absurd thing for men to quarrel with God as for example it is as if a piece of clay in the hand of the Potter should rise up and find fault with the potter for making one vessel to a better use and another to a baser use why because the Potter hath full power and authority over the clay to make what he will Now the particular implication of this verse that which is herein implyed is thus God is the Potter and man is the clay and as it is lawful for the Potter to make of the clay one vessel for service at the Table and another for baser service in the kitchin or Chamber so much more is it lawful for God to make of man one for honour and another for dishonour the Apostles reasoning is à minore ad majus from the lesser to the greater and if the Potter who is but a creature hath power over the clay which is a creature also to make one vessel to an excellent use and the other to a baser use surely then the authority of God over all and every creature is far greater the Lord hath absolute power to dispose of all as it pleaseth him this way or that way that is the general drift and purpose of the Apostle Now the words of this verse being taken as the first part of the Comparison of the Potter the clay there is no hardnesse in them for the sense and meaning of them Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An non habet potestatem figulus Luti Explication of the words of verse 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syriac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ex eadem massa Divers opinions concerning the sence and meaning of these words onely they are put down by way of interrogation which is of greater force and not by way of position and the affirmation of this Interrogation is thus much That the Potter hath power and lawfull authoritie over the clay for so the word in the Original signifieth But being taken in the Application as that which they doe imply as namely implying God to be the Potter and man to be the Clay then there is something in them very needful to be explained and there is difficultie in them Hath not the Potter power over the Clay That is in the implication of them Hath not God power and lawful authoritie over Man as the Potter hath over his Clay Yea much more hath the Lord power over Man to make to ordain and to appoint of the same lump Some doe understand of the same lump to be meant the sinne of Idolatrie in which the Children of Israel were in Egypt That the Lord out of that same lump of Idolatrie in which the Children of Israel were with the Egyptians saved the Israelites and destroyed the Egyptians but this is too scantie too narrow and not large enough for to expresse the Apostles meaning for the Apostles drift is not here of inflicting of punishment for that man can give a reason of but the Apostle speaketh of Gods ordaining and appointing And again some Divines doe by this word lump understand the masse of corruption mans fall mans corrupting by Adams transgression Adam being wrapped in sinne Alludens inquit ad Adami creationem humanum genus umdum conditum nisi in opificis mente comparat massae Luti ex qua Deus postea prout ab aeterno decreverat condiderit quotidie condat tum eligendos tum reprobandos qui etiam declarat verbum faciendi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Objection of the Anabaptiste propounded and answered But though this be the opinion of many reverent Divines yet it cannot be the Apostles meaning because as saith Reverend Beza in this sence the Lord cannot be said to make men vessels of dishonour but to finde men alreadie in their estate vessels of dishonour Again the comparison it self seems to exclude and shut out all respect to corruption that there is no respect had to the corruption of man from everlasting for you see here God is compared to a Potter that taketh a piece of clay not stained with any pollution corruption spot or tincture for then the Potter might have some excuse to make a base vessel of it because it was a spotted and tainted piece of Clay so God taketh man as in himself not corrupted for then there was some cause why the Lord should cast away this man and not that man therefore we are here to understand not man corrupted but mankind generally taken One vessel to honour and another to dishonour that is to make one vessel to his Glory to honour everlasting and another to be vessels of wrath to shame and confusion I know what the Anabaptists object against this for they say it is very impious grosse and absurd thus to expound this comparison this maketh God to have no wisdome For what Potter is so foolish to make his pots to break them and to throw them away purposely shall we say then God made man to destroy him to throw him to utter confusion so that say they this is a very impious Exposition of the comparisons But herein they shew their foolishness and weakness I answer we affirme no such matter either of the Potter or of God that God makes man to destroy him for what is it for God to destroy a man It is when he confounds and turneth man to nothing when he doth annihilate and dissolve him to nothing but for God to finde a man in his corruption to throw him into Reprobation this is no destroying of a man Again beloved the Potter is a Creature and hath received a Law from God his Creatour that he must carrie himself toward his workmanship according to his Law that he may prove profitable either to the Church or to the Common-wealth Now this he doth not if he make his Pots with a purpose to break them then he liveth idlely and is a vain foolish fellow But God the great Lord of Heaven and Earth who hath made the world he is not bound to any such law will the Anabaptists in their foolerie bring God under a Law he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and he hath the Prerogative Royal and he is bound to no Law no more to preserve them being made then to make them of nothing when they were not will they bring God under their girdle and under their law therefore notwithstanding their cavil the meaning remaineth a truth and it is as if the Apostle had said Sence and meaning of the words Hath not God power and absolute lawful authoritie over man and as the Potter hath over the Clay even out of the same lump and mass of mankind taken generally to appoint and to ordain one man to be his vessel of mercy in life and glory in Heaven and to another to be a vessel of his wrath in the destruction of hell And thus much for the Apostles meaning Come we now to stand upon the words
Now more particularly we have in these two Verses the 22. and 23. two things laid before us First of all a description both of Reprobates and of Gods Elect. And secondly that which the Apostle affirmeth and putteth down concerning Reprobates these be the main general things Reprobates are thus described by the Apostle vessels of wrath and those prepared to destruction Gods Elect are thus described vessels of mercy prepared unto glory both vessels but the one of wrath and the other of mercy one prepared to destruction the other prepared to life and glory Now the thing which the Apostle putteth down concerning Reprobates is that God suffereth them with long and much patience and that out of his own mere will and good pleasure what if God would suffer the vessels of wrath then the Apostle amplifieth this long-suffering of God to Reprobates by the ends of Gods long-suffering and patience namely in respect of Reprobates themselves to declare and manifest his just wrath and vengeance upon them for the Manifestation and Declaration of his just power in punishing of them then in respect of Gods Elect that thereby he might shew forth the riches of his glorious mercy to the Elect in the 23. verse that he might declare the riches of his mercy unto them that are prepared for glory so we have the general things of these two Verses Come we now to the opening of the sense of these two verses Explication of the words and first of all of the 22. verse What if God would What if God being willing or it being his good pleasure and here something must be supplyed to make it a perfect sentence something must be conceived as a Consequent what if it be the good will and pleasure of the Lord to suffer the vessels of wrath to go to destruction with long patience what if God will so do what is that to thee this maketh it a perfect sentence what canst thou accuse God of in this particular to shew his wrath By wrath is here meant both Gods displeasure for and against sin and Gods vengeance for the same and God is said to manifest and shew his wrath when he conceiveth just displeasure against men for their sins and doth inflict just Judgment and just punishment upon them for the same and to make his power known Or as it is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make it possible to make it appear that it is possible and easie unto God that God hath power to confront and bear down the Reprobates be they never so mighty with a stroke of his hand and to send them soul and body to destruction as it is 1 Sam. 2.10 all the adversaries of the Lord shall perish they shall be destroyed and confounded suffer with long patience Or with long-suffering for the word is the very same as in Rom. 2.4 where the Apostle saith despisest thou the patience and long-suffering of the Lord now Gods long sufferance is his slownesse to anger Exod. 34.6 where the Lord is described to be slow to anger and Gods long sufferance and slownesse to anger is when he beareth with them a long time and keepeth back his wrath suffering them to go on and to add sin unto sin he spareth them a long time when he might strike and suddenly send them to hell vessels of wrath The Apostle still is in the comparison of a Potter and compareth man to a vessel a vessel of wrath and though by vessel may be understood any instrument or utensel used about a house yet hereby is meant such a vessel which by reason of his concavity and hollownesse is fit to receive and contain either things liquid or dry so the Reprobates being vessels they have this concavity this hollownesse in them they are fit receptacles and vessels to receive the wrath of God and the arrows of his vengeance yet for the better understanding of this we must put here a difference between a vessel of wrath and a child of wrath these are not both one Now a child of wrath for the present estate Difference between a vessel of wrath and a Child of wrath may be a vessel of mercy so was Paul so were the Elect Ephesians Ephes 2.3 we were by nature children of wrath as well as others but a vessel of wrath cannot become a vessel of mercy and of those speaketh our Apostle here prepared to Destruction Expositors in this place do make a very curious distinction between these termes prepared to destruction and prepared to glory the one say they is spoken in the passive prepared to destruction the other in the active he prepareth them to glory but this is a needlesse distinction for this is to be expounded by some other places of Scripture as that in 1 Thess 5.9 where vessels of wrath are said to be prepared and ordained of God the Lord having in his eternal decree ordained and appointed them to everlasting shame and confusion as a potter maketh a vessel to receive excrements so these are appointed to destruction not as it is a misery of the creature but as it is a manifestation of his glory who is the Creator which he will have made known to all the world So then thus conceive we the meaning of the Apostle in this 22. verse Sence and meaning of the words of the 22. verse What if God be willing out of his good pleasure that he might conceive just wrath and inflict and execute just Judgment and that he might make it appear that he is a God of power and able to confront the Reprobate and to bring them to destruction What if God willing to keep back his wrath even with long patience suffering such as are fit receptacles to receive his vengeance as any vessel by reason of concavity to receive water I mean Reprobates such as God hath eternally decreed to destruction not as it is the misery of the creature but as it maketh way for the manifestation and declaration of the Justice of God but if the Lord will so do what is that to thee what canst thou say against it if the Lord will so do Observ Come we now to the Observation You see here in the general that both Gods Elect and Reprobates are compared to vessels framed by the hand of God the heavenly Potter hence note we thus much Doctrine That Gods Elect and Reprobates differ not in their matter at all they are both of them vessels and have both one general nature and are alike but the difference is in the use They are both made of the same lump by the same Potter but they differ in the use he useth the one as vessels of mercie the others as vessels of wrath Gods Elect they are vessels fit to receive grace goodnesse holinesse sanctification all good things are poured into their hearts and soules but the other they are fit to receive nothing but the sinke of sinne and all manner of uncleannesse it
an high hand that are drunkards filthie persons Sabbath-breakers revilers of Gods Children and the like God is justly angrie with them for their sinnes that they can confesse but they say as it is their common Proverb Vana sine viribus ira anger without power is in vain for a man to be angrie and have no power to execute his anger is nothing worth but this God he is a God of Power and he will one day shew his strength and his power in punishing of them and in executing wrath and vengeance upon them Oh then who is able to bear the punishing hand of God and the stroke of his arm can a wicked sinner endure it when God striketh with the strength of his arme Psalme 90.7 Oh then consider it whosoever thou art a wicked and rebellious sinner that hath been told of thy particular sinnes thy drunkennesse thy whoredome thy usurie thy Sabbath breaking and the like Thou that persistest and goest on in thy sinne a drunkard yesterday and still the same an Usurer yesterday and still the same thou art obdurate in thy sinne Consider the Lord is angrie with thee and justly offended and hee is not onely justly offended but he is a God of infinite power able to execute his wrath yea consider further that God is not onely a God of Power able to doe it but he is also a God that will doe it he will execute his power and his wrath Who is able to stand against the Lords revenging power and when he so doth What shall become of the drunkard What shall become of the usurer and what shall become of the Sabbath-breaker and the whoremonger and the blasphemer of the Name of God when the Lord shall execute his wrath and put forth his vengeance Oh consider it and tremble We know it be experience amongst men Men that are of a revenging spirit given to seek the hurt and ruine of those they are offended withal nothing will satisfie them but their very heart blood And according to the might and power of those men so revengeful the more mighty and powerful is the evil and hurt that they inflict upon those The greater their might the heavier their stroke against whom they are enraged Oh then consider Is this so with men of revengefull spirits Oh then the Lord is a sin revenging God and he being provoked unto anger by thy wilful obstinate and rebellious sins he will punish thee consider then whom hast thou provoked a God of infinite power and he will make it appear in thy just destruction and in thy just punishment the heart of man is not able to conceive or imagine the fearful punishment that will befall thee Oh that those that are obstinate and rebellious sinners would consider this that God is so offended with them for their rebellious sinnes it would make them to tremble and affright them and make their bones shake in their skins and their hearts ake in their bodies but this is one and a chief part of their misery Hab. 3. that they never think nor consider it in their hearts and so we may conclude that they are in a fearful estate and condition Again this being so that God is such a revenging God against obstinate Vse 2 sinners let this then keep us from the revenging of our wrongs that are done by spiteful enemies and such as seek our ruine why should we seek to be revenged though we have never so much power leave it unto God and know this that we cannot desire a greater vengeance to light upon them then the Lord will inflict upon them and consider if our spiteful enemies do continue seeking to do us wrong the Lord will one day take thy cause in hand and punish them according to the greatnesse of his power Alas what is our power if we had the might of all the men in the world it is nothing to the power of the Lord if the Lord should give our enemies into our hands and should say Do with him what thou wilt could we be avenged so as the Lord will for our sakes if we be patient and commit the cause unto the Lord for the Lord will be avenged on them if they continue and live and dye in their spight and envy And to conclude in one word let us when we are wronged and hardly dealt withal by malitious and spightful enemies that are full of rancor and malice commit our cause unto the Lord and without question his punishment will be greater then the bitterest stroke that we can wish to fall upon our enemies and therefore we ought to comfort our selves with this when we are wronged that the Lord will revenge our cause and he will shew forth his vengeance upon them in their Destruction and that according to the greatnesse of his power What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had before prepared unto glory THere is one thing yet remaineth to be further observed from this 22. verse The Apostle saith that God will one day shew his wrath upon Reprobates the vessels of wrath and he will also exercise his power he will make it apparent manifest and evident that he is a God of power in their just punishments so that these two things are here coupled and put together as the ends of Gods long patience and forbearance toward the Reprobates namely the manifestation of his just wrath and his power in punishing of them hence then take we notice of this Observation which lyeth plain before us viz. Doctrine That the highest and utmost end of the everlasting destruction of the Reprobates is the manifestation of Gods Justice and of Gods power which here are coupled and put together in their destruction The destruction of the Reprobates is indeed the nearest end in respect of Reprobates themselves but God respecteth it no further then as it maketh and tendeth to the manifestation and declaration of the glory of his Justice and power The highest end which the Lord aymeth at in the punishment and destruction of the Wicked what is it it is nothing else but that he might have his Justice and Power glorified the Lord aymeth not at their destruction though it be the nearest end to them yet farthest off in Gods intention for he aymeth at his own Justice and Powers glorification And to this purpose speaketh Solomon expresly Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for his own sake yea the very wicked for the day of evil he hath made them for the day of destruction ayming therein at the manifestation of his Justice and the glory of his power this is the main end the Lord aymeth at In Rom. 11. The Apostle having largely discussed and stood upon the rejection of the Gentiles in the 36. verse he concludeth
