than all Saints and Angels in Heaven or on Earth his beloved Son in whom he was well-pleased and one whom he loved before the Foundation of the World Yea and though also he was the Holy One of God one who knew no sin who did no sin neither was Guile found in his mouth One that never displeased his Father at any time but always did those things that pleased him yet notwithstanding all this when he himself bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree he was wounded or tormented for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him Yea it pleased the Lord to bruise him he put him to grief Isa 53. 3-5 6-10 When God made him sin for us who knew no sin God spared not his own his proper Son but delivered him up for us all Rom. 8. 32. And though he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring God spared him not but brought him into the dust of death He did not spare him for his crying as it were or though he offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears as Heb. 5. 7. But whence came this to pass that God dealt thus with his Son Was it because he loved him not No that could not possibly be but surely it was because of his infinite Purity and Holiness and hatred of our sin which was laid upon him And so much our Lord plainly signifies when he saith O my God I cry in the day-time but thou hearest not c. But thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the Praises of Israel As if he should say Thou art such a perfect Hater of Sin that thou must punish it where-ever thou findest it Yea though it be laid upon One who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners c. Psal 22. 1 2 3 14 15. Though he was a Lamb without blemish and without spot yet our Iniquities being caused to meet together on him he suffered for them the just for the unjust being put to death in the flesh c. 1 Pet. 2. 24. and Chap. 3. 18. Though he prayed O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass c. Yet in that it did not pass from him we may behold most clearly and most comfortably Gods severity against sin for that was the day of the vengeance of our God In which he took vengeance of our Inventions in the flesh of that most innocent and spotless One and which Day of Vengeance is now proclaimed in the Gospel to comfort all that mourn as Isa 61. 1 2. According to what the Apostle saith what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin or by a Sacrifice for sin condemned sin our sin in the flesh to wit of his own dear and most innocent Son Rom. 8. 3. with 1 Pet. 3. 18. Herein then we may most plainly behold the infinite Holiness of the Lord God and the hatefulness and abominableness of Sin to his Majesty even in the Cross and Sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ and that he can never be reconciled thereto Nor doth he hate it because he hath forbidden it simply But he therefore forbad it because it is so detestable and loathsom to his Infinitely Pure Nature for he is Holiness it self Holiness essentially Amos 4. 2. with Chap. 6. 8. Oh then when we read in the Holy Scriptures or here there-from of the Graciousness of the Holy God towards us Sinners of Mankind And how loath he is with our Destruction when we have propounded or proclaimed to us this good News That God swears that as he lives he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked Let us not then pervert what is right or imagine he thus swears in favour to mens sinful ways and doings No far be it from us to make such a wicked use of such a Blessed Doctrine For there is no meat for our lust in the Glad-tydings of the Glorious Gospel Let us not then say and conclude That because God is good to All therefore we shall have peace though we walk in the imagination or stubbornness of our heart to add drunkenness to thirst for then the Lord will not spare us But then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie will smoak against us c. Deut. 29. 19-25 But let us wisely consider That his Goodness leadeth to Repentance Rom 2. 4. And his long-suffering is and is to be accounted Salvation The very end and design of God in the very exercise thereof is That we might receive the love of the truth so as to be saved thereby from our sins and vanities 2 Pet. 3. 9 15. Rom. 2. 4. The grace of God which bringeth salvation to all men teacheth to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear For our God is a consuming fire Tit. 2. 11 12. Heb. 12. 28 29. Look we then unto Jesus Christ the Great and Fundamental Witness of Gods kindness and pity to sinful Mankind And yet also the clear Testimony of Gods Infinite Purity and hatred of Sin And be we saved And to that end wash we our hearts from wickedness Isa 45. 21 22. Jer. 4. 14. Look into the Clefts of this Rock Remember and consider how this holy and just One humbled himself and became obedient unto Death the death of the Cross that shameful painful and accursed Death for our sins to the end that we being dead to sin might live to righteousness And therein we shall see the vileness and odiousness of sin that we may flee there-from as from that which is most pernicious and destructive to us Indeed we are all naturally very prone and apt to turn the Grace of our God into lasciviousness and to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof by occasion of the riches of Gods goodness displayed in the Gospel Hence the Apostle when he had been largely declaring the love of God to Sinners in that while we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly And that God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us And that where sin abounded there grace abounded much more c. Rom. 5. He then sees in needful to give Answer unto an Objection which he judged some would make or did make against that Doctrine he had preached Or to refute and remove an evil Inference some would draw from his right and good Sayings and therefore thus proceeds What say we then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound Whereby he gives us to understand That too many would be ready thus to abuse the words of Gods Grace fore-declared by him But he rejects such a Conclusion with greatest Detestation God forbid saith he far be
