the Records of his Prescience and for the good Works written therein make a Decree of Election unto glory for such an Election would not be an Election of grace but of works and the Elect Vessels would be vasa Meritorum and not vasa Misericordiae But where is the holiness and obedience of the Saints recorded but in the very Decree of Election Therein God doth not only chuse men to glory as the end but also unto saith and holiness as the way leading thereunto God hath chosen us that we should be holy Eph. 1. 4. Non quia futuri eramus sed ut essemus sancti I have chosen you saith Christ that you should go and bring forth fruit Joh. 15. 16. and happy are ye if you do these things saith he Joh. 13. 17. But would all the Apostles bring forth fruit would they all do so and be happy Our Saviour answers plainly Ver. 8. I speak not of you all I know whom I have chosen He speaks not of Election to the Apostleship but of Election to Grace and Glory for it is such an Election as shuts Judas out of the number Neither doth he say I know which of you will be holy and obedient but I know whom I have chosen because all the holiness and obedience of the Saints is built upon free Election Inter gratiam praedestinationem hoc tantùm interest saith St. Austin quòd praedestinatio est gratiae praeparatio gratia verò est ipsa donatio Quod ait Apostolus Ipsius sumus figmentum creati in Christo Jesu in operibus bonis gratia est quod autem sequitur quae praeparavit Deus ut in illis ambulemus praedestinatio est Si propriè appellentur saith St. Bernard ea quae dicimus nostra merita sunt quaedam spei seminaria charitatis incentiva occultae praedestinationis indicia futurae foelicitatis praesagia via regni non causa regnandi Others build Election on foreseen Faith and Perseverance as if these were the moving Causes or at least the antecedent Conditions thereof Thus the Remonstrants herein outstripping the Jesuits themselves Praedestinatio saith Ruiz tota est ex voluntate Dei quantùm ad merita quantùm ad retributionem And in another place Deus dat ut velimus facitque ut faciamus and withal gives an instance in Faith and Perseverance Bellarmine spends some Chapters in proving this Thesis Praedestinationis nulla est causa in nobis Electio saith he non pendet ex ulla praevisione operum nostrorum sed ex mero beneplacito Dei Si spectes saith Gregory de Valentia praedestinationis rationem nihil est in praedestinato sed potius in ipso Deo imò est ipse Deus à quo quae sua est infinita perfectio nulla ejus operatio reipsâ distinguitur And Praedestinationi sunt ascribenda omnia Dei dona quibus salus nostra continetur Deus suos electos saith Suarez ante praevisa merita suâ gratuitâ voluntate elegit non tantùm ad unum vel aliud beneficium gratiae sed ad totam seriem Mediorum quibus infallibiliter perducuntur ad regnum And again Electio non est ex praescientia perseverantiae futurae sed est origo illius Who can but blush at these passages wherein the Jesuits themselves attribute more to free Grace than the Remonstrants But for the thing it self the very same Scriptures which overthrow Election as founded on foreseen Works do overthrow it as founded on foreseen Faith That place Rom. 11. 5. is very pregnant against it There is saith the Apostle a remnant according to the Election of grace the reservation there spoken of is not man's act but God's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the holy Oracle Ver. 4. Non dixit saith Austin relicta sunt mihi aut reliquerunt se mihi sed reliqui mihi The word in the Old Testament is very emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faciam remanere I will cause or make to remain 1 Kings 19. 18. And how doth God reserve or make men to remain unto himself how but by giving of Faith unto them This is that which puts them into the Ark of Salvation neither is there any other way of reserve found in the Gospel Now this reservation which imports in it the giving of Faith is saith the Apostle according to the Election of grace Election therefore is not according to Faith but Faith according to Election But as if the Apostle had not yet spoken enough in calling it the Election of grace he goes on and if by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace where he doth include Faith within the word works Indeed in other places treating of Justification he opposes Faith to Works but here speaking of Election he includes Faith within them and the reason is evident Faith hath a peculiar Organicalness or Receptivity to receive the free Grace of God that the Believer may be justified Gal. 2. 16. but it hath no Organicalness or Receptivity to receive the free Grace of God that the Believer may be elected Wherefore as to Justification it is opposed to Works but as to Election it is included within them It is written in the Gospel Believe and thou shalt be justified but in what Gospel is it written Believe and thou shalt be elected Now that Election is not bottomed on foreseen Faith and Perseverance I shall demonstrate divers ways 1. From the glory of Election which breaks forth in its Eternity Sovereignty Grace and Efficacy If Election be founded on foreseen Faith and Perseverance where is the Eternity of it No man according to the Remonstrants Doctrine is completely Elect until he believe nay not until the last instant of Perseverance wherein he ceases to believe But if this may be salved by the Divine Prescience yet where is the Sovereignty of it Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour Rom. 9. 21 To order different Vessels out of the same lump to different ends is glorious power but to sever out Believers from Unbelievers is not so much power as skill Whether God in Predestination look on men in statu integro or in statu lapso it is out of the same lump still but if he elect out of foreseen Faith it is not out of the same lump with the unbelieving World for he looks on them in statu reparato To elect out of skill according to the goodness of the object becomes a Rational Creature but to elect out of Sovereignty and supreme Liberty becomes the great God who can make and meliorate the object as he pleaseth But if this also might be satisfied yet where is the Grace of it If God do but eligere eligentes if Man's Faith be earlier than God's Grace then we chuse God before he chuseth us contrary to that of our Saviour Joh. 15. 16. then we loved
the holy Spirit drops some moral Vertues and Beams of light from whence have issued many excellent Sayings some of which the holy Spirit hath so far owned as to quote them in his own Book But the Father doth in a special manner love and the Son did in a special manner die for the Elect. Hence proportionably the holy Spirit works in them after more glorious strains of Power and Grace as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication he melts them into Repentance as a Spirit of Faith he makes them catch hold upon Christ for Righteousness and Life as a Spirit of Wisdom he unveils their hearts and makes the Light to shine out of Darkness as a Spirit of Liberty he unshackles and unbinds their Wills and makes them free indeed in the ways of God and as a Spirit of Truth and Holiness he leads them into Truth and by inward Law-engravings moulds and changes them into it Moreover the holy Spirit after such glorious workings on them comes and dwells in them and that intimately in the very secrets of their hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will indwel in them saith he 2 Cor. 6. 16. there are two in 's to denote an intimate inhabitation as if God could never be near enough to them As in Christ Personal who is the Head there is God in the flesh by an hypostatical Union so in Christ Mystical which is the Body there is God in the Flesh by a gracious Inhabitation and to shew that he is there he cries Abba Father in their Devotions he is a Spirit of Love in their charities a Spirit of Power in their infirmities a Spirit of Comfort in their distresses and a Spirit of Glory in their sufferings Seeing then the holy Spirit who works in men more or less according to the Fathers Love and Sons Merits works in such a special way in the Elect 't is as clear as if it were written with a Sun-beam that the Father loves them and the Son died for them in a special way Hence we find these three folded and wrapt up together by the Apostle Elect according to the foreknowledge of the Father through sanctification of the Spirit and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 2. And again The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the holy Ghost be with you all 2 Cor. 13. 14 If the Father's Love and the Son's Blood had respected all men as much as the Elect doubtless the holy Spirit who in Subsistence procedes and in Operations works from them both would have converted all as well as the Elect why then are not all men actually converted Is it because the holy Spirit works not equally in all or because the holy Spirit is resisted in some Is it because the holy Spirit works not equally in all I answer That the Spirit is sent forth from the Father and the Son and works exactly according as it is sent the inward impulsive Cause of pouring out the Spirit is the Father's Love and the outward meritorious cause of it is the Son's Blood Wherefore if the Father equally love all and the Son equally died for all the Spirit works equally in all for there can be no breach in the sacred Trinity Or is it because the Spirit is resisted in some I answer Their resistance is a grand Obstacle to the work but if the Spirit did roll away the Stone and new-mould the Heart and work the Will in all as he doth in the Elect that Obstacle would at last be removed out of the way 5. I argue from the Blessings purchased Christ's Death is more or less respective of men as it is more or less procurative of Blessings for them Christ purchased a Salvability for all but over and besides he purchased many choice Blessings for the Elect he purchased Repentance for them for he is a prince and a saviour to give repentance to Israel Acts 5. 31. He purchased a room for Repentance even for all men but he purchased Repentance it self for his chosen Israel he purchased Faith for them Unto you it is given for Christs sake to believe in him Phil. 1. 29. For others he purchased a ground-work for Faith but for them he purchased the very Grace of Faith he purchased effectual Vocation for them others have a Call by the Gospel but these have a Call by the Gospel coming in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance he purchased Holiness and Sanctification for them Indeed there is no man living on the Earth but if he did really believe he should have the rivers of living water the Spirit of holiness flowing in his heart Joh. 7. 38. but the Elect were destined and chosen in Christ to be holy Eph. 1. 4. and Christ sanctified himself in a special manner for them that they might be sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in truth actually truly Joh. 17. 19. Lastly he purchased Heaven and Glory for them others may have Heaven upon believing but these shall certainly arrive at it these are the sheep to which Christ gives eternal life Joh. 10. 28. these are the sons which without fail shall be brought to Glory Heb. 2. 10. Now seeing Christ purchased so many Blessings for the Elect 't is evident he died for them in a special way 6. I argue from the Intercession of Christ. Christ intercedes for men more or less proportionably as he more or less respected them in his Death for his Death is the foundation of his Intercession the very same Blood of Christ which as shed on Earth made Satisfaction as presented in Heaven makes Intercession Now how far doth Christ intercede in Heaven What doth his Blood speak there For all men it speaks thus Father let them all be saved on Gospel-terms but for the Elect it speaks thus Father let them have Repentance this the Apostle hints out Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince a saviour to give repentance to Israel Acts 5. 31. Israels Repentance on Earth comes from Christ exalted in Heaven for there he intercedes for it by his Merits and from thence he works it by his Spirit Again it speaks for them thus Father let them be made a willing people this I gather from the 110. Psalm where we find Christ sitting at the right hand of God Ver. 1. and sitting there he intercedes for us and from this Session and Intercession comes forth a willing people Ver. 3. Here 's the true original of spiritual willingness the right Hand of God which is a right Hand of Power works it in our Hearts and works it at the instance of Christ who sits and intercedes there for it Again it speaks for them thus Father sanctifie them with thy Grace preserve them with thy Power and crown them with thy Glory in Heaven Thus Christ in his sweet Prayer a little before his bitter Passion interceded for them for their Sanctification Sanctifie them
divinae Majestati si hominibus tribuitur nihilo rectiùs tribuitur quà m si Divinitas ipsa eis tribueretur quo sacrilegio nullum esse majus possit Sovereign and Supreme Liberty is a perfection too high for any Creature for that by natural and intrinsecal Justice owes subjection to its Maker This is one of God's Crown-jewels who sitteth King for ever and ever dwelling in that light which no Creature can approach unto and in that Liberty which no Creature can attain unto 2. God is blessed for evermore blessed in all perfection and perfect in all blessedness in the fruition of himself he is infinite Light to see his own infinite Perfection he is infinite Love to embrace his own infinite Loveliness As he cannot comprehensively know his own infinite Perfection unless he have an infinite Understanding so neither can he adequately embrace his own infinite Loveliness unless he have an infinite Will God hath but one simple Nature and therefore but one simple Pleasure which is no other than the intellectual and amatorious reflexion of the divine Understanding and Will on the divine Goodness for ever 3. If there be no divine Will at all in God then the divine Arm must needs be shortned so that it can produce no creature at all for if it produce any thing it must do it either freely or necessarily not freely for want of a divine Will nor yet necessarily for then it must produce things ad extremum virium and so must produce all the possible Worlds and Creatures lying in the bosom of Omnipotence which would be infinite actual Beings and produce them all as early as Eternity it self and all those infinite actual Beings so produced should be necessary Beings as well as God himself In all which many great Contradictions are involved 4. If there be no divine Will in God then the Glass of the divine Prescience must needs be broken because as God knows all Essences in his own glorious Essence all Possibles in his own wonderful Omnipotence and all congruities and tendencies to his own Glory in his own unsearchable Wisdom so he knows all Futures in his own Will For all things future were in their own nature but mere possibles and could never of mere possibles become futures without the Divine Will and unless they become futures they could never be known as such no not by the Divine Intellect it self For as infinite Omnipotence cannot effect that which is not possible and potenter non potest so infinite Omniscience cannot know that which is not knowable for this were to erre and not to know and consequently a blemish in the clarity of the Divine Intellect 5. The Glory of God which passes before the faith of his Children is his Grace and Mercy and the Glory of his Grace and Mercy is the Freeness and Self-movingness of it and this Freeness and Self-movingness can no where be found but in the Divine Will alone into which all grace and mercy is resolved by God himself who saith I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy Exod. 33. 19. 6. God is a living God and lives the most perfect life because he is the most perfect Being and this Divine Life doth not merely consist in the comprehension of his infinite Understanding nor only in the exertion of his infinite power but also in the volition of his Divine Will With thee O Divine Will is the pure Fountain of Life the precious Well-head of Grace and Glory all the Saints and Angels must stand still and adore thee in the embraces of free Election and Crown of Eternal Glory in every Drop of Christ's Redeeming Blood and Gale of his gracious Spirit CHAP. III. Of the Decrees of God in general HAving proved that God hath a Will I proceed to the Acts thereof The Divine Will although one pure Act is considerable under a double Notion either as it is Voluntas Complacentiae or else as it is Voluntas Decreti Voluntas Complacentiae is that whereby God doth love himself and his own Image Himself for himself as infinite Love doth by an Amatorious Reflexion embrace himself as infinite Goodness And his own Image for where-ever that is found whether shining out in holy Laws or living in holy Creatures there is his delight Voluntas Decreti is that whereby God doth foreordain Events Both these are Acts of his Will and free Acts because they spring out of his divine Knowledge Even God himself through the intuition of his own Beauty loves himself as well as he makes his Decrees out of the Treasury of his Wisdom but herein they differ that God's Act of loving himself is such as cannot be otherwise but his Act of Decreeing if he had been so pleased might have been otherwise framed than it is Pretermitting his Complacential Will I shall direct my Discourse to his Decretive The Decrees of God may be thus described viz. That they are the Wise Eternal Immutable Immanent Acts of his Will whereby for his own glory he decrees whatsoever comes to pass in time Every Decree of God is an Act of his Will hence 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Will of God Acts 21. 14. 't is an Immanent Act hence 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a purpose in himself Eph. 1. 9. 't is a wise Act hence 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the counsel of his Will Eph. 1. 11. 't is an eternal Act hence 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a foreknowing and foredetermining Rom. 8. 29. 't is an immutable Act hence 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the immutability of his Counsel Heb. 6. 17. 't is an Act definitive of Events hence 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the determinate counsel of God Acts. 2. 23. and the end of all is his own glory whereby the whole Will of his Decrees circulates into that Will of his complacence whereby he loves himself himself being the ultimate end all meet there as in their true centre Now in the Decrees of God there are four things to be chiefly considered 1. That they are founded on infinite Wisdom 2. That they are situate in Eternity 3. That they are cemented with Immutability 4. That they are crowned with Infallibility as to the Event 1. The Decrees of God are founded on infinite Wisdom God hath a Mass and Treasury of all Wisdom in himself and from thence he draws out all those Orders and Series of things which through his Decrees are poured forth into being Extra Deum there is no Reason of his Decrees but within there is Summa Ratio God even as decreeing dwells in Light though to us unapproachable every Decree is irradiated with infinite Wisdom though our eyes cannot enter into it The Apostle calls the World the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 21. and no wonder for all the rare Artifices and Harmonies in the Sphear
