is due to those for whom it was Merited He was not cut off for Himself Now The Principal thing intended and Merited by the death of Christ was the Justification of Sinners Rom. 3. 26. And That God might be Just in Justifying of them If therefore He Merited this for All then All must be Justiâ—ied and it cannot be justly denyed to Any For it is their due by virtue of a Price which also was paid to that very end and this by God's own appointment Who we know cannot condemn any for whom Christ died Rom. 8. 34. His Justice shall not be liable to such a Reflection Whence it seems to be safely concluded That if All men are not Justified justification doth not belong to all and consequently That Christ did not give Himself for All. And as touching Efficacy Adam's transgression was efficacious on the Will and whole Man to Deprave why not then the Righteousness of Christ to Restore since the Preheminence in that very thing is given to Him Rom. 5. 17. VIII Arg. 8 The Doctrine of Special and Peculiar Redemption is further confirm'd by those Inglonious and hurtful Consequents which do attend the Doctrine of General Redemption as it is commonly held forth which 1 seems to reflect on the Wisedom of God as imputing to Him such a Contrivance for Men's Salvation as was altogether frustruble 2 It also seems to tax God of Injustice Isa 53. 8. as Not discharging Those whose transgressions are answer'd for by their Surety or else That the Sufferings of Christ were not sufficient to make a Discharge due to them Or 3 It insinuates a deficiency of Power or want of good will to prosecute His design to perfection 4 It suspends the virtue and success of all that Christ hath done for Men upon something to be done by themselves which He is not the Doer of and consequently that Men are Principals in procuring their own Salvation And so Christ shall have but His Thousands in truth His Nothings whiles Freedom of Will shall have its Ten Thousands to cry up the praise of Men This is not That the Lord alone should be exalted 5 It would also follow That those who are Saved and gone to Heaven have nothing more of Christ's to glory in and to praise Him for than those who are perished and gone to Hell For according to the Principles oâ— General Redemption He did and doth for all alike and not a jot more for the one party than for the other 6 It makes Men presumptuous and carnally secure How many have sooth'd-up themselves in their impenitency and hardness of Heart and fenced themselves against the Word upon this very Supposition That Christ died for all and therefore for them And why then should not they look to be saved as well as any other and so they lean pretendedly on the Lord and transgress Not considering that those for whom Christ died He purchased for them a freedom from sin and not a liberty of Sinning Nor impunity but upon terms of Faith and Repentance And that the Tempter disturbs them not in their rest upon such a foundation may be a principal Reason why Men so stifly adhere to it and that those of the General principle are so seldom troubled with terrours of Conscience But yet notwithstanding all this it is not denied that all Men even those that never heard of Christ's Redemption have benefit by His death and more might have did they not stand in their own light albeit He had not in His death the same respect to all as to some The mix'd Multitude that came up with Israel It was not for them that Moses was sent to Pharaoh That the Sea was divided and the Egyptians drowned That the Rock followed the Camp and that they had Mannah from Heaven c. though these being in company with Israel had a share in those outward benefits So the Lord gives water in the Wilderness by which the Beasts and Owls have benefit in their kind and yet it is not for their sakes that the Lord doth it but for His People His Chosen Those whom He had formed for Himself I should now come to the Inferences But finding this Doctrine of Peculiar Redemption as much opposed as that of Election and upon the same grounds Observing also a great readiness in Men to embrace the Notion of General Redemption which proceeds partly from Nature's unableness to discern a Reason why One Man should be Redeemed and not Another Partly for that it is grateful to lapsed Nature to fancy it self active in its own Recovery Partly also from an aptness to catch at any thing that pretends to give quiet under Convictions â— hope it shall not be time lost to see their exceptions against Our Doctrine What they alledge in defence of their own and how groundless in both In the doing of which I shall take but the substance of what I have heard and not intermeddle with jangling disputes Is it not plain by Rom. 5. 14 15. That the Restauration by Christ is as large and extensive as Adam's sin The Comparison there stated is Not put Extensively i. e. in respectâ— of the objects of Sin and Grace but Intensively i. e. in respect of the different efficacy of the several Means by which those several Effects are produced The Apostle therefore to obviate such objections Restraynâ—s it in ver 15 But not as the offense so also is the free Gift i. e. The Free Gift of Righteousness and life doth not extend to Men Vniversally and Efficaciously as sin and death did And he gives the Reason of it For if through the offense of One Many be dead Much more the Grace of God and the Gift by Grace hath abounded unto Many q. d. If the Free Gift had took-in All as the offense did Then All must have been Saved For that Grace hath abounded more than the offense Which must be Meant of the powerfull and prevalent efficacy of Grace For as to the Objects It could