration and hardnesse of mans heart is a fearefull signe of reprobation for whereas in reprobation there bee two acts 1. Affirmative 2. Negative The affirmative hath two degrees the one a just induration 2. An ordaining to punishment and where there is the one it is to be feared the other will follow and therefore you read not in Scripture that any people were hardened but surely destruction followed In Iosh 11.20 when some of the Hivites that inhabited Gibeon made peace with Israel it came of the Lord to harden the hearts of the rest to the intent that they might be destroyed and have no mercie shewed to them So it is said of Sion King of Heshbon Deut. 2.30 that when he would not let Israel passe by him The Lord hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate because hee would deliver him up to bee destroyed So it is said of Pharaoh in Exod. 7.4 Hee shall not hearken but his heart shall be hardened that I may lay mine hand upon Aegypt So that when God hath a purpose to proceed to judgement against wicked men he lets them alone to worke ungodlinesse to live in disobedience to be hard-hearted and obstinate in sinning as in the sonnes of Eli they obeyed not the voice of their father viz. God left them and gave them not grace to hearken because he meant to slay them 1 Sam. 2.25 and all this is not meant of that hardnesse which is naturally even in the best for God many times takes away that hardnesse and gives hearts of flesh that may bleed and
more fully and generally to his ancient people in their conversion to the faith of Christ that they also by him might be saved The prolepsis is propoūded by way of interrogatiō for the greater emphasis I say then have they stumbled that they should fall that is have they so stumbled according to the prediction of the Prophet as that they shall fall finally never recover and rise againe In which the Apostles meaning is not as though hee would demand whether it was the intention of the Iewes to stumble that they might fall or fall finally that way hereby might bee made for the calling of the Gentiles for none are so foolish as purposely to stumble that they may fall or to fall finally that others may rise But his question is concerning Gods intention whether it were his purpose and end that they should bee blinded and so stumble that they might fall finally into everlasting destruction and this hee denieth as being a thing contrary to Gods nature seeing hee delighteth not in the death and destruction of his creatures but rather in exercising his mercy and goodnesse in their conversion and salvation neither will hee who in his Law forbiddeth us to put a stumbling blocke before the blinde to cause them to fall Levit. 19.14 himselfe put such a stumbling blocke before those that he hath first spiritually blinded that thereby he may cause them to fall into the pit of everlasting destruction But he aimeth at farre other ends that is the calling of the Gentiles and the recalling of the Iewes yea but will God doe evill that good may come of it I answer no. But there is no action in it selfe absolutely evill which hath not some respect and relation of good in it And so this for howsoever this rejection was evill to them yet not simply and absolutely evill in it selfe seeing as it came from God it was an act of his justice whereby hee punished the Iewes for their infidelity and rebellion against Christ whom by wicked hands they had crucified Now as he justly punished the Iewes by blinding hardning and rejecting them who had stumbled at Christ the corner stone and so fallen into that fearefull sinne of crucifying with wicked hands the Lord of life Act. 2.23 as Peter speaketh so the Apostle here comforteth them by shewing that this punishment should not for over extend to all their posterity and to the whole nation but that there would come a time when as they should be ingraffed into Christ the true vine and olive tree as well as the Gentiles And this he doth first negatively according to his custome and phrase when as a thing is propounded which he abominateth and abhorreth as monstrous and blasphemous God forbid and then affirmatively where hee setteth downe that God had farre other ends of their rejection as before hath beene shewed We see the meaning let us come to the observation And first whereas he saith Observat I say then I might observe with Chrysostome the Apostles wisdome In hunc locum in that when hee denounceth Gods fearefull judgements against the people of the Iewes hee doth it in the words of the Prophet but when he doth raise comforts against these terrors he delivererth them in his owne words because being a Preacher of the Gospell it better suited with his calling and profession to comfort than to terrifie and also because by this course he might better winde himselfe into their love affections as being a messenger of glad tidings Rom. 10.15 that so affecting his person they might more readily receive his doctrine Vse Which may teach us of the ministery the like Christian prudence not to delight to be alwayes denouncing judgements and affrighting mens consciences with the terrors of the Law seeing God is not so much to be found and heard in these blustring windes and terrible earthquakes as in the still voyce or if we discerne that these legall terrours are sometime necessary to worke humilitation in our hearts and to make them more fit to flee out of themselves unto Christ and to embrace the joyfull message of the Gospell yet wee must not alwayes dwell upon them as delighting to dilate on this theame more than the state of the people necessarily requireth and be sure that wee doe denounce judgements no further than wee have warrant for what we say out of the word and as neere as wee can in the very phrase of the Scriptures But I passe over this and come to a second observation When carnall men heare the doctrine of Gods predestinatiou Observat they are ready to cast upon it this calumnie and slander 