his own way Unto which I answer two things 1. That God hath set such a Law or Rule unto himself That Believers and those only should be the object of his Election is utterly untrue for then all Infants dying such because no Believers must be out of the Sphear of Election and by consequence out of the Sphear of Salvation also unless which is very strange we could imagine those to be actually saved whom yet God never elected or decreed to save Neither is there any such Law or Rule manifested in the Gospel there God's Will is thus set forth Whosoever believes shall be saved which imports that Believers are the objects of Salvation but not in the least that they are the objects of Election It is written in the Gospel Relieve and thou shalt be saved but in what Gospel is it written Believe and thou shalt be Elected 2. That Law or Rule if supposed doth not answer the Argument for still as to particular Election God is under the pre-determining Will of Man If that say Nay God shall have never a chosen Vessel in all the World to fill with Grace and Glory and how then is he the great Agent in Election Solomon set a Law or Rule to Shimei That if he passed over Kidron he should die for it he passes over and dies What now was the chief cause of his death Solomon's Law or Execution or else Shimei's passage Clearly it was Shimei's own Act Solomon was but as a Legislator Pariratione If God set a Law or Rule that Believers should be elected if a man believe and be elected that which chiefly determines the business is not God's first Law or after Choice but Man's Faith God is no Agent therein but as a mere Legislator So naturally do the Remonstrant Principles run out into that of Theophylact 'T is God's part to call but Man's to be elect or not which Principles must be renounced or else God cannot be owned as the Great Agent in Election And here a three-fold Enquiry offers it self 1. What the things themselves are 2. In what Order these are designed 3. In what manner these are designed 1. What the things themselves are These are Grace and Glory or Faith and Salvation 1 Grace is designed hence we are said to be called according to purpose Rom. 8. 28. and chosen that we should be holy Eph. 1. 4. Do we see a Saint in his spiritual Glory clothed with Humility arrayed with Righteousness girt with Truth his Eyes flowing with repentant Tears his Heart burning with holy Love and his Hands laden with good Works All these were prepared in Eternal Election as well as wrought by the Holy Spirit in Time there was Decretum Dei in the foreordaining as well as Digitus Dei in the forming of them Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King of Heaven will honour In Election there is a designing of Grace nay all Grace Faith it self not excepted The Remonstrants shut out Faith from this design in as much as they pre-require Faith thereunto But how unscriptural is this Paul was chosen to know God's will Acts 22. 14. not to a bare notional Knowledge but to a saving practical one such as justifies Isai. 53. 11. such as is Eternal life Joh. 17. 3. which must needs include Faith The Apostle calls Faith the faith of Gods elect Tit. 1. 1. If Faith had been precedent to Election he would have told us that Election is of Believers but because it is consequent he saith that Faith is of the Elect. And how irrational is it also Election is a design of secretion it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a chusing or singling out of some to Grace and Glory the Elect are said to be chosen out of the world Joh. 15. 19. and chosen unto God Acts 9. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Christ thine they were Joh. 17. 6. thine in a select peculiar manner and Faith is the choice and prime Grace of secretion it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all 2 Thess. 3. 2. If all men did believe without any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or difference the Righteousness of God would be upon them all Rom. 3. 22. the Rivers of living Water would flow in them all Joh. 7. 38. but Faith is not of all whereby it appears that of all inherent Graces Faith firstly and properly makes the secretion Now that such a prime Grace of secretion as Faith should not be decreed in suoh a great design of secretion as Election seems to me incongruous even to absurdity If Faith go before Election then how doth God chuse them out of the World who by Faith are out of it already How doth he chuse them unto himself who by Faith are his own before If Man's Will in believing make the first and proper secretion then God's Will hath no room to make one by electing wherefore if we will allow God his choice indeed we must confess Faith it self to be designed in Election 2. Glory is designed in Election we are chosen to Salvation 2 Thess. 2. 13. and before prepared to glory Rom. 9. 23. the Names of the Elect are written in heaven and registred in the Book of life All the glory above rayes out of the bosom of Election and every Crown of bliss is set on by God's good pleasure 2. In what order are these things designed No doubt by one pure simple Act in God But what is our most congruous conception thereof Some Divines assert that God first decreed Salvation and then Faith Salvation is the end and therefore first Faith the means and therefore last in God's intention But this Reason is not cogent for neither can any thing in the Creature no not its utmost perfection such as Salvation is be God's end all whose Decrees do circulate into himself Neither if it were such should God therefore will it in the first place and in order before Faith for he wills the End and Means with one simple Act. Excellent is that of Aquinas Sicut Deus uno actu omnia in essentia sua intelligit it a uno actu omnia in sua bonitate vult Unde sicut in Deo intelligere causam non est causa intelligendi effect us sed ipse intelligit effect us in causa it a velle finem non est ei causa volendi ea quae sunt ad finem sed tamen vult ea quae sunt ad finem ordinari ad finem Vult ergo hoc esse propter hoc sed non propter hoc vult hoc Other Divines conceive thus That God first decrees Faith and then Salvation and that upon this account Such and in such order as God in time doth save such and in the very same order doth God in Eternity decree to save But God in time doth save only Believers therefore God in Eternity did decree to save only Believers that is such as were so considered by him and so considered by him they
could not be without a precedent Decree of giving Faith unto them Wherefore Faith is first decreed and then Salvation and thus the Decree and its Execution harmonize and both sute with the Gospel Method which sets Faith in order before Salvation But neither hath this colourable Reason any Nerves in it For that Proposition Such and in such order as God saves such and in the very same order he decrees to save may be taken two ways Either thus God decrees to save in the very same order as he saves that is as in time Faith goes before Salvation so in Eternity he decreed that Faith should go before Salvation and this is true Thus the Decree harmonizes with the execution and both with the Gospel but thus Faith is not made first in the Decree but first in the execution according to the Decree Or else thus there is the very same order observed in God's decreeing as in his saving that is as Faith is first in time so it was first in God's Decree and thus it is untrue for it stands upon this false bottom in general There is the very same order in God's internal Intention as there is in the external Production that which is first in the one is first also in the other This bottom is such as neither the harmony between the Decree and the Execution nor yet the Gospel-way and Method doth require The harmony between the Decree and the Execution doth not require it for that only requires that that which is decreed to be and exist first should accordingly be and exist first but it requires not that that which is first in Production should be first in Intention In production the Sun was first before the Beams but was it first also in intention then God decreed a Sun and in that instant meant no Beams In production the Chaos was first before the complete World but was it so in intention then God decreed a Chaos and in that instant meant not a complete World Neither can it avail to say that these instances are in Naturals for the harmony between the Decree and the Execution is as accurate in Naturals as in Spirituals Neither doth the Gospel-way or Method require it for that only requires that Faith be and exist first but not that it be first intended or decreed In order of nature Faith is first before Adoption but was it first also in intention then God decreed Faith to some persons and in that instant meant not their Adoption which yet by the Gospel is a necessary resultance from their Faith In order of existence Faith is first before Salvation but was it first also in intention then God decreed Faith to some persons and in that instant meant not their Salvation which yet by the Gospel is a necessary consequence of their Faith And this is the rather to be marked because the Remonstrants assert That God first and antecedently to his Decree of giving Faith did decree in general to adopt and save all Believers and if so then how doth God decree Faith to a person and not in and by the same Decree decree Adoption and Salvation to him These are a Conclusion naturally flowing from Faith by vertue of the general Decree and therefore that Decree which designs Faith to a person cannot but design these also to him In order of nature Faith is before Perseverance yet both are by one and the same Decree for God in decreeing Faith decrees the duration thereof which is but Mora in esse a kind of stay in Being else his Decree would be very imperfect In point of existence Perseverance is not simultaneous or all at once but successive one sand as it were dropping after another and one instant drawing on another yet all Perseverance is in one and the same Decree To imagine a succession of Decrees in Eternity suiting with the succession of instants in Time were strangely to Metamorphose Eternity into Time Thus it evidently appears that there is not the same order in the internal Intention as in the external Production that which is first in existence here is not first in contrivance there Wherefore the Argument for Faiths firstness in the Decree because of its firstness in the Execution falls to the ground In brief waving both these opinions as built on sandy foundations I conceive it is most congruous to say That God decreed Faith and Salvation in the very same Decree yet so as that withal he intended that in the execution Faith should go before Salvation As in Naturals God decrees the Sowing and Harvest in the very same Decree yet so as that in actual existence the Sowing shall precede the Harvest So in Spirituals God decrees Grace and Glory the sowing to the Spirit and reaping of Life eternal in the same Decree yet so as that in actual existence first there is Grace and then Glory first sowing to the Spirit and then reaping Life Eternal Wherefore in God's Decree Faith is not before Salvation nor Salvation before Faith but both are simultaneous nevertheless in time Faith comes forth first according to the Gospel-method and afterwards Salvation crowns it 3. In what manner are these things designed I answer in an Infallible way such as never fails Hence Election is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an infallible Predestination or Predestination of Grace and Glory to the Elect. Thus the Apostle Whom he did predestinate them he called whom he called them he justified whom he justified them he glorified Rom. 8. 30. The first link of Predestination and the last of Glorification are surely joined by the middle links of Vocation and Justification The Remonstrants to decline the force of this golden place tell us that the Apostle here speaks only of Believers such as love God Ver. 29. and of a predestination and vocation to the Cross and of a justification and glorification after it patiently endured But what is this interpretation but mere a perverting of Scripture The Apostle speaks of Believers such as love God but did they believe and love antecedently to God's Election or consequently and as the fruit thereof If antecedently What is the Calling according to purpose What purpose is this but the purpose according to Election Rom. 9. 11 the purpose according to which God saves and calls us 2 Tim. 1. 9 What Calling is this but that efficacious one which makes a man hear and learn of the Father so as to come to Christ by Faith and Love Joh. 6. 45 Wherefore Faith and Love stream out of the fountain of Vocation and Vocation comes down out of the bosom of God's Purpose To say that the called according to purpose are those which are ready to obey all the Will of God is against the usage of Scripture to turn God's Call into man's Obedience and God's Purpose which is the measure of his own acting into his Command which is the measure of man's Again if antecedently what becomes of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 29
God before he loved us contrary to that of the Apostle 1 Joh. 4. 19. To love as moved by the attractive goodness of the Object is to love like a man but to love Blackamores then give them beauty to love enemies and then overcome them with love is to love like God whose Grace is pure Grace whose Love is all from himself which is emphatically implied in that remarkable reduplication Mark 13. 20. The elect whom he hath chosen as if our Saviour should have said In Election there is nothing but pure Election like that speech of God I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious in which there is nothing but Will and Grace Will and Grace doubled as the only reason of it self But if all the rest might consist yet where is the Efficacy of it If Election be founded on foreseen Faith and Perseverance then it affords no help at all to any man in the way to Heaven How can that saith a Learned Bishop be the cause leading infallibly in the way to Eternal Life which cometh not so much as into consideration untill a man have run out his race in Faith and Godliness and be arrived at Heavens Gates Such a falsly named Predestination might more truly be called Postdestination but call it as they please it enacteth only per modum legis that men thus living and dying shall be received into Heaven but it doth not per modum decreti operantis infallibly work those Graces whereby men are brought unto Heaven If Election take its rise from the last gasp of persevering Faith and Holiness then how came the poor Church by the Chain of Graces on her neck the Bracelets on her hands the Crown of Gold on her head Whence had she her fine Linnen Wedding-garment Gold tried in the fire These are not Natures Riches but Pearls of Grace common Providence gives no such gifts wherefore they are the love-tokens of Election sent indeed in time unto the Church but prepared for her in Eternity O how much better were it that the Sun should be snatched out of the World than that the Influences of electing Love should be suspended from the Church All her light and life holiness and comfort comes down from God in these precious Beams But the Remonstrants instead of these heavenly influences have framed such an Election as hath no more influence on the Faith and Holiness of the Church than a Sun set up at Domesday would have upon the World that was before it it is so far from working that it presupposes all the Faith and Holiness of the Church even to the last minute of Perseverance 2. 'T is evident from the Predestination of Jesus Christ who was God's chosen servant Matth. 12. 18. The Lamb foreordained 1 Pet. 1. 20. and as St. Austin stiles him Praeolarissimum lumen praedestinationis gratiae he was as man predestinated unto the superlative glory of the Hypostatical Union and this high Predestination was not out of any foreseen holiness in his Humane nature for all that did flow out of the Hypostatical Union but it was ex mera gratia Respondeatur quaeso saith the same Father ille homo ut à Verbo patri coaeterno in unitatem personae assumptus silius Dei unigenitus esset unde hoc meruerit quid egit ante quid credidit quid petivit ut ad hanc ineffabilem excellentiam perveniret Nonne faciente suscipiente verbo ipse homo ex quo esse coepit silius Dei unicus esse coepit Nonne filium Dei unicum foemina illa gratiâ plena concepit Nonne de Spiritu sancto virgine Mariâ Dei filius unicus natus non carnis cupidine sed singulari Dei munere Respondeat hic homo Deo si audeat dicat Cur non ego si audierit O homo tu quis es qui respondeas Deo nec sic cohibeat sed augeat impudentiam dicat Quomodo audio tu quis es O homo cùm sim quod audio id est homo quod est ille de quo ago cur non sim quod ille At enim gratiâ ille talis tantus est cur diversa est gratia ubi natura communisest Certè non est acceptio personarum apud Deum Quis non dico Christianus sed insanus haec dicat Apparuit it aque nobis in nostro capite ipse fons gratiae unde secundùm uninscujusque mensuram se per cuncta ejus membra diffundit sicut est praedestinatus ille unus ut caput nostrum esset it a multi praedestinati sumus ut membra ejus essemus Humana hîc merita conticescant quae perierunt per Adam regnet quae regnat Dei gratia per Jesum Christum Surely the Members must not be set above the Head The Members were not elected to the beatifical vision out of foreseen Faith and Perseverance when the Head was elected to the Hypostatical Union out of mere Grace The elect Stones in Zion were not laid for their orient lustre and beauty when the precious Corner-stone who bears up all the building was laid with a Behold in a wonder of Grace and Love 3. 'T is utterly impossible that Faith and Perseverance should be the causes or antecedents to Election when these are the fruits and effects thereof If we search the Scripture for the Well-head of these we shall find it to be in the Decree of Election Therefore when the Apostle blesses God for the work of Faith in the Thessalonians he elevates his praises as high as Election it self knowing brethren beloved your Election of God 1 Thess. 1. 4. And in the very same strain of praise blessing God for blessing the Ephesians with all spiritual blessings in Christ amongst which Faith cannot but be a prime blessing he sets forth the eternal Rule of dispensing them he hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according as he hath chosen us Eph. 1. 3 and 4. Where it is plain that those whom God blesseth with Faith and Perseverance he chuseth unto Faith and Perseverance because he blesses according as he chuses The Remonstrants strangely interpret these words he hath chosen us in Christ that is say they being in him in the divine Prescience But this Interpretation cannot stand the Apostle saith not he hath chosen us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he hath chosen us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in him that is in Christ now where in all the Scripture do the words in Christ import our being in Christ in the divine Prescience The words in Christ in such Scriptures as relate to Justification or Adoption do import our being in Christ by actual Faith but in such Scriptures as relate to Election they do import that all the Grace and Glory prepared in Election is conferred in and through Christ this appears in that famous place 2 Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us