not take-in more than All And therefore those towards whom it hath thus abounded shall surely partake of the benefits of it As All in Adam dy'd so All in Christ shall be made alive But if some onely are Redeemed And Those but a Few in Comparison Then all ground of Believing is taken away from the most of Men 1. The Makers of this Objection will not say That All Men are Saved albeit they hold That All are Redeemed And therefore to hold and affirm That Christ did not Dye for All hinders None from believing any more than That Many of Those He dyed for are not Saved yea To teach That Christ dyed for all and that yet the Generality of Men shall dye in their sins and Perish for ever is a greater impediment to bâ—lieveing than to teach That He dyed onely for Some and that every One of this Some shall certainly be Saved 2. He that will know his own particular Redemption before he
But the difference lyes in this That the New Covenant consists of better Promises And this Betterness stands in the Free Absolute Independent engagement of God Himself to Invest His Covenanted Ones with all things conducing to the Blessedness held forth And that as well what is to be done on their part as on His Own upon their doing of it That is plainly To Give to them and Work in them Whatever in this Covenant He requires of them The law shews matter of Duty but gives not where-with to perform it The Covenant of Grace does both by writing the law in the heart And without this it would still have been but a Covenant of works be the Duties enjoined whatever you will It therefore runs not upon Conditional or Failable terms I will If ye will but Absolute and Sovereign I will and ye shall This Covenant does not only give life upon terms of Believing but Faith also and Holiness as the necessary means of attaining that life And this not upon your ingenuous complyance as some term it or better improvement of what you have in common with other Men such allegations the Lord disallows and often Cautions against but of Grace It 's a Covenant made-up of Promises and Promise by Scripture intendment is alwayes Free both freely made and freely perform'd without the desert or procurement of Men. Take Isaac for instance Abraham's body was now dead Gen. 18. 11. ver 14. and Sarah besides her natural barrenness it ceased to be with her after the manner of Women and yet Sarah shall have a Son But How The Promise had in it though Abraham and Sarah had not whatever might tend to Isaac's conception and birth Gal. 4. 23 28. and for this cause He was called The Son of the Promise as also Believers are Rom. 9. 8. Gal. 3. 29. They are also termed Heirs of Promise Heb. 6. 17. And on this account Christ is called The Promised Seed and the Holy Ghost The Spirit of Promise viz To shew the Independent freeness of those Divine Gifts The Promise of sending them Their actual Coming and Effectual operations are all free and free in all respects This Dew from the Lord waiteth not for Men. Mic. 5. 7. For further illustration the Jews are a pertinent Instance as ye read in Jer. 32. from v. 30. to the 36. They had done nothing but evil from their youth up and were a continual provocation And when scattered among the Nations they were no-whit bettered but caused even the Heathen to blaspheme And yet notwithstanding all this the Lord will Gather them and give them an heart to fear Him for ever v. 37. to v. 44. And this even whiles they were not moved neither could they blush chap. 8. 12. See also with what inexpressible freeness of Grace the Lord deals with them in Isa 43. v. 25. I even I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions and will not remember thy sins But what 's the Introduction to this so great a Promise See it and wonder at it Thou hast not called upon Me O Jacob Miâ— v. 22. ver 23. ver 24. but thou hast been weary of Me O Israel Thou hast not brought Me the small Cattel of thy burnt Offerings Thou hast bought Me no sweet Cane with thy money but hast made Me to serve with thy sins and wearied Me with thine iniquities I even I whom thou hast dealt so ingratefully with Isa 64. 3. and disingenuously even I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake And this was a Great thing they looked not for As indeed considering themselves and what their demeanour had been they had no Reason to look for it Hence 't is cleer That Grace respects not the worthiness of Men in what It does for them Nay it must respect their Vnworthiness rather as that by which Grace is more illustrated and the glory thereof more advanced according to Rom. 5. 20. Where sin abounded Grace did much more abound And Paul proclaims it as verified on himself 1 Tim. 1. 13. I was a Blasphemer and a Persecutour and Injurious But I obtained Mercy and the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant v. 14 and hereupon he falls to Adoring that Grace Now to the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only wise God be honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen v. 17. The Richeâ— of Mercy is made-out by Saving the Chief of sinners and in quickening us when dead Ephes 2. 