the point with this Doxology for of him and through him and for him are all things to him be praise and to him be glory for ever Amen And it must needs be so for these Reasons Reason 1 Because God is onely infinitely wise and God cannot aym or do any thing but to the best end and that must needs be one end and the best end is onely the glory of God a better end there cannot possibly be then that which is the supreme end of all things Reason 2 Because the Lord can respect nothing out of himself what can God respect out of his own blessed Majesty as a principal end of all his actions and counsels and therefore his glory must he needs aym at which is most pretious and dear unto himself Vse 1 Now then upon this ground for the use of it we see in the first place how we may justly hold that God hath ordained some amongst men to everlasting destruction namely thus that the Lord hath ordained some to everlasting destruction not simply as it is their destruction but as their destruction maketh way for and tendeth to the declaration of the glory of his Justice and the glory of his power this end the Lord aymeth at And upon this ground we may answer that which is commonly objected by Anabaptists and other erring spirits that reason thus If God hath appointed and ordained some to everlasting destruction then also this will follow that God hath ordained and appointed the means that tend to that end and that is sin Now to this we may easily answer that as the Lord hath not ordained any to everlasting destruction simply as it is their destruction but as it maketh for the glory of his Justice and power so God hath not ordained sin simply as it is sin and evil but he hath either ordained such sins as are punishments of fore-going sins for as sinnes following are punishments of sins foregoing so they are a Moral good thing and agree with his Justice or else the Lord hath ordained to suffer and permit the being of some other sins which are not punishments not simply as they are sins but as they concur and make way to the highest end of all and that is the manifestation and declaration of his Justice and power and so we see how we may safely hold as a warranted truth of God that God hath from everlasting fore-appointed and fore-ordained some men to everlasting damnation it being rightly understood namely not as it is their destruction but as it is the manifestation and declaration of the glory of his Justice and of his power Again this being so that the highest end the Lord aymeth at in mens Vse 2 punishments is the manifestation and glory of his Justice and power this must teach us then our lesson to find cause of praising God and glorifying of him in the punishments of wicked persons such as are malicious enemies of God and of his truth as Moses and Miriam did in the overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea they brake out into praise and glorifying of God in Exod. 15. the whole Chapter so when we see the hand of God justly upon them that are wicked and malicious enemies of the Church of God we are to rejoyce in it and to pick out of it matter of praise and glory unto God for his Justice appearing in the same Indeed beloved I grant we are not to rejoyce simply in the smart and pain of others as we say in the Schooles non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non gaudia ex aliena calamitate be they never so wicked or vile but rather to pity them as they be the creatures of God but as we discern them to be the enemies of the Lord and enemies of the truth and it is apparent that the just hand of God is now upon them and his Justice lighted upon them we are to rejoyce and we ought to magnifie and to glorifie the Justice of God in their just punishment To this purpose speaketh the Psalmist in Psal 58.11 12. verses The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance of God upon the wicked and he shall wash his feet in the blood of the ungodly and men shall say verily there is fruit for the righteous doubtlesse there is a God that judgeth the earth Men shall thus magnifie the just hand of God in his Judgments upon wicked persons so that we see we may rejoyce when we see the hand of God upon wicked persons and such as are enemies to God and his Truth Come we now to the 23. Verse VERSE 23. And that he might declare the riches of his glory upon the vessels of mercy which he hath prepared unto glory IN this Verse our Apostle amplifieth the Manifestation of Gods glory and power in manifesting his patience to the wicked by the end of their punishment in respect of Gods Elect and that is to declare the riches of his glory upon the vessels of mercy prepared to glory Now the general things considerable in this verse are two First the end which we have spoken of propounded and laid before us that he might declare the riches of his glory And secondly the persons unto whom and that is the Elect who are described to be vessels of mercy and those prepared unto glory And that he might declare the riches of his glory unto the vessels of mercy which he hath prepared unto glory Now come we to the opening of the words And that he might declare Or in like sort that he might make known to all the world men and Angels the riches of his glory The word glory here signifieth that whereby God is glorious in particular it signifieth the glory of the grace and mercy of God whereby God sheweth himself to be most glorious and hence it is the Apostle putteth glory as an Epithet of Gods grace in Ephes 1.6 to the praise of the glory of his grace and thus the word glory is used in Ephes 3.16 That he might grant you according to the riches of his glory what is that the riches of his grace and of his mercy and the word riches as it doth often in Scripture signifieth plenty and abundance as the Apostle calleth it the bountifulnesse of God Rom. 2.4 the superabundant bountifulnesse of God so that his meaning is that he might declare his abundant grace and mercy upon the vessels of mercy vessels of mercy are here opposed unto vessels of wrath spoken of in the verse before and thereby we are to understand Gods Elect who are called vessels of mercy because they are created of God fit to receive mercy even as vessels are fit to receive water by reason of their concavity so they are vessels of mercy prepared unto glory that is which the Lord hath from everlasting ordained and fore-appointed to everlasting happinesse and glory in heaven 1 Thess 5.9 God hath not appointed us unto wrath but he hath appointed us to obtain salvation by
the meanes of our Lord Jesus Christ So then thus conceive we the meaning of the Apostle as if he had said And in like sort that God might make it known to all the world both to men and Angels his exceeding great and abundant grace and mercy toward and upon his Elect who are vessels as capable of mercy as any vessel to receive water the Lord having from everlasting ordained and appointed them to the Kingdom of glory Now the words being thus understood I will onely point at one thing briefly We see here the Apostle maketh it apparent and known that God sheweth his Justice and maketh his power known upon the Reprobates thereby to amplifie and to set forth the greatnesse of his mercy toward his chosen and make known the riches of his mercy upon the vessels of mercy This is the ground of the Observation And the Doctrine hence arising is this viz. Doctrine That Gods mercy vouchsafed to his Children in any kind whatsoever whether concerning soul or body it appeareth the greater and is felt the sweeter by considering Gods wrath and punishment in the same kind inflicted upon the wicked The riches and the greatnesse of Gods mercy toward any of his children is more evident more apparent and more conspicuous and the better discerned by comparing it with his just punishing hand that he layeth upon others And to this purpose we have many evidences of Scripture the mercy of God in saving Noah and his Family in the Ark when the flood was upon the earth being considered with the Lords wrath and vengeance upon the whole world besides it made the mercy of God to be more conspicuous and better discerned of Noah So the freedome that the people of Israel had in the Land of Goshen in Egypt from the plagues of Egypt when the heavy hand of God was upon the Egyptians being considered with those heavy plagues did exceedingly set forth the riches of Gods mercy to his Children that they should be saved and the other punished in the same land and in Exod. 14.30 31. the Text saith of the Israelites they saw the Egyptians dead upon the bank and saw their final overthrow and no doubt that Gods Justice in their overthrow made the mercy of the Lord in their deliverance appear the better and thereupon they were stirred up to praise God after an extraordinary manner for an extraordinary blessing in the 15. Chapter And to these places I might adde many more all expressing that the mercy of God vouchsafed to his Children feeleth sweeter and the more comfortable Considered together with Gods wrath in punishing the wicked and reprobate yea it doth ravish the soul of a Child of God and maketh it more comfortable The Reason Reason and ground of it is from that Logical rule Contra juxta se posita c. Contraries set in opposition maketh them the better to appear black and white set together it maketh white more resplendant and appear the clearer so Gods mercy opposed to Gods Justice maketh his mercy appear more conspicuous And for the Application Vse let this teach us to consider the mercy of God to us that are his Children in comparison of his Judgment to others as for example thou being a Child of God consider God hath given thee sanctification in thy heart and soul a feeling of thy sins and groaning under it then consider this thy Illumination and sanctification together with the Ignorance and obdurancy of others and it will make thee to praise and set forth the greatnesse of Gods mercy so again in outward mercies the Lord hath given thee abundance thou hast strength and ability of body thou hast liberty and freedom from imprisonment and thou seest others that are blind sick lame and under the heavy hand of God in some Affliction they are weak and poor And in this hard time that now is upon us thou seest others wanting firing wanting lodging wanting means to defend them from the injury of the weather surely the Lord setteth these before thee not onely that thou shouldest be pitifull unto them and help and relieve them but herein also to see the greatnesse and goodnesse of Gods mercy towards thee Lay not out so much upon thy pride in excesse of Apparel but extend some to the poor and praise the Lord for his greatnesse and goodnesse that hath made thee rich and healthfull and others lye up and down ready to be famished Oh consider this what the Lord hath done for thy body and soul he hath inlarged his hand to thee inlarge thou thy hand in giving to others and inlarge thy heart in praising of God and let it stirre thee up to great thankfulnesse unto God for this his mercy to thee And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had before prepared unto glory ANd in the next place observe that the Apostle here saith not barely God will extend and reach out his abundant mercy toward his Children or that he might shew his mercy upon them abundantly but mark the manner of his speech he putteth down his mind and meaning in these tearms that God might declare the riches of his glorie upon his I hil dren every word is very emphatical and full of weight and the meaning is that God might make known to all the world to men and Angels his exceeding great and abundant grace and mercy upon his Elect and toward his Children Hence then we may easily gather this conclusion Doctrine That God will one day manifest his exceeding great and abundant mercy toward his chosen and he will one day make it appear to all the World to Men and Angels that he is a most wonderful and gracious God unto his Chosen indeed God is exceeding gracious and abundantly merciful unto his Chosen at all times especially after their effectual Calling and Conversion and turning from sinne unto him from the estate of Nature unto the estate of Grace then giving unto them the pardon of all their sinnes sealing his love unto them in Christ as it is in Romans 10.5 Then giving unto his Children libertie to approach and come near unto his holy presence with comfort and thankesgiving then beautifying their soules with many excellent gifts of his Spirit with Faith with Zeale and with Humilitie so that God is exceeding great and abundantly merciful unto his Chosen yet let me tell you that his abundant grace and mercie to his Elect is not so apparent to the eyes of men It lieth hid and obscured either under that excellent grace of Humilitie or under their afflictions so as that the world seeth it not yet the time shall come that howsoever it is now darkned it shall appear to men and Angels yea men and Angels shall admire at the wonderful mercie of God to his Chosen and to this purpose is that of the Apostle in the 2 Thessalonians 1.10 where the Apostle saith that Christ Jesus at the day of
judgement he will come to be glorified in his Saints and to be made marvelous and wonderful in all that believe He will invest his Saints then with heavenly glory and manifest his rich grace and abundant mercy upon them and that to the admiration and astonishment of all the world that shall looke upon him and be eye-witnesse of it in 1 John 3.2 Dearly beloved saith the Apostle We are now the Sonnes of God yet it doth not appear what we shall be is not now apparant nor evident to the eye of the world but the time shall come when it shall be apparant and manifest and that shall be when Christ shall come in glory unto judgement then the Saints of God then the true believers and the Chosen of God shall be made like unto him in fulnesse of grace and in fulnesse of glory not equal unto him but like unto him a plain Text evidencing and confirming this Truth That God will one day manifest his exceeding greatnesse and mercy to his chosen and make it appear to all the world to men and Angels that he is a merciful God to the confusion of the wicked and the admiration of the Angels Now beloved if so be we desire to be further enformed touching this what shall make men and Angels to admire the wonderful mercy of God to his Chosen Beloved it shall be not onely in respect of the abundant greatnesse of Gods mercy to his Chosen but also in respect of the freeness of Gods grace and of Gods glory that God bestoweth abundance of grace and of mercy and that freely for when as the wicked and reprobates shall at that day have justly according as they have deserved inflicted upon them even everlasting wrath and vengeance so on the other side God hath revealed the greatnesse of his mercy upon his chosen not for any merits or deserts of theirs and herein appeareth the wonderful admiration of Gods mercie in that he giveth it not in respect of any merit or desert of theirs for they have deserved the same wrath with the Reprobates but onely of his free mercy this shall make men and Angels to wonder at it that God vouchsafeth such a weight of glorie which they have not deserved freely out of his own mercie and it must needs be so for these Reasons Because the glorie of his mercie is as dear unto him as the glorie of his Reason 1 Justice and he will no more loose the glorie of his mercie then the glorie of his Justice Because God having promised grace unto his Chosen yea fulness of Reason 2 grace and fulness of mercy according to their measure The Lord will be justified in his Word and in his sayings and in his promise he will make it good yea the most wicked in the world shall one day justifie the goodness and the mercie of God to his Chosen and he will make them one day will they nill they to confess his goodness and this is not done in this world but in the world to come then he will wring a confession from them howsoever now they will not confess it yet then they shall manifest the riches of Gods grace to his Chosen The due consideration of this yieldeth matter of sweet and excellent comfort to Gods Children two waies First in respect of the cause and estate of Gods Children as it standeth with them when they are under some great and grievous affliction or under some strong temptation and violent assaults by Sathan in that he feels such a weight of sinne and such a burthen of corruptions lying and pressing down his heart and soul as for the present he hath no apprehension of the special love of God unto him nay he concludeth the Contrarie even against himself as that God hath forgotten him and left him though there be no such matter but God is pleased to exercise his Faith and to trie the soundness of his grace and he will have him to know that his faith and grace is even as pure gold tried in the furnace 1 Peter 1.7 That the trrial of your Faith is much more precious then gold Now in this case a Child of God may call to minde in this miserable estate he thinketh himselfe may call to minde what comfort and what mercie the Lord hath vouchsafed upon me and what pledges of his saving goodness the Lord hath vouchsafed and then he may consider that though the saving mercy of God be now hid from him for a time and that he can finde no comfort yet he having had experience of his saving grace formerly he may resolve that he will again return and manifest his mercie unto him for consider to reason thus Will God one day make it apparant to all the world that he is a merciful and gracious God to his Children and will not the same God make it manifest and apparant to thy soul here in this life at one time or other it cannot possibly be thou having had love tokens of his favour though they seem to be lost yet the Lord will come with abundance of grace and goodness Romans 15.13 Yea the Lord one day so exprest his grace as that the Child of God shall himselfe wonder and magnifie the grace of God unto his own soul yea he shall be ravished with the wonderful mercie of God unto his Chosen in general and to himselfe in particular For though when the Devil opposeth the godly by temptations they feele not the mercie of God to them yet the time shall come when it shall be manifest to all the world much more then to themselvess and to their own souls Again will God one day manifest his abundant mercie unto his Chosen Vse 2 making it to appear to the view of men and Angels it yieldeth a matter of comfort to Gods Children in respect of the censure and judgement that they pass upon Gods Children The men of the world seeing Gods Children walk humbly before the Lord and looking upon their humble and low carriage and behaviour which they account baseness they presently shoote out their fools bolt that they are the Reprobates they look upon the outside and see not what is within they are not able to see what mercy the Lord vouchsafeth unto his Children even in this world in that he giveth them assurance of his love unto them in Jesus Christ and a feeling of the sweetness of his grace and of mercie and the pardon of their sinnes this they are not able to see through the darkness of affliction and the cloud of their miserie Now this is to be remembred and to be thought upon for our comfort that are Gods Children in respect of this censure that howsoever the grace and the mercie of God be obscured and they cannot see it yet comfort thy self the time shall come that God-wil make it appear to men and Angels that he is a gracious God and that he is rich in mercy unto them and that the love of God is
spread abroad in thy heart yea the time shal come that men and Angels shal se thee Crowned with a Crown of glorie and a Crown of mercie that they shal be driven to an admiration of it and then they shal befool themselves and say we fools thought these mens lives to to be madness yea we accounted them contemptible and base fellows but now behold the riches of Gods mercie that he is wonderfully gracious and merciful unto his Children they shal befool themselves to see the greatness of Gods mercie unto his Chosen which shal be so great that they shal admire at it yea the verie Angels shal wonder at it Angels that are able to understand more then all the men in the world they shal be amazed and wonder at the riches of Gods mercie unto his chosen Therefore let the calumnie and the slander of the wicked pass by unregarded for the Lord wil one day manifest his mercie to the admiration of Men and Angels And that he might declare the riches of his glorie unto the vessels of mercy prepared unto glorie AGain observe we here the Apostle putteth glorie for mercie and maketh them both tending to one end from hence the Doctrin is this viz. Doctrine That God in shewing of mercie unto his Chosen intendeth the glory of his grace and the glorie of his mercie The Lord in shewing of mercie unto his Chosen doth it to this end that he might have his praise and glorie by it he aimeth at this end that it might be known and admired and spoken of and magnified and that he might have glorie by it as good Kings and Princes next after the things that concern Religion they doe esteem this above all the honour of their name that they might be respected of their Subjects for their Clemencie and bountie unto their Subjects so it is with the Lord the great King of Heaven and Earth all the graces and favour and mercy that he vouchsafeth unto his Chosen from the first mercie to the last from their Election to their glorification in Heaven it tendeth to this end that his grace and mercy unto his Chosen may be manifested and appear and that he may have the praise and the glorie of his grace and of his mercie In Ephesians 1.5 God saith the Apostle He hath Predestinated us to be Adopted through Jesus Christ in himself nothing moving him thereunto out of his own blessed Majestie according to the good pleasure of his Will to what end To the praise of the glory of his grace of his rich and abundant grace and mercie And as glorifying of the riches of his grace and mercy is that which the Lord delighteth in so he aimeth at it as the supream and highest end in shewing of mercy And the Lord may safely seek his own glory and praise without any danger of pride in it as it is in man for they looking at their own praise and estimation among men they are tainted with pride but it is not so with the Lord because indeed he is the highest and there is none above him And hence it was in Exod. 34.6 7. when the Lord shewed himself unto Moses he magnified his mercy above all other attributes and he proclaimeth his mercy by many several titles and passages The Lord the Lord strong merciful and gracious slow to anger abundant in goodnesse and in truth reserving mercy unto thousands forgiving iniquities transgressions and sins there is mention of Gods power in a word very sparingly but there is nothing sufficient to extol the glory of his mercy explicating that in variety of expressions and setting it out to the full Now this being a truth first of all this serveth to stir us up to give God Vse 1 the praise and glory of his mercy vouchsafed unto us in any kind whatsoever this is the main thing the Lord aymeth at in shewing of mercy unto his chosen that it might be known and glorified Oh then surely we ought never to let the grace and the mercy of God to be out of our mouthes this is that he delighteth in and therefore we must have his mercy in our mouthes especially we professing our selves to be his children and servants for consider I beseech you how will those servants that belong and appertain to bountiful Lords and Masters how will they be ever setting forth and extolling the bounty and beneficence of their Masters in what company soever they are commending their frank House-keeping and good hospitality in being beneficial to the poor and good to their followers And so indeed they are not the children of God that do not thus magnifie the riches of Gods mercy unto them and have them in their hearts and mouthes continually crying out Oh the mercy of God to us is large else they are bastards and not the children of God for such as belong unto Gods grace God giveth them grace unto this end that his grace and mercy might be known and magnified that they may say Oh what hath God done for my soul this is the practise of a holy servant of God therefore we are to be stirred up for any mercy the Lord hath vouchsafed in any kind not onely for health restored or for any such things that are temporal but also for things that are spiritual or for any mercy that he hath bestowed upon us we are to be thankful and especially we are to give praise and thanks unto God for his great and wonderful mercy bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus in that he gave Christ Jesus to be a Saviour for our soules this we ought to be thankful unto God for above all other mercies Again is this so that Gods shewing of mercy unto his chosen it tendeth Vse 2 to the glory of his mercy surely then it cannot be that life and glory is given unto Gods chosen from the hand of Justice as a thing due unto them by their meritorious deserts this cannot possibly be for mercy is given for the magnifying of his mercy for if it were so as the Papists teach given for their merit by the hand of Justice surely then God should aym at his Justice as the main and highest end of all in their glorification which is not so for he aymeth at the glory of his mercy for indeed as God intendeth and aymeth at the glory of his Justice and power as the highest end in the destruction of the Reprobate and wicked and so he aymeth at the glorification of his mercy as the highest end in the salvation of the Elect and godly And whereas the Papists say that life and glory is given as an act of mercy and of Justice and so they would make a hotch-potch and a compound of that which cannot be compounded for it is as possible that God should send a man to hell and condemn a man out of his revenging Justice and saving mercy at the same time as that God should give a man mercy and salvation out of his hand