and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began here the words in Christ relating to Election do not import our being in Christ for the Text saith that he called us according to his Grace given us in Christ and Calling goes before Faith or being in Christ and is the immediate cause or fountain thereof but they import that Vocation and Salvation with all the blessings thereof are communicated unto us in and through Christ and that the eternal Decree or Design was so to communicate them Neither doth the Apostle simply say he hath chosen us in him but he hath chosen us in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should be holy thereby pointing out unto us Christ as the designed Fountain of all the holiness in the Elect. Moreover the Apostle saith that he hath chosen us in him that we should be holy and Faith is a choice part of holiness and that he hath blessed us in him with all spiritual blessings and Faith is a prime spiritual blessing and that he hath blessed us according as he hath chosen us and therefore he chuses us to Faith as well as blesses us with Faith but if he chuse us for Faith and bless us with Faith he doth not bless us according as he chuses us By all which it appears that the Remonstrants Interpretation is an Arrow shot besides the Text. But to go on to other Scriptures Blessed is the man saith the Psalmist Psal. 65. 4. whom thou chusest and causest to approach unto thee and what approach can a sinful worm have to the holy one what but by the Faith of Christ and whence is this approach but from God and God electing He chuseth and causeth to approach unto him If Faith were antecedent to Election the approach must have been before the chusing the contrary whereof appears in the Text. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Acts 13. 48. The Apostle saith not as many as believed were ordained to Eternal Life but as many as were ordained to Eternal life believed But here the Remonstrants tell us that in the Text 't is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that imports not God's eternal preordination but man's present condition or disposition so that the meaning is as many as were disposed or well-affected to Eternal Life believed Should it say they import God's preordination then all of that Assembly which were elected did believe at that one Sermon and all the rest were absolutely reprobated for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text is an universal particle now that all the Elect of that Assembly did believe that day or that all the rest were Reprobates is not imaginable I answer first as to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the import thereof will best appear by taking notice in what sence St. Luke doth use this word in the Book of the Acts Acts 15. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They decreed or appointed that Paul should go up Acts 28. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having appointed him a day Acts 22. 10. God promises Paul that it should be told him of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are appointed or ordained for him to do and what these were Ananias sets forth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath chosen thee to such and such things Ver. 14. Now in all these places of the Acts the word signifying appointing or ordaining why should it be taken otherwise in this controverted Text Nay where in all the Scripture doth this word import an inward quality or disposition In that place which seems most of any to speak that way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints 1 Cor. 16. 15. there this word imports no less than a certain purpose of mind in them to do that work Wherefore I conceive that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text doth import an ordination and that of God neither doth the absence of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at all hinder it for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 2. 23. doth without a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 import God's eternal counsel and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 designs an antecedent ordination and that ordination must be God's unless which is the grossest Pelagianism it be said that they were ordained by themselves to Eternal life But to pass over the word the Remonstrants take the Text thus As many as were disposed to Eternal Life believed but can a man without Faith who neither lays hold on Christ the Prince of life nor yet hath any thing of the Spirit of life can such a man be disposed to Eternal life Every disposition to Eternal life must be such either because it hath some intrinsecal dignity meriting Eternal life or else because it hath some Evangelical congruity to which Eternal life is annexed by Promise As to the former the Remonstrants as Protestants cannot own it and as to the latter they cannot in all the Gospel shew forth one Promise of Eternal life made to a man void of Faith and how then can a man void of Faith be disposed to Eternal life But if he could the Remonstrants of all others must not say so for they assert that none but a Believer can be the object of Election because say they God cannot will Eternal life to any but to a Believer to a man in Christ and how then can an Unbeliever a man out of Christ be disposed to Eternal life Such a mans disposition to Eternal life if it be not such by its meriting condignity must be such divinâ ordinatione and if so what is that but to say this is the man to whom God wills Eternal life and if before Faith God may will Eternal life to him why may not he before Faith elect him Again This disposition to Eternal life must be either some moral Virtuousness or else some better Grace of the Spirit if but a moral Virtuousness how can it dispose to Eternal life if a better Grace of the Spirit how can it precede such a Mother-grace as Faith But let us hear how the Remonstrants paint out this disposition in words of Scripture These disposed ones say they are the sheep of Christ Joh. 10. 4. the drawn of the Father Joh. 6. 44. such as do the truth Joh. 3. 21. such as will do God's will Joh. 7. 17. such as have honest and humble hearts apt and idoneous to embrace the Gospel But what a perplexed Labyrinth of words is here To be the sheep of Christ argues a being in the state of Election which is antecedent to all good dispositions in us they are called sheep before their bringing home to God Joh. 10. 16. and their bringing home goes before all gracious dispositions The Fathers drawing imports God's action and not man's disposition the doing of the Truth is man's
action and not his disposition the willing to do God's will is a gracious disposition but such as goes not before Faith Indeed the young man who yet had no true Faith had some kind of will to walk in God's Commandments Mark 10. 20. but it was not of the true stamp but with a reserve of his darling Covetousness To have a right Will to do God's Will is to be one spirit with the Lord which without Faith is unimaginable 'T is not to be conceived that an heart can indeed be either honest to God which is not purified by Faith or humble before him which is not irradiated by Faith As for the last objection That if these words import God's Preordination then all the Elect of that Assembly did believe at that one Sermon and all the rest were reprobated it is built upon two false hypotheses The one as if the Evangelist spake only of one Sermon whenas the Apostle had now preached two Sabbath-days there so that these words are most properly to be understood of the continued success of the Gospel according to that Acts 2. 47. The Lord daily added to the Church such as should be saved which continued success is also hinted out in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immediately following after the words Ver. 49. The other as if the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were always an universal Particle whenas in some Scriptures as Acts 4. 6. it doth not design universality for all the High Priest's kindred were not at that meeting but quality also in the Text in question the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather points out the condition of Believers than their number Wherefore I conclude that this famous Text holds out such an Eternal Preordination of God as is the very Well-head of Faith in men Every Believer is an Isaac a child of Promise wonderfully begotten begotten of God's own will saith St. James Chap. 1. 18. and begotten according to his abundant mercy saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 1. 3. And what is this Will and Mercy but God's gratuitous design of Grace and Glory to his Elect The Will in St. James is such a Will as designs Grace and Consecration to God in holiness even as the first fruits were holy and the Mercy in St. Peter is such a Mercy as designs Glory even an incorruptible and undefiled Inheritance in Heaven and both places demonstrate that the Believer is generated out of Electing Love And as Faith is an effect of Election so also is Perseverance which is no other than Fides continuata Faith standing in the power of God 1 Cor. 2. 5. and fulfilled by the same power 2 Thess. 1. 11. God saith the Apostle shall confirm you unto the end 1 Cor. 1. 8. and as a Reason he subjoyns God is faithful Ver. 9. Faithful as in his gracious Promises so in his gratuitous Election therefore he confirms his own unto the end There are Rivers of living Water in the Godly but the eternal Spring thereof is Election there is the Seed of God in them but the vital Root of it is Election Hence the false Christs and false Prophets cannot seduce them Mark 13. 22. The canker of Hymenaeus and Philetus cannot eat into them 2 Tim. 2. 19. Now if Faith and Perseverance are the fruits of Election they cannot be the causes or antecedents thereof Let me shut up this Reason with that of Fulgentius Deus praedestinatione suâ donum illuminationis ad credendum donum perseveraniiae ad proficiendum permanendum donum glorificationis ad regnandum quibus dare voluit praeparavit nec aliter persicit in opere quà m in sua sempiterna incommutabili voluntate habet dispositum 4. My last Reason shall be taken from the grand Scope and Design of the Scriptures which is to exalt God and abase the Creature There God's glory is revealed and all flesh is but grass there God is all in all and all men are nothing the willer and runner are nothing and Gods mercy is all the planter and waterer are nothing and Gods giving the encrease is all There all men lie very low in a Dungeon of Darkness Grave of Sin and miserable Chains of Hardness and Unbelief and God sits very high and out of the sovereign Self-motion of his own Will shines into one Heart and not into another opens one Grave and not another frees one spiritual Prisoner and not another There Zions dust I mean the Creature-weakness and defectibility of the Church and all her inherent Graces appear on the one hand and the sureness of God's Mercy and the everlasting immutability of his Love and Counsel shines forth on the other and what 's the meaning of all this but to cut off boasting and stain pride abase the Creature and exalt God In nullo nobis gloriandum quando nostrum nihil est But if as the Remonstrants assert Election be built on Faith and Perseverance and this Faith and Perseverance be wrought by God in a superable way only so as men may believe or not or believing may persevere or not then the Crown is plucked off from Free Grace and clapt upon Free Will God is dethroned and man is exalted and so may fall a boasting in some such language as that of Theophylact 'T is God's part to call but mine to be elect or not 't is God's part to reveal Gospel but mine either to believe and persevere and so found the Decree of Election or else not to believe and persevere and so to impede it And if to silence such swelling words of vanity God should put forth such astonishing questions to him about the Spiritual World as he did to Job about the Natural yet might man return an answer to his Maker Should God ask Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of my Church in my divine Decrees when I laid the measures of her Graces in my Eternal purpose Man may say My Faith was there stretching out the Line and fastning the Corner-stone of Election Should he ask Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Predestination that it shall not cause a Spring of Faith and Holiness in my Church Man may say I can so bind them up that if I please God shall have never an Elect Vessel to fill with Mercy nor Christ any where to lay his Merits among all the sons of men Should he yet ask Who hath known the mind of the Lord or been his Counseller Man may answer My Free Will was consulted with from time to time even to the last gasp of Perseverance before the Decree of Election was concluded in Heaven Should he ask on Who made thee to differ from another The Believer may answer Adam did not difference me for he left me in the common Mass neither did God difference me for he gave me only the Common Grace but I my self have made the difference by freely embracing the very same Grace which others freely rejected In a word should he expostulate with
his Church as with Jerusalem Ezek. 15. 2 3. What is the vine-tree more than any tree Will men take a pin of it to hang a vessel thereon The Church may answer My own Free Will is such a pin that my Faith and Perseverance chiefly hang upon it and my Faith Perseverance are such pins that God himself hangs up the eternal Rolls of his Election upon them Thus and much more may the Will of man by the Remonstrants Principles sit as a Queen glorifying her self and opening her mouth in Blasphemies against the Sovereignty of God's Will and the freeness and power of his Grace But all this while a deaf Ear is turned to the Scriptures which cry aloud No flesh must glory in it self he that glorieth must glory in the Lord 't is not of the runner or willer but of God who sheweth mercy he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth And if any man reply to this he must hear his own nullity Nay but O man who art thou and God's sovereignty hath not the potter power over the clay that so he may fall down astonied at the Glory of God and cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out Indeed according to the Remonstrants Doctrine which bottoms God's Election on mans Faith and Perseverance there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at all in it all is ultimately resolved into the shallow Will of man there is no unsearchableness or untraceable difficulty at all in it all is plain and easie every jot of it carries a clearness and visible equity Election being only God's Decree to save Believers there is no more scruple or intricacy in it than there will be in the Judicial proceeding at the last Judgment when all things shall be as obvious to every eye as if they were represented in a Sea of Glass But if according to the Apostles Scope we do consider the absolute Sovereignty of God's Will in that Expression He will have mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth there is a very glorious abyss in it such as may justly astonish us into eternal admiration Oh the heights and depths of divine Love All the Elect of God may here lose themselves in holy Mazes and trances My God! my God! may every one of them say Why hast thou chosen me I know and not without wondring that Heaven is mine through Christ and Christ is mine through Faith and Faith is mine through the Election of Grace but my God! my God! why hast thou chosen me I know that thy blood was shed for me and thy Spirit is shed into me and thy Glory is reserved for me and all this out of love but my God! my God! why hast thou loved me Oh that I could adore Calling Justifying Glorifying Grace from the top of Predestination Thou hast loved me because thou hast loved me thou hast chosen me because thou hast chosen me Even so holy Father because so it seemeth good in thy sight 5. Having dispatched the Impulsive Cause of Election I proceed to the last thing viz. in whom God doth Elect us I answer with the Apostle God chuseth us in Christ Eph. 1. 4. But because these words are variously taken it is to be considered how Christ may be stiled the purchaser of Election whether only quoad res in Electione volitas praeparatas or also quoad actum volentis to which I answer 1. Affirmatively Jesus Christ as God-man our glorious Mediator did purchase Election quoad res in Electione volitas All the Churches Grace and Glory Sanctity and Salvation Faith and Fruition must sing Hosannahs and Hallelujahs to him whose precious Blood more worth than a thousand Worlds is the glorious price of all these God in the Decree of Election did not only design the communication of these to his own Elect but also he did design that communication to be in and through Christ. 2. Negatively I conceive that Jesus Christ as God-man our Mediator did not purchase Election quoad actum volentis and that for these Reasons 1. That phrase chosen in Christ Eph. 1. 4. doth not evince Christ to be the Cause of Election for in another place we are said to be chosen to Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thess. 2. 13. Which sanctification is for all that not a Cause but an Effect of Election 2. Christ was delivered up to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the determinate counsel of God Acts 2. 23. First he was delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Counsel or Decree of God and if being delivered by God's Decree he merited the Decree of Election then God made one Decree that Christ should come and merit the making of another Christ our Mediator stands in the midst between God and man but that he should stand so between the two Decrees of God as a fruit of the one and a cause of the other seems very incongruous But further he was delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the determinate counsel of God that is by a Decree perfectly designative of his Death and the fruits thereof and in a special manner perfectly designative of those individual persons who should have Grace and Glory in and through him If it be not so perfectly designative how is it a determinate Counsel If it be so perfectly designative is not the Decree of Election at least included therein Undoubtedly it is Now this determinate Counsel which is inclusive of the Decree of Election was not merited by Christ for he was delivered by it and did not merit that by which he was delivered 3. Christ came to do his Fathers will Heb. 10. 7. all that he did and suffered was a faithfulness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to him that made him a Mediator to do and suffer the same Heb. 3. 2. Now aliud est facere voluntatem Deo aliud facere voluntatem Dei Christ did not make a new Will in God but do the Will of God if he had made a new Will in God then at his death there was not only a passion in the flesh of God but as it may seem in the very Will of God too wherefore he not making a new will in God did not merit the Decree of Election But further how did he do the Will of God Did he not do it by laying down his life for his sheep Joh. 10. 15 By redeeming a people out of every nation Revel 5. 9 By purifying to himself a peculiar people Tit. 2. 14 By bringing many sons unto glory Heb. 2. 10 And what is all this but the executing of the Decree of Election And if Christ's errand into the World was to execute Election then how did he merit it 4. God might have exacted satisfaction from poor sinners in their own persons he was not bound to accept