〈◊〉 though wee should teach that when God reprobate 〈◊〉 any he doth in this decree principally aime at their destruction and condemnation and so tyrannically delight in the perdition and torment of his creature And this is the cause why the Apostle here propoundeth and answereth this objection namely that the Lord aimeth at farre other ends that is besides the glory of his owne justice the calling also of the Gentiles and the provoking of the Iewes to jealousie and emulation by their example It is true and wee must not denie it that God by his long-suffering fitteth the vessels of wrath to destruction Rom 9.22 that these like naturall bruit beasts are made to be taken and destroyed 2 Pet. 2.12 yea that these men of old were ordained to this condemnation as Iude speaketh vers 4. But this is not Gods maine end at which he aimeth in their reprobation but the manifestation of the glory of his justice and to shew his wrath and power in the punishing of sinne as the Apostle Paul speaketh in the same place Neither doth he absolutely ordaine men to destruction without any other thing comming betweene his decree and their condemnation but only he decreeth to passe by them to with-hold his grace which he is not bound to give and to leave them to their owne sinfull corruptions and so being left to themselves and falling into all sin and wickednesse they are justly by God in respect of their sinnes in a second place ordained to condemnation as Iude affirmeth And so the Apostle Peter joyneth both these together namely that they were made to be destroyed and also that they shall utterly perish in their corruption So that the perdition of the wicked is not the end at which God only or chiefly aimeth in their reprobation yea indeed if wee speake properly and distinctly it is no end of it at all simply absolutely and immediately without respect and relation unto sinne that commeth betweene the decree and the execution of it but only an event which followeth upon the decree though in some sort necessarily in respect of Gods purpose and not any coaction of their will who goe voluntarily on in the way of perdition seeing none can be saved whom he passeth by and doth not chuse unto salvation In which sense the Evangelist
consecrated through affliction Heb. 2.10 And to that Image all the predestinate must be conformable Rom. 8.29 But concerning this I may say as the Philistines did of Sampsons riddle Iudg. 14.1 How can sweet come out of that which is sowre and meat out of the eater So say worldlings How can tribulation bring forth patience and how can a light affliction cause unto us a most excellent weight of glory But the children of God have learned by experience that albeit no visitation be sweet for the present yet afterward it brings the quiet fruits of righteousnesse to them that are thereby exercised Heb. 12.11 There is more solid joy in enduring rebuke for Christ than in all the pleasures of sin for as Moses the typicall Mediator of the old Testament by prayer made the bitter waters of Marah to be sweet Exod. 15.25 so Chrrist the true Mediator by his passion hath mitigated to his children the bitternesse of the Crosse yea made it profitable to them The prodigall sonne concludes not to returne till he was brought low by affliction Hagar was proud in Abrahams house but humble in the wildernesse Ionah sleepes in the ship but watcheth and prayes in the whales belly Ionah 2.1 Manasses lives in Ierusalem as a libertine but bound in chaines at Babel he turnes his heart to the Lord his God 2 Chron. 33.11 12. Corporall diseases inforced many in the Gospell to come to Christ whereas others that enjoyed bodily health would never acknowledge him The earth if not tilled beares nothing but thornes the vines wax wilde if they be not pruned and cut So would our wilde hearts overgrow with the noysome weeds of unruly affections if the Lord by a sanctified trouble should not manure them I will adde no more but that example of Ioseph Iacob sends him to Dothan to visit his brethren Gen. 37.18 his brethren cast him into a pit Reuben releeves him the Midianites buy him and sell him to Potiphar his mistresse accuses him his master condemnes him the Butler after long forgetfulnesse recommends him and at last Pharao exalts him What strange instruments are here and how many hands about this one poore man of God! and yet never one of them looking to that which God proposed So much of the negative I proceed to the affirmative But through their fall Th. Aquin. in hunc locum Tho. Aquinas produceth that in the fourth of Iohn Salvation is of the Iewes to prove this that the salvation of the Gentiles was occasionally by the fal of the Iewes and makes a threefold interpretation First because by their fault in killing Christ followed the redemption of the Gentiles Secondly because they refused the doctrine of Christ which therefore came to the Gentiles Act. 13.46 Seeing you put the Gospell from you and iudge your selves unworthy of eternall life wee turne to the Gentiles Thirdly because the Iewes for falling from God were dispersed thorow the world and by that meanes brought the Scriptures and Word to the Gentiles and to this purpose brings that Psal 59.11 Kill them not but scatter them Secondly wee must not thinke that the fall of the Iewes was any cause but only an occasion of the salvation of the Gentiles Thirdly there was no necessitie that the one people should be cast off before the other could be received for God might have called both at once Fourthly though the Iewes had not beene cast off yet the Gentiles should have beene called because there is no such dependencie as effects have upon their causes The first thing that I collect is God works good for his servants by contrary and most unlikely meanes Doct. It was a great worke that he opened the eyes of the blinde but greater that he should doe it by the application of spittle and clay meanes more like to put out the eyes of a seeing man