1 4. And it is very observable That the Apostles when ever they mention the Grace of God in Saving Quickening c. do not give the least intimation of Mens Worthiness Preparedness Compliance or any such thing but Dead in Sins and Quickening come one in the neck of the other as light does upon darkness which in no sort induces the light or prepares the dark Earth or Ayr for it as is abundantly evident in all their Epistles And how oft and in good earnest does the Lord declare against all the pretensions of Men as to their activeness in this Matter in Isaiah Jeremy Ezekiel Hosea c. And as a barr to those pretensions The Holy People He calls A People sought-out and that He is found of them that sought Him not with many others This I shall end with a very observable Instance within my own Memory and I bring it not in for proof but Illustration I knew a Man who when he came under convictions endeavoured with all his might to stifle them His Convictions grew stronger and he hardned himself against them He saw their tendency but so opposite to it that he resolv'd in express terms He would not be a Puritan what-ever came of it To the Church he must go His Master would have it so But this was his wont To loll oâ—r the seat with his fingers in both his ears Here General or Conditional Grace was surely non-plus'd But a Chosen Vessel must not so be lost Now steps-in Electing Grace and by a casual slip of his Elbows drew-out the stoppers and sent-in a Word from the Pulpit which like fire from Heaven melted his heart and cast it in a New Mould Surely in this the Lord did not wait for the Man's complyance or improvements His work was not Originated thence nor dependent thereon II. II. If all that pertains to Salvation were not given freely Salvation it self should not be of Grace For to him that worketh is the Reward not reckoned of Grace Rom. 4. 4. but of Debt But Salvation is of Grace Ephes 2. 5. By Grace ye are saved And agen v. 8. By Grace ye are saved through Faith Where also lest the adding of Faith should occasion in their esteem a lessening of this Grace or seem to detract from the Freeness of it he cautiously subjoyns That this Faith is the work of that Grace Not of your selves It is the Gift of God For if Grace be perfectly free in Choosing it must be answerably
of Men who commonly pitch upon things for some Natural Aptness or Meetness of them for their Work They will not take a knotty cross-grain'd or wind-shaken piece of Timber to make a Pillar of State But the Lord pitches upon such and such to choose the poor base weak foolish things of the world the worst of Men and chief of Sinners The instances of Paul Manasseh Mary Magdalen and others make it evident and of these He is pleased to make Pillars for the House of God Pilluis of State indeed whereon to write His own Name to manifest thereby His Sovereignty Holiness Wisdome Power Righteousness and Free Grace to Eternity The Lord's way and method in bringing His Sons to Glory is the best Demonstration of the Right order of Causes For though there be a Concurrence of many things as Causes and Effects one of another yet if observ'd in their Order they will still lead us up to the Goad Pleasure of God as First and Supream and perfectly Independent The Current of the New Testament Runs wholly this way and hangs the whole of Salvation both Means and End expresly on the Divine Will Luke 1â— 32 It is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Chap 10. 21 Thou hast hid these things from the Wise and revealed them to babes For so it seemed good in thy sight Rom. 11. 5 A Remnant according to the Election of Grace Ephes 1. 5 Predestinate to the Adoption of Children according to the good pleasure of His Will Redemption also and the forgiveness of Sins according to the riches of His Grace the same Grace that Elected Ver. 7 The making known the mystery of His Will this also is according to that His Good pleasure which He had purposed in Himself Ver. 9. Yea all the operations of God whether for us upon us or by us they All have their Rise from the same Spring and are Carried by the same Rule He worketh all things after the Councel of His Own Will Ver. 11. And for the Old Testament you have it sufficiently exemplified there in the Instances before given and especially touching the ground of God's love to the People of Israel who in that respect Deut. 7. 8. Ch 9. 4. Ch. 10. 15. were the Arch-type of the Spiritual Election viâ— That His own good pleasure was the only cause of His Choosing them above other Nations He loved them because He loved them And good Reasons there are why Election should be founded upon Grace and why it could not with respect either to God's Glory or the Elect's Security be founded otherwise And the I. Is from the Sovereignty of God Whose Will being the Supream Law admits not a Co-ordinacy Much-less will it stand with Sovereign Power to be Regulated by the will of another That would be a Contradiction to Sovereignty For that which Regulates is superiour to that which is regulated by it Sovereign Princes to shew their Prerogative affirm their acts of Grace to be of their own meer Motion And their Grants are reputed the more Authentique for being so exprest The like we find in Scripture frequently ascribed to God That He will have Mercy on whom He will have mercy Rom 9. 18. That He worketh all things not by Motives from without Eph 1. 11. but after the Councel of His own Will Rom 9. 16. That it is not of Men's Willing or Running but of God who sheweth Mercy When the World had been drown'd for their obdurate impenitency the Few that remain'd were as bad as before and those that should come after the Lord foresaw would be the same One would think now The natural Result of this Experiment should be I will utterly cut them off and be troubled with them no more But the Lord's thoughts are not our thoughts He argues and concludes in another Mode I will not again any more Curse the ground for man's sake And He is pleased to give the same Reason here why He Will not as before why He would asis seen by comparing Gen. 6 5 and 7. with Chap. 8. 