that place imports a not giving the mollifying Graces of Faith and Repentance and withal a permission of final sin in the Reprobate for it is set in opposition to that mercy which bestows those mollifying Graces and thereby prevents final sin in the Elect. 3. It purposes to punish them with Eternal Damnation for their sin and this is stiled among Divines Pre-damnation or Positive Reprobation And hence Reprobates are said to be vessels of wrath Rom. 9. 22. made for the day of Evil Prov. 16. 4. and of old ordained to condemnation Jude Ver. 4. in the Original we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of old fore-written or registred to this condemnation forewritten not as some would have it in Scripture-prophecies but in the Eternal Decree of God the ordained Event whereof is notably pointed out by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text. To say that men are fore-written in a Decree to condemnation is very proper but to say that they are forewritten in a Prophecy to condemnation is very incongruous for a prophecy is of an Event and not to it as a Decree is In that place where 't is said that Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 3. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports not a Decree but a setting forth or lively painting out of Christ for there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at all as in the former Text but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom before the eyes Jesus Christ was set forth But the plain meaning of the former Text is they were decreed to this condemnation viz. to spiritual Judgments which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 specially points at and by consequence to Eternal Damnation also Now touching this Triple act of Reprobation I shall enquire 1. Who is the Author thereof 2. What are the things decreed therein 3. To whom those things are decreed 4. What is the Impulsive Cause thereof 1. Who is the Author thereof Even the same great God who is the Author of Election he who chuses some passes by others he who hath mercy on some hardens others Grace and Glory are at his dispose the Keys of Heaven and Hell are in his hands alone In some he prevents final sin by the mollifying Graces of Faith and Repentance others he leaves to final sin actual or at least original Some he raises up out of the Hell of their Corruption into an Heaven of Glory others he tumbles down from one Hell to another from the Hell of Iniquity to the Hell of Misery This is the Almighty Potter who out of the same lump of corrupted Mankind makes one Vessel to honour and another to dishonour and all the while the earthen Pitcher must not strive with his Maker or say Why hast thou made me thus but rather hasten down into the Abyss of his own Nullity and Pravity and from thence adore the infinite heights of Sovereignty and Equity in the Divine Decrees 2. What are the things decreed therein These I shall consider according to the Triple Act thereof 1. As for the first Act of Preterition or Non-election the thing decreed is the not giving of Grace and Glory to the Reprobates 1. 'T is the not giving of Grace unto them Not that there is a preterition of them as to all kind of Grace for Reprobates may be Children of the kingdom Matth. 8. 12. called to the marriage-supper Matth. 22. 12. and coming may eat and drink in Christ's presence Luk. 13. 26. they may be enlightned and partakers of the holy Ghost and taste the good word of God and the powers of the world to come Hebr. 6. 4 5. and which is a very high expression they may be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to believe in the name of Jesus Joh. 2. 23. But that there is a preterition of them as to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those better things which accompany and by a near contiguity touch upon Salvation Heb. 6. 9. as to such a precious Faith Love in incorruption Holiness of truth Repentance unto life real and thorough Conversion as are found in the Elect. There is not then a preterition as to all kind of Grace no nor all kind of preterition as to saving Grace for God doth will the Conversion of Reprobates in a double manner 1. God wills their Conversion Voluntate simplicis complacentiae Conversion even in a Reprobate would make joy in Heaven it would be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grateful and well-pleasing to God if we believe him swearing by his life his pleasure or delight is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the wicked mans turning Ezek. 33. 11. God delights in his Image where-ever it be 2. God wills their Conversion Voluntate virtuali vel ordinativâ Mediorum for the right understanding whereof I shall lay down four things 1. The proper end and tendency of all means is to turn men unto God within the Sphere of the Church such is the end and tendency thereof Why did Christ come but to turn every one from his iniquities Acts 3. 26 Why did he preach but that his hearers might be saved Joh. 5. 34 Why did the Apostle warn and teach every man but to present every man perfect in Christ Col. 1. 28 John's Baptism was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 3. 11. Church-censures were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 10. 8. Even the delivering to Satan was for the destruction of the flesh 1 Cor. 5. 5. Conversion is the true Centre of the Means Nay without the Sphere of the Church the true end and tendency of things is such that God might be seen in every creature Rom. 1. 20. Sought and felt in every place Acts 17. 27. Witnessed in every showre Acts 14. 17. Feared in the sea-bounding sand Jer. 5. 22. Humbled under in every abasing providence Dan. 5. 22. Turned to in every judgement Amos 4. 11. In a word the end and tendency of all God's works is that men might fear before him Eccl. 3. 14. The whole World is a great Ordinance at it is in it self preaching forth the power and goodness of God who made it and as it is the unconsumed Stage of so many crying sins preaching forth the clemency and mercy of God who spares it and dashes it not down about the sinners ears All the goodness and forbearance of God leads men to repentance Rom. 2. 4. That piece of Gospel Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy seems legible in his patience for it may be naturally and rationally concluded That that God who in his clemency spares men though sinners will in his mercy pardon them when repenting and returning This is the true duct and tendency of his patience even that men might turn and repent 2. The tendency of the Means to Conversion is such that if men under the administration thereof turn not unto God the only reason lies within themselves in their own corrupt hearts If God purge and men are not purged 't is because there is lewdness in their
intrinsecal merit of Sin and paid only to a final Sinner therefore the consideration of final sin is a prerequisite to the Decree of Damnation without that consideration I see not how it can be decreed as Wages But you 'l say Is not Eternal Life also a Reward of Faith and Holiness and how then can that be decreed as a Reward without a preconsideration of these I answer Eternal Life is a Reward but 't is a Reward of pure Grace 't is Grace upon Grace glorifying Grace upon sanctifying therefore to the Decreeing thereof as a Reward it suffices that it be decreed to Believers and Saints Not Believers and Saints so preconsidered to that Decree for Grace and Glory being both mere gifts and gifts of immediate contact are comprized in one Decree but Believers and Saints so to be made by force of that Decree and so to be made before they wear the Crown This is enough in the decreeing of a Reward so purely gratuitous But in Eternal Death there is nothing at all gratuitous all is mere wages and pay for Sin Sin doth really and intrinsecally merit it Wherefore Eternal death as such wages is decreed only to final Sinners Not final Sinners so to be made by force of God's Decree for that makes no man a final Sinner but final Sinners so preconsidered to the Decree of Damnation for without that preconsideration it is not as I conceive decreeable as wages or pay due unto them To shut up this point in a word Reprobation as to the Decree of Preterition and Permission respects men as lapsed Sinners and as to the Decree of Damnation respects them as final Sinnets 4. What is the Impulsive Cause of Reprobation To which I make answer 1. As for the Decree of Preterition and Permission of final Sin it is from God's Will as cloathed with supreme Sovereignty God passeth by and hardneth whom he will This appears in two particulars 1. First God doth not give so much as the Gospel-means unto some men He suffered all nations to walk in their own ways Acts 14. 16. Some sin and perish without Law or Gospel all the Law they have is the dark glimmering of Nature and all the Gospel they have is the patience and goodness of God leading to Repentance The Sun Moon and Stars are divided to all nations Dent. 4. 19. but Jesus Christ a Sun of infinite light and lustre shines in a narrower compass on the earth than the finite Sun the Moon is lesser than the Earth the visible Church than the World of Men. The Apostles those Stars of light must not shine in Asia and Bithynia Acts 16. 6 7. By what way is this Evangelical Light parted Surely by the divine Will alone the difference is not from the worthiness or unworthiness of men for those in Asia and Bithynia were as good as others Christ was manifested to a Thief and not to a Socrates or Plato Rebellious Israel hath the light of the Word in it and a more flexible Nation which would hearken thereunto wants it Ezek. 3. 6 7. Impenitent Corazin and Bethsaida have a visible Deity before them in Christ's Miracles when poor Tyre and Sidon much nearer to Repentance hath it not Matth. 11. 21. In all which the sovereign Will of God is to be adored for that is it which divideth between the Light and the Darkness 2. In the Visible Church the Orb of Gospel-light God doth not give saving Grace unto all 'T is true the mercy of God is so immense that all the sins of men are but as the drop of the bucket to it the Blood of God is so meritorious that all the crimson Crimes in the World are as nothing to it and the Spirit of God is so almighty that all the chains of hardness and unbelief fall off before his converting Grace Nevertheless this immense Mercy doth not pardon all this meritorious Blood doth not wash all nor this almighty Spirit doth not convert all unto God Oh the wonderful Abyss of the divine Counsel All men naturally lie in bloody pollution and God saith to one Live and not to another all are as it were one entire Rock of obstinacy against God and he calls Abraham's children out of one part of the Rock and leaves all the rest to be Rock still All are dead in sins and trespasses nay and sealed up in their Graves with a stone of hardness and unbelief and one Grave-stone is rolled away and the dead under it raised up by almighty Grace and not another External Revelation is all over the Church why is not the inward holy Unction so too The Gospel sounds in every Ear why do not all hear and learn of the Father The Gospel calls and knocks at every door why are not the Demonstrations of the Spirit and the drawings of the Father in every heart The Gospel says in general Whosoever will may take the Water of Life freely why doth not God work the Will in all Why are any dimissi libero arbitrio left to the miserable servitude of their own free Will Here there is no other resolution but that of the Apostle He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth and beyond this we can only wonder and in quodam mentis excessu cry out Oh the depth Cur hoc illi operetur saith St. Austin illi non operetur metuentem me trementem judicia ejus inscrutabilia incomprehensibilia nolo interroges quia quod lego ercdo revereor non autem discutio And Ne dicas Deo interrogando Quae est voluntas tua sed tremendo Fiat voluntas tua And again Posset Deus saith he of wicked men ipsorum voluntatem in bonum convertere quoniam Omnipotens est posset planè cur ergo non fecit quia noluit cur noluerit penès ipsum est If there were any thing extra Deum moving him to the Decree of Preterition and Permission it must needs be sin either Original or Actual or final Impenitency and Infidelity therein but none of all these moved God thereunto Not Original sin for this is the common blood wherein all men Elect as well as Reprobate lie by nature And this is St. Ambrose's Mirum touching Infants Ubi actio non offendit ubi arbitrium non resistit ubi eadem miseria similis imbecillitas causa communis est non unum esse de tanta parilitate judicem quales reprobat abdicatio tales adoptat Electio Indeed Original Sin makes all men reprobable for all are by nature Children of wrath Transgressors from the womb an unclean and corrupt Seed lying in bloody and abominable pollution fit and worthy to be put away from the holy One as dross and for ever to be cast out into utter darkness but it makes no man a Reprobate for the Elect are as deep in this filthy mire as others Nor yet doth Actual sin do it for Jacob was loved and Esau hated before they had
done good or evil Artaxerxes decreed that Jerusalem should not be built again because upon search of his Records he found that it had been a rebellious City Ezra 4. 19 21. Should God have founded his Decree of Preterition and Non-election on a Prescience of humane Rebellion the holy City of the Church had never been built nor the divine Image ever repaired therein All men had eternally lay as Sodom and Gomorrah in the dust and rubbish of Adam's Fall with a line of spiritual confusion stretched upon them Who is there that lives and sins not What man on earth hath not rebelled and vexed God's holy Spirit Even little Infants rebelled in voluntate Adae and besides Imbecillitas membrorum infantilium innocens est non animus infantium Neither yet doth final Impenitency and Infidelity do it for there is no final Impenitency and Infidelity but such as is permitted and permitted it is not but out of the Decree of Preterition and Permission wherefore that Decree cannot be caused thereby Final Impenitency and Infidelity may be considered two ways either as being in actual existence or else as foreseen by the divine Prescience but neither way doth it cause the Decree of Preterition and Permission but presuppose the same Not as it is in actual existence for final Impenitency Infidelity come into being after Permission and Permission flows out of the Decree wherefore final Impenitency and Infidelity coming after Permission are not the Cause of the Decree out of which Permission doth issue Nor yet as it is foreseen by the divine Prescience for the Decree of Preterition and Permission is that very Glass wherein final Impenitency and Infidelity are foreseen for had God made no Decree of Preterition and Permission he had seen all men repenting and believing as the fruit of his effectual Grace unto all had he made that Decree universally touching all he had seen no man repenting and believing Wherefore final Impenitency and Infidelity as foreseen do not cause but presuppose the Decree In a word I conclude That the Decree of Preterition and Permission doth merely depend upon the supreme and sovereign Will of God Neither is there any colour of Injustice in all this for 1. Non-electio as Suarez hath it non est poena ut culpam praerequir at sed est quaedam negatio gratuiti beneficii quod Deus ut supremus Dominus negare potest God may do what he will with his own Election the primum indebitum is God's own therefore he may pass by whom he pleaseth the holy Spirit the fountain of all Faith and Repentance is God's own therefore it may breath only where it lists All Souls and Graces are God's own therefore he may infuse or not infuse Graces into Souls ad placitum Neither is it imaginable that God should be obliged to give restituent Grace to fallen Man when he was not obliged to give custodient Grace to the innocent Angels If Faith and Repentance are the gifts of God may he not suspend them If he be bound to give them why is there ae peradventure put upon some mens Repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25 Why a cannot upon some mens Faith John 12. 39 Why a perhaps upon some mens Forgiveness Acts 8. 22 Why aforbidding upon the means of Grace Acts 16. 6 Why a manifestation to disciples and not to the world Joh. 14. 22 Why a Revelation to babes and not to the wise and prudent Matth. 11. 25 In short God's Election must be either arbitrary or necessary If necessary how is his Election free If arbitrary how is Non-election unjust The donation of Faith and Repentance must be Grace or Debt If Debt why is not the Veil off from every Eye and the Stone out of every Heart Why is not Grace as common as Nature and Saintship as Humanity But if Grace then where it is conferred it is freely conferred out of self-moving mercy and where it is denied it is justly denied out of unaccountable sovereignty 2. In the Permission of final sin there is much of Sovereignty but nothing of Injustice the great God is absolutus faber suae permissionis he could let legions of Angels at once drop out of Heaven into Hell he could let innocent Adam as rare a piece as he was break himself all to shivers by a fall and what may he not permit sinful Worms to do What are Creatures to him If they miscarry how many thousand thousand Worlds are there in the bosom of his Omnipotence If he suffer all Nations to walk in their own ways he doth but let a drop fall off the Bucket or a small dust fly off the ballance he doth but leave Vanity to its own lightness and a Quasi-nothing to its own nullity and defectibility If he suffer sinful Man to run into sin and that finally he doth but leave the Dog to his own vomit the Swine to his own mire the Viper to his own poyson a corrupted piece of old Adam to act 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of his own as the Expression is Joh. 8. 44. He doth but let the fountain of blood flow out the corrupt flesh putrifie the vitious womb of concupiscence conceive and bring forth and the depraved Will of man forge out its own iniquities and fetter and intangle it self with the cords and bonds of its own voluntary rebellions and what Injustice can be in all this especially seeing this Permission is not a subtraction of any inherent Grace but only a suspension of assistent Grace as de facto would impede sin If God be bound to afford such Grace where is the Charter of that engagement If he be not bound thereunto where is the Injustice of that suspension The Saints before a temptation cast down their Souls before God and cry out Nèinducas Lead us not into temptation and after a victory they cast down their Crowns before him and sing out Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ. Wherefore when sin is prevented God's free Grace is to be praised and when sin is permitted God's absolute Sovereignty is to be adored 3. Justice in God is agere juxta condecentiam bonitatis veracitatis suae therefore the Decrees of Preterition and Permission must needs be just because they cross not either his Goodness or his Truth Not his Goodness for that doth not necessitate him either to diffuse one drop of Grace unto fallen Man or to prevent one jot of sin in him nor yet his Truth for notwithstanding the Decrees of Preterition and Permission all the Promises in the great Charter of the Gospel are Yea and Amen not a tittle thereof fails or falls to the ground 2. As the Decree of Preterition and Permission is from God's Will as cloathed with Sovereignty so the Decree of Damnation is from God's Will as cloathed with Justice In the former God acts as supreme Lord according to his transcendent Sovereignty in the latter God acts as a Righteous Judge according to
his Vindictive Justice Now here I shall offer my thoughts in two Positions 1. The final Sin of Reprobates is not properly the very Cause of the Decree of Damnation it is the proper very Cause of Damnation but not of the Decree it self That passage in Scotus is remarkable Non est aliqua causa propter quam Deus effectivè reprobat in quantum est actio in Deo quia tunc Deus esset passivus What is moved by a thing ab extra seems in order of nature before that motion to be in potentia and in that motion to be passive in some degree But God's Will in all its Decrees even in that of Reprobation is a pure Act perfectly excluding Passiveness and Potentiality and by consequence Motion ab extrá 2. The final Sin of Reprobates though it be not properly the Cause of the Decree it self yet it is conditio in objecto necessaria making men meet Objects for the Decree to terminate upon The Vessels of wrath are fitted to destruction Final Sin as produced in actual Existence fits them for actual destruction and final Sin as foreseen in the divine Prescience fits them for a Decree of destruction Where final Sin is foreseen there the Decree of Damnation terminates and where final Sin is not foreseen there the Decree of Damnation terminates not After all thy wickedness woe woe unto thee saith the Lord Ezek. 16. 23. Hells woes are after final wickedness and the Decree of Hells woes are after the Prescience of final wickedness In a word That which causes men to be capable objects for the Decree of Damnation to terminate on is the final Sin which is in the unrighteous Will of Man and that which causes the Decree of Damnation to terminate on them is the Vindictive Justice which is in the righteous Will of God In Tophet the Torments are as unquenchable fire The final sin is as much wood and that which kindles it is Vindictive Justice breathing out from the righteous Will of God in all which there is nothing at all but exact Righteousness God may say to Man Thy perdition is of thy self and Man must say to God Thou art righteous O Lord in all thy ways I will shut up all with an Answer to an Objection You will yet say God's Justice is not cleared in this point for the Decree of Preterition and Permission is merely out of Sovereignty and upon this Preterition and Permission doth infallibly follow final Sin and upon final Sin doth infallibly follow eternal Damnation Wherefore hereby God is made the great Author of the Reprobates Sin and Damnation To which I answer in three Propositions 1. 'T is true that upon Preterition and Permission final sin doth infallibly follow When God gave them up to their own lusts they walked in their own counsels Psal. 18. 12. When he suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways they did so Acts 14. 