than to restore sight to a blinde man Thus in the worke of creation when there was nothing but Thou and Bohu upon the earth and Choshec-panai Tehom darknesse upon the face of the deepe in Gen. 1.2 then did the Lord make Light of it So in the worke of redemption hee wrought by unlikelihoods and contraries when by a cursed death he brought a happy life by yeelding to death he overcame death by his Crosse he won the Crowne and through shame he ascended into glory The same order he keeps in our second creation he casts downe that he may raise up he kils that he may make alive he accuseth his children for sinne that he may cause them to seeke remission he troubleth their consciences that he may speake peace unto them and most commonly the meanes which he useth is contrary to the worke which he intends for his children He sent on Abram a most fearfull darknesse even then when he was to communicate unto him most joyfull light Gen. 15.12 Hee wrastled with Iacob and shooke him to and fro even then when he was about to blesse him Gen. 32. He strooke Paul with blindnesse even then when he came to open his eyes Act. 9. Sometimes he frownes upon his beloved as Ioseph upon his brethren when with loving affection he is about to embrace them he seemes angry at our prayers and puts us backe with the woman of Canaan when he is about to grant a favourable answer unto them Learne Vse first never to murmur what meanes soever be use to worke with Secondly not to doubt but God will doe us good when all meanes seeme contrary and against us he is able out of darknesse to bring us light out of death to bring us life and out of falling to make us rise Secondly at the fall of the Iewes he takes occasion to call the Gentiles from whence observe That God watcheth any opportunitie Doct. and takes all occasions to doe his children good How gladly would he have taken occasion to have spared Ierusalem when for one mans sake he would have spared it Ier. 5.1 How passionatly did he affect the cure of Babylon when he intreated her with as powerfull oratory as the heavens were able to compose and the Angels to utter till she made this the burthen of her song I will not be cured Ier. 51.9 How did he watch an occasion to spare Sodome when for ten mens sake he would have spared it Gen. 18.32 Deus secat ut sanet He cuts and sliceth our flesh that he may have occasion of shew mercy in healing it So Augustine on Matth. Ser. 15. Deus savit ut parcat Aug. in Matth. ser 15. He casts into despaire that he may shew mercy in sparing it And in another place He kils us that wee may not die And againe He strikes to death Oâ—idâ—t ne neriamur Aug. in Iohan sern 38. Aug. Confess lib. 2. cap. 2. that he may have occasion to doe his servants good in restoring them to life So that a man may fitly take up that speech of Themistocles when he was first banisht by the
that went this way mist of life and happinesse Thirdly it is the word of reconciliation and the Embassadours are ministers of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5 19. which assures of atonement and peace with God of the glory that is to be revealed and is the key of the kingdome of heaven which openeth and no man shuts and if that shut out of heaven nothing can open it Thirdly Vse 3 learne that if wee make never so goodly and great purchases in the world be never so well stored furnished with worldly wealth and yet want this spirituall treasue we are for all that beggerly bankrupt naked base in the sight of God as he saith of the Church of Laodicea Apoc. 3.17 Thou sayest thou art rich and increased with goods and hast need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poore and blinde and naked When thou buyest a village bonam emis thou buyest a good one when thou marriest a wife bonam eligis thou chusest a good one when thou desirest children bonos optas thou desirest good ones and when thou hast all these riches thou art but poore inter tot dona amongst so many gifts malus inter tot bona and evill amongst so many good things Aug. seâ—m 16. in Matth. saith A gustine Many may welter upon their gold like Heliogabalus as Lampridius and Herodian report of him and yet for spirituall wisdome have hearts like stones and heads like beetles and be beggers destitute of all heavenly riches My conclusion is an exhortation to bestow more of our time spend more of our life in reading the booke of God than in any thing besides all our other studies c. I come to the second part of the proposition If their diminishing be the riches of the Gentiles the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. diminishing the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their casting off and being in sense the same with the precedent clause I note from the iteration That the fall of the Iewes is diligently to bee observed and noted by us Gentiles for that is a doctrine of weight full of profit and hath in it many lessons of speciall use 1. That no nation be they people never so deare so graced with blessings so beloved of God but sinne will set God and them at variance and hazard the ruine both of their state and government That Common wealths and Kingdomes have their periods Let Sparta and Babylon and Nineveh witnesse 2. We learne that when the Word and Gospell is become a stumbling blocke the fall of that people is not far off as in vers 12.3 Infidelitie and contempt of the Gospell makes God in justice take it quite away from them as vers 12. There bee many other points but I meet them hereafter and come to the inference that is made upon these two premises 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How much more shall their fulnesse be By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the multitude of the Iewes that shall bee called the plentifull restoring of the Iewes as Paraeus And thence it followes that the conversion of the Iewes shall not bee of some small but of a great and plentifull number 2. The excellencie of