of Justice and of mercy it is as possible that God should be merciful to a man that he sendeth to hell as to be just to a man that he giveth salvation unto these two can never stand together revenging Justice and saving mercy for the Lord vouchsafeth salvation that his mercy may be glorified and not his justice so that mercy cometh not from the hand of Justice but of mercy Again in that the Apostle saith that God declareth the riches of his mercy to the Elect hence I might note That Gods grace and mercy vouchsafed unto his chosen it is full and perfect fulnesse of mercy and perfect mercy when God forgiveth the sins of his chosen he forgiveth them not in part or by the halves as the Papists teach that God forgiveth the sinnes of his chosen in respect of the eternal punishment but he leaveth the Temporal punishment for them to do penance for in the time of Lent whereas God doth give unto his children full and perfect remission full and perfect Justification full and perfect glorification Heb. 7.25 He is able perfectly to save all that come unto him saith the Author to the Hebrewes not to give a half salvation but a full salvation but to passe from that And in the last place observe we that the Apostle affirmeth it of Gods chosen that they are vessels of mercy prepared unto glory that is God in his eternal decree hath ordained them to everlasting glory so that hence I might shew that some particular persons amongst men are appointed of God to salvation in heaven but that I have often met withal and therefore passe by it but hence we may truly take up this Observation That life and glory and happinesse in heaven it cometh unto Gods chosen in time Doctrine most freely from the free grace and mercy of God without any merit or desert of theirs at all it was prepared for them and they for it before they had a being and before the world was Matth. 25.34 Come you blessed inherit a Kingdome prepared for you before the world was or from the beginning of the world saith our Saviour and this truth the Scripture saith in Ephes 2.8 by grace yau are saved and that not of your selves it is the gift of God and in Titus 3.5 Not according to the works of righteousnesse that we have done but according to his mercy he hath saved us still running upon the free grace and mercy of God in Luke 12.32 Fear not little flock saith Christ it is your Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdome it is the free gift of your Father without any of your deserts And also in Rom. 6.23 the Apostle having said the wages of sin is death then presently he subjoyneth unto it not as the sequel of the Text doth require as the Remists themselves do confesse in their Annotations he saith not the wages of sin is death and the wages of holinesse is salvation but he changeth the term saith he the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life thereby evidencing that the eternal life and salvation of the godly in heaven it cometh freely without any merit or deserts of theirs at all and hence it is that eternal life in heaven it is called in Scripture an inheritance in Coloss 1.12 giving thanks that he hath provided for us an inheritance 1 Pet. 1.4 an inheritance immortal and undefiled Now who knoweth not this that an inheritance cometh to a child from the father out of the mere love of the father when the child it may be is not born and cannot do any thing to merit it so the inheritance of heaven being prepared for the godly and they for it it must needs come from the grace of God And the Reason Reason and ground of this is because that the whole glory of this may be unto the Lord the Lord will have the glory in the salvation of his chosen in Ephes 2.9 you are saved by grace through faith not of works lest any man should boast and brag of it that he brought something to his salvation Now this being so it meeteth directly with the opinion of our adversaries the Papists Vse those of the Antichristian Synagogue of Rome it quite over turneth their opinion in that they hold teach that life and glory in heaven belong to such as are first of all justified by Christ as admitted for the merit and desert of their own good works and it belongeth to them for the merit of their own good workes Now this errour besides the errour in the ground of it supposing a two-fold Justification in the sight of God which can never be proved in the Book of God when God justifieth he justifieth once for all besides this errour in the ground it cannot stand with the truth of God now delivered for if so be life and glory come unto Gods chosen in time most freely then not for their deserts for free gift and due debt cannot stand together with relation to the same subject But say the Papists life and glory in heaven it is called a reward therefore merited To this I answer The Holy Ghost hath taught us to distinguish of reward as two-fold in Rom. 4.4 and that is either of favour or of debt now eternal life is a reward indeed not of debt but of favour But whereas the Papists further reply Christ hath merited that the good works of his Chosen should be meritorious to life and salvation A mere idle shift we find in the Book of God that Christ hath merited for his chosen and died for their sins but we never find he died for their good works to make them meritorious no it is a thing altogether impossible that the best works of Gods chosen should have in them the true and whole nature of merit because they be imperfect and they are stained with sin the best work that a man can do when he hath striven to do his best he must go to God to crave pardon for his imbecility now these two cannot possibly stand together to stand in need of mercy and yet be meritorious Yea let me tell you we must take heed we do not abuse this Doctrine of Vse 2 God and savour it to our destruction and hereupon do as many do cast off all care of good works because they do not merit yet it is our duty to shew unto God our thankfulnesse for his mercy unto us in giving us right and title to heaven and to expresse our thankfulnesse unto him in all holy obedience yea without question we are bound to thankfulnesse for external and temporal good things because we find that the use and comfort of it cometh from God Oh much more are we then to be thankful unto God for heaven and in giving us hope of inheritance in heaven And now because every one will be ready to sooth up himself and to say I hope I shall come to heaven and I am thankful for it
every one will say so we are therefore to look unto it that we be thankful unto him indeed how shall we know that we may know it by this if so be we find that we are truly thankful unto God for his mercy unto us in outward good things and thereby we are moved to walk humbly before the Lord and the more the Lord openeth his hand and giveth good things unto us the more we do prove thankful unto him and walk before him humbly Mich. 6.8 and then we may assure our selves we are truly thankfull But on the contrary part if so be we find that we are not thankfull unto God for the things of this life but after the manner of the world the more the Lord doth open his hand unto us and give them riches the more they increase in pride in vanity in scorn in disdain and contempt of others because we are richer then others therefore we will be prouder then others and disdain and scorn our brethren let us pretend what we will we can never make it good that we are thankful unto God as David in 2 Sam. 7.18 considering the mercy of God in advancing him to the Kingdom saith O what am I that the Lord should vouchsafe such a mercy unto me so where that spirit is that was in David it will cause thee to be thankful unto God for every bit of bread and not to be proud and scornful considering it cometh from the free mercy of God so that this doctrine is not a doctrine of liberty but it is a special means of thankfulnesse to stirre us up to be truly thankful unto God VERSE 24. Even us whom he hath called not of the Jewes onely but also of the Gentiles OUr Apostle in this Verse entreth upon the third and last part of this Chapter and the sum and substance of this part is a declaration of that great work of calling the Gentiles and refusing and rejecting the Jewes which was foretold by the Prophets and this from the 24 verse to the end of the Chapter and the Apostle falleth upon this matter upon occasion of that which he put down in the Verse foregoing that the vessels of mercy are prepared of God unto glory now he descendeth from the general to the particular and that which he had before spoken in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the general he applyeth in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the particular and he sheweth who they are that he had ordained to mercy and they are the called of God the elect of God calling being an effect of Gods predestination and a fruit and effect of Gods eternal election and the Apostle doth appropriate this to the particulars Even us whom he hath called and he reduceth it to the subjects of it Jewes and Gentiles and he putteth down that distribution touching the subjects of Gods calling not barely but if you mark it very cautelously and very warily that his distribution might be free from all manner of exception for he saith not us whom he hath called Jewes and Gentiles but even us whom he hath called not of the Jewes onely but also of the Gentiles and now because Gods calling of the Gentiles it was a thing odious and hateful to the Jewes a thing seeming very absurd and incredible the calling of such as were dogs and without therefore the Apostle dwelleth upon this point and confirmeth it by a double testimony out of the Prophet Hosea in the 25. and 26. verses and then after this the Apostle doth further amplifie the calling of the Gentiles by an Antithesis by the rejection of the Jewes and that not of the body of the Jewes but a remnant of the Jewes onely and this our Apostle also confirmeth by a double Testimony out of the Prophet Isaiah in the 27 28 and 29. verses And last of all the Apostle maketh a Collection and he putteth it down by way of Answer to an Objection that might be made touching the calling of the Gentiles and rejection of the Jewes from the 30. verse to the end of the Chapter Now then to come to the particular handling of the 24. verse In this verse for the general matter contained in it we may observe two things First an instance given by the Apostle touching the persons that are vessels of mercy prepared of God unto glory he instanceth in himself and others who are called even us And secondly a distribution of the subjects of this calling Jewes and Gentiles the Apostle ranging the subjects of Gods calling into these two sorts Jewes and Gentiles and he putteth it down so warily and so cautelously that no Objection might be made against it not of the Jewes onely but also of the Gentiles There is no great difficulty in the words Even us whom he hath called Or according to the text Original those whom he hath called namely us whom he hath called that is whom God hath called now Gods calling it is an act of his eternal love whereby he doth please to call and invite men to salvation this is the definition of Gods calling in the notion and generality For when men are called by the preaching of the Word and the Ministry thereof and they hear it onely with the ears of their body that is the external and outward calling they are called to come to hear and obey and they hear it and answer not as Christ speaketh Matth. 16.20 many are called but few are chosen or else Gods calling is inward and effectual namely this when men are called by the voyce of God and the preaching of it and they answer to it their hearts answer they are called effectually by the working of the holy Spirit which bringeth them from Ignorance and unbelief to true knowledge and faith in Christ and they are called out of darknesse into a marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 the holy Spirit of God doth bend their hearts to yeeld to the call of the Lord to receive the promise of mercy offered unto them and he doth cause them to yeeld to the will of God revealed in their hearts and lives this is Gods effectual calling and this is the calling here meant not of the Jewes onely That is not those onely who are descended of the line of Abraham of Jacob and of Israel but of the Gentiles also Which was indeed a hard thing for the Jewes to believe that is even us who are descended of another line and come of another nation of the world and are termed Gentiles and are aliens from the Common wealth of Israel even us who are strangers from God Ephes 1.12 so that we may easily conceive the purpose of the Apostle here to be this viz. Even us whom God hath called effectually and by the work of his Spirit brought from ignorance and unbelief even us whom he hath wrought upon by the preaching of his Word and made it effectual for our calling to believe in him even us not onely us who have descended according
to the line and from the loynes of Abraham and of Jacob but us whosoever we be that have come of other Nations and People of the World and are called Gentiles and aliens and strangers even us hath he called Now then come we to such things as hence are offered unto us for our Instruction And beloved it is worth our marking in the first place that the Apostle putteth himself in the number of those that are called of God and doth aver himself to be a vessel of mercie whom God hath called even us you and I We that are effectually called are the vessels of mercie I as well as you and you as well as I are in that number Now then from hence it followeth directly That the Apostle Paul was assured of his own salvation Doctrine and he knew it that he in particular was one of Gods chosen and that God had appointed him to life and glorie in Heaven and that he should come to be partaker of it how By his true inward and effectual calling he knew it and was assured of it that he was a vessel of mercie and that he was in the number of Gods Chosen and should one day come to eternal salvation in Heaven Admit this and grant it to be true which the enemies of Gods Truth do contend about that he had a special and Divine Revelation from Heaven which declared to him that he was a chosen vessel yet he knew it not by special Revelation onely but also by his effectual calling here affirmed This Text is clear but he knew it also by his effectual calling and his effectual calling was an evidence that Heaven was prepared for him and he prepared for Heaven so that this is clear vnless they wil denie the evidence of the text And as this blessed Apostle was assured of his own salvation by his effectual calling so doubtless they that are true Christians that are effectually called they come to have a particular assurance of their own salvation that they are in the number of Gods Chosen for the Apostle if you mark it doth joyn others with himself he doth not only say I but you also speaking in the judgement of Charitie therefore we are to abhor and detest that same damnable Doctrine of the Church of Rome who teach that a particular perswasion of a mans own salvation is presumption it is an illusion and deceit of the devil and say they you mock the people and are blind leaders but this is a damnable doctrine of theirs for beloved take away all assurance of a mans salvation and you leave a Christian in a miserable case we strip him of all ground of joy and true comfort and rejoycing yea we take from him all ground of hearty thankfulnesse and encouragements of going on in a good course of life for how can a man truly and soundly rejoyce in the apprehension of the joyes of heaven when he is uncertain altogether whether he shall enjoy them yea or no how can a man be thankful for that thing that he is altogether uncertain whether he shall enjoy it yea or no And how can a man go on constantly in a holy and good course of life when he cannot tell whether it will bring him to heaven or to hell yea or no as the Papists Doctrine doth say Oh it is a most uncomfortable position a position of Desperation that those enemies of Gods grace do hold and teach that a special perswasion of Gods mercy and of a mans salvation it is presumption and a false illusion of the devil for this is a Position directly contrary to the evidence of this Text. Again we see that the Apostle having spoken of Gods vessels of mercy that they are such as are prepared unto glory he doth adjoyn a particular instance who they are that are prepared unto glory even such as are called of God I and you that are effectually called hence ariseth this Conclusion viz. Doctrine That Gods effectual calling is unto men a sure and certaine evidence of their election such as are effectually called amongst men and powerfully wrought upon by the preaching of the Word and brought from their ignorance and unbelief and set out of the estate of Nature into the state of grace they have hereby an infallible evidence that they are such as shall be saved eternally and this truth we finde made good unto us in many places of Scripture in Romans 8.30 VVhom he Predestinated them also he called where we see Gods effectual calling it is a fruit following necessarily upon Gods Predestination as the effect the cause in Acts 13.48 As many as were ordained to eternal Life believed they that belonged to Election they were wrought upon effectually to believe in Christ and the Gospel and through their Faith and effectual Calling they were made known to be such as were appointed to life and glorie in Heaven in John 10.16 saith Christ Other sheep I have that are not of this fold they also must be called and they shall answer my calling and voice and be effectually to their Calling and shall know of what fold they are of they shall receive my mark and know my voice and answer my call in 2 Thess 2.13 The Apostle having said That the believing Thessalonians were from the beginning chosen to salvation he presently subjoyneth in the 14. verse whereunto he hath called you by the preaching of his Gospel that you might obtain salvation thereby signifying that their effectual calling was an evidence of their election and to these many more might be added all proving that effectual Calling is a certain evidence of Election and it must needs be so for this Reason Because God in time doth call all those whom he hath before all time from everlasting fore-ordained and set apart to life and glory in Heaven and therefore effectual calling it is proper and peculiar onely unto Gods Elect others are called outwardly but Gods effectual calling is proper and peculiar to Gods Childeren and all those shall in Gods due time be effectually called that are appointed to salvation in Heaven so that it followeth necessarily that Gods effectual Calling is unto men a sure evidence of Gods Election of them unto salvation Now this point is of excellent use Vse in the first place it maketh known unto us how we may come to be assured of our own salvation and that that we in particular are in the number of Gods Chosen and such as shal be saved a matter of great weight and a thing indeed wherein many do erre and goe astray in this one point as those are strongly deluded by the Devil who thinke as many doe that if men doe live a civil and orderly life whatsover they be though they be Papists Familists Anabaptists or whatsoever yet if they leade a Civil and orderly life and carriage in the World they shall certainly be saved but these are deceived for it is not a Civil and orderly living in the World