21. See also the Instance of God's dealing with Ephraim He was wroth with Him and smote Him and Ephraim so far from Relenting That he went on frowardly i. e. Stubbornly as Resolved in his Course I hid me sayes the Lord and was wroth Esa 57. 15. This one would think if Ephraim had in him but a spark of Ingenâ—ity should have Moved him to alter his Course But what cares Ephraim He still keeps the same way and it was the way of his heart not an inconsiderate Pet or sudden Temptation but Natural and fixed All which the Lord sees and considers and having laid all together Resolves to heal him Isa 57. 18. and Restore Comforts to him On the other hand Those good Soules who feared the Lord and Obeyed the voice of his servant Isa 50. â—1 They yet walked in darkness and had no light ye may be sure They would gladly have understood their Condition namely That they were such as feared the Lord Their Will could not be Wanting to a Thing so greatly importing their Comfort Nor they were not Idle in seeking for it They Walked though in the Dark but could not Walk themselves out of it They are still as they were They had no light By these contrary Examples ye may see That the Sovereignty of God still keeps the Throne and His dispensments of Mercy whether in purpose or in Act are not Governed by the Wills of Men They are things too low to be Councellors to God And if it be thus in things of temporary Concernment much more in that great business of Eternal Election which is the Sublimest Act of Sovereign Power And yet This hinders not but That every Man at last shall be judged according to his works II. Arg. 2. Election must be founded onely upon Grace because Grace and Works are Inconsistent in the Cause of salvation The scripture is every Cautelous of admitting any thing as a Concomitant with Grace in this Matter yea although it be a Thing that doth alway accompany Grace and That without which a Man cannot be Saved The Apostle puts them in opposition and is very intent on the Argument as a thing of great Moment in Rom. 11. Where first he shews That amidst that general Defection of the Iewish Nation there still was a Remnant whom God had Reserv'd These he terms The Foreknown ver 2. and in the 7. ver he calls them plainly The Election And then lest any should ascribe it to a false cause as in that paralel Case he resembles it to viz That they had not bowed the knee to Baal but stuck to the True Religion when others fell off he tells us No Their Election was founded upon Grace And as for Works they had no place in the Causality of it By Grace he means the Free Favour of God who is not moved by any thing without Himself But what He
it And hence it is that we find those Imperial terms I will and Ye shall so much in use about this Matter Thus the Lord began with the Serpent which was a leading Case to all that follows It shall bruise thine head In which compendious word the destruction of Satan and Sin is effectually provided for And elswhere He speaks as much for quick'ning the Soul I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My Statutes Ezek. 36. 27 28. Ye shall be my People and I Will be your God They shall Return unto me with their whole heart with many Others The Lord still utters Himself in tearms of Omnipotency as putting-forth an Almightiness of Power which as it needs not so it will not yea it cannnot with a Salvo to his honour admit the least Dependence upon Created power to make it successfull Isa 55. 11. His word shall not Return unto him void It shal accomplish that which He pleaseth and prosper in the thing whereto He sends it John 11. 44. He that was dead comes forth at his word though bound hand and foot II. Conversion is a Creation-work II. which though done by degrees must be gon-thorow with and that by Him who layd the foundation Or all the foregoing parts for want of a Cap-stone will moulder and come to nothing As when Adam was to be made The Lord first prepares the Earth then moulds it in such a form and then breathes into him the breath of life Els that lump had never been a living Soul So in the New Creation The Lord works and goes-on to work and leaves it not until He hath set it going He doth not onely cause the light to shine into darkness but gives withall a suitable understanding 1 Joh. 5. 20. Joh. 1. 5. a faculty connatural with the object as without which the darkness would never comprehend it Ezekiel might have prophecied till Doom's day ere those dry bones would have liv'd if the Lord Himself had not caused breath to enter into them Jam. 1. 17. 2 Cor. 4. 6. And probably He is called The Father of lights plurally to denote that as well the light comprehending or capacitating our comprehension is from God as That to be comprehended Psal 36. 9. In His light we see light III. God's Effectual Working in this Matter III. and the Necessity of His so working may also be Argued from the common sense of those already wrought upon and brought-in by whose Prayers and Confessions it is evident That they still needed a powerfull and effectual influence to Carry-on the Work already begun Turn Thou Me and I shall be Turned Quicken us and we will call upon Thee Draw me and We will Run after thee Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing but our sufficiency is of God I live Gall. 2. 20. yet not I but Christ liveth in me c. Hence it readily follows That if those already Turned and made partakers of the Divine nature whose hearts are in the good wayes of God and who desire Nothing more than to Walk in them cannot yet keep themselves Going without a Continued Efficacious Influx and Spring from Above Much-less can the Natural Man without the like Supernatural and Divine Efficacy effectually bend himself to a Compliance with them Prov. 13. 