16. If upon God's Permission Man's Sin follow not then which is very strange God may permit that which yet will never be But 2. Upon Preterition and Permission final Sin doth infallibly follow but not as an Effect from a true Cause but as a Consequent upon its Antecedent Hence God is no more the Author of Sin than the Sun is of the darkness which follows upon its departure Also the Objectors may be asked Doth not God foreknow that the Creature set in such a state and order of things will finally sin Foreknowing this doth not he willingly and actually set the Creature in that state and order From or upon this setting the Creature in that state and order doth not its final Sin infallibly follow I suppose they will deny nothing of all this yet they will by no means say that God is the Author of sin neither need they say so for in Sins following there is only sequela ordinis and not sequela causalitatis Moreover God in Preterition and Permission doth not subtract from men any Creaturedue but suspend such special effectual Grace as is undue unto them This is clear for Preterition and Permission respect men as sinners lying in the corrupt Mass and to sinners God owes nothing but punishment Verbum Debet venenum habet nec Deo propriè competit qui non est debitor nobis nisi fortè ex promisso saith Peter Lombard If God be bound to give special effectual Grace to all shew me a Promise for it if he be not bound the suspension of that Grace can in no wise make him the Author of Sin Wherefore final Sin is indeed no fruit of God's Reprobating Will but the proper issue of Man's perverse Will And this is one grand difference between Election and Reprobation Election doth effectually work final Faith and Holiness in the Elect but Reprobation doth not effect the least drop of Sin or Malice in the Reprobate Faith and Holiness come down from Heaven out of the bosom of free Grace but Sin and Malice grow at home in the Reprobate's own heart Dea non operante sed permittente 3. Hence it follows That God is the Author of the Reprobate's Damnation only as a just Judge inflicting the same for final Sin God's vindictive Justice is the inflicting Cause of Damnation but Man's final Sin is the proper meritorious Cause thereof And thus God is perfectly justified in the Decree of Reprobation because that final Sin of Reprobates which follows consequently upon God's Preterition and Permission doth flow effectively from man's perverse and corrupt Will and that everlasting Damnation of Reprobates which is inflicted by God as a Righteous Judge is also merited by a man as a final Sinner CHAP. VI. Of the Work of Creation HAving treated of the Divine Will as to its Eternal Decrees I procede to speak thereof as to its External Works which are as it were the Royal Display thereof And that there may not be a Chasme in my Discourse I shall first touch upon Creation as the first of God's ways There are besides the Ens Entium three several Worlds or Ranks of Beings viz. Spiritual Material and Mixt the first is the Intellectual World made up of those invisible Glories Spirits by Nature Angels by Office Principalities and Powers spiritual Stars of Light and Flames of Love all of them at first Inhabitants of that pure spiritual Body the Heaven of Heavens but afterwards part of them were for their proud Apostasie cast into Hell The second is the World of visible wonders the stupendious Heavens eyed with a glorious Sun and spangled with Moon and glittering Stars encircling all the rest with their spherical Stories and wheeling round about with an indefatigable Motion spinning out time for all the World and with admirable influences hatching and hovering over all the living Creatures Under these is the vast Air encompassing the Earth and Sea coated with woolly clouds and those sometimes laced with the curious Rain-bow every morning putting on the bright-shining Robes of Light and at evening exchanging
God meet us and commune with us in words of Grace we must thank the true Propitiatory or Mercy-seat for every syllable 2. Grace in the proper Seat or Receptacle of it is Christ's purchase and this I shall make out 1. In general Christ purchased the Spirit of all Grace There is a double Oblation of Christ a personal Oblation on the Cross and that is Moritum Spiritûs and a doctrinal Oblation in the Gospel and that is Ministerium Spiritûs and so the holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ Tit. 3. 6. Christ ascended up on high that he might fill things Eph. 4. 10. One would have thought that his descent should rather have done it but he ascended up in the glory of his Merits he carried up all the Purchase-money to his Fathers house and from thence the Spirit came pouring down upon men some droppings of it were before but then it was richly poured out it came down in cloven fiery tongues and a rushing mighty wind Acts 2. 2 3. Tongues to utter magnalia Dei and above all the master-piece of Redemption and cloven tongues to utter them to all Nations in their own Language and fiery tongues to enlighten and enflame the Auditors hearts with the knowledge and love of Christ and a mighty rushing wind to blow home that fire strongly and insuperably in a thorough Conversion and all this was shed forth from Christ Ver. 33. Never any Tongue truly preached Christ but by a secret touch from him never any holy fire kindled on the heart but by a coal from his Altar never any gales of Grace on the Soul but from the breathings of his Spirit not one drop of his Blood is spiritless but full fraught and flowing with the Spirit of Life 2. In particular and so Christ hath purchased three things 1. The Radical Grace of Faith 2. All other Graces of the Spirit 3. All the Crowns of these Graces 1. Christ hath purchased the Grace of Faith the Apostle is express in it To you it is given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Christ's sake not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Phil. 1. 29. the Apostle evidently points out the merits of Christ as the spring of Faith and Faith persevering unto suffering And in another place he saith we joy in God through Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom we have now received the atonement Rom. 5. 11. he doth not only say that by and through him the Atonement was made but that by and through him the Atonement is received and what is this receiving of the Atonement but Faith it self That therefore is part of Christ's Purchase These express places might suffice us but because the Remonstrants oppose this Truth I shall propose two Quaeries unto them 1. Is not Faith comprized within the Covenant of Grace Let 's come to the Touch-stone Is it not written there I will give an heart to know me and is not Faith a justifying knowledge a sight of the just One and a beam or dawning of eternal life Is it not written there I will take away the heart of stone and is not Unbelief a part of that stone doth it not directly resist the Blood and Righteousness of Christ and can there be a worse Stone than this Is it not written there I will give a new heart and is not Unbelief the heart and life of the old Man and Faith of the new Is it not written there I will put my Spirit within you and is not the Spirit a spirit of faith and faith a fruit of the Spirit is not Unbelief of our Spirit and Faith of Gods Is it not written there I will circumcise the heart and is not Unbelief flesh God saith there is life in his Son and the Unbeliever saith No and does what in him lies to make God a lyar and can there be any filthier or rottenner flesh in the old man than this and unless this be cut off can there be a true Circumcision By all this it clearly appears that Faith is within the Covenant and if so is not the whole Covenant Sanctio à sanguine the New-testament in Christ's blood Is not he the Mediator and purchaser of the whole Are not all the Promises Yea and Amen in him Who dares distinguish and say Christ purchased part of the Promises and not all he purchased notional knowledge and not justifying he breaks the stone in the heart all but that which opposes his own Blood and Righteousness the old man is crucified with Christ all but his heart and life of Unbelief the Spirit of Grace flows out from Christ all but the Spirit of Faith the circumcision of Christ Col. 2. 11. so called because it is procured by the Merits and produced by the Spirit of Christ cuts off the flesh of the heart all but that of Unbelief which upbraids God with a lye who dares thus tear in sunder the Covenant mangle the Promises dimidiate Christ and divide the Spirit by unscriptural distinctions Such shuffling is unworthy of Christians Wherefore I conclude my first Quaere thus Faith is within the Covenant and the Covenant is Christ's purchase therefore Faith is such also 2. Is not Faith a Grace of the Spirit It seals to the Gospel sanctifies the heart works by Love waits by Patience overcomes the visible World and sensibly presentiates the invisible for shame let it be a Grace and if so it must be Christ's purchase The Spirit never effected that Grace in fallen Man which Christ never merited As every Creature in the World is of God's making so every Grace in the Church is of Christ's meriting He that saith Yonder is a precious Stone but 't is not of God's making blasphemes the Creator and he that saith Yonder is a precious Faith but 't is not of Christ's meriting does no less to the Redeemer But further Is not Faith the Grace of Union with Christ Doth not Christ dwell in the heart by faith Is not Faith the mother-Mother-grace of all First Faith gives a touch to Christ and then Love is enflamed with him Joy triumphs in him and Obedience follows him Where do all the rivers of living water flow but in the Believers belly Joh. 7. 38 What holds all the starry Graces of the Church but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the firmament of faith as the Apostle calls it Col. 2. 5 Now will it not grate thine ears O Christian to hear that the Spirit of Holiness is from Christ but not the Spirit of Faith all the starry Graces are Christ's but the Firmament of Faith is our own we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ but not with the mother-Mother-grace which broods and teems out all the rest not with the Grace of Union which lies nearest to Christ eating his flesh and drinking his blood that Faith which is nearest to the Merits of Christ in its Union is furthest off from them in its Origination What is this but
to darken the Sun of Righteousness damm up the Well of Salvation and trample the Blood of the Covenant under foot at which every sober Christian cannot but tremble Therefore I conclude my second Quaere thus Faith is a prime and excellent Grace wrought by the Spirit and purchased by the Merits of Christ. 2. Christ hath purchased all other Graces for all Graces are the fruits of the Spirit and the Spirit is shed on us through Christ. But in stead of proving let me parly with the Saints Speak O ye excellent ones whence came your lovely Meekness your undissembled Love your untired Patience your holy Unction your melting Compassions your broken Hearts your repentant Tears your Law-engraven Spirits and all your sweet-smelling Perfumes of Grace Speak for the Glory of Christ. Methinks I hear them all with one consent cry out Thus O thus it is all our Meekness came from the Lamb our Love from the beloved one our Patience from the Captain-sufferer our Unction from the Christ of God our Compassions from the bowels of Christ our broken Hearts from a broken Christ our repentant Tears from his bleeding Wounds our Law-engravings are the Epistle of Christ and all our sweet-smelling Graces are the powders of the merchant Cant. 3. 6. even of Jesus Christ who bought them all with his sweetest Blood The Church is the House of God made up of lively stones floored with Humility roofed with Knowledge cemented with Charity warmed with the fire of Zeal and filled with the spiritual Glory of heavenly Graces but Christ is the chief corner-stone which bears up all all the Churches Humility is from Christ's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or self-emptying all our Knowledge from Christ the Sun of righteousness all its Charity from the Hyperbole of his love all its Zeal is from a coal of his Altar and all the spiritual Glory which fills it comes by the way of the East Ezek. 43. 2. even from Jesus Christ who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the East or day-spring of all graces Luk. 1. 78. 3. Christ hath purchased all the Crowns of these Graces I mean such as are set on the Saints head in this life the Believers shall be justified but 't is by the righteous Christ the Meek shall be beautified with Salvation but 't is because of the Lamb the broken Heart shall have God dwelling in it but 't is for the Merits of a broken Christ the Mourners shall be comforted but 't is by the consolation in Christ the Hungry shall be filled but 't is from the fulness of Christ the pure in Heart shall see God but 't is through Christ the brightness of his Glory all the Crowns of Grace must be cast down at the feet of Jesus Christ the great Purchaser of them Thus Christ hath bought the World of Grace but yet we are not at the top of the Purchase For 3. Christ hath purchased the World of Glory that is the none-such the World of Worlds to which all Natures Glories are but a shadow and the Churches Graces but a Portal there are Plenitudes of Joy Crowns of Life Weights of Glory Treasures of Bliss and Oceans of Sweetness and all of Christ's purchasing All the Mansions of Glory are of his preparing Joh. 14. 2. all the Wine in Heaven is for his marriage-supper Revel 19. 9. his Blood is the Key to open the holy of holies Heb. 10. 19. the pure River of Life clear as Crystal issues out of the throne of God and of the Lamb even out of Gods Grace and Christs Merit Rev. 22. 1. Christ on the Cross purchased a Heaven for us Christ in the Gospel proffers it unto us and Christ in the heart gives us an actual hope thereof Had it not been for Christ we could never have entred into such a place as Heaven where the Walls are Pearls the Rivers Pleasures the Hills Frankincense the Air Purity and the Light Life Love and all in all God himself Now Christ did not only purchase Heaven for us but purchased it in a way completive of the Law The old Promise of the Law was Do this and live and that seemed quite blasted and withered by our sins but Christ by his perfect Obedience made it revive and bud again with life God would not give eternal life but upon a Do this and Christ fulfilled all Righteousness for us and by that Righteousness we come to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justification of life Rom. 5. 18. such a Justification as is crowned with eternal Life But you 'l say that old Do this required Obedience in our own persons and therefore Christ could not fulfil it in our stead and so purchase life for us I answer that God did here also interpret his Law in an equitable way the divine Sanction Do this on which Life did depend was not precisely determinate that we must do it in our own persons for then a Sureties obedience should have been totally excluded neither was it precisely determinate that we should do it in our Surety for there was a Do this in the state of Innocency where there was no need of a Surety but the Sanction was general Do this and two interpretations lay before God the first that it should be done in our own persons the second that it should be done in our Surety the first a rigorous and literal the second an equitable and merciful interpretation Now these two interpretations lying before God he as supreme Law-giver takes the equitable interpretation had he taken the rigorous one there would have been no room for a Surety nor life for the Sinner but in rich mercy he takes the equitable one and so through a Surety's Obedience eternal Life is purchased for us These two interpretations of the Law seem to me to be figured out by the double making of the Tables the Law in the rigorous interpretation is like the first Tables which were broken For as the Law was first written in those Tables so the rigorous interpretation firstly rises out of the Letter of the Law and as those first Tables were broken so Sin made such a breach upon the Law that the Apostle puts a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon it Rom. 8. 3. it could not give life according to the rigorous interpretation And the Law in the equitable interpretation is like the second Tables which were put into the Ark for as those Tables were kept inviolate in the Ark so the Law was kept inviolate in the equitable interpretation and as the Mercy-seat covered the Tables in the Ark and from the Mercy-seat so covering them God manifested his presence so Christ the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or mercy-seat did by his perfect Obedience cover the Law all over and in and through him so covering it God manifests his presence not only his back-parts on Earth but his face in Heaven Thus by the admirable Wisdom of God Heaven was purchased and yet the Law established the Do this turned upon the
Redemption Surely it imports thus much unto us that Redemption hath a larger Sphere than Election and therefore the Scriptures contract Election in words of Speciality only whilest they open and dilate Redemption in emphatical Generalities 2. If those general Expressions denote only the World of the Elect or the All of Believers why doth the Scripture use such very different language in the same thing Sometimes Christ is called the saviour of the world and sometimes the saviour of the body sometimes 't is said that Christ died or gave himself for all or for the world sometimes it is said that he died or gave himself for the Church or for his sheep Who can imagine that such words of universality and such words of speciality should be of the same latitude that one and the same thing should be imported in both Moreover the Scripture doth make a signal distinction when it speaks of his giving himself or dying for all it says only that he died for all or gave himself a Ransom for all But when it speaks of giving himself for his Church it says that he sanctified himself that it might be sanctified through the truth Joh. 17. 19. and that he gave himself for it that he might purisie to himself a peouliar people Tit. 2. 14. and that he gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the word and present it to himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle Eph. 5. 25 26 27. Never in all the Scripture is it said that he gave himself for all or for the World that he might sanctifie or cleanse it or make it a peculiar People or glorious Church which yet might have been truly said if the All were no more than the All of Believers or the World than the World of the Elect wherefore to me it seems clear from those various Expressions and the observable distinctions in them that the All for whom Christ died is larger than the All of Believers and the World for whom Christ gave himself larger than the World of the Elect. 2. Having laid down my own Reasons I procede to answer the Objections made against this Opinion Object 1. If Christ died for all men then all would believe for Christ's Death procures all Graces and in particular Faith seeing then all men have not Faith either Christ did not die for them all or else he loseth part of his Purchase I answer that Christ's Death is procurative of all Graces and particularly of Faith so far as it is a Price and it is a Price so far as it was paid down by Christ and accepted by God for that purpose for in a Price there must be both Sufficientia nuda consisting in the intrinsecal value of the thing and Sufficientia ordinata consisting in the intentional paying and receiving that thing as a Price Now Christ's death was paid down by him and accepted by God as a Price with a double respect As for all men it was paid and accepted as a Price so far forth as to procure for them a ground for their Faith viz. that they might be saved on Gospel-terms And as for the Elect it was further paid and accepted as a Price so far as to procure the very Grace of Faith for them Thus our Saviour Christ who best knew both upon what Terms he paid down the price and upon what Terms his Father received it opens this mysterious Dispensation I came down from heaven saith he not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me Joh. 6. 38. and what was that As to all men 't was that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life Ver. 40. and as to the Elect 't was that all those should by faith come unto him Ver. 37. and never be lost Ver. 39. Christ then died for all men not so far forth as to procure the Grace of Faith but so far forth as to procure Salvation on Gospel-terms for them therefore albeit all do not believe it follows not either that Christ did not at all die for them or that he loseth part of his Purchase Christ's Death is procurative of Faith not in reference to all but to the Elect. Object 2. If Christ died for all men why is not the Gospel revealed to them many Pagan Nations have no glimpse of a Christ. I answer two things 1. God hath not left himself altogether without witness no not in the Pagan-world the invisible Spirit renders himself visible in the Glass of the World Rom. 1. 20. and as it were palpable in the body of Nature the very Heathens may see and feel him in every creature Acts 17. 27. nay and in themselves too for his Presence is not far off from them his candle burns within them Prov. 20. 27. when by this Candle it appears that there is Justice in God and Sin in them yet that they may still seek after him he lets out some glimmerings of mercy placability towards them the very standing of the World utters somewhat of this This Psalmist tells us of a line in the heaven Psal. 19. 4. God in the Creation drew lines of Power and Wisdom over the Sphere of Nature but Christ in Redemption struck a line of Mercy quite through it and that legible even to the Heathens forasmuch as they know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vindictive justice of God Rom. 1. 32. and yet see the World standing and not dashed down about the Sinners Ears they know there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a divine vengeance Acts 28. 4. and yet they are not consumed they see Justice as it were winking Acts 17. 30. judgment slumbring 2 Pet. 2. 3. and infinite Patience and Long-suffering waiting and leading them to Repentance Rom. 2. 4. they have some glimpses of pardoning Mercy where there is no pardoning mercy at all there is no room for repentance but the Patience of God is a kind of temporal pardon of the punishment that temporal pardon of the punishment points out that Mercy which can give an absolute pardon of the Sin and the true duct and tendency of that Mercy is to lead men to Repentance and if there were any man in the Pagan-world who did in truth repent and convert to God I make no question at all but that he should be saved and probably not without the express knowledge of Christ indulged to him for upon all that fear Gods Name will the Sun of rigteousness arise with healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. Here then is aliquid Evangelii though not the express knowledge of Christ. 2. As to the Argument let us weigh what may be deducted from Christ's death as universal If Christ died for all men it follows from thence that Christ may be preached to all but it follows not from thence that Christ shall be preached to all it follows that Christ may be preached to all for he who was offered for