That the glory of God and the glory of Christ ought to be most dear to us yea dearer to us then our own salvation we ought to prefer the glory of God and the glory of Christ before the best good thing we do enjoy or hope to enjoy yea even before heaven it self and we are to be willing rather to lose our part of happinesse and glory in heaven if it were possible we being the Children of God then that God or Christ should lose any part of their glory And thus it was with the blessed Apostle in this place and thus also it was with Moses the servant of God Exod. 32.32 we there find that Moses desired the Lord if he would not pardon the sin of his people Israel but proceed in wrath against them and destroy them as they had deserved by their sins that then he would blot him out of his book of life that he had written Moses knew that with the preservation of the people of Israel who were then the visible Church of God was Gods glory joyned both in respect of the promises made to the Fathers which it was not for Gods honour to frustrate and in regard of the blasphemies which the Egyptians and other spiteful enemies to God would have been ready on the ruine and destruction of the Lords people to cast out against him Moses therefore did not onely look to the preservation of the people but to the glory of God also and in respect of that he was even carelesse of his own salvation and he preferred Gods glory before his own eternal happinesse and salvation indeed we find not any other example in the Scripture to this purpose saving onely these two of Moses and Paul but these do sufficiently shew that though we cannot attain to that measure of zeal to Gods glory that was in them yet we must aym at it and we are to labour and strive to the uttermost of our power to come to it and these examples do evidence to us that thus it ought to be with us that we ought to esteem the glory of God and the glory of Christ most dear to us and to prefer that before the best good thing we do enjoy or hope to enjoy yea even before our own happinesse and glory in heaven it ought to be dearer to us then our own soules and the Reasons and grounds of it be these First the glory of God is the end of all the creatures of God and for Reason 1 his glory were all things made we live and move and have our being from God to this end principally to yeeld him glory and all our thoughts words and actions are to tend to this that God may have glory by them it is that we are taught to pray for in the first place Hallowed be thy Name 1 Cor. 10.31 And secondly the glory of God is the chiefest good it 's better worth Reason 2 then all things in heaven or earth And hence it is that the Angels and Saints in heaven make it their whole joy and felicity to sing praise and glory to God yea they are so ravished with the love of Gods glory that they never faint nor grow weary in sounding forth the praise and glory of God they cease not day nor night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was which is and which is to come Revel 4.8 and therefore on these grounds it followes directly and necessarily that the glory of God and the glory of Christ ought to be most dear to us and we are to preserve that before the best good things we do enjoy or hope to enjoy yea even before our own happinesse and glory in heaven and it ought to be dearer to us then our own soules A duty to apply it and to lay it a little nearer to our consciences a duty I say wherein most of us come far short for consider it Vse are we so affected to the glory of God and to the glory of Christ as we hold that dearer to us then our own lives yea then our eternal good and comfort and the everlasting salvation of our own soules alas if we examine the matter we shall find that many of us prefer a little worldly pelf a little ease or pleasure or a little vain credit in the world before the glory of God and the glory of Christ Do not some who have abundance of wealth wherewith they might do much good and honour God and Christ exceedingly as Solomon exhorts Prov. 3.9 honour God with thy riches they might imploy their wealth to many good uses to the promotion of Gods glory and to the furthering of the Gospel of Christ And do they not prefer the keeping of their wealth after a base and sordid and miserable manner before the doing good with it to the advancement of the glory of God and the glory of Christ and do not some love their ease and the contentment of the flesh so well as they prefer that before the enduring of a little hardship or a little pains or a little suffering for the name and glory of Christ Jesus They will rather as they say sleep in a whole skin though it be with a breach a wound and an hole in their Conscience then they will undergo any trouble or hard measure from the hands of men for doing such things as ought and might bring glory to God and might advance the name of the Lord and whereby Christ might be magnified as Philip. 1.20 And so for the matter of vain credit and good liking of men in the world Be there not many so poysoned with the love of that as they prefer it before the glory of God and the glory of Christ Are not many ashamed to professe the name of Christ and to be sound and sincere in the profession of the Gospel because they shall be disgraced in the world and be counted Puritanes they will not adorn the doctrine of the Gospel they professe Tit. 2.10 they will not endeavour to be blamelesse and pure and the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a naughty and crooked nation and to shine as lights in the world as the Apostle exhorts Phil. 2.15 Though God and Christ might be thereby much glorified because then they shall be out of favour and credit with men yea haply with their best friends as they account them with those on whom their preferment depends yea are there not many in the world and amongst us so far from accounting the glory of God and the glory of Christ so dear to them as they could be content for that to part with the best good thing they do enjoy or hope to enjoy even to part with heaven for it if it might be as that indeed they will not part with any one beloved sin for the glory of God and for the glory of Christ They will not for the glory of God and for the honour of the Lord Jesus part with their pride their
and consider that thou seest in them that so go on in their sins a lively image picture and proportion of thine own former natural estate and miserable condition such a one was I once I took as much delight as they do posted as fast to damnation as they do how much then am I bound to magnifie the goodnesse and mercy of God to me who of his mere goodnesse and mercy hath turned my feet another way even the Lord of his rich and abundant mercy hath put a manifest difference between my self and many others he hath put now a new mind in me and hath given me a delight in good things what shall I render unto the Lord what thanks what glory what honour and obedience shall I render to my God This ought to be the meditation and consideration of thee whosoever thou art that findest thy self wrought upon by the holy Word of God when thou seest other run on in sin with delight and pleasure to post to destruction as if they meant to come thither with all speed hasting to damnation Oh then lift up thy heart in Serious contemplation upon the free grace and goodnesse of God in calling thee out of that number and electing thee to salvation Further in that God saith here unto Abraham in Isaac shall thy seed be called Isaac being one that belonged unto Gods eternal election I might here stand to shew that God doth effectually call none but such as belong unto Gods election but I stood upon that in the 30 verse of the eight Chapter onely one thing now that is this We are to mark that God here saith not unto Abraham in Isaac will I make good my Covenant in Isaac will I make good my promise but he saith in Isaac shall thy seed be called Isaac shall be called and his seed and so will I make good my Covenant in Isaacs calling The doctrine is this That Gods effectual calling of men out of the state of nature Doctr. into the state of grace by the Word and work of his Spirit Effectual calling is an evidence of a mans being in Covenant with God it is a sure evidence unto them that are so called that they are in Covenant with God and God with them that God is their good and gracious Father yea it doth infallibly evidence unto them that God hath loved them from everlasting God now hath set upon them a seal of his special love and that now they have right and title to the promises of God concerning righteousnesse life and salvation 2 Pet. 1.10 saith the Apostle Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure You see he putteth down calling before election not that it is so in the order of nature but if a man be called he is certainly elected if we be sure of our calling we may be sure of our election we may certainly and infallibly conclude that we are in Covenant with God and have right and title to the promises of God we may so conclude not doubtfully or conjecturally but certainly conclude I have right and title to the Promises of God Know then what an excellent and sweet comfort may this be to them Vse that find themselves effectually called hast thou good evidence of thy effectual calling hath the Word a kindly working hath it wrought upon thee a change and set thee out of the state of nature into the state of grace thou art certainly in a most blessed and happy condition this doth evidence that God did love thee before the world was before it had a being now thou art in Covenant with God and God hath now set his seal upon thee thou art one of his good Isaacs one of his beloved think upon it therefore the meditation of thy effectual calling is more comfortable unto thee then to think upon thy election or redemption by Christ these are matters of great comfort but thy effectual calling is more comfortable unto thee it sealeth up that thou art one of Gods chosen that thou art redeemed by the Blood of Christ look to thy effectual calling or else it appertaineth not unto thee but thou being called here is wonderful comfort for thee VERSE 8. That is they that are the children of the flesh are not the children of God but the children of the Promise are counted for the seed IN this Verse our Apostle doth deliver by way of Explication that which he put down in the verse foregoing and having in the seventh verse before affirmed that not all they that came of Abraham by the course of nature are the true seed of Abraham because Ishmael was the seed of Abraham but God said he should not inherit the promise but in Isaac should the seed be called he should participate in the promise now this being brought by the Apostle and set down in the verse foregoing In this verse the Apostle explaineth himself and layeth open his meaning a little further shewing what he meaneth by children and by the seed of Abraham here he explaineth his meaning Neither are they all children in the verse before because they are the seed of Abraham but in Isaac shall thy seed be called then he subjoyneth in this eighth verse That is they that are the children of the flesh are not the children of God but the children of the Promise are counted for the seed And in this eighth verse we have laid before us an opposition between the children of the flesh and the children of the promise First of all denying them to be the children of God who are the children of the flesh and secondly affirming that they onely are accounted the true seed who are the children of the Promise Now for the explication of this verse lesse need it to be stood upon and spoken of if so be some erring spirits did not wrest and pervert it and labour to draw it to a wrong sense I will therefore endeavour to lay open the true sense of it viz. That is my meaning is they which are the children of the flesh The Arminians and the Anabaptists joyn together hand in hand and do understand by children of the flesh those that seek for righteousnesse and salvation by the righteousnesse of the Law and so seek for it by a carnal and fleshly course after the law and the flesh and so such as are Justitiaries and seek to be justified by the Law this say they is meant by children of the flesh this is their conceit But this cannot be the true sense of the phrase flesh though I grant indeed by children of the flesh we note out such as are Justitiaries in some places of Scripture and such as seek for salvation by their own righteousnesse the righteousnesse of the Law and that in and by the Law yet here in this place the literal sense and the literal meaning is to be taken and by children of the flesh we are to understand those that discended of Abraham according to the course of
cannot be that they should be drawn aside finally into any fundamental errour or wicked life and so go on and perish everlastingly and come short of life and salvation though they come with great force as the Imps of Satan and followers of Antichrist do bear down weak ones yea if it were possible to deceive the very elect yet they cannot in the 2 Tim. 2.19 The Apostle speaketh expresly that the foundation of God standeth sure and hath this seal the Lord knoweth who are his that is Gods eternal decree in saving his chosen upon which their election is built as upon a foundation remaineth sure and certain and unchangeable for ever And there is good Reason for it Because God is almighty he is of infinite power and he having from Reason 1 everlasting willed and decreed the salvation of some he is able to bring them into the possession of it in despight of Satan and all the power of hell opposite unto it for he is a God of infinite power and can bring them into possession none can frustrate and make void and disappoint what God hath decreed Again God is in his own nature unchangeable yea and in his love which is essential unchangeable and therefore that purpose and decree in saving some must needs be suitable to his nature and answerable to his love which are essential in his holy Majestie and therefore his decree is immutable and unchangeable Reason 2 Take the sufferings of Jesus Christ the bitter passion of the Lord Jesus and they are a sufficient evidence and proof that God is unchangeable in his decree touching the salvation of some did the Lord Jesus descend down from the highest glory in heaven it self so low as to take upon himself the form of a servant and humble himself to the cursed and shameful death of the Crosse and felt such agony and pains as his sweat was drops of blood Luke 22.44 did he in his very soul indure the wrath of his Father that made him cry out under the weight and burden of it My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27.46 Did he thus suffer the wrath of his Father for the sins of Gods chosen And yet did not the Lord for all this determine that any should be saved infallibly but left that at randome to depend upon the will of man that if man would imbrace Christ and believe in him thus suffering he should be saved if not be damned Can we with reason judge this or imagine this that Christ should thus shed his blood upon such uncertainty that the whole fruit and benefit of his suffering should depend upon the frail will of man that if man would imbrace it he should be saved if not he should be damned no the bitter sufferings of Christ do strongly evince this and do clearly manifest that God hath certainly concluded the salvation of some and the damnation of others so that we may conclude upon this as a certain truth that God having fore-appointed some particular persons among men to life and salvation they cannot misse of it but God will certainly and infallibly bring them to the possession of it Object But it may be some will object and say unto me If Gods decree and his eternal purpose be as you say thus certain and unchangeable and cannot be disanulled then you bind God by his decree to do that which he hath decreed of necessity yea so as that God cannot do otherwise whereas God is a free worker will you bind the hands of God that he cannot chuse but do it and not do otherwise To this I answer Answ If so be God be bound by his decree who bound him but his own blessed Majestie Again more fully what absurdity is there in it to say that God cannot deny himself and that he cannot lye they are the words of the Apostle Titus 1.2 That which God hath purposed and decreed to be done he doth it of necessity of infallibility not of constraint or compulsion but of necessity of certainty why God is good he is onely good and cannot be evil he is good of necessity necessarily good he cannot be evil yet he is not constrained to be good no he is a voluntary and a free worker and no inconveniency or absurdity will follow upon this to say that God doth that upon necessity of infallibility which he hath decreed and purposed to be done Nay rather if we should say as some do that the purpose of God were alterable and changeable we should derogate from the wisdom of God and impeach it as if so be God by some after wisdom did see something whereof he before was ignorant which caused him to alter his mind and change his purpose and decree this were monstrous horrible and fearful blasphemy Object Again some will say If so be this be true that Gods eternal purpose and decree be thus unchangeable then those that God hath appointed to life and salvation must needs be saved this will follow then they must needs believe and if they must needs be saved they must needs believe and so they are forced to believe they believe of necessity they cannot otherwise choose and faith is forced upon them Answ I answer Gods elect they shall believe in time and that certainly and infallibly but not whether they will or no not by any inforcing of their wills not by any violence offered unto them the will of man is free no violence can force it but the Lord by the secret working of his holy Spirit doth cause it to be willing Ex nolentibus facit Deus volentes and doth alter and change the course and motion and work of the wills of men and makes them fit to receive grace and this is that Christ speaketh of Joh. 6.44 None can come to me except God the Father draw him what drawn by force no there is an alteration wrought by the inward work of the Spirit of God altering the motions of the will making the will willing to receive grace and faith and so when Gods elect do receive faith they receive it willingly when they come actually to believe the motion of their will is turned another way by nature they cannot but will and choose evil but the motions of their will is turned another way by the secret working of the holy Spirit of God and made willing so that we may resolve upon this that God hath from everlasting foreappointed some particular persons amongst men certainly and infallibly and so as that they cannot misse of coming to life and glory in heaven First of all let this teach us to savour this truth aright and to receive Vse 1 it into honest and good hearts take heed of abusing of it that we rightly conceive it and rightly apply it for many there be that do pervert and wrong this holy truth of God and grosly abuse it and like the spider suck poyson from sweet flowers many in the world do thus