God hath put his Spirit upon him that he might bring forth Judgment to us and give Repentance to us from them namely That Grace and Power whereby we may Repent that he may forgive our iniquity and our sin as Jer. 36. 3. Him hath God exalted with his right hand a Prince and a Saviour for to give Repentance to us also and forgiveness of sins Acts 5. 31. and Chap. 26. 18. Isa 42. 1. Luke 24. 46 47 48. 3. The truth of this also That God hath no pleasure in the Death of the wicked further appears and is evident hereby In that he is vouchsafing Means of Grace unto them and giving gracious Aid and Assistance in and with the Means to the end that the wicked may Repent and turn from their evil ways that iniquity may not be their ruine He doth not onely call them to Repentance with an outward Call but he also stretcheth forth his hand his Power and Spirit with his Calls that such may turn at his Reproofs Prov. 1. 21 22-24 Our Lord Jesus is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world John 1. 9. He is the light of the world which lieth in wickedness or in the wicked One Joh. 8. 12. with 1 Joh. 5. 19. To open the eyes of the blind and to bring forth the prisoners out of prison and them that fit in darkness out of the prison-house Isa 42. 6 7. To open the eyes of Jews and Gentiles and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified through faith in Christ Jesus Acts 26. 17. 18. And he is therefore the Light unto the Gentiles also the light of the World that he might be for salvation unto All even unto the ends of the earth that through him they might be saved Isa 49. 6. with Acts. 13. 47. And as it is the nature and property of the Light to manifest and discover all things unto men in their true and proper colours For whatsoever doth make manifest is light Ephes 5. 13. So our Lord Jesus Christ doth in and by his Testimony and Testimonis of his Goodness manifest himself and Gods Grace in himself to the Sons of Men He makes himself manifest unto them that asked not after him And as in former times Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness that the stung Israelites might look unto and behold it and live Even so the Son of Man is lifted up by the Spirit in the Gospel that sinners may look unto and believe in him And that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have everlasting life Rom. 10. 18-20 John 3. 14-16 Hence he who is a just God and a Saviour and there is none besides him calleth unto men and saith Look unto me all the ends of the earth and be ye saved for I am God and there is none else Isa 45. 2-1 22 23. with Phil. 2. 8 9 10. And Christ as the Light doth also manifest the odiousness and vileness of our sins and what an evil and bitter thing it is to forsake the Lord and that his fear is not in men as Jer. 2. 19. And the necessity of their being turned there-from without which they must all necessarily perish as afterwards we may shew more largely All things that are reproved are made manifest by the Light wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Eph. 5. 13 14. And this most Excellent One doth also as is before said Open the blind Eyes of the Souls of Men to see what he is manifesting to them God hath given him for a light of the Gentiles to open the blind eyes c. Isa 42. 6 7. And herein he excels the Light of this World for though that doth manifest the things here below yet it will not give Sight unto those that are blind to behold what it doth manifest and discover it will not open the eyes of those that want their bodily sight But now our Lord Jesus is the true light the most excellent light who gives both light and sight he lightens every man that cometh into the world John 1. 6-9 And not only so but he gives grace unto all even that Aid and Assistance whereby they may turn from their evil and pernicious ways and live The grace of God brings salvation or is saving unto all men Tit. 2. 11. The goodness of God leadeth men to repentance even such also as are not led by it but after their own hardness and impenitent hearts treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God Rom. 2. 4 5. It is true indeed No man can turn from his iniquities and come unto Jesus Christ unless it be given unto him of the Father unless he draw him John 6. 44 45. But it is as true also that God in due time doth draw all men by Jesus Christ even such also as refuse to return Hos 11. 4 5. with John 12. 31 32. Though the Spirit that dwells in us naturally lusteth to envy yet he giveth more grace That we might not follow after our own Spirit Jam. 4. 5 6. As Christ is exalted with Gods right hand a Prince and Saviour to give repentance c. So he is faithful in giving it in due season And there is good reason for us to believe he is so forasmuch as he was faithful to him that appointed him in that difficult work of humbling himself and becoming obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Acts. 5. 30 31. with Heb. 3. 1 2. Isa 50. 5-8-10 Doutbless God doth not onely afford outward Means and calls wicked Ones with an outward Call to Repentance But he is dispensing to them his Grace and Spirit to enable them to turn from their Iniquities and to exercise themselves to Godliness especially he doth so to us who have the Name of Christ called upon us and the Gospel and Scriptures continued with us And to none other can I speak And to signifie to us that the holy Spirit doth accompany the Gospel to work in men both to will and to do of good pleasure what God requires of them Therefore is the Gospel called the ministration of the Spirit Yea it is called the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6-8 And the words which Christ spake unto them that did not believe are said to be Spirit and Life John 6. 63 64. And when our Lord enlarges the Commission of his Apostles and commands them to go into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature to wit of all the Nations This is that then which he promises to them and assures them of that he would go along and work with them to wit by his Spirit Lo saith he I am with you always even unto the end of the world And to assure us that he was