spirituall graces wherewith they shall be adorned and beautified after their conversion and therefore some have expounded the 60. of Isay to be meant of Ierusalem after the conversion of the Iewes That then God would beautifie the house of his glorie vers 7. Glorifie the place of his feet vers 13. That he would againe call it the Citie of the Lord Zion of the holy one of Israel vers 14. That in stead of brasse they should have gold in stead of iron they should have silver in stead of wood they should have brasse in stead of stones iron vers 17. That the Lord will bee their light and God their glorie vers 19. Meaning that after their conversion they shall have all restored more glorious than they had before Thus the meaning of the words being cleare the conclusions follow 1. Doct. 1 The Iewes shall be converted in great numbers toward the end of the world And therefore saith my Apostle at vers 26. All Israel shall bee saved whereby understand not the spirituall Israel that is the people of God consisting of Iew and Gentile though Melancthon and Calvin doe so expound it For 1. In this sense Paul had not delivered any mysterie as it is called vers 25. 2. The Apostle meaneth to minister some consolation to the Iewes in hope of their future conversion which unlesse it were more generall than in the conversion of a Iew it would have ministred small comfort to the whole Nation as Martyr and Paraeus make the reason 3. The Apostle gives this as a reason why hee brings in this mysterie that the Gentiles should not insult over the Iewes and therefore had beene little to his purpose if hee had not opened some secret concerning some speciall calling of the Iewes and S. Chrysostome expounding that place Apoc. 7.4 There were sealed of the tribes of Israel 1440. saith that it is to bee understood of the generall conversion of the Iewes But this point I deferre to vers 26. 2. Doct. 2 The Iewes after their conversion shall bee endued with excellent gifts of wisdome and knowledge I will not bee so adventurous as some have beene to understand that Ierusalem that new Citic which came downe from God Apoc. 21.2 which is said to have no need of the Sunne nor of the Moone for the glorie of God doth light it and the Lambeâ—â— the light of it to bee Ierusalem or the Church of God after the conversion of the Iewes for that may seeme to be meant of Ierusalem which is above yet doe I thinke that saying of the Prophet either to be meant of them or may be fitly applyed unto them Isa 24.23 when after many dayes they shall be visited and come out of prison the Moone shall be ashamed and the Sunne ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reigne in mount Sion and in Ierusalem and glorie shall bee before his ancient men that is when God shall restore his Church the glory thereof shall so shine and his Ministers which are called ancient mien that the Sunne and Moone shall be darkened in comparison of them The light of the Moone shall be as the light of the Sunne and the light of the Sunne shall be seven-fold more But these be points that must be handled hereafter I therefore proceed to the farther explication of this argument in the thirteenth and foureteenth verses VERS 13. Vers 13 For I speake to you Gentiles in asmuch as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles I magnifie mine office THe second end that God had in rejecting of the Iewes was the salvation of the Gentiles and in the end the conversion of the Iewes againe so that hee aimed at the well-fare of
the atheisticall and loose companion O there were good lessons against precisenesse This is to bee like those Lamiae or Gorgones mentioned by Caelius Rhodoginus who can finde meanes to cure others but none to helpe themselves Secondly Vse 2 let us who enjoy the Gospell shew some signes and fruits of a spirituall life that it may appeare that the Gospell hath raised us from the dead this is it that Paul said to Titus chap. 2.11 12. The grace of God that is the Gospell that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared and teacheth us to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and that we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world soberly towards himselfe righteously towards his neighbour godly towards God as Aquinas speakes Let us lead such lives as beseemes the Gospell of Christ having our conversation honest walking in the Spirit giving good example doing of good workes as living but ready to dye having our bodies on earth but our minde and conversation in heaven not spending our dayes in eating and drinking but thirsting after righteousnesse not putting on robes and costly ornaments but putting on the Lord Iesus Christ not seeking sinfull pastimes but making melody to the Lord in our hearts not rejoycing in jests and merriments but in Psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs not laying up treasure in earth but in heaven not waiting for honours and preferments but waiting for the comming of the Sonne of God and for that glorie which shall be revealed And so I come from the proposall of this second argument to the proofe and confirmation of it VERS 16. For if the first fruits bee holy so is the whole lumpe and if the root be holy so are the branches IT is the confirmation of the second argument from the hope that the Iewes shall bee restored because an holy people shall not bee cast off for ever but the Iewes are hereditarily an holy people therefore shall not bee cast off for ever Of this argument the assumption or minor onely is expressed and is amplified by two metaphors the one from the holy first fruits the other from the holy root the one taken from the Law of Moses the other from the course of Nature The Law of Moses was this as Numb 15.20 You shall offer a cake of the first of your corne that was the first fruit which being consecrate and holy the remnant was also holy that is was made good and wholesome The order of Nature is this the juyce and