whatsoever they be Doctrine no not the good works of men have any hand or stroke in Gods election of some to life and glory in heaven and his effectual calling of some in time these two things they are merely and onely of the free grace of God and not of the works of man whatsoever their works be be they never so good or excellent works in themselves And this being the proposition that it may rightly be conceived and that we erre not in the beginning we must know that Gods grace in Scripture hath a threefold acception First it is taken for Gods free favour which is of the nature of God and essential unto him the places of Scripture are obvious and plain unto us Secondly The grace of God in Scripture it is taken for the working of grace so some Divines take it for the operation extending and reaching out that free favour unto others Thirdly it is taken for the gifts of grace whether those gifts be habitual or actual as faith love joy hope peace patience and the like these are stiled by the name of grace now the proposition that we deliver is That Gods election is of his free grace my meaning is it is not the gifts of grace but by grace we are to understand the free grace and favour of God and the reaching and extending of that grace in time so that this being premised the point is to be thus conceived That Gods eternal election of some to life and glory in heaven it is of the free grace and favour of God being extended and reached out to his chosen and not of the works of man be they never so good or excellent though they be the works of grace and for the proof of this it is manifest in Rom. 11.5 The Apostle saith that at this very day there is a certain remnant of the Jews under the election of grace then he subjoyneth in the sixth verse Now if it be of grace then not of works for then were grace no grace and if of works then not of grace for then were works no more works so that the Apostle maketh a flat opposition and a contrariety between works and grace that the one of these being admitted and granted the other cannot stand but must fall grace and works cannot stand together in the same case Ephes 2.8 9. saith the Apostle by grace you are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God and then he subjoyneth not of works lest any man should boast 2 Tim. 1.9 The Apostle speaking of God saith he hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own eternal purpose and grace and Titus 3.4 5. VVhen the bountifulnesse and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by the righteousnesse that we had done but of his own mere mercy he saved us These and many others do sufficiently evidence unto us the truth of the point That Gods free grace and favour is the cause of eternal election and not the works of men which are but splendida peccatam glittering sins Because God will have all the glory of all the good that cometh to his Reason 1 chosen or is done to them he will not impart his glory unto any other he will have the beginning the increase and consummation of it to come of his free grace and not of the works of man lest any man should take any part of the glory to himself Ephes 2.9 no not of the best works lest they should pride presume and magnifie themselves in their own good works and so detract from the glory of God and so mans mouth might be stopped Reason 2 The Lord will have his chosen to have sound and solid comfort in the certainty of their election and of their effectual calling not a comfort upon a rotten ground but sound comfort when Gods chosen come to be assured of it that they are in the number of Gods elect and have evidence that they are effectually called God will have that evidence and assurance of theirs to be built upon a sure ground namely upon his own free grace which is indeed unchangeable as his own blessed Majestie and essential in him and so a ground immoveable not built upon any works of theirs because they are variable and changeable in their own Nature it is true indeed Faith shall never fall away not by any immutability in faith it self but because grace doth continually support and uphold it but faith and good works of men in their own nature are variable and changeable weak and imperfect corruption cleaving unto them and unchangeablenesse belongeth neither to Saint nor Angel nor any thing but God himself it is his Attribute so that upon these two grounds we may resolve that Gods election and effectual calling is onely of his free grace and not of mans works Vse 1 First of all this truth is of great force and beareth strongly against the merit of good works which is held and taught by the enemies of Gods grace those of the Antichristian Synagogue of Rome whether it be merits of congruity or merits of condignity for this is their tenent the good things done by men before their conversion those do merit ex congruo but such as are done after calling those they magnifie and say they merit ex condigno by a kind of dignity equal to the works of glory that it is just with the Lord to give them salvation for it yea the point now delivered meeteth directly with that Popish conceit that grace and works do concur say they and so make a mingle mangle and hotch-potch grace and works do concur and meet together in the justification and salvation of a sinner they are good friends and at amity in flat opposition to the words of God which do teach that in the matter of justification and salvation these two are at odds in matter of good life faith and good works must be but not in matter of justification or salvation as they teach Again we find that justification and salvation they are by the Apostle derived and fetched from the very same beginning and cause namely the free grace and eternal love of God as well as election and vocation Rom. 8.30 Whom he predestinated them he called whom he called them he justified whom he justified them he also glorified so that election vocation justification and glorification come all from the same grounds Object 1 But yet further the Papists do seek to elude and to put out the clear light by many shifts as first of all say they the places alledged in Rom. 11. Ephes 2. and others where the Scripture maketh an Antithesis and opposition between grace and works you must know the meaning of the Holy Ghost his meaning is Ceremonial works not Moral works Ceremonial works have no hand in Justification Answ To this I answer The Apostle speaketh indefinitely shutting out all works whatsoever they
be in the matter of justification and sanctification but to answer more fully I hope the Papists will not deny but that Abraham and David had as well Moral works as Ceremonial works if they do they deny the plain truth of God and yet the Apostle saith Rom. 4.4 5 6. These two holy men they were not justified or saved by any thing done by themselves but even by the faith of Jesus Christ being imputed unto them for righteousnesse Object 2 Again say the Papists we grant they were justified by faith why then Faith is a work and therefore works have some stroke in the Justification of a sinner I answer Answ It is true faith is a work it is a work of God Christ calleth it so Joh. 6.29 when the Scribes and Pharisees say what shall we do that we may do the works of God Christ saith believe in God that is a work of all works the best work but we must know that faith doth not justifie as it is a work no not by the worth and goodnesse of faith the very act of believing justifieth not for the vertue and goodnesse of it but it justifieth relativè as an instrument or hand applying and taking hold of the Lord Jesus Christ and so doth faith justifie apprehending Christ as the matter of Justification Yet further they object say the Papists in the places alledged where Object 3 there is an opposition between grace and works the Holy Ghost meaneth works of nature such as are done by the strength of nature and not of the works of grace no these two may well stand together works that come from the grace and Spirit of God and grace these two may well stand together in the matter of salvation To this I answer Answ I beseech you consider with me that place in Ephes 2.8 9. where the Apostle saith by grace you are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God then he subjoyneth not of works lest any man should boast of what works doth the Apostle speak of works of nature no such matter but works done by the power of grace how may that appear in the tenth verse he saith we are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus to good works plainly teaching us that the works he speaketh of are works done by us framed anew in Christ Jesus by the power of his Spirit and grace we being in Christ made new creatures so to leave the Papists Is it so That Gods eternal election of his chosen before all time and Vse 2 effectual calling in time is merely and onely of Gods free grace and favour and not of the works of men upon this ground we must learn our Lesson and duty howsoever we are bound to the doing of good works of all sorts and kinds within the compasse of our place and callings both duties of piety to God duties of love equity mercy and justice to men and are bound to be rich and plentiful in all good works for necessary uses that they may be fruits of faith evidences of Gods love and favour unto us in Christ testimonies of our thankfulnesse unto God for his mercy and necessary antecedents to God before the reward of life and glory in heaven so that good works are necessary yet mark the Lesson howsoever we are thus bound to good works yet we must renounce the merit of them take heed that we rest not upon the merit of good works we must renounce all trust and confidence in them and stick onely and wholly to the free grace of God for our justification our comfort here and happinesse hereafter all from the beginning to the consummation from predestination to glorification is all of the free grace and favour of God Many silly ignorant people there be that say they hope to be saved but ask them the question how you shall have a blind answer by their good dealing by their good serving of God and by their good prayers they are just and true and by this means they hope to be saved they have no other ground but that which is merely natural Popish and carnal and doth shoulder and thrust out the free grace and favour of God alas if there were no other way to come to heaven but by our good dealing and good serving of God woe be unto us for then no flesh shall ever be saved no mere man shall ever come to heaven if all our happinesse depend upon our own goodnesse all our comfort were at an end For the best of our works are stained like menstruous clouts your hearing the Word our preaching and prayer they are but as menstruous and filthy clouts and have many imperfections cleaving unto them and herein learn a trick and subtilty of Satan if Satan cannot prevail with a man to be abominable and vile in his life to be a debauched creature but that he will live civilly and orderly and will be doing good things then he will temper with him and stirre him up to be conceited of his goodnesse and to rest upon it as the ground of comfort when a man doth avoid the bloody-faced sins of the world then the devil maketh him to think he is a right honest man and make that the ground of salvation but this is as pleasing to the devil as a lewd and a wicked course of life for assuredly the trust and ground of comfort in any thing done by us shall assoon bring a man to hell as the most vile and debauched course of life Oh then trust perfectly to the grace of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1.13 the word is very significant and signifieth soundly holily and solidly trust to the free grace of God for if thou trust upon any thing else it will plunge thy soul into the bottomlesse pit of hell yea if we rest upon the grace of God though the Lord do afflict and bring us under in grievous afflictions yet happy are we we are built upon the free grace of God and he will never take his grace and mercy from us as he saith to David 2 Sam. 7.14 15. if thy son sin against me I will correct him with the rods of men but my mercy will I never take from thee thou art in a blessed estate that resteth upon the mercy of God VERSE 12. It was said unto her The elder shall serve the younger IN this Verse our Apostle putteth down the speech of God unto Rebekah which we read of in Gen. 25.23 the Holy Ghost in that Chapter telleth us that Rebekah having conceived twins two children in her womb and feeling the children to strive in her womb she went to ask counsel of the Oracle of God touching that matter and the text saith God gave her this Answer two Nations are in thy womb Rebekah two manner of people shall be divided out of thy bowels and the one people shall be mightier then the other the elder shall serve the younger these were the very words of
as the haughty eye and lying tongue he doth not onely hate the pride and the lye but the haughty eye and the lying tongue and the heart of wickednesse and the feet running to mischief so odious and hateful is errour and sin to God therefore we must herein endeavor to be like our heavenly Father and not onely disclaim errour and sin but hate it with a loathing detestation like unto God our Father yea hate the members of sin Vse Upon this ground of truth it followeth by way of Use and Application thnt it must be far from every one of us we professing through Gods mercy the holy truth of God and the holy religion of God which now standeth in force and authority amongst us we must take heed that we be not indifferent persons persons of indifferent minds in respect of the errours of Popery Anabaptisme or any other errours whatsoever not caring what end goeth forwards or what Religion is in force whether Papistry or the truth or no but disclaim them and hate them with detestation And it is but a phantasie and a dream of some of the Polititians and Politick heads in this age that turn Religion to a matter of policy that forsooth there may be a pacification between us and the Papists in matter of Religion and there may be a mixture of our Religion with Popish Religion if there were but a moderation and a yeelding of both sides this is abominable and odious to make this composition of Religion for why Against Tolleration the Religion we hold and professe it is grounded upon the holy truth of God revealed unto us out of the holy Scriptures and the Popish Religion is contrary unto it and doth overturn and throw down the truth of God yea it doth overturn all the Articles of our Christian Religion in their tenents and therefore in the 2 Corinth 6.14 saith the Apostle What fellowship is between light and darknesse What agreement between us and the Papists in matter of Religion therefore we must hate their religion And to stirre us up unto this duty there being never more need then now wherein many men of unstable and unsanctified hearts begin to link and encline to Popery let us therefore know that we do not truly disclaim and hate Popish religion unlesse we hate them and account their Positions as dangerous and such as will destroy our soules if we cleave unto them howsoever some say they cannot endure Popery yet assuredly unlesse they hate it with unfeigned hatred they do not aright detest them for when men begin to speak favourably of Papistry and of Anabaptisme and of other errours and say they have some truth in them and they begin to like of them these men do not as they ought to do they do not hate and dislike errours and false doctrines but assuredly a thousand to one in short time they will be insnared and intangled with the position of Popery or Anabaptisme as the holy Prophet said to the people 1 King 18.21 how long will ye halt between two opinions this is not to go out in the right profession of the truth with unfeigned hearts assuredly he that loveth God and good things will hate evil as he that loveth chastity will abhor uncleannesse and filthinesse he that loveth just dealing will hate cosening he that maketh conscience of the Sabbath cannot endure the prophanation of the Sabbath so he that loveth the truth will disclaim all errours as Popery and Anabaptisme and such like foolish opinions as if a man see a Toad a Serpent or Snake he will flye from it it being poysonful and hurtful and not receive that for his nutriment which he knoweth will procure his detriment And therefore let us never rest untill we find a detestation in us of Popery and all other errours and then we shall be sure to stand fast in the true Religion in the middest of Popery if Popery should come as God forbid it should we might by our hatred of it be kept from embracing it therefore labour to hate and detest it VERSE 15. For he said unto Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy And I will shew compassion to whom I will shew compassion THe blessed Apostle having in the Verses precedent given us a general denyal of that grosse conclusion which some might infer upon his speech that because God loved Jacob and hated Esau freely without any respect had to any good in Jacob or evil in Esau therefore God is partial and unequal in his dealing he having I say denyed this most emphatically with an Absit God forbid Now our Apostle subjoyneth a more special denyal and confutation and refutation of that absurd and grosse conclusion in the 15 16 17 and 18. verses of this Chapter In the 15. and 16. verses the Apostle sheweth that God is not unjust in his free choyce of some particular persons amongst men to life and salvation and in the 17. and 18. verses he sheweth God is not unjust in his free and absolute rejection of others In the 15. verse he cleareth God from injustice by a testimony of Scripture and in the 16. verse he doth conclude and determine that point Now touching the testimony of Scripture in the 15. verse first the Apostle makes known by whom and to whom it was uttered and spoken Then secondly he putteth down the words of the testimony I will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion This testimony of Scripture is here brought by the Apostle as a proof of this that though God did freely from everlasting out of his own mere good pleasure nothing else moving him thereunto choose some men to life and salvation and reject others yet was he most just and righteous and herein lyeth the weight and force of his Argument That God hath free and absolute power to shew mercy unto whom he will and to deny his mercy unto whom he will therefore he is not unjust and unrighteous in choosing some to salvation and rejecting others to damnation And thus you see the scope of the words and general matter of this Verse Now the words of this 15. verse are somewhat to be examined For he saith to Moses that is God said unto Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and shew compassion to whom I will shew compassion These words they are the words of God to Moses in Exodus 33.19 there we find these very words And the occasion of the uttering of these words to Moses was upon Moses request unto God that he might see Gods glory in the 18. verse of that Chapter And God promised unto him that he would shew him his back-parts and so in part yeelded unto his request and then he subjoyneth these very words as a reason why he would shew that favour to Moses and to no other man Not for any merit or any worthinesse in Moses himself but out
of his own mercy I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy I will shew this kindnesse unto thee to see the back parts of my glory because I will have mercy on whom I will Now by mercy in this text of the Apostle and the other of Moses we are to understand the act the exercise and work of mercy and by compassion the act the exercise and work of compassion and pity or rather tender love for the word compassion cometh from a radix Dilexit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifieth to love with such a tender affection as mothers do love their children naturally such love as the woman exprest to her child before Solomon And this mercy and pity being attributed ascribed and given to God it signifieth either a propension a readinesse of his Divine will to help those that be in misery which is the essential and natural property of mercy in God Or else it signifieth the act and exercise and the work of Gods mercy extended and reached out unto his people and so we are to understand it here not the property of mercy which is natural and essential in God but the extent of it to the creature And when the Lord saith I will have mercy and compassion on whom I will his meaning is the act and exercise and work of my mercy and compassion and tender love it is ever by me extended reached out and exercised to those amongst men to whom I will exercise extend and reach it out and that merely and onely of my own free will nothing in man or coming by man moving me to do it so then thus briefly conceive we the meaning of the Apostle in this verse God saith unto Moses in Exod. 33.19 upon Moses request unto him God promising out of his favour to him to shew him his back parts that the act and exercise and work of my mercy is ever by me extended and reached out to those amongst men to whom I will extend and reach it out and that merely and onely of my own good pleasure nothing in man coming from man moving me to reach it out I wil have mercy on whom I will Come we now to matter of Doctrine And beloved I cannot passe it by without noting that the Apostle here alledging a text of Scripture uttered by Moses saith God spake it so saith God to Moses whence it is clear That the Scripture the Word of God the written Word of God Doctrine it is a speaking word of efficacy not a dumb Word and it is Gods Oracle as the Apostle calleth it in Rom. 3.2 yea God speaketh to his people and Church in and by his written Word and in every part and parcel of it so saith the Apostle God saith unto Moses Indeed I grant that God spake all the words of the ten Commandements after a more special and peculiar manner Exod. 20. God spake all these words and said but yet the whole Scripture is Gods speaking Word and Gods Oracle yea his lively Oracle not a dead or dumb Oracle as the Holy Ghost saith Heb. 4.12 the Word of God is lively and mighty in operation sharper then any two edged sword a quickening word and a word of power and hence it is the Prophet Esay sendeth the people of his time to enquire of God Esay 8.19 20. saith he should not a people enquire of their God then presently he adjoyneth To the Law and to the Testimony there you shall hear God speak and know his mind Now if any do object that of the Apostle in the 1 Cor. 7.12 Object where the Apostle saith Reliquis autem ego dicò non Dominus and to the remnant I say and not the Lord It seemeth therefore the Apostle speaketh here and not the Lord I answer the meaning of the place is Answ that the Lord hath not given any such expresse Commandement in any place of his Word as the Apostle doth there deliver it but the Apostle did gather so much by interpretation of the Scripture and he so spake as he was guided by the Spirit of God as he saith in the 40 verse Et ipse Spiritum dei habeam and I have the Spirit of God I speak it in the name of the Lord So then this is a truth that the Scripture is the speaking Word of God it is Gods speaking word he uttereth his voyce his Church in the Word Application Wickedly therefore deal the Papists in this respect Vse In that they fill their mouthes full of bitter and blasphemous speeches against the truth of God in that they term the holy written Word of God to be dead Ink and a dumb Judge say they put a scarlet gown upon an Image and see what it will speak so say they is the Scripture And they set up other Judges in the place of Gods Word as the authority of the Church or a general Convention or the Pope speaking Judicially out of his chair setting him up as a Judge in all matters of controversie refusing the Scripture as insufficient and calling it dead Ink and a dumb Judge Thus they shew themselves to be utter enemies of the holy written Word of God and seek to crush the authority of it and to set up the voyce of a sinfull man the son of perdition the limb of the devil over the Church and to disclaim the voyce of the living God speaking to us in his holy Scripture But we must learn to acknowledge and to reverence the Scripture as Gods speaking Word and the written Word of God to be that which God uttereth to his people and not say as some ignorant people do Oh if God would speak unto us from heaven in his own immediate voyce and if Christ would come upon the earth and preach unto us how attentive would we be we would not fall asleep then at Sermons But if thou wouldest know what God saith to his people then come to the written Word of God It is folly and madnesse in the foolish Familists and others of that sect that they depend upon Revelations besides the written Word of God but not to contend with them to apply it to our selves Vse 2 What is it better then madnesse and folly in us to rest upon the fancies and conceits and Judgments of men touching the events and coming to passe of such and such things Against superstitious observation of dayes because men tell us such a day shall be such and such disasters and such a day such fearful signs and wonders thunderings and lightenings and such and such direful wonders shall come to passe yea there is a day of special note amongst ignorant people now at hand namely St. Swithin's day if it rain on that day it will rain more or lesse fourty dayes after these are dotages of idle braines and are suggested by a lying spirit even by the spirit of the devil whereas the Lord saith Esay 8.20 To the law and to the testimony if men speak not according