19. It is It is an abomination to fools to depart from evil IV. IV. If the Lord did not Work Effectually He should loose the honour of His work If the Efficacy of Grace should depend on the humane Will i. e. If Grace be rendred Effectual by some Motion or Act of the Will which Grace is not the Author of Then will Nature assume the Priority Works will glory over Grace and Free-will will be said to be better then Free Grace For that the less is blessed of the Better Heb. 7. 7. is without contradiction And that that which sanctifies is Greater than that which is Sanctified by it is so obvious That Christ appeals it to the Reason of Fools and Blinde Math. 23. 19. If therefore you will grant That Grace is Better than Nature Follow it must That the Will is Blessed and Sanctified by Grace viz. by its powerful and effectual operation upon it And here indeed lyes the honour and efficacy of Grace Not in a Vincible Moving Exciting Perswading or Threatening the Will to a complyance but in making the Will actually and willingly complyant with It self And thus the Lord Doth and thus He will Do where ever He will be Gracious tho never so muchagainst the present minde and natural propension of the subject And yet there no such thing as Forceing the Will As you may see afterwards V. V. The Doctrine of Effectual Calling is further confirm'd from the office of Christ as a Redeemer which was not only to purchase Eph. 1. 7. Eph. 2. 13 16. Heb. 2. 17. Rom. 5 9 10. Coll. 1. 20. 21 22. Dan. 9 24. but to put us in actual possession of the good things He purchased for us Redemption and Reconciliation are Relates Comensurate and Inseparable It is not onely a Reconcilable state that Redemption puts us into but a state of actual Reconcilement It slayes the enmity makes an end of Sin and brings-in everlasting Righteousness On this accompt our Saviour bears that glorious title Thou shalt call His name Iesus Math. 1. 31. for he shall save His people from their sins and For this Cause was the Son of God manifested that He might destroy the works of the Devil Now 1 Joh. 3 8. of these works Blindness of mind is the first-born and foster-mother to all the Rest 2 Cor. 4 4. 't is this keeps the soul in unbelief as under locks and bars and therefore must of necessity be dispell'd which can onely be done by causing the true light to shine Effectually as He did the light of this world in the first Creation which the Apostle in 2 Cor. 4. 6 Resembles it to Isa 42. 7. Luke 1. 79. Isa 49. 9. Hence those frequent mentions of His being sent To open the blind eyes To give light to them that sit in darkness And to bring forth the Prisoners from the Prison-house which may not be valued as things in design yet lyable to obstruction but to be as certainly perform'd as that Christ should dye In the 107 Psal it is spoken of as done already He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death Ps 107. 14. and brake their bands in sunder And that he speaks it of Redeemed-Ones appears by v. 2. First take them as in Darkness and he is so to give them light as to guide their feet into the way of peace Mark 8. 13-25 That story of the blind Man in the 8 Mark is a pertinent shadow of it Christ spits on his eyes and puts His hands upon him as yet he saw but darkly Men as Trees
free in Giving and Applying the Means to bring-about the End it hath chosen us to For if the Effect of the Means should depend upon somthing to be done by Men which Grace is not the Doer of then works would put-in for a share in the glory of Mens salvation and so the Grace of God would be dethron'd and be as if it were not Grace is no more Grace as is argued in Rom. 11. 6. III. III. Spiritual blessings must be given freely and of pure Grace because the Natural Man cannot perform any such Act as might be Motive for such a gift Things materially good they may doe as Cain in offering the first fruits but not acceptable because not done in the due manner that is in Faith the want of which makes Incense it self an abomination Isa 1. 13 14. If without Faith it be impossible to please God then it must be impossible to doe ought asore you believe that may move God to give you Faith Salvation is promised to Faith Remission of sins to Repentance The blessed vision to Purity of heart But we find not these Graces promised to any Act or Qualification inferiour to 2 Tim. 1. 9. Tit. 3. 5. or precedeing the Graces themselves Our holy Calling and the washing of Regeneration we are not entit'led-to by works of our own IV. IV. If any of the Requisites to Salvation should be given upon conditions Reason would it should be That which in worth and virtue containeth all the Rest and without which the Rest had never been or been of none effect And that is Our Lord Jesus Christ of whom it is said That all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily Coll. 2 9. Joh. 1. 16. Rom. 5 8. and that Out of His Fullness all Grace is received The giving of whom was the most superlative commendation of God's love to Men and is therefore termed That Gift of God Ioh. 4. 10. And as touching the Free and Vnconditionate giving of Christ we have an authentic Record in Gen. 3. 