the sap or moysture comes first into the root and then into the branches So that if the sap be good in the root it is good also in the branches now to apply the first fruits were holy The root whence the Iewes came was good therefore they are good also Who are these first fruits and who this root is I cannot beleeve with Origen that it was Christ I acknowledge no other holy root but our Lord. Ego aliam radicem sanctam non agnosâ—o nisi Dominum nostrum But I beleeve with Chrysostome the whole streame of moderne writers that by the first fruits and the holy root wee must understand Abraham Isaac and Iacob with the rest of the Patriarches which are not these fruits or root in respect of their persons but in respect of the promise made to them and to their seed as Calvin hath well expounded it So that the meaning is God hath hath promised to be the God of them who are the fruits and of their children which are the lumpe of them who are the root and of their children who are the branches therefore in regard of Gods promise we must not doubt but God who hath mercie on the first fruits will have mercie on the rest hee that loved the root will also set his love upon the branches from whence note in generall 1. From the Law of paying the first fruits 1. That of all the fruits of the earth Doct. 1 and of all the blessings that God gives unto man some part is due backe unto God againe For though authoritie have dasht and cancelled that Law of Moses concerning the paying of tithes yet Gods part and right in all the creatures can no man take away God was to have the first borne both of man and beast Exod. 13.2 He was to have the first fruits of the Land Exod. 23.19 But who was to receive for God See Deut. 26.12 13. It was given to the Levite to the stranger to the fatherlesse and to the widdow The Lord is Land-Lord of the whole earth and of all that is in it man is but Gods Tenant at will and is bound to pay unto God a vearely rent that is some part of all the blessings of God and this God receives by his Deputies Some is to bee paid to the Levite some to the stranger some to the widdow some to the poore and fatherlesse So that such men as hold much from God and will not pay backe unto God againe that which is his owne are such as God will at last turne out of doores 2. Doct. 2 The promises of God made to godly Fathers belong to their children also And that one promise made to Abraham must bee the judge of all others I will bee thy God and of thy seed Genes 17.7 So Peter speaketh to those that were pricked in their hearts The promise is made to you and to your children and to those are a farre off Act. 2.39 But I come to sift the words more particularly If the first fruits bee holy the first maine point is from the letter of the Metaphor 3. Doct. 3 The paying of God that which is his gives us a right and interest in all the rest as the paying of the best and first fruits the paying of thankes and prayer The Ancients were not wont to drinke of the grape unlesse they had first offered it to some God Pluturch Symposiac 4. Doct. 4 Gods promises made to the Fathers shall bee fulfilled to some of their children though not to them all and in Gods appointed time though not so soone as the promise is made When he promised to send his Son this promise was made to the fathers and God fulfilled it to their children Acts 13.32 33. The promise of giving the land of Canaan made to the Fathers was long a fulfilling but at last fulfilled to their children If God have made Abraham a promise that his seed shall be blessed hee will fulfill it in Isaac though Ishmael be rejected Genes 21.12 If hee make the same promise to Isaac hee will fulfill it in Iacob though Esau bee reprobate Gen. 27. If the same promise bee made to Iacob and Iacob die many hundred of yeeres before yet some of his children shall inherit it yet am not I come to the pith of my Text and therefore there must bee a fifth conclusion 5. Children of good parents are holy Doct. 5 for the promise made unto the fathers though children of
plea it selfe The branches are broken off that I might be grafted in It containes two members the one the disparagement of the Iew The branches are broken off the other the Gentile's proud conceit of himselfe that I might be grafted in I begin with the first They are called branches onely in respect of outward prerogatives from whence learne first That such branches as shall bee cut off are so like others that God onely can distinguish them Doct. A point manifest in that Parable Matth. 13.29 When the servant would have pluckt up the tares that were among the wheat Christ forbids him for this reason lest while you plucke up the tares you plucke up the wheat as not being able to distinguish one from another according to that of S. Augustine Deus nobis imperavit congregauonem sib reservavit separationem illâ—us est s â—parare qâ—inesâ—â—t errare Aug. ad virgin Faeliciam Epist 109. Quidam tenent paâ—â—ral sâ—athedâ—as ut Dugregem custodiant quidam ut suis honoribus serviâ—â—t Aug. ibid. Aug. contra Petilâ—anum lib. 3. cap. 55. God hath required of us the congregating hath reserved the separating to himselfe hee must separate who knowes not how to erre Who can distinguish S. Iude from the Traytour Iudas or Simon Peter from Simon Magus but onely Christ Some doe sit in the pastorall chaires that they may keepe Gods flocke some that they may serve their owne preferments saith the same Father Ibid. Iudas doth preach and baptize as well as Iude as the same Father speaketh There bee branches saith Ambrose according to present righteousnesse and there be some according to the fore-knowledge of God and none can distinguish them but God there bee branches which Christ hath planted and some which hee hath not planted and till God cut off the one and leave the other none can make a difference betweene them Our first parents have two children the one within the Covenant the other not yet so like hat none can