Lord at the last opened mine ears and eyes and enlightened my mind gave me understanding and made me see what I would not see he touched my heart with his grace and the power of his Spirit and changed my Affections whereas before I had no mind of heaven no desire of salvation untill he made me see what I have not he hath not dealt thus with all many thousands there be that go on without this touch of heart and remorse of conscience without this powerful work of grace they go on in their sins though they hear the Word from Sabbath to Sabbath what was I better then they surely nothing at all by Nature Oh then how am I bound unto God nothing moving the Lord to shew mercy unto me but onely his mere good will and pleasure how am I bound to magnifie the goodnesse of God And indeed this is that glory of the free mercy of God which the Lord would have us to yeeld unto him he would have us to yeeld unto him this glory of his free mercy and how pleasing this is to God and how the Lord esteemeth of this magnifying of his mercy may appear by that description Exod. 34 6 7. The Lord the Lord strong merciful gracious slow to anger and abundant in goodnesse and truth Reserving mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin c. Thus the Lord doth proclaim himself for this is that wherein the Lord doth take delight to have the glory of his free mercy given unto him And this is the name by which the Lord Jesus will be known to his Elect and chosen in all ages I am a merciful God this is the name by which I will be magnified and in which he delighteth that we should give him the glory of his mercy that we can say when the Lord vouchsafeth mercy unto us that it proceedeth onely from the Lords free will And know that it is not more vile pride in a Begger to attribute the almes that is given unto him unto his own deserts then it is for us to ascribe any the least mercy that God vouchsafeth unto us to our own worthinesse it is monstrous pride in a beggar to ascribe the almes that are given him to his own deservings But it is far more for thee to ascribe and attribute that to thy self which is freely given of God Let us therefore consider that every rag we have it is of the free mercy of God Oh did proud persons consider this they would not so gorgiously adorn themselves and disgrace the holy profession of God if they did consider they have nothing but from the free Fountain of Gods mercy nothing moving him they would not be such carelesse fellowes in their careless bands which sheweth their carelesnesse as they be Vse 3 Again Is Gods mercy reached out unto his chosen most free and depending upon nothing out of God himself surely then a child of God one to whom God hath reached out saving mercy may conclude and gather to his comfort that Gods saving mercy it shall never be removed from him but abide with him for ever for why it dependeth upon the free will of God and that is unchangeable even as God himself And I may say as Pilate saith in Joh. 19.32 when he had written a superscription over Christ and they demanded why he writ so he answered quod scripsi scripsi what I have written I have written so may the Lord say I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy Mal. 3.16 I am Jehovah I change not Mercy is mine and who shall take it from me shall the devil no nor all the powers in hell can hinder or frustrate the will of God Oh then consider to thy comfort God hath reached out his mercy to thee and he will never take it from thee for he hath said I will have mercy on whom I will VERSE 16. So then it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth But God that sheweth mercy THe Apostle in this Verse determineth the point touching Gods Justice in his free choyce of some particulars amongst men to life and salvation In the Verse foregoing he proveth it by the speech of God unto Moses that God hath free liberty and absolute power to shew mercy unto whom he will and compassion to whom he will without respect had to any thing in them Now the Lord having thus described his shewing of mercy merely to depend upon his good will and pleasure hereupon our Apostle in this 16. verse doth bring in a consectarie and infer this conclusion that therefore Gods eternal election of some to life and salvation is not to be ascribed unto the will or unto the works of any man but unto Gods free grace in shewing of mercy So then it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy In this 16. verse the general things are two First a removal of that which is not the cause of Gods eternal election of some to life and salvation and what is that mans willing and mans running it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth Secondly the describing and the assigning of the onely true and proper cause of Gods choosing of some to salvation and that is Gods shewing of mercy but in him that sheweth mercy Now I will lay forth the sense and meaning of the words of this verse So then or So therefore it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the text Original these words it is are not to be found but they are necessarily to be supplyed So then it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth what is that that is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth surely that which the Apostle had spoken of Gods eternal election of some to life and salvation that is not in him that willeth nor runneth Some do here understand Jacobs willing and running particularly but by their favour that is too narrow and too strict for the purpose of the Apostle is more large and general these words being a conclusion of the verse foregoing I will have mercy on him on whom I will And this word him must have as large a sense as the words in the verses foregoing yet Jacob is not to be excluded but rather included and so the meaning is it is not in Jacob or in any other man that willeth or runneth in him that willeth That is in him that willeth and desireth good and endeavoureth after that which is good and that by the power and strength of his mind will and affections or any part or all the powers and faculties of his soul nor in him that runneth We are not to understand as some do Esau's runing onely no nor yet Jacobs running to the fold to fetch a Kid for his father Gen. 27. but the meaning is it is not in him that worketh as it is not in
and weaknesse and cannot have any assurance It is true indeed if so be that our hope of salvation stood built upon the weak ground of our own good works But mark their subtilty when they speak against the Doctrine of our Church they plead imbecillity and weaknesse But when they plead for their own Doctrine then they say they ground their hope of salvation upon the performance of the good things God requireth of them so far forth as they are able to perform them what a madnesse is this in them thus to contradict themselves And beloved to apply it to our selves are there not many amongst us as mad as the Papists foolish ignorant sots That thus reason I know I must love God above all and my neighbour as my self And if I do my best endeavour to do these things I hope God will be merciful unto me and I shall go to heaven what is this but to make our own working of good the ground of our salvation and to ground the hope and certainty of heaven upon their own well doing Their conclusion is so simple and so foolish that upon loving God and their Neighbour they shall come to heaven maketh that the ground of their salvation It is true indeed that the willing and working of good coming from a right radix they be the fruits and assurances of our salvation but if we build our salvation upon our best good works yea upon saving and justifying faith or the best good thing we can perform we delude and deceive our selves neither our well willing nor well working is not the cause or ground of our salvation It is the rule of Christ himself Luk. 17.10 when we have done all that we can do and all that the Lord hath commanded us to do if it were possible yet we must say we are unprofitable servants And we must say so not onely for modesty sake as the Papists do absurdly glosse upon that text for modesty and humilities sake say they we must say so why beloved the Lord Jesus doth not teach us to lye And to say that which is not true for modesty sake no but he teacheth us to speak the truth for indeed it is so that for all our well willing and well doing we are unprofitable servants yet we must take heed that we do not hereupon cast off all care and endeavour of well doing no we are carefully and conscionably to do all that we can do that is good And know that working of good coming from the root of saving and sanctifying faith it is profitable and necessary to heaven for it is the beaten high way to eternal life and salvation it is a testimony of our obedience and thankfulnesse to God for his mercy And it is a means to set forth the glory of God and maketh much for the illustration of it And it is a proper mark of a true Christian it is a fruit ever flowing from saving and justifying faith and it is a necessary antecedent of the promises of eternal glory in heaven yet if we do advance this doing of good beyond this strain to merit salvation we do built it upon a rotten and unsound foundation Now further observe we the Apostle maketh an opposition between mans willing and running and Gods shewing mercy Hence I might note these particulars First of all that Gods mercy is the sole and whole and al-sufficient cause of mans election and not mans well willing or working good either foreseen as the Arminians teach or the present act and being And secondly that Gods free grace and the merit or works of men do not concur and meet together in mans salvation as the Papists teach But these things I have handled before And hence note we in a word thus much In that the Apostle saith that the eternal election and salvation of some amongst men is not in men themselves but in God that sheweth mercy Hence observe That the eternal salvation of men is laid up in the merciful powerful Doctrine and gracious hand of God It is laid up in the power of God which is essential with God himself Col. 3.3 the Apostle telleth the Colossians that their life is bid with Christ in God And hence God is said to be the Father of glory Ephes 1.17 because glory is as it were begotten of him And in 1 Tim. 6.5 the Apostle saith he onely dwelleth in immortality The Lord which hath eternal life and glory he doth give it to whom he will and he will give it in his due time and therefore he will certainly give it to his chosen Vse Then what a ground of sweet and excellent comfort is this to every one that findeth himself to be in the number of Gods chosen Hast thou good evidence of it that thou belongest to Gods election Oh then consider thy eternal happinesse which is laid up not in the hands of any creature no it is laid up in the hands of a gracious and powerful God and no enemy whatsoever can wrest it out of his hands if it were committed to thy own trust then thou hast just cause to doubt whether thou couldest keep it or no nay a thousand to one thou wouldest lose it Adam in his state of innocency being trusted with it wittingly and willingly lost it but thy salvation is kept by him who is able to keep it 2 Tim. 1.12 And not the force fraud or subtilty of the Devil or world without can fetch it from God who is the Author of it and keeper of it no nor our own flesh can prevail to the overcoming of him Oh then if thou hast evidence of thy salvation comfort up thy self let the Devil and the world spit their malice and use all the means they can they cannot possibly deprive thee or dispossesse thee of it for it is in the keeping of a powerful Creator and they cannot take it out of his hand How then may a child of God cheer up himself upon this consideration VERSE 17. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew my power in thee And that my name might be declared through all the earth Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy And whom he will he hardeneth IN these two Verses the Lord sheweth by the Apostle that he is just in casting off some men and rejecting of them The Apostle having cleared God from the imputation of injustice in choosing some to life and salvation and passing over others out of his own free will though they were all one in regard of nature because the Lord hath absolute power and free liberty to shew compassion to whom he will Now the Apostle cleareth God from being unjust in rejecting of some particular persons of equal estate and condition with the elect in regard of nature every way equal unto them in themselves And the Apostle proveth the Lord not to be unjust in so doing by a testimony of
stirring and raising up of Pharaoh was to a certain end and to peculiar and particular purpose for this very same purpose and this very same end saith God unto Pharaoh have I raised and stirred thee up the Lord doth make known unto us that it was to a proper and peculiar end Hence note we thus much That God in every act of his he hath a special and a particular end Doctrine and the Lord propoundeth a particular end and purpose in every act of his touching his creatures Therefore beloved they are deceived for to this purpose I speak and note it who think as some erroneous spirits do that God propounded an indefinite and an uncertain end touching his creatures in the creation and making of them when God decreed to make his creatures he did not purpose to bring them to this or that end particularly but he left that indefinitely and uncertain indeed say they God did propound in some kind or other to have his glory by them that we confesse but in what manner or in what end of theirs that he left altogether uncertain indefinite and undetermined a foul and a grosse errour that God should make his creatures and not determine what way he would glorifie his name we find in the highest acts of Gods counsel his eternal decree touching men and angels the Scripture maketh known unto us that God propoundeth his end and that not generally but in special the Lord in the everlasting counsel in his everlasting act touching men and Angels he did demonstrate a special end namely the glory of Gods grace and mercy in the salvation of some and the glory of his Justice in the just damnation of others this God propounded but to passe by that as a confutation of that errour And come we now to the next thing for this same end saith the Lord unto Pharaoh have I stirred thee up you may remember I shewed you that these words do carry this sense For this same purpose Pharaoh have I withheld my grace hardened thy heart left thee to thy self so that still thou dost exalt thy self against my people and dost keep them in bondage and wilt not let them go I have stirred thee up hardened thy heart and caused thee to rebel against me and my people Here we see that wicked Pharaoh a cruel tyrant over the people of God as he was in his time he did nothing against the people of God but what God appointed and what the Lord stirred him up unto the Lord withholding his grace leaving him to himself and hardening his heart although in the malice of his heart he raised up his forces against the people of God yet he did nothing but what the Lord had appointed him to do against them Hence we may observe this directly and plainly That wicked tyrants such as Pharaoh was enemies of the Church and people of God they do nothing against the Church or against Gods people Doctrine but what the Lord appointeth them and what the Lord will have them so to do and no more And when the enemies of the truth of God do vex trouble molest disquiet and deal hardly with the people of God what do they nothing but what God hath willed and appointed them to do in leaving them to themselves and as this is a truth so we have evidence for it in the Scripture in Esay 10.6 the Lord speaking concerning Ashur a great enemy to the Church of God he saith To him have I given the Charge of my wrath and in the 22. and 23. verses of the same Chapter he saith that the Consumption shall come upon the whole land and the tyranny was decreed by the Lord himself in Acts 2.23 the Apostle Peter saith unto the people of the Jewes Him have yee taken by the determinate councel and hand of God and him have you crucified and slain And in Acts 4.27 28. saith the Apostle For doubtless against thy holy Sonne Jesus both Herod Pontius Pilate and the Jewes were conspired and band together to doe whatsoever thy hand and counsel hath determined to be done Reason Because the will of Lord is the highest cause of all things the will of the Lord doth will and appoint the motions actions events and effects of every thing in the world whether they be things weightie or of lesse moment and by the will of the Lord even tyrants and malicious enemies of the Church of God have their being and their motion and actions and in him they live move and have their beings Acts 17.28 and therefore the enemies of the Church of God do no more then God hath appointed Object If this be a truth that the wicked enemies of the Church and people of God when they vex and deal hardly with them do no more then God hath appointed to be done then this doth justifie the deeds of wicked tyrants and clear them from rebuke and they may plead for themselves that they are free from sinne in harming and molesting and dealing hardly with the Church of God because they doe no more then God hath appointed and why then should they be accounted wicked sinners evil doers and cruel men because they doe no more then God hath appointed and it is injustice with God to punish them for their so doing Answ To answer this we must know howsoever the wicked tyrants of the Church and people of God doe what God hath willed and appointed yet they sinne grievously how can that be Sinne grievously in doing the will of the Lord yes because in their hard dealing and crueltie with the Church and People of God they respect not the will and purpose of the Lord no they onely have respect to the fulfilling of their own lusts and satisfying of their own wicked and beastly minds For if a man should ask a cruel persecutour and tyrant when he is molesting the Church or any member of the people of God what doe you intend to doe the will of God in vexing the people of God If he deal truely he must needs answer that he intendeth nothing lesse but merely intends the satisfying of his own cursed humour to satisfie his cruel savage and bloudy mind upon the poor members of Jesus Christ And in that his cruel and hard dealing is Gods will it is to him merely accidental but his purpose is destruction as the Lord saith Esay 10.6 I will goe against my people and Ashur shall tread them down as mire in the streets then he subjoyneth in the next verse but he thinks not so he is not of that mind neither doth he in his heart esteem it so but he imagineth to destroy and utterly cut off the people of God by wrong Not immagining that he is the rod of the wrath of God against his people and that he commeth by the appointment of God no he commeth not with such a thought he commeth onely to satisfie his own cruel and accursed humour not as an actour of what God determineth so