the same to their own destruction Oh! what rare Perfections did he set up in the Angels and yet he eternally foresaw a great part of them apostatizing and dropping to Hell What an excellent Image of Holiness did he stamp upon Adam and yet he eternally foresaw him falling and breaking all his Glory by the the Fall what waitings of Patience wooings of the Gospel and touches of the holy Spirit doth he dispense to such men as he eternally foresaw would abuse all these and yet in all this God's Wisdom suffers not The very same I may say of Christ's dying for such as abuse this great blessing neither is there here any failing in the efficacious Will of God for he wills that the Elect shall believe and be saved and he wills that the rest shall be saved if they believe and both these Wills are accomplished the first in the Event of Faith and Salvation and the latter in the Connexion between Faith and Salvation even as to all men God may be said to will the Salvation of men through Christ's Death two ways either because he wills that Christ's Death should be a Price infallibly procuring their Faith and Salvation or else because he wills that there should be in Christ's Death an aptness and sufficiency to save them on Gospel-terms the former Will points only at the Elect and is fulfilled in their Grace and Glory the latter extends to all men and is fulfilled in the aptness and sufficiency of Christ's Death to save them on Gospel-terms in both God's Will hath its effect Neither lastly is there any loss in Christ's purchase for what did he purchase As for the Elect he purchased Faith and Salvation and as for the rest he purchased Salvation on Gospel-terms in both he hath what he paid for for the Elect believe and are saved and the rest may be saved if they believe therefore when men by their Unbelief barr themselves of the benefit of Christ's Death and make him in that respect cry out I have laboured in vain yet he adds surely my judgment is with the Lord Isai. 49. 4. as if he had said For all this never a drop of my Blood is irrationally shed for God with whom my judgment is knows that I purchased Salvation for them on Gospel-terms although they by their Unbelief deprive themselves of the benefit of the Purchase If final Unbelievers should be saved Christ should have more than his Purchase but if they are not saved he hath no less for he purchased Salvation for them on Gospel-terms which they do not perform through their own voluntary Unbelief Object 6. If Christ died for all men then he loves all with the greatest degree of Love for greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends Joh. 15. 13. and this must needs be the greatest degree of love because it draws all other things after it If God gave his own Son for us how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32 But Christ doth not love all with the greatest degree of love neither doth God give all things to them therefore Christ did not die for all I confess that Christ doth not love all men with the greatest degree of love neither doth God bestow all blessings on them wherefore we must examine these places from whence these Inferences are made As for the first place greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends it doth import one of these two things either it doth import that he that dieth for his friends hath the greatest degree or height of internal love towards them or else it imports that a mans death for his friends is the greatest external effect and proof of his love the first cannot be the meaning of the place for if it be the greatest and most intense degree of love to die for our friends what is it to die for our enemies as Christ did If it be the height and top of love to lay down our lives how can that be done without any love at all as the Apostle supposeth 1 Cor. 13. 3 The Apostle commands us to lay down our lives for the brethren 1 Joh. 3. 16. but when a man doth it he is not to have the same degree of love towards all the Brethren for he is to love those most in whom there is most of God and to whom he is nearest in Nature Jesus Christ laid down his life for all the Elect yet without doubt his love was greater to his Apostles than to ordinary Christians nay and among the Apostles there was one dearly beloved one who lay in his bosom Joh. 13. 23. Wherefore the meaning of the words is not that he that dieth for his friends hath the greatest degree or height of internal love towards them but that such a death is the greatest effect and proof of his love Christ in the 12. Verse exhorted his Disciples to love one another and in this 13. Verse he shews what is the greatest outward evidence of love viz. to die for our friends Now albeit Christ died for all men and that Death was a great and high proof of his Love nothing hinders but that Christ over and besides his common Philanthropy to all may bear a special affection to the Elect the Universality of his Death infers not a Parity in his Love If Jacob had died for all his Sons yet he might have loved Joseph and Benjamin above the rest and left them some special Legacies If Christ died for all men yet he may and doth love his Elect above others and leave some secret Love-tokens upon their hearts As for the second place If God delivered up his Son for us how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32. the Key to unlock this Text is the word Us Who are the Us in the Text Who but the Elect of God Ver. 33. who according to Election are effectually called Ver. 28. and upon their Callings are justified and glorified Ver. 30 These are the Us in the Text wherefore the plain meaning of it is not that if God gave his Son for all men he would give them all things but that if God gave his Son for the Elect he would give them all things viz. all things necessary to Salvation the Text extends not to all men But you 'l say though the Text extend not to all men yet the Argument doth for if the Argument be good that if God gave his Son for the Elect he would give them all things then the Argument is as good that if God gave his Son for all men he would give them all things I answer that if God's Intention and Love in giving his Son for all were one and the same towards all the consequence were undeniable but seeing God in giving his Son had towards the Elect a special Love and Intention to bestow Grace and Glory on them
through thy truth Joh. 17. 17. for their Perseverance Keep them through thine own name Ver. 11. and for their Glory I will that they be with me where I am to behold my glory Ver. 24. And what he spake for them by his oral Intercession on Earth that he speaks for them by his real Intercession in Heaven Thus Christ doth in a special manner intercede for the Elect which proves that he died for them in a special manner because his Intercession is but the presenting of the Merits of his Death to his Father in Heaven 7. I argue from the Event following upon Christ's Death some men do believe when others draw back and whence comes this distinguishing Faith either it comes merely of Man's Free-will or of God's free Grace if we say the first 't is the very mire and dirt of Pelagianism 't is to set up Free-will as an Idol to cast lots upon Christ's Blood whether any one person in the World shall be saved thereby or not If we say the latter then God and Christ had a special eye upon some above others for God ordained that Christ should be the grand Medium to Salvation and that Faith should be the only way to Christ If then he gave Christ for all and Faith but to some it is because he did in a special way intend their Salvation and consequently Christ who came to do his Fathers Will had in his Death a special respect to them 8. I argue from the special Expressions in Scripture As the Death of Christ is set out there in words of universality so it is set out there in words of special peculiarity Christ died for the elect Rom. 8. 33 34. died for the children of God scattered abroad Joh. 11. 52. gave himself for the Church Eph. 5. 25. gave himself for a peculiar people Tit. 2. 14. laid down his life for the sheep Joh. 10. 15. sanctified himself for the given ones Joh. 17. 9. and 19. purchased the church with his own blood Acts 20. 28. redeemed a people from among men Rev. 14. 4. is a Jesus to his own people Matth. 1. 21. and a saviour to his own body Eph. 5. 23. And is there no Emphasis of Love Are there no strains of free Grace Is there no import of singular respect and affection in all these Expressions We cannot say so without dispiriting the Scripture Experience it self tells us that all are not Christ's Elect Children Church peculiar People Sheep given Ones Body redeemed Ones from among men wherefore when the Scripture saith that he died for these it imports that he died for them in a peculiar manner But you 'l say These Scriptures speak rather of the Application of Christ's Death than the Impetration and though the Impetration be equally for all yet the Application is proper to Believers only I answer that if those Phrases of dying for the elect or children of God giving himself for a church or peculiar People laying down his life for his sheep purchasing the Church with his blood and sanctifying himself for the given ones do not import Impetration I know not what can import it You will reply that these Expressions import not Impetration as it is barely and nakedly in it self but as it hath Application following upon it and this is the Emphasis of them But if these Expressions import Impetration with Application following upon it whether doth that Application follow upon Impetration as a fruit thereof or not if so then Christ merited that Application for the Elect and consequently died in a special manner for them if not then there is no Emphasis of special Love Grace in all those expressions of his dying giving himself sanctifying himself and laying down his life for them for there was no Merit in all this to procure the Application of his Death unto them But let us further enquire what these Elect Children Church peculiar People Sheep given ones and redeemed ones from among men were before or without the Purchase made by Christ were these Elect called and justified without Christ or not If so why did he die for them If not then he died for them that they might be so called and justified Were these children meritoriously begotten by Christ's Blood or not If so then that Blood did more for them than for others if not then they were not the Seed of Christ. Was that Church an actual Church before or without Christ's purchase or was it a Church in his Intention If an actual Church what need he purchase it If a Church in intention then the special design of his Death was to make it an actual Church Was that peculiar People such without the Merit of Christ's Death or not If so why did he give himself for it If not then he gave himself for it that it might be such Were those Sheep brought into Christs fold without his Death or not If so why did he lay down his life for them If not he laid it down to bring them thither Were those given Ones actually sanctified without the virtue of Christs Sacrifice or not If so then why did he sanctifie himself for them If not then he sanctified himself for them that they might be sanctified Were those redeemed from among men redeemed by Christ or not If so then he redeemed them in a special manner if not then they are the redeemed ones of their own Free-will But let the Texts themselves breath forth their own native strains of Love and Grace he so died for the Elect as to effectually call and actually justifie them Rom. 8. 30 33. he so died for his Children as to gather them together into one one Faith on Earth and one fruition in Heaven Joh. 11. 52. he so gave himself for the Church as to make it a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle Eph. 5. 25 27. he so gave himself for his People as to make them his peculiar ones Tit. 2. 14. he so laid down his life for his Sheep as to bring them into his fold and make them hear his voice Joh. 10. 15 16. he so sanctified himself for the given ones as to sanctifie them through the truth Joh. 17. 19. he so redeemed his chosen Ones from among men as to make them first fruits to God and the Lamb Rev. 14. 4. In all these special Scriptures it evidently appears that Christ in his Death had a special respect to his Elect. Wherefore I will shut up all with that of an Ancient Etsi Christus pro omnibus mortuus est pro nobis tamen specialiter passus est quia pro Ecclesia passus est CHAP. IX Of the Work of Conversion HAving passed over Redemption I come to Conversion there we had Christ formed in the Womb here we have him formed in the Heart there we had Christ coming in the Flesh and working miracles on mens Bodies here we have him coming in the Spirit and working miracles in mens Souls there we had Christ
when there is a posse convertere supernaturally poured into it but if that posse do not denominate it gracious surely it is as yet but corrupt and whilst it is such it may be so called 2. I argue from the Glory of free Grace one of its Crown-jewels is that it makes gracious Principles where there were none before it new creates in Christ and so gives Principles of Spiritual being it quickens the dead and so gives Principles of Spiritual Life thus free Grace is blessed from the fountain of Israel from the fontal Principles of the new Creature But those which deny gracious Principles darken free Grace in that which is its prime lustre But here I shall be asked whether that posse convertere be not such a Principle I answer No a Principle is more than a bare posse There was in Adam in innocency a posse peccare and yet there was no Principle of sin in him after the same manner there is say the Remonstrants a posse convertere given to fallen man but this is no Principle of Grace in him But not to strive about words suppose it might be called a Principle yet what a grand disparagement to free Grace is it to say that there was as much of Principle in innocent Adam by Nature towards his sinful transgression as there is in fallen Man by Grace towards his actual Conversion Such as deny gracious habits and grant only a naked power must say so 3. I argue from the sweetness of Providence As 't is the Glory of free Grace that there are gracious Principles made so 't is the sweetness of providence that those Principles are made first and then congruous acts issue from thence The only wise God disposes things in the sweetest method In the body of Nature first a Sun and then a beam first a Fountain and then a stream first a Root and then a fruit In the Soul of Man negative faculties precede acts of life sensitive acts of sense and intellectual acts of reason Hence those acts issue forth in an easie connaturalness to their Principles And can there be less of the beauty of providence in the Spiritual world than in the natural Should there not be as sweet an order in the new Creature as in the old Ought not supernatural acts to issue forth in as great connaturalness to their Principles as natural If so then there must be habits of Grace to precede the acts if not then those acts which are above nature in facto esse as to their essential excellency must be below it in fieri as to their procedure from causes nay 't is hardly imaginable that those acts should at all come forth into being without gracious Principles If the Will be not changed by regenerating Grace how is it constituted in ordine agentium supernaturalium And if not how can it actually turn to God seeing that is actus ordinis supernaturalis Every one that doth righteousness is born of God 1 Joh. 2. 29. To turn unto God is a prime act of Righteousness and how then can it be done before Regeneration Wherefore the Scripture method is clear first a good tree and then good fruit Mat. 7. 17. first a good treasure in the heart and then good things out of it Mat. 12. 35. first we are created in Christ and then we walk in good works Eph. 2. 10. And thus Spiritual acts are done in the easiness of the new Creature because in a way connatural to Spiritual Principles 4. If there be no habits or principles of Grace what is that that makes the grand difference between a godly and an ungodly man Surely either it must be the acts of Faith and other Graces or else the habits and principles thereof 'T is not the acts of Faith and other Graces for two Reasons 1. Because that which makes the difference must be somewhat permanent such was Caleb's other spirit which differenced him from the murmuring Congregation Numb 14. 24. Such was Job's Root which differenced him from the leavy hypocrite Job 19. 28. But the acts of Faith and other Graces are transient wherefore if these be all the difference what becomes of a Godly man in his sleep or phrensie wherein no such acts are put forth Doth he drop out of the state of Grace without any apostasie or continue in it without any differencing quality neither is possible he back-slides not from God and how can he be out of the state of Grace he is but as other men are and how can he be in it It remains therefore that the habits of Grace make the difference for by reason of these he is not as other men are no not when the Acts of Grace are suspended because he hath another spirit in him 2. All men being by Nature ungodly that which chiefly makes the difference must denominate a man changed Now in every change the Terminus is somewhat permanent in Alteration 't is a permanent Quality in Augmentation 't is a permanent Quantity in Generation 't is a substantial Form and in Regeneration 't is a new creature born of the incorruptible seed of the Word 1 Pet. 1. 23. The Terminus of this gracious Change is set out in Scripture as a permanent thing sometimes 't is called light ye were darkness but now light in the Lord Eph. 5. 8. sometimes life this my son was dead and is alive again Luk. 15. 24. sometimes the new man old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5. 17. still it is somewhat parmanent Hence it appears that the Acts of Faith and other Graces which are transient do not so properly denominate a man changed as improve the Change already made The wild Tree is changed by the Graff and not by the After-fruit the Natural man is changed by the ingrafted Word and not by the fruits of Faith and other Graces which naturally grow upon the Root of habitual Grace That a corrupt Tree is made good is a great Change but that a good Tree brings forth good fruit is altogether connatural If there be no Habits or Principles of Grace how can the Natural man's deadly Wound I mean Original Corruption ever be healed Habitual Corruption cannot be healed but by habitual Grace the Plague of the Heart cannot be healed but by the holy Unction instead of the old Heart there must be a new one or else there is no healing and without healing how can such a sound Act as Conversion come forth It remains therefore that there are Habits or Principles of Grace 2. Having proved that there are such Habits or Principles I come to unfold what they are and this I cannot better do than by shewing what they are in the several Faculties Wherefore 1. As to the Understanding there is a Principle of excellent Knowledge I say excellent not only in respect of the matter of it being heavenly Mysteries but also in respect of the Nature of it 't is too high for a fool