distinguish them but God In one Arke Shem Ham and Iaphet none knowes who is in or who without grace but God In one wombe Esau and Iacob which is predestinate which not none knowes but God untill the great Shepherd come none can distinguish sheepe from goats untill the reapers come none can distinguish wheat from tares untill the Master of the house come none can distinguish betweene the vessels of honour and dishonour If you aske the reason why God suffers the branches that must bee cut off to grow amongst others I answer that it is for a two-fold reason 1. Because the coldnesse of devotion in the one should by an Antiperistasis stirre up zeale in the other as the wind striving to blow out the fire encreaseth the flame 2. That the glorie of the true branches might bee more illustrious and eminent Laus trâ—buenda Murenae non quod Asiam viderat sâ—d quod in Asia continenter vixerat Cic. Orat. pro Murena Murena is to be praised not because hee had seene Asia but because hee had lived continently in Asia saith Cicero Lots chastitie appeares more in Sodome than when hee lived in the mountaines Hence see how unsound they are who take upon them to determine Vse who is not of the Church and therefore separate themselves from us saying as Isa 65.5 Stand apart come not neere me for I am holier than thou I know not what to say of such but as Constantine said to Acesius a Novatian Bishop Erigito tibi scalam Acesi ut sâ—lus in coelum â—scendas Sâ—â—r Eccles Hâ—st lib. 1. cap. 7. A tendi â— zâ—zaenia triâ—â—â—uâ—e non attendu Set up a ladder for thy selfe O Acesius that thou alone mayst ascend up to Heaven If they leave us because we have faults by the same reason they must needs fly into Heaven for there is no place in earth for them Thou lookest to the cockle and the wheat thou regardest not When thou dividest thy selfe from hypocrites in the Church thou dividest thy selfe from the Church And in heterogene all bodies a member cur off perisheth O then forsake not the greene pastures Et membrum in hâ—â—erogâ—neis â—e rit â—bsâ—â—ssum because of the goats nor Gods house because of the vessels of dishonour nor Gods wheat because of the tares nor Gods net because of the bad fishes that are in it Rather follow the rule of S. Augustine against the letters of Petilianus a Tolera propter bonos commâ—xâ—â—onem â— alorum ne visles propter â—â—alos claritatem bonorâ—m Aug. Contra Petilâ—anum lib. 3. cap. 2. Beare with the mixture of evill because of the good lest thou violate the charitie of the good because of the evill b Nee propter mâ—los bonos deseramus sea propter bonos malos sâ—sserâ—mus Aug. contra Parmeâ—anâ—â— lib. 2. cap. 8. Neither let us forsake the good because of the evill but suffer the evill because of the good 2. If no man can distinguish the good from the bad learne first not to judge of another that is ill for hee may prove good nor of him that is good in shew for hee may prove ill nor of thy selfe that thou art happie because thou hast the outward privileges of true branches but seeke for the power of godlinesse in thine owne heart to sinde those graces whereby thine election may be sealed unto thee hearing the word Vse 2 fervencie in prayer meditation of heaven hungring after righteousnesse combating against the flesh now obedience love and a joyfull expectation of Christs comming to judgement in the clouds of Heaven Secondly the branches are broken off Observ 2 Therefore no people no Nation so farre preferred above others but sinne will bring them to naught and cut them off from God That all Nations have their fals and periods is granted by all but what may be the cause of their subversion the most be ignorant The Stoicke ascribes it to destinie Plato Pythagoras Meâ—bâ—d 6. Polyâ—ic lib. 5. cap. 1â— and Bodin to number Aristotle to an asymmetry in the body Copernicus to the motion of an imaginary encentrique Cardanus and the most part of Astrologians to starres and planets All these have groped in darknesse and being misse-lead with an Ignâ—â— fatuus have supposed with Ixion in the fable that they had found the true Iuno when it was but a cloud of palpable darknesse for if wee consult with the oracles of God we shall there finde that sinne is the cause why God falls out with his children turnes cities into ashes makes kingdomes but ludibria fortunae the mocking stocks of fortune c. But I am loth that it should be said of mee as it was of Micaiah That man doth not prophesie to us any good There is one point more Thirdly the branches are broken off God can no sooner cast a man downe but man is ready to tread upon him Observ 3 Its Iobs case who when he was cast downe and lay upon the earth
cast off If God punish idolatrie in Israel it is to weane the hearts of his people from it If murmuring it is to teach us the Apostles lesson Phil. 4.11 and that in Deut. 8.3 If hee punish Cain by setting upon him a marke it is to teach us to keepe our hands free from bloud if Dives it is to keepe us free from covetousnesse if hee set a fire in the gates of Ierusalem for breaking the Sabbath it is to teach us to keepe it holy and take a delight to make it glorious Isa 58. If hee punish adulterie it is to teach us to keepe our bodies chaste and pure as sweet and fit temples for his Spirit to dwell and tarrie in The Vse is To condemne us for doing that our selves Vse which wee see God to punish in other men If God be somewhat slacke and loth to punish us as hee hath done others his patience should lead us to repentance Rom. 2.4 make thee better not worse Vide severitatem Marke the severitie of God to other sinner and the same that payes other men their deserved punishments will pay thee without speedy and sound repentance But these be points that are neere of kindred to those I have already handled and therefore I come suddenly to the consideration of his bountie to the Gentiles Behold the bountifulnesse of God God 's children must take speciall notice of Gods bountie and