words are He hath chosen us in him before the Dejection or foundation of the World c. Ephes 1. 4. After some such consideration as Levi paid Tithes in Abraham Heb. 7. 9. It would be most absurd and ridiculous to suppose that that Individual person Levi paid Tithes to Melchisedech before he was born but he did it in Abraham So here no person is elected in a personal consideration before he is born nor otherwise elected to Salvation but in Christ to wit as considered in him who is the Root of Election and the Prime Elect That is to say God in choosing Christ before the Dejection of the World did therein choose all those who should in their several Generations through Grace believe as Believers in him and no otherwise So that the same Person who to day doth not believe and so is not in Christ nor elected yet to morrow believing is then chosen in Christ and made of that Generation or Species chosen in Christ before the Dejection of the World He is now of the elect Generation who before he believed was not of it as Rom. 9. 24-26 1 Pet. 2. 4 5-9 10. But 2. I further say That Eph. 14. speaks not of mens being chosen to salvation but of sâ—me mens being chosen in Christ to an excellent ministration or service And to a more excellent One than any before Nor were they chosen thereto in a personal consideration but as considered in Christ and as Trusters in him and as first Trusters in him as Ephes 1. 12. as plainly appears by the change of the persons In the two first Verses of Ephes 1. The Apostle speaks to the believing Ephesians and saith unto them Grace unto you c. But then from verse 3. to verse 12. he speaks not of them but changes the persons never saith You but always We and Vs to assure us he speaks of some others and not of them And having so done then in ver 13. he again returns to and speaks of them and saith In whom ye also trusted or believed after ye heard the word of truth c. So that all contained from ver 3. to v. 12. respects those that trusted in Christ before the Ephesians were in Christ and so before they were chosen And ver 4. particularly speaks also of the Apostles as Believers in Chriâ—t and Apostles being chosen to the ministration not of the Letter but of the Spirit as 2 Cor. 3. 5-10 That is to say in short God before the Dejection or Foundation of the World chose Christ to be the Mediatour Saviour and great Apostle and purposed to send him in the end of the World actually to make peace for us and to preach it to us and reserved this honour for him That the mystery which was hid from former Ages and Generations should by him be opened He then also in Christ chose the first Trusters in him to be Instruments in this choice Service and Ministration to preach the Gospel according to the revelation of the mystery Eph. 1. 8-10 11. As the Apostle else-where saith We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world or ages unto our glory to wit for the Glory of the Apostles of the Lamb which place is very suitable to the other 1 Cor. 2. 7. with Ephes 1. 4. And this is the proper and direct meaning of Ephes 1. 3 4-12 Now this Election doth not suppose that all others besides the Apostles were reprobated to eternal Destruction God forbid But the very end of Gods choosing them in Christ to this excellent Ministration was That the world there-through might be saved Joh. 3. 17. with Chap. 17 18. As Paul saith Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Commandment of the everlasting God made known to all Nations for the obedience of Faith Rom 1. 5. and Chap. 16. 25 26. So that this Election was intended for the good of the whole world And we still conclude That God is not willing that any should perish And because he hath no Pleasure in the Death of him that dieth it necessarily follows as hath been shewed That their Destruction who perish is wholly of themselves he hath no hand therein nor heart thereto while it is the day of his Grace and Patience 4. And lastly as to this seeing God swears That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked in the death of him that dieth as is before explained Then hereby we may see and know who are like to God and Children of him and who they are that are not so 1. They are not therein born of God who privily bring in Heresies of Destruction or destructive Errors and Doctrines such as tend to the perdition of men as those certainly do who teach men to deny the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. And do not these evil Doctrines do so which teach That Christ died not for all nor tasted death by the Grace of God for every man but onely for the Elect as they speak That though God with his revealed Will would have all men to be saved yet not so with his secret Will That though he commands all men every where to Repent yet he doth not vouchsafe such sufficient or saving Grace whereby they may so do In short That there is a certain determinate number of Mankind elected in a personal consideration before the World was and these shall be brought in to believe in due season irresistibly and so preserved that they shall not possibly fail of the Grace of God however they demean themselves and all the rest are reprobated and must necessarily or shall infallibly perish in conclusion how much soever they indeavour to fly from the wrath to come c. These and such like Doctrines yea All such as consent not to wholsome Words the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine according to Godliness are not of God Nor are such of God therefore who plead for or preach them I mean therein they are not of God as the Apostle John signifies in that Rule he gives the Believers whereby they might know which Prophets are of God and which are not We are of God saith he namely the holy Apostles were so in their Word and Doctrine for Christ gave unto them the Words which the Father gave him John 17. 7 8. He that knoweth God heareth us He that is not of God heareth us not hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of errour 1 John 4. 6. with John 8. 47. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God 2 John 9-11 And our Saviour when he denounceth Woes against the Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites the first