formed in the Heart No man perfectly knows the least Atom or Dust in Nature how much less the grand Mystery of Grace Here then we must procede with great modesty and sobriety keeping as close as may be to the line and level of Scripture Now here I shall make a threefold Enquiry 1. Whether the Word of God be the Means or Instrument of Conversion 2. Whether the Will of Man be converted by the Intervention of the enlightned Understanding 3. Whether the Work of Conversion be wrought in an irresistible way 1. Whether the Word be the Means or Instrument of Conversion And here I shall endeavour two things 1. I will prove that it is so 2. I will enquire how far or in what sence it may be called so 1. I shall prove that it is so and that by three Arguments 1. Plain Scripture asserts it 2. Successive Experience shews it 3. The Analogy between the Principles of the new Creature and the Properties of the Word induces it 1. Plain Scripture asserts it Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom. 10. 17. the holy scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. the Law is perfect converting the soul Psal. 19. 7. the Gospel is the power of God to salvation to the believer Rom. 1. 16. and for the Unbeliever who accounts it foolishness and weakness the Apostle assures us that the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men 1 Cor. 1. 25. so much wiser as to out-reason their carnal Understanding and so much stronger as to out-wrestle their carnal Wills and Affections The Gospel 't is Ministerium Spiritûs the ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 8. the Golden Pipe through which the Oil of Grace is emptied out into mens Hearts and the great Organ through which the holy Ghost breathes spiritual Life into them 't is the seed of the new creature we are begotten by the word of truth Jam. 1. 18. born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1. 23. 't is the white horse upon which Christ rides conquering and to conquer Rev. 6. 2. Conversion is a Conquest over the Minds and Wills of Men and for the obtaining thereof Christ rides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the word of truth Psal. 45. 5. and because there be high things and strong holds in mens Hearts the Word is as a mighty Engine in his hands to cast down those heights and holds and captivate every thought to himself 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. The Apostle taking notice of the work of Faith labour of Love and patience of Hope in the Thessalonians 1 Thes. 1. 3. gives us a clear account whence those choice Graces came the fontal Cause of them was Election Ver. 4. and the instrumental the Gospel Ver. 5. For saith he our Gospel came unto you not in word only but in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance In a word All the Current of Scripture seals up this Truth 2. Successive Experience shews it St. Peter at once caught 3000. Souls in the Net of the Gospel Acts 2. 41. St. Paul came to the Romans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the fulness of the evangelical blessing Rom. 15. 29. the Corinthians were his seal 1 Cor. 9. 2. and the Thessalonians his joy and crown 1 Thess. 2. 19. In all Ages of the Church God's Ministers have had a proof of Christ speaking in them and God's People have felt the Word to be Spirit and Life to them in all places where God's Name hath been recorded his blessing hath been afforded where the Seed of the Word hath been sown new Creatures more or less have sprung up out of it Were there a general Assembly of the First-born what stories would they tell us about the power of the Word One would say Hell flashed in my face out of such a Threatning another Heaven opened to me in such a Promise a third the Beauty of Holiness appeared to me in such a Precept every one in the Language of his own Experience would speak forth the wonders of the Word How many have been forced by the power of it to fall down and worship and say God is in it of a truth How many have experimentally felt it pointing out their darling Lust plucking again and again at the Iron-sinew in their Wills lifting and thrusting hard at the World in their Hearts and at last carrying away their Souls in a fiery Chariot of holy Affections towards God in Christ The common sense of Christians bears witness to the Efficacy of it 3. The Analogy between the Principles of the new Creature and the Properties of the Word induces it If we compare the Understanding of the new Creature with the Word there is a Principle of excellent knowledge and here is the word of truth Eph. 1. 13. there is a lively and spiritual Knowledg and here are lively oracles Act. 7. 38. and words which are spirit and life Joh. 6. 63. there is a near and intimate knowledg and here is a word quick and powerful piercing into the very soul and spirit Heb. 4. 12. there is a divine Faith or perswasion and here are faithful sayings worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 4. 9. there is a clear Vision an open-fac'd Knowledge and here is a clear Revelation a pure glass reflecting the Glory of God upon the heart 2 Cor. 3. 18. there is a practical Knowledge and here is a doctrine according to godliness 1 Tim. 6. 3. Again if we compare the Will of the new Creature with the Word there are holy Desires breathing after and holy Resolutions fixing upon God as the ultimate End and here are the goads and the nails Eccl. 12. 11. which stir up those Desires and fasten those Resolutions in the Heart there is Freedom indeed spiritual Liberty in the ways of God and here is free-making truth Joh. 8. 32. and a law of liberty Jam. 1. 25. there is a fiducial and complacential rest in God and here are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words of faith to lean upon 1 Tim. 4. 6. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words of delight to take pleasure in Eccles. 12. 10. there is a closing with Christ in all his Offices as Prophet Priest and King and here is this Prophet speaking to us this Priest dying and as it were crucified before our eyes this King upon his Throne with a Sceptre of Righteousness in his hand there is a sorrow for hatred of Sin and here is that which pricks us at the heart and shews us Sin as an abominable thing If we compare the Affections of the new Creature with the Word there is a reduction of the Affections unto Reason and here is Reason in its height and pureness there the World hath but a very low place and here it hath but a very mean character there the
Affections are inflamed towards God and here 's the holy Fire which makes our hearts burn within us towards him Every way there is a wonderful Analogy between the Principles of the New Creature and the Properties of the Word which plainly speaks forth the aptness and congrulty of the Word to be a Means or Instrument of Conversion 2. How far or in what sence may the Word be called a Means or Instrument thereof In answer whereunto I shall first lay down two things as common Concessions and then come to the main Quaere The two Concessions are these 1. That the Word is a Means or Instrument of the Preparatives to Conversion 't is as a fire and a hammer Jer. 23. 29. When the holy Ghost blows in this Fire upon the Conscience every Sin looks like a Spark of Hell when the Almighty Arms set home this hammer it breaks the rocky Heart all to pieces No sooner doth the Commandment come home to the Heart but sin revives and the sinner dies Rom. 7. 9. the Sin which before lay as dead in the sleepy Conscience now lives and gnaws upon the Heart as if the never-dying Worm were there the sinner who before was alive in his own Self-righteousness and Self-sufficiency now is a dead man one who hath the sentence of death in himself and feels as it were the pangs of Hell in Conscience 2. That the Word is a Means or Instrument to reduce the Principles of Grace into actual Conversion When God stirs up and flutters over the Nest of gracious Principles 't is by the wings of the Spirit and Word when the Spices of the Garden flow out 't is from the North and South wind the Spirit blowing in Threatnings or Promises That which makes the Roots of Graces cast forth themselves into Acts is the Dew of auxiliary Grace and that Dew falls with the Manna of the Word That Grace with our Spirit which stirs up the Principles of Grace into exercise comes in the clothing or investiture of some holy Truth or other Hence the Apostle counts it one of his Master-pieces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stir up pure minds by his Epistles 2. Pet. 3. 1. These two Concessions being laid down the main Quaere is touching the production of gracious Principles Whether as to that the Word may not be an Instrument in God's Hand Many learned Divines speak of the Word as operating only morally and objectively Mr. Pemble distinguishes thus Instruments are either cooperative or passive and the Word must be one of the two cooperative it is not moving or working on the Soul by any inward force of it self it is therefore in it self a passive instrument working only per modum objecti now no Object whatsoever hath any power per se to work any thing on the Organ but is only an occasion of working And a little after he saith thus I cannot better express the manner how the holy Ghost useth the Word in the work of Sanctification than by a similitude Christ meeting a dead Coarse in the City of Nain touches the Bier and utters these words Young man I say unto thee arise but could these words do any thing to raise him No 't was Christ's invisible power that quickned the dead not his words which only declared what he meant to do by his power So in this matter of Conversion Christ bids us believe and repent but these Commands work nothing of themselves but take effect by the only power of God working upon the Heart Thus that learned man But methinks this is too low the Word of it self operates morally and objectively and shall it do no more as clothed and accompanied by the holy Spirit Surely the Scripture-strains touching the Words Efficacy are so high that it cannot be nudum signum no not as to the production of gracious Principles St. James is express of his own will begat he us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the word of truth Jam. 1. 18. and St. Paul is more emphatical In Christ Jesus I have begotten you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Gospel 1 Cor. 4. 15. 't is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Gospel but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Gospel as pointing out the Instrumentality of it in the Generation of the new Creature And St. Peter is yet in a higher strain We are born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1. 23. where besides the emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word is stiled no less than the incorruptible Seed not only a Sampler externally shewing the figures and lineaments of the new Creature but a seed too springing up into and for ever living in the new Creature Faith which is the new Creatures Head is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or out of hearing the word Rom. 10. 17. and so are all those sanctifying Graces which as it were make up the new Creatures Body For thus our Saviour prays Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth Joh. 17. 17. and thus he practises too he sanctifies cleanses his Church by the word Eph. 5. 26. Surely those Scriptures which are able 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make wise to salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. must do somewhat as to the Principles of Knowledge in the Understanding that Law which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 converting or restoring the soul Psal. 19. 7. must do somewhat as to the Principles of Grace in the Will that Word which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 able to save the soul Jam. 1. 21. must also be able to sanctifie it because without holiness there is no seeing of God that Doctrine which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 healing doctrine 1 Tim. 1. 10. must operate somewhat as to the Principles of Grace which heal the deadly wound of Original Corruption The converted Corinthians were Christ's Epistle and the Apostle's too written by the holy Spirit and ministred by the Apostle also 2 Cor. 3. 2 3. The Apostle's weapons were mighty through God to captivate every thought to Christ 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. which could not be if they were not also mighty through God to set up Christ's Throne in the heart These Scriptures constrain me to believe that the Word doth operate in the production of gracious Principles only not as it is alone or separate from the holy Spirit for so it operates only morally and objectively but as it is clothed in the power and virtue of the Spirit for so it becomes spirit and life to the Soul As for the Similitude used by Mr. Pemble I conceive that the raising of the young man from a natural Death and the raising of a sinner from a spiritual Death are not every way parallel For in that there was no capacity at all in the naturally dead to receive the words of Christ in this there is a passive capacity in the
apprehensive Faculty all the things of Godliness are given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through the knowledge of God 2 Pet. 1. 3. that 's the great Channel by which all Grace passes into the Will 2. As to the actual Conversion of the Will the Understanding is as a potent Perswader effectually inducing the Will thereunto There are three principal things in the Wills actual Conversion viz. a turning to God as its supreme End an embracing Christ as the only Way and a rejection of Sin as the great Obstacle and in all these the Will doth follow the Understanding 1. The Will doth follow the Understanding in its turn to God as the supreme End and this appears divers ways 1. The Scriptures clear it to us there we find in conjunction bethinking and turning 2 Chron. 6. 37. remembring and turning Psal. 22. 27. considering and turning Ezek 18. 28. understanding and turning Mat. 13. 15. and opening the eyes and turning Act. 26. 18. in all which places the Understanding goes before and the Will follows after There we find Conversion to be a thing wrought by Perswasion God shall perswade Japheth Gen. 9. 27. by Inshining God hath shined in our hearts 2 Cor. 4. 6. by Teaching they shall be all taught of God Joh. 6. 45. by Anointing you have an unction from the holy one 1 Joh. 2. 20. and by coming to a mans self Luk. 15. 17. first the Prodigal came to himself and then he returned to his Father the import of all which is plainly thus much That God doth actually draw home the Will unto himself through the Understanding Thy people saith the Psalmist shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth Psal. 110. 3. here are a willing People like the Dew for multitude but whence are they Whence but from the womb of the morning The morning of supernatural Illumination is the Womb out of which they issue As long as there is no morning in men as the Expression is Isai. 8. 20. there is no Will at all to God but as soon as the day dawns in their hearts out comes a willing People as Dew from the morning 2. The Nature of the Will holds forth thus much The Will naturally wills Blessedness or the ultimate End in general because it is a Good perfective and expletive of the Soul but the Will doth not naturally fix on this or that thing as its blessedness or ultimate End in particular One Man fixes on Mammon as his chief Good another makes his Belly his God a third is all for the Pride of Life whence is the Will thus determined Either it must be determined by it self or else by the Understanding not by it self for it is a blind Faculty and cannot of it self judg any thing to be a chief Good much less can it fix it self on it as such wherefore it must be determined by the Understanding One Man chuses Mammon to be his chief Good because as the Psalmist hath it his inward thought is that his house shall continue for ever Psal. 49. 11. that's lasting happiness saith his carnal Understanding Another makes his Belly his God because his inward thought is Eat drink and be merry Luk. 12. 19. there is nothing better saith his bruitish Understanding A third is all for the Pride of Life because his inward thought is to be a Lucifer in Self-excellencies that 's the top of Bliss saith his soaring Understanding In every one of these first the Understanding makes the Idol and then the Will doth fall down and worship Now if the Will may be determined by the Understanding to such false Beatitudes as these how much more may it be determined by the Understanding to God who is the true blessedness 3. This appears from the Excellency of that practical Understanding which draws the Will unto actual Conversion 'T is an excellent Understanding for the Object of it being in the Mount of Transfiguration it shews forth unto the Will not Creatures Chips of Being in the shell of Time but a Jehovah of Self-beingness a God of Allsufficiency dwelling in Eternity not Streams of Life or Goodness in the Creature-channel but a Fountain of living waters an Ocean of immense Goodness such as cannot be sailed over by Faith or Vision not golden or pearly Mountains but an infinite Mass of free Grace unsearchable riches of Mercy such as cannot be â—old over to all Eternity not shadows or little portions of Being but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Revel 1. 4. the true I am the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the all things 1 Cor. 15. 28. in whom are all the rich Mines of universal Blessedness and which is the sweetness of all it shews forth this God not as reserving himself only to himself but as freely offering himself to poor worms Oh my Soul stand still and adore the opening of his Bowels and Self-motion of his Grace this Jehovah of Self-beingness and All-sufficiency will make over himself to thee this Fountain of Life and Goodness will flow out to thee this rich Mass of Grace and Mercy will portion thee this I am and ever-blessed All is an inheritance for thee and in inheriting him thou maist after a wonderful manner inherit all things This is the infinite Excellency of the Object but after what manner doth the Understanding shew it forth unto the Will Surely though as much below his worth as finite is below infinite yet in an excellent way the Understanding shews forth God unto the Will not in a dead or literal manner but with spiritual liveliness and as I may so say in sparkles of Glory for it is eternal life and Heaven it self dawns in it not darkly or at a distance but clearly and closely the day-star is up in the heart and God approaches near unto the Will his goodness passes before it and leaves some holy touches and savours thereupon not in a weak and languishing manner but powerfully and effectually The Apostle joins the demonstration of the Spirit and power together 1 Cor. 2. 4. There is such a Demonstration of the Spirit in the Understanding as cannot be denied and from thence such a Power upon the Will as cannot be frustrated not notionally only but practically it seriously presseth in upon the Will Here O rational Appetite here is a God indeed his Grace free his Mercy Self-moving take him and thou hast all lose him and thou hast nothing Now Oh! now is the accepted time the day of Salvation in his Favour there is Life in his Wrath nothing but Death If he bless thee none can curse if he curse thee none can bless now or never turn and live After this manner doth it practically press in upon the Will Now when the Understanding holds forth such an excellent Object in such an excellent manner unto the Will already principled with Grace how can it chuse but actually close in