15. It shall bruise thy head Which words doe contain an Absolute free Promise to send the Son of God in the Nature of Man to be a Redeemer And we evidently know That His actual coming and performance thereof was not suspended upon any good thing to be done by Men How could it when after the Fall they did not nor could doe any thing but what might turn His heart against them For evidence hereof We need not go out of the Context Doe but observe the First Adam's Carriage and the Manner of it just afore the Promise was made First They believe the Serpent rather than God Then they break the Commandment of life when they had neither need nor occasion so to do This done and finding themselves lost they do not so much as seek after God for help but rather to hide themselves from Him so farr from confessing themselves faulty that they charge God foolishly and shift the blame of their miscarriage upon Him The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the Tree And the Serpent which also is a Creature of thy Making he beguiled me c. Here 's nothing in their deportment that looks like the Motive of such a Promise But tho they Run from God He will not so part with them yea He follows them finds them out and for a door of hope freely pronounceth this gracious Promise of sending One to destroy this old serpent the Devil and consequently the Serpentine Nature that had now instill'd and Mingled it self with theirs It is the first promulgation of the Gospel and speaks with as much absoluteness as words can express It Shall bruise thy head This I shall stand the more upon because it is the First that was made in Time and That out of which all following Promises are educed The intent of this Promise was Adam's Recovery and Comfort who doubtless at this time was in a very disconsolate Condition as lying under a fresh sense of the happiness he had lost and the wofull estate he was now plunged into And therefore 't was necessary if Adam shall have Comfort by it that the terms thereof be altogether free and Absolute For suppose them to be Conditional as namely If Adam shall now repent and Convert himself If he shall better improve a second stock or rather the cankered Remnant of that he had at first My Son Then shall come into this lower World to still that Enemy and Avenger His life shall go for thy life I will be friends with thee and restore thee to thy first Estate All this and more of this kind had yielded but little comfort or hope to a guilty and defiled Conscience who found himself not onely naked and wholly bereft of his Primitive Righteousness but at enmity with his Creatour and a bondslave to Satan For such Reasonings as these would have broke-in like a floud to bear-down and stifle all hopes of future success viz. If when I was in so blessed a state and endued with power to keep it upon so slight a temptation I yeilded and fell How should I Rise now I am down and my strength is gon If when I had freedom of Will and stood upright so easily I warp'd into crooked paths How can I hope to Return and do better now my Will is perverted and bent to a contrary course If whilst I had eyes in my head and saw things with cleerness I yet lost my way and wandred How should I think to recover it being now both sadly bewildred and my eyes put-out How should I bring a clean thing out of an unclean who kept not my heart clean when it was so How should I gain more with fewer talents who ran my self out of all when I had abundantly more Grapes will not grow upon Thorns nor Figgs on Thistles Nay were my Primitive'state restored agen on the former terms I could not expect to keep it having this wofull experience of so causless and dreadfull an Apostacy c. It was therefore importantly necessary that this first Promise made upon so great and solemn an occasion and bearing in it all the hopes and comforts of God's People to Eternity should be thorowly free and absolute and not depend in the least upon any good thing to be done by Men as a condition of it And if Christ be given freely there 's good ground of arguing thence the free-giving of lesser things as doth the Apostle in Rom. 8 He that spared not His Son how shall He not with Him freely give us all things Math. 6. 25. Is not the life more than meat Is not Christ more than Faith and all Grace Has God given us the flesh of His Son which is Meat indeed and will He not restore our withered hand to receive it It cannot be especially considering That this may be done with a Word and without This the Other would be lost and as water
1 Chr. 29. 14. sayes he and what is my People that we should be able to offer thus willingly For all things are of Thee He acknowledgeth their Willingness to offer to be as much of God as the Offering it self And Paul having laboured more abundantly than all the Apostles puts from himself the honour of it 1 Cor. 15. 10. Not I but the Grace of God that was with Me. Three or four Things in seeking for spiritual blessings be sure to keep still in your mind 1. That you must be Nothing in your self New Wine is not for old bottles The Bottles must first be Vndone and made-up Anew Math. 9. 17. Or els The Wine will be spilt and the bottles perish All your imaginary Righteousness Wisdom Strength c. must be parted from you And to part with them is as necessary as to leave your Made-ground and build on the firm Rock 2. That Spiritual Blessings are a Gift and will not admit of any Plea which may seem to make them Wages What the Scriptures hold-forth as a Motive with God That you may plead and that is His Name And indeed Nothing els is pleadable at the Throne of Grace Esteem not your self the better for what you may carry with you Think not to be accepted because of your present It is not your Money nor your double money in your hand that Isa 55. 1. will fetch you Corn from Above tho it may from Egypt Silver and Gold Joh. 7. 