time after time yet still they will continue in them and be reprobate to every good work and go on in their sinful lives the Lord will not lose his glory by those persons no not by the vilest wretch and miscreant that lives upon the face of the earth though they live in open blasphemy against his holy name think upon it then thou that art a drunkard a swearer a proud person a Sabbath-breaker an Usurer one that goest on in thy vile courses and debauched sins the Lord will have glory in thee thou that so goest on yea in thy destruction Consider this you that still go on in your pride and vain glory assure thy self if thou so going on do live and die in thy sins as commonly such persons do thou shalt assuredly be damned as God will be glorified and it is as impossible for thee to escape damnation as for God to lose his glory which is impossible and well were it for thee if so be the Lord would vouchsafe so much grace and mercy unto thee as to make thee now to tremble and to make thy heart to ake within thee and to humble thy soul for thine evil courses Vse 2 Is this so That God will have glory in the utter confusion and overthrow of wicked sinners and that God will not lose his glory this therefore ought to teach us to prize Gods glory as dear unto us before the best good thing we enjoy yea even before our own best good and everlasting salvation and happinesse a very hard lesson this is to learn but this we must labour to come and to attain unto even to prefer the glory of God before our own salvation and to set the glory of God before us as the main chief and principal good to be aymed at in all our thoughts words and actions And when we are about to think speak or do Consider will this be to the good of my body and soul and also bring glory to the name of my God Oh then let me so think speak and do and then we may with comfort so think speak and do And if I find it will not tend to the glory of my God though it tend to the salvation of my soul I dare not do it and hereby we shall have good evidence that we love God and are truly beloved of God for if we honour God God will honour us in the 1 Sam. 2.30 they that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be despised Yea the Lord will not onely honour us here but give us salvation he will give us honour and glory in the hearts of those that hate us and force the wicked that do hate and condemn us with their mouthes when they smite us with their tongues to honour us in their hearts and we shall not onely be honoured of him here but when we cease to be Prov. 10.7 the memorial of the just is blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot when the body of the righteous is raked up in the dust then shall his name be sweet and he eternally blessed Oh then the consideration of this should stirre us up to glorifie the name of the Lord and to prefer it before our own good yea the salvation of body and soul for this is our Duty the Lord will have his glory and therefore give it him willingly in this life VERSE 18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy And whom he will he hardeneth NOw come we to the 18. Verse Therefore saith the Apostle he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth This Verse beloved is a conclusion of the whole matter handled by the Apostle in the three verses foregoing In the 15 16 and 17. Verses our Apostle having made it clear that God hath absolute power and free liberty of shewing mercy to some by the speech of God unto Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy And having made it manifest that God hath the like absolute power and free liberty in passing by some others and rejecting them to the glory of his own name and proving that by the example of Pharaoh whom God hardened as a manifest sign of his reprobation the Apostle having thus proved both these parts upon this premises the Apostle in this verse bringeth in this Conclusion that God hath free liberty and absolute power to shew mercy on whom he will and to harden whom he will and this is the relation of this verse to the foregoing matter Now in this verse observe we a double act of God the one is Gods shewing of mercy unto some and the other Gods hardening of some others and then from whence this double act of God proceedeth namely from the mere good will and pleasure of God so that the double act of mercy and hardening proceedeth from one ground Gods good will Now a little to lay open the meaning of the words Touching the phrase and form of speech that God hath mercy we had the same phrase in the 15. verse where I shewed you what we are to understand by mercy namely not the properties of mercy which is essentially in God but the Act the exercise and work of Gods mercy God hath mercy upon some the act the exercise and the works of God is extended and reached out unto some particular persons unto them to whomsoever he will and on whomsoever he pleaseth merely out of his own free will and absolute good pleasure and whom he will he hardeneth that is whomsoever pleaseth him out of the same free and absolute will he hardeneth and the word harden here is put in opposition to Gods shewing of mercy before spoken of for these two are opposed God hath mercy and he hardeneth so then the meaning of it is whereas before is meant the shewing and extending of Gods mercy to some so here by hardening is meant that God doth harden and withhold his mercy from some and in his just Judgment doth leave them to themselves and to their natural hardnesse for hardening must be understood as a Judiciary act and act of Gods Justice whereby God doth inflict Judgment upon men as a manifestation of their reprobation and rejection called a Judiciary act So then briefly conceive we the meaning of the Apostle as if he had said Therefore God doth extend and reach out the act the exercise and the work of his mercy and of his grace unto whomsoever it pleaseth him even meerly out of his own free and absolute will and out of his own good pleasure and also out of the same meer free will and absolute good pleasure the same God doth deny his saving mercy and withhold his grace and mercy from some and leave them in his just judgement in their natural hardnesse as a manifest sign of their reprobation so thus God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardenneth Come we now to matter of Observation and Doctrine And
first of all from the first act of God that God hath mercy on whom he will the words being understood of the extending and reaching out of Gods mercy Here again the same point is offered unto us which before we handled in the 15. verse namely Doctrine That Gods mercy reached out and extended to his chosen is most free and voluntary it dependeth upon the free will of God and upon nothing else it dependeth upon nothing out of God but upon his meer love yet this point is not to be passed over without some further use and applicacation then heretofore was made Vse And for the Application of it we are to consider it as a guide and rule unto us in our shewing of mercy to our brethren in our reaching and extending of mercy here is a rule and guide to direct us Doth God extend and reach out his mercy to his chosen freely and voluntarily nothing moving him but his own free will and good love surely then we must thus do we must be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful Luke 6.36 Now how is he merciful freely out of his own free love and mere goodnesse nothing moving him thereunto but his own free love thus must we do we must shew mercy and exercise the works of mercy towards our brethren freely not respecting their merits nor their deservings yea beloved our mercy and doing of good and the comfort we administer and yeeld to any either in word or in deed must proceed from the inward movings of our hearts and the yearning and tendernesse of our bowels towards those to whom we do any good out of pity and compassion towards them even as God doth freely nothing moving us thereunto in Esay 5.10 the Prophet saith if thou pour out thy soul to the hungry mark this you that are fast fisted the Lord doth not onely require the pouring out of food but of our very hearts and soules to feed the poor with the Affections of thy heart And indeed it is not an act of mercy pleasing to God that the Lord delighteth in that cometh either from our abundance and superfluity or else the importunity of those that are in great want and need nor yet from the example of others inviting us thereunto or for the desire of praise and seeking of Commendations amongst men that we would be well thought on no these are not works of mercy pleasing unto the Lord nor yet a work of mercy that is forced from men by some torture and torment to stop the mouth of an accusing and guilty conscience as for example when wicked rich men that are guilty to themselves how they have gotten their goods by evil meanes and have hoarded up abundance of wealth by the damnable sin of Usury by griping and oppressing the poor and such unlawful means And when they lye upon their death-bed gasping for breath then they are forced to bestow something to religious uses they give nothing before they dye but when they lye upon their death-bed and their Consciences flye up in their faces then they will give to an Hospital or an Almes-house or to the poor or Church to stop the mouth of the Conscience But this is no better then Sauls sacrifice of which we read in 1 Sam. 15. when he had transgressed the Commandement of God in reserving the best sheep and oxen he thought he would stop the mouth of the Lord with a Sacrifice so when men have gotten their goods by oppression and usury then when they are upon their death-beds then they will give unto the poor But the shewing of mercy that is pleasing unto God must come out of a tender and free heart as God is free in mercy so we must be free in exercising the works of mercy the works of mercy must come from the tendernesse of our hearts and without that surely all our shewing of mercy and doing of good though we build Hospitals as it is 1 Cor. 13.3 If I feed the poor with all my goods it is nothing without the heart the Lord looketh rather at the inward affections of the heart then the outward actions and duties of love and mercy 2 Cor. 9.7 every one as he is able must give not grudgingly because he is compelled to do it but the Lord loveth a cheerful giver And consider what moved the Lord to have mercy upon me or upon thee or upon any nothing so must we have mercy upon others freely and out of the tendernesse of our bowels pitying and commiserating their estate then thou art like unto God and this will yeeld thee true comfort else thy shewing of mercy is no better then Sauls sacrifice 1 Sam. 13. Again in that the Apostle faith God will have mercy upon whom he will The Apostle sheweth plainly that Gods shewing of mercy is indeed limited and reached out unto some and not unto others even to whomsoever it pleaseth him he hath mercy upon whom he will and not upon all the Apostles speech implyeth a limitation the point hence lyeth plain before us viz. That Gods will it is to extend and reach out his saving mercy Doctrine not to all men generally without exception of any but onely unto some amongst men The Lord out of his own free will and good pleasure doth extend and reach out his saving mercy in the act and exercise of it onely unto some amongst men and not to all men generally without exception And this may appear to be a truth by considering the saving mercies of God the mercies of God that are extended and reached out from the hand of God to men As first of all the saving mercy of Election unto life and glory it is according to the good will and pleasure of God extended and reached out onely unto some the Text is clear Ephesians 1.4 5. where the Apostle saith God hath chosen us not all the world but us in in Christ and hath Elected and Adopted us through Christ himself how according to the good pleasure of his will so also the saving mercy of God touching effectual Vocation and Calling it is according to the good will and pleasure of God extended to some amongst men in Matth. 11.25 I thank thee saith Christ O Father God of heaven and earth I thank thee that thou hast hid these things what things the saving comforts of the Gospel to be called to know thee through me thou hast hid these things from the wise and revealed them unto babes thou hast hid them from some and revealed them unto others and he subjoyneth even so it is O Father because it so pleaseth thee and in 2 Tim. 1.9 God hath called in by an holy calling according to his purpose and grace Rom. 3.24 we are Justified freely by the free grace of God without respect had to any thing in us thus the Holy Ghost speaketh in James 1.18 of Sanctification out of his own free will we are begotten and sanctified and renewed And touching Glorification the
blamed Now to answer this question that men are excusable Answ mans reason will yeeld unto and that they are to be freed from blame because Gods will is so and Gods will is irresistible But the true Answer is that men are not free from blame but they are justly to be taxed and God doth justly punish men for their hardness sins and for their evil doings they are blame-worthy And why because though Gods will and work be in mens hardening and in the sinnes that come from the hardening of their hearts yet doth not Gods will enforce hardnesse upon them making their hearts hard that were before soft neither doth Gods will compel men to the committing of those sins which they run into there is no such matter Gods will doth neither harden being soft nor thrust their sins out from them But for the understanding of this we must know that our first parents they broke the Commandement of God in eating the forbidden fruit willingly being not forced thereunto by Gods Decree as the Arminians and Anabaptists hold but they fell willingly they had free will to stand or to fall And Adam and Eve of their own accord put out their hands and did eat of the forbidden fruit And thereupon having broken Gods Commandement they brought upon themselves and upon all their posterity sin and hardnesse of heart all that come from them by natural generation have sucked the same milk and have natural hardnesse of heart and now men being in their natural hardnesse the Lord is pleased to withhold his softening grace from some amongst men and to leave them in their natural hardnesse the Lord in his just Judgment doth inflict farther hardnesse upon the hearts of men as a just Judgment of their hardnesse before they themselves by nature being willing to continue in their hardnesse so that God doth not thrust further hardnesse upon the hearts of men unwillingly whether they will be hardened or no. And again those sinnes that follow upon the hardnesse of their hearts are not drawn from men against their will whether they will or no but they doe freely and willingly consent unto sinne they give their free voluntarie consent unto sinne they sinne with a delight they doe according to their own will and according to the natural inclination thereof the Lords will moving their will as he moveth the Heavens in a round Circle according to the motion of it so he doth move and order mans will according to the motion of it being evil and so they freely and voluntarily commit sinne and so they sinne of necessitie but how not of necessitie of coaction or compulsion as if they were inforced to sinne but by the very necessitie of mans nature they are naturally inclined to evil and readie to commit evil Gods will bending them to their own proper motion and so they choose sinne and sinne of necessitie of nature and that will not excuse them they have brought the necessitie upon themselves and that will not free them from blame As for example was Judas compelled to that sinne for betraying his Master No his will was inclined unto it and the will of God together with his will in that act inclined it as it were to betray the Lord Jesus so that this will not excuse men that they doe sinne of necessitie As for example the Devil himself can doe nothing but evil necessarily he doth evil yet therefore he is not excusable because he doth evil necessarily by the strength of his corrupt nature that will not excuse him So then thus conceive we concerning this matter that men are not excusable nor free from blame but the Lord may justly punish and plague them for their hardnesse and sins proceeding from their hardnesse though it be so that Gods will is that they are hardened and Gods will is irresistible because though Gods will be in their hardening and hath a stroake in it yet Gods will doth neither force hardnesse upon their hearts nor cause them to sin but the Lord finding them naturally inclined to hardnesse and that they are hardened by nature they being willing to continue in it neither doth the Lord force out those sins that come from the hardnesse of mens hearts but they do it freely out of their own free consent for the Lord doth neither take away the will of man nor the power of mans will but the Lord doth onely order govern and dispose their wills and move it according to their own inclinations they freely consenting being not thereunto forced and therefore are justly to be blamed And for the application of it Vse let no man think out of the hardnesse of his heart to go on in a course of evil and sin and to excuse himself in this that the will of God hath a stroake in his sin It is true the will of God hath a stroake in thy hardnesse and thou sinnest of necessity and nature yet this will not excuse thee to say it is my nature and I cannot do otherwise no beloved though we are tainted by nature and prone to sin by nature yet never did any of Gods children hereupon excuse themselves but rather judge and condemn themselves in regard of the accursed corruption of their hearts Psal 51. David confesseth his sins of Adultery and Murther yet he saith not it was my nature but he condemns himself saying O Lord I lay the fault upon my self it was my own wicked heart I was born in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me And so the Apostle Paul feeling there was a law in his members resisting the law in his mind Rom. 7.24 layeth not the fault upon any thing else but himself saying O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death And thus those that will find mercy must lay the fault and blame upon themselves and give glory to God that is the onely and right way to find mercy go unto God lay open thy hard-heartednesse crying for mercy as a prisoner ready to go to execution and thou shalt find mercy with God Thou wilt say then unto me Why doth he yet complain for who hath resisted his will HEre is further matter offered unto us from this verse In that the Carnal Reasoner backeth his Argument thus That if the will of God be so that men shall be hardened then who hath resisted his will none can resist the will of God and this he doth to strengthen his Cavil that the will of God cannot be hindered from taking effect thus he laboureth to fortifie his conclusion Now this being a truth which the Carnal Reasoner putteth down the Apostle doth not confute him by gainsaying or denying this that Gods will is irresistible but he doth answer the Caviller another way as appeareth plainly in the verses following therefore hence this ground of truth lyeth plain before us That the will of God is irresistible and cannot be withstood Doctrine neither men nor devils nor all the
Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour IN the next place consider we God is here compared to a Potter in respect of the Potters power over his clay that as the potter hath lawful power over his clay and may lawfully make of his clay what he will even several vessels to several uses even such power and such authority or rather greater power and greater authority hath God over mankind to make and appoint men to several ends even some to honour and some to dishonour You see then this being the ground of the comparison that man hath lawful power over the clay to make of the same lump different vessels to divers uses so Gods power is far greater to make out of mankind some to honour and some to dishonour the Observation from this implication is thus much That God hath lawful power and authority over man to ordain and Doct. 2 to appoint them unto several ends at his own good pleasure as the potter may put upon his clay what form or fashion soever he will and may make and frame of it vessels to divers purposes and uses by the same right and with greater reason it stands that God may ordain and appoint men to several ends as it pleaseth him And to this purpose in the very same comparison speaketh the Lord to the house of Israel by the Prophet Jeremiah in Jer. 18.6 O house of Israel cannot I do with you as the Potter doth with his clay as the clay is in the hand of the Potter so are you in my hand O house of Israel As the Potter may do with his clay what he will so may I with you and in Luke 12.6 The Lord Jesus forewarning of us whom we ought to fear as namely God onely he describeth that God to have power to cast into hell fire fear not him that can kill the body but fear him that can kill both body and soul and the same word is used there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth lawful power as is here thereby shewing that God hath lawful power not onely to take away the life of the body but to cast it into hell And it must needs be so that God hath greater power and authority then the Potter to appoint and ordain men to several ends then he hath to make vessels of the same lump of clay to several uses why The Reason is because the Pottter he is but a creature himself Reason and the clay is as much and the potter hath the clay made to his hands but God he made all men of nothing as Psal 100.3 The Lord hath made us and not we our selves and in this respect the Lord hath Sovereign power and authority over all men yea his right over all men is absolute yea such and so absolute is the right of God over all men as that the Lord might have made man and he might not have made man and the Lord now having made man of nothing so he may at his pleasure bring him to nothing suddenly the Creator out of the liberty of his will and absolutenesse of his power may do with his creature what he will which power the potter hath not because he is but a creature and the clay is a creature also it is made to his hand This serveth as one special ground to clear God of injustice and wrong doing that he hath appointed some men to life and glory in heaven Vse and others to everlasting shame and confusion this ground of truth cleareth God in this cause though carnal Reasoners do go about nothing else but to quarrel with God as the Arminians and Anabaptists say they herein you do go about to prove God a tyrant and that he doth deal tyrannically with men in destroying of them But they are deceived for why we know tyrants they do their own will either with men or against them onely because their pleasure is so they respect neither law nor equity nor Conscience so he may do his will and have his pleasure this is the manner of a Tyrant Now God he ordaineth men to several ends not onely according to his own good pleasure but according to the lawfulnesse of his good pleasure as he may lawfully do and as he hath lawful power and authority whereas the Tyrant careth not whether it be right or wrong he will break through all the bounds of truth and law there is no such matter with the Lord but the Lord he doth it according to his lawfull power and lawful authority to dispose of men to do with them as he will the tyrant hath not so And again there is a large and wide difference between God and a Tyrant both in respect of their wills and also in regard of their ends As first of all the will of Tyrants what is it according to their own lusts and their own pleasure and they being wicked and sinful make their wills as wicked and sinful but the Will of God God being most holy it is according to his nature and his nature being holy and pure his Will is most holy and pure Again Tyrants respect wicked ends in dealing hardly with their subjects in taking away their lives and their liberties and that is to satisfie their own cruel and bloody minds But now the purpose of God in dealing with men respecteth the praise of his glory and of his mercy which two ends are ever holy and good the ends of Tyrants are according to their Tyranny but the end of the Lord in ordaining some to shame and some to honour is the glory of his Justice and mercy and therefore it doth not follow from hence that we make God cruel and Tyrannical because we affirm that God hath out of his mere good will and pleasure appointed some to shame and some to honour because the Lord hath power so to do And this should teach us to be so far from charging God with Tyranny and indeed to drive this further we are not suffer once such a thought to arise in our hearts that God dealeth hardly with us in any thing whatsoever no not when thy estate seemeth unto flesh and blood to be most desperate nay we are to be far from this to think that God dealeth hardly with us nay when we are under the hand of God in some great and grievous distresse let us then remember thus much and think with our selves the Lord hath lawful authority to appoint men to everlasting destruction now if the Lord hath not thus dealt with us but given us a better and everlasting estate to life and glory Oh how can we think that God dealeth hardly with us in any thing he having evidenced his love unto us in Christ Jesus no though our distresses be but at the height and we in the deepest mire of misery We are to be thankful unto God in our deepest distresses and to give him the glory of