love to them Therefore Paul beseeches the Romans by the mercies of God Rom. 12.1 But that which is the maine point is this The consideration of Gods bountie should make man loth to offend him or to sinne against him Doct. Vide bonitatem Consider his love in our election See how Paul concludeth 2 Tim. 2.19 the foundation remaines sure Therfore let everie one that hath part in that depart from iniquitie In our creation consider the efficient cause God this should make us doe good and eschew evill wee are his workmanship c. Ephes 2.10 The materiall cause nothing but dust this should make us humble and so come to God this is a miracle of humilitie as Augustine calleth it In Psal 33. this should make us praise God as David Psal 103. we are but dust at the 14. Therefore praise him all yee Angells praise him all yee his servants praise him all his workes and in all places of his dominion and praise thou the Lord O my soule The formall cause the making us after his image which containes the immortall substance of the soule Secondly all naturall knowledg of God Thirdly all just and holy actions Fourthly regiment over all the creatures Fifthly happinesse and glorie and joy and peace plentie of all things needfull without corruption and miserie all of them should be as bridles to restraine us from sin The finall cause Gods glorie as Isa 43.7 which should make us to say with the foure and twentie Elders Apoc. 4.11 They fell downe before him that sate on the throne and worshipt him that liveth for evermore and cast their crownes before the throne saying c. In our redemption looke upon God the Father giving the Sonne of his love to bee our ransome the Sonne like the good Shepherd laying downe his life for us like the Pelican Psal 102. shedding his bloud for us Liv. Decad. 1. lib. 7. or like Marcus Curtius The use of all this is set downe in that Prophecie of Zacharias Luk. 1.74 75. That we being delivered or redeemed from the hands of our enemies should serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse He hath called us unto holinesse whereas he hath left others wallowing in their menstruous blouds Behold the goodnesse of God in thy vocation Hee hath justified thee Rom. 8.33 See his goodnesse hee hath given thee health which others want see his goodnesse wealth which others want see his goodnesse peace which others want see his goodnesse the Gospell which others want see his goodnesse friends which others want see his goodnesse hee makes the heavens to drop their raine the clouds to drop their fatnesse upon thy ground whereas to others he makes the heavens as brasse and the earth as brasse see his bountie and there is not one of these but it should worke in thee obedience and love Gene osus animus bominis sacilius ducitur quà â—n trahitur The generous minde of man is more easily led than drawen saith Seneca The heart of man that is sanctified is more wrought upon by love and kindnesse than by judgements and threats Slaves and servants obey for feare but sonnes and children for love and kindnesse excellent is that Text Deut. 32.6 Doe yee so reward the Lord O foolish people and unwise thou shouldest have considered that hee hath beene unto thee as a father that hee hath made and proportioned thee how he led thee in the wildernesse taught thee and kept thee as the apple of his eyes as the Eagle stirreth up c. The reason hereof is this When men abstaine from sin because God hath loved them then God continues his mercie and loving kindnesse But when love and kindnesse cannot make them love God againe then God takes his mercie away from them They that loue thee and thy Law shall have great prosperitie and shall feele no hurt Psal 119.165 But when God shewes his mercie and love unto a people and it workes not obedience prevents and overtakes them with blessings and still they continue to sinne against him then God upbraids them with the gifts hee hath given them ceaseth to doe them good and removes his blessings from them Hee made Israel fat and grosse and laded them with fatnesse But when they regarded it not then the Lord was angrie and said I will hide my face away from them Deut. 32.19 20. The Vse is Vse To teach us that if wee would love God as sonnes and continue in his grace and favour as deare children and have God to continue his fatherly love and kindnesse to us to set downe and keepe in memorie all the loving blessings that God hath given us Remember how at the first he created us men and not beasts and vile creatures Laertius reports of Thales Milesius that he was used to account himselfe much beholding to God for three things 1. That hee made him a man not a beast 2. A man not a woman 3. A Greeke not a Barbarian But what is this to us He hath done for us more wonderfull things he hath made us not onely not beasts but little inferiour to the Angels Psal 8. not onely men but adopted us for his owne sonnes and children Ephes 1.5 When we were dead he revived us lost he sought us taken prisoners hee ransomed us in darknesse enlightned us in want provided for us his mercies are renewed unto us everie morning Lam. 3.23 Behold here the bountifulnesse of God and his patience and let this draw thee to repentance Rom. 2.4 His love and let this bring thee to obedience The Lord loved thee and