37. Works and Worthiness are of no value at the Mint of Free-Grace There it is and Thence ye must have whatever may render you welcom at the Court of Heaven 3. Be not over-solicitous how you shall speed Nor think you shall fare the worse for coming in so tatter'd and pittiful a Condition Free Grace is Compassionate Rich Bountiful you are not the less welcom because you bring Nothing The best qualification is to finde your self ill-qualified Empty Hungry Poor Naked Blinde Miserable Electing-love hath provided Enough and More Not bread and water onely though these are very welcom to an hungring and thirsty soul but Wine and Milk Wine on the lees Isa 25. 6. Rev. 19. 8. A feast of fat things Not Aprons made of fig-leaves or Coats of Beasts-skins but Long Robes of Linnen fine and white money made of Leather or base Mettal that would burthen One to carry a Month's provision of it But Gold Rev. 3. 18. and of That the finest and tryed in the fire which hath nothing of Dross or Cankering Rust adhering to it And if thou have but little look on that little as an Earnest of More To him that hath shall be given Is 42. 3. Altho' thou be but smoaking flax He will not quench thee 4. Be sure you leave not Out your Mediatour the Lord Jesus Christ Electing love doth All in Him and so must you Ask all in His Name and then say Lord He is Worthy for whose sake Thou shouldest doe this And withall Take heed of Patching Joyn not Law and Grace together lest the Rend be made worse The Righteousness wherein you must appear before God is not made-up of divers sorts and peeces partly His and partly your own but a Seamless Vesture wrought throughout of one kinde of substance and by One hand In this you may appoach with boldness and touch the top of the Golden Scepter VI. Infer VI. Having so Firm and Impregnable a Rock to found your faith upon why should the Greatest of Difficulties even the power of Innate Corruption Discourage any Soul from Casting it self upon Electing love As that which is perfectly Able and the very design of it is To Subdue iniquity as well as to pardon it It chose us not because we were or would be Holy Eph. 1. 4. but That we might be so And to that End Undertakes the whole of our Work for us It is between us and Sin as it was between Israel and the Canaanites Untill the Lord began to Drive they did not stirr They were Gyants too big for Grass-hoppers to deal with Had iron Charets and Cities walled up to Heaven And yet that Company of Grass-hoppers turn'd them out And this because the Lord who gave them that Land was in the head of them He went before them and cut-out their way for them Whiles He drove they were driven When He ceased Psal 44. 2 3. Exod. 23. 28. the work stood-still Nay His own People were Routed and put to the worse And we shall find both Moses and Joshua still using Arguments fetch'd from the Covenant that God had made with them by which alwayes they were Supported Let us do likewise Make Election our All Our Bread Water Munition of Rocks and what ever els we can suppose to Want Here we are sure of Supply and Safety It 's a Tower that 's really walled up to Heaven A Never-to-be-emptied Cloud of Mannah and a Jacob's Well that is Never dry 'T is deep indeed and you have Nothing to draw-with yet be not disheartned Stay by it and the Well it self will Rise-up to you Numb 21. 17. rather than you shall want VII Infer VII Having done all you can and in the midst of your Doing Walk humbly as living on Another's bounty Assume not to your self but ascribe the whole of your Salvation and of all the Conducements thereto to Electing Grace and hang-on that Root alone Even Faith it self as it is the Believers act is not to be Rested in Nor to share in this Glory We may say of Faith as he to Foelix Acts 24. 2 3. By thee we enjoy much quietness but the honour thereof chiefly belong'd to Caesar who gave them that Governour Give unto Faith its due Accept alwaies and in all places the benefits you have by it with all thankfullness For it does you many good Offices and you cannot live without it Onely in the Throne let Grace be above it For That 's the Potentate which puts Faith in that Capacity and maintains it there And the truth is True Faith is best contented with its proper place To this End the Lord tells His People It was not their Sword nor their Bow that drove out their Enemies But say some It was the Sword and Bow which God put into their hands and which they Manfully employed No God will not have Men arrogate so much to themselves Psal 60. 12. Judges 7. 2. but to acknowledge It is God that subdues our enemies under us The People with Gideon He reckons too many to give the Midianites into their hands Lest they should Vaunt themselves against Him Faith and other Graces are Mighty onely through God As they are His Workmanship so 't is He onely can keep them Going as a Watch or other Engine cannot wind-up it self To frame a Perpetual Motion no Man hath ever attain'd No not in trifling Matters As thou hadst no hand in changing thy heart at first So neither