Power the Gospel comes in power and in the holy Ghost 1 Thess. 1. 5. and in the demonstration of the Spirit and power 1 Cor. 2. 4. there is Power in it nay excellency of power 2 Cor. 4. 7. nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding greatness of power and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the working of the might of power such as raised up Jesus Christ from the dead Eph. 1. 19 20. The entire words runs thus What is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead the Apostle here doth not only denote Gods Power towards Believers but also Gods Power in making them such As there is exceeding greatness of power towards Believers so those Believers did believe according to the working of his mighty power such as raised up Christ from the dead Every way a Believer in fieri and in facto esse is surrounded with Power and excellent greatness of Power Oh! what rare Eloquence what high strains are here Too much and too high in all reason for resistible Grace If the weakness of God be stronger than Man surely the Power of God in its might and excellency put forth for the production of gracious Principles cannot be resisted and overcome by him 6. The Heart which hath gracious Principles in it is God's Tabernacle and all God's Tabernacles have been built in a sure way such as cannot fail of the Effect God besides the natural Tabernacle of his Eternity hath in his condescending Grace been pleased to have three Tabernacles built for him first he had a worldly tabernacle or sanctuary Heb. 9. 1. and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he tabernacled in our flesh Joh. 1. 14. and last of all he hath a tabernacle in the Hearts of men a sanctuary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the midst of them that is in the midst of their Hearts Ezek. 37. 26. the Heart which hath gracious Principles in it is God's Tabernacle Hence God says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will indwell in them 2 Cor. 6. 16. Now God himself undertook that all these Tabernacles should be built As for the first God took care to have it made exactly to a Pin as for the second God engaged that a Virgin should conceive and bring forth Immanuel as for the third God binds himself in a Promise to raise up the tabernacle of David Amos 9. 11. that is to convert the Gentiles for so it is interpreted Acts 15. 14 15 16. New Creatures are the tabernacle of David there is David the Man after God's own Heart there Christ the true David dwells in the Heart by Faith and Love Again God says I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them Ezek. 37. 26. that is I will by my sanctifying Grace turn their Hearts into an holy place for my own habitation Moreover all the Tabernaoles of God have been made in a sure way because they have been made through the overshadowing presence of the holy Spirit As for the first the Master-workman of it was Bezaleel a man as his name imports in the shadow of God filled full of the Spirit of God in all wisdom for the doing of the work As for the second there is a Bezaleel too the holy Ghost comes upon and the power of the highest overshadows the blessed Virgin and so the holy thing the pure flesh of Christ was formed in her Womb Luk. 1. 35. And as for the third there Bezaleel again they that dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his shadow shall return Hos. 14. 7. the holy Ghost comes upon the Soul and the power of free Grace overshadows it and and so Christ or the holy thing is formed therein What is said of the Apostles as to their sacred Function The holy Ghost came upon them Acts 1. 8. the same is true of all true Christians as to their spiritual Generation Thus whilest Peter spake the holy Ghost fell on them Acts 10. 44. by his Grace making them an habitation of God Lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee Zach. 2. 10. he comes by his Spirit and makes their Hearts a Sanctuary for himself Thus this Tabernacle is built in a sure way because pitched by God himself but now if all the Operations of Grace be resistible what becomes of this Tabernacle God may raise and raise by all the Operations of his Grace and yet the Tabernacle not go up the holy Ghost may overshadow mens Souls and yet no Christ be formed in them a holy place in mens Hearts may be sought for the Lord and none at all found All these precious Promises of condescending Grace may fall to the ground You will say What remedy for all this God will not dwell in men whether they will or not Very true but if Almighty Power connot make men willing what can do it Christ received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them Psal. 68. 18. Observe 't is for the rebellious also not that God doth dwell in them as such but that by his gifts of Grace he turns rebellious Hearts into gracious and so comes and dwells in them as his own Tabernacle Wherefore I conclude that God works the Principles of Grace in an insuperable way 2. As to the second Instant of Conversion God works actual Conversion also in an insuperable way so that sooner or later it always takes effect And this will appear 1. From the Vitality of gracious Principles as backed with auxiliary Grace there is a divine Vigor in these Principles these are a Well of living water ready to spring up a Seed of God ready to shoot forth and a Beam of the divine Nature ready to sparkle out wherefore when auxiliary Grace stirs up this Well of living water bedews this Seed of God and blows up this Beam of the divine Nature it is no wonder at all that actual Conversion should infallibly follow Auxiliary Grace stirs up the Principles of Grace these stir up the Soul and that by virtue of both the former stirs up it self unto actual Conversion and so actual Conversion comes forth into Being 2. From the Insuperability of Grace in the Illumination of the Understanding God doth enlighten the Understanding in an irresistible way he shines into the heart he puts wisdom into the hidden parts who teaches like him Job 36. 22 He teaches with a strong hand Isai. 8. 11. He teaches in the demonstration of the Spirit and power 1 Cor. 2. 4. A Demonstration is such a thing as cannot be resisted by the mind of Man and of all Demonstrations the demonstration of the Spirit is most invincible Now if the Understanding be irresistibly enlightned then the Will as I have before proved doth infallibly follow it they that know God's name will trust in it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will come to Jesus Christ truth if but rightly
known will make us free true Wisdom dwells with prudence and practically leads in the way of Righteousness 't is a Suada to the Will and draws it home to God in actual Conversion 3. From those Scriptures which set forth God as the Author of actual Conversion He gives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the actual believing Phil. 1. 29. he grants repentance unto life Acts 11. 18. he works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very act of willing Phil. 2. 13. he causes to walk in his statutes Ezek. 36. 27. In every true Convert there is more than a mere Man the grace of God is to be seen in him Acts 11. 23. there is God in converting Paul Gal. 1. 24. In the Temple of the new Creature every thing speaks of his glory every holy breath in the Will must praise the Lord as its Author If God did not work the very Act of Willing then which I tremble to utter all the Prayers made to him for converting Grace are but God-mockeries all the Praises offered up to him for the same are but false Hallelujahs then they which glorified God in converting Paul glorified but an Idol of their own Fancy they which glorified God in the repenting Gentiles Acts 11. 18. offered but a blind Sacrifice When we pray that God's kingdom should come into our hearts we do not mean that God should put our Wills in aequilibrio but our Wills should be subdued under God's When David and his People offered willingly unto God he falls into a kind of Extasie Who am I and what is my people 1 Chron. 29. 14 And Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory Ver. 11. even the victory over hearts and All things are of thee Ver. 14. not only our Gold and Silver not only our Hearts and Wills but our very actual Willingness also You will say All this is true God works the very Act of Willing but not insuperably but so as men do not resist the Work of Grace But what 's the meaning of this God works the Will so as men do not resist not to resist is to obey Wherefore the plain meaning is God works the Act of Willing so as men do will which is very absurd Because it makes the very same Act of Willing to be the Condition of it self Again What is it for God to work the Act of Willing so as men do not resist but to work it in a way of dependence upon Man's Will and what is that but to contradict the Apostle who saith that God works the Act of willing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his own good pleasure if he do it of his own good pleasure surely not in a way of dependence upon Man's Will but in a glorious insuperable manner 4. From those Scriptures whose truth is so founded upon insuperable Grace that it cannot stand without it Turn thou me and I shall be turned Jer. 31. 18. Turn us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned Lam. 5. 21. If Man's actual Turn do not infallibly follow upon God's turning Grace what truth is there in these And 's which couple both together Other sheep I must bring saith Christ and they shall hear my voice Joh. 10. 16. and which agrees with it The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles and they will hear it Acts 28. 28. What Connexion is there betwixt Christ's bringing and Man 's hearing or betwixt Salvation sent and Man's hearing without insuperable Grace Again God says I will put my Spirit within you and you shall live Ezek. 37. 14. and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes Ezek. 36. 27. What necessity of Life or Obedience in them if the holy Spirit be given in a resistible way Again God says to Christ Thou shalt call a nation and nations shall run unto thee Isai. 55. 5. and the Church prays Draw me we will run after thee Cant. 1. 4. Where 's the truth of these Propositions if God's calling and drawing do not infer Man's running Again David prays Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end give me understanding and I shall keep thy Law Psal. 119. 33 34. Where 's the consequence of David's Obedience upon God's Teaching if Grace be superable Moreover God says I will be as dew to Israel he shall grow as the lilly and cast forth his roots as Lebanon his branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree Hos. 14. 5 6. Here 's Israel very florid but that which secures all is insuperable Grace nothing could hinder their spiritual prosperity who had God for their dew I say nothing not Lusts for Ephraim shall say What have I to do with Idols Ver. 8 not backslidings for God says I will heal their back-slidings Ver. 4. not barrenness for God tells them from me is thy fruit found Ver. 8. not deadness for they shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine Ver. 7. But if the Work of Grace may be frustrated then there is no certain root for all this holy fruit to stand upon 5. From those Scriptures which set forth actual Conversion as a Work of Power Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psal. 110. 3. God fulfils the work of faith with power 2 Thess. 1. 11. the Principle of Faith is incomplete without its Act but God by his powerful Grace actuates it in us When our Saviour Christ told his Disciples that it was easier for a camel to go through a needles eye than for a rich man to enter into Gods kingdom they cried out with amazement Who then can be saved but our Saviour unties the knot thus The things that are unpossible with men are possible with God Luk. 18. 24 25 26 27. God by the power of his Grace can fetch off the World the Camels bunch from the Heart and so make it pass as it were through the needles eye into the Kingdom of God But now the assertors of resistible Grace may turn the words thus The things which according to the ordinary working of Grace are impossible with God are possible with Men that crowning Work of actual Conversion which is too hard and heavy for God's free Grace is absolved and dispatched out of hand by Man's free Will In the Parable of the lost Sheep we find God going after it until he find it then laying it upon his shoulders Luk. 15. 4 5. He goes after it in the Means of Grace he finds it by the intimate Inshinings of his Spirit and he lays it upon the shoulders of his power that he may bring it home to himself in actual Conversion But now if Grace be resistible the Almighty Shoulders are only put under mans Will to bear it up in aequilibrio to see whether it will go home to God or not it may be it will it may be it will not Gods Power doth but
attend on Man's Will as the Umpire of all 6. From those Scriptures which shew forth actual Conversion as a Conquest Thanks be to God saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that triumpheth us in Christ 2 Cor. 2. 14. that is that subdues us to the Gospel and makes us Instruments of his Grace to subdue others thereunto Christ rides upon his white horse the Word of Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conquering and to conquer Rev. 6. 2. he leads captivity captive Psal. 68. 18. those men which were Captives to Sin and Satan before now become Captives to his Spirit and Grace and as Captives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he translates them into his own kingdom Col. 1. 13. he carries them away out of the native Soil of their Corruption into the land of uprightness and which further shews the Insuperability of this Conquest he binds the strong man and spoils his goods Matth. 12. 29. he casts down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every height and captivates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 5. and that this may be surely effected there are weapons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mighty to God Ver. 4. to accomplish his Will in that behalf he circumcises or as the Septuagint hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he purges the heart round about Deut. 30. 6. He baptises it with the holy Ghost and fire Matth. 3. 11. Fire-like he purges out the dross and converts the Heart into his own Nature in a glorious way he causes men to walk in his statutes Ezek. 36. 27. Oh! what words of Power What Triumphs of free Grace are these Here 's the day of Gods power here 's the Jerusalem above the mother of true freedom Neither is there any Shipwrack of humane Liberty in all this for God can change the unwilling Will into a willing Will or else which is durus sermo he that made free Will cannot have mercy upon it he that made the Horologe of the Heart and all its pins cannot move the Wheels But if God work Conversion in a resistible way then free Grace must lose its triumph and free Will must take the Crown free Grace works only a posse convertere and free Will completes it in an actual Conversion free Grace may set the Will in aequilibrio and that 's all but free Will must do the business and that in a self-glorying way not in the humble posture of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking off from our selves to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12. 2. but in the proud posture of the Pharisee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 standing to himself Luk. 18. 11. Free Grace must not act or move the Will unto actual Conversion for all Action or Motion of the Will so far as it is Action or Motion is a determination thereof and a determination from Grace cannot according to the Remonstrants Doctrine consist with the Liberty of the Will wherefore free Grace having set the Will in aequilibrio must act or move no further but leave it to move and determine it self in actual Conversion that is in plain Terms give up the Crown and Glory of all unto it But how absurd is this God says No flesh shall glory in it self and shall Man's Will vaunt it thus God says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have left or reserved so many to my self Rom. 11. 4. and shall free Will say so Christ's Manhood did not anoint it self and shall free Will turn it self God by his Grace begins to build a Tabernacle for the Spirit he begins in the Understanding by Illumination in the Affections by holy Motions and in the Will by a posse convertere and is he not able to finish the Work by an actual Conversion All Nations saith the Prophet are but as a dust of the ballance to him Isai. 40. 15. and by the same reason all their Wills are but as the dust of the ballance to his Will and shall this small Dust turn the Scales in the weighty business of Conversion Nay shall it do so after creating regenerating quickning captivating conquering translating renewing drawing powerfully working Grace hath done its utmost Surely it cannot be Wherefore I conclude That God works actual Conversion in an insuperable way Having thus debated the Manner of Conversion I procede to the last thing proposed viz. Quaere 3. Whether the Will of God touching Conversion be always accomplished therein For answer whereunto I must first lay down a Distinction as a Foundation God may be said to will the Conversion of men two ways either by such a will as is effective and determinative of the Event or by such a Will as is only virtual and ordinative of the Means tending thereunto Both parts of this distinction are bottomed upon Scripture 1. God wills the Conversion of some by such a Will as is effective and determinative of the Event There are some chosen to holiness Eph. 1. 4. called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to purpose Rom. 8. 28. predestinated to be conformed to Christs image Ver. 29. begotten of God's own will to be first-fruits to him Jam. 1. 18. and within that election of Grace which doth ever obtein Rom. 11. 5 7. Touching these the Will of God is effective and determinative of the Event in these Conversion is wrought after an irresistible and insuperable manner 2. God wills the Conversion of others by such a Will as is only virtual and ordinative of the Means tending thereunto Thus God would have healed Israel Hos. 7. 1. Thus God wills the turning of the wicked who yet dieth in his sin Ezek. 33. 11. because the true tendency of the Means is to heal and turn them Thus the Apostle asserts that God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2. 4. In which place as I take it the word All extends further than to the Elect for those words of the Apostle are laid down as a ground of that Exhortation to pray for all men Ver. 1. and that Exhortation to Prayer extends further than to the Elect wherefore the All whom God would have to be saved being parallel and coextensive to the All whom we are to pray for must also extend beyond the Elect. Wherefore I conceive that the latter part of the words viz. and to come to the knowledge of the truth is a Key to the former viz. That God would have all to be saved God would have all to be saved so far as he would have all to come to the knowledge of the Truth and he would have all to come to the knowledge of the Truth so far as he wills Means of Knowledge unto them for the true end and tendency of the Means and that from the Will of God ordaining the same thereunto is that men might be turned and saved Wherefore in respect of that Ordination God may be truly said by a kind of virtual and