but beloved after their conversion Concerning the Gospell Some give this sense If a man should judge of them by their persecution of the Gospell he could hardly hope for their conversion yet in regard of election and promise wee must doe it But it will appeare more plaine if you consider the next clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for your sakes that is The Gentiles are by accident the cause why the Iewes hate the Gospell Quia â—nim Iudaei visebant Gentes Evangel um ans plecti idâ—o mâ—litiosâ— Evangeliis abjiciebant For because the Iewes saw the Gentiles did embrace the Gospell therefore did they maliciously cast away the Gospell Now if you will know why they are enemies the text gives two reasons First from the occasion not given but taken to wit the Gospell which they refused Secondly the end that the Gentiles by their unbeleefe might enter in If you would know why there is hope of their receiving there be also two reasons First their election unto life Secondly Gods promise and covenant made with their fathers both immutable Lastly how are they beloved for the fathers sake 1. Not for their fathers merits as Lyranus thinks Non propter merâ—â—a patrum on Rom. 11. 2. Nor because that after their conversion the Lord shall put them in minde of their fathers as Ambrose thinks Non quia sequuntur patrum sidem 3. Not because they follow the faith of their fathers as Origen thinkes for that is true of beleeving Gentiles also But they are beloved for the fathers sake that is for the promises made to their fathers as Tolet and the ordinary glosse Propter promissiones Patribus factas because they are descended of those parents to whom God made that covenant Gen. 17.7 I will be the God of thee and of thy seed Hence arise two questions 1. Quest. 1 Can one and the same man be both enemie and friend beloved and hated of God Yea Answ Paul before his conversion was loved in regard of election for Gods love was the impulsive cause of his election yet an enemie to God in persecuting his Church which whosoever doth persecute doth persecute Christ Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee c. Act. 9.4 Thus Christ is said to give his life for his friends Ioh. 15.13 and Rom. 5.10 to reconcile us when we were enemies So the elect are by nature children of wrath and enemies and yet friends and beloved before grace and sanctification because by the mercy of God they are from eternitie chosen and beloved in Christ 2. Quest. 2 If any one be beloved for the fathers sake then a man may be converted and called by reason of and for his fathers merits and so every man lives not by his owne faith The argument is not good Answ For first regeneration comes not by succession but proceeds from grace Secondly children of faithfull parents are not accepted to eternal life for their parents faith but must beleeve themselves and be saved by their owne faith as Habac. 2.4 Lastly in that the Iewes are beloved for their fathers sake as Salomon was never wholly deprived of Gods Spirit and favour for Davids sake 2 Sam. 7.14 15. It proceeds not from their workes or persons but from Gods gracious and everlasting Covenant which is the root and fountaine of it For the summe of his Covenant is this I will bee their God and the God of their seed And some there must bee to whom this Covenant is made and that some is beloved for the Covenants sake The parts are two The parts The present condition of that Nation miserable enemies as concerning the Gospell The future condition what they shall be that is hopefull Beloved for the fathers sake In the former observe 1. Their miserable condition enemies 2. Whereby this appeares by their contempt of the Gospell 3. The offence and scandall the Gentiles for your sakes I begin with the condition enemies This is the condition of man before grace and without the favour of God Man before grace is enemie to God Doct. Therefore the Apostle speaking of the converted Ephesians saith that naturally and before grace they were children of wrath as well as others Whatsoever is their state now their hope now their privilege now that they are engrasted into Christ yet before that time they were children of wrath as well as others Ephes 2.3 In Rom. 5.10 Before we were reconciled by the death of his Sonne wee were enemies In Col. 1.21 While our mindes are set on evill workes wee are enemies while our mindes are on the earth and our affections to the things of the world we are enemies for the love of the world makes us enemies to God Iam. 4.4 If the world should love us Si mundus nos deligeret diligendus non esset Aug. â—e mundi venitate cap. 1. wee should not love it saith Augustine Hence is it that wee are reconciled to God Who are reconciled but enemies That we are set at peace with God by the crosse and bloud of his Sonne to note That before the peace was concluded we were enemies The reason Reason Till the time that God give grace man doth nothing but sinne his best actions are sinne and this sets God and him at oddes Let Paul be witnesse Rom. 14. ult Whatsoever is not of faith is sin Be witnesse Salomon His prayer is abhomination Prov. 15.8 First Vse 1 to teach unregenerate men to see their owne miserable condition and danger wherein they live Gods enemies The Lord will make warre with them and if they obtaine not a peace destroy them for ever Hee will send the host of Angels to destroy the great Host wherewith he shakes Kings and Kingdomes Ioel 2.25 Secondly Vse 2 it shewes the happinesse of all that are sanctified they are no more enemies but friends not servants but sonnes not strangers but heires they are no more children of wrath but of the promise they fight not against God but for him they are christened by his name Christians fight his battels Christs Souldiers receiving the Sacraments dwell in his house the Temple of his Spirit have already the earnest penny of their inheritance and after the conflict shall have a crowne of glorie O then study to be at peace with God labour to bee friends with God let your tongues praise him your lives please him your soules rejoyce in him your hands fight for him so shall you be blessed of him and invested into that Kingdome where shall be life that never dieth love that never cooleth beautie that never fadeth a crowne that never withereth God grant us all to weare it I come to the argument whereby it appeares that they are enemies Contempt of the Gospell Concerning the Gospell All men Doct. during the time that they receive not the word but resist and withstand the course and preaching of it are Gods enemies and hated of him Those that submit not to his Scepter that is