does He does it Freely without respect to Mens desert Nay their Vndesert rather is an expedient Consideration in this Act of Grace By Works I understand All that Self-Righteousness Goodness Conformity to the Law Or what ever else is performable by Men. These viz Grace and Works he proves as inconsistent as Contraries can be and that the least Mixture would vary the kind If but a sâ—ruple of Works be taken in Grace is no more Grace For to him that worketh is the Reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt Rom. 4. 4. Grace and Faith are well agreed These both have the same scope and end But Rom. 4. 4. Grace and Works have always Clash'd The setting up of the One is the deposing of the other Either the Ark must Out or Dagon down One Temple cannot hold them both Rom. 3. 28. To the same effect is the drift of that discourse in Gal. 5. It appears from Acts 15. 1. That some there were who taught a Necessity of Circumcision as without which they could not be saved Pretty willing they were to admit of Christ so they might joyn Circumcision with Him and keeping the Law of Moses But this dangerous daubing with things unmixable our holy Apostle could not brook both as reflecting on the honour of his Master and undermining their onely Foundation And therefore to keep them from or bring them off that perillous Quick-sand he tells them expresly These two cannot stand together in that matter For if they be Circumcised they are Debtors to the whole Law and Christ is become of none effect to them because they are fallen from Grace It is as if he had said If you take in any part though never so little of Legal Observances as Necessary to your being Justified ye forfeit the whole benefit of Gospel-Grace The Grace of Christ is sufficient for you He is a Saviour Compleat in Himself and if you look though but a squint at any thing else it is a Renouncing of Him He will be Saviour altogether or not at all And therefore he tells them again and that with a kind of vehemency Gall. 5. 2. That if they be Circumcised Christ shall profit them Nothing And as a Man may not put in his Claim for Justification on accompt of his Works so neither of his Faith as if That were Mâ—terially or Influentially Causal of Justification For Faith it self as it is the Believers Act comes under the Notion of a Work Let us therefore Consider What part it is that Faith holds in this Matter least whiles we cast out Works as not standing with Grace we make a Work of Faith It is Faith's Office to make the Soul live wholly on Another and to Renounce Self ability as much as Self desert To apprehend that Righteousness by which Grace Justifies Not onely to be Justified thereby upon your Believing but to work in you even that Faith by which you apprehend it Isa 45. 24. answerable to that of the Prophet In the Lord have I Righteousness and Strength He that will be Saved must come as an ungodly Person to be justified freely by the Grace of God He must reckon himself an Vngodly Man to the very instant of his Justification True it is The Just shall live by Faith but 't is also true That it is not their own Faith or act of believing that they live by though not without it Which also seems the Apostle's meaning where he sayes The life which I now live I live by the Faith of the Son of God Where note That as Faith is the life of a Believer so Christ is the life of his Faith I live saith he yet not I but Christ liveth in Me Christ was his life and he lived on Christ by virtue of Christ's living in him Notwithstanding all which it is evidently true and must constantly be affirm'd That Grace and Works will still be together in the way of Salvation the one doth not extinguish or exclude the other Only not as Collegues or Joint-Causers thereof But rather as a Workman and his Tooles which himself first makes and then workes with them By Grace ye are saved through Faith Eph. 2. 8. and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Even this believing or Acting faculty is a Creature of Grace's raising up and therefore in the Throne 't is meet that Grace should be above it Works therefore how good soever are not the Cause of Salvation and if so then not the cause of Election for This indeed is the Cause of them both And Works if right and truly Good will alwayes be ready to own their Original and to keep in their own place Where also they will be most considerable and do the best service III. Arg. 3. That the good pleasure of God's Will gives Rise and Foundation to Election is further argued from Men's Incapacity to afford any ground or Motive to God for such a Gift Adam stood not so long as to beget a Son in his first Image It is sâ—en by his first-born Cain what all his natural Sâ—ed would naturally be And though there be some that do Magnifie Man and presume to speak of him at another rate yet evident it is by Scripture-light and experience of those Renewed That Man fallen is poâ—r blind Naked and at enmity with all that is truly good and that he is never more Remote and farr off from God than whiles in high thoughts of himselfe Glorying in his own Understanding Strength Worthyness Freedom of Will Improvement of Common Grace and the like For These make him proud and presumptuous and to have slight thoughts of that special and peculiar Grace by which he must if ever be Renewed and Saved But the Lord Himself who best knows him reports the matter quite otherwise and we know that His witness is true viz. That all the imaginations of their heart are onely evil continually Gen. 6 5. That their inward part is very wickedness Ps 53. 1. That every Man is brutish in his knowledge Jer 10 14 ver 8 21. Altogether brutish and foolish yea even their Pastours that is the very best and most intelligent amongst them Ch 4. 22. Eccles. 91 3. They are wise to do evil but to do good have no understanding And their hearts are full of madness And it was not thus only with the Gentile Nations who were left to walk in their own way but even with the Jews Isa 5. 4. who had all the means of becoming better that could be devised Excepting that of special Electing Grace which took-in but a Remnant They were called Jews Rested in the Law Made their boast of God Knew His Will Approved the things that were excellent Were confident that they were a Guide of the blind and a light to them that were in darkness Instructors of the foolish Teachers of Babes And yet all this while and in the midst of all these high attainments did not