precise fellow yet know that it were better for thee to go to heaven with a few in the narrow gate then with many to the broad way to destruction Matth. 7.13 FINIS A Table for the Ninth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans A ABrahams true seed who they are page 69 Acts of God have special and particular ends page 143 Adoption external what it signifieth page 26 Anabaptists confuted page 37 86 Anabaptists and Familists confuted page 137 Anathema what it is page 18 Arminians confuted concerning Election and Vniversal Redemption page 84 86 Astrology judicial censured page 78 79 80. Assurance of Salvation how attained page 206 c. B BLame of sin apt to be laid from our selves page 160 Blindnesse of minde the misery of it page 141 Blindnesse of ' the world in misjugding of the state and condition of Gods children page 225 Bring born under the same position of the stars preventeth not difference of disposition page 78 C CAlled some at one hour some at another page 101 Calling effectual an evidence and token of one in Covenant with God page 61 Calling effectual a ground of good assurance of Salvation page 205 A special evidence of Election page 206 without respect of persons or qualification page 209 Calling wrought by the word and Spirit of God page 216 Called ones have a special work of the word upon their Souls page 222 Cavil against the Godhead of Christ answered page 40 Censuring of any rashly especially to be Reprobates taxed and reproved page 60 Children of God their honourable estate page 35 use 2. Children of Godly Parents are not therefore Gods children page 56 Children of such how said to be holy page 56 57 admonition to such page 57 Children of the flesh and of promise page 62 63 Christ incarnate and and became true man and why page 36 37 Christ brought not his body from Heaven page 37 Christs incarnation comfortable to his page 38 Christ true God proved 39 use of it page 41 Christ both God and man in one person page 43 Christ to be thought and spoken of with reverence due to his name page 44 Christians described page 53 54. Christians their spiritual duty page 60 Comparing our selves with God is useful and beneficial page 167 168 Chosen ones of God differ not from others till God distinguish them page 59 Conscience why placed in the soul of man viz. to be witnesse and register page 8 9 Conscience not right till sanctified page 10 erroneous and unsanctified taxed page 11 Contentment one special ground of it page 99 a necessary Christian duty page 175 Continuance in sin dangerous page 189 Covenants what they are page 27 Churches enemies can do nothing but what God hath appointed page 143 Curiosity the danger of it page 170 D DAvids respect to Saul though wicked page 30 Daies their superstitious observation reproved page 123 Decrees of God concerning Election and reprobation most just page 116 Drawn to Christ how men are page 91 Different estates of men in the world ordered by Gods decree and appointment page 98. Dignity of Gods children discovered page 224 c. E ELection is the chusing of a certain number to salvation and not of all page 84 Election reprobation depend meerly upon the good pleasure of God and not of man page 85 Election daependeth not upon good works or upon faith foreseen page 93 Comfort to such as are assured of their Election page 87 91 Election of God is sure and unchangeable page 89 The doctrine of Election must be rightly applyed but not abused page 91 Election a sure and true note of it page 92 Election the Decree of it most effectual page 100 Election assurance of it possible to be atttained page 101 assurance of Election how attained page 101 102 Elected ones special Characters of them page 111 their condition whilst remaining in their natural estate page 220 Enemies of the Church can do nothing against it but by Gods permission and appointment page 144 and yet are justly blamed and punished and why ibid. Erroneous opinions justly to be abhorred page 118 proceed chiefly from carnal Reason page 158 Excellencies in others are duly to be acknowledged and reverenced page 29 Final estate of any not rashly to be judged page 101 Freewill the doctrine of it confuted page 131 132 G GLory and happinesse of the Saints in heaven is wholly of Gods free mercy page 202 assurance of interest in it how attained page 203 Glory of God ought to be dearer to us then our own salvation and why page 22 23 God the title of it never given to any one man in Scripture Magistrates how called gods page 40 God in every act of his hath a particular end page 143 God hath lawful power over man to dispose of him at his pleasure as the potter over the clay page 179 God no tyrant nor unrighteous ibid page 180 Gods Infinite power against sin and sinners will be one day manifested page 192 Reasons and uses of it shewed page 191 Gods power saving and destroying ibid. Gods revenging power irresistible page 192 Grief Christians ought to grieve for the misery of others especially of their souls page 11 12 Grief whether lawful for such as suffer justly by the Magistrates for evil doing page 34 H HAtred how God hated Esau shewed page 106 Hardnesse of heart a most grievous judgement page 141 God must not be provoked to inflict it ibid. Gods children shall not be given up to it page 142 Hardening of some a free act of God page 153 Hardening of some according to Gods will page 154 How God hardeneth the heart ibid. Whether Gods Hardening do justly excuse hardened sinners yea or no page 163 Hearers of the word their special duty page 129 130 Directions for profitable hearing of the Word of God page 115 Heart hard a grievous judgement see hardnesse Heart soft and melting a special mercy page 155 Heart so qualified how attained page 155 156 Hierusalem how and in what respect an holy City page 224 folly of Popish Pilgrimages thither ibid. Hope of salvation where to be placed page 132 Humility one special ground of it page 177 I IMpudency of some discovered page 170 Indifferency in matters of Religion not good page 118 Inferiors ought to be obedient to supeirours page 30 31 Israelites all are not that are so called page 52 Israelites indeed righly described page 26 47 Jewish people most honourable and why page 36 our duty towrds them ibid. Justice of God in case of Election c. vindicated page 179 Justice of God in destroying the wicked is to be magnified page 195 K KIndred in the flesh our duty towards them page 25 especially to seek and endeavour their salvation ibid. neglecters of their kindred reproved page 26 Kindred and race of Gods servants honourable page 34 L LOve if true begetteth grief for the party beloved page 15 Love to the people of God the tryal of it page
16 Love whether due to the none Elected page 21 Love wisheth well to the souls of the beloved page 21 22 Love of the father in sending of Christ page 38 How God loved Jacob expounded page 105 Love of God eternal cause of all good to his page 106 Love of God to us how it differeth from our love unto others page 107 He should endeavour to see the love of God in all that we enjoy ibid. Love of God to his Eternal 1â—8 and how page 109 how God loveth his Elect when enemies ibid. Lump expounded page 176 M O MAn what is meant by it page 166 Mary the blessed Virgin saved not by bearing Christ in her womb but in heart by faith page 28 Merit of works the doctrine of it confuted page 94 see more 201 2. use 202 1. use Mercy of God towards his chosen dependeth onely on the good pleasure of his will page 124 125 Mercy of God to his then sweeeest when compared with his wrath on thewicked page 196 Mercy of God to his Elect and Chosen shall be one day manifested page 198 the special uses of that point page 199 Mercy of God to his Elect and Chosen is directed to his own glory page 200 Mercy of God is to be magnified page 201 Mercy of God the ground of our happinesse in heaven page 202 Ministers of God are to manifest both love and wisdom when they deliver harsh things to the hearers p. 3. Ministers must yet take heed of daubing or man pleasing ibid. Ministers must take care to apply the word of God to the hearers aright page 51 128 How they assure men of salvation page 129 use 1. Ministers of the word must use to deal plainly with the hearers page 228 N NAtural estate a miserable condition page 220 Natural estate of the Elect considered ibid. Necessity is twofold shewed page 110 Nicodemus his carnal reasoning page 158 O OBservation of times lawful and unlawful page 79 superstitious Observation of dayes reproved page 122 Opinions false and erroneous drawn from misconceit are very hardly left page 71 Opinions false and Erroneous to be disclaimed and utterly abhorred page 118 Opinions Erroneous arise chiefly from fleshly and carnal Reasoning page 158 P Painting of faces abominable and why page 174 Patinece of God towards the wicked and Reprobate shewed and the reason of it page 185 186 the end and use of Gods patience therein page 187 18 Patience of God abused very offensive to him page 188 Motives not to abuse the patience of God page 190 Papists can be no true friends to Protestant States page 32 use Papists overthrow the truth of Christs humane natures page 37 Popish slander answered and confuted page 41 78 Popish doctrine confuted page 94 132 133 Popish practise observed and reproved page 103 Papists abuse the written word and how page 121 137 Papists impudent cavil answered page 172 Popish Pilgrimages censured and reproved page 224 Peter whether ever Bishop of Rome questionable page 35 Piety the great force and power of it noted page 34 of Parents beneficial to children page 35 Places distinction taken away under the new Testament page 223 Pharaoh King of Egypt why raised up of God page 135 How God is said to harden his heart page 136 Preachers in applying the word may fitly and lawfully say this is a word of comfort c. page 71 Preachers must apply general truthes of God to particular cases and concernments page 128 Presumption how best beaten down in us page 167 Pride one special ground of it discovered Priviledge none whatsoever outward can make graceless persons accepted of God page 28 No outward Priviledge to be rested in no not outward profession of Religion ibid. Promises misapplyed are not comfortable page 50 Promises Rom. 9. what meant by them page 27 Promises of God firm and stable page 48 49 comfort to such as are interested in them ibid. Promises of two sorts page 71 Promises made good all the sorts of them page 72 Profane Proverb reproved page 35 Man fitly compared to Potters vessel with the use of it page 177 178 Q Quarrelling with Gods will very abominable page 173. Questioning the will of God great impudency page 169 not tolerable to do it page 171 Questioning of God a weaknesse in the Saints ibid. R REason carnal apt to gather false conclusions from true principles page 157 the ground of Erroneous Opinions page 158 Carnal Reason apt to abuse Scripture page 159 Religion the glory of a Nation page 32 Reprobation the decree of it from Eternity page 109 c. Reprobates how they sin of necessity page 110 what things cannot be found in them page 111 Reprobation the doctrine of it revealed in Scripture page 139 Reprobates hardened by God and how page 140 Gods highest end in their destruction page 194 Revelation besides or against Scripture to be rejected page 137 Revenge not to be sought by Christians and why page 193 S SAdnesse of Gods children reproved page 49 use Salvation of man wholly in Gods hand page 133 Stars their position not to be observed page 78 79 Separatists reproved and confuted page 52 53 Similitudes in Preaching must be of things known page 177 Scripture if obscure in one place is usually explained and made plain in another page 63 Scripture best expounder of it self page 65 Scripture sufficient to resolve all doubts page 77 136 used by the Apostles to prove doctrines page 103 Scripture sufficient in fundamentals and why page 137 how known to be the word of God page 138 Scripture expresse words not alwaies necessary to be used in preaching proved page 215 Scripture apt to be perverted by wicked men page 65 but ought not to be abused page 215 Successions of persons without truth and piety nothing page 35 Swearing lawful p. 5. but vain reproved ibid. Swearing must be by the true God onely p. 6 7 T TRuths of God how to be delivered page 113 subject to be perverted page 114 Truth in word and heart go together p. 7 V VIrginity whether justly to be preferred before Marriage yea or no page 28 Vessel of clay is man even the strongest page 177 178 Vessel of wrath explained page 183 Vessel of wrath and child of wrath differ page 183 Elect and Reprobate both Vessels page 184 Vessels of mercy how known ibid. W VVEaknesse of Saints discovered page 171 Wilful sinners dangerous condition page 193 Will of God in Predestination Independent page 180 Will of God irresistible page 163 Will of God ever backed by his power page 164 the right use of it ibid. Will of God in all things just and holy page 122 not to be opposed by carnal reason page 123 Will of God overthroweth not the freedom of mans will page 164 Will of God not to be questioned page 169 not to be quarrelled against page 172 Quarrellers against Gods will noted page 174 Wish of the Apostle Rom. 9.3 lawful page 19 the extent of that wish weighed page 20
his mercy and Justice In massa pura non corrupta we are then to be thankful unto God even when we are plunged into the deepest Afflictions we can think of we are though it seem harsh and hard to blesse God and to consider in the time of our afflictions O Lord if thou shouldest deal with us as we have deserved we had been long since in hell now if the Lord do mitigate our Judgments and hath appointed us to salvation we are to magnifie his mercy considering his lawful authority over us to do what he will with us Again we considering that the lump of clay is here to be considered untainted free from tincture and pollution so we are to conceive of mankind in the making of him free from corruption That Gods will in appointing men to their several and final ends is absolute Gods will is dependent on nothing out of God Doct. 3 and independent it dependeth upon nothing in man good or evil God had not respect to man at all either to sin original or actual neither to his fall nor to his works good or evil but as the Potter maketh of the same lump being not tainted with any tincture so the Lord in appointing men to their final ends and everlasting estate did it out of his free will depending upon nothing in man it was absolute And hence it is that the Apostle determineth Gods predestination his choosing of some to life and reprobating of others in the good will and pleasure of God in Ephes 1.5 and in the 11. verse he saith God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will not unadvisedly but with counsel Because the Will of the Lord is the highest cause of all things and when we are come to that we are not to search any further nor to reason Reason about it but to rest in the will of God Gods will being the Supream cause of all things This being a truth Vse it beareth strongly against the opinion of some erring spirits as namely those that say that God in appointing men to their final ends had respect to something in man as either to their faith and good works or to their unbelief and obstinacy in sin Now this doth not onely make the will of the Lord dependent upon mans will that if men will be saved they shall if not damned but this opinion of theirs if we mark and observe it it maketh a dissimilitude between God and the Potter which are here put together in affinity and agreement But this doth overturn and contradict it And if this be true then this text is not true for if God had respect to something in man surely then God need not appoint any person definitively nor certainly to be a vessel of honour but conditionally if they did believe And so they make God to frame divers persons diversly qualified to divers ends and that with respect had to their qualification all men if they believe shall be saved if not none And so this disannulleth and overthroweth this similitude of the Apostle of the Potter who maketh of the same lump vessels to honour and vessels to dishonour so God out of the general lump of mankind not corrupted maketh some men to honour and some to dishonour I but may some say the Apostle saith Object in 2 Tim. 2.21 if any man purge himself from evil he shall be made a vessel of honour so that it dependeth not upon Gods will but upon our purging of our selves and our purifying of our hearts and lives To this I answer The Apostle in that place alledged Answ he speaketh not either of the decree of election and fore-appointing of some men to life and salvation nor yet of his effectual vocation and effectual calling But in this place the Apostle speaketh of the office and duty of Christians and he sheweth how a Christian must carry himself different from a Reprobate and answerable that he may be a vessel of honour sanctified and purged from the drosse of Corruption and from the sin and sinful courses of the world And this is the duty of every believing and elect Child of God thus they ought to demean and purge themselves and to carry themselves even as sanctified vessels fitted and prepared for glory so that this still remaineth a truth that Gods will in appointing men to their final ends it is absolute And we are to hold this as a certain truth for if we be in the number of Gods chosen we are built upon a sure foundation namely the absolute will of the Lord and that standeth more firm and stable and immoveable then the frame of heaven and earth the very frame of heaven and earth shall be turned upside down before this shall be shaken Oh what an excellent ground of comfort is this to as many as know themselves to be in the number of Gods chosen that they shall never lose it it being built upon so sure a foundation as Gods most absolute will which can never be moved VERSE 22. What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction IN these two Verses our Apostle he maketh a real Answer to the Caviller and Carnal Reasoner the Caviller reasoneth thus from the words of the Apostle that some men are hardened it is the will of God so saith the Apostle he hardeneth whom he will what reason is there then that God should complain of such men that are hatdened the will of God is irresistible it cannot be withstood and you teach us God hardeneth whom he will what then saith the Caviller hath God to complain of Now herein first our Apostle doth check the Cavillers saucinesse and malapertnesse in the 20. verse Who art thou O man shewing the absurdity of the reasoning against God and it is as if the formed thing should say to the former why hast thou made me thus amplifying that by a similitude of the Potter whereby the Apostle implyeth that as the Potter may lawfully do with his clay what he will and frame out of it several vessels to several uses so may the Lord ordain some men to life and glory and some to shame and confusion Now the Apostle having thus made way to the Real Answer now he cometh to it and sheweth that God may lawfully punish Reprobates for their hardnesse And that God is just in threatening and punishing men for their hardnesse of heart this he proveth by the Lords manner of dealing with Reprobates because saith he the Lord suffereth them with long patience as if he had said though the Lord had decreed their rejection and casting off for ever yet before the Lord hath executed any degree of his punishment he suffereth them with long patience to continue that he may the better declare his just wrath and Judgment upon them and his power in them and may make known the riches of his mercy toward his chosen